THE LONELINESS OF SIN

JOHN 13:3

A. "HE THEN HAVING RECEIVED THE SOP WENT IMMEDIATELY OUT AND IT WAS NIGHT"
  1. What strikes us first when reading our text is:
    1. The utter loneliness of Judas
    2. No word-pointing, however vivid, could give a deeper impression of that than these few words of John, "He went immediately out; and it was night"
  2. What a contrast:
    1. Within there was light, fellowship and gladness
    2. But without there was gloom and loneliness. What a picture of the effect of sin B. THE LONELINESS OF SIN
  3. One continual effect of sin, in every shape and form in every age and country is:
    1. It intensifies the loneliness of life; Examples: Think of King Saul after he committed the great sin against God; he was lonely so much so that it took the skill of David to pacify him - I Sam. 16:14-23; it must have been lonely for the man of God who had committed a grievous sin on his way home - I Kings 13:23-24
    2. It leaves the sinner in a state of hopelessness; "And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself" - Matt. 27:3-5
  4. Effects of the loneliness of sin:
    1. It separates man from his ideal - when we have an ideal we can never be quite lonely. Vision beckoning us on, we have hope before us
    2. Think of what ideal the rich farmer had and his hopes came to an end overnight - Luke 12:16-20
    3. But most important, sin in our life breaks connection with God - the source of all comfort - Is. 59:1-5
    4. Sin separates man from man - Luke 15:11-32
    5. There is not a passion, not a lust or vice but mars and spoils the brotherhood of life, and tends to the loneliness of the individual soul; Examples: It must have been lonely for Cain when he left the presence of the Lord and went into the land of Nod - Gen. 4:13-16 C. BUT THE MOST SERIOUS EFFECT OF SIN IS THE ETERNAL LONELINESS
  5. Note these truths:
    1. "The wages of sin is death" - Rom. 6:23
    2. The sinner, being on death row must be lonely indeed - nothing could be more dreadful than to face total hopelessness
  6. We think of our Lord's repeated emphasis of what will happen to the sinner:
    1. "Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" - Matt. 25:41
    2. "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" - Matt. 8:12; 13:42
    3. "The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away; the desire of the wicked shall perish" - Ps. 112:10
  7. But we need not despair:
    1. God loves us and He knows what sin had done in our lives; and He is able to break the loneliness; Examples: The parable of the lost sheep illustrates very well what God does for the lonely - Luke 15:3-6; the attitude of the father to his prodigal son is still another effective illustration of God's interest in sinners - Luke 11-23
    2. We think of the loneliness of Adam and Eve when they hid behind the tree in the garden. It was God who sought to change the loneliness caused by sin - Gen. 3:8-22
    3. Jesus Christ has become the way of men to come back into the fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - John 14:6; I John 1:3-7; 2 Cor. 13:14
    4. And when we re-enter the fellowship of the Godhead, we also enter the fellowship of God's children, and all loneliness will have passed away


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