The Sinfulness Of Sin - Preach The Word

The Sinfulness Of SinRalph Venningare loath to be found guilty themselves. Though Judah was guilty of incest himself,how forward he was to punish fornication in Tamar his daughter-in-law (Genesis38). When our Saviour put the case to the Pharisees, what the lord of the vineyardwould do with husbandmen who had abused and beaten his servants and, whichwas worse, slain his son, they could readily answer: 'He will miserably (that is, witha punishment as great as their sin) destroy those wicked men' (Matthew 21.41).Thus when they did not know whom they condemned they condemned themselvesand their own sin--out of thine own mouth art thou condemned, 0 sinner! It is truethe case was altered when he said that they were the men; but by this we see thatwhen men are not concerned or seem not to be so, how severe they are againstsin! And indeed, they do so to hide their own wickedness (John 8.7-9).(iv) They usually fly to the horns of the altar, to some fits of devotion and forms ofgodliness. They act as if they would compound with God to save them. What is themeaning of all the purifications, sacrifices and atonements which the heathensused, but that their sense of guilt was too heavy to be borne; and what is morecommon among men of a better profession than to say as soon as they havesinned, Lord have mercy upon me, God forgive me! They kiss their crucifix, tellover their beads, and go to confession, and what does all this denote but that theyhave, they themselves being witnesses and judges, been injurious to God and totheir own souls. Without reconciliation and pardon or at least an imagined pardon,they cannot be quiet.(v) They desire to die the death of the righteous. Balaam and others who did notlive the life of the righteous but accounted it madness, even so reckoned their endto be happy, and therefore desired that their own might be as that of the righteous.By this we see that no wicked man cares for sin's wages. Surely that work cannotbe good for which the wages are so bad that no man cares to receive them, butsays, O that my after-state may be with the righteous (Numbers 23.10). The wagesof sin is death and the end of sin is death; but Balaam wants no such death and nosuch wages. Though they go hellward while they live, yet they wish that they couldgo to heaven when they die. What are we to deduce from this but that sin is adamnable thing. Though sinners seek their happiness in their misery yet it ishappiness that they seek and whenever they find their disappointment they growangry with themselves, with sin, the devil and all.One objection may be made against this witness of wicked men against sin: true, itwill be said, there are some pitiful sneaking sinners, cowardly and timorous ones,who are daunted at and ashamed of sin, but there are others past shame, fear andsense, roaring boys, ranting and rampant sinners, rodomontade*[* Boastful,bragging.] blades who boast of their sin and glory in being wicked. They takepleasure in things worthy of damnation and yet scorn to be frightened by terriblepreachers. They will sin in the face of the sun without a blush. We will hear whatthese have to say and be judged by these brave sparks and bold fellows.We must confess with sorrow for such as have none for themselves that there aresome hardened sinners who are sunk into the image, the practice, and it may bethe condemnation (as well as the snare) of the Devil himself. Indeed, they seem tooutdo the devils, for they believe and tremble, which is more than some sinners do.72