Job 20: King James Version (KJV)

Job 20: King James Version (KJV)

4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;

13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.

15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.

19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.

26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.

27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

Here we have the very sobering 20th chapter of the book of Job. While it is true that Job's 'friends' were misapplying true knowledge to Job's circumstances, and condemning him wrongly thereby; it is also true that much of what they said, including the content of this chapter, was actually truth. The sobering and fearful realities of the eventual end of the presumed prosperity of the wicked is more than evident over the course of this chapter, so the point here is that we do NOT want to be 'the wicked.' Jesus made it clear in many of his parables that there would be both righteous and wicked people in the kingdom of God. Here is one such example, taken from among many, as I stated: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Mat. 13:47-50). What this means is that once we are in that net, which represents the kingdom of God, we will end up being either the righteous or the wicked. So being born again is not enough to take us unto eternal salvation, but as Jesus told us, "he that shall endure [in holiness] unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Mat. 24:13). Upon being baptized with the holy Ghost into Christ, and into the kingdom of God, our hearts are purified from sin (Acts 15:8,9). That is the whole purpose of the new birth that Jesus paid for with his life.

The actual key to our salvation is keeping our first estate of having a heart pure from sin. It really is that simple. If we leave this world without sin, we will rise from death to meet Jesus on his way here at his second coming, and be glorified with immortality (I Jn. 3:2,3; Rev. 20:6). If we go to the end of our lives with sin held in our spirit, we will remain dead or be destroyed by his coming. That is the flip side of the above referenced scriptures. So once we've been purified in our heart by the power of God's Spirit, we have everything we need to remain pure. But it takes much diligence, and much overcoming of trials and hardships to do that, and many will simply give in to the burden of it all, and end up losing their way in the journey. If we do not keep it real till the end in holiness, which is to say literally free from sin, we will end up as a hypocrite. Hypocrisy is the looming danger for all those who discontinue being totally honest in their heart about themselves, and about where their heart truly is. Satan is always there to offer plenty of 'good reasons' for failing to maintain holiness, and those reasons will make sense to the mind of someone who is departing from their original pureness of heart. Once Satan's reasons for leaving holiness behind are accepted, if someone does not retrace their steps and come back to honest repentance, they become a hypocrite. Webster defines a hypocrite as follows: "a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs."

So as we continue on as children of God, if we discontinue honesty and pureness of heart, we become a pretender. We only have two choices after we are born again, and that is to be true in our faith and our love, or to pretend. Jesus encountered this same malady when he was here: "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Mat. 15:7-9). Hypocrites cleave to 'the doctrines and commandments of men' because they find safe harbor there, seeing they are sidestepping the actual will of God, as Jesus was pointing out in that passage of scripture. In yet another place Jesus once again called out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees with great clarity: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity" (Mat. 23:27,28). So it becomes evident that we can either be real from our hearts, or we can try to appear real while actually failing our calling, which is to remain holy as we began. Knowing this reality the apostle Paul gave us the famous exhortation: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).

In regard to holiness we should be certain not to mistake holiness for 'looking holy.' Trying to look holy is exactly what Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for in the scriptures cited above. In the same sermon of harsh rebuke, he said it this way: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess" (Mat. 23:25). Someone who is holy is not 'trying' to be or look like anything. They are too occupied with keeping Christ at the center of their hearts and lives, and letting him do his own will in and through them (Gal. 2:20; Philip. 2:12). One can try to look holy in many ways, including words, deeds, and outward appearance. Nonetheless, God knows our hearts, and he cannot be fooled. If we keep everything out of our hearts that is contrary to the love and peace of God, the Spirit of God will have free course in our spirits and lives to truly show forth the work of Christ. If we allow something that IS contrary to the divine nature, Christ will be blocked from his purpose in us. That's really the way it is, plan and simple. With this understanding of what constitutes being a hypocrite, it would be wise to read Job chapter 20 again, slowly. The honest heart can feel the fear of God while looking at the inevitable end of hypocrisy. You might also note that the hypocrite is heading for certain disaster, regardless of how good things may be looking for him in this life. If we are not walking in unison with Jesus, the good things that are going on for us are just as much an illusion as our self-promoted appearance of being good. "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked" (I Jn. 2:6). Amen.