Acts 8:20-24 But Peter said to him, Your money perish with you, because you have thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.… How true and comprehensive this description of the sinner's State! Our first parents thought the forbidden fruit of the sweetest, they found it of the bitterest, and this transgression involved in their miserable gratification involved bondage to evil. True parable and prophecy of the history of their sinful discendants. How sweet the intoxicating draught to the drunkard, but how bitter the consequences, especially the enslaved habit. So with all evil. Note here that — I. SIN is — 1. The gall of bitterness. The term bitter is applied by us to — (l) Disappointment. When a man makes a speculation which turns out badly, or transacts business that does not pay, centres his hopes on objects which elude him, he Buffers a "bitter disappointment." Does sin turn out well? Does it pay? Has it ever fulfilled man's aspiration? (2) Hard circumstances. When a man is deplorably poor, or overtaxed, or afflicted, we say what a "bitter lot." He then surely must suffer the quintessence of bitterness who is destitute of God's riches, who groans under the devil's burdens, and who suffers from the mortal malady of sin. "The way of transgressors is hard."(3) Ruin. When a man has made his last throw and lost, when he is hopelessly bankrupt, or when he suffers the fate of a felon, we exclaim, "How bitter!" What, then, must be the feelings of a man who has gambled away his life, who has become bankrupt in morals, who has soon to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. 2. The bond of iniquity. Sin is the servitude of — (1) The mind which it imprisons in the sphere of matter. (2) The affections which it sets upon earthly things. (3) The will which it paralyses for good. II. SALVATION. 1. Sweetens every bitter lot. It brings — (1) Pardon to the sinful. (2) Comfort to the wretched. (3) Rest to the burdened. (4) Heaven. 2. Liberates the most enslaved. It gives freedom of thought, heart, and will. (J. W. Burn.) Parallel Verses KJV: But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. |
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