I Will Warn You Whom To Fear

Before we get into the text, I want to say last week I said something, a phrase, I'm not going to repeat, that a number of you have mentioned as being inappropriate or scandalous. Some of you probably don't know what I'm talking about. Some of you do. If you don't, don't worry about it. If you do, I want to apologize to you. And then I also want to say as your pastor, and here's the hard part, don't you talk like that either. I said something foolish last week. I shouldn't have said I was careless. And some of you were offended by it. I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry. It was careless speech. Now, don't be a hypocrite. Watch your own speech and what you say. My sin was that I was careless. Don't be careless in what you say. Now, we're moving on into Luke chapter 12.

And we've been talking about hypocrisy the last couple of weeks, what it means to be a hypocrite. Last week we studied Jesus going into the home of a Pharisee, and after not washing his hands, as they would have expected him to do, they get all upset that he didn't wash his hands, and he doesn't go along with their expectation. You're supposed to wash your hands. He says, no, I'm not going to wash my hands. In fact, you guys are hypocrites, and the worst kind of hypocrites. And he goes on and on. And eventually the lawyer says, hey, you're insulting us too. And he says, oh yes, and you. And then he rebukes the lawyers. And when he talks about the lawyers and the Pharisees, he's talking to a group of people who have power and who have influence and are used to being deferred to. And he tells us that they love their power, they love their influence, and that that's what's made them hypocrites. And yet when he comes out of the house, that's our text this morning, he comes out of the house, he comes out to preach. And he continues talking about hypocrisy.

But now the audience has changed. He's not talking to the Pharisees and the lawyers, the scribes anymore. Now he's talking to his disciples and then to the crowds. And I want you to see that there are many ways that people become hypocrites. Some of us, if you're in a position of power or influence, you're used to being the one who's in charge, then your temptations to hypocrisy are going to tend probably more toward the direction of the Pharisees. But what if that's not where you're stationed in life? What if you're not someone who's in charge and in power and someone special? What if you're just a normal person? Can you be a hypocrite too? And the answer is yes, you can. Now the question is, how? How does just a normal, ordinary person become a hypocrite? What does hypocrisy look like in you and in me? That's what we're going to be studying this morning. We're going to be studying specifically how fear can lead to hypocrisy. That's what we see Jesus addressing with the crowds, and that's what we're going to be studying ourselves, is there's a connection between fearing man and how it leads to hypocrisy. And I don't want us to fear man, because that, we learn in our text, leads to us becoming hypocrites. And that's not the intended goal. That's not where we want to end up. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word from Luke chapter 12, verses 1 through 12. Under these circumstances,

After so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, he began saying to his disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops. I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body. and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear the one who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows. And I say to you, everyone who confesses me before men,

The Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God. But he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense or what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated.

I want to start by pointing out that this is a longer text, 12 verses. It's kind of long for what we normally bite off. And as you read it, it seems as though it's disjunct. You've got Jesus talking about the Pharisees' hypocrisy. And then he's got warning about what happens in the dark will be exposed in the light. And then he talks about not fearing man and fearing God. And then he talks about sparrows and the people being more valuable than the sparrows. And then he ends by saying, and when you're persecuted and you're hauled up in front of the powers that be, don't be afraid. And it all seems like it's just kind of just a collection of random thoughts that don't seem to be connected. But I want you to realize Jesus said this straight on through. This isn't a collection of a little bit here and a little bit there and a little bit from another place. He actually said all these things, and all of these things are related. And so this morning what we're going to do is we're going to look at how these things are connected, how they all fit together.

And so we'll begin the way Jesus began. He comes out of the house. There's crowds. The crowds have gotten together. There's such a big crowd that they're stepping on one another. And he comes out and he rejoins his disciples after having come out of the house of the Pharisees. And the first thing he does is he warns his disciples against the Pharisees' hypocrisy. He says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Now he's saying it to his disciples. But there's multitudes of people listening. They're hearing what he's saying. So I want you to realize, what he's saying, he's saying publicly. He's not addressing it to everybody. He's addressing it to his disciples, to the leaders, to those who are going to build his kingdom in his church. And what is he doing? He's warning them against being hypocritical.

Now, I want you to put yourself, one of the things that's helpful when you read Scripture, or when you study it, is you have to put yourself into the text. You have to say, okay, if I was in this position, what would it be like? If I was in this position, what would it be like? Now, you remember last week when we did this, I put you in the position of the Pharisees, and I said, what would you be like if you were in their position? And what I said was, I'd want to crawl under a table. I wouldn't have wanted to hear what they had to say. It would have been so difficult.

that I wouldn't have wanted any part of it. And yet they were used to being in positions of power, and so they fought with him. They argued with him. And it says that from then on, they asked him many questions, trying to catch him in something that he might say. And so they didn't back down in the face of Jesus' rebuke. That was their disposition. Now I want to change, and I want to say, if you were in Jesus' shoes, and you went into the house of the powers that be, and you were to say what he said, Would that be an easy thing to do? The answer is no. It's not an easy thing to do. It's a very hard thing to do. It's a very hard thing to do. If you want a smaller scale, I say, okay, how easy is it for you to go to your boss and tell them that you think they've done something wrong, that they've sinned, that they've done something that's inappropriate, and they shouldn't do it anymore?

You go in with fear and trembling because you're afraid you're going to lose your job. You're afraid it's going to show up in your file. It's going to affect your pay. You're going, I don't know if I can say that. I don't know if I can do that. It might fire me. And yet the things that we might have to say to our boss is not anywhere near as dramatic or as intense as what Jesus says to the Pharisees. And so if it's hard for us to go in and speak to our authorities and say things that are not nearly as intense as what Jesus said, will you come along with me knowing that Jesus is been tempted in every way such as we are, yet without sin, and he sympathizes with our weaknesses, will you come along with me and agree that that wasn't an easy thing to do? It was a hard thing to do. And you know it because you know that he sympathizes with your weaknesses and he went and did something that we couldn't imagine doing. So then that's all over. And he made it out alive. Now he comes out to the crowds. And what's he supposed to do?

What would you want to do if you had just rebuked your boss publicly? Or privately, I'm sorry. Now you've gotten out into the public. Now you're with all the other employees. Do you want to tell them what you just said to your boss? No, you don't. And you note that Jesus, when he comes out, the first thing he does, first of all then, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. He takes what he said privately to them and he makes it public. Now, there's this weird thing that goes on when authorities are in sin. One of the things that they're willing to do sometimes is they're willing to let you speak to them privately as long as you keep your mouth shut publicly.

You can have your opinions, you can have your convictions, you can say what you say behind closed doors, but you can't say it publicly because if you do, then the hammer will come down. And we all can feel this pressure. You feel it in the workplace. You can feel it in your marriages. You come here, everything's fine, everything's great, everything's happy, everything's as it should be. Another way of saying that is you don't say publicly what you say privately to your spouse. You know, I might be willing to have Vanessa tell me that I've sinned or I'm wrong or I failed in some particular way at home, but I'm much less likely to be willing to have her come tell you about it. Right? You agree with me? Can you feel it? You don't want this to happen. Because what will happen to my reputation? So Jesus comes out of the house admitting that what he said privately was already difficult.

And now he comes out and he says it publicly. You guys, beware of them because they are hypocrites. They're your leaders. They're the ones that are supposed to care for you. And I'm telling you, don't follow them because they're wicked. And he says it in front of them. And so when Jesus does this, when he warns his disciples in front of the crowds about the Pharisees, he draws a line in the sand. To this point, Everyone's been coming out and consuming, seeing what Jesus has to say, listening to him, seeing his miracles, and now he's starting to draw a distinction between himself and the religious leaders, the Jews. He's saying, I'm not like them. And if you follow them, you're not following me. You have to choose. That's the pressure that the people are going to feel. Who are you going to choose? Who are you going to follow? Are you going to follow them, or are you going to follow me? The real question is whether or not, you know,

Are you going to be consistent? You know, one of my sons' name is Nicodemus. And I like Nicodemus in the Bible. But he does something at the beginning of his life, or the first time you read about him in John 3, that's not really flattering about Nicodemus. And what is it that he does? Yeah, he's there. He's a Pharisee. He's been there. He's listening to Jesus' teaching. But he's a religious leader, and there's this pressure, and Jesus is saying things that are insulting. And so what he does first is he comes to Jesus by night and says, Can these things really be true, what you're saying? He's fearful. He's maintaining his public persona. And yet he's got questions, and he's going to come handle them privately. Now, the sweet thing about Nicodemus is that as his life goes on, eventually those things become consistent.

And he opposes the Pharisees in the Sanhedrin about their treatment of Jesus and their breaking of God's law and the way that they prosecute him. And he cares for Jesus' body in the end. And so in the end, you see growth in Nicodemus. You see consistency growing. You see hypocrisy receding. What he did privately becomes public. And that's good. And so what Jesus is producing when he comes to these crowds and to his disciples, he says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, the hypocrisy. What he's saying to them is, you may not be hypocrites like them. You may not say one thing and do another. Choose this day whom you'll serve, them or me. Don't pay me lip service and wash your hands at their dinners. That's the sort of thing that the people are thinking. He goes on after telling them, that the Pharisees are hypocrites. He says, there's nothing that is covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known. Well, what he's doing is trading on what hypocrisy hypocrites bank on. What do hypocrites bank on? They bank on being able to keep their private life private and their public life public. They bank on being able to keep them separate.

What happens to people now when they have jobs and they have Facebook and they have Instagram and they have Snapchat and all this other stuff that they communicate on? What happens with their work when they put stupid, wicked things up there? They get in trouble. I remember saying to a guy one time, he was looking for a job and he finally found a job and then he was complaining about his new job online. And I said, hey buddy, if you like your job, you should shut your mouth. You can't do that. Like, do you think they're not going to look and see? Everything that's hidden, everything that's done in the dark, everything that's done in the corner is going to be revealed. And that's Jesus warning to them against becoming like the hypocrites, the Pharisees, because what the Pharisees did privately, he says, you guys are like whitewashed tombs, but inside you're full of dead men's bones. And what he's saying is, You guys, when everyone's looking, whitewashed tombs, beautiful, clean cup on the outside, but inside you guys are full of all kinds of filth and rottenness. You guys don't do what you tell other people to do. And so he warns them and he says, those things that are done in private, that are done in secret, that are done in the dark, they're not going to stay there. They're going to be proclaimed from the rooftops. This idea that we have private lives, there's some truth to it, but in large part, we lie to ourselves.

We lie to ourselves. It's good for us to be known. It's good for people to know who we really are and what we're really about. But a hypocrite can't stand that. They can't abide that. They get their kicks out of playing the game, telling these people but not those people and spinning it this way with them. We're a group of hypocrites, so we can all talk about the wickedness together, but we make sure none of us ever breaks rank and goes and tells somebody who might actually care about the wickedness that we're doing. and say, that's not okay. Now, why does Jesus say that to them? Well, he says that to them because he understands the disciples, and he understands that what he just said is going to cause them to fear. Have you ever been with someone and had them say something, and you go, oh, we're in for it now. They went and did it. They went and said it. They said what we were all thinking, or they said what we all knew was true, but weren't saying. They said it. Now we're strapped into the roller coaster, and here we go. We're scared.

And so Jesus anticipates their fear. He comes out and he says, the people that you love, the people that you follow, they're hypocrites. Okay? Enter conflict. Enter the problem. Enter fear. And he tells them, don't be afraid. Whatever you do in private is going to be exposed. Don't you follow in their hypocrisy in your own life because you're afraid. Because what you do in your private life will be revealed. It will be known in time. Don't be afraid. to say publicly what you say privately. This is one of the principles that I try to live by. I do fail at it. But I do try not to say anything about people that I wouldn't say if they were standing right there. And a lot of problems would be avoided if you would live by that principle. If you wouldn't say it to their face, and I mean actually say it with the tone and the body language and the actual words, not the essence.

But I mean the actual way you say it. If you wouldn't say that to their face, shut your mouth. Because you're being a hypocrite. You will not say it. If you will not say it to their face, don't say it in private. If you've got something to say, you should be willing to say it publicly. You should be willing to look them in the eye and say, you know what, I think you're lazy, or I think you're a liar, or I think you're a hypocrite, or I think whatever you think. If you won't say it to their face, don't say it in private. That's hypocrisy.

There shouldn't be this great divide between our public life and our private life. The other thing that Jesus is doing by saying this to them publicly is he's saying, follow my example. I'm not afraid of them. I'm not giving in to fear. I'm not giving in to hypocrisy. Which is not to say that he wasn't tempted to. When we read in Hebrews that it says that he was tempted and he sympathizes with our weaknesses and is tempted in all things such as we are. I have to ask you, do you believe that he actually understands your temptations? And not only does he understand your temptations, do you believe that he faced your temptations? He doesn't just have some sort of theoretical understanding that you're a sinner and that you have things going on. No, he understands what it's like. He took on our flesh. He was like us. Jesus Christ was like us.

He faced all of our temptations, and he can sympathize with our weaknesses. And so when you get into a situation where you go, I'm terrified, scared to death, you should be comforted to know that Jesus faced that same temptation. And you should be strengthened to know that he didn't give in to it. And therefore, you don't have to either. You don't have to be a hypocrite. You can be honest. You can be forthright. You can say publicly what you say privately. You don't have to be a private Christian. You don't have to be a silent Christian. You don't have to hold your personal convictions under a basket. You can be honest. And here Jesus sets an example of honesty. What he said privately, he is willing to say publicly. And it's because he doesn't fear them. Then he turns to the crowds and he says, I say to you, my friends. So he's gone from talking to his disciples. Now he opens up and he talks to the crowd. And what does he say to them?

They're hearing all of this stuff, right? They're hearing, you just called the Pharisees hypocrites. What do the Pharisees do to people who cross them? Yeah, they throw them out of the synagogue. They ostracize them. And if you push them hard enough, they kill them. What did they do to the prophets? What did Jesus say to the Pharisees and to the lawyers about how they treated the prophets? You killed them. The people wouldn't have been crazy to understand what you're saying, Jesus, is going to get you killed. And if we say it, it's going to get us killed. We are in fear of our lives. That's how bright the line that he's drawing in the sand is. It's a matter of life and death, and they are scared. And who are they scared of? They're scared of the Pharisees. Why? Because the Pharisees can kill them. So he turns to the crowds and he says, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

Don't be afraid of them. But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear the one whom after he is killed has authority to cast into hell. Yes, fear him. It's as if the people were scared enough and scandalized, put on their heels by what Jesus says about the Pharisees. And then he turns to them and it's like he doubles down and he says, don't you fear them. Don't you be afraid of them. But notice that he doesn't tell them, don't be afraid of anything. He didn't say, you have nothing to fear except fear itself. That's not what he says. He says, no, I will warn you who to fear. Every one of us. One of the things we learn from this is that every one of us has fear. And you know what's true about fear? It's a really good motivator. It's an incredible thing. It'll make you do things that you've never thought you could do. I've got this really funny example in my head. When I used to work for this tree company,

I was working over this house, big house, and removing this big, big oak limb. And slate roof, skylights, copper gutters, really fancy stuff, okay? And I'm up over the top of this house removing this big limb that's just hanging out over there because they don't want to fall and break all this stuff. And so my job is don't break the house when you take the limb off, right? And there's no way to rig this thing down. So it's basically I have to cut these pieces. put a strap around and hold onto the strap, cut it, grab the piece, and then throw it out in the backyard. And all this while I'm standing up on a branch, 60 feet up in the air and the wind and everything else going on. This is what I used to do for a living. And so I've got this sling around the log, this piece of wood that big, probably 40, 50 pounds. And I've got a hold of it. And I make the cut. Well, the piece broke before I was ready. Normally, I'd make the cut.

put my chainsaw away, and then break the piece and throw it. Well, that's not what happened. What happened was I'm still holding the chainsaw and the piece breaks, and I've got a hold of the chainsaw and the sling in my hand. And we've got a log that if it falls, it's going to break the roof, and it's going to tear up everything it hits. And so I'm cutting, and I'm left-handed, so I've got my left hand on it, and the piece is over here, and the thing twists me like this. And what I want to do is just let go. The chainsaw is attached to me. If I drop it, it'll just...

I have a rope. It'll catch it. But if I drop the sling, it's going to land on the slate roof. So what are you to do? Why is it even a big deal? Well, the reason it's a big deal is that if you get twisted across like this and your left arm gets pulled really, really hard, you know what happens? You get a really bad cramp. Very painful cramp. Debilitating cramp in your chest. It hurts really bad. So what do you want to do? You want to drop the log. I wanted to drop that log more than anything in the world. But you know what? I didn't. And you know why? Because I was afraid of breaking the house. Fear is a great motivator. That's a silly example. But my chest hurt for weeks. It hurt bad. And I thought, when something happens and you get scared, it's like things happen really fast, but it's almost as though they happen really slowly. And it's almost like you're observing what's going on. And so I'm observing.

what's going on and deciding, should I drop it? Shouldn't I drop it? Don't drop it. If you drop it, this is going to happen. And all this stuff's running through my head in the split second of the pain. And I thought, you can't hold on to this thing. You're going to drop it. Oh no. And then I went, you can't drop it. And I didn't. Why? Because I was afraid. I was afraid of what would happen to the house. I was afraid of what would happen to my job. I was afraid of what would happen to my pay. I was afraid of all kinds of stuff. And I went through a lot of pain. And I actually, it doesn't sound significant to you, but if you were there, you would have understood.

I didn't think I could do it, but I did it. Because I was afraid. Fear is a good motivator. And so Jesus comes to them and he says, don't be afraid of those who can kill your body. Because that's what they're afraid of. Don't be afraid of them. Because what they demand of you and what God demands of you are different. You can't please both of them. You can only fear one of them. And so he says, don't fear the man who can kill your body and do no more. Fear the one who, after killing your body, can cast you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Fear is a good motivator. And one of the things that is lost in our society is the fear of the Lord. We don't fear God. We're not afraid of offending him, of sinning against him. We presume upon his grace and his kindness and his patience and his forbearance.

We don't fear him. Is it possible to tell your children not to do something even if their friends are doing it? Yeah. What is it that keeps your children from going along with the crowd when everyone else is doing it? It's fear. It's fear. They're afraid of the consequences that they will receive from their father. You know, it's like, they go to do something, the whole crowd's going, and it's like, it catches them. Nope, I was told, I learned, I was told. That's bad. Bad things happen if I do that. No. I'm afraid of those bad things happening. It's a good motivator. I don't want the discipline. So what Jesus has to say to the crowds comes off as a... When I'm reading it and I'm thinking, okay, I'm not Jesus anymore. Now I'm in the crowds and I'm scared. You're telling me, if I align myself with you, my life will be in danger. And then you come right after that and you tell me, don't be afraid about that. Don't fear that.

I feel like I'm being ground into the ground. I feel worthless, insignificant. I don't matter. My life doesn't matter. That's one of the things, if you get down into the recesses and the depths of your heart and your soul, that's what you'll feel like. When Jesus tells you, don't be a hypocrite and don't fear the people who can kill you, you go, I must be expendable. I must not be that important, that valuable. I don't feel like, this doesn't feel like something a father would say to a son. This feels like something a cruel taskmaster would say to his slave. So Jesus then says to him, are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And you're left going, what is the connection between, okay, you just told me not to be afraid of those who can kill my body, but to fear God who can cast me into hell. And now you're talking about birds, cheap birds. I don't get the connection.

What Jesus is doing is he's anticipating what goes on inside of us when we hear what he has to say. At the beginning, he anticipated the disciples' fear. And he says, don't be afraid because what's done in the dark will be seen in the light. Don't be a hypocrite. And then he comes down here and he starts talking about birds because they feel worthless. I'm expendable. We're not important to you. And he says, they're not five sparrows sold for two cents, yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows. It's directly related to what he's just said to them. He's dispelling this notion that they have that they're worthless to God, that he doesn't care about them, that they're just these little pawns in his grand scheme of things to be wasted in the furtherment of his kingdom.

He says, no, you know those little birds, those little sparrows, those little tiny insignificant things? Not one of them dies without God knowing it and remembering it. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Now, why is that significant to say, well, all the hairs of your head are numbered? Well, for some of us, that wouldn't be so hard to do as for others. You know, to number the hair, I think of you, Jamie. But for some of us, you know, what does it communicate if someone wanted to count the hairs on your head? Well, what do you know about that? Would it take a long time? Yeah. If you want perspective, have you ever used a lice comb? You ever had to comb someone's hair for lice? You know how long it takes to comb someone who has a lot of hair for lice? Little tiny bits of hair, stripping off the little things, takes a long time, hours. And you're not even counting the hairs, you're just making sure you get every one of them in the little comb. It's really time consuming.

And so one of the things that's hard to do is if you've ever known anyone who's had to go through that, they don't want to ask anybody to comb their hair, in part because lices are embarrassing, and in part because it takes so long. And they don't want to burden people with that amount of inconvenience. And yet God knows how many hairs are on your head. He cares more about you. You're more valuable to him than the sparrows. He made you. He's created you. And he knows just exactly how many hairs are on your head. And when they fall out, he knows. And he keeps track of. And so you're not worthless to him. You're not insignificant. You're not expendable. We'll just replace you. Next man up sort of mentality. That's not God's disposition towards us as children. We're far more valuable than many sparrows. He's intimately involved in knowing us.

And that's meant to be a comfort to us because these people are scared to death. They're scared of what's going to happen. If we do what you say, we're going to die. And he says, don't you be afraid of dying. Don't you be afraid of it. What I want to say to you and to me is, don't you be afraid of what people might think of you. Don't you be afraid of the look they might give you. It's not anywhere near as intense or permanent as death, and yet we're paralyzed by it. We're paralyzed by what people will think if we say what God says. And I want to say to you, don't you fear man. Don't you be afraid of what they can say. Don't you be afraid of what they can do. You will fear. Fear God. Fear God. He knows you. He knows you intimately. And you're valuable to him. So fear him.

Jesus goes on and he says, What he's saying is that those who fight hypocrisy, those who are honest, forthright, consistent in their love for God, both private and publicly, they will be blessed. Jesus will be pleased to confess you before the heavenly throne. He'll be glad to do it. Because you professed him, you confessed him before men. You didn't fear them, you feared God. And we say, that's good. And I say, and then he also says, he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. What he's saying is those who fear man, who don't fear me, those whose public lives is not consistent with their private lives, that's what it means to deny him, that's what it means to be a hypocrite, to be ruled by fear. Those who are ruled by it, those who give themselves to it, those who don't fight it.

I'll deny them before the heavenly host. And you see that he's just said to them, don't fear the one who can kill your body. Fear the one who can kill you and after that can throw you into hell. And he's saying, those who deny me are doing it because they don't fear me. And the consequence of them not fearing God is eternal destruction. That's how significant the fear of the Lord is. And it will lead you to be tempted to deny him. And say, well, I believe that. Personally, I believe that. I personally would never do that. I do think that's wrong. And I say, that doesn't matter. You're not here to have personal beliefs. You're not here to be quiet. You're not here to present well at church and to be wicked when you leave here. God didn't make you to be a hypocrite. He made you to be his child. He made you to honor him in private and in public.

Then he comes to the consequence of it all. When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, don't worry about what you'll say or how you'll speak in your defense. Now, you have to ask, what did they do to get there? Did they just randomly get arrested and drug in front of the police? Did you just randomly get hauled in before the powers that be? No. What happened? They confessed Jesus Christ. They were not hypocrites. They were honest. They confessed Jesus Christ. And the world, like the Pharisees, hate him. And they want to silence those who love him. You're not allowed to say that. You can't say that. You can believe that privately, but you can't say that publicly. Says who? Says you? That's what Peter went through in Acts 5 when he's preaching and teaching and he gets himself locked up in prison. And then the angel comes and lets him out at night and says, go back and go teach and go preach.

And he goes back and he teaches and he preaches. And the powers that be, they go and get him and they bring him in. Didn't we tell you not to speak in his name? And he says, we have to obey God rather than men. And you could swap the word obey out for fear. You tried to intimidate us, but we're not intimidated by you. We're not afraid of you. We are afraid of the God of heaven and earth. He's the one that we serve. He's the one that we obey. And when you tell us to do something that he told us to do, we will not do what you say. That's the opposite of hypocrisy. That's a sincere Christian, one who fears God and obeys God in the face of opposition, who's ready in season as well as out of season to serve their God. So Jesus says to them, don't worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense. Don't be intimidated.

When you get hauled up in front of the people who can do you harm and upboil your life and make things difficult for you, don't be afraid. Don't worry about it. And he doesn't say don't worry about it because it's not important. He says don't worry about it. Instead, trust me. The Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Have you gotten into situations where you feel like you're in the deep end and you don't know what's going to happen next and you don't know what to do and you can't get to the edge and you're in it? You're making it up as you go.

You didn't have time to think about that conversation or that accusation or that sort of thing before it happened. All of a sudden it's thrust upon you and here it is. What are you going to do? It's terrifying. It's absolutely terrifying. Jesus understands that. That's why he tells you, don't worry about what you'll say or speak in your defense. The Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what to say. He'll provide the grace that you need and the faith that you need when you need it. So don't fear man. Don't fear what they can do to you. Don't fear what they'll think of you or say about you. Don't fear what they'll take away from you. Don't fear them. Don't be a hypocrite. Fear God. Keep his commandments. Serve him humbly. And when that gets you into the crosshairs of those who hate God, rejoice. Rejoice. It's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing for it to be hated or to be slandered or to be fired for loving Jesus Christ.

That's not a bad thing. No one's going to go, what'd you do that for? Don't be afraid of men. Don't be afraid of your children. You know how many parents are afraid of what their children think of them? Afraid of what their children will say? Afraid of what their children will do if they don't play the game with their kids? Don't be a hypocritical parent. Do what's best for your child. Expect them to serve Jesus Christ. Expect them to. And tell them you expect them. them to and demonstrate to them what it looks like. Show them what you want them to do. Let them observe you doing it. When you tell them, you need to be obedient to your teacher. You need to be obedient to your mother. You need to have self-control. As you say those things, demonstrate those things. That's what Jesus is doing here. Do not fear man. I was just in their house, guys. I was just in the belly of the beast.

And out of love and fear for my Father, I spoke. You do the same. The last thing I want you to realize is that Jesus doesn't remove the fear of man. He doesn't remove those who could destroy you, who could do you harm. It would be nice if that's what he did, wouldn't it? If the people that could do us harm and the people who could kill us, if he would just take those people away, it would be a lot easier to serve God. But in his wisdom, God's chosen for this time not to remove them who can do wickedness. And so Paul, in our scripture lesson, he says, pray for us. That we'll be faithful, that the word will spread, that God will do his thing, that he will be glorified, and that he'll stop those wicked, perverse men who don't have faith. God doesn't have to remove the difficulty for you to face it. He's glorified as you face the trials that will face you as a Christian by faith.

If he has to remove every difficulty, he's not glorified. He's glorified when you serve him in the face of opposition. He's glorified when you young man, you young woman, when you're around friends who are being vulgar, you say no. You would not say that. If your parents were here, you would not say that. If you were at church, you would not say that. If anyone except we heard what you were saying, you wouldn't say it. So don't say it now. I don't want to hear it. That would be a good thing. to be said. What happens if you say that? What happens if a friend goes to his friends and rebukes them and says, don't you say that anymore and don't you do that? Well, they get made fun of and they get ostracized and everything else, but the friends don't stop. They just start making fun of them. Then the man doubles down and he says, I told you if you don't stop and you're not listening to me, I'm going to go tell the people that you don't want to know. Tattletail, traitor.

I'm only telling you about a situation I know of. I was very encouraged by the young man who did that, who wouldn't have his friends do that stuff. And when they wouldn't go say what they had done, he went and said what they had done. He loved them. He was honest. He was faithful. And you know what happened when I found out what his friends did and we went and confronted his friends? They said he was right. He did what we should have done. Because all of them were in league in the sin. It wasn't like Joe found out about what Bill and Tom did. No, Joe did it with Bill and Tom. And then he said, no, we shouldn't have done that. And they said, shut up, man. Don't talk about it. We did that in private. No one knows. And he said, no, it's not okay. And he went and told. And God blessed him for it. Just follow his example. He wasn't afraid of man. In that moment, that man feared God and loved God more than he feared man.

And God was glorified in the midst of it. And so you follow his example. You follow Jesus' example. You fear God. You don't fear man. We were made to glorify God. And he's glorified when we're honest. He's not glorified when we're hypocrites. So be honest about who you are. Be honest about what you know. Be honest about what you've done. Be honest about what you need help with. Don't hide. It won't stay hidden. Let's pray. Father, would you... Make us an honest, humble people. Would you help us to fight against the hypocrisy that comes from fear? Fear of what men will think, fear of what men will say, what they'll do. Father, would you help us to fear you, to turn away from wickedness and pursue righteousness? Father, I pray that what we do in private would not be hidden, that you wouldn't allow it to continue to be in the dark, but that you would expose it.

That you would cast light onto it. For your glory and for our good, we pray, Father, that you would not allow us to be hypocrites. Strengthen us, Father, to reveal out of our fear for you who we are so that we can repent and we can live lives that please you and that glorify you. You've made us and you've saved us, Father. Make us faithful sons. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.