Hypocrisy

Spurgeon identifies six marks of the hypocrite drawn from Matthew 23: saying one thing and doing another; performing good deeds only when others are watching; craving titles and positions of honor; straining at minor ceremonial sins while swallowing major moral ones; keeping up an immaculate outward religious form while neglecting the heart; and having a religion that changes with the company or the time of day. He then takes the hypocrite's ledger and shows that what appears to be profit — respectability, ease of conscience under preaching, business success from a religious reputation, church office — is vastly outweighed by the debt side: the exhausting effort of maintaining a false front, a conscience that can never know true peace or assurance, and ultimately the certainty of being publicly stripped and exposed before the universe at the judgment, followed by a specially severe portion among the damned. He closes with the only reliable cure: a vivid, constant awareness that God sees everything done in secret, that nothing is truly hidden, and that every secret thought and action will one day be proclaimed aloud — and he urges every reader to do the uncomfortable work of personal self-examination, since it is far better to discover a hollow profession now than to arrive at death's door or the judgment seat still wearing a mask.Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on February 6th, 1859.