Introduction: Internals long before externals. Ever heard someone say, “I hate hypocrites!”? Of course. We all have. Maybe we’ve said it ourselves. There is something viscerally repulsive about hypocrisy. Spiritual hypocrisy may be the most distasteful. I think that’s why Satan loves it when so-called pastors or spiritual leaders fall. The enemy of truth goes, “See? I told you they were fakes. Just in it for money, fame, and power.” I remember how crestfallen I was when Ravi Zacharias was exposed. It hurt me deeply. I felt the same way again when Steve Lawson was exposed. I had read all the books of both men and had contributed financially to their ministries and even purchased their books to give to others I was trying to reach for Christ. But it all blew up in my face when the truth was exposed.

Connection to Scripture: In Luke 11, Jesus rebukes hypocrites to their faces.

Follow me in the text:

37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you” (Lk 11:37-41, ESV).

Encouragement/takeaway: In the above passage, the legalistic Pharisee purported to judge the Lord Jesus for not washing His hands before eating. (Just let that sink in: the Pharisee purported to judge God.) But Jesus gently rebuked the Pharisee by reminding him of a fundamental truth: God assesses our hearts long before He’s concerned with our handwashing. In other words, internals long before externals. If our heart is changed, the effects will show. Our theology will be made visible. But if we’re consumed with posturing and externals, that, too, is known to God. And there, too, our theology is made visible. May we have teachable spirits, hearts intent upon internal obedience and not concerned with appearances that fool neither God nor the discerning.