Remaining Consistent Until The End. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #106 (Luke 12:35-48)

What I’m about to say is something that I have been noticing and pointing out since Luke 11:14. I know that it seems that I am beating on the same drum but we have seen our Lord Jesus teach so much on the two different kingdoms since that moment. In reality He will stay in that focus of teaching it seems here but with a slight turn in a different direction as He looks now to show that the true follower will remain consistent until the time of His return.

I think it is important to point out that this Scripture is not giving any eschatological viewpoint or should not be viewed as things that we can look at to determine the timing of the Lord’s return. This teaching I believe stays true to the context that we have seen since chapter 11. What our Lord does here is shows that a true follower of His will in fact stay consistent in the way He or she serves. This does not speak of a person that finds a path of perfection but rather the path of serving God consistently throughout our lives.

This teaching could very well show the truth that comes with the perseverance of the saints that we hold to. The fact is that a true follower of the Lord will not fail to continue in what God has called them to do. There may be times of disobedience and rebellion but in the end, the true follower of Christ will be seen as one that has served well. There is so much to speak of concerning this topic so let’s look now at our first point.

1.The PREPARED SLAVE is blessed.
Look with me at Luke 12:35-40 that says “Gird up your loins, and keep your lamps lit. ³⁶ And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find awake when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. ³⁸ Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. ³⁹ “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰ You too, be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”

There is one thing for sure in this text that we can not ignore and that is the fact that Jesus will return one day. Like I said in the introduction of this study, the return of our Lord is only seen here as a secondary teaching within this section of Scripture. The primary teaching comes with the first words we see here from Luke 12:35 which is Gird up your loins, and keep your lamps lit.

These words set up the foundation of what Jesus is going to teach on moving forward in this section. These words are words of readiness and preparation. This is a warning to remain focused and consistent in how you are living as a follower of the Lord Jesus. There are many people that call themselves Christians but few that actually live as if they are following Him. The fact is Jesus uses His second coming as an example of why a person should remain faithful until the end. I know many people don’t like the thought of this doctrine but it must be taught as we see our Lord address it here.

This shows to us that we are to remain faithful and many wonder at how we can do that with so much that pulls us away into sin and bad decisions. Even though Jesus does not directly explain that part of it here what we see is the command to be ready and prepared at all times. Just a side note, I believe we see in the whole of Scripture that this is only possible because of the work of God in each believer through the Holy Spirit.

We see verses like Philippians 1:6 that says And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:3-5 says Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Also Jesus specifically says in John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

These verses and many more speak of God holding on to, guarding, keeping and completing the saint until the end. But from our standpoint we do not just sit around in hopes that we are God’s elect. No, if we are truly saved and a recipient of eternal life then we have within us the Holy Spirit that drives us to good works and repentance from the sins we live in.

I think we see this so clear from both the fact that we are to live in obedience to God and that God will be working in us from Philippians 2:12-13 that says So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

I hope this has helped us to realize that what Jesus is saying in our Luke text is from the standpoint of our working out our own salvation, not the working for but the working out in sanctification as God works in us.

It is then that Jesus shares a story to help in understand in the importance of remaining consistent. Jesus says in Luke 12:36-38 And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find awake when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. ³⁸ Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

The person that is a true Christian, the person that is living their life for God in truth will always be ready. They will not be looking for excuses to get out of the work they are called to do, they will not be slothful to fulfill the call on their life but will rather be ready to serve at the time that they have been given. But there will be many that live in that way of slothfulness and hypocrisy. I believe this again is a distinction that Jesus is pointing out from the standpoint of the religious leader that say they do the work of God to contrast with those that actually are.

The fact is that you can fool others but you will never fool God. Remember when Jesus said in the parable of the rich fool that God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you prepared?’

Here Jesus says something that goes along with that very thought. He says in Luke 12:39-40 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰ You too, be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”

Don’t think that your hypocrisy will not be exposed. It will be at a time when you are slothful, disobedient and uncaring for what God commands that your life will be exposed as hypocritical. Therefore we must remain prepared, ready and consistent. This moves us to look now at our next point.

2.The OBEDIENT SLAVE is blessed.
Look with me at Luke 12:41-44 that says Now Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” ⁴² And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and prudent steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? ⁴³ Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁴ Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

We looked at the point of being prepared in our first point and now we see the importance of our faithfulness in obedience. The readiness and prepared saint will be living in obedience but the last point really showed us more of the preparation where we will now see the actual action that comes along with that preparation.

What we see here first is that Peter asks our Lord, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?”

I believe Peter is asking this because as we all do, he recognizes his lack of preparation and obedience to the Lord. Then again he may be thinking to highly of himself having in mind that he really doesn’t need this instruction. I tend to think along the lines of the first. I think Peter was wanting some type of confirmation from our Lord concerning his own preparation.

This question is answered by our Lord in what we see in Luke 12:42-48. We will look first in Luke 12:42-44 that says “Who then is the faithful and prudent steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? ⁴³ Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁴ Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

The key to understanding the first part of this answer is to see the key words which we see as faithful, prudent and the slave who is doing what was commanded of him. This is not a slothful slave nor a slave that looks for opportunities to do opposite of what has been commanded. This slave is found to be loyal, acting in wisdom to discern the proper way to live and act. This is a picture of how we as Christians should be living out our lives. Not in a way that is dishonoring to our Lord but rather honoring to Him so when He comes we will be blessed by Him.

The story that Jesus shares here gives us some insight to the truths of eternal life. He says here that Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

This statement is not meant to be a dogmatic, all inclusive statement showing that we will rule the world but rather that when we enter into eternity we will in fact be given all of the promises that have been spoken of concerning our salvation. God will not withhold from us anything but will give to us all that pertains to His promises of eternal life.

Before moving on I want to point out the importance of that word doing in verse 43. It is the doing and the preparation of serving the master that is contrasted in our next point. For people that think that just going to church, sitting in a pew, singing a few songs and going back home is what is meant by living out the Christian life, then this next point is one you really need to pay attention to.

3.The DISOBEDIENT and UNCARING SLAVE is punished.
Look with me at Luke 12:45-48 that says But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, ⁴⁶ the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. ⁴⁷ And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many beatings, ⁴⁸ but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a beating, will receive but a few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

To start off I do want to point out that we see this person also called a slave. Many people will try to use this as some type of proof that all people are truly God’s children but that is not what is meant by this at all. In fact whether or not you are an obedient Christian or a disobedient atheists, you are still a slave to the Lord because He is Lord regardless of your obedience. He may not be your Lord in deed and action but He is Lord and nothing can change that.

So here we see that this slave notices that his master is delayed in his coming. In fact this slave has decided that this master is probably never coming back therefore the slave begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk.

Let me just say that these actions are not actions of a person that is a part of the kingdom of God but rather of the kingdom of Satan. Notice also that Jesus shows that this type of action will not be overlooked because this slave knew of his master or in other words because you “know Jesus”. Jesus says in Luke 12:46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

This slave will be given no mercy because he is as one that never heard or an unbeliever. The problem was that this slave was not ignorant to his master’s will. In fact what we see is that there will be punishment for the one that knew and the one that did not know the will. In other words this covers those that sit in the church week after week and the others that never have been in a church. Jesus says in Luke 12:47-48 And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many beatings, ⁴⁸ but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a beating, will receive but a few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

Just because you say you are a part of the kingdom does not prove that you are. Your actions, your life, the way you live shows that truth. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. ²² Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

The lawless or disobedient slave will be cast into Hell while the obedient slave will be rewarded and blessed. This is not speaking of works righteousness salvation but rather the proof of the person you truly are. Again we can conclude that you are either living in God’s kingdom or the kingdom of Satan. Which one are you in? The one living for Christ or the one living for self with a little religion mixed in.

What Fellowship With The Father And Son Gives To Us. EXPOSITION ON THE BOOK OF 1 JOHN study #3 (1 John 1:3-4)

We are just now diving into the 3rd verse for this study and we already have a great sense for what John is trying to convey to us. This letter is pointed towards the work of God through the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. John has plainly communicated that his own testimony is from the standpoint of the fact that he heard, saw, beheld and even touched the very Word of Life we know to be Jesus Christ. There is no doubt to his original audience and to us that he is showing that he was in fact there with Jesus at the time of His ministry.

He then moved into the action of proclaiming these truth to others. It was and still is highly important that we proclaim the good news of the Gospel. John makes the point that this very Gospel was manifested to them not just in some hidden, secret form but in the life that was manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ. John is making the Gospel essential to this writing and must be the focus of every evangelical work that we do.

So John continues on this idea of proclamation with a connection to being in fellowship with himself and those along side with him in ministry. Then that fellowship is also actual with the Father and the Son. Then we will see also that this fellowship is what will give to us one of the reasons that John is writing this letter in the first place and that is in bringing to us a joy that is complete. Let’s move now into our first point for this study.

1.Fellowship with FELLOW CHRISTIANS.
Look with me at 1 John 1:3a that says what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you may also have fellowship with us.

We stop midway through this verse to look at the fact that the Christian life is not meant to be lived out in isolation or in a place of separation from other people. The idea of becoming a monk that separates themselves from society is far from anything Biblical. I can even speak from experience that even going to a church does not provide the fellowship that is meant by this verse. Most people think of fellowship as a gathering in the same room or some meal before or after a church service. I can agree that those things can be good times of fellowship but we have to go outside of our cultural definition to see what it is that John is speaking of here.

The Greek word for fellowship here is koinónia (koy-nohn-ee’-ah) which points towards ¹what is shared in common as the basis of fellowship (partnership, community). This word brings along an intimate partnership that is common with those that are in the gathering. A partnership means participation in that gathering. The idea here is not in just sharing a meal before or after a church service but rather the common reason why you are coming together in the first place. That points to what John said at the beginning of this verse when he said what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also.

The very thing that has been proclaimed is the Good News of the Gospel. This Good News is that we have a Savior who is Jesus Christ. If the Gospel is not central in everything we do within the “church” then we fail to follow the pattern set before us here. Some people may thing that the Gospel is central to what they are doing because they “believe” in Jesus or they “love” Jesus but the real proof of that will be in the actions of the fulfillment of the Great Commission, the real worship of God and the exaltation of Jesus as Lord and Savior.

So this fellowship is specific and central to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest example of this fellowship is seen at the beginning of the church in Acts. We read in Acts 2:42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.

We see that there is a distinction in a teaching time, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer time. These are all essential to church life but so often we mix them together in different forms. Fellowship was much more than just a time of eating together. In fact I think we see further proof of what this fellowship looks like from what Acts 2:44-47 says, it says And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵ and they began selling their property and possessions and were dividing them up with all, as anyone might have need. ⁴⁶ And daily devoting themselves with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

I bring all of this to our attention because I want us to realize what fellowship John is speaking of when he says it here concerning the fellowship that salvation gives to us as believers. But this is only one form of the fellowship mentioned here. I believe this Christian fellowship is only possible because of the work of the Holy Spirit in each of us. In a section of Scripture where Paul is expressing to the Philippians the need for unity, he says in Philippians 2:1-5 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, ² fulfill my joy, that you think the same way, by maintaining the same love, being united in spirit, thinking on one purpose, ³ doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves, ⁴ not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Unity in the church is brought about because of the fellowship we have with the Holy Spirit that lives in us. This fellowship with the Holy Spirit is not just some act of saying a prayer or going to church but rather in a partnership with the Holy Spirit. As He leads we are to be obedient and this leads us to being likeminded to form this unity and fellowship with other believers.

Well I have spent way to long on this point but we have in this point established what Christian unity and fellowship is and how that relates to the Holy Spirit. Now we will see the unity that connects us to both the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in our next two points.

2.Fellowship with the FATHER.
Look with me at 1 John 1:3a as we go a little further, it says there what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father.

If you haven’t noticed I believe we see terms here that show to us that salvation brings fellowship with the Holy Spirit that is worked out practically in Christian fellowship and also with the Father and the Son as well. Here we will see that we not only have Christian fellowship but also fellowship with the Father. This is very important to the doctrine of salvation. We do not just get the penalty of our sins paid for through Christ but we also have fellowship with the Father. Before we had no fellowship with the Father. We had nothing but hate for God, hate for all that God has commanded before salvation.

In fact I think this is so clearly seen in what Paul says in Romans 5:6-11 that says For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹ And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

We were enemies of God but now we have been reconciled by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation has brought to us a fellowship to the Father that we did not have before. Colossians 1:21-22 says And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in mind and in evil deeds, ²² but now He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.

Any Gospel presentation must not only include the act of the death and resurrection of our Lord but with it shows us the need of the Savior. We could in no way reconcile with God on our own, we in no way could make a peace treaty with God, we need Christ, we need to know that we are enemies of God in our natural state. What Christ did brings us reconciliation and fellowship with the Father that we can not and would never be able to pursue on our own. This brings us to look now at our next point for this study.

3.Fellowship with the SON.
Look with me at the whole of 1 John 1:3 with our focus on the last part, it says what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

I am not trying to bring into this the belief of God in three Person here but I think the distinction can not be overlooked here. Yes we see here the distinction the Son has from the Father. They are not spoken of as the same Person but distinct. This of course does not mean we have different Gods or Beings but different Persons with different roles in the Triune Godhead. I could use this section to show this distinction more than I have but I will stick to the subject of the fellowship we see we have now with God’s Son Jesus Christ.

I think an answer to the question of what was your relationship to Christ before your salvation gives us a view of what salvation has given to us in the area of fellowship with the Son. I think we recognize that our fellowship with the Son was no more intact before salvation that our fellowship with the Father. We truly did not love Christ, we disobeyed Christ, we may have looked at Christ as a Savior but not Lord. We did not want to or desire to follow Christ’s commands and therefore we were in a place of hatred towards Christ and disobedience to the call of salvation that He provides. 1 Corinthians 1:9 says God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

This shows us that it is God who calls us to this fellowship with the Son. The Son was the One that died on the cross, and resurrected bringing us the reconciliation to the Father. But it is the Father that draws us, calls us into fellowship with His Son. It is nothing we do on our own or would even desire to have because salvation is more than just deliverance from Hell. Salvation gives God glory, it exalts the Son, it is worked out by the Spirit.

When I think of the fellowship that we now have with Jesus I look at what Paul speak of in Romans 6. In Romans 6 we see that our relationship to sin and to Christ changes because of the salvation that we have in Christ. Our relationship and fellowship with sin before we were saved was that of love for sin and self. The argument of a self righteous professing Christian would ask what we see in Romans 6:1 where Paul says What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

The love of sin is so clearly seen here. People want to stay in sin so much that they would ask or even suggest that by staying in sin we are actually giving God the opportunity to display His grace all the more. But Paul shuts that thinking down quickly by saying in Romans 6:2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

The point I am trying to make here is that sin is what we had fellowship with before but now we are to have fellowship with Christ which is seen in a life that is turning from sin. He continues on in Romans 6:5-6 by saying For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷ for he who has died has been justified from sin.

I wish I could just sit here in Romans 6 for a while but that would belabor the point. The fact is seen here that our fellowship with the Son is in repenting from sinful behaviors and following our new Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 6:11 says Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Our fellowship with the Son is in our obedience to His Lordship. This leads us to briefly look at our last point.

4.Fellowship that COMPLETES OUR JOY.
Look with me at 1 John 1:4 that says And these things we are writing, so that our joy may be made complete.

This is one of the verses we saw in our very first study in 1 John. This shows to us the reason for this writing but it also is included in the context of the salvation that he has already been speaking of. The theme of fellowship will again come up in the next section and throughout this letter. But here we see that this letter is meant to bring to us joy that is made complete.

This joy we have is in direct connection of the recognition of God’s work in salvation towards us. This joy points to the fact that we can have confidence in salvation because it is not dependent on our deeds or works. The obvious connection to this verse will be seen all throughout this letter so be certain that we will see this verse over and over again within our study of this great book of the Bible.

There is much we could say concerning this joy but for now we will finish this study with the thoughts that I believe says it all concerning the joy we should have. I close with 1 Peter 1:8-9 that says And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, ⁹ receiving as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

I hope that you can see that salvation has given to us this joy , love and fellowship with the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and fellow Christians.

1. https://biblehub.com/greek/2842.htm ↩︎

Seeking God’s Kingdom, Not Earthly Treasures. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #105 (Luke 12:22-34)

We are looking to cover a pretty long section here in this study with the point of making sure we are living in a way that is seeking God and not earthly treasures. We come off of the context we looked at in our last study. We finished off with Luke 12:20-21 that says But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you prepared?’ ²¹ So is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

This really takes us back to the concept of those two kingdoms that we have been speaking of since chapter 11. You will either be living for earthly treasures or heavenly treasures. You will either be storing up riches for self or being rich towards God. Now this does not mean that we are giving our money to God or anything like that. This is meaning our ability to trust God instead of ourselves.

We looked at the parable of the rich fool in our last study where we saw that at some point our lives will come to an end. If all you have ever done is chase after earthly wealth then what good is that at that point of death. Jesus refers to this type of person as a fool because they have trusted their own wealth and abilities over God.

In this study we will look at what it means to seek God’s kingdom or in other words what it means to be rich towards God. This will be the content for this study so let’s look now at our first point concerning this topic.

For a parallel reading of this section go to Matthew 6:25-34.

1.Seek God’s Kingdom by TRUSTING GOD.
Look with me at Luke 12:22-24 that says And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴ Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!

And then 27-28 that says Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. ²⁸ But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You of little faith! 

As you can see with these verses I am using here that we will not be going in exact sequential order in our text. I did this to stay true to the content that we will deal with in each point. Here what we notice is a command to trust God in every area of our life. Remember we must take what we see within the context of what Jesus has been speaking on in the last section in our text. Really if we go back to the beginning of this chapter we see the need to fear God and not man. This sets up all that we have seen in this chapter so far.

We have seen in this chapter that we must trust God even when persecuted and even threatened to be killed for the faith. This was a near reality for much of Jesus’ followers in Jesus’ time. We also must trust God by living out our life as a Christian before others in spite of those threats and we must trust God over earthly treasures.

It is this last statement that we continue in this study. Notice what Jesus says at the beginning here, He says in Luke 12:22-23 “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

This sounds a lot like what He said in our previous section when He said in Luke 12:15b for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.

We must keep in mind that the life we have here is only temporary. That was a point in our last study and it has to be something we keep in our mind as Christians. It is easy to get caught up into the things of this life, especially when we are faced with difficulties that hinder normal life. The original audience of our Lord would have in fact faced this danger just months down the road that would last until some of them lost their life.

Not only in this type of extreme situations should we trust God but also in every day life. Jesus first says in Luke 12:25 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!

Then we skip down to verses 27-28 that says Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. ²⁸ But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You of little faith! 

These are the necessities of life, both food and clothing. In their time this is all they worried about, they did not worry with the latest fad or the latest popular fashion statement. The struggle for food and clothing was a reality because they were dependent to provide these things for themselves for the most part. They did not have stores like we do even though there were some markets that provided minimal food and clothing resources.

For the most part this would be what consumed their life. If this was a struggle in normal conditions then this would definitely be a struggle in conditions where they were to be persecuted for following Jesus. This point is very clear which shows to us that we do not trust in our own ability or in the accumulation of the things we have.

To finish off this point I want to look briefly at what Jesus says at the end of verse 28 where He says You of little faith! Here I believe we see the reality of the disciple’s condition. It is no different with us as well because we too are people of little faith. We struggle to deal with the smallest matters sometimes and it is for this reason we will look at what our next point says here.

2.Seek God’s Kingdom by NOT WORRYING.
Look with me at Luke 12:25-26 that says And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span? ²⁶ Therefore, if you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?

And then verse 29 that says And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying.

Here again we see another concept in how we are to seek God’s Kingdom. We learned we must trust God for our necessities of life and now we see that we do this by not hanging on to worry and anxiousness. The fact is that we can’t trust God and worry at the same time. We will either be worrying about a situation or trusting God. Yes there are times we may have questions about difficult doctrines that need to be answered but those answers should never determine our trust in God.

The reality about worry is that this hinders our ability to truly trust God. The other thing is the obvious thing that we see Jesus says here. Look again at what Jesus said in Luke 12:25 And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span?

The answer to this question is obvious and that is a big NOTHING. Worrying about something does not change the truth about that situation. So we see Jesus says in verse 26 Therefore, if you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?

The rhetorical question implies that we do not need to worry. When we go down to Luke 12:29 we see that Jesus says And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying.

Philippians 4:6 tells us do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Instead of living our life in constant worry and stress we need to follow what Psalm 55:22 says Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

We turn from trust in ourselves and turn to God. We learned first that we are to trust God but the only way we can do that is to quit trusting in ourselves. Trusting in ourselves does nothing but brings to us worry and anxiousness. But we can trust God not just because He says too, even though that is a good enough reason to, but because He is in control of our lives. This is what we will look into in our next point for this study.

3. Seek God’s Kingdom by knowing HE IS SOVEREIGN.
Look with me at Luke 12:30-32 that says For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek, but your Father knows that you need these things. ³¹ But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. ³² Do not fear, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom.

God’s kingdom is not like the world’s. Our views, our lives, our beliefs should not run in agreement with the world’s views on what sin is, who God is and how to attain eternal life. Our life should not be seen as one that is lived out for the abundance of earthly wealth and possessions. It isn’t that we forsake jobs or the use of our skills to provide for what we have but that we see that it is God that has provided to us the abilities and jobs we have.

We notice that Jesus says that these things the nations of the world eagerly seek. The word seek here is the Greek word epizéteó (ep-eed-zay-teh’-o) which shows to us a personal, intense desire to seek after something. So we see it isn’t that we just sit around not working and then expect God to provide. We can and should use our skills given to us. But at the same time we must not use our skills to seek after these worldly things that end up taking the place of God in most peoples lives. Instead we trust in God’s sovereignty. Jesus says but your Father knows that you need these things.

It is for this reason that we turn to God’s way instead of our own. He knows what is best for us and what we need so Jesus says in Luke 12:31 But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

In Matthew’s account we see an addition to what Jesus says here. Matthew 6:34 says So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

If we are seeking God’s kingdom then we have no reason to worry. In fact there will be things throughout our lifetime and even in everyday that will cause trouble and problems so we should know to not worry about the necessities that God will in fact provide for us.

In our Luke text we see right after this statement that Jesus says in Luke 12:32 Do not fear, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom.

There is that wording that we continue to see, that is to not fear. We do not fear because the promises that we have been given will come to pass. In fact salvation and eternal life(God’s kingdom) is what God has willed for us that trust in Christ as Savior and Lord. It is pleasing to God to give to us what He has willed and planned therefore we need to not worry about these things but trust in His sovereignty, His promises and His plan for us. This leads us to look at the last section briefly that will show to us how this affects us.

4.Seeking God’s Kingdom shows up in your ACTIONS.
Look with me at Luke 12:33-34 that says “Sell your possessions and give it as charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This is not a command for everyone that is a Christian to never have any type of possessions. This again is in opposition to the religious leaders that were living in such luxury while the common people were suffering. The idea is that of a saying that shows to them the importance of not trusting in personal possessions but instead trusting in the promise that God will take care of your every need.

To end this study look again at what Jesus says here in Luke 12:34 where He says For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

If you are seeking after earthly and worldly wealth alone then that is what you will be living for. But if you are seeking God’s kingdom then that is what you will be living for. You can say you love God more than anything in the world but in reality what you are living for shows up in the actions you take. If you are a Christian then your life will be in battling against yourself most often. You will want at times to live for the flesh, the world and the earthly things but if you continue to seek God’s kingdom then you will find yourself turning from those things more often. It is really with this thought of consistent living for God and seeking His kingdom that we will move into our next section as we move into our study for next time.

Eternal Life Through The Word of Life. EXPOSITION ON THE BOOK OF 1 JOHN study #2 (1 John 1:1-2)

With a good look at the writer, the audience and the reason for this letter we will now look into the contents of this letter with just the first 2 verses for this study. It will be obvious from the beginning that John is not beating around the bush concerning the focus of this letter. He starts out with a proclamation of Jesus as the Son of God just as he does in the Gospel written by him as well. We will draw comparisons at times from the Gospel according to John because there is so much similarity in what John says concerning Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah.

The first section of this epistle really starts off bringing his audience to a place of recognizing their place in the Kingdom of God. They are in fellowship with God and with His people. Much of this is seen all the way through verse 7 of this first chapter but as usual we will take several studies to unfold the truth within this section and this first chapter.

Our focus for this study will be noticing the eternal life that is given through Jesus Christ our Lord. John connects his own personal encounter with Jesus that will tie to the idea of proclaiming this message of the Gospel. All of this will be seen in this study as we dive into the first 2 verses and look now at our first point.

1.John’s PERSONAL connection with Jesus.
Look with me at 1 John 1:1-2a that says What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— ² and the life was manifested, and we have seen.

This point will focus to some extent on John’s personal connection to Jesus but the focus will definitely be on what John says about Jesus here. The first thing I know some people might say is that he doesn’t mention Jesus’ name here so how can we be certain that this is who he is speaking of. Just like I already mentioned we will look at some of the Gospel of John as well because the Gospel that he wrote gives us some details to what he is speaking about here. In other words he would have no reason to go into detail over and over again about who he is speaking of because his audience would be familiar with the terminology he is speaking of here.

Look at how he starts here, he says What was from the beginning. This sets the tone for this entire section and the entire book. This letter is not about John and his experience but rather about the One who was from the beginning.

We know that Genesis 1:1 starts with In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This places God as the subject of John’s epistle. But we also know that John says in John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God.

This opening of the Gospel according to John places Jesus as in the beginning because He too is God. He is the Son of God and that brings us to look at the fact that the Holy Spirit was as well in the beginning. Genesis 1:2 says And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Clearly this letter is pointed towards God and not man. The application of this letter will guide us to know God more but the focus must always be on God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. John does not look to make this his own personal letter but within this opening we see that he does have a personal connection with God. Look again at what he says in 1 John 1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life.

This shows that he was in direct connection with God. But this seems to be something that is impossible since we as sinful humans cannot be in the presence of God. We know that God tells Moses in Exodus 33:20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

But then we see that the only way a person can be in the presence of God is if God is veiled in some way. John 1:18 says No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

This ties in to what John says at the beginning of verse 2 here in 1 John where he says and the life was manifested.

The life that he speaks of is the Word of life he mentions at the end of verse 1. John says in John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This idea is not something new for John or his audience but is the reality of why he has a personal connection with God. It is the incarnation of Jesus that gives to John the personal connection and the very reason why he heard, saw and even touched God. It is this point that we will pick up in a little more detail as we move to our second point.

2.The PHYSICAL life of Jesus.
Look with me at 1 John 1:2a again that says and the life was manifested, and we have seen.

I really think that we can’t just bypass this little section of Scripture without showing the importance of Jesus being God that came to life in human form. Most religions, even some that claim to be Christian has Jesus as a prophet or a good teacher but it is true Christianity that teaches that Jesus is God in the flesh. In fact without this truth of the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus we would have no hope, no promise of eternal life and no salvation.

We haven’t got deep into this epistle yet but what we will see throughout this epistle is the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, that is He is God incarnate. In our next study we will see that 1 John 1:3 says what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

We will also see in 1 John 2:22-23 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

Also we will see 1 John 4:15 that says Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

We have already mentioned in our first study verses like 1 John 2:26 that says These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 

And also 1 John 5:13 that says These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

I wanted to expound on this point because if we do not recognize that Jesus is God in the flesh then we have a different Jesus. He is the Son of God, He is God, He is equal with God. This is not a secondary doctrine that can be overlooked. If someone is teaching that Jesus is just a prophet, just a man that became a god or just a good teacher then they are preaching a different Jesus. If you have a different Jesus then you have a different Gospel. We must hold to what the Bible says about Jesus. Colossians 2:8-9 says See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily.

As we already mentioned in our first point and we need to notice again here that John 1:14 says And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 1:3 that Jesus is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Also Paul says in Philippians 2:5-8 Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men. ⁸ Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

We could go on and on with verse after verse of this great truth but I believe we see the point here. Jesus is God in the flesh and if we do not have this doctrine at the center of the Gospel then we have a different Gospel and a different Jesus. Paul warns the people in Galatia in Galatians 1:6-9 of this danger in false teaching when he says I marvel that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, ⁷ which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed! ⁹ As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is proclaiming to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed!

I say all of this to show the very fact that John in this epistle is laying down truths of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s work in eternal life and in sanctification. John had an up close and personal connection with Jesus. We too who have been saved have a connection with Jesus that is not like people of the world. We have the message of the Gospel, the message of eternal life that we too must share with others. The Holy Spirit lives in us so that we can be empowered to share this message. This is the point that John makes next and really will continue even in the next study. Let’s look at our last point for this study.

3.The PROCLAMATION of eternal life in Jesus.
Look with me at 1 John 1:2 with our focus on the last part, it says and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.

This point really brings us to the real reason for what he has already said. Yes John clearly wants to exalt and glorify God, yes he wants to share the fact that Jesus was real, yes he shares that he was not just some bystander but involved in the ministry of the Lord Jesus but ultimately his goal is in sharing this good news of the Gospel. John wants his readers to understand that eternal life only comes through Jesus, His life, His death and His resurrection.

He uses the Greek word martureó (mar-too-reh’-o) for the phrase we see as bear witness. This word means to give evidence to or to testify to something. He also uses the Greek word apaggelló (ap-ang-el’-lo) for the word we see as proclaim. This word focuses on the original source shaping the substance of what is announced.

This means that he is not pulling from external sources but is testifying directly from his own personal encounter. This message is about eternal life which has came from the Father and was manifested to us he says.

John was there, he saw Jesus’ life, he was at the cross when Jesus died, he went to the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection, he saw the Lord after the resurrection on multiple occasions, he saw Jesus ascend into Heaven. John says at the end of the Gospel according to John in John 21:24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his witness is true.

He knows that Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah is true because he saw it fulfilled before his eyes. It is with that truth that he reaches out to proclaim that eternal life comes from the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.

This will move us into the next several verses in our next study that will focus more on the fellowship we have as the body of Christ with the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and fellow Christians.

Warnings Against Earthly Greed(Parable Of The Rich Fool). EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #104 (Luke 12:13-21)

Here in our text for this study we have a unique section of Scripture that we only have in the Gospel according to Luke. Even though the principle behind the parable that we will study is seen throughout the Bible we can go nowhere else other than this text to learn of what Jesus is speaking concerning this parable. With that said the meaning is not hard to understand as we will see as we look at this section of Scripture.

This section seems to introduce a shift in the topic to some extent from what we have seen since early in the 11th chapter. I believe we move away from the idea of hypocrisy to learning of what living for God actually looks like. With that we do see Jesus use the opposition to warn against certain practices that should not be a part of our life as followers of His. Even though the topic changes to some extent I still see within this text a push against the religious leaders of Judaism in the area of seeking earthly wealth and prestige.

In the this study we will look at the negative aspect of seeking earthly wealth and then shift to seeking God and His Kingdom in the next study. I believe that this moves us to a place of understanding of what it looks like when we are actually living for God and not man-made religion.

We will notice that the topic is concerning greed. Greed shows up in a desire to have something with intensity that is selfish. Greed moves people to cheat, steal and even kill. In the time of Jesus the religious leaders of Judaism were wealthy while the common people were living in poverty very often. They had built a religion that took from the poor to give to the rich so this topic was relevant then as it is today. Many of the people in Jesus’ audience would have thought that it was right to do whatever possible to reach the status of earthly wealth. As we will see Jesus teaches against this notion that stems from a statement towards Him concerning family inheritance. Let’s look now at our first point for this study.

1.Greed is SELFISH.
Look with me at Luke 12:13-14 that says And someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

We live in a world that is full of selfishness and greed to the point that people embezzle money from their employers, they steal money by cheating on their timesheets and their taxes, others seek retribution from people that have never done any wrong towards them, others kill for money, steal and harm other people. Some of these very things have happened in our governments, businesses and even religious establishments. Greed is a silent killer that seeks to destroy.

It seems that greed is the central motivation for the statement we see pointed towards Jesus even though I think there are many issues with the way this person approaches Jesus. Let’s look again at how our text starts here in Luke 12:13 that says And someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”

To start off with this seems like a very simple statement by this person in the crowd. It seems logical by nature in fact. But what we do not have is the reason why this person seeks for their brother to divide the family inheritance. As far as we know this person had been disowned by his family prior to this. This person could have sold his share years ago meaning he was not entitled to the inheritance. I see something from what Jesus says that shows that this man was only seeking this division of the inheritance because of his own greed. Maybe this man had all that he needed and then some but still looked to have something that wasn’t his. I believe within the context of the remainder of the story this may be the case even though I can’t be dogmatic on that point.

There does seem to be another motivation for this person to approach Jesus with this issue. I believe we see in this another attempt by someone to make Jesus some type of social Messiah. They wanted Him to be in a place of rule and authority because they saw his compassion and love, They felt they could get more from Him than they could their own leaders and governing authorities.

So again all of this points to a selfish motive to come to Jesus with such a demanding statement to command his brother to divide the family inheritance. But as always Jesus did not fall into the trap but rather said to the man in Luke 12:14 “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

Jesus did not come to Earth to settle our family disputes and disagreements. Jesus speaks a very quick and to the point question that really needs no answer along with it. The point I believe Jesus makes from the start here is that He is not getting involved in social matters of this nature but instead will deal with the real problem that we see here with this man and the system. This is what He addresses as we look at our next point.

2.Greed is DANGEROUS.
Look with me at Luke 12:15 that says Then He said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”

The real issue in this situation was not whether or not this man was being mistreated by his brother. The real issue is seen in the motivation of the very reason why Jesus was approached by this man. The issue was that this man was greedy. How do we know that? Well Jesus is the Son of God knows all things to start with. Remember we have pointed out many times what John 2:24-25 says, it says But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, ²⁵ and because He had no need that anyone bear witness concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

Jesus knew the real reason and the very motivation of this man’s attempt to get Jesus involved in this family situation. It wasn’t so much that this man was being mistreated but rather that he was greedy. So instead of speaking to this man directly concerning this situation, He teaches the crowd a lesson here. He starts by saying Watch out and be on your guard against every form of greed.

To be clear here we look at the fact that the word for greed here is the Greek word pleonexia (pleh-on-ex-ee’-ah) which points to a brand of covetousness, defined by the context. The context points to the desire for more money here. It was never about being fair or having equality but simply about greediness and consuming an abundance of wealth. Jesus says to Watch out and be on guard in warning against any and every form of greed.

This reflects back to the tenth Commandment given in Exodus 20:17 that says “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male slave or his female slave or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

The problem with the covetousness heart is that it will act on its lust if given the opportunity. Again this is what starts the cycle of ongoing sin. James says in James 1:14-15 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. ¹⁵ Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death. 

In other words to covet something is the beginning of the problem. This will lead to deeper sin and to a life of greed where you will seek what you want in spite of who you hurt or what you do. So the warning is to beware of the dangers of greed and then do what you need to not fall into it. This is not just an issue because of the harm that it does in the area of sin but also in the fact the thing that you strive so hard to have will not be eternal. You may spend your whole life chasing after your desires to end with nothing more than what you came into the world with. This is what we will look at now in our last point for this study.

3.Greed is TEMPORAL.
Look with me at Luke 12:16-21 that says And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷ And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you prepared?’ ²¹ So is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

This is not meant to dismiss the fact that you can have wealth that comes from God. God does in fact lead people with wealth to the kingdom of God. Most people remember Zaccheus. Luke 19:2 says And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.

This man was in the business of being a tax collector. This meant that he was working along side the Roman government to collect taxes due for all types of things. The problem with the system was not in taxing the people but rather in cheating the people out of more money than they were supposed to be taxed. Zacceaus made this confession of his own doing when in a time of repentance he says in Luke 19:8 “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have extorted anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”

It seems that Zaccheus’ wealth was tied to his wrong actions but this is the act of generosity we see that Zaccheus would not only pay back those he extorted but also will give to the poor. I think that much of his wealth was due to extortion but I also believe that he had wealth that was rightly his.

Another person that was rich that we may recall is Joseph of Arimathea. This is the man that took Jesus’ body after His death and laid it in his own tomb. The text shows us that he was a member of the council we know as the Sanhedrin and that he was a man of wealth. Like many of the religious leaders he was wealthy but again we see his generosity in his act of preparing the body of Jesus and laying the body of Jesus in his own tomb. This shows the actions of a true follower of Jesus.

The parable here in Luke on the other hand shows someone that is seeking only their own wealth, ease and prosperity in life. Their is no mention of sharing all that he had or helping the poor. This man in the parable reminds me of the rich man in the parable about the rich man and Lazarus. He did not give Lazarus food or help in any way. He lived a life of abundance and splendor while Lazarus lived in poverty and hunger.

Our parable in this section has the same ring to it. In fact the rich often feel that they will live in this state of prosperity forever but sadly there will be a day when all of it will come to an end. In the parable we see the selfishness of greed as the man says in Luke 12:18-19 that says ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.

With the act of selfish gain this man sets out to build his own empire. He does not seek to be generous or to share with others. He does not look to help the poor. He looks to live life for himself with ease of life for many years. Notice the selfish actions of this man was led by his lust to have a ease of life. So he has put himself in a position of living for his lust in spite of the cost of what he seeks. He forgets that this life is not made up of our material wealth and prosperity. Just as Jesus said back in Luke 12:15b for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.

It was at this moment that Jesus turns the parable into a reality that will happen to all of us when He says in Luke 12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you prepared?’

This man sold out on building what he wanted. It does not seem that this man had family or friends. The wealth that he had was useless at the point of his death. Every dream we chase, every want we desire, everything we work for will be nothing of substance when we take our last breath. It isn’t that we don’t need to work or provide because that is something that is built into our life as humans but rather we are to not lean on our earthly and worldly wealth and goals. Jesus clearly says here in Luke 12:21 So is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

What Jesus says here will lead us into our next section that we will look at in our next study. The idea is again in trusting God. A true follower must be seeking God, trusting God and following God. If we are only seeking or own agenda, our own wealth, health and prosperity then we are not following God at all. The idea moving into our next study will stem from the fact that we must not be storing up earthly treasures but seeking to be rich toward God. This is not in currency or possessions but in following His commands and trusting Him for our daily substance.

Introducing The Book Of 1 John. EXPOSITION ON THE BOOK OF 1 JOHN study #1 (Various Scriptures)

Here we are again beginning another book of the Bible. With ended our last study with just a brief little letter we studied on in Jude and now we will now dive into a letter that we will spend several months on. I begin 1 John as I do most of the letters that I have exposited through in Bible. That will be with a look at the author and the reason for the writing. Most people place the timing of this writing between A.D. 85-95. There is nothing in this letter that gives to us any data concerning the timing or location that the letter was written.

We really have no Biblical proof of most of what we seek to understand in this introduction of this letter so we will look at some tradition to gather our information concerning these questions of who it is that wrote this letter and to whom it is written. With this brief opening on this study let’s dive into what we are going to look at in this letter.

1.Who wrote 1 John?
Unlike most New Testament books, 1 John does not open up with a name attached to this letter. In fact nowhere in this letter do we have the authors name, location or status. There is no Biblical text that says that this letter is written by John the Apostle but tradition early on places John the Apostle, the brother of James, the son of Zebedee as the author.

Not only does tradition give us that assumption but I believe within the opening of this letter we see something very important concerning the author. He says in 1 John 1:1-2 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— ² and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.

This writer was no doubt a close companion and eye witness to the life of Jesus. The author expresses not only visible proof of what he saw but the fact that he touched with his hands the Lord Jesus. This was not someone that just came across Jesus but someone that was intimately involved in the ministry of Jesus. Peter spoke in a very similar way when he said in 2 Peter 1:16-18 that says For we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cleverly devised myths, but being eyewitnesses of His majesty. ¹⁷ For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— ¹⁸ and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

So along with tradition I do hold to the fact that John the Apostle is this eye witness that was closely involved in the Lord Jesus’ ministry.

We know that John began to follow Christ early on in the public ministry of Jesus. In fact many people believe John to be one of the two disciples of John the Baptist in John 1 where John the Baptist tells them that Jesus is the Lamb of God and they begin to follow Jesus. It says in John 1:35-37 On the next day, John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ And the two disciples heard him speak and followed Jesus.

We can’t be dogmatic about this being the Apostle John in John 1 but we do know for sure that John, his brother James, Peter and Andrew were the first of the 12 Apostles to be called by Jesus. We see this in Matthew 4:18-22 that says Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And He *said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ And immediately they left their nets and followed Him. ²¹ And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. ²² And immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

With this information we know that John not only was one of the 12 but was also considered to be in the inner circle of that group of 12. He would be on the mountain with Jesus, Peter and James when Jesus was transfigured, he would be called to go with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he would be called to go into Jairus’ house when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter back to life and he would be one of the first disciples to go to the empty tomb after the resurrection of Jesus.

All of this shows to us a closeness to Jesus, a dedication to teach the Word of God properly and the care of the people that he ministered to in his lifetime. There is so much we could speak on concerning John, like his writing of the 4th Gospel, the other two letters we know as 2 and 3 John, then the writing of Revelation, his exile, his persecution and death. But for now we will withhold from speaking of those things and look at our next point for this study.

2.Who is 1 John written to?
Just like our first point we do not have a single text that points to the recipients of this letter. But what we do know is that John was very close to his audience. Most likely the leader of this group of Christians because 7 times throughout this letter he calls them “little children“. You can find those references in 1 John 2:1, 12, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21.

Also 6 times he calls them “beloved” which is a word of affection and love to his readers. Those can be found in 1 John 2:7; 3:2,21; 4:1,7,11.

Some commentators suggest that this familiarity with his audience is the reason why he does not give his name in this letter. They knew who it was that was writing to them for the purpose of helping them to recognize false teachers and to know how they were to live in spite of the opposition that the false teachers were bringing into the congregation. I think it is important to notice that many of the epistles from the New Testament were written to churches warning them of false teachers and leading their audiences to understand the true Gospel more. Whether it was Paul, Peter James or John this was the focus of these letters and we must take this as something that we too must focus on.

John really sums up his writing in showing that not only is his audience close people to him and children in the faith but they are the redeemed of God. He says in 1 John 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

In this verse we see the recipients are those that believe in the name of the Son of God which is not a reference to some intellectual knowledge of who Jesus is but an intimate relationship with Jesus. This means his audience are those that know that Jesus is the Lord and Savior and they are His slaves.

He also gives a reason for this letter in the second part of this verse that we will expound on a little further in our next point. He says that this letter was written to them so that you may know that you have eternal life.

This brings us to the place where we will look at the purpose of the writing. This will be very evident within this letter as we will see in our last point for this study.

3.What is the purpose of 1 John?
It is always good to look at the overall reason that the writer writes what they write. If we just blindly look at this writing we may catch some challenging words, we may also find some of the things said to be offensive or out of place so we look at the reason for why this letter was written. In some books of the Bible it may be a little more difficult than others to know the true motivation of the original author but 1 John does not give to us any real challenge.

We finished the last point with a brief look at 1 John 5:13 that says These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

This really serves as a summation to the entire letter. He writes to these beloved people that he refers to as his little children to encourage them in knowing that they truly have eternal life. So many false teachings had already crept into the church which made many doubt what they heard and knew at first. The 1st century believers did not have the Bible as we do to line up what they heard from others against Scripture. They depended on memory or letters like this one to give to them truths. Of course having these truth come from Apostles and those connected with the Apostles was highly important.

John gives us some other things within this letter that falls under this category of encouragement in the faith that we will notice as we exposit through this letter. We see these throughout the letter as we will see here.

1 John 1:4 says And these things we are writing, so that our joy may be made complete.

1 John 2:1-2 says My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ² and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

1 John 2:12-14 says I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. ¹³ I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. ¹⁴ I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

1 John 2:21 says I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

1 John 2:26-27 says These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you. ²⁷ And as for you, the anointing whom you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as He has taught you, abide in Him.

All of these verses show to us that John is writing to bring us joy that only comes from God, to help us in not sinning, in knowing we have Jesus as our Advocate, in knowing that Jesus is our propitiation for our sins, in knowing the truth about God through His Word and in how to know that what we know is true by His anointing or in other words His Spirit that lives within us.

Much of what we will see is that John along with all the writers of the New Testament had the challenge of making sure that their audience knew that what they had been teaching was truly from God. Many false teachers were spreading a false Gospel so they wrote often to their people about the truth and the error that was surrounding them. This is what we will point out often as we will look at the contents of this letter starting in our next study.

Blasphemy Against The Holy Spirit, The Eternal Sin. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #103 (Luke 12:8-12)

As we have continued in this chapter we have looked back into the context in which all of what Jesus is speaking points to. We have spoken much in regards to the two different kingdoms that Jesus has been speaking of since chapter 11. This section also goes along with that as well. To understand this section of Scripture we must keep in mind that very context. To take this section as a stand alone text will confuse us to think this means something different than what Jesus is speaking about here.

The context has pointed back to not living in hypocrisy. We can not live in both the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. We can not live for God and ourselves at the same time. We all will sin, we all will do things that are against the very commands of God but the test is whether or not you are living in that way continually. The religious leaders of Judaism were mostly hypocritical that served a hypocritical system in the name of God. Their religion was their god. Their laws, their traditions were what they served. They called it God’s law but in reality they were serving their man-made traditions and laws.

We just came off of the study of fearing God and not man. It is the fear of God that we must have and that we must teach. But for many they will serve their traditions, their religion, their own presuppositions instead of God. There are many that do this in every Christian denomination, false Christian religion and made up ideology. The danger comes when we leave from serving God and fearing God. The danger comes when we fear man and reject God in the process. This is the very topic of our study. We will notice that there is a time when what we believe turns into being in a place of judgement and wrath before God. With this in mind let’s look at our first point for this study.

1.What it means to CONFESS Christ.
Look with me at Luke 12:8 that says And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God.

What Jesus says here is in relation to the fact that the religious establishment of Judaism was in control of the people’s livelihood. If they did not stay in good with the religious leaders then there was always a threat of being thrown out of the synagogue. If that happened then they would lose any business with others, they would lose more than just the fellowship but in reality their life would be over in the area that they lived.

To relate this to our time I believe we see this in our government to some extent but it is not limited to just the government. There are religions as well that will excommunicate you for going against their man-made laws and ordinances. Now I do believe we consider excommunication under the circumstances given in the Bible but this should never be done because of someone’s’ personal preference or action against something that is not taught in the Bible.

So our point here in our text is in the fact of our confession before others concerning Jesus. This is not meaning that you are able to post on your social media that you are confessing Christ or that you have made some type of profession of faith. In the context it shows to us that we are willing to confess Christ even when it may cost us our job, friendships, loss of family ties or even death. As we will see there is much more than just some onetime social media post or profession of faith in a church setting. This must be our lifestyle and the way we live continually.

The key to understanding what is meant here is revealed to us as we look at the original language. The word confess is the Greek word homologeó (hom-ol-og-eh’-o) which means to speak the same thing, to agree with, to declare. The idea behind this word being used here is not just some type of one time confession of faith in Christ. This is a confession that is permanent and stands as a reality of one’s life.

Jesus says that we are to confess before men. But don’t be confused in thinking that this is speaking of certain men. The original word for men as we see it is the Greek word anthrópos (anth’-ro-pos) that means men or the human race. The key is that in the original there is a definite article that we do not see in most modern translations. So the verse really says that we should confess before “the men.” This indicates to us that this confessing is not to certain men but to the world. This is a confessing in our homes, our jobs, in the streets, in every area of life. This is not just a part of who we are but it is everything we are. This is not saying we go around like a crazy person yelling out Bible verses but this simply shows us that we are to be willing to confess Christ in opposition to the nature of the human race which is against God.

So to conclude this point we must realize that we are to be willing to and actively confessing Jesus in front of the world in deed and in our words. If we do this Jesus says the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God. This is words of confirmation that you belong to Christ. This shows us that our actions are in line with a person that is truly saved. This moves to us to the opposite of this in our next point.

2.What it means to DENY Christ.
Look with me at Luke 12:9 that says but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

Remember the religious leaders of Judaism would say that they were living in a way that was of God. Many people that go to church in our time would confirm that they too are living for God. They may confess that they do a lot that God wouldn’t be pleased with but they do not see the issue as long as they “believe” and that they have made that profession of faith in Christ. Sadly many that would say that fall into this next category of people that denies Jesus before men.

So even though many people would affirm their status as a Christian, their actions actually tell something different. This denial is not something that is necessarily said but it is an action that has been taken. This word in the Greek for denies is the word arneomai (ar-neh’-om-ahee) which means to refuse to identify with. Now we need to know that when we speak of this we are not meaning in just some type of profession of faith but also in the way that your life is lived out. Anyone can say they are a Christian but will that be affirmed by the way they live out their life in association with Christ. Will their life produce the fruit that shows that they are truly a Christian?

If not then no matter what you say, you are not confessing Christ but rather denying Him. Remember the words of our Lord concerning these type of people from Matthew 7:21-23 where Jesus says “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. ²² Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

The point is clear that no profession of faith is reliable, no amount of superficial works or confession holds up to truth of who you really are. If you live out your life in your every day situations as if you are not a Christian then in reality you are denying the Lord before others by your lawlessness. I am not speaking of perfection but rather the direction of your life. If this is the case then Jesus says in Luke 12:9 but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

The phrase before angels of God refers to God’s presence. We know this because Matthew 10:32-33 says this so clearly, it says “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. ³³ But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

The fact that you deny Christ as Lord by the way you live will show that in the day of Judgement, you will be denied as a true Christian. This reality should be a warning to those that profess Christ to repent and be saved from the wrath to come. This leads us to look at next point for this study.

3.What it means to BLASPHEME the Holy Spirit.
Look with me at Luke 12:10 that says And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.

This very verse has been the foundation of many discussions on what we call the unpardonable sin. I have been asked what this means by many people throughout my life. I think people want to know simply because of the fear that they may have committed this sin against the Holy Spirit. I always say that if you are concerned with whether or not you have committed it shows that you haven’t.

I believe what Jesus says here is coming off of what He just spoke about concerning the denying of those before the Father. We see that Jesus is still speaking in the context of what we have been studying since chapter 11 as well. The religious leaders of His time wanted to look as if they were of God when in reality their actions told otherwise when Jesus exposes them. They are not of God because they deny Christ, they do not affirm Jesus as the Messiah and therefore they will be denied before God in the future unless they repent.

I think we see that Jesus speaks of the possibility that some in that group of unbelievers will repent and be saved by the fact that He says And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him.

What Jesus says here is not meant to create the idea that all will be forgiven but that the possibility of forgiveness is there for some. If a person commits any sin while alive they will be forgiven of course through the mercy of God. This is the idea and then we move on in the text where Jesus says but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.

Notice the wording difference here, it isn’t just speaking against the Holy Spirit that is unforgiveable but it is blasphemy. This means to speak evil against or to slander. A person that does this is in reality denying the work of the Holy Spirit in their own life. They are not regenerate, they are not Christians and therefore when they do this they will not be forgiven. Now I do not believe any one person has done this while they are alive. I believe Jesus is speaking of the fact that they will not be forgiven because ultimately they rejected the work of the Holy Spirit to bring them to salvation in Christ.

Blasphemy is not something you do in a moment but rather what every person that does not come to Christ for salvation, through the Holy Spirit has done. This leads to unforgiveness and wrath to come in the judgement where they will be denied to the Father. This turns us to look at our last point briefly.

4.What it means to TRUST the Holy Spirit.
Look with me at Luke 12:11-12 that says Now when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say, ¹² for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

In opposition to the one that blasphemes the Holy Spirit we see the person that has trusted in Christ and trusts in the work of the Holy Spirit in their own life. Jesus points to the fact that if you are following Him then there will be hardships in your life. Jesus says to His disciples when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities.

It was never a matter of if they will be persecuted but rather when. We too will face opposition that may look different than this but the principle is still the same. We are to trust the work of the Holy Spirit to guide us in those times. We do not live in fear of man, we do not fear the loss of a job, friendships or family ties but rather we fear God. We trust God and the work that He has given to us. In those moments we are to not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say, ¹² for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

This statement has been looked at wrongly by so many. Some people use this to say that the Holy Spirit will give to us some inner impression or that we might hear some still small voice at times in our life to help us along the way. But this is not what is meant by this at all. This is in the context of not fearing men but fearing God as we have seen back in Luke 12:4-5.

Only a person that has been born by the Spirit will be led by the Spirit which will lead us to trust in the Spirit. This is not done in isolation. This is done in connection to the fact that we are living and speaking in a way that affirms that Jesus is our Lord. We must be certain that we are not living in such hypocrisy that we fall into the trap of false religion and false teaching. We are either in God’s Kingdom or we are not. You will either be confessed before God as His child or you will be damned to Hell because of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit that leads to being denied before God the Father and sentenced to punishment in the fury of God’s wrath. I plead with you today to turn from yourself and place your trust in Christ.

The Need For Us To Fear God. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #102 (Luke 12:4-7)

In beginning of this study we must keep in mind the context of what Jesus is speaking about here. If we go back into chapter 11, Jesus began to condemn the Pharisees and scholars of Judaism for their hypocritical religious beliefs and actions. We then moved into this chapter in our last study that opened up with a warning from our Lord where He said in Luke 12:1b “Be on your guard for the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

It was what Jesus said here that guides us in this section as well. The religious leaders had all of the knowledge, power and authority over the common people. Most people could not read Hebrew and struggled to have the opportunity to educate themselves further. This gave power to the religious system that had been corrupted by the religious leaders of this movement.

The section we will deal with shows us that we are to not be worried in times of going against the religious leaders of our time as long as we are following the commands of Jesus. Jesus points out this very clearly here. The religious leaders in Jesus’ time would cast people out of the synagogues and their religion if they did not agree with all that they taught and did. This could have been fearful to many because this meant more than just moving to another local synagogue, this meant you would be cast out of social events, if you had a business your business would be shut down, you would be looked at as an outcast and a pagan.

With this in mind Jesus addresses the need to fear only God. We will look at this in 3 points that will show us that having a healthy fear of God is primary in our life as a Christian. This is something that we need to address in our time as well with government overstepping boundaries of freedom and even religious denominations turning against what the Bible says. We need to put this as the focus of our life now and not wait until the problem arises. Let’s look now at our first point for this study.

1.Fearing God NOT MAN.
Look with me at Luke 12:4-5 that says But I say to you, My friends, do not fear those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. ⁵ But I will show you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

To start off we must define the word fear that we see 5 times in these 4 verses. This is a word we have seen many times in our study of Luke, at least a form of this word. It is the Greek word phobeó (fob-eh’-o) which means to withdraw or flee because of feeling inadequate. This word is where we get the word phobia so that gives to us some idea of what this word is related to. But the primary focus of this word is that what we are fleeing from has power over us. This understanding is highly important in knowing what fearing God means.

It does not mean we are frightened to the point that we will never want to be in His presence but rather knowing that when we come into His presence we are in the presence of deity and not man. To fear God is to reverence God, to fear God is to know that God is holy and we are not. As we will see, this connection is in context of Jesus speaking against the false religious system of Judaism and the leaders of Judaism.

Jesus says first in verse 4 to not fear those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. This is in the context of the religious leaders that He has been condemning. Jesus knew of course that true followers of His will face this reality of being thrown out of the synagogue. This really has already been something that the religious leaders had made clear to the people. Just a little earlier in the Judean ministry of Jesus this was an issue. This is not recorded in Luke but it is recorded in John.

In the context of John 9, Jesus came upon a man that had been blind since birth. Jesus heals this man which could not be refuted in any way. The neighbors of the man and all that saw him as a beggar knew that this man was blind and now able to see. People began to question him of how he was healed or if he was actually healed at all. The question was, is this the man that was born blind or has Jesus fabricated this miracle?

So they brought him and eventually the parents of this man to question them before the Pharisees. After questioning him they turn to the parents asking in John 9:19 “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?”

The answer they give in seen in John 9:20-21 that says “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹ but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.”

The problem seems to be that they do know that he was born blind and now able to see but they did not give an answer to how. It wasn’t that they didn’t know how because they could have easily been there at the time of the miracle. John 9:22-23 says His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. ²³ For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

They feared the religious leaders because of their power to remove them from the synagogue which would uproot every connection they had in business and religion. In fact they continued to question this once blind man but he would not play to their fear tactics. He continually showed his commitment to the truth of what happened to him from the power that Jesus had. At the end of all of it John 9:34 records what the Pharisees did to this man, it says They answered and said to him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.

The fact is that when you are truly following Jesus you will be in opposition to man-made religion and to the false world view of what Christianity should be to them. Truly following God leads us to not fear man but God. It is for that reason Jesus says in Luke 12:5 But I will show you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

This statement shows to us the sovereignty of God. God’s sovereignty shows up in more way than just His foreordaining of things. It shows up in His ability to do what no other can do. No religious leader, no political leader or any person is able to cast you into hell. Only God has that power to do so. We can not cast people into hell and we can’t cast ourselves into hell because we wouldn’t even know where it is to start with. The idea is that we are to have a healthy fear of God. This starts with knowing we are nothing but sinful people that needs God’s mercy and grace. It is with this that we understand that God should be feared. This moves us to look at 2 other points for us to consider concerning our fear of God.

2.Fearing God because of HIS AUTHORITY.
Look again with me at Luke 12:5 that says But I will show you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! 

So in this point we look into what verse 5 says here. Jesus shows us that we fear God not because we are afraid of Him in the sense of something scary but rather because of His authority. But it isn’t just His authority over all things that Jesus points out here. Jesus points out specifically that we are to fear because God has the authority to cast into hell.

Some people will believe in a god that does not send to hell. They believe in an all loving God that saves all people. But that is not something that is ever taught in Scripture and this verse here specifically shows to us that is not the case. God not only has the authority to do so but will do so. For those that do not believe this needs to understand the Scripture concerning this. Look with me at what 2 Peter 2:4-10a says For if God did not spare angels who sinned, but cast them into the pit and delivered them to chains of darkness, being kept for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; ⁷ and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men ⁸ (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), ⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who go after the flesh in its corrupt lust and despise authority.

Peter says this and even more in this letter about the fact that there were not only angels that God didn’t spare but that there will be people as well that He will not spare but cast into to hell as well. This is not some type of scare tactic in hopes that people will make some profession of faith in God but rather in hopes that we will recognize our inability to escape the wrath of God unless we repent and turn to God in Christ alone.

To fear God because of His authority to cast into hell is a primary act from a true believer. It is that you recognize that your sinfulness will bring the penalty of condemnation on you. It shows that you know that God is just in sending you to hell because that is what you deserve. This gives to us confidence that if we fear God in this way, repent and believe then we will be saved. Proverbs 14:26-27 says In the fear of Yahweh there is strong security, And his children will have refuge. ²⁷ The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life, To turn aside from the snares of death.

To fear God is to trust God, to fear God is to honor and worship God for the fact that He has given to you the mercy and grace that you do not deserve. This leads us to look at another point of why we fear God in our last point for this study.

3.Fearing God because of HIS PROVISION.
Look with me at Luke 12:6-7 that says Are not five sparrows sold for two assaria? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. ⁷ Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

As we look at this in the context we remember that these warnings are in light of the fact that if you truly follow Christ then you will be disassociated from many things in society. For some of us that live in the United States and other countries with the same type of governing system we have less of this type of activity. But for many in our world this is a reality. In fact this was an almost an immediate reality for the followers of Christ after His resurrection and ascension. They would be hunted down by religious people to be imprisoned, beat and even killed for their faith in Christ. They would be ousted by the authority of the Roman empire for simply having faith in Christ and denouncing the Caesars as gods.

But Jesus reminds them and us as well that they are not the ones to fear. Jesus shows that God is the One that provides and it is not dependent upon the religious establishment or the government. Jesus says in Luke 12:6-7a Are not five sparrows sold for two assaria? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. ⁷ Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

In other words, don’t forget Who is in charge. Don’t forget Who it is that we should fear and honor. It is God who is in charge and has every detail under His control. If God takes care of the sparrow then in fact He will take care of us. I know there has been times in my life when I truly forgot this. I have been in fear of how things will end up or how I could live life because of a negative situation going on in my life. It is a reality that we will all face at one time or another. But we need to remember the word that Jesus speaks next in Luke 12:7b where He says Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Once again the immediate message was to the disciples. This message was to not fear because even though you will be cast out, even though the religious system will hunt you down, even though they will try to shut you down in every way possible, God is still in charge. God is still the provider and the One that has the authority.

I believe that many in the church today has lost their sense of fear for God. Many live in sin openly, many speak like the world, watch the world’s shows, listens to the world’s music, desires the world’s fashion and live as if they fear being left out of the world’s goods. When in reality we need to live in fear of God. Live for what God wants in spite of the world’s views or their threats. I hope to grow in this area and I hope to see the church to grow in this area as well.

Jesus Warns About Falling Into A Life Of Hypocrisy. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #101 (Luke 12:1-3)

We move now into the 12th chapter of Luke but with that we will see much of the same message that Jesus continues to share with His disciples. Most of the last chapter dealt with the fact that there are only two religious viewpoints or two kingdoms. One is the true Kingdom which is the Kingdom of God. The other is the kingdom that is associated with Satan, the world and the flesh. This distinction really was the foundation of the remainder of the chapter as we saw that a true follower of Christ will in fact be following the Lord Jesus. This does not show to us some type of sinless perfection in the life of a believer but it shows to us that a true follower of the Lord Jesus will be living for the kingdom of God and not their own agenda.

The religious leaders that make up the Pharisees, Sadducees and the scribes have been condemned constantly by our Lord Jesus throughout His ministry. This constant rejection from the Lord has built up anger against Jesus which will eventually lead Him to the cross where He will die for the sins of His people.

The flow of the text that we will look at in this study really continues somewhat with what Jesus had just exposed about these religious leaders. He previously exposed their hypocrisy that proves that they are not a part of God’s kingdom at all. As we will notice in our text for this study that Jesus will now move from just exposure of their hypocrisy to warning His disciples of the danger of falling into this type of hypocritical living. Let’s look at this as we look at our first point for this study.

1.Hypocrisy shows up in FALSE TEACHING.
Look with me at Luke 12:1 that says At this time, after so many thousands of the crowd had gathered together that they were trampling on one another, He began saying to His disciples first, “Be on your guard for the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Jesus has spent much of His ministry with the religious leaders on His trail. They make themselves to look as if they are cordial with the Lord but in reality they have had only one agenda which is to discredit Jesus. The closer Jesus gets to accomplishing the task of paying the penalty of our sins on the cross has brought a heavier opposition from these religious leaders. If they were truly of God then they would not be in opposition to the Lord Jesus but rather joining along with Him.

This opposition has done nothing other than prove their place in the kingdom of Satan. Jesus exposed this also a little earlier in His ministry in John 8. In this text we have Jesus telling the Jews that they need to be free from slavery just like we all do. We are all sinful and slaves to sin. They did not understand the spiritual aspect of what Jesus said but instead was thinking on physical terms. They were in slavery in some sense to the Romans and had been in slavery from so many pagan nations before Rome. But they refused to listen to Jesus instead they continued to try and prove that He was wrong in His words.

We pick up the story in John 8:39-47 that says They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus *said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, you would do the deeds of Abraham. ⁴⁰ But now you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do. ⁴¹ You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of sexual immorality; we have one Father: God.” ⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come of Myself, but He sent Me. ⁴³ Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. ⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? ⁴⁷ He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”

The point I am trying to bring out is that so many people even in our time think that they have no right to call people out for their true hypocrisy. I do see people call others out for being a Pharisee but usually it is because of the other person has in fact called them out for their hypocrisy. I think we have a wrong idea of what hypocrisy is. It is not showing another Christian that they have sinned, it is not pointing out someone’s wrong view that contradicts God’s command, it is not making a stand against sinful lifestyles that go against God’s standards. Being a hypocrite is saying you are a Christian, have a form of religion but not really living that out in the hidden and secret areas of your life. Hypocrites can be visible but mostly they are not seen openly simply because of the deception to maintain their status as a follower of Christ when in fact they really aren’t.

So Jesus starts to warn His disciples by telling them “Be on your guard for the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

This is something that Jesus tells the disciples on more than one occasion. He said in Matthew 16:6 “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

It was during this time that we see the disciples confused at what Jesus meant until Jesus helped them to understand. Matthew 16:12 says Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

This shows to us what we have said already in past studies which is, wrong doctrine will lead to wrong action. You can not obey God if you have the wrong instructions therefore we must strive to know the proper instructions. If we follow wrong doctrine then we will also be setting ourselves up to live out that in our lives. Jesus calls this hypocrisy. Some people in our time might call this a mistake or some form of error but in reality it is hypocrisy. So if we find that we are living in some form of religiosity that is not Biblical we must abandon it regardless of what our tradition says. If we do not then we will find that our lives will be lived out in light of that wrong doctrine. This will lead to a deeper depth of hypocrisy in many areas of our lives. This really leads us to look at our next point for this study.

2.Hypocrisy shows up in HIDDEN SINFUL ACTIONS.
Look with me at Luke 12:2 that says But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

This point and the next, both set up the next study because both of these show to us that God is sovereign. We can not hide our true status behind some form of religion or good works. Everything we do, everything we say is exposed before God. Both of these points also show that the hypocrisy that can show up in any of our lives will show up in both hidden sinful acts and our secret hidden words.

So let’s look at the first one here. Jesus makes it clear that nothing will be missed when it comes to God’s judgement on sinners. We may fool others but God knows the hidden and secret things that will be revealed one day. Ecclesiastes 12:14 says For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Jesus has already spoken on this point. We studied on this back in Luke 8 where Jesus says in Luke 8:16-18 “Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it with a container or puts it under a bed, but he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light. ¹⁷ For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. ¹⁸ So beware how you listen, for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”

We notice that Jesus gives a warning there as well to beware on how you listen. This was right after Jesus explains the meaning of parable of the Sower. The point is that we do need to listen but we must be cautious to not listen to the wrong teaching about God. The only way to do that is to read and study the Bible ourselves. The original audience would not have this luxury of having a Bible in their home so this is where they would need to depend on the reality of truth that comes only from God. They needed to make every effort to listen for the things that would guide them into holiness and righteousness not self centered actions that elevated self. They needed, just like we do today, to move towards the things that exalt God and not self.

So back to the point we see here. Our life does not need to be different in the home than at church or work. We do not need to put on an act that makes us look religious or holy rather we need to strive to be more like God in holiness. The things we do that we think we get away with will be brought to light and exposed one day so we must not live in this type of hypocritical living. This is just one way that shows you are living in hypocrisy. Let’s move now at the next way people live in hypocrisy as we look at our last point for this study.

3.Hypocrisy shows up in SECRET COMMUNICATION.
Look with me at Luke 12:3 that says Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.

I think it is important to note that our speech is a very important indication of our spiritual condition. With that in mind we know that many people can hypocritically speak as if they are Christians in front of others but it is the things that you speak of in secret that really reveals your spiritual condition. James 1:26 says If anyone thinks himself to be religious while not bridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.

We see in the list Paul provides of ungodly ways of living that there are many of these that are connected to the words we speak. Romans 1:28-31 says And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper, ²⁹ having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.

At least 3 in this list are connected to the way we communicate to others or about others. There are others that could be a result of those 3 like strife, malice, greed, arrogant and even murder. Fights usually come from words spoken by both sides and can lead to many other unrighteous behaviors we see listed here.

In our Luke text Jesus points out that it is the things said in the dark and the things whispered in the inner rooms that will be both heard in the light and proclaimed upon the housetops. This shows to us that even when we try to say the right things in front of other Christians to make us look good in some way that our true status will be exposed one day. I do not believe that this is pointing towards people being exposed in this life even though sometimes that does happen. I believe that Jesus is playing off of the fact that the hypocritical religious leaders may sound like they are of God but in reality their words spoken behind closed doors is very different.

We know at the end of chapter 11 we saw in Luke 11:53-54 And when He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, ⁵⁴ plotting to catch Him in something He might say.

To the people they looked to be the most godly people in the nation but in reality their secret conversations revealed that they were evil and deceptive. We must be careful to not fall in to this type of living ourselves. Some people don’t look at using cuss words as a form of ungodly behavior but this must be seen as something that we need to flee from as a Christian. It isn’t that if you say something wrong then you are immediately condemned but the fact is we must be trying to live in a different way than we did before we became a Christian.

Paul makes this clear in Ephesians 4:29-32 that says Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³² Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you.

In other words we must strive to live different, speak different, treat others different than we did when we lived for ourselves. We are new creations in Christ so we must live that way. If we don’t then we are in reality hypocritical at best. We must turn from that hypocrisy and live as God has commanded us in love, kindness, graciousness and unity with all people.

What we speak will be judged and in fact shows whos kingdom we are really living in. Matthew 12:35-37 says The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. ³⁶ But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. ³⁷ For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

I know that this is a difficult subject because we know that even James says in James 3:8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. It is for this reason that we must depend not on our own ability to change our speech but only God that has created us in Him. It is only through the Holy Spirit’s work that we can do this. There is much more that could be said about this but for now we will only stop at what we have said here. The context points to the fact that we do not need to allow these hypocritical actions to remain in us. We will see in the next study that all of this ties to the fact that we must not be influenced by this type of false teaching that says you can live one way as long as you have done some religious acts of service towards God. We must fear God and not man will be what we dive into in our next study.

Jesus Condemns The Hypocrisy Of The Scholars Of The Law. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #100 (Luke 11:45-54)

In this study we will continue to look at the condemnation that comes from Jesus towards the religious leaders of Judaism. The difference we will see is that Jesus is approached by a scholar of the law or sometimes you will see them as lawyers. This lawyer comes to Jesus with a statement of concern because the things that Jesus had been saying about the Pharisees are also the very things that these scholars do as well. I believe we will see that these scholars must have thought that they were somehow in good with Jesus. They may have thought that they were accepted by Jesus in some way but in reality Jesus does not capitulate to people simply because of their association or family ties. Jesus seeks to tell the truth in every way and when the truth of God is distorted, Jesus has no problem calling out whoever it is that is distorting God’s truth.

I think we can learn well from how Jesus approached situations like this. I do not think we go out looking for a fight in theology but we must always stand for the truth of God’s Word and His Gospel. So as we look at this last section in chapter 11 we will notice that Jesus seeks to spread the truth in spite of the opposition from the religious culture of His time. Let’s look now at our first point for this study.

1.Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of LEADERSHIP ABUSE.
Look with me at Luke 11:45-46 that says Now one of the scholars of the Law answered and said to Him, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.” ⁴⁶ But He said, “Woe to you scholars of the Law as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

We see this form of leadership in many churches today. It is the idea of a leader demanding submission. Now this may come in an aggressive way or it can be subtle as well. It does not mean that every time this happens the leader gets up with a demanding speech to submit to him. This can happen from a person that demands complete control of the church either because they are popular or because they want to simply be in charge of everything. Some pastors want to be the leader in every area and never allows the people in the church to grow in the giftedness that God has given to them.

As I mentioned in the opening of this study, we see here that a scholar of the Law comes to Jesus with a concern. This stems from the fact that Jesus has been condemning the Pharisees for their hypocritical way of living and religion. The scholar of the Law says to Jesus in Luke 11:45 “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.”

Maybe this particular scholar thought He was in the “in” crowd with Jesus. Maybe He thought he needed to make Jesus aware that He was also condemning them in what He was saying concerning the Pharisees. Either way we think of it Jesus did not look to hold back from what He was speaking concerning the truth of the message. In fact Jesus then goes into exposing the hypocrisy of the Scholars as well. In Matthew 23 we see the scribes and Pharisee included in each of the condemnations but here we see the separation. This doesn’t really mean anything, I am simply pointing out the difference in the accounts that we see.

Let’s read again how Jesus responds to this scholar in Luke 11:46 where Jesus says Woe to you scholars of the Law as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

Notice Jesus did not say, Oh I’m sorry I should have thought about how you would feel about this. Jesus did not say that He would take back what He said but rather went further into exposing hypocrisy. I believe this is an example to us on how we need to stand for the truth. Like I said, not that we are looking to go out and fight with others, to condemn others, to speak hatred towards others but we must speak the truth no matter what.

So what we see in the words of Jesus shows to us the abuse that the leadership of Judaism were practicing. They knew they were looked up to. They knew they had the upper hand because of having the education to interpret from a different language and even being able to read unlike most common people of that time. They used that to their advantage to teach others to do things they never would do. Not only that but they were unwilling to actually teach others how to do things instead just demanded compliance to their man-made laws. Many pastors do this. They are lazy or incompetent in leading others but they have no problem standing in the pulpit each week telling other to do things that they are either not doing themselves or not teaching others to do. This is what I call leadership abuse.

Ephesians 4:11-13 says And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

The leadership in the church should be equipping the saints for ministry. If a pastor or elder is not doing this then they are guilty of the very hypocrisy that Jesus speaks of here. It is not helpful to the health of the local church to have a person that seeks their own way of doing things without any accountability. This always seems to lean towards a leader seeking some self gratification instead of building up the church as he should. Let’s move on now to our next point for this study.

2.Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of INWARD EVIL.
Look with me at Luke 11:47-51 that says Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, but your fathers killed them. ⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, ⁵⁰ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’

This section here really exposes the reality of their outward hypocrisy. They looked to honor the prophets of old by taking great care for their tombs. They looked to honor the prophets of old but this was only a façade. Jesus shows that their true intentions were not pure or even honoring towards God’s prophets but rather full of evil and wickedness. Look with me at Matthew’s account of this condemnation in Matthew 23:29-33 that says “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you bear witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. ³³ You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

The truth is that they hide behind their religious actions to look righteous themselves but in reality they are as guilty as those that did not believe God’s prophets and killed the prophets of God. Matthew’s account continues by saying in Matthew 23:34-36 “On account of this, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, ³⁵ so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

The fact is that not only are they just like their fathers that killed the prophets before them , but they reject God’s prophets as well. They hated John the Baptist, they hate Jesus to the point that as we will see by the end of this study that they seek a way to destroy Jesus. These scholars were just as bad as the Pharisees in the point that they were not seeking to guide others into a life of holiness and righteous living. They looked to elevate themselves as the teachers, the leaders of the Law so that they would be exalted. This is nothing more than moral evil and a deception that Jesus warns about often. Jesus says in Matthew 7:15 Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

We must be cautious towards people that seem to want their way only. We must make sure that they are living in a way and leading in a way that is from God through His Word. It is because of these types of people that lead people away from God instead of towards God. This is what we will pick up in our final point for this study.

3.Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of FALSE CONVERSIONS.
Look with me at Luke 11:52 that says Woe to you, scholars of the Law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

This goes back to the fact that a wrong understanding of the Scriptures can create wrong actions. In other words if the false Gospel is preached then a person will most likely make a profession of faith in that false idea of salvation instead of the true Gospel. This may come in a works-righteous type of salvation, a universalistic salvation, a salvation that can be lost, a salvation that adds to the work of Jesus, a salvation that is emotional based or gives hope to the flesh alone. The false Gospel may sound good but it can and will produce false converts.

These scholars had the power of interpreting the Old Testament. Instead of looking to what the Scriptures say they interpreted off of their presuppositions. They would hold to their interpretation that would be built from their own standard. This goes back to the idea of following their own tradition over God’s commands. Mark 7:5-9 says And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?” ⁶ And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. ⁷ But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commands of men.’ ⁸ Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” ⁹ And He was also saying to them, “You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. 

We must understand that not all tradition in the church is bad but the tradition that goes against God’s commands must be refuted and done away with. I say this because this seems to be an issue in many churches and denominations of our time. They would rather go against God instead of going against tradition and the culture. This type of action will lead many and has led many to false professions of faith.

Notice that Jesus says in Luke 11:52b you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.

Not only are they not true followers of God but they are leading others away from God as well. All of what Jesus has said concerning the condemnation of the Pharisees and scholars of the law points to the fact that they are the false teachers that need to be avoided. These types of people are not of God and must be stamped out as false teachers. This was some harsh and bold words of our Lord. This had to be said because the people needed to hear the truth. This also had a secondary reason for being spoken which will ultimately lead these leaders to hatred for Jesus which proves the very point Jesus was just making concerning their true status.

This brings us to look at Luke 11:53-54 that shows to us the reaction of the scribes and Pharisees. This shows to us their true intent in their reason for coming to Jesus continually. These verses say: And when He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, ⁵⁴ plotting to catch Him in something He might say.

We have already seen much of this but their hostility is becoming more and more obvious as we get closer to the time of the cross. Their intentions will become more hostile, more pointed towards trying to trap Jesus and ultimately this will lead to their influence on the crowd to crucify our Lord Jesus Christ.