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SIN IS UNPROFITABLE

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 10, 1868

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 31, No. 13.

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SIN IS UNPROFITABLE.

By R. F. Cottrell

It is a vain idea, and not only vain but wicked, to think we gain anything by spending our lives in sin till we come down to the verge of the grave, and then hope for pardon by saying a few words of penitence, and thus be prepared for the bliss of Heaven. Some have hoped that after they had chosen this world and enjoyed the pleasures of sin, that they might give a small remnant of their time, the very refuse of their lives, to the service of the Lord, and gain the world to come; and thus secure both worlds, the present with its sinful pleasures, and the future where there is no sin. Hence we hear the wish expressed that they may not die suddenly, but by slow disease, giving them time for repentance and preparation for death.
Do they think they can deceive the Searcher of hearts, and cheat the Most High out of the service and devotion of their whole lives, which is his due, and be accepted of him at last, and hear the Saviour say, Well done? Such thoughts are deceptive and vain. Such persons are deceived by the sophistry of Satan and their own wicked hearts, and are hastening in the downward road to perdition. Their very thoughts are an insult to God the Father, our Creator, and a wound to the Son of God, our Saviour.
God knows our inmost hearts; and he that is willing to give his heart and life to Him, need not be afraid of sudden death; but those who deliberately choose to serve the world, the flesh and the Devil, may hope in vain that God will accept of the refuse of a life spent in sin, and take them to the joys of Heaven.
Such persons are deceived with the thought that there is some gain, some real profit, in sin. This is the “deceitfulness of sin.” The sinner thinks he shall really gain something by a life of sin. Hence he determines to enjoy himself, to live to gratify his appetites and passions, and to heap up treasures from the industry of the poor, and finally, by a coup de main, to prepare himself for the sinless bliss of Heaven. God is merciful, he thinks, and so he fancies that he may spend his life in sin and still escape the consequences.
God indeed is merciful; but there is nothing gained by sin. He pardoned the grievous sins of David in the matter of Bath-sheba and Uriah the Hittite; but he was doomed to see the death of his child, the progeny of his sin, and to endure the rebellion of Absalom, being driven out of his own house, followed with the curses of Shimei, leaving his wives to be polluted by the usurper in the sight of Israel. The language of God to him, by the prophet Nathan, was this: “Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before this sun.”
And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.”
These predicted evils came upon David with all their weight, and he gained nothing by his sin, but on the contrary suffered great loss.
Saul of Tarsus, who was a persecutor of the church, and injurious, gained nothing by his sin, though he did it ignorantly in unbelief. On this account he received pardon; but the language of the Lord to Ananias, “I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake,” was fulfilled in the experience of the apostle, in the persecutions and sufferings he endured for the cause of Christ. This chosen vessel of the Lord had to pass through the furnace of affliction.
They certainly are deceived who think they will be profited by a life of sin; even if it were possible that they may find pardon and life. There is nothing gained by overreaching and oppression. Unlawful gain is a great loss. There is nothing gained by doing our work upon the sacred hours of the Sabbath. It may seem profitable for a time; it may be imagined that something is gained; but it will be found in the end that it is a great loss.
May God help the writer and reader to fully believe and act upon the truth that there is no profit in sin, and not be taken in the snare of its deceitfulness.
R. F. COTTRELL.