SECRET SINS & CONSEQUENCES
Who commit sins and who carry the punishment?

Romans 2:16, "In the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel."

Every secret sin will attract serious judgment of God at the end. And the question is, "What is a secret sins" Or "Which sin is secret?"

Any sin you are hiding from men, keeping it secret, is simply a secret sin. When it says "secret", it doesn't mean keeping it secret from God, since nothing is secret or hidden before God; but keeping it secret from necessary people has made it a secret sin. Hiding your past or immediate sin from people that ought to know is a secret sin that awaits the serious judgment of God. On the other hand, to open up a sin does not mean the whole world must hear or you must tell everyone in your life or everyone you come across, no. It means you don't keep it secret from necessary people that you need to open up to, even if it is your past life. Necessary people may be your marital partner, your spouse, your parents, your pastors, Christian partners like prayer partners and close brethren. The necessary people may your family member or your children. When a child of God falls into sin, after confessing to God, he or she needs to confess to one another as the case may be. In the body of Christ, confessing to one another depends on the person's position in the church. A member may only need to confess to close brethren, immediate leader and pastor; a leader will need to confess to close brethren and the pastor, and the pastor will notify the necessary people. A pastor will need to confess to the brethren, or the whole church as the case may be.

Who Carries The Consequences?
When a Christian confesses his sin to necessary people, he has nothing to lose since he has repented and decided never to go back into such sin again, and because God has forgiven him; so confessing to necessary people brings no shame but God's blessings. But there is something very important which we really need to look into. When a brother or sister confesses their sins to one another, they humble themselves for God to honor them, so they are totally free from such sin and no more consequence, now or later. But the issue is that, the people who hear the confessions or who they inform about the sins need to be very careful, so as not to carry the load of those sins on their own heads. When somebody confesses sin to you as a result of his rededicated Christian life, you must not hold it against the person, you must not reproach the person, and you must not disregard or disrespect the person. Why? Because the person who confesses his past or a particular sin to you does that to honor God's word, so if you despise, you are not actually despising the person but God whom the person honors his word.

Let's look at a story from the Bible:
2 Samuel 6:14-17, " Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart."

Verses 20-23, "Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. 22 And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.” Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death."

Michal despised King David because he humbled himself before God, because he honored God; and the consequence of her action was life barrenness. When people open up about their past to you, if it is personal to you, you need to forgive them and forget about it; if it is in the body of Christ, you must respect them and counsel them rightly. Do not reproach or despise people when they open up about their past or immediate sins. The mystery is that, the person who repents and confesses will be free from that sin, no matter how terrible, but the person who hears and refuses to forgive or who reproaches will carry the whole consequences of the sin and will be seen as sinner before God.

The Bible warns us in 1 Timothy 5: 22 that we should not partake in another man's sin. One of the various means of partaking in another man's sin is by hearing and despising, gossiping or spreading it to other person. How will someone else commit sin and you will be the person to carry the punishment? We should be very careful. If you refuse to forgive somebody because they open up to you, you urgently need to freely forgive, and when you forgive, you need to forget about it; if you have despised people in the body of Christ because they open up, you need to repent and ask for God's forgiveness.

God bless you!

If you need counsel on confession of sins or opening up to the right people, please contact us:

Revelation of Truth Evangelical Ministries - RTEM

Website: rtemoutreach.org