The religious
instinct---or sense of moral obligation to a higher
power---has been springing up spontaneously in the hearts of
mankind in every age and among all nations. And since nature
prompts him to do so, it's perfectly reasonable that man
should worship something. Intuitively, man "looks up" for
help. We're surrounded by powerful influences and potent
energies, and our ignorance distracts and bewilders us.
Conscious of its weakness, and instinctively believing in
something it can't see, the soul looks upward for relief and
strength. Earthly objects don't satisfy the longing soul.
Physical wants may be satisfied; abstract philosophy may
satisfy the mind; but the soul, living in a higher sphere or
plane, still longs for something that's eternal. Emotions and
satisfactions that spring from the earth are true to their
sphere, but aren't lasting. The soul was made to live in a
higher world, and looking down from that higher plane, is
disgusted with what the world has to offer. Earthly love and
passion may grow cold in life, and will end in death. The soul
longs for eternal sunshine, and blissful environment that
never changes. Bound up in a human body that's dragging it
downward and hushing its longing for freedom, the soul,
knowing well the purpose for which it was made, cries out in
destress, "Where's my hope?" David answered: "Why art thou
cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope
thou in God."
Literature and art offer
much to man in the way of developing the mind; but pure
religion brings out the best there is in him, and develops the
finer instincts of the soul. Mankind advances only as he looks
upward and away from self and material objects. The more he
thinks of God, the wider becomes his range of vision. The
capacity of the soul can be expanded by daily intercourse with
God, and thought of eternity. Eternal life can't come from,
nor be maintained by, things of earth. The soul knows full
well that what it longs for is an uninterrupted correspondence
with an environment that won't pass away.
Wrong Trend of
Modern Theology...
The trend of modern theology
points man away from God by attempting to undermine his faith
in the Bible. It denies the fact of miracles, and it at one
time divides, and another time ignores the Deity. To ignore
the fact of miracles on the one hand, and to give credence to
fate on the other hand, as modern theology does at times, is
inconsistent with Christianity. The Bible's plain and
comprehensible, and needs no man's defence. Its brilliant
light is shining over a thousand hills, and in a million
hearts, God sits upon the throne above "fate" and "chance."
Wrong Conceptions
of God...
Thousands of souls are
perplexed today relative to the character of God and the
subject of sin. Two extremes have been taken, namely, one
laying emphasis upon God's love being so great that he'll wink
at, or overlook, anything wrong that men may do; and the other
that he sits upon his throne watching every move of the human
race, ready to mete out vengence upon every one who might make
a mistake or side-step from the path of duty and virtue. One
position gives license to almost any carnal act; while the
other robs God of all love, and almost precludes the fact that
men can be really saved from their evil doings, and the power
of sin be so completely broken that men can be masters instead
of slaves.
The Results of
Choice...
It's a fact that there's
only one moral road in the spiritual universe, and that all
the world of mankind are, by choice, traveling in one
direction or the other. The door of choice opens before each
individual, and he can choose whichever direction he desires
to go. If he wills, he can choose the upward path; and then,
by maintaining his integrity to God, every day's work will add
to his moral worth, and thus his footsteps become surer, his
pathway brighter, and his courage stronger, until at last he
rises above the clouds of earth and enters "the eternal city".
If he chooses the pathway leading downward, every day's
action, by the law of accumulation, adds to his load of
sorrow, his pathway becomes more slippery and perilous as it
descends, and at last he passes over the line of mercy and is
lost to God, hope, and the pure in heart forever.
"There's a line by us
unseen, Which crosses every path; The hidden
boundary-line between God's patience and His wrath."
Ignorance
Concerning Sin...
The words of Jesus, the
Master-Teacher, uttered while he traveled the flinty hills of
Galilee, are still ringing through the ages: "Ye shall die in
your sins, whither I go ye CANNOT come." Again and again he
taught his disciples that nothing unclean, deceitful, or
unholy could enter that heavenly country he was going to
prepare for those who were willing to follow his steps. He
made a distinct line between the moral and the immoral,
between those "who serve God, and those who serve him not."
Many times we've heard those
who profess to be Christians pray as follows, "Lord forgive us
our many sins," etc. In a popular religious hymn we find these
words, "Forgive the secret sins we do not know." We often hear
testimonies to the effect that the testifier's not sure
whether he's saved or not. We've heard intelligent people
testify that they were saved many weeks or months before they
knew it, or became aware of the fact. A fundamental mistake
has been made womewhere in our religious teaching, for the
Bible speaks in positive terms that "he that hath the Son hath
life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life," and
that God will "give knowledge of salvation unto his people by
the remission of their sins." The whole tenor of Scripture is
to the effect that the day we call upon God, he'll answer us,
and if we seek him with our whole heart we'll find him. If we
allow the premise that one could be saved six months and not
know it, by the same logic we could deduct that we might lose
it six months and not be aware of the fact, which is as
ridiculour as it is unscriptural.
True Ethics of
Moral Action...
Every idea has an impulsive
element. The child sees a green apple, or the moon, and wants
it; it acts regardless of digestibility or distance. We see
the same impulsive element in grown people. Peter, for
example, when he jumped into the Sea of Galilee. We educate
our children to wait and reason before they act, for
intelligent action's always based upon intelligent thinking.
There are three kinds of acts, namely, moral non-moral, and
immoral. 1. Moral acts---acts in harmony with the laws of
society, of conscience, and the Word of God. 2.
Non-moral---not involving principles of right and wrong;
requiring no action of the will, involuntary. 3.
Immoral---acts out of harmony with the laws of society or
standards of moral actions.
Volitional
Acts...
Motive marks the dividing
line between moral and immoral action in spiritual matters;
for sin---transgression of God's law---in its entirety doesn't
consist alone in ourward acts, but in the heart's giving
consent "to do" or "not to do". An act of which the Lord takes
notice must be the result of knowledge. During the Old
Testament dispensation there were sins of ignorance, much like
there are today in statutory law; but that's not true with
respect to the gospel. Proof: "Therefore to him that knoweth
to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (Jas. 4:17).
"Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no
sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth"
(John 9:41). Paul, when relating his former condition, said:
"For I was alive without the law once [when he was an innocent
child]: but when the commandment came [when he had learned
right from wrong], sin revived, and I died" (Rom. 7:9). "For
where no law is, there is no transgression" (4:15). "I had not
known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (7:7).
To commit sin, then, we must
knowingly, voluntarily, do what the Bible forbids, or
positively refuse or omit to do that which it commands or
enjoins. Many an honest soul has stumbled over 1 Cor. 13:5,
which states that those who are filled with the love of God
"thinketh no evil," etc. Thoughts come into our mind from
various sources, namely, from the Lord, from the devil, from
passion, from the creative or reflective power of the brain,
from what we see, hear, smell, or taste. These thoughts, until
we give consent to them by our will...For example: The devil
might have pushed Christ off the pinnacle of the temple, but
that would have accomplished nothing; so he tempted Chrsit to
act voluntarily, which Christ positively refused to do. The
Bible states that Christ was tempted in all points like as we
are, yet was without sin, i.e. he never yielded.
"Yield not to temptation,
For yielding is sin."
The motive behind the act
defines and determines the innocence or the guilt.
Steps to the
Committing of Sin...
1. Temptation.---Every
person is tempted when allured to do what he knows to be
wrong, and he's enticed when the matter in question seems to
be desirable to perform. 2. Choice.---Events make neither
heroes nor cowards---they simply reveal them; similarly,
temptation makes neither sinners nor saints---it simply
reveals them. We choose to do, whether good or bad. Choice,
the second step in the committing of sin, then leads to the
third step. 3. Action.---In reality, sin is committed when
the choice to do wrong is made. Action is but the sin made
visible, it's that which reveals our sin to man and effects
transgression against society as well as against God.
The Number of Sins
that Make a Sinner...
In 1 John 3:4, we read, "Sin
is the transgression of the law." Transgression is a compound
word, and the prefix "trans," meaning: across, over, is in
common usage. We find its proper meaning in such words as
transpose, translate, transparent, transmigrate,
transatlantic. The Bible forbids certain acts, and he who
deliberately disobeys is called a transgressor, i. e., one who
crosses over upon forbidden ground. "Judas by transgression
fell" (Acts 1:25).
Many are deceived concerning
the effects of one sin. People have been taught to believe
that one sin is not very dangerous, and that all commit sin
occasionally. We musn't forget that the Christian life
consists in a relationship or an attitude for Christ, and that
a sinful life also is an attitude against Christ. The number
of sins committed won't decide our eternal destiny, but we'll
be judged by principles and attitudes rather than by external
acts. Suppose a man murders one man, another murders ten men,
and a third murders twenty men. All are caught and condemned
to death. They won't hang the man twenty times who killed
twenty men, nor the man who killed ten men, ten times, but
they'll hang all of them once, because they were all
murderers. How many spots of leprosy would one need to have to
be a leper? How many sins would one need to commit to be a
sinner? What's the Bible say about one sin? "For whosoever
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is
guilty of all" (Jas. 2:10). It's the principle of sin that's
wrong, for one sin contains the seeds of all other sins;
hence, "Transgressors shall be destroyed together," and, "The
soul that sinneth, it shall die."
No one is absolutely safe
until he's saved, not only from the outward practice of sin,
but also from the love of it. Jesus Christ has appeared in the
end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,
and it's appointed unto man once to die, and after this the
judgment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many,
and unto them who look for him will he appear a second time,
without a sin offering. On that day he'll lay aside his
mediatorial robes for those of judgment, and the sheep and the
goats will take their proper places, the balance of life will
be struck, and each will go to his eternal reward. That'll be
the last act in the great drama of life. Let's each ask
ourselves...on which side will I stand? [ The End ]
