Proverbs 10:18 Hypocrisy, "Who Am I?"

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Okay. Who am I? The self -deception of hypocrisy.

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Okay. We're working, remember, just some brief review. We're working our way systematically through the

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Book of Proverbs, and we're pausing at each of the themes.

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So we can continue chronologically through the Book of Proverbs, and then we come to a theme, then we'll explore all the rest of the

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Proverbs that touch on the same subject matter. So this morning we're addressing the topic of hypocrisy.

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And our opening text is Proverbs 10, 18. He who conceals hatred has lying lips, and he who spreads slander is a fool.

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There's the essence of hypocrisy right in that first phrase. He who conceals hatred has lying lips.

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If I was technologically sound, I was going to have this Mission Impossible theme come on at this point, but you'll have to settle with me humming.

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What was the theme of the show?

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Well, everybody here is, when I mention Mission Impossible, what do you think of Tom Cruise?

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Yeah, but I grew up watching the TV show, which was much more subtle than the movies were.

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They weren't so much action as they were thinking, shows that make you think and whatnot.

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And what I loved about the show was exactly what the theme continues to be in the movies, and that is they were given missions that were technically impossible by anybody else, by normal means.

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And they'd come up with these elaborate schemes, you know, plastic masks that you could take off, duplicating voices.

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And, of course, back when the TV show was on, those things were impossible to do. Now, with AI and everything else, some of the things that they thought were impossible are actually happening, right?

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So I was fascinated by it. That was one of my favorite TV shows growing up.

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And the irony is I wound up being an undercover cop. So I had the opportunity to live out, not my fantasies, but some of the things that I only dreamed about, pretending to be somebody else.

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But there's danger in undercover work, and make no mistake, it is an extremely dangerous line of work.

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The greatest danger, obviously, is being found out. And we've all seen the movies of what happens when they find out that you're the man, okay?

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Possibility of being drugged. One of my partners was actually drugged and to the point that he wound up having to leave the job because psychologically he couldn't take it anymore.

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Being the subject of revenge, I actually had a contract put out on me at one point in my undercover career.

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So that was the danger. But there's a more subtle danger, losing one's identity.

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This has been the subject of several TV shows and movies where somebody gets so deep undercover that they lose their identity.

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And I saw this firsthand. I did undercover work, not as deep as they show on, not like Donnie Brasco, who, by the way, that's one of my favorite movies.

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If you've never seen Donnie Brasco, one of Johnny Depp's finest performances. But I remember we had an undercover operative in a drug house and we had decided that we were going to make the arrest while he was in there because he could broadcast what the situation was.

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And when we finally hit the place, yelling, kicking in the doors, coming through the windows, police, put your hands up.

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Well, our undercover cop was so deep undercover that when we came in, he was one of, we found him, he was with his hands up like this.

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No, no, no, Joe, you're one of the good guys. Completely lost the fact that, you know, that he was not going to be arrested.

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Another case took place in a car and one of, just by chance, a uniformed marked car started to pull the car over.

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Now my, the undercover cop had just bought drugs and the driver of the car starts to speed to get away.

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He's throwing the drugs, he just bought out the window of the car so he wouldn't get arrested. And we said, what were you thinking?

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Just so deep you can lose your identity. Hypocrisy is even more dangerous than working undercover, more dangerous than losing one's physical identity.

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Now remember, Proverbs is concerned with teaching us wisdom. And remember what wisdom is.

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Wisdom is necessary to be successful in life. James 3 .17

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says, but wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.

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So if you're going to be a wise guy, you can't be hypocritical when you do so, not in biblical wisdom, without hypocrisy.

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So the first question we're going to ask is, what is hypocrisy? The Greek word means to put on a mask.

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The origin of the word comes from the Greek theater. The actors on the stage wore masks that would fit the role that they were playing.

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And they would actually just sometimes even just hold the mask on their faces. All right.

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And some of those symbols have survived even into the theater today.

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You'll see the comedy tragedy masks that symbolize Greek theater. Everybody has seen those masks at one point or another.

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That symbolizes comedy and tragedy. All right. The difference between a

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Greek comedy and a Greek tragedy, in a comedy, everybody lives. In a tragedy, everybody dies.

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That's the essence of it. That's a little oversimplification, but you get the idea. So the hypocrite then, in short, is an actor.

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That's the literal meaning of the word. He is one who puts on a facade.

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What you see is not what you get. The hypocrite is exemplified in scripture by the

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Pharisees, and we'll touch on that a little bit later on as well. But we all know who the

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Pharisees were and how Jesus treated the Pharisees. And the hypocrite manifests himself usually in one of two ways.

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He hides his true feelings. He hides who he truly is, or he pretends to have feelings or pretends to be someone that he is not, or feelings that he doesn't have.

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And Proverbs describes the hypocrite in this way.

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Proverbs 10, 18. This is the verse we started with. He who conceals hatred has lying lips.

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The hypocrite would have you believe he is your best friend. Okay. One of the best ones, those of you who are old enough to remember the

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Leave it to Beavers show, the hypocrite would be Eddie Haskell. Good morning,

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Mrs. Cleaver. He was so polite and all to his parents of his friends, but meanwhile, he was a schemer and a dirty no good.

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Incidentally, by the way, the actor who played Eddie Haskell wound up becoming a

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Los Angeles police officer. I wonder if that came from people who thought he was still

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Eddie Haskell. So for the hypocrite, his outward appearance seems believable.

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The hypocrite can become very adept at adapting to his surroundings, but he hides his true feelings and he hates you in his heart.

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So you can have somebody who actually hates you and pretending to be your best friend.

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Proverbs describes the hypocrite. Look at Proverbs 23, 6 -8. Do not eat the bread of a selfish man or desire his delicacies.

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For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, eat and drink, but his heart is not with you.

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Notice, his heart is not with you. What he's saying does not match what's in his heart. You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten and waste your compliments.

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Proverbs just tells it exactly like it is. The hypocrite does what is necessary to look like your friend.

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And here again, we see the facade or the mask that he puts on. Proverbs 26, 23 -28.

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Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross, are burning lips and a wicked heart.

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Notice the difference between the heart and the lips. He who hates disguises it with his lips, but he lays up the seat in his heart.

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There's that double -mindedness. When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart.

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Though his hatred covers itself with guile, his wickedness will be revealed before the assembly.

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He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

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That is such a perfect description of the hypocrite. And everybody knows somebody like this.

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Everybody knows somebody who pretends to be something and he's not. We had a saying for cops who, especially undercover cops, when they bring in a big case, you'd have to write a press release.

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And after a while, we'd say, this guy, you know, he believes his own press releases.

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His press releases are notorious for exaggerating the truth and making you look good.

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And the hypocrite is somebody who, after a while, he actually starts to believe the things that he said about him.

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A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth works ruin. Look at the description.

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Earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross.

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He lays up deceit in his heart. There are seven abominations in his heart.

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He who rolls the stone, it will come back on him. That's one of the things the hypocrite has always found out, just by the nature of what hypocrisy is.

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On the contrary, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

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There's another mark of the hypocrite. A good friend is not afraid to tell it like it is to you.

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He's going to tell you the truth, even if it hurts. So a true friend is honest, even if it hurts.

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A hypocrite flatters with his words, even if they're not true. Here's just a little interesting note.

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Jesus was betrayed, how? With a kiss. And you have to believe that that was an intention on God's part, to demonstrate this proverbial truth.

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So here's a little maxim. Not everyone who kisses you is your friend, not everyone who wounds you is your enemy. Be careful, be very wary.

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We look at different types of hypocrites. Hypocrites are not always from the same mold. They can come in different styles, different types.

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First, I've dubbed this guy Joe Cool. Psalm 5521, his speech was smoother than butter, but his heart was war.

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His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. Here's a guy, notice, smooth, cool, and yet what's in his heart is war, drawn swords.

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This man is everyone's friend. The consensus is he is a nice guy.

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Some of these hypocrites are so smooth that they actually have the majority of people fooled.

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And I know everybody has seen or knows somebody like this, right?

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And so the consensus is if you ask anybody, oh yeah, he's a nice guy, yet he's a con man.

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Second, we have, I've nicknamed him the Judge from Matthew 7, 3 to 5.

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Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye and behold the log is in your own eye?

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You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

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Notice, this is an apt description of the hypocrite. They love to come and point out all your faults.

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And interestingly enough, the faults that they point out in you are their biggest faults themselves.

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And yet, they don't see it, or they at least pretend not to see it.

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Third, Mr. Double Standard, Luke 13, verse 14.

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And the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the

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Sabbath, began saying to the multitude in response, there are six days in which work should be done.

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Therefore, come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day. There you can see the air of self -righteousness coming through on this guy.

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But the Lord answered him and said, you hypocrites, does not each of you on the

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Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?

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And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for 18 long years, should she not have been released from this pond on the

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Sabbath day? You know, a particular sin is always worse when

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I see it in you, even though I may be guilty of it.

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That's the attitude of the hypocrite. I mean, imagine now, a head of the synagogue is upset because a woman was healed, and Jesus sets him straight, and rightly so calls him a hypocrite.

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So there's different flavors of hypocrisy, but they all boil down to the same thing.

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This is still under Mr. Double Standard. Therefore, you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself.

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You who judge practice the same thing. There again, this particular sin is always worse when

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I see it in you, more than I see it in myself. Practicing the same things and yet condemning somebody for the very sin that you commit.

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On this note, think of how many public figures have condemned certain behavior, only to have it revealed in themselves.

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And when I say public figures, I don't mean strictly politicians or sports stars, but people within the church, leading pastors.

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It's horrendous to see over the years how many supposed evangelical leaders have fallen into gross moral sin, meanwhile preaching against it from their pulpit.

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That's hypocrisy. One of the marks of the hypocrite is self -deception.

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The hypocrite has been successful for so long that he begins to believe his own lies.

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That's what I mentioned earlier about believing your own press release. And here's the thing, if he's found out, he claims he's the victim.

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Who, me? This is a conspiracy. He has fooled so many people for so long, he thinks he can fool anyone, including

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God. And that's worth understanding. Ultimately, the hypocrite believes that he can actually fool

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God. Therefore, he becomes what has been dubbed a religious hypocrite.

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Now, what is that? Look at the description of the hypocrite.

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Look at this one here. Psalm 78, verse 34.

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Oh, by the way, if you're not familiar with Psalm 78, this is a psalm of Asaph, who is recounting the history of the

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Israelites. And this, I pick it up right where God has executed judgment against the

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Israelites and had many of them slaughtered because of their gross sin.

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And this is how Asaph sees it. He says, when he killed them, then they sought him and returned and searched diligently for God.

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Typical. When trouble comes, where do people run? They run, even if they've been a hypocrite, they run and search for God.

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And they remembered that God was their rock and the Most High God their Redeemer. Sounds good, doesn't it?

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That's what they're searching for. But, and here's where this is crazy, but they deceived him with their mouth and they lied to him with their tongue.

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After seeing judgment passed upon the nation in a tremendous way, they say, oh, we need

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God. And then they lied, think they can lie to God. They deceived him with their mouth and lied to him with their tongue.

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But their heart was not steadfast toward him, nor were they faithful to his covenant.

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It's quite a condemnation. Look at this description.

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Jesus quotes Isaiah 29, 13 in Matthew 15. He says, you hypocrites.

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Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, these people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me.

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But in vain do they worship me. Look at that. Vain worship.

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Teaching as doctrine is the precepts of men. Jeremiah 3, 10.

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And yet, in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but rather in deception declares the

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Lord. Can you imagine that coming to the Lord in deception? Because of the trouble, because of what they have seen happened to Judah, yet Israelites still came in deception.

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That's the essence of religious hypocrisy. The hypocrite thinks he's got it all figured out.

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He knows just what to say, but he's not pursuing God. He's pursuing his own interests.

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And the fallacy is that they believe that they can actually lie to God and get away with it.

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In fact, look at the audacity of the hypocrite. Jeremiah 7, starting in verse 8.

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Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known?

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Then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name and say, We are delivered, that you may do all these abominations.

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Actions versus the hard actions. That's the essence of the hypocrite.

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Imagine committing murder, stealing, swearing falsely, and then come and stand as though you're innocent before God.

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Has this house, which is clearly called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight?

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Behold, I, even I, have seen it, declares the Lord. Where have we seen that verse before?

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Remember when Jesus cleaned out the temple? My name, my house has been called the den of thieves or den of robbers.

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Still looking at the audacity of the hypocrite. Ezekiel 33, verse 30. But as for you, son of man, your fellow citizens who talk about you by the walls and the doorway of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother saying,

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Come now and hear what the message is which comes forth from the

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Lord. And they come to you as people come, and sit before you as my people, and hear your words, but do not do them.

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Isn't that amazing? They come in for worship, but they do not do them.

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For they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain.

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That's audacity to the nth degree. And yet, do we see this today at all?

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Hello? Okay. Yeah, it wasn't rhetorical. So what does

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God think of the hypocrite? Isaiah 1, 13 to 15.

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This is what God was talking to the Israelites. Bring your worthless offerings no longer.

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Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies.

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I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts.

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They have become a burden to me. I am becoming, I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer,

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I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen.

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Your hands are covered with blood. How many worship services tomorrow morning will fit this category?

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All in the name of worshiping God, and yet God hates hypocrisy.

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He can't stand it. He can't stand it.

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I read a sermon on the mount about hypocrisy, Matthew chapter six. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.

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Otherwise you have no reward from your father who is in heaven. When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men.

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Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. It's amazing to think the audacity of the hypocrite.

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Back in that day, they actually would sound a trumpet when somebody was about to give a big donation of alms to the synagogue.

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Only well -timed. And continuing the

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Sermon on the Mount. When you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites. Notice.

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Praying. There is hypocritical praying. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners in order to be seen by men.

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Truly, I say to you, they have the reward in full. Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face, as the hypocrites do.

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For they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly, I say to you, they have the reward in full.

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So what is the end of hypocrisy? How does it end up? Firstly, it's an effort in futility.

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It accomplishes nothing. In fact, the hypocrite is laying up judgment for himself.

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Luke 12, 1 and 2. Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together, that they were stepping on one another, he began saying to his disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven of the

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Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Beware. Imagine when

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Jesus says, beware. We need to take heed. But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.

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Hypocrisy will be found out, if not before, in the end.

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The hypocrite thinks he's got it all covered. But in the end, it all comes apart.

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By the time the conman, you know, by the time the conman goes to court, truth is always revealed. He's seen.

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We've seen that even with the big Ponzi schemes of our day. By the time it gets to court, it's all unraveled.

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How much more is it an effort in futility to lie to God? Because God knows the heart right from the beginning to the end.

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Then one of our last points, in fact the main theme, is hypocrisy is self -deceptive.

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James 1 .22, but prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

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I know one of the big debates in philosophical and theological circles is, is it possible to really deceive yourself?

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Because if you're deceiving yourself, how can you be unaware that you are deceiving yourself? Scripture says you delude yourself.

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So yes, it is possible. And in fact, Greg Bonson did, I believe he did his doctrinal thesis, maybe his master's, on the topic of self -deception.

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It is a real issue. Galatians 6 .3, if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

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So yes, it is possible to deceive yourself. The hypocrite starts to believe his own lies.

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I knew a guy that was just like this. He would tell stories, relate stories of cases that we worked on, and when he related them, he's telling a story that this didn't happen.

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And I'd go, but that, oh yes it did. And convincing himself that it happened, and of course it was always in favor of, he was the one who solved the case.

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The hypocrite believes the lies and flattery, ultimately because he wants to.

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Anybody know who Sam Rayburn is? Anybody know who Harry Truman was?

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Harry Truman was the president right after he succeeded Franklin Delano Roosevelt when

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Roosevelt died in office. And he was vice president and took over presidency. Then he ran for president again and he beat

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Tom Dewey. And it was a big upset. Everybody figured that Dewey was going to win the election.

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And they didn't think that Harry Truman was presidential material. But he won.

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Sam Rayburn was the Speaker of the House at the time. And when

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Truman won, this is what Sam Rayburn said to him. Now that you're president, you'll have a whole bunch of people telling you how smart you are and how great you are.

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Harry, you and I know that ain't true. Sam Rayburn was a friend to Harry Truman.

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We should be so friendly. Hypocrisy is self -destructive.

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Not only is it self -deceptive, it's self -destructive. Proverbs 26, verse 27, he who digs a pit will fall into it.

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He who rolls a stone, it will come back on him. A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth works ruin.

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Final thoughts. Dealing with hypocrisy requires patience. Because it's not always, it's not always that obvious from the beginning.

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But the end of it is sure destruction. Here's the bottom line.

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We're all subject to the temptation of hypocrisy. Why? Who doesn't want to look good to others?

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We always try to put our best foot forward. But we all need to ask and answer the question of the day, who am

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I? How you answer that is probably one of the most important questions or important answers in your life.

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Jesus pronounced curses on the hypocrites of his day. The same sin is still with us today and even more so.

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So beware of the self -deception of hypocrisy. Final thoughts or questions?

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Yeah, Mike. No, we're too, we're too, it's not for us to pronounce curses on people.

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That was, that was pretty much the purview of the disciples, the apostles and Jesus, the prophets.

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We're not given that same license. We can treat them with the respect of one human being to another, but if you catch them, if you know that they have done something and you're privy to it, faithful are the wounds of a friend.

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If you really want to be a friend to the person, you should point it out to them. Again, that's presuming that you have standing to do that.

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Just because you see a hypocrite doesn't mean that you're obligated to speak to him. Any other thoughts, questions?

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Go ahead. Both. I mean, hypocrisy is, this nation is built on hypocrisy and every time, you know, we always wind up with another enemy when we're not honest.

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Go ahead. And of course, for us in this room, we're more concerned with the spiritual and religious aspect of it.

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We have to deal with it in daily life, but how we deal with it in the church is certainly more stern and more strict than we would with necessarily in society as a whole, because here we are, we are our brother's keepers, and so if we know that somebody in the church is living a hypocritical life, we're pretty obligated, especially the leadership or the eldership of the church.

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We can't just idly stand by and see somebody living in hypocrisy.

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In fact, when I was a sergeant in homicide, there were times that I'd have to pull the detective aside and say,

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I just heard what you said, and you know that isn't true, and that's only going to come back and hurt you, so knock it off.

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But see, I had standing to do that. I was his boss. No more final thoughts?