Knowing You Have Eternal Life
1 John 1:5–2:2
“Calling All Hypocrites.”
Christians are hypocrites!
That is an accusation that is regularly stated.
And there are times … too many times … when the accusation is well deserved.
Years ago there was a publication called the Christian Business Directory.
It was famous … for all the wrong reasons.
Too often I would hear people say that they had been so burnt by businesses listed in the directory that they used the Directory as a guide for who NOT to call.
The accusation was clear. Some Christians who were listed in the Directory were hypocrites.
Hypocrites.
It is an accusation which reflects the reality that, as Christians, we do not live a consistent Christian witness.
Saying that we want to be one sort of person … a Christ follower …
… who is loving and compassionate.
… who has a reign over their tongue.
… who is patient and full of hope.
Yet, in reality, being another person …
… who is quick to judge and lacks empathy.
… who gossips and speaks behind the backs of others.
… who has a short fuse and is full of doubts.
What we want is to follow the footsteps of Christ and be like Him
In actuality, there are many times when we follow the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air.
You hypocrite!
You have heard that description spoken about you by others.
But it isn’t just others …
You know yourself so well.
You know what you are like when you think no-one is looking … at least when no other Christians are looking. There are so many inconsistencies. You often lose the battle. Sometimes it is spiritually ugly.
And the thoughts that you think. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul says that “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
But you know your thoughts.
They are not captive and obedient … they are running wild completely off any sort of leash.
You don’t need others to tell you. You know yourself.
It is self-evident.
I am a hypocrite.
In the struggle against sin … you know the truth.
But … well sometimes we don’t like to be confronted by the truth.
Or … we don’t really want to make the changes necessary to move away from the hypocrisy.
In fact, there are parts of the hypocrisy that we kind of like.
So we start to develop different versions of ourselves.
… The Sunday go-to-church version.
… The Monday I’m-at-work version.
… The Wednesday at-Growth Group version.
… The Friday with-my-secular-friends version.
When the Sunday version of you meets the Friday version of you, the Sunday version looks to the ground and shakes their head and says … “Hypocrite!”
Are you a hypocrite? Let’s find out.
Scripture calls out to hypocrites.
The calling is found in 1 John 1:5-2:2
1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
These verses are calling out to all hypocrites.
The word hypocrite, comes from the Greek word “hypokrites” … which literally translated means “an interpreter from underneath.” It was used to describe actors in ancient Greek and Roman theatre who wore large masks to show which character they were playing. Actors interpreted the story from underneath their masks.
The actor was one person. The mask was a totally different person.
The person they wanted to portray to the audience.
By extension the word “hypokrites” also referred to any person who was wearing a figurative mask and pretending to be someone or something they were not.
The mask was an act … a portrayal for an audience.
The real person under the mask was someone totally different.
Hypocrites live their life from behind the mask.
Jesus used the word powerfully to expose the actions of the teachers of the law and Pharisees in Matthew 23:25-28
25 ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Hypocrites wear a mask.
In our text John is calling out all the hypocrites … all the mask wearers.
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
1 John 1:6.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:8.
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:10.
Hypocrites do not live out the truth, instead they live a lie.
Hypocrites do not have the Word of God in them, they just put Scripture on like a mask.
Hearing the verses together like this … it gives us cause to seriously think about the question …
Am I a mask-wearer? I am a hypocrite?
As we think about this question make sure to remember that John doesn’t isolate the hypocrites and leave them in a place of hopelessness.
John doesn’t start by saying “this is the message we have heard … you’re all hypocrites.”
John starts with a declaration.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5
God Himself is light He has no darkness in Him.
But it is also a declaration that God brings the light.
When we are in Him the darkness is brought into the light.
In God the darkness is exposed. His light exposes our lustful thoughts, our coveting hearts, the idols we worship, the jealousy we feel, our selfish ambitions and our lack of self-control.
When God shines the light … which he always does
And when we keep on going as if the light is not shining
… when we keep walking in the darkness blatantly ignoring and disregarding that which is so obvious.
… when we keep ploughing on with our eyes shut to the sin because we want to keep walking in darkness.
When we keep standing in denial. When we keep on deceiving ourselves by having those little soothing mantras in our head
… it is not so bad.
… nobody is getting hurt.
… everyone else is doing it.
When we keep on claiming “No I don’t have an issue with sin”.
… I can stop whenever I want.
… I have it all under control.
… I’m not like other people.
When the light of God shines in our lives.
When Jesus the light of the world has illuminated our heart.
When that happens … and yet we keep deceiving ourselves and walking in the darkness, yet while all the while saying, “I am in the light and I have fellowship with Jesus.”
When the light exposes the darkness but we close our eyes to the darkness and act like it isn’t there.
When we live like that … then we are we are hypocrites.
But, it is not hypocrisy to say, “I have fallen into temptation.”
And it is not hypocrisy to say, “Sin is winning the battle for my heart.”
Our daily struggle with the flesh.
Our daily failures to live for the glory of God.
The fact that we know that we don’t live as Jesus wants us to live.
That does not automatically make us hypocrites.
This is the testimony of Paul in Romans 7:15, 18-19
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do … 18 I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.
Paul adds to the testimony in 1 Timothy 1:15
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.
Notice he doesn’t say, “Of whom I was the worst.” Talking about his pre-conversion life.
Paul is saying, I am the worst, even now.
What a testimony!
Imagine having a baptism where the testimony of the baptism candidate was, “I continue to be the worst of sinners, who doesn’t do the good I want to do.”
People looking at Paul and hearing this testimony may well make the accusation that Paul is a hypocrite.
Look at all the letters Paul has written telling the church how to live for Jesus.
He tells us what to do, then can’t even do it himself.
Those closely watching Paul would see inconsistencies.
Paul you look like a hypocrite.
But remember … the one who is a hypocrite is actor who interprets from underneath the mask. Hypocrites stay behind the mask and portray a different person to the audience.
Paul is not behind the mask.
Paul has taken off the mask and shown himself to the world.
That is not hypocrisy.
That is what a biblical approach to the confession of sin looks like.
7 If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
The sin is revealed by the light and we bring it to Jesus.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
The sin is called out through confession. Confession is seeing the sin and saying, “Yes that is sin!” And Jesus brings forgiveness and purification.
2:1 If anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (1 John 2:1)
Even when we sin Jesus stands with us and says “Father this is your child. Jesus advocates for us.”
The difference between hypocrisy and biblical confession is the location of the mask.
Are we standing behind the mask?
Or have we put the mask aside?
Those who take of the mask stand in the light and accept the authority of God’s Word.
Scripture is the living word of God which tells the story of salvation history.
The Word tells the story of God at work bring sinners into God’s kingdom and God’s family.
Within that salvation story God defines the characteristics, and attributes, and actions of all kingdom family members. God tells us how we can live in kingdom obedience.
Things like the 10 commandment actions.
Having no other gods before God. Not blaspheming. Not committing adultery. Not giving false testimony. Not coveting.
The light of God’s Word shines here and we don’t stay in the deception.
The Word talks about the acts of the flesh.
Avoiding sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like.
We allow the light of God’s Word to reveal the darkness.
The authority of God’s Word speaks to the sins we so easily excuse.
Not letting the sun go down on your anger.
Not letting unwholesome words come from our lips.
Not being greedy.
Not gossiping.
God’s Word lights up and reveals the truth of our lives.
All this and so much more is defined by God … … a truth … a standard … the authority.
Those in the light get out from behind the mask and recognise the authority of God’s Word … and come in confession.
Hypocrites can’t do that … they can’t accept they have sinned … so they stay behind the mask.
Hypocrites have to fake the fellowship.
They coming into kingdom spaces
Church.
Growth Group.
Being with Christians brothers and sisters.
They keep on the mask and pretend. They show the Christian community a very different face.
Hypocrites continue the deception by renaming sin.
I made a mistake. I took a wrong turn. It is a flaw in my character. It was a short-coming.
I didn’t know – there is a deficiency in my education so I am not at fault.
The times have changed we are more enlightened.
Hypocrites make God into a liar.
The Word of God is not in them because they are not willing to be transformed by the Word that reveals the darkness. God you are wrong … I am not that person!
If this is how we are living and this is our attitude then we can shout till we are blue in the face “I have fellowship with God” …
But we don’t … we don’t have true fellowship. Indeed, you can’t have true fellowship, because you haven’t accepted a key ingredient of having a relationship with Jesus.
The key ingredient of accepting, as you stand in the light, “Yes God I am a sinner”.
“I am a sinner.”
That sounds so terrible – acknowledging that you have followed evil and disobeyed God.
And it is …
Terrible.
But making this admission is also eternally necessary.
2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:1-2
Admitting our sin is a key component in our relationship with God.
If we don’t admit our sin, then we don’t have an Advocate.
Jesus won’t atone for the darkness that we keep pretending is not there.
Jesus will just leave us to suffer the consequences of our sin.
Hypocrisy is not just an issue of pretend – there are eternal issues at stake here.
That is what happens when we stay behind the mask.
But, when we come out from behind the mask.
When we stand in the light with all of our sins fully exposed
… when we are in the place where we know our sin and Jesus knows it even more.
As we do that Jesus doesn’t turn away in disgust and repulsion.
Instead, he turns to the Father and states our case … He advocates for us.
Jesus, the righteous one points to those who are following him and says
Father …
They may look like hypocrites, but they have come out from behind the mask.
They walk in the light, and I have purified them.
They have confessed their sin, and they have been forgiven.
I have paid for their sin.
It is finished.
They have eternal life.
Father, they look wretched, but they are redeemed.
Today, through 1 John 1:5-2:2 there is a call going out to all hypocrites.
Stop being a hypocrite.
Step out from behind the mask.
Confess your sin.
Call out to Jesus who is your Advocate.
And keep standing in the light … sin and all.
Prayer
