The Spurgeon Series 1859 & 1860. Charles H. Spurgeon

than men imagine. In a sin against God, it is not so much the thing itself as the principle of the thing at which God looks; and the principle of obedience is as much broken, as much dishonoured by a little sin as by a great sin. Oh man! the Creator has made you to obey him. You break his law; you say it is only a little breach. Still it is a breach. The law is broken. You are disobedient. His wrath abides on you. The principle of obedience is compromised in your smallest transgression, and, therefore, it is great. Besides, I do not know whether the things Christian men call little sins are not, after all, greater than what they call great sins, in some respects. If you have a friend, and he does you a displeasure for the sake of ten thousand pounds, you say, “Well, he had a very great temptation. It is true he has committed a great fault, but still he has wronged me for some purpose.” But suppose your friend should vex and grieve your mind for the sake of a farthing; what would you think of that? “This is wanton,” you would say. “This man has done it out of sheer malevolence toward me.” Now, if Adam had been denied by his Maker all of Paradise, and had been put into a stony desert, I do not think that, had he taken all Paradise for himself, there would have been more sin in that act, than when placed in the midst of the garden, he simply stole one fruit from the forbidden tree. The transgression involved a great principle, because he did it wantonly. He had so little to gain, he had so much to lose when he dishonoured God. It has been said, that to sin without temptation is to sin like the devil, for the devil was not tempted when he sinned; and to sin with very little temptation is to sin like the devil. When there is great temptation offered, I do not say there is any excuse, but when there is none, where the deed is very little, bringing very little pleasure, and involving only a small consequence, there is a lewdness about the sin which makes it greater in moral rectitude, than many other iniquities that men commit. Indeed, you cry out against a great felon, when he is caught; see how much he robbed men; see how he wronged the widow and robbed the fatherless! I know it. God forbid that I should make any excuse for him; but that man had a name to maintain. He had thousands of temptations before him to get immensely rich. He thought he never should be caught. He had a family to keep. He had become involved in expensive habits, and there are many things to be said for his extenuation. But you, if you indulge in some slight sin which brings you no pleasure, which involves no important interests, by which you have nothing to gain, I say you sin wantonly. You have committed an act which has in it the very virus and bitterness of wilful obstinacy, designing disobedience, because there is not even the extenuation, or excuse, or apology, that you should gain something by it. Little sins are, after all, tremendous sins, viewed in the light of God’s law. Looked upon as involving a breach of that inviolable standard of right, and considered as having been committed wantonly, I say they are great, and I do not know that those sins men conceive to be gross and great, are greater and grosser in reality than these.

      10. Thus I have given you several arguments with which to answer that temptation, “Is it not a little one?”

      11. Now I am about to speak to the child of God only, and I say to him, “Brother, if Satan tempts you to say, ‘Is it not a little one?’ ” reply to him, “Ah, Satan, but little though it is, it may mar my fellowship with Christ. Sin cannot destroy but it will annoy; it cannot ruin my soul, but it will soon ruin my peace. You says it is a little one, Satan, but my Saviour had to die for it, or otherwise I should have been excluded from heaven. ‘That little one’ may be like a little thorn in my flesh, to prick my heart and wound my soul. I cannot, I dare not indulge in this little sin, for I have been greatly forgiven, and I must greatly love. A little sin in others would be a great sin for me — ‘How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God.’ ”

      12. Is it a little one, Satan? But a little stone in the shoe will make a traveller limp. A little thorn may breed a fester. A little cloud may hide the sun. A cloud of the size of a man’s hand may bring a deluge of rain. Be gone Satan! I can have nothing to do with you; for since I know that Jesus bled for little sins, I cannot wound his heart by indulging in them afresh. A little sin, Satan! Has not my Master said, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.” Lo! these little things do mischief to my tender heart. These little sins burrow in my soul, and soon make it to become a very den and hole of the wild beasts that Jesus hates, soon drive him away from my spirit so that he will hold no comforting fellowship and communion with me. A great sin cannot destroy a Christian, but a little sin can make him miserable. Jesus will not walk with his people unless they drive out every known sin. He says, “If you keep my commandments you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” There are very many Christians in the world that do not see their Saviour’s face for many months, and seem to be quite content without his company. I do not understand, nor do I wish to know how it is, that you can reconcile your souls to the absence of your Lord. A loving wife, without her husband for months and years, seems to me to be severely tried. Surely it must be an affliction for a tender child to be separated from his father. We know that in our childhood it was always so, and we looked forward to our return home with joy. And are you a child of God, yet happy without seeing your Father’s face? What! you the spouse of Christ, and yet content without his company! Surely, surely, surely, you have fallen into a sad state. You must have gone astray, if such is your experience, for the true chaste spouse of Christ mourns like a dove without her mate, when he has left her. Ask, then, the question, what has driven Christ from you? He hides his face behind the wall of your sins. That wall may be built up with little pebbles, as easily as with great stones. The sea is made of drops, the rocks are made of grains; and ah! surely the sea which divides you from Christ may be filled with the drops of your little sins; and the rock which is to wreck your barque, may have been made by daily working of the coral insects of your little sins. Therefore, take heed to it; for if you wish to live with Christ, and walk with Christ, and see Christ, and have fellowship with Christ, please take heed of the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.

      13. And now, leaving the child of God, I turn myself to address others of you who have some thought with regard to your souls, but who could not yet be ranked among those who fear God with a true heart. To you, I know, Satan often offers this temptation — “Is it not a little one?” May God help you to answer him whenever he thus attacks you. “Is it not a little one?” And so, young man, the devil has tempted you to commit the first petty theft. “Is it not a little one?” And so he has bidden you, young man, for the first time in your life to spend the day of rest in foolish pleasure. It was only a little one, he said, and you have taken him at his word, and you have committed it. It was only a little one, and so you have told a lie. It was only a little one, and you have gone into the assembly of the frivolous and mixed in the society of scorners. It was only a little one, there could not be much harm in it, it could not do much mischief to your soul. Ah! stop awhile. Do you know that a little sin, if wantonly indulged, will prevent your salvation? “The foundation of God stands sure having this seal, the Lord knows those who are his, and let every one who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” Christ will reveal salvation from all his sins to the man who hates all his sins; but if you keep one sin to yourself, you shall never have mercy from his hands. If you will forsake all your ways, and turn with full purpose of heart to Christ, the biggest sin you have ever committed shall not destroy your soul; but if a little sin is harboured, your prayers will be unheard, your sighs disregarded, and your earnest cries shall return into your bosom without a blessing. You have been in prayer lately, you have been seeking Christ, you have been praying with all your might that God would meet with you. Now months have rolled by, you are still not yet saved, nor have you received the comfortable assurance of your pardon. Young man, is it not likely that some little known sin is still harboured in your heart? Note, then, God will never be united with you until you and your sins are separated. Part with your sins, or else part with all hope, though you only hide so much as a grain of sin back from God. He will not, he cannot have any mercy on you. Come to him just as you are, but renounce your sins. Ask him to set you free from every lust, from every false way, from every evil thing, or else, note, you shall never find grace and favour from his hands. The greatest sin in the world, repented of, shall be forgiven, but the least unrepented sin shall sink your soul lower than the lowest hell. Note then, again, sinner, you who sometimes indulge in little sins. These little sins show that you are yet in the gall of bitterness, and in the