A TUTORIAL ON EFFECTIVE SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Teaching, Training & Commissioning
Chapter 14
RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT
The previous chapter on “Prayer and the Golden Rule” was the opening volley of the Christian’s offensive in Spiritual Warfare.
Oswald Chambers once said, “A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.” August 21, 2018,
” We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.” August 14, 2014
“To say that “prayer changes things” is not as close to the truth as saying, “Prayer changes me, and then I change things.” August 14, 2014
The second phase of our training in Spiritual Warfare is learning to have clear vision and to maintain your innocence before God. This begins with making Right Judgments.
Matthew 7:1-6 says, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
The “hypocrite”, according to Bible lexicons and concordances, is an actor, stage player, a dissembler, a pretender and a hypocrite. A hypocrite is one who simulates, feign or pretends. One who is vile, shameful, reproachful, full of dishonor, ignominy, and disgrace.
Definitions won’t adequately describe what Jesus is talking about. Jesus is saying that one’s attitude reveals their character, their heart and their intentions. The hypocrite is in danger of being lost and perishing.
Read what Jesus says about, and to, hypocrites (I have abbreviated these verses for context. (You can read the full chapter here: Matthew 23)
Verse 13: “But WOE to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, you will receive greater condemnation.”
Verse 15: “WOE to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
Verse 27: “WOE to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
Verse 29: “WOE to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?”
Hypocrisy could be described as a deadly form of narcissism, where the practice of claiming to have moral standards or views to which one’s own behavior does not meet. It is a pretense of morality that cloaks our inability to meet some predetermined moral code.
The word, in the verses cited above, comes from the Greek word, “hupokrinomai”, which means, to be an actor under an assumed character, a stage-player; figuratively, to disguise or conceal one’s real nature, motives, or feelings behind a false appearance.
One of the root causes of hypocrisy is fear and low self-esteem. We suffer hypocrisy as an avoidance for looking at our shortcomings and figuring out our part in it. Hypocrisy typically stems from a sincere belief that the double-standard we apply to ourselves is justifiable, because we have better intentions, therefore, we are forgiven for our “mistakes”.
We believe our intentions are just, noble and sincere, despite how we act at times. The Bible, in Jeremiah 17:9, warns us about trusting our ‘heart’ on these matters, when it tells us, “The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick. Who can understand it?”
1 John 1:8, tells us that, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
In order to find relief from this satanic trap, this disorder, we must admit that we are imperfect beings, created with flaws, who are prone to fail. 1 John 1:9, says that, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
We must learn to look at our own shortcomings and recognize that every one of us is prone to wrongdoing. The Bible tells us that we all fall short of God’s Glory and that none of us are righteous, no not anyone!
The person suffering from hypocrisy has a strong desire to be loved and accepted. The fear of personal failure, humility and judgment is so powerful, that the hypocrite uses “double-mindedness” and cognitive dissonance to avoid facing themselves.
Also, at the root of hypocrisy is a desire to be loved and accepted without judgment. Only God can give that kind of love. And, only the fully devoted follower of Jesus, filled with His Holy Spirit, can also give that kind of love.
Until you “clear your own eye”, rid yourself of hypocrisy and master Righteous Judgment, you cannot possibly be effective nor survive the Spiritual War which rages.
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
Please remember to click the blue italicized links in each chapter, in order to get the important details on these Bible teachings)
Please bookmark this page and watch for our next chapter, “THE NARROW AND THE WIDE GATES”
(The previous episode can be found at “Prayer and the Golden Rule”)
(Please also notice, you can listen by podcast as you read along. You can pause the audio in order to click the links for details and references, which are necessary for the entire teaching)
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