A little boy, seven years old, had been told by his mother not to pick the gooseberries, but I am sorry to tell you that he was a bad, disobedient child, and you know disobedience is a very great sin. It was one act of disobedience that brought all the sin and sorrow into this beautiful world, as you may read in the third chapter of Genesis.
One morning as the mother was walking round her large garden, she saw her boy near the gooseberry bushes, and called out, “What is that you have in your hands?”
“Only stones, Mamma.” Then the boy ran away, for they were really gooseberries that he was carrying.
But at night he could not sleep. He kept kicking about the bedclothes, and also preventing his poor little brother from sleeping. At last his brother, who was only five years old, said,
“I know why you can’t get to sleep; it’s because you stole the gooseberries. Satan has put his black finger on your heart, but you must ask Jesus to wash it off with His blood.” How sweetly did that little fellow, five years old, preach the gospel to his brother!
The naughty boy stole the gooseberries, and then tried to cover up his sin with a lie.
Children, it is of no use COVERING UP your sins, for the Bible says, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy.” Prov. 28:1818Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once. (Proverbs 28:18).
Now I will tell you about a little boy, six years old, who was invited to supper one afternoon by a lady whom I know.
After supper the lady showed him pictures, told him nice stories, and then played on the piano, as he was very fond of music. Presently my friend began to play the hymn, beginning, “I’m thinking of my sins, What wicked things I’ve done, How very naughty I have been, Although I am so young.”
But before many verses had been played, Georgie said,
“Please play something else, I don’t like that one.”
“Why not, Georgie?”
“Well, it is not very comfortable to think about your sins.”
“But have you got any sins, then?”
“Oh, yes, LOTS!”
“And what do you do with your sins, Georgie?”
“Why I always try to forget them as soon as I can.”
You see, dear young friends, this little boy tried to cover up his sins with forgetfulness, just as the other boy covered up his sin with a lie, But no kind of covering will be of the slightest use, for “he that covereth his sins shall not prosper.”
We cannot possibly cover our own sins. God alone can and will cover them with the precious blood of Jesus, which cleanseth from all sin, if we look to Him.
ML 02/05/1961