April 1929
176
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Jerusalem, and have been dispersed to the four quarters of the earth for nearly nineteen hundred years. Sin cost the prodigal son his money, his friends, his home, and all that he counted dear. It was only the love of the father that saved him from famine, suffering, and death. Think what sin cost the nations of the ancient world. Consider what sin and misery the recent World War in volved. Perhaps Germany was as much of a sinner in this as any other participant. The other nations surely were not altogether guiltless. It has been pride of nationality, pride of power, pride in armies and navies, and the desire for more power, more money, and more lands, that has led emperors and empires into the awful wars of history. Think of the sins of great men like Pharaoh, Nebuchad-' nezzar, the Herods, the Roman emperors, and other kings of the earth. Their sins were largely those of pride, world liness, cruelty, unbelief in God, and the rejection of His Son, and in many cases a total abandonment to their own fleshly desires for glory, fame, honor, and rulership. Sin is expensive in that it requires authority of the law and its full enforcement to hinder some of it. Thousands of police, soldiers, and expensive penal institutions must be maintained for the punishment of criminals. Consider the amount of money spent to pay for court trials, attor neys' fees, jurymen, and the prosecution of criminals by the state. Consider also the awful sins of the human body wherein millions perish largely through their own sins in their own bodies, dishonoring themselves and others, end ing in disgrace, suffering, shame, misery, and physical and eternal death! This is, after all, the most terrible result of sinning. And yet, such poor creatures do not seem to see the awfulness of sin, nor be willing to forsake it. This is the twofold subtlety of sin : that people are blind to it, and do not often wish to forsake it. It is their nature to sin. They are “children of wrath, and dead in trespasses and sins,” says Paul. A man in Ohio who re fused to allow a railroad a right of way through his land, though offered ample compensation for it, shot the first man who attempted to make a survey. It meant death for one man and a lifetime in the penitentiary for the other. Sin is deceitful and damnable. “The wages of sin is death.” But the total cost of sin cannot well be estimated until we turn to the, story of Jesus Christ and His crucifixion. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteous ness : by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Pet. 2 :24). When Christ came to earth to save us He came from the Father. The Father gave up His Son for our sake—for our salvation from sin. The Son willingly laid down His life for our sins that we might be delivered. It cost the Son’s life. It cost Him His shed blood. It cost Him sep aration from God, from the comforts of heaven, and suf fering and agony beyond all measure. It cost Christ the trials, the anguish,of soul, and the tears which He shed for our sins, and for a rejecting people—Israel. Truly this is “grace that is greater than all our sin.” “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” How S haul -W e C ut D own T h e - E xpense oe S i n ? It must be admitted that the high cost of sinning ¡9*ter rific. Millions are being spent annually to enforce the laws, to punish crime, and to protect persons and property. Suppose a method could be devised that would make the heart clean, the motives just, the mind pure, save the soul, and make the life right? That is just what Christ came to do for everyone. Many business men recognize the prac
Subm ission God knows best what is best for me. Why should I worry—or anxious be, Trying to fathom the course I take, Grasping at bubbles that fade and break ? One step is all I have need to see. God knows best what is best for me. God knows best what is best for me Through all time and eternity. In my Father’s house is goodly store Of all I need—-forevermore. With Him I rest, for I know that He Always gives what is best for me. — Anonymous.
tical benefits of true revivals, in that they do away with dishonesty, theft, and other sins in the lives of those who are truly born again by faith, and confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Deliverer. Christ did not come to reform the world or make it a better place to live in. He came to save the individual soul and fit him for heaven. He came to save from the wages of sin, which is death, and to grant “the gift of God, which is eternal life” (Rom. 6:23). The sinner must repent of his sins and confess them to God, being willing to forsake them. He must turn his back upon the world and seek the Christ who died for his sins. If Christ carried them for the sinner, why should the sinner carry them? If Christ’s death abolishes the curse, the cost, and the cause of sin, why live in sin any longer ? The sinner should be united by a living faith to Christ who is able to save from sin unto the uttermost. He should claim victory over sin through Christ. The sinner needs to confess that he is a sinner. He should be willing to flee evil associations and worldly com panions, He should be willing to separate himself from the sinful things of this world and “avoid the appearance of evil,” not “being a partaker with them” nor “be con formed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” The sinner needs to find a new heart, a new life, a new victory, a new spirit, and a new hope through our Lord Jesus Christ. Only through Him can the sin problem be met. To accept God’s gift of salvation from sin is the easiest way of cutting down the expense of sinning. To flee youthful lusts and to forsake questionable amusements is another way of. cutting down the cost of sin. No man may compromise with sin and reasonably expect to cut its cost. To keep on sinning will mean eternal judgment in hell, everlasting separation from God and loved ones. To keep on sinning means loss of peace, joy, and future reward. To keep on sinning means eternal death and defeat. To keep on sinning means misery, woe, and the torments of everlasting fire, where the worm dieth no t! ,Can you afford to keep, on sinning? Can you afford to reject Christ who died to set you free? Christians everywhere should join hands—ministers and laymen alike—in the great task of winning souls to Christ, saving them from the penalty, power, and pollution of sin in this world, and finally from the very presence of sin in the heaven that awaits those who are saved through the blood of Christ.
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