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00:00:01 good morning church today's scripture reading is taken from Galatians chapter 2 6-14 galatians 2 6-4 let's focus on the word of God verse 6 as for those who were held in high esteem whatever they were makes no difference to me god does not show favoritism they added nothing to my message on the contrary they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter had been to the circumcised for God who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the
00:00:43 circumcised was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles james Cphus and John those esteemed as pillars gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me they agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised all they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor the very thing I had been eager to do all along verse 11 when Cphus came to Antioch I reposed him to his face because he stood condemned for before certain men came from James he used to
00:01:25 eat with the Gentiles but when they arrived he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group the other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray when I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel I said to Cphus in front of them all "You are a Jew yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew how is it then that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?" This is the word of God
00:02:11 thank you uh Sister Sue for reading the Bible good morning guys you hear me good yeah outside yes good up there should be good right um it's such a privilege to be found in the house of God no on a wonderful Sunday and I heard that today we have a joint congregation right so we have the Filipinos u service with us as well would you make some noise if you're here no okay so I'm misinformed anyway the youth is with us no all right so we are among regulars yeah okay so uh just a quick one um next week our brother Anna is going to speak
00:02:57 on the heart of the gospel yeah identity in Jesus Christ and after that uh brother Alex Tunn is going to deliver good Friday service and then Dr peter is going to deliver resurrection Sunday yeah which is uh going to be a wonderful uh week for us um before I go to the sermon proper yeah I ask that you bow your heads and pray with me lord as we uh we are so privileged Lord you know to be uh dwelling in your words and also in your presence this morning Lord so as you speak uh through me uh through this
00:03:32 pit lord you know I ask that your spirit descend on me right here right now father so everything that is said and done is true and also to magnify you and to glorify you nothing but that lord and we ask that lord you also prepare the hearts of all the audience the brothers and sisters and friends and family we have so that we are able to accept the truth and not just accepting it but Lord internalize it and leave it out in our life in Jesus name we ask amen okay um question yeah have you ever said to your children that you should
00:04:09 always be honest that lying is wrong and honesty is the best policy yes very good yet when you go to a buffet dinner where the kids under 12 or certain age eat for a lot lesser you will not hesitate yeah to lie about your children's age so that you can save some money and standing beside you were your children you know watching and listening to your white lies yeah feeling both astonished and yet confused now when we do that yeah what are we teaching our children you know I suppose that honesty matters
00:04:53 except when you can profit from it truth is important except when it is costly did I strike a note in your heart well by not responding you're already sounding you know guilty uh like a hypocrite yeah um I say this in love yeah now as a Christian yeah how often do we repeat the same lies over and over and over again you know when we say we believe in the gospel we preach about the grace and the love and the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ but when we are under pressure when it is inconvenience or when we
00:05:32 stand to lose we act in ways that is completely contradicting to what we claim to believe you know now this is what we are going to talk about this morning this is called hypocrisy and it is not just the problem out there in the world it is a problem in here too yeah you hear me right the first time i'm saying that it is a problem in this church too now it is a problem in me and if we are honest it is a problem in you too yeah because we say we follow Christ but do our lives reflect the value of Christ you know and
00:06:13 when we don't what does that say to about um we are talking about apostle Peter with a capital A why because Jesus handpicked him Jesus uh uh shepherded him you know for three years personally he sleep and eat alongside the lord Jesus Christ one who has been a Christian for 18 to 20 years not just Christian but apostles you And yet he was caught red-handed of hypocrisy so I want to ask you can you imagine Yeah how much more you and I are susceptible to such a pretentious life as Christians so I want to pick up where
00:06:53 Dr peter left off a few weeks ago yeah and the intention this morning is to briefly revisit the overlapping verses 6 to 10 as they serve as a context for our main text this morning from verses 11 to 14 yeah now the sermon is divided into three points um one when spiritual giants don't matter yeah 6 to8 and when action speaks louder than words versus 9 to 10 and when pride undermine the the grace of God you know 11 to 14 yeah so we do the first one first yeah when spiritual giants don't matter now in our
00:07:29 passage this morning the Apostle Paul is recounting his visit back to Jerusalem to meet with the leaders in the church of Jerusalem the mother church so to speak yeah now this visit was crucial because some of the teach false teacher also known the Judaisers were claiming that the gentile believers have to observe the Mosaic law in order to be fully accepted by God and therefore to nip this in the bud Paul made this tree to expose the false teaching and at the same time he want to convict the truth
00:08:00 and to bring this matter to a closure once and for all yeah now why is it necessary well I suppose Paul realized that the Judaiser saw the apostles uh in Jerusalem namely Peter James and John you know this bunch uh particularly Peter as spiritual giants yeah uh who has more authority than Paul has in fact I would say that the circumcision party also known as the Judaiser looked down on Paul why three reasons yeah firstly Paul is not a Jew and secondly Paul was not one of the original 12 apostles and
00:08:37 thirdly his past of persecuting the church doesn't bode well for him you now all these reasons put together Paul will seem less credible as an apostle in their eyes hence they when you know they undermine Paul wherever he goes they they they supplement it with the gospel 2.0 yeah like a pain in the neck but poor person which literally translate to God does not accept a man's face now this shows that God does not choose individuals based on their external reputation he doesn't care you know yeah in fact he always choose the
00:09:14 weak and the down and out you know yeah and social status and also personal achievement there's great hope you know in the gospel because our God is a God of compassion of love and grace yeah now the gospel therefore is not influenced by human esteem or hierarchy and therefore Paul is arguing if they accept the authority of Peter John and James then they must also accept his authority because they are unequally and empowered by the same Lord the Lord Jesus Christ verse eight and then Paul added in the same
00:09:51 sentence you know that they meaning Peter James and John make no difference to him and they added nothing to him so on the surface it sounds like Paul is quite uh snobbish yeah but is he yeah i believe not yeah because Paul was simply saying that the powerhouse of apostles that sitting in Jerusalem did not change subtract or added to the gospel and therefore you and I shouldn't yeah okay that the gospel Paul was teaching is authentic gospel you know none of them Paul included have any bearing on the
00:10:25 authority of the gospel independent of Christ Jesus they have not any authority so to explain this to you this morning as I stand here before the pit I preach to you if I am independent of Christ if I am not faithful to the word of the Lord in this passage then my words bear no authority in your life but I committed it to God yeah and every word I say is from the Bible because he's the same Lord that Paul worship is the same Lord that I worship and you worship right then uh so after establishing that the gospel preached by
00:11:02 Paul was the true gospel we see something beautiful yeah in verse 9b Peter James and John gave Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship which means that they put their foot where their mouth is yeah by extending support to Paul and Barnabas now in the effort of bringing the gospel to the gentile and then come verse 10 yeah verse 10 says that only they ask us to remember the poor the very thing that I was eager to do now this this verse seems like uh it's out of place yeah suddenly you know they talk about the
00:11:36 poor yeah out of nowhere but I want to assure you that not a single word in the Bible is ever an afterthought because it's God breath briefed words yeah now this verse implies that our action speaks louder than our words and Paul is showing us showing you and me this morning how to do it yeah now in the corresponding verses found in Romans chapter 15 25- 27 Paul took the truth further by bringing a gift from the Gentiles church to help the poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem why because Paul is teaching
00:12:12 you and me this morning that truth requires action not just belief and we must lift out our belief in our life in order to be true make sense so if you think that it makes sense then that brings us to the first moment of reflection this morning now I want to ask you as a church are we known for our love and care in action for one another no or do the outsiders the neighbors you know in our our church neighborhood see divisions and hypocrisy even other churches members of other churches you know so how can you and I as a church
00:12:54 member of FBC our beloved church know tangibly demonstrate love and care for those who are in need yeah people may look you know nice and dandy you know coming to church in the morning but struggle in the heart struggle in their head struggle financially you know do we reach out to them both within our congregation and also in our community at large now we come to our main text and this is the stinger yeah in verses 11 to 14 now living a life that Paul is demonstrating is very difficult things to do you know because knowing the
00:13:35 gospel truth and leaving out the gospel truth are two very different stories yeah and in a turn of event yeah Paul shifted uh his meeting from Jerusalem to an incident that took place in the church of Antioch yeah so he's writing Galatian is a letter he's writing to the church of Galatian you so he's bringing a event yeah that took place in Antio in verses 11 to 12 Paul says you know when um ka first yeah according to Greek pronunciation kus which is Peter came to Antioch i opposed him to his face
00:14:08 because he stood condemned he say for before certain men came to James he was eating with the Gentiles but when they came he drew back and separated himself fearing the circumcision party the circumcision party are the Judaiser yeah they are the gen uh they are the Jewish believers yeah now Peter can you imagine Peter peter is the pillar of the church and uh agreed just a moment ago that Christ but now in the presence of the Judaiser he couldn't help but to withdrew himself you know to conform to
00:14:46 their cultural norm and expectation what is the cultural norm that is the Jews do not associate themselves with the Gentiles yeah they look down on the Gentiles you know but before we judge Peter How have you ever found yourself in such a situation yeah example yeah i'm going to be a bit brutal so I ask for your forgiveness first yeah under the watchful eyes of your non-believing parents or elder of the family do you reverted back to your old selves for fear of being left out in their view for inheritance
00:15:32 so back to Peter I want to ask you do you think Peter did it deliberately he did it willfully yeah I believe not yeah personally I believe not because he couldn't help himself peter's action reveal a painful truth about humanity that is hypocrisy in every one of us you know he knew the right thing to do but he intuitively did the opposite just to please the Judaiser no he was afraid of what the circumcision party would think of him if he doesn't you know and so he compromised the truth of the gospel to
00:16:10 conform to their expectations and so Paul called him out for it yeah now hypocrisy does not only impact people like uh Peter yeah the the spiritual giant yeah but it impacts every one of us too now I want you to think about it yeah how often do you like Peter or And finally you were found you walk out with a face so black as though you want to kill the person guilty or not yeah oh fourletter words as well yeah and I was once uh you know encountered that you know I waited for about half an hour and finally the
00:16:49 person came out and he told me why do you disturb me in my worship you know yeah because they are in second service yeah yeah we we we behave one way in church and we behave another way at work especially at home because nobody is watching except your wife and your children or your husband you know or even when you're online yeah now hypocrisy is at a core is a pretend is pretending to do something that we are not yeah so um the Greek word for hypocrisy is hypocrites yeah and which was used to describe actors in
00:17:26 a play example people who wore mask to portray a character yeah yeah so the actors are great pretenders yeah so in a spiritual sense hypocrisy is like putting on a mask or taking off a mask to live a double life yeah and so Peter like an actor Yeah put on a different mask in the presence of the Judaizer and take it off and put on a different mask you know in the presence of the Judaizer or he take it off you know now in doing so he dishonored the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel yeah and we need to know that Jesus condemns
00:18:07 hypocrisy in Matthew 23 27-28 i want you to take this to heart yeah he say "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees you are hypocrites he said for you are like whitewashed tomb which appear beautiful on the outside but within are full of dead people's bone and all uncleanliness and so you are also outwardly appear righteous to others but within you you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness lawlessness yeah now do you know why is white whitewash tomb yeah in Israel where they wash the tomb until it is white so that you don't you know it's
00:18:47 not oblivion and you go and touch it you know because when you touch it you will be unfit to partake you know in the ceremonial uh um um ceremony that they observe religious ceremony yeah so they whitewashed it it's clean outside but inside is full of death so why do we like like Peter act in a way that contradicts what we say or we believe yeah now Paul Watson says this he's an environmentalist he once say this he said everybody is a hypocrite no and you can't live on this planet without being
00:19:22 one wow he's being blunt right but that is the absolute truth brothers and sisters in Christ you know yeah and scriptures f agrees to it you know yeah romans chapter 7 15 says this i do not understand what I do for what I do want to do I do not do but what I hate I do what does it mean yeah in this verse the apostle Paul is describing the inner tassels or conflict of sin which reinforces the unavoidable tendency of hypocrisy yeah now David Kinnaman yeah president of the Bana group and Gabby Lions
00:20:06 hammered the nail into the coffin when they say in their book entitled uncchristian what a new general creeds and who represent Christians in this autism this morning you and I yeah and worse still yeah they also disclose that 80% of the young churchgovers that means they attend church between 16 to 29 yeah the youth are not with us this morning otherwise we can have some fun believe that Christianity is hypocritical can you think can you imagine that 90% is actually madness yeah this means that when you were next
00:20:44 when you are next introduced to someone in in a a party in a secular party nine out of 10 non-beliefs will see you as a hypocrite isn't that crazy how much sadder can it get for Christians like you and me the moment you introduce somebody nine out of 10 is think another he so this percentage shouts crisis in the making yeah for the kingdom of Jesus Christ yeah and what are the underlying reasons for hypocrisy yeah so I want to say that hypocrisy is a very complex behavior yeah with deep psychological
00:21:26 and spiritual roots and this morning you know in the interest of time I want to point out the top three uh reasons for your consideration yeah so that you will appreciate this uh sermon better yeah the first one is pride the source of hypocrisy yeah peter wanted to look good in front of his peers don't you want to look good in front of his of your peer you want right he wants to look good now he had a desire to be admired further yeah he he wants to be respected in other words he was afraid of losing glory in his usual
00:21:59 gang you know and so similarly yeah brothers and sist now you don't have to be so serious if you're responding to the sermon you know I will be enjoying a lot more yeah just for me yeah thank you okay the second reason is fear of men you know Peter was afraid of what the Judais might think of him and he cares about their approval more than the Lord Jesus Christ approval 18 to 20 years being a Christians you know follow the Lord religiously daily you know for three years yeah and yet he fell for it
00:22:39 yeah he wants his peers approval more than Jesus's approval i'm sure I strike a few cords in your heart yeah in the same way we are also afraid of people aren't we aren't you horses why because they fear of being left out in any promotion or any ban or benefit and compensation consideration don't we yeah the third one is lack of gospel identity sorry I didn't change the word it's not lack of grace but it's intertwined lack of gospel identity yeah because hypocrisy thrive in your bank account you know you're confused yeah so
00:23:26 with such unstable identity people fake holiness yeah and in the absence of such in the in the presence of such unstable identity you're not truly immersed in the gospel we default to performancebased behavior don't we we want to impress other people you know we want to impress the one that cares you know we want to impress the one who has authority over us tim Keller the late Tim Keller in his sermon yeah the centrality of the gospel he says this hypocrisy happen when we forgot the gospel when we forget that we
00:24:09 are fully known fully loved and fully accepted in Jesus Christ let me ask you this morning i want you to listen very carefully how many of us can say truthfully with conviction that we are fully known fully loved and fully accepted in Jesus Christ and some I don't even dare to raise my hand yeah we try to earn what we already been given freely by the Lord Jesus Christ we try to earn his approval yeah and in doing so we are living a life of lies in fact I will add on yeah this is I would add on by saying that the root
00:24:53 of hypocrisy is actually unexperienced grace grace given but not experience you know when our pride is bigger than the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that's when hypocrisy happens you know and hypocrisy has consequences yeah what are the consequences of hypocrisies so let's look at verse 13 yeah it says "And the rest of the Jew acted hypocritically." Yeah he's referring to Christian people who believe in Lord in the Lord Jesus Christ along with Peter so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy do you
00:25:33 know who is Barnabas yeah p Bar Barnabas is his best coworker you know in bringing the gospel to the Gentiles yeah so even Barnabas yeah so he's highlighting that Peter's action doesn't just affect himself yeah but his action influence other Jews in their their midst jew Jewish believers yeah including Barnabas and uh in in doing so yeah even the most religious most pious Christian will fall for it because he or she saw yours or mine hypocrisy we could fall for it just by our actions you know and so it shows that Peter's hypocrisy
00:26:17 his action has farreaching consequences yeah and therefore in verse 14 and this is very serious yeah because you can imagine the they are they are the giants spiritual giant you know in the first century church even today when you hear the name of Peter you know you're like woo he is the lead apostles you know of all the apostles yeah and consider your position in your society you are a Christian you could be someone who is influencing other who workers below you who are co-workers you know who is a
00:26:46 father who is a husband you know who is a community leader church leaders what impact do you have when you act hypocritically yeah so in verse 14 Paul rebukes Peter yeah in front of everybody calling out his hypocrisy you know and he make it clear that Peter's behavior was not in line with the gospel and Peter make this sin you know in public and therefore know Paul's confronted him publicly as well with correction in love yeah so I want to take this opportunity to make it clear because hypocrisy happens
00:27:25 every day in church as well yeah me included that Paul is but Paul is not giving you the license to kill yeah he's not giving you the license to go and uh encount or or confront anybody and rebuke the person in a disrespectful and uncoufner yeah because that is not gospel truth that is just downright rude yeah because Galatian chapter 6 verse one say this he said Paul says brother and sister if someone is caught in sin you who live by the spirit should restore that person what's the word he used
00:28:02 gently and I will love lovingly graciously but watch yourself he say or you also may be tempted so the the words emphasize that we must address sin out of love out of gentleness and humility yeah we must be mindful of the spirit of the law which calls for the fruit of the spirit yeah instead of the letters of the law yeah dr peter like like to use that expression and I hope that you understand it by now it's the spirit of the law not the letters of the law less you will also fall into the trap of
00:28:40 hypocrisy why because you're going to rebuke and correct a brother who have sinned but you yourself does not reflect the gospel truth that cause you to be having love showing grace and humility and so how does hypocrisy happens or showed up in our daily life yeah now a lifeway research study which is a well-known organization that conducts studies on faith cultures and also the church found that 60% of Christian feel there is a disconnection between how they act in church and how they act during the rest of the week do
00:29:20 you feel like this 60% which means that out of 100 there are 60 of us who feels like this you know that our life is not really in sync with the gospels and this gap between their belief and behavior is a form of hypocrisy because it undermines our weakness to the Lord Jesus Christ and dishonor the gospel so I want to give you an example yeah we teach our children to be kind every one of us don't you yes or no we teach them to be kind but we gossip about our neighbors gossiping is not nice yeah not kind
00:30:02 yeah when someone badmouth another person whether at work or in church or in other places you know we jumped in and happily trash the person that's hypocrisy now Proverbs 20:1 19 says this "No whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets therefore do not associate with sir simple babler." Yeah and we can't help gossiping yeah because gossiping makes us feels good doesn't it it must because it mass our sin yeah it mass our sin and it inflate our ego yeah and put down other people and we feel great but have you ever feel
00:30:50 terrible after you gossip about someone i do so the Lord Jesus warns us not to gossip we are to run far far away from such gossipers because their words can lead you and I to hum and betrayer because the person that we gossip about found out about this you will destroy the person yeah sticks and stones hurts but words destroy you so the idom is not right yeah i'm telling you words destroy people and perhaps at your workplace you know you claim to follow Jesus Christ but you cut ethical corners all the power men and women now
00:31:37 miss you cut ethical corners to get ahead yeah this could range from creative accounting because you don't pay so many taxes yeah so much taxes to illegal cost cutting evading taxes or illegal cost cutting for those who are in manufacturing product development marketing you know I was one of them before you understand what I'm trying to say because your boss pressure you to cut corn cost so the profit will rise in such tough economy you know you have to cut corners so you reduce material reduce safety of your
00:32:12 products to meet the financial bottom line or you take other people's credit which do not belong to you so that you can profit from it that's hypocrisy yeah and in the morning when you wake up you read the news you know in your computer or your handphone and you get furious because you found that our elected politician are blatantly corrupted you know but you will not hesitate to sleep a $50 note as donation when you are caught speeding down the expressway that is hypocrisy or you say that you love your
00:32:55 spouse you love your wife you love your husband you know but you withhold forgiveness yeah and this this unforgiveness of bitterness rares it ugly head every time again and again and again when you go into a squabble each time when you get into a squabble or disagreement you bring it out you know you betrayed me you did this to me where's the forgiveness that's hypocrisy and if one of these describes you I want to tell you in love yeah as a brother in Christ that you are a hypocrite i am a hypocrite but I also want to assure you
00:33:42 that you are not alone because many of us struggle with this kind of hypocrisy yeah yours truly is definitely guilty as charge you know acting one way in public in church you know and another way in privacy and the truth is we all have areas where our action doesn't align or match our belief don't we yeah judge even more harshly you know we are asked to walk our talk we live in the public eyes you know and it's quite scary because the other day when I was in uh USJ having lunch with my family you know after we
00:34:22 had the lunch somebody came out to me and said "Hey you're Brandon right you you you're from ABC right?" You know and the brother I couldn't even tell what's his name you know i don't recognize him so preachers are certainly not spare of hypocrisy so if we are all guilty of hypocrisy how do we overcome it yeah this is the hope I want to bring to you this morning the only answer I can give you is the gospel okay but what does that mean what does that mean to you what does the go how does the gospel free us from the need to
00:35:01 wear mask and living a double life so to recap yeah to do this I have to recap that our hypocrisy exists because of our pride yeah because we want to look good in front of other people we are trying to prove something to ourself to others to our bosses to our wife to our family to our friends you know to our associates you know and the world at large we are good you know now we also trying to prove something to God don't we but the gospel flipped this upside down yeah the gospels tells you and I
00:35:35 that we do not have to prove anything why important questions you know that you have to internalize this because Jesus has already proven everything for you and me and how did Jesus do that jesus live a life action he was perfectly obedient to God and the law the 613 law that God handed to Moses jesus fulfilled every single one of it he lives in love and faithfulness he is not governed by the laws on the Sabbath day he heals you know but the Jewish leader will only rescue a goat because it cost money but
00:36:14 if a man fall into the pit they will not touch because you know the law say cannot but Jesus didn't do that he live a perfect life a life that you and I can never ever live no matter how good you're trying to be on our own and then when we come to our knees and and we confess our sin and we call him Lord you're my savior Lord and Savior and from that moment you know Jesus's righteousness in imputed is credited to you and me so when God see you and me he sees perfection Brandon is perfect you are perfect he doesn't see
00:36:56 the dirt and all the uncleaniness that we have done in this this lifetime you know I've done so many despicable stuff you I'm not proud of it but I'm thankful that God found me and he forgive you know everything and I'm washed by the blood of Jesus Christ you know 2 Corinthians chapter 5 21 brothers and sisters and friends you family you see our tendency for hypocrisy separates you and I from God because it's a sin right but Jesus took the punishment for our sin and our hypocrisy on the cross so we don't have
00:37:38 to live in fear of God's punitive judgment romans 8:1 you know because in Jesus Christ we are fully loved fully accepted and fully forgiven do you get it you are fully known fully loved fully accepted and fully forgiven and if you if you feel on any given day you have to perform right for Jesus to rescue you then I'm sorry to say you know you're not fully loved fully known fully accepted and fully forgiven by Jesus Christ you so henceforth when you are afraid of what other people think of you at work in
00:38:21 church or in your community or at home even your relative and you are gravitating towards Huh you don't have to be afraid of them anymore why because you already have God's approval whose approval do you want anymore yeah who determines your future your eternal future god the Almighty jesus Christ determine it he has the last say yeah not anybody else not your boss you know not your neighbors yeah god already you already have God's approval through the cross yeah you don't have to prove yourself to
00:39:07 anyone or maybe you are at home yeah losing your patient and yelling at your children and your wife or your spouse you know or you are at work losing your cool you know and when you lose your cool you snap at your staff you know buha yeah morning coming you know get it from you no the moment things go sideway and you don't have to live this double life anymore brothers and sisters herein after you don't have to yell at your children anymore you don't have to snap at your staff anymore you don't have to
00:39:39 be the goody two shoes in church or in front of other Christian anymore in the presence of other believers this is because the gospel reminds you this morning that you and me that your identity is not determined by your performance for God's sake you know no whether you succeed or you fail at any endeavor it doesn't determine your identity you are not defined by your successes or your failure you get me you are neither you know or as a parent or as an individual or as a spouse and you are also not defined by your children's
00:40:16 successes and their failure as well no so what defines you you are defined by Christ Jesus's grace alone i can't say that enough yeah in Christ alone and no one else if anybody look down on you and call your degree lousy because you didn't go to the university everybody desire to go to or you are not you know at the top of your game you know you're just someone in the in the low rank management you are not your identity is not defined by that in Christ you are a beloved son and daughter and that is your definition and
00:41:00 that is your identity if you don't have this assurance in identity in the gospel truth of Jesus Christ then you will live a lie all your life do I hear an amen amen that's why you respond now I want to say this and I want you to listen very carefully and take it in if you need those note takers you can take notes yeah until and when you truly understand yeah and you grubs that you are fully loved fully known fully accepted fully forgiven in Jesus Christ something radical happens inside here if that radical process does not take place
00:41:52 here then you are not there yeah you no longer have to prove yourself to others or leave out to an impossible standard have you have an impossible boss before yeah i had many you know impossible yeah imposed on you instead you can rest in the gospel truth that Jesus has already met that standard for you because Jesus's grace empower you to respond yeah because of that you can respond to your family your children your spouse yeah your relative your friends even though they are not nice to you and even stranger with patience and
00:42:34 kindness even though they don't live up to your expectation you know you want the person to be a executive he become a grab driver you will treat the person with kindness and with patience you know and love and not out of obligation because you want to meet the 613 law but because the overflowing love and grace that Jesus had given to you and me so freely so graciously so therefore yeah the gospel frees you from the pressure to perform and give you the strength to love your spouse and children to love others as Christ has
00:43:14 loved you without undue expectation on you or you putting undue expectation on yourself this is how heart attack happens yeah and it will kill you if you find yourself highly strong all the time check three things your pride okay your your your approval other people and your identity in the gospel once you understand this it will free you you know it frees you from exasperating your children you know you want your children to live a life that you cannot live i'm being blunt but I'm guilty of it once upon a time are
00:43:57 you yeah it frees you because their success or failure doesn't define you in front of Jesus when you get to heaven Jesus is going to ask you "Oh what's your doc where's your son?" Oh your son's a lawyer oh good that apartment is for you no he doesn't ask you that you know you get a penthouse at the top no yeah and it will freeze you from the need to control your children's life they are 25 and you're still telling them what to do no their success or failure doesn't determine your identity their success and failure their
00:44:37 relationship with God is a personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ god doesn't have grandchildren yeah he only have children everybody is personal to him yeah and if you finally understand this it blesses you with a purposeful and meaningful relationship at all levels whether is with your loved one with your children with your spouse you know with other people with relative with associates with colleagues all because of what Jesus has done on the cross for you and me so hypocrisy at the core is a matter
00:45:16 of the heart isn't it yeah now the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human's heart it's all from inside here because our heart is deceitfully sinful you know isn't it yes or no very sinful yeah and uh uh God's grace must transform us from the inside out yeah the sermon is not aim God's word is not aimed to change your behavior no God's words are aimed to change your heart until and unless brother and sister God's grace amazing grace germinites yeah takes shape and blossom in your
00:45:57 heart you shall continue to live a life of lies laden with traces of hypocrisy every now and then but as Jesus's grace you sanctifies your heart through the Holy Spirit not through your effort and my effort hypocrisy will gradually diminish viing away like a vit and so brothers and sisters you tell me you know what pride or fear or insecurity are driving your hypocrisy in your life you how are you trying so hard to gain approval from others even though it doesn't align with your faith you know so how can we remind ourselves you
00:46:52 know that our worth is not in our performance no but in Jesus Christ finished work on the cross so what mask do you need to take off and discard for good to step into the freedom that Christ has so graciously given to you it's a privilege use it you know so in closing yeah let me share a story that still um brings me to my knees you know it is a story of failure a story of redemption and the painful cause of hypocrisy so I want to share with you that many years ago I was a proud Bible teachers uh teacher in the Bible study fellowship
00:47:47 because I was really passionate you and should I say I was even zealous about sharing the gospel with the kids and the teenager in our classes you know and I taught them about God's love i taught them about God's grace and his truth you know and I wanted my own children to follow God yeah so I brought both my sons with me yeah week after week month after month year after year and I've been there for 17 years you know religiously and my children grew up in BSF school program surrounded by scripture and the story of faith and the
00:48:23 story of love but I was pious and polished in the eye of the public i want to tell you I was broken and harsh at home because the brokenness of my childhood spills out in the most destructive ways yeah and I was super critical yeah my eldest son watched this uh conspicuous uh disconnection the man who taught God's love on Monday night but he fails to leave God's love on on the rest of the week yeah and you know what my hypocrisy pushed him away from God without realizing it then one day he told
00:49:16 my beloved wife and the word that he used still haunts me still ricochets in my in my ear haunts me until today and he said to her know said "Mom that is a hypocrite and these words cuts deep into my heart you I don't know how you will feel if your children say that to you through another person but it cuts deep into my heart deeper than any Japanese knife or German knife that you own it hits me that he was struggling with a distorted reality yeah a faith that felt like a lie because of the distorted image that
00:49:58 I I I projected you know a different one in BSF and church a different one at home and at work you know so my son saw a God who is loving in the Bible but he was absence in our home and it wasn't until recent year you know after I hit rock bottom and truly repented that I began to change you and I apologized you know to my son to my family and we started to amend our relationship but I want to tell you the damage is done the scars were made and my hypocrisy has driven a veg between my elder son and God
00:50:43 so can you see the danger of hypocrisy you won't even realize it yeah when I proclaim to love God you know my action while my action screams something completely different yeah i misrepresent who God is i make the gospel look like a lie instead of a saving grace you know Jesus come to save and I profess I follow him but I lie you know not only to my son but to my bosses to my colleagues to my staff to even the brothers and sisters in church you know who watch my life so our hypocrisy doesn't only hurt
00:51:23 us you know it leads other people astray and that is a verdict a guilt that you and I cannot carry it tarnishes the name of the Lord Jesus Christ it pushes people away from the very God that we claim to serve and every day since I've been praying to God you know to heals what I have broken to restore what I have damaged you know and he leads my son back to him and through this yeah God taught me a lesson that I will never ever forget you know that is yeah the life that I live is the loudest sermon I can ever
00:52:07 give in this lifetime why because you may forget my sermon this morning but you will never forget the way I live you may forget the truth that I'm sharing with you this morning you know but you will never forget the love that I failed to show and you may forget the words that I share with you this morning but you will carry my hypocrisy for a long long time if not for a lifetime so in the word of pastor J john he said there are only two reasons why people have not are not yet Christians you know I want to share this with
00:52:51 you yeah he says reason number one they have never met a Christian reason number two they have met one isn't that true because when I wasn't a Christian when people try to share the gospel with me for more than a decade I call them hypocrites so the 90% is not a joke it's real but my question as you reflect on this is which version of Christian will the world remember you by which version of Christians will your children and your loved one remembers you by but I want to end this with a high note you this morning I want to give you
00:53:35 hope you know because Jesus didn't come for the perfect he came for the hypocrites you know he came for the down and out he came for the despicable he came for you and me so stop pretending brothers and sisters no and start living in the freedom of the gospel cuz the world doesn't need another perfect Christian do we you know what the world need it needs authentic Christians one who are flawed one who are broken but but redeemed by the relentless love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ amen amen amen amen you
00:54:14 know so I want to leave you with the main truth here yeah that Jesus calls you and I out of hypocrisy and into a life of authenticity not by your effort or my effort but transformed by the grace of by the power of his grace yeah do I hear another amen amen thank you for tuning in a quick prayer yeah aba father we are all great pretenders you know pretending that we are holy but we are sinful deep down inside so we ask that father you set us free from hypocrisy and remind us of our worth is only in Jesus Christ not
00:54:56 in others opinion and surround us with people who will speak truth into our hypocrisy and so that we will change strengthen our faith and shape it in every area of our life you know be authentic at work in relationship in ministry and our home in Jesus's name we ask amen enjoy the song that we have picked for you yeah thank you well um we will observe the uh the Lord's supper yeah now please do not tear open your elements until I kill you to do so yeah so we don't open it yeah sit down yeah please sit down yeah sorry
00:55:33 please sit down yeah uh do not open the elements so that we will not uh disturb or interrupt the proceeding yeah now I ask that those who are not in the Lord yet uh to let the cup and the bread pass yeah because Paul says in um 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 that wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord yeah so we welcome you to join us but please let it pass if you are not in Jesus Christ yeah now on the night uh he was betrayed
00:56:05 Jesus was betrayed our Lord Jesus Christ took bread and then he gave thanks and broke it and said to his disciple he said "This is my body which is given to you do this in remembrance of me." So this bread is not a symbol of our sin but of his sacrifice it is his body that is broken that was broken for our redemption so as we eat it we we proclaim Jesus's death the perfect lamb slain to take away the sin of the world so now please open your element and uh let us partake this bread with reverence
00:56:41 yeah with gratitude and faith in his finished work shall we partake [Music] together let's pray for the bread aba Father we thank you for the gift of your son whose body was broken for our salvation and as we eat this bread and nourish um by uh Jesus's life help us to remember him with all and in reverence in Jesus's name we pray amen now after supper yeah Jesus took this cup and said "This cup is for the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you." Luke chapter 22 verse 20 and this cup is not
00:57:28 to remind us of our failure but of Jesus's faithfulness it is the blood of our new covenant sealing God's promise to forgive and to redeem and to make us his own so that you and I will have sunship you know so as we drink of this we declare that our salvation rest not on our worthiness but on Jesus's sacrifice on the cross so please open uh tear open the cover yeah and join me to partake the drink shall we drink it together yeah lord Jesus our savior and our lord we thank you father thank you Jesus for your
00:58:16 blood shed for the forgiveness of our sin and as we drink this cup may your covenant grace fill us and may we live as those who are redeemed truly redeemed by you in your freedom you know by your precious blood and all God's people say "Amen." Yeah so this is a closing proclamation the Apostle Paul says that for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again you know and this is our hope and our proclamation that Jesus had died and he has risen and
00:58:53 Christ will come again you know so now receive the benediction yeah brother and sister may the Lord fuse you with his grace so that you no longer live in the pretense but walking in the freedom of Christ you know may his spirit empowers you to live authentically before God and others as it is written "But by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace towards me was not in vain." 1 Corinthians chapter 15:10 so go forth brother and sisters know live in love in sincerity amen with a moment of silence
00:59:41 meditation the service is over and if you have a prayer needs and you you you you have a hypocrisy problems which I think everybody has and you want to be prayed for please come forward yeah we have our elders and our pastors
