Morning and Evening

November 2, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake Thy law." — Psalm 119:53 · KJV

My soul, do you feel this holy shuddering at the sins of others? For otherwise you lack inward holiness. David's cheeks were wet with rivers of water because of prevailing unholiness; Jeremiah longed for eyes like fountains, that he might lament the sins of Israel; and Lot was vexed with the conversation of the men of Sodom. Those on whom the mark was set in Ezekiel's vision were the ones who sighed and cried over 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 by experience, 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 every man's highest interest to keep; it pulls down the pillars of the commonwealth. Sin in others horrifies a believer, because it reminds him of the baseness of his own heart: when he sees a transgressor, he cries with the saint Bernard mentioned, "He fell today, and I may fall tomorrow." Sin is horrible to a believer because it crucified the Savior; he sees in every iniquity the nails and the spear. How can a saved soul behold that cursed, Christ-killing sin without abhorrence? Say, my heart, do you truly share 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 thought of its punishment. How monstrous a thing is rebellion! How dreadful a doom is prepared for the ungodly! My soul, never laugh at sin's fooleries, lest you come to smile at sin itself. It is your enemy, and your Lord's enemy — view it with detestation, for only so can you show that you possess the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

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