“Would I know how exceedingly sinful and abominable sin is in the sight of God?
Where shall I see that most fully brought out?
Shall I turn to the history of the flood, and read how sin drowned the world?
Shall I go to the shore of the Dead Sea, and mark what sin brought on Sodom and Gomorrah?
Shall I turn to the wandering Jews, and observe how sin has scattered them over the face of the earth?
No: I can find a clearer proof still!
I look at the cross of Christ.
There I see that sin is so black and damnable, that nothing but the blood of God’s own Son can wash it away.
There I see that sin has so separated me from my holy Maker, that all the angels in heaven could never have made peace between us.
Nothing could reconcile us except the death of Christ.
If I listened to the wretched talk of proud men, I might sometimes fancy sin was not so very sinful!
But I cannot think little of sin, when I look at the cross of Christ.”
–J.C. Ryle, Old Paths: Being Plain Statements of Some of the Weightier Matters of Christianity (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1898/1999), 237-238.
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