Unbelief and Its Relation to Sin
It is God's love that appeals to men. There is a judgment to meet, there is death as the result of sin; but God's love would save us from all evil. Christ died that we might not die. He lives that we may eternally live. His wrath is not against the sinner, but the sin; and it is to save the sinner from sin and the death of sin that he suffered. Sinner, does not your heart respond to such love? Will you not trust One that has done so much for you? Unbelief.—Unbelief is not of itself sin. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” Belief, or faith, will save from sin. God gave his Son, that “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3: 16. “He that believeth on him is not condemned.” Verse 18. Why?—because “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1: 7. It is sin, transgression of God's law, which condemns; for “he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” John 3: 18. Unbelief leaves him in sin, and sin condemns. Relation of Unbelief to Sin.—But is not unbelief properly called sin?—Yes; for in a sense it is the greatest of all sins; nay, it includes all sin. He who in the face of light will not believe, cherishes sin, loves sin. The Jews could not believe, because they thought more of their own honor than of the honor that came from God. See John 5: 43, 44. Sin intervenes between the soul and God, and blinds it to the light of his Gospel. But he who cherishes one sin, cherishes the very nature of sin, and thus unbelief shows that he prefers sin to holiness, transgression to righteousness. When, therefore, we find ourselves doubting God's word, we may know that sin reigns in the heart. Unbelief is an infallible indication of cherished sin, and so it is taken as standing for cherished sin. Many of the tribes of Israel did not enter the promised land because of unbelief; but this simply meant that they cherished and loved their own sinful ways instead of God's ways, and this is demonstrated by their history. The Foes of the Church.—The church of Christ has nothing to fear from without. Skepticism and infidelity may bring to bear all their forces, may ridicule the most sacred truths, but they can not prevail against those who stand in the strength of Christ and his truth. What the church has most to fear is the infidelity and faithlessness within her own precincts. If she admits the spirit of the world, if she compromises with evil, if she willingly holds within her membership the open transgressor, the sin-lover, the worldling, she is nourishing and cherishing on her own life that which will prove her destruction. As with the Christian so with the church, the only foes to be feared are those admitted within. By bidding them come in the church bids Christ depart. By cherishing his presence, by feeding on his word, by watching against sin, we keep the foes without. The danger to the church is from within. Let her keep her own soul pure, and she need fear nothing from without.