Isaiah chapter 32, let's start reading verse six.
The Bible says, "For the vile person will speak villainy
"and his heart will work iniquity
"to practice hypocrisy and to utter air against the Lord
"to make empty the soul of the hungry
"and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail."
The title of my sermon this evening
is The Wickedness of Hypocrisy.
The Wickedness of Hypocrisy.
If you notice in this verse,
the Bible compares someone that is a hypocrite
to a vile person.
And in our culture, in our society,
the word hypocrite pretty much just only has one definition.
Someone that says and does not.
But what I wanna show you in this sermon
is that there's a lot more to being a hypocrite
than that simple definition.
Because that is an aspect of being a hypocrite.
But a hypocrite in the Bible is a very wicked person.
And you know, people will say things like,
well, we're all hypocrites.
And look, if you just take that very simple basic definition,
there is some truth to that.
There are times that we all say and do not, right?
If we're honest with ourselves, there's
times where we say that we're a certain way
and we fail because we're sinners, right?
But the person that is a hypocrite in the Bible
is a vile person, this verse says.
It says this person will speak villainy.
His heart will work iniquity.
Notice, to practice hypocrisy and to utter error against
the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry
and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
The hypocrite is not just your run-of-the-mill,
average Joe Plummer sinner.
It is someone much, much worse than that
and it's one of the people that Jesus went after
the hardest in his ministry.
Over and over in the New Testament you see him saying,
woe unto you hypocrites, calling people hypocrites.
We even read this morning the story of how the Jews came
to Jesus and they said, hey, is it lawful to give
tribute to Caesar or no?
And he responded to them saying that they were hypocrites.
Why, 'cause they were asking a question
completely insincerely.
They didn't actually wanna know the answer to that.
All they were doing is they were trying to practice
wickedness in their heart to trap Jesus Christ.
So that's what a hypocrite is.
Go to Isaiah 33, flip the page, Isaiah 33.
Let's get another description of a hypocrite.
Verse 14 says the sinners in Zion are afraid.
Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.
Now notice what happens to hypocrites.
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?
Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Hypocrites are people that are going to hell.
Hypocrites are extremely wicked people
and hypocrites are going to hell in this verse.
Stay in Isaiah and I'm gonna read for you Proverbs 11,9.
The Bible says an hypocrite with his mouth
destroyeth his neighbor,
but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.
Notice someone that destroys their neighbor,
that's a little more extreme on the sin scale
than just, hey, we said one thing
and our life is doing another.
No, this person's actually practicing iniquity,
devising mischief, destroying his neighbor,
an extremely wicked person.
I told you to stay in Isaiah.
I'll read one more verse for you.
1 Peter 2, 1 says, "Wherefore, laying aside all malice
and all guile and hypocrisies and envies
and all evil speakings."
So in 1 Peter, the Bible's giving us this admonition
that we should put off hypocrisies
because though hypocrisy is an attribute
of a super, super wicked person,
even us as Christians sometimes
can have some of the attributes of a hypocrite.
So what I wanna do with this sermon
is help us to recognize what the attributes
of a hypocrite are.
So first of all, we can stay away from those people,
avoid those people, but also so that we can just
even examine our own hearts and our own lives
to see if we have any hypocrisy in our heart
and of course to fix that issue.
So the attributes of a hypocrite, number one,
hypocrites say things that they don't believe.
Hypocrites say things that they don't believe.
This is a little bit on a different level
than saying and doing not, right?
Because I could say, hey, this is wrong
and I truly believe it, right?
But I could still fail in that area, right?
All of us do this.
But here's what the hypocrite does.
It's way more wicked than that.
The hypocrite says something
that they just don't believe at all.
That's a completely different person.
That's an insincere person.
Look at Isaiah 29 verse 13.
Wherefore the Lord said,
for as much as this people draw near me with their mouth
and with their lips do honor me,
but have removed their heart far from me
and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.
Notice these people are putting on a show saying,
God bless, praise the Lord, hallelujah brother.
They're saying all these words that with their lips
and with their mouth, they're honoring God.
But inwardly, God knows our hearts
and these people's hearts are far from God.
This is someone that says,
but doesn't even believe what they're saying.
Now this is called a hyper spiritual person.
And you have to watch out for hyper spiritual people
because it's an indication that they're trying to flatter.
It's an indication that they're saying things
that they don't mean.
You know, all of us in this room, we love God.
We're trying our best to serve Him.
We're serious about soul winning, preaching the word of God.
We're serious about serving God.
But you know what's funny is when we talk to each other,
we're not like, oh, praise the Lord most high of Jehovah Jireh.
You know, praise his name on high, brother.
Nice to meet you this morning in the name of the Lord.
You know, there's this one guy at church one time
that would hug dudes, which is just weird, first of all.
But he would say, you know, my bowels are refreshed
in the Lord with you, brother.
And it's just like, whoa, don't ever say that again.
Okay, like, that's a terrible thing to say, right?
We're not living in these times.
Don't say that in our culture.
But again, that is someone that is not sincere.
That is someone that is a hypocrite.
Why, because they're saying things
that they don't actually mean.
That's a weird thing to say.
And oftentimes people wanna convince you
of how spiritual they are.
So they'll say things that they don't even believe.
And this is a dangerous thing
because sometimes people,
they have a hunger or a craving for leadership.
They may have a hunger or a craving
to become a pastor or a preacher or something like that.
And sometimes they will literally say things
and preach things that they don't even believe
just to get into a position.
That is a hypocrite.
That is a scary person right there.
You gotta be honest about the things that you believe.
You have to say the things that you believe.
Hey look, if you get an opportunity
to preach behind the pulpit here,
and there's something that you disagree with me on,
some different interpretation of scripture
or a minor doctrine,
look, don't preach against what I'm preaching,
but also don't just repeat things
that you don't actually believe.
There's a lot of things to preach in this book.
Just preach something you actually believe.
I wanna listen to a preacher
that actually believes what he's saying,
where I'm not just like, is this guy putting on a show?
Is this guy just wasting all of our time
just trying to convince us of something?
That is what a hypocrite does.
And you know what?
God does not like these people.
It's like smoking his eyes.
It's annoying to him.
You know, here's an example of someone that was like this.
Tyler Doka.
I understand many of you may not know who this guy is,
but this guy, several years ago,
I wanna say like 2018,
kind of attached himself to the new IFB movement.
And he proclaimed himself to be post-Trib,
against the sodomites, anti-Zionist, King James only,
salvation by faith, all these things that we agree on.
And he's preaching all these things for years.
Well, now, the guy literally claims to be Jesus Christ.
He claims that he is God in the flesh.
Now, here's the thing,
you don't just change your mind on that doctrine.
Like, well, you know, I was reading my Bible one day
and I just, I realized that Tylodoka is Jesus.
And so I have to submit myself to the Bible, right?
That's not what happened there.
The person was a liar from the beginning.
The person got up Sunday after Sunday,
Wednesday after Wednesday,
and just preached things he didn't believe.
That is a wicked person.
That is a disgusting human being.
And you know what?
I would rather be around someone
where maybe they're not the greatest preacher.
Maybe they don't know everything in the Bible,
but at least what they're saying to you, they believe.
And I just want preachers to preach
what they actually believe.
And this guy was just a piece of garbage lying to everyone.
You know, preachers do this
by speaking out of both sides of their mouth.
They'll say things like,
well, of course, salvation's by faith alone.
In Jesus Christ, it's only by grace.
But we all know that you'll have to have the works too.
And I'm just like, you're a hypocrite.
Why don't you actually say what you believe?
One of those things you believe.
So which one is it?
Is salvation by faith or by works?
Just say what you believe, make it clear.
But people, they want, they want to put on a show,
they want to be adored, they want to be liked,
they want to have numbers, they want to have money.
And so they'll speak on both sides of their mouth.
You know, recently I watched this Christmas Cantana.
And overall, it's a good program.
It's a really big church.
It's a really great opportunity to preach the gospel because there's so many visitors
in the church.
And I'm watching this, and they kind of have like this section of the Christmas Cantana
where they have like a family acting.
And the child kind of asks their parents what they have to do to be saved.
And so all of a sudden the dad starts explaining, you know, son, Jesus died for your sins.
And the Bible says that if you put your faith in him, he'll forgive you of all your sins.
All you have to do is repent of your sins.
And I'm just like, what in the world?
It's like on one hand, you just said what was right.
Now you throw in this poison.
Then the preacher gets up and he provides a crystal clear statement on salvation.
And I'm just thinking, what are you guys doing as a church?
Why are you speaking out of both sides of your mouth?
Just say what you actually believe.
Is it by faith?
Is it by works?
Just let us know.
That's what we want.
That's what I want to hear from preaching.
Go to Matthew chapter 12, Matthew chapter number 12.
And this doesn't just apply to church.
It also applies just in your conversations with people.
Just say what you actually believe.
Don't pretend to believe something you don't.
Don't try to be a different person than you actually are.
Just say what you believe.
Matthew 12, 34.
The Bible says, "O generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things?
For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh."
Jesus is kind of marveling here saying like, "How is it that I know you're evil, but sometimes
you're saying good things?"
And this is what false prophets do.
For a while, they could kind of say good things.
For a while, they could say what's right.
For a while, they could give lip service.
I mean, that's what Isaiah is saying.
They're honoring God with their lips.
They're saying the right things, but their heart is far from Him.
He's saying, "How can you guys, being evil, speak good things for out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh?"
And this is the truth about just being a fake person is that the truth will always
come out.
So it's not worth playing the game.
It's not worth trying to drag this thing on because eventually who you are will be made
manifest.
And so you might as well just say who you are.
You might as well just say what you believe.
Verse 35, "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things and
an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things."
And if someone just goes around preaching for year after year, preaching things that
they don't believe, you know, eventually they're going to leak their heart and they're going
to be exposed for who they are.
Now, this is not to say that you can't change your mind about something because we're all
wrong about things, right?
But here's the thing.
It's better to be wrong about something while you're fully convinced that it's true.
Then you actually see the Bible on an issue and you're like, "Okay, the Bible's corrected
me here.
I was wrong.
Here's what the Word of God says."
And then change.
That's totally normal.
That's totally fine.
But you know, there's some people where they're kind of a chameleon and they believe one thing
around a different group and then the moment someone else has a different opinion, they're
just like, "Yep, that's what I believe too."
And it's not that they're actually putting thought into this or actually having a true
opinion based on any fact or scripture.
It's that they just kind of want to blend in because they're hypocrites.
They say things that they don't believe.
You know, another example is a guy like Tyler Baker, who Tyler Baker was a man that worked
for Faith Forward Baptist Church several years ago.
He's working with Pastor Anderson, he's going to a great church where he's hearing great
doctrine, and right at the time he's about to be ordained as a pastor, he kind of goes
around the church and starts infecting the church with this doctrine of oneness, modalism.
Now, do you really expect me to believe that you could be working for Pastor Anderson at
Faith Forward and you just didn't know the doctrine of the Trinity, you just were ignorant
of it, and then you just picked up your Bible one day and found out that modalism is true?
That's not what happened.
What happened was that he was lying about who he was the whole time.
And now, today, he's preaching that he's not a biblicist, that the Bible isn't the final
authority.
Look, you don't change your mind about those kind of things as a saved person.
We have the Holy Spirit of God that bears witness to the truth.
There are deal breaker doctrines.
There are damnable heresies, meaning heresies that if you believe you're not saved.
And me as a saved person, I'm never going to change my mind about the deity of Christ.
I'm never going to change my mind about salvation, right?
It's these major things that are just settled and clear.
And if someone "changes their mind about those things," it's that they were never saved to
begin with.
It's that they were fake the entire time.
They weren't persuaded of a truth.
They were always a hypocrite.
Tyler Baker is a hypocrite.
Tyler Doca is a hypocrite.
These are what real hypocrites are.
Not just me and you, because sometimes we say and do not.
It's a lot more serious than that.
You know, I know of another evangelist that went to a church, an IFB church, who was about
to be ordained as a pastor, and, you know, he's preaching sermons.
He's going to start a church.
He's this Baptist evangelist.
And today he is a Hindu.
How does that happen?
Was he convinced of the truth of Hinduism?
No, he was just a liar.
He was just a fraud the whole time.
And, you know, don't let these things move you when you see this kind of stuff.
This is just someone that was a Judas.
This is just someone that was an infiltrator that was never saved.
Look at verse number 36.
It says, "But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give
account thereof in the day of judgment.
For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
Jesus cares about the words that we speak.
We need to make sure what we're saying is true, that we're conveying our real beliefs,
that we're not being hypocrites.
Go to Matthew 15.
While you're turning there, I'll read 1 John 2, 19.
They went out from us, but they were not of us.
For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went
out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Notice, when you're a Christian, when you believe in God, there are some things that
you just will continue to believe because you're saved.
And if you depart from those things, if you move on from those things, it just shows you
were never of us.
You were never saved to begin with.
Matthew 15 verse 1 says, "Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem,
saying, 'Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.'
But he answered and said unto them, 'Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God
by your tradition?'
For God commanded, saying, 'Honor thy father and mother, and he that curseth father or
mother, let him die the death.'
But ye say, 'Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, 'It is a gift by whatsoever
thou mightest be profited by me,' and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be
free.
Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.'
Notice what he calls them, 'Ye hypocrites!'
Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'This people draweth nigh unto me with their
mouth and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men.'
Why is it that these people here were hypocrites?
Here's why.
Because if you would have gone up to these Pharisees and you would have asked them, 'Hey,
do you believe in the law of God?'
What would they have said?
'Yeah, of course we do.'
If you would have asked them, 'Hey, should a person honor their father and mother?'
What would they have said?
'Of course you should.'
Now, were these people people that believed that you should do something and they were
just struggling to obey that commandment?
No, they premeditatedly decided that they're not going to follow this commandment and anytime
they had to honor their father and mother, they just said, 'Well, that's a gift to God.'
You know, 'Oh, it's a gift by whatsoever that might as be profited by me.'
Instead of honoring mother and father, like the Bible says, they're saying, 'Oh, you
know, I'm dedicating this to the Lord.
I'm doing something spiritual with it.'
They're saying that they believe something that they don't actually believe at all.
That is what a hypocrite does.
Go to Matthew 23, Matthew chapter 23.
And so, hypocrites, it's not your average run-of-the-mill Christian.
It's really wicked people.
You know, just like Mormons, when you go out soul winning, and I absolutely hate dealing
with Mormons.
It's like the worst people to deal with.
But when you ask them what they believe, they will lie to you.
They will just tell you that they believe something that they don't.
Why?
Because they are hypocrites.
They will tell you, 'We believe the King James Bible.'
Oh yeah, we believe in one God, even though they absolutely do not.
They believe in an infinite number of Gods.
When you read Brigham Young's writings, they believe that they themselves will become Gods
if you read Doctrines and Covenants, one of their fake, disgusting, holy books or whatever,
where they teach that they will become Gods and ascend someday as Gods, but they will
lie to your face and say, 'Oh, we're Christians.
Oh, we believe just like you.'
No, they're hypocrites.
They're complete liars.
Matthew 23, 3 says, 'All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe.'
Not observe and do, but do not eat after their works, for they say and do not.'
So there is that aspect of hypocrisy of someone that says and does not, except the difference
with the Pharisees and the people that he's calling hypocrites here is that they're telling
people to do things.
They're preaching the Word of God, but they don't believe it to begin with.
You know how I know they didn't believe it?
Because Jesus said to them, 'Hey, if you would have believed Moses, then you would have believed
me.'
And they know for a fact they didn't believe the Bible.
They didn't believe the Word of God, yet they're walking around preaching it.
They're walking around telling people to follow God's commandments, and Jesus is saying, 'Look,
the things that they're saying on the face is fine.
Do what they're saying, because what they're saying is good, but don't do after their works,
because they say and do not.
They don't actually believe what they're saying.'
Verse 4, '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.'
So they like to put all these extreme, over the top, man-made standards on other people
that aren't found in the Bible and try to make people feel beneath them, try to make
people look at them thinking that they're so holy, yet all these rules and extra biblical
things that they're imposing on other people, they don't follow any of them.
Not only do they not follow those, they don't even follow the actual rules of the Bible.
Like he said in verse 3, verse 5, "But all their works they do for to be seen of men.
They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments."
Go to Romans chapter 7, Romans chapter 7.
So far I hope you can see that hypocrisy is not just simply saying and doing not.
It's saying you believe something when you don't.
It's saying you're going to do something when you have absolutely zero intention whatsoever
on following that.
Now of course that does not mean that us at times are going to seem hypocritical in a
sense of the word, right?
And the Apostle Paul kind of goes over this in Romans chapter 7 verse 14.
The Apostle Paul said, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under
sin.
For that which I do, I allow not."
Right?
So there is an aspect of that definition.
He's saying, "Look, there are things that I do in my life that I tell other people
not to do.
I don't know about you.
I've been there.
I think we've all been there."
Right?
You know, those of you that are parents, have you ever told your kids not to do something
and then you have even done that or you sometimes have messed up in that area?
Right?
That's all of us.
Verse number 15, look at the end.
He says, "For what I would, that do I not.
But what I hate, that do I."
He's saying, "There are some things that I want to do that I'm telling myself like,
'Man, I really want to get this done.'"
Right?
For some people it's like, "Man, I really want to go to the gym."
Right?
But they just never do it.
They say, "I really want to read the Bible.
I really want to read the Bible cover to cover."
But they find that it's hard.
They find that they struggle to do it.
And he says, "There's things that I even hate.
There's sins that just piss me off, sins that I just hate, yet sometimes I myself find
myself committing those sins."
That's what he's saying.
Verse 16, "If then I do that, which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good."
Now here's the difference between the wicked hypocrites we're talking about and Christians
that struggle with sin.
When we sin, if this is your attitude, man, I sinned, I messed up, but you know what?
The Bible's still right about this situation.
If you don't try to make excuses for it and be like, "No, well, it's okay for me because
here's my circumstances.
Well, you know, it's okay that I'm not honoring my father and mother because I've dedicated
it to God."
That's someone that's a hypocrite.
They're not consenting unto the law that it's good, right?
Paul's saying, "Look, I mess up, I do things I hate.
There's things I want to do that I don't.
There's things that I do that I tell other people not to do.
But when I do those things, here's what I'm still saying.
The Bible's right and I'm wrong."
That is the right attitude to have, is to submit yourself to the Bible and say, "Even
when I screw up, it's not the Bible's fault, it's not God's commandment's fault.
It's my fault.
I'm the one that screwed up."
Verse 17, "Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me," and he's going to clarify what he's talking about, "that is
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform
that which is good I find not."
So we have the new man, we have the old man.
In our old man, in our flesh, there is nothing good.
We cannot do good in the flesh.
We must be walking in the spirit, and when we're walking in the flesh, guess what?
We're going to do things we hate.
We're going to do things that we don't allow.
We're going to do things that we don't want to do.
That's why it's so important to walk in the spirit.
But I'm just trying to explain this to you to get you to realize that, hey, if you find
yourself in that position, that's not the hypocrite that Jesus is preaching about.
That's not the hypocrites Isaiah is talking about.
Those people, they say things they don't even believe.
We are, it's called sinners.
That's what we are.
And that's what the Apostle Paul is describing.
Go to Matthew chapter 27.
I heard some prideful preacher one time get up and he was talking about how he just hates
how Christians use Romans chapter 7 to talk about how we struggle with sin.
He's like, you know, preachers will use Romans 7 and act like this is a normal Christian
experience.
And it's like, yeah, because it is a normal experience.
Because if the Apostle Paul struggled with sin, I'm going to struggle with sin.
You're going to struggle with sin.
And this guy, you know, he's doing, he's wanting to be seen of men.
He's wanting to puff himself up as if he's so holy, so godly.
What that guy is, is a hypocrite.
That's what he is.
So number one, hypocrites say things they don't believe.
Number two, hypocrites condemn harshly when they are guilty of worse.
Matthew 27, verse 3, "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned,
repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and
elders."
So Judas had betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ, had sold him for thirty pieces of silver,
he was, you know, beaten himself up about it, he repented, which by the way shows you're
not saved by repenting of your sins, because Judas repented and still was not saved by
repenting of your sins, because Judas repented and still was not saved, so he brings the
money back to them, verse four says, saying, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the
innocent blood."
And they said, "What is that to us?
See thou to that."
Verse five, "And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went
and hanged himself."
Verse six, "And the chief priests took the silver pieces and said," notice their mentality
here, "It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
And they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in, wherefore
that field was called the field of blood unto this day."
Don't miss this story.
What are these chief priests and elders doing?
They're conspiring to kill Jesus.
You want to talk about a big sin?
You want to talk about an extremely wicked action?
These guys are covenanting with Judas to betray him, to deliver Jesus Christ to the Romans,
but what are they worried about?
They're worried about Judas bringing back the blood money, and they're saying, "Oh,
we can't take this blood money.
I mean, that's too far.
That's drawing the...
We got to draw the line somewhere.
Yeah, we'll betray Jesus.
We'll kill him.
We'll murder him.
No problem.
Oh, but don't give me that dirty money.
That's not lawful for us to take."
You know, that's a hypocrite right there.
That's someone who's condemning other people harshly, and they're not even realizing how
big of a sin that they are involved in.
Go to Matthew chapter 7, Matthew chapter 7.
I mean, hypocrites are so blind.
I mean it is amazing to watch.
I mean people with like the least self-awareness in this world are true hypocrites.
The hypocrites in the sense of the definition the Bible's giving here, these people are
blind.
Matthew chapter 7, notice, Matthew 7 verse 1 says, "Judge not that ye be not judged."
Now if this was a liberal church, that's all we read.
We'd close our Bibles and go home right there, but believe it or not, there's actually more
to the chapter, verse 2 says, "For," meaning because, "with what judgment ye judge, ye
shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again."
So notice, when you judge someone in a certain area, you will be judged in that exact same
area, right?
So it wouldn't make sense for someone who is lazy, who's always late at their job, who
gets poor performance reviews, who just is a terrible worker, it wouldn't make sense
for that person to judge their coworker who also gets a poor performance review.
I mean, how much sense would it make if a crappy worker went to his other crappy worker
and said, "Let me give you some tips on how to improve your career," right?
Jesus is saying, "That makes no sense.
Don't judge someone in that area.
With what measure you meet, it will be measured to you again."
That's talking about standards, right?
What is a ruler?
It's a standard.
If you have a standard in your life and you are not meeting that standard, you can't judge
someone else who's not meeting that standard in their life, too.
That doesn't make any sense.
You don't have any right to judge in that situation.
Verse three, use the different metaphor here, "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in
thy brother's eye, but consider us not the beam that is in thine own eye?"
Why would you look at someone who's got like a little speck of dust while you have this
giant log coming out of your face, right?
I mean, that doesn't make any sense.
It's a ridiculous picture to prove how ridiculous hypocrites are and how ridiculous they are
in their judgment.
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.'"
So what is this person doing?
This person's gonna condemn you and point out your problems, your mote.
Meanwhile, they have this gigantic issue in their life, this huge major sin issue.
They're condemning you harshly for that while being ignorant or just not paying attention
to or not caring about their own issue.
And notice what Jesus calls this person in verse 5, "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."
So notice, it's not a sin to judge, it's not wrong to judge your brother and say, "Hey,
you've got this issue here, let me help you get the mote out of your eye if you yourself
don't have a beam in yours.
If you yourself are not guilty of the same thing, that would be a proper way to judge."
This is why we have standards for pastors, this is why we have qualifications for judges
and things like this in the Bible, because these people are going to be correcting issues,
are going to be correcting problems, and it doesn't make any sense if he himself has
some giant beam in his eye.
Right?
I mean, would you really want to listen to a pastor who's been divorced in remarriage
teach you about marriage?
Would you really want to listen to a pastor preach about child rearing who's never raised
children?
Right?
That doesn't make any sense.
We want to make sure that you're judging properly.
Now, what are some ways that people do this?
Well, here's a big one that I've seen for over a decade and it's a hatred or just criticism
against the new IFB from old IFB churches or new evangelical type churches that they
look at guys like Pastor Anderson, they look at our preaching and they'll say, man, these
guys are so hateful. Oh, these guys are so mean. They have such a bad spirit. Meanwhile,
their church doesn't even go soul winning. And some people like to get mad about this
point being like, oh, the new IFB, they just say that, you know, they could overlook anything
because you're not going soul winning. Look, if you're not going soul winning, you don't
love people. You don't love souls. You don't love God. That's what the Bible teaches. And
how dare you look at us? How dare you criticize us? You say we have a mean spirit. You say
we're hateful. You're walking around with this giant ponderosa pine in your eyes covered
in the blood of souls and you don't even care. You don't even realize how stupid and foolish
and hypocritical you look. I would never give any credence to any pastor that wants to correct
us who doesn't even go soul winning. You think I'm going to listen to criticism or advice
from someone that doesn't do the first works? Nuts to you. Get lost. I'm not listening to
any of it. You are a hypocrite. How about this? You got people that live in the online
only world. Their whole life is online. It's just video games. It's just watching services
online. They don't even go to church. They don't even do anything. But back in 2020,
when some churches closed down for a couple of weeks during what was an unknown period
of pandemic where we didn't know how bad the situation was, they want to sit there and
criticize pastors, men of God that have sacrificed their lives for the Lord Jesus Christ and
serving him and feeding God's people, these idiots and losers and do nothings want to
criticize. People are criticizing Pastor Jimenez, Pastor Thompson, Pastor Anderson because some
of these churches either lowered the capacity that they were allowing per service or they
were spacing people out or maybe they did a few weeks of where it was like a live stream
only type thing. And it's like here you have these great men that have literally read the
Bible scores of times that have literally gotten thousands of people saved that have
literally changed thousands of people's lives. But you Mr. Dungeons and Dragons retard want
to sit here and criticize pastors and churches over something you have no idea what you're
even talking about. Are you a virologist? Do you know what this pandemic was? Did you
have all the answers in 2020? No, you're just some blowhard that wants to run his mouth.
You're a hypocrite is what you are. How about this? Liberal Christians. I hear this all
the time. Liberal Christians condemning you, criticizing you, calling you names for spanking
your children. This is a gigantic beam in their eye. You know why? Because the Bible
says in Proverbs 13 and 24, "He that spareth his rod, hadeth his son, but he that loveth
him, chasteneth him betimes." Here you've got this giant beam in your eye called literally
hating your own children. And you want to criticize me for spanking mine. You want to
criticize Christians for actually spanking and disciplining their kids. Meanwhile, the
Bible says you hate your kids. You literally loathe your children and you're sitting here
criticizing us. You know what? You are a hypocrite because you want to condemn other people harshly
when you yourself are guilty of worst. Let me tell you about one of the biggest hypocrites
I've ever met in my entire life. His name is Cassidy Campbell. And you want to know
why I'm bringing this guy up? Because I wouldn't just go after some random, you know, layman
church member, which he's not even a church member anymore. This guy's a public figure.
This guy's fair game. This guy's got millions of subscribers, 1.8 million subscribers. And
quite honestly, I wrote a sermon about this loser months ago and I didn't preach it for
one reason and it was out of respect for Pastor Shelley who asked me not to. So if anyone
wants to get mad about this preaching, don't get mad at Pastor Shelley, he was the one
that was more gracious. You can get mad at me if you want. But let me tell you, Cassidy
Campbell is one of the biggest hypocrites I've ever met in my entire life. You want
to talk about someone who criticizes other people harshly when they themselves are guilty
of worse? It's Cassidy Campbell. Now I realize many of you guys don't know who this guy is
because he was a member at Steadfast and you probably don't go around on YouTube watching
the dumbest videos ever created and if you do, shame on you. You know, shame on you if
you like this guy's videos and his YouTube account because it's absolutely terrible.
You know, this guy came to Steadfast Baptist Church and I'm going to get into some of his
issues in a minute, but this guy was given so much love and so much grace it's not even
funny. Brother Ben specifically took this guy under his wing and loved him and taught
him to go soul winning and was a friend unto him and Pastor Shelley did good unto him and
we all you know counseled him and helped him in church and overlooked some major issues
that were really annoying because we want people to grow, we want people to get things
right and we're willing to love people with issues because we have sinned too in our
lives right? We want to have that attitude but now he's going on and attacking Steadfast
Baptist Church, he's attacking the new IFB, he's saying that we're all a cult, he's saying
that none of us think for ourselves, that we can't you know nothing that we say we
believe you know attacking everybody this is what he said he said they don't believe
anything that they say so according to him we're the hypocrites according to him we say
a bunch of things that we don't believe he says the key thing is that they say salvation
is by faith alone and rip on anyone preaching works for salvation but as soon as someone
leaves the cult they say that person isn't saved so he's guilty of a couple things here
uh railing is one of them and being a hypocrite is another i've never heard someone say that
he isn't saved i've been i've been around hundreds of people that know him never have
i heard anyone say that he's unsaved and i'm not saying that he's unsaved but what i am
saying is he's a hypocrite what i am saying is that he is wicked why well let me tell
you what bro does for a living let me tell you what cassidy campbell does to support
his family and to make money one of the things that he does is he dresses like a sodomite
for a living you want to criticize me as you dress like a filthy faggot for a camera
as you dress like a tranny you really think i'm going to listen to anything that you have
to say go to deuteronomy 22 5 deuteronomy 22 5 putting on makeup putting on weird gross
disgusting clothing that i don't even want to describe deuteronomy 22 5 says the woman
shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man neither shall a man put on a woman's
garment for all that do so are abomination unto the lord thy god you know when our church
was going through one of the biggest battles in our history one of the biggest battles
i've ever seen in my life we went to the city council meeting and we were presenting to
the city council things that were happening to us all the sodomites were there with us
they were throwing lies and false accusations against us and trying to turn the city against
us that was the that was the same very night that sodomites first started coming to my
house following me so we're going through a serious battle here and what is this idiot
cassidy campbell do he shows up to our city council meeting dressed like a sodomite wearing
makeup dressed like a tranny and he gets up on the mic and starts pretending like he's
some faggot making a big joke out of everything that we're doing you know we're here be doing
something serious fighting for the lord fighting for the word of god in a battle and here comes
this idiot dressed up as a sodomite and you know what i saw i saw some christians laughing
at that idiot and you know what shame on those people that did that you need to repent of
that crap because when you dress up like a woman as a man you are an abomination to god
yet this idiot wants to sit here and condemn us guess what i've never put on a dress i've
never acted like a tranny how dare you criticize anything you piece of crap you piece of garbage
here's another thing he does he flirts with other women for a living he literally sets
up adultery stings using his own wife what am i talking about he has this video where
he's like hiding in a closet or something and his wife had been online trying to hook
up with some dude and this dude literally comes into his house and starts meeting with
his wife and they start talking and then he jumps out of a closet and scares the guy
haha how funny that you're making light of sin how funny that you're making fun of adultery
how funny that you're even putting the seed into your wife's head of committing adultery
why would you even plant that in your wife's mind because you know what your wife just
saw wow that was pretty easy oh wow i could just message some guy and he could actually
come over to my house you think that's a good idea to be putting in your wife's head
or anyone's head you think it's a good idea to play with fire like that you sick piece
of garbage and to stand up as a christian because here's the thing this would be despicable
if it was an atheist this would be despicable this was a sodomite making these videos but
this guy is a christian this guy attended steadfast baptist church this guy got up and
said oh i'm new ifb and you're making videos like this shame on you someone ought to slap
you across the face man wake you up and you're gonna sit here and criticize us wow criticize
pastor anderson criticize pastor anderson's family pastor anderson's marriage last time
i checked pastor anderson didn't ask for some guy to meet up with his wife in his own house
you idiot sick freak trying to do pedophile stings in his own home where his children
live in his own home bringing pedophiles into his house for clicks for views for money you
want to talk about filthy lucre maybe it's making money by doing adultery sting videos
maybe it's making money by going to the grocery store and the gym and the street and everywhere
in the world just making but making videos flirting with other women as a married man
first Thessalonians 522 says abstain from all appearance of evil not only should we
just stay away from adultery but can we please not make videos where we're pretending like
we want to where we're hitting on women where we're getting their phone numbers again why
would you play with fire like that why would you put that seed into someone's mind like
what if some guys like oh man it really was that easy to get that pretty girl's number
you don't think that some guys would do something wicked in that situation why are we putting
these seeds into people's minds why would you stand up as a Christian promoting this
it's unbelievable to me and it's so funny how the haters of the new IFB they want to
criticize pastor Anderson they want to criticize his family criticize his marriage but they
have no problem teaming up with this guy they've got no problem defending him and it's like
you want to know what the difference is is that when he was in our church we were trying
to teach him what's right we were trying to say hey here's how you go soul winning pastor
Shelley's preaching sermon after sermon hard preaching trying to get people to change their
lives where's that on the other side now oh or is it just crickets or is it that they're
just fine with it because he hates pastor Anderson and pastor Shelley now Cassidy Campbell
you are a coward and a piece of crap and you are a traitor to sit there and be in our church
and accept our love and our grace and our friendship for that long and just to turn
on us that in that way is so unbelievably sick and he is the worst hypocrite I've ever
seen go to Proverbs 14 Proverbs chapter 14 hey maybe before you criticize another grown
man before you criticize a pastor maybe you should start with getting a real job maybe
like the threshold to criticize a church and a pastor should be that you at least have
a real job you know maybe the threshold should be that you have the maturity level above
a 12 year old quite honestly I know 12 year olds that are way more mature than this guy
I wasn't this stupid when I was 12 I don't think you guys were this stupid when you were
12 unbelievable Proverbs 14 9 fools make a mock at sin but among the righteous there
is favor this guy is a fool this guy is a hypocrite why because he condemns harshly
when he himself is guilty of much more you know keep your mouth shut and this wouldn't
be being preached right now I'm not just blasting people because they have issues but when you
have gigantic issues and you're gonna start talking about motes and other people's eyes
get prepared to be destroyed go to Matthew chapter 6 Matthew chapter 6 what's another
attribute of a hypocrite number three hypocrites put on a show hypocrites put on a show and
again this all kind of ties into just not being sincere not being a sincere person Matthew
6 one says take he that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them otherwise you
have no reward of your father which is in heaven therefore when thou doest thine alms
do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the
streets that they may have glory of men verily I say unto you they have their reward but
when thou doest thine alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine
alms may be in secret and thy father would seeth in secret himself shall reward thee
openly.
So you know there's some things in life that God has called for us to have a public ministry
in.
Right?
Soul winning is one of those things.
That's a public ministry.
We should shout it from the housetops.
We should get the gospel out to everyone.
You know I make soul winning videos to try to train soul winners to help them become
better soul winners.
We want that to be public right?
We want the preaching of God's word to be public, to be blasted out to everyone, to
share God's word.
But you know private acts of kindness, private acts of charity, alms, these are things that
should be done quietly.
These are things that should be done where no one knows about it.
Where you're not doing something nice for someone in the hopes of oh man I hope my boss
sees this, I hope the pastor sees this, I hope my friends see this so they can realize
what a great wonderful person I am.
You know actually you should realize that hey God is watching and God knows that I'm
trying to do good right now and so no one else needs to know about this except God then
you have a reward from God.
But when someone else knows about it your reward is that other person knows about it.
That's a pretty shallow reward.
You know who cares what other people think?
Who cares what other people think about how spiritual you are?
Who actually matters is God.
He's the one that you need to be worried about and pressing.
Go to verse number five it says, "And when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites
are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets
that they may be seen of men, verily I say unto you they have their reward.
But thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou shalt thy door pray
to thy father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward
thee openly."
So notice what hypocrites do, they pray and are they praying in a way where they're having
a sincere communication with God?
They're actually asking God for something?
They're in fellowship with Him?
No, they just want to be seen of men, they just want to be heard, right?
And so when we're praying in a public setting, we shouldn't be trying to put on some sort
of show, right?
We shouldn't be sitting here when we pray corporately as a church and just be spending
30 minutes praying to God, acting like we're dedicating the temple in 1 Kings 8 or something
like that.
No, we're just praying together, we're not trying to put on a show, we're just trying
to invoke God's ear, invoke His blessings upon us, make sure that we're in the right
mindset, we're not trying to put on a show.
I visited an old IFB church once and the church was great, the pastor was great, he preached
a really good sermon, but before the sermon on their Wednesday night, you know, we pray
together and I usually lead the prayer, but at this church he just asked some guy in the
congregation to lead the prayer.
And I am not kidding, if you were in the Bahamas, you know what I'm talking about, this guy
prayed for at least 20 minutes, at least.
I was seeing people fall asleep, I was seeing people drop, I mean, it was just like, God
please this, and Heavenly Father this, and oh Lord please this, and oh Lord please this.
And we're just like, bro, like come on man, this is not what prayer is supposed to be
about.
And the guy, he's just putting on a little bit of a show.
Not saying the guy's some terrible person, or that he's not saved, but in this instance
he was acting pretty hypocritical, because when we're praying as a church, we don't need
to spend 30 minutes doing it.
You know I went out to dinner last night with someone, and I don't think they would have
liked, as our nice steaming hot food is on the table, if I'm like, alright, 45 minute
prayer session right now.
We'd be like, man, I want to eat.
It's like, Lord, we thank you for this food.
Please bless it now.
Be with us.
Amen.
Right?
Oh, you're not that spiritual.
Don't really care what you think.
Care what God thinks.
So I'm just going to pray like that, and call it good.
That's what the Bible says.
Go to Matthew 23.
Matthew chapter 23.
Hypocrites put on a show.
Matthew 23 verse 13 says, "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye
shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer
ye them that are entering to go in."
So notice these Pharisees, these hypocrites, how are they putting on a show?
Well, because they're putting themselves forth as spiritual leaders.
They're standing in Moses' seat, Jesus says.
They're standing as the ministers of God and yet they themselves are not even saved.
Not only are they not even saved, they're actually hindering people from being saved.
Yet they're putting on a show.
You know who's like this?
Every Catholic priest on earth, every single false teacher on earth is a hypocrite.
Why?
Because they're standing there acting like they love God, acting like they're spiritual,
yet they're not even saved.
And not only are they not saved, they're actually harming other people and prohibiting them
from getting saved by the false doctrine that they preach.
Look at verse 14.
"Well unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense
make long prayer, therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation."
When you notice that someone is a hypocrite, when you notice that someone is doing things
to be seen of men, when they're trying to put on a show, here's a truth about a lot
of them, is they're often guilty of very dark, wicked sins.
How about devouring widows' houses?
How sick and gross is it when we hear about crimes where people prey on old people, credit
card fraud, wire fraud, property fraud, all the time against old people, and we as just
normal, decent human beings, we hear about that and we're just like, "How sick and disgusting.
How could you sit here and take advantage of an old person, a defenseless widow, something
like that?"
But you know what these people do?
Not only do they do that, they do that while acting spiritual.
How disgusting.
What utter scumbags.
You know, these are the TV evangelists.
These are the TV evangelists that pray on little old grandma who just loves Jesus and
just doesn't know the Bible that well.
And he tells her, "Hey, you know, if you just give me all your money, God's going to restore
everything to Israel.
Israel's going to come back to his glory if you just give me all your money."
And they're just like, "Okay, let's give all my money to Kenneth Copeland."
What are those people?
Devouring widow's houses for pretense, making long prayer, acting spiritual while actually
harming individuals.
I can't think of anything worse than that.
Verse 15, "Well unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass sea and land
to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell
than yourselves."
These are your Mormon missionaries walking around over every square inch of this planet,
it seems like, yet they themselves are not saved.
They're not suffering people who want to be saved to be saved.
They're compassing sea and land to make another proselyte, and they just turn into worse people
than they are themselves.
That is what a hypocrite does.
They harm individuals.
Look at verse 25, "Low unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you may clean the
outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess."
The outside is very important to them.
They want to put on a show.
They want to put on a facade.
See here at our church, we do care about the outside, but we want to clean up the inside
first.
And you know, I would love someday to have a nice building and a nice facility, but I
will never sacrifice the truth for a nice building.
I would rather meet in a strip mall until Jesus comes hearing the truth than to have
something that looks real nice on the outside.
I mean, it really doesn't look nice today when some truck ran into the side of it and
ripped half the brick siding off, but at least you're hearing the truth.
I'd rather be in a church hearing the truth in a jacked up building than the nicest Catholic
church as they speak sweet lies and send people to hell sitting in a nice Mormon tabernacle,
a nice Mormon temple as they sit there and tell you you're going to become a God someday.
Make sure you wear your stupid underwear, you know, no thanks, I'll stay away from that.
Give me the strip mall, give me the Baptist strip mall.
Verse 26, "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 you are like unto whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of
all uncleanness, even so ye outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within they are full
of hypocrisy and iniquity.
So you can see the ire of the Lord Jesus Christ here in one of His hardest sermons that He
ever preached.
Who is He going after?
He's going after hypocrites.
And again, these aren't just people that are trying to do right, the best they can, but
their flesh gets the best of them every once in a while and they sin.
That's not what these people are.
They don't believe what they say.
They're harming individuals.
They're putting on a show.
They're guilty of super wicked sins while projecting that they're clean and holy and
condemning other people for their minor issues.
Lastly, an attribute of a hypocrite, number four, hypocrites do not care about the truth.
Hypocrites do not care about the truth.
And again, the thing that these have in common is just insincerity.
Being insincere is the common trait with a hypocrite.
Matthew chapter 22 verse 15, the Bible says, "Then went the Pharisees and took counsel
how," notice, "they might entangle him in his talk."
So the narrative of the Bible gives us a glimpse into the hearts of these people, and these
people are not interested in truth.
They're not interested in discovering what Jesus has to say.
They show up with one mission in mind, to entangle Jesus in his talk, verse 16, "And
they sent out unto their disciples with the Rhodians saying, 'Master, we know that thou
art true and teach us the way of God and truth.
Neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of men.
Tell us therefore, what thinkest thou, is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not?'"
Now this is an insincere question because we already read that they are just here to
entangle him in his talk.
They're not actually wondering, "Oh, I wonder if this, you know, I wonder if we really need
to pay Caesar tax or not," right?
Insincere.
"But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, 'Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?'"
See if you only have our culture's definition of the word hypocrite, this would be kind
of a weird verse.
This would be kind of a hard verse to understand.
Verse 19, "Show me the tribute money, and they brought unto him a penny, and he saith
unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?
They say unto him, Caesar's; then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the
things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."
Now, this story is very applicable to us as a church, especially if you are a soul winner.
Because what you'll find if you go soul winning enough is that you will run into people called
trolls.
And another word for trolls are hypocrites.
You wanna know why?
Because they're asking you questions
that are not sincere, right?
They wanna just use your time, waste your time.
Oh yeah, what do you think about that?
Oh, explain to me more about how you think
Jesus is the son of God.
Oh, explain to me a little bit more
about how you think Jesus can be God at the same time.
And oftentimes you could gauge
that a person's not genuine in wanting to know the answers.
They're there to troll you.
They're there to waste your time.
They're there to entangle you in your talk.
And even recently, I ran into one of these guys
who was just some homeless dude sleeping on a doorstep.
I called him a doorstep theologian.
And he wanted to sit here and just argue doctrine with me.
And I just said straight to him.
I just said, "Hey man, I'm just getting the impression
that you're trying to troll me
and that you're not a sincere person.
These aren't sincere questions.
So we're gonna go talk to someone else."
"Oh no, bro, no, I really wanna know.
Yeah, I really wanna know."
No, he didn't.
He was sitting there trying to waste our time.
He was sitting there trying to get us in an argument.
And you know how I know this is a fact?
Because I saw this, and I saw his camera open up and I saw him start recording me.
You really think a person that really wants to get saved is gonna start randomly recording
you?
No, he wanted to make some funny video to send to his friends, "Haha, look at the Christian
at my door," or by step, I guess, "Haha, look at the Christian telling me that Jesus
is God."
This guy was not sincere.
He was a hypocrite.
And I just said, "I feel like you're trolling me.
I don't think you're being very sincere right now.
Have a good day."
That's what you gotta do with these people because they will waste your time.
Go to Titus chapter number three, Titus chapter number three.
When you realize that someone is a hypocrite, it tells you this person does not have an
interest in the truth.
And when you realize that someone has no interest in the truth, don't waste your time with them.
Don't waste your breath.
We're out there to get people saved.
Verse number nine of Titus three says, "But avoid foolish questions and genealogies and
contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain.
A man that is in heretic after the first and second admonition, reject, knowing that
he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself."
So the Bible says when you run into someone that is a heretic, reject him after the first
and second admonition.
Now this comes with some discernment to realize the difference between someone who is sincere
but struggling with concepts versus someone who wants to teach you why you're wrong.
Look I will spend all day with someone that is sincere but struggling.
But the moment someone wants to tell me, well here's why you do have to repent your sins.
Well no have you ever heard of faith without works is dead.
Where's that in the Bible?
Oh I don't know but it's there right.
I'm done with those people.
After the first and second admonition I'm rejecting those people because they will waste
your time.
They love to hear themselves talk.
They are puffed up in their vain mind.
They think they are so smart and they have a fun time showcasing their stupidity really
to you thinking that they are smart.
I'll read for you Proverbs 26,4 says, "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou
also be like unto him.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit."
Pretty interesting passage here because it seems like it's giving contradictory advice.
One verse is saying don't answer a fool and the other verse is saying answer a fool.
This is how I decide which of these is appropriate for the situation.
If I'm alone with someone, if it's just me and my soul hunting partner and the fool here
and he starts being a fool and he starts preaching me the false doctrine, he's not listening
to the word of God, I am not, after the first and second admonition, going to continue with
that person, I am not going to rebuke the fool, I'm not going to answer a fool according
to his folly because there's no benefit to it.
He is not going to be reproved by words.
I could sit here and bray him like pestle and mortar and it's not going to change him.
So at that point we just have a nice day, we leave.
Now here's where I would take the second verse's advice, where I would answer a fool according
to his following, is if it's in the audience of people who potentially could be interested.
If it's in the audience of people who are not the fool, who are not the scornor, who
are not the hypocrite, in that case it might be beneficial to rebuke that person, to correct
that person, not for that person's benefit.
That person's not going to change, but for the benefit of those that are listening.
And that's what Jesus did.
He knew their wickedness.
He knew they were hypocrites.
He knew they were tempting him.
And so the only reason he responded to them was because he had an audience, right?
That was why he did it.
You know, at one point, the Pharisees came up to him and asked him, you know, tell us
about the baptism of John.
Was it, or they might have asked him, no, they asked him a question about marriage.
I'm sorry.
And Jesus responded and said, like, I'm going to ask you a question first.
And when they didn't answer the question, he said, I'm not going to answer your question.
Right?
So he kind of addressed their issues in a public setting because there was an audience
there.
So I brought you guys the good questions to ask a person in this situation.
The first question to ask them is, what do you mean by that?
When someone makes a claim, make them back it up, let them sit in whatever they just
made for themselves.
Oh, you make a claim?
What do you mean by that?
Answer.
What do you mean by that?
And then when they answer, say, how did you come to that conclusion?
And you know what you'll find is that they will never ever, ever be able to beat you
with those two questions.
Let me tell you exactly why I go to first Timothy chapter number one, first Timothy
chapter one.
And here's why this question works with a hypocrite, with a fool.
Now these questions would not work for me or for you because we know what we believe
and we believe the truth.
And if someone said, "Oh, what do you mean that salvation's by grace?"
Hey, I could answer that very easily.
How did you come to that conclusion?
How many Bible verses do you want?
And you know, I don't have to just say faith that works and not even know where it is in
the Bible.
Let's open up a Bible right now and I'll show you everything.
But here's what the hypocrite does.
They don't know those things.
They don't back those things up.
Look at 1 Timothy 1, 5, "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart
and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned, from which some, having swerved, have turned
aside unto vain jangling," verse 7 is the key verse, "desiring to be teachers of the
law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm."
They don't know what they're saying and they don't know how they came to that conclusion.
That's what it means to affirm something like, "From where do you affirm this belief?"
They don't know.
The Bible says they want to be teachers, they want to teach the law, but they don't even
know what they're saying nor whereof they affirm.
That's why it's so easy to beat these people.
You just ask them those two questions.
What do you mean by that?
How did you come to that conclusion?
Look, again, I would only do that if it's in the audience of people that are going to
be benefited by the conversation.
Sometimes you're dealing with a fool who's very toxic, who's very loud, and maybe there's
an audience, but you can kind of discern like, "Hey, even if I do deal with this guy, I'm
not going to be able to necessarily preach the gospel to all of his friends right now."
You could at least ask those two questions and let it be known in the ears of the friends
listening, that you have the truth on your side, that you're right, and then you could
at least leave that conversation with less damage being done than if you had not answered
the fool.
Because if he had not answered the fool, then all of his friends are going to be like, "Yeah,
buddy, you really showed him on the flat earth.
You really showed him about the Nephilim in the Bible.
Yeah, you really showed him on these doctrines."
No, you've got to ask him, "Oh, okay.
What do you mean?
Okay.
Where'd you come to that conclusion?"
And then all of his friends would be like, "Oh, man.
Watch him stutter.
Oh, watch him stammer.
He doesn't know what's going on."
Then you actually build credibility in yourself in the eyes of people.
Last verse we'll go to here, or second to last verse we'll go to is in Job 27, Job chapter
number 27.
"We do not want to be around hypocrites.
We do not want to be hypocrites.
We don't want to have any of the attributes of hypocrites."
Why?
Look at Job 27 verse 6.
Job said, "My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go.
My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Let mine enemy be as the wicked and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.
For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul?
Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh unto him?
Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he always call upon God?"
Job is asking this question, "What is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained?"
And here's the thing, if you live a fake life, if you put on a show, if you say things that
you don't believe, if you pretend to be someone that you're actually not, you may get some
rewards from that fake life for a while, right?
You could lie on your resume, like here's a good example, you could lie on your resume,
you could do a fake cover letter written by Chad GPT, you could get fake references and
you can get hired into a super, super good job, but guess what?
You're actually going to have to do the job and what is it going to profit you, you being
a hypocrite, when the day is going to come where you actually have to reckon with what
you've done.
And it's the same thing with being a hypocrite spiritually, there's no point of putting on
a show, there's no point of being fake, saying things you don't believe, it doesn't matter
because even if you gain something from that, let's say you gain a position, oh you become
a pastor, you become a preacher, you become someone that people look to as thinking, "Oh
this guy's smart, this guy's great," but when you're not, guess what?
That eventually is going to be found out and you're going to have to pay the piper.
And so, you know what's better?
Just don't do that to begin with, just don't be fake, just be who you are.
Be real as a person, don't be a hypocrite because God knows who the real deal is.
I'll finish on this verse, Psalm 7 9 says, "Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come
to an end, but establish the just for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reigns."
God knows who you are, God knows who I am.
We need to be honest with ourselves, with God, with other people who we are because
God knows and God is willing to help someone and God is willing to give wisdom to someone
that is humble and asks for it rather than the person that puts on the show like they're
already wise, right?
So we don't want to be hypocrites because God knows what are some things we can do,
say only what you believe.
Don't be a hypocrite, say only what you believe.
Take the beam out of your eye before taking the moat out of other people's eyes, right?
Don't sit here and condemn people harshly for things much less serious than the things
that you are guilty of.
Don't put on a show and sincerely desire the truth.