Living Two Lives

After believing on Jesus, you’re tempted to live both your old life in the world and your new life in Christ.  However, just live one life.  You should die to your old life and start living eternal life.  Many Christians try living two lives.  They try living the life of the flesh and the life of the Spirit.  Be one or the other.  If not, you’ll lie to your friends in the world, acting like you’re not a Christian.  Or you’ll lie to the church, acting like you are a godly Christian.  A friend of mine believed on Jesus in college.  Around me he can speak the lingo.  But that’s not how he is around other people.  He’s living two lives.

Those living two lives:

Hide among the righteous

Jn 6:67-71. Judas Iscariot was a disciple, but he was also a devil.  He had the same calling and gifts as all the other disciples.  Yet he had a dual life.  In Matt 26:20-23, Jesus proclaimed that one disciple would betray him. Judas was so well disguised that they had to ask who it was.  Some people are so good at living two lives, you can hardly tell them from other Christians.  We don’t know who you are, but you should know if you’re living two lives.  Cut it out.

Justify themselves before men

Lk 16:15.  Justifying yourself before men is an abomination to God.  The Pharisee in Lk 18:9-12 justified himself, but he was not justified before God.  He testified of his good works and reputation.  He, like other hypocrites, was concerned only with his outward appearance.  People living two lives do the things they do to be seen of men.  See Matt 6.

Criticize others with disdain

Gal 5:14-16.  They bite and devour one another, to the point of accusing the innocent to cover their own guilt.  Saul criticized and accused David.  Saul also accused his own son, Jonathan.  He tried to kill both of them.  The Pharisees constantly criticized Jesus and eventually accused him of blasphemy.  They turned hi over to Pilate to be crucified.  I talked with a young mother yesterday who is tired of her religion because her family members are so judgmental of others.  I explained to her that it’s normal for people who justify themselves by their religion to criticize others.  It puffs them up to do so.

Love covetousness, not God

Ezek 33:30-32.  To covet is desire inordinately what belongs to others.  People living two lives talk love, but they love things like status, recognition, and possessions, rather than God.  In Lk 16:14, the Pharisees who justified themselves were covetous.  The loved the uppermost seats in the synagogue, and greetings in the markets, Lk 11:43.  They wanted the praise and honor that Jesus was getting.  For envy, they delivered him to Pilate to be crucified.  Judas coveted the money from the ointment Mary used to anoint Jesus’s body, Jn 12:6.  Saul coveted the honor given to David.  He talked to David like a beloved son, but he despised him in his heart.  Heb 13:5 says, “let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have”.

Conclusion.  The remedy for this hypocrisy is to first acknowledge that you are living two lives.  Admit that you are the hypocrite described in this message.  And then let your old life go, and let your new life grow.  Walk in the spirit; quit walking in the flesh.  Live just one life, your eternal life.  Be the same in here, at home, at work, and in the world.  Don’t ride the fence.  You’ll rip your britches riding a barbed wire fence.