“In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.’” (Luke 12:1-3 ESV)
The Pharisees were learned people. Many of them were teachers of the Scriptures. But many of them were spiritual predators who fed off others. They were false teachers. And they were the impure, the wicked, and the unholy, but while they made an outward appearance of righteousness and goodness. For they were fakes and phonies who pretended all goodness on the outside while on the inside they were full of evil. They had heads full of knowledge but they did not put that good knowledge into practice.
Now we have many of these people in the gatherings of what is called “church” today. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing who appear righteous on the outside but who are not who they appear to be. Many of them are smooth talkers, charmers, and manipulators, who know how to smooth-talk people into believing their lies and who prey upon the unlearned and the naïve. They oppose the truth of the gospel and, instead, they teach an altered gospel created in the minds of human beings to lead people astray.
So, if you are someone who is following the Lord with your life, and you are walking in his ways and in his truth and righteousness, and you are believing the truth of the Scriptures, and you are sharing what the Lord is teaching you, you may be attacked and opposed and falsely accused of what you did not do by these charlatans (Pharisees, fakes) who are teaching a diluted and altered gospel message. And they may come up against you fiercely and harshly and cruelly, and if you are not strong you may be defeated.
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 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 all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:4-7 ESV)
Don’t let them take you down! Don’t let them intimidate you and make you afraid. Don’t let the opinions of other humans determine who you are and who you become. Stay the course! And I am speaking from experience here. For I got beat down so many times by so many of these Pharisees over so many years that there was a time in my life when I gave up, and I gave into the intimidation and the cruelty and the abuse, and I stepped outside of God’s protective care and I became who they wanted me to be, instead.
But thanks be to God, he did not give up on me even though I had given up on me and I had given up on him to rescue me from all the evil and all the abuse. For I let the fear of man consume me rather than the fear of the Lord. I feared man and what he could do to me more than I feared God. And I became a person I did not recognize who did things I never thought I would ever do. Please don’t ever go there! Keep trusting the Lord even when others who pretend to serve him oppose you for serving the Lord.
For, if truly we belong to the Lord, even if we are not valuable to other humans and so they stomp on our hearts and they treat us as though we are nothing and not worth their time, we can be assured that our Lord cares about us. We are valuable to him. He cares about us even when other humans don’t. So we can’t let the treatment and the opinions of other people keep us from obeying the Lord, not even those of people in positions of authority who portend righteousness but who are worldly in action.
“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” (Luke 12:8-9 ESV)
This is absolutely the truth, and we need to take it seriously. Like I said, although I had once given into the intimidation and abuse, which had been going on most of my life, the Lord rescued me, not from the abuse, but from my fear of what man might do to me. He taught me that I could be strong in the strength of the Lord and I could keep moving forward in his strength and wisdom despite what other humans do to me or say to me or say about me to others. In the strength of the Lord I can move forward, by his grace.
And then he gave me a new assignment which was and is to write down what he teaches me from his word each day and to post it on the internet and then he takes it where he wants it to go. And I have no control whatsoever with regard to where these writings go or how they are being used of God in other people’s lives. I am just obeying the Lord in writing whatever he wants me to write and then he takes it where he wants it to go. And sometimes I still get opposed, but I trust him in that, too.
So the encouragement here today is for you to not let other humans determine who you are and what you do and who you become. Give all of your opponents over to the Lord and keep moving forward in obeying the Lord and in doing what he says to do and in sharing with others what he is teaching you through his word each day. For denying Christ before men is not only saying, “I don’t know him,” but it is refusing to acknowledge him and his word before other humans out of fear of what they will say or do.
[Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 10:32-33; Matthew 15:7-9; Luke 9:26; 2 Timothy 2:11-13; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Titus 1:15-16; 2 Peter 2:1-3; Jude 1:3-4]
My Sheep
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Based off John 10:1-18 NIV
My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.
So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…
They know my voice, so they follow me.
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