Sermon: You Are a Hypocrite If. . .

I hear people say all the time, “I know I should go to church, but I can’t stand those hypocrites.” These people that stay away from doing what is right because other people are hypocrites are in fact just as hypocritical as those they criticize. The reason is that they know that they should change. They even admit that they should change. But they do not change. To blame other people who are doing wrong for your own self doing wrong is great hypocrisy.
Of course there are hypocrites at church. Can you think of a better place for them? I would rather be around a hypocrite that is trying to get right (inside a church) than one that is not even trying outside of church.

The essence of being a hypocrite is to say something and do something else. The truth is that God loved you so much that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ to die for you. Jesus died because He knew that we could not buy the ticket to Heaven ourselves. The only one that can “buy” the ticket to Heaven is the one that lives their entire life without any sin. We have already failed in this because we are sinners both by nature and by choice.

So, Jesus bought for us the “ticket” to Heaven by living sin free. He offers you this “ticket.” The question becomes: "How do we get it?" How do I get credit for Jesus purchase? Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” All you have to do is ask. Believe that if you ask, God will save you from wrath, guilt, Hell, and the power of Satan.

This is where the hypocrisy comes in. Once a person knows that God loves them, has paid the price for salvation, and will give it to all who ask, the person who does not ask is the greatest hypocrite. There is no other way to have victory in your life than through the power of Jesus Christ. Once you know that the love and gift of salvation is there, each moment that you restrain from receiving is one more moment of hypocrisy.

Why do people who know that God loves them and wants to save them from guilt and sin and slavery to addiction . . . Why do they not avail themselves of such wonderful generosity?

One reason is that men say they know that God is perfect, but in truth they worship themselves in God’s place. They say, “Oh, yes God is good. God is loving. God is wise.” But they do not rely on God for those things. They would rather think of themselves as doing okay. They think they are good people. They can take care of themselves.

These people are selfish loves of their own selves. They say they love God, but they never put God ahead of themselves or their own ways. They are hypocrites and do not even realize it.

These people cannot bring themselves to admit that they are not really good. They choose to do what they know is wrong. They are not loving because they do not sacrifice for the needs of others as much or as often as they should. They love themselves more than others.

They also love their fleshly pleasures more than they love God. They would rather have the temporary thrill of hormones rather than the eternal joy of know they have done the right thing for the right reason. They want excess of orgy rather than the excellence of purity before a holy God.

They mock those Christians that fall under fleshly temptations but they constantly indulge in every style of debauchery without any shame. This is hypocrisy.

They refuse to admit that they are wrong in spite of the fact that they say they believe the Bible. They say they believe the Bible, but they do not read it. They say that God is truthful, but they keep themselves away from the places where God’s Word is celebrated. Or they say the opposite. They say they do not believe the Bible, but they have never read it to give it a fair hearing.

Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”

God did not save you for you to just sit on your “blessed assurance.” He saved you not only from the guilt of the past, not only from the curse of hell, but He also saved you from the bondage of sin in the future. II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” If you claim to be saved and that has not made a difference in how you live, you are a hypocrite.

A. Universal Presentation

The Grace of God unto salvation has appeared to everyone. That means that not one person will go to hell who has not had a chance to be saved. People are cast into hell because they did not ever hear of the Gospel. Those that go, they go because they did not respond to God’s grace when given.
The problem is not that God has not given His light to man for them to respond to. The problem is that man runs from the light because his deeds are evil.

The problem is not that God has not given men power to do what is right. The problem is that men do not use the power that God has given them. The Bible word for this power is “grace.” God’s grace is not only free. While it is free, it is also spiritual energy to do the right thing.

Grace is the power and the desire to do what is right. God is so good to us. His grace gives us both the ability and the “want to” to do what we should. When there are great challenges, there is greater grace. That is why the Bible says, Romans 5:20 “. . . But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:”

The problem is that if you do not do the right thing when God gives you grace, it turns to guilt or bitterness. This is like when you eat and do not use the energy you take in. The energy becomes fat until you use it. God’s grace turns to guilt until you use it.

So it is a great hypocrisy when people say that God has saved them from hell, but they do not use the power of God for the victory to which He has called and empowered them.

We are hypocrites when we know that God wants to sanctify us and we continue to walk in ungodliness. I John1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

So when we know that God will forgive us, why do we so often hypocritically go back to what we say God has forgiven. Notice in I John 1:9. It is not only that we are forgiven, but we are also cleansed. If we keep going back to the filth of our sin, like pigs to the mire, we are denying that God’s forgiveness works. For when we get forgiveness by faith, that faith will carry us further to cleansing. When we really get forgiveness, it should keep us from going back. If it does not, we have not really repented.

I John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

We are hypocrites when we do not allow ourselves to become like Jesus. If we are really saved, then God has predestinated us to look like our precious Lord. And we are being hypocrites when we do not allow that reality to take place in us. We know that we will look like Him when we will see Him. Why do we not have a little “heaven practice” and try looking like Him now? If we do not try by faith, we are really just hypocrites.

We believe and are certain that God has saved us from a hell that we completely deserved. He has given us salvation freely. And He loves all the world as well. If we can know and believe those things and then do not tell others, we are hypocrites.

Why would a person that says that they have been saved from a devil’s hell not tell everyone? It is because we have forgotten what we really believe.

A. Don’t believe Hell

Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, [and] all the nations that forget God.

If a persons does not tell others about sin, salvation, and the Savior, they are showing that they do not really believe in Hell. Hell is a place that was made for the devil, not for us. Matthew 25:41 “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:” So, why does man go there? There is no other place for man to go that rejects the salvation of God.

If you really believed that God does not want man to go to hell . . . If you really believed that there was a way of escape . . . If you really believed that you know the way to heaven, then you would tell others. If you do not, you do not really believe in the fire of that place of eternal darkness, flame, and torment.

If we do not show people the escape from hell, we are really hypocrites that do not really believe that they are on their way to this horrible place.

If you do not tell people how to be saved, we are showing that we do not really believe in the wonderful glories of that place of blessed rest. Do we really believe that we can live in a place without sin, without sickness, without Satan? Do we really believe that there is a place where the sun will no longer beat us down with its heat? Do we really trust that we are going to see the tree and the river of life? Are we really going to walk on those golden streets? Are we truly going to see those loved ones to whom we have had to say goodbye? Will we really be reunited with those blessed saints that have gone on before us?

If we really believe all those things, why would we not tell every one we could about this blessed hope of salvation to Heaven? If we do not tell them, we are showing that we are hypocrites.

Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Finally, we are hypocrites if we say that we are disciples of Jesus, but we do not tell people the Gospel of Jesus. Jesus did everything He did because He was trying to see someone get saved. He did all He could to show people how to be forgiven, to have faith, and to have communion with the Father. We are lousy and hypocritical disciples if we say we are following Jesus but do not do what He did. He was a soul winner. He died to brings us forgiveness and salvation. If we are really His disciples, then we will live to bring this gospel to everyone we can.

First, we need to realize that all of us have been (and maybe still are) hypocrites to some degree.

Second, we need to stop looking at other people and calling them hypocrites when we clearly need to fix our own hypocrisy.

Third, we need to choose this day whom we will serve. Stop procrastinating, for that only increases our hypocrisy.

Finally, walk by faith in the truth of God’s Word. Learn His Bible, live by His counsel, and love His people, the Church. For all these things Jesus lived and died for.

Only when we walk by faith are we really not hypocrites.

You Are a Hypocrite If. . .

II Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all [men], as theirs also was.

I. You are a hypocrite if You are not Saved

      A. Selfish lovers of their own selves

      B. Sensual lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God

      C. Stiff-necked resist the truth

II. You are a hypocrite if You are not Sanctified Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

     A. Universal Presentation

     B. Un-utilized Power but denying the power

     C. Ungodliness Purged

     D. Unwavering Promises I John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

III. You are a hypocrite if You are not a Soul Winner

     A. Don’t believe Hell Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, [and] all the nations that forget God.

     B. Don’t believe Heaven

     C. Don’t believe in Him (He was a soul winner) Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Pray:

Dear Heavenly Father,

I know that I am a sinner and have disobeyed your laws. But I know that you love me and that Jesus died for me. Now, I ask you to come into my life and save me. Please, forgive me of all my sin. Please be the Lord of my life. In Jesus name, Amen.

If you just prayed that prayer, drop me a note and let me know. I would like to pray for you.