Shall we fondle the adder or press the deadly cobra to our bosom? By Charles Spurgeon Slaughtering Sin

What has sin done in this world? Look down the scroll of history and you will see that sin is man's worst enemy. Sin's hot breath blasted Eden, withered all its bowers of bliss, and caused the earth to become barren, so that without sweaty labor, it will not yield bread for our sustenance. Mark the innumerable graves which cover every plain. Who slew all these? By what gate did death come into the world? Sin was the porter that opened the door to death.

hearken to the shouts of war which in every age of the world's history have created a horrible blare of groans of dying men and shrieks of dying women. It was Sin that first dipped the war flag in blood and made the air pestilent with carnage. Sin set up yonder despotic throne that has crushed down the multitude and made the lives of many bitter with hard bondage. Sin laid its dark foundations and cemented it with blood. Whence came war with its carnage and tyranny with its sufferings? Whence, indeed, but from the sins and lusts of men?

All over the world, sin's hand has sown its poisonous hemlock in every furrow and thistles on every ridge. The trail of this serpent, with its horrid slime, has obliterated the footsteps of joy. See the garden of Adam and Eve. Sin has turned this paradise into a desert and a boneyard. Look down into the ghastly gloom of hell, that abhorred region, where the finally impenitent dwell, who died with unforgiven sins upon their souls. Can you bear to hear their groans and moans of anguish? We will not attempt to describe the sufferings of those eternally banished from all hope and peace. Sin has dug hell's pit and cast men into it. Sin provides the fuel for the terrible flames of hell. Sin gives to the worm that never dies, the tooth which never blunts. Sin is the mother of hell.

Sin is a monster. Its scales are bright with many colors and its eye gleams with fascination, but its fangs are deadly. O sin, it is not fit that any heir of heaven, redeemed from hell, should make friends with you. Shall we fondle the adder or press the deadly cobra to our bosom?

If it had not been for the grace of God, our sins would have shut us up in hell already, and even now they seek to drag us there. Therefore, let us take these enemies of our souls and slay them through the grace of God. Whether it is pride, or sloth, or covetousness, or worldliness, or lust, or any other form of evil, let not one escape. It is not fit that souls redeemed by the blood of Jesus, loved with His everlasting love, and made recipients of His endless favor, should harbor those black and foul traitors, the sins of the flesh and of the mind.

By the sin-atoning sacrifice of Jesus, you are under bonds to hate evil. Your sins necessitated the griefs of Christ, and will you indulge them? For your transgressions, your Savior bore the wrath of God, and will you return to them? This would be barbarous ingratitude. Can you be guilty of it? Can you gaze upon the bleeding wounds of Jesus and then wound Him afresh with sin?

There is no more sanctifying spectacle in the world than the sight of the bloody, sin-atoning sacrifice of Jesus. Heaven's eternal darling bleeds and suffers for our transgressions, hence our transgressions must die too. The cross crucifies sin. The tomb of Jesus is the sepulcher of our iniquities. Sin should not be pampered, but abhorred.

So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Colossians 3 verse 5