Homilist Jeremiah 44:4 However, I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh… I. GOD DENOUNCES SIN WITH ABHORRENCE. He calls it "an abominable thing." Sin is represented in the Bible as a loathsome, odious, revolting, execrable thing. All kinds of sin are an abomination. "Lying lips" (Proverbs 12:22). "Pride" (Proverbs 16:5). "Wicked thoughts" (Proverbs 15:26). "Wickedness in all its forms" (Proverbs 15:9). Sin is essentially an abomination. Three things show this: — 1. The misrepresenting conduct of the sinner. Sin has a self-hiding, self-dissimulating instinct. 2. The universal conscience of mankind. Injustice, falsehood, self-seeking impiety, with all their kindred sins, the conscience of the world abhors. 3. The history of the Divine conduct towards our world. (1) Look at the judicial inflictions recorded in the Bible: expulsion from Eden, the deluge, the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of Jerusalem, &c. (2) Merciful interpositions. How has mercy wrought, through all past ages, to sweep abominations from the world! through patriarchs, prophets, apostles, holy ministers, and Christ Himself. He came to "put away sin:" II. GOD HATES SIN WITH INTENSITY. He says, "I hate it." The Infinite heart revolts from it with ineffable detestation. 1. He hates it, for it is deformity, and He is the God of beauty. How offensive to the artist of high aesthetic taste and culture, are figures introduced into the realm of art, unscientific in their proportions, and unrefined in their touch! 2. He hates it, for it is confusion, and He is the God of order. "Order," says the poet, "is Heaven's first law." 3. He hates it, for it is misery, and He is the Cod of love. Every sin has in it the sting of the serpent, which, if not extracted, will rankle with fiery anguish in the soul for ever. God hates this evil, for He desires the happiness of His creatures. III. GOD PROHIBITS SIN WITH EARNESTNESS. "Oh, do not this abominable thing." What depths of fervid loving solicitude are in this "Oh!" 1. Do it not; you are warring against your own highest interest. 2. Do it not; you are warring against the well-being of the creation. 3. Do it not; you are warring against ME. Every sin is a war against My ideas, My feelings, My plans, My institutions. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. |
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