Turn with me to the 10th chapter
of the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 10. In this chapter Our Lord sends out the twelve
apostles to preach and to testify of Him, and He tells them some things that
they might expect, that there will be opposition to Him whom
they represent. And he later on in the chapter
speaks to them in a way that he might comfort or remove the
fears that he knows are in their hearts. And he seeks to comfort
them. We will begin reading there at
verse 5, that tenth chapter. These twelve, and prior to this
he named them off here, Simon who is called Peter, Andrew his
brother, James the son of Zebedee, John his brother, Philip, Bartholomew,
Thomas, Matthew, James, and even Judas Iscariot. who also betrayed
him. So he sent him forth and commanded
to him, Go not into the way of the Gentiles. Don't go to the Gentiles. That's
strange, isn't it? Don't go to the Gentiles. And into any city of the Samaritans,
enter ye not. but go rather to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. Go to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers,
raise the dead, Cast out devils freely you have received and
freely give. Provide neither gold nor silver
nor brass in your purses, nor script for your journey, neither
two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves, for the workman is worthy of
his meat. And into whatsoever city or town
ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide till ye go thins. And when ye come into a house,
salute it. And if the house be worthy, let
your peace come upon it, but if it be not worthy, let your
peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive
you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house
or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto
you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah
in the day of judgment than for that city. Behold, I send you
forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise
as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for
they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge
you in their synagogues. And ye shall be brought before
governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them
and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up,
take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be
given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not
ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh
in you. And the brother shall deliver
up the brother to death, and the father the child, and the
children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them
to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my namesake, but he that endureth to the end shall be
saved. But when they persecute you in
this city, flee ye into another. For verily I say unto you, Ye
shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son
of Man shall come. The disciple is not above his
master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the
disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much
more shall they call them of his household? Fear them not
therefore. He understands what their feelings are in light
of the things that he has told them. And certainly, we'd be
very precautious if we were told these things ahead of time, that
they'll hate you. You go to this place and that
place, but they'll hate you. They'll hate you for my name's
sake. And they will deliver you up
and bring you before the councils, and they will scourge you. Now,
I can understand why fear would prevail in the souls of these
disciples. But verse 26, he says, Fear them
not therefore, for ye are not to fear. You'd have to have some
greater confidence in what you've got now. You've got to have something
that would override and overcome that natural fear. We all have
this natural fear. I was talking to a man about
my age the other day, and he told me he said his legs kind of went out on
him. He couldn't use his legs too
well. He said, really, I'm not worth anything. He said, my life
is just that I get up in the morning and get a cup of coffee
and sometimes I drive down to the bank and sometimes I stop
at the American Legion and about 11 o'clock I come on home and
lay down and sleep till about five o'clock. And he said, my wife comes home
from work and I generally have a little something to eat with
her. And this was about 5.30 when I was talking to him. And he said, an hour from now I'll
be in bed. And he said, my life don't amount
to anything. He said, get my coffee, go to
the bank, stop at the American Legion, come back, go to bed,
my wife comes home, go to bed again. And I said, well, you're not
long for this world. And I said it, kind of smiled
when I said it, I said, you're not long for this world. The
boy said, I want to live. I want to live. I don't want
to die. I said, you will die. You will
die. He's afraid. He's afraid. You've got to have something
that will overcome that fear. You've got to have something
that will overshadow. Something that will be preeminent
over this feeling in order to in order to have any comfort
or in order to make it in this life. These disciples, I know
they had natural fear about them, but he tells them here, he said,
Fear them not, therefore, these situations, circumstances, these
things I've told you. Don't let them reign in your
life and dictate your life. Fear them not, therefore, For
there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid
that shall not be known." Nothing. What I tell you in darkness,
he said, that speak ye in light, and what ye hear in the ear,
that preach ye upon the housetops. Now here's this main thrust. This is what I want to just relate
to you a little bit here this morning. not them which kill
the body. All the things in this life that
are a danger to us, whatever they might be, sickness, so-called
accidents, old age, all these things, fear them not which kill
the body. They are not able to kill the
soul, but rather fear Him rather fear God, who is able to destroy
both body and soul in hell. Are not two spares sold for a
farthing? A half a penny. Two spares sold
for a half a penny. And one of them shall not fall
on the ground without your father. but the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are
of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess
me before him, I will confess also before my Father which is
in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to
send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother. and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And
a man's foes, that is, a man's enemies, shall be they of his
own household. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh
not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
And he that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth
his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth
me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He
that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive
a prophet's reward. And he that receiveth a righteous
man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous
man's reward. And whosoever shall give a drink
unto one of these little ones, a cup of cold water, only in
the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no
wise lose his reward." Let's think a little bit here on how
He talked to His disciples. His disciples, in a sense, are
representative like you and I. We are His disciples. We have
taken up the cross. We have identified with Him.
We have received Him, followed after Him, owned Him to be our
God and our Savior. These things here are applicable
or do apply to us in that they are made to the disciples who
are representatives in this sense. So he says here, to comfort them. But the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. The very hairs. This is the language
that he used. to bring about comfort and overcome
the fear in the hearts of these disciples. Now, you understand
who it is that is doing the talking. It is the Son of God. The Son
of God and the Son of Man in one person. He is very great,
very great. Oh, how great is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is God over all and above
all. The greatness of God is beyond
description. This great man here is doing
the talking to these lowly disciples. Not learned men, lowly disciples,
fishermen, men of that nature. He is very great, yet he was
among them as one that serveth as a servant. He is very wise,
but yet he was as gentle as a mother with her children. He is very holy, and far worlds,
as far as distance is concerned, he was far above them and their
sinful infirmities. This man who is doing the speaking,
who tells them, fear not them which kill the body, and then
goes on and tells them, the very hairs of your head are numbered. This man who condescended to
such low life as fallen humanity, He talked unto them not as a
superior, but as a brother, as one full of tenderness, one full
of sympathy. One other place when he speaks
to them in such a compassionate way, he said, if it were not
so, I would have told you, when he talks about I go to prepare
a place for you. In my Father's house are many
mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.
If it were not so, I would have told you." Compassionate, tender. That seemed to prove that he
had nothing whatsoever hidden from them that would be profitable
to them. He deals with their fears. And
he says unto them, The hairs on your head are all numbered. Oh, there's nothing here, as
I can see, about his language which would make a man to kind
of sit back and say, well, this is a great orator here. He's
a great orator. He speaks so eloquently in his
language and speech. And I believe too, brethren,
that if you hear a man speak, and by hearing him speak, it
makes you to say, He is a great speech maker. He
is a great orator. Then you need to be suspicious
of that man because he has for an objective to be thought of
as a fine speaker. But that is not the objective
of our Lord here. His objective is not to be thought
of as a great eloquent and fine speaker. He wants to say something here
to their hearts that they might understand, and that their fears
might subside, and comfort might come to their soul, and they
could have hope and trust in Him. The Lord Himself ignores
all ideas of expressions that the elegant, eloquent speakers
of our day use. He just avoided all of them. Wasn't needful, wasn't necessary.
He sought the quickest and the shortest way to their hearts,
and that was, in common language, the common man. Cared nothing
about whether the flowers grow or the flowers don't grow. alongside
the roadside. He had truth to convey to their
hearts, and there's no eloquence like the eloquence of the Lord
Jesus Christ in his common two- and three-syllable words. But the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. That's what he tells them. The
very hairs. Now, generally, as I listen to
the religious speakers and the religious writings that I read, it's rare that I ever run across
anyone that talks about hairs of my
head being numbered. It seems like they want to talk
about peace in another country. They
want to talk about organic matter. They want to talk about space.
They want to talk about politicians and politics and stuff of that
nature. But here The Son of God says
the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Now, who does the numbering of the
hairs on your head? Now, He did not give commission
or authority to some angel to count the hairs on the heads
of the individuals of Adam's fallen race and record them somewhere. But it says, the very hairs of your head are
all numbered, and they are numbered by God, not by an angel, by God, concerned about His people. The first thought here that comes
to my mind is foreordination, foreordination. Now, many people
believe in the providence of God. Don't misunderstand me.
They believe in the providence of God, but all of them, for
the most part, are not prepared to follow out the truth of the
providence of God. Well, if there is any comfort
to be derived From what he has said here to these disciples,
you are going to have to understand something about foreordination. You are going to have to understand
something about the providence of God. And once you understand
it, you will be able to rejoice and to be thankful and bow to
the will and the purpose of God Almighty. You see, God must have
foreseen or He could not have provided. God must foreknow. He foreknows all things. Everything from the first to
the last is foreknown, foreordained, predestinated by God Himself,
all things. God foreordained of old where I should be born. He foreordained
of old where you should be born, and when you should be born,
and where you should be born, and the parents that you should
be born to. That's foreordination. God foreordained that. It's not
It wasn't an accident that you was born. Some people talk about,
I hear them once in a while say, well, this fellow was an accident. There's no accidents, no accidents
with God, none whatsoever in any area or in every area, and
in particular in the area and the time and the place and the
parents of whom you were born. It was all according to God's
purpose and to God's eternal and divine will. You were foreordained to be born, and you're foreordained to die. The place you die and how you
die has all been prearranged, foreordained by God, all of it. The time when you die, you will
not live one second beyond the time that God has foreordained
for you to die. You will not live a second longer
than the time God has foreordained. ordained you to die. That's the truth. Now, you remember
I said that there's a lot of people who believe in fordination
and providence and predestination, but they do not carry the whole
truth out. The whole truth is that God fordains
everything, everything, every step you take. Well, that's the truth. So help
me God, that's the truth. From first to last, from beginning
to end, all that concerns you and all that concerns me is foreordained
by God. Think about that, the very hairs
upon my head and upon your head. That is to say, all that has All that which has anything,
anything to do with you is foreordained by God, even the very hairs on
your head. God numbered them. Only God takes
the time to number the hairs on your head. Listen, that which has anything
to do with you and me, is the result of foreordination. Anything
that comes into contact with you in this life is foreordained
by God. Whether you deem it good or bad,
it is foreordained by God. It is under His divine foresight. his divine predestination. And God's foresight and predestination
and providence knows nothing of things so little as to be
beneath his notice. Nothing. The hairs of your head
are numbered by God. If that be so, if God is so careful
in His concern for His people that He knows
the number of the hairs in their head, that ought to cause us
to worship and to praise Him. and to live for Him. And that ought to cause the fear
that we might have, the uncertainties and doubts that we may have. This ought to cause us to overcome
those things, to know that everything is in the hand of God in my life. Everything, whatever it is. It
is in God's hand. He that numbers the... Oh, listen. I told that fellow I was telling
you about, I told him, you're not going to die before your
time, and you're not going to live beyond your time. It's all
in the hands of God. Well, that's a comfort to me.
I'm not going to die before my time. That doesn't mean that
I'm going to be so reckless that I'll stand out in the rain and
try to get a cold or try to get the flu or try to get pneumonia
and all that business and say, well, I'm not going to die before
my time. I'm not that foolish. God didn't
bless my ignorance. But I know I'm not going to die
before my time. When the time comes, I'm going
to die. Nothing's going to prohibit God from snuffing the life out
of me. And everything that befalls me,
from the cradle to the grave, has all been foreordained by
God. Now, if God is so kind and so
considerate and so careful to look out for me, that all things
are foreordained, then I've got no reason to fear. I ought to
trust Him. and I ought to own Him as my God and serve Him and
commit myself to Him and testify in all occasions and all opportunities
that God gives me. All that rules in your life is
in His hands, and unto Him belongs all the issues of sickness, life
and death, all that. See how complete and intimate his knowledge is of his people
that he condescends here and says, the very hairs of your
head are all numbered. Intimacy. That's how well he
knows you. That's how well that God knows
his people that he has counted the hairs in their head. Now, if there was nobody else
in the world but you, nobody on the face of God's green earth
but you, and God had nothing to do but think of you, and there
was no object of His consideration or attention beyond you, and
His eternal mind had no object of consideration but you and
you alone. The Lord would not, now listen
to me, the Lord would not then know more about you than He knows
right now. He knows you better If you're
a husband here, He knows you better than your wife. He knows
you better than your mother who birthed you. He knows you better
than your father. Children here, young people,
God knows you better than your mother and dad knows you. God
knows you better than anybody else. He knows you. He knows all about
you. Oh, listen. You think your friends know you?
They don't know you like He knows you. Nobody knows how many hairs
are up on your head, but God knows. He numbered them. That's how He cares. Thank God for him. Thank God. Thank God Almighty that you and
I can come together on these Sunday mornings, and to read
from His Word, and to be instructed, and to listen, and to know who
He is, and to know that God cares for us. And He says, Fear not
them that can harm the body and kill the body, but rather fear
Me, honor, revere Me, I care for you to the extent I know
how many hairs you have in your head. I numbered them. I have
taken into consideration the time and effort and work, and
I numbered every one of them. I got them down here. Why, I
said, you're far more of value than a sparrow that's only worth
a half a penny. And not a sparrow dies and falls
out of the air, but what is under my control. We're all under His
control, all of us under His control. He governs our affairs,
He manages our affairs, He sits on the throne, rules and reigns,
no limit to His right to do so. He's our God. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our Savior. He demands our allegiance, demands
a commitment from us to follow Him, to follow Him, be obedient
to Him, follow Him in this life. He that receiveth you receiveth
me. Receive the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our Lord. Oh, he goes on
here and says, He that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me. He's worthy of our love and our
devotion, our committing ourselves to embody soul and spirit. He's
worthy. He's worthy. He cares for us.
He loves us. Of course, it goes without saying
that he has proved His love to us by sending Him, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to come here and to take upon Himself the penalty that's
due us as sinners. That's the greatest proof of
the love of God, isn't it? That He sent His Son to die in
our place and pay our penalty, or enclose us with the robe of
His righteousness, make us acceptable in Himself, and to hold out before
us a home in heaven, a home in heaven, a place with Him eternally. Oh my soul, God help us. Think
about that verse there a little bit. I'll quit. The very hairs of your head are
all numbered. Are all numbered. Think about
it. The very hairs of your head are all numbered. That's how
God, that's how intimate God is with His children. Leststand
will be dismissed. Meet again this evening. Lest
I forget it, we'll not have no service this coming Wednesday
night. We'll dispense with that service.