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The scene was the coastal land that would become known as California in the mid 1800s. Two men named James Marshall and James Sutter discovered a tremendous vein of gold in the hills and decided to keep it a secret. Everyday they went through great pains to travel incognito to the place where they were burrowing deeper and deeper into the ground. They took special care to hide the evidence of their digging and the location of their find; they acted in town as if they were just normal land squatters trying to work the land. Despite all of this, their secret lasted for less than a year.

It was one of their younger children who -- knowing of the great riches that daddy was secretly gaining -- blurted out innocently one day to a fellow town member, "we found gold." And from that moment on -- although there was no such things as email, cell phones, or CNN -- that little child's statement spread like wildfire across America and hundreds of thousands of people converged on California to seek their fortune in the hills. As the story goes, Marshall and Sutter would both die penniless and lose their find to the waves of people desperate for wealth. Ordinarily people would not have put much stock in the ramblings of a child, but when a secret was involved, everyone was quick to believe.

I remember when my wife and I first realized that we are interested in each other. She had been casually dating a good friend of mine whom I had set her up with and I had been dating a good friend of hers, which is how my wife and I got to know each other in the first place. And so when we first began to "talk" we wanted to keep it somewhat quiet lest feelings be hurt among friends and it seem like we had both dumped those other people in a planned manner. I'll admit, we were pretty good at keeping our secret -- for a while. I would call her room or she would call my room and we would let it ring once and hang up which was the signal that the ex's were nowhere around and we could talk. We were careful not to talk to each other in public, besides very casual remarks. We wouldn't sit together in the college cafeteria and would make sure that we faced away from each other. The only concession that we would make was that during a class sometimes one of us would across the room just tap our pen on the desk three times in what seemed an idle, nervous habit. When one of us heard the other do that, it meant "I'm thinking of you."

Despite all of our precautions, and despite all of our carefulness, one girl -- a country girl from Alabama -- figured it out. She had never heard us speak to each other about our mutual interest and she had never come upon us together, but one day she cornered my wife-to-be and said "okay Dee, what's up with you and Jeremiah?" When my wife tried to play dumb, she responded, "oh I see how that you aren't looking at each other but you always know where the other is. And you've been way too happy lately, so what's up?" So much for our carefully hidden secret!

Such is the nature of a secret even today. People can sense a secret in somebody's life and that sensing leads to a hunger to know what it is. No matter how well hidden, eventually all secrets will be revealed. And the fact that something was kept a secret lends credibility and value to it because people only try to hide things that are either valuable or real. And when a secret is revealed, it always has a powerful effect on those who hear it.

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We understand the nature of a secret in the natural, but most Christians have never thought about or realized the applications of the nature of secrets in their spiritual walk. When you read the teachings of Jesus Christ, you will find that He was always talking about "secrets." In fact, it could be argued that the key to living for God successfully and faithfully is understanding and acting upon the nature of a secret in the spiritual things of your life. Let me help somebody and show you from Jesus' teachings the importance of grasping and using the nature of a secret in the spiritual sense. First:

Our text in Matthew 9 joins several other events in Jesus' life as His giving what appears at first a strange command. Two blind men -- having heard about Jesus' miracle-sworking power -- had followed the Master into a house and there they asked for their sight to be restored. Jesus responded by healing both of them, but then He made a strange request:

What a wild request: heal a blind guy and then even though he is going to show up with the very obvious miracle having been done, command him not to tell anybody about his healing! Yeah right! And Jesus "sternly warned them" not to tell anybody: to a blind guy that had been healed!

I know that verse 31 says that they published it all across the country, but I really think that they tried to obey Him. I mean, after all He had just healed them so they would do anything that He wanted. I think that the blind men at first really tried to keep it a secret, but can you imagine?

(Now this is the SRV -- Sibley revised version -- here:) Blind Levi comes home and walks in the door in time for dinner. And he sits down and the talk around the table is normal and he's trying his best not to smile and stare at his family members but this is the first time he's actually seen them! But he's doing his best to keep his healing a secret so supper is served and somebody asks for the lambchops and without thinking, Levi reaches way over and grabs it and hands it directly to the person who asked. Everybody just stares at him for a moment -- because he normally couldn't go right to something on the table and all and yet conversation goes on normally. A few minutes later, somebody says, "the sunshine is really reflecting off of something through that window, somebody draw the blinds, will you? And blind Levi says, "yeah it was starting to hurt my . . . never mind." And a few of the brothers and sisters look at each other and then shrug and the conversation goes on as normal. Supper's over and Levi announces that he's going to go outside a while and walk around. When somebody asks "don't you want somebody to go with you and help you?" Levi responds, "no, I'll make it this time by myself." He's gone all afternoon and he's thinking about what Jesus has commanded "don't you tell anybody; keep it a secret!" When he gets home, the whole family is waiting for him. Somebody says, "okay, Levi, what's up with you?" "What do you mean?" "Something's weird about you today." "I don't know what you are talking about." "Look! See how his eyes go right to whomever is talking to him? He's never done that before." "I think that Levi can see." "Levi, can you see? How did that happen? You can't keep it from us! We've been watching you all day and you don't act like a blind man any more!" "Okay, okay, I can see today perfectly clear -- it's amazing!" "How did that happen?" "I, I cannot tell you." "What?!"

I think these two blind men really tried to obey Jesus' commands, but the more that they tried to keep it a secret, the more insistent the family and friends became. "We want to know what happened, Levi, who healed you?" "I cannot say." "I'll bet it was that man from Nazareth named Jesus. Was it Jesus, Levi?" Silence. "Aha, it was Jesus!" "Praise Jehovah, Levi has been healed!" And from there the news spread until the entire country had heard about it!

You see, it wasn't that Jesus was adverse to the news getting around of His miracle power, it was the principle of God's kingdom that only those who hunger and thirst after righteous shall be filled. By commanding the blind men to try to keep it a secret, a thirst and hunger was created in those who found out about it, so much that they didn't even see the miracle but they spread it voraciously! And what would have been a hearsay rumor spread like wildfire because it was perceived at first to be a secret! And so people who wouldn't have believed that Jesus could heal were not only not questioning His ability to heal but witnessing about it to others even though they had never seen. When Jesus commanded those blind men to keep it a secret, He knew that it would never happen, but He was setting up a mighty revival because He understood the nature of a secret!

We today would do well to learn the nature of a secret in those who discover that there is something there. It creates a hunger that would not be in them otherwise. We need to witness -- don't misunderstand me -- but we often witness the wrong way. We think witnessing is just blabbing everything that God has done for us in ten minutes are less and quoting every scripture that we can think of and baring all immediately to whatever poor soul happens to walk by us when we are fired up. And we are constantly pushed away with such an approach because they are not hungry for what God has done for you.

But when you make it a secret. Instead of just out right telling them how on fire for God you are, you stay silent but by your actions and demeanor it's obvious that you have found a passion somewhere worth living for, then they become curious about it and want to hear about it! We come to God and He performs an awesome change in our life and so we see somebody that we haven't seen since B.C. and we immediately dive off into what a change God has made in our life. The conversation might be about "what did you have for dinner last night?" and we say "I'm a different person than when you last saw me, girl, I've got the Holy Ghost and I'm a holy roller." And then we wonder why they are not interested. It's because of your approach. Like Jesus, we should learn to use the nature of a secret to our advantage.

It would have been better to meet them and talk about normal things and invite them to dinner and the more that they are around you, they are going to pick up on "something's changed." "She doesn't look like she used to." "She seems a lot happier now." "She doesn't use the same language that she used to use." "She seems to have it more together than she used to, I wonder..." And now you've got them suspecting a secret something has happened and you've got them hungry to know what it was and then you've got them! Eventually, they are going to say, "you know you are quite different than you used to be, what has changed so greatly." And then when you tell them about what God has done for you, they are hungry because they have asked. The nature of a secret has created a hunger that was not there before! Jesus understood the nature of a secret to cause a hunger in those who ordinarily would not have cared!

And then you can lean in and say "well, let me let you in on a secret, I have found something that very few people have and it is so great...!"

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Actually, Jesus, Himself was a secret. Paul wrote:

And also:

And listen to this scripture:

God coming in flesh in the form of Jesus Christ was a mystery that even the devil and the rulers of darkness did not understand. You see, God implanted within Mary a secret. The devil knew something was up because it was very unique how the birth came about and the wise men and the angels and everything, but he wasn't sure really who Jesus was. He said "if thou be the son of God." The devil knew that Jesus was the son of David and therefore could be the Messiah, but even the devil didn't grasp that the Messiah was going to be more than just a good prophet, but would be God Himself come in flesh. Even Mary filed all the wonderful things away as Jesus grew up and yet only later got the revelation of who her eldest son truly was. It was a gradual revelation to the disciples also, and in one passage when He had awoken from a deep sleep to calm the storm in one fell swoop they looked at each other in awe and said "what manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him!?"

He was God in flesh, but it was well disguised at first. For thirty years, He did no miracles. He hungered and grew weary and bled and slept and worked in a carpenter's shop and was cold and sweated and ate and prayed and seemed as a normal human being. And the scripture says that the devil did not realize this secret that it was God in flesh. Because he would have never tried to kill God, because God cannot die. But he assumed that it was just another prophet like John the Baptist, and John the Baptist was easily killed and stayed dead! Nobody fully realized maybe except some of His closest disciples who He really was. It was a secret, but that brings us to our next point of the nature of a secret:

And such was definitely the case when the secret of who Jesus Christ really was began to be revealed. The first hints came at the way that He died and willingly laid down on the cross. Then the lights went out for three hours and then the rocks began to roll and the earth quaked and then tombs began to open. But the irrefutable proof came three days later when a heavy stone was rolled away revealing an empty tomb and He began to show up and show out as One who was alive!

And oh, the power of that secret being revealed! Because that revelation split history in two. It rolled away the stone of the law of Moses and ushered in the power of grace and mercy. It brought about the Day of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost! It brought about the true Apostolic church! And the secret still brings about a powerful effect on those to whom it is revealed even today! Do you remember when it first hit you that Jesus was God Almighty coming to die for your sins? Do you remember when it first clicked in your brain and the secret was revealed that Jesus was "God in flesh!?" Do you remember the change in your worship that followed? The change in your consecration? The change in your spiritual self-worth!? The power that came with that revelation! The rejoicing? Such was the life-changing power of the secret of God's manifestation and Incarnation!

And if you are here and you may have heard the story but never truly understood the secret, let me let you in on it! He is the only one who spans the Heavens, and He is the One who created the universe, and He is the One who was born of Mary to die for you and I and He is the first and the last, the One who is alive forevermore! And He has a name: Jesus! If you've never grasped that before, then you don't have to be in the dark any longer: the secret is out and it has come to bring power and to change your life! We do not serve a God who is far away but rather One who has been tempted like we are yet without sin. Therefore we can come boldly before the throne of grace and find our help in time of need!

And let me say this: sometimes if we have known the secret for a while, it can become old to us and no longer as exciting as it used to be, but the great God of glory whose ways are above our ways, still has many exciting secrets of His power and glory and will that He wants to share with even the most seasoned believer. Jesus said this:

There is a great power in the revelation of such great secrets, but they will only be revealed to those who hunger after them and who desire to know them. Go read the 13th chapter of Matthew and you will find that all of the crowd here heard the parables but only those who sought Him afterwards and sought an explanation had the secret of the parables revealed to them. We need to be reminded of the joy and power that comes about with the revealing of great mysteries in our life and we need again to hunger for the deeper things of God! This world is full of Christians that are satisfied with just a superficial knowledge of God's Word and God's will and God's workings, but God is looking for someone who will hunger to go beyond the surface.

I spent a day this week studying stuff that I just wanted to study rather than preparing a sermon or lesson and I came in and told my wife, "there is so much great stuff in the Word of God that I have yet to learn!" She looked at me oddly, and I said "the more I learn the more I realize that I have not even scratched the surface of what God wants to reveal to us!" If you have grown bored with God or with the Bible or with living for Him, then you should know the change has been in you and in your focus. You are no longer hungering after the things of God and have instead turned your appetite to other things, because even the most well-versed Christian here still stands not quite at everything that God has for you! How higher are His ways than ours! And what great power there is when a great hidden truth is revealed to you by Him, but such powers only come when you hunger and thirst after righteousness more than anything else!

God has some great things that He would like to show us and perform through us, but He's waiting for us to put down the remote and turn off the radio and shut out the noise and open His book and our hearts at the same time and begin to search for Him and His will! But there is a power when you discover what He has hidden for you! The kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field, but when you find it, you realize its worth and you realize that it is worth selling everything else in order to obtain it! Such is the power of the nature of a secret!

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I'm preaching to you about the nature of a secret and the power that understanding this nature can bring! And probably our final principle of the nature of a secret is the least understood by most Christians and yet the one that has the most direct impact upon their everyday lives. It is:

That's what Jesus taught in our other text in Luke when He said:

Four chapters later, He said:

Paul told the church in Corinth:

Everything done in secret will be revealed, if not now, then in the final judgment with God! But the truth is more often than not things done as secrets are revealed openly in our life not too long after they are performed. Let me remind you of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount:

Is this not backwards to how many Christians think today? When they want people to see that they are a Christian and they want to be "more like Christ" they make sure to do things in the open before people so that they are seen by men. Many "believers" try to prove their relationship with God by acting religious for other people. And like the Pharisees, they act differently when they are by themselves than when they are around church people. But what is rewarded openly is not that which is done openly, but that which is done in secret. If a person in secret is fasting and praying and giving and sacrificing and sincerely developing their relationship with God; if a person in secret is living right and doing right and acting right and obeying, then they don't have to tell others because it become obvious to everyone by the blessings and anointings of God on their life that is publicly shown. The outward will be a reflection of what you have done in secret. Every secret will be shouted from the house tops.

It's obvious when a person has been doing right in their secret life. It's also obvious when a person has been sinning in their secret life. Because it shows in their outwardly daily walk with God. A person who in the secret has met with God throughout the week and walked daily with God doesn't have to struggle to worship Him or to think about whether or not their worship is good enough for others to think that they are okay. A person doing right in secret isn't worried about what others think of their worship. Only those who are doing wrong in secret care about such things. The Pharisees wanted to show themselves religious to try to mask the secret sins and yet their forced worship and strained and lofty prayers and lack of sincerity and truthfulness openly revealed their lack of commitment in secret. At the same time, Jesus often spent time by Himself in prayer and alone in devotions and so His ministry wasn't about what others thought, but was genuine and God blessed openly and outwardly the secret devotion.

You don't have to tell us that you have been praying like you should or fasting or living right -- we can tell, and so can the world around you. What is done in secret is always openly revealed! Remember the story of Achan who secreted away gold and goods that belonged to God after the battle of Jericho? When God led Joshua to him, the way that Joshua knew that Achan was guilty was when he commanded him to "give glory to God" and Achan could not fully praise God as he should (Joshua 7:19)! If you are struggling to outwardly do what you should, then you are not doing inwardly what you should! If you struggle obeying the commandments of God in the open, then you are not obeying the commandments of God in the secret!

I remember that when I began to teach Bible Studies and God began to bless my ministry and my preaching, I had several people tell me "just all of a sudden God began to use you in a mighty way." It may have seemed that way, but they did not see the study and the prayer and the fasting and the preparation of the secret place! We think backwards because we forget the nature of a secret. What is outwardly revealed in our lives this week is the result of what was done in secret the last. Some young preachers look at a mighty man of God and say "I want to preach like him" and they try to imitate his outward style and don't get the same results. But it is because they had the wrong approach. If you want his outward anointing, then you've got to do in secret what he has done. You don't learn how to preach anointed outwardly just by practicing nor do you learn to be a powerful, faith-filled, always overcoming Christian just by acting like one. You become those thing outwardly through doing what is right in secret. Keep doing God's will in the secret place and eventually God begins to bless it in the open! We so often forget that it matters much less what others see and much more what God sees! And God looks primarily at the secret places and rewards accordingly. What's done in secret will always come out in the open! It will be revealed, such is the nature of a secret!

David's step of faith and great victory over Goliath didn't start in front of the crowd of onlookers but rather was a public showing of a personal relationship with God that the little shepherd boy had on the lonely hillside surrounded only by sheep! That day, it became obvious to all who had been spending time with God and doing His will!

And so I close with this scripture:

Those who dwell or live or make their everyday abode in the secret place of the Most High will live and dwell under the protective hand of God! The secret to making it in God and to being victorious and to being mighty and to being great in the kingdom of God is doing what is right in the secret place. Does your secret place and actions belong to Him, or do they belong to you or this world? If you want to be on fire for God in public, then you must be so in secret! Do what is right behind closed doors and it will become obvious to all through the mighty hand of God's blessing on your life. Such is the nature of a secret! Such is the nature of the kingdom of God!