Fear Not

We must really think about fear. It's something we should think about often. It's one of the most powerful and important emotions and experiences we have. We've been designed for fear. God created us to have fear. If you don't know just practically how important it is, politicians have studied humanity and know fear is a strong, motivating force. The key is, what do we fear? Or who do we fear? Why do we fear them? And what is the fruit of that fear? How does that fear live out?

It's a word that captures so much. It's one of these words that has a very wide range of meaning. We have terror and dread over here, and we have awe and reverence over here. It's a vast word that captures a lot of different emotions, thoughts, experiences. Fear is related to anxiety, worry.

It's related to worship and love. Two of the most important words in the Bible, fear and love, they have both a wide range of meaning and a significant overlap at the same time. We're to revere God with sincere infections, and we're to love God with a holy fear. Reducing our worship to just fear of love will be idolatry.

So, Christian, how does fear function in your life, in your theology? Does fear determine more of what you avoid or what you do? See, fear does create boundaries and obstacles. I wanna stay away from that because of fear, but it also drives us. A fear of not seeing God face to face. A fear of not pleasing the God who has purchased me with his own blood.

A fear of not hearing, at the end, well done, good and faithful servant. This morning, Jesus is giving his disciples another angle warning as he sends them out on his mission. He's made it very clear, as followers of Jesus, they will be hated because he has been hated. And he says, fear not.

If you're new with us, we're walking through the book of Matthew in chapter 10. of Matthew begins the second major discourse. Matthew can be organized in different discourses. Sort of the mount is the most commonly understood and known. This is the commissioning, the first commission, the training mission, really, for these disciples.

He's already told them, I'm gonna send you out as sheep to the wolves, vulnerable, defenseless, into harm. But he tells them, I'll give you purpose. You're gonna be my witnesses as sheep. And don't worry about what you might say, the Holy Spirit will give you the words. Even your own family might turn against you. But if you endure to the end, you will be saved.

That was last week. This week he sends him out with another warning, but with great assurance and promise. Our king is good. He tells us what we need to know. He is being clear. He is sending us out into danger to count the cost, to be prepared, but also gives us instruction with great promise. This morning, if you're taking notes, faithfully confess Christ fearing God, not man. The one simple statement, if you're looking for just the one thing to take away, faithfully confess Christ fearing God, Not man. There's five movements in this passage.

First, there's a principle. You're following the rejected son of God. If they hated him, they will hate you. The simple principle, those who hated the master will hate his disciples. And then there's three instructions regarding fear not, or three reasons not to fear. Everything will be made known.

God has ultimate authority and God cares about you. In that last conclusion, confess Jesus Christ before men and he will confess you before his father in heaven. Deny Jesus Christ before men and he will deny you before his father in heaven. Let's look at our text together.

Follow the rejected son of God

First, follow the rejected son of God. Hear the warning that is, it begins with a principle. They hated me, they will hate you. You are following the Savior. You're following a master who will be hated and is hated.

Don't expect some kind of better or different treatment. 24 and 25 is It's kind of a common understanding that should be true of all servant, master, teacher, disciple.

A disciple is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master.

And the whole idea is don't expect bitter treatment. It is enough simply saying don't expect that it's going to be a better treatment from the world.

Jesus has come to be the man of sorrows. He's come to be despised and rejected. He's come to save those who would even reject him. He is the master. If you go back to Matthew 5-7, the first discourse, it's clear he is the king who has all authority. That is the one thing we take away from the Gospel of Matthew. He is the great king with all authority and he uses all of his authority for our good. Yet here on earth, He's mistreated. He's maligned. He is the master who we are called to follow. He is the teacher that instructs us, and as his disciples, we seek to trust him and follow him.

It's the same, don't expect that they're gonna treat you differently. Too often, folks seem to think, well, Christ suffered, now I can just live the good, easy life. I mean, he gives them real clear warning. Don't expect anything different. You may receive more insults and more slander than your master, he says. Now let's just kind of pause there.

The greatest sin ever done on this earth was done to Jesus Christ. You will not be sinned against more than Jesus Christ was sinned against. Because the holy God creator, who was perfectly righteous, was maligned, slandered, blasphemed, and crucified. He submitted to that with his great authority, but we're not supposed to think we can be sinned against more. No, they could treat you harsher, though. The greatest sin on earth was blaspheming him, and the key takeaway is, well, they blasphemed him, but they'll accept me.

Because we think that will start reducing Jesus down to assure they won't slander or accuse me. The principle is Christ came to suffer. We know God most clearly, we know Jesus Christ most clearly in the suffering, the great love that he has for us, and his great holiness. Suffering is how he continues to show us this. The very specific example though, verse 25,

if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub,

Satan,

how much more will they malign those of his household?

The whole of the Christian life is to know Jesus. They've blasphemed him. You may be misrepresented as a Christian. You may be slandered. You may be picked on. The whole Christian life is to know Him and know Him more, to know who He truly is and to know He is worthy.

We have placed our faith in the Savior who came to suffer for us. The good news this morning is that He is with us in the midst of that suffering. The good news is He is with us to care for us and give us strength in the midst of that suffering. We too often want to pretend this world is just a playground for us to enjoy. No, it's a battlefield still. There's still a battle raging against God and His elect and His church. If you want the easy life without trouble, Jesus did not come to die to give you that. Jesus Christ came to save you from your sins, not suffering here on this earth. He who suffered for us is with us in our suffering.

Fear not. All will be revealed

That is why he can turn to us and say, do not fear. The second point, fear not. All will be revealed. Now I personally would have appreciated if the next thing, fear not, I will smite them with a mighty smiting. But this is what our Lord declares to us.

So have no fear of them.

Even though they're gonna malign you more, have no fear of them, those wolves, even those who might be closest to you, the father who turns over his child or the child who turns over his parent or a brother or sister who would malign you because of your confession of faith. Have no fear of them, the wolves.

For nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be made known.

This is encouraging. Nothing is covered that will not be revealed. There's a great comfort that God is the God of truth. And the God of truth makes the truth known. God is the God of truth and he makes the truth known. He is the great truth teller and judge.

It's incredible, all truth will be revealed one day. And that's comforting if these disciples are going to go in and be harassed and mistreated and maligned and publicly they're going to be slandered, but privately they're righteous. Privately, truly, they're being faithful. God will make it all known. The final verdict, the final headline, the final declaration will be the truth. If those who malign you, they're lying, it will be made known. Those who might publicly mock you and flog you, the secret plot, the secret sin of their own hearts, it will be finally known.

There will be a grand day of justice where all sin is seen for what it is and all righteousness will be acknowledged. This is an important truth for those who are abused in secret, who might suffer under an earthly justice system that punishes them as if a criminal. No, God's justice never falls short. I do want to step back from the text for one moment and make a clear implication of this passage.

This is for disciples who are going to go out and preach the gospel and be maligned for that gospel. a clear implication of this universal statement that all will be revealed. Believers who are suffering under any abuse, any slander, any mistreatment, any injustice, God makes it all known on the last day. He's speaking to disciples, but we can make this, this universal statement is true for everybody. Anyone who is being publicly maligned, lies will be made known as lies.

God, the God of truth, will make it known. He sees you, He hears you, He cares about you. He is the God of all truth and He will bring it to light. and he will bring perfect justice. That is the comfort of this passage, why you should not fear those who would malign you in a court. For a moment, that public maligning or that public slander will carry much weight and it'll be difficult, but there is a true day of judgment, God says.

Something else I've learned to be thankful for is how truth is revealed over time. A lie can have some persuasion for a bit, but the fakeness, the facade, it doesn't last. Truth continues, the facade doesn't. And usually those lies are someone who's boasting of some kind of righteousness and then also claiming to be a victim, but Christian, stay true.

Know your God sees you. Know your God will give you the grace to endure. It will be made known in the end. Do not fear because God knows all and he will make it all known. It will not always be on the timeline we want. We can cry out to God,

how long, oh Lord, will you forget me?

He hasn't forgotten you. He will make it known.

Now that corresponds to verse 27. It will all be revealed, at least at the end of time, when the great justice takes place. It will be made known, and so, verse 27,

what I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

Since God will bring all things to light, and since God will make things covered known, be faithful to proclaim what he tells you in secret.

Now, let me make sure we understand who Jesus is and what he's doing. Jesus isn't some cowardly general who's in the back sending troops forward. He's not saying things in secret that he's afraid of saying in public. The secret here is the disciples get the opportunity to sit in houses with him and have a more intense. Jesus is on the front line constantly, sometimes even picking the fight with the Pharisees. He's not cowardly. But the principle here, what you're hearing from me personally as my disciples, you get to talk even, not just hear what the crowds hear, but even in the moments in the homes where I'm teaching you personally, go proclaim that boldly. Our God speaks. Our God is the God of truth.

We are to be a people of truth. We are to be a people who speak that truth. We can go all the way back to that story on the Mount. We're called to be the salt and light of the earth. We cannot be that if we're silent. What we say, how we proclaim, what will we make our most important declarations, they matter for all eternity. There's a great comfort here. Continue to proclaim the truth. Continue to be light in darkness. Know that all will be made known, even if you have to wait to the last day. Third point, do not fear because God has all authority. Verse 28.

God has all authority

Again, the principle, don't expect to be treated better than the master who is hated on this earth. Do not fear. Now

do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Here there's a greater lesser. Do not fear the wolves, fellow human beings, Fellow human beings, some of which have great authority, the kings, the governors, even the synagogues, who would have authority over your earthly body here on this earth. Do not just fear those who kill the body, but notice there's a limitation.

They cannot kill the soul. Now, he's telling you not to fear something that's obviously frightening. He is not saying it's not scary. He's telling you not to fear what he knows is frightening. It would be a lie to pretend that you could just stare an authority with a sword in the eyes and just pretend it's not frightening. No, there's a greater or lesser happening here.

Who will you fear ultimately? Who will have the controlling fear? Will you fear only that man that you see in front of you that can kill your body? Or will you recognize there is a greater authority than the man with the sword? It's the greater authority who gave that man the sword. It's the greater authority who can kill both body, can destroy both body and soul in hell. It's not a simple either or. Which one will you recognize as final absolute authority? Which one will you fear more? the God who has helped you see the light and truth, or the wolf who can devour you in anger.

It's important again that the promise is about an eternal perspective. Because if you ever were to face someone who really was physically threatening you right there in your face, that becomes an immediate danger. And it's hard to look past that immediate danger and to think, how can I best glorify the God of all eternity? It's important here to see there's a key truth about who we are. We need to know who we are, and you only know who you are in light of who God is and what he said about us.

Man can use his physical power to kill your body, but he cannot kill your soul. We just learned a little something about ourselves. Your body and soul. You're not just a mass of material. You're not just some product of natural selection and mere materialism. So be ultimately afraid of not just man, but man who has no authority of your soul.

So we're a soul and a body. God formed the body from the earth. We're made to relate to this earth in a unique way as the image bearers are supposed to bring God's good rule on this earth, but he breathed his life into us. He gave us his own life. We are a body and a soul. This is what separates human beings. That soul has an eternity now. God alone has eternity from past to future, but once the moment of conception, the soul is forever. It is part of us being an image bearer. God made man to have this body. God breathes his own eternal life in us to have a conscience and an ability to relate to him and know him. It's amazing how God blessed us to have life. He created us to live. We're not mere material. The key is only God has authority over that soul. Man has a limited earthly authority to destroy your earthly body. Only God has authority over the soul. There's a little bit more to chew on here in this text.

Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

There's a significant word here, hell. It's amazing how many Christians seem to want to avoid this doctrine. oppose it. Many find it distasteful, disturbing. It's very important to understand what hell is. Jesus taught on hell more than most other topics.

Hell is important for us to know and understand that God is just. I get the distaste that God would punish someone But that is only if we misunderstand that all are sinners and all are worthy of justice. If we believe God is worthy of worship, we believe he is a God who must punish evil. To be just, he must punish evil, and hell is that place that Jesus teaches us is a place where he does punish evil. A lot of folks have a problem that it's a God who would punish If you have a problem with a God to punish, you have a problem that God is just and righteous.

The just God has revealed he will punish every sin perfectly. God in his love for humanity gave us his own life in creation. God in his love for us even while we're sinners gave us his son to die for us and rise again to give us a new life. God and his love for righteousness must punish every sin that is not washed by the blood of Jesus.

The greater lesser argument that Jesus is making clear, do not fear only or ultimately the one who can only kill your body on earth. Recognize there is another judgment. Recognize there is a greater authority, God, who has authority of your body and your soul, he can destroy forever in hell.

As an application, thinking back to something I mentioned last week, this might sound a little over there, because we live in a nation that's blessed with the freedom of religion. You're physically not threatened with death and violence, I assume, here in the United States of America because you're proclaiming the gospel. Let me try to make sure this is really clear. The governing authorities we are under have told us we have the right to religious freedom. Praise God. The king of heaven, who rose again, tells us we have a responsibility to proclaim him, regardless if you have the right to religious freedom. Christian, I urge you to consider, it's a responsibility. The freedom we have is a stewardship.

To be able to go and, all right, you'll be maligned, you'll be slandered. Folks will not like being told the gospel because the gospel assumes there's something wrong that they cannot fix. Christ our King. who we have heard and understand there's words of wisdom, there's words of life. We don't have the threat of the sword. We need to take responsibility and see that we should steward the freedom we have to proclaim the gospel.

God cares about you

Fourth, we have a third do not fear. God cares about you. Verses 29 to 31.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father? But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.

This is not new to us. Jesus, we only have a sample of what his teaching was, and many attendant preachers, you've been with me for a while, you know I come back and say similar things over and over again. He's saying a similar principle, applying it a little differently. We saw this back in Sermon on the Mount where he said, don't be anxious about what you'll eat.

God cares for the lily of the field. He cares for the birds of the air. See how they're abundantly provided for. Do not worry, God cares more about you. Same principle. Two sparrows bought for two pennies or a penny. And God knows when they fall to the ground. God cares about even the sparrow. God cares about every living being in his creation.

But he cares more about you. He cares more about you, who he gave his own breath to, who he blessed with a soul, who he made in his own image. We do have to believe this. This is a foundational understanding of who we are. God gave us a body and a soul. Most of all, God made us his image bearer, and he cares about us. He sees us. He knows us. He knows us so well and values us so well.

He knows the numbers of hair on our head. I just want to clarify something. He doesn't love you based upon the numbers of hair on your head. For some reason, it's amazing how many men have shaved their heads in the last three weeks leading up to this passage. I do not understand the cause effect going on here. I keep seeing new folks having their head fully shaved. All right, for you, there's not really a hard math problem. It's zero.

All right, God still cares about you. Just remember back when you had those wavy locks. But think about the detail of knowledge that God sees and knows. God knows us better than we know ourselves, and yet He still loves us. God knows the things we don't let other people know we think about or desire and have thought about or have done in secret.

And he still draws his eye to us. And he still bends his ear to us. Do not fear those who can threaten you, slander you, even kill you. God cares about you. He cares about every detail. He's not an abstract, distant God who's disinterested. No, He knows us with a fatherly care. Fear not what man can do, God cares about you. Fear not what happens in the end, God cares about you.

Faithfully confess Christ

Our last point, faithfully confess Christ. So we began with the principle, know that you are not above the master. We have three commandments or three reasons not to fear. And now he ends with a powerful concluding principle capturing why we need to boldly confess, proclaim from the housetop.

Verse 32,

so everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who's in heaven.

We see here the way Jesus regularly taught. There's two ways to live. In Christ, with Christ, for Christ. Apart from Christ, for ourselves, for some other allegiance. We all are either walking with and toward Christ or we're walking away. We're either being faithful to confess him or we're denying him. Here, the context is very specific. It's in the court. Will you confess, acknowledge him when under threat or will you deny him? We need to make very clear who is speaking here.

Jesus. is a son who was sent from heaven by the Father. He is the only Savior. He has come to walk with us. He's come to live the life we refuse to live, to die as a righteous man for the unrighteous. He's risen again, and now He has ascended. And what He says about us, because there's no way to the Father except through the Son, significant. It's absolute, there's no other savior.

This is why what he says about us or to his father regarding us is of utmost importance. He makes his expectation clear. Acknowledge him. It's the same word we have for confess. Proclaim him. Declare Christ is your king. Declare Christ is your one and only true Savior. To confess Him before man is to say, I belong to Him. I'm with Him. I'm no longer of this world. I no longer am walking in the ways of this world. I know they hated Him. I know that they called Him the devil. I know they slandered Him, maligned Him, but I'm still with Him because He's the only one who's died for my sin. He's the only one who can speak for me at the end of the day.

The call to confess him assumes faith. It assumes you have believed in him. You've turned towards him. We are all called to hear with our ears the gospel. Jesus Christ alone has died for your sin and risen again and is at the right hand of the Father to be your Savior. Hear that gospel. and believe with your hearts and confess with your mouth. Jesus is my savior.

He calls us to himself so that we can confess him before men. All right, so if you're not in a courtroom, if you're not before a judge, if you're not faced with the sword, how or where and to whom might you confess? Well, I would say the first confession is at your baptism. That is what baptism is. It is a confession that Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior.

It is a confession that I no longer belong to the world. Baptism is the church receiving you into the visible body of Jesus Christ, but it is also you confessing who Jesus is. As your savior, your king, you're no longer part of the world. I now belong to his heavenly kingdom.

So I was talking to a Libyan pastor a few years back, and he came to the States for seminary, and he was explaining all the kind of confusing parts of like living in Libya, then moving here. And well, one of those was on the first Sunday where his church had announced there was going to be a baptism.

And he normally wore a suit to church, but this day he wore common clothes. And when he got there, he was surprised everybody else was wearing suits and dresses. And then he was surprised that they didn't go outside for the baptism, but they had a secret chamber like we do back behind me. See, in Libya, they go to the public watering hole, which would be the more common practice.

And the church stands around to witness and also protect the one being baptized. Because there might be family members or other people from his neighborhood who would hate that he's leaving them to become a Christian. He's leaving Islam to confess Christ. And he didn't wear a suit because he didn't want it to get messed up in what might come when he's protecting the one to be baptized.

Again, we take for granted The great comfort we have that we're not gonna be attacked this way? Not everybody has that privilege or freedom even here in the States. There will be some imminent danger if we confess Him. The goal is for our church to be a place where we learn how to confess Him together. The training ground where we grow confident more and more in who He is as we know Him together so we know how to confess Him together. But we are called to confess Him before men out there. family, neighbors, coworkers, even rulers and authorities.

Pray for courage to be bold. Every day, I encourage you, pray for an opportunity to confess Christ. Start your day, add to your morning prayer routine. Pray that I would have an opportunity to confess Christ. Give me the opportunity today, Lord, to be a witness. Something else I would encourage you to do is find somebody who boldly witnesses. I believe most evangelism is actually done with those you have a natural relationship with, but if you're wanting to go and go to grounds with Matt or some students, watching boldness is something taught not taught oftentimes.

The consequence of confessing Jesus before men He will confess you before His Father in heaven. Again, there's a greater and a lesser. It is greater to be confessed before the Father in heaven. What a great joy to have the confidence that Jesus would acknowledge me. If I say I am with Jesus here on earth, He will say to His Father, He is with me in heaven. Again, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father now, having risen from the dead.

See, verse 26, I believe, is implying a great day of judgment, when all will be made known. Every human will stand before the God of justice, and everything will be made known, and there's one clear truth, we'll all be speechless, because there will be no need for research or witnesses. We will see all our guilt before a holy God. All will be made known.

And the only hope you have is that someone else will speak, and the only one who has the authority to speak in that moment is Jesus Christ, God's Son. At that moment when we see, everyone sees, God sees all our guilt, the only one who can say anything beyond judgment is Jesus Christ who says, Father, he's with me.

I died for those sins. And if those sins were as if written all over the walls and ceiling of this building, it would just immediately go back to white because it was paid fully, washed fully by the blood of Jesus Christ. He is confessing us before the Father, brings us to the table, adopted into the family forever, forgiven.

The other condition, verse 33,

whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

To deny Jesus out of fear, to deny Jesus out of a worship for something other than God, it has a stark warning that you will be left alone on that day in judgment. Again, this kind of fear is meant to be a motivation that I want to confess Jesus, who would confess me. I do not want to deny him, who would deny me. Last week we saw Jesus promise

everyone who endures to the end will be saved.

That means we believe and we keep believing. We respond in faith and we grow in faith.

It is a dangerous world. There are many ways to attempt us to deny him. Threat, harassment, or just the ease and comfort of life, these are all real dangers. The immediate pressing problem is if somebody were to threaten you. It's easy to think here in the comfort of this room, oh, I know I would confess him, but I encourage you, church, make sure your faith is growing. to have a godly confidence in Christ. If you're not a believer this morning, you might think I can put this off, or maybe this is not that big of a deal. I want to just appeal to you.

There's a clear evil in this world, and we're all part of it. We don't have to think that evil is out there, the sin, it must be out there. Whatever the problem is, it must be out there. No. In the end, it will be revealed how we have participated in that evil.

And the only hope we have is that we would believe in Jesus Christ. The invitation this morning, believe in Jesus Christ, who alone can speak on your behalf on that great day of judgment, who can speak and will send the Holy Spirit into your life today if you believe in him to seal you and encourage you. Do not put this off. I wanna end with two stories. The first is Polycarp, an early Christian, believed to be the disciple of John, the apostle. He's in the public arena, he's been tied to the post, they're about to burn the bundles of wood that they've put at his feet, and they make one more appeal, will you deny Jesus? And the Spirit gave him these words.

86 years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How could I deny my King and my Savior?

Christian, I encourage you, think what, how do you put into practice the grace and strength to have that kind of confidence on that day?

86 years I have served Him and He has done me no wrong. How could I deny my King and my Savior?

God gives more grace

Second is Peter. Remember, Peter denies Jesus three times. That kind of creates a conundrum, doesn't it? Jesus even warns him, you're gonna deny me three times, and Peter says, that can't be. He even denies him before a little girl who couldn't be a real threat. It shows the fragility of Peter and his faith before the crucifixion. When Jesus needed his disciples with him, he's abandoned. And even Peter denies him. Based upon this text, what should happen to Peter? Peter denied him three times, even after warning him. Based upon this text, what should happen to Peter?

I encourage you to look at the ending of Mark, which is abrupt and striking. The figure in the tomb tells the women, eyewitnesses,

go tell the disciples and Peter.

I think there's an intentionality there. Peter, do not fear that your denial has erased your discipleship. There's an affirmation for Peter here. You're still a disciple. Jesus called him, he kept him, he assures him. But this is kind of a conundrum that I find entertaining, I hope you do. Jesus promised he would deny, why isn't Peter denied?

I think there's a principle that we can embrace from scripture.

Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.

or the way James says it, but God gives more grace. I say that because there's sensitive consciences that are gonna go through their catalog and they're gonna think through have I denied Jesus, I could have been more bold, I could have been more assertive, I floundered out, I was fearful, I did not speak when I know I should have spoken.

Where sin abounds, grace abounds.

God is faithful. but God gives more grace. Do not use that grace as an excuse to sin. Use that grace as a reason to trust him who is gracious and to grow to be bold in confidence. My charge, seek strength in your faith to finish the race. Hear the warning and be afraid. Hear the promise and be bold. Will you pray with me?

Father, we thank you that you have not left us alone with all the fears that would just drive us further away from you. but you have shown yourself as the one who is truly worthy of all awe and reverence. Lord, may we see how kind it is that you've come to us in love so that we learn how to fear you and worship.

Lord, help us to see how terrifying sin is. Help us to see how destructive death is. Help us to fear the things that are truly fearful. And look to You who delivers us and saves us and heals us and gives us comfort. Father, show us Your kindness. May we know Your Son, our Savior. May we be bold to confess Him. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.