Luke 12:1-13:9 - What Are You Trusting In?

Well, in Luke, we've said this several times, the blessing of Luke is that he tells us right in the beginning why he has written this letter, this gospel, so that we might believe, so that Theophilus would believe, so that we would believe, so we'd have an accurate account of the life and the ministry of Jesus Christ.

And in chapter 11, Jesus was teaching and revealing to the Pharisees and to the lawyers the falseness, if you will, of their doctrine, because they declared something and claimed something, but it wasn't true.

They declared that they were teachers of the law, they understood the law, God's revealed instruction in the Old Testament, but they did not live by it.

And as a fact, as a matter of fact, they made up more law.

At the end of chapter 11, 50 uh verse 53, it says, as he, Jesus, went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something that he might say.

So the end of chapter 11, we have this situation where now Jesus had says so many things that the Pharisees, the lawyers, the religious elite, and probably anyone else that he's offended, they're after him.

They want to see him come to a demise.

And then we get into chapter 12.

And there's crowds that are growing, thousands and thousands of people.

They're trying to listen to what Jesus has to say.

And Jesus begins to again speak very directly about the truths of the kingdom of heaven.

And this narrative, as Jesus is getting closer to the crucifixion, right?

We're in chapter 12, halfway through the Gospel of Luke.

But in the chronology, the timeline of Jesus, he's getting much closer to his crucifixion.

And you just kind of feel the heat being turned up.

He knows the Pharisees, those who are against him, are now really trying to seek his demise.

And all the more he's saying to anyone who would listen, Where, what is the root of your faith?

What is your faith anchored in?

The title this morning of the sermon is, What are you trusting in?

And this is an evergreen question for us to keep asking ourselves.

This is why it comes up so often in the Bible in different ways and in preaching and in conversations.

It's a revealing question.

What are you trusting in?

We claim we're trusting in Jesus, and we think we are, but are we?

There should never be a place in your life where you just don't need to ask yourself that question anymore.

Am I still trusting in Jesus?

Is my hope in him?

Am I looking to him for my salvation, for my contentment, for my provision, for my meaning, for my worth, for my protection?

Again, it's easy to just assume these things.

And so we ask this question often.

And here Jesus is presenting this through various forms to the crowd, to the throng of people, thousands and thousands.

Do we trust the God who sustains the universe?

Do we trust him to make us content?

Do we trust him to provide?

Do we trust him that he will save us?

Do we trust him that he is who he says he is?

As Jesus will lay out in this text, the first thing is that we need to know who to fear.

And we need to know what to trust.

And we need to know how to read, how to apply God's word.

And these are my three points this morning as we'll work through this large section.

We need to know who to fear, what to trust, and how to read.

And if you get nothing else out of this sermon this morning, my encouragement is that you get this, that genuine followers of Jesus are humble, they're teachable, and they're growing.

That's a pattern in the life of a Christian, someone who is a follower of Jesus.

If you're a Christian, that means you are a follower of Jesus.

So how did what did Jesus' life look like?

How did he behave?

We're to follow that, we're to emulate that.

If we're going to do that, we need to be humble and teachable and growing.

Jesus begins right out the gate.

Another rebuke and a warning about the Pharisees.

To beware, to not fear the culture, but to fear God.

Because everything will be revealed.

The things that you think are done in secret, the quiet secret places in your life or the secret places in your heart, it will all be revealed.

The dark shall be brought, excuse me, in the dark shall be heard in the light.

Whatever you say, verse 3 tells us, in the dark will be brought in the light.

Whatever you whispered and whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

If you're someone who's a regular gossip and you're tearing people down, maybe you're just as sweet as pie to people's faces.

But when they're not around, or when you're with kind of a couple of your friends or your spouse, you just tear them down.

That will come to light.

You need to know that.

That will be brought to light.

And the Pharisees, this leaven is this understanding that as long as the outside of the cup is clean, as long as the outside of my life looks appropriate, we're good.

And you see how that understanding and that teaching, that wasn't a formal teaching, it was a practice, works into the culture.

And so Jesus is giving this warning, beware, this leaven.

Right?

So this the leaven, if you don't know, is a part of the bread they would take and put it in the other loaves, and it would kind of help spread.

And a little leaven, right?

It's very effective.

It's like this sin that they understand they're okay with.

And he's giving this warning.

Beware of these hypocrites.

All the things they do in secret will be brought to light.

Verse 4 says, Jesus is saying, I tell you, my friends.

What a kind word.

So this might be sharp, this might be direct, this might feel heavy, like it's cutting.

But Jesus is saying, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body.

Like maybe the Pharisees were regarding the Romans.

Don't fear the governing authorities in this life.

But I tell you, fear the one who after he has killed has authority to cast you into hell.

So don't go around fearing just arbitrary people who have certain expectations for your life.

Arbitrary laws of the land.

The worst that they can possibly do to you is take your life.

It's amazing how for us, the most precious thing we have, we think, is our life.

It's hard to grasp anything more precious than that.

It's who we are, it's what we are.

We're living things, we're people.

So you take that, and I cease to exist.

But Jesus is countering that understanding.

What are they gonna do?

Kill you?

No, no, no.

Fear the one who, after he has killed you, can cast you into hell.

Yes, I tell you.

Fear him.

Well, who has that authority?

Who has the authority to cast someone into hell?

It's Jesus, right?

This is God's position to do this, because he is the only righteous judge who can do these things.

So when he says to them, listen, don't fear the Pharisees or the lawyers or the Romans or whatever your like friend group says to you, don't fear those things.

Fear God.

Have a holy and a reverent fear.

And this is God saying this to them.

And this is God who says to them, friends, what a merciful thing that God's not hiding who He is.

He's saying, Listen, I'm I care about you.

I've come for you.

Do not fear these people, fear me, because I am the righteous judge.

And I care for you.

Verse 6 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 numbered?

Fear not.

You are of more value than many sparrows.

Now for some that might feel like a whip whiplash.

Like, wait, I don't give this.

He's just telling me to fear him, because he's gonna send me to hell.

And now he's saying, fear not.

This is the amazing thing about God's grace and his mercy, his love.

Remember earlier in Luke when he says, if you're not for me, you're against me.

And for those who are against God, who've rejected his mercy, they've rejected his love, they've rejected his call to come and to know that his burden is light, his yoke is easy.

They've rejected those things.

Why?

Because they don't want to fear God.

They're chasing other things.

For them, for them, they will face, if they continue to reject him, they will be cast into hell.

But for those who are humble, there is mercy.

So we don't fear God and tremble as if he's just waiting to smack us around like an abusive parent.

Just waiting to do something to us.

We don't fear him like an erratic authoritarian, just going about, exacting his will.

Nobody knows what that is.

No, there's a there's a reverent, there's an endearing fear that we have of the Lord because he is all powerful.

And you know what he says to his children?

You know what he says to those who go to him and are humble?

He says, I know everything about you.

I know the desires of your heart, I know your fears, I know your doubts, I know the number of hairs on your head.

Fear not.

God's declaring that he knows when a sparrow falls from the sky.

Are you not more valued than any sparrow?

What a blessing, what a sweet balm to us when we're feeling distant from the Lord.

We're feeling as if the Lord doesn't care about us or he doesn't know what's going on in our lives.

But Jesus doesn't stop being righteous and sovereign and good.

He is that, and he's merciful, and he's near us.

We matter to him.

We acknowledge the Son of Man, as verse 8 tells us.

Before God, before the angels.

For those who deny him, those who reject him, he will reject them.

Obviously, clearly.

And so the salvation isn't universal.

The salvation that Jesus offers is offered, but not everyone will be saved.

Because there will be those who deny and who reject, will face the consequences for that.

And then we get into this in verse 10 a passage, a couple verses that are highly debated throughout church history, lots of questions about them.

It says, and everyone who speaks a word against the Son of God, a son of man, will be forgiven.

But the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

When they bring you, well, stop there, verse 10.

What does that mean?

I remember growing up in the teenage years, and there's always this debate in the youth group of like, could someone lose their salvation by doing this?

And what's that mean?

And what is it that you could do and then you'd never be forgiven?

And does that mean God's grace can't cover this?

And all these questions.

I think where our tendency is to overthink this and overcomplicate this.

And I'm really not trying to like flatten this out for like a nice, clean explanation.

But when you keep rejecting the Holy Spirit in your life, when you keep rejecting him, denying his authority, denying his power, denying his call, you will perish and go to hell.

And you will not be forgiven.

There will be no forgiveness for you.

You cannot keep pushing God away and expect grace and mercy.

You cannot keep pushing away the conviction of the Holy Spirit, calling you to repentance.

As Jesus said all throughout his earthly ministry, repent and believe, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Mark 1.

You can't keep rejecting that and be saved.

Jesus then gives them some encouragement.

He says, and when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and authorities, he didn't say like, if they do, Jesus is speaking to the crowd, but he's particularly speaking to his disciples as well.

He says, when they take you in front of these 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.

Just trusting the Holy Spirit is going to teach and He's going to reveal, He's going to take care of these disciples.

He's going to lead and He's going to guide.

This Holy Spirit isn't kind of like a junior member of God's team.

Fully God, co-equal, co-eternal.

The Holy Spirit will provide.

So who are we to fear?

The Pharisees?

All the religious laws, the culture?

No.

We're to fear God, for He is sovereign and He's powerful and He's good and He's merciful and He's patient.

But an hour will come, the day will come, but no more will we be able to cry out to Him.

To turn to Him for grace and mercy.

So we are to fear God.

We're to know who to fear.

And then in verses 13, chapter 12 through verses 48, we are to know.

We need to know who to trust.

Who to trust.

So he just touches on anxiety, being anxious about a situation.

It's amazing the things that we do get anxious about.

We get anxious about all kinds of things.

And here Jesus is saying to them, you know, when you get arrested and they drag you before the judge or they want to kill you, and you need to give a defense, don't be anxious about that.

God's going to provide, he's going to be there with you.

And then he goes into this parable about this rich man.

Or sorry, not a parable, these two brothers who have an issue with their inheritance.

And Jesus says, Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?

Right, well, he is the judge.

But he's not getting into their little squabble.

What he goes to do is he then addresses the issue of their heart.

Take care, be on your guard against covetousness.

For one's life does not consist of 401ks and retirement accounts or vacations or what clothes you have or what phone you have or where you live or where you buy your groceries.

It doesn't consist of those things.

I mean, those are just those are just earthly, menial things.

They're blessings, they're gifts from the Lord.

But they're nothing to divide over, to covet, and to chase after.

And Jesus shares just the story about a man who is rich and in plenty.

And so he stores up these, fills his barns with all of his crops.

And he says, you know what?

I've filled my barns.

I'm going to tear down these barns and we'll build more barns.

I'm going to save up more food.

The man says to himself in verse 19, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.

Relax, eat, drink, be merry.

But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?

So is the one who lays up treasures for himself and is not rich toward God.

I say this often when we get into passages like this, we want to begin to kind of caveat and say, you know, well, you can have this much money, and you can't have this much money, or whatever.

The principle, very clear here.

Jesus says, Don't lay up for yourselves treasures that are rich in this life, treasures in this life, and not be rich toward God.

Some of you are not rich, and you will never be rich.

But I would say almost all of us, in the light of humanity, the last 10,000 years, in light of the uh the soci uh the population on earth today, are rich.

We just have a lot.

You go open your fridge, open your pantry, open your closet.

You just have a lot of things.

We're rich.

And it's easy to be like, I'm not rich, I don't have much.

You don't have a whole lot of money in my bank account.

But not only do you have stuff, you have access.

Any one of us could go find jobs within a week.

Multiple jobs.

We have access to resources.

So it's good to understand, like, we're more on the rich side of human history, us in this room.

But the thing is, if we're not rich toward God, if we're not looking to be satisfied in the things of the Lord and obey Him and follow Him, we are poor.

We're destitute.

We have nothing.

And so Jesus is giving this warning to not trust your riches.

Don't trust in your savings or your barns or your abilities or your job.

Don't trust in those things, but rather be rich toward God, understanding that He has died for your sins so that you can be new, walk in newness of life, not chasing the things of the world, but chasing after God, enjoying Him forever.

And Jesus goes on to talk about being anxious.

Don't worry about these things.

What you're gonna eat or your body or what you put on?

Again, consider the ravens.

They neither snow nor reap, they have neither storehouses nor barns, yet God feeds them.

How much more valuable are you than the birds?

Who's gonna add a day to their life by being anxious?

Who's gonna increase their quality of life by being anxious?

Verse 26.

If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, add a day to your life?

Why are you anxious about the rest?

Verse 28, but if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you?

O you of little faith, do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, or be w nor be worried.

For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your father knows that you need them.

Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

You could add, you could do a whole sermon series on this passage, which would probably be helpful and beneficial.

But the reality for us is there's all kinds of things that we worry about, including food and how we're gonna pay our bills and how we're gonna put clothes on our children and all these things.

And Jesus isn't saying, listen, those don't matter.

Stop worrying about it.

You don't need those things.

He says, no, no.

Your Father, who created you, who created the universe, knows what you need.

And first and foremost, a way above everything else, what you need is to seek the kingdom of heaven.

Seek the kingdom of God.

To trust Him and rely on Him.

So the trust isn't in our abilities or our skills or what people think of us or that we can make a good impression.

Rather, we are trusting in the Lord.

I know there's a lot of us who struggle with anxiety.

Struggle with social anxiety and the future.

Sometimes you just wake up in the middle of the night just panic stricken about something in life.

Could be financial things, could be relational things, all this stuff.

And it's an act of God's grace in your life that we're able to rest and to trust in Him.

But I want to encourage you to memorize this passage.

Similar to Matthew 6, to memorize this.

And that the Lord would grow you in this.

That you would understand.

I'm feeling stressed, I'm feeling anxious.

But what I'm gonna do is remind my soul who my God is and what he has done for me.

I'm gonna remind myself what his word has declared and what he has been faithful to do for thousands of years.

Remind myself what verse 32 says.

Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

How many of us believe that?

That it is God's good pleasure for you.

The creator of God is his good pleasure.

Your Father in heaven, who's never misspoken to you, he's never hurt you, he's never missed an opportunity to be good to you.

That your father has this pleasure, this delight in giving you the kingdom.

I mean, if if we could if we could wrap our minds around that, if we could lay hold of the truth of verse 32, and not just understand it in our minds, but work it into our hearts and walk this out.

We can wrap our minds around this by the mercy of God and the Holy Spirit.

If we can understand verse 32, then verse 33 makes complete sense.

Sell your possessions, give it to the needy.

Sure.

Why not?

I have the kingdom of God.

It's not that I have a pass, kind of a visa to go visit the kingdom of God.

And it's not even that I just have like this kind of a ticket where I can go and look at pictures of the kingdom of God.

I have the kingdom of God.

It's mine through the blood of Jesus Christ.

So the concerns of this world, I'm not worried about those anymore.

The creator of the universe is my father, and he's given me his kingdom.

Worried about what I'm gonna wear?

Worried about my next paycheck?

Come on.

My father has provided abundantly for his creation.

Look at the birds, look at the look at the trees, look at the plants, the flowers.

Oh, that we would pray, church, to understand verse 32 and to rest in that, to know who to trust.

That we would rest in him, and that we would lay up for ourselves treasures, be rich toward God, not in this kingdom, not in this life where thieves break in and steal and moth destroys, or where you get to have all the things that your heart desires, and within mere moments you realize how empty it is.

You you get the job that you want, doesn't satisfy.

You get the the clothes you want and they go out of style, or you just don't like them, or someone else has cooler clothes.

You get the car that you want, it's cool, but it doesn't satisfy.

You finally get the spouse that you really wanted, you realize they're not as cool as you thought, right?

You chase after these things, and you're like, man, it's so empty.

You feel or you realize what's been going on is a lie.

You've been fed this lie, been fed a lie from Satan, a lie from the world, and a lie from your own flesh, the same lie that we see in Genesis 3.

That God cannot satisfy you, that he won't satisfy you, that he doesn't want to satisfy you.

And that lie whispers to you.

And so you go clicking on the internet, you go buying things, you go doing all kinds of things.

And maybe you're just, it's you by yourself, kind of in a room doing that, or maybe it's you trying to impress others.

Whatever is motivating you, what you're trying to do is fulfill this thing that only God can fulfill.

You're trying to get to a place that only He can take you to.

Well, you don't realize what we're doing is we're saying, no, God, you keep your kingdom, and I'll just, I'll have mine.

That's what we're doing.

And what does our loving, gracious Father do?

He says, No, you don't know.

You don't understand the glory and the blessing and the goodness of my kingdom.

That you were actually made to be in my kingdom.

So as Ephesians 2 says, though we were dead in our sin, dead, Christ comes for us.

Not to leave us chasing after the kingdoms of this life, this world, our own kingdoms, but rather we go on to trust and to rest in his kingdom.

And he says, you must be ready.

Until verse from thirst, excuse me, verse 35 through 3048.

There's this, prepare yourselves, be ready, stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning.

Gives another parable about two servants.

One was stayed ready for when the master would return.

Right?

He was trusted by the master to stay ready.

And one just supposed he's not gonna be here for a while, so I'm gonna go and do my thing, what I want to do.

And before right before he comes back, I'll get my life in order.

And how how often do we see this?

Especially when you're you're evangelizing people, you're sharing the gospel, or there's someone in your life.

Like, yeah, I know I should do that.

And I will, but right now, I just kind of want to do my thing.

That's what the Bible would call a fool.

You don't understand.

Like this night your soul might be required of you.

So don't just think I can wait around.

But rather, may we be diligent.

We're living today, January 4th, 2026, as if Jesus could come back today.

And that when we wake up tomorrow, if the Lord tarries, we're gonna live tomorrow like Jesus is coming back.

And if that's discouraging to you, that makes sense.

That's our human nature.

Like, well, that's kind of discouraging.

Like, she's gonna wake up and just wait.

Just wake up and wait?

Well, in a sense, yes, but in a sense, no.

We're gonna wake up and be faithful to the Lord.

We're gonna wake up and die to sin, put our hopes in Jesus, walk in obedience.

We're not waiting to enjoy the kingdom.

We're not waiting to be citizens of the kingdom.

We're gonna do that now.

We're gonna be ready.

We're gonna be prepared.

So the sin in our life that lingers, the unrepentant sin, deal with it.

Deal with that.

And I'm not just saying, like, you know, repent and then never just move on and stop sinning.

But repent and fight.

Those relationships in your life that are broken, and you think, I'll get around to that one day.

Today's the day.

This is the only day that you're guaranteed to have.

You are not promised tomorrow.

Maybe you're thinking about your marriage and your kids.

You think, I really want to start discipling my kids better.

I really want to work on my marriage.

It's just now's not the season.

Now's not the time.

Brother, sister, it is the time.

You've been given no other time in which for that to be.

It's now.

Because you're alive.

You have today.

Or maybe you're sitting and you're hearing this and you hear, like, yeah, Jesus, I want to, I want the kingdom of heaven.

I want to do that.

But but, Pastor, I just don't want to do that right now.

I got this relationship, I got a girlfriend or a boyfriend, and we're just not sure about this, and I'm enjoying life, or I finally got a job, and I just want to I don't want to have to sacrifice anything.

I want Jesus, but I just don't want him yet.

And dear friend, fear the one who can cast you into hell.

Fear the one who you will stand before him in judgment.

Fear him.

Have an understanding of what is going on.

But also hear me.

There is more grace and mercy and joy for you in Christ than you could ever imagine.

There is more satisfaction and hope in Christ than you will ever find in the world or in any kind of career or job or relationship.

He alone will satisfy the desires of your heart.

So, friend, let today be the day of salvation for you.

May you repent and believe.

The Lord is kind to us.

Church, we're gonna get to the rest of this passage next week, Lord willing.

We're gonna have communion here in a moment, but I just want us to stop for a moment and ask the question again who or what are you trusting in?

Are you trusting that you were grew up that you grew up in the church?

So you're saved?

Are you trusting in that?

Are you trusting that, hey, I was baptized, so I'm a Christian?

That's what I'm trusting in.

Are you trusting in your your church membership?

I'm a member here at Proclamation.

Therefore, I I have to be a Christian and get to heaven.

Are you trusting in your good deeds?

You're generous with your money.

You're quick to help people.

That you know that compared to most people, you're pretty kind and you're considerate.

Like you genuinely care about the needs of the world and the broken and the downtrodden.

Are you trusting in those things?

Are you trusting in your theology that you've figured out what the Bible says about all these things and you're smart and you can quote a bunch of people?

Are you trusting in Jesus Christ?

The shed blood of Jesus Christ.

That he is who he says he is, and he did what he said he did.

Are you trusting in that alone for your salvation?

We partake of communion, what we're saying is we're remembering what Christ has done.

He lived the perfect life, and he died an atoning death.

And that his righteousness has now been placed onto me because my sin was placed on him.

And when that happens, nothing, nothing can undo that.

Nothing can undo that.

The blood of Christ saves you, keeps you, holds you, empowers you, and you are his.

So don't fear what man can do.

Don't worry about the things of this world, but trust in Christ alone.

Let's pray.