The Bittersweetness of Sin

Consider sin to be but a bitter sweet. That seeming sweet that is in sin will quickly vanish, and lasting shame, sorrow, horror, and terror will come in the room of it: Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue, though he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it still within his mouth, yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him (Job 20.12-14). Forbidden profits and pleasures are most pleasing to vain men, who count madness mirth. Many long to be meddling with the murdering morsels of sin, which nourish not, but tear and consume the belly, and the soul that receives them. Many eat that on earth which they will digest in hell. Sin’s murdering morsels will deceive those that devour them. Adam’s apple as a bitter sweet; Esau’s mess was a bitter sweet; the Israelites’ quails a bitter sweet; Jonathan’s honey a bitter sweet; and Adonijah’s dainties a bitter sweet. After the meal is ended, then comes the reckoning. Men must not think to dance and dine with the devil, and then to sup with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. They cannot feed on the poison of asps, and yet avoid having the viper’s tongue not slay them.

When the asp stings a man, it first tickles him so as it makes him laugh, till the poison, by little and little, gets to the heart, and then it pains him more than ever it delighted him. So does sin; it may please a little at first, but will pain the soul with a witness at last. Yea, if there were the least real delight in sin, there could be no perfect hell, where men shall most perfectly be tormented with their sin. Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices