A sin-hater will not endure wickedness in his family: "He
who works deceit shall not dwell within my house" (Psalm 101:7). What a
shame it is when magistrates can show height of spirit in their passions—but
no heroic spirit in suppressing vice.
Those who have no antipathy against sin, are strangers to
repentance. Sin is in them—as poison in a serpent, which, being
natural to it, affords delight. How far are they from repentance who,
instead of hating sin, love sin! To the godly—sin is as a thorn in the eye;
to the wicked sin is as a crown on the head! "They actually rejoice in doing
evil!" (Jer. 11:15).
Loving of sin is worse than committing it. A
good man may run into a sinful action unawares—but to love sin is desperate.
What is it, which makes a swine love to tumble in the mire? Its love of
filth. To love sin shows that the will is in sin, and the more of the will
there is in a sin, the greater the sin. Wilfulness makes it a sin not to be
purged by sacrifice (Heb. 10:26). O how many there are—who love the
forbidden fruit! They love their oaths and adulteries; they love the sin and
hate the reproof. Solomon speaks of a generation of men: "madness is in
their heart while they live" (Eccles. 9:3). So for men to love sin, to hug
that which will be their death, to sport with damnation, "madness is in
their heart". It persuades us to show our repentance, by a bitter hatred of
sin. There is a deadly antipathy between the scorpion and the crocodile;
such should there be between the heart and sin.
- Thomas Watson (The Doctrine of Repentance, Chapter 4)
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