Chapter Five

The Power of Secret Sin

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Proverbs 28:13).

THE luxury liner pulled out of Glasgow with full steam. Passengers whose nationality was reckoned from every country of Europe were on their way to Montreal. War clouds were hanging low. It was September 1, 1939.

   The ship was brilliantly lighted. The orchestra played at dinner as usual. The cinema entertained the guests in the evening. Eating, drinking, playing, the passengers idled the hours away. The ship ploughed its way through the waters of the North Atlantic heading to the west of Ireland. (Cruise ship Athenia)

   Three days out the news was flashed to the ship that Britain and France had declared war. Lights were doused; passengers went fearfully to their cabins; quickly and desperately the ship was painted a battleship gray; emergency guns were mounted in the stern and bow, for the wireless had just brought news that enemy submarines were lurking near.

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   It was midnight. Few passengers were sleeping. Everyone was nervous, excited. Would the ship make its destination in safety?

   Out of the darkness and silence from nowhere the tension was broken by a mighty explosion, another swish, then a second explosion (missiles from a German submarine). Cries of despair, anguish and suffering rent the cold air. The ship began to list. Lifeboats were lowered. Out of 1103 passengers, 112 perished that night in the dark waters of the North Atlantic.

   The voyage that began full of anticipation, joy and happiness for so many had ended in stark tragedy.

   I have seen many young lives start out well after young men and women had trusted Christ as their Saviour. There was a new vigor in their voices, a new sparkle in their eyes, a thrill in their souls all the day long. They loved the prayer meeting. They were fond of Bible study. Spiritual things held a great attraction for them. The battle with Satan was won time after time. Temptations were overcome. There was victory.

   Then something happened! It was not noticeable at first except to their close friends. Then everyone began to notice it. There was a lack of interest and a coolness toward spiritual things. Gradually the fire that had once raged in their breasts became only charred embers. The joy and thrill of Christian experience was now a thing of the past. Their lives were powerless and fruitless. They now yielded to temptation; instead of being overcomers they now were overcome. The spring had left their step. What was wrong? What had made such a radical change as this? Has this been your experience? If so, let's see if we can find the secret of your difficulty. Let's study the sixth and seventh chapters of Joshua and see if we can find a parallel to your own tragic experience.

   The children of Israel, under Moses, had been led out of the slavery and bondage of Egypt. Victoriously they had marched across the Red Sea. Pharaoh's armies had perished.

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Through a waste of howling wilderness God had safely led them. At last they stood at the Jordan River, the gateway to the long awaited Promised Land. Another miracle, another answer to prayer, another victory was theirs: the waters of the Jordan parted. Triumphantly, gloriously the splendid armies of the Lord moved. Enemies were defeated and their banners were always triumphant. Nations fled before them. It seemed that they could never suffer defeat.

   Then they stood before Jericho. Jericho was one of the largest and most ancient cities in Canaan. Jericho was excellently situated and a strongly fortified city. Broad and lofty walls ran around the city and the only way in and out was by the great gates which were scrupulously shut every night at sundown. There were great foundries of iron and brass in Jericho and also countless workshops of silver and gold.

   God reassured Joshua with these words: "I have given into thine hand Jericho." Then God proceeded to give instructions as to how the city of Jericho was to fall. The rich and licentious city was doomed of God to swift overthrow and absolute extermination.

   There was one thing, however, that God stipulated. God said, in effect, I want you to keep yourselves from the accursed thing. If you take the accursed thing, then you will make the whole camp of Israel a curse and there will be nothing but trouble" (Joshua 6:18).

   What was the accursed thing? The next verse tells us. All the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron were to be consecrated unto the Lord. They were to be put into the treasury of the Lord. If anyone took any of these things he would be touching something which God had consecrated to His own use. Thus, he would be sinning. Punishment for this sin would be death for the individual and defeat for the entire company of Israel.

   Joshua gave his orders. For six days the Israelites

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marched around the city, and on the seventh day, the seventh time around, we see the tribes marching proudly and triumphantly. Each tribe had its own regiment entering battle under its own ensign. The trumpets blew; the walls fell flat and that day Jericho fell before the armies of Israel. (It is interesting to note that Dr. John Garstang, director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and of the Department of Antiquities of the Palestine Government, excavated the ruins of Jericho. He found that the Biblical description was absolutely accurate according to his study of what remains of ancient Jericho.)

   The battle was over! Night fell on the prostrate city and the hour of temptation struck for Joshua and all his men. "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life," and Joshua and all his men received the crown of life that night — all but one.

   Who is that stealing about among the smoking ruins? Those are the movements of one of Joshua's men! Has he lost his way? He hides! He listens. He looks through the darkness. He disappears into the night.

   The sun rises over the eastern horizon. A new day dawned. A victory had been accomplished. The Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was noised through the whole country. Joshua was confident of victory in Canaan now. Only a few more short months of military campaigning and the rich and luxurious land of milk and honey would be his. The next city to be taken was Ai.

   Ai was only a small town. Joshua decided to send spies to see what sort of place Ai was and what type of defense the city would put up. The spies came back and reported that since the Israelites had so mightily taken the city of Jericho, it would only take a small force to capture the defenseless city of Ai. So Joshua decided to send only a small detachment of troops. Notice in passing that Joshua

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made a tragic mistake. He was resting on a victory of yesterday.

   Young men and young women, that is always fatal in your Christian experience. Because you won the victory over temptation yesterday, because you won a glorious spiritual victory yesterday, does not necessarily mean that you will win today. It takes as much prayer, it takes as much yielding today as it did yesterday. Satan never sleeps. He works twenty-four hours a day. He brings all of his armies — the world, the flesh and the devil — against us every day. Never be confident in your own strength to win the battle. You are no match for Satan. Joshua seemed to have forgotten that God had delivered Jericho into his hands, that Israel alone would never have won the battle.

   After the great German victories, contrary to the advice of his generals, Hitler was overbearingly confident that the Nazi Panzer divisions could sweep into Moscow in a few weeks. He underestimated the strength of the enemy. Mussolini was confident that his Black Shirts would soon overthrow the poor and weak Greeks. He was mistaken. Don't ever make the mistake of underestimating your enemies. On one occasion he may be a "roaring lion" and the next time you may meet him in battle as an "angel of light." Be continually clothed in the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of Satan. Paul said that he had "no confidence in the flesh." The only way to be sure of success is to have this promise as a reality: "The Lord thy God is with thee . . . The Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you."

   The children of Israel were still celebrating the glorious victory of Jericho when down the mountainside from the direction of Ai came the first stragglers. Their news put a damper on the whole camp of Israel. Their man had suffered defeat. Thirty-six had fallen casualties. Scores were wounded. The army was retreating in shame and disgrace. Joshua, who a few moments ago had been proud and confident, rent his clothes, put dust on his head and fell on the earth on his face before the Ark of the Lord. He began to complain to God. "Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! (Joshua 7:7). All victory was gone. There was nothing but utter shame and defeat. Soon the news would be spread to other nations. They would gain confidence, link themselves together and come and destroy Israel. The light that had blazed so furiously a few hours before was now quenched. Hearts were sad. The people were crestfallen. All their anticipations and hopes melted in the distance.

   Has not this often happened to you? One minute you were sailing high with a smile of glorious victory, and the next you were discouraged, defeated, disappointed and disillusioned. You could not truthfully say that you were a conqueror in Christ.

   But God did not wait long to answer the prayer of His faithful servant. The Lord said to Joshua, "Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned . . . They have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen . . . they have put it even among their own stuff . . . neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you."

   Ah, here was the secret! This was the reason for the terrible defeat! Secret sin somewhere! Someone had stolen some of the valuables of Jericho and hidden them in their own possession. God says, "Be sure your sin will find you out." If God had not halted their progress, they would have gone on in sin. Their hearts would have become hardened. They would have gone from one sin to another until they became hardened. This thing which might have seemed small at the moment would have led to larger and

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more tragic consequences. God demands absolute obedience.

   There is one obstacle that can block the channel and check God's power, and that obstacle is sin. Sin is a great barrier. It alone can hinder the work of the Spirit. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1-2). Sin is the great barrier; it must be put away. There is no alternative. There can be no compromising. God will not work as long as there is iniquity. If we do not come out in open confession immediately, God will uncover our sins for us. The uncovering process may be hurtful and bring tragic consequences.

   God said, "Joshua! I want you to take the children of Israel man by man. Someone has sinned. Find out who it is." Notice that God said, "man by man." Often it is easy to say, "Everybody else is doing it." The yardstick for your Christian living is not what others are doing or saying. You have one yardstick alone: the Word of God. When you stand before the judgment, you will not be held accountable for what others do. You will stand alone. You will be accountable for your own life. God told Joshua to take them "man by man." They couldn't lean on their families, on their friends or loved ones. They must stand alone.

   What a day that is going to be when the searchlights of God are going to be fastened on us, when the record of all our thoughts, motives and actions is played. The screen will portray every event from the cradle to the grave. We must answer alone.

   The eliminating process began. Finally Joshua came to a man by the name of Achan. Joshua, apparently seeing his guilty look, said, "My son . . . make confession unto [the Lord]; and tell me now what thou hast done." Achan answered Joshua, and said, "Indeed I have sinned against

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the Lord God of Israel . . . when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and . . . silver and gold . . . then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent."

   Notice the sequence: "I saw . . . I coveted . . . I took."

   Sin begins with a look or a thought.

   In Thomas à Kempis' famous description of the successive steps of a successful temptation he says, "There is first the bare thought of the sin; then upon that there is a picture of the sin formed and hung on the secret screen of the imagination. The strange sweetness from that picture is then let down drop by drop into the heart, and then the secret sweetness soon secures the consent of the whole soul and the thing is done."

   Achan's eyes had become his fatal snare. It was his eyes that caused Israel to suffer shameful defeat and later caused his own death.

   It was through Adam's and Eve's eyes that the devil came into man's heart at first.

   Immediately after Achan had surrendered to the temptation he should have come and confessed to Joshua, to God and to the entire camp of Israel. He would have been forgiven and God would have graciously cleansed him as He had cleansed David and many others of His servants. Instead, he covered his sin. He tried to hide it. He took the whole thing and buried it in his tent. This will never do!

   I wonder if this has been the secret of your difficulty. Can this be why the joy and the thrill of your Christian experience is no more? Is this why your life is only a dying ember of a flame that once blazed? Achan never confessed his sin until he was found out! Thus he must suffer the consequences.

   Remorse over being found out will never gain cleansing and forgiveness from God. Judas was filled with remorse but he never repented. David was guilty of both murder and adultery but he immediately confessed his sin and

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God graciously forgave him. (Even so, there were consequences to his sin that David had to endure.) God is able to restore a broken and contrite heart: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17). "Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord" (Jeremiah 3:13).

   You know that thing in your life that has kept you from having victory. It may be malice, spite, hatred or enmity. It may be that you are carrying a grudge against someone, that you have an unforgiving spirit. Perhaps you have lost your temper, or possibly there was jealousy or envy. Perhaps you are too easily offended. You may be puffed up with pride. Dishonesty, gossiping, criticism, robbing God, worldliness, frivolity, worry and anxiousness, lustful thoughts, unbelief, prayerlessness, neglect of God's Word — any of these things both negative and positive could prevent the joy of salvation from swelling up in your soul and hinder the Holy Spirit's taking possession of your life. These are secret little sins. Many of them could be hidden from the view of men, but never from God. When you confess it, confess it by name. Don't say, "Lord, forgive my sins." Don't generalize. Make it definite. Then when you confess that sin, ask Him to give you the power and the strength to overcome it. He will. He has promised. Take Him at His word. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13).

   There are certain sins that have been committed against

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God alone. This requires private confession. No one except God needs to know anything about them. It is a family matter, just between you and Him. There are other sins that have been committed against another person. Such transgressions should be confessed not only to God but also to the one who has been wronged. There will never be peace until the confession has been made and forgiveness sought. "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift" (Matthew 5:23-24).

   There are other sins that have been committed against the church, the family, a class, an organization and similar groups. These should be public confessions. Let us uncover our sin. Let us make straight the crooked ways. Let us gather out the stones, and then we may ask in faith and expectancy for showers of blessing upon our lives. Perhaps your sin is still covered. Perhaps you committed it years ago and have almost forgotten about it. Remember — time never covers sin. Because you have forgotten it does not mean that God has forgotten it. Be sure your sins will find you out.

   A little boy down South was hungrily watching a watermelon patch on a hot June day. His father realized what was taking place in his son's mind and so he said, "Son, don't touch those watermelons. They are not ripe yet. They will make you sick." The father got into his automobile, went off to town on business and left the boy. The little boy decided to investigate for himself, so he began to thump the melons here and there and finally he found one that he knew was ripe. Cautiously looking around, he soon convinced himself that no one was looking. He plucked the melon, put it under his overalls, carried it to a creek, cooled it, took it out and broke it over a stone. "Boy, oh, boy!" he exclaimed as he ate the heart. Nothing tasted

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better than a nice cold watermelon on a nice sunny day. Then he began to worry, for his father would see the rind and the seeds and the boy knew that would mean a real thrashing. So he took a little stick, dug a hole, buried the rind and the seeds, covered them with dirt, fixed pine leaves in place and went merrily on his way, thinking that his father would never discover his disobedience.

   Everything was all right for about two weeks. The boy soon forgot the incident until one day his father was driving a cow up the pasture and coming to a barbed-wire fence, he saw, to his astonishment, a strange sight. He saw little watermelon sprouts everywhere. Taking a stick, he dug until the evidence confirmed his suspicions. "Oh, I see." A couple of hours later the little boy saw, too — in a different place!

   You covered that thing yesterday, a month ago, a year ago, ten years ago, but God saw, and He says, "Be sure your sin will find you out." The chicken will come home to roost someday. The skeleton will come out of the closet. The watermelon seed will sprout.

   Confess your sin now. There will be joy, glorious victory, happiness, wonderful peace awaiting you this very moment if you call your sin by name and straighten it out with God, yourself and your fellow man.

   Can secret sin be the awful cause of your tragic experience?

   The Dakota took off from the Copenhagen airport. Everyone was gay and happy. It was a special event. The passengers included Prince Gustav of Sweden, and Grace Moore, the famous opera singer. Into the air the plane roared — it was a normal routine flight — when suddenly something happened. The nose shot up, the motor stalled and to the horror and amazement of hundreds of spectators, the plane plunged earthward.

   An explosion, a flash and the flight that had started a few moments before ended in tragic horror and death.,

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   The world was shocked.

   Investigation later proved that a small block on the tail had not been removed. A ground attendant had been careless. One little wood block had caused the death of a prince, a world-renowned singer and nineteen other passengers.

   One small, tiny, insignificant sin may be the cause of all your difficulty. Confess and forsake. God is plenteous in mercy and will abundantly pardon. 

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