The Sinfulness Of Sin - Preach The Word

The Sinfulness Of SinRalph Venning'After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, seeing thou hast punished us lessthan our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this...' (Ezra9.I3,14). What then? What use is to be made of this? 'Should we again break thycommandments? Wouldest Thou not be angry with us till our lusts consumed us?'Yes, we could expect nothing else. What, have you had so many experiences ofyour deceitful heart, and yet are so foolish as still to trust it (Proverbs 28.26)?It is sad and dangerous to sin after experiences. It is impossible, that is, verydifficult and at least morally impossible, for those who have been enlightened andhave tasted of the heavenly gift, to renew them again to repentance if they fallaway (Hebrews 6.4-6). You have had many an aching heart for sinning already. Sosin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. Having such a cloud ofexperimental witnesses, let us lay aside the sin that so easily besets us. If you sinagainst these witnesses, these witnesses will witness against you, and aggravateyour condemnation. Let us therefore say to our sins, as Ephraim did to his idols,with great indignation--'Get ye hence, what have we any more to do with you!'That I may conclude, I have only one more witness to produce against sin:7. THE WITNESS OF SIN ITSELFI shall show that sin proclaims its own sinfulness both by its names which it cannotdisown, and by the arts which it uses to disguise itself.(1) Sin's names. These it cannot deny, but confesses that they belong to it. I shallgive only two examples:I. It is called the work of the Devil (1 John 3.5,8). This is not to say that man's sinis not from himself, or that it is only of the Devil; but sin is what the Devil does andwhat he tempts others to do. Thus to sin is to act and work like the Devil; he whosins is of the Devil. Man indeed is of God, but the sinner or sinful man is of theDevil. The Devil was the first sinner, and he that sins is of him as if he were hischild (John 8.44). He who does the Devil's work is of the Devil; sinning is theDevil's trade and he who follows this trade is of the Devil; he lives a devil's life. TheDevil does nothing but sin; this is his business, and those who tread in his stepsare of him and like him: they are devils incarnate.a. To sin and to live in sin is to do as the Devil does. It is to be like him andconformable to him. Sin is his work. He is so evil and wicked that he is calledemphatically and by way of eminence the Evil and the Wicked One (I John 2.13;3.12); as if no-one were evil or at least as evil as he. Truly the devils are not onlywicked, but they are called wickednesses in the abstract (Ephesians 6.12) andabstracts denote essences. He sinned from the beginning and continues sinning tothis day; and they who imitate him in his work are his children as much as if theywere begotten of him: 'Ye are of your father the Devil, and his works (or his lusts)ye will do'; he was and is a murderer: he attempted it upon God, but effected it onhimself and man (John 8.44). He is the Abaddon and Apollyon, the murderer to thisday (Revelation 9.11). It is true that he is a liar, a deceiver and a tempter, but hedoes all these in subservience to his reigning sin (for he is called a king inRevelation 9.11), which is that he is a destroyer or murderer (1 Peter 5.8). Now85