I thank God that everybody that's here will never be gathered in this manner or fashion again. They'll always be something that's a little different. The Bible reminds us that today is the day of salvation. Right now, this moment in time. Let me say to the church, I certainly desire your prayers this morning. There's a cumberedness in my heart this morning. I don't know, maybe somebody's come in the doors and they're in trouble. I don't know where you stand with the Lord, but all I know is that the burden in my heart is heavy this morning. And, you know, I don't say that very often. I mean, we always have a burden to work with. But this morning it just feels like that. The need maybe has reached its apex in somebody's life and somebody needs the Lord this morning. And I want to encourage you. I want to remind you that He loves you this morning. That if you'll come to Him, He'll in no wise turn you away or cast you aside. But it's His great desire to draw you. We've been all over the Good Shepherd this morning in the 23rd Psalm. I want you to know this, that it is the will of the Good Shepherd to seek and to say to God. I want you to know the Good Shepherd would love to save your soul this morning. I'm going to ask you to stand to your feet. for the reading of God's Word. 32nd chapter, first verse of the book of Psalms. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones like night, thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into drought of summer, Salah. Listen to verse five. I acknowledge my sin unto thee, mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgive us the iniquity of my sin, Salah. We come to you, Lord, this morning. God, knowing this, that you see us as we are. God, that there's nothing that's hidden from me. God, you understand my thoughts afar off. Lord, you not only see my actions and what I do, but God, you see the reason for why I do them. God, there's nothing that is hidden from me. And God this morning has gone astray. God, I come to you as one that's not been perfected, but a vessel that is broken and marred in the hand of the potter. But oh God, thank you that I'm still in your hand. God, thank you that you're working in the hearts and the lives of your people. God, we know this this morning. We can't fool you. You're God. You see all things. You know all things, and God we wouldn't even dare to try. The blood of the Lamb of God, our sins which are many, would be hidden from God, that they'd be washed as white as the snow. God may we Be willing this morning to reveal unto you, Lord, the thoughts of our heart and the sin in our lives and find reconciliation and, Lord, find healing for our lives and our families and our hearts. God, our heart. God speak to us, God, in a way that we'll all understand that we know the Bible said that the sheep hear the voice of the good shepherd. Now, God, I pray, speak this morning. It's in Christ's name we ask. Amen and amen. Let me say this morning again, it's always an honor and a privilege to be in the house of God. And I couldn't help but think on some things all week that God's thoughts begin to come to our mind and in our heart. And there's one thing that I believe God spoke to me this week, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt it is the truth. It is simply this, that nothing that I do is hid from God. God sees everything that I do. God not only sees what I do, but God knows the desires of my heart and the reason for why I believe in the New Testament. Where Jesus was sitting with them and the Bible simply says He perceived their thoughts. He knew what they were thinking this morning. I want to tell you, your thoughts may be hid from me, but your thoughts are not hid from God. God knows what's on your mind right now at this moment. And to find restoration with God, And to find forgiveness with God, we have to be willing to be honest about it. I come to you, and I know that people put a lot of emphasis on the little pastor or under-shepherd. I'm telling you, I'm as flawed as anybody in the house of God this morning. I have flaws, and I'm still fighting the daily battle with sin. And I'm in the battle fighting every day just like you are. And I think while we were praying, we even made the comment that all we like sheep have gone astray. And the question's not if we'll stray, it's in our carnal nature to stray. It's always working to bring us back into the fold of God. And this morning, I want you to know it's not God's will that any perish, but all come under repentance. And if you tried to live for God at all, you know this, that the way of a Christian, it is a repenting way. Listen, I repented of my sin the day God saved my soul, but I've been repenting every day since. That I am a flawed man, I have with me yet. But so often we delay the healing process in our lives because we try to hide stuff from God. Or if I had a thought this morning, it's simply this, you can't hide nothing from God. He already knows. He already sees. And brothers and sisters, what He's waiting on is for you and I just to confess where we're at and what we've done. And it's just in the nature of men and women to want to hide from God, against God. Remember, He came walking in the cool of the day. And what was their response to their sin? They hid. themselves. And then they tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. But I want you to know this morning that there's nothing that you can hide from God. Everything in your life God sees. Everything in your life God already knows. Whenever Hunter was a young man, home from revival, one night and he and Caleb were already in the bed, and Hunter had a little old puppy, that was his security blanket. And he took that little old puppy, little old spotted Dalmatian, you know, toy dog, everywhere he went. And so I come in from revival, and I start up the steps, and I go to flip on the switch, you know, the light, and the switch plate is broke. And somebody thought they were really, really smart. And just after they had broke it, they kind of eased it back in place like nothing happened. I said, who broke this switch plate? And I heard a little voice in the room beside me say, I don't know, but somebody did. So I walked in there and I said, Hunter, son, what happened to the light switch? You know what he said? He held up his little puppy and he said, daddy, puppy did it. Even now, I said that, and I know that's a little funny, but I said that simply because of this. Even from a young age, we try to hide the mistakes that we make. You may be thinking, you may have thought, well, daddy's really going to whoop me over the ears or whatever. But we try to hide what we've done, and God already knows it. Now listen, it wasn't just Adam and Eve, but they had two boys, one by the name of Cain and one by the name of Abel. And old Cain was like myself, a tiller of the ground, Abel, a keeper of the flock. And the day come when they were to give God's sacrifice, and Cain brought God up. upon the altar, and God had no respect for his sacrifice. On the other hand, Abel brought a blood sacrifice, the blood of the lamb, and laid that slain lamb upon the altar, and God had respect under his sacrifice. Now, here Cain is, and he begins to reason in his mind, how dare Abel get one over on me? And jealousy begins to creep into his heart. I want you to know this morning, jealousy is crueler than the grave. The point that he slew him. Now listen, Cain believed this lie. Nobody will ever find out. I'm going to tell you, brothers and sisters, God already knew what He was going to do before He did it, and certainly God knew after He had done it. Cain, where is thy brother Abel? Am I my brother's keeper again trying to hide it from God? And God said, his righteous blood you tried to burn, but I want you to know something, Cain, I know what you've done. Cain, You're gonna have to suffer a mark I'm gonna put on you. And everywhere Cain went, they looked at him, God marked him, and they said, there is that man that slew his brother. And he was known throughout the rest of his life for the story of our past livelihood, for what we've done in our past. You know what they'd say about me? There's that boy that cut a boy. There's that boy that had a wreck and almost killed his best friend. Oh, I was marked. But thank God there's something greater than the mark of sin. It's the blood of the Lamb. Come and let us reason together. Although our sins be discarded, shall be whiter than the snow. I traded in the mark of sin for the mark of the blood of the Lamb. I'm a marked man. Glory to the Lord. I don't know what to say about you. And about me, let me tell you what they used to do. But listen, God made a change in their life and that ain't who they are anymore. Now, We'll see as you go later on in your Bible, and this is the man that God had laid on my heart. A man, does anybody know the story of a man by the name of Achaan in the Bible? Anybody know the story? There's a man in the Bible by the name of Achaan, and the Bible said that God had told the children of Israel in the book of Joshua Now Joshua was taken over, and remember God said now, only be thou strong, be thou encouraged, and know this, I'll not leave thee. And they went in and sent the spies into Jericho. Those of you that know the story know how Rahab let out the scarlet cord in the window, and that was a token in how they saved her. But somewhere, hang on, and the Bible said, They marched around the city for six days, and they'd blow their trumpets on the seventh day. They marched around and blew their trumpets and gave a great shout, and the walls fell down flat. And they did rescue Rahab, and her family was saved. by the scarlet coat in the window, which is a representation and a forerunner of the blood of Christ. But that's not what's on my heart this morning. Listen, God told them, don't you take anything out of the city of Jericho. It is... Everyday person. Never really had no great wealth in his life. Never really had anything of great monetary value by the name of a kid. Just a regular old Joe. An old kid, he's walking through the city of Jericho, and they've defeated the enemies, and he looks over on the table, and on the table there's a huge wedge of gold. He'd never held anything like it. Brady's son, he'd never even seen nothing like it. He'd never seen that much gold in all of his life. And there are 200 shekels of some. Don't touch it. Don't take it. Stay away from it. It's a curse. But down in the resources or recesses of his mind, his mind begins to tell him, go ahead, just touch it. It'll be alright. So he walks over, Brother Nelson, and he grabs that wedge of gold, and it's smooth, and it's shiny, and oh, it's a value. He's never held nothing that valuable in his hands in all of his life. Runs his fingers through 200 shackles of silver. He's never counted or he's never seen anything silk and beautiful like that in all of his life. And then old Satan stops by and says, boy, go ahead and take it. Nobody will know it. And on the other side, God's saying, son, I told you, don't take it. And old Satan says, this will be our little secret. And he does find out, it'll only hurt me. It won't hurt my family. Oh, at the lies, that have been ruined because people made decisions and they thought it only affected them. We don't sit in a vacuum. Everything I do affects my wife. How do they affect my son? I'm the little under shepherd of Silver City Church. I'm a member of Ebenezer Church. And everything I do, it reflects on the people of God. Go ahead, do it, nobody will know. Go ahead, make it inside. God is saying, son, don't do this. And so he takes it, goes back to his tent, gets a little utensil and a little shovel behind his tent and digs a hole in the ground. He buries it in the ground and he's real careful. There's already a terror that has taken his heart. There's already a lack of peace, because he wonders, who's watching me? Who might see me? Who might know what I've done? But he pats the ground down real nice, and he goes in, and it's supper time, and Mama and the kids are gathered around the table, and she says, Honey, where have you been? Now he's got to spin a web of lies to cover up what he's done. Well, mama, I've been down the road to see a friend, or I went to the hospital. And all you can hear the vitriol in his voice and the anger because he's not right with God. And you can't be right with your brother or your sister if you ain't right with God. And you can't be right with God if you ain't right with your brother and your sister. They're sitting around the supper table and the kids are trying to get daddy's attention. Cain's just sitting there and all he can think about is what's buried. And listen, now it's to the point, he's not even worried about the garment or he's not worried about the silver or the gold. He's worried about, will this find me out? They're sitting around the supper table. Oh, Daddy, tell us what happened today. What went on today, Daddy? Tell us about work today. Kids, I don't have time. He becomes short with them. He storms off from the supper table. Goes in and sits down. Put the kids to bed. They want you to put them to bed. He says, oh honey, I don't want to do it tonight. He begins to withdraw from the people that he loves and the people that love him because there's active sin in his heart. But nobody will know. Daddy, tell us that story again. Tell us how y'all gathered them stones out of the river, out of Egypt. Tell us about how God parted the Red Sea. Kids, I don't have time for that religious stuff. He goes in, and he lays down in his bed, or his little cot, and he can't sleep a wink. Have you ever been there where there's something on your conscience so heavy that you say, it's become my meat. That's all I think about. That's all I eat. I know what I've done. And he's laying in the bed at night, and he's not sleeping, and he's worried. Who's going to find out about this? Well, the next day, there's a battle brewing with the men of Ai, the city of Ai, and old Joshua. You know, they've already won over Jericho, and he talks to his captains, and they say, this will be an easy little fight to battle, and there's something wrong. See, what they had not realized is the whole reason things went so smoothly is because the hand of God was upon them. But once God took His hand off of them, they got in the heat of the battle. Some of them got killed. They ran away and fled. And the Bible said their hearts became as water. I want to tell you it matters when the hand of God is on you. Let God take His hand off and you'll find it's a way of a transgressor. Old Joshua can't understand it. I mean, my goodness. They beat a big old city of Jericho. The walls fell down. And he just goes in and falls down before God and says, God, what just happened? God says, Son, there's sin. And they don't think anybody saw it. But I saw it. Joshua, you've got to find out who took this accursed thing. And the whole time, Micaiah, He's worried to death, and the whole time, now it's gotten so bad, he's hoping somebody finds out. Because the burden he's carried, and the weight of his lies, and the weight of what he's done is bearing. I'm going to tell you something. There is guilt and shame in sin. I'm telling you, when that joe is gone, you're stripped, beat, hacked to death, left on the side of the road, halfway died. I'm telling you, it ain't worth it. They begin to call out to the camp, try to find out what's happened. Who's the one that's done this thing? They come to old Cain, and he comes running up and he says, it's me. I want to tell you what I've done. And they take, now listen, I want you to hear. See, the price of sin is what? It's death. Take Cain and his family. take them out of the city, or take them out of the congregation, take them out of the camp, and slay them on the side of the road and burn their bodies. And as the king is watching his kids die and his wife die, the whole time he's saying, I thought this would just hurt me. But nobody's watching, son. It matters what I do when it's just me and the Lord. It matters what I do when my wife and my children and my church is not around. It matters. What if I tell you what I said? Hang on, wait for just a minute. Let me gather myself a lamb. Wait just a second. Let me sacrifice a lamb unto God and let me tell you about your life. There is a lamb. There is a remedy for your sin. You don't have to hide your lost condition. You don't have to hide your sin from God. The lamb of God has been slain and His blood will cover your sin. Oh, is it any wonder David said in the very first verse of this 32nd chapter, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is hell. And have you had sin in your life? If there's a single person in here that says no to that, the Bible says you're a liar. Because all men have sinned. And ladies, you too have come short of the glory of God. We all have sinned. I've got news for you. If you think that as a lamb you're not going to go astray, even after you've been saved and made some bad choices, and made some bad mistakes in your life, I'm going to tell you, you are wrong. When I reveal my sin to God, God covers it. But when I try to hide it, God will reveal it. Be sure your sin will find you out. Brothers and sisters, it is a way of repentance. Now here's, stand to your feet, get us a song. This is a repenting way. If you're saved by the grace of God, I'm going to tell you, if you've ever been saved, you, it's not yours, it's His. It's kept in the hands of God. For you to lose your salvation means that Satan has the power to take the hand of God and one finger at a time pry his hand open and pull you out of the hand of God. My God is bigger than that! Even Jezebel had a space to repent, but she repented not. Brothers and sisters, this is a beautiful... I haven't preached you nothing that is not true. I love you. You know what? I don't want you, listen teenagers, I don't want you to be 16 years old and out partying with your buddies and come in on Sunday morning hungover and out in the veins of the world and lose the joy of God's salvation. You don't have to make the same mistakes I did and by the help of God, I'm going to try to give you the truth. and the world's pulling, and saying, oh, and they show you the commercials, and the good-looking guy's got the good-looking girl, and somebody having to call her mama and say they're dead. And I've stood beside the gravesides of mamas and daddies who've lost their children for no other reason than because of somebody else's stupidity, and I have been the stupid one. But it don't have to be that way. Jesus Christ the righteous. I wouldn't change the word of God, I'd be in danger if I did, wouldn't I? I'm gonna say this, not if any man sin, but when. I'm gonna just take the if out of it. When we sin, Now listen, and I'm closing, I promise you, and I know I've got you all up, hang in there. When we sin against God, the first thing you'll notice is that breaking of fellowship. You ever try it? Let me ask you this here, if another message needs to be preached. You ever been close to Him? You ever need any more than the next breath you breathe? Have you ever felt the joy that only God can give? Have you ever sat in a heavenly place in Christ Jesus? You go into the house of God and everybody's shouting, and everybody's feeling the Spirit of the Lord, and I'm sitting there numb, can't feel a thing. He's a thousand miles away, and it's not like you'll find Him right where you left Him. Go in and be icy cold and numb and lie to yourself and tell yourself, it's alright, it's not alright. God wants you full. God wants you fed. God wants you blessed. It's not alright. And you know what? You know it. Oh, right before he was killed by his brother, God asked Cain a question. Why has thy countenance fail? God could see on the face of Cain. There was trouble in his heart. I want to ask you this morning. Why has your countenance fail? Where is the joyous smile that you once had? I'm just going to hide. You know what's so funny? They can hide behind that psalm book. Let me say this, this book ain't big enough to hide you. You can get your face in there behind it all right, and you always get that look out of the psalm book. Does anybody know that I'm not right with God? And save people, we've done it too. The question is, what you're going to do about your situation this morning. Jesus has already done all He needs to do. A prompt in your heart, just move toward Me, and I'll move toward you. Kenny, you said this morning there's an action we've got to do. God, the Lord Jesus Christ, simply says to those of us this morning who sinned and those of us who have hid what we've done, He just simply says, come. And all we have to do is come. You can't hide it from yourself. Why not just come and fess up? and get it right with God this morning. Some of the most miserable people I've ever seen are Christians that love the Lord. They were like David at one time, men and women after God's own heart. And then they got involved in something and walked away and strayed away. And God tried to draw them back as the good shepherd. And He started with the staff and gently, gently prompted them and they wouldn't come back. They could have had forgiveness. They could have had their joy restored. They could have had their lives and their families and their homes restored. But instead, they continually hid themselves from God. What a hypocrite I am. Baby girl, when I was 16 years old, somehow I was 16 years old, sweetheart, when I was 16, I'd go do my stuff on Friday night. I'd walk in the doors on Sunday morning and my heart just absolutely break. And then people say, what a hypocrite. All he can do is cry. I'll tell you why I cried. I knew the way I was living was wrong. Man, go out and try to forgive. And the whole time I'm doing what I'm doing, there's something stirring in my heart and it's God saying, son, don't do it. When you realize God's not trying to keep you from a good time, bunch of it all. when you know and understand He loves you. The law is not just a group of thou shalt nots. Those thou shalt nots are to keep you from destroying your fellowship with God. Boy, there's some things in there that we shall do and we should do. We're going to close with this. I'm going to give you one more opportunity to pray. I'm going to say this. It's between you and the Lord. It's between me and God. Away from God, we won't repent ourselves. You say, preacher, this ain't no filling station up here. I'm going to tell you something. If you're empty, you can be filled up here. You can find and restore your relationship with God through the shed blood of Calvary. It is! It's a place to find God in a time that you need Him. One more verse this morning and my job will be done. What about it this morning as they sang?