Woe Unto the Hypocrite

It's such a blessing to be here tonight with you to seek the Lord together. And if you were observing, you saw my Amazon box here. Yeah, I sometimes use them too.

Oh, yes. Well, children, if you remember, I said that tonight we're going to have everybody participating in our lesson. Everybody gets to be a volunteer and a helper in the lesson tonight.

I didn't try this before to see if this will work. What do you think? I think it might if I don't bump it too much, right, Zach, Tommy? OK, so anyway, we're going to go right into the message here tonight. And then we're going to have all the children come after we're all done with that.

So you have to be patient and just wait. OK. OK.

But when you see what I get out of my box now already, you might think it's children's lesson already. Not quite. Does that sound a little bit funny to you children? My brother right here, James, he got the verse I'm on to.

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, and it is nigh. I should have practiced my trumpet blowing a little more.

All right, thank you. Yes, well, I want us tonight to open our Bibles in a moment here. But before we turn to the scriptures, I'll just read a few other verses.

And then we're going to be in Matthew chapter 23, beginning in verse 1. So you can start turning there, but listen to the word of the Lord out of Ezekiel. O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. If when the watchman seeth the sword come upon the land, and he blow the trumpet and warn the people, then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet and taketh not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

Because he heard the sound of the trumpet, but took not warning, his blood shall be upon him. But if the watchman see the sword coming, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, and the sword come and take any person among them, and he's taken away in his iniquity or in his sin, his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So thou, son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel.

Therefore thou shalt hear the word in my mouth and warn them for me. And when I say unto the wicked man, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die. If thou does not speak to warn the wicked from his way, the wicked man shall die in his iniquity or in his lawlessness, in his transgression, in his sin.

But his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity. But thou hast delivered thy soul.

The other evening, we talked about being hot or cold for Jesus. Well, tonight, I only have this water here. And I thought, well, I'll just set it up here just as a reminder that we want to be zealous for the Lord.

We want to be wholehearted for the Lord. We want to be cold for the Lord. Or we want to be hot for the Lord.

I got some pretty big ice cubes in there. I think it might last all night. A little precarious there.

Paul's testimony was this. In the book of Acts, in chapter 20, he said, I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. I was faithful in showing you and teaching you from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Gentiles' repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

And then he said these words. I am pure from the blood of all men. I am free from the blood of the sinner man, because I warned him.

I sounded the holy alarm warning. I blew the trumpet. And I showed him their transgression.

I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. This was Paul's testimony. Now tonight, we have a very sobering subject.

Let's turn to Matthew 23 and verse 1. Matthew chapter 23 and verse 1, then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their works, for they say and do not. Let's bow our heads for prayer.

Father in heaven, here we are before you, Lord. And Father, we have the privilege to open the Bible tonight and to learn of you and to hear your voice. And Father, I ask in the name of Jesus, Lord, that you would in your mercies look upon us.

Father, I ask in Jesus' name that as we're gathered together here under this tent tonight, Father, that your Holy Spirit would have free course here in this meeting. Father, I ask that you would anoint your word, anoint the lips of your servant. Oh, God, I pray in Jesus' name, Lord, you wouldn't pass any of us by.

But Father, that tonight, no matter where we are, who we are, we would hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. Oh, Father, Lord, we are so dependent upon you, Lord. And Father, we ask that you would in your loving kindness grant us a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Grant us a revelation of our own heart to see as you see, Lord. And Father, grant us the gift of repentance. We ask all these many blessings and favors in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. Throughout this chapter, we will repeatedly hear the Lord Jesus say very serious words. Woe, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.

Woe unto you. If we had a title tonight, it would be woe unto the hypocrite. Woe unto the hypocrite tonight.

Woe unto the pretender tonight, who like a Pharisee and a scribe, he's a hypocrite. He maybe has all his doctrines and laws of how you ought to live in a row. And he can tell everybody else how they ought to live.

But he says to others, and he's critical of others, and finds their fault and their sin, but forgets to look in the mirror, like we talked the other night. And he says to others what they ought to do. And maybe they're exacting to the law, very unforgiving, very exacting and demanding.

But woe, thou hypocrite, you say, but do not do. Our Lord Jesus, he did and he taught. The most powerful sermon, my dear children tonight, is the one that we see.

Like a little boy said to the daddy, Lord, daddy, I'd rather see a sermon any day than hear one. Why call you me Lord? Lord Jesus said, and do not the things that I say. These people honoreth me with their lips.

They draw nigh to me with their lips. They can sing the hymns in church on Sunday morning. But in works, in deeds, they deny me.

Do not after the scribes and the Pharisees, for they say, but they don't practice. I want to give us a heads up. We're not going to do an exegesis on all the verses of Matthew 23.

We're going to peruse through it. We're just going to sort of skip over in not full detail, because we don't have time for all of that tonight. But the burden of my heart is that tonight, if there's any who is in deception, and you're living a hypocritical life, and maybe you're not even aware of it, oh, that God would open our ears and our hearts and our eyes to see what is my motivation, what's driving me.

All their works they do to be seen of men. Am I very conscious about what my fellow man thinks of me, more than I am about what God thinks of me? Am I consumed with a passion to please my Lord Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father? And I recognize that I live before Him, way before men. I live before God.

And yes, I do live before men. And it's important that we have a clear testimony before men. But if I am conscious about wanting to please men and wanting the honor of men, whoa, danger sign, I want to make sure my reputation is good among men.

I care about what men think of me. I want to tell you here tonight, that is a pretty stark evidence of a Pharisee. And the works that I do, when I think about doing something, I think, now, I wonder how that'll cause my notches to go up or down in what people think of me.

I better not do that. I might not be as well looked upon. Well, if it's something evil or wicked, well, of course, don't do it.

But if it's something that you should do for the glory and the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ, who are you going to fear? Are you going to fear God? Are you going to fear man? Paul said, if I yet would want to just live for the pleasing of men, I couldn't please the Lord. And if I just live to the pleasing of men, well, then the persecution and the offense of the cross would cease. I could just live a pretty happy, contented life.

All there works to do for it to be seen of men. You know, before I was totally surrendered to Jesus Christ and fully aware of that I'm accepted in the beloved and I'm his beloved son, I cared pretty much about what people thought. Because, you know, if I'm insecure in my relationship with Christ, well, then I have to make, I better make sure that my relationship with my fellow peers around me is secure.

That they sure like me and they accept me. But, you know, that all changed when I became secure in my Lord Jesus Christ and I knew I'm accepted in the beloved. It doesn't matter what man may say.

Now, I've heard this verse abused. I don't want to do that tonight. Matthew 23, 5, they make broad their phylacterics and enlarge the borders of their garments, all tied together with wanting to be seen of men, appearing very righteous.

You know, personally, I'll just share my own personal view. That's why I sort of feel uncomfortable with garments that have a religious significance and they identify you with maybe a church association or brotherhood or something. I just have a bit of an aversion to that.

Now, the abuse I've heard about these verses here is to condone immodesty and say, well, you know, if you're concerned about my clothing, well then you're just a Pharisee. Now, wait a minute. The Holy Scriptures also teach modesty and proper covering and to avoid the fashions of the world.

The fashion industry is a multibillion-dollar industry and it's continually jerking the people around. One time, it's skin-tight pants. The next time, it's bell-bottoms.

I mean, they just swing the people around, lead them around by the nose. One time, it's long hair for the men. And the next time, it's shaved heads and they just jerk them around.

And whatever Justin Bieber does, yeah, I heard of him. Whatever he does, every young kid wants to follow. Isn't that crazy? If you made him do some of these things, if we recruited Brother Jerry to be a part of our fellowship, they'd say you're crazy.

You're a legalist for sure. You're loitering it over the flock. Oh, but let some kid-punk rock star do something or let some movie star do something and all at once, the fashion industry latches a hold of it.

I don't know which comes first, the fashion industry to then tell the movie stars what to do or the movie stars to tell the fashion industry. I don't know. We ought to dress in such a way that brings glory to God by people being attracted to our shining countenance and not to the form of our body.

Am I being too plain? You see, your daddy knows what he's talking about, young lady. Your mama knows what she's talking about when they say, you know what? Nah. Let's invite Jesus to sit by the sewing machine with us and let's remake that dress or let's toss that one and do it again.

Take heed that you don't do your alms to be seen to men. Don't do them before men for otherwise you have no reward. When you do your alms, don't sound a trumpet before, yes, the hypocrites.

The hypocrites like to give money when they're noticed. Lester Miller did a financial seminar, and I remember him telling the story of a wealthy man calling him and saying, you know, a very wealthy businessman, calling and saying, yeah, I heard you're buying a facility down in Conestoga, Pennsylvania there, and you're putting up some new buildings and stuff. I'd really like to help.

I appreciate what you guys are doing in the ministry. I'd really love to help. Oh, Lester said, well, that would be great.

We're just in the early planning stages, and yeah, we will need funds, so thank you for your kindness. And he said, well, you'll be in touch with me once you get things a little more under the way. And so a little later, maybe, I don't know, Lester, the man called him back, or either Lester called him, they communicated again, and then the man said, I want to give you a large sum.

He said, the Lord has blessed me. I want to give you a large sum of money. But just before the conversation ended, he said, oh, by the way, he said, you know, I mean, it's really no big deal, but will you have stones laid up at the entrance to your facility there that shows what was given? You know, from the largest, you know, you call it maybe platinum or gold or, you know, they have these different levels of giving, and everybody who gave over $100,000, you know, is in the platinum or, I don't know, I guess gold would be the highest.

I'm not sure, but anyway, you know, and Lester said, well, you know, really, no, we have no plans for that. And then the man said, well, he said, you know, I just thought I'd ask, that's fine. You know, we'll be sending you a donation, and, you know, thank you, goodbye.

So Lester was watching the mail for this big check, and it went a couple weeks, and finally one day the secretary came in. He told the secretary, he said, well, when that envelope comes, I'd like to open it. So finally one day the secretary comes running into his office all excited.

Here it is. He opened up that envelope with anticipation, and I, my memory fails me a bit, but I'm going to say the check amount was maybe $100. You know, we can say, hey, I would never sound a trumpet, you know.

But listen, what is the deep down motivation of your heart when you give? When you're the high bidder at the benefit auction, and you keep just saying, come on, you know, higher, higher, and then they all applaud and look their direction and say, oh, look who paid $5,000 for a shoofly pie. Well, it's going to a good cause. You know, seriously, we can chuckle about those things, but in reality, is my heart absolutely pure in my giving? Does it make a difference if nobody ever finds out? When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites.

They love to pray so they can be seen in men. We're over in Matthew now for those who are following along. I say they have their reward.

They just want to be seen in men. When you fast, don't be like the hypocrites, that they may appear to men to fast. In Matthew again, continuing here.

Oh, let's see, where are we? Matthew. In Matthew 6, I'm sorry, 23 verse 6. They love the uppermost rooms at the feast and the chief seats in the synagogue, greeting in the market to be called to men, rabbi, rabbi, oh, rabbi, you're some big shot. But he says, do not be called rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and you're all brethren.

And call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your father, which is in heaven. Need you be called master, for one is your master, which is Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

You know, this matter of humility, this matter of self-exaltation, this matter of wanting to be the big shot, this matter of trying to puff myself up to be in the forefront. Jesus said, whoever exalts himself shall be abased. And he that shall humble himself, he shall be exalted.

The Lord will lift him up. And over in Luke's gospel, Jesus spake this parable concerning this matter of this pride and this humility. And he said there was a certain man or a certain, which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and they despised others.

And then he told this little story. He said two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and one a publican. And the Pharisee stood with himself and prayed thus with himself.

That's all the further his prayer went, by the way. He was praying with himself. He was just entertaining himself.

He was just patting himself on the back that he's praying. And then he began to boast to the Lord, God, I thank you that I'm not as other men are. I'm not an extortion or unjust or an adulterer.

And then he glanced over at that sinner publican and said, and I'm glad I'm not like he is. I fast twice in the week. I give tithe of all I possess.

I'm pretty good. He forgot what the scripture says. There's non-righteous.

No, not one. He forgot what Jesus taught. He that exalts himself shall be a base.

He forgot that he was a sinner and there's non-righteous. No, not one. But the publican got a grip on it.

And he, not lifting up his eyes to heaven, smote upon his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Have you ever seen yourself as a wicked sinner, deserving hell? Well, I'm a pretty good person. I'm not like that other guy.

I mean, I'm not an adulterer like that guy over there might well be. How did he know what that publican's private life was like? He sure acted like he did. Do you find yourself being critical and judgmental toward sinners? Then I don't believe you know how big a sinner you are and how much sin that you laid on Jesus on the cross of Calvary.

Have you ever seen yourself as a sinner and cried out to God, Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I remember one day there was a preacher claiming to the old Horning Mennonite Church. They called it the Black Bomber Church.

And this man was on fire for God. And he didn't last real long. I'm not claiming he was everything right and all that he did.

But I'll tell you, he preached at us like we were a bunch of wicked sinners. And I was a youth at the time. And I wasn't converted yet.

And I went home from that meeting and I said to my dad, why he talked to us like we'd be a bunch of druggies and we'd be a bunch of the worst sinners you could ever imagine. I mean, he understood the gospel. And he understood that for us who grew up in a Christian home and we were taught a lot of good, right things and we always try to do right.

We always try to be good. We always try to do bad. We always try to do better.

We can be blinded to the fact that I am a sinner. And the blood of Jesus had to be spilled on Calvary's cross for my sins as much as that druggie, that harlot. And when I look back on it after I got saved, I was like, wow, was I ever blinded? It even came out of my mouth.

Why he preached at us like we'd be a bunch of sinners. He understood we were a bunch of sinners. We didn't see it.

I mean, come on now. I don't smoke. I don't do alcohol.

I don't do drugs. I'm not a fornicator. I don't go to the movies.

I don't go to the worldly amusements. I don't walk around half naked like some of those people do, those awful sinners. And he's calling me a sinner.

And I'm this good little Mennonite boy, got the right clothes on, in my own self-righteous estimation of what right clothes ought to be. I go to church almost every Sunday, not quite. Well, yeah, I sometimes make a little mistake, but I ain't a sinner like that.

I tell you tonight, it's possible that you're a young person here who grew up in a beautiful Christian home and your parents, they love you. And they are protecting you from the evil. And they're shielding you.

And they're loving you. And they're instructing you in righteousness. But maybe tonight they're wondering, when will you ever wake up to the fact that you are a sinner and you need a Savior? And they're praying for you tonight.

They've been praying for you all this week that you would fall under conviction of the Holy Spirit and you would recognize that there's non-righteous, no, not one, and that includes me. And if I think I'm righteous, I'm the biggest hypocrite and sinner of all. You know, Jesus said the harlots and the publicans and the harlots are going to go in the kingdom before the self-righteous Pharisee? Because you see, when we're self-righteous, it's so blinding to our own heart.

We do not see our true condition. I ask you tonight, have you ever seen that you're the biggest, most vile, rotten sinner in the world? When the reality hits us, it's beautiful. Because when that reality hit me, I felt like I was a drowning man in the middle of the ocean.

And I knew all my works of righteousness, anything that I could ever do could not save me. And in that desperation, I cried, Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner. Save me from sinking into despair, into hell.

And the Lord Jesus saved me. Hallelujah, I'm a new creation. I'm a brand new man.

The old things are passed away. I've been born again. And that can be your testimony tonight, but only when you see that I'm a sinner.

Yeah, you know what? You probably didn't do drugs. You didn't do fornication. And who knows? You know, you're a good moral person.

And that's wonderful. But you know what? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous.

No, not one. And that includes you tonight. And Jesus loves you.

And he wants to save you tonight. I'm going to cut some things. Let's go down to verse 23.

Matthew 23, 23. Woe unto you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.

For you pay tithes of mint. And it's uncommon and have omitted the weightier matters of the law. Judgment, mercy, and faith.

These ought you to have done and not leave the other undone. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You are so concerned about dividing out all of your herbs and make sure you get an exact 10%.

But you've forgotten something way more important. Something way more weighty. What about mercy? What about having mercy to your fellow man? What about faith? And I love the way he brings it out in Luke.

He says you have passed over judgment and the love of God. You don't even understand the depth of the love of God. And I don't either all.

There's so much depth to the love of God. I continue to grow in all my life. And we're going to finally realize it in reality in full when we get the glory.

But he says, you know, somehow you guys are missing it. You know, it's so easy when we're in religion to get focused on the externals and on what we need to do. And of course, we want to be good, obedient children of God.

But you know, if we get so focused on what we're doing for God, rather than living in the presence of God, we can miss the mark. And when we have all the T's crossed and the I's dotted, then we can feel pretty good about ourselves. We can feel like, wow, we got this together.

And we don't realize my love for God, my love for Jesus Christ has cooled off. It's not what it once was. My faith, my believing God is weakened.

Oh, but I'm keeping very careful tabs here. Make sure we get all this tithing done right. He blind guides.

I mean, Jesus was such a storyteller. I love the analogies and the illustrations. I mean, look at this.

You strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Now tell me, how much bigger is a camel than a gnat? A whole lot. You're straining over the fine details of what you believe is very important, but you're omitting.

You are omitting the weightier matters of the law. You're passing over them. You don't even think about mercy and judgment and faith and the love of God.

You know, this can very easily happen in religious systems. This can very easily happen in our conservative churches where we're so concerned about every little detail to get it right. And we forget love.

We forget to love God, the very first commandment. Now, verse 25. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees.

Hypocrite. Wow, I can see why they were starting to get irked by now. Now, come on, Jesus.

You're stereotyping all of us. I'm a good Pharisee. Don't class me in with that stuff.

Roar. I mean, you're throwing us all in the same pot. You're saying all Pharisees are hypocrites.

Anger starting to rise and burn in their hearts. You scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Man, Jesus had bones.

And they were standing right in front of him. He wasn't telling this in a corner somewhere to his disciples. Hey, by the way, beware of those scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.

He was talking directly to them. He said, you may clean the outside of the cup, verse 25. But within, they are full of extortion and excess.

You're so concerned about the outside. But it's totally lopsided. You're so concerned about the outside.

And that you appear righteous before men. That you're consumed with an unholy driving motivation. To keep up my reputation.

And what people think about me. I want to be certainly well thought of in the church. I'll be certainly well thought of by my preacher.

I want to certainly be well thought of by my deacon. My brother. But wait a minute.

What about the inside? Oh, well. Inside. You know, I sometimes call this inside out Christianity.

We ought to just reverse it. We ought to be more concerned about what's on the inside. Than we are about what's on the outside.

Now, if we get the inside straight. He's going to tell us what will happen to the outside. He's going to tell us what will happen.

He says, inside you are full of all this extortion, excess. Self-indulgence. You're filthy.

You're greedy. Now, blind Pharisee. Cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter.

That the outside of them may be what? Clean also. Absolutely. He's not saying it doesn't matter.

There was a guy, I told Nelson Copeland. When he was preaching the gospel in prison. And he came there to his cell.

And the guy had his cell wall lined with pornography images. And he said, if I become a Christian. Do I have to take all that stuff down? Nelson wisely answered him.

He said, no, you don't have to. He said, you give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ. And see what Christ will do in your life.

And if I remember the testimony correctly. That man gave his heart and life to Jesus. And he sold out completely.

Well, guess what happened to the pornography? It came down. Because the Holy Spirit of God. Began to bear witness in his heart.

That that stuff is displeasing to the Lord. That stuff is filthy. And it's unclean.

And he wanted nothing to do with it anymore. Because you see, he had a new affection. He had a new love.

And he loved righteousness. And he hated the sin. Oh, glory to God.

The power of a new affection. Woe unto you. Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites.

For you are likened unto whited sepulchers. Which indeed appear beautiful outwardly. But within are full of dead men's bones.

And all uncleanness. All sorts of immorality. All kinds of unrighteousness.

All sorts of evil thoughts. Out of the heart. Proceed evil thoughts.

Adulteries. Murders. Thefts.

Covetousness. Pride. They all come up from within.

Out of the heart. But you know, it's amazing to me. That a person can put on a mask.

And they can put on a front. And they can be a royal class A hypocrite. It's shocking.

It should frighten us. It should make us, when we sense the first motion of sin in us, to run to Jesus. And say, Lord God, be merciful unto me.

And cleanse me and wash me from my sin and your precious blood. I'm going to protect this man's identity. I'll just say that he's a relative.

And he's been counseling in the conservative green pastures. And besides still waters. And whatever.

All these different places where. And I'm not going to mention religious groups either. Where conservative.

Very conservative. Sometimes ultra conservative. Men show up.

And need help for their addictions. Some are under investigation by the law. Because of their crimes.

This relative of mine has told me a few things. Very confidentially. Very carefully.

But he said, it is shocking. To find out what can hide. Underneath.

Those religious garb and clothes. He said, it is just shocking. And sickening.

Makes you sick to the stomach. He said, sometimes I just have to get away. And I have to go out and walk.

And talk to Jesus. To cleanse myself. From all that I just heard.

This man dumping out. His garbage and his filth. And his sin.

Or worse yet. The man sits there. In self-righteous confidence.

And his wife is weeping. Telling the story. He is defiant.

Not convicted of sin. In denial. The worst case.

And I was aware of this. Because it was in our newspaper. The worst case my relative was involved in.

Was a grandpa. With three granddaughters. Three.

Abuse of the S kind. For years. When they became 15, 16, 17.

They realized this was wrong. Grandpa tried to tell them it was right. It was okay.

You are my granddaughters. I am your grandpa. And this is something we can do together.

And it's great. It's all right. It's okay.

And it started at a very young age. Grooming them. And this man.

Went into prison. With I'm not sure. How many life sentences.

But he died. Unrepentant. Never owed up to anything.

With three witnesses. Against him. I would really want to believe.

There's nobody that will listen to this message. Or is here tonight. Who is a class A hypocrite.

A royal hypocrite. Living in immoral sin. And defiling others.

With a front on. Of being religious and godly. God forbid that such a thing should be.

But I've been in the council room long enough. To know that. Not always is everything as it appears.

So tonight. This is a call. To come clean.

And to repent. And I know I spoke of pornography. The other night.

But we're going to speak about it again tonight. Pornography. Opens the doorway.

To all manner. Of lustful. Thoughts and desires.

And it feeds them. Unto the point where finally. The thoughts.

And the desires. Turn into actions. Tonight.

If you're bound in pornography. I'm urging you. And I'm calling you.

To deliver your soul. Tonight. And I'm going to be very specific.

You know sometimes a person thinks. Well. It didn't happen that often.

And. I confessed it to God. And I feel clean again.

So I believe I'm okay. I believe it's all forgiven. But here's my question.

Has it cycled back around. And you got caught again. Second time.

So you feel remorse. You feel guilt. And so you confess to God again.

And you say I'll never do it again. Oh God help me. I'll never do it again.

And lo and behold. It happens a third time. And you know.

Tonight. There are those. Who very gradually.

Got. Hooked. You see the devil throws out his line.

And then reels them in when they when they take the bait. And he reels them in. He seeks out the precious life.

And he reels it in. And he will not let him go. There is one tonight who can deliver you.

And his name is Jesus. I want to urge you tonight. If you've been in repeated failure.

But you're sort of feeling good. Because man I haven't viewed it ever since these 10 meetings started. I'm feeling pretty strong now.

I've been hearing the preaching. And I just don't want to go back there. I mean I want to stay clean.

But you know your history. And if you've been falling. And falling.

I urge you. Drag that sin into the light. Drag it into the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus.

And in confession. To another person. And humble yourself and say this is me.

I thought I could get free by myself. I've been trying for. And some some of you tonight it could be years.

Some it could be months. I don't know. But you know.

And you've been fighting this on your own. And the devil's got a hook in you. And you know what? At your weak moment somewhere.

He's just going to say aha aha. And he's going to reel in that line. Am I giving too much credit to the devil tonight? I don't want to give credit to the devil.

But I want to tell you how you defeat the devil. You confess. And forsake.

Your sin. And you'll have mercy. But if you keep hiding it.

And you keep trying to fight it by yourself. And you've got a track record. That you just can't go more than a month or two or three.

Until you have another failure. That is not victory. There's greater victory for you tonight.

There's victory for you to be totally delivered. The resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can deliver you and set you free from porn addiction.

There are millions addicted to porn tonight. It's going to be the outcome of that. The fruit of that.

It's going to be so devastating to this nation. You see it already. The fruit of that in the churches.

It's going to be so devastating. It's going to cost us so much. Oh may you be holy unto the Lord.

Blessed are the pure in heart. For they shall see God. My is it that time already? I have a burden.

I have a passion. Tonight. If you're a hypocrite.

You're pretending one thing. But you have a secret life of another thing. You have a secret sin that you're hiding.

Maybe tonight you're an adulterer. Maybe you have committed physical adultery. Maybe tonight you're a fornicator.

You've committed fornication. Unlawful S. Outside of marriage. I urge us tonight to be honest before God.

To deliver your soul from the grip of the devil. And the grip of your selfish lust. Your carnal lust.

I said the other evening they took a poll in the evangelical churches. Of the addiction to porn. Have you ever viewed porn? Have you viewed porn in the last year? Have you viewed porn in the last month? Have you viewed porn in the last week? How often do you view porn? They took all this survey and collected all the data.

And it was very shocking. And the professed church. The addiction to porn.

Was very strong. Very sad. I said the other evening.

I wonder if we did the survey here. What would it look like? Has anybody viewed porn in the last year? Anybody in the last month? Anybody in this last week? And now come on. You say well but.

Field and stream or whatever. That has those almost naked women. Or the car.

The old car magazine. That shows all those old restored automobiles. With a woman sitting on the side.

With hardly anything on. In a seductive pose. And you're caught by looking at that thing.

I'll tell you. Anything that defiles your moral purity. You can classify it porn.

Doesn't have to be nudity. I want to see you delivered tonight. I don't want to see a hypocrite.

Keep on keeping that front up there. And going through life. Like that grandpa finally came to.

He began that. He began that. S molestation with those girls.

When they were like four or five. Six years old. And carried it through.

For over ten years. Till they were like fourteen. Fifteen.

I wonder if you could ask him. And if he would be honest. Where did it start? Where did that start? Where did that lust.

Conceive itself in your heart. To carry it out. You know I don't believe one day.

He just thought I'm going to do this. To my grandchildren. It didn't happen that way.

He was indulging himself. In immorality of some sort. And maybe diverse sorts.

It's awful. But there's child porn. It's so sick.

The devil is a liar. He's a thief. He's out to kill.

And to destroy you tonight. If you're a hypocrite. Living in know and sin.

You know it's like that boa constrictor snake. They have a very unique way of killing their victims. They wrap themselves around the victim.

And if it were me as a man. And a big boa constrictor. They can be what? Twenty feet long.

They can be pretty big. And around your chest. They won't bite you.

They'll just hug you nice and tight. And every time you breathe out. They'll just pull a little tighter.

So you breathe in. You can't quite breathe quite as much. As you did the other breath.

And then when you breathe out again. They'll just pull a little tighter. And they'll do that until.

They have suffocated you. My dear brother sister tonight. The devil.

Is that way. He's very sly. He's very wily.

And he'll take his time. And he'll slowly. But wholly begin to choke.

And if you don't deal with that sin. The day will come when sin will master you. And you're no longer master over it.

I urge us tonight. Whoa. Unto you scribes and Pharisees.

Whoa. Unto you hear under the sound of my voice tonight. Whoa.

Unto you hypocrites. If you're living a pretentious life. And you're not genuine and for real.

You know maybe you're just a really angry person. I mean you're just an angry man. And you try to overcome it.

You try to do better. But lo and behold. When your path gets crossed.

You burst out in anger. You're a wrathful man. You're an angry person.

Galatians 519 says. The works of the flesh are manifest which are these. Adultery.

Fornication. Uncleanness. Idolatry.

Witchcraft. Hatred. Wrath.

Are you a wrathful person. Are you an angry person. Are you a person who's just a jokester.

And you're a foolish talker. Ephesians 5 3. But fornication. And all uncleanness.

And covetousness. Let it not be once named among you as become a saint. Neither filthiness.

Nor foolish talking and jesting. Which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks. For this you know that no whoremonger.

Or unclean person. Nor covetous man who is an idolater. Has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

You know an angry man has done a lot of damage. An angry father can do a lot of damage. An angry mother can do a lot of damage.

Your children need your affirmation. They need your love. Yes they need your discipline.

But they need your love. They need your affirmation. And they don't need you to lash out at them in anger.

My heart bleeds when I go into our city. And I see where a lot of children live. And what they hear.

Cursing. Screaming. Single parent trying to raise a child.

Sometimes a grandma. Because the parent isn't anywhere to be seen. Heartbreaking things.

Children living in very filthy and vile conditions. Sometimes they hardly have even proper food to eat. They're neglected.

And then they're abused. And the verbal abuse. The hollering at them.

The screaming at them. And all these things that take place. Because a person is just angry.

Are you angry tonight? But oh Sunday morning in church. You certainly never dare show it. But your husband or your wife has to deal with it.

From time to time when you get on the wrong side. And you burst out in anger. And your children know all about it too.

Whoa. Unto you hypocrite. Oh my water's still cold.

I should have maybe not put any ice cubes in. I might keep these alone. You see.

The light of the body. Is the eye. The light of the body is the eye.

Therefore if an eye be single or pure. And you have a one single eye toward the Lord. And holiness and Christ.

Thy whole body shall be full of light. But if an eye be evil. And you have evil desires lurking in your heart.

And you cave into those evil desires. And you feed those evil desires. Your whole body shall be full of darkness.

Now listen to what Jesus says. In conclusion. If the light that is in thee be darkness.

How great is that darkness. Because you see you have an appearance on the outward. As being light.

As being holy. But inside. There's evil.

Carnal. Lustful. Drives.

Controlling your passions. Well tonight we're going to. We're going to bring this to a close.

With these words from our Lord Jesus. When he. Gave a very strong rebuke.

I think it's Matthew 23. 33 Matthew 23 33. Ye serpents.

You snakes. You generation of vipers. How can you escape.

The damnation of hell. How are you going to escape. Being sentenced to hell.

In your hypocrisy. Answer the question. How do you expect to escape hell.

You who are full of darkness inside. But pretending to be light on the outside. How shall you escape.

The righteous judgment of God. Answer the question. Answer the question tonight.

Woe unto you hypocrites. You generation of vipers. How can you escape.

The damnation of hell. Answer the question tonight. I know of one answer.

I know of only one answer. To escape the damnation of hell. And that is through.

Open honest confession. I will not hide my sin. I will acknowledge my transgression.

Before the almighty God. Be merciful to me oh God. A sinner.

Oh tonight. That would cause joy in heaven. Over one sinner that repenteth.

Be merciful to me oh God. A sinner. Father we come in Jesus name.

And we ask father that tonight. Would be a great victory for Christ Jesus. And a defeat to the devil.

Lord anybody under the sound of my voice. That is caught. In this hypocritical life.

Whether they're just. Pretending to be a real good boy. When inside.

There's carnal lust and desire. Oh God. I ask in the name of Jesus.

Would you cause your Holy Spirit. To bring conviction. To the sinner tonight.

And father cause the Holy Spirit. To bring hope. To the sinner tonight.

Though you've fallen seven times. Though you've fallen 70 times. Tonight you can flee to Christ.

And you can be delivered and be saved. Oh thank you Lord. We're going to sing a verse a song.

And if the Lord has spoken to you tonight. And you want to defeat the devil in your life. You want to give him a good kick in the teeth.

And say I'm done being a hypocrite. I'm done trying to fight this battle alone. Tonight I'm coming to the cross.

Through honest open confession. And humility and acknowledge my sin. Ah there you can find victory.

What's our hymn brother? Number 77. Mangelita's brother. You're so good at that.

My voice is pretty sharp. Ah bless you young men. Oh yes.