Proverbs 14:9a, Sin’s Treachery

August 6, Proverbs 14:9a

Romans 6 “We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth” (Rm. 2:12).

Sin’s Treachery

The Bible is the only book with the remedy for sin. “Till we are above sin, we are not above Scripture” (Thomas Watson). Only fools make a mock at sin.

1. A Universal Reality: There are those who, either defiantly or naively ask, “What is sin?” That sin is a fact cannot be disputed. We feel it in our own hearts. We see it in others, and it is revealed in the Bible. We may try to define it, but we cannot explain it. To do so is to explain it away! Bunyan’s definition is typically vivid and practical. “Sin,” he said, “is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of his mercy, the jeer of his patience, the slight of his power and the contempt of his love.” It is, in reality, the willful violation of God’s Law made known through Conscience and Revelation. It is doing what God forbids, and failure to do what He commands. “Sin is learned without going to school.”

2. A Universal Depravity: We tend to confound sin with vice or crime. All men are sinners, but not all men are vicious criminals. There are virtuous women, but no sinless ones. Many are law-abiding citizens, but none are sinless. There are beautiful babies, but none without a sin nature. a. Sin involves Impiety. There are open sinners. This is a mark of the smart, of the enlightened mind to despise spiritual things. Some just want freedom to indulge their sensual passions, while others parade their modernity, having cut loose from the restraints of an outmoded authoritarianism. Others recognise the need for some social values, but sneer at the Bible and its standards. b. Sin involves Credulity. Sinners are deceived into thinking sin is harmless. They mock at the very notion of sin. They trifle with sin as if daring God. They regard obedience to God’s Law as no longer binding. They try to convince themselves, and all others, that there is more good than evil in the world. Sadly, they will not face the fact that sin mocks them in the end.

3. A Universal Liability: Sin is a deceiver and a destroyer of the souls of men. Consider a. Its Duplicity. Sin kisses, but kills. Sin, it is said, has many tools, but a lie is a handle that fits them all. It promises life but pays death. It assures an inward harmony, but instead there is inward discord. Yet, sin mocks us still more by creating the illusion that all is well even while we are being driven headlong to eternal destruction. Consider b. Its Tyranny. There is the delusion that we are shaking off chains that fettered us, but once we have done so we discover we are serving a fearful tyrant. The devil said, “You will be free,” which means, “You will become my slaves!” (Jn. 8:34; Rm. 6:16). Yes, “sin’s service is slavery, and it always ruins where it reigns.” Only sovereign grace can dethrone it! What a stream of woes flows from every life that makes terms with sin! “Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward (Heb. 2:2)!”

Thought: “Sin’s misery, and God’s mercy are beyond measure.”

Prayer: Lord, save me from mocking sin that I might not be mocked by sin.