Little Sins? Sunday AM Worship, Trilacoochee church of Christ - 4/14/24 | Trilacoochee church of Christ was live. | By Trilacoochee church of Christ | That comes directly out of She got some horrible stuff Good morning. It's time for our worship to begin this morning. What a beautiful day that we've had to come out and worship our heavenly father. And as we worship our heavenly father, let's try to put away the things of this world and concentrate on him being the one that we're directing our worship toward. That he is we are not the audience. He is the audience. He is the one to receive our prayers. Singing remembering the lord's supper and so he let's let's worship him as in spirit and in truth as he wants us to. As we do that, we have a few announcements to make before we begin. Um let's remember Angie Castle. She is just has lost her her sister and and brother just almost back to back recently and it's really knocked her for a loop but she's out of town in North Carolina to this weekend. So, let's pray for her safe trip and her her well being. Also, let's remember Kathleen Fink. She's been taking care of Aaron who's sick and she's got her own health problems. DeAndre Pelfrey is in Minnesota and we'll be there for next bit of time. It is so good to see Paula back after her knee injury and so let's pray that she continue to be encouraged and so good to see brother Rocky and her wife back also from Indiana. I think that's where that is. So, welcome them back for a little visit. Um Don and Ayla are both traveling but in different directions. So, let's pray for them as they're traveling. Let's hide will have his neck surgery in the morning. So, this has been been coming on for some bit of time. Let's pray that it might go well and his recovery be be well. Max Campbell and Rahab it's still very slow in his rehab. He's mentally, he's well and he's encouraging to talk to but he just can't get his legs going and he just determined they've lost some blood and so they're trying to determine what that is. So, let's pray for Max that he'd be strengthened. The women's class will be this coming Thursday at 530 at the Melton House. So, we would encourage all of the ladies to come to that and just a little side note, if you bring your bring your wife, us guys meet out and at at a barn and just have a good time there. So, come come with your wife and come out and visit with the men too. Um Also, sad to report, Lily reported to her great grandmother Dolores Atkins passed away last night. So, let's pray for the family of of the Atkins family and and think about Lily. Also, Scott and Laura on vacation and also some good news to this evening. We have a young new preacher forced going to bring the lesson This is Titus Davis and he is Elijah's cousin and also my grand grandson, Jesse, and Josiah's cousin. So, this is kind of a family affair in it. So, let's be here back and hear his lesson this evening. That was all the announcements. I was made aware of. Want to thank again all of the visitors that have come and shared this time together with us. Want you to around so we can get a chance to talk and know you a little better. At this time, we'll be letting our singing. We will glorify the king of kings. We will glorify the king of king we will glorify thy we will lord of lords who is the lord Jehovah reigns in majesty we will bow before his we will worship him in righteousness we will worship him he is lord of He is lord of his lord universe all praise to hallelujah to the king of kings to the lord of lords who is the We'll sing this song in preparation for the Lord's supper. Tis midnight and on Olive's brow risen he forsaken god take song we listen to the savior Good morning Turn with me if you would to Zechariah chapter three. We'll be spending a few minutes there this morning as we prepare our minds for the Lord's supper. One of the most powerful things about god's word is that we can see his plan that going back throughout the Old Testament. In Zechariah chapter three, we can see god's plan for grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. I'll read chapter three now. Verse one. Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you, oh Satan, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you. Is not this a pluck from the fire. Now, Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments, and the angel said to those who are standing before him, remove the filthy garments from him, and to him he said, behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments, and I said, let them put a clean turban on his head, so they put a clean turban on his head, and clothed him with garments, and the angel of the Lord was standing by. And the angel of the Lord, solemnly assured Joshua, thus says the Lord of hosts, if you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house, and have of my courts and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. Hear now, oh Joshua, the high priest. You and your friends who sit before you, for there are men who are assigned, behold, I will bring my servant, the branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts. Everyone of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree. In this chapter, we see the high priest in Zachariah's time, Joshua, standing before the Lord in filthy clothes. These clothes represent the sinfulness and unworthiness of humanity as we come before God. Instead of condemning Joshua for his sins, the lord rebuked Satan, the one who is accusing him. The angel of the lord then gives Joshua clean garments and says in verse four, behold, I have taken away your I have taken your iniquity away from you and I will clothe you with pure vestments. The changing of the clothes symbolizes forgiveness and restoration that god offers. Just as the lord showed grace and forgiveness to Joshua and Israel, he will show it to us through Christ. In verse nine, shows the culmination of god's plan of Christ coming to Earth for behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. Obviously, this forgiveness that Christ offers us, comes at a cost, and that cost is Christ laying down his life for us on the cross. We see in other places throughout the Old Testament, such as Isaiah fifty-three, that this was the plan all along. Not just that we should be saved, but that Jesus would be the one to atone for our sins. Let us na Remember the sacrifice of Jesus who gave up his life for us to cleanse us of our sins as we partake of the lord's supper. Would you pray for the bread? And our heavenly father, we thank you for this day that you've given to us that we can come and worship you, that we can partake of the Lord's supper and the bread. Remember what your son did for us that we can be saved? We thank you for that. In your son's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Would you pray for the cup? Dear heavenly father, beautiful day you've given us and all the many blessings you've given us May we think on you as we partake of this. Jesus, you have, that represents the blood of Christ as you have commanded us to and may we do it willingly think about the sacrifice that you made In Jesus name, amen That now concludes the Lord's supper. Uh as separate from the Lord's supper, we use this time to take up the collection among the saints to help support the work of the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we come to you now to thank you for the many blessings that you've given us. Uh we praise you for your majesty and for your glory. Thank you for everything that you've given us. Please help us to remember that we are stewards of what you have given us, that we need to use it in a way that glorifies you, that brings others to you. Please help us to give cheerfully and to give ourselves first fully to you. In your son's name we amen. Psalm for the lesson will be holy, holy, holy. Eternally casting down grounds around the glassy sea down before shall be holy, holy, darkness glory may not see purity holy lord praise sky and holy holy, holy, merciful and might blessed eternally Song after lesson will be, are you washed in the blood? Number 3 07. Give a man one clicker. He knows how to use it. Give him two. He forgets how they work. Little sins It is the song of our time. It's not a new one though. It's one that in nearly every culture, there have been some elements of this, a division of what is a big sin and a little sin. It is a generation of human devising. It is not something that comes from the divine. And whether we're talking about civil law or community rules or organization structures Do we always tend to see that among human beings, there are things that we consider far more egregious than others. There are some sins that from our perspective are unspeakable and then there are other things, well, you know, everybody does it. Their distinctions made in civil law about it. In fact, one of the a more interesting ones, pardon the Latin, there is what's called petty crime or mala prohibita and serious crime, Mala and say. God's law, we reason as human beings must therefore make the same distinctions. I found quite an interesting read. Uh a book I've had in my library for some time. Criminal Law for Police Officers. In fact, even police officers are instructed on how to make distinctions between the Times. In fact, one of the things that and let me just give you two quotes from it. The much of the treatment of the accused hinges upon the distinction. He goes on to say, one convicted of a felony will lose his civil rights. Whereas a convicted misdemeanor. Now, there's a nice euphemism. Will not. So, the point he's making there, the author of this, is making is that you need to be able to distinguish between a crime will take away one's civil rights and a crime that's not so much. When asked to define it, he defines them in the following way. A serious crime, he says, it is bad in itself or bad because the act is morally reprehensible and the other one, the petty crime is forbidden by statute but is not otherwise wrong. Interesting distinction that he makes. It has infiltrated the reasoning of human beings. It is a distinction that exists in law going all the way back to the distant past about 2500 years BC. But human beings have tried to invest these distinctions into the law of god. Roman Catholic Church did that sort of thing over the centuries of the development of their doctrine. They came up with what is called Pecadillo venial sins and these are sins that you can commit that are god doesn't really like you doing those things but they're not going to send you to perdition. In fact, if you've a number of these venial sins, they can be burnt off in purgatory But then they have what's called mortal sin. It is a sin that can condemn your mortal soul to perdition forever. And how they make that distinction is a little convoluted. Uh don't recommend it as reading but sometime if you're really curious you will find it in one of their doctrinal manuals. Let's instead of considering what human beings have said about this for thousands of years and what religionists have done with this in their attempt to rest the scriptures, let's ask, does the Bible make such distinctions? And that's a good question for us to consider this morning. I want to go back a little bit into the distant history of the Bible to show that god has established the pattern in all three dispensations of time and look at sins and heroes of faith Like to begin with Moses because Moses from our perspective looking at at his example in the Old Testament and measuring against Abraham who Paul describes in Romans four as the father of faith that that Moses was very near to Abraham in terms of his own righteous conduct and his dedication to serve the causes and purposes of the lord. So, we ask the question near the end of Moses' life, where did Moses want to go? And it's rather obvious. In Exodus the second chapter begin or third chapter rather, beginning at verse sixteen, go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me saying, I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt, and I have said, I will bring you out of the affliction of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanite and Hittites and the Amorites and Parasites and the Hevites and the Jebusites to a land flowing with milk and honey. Moses is given the responsibility of announcing this to the children of Israel who were in bondage under the Egyptians working essentially as slaves. And he tells them I'm going to take you to a land that belongs to other tribes and persons. It is a land that is prosperous. Agriculturally it's the perfect place and it flows with as he said, milk and honey and Moses is going to lead you. Guess what? Nobody more than Moses in the among the people of Israel wanted to go there. Did Moses get to go there? There is a reason why Moses was never permitted to to enter that and it's ironic that he is the person god sent to announce to Israel about their departing Egyptian bondage and going to the promised land. He is the one who guided them by means of interfacing with god performing miracles for them, sustaining them. As a matter of fact, not counting the plagues, 16 miracles along the way from the Red Sea to the edge of the promised land He was the one who corrected them when they were doing things wrong. He is the one who had to listen to their yammering and murmuring along the way. They ended up complaining over 17 different things. He is the one who brought them to the brink of the land. He is the one who delivered the law when he came down from Mount Sinai and he is the one who was involved in the second reading of the law just before entering the promised land. You would think he would get to go into the promised land before any of the other Israelites but he wasn't allowed to go. What terrible, egregious thing did Moses do that kept him out of the promised land We move forward to the Book of Numbers in the twentieth chapter beginning at verse eight and it was a relatively small from from when you consider it measured against the other events along the way. Not only during the departure from Egypt but also some of their wanderings. It seems rather small but this is what happened. The people were thirsty. And for a host of people that size over 600, 000 men not counting women, children, and of the mixed multitude that followed them and their animals and their herds, you know, you would need a large supply of water and in that semi desert, that quite arid region, water would be difficult to come by and so, they appeal for a water and Moses talks to the lord. Now, the lord says, Moses, you take your rod and your brother Aaron and you gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes and it will yield its water. Thus, you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give them drink to the congre and their animals. So, Moses took the rod before the lord as he commanded him. Did you catch that part? He took the rod from before the lord as he commanded him and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock. You could almost add as they were commanded. They're already doing everything the lord said to do so far. They've got more than two thirds of the commandments kept already. The instructions. And he said to them, here now you rebels, must we bring water for you out of this rock? Oh my I'm not talking about the present time and the misuse of pronouns but there is a misused pronoun. Must we Who are you, Moses? God's the one who's going to manifest the miraculous delivery of water to the people. but he says, must we bring water for you out of this rock? Then, Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod and water came out abundantly in the congregation and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron because you did not believe me. Hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore, you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. When you look at that, the only thing that appears to be in direct violation of the instructions given to him was the one about speaking to the rock. Moses and one can speculate if you read the larger context of the matter was frustrated with the people, nagging and whining and complaining. And he manifested his frustration by striking the rock two times. All all we did was hit a rock twice with a stick and yet, what had he done to warrant such a punishment from god? All of the work and all 40 years of his life dedicated to leading these people. What had he done? To suddenly be forbidden enter into this promised land. God said that the act of striking the rock signified Moses unbelief and Moses failure to glorify god. Why was Adam and Eve cast out of the garden? I mean, all they did was eat a piece of fruit. In Genesis the third chapter, the account begins in the first verse with the temptation of Eve by the serpent and it concludes with her sharing the fruit with her husband, Adam, who then eats it and both of them find themselves in violation of a command of the lord. You can eat of every tree in the garden and one can reason that up until the point that Eve succumbed to temptation, they had been eating of every tree of the garden they kept most of god's command but then god said, you know, there's a tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Uh not only don't you eat from it, you don't even touch it. This was the command that they violated and what came as a result of the violation of this command. Not only were the two of them aware of the sin that they had committed but later on, we discover that Adam is condemned with the responsibility of laboring in such a way that labor itself becomes difficult. Before god said, dress and keep the garden and I imagine taking care of the Garden of Eden was a pleasant job but now, god says, you're going to deal with weeds. You're going to deal with orange, you're going to deal with thistles, you are going to work hard, the sweat's going to run down your face, and then you're going to die. And Eve, he says, I'm going to increase your sorrow and pain and childbirth and you're going to be subject to Adam. Oh my. Such terrible punishments delivered to two people. All they did was eat a piece of fruit and what was so bad about that? It seems like a misdemeanor. Doesn't it? We were looking at in the earlier charts. Seems like a misdemeanor not a violation, not a a felony, not a mortal sin. Doesn't seem so big, especially, you know, when such a punishment came to them and it doesn't seem that as serious a punishment was given to Cain for murdering his brother. You see, we weigh one sin against the other. They were exiled from the Garden of Eden and given additional punishments and all Cain had to deal with was simple exile. Imagine if you were to pick up a copy of the Tampa Tribune and you saw a headline that read, young couple evicted into the streets for eating apples off the landlord's tree. You think, evicted? They were thrown out of the property simply because they ate some fruit on one of the landlord's trees. How could they do such a thing. That's terrible. It was just the eating of a piece of fruit or imagine if you read the headline, elderly man banned from the land of his dreams for hitting a rock. The public outrage. People would be carrying on. They would be protests How dare they do that to such a person? And I think it's because we find it easier to identify with the sinner than to identify with the lord to whom we've bound ourselves in faith. What we learn in the scriptures is that all sins great or small are going to be punished. In Hebrews two, two, and three, the Hebrew writer pens the following for the word spoken through angels proves steadfast and every that's not an incidental or accidental inclusion. and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward. Just is god's inspired descriptor of the punishment. What we think it's just or not How should we escape if we neglect so great a salvation Next question, how do persons and especially children you know, how how do they react to to being forbidden to do something that they really want to do? Especially when they're forbidden as a result of some infraction that they considered minor. Well, ask how Moses reacted to his own punishment. Kind of like a kid. In Deuteronomy three and twenty-three, Moses knows that they are approaching the borders of the promised land and he knows he has the task ahead of him, the second reading of the law and so he begins by talking with the lord. Clearly, he remembered the striking of the rock. He starts to plead with the lord and he's asking, oh lord, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand for what god is there in heaven or on earth. You can do anything like your works and your mighty deeds. That's what Moses said. It it really, as I read that, I almost cringe thinking god does not respond to flattery. And it sure looks like that's what he's doing here. So, Moses says, I pray, let me crossover and see the good land beyond Jordan, those pleasant mountains and Lebanon. But the lord was angry with me on your account and would not listen to me. So, the lord said to me, enough of that. Speak no more to me of this matter. Go to the top of Pisgah. Lift up your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east and behold it with your eyes for you shall not cross over this Jordan but command Joshua encourage him and Strengthen him for he shall go over before these people and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you will see. Moses starts out by appealing to god and his good nature. And god does not respond well to that sort of flattery. Enough of this. Do not talk to me again about this matter. As a matter of fact, Moses, you climb up on that mountain and you look around and see what it is you're missing. And then when you're done with that, you go teach your successor and encourage your successor to lead the people into the promised land instead of yourself. Is god being mean? Is he being unfair? Or was it that Moses striking the rock? Just an old man hitting a rock with a stick. Was still a sin that god considered punishable by banishment from the promised land. We need to be very very careful about raiding and ranking sins. One small sin from a human perspective. caused Moses to lose his place in the promised land. And I think that's done for a lesson or an example to you and I. What is the response of a child or someone who observes others doing what he was forbidden to do? Especially when he is forbidden to do those things as a punishment for something that he considered a little infraction. Jealously, self pity, very very visible disappointment. Let's look at Moses' response and see how he reacted to the justice of god. Unfair as it may seem from a human perspective, the justice of god for Moses sin. Near the end, near the end of the book of Deuteronomy, the 34th chapter beginning in the first verse. Then, Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah which is across from Jericho. He did he followed god's instructions. He eventually gets to the point where he's able to ascend to the heights and the lord showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan. All Naftalai and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh. All the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the South, the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees as far as Zoar. Then the Lord said to him, this is the land of which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob saying, I will give it to your descendants. I have caused to see it with your eyes but you shall not cross over there. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. God kept his word to Moses. But we do not see Moses protesting at this time, do we? May well be that he had learned to accept the justice of the god of god of of the god of heaven for the sin that he committed. Maybe he came to realize that his failure to glorify god and choose to strike the rock and disregard of what god had specified speaking to the rock had come to to his understanding and to his reckoning as a serious matter. The bottom line in considering these Old Testament examples is the following. That we don't have the right or the knowledge to be able to decide which sins are greater than others. In the word of god, he does not reckon the way human beings do and if we reckon god to be unfair for this, we're the ones mistaken. However, strong or emotionally powerful, we may feel in justification of that particular observation. A point of fact, we are not better than Adam Eve. They only committed one sin Read the rest of the Old Testament account. They only sinned one time. At least according to the record. Read the account of Moses. Second, only to Abraham if we can put it that way in terms of righteousness. Yet, they were severely punished for what most human beings would consider little sins. It's time to wake up What little sins are we justifying for ourselves? So, let's draw some other lessons from that and close our study this morning. Little sins matter. Regardless of whether we think they do or not. In Leviticus chapter ten beginning at verse one, This is one of the things that happened to the sons of the high priest who were helping in the worship services and Leviticus ten and one, then, Nadab and Abayhu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censor and put fire in it before the lord, which he had not commanded them. So, the fire went out from the lord and devoured them and they died before the lord and Moses said to Aaron, this is what the lord spoke saying by those who Come near me, I must be regarded as holy and before all the people, I must be glorified, so Aaron held his peace. And Moses called Michel and Elizaphan, the sons of Aziel, the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. So they went near and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had said. What things did they do wrong? Do you know they had already done a number of things right. They already have the right censor for carrying the fire. They had the right incense that was already burning on the altar. They had the correct timing. They were doing it as god specified in the time that god specified to do it. They were sanctified priests. Back up a chapter and learn about how they were set apart and sanctified for this particular holy work. They were the proper clothing that they were expected to in this. The only thing they did differently was the fire that they brought to ignite the incense and the altar was not the same fire that god specified. One change they made and most human beings would say, oh it's just a little thing. Why would god destroy them? Why would he kill them in this fashion? What did do wrong. Strange or profane fire What did the lord say about this sort of thing? In Matthew five and eighteen, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. And while Jesus his context is talking about himself fulfilling all of the prophecies made about him in the law and the prophets. His use of those two terms described the least marks on the least characters in the writing of the law. Jesus emphasizing that no item, not even a letter or a mark on a letter is going to be omitted. Jesus understood the value of maintaining the purity and keeping it accurately of the law of Moses. He goes on to say, whoever for breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men to do so shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, and here he is setting up a principle that will be understood in the Christian dispensation. And that is one who breaks a small commandment and teaches others. Uh he, you know, he can be, of course, forgiven of this sin according to chapter one, first John chapter one but here are the consequences. His influence in the kingdom is greatly reduced Even committing small sins or mistakenly teaching others about small sins. Though it is something that can be forgiven is going to have an impact on your effectiveness and your relationship in the kingdom of the lord. That's powerful. And Jesus said, even the least of the commandments Doesn't sound like the lord was easily and eagerly passing over such things for the sake of his friends or the sake of those who fail to understand how bad the little sins are. What's the consequence of little sins? You know, we know that some sins have irreparable consequences. Consequences that are seldom thought about before the individual engages the sins. For example, some of them will carry a criminal record and you will have that for the balance of life or there might be a pregnancy out of wedlock and one will always know and remember about that. Gossip can destroy and and someone's influence and their good name. Murder has permanent con consequences. It's a life that cannot be brought back. The same thing is true with regard to little sins. They can have consequences that are far far out of our control. I think I already told you the fire the story about a fire that my brother and I started in order to warm ourselves. We were out in the middle of winter hunting hunting for two of our ponies that had ran off. And we got really really cold spending more than more than a couple of hours out there looking for them. And so we thought we would make ourselves a little fire so we could warm ourselves and we pulled some stuff together in a pile and we lit it and we were warming ourselves and before we knew it had spread and took out about eight to 10 acres worth of field and forest. We had no idea that setting a little fire to warm ourselves was going to end up destroying a great deal of property You see, we don't know when we're committing little sins. Who's going to be impacted and how many are going to be hurt by it? Judas was a little bit greedy. He was greedy. He wanted money He started out by helping himself out of what was put in the treasury and he went on to just giving some information to the Jewish leadership. For a good sum of money. You know, his sin of greed facilitated the death of Jesus I wonder if it occurs to us that Adam's little sin meant Jesus had to go to the cross That's what Genesis three and fifteen says, it was at that point that the lord revealed to human covenant. That it would be necessary for the seed of woman to receive a bruise from the serpent. And that was prophetic speaking of Jesus being crucified. I wonder if it occurs to us that Moses little sin meant Jesus had to go to the cross. See, all along we've been thinking about the impact on Moses for his little sin. But Moses little sin meant Jesus had to go to the cross for Moses sake. Does it occur to us that our little sins mean that Jesus had to go to the cross? Every little one that we tend to think is no big deal is a sin that sent our lord to the cross. And it meant that god had to watch his son Jesus suffer and die on the cross so that we could engage in our little sin. The last point So, as human beings, we we know that they're not that big of sin and at some point, we have this tendency to think that god's going to overlook them. As long as we can keep them hidden from other people, we're going to be okay. It's going to be just fine. People believe that little sins are easy to hide because they're not very big. And I wonder over the years how many of us have encountered or may have encountered it ourselves because we were involved in illegal drug use or insider trading or tax evasion or lying or drinking at home. Or in the quiet of our room when everyone else is asleep in the dorm. Looking at pornography on our smartphone. Nobody's hurt That's our reasoning. No one's going to get hurt if I do a little drinking. No one's going to get hurt. Especially, you know, if I cheat on my taxes a little bit, no one's going to get hurt. The government has plenty of money. My yearly contribution isn't going to make that much difference. Hiding little sin. What happens when we try to hide our sins? According to Jesus in Luke eight and seventeen, for nothing is secret that will not be revealed nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Those little sins that we think are well hidden are going to come out. And if all were afraid of them coming out is in this world, then our reasoning is foolish. Because the Lord will make it known in the judgment and it will be clear and evident to us so that as we enter into perdition, for unrepented little sins, we'll have an eternity to think about and regret. Hiding them. Instead of addressing them. In Luke twelve, he visits this again in the first verse. In meantime, when an enumerable multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another, he began to say to his disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden, that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have spoken in the dark, will be heard in the light. And whenever you have spoken in the ear, in inner rooms, will be proclaimed on the housetops I love the account when the foreign king was attacking the people of god in Palestine The account that says that every time he would send his army to one place, there would be a the the army of the people of god would be waiting for them and it doesn't seem like any of the plans that he made were coming out successful and so he calls together a council of his advisers and his military leaders and he looks them in the eye and he says, which one of you is for the people of Israel? Who's betraying me? Pretty soon, prophet tells them exactly what's happening and basically says, you could go in your bedroom hide under your bed, softly whisper your plans in the ears. Of your most trusted counselor, god's going to hear it. He's going to tell Elisha. Elisha's going to tell the people of god and they're going to be waiting for you. Your sins are not going to remain hidden long. In a passage that doesn't make quite as much sense in some of the older translations but if you do not do so, then take note. You have sinned against the lord and be sure your sin will find you out. Some of the more understandable translations put it this way, rest assured, your sins will catch up with you. They'll point you out. Sooner or later, we'll be discovered. So, we conclude by saying beware of looking lightly at sin. Any sin it's only a little sin Facilitates our failure to repent and our failure to bring forth fruit that manifest repentance. Beware of to hide sin. No one will ever succeed and beware of thinking that some sins have no consequence. Ask Moses. Ask Adam and Eve. Ask Nadab and Abayhu. What we, they committed seems to us to be small sins But the consequences for them and many others. Have lasted to this day. Thank you for your kind attention. Let's prepare to sing the song that our brother Elijah has selected. So, you know what's coming next I suspect that nearly everyone in the room could deliver this indic Those present this morning when you would categor and don't deal with it like lies in a way that is a small one acknowledge your sins and appeal to him for forgiveness. If your sins have wear and I'm not talking about your last If it's brought harmed to that name it in such a way that all those who were aware of the sin demonstrate change of God, seeing his only address by not be dealt with way by any other means whatever your needs, it would be have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power of trusting in his us in the blood of holy one spotless are they are you walking daily by he was as snow are you washed in the blood lay aside the garments that are stained with sin and be washed in the blood flowing for the Obi cleansing bottle by your garments, spotless are washed in the how good it has been for us to be here this morning to hear these lessons. Thank you Paul for that lesson. And what what a wonderful idea it is That even though we have sinned in small ways or maybe egregious ways. Through the blood of Christ that we just sang about. We can have our sins forgiven. And that should help us leave this congregation. this assembly, with confidence and joy. If we have but done that. And so, thank you for that good lesson and and let's we will meet again at five o'clock this afternoon and thank you Titus for coming and sharing your word with us and we will listen to Titus as he delivers his word. It's so good to see each and everyone back, especially our visitors. Thank you for coming and sharing this time. At this time we'll be letting our closing prayer Our father in heaven, we've come here to worship you in spirit and truth. We've learned more of the hope and promise of your plan of salvation and we especially learn today that when we sin, we know we can pray and have forgiveness by seeking your love and guidance. We ask for the continued blessings of this congregation. Be with our sick and afflicted. Be with us again at the next appointed time. We pray on these things in the name of our lord and savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen Alright, let's go do it. Work in all the business to be It just starts doing a bunch of I can't do that and deliver an invitation Amen. Thank you. Yes, sir. Just leave this up on the front.