Luke 12:1-12
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Chapter divisions
Last week talked about hypocrisy
careful to tithe garden herbs, but neglected justice and love of God.
Spiritual disciplines are great!
Just don’t replace the biggest things with smaller things.
==
Jesus is still talking about hypocrisy
Gives us some ways to avoid hypocrisy that I hope we can learn today.
1 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.
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.
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.
8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God,
9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say,
12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Avoid hypocrisy by fearing God the Father.
Avoid hypocrisy by fearing God the Father.
So lacking today...
(( introduce and play Sproul clip ))
I couldn’t say it better or nearly so well.
Lawyer woman in Hernando who told me how it was okay to rage at God...
Look at a small part of what awaits the hypocrite...
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.
If that doesn’t cause you concern then I don’t think you understand it.
Hypocrisy is insidious.
v. 1 leaven - “Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
yeast
it spreads throughout...
you (if you let it in)
our church (if we let it in)
It has to be done away with - true fear of God will do that.
==
Fear of God will free you from the fear of man.
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!
What do you think about fear of hell as a motivation to be saved?
Perfectly legitimate.
Dr. Rogers used to say, “I’d rather scare you into heaven, than lull you into hell.”
He was right.
We talked last week about how all false religion is hypocrisy.
The hypocrisy of false religion is specifically designed to lull you into hell.
==
God is always watching.
That is a comfort to the believer. (in that you will not be forgotten or abandoned)
but...
It should also be a HUGE deterrent from sin.
The question is not...
will my wife find out...
will my pastor find out...
will the church auditor find out I stole money...
because God knows already and you should fear him MOST.
==
It should be a constant terror to the hypocrite.
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.
God knows and God sees.
RECAP
fear of man is tempting because we all want to be accepted - that can lead you to do what is wrong because it is popular - consider our current cancel culture - fear of God is the cure
all manner of hypocrisy is tempting because we all want to be thought well of - fear of God is the cure
Avoid hypocrisy by confessing God the Son before men.
Avoid hypocrisy by confessing God the Son before men.
8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God,
9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
All false religions have a deficient belief concerning either who Jesus is or what he has accomplished - or both.
(( explain ))
The world hated Jesus and it still hates his followers.
There are many places around the world where confessing Christ before men will get you killed.
Here in America, for now anyway, confessing Christ before men will only get you ridiculed.
Depending on where you are and who you work for, it could probably get you fired.
That is really good.
We like religious freedom don’t we?
The problem is that our society does allow for a lot of comfortable hypocrites.
Remember we said that God sees and he knows.
He not only sees what is on the outside, but what is on the inside too.
Look at...
7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
This let’s us know that a surface, insincere, hypocritical confession of Jesus is no good.
A denial of Jesus, or an insincere confession of Jesus will lead to Jesus denying you.
9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
Further proof that you can confess Jesus insincerely before men to no avail is...
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
I hope you find that passage as scary as I do.
So, how do you know if you are sincere in your confession of Jesus.
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
The answer is obvious isn’t it?
If your confession of Jesus is sincere, there will be resulting obedience in your life.
43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,
44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
None of us is where we will be, but if we have been saved and given a new nature, then we are not what we were.
If you are not growing in your spiritual life, something is seriously wrong.
(( please hear me ))
could be - not saved
could be - gotten really off track and need help
either way, if this describes you - DO SOMETHING - see me, call your deacon, but DO SOMETHING!
==
Avoid hypocrisy by fearing God the Father, confessing God the Son before men, and...
Avoid hypocrisy by submitting to and obeying God the Holy Spirit.
Avoid hypocrisy by submitting to and obeying God the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit’s role in salvation is to give you the gift of faith.
He removes your heart of stone...
Replaces it with a heart of flesh...
and grants you repentance and faith.
He gets all the credit for that.
Dead men don’t do anything good.
(( life preserver? ))
(( no - resurrection from the dead ))
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
He gets all, 100% of the credit for your salvation.
Monergistic work.
==
After salvation, the Holy Spirit works with you synergistically in your maturing in the faith.
You are called to put the work in to grow in the faith.
You cannot do it without the Spirit, but He won’t do it while you ignore the Word, lay out of church, and are generally disobedient.
If I hired a personal trainer and never got off the couch I wouldn’t get very good results would I?
You won’t get results either if you don’t strive to grow in the faith.
(( maturing in the faith does not just happen by getting older…))
(( Todd… wanted to know how to live victorious Christian life… wouldn’t read… didn’t reallly want it did he? ))
Come tell me you want help growing in the faith… I dare you!
What will I do?
I will help you!...
and you will probably help me!
We will read together.
memorize Scripture - don’t tell me you can’t… if $500 for every Scripture all the sudden you would be able to.
Pray together.
then...
help you understand more about how to study the Bible
get you comfortable sharing your faith.
then...
get you to do the same for someone else.
==
Remember God is watching, and His eye is on the sparrow and all that?
God just heard me offer that to you...
What are you going to do with the offer?
Think about it. Pray about it.
By God’s grace we, as a church, are going to become a lot better at making disciples.
Remember though, that...
No pattern, scheme, program, or anything else can grow you in the faith without the Spirit of God working in you.
==
If you are submitted to and obedient to the Spirit, He has your back.
11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say,
12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
I don’t know how the prosperity preachers deal with this verse.
What does Joel Osteen have to say about this?
(( I don’t know, but probably nothing.))
This is talking about dealing with persecution.
The prosperity guys don’t think you should ever have any persecution.
Paul, in complete contrast, says...
12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
Paul was writing in a very different time and historical context, but if and when we encounter real persecution.
The Holy Spirit will glorify God through you if you are submissive and obedient to Him.
==
Avoid hypocrisy by fearing God the Father, confessing God the Son, and submitting to and obeying God the Spirit.
The first act of submission to God is believing the gospel.
Repentance
Faith
==
come forward if...
salvation
membership
prayer