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Little Sins
By C. G. Finney
"Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend
in one point, he is guilty of all." --James ii.10.
The state of the heart, the intention with which
every thing is done constitutes it either sin or holiness. Christ,
when speaking of the outward conduct of man traces it (the outward
conduct) right back to the heart; and they taught that if any action
proceeded from love to God and our neighbor, it was right and good;
but if not it was wicked, whatever the outward form of it might be.
Christ made it a prime object of His teaching to show what was the
real spirit of the law at all times: they taught that love was the
fulfilling of the law; that all law was fulfilled in one word--love;
and, therefore, whatever action was not from love was sin.
Christ said, if a man should so much as look upon a
woman to lust after her, he had already committed adultery with her in
his heart; he took every one of the precepts of the moral law, and
resolved it all back into the state of the heart in which everything
was done. This, to be sure, was a most terrible blow to the hopes of
the self-righteous, to those who had a great regard for their own
doings, but he saw that this was needed. the spirit of the law always
respects the motive from which an action springs. The whole of the law
is summed up in these two requirements--love to God and love to man.
And this love must not be a mere emotion: the whole being must be
devoted to the end to which God is devoted: it must be a voluntary
devotion to God because of the end which he seeks. it is the mind in a
voluntary state yielding itself up, not to self-interest, but the
glory of God, and the good of all beings.
It is easy to see that the state of mind which will
supremely devote itself to one great end, cannot at the same time give
itself up for the promotion of a different end: his mind cannot be
devoted to one end and all his outward conduct tend in a directly
opposite course; the very fact that he is devoted to an end will
regulate his being, and be the mainspring of all his outward actions.
If a man's mind is devoted to God, his outward actions will be an
illustration of his thoughts: his heart is full of love to God, and he
is set upon realizing the end at which God aims; and, therefore, all
his outward actions will be a succession of endeavors to realize that
end. Selfishness, in all sinners, is the end at which they aim; and
their outward life is nothing more than a perpetual succession of
efforts to gratify themselves; hence it is easy to see that all their
actions will have one great end in view--the promotion of their own
interests.
When there is supreme love to God, and love to our
fellow-men--we cannot consent in any way to wrong God or our
neighbors. Suppose now, that a man loves God supremely, is supremely
devoted to his interests, it is impossible that he could sin
knowingly, and do that which is inconsistent with God's interests. His
whole life is an endeavor to secure that upon which his heart is set.
Suppose then that his heart is set upon pleasing and glorifying God,
can he consent to sin in such a state of mind, and thus dishonor,
displease, and set at naught the authority of God? It is a
contradiction and an absurdity to say that he can. the gospel does not
in any case set aside the law. "If he that despised Moses' law died
without mercy, of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy
who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and counted the blood of
the covenant an unholy thing?" Again: if a man loved his neighbor as
himself, it is impossible that he should consent to wrong his
neighbor, but on the other hand, he will seek his neighbor's interests
equally with his own. (the root of intercessory prayer.)
Then let me say in the next place; obedience to God
implies a supreme regard to God's authority. Now every one can see
that every known sin is a rejection of his authority. For example.
Suppose an individual does everything in regards to God's authority,
he cannot act in any other thing in a way quite inconsistent with that
authority. Suppose he does everything from a supreme regard for the
authority and interests of God, he cannot, while in that state of
mind, do anything which rejects the authority of God and trample it
down. The thing is preposterous, as every man perceives. A man cannot
act without regard to the authority of God in one thing, and yet at
the same time act from supreme authority to him in another thing.
Man cannot pick and choose among the commandments
of God, and obey some and disobey others. Supreme love to God is an
exercise of the mind, and a man cannot have this and yet act the
opposite--it is a palpable contradiction: a man with supreme love to
God in his mind cannot consent to violate any commandment of God.
The apostle state this--if a man should do any or
all of the things required in the ten commandments, in the letter, and
yet should violate the true Spirit of one law, he would prove that he
did not keep any of them from a right motive--that he did not really
obey the law at all in its true spirit and meaning. If I should only
keep those commandments which did not require me to deny myself and my
self interest, this would prove that none of the commandments which I
kept were from a right motive. Hence, if any one indulges in the
commission of any one sin, and yet appears in everything else to be
virtuous, you may know that he has no true motives in his heart, that
he is only religious in appearance. what the apostle says in this
passage is plain, that if men pretend to have faith, and pretend to
have love, and yet do not obey God, that they are deceiving
themselves, and are violating the spirit of the whole of God's law. if
the heart is right the conduct must be, and if the heart is wrong the
conduct is wrong, whatever it may appear outwardly. The conduct is
sinful, because it does not proceed from right intention. If the law
of God is not obeyed in the spirit of it, it is disobeyed, regardless
of what the outward life may be. If there is no reverence for the
authority of God, no supreme devotedness to God, and not equal love
for our neighbors, the law is violated.
If the spirit of the law is violated, the spirit of
the gospel is violated--for the spirit of the law is the spirit of the
gospel, and the spirit of the gospel is the spirit of the law--
therefore, whoever falls short of obeying the spirit of the law, also
falls short of obedience to the gospel.
In relation to God's government of men there are no
little sins, because every sin is a rejection of God's authority:
every sin is a renunciation, for the time being, of allegiance to the
Divine government. every one of them involves a refusal to love God
with all the heart, and our neighbors as ourselves; every one of them
involves a setting up of our own interests above that of Jehovah.
There are great many professors of Christianity,
who suppose they are truly Christian although they knew there are some
forms of sin which they have not given up things which the law and the
gospel both condemn. But they expect Christ to justify them. They
think they are a Christian, and yet not expect to be perfect, and so
they indulge in certain forms of selfishness, and are thinking all the
while, that because they keep such and such other commandments in the
letter, that they will be saved. Therefore they do not keep any of the
commandments in the spirit of them, as God requires them to be kept,
and if a man obeys not the law in the spirit, he does not obey it at
all.
How can men pick and choose among God's
commandments--break those, and keep these in the letter, and yet be
Christian!
Now sinner, how long will you go on in this way
rebelling against God and despising his authority? Will you make up
your mind that this shall be no longer? Will you then turn unto God
and live? or will you continue to rebel and perish for ever? Which
will you do?
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