Sermon notes: 11/16/25

Luke 12: 1-12

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"In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, 'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." Luke 12:1-12

Appearances mean a lot to us today. Likewise, in Jesus's day, the Pharisees looked to outward appearances as a way to determine inner appearance. In this text, Jesus tells us to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” Jesus concerns himself not with the huge crowds and the danger of being trampled, but hypocrisy. Jesus’s first words to the disciples in the passage are to call them to watch themselves for hypocrisy. The way leaven works is to spread slowly and quietly, the same way that sin spreads through one's life, such that one's outward appearance doesn’t match what is on the inside. When your life doesn’t match your heart, that is hypocrisy. What Jesus is warning us about is using the mask of religion to mask the pride and enthronement of self on the inside. God hears everything, and we should be aware that our hearts are His to see. There are no secrets that He does not have exposed to Him. Jesus calls we who would follow Him to drop our mask and stand boldly before Him. Be the same person in private that we are in the public. The Pharisees clung to their masks, and missed the freedom that Jesus was offering them. Jesus is inviting us to freedom.

Jesus tells us not to fear those that can kill us. For those following Jesus when he was on earth, this was a real danger. And fear can be a great motivator for masking. Fear of bodily harm, or lesser things such as rejection can cause us to mask up. But Jesus tells us whom to actually fear - not man, but God, the Ultimate Judge. He is the one who can cast your soul into Hell. God knows everything about you, even to the strands of hair on your head. And what He knows about you, He loves. The one who holds your eternity in His hands holds you as precious in His heart. So you are free, when you know that the one who sees you fully also loves you fully. We can be set free from the slavery of public opinion. We can unmask.

There is more mercy in Christ than there is mess in you. The only sin we can’t be forgiven of is the one where we mask up our entire lives and never allow our hearts to soften to Hear the Spirit’s testimony about Him, and we run out of time in this life to live openly and truthfully before God.

Knowing that we are fully loved, we can be willing to fully follow Him.