p. 5 | A Bible Study on Man by L. A. Reed

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 4, 1913

A Bible Study on Man

By L. A. Reed

By L. A. Reed

IV. Ultimate Fruits of Persistent Sin

Its Eternal Wages

REDEMPTION through Christ is not some easy way to dispose of a man's past, causing him to disregard its effects. Every now and then we hear some overwise critic, some carping scoffer, say that “salvation is cheap, that a man can spend a lifetime in vileness, and then cowardly get out of the results of that life without regard to all the evil he has done; he causes others to suffer, while he goes scot-free.” It is this class of critic who also condemns the severe punishment threatened for the confirmed sinner. In other words, he thinks the way of redemption too easy, the way of transgression too hard. But judged by his own words, he has then every inducement to turn away from his own wrongdoing. However, his position is not correct.

A study of the Bible narrative shows that those who indulge in sin suffer seriously in consequence, even those who were called as God's children. We find that when they turned aside from the right, a terrible train of evil consequences followed this sinful act. Jacob would have lost his life at the hand of Esau, whom he had wronged, had he not bitterly repented of his deception and sin. The heart of Moses was torn with sorrow when he could not enter with God's people into the promised land, because he had forgotten on one occasion to honor his Leader. David lost three children and faced death himself, because of his sin which brought reproach upon God's people.

“The wages of sin is death,”—that is the decree. God knows what it deserves, and has declared this as the penalty. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” There is no exception, there is no escape. However, God gives one the choice of a death to sin through Christ, or, refusing that, he must die the death eternal. And if he accept the death of Christ as the satisfaction for his sins, it means deep, revolutionizing sorrow, and repentance that shall move the very fountains of the soul, and cause that which before he loved to be hated. He so loathes his former way that he turns from it as from the vilest and most offensive thing in the world. And this revolutionizes the man. He becomes a new creature, a changed being. But even so, tho he is saved from the eternal consequences of his sin, there are effects of that sin which follow him throughout his life. He may triumph over his sin, he may overcome every inherited and cultivated tendency to evil, and he may triumph at last and be given the victor's palm, but sin has been no benefit to him. He has felt its effects, and the reason that he has overcome is because that “where sin abounded,” grace hath much more abounded.

But sin is no trifling thing; it is the inexcusable and the unreasonable thing. It has come into a beautiful, perfect universe, and the whole intention and result of it is to wreck that universe. The preservation of all that God has created depends upon the control and eradication of sin from the universe. It is the blackest kind of an enemy, against which the most rigid precautions must be taken. Smallpox, tuberculosis, the black plague, cholera, yellow fever,—all these are nothing compared with it; and yet the best thought of the world justifies any proper precautions that are taken against the spread of these infectious diseases.

Just as truly God has taken precaution against the spread of sin. This world is in quarantine, and yet every provision is being made to save those who will turn away from the deadly disease that threatens more than the physical life.

Since sin is rebellion, it is necessary, before punishment of sin can be meted out, that every individual shall declare himself, whether he stands on the side of the rebellious cause, or on the side of preserving and maintaining the universe as God created it. This is an important matter, and every individual must have time in which to duly reflect, and consider what position he shall take. And again, if he should decide that the rebellion is unjustifiable, and that he will have no part in it, some means for him to be rescued must be provided. This way out of sin God has provided through the redemption which is in Christ.

But if a man declare himself on the side of rebellion, he is to receive the deserts of a rebel; the safety of the government depends upon it. If this were a rebellion, as sometimes occurs in the nations, where the rebellion were justifiable, it were a different matter; but this rebellion, if successful, would mean the ruin of all who would take part in it, and of all that they could reach. Only destruction and devastation would follow in their train. This is the logical working out of sin. But God, as the Arbiter of the just cause, declares, decrees, and carries out the decree that only those who choose sin shall bear the penalty of sin. He gives every man the right of his free choice, and having chosen, He does not by arbitrary power take from him that which is chosen.

And death—eternal death—awaits the one who chooses persistently the way of sin.

There is no use in crying out against it; there is no use in charging injustice upon God. It simply shows that we do not know what sin is, and do not sense its gravity and its tendency. The Word declares that when sin is full-grown, it brings forth death. It also says “the wages of sin”—that is, not to say God's wages for sin, but—“the wages of sin is death.”

Death Is Not Life

The sacrifice of Christ can never be made to cover persistent, or wilful, sin. The Word declares, “If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” Heb. 10:26. The wicked are to be punished “with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.” 2 Thess. 1:9. Christ Himself said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all . . . perish.” Luke 13:3. This is a restatement of Ps. 37:20, where we read, “The wicked shall perish.” The whole of this scripture is as follows: “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.” This destruction is to be so complete that the Word presents it in a startling picture. It declares, “As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more.” Prov. 10:25. The statement, “So is the wicked no more,” means that there is not any future existence for them. The punishment for their sins is an end to their existence. This is plainly declared in another scripture: “For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as tho they had not been.” Obadiah 16.

The doctrine that the wicked will be set aside in some place in the universe, there to continue their blasphemous cursing against God, is not only abhorrent, but contrary to the Scriptures. We read, “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” Ps. 37:10. Both the wicked and he who instigated sin, the devil, are to be punished with fire here upon the earth itself. “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.” Prov. 11:31.

“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Mal. 4:1.

“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Rev. 20:9.

This fire in the earth that destroys all rebels against the government of God was referred to by the apostle Peter: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7.

He tells us that this fire melts the earth and everything in it: “Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.” Verse 12.

This is the very thing that Christ said would occur when He comes to judge the

wicked: “The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Matt. 13:41, 42.

But out of the ruins and the ashes of the burned earth shall arise, by the creative power of God, the earth renewed.

“Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13.

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. 5:5.

“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Matt. 13:43.

Such will be the end of persistent sin, and when this punishment upon the devil and evil men—the root and the branches—has been consummated, then, and then only, can the universal song be sung, prophesied by the revelator: “And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.”

This world and its sin will pass away, but “he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”