p. 9 | Sin and Its Cleansing

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 31, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 13.

Sin and Its Cleansing.

THE root idea of sin is “missing the mark.” God’s mark of character is His own perfection. His requirement is, “Ye shall be holy; for I Jehovah your God am holy.” Lev. 19:2; 1 Peter 1:15, 16. As a rule of action, as a standard of character, God gave man His holy law; for “the law is holy.” Rom. 7:12. Missing this mark is sin; for “sin is the transgression of the law”—an inspired definition. 1 John 3:4. As the law covers all holiness, any departure from it is sin. The same great truth is expressed in these words: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:12, 23. The glory of God is His goodness, His holiness. Ex. 33:18, 19. Coming short of God’s glory is the missing of the mark.

No one paragraph can describe the satanic deceitfulness, the awful badness of sin. Suffice to say in the language of the Scripture, that “all unrighteousness is sin;” and “sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” As the tempter presents sin, oftentimes clad in gorgeous beauty, oftentimes the picture of slumberous and dreamy ease, of great luxury and power, of fame and pleasure, it does not seem death. Its first deviation is so small, the stultification of conscience so slight, and the reward seemingly so great and full of possibilities for good to a self-blinded vision—sin does not look to be evil. And yet, the beautiful dress is but a cloaking of corruption. Under the fair mask of the tempter is the hideous, repulsive form of death. Its soft, pleading voice is but the breathing of incipient decay, luring to destruction as deadly as itself. Sin is the leprosy of the soul. It comes so stealthily, so deceptive, so insidiously, so paralyzing the nerves—thus stupefying those sentinels of warning—that the soul is loath to believe it present until its ravages are apparent; and then oftentimes leaden despair or damnable lust dooms the brightness of life remaining. Sin is satanic. Its fruit is a devil and his angels. All that Satan is in deception, in craft, in malice, in cruel malignity, to meet at last his end in eternal death, sin is responsible for.

There is but one detector of sin in the universe—God’s word, God’s law as it is in Jesus. “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20. “Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust [coveting], except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7:7. Man may by his own light search his own heart; he will return deceived and disappointed. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is desperately sick, who can know it?” Jer. 17:9, R.V. Only God, as the next verse declares: “I the Lord search the heart.” “For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12. Would you know sin?—With open heart study God’s law, the great moral mirror. Let the living, active word reveal the condition. Take in simple trust the diagnosis of the Great Physician.

Not flattering to any soul of man is the result of the examination. Many an ailing body trembles to go to the skilful physician, fearing that the verdict will be tuberculosis,—the great white plague,—Bright’s disease, leprosy, or some other “incurable” malady. But if such a course is unwise in a physical matter, how much more so in the spiritual world! Go, then, to the great Physician. He will say first of all that you are “desperately sick,” with all the rest of humanity; for “all have sinned.” All are afflicted with the moral leprosy. And in many cases, “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the crown of the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores.” Isa. 1:5, 6. Believe it; this Physician will not deceive; He points out your true condition that He may heal you; yea, your “incurable” disease He will heal, if you will only believe. He will save “to the uttermost.”

Will He do it?—Most surely He will. Speaking of the sinner, He declares, “I have seen his ways, and will heal him.” Sinful tho we are, how we naturally repulse the vile and the base and the criminal. Mankind in all ages have fled from the leper. But when Jesus Christ walked the earth He revealed His wondrous love and power in His treatment of this type of sinner. Among those who came to Jesus, in whose heart His name and work kindled hope, was a leper. Others were brought by friends; the leper was forced to come alone. Those who saw him approach, shrank from his presence, the disciples of Christ among the rest. But the leper sees but one person, Jesus, the great Physician. He presses forward as rapidly as his decaying body will permit. Jesus does not flee from him; hope kindles. He falls at the Master’s feet, with the half-doubting prayer, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” And the merciful Jesus puts forth His hand, ever intended to bless, and touches the leper, and with a voice that thrills every diseased fiber, responds, “I will, be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

For you, sinful soul, is this written. You are the leper; Jesus is the great Physician. Go to Him in all your uncleanness, and you shall have cleansing. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You do not need to wait. The leper was immediately cleansed. The word of God cleansed him through and through. So Jesus said to His disciples, “Now are ye clean through the word that I have spoken unto you.”

God’s cleansing is yours now by the power of His grace, if you will appropriate it by faith. With open arms and nail-pierced hands He freely offers the treasures of His grace, purchased at an infinite price, that you might be free from sin; and if the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”