《基督徒的全副军装》：罪与罪责The Christian in Complete Armor — Sin and Guilt

SIN AND GUILT

William Gurnall

"The way of transgressors is hard!" Proverbs 13:15

The terror of sin. A soul in a state of sin
may possess much — but enjoys nothing. One thought of its
state of enmity to God, would drop bitterness into every cup. All he
has, smells of hell-fire; and a man at a rich feast would enjoy it but
little if he smelt fire, ready to burn his house and himself!

The love of sin. Sin is as truly the offspring
of the soul, as children are of our bodies, and it finds as much favor
in our eyes.

The pleasures of sin. The pleasures of sin
must needs be short, because life cannot be long, and they both end
together. Indeed, many times the pleasure of sin dies before the man
dies: sinners live to bury their joy in this world. The worm breeds in
their conscience, before it breeds in their flesh by death. But be sure
the pleasure of sin never survives this world. The word is gone out of
God's mouth, every sinner "shall lie down in sorrow" and wake in sorrow.

The carnal heart is all for the present; his snout is
in the trough, and while his draught lasts, he thinks it will never end.
Who would envy the condemned man his feast, which he has in his way to
the gallows?

Where guilt is contracted in the getting of an
enjoyment, there can be little sweetness tasted when it comes to be
used. There is a great difference between the joy of the gardener,
at the getting in of his corn at the harvest — and the thief's joy, who
has stolen some sheaves out of another's field, and is making merry with
his booty.

No sin goes single. It is impossible to embrace
or allow one sin — and be free of others. Allow one sin, and God will
give you over to others. When Judas began to play the thief, I question
whether he meant to turn traitor. No, his treason was a
punishment for his thievery.

Secret sins. God is privy to your most secret
sin, "You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in
the light of Your countenance" (Psalm 90:8). As He sees when you shut
your closet to pray, and will reward your sincerity — so when you do it
to sin in secret, He will reward your hypocrisy. The word tells you of
an informer which you have in your own bosom — conscience, which
goes along with you, and is witness to all your fine-laid plots, and
what it sees, it writes down, for it is a court of record. You cannot
sin so fast, but it can write after you; and the pen with which
conscience writes down our sins has a sharp point, it cuts deep into the
very heart and soul of the sinner.

Consult the word, and you will find that God usually
has put them to shame in this world, those who have promised themselves
most secrecy in their sinning. So Gehazi played his part cunningly
enough, which made him so bold to come before his master, and impudently
lie to his face, not dreaming the least that he was aware of his sin!
Yet this man is found out, and for the garments he got of Naaman by a
lie, he had another given of the Lord, which he was to wear as a
punishment for his sin, for he was clothed with a leprosy! This
garment more lasting than the two changes of clothes he had from the
Syrian; for this lasted him all his life; neither was it then worn out —
but to be put on by his children after him! (2 Kings 5:27).

Yes, be he a saint — yet if he goes about to save
himself from the shame of a sin, by any secret plot of wickedness — he
takes the direct way to bring that upon him which he contrives to keep
off. Uriah's blood was shed only as a sinful expedient to save
David's credit. Ah, poor man! all comes out to his greater shame. David
shall know that God will be as tender of His own honor — as he is of his
credit; "For you did it secretly: but I will do this thing before all
Israel, and before the sun!" (2 Sam. 12:12).

Bosom sins. Satan labors to provoke the Christian
to heart sins, to stir up and foment these inward motions of sins in the
Christian's bosom. He knows his credit now is not so great with the soul
as when it was his slave; he must not think to command another's servant
as his own; no, all he can do, is to watch the fittest season, when the
Christian least suspects, and then to present some sinful motion
handsomely dressed up to the eye of the soul, that the Christian may,
before he is aware, take this brat up, and handle it in his thoughts,
until at last he makes it his own by embracing it; and maybe, this
boy, sent in at the window, may open the door to let in a greater
thief.

There may be more wickedness in a sin of the heart,
than of the hand. The more of the heart and spirit is let out, the more
malignity is let in to any sinful act.

To backslide in heart, is more than to
backslide. It is the comfort of a poor soul when tempted and troubled
for his relapses, that though his foot slides back — yet his heart turns
not back — but faces Heaven and Christ at the same time. So to err in
the heart, is worse than to have an error in the head. Therefore God
aggravates Israel's sin with this, "They always err in their heart"
(Hebrews 3:10). Their hearts run them upon the error; they liked
idolatry, and so were soon made to believe what pleased them best. Peter
lays the stress of Simon Magus' sin on the wicked thought, which his
words betrayed to be in his heart: "Pray God, if perhaps the thought
of your heart may be forgiven" (Acts 8:22).

Do not say that you love Christ, so long as you can
lay those sins in your bosom — which plucked His heart out of His bosom!
It were strange if a child should keep, and delight to use, no other
knife but that with which his mother was stabbed to death!

Deliberate sins. Take heed of deliberate sin;
like a stone thrown into a clear stream, it will so disturb your soul,
and muddy it, that you, who even now could see your interest in Christ,
will now be at a loss, and know not what to think of yourself. Like a
fire on the top of the house, it will be no easy matter to quench it. If
you have been so unhappy as to fall into such a slough, take heed of
lying in it by impenitence. The sheep may fall into a ditch — but it
is the swine that wallows in it!

Presumptuous sins. Presumptuous sins are the
thieves that break through and steal the saint's comfort away. When the
Christian comes to look into his soul after such a bold act, and thinks
to entertain himself, as formerly, with the comforts of his pardoned
state, interest in Christ, and hopes of Heaven through Him — alas! he
finds a sad change; no promise that will give out its consolations to
him. The door is locked, Christ withdrawn, and the keys carried away
with Him.

Have you fallen into the hands of any such
presumptuous sins; that have stolen your peace from you? Send speedily
your moans and cry after them, renew your repentance, and raise Heaven
upon them by a spirit of prayer. This is no time to delay; the further
you let these sins go without repentance, the harder you will find it to
recover your lost peace and joy out of their hands.

As presumptuous sins are the thieves, that
with a high hand rob the Christian of his comfort. So sloth and
negligence are as the rust, that in time will fret into his comfort, and
eat out the heart and strength of it.

A thorn in the foot will make any way uneasy to the
traveler, and guilt in the conscience will make any condition
uncomfortable to the Christian — but most of all a suffering one. Oh it
is sad, to go with sore and smarting consciences into a suffering
condition.

Forsaking sin. "Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord,
and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon" (Isaiah 55:7). Some men's sins forsake them; "the unclean spirit
goes out," and is not driven out; occasions to sin cease,
or bodily ability to execute the commands of sin is wanting.

To forsake sin, is to leave it without any
thought reserved of returning to it again. It were strange to find a
drunkard so constant in the exercise of that sin, but some time you may
find him sober; and yet a drunkard he is, as well as if he was then
drunk. A man forsakes his sin, when he throws it from him, and bolts the
door upon it, with a purpose never to open more to it: "Ephraim shall
say, What have I to do any more with idols?" (Hosea 14:8).

Forsake all or none. Save one lust, and you lose your
soul. What will you get, poor sinner, if you go to Hell, though you go
there by your ignorance, unbelief, or spiritual pride — yet escape the
plague of open profaneness? This is as ridiculous as it was with him,
who about to be hanged, desired that he might by no means go through
such a street to the gallows, for fear of the plague that was there.

Soul, take your lust, your only lust, which is as the
child of your dearest love, your Isaac, the sin which has caused most
joy and laughter, from which you have promised yourself the greatest
return of pleasure or profit — and offer it up! Run the sacrificing
knife of mortification into the very heart of it — and all this now,
before you have one embrace more from it.