Why be a Christian when many are hypocrites? It is true that many Christians are hypocrites and are not as good as you are. You probably have never killed anyone, robbed a bank, or swindled money from others, whereas some Christians you know personally may have mistreated or defrauded you. Famous preachers of Christianity have reportedly swindled hard-earned dollars from others. Some priests may have committed fornication. Some pastors do not practice what they preach. There seems to be no reason for you to become a Christian when many Christians, even Christian leaders, are hypocrites. Except for one reason--Jesus Christ your Creator died for your sins and wants to be your life!

Jesus Christ was Not a Hypocrite

Jesus Christ was not a hypocritical Christian. He practiced what He preached. He taught people to be righteous, and He Himself was righteous. He never defrauded anyone, including the government. He never mistreated His creatures; rather, He was mistreated by many, yet He taught people to have compassion on others, and He even fed the poor. He was not greedy. He never swindled any hard-earned money from others; rather, He gave up His glorious throne in the heavens to be with man. He taught people to be kind, and He healed the sick without taking a penny from them. He never committed fornication; rather, He honored marriage. He taught people to be merciful, and He rescued a sinner from being stoned and did not stone all her accusers who were also worthy of being stoned. He taught people to love their neighbors as themselves, and He loved man and died for man. As He was dying, He even prayed that the unrighteous mockers around His cross would be forgiven. He kept His promises. He told His disciples that He would die and resurrect, and He resurrected on the third day so that He could be life to all who would receive Him. He was the first Christian. He was the pattern for all Christians. Now He wants to live inside of you so that you too may be a real Christian.

False Christians are Hypocrites

There are people who call themselves Christians but do not contain the life of God. For sure these are not Christians. Although they may claim to be Christians, everything they do is out of themselves and not out of the inward empowering of the divine life. It is not surprising that some of them mistreat others.

Defeated Christians became Hypocrites

There are people who are Christians, who have received the one and only Christian--Jesus Christ--into them, yet do not live by Christ, live for Christ, live out Christ, and live Christ. They are real Christians, yet they do not live a proper, normal Christian life. They do not live a life that expresses God. God is love. God is righteousness. A true Christian, living in God, should express God in His love and righteousness. He would never cheat or mistreat others. Christians who mistreat others are still Christians, but at the moment that they are mistreating others they are not practicing Christians. All Christians have been like that to some degree sometimes. Only Jesus was never a hypocrite.

Real, Practicing Christians Express Christ

There are some genuine, practicing Christians who have received Christ and are one with Christ. They did not receive Christ by coercion or for convenience. They were not just mentally convinced or converted. They received GOD into them. Their living is becoming Christ-like, and they are not faking it. Christ is living in them and they are living in Christ. Christ has become their life that they may live out Christ. They live more and more by the Spirit of God who indwells them. They not only take Christ's living on earth as their pattern, but they also live the same way as Christ by the Spirit's bountiful supply. The Spirit is the dynamic power in them causing them to express God. They are like Christ living again on earth. They love people as Christ loved people. They are righteous as Christ was righteous. They are little christs. For to them to live is Christ. Christ lives in them to express God through them.

You Need to be a True Christian

You should not be a false Christian or a defeated Christian. Even some priests, clergymen, pastors, or preachers may be of these types. They may misrepresent God to others, but you should be a genuine, practicing, and overcoming Christian. It is worthwhile to be this kind of Christian. Whether or not you should be a Christian does not depend on the existence of the first type or the second type. You should be a Christian because God created you to contain Him, to be one with Him, and to express Him. You should be a Christian because you will have to pay the penalty for your own sins unless you accept the payment which has already been made for you by Christ's substitutionary death. You should be a Christian because you need Christ to bring God's life into you. You should be a Christian because you need to be a Christian. Even if everyone else is a hypocritical Christian, you need to be a Christian. Even if no one else is a Christian, you still need to be a Christian. Being a Christian is a matter of necessity and truth. You need God, and God needs you. Being a Christian is a matter strictly between you and your Creator. No one can decide for you. No one can pressure you. You do not need to look at anybody else. You need to be a Christian for yourself and God.

How to Become a True Christian

If you want to accept Christ's substitutionary death on your behalf, if you want Christ's life to come into you, if you do not want to be a false or defeated Christian, if you do not want to be a hypocritical Christian, but you want to be a genuine Christian, say to the Lord Jesus, "Lord Jesus, I thank You for Your death for me. I want to receive You as my life. I want to be a real Christian. Make me one with You. Come live in me now, and cause me to live in You to express You." Then you need to join other true Christians to learn how to let God's life grow in you so that you may express God more and more. Bible Verses for Your Reading:

1 Corinthians 15:3 Christ died for our sins.

Romans 5:8 But God commends His own love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Peter 1:18-19 You were redeemed... with precious blood, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ.

Hebrews 9:22 Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

John 10:10 I have come that they may have life.

John 5:21 The Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills.

John 5:40 Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

John 6:33 For the bread of God is He who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.

Matthew 22:21 Render then the things that are Caesar's to Caesar and the things that are God's to God.

John 5:16 The Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him.

Matthew 15:32 I am moved with compassion for the crowd, because... they do not have anything to eat. And I am not willing to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.

Matthew 14:14 He was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick.

Philippians 2:5-8 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Who, existing in the form of God... But emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men... He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of a cross.

Mark 10:11 He said... Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.

Matthew 5:28 But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman in order to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

John 8:7, 10, 11 He... said... He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. And Jesus stood up and said to her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? And she said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.

Luke 23:34 And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

Matthew 16:21 Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things... and be killed and on the third day be raised.

Acts 10:40 This One, God raised on the third day.

1 Corinthians 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

2 Timothy 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ.

Colossians 1:27 Christ in you, the hope of glory.

John 15:4 Abide in Me and I in you.

Galatians 2:20 It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.

Romans 8:11 The Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.

Philippians 1:19 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Acts 4:31 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

Ezekiel 34:2-3 Woe [be] to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed.

John 10:12-15 He who is a hireling and not the shepherd... sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and it does not matter to him concerning the sheep. I am the good Shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me... I lay down My life for the sheep.

Romans 9:23 In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory.

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.