Let's be going to Luke chapter 12. Luke 12. Once the Lord rebuked the Pharisees, the scribes, and the lawyers, which we saw at the end of chapter 11. When he was finished there, they were set against him. They were turned against him. They were very angry. And they were looking for a just cause to catch him, to ensnare him, to speak against him, and to publicly oppose him. And you think of that, which Proverbs says was, what the scriptures say to us about hearing the rebuke of the faithful. It says in Proverbs 13, 1, that a wise son heareth his father's instruction. It's wise to listen to your father. He has wisdom. He has experience. He's speaking to you from that experience, and he's warning you. Don't do that. This is what's going to happen if you do it. Do this instead. but a scorner heareth not rebuke." He gets angry, he's proud, he's arrogant, he doesn't want to hear from the wisdom of his father. And that's true of all of us by nature. We're proud. We don't like light shining on our weaknesses. We don't like that light coming upon what's in our heart and exposing the evil that's in us by nature. But God's light reproves the enmity that's in the heart of man. that doesn't trust God, that fears God, that runs from God and wants nothing to do with God, just as we saw all the way back in the garden when Adam and Eve ran from the voice of God. But the child of God ought to hear his God. The Lord does rebuke us. We all are corrected. If we're sons and not bastards, we are all corrected by our Heavenly Father. It's just so. We're not perfect. And in this flesh, we go astray. All we like sheep have gone astray, and we do need to be corrected, and the Lord corrects us. And so, we may not like it at first, but it's for our life. It's for our salvation. It's for our good. And Proverbs also says in Proverbs 9, 8, reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee. That's one who outwardly despises you, who publicly opposes you, who mocks you. That's a scorner. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. That one who hears Christ loves him. And you think of Peter. rebuked of the Lord numerous times. Peter was given to us as a help for us who are just hard-headed, thick-headed, stiff-necked, slow to learn. He was given to help us who are just like him. and don't hear, but Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Where are we going to go? If we don't hear you, where are we going to go? Because you alone have the words of eternal life, and we're sure, we're certain, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And so the backdrop here is this rebuke of the Pharisees, the scribes, and the lawyers. And as we enter into chapter 12, that's the backdrop there where he pronounced those woes against the Pharisees. And now he turns his attention to his disciples. He turns to his disciples to teach them, to bring home to their hearts what they had just heard and witnessed in his rebuke of the Pharisees. Are you a disciple? Do you delight in the words of Christ? Do you follow Him? Listen up, because He's speaking to you now. He's speaking to you. So, beginning in verse 1, Luke 12, 1. In the meantime, right? This had just all gone on. In the meantime, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trod one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples, first of all, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. And so of all the people that are there now, There's so many, they're running into each other, they're stepping on feet, people are falling back and tripping and getting moved about and knocked about because of the press that wanted to be near Christ, that wanted to hear him and see him and touch him and receive something from him. Well, now he's gonna bring home to the heart of his disciples, you that hear Christ, you that follow him, you that want to know him. that desire him." That's who he's speaking to, and he's going to bring home what he was saying to the Pharisees, but they would not hear him, and they hated him for it, because he exposed their hearts. Take note of this, brethren, that if we were to glean out of the Gospels the public discourses of Christ our Savior, for what he said publicly to the people, much I would dare say the majority of what he said was against the Pharisees, exposing the Pharisees and their form of religion and what they were trusting in. He spent a lot of time exposing them. You think of him going into the temple. and how many discourses and arguments they had with him and followed him about. When he drove the money changers out from the temple, or when he had healed the man outside at the four porches of Solomon's temple, and he went into the temple and they followed after him, asking him all these questions and challenging him. It was public discourses against the Pharisees in particular. He used them as an object lesson for his disciples. He did. He just spoke the truth, and they would get riled up, and then he would turn to the disciples and teach them. And using the Pharisees as the object lesson, he would teach his disciples. If we listen to religion in our day, if I reflect back on growing up in all the churches I've been through and where I've gone, you would think that the Lord spent most of his time rebuking the drunkard and the gutter, the whore and the harlot and the publicans. You would think that he just tore them apart all day every day, that he went about doing that. But had he done that, the Pharisees would have embraced him. They would have loved him. They would have said, brother, yeah, now you see what we have to put up with day after day. But Christ didn't do that. Christ taught the sinners. And he received sinners, and ate with them, and spoke to them. and spoke gently to them, and healed their infirmities, and was very merciful to them. And because he rebuked the Pharisees, what did they do? They took sides with the accuser of the brethren, didn't they? They actually stood and took their place with the accuser. Of all people, persons to side with, they sided with the accuser. So we read of the Pharisees where they said things like, this man, if he were a prophet, this man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she's a sinner. That's what the Pharisees said. They looked at Christ, and he let that woman, that harlot in town, weep on his feet and wipe his feet with her hair, sobbing, and crying at his feet, and he let her touch him. And that Pharisee said, this is disgusting. This man can't be of God. He's letting her touch his feet. And so instead of going after her and rebuking her and saying, get away from me, you filthy rag, get away. No, he didn't do that. He went after the Pharisees instead. He turned his anger against the Pharisees, and he was justified in doing so. Because there's no group of people who opposed Christ more than the Pharisees. And openly mocked Him, openly challenged Him, openly spoke against Him, and despised Him, and tried their best to turn the people against Him. None more than the Pharisees themselves. And Paul said this in Romans 10 verse 2, I bear them record. They have a zeal after God. They are very zealous for their religion, but it's not according to knowledge. The light they had was darkness. It's not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, how holy, how perfect God is, being ignorant of that righteousness and thinking they're going about to establish their own righteousness, they've not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, which is Jesus Christ. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." And that's why they hated Christ, because they were proud law keepers, proud law-abiding worshipers in form only, outward form only. And because Christ's light shone upon that and exposed the hypocrisy of our hearts, they didn't like it. They didn't like it. And so, they gloried in the law, and they're glorying in the law. When we glory in the law, we're downplaying the importance of Christ. Inevitably, Christ becomes less and less and less important, and he goes to the background, because it all comes down to what you're doing. And you're tweaking. And you're perfecting. And you doing this under the law and that under the law. Stop doing that. Start doing this. Do it this way. And Christ gets more and more faint in the background. And we forget about Christ. That's great. You came in through the gate. Now forget about him. We're going to Mount Sinai. We're going on a field trip to Mount Sinai. And that's the end of Christ. Before you know it, he's forgotten. And it's just whipping, beating, thunderings, lightnings, fire, and fear. That's what it becomes there. And so the Pharisee, he's fine with Christ being a part of salvation, but he's not the whole of salvation. And yet the testimony of scripture is that Christ is all. He's all and in all. He's all of our salvation. It's Christ. And so We see it even when in Acts 15, after the church is beginning to grow and the Gentiles are coming in, we read of in Acts 15 verse 1, it says, and certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren. They came into the Gentile churches and they started teaching and said, except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. And men, they may not say circumcision, although, believe it or not, that is still very prominent in the churches today. They do hold to circumcision. And some may not say that, but they place other things. Except you do this, this way, you cannot be saved. Except you do this, this way, you cannot be saved. And man has his traditions and his customs that he's putting forth and saying, you would never do that. A Christian would never do that. And if you were a Christian, you'd never do that. Sadly, to our shame, yes, there are. I mean, look at David. And we can say his name because we don't want to share our own sins and say them publicly. But David shows us that, yeah, a believer can fall grievously, grievously. And we need the grace of God. So, these were Judaizers, and they didn't deny Christ outright, but they turned everyone away from Christ, little by little, as fast as they could, to the law. And thankfully, the apostles sided with Paul and Barnabas when Peter stood up and said, brethren, you know that God used me to preach to the Gentiles. And those guys hadn't done nothing. They weren't circumcised. They hadn't been baptized. They didn't even say hallelujah. But the spirit fell upon them, and they began to speak in tongues and glorify God. God gave them the Holy Spirit, demonstrating that he opened their ear. They heard it. They believed Christ. And they received him. And they were given the Holy Spirit that kept their hearts, locked them in Christ, cleansed them in the blood of Christ. So either the whole race of Adam is dead in trespasses and sins, either the whole race is dead in trespasses and sins, or they're not. And if they're not, then there is no need for Christ to come. Why send the Son when all you had to do was give a law that could have made men righteous? So either the whole race is dead in trespasses and sins, or it's not. And if we are dead in trespasses and sins, and there's no law that can make us righteous, then we need this Savior. We must hear Him. Beg God to hear Him. Beg God to turn your heart to Christ. I can demand you to turn your heart to Christ, and it doesn't do anything, right? Because I have no power, and you don't have any power. I don't have any power over my own heart. By nature, I'm a sinner, given to sin. just under the law of sin and death. I need the grace of God to give me life and light in Christ and to turn my heart. Thank God for that. He stirs up the heart and gives that interest in the heart to desire him, beg him. He said, ask and you'll receive. Knock and the door will be open. Seek and you'll find. He gives that. That's how he stirs up his people. So if all are sinners, dead in trespasses and sins, and all died in Adam, then these Pharisees, we see, are the most wicked of all. Most wicked of all because they despised Christ, they thought they were doing righteousness, and they were actually doing evil. Wicked works. Their works under the law were wicked works. And not only were they not going into the kingdom, but they were preventing others who would, who would have gone in. They were preventing them. So the Pharisees were the most deadly foe of our Lord. And I can say that. They were the ones who crucified him. They turned him over to Pilate, the Gentiles, to have him crucified. And it even says, the scriptures say, that Pilate knew that it was for jealousy that they turned him over to them, that they wanted him dead. And he tried, but not hard enough. He could have released him, but even he crucified him. So he's guilty as well. But the point is, in saying all that, is that Christ didn't bring out this enmity of the Pharisees to deliver himself. Sometimes when we're afraid, when we think someone's out to get us, we start getting tricky and conniving and trying to catch them and outdo them. We try to play that game of chess and deliver ourselves. That's not why Christ exposed them. This is important. That's not why Christ, he wasn't looking to deliver himself from the Pharisees at all. Instead, he used that time to teach his disciples. He wasn't bringing this out to deliver himself. He used that time to teach his people, his people who needed his salvation. And this is the battle in the church in every age, the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Because just as it was then, so it is today. We've all seen it. We've all been it. Most of us have been the Pharisee. We've all done these things. We've all practiced this form and thought we were something, until by the grace of God, he humbled us and continues to humble us and keep showing us our need of him. Because naturally, we just puff up and get proud. and think we're something when we're nothing. But these are the wolves that come in sheep's clothing. And when they get a foothold in the congregation, they scatter the sheep. They bring death, and kill, and hatred, and division, and schisms. They scatter the sheep. And it begins very small, right? I've not made bread, but as I understand it, there's just a little leaven, just a tiny little bit of leaven in that bread. And you do whatever you do, and you put it aside as it's proving, and it starts to rise. And it rises, and it gets bigger and bigger. That's the leaven of the Pharisees. in the body, right? It just, it starts slowly and it gets a foothold and then we get better and better and bigger in ourselves and before you know it, the light of Christ is blanked out. You don't see him no more because now it's all about our form and our religion and what we're doing outwardly to please God. And all it is is a show of outward form seeking man's approval. Well, maybe if we do it this way, we'll get more people in here, right? And so it's adjusting and doing things in a way to appeal to the masses and to please men, that they would want to be with us. And we also see that the Pharisees, they're watchers. They're watchers. They did that all the time. They were watching Christ to see what he would do. They watched him to see if he would heal a man on the Sabbath that they might accuse him. They're watchers. And that's what that Phariseeism in our own hearts is. You have a suspicion about somebody, and now you're watching them. And you're waiting for them to fall so you can say, aha, you're a sinner. I knew it. I knew it. And that's just all that leaven of the Pharisees. First of all, be wary of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. And the second thing I want us to notice here is that he's making this hypocrisy, first of all, known, first of all, to his disciples. That's who he's teaching here. He wasn't teaching the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the object lesson. But he's doing it to teach us. He wasn't doing it to save himself. He was doing it to teach his brethren for their good, for what we need. But abiding in Christ, rooted in him, that's where we're going to bear fruits of righteousness. That's where we're going to be humble, where we'll be kind and gentle to our brethren, understanding, helpful, loving, thoughtful to them is abiding in Christ and seeing how Christ, how he ministered his grace and his love to many that were sick, many that were broken hearted, many that were wounded. Those were all pictures of what he does for us. When you see him raise a widow's son from the dead and return that boy back to that widow, that only son, that's a picture of what he does for us in our broken hearts. When we're shipwrecked and crashed and ruined and distraught, he heals us and ministers to us and is merciful to us. And he says, if ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Because our hearts, our minds, are set on the will of God. Lord, turn me. Turn me from the love of this world. Turn me to think on what you think of. Lord, give me a heart for what pleases you and delights you. And so he turns us to him, and so we ask according to that will, and he hears us and gives it to us. Herein is my father glorified that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. Bearing fruit that isn't unto death doesn't come by the whipping of the law, it comes by the hearing of Christ, by the hearing of faith. That's how He nourishes us and feeds us, how He keeps this head that puffs up naturally deflated in ourselves, but swollen, a heart full of love in Christ, in Christ, by Him. Abiding in Christ is how we shall love our brethren. John said, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. That one who lives by the law, if the law is your focus, if you make the law your focus, hatred for your brother is going to follow because you're living by the flesh. And all that the flesh does is produce the works of the flesh. The flesh doesn't produce righteous fruit. The flesh, as we see Paul describing it, is adultery and fornication. It's hatred and variance. It's emulations and strife and divisions. It's whisperings and backbitings and tearing people down. That's the flesh. That's the works of the flesh. And so the law engages the flesh, and it stirs up the enmity of the flesh, and it brings about those works of the flesh. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. Hereby perceive we the love of God. He doesn't say by the law. He says, here's how we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. You see how he shows us that if you're going to love your brethren and serve them in love bearing fruits of righteousness, not being harsh and overbearing and demanding of them, The way we're gonna do that is beholding the love of God in Christ who laid down his life for us, for a sinner like me. A poor, weak, nobody, nothing, for someone like me, and he does it for my brethren. that you're precious to him, that he should lay down his life for you. And I know who you are because you follow Christ. You love Christ. You hear Christ. You're drawn to Christ. That's his work in you. And he forms that love, that fellowship in the heart. And so we perceive the love of God, and we bear that same fruit. We emulate that same love and kindness and gentleness that we see him doing for us. bearing long with us, bearing patient with us, and correcting us, gently teaching us, keeping us ever in Him. We're warmed by that light and that passion of Christ. Whereas when we look to the law and we stoke up that fear and that wrath, that actually creates a hard heart and a cold heart. And it turns us away from those fruits of the spirit. And that's where that foothold of the Pharisee comes in and it just stirs up that wrath and enmity, divides and tears down. So everything Christ did was born out of love for his people. Love to the Father and love to his people. You think about it. Christ's interactions with the Pharisees were making it so that every time he opened his mouth, and spoke the truth, they hated him even more for it. They hated him more. They got more and more angry. It was more than one time that they wanted to stone him and throw him off the brow of the hill. More than one time. At the very end, if you're there in Luke 12, look at the end of chapter 11, verse 53. And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things, laying in wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him. But it was in this ground, this object, less him, that the Lord began to reveal to his disciples that we must be made new creatures. Otherwise, that's us. What those Pharisees are, that's us in form and religion. That's what we look like there. And he's revealing you must have a new heart. You must be made new creatures. You must be born again. God's not going to receive us in the deadness of the letter of the law in this flesh. You must be born again. And that's a new creature that Christ makes. He's the creator. He's our God. He makes us new creatures in him. And at the same time, he manifests that heart of hatred in the Pharisees that was going to put him to death that he might redeem and deliver his people. So he's talking, again, not to deliver himself, but he's stirring up that enmity in their heart for whose good? The good of his people. To bless them, to redeem them, to accomplish their redemption. And so he's speaking the truth, angering these Pharisees, and then he uses that to teach his disciples. You see that? How beautiful that is? He's stirring them up, which was in their heart. They hated him. Left in their natural state. and to put him to death. And so the Pharisees were going to put him to death, but that's the very way that he was accomplishing the salvation of his people. So it wasn't to save himself. It was to bring about this glorious salvation for his people. And so that's why when you see it, he's revealing what we need to know about ourselves and what he's saving us from and the life and light and salvation that he's given to us, He's raising up in us by His grace and power. And so He's showing us, you and me that believe Him, we've been forgiven much. That's how we love much. Because we see, Lord, You've forgiven me for everything. My ignorance, my foolishness, my folly, my thinking myself something when I'm nothing. And we love Him like that woman who bowed at his feet, weeping on his feet, to wash his feet, and wiped them with the hair of her head, as opposed to Simon, the Pharisee, who despised him and said, that's disgusting. How can you do that? How can you let that woman touch you? But we either come as a filthy sinner, begging for mercy, or we don't come at all. We're not coming to the Christ. We're coming in in our own arrogance. Now, the third thing here is in verse two, and this will go faster now. there's nothing he says there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed neither hid that shall not be known and so it's through the death of Christ that the understanding of this scripture is going to be made and under be made manifest and understood by us he's talking about the gospel he's talking about the gospel God bringing to light the mystery of God hid throughout ages, but now revealed in Christ. He's saying it's coming. It's going to be made known how that we need the grace of God to save us because the law isn't cutting it. Well, we're not cutting it. There's nothing wrong with the law. We're the problem. We're the sinners. We're unable to keep it. We need a Savior. And that's what the gospel reveals, is that the Father loved the people, for God so loved the world, his people scattered throughout the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." It's his grace revealed in the heart. And so he's talking about the gospel. It's a precious revelation which is given to us of what Christ has obtained for us. He's showing us we're the sinners. that we need this salvation, and we come to Him as the Savior who delivered me from my sins, my sins. We're coming to Him. That's how the sinner comes. Therefore, verse 3, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light, and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. All that he taught his disciples, in private, was going to be made known and declared to us, to us, to this day. And so he's showing us in Romans 11, verse 5, Even so, then, at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more of grace, otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. And so he's teaching us, bringing us to see that Christ is all. He's the Savior. He's the salvation of God. It's that simple. The simplicity of Christ. Look to Him. Believe Him. And by His grace and power, He raises us from the dead, turns our hearts to the true living God, removes that veil of flesh, through the circumcision of the spirit of the heart, whereby we see him, and hear him, and follow him, and rejoice in him. John said, Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. The spirit of error turns you to the flesh in your works. The spirit of truth turns you to Christ, turns you to Christ, to hear Him, to believe Him, to trust Him. And those who love Christ, who declare His gospel, who turn others to Christ and speak of Him, you're His friends. You are the friends of Christ, the friends of God. And that's what he says, verse 4, Luke 12, 4, and I say unto you, my friends, my friends, you that love Christ and believe Him and declare His word of faith revealed to you by the Spirit of God, to trust Him and believe Him, you are the friends of God. You are the friends of Christ. Even though we're troubled by our sin, even though we're troubled and perplexed at times and brought low in ourselves, But he turns us to Christ. He turns us to Christ, and we worship him. He said, come unto me, ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me from meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. Either that's true or it isn't. And when religion's turning you to Sinai, that's no rest. That is labor. That is working. That is fear. That is being driven harshly the way Esau was going to drive Jacob's sheep and children harshly. And Jacob said, no, no, no. No, we'll go slow. We'll go slow. Because I don't want to kill the kids and the flock and bring them to nothing. We're going to go slow. trusting the Lord, trusting Him. And the point is, you have nothing to fear in Christ. Trust Him. He is able to save to the uttermost. Believe Him, follow Him, look to Him, hear Him, stay upon Him, trust Him. In Christ, there's nothing to fear. Outside of Christ, There's only fear. There's only death. But in Him, there's nothing to fear. He says, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But I'll warn you, I'll forewarn you whom you shall fear. Fear Him, which after He hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear Him. and the reason he tells us that is that we hear him and he says this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased hear him in other words in him i'm well pleased all who come to the father in christ believing him faith in him He's well pleased with those in Christ, in Christ. The fear of man is bondage. And the only one that we need fear is God. And he says, get to Christ. That is the strong tower I have provided for my people. Fly to him. Lie to him, sinner, because he is salvation. From the destroyer that comes, he is salvation. He delivers his people fully. You'll not be ashamed. You'll not be destroyed in Christ. And when we say, believe on Christ, and thou shalt be saved, we're talking about Christ as the Savior. We come as sinners. holy God to Christ, seeking Him for mercy, trusting that He is the salvation of God, believing Him that God has sent Him and put Him to death as the surety of His people, that by His death He settled the debt of His people. He's reconciled us unto God in Himself, and all who believe Him have their sins put away. And we know this because God raised Him from the dead. And you that believe Him and believe that He died, was buried and raised again, have the testimony that God has shed the blood of His Son for you because you hear and believe Him. That's not of the flesh. That is the testimony of God in you that you are His and one for whom He died. And when He shakes you, And when He shows you your sin, and when He causes you to see your own sin and the wrath of God against you, that's when you'll hear this word and fly to Christ. Flee to Him now before the day ends, because today is the day of salvation. And men take refuge in what? They take refuge in yesterday. Well, I did this then, so I'm good now. Or they take refuge in tomorrow. I'll worry about that tomorrow. But today, nah. Those are false refuges. Today is the day of salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Confess your unbelief and beg Him to give you belief and faith in Christ because today is the day of salvation. And our Lord says to you that hear Him, to you who are His friends and believe Him, are not five sparrows sold, this is verse six and seven, are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? And not one of them is forgotten before God? but even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore." Now he says, don't fear you that believe Christ. Fear not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. You have nothing to fear of God in Christ. Outside of Christ, you shall meet a fearsome God, a God of wrath that will destroy you. In Christ, There is peace. There is love. There is light. There is receiving. There is fellowship. There is teaching. There is nourishing. In Christ is salvation. Come to the Father in Christ. And there's no fear. Now believe not the leaven of the Pharisees, trusting your works to save you. That's hypocrisy. Believe Christ. Come to the Father in Christ. Amen.