Holy shuddering!

(Charles Spurgeon)  LISTEN to audio!  Download audio

(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)

"Horror grips me because of the wicked, who have forsaken Your law!" Psalm 119:53

My soul, do you feel this holy shuddering at the sins of others? If not, you lack inward holiness. David's cheeks were wet with rivers of waters, because of prevailing unholiness. Jeremiah desired eyes like fountains, that he might lament the iniquities of Israel. Lot, a righteous man, was distressed because of all the immorality and wickedness around him. Those upon whom the mark was set in Ezekiel's vision, were those who sighed and cried because of the abominations of Jerusalem.

It cannot but grieve gracious souls, to see what pains men take to go to Hell. They know the evil of sin experimentally, and they are alarmed to see others flying like moths into its blaze!

Sin makes the righteous shudder, because it violates God's holy law, which is to every man's highest interest to keep. Sin pulls down the pillars of the society!

Sin in others horrifies a believer, because it puts him in mind of the vileness of his own heart. When he sees a heinous sinner, he cries, "He fell today—and, but for God's grace, I may fall tomorrow!"

Sin is horrible to a believer, because it crucified his Savior! He sees in every iniquity—the nails and the spear! How can a saved soul behold that cursed Christ-killing sin, without abhorrence?

Say, my heart—do you sensibly join in all this?
It is an awful thing to insult God to His face.
The good God deserves better treatment;
the great God claims it;
the just God will have it, or repay His adversary to his face!

An awakened heart trembles at the audacity of sin, and stands alarmed at the contemplation of its punishment. How monstrous a thing is sin! How direful a doom is prepared for the ungodly!

My soul, never laugh at sin's fooleries—lest you come to smile at sin itself! Sin is your Lord's enemy, and your enemy—view it with detestation, for only so can you evidence the possession of holiness, without which no man can see the Lord.

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Something to ponder:
Conrad Murrell: "To have all the so-called pleasures that this mad world scrambles for, and yet be under the wrath of God—is the most miserable state possible for the creature. To have none of this world's goods or none of its favor, and yet have the favor and peace of God—is a joy priceless beyond measure!" "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ!" Philippians 3:8