Jesus warned His disciples how to face persecution in light of the judgment to come – flee hypocrisy, fear God, confess Christ, and honor the Spirit.
[powerpress]
Facing Persecution In Light of Judgment Day
Luke 12:1-12
Luke 11 ends with Jesus going toe to toe with the religious leaders of His day, confronting them at a lunch He was invited to. When one of the Pharisees showed surprise that Jesus wasn’t going to wash His hands before the meal, Jesus took the opportunity to expose the sins that would destroy them if not repented. Jesus highlighted 5 of their sins:
- They Were Inwardly Corrupt
- They Sought the Praise of Man
- They Imposed Man-Made Burdens on Others
- They Sought to Destroy those who Confronted Them
- They Hindered Others from Entering God’s Kingdom
How did the Pharisees and lawyers respond to Jesus’ rebuke? Verses 53-54 indicate that they became very hostile to Him and began questioning Him closely on many subjects because they were plotting to catch Him in something He might say.
That brings us to the setting of Jesus’ words in Luke 12. Verse 1 says, “Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another…” It was under these circumstances. What circumstances? The circumstances laid out in 11:53-54. The religious leaders were asking Jesus many questions to trip Him up. We all know that a fight attracts a crowd, right? Well, as these religious leaders were showing their hostility toward Jesus, and trying to trap Him in a saying, the crowds just kept growing larger and larger, to the point that they were stepping on one another. In that day, of course, Jesus had no microphones or speakers. He could only be heard by those who were closest to Him. This drove the people to clamor to get close to Him to hear Him and see what He was doing, to the point where they were stepping on one another, trying to get near Him. The crowds were enormous, perhaps larger than at any other point in His ministry. When thinking of the size of this crowd, think of the size of a crowd at a professional baseball game, and I think we are getting close.
On this occasion, Jesus speaks primarily to His disciples, although there is a vast crowd of people pressing in on Him from every side. Jesus is wanting to prepare His disciples to live a life of radical obedience in an ungodly world. He knew there would be pressures on His disciples on all sides to defect and give up. In order to forewarn and strengthen them, Jesus gives them 4 commands:
- Flee Hypocrisy
- Fear God
- Confess Christ
- Honor the Spirit
I think it is clear that Jesus has the final Judgment Day in mind as He speaks to the disciples. We know that because He tells them that there is coming a day in which all the secrets of what we have done or said will be made known. There is coming a day in which those who feared man instead of God will be cast into hell. There is coming a day in which those who denied Christ before men will be denied before the angels of God. And there is coming a day in which those who blasphemed against the Holy Spirit would never ever be forgiven. Jesus has judgment and eternity in His mind as He speaks soberly and solemnly to His disciples in front of this vast multitude.
Now, let’s look at those 4 commands of Christ given in light of eternal judgment.
1. Flee Hypocrisy (12:1-3)
The very first words out of Jesus’ mouth to His disciples on this occasion were, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” You see, Jesus still had the damning sins of the religious leaders on His mind. Wanting to warn and protect His disciples, Jesus exhorted them to beware of hypocrisy.
12:1. The word for “hypocrite” in the first century referred to actors who wore masks to appear as someone different from who they really were. When Jesus called the religious leaders, hypocrites, He was charging them with pretending to be something they weren’t. They were putting on a good show on the outside, but they were corrupt on the inside. They weren’t what they wanted others to think they were. And Jesus called hypocrisy, “leaven.” Leaven permeates and works itself out through the whole lump of dough it is placed in. Likewise, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees would spread and influence Jesus’ disciples, if they were not careful.
12:2. A hypocrite tries to cover up his sins, by putting on a good front. He tries to hide the evil of his heart, by pretending to have it all together. However, Jesus is telling them that on the Judgment Day, there will be no secrets, and nothing hidden.
12:3. Not only will there be nothing covered up or hidden of what we have done, but there will be nothing we have ever said in private that will not be disclosed! Judgment Day will reveal all. 1 Cor. 4:5 says, “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.”
My friends, when we cover up, and hide our sins, pretending to be righteous, we are just delaying the inevitable. One day God is going to expose everything! Far better to admit our sins and weaknesses and shortcomings and failures now, as we strive to live holy lives. To try to cover up now is really pointless. God sees, and God knows, and He will bring everything to light one day.
Friends, we need to be far more concerned about our character than our reputation. Rumor is what people say you are. Reputation is who people think you are. Character is who you really are when no one is looking. The Bible says, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good” (Pr. 15:3). Do you live a double life? Do you live one way when you know people are watching, and another way when no one is around? Are you trying to give the impression that you are better than you really are? Beware of hypocrisy!
2. Fear God (12:4-7)
12:4-5. Jesus goes on to speak to His disciples about fear. In any given situation, we will fear man or fear God. Jesus Himself is going to be put to death by the hands of sinful men. A disciple is not above his teacher. If they persecuted Jesus, they would persecute His disciples as well. So, Jesus now warns His disciples about the persecution they will face, and what they must do in order to be faithful to God.
Jesus tells His disciples here that it really doesn’t make any sense for them to be afraid of man, because the worst thing man can do to them is to kill their body. The very worst thing they can do to you, is actually the best thing for you, because it will usher you into the presence of Christ. Not only will you be in the presence of Christ, but that momentary, light affliction will produce for you an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison!
Instead, we should fear God, because not only can He kill our body, but He can cast us into hell for all eternity! Again, Jesus is directing their attention to Judgment Day. On that day, we will either hear, “Come you blessed of My Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” or we will hear, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” God alone has the authority to utter those words. Man can’t do it. Thus, it makes no sense for us to fear man. What should we be more concerned about? Our 70 or 80 years on earth, or our eternal future in heaven or hell?
12:6-7. Jesus knew that His disciples would not be able to overcome the fear of man easily, so He buttresses their faith by telling them about His Father. In Mt.10:29 it says that two sparrows are sold for one cent. Evidently, if a person bought four sparrows for two cents, they would throw another one in for free. These birds were ridiculously cheap, probably because there was not much meat on a sparrow to eat. Jesus goes on to tell them that they were more valuable than many sparrows. So, what is His point? Well, Jesus is teaching them about the character of God, as it relates to their persecutions.
God will not forget you in your suffering. Vs. 6 says that not one of these worthless little birds is forgotten before God. So, neither will you ever be forgotten by God. Never doubt in the midst of your darkness and pain that God has forgotten all about you and abandoned you! He hasn’t.
God knows all about your suffering. He says that God knows the very hairs of your head. In other words, God knows about every minute detail of your life. God sees your pain. God knows all about it. He is going through this suffering with you.
God has a plan in your suffering. In Mt. 10:29 Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.” What did He mean “apart from your Father”? I believe He meant, “apart from the will of your Father.” In other words, if God is going to allow you to face fierce persecution, even unto death, you can be absolutely sure that God won’t forget you, knows all about you, and has a good and wise plan in that suffering. God knows, God cares, and God purposes. Trust Him!
My friends, do you fear God? Do you really fear God? If we really feared God, we could not go on living in hypocrisy. Why not? Because we would understand that God sees us and the condition of our hearts, whether or not anyone else sees us or not. If we feared God, we would live uprightly and holy whether anyone else was around us or not. If we feared God, we would tremble at our sin, and make sure that we are living for God’s pleasure rather than the lusts of our flesh. If we feared God we would really believe that “it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb.10;31). The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You can’t even begin to receive wisdom until you fear God. At the very end of the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, verses 13-14, the preacher says this, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
3. Confess Christ (12:8-9)
12:8-9. Again Jesus is speaking about how His disciples must face persecution. They may be required to make a decision to either confess or deny Christ. This same scenario has played out many times over the centuries. The persecutors tell a Christian that if he is willing to deny Christ, they will set him free. However, whether or not he confesses or denies Christ in that situation has huge eternal ramifications. Jesus says that if he confesses Him before men, He will confess him before the angels of God. But if he denies Him before men he will be denied before the angels of God.
Think of what Jesus is saying! What would it mean for Jesus to deny you? J. C. Ryle answers that question like this: “He will refuse to acknowledge us as His people. He will disown us as cowards, faithless, and deserters. He will not plead for us. He will not be our Advocate. He will not deliver us from the wrath to come. He will leave us to reap the consequences of our cowardice, and to stand before the bar of God helpless, defenseless, and unforgiven.” Do you see how much is at stake in confessing Christ before men?
Romans 10:9 is a verse you have probably heard dozens of times in your Christian life. It is usually quoted in gospel tracts. We usually take it to mean that we must be willing to tell another person that Jesus Christ is our Lord to be saved. However, think of that verse of Scripture in the context of Luke 12. There it means we must be willing to confess Christ before men, even if it costs us our life! Our confession of Christ begins at our baptism. It continues throughout our life as we witness to others and share the gospel. And in some places of the world, it may even mean confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at the cost of your life.
How should we live in light of the Judgment? We should confess Jesus Christ before men, no matter what happens to us as a result.
4. Honor the Spirit (12:10-12)
12:10. Jesus speaks here of the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. This sin has caused multitudes of believers to tremble with fear, wondering whether they may have committed it. What exactly is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? This is a difficult question, and many possible answers have been set forth. One common answer is that the blasphemy of the Spirit is a continual and permanent resistance to the Holy Spirit, so that a person dies in their sins. However, I don’t think that can be the right answer to the question. The word “blaspheme” is a verb and it means “to speak evil of someone in such a way as to injure their reputation.” Notice, that to commit this sin you must speak. It’s not enough just to resist the influences of the Spirit. You must speak evil against the Spirit.
In both Matthew 12 and Mark 3, Jesus links the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit with what the religious leaders were doing when they said that Jesus was doing His miracles by the power of Satan. Jesus responds to them by telling them that He was casting out demons by the Spirit of God. In effect, these religious leaders were saying that the work of the Holy Spirit was really the work of Satan. They were speaking evil of the Holy Spirit. Now, Jesus does not say whether those religious leaders had committed blasphemy against the Spirit or not. Maybe they had or maybe they hadn’t. At the very least, they were getting dangerously close to committing that sin. It seems to me that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is speaking evil of the Holy Spirit so that He is so belittled that He withdraws His gracious influences forever, so that a person is never able to repent and be forgiven. Jesus is saying that a person can actually do that. They can speak so belittlingly of the Spirit, that He will withdraw, and they will never be able to repent and be forgiven.
Now, why is it just blasphemy against the Spirit that will never be forgiven? Matthew says it will not be forgiven either in this age or the age to come. Mark says the person is guilty of an eternal sin. Why can a person be forgiven by blaspheming Christ, but not the Spirit? I think the answer lies in the special role of the Spirit in bringing us to a place of forgiveness and justification before God. You see, the Father planned salvation, and the Son accomplished salvation, but the Spirit applies salvation. He does this by opening our eyes to the evil of our sin and the beauty of Christ. He works within, convicting us, and then granting repentance and faith, so that we receive a full and free forgiveness from God. So, why is this the only sin that won’t be forgiven? The simple answer is that if we speak so belittlingly against the Spirit after God has given us evidence and light, He will withdraw from us. In that case, we will never be able to repent and believe, because we can only do those things by His working in us. We can sin against Christ and still be forgiven if the Spirit graciously works within us to grant repentance. However, if we sin against the Spirit to the point where He permanently withdraws from us, we have fallen over the precipice. There is no hope for us. We are eternally undone!
Now, how can a person know if they have committed that sin or not? It’s very simple. If they can still repent of their sins and trust in Jesus, they have not committed that sin. If you are worried about possibly committing this sin, set about repenting of your sin. As long as you can do that, you haven’t committed it.
12:11-12. Again, Jesus goes back to the theme of His disciples facing persecution. He has dealt with this in verse 4 by speaking of those who can kill the body. Then he dealt with it in verse 9 by speaking of those who will be tempted to deny Christ. Now He deals with it by speaking of being brought before synagogues and rulers and authorities.
Jesus lets His disciples know that persecution is coming. He says “when” they bring you before synagogues. And the people who will be bringing the persecution are the religious leaders of Israel! We know this because Jesus says they will be brought before synagogues, which was the meeting place for Jews on the Sabbath.
Jesus’ instruction to His disciples was not to worry about what they should say in their defense. They don’t have to be concerned about how to defend themselves. The Holy Spirit will teach them what they ought to say. Now, this is in no way an encouragement for lazy preachers or evangelists not to study the Scriptures or to carefully prepare their sermons, but just to fly by the seat of their pants when they preach! However, it is an encouragement to Christians who are being persecuted and brought before the authorities. The Holy Spirit will teach them what to say in that hour. What a wonderful promise!
Notice that Jesus has mentioned the Holy Spirit twice in verses 10-12. On the one hand He warns them of the possibility of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. On the other hand He assures them of the special help and assistance of the Holy Spirit. In both of these examples, the principle is clear – honor the Spirit! Never belittle Him by speaking evil of Him! Beware of sinning away His gracious influences. At the same time, take comfort in His indwelling presence and His empowering you to speak just what you need to say in your greatest moment of need. The Holy Spirit is God, and we must honor Him as God!
Conclusion
Folks, we all know that our circumstances are far different from those original disciples of the first century. Whereas, they had to face overt persecution, which could include beatings, stonings, mobs, riots, and even death, the persecution we face is pretty tame. Considering the downhill moral slide that America has been experiencing for the last couple of generations, I think is very likely that we, too, will get to the place here where Christians are regularly persecuted for their faith. 2 Tim. 3:12 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” That persecution will either be low level, like we experience here in the U.S. or high level like our brothers and sisters face in the Middle East and North Korea and elsewhere. But all who are all out for Christ will face some form of persecution. In our lives, perhaps it means being shunned by neighbors we try to share the gospel with, or being fired because we refuse to lie and cheat to make money for the company, or being the butt of other’s jokes, or being called a “Jesus Freak.” I have personally experienced several of those forms of low-level persecution as a believer. So, how do we face these trials and forms of mistreatment in light of Judgment Day approaching?
- Flee Hypocrisy. When you see seeds of hypocrisy sprouting up in your life, weed them out! Become honest about your failures and sins. Determine that you are not going to wear a mask, or be a pretender, in order to look good. Tim Keller has put it this way: “We are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, yet more loved and accepted in Jesus than we ever dared hope.” Just relax and rest in Jesus. Don’t try to put on an act. Just live for Christ, knowing you are both sinful and justified simultaneously.
- Fear God. Folks, let’s determine that we will cultivate this godly fear of God. Let’s truly believe that apart from God’s grace, we would find ourselves cast into eternal hell. Let’s understand that our God is a consuming fire. He is not in our hands to do whatever we wish. We are in His hands, and He can do with us whatever He wishes! Develop a sense of God’s presence in your life 24/7, so that the gap between your reputation and your character dissolves.
- Confess Christ. I challenge you to begin boldly confessing Christ to others. How many friendships or relationships have we had where we knew someone for a year or five years, or 20 years, and never shared the gospel with them?! Think about the people in your life who are far from God – family, neighbors, co-workers. Are you really going to go your whole life, and let them die and slip into eternity without sharing the gospel with them? How cruel and unloving can a human being be to a fellow human being?!
- Honor the Spirit. Resolve that you will never speak against the Holy Spirit. He is God. As such He should be honored, loved, depended on, and worshiped. His job is to exalt Jesus, so the more you exalt Christ, the more you honor Him.
Let’s pray.
______________________________
© The Bridge
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by The Bridge.
Follow Us!