Full Disclosure

HOOK

We are going to start with a challenge. We need 2 volunteers for this challenge.

Hiding under this paper is a certain number of coins. Each of you will have 3 seconds to rub your hand over the paper and try to figure out how much money is under it. After you have both had your turn, you will make your guess and closest to the correct answer wins. Do you understand what you need to do ?

For all of you who did this challenge: was it easy to tell what hidden coins were under the paper ? [Allow for responses]

Even knowing that there were coins under the paper didnt make it easier to determine the type of coins or the value, didnt it? So, what was the point of all that ?

Well, this is the third lesson in our series called Home Inspection: Is your foundation Strong? Tonight we will be talking about the hidden things in our lives. In our series, we been talking about integrity. Since we are looking at integrity from a biblical perspective , we are definining “integrity” as the decision to live a life consistent with biblical principles. When it comes to a home inspection, integrity is a must.

Most of you will probably not have to deal with purchasing a house for quite some time but if you were buying a house, you need to know that it is the responsibility of the seller to disclose the information of any known problems hiding in the walls of the house. Before you buy a house, you would need to make sure that it was inspected.

The point is this: no one want to buy a house with a problem hiding benhind the walls. Hiding coins under a paper and guessing the value is a silly game, but hiding a problem in a house you are selling can actually land you in court.

With all that said, here is an easy question: “How much integrity would you say a person has if they choose not to disclose a problem that they knew was hiding in the walls of the house that they are selling?”

Not much, huh? If any of us purchased a home without the seller giving full disclosure of the problems hiding behind the walls, we would not be happy. We would even consider that to be wrong, wouldn’t we?

But if we honest with ourselves, when it comes to our lives, sometimes we have a few things hidden in the walls of our lives. Here is another easy (but uncomfortable) question: “If we are hiding things in the ‘walls’ of our lives, how much integrity do we have?” Don’t answer that out loud. But here is the uncomfortable truth: hiding your sin exposes your lack of integrity.

We hide so many things. For example, you may be in a relationship, and you’re keeping it hidden from your parents. They’ve told you that you’re not old enough to date, but you feel ready. You just can’t let them know about it. So, how do you hide it?

You may tell your parents that youre going to a friends house to study after school when are actually meeting your boyfriend or girlfriend. They’ll never know.

But you dont want them to look at your phone and see your texts planning to meet up. So you make sure you delete those messages before you get home.

When you do get home, you make sure that you have the story of what happened at your friends house all planned out. You need to be ready if mum and dad asks what you studied for and how your friend is doing. It’s just so exhausting!

Think about what happens when your parents do find out about your secret boyfriend. Maybe at some point, you slip up, or you get caught with him in public. Do you think your parents are going to trust you? Not only will they doubt your honesty when it comes to relationships, but they'll struggle to trust you in other areas as well. It is just not worth it!

Maybe your “hidden” thing is different. Maybe you’re hiding an addiction.

When i was your age I had an addiction to looking at and watching things that I shouldn’t have been. I kept telling myself a lie that I could control this addiction and that it wouldnt have any power over me. But before I knew it, I was up half the night, feeding my addiction. If anyone had opened my bedroom door, I had to be sure that my phone was out of sight. I had to constantly delete my history, hide apps and lie, lie, and lie. Again, it was so exhausting!

One of the consequences of living like this was that I was always edgy. I never knew when this lie would fall apart or when I might have forgotten to cover up a part of my trail. Any time that parents needed to talk with me, I was wondering what they found out. This was no way to live!

LESSON CONTENT

When your life becomes exhausting as a result of all the hiding , you are actually demonstrating a biblical truth.

Biblical Truth (Proverbs 28:13)

Listen to what Proverbs 28:13 says.

“People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy”

We get stuck in this never-ending cycle of frustration and lies ,always wondering if we’re going to get caught. We are always on the lookout and always hiding.

If you are sitting here this evening with some things hidden in the walls of your life and you are just tired of keeping them hidden, you have probably discovered the difficulty of it and you have probably felt the shame of your lack of integrity. Hiding your sin exposes your lack of integrity.

But there is hope; there is a better way forward. You can have forgiveness and you can live in freedom from sin. But the first step is usually the hardest; the hidden things need to be brought into the light. There must be no more hiding!

When we confess and turn away from sin, we will find mercy. God doesn't promise us that we won't face the consequences of our sins, but we can live forgiven of our sins because of His mercy. Being forgiven is a better way forward, and the Bible gives us some examples to help.

2. Biblical Examples ( Psalm 101: 1-4; 2 Samuel 11: 6-24)

One of those examples comes from the Old Testament and is none other than King David. In the pages of Scripture, we find both really good and really bad responses to sin in his life.

First, we’re going to read an example of when King David got it right. Then, we will see an example of when he messed it up. Let’s begin by reading Psalm 101:1-4. At one point in his life, David had nothing to hide. He got it right. Listen to his thinking in this passage. [Read Psalm 101:1-4.]

“I will sing of your love and justice , Lord. I will praise you with songs. I will be careful to live a blameless life - when will you come to help me? I will lead a life of integrity in my own home. I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar. I hate all who deal crookedly; I will have nothing to do with them.n I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil.”

a. Getting it right: Full disclosure (Psalm 101:1-4)

David viewed sin as something to be avoided at all costs. He boldly made the choice to stay away from it! He was committed to fleeing from it at all costs. He made a point to keep his heart clean. Basically, David was saying, “I will make sure that I have nothing to hide.” But unfortunately, that wasn’t always the case. Like us, sometimes David messed up. One time, in particular, David went to extreme measures to hide his sin. He really messed it up.

b. Messing it up: Hiding sin (2 Samuel 11:6-24)

At this point in David’s life, he was king over the nation of Israel. In the springtime, it was typical for kings to lead their soldiers out to battle. David, however, chose to stay behind in Jerusalem. One day, he was walking on the roof of his palace and saw a beautiful woman bathing on her roof nearby. He asked about her and was told that her name was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam. But more importantly, David was told that she was married to Uriah, one of David’s soldiers. Just that information alone should have been enough to stop David in his tracks, but such was not the case.

David sent for her, slept with her, and sent her home. And, no doubt, he thought that the thing that he did (the thing that displeased the Lord) would remain hidden. Not long after, David found out that Bathsheba was pregnant, and without a doubt the child was his.

If we wanted to, we could read a verse from the Ten Commandments to show that what David did was clearly a sin. But how many of you need a verse of Scripture to tell you that you shouldn’t sleep with someone else’s wife? Anyone? Probably not! What David did was a sin; he knew it and we all know it. He was filled with lust for his neighbor’s wife, and he went and took what he wanted. He sinned! And when Bathsheba told him that she was pregnant, the truth (his sin) was about to be brought to light.

But David couldn’t afford for the truth to be known, and so the hiding game began. He actually tried several different ways to keep his sin a secret, to keep it within the walls of his palace and keep it behind the “walls” of his life. But by hiding his sin, all David was doing was exposing his lack of integrity.

Instead of telling you how he tried to hide his sin, we’re going to get back into the two groups we had for our coin hiding game and let you discover how David played his sin hiding game. As we do, keep in mind that there was nothing silly or trivial about the hiding game David played.

Here is how it will work. Each group will have a sheet with a passage of Scripture and three questions. Read the verses on your sheet, answer the questions, and then designate one person to report your findings to the whole group in just a few minutes.

As we gather back together, we need the spokesperson from Group #1 to tell us what you discovered in 2 Samuel 11:6-13. [Address the spokesperson for Group #1.]

Briefly tell us what happened in the verses that you read. [Allow for a response.]

What did David do to keep his sin hidden? [Allow for responses. Possible answers are: He brought Uriah home to Bathsheba to hide the source of her pregnancy, and purposely got Uriah drunk.]

Did it work out the way that he wanted it to? [Allow for responses.]

Did David’s actions make him pure in the eyes of God? [Allow for responses.]

Thank you. Now, can we get the spokesperson from Group #2 to tell us what your team discovered in 2 Samuel 11:14-24? [Address the spokesperson for Group #2.]

Briefly tell us what happened in the verses that you read. [Allow for a response.]

What did David do to keep his sin hidden? [Allow for responses. Possible answers are: He sent Uriah to the most dangerous position in the battle so he would be killed.]

Did it work out the way that he wanted it to? [Allow for responses.]

Did David’s actions make him pure in the eyes of God? [Allow for responses.]

David thought he had solved his problem. He was confident that it would remain hidden. But “he who covers his sin will not prosper.”

As a result of his sin and trying to hide it, David and those around him suffered greatly. He lived through many consequences including great violence in his family (2 Samuel 12:10) and the death of the baby that he had conceived with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:14,18).

Fortunately, David didn’t hide forever. If you were to read 2 Samuel 12, you would discover that God sent a “house inspector” to David in the form of a man named Nathan. Through Nathan, God exposed David’s sin and David responded in the most appropriate way. David repented; he experienced biblical change!

3. Biblical Change (Proverbs 28:13 ; Psalm 51:1-10)

David changed his mind; he went from trying to hide his sin to openly confessing his sin. His confession of sin was full disclosure.

David’s repentance is recorded for us in Psalm 51. In verse one, David called out for God’s mercy. In verse two, he asked for God’s cleansing from his sin. Think through all that David had done: coveting, an inappropriate sexual relationship, lying, murder, and more. He was living with great hidden sin, but cleansing was possible through God’s mercy which was given as a result of his confession. Finally, let’s read verse 10. [Read Psalm 51:10.] These are the words of a man who was no longer trying to hide his sin.

CONNECTION

If we are followers of Jesus, our goal should be to honor Him with our lives. It should be our goal to place a high value on God by obeying Him. Because your lives were bought by Jesus when He died on the cross for your sins, your lives no longer belong to you (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And to be honest, no matter how much you try to hide from God, He still knows (Jeremiah 23:24). You really aren’t hiding from Him.

So, are you trying to hide something from God? If so, you are probably miserable. When you try to hide cracks so your sin is not exposed, your lack of integrity is what really shows. Trying to hide your sin never works out well. Hiding your sin exposes your lack of integrity. Being willing to expose your sin and confess it to God reveals both strong character and integrity. Confession ultimately leads to mercy.

Listen, God knows that we are human. He knows that we mess up. He knows that we don’t get it right every time. Sure, it would be great if every decision that we ever made always honored God, but that is not the case. So, when we do mess up, the most God-honoring decision we can make is to confess and forsake our sin.

This decision is in our hands. We can choose to be people who operate in shady ways, trying to hide parts of our lives from God and from others. But we know the truth. When we try to keep our sin from being exposed, it exposes our lack of integrity. You don’t want to live like that! Hiding sin is miserable and you know how you feel when you see a lack of integrity in others. You don’t want to be that person!

So, let’s take that hard first step. Let’s allow the light of Jesus Christ to shine on the dark corners of our house. Let’s live “in the light” (1 John 1:7). Let’s confess and forsake. Let’s live in integrity and in the mercy of God.

CHOICE

How will you honor God this week? Biblical change can happen in your life when you repent of sin. Are you tired of trying to hide your sin? Is it time to confess? If so, will you allow the light of Jesus Christ to shine on that dark area; will you stop hiding?

Let’s take some time to get honest and personal with God. If everyone could bow their heads and close their eyes for a moment as we give you a chance to talk to God. Don’t worry; nothing weird is going to happen. We simply bow our heads out of reverence for God and close our eyes out of respect for one another. If you have been hiding a sin, the best way to honor God right now is to confess that sin.

Maybe you don’t have a sin that you are hiding. If that is the case, then when we pray in just a moment, ask God to help you keep your integrity and thank Him for loving you.

NEXT STEPS

So, after hearing this lesson, what is your next step? Are you ready for something that some of you will think is radical?

Before you leave here or before you get home, send your parents a text, or write them a short note, saying something like, “I’m making a commitment that I will be open and honest with you.”

Then, be sure to follow up with them as to why you told them that. Share with them what you learned tonight and let them know that you want their help as you strive to honor God with your life. This may be quite a shock to them, but it will help you as you make a choice not to hide sin.