812. PRO 13:15. THE MISERY OF A SINFUL STATE

Pro_13:15. The Misery of a Sinful State

Preached On The Execution Of A Murderer

"The way of transgressors is hard."’97Pro_13:15.

One of the most common figures of speech employed in the Bible is to exhibit the course of a man’s life under the similitude of a way. Here we read of the way of wisdom, and the way of folly; the way of life, and the way of death; the way of shame, and the way of honor; the way of holiness which leads to heaven, and the way of darkness which leads to hell. Jesus, the Great Teacher, adopts the same metaphor, "Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way," &c., Mat_7:15. Now, in these two ways the whole of mankind are travelling. Only two classes before God where there is a real distinction. The righteous and the wicked; the sinner and the saint; the Christian journeying heavenward, and the transgressor urging his course to ruin and death. Our subject relates to "the way of the transgressor," &c. Let us then,

I. Define the character.

"The transgressor."

It is clear that all who violate the law of God, and break the divine commandments, are included in this term. If so, then the text involves all men who are in their natural and unconverted state. "All have sinned," &c. But the grades of guilt are almost endless.

1. There are those who may be denominated impious transgressors.

Who deny God’s being, reject revelation, and deride all religion. Who give themselves up to unbelief, &c. It is awful to see the daring and effrontery of these.

2. There are those who are abandoned and oven transgressors.

Men who give themselves up to work wickedness; who drink it in, &c.; who glory in their shame; who are champions of vice; sit in the seat of the scorner; who mock at sin; reckless and daringly vile.

3. There are those who are the victims of particular vices.

(1.) The swearer, who wantonly profanes God’s name, and presumptuously prays for vengeance on himself and those around him.

(2.) The victims of lust, who mind only earthly things.

(3.) The eager worldling, who cares not how he gets riches, so that he may get them. Who makes gold his confidence, and fine gold his god.

(4.) The slave of intemperance, who drowns his reflection, dethrones his reason, and ruins his health and soul in the intoxicating cup.

4. All those who disobey the gospel, and neglect the great salvation.

"How shall we escape," &c. What shall the end be of those who obey not the gospel; who refuse to believe in the mercy and love of God, and neglect their best and eternal concerns? To which of these classes do you belong? In one or the other you are, each and all, who do not love Christ and serve him, included. Having defined the character,

II. Let us describe the way.

"The way of transgressors is hard."

1. This way is broad, and adapted to the desires of the corrupt mind.

It is a downward path, and therefore can be traversed without great effort. It is a flowing stream; and the person who ventures on it is readily borne onwards. Our own evil hearts love it: it suits our carnal desires.

2. It is a way of infatuated delusion.

Its own victims tell us it is the way of pleasure,’97of enjoyment,’97of life; but of what kind? Its flowers are those of sickness; its fruit like the apples of Sodom, &c.; its enjoyments those of delirium; its salutations are deceit, and its caresses the embraces of death; its festivals, like those of Belshazzar; its songs and mirth, like those of a carnival, where the soul of the sinner is the victim sacrificed to the god of this world’97the price of hell.

3. It is a way which is thickly peopled with immortal beings.

The crowd is in it. The majority’97the majority of all classes. Of the rich, and of the poor. Of the young, and of the old. Of the learned, and of the illiterate. In this way it is that they strengthen each other’s hands, and keep each other in countenance. It is truly an awful consideration. Go into any kingdom, or neighborhood, or rank of life, or profession, or trade, or circle, and the majority are in this way.

4. Yet it is a way manifestly evil.

Not the right way,’97not the way of peace. Ask the consciences of its travellers, and they will tell you, they feel they are sinners. Many do not attempt to deny it. Where the gospel shines it exposes it as the way of death. Wherever there is a church, or chapel, it is a silent beacon. Every Christian who acts and walks differently shows that the other is the way of evil and ruin. Let us then,

III. Establish the affirmation.

"The way of transgressors is hard."

1. It often produces bitter adversity.

Most of the temporal suffering is the result of transgression. Vice, idleness, and improvidence, are generally united. Many have expended their whole substance in support of vice. Large estates have been wasted; bright prospects blighted; nakedness and starvation are often the direct results of sin. Indeed, the way of transgressors is hard.

2. It often involves its victims in utter disgrace.

Some vices may be passed over by the mass, but there are others at which even the vile profess disgust. How many has transgression chased out of respectable society! How many have fled across seas, or retired into obscurity, on account of the loathsomeness of their character and reputation!

3. It often tends to extreme suffering and anguish.

Go to the gloomy prison, and see the toiling criminal shut out from society, &c. Go to the penal settlements, and see men exiled for life in degraded raiment and clanking chains. Go to the hospital, and see how many are groaning with pain and disease immediately brought on by iniquity. Go to asylums for the insane, and remember by far the greater number of maniacs have prostituted their reason to sin. Is not the way of transgressors, then, hard?

4. It often leads to premature and awful deaths.

The wicked do not live out half their Jays. The impious Pharaoh,’97the covetous Achan,’97the suicide Saul,’97the slain Belshazzar,’97the traitor Judas,’97the lying Ananias and Sapphira. But need we refer to ancient times? Go to the daily records of our own times and city. Our river, our canals, our coroner’s inquests, our ignominious brutal executions, all establish the text, &c.

5. It plunges its victims into eternal sorrows. The wages of sin is death’97eternal death.

The wicked shall be turned into hell, &c. All the sufferings of this world are just as a drop to the ocean of divine wrath in the world to come.

Application

1. View the way of transgressors with deep alarm and solemn dread. Let the sinner stand and pause before he advances another step.

2. Let the alarmed and convicted flee instantly from it. Escape for your life, and fly to the hope set before you in the gospel.

3. Let the believer travel in the royal highway of holiness, with joy and gladness, until he reaches the heavenly Zion, where sin and sorrow shall forever be unknown.

Autor: JABEZ BURNS