Hypocrites Defined
Why do we want to find out how Jesus defined hypocrites?
I remember the first time Jesus’ Holy Spirit brought it to my attention that I was a hypocrite! Hallelujah! I remember saying in my spirit, “Lord, that sounds like me.”
I heard, again, in my spirit, “Really?”
Hypocrites Destroy
An hypocrite with [his] mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. – Pro 11:9 KJV
Life eternal is defined by Jesus as knowing God the Father and His Son Jesus in John 17:3. Through the knowledge of His true nature, we are delivered from the destruction of hypocrisy.
“Yes,” I answered. “I made some people really angry when I told them that I had quit smoking and they could too. They say four-letter words in my holy presence! I don’t do that anymore and it makes me angry when others do.”
The First Hypocrite That Jesus Defined Was Me!
I had a whole list of my awesome holiness and was so thankful that I was not like other people! And I made sure other people knew my beliefs! I got a lot of disgusted looks, and people were not responding “right.”
Jesus Defines Hypocrisy
Thankfully, the preacher was preaching on that very Scripture that day in church and I had my first ah-ha moment that I could be a very unattractive hypocrite just like the scribes and Pharisees!
Let’s take a closer look at those verses Jesus used to begin warning me of hypocrisy. We will see why it is very important to find out how hypocrites are defined in Scripture!
I was reading Luke 18:9-14. When I got to the following verses:
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. – Luk 18:11-12 KJV
Hypocrites Love to Pray!
The problem is that the hypocrite is praying “thus with himself!” He even addresses himself as “God.” This almost sounds like the “model prayer” that we hear taught in religious circles. “God, I thank thee.” But it leads to praising self, “that I am not like other men!” Oh no!
Unfortunately, as with much of the so-called praise and worship songs, we are praising ourselves and our own works.
And when thou prayest, 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. – Mat 6:5 KJV
This does not mean that we shouldn’t pray or praise and worship publicly. It does mean that we should know God and His Son Jesus. And we should know who we are in Him. I was sowing His incorruptible seed into my heart when He revealed these truths to me. Then, He expounded through the audible voice of my pastor.
Jesus Defined Hypocrites
Therefore when thou doest [thine] alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. – Mat 6:2 KJV
Again, Jesus explains that when we do things to please men, we are not right in our hearts.
Have you ever heard that if it looks good, feels good, or tastes good, it must be sin? Proverbs 11:23 says that the desire of the righteous is only good! And Psalm 37:4 says that God gives us the desires of our hearts. Both agree that the righteous person can safely follow the desires of his heart!
This is contingent upon delighting yourself in the Lord and believing that you are His righteousness based on His finished work not dependent on our works (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 3:21, Philemon 1:6). Our good works are fruit from His righteousness working in us.
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen [are] temporal; but the things which are not seen [are] eternal. – 2Co 4:18 KJV
Motives Matter
The righteous know God and truly fear Him (Malachi 3:16). And their faith becomes effective by acknowledging that the King of kings and Lord of lords has chosen to take up permanent residency in them.
That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. – Phm 1:6 KJV
There is a common thread running through many of these verses where hypocrites are defined by Jesus. Hypocrites are defined as men-pleasers.
Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. – Mat 6:16 KJV
Fasting is a Christian discipline that is near and dear to my heart. Jesus taught me to fast through His Word by His Holy Spirit. Just like God, fasting is miraculous and practical! There is much scientific evidence of the benefits of fasting for our physical bodies.
But fasting to look holy to men is hypocrisy. It is vanity.
Commandments of Men
I just suffered through a course on marriage and family. The problem with the instruction was that the commandments of men were heavily emphasized. There were heavy expectations and burdens put on both husbands and wives. This is contrary to the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.
[Ye] hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with [their] lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men. – Mat 15:7-9 KJV Also Mark 7:6
With all teachings, including my own writing, you have to spit out the bones. It is very important to know Jesus and discern His Holy Spirit from useless noise and distractions. Reading the Bible for yourself and asking God’s Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to you is how to discern between God and everything else.
Liberty in Christ
Isaiah 61:1 and Luke 4:18 both tell us the same things. Jesus came to set the captives free. He came to set at liberty those that are bruised.
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty. – 2Co 3:17 KJV
When we begin doing, saying, teaching anything contrary to that we are defined as hypocrites!
Signs and Wonders
The Pharisees and Sadducees came to tempt Jesus. In Matthew 16:1-4, they asked Him to show them a sign. These religious leaders knew the Scripture inside and out. But they didn’t know the Lord. We are promised that we will do the same works that Jesus did. He said we would do even greater works (John 5:20, 36, 14:12). But we aren’t to seek the signs and wonders. And we certainly shouldn’t look at someone in the physical to cast doubt and unbelief towards God and His Word.
And in the morning, [It will be] foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O [ye] hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not [discern] the signs of the times? – Mat 16:3 KJV
In Matthew 16:4, Jesus says that “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.” Those who say they believe God but will only believe what they see with their physical sight will not be given a sign. Jesus turned and walked away from them.
Seek the Provider, not the provision. The Healer, not the healing. It is powerful to study the names of God. And get to know Him. Because with God, believing comes before seeing.
Seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness takes time and effort. Sowing into relationships with our most important peeps takes time and effort.
Seeking first the rewards allows us to make excuses for our spiritual laziness and unbelief. It also allows us to accuse God and everyone else of falling short because we are unwilling to take responsibility for our own choices.
Hypocrites Defined
Hypocrites destroy with their mouths. As we have seen already that they care more about pleasing men and teaching the doctrine of man than teaching and believing the Word of God.
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in [yourselves], neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. – Mat 23:13 KJV
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. – Mat 23:14 KJV
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. – Mat 23:15 KJV
We see the Apostles fighting the bondage that hypocrisy tries to put Christians back under (Galatians 2:4). Paul rebuked Peter openly in Galatians 2:11-14. Peter separated himself from the Gentiles (uncircumcised) for fear of being persecuted by the “circumcised.” He also led other Jewish Christians and even Barnabas to separate from the “unclean Gentiles.”
Thank God that Paul was there and bold enough to set Peter straight in love!
Scribes and Pharisees Defined as Hypocrites
The gnat that Jesus is talking about is tithing. He is saying that the weightier matters have been omitted! Have you ever strained to pay tithe and offerings? Don’t be deceived. If money, the least important thing, is difficult for you to trust God, where is your faith really?
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. – Mat 23:23 KJV
[Ye] blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. – Mat 23:24 KJV
When it comes to true riches. The weightier matters are how you treat people. If you don’t have faith to trust God with your increase, do you really believe that you are trusting Him at all?
The hypocrites Jesus was talking with paid their tithes. But Jesus explains in Mark 12:44 and Luke 21:3 that the heart of the poor widow was more pleasing. Why? Because she gave everything she had!
Don’t try this at home! God gives you the desires of your heart. Practice giving where you want to give! You are free to hear God’s voice for yourself and do whatever He tells you to do or not! Again, your choice.
What about robbing God?
Robbing God?
Malachi 3:8 explains that we are robbing God in tithes and offerings. John 3:18 says that we are already condemned until we believe and receive salvation through Jesus. Malachi 3:9 was under the Old Testament/Covenant. But we are still robbing God of the opportunity to bless us extraordinarily when we don’t trust Him with the least important things. Money is the least.
Are we using our God-given resources to love people? Or are we loving money and using people?
We are called to use our resources to feed His sheep. Go! We are commanded to go into all the world and to reveal the love of God to a hurt and dying world.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it]. – Mal 3:10 KJV
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. – Mal 3:11 KJV
And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts. – Mal 3:12 KJV
These verses explain how God wants to bless us. He has always wanted to bless and not curse. We are the ones who choose the life that He has offered. Or to reject His lovingkindness!
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! – Mat 23:37 KJV
God is saying, “I want to bless you! But you would not!”
Hypocrites Accuse God
Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken [so much] against thee? – Mal 3:13 KJV
Ye have said, It [is] vain to serve God: and what profit [is it] that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? – Mal 3:14 KJV
And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, [they that] tempt God are even delivered. – Mal 3:15 KJV
People who say that God is in control and using bad things to accomplish His will are accusing Him. I have believed and heard others say that God is even using the devil to accomplish His will. I was stupid! Truly ignorant of God and His true nature and character.
I was a hypocrite. One foot was in grace and mercy and the goodness of God that leads to repentance. But I had the other foot and both hands bound in trying to please God with my own dead works and self-righteousness.
Then I learned that those who truly fear the Lord don’t accuse Him of evil.
The Fear of the LORD
Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard [it], and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. – Mal 3:16 KJV
Let’s think upon His name. Do you know of one name of the Lord that brings death, destruction, poverty, etc.? When did sin, sickness, and all of the other evil enter the earth? In Genesis 3. When will he be cast out ushering in the new heaven and earth (Revelation 21)? The deceiver (Revelation 20:10) is cast out once and for all in Revelation 20.
Everyone will be judged according to his works according to Revelation 20:11-14. But Revelation 20:15 explains that each person’s eternal destination is only contingent upon whether or not their name is written in the book of life.
Shouldn’t we focus on our works then? NO!
Focus on Jesus
Just as Malachi 3:16 tells us. We should focus on Jesus and His name. He is named throughout the entire Bible. Old and New! We can have boldness in that day if we will just believe Him! As He is, so are we in this world. That is what He says!
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. – 1Jo 4:17 KJV
Let God do the works in you and through you. Focus on delighting in Him and you will want to!
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. – Jhn 14:10 KJV
Inside Out
When we stop trying to look good and even act good to other people to please them, there is freedom!
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. – Mat 23:25 KJV
[Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [which is] within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. – Mat 23:26 KJV
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men’s] bones, and of all uncleanness. – Mat 23:27 KJV
Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. – Mat 23:28 KJV
Hypocrites are bound up in this and are absolutely dead on the inside. It is horrific. I was there, and I have been set free by the Truth. His name is Jesus!
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17) to bear much fruit (Ephesians 5:9).
The true nature and character of God are revealed in His Son Jesus (John 14:7-9) and in His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25)!
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. – 1Ti 3:16 KJV