YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM GOD  

ISAIAH 29:15  

            Distress and affliction to them who seek to hide their plans from God, and carry on wickedness in the dark, thinking that they will not be seen.  God knows that we sin.  In I John 1:8‑9, talking to other Christians John said "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness".  However, the fact that God knows that we commit sin, is willing to forgive us our sins and that he does not choose to offer judgment right away, in no way gives permission for us to continue practicing sin.  In fact in Hebrews 11:1 we are told "to lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset or hem us in".  So God knows that man sins, and man knows that God is omnipresent and omniscient.  Yet we continue to try to hide our mess from God.  But Isaiah says woe to the person who tries to hide his sin from God.  This morning I'd like to look at a few examples of persons who tried to hide their sin.  We are going to look at several Old Testament examples and one New testament example.  Romans 14:5 says that "those things that were written aforetime (speaking of the Old Testament) were written for our learning.  In reading and studying the Old Testament, we are to gain knowledge on the relationship between God and His people.  

II KINGS 5:1‑3, 20‑27

            Naaman was a captain in the Syrian army.  He was a mighty man of war, an honorable man and well respected in the Syrian kingdom.  However, he was also a leper who at the suggestion of a Jewish captive came to the prophet Elisha for healing.  Elisha told Naaman to go and wash seven times in the Jordan river and he would be healed.  After dropping his pride and doing as he was told to do, he was healed.  In gratitude, Naaman offered Elisha material blessings, money, clothing, mules, etc.  Elisha refused to receive anything from Naaman and sent him away. Verses 20 ‑ 27.

            Gehazi the servant of Elisha was certain that he was successful in his plan to achieve riches for himself.  After all Elisha would not see Naaman again and no one saw Gehazi return with the men or the goods.  So it appeared that his plan was successful.  But God knew of Gehazi's plan.  God sees and knows all.  Proverbs 15:3 says "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good".  God knows what is in our hearts and he sees all that we do.  So though Gehazi thought he was getting away with his sin, he was caught before he even started.  Elisha was a man of God and God will not allow His children to be ignorant of the devils devices, especially when the actions of others affect us.  Gehazi could not hide from God and God did not hide his actions from Elisha.  Elisha said that his heart or his spirit went with Gehazi, saw all that was done and heard all that was said.  Matt 10:26 says "for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and nothing hid that shall not be made known".  Though it may seem like the sins is done undercover and in the dark, the light will be turned on and it will be revealed.  Though Gehazi had a master plan, his sin was uncovered.  If man continues to walk in his own sinful way, one day his sin will also be uncovered. 

PROVERBS 28:13

            God says that when we try to cover or hide our sin, we will not prosper, but if we will confess and turn away from them he will show us mercy.  

II SAMUEL 11:1‑4

            David's road to sin began when he sent his men off to battle and he stayed at home.  Perhaps thinking how well they had done in past battles, David shrugged his leadership duties, deciding to take it easy and stay home.  I can imagine the Devil whispering to David; all has gone well in the past, you have competent soldiers, Joab is a good leader and you are tired David.  Why don't you stay home from this battle.  You can take it easy, rest up, have some leisure time, take long walks on your roof and just enjoy being king.  So David stays at home and he see a beautiful lady.  He sends one of his servants to find out who the woman is and finds that she is Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah.  Knowing that she was someone else's wife did not put out the lust in his flesh.  David knew that the 10th commandment said "Thou shalt not  covet they neighbors wife" and that the 7th commandment said "thou shalt not commit adultery".  He knew that the penalty for adultery was death but even knowing what God had said did not calm the lust of his flesh.  So David had sex with her and afterwards he did not drop dead.  In fact for a while he probably so no effects.  David probably thought that he had gotten away with his sin.  What he had done had not been discovered. 

ECCL. 8:11

            David really gives witness to the truth of this scripture.  Bathsheba get's pregnant and now David begins to fear that he will be exposed.  In David's desperation to cover up his sin he tries to blame Uriah for Bathsheba’s pregnancy and when that did not work he finally had Uriah killed.  Being driven by his lust, David committed adultery, fraud, treachery and finally murder.  

II SAMUEL 11:26 ‑ 12:14

            God sent the prophet Nathan to show David his displeasure with his actions.  You see David did not confess and repent of his sin immediately.  It was approximately a year between the initial sex sin and the confession of David.  Bathsheba had already had the child when Nathan came.  During the time before his confession it is believed that PS 32 was written. 

PS. 32:1 ‑ 5

            The man is verses 1 and 2 is happy because his is in right standing with God.  His transgressions (not doing what God has asked us to do) are forgiven, his sins (doing what we should not be doing) are covered and no iniquity is imputed to him.  But in verses 3 and 4 David lets us know what it was like during the time before he repented.  He said "when I kept silent", i.e., before I repented or when I tried to hide my sin

            1.  My bones waxed old - they rotted, became weak and achy.

            2.  Roaring all day - moaning and groaning both in spiritual and physical torment.

            3.  The hand of the Lord was heavy upon him - he was under heavy chastisement and conviction.

            4.  His moisture turned to drought - loss of vitality, sexually diseased.

David is in physical, mental and spiritual anguish during this time, yet he refused to repent.  The initial satisfaction of David's sin did not make him content for long. Proverbs 20:17 says "the bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel".  The sins that trap us always look sweet and promise such pleasure.  They never reveal that the pleasure is but for a moment and that the results of sin may sometimes last a life time.

            So David did not repent right away.  No doubt he thought that his sin was well hidden.  Since David would not confess and repent on his own, God allowed his suffering in order to bring him to repentance.  Sometimes we can not come to God and see our need for Him and His mercy until we are at our lowest; when the only place we can look is up and the only one we can call on for help is God.  When extreme suffering did not work, God in his mercy called David's mess out.  You see though our sin may be well hid from man, it is never hidden from God.  The lesson that David learned here may have prompted him to write PSALMS 139:7 - 13.

            The final example we want to look at today is in Acts 5:1-11. 

ACTS 5:1 - 11

            Though it is possible to deceive man it is not possible to deceive the Holy Ghost.  Psalms 44:21 says that "God knows the secrets of our heart".  We can hide neither our actions, our thoughts nor our desires from Him.  Hebrews 4:13 says "we are naked and open to His eyes".  In Acts 5 there was no reason for them to try to hide their actions.  They were justified in withholding the money if they wanted to, but they were wrong to lie about it.

            Moses told the children of Israel in NUMBERS 32:23 that if they did not keep their promises they could be sure that their sins would find them out.  In other words he was saying, know that your sin will be brought to the light.  Rather than trying to hide our sins, our faults and our weaknesses from God and from one another, we must realize that we can only find deliverance in honestly going to God.  Many times we offer God a 'lip service confession' and think that all is then well with God.  The test of whether our confession is sincere or not comes in our response to the temptation to partake in that same sin again.  Do we put up a trivial fight and then yield to the sin, saying to ourselves later that we tried.  So many times we play games with one another and put on fronts that all is well and we do it so much until we slip into a pattern of playing games with God.  The problem with this is that though God in his mercy has not acted towards as he did with David, or Gehazi or Ananias and Sapphira, He is not playing a game with us.  He sees what we are doing, and is not deceived at all by our words or actions.  We can deceive one another and paint a perfect Christian facade, but what good is that.  You may think that I am Pam super Christian or I may think that you are John Doe super Christian, but our opinions of one another count for very little in the eyes of God.  What you can hide from me or I from you, can never be hidden from God. 

            Whatever that weakness, fault sin, etc. in your life that God is pointing the finger at right now, we should understand that bringing it to the light is God's mercy being shown unto us.  God gives us opportunities to get right before him, to change our ways and to walk upright before Him.  Rather than trying to hide ourselves from one another, we must find the courage and freedom to strength and help from one another.   

JAMES 5:16

            There is nothing that anyone in here is going through that someone else is not experiencing either now or at some time in the past.  When we need help with ourselves rather than hide, we must run to God, seek His help and ask him to provide others that can also be a help and encouragement to us.  We are all struggling to live Holy every day.  Some days are better than others, but we all must fight every day.  We would all hate to get to heaven and find that there is someone here in the fellowship every Sunday and every Friday who did not make it in because they were caught in a particular sin and because of their embarrassment they were trying to hide it.  We would all then say to ourselves and to one another, I wish they had come an talked to me.  I was going through that same thing but I found help.  I would like to urge you today to get help for whatever it is that is hindering you from being all that God has called you to be today.  Because what you can hide from me, can not be hidden from God.