The primary definition of
“sin” given in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary seems to have been taken
straight from the Bible, for it says, “Sin:transgression of the law of God.”
In 1 John 3:4 we read, similarly, “Sin is the transgression of the law.”
However, this is an instance where the King James Version provides a poor
translation of the text. Much misunderstanding of the true meaning of sin can
be traced to the mistranslation of this verse.

    To be sure, the
transgression of God’s law is included in the domain of sin. But sin can also
occur in matters concerning which no positive law or commandment of God has
been given. “As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law”
(Rom. 2:12). Also, “Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had
not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression” (Rom. 5:14). From the
time Adam was expelled from the garden until the days of Moses, there was no
law given for man to transgress. Yet man’s sinfulness and wickedness were
displayed time and time again during that period, as the Book of Genesis
clearly reveals.

    What then is sin? The
more accurate rendering of 1 John 3:4 is this:“Sin is lawlessness.” In other
words, he who sins is one who behaves as if there is no law—as if God has no
will for him. Thus, sin is the spirit of self-will, the spirit of doing what we
want to do without regard for God’s will for us.

    There is much instruction
in all of this for us today. To consider sin to involve only the breaking of
one of the commandments given in God’s Word tends to have a deadening effect
upon the soul. One tends thus to become self-satisfied in the fact that he is
not breaking any of the commandments of Scripture (or at least not any of the
ones he considers to be important). At the same time he becomes lax about those
details of his life concerning which there is no specific commandment to be
found in Scripture.

    The vital question we
need to keep constantly before us is this:“Am I at this moment doing God’s will,
or am I doing my own will?” It must be one or the other. There is no
middle ground.

    All too often we
substitute for this vital question a somewhat different question. This question
takes various forms:“Is there any intrinsic evil in doing such and such a
thing?” “Is there anything wrong with it?” “Will any harm come from this or
will it hurt anyone?” But these are all such negative questions! Let us turn
these questions around and rephrase them so that they sound more like our
“vital question”:“Is there any good in doing such and such a thing?” “Is there
any possibility that God will be well-pleased with it?” “Will glory come to the
Lord from this?” “Is it God’s will that I should be doing this thing at this
time?”

    In this present age with
its generally low moral condition, it is not difficult to find children of God
who think they are living upright lives, but who are, in reality,
self-willed, “lawless” individuals. This is possible because they are content
to compare their lives with those about them who are morally corrupt.

    How apt we are to be
dragged down to the level of those Christians who walk after the spirit of the
age. Thus, how needful it is to have our eyes fixed on Christ; to have Him
before us as our only Object and the only Standard of our lives. Let us not
forget that “sin is lawlessness” and lawlessness—or self-will—is sin. May it be
the desire of our hearts, moment by moment, to seek His will and not our
own.

 

    Here is a subject which
bears much earnest consideration. The Lord Jesus on a very suitable occasion
cautioned his disciples, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation” (Mark
14:38). The danger of entering into that which is not pleasing to God is so
great that watching alone is not enough. The heart must be instructed through
prayer to be able to discern the devices of the wicked one. Scripture says,
“But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you
be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13)

    In this verse we have two
things about sin. One, that it is deceitful; and two, that it hardens. As a
usual thing when we speak of sin, thoughts come to mind of that which in its
very appearance is evil, such as robbery, murder, or the like. But is this all
that God counts sin? No, for in the very beginning of the Bible we find that
disobedience brought sin into the world. “For as by one man’s disobedience many
were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous”
(Rom. 5:19).

    When the keeping of Eden was committed into the hands of Adam, one command was given unto him, with the death
penalty for disobedience (Gen. 2:17). Once it was given, the enemy of God and
man started to work. How could he thwart the purposes of heaven and earth’s
Creator, and rob Him of the praises of His creatures? Deceit was the approach,
and a successful one it was, for “when the woman saw that the tree was good for
food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat” (Gen. 3:6).

    So we read, “Adam was not
deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1 Tim. 2:14).
This was but the beginning of Satan’s deception of man. Since then he has tried
every means to turn the heart of man from God. And how easy it is for him to
succeed, for Scripture plainly tells us that, “the heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked:who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). Having that
within us which is susceptible to that which is wrong, Satan finds us a ready
prey.

    Though the devil, under
one guise or another, drew the hearts of men from God while under the law, yet
now in this present age under grace he seems all the more vigilant to keep
people from receiving Jesus as their Saviour, and yielding themselves unto Him
as their Lord. How shameful it is that, under the pretense of following just
some simple thing at first, we are drawn away from that blessed One of whom it
is written, “Neither was any deceit in his mouth” (Isa. 53:9). The arch enemy
of all that is called truth would try and cause even those who are sheltered
under the precious blood of the cross to dishonor that One who could say, “I am
the way, the truth, and the life”(John 14:6).

    The Scripture gives the
character of this present time when it says, “But evil men and seducers shall
wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13). If we will
but take the time to look around us we will see how true it is that deceit is
so often practiced. Pick up almost any magazine or paper with advertisements in
it and you will find in large type merits of that particular product, intended
to make you believe by catchy wording that it will do much more than it really
can. Then in very small type the limitations of that particular item might be
listed.

    One thing in connection
with the deceitfulness of sin is the way in which it impoverishes our spiritual
growth. Perhaps the Lord has seen fit to take us through some particular trial,
and when we consider the circumstances, even as Peter did on the water, we get
our eyes off the Lord and look at what we are going through. We may be led to
complain, at least to ourselves, and wish that our lot was different. It may
seem as though circumstances require us to take matters into our own hands to
better them, and all the while we are forgetting that the Lord is over
everything, and even the smallest detail in our lives is governed by Himself.
Is it not a dishonor to Him and a victory for the enemy when we are in such a
state of soul? I am sure that it displeases our Lord greatly to have even the
youngest of us, His own, complain about our lot, for He is only allowing things
to happen that will be for our good. But as we go on complaining, criticizing,
belittling others, or grasping after things for ourselves, our spiritual senses
will be deadened, and eventually reach the state of being hardened, all because
we allowed ourselves, perhaps without thinking, to be dissatisfied.

    But the apostle Paul
says, “We are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11). Young people, how are
we to know what his devices are but by the same Word of God that was given unto
Paul. Has anyone ever asked you the question, “What do you get out of life,
seeing you don’t smoke, drink, dance, go to shows, etc.?” To many, when
comparing spiritual things with the things of this world, a loss is suffered
when they give up the things which they would like to have and enjoy down here.
That is the way with Satan; he would make us believe that the treasure which could
be laid up in heaven is not to be compared with the enjoyments of this earth.
Many are deceived by this, not realizing that, “Whatsoever a man sows, that
shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7).

    Though it is right and
proper to provide a living for yourself and family, it is a common thing for
persons to be so engrossed with work that the Word has little effect in their
lives. “He also who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the Word;
and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the Word,
and he becomes unfruitful” (Matt. 13:22).

    Many feel if they sit
through a sermon or perhaps read their Bible regularly, that this is enough,
and well pleasing to God. It is true that to hear the Word is good, and it is
in this way that God speaks to us, but it is not enough. “Be doers of the Word,
and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (Jas. 1:22). Let us practice
the truth that the Word gives to each one of us.

    Finally, if the enemy
cannot weigh us down under sin, he will seek to make us think that we are
beyond sinning. But Scripture tells us otherwise:“If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

 

    Why did the Lord Jesus in
the garden of Gethsemane ask for the cup to be removed? It was not fear of the
pain of crucifixion or the desertion of His friends or the derision of the
crowds. If these had been the only aspects of suffering involved, He would not
have asked to be released from the responsibility. It was the thought of being
made sin, of having sin imputed to Him, of being forsaken by God and being the
recipient of His wrath which filled our Lord with horror and agony.

    The death of Christ shows
us the horribleness of sin because of what He suffered when He bore the
judgment for it. How can any of us make light of sin or enjoy it when we see
what it cost Christ for our sins to be imputed to Him and for Him to be judged
for them?

* * *

     A single sin is more
horrible to God than all the sins in the world are to us.                                          J.N.
Darby

 

 

    “What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we who
are dead to sin live any longer therein?” (Rom. 6:1,2).

    In Romans 5 we find
unfolded the character of the triumph of grace over sin. The apostle now, in
the beginning of chapter 6, is anxious that those who are participators in this
triumph should be preserved from what is a common abuse of his doctrine.

    Enemies of the doctrine
of grace have sought to discredit it by charging it with making sin a
necessity. There are those who understand the doctrine to mean that it permits
going on still in sin. Flagrant violations of holiness have been defended by
the plea that it is allowable under grace to continue in sin, to indulge the
lusts of the flesh. In many places it is taught that victory over sin is not to
be counted on as long as we remain in our earthly life. It is said by some, “We
have not yet received our sinless body, and as long as we have the old sinful
body, sin must have at least a certain measure of rule over us.”

    But the apostle will not
allow those who are in Christ to draw such unholy deductions from his doctrine
of grace. He asks the searching question (if we might paraphrase his words),
“Does the doctrine of grace allow one to go on still in sin? Do we take the
view that grace abounding over sin implies that sin is justifiable as
furnishing occasion for the triumph of grace?”

    How indignantly the
apostle refuses the thought! Such a thought would destroy the true character of
grace; it would rob it of the reality of its triumph; it would mean serious
damage to souls. Such a view is to be wholly condemned. While it is true that
we still have our old sinful body, we cannot allow that we must
therefore sin. That, indeed, would not be deliverance from the dominion of sin.

    If it be said, “Our
future deliverance is secured but present deliverance is impossible,” the
apostle teaches otherwise. He teaches and insists on a present deliverance
from the dominion of sin. Our Lord in John 8:34 said, “Whoever commits sin is
the servant of sin.” The doctrine of the apostle is the same. With him, being
under grace and under sin is an impossibility. Those who are subjects of grace
should regard bondage to sin as incompatible with subjection to grace.

    Those laid hold of by
grace which is by Jesus Christ have become His seed (Isa. 53:10). As thus
sprung from Him, they are sharers in the eternal life which is in Him and they
are of the position in which He is.

    What then is His
position? Here we must remember that Christ, in grace, once took our position
under sin. He was not personally under it, but in grace entered into the
position of being under sin on the behalf of those who were personally in that
position. Having thus in grace taken the position, He died—death being the
penalty of sin, and that which was the due of those in that position. It was a
vicarious death; He could die in no other way. Having died thus making
atonement for the victims of sin, He has risen again and has taken up a new
position. He is thus dead to the former position under sin which in grace He
had taken for those under sin.

    Now, as we have already
said, as sprung from Him we are of Him in His new position. We are of the
position in which He is, and therefore dead to sin.

    It is to this blessed
fact that the apostle appeals in beginning his discussion as to our right to be
practically delivered from the dominion of sin. His argument is this:Sin
having had its reign over us to its legitimate end in death, and Christ having
taken our place in subjection to it, we who have been laid hold of by His grace
have passed out of that position from under sin. We are subjects of grace, and
as such dead to sin. We have the right to be free practically from sin’s power
and rule. We have a positional deliverance which entitles us to live in happy
subjection to grace, in the realization that sin’s rights over us have all been
annulled. We are freed completely from every claim of sin upon us, even from
its claim to the use of the old sinful body. What a perfect deliverance grace
has thus provided for us!

    Alas, how little it is understood!
How difficult it is to lay hold of the true conception of our deliverance, that
as subjects of grace and as those who are in Christ, we are dead to sin!

    Some, in their inability
to lay hold of the real import of the doctrine of being dead to sin, deny it
altogether. They insist that the fact of our having still the old sinful body
is the clearest proof that we are not yet dead to sin. Others, while they do
not deny that the doctrine is taught, and that there is a certain ideal sense
in which it is true, yet deny that it can be practically true. Others
still change the words of Scripture to say, “We ought to be dead to
sin,” and exhort Christians to strive to die to sin. How forcefully
sometimes we are exhorted to put the old man to death. But in all this teaching
the true conception of deliverance from sin is lacking.

    Clearly then is our
position demonstrated to be Christ’s position of being dead to sin. But this
implies and involves living with Him, and living with Him now, not
merely by and by. We shall surely live with Him when we get our redeemed
bodies, but we have title to live with Him now, while we are still in
the old body. He lives no more under sin’s dominion. He went under it once in
grace, but by dying and rising again He lives in eternal deliverance from sin’s
power. As subjects of grace—as being in Him—we are in the same sphere of life
in which He is, where sin cannot enter. It is not simply that we have life in
Him, but that we live with Him; and living with Him implies living in practical
deliverance from sin’s dominion.

    The very first step
toward practical deliverance from serving sin is to think rightly of ourselves.
The apostle tells us in verse 11 how we should think of ourselves. He says that
we should reckon ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God. We
are still in our earthly life, but as in Christ we are entitled to think of
ourselves as if we had died and were risen from the dead. It is this right
thought of our position that the apostle presses upon us here.

    Another thing necessarily
accompanies this right thinking of ourselves as if we were dead and risen.
Viewing ourselves as connected with Christ in His position of having died to
sin and living to God, we will consider that sin has no longer any title to the
use of the mortal body. We will not consent to its reigning there; we will not
allow its lusts to govern us. We will look upon the members of our body as
belonging to God, as if they were members of the new body which we are yet to
receive. We will hold them to be instruments of righteousness—not of sin.

    If now we take the
apostle’s standpoint of looking at ourselves as being in Christ, as if we were
thus dead and risen and living to God, we shall then regard sin’s title to our
body as annulled, and shall recognize the claims of our Saviour-God upon our
body—that its members should be instruments of righteousness. As under these
claims, there will be in us a purpose to have God’s title over us—His rights to
our body— realized in practical life.

    May the Lord use the
apostle’s exhortations in this chapter to establish in the souls of all the
subjects of His grace an insatiable desire to be practically delivered from
sin’s power in its use of the body for any sinful purpose.

 

    In the opening of
Leviticus 10 we see an example of man’s great transgression and dishonor of God
in the presence of God’s glory and grace. The elder sons of Aaron fell because
they despised the burnt offering, and God’s fire which had come down in
acceptance of it. As a result, Aaron and his two remaining sons were instructed
to guard against the expression of grief or the allowance of excitement. In
these things others might indulge, but not those who had the privilege of
drawing near to His sanctuary. They were also instructed as to the eating of
the meal offering and the sacrifice of peace offerings. There remained the
solemn injunction that the priests should eat the sin offering. Their failure
in this respect closes the chapter, deeply appealing to us who, though of a
heavenly calling, are no less apt to forget what it speaks to our souls and
means before God.

    “And Moses diligently
sought the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burnt:and he was angry
with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left alive, saying, Why
have you not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, seeing it is most holy,
and God has given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make
atonement for them before the Lord? Behold, the blood of it was not brought in
within the holy place:you should indeed have eaten it in the holy place, as I
commanded” (Lev. 10:16-18).

    Thus we see that the rest
of the priestly house, though not guilty of the error fatal to Nadab and Abihu,
broke down in a weighty part of their obligations; and all this was, sad to
say, at the very beginning of their history. How humiliating is God’s history
of man everywhere and at all times!

    Perhaps it would not be
possible to find a more wholesome warning for our souls in relation to our brethren.
God requires us to identify ourselves in grace with the failures of our
brethren, as they with ours. It is a fact that we all and often offend; and we
are exhorted to confess our sins or offenses to one another. Is this all? Far
from it! We have to fulfill the type before us, to eat the sin offering in the
sanctuary, to make the offence of a saint our own, seriously, in grace before
God, to behave as if we ourselves had been the offenders.

    In this same way the
Lord, when indicating by His symbolic action in John 13 the gracious but
indispensable work He was about to carry on for us upon departing to the
Father, let the disciples know that they too were to wash one another’s feet.
But here we are as apt to fail through ignorance or carelessness as Peter did
doubly on that occasion.

    The apostle Paul had to
censure the insensibility of the Corinthian saints in 1 Corinthians 5, but
later on had the joy of learning that they were made sorry according to God, as
he expressed it in 2 Cor. 7:9. Again, to the Galatian saints he wrote, “Bear
one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2), instead of
meddling with the law of Moses to the hurt of themselves and of each other.
Individual responsibility remains true:each shall bear his own burden; but
grace would bear one another’s burdens.

    Intercession with our God
and Father is a precious privilege which it is our shame to neglect. It keeps
God’s rights undiminished, and exercises the heart in love to our brethren. Let
us never forget that grace condemns evil far more profoundly than law ever did
or could.

    (From The Bible
Treasury, Vol. N3.)

_________________________________________________________________

 

    When Daniel confessed his
sin and the sin of his people (Dan. 9:1-20), he was surely eating the sin
offering. And such an identification of ourselves with the sins of God’s saints
is greatly needed for all of us. This will be realized more among us as we grow
in our knowledge of the cross. Alas! the slight knowledge of God’s grace may allow
a light treatment of sin, or else, perhaps, a bitter judgment of it. But a real
eating of the sin offering makes one equally serious and tender. Who can
harshly judge when Christ has borne the judgment? At the same time, who can
treat lightly what brought Him to the cross?

     F.W. Grant

    Some people speak of the
worship offered to God by “poor sinners.” Many hymns never bring the soul
beyond this condition. But what is meant by “sinner” in the Word of God is a
soul altogether without peace, a soul that feels its want of Christ, without
the knowledge of redemption. It is not truthfulness to deny what saints are in
the sight of God. If I have failed in anything, will taking the ground of a
poor sinner make the sin to be less, or give me to feel it more? No! If I am a
saint, blessed with God in His beloved Son, made one with Christ, and the Holy
Spirit given to dwell in me, then I ought to feel and say, “How terrible that I
have failed, and dishonored the Lord, and been indifferent to His glory!” If I
feel my own coldness and indifference, it is to be hated as sin. On the other
hand, to take the ground of a “poor sinner” is really to make excuses for evil.
Which of the two ways would act most powerfully upon the conscience? Which
humbles man and exalts God most? Clearly the more that we realize what God has
made us in Christ, the more we will feel the dishonor of our course if walking
inconsistently. But if we keep speaking about ourselves merely as a sinner, it
may seem lowly to the superficial, but it becomes a kind of palliative of our
evil, and never causes the thorough humbling that God looks for in the child of
faith.

    (From Lectures on the
Epistle to the Galatians.)

 

     “What shall I do to
inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25).

     The question was framed
by a professional theologian to test the orthodoxy of the great Rabbi of
Nazareth. Evidently it was rumored that the new Teacher was telling the people
of a short road to heaven.

     The answer given was
clear:eternal life is the reward and goal of a perfect life on earth—perfect
love to God and man.

This being so, no one but a
Pharisee or a fool could dream of inheriting eternal life. The practical
question that concerns every one of us is whether God has provided a way by
which men who are not perfect, but sinful, can be saved. The answer to
this question is hidden in the parable by which the Lord silenced his
interrogator’s quibble, “Who is my neighbor?”

     Here is the story from
Luke 10:30-35:A traveler on the downward road to the city of the curse
(Jericho) fell among thieves, who robbed and wounded him and flung him down,
half dead, by the wayside. First, a priest came that way, and then a Levite,
who looked at him and passed on. Why a priest and a Levite? Did the Lord intend
to throw contempt upon religion and the law? That is quite incredible. No, but
He wished to teach what, even after 19 centuries of Christianity, not one
person in a thousand seems to know, that law and religion can do nothing for a
ruined and dead sinner. A sinner needs a Saviour, and so the Lord brings
the Samaritan upon the scene.

     But why a Samaritan? Just
because “Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9). Except as a
last resource, no Jew would accept deliverance from such a quarter. Sin not
only spells danger and death to the sinner, but it alienates the heart from
God. Nothing but a sense of utter helplessness and hopelessness will lead him
to throw himself, with abject self-renunciation, at the feet of Christ.

     It is not that man by
nature is necessarily vicious or immoral. It is chiefly in the spiritual sphere
that the effects of the Eden Fall declare themselves. Under human teaching the
Fall becomes an adequate excuse for a sinful life. But the Word of God declares
that men are “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). Although “those who are in the flesh
cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8), they can lead clean, honest, and honorable lives.
The “cannot” is not in the moral, but in the spiritual sphere. For “the
mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of
God” (Rom. 8:7,8).

     This affords a clue to
the essential character of sin. In the lowest classes of the community sin is
but another word for crime. At a higher level in the social scale it is
regarded as equivalent to vice. In a still higher sphere the element of impiety
is taken into account. But all this is arbitrary and false. Crime, vice,
and impiety are unquestionably sinful; but yet the most upright, moral, and
religious of men may be the greatest of sinners upon earth.

     Why state this
hypothetically? It is a fact; witness the life and character of Saul of
Tarsus. Were the record not accredited by Paul the inspired apostle, we might
well refuse to believe that such blamelessness, piety, and zeal were ever
attained by mortal man. Why then does the apostle call himself the chief of
sinners? In the presence of those to whom he was well known, he could say, “I
have lived before God in all good conscience until this day” (Acts 23:1). With
reference to his past life, he could write, “As touching the righteousness
which is in the law, found blameless” (Phil. 3:6).

     Was this an outburst of
wild exaggeration of the kind to which pious folk of an hysterical turn are
addicted? No, it was the sober acknowledgment of the well-known principle that
privilege increases responsibility and deepens guilt.

     According to the
“humanity gospel,” which is today supplanting the Gospel of Christ in so many
pulpits, Paul was a model saint. In the judgment of God he was a model sinner.
Just because he had, as judged by men, attained preeminence in saintship,
divine grace taught him to own his preeminence in sin. With all his zeal for
God and fancied godliness, he awoke to find that he was a blasphemer. And what
a blasphemer! Who would care a straw what a Jerusalem mob thought of the Rabbi
of Nazareth? But who would not be influenced by the opinion of Gamaliel’s great
disciple?

     An infidel has said that
“Thou shalt not steal” is merely the language of the hog in the clover to warn
off the hogs outside the fence. And this reproach attaches to all mere human
conceptions of sin. Men judge of sin by its results and their estimate of its
results is colored by their own interests. But all such conceptions of sin are
inadequate. Definitions are rare in Scripture, but sin is there defined for us.
It may show itself in transgression, or in failing to come up to a standard.
But essentially it is lawlessness. This means, not transgression of law, nor
absence of law, but revolt against law—in a word, self-will. This is the very
essence of sin. The perfect life was the life of Him who never did His own
will, but only and always the will of God. All that is short of this, or
different from this, is characterized as sin.

     Here it is not a
question of acts merely, but of the mind and heart. Man’s whole nature is at
fault. Even human law recognizes this principle. In the case of ordinary crime
we take the rough and ready method of dealing with men for what they do. But
not so in crime of the highest kind. Treason consists in the hidden thought of
the heart. Overt acts of disloyalty or violence are not the crime, but merely
the evidence of the crime. The crime is the purpose of which such acts give
proof. Men cannot read the heart; they can judge of the purpose only by words
and acts. But it is not so with God. In His sight the treason of the human
heart is manifest, and no outward acts are needed to declare it.

     The truest test of a man
is not conduct, but character; not what he does, but what he is. Human judgment
must, of course, be guided by a man’s acts and words. But God is not thus
limited. Man judges character by conduct; God judges conduct by character.
Therefore it is that “what is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the
sight of God” (Luke 16:15).

     This brings us back to
the case of Paul. Under the influence of environment, and following his natural
bent, he took to religion as another man might take to vice. Religion was his
specialty, and the result was a splendid success. Here was the case of a man
who really did his best, and whose “best” was a record achievement. But what
was God’s judgment of it all? What was his own, when he came to look back on it
from the cross of Christ? Surveying the innumerable hosts of the sinners of
mankind, he says, “of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15). Because his
unrivaled “proficiency” in religion had raised him to the very highest pinnacle
of privilege and responsibility, this proved him to be the most wicked of men.

     But “I obtained mercy,”
he adds. He was twice granted mercy, first in receiving
salvation, and next in being called to the apostleship. The mercy of his
salvation was only because “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”
(1 Timothy 1:15). He had no other plea.

     The apostle Paul’s case
only illustrates the principle of divine judgment, as proclaimed by the Lord
Himself in language of awful solemnity. The most terrible doom recorded in Old
Testament history was that which engulfed the cities of the plain. Yet the Lord
declared that a still more dire doom awaited the cities which had been
specially favored by His presence and ministry on earth. The sin of Sodom we know. But what had Capernaum done? Religion flourished there. It was “exalted to
heaven” by privilege, and there is no suggestion that evil practices prevailed.
The exponents of the “humanity gospel,” now in popular favor, would have deemed
it a model community. They would tell us, moreover, that if Sodom was really
destroyed by a storm of fire and brimstone, it was Jewish ignorance which
attributed the catastrophe to their cruel Jehovah God. The kind, good Jesus of their
enlightened theology would have far different thoughts about Capernaum!

     “But I say unto you,”
was the Lord’s last warning to that seemingly happy and peaceful community, “it
shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for
you” (Matt. 11:24).

     What, then, we may well
ask, had Capernaum done? So far, as the record tells us, absolutely nothing.
Had there been flagrant immorality, or active hostility, the Lord would not
have made His home there; nor would it have come to be called “His own city”
(Matt. 4:13; 9:1; Mark 2:1). Had there been aggressive unbelief, the “mighty
works” which He wrought so lavishly among its people would have been
restrained. Thoroughly respectable and religious folk they evidently were. But
“they repented not”; that was all.

     That such people should
be deemed guiltier than Sodom, and that the champion religionist of His own age
should rank as the greatest sinner of any age, here is an enigma that is
insoluble if we ignore the Eden Fall—the teaching of Scripture as to the
essential character of sin. It was not that these men, knowing God, rejected
Him, but that they did not know Him. “He was in the world, and the world was
made by Him, and the world knew Him not.” “But,” the record adds, “as many as
received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God.” On
receiving Him, or, in other words, on believing on His name, they were “born of
God” (John 1:10-13).

     If sin were merely a
matter of wrong-doing, if it were not “in the blood,” if our very nature were
not spiritually corrupt and depraved by it, a new birth would be unnecessary. A
blind man does not see things in a wrong light; he cannot see them at all. And
man by nature is spiritually blind. He “cannot see the Kingdom of God,” much less enter it. He must be born again.

     But there is more in sin
than this. It not only depraves the sinner, but it brings him under judgment.
Guilt attaches to it. Salvation, therefore, must be through redemption, and
redemption can only be by blood.

_________________________________________________________________

 

     On the cross hung the
one spotless, blessed Man, yet forsaken of God. What a fact before the world!
No wonder the sun was darkened—the central and splendid witness to God’s glory
in nature, when the Faithful and True Witness cried to His God and was not
heard. Forsaken of God! What does this mean? What part have I in the cross? One
single part—my sins! It baffles thought, that most solemn lonely hour
which stands aloof from all before or after.

                                                    J.N.
Darby

 

     May I speak of a fact
too common, alas, to escape observation? We are living in times of superficial
conviction. Souls are not plowed up by the Spirit of God, as He would and as
they should be. Men say, “Peace, peace,” too easily. The sinner is not made to
realize the awfulness of his position—a guilty, lost and helpless soul
on the brink of eternity. I know this is not considered popular preaching, and
that it is hardly thought proper or wise to speak of the hell of eternity that
awaits Christ-rejecters. As a result, the work of conviction is very
superficial, and, even when real, of but shallow depth. But souls must be
convicted of sin if they are to receive the gospel. That gospel is not a mere
piece of logic to be reasoned about, such as, “All men are sinners; Christ died
for sinners; therefore He died for me.” Cold, lifeless acquiescence like this
is not faith, nor salvation. It is the awakened soul who realizes what it is to
be “lost” who can appreciate, as cold water to a thirsty man, the gospel of the
grace of God. Men trim down the solemn fact of man’s sin, and thus the Spirit’s
work of conviction is hindered. What wonder that the professing church is full
of unsaved souls!

     Let us take an example
of this convicting work of the Spirit. We find the three features of conviction
of sin, righteousness, and judgment (see John 16:8-11) in the first gospel
sermon after the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost, “preached … with the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven” (1 Pet. 1:12).

     First, as to conviction
of sin, he brings home to them the fact of their rejection of Christ:“Him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23). Here the Holy
Spirit brings home the fact of their sin. It was not now a question of this and
that transgression, but they had refused to believe on Christ—had rejected Him.

     Next, he convicts them
of righteousness, because Jesus had gone to the Father:“Whom God hath raised
up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He
should be holden of it…. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted,
and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He has shed forth
this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:24,33). Clearly, God had manifested
His righteousness, and vindicated His beloved Son in thus raising and exalting
Him to the right hand of power.

     Finally, the Spirit of
God brings home to them the reality of impending judgment:“I will show wonders
in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire, and vapor of
smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before
that great and notable day of the Lord come” (Acts 2:19,20). All nature would
quake in the presence of its Judge, and this judgment was imminent.

     Thus we have a threefold
conviction of sin; and what was the result? “Now, when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the
apostles:Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). Blessed work! Is
there not joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that
repents? and here were 3,000 crying under conviction by the mighty work of the
Spirit of God. Blessed and easy work now for Peter to set Christ before them,
and to assure them of free forgiveness in His name.

     (From Lectures on the
Holy Spirit.)

 

* * *

 

Jesus died to set me free,

Jesus died on Calvary;

Not a blessing that I know,

But to Jesus Christ I owe.

 

Through His blood I’m
reconciled,

Of a foe am made a child;

For His foes the Saviour
died,

Sinners now are justified.

 

Only sin to Him I brought,

Only love in Him I found,

Love that passes all my
thought,

Love that doth to me abound.

 

’Twas for sinners that He
died,

Title I have none beside;

Thus I know it was for me

Jesus died on Calvary.

                                                    F.W.
Grant