Some people’s sins are obvious, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others surface later.  Likewise, good works are obvious and those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden.

1 Timothy 5:24-25  HCSB

How are you at keeping secrets?  How are you at lying?  How are you at facing the truth?  Well, if we live by the Spirit and do our best to stay in God’s will, we don’t have to worry about these things.  If we live in the flesh, chances are we sneak around doing things that we hope that no one else finds out about.

The Bible clearly tells us that our sins will catch up with us.  Our secrets will eventually be found out.  We are told in Luke that no secret will not be known and come to light.  Luke 12:3 tells us that whatever we have said in darkness will be heard in the light and even scarier, that whatever is whispered in private rooms will be shouted from the rooftops.  Wow!  Could you just imagine?  Could you imagine something that you have struggled to keep secret being shouted throughout your neighborhood.  Could you imagine a big secret that you never wanted to be revealed being announced at your church?

Now there are secrets like what we got for someone as a Christmas present or throwing a surprise party.  I call those fun secrets.  But there are also deep, dark sinister secrets that we keep that will destroy us if we are not careful.  The secret stash of porn on the computer or smartphone will destroy us.  The secret relationship that we are having with someone who is not our spouse.  The secret unforgiveness that we harbor against someone.  The secret bitterness that we carry around.  Those secrets are destructive.  Now maybe you are a really good liar and really good at keeping secrets, but know this you can’t hide anything from God.  You may be able to hide it from your spouse, your family, your pastor and your church family, but I promise you, God knows.

Since the beginning of time, man has been foolish enough to think that he can hide from  God.  In Genesis 3 after Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, they hear God in the Garden of Eden and hide themselves.  When God calls out to them, Adam tells him that they were ashamed because they were naked and hid themselves.  This is laughable, right?  But it’s also incredibly sad.  They hid themselves because they knew that they had done wrong.  God next asked them about eating from the tree.  God knew immediately that they had sinned.  They had done the one thing that he told them not to do.  Now they did not have the advantage of the Bible  but they had God himself who told them what they could and could not do and they just didn’t listen.  They foolishly thought that they could hide from God when they had sinned.

Some of us do the very same thing.  Big news flash, we can’t hide anything from God.  He knows our good deeds and He knows our bad deeds.  We will be judged for each and every one of them accordingly.  Romans 2:16 tell us, On that day, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.   Hebrews 4:13,  And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.   Ecclesiastes 12:14,  For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.  Psalm 44:21  Would not God discover this?  For he knows the secrets of the heart.

If you are kidding yourselves today and doing something that you hope you can get away with, just stop.  Stop your sinning and stop kidding yourself.  In Joshua 1:9, God tells Joshua not to be afraid for God is with him wherever he goes.  Well the same holds true for us today.  He’s with us in the boardroom, the barroom, and the bedroom.  He’s with us when we do good and He’s with us when we sin.  He’s right beside you while you are looking at the porn or the nasty pic that someone sent on your phone.  He’s right there with you when you are having that little rendezvous with the other man or woman.  He’s right there with you when you cheat someone out of money.  He’s right there with you when you tell that lie.

So, knowing all this, what are you going to do?  Well, there are a number of things you can do.  You can keep right on doing what you shouldn’t be doing and go to hell eventually.  Sadly, before that you may experience your own hell on earth, because that is usually what we see when people refuse to repent and give up their wicked behavior.  You could keep on doing what you are doing and hope that God will just understand and give you a pass.  That’s what I did and I can promise you that He will not just understand and let it go.  He will deal with you and deal with you severely.  You can repent.  This is what I did when I came to my senses.  You can repent and ask God to forgive you of your sins.  You can deal with this now and not have to deal with it at the time of judgment.  The Bible tells us that once we honestly repent, that God removes our sin as far from us as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).  In Isaiah 43:25, God tells us that it is Him who sweeps away our sins for His own sake and forgets about them.  God doesn’t want to look at our sin.  He doesn’t want to see our sinful behavior.  When we have sinned, He wants to be able to remove it from us and forget it.  But we must come to Him and ask Him to do that.  We must ask Him to help us stop our sinful ways.

So today, I want you to think about this.  Whatever you are doing whether it is good or bad, God knows all about it.  You haven’t kept anything hidden from Him.  I ask you this,  is there anything that you need to change?  Is there anything in your life that you are trying to keep hidden?  What would you do if it were exposed?  How bad would that be for you?  Well, the Bible tells us that whatever we do in secret will be exposed.  I encourage you to deal with your deeds today before it’s too late.  No one knows when we will be called home to God the Father.  When this happens, it will be too late.

Search your heart today.  Ask God to forgive you for anything that you shouldn’t have done and start fresh.  Trust in God to forgive you and to help you to stop your sinful behavior.  Give it all to Him.

Before you do something, ask yourself some questions.   Would you be okay with your preacher knowing you are doing this?  Would you be okay with your spouse, your family, your friends, your church congregation knowing what you are doing?  Well, if not you need to stop.  Give God control and allow Him to help you.  He is waiting with outstretched arms.

Have a great day!