Clingy Sins

PROBLEM: We live in a world filled with sin and some of them are Hidden

Paul clearly speaks of the fact that sin is a common occurence for all believers. It’s not something that some struggle with while others are set free, we all struggle with sin.

Some sins, the most insidious sins, the sins that rot are souls are the ones that are hidden.

Let’s look at David’s sin problem:

READ 2 Samuel 11:1-27

Secret Sins May be hidden from OTHERS

Some sins that we commit can be hidden from others, and often we can hide our sins in terms that make them sound better.

Gary Brady notes this truth:

People are pro-choice if they favour abortion on demand. They speak not of abortion but termination of a pregnancy. It is adult entertainment not pornography, having an affair not committing adultery, sexual liberation not unfettered lust. The word fornication has almost disappeared being covered by myriad euphemisms. Even your prayers can in fact be gossip.

We try to hide our sins by painting them with a vainer of respectability, covering them from the watching eyes of the world.

There’s a story in Spain that came out of the Spanish Civil War about a man who went missing during the Spanish Civil War, leaving behind his wife and two kids. The distraught wife was left to take care of everything. To make ends meet, she became a smuggler over the Portuguese border. When the war ended, it turned out that the man wasn't killed or imprisoned...or even fought at all in the conflict.

Instead, he’d sneaked from Galicia (northwest Spain) to Barcelona (northeast Spain), where he married his wife’s little sister! He was married to one sister on the Republican side and another on the Nationalist's side. When it came out it split the family in to.

This is what sin does, it’s what it did to David. He had to kill Uriah to cover up his sin from other.

Secret Sins May be hidden from YOU

Sins that are public are not necessarily easy to deal with, but they can be seen and dealt with, but Paul notes that even our “hidden” sins, those things that are lurking in the recesses of our souls will be judged by God.

Some of these sins are even hidden from us. When we sin there is a natural desire to “hide”. We see this trait inherited from our first parents.

EVE hid from God.

David did too. He thought that his sin problem was handled at the death of Uriah. But his sin problem was far from handled. In fact, his sin was coming for him.

We Cannot Hide FROM GOD

Jeremiah 16:17–18 ESV

For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

The bible makes it clear that we cannot hide from God. And in 2 Samuel 12, David’s sin found him out.

Psalm 32:3–5 ESV

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

This is David’s proclamation of what his hidden sin with Bathsheba did to him. It wracked him and destroyed him. It “wasted him away”

Numbers 32:23 ESV

But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.

Like David, our sin will demand a reckoning whether we recognize it or not.

CHOICE: Will you Continue to Vainly Hide your Sin, or will you deal with it?

RECOGNIZE Your Sin

David begins his restoration with this proclamation:

I HAVE SINNED.

In this one phrase David takes ownership of his sin. He doesn’t justify. He doesn’t try to squirm out of it. He doesn’t victim shame Bathsheba. He recognizes his sin.

If you’re going to get over your secret sin problem, then you need a moment, just like David where you admit that what you are doing is sin. No justification. No excuses. I’ve sinned God.

REPENT to God

I HAVE SINNED AGAINST GOD

Paul didn’t just recognize that he had sinned, he recognized the seriousness of that sin. Even when we admit our wrong-doing, we have a tendency to minimize it.

Well, I lied, but it was a “white-lie” or I had to do it.

But David acknowledged that his sin wasn’t trivial, it was serious.

YOU WILL NEVER SERIOUSLY DEAL WITH YOUR SIN UNTIL YOU ADMIT THAT YOUR SIN IS SERIOUS.

As long is your sin is seen as small then your repentance will be small. It’s only when we see our sin as big, do we truly deal with it as big.

That why in Hebrews 12:1

Hebrews 12:1 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Notice what it says, “let us lay aside every weight...” If we’re going to get serious with God, then we’ve got to get serious about sin.

Every sin matters.

REORDER your life

Notice the end of 2 Samuel 12. David has been confronted about his sin, and so his response is to fast and pray for the child that Bathsheba had given birth to.

David understood that his sin had been a result of a misaligned life.

Why do we keep falling into the same sin, because we keep doing the same things.

STORY OF THE PIT IN THE ROAD

Portia Nelson tells a story of change:

“I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost... I am helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes forever to find a way out. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I am in the same place. But, it isn't my fault. It still takes me a long time to get out. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in. It's a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it. The next day I walk down another street.”

But I think another story is even better:

A man fell into a pit and he couldn’t get out.

BUDDHA said: "Your pit is only a state of mind."

A HINDU said: "This pit is for purging you and making you more perfect.”

CONFUCIUS said: "If you would have listened to me, you would never have fallen into that pit."

A NEW AGE PERSON said: "Maybe you should network with some other pit dwellers."

A SELF-PITYING PERSON said: "You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen my pit."

A NEWS REPORTER said: "Could I have the exclusive story on your pit?"

A FEDERAL BUREAUCRAT said: "Have you paid your taxes on that pit?"

A COUNTY INSPECTOR said: "Do you have a permit for that pit?"

A REALIST said: "That’s a pit."

An IDEALIST said: "The world shouldn’t have pits."

An OPTIMIST said: "Things could be worse."

A PESSIMIST said: "Things will get worse."

BUT JESUS, SEEING THE MAN, TOOK HIM BY THE HAND AND LIFTED HIM OUT OF THE PIT.