Dissimulation Jos.7:11 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

Dissimulation is hypocrisy.  It comes from simulation.  When you are in a flight simulator it looks and feels like you’re in a real jet but you aren’t.  It’s fake.  Likewise, when you live your life in dissimulation you are pretending to be something you aren’t.  Notice the following:

Dissimulation of a transgressor – Jos 7:11 – Achan stole some of the spoil from Jericho in direct violation of the command from God not to take anything.  He covered it up in his tent and pretended that it wasn’t there.  God told Joshua that someone had taken some of the spoil.  But who took it and what was taken was not discovered until God narrowed it down to the tribe, the family, the household and finally the man who took it.  Achan dissembled until the bitter end.  This shows you that men will hide their transgressions and pretend they have not sinned to the very end.  They will profess their innocence until their guilt is undeniable.  But, as Moses said in Num 32:23, “be sure your sin will find you out.”  If you are guilty of a transgression you can’t hide it forever.  The longer you wait to clear it with God the more likely you’ll get justice rather than mercy.

Dissimulation of the wicked – Ps 26:1-5 – many wicked men pretend to be good men but they are, in reality, evil doers.  The Pharisees were a good example of “the congregation of evil doers.”  They were beautiful on the outside and outwardly they appeared righteous, but inwardly they were full of hypocrisy and iniquity.  David was not like one of these.  He told the Lord to examine him, to prove him, and to try him.  He was on the outside what he was on the inside.  If you think that you are successfully hiding your wickedness from the Lord because you have successfully hidden your wickedness from men, you are a fool.  The Lord knows your heart, your thoughts, your spirit, your intentions, your motives and everything about you.  He knows you better than you know yourself.  With him, you’re getting away with nothing.

Dissimulation of a hater – Prov 26:24-28 – a person who hates you will rarely tell you that he hates you.  He pretends to love you, or at the least to like you.  Remember that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ with a kiss.  You’re kidding yourself if you think everybody that is closely associated with you speaks kindly of you when you aren’t in the room.  “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you,” [Lk 6:26].  When they speak fair or when they flatter you, don’t believe them.  If a person really loves you, you will know it; they won’t have to tell you.  And when they do speak they won’t have to measure their words to make them fair and they won’t have to flatter you.  They’ll talk “straight.”  Now if you hate someone, quit pretending that you love him.

Dissimulation of the self-willed – Jer 42:19-22 – Johanan, the captains of the forces and the people asked Jeremiah to pray that the Lord would show them the way they were to walk.  They promised that they would obey the Lord.  However, they had no intention of following the Lord if he told them to do anything other than what they were already planning to do.  They were planning to go to Egypt; and they did against the counsel of the Lord.  It is common for people to seek counsel and to ask for prayer when they have no intention of following the counsel or following God.  I think the reasons they seek counsel and ask for prayer are that they want confirmation, they want to appear spiritual and they want the Lord to bless the decision that they have already made.  If you have already made up your mind don’t pretend that you need prayer or counsel.  You’re just going to do what you have already decided to do, anyway.

Dissimulation of the two-faced – Gal 2:11-14 – Peter and the other Jewish disciples who were with him in Antioch were eating with the Gentiles until the Jews from Jerusalem showed up.  Then they separated themselves pretending that they were keeping the law and not defiling themselves with the Gentiles.  Paul stood up to them and called them a bunch of two-faced hypocrites.  By the way, that is love without dissimulation right there [Rom 12:9].  It is so common for Christians to wear two faces.  They have the one they put on for church and then they have the one that they wear when they aren’t around their Christian friends.  You know why your spiritual growth is stunted like a scrub oak?  It’s because of your dissimulation.

Conclusion: if you are prone to use dissimulation, quit.  You are just laying up deceit in yourself.  Those to whom you’re lying will discover your lie, in time.  The sooner you become on the outside what you truly are on the inside, the sooner the Lord can start helping you to become what you want others to believe that you really are.