Wickedness Outside and Looking Inside - John Newton

Dear friend,
Wickedness prevails and increases in our city to a dreadful degree! Our streets are filled with the sons of Belial, who neither fear God, nor regard man. I wish my heart was more affected with what my eyes see and my ears hear every day! I am often ready to fear lest the Lord should show His displeasure in some dreadful way!

And surely, if He were strict to mark all that is amiss—I myself would tremble! Oh, were He to plead against me—I could not answer Him one word! Alas! my dear friend, you know not what a poor, unprofitable, unfaithful creature I am! If you knew the evils which I feel within, and the snares and difficulties which beset me from without—you would pity me indeed!

So much forgiven—yet so little love to Jesus. So many mercies—yet so few returns. Such great privileges—yet a life so sadly below them.

Indwelling sin presses me downwards; when I would do good, evil is present with me! I can attempt nothing—but it is debased, polluted and spoiled by my depraved nature! My sins of omission are innumerable. In a word, there is . . .
  much darkness in my understanding,
  much perverseness in my will,
  much disorder in my affections,
  much folly and madness in my imagination!

In short, I am a riddle to myself—a heap of inconsistency!

Alas! when shall it be otherwise? I have a desire of walking with God—but I cannot attain unto it. Surely it is far better to depart, and to be with Jesus Christ—than to live here up to the ears in sin and temptation!

But, "We have an Advocate with the Father." Here my hope revives! Though wretched in myself—I am complete in Him! He is my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. On this "Rock" I build—for time and eternity! ~John Newton, Letters

Again, the worst sin is not some outburst of gross transgression, forming an exception to the ordinary tenor of a life, bad and dismal as such a sin is; but the worst and most fatal are the small continuous vices, which root underground and honeycomb the soul. ~Alexander MacLaren, David's Cry for Purity, Ps 51:10

The entrance into the kingdom of God is through the sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man’s respectable "goodness." Then the Holy Spirit, who produces these struggles, begins the formation of the Son of God in the person’s life (Galatians 4:19). This new life will reveal itself in conscious repentance followed by unconscious holiness, never the other way around. The foundation of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a person cannot repent when he chooses— repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for "the gift of tears." If you ever cease to understand the value of repentance, you allow yourself to remain in sin. Examine yourself to see if you have forgotten how to be truly repentant. ~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, December 7

“Nothing darkens the eyes of the mind so much, and deadens the conscience so surely, as an allowed sin. It may be a little one, but it is not the less dangerous for all that. A small leak will sink a great ship, and a small spark will kindle a great fire, and a little allowed sin in like manner will ruin an immortal soul. Take my advice, and never spare a little sin.” ~J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men

Ask the Lord to make thee hate most that sin to which thou art most inclined. Remember that thou art a child of God; it ill becomes thee to be friendly with any of the King's enemies.  ~Charles H. Spurgeon, Kept from Iniquity

Sin is never the better because it is in fashion, nor will this plea hold at the last day, that we did as the majority. God will say, seeing you sinned with the multitude, you shall go to Hell with the multitude. ~Thomas Watson, Religion Our True Interest, 4

Another very solemn and terrible thought of what sin is, lies in that final word for it, which means 'missing an aim.' How strikingly that puts a truth which siren voices are constantly trying to sing us out of believing! Every sin is a blunder as well as a crime. And that for two reasons, because, first, God has made us for Himself, and to take anything besides for our life's end or our heart's portion is to divert ourselves from our true destiny; and because, second, that being so, every attempt to win satisfaction or delight by such a course is and must be a failure. Sin misses the aim if we think of our proper destination. Sin misses its own aim of happiness. A man never gets what he hoped for by doing wrong, or, if he seem to do so, he gets something more that spoils it all. He pursues after the fleeing form that seems so fair, and when he reaches her side, and lifts her veil, eager to embrace the tempter, a hideous skeleton grins and gibbers at him. The siren voices sing to you from the smiling island, and their white arms and golden harps and the flowery grass draw you from the wet boat and the weary oar; but when a man lands he sees the fair form end in a slimy fish, and she slays him and gnaws his bones. 'He knows not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.' Yes! every sin is a mistake, and the epitaph for the sinner is 'Thou fool!'  ~Alexander MacLaren, David's Cry for Pardon, Ps 51:1, 2

Christ came to save His people 'fron' their sins- not 'in' them.  And it is essential to salvation that sin should be repented of, and, being repented of, should be renounced, and that, by the help of God, we should lead a new life, under a new Master, serving from a new motive, because the grace of God has renewed our spirit.  ~Charles H. Spurgeon

Oh, if there be a place where sinners are more loathsome to God than anywhere else, it is in His church.  Of all men, who stand in the most likely place to receive the mightiest thunderbolt, and the most terrible lightening's flash, those are the men who have a divided heart, and profess to serve God, while with their souls they are serving sin. ~Charles H. Spurgeon

4 Brief Thomas Watson Quotes

There is always something that needs mortifying. ~Thomas Watson, The Christian Soldier/Heaven Taken By Storm The hearing of the Word may affect us;, but the meditating upon it doth transform us. Meditation stamps the impression of divine truths upon our hearts. By meditating on God's holiness, we grow holy. ~Thomas Watson, The Christian Soldier/Heaven Taken By Storm Toleration is the grave of reformation. By toleration we adopt other men's sins, and make them our own. ~Thomas Watson, Gleanings, 134 Sin . . . puts a Christian out of tune so that he is not fit for prayer or praise" ~Thomas Watson, The Mischief of Sin, 7.

Some brief Bunyan Quotes

No child of God sins to that degree as to make himself incapable of forgiveness. ~John Bunyan If you have sinned, do not lie down without repentance; for the want of repentance after one has sinned makes the heart yet harder and harder. ~John Bunyan He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find him the rest of the day. ~John Bunyan Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love. ~John Bunyan

The depths of sin

Not all the judgments God ever inflicted—nor all the threatenings He ever denounced, give such an impressive warning against sin, and admonition to righteousness—as the death of Christ.

The torments of the bottomless pit are not so dreadful a demonstration of God's hatred of sin, as the agonies of the cross! ~J. A. James, "The Practical Believer Delineated" 1852

God's Work in Salvation

We shall never have an adequate conception of the greatness of this salvation unless we realize something at any rate of what we were before this mighty power took hold of us, unless we realize what we would still be if God had not intervened in our lives and had rescued us. In other words, we must realize the depth of sin, what sin really means, and what it has done to the human race. ~Martyn Lloyd-Jones 1899-1981

Jonathan Edwards on Sin

Sin is naturally exceeding dear to us; to part with it is compared to plucking out our right eyes. Men may refrain from wonted ways of sin for a little while, and may deny their lusts in a partial degree, with less difficulty; but it is heart-rending work, finally to part with all sin, and to give our dearest lusts a bill of divorce, utterly to send them away. But this we must do, if we would follow those that are truly turning to God: yea, we must not only forsake sin, but must, in a sense, forsake all the world, Luke xiv.33 'Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. ~Jonathan Edwards

Dead to Sin

Only as we reckon on these twin facts—that I am dead to sin and its reign over me and that I am alive to God, united to Him who strengthens me—can I keep sin from reigning in my mortal body. ~Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

Man is full of contradictions: time was when the mind commanded the body, but now this servant rides on horseback, while that prince walks on foot. Man is inverted: his soul is become a prisoner to the body, rather free man, far too often. The beast is too hard for the man, and the horse rides the rider. ~Ralph Venning, The Sinfulness of Sin

The Impact of Sin

Sin has degraded us of our honor. God made us in His own image--but sin has made us like devils! "You are of your father the Devil--and you want to carry out your father’s desires!" John 8:44.

Sin disquiets the peace of the soul. "There is no peace, for the wicked." Isaiah 57:21. Whatever defiles--disturbs. Sin creates fears--and there is "torment in fear." Sin makes sad convulsions in the conscience. Judas was so terrified with guilt and horror--that he hanged himself, to quiet his conscience. In order to ease his conscience--he threw himself into hell!

Sin produces all temporal evil. Sin is the Trojan Horse, which has sword, and famine and pestilence, in its belly. Sin is a coal, which not only blackens--but burns. Sin creates all our troubles; it puts gravel into our bread, and wormwood in our cup. Sin . . . rots the name, consumes the estate, buries loved ones.

Sin unrepented of, brings final damnation. The canker which breeds in the rose--is the cause of its perishing. Just so, the corruptions which breed in men's souls--are the cause of their damning. Sin's pleasure will turn to sorrow at last. Like the book the prophet ate--sin is sweet in the mouth--but bitter in the belly. Sin brings the wrath of God! What tears can quench that fire? ~Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments

He (John the Baptist) came and cutting down men’s sins, and afterwards preached Christ to them. First, he poured in the vinegar of the law, then the wine of the gospel. This was that preaching which made men studiously seek after heaven. John did not so much preach to please as to profit; he chose rather to discover men’s sins than to show his own eloquence. The best mirror is not that which is most gilded, but that which shows the truest face. – That preaching is to be preferred which makes the truest discovery of men’s sins and shows them their hearts. ~Thomas Watson, The Christian Soldier/Heaven Taken By Storm

Meditate on God's Severity Against Sin

Meditate on God's severity against sin. Every arrow in God's quiver is shot against it. Sin burned Sodom and drowned the old world. Sin kindles hell. If when a spark of God's wrath flies into a mans conscience, it is so terrible, what is it when God 'stirs up all his wrath'? Psalm lxxviii. 38. The meditation of this would frighten us out of our sins. There cannot be so much sweetness in sin, as there is sting. How dreadful is God's anger! Psalm xc. 11. 'Who knoweth the power of his wrath'? All fire, compared with the fire of God's wrath. is painted and imaginary. O that every time we meddle with sin, we would think to ourselves we choose the bramble, and fire will come out of this bramble to devour us. ~Thomas Watson, The Christian Soldier/Heaven Taken By Storm

The Battle for Holiness

If we are to win this battle for holiness, we must recognize that the basic problem lies within us. It is our own evil desires that lead us into temptation. We may think we merely respond to outward temptations that are presented to us. But the truth is, our evil desires are constantly searching out temptations to satisfy their insatiable lusts. ~Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness