Sermon Tone Analysis
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[NOTE: Luke 12:1-12 Similar to Matthew 10:26-33 covered in sermon HG069-70pt2 as well as in this sermon]
Luke 12:1-13:9 is all one discourse by Jesus with a couple of interruptions on the way.
Early on in Jesus’ ministry the crowds following Jesus were eager to find out more about this itinerant minister who went round healing and doing good.
The thought then was “perhaps He is the Messiah”.
But what of this crowd around Him now?
This was a different crowd.
And it was a huge crowd.
In English it says many thousands were gathered but the Greek uses its highest number, that is, 10,000 and multiplies it.
This means that, at the very least, there were 30,000 people present and this in the day before modern sound equipment, so the crowd pressed in to hear and in so doing trampled each other.
But what was the make up of this crowd?
Were these truly seekers of Jesus?
Well, this was a different time.
In just a few months He would be crucified.
This crowd was a religious crowd come to hear the dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees.
The Pharisees are gaining the upper hand for remember from the last chapter that they were seeking ways to destroy Jesus.
The crowd were on the side of the religious rulers.
Then Jesus turns to the disciples.
Who are the disciples here?
Plainly he is talking to the twelve but also to others who are friendly to Him.
A disciple here is not yet necessarily a person who is saved.
Disciple simply means ‘learner’.
These are people who may have not made up their minds and hearts yet.
We have evidence of this in John’s Gospel:
There are those present who are still on the fence.
These are the few rather than the majority.
And this explains why He says what He says.
Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.
Be careful of not being contaminated with their teaching, their works and their religion.
In the previous chapter they are the unmarked graves making unclean all who pass their way.
They are the great pretenders.
Everything they do is for a show, everything that they do is please men in order to gain favour and riches.
There is a solution to their hypocrisy for us.
We are to do what the religious leaders would not do: We are to honour the Father, honour the Son and honour the Spirit.
We see these mentioned one after the other in verses 5, 8 and 10.
This passage is one of those great proofs of the Trinity and we are called upon to fear God and to honour Him in His three Persons.
You cannot honor God without honoring Christ and you cannot honor Christ without honoring the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit points to Christ and Christ shows us the Father.
It’s a package.
The only way you’ll ever avoid eternal disaster is to honor God, honor Christ, and to honor the Holy Spirit.
Now we are given three reasons to fear God:
The first one: Everything that we do will get exposed.
All the secrets are going to come out.
Nothing will be hid.
Things done where no one else sees, things said between two people, all this will be revealed.
God is watching.
You are not going to get away with it.
The second reason to fear God rather than people is that the worst anyone can do to you is kill you, no other crime is more heinous.
The problem is that death is not the end.
God can still cast us into hell.
Let us not doubt the reality of hell.
Jesus spoke of it often therefore we should take careful note.
The word hell here is Geenna in the Greek.
It is important to note for there are at least three words for hell.
In this case Gehenna is a literal place on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
When King Josiah became King, he was short-lived good king, he cut down all the idols and gods and altars that the former kings and the people had set up and threw them into a deep hole and set fire to it.
The same hole that King Ahaz and others had previously sacrificed their children to the god Molech.
And Josiah killed all the priests of these gods and so on.
You can read about him in 2 Kings 22-23.
This is what was written of him in:
The point is that this fire with which he burned all these idols etc was still burning in Jesus’ day over 600 years later.
This is because the place where he did this became the rubbish tip and the fire did not go out.
It later became a symbol for eternal punishment because the smoke from it was still going up in Jesus’ day.
Fear God because God can throw you on the rubbish tip and burn you with an everlasting fire.
People can only do so much but God can inflict on us so much more.
Why is Jesus saying all this to His disciples?
He is trying to get those still on the fence to decide whether they were for Him or against Him.
Then the third reason to fear God is brought to our attention.
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?
Sparrows were the meat of the poor.
The poor could buy sparrows to eat.
Yet God knows about every sparrow.
And the number of hairs on your head are numbered.
Note that Jesus is not saying these things for comfort but to convict his hearers.
This follows straight on from everything will be exposed and the possibility of being thrown into hell.
So, what we are being given here is another reason to fear God: And what is that?
God knows everything.
He sees every little detail.
He knows about the birds and he knows exactly how many hairs are on your head and every head on he planet, almost 8 billion people’s worth.
Now some may not have as many hairs but each head has between 100-150 thousand hairs.
Who knew, right!
God notices everything.
He does not need to count He just knows.
God is to be feared.
Get the message.
Fear Him for every secret will be exposed.
Fear Him for He can throw us into hell.
Fear Him for He knows everything.
It is in this moment He can see the look of fear on the faces of His disciples.
Now, He says, you do not need to be afraid.
If you have feared God you do not need to fear anymore.
So, now, you need to be ready for the day of my return, Jesus says in verse 35.
Don’t go thinking that because I have not yet returned it does not mean that you should not be ready.
Be dressed and ready, Jesus says, for I will come when you do not expect Me.
Can I have a show of hands who thinks Jesus is going to return today?
Since Jesus’ resurrection around 725,000 days have passed.
It could be today.
Are we ready?
It will be like a flash of lightning, that is how sudden it will be.
It will surprise everyone.
It could happen now.
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