Luke 12: Fr Stephen De Young

Woe to the Pharisees and Lawyers

• Beware of Hypocrisy of the Pharisees
  • 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?
• Seek the kingdom of God
  • By hearing the word of God and doing it