The curtain slowly opened and the scene was a room that was lit by the glow of a small lamp on the table. The door opened silently and a dark figure slipped into the room. Like a cat it quickly moved to the table. The only thing on the table was a pack of cigarettes and as the figure bent over to pick it up you could see it was a woman in a man’s trench coat and hat. Just at that moment a cat ran across the room startling the woman. She turned to see where the cat had come from and as she shook a cigarette out of the pack … she screamed, threw the pack up in the air, looked at the director and shrieked at the top of her lungs – who did this!
I have written about David so many times that I actually feel like I know him personally. Or maybe it’s just that I seem to find myself in his shoes a lot of the time (those of you who know me understand that it would never be sandals). That was especially true in my younger days when, like David, I was confronted by my sin and attempted to cover it up. Remember his little episode with Nathan the prophet and a certain “little ewe lamb” in 2Samuel 12? His sin, which he thought was completely hidden, came back to haunt him in the end. And although he repented, he continued to pay the price for the rest of his life; as did his entire family.
And that’s what is on my mind this morning, the consequences of the hidden sin in my life.
Thankfully we serve a God that has more than enough grace to cover the sins of the world, and He took that step Himself on the cross for all of it. But this is where so many get all tied up in the sin issue. So let’s get one thing sorted out here that may help us focus on the real heart of the matter.
God is not focused on sin the same way we are!
He effectively took the sin issue off the table when His Son paid the price on Calvary. At the end of the day, sin itself isn’t going to be the central issue. The question to be dealt with is: “What did you do about my Son?” Jesus paid the price, once and for all. No more goats, lambs and bullocks! When He said “It is finished” (John 19:30) that is what He was referring to. The total price for all sin had been paid by the only one who was qualified to pay it – a sinless God. That left man to deal with the reality of what that meant and the consequences associated with it. As it was once put, make a decision or one will be made for you. When it comes to Jesus, sitting on the fence is not an available option – no matter how appealing it may appear.
But while He dealt with the issue of sin, He did not remove it from the world. Man is a fallen creature in a fallen world and until Jesus comes again that is going to remain a fact that we have to deal with. Let’s not forget —He didn’t take away our freewill to choose how we want to live this life we’ve been given.
Today we all can freely appropriate that price (atonement) with our commitment to relinquish our life, in total, to His Lordship and care (John 3:16). And when our bad decisions along the way cause us to fail He has given us His assurance that our sin has been dealt and will be forgiven if confess it and repent (1John 1:9).
1John 1:9 has been abused by many and viewed as a “get out of jail free” card. It is almost used as an ATM card for sinful behavior. What they miss (or ignore) is the implied issue of repentance; changing the behavior that caused the sin. It requires a 180 degree change of direction.
When you gave control of your life to Jesus, repentance was a key element in the process:
Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Jesus Himself made it very clear on many occasions:
Mark 1:14-15 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15. And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
But it’s right here that many have a problem. The sin is forgiven if we repent but the consequences remain to be dealt with. The mess we made is still there — the hurtful words, the results of our action, the state of our mind from our sinful thoughts, etc. And if those consequences aren’t dealt with we stand a good chance of, well the bible puts it pretty clearly:
2Peter 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
And that brings us to the heart of the matter. How do we avoid the trap of “returning” because we fail to clean up the mess?
Let me suggest here that we aren’t the only ones cleaning up the mess we made. Yes it’s our action to take but Jesus hasn’t left us without the resources we need to get the job done. If we have offended someone we know that addressing the issue and asking for forgiveness is what is required. Issues like these, while they may not be easy and most likely have other consequences to resolve, are not the one’s I’m concerned with today. It’s the ones that no one else knows about that are often the most destructive and the hardest to deal with. And as a result, they are the sins we have a tendency to return to.
I have mentioned before a little book by Robert Boyd Munger (My Heart – Christ’s Home) that talks about inviting Jesus into your home to clean up the mess in all the rooms. Let me share a very appropriate piece of it with you (a little paraphrased) —The Hall Closet:
One day I found Jesus waiting for me at the front door. An interesting look was in His eye. As I entered, He said to me, “there’s a peculiar odor in the house. Something must be dead around here. It’s upstairs. I think it’s in the hall closet.”
As soon as he said this I knew what He was talking about. Indeed there was a small closet up there on the hall landing just a few feet square. In that closet behind lock and key I had one or two little personal things I did not want anybody to know about. Certainly I did not want Christ to see them. They were dead and rotting things left over from the old life — not wicked, but not right and good to have in a Christian life. Yet I loved them. I wanted them so much for myself I was really afraid to admit they were there. Reluctantly I went up the stairs with Him and as we mounted, the odor became stronger and stronger. He pointed at the door and said, “It’s in there! Some dead thing!”
It made me angry! That’s the only way I can put it. I had given Him access to every room … This is too much! I am not going to give Him the key!
“Well,” He responded, reading my thoughts,”if you think I am going to stay up here on the second floor with this smell, you are mistaken. I will take my bed out on the porch or somewhere else. I’m certainly not going to stay around that.” And I saw Him start downstairs.
I had to give in — “I’ll give you the key,” I said sadly, “but you’ll have to open the closet and clean it out. I haven’t the strength to do it.” “I know” He said, “I know you haven’t. Just give me the key. Just authorize me to handle that closet and I will.”
So with trembling fingers I passed Him the key and He walked over to the door, opened it, entered it, took out the putrefying stuff that was rotting there and threw it all away. Then He cleansed the closet, painted it and fixed it all up in a moment’s time. Immediately a fresh, fragrant breeze swept through the house. The whole atmosphere changed. What release and victory to have that dead thing out of my life!
God has not left us without a way out, even after the fact. We have His Spirit within us who will provide all the strength we need to deal with the issue. Remember, the term “comforter” doesn’t refer to someone who pats us on the back and tells us that everything will be okay. Look at the real definition – it’s much more powerful than that:
Parakletos – advocate; consoler; one who comes alongside to help; to assist.
The very same power that raised Jesus from the dead resides within our hearts. The Holy Spirit is the one who renews the spirit of those of us who believe. And we have that power to call upon in dealing with those tough, personal issues that seem to always be leaving messy consequences behind; especially those messes that nobody else sees. The one’s that just keep happening over and over again.
Jesus is ready to roll up His sleeves and deal with those issues for us, and all we have to do is acknowledge the hall closet exists, give Him the key and authorize Him to clean it up.
And that, my dear friends, is what this whole thing called sanctification is all about. God sees us “sanctified” because He views us through Jesus. But we see things differently from the other side. It’s a process and part of maturing spiritually is going to require us to relinquish access to those places we have kept hidden and locked away.
But hidden from whom? Our friends, our family … ourselves? Yes, but certainly not from Jesus. He knows that the “hall closets” in our lives contain those things we are hanging onto from our old life, the very things that are keeping us from drawing ever nearer to Him. And let’s face it … what we really want the most is to be as near to Him as possible.
We’ll, He’s provided that access for us in the form of His Holy Spirit. He is all we need to deal with any sin in our life. He has come alongside to “help us” get through these very personal, tough issues. And you can trust me … we can’t hide them for long because It All Comes Out In The End!
As the dark figure in the room shook out that cigarette … well it wasn’t quite a cigarette that came out of the box. Now I will relate the “rest of the story” but because another party to the crime is reading this article all names except mine shall be withheld.
It was a high school play that the senior class put on that afternoon for the rest of the kids in the school. It was a consolidated school in a small (250 people small) Midwest town in which all 12 grades were in the same building. As my “associate” and I sat there watching the play we thought how great it would be to steal the candy cigarettes out of the box before the evening performance for the parents. It would be real funny and besides, we could eat the evidence – the perfect crime!
So after school was out we slipped up on stage to empty the cigarette box. But as we approached the table we spotted something that could easily take the place of the candy cigarettes (I’m sure it wasn’t my idea). Remember the cat that ran across the room? Well, let’s just say the cat left a reminder behind during the afternoon performance and two pea-sized brains thought it would fit just fine into the box to ensure that it wouldn’t feel empty when picked up. Ah, the plan grew better by the moment!
Need I take you back to the opening paragraphs of this article … she screamed, threw the pack up in the air, looked at the director and shrieked at the top of her lungs – who did this!
You can guess what had come out of the box at that moment. She screamed as the unexpected object came out of the pack and all of a sudden there were 2 kids in that audience that would have loved to be somewhere else. And needless to say – they had been spotted hanging around the stage by the janitor that afternoon. In those days the trip to the principal’s office was just a precursor of what was going to happen when you got home. Suffice it to say we very “gingerly” and “sorely” picked up trash during recess for the next 2 weeks.
Yes it’s true, we will eventually get found out and when that happens, cleaning up the mess is always a lot harder. But, thank God He understands us and has given us a beautiful way to get those rooms cleaned up before the contents spill out all over the place.
If you’ve got one of those rooms in your spiritual house, don’t try and hide it from the one who sees it all. Remember, He is there to take care of the remodeling and He doesn’t mind rolling up His sleeves to get the job done, no matter how dirty it is. All He needs is your permission and the key to the room.
And the best part … He’s already paid for the job!