Are You a Hypocrite? Satan's Reward for Playing Religion | Adrian Rogers | Love Worth Finding

0:29 ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, WHETHER IT IS REALISM OR HYPOCRISY. AS WE CONTINUE OUR STUDYS THROUGH THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, WOULD YOU TURN NOW TO MATTHEW CHAPTER SIX AND, UH, HOLD IT OPEN THERE BEFORE YOU. MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, CHAPTER SIX. Every so often the theater and film people of this generation have an

1:01 award ceremony that they call the Academy Awards. And there they give awards to actors and actresses. Many of those actresses are beautiful to look upon. Many of them have faces like angels. They have morals like alley cats, and they give them an award for being an actress or for being an actor. And if a person, I suppose, lives a good, clean, moral life and they're an actor, uh, then that perhaps is legitimate. Many of them, perhaps most of them, do not live that kind of a life. The Academy Award. But I believe that the biggest actors are not found in Hollywood. Many of them are found in the realm of religion. I want to speak to you today about Satan's Academy Award. Our Lord tells about these who are actors. They're play actors.

2:07 They're in the church. The Greeks used to have actors who would wear a mask. If they wanted to look sorrowful, they would put on the sorrowful mask. If they wanted to look happy, they would put on the happy mask. Their mask actually had handles on them, and they would just hold them in front of their faces. The word for that is hypocrites. It's the word we get our word hypocrite from. I want you to see what our Lord had to say here in Matthew chapter 6, verses 1 and 2. Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Do you see the word seen? It's the Greek word theomai. It's the word we get our word theater from.

2:52 Take heed, Jesus says, that you're not just playing in a theater. Otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites, the play actors do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. That is, the applause that every actor wants. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Verse 5, and when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are, the actors are. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men there in a theater. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. On down to verse 16. Moreover, when ye fast, ye shall not be as the hypocrites, that is, the play actors of a sad countenance.

3:50 They're wearing the sad mask today. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. That is, it's, it's a play. for I say unto you, they have their reward. I read an article about Art Linkletter. Many of us know Art Linkletter. It's been in the entertainment realm for many, many years. Art Linkletter said that he was a professing Christian and to one day had a great crisis in his life and he really needed help and he was meeting with some young people who were turned on, on fire Christians. No pretense, no holds barred. And they were in a hotel lobby in San Francisco and it came time to pray and those young people said, let's pray, and they got down on their knees in that hotel lobby. Ark Linkletter, being a public figure, said, I really felt funny about getting down on my knees in a public place like that. But he said, I had such a need of God, I realized all of this time I had not been a true Christian, and these were his words.

4:49 He said, I was a cardboard Christian, a cardboard Christian. And he said, I just, I threw all of that away, and I humbled myself before God and got on my knees and broke through to God and met reality. Now, reality is what this world needs. The world is sick and tired of make-believe cardboard Christians. And reality is what the world hungers for. It is the greatest need in the church of the living God today, reality, not hypocrisy, but reality. I've said before and I want to say again that the greatest argument for Christ and the greatest argument against Christ is the life of a Christian. One way or the other, whether it is realism or hypocrisy. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, as you read the gospels, reserved his strongest words against or for.

5:49 THE HYPOCRITE OR THE PERSON WHO WAS REAL. I, I JUST WANT TO PICK OUT, BEFORE WE REALLY GET INTO THE MEAT OF THE MESSAGE THIS MORNING, A FEW SCRIPTURES THAT, THAT SHOW WHAT THE LORD JESUS HAD TO SAY ABOUT HYPOCRISY. FOR EXAMPLE, IN MATTHEW CHAPTER 7 AND VERSE 15, HE SAYS, BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS. THE WORD FALSE IS Pseudo, Pseudo-prophets, WHICH COME TO YOU IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING. EVERY ACTOR HAS HIS, UH, GARB THAT HE WEARS, BUT INWARDLY THERE ARE RAVENING WOES. JESUS SAID, NOW WATCH OUT FOR THESE Pseudo-PROPHETS. THEN HE SAID IN MATTHEW CHAPTER 23, VERSES 27 AND FOLLOWING, WOE UNTO YOU SCRIBES, PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES, HYPOCRITES, PLAY ACTORS, FOR YOU ARE LIKE UNTO WHITED SEPULCHERS, WHICH INDEED APPEAR BEAUTIFUL OUTWARD, BUT ARE WITHIN FULL OF DEAD MEN'S BONES AND OF ALL UNCLEANNESS. EVEN SO YE ALSO OUTWARDLY APPEAR RIGHTEOUS UNTO MEN, BUT YOU ARE FULL OF HYPOCRISY AND INIQUITY. JESUS RESERVED HIS MOST SEVERE LANGUAGE FOR THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF HIS TIME. THE PHARISEES, WHAT WAS A PHARISEE LIKE? WELL, HE WOULD READ THE SCRIPTURES. HE WOULD WORSHIP. HE WOULD ATTEND THE SERVICES. HE WOULD BRING A TIDE. HE WAS SEPARATED FROM THE WORLD. HE TRIED TO WIN OTHERS TO HIS RELIGION, BUT IT WAS ALL OUTWARD. HE DID NOT KNOW THE LORD. AND GOD, THE LORD JESUS HAD THE MOST EXCORIATING, VITUPERATIVE LANGUAGE FOR THESE PEOPLE. AND YET ON THE OTHER HAND, WHEN JESUS WOULD FIND A SINNER, CAUGHT IN SIN, IN THE WEB OF SIN, JESUS WAS THE MOST COMPASSIONATE, THE WOMAN TAKEN AT THE, AT AN ADULTERY. HOW COMPASSIONATE WAS THE LORD JESUS. WHEN OTHERS SAID STONER, JESUS SAID FORGIVER. THERE WAS A TAX COLLECTOR NAMED ZACHAEUS.

7:57 NO ONE ELSE WOULD HAVE ANYBODY, ANYTHING TO DO WITH HIM, BUT JESUS WENT INTO HIS HOUSE AND FELLOWSHIPPED WITH HIM AND Ate WITH HIM. AS A MATTER OF FACT, THEY CRUCIFIED JESUS BECAUSE THEY SAID HE WAS A FRIEND OF SINNERS, AND THANK GOD HE IS, because if he's not, he won't have anything to do with me or with you. Jesus, the friend of sinners, but Jesus had the most stern words for these hypocrites, these actors, these who were candidates for Satan's Academy Award. Now I want you to look at the passage that is before us and the three basic things I want you to see in Matthew chapter 6. First of all, I want you to see what I'm going to call the shameful display of hypocrisy. Jesus gives three illustrations of hypocrisy. One in the area of almsgiving, one in the area of prayer, and one in the area of fasting. That is, in the area of our donations, our devotions, and our discipline. Jesus speaks of hypocrisy. First of all, look in the area of our donations, verses one through four. Take heed that you do not your alms, that is, you're giving your donation before men to be seen of them.

9:13 Otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, but when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret. And thy Father which seeth in secret himself SHALL REWARD THEE OPENLY. NOW JESUS HERE IS NOT TALKING ABOUT THE GIFT THAT YOU BRING TO THE CHURCH ON SUNDAY OR THAT SOMEONE WOULD BRING TO THE, UH, SYNAGOGUE ON SATURDAY. HE'S NOT TALKING ABOUT THAT. HE'S TALKING ABOUT GIVING TO POOR PEOPLE, GIVING ALMS, GIFTS OF CHARITY. NOW HE'S NOT AGAINST THIS. HE'S NOT SAYING IT IS WRONG TO DO THIS. AS A MATTER OF FACT, IF YOU GO BACK IN CHAPTER FIVE AND LOOK IN VERSE 42, YOU'RE GOING TO SEE THAT OUR LORD HAS SAID, GIVE TO HIM THAT ASKETH THEE, AND OF HIM THAT WOULD BORROW OF THEE, TURN THOU NOT AWAY. THE LORD IS NOT AGAINST GIVING TO THE POOR. AS A MATTER OF FACT, THE BIBLE CLEARLY AND DEFINITELY SAYS THIS WE OUGHT TO DO. IN PSALM 41 VERSE 1, BLESSED IS HE THAT CONSIDERETH THE POOR. THE LORD WILL DELIVER HIM IN TIME OF TROUBLE. AND ALL OF US OUGHT TO BE LOOKING FOR POOR PEOPLE THAT WE CAN GIVE TO AND MINISTER TO. NOW IT IS NOT THE DEED THAT JESUS SAYS IS WRONG THAT THESE PHARISEES ARE DOING.

10:39 IT WAS THEIR MOTIVE AND IT WAS THEIR METHOD. NOW IF THE DEVIL CANNOT KEEP YOU FROM, UH, FROM DOING A RIGHT THING, HE WILL TRY TO GET YOU TO DO A RIGHT THING IN A WRONG WAY. THE PHARISEES IN JESUS' TIME LITERALLY HAD LITTLE SILVER TRUMPETS. HUH, WHEN THEY WANTED TO GIVE MONEY TO THE POOR, THEY WOULD GO OUT AND STAND IN THE MARKETPLACE, IT'S TIME NOW TO GIVE MONEY TO THE POOR, TA-TA-TA-TA-TA, THEY WOULD BLOW the trumpet. And when they would blow the trumpet, the poor would come saying, we're going to receive something. And of course, not only would the poor come, but everybody on the street would hear the trumpet. Uh, their ears would be attracted to the sound of that silver trumpet and they, they would sound their trumpet and then they would dole out their goodies to the poor to be seen of men. Everybody would say, there's the Pharisee. Isn't he a generous man?

11:32 Look what he's giving to the poor. Have you ever noticed at Christmas time when people want to give to the poor? They always somehow manage to get some media attention out of it. And many times these are politicians who want to be seen giving things to the poor. I mean, it is a media event. They want to be seen giving to the poor. All of us have our own little trumpets that we can sound so others will see us giving to the poor. Very few people go out, some do, under cover of night when nobody else knows about it and just simply give for giving's sake. But there are always those who want to be seen of men. Now what our Lord is saying, it's not wrong to do it, it is the motive and the method. Now notice in verse 3, but when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. Now what on earth does that mean?

12:25 Well, both the right hand and the left hand are connected to the brain, and it's really the brain that knows what's going on. What's our Lord talking about? Well, he's just simply saying, don't be so careful in the way that you give. Just give. Now, if you're walking down the street and there's somebody who's in need, just reach into your pocket, your right hand. That's where most of us keep our change. And just give it to him. Now, what do we do when we want to know exactly what we're giving? Well, we want to know exactly what we're giving. We take it out of our right hand, we put it in our left hand, we count it, don't we? You see, our, our left hand has to know what our right hand is doing in order for us to count it out, in order for us to measure it out. Our, our, our left hand has to know what our right hand is doing. That's the kind of giving that some people give. But our Lord said, just go ahead and give it. Don't wait for everybody to see and don't be so careful. Don't keep score. Let God keep the score. Now our Lord speaks of hypocrisy, therefore, in the area of our donations. And then he speaks HYPOCRISY IN THE AREA OF OUR DEVOTIONS. CONTINUE TO READ, IF YOU WILL, IN VERSE FIVE, AND WHEN THOU PRAYEST, THOU SHALL NOT BE AS THE PLAY ACTORS ARE, FOR THEY LOVE TO PRAY STANDING IN THE SYNAGOGUES AND IN THE CORNER OF THE STREETS, THAT THEY MAY BE SEEN OF MEN, THAT THEY ARE PUTTING ON A THEATER. VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, THEY HAVE THEIR REWARD. NOW I WANT TO SAY, IT IS NOT WRONG TO PRAY IN PUBLIC, NOR IS IT WRONG TO GIVE IN PUBLIC. DON'T MISUNDERSTAND WHAT JESUS CHRIST IS SAYING.

13:51 IT IS NOT WRONG TO GIVE IN PUBLIC AND IT IS CERTAINLY NOT WRONG TO PRAY IN PUBLIC. AS A MATTER OF FACT, IT IS WRONG NOT TO PRAY IN PUBLIC. AND WE PRAY IN PUBLIC HERE. AND THE BIBLE ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO PRAY IN PUBLIC. AND THE BIBLE, AH, ILLUSTRATES HOW PEOPLE PRAYED IN PUBLIC. FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE BOOK OF ACTS, ONE OF THE GREAT CHAPTERS IS CHAPTER FOUR AND IT SPEAKS OF PUBLIC PRAYER. IN ACTS CHAPTER FOUR VERSE 24, AND WHEN THEY HEARD THAT, THEY LIFTED UP THEIR VOICE TO GOD WITH ONE ACCORD AND SAID, LORD, THOU ART GOD WHICH HATH MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH AND THE SEA AND ALL THAT IN THEM IS. TOGETHER THEY PRAYED AND GOD IS GLORIFIED WHEN PEOPLE COME TOGETHER TO PRAY. AND AS A MATTER OF FACT, HE'S GOING TO GIVE US AN ILLUSTRATION OF HOW TO PRAY WHEN HE SAYS, OUR FATHER, NOT MY FATHER, BUT OUR FATHER. PEOPLE ARE PRAYING TOGETHER. DON'T BE ASHAMED TO PRAY IN PUBLIC. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH PUBLIC PRAYER. WHEN YOU GO INTO A RESTAURANT AND A MEAL IS SET BEFORE YOU AND YOU BOW YOUR HEAD AT HOME TO THANK GOD FOR THE MEAL, BOW YOUR HEAD IN THAT RESTAURANT AND THANK GOD FOR THE MEAL. AND DON'T CARE WHO SAYS OR WHO SEES. YOU DON'T DO IT TO BE SEEN OF MEN, BUT YOU'RE NOT ASHAMED TO BE SEEN OF MEN. FOR JESUS SAID, LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE BEFORE MEN THAT THEY MAY SEE YOUR GOOD WORKS AND GLORIFY YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN.

15:04 WE HAD A LITTLE BOY, PHILIP, WHO DIED. I TOOK PHILIP TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM WHILE JOY STAYED HOME TO PRAY. PHILIP WAS ONE OF of those little infant crib deaths. I wrapped him in my coat and drove through blinding tears to the emergency room of the hospital where Joyce stayed with our two other little children. I cannot tell you the agony that was in my heart as I burst through those hospital doors and beat on the door to get somebody to come and take that little baby and see if they could revive the life of that child. And I don't mind telling you, my dear friend, that there in that busy hospital corridor as they left me on the outside, I got on my knees in that CORRIDOR. I DIDN'T CARE WHO SAW ME ON MY KNEES. I WAS DOWN ON MY KNEES PRAYING. I DIDN'T CARE IF THE WHOLE WORLD SAW ME BECAUSE I WAS NOT ASHAMED TO BE SEEN PRAYING IN PUBLIC BECAUSE I HAD A NEED AND I WASN'T DOING IT TO BE SEEN OF MEN. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT KIND OF PRAYER. BUT WHAT OUR LORD IS SAYING, MY DEAR FRIEND, IS THAT YOU DO NOT PRAY, YOU DO NOT PRAY TO BE SEEN OF MEN. NOW WHAT OUR LORD HERE IS talking about is your private devotions. And what Jesus is saying, you do not do your private devotions in public. One of the secrets of prayer is prayer in secret. And my dear friend, if you don't pray in secret, don't pray in public. If, if, if all the praying you do is just simply outward, you see, prayers of pretense always have to have an audience. But prayers of reality know that God alone is the audience. I think I told of a young lawyer one time who, uh, graduated from law school, hung up his shingle, brand spanking new offices, didn't have one client in the world, sitting there behind his desk, getting ready to do business. He hears footfalls, somebody walking down the hall. He's very excited. Maybe this is a client. Maybe this is a customer. He picks up the phone, prepares to act like he's busy. Hello? Yes. No, I'm sorry. I've got a heavy corporation case tomorrow. No, no, no, no. I can't see it then. Perhaps no, not next Wednesday.

17:02 Wednesday, the Wednesday after next, I think my secretary will have a place on her calendar for you the Wednesday after next. And he hangs up the phone and he sees the man standing in front of him and he says, now, good sir, what may I do for you? He said, I'm from the phone company. I came to hook up your telephone. Now, I, I think, dear friend, this is the kind of praying that Jesus is talking about. Jesus is talking about that kind of hypocrisy when there's nobody on the other end of the line. We are just simply praying to be seen of men. We're to impress them rather than to impress the Lord. Now our Lord tells us how we are to pray. Look, if you will, in verse 7, and when ye pray, use not vain repetition as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. When you pray, you don't pray to impress God. You don't pray to impress God. God is not impressed with the rhetoric of your prayers. God is not impressed with your much speaking.

17:59 God is not impressed with your eloquence. You don't have to be a junior-sized Shakespeare in order to pray. You don't have to use King James English to pray, and you'd better beware of using trite phrases that are often repeated. I am guilty of doing that. That's one of the great dangers of being a preacher, is that sometimes you get little shibboleths, little phrases that you put into your prayers. I, down at the old church one day, I had gone from early in the morning to late at night, and I had meetings all day long. I was weary. I was brain dead. I, I was just at the end of myself, and a man saw me at the close of the service. He said, Pastor Rogers, I must talk to you. I must. I have a very big problem. I said, all right, come on in. Sit down and talk. And my heart was right. I was listening to that man. I wanted to help him.

18:51 And finally, when it's finished, I said, let me pray for you. All day long also I had been dictating letters, signing them in Jesus' name, Adrian Rogers. When I got to the end of that prayer, I prayed in Jesus' name, Adrian Rogers. Oh, dear God, what have I done? Did he hear me say that, Lord? I mean, did he realize what I'd said? I guess God knew who it was who was praying down there. In Jesus' name, Adrian Rogers. I SAID, DEAR GOD, LET ME FALL INTO THAT KIND OF BUSINESS.

19:28 WE DO NOT PRAY, OH, MY DEAR FRIEND, WE DO NOT PRAY TO IMPRESS GOD, NOR DO WE PRAY TO INFORM GOD. LOOK IF YOU WILL IN VERSE 8, BE NOT THEREFORE LIKE UNTO THEM, FOR YOUR FATHER KNOWETH WHAT YOU HAVE NEED OF BEFORE YOU ASK HIM. YOU DON'T PRAY TO IMPRESS GOD, YOU DON'T PRAY TO INFORM GOD. YOU DON'T TELL GOD ONE BLESSED THING WHEN YOU PRAY THAT HE DOESN'T already know. I've asked you before, has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurs to God? I mean, God knows everything. God knows the beginning from the end and He knows what you have need of before you ever ask Him. So if you don't pray to impress God and you don't pray to inform God, what do you pray to do? You pray to invite God and to enjoy God. Look, if you will, as, as He continues to tell us, but after this manner, therefore,