Secret sins refer to hidden transgressions that undermine a believer’s spiritual health and fellowship with God, often unnoticed until their consequences become severe. Christian preaching highlights the danger of these sins as they erode the soul’s integrity and hinder repentance, using imagery of concealed decay or unseen poison (Psalm 19:12-13).
Secret sins quietly destroy a person’s spiritual life, often without warning until death.
The vampire sucks the blood of its victim quietly, while he sleeps unconscious of danger. He does his work so effectually, that death often supervenes without a note of warning. Such is the effect of secret sins.
Secret sins, laid upon an enlightened, active conscience,
unforgiven, are a source of great pain and suffering. David said, "My
sin is ever before me." An incident occurred in one of our meetings,
that strikingly illustrates this truth.
A gentleman in high standing in the community where he lived,
belonging in a family in high social position, not a blot on his
reputation, strictly honest before men as far as was known, yet one
thing greatly troubled him. He asked the privilege of seeing me alone.
When alone, he said:
"I desire to become a Christian, but I have a thousand dollars that
don't belong to me, which I took from a man two years ago. I cannot
keep it. I will come out with a public confession, or anything else
you advise me to do."
I asked him if any one charged him with it or mistrusted him. He
replied:
"No, sir, I don't suppose any one has the least idea that I am mean
enough to do such a thing. But I did it, and can't live so. The man
who lost it is a personal friend of mine. None but God and myself know
anything about it."
I asked him if he was able to return it to the man.
"I am," he said, "but I have had it two years, and that is worth
eight per cent."
"Well, that would be eleven hundred and sixty dollars. Can you pay
that amount?"
"I can," he said.
That day the man who had lost the money received eleven hundred and
sixty dollars ... This man who had taken the money, then gave himself
to Christ, and the last I knew of him he was an active Christian.
Memory is just as active now as before, but the sting is gone, so
that it is no longer a guilty memory. Christ's blood put out the fire
in his bosom, and he has peace. There must be an application of the
justifying righteousness of Christ to the soul, or his sin, in all its
guilt, weighing him down, would be "ever before him." -- A. B. Earle,
From: "Incidents Used ... In His Meetings," published in 1888
Will Houghton was a preacher who became the president of Moody Bible Institute during the 1940s. His faithfulness played a large role in the conversion of an agnostic who was contemplating suicide. The skeptic was desperate, but he decided that if he could find a minister who lived his faith he would listen to him.
So he hired a private detective to watch Houghton. When the investigator's report came back, it revealed that this preacher's life was above reproach; he was for real. The agnostic went to Houghton's church, accepted Christ, and later sent his daughter to Moody Bible Institute.
What if a private detective was hired to watch you? Would the way you live help or hurt God's reputation?
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In 1924, Will Houghton became the pastor of the Atlanta Baptist Tabernacle. Before long, the 4000-seat auditorium was filled, people were being saved and the work was prospering.
During his first months in the city, an unbelieving hospital official hired a private detective to “shadow” the pastor to see if he really lived what he preached! At the end of the “investigation,” the detective reported, “He lives it — there’s no flaw there!” As a result, the official was converted and spent his life seeking to win others to Christ.
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Adapted from http://www2.salinabible.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=904:will-houghton-from-performer-to-preacher&catid=401&Itemid=101
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