“THERE is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness” (Prov. 30:22Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. (Proverbs 30:2)), and of this generation or race we read frequently in Scripture. They exist among us at the present day, and lest the reader should be one of them, I propose to show in this paper some things at least that mark the hypocrite.
HIS TRUST.
We read in Job 8:14, 15: “Whose trust shall be a spider’s web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.”
Just think of the folly of trusting your soul to what Scripture compares to a spider’s web! And yet this is what men are doing daily.
They reject the Bible, the Word of God, and the Saviour it tells of, and trust their eternal interests to some theory of evolution or the like, that man has spun (like the spider’s web) out of his own brain. They will not have salvation through the precious blood of Christ; the Rock of Ages is nothing to them. Of such Scripture says, “He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.” What an awful awakening after death, when the hypocrite finds himself lost, and that he trusted his soul to―a spider’s web!
HIS HOPE.
Next we read in Job 8:13,13So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish: (Job 8:13) “The hypocrite’s hope shall perish,” and in Job 27:8,8For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? (Job 27:8) “What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?” And thus we learn that the hypocrite has a hope, but a worthless one.
Like Felix in Acts 24:26,26He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him. (Acts 24:26) who hoped that Paul would give him money, and for that purpose often heard him preach, the hypocrite nowadays often attends a religious service, not because he has hope in God, or cares for the gospel, but because he hopes it will bring him in gain, either in money or trade.
But Scripture asks, What is it all worth, even though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? What a solemn thing. A man may gain the whole world, and yet lose his own soul. And, reader, if you lose your own soul, even if you gain what you hope you will gain, it will be a losing speculation.
HIS TRUMPET.
But besides the spider’s web, that is his trust, and the unprofitable hope, that shall perish, the hypocrite has a trumpet. We read of it in Matthew 6:2: “Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.”
We also find the trumpet in use when the hypocrite prays (ver. 5), and when he fasts (ver. 16).
Now while, through grace, believers on the Lord Jesus Christ have neither the hypocrite’s faith nor hope, I fear we do not disdain to sometimes use his trumpet.
What we are as givers, as men of prayer, as servants of Christ, how much we deny ourselves, should never be known. On the contrary, we should hide it (see vers. 3, 6, 17, 18). And I do not see how we can publish it, unless we borrow the hypocrite’s trumpet, and it is to our own serious loss in every way to do so. They have their reward!
HIS PRACTICE.
HIS PRAYER.
In other words, the hypocrite prays simply to gain the confidence of those who have no defender, that he may make gain of them. You see his object is all self.
HIS TEACHING.
Matthew 23:15-2215Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. 16Woe unto you, ye 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! 17Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. 19Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. (Matthew 23:15‑22) gives a sample of his teaching. To begin with, he proselytizes. To proselytize, I understand, is to argue a person into your way of thinking. This a servant of the Lord is forbidden to do, or even to attempt (see 2 Tim. 2:24-2624And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. (2 Timothy 2:24‑26)), and the sophistry of his teaching is fully exposed in verses 16 to 22 of this 23rd of Matthew―read it for yourself.
HIS RELIGION.
Matthew 23:23-2623Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye 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. 24Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. (Matthew 23:23‑26) gives us his religion. He paid tithes of even the smallest plants in his garden, a tenth went to the priest, but his religion omitted the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. That he was a law-breaker did not trouble him, to have omitted payment of his tithes would. He made much of a little thing (a gnat), he thought little of a great thing (a camel). His is all a religion of externals―the outside of the cup and platter is clean, but inside! nothing but extortion and excess―such is a hypocrite before God.
HIS APPEARANCE.
Matthew 23:27, 28,27Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. (Matthew 23:27‑28) gives me his appearance before men. He is like a whited sepulcher. He is outwardly righteous, yin the eyes of men, but within he is full of hypocrisy and iniquity. What an awful description!
HIS TESTIMONY.
Matthew 23:29-3229Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. (Matthew 23:29‑32) gives me his testimony. He bears witness against himself that he is of the same stock, of the same kind of people who killed the prophets. It is impossible for the Ethiopian to change his skin, or the leopard his spots, so neither can those do good that are accustomed to do evil (see Jer. 13:2323Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. (Jeremiah 13:23)), and it is the same evil heart that killed the prophets that beats in their children.
HIS DOOM.
The Lord may well ask, “How can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matt. 23:3333Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? (Matthew 23:33)). Thus we have the awful doom of the hypocrite brought before us.
His trust is a spider’s web.
His hope is worthless, and shall perish.
His trumpet is sounding constantly, not for
God, but for men.
His practice hinders souls from being saved.
His prayer, although long, is only for show.
His teaching is false and full of sophistry.
His religion is straining at a gnat, and
swallowing a camel.
His appearance is like a whited sepulcher.
His testimony he is too blind to see is against himself.
His doom is the damnation of hell.
Reader, beware! You may not be a hypocrite, but beware lest you use his trumpet, pray like he does, follow his practice, or adopt his teaching.
May the Lord deliver us from hypocrisy in every shape and form.
W. M.