How to Cure Hypocrisy, Part 1

Thank you, Lauren and Karen. One of the highlights of our Israel trip this year was Lauren on the violin, whether it was at our sunrise service or in the Garden of Gethsemane or the Garden Tomb, or even at St. Anne's Church right outside the pools of Bethesda where everything echoes within the church. It was just a special time for us to have him play while we were there in the Land of Israel. It was really unique. We praised the Lord for his ministry, his willingness to carry that violin around with him all day until he could play for one spot that the pastor had asked him to play for, and we praised the Lord for that, and it was a great and wonderful time.

A number of years ago, I made a promise to someone that I always intended to keep, and that was, as long as I can stand, I'll preach. If I can't stand, well, I won't be here to preach. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't stand, so I wasn't here. Today, I can, so I am here. In spite of all the things I went through this morning before I got here, I am here. We have a backup plan in case I don't make it through the sermon this morning. It's okay. Don't worry about it. We have a good backup plan, but I feel a responsibility to discharge my ministry as a Israel or someplace else or sick.

I don't like to miss a Sunday. I want to be here on Sundays to preach because this is the church that God has called me to oversee and to pastor, and so I want to be here, and as often as I am sick throughout the last 16 and a half years, I got a great privilege to come and be able to open God's Word with you. In fact, years ago, Mary Ellen West made a promise to me. She goes, look, if you're vomiting, I'll just carry a bucket and then vomit into the bucket, and I'll go rinse it out. You just keep on preaching, and do you have your bucket, Mary Ellen?

Your purse is big enough. That'll work, so we're good to go, and I just praise the Lord for the opportunity to teach God's Holy Word. We're in the Gospel of Luke. I know we haven't been there for a while, but we are there today, so if you have your Bible, open up with me to Luke chapter 12. We have slowly but surely gone through each of these verses in the first 11 chapters, and we will do the same for the remaining chapters of the Gospel of Luke.

We are on a schedule to finish the Gospel of Luke in about 12 years, not 12 years from now, but 12 years total. That's the plan. I didn't necessarily plan it that way. That's just the way it's probably going to be by looking at the first 11 chapters and how long it took us to get through them and where we are in chapter 12, verse number 1, but we do that specifically because we are to preach the whole counsel of God.

That's what Paul said to those in Ephesus in Acts chapter 20. Not to leave anything out. We don't want to do that, and believe it or not, we'll go through a chapter, go through a paragraph, and we'll leave a lot of things out just because if we spent all the time we possibly could in that one particular chapter, we'd be there forever. It's like the pastor who went to a church and began in the book of Ezekiel, and he was there 28 years, and after 28 years, he died in Ezekiel chapter 6. So, you know, please, I'm not that slow.

I'm slow, but I'm not that slow, and so maybe that's why that guy died. He needed to move on. I don't know, but we're going to go through this thing because we need to understand the life and ministry of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Gospels are the best way to understand that, and as we go through the Gospels, we're able to see the greatness of his character, the beauty, the beauty of his life, the grace that he bestowed, the love that he gives, the forgiveness that he offers, the great power he displays.

He is a great God. He is a mighty God, and we had the privilege of having our eyes opened to be able to see him for who he is. While we were in Israel, we were reminded of the blindness of the nation, how blind they are to the obvious, and how blessed we are to be able to have our eyes open to see the truth of the revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord, and so we are a blessed people, and you'd think that as a blessed people, knowing that God has given us his Word, we would love to be in that Word all the time, listening to what God has to say for us, following through on what he has to say, because he is the living God who's given us his living Word that pertains to all things when it comes to life and when it comes to godliness.

We find ourselves in Luke chapter 12. Let me read to you the first seven verses because I think that's about as far as we're going to get today.

We might not get that far, but we'll see. Luke 12 verse number one, under these circumstances, after so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, he began saying to his disciples, first of all, beware of the eleven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, but 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 shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. And 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 is killed has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And 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 value than many sparrows. The background to chapter 11 is crucial. We have been out of Luke for a number of weeks and it's always important to understand context because it helps you understand how to look at the text and interpret the text.

And so when you come to Luke chapter 12, you must be reminded of Luke 11 and how it is our Lord confronted the hypocrisy of his day. Your false religion is hypocritical at its base, at its nature. It does not speak the truth. False religion cannot lead you to God. It just can't. False religion does not offer forgiveness of sins. It can't. A false religion does not allow you to understand how to truly please and honor the Lord God. False religion is that which does not lead to heaven. False religion cannot provide redemption.

It just cannot. Well, our Lord, when he came to earth, he came to preach the truth. And false religion is filled with deception. It's filled with lies. And Christ, when he came to Israel, they were apostate. They had defected from the truth. And he being the truth incarnate, our Lord would speak the truth, would live the truth, and anybody committed to the error of his way would soon learn to hate that which was true. And that's exactly what happens in the life of our Lord. I mean, at this point, Jesus had had a ministry in Galilee.

He is now in Judea. And his whole ministry had been solidified by all of his messianic credentials. When he'd gone from place to place healing and doing all kinds of marvelous deeds for people, and they were able to see the power of his ministry. And in spite of all of the power that they had seen, they held tightly to their self-righteous lifestyle, their ceremonies, their traditions, their hypocrisy. So tightly did they hold to them that they came to a place in Luke 11 that they said, you know, what you do simply is of Satan.

It's not of God. That was the verdict of the religious establishment. And they had found a way to infiltrate the people and to convince them that everything Jesus did was of Satan. And they bought the party line. He does what he does by the power of Beelzebul, the Lord of the flies. Really? Yeah. Wow. So that's how he has all this supernatural power. Yeah. It's from below. It's not from above. And that was the party line. That was their verdict. That was their conclusion. And so in Luke 11, verse number 29, he called them a wicked generation.

This was the chosen people of God, the nation of Israel. He calls them a wicked generation. And he told them that a wicked generation, they seek a sign. They want a sign as if they had not seen enough. But he knew their hearts. They weren't really interested in seeing another sign because there would be no sign powerful enough to convince blinded people to the truth. And yet he said there would be one more sign and that would be the sign of Jonah, sign of the death and resurrection of the Messiah.

That would be the last sign that he would give a wicked generation. His resurrection would be that final sign. And so when you come to chapter 11, things have reached a high point, an apex, if you would, of their view on the Messiah. And when you come to verse number 37, he's invited to lunch. And so he goes to lunch with a Pharisee because the Pharisees and scribes had perpetrated this lie about the Lord Jesus. And he pronounced a curse upon their religious system, six woes, six curses that denounce their religiosity because their morality was more damning than anyone's immorality.

We forget that religion has built within it a damning mechanism because of the morality of their lifestyle. They perceive themselves to be good. And there was a strong delusion they had of themselves that became an illusion in their minds that before God, they were right. They were good. Everything was okay because they did this, and they did that, and they went here, and they went here, and they fed this one, and fed that one, and they did the good things, and they kept the law, and false religion, hypocritical religion, listen carefully, always leaves you feeling good.

Did you know that? You go to church, and you leave church feeling good, you're involved in a church that's preaching a hypocritical religion, not the true religion of Jesus Christ. Now, I know that's a harsh statement. Some of you probably thinking, oh, that's just Lance Dunn's high horse. He's not, he doesn't really mean that. Yeah, yeah, if I said it, I mean it. Because you see, people want to feel good about their destiny. They want to feel comfortable about the future. If you can make them feel good that everything's okay, just do this, and do that, and everything will be okay.

And this is where Israel was. They were comfortable in their religiosity. And their morality would be more damning than one's immorality. And that's why Jesus said, I didn't come to call the righteous to repentance. I came to call the sinner to repentance. Somebody who knows that he is far from God. Somebody who knows that he's wretched. Somebody who knows that he cannot meet God's standards. That's why the Lord had a lot more in common with the prostitute, the tax gatherer, and the murderers than he ever did with the religious people of his day.

Sounds kind of shocking, doesn't it? But he came to call sinners to repentance. And yet this religion of Judaism would give people a sense of morality, that everything was okay. Do this, you're going to make it. But if you preach the Word of God, the truth of God, like Larry read this morning in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah was a man of God. Isaiah was a prophet of God. But when the Word of God came, what was his first response?

It wasn't, I feel good about myself. I feel good about being a prophet. I feel good about being a representative of God. I feel good about seeing God. No, no, no, no. When you see God, you never feel good. You never feel good. You can't. He is holy. We're unholy. He is perfect. We're imperfect. He is righteous. We are unrighteous. Yes, we have been clothed in his righteousness. Yes, we have been saved from our sin, but still he is the perfect holiness. And when we come face to face with the living God, when we open his Word, when we with all behold with unveiled face, as Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 3 verse number 18, behold within a mirror, the glory of the Lord, we are being changed from one level of glory even to the next level of glory, even as by the Spirit of God, we're being changed.

But never one time do we look at it and say, yeah, I feel good about that. Because we can't. We fall so far short of the glory of God. And yet there's that burden, there's that desire to want to please God. Isaiah had that. He wanted to minister for the Lord. He didn't say, who shall I send? Isaiah didn't say, oh, oh, oh, oh, send me, send me, send me. He didn't do that. No, that wasn't his attitude. He wasn't like, I'm the man, send me, I can go, I can do this thing. It was, if there's nobody else, I guess you can send me.

Because there wasn't anybody else. And God would choose them and use them in a great and mighty way. He was a prophet of God, a spokesperson for God. But when he heard God, the Word of God, when he saw God, he never ever felt good about himself. So that should tell you something about the church you attend. If you go to church, you feel good about yourself, you're in a hypocritical church, a hypocritical church that preaches a religion that's not the true religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some might say, well, how can that possibly be?

I mean, the Lord loves us. He saved us. He's graced us. He's given us so much. Yeah, but there's this overwhelming sense of fear for God, fear of God. There is. And the unbeliever didn't have that fear, right? Romans 3 tells us that for the unbeliever, there is no fear of God before their eyes. Only the believer has the fear of God. And that fear is coupled with the overwhelming sense of the holiness of God, the beauty of God. And if you don't preach the truth of God, you're never going to get that sense of his beauty, his character, his glory, so that you'll be able to tremble before him.

That's why God says, how many times have I quoted Isaiah 66, verse number two, to this man, but I look to him who's broken and of a contrite heart and who trembles at my word.

The Lord God says, that's the guy I look to. I don't look to a guy who says, hey, hey, all right, Jesus, whatever you want to do today, let's do it. I don't look to him. He was broken and of a contrite heart who shakes uncontrollably under the authority of my word. That's my man. That's my man. That's my woman. That's the one I want to use. Our Lord came to Israel, a nation filled with people entrenched in their morality that made them feel good about what they were doing. And the Lord came and preached the truth, confronted their sin, and they hated him because of it.

And Luke 11 is the apex of that, the high point of that, the place you come to where it says, you know what, you do what you do because you're of Satan. And the Lord called them a wicked generation. He pronounced a curse upon these Pharisees and their religious system. And he condemned them because of their morality. He condemned them because they felt good about themselves. He condemned them because what they were teaching the people was so wrong that he had to confront it head on. And he did with strength and power.

Isn't it interesting that, you know, when John the Baptist came on the scene, that there were many coming down from Jerusalem into the Judean wilderness to be baptized because he was proclaiming the gospel that would lead to the arrival of the Messiah. Well, every Jew was longing for the arrival of the Messiah, right? Messiah comes, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And he begins to preach, telling people, I am he, I am the Messiah. And at the beginning of the ministry, everybody was kind of excited about what was happening.

And it's not that they weren't excited now. It's just that now they come to a place where, wait a minute, what he says, what he says is so offensive to our religious style. What he says is so, so against what we have known for all these years. And we've told you this before. We'll tell you it again. That simply when someone comes and preaches the truth to those who have lived in untruth for so long, they think the truth is untruth. Is that not true? He comes and preaches the truth. This guy, man, he's off his rocker.

You got to be kidding me. I appreciate the miracles, appreciate the healing, appreciate the fact that I can see. But what he says, I mean, that's just so way out there compared to what our rabbis have taught us. The Pharisees have led us. Scribes have told us. So Jesus comes in Luke chapter 12, and his tone is very judgmental. And it will be from here on out. It's very condemnatory. Oh, there will be some who will be saved throughout the remaining portion of the gospel of Luke, just not very many.

But the message he preaches is one of judgment. In fact, in this one, I mean, this in Luke chapter 12, verse number one, goes all the way to chapter 13, verse number nine.

That's one discourse by our Lord. And from Luke 12, one to chapter 13, verse number nine, there are some intervals and interruptions. Peter interrupts him once, and another man in the crowd interrupts him and asks a question. But for the most part, it's just one long discourse by our Lord. And the Lord says in verse number 19 of Luke 12, these words. Verse 20, God said to him, you fool, this very night your soul is required of you. And now who will own what you have prepared? And then over in verse number 35, Jesus says, be ready, be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps alight.

Why? Verse 40, you too be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. Verse 46, the master of the slave will come on a day when he does not expect him. At an hour, he does not know, and he will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. Then in chapter 13, verse number five, I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Then verse number nine of chapter 13, and if it bears fruit next year, fine, but if not, speak of the fig tree, cut it down.

Everything that our Lord is leading up to is the judgment of God upon unbelieving men, specifically those who are committed to a moral lifestyle, a religious lifestyle, because it's all hypocritical. And so what we want to do is we want to cover with you the introduction to Luke chapter 12, that's in verse number one, and then give you the instruction that Jesus gives to those he's speaking to.

That's what we're going to do over the next three weeks, this week and the two weeks afterwards, because there needs to be a cure for hypocrisy. How is that cure spoken of? How does our Lord reveal to us how it is we are to cure a hypocritical kind of spirit, something that's, according to our Lord, is cursed greatly. We need to know that, the world needs to know that, and this is the Lord's cure for hypocrisy. Here's the introduction, chapter 12, verse number one.

Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of the multitude gathered together, they were stepping on one another. Can you imagine that? Now remember, there's nothing that draws the crowd better than a controversy, nothing better than a conflict to draw a crowd, and the Lord has just been involved in a great controversy. Under these circumstances, the text says, at the same time of Luke 11, when he was having lunch with the Pharisee and the scribe, there was a crowd gathering, a huge crowd gathering.

It says, so many thousands. Now in the Greek, the highest number is 10,000. So this is in the plural, myriadon, which speaks of the plural of myriads, which tells you that there's more than just 10,000. There is multiples of 10,000. Okay, that's a lot of people. I don't care where you're at, whether it's 20,000, 30,000, 40,000, 50,000, we don't know. It's the plural of 10,000. That's a lot of people, and the crowd is so big that they're stepping on one another. Of course they are, because they have to hear.

There's not a microphone system. Christ didn't have a megaphone he could speak through and talk to everybody with. Because there's no sound system, you have to get close to the source, and to get there, they're trying to fight to get to a place where they can hear the words of Jesus. Wow, it's a lot of people, multiples of 10,000. Wow, so many people that they were stepping on one another. The conflict was great. The controversy was heightened, and people like a good controversy. It fuels the fire, and they were there.

And so they would come, and it says that they were stepping on one another. He began saying to his disciples, first of all, now listen carefully, we told you throughout the book of Luke, there are four categories of disciples.

They're all learners. They're all followers. Okay, some of them are counterfeits. How do we know that? Judas was a disciple. He was a counterfeit, right? There were the counterfeit followers. There were the casual followers. That is, they just were kind of following along, and listening to what Jesus was saying, because they liked the show. The greatest show on earth was in Israel at that time, and they loved the show. So they were just the casual followers. And then there were the curious followers, that they were a little bit more intrigued by the words of the Lord, and what he was saying, and they were really curious to know who he was, and what he was doing.

And then there was the committed followers, okay? So please understand that when you read about the disciples in Luke's Gospel. Unless he defines it as the 12, it includes the counterfeit, the casual, the curious, and the committed. And here is our Lord looking at his disciples as followers, not all of the myriad of thousands that were there, the plural of 10,000, not all of them were true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he speaks to those curious ones, those casual ones, because he wants them to make a commitment.

He wants them to follow him. He wants them to be among the committed. And so he talks to them, because he wants them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. That's what he says. He says, I want you to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Now listen carefully. Leaven is neutral. Whether it's good or bad depends on the context in which it's used, because the kingdom of God is like leaven, right? That's good, not bad, it's good. It speaks of the permeating influence of leaven.

You take a loaf of fermented dough and you put it in unleavened bread, and that piece of leaven begins to permeate that dough and cause it to rise. And so Christ says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.

He would say also in other texts, beware of the leaven of the Sadducees. He also said, beware of the leaven of Herod. Interesting. When it comes to the Pharisees, it's the evil of fundamentalism, a works-based salvation. It deals with legalism. Beware of that permeating influence of legalism, fundamentalism, when it comes to the Pharisees. When he said in Mark's gospel, beware of the leaven of Herod, he was speaking of the evil of secularism and political ambition. And when he talks about the leaven of the Sadducees, he's speaking of the permeating influence of humanism, of rationalism, of liberalism.

Christ would send the warnings out, beware. Beware of the negative influence, the permeating influence of those who take you down a, listen carefully, a moral path. It looks good, but it will damn your soul more than anything else. So beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Remember 1 Corinthians 15, 33, it says, bad company corrupts good morals. Have you ever asked yourself why bad company corrupts good morals? Well, you must understand the word company because at its root is the word homily, which speaks of a conversation, communication, a lecture, or a sermon.

Why is bad company so detrimental? Not because of who they are, but because of what they say. See that? Because of what they say. You should never go to a place that says something contrary to the truth of God's word, never. You should never be involved in a company of people who speak things contrary to the word of God. Why? Bad company corrupts good morals. It's not the presence of that person, it is the conversation of that person that influences you and leads you the wrong way. The Pharisees themselves were, yes, evil people because we're all evil at the core of our being, but he's not talking about being around Pharisee people, he's talking about the conversation of the Pharisees, the teaching of the Pharisees, the teaching of the rabbis, the conversation of the scribes.

It's those things, it's what they say that leads you away from the truth. And that's what our Lord was concerned about. So that's the introduction. So many thousands were gathering as our Lord was at this lunch with the Pharisee and the scribe, pronouncing a curse upon them. And when he left that lunch, it says in verse 53 of chapter 11, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question him closely on many subjects, plotting against him to catch him in something he might say.

And under those circumstances, the crowds began to gather. Isn't it interesting that the longer he went in his ministry, the more hated he was, the bigger the crowds. The controversy, the conflict, it was overwhelming. And so they're gathered together and Christ has this opportunity to teach. And he speaks to his disciples, those who are among the realm of the casual, those who are among the realm of the curious, as well as the committed, because he wants them to beware of the influence and negative permeating influence of the Pharisees.

He tells them several things, I want to give them, give you three of them this morning about how to cure hypocrisy. Number one is this, remember your accountability to God.

Remember your accountability to God. First two, but 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 shall be heard in the light and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. In other words, God's going to uncover everything. He's going to reveal it all. And those who like to live in the realm of hypocrisy do so because they want to fool those who follow them. Well, you can't fool God. And everything that's hidden that you're trying to hide is going to be revealed. Same statement was said in Luke 8, 17, Matthew 10, 26, the same statement was used in Galilee.

Mark 4, 22, the same principle was used because it's based on an Old Testament principle. Ecclesiastes 12, verse number 13, which says, the conclusion when all has been heard is fear God and keep his commandments because this applies to every person for God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. But the Lord is just taking them back to the Old Testament to let them know that you can't hide your sin. You can't hide forever the things you don't want people to see.

It will all be uncovered eventually. Why? Because you're held accountable to God. That's why he says these words, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. Now in Israel, in fact, if you go to Capernaum, you're able to see this pretty well in Peter's house because they would build the home and in that home, there would be an inner room in the middle of that home. And that's where you would go to say things you didn't want everybody else to hear.

I mean, they didn't have houses like we have houses where there are, you know, four or five or six different bedrooms or rooms in the house. There was a one room house is what it was. And then in that one room house that wasn't in a room, you'd hide all your valuables in there. That's where they would be protected. And that's where if you had a conversation with your wife about the children and their misbehavior, you'd go in there and talk to them about it or her about it or him. And whatever you wanted no one else to hear, you go in the inner room and speak and you whisper.

So nobody else in the outer room could hear what you were saying. And the Lord says, you know, those things you whisper in the inner room, everybody's going to hear. It's all going to be revealed. Can't get around it. Why? Because you are accountable to God. And we know that from Revelation chapter 20, right? Revelation chapter 20, the second resurrection, right?

The resurrection of the unsaved dead. They'll be before the great white throne judgment of God. And all the books will be opened. What books? The books that have recorded every act of the unsaved dead. The unsaved dead will be there because they think they had their day in court. They've already died. They have spent their time in Hades, which is a place of torment for the soul. Hell is a place of torment for the soul and the body because there is a second resurrection.

That's the resurrection of the unsaved dead. They will also receive their bodies because hell is constant torment of soul and body forever in hell, separated from God. It's called the lake of fire. Does it mean that Hades is not as bad as hell is, the lake of fire is, but they are still equally bad, except that the lake of fire, the punishment is inflicted upon body and soul, not just the soul. So with the second resurrection, those unsaved souls get now a new body, not a glorified body, but a body.

And they stand before the great white throne judgment. Now they have their day in court. Now they can prove that they were good, that they were moral, that they were right. And the books were opened and every man is judged according to his deeds because he doesn't measure up. The standard is too high and everything they whispered in those inner rooms will be heard. Everything they tried to hide will be seen because that's the way God has designed it. You have thought that throughout all your life, you fool people, but you don't feel God.

Remember your accountability to God. Everybody's accountable to the living God of the universe. And those who are involved in a moral religion will be exposed for who they are, no matter how much they try to hide the truth of their condition. And so therefore to cure hypocrisy, you must remember your accountability to God. And number two, you must recognize that the one you should fear is God alone.

You should recognize that the one you should fear is God alone. Listen to what the Lord says in verse four. And 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. This is an extreme illustration by our Lord. Because hypocrites fear man. They don't fear God. They fear man because they seek the pleasure of man.

If man is not pleased with them, they don't receive what they want to receive, whether it's the accolades or whether it's the money or whatever it is they might receive from those they have fooled. They fear man. They don't fear God. They fear man. All hypocrites fear man over God. They do. They want to please man. And God says, you can't do that.

So he says, look, don't fear the one who can just kill your body, but fear the one who after he kills you, can throw you into hell. That's the one you got to fear. People say, well, then there's no hell today. Really? Well, yeah. If there's no hell today, then what man can do to you is no worse than what God can do to you. Right? You mean to tell me that God can only kill your body? That's it? And after you die, there's nothing else? That's it's over? No, no. It's a part of the man who wants to die after that.

The judgment. There is an eternal life, either with God or without God. And so Christ comes and says very clearly, you know, I know that you've got to be aware of the love of the Pharisees because hypocrisy fears man. It doesn't fear God. You must not fear the one who kills your body because the worst thing anybody can do is kill your body, right? That's the worst thing they can do to you is kill you. But God, once he kills you, can throw your body in hell. That's worse. That's far worse. And so you need to realize that or recognize that the one you should fear is God alone.

You know, the Bible never says you should fear Satan, does he? Does God ever say you should fear Satan? Why didn't the Bible ever say you should fear Satan? Well, if you're an unbeliever, you're a child of Satan. You have your father, the devil, right? So if you're an unbeliever, you're a child of Satan. You don't fear Satan if you're an unbeliever. Okay? Number two, as a believer, you don't fear him.

Why? Because Romans 16 says you've crushed him under your feet. That's why. He's been crushed under your feet. The Bible says resist him and he will what?

Flee. That's it. You ever been a part of those stronghold seminars? Those seminars that deal with spiritual warfare? They talk about casting out demons and all that kind of stuff? Don't go there. Don't go there. Unless you come to the seminar and they say, listen, just resist him. He will flee. Go home. Sorry, you didn't know. Resist him and he will flee. Resist him steadfast in the faith and Satan will run faster than you can ever imagine he runs away. And so Christ doesn't say, you know, fear Satan because really as an unbeliever, you won't fear him because you're his child.

And as a believer, he's already been crushed under your feet, according to Paul in Romans chapter 16. So therefore you are to resist him and he will flee. Instead, you are to fear God. The word fear, here in English word phobia. It's a word that speaks specifically of a clean, overpowering fear. Fear God. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs 29 verse number 25, the fear of man always brings a snare.

It's a trap. The fear of man will always bring a snare. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, the Bible says.

Psalm 64, number one, verse one says, preserve my life from the fear of the enemy. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12, when it's all said and done, the end of man is this, fear God. That's it. Just fear God and keep his commandments. If you fear him, you'll keep his commandments. If you don't fear him, you won't keep his commandments. That's why the book of Proverbs says these words, Proverbs 23, verse number 17, live in the fear of God always. And then over in Proverbs 20, 14, blessed is the man who fears all ways.

Wow. Listen to what he says. I warn you fear the one who after he has killed his, has authority to cast into hell. The word there is Gehenna, Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom. That's important because the Jews would use that word Gehenna to describe the fires of hell. Now you know about the valley. There are two main valleys that center around Jerusalem. One is called the Kidron Valley. The other is the Hinnom Valley. The Old Testament is called Topheth, the place of vomiting. And yet that place became known as a continual burning place.

We know that there would be the worship of false gods there. Children would be burned at the stake or actually burned alive there. In fact, if you go back and you read in the Old Testament, you realize that King Manasseh and King Ahaz both sacrificed their children to the false gods there in the Valley of Hinnom. There was this deep pit that was there, a continual burning that was there. And Jeremiah warned about the destruction that would come there in the Valley of Hinnom. And Josiah, when he became king, he would destroy all those altars that had been erected there in that valley.

And it became the place of the city dump. And there would be that continual burning and smoldering that would take place outside the city of Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom, the Hinnom Valley. And that's why it's called Gehenna. And the Jews refer to Gehenna as the continual burning fires of hell. And they would be right. Because Jesus would use that word Gehenna to talk about a place where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Why? Because during the sufferings of the mothers whose children were burned there in the Valley of Hinnom, there was a continual weeping and screaming and gnashing of teeth of the mothers whose children were being burned there.

He would use that to describe the weeping and gnashing of teeth in the fires of Gehenna, the fires of hell. It's a place of utter darkness. It's a place of called the blackness of darkness. I mean, darkness is bad enough, but the blackness of darkness is really black, really dark. It's a place of continual torment. And that's the Valley of Hinnom, Gehenna, which the Lord refers to here. Don't fear the one who kills just your body. You need to fear the one who can kill your body and throw it into Gehenna, the place of burning, the fires of hell.

So number one, remember your accountability to God. He sees all, he knows all, nothing will remain hidden from him. Number two, recognize the one you should fear.

It's God alone. And then number three, realize how valuable you really are. For six, are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And 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 value than many sparrows. Remember how valuable you really are. Sparrows, birds eaten by the poor. You can buy five sparrows for two pennies. And the Lord uses the sparrows as an analogy because of those who would eat them, would be very, very poor.

They're only valuable to the poor people, not valuable to the rich people, just to the poor people, because they could afford to buy them and then to eat them, even though there would be not much meat upon those little sparrows. But Christ says that he knows all about those sparrows.

He says very simply, are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Not one. God knows them all. In fact, in the book of Matthew, it says that God knows the sparrow hops. He knows, not because he saw the sparrow hop, but because he ordained the hopping of the sparrow. He knows. In fact, it says, indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered, not because God counted them, but because he knows how many are there, actually. God never had to count the number of hairs on your head to figure out how many there were.

He knows. God was never informed of anything. If there's something that God didn't know, he would not be omniscient. But God knows everything. So he knows how many hairs are on your head, not because he counted them, but because he knows. He knows about the hopping of the sparrow. He knows about the cares of the sparrow because he just knows everything. He's omniscient. He's omniscient. And in spite of him knowing everything, that is everything about you and me, not because he learned it from somebody else or watched you do it, he just knows they're more valuable than anything else to him.

Speaking of his love and his grace, his mercy toward those that he's speaking to. Maybe they're there and they're casual listeners to the Lord or they're curious about the direction he's going. He says, you know, you beware of that negative influence of a moral religious lifestyle because it will damn your soul. It will. Thinking you're okay and that you're good enough because God sees everything. And one day, everything that you tried to hide is going to be exposed. Maybe not in this life, but for certain in the next life, it will be exposed.

Therefore, don't fear the one who can kill body. No, no. Kill the one who can kill body and then throw your body in the hell. That's the one you should fear because he is the God of the universe who has complete control of your eternal destiny. Yet, remember, you are more valuable. In fact, that little phrase about the number of your hairs used in 1 Samuel 14, 2 Samuel 14, I think it's used in 2 Kings, all to speak of God's protection of his people. To show that he's concerned about things that, for the most part, don't matter much to us at all.

We don't care how many hair is on our head, do we? Unless you're losing it, then you might care. But for the most part, we don't care how much hair we have. But the Lord uses that as an illustration of his protective care of his people. That's what he does, see? And then he says, this is so interesting. He says, do not fear. Wait a minute. You just said fear. Fear the one who can kill your body and soul in hell. Fear him. And he says, do not fear. What does that mean? How can we fear and then not fear?

Well, back in the book of Malachi, there's a great illustration of this. Malachi chapter 3, verse number 16. Malachi is a prophet of judgment, doom, about the coming day of the Lord and the difficulty the nation of Israel will face. He warns them about the two comings of the Messiah. Malachi 3.1, about the arrival of the Messiah the first time.

Malachi 4.6, the arrival of the second Messiah or Messiah the second time, excuse me, because Elijah will come before the great and terrible day of the Lord.

So he talks about the two comings of the Messiah. Jewish people would say there are no Old Testament prophets that speak of two comings of the Messiah. Yes, they are. Book of Malachi, book of Zechariah, both speak of two comings of the same Messiah. But that's another story for another day. But in Malachi 3, verse number 16, it says, Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem his name.

If you fear the Lord, you esteem his name, you honor his name. Verse 17, And they will be mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I have prepared my own possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and the one who does not serve him. For behold, chapter 4, verse number 1, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff.

And the day that is coming will set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. And you will tread down the wicked, for they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing, says the Lord of hosts. For those of you who fear the Lord, fear not, fear not, because perfect love casts out fear.

There is no fear condemnation for the believer. There should not be, because there is no condemnation for the believer. And the Lord God would assure those whose lifestyle was characterized by the fear of the Lord and esteeming his name, that their names are written in the book of remembrance that shall never be forgotten, because they fear the Lord. There is forgiveness with thee, Psalm 130, verse number 4, that thou mayest be feared. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Why does God forgive you?

So you go to heaven? Oh no. He saves you and forgives you so that you'll fear his name. The byproduct of that is your name is written in the book of remembrance and you go to heaven. But he wants you to fear his name, because the unbeliever has no fear of God before his eyes. And God says, here's a cure for hypocrisy.

No matter what you say, no matter what you do, you'll be exposed, because you're accountable to God. Maybe not in this life, but for sure in the next life. So remember that. And understand that fearing man is not going to do you any good, because you need to fear only one person, and that is the Lord God of the universe, because he can take your life and throw it into eternal torment forever. Fear him. But for those of you who fear him, fear not. Fear not, because you're of such value to him, such value to him, that he will protect you and watch over you and guide you.

That's the beginning of God's exhortation to those disciples. When there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people listening, this is how you cure hypocrisy. Will you follow? Will you observe? Will you do what the word of the Lord says? Let's pray. Father God, thank you for today. Truly, you are a great God and worthy to be praised. And I pray, Lord, for everybody today that's here, that you do a great and mighty work in their hearts and lives, cause them to follow you and serve you with all their hearts.

Recognize for those who are here, and they've tried to hide things from others, living a life of hypocrisy, that one day it will be seen and heard by all. For those who don't fear you, but fear man, may they be exhorted by the word of the Lord to fear only the one who has complete control over their eternal destiny. To realize that once you fear God, you need not fear because your names are written in the book of remembrance from this day forward. Lord, you are a great God and worthy to be praised.

We are grateful for all that you have done. And may our lives reflect that grace in Jesus name. Amen.