BEWARE OF HYPOCRISY A Sermon by Candidate David C. Roth April 1990
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For
there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will
not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be
heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms
will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Luke 12:1-3).
Beware: to be on one’s guard. This is the definition which today’s dictionary gives us for the word “beware.” Our text taken from the
gospel of Luke is an example of the Lord’s urging His disciples to
beware of something to beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy. He gave this warning not only for the sake of His disciples,
but as a message for all times, and one of high priority for all of us
here today. The Lord is saying to all those who will listen, “Be on
guard against a life of hypocrisy.” He knows of its potential danger if
not shunned. He knows it is especially dangerous to those who have
acquired into their lives the goods and truths of His Word. He knows the
sorry outcome of one who chooses to live a life of hypocrisy, and that
is why He warns us. If any one of us were driving down the road and came
upon a sign which said, “Danger, Bridge out,” we would certainly stop,
or at least slow down. In our text the Lord is holding up a similar
warning sign. From a Divine concern for our eternal welfare He is giving
us some important words of advice. When the Lord gives advice, it takes
no more than common sense to realize that we should listen to it and
heed it.
We first need to recognize that it is for our own good that He gives
us this warning. For example, if a mother firmly or harshly yells at her
son to get his immediate attention as a prevention against his harming
himself, she is doing it out of love, not anger. She wants nothing more
than his safe-keeping and happiness. She sees the danger and must do
what she can to get his attention. The boy, on the other hand, may at
first see this as an act of anger by his mother and may take offense, or
feel he is being picked on. However, afterwards he can look back at the
situation and see that there was great danger and that his mother
yelled at him for his own good.
The Lord has to speak to us sometimes in the same way. He loves us
all as His children and wants us to be happy. He knows the only true
happiness awaits those who go to heaven. So in His Word He teaches us
the way to heaven. Sometimes His words seem harsh or unloving, even
threatening, but this is only an outward appearance. As we know, the
sayings in His Word, no matter how harsh, are all infilled with His
unceasing love for our salvation.
In our text, as a matter of priority the Lord urgently warns His
disciples to beware the leaven of the Pharisees because it could destroy
them. It is one of the most grievous evils people of the church can
commit, which in this case are His disciples. It could cost them as dear
a price as an eternity spent in hell. He certainly does not want this
for His disciples any more than He would wish it for any of us at this
day. He knows it will bring only extreme unhappiness and bitter
frustration.
But what is this hypocrisy which the Lord warns against? A good
example of hypocrisy can be seen in the New Testament Word in the Lord’s
condemnation of the Pharisees. He accuses them of washing only the
outside of the cup while leaving the inside full of extortion and
self-indulgence. Then He compares them to “whitewashed tombs which
appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and
all uncleanness” (Matt 23:27). By manipulating the laws of the Jewish
Church to their own advantage they would devastate widows’ estates by
stealing all their money and property under the pretence of religious
devotion. And further, by their holy and pious externals they would draw
righteous young men into the work of the temple only to turn them out
more evil than themselves. The Lord oftentimes referred to the Pharisees
as hypocrites for these and many other reasons. As He said, “You
outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy
and lawlessness” (Matt 23:28). He is teaching us that a hypocrite is one
who purposefully deceives others, by hiding his own true character, a
character of evil, behind a false front of good.
A hypocrite knows that what he is doing is evil. Since he wants no
one to know of his evil, he hides it and deceives others into thinking
that he is really very innocent. He hides it so that he is free to keep
doing his evil, selfishly manipulating circumstances, and other people,
all without hindrance of the law, or loss of honor, reputation, and
gain. The hypocrite’s whole life is possible by means of his ability to
hide behind a fa‡ade of good appearances. Yet there is a certain sad
irony to the life of a hypocrite. The irony is that while he is trying
to deceive others, he actually ends up deceiving himself. Yet we can be
certain of one thing: he is not deceiving the Lord. In the other life
the Lord will take his fa‡ade away; then what is his gain? As the
ancient writer Job asked, “For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though
he may gain much, if God takes away his life?” (Job 27:8) And again,
“The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment” (Job 20:5).
It is true that hypocrites can harm others with their poisonous
deceit, yet we find that the real danger of hypocrisy is to the
hypocrites themselves. By a life of deceit they do great harm to their
spiritual life. We are taught in the Writings that deceit is the one
thing which can destroy our most precious and essential gift from the
Lord our remains. Remains are those states of innocence, good affection,
and powerful knowledge from the Lord’s Word. They are implanted with us
predominantly in infancy and childhood, and later become the incentive
for us to regenerate. Without these we have no hope of regenerating; we
have no power to regenerate. The hypocrite destroys these innocent
states by dragging them down into his evil life as curtains of innocence
to hide his evil intention. This mingling of innocence with guile
completely destroys the regenerative power of his remains. The
hypocrite, in effect, destroys the little child in himself. For remains
serve in the formation of a spiritual conscience and a new will and
understanding which can bring us into a new state of innocence. As is
taught, “Unless you become as a little child, you will by no means enter
the kingdom of heaven.”
Clearly the life of a hypocrite is a life which leads to hell. The
hell of a hypocrite is one of terrible solitude, one of eternal
isolation from others. In the other world they live in a dark and barren
desert with jagged rocks and caverns, all alone. As is said in the book
of Job, “The company of hypocrites will be barren” (Job 15:34).
However, the hypocrite creates this situation for himself. Our true
person is our spirit, and if we are always trying to hide it, then we
will finally end up succeeding in the other life. We will end up alone,
well hidden in dreadful isolation, forever deprived of the joy that
relationships with others bring.
It is easy for us not to worry much about some future state which we
may never find ourselves facing. But there is something happening right
now which many people are not aware of. It is the reason for this irony
mentioned in the situation of the hypocrite, and which might also be
cause for fear right now. The fact is, a hypocrite cannot hide his evils
from anyone in the entire spiritual world. At all times, including this
very moment, spirits and angels can all know exactly what our spirit is
thinking and willing in perfect view, as if in broad daylight. Listen
to what the Writings say on the subject: “Nothing whatever is hidden of
that which a man in the world has thought, spoken, and done, but it is
in the open, for it is these things which make [his] sphere. Such a
sphere also pours forth from the spirit of a man while he is in the body
in the world, and from this his quality is also known. Therefore
believe not that the things a man thinks in secret and that he does in
secret are hidden, for they are as clearly shown in heaven as are those
which appear in the light of noon” (AC 7454m emphasis added).
Nothing we ever say or do can possibly be hidden from the Lord. And
as we have just noted, a person’s thoughts and deeds are clearly shown
in heaven. So then we need to ask ourselves, “What is being revealed
about me right now that is being seen in the light or being proclaimed
from the housetops?” Certainly we don’t want to have all manner of evil
thoughts and intentions broadcast in association with our spirit. This
would definitely have ramifications similar to what we would experience
here on earth if the same thing occurred. For example, if horrible and
perverse words were constantly flowing from our mouths, any good people
nearby would quickly take off, and hellish ones would rapidly gather as
our companions. The same would happen with good and evil spirits around
us in the spiritual world.
On the other hand, we can have good intentions and thoughts flowing
from our spirit if we instead firmly shun hypocrisy and try to think and
do what is good and true. It works both ways. Imagine the harsh reality
of the hypocrite when he arrives in the other world and realizes that
all the things that he thought he had successfully hidden from everybody
in the world had been the daily news to angels and spirits there. The
Writings teach that ” … nothing whatever is hidden, but that what a man
inwardly thinks and plots is in the other life made manifest as in clear
day” (AC 6214). And as the Lord warned in our text, “There is nothing
covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known”
(Luke 12:2).
In His exhortation to the disciples the Lord is not only warning us
against the long-range possibility of hell itself, but is right now
trying to keep us from the overwhelming embarrassment that could await
us in the other world. We need to think about what we are doing, saying,
thinking, and intending. For nothing we deliberately do is a secret not
now, not ever. We can hide nothing. A good rule of thumb might be: if
we wouldn’t want certain emotions and thoughts broadcast over a
loudspeaker, or any of our specific actions shown to the world on
television, then we should not indulge in those emotions and thoughts or
perform those acts, because the truth of the matter is, those feelings,
thoughts, and actions are being broadcast this way, even this very
moment. “Whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the
light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be
proclaimed on the housetops.”
Nonetheless, we can take comfort in the fact that the only thoughts
which will be broadcast in association with our spirit are those
thoughts which we have chosen to dwell on with delight, that is, those
thoughts which we make our own. A conscientious and well disposed person
should know that not every fleeting emotion or passing thought will be
broadcast to our spiritual companions. We can also breathe a great sigh
of relief knowing that after death the Lord will not reveal everything
about our spirit. He will let only those things be revealed which will
be of use to our spiritual progress. For example, what good would it do
to reveal an evil someone has done and repented of? He has already
repented so there is no use. That is why nothing we have done and have
truly repented of will of necessity be disclosed after death.
While we are in this world, our spirit is always being literally
bombarded with influences from both the good and the evil spirits which
are with us. How many of us have had thoughts that we couldn’t imagine
we were even capable of having? When first stimulated, those thoughts
were not our own, but we have the choice to make them so. Everything
flows into us either from heaven or hell, and our life basically
consists in choosing between accepting the good things or the bad
things. Our basic humanity consisting of our free will to choose one or
the other. We read, “Each and all things with man flow in according to
his freedom evil from hell, and good from heaven, that is, through
heaven from the Lord” (AC 6189).
If we heed the Lord’s warning, and beware the leaven of the pharisees
by shunning hypocrisy, then what do we have to fear? In this life we
will not be trying to cover or hide our true self in the dark or in the
inner rooms. We can confidently say, “Let my actions be brought to light
and my sayings proclaimed on the housetops. I have nothing to hide.”
The confirmed hypocrite has much to fear, however not only the daily
embarrassment and the disclosure of his character and deeds after death,
but the fact that his eternal home will be an isolated eternity in the
dark, barren wastelands of hell.
If we earnestly shun hypocrisy in our lives, and sincerely try to
keep the deeds of our hands clean and the thoughts of our hearts pure,
we will not have cause for daily fear, nor will we tremble when the veil
is lifted in the next life to reveal our spiritual identity. Amen.
Lessons: Matthew 12:31-37; Luke 11:37-54, 12:1-3; AE 794:4
Apocalypse Explained 794:4
From this it can be seen that if man were to fulfill all things of
the law from self, that is, were to give much to the poor, were to do
good to widows and orphans, to assist the needy, yea, were to give food
to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, to take in strangers, clothe the
naked, and visit the sick and those who are bound in prison, preach and
teach the gospel, convert the Gentiles, frequent temples, devoutly
listen to preaching, attend the sacrament of the Supper frequently each
year, spend time in praying, and other like things, and if his internal
had not been purified from the love of rule and from the pride of self-
intelligence, from the contempt of others, from hatred and revenge, from
craftiness and malice, from insincerity and injustice, from the
lasciviousness of adultery, and from other evils and falsities
therefrom, still all these works would be hypocritical and from the man
himself, and not from the Lord. But these same works when the internal
has been purified are all good because they are from the Lord with man.
This has been testified to me from very many examples in the spiritual
world. I have there heard that it has been granted to many to call to
mind the acts of their life in the world, and to enumerate the good
deeds they had done; but when their internal was opened, it was found to
be full of all evil and falsity therefrom; and it was then revealed to
them that the good deeds they had enumerated they had done from self,
because for the sake of self and the world. But it is otherwise with
those who from the Word have abstained from doing evils, and have
afterwards shunned and turned away from them because they are sins and
are contrary to love to God and to charity toward the neighbor. Their
works were all good, although they had a similar appearance in external
form as the works of those described above, and there was a perception
in like manner of their having been done as if from self. These works
are what are meant in the Word by the “works” that make a man spiritual
and make him happy to eternity; and these can in no way be separated
from faith, for if faith were to be separated from these it would be
dead, and a dead faith is a faith in falsity from evil.
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