Let's open our Bibles together
to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. Imagine the events that have
taken place in our country over the last week. are fresh in the minds of many. Sometime over the course of the
week, I've heard statements like these. I heard one man say he
was afraid to go to work. Another, they were afraid to
send their children to school. And I even overheard another
man say he was fearful of even going to the worship service. Spurgeon, I think, who said this,
he said, it's wise to deal with things that people are thinking
about. And our Lord, he dealt often
with this thing of fear, particularly speaking to his
disciples. Turn with me again to Matthew 10. Here we have the words of our
Lord. I pray this message would cause
us to set aside our fears, and cause us to just simply trust
in Him, to give us childlike faith to trust the Lord. You know, when our Lord came
to this earth, He spoke, and He wasn't taken up with social
issues. He didn't get caught up in the
things of society or popular culture. He came preaching the gospel
of grace. He came preaching the gospel
of his kingdom. Look at verse 7. Listen to these instructions. Our Lord said, as you go, preach. That was the one direction he
gave his disciples. Preach. Preach the word. Preach saying the kingdom of
God is at hand. You know, there was no one who
knew more than our Lord. He declares the end from the
beginning, from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. He knows all things. He sees
all things. He is all seeing. I've heard men that, I don't
know, maybe they do know a lot, but I've heard them speak and
I've came away from them speaking and it never entered into my
mind they were talking to me. It entered into my mind that
maybe they just wanted me to know how much they knew. But that wasn't the case with
our Lord. Our Lord, when he spoke, when
he preached, he used common words. He used illustrations that men
could understand. He taught plainly and clearly. That's my desire. I'm just confident
that when our Lord spoke, he spoke in such a way that the
youngest person in that audience to the oldest person in that
audience could have understood exactly what he was saying. Paul said this. He said, brethren,
when I came to you, he said, I came not to you with excellency
of speech, of wisdom. He said, I came unto
you declaring the testimony of God. Under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, he went on to say this, woe, woe is unto me
if I preach not the gospel. What's he saying? Listen, I'm
in trouble. I'm in real trouble if I do not
preach the gospel to you. Brother Henry once said this,
he said, I can't think of a crime more terrible than to be entrusted
with the immortal souls of eternity bound boys and girls, young people,
men and women, like every preacher is entrusted every Sunday, every
Lord's Day. And then stand up there and just
waste precious time talking about myself. talking about my problems,
talking about my denomination or my church, talking about my
ideas of what's right and wrong. Could there be more? There's
a lot of terrible crimes going on in this world, but could there
be one any worse than to be entrusted with the
souls of men and women that sit before us, some of whom could
be in hell before we stand and speak again. Foolishness. Making a mockery
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Could there be a more awful crime? By necessity, we must preach
the gospel. Scripture says this, though we
or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than
that which has been preached to you, let him be accursed. The gospel declares the one and
only way of salvation. And to preach anything else,
to talk about anything else, is to make void the death of
Christ. We're to approach Him with reverence, not flippantly. Listen, when
we come together, when we gather in this house, we gather to worship
Him. Sometimes we sing that that hymn,
that chorus, we've come into this house and we've gathered
in his name for this purpose. Oh, we love to see each other.
We love to visit and speak to each other and catch up on the
week. But the purpose, when we gather together, it's to worship
him, to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Not to play games, but
to preach the gospel. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. And listen, woe is unto all of
us if that gospel is preached and we refuse to believe it.
We refuse to hear it. Well, again, Matthew 10. Look
at verse 16. Listen to the instructions our
Lord gave to his disciples. He says, Behold, I send you forth
as sheep in the midst of wolves. Who is the enemy? Listen, we
battle in this world, but we wrestle not against flesh and
blood. That's not the enemy. Who is
it? It's principalities and powers,
rulers of darkness in this world against spiritual wickedness
in high places. I send you forth in the midst
of wolves. And often those wolves are in
sheep's clothing. 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 the synagogues,
and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake,
for declaring the truth of the gospel. for a testimony against
them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up,
take not no thought how or what you shall speak. For it shall
be given you in the same hour what you shall speak. For it's
not that you speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh
in you." And read on here. How bad will this be? Look at
verse 21. The brother shall deliver up
the brother to death. The father, the child, and children
shall raise up against their parents and cause them to be
put to death. And ye shall be hated of all
men. Why? Why will you be hated? Read on. For my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end
shall be saved. When they persecute you in the
city, notice it doesn't say if they
persecute you in the city. When. When they persecute you
in the city. That's going to happen. flee you into another city. For
verily I say unto you, you shall not have gone over all the cities
of Israel till the Son of Man become." Now, skip down to verse
28. After our Lord told His disciples
of the persecution that they're going to face in this world, He goes on to give them instruction. He goes on to speak comfort to
them. And the Lord willing, I want
to take this as our text this morning. Look at verses 28 through
31. Fear not them which kill the
body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him
which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, 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. Ye are of more value than many
sparrows. Fear not them which can kill
the body, but cannot kill the soul. Fear not. During that storm,
while the Lord and his disciples were were crossing over to the
land of the Gadarenes. Remember when that storm came
and they woke him, and he asked them this question. He said,
why? Why are ye so fearful? I asked myself that same question
from time to time. Why am I so fearful? What does our Lord say here in
this verse? He gives a command. He says,
fear not. That exact phrase occurs 63 times
in scripture. Seems to me like that's a, when
we want to emphasize something, we repeat it, don't we? 63 times. Fear not. That doesn't include the times
that we're told, don't be afraid or take no fear. Just two words,
fear not. This gospel is a gospel of peace. In Isaiah 41 verse 10, our Lord
said this, he said, Fear not, for I am with thee." I'm with thee. In His purpose,
in His providence, in His ordering and overruling of all things
for our good and for His glory, He says, I'm with you. He provides, He comforts, He
keeps, All by His grace. Fear not. Can you hear just the
gentleness in those words? Fear not. The simplicity of that command. That conveys the message perfectly,
doesn't it? Fear not. Fear not. He speaks gently to his sheep. We've probably used these words
with our children. Fear not. Don't be afraid. Fear not them which can kill
the body. Now that's not a message for
all men. Our Lord was speaking to his disciples when he said
this. Fear not them which can kill
the body. In Luke's account of this, we
read that they said this, after that, they that can kill the
body, after that there is No more that they can do. No more they can do apart, and
nothing they can do apart from His divine permission. When men are suffered to run
the greatest violence against men, against God's saints, the best of their efforts, listen,
even Satan himself, all that Satan and the wicked hearts of
men can do, that which is in the power of their hands to perform
is only that which God allows. We've seen that with Job, didn't
we? Almighty God, he said, have you considered my servant Job? And listen, fear not them that
can kill the body. The worst that can happen in
the death of a believer, think about this, as soon as the life
of a believer ends, what happens? They're taken out of this troublesome
world, taken directly to glory. to partake of eternal joy and
eternal peace. Eternal joy, joy that will never
end. I love happy times. But for the
most part, they just go on for a little bit and then something
else comes along, right? Eternal joy, eternal peace. The believer has absolutely nothing
to fear of their enemies. Our Savior has removed the fear
of death itself for those that trust in Him. Listen to some
of these promises. He says, because I live, ye shall live. Also. Our Lord, he prayed for his people.
He said, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me. That they would be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory. We read in scripture to be absent
from this body is to be present, to be present with the Lord. Knowing this, knowing these things
to be true, why would we fear? Why would we fear even death
itself? Fear not them which can kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather, fear
Him which is able to destroy both soul and body, and cast
you into hell. The fear of the Lord. We're told
to fear God and keep his commandments. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. There's only one to be feared,
to give reverence to. Fear not them which can kill
the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him which
is able to destroy both soul and body and cast you into heaven. Do you still have Matthew 10?
Look at verse 29. Our Lord's speaking to his disciples.
He teaches. And he asks this question. He
said, are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? Two sparrows sold for a farthing.
Now a farthing is, there's a lot of interpretations. I like this
one best. It's interpreted as a little
piece of money. It's not much. We would probably,
the lowest form of money we have is a penny. I'm not sure of,
used to you could at least buy like a little piece of gum or
something for a penny. I don't know if you can buy anything
for a penny anymore. But it's of small value. And listen, a farthing, it says
that farthing was of such low value, it was two sparrows were
even worth less, weren't they? Because it took two of those
to even equal a farthing. The point here is this is something
of just no value at all. And yet, not one of them fall to the ground. Look at verse 29. One of them
shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Two little
birds put together make a father. And yet, the providence of God,
think about His providence. Even his providence is concerned
with those two little things. Is there anything? Is there anything
that he's going to leave undone? Not one of them is taken in a
snare. Not one of them is, I remember
as a little boy, my parents gave me a slingshot. And you go around
just trying to shoot anything you could with that slingshot.
Every now and then you kill a bird, a little tiny bird. Even that our Lord takes notice
of. It's His providence. That bird
out there on the windowsill, eaten by a cat, whatever it might
be. Not one of them falls to the
ground apart from the will of God. Look at verse 30. Here we read of God's care for
his people. He says, the very hairs of your
head are numbered. Very hairs of our head. Now listen,
there's lessons to be learned here. The hairs of your head
are numbered. They're ordained. This deals
with God's providence. I read this, the average person,
some have more, some have less, the average person has 100,000
hairs. That's a lot, isn't it? And yet our Lord says every last
one of them are numbered. Every detail attended to. Someone once said this, they
said fate, what men call fate, is hard and cruel. But God's
providence, it's wise, it's kind, It's beyond
finding out. He doeth all things according
to the counsel of his own will. And all that he does is just
and right. All things, all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them that are called according
to his purpose. All things work together. Listen to this. Even the death
of his son, his dear son. Wicked men betrayed the Lord
Jesus Christ. Wicked men delivered him up to
be crucified. Wicked men spat upon him. Wicked men thrust a crown of
thorns upon his head. Wicked men scourged him. They
beat him. Wicked men hung him on a cross
to die. That wicked soldier took a sword
and pierced his side. Men did. what their wicked hearts
desired to do. But listen to these words. In
Acts 2, verse 22, it says, ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know him,
Being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you've taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Men did what their wicked hearts
desired to do, but they did what God determined would be done. He orders and directs all things. Job said that. Job said, the
Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Our Lord, he prayed to
his father. He said, oh father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless. not as I will,
but as thou will. Knowing that all things are ordered
of God, I pray the Lord would cause me
to submit to him, to submit to his will. Second, the hairs of your head
are numbered. This gives us a glimpse into the intimate
knowledge God has of his people. Remember, when our kids were
born, you count their fingers and you count their toes. You
look them over, and you know every detail about them. The Lord has numbered the hairs. of our head. How intimately does he know each
and every one of his sheep? Our Lord spoke in John 10, 14,
and he said this, I'm the good shepherd. I know my sheep. I know them, and I'm known of
mine. He knows them and that they're
His. He calls them by name. He knows
them and that He's one with His people. There's a perfect union. How's that possible? A union
between God and His people. That we're one. Not two separate
things, but one. One in Christ. He knows them
and He loves them with a perfect love, with an eternal love. And He lays down His life for
the redemption of His people, for His sheep. That's not true of all men. There are those that are not
His. those that he does not know. In Matthew 7, he was speaking
to some men, and he said this. He said, I never knew you. Turn with me to John 10. Look
at John chapter 10. Look at verse 25. Those men had said, if thou be
the Christ, tell us plainly. And here in verse 25, Jesus answered
them. He said, I told you, and you
believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because
you are not my sheep. as I said unto you. You're not
my sheep as I said to you. But look at verse 27. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them. He knows them, listen, in a special
way, in a distinct way. He has an Think about how precise
his knowledge is of his people. Their hairs are numbered. He's numbered each one. And he
loves them, and he cares for them, and he protects them. Third,
the hairs of your head are numbered. Consider the value he puts on
his people. They're precious in his sight.
David wrote in Psalm 139, he said, I'll praise thee for I
am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works
that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was in secret. When I was in the womb, when
I was in secret, curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth,
thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect, And in thy
book, in thy book, that book written
before the foundation of the world, all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned, when there was yet none of them,
before I even existed. Lord, you saw me, you loved me,
you knew me. Our name's written in the book
of life. recorded before we ever existed. Almighty God has predestined
every one of his sheep, every one of them is going to be that
was foreknown, perfectly conformed to the image of his son. When? Before they were born. Before the world began. and then forth. The hairs of
your head are numbered. His people are preserved. He said not a sparrow falls to
the ground without your father. I don't believe a hair falls
from our head that our father does not know about. Now a hair could fall from my
head and I would never know it. But he does. He does. That which he purchased with
his own blood, that which he preserves, that which he protects,
that which he keeps. Back in the book of Daniel 3, remember that story of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego? They had refused to bow down. And King Nebuchadnezzar, he had
these three men cast into a fiery furnace. And after they were in there
for a while, apparently the king, somehow he was able to look into
that furnace and see what was going on. And he asked this question. He said, didn't we cast three
men bound into the fiery furnace? And they answered and they said
to the king, yes. I tell you what, as ruthless
as that king was, I suspect any question he would have asked,
they would have said, yes. Didn't we just cast three in
the fire? And the king then answered his
servants and he said, I see four. I see four men, loose, walking
in the midst of the fire, and they have no herd. And the fourth
of them is like the Son of God. And Nebuchadnezzar came near
to the mouth of that fiery furnace, and he spoke, and he said, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come forth.
Come out of that oven. And they came out. And those
princes and governors and all those people that had seen them
cast into the fire, they stood around when they came out. And
this is what was said. And this is what was saw. They
saw these men upon whom, whose bodies the fire had no power. And this is no accident. It says, There wasn't even a
hair of their head singed. Their coats weren't changed,
the smell of fire hadn't passed on them. That same flame that
had consumed the king's mighty men, remember that? He got mad
and he had them crank that oven up as hot as it would go, four
times hotter, and he had his mighty men to cast Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego in there, and it consumed them. But not these three men. It had
no power on these three men. Not a hair. Not one hair singed. The Lord preserves His people. He keeps His people. He protects
His people. The very hairs of our head numbered. Our Lord said this, we read this
earlier, because I live, ye shall live also. Well, look at the
last verse of our text, Matthew 10, 32. Fear ye not. Oh, don't be afraid. Ye are of more value than of
many sparrows. Think about that. If God takes
care of the sparrows, if he's concerned with their lives, how much more will he take care
of his sheep? How much more will he take care
of his people? Not suffer their lives to be
taken away? Till they've done. Till they've done his will. Till
they've accomplished his purpose in whatever it is he's given
them to do. All right. I'm going to lead
us into closing.