If I had a brother who had been murdered, what would you think of me if I...daily consorted with the assassin who drove the dagger into my brother's heart; surely I too must be an accomplice in the crime. Sin murdered Christ; will you be a friend to it? Sin pierced the heart of the Incarnate God; can you love it?
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of recognizing sin as an active force against good, questioning the morality of embracing it.
Charles Spurgeon's quote draws a powerful analogy between familial loyalty and the moral implications of sin. Just as one would find it impossible to remain friends with the murderer of a brother, Spurgeon argues that one cannot genuinely engage with sin, which has caused profound harm to humanity and crucified Christ. This thought challenges individuals to reflect on their relationship with sin and its consequences, ultimately advocating for a life free from moral compromises.
In practice
In a sermon addressing personal responsibility and sin.
Amusement should be used to do us good “like a medicine”: it must never be used as the food of the man...Many have had all holy thoughts and gracious resolutions stamped out by perpetual trifling. Pleasure so called is the murderer of thought. This is the age of excessive amusement: everybody craves for it, like a babe for its rattle.
When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honor to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle.
It is far easier to fight with sin in public than to pray against it in private.
You will never glory in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself.
After faith comes repentance, or, rather, repentance is faith's twin brother and is born at the same time.
["All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant."] The original Hebrew word that has been translated "paths" means "well-worn roads' or "wheel tracks," such ruts as wagons make when they go down our green roads in wet weather and sink in up to the axles. God's ways are at times like heavy wagon tracks that cut deep into our souls, yet all of them are merciful.
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on.
To get rid of an enemy one must love him.
The scenarios of biological or chemical warfare painted in detail by the American media during the months after September 11 only betray the inability of the government to determine the magnitude of the danger.
Between too early and too late, there is never more than a moment.
Remember that you are an actor in a play, and that the Playwright chooses the manner of it: If he wants you to act a poor man you must act the part with all your powers; and so if your part be a cripple or a magistrate or a plain man. For your business is to act the character that is given you and act it well. The choice of the cast is Another's.
I had come to Yugoslavia to see what history meant in flesh and blood.
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