#106 Lu. 12:2-7  PROCLAIMING THE TRUTHS OF GOD WITHOUT FEAR

Introduction:

    In our previous text Jesus warned His disciples against the
leaven of the Pharisees.  That is, He warned them against the
false doctrines of the Pharisees.  In our text today, what He
warns them about is chiefly fear.  He admonishes them to proclaim
the truths of God and to do so without fear of man.

I.  An old adage

    First of all, Jesus quotes an old adage that sets forth a
principle.  V. 2, "For there is nothing covered, that shall not be
revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known."  Historians say
that this was a well known saying among the Jewish people of that
day.  Jesus had quoted this adage on at least one previous
occasion.  Back in chapter eight when He gave the parable of the
candle on the candlestick, Jesus quoted this saying.  He said that
there is nothing secret that will not be brought to light.  There
is nothing secret that will not be brought out in the open and
made known.  Now He repeats that saying.  He said that there is
nothing covered that shall not be revealed.  He said that there is
nothing hid that shall not be made known openly.  The idea of the
adage is that there is nothing that is private that shall not be
made public.
    This is a principle that has an extremely broad application.
It takes in absolutely everything.  It takes in even the secret
sins of one's life.  The most secret sins of one's life will some
day be brought out into the open for all to know.  David's secret
sin with Bathsheba is a classic example.  He committed adultery
with Bathsheba in secret, but it has now been set forth in the
Bible for all to read and all to know.  We have seen a similar
thing in our modern times with the exposure of the most secret
sins of some well known television evangelists.  They committed
sin in secret, but now it is out in the open for all the world to
know.
    Even if the things one does is not exposed during his
lifetime, it will yet be brought to light in the world to come.
It will at least be brought to light when one stands before God in
judgment.  The Bible teaches that every individual will give
account of every deed that he does.  God keeps good records and
the records will be opened at the time of judgment and every deed
will be revealed.  Every man will give account to God, not only
for every deed, but also for every idle word that he has spoken.
He will give account not only for his deeds and words, but for the
very thoughts and intents of his heart.  That is, he will give
account for even the motives of his heart.
    This is the truth which was set forth in the old adage or old
saying.  It is a truth that Jesus Christ Himself has verified.  It
is a truth that ought to cause the lost to turn to God in
repentance of their sin and to seek the salvation of their soul.
It is a truth that ought to cause those of us who are saved to
stand guard over the conduct of our lives and to stop doing those
things which we know to be wrong.  It ought to prevent us from
doing some of the things we otherwise might do.  We are all going
to give account to God for our conduct in judgment before Almighty
God.
    It is a truth that if all people everywhere would take
seriously would change the lives of everybody in the world.  It
would prevent men from taking advantage of others and cheating
them out of their money.  It would cause the politicians to tell
the truth.  It would shut down the practice of husbands and wives
cheating one their mates.  It would change this world vastly an
make it better.

II.  The application of the adage which Jesus made to the
     disciples

    But while the adage does properly have this broad application,
that is not the application that Jesus makes here in this text.
In this text Jesus used the adage to teach His disciples to
fearlessly proclaim the gospel message and the gospel related
truths of God to the whole world.
    V. 3, "Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall
be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in
closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." The word,
therefore, in this verse carries the idea of "because."  Jesus is
saying, "Because every secret thing is to be brought out in the
open and because every hidden thing is to be made known I am
giving you the assignment to make known the things that I have
taught you in private."  Matthew's account puts it this way in
Matthew 10:26-27: "Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing
covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be
known.  What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and
what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops."
    The idea is that the great truths of God which had been taught
to them by Jesus were not taught to them publicly.  They were
taught to them privately.  Jesus did a lot of public preaching and
teaching and I am sure that every time the disciples heard Him
speak they learned something from what He said.  But in the main
Jesus carried His disciples apart from the crowds to teach them
the great truths of God.  He would carry them out into a desert or
up into a mountain or away from the roadway if they were
traveling.  The point is that Jesus taught His disciples
privately.  Now according to Matthew He said, "What I tell you in
darkness that speak ye in the light." The idea is, "What I have
taught you privately, that proclaim ye openly and publicly."
    According to Luke's account, the disciples were already
proclaiming those truths privately, but they were not doing so
publicly.  They had received them in private and they were
proclaiming them to others in private.  Look again to verse three.
"Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in
the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets
shall be proclaimed upon the housetops."  The disciples had
proclaimed the same truths of God to others which they had learned
from Jesus, but they had not done so openly in public.  They had
done so only privately to others.  It was as though they had
presented these truths in darkness.  It was as though they had
secretly whispered them in the ears of a few close friends.  But
soon they were to proclaim these truths openly for all to hear.
In contrast it would be like shouting them from the housetops.
    In Luke's account Jesus merely states hat these truths will be
publicly proclaimed, but in Matthew's account Jesus clearly
commands the disciples to do the proclaiming.  He commands the
disciples to proclaim them publicly.  He said, "Shout it from the
housetops."

III.  The challenge to not be afraid

    V. 4, "And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them
that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do."
The disciples were aware that the doctrines which they had
received from Jesus were in sharp contrast to the doctrines of the
Pharisees.  In their earlier years they had all been taught by the
Pharisees and they knew what the Pharisees taught.  They were
aware that the Pharisees were the largest religious denomination
in Israel.  They were aware that the Pharisees had now turned
their guns on Jesus and that their intense questioning of Him was
not an effort on their part to learn from Him.  The disciples knew
that the Pharisees were trying to entrap Him so as to get
something that they could use to bring about His death.
    It did not make the disciples feel particularly comfortable to
be in opposition to the teachings of the Pharisees.  These men who
considered Jesus to be their enemy would also consider the
disciples of Jesus to be their enemies.  Men who would plot the
death of Jesus would also plot the death of the followers of
Jesus.  It would be expecting too much of the disciples for us to
think that this matter did not bother them.  Of course it bothered
them.  It had to.  Their very lives were at stake.  The lives of
the members of their families were at stake.  It had to strike
fear into their hearts whenever they thought of preaching and
teaching the truths of God which Jesus had taught to them.  They
knew they would be in danger from the Pharisees.
    Jesus sought to console them and challenge them and strengthen
them by saying what He said right here.  But He did not pull any
punches.  Jesus did not minimize the danger.  He did not say, "Do
not fear the Pharisees because I'll protect you and not allow them
hurt you." Rather He said, "Do not fear the Pharisees because all
they can do is to kill you.  All they can do is kill the body.
Beyond killing you they cannot hurt you."

IV.  The proper One to fear

    V. 5, "But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him,
which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I
say unto you, Fear him."  Now let me say to you that Jesus was not
trying to say to them that saved people are still in danger of
losing their salvation and in danger of being cast into hell.  But
He was calling the disciples attention to the fact that God will
cast those unbelievers who persecute them into hell.  The
admonition to the disciples is this: "Do not fear the enemies who
threatens you and who may even kill you, but fear God who is able
to overcome your enemy even after he kills you and cast him into
hell.  Fear God who will take care of your soul and body on both
sides of the grave.  Also, in the event someone does kill you for
preaching the truth, God will cast your enemy into hell."

V.  The value of the Christian to God

    V. 6-7, "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not
one of them is forgotten before God?  But even the very hairs of
your head are all numbered.  Fear not therefore: ye are of more
value than many sparrows."  The idea here is, "Don't think that
just because God may allow the enemy to persecute you and kill you
that God has forgotten you and does not care for you.  Even though
He may let them kill you God has not forgotten you and God still
cares for you."  God cares for the sparrows and those who are
saved by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, are far more valuable
to God than sparrows.  God cares so much that He has the very
hairs of your head numbered.

VI.  The tremendous job done by the early disciples

    I think that we can look back over the Biblical records in the
New Testament and look back over what secular history has to say
about the apostles and early disciples and see that they did a
tremendous job of proclaiming the truths of God without fear of
their adversaries.  In the book of Acts the apostles were arrested
and threatened and commanded not to speak nor teach any more in
any the name of Jesus.  Their response was, "We ought to obey God
rather than men." Even after they were beaten they continued to
proclaim the word of the Lord openly.  In later years most of them
were put to death because they refused to stop proclaiming the
word of God.

VII.  The need for grace today to do the job today

    I pray that God will give the Christians of our day  the same
grace to proclaim the blessed truths of God in our lifetime
without fear of men.  I am here to tell you that it is not popular
even in our day to stick with the truths of God.  Even in this
present political campaign so much pressure has been put on
Christians and also on the political candidates to make them
afraid to stand for r the truth of God.  This is particularly so
on the issue of abortion.  Thousands upon thousands of unborn
babies are being murdered.  Most of the politicians have been
intimidated on the issue to the point that they are afraid to take
a public stand against abortion.  They are afraid that if they
take a stand against it they won't get elected.  Most of them are
using a cop-out by saying that they believe that a woman has the
right to do what she wants to with her body.  Let me say that a
woman does not have the right to do anything she pleases with her
own body.  No woman has the right to commit adultery.  The same is
true for a man.  But her right to do what she pleases with her own
body is not the issue.  The woman's body is not the issue.  It is
not the woman's body that is killed.  It is the baby's body that
is the issue.
    If the woman killed her baby after it has been born she would
be arrested and charged with murder.  But she can have her baby
killed before he is born and the government will take tax money
out of our pockets to pay for it.
    The sad fact is that not only are most politicians afraid to
buck the crowd on the issue but many Christians have been
intimidated into keeping silent on the issue.  They are afraid
that if they speak out on the issue that someone might bad-mouth
them.  They are afraid that they might be bad-mouthed like Jerry
Fallwell and others were bad-mouthed on national television by a
vice-presidential candidate.  It has become popular today for
people to say that abortion should not be an issue in the
political realm.  Why did they not say that when the militant
activists were marching in the streets and marching on Washington
demanding that it be made a political issue?  Why is it that the
pro-abortion crowd can meet in their rallys and demand that all
pro-lifers be defeated at the polls and nobody says anything about
it?  You see according to them it is for the abortionists crowd to
make it a political issue, but to them it is not alright for a
pro-lifer to make it a political issue.
    I must say that I do not view abortion strictly as a political
issue.  I believe it is a moral issue.  I believe that the killing
of multiplied thousands of unborn babies in our land is the
greatest disgrace that has ever come upon the American people.  It
is a crime for which our nation surely must pay.
    I know that I as one individual cannot stop the trend that our
nation is taking.  But I do believe that I can at least lift my
voice against it and proclaim that it is wrong.  Frankly I have
had my fill of the liberal crowd trying to bully the Christians
into silence on this issue.  Since when is it illegal for a
Christian to speak out on issues in the United States?
    But my real point in this message is not abortion.  Abortion
is but one of many issues on which the Christian should speak out.
The Devil's crowd is trying to try to intimidate Christians and
silence them on many vital truths of God.
    This is particularly so concerning the salvation of men's
souls.  Religion itself may not be unpopular in our land, but the
truth gospel of Jesus Christ is unpopular.  The doctrinal truths
of God which are associated with the gospel in Scripture is
unpopular.  Church man not be unpopular.  But the true churches of
are unpopular.  Christianity in its broadest sense may not be
unpopular, but true Christianity is very unpopular.  The Bible, so
far as I know, is still the all-time best selling book in the
world, and in that sense is not unpopular.  But Bible truth is
still very unpopular.  False gospels are still very attractive in
today's world, but the true gospel of Jesus Christ is strongly
ridiculed.  It is still going to take courage and grace from God
if the Christians of our day are going to take a stand for Bible
truth, for Bible principle, and for Bible believing churches.
    May God give all genuinely saved people the grace to stand for
the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  May God give all Baptist
churches throughout our land to turn back to the truths of God as
Jesus taught them to His disciples while He was here on earth.
May God give Missionary Baptist churches and Missionary Baptist
people the grace to stick with the word of God in their teachings
and in their practices.  May God give all Christian people the
grace to live godly lives in keeping with the word of God.

Conclusion:  I am calling upon each of you to turn to the Lord and
let the Lord have His way in your life.  If you are saved, come
today and trust in the Lord and He will save you.  If you are
saved and in need of a church home I am calling upon you to come
and get in the work of the Lord.  I am calling upon all who are
saved to dedicate yourself to the spreading of the truths of God.