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

Amen. So keep your place there in Luke chapter 12. We're going to be referencing that in just a moment. This morning, I'm going to preach a sermon on a topic that I have not preached an entire sermon on before, and that is on the topic of hypocrisy. Now, I've mentioned hypocrisy before in the past in many different sermons, but I've never really preached a whole sermon on hypocrisy. So this is, of course, what Jesus was. His main problem with the Pharisees was he had a lot of problems with the Pharisees, but his main problem with the Pharisees was that they were hypocrites. And he talks about that in Luke chapter 12 all throughout the Gospels. We'll look at several other places this morning as well. But first of all, before we even get into the Bible, what is hypocrisy? I mean, what is the definition of it? When I think of hypocrisy and I think of, the Bible definition of hypocrisy, basically what it is is saying one thing and doing another thing or presenting one thing and really being another thing. And I have kind of, I was talking about this with my family and my wife this week, and we kind of came up with this categories of hypocrisy where there's like micro-hypocrisies and then there's macro-hypocrisy. What do I mean by that? So there's micro-hypocrisy, which is, you know, I'm really just really judgmental on a certain sin whereas I am doing that sin in private. So that's like a micro-hypocrisy, right? Where maybe I'm just over the top on one thing and it's really that I am into that thing in secret, right? But in the macro-level, and this is what we really need to think about this morning, the macro-level hypocrisy is really, for the Christian, the macro-level hypocrisy is really James chapter 2, right? I mean, it's really just teaching one thing, especially to our families, teaching this Christian life and you should do this, you should not do this, all these different things. And then we just don't live a Christian life ourselves, all right? So there's a macro-level there as well. Of course, we're all sinners, we're all going to remain sinners throughout our entire life, but it's literally just preaching one thing and then living a life that is completely different is that macro-hypocrisy, all right? So this morning, the reason I want to preach a sermon on hypocrisy is obviously it's for two reasons, all right? Obviously, we don't want to be hypocrites, all right? We don't want to be people that say one thing and do another thing, but really, and this is super important, I want you all to listen to this, I want you to be able to recognize hypocrisy because, you know, I think this church is great right now and we have like literally zero trouble in this church right now, but this has been a major problem in the past, all right? So I want all church members, this is like a hardening you and giving you wisdom here because I want you to be aware of signs of hypocrisy. So when, you know, somebody that is showing signs of this come in, you know, you are not fooled by that, all right? So it's kind of, you know, just for us to apply to our lives as none of us want to become hypocrites in any way. I mean, look, you could say that we're all hypocrites in one small way or another, but, you know, we don't want to be overall seen as hypocrites, but I also want you to be able to recognize hypocrisy. So I'm going to give you some signs of hypocrisy this morning and I'll give you some very specific examples as well. Look down at Luke chapter number 12 and look at verse number one. So this is what Jesus was calling out for, I mean, I don't even know how many times, I mean, it's more times than I could think of off the top of my head how many times he called the Pharisees hypocrites, all right? Look at verse one of Luke chapter number 12. In the meantime, they were gathered together in innumerable multitude of people and so much that they trode upon one another, he began to say unto his disciples, first of all, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees. So he's talking about beware of the leaven, leaven meaning sin, things they're doing wrong, what is the main leaven that he's talking about, which is hypocrisy, all right? But notice the first part of Luke chapter 12, the first part of that verse where it says in the meantime, meaning something had just happened before that. So we're going to go back and look at Luke chapter 11 in just a few minutes. But look at verse number two, it says, for there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. All right, so I want to give you some signs of hypocrisy this morning. But first of all, the sooner you can recognize hypocrisy in both yourself and in other people, the better off everyone will be, including the better off a church will be as well, all right? Because look, it can be hard, it can be hard to recognize hypocrites. I openly admit that it's difficult to recognize hypocrisy in other people at times, all right? Because I don't, you know, you don't live with other people in this church and you're not with other people. I mean, you see people at church on Sunday, you see people at church on Wednesday, you see people maybe soul winning out once or twice a week. But other than that, you know, we don't know what everybody else is doing when they're not at church, not soul winning, not at events. You know, I don't follow everyone home here and, you know, you don't follow me home or follow anybody else home here. So it's hard to know who could be a hypocrite and who could not be a hypocrite. So I'm gonna give you some specific signs that Jesus shows us, that the Bible shows us to look for. But this, by the way, is why kids are so good at recognizing hypocrisy. You say, why is that? Because they live with you. They see you all the time. They see how you operate. You say, okay, well, I don't want to be a hypocrite, so why do I handle that even, you know, in my own home? Well, I'm gonna explain that to you at the end as well. Turn to 3 John chapter number one. So we're looking at signs of hypocrisy. Look, we wanna recognize it. We even wanna recognize it in ourselves because Jesus says in Luke chapter 12 verse two, or was it verse three, that the, what verse was it? Verse number two is the verse of the week that there's nothing hit. It's gonna be uncovered, right? It's gonna be uncovered. So I wanna know problems with myself. I wanna know if there's hypocrisy elsewhere because it's gonna be uncovered at some point. Look at 3 John chapter number one. Look at 3 John chapter number one. So first sign of hypocrisy is this. And you think about what was the problem with the Pharisees? What was the problem that Jesus was having with the Pharisees? Or you could even say this, what was the problem that the Pharisees were having with Jesus? The Pharisees wanted, they wanted what? The first problem the Pharisees had with Jesus is they wanted to have the preeminence with the people. They wanted to be the spiritual leaders. They wanted to be the ones that were in charge. So here Jesus, the literal Messiah, Son of God comes along and they're like, oh man, I mean, we're not in charge anymore. The people are following this Jesus. And they wanted people to follow them. So the first sign of somebody that is a hypocrite is this. Look at 3 John chapter one, verse number nine. It says, I wrote unto the church, but Diotrophes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. That is the exact same problem that the Pharisees had with Jesus. The Pharisees were like, no, no, no. I want to be in charge. I want to be the religious leader. So look, people, I mean, these are the Absaloms. What did Absalom do? He stood in the gate. He secretly stood in the gate and he intercepted people. He put himself in a preeminent position and he intercepted the people before they could get to the king, before they could get to the proper, you know, God anointed leader. He intercepted people. He hired people to make himself look important. And he, why? Because he wanted to have the preeminence among the people. All right. So look, in church, in church, these people will ultimately always have trouble. Okay. Now look, I'm going to kind of explain this to you a little bit. A common question that I get asked, I've been asked this question so many times as a pastor and even as a satellite leader. Here's a common question I get asked. A question is, what about somebody that's unsaved in the church? So let's say that we have a visitor that comes into the church and we have a personal worker ministry, as all of you know. So anybody that comes to visit is going to be approached after church. So we ask people, you know, don't go and just like, you know, hit people with the gospel before church. We want to approach people after church. The personal worker will do this. Every single visitor that has ever come here is going to be approached male or female will be approached with the gospel after church. All right. And sometimes they get saved and sometimes they don't. But guess what? Sometimes they don't want to hear the gospel or maybe they even hear the gospel and they don't accept it and then they keep coming back to church. And a common question I get asked by people is, what about, what about people that are not saved that are in the church? And this is something that you just do not have to worry about at all, is what I tell people. Because what will happen inevitably in every single case is that people will either get saved or they will just stop coming. I mean, a blunt way of saying it is they get saved or they get out. They get saved or they get out. Why? Because the word of God, it cuts to the heart. The word of God cuts to the heart and somebody that's not saved, that doesn't believe the word of God, that is not going to accept the word of God, they're not going to stand to this type of preaching. It's just, it's not going to work out. So they're either going to accept it or they're going to go on their own. So it's not something you ever have to worry about. It always works out that way. I've never seen it work out any other way. It's not like you're going to have an unsaved person in church for years and then just more unsaved person, people in church, not as long as I'm preaching the word of God. Now, if I water everything down and I don't really like, I'm like, okay, I'm not going to preach this part, Romans one, the whole book of Romans, let's take out the whole Old Testament. You know, when I started doing stuff like this, that's how you get a church full of unsaved people. That's how you get a church where maybe there used to be the gospel preached. There used to be the word of God preached. And then you get some, you know, pastor retire, some new liberal kid comes in and just like waters everything down. And then you get like the ratio of like saved to unsaved goes like this for the next, you know, couple of years. Right. Pretty soon, nobody's saved and that's it. Right. So that's not going to happen here. As long as the word of God is being preached, the word of God, look, it's the discerner. It cuts to the heart. It hurts. It hurts if you're saved, much less if you, you know, if you're not, you're like, why would I listen to this if I don't even believe it in the first place? Right. So that's that. But you say, what about saved people? Well, here's the thing. And this kind of proves my point on the unsaved people too. A lot of saved people can't handle the preaching of the word of God. A lot of saved people you say, why is that? It's because they have hypocrisy in their life. That's why it's because they're hypocrites. They come into a church and they want people to think that they're a certain way, but eventually they just can't handle the preaching anymore. They, I mean, look, just think of it this way. A visitor comes in or a new person comes into the church. They're saved and they're a very prideful person. I'll just give you an example. They're a very prideful person. They want people to think, you know, that they're super spiritual. Here's a perfect sign of this. They want people to think that they're an expert on everything Bible or whatever. A common thing. Here's a common thing that has happened so many times. I can't even count it, but we'll be standing around in a group of people, fellowshipping. You're like, how can I recognize this person? Somebody asked the pastor a question and they answered. I mean, I just like you to say, doesn't that anger you? It's like, no, not at all. I would just like you to recognize it. That's all like, it doesn't anger me at all. I'm just like, in my mind, I'm like, everybody's seeing this? I mean, it happens. I mean, it doesn't happen here, but it's happened all the time. All right. These are absolons. These are people that what do they want to do? They want to separate people out unto themselves is what they want to do. That's why if you've ever wondered why, and I've explained this to a couple of you, but if you ever wonder why we're never going to have small Bible groups here, and we're never going to have just like these breakout sessions of all these things that are just led by whoever wants to lead something, that's never going to happen here because it's a breeding ground for weeds. It's a breeding ground for this type of person. All right. Look, people, the groups that we have here, whether it be soul winning times, Bible study, all those things, that's why Bible study is Wednesday night, everyone's here. They're going to be led by people that are either led by the pastor or led by people that I appoint to lead things, and everyone's going to be included. Everyone's invited, even if everyone doesn't show up. All right. So it's not like, okay. I mean, no, we have men's activities and things like that. That's not what I'm talking about. But the point is, is that those types of cultures where there's all these breakout sessions, I mean, before I was saved, I was in churches like this where there's all these breakout sessions of everything, and nobody knew anything. I would go to these little breakout young marrieds Bible studies or whatever, and it's like, no one's leading it. Maybe somebody's wife is leading it or something. Everybody's got a different Bible version. Nobody knows anything. It was an absolute mess. Nobody was learning anything. It was just mass confusion is all it was. All right. So look, the point is this. Hypocrites in a church, they won't last. They won't last in a church because eventually somebody that comes here and wants you to think that they're perfect and wants you to think that they have all the answers, they will not last because I've said this once. I'll say it again. We spend a lot of time together here. Eventually we are going to find out who you are. That's how a church works. And look, you know who I am, you know, for all my faults and imperfections, I know who you are, and eventually we'll find out who everyone is who comes to church here. And look, here's the thing. If you hit a wall in growth, if you hit a wall in your Christian growth, like, and others don't, talk isn't going to work anymore for that type of person because people are going to know like, hey, you know, everyone else is growing and we're not. So you're never going to be a spiritual leader if you can't be a spiritual walker is the point. You have to actually walk the spiritual life. Turn to Luke chapter 11. Turn to Luke chapter number 11. So in the same way, in the same way that an unsaved person is never going to last here because they can't handle the Word of God. Somebody that, that's why I tell you, I warn you against hitting walls in your Christian life. Hitting walls where you hear something preached and you're just like, yeah, but I'm not going to, I'm not going to do that though. Where you're a brand new Christian and you're just starting to learn the Bible, there's going to be a lot of things in the Bible that you're going to learn as a new believer because look, getting saved means doesn't mean anything as far as what you know the Bible says. It just means you know the simplest thing, which is the Gospel. But don't be careful about hitting walls in your Christian life. Like, well, I've been taught, you know, that, you know, I've been taught evolution. I'll throw out a stupid one. I've taught evolution since I was, you know, five. So I'm wrapping up. No, you got to throw all this stuff away because if you hit a wall in your Christian life, that's a danger to your Christian life because that means that when you hear the Word of God preached in that area, that's going to cut you. That's going to hurt you. You need to break down those walls, take those stumbling stones out of the way, take those stumbling blocks out of the way, and if it's in the Bible, believe it. Apply it. Period. No matter what you've been taught before. All right? That's the problem with prideful people, with hypocrites, is that once that those points where they're lacking start to be shown, that's when they're like, yeah, we're out of here. We got to go. All right? So go to Luke chapter 11. I'll show you another one. Luke chapter 11. Just before Luke chapter number 12, go back to Luke chapter 11 and look at verse number 53. The second point on how to recognize hypocrisy is that hypocrites will attack the true leadership. They will come after the true leaders. So that's why the Pharisees were attacking Jesus and they were doing it in this way. Notice in chapter 12, it said, in the meantime, meaning just after this happened, so we're just continuing what had just happened, but look at verse 53 of the previous chapter, it says, what had just happened, it says, as He said these things unto them, the scribes and Pharisees began to urge Him vehemently and provoke Him to speak of many things. So what were they doing? They're trying to catch Jesus in His words. They were trying to attack Jesus. That's why they asked all these silly questions about like, why don't you wash your hands and eat on the Sabbath day and all these different things that they're trying to catch. They ask Him, though, what about a woman whose husband dies and then her brother dies, the brother dies and the brother's, all this stuff, and they're trying to catch Jesus and something wrong by asking Him all these strange, weird things that they would never ask anybody else. All these just out of the blue things. It says, to provoke Him to speak of many things, they're just trying to get Jesus to talk of all these different things. Why? Laying weight for Him and seeking to catch something out of His mouth that they might accuse Him. This is so true. This is so true. Hypocrites try to catch the leader in something that He says. This has happened to me so many times. It's ridiculous. Just people just asking weird questions. Nothing any time in the recent past, but like the first year of the ministry, this was happening all the time to me. People were just asking all these weird personal questions to me, just being like, why in the world would you ever ask me something like that? But I mean, I'll be honest, I was ignorant about a lot of it, and I didn't really realize what was actually going on until I was in the midst of it, and a lot of it was over. But look, the Pharisees wanted to be in charge, and that's why they were doing this to Jesus. They were fighting Jesus for the attention of the people, so they were asking Him all these things, and people will do the same thing in church to the pastor. So don't ask me weird personal questions, okay? So that sign was people just trying to catch the leaders in words, just like they were doing to Jesus. They're trying to catch people, and they're attacking the leadership, all right? So hypocrites will attack the true leadership, all right? Here's another one. Look at Matthew chapter 23. Another sign of a hypocrite is that they become a person that is holier than thou. Have you heard the holier than thou? Look at Matthew 23, verse number 23. Jesus says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, mercy, judgment, mercy, and faith. Notice, I want you to notice how judgment and mercy go together there, all right? Because that's super important. We're going to get there in just a second. But judgment and mercy, God's philosophy towards judgment and his philosophy towards mercy are very similar, all right? And faith, and these ought ye have done, not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. He's saying, you guys are, you're doing all these things, these little things that people can see you do, but then you're doing all these massive horrible things, teaching false doctrine, and then just accusing everybody else of all these things, while you're swallowing a camel yourself. They're accusing people, you didn't tithe, and then they're preaching a false gospel. Think about that, all right? So look at verse number five of the same chapter, where Jesus says, I mean, basically what they're doing is, but all their works do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries, and they enlarge the borders of their garments, verse six, for the love of, they love the uppermost rooms at the feasts and the chief seats and the synagogues and the greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, rabbi, rabbi. They love the title and all this, and they just, everything that they do is, they make their, you know, they make their garments to be, you know, just extra elaborate, so, you know, kind of sounds like, you know, some other religions that we see today, but everything that they're doing is just to be seen of men, where in the, in the, you know, in the, in the darkness, where people can't see them, they're false prophets. They're sending people to hell with their teachings, all right? They're swallowing this huge camel, all right? So, the first one is, they're holier than thou's. This, or this, this one that we're looking at, they're holier than thou. These are people that want you to think that they are super spiritual. Everything that they do is visual, right? You walk into a room, and they quickly look like they're praying, or, you know, whatever. They want to just, like, every single thing that they say, like, have you ever met these people that, and look, we've had this too, like, every, every thing that they say is just way over the top, like, as far as, like, just super spiritual, like, you know, oh, the, the Lord this, and all this, and look, it's all great to talk about, you know, your faith, and we talk about the Bible all the time here, but everything's just way over the top, trying to get you to think that they are super spiritual people, all right? Look, there's something called the, the Dunning-Kruger effect. Who's heard that? Who's heard of that? There's this, it's this kind of this philosophy, this applies to the Christian life too. The Dunning-Kruger effect is this, it's kind of this methodology, it's this graph of, like, how much, how confident you are in a subject, and basically, you know, your confidence level in a subject is usually the highest when you know the least about it. So you're very confident in a subject, and then you begin to learn about the subject, and your confidence level drops very quickly, and then you're learning, you're learning, and your confidence level is way down here, but then you kind of start to maybe get maybe thousands of hours of experience, and you come back up, and, and you reach that expert level, you know, after, you know, you've learned a lot about it, and your confidence went to almost zero or below zero, and, but the point is, once you become an expert, your confidence level is still not where it was when you knew nothing, which is, you know, it's super interesting, but the Christian life is like that. The Christian life is like that, and what you have, these holier than vows, they know nothing about the Christian life, and they're at that beginning stage where they think that they're experts. They think that they're experts, and they're super confident in the Christian life. They've applied nothing. They know nothing. They're super prideful. They don't even want to learn anything. They don't want to hear the Bible and accept it and go down that curve and become an expert, but the point is, the more you learn the Bible, the more you learn what God wants for your life, the more humble it should make you. I mean, the Bible is humbling. The more you know the Word of God and apply that to your life and then fall short again and again, applying the Bible to your life, that's humbling. That should humble you, not make you prideful. So, hypocrites, they go out there, and they get a couple things right, and then to cover their shortfalls, they're just extra judgmental of everybody else, and they just come over the top on everybody else, and they're coming over there. These are the people that are nitpicking other people's kids. They're constantly nitpicking other people's families. They're constantly nitpicking other people's decisions. The problem is none of those things are their wheelhouse at all. So, the danger, turn to Matthew chapter number seven, the danger to becoming a holier than thou or the danger to the holier than thou's is that mercy and judgment operate in the same way. Look at Matthew chapter number seven, a very misunderstood few verses in the Bible here, but trying to operate in other people's wheelhouses isn't, look, it's not going to work out well for anybody that tries to do that. Look at Matthew chapter seven, look at verse number one. Judge not that ye be not judged. Now, everybody will just take that, all the liberal Christians take that and say, don't ever judge anybody. See, don't judge, but that's not what that says. As a matter of fact, John 7 24 says, judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. So, if Matthew 7 1 means don't judge at all ever, then the Bible has a clear contradiction here, because the Bible says, judge righteous judgment. And then in Matthew 7 1, it says, judge not that ye be not judged. What that is saying is, don't judge in a way where you couldn't handle that same level of judgment coming back at you. That's what Matthew 7 1 is explaining. And then it goes on to just completely elaborate that exact point that I made. Look at Matthew 7 2. I mean, it literally explains the verse. So, even if you interpreted Matthew 7 1 to be like, don't ever judge people, like the next verses would just disprove your interpretation. Look at verse number two, it says, with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. That goes for judgment and mercy. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but consider it's not the beam that is in thine own eye? So, it's saying, you know, here's another way to put it, a gnat and a camel. You got a gnat in your eye, and then you got a camel in your eye, and then you're judging a gnat in somebody else's eye. That's what Jesus would apply to the Pharisees. But another point I want to make here is that Matthew chapter 7 verse 1 through 3, what is this word that comes up? Your brother. So, it's talking about your brother. Not, you know, because people will apply, you know, don't ever judge who they apply that to. They don't apply that to their brother. They apply that to wicked haters of God. So, not only do they misinterpret the verse number one, but they apply it to like just wicked haters of God. So, like you can't ever judge evil. In this world, which is ridiculous. This is how, I mean, this is why you have to have the Bible. This is why you have to have the Bible. This is why, you know, conservatives today, they're like, where did it all go wrong when you left the Bible? That's where it went wrong. Like how did all this happen? Because you left the Bible. Because without the Bible, you won't even know what a man or a woman is. Without the Bible, you'll be confused. I literally heard in the news today that like a chromosome, you got this Olympic boxer beating up chicks that just won the gold medal. You got this guy that beat up a bunch of girls and won a gold medal for it. And they're like, well, you know, chromosome test, because look, this guy has XY chromosomes. Fat. And they're like, well, that's not really a scientifically accepted, you know, explanation for what a man is anymore. I'm like, okay, how did we get to this point? Because you left the Bible. That's how. How did we get so, you can't even literally understand the news articles you read about it. You're like, what in the world? Who's who? Who's what? You know, you can't even understand it. You just want to put it all away. But how did we get there? Because we left the Bible. Because as soon as you leave the Bible, you no longer have righteous judgment. But Matthew 7 is talking about being judgmental towards your brother in things that you're struggling with yourself. So you're probably not going to be able to help your brother, you know, your fellow brother in Christ, you know, get off of alcohol or drugs when you're drunk. This is what he's talking about. It's very, very simple. But you wonder just like, where did it all go wrong today? Because people left the Bible. There's no judgment left for anybody that doesn't have the Bible. That's how we've just entered into just ultimate perversion. Because people have left the Bible. Look at verse number four, Matthew chapter 23 in verse number 24. Oh, how wilt thou say to who? Somebody who hates the Lord? No, thy brother. Let me pull out the moat out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye. This is very similar to James chapter two. How can you be a prophet to anybody? You can't be a prophet to anybody when you're a hypocrite. You can't even help your brother when you're a hypocrite. You know, I've even heard Dave Ramsey like talk about this on like a financial level. Like somebody who's just drowning in debt and then somebody wants to borrow money from them. He's like, and they're like, should I borrow, you know, like I have $120,000 in credit card debt and my brother-in-law wants to borrow $5,000. Should I do that? He's like, no, you can't help somebody when you're, I mean, just apply Matthew chapter seven. You can't help somebody when you've got a railroad tie in your eye. So get the railroad tie out of your eye, then maybe you can help somebody. Maybe you can give somebody, you know, righteous judgment to follow. But also, you know, the methodology here, it's really important that we understand that the methodology of judgment applies to mercy as well. That's just kind of a side note, is that the more merciful you are to people, the more merciful to God, the more merciful God will be to you. And that's an important thing towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. It'll be measured back to you. So if you're a hypocrite, if you're someone that is just constantly judging other people's decisions, their families, you know, okay, but you better have yours in order. 100% of the time. Otherwise, you know, the safer bet, though, is to just remain in your own wheelhouse. But hypocrites don't do that. Hypocrites are constantly operating outside their wheelhouse, you know, being extra judgmental. Turn to Job chapter 36. Job chapter number 36. So look, there are signs of hypocrisy, folks. There are signs to hypocrisy. There's people that will attack the leadership that God wants in charge, just as the Pharisees were attacking Jesus. There's people that want to become over spiritual and seem extra spiritual. There's people that are just, you know, constantly operating outside of their wheelhouse. We need to guard against hypocrisy, and we need to watch out for hypocrisy amongst us. All right, look at Job chapter 36. Look at verse number 11. We need to guard against this. If they obey and serve him, verse number 11, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years and pleasures. But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge. But the hypocrisies in heart, the hypocrites in heart, heap up wrath. They cry not when he bindeth them. So this is the thing that we need to realize about hypocrisy, is just like every other sin, hypocrisy starts in our heart. Before you even start acting as a hypocrite, it affects your heart. So the solution to hypocrisy is very simple for us personally. It is to remain humble in our lives. It is to remain humble as God blesses us, as we grow in this Christian life. As you get some things right, do not get puffed up about those things. As you learn about the Bible, apply the Bible to your life, and then you see that the Bible being applied to your life is actually working for you, as God says that it will work for you, stay humble through all of that. You cannot let yourself get puffed up in this Christian life. Because look, and here's another thing, we're all growing here. And everybody in a church is at different stages of growth in the Christian life. So all you need to do is worry about your Christian growth in your wheelhouse, your family, and realize this, everyone struggles in their Christian life. Everyone is going to have bumps along the way. You don't have to cover up the bumps along the way. You don't have to stumble in your Christian life and then get right, or maybe you have something going on. You don't have to try to pretend to be that you're something you're not, because we're all growing here. And I can guarantee you, if you are going through something, this is where that edification comes in, in just helping each other out. That's why it's important to be together as a church with your brothers and sisters, because look, I guarantee you that as you're growing in your Christian life, and you have problems in your Christian life, I guarantee you you're not the only one that's faced that particular issue. I guarantee that you are not the only one who has run into some type of persecution that you're going through, there's some kind of struggle that you're going through, getting over something that you've been used to, or maybe something that you were into, you're trying to get out of. You're not the only one that's gone through that. And that's, I mean, look, that's a powerful thing. That's a powerful thing to know that you're amongst a group of people that have also come through that, that have also been, I mean, look, that's why, you know, the church is here to support you through those things. Well, you just pretend like you're this perfect person. You're just all prideful. Look, it's not going to work. It's going to be uncovered. It's going to be uncovered. And then you're this prideful person that have all these problems. And then it gets uncovered. And you're like, well, I got to go now. Well, no, that's not what we want. We want to know that we're all flawed because guess what? We all are, including the pastor. We're all flawed people. And you struggle, you move on, you struggle, you move on, you struggle, you move on, and we support each other along the way. That's how a church is supposed to work. And the minute you get some prideful hypocrite, it's just, it's going to not lead to a good place. And, you know, look, here's another thing. Kids, kids, how do I protect against hypocrisy in my home? Because I'm not a perfect parent. How do I protect against my kids thinking I'm a hypocrite? Here's how you do it. When you do something wrong as a parent, you acknowledge it. Because here's another huge problem with parents, because here's the thing. We're a family integrated church. These kids are learning the Bible. These kids are learning what the Bible says. They're sitting here and they're listening to the same thing that you are. And by the time they're eight, nine, ten years old, they're going to be saying things to you and you're just going to be like, what in the world? They're going to be reading through the Bible and they're going to be telling you things that they've observed through the story of the Exodus or whatever it is. And you just be like, I've never thought of that before. They are learning the Bible. And by the time, look, by the time a child is six years old in this church, they know more Bible than the average American adult, I guarantee you, six years old. So how do you think they're going to be when they're 13? You're not going to be able to go home and do things wrong and not know or not have them know that you just messed up. So like, what in the world? How are my kids going to not think I'm a hypocrite? Here's how they're not going to think. You think that I'm a, you think that I'm perfect? You think that I'm a perfect dad? You think that I'm a perfect husband? No, I make a lot of mistakes. But you know what I do? You know, and I'm, I'm, I'm going to, I'm not prideful, but I'm telling you the truth. I'm good at this. I apologize when I'm wrong. I know when I'm wrong and I apologize. When I do something wrong, I apologize to my wife and I mean it. When I do something wrong that the kids observed, I apologize to my kids. I tell them, you know what, I should have handled that differently. And I don't do but apologies either. I shouldn't handle that differently, but no, I own it. And that's what, I mean, look, people that can't apologize, people that can't apologize, they're going to lose friends. But the worst thing is people that can't apologize are going to lose their kids. And they're going to lose their kids because they're going to be seen as hypocrites to their children. They're going to say one thing and they're going to do another because look, we all say one thing and then do another at times. We just have to own those things. We just have to humble ourselves and do those things. People that can't apologize, the worst thing about that is they will drive their kids away. And it's a terrible thing. It's a terrible thing to see. So look, work on yourself. Stay humble in your life. Stay in your own wheelhouse. There's enough to handle there. There's enough to handle with yourself, with your own family, with your own responsibilities that God has given you in the Bible. There's no need to step outside that and start, you know, going after other people's wheelhouses. But here's another thing, and I really want, especially this group of people right here, I want you to be able to recognize it. Because if you follow a hypocrite, they will ruin you. I have met so many people in my life that they simply followed the wrong person. So much hope you see in somebody. So much hope you see in a growing Christian and then they ruin it all because they follow a hypocrite. They follow the wrong person. It is a life ruiner. It will take your Christian life and it will drop it off a cliff because they're just, they're going to drag you right off with them. And it's not that hard to recognize this. And that's like, that's the main reason I preach this sermon because I would never want any of you to get dragged off by, and look, they will come here. These type of people will come here. It's, it's guaranteed. Look, so hypocrisy attacks us all. Okay, it attacks us personally. It's going to attack a church, you know, whether it be micro hypocrisy in one specific thing or just a macro hypocrite, you know, who's just a hypocrite in his Christian life. But the answer is, is for us personally, the answer is just humility. Just stay humble. Just stay humble. We're nothing. We're nothing. Let's grow. Let's do the best we can. Let's listen to the Bible. Let's apply it to our lives. Let's grow. When you trip up, big deal. Keep growing. Move forward. Stay humble. You're like, oh, I tripped up. I don't want so many. Everyone trips up. Just stay humble. And then you get a whole bunch of things right. Stay humble. God blesses you with a whole bunch of things. Stay humble though. Stay humble. And then just recognize it. Watch for these signs that Jesus is telling us about in the Bible. Recognize it and stay away from it. And God forbid don't follow it. Because they'll take you down with them. Trust me. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.