Sermon, 4/06/03 am

Jim Huskey, Your Sins Will Find You Out

You know, it's amazing sometimes, how people will hear a passage of

scripture, will recognize it, and then say, "Oh, I know that; that's

Bible; I remember that passage." The only problem is, so many of the

passages of scripture people think they are familiar with and think

they know, they are neither familiar with nor know. Let me give you

a "for instance" we want to talk about this morning.

In the Old Testament there is a passage, part of which is very familiar,

not even a whole verse. It simply says. "Be sure your sins will find

you out." Over the years, from the time of childhood on upward, I've

heard preachers use that passage of scripture and, oh, they just

preach away on it. The only problem is, they never did talk about the

thing of which the passage actually speaks. They talked about everything

but that. Of course, when we think of a passage like that, we immediately

think of a passage from the New Testament that reads something like

this, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsover a man soweth,

that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the

flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the

Spirit reap life everlasting." Gal. 6:7,8. Somebody says, "You see,

the New Testament confirms what the Old Testament said." Well it

does, but the two are not talking about the same thing. As a matter of

fact, they're talking about totally DIFFERENT THINGS. Galatians 6:7,8

is talking about sins of commission, doing things we ought not do.

Over in the Old Testament the passage from which the statement "Be sure

your sins will find you out" is taken doesn't have anything to do with

what people OUGHT NOT DO, but with NOT DOING WHAT THEY SAID THEY WOULD

DO. So lets go back and take a little better look at that passage of

scripture that everybody recognizes, but nobody knows what it says.

In Numbers 32, we find the children of Israel have come to the borders

of the Jordan river in preparation for crossing over into the land of

Canaan. The children of Reuben and Gad had a great multitude of cattle.

When they say the land on the side of Jordan where they were, they

said 'hey, look, we've got cattle; this is a good place for cattle; so

what we want to do is stay here.' Well now what's the problem with

that. Well, in the first place, the primary inheritance was to be in

the land of Canaan. There was something that went beyond that. It had

to do with the fact that if they settled there on that side of Jordan

and decided not to go across the river then they were inheriting

basically without a fight. Their brethren had been with them when

they had come that far; now they were going to have to cross the Jordan

without them. They're going to be resting while their brethren are

going to fight. So several things ensue. In the first place, Moses

got upset with them. "And Moses said unto the chldren of God and to

the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit

here? And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel

from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them?"

Num. 32:6,7. He said 'that's what your forefathers did a long time

ago when we came to Kadeshbarnea.' Vs. 8. So the first problem is

the problem is the problem of discouragement. But that's not what the

passage "be sure your sins will find you out" involves.

In Numbers 32:16, Moses had laid down "the law", we read, "And they

came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our

cattle, and cities for our little ones; but we ourselves will go ready

armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto

their place; and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities

because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return unto

our houses until the children of Israel have inherited every man his

inheritance. For we will not inherit wih them on yonder side Jordan,

or forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side

Jordan eastward." Num. 32:16-19.

That was their promise. 'We will build our cities here, we will leave

our little ones and our cattle here and we will go before the children

of Israel, we will cross over the Jordan river and we will fight with

them until that land is taken and the inheritance can be divided

among them, then we will come home.' Well, let me just stop here.

They were not the first, nor were they to be the last, that would have

good intentions and make big promises. There had been those before

them who had done the same thing. But you see, some of the very ones

who made some of the biggest promises were the ones who died in the

wilderness. Listen to what Moses then said.

"And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go

armed before the Lord to war, and will go all of you armed over Jordan

before the Lord, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him,

and the land be subdued before the Lord; then afterward ye shall return,

and be guiltless before the Lord, and before Israel; and this land shall

be your possession before the Lord. But if ye will not do so, behold

ye have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you

out. Build you cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep;

and do that which hath proceeded out of your mouth. And the children

of Gad and the children of Reuben spake unto Moses saying, Thy

servants will do as my lord commandeth. Our little ones, our wives,

our flocks, and all our cattle, shall be there in the cites of

Gilead; but thy servants will pass over, every man armed for war,

before the Lord to battle, as my lord saith. So concerning them, Moses

commanded Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the sun of Nun, and the chief

fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel; and Moses said unto

them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with

you over Jordan, every man armed to battle, before the Lord, and the

land shall be subdued before you; then ye shall give them the land

of Gilead for a possession; but if they will not pass over with you

armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan."

Num. 32:20-30. Did you get that? If they would not do what they had

promised they would do, they would forfeit the land they had chosen.

They would wind up with what would be given to them.

"Be sure your sin will find you out." Now folks immediately think of

that 'Well, I know that; I know if I do wrong it's going to catch up

with me. I know there's a price for doing things we shouldn't do.'

But one of the things people have not learned is that there is a price

for NOT DOING the things we are supposed to do. It is specifically

with reference to that, that the passage 'be sure your sin will find

you out' was uttered. Stop and think for a minute. It may well be

that there are more folks lost for NOT doing what they were supposed

to do for doing what they WERE NOT supposed to do. I have a feeling

this may certainly be true with respect to the Lord's people. You see,

so many times during the days of the Old Testament, one of their

biggest problems was not doing the things they were supposed to do.

Now they had problems doing things they shouldn't, but failing to do

the things they were supposed to do got them in trouble over and over

again. It was with reference to that type sin that Moses said, 'be

sure your sin will find you out.'

I think it interesting that over in the New Testament, James 4:17

records, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not,

to him it is sin." You see, there are an awful of people who have

the concept that sin is limited to doing what we ought not do - that's

the definition of sin. NOT NECESSARILY SO!!!!! Moses said a long

time ago, that if the children of Gad and the children of Reuben didn't

do what they promised their sin would find them out. James said 'to

him that knoweth to do good and doesn't do it, to him it's sin.' Again,

your sin will find you out. We understand that when it relates to what

we ought not do, but a lot of folks never think of it as it relates

to NOT doing the things we SHOULD do.

There all sorts of ways to illustrate that. You see, people get so

caught up in making a living, they forget along the line they're also

supposed to making a life, and the two are not synonymous. Oh, I

realize we're supposed to work and provide for our own, but if in the

provison of material things we forget to provide the other things

that are just as needful, and in some ways more needful, eventually

that's going to find us out, we'll pay for it. Husbands and wives

far too often are good examples of this. It's not the things they DO

to each other that tears everything up; it's the things they DON'T do.

it's the things they don't do that become the straw that "breaks the

camel's back."

Be sure your sin will find you out. That's true if you go out and rob

a bank, but it's also true if you just don't do what you promised

you'll do, if you just don't do what you're supposed to do. You sin

will find you out; and there'll be a price to pay. There is a price

tag on everything we do. There's also a price tag on what we DON'T

do. Sometimes that price tag for failing to do what we ought to do is

very, very high. As a matter of fact, it was going to be that way for

the children of Reuben and Gad. You see, they wanted that land were

they were on the east side of Jordan. There was nothing wrong with

that, but Moses left word, 'if they don't cross Jordan, if they don't

fight with the nation of Israel in conquering Canaan, then they're

going to have to move, they're going to have to go off and leave the

cities they have built, the places they've prepared for their

families and have an inheritance on the other side Jordan.' So there

was going to be a price tag attached, it wasn't just that there sin

would find them out and people would know about it, it was going to

cost them.

Sin is that way. It always has been and always will be. Somebody

will say, "oh the christian life costs too much." You don't know

the half of it!!!! Sin is and always has been far more expensive.

The problem is a lot of times, just because God doesn't settle all

his accounts in "April", people think 'oh, that wasn't too bad, that

didn't cost me too much, it'll be all right.' God doesn't settle all

his accounts right now, but he does settle them. You could ask a man

like David, a man like king Saul, a man like Saul of Tarsus, about the

price of sin and they would tell you the price of serving God is

nothing compared to the price of sin - nothing.

So, that familiar passage "...Be sure your sin will find you out" has

a little different spin on it than most preachers over the years have

put on it. It's just a convenient passage to take out of its context,

and go here and there preaching like they want to; but it had to do

with some very specific issues and very specific circumstances. The

true principle is laid down and is still valid today, but we need to

understand the basis of that principle and the text from which it

comes. It has to do with NOT doing what we are supposed to do and

FAILING to do what we promise to do.