Won’t God accept everyone, provided they are sincere? Sincerity is certainly important with God. In fact, insincerity is a sure way to be rejected by Him! But mere sincerity is not enough. It is possible to be sincere, but sincerely wrong. Remember the false prophets of Baal at the Battle of the Gods on Carmel. They certainly seemed to be sincere, as they “cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them” (1 Ki 18:28). But it did not save them from the judgment of God; not one of them escaped (v. 40). So the Scripture links another essential with being sincere. The people of God in the OT were implored: “Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth” (Josh 24:14) while the saints of the NT are told: “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:8). Knowing the truth makes men free.