Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out
My wife tells me from time to time that I try to do too many things in the course of one day. This past week I was compiling my things-to-do list on a certain day. As I saw that we might have some rain coming in toward the end of the week, I thought to myself, I should squeeze in mowing the lawn. Sean was in school and I enjoy the exercise it gives me. I was quickly running out of time. I looked at my watch as I was finishing up and in 45 minutes from that time I was to meet the missionary at the church for supper. As I was finishing up, I was beset with the task of getting rid of the clippings. My blower is broken and sweeping was my only recourse. As I began to sweep, I noticed the street drain in front of my neighbor’s house. I said to myself, “I won’t make a practice of this and besides when we get a good rain my little mound of grass clippings will be washed down through the sewer. As a matter of fact (as I tried to justify my actions), maybe my clippings will help clean the system.” So instead of sweeping everything up into piles and placing the clippings into huge plastic bags, I swept past the corner of my yard, just a few short feet to my neighbor’s curb and with one fell “swoosh” I swept my first load of clippings into the drain on the curb. Wow! I thought this is good; this is fast, perhaps I should do this more often. I was sweeping the next load when my neighbor came out to check the mail. He saw the tell-tell signs of the clipping strewn path and (jokingly) hollered “Hey!” I looked up and he pointed to the path of clippings. He stared at me; I stared at him. Then he said, “There were some people in the nearby community that went to court over the re-distributing of grass clippings.” He continued by saying, “Yeah, one of the neighbors was blowing the clippings and such on the other neighbor’s yard.” I said, “Mark, I’m sorry, this is may be the second time in 16 years I have done this and I’ll stop right now.” Then my good-humored neighbor said, “John, I’m only kidding. I don’t care if you sweep it down the drain; go ahead.” I said, “No, Mark, my conscience was bothering me anyway; I won’t do it.” So I went back to the edge of the drain, swept what was remaining, placed it in a sturdy plastic bag, and put it in my garage for the trash pick-up.
After reflecting on what became for my neighbor a humorous episode, I was reminded of the passage of Scripture that says, “But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).
With your permission, in this brief time span, allow me to give you three important principles of sin “finding us out..”
I. When sin finds us out, a decision is required.
God was commanding the Israelites to go into the land of promise and possess their possessions and if they did not, then they could be sure their sin would be discovered. Sure enough, the Israelites balked at possessing the land that God, in His great mercy had given to them. More than once the longsuffering ways of God kept the wrath from coming down upon their heads. I would venture to say, the most poignant message from God through His servant Joshua depicts the decision that is placed on us when further disobedience is anticipated. Please read carefully these words, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).
If at this point we decide to serve the Lord, further discipline can be avoided and a sweet communion with our Lord can be re-established. To sin deliberately at this decision point would be most detrimental to our spiritual development. Let us take the mercy of God instead! “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).
II. When sin finds us out, reconciliation needs to be made.
Obviously, reconciliation needs to be made with our Lord. But if we have wronged someone else in the process, let’s get it right with them as well. Our Lord said, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift” (Matthew 5:23, 24). This is incredibly powerful stuff! The Lord Jesus is saying, “Don’t try to do business with me if you are not right with each other there on earth!”
How important is being right with our brother or sister? Consider the answer our Lord gave when asked what is the first commandment in rank of importance: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-39).
The potency of this Scripture comes through loud and clear. Our Lord says loving our neighbor is second after loving God. Then He follows up by saying, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). Our precious Lord is showing us the importance of being right with one another when He says, in essence, “Everything we believe hangs on and is determined to be valid by your obedience in this matter.”
III. When sin finds us out, we should rejoice.
Rejoicing may seem like a strange thing to do when we have been declared wrong. Believe me, this can be a wonderful time! If a person can do wrong and get away with it, it could be a sign that the person is a stranger to the loving grace of our living Lord. Notice the Bible statement, “My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: for whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth” (Proverbs 3:11, 12). Then in the New Testament it says: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Hebrews 12:6, 7).
Very plainly put, the Word of the Lord declares that if we are God’s children, He disciplines us when we do wrong. Furthermore, He declares if we do wrong and get away with it, that is a sign we are illegitimate and not His (Proverbs 3:8).
So, the next time you begin to smart under the mighty hand of God, humble yourself, repent and rejoice that God is watching over you as a loving Heavenly Father watches over His young! Thanks be to God who allows our sins to find us out! “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10).
-Pastor Pope-