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Romans: The Power of the Gospel Message 31 of 150
How Hypocrisy Hurts
Pastor Anthony King· November 20, 2022
Romans 2:21-24
“Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?”
Romans 2:21
The series
Verse by verse through Paul’s letter to the church at Rome: the Gospel of God’s righteousness, from our ruin in sin to life lived as a living sacrifice.
November 20, 2022
God sets the standard for good and evil.
“Good” and “evil” are subjective if we don’t have a universal standard.
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.Romans 7:7
Can Christians judge sin in the lives of others?
Judge not, that ye be not judged.Matthew 7:1
Isn’t it unloving to point out sin in the lives of others?
All have sinned. Sin will send us to Hell. Jesus paid the price for our sin. Faith in Jesus and repentance from sin will save us.
It is unloving to tell people that their sin has no consequences.
The idea that God will not judge your sin is an Anti-Gospel.
We are judged by the same standard that we expect of others.
Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.Matthew 7:1-2
If I am not living by a biblical standard, it makes it difficult to hold others to that standard.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 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 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.Matthew 7:3-5
While no one is perfect, we should strive for righteousness.
Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.Ephesians 5:6-11
When we fail, we should acknowledge our failure.
The word for hypocrite in the Bible means “to play a part” or “to feign or pretend.”
Hypocrisy: the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform; the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more laudable beliefs than is the case. The hiding of interior wickedness under the appearance of virtue.
Hypocrisy is not a Christian who sins and repents. Hypocrisy is a Christian who, sins, hides it, deceives others, all the while creating an illusion of righteousness.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.Matthew 23:25-27
Hypocrisy is repulsive, it pushes people away from Christianity.
Hypocrisy not only makes you look bad, but makes God look bad.
Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.Isaiah 52:5
And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.Ezekiel 36:20-21
If you call yourself a Christian, live like it.
If you choose to live a lifestyle of sin, don’t tell others you’re a Christian. It hurts the name of the true Christ-followers.
How to resolve hypocrisy? Repentance.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.1 John 1:9
21Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 23Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? 24For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. Romans 2:21-24
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