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‘I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.’
Luk_15:10
I. What do we mean by sin?—There is first of all the philosophic definition of sin; that sin is the serviceable and necessary foil of goodness, that sin is the whetstone on which the axe of goodness is ground. Doubtless there is truth in this view, though not the whole truth. Almighty God is seated above the water floods, be the earth never so unquiet. He is always bringing the good out of the evil. God, we must believe, always overrules the errors, and sins, and mistakes of mankind for good. We can never, however, take that view of sin as a whole, because we look at the Cross of Jesus. When we look at the Cross of Jesus Christ, we see that sin is the hateful and appalling antithesis of all goodness, not merely the necessary factor of its evolution.
II. There is in human life no more instructive study than of the education of the human race in the idea of sin.—It is there of course in the natural man; you will find it amongst the heathen. Then you turn to that wonderful nation, the elect people of God, which was entrusted with the supreme duty of preserving the religious idea for the rest of mankind. You will find accordingly, when you study the Old Testament, an extraordinary deepening in the whole idea of sin, but especially a deepening in the sense of its gravity. Then we turn to the Christian revelation. The Christian revelation gathers up within it all that is true of the Jewish revelation, with these added points of gravity. In Christ is revealed the model life, and the revelation of the model life reveals the gravity of sin, and in Christ upon the Cross is revealed the appalling nature of sin; for if the Cross is the measure of the love of God, the Cross is no less the measure of the sinfulness of sin. So we see it all gathered up into the Sinless Sufferer, into the ideal Penitent, into the broken heart of Jesus, as He uttered that cry, as the expression of what sin really is, in the eyes of the All Holy God: ‘My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me.’ And this education in the gravity of the idea of sin goes on still. God is always educating His children individually in the idea of sin, and I mention this because some people are unnecessarily distressed because, as they seem to progress in the spiritual life, they also seem to be more and more conscious of sin. It is obvious that it must be so.
III. Let us turn to the great divisions of sin.—There are, as you know, two great divisions: there is racial sin, or, as theologians call it, original sin: and there is actual sin.
(a) There is racial sin.—Do we not all know that very often the citadel is betrayed before ever the assault from outside has taken place? Do we not all know that there is no need to struggle to be evil? Let yourself go. Strive no longer. Let the stream carry you down, and you will easily fall into the abyss. Do we not know that the very word ‘virtue’ expresses it; that if we are to persist, it means a hard battle right to the end, lest we be swept off our feet as the stream rushes by. There is a tendency to sin within. There is racial sin.
(b) There is actual sin—that appalling revelation of the evil we actually commit. Sin against God, sin against man, sin against ourselves, sins of omission, sins of commission. Sins when we turn within the innermost shrine of our being, and there is the awful unveiling of the sins of thought, and of what we might be but for the grace of God
IV. The penalty of sin.—I am absolutely convinced, after twenty-five years’ ministry to those who have been burdened with the weight of their sin, and indeed from one’s own inner experience of sin, that sin carries with it its own nemesis. I do not mean that nemesis always overtakes the sinner in this life; but it does so, so frequently, that we may infer that, sooner or later, either here or hereafter, it will do so. The nemesis is in the sin.
V. One point of practical application.—Inasmuch as sin can only be cured by its discovery, there is no duty more incumbent upon all God’s people than the duty of careful self-examination.
Rev. G. F. Holden.
Illustration‘When we hear St. Paul say, “I am the chief of sinners,” we begin to wonder what can be our own position, and we also begin to wonder whether the great Apostle is not using hyperbolical language. Not at all. St. Paul is expressing exactly what he meant and felt. He had drawn so near to the ideal standard of our Lord Himself that his whole sense of sin had become deepened. So also we get sometimes in the phrases of God’s servants remarks about sin which sound almost unreal, if not revolting. If ever there was a saint of God; if ever there was one man on whom the Cross was laid all through his life; if ever there was one whose whole heart and mind and soul were dedicated to Almighty God, it was surely Dr. Pusey; and yet we find him saying this: “I am scarred and seamed all over with sin, so that I am a monster unto myself. I can feel only of myself like one covered with leprosy from head to foot.” What is the real meaning of such language as this? It is just this: that as we progress in holiness, as we draw nearer to God, so our whole standard is altered, and we begin to see the truth about sin.’