Thank you, Brother Massingale. Appreciate the privilege to be here tonight. And I covet your prayers. The Lord would have his way with us for just the next few moments tonight. We're glad to see you, whoever you are and wherever you're from tonight. When we teach and preach from the scriptures, often we teach and preach, proclaim that that the Bible says. And we simply proclaim it or teach it or tell it because that is what the scriptures tell us. And that is right. Then there are times when we teach or talk or preach or proclaim the scriptures from experience. And so tonight, I think in preaching this message tonight, I preach it because it is what the Bible says. And I also preach it tonight because I have experienced. In Numbers chapter 31, I don't know if you wanna turn your Bible, I'm gonna go to several places tonight. But in Numbers chapter 31, the Lord has spoke to Moses and told him that before he takes him away, that he wants him to avenge the children of Israel on the Midianites. And so the armed men of Israel go and take the Midianites. and they destroy them. As a matter of fact, the scripture reads, if I'm understanding it right, that once they have taken the Midianites and come back, took the spoils of victory, there's not a man among them that has perished in this battle. They offer, there in the latter part of chapter 31, they offer because the Lord has blessed them, they offer the gold and the silver, the precious things that can withstand the fire unto the Lord for these men that the Lord has protected. So Moses is about to go off the scene. This, you might say, was his last battle. Now in chapter 32, we come to that familiar scripture where after this battle has taken place, and Moses and Eliezer has took this offering, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad come to Moses and say, this land that we are in now, where we're dwelling on this side of Jordan, is a land for cattle. and thy servants have cattle. And so we'd like to take our inheritance on this side of Jordan. As a matter of fact, they say the words, bring us not over Jordan. Now across Jordan was the promised land. Across Jordan was the land that God wanted them to have. Can I say, I believe there is a place that God wants every believer to be. Yet, by their persistence and asking for this, Moses granted them that land on the other side of Jordan. That is not where the Lord intended, but where they wanted to be. I believe he'll do that for us as well. I do believe that. And so Moses is upset at them because they want to stay on the other side of Jordan. And he says to them, you are like your fathers. That is, you're like those spies that went in, the 10 spies that went in from Kadesh Barnea and told the people that the land was too strong for them to take. The giants were too big. The cities were walled and fenced up. So we cannot take the land. And he said, your fathers caused the people to wander in the wilderness for those 38 years. And he said, if you do this thing, in verse 15 of chapter 32, and if you turn away from after him, you will yet again leave them in the wilderness and you shall destroy all this people. If you're not gonna go over, if you're gonna take your possession on this side, that's what's gonna happen. Then they say to him, but we will build places for our little ones. And we will then go with the children of Israel across Jordan until every man have made his inheritance. But we will not dwell on the yonder side, we will return here. And so Moses said, okay, if you will go armed with the children of Israel over Jordan, and then after the inheritance is had, you come back. He said, you can have this land. You can possess this land. The Lord will give you this land for possession. Verse 23, and everybody knows this verse. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord. And be sure your sin will find you out. I wanna preach on that tonight. I don't guess there's a preacher in the house that hasn't preached on it. I don't guess there's a person in the house that has not heard this verse quoted, or at least this latter part, and maybe quoted it yourself. But I wanna preach on that tonight. Be sure your sin will find you out. There's a lot of things in life that you can't be sure about. But this scripture says, be sure your sin will find you out. The little phrase be sure simply means to know. It means for certainty. Be sure your sin will find you out. The sin that if you don't go over and help the children of Israel, the other 10 and a half tribes, possess their land, He said, be sure you've sinned against the Lord and be sure your sin will find you out. Find you out simply means your sin will come forth. It will exist. It will occur. It will meet or be present. Amen? It's going to do that. And can I say to you, Moses is saying that to two and a half tribes of the children of Israel, but it's relevant to every soul that is under the sound of my voice tonight. It's relevant to me and it's relevant to you. You can be sure your sin will find you out. Now, when that occurs, I do not know. And how long that takes, I do not have the authority or the wisdom to know that. Some folks, it finds them out quickly. Almost instantly. Some, it's the next day, the next week, the next month, the next year. Sometimes it's way down the road. when you think everything is forgotten. And be sure it will occur. It will find you out, it will appear. I believe it can be publicly brought out. But it almost looks like he says, be sure your sin will find you out. And sometimes it may never be known by others, but it will find you out. And there'll be things go on in your mind and in your spirit and in your being that you'll not be able to deny. There it is. It will find you out. Amen. And with that thought tonight, for just a moment, if you will pray for me, I appreciate it very much. With that thought in mind tonight, let me look at or read a couple of verses of scripture that goes along with it tonight. Ecclesiastes 8 and 11, again, a familiar verse. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. In the book of Galatians chapter six, verse seven, the Bible said, be not deceived. God is not mauled. For whatsoever 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. What he's saying is when you sow to the flesh, you're gonna reap. May not be next week, but it's gonna come up. It will come up. And because sin is against an evil work, it's not executed speedily, the hearts of the sons of men are sending them to evil because they think they are getting by. then they proceed to do evil. May I say tonight, and just to preach this one point tonight and get out of the way, but it's what's on my heart to leave with you tonight. Be sure your sin will find you out. Can I say, be sure your hidden sin will find you out. Your hidden sin. Adam tried to hide his sin. He hid himself amongst the trees in the midst of the garden. David tried to hide his sin. And it even looked like once Uriah was dead and he took Bathsheba to be his wife, that his sin had been hidden. But one day a man walked in by the name of Nathan and said, David, thou art the man. be sure your hidden sin will find you out. Moses tried to hide his sin. The Bible said before he slew that Egyptian, he looked this way and that way. And when he choked him out and buried him and thought, my friend, that the rest of the Israelites would understand that God by his hand would deliver, my friend, them, Oh, the next day, though he thought nobody knew it, two of his own brethren, two of the own Israelites said, who made you a judge over us? And will you slay us as you slew the Egyptian? Amen? Can I say to you tonight, be sure your hidden sin will find you out. If I can deal with just a moment tonight, the fact, the one that I want to look at tonight is a man by the name of Achan. Be sure your hidden sin will find you out. Here is Achan. The children of Israel have just conquered Jericho. What a great victory. As for seven days, they walked around the walls of Jericho, quietly so, till that seventh day. On that seventh day, they walked around quietly six times. But when they made that seventh trip, 13 in all in the seven days, and shouted with a great shout, the walls came down. The walls fell flat. The Lord brought them down. Amen. Except Rahab's house that was on the wall, for some reason that had the scarlet thread out the window. Amen. Withstood the judgment of God. And I remind you tonight, the only thing that'll withstand the judgment of God is the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here then the Bible says that in chapter seven of the book of Joshua, but the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing. And the Bible names that man by the name of Achan. We know then that the Israelites go two miles north of Jericho to a little town called Ai, and 36 of those men, those 3,000 men perish in that battle. and Joshua is dismayed, don't know what to do. And he said, Lord, if he fell on his face, we'd been better. If you had not brought us to Canaan, if we had died in Egypt or died in the wilderness, or if you have not allowed us to be put out to flight before our enemies, for the rest of the Canaanite people will hear what has happened and they'll destroy us. The Lord told him to get off of his face, to rise off of the ground. And he said, what's wrong, Joshua? I haven't forsaken you, but there has been sin committed in the camp. And you'll have to sanctify the people and put away that sin or I'll not give you victory in the rest of Canaan. So here's the thing. I know I'm going slow tonight. And here is the thing. And so the Bible says, after the Lord says, in the morning, we'll begin with each tribe. And then we'll go to each family, then to each household. And the person that is taken will be dealt with because of this sin. Amen. Can you imagine how Achan must have felt that night when he knew the next morning that he was gonna be called, amen? Oh my. I wonder tonight would it be better, and it would be better tonight, before you're called on the carpet. before the sunrise of judgment comes in your life, just to say during this night, it's me Lord, it's to him my son, give I pray thee glory to the Lord, and make confession unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done, hide it not from me. And Achan said in verse 20 of Joshua chapter seven, I have sinned against the Lord, and thus and thus have I done, shekels of silver, a wedge of gold, 50 shekels of weight, by weight, and I covered them and I took them, and they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. So here is the hidden sin of Achan. And the hidden sin of Achan has caused 36 men to lose their life because God was angry with what Achan had done. He had been warned as all the Israelites in the book of Joshua chapter six, verse 17, the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are therein. And in any wise, keep yourself from the accursed thing, lest you make yourselves accursed when you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. But all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are concentrated unto the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. It was called a trespass against the Lord. What Achan done was a trespass. I think it's twofold, amen? Because he took of the Babylonian garment, that that was accursed. And when he took of what was accursed, it cursed him. Amen? Then he also took the silver and the gold that belong in the treasury of the Lord. He not only transgressed, trespassed against God, he stole what belonged to God. and sin does that to us. It curses us and it takes from God or steals from God what belongs unto Him, the glory that He should have. Amen. Oh, tonight. Oh my. And He said, I've hid it in the tent. And it's there. And they went and they found it, just like Achan had said. Can I say this tonight? Can you imagine him having this Babylonian garment and this silver and this gold in the tent? And can I ask, what good did it do him? He could show it to nobody. He could spend it nowhere. It was just hid in the tent. Amen. Oh my, he could not share it with the other folks in the camp. Amen. It was a trespass against the Lord. That's what sin always does, my friend. Hidden sin. Now, he had in his tent, my friend, there at the door. I don't know if his family knew. possibility, and it looks like they may have. I say to you tonight, the hidden sin that will surely find you out. It may not be known by wife or husband. It may not be known by son or daughter. It may not be known by grandma or grandpa. It may not be known by siblings or, my friend, by the children, but oh, can I say to you, be sure it will find you out. And then again, it might have been known by the wife and the children. Nobody else may have known, but they knew. Nobody else may have known about the bitterness. Nobody else may have known about the hatred and the contempt and the despising of others that Achan spewed out. Others may have not known by the covetousness of Achan, except his own family. But when he talked about things, he was full of covetousness. Amen. That you may have hid from everyone else. Amen. But your family looks on tonight and wonders, wonders about it. Wonders, my friend, why nobody else knows about the hidden sin tonight. Amen? And so when they got the Babylonian garment and the shekels of silver and the wedge of gold, they bring it to Joshua. Joshua takes it, the children of Israel with him, and they take Achan and his family and everything that he owns. The Bible talks about the sheep, the asses, and the oxens, and they bring them to the Valley of Achor, and there they stone them. and all of them die. Can you imagine Hakan's feeling now? Can you imagine his thoughts now as he stands there in the valley of Achor and watches everything that he ever had be judged and stoned. And he wonders, don't you imagine he wonders now, was that Babylonian garment and that silver and that gold worth what it cost? Amen. Oh my. And that Valley of Acre, Joshua said, it's called the Valley of Acre, or the Valley of Trouble, or the Valley of Affliction unto this day. Oh my. Can I say to you tonight, be sure your hidden sin will find you out. Amen. Now can I say before I close tonight, I sure am glad I didn't live in the days of aching. I sure am glad I live in the day of grace. I sure am thankful I live in the day of mercy. I'm talking about before conversion, after conversion, the whole nine yards. Amen? Help us, Lord, for I'm thankful what the scripture tells us in this day of grace. Proverbs 28, 13, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Do you know what Bartimaeus wanted Monday night? Do you know what Caesaro-Phoenician wanted last night? Hallelujah. And aren't you glad it's still available tonight? It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. Amen. Oh, I'm thankful for His mercy. 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I want to say tonight, if you have hidden sin tonight, it will find you out. But there is a avenue, there is a remedy tonight. If you'll confess and forsake, you can find mercy with the Lord. And if you'll confess, He is faithful and He is just. to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thank God I live on this side of the cross. Amen? That does not mean that His forgiveness that there is not some things that my friend follow or some things that my friend may not be wiped away, but as far as the relationship, as far as perishing, as far as fellowship, as far as being right with Him, you can be tonight. You can allow the hidden sin to find you out, amen? Or you can confess it and forsake it, my friend, and call on the name of the Lord tonight. Amen? Hallelujah. Amen. My heart is heavy and my heart is burdened tonight. Be sure your hidden sin will find you out just as it did Achan. There are two other verses tonight just before I close that I want to read. Isaiah 65 and verse 10. The Lord said, and Sharon shall be a fold of flocks. and the Valley of Achor, a place for the herds to lie down in for my people that have sought me. The children of Israel entered the land of promise, the land of Canaan. The Valley of Achor was known as the Valley of Affliction, the Valley of Trouble. But now as Isaiah says to them, in your return from exile, he said the valley of Achor will be a place for the herds to lie down in. Why is that? Mercy and grace. Amen? Hosea chapter two, verse 15. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope. And she shall sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the days when she came up out of the land of Egypt. Some I think deals with exile, some I think deals with He restores them again. I think that'll be so. But spiritually applied tonight, I'm glad that, oh, the valley of affliction, the valley of Achor can become a valley of hope for you tonight. Amen. For the hidden sin may have made you feel there is no hope, but I want to say there's hope in the Lord. And the hope is not just for now. Amen. But we have a hope that's anchored within the veil. And we don't have to perish in our sin tonight. Amen? Hallelujah. There is a hope that's sure and steadfast. Amen? And you can have that hope tonight. I wonder, I wonder tonight, would you again take seriously what the scripture said? Be sure your hidden sin will find you.