Theological term
Hypocrisy
11 sermons · All terms
Judge Not
Matthew 7:1–6 is among the most misquoted passages in Scripture, weaponized by unbelievers to silence any moral reproof. This sermon works through four questions the text raises — why not judge, by what standard will we be judged, why do we judge, and how can we judge — and argues that Christ's caution is not a prohibition on all moral discernment but a warning against hypocritical, merciless condemnation that ignores one's own greater guilt before God. The solution lies in true repentance: only when the beam has been removed from one's own eye — by grace, through Christ — can a believer see clearly enough to restore a sinning brother with humility.
The Use of the Blood Money
Matthew 27:6–10 records the chief priests' disposal of the thirty pieces of silver used to betray Jesus — and Matthew's citation of this event as the fulfillment of prophecy attributed to Jeremiah. This sermon examines the rank hypocrisy of the religious leaders who scrupled over depositing blood money into the treasury while simultaneously orchestrating the judicial murder of an innocent man, exposing the self-condemning logic of ceremonial fastidiousness divorced from the weightier demands of the law. The sermon then defends the inerrancy of Matthew's composite citation of Zechariah 11 and Jeremiah 18–19, 32, showing how Matthew functions as a biblical theologian weaving together prophetic themes of rejection, judgment, exile, and restoration to demonstrate that the passion of Christ was the fulfillment of the entire prophetic witness. The application calls hearers to recognize their own guilt before a holy God and to flee to the imputed righteousness and atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Betrayal of Christ by Judas
Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Christ for thirty pieces of silver exposes the deadly convergence of unrepented sin, satanic opportunism, and the utter insufficiency of religious privilege as a ground of salvation. Working through Matthew 26:14–16 in its narrative context, this sermon examines both the identity of the betrayer — his position, character, and the devil's capitalizing on his covetousness — and the mechanics of his conspiracy with the chief priests. The central application is that unconverted hearts, however outwardly privileged, will be seized upon by Satan through their ruling sin; the only remedy is sovereign grace received through faith in Christ alone.
The Prohibition Against Judgmentalism
Matthew 7:1–5 contains not a universal ban on discernment but a precise prohibition against the censorious, fault-finding spirit that delights in the shortcomings of others. Working through three movements — the prohibition itself, Christ's explanation of its consequence, and the plank-and-speck illustration — the sermon establishes that judgmentalism is a serious sin condemned by Christ on the Mount, one attended by self-righteousness, a lack of charity, and a practical denial of remaining corruption in oneself. The application calls believers to seek the Spirit's influence, apply biblical law evenhandedly, pursue humility, and let the cross be the death knell of self-righteousness.
The Condemnation of the Religious Leaders, Part 5
Matthew 23:29–33 records the eighth and final woe Jesus pronounces against the scribes and Pharisees, and this sermon works through the passage under three headings: their professed allegiance to the prophets, their protested dissociation from their fathers' murders, and Christ's prophetic assertion of their guilt. The hypocrisy at the centre of the woe is that these men honoured dead prophets with tombs and monuments while plotting the murder of the greatest prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The sermon draws sustained parallels from Ezra 9, Daniel 9, 2 Kings 17, and 2 Chronicles 36 to show that Israel's rejection of the prophets had always preceded covenantal judgment, and that Matthew 23 sets the ground for the destruction of Jerusalem prophesied in Matthew 24. Hearers are pressed by Christ's own question — 'How can you escape the condemnation of hell?' — and directed to faith in Christ alone as the only answer.
The Condemnation of the Religious Leaders, Part 3
Matthew 23:23–24 records the fifth of Christ's eight woes against the scribes and Pharisees: they meticulously tithe the smallest garden herbs while neglecting the weightier matters of the law — justice, mercy, and faith. Tracing this indictment through Micah 6:8, Genesis 18, Deuteronomy 10, Hosea 12, and Zechariah 7, the sermon demonstrates that Jesus is functioning as a covenant-lawsuit prophet in a line stretching back to Israel's earliest history, condemning the nation for collapsing piety into external ritual while abandoning love toward God and neighbour. The qualification Christ appends — 'these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone' — forbids both the majoring on minors that marks religious hypocrisy and the neglect of minors by those who camp exclusively on justice and mercy. The sermon closes with a direct gospel summons: neither tithing nor social virtue saves; salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, after which the redeemed are called to obey all of God's law in its proper proportion.
The Condemnation of the Religious Leaders, Part 1
Matthew 23:13 introduces the first of eight woes Christ pronounces upon the scribes and Pharisees — men who, rather than opening the kingdom of heaven, slammed its door in the faces of those seeking entrance. The sermon establishes the prophetic precedent for Christ's condemnation by tracing the woe-oracle tradition through Isaiah and Habakkuk, and by grounding Christ's authority in the Deuteronomy 18 promise of the coming prophet. The first woe is shown to encapsulate all the rest: the religious leaders shut out others through hypocrisy, legalism, doctrinal heresy, and above all their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. The sermon closes with a direct call to believe the gospel — to look to Christ and live, as Israel once looked to the bronze serpent in the wilderness.
The Warning Concerning the Religious Leaders
Matthew 23:1–12 presents Jesus' warning to the crowds and disciples concerning the scribes and Pharisees, exposing the pride that drives hypocrisy, legalism, religious show, and self-exaltation. Jesus affirms the scribes' and Pharisees' office insofar as they teach the law of Moses accurately, yet condemns their practice as utterly contrary to that law. He then calls his disciples to a thoroughgoing humility, grounding it in the sole authority and teachership of Christ and the brotherhood of all believers. The sermon applies this to every form of spiritual performance — from social media piety to celebrity pastor culture — and summons the unconverted to the easy yoke of Christ.
The Confrontation Concerning Authority
Matthew 15:1–9 records a formal confrontation between the Jerusalem scribes and Pharisees and the Lord Jesus Christ over the authority by which men govern their religious lives. The real dispute is not hand-washing but the foundational question of whether the tradition of the elders or the commandment of God holds supreme authority. Christ exposes Pharisaic religion as simultaneously legalistic and antinomian — binding consciences with human inventions while providing loopholes to evade the fifth commandment — and confirms this indictment by citing Isaiah's prophecy against lip-service worship. The sermon calls hearers to examine their own Pharisaic tendencies, to subject every tradition to the Word of God, and to rest in Christ who alone delivers sinners from both legalism and lawlessness.
The Ninth Commandment
The ninth commandment, 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor' (Deuteronomy 5:20), governs far more than courtroom testimony — it encompasses every form of lying, slander, backbiting, gossip, hypocrisy, and doctrinal heresy. Three grounds obligate God's people to truth-telling: God himself is truth, man bears God's image and his reputation is inviolable, and the stability of every social order depends on trust. The positive demand of the commandment calls believers to speak truth in all spheres of life, to discourage slander, and to resist the co-opting of humanist language that obscures biblical categories.
True and False Religion: Prayer
True prayer, according to Jesus in Matthew 6:5–8, is defined not by its outward form but by its inward orientation — a point the Lord makes by exposing two distortions: the hypocrite who prays to be seen by men, and the heathen who babbles to manipulate God. The sermon establishes that Jesus assumes Christians will pray, treating prayerlessness as a mark of unregenerate life. Biblical prayer is neither a performance for human approval nor a technique for divine manipulation, but an exercise of faith directed to the Father alone — communing with the unseen God, conforming to His will, and unburdening oneself to the One who cares supremely.