Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid riding full throttle
across the plains, with the posse in hot pursuit. Butch says, "Kid, we
need to put some distance between us and them."
Sundance, "No kidding there, Butch."
The coach in the 8th inning of a 4-3 game. "Come on
gang, let's string some hits together, we've got to put some distance between
us."
Obviously, the thought being in these examples, we run away
from our pursuers, put distance between us, we win. Simple as that. We 'get
away', so to speak.
Some people expeience a bad, poor, traumatic (you fill in
the word) personal experience, and they make statements to the effect of,
"I think I'm just going to move to so and so, and get away from it all for
awhile."
Time and distance at work again. (P.S. Wherever they 'get
away' to, their problem is still there).
There have been numerous people over the years who have
used time and distance in regards to their sins.
They commit sins, particularly of a public nature, where
most, if not all, of their congregation are aware of them. They get 'busted,'
so to speak, for lack of a better word.
So then, they take the 'time and distance' approach to
dealing with their sin. What is that? They're unrepentant and they pack up and
move to another congregation or another town.
They figure, out of sight, out of mind. They have not taken
care of their sin like God wants/commands them to take care of their sin.
Here is their mistake. Time and distance
does NOT equal repentance!
Jonah disobeyed God (sinned), and tried to run from Him. To
put time and distance between him and God. Ask him how that worked out.
If you have an unrepented sin in your life and you move to
the moon, and live their 40 years, you Still have unrepented sin in your life.
Time and distancae does not change that.
And unrepented sin affects the quality of your life
tremendously. If it is a sin that has yet to be made public, the Bible
sometimes uses the term 'hidden sins'. Same thing that we're talking about. They
are simply unrepented sins in our life.
Proverbs 28:13 tells us, He who
conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who
confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.
Look what
the great Moses said about our hidden sins.
Psalm 90:7
For we are burned up by Your anger, and by Your
wrath
we are troubled. You have set our iniquities before You,
our secret
sins in the light of Your face.
You know, King David, for all of his
warts, knew His God, and he mentioned secret, or hidden unrepented sins, more
than once. Why?
Because he was so guilty of that. Many
students don't realize, but after David had his affair with Bathsheba and
ordered her husband killed, he was unrepentant of those sins for 9 months!
We often teach about the
Bathsheba/Uriah sin and then fast forward to Nathan the prophet. That's a
mistake.
Those 9 months in between were very
important. And they are very important in the lives of those today in the
situation that we are discussing.
When the prophet Nathan told David, "Thou art the man," it was only then that
David felt remorse and repented at what he had done. That was 9 months after the event. You see,
their baby was born only a matter of days later.
Here's what he wrote about life during
those 9 months of unrepentant sin. The famous Psalm 51, verse 8. the bones which Thou hast broken.
As David put it,
God had broken his bones.
David then realized what many
today do not, time and distance do Not equal repentance.
One quick true story before I close.
I'm very familiar with a preacher who had an affair with a lady in his
congregation. They were found out and all of the usual and expected reactions
took place.
The elders met with him, and told him
that obviously, he was fired. They also told him that he knew what he needed to
do to make this right with God.
He packed up, took his wife and one
year old son and left town. He never admitted his mistake and never took the
blame for what had happened. As a matter of fact, he blamed the elders for 'not
handling the situation correctly.'
Obvioulsy, he could never work again
in this area so he had to move. His father, also a preacher of many years, made
contact with another preacher friend of his in another state and asked/implored
him if he had 'anything' available for his son.
"Why has your son left his
previous job?" was the question. The answer? "Oh, it was just a
misunderstanding between him and some of the elders, you know how it is
sometimes in our business."
The out of state preacher friend hired
the son.
Time and distance.
A year later, the preacher son (the
one who had been fired), his wife, and now 2 year old son, were out in the yard
at their new location. (distance)
A bolt of lightning hit a big tree,
traveled all the way down the trunk to the ground, then traveled several feet
through a large root across the ground, and struck the child, standing several
feet away from the tree, killing him instantly.
This was their only child and the only
grandchild of the man that had got him the job by concealing the truth about
his dismissal.
What happened to David and Bathsheba's
baby? 2Sa 12:15 "And
Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife
bare unto David."
Q.
Who struck him?
A.
the LORD
The difference between David and
others is, he recognized his sin, quit running from it, and dealt with it like
God said. (took him 9 months but he got it done)
And then he wrote this in the last two
verses of Psalm 139. 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.
That's the attitude to have. But, I
must warn you. If you Truly ask God to do this is Ps. 139, 'Search you, Try
you,' then you better strap it on and be humble, and you better be ready,
because He Will bring your sins out.
And, an unrepented sin from last week,
last year, or 40 years ago?................................He does not miss a
one!
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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