Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Reading

Introduction

This morning we will be considering together a very important passage that outlines a sharp contrast between hypocritical preaching that was typical of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, and true Gospel preaching that Christ would call His disciples to.

of the proclamation of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, what we may expect as Christians as we proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and how God will most graciously help and provide for those who engage in the work of the proclamation of Jesus Christ.

Now, before we delve into the details of this text, I do want us to understand that all of us have been called to not only proclaim this true gospel, but to live out the Gospel in our daily lives.

As those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, we are both proclaimers of this Gospel, and representatives in terms of how we live out that Gospel in every area of our lives.

Recall that the context unfolds as Jesus has just finished having a meal at the house of the Pharisee (that’s if he got to finishing it before being asked to leave!).

After he had been challenged by various groups of people that didn’t believe that He was the Messiah, he had been invited by a particular Pharisee to have a meal.

He there confronted the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who loved to have external cleanliness without internal transformation of heart.

In that same context, an expert in the law had confronted Jesus as he was offended by what Jesus said.

This led Jesus to confront the experts in the law on their own hypocrisy.

And so the broader context here is hypocritical living, and setting up man’s religion rather than the ways of God as the standard by which we are called to live.

With that in mind, let us read together Luke 12:1…

Despite Christ’s strong words against those who have failed to believe Him, we see in this verse the extent of the crowds that were continuing to gather around Him.

Many thousands had gathered and the extent of the gathering was such that they were trampling on one another in order to get to Jesus and to hear him speak.

But even as these crowds are gathering around Jesus, he faces his disciples and begins to teach them some very important lessons concerning the religious teachers in the context of his day.

And what he does is to teach his disciples that they need to be on their guard.

There was a situation at hand that presented a danger for the people, and even for the disciples of Jesus.

The warning that Jesus then gives them concerns what He calls the "yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

Now, I’ve already mentioned during the course of this introduction the fact that Jesus has confronted both the Pharisees and the Experts in the law about their hypocrisy.

And now Jesus turns to his disciples and warns them specifically against this hypocrisy.

I do want us to take note at this point that the warning that Jesus gives to the disciples here has remained relevant through the course of history.

In fact, the Scriptures are just as applicable to life in our own day as they were in Jesus’ day.

God’s word deals with the reality of man in relation to God, and the reality of man in his before God.

These warnings are applicable in our day, as we will go on to see.

What we will see thorugh this passage is that the Gospel of God’s grace, and the Gospel that teaches that man desperately needs a redeemer, was far removed from the Pharisees and Experts in the Law.

And we need to be careful that we are living by the Gospel, rather than in light of our own wisdom and strength, or our own standards of righteousness.

With that in mind, let us consider first main point from this text.

1. Graphic Publication (v.2)

As Christ continues to speak to his disciples here, he reminds them about a very important reality that the hypocrites fail to take into consideration in their lives.

We read in verse 2…

As the religious leaders of that day were living their lives, putting on a show for the people around them in terms of their own religiosity, and placing burdens on others, they were living a different life behind the scenes.

Their hearts were far from God, and they were filled with a pride and self-righteousness.

While it was not so easily seen by others around them, Christ knew that although they claimed to be religious, and performed many acts that were religious in their appearance, the true self was something quite different.

The hypocrites were living their lives with a mask.

Christ warns his disciples in this verse about the one thing that these religious leaders were failing to take into consideration, and that is the fact that their hypocrisy would eventually come to light.

It would be revealed.

As a general biblical principle, this fact is true.

In Romans 2:16, Paul speaks about the day when God...will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

We also have in Scripture the examples of some who tried to conceal their sin, but God ensured that such sin was revealed.

We can think particularly of Achan in the Old Testament, as he stole some spoils of war, which led Israel to lose a battle against a very small and insignificant town, that should easily have been conquered.

The reality is that to live your life as a lie, portraying yourself in one way in front of people, and then living in another way behind the scenes, is a dangerous place to be.

There are two ways that this sin will be exposed.

It may be that it is exposed in the course of time, even as the hypocrite is still living.

Or it may that it is never exposed in this life, but rather is exposed only on the day of Christ.

But the fact is, hypocritical living, continuing to live in unrepentant sin, will lead to that sin being exposed by God.

Even the very motives of men’s hearts will be exposed.

God knows these motives.

We need to remember that God sees everything.

He knows our lives.

He knows our sins.

He knows our deeds.

And there is nothing that we can hide from Him.

Scripture is abundantly clear that the things held secret in this life would not be concealed indefinitely.

This leads us to consider our second main point…

2. Gospel Proclamation (v.3)

As Christ continues, he says to his disciples in verse 3...

As Christ speaks these words to his disciples, the way in which Luke writes these words, suggests that what they have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what they have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs / housetops.

There have been two ways in which people have interpreted these words.

The first is to directly continue the theme from the previous verse, where Christ was talking about the exposure of hypocritical conduct; living one way in front of people, and another in secret.

If that’s the case, some believe that Christ is here telling his disciples that those things that are whispered in the dark where no one sees, those things said in secret places, whispered into the ears of others where no one else can hear them, will be brought to light.

If that were the case (which I don’t believe it is) then the disciples may have felt very uneasy at this stage.

Certainly there is some continuity in the idea in terms of revealing secret things.

But what Christ is saying here goes beyond that.

What Christ is saying in these words is that the Gospel message, that was once concealed, the message of the Kingdom that Christ was teaching his disciples in the secret places - giving them the message and the meaning away from others, must be proclaimed.

Why do I argue that this is the case?

Three reasons…

Firstly, if we look at the parallel account in Matthew 10, we see that Matthew records these words of Jesus slightly differently, although in the same context.

In the account in Matthew, Jesus is clearly talking to his disciples about the words that He has spoken to them.

And he essentially tells them that the words that He has told them in the dark, they are to speak in the daylight.

In this present account in Luke, it is conveying the responsibility that will rest on the disciples to go out and proclaim to others what they had been speaking about in a limited sense.

The Gospel would need to be proclaimed to all.

That is the first reason that I say that this is what is meant in this verse.

The second reason that I argue for this position is in light of the practice of the day which related to shouting things from the rooftops.

One person, in writing about the land and customs of the day, explains the practice of shouting from the rooftops like this (he speaks in terms of current practices)…

"At the present day, local governors in country districts cause their commands thus to be published.

Their proclamations are generally made in the evening, after the people have returned from their labors in the field.

The public crier ascends the highest roof at hand, and lifts up his voice in a long-drawn call upon all faithful subjects to give ear and obey.

He then proceeds to announce, in a set form, the will of their master, and demand obedience thereto."

Dr. Thomson ("The Land and the Book," vol.

i. p. 51, 52)

That is the practice that continues even into our day.

And the practice was to issue the commands or instructions of the leader, and then call people to obedience.

And that is what the Gospel proclamation would be about.

This practice clearly supports the idea, not that everything you’ve said and done is going to be shouted from the rooftops, but rather that the Gospel would be proclaimed from the rooftops.

The third reason that I argue for this position from this verse is that the remainder of the passage deals with the confrontation that Christ’s disciples are going to face as they proclaim the Gospel.

Now, we must not think that there is just a sudden change in thought process by Christ, and that there is no link between verses 1-2 and verse 3. Rather, the thought of “concealing” and “revealing” comes through.

But as Christ transitions from the revealing of the lives of the hypocrites in terms of their secret lives being brought into the open, and then speaks about the Gospel message being openly proclaimed, we must recognise a very important link between the two.

It is precisely this Gospel message that will be proclaimed publicly and expose the hearts of the hypocrites.

When the Gospel message of repentance and faith would be proclaimed loudly, it would lead to those who were guilty of sin before God being confronted with their own inability to save themselves, something that they were so desperately trying to do.

Later on, as Paul gives instructions to the church in Ephesus, he says to them…

Friends, this is what the Gospel does.

It exposes the heart of man.

And so, here is the transition… the hypocrites of the day were living a lie.

They presented themselves in one way, all the while living in another way when not seen, or living contrary to that which they preached.

But the Gospel would need to be proclaimed.

It would need to go out loud and clear.

This message of the Gospel would not remain a secret, but rather, all men everywhere would be called to repentance from sin.

They would be called upon to trust in Christ alone for their salvation.

That leads us to consider our third main point.