Hidden Sin

Hidden Sin

"The Lord does not see it!" (Ezekiel 9:9)

"My way is hidden from the Lord!" (Isaiah 40:27).

"The guilt of Ephraim is stored up, his sins are kept on record!" (Hosea 13:12).

The only thing some fear is exposure. They would not be exhibited in their true colors before their fellow-men - for all the world! They wish to live and act in the dark. They do not fear the eye of God - but they dread the eye of man! In public they are one thing - and in private just the opposite! No one really knows them.

There is a vast amount of hypocrisy in the world. Multitudes wear a mask. They are not at all - what they seem to be. This is sad. The consequences will be fearful by and bye.

Open sinners offend God and men - secret sinners offend God only! But God is the principal party. Better offend the world world - than offend God. But who are these secret sinners?

There is the sly drunkard. The man who only gets intoxicated at home, or who manages to drink much, and yet never reel in the street. He robs his family. He introduces disease into his body. He squanders his property. He becomes selfish. He neglects his duties; moral, entirely; domestic, in part. Few, if any suspect him, until at length His bloated countenance begins to tell tales. "My way is hidden from the Lord!"

There is the crafty deceiver. He practises deception upon the ignorant and unwary. He talks like an honest man - but he acts like a rogue. Believe his plausible pretensions - and he will be sure to pick your pocket. His words are smooth; his tongue is oily; his professions are fair; his offers appear to be generous - but his aim is to make you his dupe! Few detect him - until they are caught in his net! "My way is hidden from the Lord!"

There are  the self-righteous. They appear very devout. They perform many duties. Their views of truth are, perhaps, tolerably sound. Their external deportment is correct. They are sure they are safe for heaven; they wish everyone to think that they are right. They talk of Christ - but they do not rest alone on His finished work. They speak of the Holy Spirit - but they have never felt His regenerating and renewing operations. They boast of free grace - but in heart they think much more of their own performances. They imagine God must love them - because they love themselves! They conclude they must be saved - because if they have not made God their debtor - they have done much that on account, of which He cannot reject them.

Self-love is the root of their profession. Self-esteem is the ground of their confidence. They work for life, not from life. They are under the legal covenant, not the evangelical. They have never been stripped before God's throne. The law has never come home, in its convincing and condemning power, to their consciences. They have never had their mouths stopped, or been brought in guilty before God. Therefore they prefer their own sandy foundation - to the Rock of Ages! And they stumble at the stumbling stone, even Christ, who is the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption of His people. "My way is hidden from the Lord!"

There are the self-deceivers. These imagine that they are rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. They have elected themselves to everlasting life - and conclude, without any just grounds, that God has done so too. Because they have never thoroughly examined their hearts in the light of God's Law, or carefully compared what they call their experience, with the Biblical evidences of a new birth - they conclude that they are Christians - though they are still in their natural sinful condition.

They take home all the promises - and put from them all the threatenings. They make use of evidences for others - but see not the need of doing so for themselves. They take it for granted that they are right - but in laboring under a most fearful deception. They are in a state which Solomon refers to when he said, "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness!" (Prov. 30:12). "These are those who make themselves rich - yet have nothing!" (Prov. 13:7). The blood of Christ is not at the root of their profession; the life of God is not in their souls; the power of the Holy Spirit has never  been experienced in their hearts; they deceive themselves - and they deceive others. "My way is hidden from the Lord!"

Reader, are you either of these characters? Are you sure that you are not? Search and look. Self-examination never injures a real Christian!

The power of SIN is great. And one of the most fearful things in sin is its power of self-concealment. It hides its own deformity from many - who are actually under its influence.

~James Smith~

(continued with # 2)