Sin is the world’s “BLOOD POISON.” Bad blood manifests itself in the human body in two ways. Inwardly as diabetes, and outwardly in inflammation, boils, carbuncles and ulcers. The former is invisible and may for a time be unsuspected, while the latter are evident to the eye. We must distinguish between “SIN” and “SINS. “ ”SIN” is that tendency or disposition to sin that we inherit from Adam. “SINS” are the “specific acts” of sin that we commit as the result of our tendency to sin. The first like diabetes is internal, the second like boils and carbuncles are external. Jesus came to make an Atonement for “SIN,” not for “SINS.” He came to remove the “Natural Depravity,” or tendency to sin, of the human heart. That is to impart a “New Nature” in which there will be no tendency to sin, and therefore no desire to commit specific acts of sin. By “Natural Depravity” is not meant that there is nothing good in human nature at all, that men are never kind, affectionate generous, lovable, but that the tendency of the human heart is naturally toward evil. It is because people do not understand the nature of sin that they are offended when we speak of them as sinners. They think that a sinner is one guilty of some specific crime, as murder, theft or adultery, whereas a sinner is one who has a sinful disposition.
We have five definitions of sin in the New Testament.
1. LAWLESSNESS is Sin.
“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the lav/: for sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. To break any law of God or man is to sin.
2. NEGLECT is Sin.
“To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17.
3. DOUBT is Sin.
“And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Romans 14:23. That is, to do anything we doubt the rightfulness of is SIN.
4. UNBELIEF is Sin.
“And when He (the Holy Spirit) is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on ME.” (Jesus.) John 16:8-9. The crowning sin of all sins is to not believe in Jesus. Men and women are not lost because they are sinners, but because they will not accept Jesus as their Saviour.
5. ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS is Sin.
“All unrighteousness is sin.” 1 John 5:17. This is a blanket mortgage that covers every kind of sin.
Let us for a few minutes turn the “Search Light” of God’s Word on our lives. The Psalmist said – “Thou hast set our ‘iniquities’ before Thee, our ‘secret sins’ in the light of Thy countenance.” Psalm 90:8. Here the Psalmist speaks of two classes of sins, “Open” and “Secret.” The “open sins” are such as are publicly committed, as profanity, intemperance, lying and theft. The “secret sins” are such as are committed in secret. Would you like the Almighty to turn the “X-RAY” of His omniscient “Eye” on your heart, and search every “Chamber of Imagery,” and bring to light every impure and murderous thought, every feeling of envy, pride, jealousy,hatred, and revenge? The Apostle John says that “Whosoever hateth his brother is a MURDERER.” 1 John 3:15. Do you wish that someone was dead that you might possess their property? Then you are a murderer. Jesus said that to merely look at a woman to lust after her is adultery. Matthew 5:27-28.
What does the Bible say about the human heart? Listen. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it.” Jeremiah 17:9. One day Jesus dissected the human heart for the benefit of His Disciples. Read what He said—“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.” Mark 7:21-22. Here are 13 specifications that outline the character of the human heart; can any one read them and say, “That does not describe my heart?”
In fruit there is a tendency to rot and decay, and unless preserved it will soon perish. So it is with the “root principle” of sin in the human heart. Out of Christ there is no difference between men. Take a man honest, honorable, truthful, upright, benevolent; take a woman pure, chaste, amiable, gentle, meek, the embodiment of all loveliness: take some sweet girl, pure as a lily, the light of the household, a living joy: take a little child, innocent, the heaven-sent prattler of the fireside, and as unspotted as the new fallen snow; and what is the difference between any of these and the lost spirits, the sin-saturated souls hating and hated, cursing and cursed, blaspheming and damned that writhe in Hell? It is simply the difference between meal into which the leaven has been placed, and meal in which the leaven has done its work. It is simply a difference as to time and development. The batch of meal that has been leavened cannot take the leaven out of itself, neither can it prevent the leaven from doing its work. Its final state is only a question of Time. If men and women go into the other world without having the leaven of sin eradicated by the “BLOOD OF JESUS,” the leaven of sin will continue to work on down the Eternal Ages, and they will grow worse and worse as eternity rolls on, until they shall become as bad as the demons in Hell. The leper was just as truly a leper the moment the first taint of leprosy entered his system, as he was when he sat a loathsome creature outside the city walls and cried “Unclean ! Unclean !”
What does sin do? It produces shame and leads to separation. It drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden. Of the wicked it is said – “He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.” Job 18:18. And Peter said to Jesus – “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Luke 5:8.
What are the Wages of Sin? DEATH. Sin does not ask us to sin for nothing. It pays wages, and it pays on the instalment plan, and it pays in full, and we cannot avoid taking the wage. And the wage is DEATH. Not physical death, for animals and the righteous die. If the wages of sin were mere physical death it would be a blessing rather than a curse, for many a sinner would be glad to die a physical death if that was all the punishment he had reason to expect. It is not spiritual death for sinners are already spiritually dead. Ephesians 2:1-3. It is “ETERNAL DEATH.” What is that? We are told in Revelation 20:11-15, that after the Wicked shall have been judged and found guilty they shall be sentenced to the “Second Death.” What is the “Second Death?” What is the “First Death?” It is the separation of the soul and spirit from the body. At the resurrection of the Wicked, the Wicked get back their bodies, but when they are sentenced to the “Second Death” they die again in the sense that they lose their bodies again, and in their soul and spirit, that are indestructible by fire, they go to the Lake of Fire where they remain separated from God for all eternity and that is what is meant by “Eternal Death.”
Sin is not a misfortune, it is perverseness. To claim that we ought not to be held responsible for having been born with a nature tainted by sin is no excuse. Our sin is in refusing to accept the provision God has made to get rid of that nature by accepting Christ as our Saviour.. By my rejection of Jesus Christ as my Saviour I elect to bear the penalty of sin myself.
SIN is the most expensive thing in the Universe. It cost Satan the loss of his exalted position before the Throne of God and led to rebellion in Heaven. It cost the human race the loss of Paradise. It cost God the “Life Blood” of His Only Begotten and Beloved Son. It cost Jesus the agony and “blood sweat” of Gethsemane, and the excruciating sufferings of the Cross, and the tasting of Eternal Death when He took the place of the sinner and realized what it meant to be forsaken by God.
By Clarence Larkin
