“Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, if it has its own way it will go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could, every thought of unbelief would be atheism if allowed to develop. Every rise of lust, if it has its way reaches the height of villainy; it is like the grave that is never satisfied. The deceitfulness of sin is seen in that it is modest in its first proposals but when it prevails it hardens men’s hearts, and brings them to ruin”–John Owen, The Mortification of Sin.
“[What do we say about people without Christ? Are they dead?] Yes, indeed, we must and do say this very thing, for in the sphere which matters supremely (which is neither the body, nor the mind, nor the personality, but the soul) they have no life. And you can tell it. They are blind to the glory of Jesus Christ, and deaf to the voice of the Holy spirit. They have no love for God, no sensitive awareness of his personal reality, no leaping of their spirit towards him in the cry, ‘Abba, Father’, no longing for fellowship with his people. They are unresponsive to him as a corpse. So we should hesitate to affirm that a life without God (however physically fit and mentally alert the person may be) is a living death, and that those who live it are dead even while they are living”–John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, 72.
“Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you so that he does not hear”–Isaiah 59:1-2.
“Man [is] incapable of managing his own afairs or of creating a just, free, humane and tranquil society. For man himself is askew”–John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, 69.
If you would like to receive my daily posts, you can subscribe at the top of the page. It’s easy and it’s free. I would also appreciate your sending this to others as well. Waylonbailey.com is my ministry across the internet. Thank you for reading and sharing.
One Response
I heard another minister explain sin in a most unique way. Different than how I had ever heard sin explained to me before. He explained it this way, look at sin as a noun (person, place, or thing) as opposed to a verb (action). I have always thought of sin as something I did (verb) and never realized sin is just there and everywhere without my even having to purposely do something. Kind of like oxygen, its all around us. But when we breathe it in it becomes a larger part of us. Man is askew for the sin that exist in the world, sin floats all around us just waiting to attach itself to our being. Maybe this will help others as it helped me in realizing how Jesus provided a protective barrier to be placed around us to protect us from sin if we only accept Him.