The Incredibles Gospel Story - Super to Villain

Over the past few weeks God has shown us: that none of us can have a Secret Identity – God knows everything about us – He knows if we are spiritually ready; that God, even in His frustration with His creation, continues to save humankind despite how often we spit in his face with our disobedience; and that one day the groom of 2^nd chances and mercy will become the groom of judgment - He will return and those who are spiritually ready to meet Him will go with Him into eternity and those who use the excuse “I still got time!” will find that time has run out.

So honestly, God has been calling us to reflect on our lives this Easter season and compare them with the standards found in His Word.  And there may be things in our lives, in our hearts that are wrong that we don’t even know they are wrong. We must read God’s Word, literally, in order to have it speak to us. The Bible shows us the good and the bad – it shows us everything that God desires to see lived out in His creation, you and me. Yet we cannot know it if we don’t read it and allow it to penetrate our souls.

“For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.”  Hebrews 4: 12-13

God is saying to us, “Quit living in sin – quit rebelling against my commandments and seek my righteousness.  Don’t do what the world accepts and tells you is okay.  No, let your spirit and soul be revived by desiring more and more and more of me in your life. Be all that I have created you to be by living fully for me.  And the only way to live fully for me is to be open with me, allowing me to refine you into the person I desire you to be.”

Well, today we’re going to be looking at what Jesus experienced the last week of His earthly life.  

Just as the Super’s went from being “Super to Villain”, so did Jesus’ ministry.

John 12: 12-19 provides us a glimpse of the crowds shouting praises and placing palm branches in the path of Jesus as He is riding into Jerusalem on a donkey colt.

Jesus had done all these amazing miracles – miracles that people had seen, heard about, even experienced personally.  And so as Jesus is entering Jerusalem for His last Hoorah, the people were saying, “Here comes our Super.  Here comes our King who has saved the day.  Here comes our Savior.   We have nothing to fear.  He will destroy our enemies.  He will provide us with protection.  He will bring us peace.  Hosanna!  Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Yet within less than a week, the thoughts and opinions of those hailing their Super - they changed.

Luke 23: 13-25 tells us of Jesus' arrest and how Pilate has found Him to not be guilty, but the people no longer want Him as their king. 

Here we have the same people who had been touched in some way by the miraculous of Jesus now crying “foul.”  The same people who were laying out palm branches and yelling, “Hosanna!  Hosanna!   Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”, were now yelling, “Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!  Get rid of Him!  We don’t need this Super.  We don’t need Him to be our King – Caesar is our king.  We don’t need Him to save us from the Roman oppression.  We don’t need Him to tell us that we need to repent.  No, give us Barabbus!  We don’t want a Super.  We want someone just like us - someone that can blend in with us and no one would know any different.  We don’t want God!  We want a man!”

So if I could pull an application from today’s narrative on how Jesus went from Super to Villain it would be this:  TRUST THE REAL JESUS.

What do I mean by that? You see if the Israelites had trusted the real Jesus, the one they heard teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven, the one they saw performing all the miracles, the one they literally touched, then they would have come to understand that Jesus didn’t come to establish His Kingdom on earth.  He didn’t come to save them from the Roman oppression.  Instead He came to provide them salvation – a way to Heaven and a way to live here on this earth in the midst of its oppression.

They didn’t get it:  The real Jesus wasn’t about this world and their particular troubles.  He was about God’s world and everyone’s troubles, both Jew and Gentile, man and woman, and yes, even child.

And if we don’t know the Real Jesus, then we won’t trust the Real Jesus.  We’ll be just like the Israelites that one day cried out, “Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” and the next day “Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!”

The Real Jesus must be trusted to come live within us and work within us so that we will be ready; spiritually ready when He does come to establish His Kingdom on earth.

The Real Jesus isn’t on a cross.  The Real Jesus isn’t in an Ark.  The Real Jesus isn’t in a church or a temple.

No, the Real Jesus lives in people’s hearts – where He can impact them personally. The Real Jesus lives in people’s hearts – where He can be seen and can be experienced by others. The Real Jesus lives in people’s hearts – where He can be worshiped.

The people of Jesus’ day didn’t get Him because they wanted an external figure to lead them – they wanted a king sitting on a throne that would destroy their enemies.  They wanted a Super.

But when Jesus didn’t give them what they wanted, He became a Villain who needed to be judged – a Villain who need to die.

Who is Jesus to you?  Is He your Super, or is He your Villain?  If He is your Super, then He should be trusted to live within you and to change you.  If He is your Super, then He should become very evident in your life.  If He is your Super, then you should be a Super too.
 

The Incredibles Gospel Story - Still Got Time!

So far God has shown us through The Incredibles that there is no way to have a secret identity – there’s no way to escape and hide from God.  God prefers we be open and transparent with Him.

And in review, to be a Super for God we must admit, repent, and share.  And the more we do, the more we become the Super who “saves the day.”

But God has also shown us that even though we continue to mess up this world – to mess up with our lives – He continues to step in and save the day.  We just have to be willing to grab hold of the Lifeline He has thrown us – the Lifeline Jesus.

Well, let’s take a look at what God wants us to share with us today.  

Three times, let me say that again, three times Mr. Incredible had to make a decision that involved time:  “Do I have enough time to be a hero before going to my wedding?”  And three times he looked at his watch and said, “Yes.” And with each “Yes,” he felt the crunch of time.  Yet, despite pushing time to the limit, he STILL was able to get married.

This story reminds me of (I hate to say it) of the many times I have been out hunting or fishing when it began to get dark.

I knew I needed to start home before darkness completely set in, BUT the woods began to come alive again, or fish would just begin to go on a feeding frenzy.  “Oh, I can stay a little longer” I would always tell myself.  Finally I would relinquish my will and go home only to find my parents or my wife not happy with my decision to stay later.  And they had a right to be.  After all, I knew I was okay.  But they didn’t.  For all they knew, I was hurt and in need of help.

Well, saying “I still got time” may be okay and even work out when I’m late in getting to my wedding (I wouldn’t suggest thisJ) or late coming home after trying to catch a big fish, but it’s NOT OKAY in getting me to Heaven.

Now, let’s put today’s scripture about another wedding (Matthew 25: 1-13) in modern English.  But before I do, I need to share with you a little history of weddings during Jesus’ day. 

First the groom and the bride were betrothed for about a year.  This meant they were legally married and a divorce was necessary to annul the marriage.  During this time the groom would be with his parents and the bride would be with hers getting ready for the wedding.  Also during this time, the father of the groom was making preparations to build an addition onto his house so that the new couple could live in his household.  The groom was not allowed to go fetch his bride until the father had finished the addition and had given him permission.  At this time, there was no haste on the part of the groom – he had been waiting for a year or more.  And the bride, along with her bridesmaids, had to be prepared for the unknown time the groom would come.  Once he arrived there would be a celebration to commemorate the union of the husband and wife.

With that background, we have a better understanding of why Jesus told this story.  

Here's what this story would sound like today: 

There were 10 bridesmaids:  five foolish and five wise.  The betrothal period was coming to a close so they knew the groom would be coming soon.  The word had spread around town that the groom was coming to get his bride, so they began to get themselves ready for the celebration.  It was nighttime so they took their flashlights with them to meet the groom.  The problem was that the groom did not come right away, so they began to grow tired and their eyes became heavy.  They were so tired that they fell asleep with their flashlights still on.  At midnight the cry rang out that the groom was on his way.  The bridesmaids woke up startled from their sleep and found that their flashlights were going dim.  The foolish ones said to the wise, "Let us have some of your batteries since ours are beginning to die."  "No" they replied, "We don't have enough batteries for both us and you.  Instead, go to Walmart and buy some for yourselves."

But while on their way to Walmart to get the batteries, the groom arrived.  The bridesmaids, who were prepared by having extra batteries, met up with the groom and went in with him to the wedding banquet.  And the door was shut to the Hall.

Later, after the foolish one's returned from their shopping trip, they knocked on the door to the Hall.  They could not get in because the door was locked.  The groom answered the door.  They said, "We were out buying batteries for our flashlights when you came.  Can we come in now?"  The groom said, "I've never met you ladies before so how do I know you're not here to crash the party?  Since I don't know you, you must leave."

That seems ridiculous to us today, since we’re all about sensitivity and second chances.  Why would this groom shut the door in their faces without trying to understand their reason for being late?  After all, that’s the only fair thing to do.

But as the door is being closed on them, if it were even opened, I can hear them banging against it and yelling out, “Hey, we were with the other 5 bridesmaids when you were coming.  Just ask them!  If you don’t believe them, then ask the bride to come here.  She’ll verify who we are.”

The Big Idea Jesus wants us to take from this passage is:  Be Ready – spiritually ready!

The foolish bridesmaids thought they had plenty of time – they thought they were prepared.  So they assumed it would be no big deal if they went to get batteries and were a little late. You can hear them saying, “Oh, we still got time!  They know us and they’ll certainly let us in when we get there.”

Yet, that is not the reception they received at all. This groom of grace was no longer a groom of 2^nd chances.  He said, “You knew I was coming – that was no surprise.   You should have prepared yourself in advance so that you were ready when I did arrive.”

So why should we be ready?  And ready for what?  We should be ready for the groom, who is Christ, to return to this earth, maybe even today.

How do we get ready?  By exposing our secret identities.

What Christ just taught us is that if you think you still have time, even though you’ve been invited by the Bride, Christ’s Church, to come to the wedding, you will be left outside.  You will be left outside simply because you never took the time to be ready.  You never took the time to be spiritually ready by exposing your secret identity - by admitting you have sinned against God, by repenting of these sins, and then by sharing God’s grace in your life with others.

Right now, Jesus is with His Father as His Father prepares many rooms (many mansions) for His Bride.  And Jesus is waiting on the day when His Father says to Him, “Go get your Bride!” Yet even Jesus does not know the day or the hour that God will tell him this.  

And it seems like a long time since Jesus left to go be with His Father. 

There are many, maybe even some of you today, who wonder if He will ever return.  It’s been that long.  But He’s betrothed to His Bride and He’s not going to divorce her.

HE’S COMING BACK, but He can’t come of His own will – it must be the will of the Father.

So while He is away, He wants everyone to hear that they need to be ready (spiritually ready) for His return.  And He also wants them to hear that any who are not prepared and ready to go to the celebration when He gets here will not be permitted to come into Heaven.

The biggest lie I have heard over the years from many is that they still have time to get right with the Lord. Those who have said this have meant they don’t want to be bothered now with this God-stuff – they’ll just wait until they’re older in life. Right now they rather like their life of sin and do not wish to fully submit their lives to Him.

The problem with this lie is that none of us are invincible - even Super’s die in this movie.  And knowing this should help us to see that none of us are guaranteed today, let alone tomorrow.  Just ask a grieving parent who has lost his/her child.

But even if we do get 70, 80, 90 or more years on this earth, none of us know when the groom is going to return.  One thing we do know is that the time of betrothal is coming to an end because the signs tell us so.  Another thing is that percentages say that the older a person, the less likely he/she will be in accepting Christ as Savior (set in their ways).

Mr. Incredible didn’t make it to his wedding on time. Yet Elastigirl forgave him and married him.

But Jesus on the other hand says “You better be ready when I return – you better not be at Walmart buying batteries for your flashlight.  You better confess and repent of your sins to God.  You better ask Me to come live in your heart.  You better become a disciple and walk the straight and narrow road that leads to life.  Otherwise, you won’t be prepared, when I do come.”

He will also say this as you knock at the door, “The reasons you had for not accepting me while I was away are of no benefit to you now.  It’s too late.  Depart from me, for I never knew you.”

Please be ready.  These aren’t my words, but Christ’s.  Start living in Him so that He is in you.  For if He is in you, you will have no need to fear His return - YOU WILL BE READY!

The Incredibles Gospel Story - Why Can't the World Stay Saved?

Last week we started a series on the movie The Incredibles.

And we discerned that Super Heroes have reasons for their secret identities.  They need them to remain anonymous in the world – they need them for their sanity.

But we also learned last week, though we try, none of us can have a secret identity – God knows everything about me – He knows every detail of my life, even my thoughts and my motives.

Yet in God’s eyes, we are Super’s, if we will simply quit trying to hide from Him and others.

What God wants from us is this:  To humbly admit to our sins, to repent and walk away from them, and then to share when it will help others to overcome.  And when we live in the open, when we expose what's on the inside, we become the Super Hero that God desires.

Now this week, Mr. Incredible expresses some frustration to the interviewer.  He told the interviewer “He wished the world could sometimes stay saved – just for a little bit.”  Though he expressed himself jokingly, you could hear the urgency in his voice.  You could hear that he needed a break from having to save the world all the time.  It was as if he were saying, “World, just let me have a day off!  Would you stop messing up, just for a day?  Please, I am tired of cleaning up your mess!"

Sometimes he wished he could just have the simple life, relax a little, and settle down.

Well, as I watched that part of the clip, I heard God speaking.  I heard God saying, “You know what JD?  I have the same feelings as Mr. Incredible.  I wish I could have a break from saving this messed up world – just for a little bit.  I am tired of cleaning up their messes.  Just when I think I’ve got it cleaned up, they go and mess it up again.  UGGHH!”

But just as Mr. Incredible continues to rescue and clean up the messes of the world despite his feelings, so does God.  And this is the good news we want to look at today.

Let’s go back in time and set the stage for God’s Super Hero interventions.

First, there’s Noah.  After Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, things didn’t get any better.  Their oldest son Cain killed his younger brother Abel; giving mankind its first murder.  As time went on, things got worse.  So worse, that every inclination of mankind’s thoughts was only evil all of the time.  In other words, there was total depravity.

How did the Lord feel about this?

Genesis 6: 6-8 states, "The Lord was grieved that he had made man on earth, and his heart was filled with pain.  So the Lord said, 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth - men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air - for I am grieved that I have made them.'  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

Now remember God’s intent in creating man and woman in His likeness was to have relationship with them and to have them choose what is right.  And the fact that His creation was totally rebellious helps you to see why His heart grieved so badly – why it caused Him so much pain. So God intervenes and prunes his creation using Noah as the instrument of regeneration for the earth.

Second, there’s the Tower of Babel.  It didn’t take long for Noah’s offspring to revert back to the depravity the people displayed before the flood.  In fact it didn’t take long before Noah, after building an altar and sacrificing burnt offerings to God, was found drunk and lying naked in his tent by his three sons.

So Noah’s descendants became proud and egotistical over time.  How many people were on the earth at this time?  I don’t know.  But what I do know is that the people were unified and decided that they would build a tower from the earth to the heavens to show their dominance over God’s creation – to show their dominance over the God who had saved them.

So what did God do about it?
Genesis 11: 5-8 says, "But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.  The Lord said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.'  So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city."

I can only imagine what God (in three) must have been feeling.  I think I could hear God saying just like Mr. Incredible, “I wish the world could just stay saved!  For a little bit.”  

But God knew this was only the beginning and that He must come up with another redemptive way to save the world.

Well, that’s where the Israelites come into the picture.  Abraham, their father, was given a covenant from God: 1)  He will have a son, 2)  His descendants will be as numerous as the stars and they’ll become a great nation, 3)  His descendant will possess a land of milk and honey, and 4)  All the peoples on earth will be blessed through him.

But before any of this could take place, the Israelites had to spend 400 years in Egypt where they would be enslaved and mistreated.

They just left Egypt and were wandering in the desert for 40 years.  They had seen it all.  They had seen God part the Red Sea so they could cross on dry ground. They had seen God lead and protect them as a pillar of fire by night and a cloud of smoke by day.  They had seen water come from rocks to quench their thirst. They had seen God provide them manna and quail to eat.  And they were still wearing the same sandals that were on their feet when they left Egypt.

They had seen miracle, after miracle, after miracle, yet they still complained, still murmured against the Lord (“we would have been better off to remain in Egypt as slaves than to wander in this wilderness and die”).  And worse yet, they built an idol, a golden calf, to worship as the god that had done all these things for them.

How fed up was God with their actions?
Deuteronomy 9: 13-14 declares, "And the Lord said to me (Moses), 'I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed!  Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven.  And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.'"

Fortunately for the Israelites, Moses didn’t take God up on His test.  No, Moses passed the test by interceding on their behalf for forty days and nights asking God not to destroy His people.

But I can hear God asking himself in frustration, “What in the world do I need to do to get these people to believe in me?  When are they going to stop relying upon themselves?........  What if I send them my son?

Now Jesus comes into the picture to redeem the House of Israel. He preaches with authority.  He heals the lame, the blind, the deaf, and the sick. He removes the demons from people’s lives so that their spiritual sickness and torment could be healed.  He forgives sins and tells the sinner to go and sin no more.  He teaches love, not hate.  He teaches peace, not vengeance.  He teaches mercy, not cruelty.  But many still didn’t believe.  He was not their picture of what a Messiah should be.

So Jesus, in sorrow, says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  Look, your house is left to you desolate.  I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"  Luke 13: 34-35

Jesus knew that many Jews then, and into the future, were missing their opportunity at salvation, and it hurt his soul.  These were His people.  They were His blood.  You can hear Him saying to Himself as He weeps for His beloved Jerusalem, “Why won’t they believe Me?  Why won’t they accept Me as their salvation?”

So if there is one Big Idea to take from this, it is:  God Continues to Save.

But God will not and cannot save those who don’t want to be saved.  In order to be saved you have to grab hold of the Lifeline He offers - His Son Jesus.

You know, Mr. Incredible asked a great question, “Why can’t the world stay saved?” And the answer is as simple as the lie humankind bought into thousands of years ago –
1)      You can be like God;
2)      You can be self-sufficient;
3)      You don’t need to be saved.

But the good news is still as true as this thought:  Just as Mr. Incredible continued to save the people of his world when they were in trouble, so does God.

Thank God, He doesn’t want the simple life; that He doesn’t want to relax or take a break from this messed up world we have created.  And most importantly, thank God that in His frustration with you and me, He doesn’t stop loving us and continues to save us from ourselves.

Hear the good news, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5: 8-11

God continues to save – save in many different ways!  If you haven’t grabbed onto the Lifeline, Jesus, for eternal salvation, or you haven’t grabbed onto the Lifeline, Jesus, for strength to overcome the struggles of this life that are trying to pull you under, today is the day to grab hold.  After all, who wants to drown?

The Incredibles Gospel Story - Secret ID's

Ever been a time in your life where you did something in secret?  You did what you did because you wanted no one to know.  You did what you did in secret because you were ashamed of what you were doing.  You were just hoping no one would find out because if he/she did, you knew the consequence of having your secret exposed.  Or maybe, you did what you did in secret because you didn’t want the honor and fame that would result if found out.  In either case, there have been times in your life, and in my life, where we have had to hide, good or bad parts of our identity for fear of the exposure it would bring.

Well that’s what the Super’s were dealing with in their everyday lives.  It’s pretty obvious that the Super’s needed their secret identities to keep them safe and out of the public’s eye.  They needed their secret identities to relieve some of the pressure of trying to be super all of the time.

The public only knew them as Super Heroes.  But when out of costume, they were just another person walking the street or a colleague at work.  They didn’t want their identities to be revealed.

Well, that’s true of all of us.  There are some things in our lives that we have no problem sharing with others.  Usually, these are the good, positive things that happen in our lives.

But we all have secrets.  Secrets we want no one to discover:  secrets that, if exposed, will reveal our true identities.

Just like Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and Frozone didn’t want their identities to be exposed for good reasons, there are some things, some secrets that people never need to know about you.  They don’t need to know every thought that passes through your mind, good or bad.  They don’t need to know about every mistake that you have made or that you will make.  But what they need to know is the Super Hero in you.  

And though we can’t leap buildings with a single bound, nor run as fast as a speeding bullet, we can all have the one characteristic that God looks for in a super hero.  And this characteristic is threefold: ADMIT, REPENT, & SHARE.

God is looking for us to humbly admit our sins, repent and walk away from them, and then share our story when it can help someone else overcome the same temptation or struggle we have faced.

2 Corinthians 4: 1-2a states, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.  Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God.”

The apostle Paul was dealing with false teachers and grumblings that were creeping into the church in Corinth.  So what we just read was part of his correction to the church.  He wanted them to see that his life and his words were nothing but the truth.   He wanted them to see that what he had taught them was the pathway they should follow.  And this passage is still relevant to you and me today.

If we desire to be a super hero, a man or woman after God’s heart, we must renounce (not be part of) the secret and shameful ways of this world, we must tell the truth, and we must not falsify the word of God.

Mr. Incredible asked the rhetorical question in his interview, “Who wants the pressure of being super all of the time?"  And that’s very profound – one that we honestly need to ask ourselves.

Persons who hide their secrets from others find themselves under a lot of pressure to keep these secrets hidden.  They also find themselves trying to be “super” all of the time.  Pretending was fun when we were kids because it was pretend.  But as adults, when it’s reality, it catches up with us sooner or later.  And when it does, we usually crack.

The late radio broadcaster Paul Harvey told a story about some airline baggage handlers who retrieved an animal carrier from the luggage bay of an airliner.  As they removed the carrier, they made a gruesome discovery – the dog inside was dead.  The baggage handlers panicked.  They thought there might be lawsuits, and they might even lose their jobs.

They told the woman passenger that her dog had been sent to another destination by mistake.  It was not at all uncommon for baggage to be sent to the wrong city.  They promised her they would find her dog and have it delivered to her.  With that assurance, the woman went home.

The baggage handlers then buried the woman’s pet.  Afterward they set out to find another dog to replace the animal that had died.  Finally, they found a dog that was a dead ringer for this woman’s pet.  They put the substitute dog in the animal carrier and sent it to the woman’s address.  

The woman took one look at the dog and exclaimed, “That’s not my dog!”  “My dog is dead” she told them.  “I was bringing it home for burial.”

Their rationale and judgment were spoiled because of their assumption that the dog had died under their watch.  Honestly, do you think they could have gotten away with this plot of switching dogs?  After all, if the owner didn’t know that the dog was dead, she would have realized something was wrong when the dog wouldn’t come when its name was called.

Secrets always have a way of being exposed.  I can only imagine these baggage handlers trying to talk their way out of this one.  They had one option at this point – to come clean – which is what they should have done in the first place.

You know, sometimes our secret identities are found out immediately, and sometimes they can be kept secret from others for a lifetime.  In fact I read a headline one time on the internet that said, The Best Way to Lie and Not Get Caught.  (Please don’t go look that one up).  But even though we may be able to keep our secret identities from other human beings, we can never keep them from God.

Psalm 44: 20-21 says, “If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God have discovered it, since He knows the secrets of the heart?”

Jeremiah 23: 24 states, “Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the Lord.

Can we keep our secrets hidden?  No, because God knows everything about me.

Did King David think that no one would ever find out that he had Uriah killed in battle so that no one would suspect that he had an affair with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba?  Did the prophet Jonah think that he would escape from God’s calling to preach to the ruthless Ninevites by jumping on a ship heading in the other direction?  Did the prophet Elijah think he could hide in a cave feeling sorry for himself because he felt he was the only righteous one left after he had just defeated the gods of Baal in a duel of the gods?

And the answer is yes.  They thought they could get away with it.  But in each example, God revealed their secrets.

God used the prophet Nathan to tell a story about a king taking and slaughtering a poor man’s only lamb to help David see that his secret was known.  God used a horrific storm to reveal that Jonah was the one causing it and needed to be cast into the sea for the storm to calm.  And God used a gentle whisper rather than powerful winds, an earthquake, and a fire to help Elijah see that he was called by God and that there was still 7000 righteous living in Israel.

You know, the Super Heroes may be able to keep their secret identities.  The public may think they know their identities, but there is always some question.  But with God, there is no question.  He knows exactly who they are, and He knows exactly who we are.

Psalm 90: 8 says, “You (God) have set our iniquities (mistakes) before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.”

There is no way for us to escape.  God knows our thoughts and our motives.  He knows if they are pure or dishonest.  Most of all, He knows if we have truly repented of our sins.

We can fool others into believing that we’re earthly super heroes.  We can also fool ourselves into believing that the sinful things we are doing are okay.  But we can never fool God.  And He is the one who counts.

Secret Identities – don’t be fooled!  They’re not really secret.