Obvious Truths from Obscure Scriptures
Unobserved Sins
Exodus 2:11-12
 
I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve been having preparing these Sunday morning messages on Obvious Truths from Obscure Scriptures.  And I want to say “thank you” to those who’ve commented and voiced their appreciation.
 
I love to study the Scriptures and I’ve always been fascinated by the nuances of the language.  If every word is inspired and given to us by God, then I don’t think we have the right to casually read by even one phrase or word and not search it for the significance and meaning that God placed in it.  It matters and we need to pay attention to it.
 
Now, of all the truths we’ve been finding in obscure places, there may be none more obvious than the ones before us today found in
 
Exodus 2:11-12
 
Most of us are familiar with the background leading up to this event.  At the time of the birth of Moses the Israelites are in Egyptian captivity.  Because of their increasing numbers, the Pharaoh fears an uprising and orders the male babies to be drowned.
 
Moses’ mother hides him for three months then floats him down the river under the supervision of his older sister.  He is rescued by the Pharaoh’s daughter, nursed by his own mother and raised in the palaces of Egypt.
 
Because of the influence of his mother, he is raised understanding he is an Israelite.  He becomes more and more aware of the distress of his people and one day, when he was about 40 years old, he comes across an Egyptian beating an Israelite and he has all he can take, and as we read in these verses, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.
 
I suppose had the incident taken place in modern America, a case could have been made for justifiable homicide or involuntary manslaughter.  But the truth is, he made a deliberate, premeditated decision to take another’s life and it certainly was not the plan of action that God had in mind for Moses.
 
He would eventually be used to intervene on behalf of His people, but it was to be under God’s leadership and in God’s strength, not in a moment of human emotion that violated the law of God.
 
I’ve often wondered if, years later, when Moses watched the finger of God carve out the Ten Commandments, including “You shall not murder” if in his mind’s eye he was carried back to that fateful day in Egypt when passion and emotion got the best of him.
 
Now we are in search of obvious truths and this text is abundant with them, but I just want to dwell on a small detail found in the text of verse 12.  It is the opening phrase, “He looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian."
 
That little phrase brings to mind the idea of unobserved sins.  And from that title and subject, I want to offer you three obvious truths.
 
Here’s the first one:
 
1. We Are More Likely to Sin if We Think No One Is Watching.
 
Am I telling the truth or not?  Moses thought no one was looking.  That’s what this verse is telling us.  It wasn’t that no one was in sight; it’s just that no one was paying attention to what was going on.  No one, or so he thought, was observing his behavior.
 
I’m of the opinion there was lots of activity around the area.  The soldiers were marching; the Israelites were working away.  We discover later in the story that one of them actually saw what he did.  But as far as Moses knew, no one was watching him.
 
In fact, I am quite confident had Moses any idea someone was watching, that Egyptian would have went home to his wife and children at the end of the day. If there was any possibility he might be discovered, he would have most likely reigned in his emotions and withheld the fateful blow that ended the life of an Egyptian.
 
But there were no spectators. He was convinced he had no audience. Everyone was busy with their own responsibilities.  Moses looked this way and that way and convinced he was unwatched and unobserved he did the unthinkable and took a man’s life.  And I’m of the opinion that it was the thought of being unobserved that tempted Moses to kill this man.
 
There is a somewhat similar scene in the New Testament in the story of the denial of Simon Peter. What made it so easy for Peter to fall that night was the thought that there was nobody to see.
Put certain people within the vision of those they respect and they can walk the straightest of lines.  But the moment that gaze is withdrawn, they are capable of anything.
 
As long as he was close to the Lord, he could pull out a sword and defend Him to the death.  But immerse him in the darkness at a distance and you find him cursing and denying the very Lord he would have given his life to defend.
 
And I daresay, if those who had heard his arrogant claims had been near at hand, he would have continued to show that devotion.  But he thought they were all gone.  He thought no one was looking.  Do you think he would ever have denied his Lord if the Lord had had been there?  
 
And even in the absence of the Lord, just a word from Philip or a glance from John would have snapped him back to his true self.  But Peter looked this way and that way, and he saw no man.  No one who knew him, and in the belief that he was unobserved, Peter denied his Lord.
 
Now centuries have gone by since Peter and Moses lived, but we’re still dealing with the same temptation.  Put certain people in certain company and certain circumstances and they are the picture of commitment to the Lord.  Take them out of the company of their brothers and sisters in the Lord and they are capable of any kind of sinful behavior.
 
In fact, the gaze of the Lord means less to them than the embarrassment of being caught by their peers.
 
They would never dream of doing certain things in front of their church friends, but have no regard for the eyes of God.  And understanding the arrogance of their pride, Satan whispers to them that they are unobserved and that no one will know and it becomes so easy to sin.
 
Take a man who spends a quiet, restful Sunday with his wife and kids at church and home engaged in worship and family time but whose heart is far from God.  Remove him from the adoring gaze of a devoted wife and watch the rottenness of his character begin to spill out as he involves himself in that which is sinful and deceitful and vile.
 
All it takes is being out of sight and hidden from view.  How many a person has ruined their life and forfeited their testimony and destroyed their family simply because they looked this way and that and saw no one?  And the temptation to sin was made more attractive simply because he thought he could get by with it.
 
The man who is grounded in the Word, devoted to His God, will show himself the same no matter where he is, but for the one who is willing to look this way and that way to see who is looking reveals his true self as well.
 
They thrill with the thought that they are unobserved. They are driving by the thought of getting by with their sin and because they believe themselves unnoticed, they take part in things they would never dream of taking part in when surrounded by the watchful eyes of love.
 
 
There’s another contributor to unobserved sins and that is
 
2.  We Are More Likely to Sin if We Can Rationalize Our Behavior
 
Verses 13-14 tell us the next day Moses again encounters two men fighting.  This time it is two Israelites.  And again, Moses intervenes, not physically, but vocally. He offers reason and rationale.  These men are brothers, kinfolk.  They should be able to settle their differences.  But the response he receives is completely unexpected.
 
Verses 13-14
 
In Acts 7, as a part of the sermon preached by Stephen just before he was stoned, he gives us a little insight into what was going on in the head of Moses when he killed the Egyptian.
 
Acts 7:23-25
 
Now this is before the burning bush experience where God calls Moses to lead his children out of bondage and yet Moses is acting as a self-appointed Savior to the Israelites.  In fact, I’ve always found it odd that Moses argued with God about his call when he had already tried to function in the role God is calling him to fulfill.
 
And his justification for killing an Egyptian, according to Stephen, is they should have understood God was using him to deliver them from captivity.  And He was both right and wrong at the same time.  It was true that God was going to use him, but not at that time and not in that way.
I hope I don’t need to remind you there is a right way and there is a wrong way to do the work of God and the right way is never in the flesh, outside of the Word of God.
 
When Moses would later appear before Pharaoh he had the full weight, authority and power of the Name of Jehovah God at his disposal.  Outside of that, he was nothing more than a spoiled rich kid who was too big for his britches, and in so many words that’s exactly what this Israelite bully says to him.
 
“Who do you think you are? You think you can just arbitrarily get involved in people’s activities and take matters into your own hands.  Do you think you have the power to take life, if necessary, because of who you are?
 
All across this country lays the devastation and ruin of families and homes and lives because someone thought they were smarter than God. They knew better about timing and relationships. They justify and rationalize their behavior so they can sleep at night while blatantly thumbing their noses at the Word of God.
 
Their needs aren’t being met in their marriage.  The pregnancy is too much of an inconvenience.  Honoring God with the tithe is old-fashioned.  Spanking kids is out of date.  We’ve become so intelligent that we no longer need God.  We’ll rewrite the rule book and we’ll decide what is right and wrong.
 
Moses looked around that day and saw no man, but there was something else he didn’t see and that was the consequences of his decision.
He had no idea how far-reaching would be the effects of that one decision made in secrecy.  He had to escape to Midian as the result of it, and there, another forty years would pass before God would eventually use him to lead Israel out of captivity. He was an old man with a silver head when the call of God finally came.
 
How bitter those days must have been as he thought back on a rash act in a moment of passion.  And now he’s on the backside of a desert spending his days tending sheep.
 
Dear friend, you better think long and hard about the decisions that you are rationalizing.  It just may be that you are about to learn some of the hardest lessons in life.  You are on the verge of discovering  that by those sins committed when no one is looking you may very well rob yourself of the best days of your life and your usability to God may very well be forfeited.
 
You better take into consideration the consequences regarding your family and relationships and finances and most importantly your testimony as a Christian and your service to God because on that day, when Moses looked around and saw no one looking, he justified his behavior and stepped out of the will of God.
 
And that’s where the third obvious truth comes to bear and it is the elephant in the room.
 
3.  God is Always Watching and He Knows the Truth
 
 
I’ve got news for you:  What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas!  Somehow the devil has lulled many into forgetting the eyes of the Lord are always watching. A man always has an audience when he is in the presence of his Lord.  And with God, we can’t rationalize and justify our behavior.  He knows what’s going on. Don’t ever think you’re getting by with it.
 
I ran just a short list of reminders from the God’s Word concerning that thought:
 
Psalm 33:13
From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind;
 
Psalm 139:1-12
1 You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.
 
Proverbs 5:21
Your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths.
 
Proverbs 15:3
The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
 
Jeremiah 16:17
My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.
 
Jeremiah 23:24
Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.
 
Jeremiah 29:23
For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and in my name they have uttered lies--which I did not authorize. I know it and am a witness to it," declares the LORD.
 
Daniel 2:22
He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.
 
 
 
 
Hebrews 4:12
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
 
Don’t ever fool yourself into thinking you can escape the consequence of undetected evil. Somehow or other it gets revealed.  God has a way of turning on the search light. He knows how to get a rat out of hiding.  He can lure the fox into the trap.  He knows how to set the hook.
 
In fact, in Luke 12:3, Jesus Himself said, and I quote, “Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!”
 
Don’t kid yourself. God will not be mocked. Whatever we sow, we’re going to reap.  Our hidden sins tell the truth about us.  They reveal us to be what we really are. After all, what a man is, alone with God, that’s what a man really is and the life we live in secret will ultimately determine our value and worth.
 
And the truth is, not only does God know, but you know.  It is hard to overestimate the value of a clear conscience.  If you want to be able to look yourself in the mirror and lay down at night and sleep, then do all you can to avoid unobserved sins.  Flee temptation.  Resist the devil and draw near to God. 
 
Now, everybody’s got a secret or two. A juvenile judge some years ago had a very unusual experience during the course of one of his trials when an elderly man who owned a watermelon patch had caught a boy stealing his melons, and had him arrested.
When the time came for the trial, the man made his complaint to the court, after which the judge turned to the boy and said, "Son, what do you have to say for yourself?" The boy looked up at the judge with questioning eyes, and answered, "Judge, did you ever steal a watermelon when you were a kid?"
 
The judge was somewhat startled at the turn of events, dropped his head into his hand for a few moments of thought, and finally responded with, "No cross examination of the court allowed. The case is dismissed."
 
In a similar vein, Charles Swindoll, in Growing Deep in the Christian Life, tells about a man who bought fried chicken dinners for himself and his date late one afternoon.
 
The attendant at the fast food outlet, however, inadvertently gave him the proceeds from the day’s business, They got a bucket of money (much of it cash) instead of fried chicken.
 
Swindoll writes:  After driving to their picnic site, the two of them sat down to enjoy some chicken. They discovered a whole lot more than chicken.  But he was unusual. He quickly put the money back in the bucket, they got back into the car and drove all the way back. By then, the manager was frantic.
 
Mr. Clean got out, walked in, and became an instant hero. ’I want you to know I came by to get a couple of chicken dinners and wound up with all this money.
Well, the manager was thrilled to death. He said, ’Let me call the newspaper. I’m gonna have your picture put in the local paper. You’re one of the most honest men I’ve ever met.’
To which the man quickly responded, ’Oh, no! No, no, don’t do that!’ Then he leaned closer and whispered, ’You see, the woman I’m with--she’s, uh, somebody else’s wife.’
 
Everybody’s got a secret.  In fact, there is a website called www.postsecret.com and I advise you to approach it with caution because of the content.  But it is a completely anonymous opportunity to post your secrets.  You can write on a postcard what you need to confess and send it in.
 
It all began when author Frank Warren, after a troubling period in his own life, handed out 3000 self-addressed stamped postcards to people on the street, asking them to anonymously mail him their secrets. It began as a sort of public art project in 2004.
 
To his surprise, the cards started pouring in. He doesn’t have to hand out cards anymore. He has received over 100,000 cards.  From that he developed the website and secrets are still flooding in.  He’s now putting them in books and selling them and every Sunday a new sampling is posted online for the world to read.
 
You can read posts such as “I became a nurse just to steal narcotics.”
 
“If I wasn’t so fat, I’d tell Jenny I have a crush on her and then, maybe she’d fall for me”.
 
One of the most sobering was the one that said, “I am a Christian missionary but I don’t consider myself a Christian.”
 
So where do you go with your secret sins?  Begin with God.  He knows already.  Remember, there is always an audience.  And those eyes that go to and fro throughout the earth are a reminder that He is seeking to save that which is lost, comfort the one in distress and steady the one who is wavering.
 
So begin with confession.  And then trust God to lead you in the next steps.  It may be you have some confessing to do to your spouse or children or parents.  It might be some things need to be cleared up at work or in a relationship with a friend.  God will show you and He can bring good out of it.  Let me close with a couple of verses of encouragement.
 
1 John 1:9
 
What a precious promise.  Our God is a faithful and forgiving and restoring God.
 
The other one is Matthew 6:18.
 
Now the context is that of giving and making sure we do it without making a big show of our gift.  But there is a principle found there.  God knows what we’re doing, whether positive or negative and when we do what’s right, our loving heavenly Father is ready and willing to reward us.  What a motivation, not to secret sins, but to secret service! May God help us to do the right thing!
 
Let’s pray.