Éphésiens 5:12

For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

Sinful deeds

The practices of the unconverted heathen are set forth by a double brand--

1. They are done of them in secret.

2. It is a shame to speak of them, there is such a turpitude and filthiness in them. So that in these words may be observed--

(1) Something concerning the sense and apprehension that men have of sin.

(2) Something concerning secret sins.

For the first I shall observe that all sense of right and wrong, good and evil, is not wholly extinguished in the heart of man; for here the unbelieving Gentiles, though they did abominable things, yet they did them in secret, which showeth some relics of natural conscience and shame in them.

1. Naturally we apprehend a difference between virtue and vice, good and evil; for we apprehend the one as culpable and evil, and the other as honest and commendable.

2. This apprehension is most sensibly betrayed by our affections of shame and fear.

3. This apprehension produceth different effects in the godly and wicked. We have an instance in the text. In the unconverted it produceth hypocrisy, in the converted shyness and abhorrence of sin. In the unconverted pagan Ephesians it produced hypocrisy; they did seek to hide what they would not avoid. Though the things were abominable, and had the marks of nature’s dislike and improbation upon them, yet they committed them in secret; as many a man’s heart reproacheth him, yet he goeth on still in his sins, and if he may commit them secretly, without being seen by others, they think themselves safe and secure, and for the present out of gunshot. But here is another sort of men intimated in the text; the apostle, and those like-minded with himself, all children of light, that abhor these deeds of darkness, are ashamed to mention what others are not ashamed to practise. Unbelievers have but a spark of conscience left; they know their practices are abominable, but they do them in secret. These are so far from committing these things, that they count it a shame to speak of them, or to hear them spoken of by others, it cannot be done without blushing.

1. To show us the evil of sin. Two things in the text discover that.

(1) It is a deed of darkness. Done in secret.

(2) Shameful to speak of it. Much more shameful to act it.

2. It shows how impudent and desperate in sin they are, and how much they have outgrown the heart of a man, and lost all feelings of conscience, that “declare their sins as Sodom, and hide them not” (Ésaïe 3:9).

Men grow not to this impudence at first, but by several degrees they lose the apprehension of evil of sin.

1. Satan suggests to us some sin, to which he finds us by nature prone, and which he seeks plausibly to insinuate as profitable and pleasant (Jaques 1:14).

2. This suggestion, if it be not presently resisted, breedeth in our minds a certain delectation. It is sweet in his mouth, and he hideth it under his tongue.

3. Delight moveth the lust or concupiscence, and draweth out and engageth our consent (Josué 7:21).

4. This impelleth and urgeth the will to action: “And lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin” (Jaques 1:15).

5. The act being finished, unless the sinner be corrected by God, or awakened by His Spirit, breedeth security: “Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death” (Jaques 1:15).

6. Security inviteth us to continue in the sin, as also to make no conscience of other sins (Deutéronome 29:19).

7. This continuance and living in sin taketh away the sight and odiousness of it, and produceth hardness of heart and blindness of mind (Hébreux 3:13).

8. This induration and excecation, this blindness and hardness of heart, is at first partial, concerning this or that sin; but at length general, concerning all sin; and this begetteth that horrid impudence that men are past all shame.

9. That it is the folly and madness of sinners that know the filthiness of sin to commit it secretly, and think themselves secure if they may escape the eye of man.

I shall prove it--

1. From the evil of secret sins; although to be a bold and open sinner is in some respects more heinous than to be a secret and private sinner, because of the dishonour to God, the scandal of others, and impudence in the sinner himself.

(1) Because they are more against knowledge and conviction.

(2) This secret sinning, and with security, hath Atheism annexed to it. Atheism is either a denial of God or a contempt of God.

(3) The more secret any wickedness is, the more studious and premeditated; the more of deliberation there is in a sin, the greater is the sin.

(4) Many times it involveth us the more in sin; and so by seeking to cover one sin, we run into many.

(5) Secret sins indulged often bring great mischiefs and inconveniences upon the actors of them. I shall instance only in those two mentioned in Job 24:14.

2. It is folly and madness, because God loveth to discover it. Our Lord telleth us (Luc 12:2).

(1) Here God discovereth secret sins, and bringeth them to light, as He found out Achan in his sacrilege.

(2) At the great day of account and last judgment--‘‘I will set thy sins in order before thee” (Psaume 50:21; and 1 Corinthiens 4:5). It teacheth us to make conscience of secret sins, whether they be sins of omission or sins of commission, or of a mixed nature, when a thing is done which for the matter is good, but a defect in the manner or end.

Exhortation, to press you to three duties.

1. Take more care to get your sins pardoned than hidden: “He that hideth his sin shall not prosper; but he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall have mercy” (Proverbes 28:13). We seek to hide our sins from the world, from ourselves, and from God.

2. Study more to approve yourselves to God than to be concealed from men. Godly simplicity and sincerity will be our comfort (2 Corinthiens 1:12).

3. Humble yourselves, not only for open, but secret, sins (Psaume 19:12). (T. Manton, D. D.)

Too bad for sight

There is a museum at Naples in which are placed the multitudes of curious things found in the two old cities, Pompeii and Herculaneum, when they were dug out. It was found that there were things too foul, too horrible for Christian eyes to contemplate. These have been placed in a room apart, and people are not allowed to go into it without special permission from the authorities. Think what must have been the condition of society when foulnesses of this sort were exposed unblushingly before all eyes, in the streets, on the walls of the chambers, before children from their earliest infancy. (S. Baring-Gould, M. A.)

Old sins require patience

I feel grieved when I hear or read of people who can stand up and talk about what they used to do before they were converted very much in the way in which an old seafaring man talks of his voyages and storms. No, no; be ashamed of your former lusts in your ignorance, and if you must speak of them to the praise and glory of Christ, speak with bated breath and tears and sighs. Death, rottenness, corruption, are all most fitly left in silence, or, if they demand a voice, let it be as solemn and mournful as a knell. (C. H. Spurgeon.)