The word hypocrite means “a stage-actor.” Hypocrisy is play-acting, wearing a mask, or pretense. Hence, a hypocrite is one who pretends to be something that he is not. It does not mean one who makes mistakes, but one who gives outward impressions without inward commitment.

A Christian knows that he is not perfect and that he must depend upon God’s grace for salvation. He knows that he cannot deceive God with outward appearances, because God knows the heart. If Christians claimed perfection, while not being perfect, every Christian would be a hypocrite.

The Pharisees were condemned because they made a show of religion. Jesus said “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Lk. 12:1). In Luke 18, Jesus tells about two men who went to the temple to pray. “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess” (vs. 11,12). He thought that he was good enough but was not properly evaluating his own heart.

The sports world was shocked recently by the death of Lyn Bias, the University of Maryland basketball star who had been drafted number one by the Boston Celtics. He had taken cocaine, and though he was in good health and according to the autopsy, the amount of cocaine in his system was "average," he is dead!

One sports writer asked several questions that I think are worthy of our consideration. (1) Why would Bias want to take the drug in the first place? Here is a guy fixing to make a living with his body, so (2) Why endanger that body with a mind-altering drug that has been proven to erode physical performance? (3) Why "celebrate" with a life-threatening drug? He surely had heard of the risks associated with that drug.

Saul had a religious experience while he was on the road to Damascus. A great light shined on him and “he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And he said, Who are You, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 9:4,5). Saul surely became a believer at this time, but was he saved at the point of faith—by faith only?

If he was saved by faith only, Jesus did not know it, because when Saul asked what to do, Jesus told him to “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (v. 6). Jesus did not say “you are already saved,” or “there is nothing for you to do.” He told Saul that he would be told in the city what he must do.

If Saul was saved by faith only, Ananias did not know it because when he was sent to him, he said “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Jesus told Saul to “go into the city, and you will be told what you must do,” but the only thing Ananias told Saul to do was to be baptized to wash away his sins.

If he was saved the moment he believed, Saul did not know it. He went into the city and fasted and prayed for three days (Acts 9:9). When Paul told about his conversion, he told the Jews in Jerusalem that Ananias told him to “arise and be baptized and wash away your sins” (22:16).  Later, he wrote the book of Romans and plainly told when he was saved. “Or do you now know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ.

Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3,4). Paul included himself among those baptized into the death of Christ. At that point, “our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (v. 6). Saul was saved just like the Romans were saved, when he was  “buried with Him through baptism into death.” Before his baptism, he was dead in sin, but when he was baptized into Christ’s death, he died to sin (vs. 2,7).

If Saul was saved on the road to Damascus, the Holy Spirit did not know it, because He inspired Luke to write this account. The Holy Spirit did not tell Luke to write that Saul became a believer on the road to Damascus, therefore he was saved and now needs to be baptized because he has been saved. He had Luke to write the same thing He had Mark to write. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mk. 16:16). Neither Mark nor Luke wrote that a person who believes is saved and should be baptized!

No, Saul was not saved on the road to Damascus. He was saved when he obeyed what he was told to do.

The word Christian is very loosely used in our society. Webster, who defines words are they are commonly used,  says: “a person professing belief in Jesus as the Christ, or in the religion based on the teachings of Jesus...a decent, respectable person.” None of this is what the Bible teaches about a Christian.

A person may believe in Christ  and not be a Christian. James said, “demons also believe  and tremble” (Jas. 2:19). Agrippa believed in Christ when Paul preached to him, but he was “almost persuaded to become a Christian” (Acts 26:27,28). Simply believing in Christ does not make one a Christian.

A person may be religious and not be a Christian. When Paul was in Athens and saw all the idols, he said, “I perceive that in all things you are very religious” (Acts 17:22). There many religions that do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, and many who do believe that, who do not believe what God’s word says man must do to be a Christian.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn. 3:16). This verse has been called "the golden text of the Bible." We hear it quoted often, but do we really look at what it teaches? It begins with "For God...," which contradicts atheism. If God loved the world and sent His Son, then He exists. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6).

The statement that He "so loved" denies deism, which says that "God created the world and its natural laws, but takes no further part in its functioning" (Webster).

The statement—"He gave His only begotten Son," implies a sacrifice and undermines the entire premillennial system, which says that God sent His Son to be a king, but the Jews killed Him, so He postponed the kingdom. Isaiah clearly predicted that Jesus would be "despised and rejected by men," and that He would "pour out His soul unto death" (Is. 53:3,12). God sent His Son as a sacrifice for sin, and He fulfilled that mission. He never intended to become an earthly king over an earthly kingdom.