Words have meanings.
A. This is why you just don’t see parents naming
their children: Jezebel, Judas, Adolph, or Demas.
Because there can be bad associations with some words,
people have euphemized some words.
A. You all know the words.....gay (which doesn’t
mean happy), shack-up (which is not a
commentary on a jumping basketball player),
weed (which is not something, in the garden
that we try to pull up).....etc., etc..
1. As society starts to accept things that are
considered wrong....as being O.K.....they
try to take the stigma of the wrong off, by
changing the names of sin.
Some things are so bad, though, that even our wicked
world of sin can’t (or doesn’t) find a name that can
substitute for it.
A. There is no nice name for rape or murder.....yet.
1. There is another word that nobody has found
a way to change....it is still despicable to
everyone........and that name is...
HYPOCRITE!
The only time anyone will admit to this name is when
he/she is either caught or confronted....or is ready to repent.
A. If I asked for a show of hands in here, today, of
anyone who is a hypocrite....we might get a few
from those who want to impress us with their
honesty.
1. But if we asked for details, they might not
be so forthcoming.
Perhaps.....some would not even be able to recognize
themselves as practicing this deceit.
A. They may have already mad excuses, either out
loud....or to themselves.
1. “Everyone wants to do that....I just have the
nerve to do it......but I don’t need to
advertise it”.
2. “A person only gets some opportunities
once in life.....I can’t let these slip through
my fingers....but others just wouldn’t
understand”.
3. “Everybody else does it....they just hide it
as I do”.
4. “I know others seem to think that this is
wrong.....but I just can’t see it that way”.
A major hurdle to overcoming real hypocrisy, in real
people, in the real Church........is to recognize it and
especially.....to recognize it in me.
A. Certainly we can all recognize moments of
hypocrisy in ourselves.....and when we do...
we repent of it and ask God’s forgiveness.
1. We are dealing with a hypocritical life-style
which is ongoing.
a. Some are acting the part...living a lie.
Let us take the time to point out the things that indicate that
we may be living that lie.
I. First of all, the lifestyle of a hypocrite is measured by
the fact that this person WANTS TO DO WRONG...
or more correctly....THIS PERSON DOES NOT
HAVE THE WILL TO DO WHAT THEY REALLY
KNOW, IS RIGHT!
Acts 5:3-4 - 3But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan
filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part
of the price of the land for yourself? 4“While it remained,
was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in
your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in
your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
A. Those that live a lifestyle of the hypocrite do not
continue in this lifestyle, by accident.
1. They “conceive to deceive”.
a. There is a lot of planning that must be
taken into account when one decides
to live “two lives”.
1.) One must decide upon whom they
will deceive.
2.) They certainly know why they are
trying to perpetrate this deception.
3.) They must make intricate plans as
to how they will carry out this
deception.
B. For an ongoing life of deception....there has to
be a will to fool....to trick...to dupe...to deceive
others.
1. In some form or other, this deception is to
fulfill a person’s selfish desires.
a. Excuses may be used to justify....but
the bottom line is selfishness.
** A hypocrite weighs the options (the risks of getting
caught)...writes the script....and then goes to the
trouble of performing, at the peril of the soul, the
the acts that are designed to fool.
1. This hypocrite continues to play this part because
he/she wants to.
II. People who live the part of the hypocrite, do not want
to......actually fear with all their hearts, being called
into account and exposed for all their wrongdoing.
A. Hypocritical people do not have a good working
knowledge of how God works.
Romans 8:27 - 27Now He who searches the hearts
knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes
intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
1. Intellectually, they may understand that
God sees and understands everything that
they do.
a. In reality.....these people view God as
they view mankind.
1.) A God who is limited in
sight...and limited in
understanding.
a.) Why else would any
intelligent person sneak
around in an attempt to
deceive...if they accepted,
as reality, a God that
witnessed and understood
EVERYTHING!!????
Gen. 3:8-10 - 8Toward evening they heard the LORD
God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves
among the trees. 9The LORD God called to Adam, “Where
are you?”
10He replied, “I heard you, so I hid. I was afraid because
I was naked.”
** I can’t tell what the story would be, if Adam and Eve
had come to God first....it might have been different...
I don’t think so.
1. I am not really comparing hypocrites to Adam and
Eve.....just the idea that one could hide from God.
_____________________________
B. Because of this misunderstanding of how God
works....it can be said that hypocrisy is a spiritual
barometer.
1. Because they do not properly understand
God....His mercy...His understanding...His
forgiveness....they continue to hide.
a. The sad thing is....the kind of help that
they so desperately need.....and may even
be seeking......is lost to them while they
continue to try and hide from God.
III. Hypocrites are self-serving individuals....they really
and truly don’t care what God or man says...they are
bent on doing what they want to do, without regard to
anyone else.
Psalm 28:3-5 - 3 Don’t drag me away with the wicked—
with those who do evil—
those who speak friendly words to their neighbors
while planning evil in their hearts.
4 Give them the punishment they so richly deserve!
Measure it out in proportion to their wickedness.
Pay them back for all their evil deeds!
Give them a taste of what they have done to others.
5 They care nothing for what the LORD has done
or for what his hands have made.
So he will tear them down like old buildings,
and they will never be rebuilt!
A. Many times the hypocrite is found out.
1. Usually.....because the sin of hypocrisy is
a self-serving sin....the hypocrite is found out
by the way his/her sin affects others in a
wicked or evil way.
2. It is hard to live a lie....continually.....the lie
of the hypocrite will be the undoing of the
hypocrite.
** Many times, however, a hypocrite can go to his/her
grave with nobody the wiser.
1. Nobody......except the most important
SOMEBODY!
B. Within the idea of self-serving....look at the example
of hypocrites who affected Christ.
1. It was the hypocritical religious leaders....who,
for their own self-preservation as leaders...
sought death for Christ as their solution.
a. This all done under the false cloak of
keeping the Law of Moses (the law
which they repeatedly broke at Christ’s
trial).
b. They appealed to Pilate’s loyalty to
Caesar.....while they despised Caesar...
but tried to appear as “good citizens”.
** Christ was not ignorant of this....throughout His
ministry, He was not reticent in pointing out the fact
that these men were hypocrites.
1. He further associated them with snakes and devils.
Matt. 23:23-36 - 23“How terrible it will be for you
teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites!
For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your
income, but you ignore the important things of the
law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but
you should not leave undone the more important things.
24Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t
accidentally swallow a gnat; then you swallow a camel!
25“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious
law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are so careful to
clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are
filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26Blind
Pharisees! First wash the inside of the cup, and then the
outside will become clean, too.
27“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious
law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are like
whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on
the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of
impurity. 28You try to look like upright people outwardly,
but inside your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and
lawlessness.
29“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious
law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for
the prophets your ancestors killed and decorate the graves
of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 30Then you
say, ‘We never would have joined them in killing the
prophets.’ 31“In saying that, you are accusing yourselves
of being the descendants of those who murdered the
prophets. 32Go ahead. Finish what they started. 33Snakes!
Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?
34I will send you prophets and wise men and teachers of
religious law. You will kill some by crucifixion and whip
others in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city.
35As a result, you will become guilty of murdering all the
godly people from righteous Abel to Zechariah son of
Barachiah, whom you murdered in the Temple between the
altar and the sanctuary. 36I assure you, all the accumulated
judgment of the centuries will break upon the heads of this
very generation.”
IV. Hypocrites are proud and cannot....or will not admit
their falseness to anyone.....they either need to be
confronted or they need to be humbled in some other
way.....to break the bond of the devil.
Gal. 2:11-14 - 11But when Peter came to Antioch, I
had to oppose him publicly, speaking strongly against what
he was doing, for it was very wrong. 12When he first
arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who don’t
bother with circumcision. But afterward, when some Jewish
friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles
anymore because he was afraid of what these legalists
would say. 13Then the other Jewish Christians followed
Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was influenced to
join them in their hypocrisy.
14When I saw that they were not following the truth of the
Good News, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since
you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are
living like a Gentile, why are you trying to make these
Gentiles obey the Jewish laws you abandoned?
A. Even great men can be false.....or perhaps, because
of the pride of their greatness, they believe that
are immune to condemnation.
1. When proud people cannot admit their sin...
they often pretend that they are something
that they are not.
a. Again.....the saddest thing about all of
this is.......if only they could admit to
their fault......both God, and man, would
be more than happy to forgive this person
and help this person back on the
Christian walk, again.
V. There can be one more thing that identifies a chronic
hypocrite.......a chronic hypocrite has burned out his/her
conscience.
I Tim. 4:1-2 - 1Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that
in the last times some will turn away from what we believe;
they will follow lying spirits and teachings that come from
demons. 2These teachers are hypocrites and liars. They
pretend to be religious, but their consciences are dead.
*** Even though this may be speaking, specifically, of
false teachers.....the principle applies to one-and-all
A. Nobody can continually live a life of lies and
deceit and still have a fully functional conscience.
1. It is very hard for those of us who are not
leading a hypocritical life, to understand how
one could do this and not be bothered.
a. They may well be bothered....for a time...
but that time goes and so does the guilt
and the bother.
2. In essence.....reality changes for this person.
a. The lie has become the reality for this
person.
1.) They have....in essence...become
a pathological liar....or
pathological deceiver.
B. This person uses the Church and Christianity (at
least the outward appearance of Christianity) as
a cloak of deception and protection from the
hard questions that may be raised if the truth were
known.
1. This all comes from a strong feeling of
self-preservation, which the devil uses to
to destroy this person’s spiritual life.
CONCLUSION:
It would be possible to have a person present.....with
us....looking just like us....but living a phony life.....
living, to some degree...in some way....a lie.
A. We probably would not know it....if we did, we
would deal with the problem.
1. This person is counting on the fact that you
cannot read hearts....minds....intentions.
a. If you are that person....understand this,
please.....GOD CAN.
Heb. 4:12-13 - 12For the word of God is living and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. 13And there is no creature hidden from His sight,
but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to
whom we must give account.
If we had such a person in our presence, today, perhaps this
person would be most uncomfortable....and quite
miserable.
A. Living a lie and acting a part is very demanding.
ILLUSTRATION: Like a spy in enemy territory....always
the danger of being found out....of the
deception broken, and the truth revealed
1. One has to have a good memory and quick
wits.
2. There is constant fear of being found out by
others.
3. On rare moments of clarity...even the eyes of
God may be felt upon them.
Are you living a lie?
A. Does the inside reflect the outside?
B. Does the claim match the facts....as only you could
know the facts?
Perhaps this message and the Holy Spirit of God is working
on you.
A. You can come clean...now.
1. God wants you to.
2. Your brothers and sisters want you to.
You may have bought into another lie of satan.
A. You have not and can not go “too far” to turn
back to God.
Why not seek counseling before this day is over.
