The Bitterness Of Sin!

The Bitterness Of Sin!

"Your ways and your deeds have procured these things unto you! This is your wickedness - it is bitter, because it reaches your heart!" (Jeremiah 4:18).

 
Sin is the most dark subject that can engage our attention - but we have become so familiar with it, that it scarcely affects us at all. Not so the Lord - He calls it "that abominable thing which He hates." Yes, God hates nothing but sin - and no one, but for sin. God never hated a sinless being - and He never can. If we could get rid of sin, we would have nothing to fear; therefore we bless God that deliverance from sin is promised.

But sin is not only dangerous - it is bitter, and is the prodigious source of all bitterness! Hence the language of the prophet, "It is bitter, because it reaches unto your heart!" (Jeremiah 4:18). It is called the root of bitterness. It may appear pleasant at present, and may taste sweet to the depraved palate of the sinner; but as Joab said of war, "It will be bitterness in the end!" Let us therefore think of:

The bitterness of Sin: Sin is bitter in its NATURE, as it is a departure from God, the giver of all true pleasure; rebellion against God, the righteous ruler, who is pledged to punish it; the degradation of man, who was made in the image of the holy and happy God.

Sin is bitter in its EFFECTS:

Look over the world - all its divisions, confusions, wars, diseases, bloodshed, and cruelties - are but the effects of sin. Look into families - all the anger, envy, jealousy, enmity, and lack of love - are but the effects of sin. Look at individuals - all the sufferings of the body, and all the tortures of the soul; all the sorrows of time, and all the agonies of eternity - are but the fruits of sin. Look at the seeking soul - all his cutting convictions, bitter reflections, stinging remorse, gloomy despondency, and slavish fears - are but the effects of sin. Look at the believer - all his terrible conflicts, deep depression, gloomy foreboding, and soul-distressing fears - are all the effects of sin.

A Reason Assigned: "It reaches unto the heart!" Sin is not a wound in the flesh - but a disease in the heart! There it was conceived, there it is nourished, and from thence it flows.

Sin reaches to the heart - and defies and pollutes it. Sin reaches to the heart - and alienates it from God. Sin reaches to the heart - and distracts it. 

The passions are turbulent. The conscience is defiled. The will is depraved. The understanding is darkened. The memory isa store-house of evil!

Indeed every power and faculty of the soul is injured, perverted, and wrongly influenced - by sin! Sin reaches to the heart - and damns it! 

Reader, see how God speaks of sin, your darling sin, that sin which you now value so highly, and enjoy so much. "It is bitter and reaches to the heart," the seat of life, the source of action.

Our one great business therefore, should be to get rid of sin, and by faith in the Lord Jesus, which purifies the heart; and by the work of the Holy Spirit, which cleanses and sanctifies the nature - we may get rid of it. Holy Spirit, convince us of the bitterness of sin! May it be bitter to our taste, lead us to forsake it in practice, and  seek to be delivered from its love and power in our experience!

~James Smith~

(The End)