Isaiah 48:1, 2 Hear you this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah… Not in truth, nor in righteousness. The prophet mentions the usual outward marks of the true Israelite; but, in the case of those whom he addressed, these were mere formalities, they were disconnected from a personal and living faith in God. These people said they were Jews, but they were not. Their professions could not stand the examinations of the Heart-searcher. To the good man - and how much more to the great and holy God! - insincerity is absolutely offensive; we have scarcely even pity for the man who has no reality of life and feeling to match his professions, whose words do not represent his heart. Unspeakably painful to the prophet must have been the condition of the many Jews in his day, and in his pleading the ideal attributes of Israel are pressed in contrast with their actual state of hypocrisy and unrighteousness. "How high their profession soared! what a fair show they made in the flesh! and how far they went towards heaven! what a good livery they wore! and what a good face they put upon a very bad heart!" (Matthew Henry). On the subjects of insincerity and hypocrisy there is much familiar teaching, which needs constant repetition. We only suggest two points. I. INSINCERITY IS SOMETIMES A DRIFT. We get into it, and it becomes a confirmed condition we scarcely know how; we are not conscious of having exercised any will in the matter. With some there is a great idea of "keeping up appearances," and the effort to do this tends to nourish insincere habits and ways. And sometimes we are carried into expressions of religious feeling and experience that are quite beyond us, by surroundings of religious excitement; and the pleasure of the insincere fascinates us. We drift into this evil by the use of sensational hymns, and by listening to ecstatic religious experiences; and there is no graver danger besetting the Church of our day than this tendency to nourish the insincere in the expressions of religious life. God's reproaches fall on many who think themselves very holy, but whose professions are not really matched by heart and life. II. INSINCERITY IS SOMETIMES A SCHEME. Then it is a shame and disgrace, and brings us under the overwhelming judgments of God. Illustrate by Judas Iscariot. For selfish ends men determine to keep up before the world all the appearances of piety, when they know that the life of piety has died out of their souls. Christ's sternest words were spoken to conscious and purposed hypocrites, those "whited sepulchres, fall of dead men's bones." In view, then, of the danger of drifting into insincerity, and of the sin of scheming to be insincere, every good man will watch and strive and pray against the evil, lest, in some subtle form, it should assail and overcome him. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness. |
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