Ananias and Sapphira: Show Christians: Hypocrisy Part II

Ananias and Sapphira:   Show Christians: hypocrisy      Part II

“Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.”  Prov. 26:26  KJV

The great revival was on the move, hundreds and hundreds were being saved.

Satan did not like this!  He had to try to stop the church with intimidation and persecution.  When he could not stop it from the outside, he had to stop it from within.

If he could not conquer the church, he would have to try to corrupt it!

Jesus said in Matt. 15:8, “These people honor me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me.”  (NIV)

Remember the old adage:    

“you can fool……. some of the people all the time….

                          All the people some of the time…..

                         But you can’t fool…. All the people all the time!”

Those around us, in our homes, at work and neighborhood…..they know the truth of who we really are.

Our actions speak louder than our words.   They will see the hypocrisy in our lives and it will destroy our witness for Jesus Christ.

We cannot fool God at anytime.  He sees what we do in secret, our deception, our denial, our motives, our lies, our dishonesty….He knows our heart.     

 

In the gospels, Jesus was very compassionate and patient in dealing with those who fell into sin….but was harsh with the religious hypocrites.

The loving and caring Lamb can also be the Lion of Judah!

Jesus took a whip and drove the hypocrites out of the temple.  He was the Lion of Judah, when it came to cleaning “His Father’s” house.  (Matt. 21:12-13)

He called the hypocrites a brood of vipers----snakes!  He said, “you are like a whitewashed tomb, looks good outside”…..but filled with dead, stinking corruption……I know your wicked thought life and motives.

 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you are like tombs that have been whitewashed, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men's bones and everything impure.

  Just so, you also outwardly seem to people to be just and upright but inside you are full of pretense and lawlessness and iniquity. “  Matt. 23:27-28    

    

Religious hypocrisy is odious to the nostrils of God!

The sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira served to purify and warn the Church.  Their death certainly impressed upon the church and the world the danger of hypocrisy.

Jesus knew that religious hypocrisy would be one of the most insidious and deadliest enemies to the purity of His Church.

“……Jesus' primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, "Watch yourselves carefully so you don't get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness.

 You can't keep your true self hidden forever; before long you'll be exposed.

You can't hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can't whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day's coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.”  Luke 1:1-3  Message Bible