XV. Death the Wages of Sin

10Dec2018

SERMON XV.

Death the Wages of Sin.

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost [Preached in the year 1811.]

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of GOD is eternal life through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.” –Rom. vi. 23.

     There was a time when the very name of sin was as terrible to Christians as curses or punishments.  The Apostle James wishing to crush at a stroke the pride of a man who gloried in the knowledge of truth, though living after the flesh, simply says that it is a sin to him.  “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” [S. James iv. 17.]   In our days there are many who shudder at the name of dishonour, loss, or death, but this enlightened age is no longer haunted like a ghost by the fear of sin.  Is it thus that the saying of the prophet concerning the kingdom of the Messiah is accomplished in us, “to finish the transgressions and to make an end of sin?” [Dan. ix. 24.]   Alas! we do  not make an end of sin as we do of an old garment which we <169> cast away when putting on a new one, but it is with us like an  inveterate disease in  which  the sense of pain  becomes deadened  by  time,  and  which  we at length hardly distinguish from a state of health.

     This dangerous condition is still further aggravated by the unfortunate short-sightedness with which we contemplate merely the seducing shape under which sin appears before our eyes, but do not realise its true qualities, nor perceive its consequences.  What are our failings, our woes, our death? People say these are but natural imperfections, the consequences of accident, strokes of fate.  And thus it is that our self- love finds it easier to blaspheme GOD, than to detect the source of evil in our own selves. 

     The righteousness of GOD, my Christian hearers, needs no justification on our part, whereas our own unrighteousness must be laid bare before GOD, to obtain justification from Him.  To this end therefore let us in accordance with the present lesson from the Apostle, lay bare as far as we can the inevitable connection between sin and death, “for the wages of sin is death;” and to the baneful allurements of a sinful state let us oppose the advantages of a life by grace, “the gift of GOD is eternal life, through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.” 

     “GOD,” says the wise Solomon, “made not death.” [Wisd. i. 13.] Out of the fountain of life, could there flow anything but life?  Having called nothingness into life, He <170> gave unto this same life a law according to which it was to  work good, and it is the fulfilment of this law which  in  itself  is  life.  The  noblest  object  of  creation, man,  was  endowed  with  that  freedom  which  consists in  the  power  to  obey  the  law, through  the  conviction of  its  perfection, and  through  love  for  the  Law-giver, and which consequently does not exclude the possibility of  transgressing the law, and it is such wilful transgression of the law that is sin.  But inasmuch as the creature having  overstepped  the  limits  prescribed by  the  wisdom  and  grace  of  the  Creator, became  unable to rise to supreme perfection, which, being in itself a nullity, it is not only unable to give, but even to re­ store  to  itself;  its  deviation  therefore  from  the  law  is necessarily a lapse into a lower state of action, a state of  disorder, destruction, and   death.  This   was   the path through which “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” [Rom. v. 12.]   It enters like a thief, and rages like a robber, strips naked, enslaves and destroys.  Man, by  the triple relation  of his actions to  himself, to  his neighbour,  and  to  GOD,  may enjoy  a threefold life,—a natural one as the inhabitant of the visible world a social one as a member of society, and a spiritual one as a being created “a little lower than the angels,” [Psalm viii. 5] but sin imposes the tribute of death not only upon  natural  life,  but  upon  society,  and  even upon the immortal spirit of man. “The wages of sin is death” <171> 

     In his first state of innocence man was immortal as to his body as well as to his soul. The creatures subjected to his sway were dependent on certain natural changes, yet in such degree that neither their lord nor they themselves suffered from it.  But scarcely  had sin  overcome this lord  of theirs,  than  rebellion  arose in his realm as well as in himself, by the inscrutable justice of God, and wickedness, may be, would soon “have destroyed every living substance from off the face of the earth,” [Gen. vii. 4.] had not the merciful LORD accorded  some space between  sin  and  its fatal consequences, as a means for penitence and grace.  Meanwhile, Divine Providence so ordained that death should pursue and chastise sin in various ways, and in such proportion  to  its progress and  power,  that its own brood should become an obstacle to its influence, and that the blinded sinner might nevertheless easily discern in it his foe and destroyer. 

     To show you the effect of this Divine judgment, I will not point to the primitive world suddenly engulfed by  the flood  for its wickedness, nor to  those ancient towns which  by  the cry  of their lusts brought down on themselves the fire of heaven; nor to those graves of lust which  the luxury  of the Jews dug  for themselves in  the barren  desert,  or the like.  He who  has eyes to  see,  may  without searching  through  ages or centuries,  always and  everywhere see the sword  of GOD raised against wickedness, in nature herself, or <172> in the ordinary  course of human  affairs.  Do you not see how death, in the words of the prophet, “comes up into your windows,” [Jer. ix. 22.] pervades every sense and  faculty  in  the same measure as we open them to  sin?   See you  not how the cup  of worldly pleasures pours, if not a quick poison, certainly a slow one,  into  the tips of intemperance; how avarice does not so  much  fill the treasury  with  gold,  as the heart with  torment; how one wrong evokes, if not justice itself, then some other wrong; how craft falls into the pit which it digs for others, and how “bloody and deceitful men  shall not live out half their days?” [Psalm  lv. 23.]  See you not how the most subtle abuse of our natural faculties sharpens against us the very  same weapons; how pride killeth reason; wisdom, “which  does not like to retain GOD in its knowledge, GOD   giveth  it over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;” [Rom i. 28.] and how the thunder of misfortune  from  time  to  time  strikes  self-love  the  very root of sin ? And when GOD. “Who desireth not the death of a sinner,” says of Himself, that He “visiteth the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and fourth generation;” [Exod. xxiv. 7.] does not this mean that sin having once gained unlimited possession of man becomes implanted  in  his very  nature,  develops its power together with that life which man gives unto others; <173> and if this hereditary yoke be not shaken off, exacts its wages from his children,  his grandchildren,  and  his great-grandchildren. 

     But if in this or some similar way the deadly disease of one is able to infect many, is it to be wondered at that death, its consequence, can also befall tribes and nations,  like as it does individuals ? Social life took its rise at the word of GOD spoken to the first human couple, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” [Gen. i. 28.]  Here we see neither division nor destruction, wherefore then are civil bodies transient and sometimes even beyond measure shortlived, if not from the same cause as that which renders man mortal? The wane of our love towards our country, and the decrease of mutual sincerity among the members of a community  are followed  by  a debility  and disorder in its acts; luxury, by destroying its true well­ being, torments it with imaginary wants; ambition and injustice raise up against it foreign and native enemies; in  its faith  and  piety  it either preserves or loses the stability of its laws, the incitement to activity, the fear of iniquity,  the reward  of noble deeds,  the pledge of its security,  in short, its life and  soul.  And  if thou, O my right faithful fatherland, outlivest thy neighbours and  enemies without waxing  old, then bless the righteousness and faith which the LORD of Hosts hath granted unto thee as an element of long life. Without them no nation can expect any better fate than that of <174> the beloved but unfaithful, to GOD, children of Israel, “Why will ye die, O house of Israel?” [Ezek. xviii. 32.] exclaims the Prophet Ezekiel. It is in vain, that after having forsaken the way of truth, thou fanciest “that the way of the LORD is not equal;” [Ezek. viii. 29.] vainly dost thou hope to evade His judgment; thou art destroying thyself through thine own iniquity. “Why will ye die, O house of Israel?” If the wicked sometimes do “live, become old, yea, are mighty in power,” [Job xxi. 7.] this is either their last requital, which they  shall receive for the remnant of their virtue, or the last effort which is  to rob them of the remainder of their strength. A corrupt but powerful society is like a man in a burning fever, his vigorous and rapid movements are the effect of disease, and often the precursor of death. The royal prophet saw and described the fate of triumphant iniquity,—“I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.” But how long did this sight last? “Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not.” [Psalm xxxvii. 35, 36.] 

     Howbeit all the inflictions  which pursue iniquity, both in natural and in social life, are but reminders, or as  it were foretastes  of death, which is  inseparable from sin.  “For in the day  that thou eatest of the tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  thou  shalt surely die.” [Gen. ii. 17.] <175> 

     You  know that Adam lived  nine hundred  years upon earth after he had eaten of the forbidden tree ; is it possible that in this case the word was not fulfilled which  saith,  “Till heaven  and  earth  pass,  one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled?” [S. Matth. v. 18.]  No; Adam died in  fact on  the very day of his sinful fall; he died as to his intellect, which having  formerly  partaken  of divine light,  became darkened by sensuality; he died as to his will, which lost the power of tending  upwards towards spiritual truth; he died  as to  his heart,  which  fell from the height of heavenly love and bliss, and was dashed into as many  pieces as there are earthly  enjoyments; he died as to his powers, which from that time forth were able to produce only dead works. [Heb. ix. 14.] What then are we born in sin, and too eagerly enriching ourselves through this inheritance of Adam’s,—what are we “in the body of this death,” [Rom. vii. 24.] but living corpses in our graves ? This death is the more deadly, because the less felt, and more dreadful than all other deaths which we see and know.  For these kill temporary things, but that —eternal ones; the former are themselves temporal, the latter may be eternal.  The grave, says a certain Christian teacher, (Tertullian,) is a refuge from death, but not for him who dies in sin; for on the other side of the grave a second death [Rev. xxi. 8.] awaits him, or rather the development of the first death in all its horrors. <176> 

     Let us understand, my hearers, what we have to fear.  If the sword  is dreadful,  how much  more so  is he who  wields it; if death,  which  does not so  much strike man  as it does sin, is terrible, how much more so is sin which begets death. But seeing that fear is a useless tormentor, when  it is not a loving  monitor, let us not be slow in giving  to  our heart,  seduced  by sin, some worthier object of affection, and let us gather  around  it, as far as we are able, all our scattered powers, like the sad fragments of a shipwreck, into  a  secure  harbor.  What a quickening light does heaven send into the hell that is within us.  And how soon does the shadow of death flee before it.  The GOD of justice and retribution to the just, becomes a GOD of mercy and grace to the sinner.  “The gift of GOD is eternal life, through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.”

     Having found us dead,  grace  requires  not  that  we should  merit life,  for that were impossible; grace is found by him who seeks it not, it reveals itself to him who asks it not, it is a gift, not as a reward, it is “the gift of GOD.” 

     But let us mark our sinful blindness.  What do we not undertake for the gratification of our vain fancies and lawless desires? We sacrifice our rest to wealth, wealth to honour, and again our honour to rest.  We venture into dangers either to derive glory from them, or to plunge some adversary into them; we lead a life of incessant cares, that we may attain some better <177> condition,  which  is always receding  from us; and seeing our health failing, we go on killing ourselves by excessive efforts to  obtain  that which  we desire.  But to cast off the heavy burden of sin, and to take upon ourselves the easy  yoke of CHRIST,  to  snatch  our weak heart from the world, and to yield it up into the power of GOD, “which is made perfect in weakness,” [2 Cor. xii. 9.] to disengage ourselves, and to suffer GOD to  accomplish in us His work,—that is difficult, that is beyond our power.  Alas! we have more activity  and  power in  our destruction  than  would  be needful for our salvation. 

     Grace renews and restores unto man all that which is destroyed by sin.  It draws down upon him again spiritual life from GOD, its source; it makes him a member of the immortal body of the Church; and when that earthly temple, our body, shall be destroyed, it will prepare for us a divine habitation in heaven,— life eternal. 

     On the other hand, what is the reward of sin?  Let us place ourselves between sin and death, and glancing on the one and on the other, we shall involuntarily repeat the lamentation of the son of Saul, “I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in mine hand, and lo, I must die.” [1 Sam. xiv. 43.] I have but tasted a few drops of pleasure, and lo, before me lies a sea of woe.  After a few moments of enjoyment there awaits me an eternity of suffering. I have <178> not satisfied even the body, yet have I destroyed the soul.  “I did but taste a little honey, and lo, I must die.”

     Finally, grace presents to us an Almighty Giver and a faithful Surety in the person of JESUS CHRIST, the GOD-Man.  He is GOD,  for our regeneration  can be accomplished  only  through  the power of our Creator,  but He is at the same time Man,  that we might safely  and  fearlessly  draw nigh  unto  Him.  For He hath made Himself “to be a sin and a curse for us,” [2 Cor. v. 21; Gal. iii. 13.]  to  redeem  us  from  sin  and  its  curse,  and  having bought us with  His Blood,  He desires that we should receive all things through  Him,  through  JESUS CHRIST our LORD. 

     Now upon what do we ground our hopes when we subject ourselves to sin?  Every time the evil one offers us the forbidden fruit, he promises too much, “ye shall be as gods;” [Gen. iii. 5.] but no sooner have we done his will,  than  we generally  either receive nothing  at all,  or receive far less than  we expected.  And  wherefore then  do  we still rely  upon  this reed,  which  has already  so  many  times broken  in  our hand  and wounded it; why do we not hasten unto the Great Physician, Who can heal the wounds, both of the body and of the soul ?  Why do we hold fast unto the earth, which whirls us round along with itself; and why do we not grasp with our whole might the Cross of the Mediator, which is the ladder that leadeth unto heaven? <179>   And  wherefore,  when  “ the fashion  of this world  passeth away” so  quickly, when “the waters thereof roar and be troubled, and the mountains shake with  the swelling  thereof,” [Psalm xlvi. 3.] do  we not seek  refuge from  the  strokes  which  threaten  us,  in  the wounds of our Saviour ? 

     O GOD,  Who  desirest not the death  of a sinner, but that he should turn from his wickedness and live, take upon  Thyself our sin, lest it exact from us the wages of eternal death; and grant us Thy gift, which is eternal life; through  JESUS CHRIST our LORD. Amen.