Be not as the hypocrites. I wonder how many people thought when I announced that title, uh-oh. I get it. When I announced the title, it made me cringe. because I know something of my own hypocrisy all the time. Be ye not as the hypocrites. We are introduced to these people Christ calls the hypocrites. Verse two, do not sound the trumpet before thee as the hypocrites. Do. Verse five, when you pray, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. Verse 16, when you fast, be not as the hypocrites.

The word hypocrite means an actor. They were the actors of that day when there was a play performed The people who played or performed in the play were hypocrites. And the better you are at acting, the more and real and genuine you seem. To someone say, I'm not a hypocrite. In reality, you've mastered the art. You're so good at it that you've deceived yourself into thinking that about yourself. A very convincing actor. You could have been a movie star.

Hypocrisy is something that all men are plagued with. Believers and unbelievers alike. You remember when Peter moved tables in Galatians chapter two, and he was, by that statement, saying, I am a little better than the Gentiles. What did Paul call this? An act of dissimulation, the same word, an act of hypocrisy. Peter the apostle was carried away with hypocrisy at this time, and Barnabas and others were influenced by him as well.

Now, if we have any honesty at all, we must admit that we act in hypocrisy every single day. No man is immune from this. Somebody says, what bothers me about the church is there's so many hypocrites in the church. You'd fit in seamlessly. Join them up. Does that mean there is nothing that's real? Doesn't mean that at all. I love when Paul spoke of the unfeigned faith that was in Timothy. Now that word feign is hypocrisy. This was unhypocritical faith. Now what did Paul say about this young man, Timothy? He had unfeigned faith. It wasn't pretend. It wasn't acted out. You see, he really believed himself to be a sinner. He wasn't a pretend sinner. He wasn't an ex-sinner. He was a sinner and he had nowhere to look but Christ. That's unfeigned faith. If you have somewhere other to look than Christ, your faith is phony. It's not real. True faith looks to Christ only. Everything else is an act.

When Peter spoke of unfeigned Love, turn with me for a moment to 1 Peter chapter one. When I speak of being a hypocrite, knowing it so, that doesn't mean there's no such thing as realness, real faith, real love. Look what Peter says in 1 Peter one, beginning in verse 22, seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned, unfaked, unhypocritical love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently being born again. Now that's where this unfeigned faith comes from, the new birth, being born again. The only way you can have unfeigned love is if you're born from above.

Turn to James chapter three. Who is a wise man? Verse 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not. Lie not against the truth. His wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish, for where envying and strife is, there's confusion in every evil work. But the wisdom that's from above, that comes from God is first pure, then peaceable, gentle. It doesn't hold people's feet to the fire, giving them a standard that it is not willing to live up to. Easy to be entreated, easy to be approached, full of mercy and good fruits Without partiality and without hypocrisy. That is the wisdom that is from above. Without partiality, without showing favoritism, without hypocrisy. Be ye not as the hypocrites.

I think it's very interesting that Christ tells the disciples in Luke chapter 12, verse one, to beware of the Levin of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. That's their doctrine. It is hypocrisy. None of their doctrine is true. It's all based upon acting because it's all based upon salvation by works. It starts with a false premise, salvation by works, and it's all an act. It's feign. Paul called it in 1 Timothy 4, chapter two, and he was referring to religious people. He says they speak lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.

Now, in our text, in Matthew chapter six, The hypocrite does what he does to be seen of men. Look in verse two, I'm reading these again. I hope this is not repetitive. It may be, but I want us to see what's being said. Therefore, when thou doest thy arms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets, that they may have glory of men. They want men to see what they're doing and be impressed with it. Verse five is the same, when you pray, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and the corners of the streets, that they may be sin of men. Verse 16, moreover, when you fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast.

After all, an actor has to have an audience. An actor loves to have the praise and approval of men. The trumpet sounds to alert the men of the magnanimous nature of my gifts to those in need. My private devotions are act out in public so you can see what a devoted and holy person I am. I'm far too modest to tell you that I'm basting, but I'm going to figure out a way for you to find out. and I'm going to disfigure my face so you will know that that's what I am doing. The hypocrite, the actor, wants an audience.

Now the Lord Jesus Christ spoke most of this great sin that he abhorred. He had more to say about this than anyone else. Turn with me for a moment to Matthew 7. We're gonna look at where the Lord dealt with this sin.

Judge not, that you be not judged. That's one of the most famous verses in the Bible. Don't judge me. Bible says, judge not. Don't judge me. I don't accept that. Don't judge me. Bible says, judge not, that you be not judged. Now, understand this. The Lord is not saying, if you judge, you will be judged by God and condemned. If that's what he meant, nobody in this room would be saved and nobody outside of this room would be saved. He's saying when you judge somebody, they're going to scrutinize your every move. Not only will they see your faults, they'll be looking for faults. When I'm judgmental towards someone, they're going to judge me all that much more harshly.

Judge not. that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And with what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but consider not the beam that is in thine own eye? I see that fault. How can you see it through the beam that's in your own, is what the Lord says. Is there ever a time when you don't have a beam in your eye? Ever. Do you know, as long as you and I have a beam in our own eye, we're totally unqualified to judge anybody for anything. Amen? That's what the Lord says. I was listening to a preacher, he said, so many believers feel hesitant to confront Sin in other believers is because they have sin in their own lives. Well, yeah, yeah, that would be an accurate assessment.

Verse four. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold, a beam is in thine own eye. Thou, what word? Hypocrite. Now, if you want to know what a hypocrite is, here he is. He's someone who spots the speck in his brother's eye. He sees it so clearly, but he doesn't see the beam, the log in his own eye. It's called, judging is called the practice of hypocrisy. Thou hypocrite. First, cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Now somebody says, you ever get the beams out of your eyes? Have you? Be honest, have you? I love what Paul said in Romans chapter two. Let me read it to you, Romans chapter two, verse one, therefore, Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest, doest the same things." Anything you judge your brother for, anything I judge my brother for, God says, I'm doing the same thing that I'm judging them for. Now, somebody says, no, I'm not. God says you are. Am I supposed to believe the word of God or what you say or what I say?

I think of King David. He was filled with outrage. when he heard about that monstrous, cruel act of that man, who, this one man had a little lamb that he loved it so much, he treated it like its daughter, he ate it, the lamb ate at its own table, and this rich man, he had flocks, thousands of sheep, but he didn't want to use one of them to feed his guests, so he took this man's lamb, and killed it. And they had it for dinner that night for his guest. And David said, he'll surely be put to death. He was outraged, indignant over the wicked act of this man. He shall surely be put to death. And what did Nathan say? Thou art the man. Now that could be said of any judgment we level against anybody for anything. Thou art the man. Anytime I judge anybody, it's acting. It's hypocrisy. That's all it is.

Turn to Matthew chapter 15. Then came to Jesus, scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they washed not their hands when they ate bread.

But he answered and said, why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, honor your father and mother, and he that curseth father or mother, let him die of the death. But you say, whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it's a gift. This money that I have, I can't help you with it. I've willed it to the church. They're going to get it when I die. Therefore, I can't use it to help you. I'm using it for a far more noble purpose.

Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it's a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father or mother, he shall be free. He doesn't have to honor his father and mother because that money has been designated to the church. Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition, you hypocrites. That's what the Lord calls these people. You actors. There's not a sincere bone in your body.

Look in Matthew chapter 16. Verse one, the Pharisees also with the Sadducees came and tempted, tempting him, desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. They couldn't believe what he said. We need a sign. We need proof. We need evidence. Your word is not enough. Show us a sign that'll prove.

Well, he'd shown them so many signs already. They observed his miracles over and over again. You know, nobody ever believed because they're seeing a miracle. If the Lord were here in the flesh right now and performed supernatural miracles, it would make one of us believe. It'd make them believe. But they want a sign.

He answered and said unto them, when it's evening, You say it'll be fair weather, for the sky is red, and in the morning it'll be foul weather. Today, for the sky is red and lowering. Oh, ye hypocrites. You can discern the face of the sky, but can you not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there shall be no sign given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them and departed.

Now, what was the sign of Jonah? Three days in, three days out. The sign of the resurrection. Oh, may the Lord enable me to say what I need to say about this. If you have any assurance of God's favor that is not founded 100% on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it's a false and a hypocritical assurance. How's that sound to you? The only well-grounded hope there is is that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. That's all the assurance any believer is ever to have what He did, who He is and what He did. Any other assurance is acting. It's trying to make up something. It's not true. It's not real. It's not genuine. It's an act. Trying to give yourself some hope of God's favor. The only thing that is not an act and base hypocrisy is looking to Christ alone. You look to Christ alone, nowhere else. That's not hypocrisy. As a matter of fact, it's the only real thing there is. The only real thing you and I do really, the only truly real thing is when God gives us grace to look to Christ alone. All else is hypocrisy. Any assurance of salvation is not wholly grounded on the resurrection of Christ.

Matthew 22. Verse 15. Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true and teach us the way of God in truth. Neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of men. Now what they said was true, but they didn't believe it. They were buttering him up. This is what's called flattery. Oh, surely he'll respond to this. Tell us therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? We want to know. But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, why tempt ye me? You hypocrites.

Now flattery is hypocrisy. Trying to trap somebody in their words is hypocrisy. Yeah, it's funny, I got a letter last week. A fella said, you said, you used the phrase God the Holy Spirit 15 times in one sermon, and the Bible never says God the Holy Spirit. Can you explain that? And I thought, I know what this guy's doing. He's wanting to deny the deity of God, the Holy Spirit, but he was forming it in a letter. Can you explain to me why? Well, it's called hypocrisy, trying to bait somebody to give some kind of answer. Matthew 23, you're there. Now, this sermon in Matthew chapter 23 is the message that the Lord used in his providence to cause the Pharisees to plot Christ's murder. It was after this particular message in Matthew chapter 23. And seven times, he says in this passage of scripture, hypocrites.

Now you know how it stings when someone calls you a hypocrite. It stings. I mean, that's about the worst thing you can say to somebody. As I said, there is a sense in which we all practice hypocrisy all the time, trying to project a certain image and act this way and act that way. I love what Henry Mahan said, that we're all three different people. We're the people others think we are, we're the people we think we are, we're the people God knows we are.

So let's look at what the Lord has to say with regard to this thing of hypocrisy, the way he speaks to these people. Now he'd already said, In verse two of chapter 23, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do ye not after their works? For they say and do not, for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men's shoulders. But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen of men.

Remember, an actor needs an audience. All their works, every single one of them, they do to be seen of men. I think it was Paul Daniel who said, if you couldn't do anything before men, religion go out of business. I thought that's a pretty good statement. It would. All their works, they do to be seen of men.

Now, verse 13. Now he addresses them directly. He was warning the people about the scribes and the Pharisees. And remember this, this is not just some kind of, that's the way it was back then. Scribes and Pharisees are very alive today. And I know without any doubt that I have scribe and Pharisee in me. This is the natural man's religion. So don't think of these people as being someone way back then. No, they're very alive and well today, the scribes and the Pharisees.

Now look what the Lord says, but woe unto you, verse 13, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men by your false message. For you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to go in.

" You know, no one is saved in this religion, this religion of salvation but works. He says you don't get in, your proselytes don't get in. No one enters the kingdom of heaven who goes on with your doctrine, the doctrine of salvation by works, which is nothing more than hypocrisy. You can just write that down, it is hypocrisy.

Look in verse 14. Woe unto you, and you think of how scary that must be to have the Lord say woe to you. Oh, if he says woe to you, woe to you. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you devour widows' houses, your predators, trying to take the money of widows. That sounds like the average TV preacher, doesn't it? Begging for money, trying to get poor widows to bring their money in. You devour widows' houses and for pretense, for a show, make long prayer. Therefore you shall receive the greater damnation. Now that's the words of the Lord.

Verse 15, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte. And when he's made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Hypocrites proselytize. They seek converts. And what happens when they make one? He's twofold more the child of hell than you are. Now these are the Lord's words against these people. Look in verse 23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have omitted, have left out the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.

Now here's what the new hypocrite does. He majors on things that really make no difference. They're inconsequential. But that which really is important, which really counts, he omits. He leaves out. And the Lord tells us what is of weightier matter. Judgment, mercy, and faith. Now these are the three weightier matters of the law.

Judgment. The actor, the hypocrite in his doctrine, denies judgment. Oh, he says God's going to judge the wicked. He'll say things like that. God's going to judge. But he preaches an atonement where there's no judgment, where God can judge your sins. And yet you can be judged for him after all that. Christ died for your sins. He put them away. He was punished for them. But if you don't do your part, you're going to be judged anyway. You're going to be condemned. Now, all that is is the omission of judgment. It's false, it's evil, it's error.

And he speaks of mercy. Well, I believe in mercy. Yeah, but you believe you gotta merit it. There's no understanding of this thing of mercy given for Christ's sake. You gotta merit it somehow. There's something you need to do in order to obtain God's mercy.

Faith. They confound faith. You're more confused after you hear their definition of faith than you were before you heard it. They make faith a work. They leave out the weightier matters, judgment, Christ accomplished absolute judgment. I'm going to be saved. The justice of God is gonna demand my salvation because of what Christ accomplished in my behalf. I'm given mercy. Not because of anything in me, but because God willed to do it. He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy.

Faith. Faith is looking to Christ only, not looking to Christ and, not looking to Christ and my experience and my works, not looking backwards to see if I have a testimony that is okay. You look to Christ only. They omit that.

Verse 25, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within you're full of extortion and excess. You may clean the outside, nothing is done on the inside. You see the work of God. in our experience begins with his work on the inside. A new heart that he gives that was not there before. A new spirit that he puts within on the inside. And they were, we gotta clean outside, but nothing is done about the inside.

Look at verse 27. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you're like whited sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness, even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men. But within you're full of hypocrisy." That's all there is. You're full of it. And iniquity.

Verse 29, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets. You garnish the sepulchers of the righteous and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have been partakers with him in the blood of the prophets. Bragging on dead prophets. Oh, we love Martin Luther. We love John Calvin. We love all the reformers. We brag on dead prophets, but they won't identify with living ones. That is the hypocrite, the actor. Wherefore you be witnesses unto yourselves that you are the children which killed the prophets. Fill ye up the measure of your fathers, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers. How can you escape the damnation of hell?

Those are rough words, aren't they? but they're the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 24, verse 51. Well, let's begin in verse 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household to give them meat in due season? Blesses that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find him so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all of his goods.

But, and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delays his coming, and he shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and an hour when he's not aware of him, aware of, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I want to look at one other, and then I want to close in 1 Timothy 1, but turn with me to Luke chapter 13. Beginning in verse 11. And behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity, 18 years, and was bowed together and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said unto her, woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight and glorified God.

And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation. because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day. And he said unto the people, there are six days in which men ought to work, and then therefore come and be healed, not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath lose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan is bound low these 18 years, be loose from this bond on the Sabbath day.

Now that's every place I found where the Lord used this word, but I'd like to close on a better note. If I couldn't close this message on a better note, this message would be kind of depressing. We turn to 1 Timothy chapter one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ our hope, unto Timothy, my own son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith, so do. Now the end, the goal, the purpose, of the commandment. Now there the word commandment is the same word translated charge in verse three. This is the end or the goal of the gospel charge. The gospel message.

Now aren't you interested to see what the end of the gospel message is? I am. The end of the charge of the gospel message of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned, un-faked. Charity out of a pure heart. That's the pure heart he gives in the new nature. Blessed are the pure in heart. for they shall see God. Now, you know that the only way you can have charity out of a pure heart is if it comes out of the pure heart that he's given you in the new birth, the clean heart. And that's the end of the commandment, charity out of a pure heart.

And the second end of the commandment is a good conscience. Now, what's a good conscience? Somebody says, I feel totally innocent in this situation. My conscience doesn't condemn me. I feel good about this. That is a hardened conscience. That is a seared conscience. That is a conscience that doesn't work. Everything you just said was a lie. I feel no sin in that. I feel like I did right. That's a seared conscience.

A good conscience is a conscience that has nothing to feel guilty about. In Christ, I have a good conscience. God looks at me and he sees one without sin, perfect in his sight. A good conscience is a conscience that has nothing to feel guilty about. Now, I've got to admit in my own experience, I've always got a cloud over my head about something. However, I had nothing to feel guilty about. because I'm justified in Christ Jesus. I have perfect righteousness before God. That's a good conscience.

And the third goal of the law is faith unfamed, not faked, not an act, unhypocritical. A faith that really does look to Christ alone and claims no past, present, or future merit. It looks to Christ alone. The only time we're not hypocritical is when we look to Christ alone.

May the Lord make that real with every one of us. Let's pray.

Lord, how we thank you for the gift of faith that looks to your son alone, his righteousness, his sacrifice, his resurrection as everything in our salvation. Lord, we're so prone to hypocrisy. We're so prone to acting. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing, but Lord, let us have, by your grace, this charity out of the pure heart. And Lord, give us this good conscience because of what Christ has accomplished. And Lord, let us have this faith unfeigned for Christ's sake. In His name we pray. Amen.