For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.for the things which are done by them in secret it is a shame even to speak of.
4 sermons cite this verse
Now the text compares light and darkness, obviously. There are essentially two commands. One is a positive command in verse 8, Walk as children of light. The second is a negative command in verse 11, do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness. So darkness and light are set against each other. Now the context for this, as you well know, began in chapter 4 as we began to look at the practical instruction of the Spirit of God through the Apostle Paul for living the Christian life, for walking through the world in a way that honors the Lord. And we have talked about walking worthy. We have talked about walking in unity. We have talked about walking in purity, walking in integrity, last time walking in love, and now we have come to walking in light, Just another way to perceive the life of the believer. You were darkness. You were darkness formerly, verse 8 says, but now you are light. This is a stark contrast. They are mutually exclusive, and that is why the Lord has chosen by His Spirit this particular analogy. …
… And if you go down to verse 12, you'll see that translation in the NAS. It is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. You don't want to participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness. You want to expose them. It's disgraceful to even speak about them, let alone sit in the theater and watch it happen or watch it on your computer or on your iPhone or on your television. No filthiness at all, nothing that is disgraceful. He goes even further. No silly talk. That word is morolagia. First word is moron. Second word is lagia, which means word. This is what you call low obscenity. This is the obscenity of a drunkard. This is the obscenity of a lowlife. This is gutter talk from the lips of a fool. Your language should be purged of any low gutter talk with sexual implications. And then he adds coarse jesting. That word literally means to turn easily. And this is the thing that's what we call high obscenity. …
What is so miserably seen in the history of our first parents has been the temptation and sin of their posterity ever since,--indulgence in forbidden, unlawful, hurtful, unprofitable knowledge; as some instances will show. 1. I ought to notice in the first place that evil curiosity which stimulates young persons to intrude into things of which it is their blessedness to be ignorant. Satan gains our souls step by step; and his first allurement is the knowledge of what is wrong. He first tempts them to the knowledge, and then to the commission of sin. Depend on it that our happiness and our glory, in these matters, is to be ignorant, as well as to be guiltless. St. Paul says that "it is a shame even to speak" of those things which are done by the sons of Belial in secret. Oh, thoughtless, and worse, oh, cruel to your own selves, all ye who read what ye should not read, and hear what ye should not hear! Oh, how will you repent of your folly afterwards! Oh, what bitter feelings, oh, what keen pangs, will shoot through your souls hereafter, at the memory, when you look back, of what has come of that baneful curiosity! Oh, how will you despise yourselves, oh, how weep at what you have brought on you! At this day surely there is a special need of this warning; for this is a day when nothing is not pried into, nothing is not published, nothing is not laid before all men. …
I bless God that so many of you love your fellow creatures and fellow sinners and earnestly desire to promote their highest interests by bringing them to Christ! You have tasted and known the sweetness of true religion for yourselves and you are not selfishly satisfied merely to rejoice in this, but long that others, too, may taste and see, as you have done, that the Lord is good! Now, I know that if you are really in earnest about the matter, you will often meet with cases which wiil stagger your faith, will throw you back entirely upon your God and compel you to make your passionate appeal to His Omnipotence. Well, the text addresses itself especially to those who meet with such cases. Poor Martha, when she saw the stone rolled away from the tomb of her dead brother, was shocked with what would meet the eyes and nostrils of her Lord, and so, in deep solicitude and almost alarm she declared, "Lord, by this time he stinks." The spectacle was too revolting, for he had been dead nearly four days—and in an Oriental climate that signified much that was repulsive. Terrible havoc would already have been worked on the body and she could not bear, I say, that the Savior should be exposed to such a spectacle! Now, how often do we meet with men and women, young and old persons, whose case is a very terrible one! We do not like to speak of it. It is getting among the putrid things, for "it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done of them in secret." There are some cases which are shocking, terrible, fearful! We may well wish that a stone may cover the cave so that they may not be seen, that they may be left unobserved as cases too vile for the ordinary gazer to look upon. Have you never met with such? I am sure, my dear Friends, if you are City Missionaries, or lovers of City Missionary work, you must meet in this great city with some of the most revolting instances of immorality, debauchery, dishonesty and everything that is dreadful—and you are very apt to think that these are cases in which the Gospel will be out of place and the publishing of the news of pardoning love will be like throwing pearls before swine! The text, however, tells you something which may comfort you concerning such cases. …