Henry Cooke
Genesis 3:13. And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
An unconverted sinner always has some ready excuse for his sin; and every excuse has one of three objects. The first object is to satisfy the sinner’s own conscience or, at all events, to silence its accusations; the second is to satisfy reason, or to silence the rebukes of others; and the third is to make sin seem less serious, or to justify it, in the sight of God Himself.
It is impossible to list all the sources from which those excuses are drawn, but it may be useful to instance a few of the most common – not to suggest them for the use of sinners, but by merely mentioning their names, to demonstrate their futility. Many seek, for example, their excuse in admitting their sin, but pleading that it is a little one. Others, again, will not plead the little-ness of their sin, but urge that it is committed infrequently. Others will plead their ignorance of the evil of their sin, and urge that they did not intend whatever has been wrong in their conduct. Others charge their sin to mere lack of thought, or assert that the temptation took them suddenly and unawares. Others will plead the imperfection of their natural temper, and pretend they deplore that it is weak or ungovernable; while others produce, as a full satisfaction for all that is past, their purpose or determination to amend their behaviour for the future.
But the chief of all excuses is that which shifts the sin from the sinner’s own shoulders and lays the burden of the guilt on another. This was the first excuse and was urged in reply to the questioning of God Himself. Since that time, it has constituted the great model upon which most excuses for sin have been formed. Before we can fully comprehend the futility of the excuse, we must examine the circumstances that led to it as a final effort to escape from the accusations of conscience, or the knowledge and judgement of God.
Our first parents, while in a state of innocence, had freely conversed with God. But the moment they sinned, being smitten by their conscience they hid from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. From this we discover that the object of every excuse is, in some manner, to hide our sin. “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And He said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”
Now in this reply it is to be noted that it is not obvious whether Adam charged his sin more to the woman or to God Himself; for while he related that the woman “gave to him”, he told the Lord that it was the woman whom He had given to be with him. So it would appear that he traced the evil back to God and blamed His gift for the shame and the guilt in which he now stood before his Judge. To this excuse, so frivolous and unthankful, God did not pause to reply but immediately said to the woman, “What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”
The chief thing to be noticed in this excuse is ignorance of God. Our first parents had foolishly fled among the trees of the garden, as a hiding-place from the eyes of the all-knowing God; and now they had recourse to anything except the true account, hoping to evade His searching yet merciful examination. They did not confess to God that, in the midst of His bountiful profusion, they had coveted the only gift He had withheld; they did not tell Him that a little food had tempted them to disregard His authority; they did not tell Him that they had felt discontented with their state of blissful innocence and happy communion with God; they did not tell Him that, moved by ambition, they had sought to escape from the rank of subjects and claim equality with their Creator. But, concealing these things in their bosom, they answered as under the impression that God can discover no more than they were pleased to reveal.
But ignorance of God’s omniscience is not the only thing to be noted; there appears also to be equal ignorance of His mercy and His grace. To flee, to hide, to evade and to deceive are the objects of every act and answer; but not a word of sorrow, or prayer for pardon, is heard from the lips of these sinners.
How amazing that one simple act of sin, and within a period so obviously brief, could have produced a transformation of character so sad and so degrading! But we need not wonder at this; the natural world around us can sufficiently illustrate the process. One single cloud can obscure the sun; one single injury to the eye of the body can render its glories invisible – so one single sin coming between God and the soul becomes as a cloud impenetrable to the light of His countenance, and totally deprives us of that purity of heart without which no man can see the Lord.
Let us learn then the utter vanity of every excuse for sin. The ingenuity of our first parents was unsuccessful. Most probably they did not succeed in satisfying themselves; it is certain they were unsuccessful in satisfying God.
Let us learn also the danger of abiding in the way of temptation – of standing in the way of sinners, of walking in the counsel of the ungodly, and sitting in the seat of the scoffer.
Let us beware of the shallow selfishness that would lay down our guilt at the door of our neighbour. It is most certain that we may be tempted by others. Theirs is the guilt of the temptation, and for that they must account to God; ours is the guilt of compliance, and for this we must account likewise.
Instead then of excusing our sins, let us confess our sins and flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us. For though we have sinned, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus the righteous; and if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us in His blood from all unrighteousness.