If you believe the church is full of hypocrites, you are right. There’s a reason for that: the church is made up of sinners—people who are inclined to say one thing and do another.
When you attend a worship service you will meet Christians who are struggling with their sin. You will hear and see Christians confessing their sins to God. You will hear a minister declare their sins forgiven for Jesus’ sake. These Christians will still stumble and slip, but they trust God will pick them up, forgive them for their sin, and continue to renew them as they grow in their faith through studying and hearing God’s Word, and receiving His grace and forgiveness through the Lord’s Supper.
Check the Book
“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (St. Paul writing in The Bible, Romans 7: 15-25).
“I [St. Paul] thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that He considered me faithful, appointing me to His service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life” (The Bible, 1 Timothy 1:12-16).
