“SIN”
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BY J. E. FORREST.
“The thought of foolishness is sin.”— Proverbs 24: 9. Here we have one of the Bible definitions of sin. If this were the only way in which men could commit sin, there would be some perhaps that would be free from sin, without any regeneration; but we have other Bible definitions of sin. ”Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”— James 4: 17. When men fail in any way to do such things as would be pleasing to God, knowing it at the same time to be their duty, then they sin by omission. They might just as well sin by commission as omission; sin is sin. Whosoever he be that knoweth to do good let him do it; better not know the will of God than to know it and fail to do it. “But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And that servant which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.”— Luke 12: 47, 48. There will be more punishment put on man for failing to do what he knows is right than there will be for doing things that they knew not to be sin. My soul is stirred to see people going about professing to be servants of Christ who so often fail to do those things which they know to be good. I pray that God may awaken men and women to a sense of known duty both to God and man.
Sin has a still broader and a more definite meaning. 1st John 5: 17 says all unrighteousness is sin. Everything that is done without the approval of God is sin; whatsoever is unrighteous is of the Devil; to be unrighteous is to be a transgressor. All unrighteousness is sin, and sin is the transgression of the law. All who are redeemed from sin are not under the law, so long as they keep saved. We are commanded to do all things to the glory of God. 1st Corinthians 10: 31. Those who are righteous and live righteous lives are not living in sin, but all who are unrighteous are living in sin, it makes no difference whether they are very wicked or not. It matters not how good a man may be morally, he may do many things a Christian would do, and he may leave off the things a Christian would leave off, yet if he has not been regenerated, or made a true believer in Christ, he is, according to God’s Word, and unrighteous man and therefore a sinner in the sight of God. Hence the scripture: “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. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” – 8th verse. Men must have the Spirit of God; then they will have his ways.
Oh, may God in his mercy show the sinner his sins, that he may turn unto God for mercy. There seem to be so many poor people whose souls are starving for the pure Word, who do not understand God’s will to them, neither do they dream of such deliverance, sweet deliverance that is found in the true faith of Jesus Christ. “Behold the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”- Isaiah 59: 1, 2. Let all people see the awful destruction that awaits those who live in sin and unrighteousness and who hold the truth in unrighteousness, ere the time will come when God will say, “Because I have called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; then they shall call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.”- Proverbs 1: 24 to 28.
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