First, what we just read is a pretty famous passage.
It's actually a sermon preached by Jesus Christ.
If you have a Bible that's a red letter edition,
who has a Bible that has red letters in it?
You know what I'm talking about?
It's not easy to put the words of Christ
while he was on this earth in red.
You'll notice pretty much this whole chapter is in red
except the first verse where it says,
Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying.
And he begins to preach this great sermon,
and the title of the sermon that I'm going to preach
comes from this chapter, and that title is Hypocrisy.
That was the subject of his sermon.
Seven times in this chapter,
Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites.
You notice that over and over.
Hypocrites with an exclamation point after it.
And he's preaching against hypocrisy,
and that's what I'm preaching this morning.
Let's start here in Matthew 23.
We're going to go to some other places,
but isn't it just a powerful passage?
I love God's word.
But he said in verse number 2,
The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
All things whatsoever they bid you observe
that observe and do.
But watch this.
But do not ye after their works,
for they say and do not.
Now that's really the theme of the whole chapter
because that's a definition of what hypocrisy is.
I'm going to give you four types of hypocrites this morning,
and the first of the four is the one who says and does not.
That's what he's preaching about here.
People who say one thing and do another are hypocrites.
Look at verse 4.
For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne,
and lay them on men's shoulders,
but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers,
but all their works they do for to be seen of men.
You see, the hypocrite is someone who tells other people to work hard,
but he doesn't do the work himself.
The hypocrite is the one who wants others to go out
and preach the gospel to every creature,
or even a preacher sometimes.
Well, get out and preach.
Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
But if he won't go himself, he's a hypocrite.
You see, a real preacher, a real Christian who's following Jesus Christ,
keep your finger in Matthew 23, just put it back to chapter 11.
It's a few pages to the left.
You see, a real preacher, or not even a preacher,
but just a real Christian, he doesn't just say one thing and do another.
He walks the walk, and he talks the talk.
It says in chapter 11, verse 1, you see, in chapter 10,
the whole chapter is Jesus sending out his disciples to go preach the gospel.
Look what it says in verse 1.
And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples,
he departed them to teach and to preach in their city.
So he went out and did the exact thing that he commanded them to do in chapter 10.
The whole chapter 10, he's telling them to do it.
Chapter 11, verse 1, he goes out and does it,
because that's what it means not to be a hypocrite,
to not say one thing and do another.
You've heard people say, do as I say, not as I do.
My parents used to say that to me jokingly, but a lot of times that's true.
We say one thing and we do another.
That's what it means to be a hypocrite.
Look down if you would at verse 5.
They do all their works for to be seen of men.
They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments.
So basically a long, flowing garment.
And they love the upper-rose rooms at feasts, and the cheap seats in the synagogues,
and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, rabbi, rabbi.
But be not ye called rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ,
and all ye are brethren, and call no man your father upon the earth,
for one is your father which is heaven.
You see, we shouldn't be out to impress people.
We shouldn't just be out to have some kind of lofty title,
or just look good on the outside.
And Jesus dealt with that later in the chapter when he said,
the Pharisees were like whited sepulchers, like a graveyard, like a cemetery.
I mean, if you've ever been to a cemetery, there are some beautiful monuments,
and beautiful crypts, and beautiful marble drawers,
but on the inside it's full of corruption.
It's a dead body inside.
And he said that's what you're like.
He said on the outside you look beautiful,
but he said on the inside you're full of corruption,
and extortion, and excess, and wickedness.
He said you're a hypocrite.
You look good on the outside, but you're rotten on the inside.
That's what hypocrisy is.
And so what Jesus is preaching here is to be real.
Be who you are.
Now a lot of people will take this and say, well, the outside doesn't matter.
But Jesus said, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter,
that the outside may be clean also.
Nothing wrong with looking good on the outside,
but you better be looking good on the inside,
because that's a lot more important.
People today are more concerned with how they look,
with how they dress, with how they wear their hair,
than they are with what's on the inside.
They'll spend hours putting on makeup,
but won't even crack a Bible and open the Bible in the morning.
They'll spend hours and hours beautifying the outside,
beautifying the appearance,
but it doesn't matter compared to what's on the inside.
It matters if the inside's clean,
but if your inside is rotten it doesn't matter what you do to the outside.
And Jesus is saying here, if you say and do not, you're a hypocrite.
That's the first type of hypocrite.
Turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter number six.
Just go back a few pages.
You're in Matthew 23.
Matthew chapter number six.
Matthew chapter six says this in verse number one.
It says, take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them.
Alms are basically giving to the poor.
He says, take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them,
otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Therefore, when thou doest thine alms,
do not sound a trumpet before thee, as who does?
As the hypocrites do.
He says that in the synagogues and in the streets
that they may have glory of men.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward,
but when thou doest alms,
let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth,
that thine alms may be in secret,
and thy Father which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly.
You see, a hypocrite is the one who when they give,
they sound the trumpet and they wave in it,
oh, make sure everybody sees me throwing this in the plate,
or make sure everybody knows how I helped so and so,
and I'll make a donation,
but I want my name to be etched in stone
or etched in a metal plate on a wall,
but let me tell you something,
that is not what's important, it's not the show,
and really, being a hypocrite,
if you look at where the word hypocrite comes from,
it comes from the word being an actor,
that's where our English word hypocrite comes from.
Being an actor, pretending to be something that you're not,
but God knows your heart.
You can fool man, you can look good on the outside,
you can put on a big show about your good work,
but God knows how much you really read your Bible this week.
God knows whether you prayed this week,
God knows whether you went out soul winning,
God knows everything about you,
He knows the secrets of men's hearts,
and so we need to worry less about what man thinks
and be more concerned with what God thinks,
and if we're going to say something, we ought to do it.
We ought to say it, and then we ought to do it,
and stay with it.
Look, we can go through this whole chapter,
he goes on to talk about pray.
He says, when thou prayest, verse 5,
thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are,
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues
and in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward,
but thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret,
and thy Father which seeth in secret,
shall reward thee openly.
He said, and when you pray, use not vain repetitions
as they even do, for they think that they shall be heard
for their much speaking.
Be not ye therefore like unto them,
for your Father knows what things ye have need of
before ye ask him.
Basically what he's talking about is people
who put on a hyper-spiritual front.
You know, they love to pray in public.
They love to put on the show.
But really, he said, the most important praying
is what takes place at home when you're all by yourself.
The most important good works that you do
are the ones that no one knows about but you.
It's not about impressing others.
It's not about praying openly.
I've met a lot of people who sometimes
they lay it on so thick, where it's like
every word out of their mouth is,
hey, praise the Lord, hallelujah,
how are you doing today, my brother?
And they're talking to somebody who's not even
Christian that way.
And it's like they're just laying it on so thick
to impress people, to put on a show.
You know, we ought to be a normal person.
And the Bible says that we should condescend
to men of low estate.
We shouldn't go around trying to prove to everybody
how spiritual we are, prove to everybody
by some kind of a long border of our garments,
you know, prove to somebody like I've got my collar
turned around backwards that I'm a preacher or something
so that people will greet me in the airport
and call me rabbi and father.
I don't want to be called rabbi.
I don't want to be called father.
I don't want to be worshipped.
I mean, if somebody bowed down and worshipped me,
I would do like Peter and John did,
where they ripped them up off their feet and said,
we are men.
Only worship God.
How many times in the Bible?
It's in the book of Acts.
It's in the book of Revelation.
People would fall down and start to worship the apostles
or worship other preachers, and they would get angry
and pick them up and say, don't worship me.
Get off your knee.
You know, don't call me father.
Don't call me rabbi.
And yet today we've got a religion, the Catholic church,
that worships a man.
I mean, look, I'm not going to lie to you.
If the pope were in town today, if he landed at their airport,
people would worship him.
You know it's true.
People would literally fall on their face before him.
People would literally get on their knees in front of him.
People literally kiss his feet.
They literally bow down.
I mean, I'm saying they literally get on their face
and bow down to him.
But they're not worshipping him, according to them.
But it's worship.
They're worshipping a man.
They're worshipping man.
And has he ever told them, no, stop.
Stop cheering for me.
Stop walking your feet.
I'm just a human being.
Stop calling me father.
That's what pope means, father.
Stop calling me father.
Don't call me rabbi.
You know, don't call me.
No, they love to be called father.
They love to be called rabbi.
They love to have that collar backwards and show everybody,
hey, look at me.
I'm a man of God.
That collar doesn't make you a man of God.
The Holy Spirit living inside you is what makes you a man of God.
And preaching a false religion of Catholicism
is not of God at all except the devil.
Catholicism teaches salvation by works.
Catholicism teaches worshipping a man.
Catholicism teaches worshipping idolatry,
which is statues, graven images, and molten images made by man
in the image of human beings.
That is not right.
It's not Christianity.
It's not of God.
It's hypocrisy.
You want to know what the biggest hypocrisy of it is?
You see, I can't believe you preach against a specific religion
like Catholicism.
Jesus preached against the Pharisees.
He was a lot meaner than I am.
Were you here when we read the chapter?
And if you think about it, the biggest hypocrisy of Catholicism
is going and confessing your sins to him.
Because he ought to, as soon as you're done,
he ought to confess his right back to you.
Because the Bible says, you say, no,
confessing your sins is scriptural.
There's only one verse that talks about confessing your sins
to another person in the Bible.
And you know what it says?
Confess your faults one to another.
So that means that he ought to confess them right back to you
how he's a pedophile or whatever, whatever his sins are.
He ought to confess them right back to you, my friend,
because who can forgive sins but God only?
That's what the Bible says.
And yet he says, I forgive you.
Say, chant this vain repetition.
Chant this 15 times.
When he says it, it's funny.
Are you still in Matthew 6?
What's down in your Bible?
He says in verse number 7,
are we in Matthew 6, verse 7?
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions.
Everybody knows what a repetition is?
Repeat it.
He says, repetitions as the heathen do,
for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Look at verse 9.
After this manner, therefore, pray ye.
So he's not saying chant this prayer.
He's saying pray in this way, pray in this manner.
After this manner, therefore, pray ye.
He gives a sample prayer.
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,
for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory
forever, amen.
But hold on.
Then they'll take this prayer and chant it.
I mean, he just said, don't use vain repetitions.
Instead, pray like this.
Oh, let's chant that.
And that's what will happen.
You go and you'll confess your sins to him,
and he'll tell you to chant this many our fathers.
And he's talking about this right here.
And this many Hail Marys.
You know, calling Mary the mother of God.
When the Bible says in Hebrews 7-3,
write that down.
I don't have time to turn there.
Hebrews 7-3.
He said, without father, without mother, without descent,
having neither beginning of days nor end of life,
but made like unto the Son of God,
abideth the priest continually.
But I don't want to get too far off the subject on that
or get off on a tangent.
But let me tell you something.
It's hypocrisy.
A man thinks that he's going to hear your confessions
and forgives you.
He is a sinner, because everybody's a sinner.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And the Bible says this.
There's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good
instead of not.
Jesus said, there's none good but one, and that's God.
And the only reason Jesus was good
is because he was God in the flesh.
And so let's move on from that, though.
Go, if you would, to Ezekiel 33.
Ezekiel 33.
Ezekiel's one of the big books at the end of the Old Testament.
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, those three great big books.
Ezekiel chapter 33, I want you to see this verse.
He says in verse number 31,
And they come unto thee as the people cometh,
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 goeth after their covetousness.
I'm talking about people who show much love with their mouth.
I've even had people say that to me.
Much love.
And they show much love with their mouth,
but in their heart, they're not doing God's work.
They're not doing the work.
And you can talk about love all day long,
but what did you do to love?
If you love somebody that's not saved,
aren't you going to give them the gospel
so that they can be saved and go to heaven?
You know, if you love somebody that needs something,
you're going to fulfill that need.
You're going to help them out and so forth.
The Bible says, Beloved, let us not love in word,
by little children, let us not love in word,
neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Not just showing much love with our mouth,
but doing action that shows love, okay?
Now let's move on to the second point.
Go to Matthew chapter 7.
The first type of hypocrite, quick review,
was the one who says and does not.
They're a hypocrite, okay?
But there's a second type of hypocrite mentioned in the Bible.
That's the one who judges others
for things that they are guilty of themselves.
That person's a hypocrite.
A person who is guilty of something,
and yet they judge others for that exact thing.
Look at Matthew 7, verse 1, famous phrase.
Judge not.
Now most people, that's the only part that they know.
Just judge not,
and they pretty much just cut it off right there, okay?
But that's not what this passage is teaching.
Let's keep reading.
He says, judge not that ye be not judged,
for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged,
and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye,
but consider'st not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
let me pull out the mote out of thine eye,
and behold, the beam is in thine own eye?
Look at the next words, thou hypocrite.
First cast out the beam out of thine own eye,
and then just leave the mote in your brother's eye.
Is that what it says?
No, it says first cast out the beam out of thine own eye,
and then thou shalt see clearly
to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
Now who's ever had something in your eye for more than an hour?
Now listen, I've worked in electrical for ten years,
and how many times I've been drilling something,
even with safety goggles or whatever,
you're drilling over your head a piece of wood or a piece of metal,
flies in your eye, and you can't get it out.
And I've had a piece of wood in my eye
for literally three or four hours before.
And it'll drive you nuts.
I mean, you're trying to get it out, you're trying to get it out.
And you know what? Invariably, people help you try to get it out.
But the thing is, usually you want them to help you get it out,
because you just want it out.
And your coworker's kind of like, let me try it, let me try it,
because he wants you to get back to helping him,
because you're just like, oh.
So he comes over, let me try this, let me try it.
And he's trying to do it, I think I can see it.
And it's horrible. It's debilitating.
But you're grateful if somebody can take that out of your eye.
A wise person is grateful if somebody can correct them,
or rebuke them, or give them some help in a certain area.
But does it feel good while they're pulling it out of your eye?
No. It's not fine, but it's necessary,
and you appreciate the fact that they're trying to help you.
That's why he says in the next verse,
give not that which is solely under the dogs,
and have a cast of your pearls before a swan.
He says, lest they trample them under their feet,
and turn again and rend you.
He's basically saying, some people don't want to be corrected,
and it's not even worthy of your time to try to correct them.
But the Bible says, rebuke a wise man, and he'll love you.
If you're wise, you'll like it when somebody corrects you,
or rebukes you, because it'll make you wiser.
Rebuke a wise man, and you'll be yet wiser, the Bible says.
And so, it's not telling us never to judge.
And a lot of people, this is their mantra.
Judge not, judge not, judge not.
You don't ever judge.
But let me read a few scriptures for you.
You don't have to turn that, but John 7, 24, Jesus said,
judge not according to the appearance, but judge, righteous judgment.
1 Corinthians 6, 2, and 3 says,
do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?
And if the world shall be judged by you,
are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Know ye not that we shall judge angels?
How much more are things that pertain to this life?
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2,
he that is spiritual judgeth all things,
yet he himself is judged in no manner.
So it's not wrong to judge.
It's wrong to be judgmental of something that you're guilty of,
because that makes you a hypocrite.
It's hypocrisy when you have a beam.
You know what a beam is, right?
Like a big, long piece of wood.
You've got to be exaggerating here, obviously, in his preaching,
but he's saying, you know, you've got like a beam in your eye,
and you're trying to remove this little speck,
this little mote out of someone else's eye.
He's saying, you know, you better get the beam out of your own eye,
then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
But the problem is that often the most judgmental people
are the ones who are the guiltiest themselves.
Have you noticed that?
People who have the biggest beam in their eye
are the ones who want to go around telling everybody else.
Like, for example, people who don't even ever preach the gospel to anyone
will criticize the way that we do it.
It's like, you have this big beam in your eye of not doing it at all,
and we maybe have this little mote in our eye
of maybe doing it slightly wrong in your mind.
You know, you better get the beam out of your eye
before you judge the mote that's in your brother's eye, okay?
And so that's hypocrisy.
Basically, the people often who are the guiltiest
to make themselves feel better, look better,
go around being the most judgmental.
You want to hear the most judgmental statement
that anybody's ever made with me?
When I felt the most judged?
It's this statement when they told me, you're judgmental.
Because this is an oxymoron, because in order to tell me I'm judgmental,
they haven't judged me.
You know, they had to look at me and decide that I was judgmental.
So by saying, you're judgmental, they're judging me.
Which makes them what?
Judgmental.
It's called hypocrisy.
So here's a hypocritical statement.
You're judgmental.
That's hypocrisy.
And so we ought not judge people things we're guilty of ourselves.
If we are going to get up, and this goes back to saying and doing not also,
if we're going to get up and say something's wrong,
and by the way, we need some people that will stand up
and say that something's wrong.
Because we live in a society that's afraid to ever say that anything's wrong.
Anything goes.
Nobody's wrong.
Everybody's right.
But if you're going to get up and say that something's wrong,
you had better make sure that you're not guilty of it yourself.
You know, if you're going to get up and say that idolatry is wrong,
you ought to not have idols in your house.
If you're going to get up and say this is wrong,
then you ought to do it yourself.
Let me give you an example.
When I was a child, I went to a Christian school,
which I don't recommend that.
But I went to a Christian school.
My kids are homeschooled, thank God.
They're not being brainwashed by anyone.
But basically, I went to a Christian school,
and here's what was at the Christian school.
They said, because of modesty, this is what it said in the rule book,
because of modesty, the girls must wear skirts that go down to the knee.
Because of modesty.
And then they quoted a verse about modesty.
But then, every school activity,
the girls were allowed to wear fingertip-length shorts.
So apparently, because of modesty,
they had to wear a knee-length skirt.
It had to be to the knee.
They would have to get on their knees,
and have a skirt check if it was marginal.
And otherwise, they had to wear the house skirt.
It was like an ugly skirt that they make them wear.
But anyway, who's ever been to a school like that,
where they do that?
Just me. A couple other people.
But basically, when we'd go to camp,
when we'd go to school activities,
they'd say, wear a modest bathing suit.
So now all of a sudden, modesty is like your underwear.
You know what I mean?
It's basically about what a bathing suit covers.
That's hypocrisy.
Now look, if you think it's okay to basically show your whole thigh,
even though the Bible says no and all this,
if you think it's okay to wear a bathing suit,
and to show your thigh, and to show everything else,
then why don't you just come to church like that?
And why don't you just wear that all the time?
And it'd be one thing if you said,
well, we just wanted to be dressed up,
so we wanted to wear a long skirt just to look nice and dressed up.
But that's not what they said.
They said it's because of modesty.
They didn't have their thighs covered.
But then as soon as the parents aren't looking,
as soon as the school board's not...
As soon as it was an activity, the school said,
wear short shorts or a bathing suit is fine.
That's hypocrisy, my friend.
I'd have more respect for you if you say it's always right,
or it's always wrong, than to say,
well, it's right in this circumstance,
but over here it's wrong.
You know, it's right here and it's wrong here.
No, right is right and wrong is wrong.
And look, I'm not telling you
that you have to believe exactly what I believe,
and I'm telling you something.
Be consistent with what you believe
and don't be a hypocrite.
You know, I say it's wrong,
and I have a Bible that I backed this up with,
Exodus 28, 42, Isaiah 47, 3.
I say it's wrong to show your thighs.
That's what I preach. That's what I believe.
And that's why you'll never see me or my family,
you know, wearing clothing.
You know, we're not going to wear short shorts.
You know, imagine that.
We're not going to wear short shorts.
We're not going to wear things that expose that
because we want to be consistent with what we believe.
We don't want to be a hypocrite.
We don't want to say that, and then my wife's in a bathing suit
that the church can't be true.
You know, after we say that from the pulpit.
Wouldn't you say that Pat and Mrs. Anderson
would be a hypocrite in that case?
I mean, whether you agree with what I preach or not,
you'd say she's being a hypocrite, you know,
because that's what hypocrisy is.
Judging someone else for what you're doing yourself.
I've heard other churches preach and breathe fire
against going to the movie theater,
but then they'll rent all the same videos in their home
and put them in the DVD player and put them in the VHS,
and they say that's okay.
Well, look, either movie,
if it's right to go watch Hollywood movies,
then you can watch them at the theater
or watch them on the DVD,
and if it's wrong, then, I mean,
what is it that makes the movie theater bad?
I thought it was the movie that made it bad.
Is it the popcorn?
Is it because the candy comes in a square box
instead of a round bag?
Or because it costs $7 for a bag of Skittles?
Is that what's wrong with the movie theater?
Is it because of the hallways that are always slanted
and you're kind of going uphill or downhill?
Is it the chairs that fold down and pop back up
when you get out of them?
That's what's wrong with going to the movies?
Is it the chairs that pop down?
No, what's wrong is the filth that's on the screen.
I mean, that's what's wrong with it.
What's wrong is why see me Jesus Christ
when you're watching The Da Vinci Code?
You know, what's wrong is people going to bed together
after the first date.
That's what's wrong.
It's the content that's wrong,
and hypocrites will just make man-made rules,
well, I don't go to this certain building,
and then they'll just bring in all the same skin flicks
as soon as they hit the VHS, you know,
and they'll watch the same stuff on the TV.
Hey, Jesus said, either make the tree good
and his fruit corrupt,
or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt.
He said, look, if the tree's good, the fruit's good.
If the tree's evil, the fruit's corrupt.
He said, look, choose which is it.
Is it right or is it wrong?
But be consistent and don't be a hypocrite.
Don't say don't go to the movies, and then here,
let's project the movie on the wall at my house,
the same movie, the identical movie.
I don't watch any of it.
You say, why not?
Because I got sick a long time ago
of Hollywood programming my mind,
and I decided I didn't want my children to grow up
and go to bed on the first date.
I wanted them to go to bed after they were married,
and that's now what's on that silver screen.
He said, no, no, they cut that part out.
They cut that part out faster,
and he said the people just start kissing,
and then the lights go out,
and then the next morning they're making orange juice
in their pajamas in the kitchen.
Well, what do you think happened?
What is it training my children?
You didn't watch the actual action?
Don't you think that they're still being taught
that that is acceptable when God said it's fornication?
You see, we've got to avoid hypocrisy.
We don't want to stand up and condemn something
and then be guilty of it ourselves.
Here's a classic example, too,
and a lot of people aren't going to like this,
but it's true.
People will condemn marijuana, but drinking's fine.
It's like, wait a minute.
Isn't alcohol every bit as mind-altering as marijuana?
I mean, don't people drink and beat up their wife?
Doesn't that happen?
Does that never happen?
Do you know how people drink?
Do you know how people can drink so much
that they die right there on the spot
because they just poisoned themselves?
I mean, there are people who have drunk so much
in one sitting that they just fell over dead.
There are people who got in the car
and caused car accident to kill people.
There are people who beat up their wife.
There are people who committed adultery
only because they were under the influence of alcohol.
Otherwise, they would have had better judgment,
but I just heard of a case a couple months ago
of somebody committing adultery a couple months ago
because they were drunk.
And it's in the Bible.
Same thing.
People got drunk in the Bible and committed adultery.
It happened throughout the Bible.
And yet people will say,
oh, oh, oh, you know, marijuana, I can't believe it.
That should be illegal, and oh, man.
And then, you know, there's a 24-pack of Bud Dumber
in their refrigerator.
You know what I mean?
And that's fine.
And they can drink, and that's fine.
But, oh, these kids with their marijuana.
Hey, look, I'm not condoning marijuana.
I don't think it should be illegal,
just like I don't think alcohol should be illegal,
because I believe that, you know,
all sin should not be made illegal, okay?
And it's not scriptural for those things to be illegal.
God never made them illegal in the children of Israel,
but He did command and say, you're sinful if you do it.
He said, your eyes will behold strange women.
Your mouth will utter perverse stings.
You'll commit adultery in many cases.
You'll do all these wrong things.
And you say, Pastor Anderson, one beer.
Give me a break.
The Bible just tells me not to be drunk.
No, it doesn't just tell you not to be drunk.
It says, be sober.
A ton more, more times than it says not to be drunk.
It says, be sober.
That's a more common command.
And you're not sober when you're taking marijuana.
You're not sober when you're drinking beer.
You're not sober when you're taking
mind-altering prescription drugs.
And that's another form of hypocrisy, you know.
Well, if the doctor prescribed it, then it's okay.
Even if it's mind-altering drugs.
Look, we need to be consistent here.
If marijuana's wrong, then drinking's wrong.
Or else, tell me they're both right
and I'll have more respect for you.
They just said, well, I believe in marijuana and alcohol.
You know?
I believe anything goes.
Well, I don't.
I believe in being sober
because I'm a Bible-related Christian.
That's what I believe.
But we can tend to be hypocrites.
We'll condemn the thing that we're not interested in.
But the thing that we want to do
which is drinking, we'll say that's okay.
And I'm not condoning.
Don't get me wrong.
I'm not condoning drug use.
I've never taken any drugs.
I've never even drunk a beer either.
You know, it's like I'm just trying to be consistent here
and say if it's mind-altering drugs,
it's mind-altering drugs.
I don't think you should be partaking of either one.
I don't think you should teach your kids
that drinking's fine, but drugs are wrong.
When drinking is going to do the same thing
to you that marijuana's going to do.
I don't know all the...
I'm not an expert.
I'm not trying to be an expert.
But I know they're not sober.
That's all I know and that's all I need to know.
When you're drinking or whether you're smoking pot,
it's one and the same.
But look if you would at Romans chapter one.
Romans chapter number one,
and I've got to hurry up here
and get my last two points or quicker points.
Let me just blow through this here quickly.
For the sake of time,
I'm not going to read all this for the sake of time.
I was planning on reading the whole thing for the sake of time.
But just for the sake of time,
Romans one's a pretty well-known chapter.
It talks about basically the downward spiral
that people go down when they reject God,
when they reject Jesus Christ.
It gets down to the final point that they get to
in this degeneration.
It says in verse 26,
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections,
for even their women to change the natural use
into that which is against nature,
and likewise also the men,
leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust one toward another,
men with men working that which is unseemly,
and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error,
which was me.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind
to those things which are not going to be it,
being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetous.
He lists all these other sins that describe them.
And he says in verse 32,
who knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death,
not only do the same,
but have pleasure in them that do them.
And then look at chapter 2 verse 1
because he continues the same thought.
Therefore, because of that,
thou art inexcusable, O man,
whosoever thou art that judgest.
For wherein thou judgest another,
thou condemnest thyself.
For thou that judgest doest the same things.
But we are sure that the judgment of God
is according to truth against them which commit such things,
and thinkest thou this, O man,
that judgest them which do such things,
and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God.
You see, he's saying, look,
you can sit there and look at
and condemn these wicked sins,
and he's talking about specifically homosexuality,
you know, men with men,
and he's talking about it being his bile,
which bile means disgusting, you know.
He describes men with men, women with women.
He condemns that, and he says, look,
yes, God's judgment is upon that.
Yes, God's wrath is upon that.
But he said, if you take pleasure in those who do them,
look at verse 32 of chapter 1.
He said, who knowing the judgment of God
that they which commit such things are worthy of death,
not only do the same, but watch this,
but have pleasure in them that do them.
Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man.
You see how that goes together?
Look, how can you condemn the wicked
and then you take pleasure in them?
You take pleasure in them.
Or you do some of the same things
that they are interested in doing.
For example, you know, and this is the biblical example.
It's given here of the Sodomites, you know, the homos.
Basically, he's saying, look, they are vile.
They're wicked.
But he's saying, you know, you're judging them.
You take pleasure in them.
That's who you go to the movies to see.
That's who's in your CD case.
That's where your music comes from.
That's who you're listening to
when you listen to Elton John and R.E.M.,
you know, and all these different groups.
You know, I don't know all the groups.
You know, that's what you get when you watch TV
and you're looking at, you know, Leonardo DiCaprio
and Keanu Reeves who are known Sodomites,
Ricky Martin who's a known homo, you know.
And he says, look, if you're going to condemn it
and say it's wicked and say what the Bible says
that they which do such things are worthy of death
and then you're going to take pleasure in them that do them,
he says you're a hypocrite.
You're a hypocrite to take pleasure in those who do it.
When you're going to condemn the lifestyle,
you condemn adultery, you condemn murder,
you condemn homosexuality, you condemn pedophilia,
you condemn all these things
and then those are your idols and heroes
that are on the wall of your room.
You're a hypocrite.
You're a hypocrite when you condemn the sin
and then have that person who basically epitomizes those sins
on the wall as an emo.
I mean, look, who in here is married today?
Put up your hand if you're married.
Let me tell you something.
If you're married, do you want your wife to commit adultery?
No.
I mean, don't you hate adultery?
You know, I don't want my wife to commit adultery.
That would be horrible.
And I'm never going to commit adultery, you know.
And to me, adultery is a horrible sin
because, you know, that would break the trust staff
and my wife would break our bond of our marriage
and our vows and everything like that.
So do you think that I want my wife or myself
to watch TV shows about adultery?
Or for her favorite Christian music artist
to be Annie Grant, who's an adulteress,
who basically committed adultery
and then left her husband and ran off and married
the guy that she was committing adultery with?
Do you think that that's who's going to be in my CD case
singing El Shaddai?
You think that's what I want to hear?
You think that's what I want my wife to listen to
and how she just grew so much and learned so much
while she's out being a whore?
Which is what the Bible calls it.
Don't get mad at me.
That's a Bible word.
It's a Bible word.
And let me tell you something.
I'm not going to take pleasure in it
because I don't want to be a hypocrite.
I don't want to be a hypocrite and say,
I condemn it, but bring it on.
But I'll watch it, I'll read about it, I'll enjoy it
and get pleasure out of it vicariously in others.
But let's turn to Isaiah 32 for the third point.
So number one.
Now, is there anything I preached, by the way,
this morning that wasn't directly from the Bible?
Help me out.
Didn't I back everything up from the Bible?
I thought so.
Let's do a little search on the concordance on the word whore
and then come back and tell me I'm wrong.
Look up every time that word occurs in the Bible
and then tell me I'm wrong to say that.
But let's look at Isaiah 32,
the third reason people are hypocrites.
Number one, you see, I don't like your preaching pattern.
Yes, but I'm not a hypocrite.
I didn't say you're like it, I just said I'm not a hypocrite.
You see, the first way that people are hypocrites
is when they say and do not.
That's a hypocrite.
Number two, someone who judges others
for things that they're guilty of themselves.
That's a hypocrite, isn't it?
But number three, liberals, so-called liberals,
and I put that in quotes, liberals are hypocrites.
You say, what are you talking about?
Well, look what the Bible says in verse five of Isaiah 32.
It says, the vile person shall no more be called liberal.
So basically, God is prophesying here
that there will come a day when people who are vile
are known as liberal.
Because, you know, liberal is actually a pretty good word.
Do you know what the word liberal actually means?
Let me give you a hint.
Look at the first five letters of the word liberal.
Liber, which means what?
Free, it's Latin for freedom.
So liberal actually is a good word.
And whenever the Bible uses liberal, it's a positive thing.
Except here he talks about people being called liberal
who are not really liberal.
Because liberal actually means generous.
It means you're free with what you have.
Like if I'm very generous, like, hey, let me buy you lunch,
or hey, let me give you something that you need,
let me provide that need.
So liberal is good, according to the Bible, okay?
But see, today, people have hijacked that term, liberal,
and caused it to mean something that it's not.
Just like they think the word gay,
which just means happy and friendly,
and you know, they turn it into mean something else, don't they?
People love it, they hijack that word.
People change the meanings of words in order to confuse people
and to get people mixed up.
They confuse the language.
You see, a liberal is somebody who's generous and free.
That's good, okay?
But look what this says.
The vile person shall no more be called liberal,
nor the churrel, a churrel is a fool,
that's an old word for fool,
nor the churrel said to be bountiful,
the vile person will speak villainy,
and his heart will work iniquity to practice hypocrisy
and to utter error against the Lord,
to make empty the soul of the hungry,
and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
The instruments also of the churrel are evil.
He devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words.
Are you listening to this?
To destroy the poor with lying words,
even when the needy speaketh right.
But the liberal devises liberal things and by liberal things,
he's saying the truly liberal,
like in Proverbs he said the liberal soul shall be made fat.
Basically he's saying if you're generous to others,
give and it shall be given unto you.
The liberal soul shall be made fat.
But here he's saying there are people who call themselves liberal,
they use that term, but they're actually hypocrites,
and they actually deceive the poor,
and they actually make them more poor.
Did you see what he said there?
He said they'll make empty the soul of the hungry,
and who cause the drink of the thirsty to fail,
and he devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words.
You see today there are people in our country that are known as liberals,
and I'm talking about politics now.
You know, God forbid that I would bring up something that the Bible mentions
because somebody said that I'm not supposed to talk about political,
but I'll preach anything that's in this book,
and this book deals with everything.
I get so tired of hearing people say,
the Bible doesn't deal with that subject.
The Bible deals with every subject.
It's God that talks about every area of life.
And let me tell you something,
the so-called liberal today is not generous.
He's not.
Because if I were a liberal,
let me explain to you what liberalism in America really is, okay?
Come on up here, brother Stecky.
You'll be my example.
Okay, this is liberalism, okay?
First I'm going to show you Bible liberalism,
and then American liberalism.
Here's Bible liberalism.
Bible liberalism, we come up to this guy right here and say,
look at this guy.
I mean, look at him.
He looks like he hasn't eaten in a few days.
I mean, he's homeless.
He can't get a shower.
He can't get a job.
I mean, look at him.
And I say, you know what?
I'm going to help this guy out because I love him,
and I want to help him.
So I reach to my partner and say, here you go, buddy.
Go get it cleaned up.
Get something to eat.
Let me help you out.
That's Bible liberalism, right?
Being generous.
Giving to those in need.
Hey, I love you, man.
I'm going to help you out.
Charity is what the Bible calls it, right?
Here's American liberalism.
Look at that guy.
Just look at him.
He needs help.
He's poor.
Give me your wallet.
No, not $2.
Give him everything you got.
Can't you see he needs it?
That's American liberalism.
Go ahead and sit down.
Stealing from someone else to give to him is villainy.
That's what the Bible says here.
Villainy.
Not liberalism.
If these politicians are so liberal,
why do they live in mansions and fly around in jets
and take all these vacations?
If Al Gore is so green, I wonder if tulips
are coming out of the exhaust pipe with his Learjet.
It would just sprays like oxygen.
Pure oxygen sprays out of the exhaust pipe.
And he has a special implant in his throat
to where he doesn't breathe out CO2.
He breathes out perfume every time he speaks.
The bottom line is that liberalism
is being generous and free, not being a thief.
And today, the liberal's a hypocrite, isn't he?
He wants to give someone else's money to help the poor.
That's not generosity.
That's not liberalism.
Yeah, that's not... I mean, it's stealing.
And it's also extortion.
You know, forcing someone to give you money.
It's extortion.
And so the liberal is a hypocrite.
But number four, and this one may...
Maybe you haven't thought of this one before.
Turn to Matthew 24.
And then if you want to also, you can turn to Job 13.
That's where we're gonna go next.
But this is the last point.
We saw that those who say and do not are clearly hypocrites.
We saw that those who judge others for something
that they're guilty of themselves
are definitely a hypocrite, aren't they?
We also saw that the so-called liberal,
he's not really a liberal, he's a hypocrite.
You know, he calls himself liberal,
but he's really a villain, okay?
He's taking away freedom.
He doesn't know what liber means.
You know, I wish we could be called the liberals.
You know, those of us who are patriots and love freedom.
You know, I guess, you know,
libertarian is kind of, you know,
taking that term back a little bit.
But, you know, basically, hey, those of us who love freedom
are the real liberals, aren't we?
But I'm sick of, you know, the villain and the churl
and the fool being called a liberal, you know?
He's deceiving the poor.
He's put people in poverty for generations
by making them rely upon the government.
And the Bible says this,
if a man will not work, neither should he eat.
I mean, you got to pay your own way in this life.
You got to rely on God, you got to go to work,
and then rely on charity to help you out when you fall in need.
You know, I've been in need, and people help me out,
and I've helped out others in need,
but it was free, it was liberal.
It wasn't liberal, it was liberal.
Okay?
Anyway, Matthew 24, 51,
and I'll blow through this last point.
It says, and shall cut him asunder
and appoint him as portion with the hypocrites.
Okay, notice that wording.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Now, that's talking about a person going to hell.
In Luke 12, 46, keep looking at Matthew 24, 51
while I read to you from Luke the same statement.
You're looking at Matthew 24, 51.
The Lord of the servant will come in a day
when he looketh not for him,
and in an hour when he's not aware.
Look at Matthew 24, 51.
I'm reading Luke 12, 46.
And will cut him asunder,
and will appoint him as portion with the unbelievers.
Now, notice, same statement, right?
What was the word hypocrite replaced with?
Unbelievers.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The fourth hypocrite is somebody who's an unbeliever,
somebody who's unsaved.
Here's why.
Well, look back if you went to Job.
I told you to turn to Job, or you can just listen in,
but if you want to turn back to the book of Job,
I'll read to you from Job 13, verse 16.
It says in Job 13, 16,
He also shall be my salvation,
for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
You see that?
There's the saved, and then there's the hypocrite.
Job 27, 8.
For what is the hope of the hypocrite
that we have gained when God taketh away his soul?
Job 28, 7, verse 8.
Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he always call upon God?
You see, unbelievers are hypocrites.
You know why?
Because the typical unbeliever
thinks that they're good enough to go to heaven.
They don't need Jesus.
They're a hypocrite.
They think they're better than everyone else.
They think they're good enough.
They think they don't need Jesus.
You know, they can say that all they want.
I mean, how many times?
We knock the doors in this church, right?
And we'll go out and knock doors.
How many times do we ask them,
do you know for sure if you die today you go to heaven?
They say, yes, I do, because I'm a good person.
I live a good life.
I don't do any bad things.
You're a hypocrite.
You really think that you're that good?
You're a hypocrite.
You're not that good?
I mean, everybody's the same.
I'll be the first to admit it.
I'll admit it right now.
I sin every day.
There's not one day that goes by
that I live a perfect life exactly like Jesus would have done.
Not one single day is like that.
The person who says, I'm such a good person,
I'm not like these other people,
because they don't believe that everybody's going to heaven.
They just think they're going to heaven,
because they're good.
These other people, on the other hand, are bad.
But the Bible says there's none righteous, no, not one.
You know, it's hypocritical to say,
I'm good enough to go to heaven.
I'm going to heaven because I go to church a little bit,
but I'm not like these other people.
And I don't think it's right that they should go to heaven,
because they did this or they did that.
That's hypocrisy, but there's another reason why it's hypocrisy.
Well, let me give you this quote.
Who's ever heard of Gandhi?
Right?
Now, Gandhi, of course, you may have heard of him.
You may know a lot about him.
You may know a little bit about him.
And he did good things politically,
in that he was fighting against taxes and colonialism.
Kind of like in India, throwing off the yoke of Great Britain,
kind of like what we did in the United States,
just to give it to you real simply in a nutshell.
You know what I mean?
Just getting out from under that colonial yoke
and all the taxation and all the different restrictions
and basically he wanted freedom in his country and so forth.
But you know what?
Politically, okay, I can see that.
But let me tell you something.
Gandhi was a hypocrite.
And I'm going to show you why.
I'm going to tell you a few reasons why.
He was a hypocrite.
Spiritually, he was a hypocrite.
Now, maybe politically he did good things.
And I don't know all about his politics,
but let me tell you something.
Spiritually, he was a hypocrite.
And we're in church.
We're talking about spiritual things.
Here's his famous quote.
And most people, even if they've never even heard of Gandhi,
they know this quote from Gandhi.
I would be a Christian if it weren't for Christians.
Who's ever heard that quote before?
And then he made another quote that said this.
I like your Christ.
I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
But you know what he was referring to?
That they're so judgmental and that they preach and say negative things.
But didn't we read a whole chapter where Jesus preached like that?
It's funny.
You know, Gandhi basically was asked later in life,
after that, he was asked if he was a Hindu.
He replied, yes I am.
I'm a Hindu and I'm also a Christian and a Muslim and a Buddhist and a Jew.
Now that's hypocrisy.
You can't be all those things.
It doesn't even make any sense.
He was a hypocrite because he was Mr. Nonviolence, right?
Wasn't he all about it?
His whole thing was nonviolence.
He'd say he would never hurt anyone, never attack anyone.
Yet he wrote a pamphlet during World War I called An Appeal for Enlistment.
A pamphlet trying to get people to enlist to go fight in World War I on the side of the British.
But he told them, he said, I will not go fight because I'm a pacifist.
But he wrote a pamphlet telling other people in India to go fight in World War I.
Now is that hypocrisy?
To tell people to go fight?
They say, well I'm not going to do it.
And in World War II, the same thing.
He said that was just when he was young.
No, in World War II.
He stood up and said that he wanted India to not fight in World War II,
but to support the war effort and to be on the side of Great Britain.
And when he did that, all the other congressional leaders, they all resigned.
Every congressman resigned from office in India.
They just flipped out.
And then he backpedaled and said, okay, yeah, yeah, we're not going to support this war.
Because the congress resigned when he made that decision.
But he would never hurt a fly.
But he would tell others to.
Isn't that hypocrisy?
See what I'm saying?
Oh, you're just ripping our guy.
Look, I'm just telling you the truth about it.
You lift up these people that are unbelievers as some kind of a hero,
but you know what?
They turn out to be hypocrites.
Because a person who doesn't have the Bible to guide them and give them consistency
is never going to be consistent.
You notice how political leaders are so inconsistent with what they believe?
The Bible is what keeps us consistent.
And if we ever get inconsistent, this will get us back on track of what's right and what's wrong.
The man who said, Mahatma Gandhi, the man who said, this is a famous quote,
this is whole religion, this one word, truth, he said.
He said this famous quote, God is truth.
And then he changed it later to truth is God.
The man who said truth is God said all religions are right.
That doesn't make any sense.
Jesus Christ saith unto him, he said, I am the way, the truth, the truth, the truth.
He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
And no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
You're not a Christian if you don't believe that.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
Jesus Christ said, sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth.
So the man who said I care about the truth believed in a lying religion of Hinduism,
which has thousands of gods, which keeps people in ignorance and darkness,
which is a religion that's exclusive to one nationality of people.
Who's ever met somebody who was a Hindu who was not Indian?
Now out of so many this week, I ran into about eight Hindus.
You're never going to guess what nationality they all were 100%.
They were not Mexicans.
They were all Indian.
It's their exclusive religion and it's a lie.
It teaches reincarnation.
It teaches that animals are people too and all this stuff.
You know, he even had this, you know, one thing that he confessed, you know,
before he died was how he stumbled in his steadfastness.
He felt really bad because he started drinking goat's milk
because the doctor told him, you know, you can't live off this other stuff you're eating.
You know, because he was on a fruititarian diet, it was called.
Just all fruit.
And finally he started drinking goat's milk,
but then he just kind of wished he would have just died
and didn't drink the goat's milk because he couldn't reconcile it in his mind.
You know, how he could drink.
You know, folks, that's the wisdom of this world.
That's the wisdom of this world.
That's the great one.
That's the great leader, the great hero.
You know, and I'm not saying he didn't do good things politically.
I don't really know that much about it.
I'm not the expert on that.
I'm all against taxes and colonialism and I'm for freedom.
But let me tell you something.
He was a hypocrite.
I mean, he's a fool.
Okay?
Because he says he promoted a lie.
And you know what?
I bet you he's responsible for a lot of people in India going to hell
because they look to him as their hero.
They have a national holiday in his honor.
He's their role model in India.
I mean, he's their hero.
And he gets up and says, yeah, Christians are hypocrites.
They're all hypocrites.
I love Jesus, but Christians are hypocrites.
No, you're the hypocrite, Gandhi.
You're the hypocrite.
And you know what?
You're right, Gandhi.
There are a lot of Christians who are hypocrites.
And shame on them.
But that doesn't change the truth.
It doesn't make God a hypocrite.
You say, Pastor Anderson, have you ever been a hypocrite?
I'm sure I have.
I'm sure there have been times when I was a hypocrite.
I think everybody at one time or another has been a hypocrite.
I'm not going to get up and say I've never been a hypocrite.
Look, if we weren't hypocrites, we wouldn't need this kind of sermon.
We need this sermon because all of us can become hypocrites
if we don't get reminded biblically of what a hypocrite is.
But you know what? That doesn't change this book.
See, my salvation is not based on Christians, Gandhi.
It's based on Christ.
You don't have to like Christians to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Gandhi.
He's looking at Christians saying, oh, they're this and they're that.
You know what? That's not the point.
Because I'm not saved by Christians. I'm saved by Christ.
I'm saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.
It doesn't matter what Christians do. It doesn't matter what churches do.
I don't care if every Christian in this world is the biggest hypocrite.
This book is still true.
And maybe Pastor Anderson is going to let you down at some point.
I hope I never let you down.
But if I do let you down, I hope you keep your eyes on Jesus
instead of your eyes on this man right here.
Because I'm not Jesus.
This is what it's about right here. And this has never changed.
You know, I went to churches and that church changed
and I was disappointed when it changed.
But this book didn't change.
God didn't change. Jesus Christ didn't change.
Let's beware of hypocrisy. Don't say one thing and do another.
Just be real.
And hey, if you're not what you're cracked up to be,
then don't pretend like you are.
You know what I mean? Just be who you are. Be real.
And we'll love you the way you are.
You know, nobody here expects everybody to be perfect.
You know, we're not going to jump down your throat if you're not perfect.
But just be who you are.
And number two, don't judge other people and try to straighten them out
when you're not straightened out.
You know, take care of yourself first before you start worrying about somebody else.
Get the beam out of your own eye before you want to go around correcting everybody else.
And number three, you know, don't fall for this phony liberalism,
this notice of hypocrisy. Be a true liberal.
And you know what? I said it. I'm a liberal.
Go ahead and walk out of here and pull up that.
Pastor Anderson's a liberal preacher.
It's true. Amen.
I'm going to add it to our statement of faith. We're liberal.
We're a liberal church, you know.
And then number four, you know what?
Unbelievers are hypocrites.
They think they know everything, maybe,
and they think that they're good enough or whatever it is, you know.
You ought to just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and humble yourself.
Humble yourself. You know what?
The difference between the opposite of being a hypocrite is really being humble, isn't it?
Because what's hypocrisy really about? Pride?
Making yourself seem like something you're not because of pride?
Wanting to look good on the outside when you're bad on the inside because of your pride?
The opposite of pride is humility.
Humility is coming to Jesus Christ and saying, you know what?
I don't deserve to go to heaven. I'm a sinner.
But I believe that you died for my sins.
That's believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Asking Him to save you. Trusting Him as your Savior.
Then you're not a hypocrite.
But, you know, if you trust in yourself and how good you are, you are a hypocrite.
You know, I don't want to go to church. Church is filled with hypocrites.
Well, do you go to the grocery store? Because I'm sure it's full of hypocrites too.
I mean, did you stop going to Panda Express because of all the hypocrites there?
Everybody is a hypocrite to an extent.
But we ought to be the least hypocrite and try not to be a hypocrite.
Because Jesus had some pretty harsh words toward hypocrites, didn't He?
So, pretty harsh words in Matthew 23.
So, let's not be a hypocrite. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your Word.
We thank you for Jesus Christ, our Savior.
I thank you that, you know, unlike Gandhi and his quest for truth, I've found the truth.
I'm at the end of my search for the truth. It's right here in the Bible.
And thank you for giving us your Word to tell us the truth, dear God.
And thank you so much, Father, for salvation is free, the gift of God's eternal life.
And Father, I just pray that you help me not to be a hypocrite.
God, I've preached, you know, over the last four and a half years I've passed through this church, I've preached some hard sermons.
I've preached a lot of Bible. I've preached 700 some odd sermons since I've been the pastor.
But God, help me to live Bible sermons so that I'm not a hypocrite.
Help me to do my best, dear God, and help everyone who's here to not just talk the talk, but to also walk the walk.
And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.