would like to do that we would love that help. All right now back to where we are Luke chapter 12 tonight we have been in we were in Luke chapter 11 for quite a while and there we read at the very end of the chapter which is what we studied over about the last three weeks was Jesus's discussion with both the Pharisees and the lawyers and we see in those tubes of two groups of people, kind of individuals who are the opposite but the same, if you want to say it like that, right? So the Pharisees, they look good from the outside, but Jesus says within you're ravening, right? He says you are filthy, you're vile, you look good to everybody, everybody thinks that you are a good Jew, a good believer of some sort, but he says, I know you're not. The lawyers, on the other hand, they had a deep knowledge of God, but they didn't really even try to work it out. And they don't seem to have had any relationship either. And so, in both of those groups, we see individuals with a singular aspect of service for God. And what Jesus is making clear therein is that it's not just one aspect of our lives that brings us into the full measure of what we're supposed to be as Christians, right? It's about a complete relationship with God and giving Him every part of our lives, right? We're not supposed to withhold anything. We need to have that knowledge of God that's deep like the lawyers. We need to outdo outward works that please God and we need to be clean on the inside. It's a whole package. God wants all of us. Again, it goes with our theme, be ye holy for this year. And so that's what we're kind of picking up on. They just had been invited, or Jesus was invited to dinner with this Pharisee. He discusses what the Pharisees are all about with him. They move on to the lawyers. And as we enter into chapter 12, we see there's another discussion, but it kind of picks up where those discussions left off. So we're going to read chapter 12, verses one through 12 together tonight. So if you have your Bibles there turned to the right place, if you would just stand with me. and we will read the word of God together. Then I will pray, you may be seated, and we'll pick up on the sermon at that time. Chapter 12, verse one says this. 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. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. Therefore, 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. And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear. Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. 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, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Also I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man confess before the angels of God. But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. And when they bring you unto the synagogues and unto the magistrates and powers, take ye no thought how or what things ye shall answer for what ye shall say, or what ye shall say. For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for all that's contained here and how that you have provided everything we need for this life, Lord God. Lord, we do ask now that you would speak to us very plainly through your word. Help me to articulate the truths that you would have. But Father, most of all, we want you to speak. We want your Holy Spirit to speak to each one of us individually, Lord God, to guide us in the areas that we need to work on in our lives. We thank you for all you do for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, so again, we see that in the book of Luke, or here in chapter 11, Jesus has this discussion with the Pharisees and then with the hypocrites, and then he is now leaving the dining area. It says, in the meantime, there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trod one upon And so we have now this gathering outside of wherever they are dining, and it's becoming quite the place, right? So much that they're troding upon each other, right? They're treading upon each other. They're running each other over. They're trampling each other. And so that would indicate to us that there's a lot of people there, probably people from all walks of life. And we know there's Pharisees and lawyers that are in the house. They probably came out and became part of the multitude. There was likely other religious leaders there who would have wanted to have heard what was going on. the lay people, the common people, they are there and they are all out seeking to get Jesus' attention. But Jesus has just talked to the Pharisees and he's talked to the lawyers and he walks out and it says, first of all, he's going to speak to his disciples. Now, I don't know exactly why this is. I imagine that they were probably in the dining area with Christ and the lawyer and the Pharisees because he immediately refers to the Pharisees. So, in all probability, it seems like he was talking in front of his apostles, his disciples, and then he walks outside and is like, hey, we need to talk about this for a minute. It doesn't say that, but we can assume that perhaps because that is what he addresses first. Maybe they were not there and he just had it laid on his heart and he says, look, it's time to talk about the act of the Pharisees here. And so we see in this this time, Jesus says, look, before we go any further, I need to step away from the crowd and I need to address my people. And so he picks very specifically those who are trusting in him, those who are following him, those that would be called his disciples. And he's got three warnings. He's got more than that. We're gonna get to three tonight. We'll probably get to a couple more next week, but we're gonna look at three warnings tonight that Jesus gives to his disciples. So in verse 1 we see the first one and it's very open and plain. It says simply this, So the first warning we see is a warning against hypocrisy. It starts out, beware. Pay attention, right? That's what that word beware means. Pay attention, be cautious about, listen up, make sure you're observant, figure out what's going on around you. You don't want to fall into a trap that I'm about to tell you about. And so Jesus speaks to his disciples and he says, look, I want you to observe this. I want you to pay attention. Look at the effects of hypocrisy. He calls hypocrisy leaven. Now leaven is a rising agent. Most typically it would be yeast, at least there in the Middle East. I don't have any idea what people use today because I am not a cook of any sort. So I assume it's still yeast today, but it would make the bread rise. In the Bible, though, it's very frequently, if not completely, referred to in the negative sense. When there's leaven, it's usually talking about the spreading of sin or something along those lines. So, we think about the Passover, we have the Passover, and they're looking back on all that God did, and immediately after that, they go to seven days where there's no leaven in the house. Part of that is a picture of the fact that they were in a rush, they left Egypt in haste, and as such they did not have time for the bread to rise. So part of it is in memory of that, but part of it also is remembering the spreading of idolatry that was there in Egypt. And so you see a picture of it there. But from then on, we get to the New Testament, and when leaven is spoken of, it's in the negative sense. And so here we see it, the leaven of hypocrisy. In other places, we see the leaven of the Sadducees or the leaven of Herod, always talking about the spreading of sin or the growing of sin withinside of Christianity. And so he's trying to help them to see that we need to avoid that. What's being explained here is the tendency of hypocrisy to spread within a religion. Excuse me. These allergies that are affecting everybody are also affecting me. Who here is struggling with allergies right now? All right, good. I'm not the only one. So I didn't want to say everyone, and then that would be awkward. But anyway, what are we talking about when we're talking about hypocrites? We're talking about those who either say they're doing one thing and don't do it, or they say they're not going to do one thing and they do it, right? It's those people who are not living a life that is fully synonymous with how they pretend it to be. So when he referred to the Pharisees in chapter 11, he said they were white on the outside, but on the inside they were ravening, right? So they looked good. They were doing works that were good, but inside they weren't really about serving Christ. They weren't about a relationship with him. All they really wanted to do was kind of stand out and get the attention of other people. It made them feel good about who they were. It made them feel like they were saved, if we want to say that. And quite frankly, today, this is what pharisaical living is all about. It's something that looks good on the outside, but it's really for the purpose of affirming who we are in our relationship with God. And so we're using other people to help us to affirm our status. So think about some other religions. We have many religions all around us. We have many churches all around us. And sometimes we go to a place to seek to feel holy rather than to be holy. We are to be holy in all manner of conversation. That's the command of God. But sometimes we really just want to feel like we're going to heaven. We want to feel like we're right with God, even though we may not be. And so we develop devices that help us to feel feel like we're doing right, even if we're not doing right. And that's what the Pharisees were doing. They had this group of people in the church or in the synagogue, and they were saying, hey, look, this is how we're gonna live. And they're making up all of these rules, and they follow the rules, even though they're not following the word. We're focusing on hand-washing. That's not really contained in the Bible. We talked about that a few weeks ago. Yes, it talks about how the priest had to wash their hands before they made the sacrifices, and it talks about ceremonial cleansing when they engage in certain sins, but the daily washing of the hands or the washing of hands before they ate, that's nowhere contained in the Mosaic law. That's just not there. And so you see these people are developing rules that make them feel good about living. And so Jesus is warning about that. And so we look at religions today and we can see that some religions will do that today. We can think about a church that sings very charismatic music sometimes. It can be such that it's really just working up emotions to get us to feel like we really worshiped God that day, right? And so They may sing song after song after song after song that has very little substance, but they do it together in such a way that it's working the emotions up so that everybody feels really good about themselves when they leave. We need to focus on worship and we sing songs and we wanna sing songs, we wanna sing songs and hymns and spiritual songs and we want them to lift very highly the name of God and they should help in our worship of him. But a church should not be all about just a type of worship that is building me up emotionally, it needs to be building the name of Jesus up. And so we see there that there is this tendency in some churches or some religions to focus on how am I going to feel when I walk out of the door? When quite frankly, the way that God explains church that we need to be exalted, exhorted, but also reproved and rebuked, right? Two out of three are bad. We don't need to always leave church feeling good. Sometimes we need to leave church feeling like I'm a sinner and I need to get some things right. Because if I never leave church thinking I need to get some things right, I'm never gonna get things right. I'll remain in my sin. And so we don't need to always feel like that and yet if a church is solely focused on that we kind of become like the Pharisees where we are feeling good on the outside but on the inside we may be lacking. Other churches, they may focus on works, right? So you have to be baptized, and then you have to engage in communion, and then you have to go to confession, then you have to go on missions trips, or you have to do this, or you have to do that, or you have to do the other, and it's like there's a whole litany of things that you gotta take one step, and then you might be saved, and then you gotta take another, and you're closer, and you gotta take another, and you're closer, and you gotta take another, and you're closer, and they're ignoring the truth of the Bible, which is salvation is by grace through faith alone. But they're trying to make you feel like you've accomplished salvation by doing this, this, this, and this. And there are things that the Bible tells us we should do, but they're pulling them out of context and saying, if you do these things, you're right with God. No, the relationship starts with trust and faith in Jesus Christ and forgiveness of sins, and then we follow in obedience to His command. We get baptized to show that I love Jesus and that I want to follow Him. I take communion so that I can remember what He did for me in salvation. I give to the church because I love God and I want to support the organization that He created. And we do these things not so that I feel good, but because I love Jesus and I want to please Him. And that's the way the church was designed to be. But yet there are many churches that they extract parts of the Bible and they have us engage in them in such a way that makes us feel good. But we gotta focus on God's word and what he says and not on what feelings do for us. And this is where the Pharisees were. They started out right, right? They had the Mosaic law firsthand, right? Way back when, I mean, they heard God speak and said, no more, we don't want to hear that anymore. Moses, you go to God, you get the rest of the law for us. They knew God spoke and God gave their words, but then they extracted what they want. And they said, we're just going to do these parts because they make us feel good. And Jesus says, beware of that. Instead of focusing on a relationship with God and serving Him out of love, they developed a system of rules that made them feel like they were doing right. We gotta be aware of that. We gotta be aware that we're not just doing things that make us feel good, but we're doing what the Word of God says so that we can please Him. Some people will take the Bible and they just kind of construct it in a way that only allows them as individuals. We're not talking about churches now. We're seeing how it works down from the macro to the micro, right? We get down to individuals now and even in good doctrinally sound churches, people will sometimes do the same in their own personal life, right? We'll take a particular issue or a particular stance and it's not wholly biblical, but it's what we like. And so, you know, we know that the Bible says we are to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, right? So not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of self is. I'm supposed to be in church, and yet I've had people come to me and explain to me why that verse is not applicable to all of church. It's only applicable as it is relevant to you as you kind of feel like you should be in church. Well, that's just denying what God's word says, and it's living in a way to where you're making yourself comfortable. But the concern is, I mean, that is a concern, but the other concern is that people come to you and they try to get you to do it. And so when Jesus says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, he said, look, you got to watch out for these people in the church. It's not saying don't allow these people in the church. We want everybody in the church. We want to teach God's word with great clarity and great understanding so that everybody knows what God expects of us. Because He wants us to know. He wants us to follow Him. But when somebody starts spreading that type of leaven in the church, we need to know it. And we need to stay away from it and we need to be aware of it. We perhaps need to address it and say, no, you're wrong. We might need to say, well, why don't you talk to pastor about that? We might need to say whatever we need to say. We need to show them the truth of the word of God so that we live right. Some people refuse to wholly sanctify God in their lives, and it becomes apparent in the standards by which they live. Again, and they're choosing to take their own view on the Bible, but to the extent that you can find God's true desire in regards to standards, we need to know it. And there's a lot that the Bible says there. We've been studying this for week after week after week on Wednesday nights right now. We're gonna keep studying it because it's something important for us to know. But the fact that you can know more about it means you should know more about it, not that you should make an arbitrary standard that you like and refuse to hear anything else because when you do that, you become like the Pharisees. You're just saying, I like God, but I like him how I have him. And while I may look pretty good on the outside, there's some things in my life that I will not give up to him. God wants us to be holy. And again, I've had people come to me and explain to me various things. Look, I don't tithe, and this is why I don't tithe. It's between you and the Lord if you tithe or not, okay? But don't try to talk me into the Bible being wrong about tithing, because God says we are to tithe. He says we're to give a tenth, and he says we're to go above that and give offerings as well. We are to take and support missions and other such things. God wants us to give, and you know, your sins between you and the Lord, right? You don't have to confess to me. We don't, I'm not a priest like a Catholic. Don't come to me and confess your sins. If you do, I'm just gonna tell you what the Bible says, and you're probably not gonna like me for it, okay? And I do, I have people come to, Pastor, this is just what I think, and this is what I do. Okay, well, if you're gonna say it, I'm just gonna tell you what the Bible says, and this is what it says, and this is where it says it, so you should do this. And they say, that's great, Pastor, but I'm not doing that. Okay, that's not my problem. Like, I told you what the Bible says. It's between you and the Lord now. But when you set up those type of standards in your life, that's a choice. You're saying, I love God, I wanna be saved through Jesus Christ, but I don't wanna do this. And on all sorts of things I've had people come to me and try to justify things. People, as a youth pastor in Indiana, all the time people would come and try to justify their kid's behavior and why they don't punish their kids. Look, if you don't want to punish your kids, that's between you and the Lord. You're going to be held accountable for it. You're going to be held accountable for how they turn out. You need to have a punishment system. I won't tell you exactly what it is for you and your child, right? Because that, in a lot of ways, involves a lot of prayer. I got four kids, and they all take different types of punishment to get them to obey. I mean, their personalities are different. It takes something different to motivate them. But we do need to be doing that and coming to me and saying, look, this is why I don't punish my kids. OK. But don't try to get me to do something that goes against the Bible. That's the leaven of the Pharisees. And we need to watch out for that. I don't think there's a lot of that going on in this church, but we do need to be aware of that. If somebody comes to you and is trying to espouse ungodly principles, Go to the Bible, right? Search the scriptures to see whether those things are so. Let them know. I mean, don't be hateful about it, but at the same time, in love, say, look, you're wrong. That's not what the Bible says. We need to sharpen one another. I want to strengthen you. I want to help you. Let's look at the Bible together and see what it is. But Jesus is saying, beware of them. Why? Because we need to make note of them so that we are not influenced by them. This right here is not for the purpose of excluding them. We know there's other times when a person may get into a place where they need church discipline, but just because they have wrong thinking of an issue doesn't mean we kick them out, right? I mean, Andrew would have been removed like 15 times by now. He would be no longer part of this church. And so I just pick on him because he'll take it well if I do. So I got another example. I'm going to use you here for it a little bit. It's great. So anyway. We gotta do that, we gotta mark those that may cause divisions, the Bible says, and we need to note them, but we need to help them in love, but we need to make sure we're aware of it so we don't let it influence us. And we also need to take this and understand, is this me? That's not what he's addressing directly here, but we should all consider, am I a Pharisee in any way? Am I a hypocrite in any way? Can't get the word to come out that I want to come out. Hypocritical in any way. So is that me? We need to examine it and check us for that. So that's the first warning we see. We see a warning against hypocrisy. The second thing we see is a warning against the small things. Look at verses two and three with me. It says, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be made known, that shall not be known. Therefore, 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 right, so the second thing we see, again, I said it as a warning against the small things. At first blush, it seems like this is related to the discussion of Pharisees, and that's kind of how I approached the text at first, but then I thought, you know, I should probably check into the Greek on that word for there, just I wanna see if it's a related word or if it's a linking word, what it is, and it's really just kind of like a marker, like sometimes we say a, you know what I mean? Like a, the next thing is, right? But it can mean all sorts of things. It can be used to mean and or but, or like a lot of different, it really, that doesn't mean there's any causation between the two texts. So we see here then, and we'll get to it more and we'll see it more, we'll just look now, if you look to Matthew chapter 10, you'll find there that it's in a completely different order. In Matthew chapter 10, Christ discusses this same matter, but it's not related at all to hypocrisy. It's just kind of part of the text there. And so, I don't think I even wrote the verse down. That's unfortunate. Oh yeah, there it is, verse 25, I think. All right, and I did not write it down. What'd you say, 26? It is enough for the disciple that he's master. All right, I am somehow in the wrong spot. Anyway, as you look through that chapter, you will find that, and it's really annoying me now that I didn't write that down. So in there, it goes through this same passage and it starts talking about all of these same issues, or many of these same issues, but nowhere in chapter 10 does it discuss leaven, or does it discuss Pharisees, or does it discuss hypocrisy. Those words are nowhere to be found in that chapter at all. But it does talk about nothing that is discussed will be covered or hidden. And so you see there that it's not related to anything, it's just kind of freestanding. And so we're left with the understanding that Jesus may be referring to hypocrisy as well, but he is certainly giving us a warning that everything we do in life, every word even matters. Everything. Jesus is warning his disciples herein that everything they say will be revealed. Every word we speak is part of our eternal record. Matthew chapter 12 makes this abundantly clear. In verse 35 it says, a good man out of the treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." So we see here there is coming a day when everything will be revealed. Everything you said shall be made known. Things that you say that you think were secret. Things that you spoke to someone else about. You're like, hey, did you know that, right? And you talk about somebody. Everything it says will be revealed. There is nothing that you might do that you think is hidden, that you think is secret, that will be hidden. There are things that are hidden today, right? There's things in your life that you've kept a secret. There's people you spoke about, there's things you've done that nobody else knows about. It's happened, right? So we know this isn't talking about today, it's a picture of the judgment day. And Jesus here is speaking to his disciples so we would know that this is referring to the judgment seat of Christ. This is an affair that happens after the rapture during the tribulation period here on earth. Jesus is going to take all those who are his and he's going to weigh their actions during this life. 2 Corinthians 5 and verses 10 and 11 says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. So, we're told here that there is coming a day that if you are a believer, we're going to be judged by God. Yes, my sins have been forgiven as far as the east is from the west. I am not guilty in regards to my life before God, but the works that I do in this earth are still going to be weighed before Him. And everything that we have done in this life, whether good or bad, is going to be made known before all men. Well, all saved people. And there we are, we're standing before Jesus. We're standing without excuse. In 1 Corinthians 3, verses 13 through 15, Paul elaborates a little more. He says, Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide at which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire." So again, we see that we're still saved. Our sins have been separated, again, as far as East is from the West. But God's going to judge us. And it can be good or it can be bad. We can receive a reward or we may suffer loss. It's not the broad generalities of life. It's not, oh, well, I was saved and a pretty good Christian from the ages of 20 to 40, but from zero to 20, I was really bad and it's just the way. No, it says, every man's works shall be tried. Every idle word spoken shall come before the Lord. Again, in our text, there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be made known. Therefore, whatsoever you have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light. What a thought. Everything you say, everything you do, it is all being heard by God and it will all be revealed. Again, thank God that it's under the blood. Thank God that we cannot lose our salvation. We are saved. If you are saved, you are saved forever. But we need to watch every word we say. We need to take careful consideration of our lives. This probably needs to be considered anew by each one of us on a pretty regular basis. I think about the generation of old, like my grandparents and that older generation, and how that they were so very discreet, right? I mean, you ask grandma, like, what's the drama going on down the street? And she's like, Are you talking to me right now about that? You don't talk about that. That's not your business right now, right? I mean, do you guys have grandparents that would do stuff like that? I mean, I remember asking my grandpa things, and my grandma things, and other people things of that older generation, and they're like, we don't talk about that. It's not your place to talk about. And we fast forward to today, and everybody's airing everybody's business, right? Hey, did you see Miss Angela and Miss Catherine today? You know what they were doing? Man, I can't believe what they, did you see Brother Art? He took his jacket off during service. I can't believe he took his jacket off. What is wrong with this guy? Man, Brother Richard and Miss Glinda, you know those two, right? Oh, and Rodrigo and Andrew, there's nothing good about them, right? And there's so much, like, you know, even the president, like, the presidential debates are absolutely atrocious because they can't even just stand on their record, this is what I did. He's a liar. Like, stop talking about him, just talk about yourself, right? But that's what they're both gonna do here in a few days when they have this debate. They're just gonna say, you did this and you did that. No! We are to speak good. Romans 1, verse 30 gives us just a short list of some sins, and it lists backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. Like, five of those just relate to our words. Backbiters, talking about other people. Right? Again, just using the presidential debate here in a few days, think about all of these that they're going to violate when they do. I mean, they're not backbiting against technically, because they're sitting there looking each other in the eye, so there's none of that. But a despiteful, we're going to hear a lot of despiteful words there. Right? We're going to hear a lot of proud words. We're going to hear a lot of boastful words. I don't know that either one of them have living parents, so we won't see any disobedience to parents at that time. But we're going to see a lot of violation of a lot of things that God wants. That's sin, and we can see that from there. But what about you? Right? Parents, I mean, we're going to be held so accountable for every word that not only we say to each other, that our children hear and they want to emulate. You're driving home and you're like, man, Can't believe that. Ms. Tanya butchered that song. She did a great job tonight. I'm not criticizing. I can only say that because she did a wonderful job. But she butchered that song. And our kids are like, man, it's OK to make fun of Ms. Tanya. Or whatever the case may be, every word we speak, we are going to be held responsible for. Children, how you talk to your parents, again, is specifically listed as disobedient to parents. But the Bible also tells us we're to honor our parents. What you say to or about your parents or your siblings is sin. We talk to people all the time, every word we say. It's to be good, it's to be wholesome, it's to be uplifting, it's to be exhorting, it's to be sharpening, it's not to be tearing down, it's not to be disrespectful, it's not to be proud. And yet that's where we are. Can I challenge you to take a test today? From this moment until you go to bed, can you do this? Can you go the entire night without saying one thing that is disparaging of anybody? Not the person you're talking to, not anybody else. Can you do that? Can you say only good things for the rest of the night? Can you say nothing proud, nothing boastful, and nothing unkind? Can you do those five things? Everybody try that tonight. Then we'll come back next Sunday and we'll take a test and see how you did. Right, we won't do that. But that should really put it in perspective to how much we have as a society really just accepted this kind of open sin of saying whatever we wanna say. And yet Luke 8, 17 says this, for nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest, neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. And there are many believers who act like they have no area of Christianity in which they need improvement. But I have trouble thinking that we don't all need help in this area. James 3, 5 really puts it into perspective. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beast and of birds and of serpents and things in the sea is tamed and and hath been tamed of mankind, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith we bless God, even the Father, and therewith we curse men which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Can you tame your tongue? That's the second warning. We gotta control even the smallest things. Can you contain your tongue? The last warning tonight is a warning against denying Jesus. A warning against denying Jesus. Well, I would never deny him, right? Isn't that our automatic response? I would never deny him. But look at verses four through nine. It says, And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear. Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. 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, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Also I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man confess before the angels of God. But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. So here's a warning of Jesus against denying Him. Romans chapter 10 verse 11 says this, Now we think about this word shame or ashamed and we think of perhaps a connotation where there's great embarrassment brought, right? So we think of our past, and you could probably think of an event in your life that you're greatly ashamed of. I'm sure we all have something in our lives that, man, if I could go back and change that, I would change it. And if nobody ever finds out about it, that'll be wonderful, right? In fact, we may have repressed it so far in our memory that we never even want to bring it up again and think about it. And if somebody were to bring it up, we would just be absolutely mortified. And that really is what this word shame here is. It's just like that. But the truth that is written in our text is that, or in Romans chapter 10, is that if we're truly saved, you will not be ashamed of Christ. Why would you ever feel this type of embarrassment or this type of disgrace or this type of humiliation about Jesus? Again, our response is likely, I would never feel this way, but Jesus lets us know this is a concern and he tells us why. Quite simply, you may be ashamed of Jesus and it works out in your denial of him. And he says, there's a whole lot of things you may fear. And that's the beginning from chapter, from verse four down is all about fear because the reason we will deny Jesus is because we're fearful. We're afraid. And Jesus says there's only one thing to fear and that is hell after death. And that is a determination that God makes. But then he says, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered. And I control the sparrows. If he knows what happens to every sparrow and if he knows every hair on your head, he can protect you and he will protect you. But he says, so why do you deny me? Are you ashamed of me? I mean, that's the connotation we get. Why do so many believers deny Jesus and how quietly they carry Him with them in everyday life? Right? We deny Him by not sharing Him. We deny Him by keeping Him to ourselves. There are things that we can do that don't bother us at all, right? We can make absolute fools of ourselves and somehow that's okay, but when it comes to sharing the name of Jesus, Well, we get a little scared. We get a little intimidated. We keep quiet, right? People may not like that. That's a subject we don't talk about. We don't talk about religion or politics, right? Or whatever the case is. And people get all sorts of intimidated. And yet, think about the foolishness that you might do in life. I remember as a teenager, I'll make a confession that's embarrassing now. So my wife could be like, oh no. She was with me on almost everything I did as a teenager. We were like pretty much always together. We had a whole group of kids that kind of just were always into mischief. So anyway. We would get, we had this thing of like, you know, just, we didn't have phones, okay? I mean, so we had good fun, right? So, we'd go into Walmart, and we'd be like, okay, whose turn is it? It's my turn, or your turn, or it's their turn, or whatever. And so, we'd get a shopping cart, and then we'd put some clothes in the bottom of the shopping cart. And then one of us would climb in the shopping cart, and we'd ball up, and somebody would cover us with clothes. And so then the other partner, they would take the cart, and they would push it somewhere, and they would say something like, you're on. And they wouldn't tell you who you were by, but they put you by a person. And your job was to talk to them from inside that cart about what you thought they were buying. I mean, and this was great fun. So you're like, oh, you picked that color of pants, huh? You really think those are going to be like the persons like looking around and so like your job in the card is not to laugh and the person that pushed you job is not to laugh right and to try to get the person to you know to get the person laughing. That was the goal. The person shopping to laugh and so how ridiculous was this and how embarrassing was this right? But we didn't care. We're teenagers who? We don't know these people. And we just convinced ourselves like this is normal teenager activity. So we would do it, you know, on a board on a Friday night. What do you do? We go to the movie. Well, we don't. We go to Walmart and we get in shopping carts and we talk to people. OK, so there we are. And just like who does randomness like that and why? Well, because it's fun. But that's not normal behavior. And yet I can talk myself into doing that. If I can talk myself into doing that, can I talk myself into telling somebody about Jesus Christ? Because that's way less embarrassing than hanging in a shopping cart, not knowing where my friend put me with all sorts of clothes that I don't even know that they dangled on top of me, okay? I mean, it's just, we're kind of like, what? I can do that. And Jesus says, there's no need to fear. I have you. I mean, he didn't promise to protect me from the people who might attack a shopping cart. Luckily, we never got hit with a purse or anything that I know of. But we'll do all sorts of things that will draw us out of our comfort zone. I mean, as a parent, It's like my job to embarrass my children. It's a rite of passage. A child is not properly maturated unless, you know, you're at a store and you do something to embarrass that child. Like, I mean, that's just, that's part of parenting. It's in the Bible somewhere. I haven't found it yet. I may have to write it on the last page, but whatever the case may be, right? I mean, and Peyton will tell you, I may have done this a time or two, huh? She's like, don't talk to me when I, she's like, you're embarrassing me now. You're talking to me in front of everybody, right? Reagan likes it. Reagan, do I ever embarrass you? Like my kids are all on the spot now, like they're all shy, whatever. But we will do all sorts of things to be funny, to be awkward, to do whatever. But if we can do that at will for something that does not matter, why do we struggle so much telling people about Jesus? I mean, Jesus is quite literally the only thing that matters for all eternity. He is the only thing that has eternal value. Anything else we do that's embarrassing, it really doesn't matter. It's going to, when we die, we don't carry it with us. The one thing that matters for all eternity is people and their eternal destiny. Everybody's either going to heaven or everybody's going to hell. And Jesus says, if you will not confess me before men, what's he say? He says, he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. I don't know what that means. I've looked at it. I've studied it. I've read it. I have a lot of different opinions on it. I don't know. I know we don't lose our salvation. John 5 24 is abundantly clear about that. But what does it mean that he won't confess me before the angels of God? That doesn't sound good. Does that mean he won't hear my prayer? Does that mean he won't do... I don't know. I have not found a satisfactory answer for it. But I know verse 8 says this, And what I know from this passage is I want verse 8 and I don't want verse 9. I want to confess the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to tell other people about him. Why? Because it doesn't matter what other people do to me. Romans 8, 38 and 39, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. People need that. I have that protection. Nobody's gonna remove me from His hand. I can embarrass myself as much as I can. People can do anything they want to me, but I am in the hand of my God. Is Jesus your Savior? If He is, there's no excuse for denying Him. He doesn't ever want you to. He wants you to carry His name with you, and He wants you to carry it proudly. Are you doing that tonight? As we close in our text, we see three warnings. a warning against the influence of hypocrisy, a warning against the small things, very expressly, the words of our tongue, and a warning against denying Jesus Christ. Have you struggled with any of that tonight? If you