The Joy of Finding; Or, God's Humanity and Man's Inhumanity to Man an Exposition of Luke XV. 11-32 (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. WHAT IS SIN ? " And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there he wasted his substance with riotous living."? Luke xv. 13. In dealing with the nature of man in the previous section, it was impossible to avoid altogether some anticipation of what has to be said here about the nature of sin; but the endeavour was made to confine the treatment there to the possibility in man of sinning. Now we are to fix our attention rather on the actuality of sin; but, as we are being guided by the story before us, we must consider only those aspects of sin which it suggests. These are three: (i) There is abuse of God's gifts; " not many days after, the younger son gathered all together." (2) There is absence from God; " and took his journey into a far country." (3) There is abandonment of God's purpose; " and there wasted his substance with riotous living." i. There is Abuse Of God's Gifts. What is the tragedy and the crime of sin is that it is God's goodness alone which makes sin possible; it is man's dignity as made in the likeness, and for the fellowship of God which is both the occasion and the measure of his degradation. The stars move in their courses with unchanging order, subject to unvarying laws; even the lower animals are guided by instinct, and are kept within the bounds of their being. But man turns his glory into his shame. Had man not a mind that could think truth he could not devise falsehood; had he not a heart that could delight in God he could not find pleasure in evil; had he not a will that could choose the right he could not prefer the wrong. We must ever look at sin in the light of what God has made man, and meantman to be. Where there is the actuality of falsehood, hate, and ini...