Who Shall I Fear?
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Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.
In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.
Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.”
So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.
But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.
And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.
And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.
And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”
I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
“Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,
and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.
So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,
but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
There is a song we sing sometimes called “God of Angel Armies”, with the line “Whom shall I fear?”. The premise of the song is that for the believer, we have nothing to fear from man, or Satan, or nature, or anything else, because God is our ultimate protector. So we have nothing to fear. However, in today’s passage, we will see a warning from Jesus regarding something we should fear, and that is God himself.
Big Idea: If we properly understand God, we will not fear men.
Hypocrisy will be revealed, in this life or at the final judgment
We should not fear those who can harm our bodies, but the one who has eternal power
God is aware of everything and values us greatly.
In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
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.
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.
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!
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.
Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
In the previous verses, we saw the Pharisees trying to catch Jesus in something he would say, and it seems the more they tried to damage Jesus’ reputation, the more people crowded to see him, so that here we see there were so many that they were trampling each other.
And during this time, Jesus begins teaching again. It says he began to say to his disciples first, meaning the teachings were not necessarily only to his disciples, but he said it to them first. It is likely that he did this at other times as well, teaching a concept and explaining it to his disciples first and then teaching to the broader crowds.
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy”
Leaven was often used as a metaphor both positively and negatively by Jesus. The kingdom of God has the ability to grow and spread like leaven, which is positive, and in this case, leaven being something that grows and poisons the whole loaf, so that it is a negative not a positive.
Good teaching (true, biblical teaching, can spread, but so can bad teaching spread, as has been seen throughout history.
The leaven, or teachings of the Pharisees, is hypocrisy
Matthew Henry noted that the disciples of Christ were the best men in the world at this time, and they had to be warned against hypocrisy, so we should take this warning of Jesus with some gravity for ourselves.
Hypocrisy is a danger to all of us. Do we live out in thought, word and deed, both in public and in secret, that which we claim to believe and hold to?
The Pharisees did not. Their actions were outwardly righteous, but inwardly they were full of pride and. But Jesus is about to let them know that all would be exposed
Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
We may be able to fool some of the people all of the time, or all of the people some of the time, or all the people all the time, but someday all will be revealed.
We usually don’t fool our own families, who see us in our best and worst moments, but we can easily fool many people, making them think we are holier than we really are.
But in the end, there will be no more secrets, because they will all be revealed.
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.
Now, most who have studied this passage have taken it to mean that this refers to evil things, things that were said quietly for fear of discovery of the sin within a person’s heart. However, some have taken this to be about our Christian witness, and I think that is an interesting take.
In this case, the Christian should not hide the gospel. It should be discussed not just in the dark, or perhaps this could be like the Christian who discusses their faith only in the setting of the church, but stays silent in other places.
So as the common take on this is that things we would be ashamed of because of our sin, that result in us hiding, are those same things that will be exposed, this other idea is that the things we ought to be bold about we must not hide, but proclaim from the housetops. Certainly this idea is not a bad one, and can be defended somewhat, especially since in the next verses, 8-12, which we will discuss next week, Lord willing, Jesus speaks very harshly regarding the one who would deny him.
However, while I believe it is true that Jesus taught we should not be ashamed of Him or His gospel, in these verses, 2&3, he is referring to hypocrisy
We all know that if every bad thought we have were exposed to the world, we would probably be unable to bear to come out in public ever again for the shame we would feel.
Yet here, Jesus says that all will be revealed. This is awful news for the hypocrites and those who sin without a fear of God. But there is good news for the believer. RC Sproul:
A Walk with God: Luke 60. A Warning against Hypocrisy (Luke 12:1–7)
We all have secrets that would be profoundly embarrassing for others to be aware of. To have our secret sins exposed, our weaknesses manifested publicly is terrifying. But there is a day established, where God says that the truth will be revealed. Not only will our secret sins be manifested, but also our secret virtues. But, if I did not know that on that day my nakedness will be covered by the righteousness of Christ, it would destroy me to have to face it. But this is what God promises for his people: in that day of judgment those who are in Christ will be hidden. His righteousness conceals our corruption. That’s why we cling to Christ.
What a beautiful thought and peace giving truth! That Christ’s righteousness hides our sins, and the Father will see Christ in us, and his cloak of righteousness covering us.
We see a picture of this in Zechariah:
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?”
Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.
And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”
And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.
The accuser of believers will be silenced.
However, for those who are not true believers, but pretend, those who are hypocrites, they will be revealed and exposed in all the ugliness of their sin.
And what are these hypocrites? (define hypocrite) What drives them to put on the show? They want to please men, or they fear the judgment of men, but they don’t really think about pleasing God, or have concern with his judgment.
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.
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!
Some have had to face this fear. Martyrs of the church have spoken their faith in the face of death, fearing God more than man. Luther, Wycliff, and thousands of believers have spoken out boldly in the face of certain exile, physical punishment, or even death.
But also, many have denied Christ to save their own skin, and we will see next week the danger in that.
We need a proper reverence for God. RC Sproul:
A Walk with God: Luke 60. A Warning against Hypocrisy (Luke 12:1–7)
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.
Kent Hughes:
Luke, Vol. 2—That You May Know the Truth Proper Fear
Fear of God is desperately needed in today’s church. Wise Solomon concluded his prologue to the book of Proverbs by declaring, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (1:7). Solomon saw this as the key to all living—and it is. Believing this implicitly, Joseph Bayly defined fear of God by saying:
“Awe: Emotion in which dread, veneration, and wonder are variously mingled, as: (a) a profound and humbly fearful reverence inspired by deity or by something sacred or mysterious; (b) wondering reverence tinged with fear inspired by the sublime” (Webster’s). Biblical use: “Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.” (
A proper fear of God, as in this definition, leads the believer to want to please him, not to be exceedingly casual with Him, and more likely to do right.
This God is the God who can cast one into hell, and eternal, unchangeable, unrelenting situation, where the wrath of God pours out continually on those rebels who commit the cosmic treason of not honoring him, first by disobeying his laws, and second, by rejecting his gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
So we need to value the eternal life more than the temporary physical life, and dread the eternal death more than the death of our mortal bodies:
“It is true,” said that blessed martyr, Bishop Hooper, “life is sweet, and death bitter; but eternal life is more sweet, and eternal death more bitter.”
These are strong warnings from Jesus, but they come with great comfort for the believer:
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.
Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Jesus himself loves those he saves:
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
So in our brief passage this morning are strong warnings, and great comfort.
Big Idea: If we properly understand God, we will not fear men.
Hypocrisy will be revealed, in this life or at the final judgment
We should not fear those who can harm our bodies, but the one who has eternal power
God is aware of everything and values us greatly.
