The Savior has taken away the sin of our hypocrisy by his sincere obedience. Who but Jesus could keep the commands of God with such sinless sincerity? Then, having perfectly done what he taught in absolute sincerity, Jesus left us with the most potent example to follow.

Jesus constantly warned about hypocrisy throughout his earthly ministry. Whether it was the institutionalized hypocrisy of the Pharisees (Matt. 6:2, 5, 16; 15:7; 16:3; 22:18; 23:13-15, 23-29), or the leavening effects that such hypocrisy had on professing believers (Luke 12:1), Jesus recurrently emphasized that we are ever in danger of falling into hypocrisy.

Since such hypocrisy was most prevalent among the religious leaders in Israel in Jesus’ day, pastors and others engaged in public ministry are far from immune to such hypocrisy in our own day.

Christian leaders need to have a deep determination to avoid falling into the trap of hypocrisy.

When the apostle Paul wrote his epistles, he often dealt with the issue of sincerity and hypocrisy in ministry. The same apostle who said, “what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do…For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me” (Rom. 7:15-20) also said, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27; all Scripture quotations from NKJV).

Paul, at one and the same time, acknowledged the principle of indwelling sin in his own Christian experience and a deep determination to avoid falling into the trap of hypocrisy. There was a devout resolution in the heart of the apostle to put hypocrisy to death daily–even as he recognized the irreconcilable warfare between the flesh and the Spirit that raged in his heart.

There was not one insincere bone in the body of Jesus.

And, while it is true that all Christians must have the same resolution as the apostle Paul, there was only One who never knew anything of the reality of indwelling sin–the Lord Jesus Christ. There is only One who perfectly abstained from every form of sin and hypocrisy. There was not one insincere bone in the body of Jesus. Jesus never taught others something that he did not perfectly exemplify in his own experience. This is perhaps nowhere better seen than in his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. No one ever had a pure heart like Christ. Jesus never lusted after a woman, never lied, never had a hateful thought or affection. Jesus was perfectly pure in heart. Jesus loved his Father with all of his heart, mind, soul, and strength.

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