Luke 12:4-7 (3)

********** Start Timer **********

-Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Luke 12.

We’re going to be looking at Verses 4-7 this morning.

-I mentioned to you last week, that...

…in coming to Chapter 12...

…we would be beginning...

...a long series of teachings from Jesus...

…which would consist of...

…a variety of messages, to a variety of audiences.

We saw the first of those messages...

…as we crossed over into Chapter 12, last week.

It was Jesus...

Warning His disciples...

About the deadly leaven of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy.

And I tried to volley up the idea then, that...

Hypocrisy

The fear of man...

…are never that far away from each other...

...That the one, is usually...

…a catalyst for the other.

...That the fear of man...

…usually produces in us, hypocrisy.

Why?

Because to, either...

Please men...

Escape their oppression...

…we tend to present ourselves in a way...

…that isn’t always an accurate expression...

…of the reality of who we are on the inside.

It is a ubiquitous problem for fallen men...

…such as ourselves.

It is a crippling disorder...

…of the mind and soul.

-But… Jesus prescribes for us...

…an unexpected remedy for it...

…in our verses today.

And He doesn’t give us the same prescription...

…that our postmodern therapists give:

(More self-confidence)

(That’s the last thing we need)

Jesus tells us, that to overcome our fear of man...

…we must be overtaken by a greater fear...

A fear that will so overshadow our fear of men...

…that it will render it ineffective.

He prescribes for us...

…a Healthy and Holy fear:

The Fear of the Lord!

And, that’s something...

…that is dreadfully missing, in...

Much of our society today

(Sadly) in many of our churches as well.

(And we are paying a steep price for it)

-Alright, let’s read what he said...

…and go to the Lord for help:

This is His immutable and infallible Word:

Luke 12:4–7 (ESV)

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.

5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.

7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Click Off

Pray

-Let me draw your attention back up to Verse 2.

It’s important for us to remember...

…how the previous section had ended.

Luke 12:2–3 (ESV)

2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

In light of those warnings...

…it could be easy for us to think...

…that Jesus was speaking to his disciples...

Because He was angry at them

Because He was frustrated with them.

But, the way He addresses them in Verse 4...

…seems to indicate to us the very opposite.

Look at the address :

Luke 12:4 (ESV)

4 “I tell you, my friends...

Do you remember what that word is in the Greek?

Lexham Theological Wordbook (φίλος)

φίλος (philos). n. masc. friend. A person with whom one has a close bond or friendship...

The word philos is related to the verb φιλέω (phileō, “to love).

What important principle...

...does that remind us of?

A. (Generally Speaking):

Proverbs 27:5–6 (ESV)

5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend...

B. (Specifically):

Proverbs 3:11–12 (ESV)

11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof,

12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves...

Amen?

-Alright, let’s read on in our text:

Luke 12:4 (ESV)

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body...

Now, remember what events...

...had preceded His saying this:

First, there was this indictment (Woe)...

…that Jesus had pronounced against the Scribes:

Luke 11:49–50 (ESV)

49 . . . ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’

50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation,

And, then we saw...

…how they had responded:

Luke 11:53–54 (NKJV)

53 And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things,

54 lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.

So, now... that their hidden, inner malice has been exposed...

…Jesus exhorts his disciples (i.e., His Friends)...

…not to be afraid of such men...

…even though they have the power...

…to take from them, their very lives!

Why?

Verse 4, at the end:

Luke 12:4 (ESV)

4 ...do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.

Meaning what?

Their power...

Their ability to afflict and oppress...

Only goes so far.

It has a limit.

It reaches to the grave...

…but can go no further.

-A similar teaching is helpful, here:

In Matthew 10, after giving His disciples this warning:

Matthew 10:16–18 (ESV)

16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves...

17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,

18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake...

Matthew 10:22 (ESV)

22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake...

After warning them of that...

…He told them:

Matthew 10:28 (ESV)

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul...

Do you see the primacy...

…that’s assumed in that?

The body WILL perish...

It will either...

Wear Out

Be destroyed!

But the soul, never dies.

The soul, lives on forever.

And this is the perspective...

…from which we must view our present lives.

I love the way Calvin puts it, here:

Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Matthew 10:26–31; Mark 4:22–23; Luke 8:17, 12:2–7)

To excite his disciples to despise death, Christ employs the very powerful argument,

that this frail and perishing life ought to be little regarded by men who have been created for a heavenly immortality.

-More importantly...

…this is the way the Bible...

…frames the proper perspective of the Christian life.

For example (Smyrna):

Revelation 2:10 (ESV)

10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer . . . Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Acts 20:24 (ESV)

24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus...

We MUST live...

...with that eternal perspective about our lives!

If we do...

…it will be much easier for us to withstand...

… the desire to compromise in the areas of...

Truth

Morality

And, it will help us to withstand...

even the fear of death itself!

Why?

Because the reality is this, Believer:

Philippians 1:21 (ESV)

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Click Off

That perspective will give you and I power...

…to expel our earthly fears!

-But… there is an even greater remedy than that.

Something with an even greater power of expulsion.

(Although the two are inseparably connected)

What is it?

A GREATER Fear!

You may ask:

“How can fear help you overcome fear?”

Well, have you ever seen a child...

…overcome an irrational childhood fear...

Because they were even more afraid of, either...

The discipline of a parent...

The ridicule of their peers?

It works, doesn’t it?

(Now, that analogy breaks down, because...

…theirs is still a servile fear.)

But the fear introduced as the remedy, in Verse 5...

Is a different kind of fear (in a way)

A greater fear.

A Holy Fear.

Let’s read it in conjunction with Verse 4:

Luke 12:4–5 (ESV)

4 ...do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.

5 But I will warn you whom to fear:

“warn” can mean “show”

And remember, that He’s telling this to His disciples.

That tells us that there is...

…an appropriate fear for Christians to have!

What is it?

Rather, Whom is it...

...that we ought to fear?

fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell...

Who is that?

Well, some actually say that this is referring to Satan!

And, the text doesn’t specify by name...

…but I think that’s a terrible conclusion to draw.

Think about it:

Our text tells us two things...

…about this person...

…who’s being set forth...

…as the object of our fear:

The first is, that He has ability to take life:

Luke 12:5 (ESV)

5 … fear him who, after he has killed, has authority...

Now, some contend that the proper translation is…

Luke 12:5 (NIV)

5 ...Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority...

(Not (necessarily) making God be the one who takes life)

And, that’s a plausible translation.

-But, did God not say:

Deuteronomy 32:39 (ESV)

39 “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

-Did not Satan have to ask God’s permission...

…before he afflicted the body of Job?

Did not God forbid him from taking Job’s life?

So, there’s no reason to think...

…that that first description...

…HAS to be referring to Satan.

-And the second description...

…makes it all the more certain:

Luke 12:5 (ESV)

5 ...fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell...

Greek word for “hell” there, is Gehenna:

Remember this about it:

Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 (Fear Itself)

Gehenna, as the place was called, was a valley outside Jerusalem.

It was a ravine of smoking refuse, an accursed place of perpetual burning. The Bible uses this God-forsaken valley to describe the torments of hell as an everlasting fire.

Now, does the Bible say that Satan...

Is the ruler of Hell?

Has authority over hell?

No!

Rather, it says that it was created for him...

...Meaning, that is was created to be...

...the means of his eternal punishment.

I think Matthew 25 makes that abundantly clear:

Matthew 25:40–41 (ESV)

40 And the King...

41 ...will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Who has the authority to cast people into Hell, here?

Peter asserts something very similar:

2 Peter 2:4 (ESV)

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

2 Peter 2:9 (ESV)

9 then the Lord knows how to . . . keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

And think about this:

Revelation 1:17–18 (ESV)

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,

18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Who is that?

Jesus Christ!

The Son of Man!

The eternal Son of God.

This is a divine prerogative!

God alone has that authority.

And Jesus says, at the end of Verse 5:

(to his disciples)

Yes, I tell you, fear him!

And, there it is, brethren...

...Stated plainly:

The remedy, for hypocrisy

The antidote, for the fear of man:

The expulsive power of the Fear of the Lord

(Show Title Screen)

To the degree that it exists in your heart...

…it will overshadow and expel all other fears!

R.C. Sproul says this:

A Walk with God: Luke (60. A Warning against Hypocrisy (Luke 12:1–7))

Jesus is saying here something that is said throughout Holy Scripture, that we ought to fear God.

This does not mean that we should be quaking for fear of the presence of God, or think that he is out to get us.

The fear that we are to have for God is a fear of offending him, a fear born of awe, reverence and humility before his majesty.

But there is another side to this; we should fear the power of God also, fear the punishment at his hands.

Brethren (to copy C.S. Lewis), is God safe?

Of Course He ISN’T Safe!

But, He is good!

This is the tension that we must embrace.

Now, Sproul goes on...

...to point out something very important:

Repentance, however, that is born of the fear of punishment alone, is not true repentance, it is what is called attrition.

Godly repentance, or contrition, comes from a genuine sorrow for having violated the law of God.

That is to say:

having disobeyed the will of God...

having acted contrary to the nature of God

That is the catalyst for true repentance…

(not just self-preservation)

And, the fear of the Lord...

…will inevitably lead you and I to it!

-Now, remember how Jesus...

…had begun this address:

Luke 12:4 (ESV)

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear...

Well, verses 6-7 help us to see, that...

The exhortation to forsake the fear of man

The warning to pursue the fear of God

…were indeed the “faithful wounds of a Friend”

Look at what Jesus tells them.

Luke 12:6 (ESV)

6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? . . .

At another time, he had said:

Matthew 10:29 (ESV)

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? . . .

“penny” = Roman Assarion (30 minutes wages)

What’s the point?

These birds were the cheapest meat in the market.

In fact, they were so insignificant...

...That if you bought four...

…they’d throw in a fifth, for free!

And yet, Jesus says:

Luke 12:6 (ESV)

6 ...And not one of them is forgotten before God.

What point is he making?

Matthew 12:12 (ESV)

12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! . . .

Or, more pertinently:

Luke 12:7 (ESV)

7 ...you are of more value than many sparrows.

Joel Beeke summarizes it like this:

If God does not forget the little birds (v. 24), how much more can Christ’s disciples find comfort and confidence in His care for them, people created in His image and saved by His Son? — Beeke

-Watch what he says about them, in Verse 7:

Luke 12:7 (ESV)

7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered....

The analogy is very similar:

You have hundreds of thousands of hairs on your head.

They fall off all the time

No one notices

No one cares.

But, God so loves and cares for you (his friends)...

He is so concerned with your eternal well-being...

That He is conscious of, and governing...

Every single aspect of your life

Including every single hair that falls.

Again,why is He saying this?

To rid us of the fear of man!

Notice the bookends of our text:

Luke 12:4 (ESV)

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body...

Luke 12:7 (ESV)

7 ...even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not...

-Let me show you something encouraging:

This is the constant theme of Scripture.

This is the constant comfort for God’s “Friends”

Psalm 56:4 (ESV)

4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

Psalm 56:11 (ESV)

11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Psalm 118:4 (ESV)

4 Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

Psalm 118:6 (ESV)

6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Psalm 27:1 (ESV)

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

But, this one tops the cake:

Romans 8:31–39 (ESV)

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? . . .

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Brethren… that’s the point!

Fear God... Trust Him... No matter what.

Don’t fear men.

That’s what our text is calling us to do.

-Let me leave you with this:

The English Version of Martin Luther’s famous hymn says this:

And though this world, with devils filled,

should threaten to undo us,

we will not fear, for God has willed

his truth to triumph through us...

...Let goods and kindred go,

this mortal life also;

the body they may kill:

God's truth abideth still;

his kingdom is forever!

Amen?

Let’s pray