HYPOCRISY, AND THE BELIEVER

READ: Matthew 15:1-9
These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. —Matthew 15:8
The caller to the radio program mentioned religion, so the radio talk show host began to rant about hypocrites. “I can’t stand religious hypocrites,” he said. “They talk about religion, but they’re no better than I am. That’s why I don’t like all this religious stuff.”
This man didn’t realize it, but he was agreeing with God. God has made it clear that He can’t stand hypocrisy either. It’s ironic, though, that something God opposes is used by some people as an excuse not to seek Him.
Jesus said this about hypocrisy: “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:8-9).
Notice what Jesus said to perhaps the biggest hypocrites of His day, the Pharisees. In Matthew 23, He called them hypocrites—not once, not twice, but seven times! They were religious people who were putting on a big show, but God knew their hearts. He knew they were far from Him.
Non-Christians who point out hypocrisy in us when they see it are right in doing so. They are agreeing with God, who also despises it. Our task is to make sure our lives honor the One who deserves our total dedication. — Dave Branon
Hypocrisy is a common sin That grieves the Lord above;He longs for those who’ll worship Him In faith and truth and love. —Bosch
The devil is content to let us profess Christianity as long as we do not practice it.

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What an interesting and insightful devotion today!

When reading different blogs on various beliefs I am amazed with how true the above devotion subject is. Many atheist and non believers sight HYPOCRISY as being the number one reason not to believe in the Christian or Biblical God, and in so doing are in totally agreement with the Christian and Biblical God!

While reading the Scriptures I am struck with the fact that the many of the reasons for God's displeasure with His people in all of the Bible is HYPOCRISY!

Why is that so? It would seem that we would rather be 'religious' in our dealings with God and Humanity than allow the changes of our behaviors to come from within and do what our LORD would have us do. But instead we would rather do religious looking things, that doesn't do any good ,for us or for God.

The main point of focus of all Jesus Christ ,The Messiah's words ,are that of righteous action and service to God and our fellow humans,through and by the correct intention and motivation, which is LOVE.

You would think, by reading so many times about the religious ceremonies and sacrifices done within the pages of Scripture , that for the people of Israel that their God was only interested in this function of their service to Him. But time and time again in the Tanach/Old Covenant and within the New Covenant Scriptures that , they were very much mistaken on what God truly wanted from them and from us.

God wants a people to be and live 'righteous' and to do 'justice',with their fellow wo/man. Jesus the Messiah wants all that we do in His name , which is EVERYTHING we do, be done with the right motivation and intention and in the right spirit ,which is to love and be of service for the good of everyone. God does not want us to have a 'fast' and go without food, unless we give the food we would of eaten to someone who has none, otherwise fasting is only a religious waste of time. God wants to re-create our minds ,our hearts,our emotions, which are our Soul. God is looking to change our 'intentions' and the reasons we do the things we do. It is not our actions that God wants to change in our lives, but the motives and the whys that come from within ,which are the reasons we do what we do. When Christ the Messiah was broadening and enlightening us on the true meaning of keeping and doing God's Laws, He was showing us that it is not the murdering and the thieving and the coveting that we do that is problem, they are just the symptoms of sin, but what is behind all the symptoms of sin, it is the intention and motivation of our hearts, when we hate, murder is sometimes the result, when we lust, adultery is sometimes the result. Sin is not just the outward actions of murder, rape ,lust, envy, they are only the Symptoms of the deadly disease that we have inherited, Sin is the nature within us that needs to be healed, and taken out of us, and that is only done by Christ moving in within us, religion only places band-aids to the problem or religion causes or hides the problems. The Spirit of God within is the cure for the problem, and only through Christ the Messiah can the remedy for religion, hypocrisy and sin be found.

Jesus says that we are defiled not by what we eat, or drink, or touch, we are defiled from within our being, where all the evil motivations and intentions spring from. Sin is not playing cards, or gambling, or drinking alcohol, or how we dress, Sin is our Nature, it is who we 'are' with out Christ the Messiah renewing a right spirit within us. We are only able to do what is right, when our intentions are right, we are only able to not kill, steal, or harm, when our hearts and soul, our very nature has been changed to real love, and that can only happen when our nature is destroyed and buried and a new one takes it's place, and that can ONLY be done by the New Birth, which is the resurrection of our dead spirits when we call upon the Name of Yahshua the Messiah, Jesus Christ to move in within us and resurrect our dead spirit and remove our sin nature , and replace it with His.

There is only one cure for humanity and that is Jesus Christ, the true and only Messiah. Without Him renewing a right mind and thinking within us , hypocrisy, sin and hate will only continue and grow, for humanity is unable to cure a sin nature that all of us have inherited ,this deadly disease 'sin' is in our DNA. The cure for this deadly disease that we all have is available , if only you call on the true Physician who is able to remove the sin diseased nature which causes death and replace it with true health and vitality with His very LIFE by the entrance of His Spirit within us......

The part that hangs up many unbelievers and believers as well is that we are not changed over night in our Mind/Soul, just our Spirits have been reborn and have been brought into right standing with God. But once we have begun the 'process' of salvation after our New spiritual birth, we now have to undergo the process of salvation and sanctification which deals with our Souls, which involves the constant renewing of our minds, thoughts,intention,will, and emotions, this process is ongoing and continues until our bodies dies. The believer is under the process of 'judgement' now, that is when they do that which is not in line with their new natures, acts that are not loving and in fact looks like hypocrisy to unbelievers, the Holy Spirit will 'convicts' them of their behavior until the believer realizes where they have missed it, then ,when they have understood the message from the Holy Spirit,that they have behaved ,not in line with their new natures, then they need to repent ,which means to change their thinking on this situation, until it is in agreement with God, ask forgiveness, and then they can continue on with their life. The Judgement for the Body of Christ ,is already in progress, it is happening NOW, and it is the very same Judgement all unbelievers will go through when they stand before God on Judgement Day, they receive all their correction all at one time, we the Christian have it in small segments when we step out of alignment with God's true character now in this life. God's Judgement is always for correction! Now or later and the end results in both cases is death to our sin nature.

Personally I would rather have God's Judgement in small increments and knowing that my spirit is made right and just in God's sight because of what Jesus has done for me in that He has removed all the bad Karma and Sin in me and replaced my spirit nature with His, than to face God's Judgement without knowing this and have God's Judgement all at once.......with out Jesus who has removed all of one's blemishes and sin...but now they must face God with all their karma and sin still on and in them . For we will reap what we sow, unless Jesus steps in and removes the outcome of our sowing behavior,but the fact of the matter is ,that it is not IF we will be Judged but only When we will be judged, it's either ,now or later, and that choice is truly our own.

In His Light

ENDURA