Outside of the house, a huge multitude had gathered waiting for Him to come out
The Lord says to His disciples: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy
Leaven is considered unclean - had to be removed from the house during Passover
Leaven expands/spreads - if you let a little in, it will fill everything
The leaven of the Pharisees - their sin that spreads - is hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is in the heart - the Pharisees have the outside clean and everybody fooled about how holy they are, but their inside is dirty and God is not fooled. The time will come when everything will be revealed
Fear of God
Do not be afraid of anyone - but have the fear of God
Do not be afraid of what others think - consider what God will think
Do not be afraid someone will kill you - but be afraid that after you die, you perish
Sparrows
Sparrows aren't worth much... 2 measly copper coins can get you five sparrows. Yet not one is forgotten by God
Importance in the eyes of the world is very different from importance in the eyes of God
Every hair on our head is numbered
We are of more value than many sparrows
It doesn't mean that nothing bad will happen to you... faith is not believing that God won't let something bad happen to you... bad things will happen to you, but faith is knowing that you are in God's hand
Confess Christ Before Men
Why would someone not confess Christ?
They would be killed! This is the 1st Century
This is the flip side of don't fear men, fear God. The person who doesn't fear men doesn't have to fear God
If you're more afraid of men than you are of God, then you'll have cause to fear God
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
The people who said He casts out demons by Beelzebub are saying that the Spirit of God in the Lord Jesus (i.e. the Holy Spirit) is a demon
Why would it be unforgiveable?
If you reject God and say that He is evil, or that He is Satan, then how can He forgive you?
It is to reject forgiveness
If you hate God, how can God welcome you into His presence for all eternity? You wouldn't want to be there...
If you reject forgiveness, then you won't be forgiveness
What about speaking a word against the Son of Man?
The disciples are all about to do that... one will betray, one will publicly deny, many will just run away and hide... THAT can be forgiven them
But to reject God's forgiveness cannot be forgiven
He has been speaking about the Day of Judgment
Everything that is hidden will be revealed
Fear the One who can kill and has power to cast into hell
I will confess you before God
Etc.
Don't be afraid of what the synagogues and magistrates and authorities will do to you, or even what you will say to them. The Holy Spirit will speak for you
Parable of the Rich Fool
Christ is saying all of these good things, and the whole time, what has this guy been thinking about?
Money, his no-good brother, his inheritance
The Lord's point is to question "why is this your concern? I'm talking to you about the Kingdom of God but you are concerned with the worldly things.... with possessions"
At the day of Judgment, God is not going to care who got the inheritance or who had the most money
The Rich Fool
From the perspective of the world, the guy is smart and he is wise
But from God's perspective, He is a fool
If all of our focus is earthly, and we don't care about heavenly, then we are fools
Don't Worry
Don't worry about life, food, body, clothing... If you live your whole life without eating well, being poor, not having nice clothes, but you're focused on the things that are heavenly, then you will be better off than even the richest man in the world who ends up in hell
God feeds the ravens... who feeds you?
God! You don't feed yourself... you are fed not because of how hard you work or how smart you are. It's not you. God feeds you. God gave you the smarts and the energy and the job and He put the food on your table. Not you.
If it's not you, why worry?
Who can make himself taller by worrying?
Grass is in the field and tomorrow is in the oven... but our souls are eternal. How much more does God care for us?
