2 Cor. 8:12<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
MEN may be divided into two great classes, those who profess religious obedience, and those who do not; and of those who do profess to be religious, there are again those who perform as well as profess, and those who do not. And thus on the whole there are three classes of men in the world, open sinners, consistent Christians, and between the two, (as speaking with the one, and more or less acting with the other,) professing Christians, or, as they are sometimes called, nominal Christians. Now the distinction between open sinners and consistent Christians is so clear, that there is no mistaking it; for they agree in nothing; they neither profess the same things nor practise the same. But the difference between professing Christians and true Christians is not so clear, for this reason, that true Christians, however consistent they are, yet do sin, as being not yet perfect; and so far as they sin, are inconsistent, and this is all that professing Christians are. What then, it may be asked, is the real difference between true and professing Christians, since both the one and the other profess more than they practise? Again, if you put the question to one of the latter class, however inconsistent his life may be, yet he will be sure to say that he wishes he was better; that he is sorry for his sins; that the flesh is weak; that he cannot overcome it; that God alone can overcome it; that he trusts God will, and that he prays to Him to enable him to do it. There is no form of words conceivable which a mere professing Christian cannot use,\u2014nay, more, there appears to be no sentiment which he cannot feel,\u2014as well as the true Christian, and at first sight apparently with the same justice. He seems<\/i> just in the very position of the true Christian, only perhaps behind him; not so<\/i> consistent, not advanced so much; still, on the same line. Both confess to a struggle within them; both sin, both are sorry; what then is the difference between them?<\/p>\n
There are many differences; but, before going on to mention that one to which I shall confine my attention, I would have you observe that I am speaking of differences in God\u2019s sight. Of course, we men may after all be unable altogether, and often are unable, to see differences between those who, nevertheless, are on different sides of the line of life. Nor may we judge anything absolutely before the time, whereas God \u201csearcheth the hearts.\u201d He alone, \u201cwho searcheth the hearts,\u201d \u201cknoweth what is the mind of the Spirit.\u201d We do not even know ourselves absolutely. \u201cYea, I judge not mine own self\u201d says St. Paul, \u201cbut He that judgeth me is the Lord.\u201d God alone can unerringly discern between sincerity and insincerity, between the hypocrite and the man of perfect heart. I do not, of course, mean that we can form no judgment at all upon ourselves, or that it is not useful to do so; but here I will chiefly insist upon the point of doctrine<\/i>, viz., how does the true Christian differ in God\u2019s sight from the insincere and double-minded?\u2014leaving any practical application which it admits, to be incidentally brought out in the course of my remarks.<\/p>\n
Now the real difference between the true and the professing Christian seems to be given us in the text,\u2014\u201cIf there be a willing mind, it is accepted.\u201d St. Paul is speaking of almsgiving; but what he says seems to apply generally. He is laying down a principle, which applies of course in many distinct cases, though he uses it with reference to one in particular. An honest, unaffected desire<\/i> of doing right is the test of God\u2019s true servants. On the other hand, a double mind, a pursuing other ends besides the truth, and in consequence an inconsistency in conduct, and a half-consciousness (to say the least) of inconsistency, and a feeling of the necessity of defending oneself to oneself, and to God, and to the world; in a word, hypocrisy; these are the signs of the merely professed Christian. Now I am going to give some instances of this distinction, in Scripture and in fact.<\/p>\n
For instance. The two great Christian graces are faith and love. Now, how are these characterised in Scripture?\u2014By their being honest or single-minded. Thus St. Paul, in one place, speaks of \u201cthe end of the commandment being love;\u201d what love?\u2014\u201clove out of a pure heart<\/i>,\u201d he proceeds, \u201cand of a good conscience<\/i>;\u201d and still further, \u201cand of faith,\u201d\u2014what kind of faith?\u2014\u201cfaith unfeigned<\/i>;\u201d or, as it may be more literally translated, \u201cunhypocritical faith;\u201d for so the word means in Greek. Again, elsewhere he speaks of his \u201ccalling to remembrance the unfeigned<\/i> faith\u201d which dwelt in Timothy, and in his mother and grandmother before him; that is, literally, \u201cunhypocritical faith.\u201d Again, he speaks of the Apostles approving themselves as the ministers of God, \u201cby kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned<\/i>,\u201d or, more literally, \u201cunhypocritical love.\u201d Again, as to love towards man. \u201cLet love be without dissimulation<\/i>,\u201d or, more literally, as in the other cases, \u201clet love be unhypocritical.\u201d In like manner, St. Peter speaks of Christians \u201chaving purified their souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unhypocritical love of the brethren.\u201d And in like manner, St. James speaks of \u201cthe wisdom that is from above, being first pure<\/i> \u2026\u201d and, presently, \u201cwithout partiality, and without hypocrisy<\/i>.\u201d1 Surely it is very remarkable that three Apostles, writing on different subjects and occasions, should each of them thus speak about whether faith or love as without hypocrisy.<\/p>\n
A true Christian, then, may almost be defined as one who has a ruling sense of God\u2019s presence within him. As none but justified persons have that privilege, so none but the justified have that practical perception of it. A true Christian, or one who is in a state of acceptance with God, is he, who, in such sense, has faith in Him, as to live in the thought that He is present with him,\u2014present not externally, not in nature merely, or in providence, but in his innermost heart, or in his conscience<\/i>. A man is justified whose conscience is illuminated by God, so that he habitually realizes that all his thoughts, all the first springs of his moral life, all his motives and his wishes, are open to Almighty God. Not as if he was not aware that there is very much in him impure and corrupt, but he wishes that all that is in him should be bare to God. He believes that it is so, and he even joys to think that it is so, in spite of his fear and shame at its being so. He alone admits Christ into the shrine of his heart; whereas others wish in some way or other, to be by themselves, to have a home, a chamber, a tribunal, a throne, a self where God is not,\u2014a home within them which is not a temple, a chamber which is not a confessional, a tribunal without a judge, a throne without a king;\u2014that self may be king and judge; and that the Creator may rather be dealt with and approached as though a second party, instead of His being that true and better self, of which self itself should be but an instrument and minister.<\/p>\n
Scripture tells us that God the Word, who died for us and rose again, and now lives for us, and saves us, is \u201cquick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.\u201d Now the true Christian realizes this; and what is the consequence?\u2014Why, that he enthrones the Son of God in his conscience, refers to Him as a sovereign authority, and uses no reasoning with Him. He does not reason, but he says, \u201cThou, God, seest me.\u201d He feels that God is too near him to allow of argument, self-defence, excuse, or objection. He appeals in matters of duty, not to his own reason, but to God Himself, whom with the eyes of faith he sees, and whom he makes the Judge; not to any fancied fitness, or any preconceived notion, or any abstract principle, or any tangible experience.1<\/p>\n
The Book of Psalms continually instances this temper of profound, simple, open-hearted confidence in God. \u201cO Lord, Thou hast searched me out and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thoughts long before \u2026 There is not a word in my tongue but Thou knowest it altogether.\u201d \u201cMy soul hangeth upon Thee. Thy right hand hath upholden me.\u201d \u201cWhen I wake up, I am present with Thee.\u201d \u201cInto Thy hands I commend my spirit, for Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, Thou God of Truth.\u201d \u201cCommit thy way unto the Lord, and put thy trust in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall make thy righteousness as clear as the light, and thy just dealing as the noonday.\u201d \u201cAgainst Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.\u201d \u201cHear the right, O Lord, consider my complaint, and hearken unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips. Let my sentence come forth from Thy presence, and let Thine eyes look upon the thing that is equal. Thou hast proved and visited mine heart in the night season. Thou hast tried me, and shalt find no wickedness in me; for I am utterly purposed that my mouth shall not offend.\u201d Once more, \u201cThou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and after that receive me with glory. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of mine heart and my portion for ever.\u201d1<\/p>\n
Or, again, consider the following passage in St. John\u2019s First Epistle. \u201cIf our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God.\u201d And in connexion with this, the following from the same Epistle: \u201cGod is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we he, and do not the truth.\u2026 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u201d Again, \u201cthe darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.\u201d Again, \u201cHereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.\u201d And again, \u201cHe that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself.\u201d And, in the same connexion, consider St. Paul\u2019s statement, that \u201cthe Spirit itself beareth witness with, our spirit, that we are the children of God.\u201d1<\/p>\n
And, now, on the other hand, let us contrast such a temper of mind, which loves to walk in the light, with that of the merely professing Christian, or, in Scripture language, of the hypocrite<\/i>. Such are they who have two ends which they pursue, religion and<\/i> the world; and hence St. James calls them \u201cdouble-minded.\u201d Hence, too, our Lord, speaking of the Pharisees who were hypocrites, says, \u201cYe cannot serve God and<\/i> mammon.\u201d2 A double-minded man, then, as having two ends in view, dare not come to God, lest he should be discovered; for \u201call things that are reproved are made manifest by the light.\u201d3 Thus, whereas the Prodigal Son \u201crose and came to his father,\u201d on the contrary, Adam hid himself among the trees of the garden. It was not simple dread of God, but dread joined to an unwillingness to be restored to God. He had a secret in his heart which he kept from God. He felt towards God,\u2014as it would seem, or at least his descendants so feel,\u2014as one man often feels towards another in the intercourse of life. You sometimes say of a man, \u201che is friendly, or courteous, or respectful, or considerate, or communicative; but, after all, there is something, perhaps without his knowing it, in the background. He professes to be agreed with me; he almost displays his agreement; he says he pursues the same objects as I; but still I do not know him, I do not make progress with him, I have no confidence in him, I do not know him better than the first time I saw him.\u201d Such is the way in which the double-minded approach the Most High,\u2014they have a something private, a hidden self at bottom. They look on themselves, as it were, as independent parties, treating with Almighty God as one of their fellows. Hence, so far from seeking God, they hardly like to be sought by Him. They would rather keep their position and stand where they are,\u2014on earth, and so make terms with God in heaven; whereas, \u201che that doeth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.\u201d1<\/p>\n
This being the case, there being in the estimation of the double-minded man two parties, God and self, it follows (as I have said), that reasoning and argument is the mode in which he approaches his Saviour and Judge; and that for two reasons,\u2014first, because he will not give<\/i> himself up to God, but stands upon his rights and appeals to his notions of fitness; and next, because he has some secret misgiving after all that he is dishonest, or some consciousness that he may appear so to others; and therefore, he goes about to fortify his position, to explain his conduct, or to excuse himself.<\/p>\n
Some such argument or excuse had the unprofitable servant, when called before his Lord. The other servants said, \u201cLord, Thy pound hath gained ten,\u201d or \u201cfive pounds.\u201d They said no more; nothing more was necessary; the case spoke for itself. But the unprofitable servant did not dare leave his conduct to tell its own tale at God\u2019s judgment-seat; he said not merely, \u201cLord, I have kept Thy pound laid up in a napkin:\u201d he appealed, as it were, to the reasonableness of his conduct against his Maker: he felt he must make out a case, and he went on to attempt it. He trusted not his interests to the Eternal and All-perfect Reason of God, before whom he stood, but entrenched himself in his own.<\/p>\n
Again:\u2014When our Lord said to the scribe, who had answered Him that eternal life was to be gained by loving God and his neighbour, \u201cThou hast answered right,\u201d this ought to have been enough. But his object was not to please God, but to exalt himself. And, therefore, he went on to make an objection. \u201cBut he, willing to justify himself<\/i>, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?\u201d whereas they only are justified in God\u2019s judgment, who give up the notion of justifying themselves by word or deed, who start with the confession that they are unjust, and who come to God, not upon their own merits, but for His mercy.<\/p>\n
Again: we have the same arguing and insincere spirit exposed in the conduct of the Pharisees, when they asked Christ for the authority on which He acted. They said, \u201cBy what authority doest thou these things?\u201d This might be the question of sincere inquirers or mere objectors, of faith or of hypocrisy. Observe how our Lord detects it. He asked them about St. John\u2019s baptism; meaning to say, that if they acknowledged St. John, they must acknowledge Himself, of whom St. John spake. They, unwilling to submit to Christ as a teacher and Lord, preferred to deny John to going on to acknowledge Him. Yet, on the other hand, they dare not openly deny the Baptist, because of the people; so, between hatred of our Lord and dread of the people, they would give no answer at all. \u201cThey reasoned<\/i> among themselves,\u201d we are told. In consequence, our Lord left them to their reasonings; He refused to tell them what, had they reasoned sincerely, they might learn for themselves.<\/p>\n
What is seen in the Gospels, had taken place from the beginning. Our first parents were as ready with excuses, as their posterity when Christ came. First, Adam says, \u201cI hid myself, for I was afraid;\u201d though fear and shame were not the sole or chief reasons why he fled, but an incipient hatred, if it may be said, of his Maker. Again, he says, \u201cThe woman, whom Thou gavest me \u2026 she gave me of the tree.\u201d And the woman says, \u201cThe serpent beguiled me.\u201d They did not honestly surrender themselves to their offended God, but had something to say in their behalf. Again, Cain says, when asked where his brother was, whom he had murdered, \u201cAm I my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d<\/p>\n
Balaam, again, is a most conspicuous instance of a double mind, or of hypocrisy. He has a plausible reason for whatever he does; he can so skilfully defend himself, that to this day he looks like a good man, and his conduct and fortunes are a perplexity to many minds. But it is one thing to have good excuses, another to have good motives. He had not the love of the truth, the love of God, in his heart; he was covetous of worldly goods; and, therefore, all his excuses only avail to mark him as double-minded.<\/p>\n
Again:\u2014Saul is another very remarkable instance of a man acting for his own ends, and yet having plausible reasons<\/i> for what he did. He offered sacrifice on one occasion, not having a commission; this was a sin; yet what was his excuse?\u2014a very fair one. Samuel had promised to come to offer the sacrifice, and did not. Saul waited some days, the people grew discouraged, his army fell off, and the enemy was at hand,\u2014so, as he says, he \u201cforced<\/i> himself.\u201d1<\/p>\n
Such is the conduct of insincere men in difficulty. Perhaps their difficulty may be a real one; but in this they differ from the sincere:\u2014the latter seek God in<\/i> their difficulty, feeling that He only who imposes it can remove it; but insincere men do not like to go to God; and to them the difficulty is only so much gain, for it gives them an apparent reason, a sort of excuse, for not going by God\u2019s rule, but for deciding in their own way. Thus Saul took his own course; thus Jeroboam, when in a difficulty, put up calves of gold and instituted a new worship without Divine command. Whereas, when Hezekiah was in trouble, he took the letter of Sennacherib, \u201cand went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.\u201d2 And when St. Peter was sinking in the water, he cried out to Christ, \u201cLord, save me.\u201d3 And in like manner holy David, after he had sinned in numbering the people, and was told to choose between three punishments offered him, showed the same honest and simple-hearted devotion in choosing that of the three which might be the most exactly called falling into the Lord\u2019s hands. If he must suffer, let the Lord chastise him.\u2014\u201cI am in a great strait,\u201d he says; \u201clet us fall now into the hands of the Lord; for His mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man.\u201d1<\/p>\n
Great, then, is the difference between sincere and insincere Christians, however like their words may be to each other; and it is needless to say, that what I have shown in a few examples, might be instanced again and again from every part of Scripture, particularly from the history of the Jews, as contained in the Prophets. All men, even after the gift of God\u2019s grace, sin: God\u2019s true servants profess and sin,\u2014sin, and are sorry; and hypocrites profess and sin,\u2014sin and are sorry. Thus the two parties look like each other. But the word of God discriminates one from the other by this test,\u2014that Christ dwells in the conscience of one, not of the other; that the one opens his heart to God, the other does not; the one views Almighty God only as an accidental guest, the other as Lord and owner of all that he is; the one admits Him as if for a night, or some stated season, the other gives himself over to God, and considers himself God\u2019s servant and instrument now and for ever. Not more different is the intimacy of friends from mere acquaintance; not more different is it to know a person in society, to be courteous and obliging to him, to interchange civilities, from opening one\u2019s heart to another, admitting him into it, seeing into his, loving him, and living in him;\u2014than the external worship of the hypocrite, from the inward devotion of true faith; approaching God with the lips, from believing on Him with the heart; so opening to the Spirit that He opens to us, from so living to self as to exclude the light of heaven.<\/p>\n
Now, as to applying what I have been showing from Scripture to ourselves, this shall here be left, my brethren, to the consciences of each of us, and a few words will suffice to do this. Do you, then, habitually thus unlock your hearts and subject your thoughts to Almighty God? Are you living in this conviction of His Presence, and have you this special witness that that Presence is really set up within you unto your salvation, viz. that you live in the sense of it? Do you believe, and act on the belief, that His light penetrates and shines through your heart, as the sun\u2019s beams through a room? You know how things look when the sun\u2019s beams are on it,\u2014the very air then appears full of impurities, which, before it came out, were not seen. So is it with our souls. We are full of stains and corruptions, we see them not, they are like the air before the sun shines; but though we see them not, God sees them: He pervades us as the sunbeam. Our souls, in His view, are full of things which offend, things which must be repented of, forgiven, and put away. He, in the words of the Psalmist, \u201chas set our misdeeds before Him, our secret sins in the light of His countenance.\u201d1 This is most true, though it be not at all welcome doctrine to many. We cannot hide ourselves from Him; and our wisdom, as our duty, lies in embracing this truth, acquiescing in it, and acting upon it. Let us then beg Him to teach us the Mystery of His Presence in us, that, by acknowledging it, we may thereby possess it fruitfully. Let us confess it in faith, that we may possess it unto justification. Let us so own it, as to set Him before us in everything. \u201cI have set God always before me,\u201d says the Psalmist, \u201cfor He is on my right hand, therefore I shall not fail.\u201d1 Let us, in all circumstances, thus regard Him. Whether we have sinned, let us not dare keep from Him, but with the prodigal son, rise and go to Him. Or, if we are conscious of nothing, still let us not boast in ourselves or justify ourselves, but feel that \u201cHe who judgeth us is the Lord.\u201d In all circumstances, of joy or sorrow, hope or fear, let us aim at having Him in our inmost heart; let us have no secret apart from Him. Let us acknowledge Him as enthroned within us at the very springs of thought and affection. Let us submit ourselves to His guidance and sovereign direction; let us come to Him that He may forgive us, cleanse us, change us, guide us, and save us.<\/p>\n
This is the true life of saints. This is to have the Spirit witnessing with our spirits that we are sons of God. Such a faith alone will sustain the terrors of the Last Day; such a faith alone will be proof against those fierce flames which are to surround the Judge, when He comes with His holy Angels to separate between \u201cthose who serve God, and those who serve Him not.\u201d2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2 Cor. 8:12 \u201cIf there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.\u201d MEN may be divided into two great classes, those who profess religious obedience, and those who do not; and of those who do profess to be religious, there … Continue reading “SINCERITY AND HYPOCRISY”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}