Luke 12:1
"In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."
How dangerous it is that in our lives, there should come double standards- that is, to say one thing and do another thing. Now as far as I am concerned, it had been my joy and privilege to grow among people who did not have double standards. So hypocrisy is a very strange thing to me. Here when the Lord saw that great multitude, he first warned his disciples against hypocrisy. He wanted his disciples to be true men, very true men! No hypocrisy!
We know we are trying to teach people how to pray. The devil wants us to
teach other to pray- but not praying ourselves. There seems to be so many
important things to do. But Jesus wants us first to pray. It is easy to lose
the spirit of prayer. When you lose the spirit of prayer, you will be subject
to many, many spiritual diseases. Jesus said, "For there is nothing
covered." It is natural amongst us to hide family secrets. I do not mean
you should broadcast family matters. Young people have to be handled wisely.
That does not mean condoning their sins. We should not say, "Everything
they do is right." A righteous father and a righteous mother,
cannot condone evil, wherever it is. But a righteous father
and a righteous praying mother have a right to believe, God will lift their
child above that weakness. But this law is established, "There is
nothing hid which will not be revealed." How long can you hide sin? You
like to shelter your child for some time. But one day your child arrives at
The Lord Jesus said in the 3rd verse, "Therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light;" Today if you are talking something foolishly in your own house, it will become a habit. And after a few days, when others are present also, you will talk like that. Thus it comes out into the light. In the office, you were sometimes using bad words. Suddenly in an unguarded moment, you utter those words, even in your own house. Sometimes we tend to think, "Oh these words should never leak out of this room." If there are such words that you are afraid to utter outside the room, why do you speak those words at all which cannot bear the light? The Lord says, "He does not believe in a whispering life." If I am ashamed to speak certain words, I should never speak them. But I should not speak them in darkness. If they are just words, if they are pure words, if they are loving words, if they are edifying words, let everybody hear. There is no need to fear. That is a Christian! So there is nothing suspicious in a Christian’s life. He is open, walking in the light, talking in the light and that which he has spoken in the secret chamber may be uttered on the housetop. Can your words bear such an exposure? You may be whispering to your wife a worldly desire. What is in your heart will come out in your life. The Lord Jesus, "What you say in secret will come out on the rooftop." What does that mean? It means there should be nothing in your life which you are not ready to proclaim upon your housetop. Is this such a hard precept? No, it is not a hard thing. If you have the fear of God, you will not say things about a brother which are cruel, which are unjust. You may have known that brother for about 20 years, whatever you spoke of him should have come out of love. If we keep off from negative talk, then, we will be much more mighty in prayer. I do not think that there is anybody in this crowd without weaknesses. I do not say sins, but weaknesses. Weaknesses, if indulged in, become sins. So, when there is a weakness, sin can follow. What you have to do is to take that weakness to the cross. "Lord, I want to be free these negative thoughts." Let us take our weakness to the cross. We have to repent for it there. So often, we fail to see our own weaknesses. After preaching for 42 years, I am still trying to correct myself in matters of patience. Patience is a quality born of faith. Abraham through faith and patience inherited the promises. Nothing can be gained by impatience. Hard words spoken out of impatience will bring no good result. The Bible says, "Speak the truth out of love." If you cannot speak the truth in love, shut your mouth, because you can do a lot of harm. Speak the truth in love. If you can speak to a person with tears, if you can speak to a person with love, what you say will enter into that person’s heart and will change that person. But words spoken in anger do much harm.
The Lord says, "