(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, amen. Matthew chapter number 23. The chapter in the gospels that is non-existent to most Christians because it really gives you both sides of Jesus. You see the world today, they like the Jesus that just heals people and says nice things. They don't like the one in this chapter here. And so being that this is the large chapter that it is, we're just going to take a topic from it and go with that. So, but the first thing I want you to understand really is in verse number one, look at verse one real quick. It says, then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples. That is very important for you to remember as we go through this chapter because he's speaking to a mixed multitude. And of course he's giving advice the first probably 12 verses mainly to people that can be saved, to the disciples and to just the people that are kind of curious in the crowd there. Now verse 13 is where things really start to change. Now I want to show you a few things here. Look down at verse number 13, I want you to see this phrase here, but won't you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Okay, look at verse 14, won't you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Look at verse 15, won't you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Look at verse 23, won't you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Verse 25, won't you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Look at verse 27, won't you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Now look at verse 28, even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Now look at verse 29, won't you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. So you see there in this chapter, there's something that Jesus wants us to know about. And I think it's pretty obvious and one of those things is about hypocrites. And that's what we're going to talk about this morning, hypocrites. I had a pastor in an old IFB church a long time ago, this is several years ago, we were out soul winning one day and somebody said to him, I don't go to church because of hypocrites. And he just kind of brushed it off, he's like, okay, I understand and he tried to give him some words of wisdom. And then as we walked away from the door, he goes, you know what I told somebody one time? I said, what? He said, yeah, this guy was like, you know, I don't go to church or I'm not really interested in Christianity because they're all hypocrites. And he said, well, at our church, there's always room for one more. He said, the guy got so mad that he wanted to fight him. And he's like, so I've never said that again. He's like, but it's true. And I wanted to tell that guy that story. And you know, it's funny because that's how we all feel, you know, it's like everybody on some level has some bit of hypocrisy and that's what you're going to see today. When you study this out, you're going to see, basically we're going to go back to Job. Okay. And that's the first time you're going to see the word hypocrite. We're going to break that down and what that means. But as you go through the Bible, okay, as you go from Job to Matthew, you're going to see that the hypocrite just gets worse and worse and worse. And we're going to come back to that and I'm going to explain what that means. Now of course, there's a hypocrite outside here and it comes here every other week. Sometimes all three services, and he goes by the name of Flag Dad, goes by the name of Flag Dad on, what is it, Twitter or what's the other one, TikTok, they all start with a T. And really, you know, it's kind of funny because he'll be out here like waving an American flag and sometimes you'll see people wave and they just think, oh, there's just a patriotic guy. Okay. Until you go up and talk to him and you find out, oh wait, you mean flag without the L, Dad is what you really are. Okay. So why you say, why are you bringing that up? Well, because he's a hypocrite. He's out there posing himself to be one thing when the reality is he's something else. And so of course that is a big part of what hypocrite is. Now keep your place here in Matthew 24 or 23 and go to Job chapter number eight, Job chapter number eight, we're going to get our definitions and everything about hypocrites directly from the Bible. Didn't even bother looking up the definition in the dictionary today. Not that that's wrong, but honestly there's the way that we in our modern vernacular use the word hypocrite. Okay. And I think what you're going to find today is that there's a lot more to it than the way we use it. You know, a lot of times we just use it, okay, that person's being a hypocrite and we kind of say it like it's a mild thing, but the Bible actually describes it as something much, much greater than the way that we use it. Now depending on which Bible software you use to count words, this word appears about 31 times in the Bible. And it's interesting because it's split evenly pretty much from the Old Testament and the New Testament. And so you're going to find it three different books in the Old Testament, three different books, which are all the gospels in the New Testament. And the two books that this word appears the most in is the book of Job and the book of Matthew, of course with 15 times. So Job comes in at eight and Matthew is 15. Now let's look at something here. Job chapter number eight, we're going to read verse six. And this is Bildad the Shuhite speaking to Job here. Remember the book of Job? This is a conversation between Job and his three friends. God had allowed Job to go through some trials and some extreme tribulation. And of course we don't have time to break all of that down, but just so that you kind of have a little map marker there. Let's look at what Bildad the Shuhite is trying to communicate to Job. Look at verse six. It says, if thou wert pure and upright. So right off the bat, you can see that Bildad is already playing games with Job, already trying to accuse him of not being who his reputation had stated that he was. The Bible says that Job was a man who feared the Lord and eschewed evil. That's a strong word for saying that Job hated evil. And Bildad's not buying it based off of what Job has been going through. Okay, look at what he says. If thou were pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. So he's basically saying, look, if you were who you portray yourself to be, if you were really this godly person, then God would be helping you right now. You wouldn't be going through what you're going through. Now jump down to verse number 13. He says this, so are the paths. So he basically gives a parable, okay, he gives us parable. And then he says this after the parable, verse 13. So are the paths of all that forget God and the hypocrites hope shall perish. You see that the hypocrites hope shall perish. So what is Bildad saying here? He's basically saying that Job is a hypocrite, that he's been pretending to be this great man of God when in fact he's not. And Bildad's insinuating that he must have this secret life where he's doing all these other things and his whole life is nothing but a show. And he's basically insinuating here also that he's forgotten God. Verse 14, he says whose hope shall be cut off and whose trust shall be a spider's web. Verse 15, he shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand. He shall hold fast, but it shall not endure. So basic definition, very simple, we've already been talking about it. A hypocrite from the Bible is somebody who is pretending to be one thing, but is not that thing. So in other words here, Bildad's like, oh, you've been, you know, acting like you're all spiritual and you're this great person of God, but we just saw the hand of God come down on you, therefore we now know you're a liar, you're a hypocrite, you're not right with God, okay? And so obviously, you know, if you know the book at all, you know that that's not true. His friends just don't understand why Job is going through these trials and these tribulations. And of course, Job did have that reputation. He did have that reputation for being a godly man, a person that absolutely hated evil. He was always, you know, thinking and praying for his children, for his family. He would pray and do offerings just in case they did something wrong. So definitely a great man of God. And so basically, really quickly, just from this passage here, what do we see? Again, a hypocrite is somebody who is basically a pretender, an actor who's putting on a front and feigning themselves to be something that they are not. So that is the most basic definition. But there's also a couple other things here that go in to a hypocrite, okay? So Bildad mentions this. He says, in verse 13, so are the paths of all that forget God, okay? So a hypocrite is, and you're gonna see this, can be somebody who forgets God or not, obviously you can't lose your salvation, okay? But somebody who's just like, you know what, God is not in all my thoughts and just not interested in the subject anymore, and so on and so forth. We'll talk more about that here in a moment. But what I want you to see now is not only is a hypocrite somebody who pretends to be something they're not, but a hypocrite is also somebody who has a certain hope, okay? They have something that they are always and hope for, something that they are always trying to protect. And when you understand this and you really just go through the Bible and learn about all the different traits about hypocrites, which we're doing this morning, it's gonna really help you to be able to spot them in people, okay? So let's take a look at what this hope is. What is the hope of a hypocrite? Because Bildad the Shuhite here seems to mention it. Well, look at the verse carefully, look at verse 14. He says, whose hope shall be cut off and whose trust shall be a spider's web. And so obviously nobody here would lean against a spider web in the form of trust because it's very flimsy, you just fall right through it. And so that's what he's likening a hypocrite's hope to. But look at verse 15. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand. He shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. So a hypocrite's hope here is literally this facade. It's this person that they are building, okay? So that's what a hypocrite does. They build up this person that they want you to think that they are, and their hope is that you won't discover it. Their hope is that you won't find out what it really is. And the reputation in the Bible that most hypocrites have is when they're called out, when they're discovered, they will try to lean on that until the very last moment. They were just going to try to keep leaning on that. They're going to come up with more lies, more so-called proofs, just to really keep building that false persona that they have. And so that's what Bildad the Shuhite, unfortunately, is accusing Job of. And so again, a hypocrite's hope is that they won't get caught, okay? Why is that important? Well, that's important for several reasons. When you kind of leave today and you kind of think about this, you meditate on that, it's going to help you really dig down and just understand these people and how they operate and make it easier for you to distance yourself from them. Let's take a look at some examples here. Go to Matthew chapter number six, Matthew chapter number six. So of course, being that most of these examples come from the Gospel of Matthew, we're going to spend a lot of time in Matthew this morning looking at this. And so, so far again, we've got our definition. A hypocrite is somebody who pretends to be something they are not. And their hope is that they will not get caught. And so that kind of tells you also, what are their works going to be geared towards? Their works are going to be geared towards always building that person and always making sure that you see them in that way. And this can manifest in several different ways. One of the ways that this can manifest is that people will just be constantly talking about themselves and just constantly, hey, you know I did this, you know I did this, this is what I do, this is what happened, and just constantly trying to get you to believe something. And they could be nice, you might not know a lot about this person, but if they're just really adamant about, hey, I am really this big deal, I'm all about this, it can be a red flag. And that's what I'm saying. Now, we don't want to go on a witch hunt and be like, you know, everybody, this room full of hypocrites, you know, we don't want to get like that, but trust me, it'll make sense as we go through this. So Matthew chapter six, Sermon on the Mount, look at verse number two. Let's look at some examples here. What do hypocrites do? What are some of their actions here? Well, look at verse two, he says, Jesus says this, therefore, when thou doest thine alms, okay, so thy alms, thy good deeds, the things that you do to help one another, to help people out. 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, okay? Very important to understand about a hypocrite, about somebody who is full of hypocrisy, okay? Why do they do this? Because they have to constantly build their character. It's a daily process, okay? It's a minutely process, and sometimes they have to constantly be getting you to the think that they are something else. They don't have the ability to keep it quiet, okay? These types of people aren't gonna be the ones that go and help somebody out and never talk about it. They're gonna be the type of people that just constantly make sure that you understand that they did something good. And I've seen this even inside of churches, where people get really just caught up in the fact that they're something special, and they gotta be recognized all the time, and they have to constantly have 24-7 praise, like, I just need to be praised, I just need to have this attention, I just have to, you know, when's the next time I can get up there and preach? When's the next time I can make a video? You know, it's just, you gotta be careful with stuff like that, because it could be an indicator that somebody is in this category here. Now jump down 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 what? Seen of men. Okay, you're gonna see that a lot. The hypocrite needs to be seen of men, needs to be understood by their peers. It says, Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Okay, now somebody could say, well, you're always up there preaching, you guys have videos, and these preachers, and this and that, you know, that's totally different. Okay, there's different, this is my job. It's my job to get up here and preach these messages, it's my job to make videos, and so on and so forth. These people are on a whole other level, and that's what you're gonna see with hypocrisy. There are levels to this thing, okay? So again, verse two, Jesus says what? He says they do these things, they do works to be seen of men. So like these churches around here, they go out and they do their ham sandwich ministry downtown, okay? They can't wait to just put that out there and just sound the trumpet. You go and knock on their doors, it's like I know I'm going to heaven because of all the stuff that I have done. Our church gives ham sandwiches to the poor, we've got the malto meal ministry to the poor kids in Africa, and we send them shoes. You know, those are all good things to do, but when all you can do is gloat about that and just consistently promote that, that's a problem. Not to mention the fact they all have a false gospel, okay? So there you go, that's a little foreshadowing for you. But look at the beginning of verse five here. This is interesting. And when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are. As the hypocrites are, okay? So this is important here because, you know, people can be tempted to want to be perceived a certain way to feel accepted. And what you have to understand about that is this fake narrative that you build to try and get accepted by other people will never become who you are. What you will become is a hypocrite. That is the result of portraying yourself to be something or not, okay? That is just something that we need to accept and realize, and I think that's why this is written in the way that it is. It says this, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are, okay? Hypocrites, people who build this character of something or not, they become hypocrites. They become hypocritical. They don't become who they are. And of course, there's this advice out there, and you know, I don't know if anybody's ever had success with this, but I'm starting to hear this a lot where people are saying, you know, if you want to be rich, what you should do is, you know, go put on the nicest clothes you have and go find the most expensive hotel and just go in there and sit down and watch people and act like you belong there and maybe buy something to drink and just hang out there and just maybe rent a fancy car. Look, if you're not rich, you need to worry, and that's your desire. First of all, it shouldn't be if you're a Christian, okay? But if, I mean, if that's your desire, more than likely what's going to happen is you're just going to become a pretender, because the first time somebody who you may see, perceive as like being, wow, this person's, you know, pretty up there, takes interest in you, like, oh, what's your name? What are you doing here? It's pretty cool to see you. You know, now what are you going to do? Tell them, well, I actually work at Walmart. I'm just here because somebody on a YouTube video told me if I want to get, you're not going to say that, right? No, you're going to try to keep that person's attention and keep their approval and keep building on this fake narrative. Someday you're going to get found out, and then before you know it, it's game over, okay? Kind of a silly example, but it's something to be aware of. Look at verse 16, it says, moreover, when you fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast, verily I say unto you, they have their reward. So another attribute here that we can learn about hypocrites is the fact that they are good at trying to hide their countenance, they're good at hiding their emotions, masking how they truly feel, which is also an attribute of a person that's a psychopath, okay? Just throwing that out there. Now before we move on here, go to Matthew chapter number seven, and I want to just kind of show you this spectrum here because again, a lot of times, you know, I'm sure we've all had this experience where we've met somebody who say, born again, maybe you've gotten stolen with a person, maybe you met them online or whatever, they go to a different church and they were found out to later on, you know, I don't know, not necessarily not be saved, but just be a bad church member. Maybe they got kicked out or something like that. It doesn't, you know, I'm not, what I'm up here saying to you is just because somebody is a hypocrite doesn't necessarily mean they're unsaved. It depends on the level, okay? And that's important here. What you're going to find here in Matthew chapter seven in these first five verses that we're going to read is that hypocrisy can befall children of God. Look at verse number one. So Jesus says, the most famous verse in the New Evangelical Bible, judge not that ye be not judged. Of course, we all know that's where they stop and never continue to read for with that or for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged and with what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again. Verse three, and why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but consider is not the beam that is in thine own eye. Now who here has not been guilty of that in their lives, okay? Everybody in here has at some point, I'm sure. 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. Okay? And so Jesus is letting us know that these characteristics can befall us. Sometimes we get wrapped up in this. You know, it's easy for us to find fault in other people. It is. It's one of the reasons why I think that I've excelled at jobs that require you to look at diagrams and standard operating procedures, because it's easy for me to find fault. You know, I mean, I can look out here real quickly and be like, oh, these hymnals are jacked up. There's crumbs on the floor. You know, I find that stuff very easy. Looking here, the clock's crooked, that hat's crooked right now, and it is, you know, stuff like that can, can bug you, you know, but do I have my own stuff clean? You know, things of that nature. And so that's, that's kind of what he's talking about here. Now look at verse five. He says, thou hypocrite, okay, thou hypocrite first, okay, so I just want to show you there is hope for, for that. There is hope for a hypocrite that's saved. Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye. So what do we learn about this? Well, when we adopt this attitude where we're just going to start calling out everything and picking on everything that everyone does, okay, it blinds us, okay? So when you learn to take that moat out of your own eye, guess what? Now you're going to be able to see clearly, you're going to be able to see righteously, and you might actually see, you know, this is just not the battle we're fighting. You know what I mean? Not every discrepancy, not every fault, not every problem you see online is something that needs to be called out, is something that needs to be turned into a fight or a big deal, okay? That's something I think that we could all learn and take from this. So I just wanted to kind of show you that, that a hypocrite on some level has hope. Of course, if you're a child of God, there's wisdom in the Bible, and this here is very clear, okay? Take the moat out of your own eye, get your own stuff right, and then you'll be able to clearly see how to get that thing out of your brother's eye. And of course, you know, that's going to change your tact level. It's going to make it so that you're able to, you know, be able to approach your brother with tact, with respect, and be able to maintain that relationship, which is also something wise, okay? Something very wise we should do. Now, I want to say this here before we move on, okay? Save people that lived in hypocrisy, what they're going to run into is chastising. They're going to run into chastening, and they're also going to have a lot of relational troubles. And that's pretty much where it's going to stop, okay? They're going to have relationship troubles with their brothers, sisters, family, things of that nature, possibly. Now, lost people that live in hypocrisy, it's a whole other ball of wax, and what you're going to find out is they tend to become reprobate concerning the faith. People are going to say, oh, are you just finding a reason to throw that word out there? No, that's what the Bible's going to teach you. I'm going to show you that here, okay? So understand that, okay? A saved person, you know, they get sucked into hypocrisy, you know, they're going to get chased in, they're going to have trouble getting along with people, and that's kind of where it stops, okay? They're just going to kind of rest in there, and that's going to be it, okay? They're saved, they're born again, but a lost person that's a true hypocrite starts to take that on, there is a spectrum, there is a road, there's a slider that they go on, okay? And what you're going to find is a lot of times they just go down that road, and they're never coming back. I'm not saying they're all going to turn into sodomites. You go to Matthew 15, but what I'm saying is they're going to become like the Pharisees, like the scribes. Again, you know, how many instances in Matthew 23 does Jesus say, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, okay? What was it, like eight times if you count the hypocrisy verse? So definitely something that we need to understand, and you'll see why at the end of the sermon, okay? You'll see why at the end of the sermon, and it's going to be interesting because these people are dangerous. Now look at verse number 1, chapter 15, Matthew 15, he says this, the Bible 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? Of course, we talked about this a few months ago, how the Pharisees and the Sadducees take the traditions of man and elevate them above the word of God. Verse 4, he says, 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, but whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me. And so of course, again, what are they doing? They're elevating the traditions of man above what God's word actually teaches and says. Now look at verse 6, Jesus says this, And honor not his father or his mother, and shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Okay, and that's what unfortunately most religions, most people are doing today is they make the word of God of none effect because they elevate their traditions above the Bible. Now look what he says about that in verse 7, Ye hypocrites, ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. So what can we learn here about the progression of a hypocrite is what it does is it puts space between a person and God. And I'm not talking about saved people here, okay, Jesus is, who's he going after here? He's going after the scribes and Pharisees which clearly don't believe the word of God. They clearly elevate their traditions above what the Bible says, okay, and what does he call them? He calls them hypocrites, he calls them pretenders, actors, fakers, and he says you have lip service but you have no action from the heart. He says but their heart is far from me, okay. Also what does that mean? Well that means that he is God, look at verse 9, but in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments men, of course he's quoting Isaiah the prophet, but we know that he's also saying this because it's, he is the word of God, okay. So what we could, what's something we could say maybe about hypocrites, okay, and please understand we're moving on, not talking about saved people living in hypocrisy, you know, just pretending, okay, that really takes a whole other sermon to deal with. We're talking now about fake people, false preachers, false prophets, false teachers, whatever you want to call them, okay. One thing I think you could say that could kind of help you remember what's being taught here is lips, lies, and fake tries, okay. They honor God with their lips, okay, but they're full of lies and fake tries, you see what does that mean? Well let's take a look, go to Matthew chapter number 16, lips, lies, and fake tries, okay, so a hypocrite is gonna again use that mouth, okay, it's all about that mouth and how much they can get out there and do things so that you know they did them, that's the thing, that again, they're doing that because they have a hope, they have a hope that you will buy what they are selling you, and what they are selling you is a lie, and so of course they're gonna keep doing these fake tries, doing these alms and say oh look at me, look at my garments, look at my long flowing robes, you know somebody emailed a couple months ago and they're like I know you're not a real church because you wear a shirt and a tie, the church I go to they wear like some official vestments, you know, they were like literally mocking us, like you don't have anybody that keeps the proper vestments for a priest and for you know the clergy and you're the only guy up there and you got this dorky wooden you know stand they called it that you preach from, it's just like how ignorant can you get, how dumb can you be to send me something like that, no bible verses, okay, just totally mocking the way that we do things, and the way that we do things is allowed in the bible, okay, but what did Jesus say about people that wear long garments and then enlarge the borders of their phylacteries and really make a show, he said they're hypocrites, stay away from them, beware of these people, lips, lies and fake tries, that's what you're gonna find when you find these types of people, these hypocrites, now Matthew 16 look at verse number one, so the Pharisees also with the Sadducees came and tempting, of course that's what they'll do, desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven, so again as you progress through the gospels, the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees, they are becoming increasingly worried that Jesus is gonna expose their hope, their hope that they have sold to the people for so long, okay, so they're starting to, like we gotta tempt this guy, we need to get him out of here, verse two, he answered and said unto them, when it is evening, ye say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red, verse three, and in the morning it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering, oh ye hypocrites, ye can, now this is very interesting, ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the sign of the times, and say what does that mean, what can we learn from those three verses about hypocrites, what's one more thing we can tack on or pile on about a hypocrite, hypocrites are very good at seeing physical signs, okay, hypocrites are very good at reading the physical signs, like they can, they can, you know, start a podcast in other words, be like, yeah we're against abortion, yeah we're pro second amendment, guess what, Biden's, you know, corrupt, okay, all the things that are super obvious, they're super physical, okay, they're good at calling out that type of stuff, they can call that stuff out, but what they can't call out, okay, is spiritual things, and the way that this can look inside of a church, is somebody who is hyper wrapped up in conspiracy theories, okay, somebody who is hyper wrapped up into conspiracy theories, always calling about them, always talking about them, always, you know, just really pushing them hard, okay, now we all talk about conspiracies, okay, there's conspiracies all throughout the bible, I believe a lot of the conspiracy theories that are out there, okay, 100% I do, okay, I like talking with you guys about these conspiracies, okay, there's nothing wrong with that, okay, but when you get really hyper focused on it, okay, that is a problem, and from my experience and some of you in here know what I'm talking about, okay, that is a sign, a red flag that somebody is trying to pretend to be something that they are definitely not, okay, and when they get called out, when they get exposed through circumstances, okay, when they start making predictions and they don't come true, what do they often do, they have to keep building and adding to that persona, and they'll come up with the most extravagant lies imaginable to try to keep that house built up, that's what, look, I'm telling you, that is what they will do, and so what you have to remember is there, what else I think you can see here is their social IQ amongst God's people is very low, okay, it's very low, they'll just always kind of be out of place, like we used to have somebody that came here that fits this bill, and we had some visitors from another church in California, this was like eight months ago, and I was like, yeah, whatever happened to so and so, I was like, I'll kind of give them a brief rundown, I'm like, yeah, I can see that, I can definitely see that, you know, they came to visit our church, we're acting really weird and didn't quite fit in, I knew something was wrong, you know, so people could pick up on these things, okay, and I think why it's important that we study this is so that we move past just that feeling, you know, like something's wrong, but when you study this out, you're going to know exactly what it is that's wrong, and one of the things you got to remember is what this is teaching you, okay, this is telling you something here, okay, people that are hypocrites, they are good at spirit, or at physical discernment, okay, they can call this out, oh, you know, this guy at the World Economic Forum said this, and Bill Gates did this, okay, that's the gravy stuff, that's so easy, okay, and it makes sense how somebody could start to cling to that and come in here and fit in and get along, okay, but the real issue is, you know, do you understand biblical doctrine, do you understand Matthew 16, do you understand Matthew 18, do you understand the Bible, can you actually do those things, if not, hey, we've got an issue here, we have a problem, okay, so something to keep in mind about hypocrites, somebody who's super focused on the physical, okay, even things that you and I are about, okay, be careful, the real question and the test for them is, can they understand spiritual things, can they actually do them, or just talk about them, or worse, just mimic, because people can come in and start to mimic, and we're going to look at that here in a little while, now let's take a look at an example of this, okay, go to John chapter number 12, and guess who we're going to talk about, I think the perfect hypocrite, Judas Iscariot, he fits the bill perfectly, because guess what, up until the time he betrayed Christ, no one suspected him, no one suspected him, however, okay, the Bible leaves breadcrumbs for us, leaves these clues, leaves these attributes that he did, and that these types of people do, and we can see them and pick them up and be like, ah, okay, that's, that's why this is in the Bible, that's something to look out for, so John chapter 12, look at verse number 3, it's right after Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, verse 3, so they're making a meal here, and in verse 3 it says, then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment, verse 4, then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? Okay, now, what does he say here? What's his focus? Well, his focus is on the physical. Now, why did Mary do this? Because she understood the spiritual, she just understood the miracle that Jesus did, she understood forgiveness and remission of sins, she understood salvation, and she knows who he is, she knows that he's God, she may not have everything figured out, but she gets it, okay, she's humble here, she gets it, but Judas here, he spouts this out, he's like, hey, well, wait a second here, verse 5, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? Right, where's his mind? It's on the physical, it's on that, okay, what is he doing? He's trying to keep afloat that persona that he has built and sold the disciples, okay? Now, to be fair, when you compare this story and the other gospels, here's the interesting part, the disciples also thought the same thing in their heart, they did, the Bible said, I think it's actually in Matthew 26, where the disciples were filled with indignation and they were thinking the same thing, but what's interesting when you compare the two accounts is that Judas, he just blurts it out, like he's like, I gotta get out here so that men see this and get this idea, whereas the disciples have enough restraint to keep it in themselves, okay, so it's just something to think about. Look at verse 6, this he said, okay, this he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put therein, okay, so he's a thief, and you say, well, is a hypocrite a thief? Absolutely, because they're stealing from you, they're stealing from us, they're selling us something that's false, okay, and they're taking our trust as an exchange and that's not okay, that's robbery. Verse number 7, then said Jesus let her alone against the day of my burying hath she kept this. What does that mean? That means she understood the spiritual significance of what she did, okay, verse 8, for the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always, okay, and of course he said that because understanding when you compare these stories, the disciples thought the same thing in their heart, okay, so he's kind of talking to how they're feeling, but, you know, it was interesting, proving what? Also the fact that he's God. So, let's see here, go to Galatians chapter number 5, and let's get to some application real quick here. What can we do about this? How can we get better at recognizing a hypocrite and not being like, I think maybe, you know, I don't know. Well, Galatians chapter 5 has the solution. Look at verse number 16. Galatians 5, 16, so of course this also deals with hypocrites because if you know anything about the churches in Galatia, they were doing well for a season and then the Judaizers came in, okay, pretending to be on their side and started selling them all these works and things that they had to do and of course Paul's upset about this and, you know, as the letter closes he tells them something here very special, which we all know, but we need to really understand this in context of what we're talking about this morning. Look at verse 16. It says this, so this is Paul talking here, he says, this I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Okay, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Verse 17, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the thing that ye would. Okay, again, referring to that daily battle that everyone in here has. Okay, now when somebody says that they don't have that battle, you're dealing with a hypocrite. That's what you're dealing with. Oh, I don't, I got it all put together. I don't deal with that hypocrite. You're a liar because the Bible says this is how we are. We are all, verse 17, if you're saved you're, verse 17, old and new nature warring against each other. Verse 18, if ye be led by the Spirit you're not under the law. Okay, verse 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these. Okay, so he's telling them how to recognize the works of the flesh, the works of the unsaved. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions and heresies. Okay, so the thing that we have to remember and that we need to do is to make the choice to walk in the Spirit as often as possible every single day. Now, are you going to make mistakes? Of course, yes. And by the way, just verse 20 here, this word hatred, I did a whole sermon on this verse here in the past. This is not saying you can't hate anyone or anything. In fact, I even pretty much mentioned this on Wednesday so I don't want to go over that again. I know someone's going to, somebody right now, this is what they're doing. I guarantee it that's what they're doing right now. The Bible says no hatred. Be quiet. I'm not even going to look at it. But if you be led of the Spirit, you're not under the law. Well, guess what? If you have the Holy Ghost, you're saved, you're not under the law. Therefore, you have to recognize these things. The works of the flesh are manifest. So remember, okay, when we take that mote and we take that beam out of our own eye, we can see clearly, okay? Because what the world does with these things, these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, which are mimicking, okay? Pretending, again, it's kind of similar to what we're talking about today. Rasterized seditions, heresies. When you can see clearly, you can see how the world tries to cloak these things and cover these things, okay? Like this fool, Andrew Tate, for example, okay? He's sold Christian people, people that are saved. There are people that are saved that are King James only that listen to this guy, okay? And you know what he promotes? He promotes adultery. He promotes fornication. He promotes uncleanness. He promotes all of these things. And he's an emulator, okay? So the question is, how in the world can a Christian get wrapped up into thinking, you know, somebody I want to listen to because it's entertaining. I'll tell you how, because you're not walking in the spirit. That's what that tells me. That's what that tells me. And therefore, you're a person, unfortunately, okay, of low discernment at that time. You need to get rid of that. You need to understand what Paul's saying here, okay? People that promote the works of the flesh, you got to learn to recognize it. Because look, these people who don't just come out, like he doesn't come out and say, you know, I think you guys should just start living in adultery and cheating on your wives and stuff like that. He does it in a different way. He does it in a very clever way. Well, you'll say things like, well, if you're a true man, he's going to have his castle. And if he happens to have many women, and it was okay in the Bible and the Old Testament, they had multiple wives, you know, you'll say stuff like that to kind of wrap people and grab them in to his grip. And then he just sucker punches them with all this other stuff, you know, you got to be rich, you got to do this. Whereas the Bible says labor not to be rich. But if you are rich, that's good. It's good to have stuff as long as that stuff doesn't have you. Okay? So the application here that we need to understand is that we want to be a people that are walking in the Spirit, okay? Because then we're going to be able to see, no, that person's a hypocrite. That's a dangerous person. That's somebody we need to warn other people about so that we can help the brethren. Because what these people are and what you're going to find, go to Matthew 23, is that they are very dangerous. Hypocrites are dangerous people. A true hypocrite is a very dangerous person. And of course, all reprobates are very dangerous people. Look at verse 16, Matthew 23. So we're getting closer to being done here. We're going to go through the dangers now of these hypocrites. Look at verse 16. Woe unto you, ye blind guides. Okay? That's the first time he says that, that they are blind guides. Which say, whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing. But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. Now of course a Jew would say something like that, okay? Of course they would. You know, if you swear by the gold of this temple, boy, there's a big problem. Okay? But the temple itself, that's just no big deal. That's, yeah. Verse 17, ye fools and blind. For whether is greater, the gold of the temple, the gold or the temple that sanctify the gold. You know, it's like, what's greater? What God ordained and gave to you to have as a religious system or the gold, the value of it. You know, it's just the physical value. Verse 18, and whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing. But whosoever swereth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. So again, what's their focus? Money. What's their focus? Control. What's their focus? Being seen of men. Building that narrative. That's what these guys are focused on. Now look what he says here in verse 19. Ye fools and blind. Okay? Oh, Jesus would never say that. He would never say something like that. Well, it's the second time he said it. You know, he's like, just in case you didn't catch it just a few seconds ago, here it is again. Verse 19, ye fools. Okay? A hypocrite is a fool. It is a foolish person. Foolish thing. Ye fools and blind. For whether is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift. Look at verse 24. Jump down to verse number 24. He says this, and here's the second mention. Ye blind guides which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Now there's a commentator out there, there's probably several of them, but a guy by the name of Charles Ryrie, a Bible commentator, I think he's probably dead now, but he says in his commentary, he says this verse is wrong here in the King James. He says after all these years it's supposed to say strain out a gnat, not strain at a gnat. Okay? He's like the King James has never corrected this misprint. He's a hypocrite. He's a false prophet. Seriously, this is what he is. What's Jesus trying to say here? What's a gnat? A very small, annoying bug. That's what it is. Okay? So what these people would do is let's say there's a gnat in here. Okay? Just hypothetically. They would be the kind that would just focus on that while the building's on fire. You know what I mean? Like we got to get that bug out of here. It's unclean. It's unclean. But there's flames going around. People are dying. Like we got to get that bug out of here. We got to get that gnat out of here. They're straining at it. They're focusing on the wrong thing. That's what the Bible's telling you here. Okay? But of course these hypocritical people, these theologians and these scholars that are not saved and don't have the Holy Ghost, they're pretenders. They're hypocrites. And so what do they have to do? Well, they have to keep building on that persona that there's somebody. He's nothing more than basically a modern day scribe and Pharisee, somebody who doesn't believe the Bible but is religious. Okay? Or he could say, oh, brother, sister, church, God, Jesus. They could say the language. Love is love, all this stuff. They could say all that crap. Okay? But they have no spiritual understanding. He can't come to that conclusion. Okay? But he's going to sell you a commentary for 50 bucks or something like that and say, well, this is just wrong in the King James. But anyways, back to the first three words there of verse 24, ye blind guides. This is where we're going to pretty well go to second Peter. Okay? And this is the last thought for the day. We're not quite done yet, but this is the last thought for the morning. Okay? Hypocrites at this level here, a true hypocrite is a guide, a false guide. What they do is they guide other people to take the same path and by the same lies that they bought. And of course we know in verse 13 of Matthew 23 that they make people twofold more the children of hell than themselves. And that's why he mentions to them twice here that they are blind guides. And that's the danger of these people is they're always looking for someone to guide and to bring in to their narrative, to bring in to their false ideology. And so really what you're going to see here, because when you study the word hypocrite, this is basically the gospels are the last place you see that word. That's the last place you see it. Okay? You know what you start to see after that? The word false prophet or the phrase false prophet. Okay? And so that's why I said there's a spectrum. Okay? An unsafe person who gets wrapped up into hypocrisy on a low level. Okay? The danger is if they don't give that up, they're going to wind up becoming basically a false teacher, a false prophet. They're going to becoming reprobate concerning the faith. And I'll, I'll prove that to you here in a moment, but every false prophet is a hypocrite. Okay? Look at what second Peter chapter two verse one says. It says, but there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you who privately, privately, secretly shall bring in damnable heresies. Is that not what the Pharisees did? The Sadducees and the scribes. Of course that's what they did. Even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. Okay? That's what Jesus is warning the multitude. Remember he's talking to a mixed multitude and he's calling out these scribes and these Pharisees, calling them out in front of all these other people. And he wants us, he wants them to understand something here that these people are bringing upon themselves swift destruction. Verse two, and many shall follow their pernicious ways. Their ways are pernicious, meaning dangerous, harmful. Okay? Hypocrites are harmful. False prophets are harmful and many shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. Now what is that? The way of truth. What did Jesus say? I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the father but by me. Okay? So what he's telling you here, what Peter is saying here is these false prophets, just like the hypocrites do, they speak evil of salvation. They speak evil of the way. The way that we go out and preach the gospel, no works, it's a free gift. They'll speak evil of that. They'll say that's hurtful. They'll say, oh you're saying that you can just do whatever you want and you're still saved? You don't have to change your life? Right? Isn't that what they say? Sounds good to the world. But just that statement is hurtful to the gospel. It's an attack on the gospel. It's an attack on what Jesus did for us. Okay? So keep that in mind here. They will speak evil of that way. Verse 3, and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you. One of the ways a hypocrite makes merchandise of you is they sell you a false narrative. They sell you that there's something they're not. Same thing a false prophet does. That's what Joel Osteen does. That's what John Hagee does. That's what all these people. That's what John Piper does. That's what Paul Washer does. Ray Comfort, all of these people. That's what they do. They sell you that there's something that they are not. Jump down to verse number, well read the rest of the verse. It says, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not. Now jump down to verse 12. It says, but these, what's the context here? False teachers, false prophets, which are by nature hypocrites, but these as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not and shall utterly perish their own corruption. So again, that fits the bill perfectly because what does a hypocrite do? Will they speak evil of that way? That's what we've seen the Pharisees do, the Sadducees, and I'm not saying that all the Pharisees were reprobate concerning the faith. Obviously some of them we see later in Acts got saved, but by and large, most of them probably went down the reprobate road, unfortunately. So verse 13, and shall we see the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots they are and blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you. So you are the target audience. They want to deceive you. Of course, what a false prophet wants is to just prevent people from being saved. They want to prevent that, but they also want to prevent you from doing anything for God because they are controlled by Satan himself. Verse 14, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin. Okay, this is what people just don't seem to understand. Now I get it. There are people out there that are mixed up on salvation. They are. They're just mixed up. They've been told something and that's just what they repeat, and they're just like, I don't know. Yeah, whatever. Okay, then there are people who are adamant that are like, no, you have to have words. No, you have to have this. That person is a hypocrite because the truth of the matter is there's only one way to get to heaven. There's only one way to be saved. Anything else? What did Jesus say? If you try to get into heaven any other way, you're a what? A thief and a robber. Okay, so what we need to understand about these people, hypocrites, false teachers, they're the same thing. Verse 14, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin. Beguiling unstable souls, on heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children. I'll tell you a story. I'm not going to name names but I'll just say I heard this story about a young man who is going to marry a young girl in a church. It's not a Baptist church. This young guy goes to meet the pastors his first time in church in a long time and the pastor looks at him and says, wow, you got yourself a great catch. I believe she's the prettiest girl here. Who here thinks that's okay? Anybody here think that's something okay for a pastor to say? This individual saw that when this individual was 19 years old or 18 years old and has never forgotten it. You know what that is? That's that person leaking. As many years down the road that young man became a man, started reading the Bible and understood something. Understood that the Bible says that false prophets cannot cease from these things. You go show me a false prophet, somebody who's adamant that it takes works to be saved and I will show you 2 Peter 2.14. They may never get caught. They may die and never get caught but I'll tell you what, this is reality. This is what they are and to deny that is to deny the word of God. I don't care how you feel about these people. I don't care if they're your friend. I don't care if they're in your family. A false prophet is this right here. This is what hypocrites do. Look at it again, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls. On heart they have exercised with covetous practice, cursed children. They're cursed, they're damned. There's no hope for them, verse 15, which have forsaken the right way. Now that's how you understand what you're dealing with here. Again, he says it to you again. A person that forsakes the right way, the one way that we're taught to get to heaven. A person that forsakes that, that rejects that is a dangerous person. Verse 15 again, he says, which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. Now I lied. Go back to Matthew 24, or I'm sorry, not back, but go to Matthew 24. I'm studying both these chapters so I keep, I'm getting my sermons mixed up now but we're done right here. Matthew 24, we're going to look at two verses. Matthew 24, we're going to look at verse number 50. This is the end game here for hypocrites, okay? This is what Jesus wants the multitude to understand. You see, every time in my life I've heard, not in new IFB churches, but just in these other churches I've been to, every time they preach about hypocrisy, they're just like, you know, it doesn't matter how bad it gets, you know, Jesus has got a method for you to get out of it. It's not what he's trying to communicate here. He wants the people to understand. Don't trust these people. Don't do after their works because they are wicked. They're full of dead man's bones. Look at verse 50 here. It says this, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day, so this is obviously talking about end times. We'll get into it in a few weeks. The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him. And in an hour that he is not aware of, verse 51, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So if you know anybody who's not saved that's a hypocrite, you know, try to get them saved as soon as possible. Get them, you know, to understand the gospel as quickly as you can. And if not, you know, I guess you could say this, you better get right or say your eternal goodnight because that's the road that being a hypocrite will take you down right here. Verse 51, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And again, the most important thing to understand this morning is that calling somebody a hypocrite is actually a pretty serious charge because we've seen how it starts off in the Bible. Really, Bildad the Shuhite accused Job of not even being a Christian, not even being saved, not even being a person of God. Now, obviously we can all get wrapped up on a level of hypocrisy like in Matthew chapter seven where we can be like, ah, you did this wrong, they did this wrong. And then we're not even looking at ourselves and we're doing things that are worse. You know, obviously that is hypocrisy and there's hope for that. Obviously what do we do? We just acknowledge, okay, I'm ate up. I need to get right. And then we'll get our sight, water under the bridge. Okay. Jesus died, paid for your sins. You're good to go. You're not losing your salvation. Nothing like that. Okay. But a true hypocrite, a bonafide certified hypocrite is somebody that is very dangerous. They're a false prophet. In essence, that's what they are. They are a false prophet. So we want to be careful with that word. Now again, when you're talking with most people out there, they don't understand this. Okay. But now that you do, you'll know what to look for and hopefully be able to help somebody who may start, uh, go down the road of listening to someone. Hey, have you ever heard of so and so? No, maybe I'll check it out and then you'll be able to pick up the signs. Wait a second. This guy's promoting works of the flesh, just calling it something different. We have a hypocrite on our hands. We have a false teacher, we have a false prophet here, and we need to get you away from this stuff before it winds up ruining your relationships, causing damage or worse. I mean, what does the Bible say? They're guides. They're trying to guide people to hell. That's basically what they're doing. And so hopefully this will be somewhat of a help to you, uh, in the future, uh, you know, to, to, to think about and maybe share with other people. And you know, you never know when you might be able to pull somebody out of a snare that they're in. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this church, for everything that you do for us. Just pray you bless the soul winning today and the fellowship after the service. Bring us all back tonight safely in Jesus name. I pray. Amen.