What are the consequences of hidden sin?

Why do some Christians live in sin and hide their sin from others? Can they hide their sin from God? In this article I will answer the question on the portal moldovacrestina.md:

QUESTION:

What can happen to a person who calls himself a Christian but secretly lives in sin? How long can they wear this mask and what can happen to them?

Satan’s great deception is to make you believe that it is possible to live a double life indefinitely… God, however, who is the source of the truth, says something else.

Your sin will find you out…

Whether you sin secretly or openly, you must know that sin has the property of destroying us. If we do not repent and do not stop practicing it, it will surely overtake us. God placed before his people the blessing and the curse, life and death. When the Lord spoke to them about the consequences of their wrong choices, the Lord told them:

So all these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you…you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and devoid of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. (Deuteronomy 28:45,48 NASB)

By willingly choosing to live in sin, you are forcing God to bring curses upon your life that will eventually destroy you. God does not want this, He wants to bless you, but because you choose so, the curse will follow you and destroy you.

In the book of Numbers the Lord said to His people:

But if you do not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure that your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23 NASB)

We have a choice to make – to listen to the voice of the Lord or to reject Him. But when you try to give up obedience and embrace iniquity, you must know that the Lord, not a man, said that your sin will find you out.

The burden of sin is greater than you can bear 

When David sinned with Bathsheba, he first tried to hide his sin. After his plans failed, he decided to kill Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, and then took Bathsheba as his wife. It seemed that David had managed to hide his sin and now he can lead a quiet life, but chapter 11 of 2 Samuel God concludes it with the following words:

…but the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.(2 Samuel 11:27 NASB)

In all of David’s “mastery” of cosmeticizing his sins, the last word had to be said, not by David, but by God. So it will be in your life… King David had to pay dearly because of these wrong choices. More than he was willing to give… His daughter was raped by one of his sons, another son killed his brother who raped his sister, and then tried to take the kingdom from David. The child Bathsheba gave birth to died. And these are just some of the consequences that David had to pay.

In Psalm 51, when David was crushed by the understanding of the gravity of his sins, among the words of repentance, David also says:

Let me hear joy and gladness,let the bones You have broken rejoice.(Psalms 51:8 NASB)

David had lost his joy and happiness. Satan, on the other hand, when he brings sin to you, tells you, “Do this and you will be happy,” but after you commit it, you realize that you are the most unhappy of all people. Moreover, David says that God “crushed his bones.” Bones are an expression of power. If a man has tender bones, he cannot be considered a strong man, but a weak one. In other words, David says that God has crushed his power.

My dear, what is your “power” that God must crush in order to stop you from sinning?

A friend for several years postponed his repentance because life with prostitutes seemed too “sweet” for him to abandon. Until one day when he remained powerless and so his “bones” were crushed…

Hidden sin leads to death

When the Church of Christ began to grow on the face of the earth, there was a case that shook many. Ananias and Sapphira, husband and wife, sold an estate and brought the money to the apostles, but they lied about the price they had taken. They could do anything with that money, because it was theirs. Their sin was not that they stopped part of the price sold, but because they lied to the Holy Spirit. They tried to show themselves holy and sacrificial in front of the people, but lies and hypocrisy were hidden in their hearts. When Peter came to put the money at the apostles’ feet, Peter said to them

“Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.” And as he heard these words, Ananias collapsed and died; and great fear came over all who heard about it.(Acts 5:3-5 NASB)

The same thing happened with Sapphira, Ananias’ wife.

Stop and confess your sin

Unconfessed sin does not disappear, but multiplies. In all David’s attempt to hide his sin, he committed several. An unstopped mistake in time brings with it another and more serious one. Therefore, my dear, if you have sinned, do not try to cover it up, because it will bring even more problems in your life.

Jesus wants to set you free from the bondage of your sin, but as long as you are not aware of the seriousness of your condition and do not repent, He cannot set you free. Liberation begins with awareness of your sin that brings sorrow according to God’s will.

May God help us not to tolerate sin in our lives, and if we have actually sinned, to follow God’s counsel that tells us:

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.( 1 John 1:8-10 NASB)

Translated by Ina Croitoru