They play with fire and wonder
why they are burnt by J.R. Miller. Who can understand his
errors? Cleanse me from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not
have dominion over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent
of great transgression. Psalm 19, 12, and 13. Hear the psalmist praise to be
kept from committing presumptuous sins, He knows the danger there
is in such sins, and so pleads to be held back from them, that
is, from willful, conscious, high-handed sins. Mark the teaching,
too, that these presumptuous sins spring out of the minute
hidden faults. From hidden, obscure, undiscovered
faults come presumptuous sins. A slight moral weakness grows
into an evil tendency, and the evil tendency indulged develops
into a loathsome vice, and the loathsome vice ripens into a
presumptuous sin. We need to guard against carelessness
concerning little sins. The hidden fault lurking in the
nature may grow into a presumptuous sin. Sow a thought, and you will
reap an act. Sow an act, and you will reap
a habit. Sow a habit, and you will reap
a character. Sow character, and you will reap
a destiny. The course of sin is terrible. The little beginnings of sin
grow into appalling consequences. Be afraid of little sins and
temptations. There are some people who are
always caught in danger. Sin seems to have a fascination
for them. One of the petitions of the Lord's
Prayer is, lead us not into temptation. To expose ourselves needlessly
to temptation is presumption, yet there are many who do this.
They play with fire and wonder why they are burnt. They dally
with little sins and end in shameful degradation at the last. They
pay the penalty in moral and spiritual ruin.