Do sins committed in private lead to a relapse, and is committing a sin openly better than committing it in secret?

The malice within a person's heart prevents them from success and a good end. The servant who conceals their sins from people but not from Allah, and who feels ashamed before creation but not before the Creator, if they are alone with Allah's prohibitions, they violate them. Such a person is deserving of relapse and a bad end due to hypocrisy, ostentation, and the malice in their heart. As Ibn Daqiq Al-Eid and Ibn Uthaymeen stated, an act that is not inherently sound, but is done for ostentation and reputation, and has a malicious inner intention, leads to destruction. The statement that "sins committed in private are the root of relapses" means urging piety towards Allah in secret and in public, not advocating for open defiance. And the state of one who conceals their sin is less severe than one who openly commits it and does not care.