THE HYPOCRITE: PAST, PAST AND PRESENT

Proverbs 11:9 (KJV)
An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

Our Bible says,
Hebrews 13:8 (KJV)
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

God never changes.
There is a good reason for that; God is the same yesterday and today and forever because, for God, yesterday, today and forever are the same.

• He sees all of time at the same time
• He plans all events to happen in the “eternal now.”

He makes no contingencies for the future because, for God, nothing is future.

That would include His Word.

His Word is an unchanging book but it is also a living book.

So though, from our perspective things have changed over the course of thousands of years, nothing has changed from God’s perspective.

When God inspired the “holy men of old” to speak what is our Bible, He gave them words that He knew would have meaning:
• To the original audience
• To those who would hear from that audience and
• To those who would come thousands of years after

Clearly God had future generations on His mind when He gave His word.
Mark 13:37 (KJV)
And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

Jesus told His disciples to watch for His coming because they would not know the day or the hour of His coming, but then He said, “What I say unto you, I say unto all…”

John chapter 17 is a prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. While He prayed, Apostle John heard, remembered and recorded what He prayed.
John 17:20 (KJV)
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

He had in His mind, those who were with Him at the moment, but He also had in mind those who would become believers because of their message.

Over the course of time, words evolve. We change what we think those words mean.

I want to tell you that, though words evolve, all the meanings have meaning to God.

The word hypocrite is one of those words whose meanings have changed over the years.
What comes to our mind when we think of a hypocrite, might be different than what came to the mind of a Jew living 1000 years before Jesus was born.

I intend to take a walk through time and visit the transformations in meaning, believing that God has something to tell us in them all.

I. WHAT A HYPOCRITE WAS IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE JEWS
Proverbs 11:9 (KJV)
An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

The Hebrew word translated hypocrite in this verse means:
• Soiled by sin
• Polluted
• Defiled

You and I would probably call this person wicked or ungodly.

There is no question about it that this word has a connotation of immorality.

This is the person we Christians are challenged to try to save but to do so with fear,
Jude 1:22-23 (KJV)
And of some have compassion, making a difference:
And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

They are the people whose influence we do not want to touch us.

• We should mark them
• We should avoid them
• We should have little contact with them

And that contact we do have ought to be:
• Limited
• Measured and
• Purposeful

The Bible says the hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor.

There are at least two possible ways he might do that:
1. By saying evil and lying things about his neighbor
There are some people you don’t want to be around very much and when you are around them, you want to make sure there are other people there too because they will lie about you to destroy you.

I know a pastor who went to prison for ten years because someone told a lie about him.

And because he had been alone with them, he could not prove they were lying.

2. The hypocrite might also destroy his neighbor by luring him into sin.
He’s good with his words.

He is ungodly and he knows how to make ungodliness appealing.

The Bible says that the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field.
That means he did not look as dangerous as he was.

And he said – he used words – yea hath God said…?

He used words to make Eve question the Word of God.

It happens all the time these days.

1925
Though there were supposed atheists, America was largely influenced by Christian thought.

Darwin’s theory of evolution had been published and was gaining traction among the ungodly, but the public school system across the country taught Creation rather that evolution.

An unsaved teacher by the name of Scopes had broken the law in Tennessee and taught on evolution.

He was arrested and the case became national news.
Clarence Darrow
A powerful and articulate avowed atheist was called in to defend the teacher’s right to teach evolution.

William Jennings Bryan
A famous American Christian and politician, had twice been the Democratic nomination for President, and was at the time the leading spokesman for fundamentalist Christianity, was chosen to lead the prosecution against Scopes.

The trial became a circus, complete with monkeys dressed in suits in the stores around town.

Clarence Darrow’s tactic was direct.
He defended Scopes by attacking the Bible – and he had the perfect subject.

Darrow, called, Bryan, the prosecuting attorney to the stand and, by smooth words and twisting the Bible, so confused the testimony of Bryan, that he looked like a buffoon.

Bryan won the case, but his reputation was so marred that
• He died just five days later and
• Fundamentalist Christianity was labeled unintelligent

To this very day people in the academic world dismiss those who believe the Bible as unintelligent, regardless of how much education they have.

The hypocrite will try to destroy the faith of the believer with his mouth.

I want to look secondly at
II. WHAT A HYPOCRITE WAS IN EARLY ENGLAND
Proverbs 11:9 (KJV)
An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

Obviously, the most major shift from the first to the second would be in language:
• From Hebrew
• Into English

And there is a process that happens in that.
The English word, hypocrite develops out of Greek, Latin and French.

It originally meant a stage actor.

There was an old movie that Tim Allen did called Galaxy Quest.

Allen plays a Captain James T Kirk character for a now discontinued TV sci-fi show.

He and the co-stars survive by attending photo signings at fan conferences.

Suddenly, he and his crew are approached by a naive group of Space Aliens who, believing the old TV series to be historical documents, have come to seek his help defeating and enemy bent to exterminate them.

In one scene their, not so naïve enemy who has captured them. When he realizes the situation. He forces Tim Allen’s character to reveal that they are not space heroes.
• They are actors
• They are liars

Though acting has been around thousands upon thousands of years, acting was never, until lately, considered an honest job.

• Early actors were thought to be demon possessed
• Many of them practiced homosexuality

So, when a second century actor got saved, the question was asked of Polycarp, a disciple of Apostle John, about this man’s future livelihood.

The pastor of the church that had led this actor to the Lord wrote to Polycarp and stated, “We know that, as a Christian, he can’t act any more. But may he teach acting to earn his living?”

Polycarp said that it would be as wicked to teach others to act as it was to act himself. He said that they should help the man take care of his obligations until he could find honest work and suggested that if they could not afford to do that, he could move up to Polycarp’s church and they would help him out.

The word hypocrite was also defined as,
Someone who pretends to be what he is not.

When we combine the first definition of
• Someone who is ungodly, with the second definition of
• Someone who pretends to be what he is not

We discover what is the most popular current definition of
III. WHAT A HYPOCRITE IS TO US TODAY
Proverbs 11:9 (KJV)
An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

I want to read to you several modern definitions:
Dictionary.com
“A person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess.”

Merriam-Webster.com
“A person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs. A person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion.”

Vocabulary.com
“A hypocrite preaches one thing and does another.”

While the word hypocrite isn’t always associated with religion, it is always associated with morality and belief.

One dictionary offered this as their example of the use of hypocrite in a sentence,
“The only reliable product of an organized religion is a flock of hypocrites who feel that only their hypocrisy is divinely sanctioned.”

Conclusion
I just want to ask you,
Please, don’t be a hypocrite.

Don’t pretend to be something you are not.

If you are saved
Behave as a Christian should. Be moral and honest.

If you are not saved
• Stop pretending that everything is all right between you and God.
• It’s time to stop pretending and get saved for sure and forever.