Found Out

 •  4 min. read  •  grade level: 6
 
A man's guilt may be unknown by his fellow men, but nothing can be hidden from the eye of Omniscience.
Several miles out to sea on the east coast of Scotland lies a huge sunken rock. It is barely visible even at low tide, and is known as the Inchcape Rock.
Many years ago a buoy with a swinging bell attached to it was fastened to this dangerous rock by the Abbot of Arbrothok.
The clanging bell could be heard far over the water as the buoy danced up and down on the waves. Well did the sailors understand its warning, and many a time did they bless the kind abbot as they steered safely away from that dreaded rock.
Not far from this spot a pirate ship was becalmed. Not a breath of wind stirred the drooping sails. The sea lay shimmering in the brilliant sunshine, and the stillness was broken only by the cries of the seagulls as they circled in the air.
Sir Ralph the Rover was a daring pirate. As he paced his deck and looked over the still water, his attention was attracted to the black speck in the distance. It was the Inchcape buoy. A gleam shot from Sir Ralph's fierce black eyes as he ordered his men to lower a boat and row him to the rock.
Drawing alongside the buoy, he leaned over the side of the boat and cut the rope which held the bell. As it sank to the bottom with a gurgling sound, Sir Ralph exclaimed: "The next who comes to this rock Won't bless the Abbot of Arbrothok."
Then he returned to his ship and sailed away.
After many years of roaming and plunder, Sir Ralph at last steered again for the coast of Scotland. As he sailed in the direction of Arbrothok a storm came up. The wind rose to hurricane force, lashing the sea into a fury of crested ridges and black seething depths, and obscuring everything in a thick cloud of mist and spray. So violent was the storm that the sailors were forced to let the ship drift. They completely lost their bearings.
As night approached the wind fell, but the gathering darkness became even more dense than the mist. Knowing they were near the Inchcape Rock, intense anxiety prevailed among the crew. They could distinguish the dull roar of breakers above the sound of the storm. How they longed to hear the Inchcape bell ringing over the angry sea! But, alas for them, it had been buried in the depths of the ocean years ago.
Suddenly with a fearful crash the ship struck. It was the Inchcape Rock! A huge hole was smashed in her side; the water rushed in, and she began to sink. In frantic despair Sir Ralph cursed himself, and Sir Ralph perished with it.
Though he had escaped the punishment due his guilt at the hands of his fellow men, yet his sin had found him out at last.
The sins of a lifetime must sooner or later be confessed to God. Not a boy or girl, not a man or woman, can escape this exposure, for it is written, "every tongue shall confess to God."
This confession must take place either in the present day of salvation or in the coming Day of Judgment. "Behold, now is the day of salvation." The penitent sinner who comes to Christ NOW confessing his guilt receives full forgiveness because of the atoning work at Calvary.
But if a man refuse to repent in the day of salvation, he must in the day of judgment appear before God and make full confession of his sinful past. His own lips will prove his guilt, and everlasting punishment be his fearful doom.
Reader, are you still unrepentant? Are your sins still unconfessed to God? On which then of these two days shall your life's history be disclosed? Shall it be now in the day of salvation, or shall it be in eternity in the Day of Judgment? If you do not choose the first and the forgiveness offered, then the condemnation of judgment must be your portion forever.
But why perish when full forgiveness is proclaimed? As lost and guilty, turn now to the Savior before it is too late. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2.