SANCTIFICATION VERSUS SANCTIMONIOUSNESS 

John 18:28. “Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment; and it was early ; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.”

 

Went Not . . . Lest They Should be Defiled. — " Bullinger calls attention here to the wide difference between inward sanctification of the heart and outward sanctimoniousness about forms, ordinances and ceremonies. Calvin remarks that it is one mark of hypocrisy, 'that while it is careful in performing ceremonies, it makes no scruple of neglecting matters of the highest importance.

They were like the soldiers who, finding a beautiful bag of jewels, threw away the jewels but kept the bag.

— Bishop J. C. Ryle, former Bishop Of Liverpool