This sermon was originally preached on February 6th in the year 1859 by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Our text for this morning comes from the book of Luke, Luke chapter 12 verse 1. Luke chapter 12 verse 1. Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees. which is hypocrisy. Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

This age is full of shams. Deception never stood in so eminent a position as it does at the present hour. I fear that there are only a few who love the naked truth. We can scarcely endure it in our own homes. You will scarcely find a person in business today who absolutely states the truth. If you walk through our city streets, you might imagine that all the shops were built out of marble and that all the doors were made of mahogany and woods of the rarest kinds. And yet you soon discover that there is scarcely a piece of any of these precious materials to be found anywhere. but that everything has simulated grain and is painted and varnished.

I find no fault with this except that it is an outward example of an inward evil that exists. Just like it is in our streets, so it is everywhere. Graining and painting and ornamentation are at an enormous premium. Counterfeit has finally attained to such an eminence that it is very difficult to detect. The counterfeit so nearly approaches the genuine item that the eye of wisdom itself needs to be enlightened before it can discern the difference. This is especially true in religious matters.

There once was an age of intolerant bigotry when every person was evaluated And if they were not precisely up to the orthodox standard of the day, the fire devoured them. But in this age of love and acceptance, we are very apt to allow the counterfeit to pass by and to imagine that outward show is really as beneficial as inward reality. If ever there was a time when it was needful to say, be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, it is now.

The minister may not need to preach this doctrine in the days of severe persecution, when the stakes are blazing and when the torture rack is in full operation, for few men and women will be hypocrites then. These are the clear test for imposters, suffering and pain and death for Christ's sake, for they will not be endured by mere pretenders. But in this silky smooth age that we live in, when being religious is respectable, when following Christ is honored, and when godliness itself has become gain, it is doubly necessary that the minister should cry out loud and lift up his voice like a trumpet against this sin, the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

I am sure that every true child of God will at times doubt themselves, and their fear will probably take the shape of a suspicion concerning their own state. They will at times begin to be terribly alarmed, lest the reality is that their godliness is only external, and their profession of faith is nothing but an empty vanity. Those who are true Christians will sometimes suspect that they aren't truly saved. while those who are false believers will wrap themselves up in the constant confidence of their own sincerity.

My dear Christian brothers and sisters, if you are at this time in doubt concerning your own salvation, then the things I have to say to you this morning will perhaps help you in searching your own heart and evaluating your faith. And I am sure that you will not blame me if I should seem to be a bit severe, but you will rather say, sir, I desire to find out for certain the true condition of my own soul. Tell me faithfully and tell me honestly, what are the signs of a hypocrite? And I will sit down and try to read my own heart to discover whether these things have a bearing on me. And I will be happy if I will come out of the fire like pure gold.

We will note then this morning, first, the character of the hypocrite. Then we will look at the advantages and disadvantages of being a hypocrite. And finally, we will offer a cure for hypocrisy, which, if constantly applied to our daily lives, will certainly prevent us from attempting to deceive. The cure is contained in these words which follow the text. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 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.

First, the character of a hypocrite. The character of a hypocrite. A hypocrite may be known by the fact that their speech and their actions are contrary to another. A hypocrite may be known by the fact that their speech and their actions are contrary to another. We have an elaborate description of the hypocrite in the 23rd chapter of Matthew, and I don't know of a better way that I can portray him than by turning again to the words of Christ.

Jesus said, They do not practice what they preach. They do not practice what they preach. The hypocrite can speak like an angel. He can quote texts with the greatest speed. He can talk concerning all matters of Christianity, whether they are theological doctrines, mystical questions, or practical difficulties. In his own mind, he knows a lot, and when he speaks, you will often feel embarrassed at your own ignorance in the presence of his superior knowledge. But watch him when he comes to actions. What do you see there? The fullest contradiction of everything that he has said. He tells others that they must obey the Bible. Does he obey it? No, he doesn't. He declares that others must experience this and that and the other. and he sets up a fine scale of experience, far above that even of the Christian himself. But does he touch it? No, not with so much as one of his little fingers. He will tell others what they should do, but will he remember his own teaching? Not he.

Follow him. Follow him to his house. Follow him to the marketplace. See him in the stores. And if you want to refute his preaching, you may easily do it from his own life. My dear friends, is it this way with you? You are a member of a church, an elder, a deacon, maybe a minister. Is this your case? Is your life a contradiction of your words? Do your hands witness against your lips? How is it with you?

With embarrassment, each one of us must confess that to some extent our life is contradictory to our profession. We blush and we mourn over this, but I hope there are some here today who can say, notwithstanding my many weaknesses, with my whole heart I have endeavored to run in the ways of your commandments. and I have not intentionally spoken anything with my lips which I did not intend to carry out in my life. Oh, believe me, my brothers and sisters, talk is easy, but walk is hard. Speech anyone may attain to, but action is difficult. We must have grace within us to make our life holy, but holiness only expressed with our lips needs no grace. The first mark of a hypocrite, then, is that they contradict by their acts what they say with their words. Do any of you do this? If so, stand convicted of hypocrisy and bow your heads and confess the sin. The next mark of a hypocrite is that whenever they do right, it is that they may be seen of others. The next mark of a hypocrite is that whenever they do right, it is that they may be seen of others. The hypocrite sounds a trumpet. He sounds the trumpet as he gives money to the poor, and he chooses the corners of the streets for his prayers. To him, virtue in private is almost a vice. He can never detect any beauty in virtue unless she has a thousand eyes looking at her, and then she is something special. The true Christian, like the nightingale, sings in the night, but the hypocrite sings all of his songs in the daytime, when he can be seen and heard of men. To be well spoken of is the ecstasy of his life. If he is praised, it is like sweet wine to him. The criticism of man on a virtue would make him change his opinion concerning it in a moment. for his standard is the opinion of his fellow creatures. His law is the law of self-seeking and of self-honoring. He is virtuous because to be virtuous is to be praised. But if tomorrow wickedness were to be praised, then he would be as wicked as the rest." Applause is what hypocrites are seeking after. They avoid all secret religion and only live where men may see them. Now, is this the way it is with us? Let us deal honestly with ourselves. If we give to the poor, do we desire to do it in secret, where no one will know? Are our prayers offered in our closets, where only God can hear the cry of our secret prayers? Can we say that if every person were struck stone blind and deaf and dumb, that we would not alter our conduct in the least? Can we declare that the opinion of others is not our guiding law, but that we stand servants to our God and to our conscience and will not do a wrong thing just to be accepted? Nor are we urged to do the right thing simply from fear of being condemned by others. Note that the person who does the right thing only from a motive of being praised gives evidence that they are a hypocrite. They need to do the right thing against the opinion of every man and simply because they believe it is right and seize the stamp of God's approval on it. That person need not be afraid that they are a hypocrite. Hypocrites do their good works for applause. Is it this way with you? If so, be honest and as you would convict another, convict yourself. Again, hypocrites love titles and honors and respect from others. The Pharisee was never so happy as when he was called Rabbi. He never felt himself to be really great as when he was given the most honored seat in the synagogue. But the true Christian does not care for titles. It is one of the marks of true Christians that they have generally taken names of abuse to be their distinctive titles. There was a time when the name Puritan was the lowest of all. It was the name which was always used by the drunkard and the blasphemer to express a godly man. Well, says the godly man, I will be called a Puritan. If that is a name of reproach, I will take it. It has been this way with Christians all over the world. They have chosen for themselves the name which their enemy has given them as a name of reproach. Not so the hypocrite. The hypocrite takes that which is the most honorable. They always wish to be thought to belong to the most respectable religious group and to hold an office in that religion which will confer upon them the most honorable title. Can you honestly say from your inmost soul that in religion you are not seeking for honors or titles, but that you can tread these beneath your feet and want no higher title than that of a sinner saved by grace, and no greater honor than to sit at the feet of Jesus and to learn from him? Are you willing to be the despised followers of the carpenter's son, as were the fishermen on the lake? If so, I think you have very little hypocrisy in you. But if you only follow Jesus because you are honored by men, farewell to the sincerity of your religion. You are unmasked. and stand before the face of this congregation as an acknowledged hypocrite. There is another evidence of a hypocrite which is equally good, namely that they strain out the gnat, but swallow a camel. Another evidence of a hypocrite is that they strain out the gnat, but swallow a camel. Hypocrites in these days do not find fault with us for eating with unwashed hands, but they still focus on some ceremonial omission. Acts of necessity done by the Christian are the objects of the sanctimonious horror of Pharisees, and labors of mercies and smiles of joy are damning sins in the esteem of the hypocrites if done on a Sunday. Though our Father worked, and Christ worked, and the works of kindness and mercy and love are to be done every day of the week, to include Sundays. Yet if the Christian does these things on Sunday, the hypocrite accuses them of violating God's holy law. The slightest infringement of any ceremonial observance becomes a great sin in the eye of the hypocrite. But the hypocrite who will find fault with you for some little thing in this respect, straining out a gnat, is the same person you will find cheating, committing adultery, lying, boasting, and taking advantage of the poor. I have always noticed that hypocrites watch for the little things. They are always searching out little points of difference, and yet they themselves have neglected the more important matters of the law. And while they are so particular about the tithe of mint and cumin, yet they hoard wheat and other commodities in their own barns. Always suspect yourself when you are more careful about little things than about great things. If you find it hurts your conscience more to be absent from the Lord's supper than to cheat a widow, then rest assured that you are a hypocrite. And there are many people who, if they should do any work on Sunday, consider themselves wicked. But if they are lazy the other six days of the week, it is no sin at all to them. Be assured, be assured that the person who strains out a gnat but yet swallows the camel is a deceiver. But note this, my dear friends, I like for you to strain out the gnats, I have no objection to that at all. Only, don't swallow the camel afterwards. Be as particular as you like about right and wrong. If you think something is a little wrong, it is wrong for you. The Bible says everything that does not come from faith is sin. If you can't do it, believing yourself to be right in not doing it, though another man could do it and do right, yet to you it would not be right. Strain out the gnats. They are not good things in your wines. Strain them out. It is good to get rid of the gnats. But then do not open your mouth and swallow a camel later. For if you do that, you will give no evidence that you are a child of God, but prove that you are a damnable hypocrite. But read on in this chapter and you will find that these hypocrites neglected all the inward part of religion and only observed the outward. As our Savior said, they clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. There are many books which are beautifully bound, but there is nothing worthwhile inside. And there are many persons that have a very spiritual exterior, but there is nothing whatever in the heart. Don't you know some of them? Perhaps if you know yourself you may discover one. Don't you know some who are extremely religious? who would scarcely miss attending a church service or reading their Bibles or praying or going to the Lord's table. They practiced the ritual in all of its forms and all of its ceremonies and would not turn aside as much as one hair's breadth from any outward command. Before the world they stand as being eminently devout because they are so minutely attentive to the externals of Christianity. but yet they are careless of the inward matters. So long as they take the bread and the wine, they are not careful about whether they have eaten the flesh and drunk the blood of Christ. So long as they have been baptized with water, they are not careful whether they have been buried with Christ in baptism unto death. So long as they have come to church, it is nothing to them whether they have had communion with Christ or not. No, they are perfectly content so long as they have the shell without looking for the kernel of wheat within. Some people I know are like the inns in the public places of lodging, which have an angel hanging outside for a sign, but they have a devil within for a landlord. There are many men of that kind. They are careful to have an excellent sign hanging out on the outside. They want to be known by everyone to be strictly religious, but within, which is the most critical part, they are full of wickedness. But I have even heard people who are wicked on the outside be given credit for being good on the inside. People will say, oh, well, poor man, he is a sad drunkard, but inside he is a very good hearted man. As Roland Hill, that great preacher, used to say, that it is a most astonishing thing for any man to say of another that he was bad on the outside and good on the inside. When men take their fruit to the market, they cannot make their customers believe, if they see rotten apples on top of the basket, that there are good ones beneath. A man's outward conduct is generally no better than his heart. Therefore, don't misunderstand me. When I say we must pay attention more to the inward than the outward, I would not have you to leave the outward to itself. Jesus said be sure to clean the outside of the cup and dish. Make it as clean as you can, but also be sure that the inside is clean too. Look to that first. Ask yourself these questions. Have I been born again? Have I passed from darkness to light? Have I been brought out of the realms of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son? Do I live by private communion with my Lord Jesus? Can I say that my soul pants after the Lord just as the deer pants for streams of water? For if I cannot say this, whatever my outward life may be, I am self-deceived and deceive others, and am nothing but a hypocrite who will incur God's judgment. I have cleansed the outside of the cup and dish, but inside is still full of wickedness. Does this apply to any of you? Am I preaching personally to you? Then God be blessed for it. May the truth be the death of your delusions. You may know a hypocrite by another sign. His religion depends on the place or on the time of day. You may know a hypocrite by another sign. His religion depends on the place or on the time of day. Perhaps he wakes up at 7 a.m. and you will find him religious for 15 minutes. for he is saying his prayers to himself in the first part of the morning. Well, then you will find him pretty pious for another 30 minutes, for there is family prayer. But when the business day begins and he is talking to his employees, I won't guarantee that you will be able to admire him. If one of his employees has been doing something a little wrong, you will find the hypocrite perhaps using angry and shameful language. You will find him, too, if he gets a customer whom he thinks to be rather naive, not quite so pious, for he will take advantage of the customer. You will find, too, that if he sees a good chance at any hour of the day, he will be ready to be a bit dishonest. He was a saint in the morning, for there was nothing to be lost by him, but he has a religion that is not too strict. Business is business, he says, and he puts religion aside by stretching his conscience. Well, sometime in the evening you will find him very pious again, unless, of course, he is on a business trip, where neither wife, nor family, nor church can see him, and you will find him at questionable places of entertainment. He would not go there if there was a chance of the minister hearing of it, for then he would be excommunicated. But he does not mind going when the eye of the church or any of his friends is not on him. Fine clothes make fine gentlemen, and fine places make fine hypocrites. But the man who is true to his God and to his conscience is a Christian all day long and all night long, and a Christian everywhere. Though you were to fill my house full of gold, he says, I would not be impure or unethical. Though you would give me the stars and the countless wealth of empires, yet I would not do that which would dishonor my God or disgrace my profession of faith. Put the true Christian where he might sin and be praised for it, and he won't do it. He does not hate sin for the sake of company, but he hates it for his own sake. The true Christian says, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Oh, you will find the true Christian a fallible man, but not a false man. You will find him full of weaknesses, but not a man of premeditated lust and sin. As a Christian, you must follow Christ in the mire as well as in the green meadows. You must walk with Christ in the rain as well as in the sunshine. You must go with Christ in the storm as well as in fair weather. He is no Christian who cannot walk with Christ come poverty, come contempt or shame. But a person is a hypocrite who can walk with Christ in silver slippers and then leave the Master when it becomes necessary for him to go barefoot. The hypocrite's religion is like the chameleon. It takes its color from the light which falls upon it. but the true Christian's religion is always the same. Is this true of us? Can we say we desire to always be the same, or do we change with our company and with the times? If so, we are confessed hypocrites, and let us confess it before God, and may God change us to be sincere Christians. There is another sign of a hypocrite and now it will get very personal to most of us here. Hypocrites are generally severe with others and very lenient with themselves. Another sign of a hypocrite and it is very personal to us is that hypocrites are generally severe with others and very lenient with themselves. Have you ever heard a hypocrite describe himself? I describe the hypocrite this way. You are a mean, selfish person. No, he said. I am not. I am economical. I say to him, you are dishonest. You are a thief. No, says he. I am only shrewd and clever. Well, but, I say to him, you are proud and conceited. Oh, he says, I am simply a well-bred person. Yes, but you are a flatterer and a cowardly fellow. No, he says, I am all things to all men. Somehow or other he will make vice look like a virtue in himself, but he will deal the opposite with others. Show the hypocrite a true Christian who is really humble, and he says of him, oh, I hate his submissive ways. Tell the hypocrite there is someone who is very courageous for Christ, and he will say, oh, he is insensitive to the feelings of others. Show him one who is doing what he can for his master's service, spending and being spent for Christ. And the hypocrite will say, he is rash and irresponsible, extravagant. The man doesn't know what he is doing. You may point out a virtue and the hypocrite will immediately say it's a vice. Now, have you ever seen a hypocrite turn doctor? He has a plank of wood in his eye, large enough to shut out the light of heaven from his soul. But nevertheless, he is a very skillful ophthalmologist. He waits on some poor brother whose eye is a little affected with a speck of sawdust so tiny that the full blaze of the sun can scarcely reveal it. Now look at our plank-eyed friend. He puts on a knowing look and cries out, allow me to take the speck out of your eye. You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. There are people like that who make virtues in others into vices and vices in themselves they transform into virtues. Now, if you are a Christian, I will tell you what your spirit will be like. It will be the very opposite. You will always be making excuses for others but you will never be making excuses for yourself." The true Christian, if he sees himself sin, mourns over it. He says to another, oh, I feel so sinful. And the other says to him, I can't really see it. I can see no sin in you. I could only wish that I were as holy as you. No, says the other, I am full of weaknesses. John Bunyan describes Mercy and Christiana and the children after having been washed in the bath and sealed with the seal as coming up out of the water and being all fair and lovely to look upon. And one began to say to the other, Oh, you are much fairer than I, and you are more beautiful than I. And then each one began to bemoan their own imperfections and to praise the beauty of the others. That is the spirit of a Christian. But the spirit of the hypocrite is the very reverse. He will judge and condemn and severely punish every other man, and as for himself, he is exempt. He is a king. He knows no law, and his conscience slumbers and allows him to go on easily in the very sins which he condemns in others. This is a very prominent mark of the hypocrite. And I question whether all of us must not blame ourselves a little here. And now, secondly this morning, we are going to look at the advantages and disadvantages of being a hypocrite. Let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of being a hypocrite. Now, sir, bring us your ledger. Let's have a look at it. You are a hypocrite. Well, what is on the prophet's side? A good deal, I must confess. Many advantages of being a hypocrite. Here, first of all, is credit and honor. Credit and honor. If you were to be honest about yourself, you would say that you are a thief, you are a secret drunkard, and you can curse God as well as any man. Or if the world would hear as much, you would have no honor. But as it is, you have joined the church. and the minister is very fond of you. The deacons and the elders think a great deal of you, and you are a very honorable, respectable man. You go walking to your pew with your Bible, and everybody says, oh, there is an exemplary character. And they pat their little boys on the head and say, oh, may you grow up to be a very good man like Mr. So-and-so. The next advantage is the case which you enjoy. The minister often preaches a solemn, thundering sermon against sin. You know it doesn't apply to you. You are not a sinner, are you? Not at all. Who would suspect you? You are one of the brightest of the saints. It is almost a pity you were not one of the twelve. However, there was one among them, almost just like you, and his end will probably be yours. You escape every thunder of the law. your conscience rests easy, and the very thing which makes the child of God tremble puffs you up, and the very marks and evidences which cast him down, they help to exalt you. The sunshine of the gospel which melts wax hardens the poor clay of your hearts, and you get more exalted in your self-conceit through everything you hear. And that is good too, is it not? Certainly very much in your favor. And there is another advantage of being a hypocrite, how nicely your business has prospered through it. That perhaps is the part of the bargain which you like the best. Ever since you have made a profession of Christianity, haven't those who go to your church supported your business? You would not have done half as well if you had been suspected to be what you really are. But because of that fine cloak of yours, that fine garment of hypocrisy, how nicely you have prospered. What a nice little round sum you have been able to lay aside, haven't you? Again, all that is on the prophet's side. And besides that, what honors haven't you received from the church? Aren't you a deacon or an elder? Yes, and perhaps you're a minister. Oh, how pleasant that is. and you puff yourself up and you feel so satisfied. Oh, what a good man I am. Other people think I am, therefore I must be. Oh, it is true I devour the widow's house. It is true I am not very particular about what I do. Nevertheless, the minister, the elders, and the deacons, they think I am a godly person. The whole church applauds me. They cannot all be mistaken. Surely I must be a special saint. Now, these were the advantages of being a hypocrite, but what about the disadvantages? I think we will be able to see that the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. In the first place, I see a great disadvantage of being a hypocrite. Some of the people of the world do not think quite as much of you as you imagine. The poor widow that you have taken advantage of knows that you are a wicked person. You will have to be very careful, sir, or your true colors will be revealed. The very first disadvantage I see is the fear that your hypocrisy will be discovered. It would only take you half as much time and trouble to be an honest man as it does to be a deceiver. A man who is in the habit of speaking truth needn't worry how he opens his mouth, nor where. But a man who lies must be very careful and have a very good memory and remember all that he has ever said before, lest he trips himself up. So it is with you, my friend. Your religion is a Sunday religion, and you have to be very careful so as to keep Monday's dealings a secret and Sunday's external worship as good as you can. Hard work. I would not stand in your place to have all the trepidation and fear of discovery which so often comes on you. No, I would sooner be a professed unbeliever than I would have the fear that constantly haunts you, lest you should stand ashamed before the Church by your secret sins being discovered. But I see something worse than this. Here is constant anxiety of conscience. Hypocrites may seem as if they are at ease, but they cannot really be. The Christian who is true to God and really his child can confidently say, I know that Jesus has taken away my sin. Assurance given to him by the Holy Spirit calms his fears and he can rest in Christ. But the highest presumption to which the hypocrite can attain brings no such peace as that which is breathed upon the Christian by the lips of assurance. The Christian can go to his bed. Yes, he can go to his grave in peace. But the hypocrite is afraid of a shadow and flees when no man pursues. And last of all, Mr. Hypocrite, I see a disadvantage here which you usually forget. It is this. that despite your profession, God abhors you. And if there is one person more than another who stinks in the nostrils of Jehovah, it is a person like you, you miserable pretender. There will be a special place reserved for you among the damned. Think, man, think what will be your misery when your secret deeds of iniquity are read before the assembled universe. when men and angels utter one unanimous hiss against you? What will it be like when your mask is torn off, when the masquerade of your hypocrisy is finished and you are stripped naked to your shame, to be observed by everyone and to be despised by everyone? What do you say to this? Will you go from your deaconship or from your ministry to be among the devils in hell? Will you go from the Lord's table to drink the wrath of God's torment? Will you descend from the song of the sanctuary and from the church of the living God to the abode of fiends and to the wailing of the damned? Yes, you will as sure as this word is true if you continue in your hypocrisy. Death will find you out and hell will be your doom. For the hope of the hypocrite is like the spider's web, soon swept away. And where is he when God takes away his hope? Such are the advantages and disadvantages of being a hypocrite. And there is an infinite amount of disadvantages. Now, lastly for this morning, the matter of the cure of the hypocrite. The cure of the hypocrite. Oh, my friends, I feel that in speaking of the hypocrite I have tried to speak in a direct and stern manner, but I have not been able to reach the heart as I wished, because it is a mark of human nature that this is the last sin of which we really suspect ourselves, and yet one into which it is most easy to fall. I often fall on my knees in an agony of doubt and cry out, Lord, make me sincere. If I am deceived, undeceive me. I don't think that any Christian would live long without some such seasons of anguishing self-examination. Let me put it clearly to you this morning. Let no one exempt themselves. You may have been professing Christians for many years, and yet you may have been hypocrites Remember there was a hypocrite among the apostles, so there may be hypocrites among the ministers of Christ. There have been deceivers among the apostolic churches. How much more may we expect them among us? Don't look around to search them out. It is God's business, not yours. God's business to search out hypocrites. But look at yourself to see whether you might be one. Driving along the other day in the wind, I observed a large branch fall off a tree. I remarked that it was rotten and wondered within myself how long that might have been on the tree and yet have been rotten all along. Then I thought, oh, if the wind of persecution were to sweep through the church, would I fall off like a rotten branch? Wouldn't many of my congregation fall off? They have professed to be united to Christ for a long time and have spoken for Him, perhaps even preached for Him. But if the time of trial, which will test the earth, should come on us again, how many of us would stand? Oh, my friends, don't be content to take your Christianity for granted. Let it not be a superficial work. Don't think that because you have met with me and met with the elders, and we have admitted you into the church, that you are therefore a true Christian? We have been deceived many times. It is not hard work to deceive a kind heart. I have looked into the eyes of some and have tried to read their very soul, and yet I have misjudged. I have seen tears in their eyes when they have made a profession of Christ, and yet they have been deceivers after all, and I have been very grossly taken in. In fact, the more kind-hearted a person is, the more will human nature endeavor to trust them. I am certain I have used the utmost diligence to weed out of the Church those whom I have suspected of hypocrisy, and greater diligence will yet be used. But, O, do deal with yourselves, I beg you. I will not send you to hell blindfolded if I can help it. I don't wish to be an error myself, and God forbid that I should allow you to be deceived. Oh, if you are not true Christians, away with your profession altogether. If it is not sound work, then down with it. Better to see the house fall now than to let it stand until the rain descends and the floods come on and the winds beat on it in the dread eternity of the future. Oh no, I would rather send every heart home uncomfortable than let the hypocrite sit here and think that all is well. I would rather wound the child of God than allow the hypocrite to escape. But now for the cure of the hypocrite. What will we do to cure ourselves of any hypocrisy that may exist among us? What will we do to cure ourselves of any hypocrisy that may exist among us? Let us remember that we cannot do anything in secret even if we try. The all-seeing God apprehended in the conscience will be the death of hypocrisy. I cannot try to deceive when I know that God is looking at me. It is impossible for me to try to deceive others when I know that I am in the presence of the Most High and that He is reading my thoughts and the secret purposes of my heart. The only way in which the hypocrite can play the hypocrite at all is by forgetting the existence of God. Let us therefore remember, wherever I am, on my bed or in my secret place, God is there. There is not a secret word I speak in the ear of a friend that God doesn't hear. Do I seek out the most private part of the city to commit my sin? God is there. Do I choose the darkness of night to hide my iniquity? God is there looking at me. The thought of an ever-present deity, if it were fully realized, would keep us from sin. Always looking at me, always looking in my heart. We think we are doing many things in secret, but there is nothing concealed from God. And the day is coming when all the sins of the hypocrite will be read and published, Oh, those of you who claim to be Christians, let us always look on our actions in the light of the great revealing of them in the Day of Judgment. Pause over everything you do and say this, can I bear to have this sin shouted into the ears of all men and women? No, before you sin, think this way, can I dare to do this and still to repeat the words, you are the God who sees me, You may deceive men, and you may deceive yourselves, but you cannot deceive God. You may die with the name of Christ on your lips, and men may bury you with a sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection, but God will not be deceived, neither by your profession of faith, nor by men's opinion. He will put you on the scales, and if you are found lacking, He will cry out, Away with him! You will write down your name forever as a counterfeit. He will strip the mask off of you. To detect you, you will be stripped naked and reveal your wicked heart. How will you endure this? Will you dig into the depths of the earth to hide yourself? Will you plunge into the sea to find a way of escape? Will you cry for the rocks to hide you and the mountains to fall on you? In vain you will cry out. The all-seeing God will read your soul, will discover your secret, will reveal your hidden things and tell the world that though you did eat and drink in his streets, though you preached in his name, yet he never knew you. You were still a worker of iniquity and must be driven away forever and ever. Let us just for one second reflect that we will soon lie on our deathbed few more months, and you and I will face the cruel tyrant, death. It will be hard work to play the hypocrite then, when the pulse is faint and few, when the eyes become weak and the tongue is cleaving to the roof of your mouth. It will be vain to try to play the hypocrite then. Oh, may God make you sincere, for if you die with an empty profession of faith, you will truly die for all of eternity. Of all deaths, I think the most awful is that of the hypocrite, and after death, for him to lift up his eyes and find himself lost, lost for all eternity. Oh, make sure you know the true condition of your heart. May God give you true grace and true faith, and may we all meet in heaven. This is our earnest prayer, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.