How to Tell if Your a Hypocrite

On Sunday night I preached a message from Luke 6:46-49 titled, “How to Tell if Your a Hypocrite”. Not the most encouraging title, but that is genuinley the point of the text.

Life is full of important questions. Where am I going to go to school? Who am I going to marry? What job am I going to pursue? Where am I going to live? What house will I buy? When will I retire? What am I going to put in my will? These are all questions that we have to answer.

Life is also full of important spiritual questions. Does God exist? If so, what is He like? Who is Jesus? Is He a moral teacher or is He God? What about other religions? Is the Bible trustworthy? What is going to happen to me when I die? Again, these are all questions that every person must answer. Even refusing to answer is in itself an answer.

Luke 6:46-49 presents us with one of these critical spiritual questions. This particular question is intended to assist those who profess faith in Christ to determine wheter or not they are genuine disciples. The question is restricted to this particular audience. It’s intention is to warn about the dangers of hypocrisy. Or to put it another way, the purpose of this sermon is to determine whether or not a professing believer is a hypocrite. So in this message we will examine 2 Tests For Personal Hypocrisy.

 I. Examine Yourself In Light of a Question

In 6:46 Jesus says, “Why Do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” First, note the recipients of the question. The question is directed to those who are disciples (6:20). Therefore, the question is not intended for those who do not know Christ. It is intended for those who profess to be His followers.

Second, note the nature of the question. He doesn’t say, “Do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?” Nor does he say, “Are you calling me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not doing what I say?” He says, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” He presupposes that there are some within this group of disciples who are already doing this. Within every group of disciples there are always those who profess allegiance to Jesus, yet they don’t obey Him with their life. It is always a temptation for people to profess faith in Christ as Lord, yet live as if He is not. The question is, Does this describe you? Is vs. 46 you?

Third, note the challenge of the question. He is addressing the disciples, some of whom are hypocrites, and he asks them, Why are you doing this? The present tense indicates repeated action-Why are you continually over and over again calling me Lord and not obeying me? The phrse ‘Lord, Lord’ is repeated to indicate emotion and emphasis. Over and over again, ‘Lord, Lord, Lord,’ with great feeling and emotion. So Jesus asks, why are you so passionate about calling me Lord over and over again, but you don’t obey me over and over again? Why do you do this?

Jesus is calling out inconsistency in some of his disciples. Many call him Lord; but not many obey. Jesus says, it doesn’t make any sense to call me Lord, yet live in total contradiction to that profession. If you call Christ Lord, but don’t live in obedience to his Word, you are demonstrating that He is not Lord at all. Religious words don’t prove anything. Great emotion doesn’t prove anything. Consistent religion doesn’t prove anything. What proves your profession is obedience! He doesn’t want lip service-He wants it all! It means nothing to be religious. It means everything to obey.

This is the question to examine yourself in light of. Is this you? That’s a serious question to ponder.

II. Answer The Question in Light of an Illustration

Jesus knows this is a serious question that needs to be pondered, so he provides an illustration to help answer the question. The illustration comes in the form of a parable. In vs. 47-48 Jesus presents one scenario. In vs. 49 he presents a second scenario. The first scenario presents a picture of the faithful disciple and the second scenario presents a picture of the faithless disciple.

Jesus’ intention here is to prove the difference between a true disciple and betwen a hypocritical disciple. He creates a contrast, so that you can discern which one describes you. There is no professing Christian who is not described in these verses. One of these two scenarios is in some way like you. The question is, which is it? If vs. 47-48 describe you, then you are a faithful disciple. If vs. 49 describes you, then you are a faithless disciple, a hypocrite.

First notice the faithful disciple. A true disciple does three things, he comes to Christ, he hears, and he obeys. So vs. 48 presents a picture of what at true disciple is like. Here’s the scenario. A man builds a house. The first thing he does is dig into the ground. But he doesn’t just stop there. He actually digs down deep into the ground. So deep in fact, that he ran into a massively huge rock. In fact, the rock was so huge, that it was able to function as the structural base for his home. So he digs back all the dirt, and clears the rock, and lays the foundation of his house.

Some time passed, and a storm came. It was such a massive storm, that it caused a huge flood, a torrent in fact. It was such a terrible storm that the torrent beat against the house over and over and over again. But the house wasn’t shaken, because it had been well built.

The house, is symbolic of the man’s life. The rock represents obedience to the Word of God. The torrent, in the singular, represents one powerful, painful circumstance that comes to pass. So here’s the parable. When a particularly painful trial comes into the life of a true disciple, no matter how massive the trial is, that person is not shaken, becuase his life is built on the Word of God. For instance. Let’s say a trial comes. Someone close to you dies. There is a divorce. You loose an ability to function normally. You loose a job. Whatever it may be, the trial comes and bangs against your life with all it’s force and fury, but you are not shaken because your life is built on the Word of God.

This is how you tell if you are a faithful disciple or not. When was the last time you had a particularly difficult trial in your life? How did you respond? Did your whole world fall apart? Have you been limping through life ever since? Or did you persevere and come out stronger?

Second, notice the faithless disciple. He hears the Word of God, and does not do it. This is what his house is like. He built his house on the ground without any foundation. He just put his house on the surface of the earth. No digging deep. No rock. Just the ground. Some time passed, and a torrent burst upon the house, and it immediately collapsed. It was probably the same torrent that took place in vs. 48. Same torrent. Same storm. Different result.

 Jesus says, “the ruin of that house was great”. The term for “great” is a medical term that refers to a laceration or a rupture. The rupture of that house was intense, it was great. The house was completley ruined.

The house, again symbolizes life. The ground, symbolizes anything other than obedience to the Word of God. The torrent, again symbolizes a particularly powerful trial. Here’s the scenario in real life. A trial comes. Someone dies. You lose a job. A relationship is gone. An expectation is not met. And your world is completely destroyed. Why? Becuase you failed to obey the Word of God! You failed to dig. You failed to dig deep and build your life on the rock by obeying the Word of God! And now, you don’t have the resources to cope with the trial. Your disaster is great.

If your life is not built on the word of God then you can’t deal with the storms of life. It’s impossible. Think about the last big trial you had. How did you respond? Did your world fall apart? Has life never been the same since? Or, when the trial came, did you hold fast to the Word of God and perservere? If the trial happened, and you were devastated, then vs. 49 describes you. If the trial came, and you clung to God’s Word, then vs. 47-48 describes you.

If you experience a trial, and it is devastating to the point that you can’t carry on with your life, the one of two things is true of you. You are either unsaved, or you are unrepentant. And you need to wrestle seriously with the question of vs. 46. You either don’t know God, or, there is unconfessed sin in your life. You need to get right with God.

There is a double application to the “torrent” in this passage. It can refer either to the storms of this life, or to final judgment. If you go through this life and all you do is pay lip service to God, then you will face eternal judgment, and your ruin will be great. But, if you go through this life and you hear the word, and obey, then you will escape judgment.

There is only one way to withstand the trials of life, and escape eternal judgment: through Christ alone. The only way to escape judgment is through Christ! He has provided the means whereby you can recieve forgiveness and reconciliation with God. He took the wrath of God on the cross so you wouldn’t have to. But you must come to Him in faith. You must repent of your sins and turn to Him as Lord. You must trust in what He has done. Otherwise, your ruin will be great.