Joseph Saw God in the Room!
"The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:9).
The harboring of any known sin, either in heart or life, is a high contempt of the all-seeing eye of God - of the omnipresence of God.
It is well known what Ahasuerus, that great monarch, said concerning Haman, when he found him cast upon the queen's couch on which she sat: "What!" says he, "Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes!" What! will he dare to commit such a villainy - as I stand and look on?
O sirs! to do wickedly in the sight of God, is a thing which He looks upon as the greatest affront and indignity that can possibly be done unto Him. "What!" says He, "Will you be drunk before Me, and swear and blaspheme before Me, and be wanton and immoral before Me, and break My laws before My eyes!"
This, then, is the killing aggravation of all sin - that is done before the face of God - in the presence of God! The consideration of God's omnipresence - that He stands and looks on, should be as a bar, to stop the proceedings of all wicked intentions; and a great dissuasive from sin.
It was an excellent saying of Ambrose, "If you cannot hide yourself from the sun, which is God's minister of light - how impossible will it be to hide yourself from Him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun!"
When you are in secret -consider that God is present.
God is all eye. He sees all things, in all places, at all times.
The Godly are dissuaded from wickedness, upon the consideration of God's eye and omniscience. Joseph saw God in the room - therefore dared not yield to lust. But Potiphar's wife saw none but Joseph - and so was impudently alluring and tempting him to sin.
I have read of two godly men, who took contrary courses with two harlots - whom they desired to exclaim from their wicked course of life.
One of the men told one of the women, that he was desirous to enjoy her company in secret. After she had brought him into a private room, and locked the door, he told her, "All your bars and bolts cannot keep God out!"
The other godly man asked the other harlot to be unchaste with him openly in the streets - which she rejected as an insane request. He then told her, "it was better to do it before the eyes of a crowd - than before the eyes of the all-seeing God!"
Oh, why shall not the presence of that God who hates sin, and who is resolved to punish it with hell-flames, make us ashamed or afraid to sin, and dare Him to His face! Let your eye be ever on Him - whose eye is always on you!
~Thomas Brooks~
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I Was That Soldier Who Murdered You!
"He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).
Our sins were the cause of Christ's sufferings!
It was our transgressions which gave Christ His deadly wounds! It was our sins which smote Him, and bruised Him! Every Christian may look upon Christ and say, "I was that Judas who betrayed You! I was that soldier who murdered You! It was my sins which brought all those sorrows, and sufferings, and evils upon You!
I have sinned - and You have suffered!
I have sinned - and You have died!
I have wounded You - and You have healed me!"
Oh, that we might look upon a humble Christ - with a humble heart, a broken Christ - with a broken heart, a bleeding Christ - with a bleeding heart, a wounded Christ - with a wounded heart!
"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree; by His wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24).
Here you see that the physician's blood became the sick man's salve! Here is the gospel mystery - that the wounding of one, should be a cure of another!
Oh what an odious thing is sin to God - that He will pardon none without blood, yes, without the precious blood of His dearest Son! Oh, what a hell of wickedness must there be in sin - that nothing can expiate it but the best, the purest, the noblest blood of Christ! Oh, what a transcendent evil must sin be - that nothing can purge it away but death - the accursed death of the Cross! Oh, what a leprosy is sin - that it must have blood, yes, the blood of God, to take it away!!
~Thomas Brooks~
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