The Cure for Hypocrisy
By
Pastor Matt Black
05 February 2006
Lord's Day Evening
Isaiah 1:10-31
Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of Isaiah 1:10-31. We all deal with hypocrisy in our lives. The passage we will deal with tonight gives us the cure.
I. Get Real! (1:10-17)
Living in Israel now is like what it was like in Sodom and Gomorrah. Sin is paraded. Sin is an accepted lifestyle. Here in this verse, God uses some key phrases—
1. Hear the Word of the LORD—Isaiah wasn’t making this up! This was a “davar” from God. The davar (word) referred to the prophetic vision Isaiah was delivering, and it was binding. It was the authoritative rule of faith and practice.
2. Give ear unto the Law of our God—this is the “torah” of God. This is a metaphor that again tells us that God’s Word is a Law. It is binding. It compels us with a force—a reward for obedience and a threat for disobedience.
So listen to what God is saying, but also
1. Self-righteous religion Means nothing to the Lord
2. Self-righteous religion Adds nothing to the Lord
· I am full of the burnt offerings of rams,
· The fat of fed beasts—has the idea of the most expensive and best of animals. It doesn’t matter if you try to give God your best. Your best without your heart adds nothing to God!
3. Self-righteous religion Does nothing for the Lord.
· and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats—blood was the core effectiveness in the sacrifices. It was a picture of the sacrifice of the coming Messiah. Yet, this sacrifice was in no way related to Christ—it was offered with no heart! It was like coming to God with a demonic faith—a faith that knows but never reaches the heart. It is a faith without repentance which is no faith at all.
·
So listen to what God is saying, let go of self-righteousness, and
· When ye come to appear before me—When you come and literally see my face! This is the purpose of worship. We are to look into God’s face. We will be changed by it! We will realize that our sacrifices of self-righteousness were never required by God.
1. When you look at God you must see your actions as He sees them.
§ who hath required this at your hand If you bring your sacrifice with no heart, God did not require that. It nullifies the sacrifice. We can bring hymns, Bible reading, prayers, witnessing, etc. to God, but with no heart, it is like bring something God never asked for!
2. When you look at God your life is seen as it really is.
§ to tread my courts? --this was literally a “trampling” of God’s courts. All it was indeed was a noise of feet on the pavement. It was a religion of popularity but without power. There were multitudes of sacrifices, but it was nothing but numbers, nickels and noses. The only thing that was accomplished was the noise of feet. As Jesus said:
Matthew 6:2
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
So listen to what God is saying, let go of self-righteousness, look at God, and finally,
1. God rejects your false Offerings
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
2. God hates your feigned Fellowship:
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
Religious duty and personal iniquity is an unholy alliance! If you’re not right with God, what does it matter that you are in church. Is your heart right?
3. God will not listen to your fake Prayers!
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Are you living a life of hypocrisy like the people Isaiah was preaching to? We need to get real about God and ourselves. We need to make a transparent assessment of ourselves, but we cannot leave it there! We must not just tell the truth about ourselves. We must turn to God. That brings us to our next point. We must Get Real, but secondly, we must…
II. Get Right! (1:16-23) God offers pardon, but how?
A. God demands Immediate Repentance—you must live by the Law of Immediate Obedience! Anything else is not obedience.
1. By Decisive Abandonment of the old life. “cease” 3 Ps
Mark 9:43
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
§ Purge--16 Wash you, Do what it takes to get rid of the evil. Throw your TV, your Internet, leave your friends, change your job!
§ Purify--make you clean; Keep doing it—follow through!
§ Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; Get accountability! Make sure there are eyes on earth that are watching you like God’s eyes in heaven!
In summary, this is how you “cease to do evil”
2. By Development of a new mind “learn” 17 Learn to do well;
Ephesians 4:24
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Revelation 21:5
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
3. By Determining new objectives and priorities “seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” No longer are you worried about your own success and well being and reputation. You are concerned about others! You are no longer a consumer, as we spoke of this morning, but you are a care giver! You are a provider and a producer!!
Psalm 105:4
Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.
God not only demands immediate repentance, but we also see…
B. God offers Imputed Righteousness! 18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Their hands are bloody—all the evidence is there—blood is on their hands.
James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
C. God delivers a Sobering Realization.
a. First we see our Accountability.
§ If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: We are responsible for our own actions. We will all give an accoung
§ 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
§ Sword—this was the sword of the Assyrians—they would come with judgment. They would be decimated but not destroyed, because though they lived like Sodom, God would not destroy them like Sodom because of the believing remnant.
b. Then we see God’s Assessment!
§ 21 How is the faithful city become an harlot!
§ it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
§ 22 Thy silver is become dross, --When silver is like dross it shows that it is totally corrupted.
§ thy wine mixed with water: --Once one little drop of water hits the wine, every particle in the wine is affected and diluted. Thisis how it is with our sins!
§ 23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards:--they follow after money
§ they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.—they forsake the needy!
So we see that we need to Get Real, and Get Right… or else we will receive God’s Retribution!
III. Or, Get Retribution (1:24-31)
1. His Energy 24 Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel,
2. His Enemies—Any talk of God hating the sin and loving the sinner is done away with in this verse. He calls these people his foes and his enemies! Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
1. There is a Restoration of David’s rule (Christ’s Rule) 25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: 26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. 27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
Acts 2
29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
2. There is a Reckoning on the Day of Judgment (Christ’s Wrath). 28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. 29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. 30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. 31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.
Psalm 2 Kiss the Son! 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
Conclusion: The only cure for hypocrisy is a real assessment of yourself and a real repentance toward God. If you are real and repent, you will see Christ rule in your life. If not “sinners shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous” on the Great Day of the Lord!