Volume  III    Issue   XLVI   September 21st, 2003

A publication of the:
Butler church of Christ

Our meeting location is:
201 5th Ave.
Butler, PA 16001
724-287-0628 (building) / 724-282-9417 (home/office)

Assembling Times:
Sunday Bible Class - 9:30 AM
Sunday Worship – 10:30 AM
Wednesday Bible Class – 7:00 PM
 

Editor / Preacher –
Brian A. Yeager
 

Check out the web site:

http://www.wordsoftruth.net

    The Devil is hard at work in attempting to cause us all to be lost.  He is a predator (I Peter 5:8).  One tool that seems to be affective in the lives of many is the tool of self-deception.  Sometimes we deceive ourselves by being overly self-righteous.  We often in our self-righteous attitude are quick in pointing out the sins of others.  We like to be quick in our observations about the faults of others.  However, when examining our own lives, as we ought to (II Corinthians 13:5), we have on blinders.  Self-deception is nothing more than lying to one’s self.  The Devil is the father of lies (John 8:44), thus all forms of deception have come from him.  Self-righteous, self-deception is basically a denial of accountability.  Hypocrisy is summed up in this attitude.

    Imagine a group of unfaithful Christians sitting in a pew and watching a weak brother or sister coming in the building.  Those unfaithful Christians begin to whisper about how that weaker brother or sister is not living their life right.  They are condemning how they look and how late they are.  However, these unfaithful Christians show up only on Sunday morning, but they are in their “Sunday’s best clothes”, on time, and they do sit in the “most clean pew”.  Who are the unfaithful to pass judgment on the unfaithful?

    Jesus dealt with the sinner casting the stone at another sinner.  The context takes us to an account wherein the scribes and Pharisees brought an adulteress to Jesus for Him to lay a death sentence upon her.  Jesus replied to the sinners who were acting upon the law that they so commonly broke as the record accounts: (John 8:7) “So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”  In Matthew’s account of the “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus also taught about a sinner overlooking their own sins to judge another: (Matthew 7:1-5) “Judge not, that ye be not judged.  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”  There is no uncertainty with what our Lord said in the above quoted scriptures.  Jesus condemns the hypocrite who judges another.  He says to first take care of your own issues.  How great it would be if we all followed what the Lord said.

    David was a man who lusted, committed adultery, lied about it, and murdered an innocent man so that he could have what he wanted (II Samuel chapter 11).  He sat still upon his throne passing judgment on others.  Notice the following marvelous account that makes David accountable for what he has done:  (II Samuel 12:1-7) “And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.  The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.  And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.  And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.  And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man…”

    Sometimes we need to realize that which Nathan pointed out to David “thou art the man.”  We need to be accountable for our sins.  Notice in the scriptures quoted above that as long as David was hearing this story told by Nathan he was very angry.  What a disgusting thing he was being told.  It never dawned upon him that the story was of him.  David was willing to put this man to death.  I wonder how many Christians could hear some of their actions put into an account without names and would be appalled by what they heard.  It would be a good practice for all Christians to step back and take a third-person look at their lives and in so doing hold we need to hold ourselves accountable for what we have done.

    Denial will not help us get to Heaven.  The Lord has made wonderful promises about forgetting and forgiving the Christian’s repented of and confessed sins (Luke 13:3; 5, Hebrews 8:12-13, and I John 1:9).  But, what happens when we say we have not sinned?  (I John 1:8; 10) “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us….  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”  With the promises God has made to forgive and forget, as well as the warnings about denying our sins; why would any Christian deny what they have done against God at any time?  Ultimately, the punishment will be because we have not repented and confessed our sins.  God knows what we have done whether we confess it or not.

    The Bible is clear in expressing that God knows what we are doing.  We cannot hide our sins from Him (Psalms 69:5).  God knows what is going on in our lives.  Notice how the Hebrew writer expresses this truth: (Hebrews 4:13) “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.”  God’s omniscience is greater than most want to acknowledge.  He is all-knowing (Psalms 139:1-11).  We can at times get so self-righteous, that we think deceiving ourselves about our own sins also deceives God and others.  This just simply is not the case.

    We can be effective in helping to convert erring brethren from their sins (James 5:19-20).  However, when we ourselves are living “secret sinful lives” our efforts of conversion need to turn to ourselves.  Most hypocrites will not sit with their brethren and try to help them; they will rather enjoy pointing out that someone else is a sinner too.  Being alone in sin is not as fun as feeling like you are in a crowd of sinners.  Then you can play that old “they are worse than me” game all day long.

    Appearance is what a hypocrite is concerned with (Matthew 6:5; 7).  The last thing a hypocrite wants is to be found out.  It is interesting to consider what Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees: (Matthew 23:25-28) “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, 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 within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”  Have you considered what Jesus might say to you if you are one of these individuals hiding your own sins while pointing out those of others?  When one suffers from this not so great lifestyle of hypocrisy they must look in the mirror of spiritual examination and say “thou art the man.”

Quick Notes

Those In Need of Our Prayers:
Tony Sassano (going through chemotherapy), Joan Croyle, Marie Glunt (a friend of the Papp’s who is suffering from cancer), and Julie Rado (a friend of the Graham’s who has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

THANKS to – Bill, Mike, and Terry for filling in last week!  We are blessed to have men who are willing to step up and teach when needed!

Our Gospel Meeting is coming up soon (Oct. 19th -23rd) with Wayne Goforth.  Details are on the bulletin board.