[Note: This sermon expounds Matthew 10:26–33 as part of the continuing study of the Lord's teaching in Matthew. Delivered 24 July 1977, Montreal.]
In Matthew chapter 10 verses 26 to 33, the expression "fear not" appears three times. This is characteristic of the Lord's teaching generally: "fear not" occurs twelve times in Matthew and Luke combined, and seven of those twelve times are in the direct teaching of the Lord Jesus. Why is the Lord so concerned with fear? Because fear is the exact opposite of faith. Mark 4:40 makes this principle absolutely explicit: when the disciples were afraid in the storm, the Lord asked them, "Why are you fearful? Do you not have faith?" Where there is fear, there is no faith; where there is faith, there is no fear. That is a fundamental principle of Scripture.
We live in a world full of fear and nervous tension. Consider how many millions of dollars' worth of sedatives are sold from pharmacies every year just to calm people's nerves — whole industries exist to make people feel less afraid. Stress is now recognised as a basic problem in medicine. Many people have stomach ulcers and a host of other illnesses whose origin is not physical at all but comes from fear and anxiety. Recently in Winnipeg I was talking with a surgeon, a dear brother in the Lord, who told me that of all the patients who come to him for surgery, 70 percent of their problems are not physical in origin; so he found that what he had to do in 70 percent of his cases was tell those patients about Christ, and many came to the Lord in his surgery. I spoke also to another doctor in Winnipeg who had exactly the same experience — after years of medical practice he had concluded that people's needs are much more spiritual than physical, and his deepest desire was now to give up medicine and preach the gospel. Many of you have read the books of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who was a specialist in heart disease in England and gave up medicine entirely to preach the gospel, because he saw that until a man is healed in his soul, you can go on healing his body endlessly and he will keep coming back in the same condition.
In this passage the Lord Jesus addresses three kinds of fear. The first, in verses 25–26, is the fear of slander and attack. The preceding verse says that they called the master of the house Beelzebul — the Lord Jesus himself was accused of casting out demons by the power of the devil, the worst possible accusation against a servant of God. Nobody who has been in God's work for long has escaped being slandered or falsely accused. But the Lord says: do not be afraid of that, because the truth will be made known by God — "nothing covered that will not be revealed, nothing hidden that will not be made known." If you have confidence that God will vindicate the truth on that day, why be afraid of what people say now?
This fear of slander touches something very deep in human nature: we want people to think well of us. We dress carefully, we behave in ways designed to give a good impression — our reputation matters enormously to us. I heard a radio programme in which a number of girls were asked what concerned them most among several possible choices; to the surprise of the questioner, the girls consistently chose reputation above the other options. We always like people to speak well of us. The fear of being "the odd man out" is powerful — try being an open Christian in a college or an office, and feel the immediate pressure of being different. Do you dare to witness to Christ among your colleagues? Many people do not, because they are afraid. And again: when there is fear, there is no faith.
The second kind of fear, addressed in verse 28, is the fear of death — and this includes more than just the fear of being shot. Hebrews 2:15 speaks of those who "through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." The fear of death includes the fear of losing one's place in this world — losing your job, losing your standing in society — and this Scripture also calls "dying." Later in this same chapter, verse 39, the Lord Jesus says, "He who tries to save his life will lose it; he who loses his life for my sake will find it." Losing one's life in the biblical sense does not mean rushing out to get shot — it means giving up your whole life for Christ day by day; it is what the Lord calls "taking up your cross daily." This is what many people fear, and it prevents them from serving the Lord: they want to maintain their standard of living, they are afraid to give up what they have. God alone can destroy both body and soul; the Lord says we should be more afraid of him than of those whose power extends only to the body.
The third kind of fear, in verses 29–31, is the fear of injury and pain. "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them falls to the ground without your Father." In Jerusalem's markets, people — especially the poor — bought sparrows to eat; Luke's parallel says five sparrows are sold for two pennies, even cheaper in bulk. The sparrow would be knocked down with a catapult or slingshot, falling to the ground hurt rather than immediately dead. The Lord's point is that even that sparrow, wounded and falling, does not fall outside the Father's care — and you are worth far more than many sparrows. "Even the hairs of your head are all numbered." If the Lord knows and cares about such details of your life, the fear of suffering and injury has no place in the heart of faith.
# Fear Not — Matthew 10:26–33 (Part B) — Sin Brings Fear; Faith Rests on God's Justice, Power, and Love
[Note: This is Part B of the sermon on Matthew 10:26–33, continuing directly from Part A. Delivered 24 July 1977, Montreal.]
Many fears about becoming a Christian are simply unfounded. People say a Christian cannot go to a dance or a cinema — where is that in the Bible? The Apostle Paul says, "All things are lawful to me, but not all things are profitable." The Christian decides not on the basis of what is permitted but on the basis of what is profitable for his life with God — that is a completely different principle. The fears that keep people from becoming Christians often have no real foundation, and faith must face and overcome each fear, not avoid it.
Here is an important truth: sin brings fear. When you steal something, your eyes keep glancing in the rear-view mirror watching for a police car. When your conscience is bad, you become jumpy — someone claps you on the shoulder simply to say hello and you leap into the air. People become so habitually fearful that they no longer even know what they are afraid of; they have been in that state of tension for so long that the original cause has been forgotten, and now they even fear the returning of the tension itself. Wherever there is sin, there is fear; sin and fear are always connected. Faith sets a person free from sin through the power of Christ, and when sin is dealt with, the fear goes with it.
Consider a church elder in London I once knew. He had so much money that he invested it all in antiques — his whole house was crammed with Qing dynasty pieces worth two and three hundred pounds each, and handmade Chinese and Persian carpets as investments. When I visited, you had to stand very carefully, because the whole room was full of fragile, expensive objects — knock one over and you could not afford to replace it. He had alarm systems everywhere, all wired straight to the police station. But as he said, none of those alarms would fool an expert for very long. How could this elder sit in church and hear the word of God with his whole heart, when his mind was full of his house full of antiques? The rich are very nervous people. Gold goes up and down; the dollar goes down; bank interest may not keep pace with inflation; Rolls Royce shares in England once collapsed, and millions were lost overnight. You cannot fill your heart with the treasure of this world and still have faith — the two cannot coexist. Instead of storing his treasure in the world, he should have been storing it in heaven, and then he would have had no fear.
Faith rests on three things concerning God. First, faith rests on God's justice, as established in verse 26: the truth will be revealed. If you are being slandered or misrepresented, believe that God will one day bring out the truth — "nothing hidden that will not be made known." If you are afraid to witness to someone because they might call you a religious fanatic, think: on the day of judgment, the truth of who was right and who was wrong will be revealed. The light of eternity changes the calculations of the present moment. Second, faith rests on God's power, as stated in verse 28: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Human power is limited to the body; God alone has authority over the soul — and it is his authority that is ultimate and final. Third, faith rests on God's love, as shown in verses 29–31. During the night I go into my little girl's room to check that she has not kicked off her blankets — she is very active in her sleep. As I pull the sheets over her, I think to myself: I, being evil and unrighteous, know how to love this child and how to care for her. How much more does God, who is perfectly good, know how to love and care for me? The hairs of your head are numbered; you are worth far more than many sparrows.
Verses 32–33 bring this to its point: "Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father." What people think of me does not frighten me — what Jesus thinks of me is the only thing that counts. And note carefully: denying the Lord is not only with the mouth. You can deny him with your life. If your life is a disgrace to the gospel, that is a form of denial — and of that, a person truly ought to be afraid.
To summarise: faith sets us free from every fear in this life. The world brings fear; sin brings fear; the flesh brings fear. But where faith is — real faith, resting on God's justice, God's power, and God's love — fear has no room. If you still have fear, it is because faith has not yet taken hold; if faith takes hold, the fear goes. And without fear, there is joy, and there is peace. As the Lord Jesus says, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Pray that God may give you this saving faith. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.