to Psalm number 19. Psalm number 19, we're going to read from three portions of scripture here in the Old Testament. Two in the book of Psalms, one in the book of Ecclesiastes. Psalm number 19, and we're going to read the second half of this Psalm beginning in verse number seven. And this is one of the more familiar Psalms to many children of God. Verse seven, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleansed thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. We find here concerning the psalmist his description of the word of God, its various aspects, and the blessings that come of it. But I want you to notice what he states in verse number 12. Who can understand his errors, cleanse thou me from secret faults. And then, if you will, turn to Psalm number 90. Psalm 90. And just one verse from this psalm. And when we read it, I'm sure you'll detect what our subject is this evening. But notice here in Psalm 90, verse number eight, remember that this psalm is accredited to Moses as far as the human author that was used of God by the inspiration of the Spirit to record it. Verse eight, thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins, in the light of thy countenance. So in Psalm 19, the psalmist, he said, who can understand his errors, cleanse thou me from secret faults. And here, the psalmist says, thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins, in the light of thy countenance. And then turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 12, the last chapter of Ecclesiastes. And we'll read the last two verses, verses 13 and 14. And you recall how that having surveyed all of life, the wise man, the preacher, he comes to this conclusion. In verse 13 of Ecclesiastes 12, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. And so, once again, Then the 19th Psalm, the 12th verse, who can understand his errors? Cleansed thou me from secret faults. The 90th Psalm, verse eight, thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. And here in Ecclesiastes, God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Our subject is secret sins, secret sins. Now, we sing a hymn in one of our hymn books that has the lyrics, have you sins that to men's eyes are hidden. And so it's a well-known subject the subject of secret sins. And I believe that the reference that is made there in our opening scripture text where he says, who can understand his errors, cleanse thou me from secret faults, I believe part of it has to do with sins of ignorance. sins that were committed ignorantly, not wittingly, not knowingly, not intentionally, but they were still committed. Remember when God gave all those sacrifices to the children of Israel, those offerings to bring? Remember there were offerings for sins of ignorance to make atonement for those? So those sins are not excluded, right? Remember, Paul said, yes, he did what he did ignorantly in unbelief, but he still needed the mercy of the Lord that he might be saved. And so there are sins of ignorance, which when committed, we do not know at that particular time, perhaps, that we are sinning. We are not aware. Well, that just reveals the foolishness that is within us. That just reveals the ignorance that is in us, is all that does. It doesn't excuse. And there are sins that we seek to hide from others, or even from God, right? Sins that we seek to disguise. So that they do not appear sinful to others, to men. And then we tell ourselves that, well, they're not sinful. First of all, it is shameful that we should be so ignorant as to sin and not know it. And not consider it. As is often the case that afterwards we are made to realize our errors and our faults in the light of God's word, right? The psalmist said, who can understand his errors? Well, God's word makes you understand a whole lot of things. And it's foolish to be concerned with hiding our sins from men's eyes when the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. The gods of the heathen may be, as the scriptures say, such as have eyes and see not, but not him with whom we have to do, as the Bible says, before whose eyes all things are naked and opened. He that formed the eye shall not he see, the Bible says. He that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. Right, man? The thoughts of man, man. Some of the thoughts, some of the vain thoughts of man are that he's gonna hide his sins. Or that they're gonna be, somehow they're a secret. Well, they're not secret to God. Now we know of examples from the scriptures of secret sins, and they didn't stay secret. and no sin ever shall. And Achan, for instance, there in the book of Joshua, you will not turn and read it there, but you recall how that he coveted and took and hid the accursed things from Jericho that God had said they were not to touch, they were not to take unto themselves, they were accursed and they were devoted to the Lord, right? He said that stuff there, that's none of your business. And he took that, and you remember how he hid it? Well, it wasn't hidden to God, and it caused a lot of trouble. And you remember Joshua said before they stoned him to death, they said, you have troubled Israel. God's now gonna trouble you. Sin causes a lot of trouble. Even secret sin. Secret sin causes a whole lot of trouble. People say, oh, I don't think it bothers anybody. You know, have you ever, experienced an earthquake. You know what the cause of an earthquake is? You know what the cause of all that shaking and stuff is? It's something that you can't see. It's hidden that way down deep in the ground. Sometimes far away. Still causes trouble, doesn't it? Still shakes things up. It can cause damage. You see, there's a lot of things that people always want to make excuses about their sins. There's other examples. Again, we'll not turn there, but you can, you remember it there in the book of Acts chapter five in the first church there at Jerusalem, Ananias and Sapphira, that husband and wife who sold some property and they lied and said they were giving all of the proceeds of it, of the sale to the church for the ministering to the saints, and really their motive was impure. They were just trying to be like all these others You know get attention like some of these others were getting because they were doing it, right? So that's why a lot of people do things in church in churches. That's why some people even are baptized and join a church They're just trying to be like some others. They want to be part of the part of the club that's no reason to be baptized or to join a church, but you see they lie and I But the Lord, He revealed it. It was hidden, it was a secret as far as they thought. Well, somebody else knew about it and that was the Spirit of God. In every case, the sin was not hidden from the Lord and it was revealed by the Word of the Lord and by the Spirit of the Lord. Now, one of the things that we find concerning secret sins First of all, there's about four things I want us to note tonight. One is God's word reveals our secret sins. God's Word reveals it. Right? When the Bible talks about that all things are naked and open under the eyes of Him with whom we have to do, you remember the verse right before that one there in Hebrews chapter 4 verse number 12 says about the Word of God, how that it's living and powerful and it's sharper than any two-edged sword and it pierces to the divine and asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints of marrow and is a discerner. of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Right? It discerns it. It uncovers, it discovers, and it reveals it. You can be lying to other people, you can be lying to yourself, you can think you're lying to God, and God's Word is just going to get right in there and say, nope, there it is. Right there. There's the truth of the whole matter. God's Word reveals our secret sins. Now, the psalmist here, he had been describing God's Word, hadn't he? There in Psalm number 19, the first portion of Scripture that we read. He said, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise and simple. All those things that he described about God's Word, And then there in verse 12 he says, who can understand his errors, cleanse thou me from secret faults. God's word reveals our secret sins. It is a display of and a work and an operation of God's mercy toward us that he reveals our secret sins unto us by his word. That's a work of God's mercy toward us. Now, the fleshly aspect of it would be, well, I don't want them to be known, but it's a blessing of the mercy of God that He does not allow those sins to remain secret. That His Word comes in and makes them known, whether we were committing it in ignorance or whether we were just trying to hide it, whichever kind of secret sin that it is. It's a display of God's mercy to us, first of all, because those sins now do not follow us to the judgment. That's a display of God's mercy. Right? You want your sins to be dealt with now, not at the judgment. You want your sins to be dealt with to be atoned for, cleansed, purged, your conscience purged from them. You want that now. You don't want your sins to follow you to the judgment. So that's a display of God's mercy. Right? Remember how the Bible says that judgment must begin at the house of God. God starts with his own people. He's leaving the wicked until later. Right? Well, you don't want to be in with that group. You want to be in the congregation of the righteous. So it's a display of His mercy. It's a display of His mercy because He reveals them. His Word then is able to cleanse us. Like the psalmist said, cleanse thou me from secret faults. Those sins do not continue to plague us. Because that's what sin is. Remember Solomon talked about the plague of every man's heart. That plague is the plague of sin. And those sins will plague you. You know, one of the biggest problems that you have is when you do not see your sin as a problem. That is a problem. That's the biggest problem you have, when you do not see your sin as a problem. You're in big trouble right there. But you see, it's a great display of God's mercy that then those sins do not continue to plague us. It's also a display of His mercy that when God's Word reveals and then cleanses us from secret faults, they do not continue to cause us to be a cause of sin to or in others. Because that's what your sins do. They cause you to be a source of trouble to others. Whether it's that you are putting a stumbling block in their path, whatever that it happens to be. Because sin never remains isolated. You know, everybody was so concerned, and some still are, you know, the last couple of years about, you know, this new pandemic that we had. And everybody, people were, you know, scared out of their minds, some people, about, oh, I might catch this disease. You ought to be a whole lot more concerned about sin than that. I'm just using that as an example. I'm not belittling that. I'm saying sin is a far greater problem than that. And, you know, people would say, oh, if you caught it, you need to stay away from me because you might give it to me. Well, your sin, you might pass that on to others or cause it to be the occasion of sin in them. And so it's a great display of God's mercy to us when His word reveals our secret sins to us, that we might see them as sinful and we might want to be rid of them. We are relieved also of the distressing sinful labor of trying to conceal them. I mean, what a load of work that is, trying to keep your secret sins secret. I mean, the amount of effort that it requires, and the operation of your mind constantly trying to keep something hidden. Oh, what a relief when that distressing sinful labor of trying to conceal hidden sin, you are relieved of it. And then, we are able to draw nearer to the Lord when we are purged from secret sins. And so God's Word, it reveals secret sins. The second thing we want to notice is God forgives secret sins. Right? The psalmist right here, he says, cleanse thou me from secret faults. We know other occasions of when children of God were, David, who I believe was the author of this psalm, also the author of the 51st psalm, right? And he had sinned, he tried to hide it, it wasn't hidden from the Lord. In fact, there was a lot of people that knew about it, but he pretended it was secret, right? Whenever you start living in a pretend land, You've got some problems. But you see, God forgives seekers' sins. Remember Nathan the prophet, when he came to him, and by the word of the Lord, and he uncovered that sin, and David's heart was smitten, like it should have been in the first place, but he said, yes, the Lord has forgiven you, right? But remember, 1 John 1.9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin, even secret sins. And so God forgives secret sins. We need to confess them and forsake them, right? The Bible says that. Whoso confesseth and forsaketh their sins finds mercy. Covering your sin, that won't work. It says that doesn't prosper. That just means it doesn't work. That will fail every time. And then we find the third thing that we want to notice Concerning secret sins, there will be reckoning for secret sins at the judgment. We read that in Ecclesiastes chapter 12. God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. There will be reckoning for secret sins at the judgment. Remember how in 2 Corinthians chapter five, it says that as far as the saved are concerned, will appear before the judgment seat of Christ if we're saved? to receive the things done in our body, each one of us, according to that we have done, whether it's good or bad. And so what are we gonna receive if it was bad and we're saved? Well, the Bible says loss. You're gonna lose, right? The Bible says a man can suffer loss. Right? And the final judgment. Loss of rewards. Right? For instance, there's the loss of what you could have had, for instance. I know people foolishly, you know, a lot of people take the attitude of, well, as long as I'm saved, There's a problem with that attitude. That attitude alone reveals there's a problem in your heart. But we find that the Bible says a man may be saved just as by fire there in 1 Corinthians chapter three. But there'll be a loss of rewards. And then, of course, for the lost, there'll be reckoning for secret sins at the great white throne judgment. Remember what it says there in Revelation chapter 20? It says the books will be opened. Well, there's some different books, aren't there? There's 66 books right here. They're gonna be opened, the books of the Bible. Because what do the books of the Bible do? Well, first of all, they warn against sin. they reveal the judgment of sin, and they reveal the wages of sin, which is death, and they reveal the way of salvation from sin, and the Savior who saves sinners. All right, so these books are gonna be opened. And then, God's record books will be opened. That's not gonna Listen to you about it. He has his own records And then there's the Lamb's Book of Life That contains the names of all those who've been washed and cleansed from all their sins in the blood of God's Lamb even their secret sins You see the purpose of that is because it talks about how everyone whose name is not found in that book Because there's a lot of people who are going to claim that Lord Lord Have we done many wonderful things in thy name and he's going to look in his book and say I'll find your name The Bible talks about their names being blotted out The point being is they aren't going to be in that book. So it won't matter what they say, they'll not be found. And so there's going to be some books opened and secret sins will be judged and a reckoning made before the Lord. And then fourthly, God's Word, we talk about God's Word reveals, well, God's Word cleanses from and arms against secret sins. It has those two effects, or those two operations that it performs. It cleanses from secret sins. Remember how the Bible says there's the washing of water by the Word? That's one of the operations of the Lord upon his churches. And so there's the cleansing, and there's also the arming against secret sins. The psalmist talked about that there in Psalm number 19. And there in verse 12 when he said, who can understand his errors, cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. He wants defense and victory against sin. Then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. And so he wants to not be under the power, the operating power of sin, he wants to not sin any longer, right? It says even the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, my thoughts, my considerations, my purposes, let them be acceptable in thy sight. And so there's the cleansing and there's the arming against secret sins. The psalmist here in this psalm, he had described, we didn't read the first half, But you're familiar with it already about the heavens declaring the glory of God and the firmament showing forth its handiwork. And of course, he's talking about the creative handiwork of God. He speaks here in this psalm of at least four of the mighty works of God. In verses one through six, creation. And then beginning in verse number seven, revelation, because it's talking about the word of God, right? He calls it by its various names. The law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, the statutes of the Lord, the commandment of the Lord, the fear of the Lord, the judgments of the Lord, and so on. And so, God's mighty work of revelation. giving us his word, giving us the truth. He talks about God's work of redemption, that because God's word, the revelation, plays a part in redemption, right? He says the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple, and so on. That's part of redemption. making us wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus, converting our souls, bringing us to repentance. And so there's that work. And then this fourth mighty work of God, he talks about sanctification, right? Being separate from sin, being cleansed from sin and armed against it. being sanctified under the law. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter five. And so God's word, it performs these operations, cleansing from secret sins and arming us against them. So that we don't commit them in the first place. Ephesians chapter 5, the main wonderful things that are stated here. Beginning in verse one, be you therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, and offering in a sweet sacrifice to God, for us sweet-smelling savor. He gave himself to save us from sin. Verse three, with fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking or jesting which are not appropriate or convenient, but rather giving them thanks." Right? He just listed some sins, some kinds of sin. He said, none of that's appropriate for those who are children of God, who are saved. who are sanctified under the Lord by the blood of Christ. He said, for this you know, that no whoremonger nor unclean person or covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Why has it come on them? Because of sin. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. Don't walk in the way with them. Don't be on the same path as them. Don't fellowship with them. He said, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. Right? They do them under the cloak of secrecy, or they try to hide them. And he said, it's not even... He said, it's a shame to even mention them. He said, but all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he sayeth, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. You know what the will of the Lord is? Well, he gave a real concise version of all this to the Thessalonians. He said, this is the will of God, even your sanctification. He's been saying that in all these verses here to the Ephesians. Have no fellowship with, don't be a partaker with, a participant in the unfruitful works of darkness and secret sins. We had studied the book of Revelation, what was one of the things that we saw there that John related, that he saw, right, the Lord, and he said, he whose eyes are as a flame of fire walks in the midst of his churches and he knows our works. Well, so that leads us to ask the question, does he have anything against us? And if He does, His word reveals that, then let us be zealous to repent. Moved by His never failing, never fading love for us. That's what ought to move us. That's what ought to stir us and motivate us. His never failing, never fading love for us, right? The love of Christ constraineth us. He says, I know thy works. There's no victory over sin apart from Him. See, it's a lie of the devil. That's very, and it's a very acceptable lie to the flesh. It's a lie that the flesh is just waiting to hear. Oh, that's wonderful. Right? That your sin can just be secret. Don't worry about it. No, the Bible says, confess it and forsake it. Repent of it. Only the Lord can cleanse the inward parts, and in the hidden parts, make us to know wisdom. Right? Isn't that where we started in Psalm 19? He said, cleanse thou me from secret faults. The Lord can do that. You can't do it. The Lord can. Only He can lead us in the paths of righteousness. What was it that the psalmist wrote there in those last verses of the 139th Psalm when he said, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way. in me and lead me in the way everlasting. And so that needs to be our constant prayer. Just like we find taught here in the Word of God. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. And Moses said, thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins, in the light of thy countenance. There they are. They're right in front of God's face. Right? By his word, we may be cleansed and walk in fellowship with him. And so may the Lord help us. You know, secret sins, that's the devil's stock and trade with a lot of folks, as they say. But that's just a lie of the devil. Your sin can't even really be secret. It's already known to the Lord. It's probably known to a lot of others too. And God's gonna bring it into judgment. You know what we're to do? We're to judge ourselves. Bible says judge yourself. Well, we need help doing that. That's what the psalmist was saying says I need help. I Can't even judge myself without the help of the Lord May the Lord bless you