LUKE 12:1-3: “In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.” NKJV
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OBSERVATION: Have you ever posted something on social media that you regretted? Have you ever received a message from someone about a post that had been deleted? So many times we post first – think second. Yet, once something is posted in cyberspace it lives for eternity!

Since social media has become such an integral part of our lives we have seen great men and women rise and fall with just a simple tweet. Pictures have been released that have ruined a career. Angry posts have been shared, then removed, only to be revealed to the multitudes bringing embarrassment and shame. The reason there is such shock is that usually what we think a person to be is stripped away by the reality of who they really are.

This is what is called hypocrisy!

Hypocrisy is simply claiming to be something when we really are something else. The word that is translated in this passage literally means “play-acting.” Jesus warned His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees – which is hypocrisy. The Pharisees were focused on the outward appearance of life but ignored the true condition of the heart. Even though they did not have social media in their day their hypocrisy was revealed by what they said. In essence, their words were posts that still live on today through the text of Scripture.

Now, imagine if you will, if there was a day when your entire life was played out on a giant screen for everyone to see. This is what happens today when someone erroneously posts something they regret. However, who would want their entire life played before everyone. Would anyone want every secret thought, every hidden action, every dark corner of their life to be revealed?

Yet, this is what it seems that Jesus is saying will happen.

• “For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.”

These words scare me to death. I know that if my entire life was played before all I would not stand a chance of getting into heaven. My life in its entirety would be a slam dunk case worthy of sending me straight to hell.

Yet, that is exactly the point!

This would be true of every one who partakes of the leaven of the Pharisees. If we trust in our outward works and ignore the inner condition of the heart, we will be judged by everything that we have done. Everything that we have tried to sweep under the rug will be revealed!

This is why Jesus came to die for our sins. Every one of us is helpless in the day of judgment apart from Jesus Christ. We can stand before God clothed in our hypocrisy (our superficial righteousness), or we can stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We can choose to acknowledge our sin and need for a Savior, or we can ignore Jesus, dismiss His teachings, and live according to our own standards and personal truth. This is the mantra of today – “Find your own personal truth!”

Yet, there is a day coming, when everything that is hidden will become bare. If we lived our life in hypocrisy, we will face God’s judgment. If we repented of our sins, placed our faith in Jesus Christ, and lived a life that confessed Jesus as Lord, we will enter into His eternal glory. There is no middle ground, no room for renegotiation, no mulligans when it comes to our eternal destiny. What we choose here on earth is what we will experience for eternity!

• “Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. “And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.” Luke‬ ‭12:8-10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to live our entire life in hypocrisy. It is to deny our need for Jesus Christ, to dismiss His death and resurrection, to be ashamed of His words, and to continually reject God’s grace that calls us to repentance. We can reject Jesus and be forgiven. However, if we harden our hearts in hypocrisy against the Holy Spirit there is no other source for conviction, repentance, and salvation.

This is a line that will be crossed by some. No one can judge another person and say that they have crossed this line. However, I shudder even thinking of it. To miss God’s love, His forgiveness, His gift of eternal life – this is something to be taken very seriously. Some are concerned wondering – “Have I crossed this line?” The good news is that if you are asking this question you have not. No one who has crossed the line of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would ever be concerned about asking this question.

We don’t have to live in uncertainty or fear regarding these things. We can rest in the assurance of God’s forgiveness and cleansing through Jesus Christ our Lord. The so-called social posts of our past have not been filed away somewhere for a future showing. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ they are completely erased and removed from our record. There is no longer anything that can be revealed other than our new life in Christ!

• “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Colossians‬ ‭2:13-15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In Jesus Christ – our sins are forgiven, our hearts are made new, the journal of mistakes and sins of our past have been nailed to the cross and fully pardoned, and the enemy of our souls, the accuser, has been disarmed and fully defeated. No longer can the enemy hold our past over us as a threat. If God is for us, who can be against us! We have chosen the fear of God over the fear of man. We stand assured in the wonderful promise of life – eternal life!

• “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” I John‬ ‭5:11-13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Lord, this morning I confess that there is nothing in my life that is worthy of Your forgiveness and salvation. I confess that my hope and my life are built on Jesus Christ and Him alone! I thank you for Your great grace and love and the blessed assurance of eternal life. Grant me the grace to live a transparent life, a life that points people to the grace of God, and a life that confesses Jesus Christ is Lord!

In Jesus’ Name!