Fearing God

Coming up next on the Lord's Day edition of Renewing Your Mind. And even the Christian needs to understand a godly fear, even though we are to come before him boldly, and we can call him father, he's not our chum, he's not our pal, he is the Lord God omnipotent, that when he appears, we're on our face before him, trembling. Luke chapter 12 tells us that in the final day, nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

R.C. Sproul was of the firm conviction that the church in our day has lost a sense of the fear of God. Today's sermon from the Gospel of Luke will help us understand how to rightly approach our loving Heavenly Father, who is the Lord God omnipotent. Well, we're going to continue this morning with our study of the Gospel according to St. Luke, and we're going to start a brand new chapter, chapter 12, and I will be reading from verse 1 through verse 7. In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another, he began to say to his disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on 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 show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell.

Yes, I say to you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. Again, this teaching from our Lord Jesus Christ may be numbered among those expressions that he made that are called the hard sayings. They're hard because he asks us to consider the painful consequences that we may face on the day of judgment. This is a warning that few people heed, and few care about at all, that this is a warning that comes with the authority of Almighty God, and I urge you to receive it as such.

Let's pray. Again, our Father, when we come to the sacred text that you have been pleased to give to your church through the superintendence of the Holy Spirit, we hear things in it that sometimes are frightening, and things that we are not inclined to receive with joy. But every word that comes from your mouth is life itself, and so what you say even here is a delight to our hearts when we receive it in and by your Spirit. So give us understanding this morning and hearts that are receptive to the truthfulness of your word, for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. You know, with the chapter divisions and verses that we find in the Bible, we're not in the original manuscripts. I sometimes wonder if it was an itinerant preacher riding around on horseback who put these chapter divisions in there because they don't always make a lot of sense. Certainly the beginning of chapter 12 could fit very nicely as part of the conclusion of chapter 11, but when Jesus was meeting with these people and when He was speaking to the Pharisees, He didn't say, no, that's the end of chapter 11.

Let's start with chapter 12. But chapter 12 begins with that which flows really naturally out of Jesus' confrontation with the Pharisees by which He gave to them the oracle of woe and pronounced judgment upon them principally because of their hypocrisy. And so after He leaves the Pharisees' house in that encounter, we pick up the history in verse 12 where Luke says, in the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another, everywhere Jesus went, there were huge thronging crowds that followed after them, people who wanted to see every miracle that He performed or hear every word that came from His lips. And perhaps the word got around that Jesus was eating at the home of the Pharisee, and as that word of mouth spread, the crowds came out in greater numbers to await His appearance. And they were so eager to see Him, and the multitude was so great that people began to trample one another to get to Him. That's how excited people were to come and see Jesus, would that we would have that problem on Sunday morning, that our crowds were so great that we would have to institute safeguards to keep you from trampling each other to come.

Nobody by the grace of God, to my knowledge, has ever been trampled to any injury by rushing to hear me speak. But in any case, that was what happened when they wanted to hear from Jesus. And so He first addressed His disciples and then consequently the crowds that were there. And the first thing He had to say was a warning, saying to His disciples, and presumably not merely the twelve, but the larger number of disciples that He had, saying, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. This is not the only time that our Lord used the metaphor of leaven as an example of that which can have a destructive power. He's speaking of a little thing that when applied to a substance has the ability to be pervasive and to fill it up. And what He's saying here is just a little bit of hypocrisy. When it enters into your life, it's like the camel who puts the nose into the tent.

And before you know it, He occupies the tent to such a degree that He expels the owner from the tent. And so Jesus has said just a little bit of that leaven, just a little bit of that Pharisaism of play-acting, of pretending, of deceitfulness. If you allow it in your life, you're not going to be able to contain it. It's going to spread like a cancer.

It's going to fill your soul and destroy your character. And so Jesus says, be careful of that. Be careful of living a deceitful life. And now He speaks of the consequences of that. He says, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed nor hidden that will not be known. Any attempt to hide ourselves from the world and maintain a facade of righteousness that is not authentic at some point will certainly be exposed, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed. Look back to the very first sin that was ever committed by human beings. As soon as Adam and Eve transgressed the law of God, their immediate experience was an awareness of their nakedness. There was an awareness of shame, and their natural response to their shame was to hide, to flee from the presence of God and hope that even God will not be able to know and to see what they have done. You hear the old story of a small town where somebody sent a letter to the men of the town and said, flee, all has been discovered, and 20-some men fled from town. That's really not funny, because all of us have things about ourselves, about our lives that we are ashamed of and don't want anybody else to know about.

And so we like to pretend that those things are not part of our character. Well, Jesus says, be careful. In the first place, this leaven can destroy you, and in the second place all attempts ultimately to conceal our sin will be futile, because everything that is currently covered will be revealed, and there's nothing that is hidden that will not be made known. Therefore, whatever you've spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you've spoken in the ear and inner rooms will be proclaimed, not on the radio or on the television, but in that day it was by shouting from the housetops, not by a little rumor that spreads from person to person, but there will be a shout so that everyone will hear the truth.

Now what's he referring to? Another occasion when Jesus speaks of this consequence of hiding, He does it in the context of the last judgment, and where He says every idle word that we speak will be brought into the judgment. Everything we say in private that we don't want people to know that we've said, everything that we've done in the darkness of privacy that we don't want people to see, everything that we've ever said, everything that we've ever done will be made manifest on the day of judgment. Now a lot of Christians are under the misguided idea that Christians don't have to worry about this disclosure on the Judgment Day. We're assuming that it's only the pagan or the corrupt or the Pharisee who has to fear this ultimate disclosure of the truth of our character on Judgment Day. After all, we have passed from the judgment to life, and we know that one of the consequences of our justification is that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So if you're a Christian, you don't have to worry about being condemned by God on the last day.

On the last day, your judge and your defense attorney will be Jesus Christ. Even though our entrance to heaven is not based in any way upon our good works, our good works contribute nothing to our salvation, yet every one of us will be evaluated on that day according to our works. And all of the things that we have hidden will be made clear so that the truth about our obedience, about our sanctification, about our profession of faith will be made manifest before God and the angels and before all people. Now, I'd like to take a moment to read a quote from a theologian for whom I have enormous respect from old Princeton, Dr. Charles Hodge, who, when he writes on the final judgment, writes these words, and I've asked you to listen to them carefully. "'The ground where matter of judgment is said to be the deeds done in the body, men are to be judged according to their works, and the secrets of the heart are to be brought to light. God's judgment will not be found on professions or on human relations or on the appearance or reputation that we sustain among our fellows, but rather on their real character and on their acts, however secret and covered from the sight of men these acts may have been.

God will not be mocked, and God cannot be deceived. The character of every man will be clearly revealed.'" Now, then he makes three points about the matter of this final revelation of our character, that the character of every man will be clearly revealed, number one, in the sight of God. Number two, in the sight of the man himself, so that all of our self-deceptions will be banished, and for the first time we will see ourselves as we really are. One of the things I've often said about God's grace in the process and progress of our sanctification is He doesn't reveal all of our sin to us all at once. If God would reveal to me this moment all of the failures and corruptions of my life, I wouldn't be able to stand it, and neither would you. What so gracious is our God that He slowly and tenderly convicts us of our sin by the influence of the Holy Spirit as He brings us into conformity to Himself.

And Hodge goes on to say, as he said, every man will see himself as he appears in the sight of God. His memory will probably prove an indelible register of all his sinful acts and thoughts and feelings. His conscience will be so enlightened as to recognize the justice of the sentence which the righteous judge shall pronounce upon him.

Let me just stop there for a second. One of the ways in which the last judgment is characteristically described in sacred Scripture is with respect to the silence of those who receive the judgment of God, that every tongue will be stopped. When God reveals my sin and clearly I will immediately know the truth of that judgment and the futility of trying to argue about it or rationalize it or defend it. When God's verdict comes upon me and upon my character, that verdict is final, and there's nothing more to be said. And so he says, all whom Christ condemns will be self-condemned as well. And three, there will be such a revelation of the character of every man to all around him or to all who know him as shall render the justice of the sentence of condemnation or acquittal apparent so that everyone who is present at that judgment will know our guilt or our innocence of the matter.

Now that may be an oppressive thought to some of you, but in reality it's one of the most liberating thoughts that the New Testament gives for several reasons. You hear the complaint again and again in this world, there's no justice in this world. Well, there are many times in this world where justice is frustrated and not established, but not at the last judgment. In that judgment, perfect justice will be prevailing, and there will be no injustice whatsoever.

That is a wonderful thought to realize that in the grand scope of things, finally, ultimately, justice will prevail. But also, it's liberating to know that there's nothing we can hide from God, either here or in the future. That's why David would say, oh God, you've searched me and known me.

You know everything about me. If I ascend into heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there. Before a word is formed on my lips, thou knowest it altogether. And then he would say, Lord, search me and know me. Cleanse me from my hidden faults, because David says, I don't even know the extent of my own disobedience.

I don't know the extent of my corruption. Show it to me so I can flee from it, so that while the pagan trembles at the rustling of a leaf and seeks even to this moment to hide from the all-seeing eye of God, the believer should delight in knowing that God knows us all together, and that even though He knows us all together, He redeems us all together. Then Jesus goes on to say, and I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more than they can do, but I will show to you to whom you should fear. Fear Him who after He has killed has the power to cast you into hell. I say to you, fear Him. Now when we talk about the fear of God in Scripture, where the Old Testament wisdom literature says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, we are quick to say that that fear that the Bible speaks of is not a servile fear that a prisoner has from his torturer, but more a filial fear that we have, a fear of offending our father and so on, that has more to do with living before God in a sense of awe and reverence.

And that's true as far as it goes. But the word here is not translated reverence, and it's not translated awe, as important as those elements are. So the operative word here is fear, and even the Christian needs to understand a godly fear, what it means to fear God in a righteous way, even though we are to come before Him boldly and we can call Him Father, He's not our chum, He's not our pal, He is the Lord God omnipotent that when He appears we're on our face before Him, trembling, before His majesty. But you know it is said in the Bible of those who are ungodly that there is no fear of God before their eyes. It's amazing to me how fearless the average person is of God. How is it possible that a creature made in the image of God who lives impenitently in rebellion against God has no fear for what He's doing? In over fifty years of ministry I've only had two people in that whole time tell me that they came to faith in Christ because they were overwhelmed by a fear of hell.

Two persons, one of them is in this church. People go through life that they don't believe in hell, and if there is one they're not afraid that they're going to go there, because they figure if there is a God that heaven wouldn't be right if we weren't included in its membership. Not only that, you have how many ministers, how many times, telling people in this world that God loves them unconditionally. Who should ever be afraid of a God who loves them unconditionally? I can't find that anywhere in the Bible that God loves me unconditionally or loves you unconditionally. Rather, by nature we're estranged from Him, and we are told in the Scriptures that He abhors the wicked. Now the Bible says He abhors the wicked, the preacher says He loves them unconditionally. If God loves people unconditionally, then you don't have to worry about conditions like repenting or of coming to Christ, of confessing your sins.

There are no conditions. God loves you, but the kingdom of God is not Mr. Rogers' neighborhood. The kingdom of God is ruled by a just and holy Creator for whom we should have fear.

And this is what Jesus is instructing here. You're afraid of strong people. You're afraid of criminals who might attack you and maim you and even kill you and destroy your body. He said, don't be afraid of them.

The worst that can happen to you at the hands of such a thug is that they could kill your body. But once you're dead, they can't harm you anymore. But He said, rather, fear the one who not only can kill your body, but after you're dead can send you to hell forever. That's the one for whom we are to have fear. For Him who after He is killed has power to cast into hell, yes, I say to you, fear Him. And now with supreme irony, Jesus adds these words, but don't forget, are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins, and not one of them is forgotten before God, and the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

If we stop right there, that would be enough to intensify our fear, wouldn't it? He's simply saying that God knows every single thing about us. This is the only occasion I know of where some men are glad to be bald, because then they're not under such close scrutiny from their Creator.

But every hair in our head is numbered every time a sparrow lands on the ground. It doesn't escape the notice of God. The very concept of omniscience is a concept we cannot comprehend.

How it is possible for God to know everything there is to know about everything there is to be known, every thought, every word, every hair in our head. And again, you would think that this is an opportunity for Jesus to compound His charge for us to fear God, and then He adds on to it the startling words. Do not fear. I mean, first He says, fear, now He says, do not fear, therefore, for you are of more value than sparrows. Fear God, but in that fear of God, don't think that under the gaze of God that you are reduced to insignificance.

Even though God knows everything about you as a believer and as His child, He places a value upon you that is incalculable. On the one hand we should fear Him. On the other hand we should not fear because He has redeemed us in His Son. Do not fear, for you matter to your Father. A healthy fear of the perfectly holy God balanced by a trust in His perfect righteousness, justice, and goodness.

We've learned some valuable lessons today from R.C. Sproul as he preached from the Gospel of Luke. If you're listening to Renewing Your Mind, I'm Lee Webb, and each Sunday we feature a sermon from R.C. Series through the Gospel of Luke. Over the next several months we will complete this entire Gospel, and I think you'll enjoy receiving our resource offer today. When you contact us today with a donation of any amount, we will provide you with a digital download of Dr. Sproul's commentary on Luke. It's nearly 600 pages, and every passage is clarified with R.C.

's easy to understand explanations. I think it will be a great help to your study of Luke for years to come. You can make your request for this resource and give your gift at renewingyourmind.org. Last year Ligonier Ministries reached more than 56 million people with trusted Bible teaching, and we're being presented with new opportunities to expand this outreach to serve even more people in more places. I had the privilege of spending many hours here in the studio with Dr. Sproul, and I know that he would be telling us that now is not the time to pause or slow down, so we are grateful for your prayerful financial support. I hope you have a great week and that you'll make plans to be with us again next Sunday for Renewing Your Mind.