Sin’s True Character

Sin's True Character

(No. 3374)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1913.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Exceedingly sinful." Romans 7:13.

INTO the connection of these words our time, which is very short this
evening, will not permit us to enter. It was something like this–Paul
was showing that the Law could not make a man holy and he observes that
he had, himself, found that when the Law came into his heart, it
excited in him a desire to act contrary to its precepts. There were
some actions which he would not have thought of performing until he
found that they were forbidden–and then immediately he felt a desire
to do them at once! To this a grave objection was raised. This were to
make the Law aid and abet sin! Not so, replies the Apostle–it was not
the Law that made him sin, for the Law is good–but it was the
sinfulness of his heart that could thus turn that which was good into
an occasion of evil. He further showed that this was the very design of
the Law as given by Moses–to make clear how sinful sin was. The
purpose for which it was sent was not to make men holy, but to make men
see how unholy they were! It was not the cure of the disease, much less
the creator of it, but it was the revealerof the disease that lurked in
the constitution of man!

Now, what I want to call your attention to is that Paul here calls sin,
"exceedingly sinful." Why didn't he say, "exceedingly black," or,
"exceedingly horrible," or, "exceedingly deadly"? Why, because there is
nothing in the world so bad as sin! When he wanted to use the very
worst word he could find to call sin by, he called it by its own name
and reiterated it–"sin," "exceedingly sinful." For if you call sin,
black, there is no moral excellency or deformity in black or white.
Black is as good as white and white is as good as black. And so you
have expressed nothing. If you call sin, "deadly, "yet death in itself
has no evil in it compared with sin. For plants to die is not a
dreadful thing, rather it may be a part of the organization of Nature
that successive generations of vegetables should spring up and, in due
time, should form the root-soil for other generations to follow. If you
call it, "deadly," you have said but little. If you need a word, you
must come home for it. Sin must be named after itself! If you need to
describe it, you must call it, "sinful." Sin is "exceedingly sinful"

The text may suggest a broad argument and a special application. Our
endeavor shall be to show you, then, that sin is in itself,
"exceedingly sinful" and yet there are some signs of which it may be
said with peculiar emphasis that they are "exceedingly sinful."

I. SIN IS IN ITSELF "EXCEEDINGLY SINFUL."

It is rebellion against God and "exceedingly sinful" because it
interferes with the just rights and prerogatives of God. That great
invisible Spirit whom we cannot see, whom even our own thoughts cannot
encompass, made the heavens and the earth and all things that are–and
it was His right that what He made should serve His purpose and give
Him Glory. The stars do this. They jar not in their everlasting orbits.
The world of matter does this. He speaks and it is done. The sun, the
moon, the constellations of Heaven, yes, and the terrestrial forces,
even the billows of the sea and the ravings of the wind–all these obey
His behests. It is right they should. Shall not the potter make of the
clay what he wills? Shall not he who uses the axe, fashion what he
chooses for his own pleasure? You and I, favored in our creation–not
inanimate clods, not worms having only sensations, without
intellect–we who have been favored with thought, emotion, affection,
with a high spiritual existence. Yes, with an immortal existence–we
were especially bound to be obedient to Him that made us. Ask your
conscience, do you not feel that God has rights towards you? Ask
yourselves, if you make or preserve anything, call it your own and it
is your own–do you not expect it to answer your end, or do your
bidding? Why have you forgotten Him that made you? Why have you spent
your powers and faculties for anything but His Glory?

Ah, it is "exceedingly sinful" when the crown rights of Him upon whose
will we exist are ignored, or impudently contravened! Yet according to
the part we take in sin, we trample on His edicts and set at nothing
His jurisdiction.

How exceedingly sinful is this rebellion against such a God! Muse on
His attributes and consider His majesty, for He is not merely
infinitely powerful, wise, all-sufficient and glorious, but He is
supremely good! He is good to the fullest extent of goodness! He is a
God whose Character is matchless! Not like Jupiter, to whom the
heathens ascribed every vice, nor like Juggernaut, the bloody god of
Hindustan! He is a pure and holy God whom we worship! Jehovah, glorious
in holiness, fearful in praises. Now, it is conceivable that if God
were some vast Being who had a natural right to our service, yet if His
Character–(forgive, great God, the supposition!)–were severe without
pity, rigorous without clemency, harsh without forbearance, there were
some pretense why daring spirits should lead a rebellion against the
oppressor. But our Father, God, the great Shepherd-King–who shall
frame an excuse when we, for a single moment, revolt against Him, or
lift a finger against His will? It were Heaven to serve Him! The angels
will tell you this! It were bliss to do His will. The perfect spirits
all proclaim this! Ah, sin is base, indeed, a rebellion against a
monarch's gentlest sway, an insurrection against parent's most tender
rights, a revolt against peerless benignity! Oh, shame on you, Sin! You
are, indeed, "exceedingly sinful!"

What an aggravation of the sinfulness of sin is this–that it rebels
against laws of which all are just! The table of the Ten Commandments
contains not one commandment but what is founded upon the essential
principles of right. If a law were proclaimed in England which violated
the principles of equity, to break that law might be the highest duty!
But when the laws of our country are just and right, it is not only an
offense against the natural power of the State, but an offense against
the understanding and the conscience of right when a man breaks such a
statute! God's Laws have not only the Divine Authority, but they have
also this recommendation, that they are all harmonious and adapted to
the relations of our being. Was it not the State of Massachusetts that
at first passed a resolution when they were about to make statutes,
that they would be governed by the Laws of God until they found time to
make better? Will they ever find opportunity to make better? Could any
man strike out a clause and improve it? Could he add a sentence and
mend it? No! The Law is holy, just and good! And, rightly understood,
it naturally forbids evil and simply commends good–only good! Oh, Sin!
You are sinful, indeed, that you should dare to revolt against that
which in itself is right and just, virtuous and true!

Moreover, Brothers and Sisters–this may touch some of us to the
quick–sin is "exceedingly sinful" because it is antagonistic to our
own interest, a mutiny against our own welfare. Selfishness is a strong
principle in us all. That which is good for us and personally
advantageous should be regarded with tenacious attachment and were we
wise, would be pursued with strong enthusiasm. Now, whenever God
forbids a thing, we may rest assured it would be dangerous. God's
commands are just like those notices, more suggestive of kindly warning
than of stern prohibition, which we see upon the park waters in the
days of frost, "Dangerous." God simply tells us that such-and-such a
thing is fraught with peril, or it leads to destruction. What He
permits or commends will be, if not immediately, yet in the long run,
in the highest degree promotive of our best interests. God does but, as
it were, consult our well-being and prosperity when He gives us Laws.
Doesn't it seem a vicious thing, indeed, that a man will recklessly
dare to slight himself in order to sin against his Maker? God says to
you, "Do not thrust your arm in the fire." Nature says, "Do not do it."
And yet when God says, "Do not commit fornication or adultery, do not
lie, do not steal"–when He says, "Draw near to Me in prayer, love Me,"
these commands are in themselves as naturally wise as the injunction
not to thrust your hand into the fire, or the counsel to eat and drink
wholesome food when hunger and thirst require! Yet we spurn these
commands. Like a child that is bidden not to drink of the poison cup,
but will drink of it. Like a child that is refused the sharp tool lest
he cut himself. And he will cut himself–not believing in his father's
wisdom, but credulous of his own judgment because the cup looks sweet,
it must be harmless–because the edged tool glitters, it must be a
proper plaything! Know it, man, you do, when you sin, cut and tear
yourself! Who but a madman would do that? If you neglect to do the
right, you neglect to feed yourself with that which nourishes, and to
clothe yourself with that which is comely! Who but an idiot would lend
himself to such folly? Yet sin has made us such idiots and such madmen
and, therefore, it is "exceedingly sinful!"

Sin, if we rightly consider it, is an upsetting of the entire order of
the universe. In your family you feel, as a father, that nothing can go
smoothly unless there is a head whose discretion shall regulate all the
members. If your child should say, "Father, I am determined in this
family that, whatever your will is, I will resist it, and whatever
mywill is, I will

abide by it and always carry it out if I can," what a family that would
be! How disorganized! What a household! Might we not say, what a Hell
upon earth? There sails tomorrow a ship from the Thames under command
of a captain, wise and good, who understands the seas. But he has
scarcely reached the Nore before a sailor tells him that he shall not
obey, that he does not intend either to reef a sail, or to do anything
aboard the vessel that he is bid to do. "Put the fellow in irons!"
Everybody says it is right. Or a passenger coming up from the saloon
informs the captain that he does not approve of his authority and,
throughout the whole of the voyage he intends to thwart him all he can.
If there is a boat within hail, put that fellow on shore and do not be
concerned if he lands in a muddy place! Get rid of him somehow!
Everybody feels it must be. You might as well scuttle the ship and cut
holes in her sides, as tolerate for a moment that the rightful central
authority should be unshipped, or that every man should determine to do
what is right in his own eyes! The happiness of everybody on board that
vessel will depend upon order being kept. If one man is to do this, and
another to do that, you might almost as well be shut up in a cage with
lions, as be in such a vessel! Now, look at this world–it is but a
floating ship on a larger scale–and who ought to be Captain here but
He who made it, for His mighty hand alone can grasp that awful tiller!
Who can steer this gigantic vessel over the waves of Providence–who
but He? And who am I, and, my Hearer, who are you that you should say,
"I will ignore the Lord High Admiral! I will forget the Captain! I will
rebel against Him"? Why, if all do as you do, what is to become of the
whole vessel, what of the whole world? When disorder is introduced,
confusion, sorrow, dismay and disaster will be sure to follow!

If you want proof that sin is exceedingly sinful, see what it has done
already in the world. Lift up your eyes and survey that lovely garden
where every beautiful creature, both of bird and beast, and every
flower of unwithering loveliness, and everything that can delight the
senses are to be discovered in the sunlight. There are two perfect
beings, a man and a woman, the parents of our race– then enters sin.
The flowers are forthwith withered, a new wildness has seized upon the
beasts, the ground brings forth her thorns and thistles and the man is
driven out in the sweat of his face to earn his daily bread! Who
withered Eden? You did, accursed Sin! You did it all! See there–but
can you bear the sight?–clouds of smoke, rolling pillars of dust, the
sound of clarion, the yet more dreadful boom of cannon! Listen to the
shrieks and cries! They flee–they are pursued–the battle is over!
Walk over the field. There lies a mangled mass of human bodies cut and
torn, riddled with shot, skulls splintered with rifle balls, pools of
blood! Oh, there is such a scene as only a fiend could gaze on with
complacency! Who did all this? From where come wars and rumors but from
your own lusts and from your sins? Oh, Sin, you are a carnage-maker!
Sin, you cry, '"Havoc," and immediately let loose the dogs of war!
There had been none of this had you not come. But the spectacle
multiplies in our vision. All over the world you have but to wander and
you see little hillocks more or less thickly scattered everywhere. And
if you analyze the dust that blows along the street and interrogate
every grain, it will probably tell you it was once a part of the body
of some man who in generations past died painfully and rotted back to
mother earth! Oh, the world is scarred with death! What is this earth
today, but a great Aceldema–a field of blood, a vast cemetery? Death
has worm-eaten the world through and through. All its surface bears
relics of the human race. Who slew all these? Who slew all these? Who,
indeed, but Sin? Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death!

Should your venturous wings of imagination dare the flight to a land
that is full of confusion and without any order, I scarcely dare ask
you to follow me, nor if you couldfollow, would I venture to lead the
way across the stream that parts the land of mortals from the regions
of the immortals! Across that valley of the shadow of death, you might
look on the gloomy region of wretched souls where their worm dies not,
and their fire is not quenched–if you dared to peer into that dismal
pit that has no bottom, that place wherein spirits condemned of God are
put away forever and forever from all light of hope and restoration!
But you shudder even as I shrink back in very horror from that place
where God's wrath burns like a furnace–and the proud that do
wickedness are as stubble–and the nations that forget God are forever
consumed! Who lit that fire? Where is he that kindled it? It is Sin!
Sin did it all. No man is there except for sin. No man that ever
breathed was ever cast away except as punishment most just, for sin
most grave! Sin is, indeed, "exceedingly sinful." Not even now have I
reached the climax, nor must I venture the description. The worst phase
is neither death nor Hell. But on Calvary's tree the Lord, Himself, who
loved us and came to earth to bless us, proved the sinfulness of sin
when Sin nailed Him to the tree and pierced His side. And sinners,
rejecting Him with many a jibe and sneer, exclaimed, "We will not have
this Man to reign over us." In the agonies of Jesus, in the shame and
spitting, in the woes and anguish

that He endured, we read the sinfulness of sin, written as in capital
letters, that even the half-blind might see! Oh, Sin, murderer of
Christ, you are "exceedingly sinful!" My time has failed me, or I had
meant to have enlarged upon–

II. SOME PARTICULAR SINS THAT ARE EXCEEDINGLY SINFUL ABOVE ANY ORDINARY
TRANSGRESSION.

I mean sins against the Gospel. I will just give the catalog, that
everyone here who is honest with himself may search and see whether he
is guilty. To reject loving messengers sent from God, godly parents,
earnest pastors, affectionate teachers–to reject the kind message that
they bring and the yearning anxiety that they feel for us is
"exceedingly sinful!" To resist the loving Gospel which talks to us
only of mercy, pardon, adoption and redemption from Hell and exaltation
to Heaven–to reject that is "exceedingly sinful!" To resist the dying
Savior whose only motive in coming to earth must have been love, whose
wounds are mouths that preach His love, whose death is the solemn proof
of love–to despise, to neglect, to ignore Him–this is "exceedingly
sinful!" To sin against Him after having made a profession of loving
Him. To come to His Table and then go and sin with the ungodly. To be
baptized in His name and yet to be unjust, dishonest, unrighteous–this
is "exceedingly sinful!" To be numbered with His Church and yet to be
of the world. To profess to be His followers and yet to be His
enemies–this is "exceedingly sinful!" To sin against light and
knowledge. To sin knowing better. To sin against conscience. To push
conscience to one side. To do violence to one's better self. To sin
against the Holy Spirit, against His admonitions, warnings, promptings,
invitations–this is "exceedingly sinful!" To go on sinning after you
have smarted. To continue to sin when sin costs you many pains and
difficulties. To push onward to Hell, as if riding a steeple-chase,
over post, and bar, and gate, and hedge, and ditch–this is
"exceedingly sinful!"

Some of you here, tonight, are in this, exceedingly sinful. Oh, How I
have pleaded with some of you! I have cried to you to come to Jesus. I
have warned some of you again and again. If I am called to make answer
at the judgment bar, I must say, "Amen," to the condemnation of many of
you! I shall be obliged to confess that you knew better–that some of
you drink when you know how wrong it is! That some of you can swear.
That some of you are thieves. Some of you sin with a high hand and yet
I scarcely know why you come to this Tabernacle again and again and
again! You love to hear my voice and yet you cling to your sins–your
sins that will surely damn you! Let me be clear of your blood! I will
not mince matters with you or talk with you as if you are all saints
when I know you are not–and as if you are all going to Heaven, when,
alas, many of you are still swiftly spreading your wings to fly
downward to Hell! Oh, may God arrest you, or otherwise the brightness
and the light in which you sin will make your sin the darker and the
plainer–and the warnings you hear will make your condemnation the more
overwhelming when it comes!

But why must it come? Why will you die? Why are you set on sin? Why do
you love mischief? I see often in the gaslight of my study poor gnats
come flying in if the window is but ajar–and how they dash against the
flame–and down they fall, but have scarcely recovered strength before
up they fly again unto their destruction! Are you such? Are you mere
insects, without wit, without knowledge? Oh, you are not, or else were
you excusable! Come to my Savior, poor Souls! He is still willing to
receive you! A prayer will do it. Breathe the prayer! A broken heart He
will not despise. A look at Him will do it. A faint glance at Jesus
pleading for you will do it! Holy Spirit, make them give that glance!
Oh, by Your Irresistible Power, compel them to look and live! Oh, it
shall be! God be thanked, it shall be! You shall look tonight and God
shall have the Glory! And though you are "exceedingly sinful," yet
shall you, through the precious blood, be fully forgiven–and I hope
exceedingly grateful for the great forgiveness which Jesus brings! The
Lord bless you, for His name's sake. Amen.

[The original title of this sermon is "SIN'S TRUE QUALITY."]

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 51; ROMANS 7:7-25.

PSALM51.

There are many sweet notes in Christian music, but to my own heart
there is none so soft, tender, sweet as the note of repentance. Full
assurance rings out her clarion trumpet strain and we ought to be able
to send it forth, but sometimes we are unable. Conquest over sin gives
us Miriam's timbrel to dance to and it is well, but everyday use
commends me to

the harp strings of penitence! We ought always to be able to play on
those strings. They always fit our guilty fingers. They are always
sweet to the ear of the Most High. Mr. Rowland Hill used to say that
there was one friend of his whom he could not take to Heaven and whom
he thought he would regret to leave–and that was sweet repentance. I
suppose when God wipes every tear from our eyes we shall not be able to
weep for sin, but until then–

"Lord, let me weep for nothing but sin,

And after none but Thee–

And then I would–oh that I might!)–

A constant weeper be,"

for these bitter sweets–these sweet bitters–are almost the choicest
of our sorrow joys or joyful sorrows that we have this side of Heaven!
Thus David sings.

Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness,
according unto the multitude of Your tender mercies blot out my
transgressions. And really, Brothers and Sisters, if we cannot feel
that we have need to say, "Have mercy upon me," and if, indeed, this is
not the habitual language of our soul, there must be something more
wrong about us than even open sin! Not to be able to confess sin and
not to be able to mourn it is one of the direst states of sin–in which
even sin can be found–but to be able to say from the very soul, "Have
mercy upon me–blot out my transgressions," indicates that there is a
soundness still in us by Divine Grace. Do you notice what a quick eye
David has here for the softer attributes of God? Did ever any man put
words together more pleasantly? "According to Your loving
kindness"–"according to the multitude of Your tender mercies." God
never looks more beautiful than when He is seen through a tear! If,
under a sense of sin, you see Him as the strangely forgiving God, oh,
how pleasant a God He is, and how our hearts love Him!

2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. It
is not the punishment. The child of God has got away from the legal
fear that dreads the punishment. The sin–the sin–is that which he
loathes and hates. "Lord, get rid of it. I seem to need double
cleansing. Wash me! Wash me thoroughly! And when You have done that,
cleanse me, for there are stains that washing will not get out. Try
fire, Lord, if water will not do it, but somehow wash me thoroughly
from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin."

3. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
It is thrown out on the surface. Health comes back when the disease
manifests itself by an outward eruption. It is when you do not
acknowledge it–it is when it is not before you–when you cannot
perceive it–will not confess your sin–it is then that it is at the
heart-strings killing you, murdering you! Confessed sin has the teeth
taken out of it, but sin that is not felt and known, and still is
there, breeds the canker of self-conceit and pride–and is deadly to
the heart.

4. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your
sight: that You might be justified when You speak, and be clear when
You judge.For in sin, this is the essence of it–that it is sin against
God. You cannot get the worldly man to feel that. "I have done no hurt
to my neighbor. I have not injured society." But how different it is
with the child of God! It is against Godthat he has sinned. What if he
has never left his chamber–if he has never done an action or said a
word? Yet that proud heart of his that rebelled when he was full of
pain–that murmuring spirit that would not accept the Lord's will–that
is enough to lay him in the dust–and he mourns it and confesses it.
"Against You, You only, have I sinned."

5. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity: and in sin did my mother conceive
me. It is not merely that I sinned, but I am sin! I am a lump of sin–a
heap of iniquity–by nature so. It is not merely in me, but it isme–my
very self! It is in my blood, my bones, my marrow. O God, can You
cleanse me from this?

6. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part
You shall make me to know wisdom. And sin is a lie, and sin is folly.
God desires truth and wisdom. Can He give us both of these? Yes, and He
will–only let us acknowledge the untruthfulness and confess the
stupidity, and put ourselves into His hands for His Infinite Grace to
deal with us and He will yet do it. "In the hidden part You shall make
me to know wisdom."

7. Purge me with hyssop, and Jshall be clean: wash me, and Ishall be
whiter than snow. "With hyssop." Just as the priest took the bunch of
herbs and put it into the basin full of blood, and stirred it round and
round till he soaked the hyssop in the crimson and then sprinkled it
upon the penitent, oh Lord, apply the blood of Christ to my soul! Purge
with me hyssop"–

"And I shall be clean."

I shall not be clean any other way. This is the only cleansing and
purgation by the sacrificial Atonement. And You alone must do it. Lord,
do it now!

8-9. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which You have
broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my
iniquities.I do not want to hear it unless You make me to hear it. I
would not be comforted unless You comfort me. Dread above everything,
dear Friends, false comfort–false judgments of yourselves–high
motions about your own attainments–grand ideas of your own standing in
yourselves.

10. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within
me. For there must not merely be a creation, but a daily renewal, or
else what You have once created will soon be blotted and marred as Your
first natural creation was. Go on from day to day to make and keep my
heart pure within.

11. Cast me not away from Your Presence; and take not Your Holy Spirit
from me. Do not fling me away as a man pulls up a weed by the roots and
throws it on a dunghill–

"Take not your Holy Spirit from me." Oh, how often will the child of
God have to pray this prayer? The Holy Spirit is in him and he knows
it, but he grieves the Spirit–and when his heart is very tender this
is his daily fear–lest the Spirit of God should depart from him. "Take
not your Holy Spirit from me."

12. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation; and uphold me with Your
free spirit I did know it once. What joy it is–the joy of Your
salvation! Give it back to me, O Lord. I cannot live on the old mercy!
The recollection does not satisfy. It only makes me hunger. "Restore
unto me the joy of Your salvation."

13. Then will I teach transgressors Your ways; and sinners shall be
converted unto You. Nobody ever teaches the mercy of God so well as he
that tastes it. Sinner, do you know what a good God my Lord Jesus is?
He has forgiven my innumerable sins and, therefore, I love to speak of
Him, and to speak of Him to such as you are, such as I am. "He is able
to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him." Dear Friends,
if you know the Savior, be sure you tell all you know! Or if you cannot
tell it all, tell as much as you can, and as long as you have got
breath! And it may not be long. You may not have many more
opportunities, for sickness comes so suddenly and puts the strong man
aside so soon. Do use for God what time you have and tell of His love
while you are yet in the land where men can hear it, and where you can
speak of it. Let this be your prayer–"Then will I teach transgressors
Your ways, and sinners shall be converted unto You."

14. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, God of my salvation: and my
tongue shall sing aloud of Your righ-teousness.He said that he would be
a preacher? No, he said that he would be a singer. God's people feel
that they cannot do too much when they get a sense of pardoned sin.
They will be both preacher and presenter! They will preach! They will
sing! They will have all the irons in the fire. They will not be afraid
of turning their faculties to too many accounts.

15-17. O Lord open You my lips; and my mouth shall show forth Your
praise. For You desire not sacrifice; else would I give it: You delight
not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a
broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.What a sweet
verse that is! Have you got a broken heart tonight, dear Friend, and do
you feel almost ashamed to bring it, because it is in such a broken
condition? It is in the best possible condition! I have read accounts
of meetings of God's saints met by the ten days together and talking
all about great things that have been done for them and from the first
to the last no indication of a broken heart or of a contrite spirit! I
confess I could not understand it and did not want to understand it. I
would rather stand with the poor publican behind the door five minutes
and say, "God be merciful to me a sinner," than sit ten days with
perfect brethren to magnify and glorify God about what I thought He had
done for me, because I am persuaded that in the latter case I should be
always in danger of magnifying myself, rather than God–whereas in the
former case I should be near the truth, and near where I ought to be.
Oh, keep to this–"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken
and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."

18, 19. Do good in Your good pleasure unto Zion: build You the walls of
Jerusalem. Then shall You bepleased with the sacrifices of
righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall
they offer bullocks upon Your altar. Notice this. David felt that he
had done something to pull down the walls of Zion. His bad example
would do mischief to the cause of God and his prayer to be forgiven is
not a selfish one, which deals only with his own particular

blessing, or his own desire for mercy. He wants the Church to prosper!
He wants God's work to go on and so he cannot close the prayer, even of
a penitent and broken heart, without crying, "Build You the walls of
Jerusalem." In proportion as we think less of ourselves we shall think
more of the Church of God, and more of the work of God in the land. To
despise yourself is the way to honor God and His people. But when you
honor yourself, you will first despise others, and it will go on by
degrees to a dishonoring of God, Himself, from which may the Lord save
us!

ROMANS 7.

This is Paul's own account of his inward conflicts. He longed to
conquer sin. He wanted to become a free man and live always a godly and
holy life, but he found that there was a battle within his nature.

Verse 7. What shall we say then?Is the Lawsin? God forbid! No, Ihadnot
known sin, but by the Law: for Ihadnot known lust, except the Law had
said, You shall not covet.There are some who hope to overcome their
evil propensities by the Law of God. They think that if they can know
and feel the authority of the Law of God, that will have an awe over
their minds and they shall become holy. Now the Law is, in itself,
supremely holy. It cannot be improved. We could not add to it, or take
from it without injuring it. It is a perfect Law! But what is its
effect upon the mind? When it comes into an unrenewed mind, instead of
checking sin, it causes sin! The Apostle says that he had not known
lust, except the Law had said, "You shall not covet." There is a
something about us which rebels against law the moment we come to it.
There are some things we should never think of doing if we were not
prohibited from them–and then there becomes a tendency at once in this
vile nature of ours to break the Law of God.

8. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, workedin me allmanner
of concupiscence. For without the Law sin was dead.If there had never
been any Law, there could not have been any sin, because sin is a
breaking of Law! The Law is good. We are not speaking about that. The
Law is necessary, but still, such is our nature that the very existence
of Law argues and creates the existence of sin. And when the Law comes,
then sin comes immediately. "Without the Law sin was dead."

9. For I was alive without the Law once.I thought that I was everything
that was good. I imagined that I was doing everything that was right. I
felt no rebellion in my heart. I was alive.

9. But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. I kicked at
that commandment. My holiness was soon gone. The excellence which I
thought I had in my character soon vanished for I found myself breaking
the Law of God.

10-13. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be
unto death For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me,
and by it slew me. Therefore the Law is holy, and the commandment holy,
and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God
forbid! But, sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that
which is good: that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly
sinful There was sin in his nature, but he did not know it. But when
the commandment came, then that evil nature said, "I won't keep that
commandment," and it took occasion at once to show itself by breaking
that commandment. It was something like a medicine which many a wise
physician has given to his patient. There is a deadly disease in the
internals of the man and he gives him a medicine that throws it out.
You see it on the skin. You feel the pain of it. It would have been his
death anyhow. It can only be his death now, but now it is a part of the
process of the cure to bring the disease where it can be seen. And so
the Law comes into a man's heart and because of the rebellion of his
nature, he kicks against the Law and sins. It does not make him sinful.
It only shows that he wassinful, for a perfect Law would not make a
perfect man sin! It would lead and guide him in the way of holiness.
But a perfect Law coming into contact with an imperfect nature soon
creates rebellion and sin. It is an illustration that is not good
throughout, but still it is of some use. You have seen quicklime–you
throw water on it. The water is of a cooling nature. There is nothing
in the water but that which would quench fire, and yet when it is
thrown upon the lime the consequence is a burning heat! So is it with
the Law cast upon man's nature. It seems to create sin. Not that the
Law does it of itself, but, coming into contact with the vicious
principles of our nature, sin becomes the product of it. It is the only
product. You may preach up the Law of God till everybody becomes worse
than he was before. You may read the Ten Commandments till men learn
what to do in order to provoke God! The Law does not create holiness.
It never can.

14. For we know that the Law is spiritual: but I am carnal Fleshly.

14. Sold under sin.Even now that I have become a Christian and am
renewed by Grace!

15. For that which I do, I allow not.I often do that which I do not
justify, which I do not wish to do again, which I abhor myself for
doing.

16. For what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do. This
is the Believer 's riddle. To say that this is not a Believer's
experience is to prove that the man who says it does not know much
about how Believers feel. We hate sin and yet, alas, alas, we fall into
it! We would live perfect lives if we could, we that are renewed. We
make no justification for our sin–it is evil and abominable–yet do we
find these two things warring and fighting within.

16. If, then, I do that which I would not, I consent unto the Law that
it is good. My inmost heart says the Law of God is good, though I have
not kept it as I wish I had–yet my very wish to keep it is the consent
of my nature to the goodness of that Law–and proves that there is a
vitality about me which will yet throw out the disease and make me
right in the sight of God.

17. Now then it is no more I that do it The real "I," the true "I," the
new-born "ego." Thank God for that–to have a will to do good, to have
a strong, passionate desire to be holy! "To will is present with me."

17. But sin that dwells in me.I would be earnest in prayer, and my
thoughts are distracted. I would love God with all my heart, but
something else comes in and steals away a part of it. I would be holy
as God is holy, but I find myself falling short of my desires. So the
Apostle means.

18-20, For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good
thing: for to wiil is present with me: but how to perform that which is
good I find not For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which
I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I
that do it The true and real "I."

20. But sin that dwells in me.Oh, this accursed indwelling sin! Would
God it were driven out. We do not say this to excuse ourselves–God
forbid–but to blame ourselves that we permit this sin to dwell within
us! Yet must we rejoice in God that we are born-again, and that this
new "I," the true "I," will not yield to sin, but fights against it!

21. I find then a Law. Or rule.

21-24. That, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I
delight in the Law of God after the inward man. But I see another Law
in my members, warring against the Law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?Now, the more
holy a man gets, the more he cries in this fashion. While he is low
down in the scale, he puts up with sin and he is uneasy. But when he
gets to see Christ and get somewhat like He, the more nearly he
approximates to the image of his Master, the more the presence of the
least sinful thought is horrifying to him! He would, if he could, never
look on sin again–never have the slightest inclination to it, but he
finds his heart getting abroad and wandering when he would tether it
down, if he could, to the Cross and crucify it there. And so the more
happy he is in Christ the more desperately does he cry against the
wretchedness of being touched with sin, even in the least degree. "Oh,
wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?"

25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It will be done! I shall
be delivered. I shall be perfect–

"Oh, blissful hour! Oh, sweet abode! I shall be near and like my God."
Oh, to be without fault before the Throne of God–without tendency to
sin, without the possibility of it, immaculately clean, with a heart
that sends forth pure waters like the River of Life that flows from
beneath the Throne of God! This is our portion! We are looking for it,
and we will never rest until we get it, blessed be His name. "I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

25. So then with the mind I myself serve the Law of God. With the new
nature.

25. But with the flesh, the law of sin. With the flesh–this old
rubbishing stuff that must die and be buried, and the sooner the
better! With my old corrupt nature I serve the law of sin. But what a
mercy it is that the next verse is that, notwithstanding that, "There
is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit."