Spurgeon: November PM
* 11/02/PM
"Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that
forsake Thy law."
--Psalm 119:53
My soul, feelest thou this holy shuddering at the sins of
others? for otherwise thou lackest inward holiness. David's
cheeks were wet with rivers of waters because of prevailing
unholiness; Jeremiah desired eyes like fountains that he might
lament the iniquities of Israel, and Lot was vexed with the
conversation of the men of Sodom. Those upon whom the mark was
set in Ezekiel's vision, were those who sighed and cried for the
abominations of Jerusalem. It cannot but grieve gracious souls
to see what pains men take to go to hell. They know the evil of
sin experimentally, and they are alarmed to see others flying
like moths into its blaze. Sin makes the righteous shudder,
because it violates a holy law, which it is to every man's
highest interest to keep; it pulls down the pillars of the
commonwealth. Sin in others horrifies a believer, because it
puts him in mind of the baseness of his own heart: when he sees
a transgressor he cries with the saint mentioned by Bernard, "He
fell to-day, and I may fall to-morrow." Sin to a believer is
horrible, because it crucified the Saviour; he sees in every
iniquity the nails and spear. How can a saved soul behold that
cursed kill-Christ sin without abhorrence? Say, my heart, dost
thou sensibly join in all this? It is an awful thing to insult
God to His face. The good God deserves better treatment, the
great God claims it, the just God will have it, or repay His
adversary to his face. An awakened heart trembles at the
audacity of sin, and stands alarmed at the contemplation of its
punishment. How monstrous a thing is rebellion! How direful a
doom is prepared for the ungodly! My soul, never laugh at sin's
fooleries, lest thou come to smile at sin itself. It is thine
enemy, and thy Lord's enemy--view it with detestation, for so
only canst thou evidence the possession of holiness, without
which no man can see the Lord.