Two Attitudes — Luke 11-12

0:01 Turn to Luke 12, please. Luke 12. Thank you, Devin for leading the singing this morning and opening us in prayer. We ask the lord's blessing on us on this time together. So, continuing in Luke here, if you were here last week, you heard Doug Torach talk about he covered a lot of chapter 11 actually but he talked about the Pharisees and hypocrisy among some other things but at the end of chapter 11, get just to give you guys a little bit of context if you weren't here last week, he didn't spend a lot of time on this anyway.

0:51 But at the end of chapter 11 in 53, it says, And when he left there, 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 that he might say. So, as we pick up in chapter 12, this is a different day, it's a different time, it's a different crowd, it's a different teaching. So we get a lot of Christ's sermons here in Luke and this is a break, this is a little gap from where we were in 11. Now, I'm going to cover today through verse 21 but this is quite a long decent bit of teaching from the lord Jesus Christ here. So, I'm going to cover through verse 21.

1:36 There's a small subtle break there. It's not a great break but it's a subtle one because I couldn't cover all the way. I couldn't do all of chapter 12 in one shot. So, Andy Morris is actually going to pick up for us in two weeks where I'm leaving off here in '22. So with that said, my portion of chapter 12, these first 21 verses, can kind of subdivide into two main sections and the first is our attitude in the face of persecution.

2:15 And it's not necessarily persecution in the way that you think of it, it's not necessarily being persecuted for your faith, but I'm going to extrapolate this out and postulate that this is our attitude in the face of suffering in general. He's specifically talking about persecution but the promises that the Lord Jesus makes in this passage applies in every area of our life. So, the attitudes we should have in persecution is number one and then the second part that starts in verse 13 is our attitude in regards to material possessions and wealth. So we're looking at our attitudes. So let's read the first 12 verses here.

3:48 Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for 2¢ 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 of more value than many sparrows. And I say to you, everyone who confesses me before men, the son of man shall confess him also before the angels of God.

4:13 But he who denies me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. And anyone who will speak a word against the son of man, it shall be forgiven him. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not become anxious about how or what you should speak in your defense or what you should say for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. So, the kind of attitude that we should have in the face of persecution.

5:28 So Jesus actually here is starting to continue trekking. He's starting to trek towards Jerusalem and the crowd keeps getting bigger and they're trampling one another in some translations. You know, in a in a way, this is kind of cool in a small way. So, they're eager to get to the lord Jesus which is kind of nice but they're trampling one another. You know, we trample one another every Black Friday at Walmart trying to get that $20 air fryer and it's really sad but what's interesting is that, you know, we were doing it this long ago like this is actually, it's mostly sad to me because this shows you the base human condition.

6:17 And even though it was in regards to the Lord Jesus Christ, it's still like the concept that you could trample over someone. What is the human condition? This is the natural human condition. Anyway, I'm not here to spend a lot of time on that but it's just something that struck my mind. As cool as it is in one sense, you know, it also shows us where we really are.

6:50 And I can, I mean we know that they weren't after Christ because they were that devoted to him, right? They wanted to see the show. They wanted to see the show. Then Jesus says, he starts talking to his disciples. Now, there's a whole lot of people around but he starts talking to the disciples and he says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.

7:17 And he talks about hypocrisy and he likens it to leaven or yeast. And hypocrisy being like the yeast in that in the sense that it only takes a little to affect a large mass and Doug talked about this last week. But that little bit of yeast is just like a little bit of arsenic. It's just, it only takes a little but I think it was especially important maybe for the disciples to think about this because the disciples, the 12 were also starting to gain popularity, right? Because everywhere Jesus goes, there they are, here's the 12.

7:53 And so they're starting to be associated with Jesus. So they're starting to have a little bit of, they're starting to be known, right? So they're starting to have this little bit of outward success. And so the hypocrisy, the warning against the hypocrisy was probably a good reminder for them as they're starting to, I don't want to say achieve status, but kind of. They're starting to have their name be known and so it was important for Jesus to remind them of this and important for them to remember.

8:21 The temptation to hypocrisy can be stronger to those who have some measure of outward physical success. For there is nothing covered that will be revealed nor hidden that will not be known. The very art of being a hypocrite depends on concealment. It requires concealment, right? But one day it will be revealed.

8:47 We can only be hypocrites to other people. And hidden that will not be known. Nothing that is hidden will not be known. We can only be hypocrites to people, but never before the Lord Jesus. He sees through the mask.

9:06 He sees through the facade. He sees through the lies we tell through our teeth. He sees it. So he tells us to beware of hypocrisy and then he shifts gears in verse four. He starts talking about persecution.

9:31 I say to you my friends, we don't really, it's hard to tell if he's talking directly to the disciples here or to the crowd, probably given the context. He's talking to the disciples, right, but within earshot of everybody. And it might seem like there is no connection here with the first couple of verses here in the hypocrisy but maybe we can connect them like this, that hypocrites will always despise the faithful. So the followers of Jesus must be ready to face persecution. So, here's our bridge and he says, do not be afraid of those who kill the body.

11:20 And so, maybe the disciples were starting to feel that. Maybe. Maybe they were starting to feel that and so maybe they needed to gain some of the peace that Jesus had and maybe they needed a little nudge here to put their fear into perspective. He says, after that, they have no more that they can do. All persecutors can do is kill.

11:50 That's as bad as it can get. That's as bad as it can get. And God has the ultimate power over life and death, right? He has the power of life and death over every believer. And so we shouldn't fear our persecutors.

12:08 But we should have a healthy respectful for the god who has given everything for us and the god who loves us and the god who is in control of everything and and we should be disrespect should make us more concerned with following him and obeying him than anyone else. Clark put it like this quote, a man has but one life to lose and one soul to save and it is madness to sacrifice the salvation of the soul to the preservation of the life. There are literally millions of examples of people standing strong for Christ. Standing strong for Christ through persecution, standing strong for Christ even through death. These are people who honored god more than they honored man.

13:33 Now realize your value. This is why, realize your value six and seven. Are not five sparrows sold for 2¢ 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 of more value than many sparrows.

13:55 Thanks for the preview this morning, Ray. If God remembers the sparrows, he doesn't forget you. So don't lose heart. Don't faint. Stay strong.

14:11 You know, there are... There's probably few things that are worse than feeling forgotten. I mean, it's... That's pretty high up... It would be pretty high up there.

14:22 That that... A sense of feeling forgotten. And the Lord Jesus assures us, every believer, every person who has come to him and accepted him for their salvation and he will guard and protect, right? And the Holy Spirit will keep until that day. Jesus assures us that our lives are precious and will be remembered before god.

14:53 Roland Taylor was a martyr. Before he left London to be executed, he wrote down his final thoughts in a book and gave them to his son. I'm to read some of them here. He said, I say to my wife and to my children, the Lord gave you unto me and the Lord has taken me from you and you from me. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

15:17 I believe that they are blessed which die in the Lord. God cares for sparrows and for the hairs of our heads. I have ever found him more faithful and favorable than is any father or husband. Trust therefore in him by means of our dear savior Christ's merits. Believe, love, fear and obey him.

15:42 Pray to him for he has promised to help. Count me not dead for I shall certainly live and never die. I go before and you shall follow after to our long home. End quote. You are worth more than many sparrows.

16:04 In Matthew 10, we read that you could buy two sparrows for 1 copper coin. And here, we learn you could buy five sparrows for two. They were of so little value. Right? There's a discount for buying more.

16:26 It's buy four get one free. And the fifth one that has no commercial value is remembered. Right? So forget the persecution for a minute, we live in a country where we aren't persecuted for our faith very much, not compared to some other countries. So forget the persecution for a minute, apply this to the struggle that you're going through in your life right now.

16:59 The struggles that you don't even know that are about to happen yet. And apply it here. You know, you're going through the trenches and what God calls us to do is to remember him because he remembers you. He knows you. He's not forgotten you.

18:17 So just as there's an honorable reward for the faithful, there's a terrible penalty for the faithless. They would be denied and disgraced before the throne of God. And the primary reference here is probably that of the pharisees but of course, this verse applies to all who refuse Christ and are ashamed to acknowledge him and that is the day where he will say, I never knew you. And he calls us to a choice. You know, last time I was up here, maybe it was the time before that, it was either in Luke four or Luke eight, I talked about choice and he gives us a choice here again.

19:03 And he gave us a choice in Luke 11, back in Luke eleven and twenty three and the choice was either to be with Jesus or to be against Jesus and here the choice is to confess Jesus or to deny Jesus. That's it. There's two. There's only two things you can choose. So, choose Jesus and whoever speaks a word against the son of man, this this could refer to a moment of weakness, maybe in public testimony, I don't know but this could be forgiven if the person repents and believes.

19:47 In contrast, he who blasphemes against the holy spirit is in a settled rejection of god's truth which will not be forgiven. Now let's talk about this a little bit. Jesus explains that there's a difference between the criticism of him and blasphemy against the holy spirit. There's a difference. And what the sin is that's not forgivable, it's the sin that the Pharisees were guilty of.

20:15 In, we see this in the the other gospels too. Matthew has this and I think it's Mark. I forget. Matthew definitely has it. It's in chapter 12.

20:28 Ironically or coincidentally, it's in Matthew 12 as well. But this is the sin of attributing the miracles of the Lord to the devil. And it's blasphemy against the holy spirit because Jesus performed all of his miracles in the power of the holy spirit. So, when the pharisees were saying that he was casting out demons by the power of Satan, they're saying in effect that the holy spirit of god is the devil. And there is no forgiveness.

20:58 In Matthew 12, Jesus says, there's no forgiveness for this sin in the age, in this age or in the age to come. Now, this sin cannot be committed by a true believer. Now, but we might think, or be concerned that we might have committed this sin by backsliding. But backsliding is not an unpardonable sin. A backslider can be restored to fellowship with the Lord.

21:28 And the very fact that someone might be concerned that they committed this sin means that they haven't. And neither is rejection of Christ by an unbeliever, that is also not an unpardonable sin. Right? A person may reject Christ repeatedly through their life but in the end they may trust the Lord and be converted. Now naturally if someone dies in their unbelief, now that becomes unpardonable because they died in their unbelief.

22:02 But the only sin that he says which is not pardonable is the sin of the pharisees. Blasphemy against the holy spirit and attributing the holy spirit's works to satan. So then in verses eleven and twelve, he tells us that the holy spirit will help us so that we don't have to worry about what we have to say. And the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Now, this, let's not take this out of context.

22:41 It's not a justification for poor preparation on a for Sunday morning, giving you a sermon, right? I can just walk up here. If I pray hard enough, it'll come to me. I don't think that's what this is, right? Context, context, context, right?

22:57 So, when they bring you into the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, whatever your translation says, he's warning them that they will be persecuted both in the civic arena, the magistrates, and also the religious arena, right, the synagogue. So you got city hall and then you got the halls of religion and you're gonna get persecution from both sides. And these disciples would face this exact challenge. They're gonna be put in this exact spot And thousands since have also been put in this exact same spot. William Barclay said this, It was not the humiliation which early Christians dreaded, not even the cruel pain and the agony but many of them feared that their own unskillfulness in words and defense might injure rather than commend the truth.

23:54 It is the promise of god that when a man is on trial for his faith, the words will come to him. The disciples and we also can have a perfect trust in the Lord Jesus that in these moments of tremendous testing, we can know that the holy spirit will speak through us no matter how unprepared we are and kind of by definition like this kind of circumstance, you're not prepared for it. You haven't sat and studied and you know written out, you know. In this kind of situation, there was no prep. And maybe you might be someone who is scared to death of standing up in front of people and talking.

24:45 You know, you might just be one of, you might be one of those folks. Even I, I'm fairly comfortable talking in front of people but I don't like to think on my feet. I like to prepare pretty methodically and have my have my stuff kinda written like I've thought about what I'm gonna say, like I I have to prep. Okay? So I would be still, even though I can talk in front of people, I don't want to think on my feet and have to give a defense from my faith like without any prep.

25:14 I'd be scared. And he promises us the holy spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. The word answer in verse 11 is the Greek word for apology. It's apologiomae and it means to give a defense or an adequate answer and this is where we get the word apologetics. So don't worry about what to say.

25:53 So beware of hypocrisy. Do not fear the persecution. Realize your value. The importance of a good confession, and don't worry about what to say. Don't worry about what to say.

27:10 And he said, this is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, you fool, this very night your soul is required of you and now who will own what you have prepared?

27:35 So is the man who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Jesus had just spent all these these verses talking about our great value to God and the importance of standing for him and then here comes this dude like, this guy's like, tell my brother to split the inheritance with me. He wanted Jesus to take his side in a financial dispute like just everything, I mean, everything just went completely over his head and these were the people who were trampling other people to get at Jesus, right? And you just, you know, if it was anyone of us, right? That's you you're sitting there or standing there and and you just, you see Jesus like drop his head like this.

28:32 But you know he didn't. You know he didn't. He takes it and he turns this into a teachable moment and he addresses the man. He addresses the whole crowd, right? Because only Jesus would do that.

28:41 I wouldn't have done that. Oh, it just, it gets under your skin. It gets under your skin And, you know, the man didn't even ask Jesus to hear both sides of the argument. He's just like, tell my brother, take my side, tell my brother to split it. Because back then, the older brother got two thirds of the share and the younger brother would get one third.

29:04 And I don't know what the issue is. We weren't told what else was going on. We didn't even hear the other side of the story. But he wants Jesus to take his side. And And Jesus responds, Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?

29:27 Now it's not that Jesus isn't concerned about justice, right? We know that he is concerned about justice. Absolute perfect justice. Oh he's very concerned about it. He's very concerned about it.

29:40 However, he's all too aware that this man's covetousness will do far more damage to him than not having the right share of the inheritance. Take heed and beware. And actually the word beware does not even do any justice to the Greek word here. The Greek word is like, it's kind of like be on your guard but like on steroids. It's like you know robbers are coming to your house but you got like the 04:11 and now you know you're going to do like a whole home alone kind of set up and you're going to like booby trap the house and you're like, you writing out a plan cause these guys are coming but you know, you got the heads up.

30:30 Like what would you do, right? Like that's the real word here. So when you're thinking about beware of every form of greed and covetousness. It's like you're being attacked and you were warned ahead of time. So what would you do?

30:46 Not just watch out. One does... One's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses. This is the overall principle that Jesus will develop here. And when he teaches on material things, it's that we should live or rather when we live with an attitude that our life consists of the things that we possess, that's the definition of living in covetousness.

31:22 And covetousness is idolatry, Colossians three:five. So he tells them a parable now about the rich fool. The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. So this man was not a sinful man. The fact that he was rich wasn't sinful.

31:51 He was blessed with fertile ground. Number one and number two, it's reasonable. I mean, you'd have to still work really hard at it. I mean, it's fertile ground. That's great but you still gotta put in the work.

32:02 So it's not, it doesn't say that he lied, cheat and stole to achieve his great wealth, right? So he was blessed and put in the work and now he had an abundance. But his financial success was so great that he had trouble managing his resources. I have no room to store my crops. And his trouble, his anxiety in those words, what shall I do?

32:33 When it says, when I began... When he began reasoning to himself in 17, that reasoning there, it's like a... It's not just a pondering about what you might have for dinner. It's like the Greek word there is like a it's like deepened thought. It's like he's he's meticulously mapping things out.

32:53 He's got a pros and a cons list. He's got a, he's like, he's really psychoanalyzing the situation. That's how stressed he was about his material possessions. Like he was really think... Like he was really upset.

33:06 He didn't know what to do. How he could handle his stuff. And so he's spending time. That's the reasoning there. It wasn't just five minutes in bed before he went to sleep one night.

33:18 He was agonizing over it. So he has this wealth of resources and he had his life all confidently planned out. He would build bigger, build better to manage his wealth. And Jesus says that in one night all of that is ruined. He made his business plans.

33:43 He makes his life plans but he couldn't control the day of his death. And everything instantly became nothing. Now the man was a fool. Jesus calls him a fool. Again, not because he was rich.

34:00 He didn't do anything wrong to get rich. He was blessed by God. So sin number one became he was blessed by God and he didn't give credit to where his blessing came from. It wasn't that he was rich but because he lived without any awareness of or preparation for eternity. There was part of his problem.

34:30 Your soul will be required of you. You know, it's a... It's... We could call this the language of obligation. Meaning that he owed his life to God.

34:40 He owed his livelihood to God. He owed his wealth to God. But most of all, he owed his soul to God. And it would be required of him that night. Now it was obligated to God every day of his life but then it's required on the day of his death.

35:03 Everyone who's listening to this parable thinks that the man is a great success and Jesus calls him a fool. And eternity proved that he was a fool. And his story shows that it isn't only sin to give material things too high of a place, because that's the other part of his sin, giving the material things too high of a place but... And it doesn't just show you a fool, it's it's stupid. It's just stupid.

35:42 Whose things will these be that you have provided? Because in a sense they never belonged to God because he never gave credit to God. He didn't use them for God. There was, you know, God was completely out of the picture. So his things never really belonged to God in that sense.

35:59 Cause he didn't surrender them to God. I mean they came from God, we know that. But either he didn't know that or he refused to acknowledge that. So they didn't belong to God and they didn't belong to him because he couldn't take it with him. So where did they go?

36:19 You know, do they end up being used for Satan's purposes? Maybe. You know, where where do they go? Christ says. So is he who lays up treasure for himself.

36:35 He thought it was all about him. If you notice the verbiage, it's my crops, my barns, my goods, my soul. Nothing was about god. But then god proved to him in the end that nothing was his. Nothing was his.

36:57 He didn't have any crops. He didn't have any barns. He didn't have any goods. He and his soul was dead. So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards god.

37:10 He wasn't rich towards god. We can become rich toward God by sacrificial giving to those in need. Is actually going to... Andy can talk about this in verse 33. It's little ways down the chapter.

37:28 Andy can talk about this. It's also in Luke 18, we get another example of this, but I want to read what Paul talks about in one Timothy six really quickly. One Timothy six seventeen. And Paul's writing to Timothy instructions, this is part of its instructions for Timothy for the church there. And he says, instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceded or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

38:08 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share. Storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. It doesn't say shun the rich. It doesn't say condemn the rich. That's not, no, that's not the point.

38:31 God gives, God blesses. But where's our heart? Where's the attitude? What is our attitude towards material possessions? Because what, this is what our society is.

39:03 There's a part. You know, there but there's a responsibility there. God blesses and as god blesses, you know, he you have the parable of the talents. He gives one one talent. One person, he gives five talents.

39:15 Another person, he gives 10 talents, you know, and then, at the end, the master comes back. What did you do with what I gave you? What did I do with what I gave you? You have a responsibility. But we can't obscure the fact that earthly riches can keep us from going after heavenly riches.

39:39 The pursuit of earthly riches can keep us from going after the heavenly riches. Most of us are afraid of poverty, probably all afraid of poverty, but what we ought to be afraid of is wealth. So be on your guard. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we come to you this morning.

40:14 We thank you for this time that we've had to open your word, to read it, to study it. We look at this passage and these are words that our Lord Jesus Christ spoke to his disciples. He spoke to the crowds there and he's speaking them to us here today. And we thank you for these words of our savior, this teaching. Lord, help us to apply these words to our life.

40:43 They were important for the listeners back then and they are just as important for us now. So be with us. Help us as we struggle because we do struggle. Impress your words upon our hearts. May we remember these and ponder them and look to our savior day by day.

41:10 We give these thanks in the Lord Jesus name. Amen.