The first 2 verses of the day that I read and studied today brought about the same train of thought in my mind. My need for the Holy Spirit of God to give me a repentant and humble heart. The “Secret Sins” of my title are not the ones I’ve hidden from people throughout my life. These “Secret Sins” are the ones even I am unaware of committing against a Holy God. I think this topic is something that I don’t ever remember being preached as it should. When King David raises this issue in the Psalms we should remember that they had only the Torah, the 1st 5 Books of Moses to go by.
Psalm 19:12-13
Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
The commentaries on Psalm19:12 reveal that these “errors” and “secret faults” were unknown by the doer of them. MacLaren says, “beside all those (shortcomings) of which he is aware, there is a region, as yet unilluminated by the law.” Sins the doer knows he will be accountable to God for yet not knowing what they are.
Matthew Henry says, “David not only desired to be pardoned and cleansed from the sins he had discovered and confessed, but from those he had forgotten or overlooked.“
In MacLaren’s commentary he mentions the thing I don’t ever remember hearing a preacher teach on. “The Jewish ritual drew a broad distinction between inadvertent-whether involuntary or ignorant-and deliberate sins; providing atonement for the former, not for the latter.“
The Jewish ritual MacLaren speaks of is the animal sacrifices, shedding of innocent blood, for the atonement of sins. Years after becoming a “Born Again with God’s Spirit” Christian a word in a Bible verse Jesus spoke jumped off the page and into my mind. It was a “study me” thought that eventually transformed my understanding of much of what I thought I understood as a Christian. The word was “Corban.”
Mark 7:11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
Corban G2878 – Of Hebrew and Chaldee origin respectively H7133; a votive offering and the offering;
H7133 – From H7126; something brought near the altar that is a sacrificial present:- oblation that is offered, offering.
H7126 – to approach (causatively bring near) for whatever purpose:
In learning about “Corban” I understood that the need to bring an offering of sacrifice to God’s altar was about ‘bringing me near” to God, acknowledging my need of His Mercy and Forgiveness and to give Thanks for all His Blessings. As I studied this word that represents the “offerings” brought to God’s altar I discovered a common theme that MacLaren mentioned but very few pastors today do. “They provided atonement for the former, not for the latter.” The “latter” are the deliberate sins. David mentions these deliberate sins in Psalm 19:13, Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me.
12 times in the Books of Leviticus and Numbers when offerings for sins are mentioned a word declares the category, (intentional, deliberate) or (unintentional, accidental error), these offerings can only apply to. That word is “ignorance.”
Leviticus 4:1-2 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:
4:13 And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;
4:22-23 When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty; 23 Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:
4:27-28 And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty; 28 Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.
Leviticus 5:15 If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering.
5:18 And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him. (wist – to know, recognize)
Numbers 15:23-29 Even all that the Lord hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses, and henceforward among your generations; 24 Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the Lord, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering. 25 And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their ignorance: 26 And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing all the people were in ignorance. 27 And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering. 28 And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the Lord, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29 Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.
This principle applied to the gentile strangers who chose to assimilate “sojourn” with the Israelites. There is one remedy for sins done deliberately or as David and others in the Bible say “presumptuously,” they must be repented of. Jewish Rabbis call the deliberate, “sinning with a high hand.” Numbers 15:30 ESV – But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people.
We must confess and turn away from willful sin and turn to God. The entire system of bringing offerings to God’s altar was to bring us back “draw us near” to God. Repentance, the desire to turn from willful sin and turn to God is key to remedy our problem and get us closer to God.
The other verse I studied today was from Romans chapter 8 and speaks of our need to seek the “nearness of God.” In that chapter it mentions this,
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Don’t fall for the lie that abuses God’s Grace as a license for deliberate sins thinking you can do them willfully and then cry crocodile tears. We were all born with a sinful nature and will have it until the day we die, even “Born Again with God’s Spirit’ Christians. The Christian life isn’t hard to live, it’s impossible without the Holy Spirit living in you. Even with the Holy Spirit in a person it take a humble and contrite heart that’s willing to admit their need of His power to walk out each day of this new life. Willful sin will drive us away from God because of our guilt and shame in an effort to hide from God. The power to live a Christian life isn’t in denying we have sin in our life, it’s in admitting we do have sins, even unconscious sins that separate us from God.
If God revealed all the sin in our life in one moment of time it would probably crush our spirit and cause us to just give up on trying to be a true Christian. It is God who reveals the hidden sins of our heart as He brings us from Glory to Glory as we mature “in Christ.” We must deal with the sins we are already aware of in repentance if we want God to continue His good work in us.
Some things change over time in Biblical history and become obsolete like the brazen serpent or end abruptly like the animal sacrifices when the temple was destroyed. They too were obsolete before it’s destruction yet it was unknown by those who denied Yeshua Jesus as the long awaited Messiah. One thing has never changed throughout Biblical history. The thing our Dear Heavenly Father has always preferred above the shedding of innocent blood to cover sin is a repentant, humble and contrite heart. David knew that even in the time of his greatest lost because of sin.
Psalm 51:16-17 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
1 Samuel 15:22 So Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
In The Word 