The wages of sin is death. Sin kills and murders! Yet sin is very tantalizing and seductive. It sleeps with many and kills as many! It is my desire that you would view sin's nature rightly. I pray that the Spirit of the Living God may give you the grace to make a correct estimation of it is guilt. Read the third verse of Thomas Kelly's hymn, Stricken Smitten and Afflicted and the Puritan, Thomas Brooks' book, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, to know this.
You who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed,
See who bears the awful load;
It is the Word, the Lord's Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed,
See who bears the awful load;
It is the Word, the Lord's Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.
Thomas Kelly, 1769-1854 (Hymn, Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted)
How did God
deal with sin? Christ, His only Son had to come from the eternal bosom of his
Father to a region of sorrow and death. That God should be manifested in the
flesh, the Creator made a creature; that He who was clothed with glory should be
wrapped with rags of flesh; He who filled heaven and earth with his glory should
be cradled in a manger. That the almighty God should flee from weak man—the God
of Israel into Egypt. That the God of the law should be subject to the law for
He was born under the law. That the God of the circumcision be circumcised on
the eighth day, that the God who made the heavens working at Joseph's workshop!
That He who binds the devils in chains should be tempted; that He, whose is the
world, and the fullness thereof, should hunger and thirst; that the God of
strength should be weary, the Judge of all flesh condemned, the God of life put
to death; that He who is one with his Father should cry out of misery, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?" (Matt. 27:46). That He who had the keys of hell and death at his
belt should lie imprisoned in the grave of another, having in his lifetime nowhere
to lay his head, nor after death to lay his body. Such was the cost of sin, so
view its nature rightly by discovering who bears the awful load – tis the Word,
the Lord’s Anointed, Son of God and Son of Man.
That that HEAD, before which the angels do cast down their crowns, should be crowned with thorns;
That the EYES, purer than the sun, be put out by the darkness of death even though momentarily;
That those EARS, which hear nothing but hallelujahs of saints and angels, to hear the blasphemies of the multitude;
That FACE, which was fairer than the sons of men, to be spit on by those beastly wretched Jews;
That that MOUTH and TONGUE, which spoke as never man spoke, be accused for blasphemy;
That those HANDS, which freely swayed the scepter of heaven, nailed to the cross;
That those FEET, "like unto fine brass," nailed to the cross for man's sins; each sense pained with a spear and nails;
That His SMELL, with stinking odor, being crucified on Golgotha, the place of skulls;
That his TASTE, with vinegar and gall;
That his HEARING, with reproaches, and
That SIGHT of his mother and disciples bemoaning him;
That his SOUL, comfortless and forsaken by God, forsaken by friends, forsaken by family, forsaken by his own, forsaken by his foes; and
All this for those very sins that Satan paints and puts fine colors upon!
Oh! how should the consideration of this stir up the soul against sin, and work the soul to fly and flee from it, and to use all holy means whereby sin may be subdued, killed and destroyed!
That the EYES, purer than the sun, be put out by the darkness of death even though momentarily;
That those EARS, which hear nothing but hallelujahs of saints and angels, to hear the blasphemies of the multitude;
That FACE, which was fairer than the sons of men, to be spit on by those beastly wretched Jews;
That that MOUTH and TONGUE, which spoke as never man spoke, be accused for blasphemy;
That those HANDS, which freely swayed the scepter of heaven, nailed to the cross;
That those FEET, "like unto fine brass," nailed to the cross for man's sins; each sense pained with a spear and nails;
That His SMELL, with stinking odor, being crucified on Golgotha, the place of skulls;
That his TASTE, with vinegar and gall;
That his HEARING, with reproaches, and
That SIGHT of his mother and disciples bemoaning him;
That his SOUL, comfortless and forsaken by God, forsaken by friends, forsaken by family, forsaken by his own, forsaken by his foes; and
All this for those very sins that Satan paints and puts fine colors upon!
Oh! how should the consideration of this stir up the soul against sin, and work the soul to fly and flee from it, and to use all holy means whereby sin may be subdued, killed and destroyed!
It was
good counsel one gave, "Never let go out of your minds the thoughts of a
crucified Christ." Let these be food and drink unto you; let them be your
sweetness and consolation, your honey and your desire, your reading and your
meditation, your life, death, and resurrection.
Thomas Brooks, 1608 -1680
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