THE SECRET HIDDEN SIN

Hebrews 12:14-15

Introduction: This sin is hard to detect. Why? It is hard to see. We have several tall trees on the church property. You can see the leaves or needles on them. You see the pecans on the trees. But what you do not see is the root system that holds the tree up. This sin is hard to detect because it is hidden deep down inside of folks. They do not see root. They see the fruit of the root. The root system is what causes the fruit to get it nutrition.

It was important to remember that bitterness is a universal sin. That means that everyone at one time or another has this sin come into his or her lives.

When I was young, Mom run us out of bed early in the morning before it got hot and hoe the weeds out of the garden. She told us many times that we were to dig them up by the roots. If we just chopped them down, those weeds would be back before the week was over. Bitterness is the hidden sin from other folks.

I have pondered on this passage many times. I was talking with someone and I could tell that this person did not just have the root of bitterness; they had the fruit to go with it.

Without spending a great deal of time on the physical, I want to mention it in passing. Bitterness as I said earlier is a universal sin. Solomon tells us what happens when we put away sin from our lives.

Proverbs 3:7-8

“Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.”

If we allow sin to reign in our lives and that is exactly what bitterness does, then we affect the marrow of our bones. When you affect the marrow of your bones, you affect the place where your body produces its blood supply. When you affect your body supply, you affect every area of your body. Many of the physical problems you have may be traced back to this sin, the sin of bitterness.

James Earls said this about bitterness. “Bitterness is the only chemical that will destroy its own container- YOU.” That is the truth if you have heard it!

Let’s look at just two main points about bitterness. If we can see what bitterness is and how to rid ourselves of it, then we can have victory in our walk with the Lord.

I. RECOGNIZING THE ROOT OF BITTERNESS

There are three characteristics of a bitter person.

A person who is bitter is someone who is hurt deeply. There are many reasons to be bitter but no excuse to be bitter. The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. So let’s look at some folks in the Bible who had a reason to be bitter.

Job’s wife had reasons to be bitter. One day, she had it all. She had ten children, a husband with health and wealth and probably anything her heart desired. One fateful day all that changed. One day she is on the way to the cemetery with ten caskets in front of her. A few days later, her husband who lost all is now stricken with the worst case of boils that a person could ever have. It is from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. I do not know if you ever had a boil or not, but I have. I have had two serious ones in Bible College. One of the most miserable a person can have is a boil. I had one on my knee. It caused my knee to swell to twice its normal size. The same was true with the one on my hand. In fact, it had to be lanced. Job’s wife wants to end her misery. If you ever lost one child in death, then you could imagine her grief in just a small way over losing all ten of her children in death and all on the same day. Even she tried to convince Job to curse God and die. That was her bitterness talking. She forgot that all she had came from the Lord. Bitter people tend to do that. They forget God. Before getting too critical of Mrs. Job, we have gotten bitter over far less.

Naomi was bitter. Why? She made that long walk home after her husband sinned against God and left the land to go to Moab. She changed her name to Mara that means bitterness. She lost her husband and children. She goes to Moab full and comes back empty.
Joseph could have been bitter. Think of his situation. He is his father’s favorite. He goes to deliver a message from his father. They put him in a pit. They planned to kill him. But they could not bring themselves to do it. So they sold him into slavery that was just as good as a death sentence. Potiphar buys Joseph. Potiphar realizes that this is a young man of character. He put Joseph in charge of his house. Then his wife sees this young man as a treat. Joseph runs from her and she accuses him of attempted rape. Potiphar has Joseph thrown into prison. But Joseph still is not bitter.

Later Joseph interprets two men’s dreams. The one fellow is set free and promised to get Joseph free. But he forgets Joseph. Does Joseph get bitter? No! He is trusting in God. He believes God. Later he is set free and comes second in command in the land of Egypt. When his brothers comes to buy bread, he could have been bitter and released it but he saw God’s hand in all that was behind him. Here is what he said after his father’s death. Genesis 50:20

“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

A bitter person is who like to involve others in their bitterness. Misery loves company. We find this in our text verses. It is with these words: “thereby many be defiled”. When you are bitter, you are really bitter toward God because He is sovereignty over all situations in our lives.

He knows what diseases that come in our lives. He knows the shape and size we are. He knows all the tragedies that come into our lives. He allows them to come into our lives. He allowed all the events to occur in Job’s life. Some read the book of Job and think the main meaning of the book is when bad things happen to good people. If that is your take on the book, then you missed the main point on the book. The main them of the book is the sovereignty of God. He allowed these events to occur in Job’s life and showed Himself strong.

A bitter person will not easily admit that they are bitter. If you ask them, they will deny that they are bitter. Why? Bitterness is underground and out of sight. To further understand this you have understand the character of bitterness.

You have to plant the seed before this before it you can get roots.

The roots come first and they are the foundation.
The root feeds the tree.

There are some manifestations of bitterness. Let me give you eight different manifestations.

Anger
Vengeful thoughts
Immorality
Isolation
Depression
Addictions
Critical spirit
Gossip

One reason why they fail to admit bitterness is that they feel justified in their feelings because they were wronged. Naomi thought God wronged her. In fact, it was the sin of her husband that caused all of her problems.

Mrs. Job lost ten children. She wants her husband to commit that hideous sin of cursing God so he will be out of his misery. Why did not she curse God? She wanted to live but she was going to live with her bitterness.

II. REMOVE THE ROOT OF BITTERNESS

Vs. 15

“Looking diligently”

This phrase implies close attention. It is implied that there are reasons why we should take special care. Those reasons are found in the tendencies of our hearts to evil; in the temptations of the world.

It is important to remember this truth: the Judge of this earth is always right. He is right in allowing Satan to take all of Job’s children, wealth and heath. He was right when He allowed Joseph to go through all that he did. He was right to judge the sin of Elimelech who was Naomi’s husband.

God wants us to deal with this sin also.

Ephesians 4:30-32

“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”

Here is the remedy for this sin. There is five-fold procedure to do so.

1. Acknowledge it. Until you admit that you have a problem you will never be able get rid of the problem.

2. Confess it as sin 1^st John 1:9

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

A generic confession will not do. The word “confess” means “to say the same thing as another, i.e. to agree with”. Just to tell the Lord that you are bitter is a generic confession. That is cutting down the weed without getting to the root of the weed. When you confess the sin, you are chopping down the root also. Why are you bitter? The preacher wronged me. My husband wronged me. To confess your sin means to call the sin exact what God calls it. Your anger may be a manifestation of your bitterness against others.

Are there other verses like this? Yes and here some of them are. Psalm 32:5

“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”

Psalm 51:2-4

“Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Proverbs 28:13

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

1^st John 1:7

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

Until you get this part of the procedure done, you will never remove the root of bitterness before God.

Adam Clarke says this about confession of sin. “If, from a deep sense of our guilt, impurity, and helplessness, we humble ourselves before God, acknowledging our iniquity, his holiness, and our own utter helplessness, and implore mercy for his sake who has died for us; he is faithful, because to such he has promised mercy; and just, for Christ has died for us, and thus made an atonement to the Divine justice; so that God can now be just, and yet the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.”

3. Forgive the other person. That is tough. Since you feel justified in having these feelings of bitterness, it is almost impossible to forgive the other person. This is so true in the lives of people who have had a divorce. Some of the bitterest people I have ever talked are people who were divorced. Jesus dealt with that subject.

Matthew 6:14

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you”

Why don’t people want to forgive? They will have to shed themselves of the martyr’s complex. They will not be able to get people to feel sorry for them anymore. What we see painfully true in their lives as bitterness that is nothing less than sin, they see as a shining cross to carry!

My father left my mother with six children ranging from ten years old to six months old. He did not pay child support for years. But I can not recall my mother having a gripe session about him. She still does not do that until this day. She wrote one day and told him that she forgave him. She released that bitterness and refused to allow it to get root.

4. Pray for the offender. Job 42:10

“And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”

Job’s friends showed up one day not long after his children died and he lost his health and wealth. I used to think something kind of those guys until I learned that it was a custom for guests to keep silent until the host speaks. Job did not say anything for seven days so they did not do so either. But when they did speak, all they did was accuse or try to confuse Job. But when Job prayed for his friends, God blessed his life.

When praying for the offender, try to remember these three rules.

Don’t nurse your wrong.
Don’t rehearse your wrong.
Don’t curse your wrong.

These three rules will make your prayer genuine. God knows the difference.

5. Ask God to pour grace into your heart.

James 4:6

“But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

1^st Peter 5:5

“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”

We need grace to help us. It will help heal any wrong in life. This means all wrong.

Paul never nursed, rehearse or curse his offenders. He could have been bitter. What did the Lord tell Paul when Paul asked for the thorn in his flesh to be removed.

2^nd Corinthians 12:9-10

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

In all Paul’s problems and perils, he knew that the God was giving him grace to bear those problems and perils.

Conclusion: So why carry the bitterness? When we get bitter, we lose our charity. Paul deals with this also. 1^st Corinthians 13:4-7

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”

I found that sometimes that the person that we are have the greatest bitterness in our hearts is the person in whom has done some of the greatest things for us. They allow one incident to rob them of the joy and blessings for one incident.

Today I know the Lord has spoken to hearts in regards to this subject. Isn’t high time to live past your bitterness and acknowledge it as sin, confess the same and start the healing process?

Some of the physical problems you have can be traced back to sins like bitterness. Better physical health is one reason why you should forgive. But more importantly, better spiritual health is far greater reason to forgive. May God help us take those first steps toward spiritual freedom and joy!

This is a message that was preached from the pulpit first at Freedom Baptist Church located at 313 North Brightleaf Blvd Smithfield, NC. But since you have the large print version, it was preached at Smithfield Manor. It is the desire and prayer of Pastor Mike Walls and church that the Lord will use this to help you in your walk with Him. If we can be a help to you, we would like to try. If you would like to trust Him as Saviour and need help, it would be our joy to show you how to be saved. You can contact Pastor Walls at home (919) 934-3302. Or you could email him at jmichaelwalls@juno.com.