I've seen some things by God's
grace in this chapter that I've never seen in my life before. In Matthew chapter 10, our Lord
has handpicked some apostles, sent ones is what the word means.
It means one sent with orders. And he gives them power and sends
them with orders. The Lord of the harvest. He said
to them, pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth
some laborers. And then the Lord of the harvest
did just that. He sent his laborers with orders. He says, as you go, here's his
orders to us now. Then and now, as you go, preach,
saying this, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He tells them what
message to preach. It's an urgent message concerning
the kingdom, concerning God's king. God said in Psalm 2, I
believe it is, I have set my king upon my holy hill. And he sent that king to this
earth, the son of God, the king of glory has come to this earth
to establish his kingdom. Tell everybody about it. Tell
them who he is. Tell them what he came to do,
why he came to do it. Declare his glory to everybody
that'll listen. His kingdom is not of this world.
It's a spiritual kingdom, but he came to this world to establish
it. And he did so. Made of a woman,
made under the law, that he might redeem them who were under the
law. The king has come with a work
to do, given him by his father. And having finished that work,
he said, it's finished. Having accomplished what the
father sent him to do, he said from the cross, he cried, it's
perfect, it's complete, it's established, it's finished. That
work that the father sent him to do, he has done and shall.
Perform until every foe is his footstool And every sheep is
in the fold And then he'll wrap this whole thing up and we'll
all praise his name better than we can now The king is come to
redeem his people. That's our message now. He came
to redeem and he redeemed Notice again what he said to them in
verses seven and eight Look at this with me now In verse 7 of
Matthew 10, he said, as you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of
heaven is at hand. And look at this next word now.
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils,
freely you have received. freely give. Now I know, I understand
that they were given by the Lord physical powers to heal, but
this is spiritual language right here. Go and preach and as you
preach, heal the sick. That's what's going to happen
when the gospel is preached. By nature, the whole head is
sick and the whole heart is faint. But when the gospel is preached,
Paul said we have the mind of Christ that's healing, that's
power from God. And as you go, cleanse the lepers. Filthy, vile, corrupt from the
crown of our head to the soles of our feet. And yet the gospel
of his grace comes. And by faith, through faith in
his name, by grace, through faith in him, we are identified with
him who is spotless and holy. And as our brother taught us
in the Bible lesson this morning, We are sanctified, made holy. The vile leper is cleansed. Until we are unblameable and
unreprovable in the very sight of God Almighty. As you preach,
that's what's gonna happen. Heal the lepers, cleanse the
leper, and raise the dead. You who were dead in trespasses
and sin, he hath quickened by his power. Where's that power? Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. Why, Paul? Because it's the power
of God unto salvation, unto the raising of the dead. That's the
power of his gospel. And for the very reasons that
we named, he gave them physical powers to heal also and to raise
the dead, to cleanse lepers. But that's The true miracle of
the gospel, the true power of God is the gospel. The truth
that they preach. He said, go and as you go, preach. And that's where the power of
God is displayed like nowhere else in the gospel. I'm not ashamed
of it either by His grace because it's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. to the Jew first and also to
the Greek, which brings us to the next thing that our Lord
taught in his preacher school. To the Jew first and also to
the Greek, he said, you're not sent to the Gentile, I'm gonna
send you out and you preach to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And we learn some things here,
don't we? Not just to preach to the house of Israel, but I'm
sending you to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Not sending
you to turn goats into sheep, but to find the sheep. And we
preach the gospel to every creature now because the gospel is not
limited to the house of Israel now. He said to them later, go
into all the world and preach this gospel. But don't forget
this. We're still looking for the lost
sheep. Just like they did there they were looking for the lost
sheep among the house of Israel We're looking for everywhere
in the world everybody that'll listen we preach to them because
God has some sheep in This world remember that as we're preaching
You who are in this ministry? of his with me remember that
as we preach as this gospel is goes forth. Not because we can
identify his sheep or need to at all. That's not needed. But
because we are sent on a specific mission by a God who doesn't
have contingency plans, by a God who doesn't make best efforts.
He sent us to find his sheep and they will be found. This
is why Paul said he always causes us to triumph when the gospel
is preached. Whether it's the savor of life
to some or death to others, It's a victory every time because
his gospel never fails. It accomplishes the purpose where
into he sent it. And it'll help us if we remember
that his sheep are out there and we're on that mission to
find those sheep, to preach the gospel to everybody. And he'll
call his sheep out. That's what he said. They'll
hear my voice. Everybody going to hear my voice, but the sheep
will hear his voice and they'll come. They'll follow him. All
that the father gave him will come to him. And everybody that
comes, he'll in no wise cast out. It's the victorious Christ
who sent us, the one who said, all that the father giveth me
shall come to me. Does that help you in this? Does
that encourage you in the work? It does me too. And the Lord
told him, don't take anything with you. No money, not even
an extra coat or a pair of shoes, you're not gonna need them. The
one who sent you is able to provide for you. No soldier goes at his
own charges. And especially if the captain
of our salvation is the one that sent you, you'll not go of your
own charges. We have nothing. Anyway, it's
all his. He provides for us. And he'll
do so by the means of some worthy ones whom he has sent before.
you for them to serve you and for you to serve them verses
9 through 11. And one of the hardest things now for this flesh
to do is to get used to utterly depending upon God. You might
as well get used to it. I might, I'm talking to my, might
as well get used to it. That's what he's teaching us
here now. Job learned that he was utterly Depending upon God. He's one of the most wealthy
probably at his in his day If not the most wealthy self-sufficient
most secure Individual in this world utterly dependent upon
God for everything Just as much as the beggar in the street But
God's preachers feel it by his design By his wise design we
feel it every day God's people And this too is a physical manifestation
of a spiritual truth. Our sufficiency in every sense
is of God. And the sooner we realize it,
he causes us to realize it by this type of thing. And the sooner
we understand that, the better. And then the Lord told these
preachers, and I say to every preacher of the gospel from God's
word, And to everyone who has an interest and a stake in this
ministry, listen to what the Lord taught those whom he sent. Those who reject the gospel that
we preach bring the judgment of God down upon themselves. More so than those most notoriously
wicked people in the history of the world, Sodom and Gomorrah. upon whom God openly rained fire
from heaven because of their open rebellion and wickedness
against God. He said it will be more tolerable
in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those who
will not receive you and the gospel that I sent you to preach
to them. Would knowing that change the way you preach? The gravity of it. The weightiness of it. those who are students of the
Word of God and will presume to speak for
God, hear this. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.11,
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Think about what God did to Sodom
and Gomorrah and think about what he said in our text. Knowing the terror of the Lord,
we persuade. In 2 Corinthians 5.20, Paul said,
now then we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech
you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead. Be ye reconciled to God. Do you understand what this is? Do you understand who it is?
that's speaking. We just, we just come in with
a message, not my message. We own it in the sense that we
rejoice in it. But this is the King's message.
These are his terms. This is his, his message, his
gospel that we come. We're just as him, his ambassadors
and we pray you In Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God, for
He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Will you hear the teaching of
the Lord of the harvest, you preachers and you worthy ones
who are fellow laborers with us? He says to us, beware of
men. Preach to those who will receive
you, but beware of men, your sheep among wolves. That's what
we are in this world. Be wise as serpents, but simple
and honest as doves. Harmless doesn't mean don't hurt
anybody. That kind of goes without saying, doesn't it? But it means
simple. The word harmless is simple and
honest. Didn't Paul say we provide things
honest in the sight of all men? We got nothing to hide. We got
no ulterior motives here. We just have a message from the
king that he sent us to proclaim. He said, you'll be hated of all
men for my namesake. Don't expect to be popular and
don't desire it. Ain't no sense desiring it. Beware. of men. Verse 17, even they of your own
household will be your enemies. Beware, but don't be afraid of
them. Don't be afraid. Don't be intimidated
by them. Verse 26, fear not what men can
do to you. Don't be intimidated. Don't compromise
the message for anybody, for any reason. Remember the word
wise in verse 16 where he said, I send you forth as sheep among
wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents
and harmless as dove. Be honest, simple, straightforward,
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but just preaching what
God said. But also be wise. The word means
wise, prudent, and always mindful of one's interests. Think of
that in this context, what are our interests in this ministry?
Just to preach what he said, preach to do what he said, do
and his glory, his glory. Always be mindful that beware
of men in this sense, be mindful of our interests, which are his
interests in the preaching of the gospel. In other words. Be
aware of men and their opposition to you and hatred for what you
preach and the one you preach, Christ's gospel. Beware of them
in a way that you make sure that the interests of the ministry
of Christ are never compromised or hindered. The simple, honest, clear, bold
declaration of the gospel and the glory of him who is the gospel. That's our interests. So don't
be afraid of men and deal with them in such a way, the opposition
that we can expect in such a way that the interests of our Lord
are not compromised. We're not to fear men, but we're
to fear God. Verse 28, fear him. In Acts 4.18, let me read this
to you. The enemies of the gospel called
the disciples and commanded them, do not speak at all nor teach
in the name of Jesus. The Lord said, beware of them.
They're going to hate you. They're going to oppose you.
And sure, here they are. Those who have authority to kill you
are saying, don't you preach in his name. But Peter, he also
said, don't be scared of them, didn't he? Peter and John answered and said
unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken
unto you more than unto God, judge ye. We're gonna do what we, we cannot
but speak the things that we've seen and heard. That's what God
sent us to do. That's what we're about to do.
You do what you gotta do. That's bold. The interests of the gospel can't
be compromised. Be aware of them, but don't be
scared of them. If we fear men, we will accommodate men, and
we will compromise the message in order to please men. I've
witnessed it, and I'm sure you have too, but by God's grace,
it shall not be so. It'll come down to this, woman.
We'll do one or the other. We'll please men or God in this
ministry. We'll do one or the other. Galatians
1.10, Paul said, for do I now persuade men or God? Am I trying
to persuade men to do something? Or do we need God to do something?
Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. It's gonna be one or the other,
isn't it? And we're given three specific reasons in the text
that I want to spend most of our time on this morning, not
to fear. Three reasons not to fear. Number
one's in verse 26. Fear them not, therefore, for
there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid
that shall not be known. Think about this. Don't fear
the enemies of Christ and his gospel because nothing is hidden
from God. All will be made right by him,
all accounts will be settled, all wrongs righted, all crooked
ways made straight. In Hebrews 4.13, Paul said, neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but
all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom
we have to do. Preach with that in mind and
don't be afraid. If we didn't know this now, If
we didn't remember this, that everything's open and naked in
the sight of God, we might get to acting and reacting based
upon the way things appear and not the way that they really
are. You reckon? It looked like the Lord Jesus
Christ was in Pilate's hands, didn't it? It looked that way.
Pilate thought it was that way. He said, don't you understand
I've got power to crucify you? But our Lord gave him a lesson
on the way things really were. Who's in whose hands. We need
to preach realizing that God sees things the way that they
are and not the way that they appear. We get to looking at things a
certain way down here. Understand how according to God's
word they really are. They're open and manifest unto
him and one day he'll make it all open and manifest to everybody. Let's conduct ourselves that
way and don't be afraid. Number two, verse 28. And fear
not them which kill the body. That might cause some fear. But if you think about what they
can't do, it'll help. but are not able to kill the
soul. But rather fear him which is
able to destroy both body, both soul and body in hell. God's enemies may kill your body.
They kill according to fairly reliable history, best I can
tell. every one of the 12 apostles, I believe, that he sent here.
They may very well do that, or they may harm you in some lesser
sense, more likely in our day, by their influence or by their
slander or some other such evil means. But, as we know from God's
word clearly, they can only do this by God's permission. The
world men, God's enemies, can do nothing without his permission. Job learned that too, didn't
he? And we see that in the book of Job. But also, rest assured
in this, God will never give them power to really harm you
in any real way. Your soul is in his hand, and
your body is in his hand too, and he may give permission for
your body to be killed if it serves his good purpose and is
for your eternal good for that to take place. Like he did Stephen. He permitted that. He caused
it. He did it. He said, I kill and I make alive.
And he killed his servant Stephen. But if you're in his hand, he
never, never gives your soul or anyone any power whatsoever
over your soul. There's only one in whose power
your soul lies. They're not able to kill your
soul. He never will give that permission. And though this world,
now think about this in both senses. Think about this in two
ways. Though this world despise you and mistreat you and oppose
you, the one in whose hand you are, both soul and body, shall
cause all things to work together for your spiritual good. If he
allows you to be killed physically or harmed in some other way,
it'll be for your good. It'll be for your good. And think of this too, though
you please this world, though God were to let us go and our
purpose was to please men and to compromise the gospel in order
to please them and bring upon ourselves the praise and the
honor and the favor of this world and become rich in the flesh
by compromising the gospel. We will have forgotten him which
is able to cast us body and soul into hell. And after all, what
shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? And then number three, verse
29, the third reason to fear not. And this is a blessing to
me because the gospel ministry that the
Lord has given us, it's a fearful thing. It's a fearful thing to
the flesh especially. But he comforts us in it. And here's how, this is the third
way. Look at verse 29. Are not two sparrows sold for
a farthing? 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. You are of more value than many
sparrows. Think about this. He's sending
us out into this world now as sheep among wolves. And he says,
beware of men. Men will hate you. They'll kill
you if they can. If they can do it and get away
with it, they'll kill you, just like they killed me. Just like
they hated me and opposed me. But don't be afraid. And here's
why. Take comfort, dear fellow laborers in the Lord's fields,
in the sovereign, almighty providence of God. Not even a little sparrow
falls to the ground without your father. Don't you like the way
he words it? Without your father. He determined before the world
began. How many hairs you would have
on your head? But I don't have as many hairs
on my head as I did a year ago. I know, and so does he. The difference is he knows exactly
how many you had a year ago this day. exactly how many you have
now. And he purposed before there
ever was a you, how many you would have the day you were born
and every day thereafter. And when that God says, when
that God who knows you that, why would he number your hair?
Because they're precious to him. Everything about you is precious
to him. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
saints. When Brother Jack died, that was precious to God. What's
precious to God? You are, if you're His. Everything about you. When that God, who knows the
hairs of your head, how many there are, how long they are,
what color they are and will be and when, When he said, all things shall
work together for your good, you can rest. When that God says,
don't be afraid, you can rest. He is intimately and perfectly
acquainted with everything that pertains to you. He knows how many hairs you have,
and he knows how many needs you have. and what they are and how
they came about and exactly how he'll meet them and when. We
don't know, but he does. He said in Matthew 6, 8, your
father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him. Before you even needed him, he
knew that you would. And he is able to supply all
your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He knows how many fears you have. And he says fear not. He knows how many faults you
have. He that has numbered your hairs
on your head has numbered your faults and he knows them. David said in Psalm 103 13 like
as a father pitieth his children. So the Lord Pitieth them that
fear him for he knoweth our frame He remembereth that we're dust He knows how many sins you have Have had and will have in thought,
word, and deed. And our Lord Jesus Christ, the
one who sends us, agreed to pay for every one of them in the
eternal covenant of grace, and did so on Calvary. And he says,
your sins and your iniquities will I remember no more. He who has numbered The hairs
on your head has numbered your tears. David said in Psalm 56.8, thou
tellest my wonderings. Put thou my tears into thy bottle.
Are they not in thy book? Not a sparrow falls to the ground,
not a hair falls from your head without him. And he tells us
why in the text. He tells us exactly why. Look
at it with me. In verse 31, let's look at verse
29 and read it again to verse 31. Are not two sparrows sold
for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall
on the ground without your father. But the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. Fear you not, therefore, ye are
of more value than many sparrows. The reason that we're not to
fear and the reason that he numbers our hairs is a question of value. It's a matter of worth. Paul said, cast all your care
upon him. Why? Because he careth for you. That word careth is the same
word used in a negative sense in John 10, 13, where our Lord
said the hireling careth not for the sheep. They're not of
any value. They're not his sheep. They're
not of any value. They're not of any worth to him. But our Lord careth for us. Our
Lord's intimate acquaintance with us, even down to the hairs
of our head, is a question of value. And this begs the obvious
question, how much are we worth to God? He says, fear not because
I've placed a value on you. Is that what he said? Read it again. Don't be afraid. How come? Because of how much
you're worth. That's what God said now. How
much are we worth to God? I'll tell you this, we have no
intrinsic value. We're worthless in and of ourselves.
We're unprofitable servants. We're worse than worthless. Paul
said, I'm injurious. I'm not just worthless, I'm harmful. I'm a disaster. How much are we worth to the
Lord Jesus Christ? There's really only one way to
calculate it. Look at Isaiah 43 with me. Isaiah 43 in verse
one. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel. We recently saw in our Genesis
study how that the Lord changed Jacob's name to Israel and how
that he reminded him later that his name was Jacob, but also
told him, your name is no more Jacob. And here he uses both
names again. And we know why, don't we? In ourselves, Jacob. In ourselves,
worms. In ourselves, evil. In ourselves,
worthless and vile. But in Christ, Israel. A prince
with God, having prevailed with God, Oh Jacob, and he that formed
thee, oh Israel, fear not. I think this may have something
to do with our text, you think? Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. That word redeemed has to do
with value. It's the payment of a price.
Now let's read on, and we'll go back to that word. I have
called thee by thy name, thou art mine. How'd we get to be
his? Well, we're his by creation.
He made us. We're his creation, but also
I have redeemed thee. You are bought with a price.
And he said, you're mine. He bought us and paid for us.
Body and soul. When thou passest through the
waters, I'll be with you. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, You shall not be burned. Why? I've redeemed you. You're mine. That's why. Neither shall the
flame kindle upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God. I'm not just
God, I'm your God. You are my people. The Holy One
of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom.
And Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious, valuable,
priceless in my sight, thou hast been honorable and I have loved
thee. Therefore, will I give men for
thee and people for thy life. You might say, oh my, that God
would give nations and people for us? What an amazing, I'll
tell you what's more amazing than that. I have redeemed thee. These nations and men are secondary. The true value that our Lord
placed upon us is in verse one here, I've redeemed thee. And all these other blessings
spring from that one word, redeemed. What's contained in that word?
What value does God place upon his people? How precious are
we in his sight? And he told his preachers now
to remember this as we go and preach. You fellow laborers,
let's remember this now. Don't be afraid, and here's why. Because of the value that he
places upon us. What is contained in that word
redeem? How do you play, how do you calculate
a value? Romans 8.32. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? What are nations and men? That's
secondary to that one phrase in it, I have redeemed thee.
With the precious blood of his son, you're not redeemed with
silver and gold. You know why? Because you're
worth more to God than all of that put together. And because
it cost him more than that to redeem you. But with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, what would God pay to redeem
us? What did he pay? There's no calculating
the cost, is there? All we can do is rejoice and
read verses like that and be in awe that God would pay such a price
for such a worm. He spared not his own son. He took the cup and handed it
to them and said, this is my blood which is shed for you. Fear not. Fear not. Let's bow in prayer.