Dear brothers and sisters,
Loving greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Today let us talk more about the hypocritical attitude
which our God cannot tolerate in the lives of the believers. The
bible says that our Lord Jesus Christ was against all the hypocritical
(two faced) behavior of the leaders of those days. Even today
we should not have a double standard like the Pharisees. The bible
teaches us to says only what we really mean by simply saying a
“yes” when it is “yes” and a “no”
when we mean a “no” as in Mat 5:37, “Simply
let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond
this comes from the evil one.”
Let us see some thing more about the nature of
this hypocritical people:
1. They will give more importance to the outside purity than the
inner life since they are spiritually blind as in Mat 23:26, “Blind
Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then
the outside also will be clean.”
2. They will appear to be more spiritual, very much righteous
and religious from outside but they will be more unclean inside
with many sins and wickedness as in Mat 23:27 to 28, “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.” In the same way, on the outside you appear to
people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy
and wickedness.”
3. They will honor the dead prophets but fail to recognize the
one who are living among them as in Mat 23:29 to 31, “Woe
to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You
build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers,
we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of
the prophets. So you testify against yourselves that you are the
descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
4. They were called as snacks and brood of vipers and very much
poisonous as in Mat 23:33 & 34, “You snakes! You brood
of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? they were
called like that because they were not willing to take the water
baptism as in Mat 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and
Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You
brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers.
Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in
your synagogues and pursue from town to town.”
5. They will be responsible for the blood of the righteous people
Mat 23:35 & 36, “And so upon you will come all the righteous
blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous
Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered
between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this
will come upon this generation.”
6. If they do any help to any one that will be only to get a good
publicity and to make a name for themselves and a reputation through
that as in Mat 6:2, “So when you give to the needy, do not
announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues
and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth,
they have received their reward in full.”
7. they cannot pray in the inner room but they will do every thing
in public as if they are very pious as in Mat 6:5 & 6, "And
when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to
pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be
seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward
in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door
and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who
sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
8. They give to God and fail to have the characters of God in
their life since they do not have the mercy and love as in Mat
23:23, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin.
But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice,
mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter,
without neglecting the former.
9. They honor God with heir lips and their heart is not in tune
with the word of God as in Mark 7:6, “He replied, "Isaiah
was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
"'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from me.”
May the Lord help each one of us to be very careful
about this double standard life and come out of this so that the
lord can approve us. Let us try to judge what is right in our
lives as in Luke 12:56 & 57, “Hypocrites! You know how
to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it
that you don't know how to interpret this present time? "Why
don't you judge for yourselves what is right? Amen.
Your Web-Site Pastor,
Rev.
Dr. T. Marcus Devasahayam
Web-site: www.barodabibleclub.org
e-mail: marcusbbc@yahoo.com
Mobile: 91-9327243600 ,Church 3096882 / 5540651.
Res : 3, 2nd floor, Arpita Complex, Priyalaxmi Mills Road, Vadodara
– 390003, Gujarat, India, Phone:91-265-2335651.
