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Can I ask you this?

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If you're hiding a sin,

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have you ever had to sin more

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to hide it?

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And if you've hardened your 
heart to sin and to hide it,

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how do you know you'll be able to stop?

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What if you keep hardening yourself?

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Maybe you'll find yourself doing

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things you never dreamed

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that you were capable of.

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Sin demands more,

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and hidden sin demands 
more sin to cover it,

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and eventually David -

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the man after God's own heart -

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arranges a murder of Uriah.

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You think David ever dreamed

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he would become a murderer?

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Verse 14,

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"In the morning, David 
wrote a letter to Joab -

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(that's the general) -

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and sent it by the hand of Uriah."

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Uriah is holding in his hand

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his own death warrant.

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That's calloused.

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In the letter, he wrote,

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"'Set Uriah in the forefront 
of the hardest fighting,

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and then draw back from him

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that he may be struck down and die.'

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And as Joab was besieging the city,

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he assigned Uriah to the place

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where he knew there were valiant men

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and the men of the city came out

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and fought with Joab.

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And some of the servants of David

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among the people fell.

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Uriah the Hittite also died.

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Then Joab sent and told David

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all the news about the fighting."

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And David gets the news

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that Uriah is dead.

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The scramble is over.

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The deed is covered.

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David gives Bathsheba a minute to mourn,

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and then he marries the poor widow.

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Verse 26,

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"When the wife of Uriah heard

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that Uriah her husband was dead,

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she lamented her husband.

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And when the mourning was over,

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David sent and brought her to his house

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and she became his wife

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and bore him a son."

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The scramble worked.

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We'll just tell people the baby 
was born a little premature.

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The conscience is still screaming,

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but at least his sin is 
not going to scream

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into the city streets

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when Bathsheba starts 
wearing maternity clothes.

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David can rest.

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Except that David had forgotten,

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or should I say suppressed

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and swept under the rug of his mind

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the fact that God knows

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and God exposes.

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Listen to this haunting last verse

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in verse 27 -

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last part of the verse.

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"And she became his wife

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and bore him a son -

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(everything's covered) -

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but the thing that David had done

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displeased the Lord."

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There is nothing more foolish in the world

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than hiding sin.

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You are hiding sin from the One

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for whom there is no darkness.

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Psalm 139, even the darkness

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is as light to Him.

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There's no place you can hide before God.

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He knit you together in your mother's womb

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and He knows the day of your death.

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Before a word is on your mouth,

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He knows it completely.

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There's no hiding from God.

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Isaiah 29:15,

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"Woe to those who go to great depths

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to hide their plans from the Lord,

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who do their work in darkness

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and think, 'who sees us? who will know?'"

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Proverbs 5:21,

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"Your ways are in full view of the Lord

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and He examines all your paths."

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Hebrews 4:13,

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"Nothing in all creation is 
hidden from God's sight.

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Everything is uncovered and laid bare

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before the eyes of Him to whom

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we must give an account."

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If you fear your wife's anger so much

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that you could never tell 
her what you've done,

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then you have a super shallow view of God.

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If you legitimize not telling your wife

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about your infidelity

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because you love her so much,

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you have a terribly shallow view of God.

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If you're more worried about 
displeasing your parents

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than your God,

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then you have a very small

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and unbiblical view of God.

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If you think your boss's anger

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or losing your job is worse

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than God's discipline or God's wrath

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then you need a greater vision of God.

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David had forgotten God.

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God had seen and God was displeased.

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That is all that matters.

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Immanuel, if we are not a people

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who deal before the face of God,

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then we are not God's people.

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If we are not a people who understand

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that all we do and have done and will do

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happens before the face of God

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and the most important thing in our lives

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is to deal with that God

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in integrity and truth and openness

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then we are not the people of God.

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We are simply one more 
dead church on the corner.

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Now what God does to David is amazing.

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He does not strike him dead.

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This excerpt was taken 
from the full sermon:

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"Secret Sins."