THE CURSE OF HIDDEN SINS
Prov. 28:13
INTRO. You will never get by with covered-up sin. Sin that is unconfessed, sin that is unlamented, sin with an alibi, sin that is excused, sin with no self-judgement, is certain to bring the wrath of a holy and righteous and angry God! It would be smart for you to memorize this text (text). There is a terrible curse of God on hidden sin.
One of the most remarkable illustrations of the fact that God cannot abide hidden sin, is found in the 7th chapter of Joshua.
{describe the marvelous capture of Jericho. Read 6:17-18}
They took the city by God’s grace, without the loss of a single man.
But one had sinned! (7:1) That one sin terribly marred the otherwise sweet fellowship between God and His people. It completely stopped the flow of His power.
Today we will look at the devastating effect of hidden sin in the life of a child of God.
I. SIN BRINGS DEFEAT AND RUIN! (Josh. 7:2-5)
A. There was an unconfessed sin between God and Israel, so the boldness that God had earlier put in the hearts of the Israelite soldiers was now departed!
1. 3,000 men turned and ran like children before the enemy. 36 were killed. The entire nation was burdened with the shame and disgrace that came with their defeat at Ai.
2. But that is exactly what the Scripture forewarns in Prov. 28:13 - "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper."
3. Covered sins bring failure.
a. And I think we might properly say that the converse of this statement is also true.
b. Failure is caused by sin.
1. Too many Christians have come to think that defeat is a natural part of the Christian life. It is like ants at a picnic or potholes in the road--just something you have to learn to live with.
2. That is not at all Biblical! Defeat is God’s alarm to warn us of more oncoming danger.
a. It is like fever. Fever tells you that an infection is hiding deep within your body. Therefore, you don’t treat the fever...you treat the infection.
b. Likewise, defeat or failure in a Christian’s life means that we have incurred God’s anger and grieved His heart with our sins and so He is not allowing us to prosper.
B. Now, certainly some people suffer for the glory of God.
1. Job, Stephen, Paul’s thorn in the flesh.
2. Poverty and sickness and tribulation are not always the proofs of hidden sins, nor the evidence of God’s displeasure.
a. But on the other hand it is only fair to say that Job was actually prospering in his suffering...though he didn’t know it at the time.
b. Stephen’s greatest hour on this earth was when the hurled stones broke his body, and with his face shining like that of an angel, he went to meet his Saviour who stood at the right hand of the Father to receive him.
c. Paul’s thorn in the flesh was actually the secret of his success. So none of these tribulations could be called a curse; rather they were blessings.
C. Even physical sickness and trouble is often a sign of God’s displeasure for our sins.
1. I Cor. 11:30-32
a. Many had died and many more were weak and sick...all as a result of God’s judgment on their sins.
b. Though these were Christians, but they certainly were not prospering, and it was because their sins were unconfessed and unrepented of.
2. James 5:16 (notice "Confess..")
a. This and many other Scriptures indicate that sickness is often the natural result of sin. People do not prosper because they have not confessed and forsaken their sins.
b. It is a rule of God’s nature.
3. How much more is this true of spiritual matters. Sometimes the most real prosperity is experienced when we are in poverty or when the body is racked with pain.
a. So we cannot always judge by financial failure or success, by physical health or sickness, whether one is really prospering with God.
b. Sometimes it is best for God’s people not to prosper too much in physical and material things. Money can be a curse; even prolonged good health may not be in the best interest in some cases.
D. But it is always God’s will that Christians should prosper spiritually.
1. God always wants His people to have their prayers answered and their hearts full of joy. (Jn. 16:24)--"...ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."
2. God always wants His people to have singing hearts. We are commanded to "Be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."
3. Our Saviour always wants us to be conscious of His presence. He promised..."Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
4. I Cor. 12:4-7 (esp. vs. 7)
5. Christians ought to be prosperous in spiritual matters all the time. And if we are not, Prov. 28:13 tells us why.
6. If we do not prosper physically, it is sometimes because of unconfessed sin; but if we do not prosper spiritually, it is ALWAYS the result of hidden sin.
E. If you want revival, here is the key.
1. If the power of God is being blocked the reason is sin.
2. Unconfessed sin in the hearts and lives of God’s people...sin in the churches...sin in the preachers...sin in the Sunday School teachers ...sin in the officers of the church...sin in the church members.
3. If pastors preach with little or no results...sin is the reason.
4. If the Holy Spirit of God does not move sweetly and forcefully in the hearts of people in the services...it is because of unconfessed and unforsaken sin.
5. If hearts are not being broken and lives are not being changed at the sweet message of the Blessed Redeemer, then sin in the lives of God’s people is the reason.
6. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper." Far too many churches have covered their sins and consequently they are not prospering.
F. So what should we do? Someone will say, "We must pray." But.....
II. THERE ARE TIMES WHEN SOMETHING ELSE MUST COME BEFORE PRAYER! (Josh. 7:6-13)
A. Someone has said, "There is nothing as important as prayer...until after you have prayed." In most cases, this is true. But this passage shows us that sometimes prayer is out of order. Sometimes prayer will not get results. Sometimes something else must happen before God will hear our prayer.
1. See Joshua on his face before God, weeping and praying. Then the Lord speaks roughly to him, "Get up! Why are you on your face?" Then God told him that Israel had sinned and all the praying in the world would not receive an answer until they fixed the problem.
2. Notice what God says in vs. 12 & 13.
3. There are times when God will not hear. There are times when repentance and restitution are far more important than any words we can pray. There are times when God demands action instead of words.
a. I am reminded of Matt. 5:23-24
b. Before you sing for God, or preach for God, or give money for God, or pray to God...confess and forsake your sin.
B. It is wonderful to pray when we are on praying ground and pleading terms with God; but many prayers never get as high as the ceiling. To many of us, God would say, "Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?" and "Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed thing from among you."
III. FIND THE SIN YOURSELF. (Josh. 7:14-18)
A. Are we accountable for sins that we don’t know about? Yes! It is our business to know. We ought to be so diligently on the lookout for sin in our lives that we spot it the instant it appears.
1. A church member at Muscle Shoals told me he would quit smoking when the Lord convicted him to quit. That’s like saying, "I started this sin but it’s continuation is God’s fault."
a. If he honestly wanted to know whether he was right in abusing his body...or ... whether Jesus would have used tobacco... or ... whether the use of tobacco might present a sad testimony before the world....he could certainly find out easily enough.
b. It is not God’s responsibility to make us know what anyone could find out, if they just looked.
2. If God had wronged us, and broken fellowship with us, it would be God’s part to find out what was wrong and correct it. But since we sin against God and break the fellowship it is always our responsibility to find the hindering cause and make it right.
B. Israel had sinned; so Israel must find the sinner and punish the sin and take sides with God against wickedness.
1. Tribe by tribe...family by family... man by man, they were made to stand before God.
2. Then finally, from the family of Carmi...from the house of Zabdi...from the lineage of Zerah...from the tribe of Judah...stepped forth the man Achan.
C. Are you willing to diligently search out your hearts desires? Are you willing to examine all the things you do and think and love in order to find the Achan in your life?
1. Find him and drag him out before God and pass judgment upon him. Confess and forsake that sin that has been your downfall.
2. It will never be any easier to do than right now right here.
IV. THE PROGRESS OF SIN. (Josh. 7:19-21)
A. Note the progress of Achan’s sin.
1. First, he saw.
a. In some things, it is true that "ignorance is the handmaid of innocence."
b. The Christian who does not allow playing cards in the house will be less likely to learn how to gamble.
c. The Christian who does not allow alcohol in the house will be less likely to desire a "stiff drink".
d. If giving away your T.V. or your home computer will deliver you from the temptation to lust....then by all means, give it away.
2. Seeing led to coveting. This is a very natural progression and it must be guarded against at all times.
3. Then, finally, Achan took those forbidden treasures.
a. Doubtless, he never would have thought that he would ever be guilty of such a sin!
b. The prostitute, the drug addict, the alcoholic never intended to end up in the terrible mess they now find themselves.
c. *** There is no limit to the grossness of the sin that any person living may commit, if only he puts himself continually under the influence of temptation. ***
4. Then Achan hid his stolen treasure.
a. After we commit our sins, then we must rationalize them, excuse them, make an alibi for them.
b. We feel we must defend ourselves by blaming others, by saying this is not as bad as that. Stealing the treasure was a wicked sin...hiding it was worse.
c. That sin which first came between you and God is bad, but that is not the last step in the progress of sin. The final stage, and by far the worst, is to try to hide the sin.
V. HIDDEN IN THE TENT. (Josh. 7:22-23)
A. In public Achan probably seemed as good an Israelite as anyone in the camp.
1. He did not work on the Sabbath. He never ate pork. He tithed of his flocks and offered sacrifices.
2. But Achan’s sin was not in public; it was in private. It was not in the house of worship, but back hidden in his own tent.
B. There may be someone here who is under the misconception that there is nothing wrong with your life because you attend church, sing in the choir, give your money, etc.
1. But it is not so much in public but in private that our lives dishonor God.
2. Search the secret closets of your heart. See what you love and what you hate. Examine the motives that control your actions.
3. Are you a Pharisee, doing the outward deeds of Christianity to be seen of men? Or are you willing to unroll all the secret thoughts and processes of your heart before the Lord Jesus?
VI. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON UNCONFESSED SIN.
(Josh. 7:24-26)
A. The terrible sin of Achan might have been the ruin of the whole nation of Israel. Such gross and deliberate sin demanded public punishment.
B. I have no doubt that the events we just read were carried out with deep emotion and many eyes were red from weeping.
1. But this lesson was meant to impress all Israel with the terrible nature of sin, and of God’s all-consuming wrath on sin when it is covered and not confessed.
2. Then they covered the burned, broken bones of the man they had publicly executed, with a great mound of stones as a warning to the people that sin must be punished.
C. Calvary also stands as a reminder to us that sin must be punished.
CONCLU. Achan need not have died!!!
Prov. 28:13a
Achan covered his sin. He hid his stolen treasures. He did not confess his sins until they were already discovered. He never seemed willing to admit the awful nature of his guilt. So Achan died in a public execution, at the direct command of God. But Achan need not have died.
Prov. 28:13b
God is just but He is also merciful. He is righteous and holy but He loves mankind. God must judge and punish unconfessed, unrepented sin; but He is willing to forgive us when we confess our sins.
Jesus knew the matter of sin would be a daily burden to Christians. This is why He taught us to pray, "Forgive us our trespasses.."
1. But failure and defeat and the wrath of God does not come upon us so much because we have sinned, as because we cover our sins. We do not hate them. We do not take God’s side against them. We do not weep over them.
2. There is only one way for daily cleansing for a Christian. (I Jn. 1:9)--"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
To The Lost:
People do not go to hell simply because they are sinners ("for all have sinned..."). Rather they go because they will not repent of their sins. If you will confess your sinful state to God and throw yourself on His mercy. If you will, in faith, call out to Jesus Christ for your salvation...you will receive mercy and forgiveness.
