15 Sermon Illustrations on Religious Hypocrisy

There are many people today who are religiously decorated. These decorations deceive the owners into believing they are Christians, that they are born-again believers. They have bought some religious pictures or other items. They hang up pictures of saints or one of Jesus Christ knocking at the closed door, but they have never opened their own door to Christ. They have no love for the cross of Christ, but they may have a very handsome crucifix hanging on the wall, or even a cross on a chain hanging around their necks. They may be garnished with generosity, giving their tithes to the church but withholding their hearts from Jesus Christ. The Bible is on the table or in the bookcase, but it is never read. These are the decorations of religion that the Lord is speaking about. People may pray long-winded prayers, show zeal, go to church, volunteer to cut the church lawn, yet these may only be the decorations of an empty heart. The Purpose of the Storms Early one morning the doorbell rang at a pastor's home. There stood a young man, half drunk, in despair, at the end of his own rope. If ever there was a life on the way to shipwreck in a storm of his own creating, it was this young man's. His wife, too, had come through a similar experience. Only 20 years old, she had been married twice, and with children by both husbands had suffered indescribable beatings-a storm of her own making. But in the midst of it all she had seen the face of Christ through the ministry of this faithful pastor. She had been saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus, and her life had been radically changed. Now her husband had come before dawn to wake up the preacher and ask for spiritual help. He could no longer live in the storm he had created. What had made him come to himself?-the recent death of a young soldier killed in the line of duty. The whole town was speaking of this fine Christian lad, now dead. The prodigal husband questioned why God would take such a good man who was a blessing to the world, and leave him, a miserable sinner, behind. The answer, of course, is that the young soldier was ready to meet his God, while the prodigal was not. This may be the reason He is keeping you alive. The storms God permits are temporary, but the purpose for which He permits them is eternal.

Phillips, the Irish orator, thus personified Bigotry: "She has no head, and cannot think; she has no heart, and cannot feel; when she moves, it is in wrath; when she pauses, it is amid ruin; her prayers are curses; her communion is death; her vengeance is eternal; her decalogue is written with the blood of her victims; and, if she stops a moment from her infernal flight, it is upon some kindred rock, to whet her fang for keener rapine, and to replume her wing for a more sanguinary desolation."

There are those who are self-conceited in matters of religion; who are pure in their own eyes, wise and prudent in their own sight, yet are not washed from their filthiness; who stink in the nostrils of all who come near them,—such as the Novatians, of whom St. Cyrian saith, "They pronounce themselves to be pure gold. But, if they be gold, it is then that gold in which the sins of the people of Israel are denoted." They are but golden calves. Spencer.

There is mention made of Parrhasius and Zeuxis, two excellent painters, that, being upon a trial of their skill how to excel each other in the matter of their art, Zeuxis drew out a bunch of grapes so fair and well colored, that the birds came and pecked at them, to the great admiration of the beholders. Parrhasius thereupon falls to his pencil, and makes upon his table the resemblance of a white sheet, tacked up with four nails, one at each corner, so artificially, that, being offered to view, Zeuxis bade him take away the sheet, that they might see the excellency of his art that lay behind it. Whereupon it was adjudged that Parrhasius had gone beyond him in so doing: and for good reason too; for the one had only deceived silly birds, but the other had put a trick upon a knowing artist himself. And so it is with the close, reserved hypocrite; such is his subtlety, that he doth not only delude silly birds, poor ignorant souls, but knowing men, experienced Christians, and, if it were possible, the very elect themselves. Spencer.

It is too often the case, that the enemies of a religion hate it because they are not acquainted with it. They ascribe to their opponents principles which they abhor, and tenets which never entered into their imaginations. They propagate the most ridiculous calumnies against the professors of the obnoxious religion. A Franciscan Catholic of high rank, in the true spirit of religious intolerance, gave this caution to his son when setting out on his travels. "My son," said the illustrious bigot, "avoid the society of the Protestant ecclesiastics; for they are all addicted to abominable crimes." In the eyes of the Turks, all infidels are dogs, whose presence alone is sufficient to pollute an orthodox Mussulman. For this reason, no Christians are permitted to reside in the country of Hissias, because the cities of Mecca and Medina form a part of it. Neither Jews nor Christians are allowed to be present in Egypt at the opening of the canals of the Nile, lest, by their impurity, they should prevent the overflowing of its waters. The Mohammedans are unjust towards the Christians, and the Christians towards the Mohammedans. No Turk ever entertained the least doubt concerning the unity of the Godhead: and yet they have been accused of worshipping the stars; and, in many Christian books, they are termed pagans. Thus mankind, more or less shun and despise, ridicule and condemn one another, because each professes the only saving religion.

Measure not men by Sundays, without regarding what they do all the week after. — Fuller. — A man without religion is like a horse without a bridle. — From the Latin.

It is reported that the king of Morocco told the English ambassador, in King John's time, that he had read St. Paul's Epistles, which he liked so well, that, were he to choose his religion, he would embrace Christianity; but he added that every one ought to die in the faith wherein he was born. So it is with many in this day.

— Spencer

One of the most horrid circumstances attending the dreadful massacres of the Protestants under Charles IX of France, was, that when the news of this event reached Rome, Pope Gregory XIII instituted the most solemn rejoicing, giving thanks to Almighty God for this glorious victory over the heretics!