576. PRO 13:6. THE RUINOUS EFFECTS OF SIN
Pro_13:6. The Ruinous Effects of Sin
"Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way; but wickedness overthroweth the sinner."’97Pro_13:6.
We are often warned against evil in the word of God, by the most solemn statements as to the awful consequences of sin. It is written, "The way of transgressors is hard." "God is angry with the wicked," &c. "He that being often reproved," &c. "Say ye to the wicked it shall be ill with him," &c. And in the graphic language of the text, "Wickedness overthroweth," &c. Let us,
I. Explain the character; and
II. Prove and illustrate the declaration. I. Let us explain the character. "The sinner."
Sin is the transgression of the law, &c. All men while in a state of nature are sinners. "All have sinned," &c. "There is none righteous," &c. Yet there are degrees and classes of sinners.
1. There are skeptical and scoffing sinners. Men who profess to disbelieve revelation. Who ridicule religion. Despise the Bible. Mock at piety. Deride the Christian character. Often glory in their shame, &c.
2. There are profligate sinners. These are given up to work iniquity. Go to the race course, the gambling-house, the theatre, and you meet with them. Go to the tavern and the house of dissoluteness, and you meet with them there. You hear them belching out oaths and curses and filthy speeches in the streets. They are eager to do evil. They drink it in as the ox, &c. Bear the mark in their forehead, &c.
3. There are worldly-minded sinners. These may be decent in their deportment, but the world is their god. The ledger or day-book their Bible. Their trade their only religion. All their time and toil devoted to gain the dust of the world. They are literally earth-worms. They are grovelling in the dust. Time and the body absorb all. The soul and eternity forgotten.
4. There are the formal, the procrastinating sinners. They give some heed to religion, to Sabbaths, ordinances, preaching, religious duties. They have many convictions, desires, religious purposes. Yet they remain the servants of the evil one. They do not strive to enter in, &c. They do not come to the gospel feast. They are incessantly making excuses. Always putting it off, &c. Not far from the kingdom of God. Now, most persons, if not all, are included in one or other of these classes. Will you inquire? Search yourselves, &c.
Let us,
II. Prove and illustrate the declaration.
"Wickedness overthroweth," &c.
Now, wickedness of any kind or degree will do this’97just as one leak will sink a ship, or one mortal disease destroy life. So any kind or order of wickedness will condemn the soul. But it is equally true, that as all virtue or goodness has in its wake certain blessings, and certain exemptions from present evils; so the more wicked, and the more immediate, the more entire, and the more fearful the ruin produced. As proofs and illustrations of the text, observe,
1. Wickedness often overthrows the health of the sinner. Go to the hospital, and see how many have ruined their health by their course of life. That drunkard. That glutton. That debauchee. Nine-tenths of the suffering from disease originates in the wickedness of the sinner. Some blame chance. Some God. While the text contains the true solution. "Wickedness," &c.,
2. Wickedness often overthrows the worldly prospects of the sinner. Certain moral traits are necessary to success, even in worldly things. What youth would expect to prosper who discarded truth, fidelity, industry from his vocabulary? But many whose prospects have been most flattering, have been entirely wrecked by a course of transgression; and thousands have been brought to want even a morsel of bread through the vices they have pursued.
3. Wickedness overthrows the character of its victims. Is there any honor in being designated an infidel, a liar, a swearer, a drunkard, a gambler, a profligate? "The very name of the wicked shall rot."
4. Wickedness overthroweth the lives of tinners. The wicked do not live out half their days. They go to an early grave. Ponder on this! Look abroad! Observe the occurrences of society. How many fearful illustrations. The criminal on the scaffold’97the suicide’97the murdered’97disease. Myriads who are aged at forty. Sin often lights the taper of life at both ends, and of course existence consumes rapidly away.
5. Wickedness overthrows the final hopes of the sinner. Wicked men exist extensively by cherishing a false hope. A hope that it will yet be well with them. That they will escape the fearful consequences of their transgression. That though they eat, they will not die. The devices of Satan are numerous in keeping these illusions in the mind; but wickedness overthrows all these delusions. They are as inscriptions written on sand, and the waters of mortality efface them all, and leave a blank of hopelessness and horror. The candle of the wicked not only, his life, but his hope shall be put out. "The wicked is driven away," &c. This is the last overthrow. It is often sudden. It is always terrible, and certainly everlasting.
Application
1. The gospel has special tidings of joy for the sinner. "This is a faithful saying," &c. Christ will save from sin, and rescue the sinner.
2. We appeal to the self-interested feelings of all present. We urge religion’97it is your duty; but we urge it, it is your interest, present and eternal.
3. Warn the incorrigible.
Autor: JABEZ BURNS