Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - The Good, the Bad, and the Unforgivable - Luke 12:1-12

We are in a series called Luke The Orderly Account

of Truth, where we are looking at the eye witness

account that Luke compiled and wrote down in this Gospel

that speaks about the life and ministry and death and

resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Last week, Pastor Duncan took

us through the end of chapter eleven where we saw

Jesus rebuke the Pharisees to their faces because of their hypocrisy,

and Jesus compared them to a cup that's only washed

on the outside, and he compared them to unmarked graves

because on the outside they appeared to be clean, they

appeared to be upright and better than everyone else because

they followed all of these extra biblical traditions. And he

rebukes them because on the outside they appeared to be

holy and righteous and better than everyone else. The Pastor

Duncan taught us from God's word that it's not what's

on the outside that matters. It's not how we appear

to be that matters. It's on the inside where it

truly matters to God. The Pharisees were full of greed

and wickedness and corruption instead of loving God in humble

service and submission with their inner self, what God truly

cares about. They loved their traditions and the power those

traditions gave them over the people they led and that

looked up to them. Out of fear. If you have

your bible's turned with me to chapter twelve of Luke,

verse one, where we'll see. After rebuking the Pharisees for

their hypocrisy, Jesus turns to his followers to warn them

just how dangerous it is to follow their hypocrisy and

their teachings. I'm going to read through verse twelve, and

then we will pray. If you need a Bible, we

have some at the connect table, that is yours to keep.

Chapter twelve, verse one. Meanwhile, when a crowd of many

thousands had gathered so that they began trampling on one another,

Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying, be

on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which

is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed,

or hidden that will not be made known. What you

have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight,

and what you have whispered in the ear of the

inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. I tell you,

my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill

the body, and after that can do no more. But

I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who,

after your body has been killed, has authority to throw

you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are

not five sparrows sold for two pennies, yet not one

of them is forgotten by God. Indeed the very hairs

of your head are numbered. Don't be afraid, for you

are worth more than many sparrows. I tell you, whoever

publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will

also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns

me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of

Man will be forgiven. But anyone who blasphemes against the

Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When you are brought

before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry about how

you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for

the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what

you should say. Let's pray, Lord, I thank you, that

we can be gathered together as one body and give

praise to your mighty name through your gift of worship,

your gift of music. Lord, that we can offer a

sacrifice of worship to you. I pray that you would

open our ears to hear the truth of your word,

your living word. I pray that you would convict us

of our sin, that you would humble us before you,

that we would be sanctified and become more like you.

Give us the faith to trust in what your word says,

and help us to submit to it. Fully, sanctify us

and make us more like you. Lord, in your name,

we pray, Amen. If you're taking notes today, my sermon

today is titled The Good, the Bad, and the Unforgivable.

Any Clinton Eastwood fans in the house, No one, just

CARDI okay, now the hands are coming up, Come on

like actually good westerns, The Good, the Bad, and the Unforgivable.

But before I jump in, I want to ask, are

there any bakers here? Anyone who bakes or likes to bake?

A few? Yeah? Duncan's pastor. Duncan's wife Patricia, I know

is a baker because she makes the most delicious cookies

you will ever have in your life, guaranteed, full stop.

Her cookies. Let me just talk about her cookies for

a minute. Her cookies are so good. They are literally

the only thing that I will not hesitate to break

my diet for. Curse you and your heavenly cookies, Patricia.

Let me talk a little bit more about her cookies.

You know that feeling of eating a homemade treat from

someone that loves to bake, and you can literally taste

the love that's Patricia's cookies, I'm telling you. But she

didn't create She didn't create this tasty treat, this delectable dessert,

this choice confection by mistake. She made it through trial

and error and midnight bacathons and sometimes too much baking soda.

You can ask her about that. But she now has

her recipe down to a science. Her ingredients are carefully

measured out, and if a mistake is made, she throws

the whole batch out and starts again from scratch. If

there's too much salt, it ruins the sweetness. If there's

too much sugar, it ruins the savoriness. If the smallest

amount of any ingredient is off, it ruins the whole batch.

Just the smallest amount ruins the whole batch. Let's look

again at verse one of chapter twelve, where I'm gonna

tie this all in, and you'll see, Okay, he's not

talking about cookies today. Meanwhile, when a crowd of many

foul had gathered so that they were trampling on one another,

Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying, be

on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which

is hypocrisy. After he rebukes the Pharisees, he turns to

his followers and warns them about the yeast or the leavens.

Some translations say warns them at the yeasts or the

leaven of the Pharisees. And he's not talking about bread

like the disciples thought in Matthew's Gospel. Matthew's Gospel, he's

using yeasts as a metaphor to show his followers that

even if something seems good, or even if it's something small,

like the amount of yeast to use in baking, it

can quickly grow larger and larger and affect the rest

of the dough. He's warning them that the teachings, the

hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He's warning them how dangerous it

really is, how dangerous it can become, because the Pharisees

weren't actually following and His true law or God's true example.

They were following their own set of rules. They were

setting their own example, They were making up their own

extra biblical teachings, and they held the people around them

to a standard of their own making, and they were

leading them all into sin. So Jesus warns them, if

you follow these kinds of examples, you follow these kinds

of ideas, these teachings, or you allow that kind of

yeast into your life, it leads to wrong and harmful

beliefs and practices and sin and baking. And just like

patriceas cookies, it only takes the smallest thing to affect

the whole batch. Just the smallest thing can affect the

whole batch. For us, just the smallest thing affects our

whole self. If we allow the smallest amount of idolatry

into our lives, what happens. God is no longer at

the head. If we allow the smallest amount of greed

into our hearts. What happens. We think of Jesus as

insufficient for us. If we allow the smallest amount of

lust into our minds, what happens. We sin against our

own body, We pollute our hearts, and we harm our

relationships in our marriages. But there is a good kind

of yeast. There is a good kind of yeast too.

Just like Jesus uses the example of yeast here as

a metaphor to describe the dangers of the examples and

teachings set by the Pharisees their hypocrisy, he also taught

that the Kingdom of Heaven can spread like yeast in

this parable in Matthew this chapter thirteen, he told them

another parable. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard

seed which a man took and planted in his field,

though it is the smallest of all seeds. Yet when

it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and

becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch

in it in its branches. He told them still another parable,

The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman

took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until

it worked through all the dough. I did some baking math.

Because I'm not a baker. You can probably tell, but

I'm not a baker. If you figure about one teaspoon

per pound one teaspoon of yeast, or two teaspoons if

you're feeling generous or like sour dough, that's only two

and a half cups of yeast to spread and work

in sixty pounds of flour. That would produce roughly fifty

loaves of bread. That's a lot of bread. But listen,

it only takes the same small amount of wrong teaching,

the wrong example, hypocrisy to work in us and produce

sin the same small amount. And it only takes the

same small amount of God's teaching, his righteous way of living,

perfect example, to produce good actions and good ways of speaking,

and good choices that are pleasing to Him and further

his kingdom here on earth. Bear in mind that yeast

is a living fungus gross, but in the process of

baking it infects and changes the entire batch of dough

it's mixed with. Bearing that in mind, and how God's

word just made it clear to us that there is

both bad yeast and good yeast that we can either

allow into our lives or choose to take into our lives.

The question we must all ask ourselves is what kind

of yeast do you use? What kind and I'm not

talking about baking. What kind of yeast are you putting

into yourself? What kind of yeast are you allowing into

your mind? And that's infecting and spreading into your inner self?

Is it the yeast of the world that produces sin

or the good yeast of the Holy Spirit who produces life?

Because as believers, one of those is dead to us,

and the other we are a slave to one of

those kinds of yeasts. We are dead to the other.

We are a slave to look In Galatians five thirteen, you,

my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But

do not use your freedom to indulge in the flesh.

Rather serve one another humbly in love, For the entire

law is fulfilled in keeping this one command. Love your

neighbor as yourself. If you bite and devour each other,

watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other.

So I say, walk by the spirit, and you will

not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh

desires what is contrary to the spirit. And the spirit,

what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict

with each other, so that you are not to do

whatever you want. Praise God that he doesn't allow us

to succumb to complete wickedness like we would do without him. Amen.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are

not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious.

Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy,

fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness,

orgies and the like. That's very open ended. I warn you,

as I did before, that those who live like this

will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Why because the

Holy Spirit puts a new desire in us to please him.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

and self control. Against such things, there is no law.

Those who belonged to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh

with its passions and desires. Since we live by the spirit,

let us keep in step with the spirit. Do you

see the two different kinds of yeast in play in

those verses? As believers, we were given the Holy Spirit

who made us alive in Christ set us free and

called us to live in that freedom, not to pursue

our desires of the flesh, but to pursue the desire

He put in us to please God. And those desires

this new way of living is contrary to what the

world desires. It's contrary to the yeast of the world.

So what kind of yeast are you using? Are you

allowing the bad yeast of this world to work in you,

the yeast that produces sin? Are you putting in the

good yeast and the holy spirit that transforms you and

produces life and pleases our heavenly Father. Because here's the thing.

Whether we take in the bad yeast or we take

in the good yeast, both ways of living are not

hidden from God. Both ways of living are not hidden

from Him, and both ways of living are revealed. At

the end, Jesus continues his warning to his followers in

verse two. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed,

or hidden that will not be made known. What you

have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight,

And what you have whispered in the ear of the

inner room will be proclaimed from the roofs. For an unbeliever.

Their desire is for that which displeases God. For the believer,

we've been given a new desire, one that wants to

please him. But all of us still sin. We still

have this flesh that's been corrupted by sin, and we

have this constant battle of two different desires that are

in conflict with one another. As Paul showed us in Galatians,

the unbeliever sins and may feel bad about some of

the things they do because of God's moral law the

presence of his moral law in the universe. But the

unbeliever doesn't think twice about the eternal result of their sin.

The believer still sins. Hear this, the believer still sins.

We just get good at hiding it. The believer still sins,

we just get good at hiding it. But nothing is

hidden from him. Nothing is hidden from God, and there

is nothing that won't be revealed in the end Hebrews

chapter twelve. For the Word of God is alive and active,

sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to

dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the

thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation

is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid

bare before the eyes of Him, to whom we must

give an account. Nothing in all of creation is hidden

from his sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before him.

And it's to him that we give an account for

all of it. How we speak in love, or how

we slander, how we're merciful, or how we withhold forgiveness,

how we're generous, or how we're selfish, how we submit

to God and his living, active word, or how we

are prideful. And all of it, whether it's done in

secret or shown to the whole world, will be laid

there before him, and all of it is held to

account to him. Right down. He saw that. He saw it.

Whatever it was, he saw it, He sees it all.

Early on in my relationship with my lovely wife Lindsay,

before we were married, I was working in retail for

about six years, which is like five years ten months

too long, and I wanted desperately to get out of

that line of work. I was already working part time,

so I made the decision that I was going to

go to community college and get a degree in computer

science so I could have a better career. But after

about six months, I remembered, oh, yeah, I hate school,

and I was also extremely afraid of failure, and I

was self conscious about my own abilities and I doubted myself.

So I quit. But I didn't tell Lindsay that I quit. Yeah.

In fact, I went so far to cover up my

decision to quit, to hide it from her that I

would pretend to be at school while in reality, I

was just watching a movie by myself, like some kind

of weirdo. It's okay if you watching movies yourself, but

now if you're doing it to hide the truth. But

in my hiding, I told lie after lie after lie,

and was eventually buried in my own tomb of deceit

and fear of what I had done. But it wasn't

hidden from her for too long. I was so stuck

in this web of my own deceit that I couldn't

even make sense of the lies anymore. And she rightly

called me out on it. Now, praise God that he

gave me a woman that was so forgiving, She shrugs.

But here's the thing, and why I'm bearing my soul

to you right now. I hid all of that from

her and lied to her because I was afraid to

admit to her. I was afraid to admit to her

that I'd given up, and I continued to lie because

I was afraid of confessing my own sin, my own wrongdoing,

to her. But our sin is never hidden. We may

successfully hide it for a period of time, but it's

never truly hidden because God, the one we are truly

sinning against, He saw that. And while our sin can

hurt others around us, like I hurt my wife, it's

God that we ultimately sin against because it's his law

that we are breaking. It's his law that I broke,

and the results of that sin also hurt my wife.

It's his law that we break when we sin. So

I'm fifty one for I know my transgressions, and my

sin is always before me. Against you, you only have

I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,

So you are right in your verdict and justified when

you judge, because it's His law. When you sin, it

may hurt others around you, depending on the sin, but

it's against God and God alone that you have sinned,

because it's his law and he is the judge Jesus

can tell. Jesus continues in verse four, I tell you,

my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill

the body, and after that can do no more. But

I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who,

after your body has been killed, has authority to throw

you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. The

Pharisees had heavy influence over the Jewish people. They had

power over them because they held them accountable to all

kinds of their own hypocrisy. They held them accountable to

extra biblical methods and practices and teachings. But here Jesus

is telling his followers that they can't let the fear

of crossing the Pharisees, the fear of going against man,

drive them to hypocrisy and sin. Don't take in bad

yeast because you're afraid of mankind and the world and

what someone might say, or what someone might think, or

what someone might do. Because in the end, what's the

worst they can do to you? The very worst they

could kill you. That's pretty bad. But compared to eternity

in judgment and a lake of fire, I'll take death, please.

It's the fear of God, the all powerful Creator, and

what he can do that keeps us in step keeps

us in line with the spirit, which produces good yeast

you following. It's the fear of man, a lump of clay,

that we succumb to bad yeast and sin. When I

think about the illustration I shared about my own deceitfulness,

I wonder what things would have looked like if I

had been less afraid of confessing my fears and doubts

to my wife, my now wife, and I had been

more afraid of the Almighty God I was sinning against.

But then I remember he still forgave me Isaiah forty three.

This is the Lord God Almighty speaking. I even I

am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake.

All glory goes to him and remembers your sins no more. Hallelujah.

Remembers your sins no more. Listen. It's okay to consider

all the ways things could have been better if we

had just listened to him, if we had just feared

Him instead of fearing man. I think it can produce wisdom.

But we don't have to live or wallow in sorrow

for ourselves, or remember our past sins because he remembers them. Not.

In fact, he chose you in spite of them. Thank you.

I'm not mad at you. I'm yelling because I am

overwhelmed by the goodness and mercifulness of a God who

has every right to throw me to leake a fire,

but he chose to save me. Praise God. Going back

to our text today, after Jesus gives them the wisest

instruction to walk in fear of God instead of man,

he gives his followers a similar message of comfort and love.

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies. I don't

know what the inflation of sparrows is to today's time,

but yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed,

the very hairs on your head, no, don't even say it,

are all numbered. Catch this. Don't be afraid you are

worth more than many sparrows. Hallelujah. God knows and sees

all of his creation, from the sparrows to every air

on your head. He knows your past sin, he knows

your future sin, and he knows the sin you're living

in right now. But rejoice because in spite of your sin,

his children are so highly valued that He said his

one and only sudden to save them, to himself. How huyah.

If you have placed man, if you have placed your

faith in Jesus, you are counted among his children and

you are worth so much more than all of his creation.

If you have placed your faith in Jesus, you don't

have to walk in fear of what God can't do.

You get to walk in freedom because of what he

did do. Lord, I'm a mess today. Yeah, if you

have placed your faith in Jesus, you don't have to

walk in fear of what God can't do. You get

to walk in the freedom that he gave you because

of what he did do. Praise God. So what Jesus

is saying here and what my next point is, Fear God,

but don't be afraid. Fear God. It's the fear that

can keep us in step with the spirit. But because

of his salvation, because he values his children more than

all of his creation, because of what he did for us,

we don't have to be afraid of what he can do.

Fear God, but don't be afraid. Jesus closes out this

warning to his followers starting in verse eight, and he says,

I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the

son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God.

But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before

the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word

against the Son of Man will be forgiven, But anyone

who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

When you are brought before the synagogues, rulers, and authorities,

do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or

what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach

you at that time what you should say. What Jesus

is saying here is that the only thing in life

that is unforgivable, the only thing is to reject the

only one that can forgive you. That's the only thing

that is unforgivable. It's to reject the one who forgives.

Even the Pharisees, the ones that spoke out against him

and called him a demon, could be forgiven if they

repented and believed he was who he said he is.

But to deny the work of the Holy Spirit, the

one that reveals Jesus as the living, resurrected God, cannot

be forgiven. So don't fear man and taken the bad

yeast of the world that tells us to deny who

he is, and don't fear man in what the world

may say when you acknowledge Jesus as King and Savior. Instead,

be assured of Jesus's promise here that those who acknowledge

him before man, he acknowledges before the hosts of heaven.

And when you do acknowledge him, rest assured in this

promise that the Holy Spirit teaches us what to say

in that moment. The Holy Spirit teaches us what to

say when we give that witness. Can I get the

band to come up? I've talked a lot today about

how what we do and what we say and what

we take in has a much greater impact and implication

than we realize. If you're a believer, by God's eternal

and accomplished work of salvation and through his Holy Spirit,

you have been given a new desire to please Him.

And while that desire for the time being is in

conflict with the desires of our corrupted flesh, we have

been changed, We've been made new, and we must be

careful not to allow bad yeast into our lives. We

can't allow ourselves to follow the examples and practices set

by the world. When you examine your life, when you

examine how you're living, if you find that you're not

actively repenting and turning away from those sinful desires and practices,

then you must consider the danger and the reality of

living that way. If you are not repenting of those sins,

which means having true sorrow about what you've done, having

a true hatred and disgust of your own sin, making

true changes, then the reality is you're one of these

two things. You're an unbeliever or you're a hypocrite, and

both require repentance. If you are actively sinning and not

actively repenting, you're either an unbeliever or you're a hypocrite,

and both require repentance. I don't care how good you

are at hiding your sin. I don't care if you

feel that it's not hurting anyone. Stop it. God called

you to live a life that pleases Him and praise him.

That his mercy is everlasting and unending, and his love

for his children is overflowing, and that he is right

there waiting when you turn from sin and repent. God

sees it all, and he's the one that we're sinning against.

At the final judgment, all of our secrets will be

made known. All of our secrets will be made known,

and our status in righteousness is revealed. You may be

asking yourself, well, Jordan, I sin, how do I know

how to know? If I'm saved? Do you have a

desire to please him? Do you have a conviction to

turn from your sin? If you answered yes to those

then you are a saved sinner. Now go and repent.

If he answered no to those two questions, go and repent.

Don't allow the bad yeast of the world into your life,

the yeast that turns into sin and death. Do repent

and walk and step with the spirit, and let that

good yeast change you. Don't allow the fear of man

and what they can do or what they might do

bring you to deny who Jesus is. Do fear God

and acknowledge that he is King and Savior and Lord

of your life, because He will either acknowledge you before

His Father and the angels, or he will deny those

that deny him. I know this is heavy, and I

say this with all love. Good it's supposed to be.

We need to think about the eternal ramifications of who

we are. The eternal ramifications of what we do. It's

supposed to be hard to hear. But the rest of

the good news is that He saved you from it.

I beg you to sit with how difficult this feels,

right now, sit with it, and then fall to your

knees before the Almighty God and repent of your sins.

Believe and submit to him, and then stand up and

rejoice that He has saved you from that sin, and

he calls you one of his own. And then walk

away in freedom from the bondage that he has released

you from. Walk away in freedom from the bondage of sin,

and walk in bondage to the life of righteousness he

has called you to