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We now turn into our text this
evening. It is in Luke chapter 12, 22
through 32. And then he said to his disciples,
therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life. what you
will eat, nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is
more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider
the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither
storehouse nor barn, and God feeds them. Of how much more
value are you than birds? And which of you by worrying
can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do
the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies,
how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, and
yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass,
which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not seek what you should
eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For
all these things the nations of the world seek after, and
your father knows that you need these things. But seek first
the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
Do not fear, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. Thus far, the greeting of God's
holy word. Please be seated. Beloved of the Lord, our God,
that song that we just sung, it is well with my soul. Have
you ever sung that song and it was not well with your soul? In this Christian life that we
live, it is often not well with our souls. The interesting thing
about that hymn is written by a man who had lost his entire
business, his house, all of his possessions in a fire, and then
lost all of his children in a terrible boating accident. And as he was
going to his wife to help her mourn, he wrote that song. It is well. with his soul, how
can that be? That's something that we'll look
at a little bit tonight. And our text gives us one of
the many reasons why that sometimes we feel that it is not well at
all. But before we jump to the main
text, I wanna back up just slightly in our text here, earlier in
this chapter, and point out once again, an urgent need for the
fear of the Lord. As it has many implications on
the main thrust of our topic tonight and on that of which
is to fear. Sorry about that. So let us turn
slightly back and to read verses four through seven. in the continuation
of our study of the fear. 12 verse four says, and I say to
you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body. After
that, have no more that they can do. but I will show you whom
you should fear. Fear him who, after he is killed,
has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him.
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. As this is a transitional verse
between fearing the Lord, which I spoke to you last time about,
and this topic tonight of fear not, we see this directive of
the fear of the Lord is a critical aspect of our faith. It should
undergird everything that we do in our life and in our faith. Jesus, in this passage, is emphatically
telling us Two times, which we need to note that, he says, fear
him who after he is killed has power to cast into hell. Yes,
I say fear him with an exclamation mark. There are no such punctuation
marks in Greek. This emphatic statement being
spoken twice gives extra added emphasis. Jesus is telling us,
fear the Lord. And as the Greek text does not
have an exclamation mark, as we do in English, it is written
in what's called the imperative mood. This means that it places
a particular emphasis. It is a command from the Lord,
our God. It is not as simply a saying,
it's not a good idea, it's not a suggestion, it's not an option,
but it is in fact an urgently important directive from the
Lord. Just as the Lord God's 10 commandments are written in
the Hebrew version of the imperative, we will be seeing numerous imperatives
in our text today. But as we can see from these
verses, Jesus gives us a contrast of who to fear, the Lord, and
who not to fear, the man, the devil. These texts even relate
to us an amazing reason why you can trust in this fear of him
and speaks to our value before him, but we will get into that
a bit later. As I spoke to you last time, I see a great lack
of fear in our land and in our churches and in our hearts. and
we must grow in our attitude of the heart and our fear of
the Lord. As the fear of the Lord has been
decreasing over the generations, there has been a dramatic increase
in all the other types of fears. This is not a coincidence. There
is a truly terrible epidemic in our day of fearfulness, of
worry, anxiety, and often the depression that goes along with
it. These things cripple many professing Christians today,
more so than in any other time, and it is growing. I have known
many people whose fears and anxieties rule their hearts. It drives
everything they do. It overwhelms them. Worldly fears
is an attitude of the heart as much as fearing the Lord is an
attitude of the heart, but in reverse. And as much as the benefits
of the fear of the Lord are great, so too are the curses and troubles
that comes with fearing everything else. Scripture has over 300
references to not being afraid or being fearful, and we find
the simple words fear not dozens and dozens of times throughout
the Old and New Testament. Our text today just contains
just one of the many fear nots. So let us look at our main text.
We start with a therefore in chapter, excuse me, in verse
22. We start with a therefore, so
we have to ask what it is there for. So again, we have to back
up just slightly and to know that the preceding parable is
the parable of the rich fool, which is about a man and all
his laying up for himself treasures on earth and specifically refers
to verse 15, which says, And Jesus says, and he said to them,
take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist
in the abundance of the things he possesses. Which in other
words says, we need to be aware of whatever hinders our contentment
with the portion that God has sovereignly provided in our life.
Therefore, verse 22. Do not worry about your life,
what you will eat, nor your body, or what you will put on. Do not
worry. This is an imperative statement.
Worry, worry, worry. We all worry. You're probably
thinking this verse is, I remember when I first read that verse,
yeah, easier said than done. All of life's cares and worries
can easily crowd out our love and devotion to the Lord and
draw our hearts away from Him. Our tendency towards covetousness
is being addressed here by Jesus, and it is a trap of the caring
about this life in its most basic forms, what you'll wear, what
you'll eat. If the basic forms of fearfulness
are addressed in this passage, we need to consider that everything
else in life would also be included beyond this. As we all just came
through the Christmas time, where all the retails do their best
to encourage us to see new things, to get new things, things that
we should eat, things that we should wear, new things, more
things, lots of things, things other people have, which is covetousness
in its ugliest forms, wrapped up in a shiny bow. The advertisers,
regardless of the time of year, is intent is to draw us into
the trappings of this life. To speak to us lies that say
you will feel complete if you just had this one thing. Your
joy would be abounding if you would just eat or drink this
or that. It is all driving at the flesh, the human flesh, and
the world responds accordingly. Beloved, the flesh is never satisfied. You have all tested this, as
have I. Have you ever been fully satisfied
with anything that this world has to offer? Perhaps for a short
time, but nothing lasting. And to be clear, this idea of
not worrying is not a complete omittance from thinking about
this life. It speaks more to the excessive
cares and worries about it, which there is a difference. The pagan
world seeks these things with a vengeance. The Christians ought
to excel at knowing more and living under more excellent hopes
and promises than they have. If you look at the English definition
of worry and anxiety, It says that it is mental distress or
agitation resulting from concern, usually for something impending
or anticipated. Anxiety is an instance or an
occurrence of the distress or agitation. Our text, the Greek
is worry and anxiety are exactly the same word. And in its definition,
it is to be anxious and troubled with cares. but it also means
to seek to promote one's own self-interest. So as we have
a better understanding of what that means, we can continue through
this section of scripture. Verse 25, it says, and which
of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? One cubit
is just a unit of measure, whether it's being taller or an age time
reference. Basically, it boils down to something
you have no control over, something that you cannot change. Why do
we worry about such things? Why do we spend so much time
and energy on thoughts and on things that are beyond our control?
Every human being is guilty of this. Have you considered the
mental energy it takes to do this? It is exhausting and causes
us to not have the energy to do the things that actually will
have beneficial effects in our lives, like seeking His kingdom
and turning and obeying His word. It is an energy thief. It steals
energy that could be devoted to faithfully caring for others. Perhaps you've maybe noticed
how difficult it is to read the Word when your heart is heavily
weighed down with these excessive cares of this life, and especially
on things that you cannot change. And yet the Word of God is the
place to find those comforting answers for those very things.
Why is it that Christians so often seek answers for everything
from everywhere but the Word of God? This should not be. When we allow ourselves to be
weighed down by worry and fear about the things in this life,
especially the things we can't change, you are saying to the
Lord your God, I do not trust you. You are not strong enough. You are not mighty enough, capable
enough. I can do it on my own. This is
a form of unbelief. And it is always based on a self-centered
attitude. Beloved people of God, if this
is your struggle, this is a sin and that is in need of repentance. Even our compassionate Savior
here lovingly rebukes us and all who fall into this system
of unbelief in verse 28 where he says, oh you of little faith. Any care that is related to distrust
or lack of faith in who he is, is disrespectful and untrusting
of our Lord and Savior who cares for us so we can and we must
ask, as the disciples themselves ask of Jesus, Lord, increase
our faith. This is something that we need
to continue to do more and more of. Lord, increase our faith. Help us to trust explicitly in
you. Verse 29 says, and do not seek
what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious
mind. Again, an imperative statement.
And this verse speaks more to a persistent state of mind and
even worse than a momentary worry. But we can look at Philippians
4, 6 through 7. Be anxious for nothing. but in
everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses
all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds through
Jesus Christ. So we are told to not be anxious,
nor have an anxious mind, and to be sure this is not a fruit
of the Spirit. It is worldly. How do we know
this? Verse 30, for these things the
nations of the world seek after, and indeed they do. You must
recognize that the world responds to events and issues, troubles
of this life differently than a believer should. At its heart, anxiety and worry
are merely symptoms of fear, of underlying fear. And if the
world tells you to fear something, this should be your first indication
to question the validity of such a fear and respond with, I fear
not. Fear is a great manipulator.
Many tyrants, many governments, many bullies and abusers use
it as a means of controlling others. And indeed, even Satan,
the great accuser himself, uses it with cunning ferocity, crippling
many. As believers, you must respond
differently to the fears and worries that this life produces,
for great is thy faithfulness. I really love that hymn, great
is thy faithfulness. But even more interesting is
where that came from. That phrase is in the middle
of Lamentations, which is not a very pleasant book to read,
but it is nonetheless important for us to see that in the middle
of the book of despair, in the midst of an extreme trial where
Jerusalem was besieged before it fell and God's people killed
and exiled, they starved. and watched their children starve
as well, and even worse things. But in the middle of that chaos,
pain, starvation, and death, God's people can still say, great
is thy faithfulness. How can this be? How is that
possible? And if they can say that at that
time, how can you not say it now? when you have never seen
anything close to what they experienced in that time or endured. Truly,
even our Great Depression in this country wasn't even close
to what they experienced. And to be clear, that happened
due to the grievous sins of Israel and after many, many warnings.
But we can still say with all believers that great is His faithfulness. He will never leave you nor forsake
you. You are His chosen, special,
peculiar people that He has taken as His own. Cherish that status,
that value before the Lord. Speaking of value, perhaps you've
noticed the many references to birds, flowers, even grass in
these texts. And this speaks to our value
and the Lord's sovereignty. The Lord feeds and loves his
creation. He upholds it. He nourishes it. He sustains it. If he stopped
upholding it for even one moment, it would collapse. When we are
tempted to despair, God has given us a million feathery reminders
to consider. that the Lord feeds them all.
So the next time you see a bird, consider this. This is what our
passage is asking us to do. Consider the birds. Granted,
he doesn't throw the seed in their nests. And so, two, we
must work just as they do in our toilsome labor under the
sun. But know that it is the Lord that makes it productive.
You know, biology is the study of life and how it is held together
and interacts with its environment. But it is actually the study
of creation. As a biology major in college, I came to see no
conflict between science and scripture until science that
is. I discovered that while a little
bit of science, we lose sight of God. We explain him away. We explain him out of existence,
but with a lot of science, we find him again. And we see it in the created
order and how he's put things together, how precise it truly
is. If we just look at the Earth's
orbit around the sun, it is precise. A little closer or a little farther
away, and all life would cease to exist on this planet. or consider
the way we were stitched together in our mother's womb. It is so
precise. It is written in roughly, give
or take, 10 billion miles of DNA nucleotides that hold us
together. Taking a genetics class in college
actually caused me more fear and wonder in the Lord than any
class since then. as one small alteration in that
ten-billion-mile chain causes disastrous results on the person. It truly caused me to understand
how fragile and precious life truly is, and how much even a
newborn baby is such a miracle. Only our Creator's hand can do
this. If the Lord was not upholding
His divine stitching job, we would cease to live. And so to
every bird, every flower, he sustains even these. And knowing
this, how can you say that he won't, he can't, he isn't sustaining
you? Are you alive? Even more so, you are created
in His image, and they were not. And you have been given dominion
and authority over the birds of the air, the beasts of the
field. You are of so much more value than any of those other
created things. It says it multiple times. Recognize
your place in the order of importance before God. He has given you
life. Do not be lacking in gratitude
for this precious gift and trust that He will sustain it until
He calls you home to eternal life. If He wanted your present
life to end, you are not going to prolong that day one single
day. Again, this falls under the category
of something you can't change. And as much as every hair of
your head is numbered, so too are all of your days in this
life. But what are the things that
we truly fear? To be sure, fears of loss of
possession or wealth, fears of pain and suffering, fear of heartache,
fear of trials and troubles, and of course, the cares of this
life, which our passage clearly says repeatedly not to do. But why should we not fear? Well,
let's look at 2 Corinthians 4, 17 through 18. For this light affliction, which
is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceedingly
and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For things
which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. Beloved people of God, do you
think that this world is your eternal home? Are you trusting
in the seen or the unseen? You have a heavenly dwelling
place that Jesus Christ, our Savior, is preparing for you. And when we lose sight of this
truth and place our trust in the seen, we start to have fears
about this life, and a lot of them. But let's dig a little
deeper into fear. Fear tends to boil down into
two major categories. The first one, fear of man, and
or I would add the fear of what man thinks of us. How much time
do you, how much do you care about what man can say or do
to you? When you rightly test your own
actions and convictions and actions and motivations, In regards to
this care, you may find the truth of it unsettling. Truly, we need to look at Hebrews
13, six, which says, we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man
do to me? No, I've said that verse wrong. It says to say it boldly. The
Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man
do to me? This is something that it says
to say boldly. Sometimes I think we lose an
emphasis when we only read the word and not speak it. When you
are tempted to fear, this is the verse to say. The Lord is
my helper. I will not fear. What can man
do to me? And remember the earlier passage
that we read in Luke. Do not fear those who can kill
the body, but after that cannot do anything else. Truly, the
fear of man shows a direct lack of faith, a misplaced fear that
is inappropriate for God's people. What can man do to you? We all
know the most extreme answer, yes. Yes, man can kill you. And if you live in a wicked world
filled with wicked people, which we do, it is full of death, which
brings us to our most fearful thing, fear of death. It makes perfect sense that the
world is afraid of death, as they will stand before a righteous,
holy judge, the one who actually has the power to cast them into
hell. they should fear meeting that judge a great big amount. But it is very indeed strange
that this fear is present in believers. Those who boast of
being Christians have a profound fear of death oftentimes. In
the perishing, the persons following the broad road, the path of this
life, This life is the best that they have. They have no sense
of looking forward to something far, far better. That faith-filled
hope of having an eternal destination in glory belongs only to believers. And this should flow forth from
every fiber of your being and cause those lost souls to wonder
what it is, the reason you have for the hope that you profess
in this life. I've observed in my own life
and in the lives of others, those who have had close brushes with
death, that death often loses much of its fearful power. When
we have such experiences, we should view them as a gift from
God. Have you ever come close to death? Have you experienced
a sickness or a medical emergency that you should not have recovered
from? Have you barely missed a head-on collision or survived
one? Or had a parent or guardian or
grandparent have this happen to them and heard the tale? If
so, Are you here listening to this message? It would seem that the Lord still
wants you alive, and to give him the glory for great things
he has done for you. And by every breath that you
now breathe, you can know that the Lord has not yet called you
home. And you are not done glorifying
God, and only just started enjoying him forever, which is our chief
end of man, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever, that starts
in this life. Well, how do you know that it
brushes with, you may ask why I feel that it is a gift from
God to have brushes with death. Well, Psalm 68 20 says, our God
is the God of salvation, and to God, the Lord belong escapes
from death. Very interesting. And we are
only looking at the visible sovereign hand of God. Have you ever considered
how many times he has upheld you and you didn't know it? He does that too. And you must
trust in his sovereign hand and into his sovereign plan to overcome
a fear of death. We find the wonderful promise
we find in Romans 8, 28, that, and we know that all things work
together for the good of those who love God, to those who are
called according to his purpose. He mentioned that this morning.
This promise must be adopted and trusted in our heart of hearts.
Notice the all things, all things, work together for your good.
And that includes every believer's life, and death. To fear death is inappropriate
for God's people. This is something that you must
resolve in your heart not to do and to trust him with your
very lies and leave them at his disposal. While we were looking at promises,
Back to our text in verse 31, it says, but seek first the kingdom
of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Have you
done this? Are you toiling away and worry
and forgetting to turn your mind and attention to the things of
the Lord? Verse 32 is very similar in that it says, 32 says, do
not fear, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom, the Father's good pleasure. As we've heard, as I've spoken
to you last time, the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
Psalm 147, 11. And so it is his good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. And what amazing gift that is,
as we know that all good and perfect gifts come from above.
So do not fear. This sums up the whole passage
and gives us what we must do. Imperatively, absolutely, we
must not fear. So let us turn to some application
points. Things that we can do in this time. I have four of them. The first
one being, Be transparent about your fears and anxieties. Seek
prayerful support. You cannot be helped if you cannot
confess your sins one to another. This is the whole point of Christian
community and fellowship. If you can't allow yourself to
be known and to know others truly, you will find recovery from your
fears long in coming if they come at all. You cannot do this
on your own. So if you cannot do this on your
own, and you do suffer from anxiety, fear, or worry, consider joining
together with other believers. And I would also say there is
a place here for biblical counseling. Don't overlook this possibility. Point two, seek first the kingdom
of God. No, this isn't redundant. The
emphasis is on the first. Consider His kingdom first, more
important than your own kingdom. You cannot do both well. There
is no such thing as partly devoted to God. There is no half measures
that you can take here. Either your life is the Lord's
or it is not. Stop vacillating between two
opinions. you must consciously bring every thought captive and
put it under the authority of God and His kingdom. In doing this, the Lord does
provide and adds that promise, and all these things shall be
added unto you. But God has to be put first in
your life. The promise doesn't work in reverse.
This seems like a simple truth, but how often do we reverse the
order that we put ourselves first and then add God to it? It says
seek first. Point three, hold a loose grip
on worldly possessions. Everything you have has been
given to you by God. And if you begin to idolize your
stuff, watch out. or your loving father may lovingly
discipline you by removing it. Holding too tightly to your worldly
things causes many cares and also shows that you do not hold
tightly to the Lord. Do not hold onto the seen. Hold
onto the unseen with all of your might. And the fourth most important
point, and that is to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord eliminates
all other fears. As you grow in the fear of the
Lord, the other cares and fears disappear. You are a chosen child
of God, and it is time that you act like that. Fear the Lord
and watch the concerns of this life grow strangely dim. Watch
as your sinful anxieties and fearful worries disappear into
oblivion and be replaced with a strong confidence in the Lord.
Fear the Lord and trust in this mighty King who cares for His
children. The Lord our God, He is good
and He is faithful. Choose to fear Him. Ask Him for
that fear. Seek that fear. Grow in that
fear. This is a very good way to seek
first his kingdom so that he can add all of the things that
we stand in need of. So as we wrap up our study of
fear, we can see that the Lord has clearly distinguished the
good fear and the bad fear. He tells us who to fear and what
not to fear. Choose this day which fear will
rule your hearts and your souls Please consider that whatever
your worldly cares are today, your tribulations and your troubles,
your worries, your fears that you are tempted to dwell on,
the Lord knows them and he knows everything that you stand in
need of. The Lord knows his people and he knows of our slavish love
of this world and our apparent desire to exhaust ourselves pursuing
it. Indeed, our whole soul is often
ensnared by the allurements of the flesh and to our seeking
happiness in this life. And if you're weighed down by
the cares of this life, recognize that those things, those seen
things, are passing away. But consider 1 Peter 5, 7. Cast
all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. Yes, in this
life, we can be full of worries and troubles. And as we consider
those things, we need to also look to 2 Corinthians 5, 6 that
says, so we know that while we are at home in the body, we are
absent from the Lord. In other words, don't feel sorry
for yourself at times when you lack comfort. But as the Lord
sanctifies us through the power of the Holy Spirit, he trains
away our improper love of this life and gives us an ever-increasing
yearning for the life to come. And John Calvin once wrote in
his Institutes, if heaven is our country, what can earth be
but exile? This is aptly put. It says that
this is not our home, and perhaps we should consider this life
exile. And as we have an eternal heavenly
dwelling that God is pleased to give us, fear the Lord. Fear of anything else but the
Lord must be overcome and confronted in this time of preparation.
And as we see the days growing darker and ever-increasing evil
growing, knowing that there is a great day of the Lord coming,
when our Redeemer returns and receives His faithful servants,
wipes away every tear of our eyes, clothes us with a robe
of glory, and feeds them with the joy of His pleasure, oh,
what a day that will be. Let us long for that day. But
until then, Fear not. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we again come
before you with our many fears, our many worries, our many cares. Lord, help us as we cast all
of those things on you. Lord, give us the strength and
diligence pursuing the fear of you, as you will remove the fear
of everything else. Help us to trust in you, Lord.
Increase our faith. And we know that when we ask
in accordance with your will, you are faithful in giving it.
And we know you desire greatly to give that to us. Turn our
hearts towards you this day. We pray this in Jesus' name.
Fear Not
| Sermon ID | 17242323505416 |
| Duration | 41:38 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Luke 12:22-32 |
| Language | English |
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