Sin

Mere professors of the truth may, in some special cases, thrust sins away from them, even their besetting sins, and seem to hate and forsake them.

This happens mainly when the conscience is awakened, when some bitter fruits of sin are experienced. It also takes place in times of special affliction or tribulation, and when in danger of death, when slavish fear has the upper hand. Also, when the Lord sends special judgments and calamities on the earth; then, at times, there is temporary constraint and fear, causing such people to live more soberly.

Mark well that it is not caused by a hatred against sin, but it is a result of the circumstances under which they are living. It is with them as with the thief who was caught and showed some sorrow, but who later on, after he is freed, goes in the very same paths in which he walked before. Or, as with the mariners, who during a perilous storm cast everything (be it ever so dear to them) overboard as if they abhorred these things, but who, when the sea becomes calm, try to recover what they tossed away. Scripture says of such that they turn with the dog to their own vomit again and with the sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mire. In them the main artery of sin was never severed.

God’s people bid sin a final farewell. Abraham never returns to Ur of the Chaldees; Moses, after he was forty years old, never again sleeps at the palace of Pharaoh; Ruth never returns to Moab. True, many a time there is great fear and apprehension that one time or another they will return. The soul’s desire of that people is:

O guard me well as one doth guard

The apple of the eye;

Do Thou my rest and refuge be,

O let Thy wings o’ershadow me.

It may happen that a mere professor, a temporal believer, turns back at one time or another; but a child of God will never return. After Israel had passed through the Red Sea, God caused the waters that were separated to unite again; consequently they could never return to the land out of which God had fetched them, although due to disheartening circumstances they frequently expressed their regret that they had left Egypt. Such language was not heard at Elim, but when God’s way was in the deep, when they had to do without many things, and when they had little or no hope of reaching Canaan — things that are not unknown to a child of God.

Sometimes the Lord may allow it to go quite far; however, the Lord preserves His people. Christ one day said, “No man is able to pluck them out of My hand.” They are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:5).

It is also possible, in a submissive man, that this or that besetting sin does not stir for a time. Such may be the case in days of sickness and indisposition of the body, because then the strength to commit sin is lacking and the occasion to do so is cut off. Again, when a man is under heavy conviction and when his conscience is so filled with fear and distress that there is scarcely liberty to live the way he wants to. And again, when a man is kept occupied by the many things he has to take care of, Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.

It was better for David when he was with his men at the battlefront than when he, taking a furlough, walked on the roof of his palace. It is better to work than to sin. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth, and that he may die in harness.

Sin may also be kept in check for want of occasion. Years ago I heard a child of God say and testify that the goodness of God toward him had been revealed also in this: when he had occasion to commit sin, then the inclination was not there; but on the contrary when there was the inclination, then God did not give the occasion. Oh, how great is God’s care over His people! What a blessing is the preservation of the Most High! May the highness of God rest on our soul. If inclination and occasion meet, who will be able to stand unless grace has dominion in our heart and life?

Yea, we may think for a season that not only the commanding strength of sin is broken, but that sin itself is totally mortified and conquered, without this being the case. Then it is with sin as with one apparently dead who for some time does not move, but erelong lifts his head and sits up. Usually it does not take long but sin reveals itself again so power» fully that man is overcome by it and is found to be a servant of it.

In God’s children the dominion of sin is broken: it will never again receive strength to their eternal destruction. For them it is written, “Sin shall not have dominion over you.” They do have reason to complain and to groan under the tormenting power of sin as long as they are in this dispensation, but at death they shall be delivered of that, too, and for ever.

God’s children have a continual sorrow in this life on account of the pollution of sin that cleaves unto them as long as they are “absent from the Lord,” but one day these tears also shall be wiped away from their eyes. It will be a great deliverance that before long will be the portion of God’s people when they leave this world, namely, the deliverance from sin. Then God shall never again be grieved by their sins, and they shall never again have to weep on account of sin. Everlasting joy shall then be upon their heads; sorrow and sighing shall flee away forever (Isa. 35:10).

To see sin, smarts but slightly
To own with lip confession
Is easier still, but oh! to feel,
Cuts deep, beyond expression!

Rev. W.C. Lamain (1904–1984) pastored the Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Leiden (1929–1932), Rotterdam-South (1932–1943), Rijssen-Wal (1943–1947), and Grand Rapids, Michigan (1947–1984).

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen