Dr Greg Bahnsen - Proverbs: Proverbs 10:18 (The Hypocrite's Cover Up) (Part 35)

Well, as you are aware, we are working through the Book of Proverbs, and over the last few months we have been in the tenth chapter of Proverbs, taking up each one of the particular themes that is raised there in that chapter and tracing it through the remainder of the book and trying to make application to ourselves. And this Lord's Day, we come to the 18th verse of Proverbs 10, where this morning I'd like to preach to you about the hypocrite's cover up. So hear God's word at Proverbs 10:18. He that hideth hatred is of lying lips, and he that uttereth the slander is a fool. And thus far the reading of God's Word. Because this week we celebrate the child's holiday of Halloween. And this afternoon we'll be talking about the historical background of All Saints Day and the Protestant Reformation. But in our culture, let's face it, for the most part, Halloween is a child's holiday because we are celebrating that this might have been an appropriate day to talk about wearing masks, about getting all dressed up and putting on makeup and putting something over our face so we appear to be something other than we're not. And so I decided I'd go ahead and preach about wearing masks. I thought I would preach this Lord's Day about hypocrisy. You know, Proverbs is a book intended to teach us wisdom, wisdom from God. And if you were to look at James the third chapter, verse 17, you would find there that wisdom, the wisdom that is from above, divine wisdom is first pure, James tells us, then it's peaceable, it's gentle, it's easy to be entreated, it's full of mercy and good fruits without partiality. And then the climax comes, and without hypocrisy. The wisdom that is from above is without hypocrisy. The presence or the absence of hypocrisy in your life is thus one of the marks, one of the reliable marks of whether you are a wise person in the eyes of God or whether you're a fool. Last week we looked at another mark of wisdom, teachability. Eventually, when we get through the book of Proverbs, we'll be filled up with a number of these marks and characteristics of wisdom, and that's good. But each and every one of them calls for a special focus and attention. And today our focus is going to be on hypocrisy. The wisdom that's from above is without hypocrisy. It does not play games. It does not wear a mask. It doesn't put on the makeup and pretend to be something that it isn't. You know, that's what the word hypocrisy means. It comes from the Greek stage. It comes from the background of the Greek world where a man wore a mask. A man who wore a mask was a hypocrite. He was a man who put on a performance. He acted out something that he wasn't. He played a role. You see, in the case of a hypocrite, what you see is not what you get. In the case of a hypocrite, there is something behind the mask that doesn't match up to what the mask itself is. In the case of a hypocrite, what you see is a facade. It is an outward face. It is a presentation that the hypocrite thinks is more acceptable for his social setting or for this interpersonal relationship, or more acceptable for his own self image. But it's not the truth. It's hard to know exactly whether hypocrisy is a matter of putting that facade over what we are. Or maybe it's a matter of pulling back our heart out of what, what we're supposed to be. You see, the Pharisees in the Bible were hypocrites and they put on a mask. You could put it that way. But another way to look at hypocrisy, another way to see the Pharisees is to say that their heart was not in what they did, their heart was not in what they said. They made bold professions and praised God. But as Jesus said, quoting the words of Isaiah, these people with their lips are near to me, but their heart is far away. And so you see the picture of the hypocrite in the Bible. You can look at it as a man who wears the mask or a man whose heart is not in what he's doing. It's pulled away from that. In short, the hypocrite covers up what he really feels. The hypocrite covers up what he really believes. The hypocrite covers up what he's really like. And we're all hypocrites. We could stop right there, couldn't we? Unless there's anyone who'd like to stand up and say, no, Pastor, you've got me wrong. I'm not a hypocrite. In my case, what you see is what you get. I'm perfectly transparent. I mean, when God looks at me with his X ray vision and sees what's inside me, it's exactly what Everybody else around me sees too. Now, not only is there no one in this congregation and no one that's honest in the human race that's going to deny being a hypocrite. But you see, I think we're all afraid of our hypocrisy too. Not only do we cover up what we are, but we're afraid that the COVID up will be found out. We don't want the mask torn away. We don't want people to know us for what we really are. We want them to see us at our best. In fact, hypocrisy is such a common thing even among Christians here at a Christian church, that it presents a rather unique kind of counseling difficulty for the pastor and for the elders and others who try to deal with Christians that are going through times of despair or defeat. They're having difficult times because they say, well, when I go to church, everybody looks so happy. Everybody looks like everything's alright with them. Things are going well for others. They are strong, vibrant, victorious Christians. But what am I? I'm nothing but a louse. I just get everything all messed up. I don't understand things properly and I confess my sins and I fall back into them. And I hear, you know, the poor plaint of this, of this sinner who is saying this. And I say, but the people at church aren't what they appear to be. I'm not what I appear to be. We all do our best to put our best foot forward. And I'm not saying we should all come here and just wallow in our sins and say, oh yeah, aren't we miserable people? But the fact is we all to a certain degree have a certain public front and then a private life and heart that's behind it. We're all hypocrites. Now the book of Proverbs talks about hypocrisy in a number of places. I'm going to look at four or five of them this morning and then I'd like to trace through the Bible a number of other places where hypocrisy is dealt with to see what we should learn from them as well. First of all, though, we come this morning to Proverbs 10:18, and in particular we look at the first clause of that verse where we read, he that hideth hatred is of lying lips. The hypocrite hides something, in this case hides his hatred, using lying lips to cover up the way he really feels inside. To put it very briefly, his words don't match up to what's in his heart. He hides away, tucks away, deposits in his heart. You see, behind all of the words, behind all the facial expressions, behind all of the outward facade, a heart that hates. But of course, he doesn't tell people that he hates. He doesn't tell the individual that he despises, that he despises that person. He uses lying lips to hide it and to cover it up. Do you know anybody that you don't particularly like? And yet you speak in such a way that you would pretend that you do. At this point, you probably. Well, Dr. Bronson, how do you get along in this world if you don't act like that? Don't we all have to hide hatred with lying lips? No, we don't. However, it is easier, much more convenient, less complex, less threatening than to one deal with the hatred that is in our hearts and to use our lips in such a way that we pursue reconciliation with people that we have some legitimate reason to be unhappy with. The hypocrite doesn't want the easy way. The hypocrite wants the way that's going to make it best for him. He's going to wear the mask that fits in to the kind of script he wants his life to turn out to be. And so he hides hatred with his lying lips. Turn to Proverbs 23:7. We see a rather amusing picture of a Hypocrite there. Proverbs 23:7. Actually, it's the third clause of that verse, but I'd like to put this in context. I'll begin at verse 6. Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye Neither desire thou his dainties. For as one that reckoneth in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up and lose thy sweet words. We have an interesting picture painted here of a grudging host. We read in verse 6, this man has an evil eye, which is to say he's grudging of what he's doing. You know, that's what the idiom of an evil eye means, because in chapter 22, verse 9, the opposite is portrayed to us. We read there, he that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor. He that has a good eye or a bountiful eye willingly gives his bread to the poor. He's a gracious man. He's a generous man. The man who has an evil eye is the opposite. He's a grudging man. He's a stingy man. And it says here, don't eat the bread of a grudging host. Don't desire all the little dainties he may offer you. And the reason for that is given in verse seven. Because he's a hypocrite. He does his mental arithmetic. That's what the expression means in Hebrew. He reckons in his heart he counts up. He reckons he does an accounting. He's always. It's like the man who takes you to a restaurant and says, please order anything you want. The whole time he's sitting there going, now how much is this going to cost? And add tax and tip and so forth. He begrudges what he's giving you because he's doing a mental arithmetic the whole time. For as one who reckons within himself, so is he. And so he'll say, eat and drink. But then you see the clincher there, the clause that shows his hypocrisy is, but his heart is not with you. He doesn't really have a heart. That's behind this. He's only putting on an act of generosity. So he says, sure, have more. Anything I have is yours. And all the while he hates you because you're costing him something. He has an evil eye. He begrudges everything that he gives. His heart's not behind it. But notice what he says. He says, eat and drink. Enjoy yourself. And the Proverbs says, you better be careful of the people you eat with, if nothing else, because they may be hypocrites. Proverbs 27:6, in this case, the second clause of the verse, Proverbs 27:6. The verse begins, faithful are the wounds of a friend. I'm going to preach on that, God willing, in the future. A very important passage. We need to understand what true friendship amounts to. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. But. And here's the point of hypocrisy, but the kisses of an enemy are profuse. You can't tell whether someone is your friend simply by looking at whether he wounds you or kisses you profusely. There are people in this world who will show manifest affection for you. Now, in our culture, the idea of someone kissing you profusely is not going to be understood. Well, you have to understand. This comes from the culture of ancient Israel, translated into whatever terms you want for some kind of sign of affection. Someone who is overtly indicating to you over and over again in manifest ways that he or she really cares for you. Proverbs says, remember this though the kisses of an enemy can be profuse, a friend is the one who's willing to wound you in a faithful way. But an enemy can hypocritically show affection, an affection that has no substance whatsoever. You have here the case of the Southern gentleman. I tell you, as we understand that concept, the southern gentleman, who can be just outwardly so courteous, so cordial, so kind, so giving, all the while stabbing you in the back. The kisses of an enemy are profuse. It's a sad commentary that in Matthew 26, verse 49 in the original Greek we read that when Judas came to betray his Lord Jesus Christ, the Greek says, and he kissed, he kissed him much. Judas willing to show the outward signs of affection to the Savior, profusely giving him his kisses, all the while betraying him to be crucified. Now I'll tell you. Outward affection is not the mark of true friendship. Hypocrites are capable of it. Then one more passage in Proverbs we want to look at this morning. Proverbs 26. Let's go back a chapter. Proverbs 26, 23, 28 fervent lips and a wicked heart are like an earthen vessel overlaid with glaze. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips but he that layeth up deceit within him when he speaketh fair, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart. Though his hatred cover itself with guile, his wickedness shall be openly shewed before the assembly. Whoso digth a pit shall fall therein. He that rolleth the stone, it shall return upon him. A lying tongue hateth those whom it hath wounded. And a flattering mouth worketh ruin. In Proverbs 26 at the 23rd verse. Your translation may read something like silver dross, which for a number of years was difficult for commentators to understand and deal with. A number of possibilities have been argued, but in recent years archaeological finds have. And the study of comparative Semitic literature has made it rather obvious that the expression we've translated silver dross means glaze, that by which you overlay an earthen vessel, so that even though the substratum of the vessel is rough and earthen and not at all attractive, the surface is glazed to make it seem smooth and beautiful and costly. And there you have it, the hypocrite's cover up. The hypocrite is one thing underneath, but over the top, this wonderful glaze. Everything's smooth, everything's nice, everything's pleasant. He's one thing in his heart he's another thing. In his appearance. What a beautiful picture of hypocrisy. And that's why verse 26 tells us his hatred covers itself with guile. He hides hatred in his heart, but it's covered over, it's glazed over with a guile that is going to deceive people as to his true feelings. And because he is this way, whatever he says is utterly unreliable. Verse 24. He who hates dissembleth with his lips. He lays up deceit within him. And when he speaks fair, don't believe him. There are seven abominations in his heart. You cannot trust the words of a hypocrite. Don't believe him when he speaks fair. He's just covering up his hatred. He's utterly unreliable. This passage also tells us that hypocrisy amounts to hatred of the person to whom you are acting, the Hypocrite. In verse 28, a lying tongue hates those whom it has wounded. It also tells us that eventually hypocrisy works to the self destruction of the Hypocrite himself. Verse 27. Whoso digs a pit shall fall therein. He that rolls a stone, it shall return upon him. Though you're laying a trap for someone else by your clever glazed over words, the fact is you're going to fall into the pit, the stone's going to roll upon you. Proverbs tells us hypocrisy turns out to be self destructive. Hypocrisy turns out to be a matter of self deception that's going to ruin you. Now it turns out that the book of Proverbs is not the only place in the Bible where hypocrisy is dealt with. And these same themes, these same caricatures are presented to us elsewhere in scripture. And I think we need to take them into account this morning as we consider in ourselves and others this trait of covering up what we really are. First of all, some other biblical pictures of the hypocrite. Psalm 55:21. Very strong words on the part of David speaking of his enemy. Those that put forth their hands against him when they should be at peace. David says his mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. Boy, what a literary image. David really had the ability to write nicely put. His mouth smooth as butter, his words smooth as oil. Everything's slick, everything's just right, everything fits. What's in his heart? War. But his heart's at war. And he draws these Words like sharpened swords against me. He's a Hypocrite. In Matthew 7:5 we see another kind of hypocrite. The first one that we've just read about is the one who has smooth words that are meant to stab you in the back. He's a hypocrite. Matthew 7:5 speaks of another kind of hypocrite. Jesus says, thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Another kind of hypocrisy in interpersonal relationships is the hypocrisy of being guilty of the very thing you criticize. In another, Jesus says, it is so often the case that when we criticize others, they could appropriately say back to us, how could you see that speck in my eye with that telephone pole protruding out of yours? You are so guilty of the same thing that. That it's amazing you could see anything, much less the minor offense of another person. And so here we have a second kind of hypocrite. The first kind has smooth words that stab you in the back like drawn swords. The second is the one who is guilty of the very thing he criticizes. In another, Paul picks up, I think, on this very point in Jesus oral teaching, when In Romans the second chapter, verse 1, he indicts those who do not practice what they preach. Look at Romans 2:1, 3, Romans 2. There Paul says, wherefore thou art without excuse, O man? Whosoever thou art that judgest for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest dost practice the same things. Verse 3. And reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest them that practise such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Rhetorical question. No, you won't. The very thing you condemn in others for which you are guilty will be brought under the condemnation of God. And then another kind of hypocrite that we read of in the Bible is the one who uses a double standard. Excellent illustration is found in Luke 13, verse 15, Luke 13. At the 15th verse here, Jesus is being criticized for healing a man on the Sabbath day. But the Lord answered him and said, you hypocrites, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering? And Jesus goes on to make the application, how much more should I not loose this woman? How much more should I not heal and do works of mercy even as you take care of your animals. Jesus says you're hypocrites because you have a double standard. You do one thing here, and then you violate that when you criticize me for doing not only the very same thing, but something that's far more important. I'm showing mercy toward a human being, a child of God. You show mercy to your animals on the Sabbath. And notice what comes to Jesus mind the term hypocrite. You don't really mean this criticism of me, because if you did, you'd examine your own life and you'd see, well, this principle is not wrong. After all, we ourselves participate in it. Well, friends, you know, the problem, as so often in preaching on moral texts in the Bible is going to be that it's easy for you to sit there and say, you know, Dr. Bonson, you bring up that person who has smooth words that stab people in the back, and Dr. Bonstone, you bring up that person who's guilty of the very thing that he criticizes in another. And when you bring up that person that is guilty of following a double standard, I know so many people like that. And so in the very midst of hearing a sermon on hypocrisy, you just bring yourself even lower into the pit of hypocrisy yourself. Because, you see, I'm not talking about all those other people. I'm talking about you and me. We're the ones who stab people in the back and have a double standard and don't live up to the very things we criticize in others, aren't we? Well, now the Bible wants us to see, though, that you see that hypocrisy, which is such a common social phenomenon, that hypocrisy that is so close to us and so personal that all of us see ourselves in it, if we're honest. That hypocrisy leads to a greater hypocrisy when you start wearing a mask toward others, when you start acting as a hypocrite toward others, it becomes a style of life. It becomes a principle of conduct for you. It becomes a principle by which you live in. In the most general way. And that means you become a hypocrite not just before others, but before God too. How often do you hear, I mean, there are so many of these TV programs, cheap programs, silly, shallow programming whereby movie stars are interviewed, you know, people who are up on the stage. And I get so tired of hearing the banalities of these people's lives and what's important to Them or what's not important to them or how they got this part or what it means to them and how successful they've been over and over. Well, there's too much of it. But, you know, you do hear in the midst of all that repeatedly these interesting testimonies of people who have kind of lost their own identity. They are so caught up in all the parts they play, and not just the parts on screen, all the parts they play when they go to their parties and have to get their, you know, their roles and land jobs and so forth. They get so used to acting and acting and acting that when they stop and peel away all the other things, they come down to the middle and they say, there's nothing there. Who am I? They get so used to putting on a mask, if I can use that expression, that they don't know who the person is behind the mask anymore. And that's what's wrong with hypocrisy, not just in Hollywood, but hypocrisy in our own lives is that when we get used to putting on others and covering up our real feelings, when we get used to having a double standard, not living up to our own, our own rules and expectations of others, when we get used to saying one thing and stabbing people in the back, when we get accustomed to being hypocrites, then we don't see that we are acting as hypocrites toward God too. And so, above all, the Bible condemns religious hypocrisy as it's practiced before God. I'd like to run through some passages quickly to show you how this theme then is applied most dramatically in the religious domain as how we act toward God. In Psalm 78:34 we read, when he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their rock and the high God their Redeemer. Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues, for their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant. Those who get used to flattering with their lips the people they don't really intend to support, they don't really like, will get used to flattering God with their lips, even though their heart is not in it whatsoever. Perhaps one of the most indicting passages against religious hypocrisy is found in Isaiah's prophecy, chapter 1, verse 13, where God says, listen to this. No more bring vain oblations. Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies. And I cannot away with it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear, your hands are full of blood. Isaiah continues this indictment in the 29th chapter where we read this. People draw near to me with their mouth, but with their lips do they honor me. But they have removed their heart far away, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men, as I've said to you. Jesus will later quote this passage himself as he indicts the Pharisees in Matthew the 15:7. Jesus says, you hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, this people draw nigh unto me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. I wonder if God this morning in heaven is saying, away with those worship services, away with those responsive readings, away with those hymns and those sermons and those professions of faith. These people say it. They tell me they love me with their lips they draw near, but their hearts are far, far away. You hypocrites, you don't mean business with God. And in the place of following God, you put human traditions. Isaiah indicted the Israelites of his day, and Jesus indicted the Israelites of his day in those words. And then we have no reason to think that we are somehow immune from that indictment. Where is our heart? Does it match what we say? When you read in the response of reading those words and say them out loud, do you mean them? Do you even think about it? Or is there this kind of mechanism that takes place where you can think about the World Series even though your mouth is uttering what your eye is following on the page? That's an amazing ability, I guess, but it's not morally commendable. And do you, when you sing the hymns that we sing here, do you really take them to heart? When you sing that you trust God no matter what happens, do you act like that when you sing that you would die for the Savior? Are you really just putting on an act when you say that the thing that you love above all what you hunger and thirst for is righteousness? Is that true? Or is that just something we go through here? Because that's what Christians are supposed to say? Those are what the hymns are supposed to sound like. This is what a responsive reading is supposed to be like? We're supposed to act like this. We're all just little robots with our masks going through the actions. Jeremiah 3:10. Her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but faintedly, saith the Lord. We say we turn unto the Lord with our whole heart. God says, yeah, but I know that you're playing a game. I know you just feign to do that. Jeremiah continues in chapter seven at verse nine. Will you steal, murder and commit adultery, and swear falsely and burn incense unto BAAL and walk after other gods whom ye know not, and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name, and say we are delivered to do all these abominations? God says, did I deliver you? Did I become your Redeemer and your God? Have I taken you to myself to have you come into my house that has my name upon it? And yet you commit adultery and you swear falsely and you murder and you lie and you follow other gods, and there are things more important to you in this world than me. Is that why I redeemed you? You hypocrites. You say you turn unto me, but it's only feigned, it's only hypocrisy. Look at Ezekiel 33, verses 30 and 31. The children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the Lord. And they come unto me as the people come, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them, for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after covetousness. And so we read of those who will actually go out and encourage people to come hear the word of the Lord. Listen, you've got to come hear this preacher. You've got to hear this message. There's something really important for you. And then they love to sit down, they love to hear the sermons, they love to hear the exhortation, and then they go out and do nothing about it. Hypocrites. James, of course, is referring to this passage, isn't he, when he later speaks of those who are hearers of the Word, but not doers. And you know what James says of those who hear the word and don't do it. They deceive themselves and their religion is vain. A couple more passages. Matthew, the sixth chapter, verses 1 and 2, 5 and 16. Jesus says, Take heed that ye 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 you do your 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. And when you pray, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, and that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. When ye 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. Oh, Jesus was devastating as he cut through all of the muck and all of the slime that these people represented religiously. And he said, they love to be seen of men. When they give their alms, they want a trumpet to blast ahead of them. See, they're like the people who, when they go over to the offering box where tithes and offerings are presented, they want people to notice them. And so they say, by the way, I'm on my way over to write a check here for the offering, a big check. Would someone like to play some. Maybe the pianist would play some music as I approach, and everyone would know. You say, well, what a ridiculous picture that's so overdrawn. Jesus says, yes, but that's what you're like, you hypocrites. You want people to see you. And so when you give your money, you don't do it quietly and in private when you pray, you don't do it in an ostentatious way. You love people to see you, and your religiosity is a matter of outward show. You can almost count on the fact the heart's not in it. Hypocrites. And then in Matthew 23 series of passages, because the whole chapter deals with the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees. But let me just skip around and pick out a few here real quickly. Verse 5, Jesus says, All their works they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the upper rooms and the chief place, and that sort of thing. Verses 13 to 15. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, stage actors. You shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. For ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe 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. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For for you compass, sea and land, to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you have made him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. And then, verse 23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For ye are like whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. And that's the name of the game, the hypocrite's cover up. Outwardly you appear so righteous, but inwardly dead men's bones, inwardly full of pollution and wickedness. In Luke the 12th chapter, verses 1 and 2, Jesus says very simply, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. Jesus says, beware of hypocrisy. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Because you see hypocrisy as a contaminating force about it. Once you start acting, once you start putting on a facade, once you start doing things that your heart's not in, it's going to overcome you. It's going to leaven the whole lump. Beware of it. Don't let it touch your life. Stay at a distance from it. That's an interesting thing. I mean, all sin we're to keep a distance from. No doubt about it. But Jesus speaks in these really Exercised words about it. Stay away from the leaven of the Pharisees, because if it gets in, you going to corrupt the whole system. And he also adds, this hypocrisy is going to prove ultimately futile because the day is coming, Jesus says, on the final day, God is going to tear the mask off of every hypocrite's face. There is nothing hidden that shall not be made openly known. Does that frighten you, that the day is coming when everyone who knows you will see what you're really like as you stand before God and God exposes the recesses of your heart? I'll tell you, if it doesn't frighten you, you probably are asleep. If it doesn't frighten you, you're probably spiritually dead. Because I'll tell you, that does not appeal to me in the slightest. To know that everything that is in me, that everything I really feel and really believe and really have done, is going to be openly exposed before people who thought I was such a good Christian. He was a pastor, he was this and that. And the same is true for you. Jesus says, beware of the leaven of hypocrisy. Because, you see, most dangerous of all, even as the Book of Proverbs told us, most dangerous of all is the fact that the hypocrite. The hypocrite ends up deceiving himself. The hypocrite gets to the point where he doesn't even realize how bad he's become. Galatians 6:3. For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. When we become hypocrites, we start believing that mask. We start believing that line we give to others. We actually buy into it eventually and deceive ourselves that we are something we are not. In James 1:22, in verse 26, Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers, only deceiving your own selves. If any man among you seem to be religious and bridles not his tongue, he deceives his own heart. This man's religion is vain. The word means is empty, is futile, worthless. Oh, friends, this morning, Are you afraid to take off the mask for fear of what you will see in the mirror? Are you afraid to take off the mask for fear of others finding out what you're really like? Good, you should be afraid of that. But you see, hypocrisy is not the sensible route to take if you don't want God to see you for what you are, and if you don't want others to see you for what you are. And if you don't even want to see yourself for what you are, then remember it's going to be exposed one day, no matter how careful you are. And therefore, there's only one hope the hypocrite has, and that's not to come up with a more effective mask. The only hope the hypocrite has is for a changed heart. The only hope we hypocrites have is that God is going to do something to us by his grace and power that's going to get us out of the way of deception, out of the way of placing, playing these games and telling these stories and put our feet into the way of life, into the way of truth. The only hope we have is for regeneration and renovation and restoration. You see? Then you'll be able to be open and honest. Then when God is changing your life, then when you're depending upon his grace and power, then you can be open, then you can be honest. Because you know that God and others will see precisely what they get. A changed person, a sinner saved by grace. Let's ask that God will tear our mask off this morning and change our hearts so we don't have to be ashamed anymore. Let's pray. Father, we would beseech you to hear our prayer for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior. We do not ask you to hear us for any good in ourselves, for we know that we all, in so many ways, have offended against your law. We also know that we're so hypocritical that if it weren't for our Savior, we must truly disgust you. So often we pray you would forgive us. Because we've been playing games, but not just with others and with ourselves. We've been playing games with the Almighty, with the Holy One. We've been playing games with you. We do ask you to stop us in our tracks, to help us see the futility of our games. All of the facades and cover ups. We ask you to tear the mask off off our faces and do something to our hearts that we will not need a mask any longer. Teach us to truly love you with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. Teach us to worship you in spirit and in truth. Teach us to give ourselves completely to you, not faintedly. Teach us to turn away from sin, not simply when we confess it before the congregation, but but as it comes for an opportunity to practice sin in our lives. Teach us to follow out our commitments so that if we are pure before you and consistent in our testimony before you and can praise you because this has come about through your grace and power. Then we can be honest before others. Then we can learn not to speak to them smoothly while we are hating them in our hearts and stabbing their backs. Then we can learn to examine ourselves first before we criticize others. Then we can make sure that we are not applying double standards and thereby coming under your condemnation. Father, we need renovation from the root, from inside, from the very center of our beings. And we need restoration outward to every aspect and application of our lives. Father, we ask not for a better mask. We ask for a better heart. And we'll praise you for it. In Jesus name, Amen.