The Hard Life

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11: 28-30 NIV)

The life of sin is a hard life, one full of heartache and woe. It was in view of this fact that Jesus called sinners to himself so that they might find rest, comfort and an easier life.

"Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard." (Proverbs 13: 15)

"Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed." (Proverbs 13: 21)

The life of sin may indeed produce temporary pleasures, but the final fruit of it all is calamity and suffering. Sinners need to see and understand this sufficiently if they are to have any hope of obtaining remedy.

It is sad that most sinners wait until they have suffered the most agonizing consequences of their sins, until they are most desperate, before they begin to cry out to God for mercy.

The Prodigal Son did not experience his change of heart till he had "spent all he had" and found himself both destitute and "ready to perish with hunger" (Luke 15: 17). The Prodigal came to realize the truth of what Solomon had warned about in the above proverbs. The Prodigal was experiencing, like all sinners, the hard life of sin, being pursued by the adverse affects of his disobedience to the laws of God.

"And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." (Acts 26: 14)

Saul, before his conversion to Christ, knew firsthand the difficulty of a life of sin and rebellion against God. Saul was a deeply religious Jew, yet he was a lost sinner, blinded by pride. Saul, like many sinners, sorely felt the "pricks" of a guilty conscience, the convicting testimony of the law and Spirit of God against him in his mind.

Isaiah wrote - "The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites." (Isaiah 33: 14) Solomon said - "The wicked flee when no man pursueth" (Proverbs 28: 1).

Righteous people have no reason to fear the Lord and his judgments. It is the unforgiven and unrepentant sinner who is bound by fear of coming judgment and dread of the terrible consequences of sin.

"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." (Proverbs 5: 22, 23)

The life of sin is the life of a slave, for he who serves sin is a "slave of sin." (Romans 6: 15-18) It is no easy life as a slave, for sin is a tough slave master. Paul asks the Christians - "For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death." (Verses 20, 21)

"And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour." (Exodus 1: 14)

Such was the awful description of the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt. But, it is also language appropriate for the sinner who is slave to his own lusts and willing servant to Satan. Sin and Satan are cruel taskmasters!

"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." (Isaiah 59: 2)

"Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you." (Jeremiah 5: 25)

"If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (Ezekiel 33: 10, 11)

"We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them..." (Isaiah 59: 10-12)

Friend, do these words of scripture speak truth to your heart? Do they describe your life? If so, God has shown you your disease. Will you now come to him for remedy? Will you come to him and beg him for the gifts of repentance and faith, yea, for salvation?