"DISCOVERED"
Intro: Tribes of Reuben and Gad came to Moses requesting inheritance outside the land.
I. THREE COMMON ERRORS ABOUT SIN.
A. "If you do "not so" ye have sinned."
1. We usually think of sin as doing the wrong thing.
2. You can sin by not doing the right thing.
a. Sin is not always a positive action of evil.
b. It is often a negative action of good. "He that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is evil."
3. The Christian life is not one of negative restraints.
a. It is one of positive good.
b. "And Jesus went about doing good."
c. A child went around the room with his hands clasped behind his back looking at the candy dish, the china cups, the fragile dolls, saying, "no, no, no."
d. Not doing evil does not make one good.
e. Doing good makes one good.
B. We think of sin as against man.
1. Man is often the victim.
2. It is God's law that has been violated.
3. David's sin.
4. David's prayer, "Against Thee and Thee.."
5. God has set the standard by which we are to live.
a. Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect..."
b. You say, "That lets me out. I'm not so bad. but I am far from perfect."
6. So we recognize that we have all sinned.
7. Because none of us are perfect, none of us are qualified to judge another man.
C. We often think we can hide our sins.
1. This is true. You can often hide your guilt from your fellow man.
a. All of you have gotten by with things.
b. Moses before he killed the Egyptian. "He looked this way and that way..."
1. He failed to look up.
2. Why do we fail to look up?
2. You cannot hide from God.
a. "Everything is open and naked before Him, with Whom we have to do."
3. Two Arctic explorers.
4. Moses said, "You can be sure...."
II. WHAT TO DO ABOUT YOUR SIN.
A. "Whoso seeketh to cover his sin shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth..."
1. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful..."
2. Confess to God your guilt and ask for forgiveness.
Let the wicked "forsake" his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.