June 8 Daily Devotional

Hypocrisy Unmasked: A Meditation on Psalm Fifteen

Psalm 15

1 Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
5 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

Devotional

The most important and solemn question which a sinner can ask is, "What must I do to be saved?" He never asks this question until he sees and senses the fitness and odiousness of his sins as contrary to the holy nature and righteous law of God, and apprehends God's mercy in Christ.

All a sinner need do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is all he need do in order to be saved. It is through faith alone that men lay hold upon the Saviour.

Goodness Does Matter

But can a person be righteous in the sight of God and a subject of His Kingdom and not possess the fruits and marks of that Kingdom? The Psalmist by inspiration of the Holy Spirit says, "No."

No one is saved by character, but only a person with a godly character is wholly godly. And no ungodly man has ever yet, or ever will, enter God's dwelling place. A good and righteous life, to be sure, is not all of salvation, for no one is saved except through faith in the Son of God, but a righteous life must accompany that faith.

Nothing could be so contrary to Scripture as the notion, so prevalent today, that goodness and uprightness do not matter. David and all the people of God in the Old Testament were saved by the same atoning blood that saves men today. The New Testament does not require a greater consecration to God nor does it know a higher spirituality than that which is required in the first commandment of the Law of God. It was required of men then as now that they should love God with all the heart, with all the mind, and with all the strength. And yet the Holy Spirit declared then that goodness does matter. If it mattered then, it matters now for every child of God. Those only who are righteous in life have a well-founded hope of going to heaven.

Righteousness Demanded

What difference is there between the words of the prophet Micah and those recorded in the first epistle of JoHn? In Micah we read, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (6:8). And in John we read, "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. . . .. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother" (3:7, 10). Never has God demanded less than righteousness of life. He is not today satisfied with mere outward professions of faith and hypocritical pretenses. A religion of forms was always an abomination to Him.

God from the beginning chose His people on condition that they be holy and peculiar. It is thought by many that they meet this requirement by being notorious for mean tempers and by manifesting a haughty freedom from restraint.

Abraham was chosen by God's free grace. He was not justified by works, yet God demanded of him and covenanted with him that he should live free from corruption. He did not live above God's precepts. He was peculiar in that he obeyed God's commandments. It was true then, and it is true now, that God recognizes no man as His if he follow not righteousness and upright dealing all his life. God's children must not be conformed to the sins of this world.

Hypocrites make a show of faith, but their outward behavior shows the insincerity of their boasting. They are unmasked by their doings.

(to be continued)