Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

November 2– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“Anger has taken hold of me because the wicked neglect Your law.”

—Psalm 119:53

Do you feel this holy anger at the sins of others? If not, you lack inward holiness. David’s cheeks were wet with streams of water because of the prevailing unholiness all around him. Jeremiah desired eyes like fountains that he might lament the sins of Israel. And even Lot was troubled by the actions of the men of Sodom. Those who received the mark in Ezekiel’s vision, were those who sighed and cried over the abominations of Jerusalem. Gracious souls can’t help but grieve to see what pains men take to go to hell. They know the evil of sin themselves and are alarmed to see others flying like moths into its flame. Sin makes the righteous shudder, because it violates a holy law which every man ought to have the highest interest of keeping. Sin pulls down the pillars of society.

Sin in others horrifies a believer, because it makes him recall the baseness of his own heart. When he sees a sinner transgressing God’s law, he cries out, “He fell today, and I may fall tomorrow.” Sin is horrible to a believer because it crucified the Savior. He sees in every sin the nails and spear. How can a saved soul behold that which cursed and killed Christ without abhorring it?

O, my heart, do you feel this abhorrence? Sin insult God to His face. The good God deserves better treatment; the great God claims it; and the just God will have it, or He will repay His adversaries. 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 great a doom is prepared for the ungodly! Dear friend, never laugh at sin’s foolishness, or you may come to smile at sin itself. It is your enemy and your Lord’s enemy. View it with hatred. It is the only way to know you possess holiness yourself, and without holiness no one will see God. [M&E]