Do I realize the seriousness of hypocrisy & am I guarding against it?

1   "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

INSIGHT:   A hypocrite is an actor; someone who pretends to be something on the outside, which they are not on the inside.  The Lord used my first spouse as a vivid picture and warning to us all about Christian hypocrisy. Many of us came to know how God feels towards hypocrisy through her example in my story.  As evidenced by all of Matthew 23, there is no sin which God hates so much, as that of hypocrisy, where people profess to be His, to love Him, to study in His name, to quote His word, to pray to Him, to sing songs about Him, all while having the devil in their heart.

I think like any other sin, we all can have hypocritical moments or a stumble (even Spirit filled Peter did in Gal 2:11-13).  However, when our lives are characterized by not practicing what we preach, we are hypocrites.  When we put on Christian words and behavior in public, which we do not have in private, we are hypocrites.  Our deeds are being recorded in heaven (Rev 20:12) and as Jesus says above, they will be brought into the light when we stand before Christ. 

God hates hypocrisy because it perverts His image in the minds of others He loves, and it defames His glory.  It causes new believers to fall away from God and unbelievers to remain unbelievers by making faith in Christ appear to be an absolute sham.  God abhors hypocrites because they literally cause other people to go to hell (Mat 23:15, 1 Tim 4:16, Heb 4:11, Rev 2:20-23).

I dated a believer in high school, and we were serious enough that her parents would even take me to church some Sundays.  However, as an adult she wanted nothing to do with God.  Why not?  Because she was not able to reconcile the “Christian” talk from her dad’s mouth, with the moments where he would sit on top of her, holding her arms down with his legs, screaming at her and poking his finger in her chest until her chest was bruised.  The devil used his hypocrisy to blind her of God’s true love for her and put her on a path to hell. 

I think of my own children, who were so poisoned by the hypocrisy of their mother, that they joined her in calling themselves Christians, while falsely accusing me, cursing me, and saying that my teachings are demonic. My oldest son Tyler, in the series Taken Captive said, “She called herself a Christian, but if you saw what I saw it was enough to make you puke your guts out.” We may imagine how angry this makes the Lord and why He so harshly condemns hypocrites. 

There has been nothing more frustrating to me in this ministry than religious hypocrites.  Even though the parable of the wheat and tares says they must remain here until the Day of the Lord, I still feel like saying to them all, “Feel free to continue enjoying your favorite sin, your love of money and the world, and in your unbelief and disobedience, just please stop calling yourself by the Name of Jesus Christ, because you are destroying the eternal life of others in Him!”

There are conscious religious hypocrites and there are those who do not realize they are hypocrites because they haven’t yet been born again.  They love the idea of Jesus and salvation, but they are not truly regenerated and therefore they cannot uphold the commands of Christ, and they don’t have the life and peace of His Spirit.  They too are hypocrites because they are trying to be something on the outside, which they are not on the inside.  If we are found to have lived as hypocrites, we will not be allowed to go to heaven but will be sent to hell (Mt 24:51).  If you are struggling with hypocrisy, repent and humble yourself before God, asking Him to help you know you are born again, and to give you the grace to live the true saving faith.  You and others will be blessed, and God will most certainly be glorified.