(#421) Romans 12 - Christians Don’t Live in the Hypocrisy Pit/Welcome To BARAH MINISTRIES a Christian Church Rory Clark Pastor-Teacher\
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference worldwide courtesy of the internet…Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference locally in the Gilbert, Mesa, and Chandler, AZ communities. My name is Pastor Rory Clark. At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we teach the Word of God from God’s perspective…not from man’s perspective.
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON Christians Don’t Live in the Hypocrisy Pit\
The fifth passage of Romans, Chapter 12 begins this way…Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 9…
/ROMANS 12:9 LET UNCONDITIONAL LOVE BE WITHOUT HYPOCRISY. Abhor what is evil…cling to what is good.\
The word “hypocrite” is a drama term…literally, it means “a person who talks from behind a drama mask.” The apostle James has a name for Christians who engage in hypocrisy in James, Chapter 1, Verse 8…
/JAMES 1:8b …a double-minded man…unstable in all his ways.\
Christians don’t live in the hypocrisy pit. God did not create us to have a double-minded approach to life. With God, everything is one. In today’s lesson we’ll engage in a bit of introspection, and we’ll ask ourselves to surface all the ways we are engaging in hypocrisy. Why? It is because Christians don’t live in Satan’s hypocrisy pit. We are not at home in Satan’s hypocrisy pit. And as we reflect to surface hypocrisy issues, we won’t look to apply the lesson to others…we look to see where “hypocrisy” describes us…and then we’ll ask God to do something about it. Love…true love…the lifestyle God has planned for believers in Christ…a lifestyle of LOVE…is without hypocrisy.
As we turn away from the cares of the world and begin to look into what the Lord has to say to us through His Word today, let’s listen to a song with painfully touching lyrics. Accomplished songwriter Laura Story, who also wrote the hit song “Indescribable” made famous by Chris Tomlin, asks with her powerful pen…“What if God’s blessings come through raindrops? What if God’s healing comes through tears? What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know God’s near? What if trials of this life are God’s mercies in disguise?” Shortly after she married her childhood sweetheart, they found he had a brain tumor. Laura found herself getting quite mad at God. In reflection, and through prayer, as she and her husband dealt with the circumstance, she wrote this song.
We, too, struggle to get a grasp on the trials of this life…and as we struggle to learn the depth of our relationship with the Lord…and how He uses trials to shape us, we just need to know that He never moves away from us, and that He always blesses us in grace. Welcome to a place where you can learn about the Lord. Here’s Laura Story with her hit song…BLESSINGS.
/MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
BLESSINGS Laura Story\
/OPENING PRAYER Let us pray...\
Almighty God and Father…
Thank you for giving us ONE WAY to do a thing…YOUR WAY…in that way, thank you for making our lives easy…thank you for the trials of this life that You use as a spiritual gymnasium to prepare us to serve You and to serve others with our spiritual gift…
Help us to recognize the deceptions of our enemy, Satan…help us to construct a lifestyle that abhors evil and clings to what is good…help us to be sober…and to be on the alert…
…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...Amen.
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON Christians Don’t Live in the Hypocrisy Pit\
Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 9…
/ROMANS 12:9 LET UNCONDITIONAL LOVE BE WITHOUT HYPOCRISY. Abhor what is evil…cling to what is good.\
When you think of it, the Christian Way of Living is really easy. There are only two choices in this life. There is the choice Satan wants for you and there is the choice God wants for you. Satan, the enemy of God, deceives the whole world, and introduces confusion to deceive. He uses religion to deceive, and he wants us to believe the lie He sponsors that there are many ways to get to God…but the truth is this…John, Chapter 14, Verse 6…
/JOHN 14:6 Jesus said to Thomas, the doubting apostle, “I am the ONLY way (to salvation), and I am the ONLY truth (the Word of God), and I am the ONLY resurrection life…and no one comes to God the Father but through believing in Me.”\
Although there appear to be many ways to God…and although the many ways boil down to two ways…Satan’s way or God’s way…when you really think about it, God’s way is the ONLY choice.
Once we make the ONLY choice…Christ…once we become believers in Christ, we have the victory. Choosing Christ makes us winners in the eternal, spiritual game. John, Chapter 10, Verse 28…
/JOHN 10:28 …I (the Lord Jesus Christ) give eternal life (the resurrection life) to believers in Christ, and they will never perish…and no one will snatch them out of My hand.\
Satan’s only choice with believers in Christ, now that we can no longer be snatched from the Lord’s hands, is to deceive us into thinking we haven’t obtained the victory yet. Satan deceives believers in Christ by encouraging us to strive…encouraging us to work to please God…encouraging us to work for a victory we already have.
God’s unconditional love is as expansive and as inclusive as the universe. Satan’s hatred is like a black hole. It has a gravitational pull called temptation that sucks believers in Christ in…it lures us into a spatial pit that is designed to crush us…to destroy us…Satan encourages us to develop a lifestyle that, like a black hole, has no light…the gravitational pull of a black hole is so strong that light cannot escape from it…and if it were not for the Lord, Satan would suck us into his black hole of darkness and we would be trapped in his prison, never to get out. It is Satan’s intent that believers in Christ, who have an abundant resurrection life, won for them by the Lord at the Cross, abandon that victorious life for a life filled with hypocrisy… a life filled with the confusion of double- mindedness. Satan’s lifestyle offer is a pit of hypocrisy. Yet Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 9 exhorts us…
/ROMANS 12:9 LET UNCONDITIONAL LOVE BE WITHOUT HYPOCRISY. Abhor what is evil…cling to what is good.\
As a believer in Christ, are you living a lifestyle of hypocrisy? It’s the identity Satan, the enemy of God wants us to adopt. When we engage in hypocrisy long enough, it can become an identity for us. We become hypocrites. We adopt the identity of unbelievers. Here is the Lord’s attitude toward hypocrites…in Matthew, Chapter 23…the Lord said many times…
/MATTHEW 23 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees…hypocrites…”\
The Lord’s most damning “woe” accusation is in Matthew, Chapter 23, Verse 27… /MATTHEW 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs…which on the outside appear beautiful…but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”\
Satan wants you to live a life of scarcity. Have you abandoned your spiritual birthright, as a believer in Christ, to a life of abundance?
The Lord attributed the identity “hypocrites” to the unbelieving scribes and Pharisees. Christians don’t live in the hypocrisy pit. Believers in Christ are in union with Christ. And God is constantly working on us from the inside out, transforming our thinking, expanding us, and preparing us for an abundant life.
We work on ourselves from the outside in. Yes, believers in Christ often engage in hypocrisy…living from behind a mask…yet when we learn the power of the spiritual life given to us by God, we certainly don’t have to ever do it. We don’t have to be spiritually poor. We don’t have to act the way unbelievers act and make the choices unbelievers choose.
As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, in union with the Sovereign God of the Universe, where does spiritual poverty show up in your life? Where do ideas of scarcity and lack show up in your life? Should lack show up in a believer in Christ’s life, considering he is the child of a King…a child who has inherited a life of abundance? John. Chapter 10, Verse 10…
/JOHN 10:10 The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy (the sheep)…but I (the Lord Jesus Christ) came that believers in Christ may have the resurrection life, and have it abundantly.\
The answer is a loud and resounding NO. We are not to live a life of hypocrisy. Let’s take a five-minute break.
/BREAK Five Minutes\
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON Christians Don’t Live in the Hypocrisy Pit\ Welcome back! Christians are God’s possession. Christians were not designed by God to live in Satan’s hypocrisy pit. God always wants the highest and best for us. That’s why He chooses to bless us…out of love! Here’s a song written and sung by June Murphy about God’s ownership of His believers…the song is YOU OWN ME.
/MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
YOU OWN ME June Murphy\
Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 9…
/ROMANS 12:9 LET UNCONDITIONAL LOVE BE WITHOUT HYPOCRISY. Abhor what is evil…cling to what is good.\
I’m not sure how many of you are old enough to remember a situation comedy broadcast on CBS television called the Beverly Hillbillies. Maybe you’ve seen reruns. It was one of my favorite shows during my childhood. What the show was about can be summed up well by its opening song…
/BEVERLY HILLBILLIES OPENING SONG
Come and listen to my story About a man named Jed A poor mountaineer Barely kept his family fed\
/BEVERLY HILLBILLIES OPENING SONG
And then one day He was shooting at some food And up through the ground Come a bubblin’ crude Oil that is…black gold…Texas tea \
/BEVERLY HILLBILLIES OPENING SONG
Well the next thing you know Old Jed’s a millionaire The kin folks said, “Jed move away from here.” They said, “California’s the place you ought to be!”\
/BEVERLY HILLBILLIES OPENING SONG
So they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly… Hills that is… Swimming pools… Movie stars…\
I’m not sure how long Jed Clampett lived on his property before he discovered that he was a millionaire…but the truth is, he was a millionaire long before he discovered it. So it is with Christians. We have a spiritual wealth that makes us spiritual millionaires, yet many believers in Christ live in mental slavery, like paupers, deceived by Satan’s kingdom of death and darkness into thinking we have to strive for a spiritual wealth we already possess by doing good works. Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verse 3 reveals that our spiritual wealth is an established and irrevocable fact… a wealth that can’t be taken from us…that will always exist…
/EPHESIANS 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us believers in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in union with Christ…\
As this verse indicates, believers in Christ are blessed, and the blessings God has given us were credited to us in eternity past. The blessings extend from the past to the present to the future…and the blessings have no ending. Even before we were born we were blessed as spiritual millionaires…we’re spiritual millionaires now…and we will always be spiritual millionaires. Yet like Jed Clampett, many believers in Christ are residents on wealth producing land and just don’t know it. And many believers, once they know they are residents on wealth producing land…once they know they are spiritual millionaires, they still choose to live the life of a pauper. What is hypocrisy? /HYPOCRISY It is talking from behind a mask. It is pretense…phoniness…double-mindedness…appearing one way when you are really another more undesirable way… creating a public persona that is not who you really are, just so that you’ll be approved of by others.\
James calls it double-mindedness. Does your mindset reflect the singular, focused lifestyle of a spiritual millionaire? Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 1...
/GALATIANS 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us believers in Christ free…therefore keep standing firm in the freedom and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.\
Where does hypocrisy show up in your life? Where does spiritual poverty show up in your life? What changes do you need to let God make to your mindset to take advantage of the blessings that are already credited to your account, waiting for you to claim them? Maybe it’s time for you to, like Jed Clampett, “shoot at some food” on your spiritual land to expose the blessings that are right under your nose waiting for you to discover them.
Christians…God owns you. And He did not die for you on a Cross so you could live a life of scarcity and hypocrisy. As we transition out of the knowing part of Christianity detailed in the first 11 chapters of Romans, into the doing part of Christianity detailed in the last five chapters of Romans… Chapters 12 to 16…Christians are called on by the Lord Jesus Christ through the apostle Paul to live a supernatural life. Chapter 12 begins with four passages that introduce four supernatural challenges…
/ROMANS 12:1
Put Up…Shut Up…Grow Up…Stand Up…Show Up
TO PRESENT YOUR BODIES (by choice, not by command…as) AS A LIVING SACRIFICE…holy and acceptable to God the Father…which is your spiritual service…worship \
/ROMANS 12:2
Do not be conformed by Satan’s world system of thought
Keep on being transformed by God…He is renewing your mind
KGOD not WCON\
/ROMANS 12:3
Think highly of yourself
Not more highly than you ought to think
Think so as to have sound judgment\
/ROMANS 12:4-8
Use your spiritual gift\
Let’s review the first four passages, and then move on to the fifth.
/ROMANS 12:1 Therefore…I (Paul)…urge (beg…beseech) you…brethren (believers in Christ)… as you keep on being persuaded because of the many mercies of God…TO PRESENT YOUR BODIES (by choice, not by command…as) A LIVING AND HOLY SACRIFICE…acceptable to God the Father…which is your spiritual service…worship.\
/ROMANS 12:2a And do not be conformed to this world (by Satan, by his cosmic system of thought, and by the flesh resident in you)…instead, keep on being transformed by (God the Holy Spirit)…through the renewing of your mind (by studying the Word of God)…\
/ROMANS 12:2b …so that you may see clearly…through the testing of experience…what the will of God is…and the will of God is that which is good for you and that which is acceptable to Him and that which is perfect (in result).\
Tune to KGOD-XM not to WCON-FM…the Lord and Satan aren’t on the same broadcast spectrum.
/ROMANS 12:3 For through the grace given to me by God the Father (the grace gift of being an apostle…Paul’s spiritual gift), I (Paul) say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think…but to think so as to have sound judgment…the thinking that’s in line with the measure of faith given to you by God (your spiritual gift).\
/ROMANS 12:4 For just as we have many members in one human body and all the members of our human body do not have the same function…\
/ROMANS 12:5 …so we believers in Christ…who are many…are one body in union with Christ…and individually we are members one of another.\
/ROMANS 12:6 Since we each have a spiritual gift (charisma) that is different according to the grace (charis) given to us by God…each of us is to use the spiritual gift accordingly…if he has the spiritual gift of prophecy (for preaching the Word of God)…he is to exercise the gift according to the proportion of his faith…\
/ROMANS 12:7 …if he has the spiritual gift of service…he is to exercise the gift in his serving…or he who has the spiritual gift that teaches…he is to exercise the gift in his teaching…\
/ROMANS 12:8 …or he who has the spiritual gift to exhort, he is to exercise the gift in his exhortation…he who has the spiritual gift that gives…he is to exercise the gift with liberality…he who has the spiritual gift that leads…he is to exercise the gift with diligence…he who shows mercy, he is to exercise the gift with cheerfulness.\
Let’s take a five-minute break, and then we’ll finish up today’s lesson.
/BREAK Five Minutes\
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON Christians Don’t Live in the Hypocrisy Pit\
When we visit the hypocrisy pit…our omnipresent God is there with us. Psalm 37, Verse 24 says…
/PSALM 37:24 When the believer in Christ falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord Jesus Christ is the One who holds his hand.\
Here’s June Murphy to suggest that you keep on holding the Lord’s hand with her song TAKE MY HAND.
/MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
TAKE MY HAND June Murphy\
Now we move into the fifth and final passage of the chapter…Romans, Chapter 12, Verses 9 to 21…
/ROMANS 12:9 LET UNCONDITIONAL LOVE BE WITHOUT HYPOCRISY. Abhor what is evil…cling to what is good.\
/ROMANS 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love…give preference to one another in honor…\
/ROMANS 12:11 …not lagging behind in diligence…fervent in spirit…serving the Lord…\
/ROMANS 12:12 …rejoicing in hope…persevering in tribulation…devoted to prayer…\
/ROMANS 12:13 …contributing to the needs of the saints…practicing hospitality.\
/ROMANS 12:14 Bless those who persecute you…bless and do not curse.\
/ROMANS 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice…and weep with those who weep.\
/ROMANS 12:16 Be of the same mind toward one another…do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.\
/ROMANS 12:17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men.\
/ROMANS 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.\
/ROMANS 12:19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.\
/ROMANS 12:20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink…for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”\
/ROMANS 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.\
Romans, Chapter 12 is filled with instruction on the Christian Way of Living. In the fifth passage, Paul is giving a series of short exhortations directly from God on how to live in the Spirit. We have begun our study with a look at Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 9…
/ROMANS 12:9 LET UNCONDITIONAL LOVE BE WITHOUT HYPOCRISY. Abhor what is evil…cling to what is good.\
The first “DO’ of the fifth passage of Romans Chapter 12 is to love without hypocrisy. Do love. Don’t engage in hypocrisy. Unconditional love is sincere. What is hypocrisy? /HYPOCRISY Literally, it means talking from behind a mask. It is pretense… phoniness… appearing one way when you are really another more undesirable way… creating a public persona that is not who you really are, just so that you’ll be approved of by others.\
I can tell you this about unconditional love…it’s something you give…it’s not something you ask for. If you’re asking for unconditional love or expecting unconditional love from someone else, then you’re probably being a butthead. It’s probably better to focus on what you control, and you control reflecting God’s UNconditional love to others.
In my experience, Christians who are demanding unconditional love from others are acting like immature little babies who are throwing a tantrum. They mistreat people and when the person they mistreat takes exception, they start invoking Christianity in the person they have mistreated. “Where’s the unconditional love man?” The trouble is this…immature Christians wouldn’t recognize unconditional love if it bit them in the face. They are like Jed Clampett…they are spiritually wealthy yet they have no idea. They need to grow up. As our spiritual lives mature, God moves us into a position of submission as Christians, and when we are there, we understand that God the Holy Spirit is guiding and directing our lives. Romans, Chapter 5, verse 5…the second part…
/ROMANS 5:5b …the unconditional love of God has been poured out within our hearts through God the Holy Spirit who was given to us (as a pledge of our inheritance).\
God the Holy Spirit is directing our lives to a life of unconditional love…an expansive, abundant, resurrection life. As believers in Christ, we spend so much of our lives trying to fix that part of us that is broken. It’s a waste of time because it is something we cannot accomplish. Only God can fix that part of us.
We need to reject Satan’s deception that we must strive to please God. Instead we need to begin living the life God has given us. There is a new creation that is not broken at all. Let’s live our real identity in union with Christ.
/GOD WANTS YOU! Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life\
The closing moments of our study are for the benefit of anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU.
If you closed your eyes in this life right this moment…and found yourself standing before the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, at the “pearly gates” of heaven…and the Lord asked you, “Why should I let you into heaven?” … what would you say?
For many, they would talk about their good works…all the things that they have done which merit entrance into heaven. Yet Romans, Chapter 4, Verse 4 says…
/ROMANS 4:4 Now to the one who works (for salvation), his wage (for his work) is not credited (to his account) as a favor (grace from God), but (his wage is credited) as what is due for the work.\
Well I have some bad news for you. You were born with a problem. From the moment of your physical birth, God considered you a sinner. Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 10…
/ROMANS 3:10 …as it is written “There is no creature who is righteous, not even one…”\
Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 23…
/ROMANS 3:23 …for all creatures have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…\
As a sinner, we simply don’t meet God’s standard because God requires perfection to get into heaven.
By the way, it’s not your fault that you’re a sinner from physical birth, but it is your circumstance. You’re born a sinner and you need a Savior. That’s bad news! Why is that bad news? Unfortunately sin has a penalty. Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 23…
/ROMANS 6:23 For the wages of sin (the payment earned because of sin) is (spiritual) death (and physical death)…
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself passed along this bad news to the Pharisee, Nicodemus, in John, Chapter 3, Verse 3…
/JOHN 3:3 Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (the spiritual birth) he cannot see the kingdom of God the Father (heaven).”\
This gospel message is the good news concerning what God the Father did to fix the problem of sin. Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 8…
/ROMANS 5:8 But God the Father demonstrates His own unconditional love toward all mankind, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died (a substitutionary sacrificial death) for us.\
As a result, eternal life…the resurrection life…is free of charge. Romans, Chapter 10, Verses 9 to 11…
/ROMANS 10:9 …if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord (that He is God)…and if you believe in your heart that God the Father raised Him from the dead… you will be saved…\
/ROMANS 10:10 …for with the heart a person believes…resulting in the imputation of absolute righteousness (your admission ticket to heaven)…and with the mouth a person confesses (admitting faith in Christ alone)…resulting in salvation.\
/ROMANS 10:11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will not be disappointed.”\
If you closed your eyes in this life right this moment…and found yourself standing before the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, at the “pearly gates” of heaven…and the Lord asked you, “Why should I let you into heaven?” … what would you say? It’s easy… Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…
/ACTS 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”\
All you have to say is, “I believed in You Lord. That’s all it takes to get to heaven.”
Heed the warning in John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…
/JOHN 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment… but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”\
There is a hell…and it is described this way in the bible…Matthew, Chapter 13, Verses 41 to 43…
/MATTHEW 13:41 The Son of Man (the Lord Jesus Christ) will send forth His (elect) angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks (unbelievers), and those who commit lawlessness (unbelievers)…\
/MATTHEW 13:42 …and (the elect angels) will throw unbelievers into the furnace of fire (the Lake of Fire)…in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.\
/MATTHEW 13:43 Then the righteous (believers in Christ) will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father…\
For those without a relationship with Christ, He’ll just ask them to step to the left and to take the “HELLIVATOR” … just press down. Don’t let that be you!
Here’s June murphy to tell you about God’s invitation to those who don’t have a relationship with Christ. He is CALLING YOU TO FREEDOM.
/CLOSING SONG CALLING YOU TO FREEDOM June Murphy\
/CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...\
/Thanks for coming! Thanks for watching! Thanks for listening! www.barahministries.com\
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