The Strength of Sin

Blessed be the LORD God who has provided the remedy for our sin by atoning for it with the blood of Jesus.  In a sermon preached concerning the sting of sin and how the strength of it is the law (1 Corinthians 15:56-57), C.H. Spurgeon did well in building a strong case that every person has a deadly problem with sin we cannot shake by anything we do.  Sin goes deeper than our words and actions but our very thoughts teem with sin we have been steeped in from birth.  Justice can do nothing to help us, because the Law makes no allowance for mercy in judgment.  Spurgeon wrote:

"Before thou canst destroy sin thou must in some way satisfy the law.  Sin cannot be removed by thy tears or by thy deeds, for the law is its strength; and until thou has satisfied the vengeance of the law, until thou hast paid the uttermost farthing of its demands, my sting cannot be taken away, for the very strength of sin is in the law."  Now, I must try and explain this doctrine that the strength of sin is the law.  Most men think that sin has no strength at all.  "Oh," say many, "we may have sinned very much, but we will repent, and we will be better for the rest of our lives; no doubt God is merciful, and he will forgive us."  And we hear many divines often speak of sin as if it were a very venial thing.  Inquire of them what is a man to do?  There is no deep repentance required, no real inward workings of divine grace, no casting himself upon the blood of Christ.  They never tell us about a complete atonement having been made.  They have, indeed, some shadowy idea of an atonement, that Christ died just as a matter of form to satisfy justice; but as to any literal taking away of our sins, and suffering the actual penalty for us, they do not consider that God's law requires any such thing.  I suppose they do not, for I never hear them assert the positive satisfaction and substitution of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But without that, how can we take away the strength of sin?"

The strength of sin is in the law, first, in this respect, that the law being spiritual, it is quite impossible for us to live without sin.  If the law were merely carnal, and referred to the flesh; it if simply related to open and overt actions, I question, even then, whether we could live without sin; but when I turn over the ten commandments and read, "Thou shalt not covet," I know it refers even to the wish of my heart.  It is said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery;" but it is said, also, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath already committed that sin.  So that it is not merely the act, it is the thought; it is not the deed simply, it is the very imagination, that is a sin.  Oh now, sinner, how canst thou get rid of sin?  Thy very thoughts, the inward workings of thy mind, these are crimes--this is guilt and desperate wickedness.  Is there not, now, strength in sin?  Hath not the law put a potency in it?  Has it not nerved sin with such a power that all thy strength cannot hope to wipe away the black enormity of thy transgression?"

Then, again, the law puts strength into sin in this respect--that it will not abate one tittle of its stern demands.  It says to every man who breaks it, "I will not forgive you."  You hear persons talk about God's mercy.  Now, if they do not believe in the gospel, they must be under the law; but where in the law do we read of mercy?  If you will read the commandments through, there is a curse after them, but there is not provision made for pardon.  The law itself speaks not of that; it thunders out without the slightest mitigation, "The soul that sinneth it shall die."  If any of you desire to be saved by works, remember one sin will spoil your righteousness; one dust of this earth's dross will spoil the beauty of that perfect righteousness which God requires at your hands.  If ye would be saved by works, men and brethren, ye must be as holy as the angels, ye must be as pure and immaculate as Jesus; for the law requires perfection, and nothing short of it; and God, with unflinching vengeance, will smite every man low who cannot bring him a perfect obedience..." (Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. Spurgeon’s Sermons: V. 1-2. Baker Books, 2004. pages 285-287)

Spurgeon masterfully cut off all excuses and exits people utilise to deny culpability before God and demonstrated by additional points mankind's utter powerlessness to purify self from sin.  We do not realise how profoundly deep our malady is, how bent our minds and desires naturally are, and we are incapable of delivering ourselves from sin's corrupting influence.  God's mercy has been revealed in the Gospel, that God has sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to provide atonement for our sin.  When we were sinners and without hope, God sent a Saviour as it is written in Titus 3:4-7, "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, ⁵ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."  Accepting the sharpness of God's law prepares our hearts to repent and receive God's grace, forgiveness and salvation.