Banishing Fear With Eternal Perspective (Matthew Sermon 40)

I. Perspective Conquers Fear

Matthew 10:26-33 tells of how eternal prospective vanishes fear. One of the great privileges that I had in my life was being a witness for Christ in the country of Japan. While I was there ministering, my wife and I and our two older children started to learn of the great heritage of Christians who have gone before us, and who had been willing for centuries before that to lay down their lives for Jesus Christ.   Recently, I read the story about one of them. A 12-year-old boy named Ibaragi Kun, confessed faith in Jesus Christ and was rounded up with twenty-six other Christians and led to a place where there were twenty-seven wooden crosses. These twenty-seven were going to be executed for their faith. They were going to be nailed to the cross, each one of them, unless they renounced Christ. The captain in charge of the execution came and had pity on this 12-year-old boy Ibaragi Kun. He knelt down and put his arm around his shoulder, and said, “You have so many years ahead of you, why don’t you renounce your faith in Christ and be Japanese and live a Japanese life and turn away from this early death?” The young boy started to cry and he shook his head, turned and said, “Please tell me which cross is mine?” The man was just struck by this and  weakly pointed to one in the middle, and the boy ran over to it. He embraced it,  he hugged it, and he died on it.  A twelve-year old boy. I’m speaking to young people today. Are you ready to lay down your life for Christ?  If a twelve-year old boy four centuries ago can do it, what about us?

Maybe God isn’t calling on us to lay down our lives this week for Jesus Christ. Maybe he’s just calling you to lay down your entrancement with your reputation among your friends. To lay down your reputation, be willing to go across the hall at college or go across the office to somebody in a cubicle or an office right across the way and share Christ. Maybe across the street, maybe to pick up the phone and call a relative that you know is not a Christian, and just out of love to throw away your reputation in that person’s eyes, knowing full well that there’s a very good chance that they’ll reject the Gospel. It’ll probably get weird between the two of you.  Are you willing to risk it?  Twenty  years ago I gave my life to Christ.  It wasn’t long after that that I was introduced to a companion.  I would not call it a friend, but a companion that’s been with me every step of the way since, and that companion is fear of man because I was introduced early on through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ to the evangelistic call, that we are to be witnesses for Christ. If you’re going to be a witness for Christ, you have to come face-to-face with this foe, the fear of man.

How do we overcome that foe, how can we conquer our fear and be witnesses for Christ? That’s what’s facing us in the text today. How do we embrace the cross that God has for us, and not run away from it because we’re afraid?  How do we live the Christian life?  Jesus is giving us, I believe in these verses, eternal perspective as a remedy for fear.  What do I mean by eternal perspective?  In the 1400s in Florence, Italy, artists discovered something called “the vanishing point”.  It put perspective in drawing, so that from then on things  paintings looked accurate. Have you ever seen those medieval tapestries or paintings that look a little weird?  Everybody looks the same size, the city is the same size, everything is the same size, and it looks strange. The artists in Florence, Italy discovered something called “the vanishing point” where things get smaller the further away toward the horizon they go and from that point on, things look like a photograph.

One of the artists who perfected this technique was Albrecht Dürer, a German woodcutter, who did incredible art. He also loved the reformation. He was a personal friend of Martin Luther. He said, “When I listen to Martin Luther preach, I feel my fears and anxieties vanished”.  I think that’s what the vanishing point does,  that’s what perspective does.  As we look at things from an eternal perspective fears are banished, they tend to disappear.  We’re not afraid anymore what people are going to think.  Actually, the more they heap abuse on us, the gladder we are in one sense.  That’s what Jesus is trying to work with us here, that we would see all things in the light of eternity, that we would see our own lives that way, that we would see our neighbors as souls who will some day stand before God in judgment, that we will see God himself as the ultimate issue and his pleasure as our greatest treasure.  In order to understand this passage, I think as always we need to step back and get some perspective within the Gospel itself.  Matthew is the first book of the written testimony in the New Testament of the life of Jesus Christ.

We have four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each of those four gives us a view point of Jesus Christ. Each of them comes at it at a little bit different way. Matthew comes at it from the view of a kingdom, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Heaven. Specifically that Jesus Christ has the credentials and the right to be the king of the kingdom of Heaven. This kingdom was inaugurated or begun when Jesus entered into the world, and when he began his preaching ministry, he said, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In one sense, the kingdom is right here, it’s immediate.  From the time that Jesus began his ministry the kingdom was here. The kingdom of heaven is at hand, therefore repent.  Jesus  said in Matthew 12: 28, he said, “If I drive out demons by the spirit of God then the kingdom of God has come upon you”. The kingdom in one sense is here now, but in another sense, it’s not yet.  We pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come”.  That’s a petition. “O Lord, may your kingdom come”. What does that tell you? It’s not here yet.  What do we mean by “Your kingdom come”?  Jesus says in the next line, “May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. That’s the kingdom, that we would do God’s will, from our hearts with a joyful spirit, doing all of the things that he has commanded gladly. That is the nature of his kingdom, and it’s advancing. The kingdom advances, it moves out. When we get to the parables in Matthew 13, a principle of growth we see the kingdom of heaven is like a seed sunk down in the soil, and it bears fruit. There’s a sense of growing.  How does it grow? At the end of Matthew chapter 9, Jesus looks out over the crowd and  has compassion on them because they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, and so he calls his disciples to him and  says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field”. There it is, there’s the field where the kingdom of heaven is going to be growing — it’s people who don’t know the Lord, it’s people who are harassed and helpless, they’re tormented by their sins, they’re under the wrath of God, and they have no chance of salvation except for a message called the Gospel.

II. Christ Banishes Fear

In Matthew 10, Jesus prepares twelve apostles, twelve men and sends them out into the world.  The twelve apostles are our forerunners in this Gospel ministry, we follow in their footsteps. They went out into the world and they proclaimed the gospel message. Matthew 10 is their marching orders, the original instructions that he gave to them for this witness. We know that even though Jesus was in that time and at that place speaking just to them, at the same time, the words just seem to swallow up all of history and take us in as well. We can go to Matthew 10 and say, “Lord, how can I be a witness for Christ?”  As we read through Jesus’ instructions to the twelve gospel messengers, it seems like it’s going to be a hard life.  Look down at verse 14, it’s the first hint there, that there’s going to be trouble ahead. He says, “Go to towns and villages, and look for a person to take you in”. Suddenly in verse 14, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your word, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town”.

So it could be that there will be some people who will not welcome you. There’ll be some people who will reject you, they will not take you in, they will not welcome you. They have no interest in the Gospel of the kingdom. That’s just a hint. Later on he says more directly in verse 16, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves”. What do you think that means? Sheep versus wolves. Who do you think’s going to win? The sheep win, but only by dying. It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be harsh, it’s going to be difficult, there’s going to be opposition. He says it even more plainly later on in verse 17, “Be on your guard against men, they will hand you over to local councils and flog you in their synagogues, on my account you’ll be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.” Look what he says in verse 21, “Brother will betray brother to the death, and a father his child, children will rebel against their parents, and have them put to death. All men will hate you, because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.” This is obviously opposition; this is a Gospel advance only against great odds, against great opposition requiring great courage.

When you read these verses what naturally  pops into your mind. Imagine if you were one of the  twelve apostles and you are standing there listening. What starts to creep in? Fear.  It starts to grow and you start saying, “Wait a minute, you know it’s been good up to this point, but this isn’t what I signed on for.” “Yes, it is.” Jesus has been going around doing all kinds of miracles, but where is Jesus heading?  He’s heading to the cross.  He says, “You have to embrace the cross too, if you’re not willing to take up your cross and follow me, you’re not worthy of me.” He’s giving us a lifestyle of embracing a cross. That’s exactly what he’s calling us to. But how do we deal with the fear?  That’s what Jesus is dealing with in these verses.  He says in verse 26,  “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”  In verse 31 Jesus says, “So don’t be afraid, you’re worth more than many sparrows”. Do you see what Jesus is doing? He’s working on the issue of fear. Three times in this small section here, he’s saying, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid.”  He’s zeroing in on the fact that, “I know how this must be hitting you, I understand how this must sound to you, that you’re going to have to give over everything precious to you. I understand that fear is going to start to creep in, but don’t be afraid.” Fear is rooted in unbelief, isn’t it? Imagine if you would, an emperor sitting up in his throne room and he summons you. You’re honored that he would even notice you and you come right to the front of the court. You are surrounded by courtiers in their beautiful clothes. He gives to a herald, a little scroll and says bring it down to him. Unroll it and there’s some instructions for you to do with your neighbors. You’re supposed to do this or that or the other, it’s coming right from the emperor.  Can you imagine reading it and saying, “I can’t do this, what will they think of me?” What will they think of you? This is a command from the king. “The real issue is not what will they think of you? What will I think of you?” That’s the real issue. Imagine  if Jesus were right in front of you, at all times, you could see him with your eyes, and he’s commanding you to witness and share the Gospel with that person right there. Would you obey or disobey? I think you’d obey. But now he’s not there right in front of you, you have to see him only by faith. When fear start to creep in, you can see that fear is rooted in unbelief.  It’s because we don’t believe that God has commanded us to do this. Jesus wants to reach down, and just uproot that fear so that we’re not afraid. You know fear paralyses the Gospel advance. If God wants you to go witness to your neighbors, wants you to go witness to your friends and family, and you don’t do it out of fear, the Gospel is paralyzed through your unbelief, through your fear. He must root out this fear so that you can in fact be a Gospel witness.

What is Christ’s tactic, what approach is he taking here? He’s doing what we call faith-filled reasoning. He’s reasoning with us through faith. He’s assuming certain things are true and then he’s reasoning out the consequences as a result. He’s already done this a few chapters ago in Matthew 6.  Jesus comes to the issue of anxiety, he comes to the issue of fear over material possessions. Look what he says in Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you’ll wear? Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes”. What is he doing there? Is he not reasoning with you saying anxiety or worry about these things doesn’t make any sense. This is what we call faith-filled reasoning. Verse 26, “Look at the birds of the air, they don’t sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Then he says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life”.  What is Jesus doing? He’s got his sight set on anxiety.  Anxiety is in his cross hairs, what is his weapon?  He is going to strike anxiety down with faith-filled reasoning saying, “God provides for the birds of the air, he provides for the grass of the field.  You’re worth more than they are, so stop worrying. And besides which, has worrying ever done anything good for you?”  Now, back to Matthew 10, he’s doing the same thing here, he’s reasoning with us, saying, “Don’t be afraid of them.” Then he starts giving reasons. “There’s nothing concealed that will not be disclosed,” and in verse 28 he says, “Don’t 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.”  In verse 29, “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’re worth more than many sparrows.” It’s the same kind of approach that he’s taking here.

What I think is so wonderful about this is to realize we don’t have to be slaves to fear.  Jesus is commanding you not to be afraid.  He seems to think you have control over this.  I said at the time when I was preaching about anxiety, you know what anxiety is?  It’s imagination run amok, thinking of all the things that might happen.  So also it is with fear. You think ahead to what it will be like, and it causes you to pull back from obedience.  He’s working with you, he’s reasoning with you so that you won’t be afraid.  The bottom line here is simple. Do not fear temporary earthly opposition rather fear God and seek to please him for the advancement of his kingdom.

I’ve noted before some paradoxes here in Matthew 10.  I think this is very interesting. He says, “Be on your guard against men, they will hand you over to local councils and flog you in the synagogues.” In other words, watch out for them.  What is the implication? Do what you can to not get arrested.  Do what you can to avoid it.  Then he says, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”  Then what he says, “When you are persecuted in one place flee to the next.”  Now, just a minute, how do we stand firm and yet flee for our lives?  How do you put those two together?  The idea is that you should seek to preserve your life, you should seek to stay alive if you can, but understand the reason for that, it’s so that you can die another day for Christ, that’s all.   It’s so that you can lay down your life in another better setting that God chooses that you do whatever you can to stay alive so that you can produce fruitful labor for Christ. This is exactly what Paul says in Philippians 1, “I’m torn between going and being with Christ, which is better for me, but staying here in the body, which is better for you.  I don’t know, I’m torn between the two.  I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it’s more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith.”  What is Paul’s attitude here?  He said, “I don’t care about my earthly life, except that I might be poured out for Christ, except that I might serve him.”  The paradox here is basically stay alive as long as you can, so that you can serve Christ as much as you can.  But in the end, God may choose to pour you out like a drink offering.  Don’t be afraid of that, that’s the way of thinking.

III. Eternal Perspective Banishes Fear

What do we mean by eternal perspective?  There are five things that Christ is seeking to get across to us here. You have to work through and  pull them out. The first is that there is a God who rules over Heaven and Earth, who judges Heaven and Earth. He is sovereign, he rules over all things, number one. Eternal perspective also teaches us, secondly, that there is a Judgment Day in which all human hearts will be revealed, the secrets of every heart will be exposed.  There is a Judgment Day coming.  Thirdly, there is for every human soul an eternity to be spent either in heaven or in hell. That’s a reality.  For every human being you meet, they have a soul, and it will spend eternity in heaven or hell.  Fourthly, the Gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is the only hope the human race has of escaping hell and living forever in heaven.  These are four irrefutable biblical facts, and therefore, fifth, earthly troubles and concerns are minuscule, they’re puny, compared to the first four facts.  That’s what Christ is trying to communicate to us, but he does it in an interesting way.

First, he looks at how eternity exposes secrets. Verse 26 says, “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known.” In the NIV, the “so” is a little weak. I should be “therefore”. This is how we begin. He begins reasoning with us, so that we’re not afraid by saying therefore.  Well, “therefore” causes us to look up at what he was just saying in verse 23, “When you’re persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”  Verse 24 and 25, “A student is not above his teacher nor is a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household?”  What is he getting at?  Persecution is inevitable for the faithful Christian.  It’s inevitable. Therefore, listen to what I’m going to say because I want to help you not be afraid.  That’s what the word “so” or “therefore” means at the beginning.

He says, “Don’t be afraid. Do not be afraid of them.”  He gives them a command.  He gives us a command.  You don’t need to be afraid.  As a matter of fact, you must not be afraid.  You must work against this kind of fear.  This is a command from your king, and he gives it three times. We should listen very carefully.  Do not be afraid.  And then of whom? Do not be afraid of them.  These are human persecutors.  It may be the government councils in front of whom you’re going to be giving a defense.  It may be your family members who betray you or your friends who betray you over to the government.  It may be any human being.  The “them” in that verse are human persecutors, human opposers.  Don’t be afraid of people. That’s what he’s saying, “Don’t be afraid of them.”  Proverbs 29:25 says, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be kept safe.”  Fear of man is a snare, isn’t it?  Someone once said, I think it may be Mark Twain, said, “I don’t know the path to success, but I do know the path to failure: trying to please everyone.”  That’s how we fail. Try to please everyone.  No. . . please God and God alone. That’s how we succeed.

Along the way, there may be others pleased with you as well, wonderful. Let’s have good fellowship, but please don’t be afraid of man.  Isaiah 2:22 says, “Stop regarding man, who has but a breath in his nostrils, of what account is he?”  Psalm 56:11 says, “In God I trust, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Isn’t that wonderful?  He lifts your eyes up and says, “Don’t be afraid of them, of human persecutors.”  This is hard to do, isn’t it?  Imagine if you lived in occupied Holland and you’re hidden some Jews in your house, and there was a Gestapo raid to the left house and to the right house the last few nights. How do you go to bed and not be afraid?  That’s hard to do.  I’m not saying this is easy.  Or imagine you are a house church pastor in China and your church has just been raided and they’ve taken all the hymnals. You got warning ahead of time and managed to get out of there before you were arrested. But you know they have your name and sooner or later, they’re probably going to get you too. Or perhaps you’re a Christian in Vietnam and there are people persecuting, even killing, your loved ones and your neighbors because of their faith in Christ.

This is not a lightweight command and Jesus knows full well what he’s asking, but he’s saying, “Do not be afraid of them.”  He gives a reason: there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known.  He doesn’t say what he means here directly, but we know what he’s talking about, he’s talking about Judgment Day.  In the Book of Life is  recorded everything that everyone has ever said or done.  Jesus said you’ll have to give an account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word you have spoken.  These persecutors do what they do in secret.  They hatch plots just like they did with Jesus.  They meet together to conspire against the Apostles.  These plots, all of them will be exposed by God, and he will judge them.  “Vengeance is mine says the Lord,” so don’t be afraid of them.  God is on the case.  Everything that they do against you will be exposed and concealed.  In a way, it’s a kind of a two-edged sword, isn’t it?  Because it’s not just the persecutor’s secrets, but it’s actually everybody’s secrets who will be exposed.  If in your heart, you’re harboring secret unbelief, or just behaving like a hypocrite or like a Christian,that’s going to be exposed too.  When the fire of persecution comes, then it will be shown to everyone that you’re not truly a believer.  Everything concealed will be exposed and brought to light.  If I can actually get off the context here for just a moment, this is a universally true principle about Judgment Day.  I have no idea what’s in your hearts right now.  I have no idea what you’ve done this week but imagine if you would… Everything that you’ve said and done broadcast up here on the screen so that everybody could see it —last 24 hours, seven days a week, last week, everything that you’ve done up there. Can you imagine that?

Well, imagine it because that’s Judgment Day.  Everything that we do, all of our secrets will be exposed and brought to light. Therefore Paul says we have to give an account to God. We must all appear before the judgment seat of God that we may give an account for everything done in the body, whether good or bad.  Paul says since we know what it is to fear the Lord, we persuade men.  It’s in a two-edged sword.  Don’t be afraid of them because you know there’s nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, in a way that urges us to not have a concealed fear of man.  Don’t care anymore what people think.  Live for the glory of God. That’s his first reasoning, eternal perspective.

Secondly, eternity validates Christ’s words. In verse 27 Jesus says, “What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.”  What does he speak to us in the dark?  What does he whisper in our ears?  I would call it the word of God.  Anything Jesus said, this is the word of God, but how much more the gospel message?  “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”  “You must speak, you must proclaim, what I speak to you, what I say to you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What is whispered in your ear, proclaim. They have their dark secrets, their little hidden plots to persecute you. You have no secrets. Live openly before everyone and proclaim widely the gospel of Jesus Christ, fearlessly and boldly. No secret doctrines, no hidden things, proclaim this message.”   Matthew 24:14 says, “This Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.”  Or Isaiah 40:9, “You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout. Lift it up. Do not be afraid. Say to the towns of Judah, behold, your God.”  Eternity will validate Christ’s words as life-giving. Go out and speak his word. Tell people the truth. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Eternity will validate that the words you speak. Christ’s words, will last forever. Go out and speak the Gospel.

Thirdly, eternity reveals human weakness. He says in verse 28, “So do not be afraid,” it says, “of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” This is striking, isn’t it?  Those human persecutors look awfully powerful.  There was a time when the Gestapo looked perhaps all powerful. It seemed like they could do anything that they wanted to anybody, any time.  The Communist party in China looked all powerful during the Cultural Revolution.  They could take anybody away for any reason, and kill, and there was no recourse. There was no trial. They look powerful, don’t they?  It’s just a mirage, because all they can do is kill your body.  Oh, wait a minute, now that’s big. Was it big to Jesus here?  He said, “Don’t be afraid of them, because all they can do is kill the body.”  It seemed like there’s something even more significant.  Do you realize that we, human race, that we are already under a death sentence?  Did you not know that?  The wages of sin is what? Death. In Hebrews 9:27, “It is appointed unto man to die once.”  We’re going to die. I hope that’s not shocking to you.

Do you remember John Patton when the man tried to convince him not to go as a missionary? “You’ll be eaten by cannibals.” Remember what he said? He said, “I foresee that very soon you’ll be in the grave and you’ll be eaten by worms, either way.” Our bodies are under a death sentence, but I want to go pour out my life for Christ as a missionary to the cannibals.  And so he did.  We’re already under a death sentence.  Don’t be afraid of those who can kill the body and after that can do nothing more.  Rather, I’ll  tell you who to fear, fear God.  Polycarp understood this when he was about to be executed. The governor said “I will cause you to be consumed by fire unless you repent.” But Polycarp said, “You threaten a fire which burns for an hour and after a little while is quenched, for you do not know the fire of the future judgment, and of the eternal punishment which is reserved for the unbelievers.  But why do you delay? Do what you will.” That’s Polycarp. “I’m not afraid of your temporary fire. I’m afraid of something more serious than that. The one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

As a Christian, you know also spiritually, you’ve already died to your life in this world.  Did you know that?  Colossians 3:3 says, “You died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”  He also says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” Your life in this world is already under a death sentence. What are you afraid of?  What are you afraid of?  That’s Christ’s way of thinking.  He says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, cannot kill the soul.”

Fourthly, he says eternity demonstrates God’s absolute power.  In verses 29-31 Jesus says, “Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Who is this?  This must be God.  The devil doesn’t have this power. The devil himself will be destroyed in hell.  But this is God, fear God.  Every year, for a number of years, when I was up in the New England area, we used to go out at Halloween time, and witness in Salem, Massachusetts. I don’t know what Halloween is to you. Maybe it’s a kids’ holiday, where you dress up in costumes and go around and get a bunch of candy.  In Salem, Massachusetts, it’s something  altogether different.  There are over 3,000 registered witches in that city.  As they walk around in flowing black robes year-round with oaken staffs, and as they offer hidden sacrifices and do all kinds of weird disgusting things, you begin to realize that as a minister of the gospel, that is a dark place that needs the light of the Lord, so we used to go out on Halloween night and witness.  There’s one time in particular, I had organized a number of people in our church and we’re going to go out on Halloween and we’re going to witness for Jesus Christ.  All day long, I felt the cold hand of fear on my shoulder.  I just didn’t want to go.  I was afraid and I was looking for excuses.  I was wriggling and turning every which way.  There was a big storm that had whipped up the waves into a frenzy, it was close to a hurricane, I remember that.  I thought, “Oh the rain, nobody will be there.” You know the excuses you start to make when you don’t want to do something.  I remember Christy[my wife] said, “You need to go. They’re going to be waiting at the church. What if you don’t show up? You need to go.” But I remember the turning point for me was a specific Bible verse: Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51:12-13, I could read the whole section but I’ll just zero in on these verses. “I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men? The sons of men who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your maker who stretched out the Heavens and laid the foundations of the Earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor who is bent on destruction, for where is the wrath of the oppressor?” And then he goes on to make me a promise. “The cowering prisoners will soon be set free. Go set them free.”  But what is he saying?  First of all, “Don’t fear men.  Fear me, and obey me and go out and be a witness.”  This is exactly what Jesus is saying in Matthew 10. “Do not fear those who kill the body and after that can do nothing, but fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  Then he points to God’s absolute power over earthly events in history, verses 29-31, “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.”

Jesus zeroes in here on doctrine.  Doctrine dispels doubt. What does he give us?  He gives us God’s omnipotence.  God rules over all things.  Even the sparrow doesn’t fall to the ground, apart from the will of your Father.  You think that bird that you saw on the side of the road there, God didn’t know about it?  It was God’s will that it died when it did.  Read Psalm 104, “When he takes away their breath, they die and return to the dust.”  If a sparrow doesn’t die apart from the will of your Father and it’s sold for a couple of pennies, what about you?  He’s been crafting your life, building it.  He’s been crafting and shaping you and working with you. Do you think your death is going to slip by unnoticed?  He didn’t notice that you got arrested.  He didn’t notice that you’re in big trouble, that you’re on trial for your life, these things escaped his attention?  He knows, he’s doing it, he’s omnipotent, he’s ruling over all things.  He didn’t spare his own son, why would he spare you?  He’s crafting through omnipotence and omniscience.  He says, “Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”  He knows how many hairs I have on my head. Does he not measure out how many days you’ll be languishing in prison?  He knows. He’s not saying that you won’t have to suffer.  He’s just saying you won’t have to suffer for nothing.  He’ll pour you out but it’ll be for a good end.  You will suffer, you may even die, but from your blood will spring up people for Christ.  It’s going to be for a purpose.  That’s what he’s promising, not that you won’t suffer but that you won’t suffer in vain.

Finally, he points to rewards and punishments.  Eternity displays rewards and punishments.  In Matthew 10: 32 and 33, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in Heaven, but whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” Acknowledges means openly embraces, welcomes.  Are you willing to stand under the banner of Christ, to acknowledge him as your Lord and Savior?  Are you willing to go outside the city gate and stand under his cross and bear the reproach that he bore?  Are you willing to stand with Christ?  If so, he will stand with you and  as it says in Hebrews 2:11 he won’t be ashamed to call you his brother.  He won’t be ashamed to have you in his family. That’s incredible to me, that he would not be ashamed of me.  What’s incredible to Jesus is that we would be ashamed of him.  Therefore, he says, “If anyone is ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his Father’s glory with his angels.” [Mark 8] He says, “Listen, embrace me. Welcome me. Show yourself to be a Christian at great cost, and I will welcome you, but if you’re ashamed of me, if you disown me, I will disown you.” Some people say, “But what about Peter? Didn’t he deny the Lord?”  People are very like, “How much denying can we do and still be a Christian?”  That’s not really the right question to ask. Yes, it’s possible to deny that you ever knew Christ and still end up in Heaven.  Peter did it, but what else did Peter do? Forty days later, where was he? Downtown Jerusalem. What was he doing?  Preaching the gospel. What was happening?  3,000 people were being saved. What happened in the end?  He was arrested and taken where he did not want to go, and church tradition said he was executed for Christ. He repented, and he was covered by the prayer of Christ his faith did not fail.

IV. Application

Acknowledge Christ. Don’t be ashamed of him. Embrace him. What application can I take? This is very simple. Do you know anybody who needs the gospel? Are you going to see anybody? You , as a congregation, are going to interact with thousands of unbelievers this week. Will you confess Christ? Will you share the Gospel? Will you speak? Will you invite someone to church?   Will you say something for Christ? Will you reach out?

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

I.  Perspective Conquers Fear

A.  Florence Italy, 1400’s… “Vanishing Point” discovered… adds perspective and realism to drawing

B.  Albrecht Durer, German draftsman and artist

Illus.  Durer a great friend of the German Reformation;  said that listening to Martin Luther preach banished his fears and anxieties

This is precisely what Christ is seeking to do for the Messengers of His Kingdom:  Banish Fear By Perspective… Eternal Perspective

C.  The Instinct to Fear

1.  Biologists and Psychologists will tell you that fear and the drive to survive are essential to being alive

2.  Based in self-preservation common to all thinking creatures

3.  Fear anticipates dangers and seeks to protect life

Fear of loss:  loss of life, liberty, property… loss of loved ones, reputation, position,

Fear connects to anything we value in this world… and fear can paralyze the Gospel Messenger

4.  BUT fear is the enemy of the Gospel advance!!

5.  Here in this text, Christ seems to believe that fear can be banished by proper perspective… He seeks to teach us and reason with us until fear is gone

6.  Gospel messengers can banish their fear by eternal perspective

Seeing their own lives in light of eternity

Seeing their enemies and persecutors in light of eternity

Seeing their suffering in light of eternity

Seeing all success and failure, all advances and retreats in light of eternity

Christ seeks to lift your eyes off the suffering intrinsic to being a Gospel Messenger

Christ seeks to give you eternal perspective, so the Kingdom can continue to grow

D.  Context

1.  Matthew’s Gospel:  A King and His Kingdom

2.  Sermon on the Mount:  Kingdom Life… a life under the rule of the King

3.  Miracles:  Kingdom Power… the authority of the King over every form of evil clearly demonstrated

4.  Kingdom:  “Already, Not Yet”

Already:

Matthew 4:17  From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Matthew 12:28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Not yet:

Matthew 6:9-10  “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

5.  Mission:  People harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd… this is the context of the advancing Kingdom of Heaven

Matthew 9:36-38  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Christ’s response to a lost a dying world… He turns to His disciples and challenges them to by His Gospel Messengers… the message of the Kingdom of Heaven is the only hope the helpless sheep have

BUT the life of the Gospel Messenger is extremely dangerous

6.  Instructions to the Twelve:  Danger Ahead

vs. 14  If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.

vs. 16  I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

“Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.

21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.

Clear warning:  to be a Gospel Messenger will bring you into grave danger and even death… some of the harshest circumstances imaginable will occur

Betrayal by your own brother or father or children!!  Worldwide rejection and hatred!!  Fleeing from one city to the next!!

All of this because of a Christ-hating world that would rather kill the messenger than believe the truth of the message

7.  Natural response:  FEAR FEAR FEAR!!

And fear will paralyze the gospel advance

In verses 26-33 he seeks to give His disciples an eternal perspective that will banish fear and make them fruitful!

II.  Christ Banishes Fear

A.  Fear Rooted in Unbelief

B.  Fear Paralyzes Kingdom Messenger, Hinders Kingdom Advance

1.  Christ intends to send us into harms way

2.  That’s where the battle for people’s souls is raging

3.  Fear causes us to go AWOL… to choose a lifestyle of comfort and ease when we should be out fighting for the Lord

Illus.  Piper’s statements on concern for safety… inner city ministry

Matthew 16:24-25  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

C.  Christ Fights Against Fear Constantly

vs. 26  Do not be afraid of them.

vs. 28  Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.

vs.  31  “So don’t be afraid.”

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

D.  Christ’s Tactic:  Faith-filled Reasoning

1.  Already used this approach in the Sermon on the Mount with anxiety

Matthew 6:25-27  Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

a.  God cares for the birds and the flowers

b.  you are worth more than birds and flowers

c.  God will take care of you

d.  also, worrying cannot add anything to your life… nothing positive happens through worry

e.  conclusion:  mindset on the Kingdom

Matthew 6:33  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Worry gets your mind off the Kingdom of God… that’s why it must be banished

Christ’s strategy is faith-filled reasoning!!  He reasons on the basis of faith until our anxiety is gone

He does the same thing here with fear of evangelism

Are you afraid to suffer for the Gospel?  Afraid to venture forth in witness and mission for Christ?  Afraid of what your friends, neighbors, relatives, and fellow Americans will think of you if you open your mouth and testify to Christ?  Then here is Christ’s remedy for your crippling fear!  He gives you eternal perspective on

Persecutors and their secrets… the Gospel message itself… the limitations of human enemies… the awesome power and authority of God Almighty… and Judgment Day motivations of rewards and punishments

Bottom Line:  Do not fear temporary, earthly opposition… rather fear God and seek to please Him.

D.  Paradoxes in Matthew 10

1.  Selfless courage commanded

2.  Self-preservation in view

vs. 22-23  All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.

“Stand firm” but also “flee”??   Stand firm in your heart, but flee for your body

III.  Eternal Perspective Banishes Fear

Eternal perspective = 1)  There is a God who rules over heaven and earth

                  2)  There will be a Judgment Day in which all human hearts will be revealed

                  3)  There is for every human an eternity to be spent in either heaven or hell

                  4)  The Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is the only hope this world has

                  5)  Earthly troubles and concerns are puny compared to these things

A.  Eternity Exposes Secrets (vs. 26)

B.  Eternity Validates Christ’s Words (vs. 27)

C.  Eternity Reveals Human Weakness  (vs. 28)

D.  Eternity Demonstrates God’s Absolute Power (vs. 29-31)

E.  Eternity Displays Rewards and Punishments (vs. 32-33)

A.  Eternity Exposes Secrets (vs. 26)

vs. 26  “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.”

1.  “Therefore” = because persecution is inevitable, I will give you some instructions to help you

2.  “Do not be afraid”

a.  fear can be controlled… you are not the slave and fear the master

b.  some say “I can’t help how I feel!!”  Jesus says “Yes you can, and you must!!”

3.  “Of them” = of human persecutors

whether government leaders who hunt you down, or neighbors who mock you, or of family members who turn you in

Proverbs 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.

Psalm 56:11  “…in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Isaiah 2:22  Stop regarding man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?

Very difficult to push off fear of human persecutors… think of the midnight Gestapo raids in Nazi Germany; or of prisoners of war in Vietnam; or of Chinese house church pastors tortured day after day by their guards.  King David was so afraid of being hunted down by men that he chose a plague as his punishment when he took the sinful census

But yet, Christ commands that we see these persecutors in an eternal perspective

4.  Eternal perspective:  enemies secrets will be revealed and exposed

a.  persecutors make secret plots to snare messengers of the Gospel

b.  their true motives are also concealed… malice toward God, hatred of the holiness of the Christian’s life

5.  All sinners seek to CONCEAL their sin… Judgment Day will reveal all secrets

a.  Adam and Eve concealed themselves behind bushes and with fig leaves

b.  Cain concealed the dead body of his brother Abel in the ground

c.  the wicked people of Noah’s era had only wicked thoughts in their hearts all the time… concealing their true nature

d.  Judgment Day is the time for all secrets to be revealed

Everything you do in secret, someday will be pulled out into full light to be seen by God Himself with you present… this is the essence of Judgment Day

Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

Christians will not have to undergo wrath and punishment for their evil deeds, but they will have to give an account to God for everything

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

B.  Eternity Validates Christ’s Words (vs. 27)

vs. 27  What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.

1.  Persecutors keep their malice and their plots secret

2.  Gospel Messengers MUST OPENLY PROCLAIM the Gospel… the words of Christ

3.  This Gospel is meant for all ears to hear… including kings and persecutors

4.  Christ spoke His words openly for all to hear… no secret doctrines

5.  Speak my words boldly!!!

Matthew 24:14  This gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Isaiah 40:9 You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”

Eternity will reveal the power of Christ’s words… people will go to heaven forever simply because they heard Christ’s words and believed them!

Eternity will reveal Christ’s words to be more lasting than the earth itself

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

C.  Eternity Reveals Human Weakness  (vs. 28)

vs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

1.  These persecutors look so powerful!!

2.  If they are governmental rulers, they have tanks, helicopter gunships, and missiles

3.  They also have intimidating positions of authority, sitting in tribunal over you

4.  But all they can do is make your earthly life miserable, or at most kill your body

Illus.  Polycarp

“I will cause you to be consumed by fire, unless you repent.’ But Polycarp said, ‘You threaten a fire which burns for an hour, and after a little is quenched; for you know not the fire of the future judgment and of the eternal punishment which is reserved for the impious. But why do you delay? Do what you will.’

5.  To Jesus, physical death was a small thing!!!  You’re already under a physical death penalty anyway

Hebrews 9:27  “…man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,”

6.  As a Christian, you’ve already “died” to the world

Colossians 3:3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

To be a Christian means to pass a death sentence on your life here on earth… the only reason you’re still alive is to serve God’s purpose in advancing the Kingdom

7.  Joyful good news!!!  No power on earth can steal your true treasure, your soul!!

D.  Eternity Demonstrates God’s Absolute Power (vs. 29-31)

1.  Absolute power over the soul’s final destiny

vs. 28  Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Jesus espouses a fear greater than that of man… we must not fear man, but the fear of the Lord should purify us from earthly terrors

Illus.  Witnessing in Salem, afraid of witches

Isaiah 51:12   Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of [man]

Fear of the Lord’s opinion should drive out ANY CONCERN WHATSOEVER messengers of the Gospel have for human opinion

a.  fear of the Lord is the beginning of the Christian life

b.  fear of the Lord guides us all along the way

c.  NOTE:  this does NOT teach annihiliationism

John Stott, noted conservative Anglican scholar, holds tentatively to an annihilationist position, the idea that souls perish in hell and at some point cease to exist

The traditional view is that hell is eternal, and that souls that perish there perish eternally

Mark 9:47-49  And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where “‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ 49 Everyone will be salted with fire.

Matthew 26:41  “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Matthew 26:46  “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous, to eternal life.”

d.  this DOES teach the horrible power of hell

Bodily resurrection for BOTH righteous and unrighteous!!  Wicked suffer with their bodies in hell, after the resurrection

John 5:28-29  “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out– those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

Do not fear people who have such limited power…  fear God who has power over your eternal soul

Care what His opinion is!!

2.  Absolute power over earthly events and history

vs. 29-31  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. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

a.  another reason not to fear is the present power of God over every area of life in this world

b.  DOCTRINE destroys fear

c.  God’s OMNIPOTENCE… God rules over all things no matter how small

d.  God’s OMNISCIENCE… God knows all things, no matter how small

Christ argues in both cases from the greater to the lesser… If God cares for little birds, and none of them perish apart from His sovereign will, why would YOU?  You are worth more than many sparrows!!

If God numbers the very hairs of your head, why would He not number your days of suffering and the weight of your trials?

Note:  the doctrines of God’s omnipotence and omniscience is a problem for us if we think that only “good” things will happen to us the way most people define “good”

But God has already said He considers you sheep for the slaughter, just as He did His own Son

Romans 8:36  As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

These doctrines do NOT protect us from earthly suffering and harm

 “Not that you won’t suffer, but that you won’t suffer in vain!”

E.  Eternity Displays Rewards and Punishments (vs. 32-33)

vs. 32-33 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

1.  “Acknowledges” = confesses openly an unashamedly

2.  Will you claim Christ as your Savior in this rebellious age?  Will you own Him as your Lord, in a world that hates Him?  Will you stand up for His and His Kingdom, though it cost you everything earthly?

If so, Christ will stand up on Judgment Day and confess that you are one of His children, one of His own

Hebrews 2:11  Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

Jesus is not ashamed of you, if you are not ashamed of Him on earth

3.  But, if you deny knowing Him, if you have a secret faith that cowers before the opinions of men on earth, then Christ will disown you before His Father in heaven

Eternal welcome vs. eternal rejection

Nothing could be clearer

4.  BUT Peter denied him and he’s in heaven

Yes, it’s true… Peter stands as an example of how human weakness and fear can overwhelm us at key moments… but Peter repented, he turned back to an open confession of Christ

And forty days later, he was boldly standing in front of a huge crowd in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, proclaiming Christ without fear

5.  Christ’s final word on this

Mark 8:38  If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

IV.  Application

A.  Review

Eternal perspective = 1)  There is a God who rules over heaven and earth

                  2)  There will be a Judgment Day in which all human hearts will be revealed

                  3)  There is for every human an eternity to be spent in either heaven or hell

                  4)  The Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is the only hope this world has

                  5)  Earthly troubles and concerns are puny compared to these things

·       Eternity Exposes Secrets (vs. 26)

·       Eternity Validates Christ’s Words (vs. 27)

·       Eternity Reveals Human Weakness  (vs. 28)

·       Eternity Demonstrates God’s Absolute Power (vs. 29-31)

·       Eternity Displays Rewards and Punishments (vs. 32-33)

B.  Application:  Do not be afraid to stand up for Christ… to be a witness for Him

350 people will interact will thousands of lost people in the Triangle region this week… will you speak for Christ?  Or will fear rule you??