One Sin

 •  5 min. read  •  grade level: 8
 
WHEN in London last, I was asked to go with another Christian to visit an old man, who was nearly blind, unconverted, and hardened in a course of unbelief, while at the same time boasting in his almost sinless morality. He believed in God and His word, when it suited him to do so; but when God's claims were pressed, and the question of his own creature responsibility raised, he ignored them altogether, He was a fair sample of that class who judge God, instead of allowing Him to judge them; and who sit in judgment upon the scriptures, instead of submitting to their divine statements, and bowing to their divine authority.
Everything we stated from God's word was either rejected or treated with indifference. In fact, the old man was an object of pity from first to last; everything he said but indicated a man totally in the dark, with a heart as alien from God as possible, and desiring to remain so. The most beautiful truths of the gospel were treated like a sow would treat pearls.
But one point in our long conversation struck me very much. When speaking of his blameless life, he boasted that he could not remember ever having sinned. I said, " Mr. R— don't you remember in your long life of ever having sinned? God says, the thought of foolishness is sin.' Have you had no foolish thoughts? He also says, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment ' (Matt. 12:3636But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. (Matthew 12:36)). Have you never spoken idle words? “Though blinded by unbelief, and willingly ignorant of his many sins, the old man's memory served him this once. “Yes," said he, “I do remember when I was a boy, with other boys, getting into a neighbor's orchard and stealing his apples.”
Though he would ignore the sins of old age, his conscience made him testify to the sins of his youth. And yet he did not cry, as did another, “Lord, remember not against me the sins of my youth.”
In reply to the old man, I said, “Then, by the law of God, you are under the curse; for if you had but committed this one sin, it curses you. The law of God, says, Thou shalt not steal,' and you have stolen, and therefore you remain under the awful weight of its divine curse." I then turned to Gal. 3, and read, " As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in ALL things written in the book of the law to do them.”
I then proceeded to show, that the redemption of Christ was the only way of deliverance from the curse of the broken law, and that the believer was redeemed and delivered. “Christ hath delivered us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree "(Gal. 3:1313Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (Galatians 3:13)).
But the old man put it from him, and said, that he was willing to stand as he was; that he was not afraid to meet God; and that there were many more like him; and, if lost, he would have plenty of company.
We in turn besought him to believe God's word, to own himself a sinner, accept the Saviour by faith, and meet us in glory. And so we parted. Whether to meet in glory, or for the old man to hear the awful sentence, “Depart from me ye cursed," “that day “only will declare.
I must confess that I never felt the awful power of unbelief, and the deadening and blinding effect of sin, more than I did that afternoon, while seeking to lead that poor, blind, tottering, God-hating sinner to Christ. Ere it be too late for him, may the God of all grace save him; and in that day may he be found amongst the number of the redeemed.
But notice, beloved reader, the old man remembered one sin. If he had let the light of God's word fall upon his life, he would have seen thousands of sins, in thought, in word, in deed. His very conversation with us was full of sin; for he was justifying himself, and condemning God. Unbelief came forth at every breath, and the old man scorned the thought of judgment. But he remembered one sin, it was a sin of his youth. He remembered that one; throughout his long life it stuck to him; his conscience charged him with it, and the law of God condemns him for it.
That one sin is registered against him, and many more besides and if, after a life of Christ-rejecting, he finds his abode in hell, his memory, no longer impaired or forgetful, will discover to him, not one sin merely, but a life of guilt and rebellion, and multitudes of sins aggravated by ever-increasing light. Like the rich man in hell, to whom Abraham said, "Son, remember," his memory will fling itself back over the past, and his conscience charge upon him his many sins, while he will be fully aroused to the awful fact that his portion is endless woe, banishment from the presence of God forever.
Dear reader, let your memory do you service now. Let the light of the word of God fall upon your whole path now, and you will exclaim, “My sins are countless I who can save me from the judgment they deserve?”
WHEN the Lord Jesus died, God rent the veil of the temple in twain from top to bottom. Atonement for sin having been effected by Christ, and accepted by God, no barrier to immediate access to God remained. To bring in anything now between the believing soul and God is, in effect, to stitch up the veil again.