Have you ever done something in secret and then live in fear of being found out? Have you ever pretended to be someone that you aren’t? A word that often gets thrown around towards Christians is the term hypocrite. It is a theatre word. It means to be a stage actor. Many years ago, one person would play several parts in a play. To help distinguish the characters, they would have a different mask to wear or hold up as a clue to the audience of which character they were at that time. This is where we get the word hypocrite. It’s a person who acts one way some times, and then acts differently at others. It is deceitful to you, because you may believe that you are saved when in fact you aren’t. It is also damaging to your testimony and the Gospel. And while you may be able to pull it off for a while, sooner or later, you will be found out. The mask will be pulled off. It can be both painful and humiliating. In today’s text we see this happen to Saul. If you remember from our earlier readings in 1 Samuel, Saul has already been rejected by God as king. As a show, and only as a show, Saul had all of the mediums kicked out of Israel. You might say that Saul was trying to put on a good show so that God wouldn’t reject him, or the people would still follow him as their leader. However, after praying for a while and not hearing anything from God, Saul decided to once again take matters into his own hands. He and his men disguised themselves, and they went to a medium. At first, the disguises worked. However, things took a turn very quickly as we will see in our text. 1 Samuel 28:12 says, “When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Samuel, saying, ‘Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul.'” The masquerade party was over, Saul had been found out.
Is there anything that you are trying to hide from the Lord or from others? Don’t get fooled by temporary success, because sooner or later the house of cards you have built will come tumbling down. And when it does, it will not only hurt you, but it will also hurt those around you. The harm caused by hypocrisy isn’t just about you. It’s also about your family, your church, and most importantly the Gospel. We already live in a skeptical world when it comes to the Gospel and Christianity. When you and I as Christians say one thing and live another way, we just give another arrow for the enemy to aim and shoot at us. So what is the answer?
- Be Genuine. No one is looking for the perfect Christian. They are smart enough to realize that you aren’t perfect. So own your struggles. Not in a way to glorify them, but simply be transparent enough to admit that you don’t have it all together. If you can’t do that, that says a lot about you and your walk with God, and not in a good way (see 1 John 1:8)
- Confess. What we tell our kids is this, if you mess up, own up. Don’t pretend that it didn’t happen. Don’t try to justify or rationalize your actions. Go to the Lord in prayer confessing your sin. He has already promised in His Word that if you genuinely confess, He will faithfully forgive (see 1 John 1:9). Go to those who were hurt by it, or who saw it, and confess your sin, and seek forgiveness.
- Seek accountability. It’s one thing to own your faults, confess them, and seek forgiveness. The part that is most often left out is seeking accountability in the future. In fact, your lack of accountability, is what led you to do what you did in the first place. Therefore, if you don’t want to continue to fall into the same sinful patterns, you need to seek accountability.
- Remember who you are in Jesus. Satan loves to accuse Christians, and to tell us that we are not good enough. Here is the thing, we honestly can’t refute that. We aren’t good enough, and we will never be good enough. But this is the beauty of the Gospel, we don’t have to be good enough because salvation isn’t about who we are or what we do, it’s about what Jesus did for us on the cross and through His resurrection. So when Satan comes with his allegations, or the world tries to beat you up because you have sinned, just remember the glorious promises of God to those He has saved. We are no longer condemned Romans 8:1 tell us and we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us Romans 8:37 tells us. Praise the Lord for His grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love
By His grace and for His glory,
Pastor Justin