 Amen. First Samuel chapter 16. So we're looking at the story here of the anointing of King David. And the point I want to make before I give you the title of the sermon this morning is down there in verse number 7. So this is the story where of course Saul has lost the kingdom at this point and Samuel goes and he goes to Jesse and he's looking to anoint the next king of Israel and looked down at verse number 7. And this is kind of the point that will be the root of our sermon this morning. Look at verse number 7 where the Bible says, But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. And the point I want to make just from this verse is that all these sons were walking before Samuel and some of them were big. They looked kingly if that's a word and they looked like they would be kings. But the Bible says in verse number 7 is that the Lord seeth not as man seeth. So this morning I want to do a vision check this morning and let's just look at how the Lord sees things. And the problem is ideally in our lives we would see things as God sees things, but the problem is that we don't. And that's why the Bible says that the Lord seeth not as man seeth. So let's do a vision check this morning and look at some things that the Bible says that God sees differently than men see. Look at 1 Kings chapter 15. Turn to 1 Kings chapter 15. You can lose your place in 1 Samuel chapter 15 and turn to 1 Kings chapter 15. So we're going to look at a few things this morning that God sees differently than we do. And then look at why that is and what we can do about that. Look at 1 Kings chapter 15. The first thing that the Bible says again and again and again that God sees differently than we do is evil. God sees evil differently. Look at 1 Kings chapter 15 in verse number 25. Now we could go to verse after verse after verse, but I'm just going to give you a verse or two on each of these examples. Because the Bible talks a lot about the sight of the Lord and how God sees things. There's a lot of Bible on this topic. So let's just do a vision check this morning. The Bible says that God sees evil differently than we do. Look at 1 Kings chapter 15. Look at verse number 25. The Bible says, And Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah. So we have the northern king of Israel and the lower king of Judah. And reigned over Israel two years. And he did evil and then you will see this again and again when we're talking about the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah in the sight of the Lord. And walked in the way of his father and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. So let's go back to the source. Go back to 1 Kings chapter 12 and let's look at the source of this sin. But the Bible is very specific to say that this king, that Nadab, he did evil in the sight of the Lord. It didn't say he did evil to men, but he did evil in the sight of the Lord because of this sin that his father did. Look at 1 Kings chapter 12 and look at verse 25. Let's look back at his father, look back at Jeroboam. Then Jeroboam built Seshom in Mount Ephraim and dwelt therein and went out from this and built Panuel. This is the beginning of the northern kingdom of Israel right after the split. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If these people go up to sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of these people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, Is it too much for you to go up to Jerusalem? Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set one in Bethel and he put the other one in Dan. And this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan. So whenever you see kings in the northern kingdom of Israel, you know, it says, the sins of Jeroboam, this is what they're talking about. They're talking about how Jeroboam, when the kingdom split and went to the north, you know, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, Jeroboam was concerned that the people would go to worship in Jerusalem in the lower kingdom and that they would go back unto the lower kingdom of Judah. And so he created his own gods. He made these calves of gold. Now what Jeroboam did was evil in the sight of the Lord. But look back at verse number 27. Look at verse number 27. This was evil in the sight of the Lord as you will see again and again and again as kings continue to fall into this sin and lead the people into this sin. But look what it says in verse 27. It says he was paranoid that the people shall turn again unto their Lord. So the point is, is that these people's heart was already gone from the Lord. You know, what Jeroboam did was not unpopular to the people. These people had already turned their hearts against the Lord. He made these calves and he made these calves to just like satisfy people who had already turned from the Lord. Because he was concerned that they might repent and go back to the Lord. So he was basically accommodating people that had already done a wicked thing. So what he did was evil in the sight of the Lord, but it was popular in the sight of the people is the point I'm trying to make here. That's why the Bible is so specific on all these kings saying that they did evil in the sight of the Lord. Now let's look at something else. Look at 2 Kings chapter 15. God also has a different vision of what is good. So we see that God has a different vision of what is evil than we do, than people do. Let's look at what is different about God's vision about the good. Look at 2 Kings chapter 15. 2 Kings chapter 15. Look at verse number, let's just start in verse number 1. And in the 27th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, began Azariah, son of Amaziah, king of Judah to reign. 16 years old. So now we're talking about a king of Judah. Don't get confused by how the Bible describes the different kings because it goes back and forth between Judah and Jerusalem. So we're talking about Azariah, the son of Amaziah, king of Judah. 16 years old was he when he began to reign. And he reigned two and 50 years in Jerusalem. He reigned 52 years. This is the record here. And his mother's name was Jackaliah of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father, Amaziah, had done. Now look, this doesn't say that the people loved him. This doesn't say that he was super popular. It just says God liked what he did. It says what he did was good in the sight of the Lord. Now look, turn to Luke chapter 1. Let's look at a New Testament example of it. Many times doing right in the sight of the Lord, and I'll show you some examples of this, will cost you popularity amongst the people, amongst the world, amongst people that you know. Look at Luke chapter 1 and verse 15. Let's look at John the Baptist. Look at John the Baptist. Look at Luke chapter 1 and verse number 15. Luke chapter 1 and verse number 15. The Bible says, for he shall be great. This is talking about John the Baptist. It says he shall be great where? It says in the sight of the Lord. And shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. And he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. Now turn to Matthew chapter 3 and verse number 4. Matthew chapter 3 and look at verse number 4. So the Bible here is saying, is that John the Baptist will be great. In the sight of the Lord though. Okay, look at Matthew chapter 3 and look at verse number 4. The Bible says in Matthew 3.4 it says, and the same John, this is John the Baptist, had his raiment of camel's hair and a leather girdle about his loins, and his meat was locust and wild honey. This man was not great in the eyes of a normal person. A person that lived during that time, they would see a man in the wilderness, eating grasshoppers, scavenging for honey, dressed in animal skin. This is not something that somebody would say and see someone like that living that way and say, that's a great man, that's a great king. No, he was great in the sight of the Lord. And that's why Jesus also said that there had not risen a greater than John the Baptist. But in the sight of God, not in the sight of men. So all that to say this with these two opening points, two opening points. What is right in the sight of the Lord will many times be seen as bad or wrong or not popular with the people around us? Okay, look, that is going to be your Christian life right there. You need to understand that as you go forward in this Christian life, as you live a Christian life, as you separate from the world, as the Bible says that you should, as you raise your kids completely differently than everybody else raises their kids, as we homeschool, as we throw off, you know, the declining moral values of this, this nation of this world. Look, it's not going to be popular, but that is what is right in the sight of the Lord and that's all that we should care about. You should not allow the sight of men to derail you from that. You know, I don't know why we're so depressed and so surprised all the time or taken aback when it's all about, you know, doing what the Lord wants. And that's all that really matters, you know, is what's pleasing to God, not what's pleasing to the people around us. And the second point is this, what is wrong in the sight of the Lord many, many times will be the most popular thing to the world. And look, that's the downside to us is because this may lead to temptation, this may lead to sin itself because we may justify some sins and not other sins based on how visible they are to people around us, but we always need to remember. And this is one of the big reasons that we need to just do a vision check this morning. We need to make sure because look, sin is sin whether people see it or not. This is the problem. Okay, when our vision is different than God's vision, this is the problem because we start to think, well, maybe I can justify that because no one will really know about that. You know, it's God's sight that matters is what we need to get right this morning. Turn to Genesis chapter 38. Turn to Genesis chapter 38. Let's look at an example of this in the Bible. Let's look at an example of this in the Bible. Look at Genesis chapter 38. Look at verse number six. Judah, let's look at Judah's two sons. Judah had two sons and there were some problems with these sons. Look at what the Bible says and the problems were because of the way God saw them because of the sight that God had about them. It wasn't that people around them didn't like them. Look at Genesis chapter 38 in verse number six. And Judah took a wife for Ur, his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Ur, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord slew him. So whose vision mattered there? It was just God's vision. God's like, that guy's wicked in my sight. Done, took care of it. And Judah said unto Onan, go into thy brother's wife and marry her and raise up thy seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his and when it came to pass and he went into his brother's wife that he spilled it on the ground lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord. Wherefore, he slew him also. So look, especially this second son that died, you know, we don't need to get into the details of that but it was not a public sin. It was something that he did that was only known to the Lord. It was a secret sin. So these were not public sins but it didn't matter because to the Lord he saw it and he judged it. So look, here's the thing folks, some sins are very public. Some sins are very out there. You know, some sins are just, you know, and we tend to do this. We look at these public sins and we wag our heads at these public sins. Jacob and I went camping and Garrett and I went camping and fishing this weekend. And our campsite, right next to our campsite was the boat yard and some guy's boat had, he had sunk his boat and they had pulled the boat out of the way. It was a big boat, 45 foot boat and it was out on blocks and this thing was trashed. The top was torn off and there was all kinds of holes and chains coming out of the hull. And you could tell it was not an old boat. It's a shame. You looked at it and you're like, oh, that was a, used to be a nice boat before it went to the bottom of the ocean. And all weekend long, we saw people walking by this shipwreck just wagging their heads. Just look, I mean, that's a very public thing. It was a very public mistake that was made. People walk by and just wag their heads. You know, idiot, you know, what was that guy thinking? Or you know, whatever. And I'm just like, you know, it's a very public thing that happened. That's kind of how, that's kind of how, you know, some sins are. Some sins like, you know, adultery and divorce, you know, these are very public things, right? I mean, you think about things like, like alcohol, like drugs, turn to Proverbs chapter 29. Look, the Bible says that, you know, some sins people will just know. People will just know that you are into those sins. Look at Proverbs chapter 29 and verse number 29. You know, you think about alcohol and drugs. These are things that are very difficult to have as secret sins in your life. And the Bible talks about that. But some sins are just very public. Look at Proverbs 29 and verse 29. It says, who hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, who hath babbling, who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes. These are all things that people are going to see on you. And it says, they that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine. So, like somebody that has an alcohol problem, it's going to be very difficult for them to hide, you know, sorrow, contentions, especially babbling, especially wounds without cause. You know, you wake up, somebody come, you know, think of somebody who lived in a Christian life who's a drunk and they come to church and they've got all kinds of, they're all beat up and you're like, what happened? They're like, I don't know. I don't know what happened. You know, it's probably, that just keeps happening again and again. It's a very public sin that is going to be known there. Very visible. Okay, but turn to Malachi chapter 2. But it's all, like a lot of these sins are very visible to the Lord. Go to Malachi chapter 2. Malachi chapter 2. Malachi chapter 2, look at verse number 16. But look, not all sin is that visible to the Lord. Malachi 2, 16, look what the Bible says. The Bible says, for the Lord, the God of Israel, sayeth that he hated putting away. This is talking about divorce. For one, covereth violence with his garment, sayeth the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit that you deal not treacherously. It's interesting that the Bible here talking about divorce is like comparing divorce to doing violence to someone. That's very interesting as well. You know, talking about dealing treacherously with somebody, doing violence to somebody. Then look at verse 17. You have wearyed the Lord. Therefore take heed to your spirit that you deal not treacherously. So here, in verse 16, it's talking about somebody that's trying to cover up something. They're dealing badly. They're getting divorced. They're putting away their spouse. And it's like covering violence. It's like, you know, covering treacherous, something treacherously. They're trying to cover up sin. And in verse 17, it says, this weary's the Lord. It says, you have wearyed the Lord with your words. Yet you say, wherein have we wearyed him? When you say everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them, where is the God of judgment? So here are these people that are doing all these wicked things. You know, they're saying, they're saying that the people that do evil are good in the sight of the Lord. Look, they're saying that God doesn't see it. They're saying that it's covered up. They're, you know, it's very interesting. But look, some sins are easier to cover than others. You know, and divorce is just one of those things that people try to cover up. Look, I'm not trying to beat you up. I'm not trying to beat up people that have been divorced. But the point is, I don't believe in no fault divorce. There is always fault in divorce. If you listen to people, many people that have been divorced, it's never their fault. There's no one that's ever had any fault in divorce. That's kind of what the Bible is pointing out here. But you know, that wearyes the Lord by us trying to cover up and say that God doesn't think something's evil that is evil. People don't take responsibility for it. That's a very common example. It was always the other person. It was always my wife. It was always, you know, look, if you've been divorced, just own it, confess it, and move on with your life. But back to the point, back to the point, covering up sin, wearyes the Lord is what I'm trying to get at. Turn to Proverbs chapter 5. Turn to Proverbs chapter 5. Some sins are public and some sins are less public. Turn to Proverbs chapter 5. But that's just to us. That's just to us. The Lord sees them all. Look at Proverbs chapter 5 in verse number 21. Proverbs 5 verse number 21, the Bible says, For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord. And he pondereth all his goings. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and shall be holden with the cords of his sins. The Bible here is saying that God sees all the ways of man. No matter whether you think that it's public or secret, God sees everything. So even if we think, okay, there's some secret sins that can be covered by men, you know, God sees them all, and the cords of that sin will still strangle you and tie you up. Turn to James chapter 4. Let's look at a couple examples of this. Turn to James chapter 4. Some sins, it's definitely true. Some sins can be easily, more easily covered to men, not to God, but to men. Look at James chapter 4. Look at verse number 10. James chapter 4, verse number 10. The Bible says, Humble yourselves, and he shall lift you up. The Bible says, Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. Isn't it true that, I mean, why is it necessary to put that in there? Why didn't it just say, Humble yourselves and God will lift you up? Because God feels the necessity to tell you that you need to humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. Can't you fake humility? Couldn't you pretend like you were humble and that you're just this humble servant and just want to serve when you're really not humble? That's why the Bible says, Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. You know what I'm saying? It's saying, Humble yourselves for real. Really be humble. Turn to Isaiah 29. Look, folks, God sees if you are real. God knows. I mean, you wouldn't think that we have to bring these things up and talk about these things, but this is how, you know, how bad man is, where we just forget and we start to see things that are different than what God sees. We need to see exactly like the Lord this morning. Look at Isaiah chapter 29. Isaiah chapter 29. Look at verse 13. The Bible says, Wherefore the Lord said, For as much as these people draw, look at these people here. I mean, look at what these people are doing. For as much as these people draw near me with their mouth, with their mouth, and with their lips they do honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me. And their fear toward me is taught by the precip of men. You know what these people were doing? They were just talking like they love the Lord. They were just talking like they were spiritual. They were just talking like they honored the Lord. But God sees the heart. He's saying, He's like, Look, He's like their heart was not where, you know, their mouth was. I mean, look, how messed up is this? They're just feigning spirituality. Look, the New Testament calls this out as well. Go to James chapter 1. Go to James chapter 1. These people in Isaiah 29, they were just completely fake. They were just going off and just like honoring God with their mouth, with their words, but their heart was nowhere near Him. But God sees it. You know, it says, with their lips they do honor me. You know what men saw? That's what men saw and that's what men heard. They heard those lips. They heard those words. But God saw that there was no honor there. Look at James chapter 1 and verse 26. The Bible says if any man among you seem to be religious and bridle with not his tongue, but deceive with his own heart, this man's religion is in vain. This man's religion is vain. Vain means selfish. Vain also means worthless. If you sit there and you just honor the Lord with your words and your heart is not there, like your religion is worthless is what God is saying here. Ouch! I mean, that's just somebody who's just doing religion outwardly, you know, for vanity. And the funny thing is, is the Bible also says that what is in the heart, so here you have somebody who's saying something and their heart is completely somewhere else. This is the one nice thing about church is eventually, you know, you kind of start to figure out, look, the longer you get in church and one of the reasons people can't stay in church is because, you know, the longer people get to know you, the longer people get, you know, the things that are in your heart come out of your mouth. And people start, it gets harder and harder to cover secret sins. But it's really easy to do that when you just bounce around from place to place. When you just go around from place to place. But once people get to know you and they're like, oh yeah, you know, there's some issues there and all this, look, the secret sins become public. And what's in the heart eventually comes out of the mouth and people start to figure things out. But the Bible is saying in James chapter one that these people that seem to be religious is saying they're just fake. They're deceiving their heart. Their religion is vain. But God sees it all. There is no secrets with the Lord. And by the way, you know, this is like, if you are different, if you are different behind someone's back than you are to their face, you know what that is? That's lying. That's lying. If you're a different person to someone's face as you are when you're not in their face or when you're not with them, that is just, that's just dishonesty. That's just, you know, I mean, that's the whole point of Matthew 18 is to just like be in the person's face and just be like, I've got a problem here. That's the point. But guess what? God sees this. God sees it all. You know, nobody wants to confront anyone anymore. So you end up with all these people that are just, they're one way to your face or another way behind your back or another way to other people. Look, it's dishonesty. It's cowardice. You know, I mean, my wife has made this comment to me. She's like, you know, you got to get better with your face because when you're really annoyed with something, it comes across on your face. I think I'll keep it that way because, you know, I don't mind just having people know that, you know, I'm not really happy with the situation or whatever. I'll take that over being fake any day. You know, because here's the thing. It's real. It's real. It's honest. And you know what? If somebody says something to you that you don't like or they say something that maybe you think could mean something else, you just be nice and just bring it up right there. Why not? Why not? It's better than, you know, being fake. Having your words be different than what your heart is. That's what the Bible says. Turn to 1 Samuel, chapter 11. Look, some sins are less visible than others. Back to the point. Some sins are less visible than others. And like sometimes, sometimes if you just start to think that, okay, nobody can see this sin. Nobody can see this sin, so I'm good. Guess what? Sometimes the Lord needs to shake you. Sometimes the Lord needs to grab you and be like, hey, hey, it's my vision that matters. It's my vision that matters, not yours. In 1 Samuel, chapter 11, the people were doing something that God was not pleased with. They were asking for a king. You know, this is before the story that we just read. They were asking for a king. Instead of having the Lord lead them, they wanted a man to lead them. They wanted a king. Look at verse 16. God did not like this. The Bible says in verse 16 in 1 Samuel 11, it says, now therefore stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. So God needs to show them that, you know what, my vision, my view of things is not what your view of things is. Is not wheat harvest today? I will call unto the Lord and he shall send thunder and rain. That what? What's the whole point of this? He says that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great which ye have done what? In the sight of the Lord by asking for a king. In asking you a king. So the Bible here is saying, is that look, God says, I need to do this thing. Look, raining during harvest is not a good thing. Okay, you know, you're trying to get things to dry out. You're trying to get, you know, things to be able to be harvested. And God's just like, I'm going to send rain upon you so you can perceive and see that your sight is not my sight. That you guys are, you're seeing wrong. Seeing wrong. They couldn't see their wickedness. What a terrible state to be in. If you were just in wickedness, if you're just in sin and you just got such a, this can happen to you. This can happen to any one of us. That's why the secret sins are so dangerous. You get into these secret sins and pretty soon you start to think nobody can see these things. You're walking around in your secret sins and you're like, nobody can see this. I look pretty good. The outside of this ship looks pretty good. But the secret sins nobody can see doesn't know. God can see and he will, he will rain on your harvest. Sometimes maybe we forget that the Lord is there until he rains on your harvest. You know, it's kind of like lasik eye surgery from God. Think of it that way. He's fixing your vision. Turn to Matthew chapter 23. So we see that God sees evil differently than we do. He sees good differently than we do. God sees works, your good works as well. Don't forget that. Let's look at good works in the Bible. Look at Matthew chapter 23. You should do good works because, you know, not to be seen of other people, but God sees everything. And just like sin, some works are visible. Some works are less visible, just like sin. Look at Matthew chapter 23 in verse number one. Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples saying the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat and therefore whatsoever they bid you observe and do, but do not after their works. For they sit and do not. Well, here we go again. They're saying one thing. They're saying, do these works and all these things and they're doing none of those things themselves. Their heart is wrong. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men's shoulders. But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works, see these guys, all their works do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments and love the uppermost rooms at the feast and the chief seats and the synagogues and the greeting markets and to be called to men. Look, whenever it's in public, they're doing it. So they have all these commands that they're giving you to everybody. Hey, you want to be religious? Do all these works. And they'll do the ones that are very visible to everybody else. They're not doing any of the things that are behind the scenes. Then it's only the, look at my garments and look at my, I'm a big priest and they make their purple stripes even bigger so people really know, they can see them. And the marketplaces, the public places, the feasts, the chief seats at church, all these things, they're doing the public things only. But God sees everything. Your works that you do should not be done. Look, you should do no works just to be seen of men, none. Why is God sees them all? God sees them all. Look, this is a tough one. People get, people get wrapped up in this. You know, you have something really good to do and people kind of want to know that, you know, people see that. You know, you have something great that happened and spiritual and, you know, you just have to be, make sure that you're not doing things. You know, it's okay to tell people a great soul winning story. That's not what I'm getting at. It's okay to tell people things, but you shouldn't be doing things so you can go and just boast about these things, right? Because you can get yourself in a situation where everything you do is for the praise of men. Everything that you do is for position. It's for power. It's for glory. This is a terrible place to be. Turn to Daniel chapter two. Some of the greatest men in the Bible were great just because of this one reason. Because they didn't do this. Turn to Daniel chapter two in verse number 26. One of the things that should stick out to you every single time you read a story about Daniel is that he always did this. I'll just give you one example this morning. Daniel knew God was watching. Daniel was humble in the sight of the Lord. And Daniel always gave glory to the Lord. Look at Daniel chapter two in verse number 26. Remember, the king here is looking for someone not only to interpret his dream, but he really threw the magicians for a loop when he said, no, he's like, I'm not going to tell you the dream because the magicians and all his scamsters that worked for him, they said, tell us the dream and we'll interpret it for you. And of course they could just make something up. But instead he said, no, he's like, no, tell me the dream and the interpretation. They're like, oh man, that's a tough trick. And Daniel prays to God and he is able to do this. But look at verse 26. The king answered and says to Daniel, so Daniel goes to the king. He says, whose name was Belteshazzar, art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen and the interpretation thereof. He says, can you do this? He's like, Daniel comes and he says, goes to the garden, he says, I'm going to do this for the king, bring me to the king. And the king says, are you able to do this? Tell me what the dream was and the interpretation. And look, Daniel doesn't say, you bet I can. He's already got the answer. Daniel's already got the answer. He already knows the dream. He already knows the interpretation of the dream. He doesn't go to the king and says, yep, have a seat. About to make it happen. King, look what he says. Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said the secret which the king had demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers show unto the king. But there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets and maketh known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter's day. Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these. And then he goes into the whole dream and the interpretation of the dream. But he says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He's like, there's a God in heaven that can do it. He's like, there's a God in heaven. I'm just, he's like, I'm just, you know, telling you what God said. That's all he said. Daniel understood that God sees everything and he gave him the glory before he even did anything. He shows the extreme godly character of Daniel right here. And look at verse 47. Because of what he did. Then he goes and he tells him the dream and he tells him the interpretation of the dream and because of, he sees no glory for himself. He gave it all to God right up front and the king answered unto Daniel and said, of that truth it is that your God is a God of God's and the Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets seeing thou could reveal this secret. And it worked perfectly because that was a witness to God to this king. And this king says, yes, your God is great. Not you, Daniel are great. But of course he was rewarded for it in verse 48. He was given, you know, plenty of rewards and he was made, you know, chief of the governors of all the wise men of Babylon. And yes, God will reward you as well. Turn to Hebrews chapter 6 in verse number 10. But we should not do things for, you know, the promise of reward. We should do things because that's what we are supposed to do. We should do it out of love for the Lord. Not for reward. Look at Hebrews chapter 6 in verse number 10. So there's works out there that are very public and there's works that are very not so public that maybe people can't see. And the Bible says, and Daniel shows us that look, just give glory to God. Don't be doing things to be seen of men. Look at Hebrews 6, 10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown toward His name and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. Anything that you do, God sees you do it. And God is not unrighteous and God will take care of you. Just do it out of love for the Lord. So look, we see here that our vision is different than the vision of the Lord too many times in our lives in regard to sin, in regard to good works. But we need to remember that we need to adjust our vision always to the sight of the Lord because the closer we can get our vision to be lined up with God's vision, you know, it's the sight of the Lord that matters. And don't you want to be seeing something? I mean, imagine going through life and just seeing something that's not real, seeing something, seeing a perception of something that's not real, that's not real. I think that's, that doesn't mean how people become drug addicts because they take some substance and maybe that first time it makes them feel like they're super powerful or super great or super something. And then there's after that again and again. But here's the point. Would you want to feel a way that's not real? Would you want to feel like you were great and feel like you were powerful and feel like, you know, people thought great things of you if it wasn't true? Would you want that or would you want to know the truth? That's what we're talking about this morning. The closer you can get your vision to the sight of the Lord, the more real and the better off you will be. Turn to Psalm chapter 90. Because our sins that we feel are secret, our sins that we feel are secret when our vision gets skewed and we feel like this is secret. Nobody knows about this. Look at Psalm chapter 90 verse number eight. The Bible says, thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. You sit here and you say like, man, you know, I hope I'm getting you to think this morning. You sit here and you're like, man, you know, I've got some secret sins this morning. I've got some sins that, you know, nobody else knows. But Psalm 90 is saying they're not secret to the Lord. Confess them, forsake them. Look, get real this morning. Throw off this fantasy of, you know, how you view sin this morning. Make your heart who you are this morning. That is what a real person is. A person that just will reach reality and will be the opposite of fake is someone whose heart matches what they do and say. Think about that. You say, well, I've got some wicked things in my heart. Well, I would prefer there's this guy that works down at the dock and I see him every time I go fishing and he's this old, grumpy, crabby guy. And you mess up something. He's loading and unloading boats all day. And I don't know, he's like, he's like the old, when I read The Old Man in the Sea, I picture this guy. And he's just this old. He's like, rar, rar, rar, rar. He's just like crabby all the time. But you know what? I actually don't mind that because you know what? This guy's real. He thinks, he thinks I'm an idiot because I didn't pull my trailer two feet ahead. Fine. At least he tells me that. He's like, idiot, back it up. He's not that bad. But I mean, he's just like just really grumpy. And but you know what? He is real. He is real. You know what he's thinking. You know what's on his mind. Make your heart visible. You got a bad heart? Fix it. Fix it. So you can, you know, Matthew 18, that thing. Get these problems out of the way. Quit thinking that there are these sins that people can't see and sins that people can see. Just pretend like everyone can see everything. That'll get you to fix some things in a hurry in your life. Because guess what? The eyes of man don't matter anyway. The eyes of man don't matter. Look, here's the thing though. We get so stewed because guess what? The eyes of man do matter at work. They do matter in the business world. They do matter, you know, out around town. The eyes of man matter. But truly they don't. We can't think that because we're out living in the world and we're out working in the world and we're out, you know, seeing people and associating with people in the world that because the eyes of man and you know, okay, everybody may think that I'm great and think that this because of the outside. But look, the Bible is saying that only the eyes of God matter. So don't train yourself to only, you know, see the eyes of man. It's the truth that matters to the Lord. And as soon as we start caring about the sight of men, we wander into dangerous territory. And I'll show you exactly where it ends up. Turn to Galatians chapter one. If you start thinking that your vision gets so skewed that you think that, you know what? There's things that men can see and you start to think that God can't see those things and you start to live your life with that type of attitude. Look at Galatians chapter one. Things can get really bad and this is where it ends for the Christian. Look at Galatians chapter one and verse number ten. If you don't get your vision right, here's the end game right here. Look at Galatians chapter one and look at verse number ten. Look what Paul says here. Look what Paul says. He says in verse number ten. Is everybody there? Look at verse number ten of Galatians chapter one. He says, do I now persuade men or God? He said, or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Uh-oh. Paul here is talking about those that are out to please men are not the servants of the Lord. I mean, remember that when you see all these super popular preachers on TV and you see all these people are just giving good news messages only from the pulpit. It's telling you how great you are all the time. Look, I'm not telling you how great you are this morning. I'm telling you if you have some secret sins in your life that God sees them and get them out. That's not a good, that's not good news if you have secret sins in your life. That's not good news this morning because ultimately Paul is saying in Galatians one chapter ten, you know what he's talking about? He's talking about the gospel. He's talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ that other people depend on. He's saying if you have his vision and your vision is messed up and you're not seeing things that the Lord is seeing, he's like the gospel will suffer. The gospel of Jesus Christ, people will go to hell if you can't get this right. That is what Paul is saying. Ultimately that's where it ends if you can't fix your eyesight. The gospel, that's where it all, that's where the rubber hits the road. Look, this is a hard lesson to learn. Living a life that is pleasing in the sight of the Lord is going to be a life that causes a lot of trouble for you in this world. But Paul said that to persuade men it depends on this. It depends on you doing this. It depends on you holding this line. Sometimes, you know, life would be a lot easier it seems to just go along to get along. I mean, maybe you think like that sometimes. Maybe you have that thought that you know what, maybe life would be a lot easier if I wasn't raising my kids this way. If I wasn't taking these stands. If I wasn't doing these things in my life. But guess what? God would judge it. And ultimately how deep this goes is that the gospel itself will suffer and people receiving the gospel will suffer. You know why? Because you will remove yourself from this Christian life if you can't fix your vision. That's how serious this is. This life is about persuading men not pleasing them. That's how important it is that our vision is correct. This morning, you know I'm sitting here and I'm beating up on you and I'm telling you get these secret sins out of your life. I'm telling you to see things the way the Lord sees things and get your vision right this morning. But ultimately it's other people that aren't even saved that are depending on you. And that's the true tragedy of having bad vision. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.