OUTLINE:
The Deceitfulness of Sin
One of the greatest errors any man or woman can ever make is to presume that sin only exists in their acknowledgement of it. Analogy: does undetected/undiagnosed cancer mean that the insidiousness of the disease isn’t real in someone who has it?
B. W. Newton on Sin
Antecedent to all trespasses and acts of sin, before any apprehension of good or evil has dawned upon our hearts, before any notion respecting God has been formed in our souls, before we have uttered a word or conceived a thought, sin—essential sin—is found to dwell within us.
B. W. Newton on Sin
Bound up with our being, it enters into every sensation, lives in every thought, sways every faculty. If the senses, by means of which we communicate with the external world, had never acted: if our eye had never seen, and our ear had never heard;
B. W. Newton on Sin
…if our throat had never proved itself to be an open sepulchre, breathing forth corruption; if our tongue had never shown itself to be set on fire of hell; still sin would have been the secret mistress of that world of thought and feeling which is found within us, and every hidden impulse there would have been enmity against God.
Eph 2:2 [Amplified Classic]
In which at one time you walked [habitually]. You were following the course and fashion of this world [were under the sway of the tendency of this present age], following the prince of the power of the air. [You were obedient to and under the control of] the [demon] spirit that still constantly works in the sons of disobedience [the careless, the rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God].
Eph 2:3 [Amplified Classic]
Among these we as well as you once lived and conducted ourselves in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual nature], obeying the impulses of the flesh and the thoughts of the mind [our cravings dictated by our senses and our dark imaginings]. We were then by nature children of [God’s] wrath and heirs of [His] indignation, like the rest of mankind.
Deceitfulness is the name of the game that sin plays. (Pr 26:22-28; 2Co 11:14)
Understanding Sin
Isn’t sin better described as an influencer than just a movement??? One easy way to understand this is to understand the direction of sin’s affections. While the new creature is 100% attracted to Christ, the old self is 100% repelled from Christ.
A. W. Pink
Love is that which animates the obedience which is agreeable to God: “If a man love me, he will keep my words” (John 14:23). Love is the very life and substance of everything which is gratifying to God.
A. W. Pink
As the principle of obedience, love takes the precedence, for faith works by love (Gal. 5:6). Note the order in the injunction “Let us consider one another to provoke [1] unto love and [2] to good works” (Heb. 10:24). Stir up the affections and good works will follow, as a stirring up of the coals causes the flames to rise.
A. W. Pink
It is love which makes all the divine commandments “not grievous” (I John 5:3). We heartily agree with Charnock: “In that one word love, God hath wrapped up all the devotion He requires of us.”
How Sin Usurps Sovereignty
For sin to be most effective, it must grab hold of our affections! If it has our affections, it has our attention, our direction, our “love” even (though it’s not godly love). With our “love” comes our obedience, which essentially describes a sovereign, master-slave relationship. (cp Eph 5:6-10)