Now if we will turn to Isa. 51:8, we have in a sense the same figure used. For the old prophet says, "The moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation." Here the reader will notice that God makes a comparison of sin and salvation, using the moth to represent sin. You see there is no power in the world that can offset sin but salvation; and as truly as a moth consumes a garment, sin consumes a sinner.
Some people may imagine that there would be no reason to write about any insect as small as the moth, feeling that he is not large enough to be used in illustrating sin. But as small and insignificant as a moth is, he is used throughout the Scriptures as a type of that destructive thing that we call sin. So we offer no apology to the reader for writing about this peculiar insect; in fact the moth is so powerful in its work of destruction that it might be discussed by the most brilliant minds of the nation, before the most cultured and refined and intellectual congregations of the earth. When the prophets of old and the apostles of latter days and even our blessed Saviour himself made such frequent use of it, in all of their wonderful teachings, we see that the moth has a wonderful place in the history of our homes.
Who has not seen this little, white, shining, silver-colored insect that our text speaks about flying about in our homes at night, that creeps in so silently among the furs and flannels and other woolen stuff and gradually eats through them until a garment becomes perfectly useless and is fit only for the scrap pile. And yet a few days ago it was so valuable to us and such a precious garment, or a fur that was to us of almost untold value. What a picture we have here now of the destructive work of sin!
It may be interesting and profitable to us to note the striking resemblance there is between a moth and sin. Perhaps by studying this comparison closely and scripturally we may be led to see the awful effects of sin, which is so destructive to human happiness, and forsake it.
First, the moth is a little, insignificant insect, and its smallness is quite apparent, but that very smallness makes it no less destructive. The smallness of this little insect is absolutely in its favor, and very much against us and to our great disadvantage. If it were very large it would be no trouble to either see it or hear it as it made its approach. But how small it is, and how silently it makes its way into the best wardrobe, and what fearful destruction it makes of the winter clothing! Its deadly work is always on the best garments. It is even so with sin. To so many people Adam's sin was so small that it did not amount to anything, and yet see how it has affected the whole human race. It has made the earth to heave and groan. It has robbed heaven of millions of its brightest ornaments and has also built our great state prisons, which are in a sense our hells on earth. Our state prisons are places of banishment and punishment, and sin has filled them with precious human souls, and has kindled its fires of sin and vice and degradation, and has finally populated hell with precious souls, where "the smoke of their torment ascends upward for ever and ever."
The devil has tried to make you believe, no doubt, that the thing you have committed is so small it doesn't amount to anything, or will never harm you; but just stop and think a moment of that one sin of Adam. Think of the wrecked homes, broken hearts, ruined lives, blighted prospects; think of the wails, moans, and groans of the offspring of Adam; and all of this misery and wretchedness was brought about by only one sin.
Here is a plain, practical illustration that will illustrate this one little sin. Think of this. Just one little leak in the vessel will sink the whole ship and drown everyone that is on board. The vessel doesn't have to have a thousand leaks in it. Let it spring one leak, and that leak be allowed to remain there unchecked and unstopped, and it isn't long until that great vessel is lying on the bottom of the sea. So these so-called little sins may prove just as destructive to the soul as the leak did to the vessel.
Here is another point that I want you to notice. A pin wound may destroy the life of the most useful man in the nation and prove as fatal as a rifle ball. A pistol will kill as surely as a cannon. A penknife will open the vein and let out the life's blood just as easily as a sword. You had better be on the lookout for that little moth that will enter the home and destroy the best garment in the building; and just so you had better be on the lookout for that little sin that may enter in without notice and destroy both soul and body in hell.
Robinson, Reuben A. (Bud). The Collected Works of 'Uncle Bud' Robinson. Jawbone Digital. Kindle Edition.
Some people may imagine that there would be no reason to write about any insect as small as the moth, feeling that he is not large enough to be used in illustrating sin. But as small and insignificant as a moth is, he is used throughout the Scriptures as a type of that destructive thing that we call sin. So we offer no apology to the reader for writing about this peculiar insect; in fact the moth is so powerful in its work of destruction that it might be discussed by the most brilliant minds of the nation, before the most cultured and refined and intellectual congregations of the earth. When the prophets of old and the apostles of latter days and even our blessed Saviour himself made such frequent use of it, in all of their wonderful teachings, we see that the moth has a wonderful place in the history of our homes.
Who has not seen this little, white, shining, silver-colored insect that our text speaks about flying about in our homes at night, that creeps in so silently among the furs and flannels and other woolen stuff and gradually eats through them until a garment becomes perfectly useless and is fit only for the scrap pile. And yet a few days ago it was so valuable to us and such a precious garment, or a fur that was to us of almost untold value. What a picture we have here now of the destructive work of sin!
It may be interesting and profitable to us to note the striking resemblance there is between a moth and sin. Perhaps by studying this comparison closely and scripturally we may be led to see the awful effects of sin, which is so destructive to human happiness, and forsake it.
First, the moth is a little, insignificant insect, and its smallness is quite apparent, but that very smallness makes it no less destructive. The smallness of this little insect is absolutely in its favor, and very much against us and to our great disadvantage. If it were very large it would be no trouble to either see it or hear it as it made its approach. But how small it is, and how silently it makes its way into the best wardrobe, and what fearful destruction it makes of the winter clothing! Its deadly work is always on the best garments. It is even so with sin. To so many people Adam's sin was so small that it did not amount to anything, and yet see how it has affected the whole human race. It has made the earth to heave and groan. It has robbed heaven of millions of its brightest ornaments and has also built our great state prisons, which are in a sense our hells on earth. Our state prisons are places of banishment and punishment, and sin has filled them with precious human souls, and has kindled its fires of sin and vice and degradation, and has finally populated hell with precious souls, where "the smoke of their torment ascends upward for ever and ever."
The devil has tried to make you believe, no doubt, that the thing you have committed is so small it doesn't amount to anything, or will never harm you; but just stop and think a moment of that one sin of Adam. Think of the wrecked homes, broken hearts, ruined lives, blighted prospects; think of the wails, moans, and groans of the offspring of Adam; and all of this misery and wretchedness was brought about by only one sin.
Here is a plain, practical illustration that will illustrate this one little sin. Think of this. Just one little leak in the vessel will sink the whole ship and drown everyone that is on board. The vessel doesn't have to have a thousand leaks in it. Let it spring one leak, and that leak be allowed to remain there unchecked and unstopped, and it isn't long until that great vessel is lying on the bottom of the sea. So these so-called little sins may prove just as destructive to the soul as the leak did to the vessel.
Here is another point that I want you to notice. A pin wound may destroy the life of the most useful man in the nation and prove as fatal as a rifle ball. A pistol will kill as surely as a cannon. A penknife will open the vein and let out the life's blood just as easily as a sword. You had better be on the lookout for that little moth that will enter the home and destroy the best garment in the building; and just so you had better be on the lookout for that little sin that may enter in without notice and destroy both soul and body in hell.
Robinson, Reuben A. (Bud). The Collected Works of 'Uncle Bud' Robinson. Jawbone Digital. Kindle Edition.
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