“Cleanse thou me from secret faults” (Psalm 19.12.)
Introduction. Self-righteousness arises partly from pride, but mainly from ignorance of the severity of God’s law. Let the law be revealed to a man, and his self-righteousness will become as a filthy rag in his sight. The Church of Rome once passed a decree that every true believer must confess all his sins once a year to a priest. How absurd! There are a vast mass of sins that only God can detect. “Cleanse thou me from secret faults.” But it is not the men who have sins unknown to themselves that I am after this morning. I am after the men who have sins they keep secret from their fellows.
(1) The Folly of Secret Sins. Pretender, you are nice to look at; your conduct is good and Christian-like. But do you judge the drunkard while you drink in secret? Whatever your sin, you are a fool to think you can hide it. The eye of God has seen your secret. Dig as deep as hell, and you’ll not find earth enough to cover your sin from God. What will you think on that day when God shall read out the story of your secret life to men and angels? Even the holiest man in this congregation would not like his secret thoughts known. Renounce this foolish hope of secrecy.
(2) The Misery of Secret Sins. A drunkard who admits his habit will be unspeakably miserable for worlds to come. Yet he has at least some peace until then for his honesty. But a man who pretends to be religious while he lives in sin is in continual agony of being caught. Better to be a sinner in the open than a hypocrite! A mere profession of religion is like dressing all up just to go to hell. Hypocrisy is a hard game to play at, for it is one deceiver against many observers. “Be sure your sins will find you out.” Men will even tell their secret tales in their dreams. Secret sinner! if you want a foretaste of damnation, continue your secret sinning. A stag followed by hungry hounds with open mouths is far more happy than a man who is chased by his sins!
(3) The Solemn Guilt of Secret Sin. A sin is a sin, whether discovered by others or not. Robbing the till is a sin, even if no one finds out. I hold that secret sin is the worst kind because the man who commits it has Atheism in his heart. He is a practical Atheist. To conceal our sin from creatures and then sin in secret before God is to think more of man’s eye than God’s eye. This is to deny that God is God. Look your secret in the face, confess it, and may God give you grace.
(4) The Danger of Secret Sin. Private sin leads to public sin. You keep your little pet sin at home; but mark this, when the door is ajar the dog will be out in the street. And sin the first time, there are drops of sweat on the brow; next time there’s no sweat, only agitation; then just a sneaky look; and then you are a bold blasphemer. And you Christians, a little sin, like a little pebble in the shoe, will make your travel to heaven a weary one. Let us destroy all our little secret sins.
(5) A Plea to Secret Sinners. The pleasures of this life are so intoxicating; but the joys of it so ensnaring. Will you have your sin and go to hell, or leave your sin and go to heaven? You may have temporary happiness, then overwhelming woe; or solid peace, and then everlasting joy.
Selection from Conclusion. “’But,’ says one, ‘sir, I intend to be religious, but I do not hold with your strictness.’ I do not ask you to do so; I hope, however, you will hold with God’s strictness, and God’s strictness is ten thousand times greater than mine. You may say that I am puritanical in my preaching; God will be puritanical in judging…to be out of Christ is a dreadful thing.”
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