THERE'S TOO
MANY HYPOCRITES!
THIS EXCUSE IS SOMETIMES HEARD FROM PEOPLE
WHO WON'T PUT THEIR FOOT INSIDE A CHURCH DOOR.
FUNNY THOUGH ISN'T IT?
THESE
SAME PEOPLE WILL ATTEND GOLF DAYS WITHOUT MINDING ABOUT ALL THE HYPOCRITES THAT
HAVE GONE THERE FOR THE DAY - YOU KNOW THE ONES THAT COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT
GOLF BUT JUST WANT TO DO BUSINESS.
WHAT ABOUT THE DOCTOR OR THE DENTIST WHO FIXES OUR TEETH. WE DON'T SEEM TO MIND THAT HE'S ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY AND REALLY SEES IT AS A MEANS TO AN END.
BUT WHEN IT COMES TO MATTERS CONCERNING THEIR ETERNAL SOUL SOME FOLKS JUST GET ALL SELFRIGHTEOUS, DON'T THEY?
******************************
"AND AS IT IS APPOINTED
UNTO MEN ONCE TO
DIE, BUT AFTER THIS THE JUDGMENT.” (Hebrews 9:27)
"SO THEN EVERYONE OF US SHALL GIVE
ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF TO GOD."(Romans 14:12)
YOU'RE PROBABLY CORRECT!
The word "hypocrite" comes from the word for "actor". You don't have to look too far these days before you run across a hypocrite. Of course you can easily spot one in a church.
SOME HYMNS THAT ARE SUNG IN CHURCHES TODAY
*
"When morning gilds the skies, My heart awakening cries, Oh no, another
day!"
*
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like you."
* Jesus I am resting, resting,
resting, resting, resting, rest.
* The strife is o'er, the
battle's one,
Our church has split and our
side won.
* The church's one foundation,
Is tax deductible.
WHAT ABOUT THESE?
* People in churches are
singing about "Sweet Hour of Prayer" and are only content with 5
minutes a day.
*
They sing "Onward Christian Soldiers" and wait around to be drafted
into His service.
*
Christians sing "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" and don't even use
the one they have.
*
People sing about "Blessed be the Tie that Binds" yet the least
little bit of offense will sever it.
* Christians sing "I Love
To Tell the Story" and yet never mention it at all.
*
Christians sing about "Cast Thy Burden Upon the Lord" yet worry themselves
into a nervous breakdown.
* Sometimes they sing "O
Day of Rest and Gladness" and wear themselves out travelling, cutting grass or playing
golf on Sunday.
*
Often churches sing "Throw Out the Lifeline" and content themselves
with throwing out the fishing line.
DOUBLE STANDARDS
Yes my friend, there sure are
phonies in every crowd and you don't have to inquire too far to see one. You
may be one of the people who won't go near a church because of their
"double standards".
But
let me put it this way - are you in an area of employment where everyone is
100% authentic and real? Is there no - one where you work who is a hypocrite? Perhaps
you're in the Insurance Industry? Met anyone there who isn't doing the
right thing? Met anyone there who told a lie to get a policy written? I think
that's called fraud.
Perhaps
you work at a garage. Maybe at one time or another your garage
"misquoted" on a job and the customer ended up paying more for
repairs than they should have?
I think that's called lying.
Perhaps you work at a restaurant
which advertises the freshest of foods and ingredients in all recipes and
dishes. Has there ever been a time when you suspected that the chef wasn't
doing this in order to cut costs? Is this being hypocritical?
Now
I wonder what your reaction has been to discovering fraud, lying and hypocrisy
in your workplace. I should imagine that you would have "downed" tools
or got out from behind your desk, gone to the owner or the boss and handed in
your resignation and left never to return (such would be your distaste and
disgust for hypocrites).
Or
have you just stayed put and kept your mouth shut. Perhaps you even enjoyed the
jokes with your mates about the customer who got overcharged because he/she was
a bit of a "stand-over merchant" and it was good to see them get
taken down a peg or two.
I
think we're starting to see that hypocrisy in all of us. Let's hear what the Bible
says about everyone of us:
"As
it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: ...There is none that
seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become
unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Their
throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the
poison of asps is under their lips:
Whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are
in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of
God before their eyes. (Romans 3:10-13,14-17,18)
You
might be thinking, "Man, this sounds a bit rough. I wonder who God is
referring to here - these must be dreadful criminals of the highest
order?"
No my friend, this is God's
description of you and me. But wait, there's more!
"For
from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:" (Mark 7:21-22)
"The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know
it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
Now
don't get upset, this is what the Bible says that you and I are like - and it
gets worse!
"But we are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do
fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6)"There is not a just man upon
earth that doeth good, and sinneth not." (Ecclesiastes.7:20)
"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt and
done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from
heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand,
and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy:
there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
(Psalm 14:1-3)
"For
all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. " (Romans 3:23)
"Every man at his best state is altogether vanity." (Psalm 39:5)
WELL THERE YOU HAVE IT,
STRAIGHT FROM GOD'S MOUTH!
MAYBE YOU DO HAVE A GENUINE GRIPE
Maybe at some point in time someone in a church
hurt you or one of your relatives and you've never forgotten it. Maybe the
pastor forgot your name, didn't visit your sick mother in hospital before she
died?
BUT
COULD WE TURN OUR ATTENTION
TO
HOW GOD HAS TREATED YOU
RATHER THAN SINFUL AND FAILING MEN.
"For
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. But
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us." (Romans 5:6,8)
"All
we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the
Lord hath laid on him ( that's Jesus Christ ) the iniquity of us all. "
(Isaiah 53:6) "Thus saith the Lord, What
iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me,
and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?" (Jeremiah 2:5)
If a Christian has treated you badly, is this
any excuse for you to reject a heavenly Father who has treated you with such
tenderness and concern?
The writer in Jeremiah goes on to say
"Did you find any iniquity in God? Has not the Lord treated you
well?"
GOD IN HEAVEN HAS TREATED YOU WELL. My friend, while we
were yet sinners, God sent Jesus Christ to die for everyone's sins and pay the
total penalty with His blood. My friend. Jesus Christ has taken all of your
sins and written across them "PAID IN FULL". The Bible goes onto say
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
SAVED FROM WHAT?
Simple - saved from burning forever in the
Lake of Fire (the penalty for sin).
Call on Him today and be saved. The Bible
says "... it is appointed unto men once to die,
but after this the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27)
Hypocrites or no hypocrites in the church
will not take away the fact that the Bible says you will need Jesus Christ as
your advocate on the Day of Judgment - without Him you're lost forever. If not,
you will spend eternity with all the other burning hypocrites who wouldn't call
upon the name of Jesus to be saved.
Harley Hitchcock
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com