A little sin not so bad

[Christ4Ever]

"Sin . . . exceeding sinful." Romans 7:13
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Beware of light thoughts of sin. At the time of conversion, the conscience is so tender, that we are afraid of the slightest sin. Young converts have a holy timidity, a godly fear lest they should offend against God. But alas! very soon the fine bloom upon these first ripe fruits is removed by the rough handling of the surrounding world: the sensitive plant of young piety turns into a willow in after life, too pliant, too easily yielding. It is sadly true, that even a Christian may grow by degrees so callous, that the sin which once startled him does not alarm him in the least. By degrees men get familiar with sin. The ear in which the cannon has been booming will not notice slight sounds. At first a little sin startles us; but soon we say, "Is it not a little one?" Then there comes another, larger, and then another, until by degrees we begin to regard sin as but a little ill; and then follows an unholy presumption: "We have not fallen into open sin. True, we tripped a little, but we stood upright in the main. We may have uttered one unholy word, but as for the most of our conversation, it has been consistent." So we palliate sin; we throw a cloak over it; we call it by dainty names. Christian, beware how thou thinkest lightly of sin. Take heed lest thou fall by little and little. Sin, a little thing? Is it not a poison? Who knows its deadliness? Sin, a little thing? Do not the little foxes spoil the grapes? Doth not the tiny coral insect build a rock which wrecks a navy? Do not little strokes fell lofty oaks? Will not continual droppings wear away stones? Sin, a little thing? It girded the Redeemer's head with thorns, and pierced His heart! It made Him suffer anguish, bitterness, and woe. Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent, and abhor the least appearance of evil. Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Saviour, and you will see it to be "exceeding sinful."

Charles Spurgeon

 

[RJ]

I agree.
I think many don't realize it but some of the slightest things we do would be considered sin and is usually over looked.
Many talk in terms of the "Nasty Five" or the "Dirty Dozen but , in our carnal word many of the innocuous things we do are sinful.
Do you ever doubt ? What about a little "White Lie"? Are you ever negative? Romans 14:23
I think that all of God's word leads us toward this understanding and I don't have a direct verse for this but: I think that anything that is not of God is sinful and separates us from him.

 

[Christ4Ever]

I believe you are thinking of Isaiah 59:2 "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."

If not for Christ what a dire situation we would find ourselves in!!!!

 

[SpiritLedEd]

I was disappointed to not see any reference to the power of the Holy Spirit in the Spurgeon quote. Surely he gave the Spirit credit in this sermon for supplying the power to fight the battle.

SLE

 

[Christ4Ever]

I was disappointed to not see any reference to the power of the Holy Spirit in the Spurgeon quote. Surely he gave the Spirit credit in this sermon for supplying the power to fight the battle.

SLE

The original title of the sermon from which this devotional was extracted is called "Sin's True Quality". Just by that title and after reading the sermon, from what I can gather, the real purpose of sermon was to chastise/convict those in the congregation who had made no marked change in their lives since coming to Christ. I guess he wanted to show them how dirty they were in this sermon, before he brought the soap and water sermon into play. However, he does at the end of the sermon break down Psalm 51 verse by verse and the same with Romans 7:7-25

I can work on setting the entire sermon up for posting in the "Sermon" section if you'd like.

As always a joy brother!