The Utter Ruin of a Man

Proverbs 5:22 "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray."

A person is certainly able to freely choose to follow the path of unbelief and sin. What he is not able to choose is the consequences of that choice of unbelief and sin.

G. K. Chesterton said that people never break out into a larger space, they always break out into a smaller one.

The cords of sin bind a man more and more to iniquity. This is God's decree and they cannot escape it. Sin is the judgment upon the sinner for his sin. "Because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind," is the way Paul puts it in Romans 1.

A man may think he is master of his own mind and is free to think as he chooses, but nothing could be further from the truth. Waves of near insanity sweep over mankind from time to time, fads and customs of thought come and go; men think old, old, follies and imagine themselves very sophisticated and chic, but they are boringly dull. Solomon said years ago, Ec 1:9 "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."

The truth is, man was created to think God's thoughts after Him, as an image. Ps 36:9 "For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light." When we turn from God's light, we think we see, but we see with darkened minds.

The mind was created to see the distinction between the Creator and the creature, but this is exactly where man goes astray. He worships and serves the creature more [rather, or besides] than the Creator.

God is not idle, however when man does this, Paul says. When man does not use the gift of intelligence to see that God is to be worshipped, God darkens the man's mind. Ro 1:28 "And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient [unfit]."

So the poor man, under the wrath of God, has his mind darkened so that he cannot think straight. Unwilling to make the distinction between the Creator and the creation, serving the creation, He more and more becomes unable to make other distinctions, for his mind is corrupt.

The moral and social wicked stew described at the end of Romans 1 is the result of the darkened mind of the wicked rejection of God. He is held by the cords of his sins and cannot deliver himself. Unless God saves him from the his own folly, he will more and more turn to hatred of God and foolishness, ultimately dying without instruction, hating and despising those who try to help him.

He goes astray in the "greatness of his folly."

The result is described in Romans 1:29-32. The reprobate mind is described as:

"Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant1-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."

Faithful pastors and teachers, though warning again and again, can only watch with horror and tears.

Promising Liberty

"Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.

"And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

"And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

"And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded." --Acts 19-13-16

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The devil will not go away just because somebody tells him to, or pretends that he is not doing his devil-work. Only Christ has authority over the devils and His power reveals that the kingdom of God has come (Mt 12:28). There are many voices crying in the wilderness that are part of the wilderness. They pretend that they can overcome evil, but the evil in their own hearts shows them to be liars.

A man is incapable of banishing malice and ill-will from his own heart. The strong man keeps the city and will not let it go. Ill-will toward our brother is as natural as breathing.

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." --Galatians 5:19-21

Satan keeps his kingdom and rules it with lies and malice, and no one can deliver himself. Man pretends, of course, for the natural man is a great hypocrite and is capable of a form of godliness that denies the power. He calls evil good and good evil, but none can deliver his own soul.

"He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" (Isa 44:20)

Being unable to deliver himself from the power of the devil, how does a man think he can save others? Seven times nothing is still nothing, as the sons of Sceva discovered. They are blind leaders of the blind, clouds and wind without rain, in bondage to their own corruption and promising to deliver others. Deceived and deceivers.

"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." (2Pe 2:19)

"Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." (Eph 4:18-19)

"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (Joh 8:34-36)

The Light Is Often Painful

"For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." (Joh 3:20)

I am exactly like everyone else, so I
know what I am talking about in this
post. We poor sinners do not like to
have the light of the Scriptures turned,
into our souls.

Some of the Scriptures are o.k., for we pick and choose from them to fashion a suit of clothes that makes us look pretty snappy. In this we are like Huckleberry Finn. He decided that he would give up watermelon and persimmons for Lent because "watermelons were out of season and persimmons ain't never any good."

In other matters we don't mind being rascals, but we hope no-one finds out, and if they do, we hope they won't tell anyone.

But God doesn't play our game. He looks on the heart and not on the outward appearance. His word is a blinding light to those who chaff against it for "it is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb 4:12)

In the last day, we will not be judged by what others think of us, or by the reputation that we have carefully cultivated, or even by our own opinion of ourselves. Jesus said it plainly, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." (Joh 12:48) There should be no surprises at the day of judgment, for the words of Christ have been before the world since the beginning, for He is the one that not only spoke through the prophets but came to speak to us plainly. We didn't like it, but crucified the Lord of Glory, to our shame.

Neither will we be excused because we have had our feelings hurt and excuse ourselves. The light hurts; the truth is painful; the salt that cleanses the wound stings.

But it is better to face the truth now, than to face the fire of God's indignation in the last day. As the apostle put it, "If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." (1Co 11:31 av)