Psalms 90

Psalms 90:8

SECRET SINS Psalms 90:8THERE may be in my subject that which might excite prurient curiosity, and cause some to expect a discourse upon the vices that result from a disregard of the seventh commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. But while it is not my purpose to pass those sins in silence, neither do I intend to address all my remarks to their discussion. The subject is broader than any one sin— broader than the violations of any one law, and I want to treat it frankly and fairly.This psalm is supposed to be a prayer of that most wonderful man—Moses. Some people think David wrote all of the Psalms; but if you will look at the heads of chapters you will see that scholars do not so consider. It is thought to be Moses the meek man, the man of clean moral character, that makes this prayer. And there is no one here tonight, man, woman or child, Christian or unbeliever, but has good reason to say with the text, “Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee; our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance”.

None of us is so angelic as to be without iniquity; and if any man denies having secret sins, keep your eye on him and your hand on your pocket-book. First of all, let us think of:SOME SINS IN SECRET All sin is worthy of shame. But men do not feel mortified by all forms of immorality, or blush in the commission of all kinds of iniquity. There are sins of the tongue in tattling, and in profanity; sins of the eyes in looking on the forbidden; sins of the hand in helping Satan; sins of the heart in hungering for gold, or selfish good, that men commit in open day under the eyes of their fellows, and feel no disposition to shame. And then there are other sins that seek the night as the owl does; darkness as does vermin; and men who commit them try to make sure that they are alone or undetected.Such sins as involve moral dishonesty are so committed. The liar is always trying to cover up his track, striving to make his tales hang together, and to blind the eyes of his onlooker. The defrauder is always working on his accounts at night, to effect, if possible, a balance in unbalanced books, or gloss over pretensions and make them appear good.

The gambler prefers a small room in the rear, and above the third floor for his work; and bolts and bells to ward and warn him against the approach of honest men or officers. The thief lurks in dark corners, deep shadows, or the crowd, and seeks his victim under cover of moral or physical darkness, or both.

The boodler only sells out for cash in hand, and sees to it that no third parties are present, and no papers pass hands. Secret! Secret! They “loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil”.Sins that tend to unman and unmake us are committed after much the same manner. The so-called temperate man usually takes his toddy when the neighbors aren’t in; when the children are abed, or out of the room, and often when the wife’s back is turned. The woman who is going the way of the morphine habit is positively ingenious in her methods of concealment; while the harlot has her windows heavily curtained and double bolts upon her doors, and her paramour comes under the cover of night, or with face disguised!It was after midnight that I was going home.

Across the street was the open stairway, leading to the rooms of the strange woman. Two young men sneaked up to the steps, and casting glances up and down the street to see if any acquaintance were near, started up “the way that inclineth unto death”.

I have regretted that I didn’t cry after them, “Look up! Thy God seest thee”!Such sins love secrecy, darkness, disguise. Joseph Clark, that wonderful missionary to the Congo, said in a letter of some years ago that it was difficult sometimes to get the natives to appreciate his ideas of God. On one occasion he had said to them, “God sees us in the darkness as in the light.” The natives answered, “God sees us not in the darkness as in the light.” When Mr. Clark affirmed his statement that God did see in darkness, they smiled incredulously and said, “At night it is very dark in our houses.” Such incredulity is not confined to Africa and heathen thought. All about us are men living in secret sins, and saying in their heart as Achan did of the Babylonish garment and the gold wedge, “They are covered!

No eye sees them. They are hid with me” But our text affirms the truth.“Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our SECRET sins in the light of Thy countenance”. THE SECRET SINS GOD WILL SURELY SEE Whatever other faults might escape the omniscient eye, secret sins will never. What a man thinks to conceal, God purposes to bring abroad. Job says, “The thing that is hid bringeth He forth to light”. And Christ once affirmed, “There is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret; but that it should come abroad”’ “That which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the house tops”. God’s eye not only sweeps the universe, but His vision penetrates to the deepest recesses of earth, to the most exclusive privacies of the mind and heart. Cover up your tracks as you please; draw your curtains as close as you can; bolt, lock and chain your doors; dig your underground channels and caves, and Holmes-like, work there if you will; but, be assured that God sees.One summer two young men from Morgan Park Academy, at my assembly, had on exhibition the Roetgen rays.

The darker the room the better the penetration of that wonderful light. In it I saw through a pocket-book, and told everything it contained; in those rays a key was placed back of a book as thick as my Bible, but still I could see it through lids and leaf.

Then a block of wood five inches thick, was laid over a knife, and lo, through all that close-fibered, solid-grained piece the knife plainly appeared. In its light I saw the bones in my own hand, and got some idea of what sort of a cadaver I’d make.In reflecting upon it afterward I said, “If, in the light of electric X-rays, nothing can be hidden, who can hope to cover himself or his sins when the rays of God’s face are upon him, and the open eye of God is searching him? No wonder the Scriptures say, “Be sure your sin will find you out” There is no escape from His eye who judges sin. The experience of criminals is always furnishing fresh illustrations of the futility of the effort to hide a wrong. Abel’s blood may be under the sod, but it will cry until heard in heaven. Uriah may seem to be only an unfortunate victim of fierce combat, but the prophet will come with his charge. “Thou art the man”.

Saul may keep his stolen sheep and cattle out of sight, but Samuel hears their lowing! Hood’s poem, “The Dream of Eugene Aram”, is a powerful putting of this thought.

Aram had murdered his man, and cast him into the deepest, blackest and most sluggish stream, and supposed no mortal would know. The next morning, he visited the scene of his crime. “And sought the black, accursed pool With a wild misgiving eye; And he saw the dead in the river bed, For the faithless stream was dry.” Next he hid the corpse in the woods, but a wind swept its leaves and left the body bare. “Then down I cast me on my face And first began to weep, For I knew my secret then was one That earth refused to keep, On land, or sea, though it should be Ten thousand fathoms deep.” FROM SUCH SINS THE SOUL MUST BE SAVED OR IT SINKS The very secrecy of sin doubly endangers the soul. It is more liable to live because it is covered. Sin is like many sea-monsters. So long as they can crawl in slime, and stay beneath the waters surface, they thrive. But bring them out into the sunlight and they languish and die. So, my friend, if you really want to be rid of your secret sin, expose it. Tell it out to God; tell it to your wife and ask her to pray; tell it to your trusted friend and pray with him; drag it into daylight and God’s own shining face will vanish it forever. Keep it covered up, and it will destroy you!You have heard the story of the Spartan boy who stole the young fox, and fearing, lest his theft should come abroad, he hid it in his bosom, until it ate through his flesh and he fell dead.

And there is not a soul hugging to his heart some secret sin, but is holding near his heart an enemy in whose teeth is death, and if it be harbored still his soul must droop and die.Why keep such enemies near your heart? You are not happy with them there! The sad men of Minneapolis are the sinners in secret. They are never at ease. I heard, a few weeks ago, from the lips of one who loved her, the story of a woman who is beautiful to look upon; whose home is handsomely adorned; and yet whose virtue has become merchandise for certain well-known men. This friend of the fallen one said, “Ah, but her beauty of person, and her possessions, and her social reception do not suffice for happiness.

I often go into her home and find her sobbing like a saddened child”.That is the common experience of secret sinners. Did you ever think of Christ’s description of hell?

It is only a continuation of this same sense of sin, “Weeping and gnashing of teeth”. They know the burning eye of God beams upon them.Why consent to be so unhappy when the Saviour lives and asks to redeem your soul? “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper”. You say that it is as hard to give up as your right eye. But Christ says, “It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire”. You say that it is like the loss of an arm to give up your secret habit! But Christ said, “Better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire”One day a man in Chicago fell from a moving freight train, between the cars.

He saw the wheels coming and knew that his body was in the line of their march. As they approached, he put out his hand and pushed his body back, but the wheel took off the arm.

He expected that, but said, “It was an arm or life, and I love life best.”Ah, beloved, it is the secret sin, or your soul— which will you give up? God says, “Give up the sin.” Christ pleads to save the soul. Your mind sits as the arbiter and judge. You know you can be saved to-night, if only you will! “Whosoever will, let him take the Water of Life freely”! You want to be saved. Will you step into Christ’s arms to-night? You are near, some of you. Will you settle it once for all for your soul?

It is dreadful to perish so close to port; to droop and die when God’s open door is invitingly near.Dr. Cuyler says, that some years ago an old man and his daughter walked out on the side of Mount Washington, and wending their way some distance down its side, were caught in a blinding snow storm. They sought in vain to find their way back, and at midnight the old man was exhausted and ere the day broke, he died. When the gray dawn came, the daughter looked and lo! they were less than fifty yards from the lookout house; and in heart-breaking sorrow, she sobbed, “Oh, so near home, and yet lost! At the door of refuge, and yet he died!”