THE
SAD STATE OF THE HYPOCRITE
BREAD
9 “Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and
perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which
bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’--safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of
robbers to you? But I have been
watching! declares the LORD.”
Jeremiah
7:9-11 (NIV)
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 dead men's bones 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.”
Matthew
23:27-28 (NIV)
1 Therefore,
rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of
every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual
milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now
that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
BUTTER
“Some of Jesus’ strongest
words were reserved for hypocrites – for people who claimed to believe in God
and follow His laws, but in reality lived only for themselves. He compared them to ‘whitewashed tombs, which
look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and
everything unclean’ (Matthew 23:27).
None of us is perfect; even the most dedicated Christian falls
short. When we do, we need to confess it
and seek God’s help to live more consistently.
But hypocrisy – living a deliberate lie – is another matter. Be on guard; don’t let hypocrisy take root in
your soul. Instead, make sure of your
commitment to Christ, and walk close to Him every day.” Billy Graham
“The popular image of Christ as ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’
simply will not do. To be sure, He was
full of love, compassion and tenderness.
But He was also uninhibited in exposing error and denouncing
hypocrisy. Christ was a
controversialist.” John Stott
“It is the
prerogative of him who searches the heart, and knows what is in man, to
pronounce who are hypocrites. The eye
of man can perceive open profaneness, but it is only the eye of Christ that can
discern hypocrisy. And as it is a sin
which his eye discovers, so it is a sin which of all others his soul hates.” Matthew Henry
“Here is the divine antidote against the pride and
restless ambition of the men of this world.
Nothing is more sad than to witness a pushing, bustling, forward,
self-confident spirit and style in those who profess to be followers of Him who
was meek and lowly in heart. It is such
a flagrant contradiction of the spirit and precepts of Christianity, and is a
sure accompaniment of an unbroken condition of the soul. It is utterly impossible for any one to
indulge in a boastful, pretentious, self-confident spirit, if ever he has
really measured himself in the presence of God.
To be much alone with God is the sovereign remedy for pride and
self-complacency. May we know the
reality of this in the secret of our own souls.
May the good Lord keep us truly humble, in all our ways, simply leaning
on Himself and his grace…” C H Macintosh
HEART SAVOR
·
God detests
hypocrisy. If I call myself a Christian –
I am to be a Christian.
·
I am to
cut down – through the power of the Holy Spirit – anything that shines a poor
light on my Savior Who gave up all for me.
·
To be
much alone with God is the sovereign remedy for pride, self-complacency and hypocrisy
enabling me to grow up in my salvation.
