SIN-PERSPECTIVES
I
cannot pray, except I sin. I cannot preach, but I sin. I cannot administer, nor
receive the holy sacrament, but I sin. My very repentance needs to be repented
of and the tears I shed need washing in the blood of Christ.
William Beveridge
Think of the
guilt of sin, that you may be humbled. Think of the power of sin, that you may
seek strength against it. Think not of the matter of sin…lest you be more and
more entangled.
If God rules
only in those places or events where no sin is involved, God does not rule on
this earth. If sin can thwart God, His sovereignty is a name and not a fact.
Tom Wells
A Vision for Missions,
Permission by The Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA.
p. 18.
Thou hast an
art above God Himself, if thou canst fetch any true pleasure out of unholiness.
William Gurnall
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 140.
I do not say
that sin works for good to an impenitent person. No, it works for his damnation, but it works
for good to them that love God…I know you will not draw a wrong conclusion from
this, either to make light of sin, or to make bold with sin…If any of God’s
people should be tampering with sin, because God can turn it to good; though
the Lord does not damn them, He may send them to hell in this life. He may put
them into such bitter agonies and soul-convulsions, as may fill them full of
horror, and make them draw nigh to despair. Let this be a flaming sword to keep
them from coming near the forbidden tree.
Thomas Watson
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 282.
Sin arises
when things that are a minor good are pursued as though they were the most
important goals in life. If money or affection or power are
sought in disproportionate, obsessive ways, then sin occurs. And that sin is magnified
when, for these lesser goals, we fail to pursue the highest good and the finest
goals. So when we ask ourselves why, in a given situation, we committed a sin,
the answer is usually one of two things. Either we wanted to obtain something
we didn’t have, or we feared losing something we had.
Augustine
The Confessions of St. Augustine.
We do not sin
simply because of Satan or because of social deprivation, stressful situations,
bad influences, or any other external cause. Those things may tempt us to sin
and make sinning easier, but when we commit sin – or even intend to commit sin
– it is because we decide to sin. Sin is an act of the will.
John MacArthur
Matthew 1-7, Moody, 1985, p. 290.
For
as the sun darts its beams upon a dunghill, and yet is no way defiled by it; so
God decrees the permission of sin…yet is not the author of sin.
Thomas Boston
Of the Decrees of God, Commentary on the Shorter
Catechism.
That all sinful actions fall under the divine
decree.
Though sin itself flows from transgressing the law, yet the futurition
of it is from the decree of God. No such thing could ever have been in the
world, if it had not been determined by the eternal counsel of Heaven for a
holy and just end. This is plainly asserted by the apostle Peter, with respect
to the greatest villainy that was ever committed on the earth, namely, the
death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, at the hands of sinful men (Ac.
2:23; 4:27-28)... There was never such an atrocious crime or higher act of wickedness
committed, than the murdering of the Lord of glory. And yet it appears from
these texts of Scripture, that, in this bloody and horrid scene, wicked men did
no more than God's hand and counsel determined before to be done.
Thomas Boston
Of the Decrees of God, Commentary on the Shorter
Catechism.
The
great, and glorious end for which God decreed the after-being of sin, is His
own glory: and the ends subordinate thereunto are not a few. Particularly, God
decreed the futurition of sin:
1.
That He might have occasion of glorifying His
infinite wisdom, love, and grace in the redemption and salvation of a company
of lost sinners through the death and sufferings of His own dear Son.
2.
That His patience and long suffering in
bearing with and forbearing sinners, might be
magnified, admired, and adored.
3.
That He might be honoured
and glorified by the faith and repentance of His people, and their walking
humbly with Him.
1.
That His justice might be illustriously
displayed and glorified in the eternal damnation of reprobate sinners for their
own sins and abominations, sin being the cause of their damnation, though not
of their reprobation.
Thomas Boston
Of the Decrees of God, Commentary on the Shorter
Catechism.
It
is great folly to cast your sins upon Satan who tempted you, or upon your
neighbor who provoked you; but it is a far greater sin, nay horrid blasphemy,
to cast it upon God himself. A greater affront than this cannot be offered to
the infinite holiness of God.
Thomas Boston
Of the Decrees of God,
Commentary on the Shorter Catechism.
The root of our sinfulness is the desire for our own
happiness apart from
God and apart from the happiness of others in God.
John Piper
Loving
God as Yourself – Part 2, May 7, 1995, www.DesiringGod.org. Used by
Permission.
As a result
of grace, we have been saved from sin’s penalty. One day we will be saved from
sin’s presence. In the meantime we are being saved from sin’s power.
Alistair Begg
Made For His Pleasure, Moody Press, 1996, p. 39.
Who knows the
extent to which we would give in to sin, were we to be given a guarantee of
immunity from discovery and exposure?
Sinclair Ferguson
A Heart for God, 1987, p. 90, by permission
Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
Before
we had no choice; now we have one. When we sin as Christians, we do not sin as slaves,
but as individuals with the freedom of choice. We sin because we choose to sin.
Jerry Bridges
Copied
from The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, © 1996, p. 57. Used by
permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights
reserved.
It
might be well if we stopped using the terms “victory” and “defeat” to describe
our progress in holiness. Rather we should use the terms “obedience” and
“disobedience.” When I say I am defeated by some sin, I am unconsciously
slipping out from under my responsibility. I am saying something outside of me
has defeated me. But when I say I am disobedient, that places the
responsibility for my sin squarely on me. We may, in fact, be defeated, but the
reason we are defeated is because we have chosen to disobey.
Jerry Bridges
Copied
from The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, © 1996, p. 81. Used by
permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights
reserved.
Great
thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of
Christ will pilot you into the haven of peace.
C.H. Spurgeon
Morning and Evening, Evening, March 27.
Sin needs darkness
to grow – it needs isolation disguised as “privacy,” and prideful
self-sufficiency disguised as “strength.” Once these conditions prevail, sin is
watered with the acid of shame, which then makes darkness appear more
attractive to the sinner than light.
Mark Dever and Paul
Alexander
Doing
Church Discipline, taken from The Deliberate Church, © 2005, Crossway Books, a
division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, p. 68, www.crosswaybooks.org.
The strength of
temptation also comes from a tendency to push virtues to such an extreme that
they become vices. For example, it is all too easy for the joy of eating to
become gluttony, or for the blessing of rest to become sloth, or for the peace
of quietness to become non-communication, or for industriousness to become
greed, or for liberty to be turned into an excuse for licentiousness. We all
know what it’s like for pleasure to become sensuality, or for self-care to
become selfishness, or for self-respect to become conceit, or for wise caution
to become cynicism and unbelief, or for righteous anger to become unrighteous
rage, or for the joy of sex to become immorality, or for conscientiousness to
become perfectionism. The list could go on endlessly…
Sam Storms
Tactics of Temptation, November 8, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
There is a
great difference between realizing, “On that Cross He was crucified for me,”
and “On that Cross I am crucified with Him.” The one aspect brings us
deliverance from sin’s condemnation, the other from sin’s power.
John
Gregory Mantle
Until we
taste the bitterness of our own misery we will never relish the sweetness of
God’s mercy. Until we see how foul our sins have made us we will never pay our
tribute of praise to Christ for washing us... If you would know the heart of
your sin then you must know the sins of your heart!
William Secker
The Consistent Christian, 1660.
The nearer
you take anything to the light, the darker its spots will appear; and the
nearer you live to God, the more you will see your own utter vileness.
Robert Murray McCheyne
Comfort and Sorrow, Christian Focus Publishers,
2002, p. 105, Used by Permission.