"Now is it not better to swim by faith
through an ocean of trouble and get safely to heaven than to sit in the lap of
sinful pleasures until we drown in hell's gulf?
Faith enables the
soul to recognize not only the nature of sin void of all true pleasure, but
also the temporal quality of its frivolous elation. Faith persuades us not to
give up God's sure mercies from Satan's transient thrills. This persuasion
makes Moses run from the enchantments of the Egyptian court into the fire of
"affliction" because he knows them for what they are--
"pleasures.... for a season" Hebrews 11:25. If you saw a man jump
from a ship into the sea, at first you might think him insane; but later if you
saw him standing on the shore and the ship swallowed up by the waves, you would
know he took the wise course.
Faith sees the
world with all the stimulus of sin sinking; there is a leak in them which the
wisdom of man cannot repair. Now is it not better to swim by faith through an
ocean of trouble and get safely to heaven than to sit in the lap of sinful
pleasures until we drown in hell's gulf?
Sin's enjoyment
cannot last long because it is not natural. Whatever is not natural soon
decays. The nature of sugar, for example, is to be sweet and therefore it holds
its sweetness; but artificially sweetened wine loses its good taste in just a
few days. The pleasure of sin is foreign to its nature and will corrupt the
life it touches. None of the sweetness, which now satisfies sinners will be
tasted in hell; only bitterness will spice the sinner's cup there.
Another reason sin's
exhilaration must be short-lived is that life itself does not last long, and
they both end together. Many times the pleasure of sin dies before the man
dies. Sinners live to bury their worldly joy. The worm breeds in their
conscience before it breeds in their flesh by death. But be sure the advantages
of sin never survive this world. The word has gone out of God's mouth: He
"distributes sorrows in his anger" Job 21:17. Hell's climate is too
hot for evil delights to survive. ”
Quoted
material from, ”The Christian in Complete Armour Daily Readings in Spiritual
Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell. http://www.moodypublishers.com/pub_productDetail.aspx?id=41823&pid=53617
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