Caught

A telemarketer called a home one day, and a small voice whispered, "Hello?" "Hello! What’s your name?" Still whispering, the voice said, "Jimmy." "How old are you, Jimmy?" "I’m four." "Is your mother home?" "Yes, but she’s busy." "Okay, is your father home?" "He’s busy too." "I see, who else is there?" "The police." "The police? May I speak with one of them?" "They’re busy." "Any other grown-ups there?" "The firemen." "May I speak with a fireman, please?" "They’re all busy." "Jimmy, all those people in your house, and I can’t talk with any of them? What are they doing?" "Looking for me."

Have you ever tried to hide something, but ended up getting caught? I don’t know why I’m fixing to tell you this, but I am. When I was in high school I was dating a girl in my class. Every day I would walk her home from school and then make my way to my house, which was just down the street. For whatever reason, my parents had developed a much hated rule for me. It stated that I could not spend more than 15 minutes a day talking with my girlfriend outside her house. We were not to touch and we had to stay out in front of the house where we had no privacy. Looking back now those are great rules, but when I was a teen I despised having those regulations placed upon me. Needless to say, many times I would break those rules. Rarely did I stay just 15 minutes and there was definitely some PDA that went on.

Well, one day, for whatever reason, I decided that I was going to give my lovely girlfriend a goodbye kiss before I made my trek home. And so, there in front of her house, right outside her door, I leaned over and gave her a nice big kiss. Great, huh? The only problem was, just at that moment, her mom opened that front door and caught us red-handed, red-lipped, and very quickly red-faced. We were caught. That which we thought we’d get away with did not go unseen. Thankfully, her mom was merciful and to my knowledge did not say anything to my parents. If she did, I probably would have been history.

Now, you may be laughing at me now, but I know that you are no different than me. Perhaps you didn’t get caught kissing, but I know that the vast majority of us here today have probably been caught doing something we shouldn’t have been doing, but that we thought we could keep hidden.

Today I want us to look at a verse that should be a consolation to those who are living right, but it should also be a warning to those who are not. You can find this simple verse, the words of Jesus, in Luke 12:2… There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.

No doubt, in our younger days at home with mom and dad, each of us has done something in the secret; something that we didn’t want our parents to find out about. Maybe we were successful at keeping it hidden, maybe we weren’t so lucky. But we tried to get away with doing some things that we shouldn’t have been doing. As bad as that is, I believe there is something that is much worse and much more dangerous. I believe there are those today who are secretly sinning against God and hoping to be able to get away with it. I don’t know what that sin may be. It could be any number of things. But whatever it is, they have made themselves to look really good in front of their friends at church. They make it look like they’re being obedient to God. They make it sound like their heart is where it should be. But when no one else is looking they are doing some things that they are hoping will stay hidden from all their fellow church goers. I don’t know if there is anyone like that here this morning. But if there is, may I put up a warning sign for you today? There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.

Pastor Keaton told the story about a man who had been breaking into their car when they pastored in the city of Dayton, Ohio. He said night after night this guy would be getting into his car and shuffling through all his things looking for change or some cash that would be left behind. Finally one night Troy decided to put an end to this petty crime. So he wrote a note to the offender and left it on the driver’s seat of his car. The note read something like this… “Dear Sir. Your every move is being recorded at this time and will be played back for you at a later date.” He said he never had another problem with that guy getting into his car again.