The Collected Works of Aaron Merritt Hills: Twelve Books in One by Aaron Merritt Hills

Author:Aaron Merritt Hills [Hills, Aaron Merritt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jawbone Digital
Published: 2015-04-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18: FINISHED SIN

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man: but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lusts, and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin [principle], when it is full grown, bringeth forth death” (James 1:13-15; R. V.) .

The word “tempt” first meant to test or try a man in order to prove and perfect him. In that sense only, does God tempt or try men. If we endure these testings we receive the crown of life.

Then the word came to be used in a bad sense, meaning “to induce a man to sin, to lure him to his ruin.” In that sense God never tempts nor is tempted; but the God-man, Jesus Christ, was thus tempted.

The word “epithurmia,” translated “lust,” originally meant “desire,” then very strong desire: then it came to mean strong, impure, unclean, unholy desire or lust. That is the meaning in the text — a something that draws a man from moral integrity, and entices to sin and ruin.

This opens up before us the sin question. Sin is the cause of all evil in the empire of God. People shrink from the study or discussion of it. It is an unpopular theme in the pulpit. One of the eminent physicians of Manchester, England, told me that the uncleanest section of the city was around the University. I asked “why?” His instant answer was “Prudery.” Parents, teachers and preachers are too nice and modest to point out the perils and dangers of “fashionable sins.” Jesus and His Apostles were not so modest.

There seem to have been speculating minds through all ages, who, by their theories, blamed God for sin. As:

1. Some asserted that “God eternally and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass” — all sin included — thus foreordaining sin and ruin.

2 God deliberately placed men in circumstances that would be fatal to virtue.

3. He created the race with such ungovernable passions that sin was unavoidable.

4. He made natural laws that work out the phenomena we call sin with the precision of fate. So those who hold this theory tell us that all pangs of conscience for sin or’ guilt, all sense of responsibility for wrong doing is a delusion, a foolish notion! If there is any responsibility, it lies with God. Adam started this theory, when he said: “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” “Four gift was my ruin!”

Now James resents all these theories, as a libel on a holy God, as our text proves. His theory was that no outward circumstances constitute a temptation to sin apart from some lust in a man’s own heart. So he said: A man is tempted only as he is drawn away by something within himself.

I. We find here, then, an explanation of all sin.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.