Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 83, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1917 — SIN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SIN

By REV. B. B. SUTCLIFFE

Moody Bible IrutituU, Chicago

TEXT—He did eat.-Gene«l« 3:6. From these three words, all the sorrow and suffering, all the distress and

the despair in the world have come. But for these words, and what they imply, there would never have been a funeral, nor an aching heart; never a tear on the face of any human being. The Fact of Sin. The conscience bears witness that man is a sinner. The highest philosophy bears witness and

the Word of God fully confirms the witness of conscience, philosophy and experience, that man is a sinner. The Nature of Sin. It was a very simple thing which man did. There was nothing evil in the tree of which he did eat, for God had declared that this tree, together with all others in the garden, w*as very good. It was just one step that he took, but it was like a step over a precipice. It needed no second step. A very simple thing, but in eating he doubts God’s love, for he had been assured of God’s love, he would have been assured that the commands of God were for his highest good. But doubting God’s love, he acts apart from God, choosing his own way rather than God’s, and so becomes a sinner. His own way was not necessarily an evil Why, as man calls evil, but it was not God’s, and therefore sin came in. Secondly, in eating he doubts God’s word. This is necessarily the second step, for he who doubts God’s love will doubt God’s word, and doubting God’s word, he acts contrary to God and becomes criminal. Sin is not merely the disease of which some sentimentalists speak, but sin is a crime, carrying a penalty which must be met. Thirdly, in eating, he disputes God’s authority. And so he acts in spite of God, and thereby becomes a rebel and enemy. This, then, is the nature of sin. It makes the one whom it touches to be not only a sinner but a criminal, guilty before the bar of God’s justice, and an enemy against God’s government. The sinner, then, is one who would overthrow-God and place himself on the throne of the universe. ; i The Results of Sin. J The first result of sin is shame, which is seen when they strive to hide their nakedness with the aprons of ‘ fig-leaves. These aprons speak of their attempt to clothe themselves with a righteousness which will make them comfortable in the presence of each other, a self-righteousness adopted to hide their shame. This is followed by separation from God, for when God comes upon the scene, they hide themselves among the trees of the garden. It is to be noted that the separation is formed by man and not by God. These are the first results of sin: shame, self-righteousness, separatios from God. —— —, God’s Treatment of the Sinner. First, he seeks him. In seeking, God reveals his own love for man and also the character of man, for when he finds him he says: “I heard thy voice and was afraid because I was naked.” But this is a He, for man was naked before and unafraid. He Is afraid only when God comes on the scene, and that because he is a sinner and a criminal and the enemy of God. The seeking of God proves man to be morally wrong, for he is a coward, attempting to hide behind a woman. He is shown to be mentally wrong for he tries to lie to the God; he knows he is lying. It shows him to be spiritually blasphemous, accusing God of his sin, implying that if God had never given him the woman he would never have sinned. Provision of God for Sin. This provision is found in the twen-ty-first verse. and it will be noted that this provision is made by God; not by God and man. It fs, therefore, all of grace. Further, it is made by sacrifice —the shedding of blood, for “without the shedding of blood there is no remlssioh,” and those who do not look for salvation by blood, look not for the salvation spoken of in the Scriptures, for the crimson mark of the blood of the Lamb of God is seen on every page of Holy Writ. Lastly, this provision is made through a substitute, and the covering of the substitute covers the sinner. This, then, is the provision that God has made for the sinner and his sin. He takes the sin away by the precious blood of his own sacrifice, the Lamb of God, so that the believer can say: “He hath made him to be‘sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”