There Are No Permanent Secrets

Our basic text this morning is found again in the Gospel of Luke. But before turning to it I want you to read with me one verse found in the epistle of First Corinthians 4. Will you turn with me first of all to 1 Corinthians 4? 1 Corinthians 4. And reading verse 5.

“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.”

And now you turn to Luke 12. Luke 12. Luke 12. And beginning to read at verse 1.

“In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.’”

In 1957 Perry Donald Hudson was not a whole lot different from a lot of other young men who cruised the streets and the drive-in restaurants of North Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was twenty-four years of age. He owned a souped-up car. And he occasionally ran moonshine. That was not too uncommon in southeast Tennessee in those days. Perry was known to the police because he had once been arrested and charged with driving a liquor car that had been overturned in a high-speed chase.

But on July the 20th, 1957, as he was driving his car about a block from where his parents lived, someone drove up alongside of him. And they fired a .410-gauge shotgun through the passenger window, striking Perry Hudson in the head and killing him. The police at first suspected a moonshine connection. But later they found out that two weeks before, Perry had received a threatening phone call warning him to stay away from a certain woman. The police interviewed Joan Hopgood, a widow and a girlfriend of Perry’s with whom he had just recently broken up. But apparently all of their investigations led nowhere. And the crime was put down as unsolved. And that is the way it remained for the next thirty years.

Meanwhile back in 1957 the brother of Perry’s girlfriend, twenty-four-year-old Bobby Hopwood, was the best football player in town. He had been an all-state quarterback or halfback. And he was in his senior year at the University of Tennessee. Apparently after graduating from the university he pursued an athletic career. And by 1988 he was the athletic director at the Chattanooga State Technical Community College.

There is one more man who figures in this story. His name is Detective Richard Peek. He was only five years old in 1957. But early in 1987, as he was serving on a special squad to investigate unsolved murders, he reopened the case of the killing of Perry Hudson. He talked to Perry’s mother. And she informed him that there had not been a day in the last thirty years that she had not thought about her son’s killing. He collected all of the newspaper clippings that he could. He had interviews with at least forty-five different people. And eventually he came up with new evidence which he believed solved the murder.

So in the month of March 1988 the police arrested Bobby Hopwood, former football hero, current athletic director at a community college. And they charged him with the murder of Perry Donald Hudson.

Now I admit to you this morning that at the time that this story appeared in one of the local papers the trial was still pending. And it is entirely possible that Bobby Hopwood was acquitted and found innocent. But this I know. That if Bobby Hopwood really committed that murder, then for thirty long years he carried a dark and horrible secret buried inside his soul. And suddenly and unexpectedly that secret came out into the open.

Now I do not happen to believe that we have got any secret murderers in the audience this morning. In fact I would be very shocked if we did. But I strongly suspect that there is not a single person in this auditorium, starting with the man behind the pulpit, who does not have a few secrets that he or she wishes could remain buried forever and ever.

And it is my solemn obligation to tell you this morning that that is not the way it works. That is not the way it works. Even if you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for the free gift of everlasting life and even if you are now a dedicated follower of His, that is still not the way it works.

And this morning I would like you to think with me for a little while about the profound implications of a very sobering fact. And the fact is this. There are no permanent secrets.

May I repeat that? Because that happens to be the title of my message to you this morning. There are no permanent secrets.

Now I kind of think that everybody in this audience this morning, or many of you in this audience this morning, are aware that your speaker had his very first romance many years ago when I fell madly in love with a little second-grade girl named Annie. And you probably also know that I had it real bad for that little girl. I not only daydreamed about her in the daytime. I dreamed about her at night.

And I was brought up to be a very well-behaved little boy. But Cupid corrupted me in the second grade. And I fell into the habit of passing love notes to this little girl during class, which was definitely against the rules. There was a logistics problem, however. Annie sat in the first seat in the first row of the classroom. And I sat in the last seat of the second row. And it was a little difficult to get notes all the way up to Annie.

And I think I have already told you about that infamous day when we came in from recess. And I had a little note for this little girl. And I slipped it in the hand of a guy that I thought was my trusted friend who just happened to sit right next to her, the first seat in the second row. And what did he do? He carried it straight to my second-grade teacher.

Now believe me, I understand how Queen Esther in the Bible felt when she cried out, “Treason! Treason!” And some of the most embarrassing moments of my career followed as she, the teacher, silently read that mushy little communication to herself. And I was in terrible mortal fear that she was going to read it to the entire class. And then my passionate little secret would be out. And can you imagine all of the kidding that I would have gotten from the second-grade pupils?

And I shall be forever indebted to her that she simply wadded up the note. And she did not say a word about it either to me or to the class. I guess she thought my embarrassment was punishment enough.

But did I learn my lesson, folks? No, I did not learn my lesson. I was in love. And later in the year my seat was moved to the third seat in the first row. And now there was only one little second-grade boy between me and the girl of my childhood dreams. It was a lot easier to pass notes.

And it was then, folks, that I fell into a little piece of childhood chicanery. You see I was bashful in those days too. And I did not have the courage to ask Annie how she really felt about me. So I wrote her a little note hoping that she would think it came from the little boy sitting behind her. And I asked the great earthshaking question in this note: “Do you love Zane?”

Then I folded up the note and passed it to the little boy who passed it to Annie. And I waited breathlessly for the answer to the great question of my life. And eventually Annie scribbled a note, passed it back to the little boy without looking behind her, of course. And he dutifully passed it back to me. And I opened it eagerly.

And what do you think that Annie had written? I kid you not. She wrote, “None of your business.” And I learned at a very early age that hypocrisy, like crime, does not pay.

And just in case any of you are curious, I later found out that Annie was not interested. Who knows what might have become of that romance had we not both graduated the third grade and been placed in different classes?

But you know I am grown up now. And I wonder if I, and I wonder if you, have already truly learned that lesson. Do we really understand? Do we really believe that hypocrisy does not pay?

Did you notice the way in which the passage of Scripture that we read this morning begins? Did you notice how it opened? The Bible tells us that Jesus was being attended by huge crowds. Apparently Jesus was at the peak of His popularity in the land of Palestine. And the crowds that collected around Him were too numerous to count. And the crowd pressure was so great that they practically stepped on each other.

And can you imagine that this really impressed His disciples? I mean some of these guys were simple fishermen who used to earn their living out on a lake all by themselves and their partners at night. They had never been a part of anything like this. Do you not kind of imagine that when they saw all of these crowds gathering around the man to whom they had become disciples that kind of made them feel important? That that kind of made them unconsciously alter their behavior just a little bit so that they would look important to the crowd?

And it was at such a time as this, my friends, that the Lord Jesus Christ turned to His disciples first of all. And Jesus did not say to those men, “You see all these big crowds? Are you impressed that you are a part of this big thing that God is doing in the land of Israel?” He did not say that, my friends. He did not say that at all.

Jesus gathered His disciples. And He said to them very simply, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

Do I need to tell you that the Pharisees are probably the most famous hypocrites in human literature? Their whole lives were filled with hypocrisy. When they were fasting they did not put oil on their face as they usually did. They maintained the scruffy look so that people would know that they were fasting. When they got an opportunity to pray in public they prayed long prayers. And one of their favorite spots for prayer was on a street corner where everybody could watch their spiritual exercise.

And when they walked through a marketplace they just loved it when people treated them with respect and said, “Rabbi, Rabbi.” When they walked into the synagogue they wanted the best seats in the synagogue. When they reclined at a low Middle Eastern table where they had been invited to dinner they wanted the best spots at the table.

You see hypocrisy in their lives was like yeast in bread which permeates the entire loaf as it is being baked. And hypocrisy filled the minds of these men so that the real question they were asking was not, “What am I really like?” The question they were asking was, “How do I look? How do I look to other people?”

And do I need to tell you that even true Christians can fall into that trap where we are more concerned about what other people think of us than we are concerned about what we really are in the sight of God?

It is reported that there was once a prince restaurant which came up with a very clever gimmick. When a young man brought his girlfriend to the restaurant they were met by a smiling waiter who handed them each a fancy-looking menu. The menus were identical except for the prices. The menu that was handed to the young man had the real prices of the items that were being served. And the menu that was handed to the young lady had horribly expensive, hugely inflated prices.

And so when they sat down and the young man casually ordered for himself and for his girlfriend she practically choked at the tremendous expense that he was laying out to entertain her at that restaurant. That particular gimmick, did it work? You better believe it worked. In a few weeks that restaurant had its business.

And let us admit it. Sometimes we would like people to read the fake menu, would we not? We would like them to evaluate us. We would like them to estimate us at a higher value than we really have. And you see when you begin to behave that way you have been infected with a dangerous spiritual yeast.

“Beware,” says Jesus. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

Now let us admit it, shall we? Not all hypocrites are successful. Some of them are very poor actors. And you see through their hypocrisy almost immediately. I love the story about the young man who wrote a love letter to the girl of his dreams. And the letter said this: “I would climb the highest mountain, swim the widest ocean, cross the burning desert, die at the stake for you. P.S. I will see you Saturday if it does not rain.”

Some hypocrites are easy to see through, are they not? But some are not. Some people are good actors. And they can pull their act successfully for years in succession. And sometimes they carry their successful act into the grave with them. But even when that is true it still remains a fact that hypocrisy does not pay.

Did you listen closely to the words of Jesus as He pursues this warning to His disciples? “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered which shall not be revealed, nor hidden which shall not be known.”

Notice that Jesus does not say some things that are covered will be revealed. Notice that He does not say most things that are covered shall be revealed. Jesus says there is nothing, nothing, nothing covered which shall not be revealed.

Well someone says, “Hopefully, hopefully He is talking about the things we do and those alone.” I am sorry. That is not all He is talking about. He goes on to say, “Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be known in the light, and whatever you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms shall be proclaimed from the housetops.”

Listen, says Jesus. There are no permanent secrets. Every secret thing, every secret word will someday be made totally public. And the most secret and confidential things that you have ever said will be in the public domain just as if they were being shouted from rooftop to rooftop.

Now I can almost hear someone say, “Hold it. I thought God had forgiven our sin. And if He has forgiven our sins why would He make them public?”

Well you are right about one thing. When we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the gift of eternal life we not only get eternal life but forgiveness of all the things that we have done wrong. And then when we sin as Christians, if we confess those sins God forgives those sins. Not to keep us saved, we can never lose eternal life, but to keep us in fellowship with Himself.

But listen closely. Forgiving our sins is not the same as keeping them secret. I repeat that. Forgiving our sins is not the same as keeping them secret.

Did you folks ever hear of a king named David who once committed adultery with a woman named Bathsheba on the quiet? And when Bathsheba found out that she was pregnant, did you hear how David brought her husband Uriah back from the battlefront while her husband had been fighting for his king and the king had been committing adultery with Uriah’s wife? And after the first night he tried to persuade Uriah to go down to his house and have sexual relations with his wife so that the child that was born would appear to be Uriah’s. And when Uriah refused to go, did you hear how David got him drunk the next night and tried to get him down to his house? And even then Uriah refused to go.

And then did you hear how David wrote secret orders to his commander in chief instructing the commander to put Uriah in the most dangerous part of the battle so that Uriah was killed? And when David got the report on that, did you hear how David took Bathsheba into his palace to become his wife? Yeah, you heard, did you not?

Did God forgive those sins? He most certainly did. And the Bible tells us that when David was confronted by his fault that David cried out, “I have sinned.” And the prophet Nathan said, “God also has put away your sin.”

But forgiving our sins is not the same as keeping them secret. And God allowed all those shameful acts to be written on the pages of His Word. They have been read by millions of people. They will be on the pages of God’s Word forever and read forever. God did not keep David’s most shameful secret. And He is not going to keep yours.

G. Campbell Morgan was at one time the president of Overdale College in Ohio. And he tells this amusing story. One time there was standing on a corner a pitiful-looking man with dark glasses and a tin cup. And a kindly gentleman passed him by and dropped a dime into his cup. And this was back in the days when dimes were worth something. And as the giver walked away he just happened to look around. And he was surprised to see the blind man with his dark glasses pushed up on his forehead looking with eager eyes at the gift that he had just been given.

Somewhat annoyed by this the giver said to him, “I thought you were blind.” “Oh no,” came the reply. “I am just substituting for the regular blind man. I am not blind at all.” And the donor said to him, “Well where is the regular blind man?” “Oh,” said the fake blind man, “he is at the movies. This is his afternoon off.”

But I guess that hypocrites deserve an afternoon off. But hey, God thinks they deserve eternity off. All that they deserve is eternity off.

And you see in the future world there will be no hypocrisy. And there will be no pretense. And if you are a believer this morning, when you enter into the kingdom of God you will not have to worry about keeping your secrets anymore. You know why? You will not have any. And neither will I. There are no permanent secrets.

Now we might ask the question, for those of us who are saved and on our way to heaven, when does this time of exposure occur? When does it take place for us? And I think the answer is very clear. It takes place when the Lord returns. It takes place when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

And that is why the Apostle Paul was able to speak the words that we read at the very beginning. There says Paul, “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make plain the counsels of the heart. Then each one will have his praise come from God.”

It gets worse, does it not? Not only our secret things, not only our secret words, but our secret motives and our secret plans. “He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness. He will reveal the counsels of the heart.”

I am going to be frank with you. I do not like that. I do not like this truth any better than anybody in my audience. And I would not dare to preach it to you if it was not so clearly stated in the Bible. But there is a silver lining.

Yes, in that day it will not be worth a plug nickel what people thought of us when we were on earth. And yes, it will not be worth two cents if we fooled everybody our entire life. But if we have done things that please God then He will commend us and reward us for those things. Then, says Paul, then each one’s praise will come from the only proper source. Then each one’s praise will come from God.

Heli Sue Rotz was a student at the Twin Lakes High School in West Palm Beach, Florida. And she missed an appointment with a guidance counselor. The counselor did not think that was particularly unusual because in a school with two thousand students and a full roster of extracurricular activities a student can be expected to miss an appointment or two.

But Heli Sue was no ordinary student. By the time she was a junior this pretty blue-eyed blond had won a lot of honors. She was a member of the debate club, boosters club, she was a member of the swimming club, she wrote for the school paper, she had run for a student council seat, she had even entered a beauty contest to pick a Miss Twin Lakes. Her name was frequently heard over the public address system with announcements like this: “Sue, come to the office. Your mother has brought you lunch.”

And of course there was the time that she took out an advertisement in the school paper advertising for a date. But when Heli Sue failed to keep any of her rescheduled appointments the counselor got kind of suspicious. And he began to ask questions. And the friends of Heli Sue tried to make up explanations for her. But all the explanations were imaginary because Sue was Heli Sue Rotz. You see Heli Sue Rotz did not exist. She was a student picture. She was a student hoax. And a bunch of clever students were trying to pull a fast one on their faculty.

And although some of the faculty had caught on to the nonexistence of Heli Sue, the principal had not. And the principal was asked about her. And he said, “I cannot exactly place her but the name does ring a bell.”

Now folks, I wonder out loud whether there could be anybody kind of like that in the audience this morning. I mean the person that you want your fellow Christians to believe that you are, the person that you may want your Christian parents or your Christian friends to believe that you are, that person does not exist. It is a picture. It is a fake. It is an act.

And if that is true of any of you then here is my advice. Get real. We do not have any time for playacting. Serve God sincerely and from your heart. And if you are ever tempted to do anything else remember this. There are no permanent secrets.

Shall we pray? Father, this is grim truth for people like ourselves who recognize that we are sinners. And yet this is something that we urgently need. Despite Your wonderful grace and forgiveness we never get away with anything. And we never hide anything from You. So sober us by Your help. Help us to lay hold of this truth and to apply it as we ought to apply it to our life and experience. We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.