Well, if you would turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 10, verses 26 through actually 31. 26 through 31 is what we'll look at this morning of Matthew 10. And following the reading of scripture, we'll sing together the Gloria Patri. Please stand together for the reading of God's holy word. So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What is whispered in your ears, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows." And God will add his blessing to this reading of his word. Amen. In verse 16 of this chapter, Jesus began to talk about what was future to him, the future persecution of the church in the time of the apostles and the time through the history of the church. And these are difficult and challenging words. In the first section that we looked at last week, he talked about some of the helps that God gives us along the way, that we're going to face very significant and severe persecution, but God will be with us. The Holy Spirit will enable us to say what we need to say, that his presence will be with us, even though it may divide families, that you and I are called to endure to the end, knowing that he will be with us. Now, he embarks in these verses that we're looking at today to deal with what's a very natural and in one sense expected consequence of facing persecution. When you're facing persecutions, one of the things you have to deal with is fear. I mean, you would actually be insane if you weren't afraid in a situation like that. The fear of the persecution, the fear of men is something that he addresses. He repeats that same phrase three times in verse 26, so do not be afraid of them. In verse 28, do not be afraid of them or of those. In verse 31, so don't be afraid. So he's really addressing and tackling this whole issue of our very natural and expected fear if you're facing persecution. And he's going to give us three reasons why we ought not to be afraid. He just commands us, the command is woven there, don't be afraid that our Lord Jesus Christ is so kind and merciful to us. He gives us some reasons. It doesn't exhaust the Bible's reasons for why we ought not to be afraid. There's many, many places in scripture that encourage us and tell us that. But he gives us three reasons in this particular section that I want to draw to your attention. The first is, you will be vindicated. In verses 26 and 27, he says, so don't be afraid of them. There's nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known. Those who persecute you, one of the persecutions is slander. Just as they slander Jesus Christ, they will indeed slander you and they'll say things about you that aren't true. And it's a very difficult and a painful experience to go through something like that. And the reality that he's trying to communicate to us here is, don't be afraid. The truth will triumph. Maybe not now, maybe not soon, but in God's plan, the truth will triumph. This idea of vindication, this idea of the declaration of the innocence of his servants, you see it in a number of places. In Matthew 25, when Jesus is dividing the sheep from the goats, he says to the sheep, he says, come, my blessed, into the inheritance that the Lord has laid up for you. And he acknowledges that what they did for him, they visited him in prison, they fed him when he was hungry, they clothed him when he was naked, and they said, when did we do all those things? And he says, whenever you did it to the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. Don't be afraid. The truth will be made known. It will be declared. you will be vindicated, maybe in this life, but for sure before God's throne. Turn to 1 Peter 2, where he, in one of the passages, we looked at Peter a number of times last week. And this is another passage that just encourages us to remain faithful, even in difficult circumstances here, is against false accusation. So 1 Peter 2, verse 11. He says, dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. So even though you're falsely accused, you continue to live such good lives among the pagans that they will see your good deeds and they will be forced to admit the truth on the day that God visits us. Maybe it's a day of visitation in your lifetime, but certainly on the last day, those who falsely accused you will be brought to shame. And they will have to admit that they slandered you. So don't be afraid. What's uttered in falsehood against you will be declared openly. And as part of that, he says, so don't be afraid to speak openly about the Lord. They may be accusing you of all sorts of things, but declare what Christ is speaking to you, declare it boldly. The second reason not to be afraid of men is he puts the fear of men in the right perspective. He basically is asking the question, who should you fear? So in verse 28, he says, don't be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. In another passage, don't be afraid of those who kill the body and can do no more. Men are limited in what they can do against you. That seems a lot. To lose our life is certainly a traumatic and terrible thing. when we're here serving the Lord and we have loved ones and a family. But the worst they can do is to take your life. They can't take your soul. They can't take your future. They can't take your hope. And so he gives you this contrast. He's going to argue from the lesser to the greater. So don't be afraid of men who all they can do is kill the soul. Excuse me, kill the body, but they can't touch the soul. But then he goes on to say, and the Bible's full of reminders about not being afraid of men in this sense. Psalm 27 1 says, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? In Psalm 56, he says, when I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust. I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? In Psalm 118, the Lord is with me. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? You don't need to be afraid of men because they're limited in what they can do. But this is what he goes on to say. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. This is the one, the argument from the lesser to the greater. Don't be afraid of man because they're limited in what they can do. But this is the one you should fear. You need to fear God who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Sometimes we as human beings, We do everything we can to preserve our bodies. And it's right to be concerned for health and eat well and exercise and do all those things. But sometimes we get, and people in our world have no conception of the fear of God. We get so wrapped up in this body when there's no concern at all for the nurture of our soul. And the contrast here that he's saying is we don't need to fear men, we need to fear God. Because He can take, deal with our bodies and souls and send them to hell. He has to fear Him. You see, it's the fear of God that enables us to stand true to the Lord, even in difficult situations. It was the fear of God that enabled Martin Luther, as he was standing before the great powers of his day, and he was called on to recant from his teachings, and as he's standing there and he knows he's facing being burned at the stake, if he won't recant, And he asked for time, and they give him 24 hours. He comes back, and he's facing all these rules. And it's the fear of God that enabled him before men to say, here I stand. I can do no other. May God have mercy on me. He feared God so that he could stand strong before men. And we have that wonderful reminder in that hymn that he wrote. The mighty fortress is our God. Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill, God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. Paul, in writing to Timothy and using the same kind of thinking, was talking about, well, how do you preach? Talking about preaching in the right way, and he addresses a problem that Timothy, as a young man, will face. He says, the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside the myths. He's confronting Timothy. He's dealing with something he, as a young man, you're going to be afraid of men. And you're going to feel you have to say what they want to hear. So how does he keep from doing that? Well, Paul, a few verses earlier, had said, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, And in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge. Preach the word. Be prepared in season and out of season. Correct, rebuke, encourage with great patience and careful instruction. It's the fear of God, Timothy, that's going to keep you to proclaim truth when your hearers are wanting something else. It's the fear of God that helps us not to be afraid of men. There's an interesting story told of Hugh Latimer, one of the shining lights of the English Reformation. And he's preaching a sermon and King Henry VIII is in the audience. And Hugh Latimer has this audible dialogue with himself in the pulpit. He says, Latimer, Latimer, be careful what you say. The king is here. And then he's still talking to himself. Then he goes, Latimer, Latimer, be careful what you say. The king of kings is here. You see, the fear of God removes the fear of men. When John Knox was buried, it was spoken over him, here lies one who feared God so much that he never feared the face of any man. Jesus wants to help us deal with our fear, and it's to fear God, not fear man. The third thing that he tells us that to help us deal with our natural and reasonable fears in the face of persecution is to remember how precious you are to God. In verse 29, he says, are not two sparrows sold for a penny, yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from the will of your father? And he gives this comparison, and we're familiar with it. We have that wonderful hymn, His Eye is on the Sparrow. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me. And Jesus makes this comparison with this little bird that's really of no value at all. They're not worth even a penny. They're not worth anything, these little sparrows. And he says, not a single one of those sparrows, as worthless as they are, not a single one of them will fall to the ground without the will of your father. He created them, but he is your father. And if he cares for those little birds in such a way, will he not care for you? Will he not watch over you? And then he makes this second illustration about how precious you are to you. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid. You are worth more than many spares. He goes back to the first illustration. Even the hairs of your head are numbered. Now, this is where a preacher normally makes a joke about some people have less hair to count than others. I did run into an interesting thing in several different resources. I guess this is true because at least two people made reference to this. Apparently, a head of hair has 140,000 hairs. Now, how do they even know that? Can you imagine being the technician when your supervisor says, okay, your job today is, there's a head, count the hairs. But the point of that is, the point of that along with the Sparrow illustration is, God has such an intimate knowledge of you. He cares for you so intimately, you're so precious to Him. Will He not care for you? Yes, you're facing the anger and the wrath of men. but you are extremely precious to your Father and He will care for you. That even in this, that not a hair can fall from your head, no one can touch a hair of your head without the will of your Father. And you're much more precious to Him than these sparrows and much more valued in the Lord and He's carrying over every little bit of you. And so when you and I are facing the reasonable fears of this life, in this context, particularly the fear of persecution and the fear of the wrath of men, he reminds us not to be afraid, to rest in his care, to know that the truth will be vindicated. Whatever is being said that's false will be declared false by the Lord in His time. That you need to fear God and not men. Because men are limited. They can't undo the care of God for you. It's God whom you need to fear. And then to remember that you are most precious to your Heavenly Father. So don't be afraid of them. They cannot undo his care for you. May you and I persevere through our fears, keeping our hope and our view in the Lord. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your wonderful care and mercy in our lives. Thank you for the fact that you address the reasonable and the real fears that we face in our lives in this particular case, the fears that come to us when there's opposition, when there's persecution. We ask, O Lord, that you would enable us to persevere and remain true to you even in these difficult times. that we would know that your truth will be vindicated, that men are limited in what they can do to us, and we are precious in your sight. May you, O Lord, give us these means of hope and encouragement that we would walk faithfully with you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.