God has secrets. He has given His people secrets—secrets that bring peace in a time of anxiety and complete transformation of their lives. Have you discovered the secret?

<p>God has secrets. He has given His people secrets—secrets that bring peace in a time of anxiety and complete transformation of their lives. Have you discovered the secret?</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

South Bay SDA Church

Phil Mills

I’ve Got a Secret

The focus of our Bible study together this morning is verse 29 of Deuteronomy chapter 29.

The Bible says, The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law this verse can be divided into 3 sections section 1 tells us about God's secrets section 2 tells us about God's plans to reveal some of his secrets.

And the final section of the verse tells us God's purpose in revealing his secrets.

3 sections, God's secrets, God's plans, and God's purpose.

With these sections in mind, let's reread the verse, Deuteronomy 29, 29.

The secret things belong to the Lord our God.

But those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.

God's purpose, our obedience, that we may do all the words of this law we begin with God's secrets throughout its pages the Bible is consistent in declaring that God has secrets that belong to him beginning with the writings of Moses as we have just read here in Deuteronomy 29 29 and as we have heard to the scriptures closed in Revelation as we heard in the scripture reading this morning the Bible shows us that God has secrets The secret things belong to the Lord our God.

There's knowledge we will never gain access to.

There's information that belongs to God alone.

He keeps it, shall we say, in His safe, because it belongs to Him alone.

We might ask the question, why does God keep some of His knowledge to himself?

Why does he leave us wondering and in some cases like the Apostle John even weeping.

Although there are many reasons, let me just mention a few.

1 obvious reason that God keeps some of his knowledge to himself is that we don't have the mental capacity to understand some of God's secrets.

God has knowledge that's simply beyond our reach.

I like the Holman Christian Standard Bible's translation of Psalm 139 verse 6.

This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me.

Another clear reason God keeps portions of his knowledge to himself that it's beyond our strength to carry.

In John 16 12 Jesus told his disciples, I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now.

For example, if we knew the full extent of our guilt it would crush us.

Early in his ministry, the well-known evangelist George Vandeman, founder of It Is Written, prayed earnestly that he would have a revelation of his own sinfulness, that he would see his sinfulness as God saw it.

But so great was Elder Vandeman's discouragement when God did reveal a portion of his guilt and sinful wretchedness that he could scarcely go into the pulpit for 6 weeks and preach.

Yes, He can carry the weight of the sins of the world, as it is written in Isaiah 53, 6.

The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Still another reason God doesn't reveal all his secrets to us is that they might distract us from knowing that which is essential.

And God would not be, and it would not be the best use of our time.

As the old adage states, the good is the enemy of the best.

Ministry of Healing, 456, we must turn away from a thousand topics that invite attention.

There are matters that consume time and arouse inquiry but end in nothing.

Moses prayed in Psalm 90 verse 12, so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Still another important reason God must keep some of his secrets to himself is because our sinful hearts would misunderstand, misapply, misuse this knowledge.

Let me pause here for a moment and contemplate this point.

Just as there are things God knows that He should not and does not tell us, there are things we know that we should not share with others.

For example, we shouldn't confide the simple human faults of our spouses to anyone else.

Speaking of the wife, the wise man said, the heart of her husband, safely trust her.

Manuscript 1, 1855, the heart of his wife should be the grave for the faults of the husband, and the heart of the husband the grave for his wife's faults.

In my case, the cemetery is empty because my wife doesn't have any.

Of course we are not talking here about a spouse's vices and crimes that should be and must be reported.

We're not talking about the egregious actions of a spouse that threaten life and limb.

We're talking about the common weaknesses and imperfections of humanity.

The point is that just as God has secrets that belong to him and no 1 else, there are some secrets that belong to us and no 1 else.

Not everything teachers know is appropriate for their students to know not everything that parents know is appropriate for their children to know there are things being taught and told to children There are things that are being taught and told to students that should not be told and taught.

In a plenary session at a teacher's institute in 1903, the servant of the Lord called the attendees' attention to Paul's experience.

Paul received, and I quote, Paul received revelation after revelation but in no instance did he satisfy the curiosity of men by relating what he saw in the heavenly courts.

He wrote that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter.

Many things cannot be described so that they will make a correct impression upon minds befogged by sin.

A wrong use would be made of such knowledge.

The things that God has commanded us to study are the things we are to teach and to live." God is both loving and wise.

We can trust him to give us what we need, what we can understand, and what we can safely utilize.

This tells us that even in eternity, God has secrets that will not be revealed, secrets that all of our study, all of our research, all of our efforts can never find.

God has secrets that belong to him and only him.

Universities sometimes falsely believe and teach that there's no limit or boundaries to our pursuit of knowledge.

But there are limits to our knowledge, and there are boundaries of what science can know.

Job 11, 7, can you search out the deep things of God?

Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?

God has secrets that in His infinite wisdom and love must remain his secrets with him throughout eternity.

It's none of our business when or if he reveals his secrets to us.

Are you satisfied to stay within the safe boundaries of knowledge?

There was 1 who in heaven was not satisfied with God's revealed word, ways, and will.

There was 1 who felt restricted by the boundaries God placed around knowledge.

Instead of being satisfied with what God had revealed, Lucifer sought information that God had not revealed.

Lucifer sought to pry into knowledge that belonged exclusively to God.

He tried to steal God's private intellectual property.

He irrationally came to believe that by searching he could discover God's secrets he tried to uncover the secret things that belong exclusively to God that was the chief cause of Lucifer's fall he was dissatisfied with the knowable, he sought to discover the unknowable.

He imagined he could attain an unattainable knowledge by stepping outside the boundaries of God's law by gaining forbidden knowledge, the knowledge of evil.

Lucifer fell because he imagined that he could attain unattainable knowledge by stepping outside the boundaries of God's law, gaining forbidden knowledge, the knowledge of evil.

Just as Eve tempted Adam with the same temptation that caused her fall, Satan tempted Eve with the same temptation that caused his fall.

Genesis 3, 5, you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

Eve, you can become like God if you know the secret things that God knows, good and evil.

Satan led Eve to believe it's the secret things that God wouldn't tell her.

In fact, he had withheld from her that would make her like God but did knowledge of evil make Lucifer like God no instead it turned him into an evil genius did the knowledge of evil make at Eve or Adam like God no it made them less like God Satan seeks to destroy us by exciting our curiosity for knowledge that God has not revealed.

But Deuteronomy tells us the truth, the secret things belong to the Lord our God.

We've seen that this verse can be divided into 3 sections.

God's secrets, God's plan, and God's purpose.

Let's continue by examining the second section, God's plan.

Those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever." Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar, there is a God in heaven who does what?

Only a God who has secrets is a God that can reveal secrets.

Only a God who holds secrets is a God who can share secrets.

Daniel 2 22, he reveals deep and sacred things.

Our text tells us those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever How does God reveal his secrets?

The Bible tells us Amos 3 7 surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secrets to his servants, the prophets.

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I’ve Got a Secret

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