“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)
One day I was ministering in a town where there was a certain minister in another church, a denominational church. This man was doing wrong. As he did wrong to one of the girls in our congregation, she came and reported it to me. Immediately after he heard that he was reported, he was at my door at six o’clock in the morning, before I even got up. He said, “I have to see you. You have to pray for me. You HAVE TO pray for me!” I asked him, “What’s the matter?” He replied, “I have done wrong. I have committed this great sin against God and I have come to you, a man of God, to pray for me.” He laid out before me the whole thing as the girl had said. I said, “Okay, let’s pray,” and I prayed for him. He thanked me, smiled, and went away. Do you know what he did? He bound me. As a minister there was nothing I could do about it anymore. I had prayed with him and asked God to forgive him. When I saw it, I knew he was throwing a rope around me, I knew he was binding me, but there was nothing I could do. I had to go by the rules. But there was a rule I had that he didn’t know about. I went to God and said, “God, this man has bound me up. If he really repents, I know you’ll forgive him and deliver him which all of us will be happy for. But if he doesn’t repent, then Lord God, I know you will let it break out on him some other way.” It sure broke out. His church caught hold of him, they tried him and fired him. It was a big disgrace.
You know, God will do things like this. He will give you a chance, He will cover your sin, but if you try to get around Him and use the Word of God to beat Him, He will get you anyhow. Let us, therefore, fear to use God’s Word in an unrighteous way.