If you take your Bibles now and
turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. We're going to read verse 23
down to verse 27, but mainly I'll take my text from verse
27. The Scripture here says, Moses,
when he was born, was hid of three months of his parents,
because they saw he was a proper child, and they were not afraid
of the king's commandments. And by faith, Moses, when he
was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. Now, this is what this entails.
Following his refusal to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer the affliction with the people of
God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of reward. And
so by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
king, for he endured. He endured in faith. He continued
in faith. How? As seeing Him who is invisible. How in the world did Moses, when
he came to years, was able to refuse to be called the son of
Pharaoh's daughter? How is it that he was able to
choose rather the afflictions with the people of God than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season? How is it that he esteemed
the reproach of Christ's greater riches? He did this by faith. He did this without the fear
of Pharaoh. By faith. He feared not the king's
wrath like his parents. And so tonight I want to speak
to us about fearless faith. Fearless faith. Moses' parents here, it says,
they feared, they were not afraid of the king's commandments. Moses
forsook Egypt, fearing not the wrath of the king. The apostle
here turns now to the fearlessness of the saints. He turns from
the fearlessness of the saints in death. Remember, we dealt
with those saints who were on their deathbed. They were not
afraid. They were looking to the future.
But now He turns from the fearlessness at the deathbed, and He reveals
to us that faith is also fearless in life. We are journeying through this
life as children of God. We know this for sure, that we
are not exempt from any common trouble. We are not exempt from
any common trouble, danger or hazard in this life. And we are not also, we are not
exempt from fear. Why do you suppose that there
are so many references in Scripture to this? Fear not. Be not afraid. I preached that
last night when Jesus came upon those disciples in the sea while
they were toiling and rowing. He said, It is I, be not afraid. Now, why do you say that? Because
they were afraid. God's people are fearful. God's people do suffer anxious
thoughts and trouble. You remember in John 11 when
Lazarus was sick. Now, these three people God loved. Christ loved them. Matter of
fact, they were compelling Christ to come heal Lazarus this way.
They said, He whom thou lovest is what? Sick. And they believed that that would
move him, that that would cause him to come and heal their brother.
But Jesus, He did love Lazarus. And yet he tarried there until
Lazarus died. He did not come. He allowed his
friend and beloved child to die. Our Lord Jesus allowed these
two sisters to feel the sorrow, the grief, and the pain from
the loss of their brother. But we know this, our Lord says,
this is not unto death, this is for the glory of God. So then
in all our troubles, in all our grief, we must understand that
this is for the glory of God. Believers, our union with Christ
and our redemption, our righteousness, our sanctification, our wisdom,
all that we have in Christ, eternal life, are not evidenced by a
smooth life. Is that not your experience,
too? It's mine, and I know it's everyone's. You start reading. Start reading in the Old Testament.
Tell me they had a smooth life, that their life was easy. Their
life was not easy and neither is ours. That's not the evidence
that we are redeemed, is it? That's not the evidence we are
the chosen of God. That's not the evidence, health,
wealth and prosperity, that God loves us. What is the evidence? What is the evidence scripturally
that testifies to our election, that testifies to our redemption,
our sanctification? It is this, even our faith. Faith in Christ is the evidence,
the manifestation and evidence of our election and redemption
and righteousness. Faith alone is the evidence of
our union with Christ. And all that God does in this
life, all that God does in this life, whether good or ill, is intended for your good. All that God does. All things work together for our good. Not all things individually.
You can't look at someone who's lost their child and say, well,
now that's good. Now we know this, that that and
some other things work together for their good. It is going to
work together for this is where faith comes in, doesn't it? You
can't look at that person who lost their child as a believer
and say, well, that's going to that's good. No, it's going to
work together for their good. Now, how are they going to know
that? Only by faith. Only by faith that they're going
to be able to see that. And so only by faith are we able
to rejoice in this truth while the winds and waves beat against
our little vessel. We cannot, by observation, figure
out what God's doing. I think that rattles my mind.
I occupy myself too much with this. I ask, OK, how is this
and this going to work together for my good? God said, that's
none of your business. That's none of your business.
Your business is simply this. I said it would. Believe me. And so what does faith do? Like
I said the week before, faith casts out all problems it can't
solve. I can't solve that. I'm not intended to solve that.
Faith simply receives God's promises that this all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. But I'll tell you this. Most
people say that death is the greatest fear, I believe it's
all the pains that lead up to it. All the pains and sorrows
and afflictions in life. Death is only one trouble, isn't
it? It's only one trouble. How many
more troubles have you experienced before you experienced that one? Therefore, let us see that the
benefit of true faith is, like Moses, like his parents, a fearless
life. A fearless life. These verses tell us that faith
was not afraid. In verse 23, Moses' parents,
they hid the child without fear of the king's wrath. They didn't
care what the king said. They knew what God said. And
without fear, they obeyed God. How? By faith. was not afraid
of the wrath of the king. In verse 31, it talks about Rahab,
how she hid those spies, not fearing the wrath of her king
either. Now we know that faith is not
without fear. You that have faith, you have
fear. But it does not fear men. True faith does not fear men. Who does true faith fear? We fear God. We fear God. Go to Matthew chapter 10. So
true faith has fear, it's just not man. It's God. Look at Matthew chapter 10 and
look at verse 26. Our Lord Jesus Christ says here,
Fear them not therefore. For there is nothing covered
that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be made known.
What I tell you in the darkness, that speak in the light. And
what you hear in the ear, that preach you on the housetops.
And fear them not which kill the body, but are not able to
kill the soul. But rather fear him which is
able to destroy both body and soul in hell. Are not two sparrows
sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall to the
ground without your father? But the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore. Why? You are of much more value
than many sparrows. You that are believers, this
is what Christ says to you about fearing men or circumstances
or troubles or trials or difficulties, fear them not. Rather, reverence
God. Why? Because your Father knows
all things. He knows if a sparrow falls to
the ground. Matter of fact, He knows so much
of you that the very hairs of your head are all numbered. And if the Father has taken so
much care to number the hairs of your head, do you not think
He knows your troubles? Do you not think He knows they
hate you? Do you not think that He knows they seek to kill you? Do you not think He knows if
they do kill you? Brethren, reverence your Father
who loves you. Whosoever therefore shall confess
me before men, I will confess him before my Father, which is
in heaven. You see, faith confesses Christ without fear. Faith confesses
Christ without fear. Without fear of men, because
faith reverences God. And so then, this thing he says,
I tell you in the darkness. What is this? This is the gospel.
Isn't this what he speaks to your heart? In the darkness,
in the recesses of your heart, he speaks to you. Now, what are
you to do with this gospel? He said, you take that which
I've showed you in secret and you go on the housetop and you
declare it. And when you do, guess what?
They will hate you. They will seek to destroy you. Fear them not. Fear them not. The gospel. is concealed in a
mystery to the natural man. And we must, without fear, preach
this gospel, declare it upon the housetops, confessing Christ
before men. And what will the natural man,
the lost man, the rebellious man do but seek to silence you
and destroy you? You remember when Stephen preached
the gospel without fear? What a beautiful... If you read
that in Acts, I think it's Acts chapter 7. If you read that account,
he just goes at it. He preaches that gospel. At the
very beginning, they say, oh, he was an angel. Oh, he was so
great. Did you hear that? That was wonderful.
He said, I'm talking about you, sinners. He starts talking of
their depravity and how they crucified the Lord of glory. When you start talking about
election predestination, you start talking about the perfect
atonement of Jesus Christ. At the beginning, men will probably
say, well, that's something new. That sounds interesting. Once
they hear what you say, don't be surprised when they turn on
you. Just like they did Stephen, they turned on him and the scripture
says they were cut to their heart and they gnashed on him with
their teeth. They cried with a loud voice,
stopped their ears, and ran on him with one accord, and cast
him out of the city, and stoned him to death. Believers in Christ, regardless
of the wrath of men and their hatred for us, we should rather by faith reverence
God. Isn't that what Moses' parents
did? They would rather by faith reverence God than obey the king. Moses, by faith, feared not the
wrath of the most powerful man on the face of the earth. Rather,
he endured. How? By seeing Christ, by looking
to Christ. How shall you endure the wrath
of man? How shall you endure the providences,
the dark providences of time? The same way they endured, by
seeing Him. looking to Him, confessing Him. When you see Him, is there anything
about Him you wouldn't want to confess? Isn't He altogether
lovely? Is there anything wrong about
Him that you would be silent? No. True faith endures seeing
Him, confessing Him. Child of God, then are you fearful?
Are you fearful? Is your sickness and pain and
sorrows caused you anxious thoughts? Do men trouble you, threaten
you, persecute you? Has all your fleshly helps and
arms failed you? Then behold, the only remedy
for such anxious fears is this, faith in Christ, seeing Him who is
invisible. Seeing Him. When your troubles
assail you, when your sicknesses and griefs cause you anxious
fear, ask this question, because the heathen are going to ask
you, where is thy God? They'll ask you when you're weeping
and troublesome. Well, if you believe in God,
why are you so fearful? Why are you so fretful? Where's
your God? The psalmist tells us plainly,
my God is in the heavens. And he hath done whatsoever he
had pleased. And so then we must be reminded
of this. All these things I'm telling
you, you know. But we must be reminded that faith is always
the remedy for fear. Faith in Christ is the remedy.
Not faith in your faith. That is not a remedy for anything. That is only ingredients for
more fear, isn't it? Because our faith, if we are
resting in our faith, our faith at best is mixed with unbelief. We don't have faith in our faith.
But rather what? Our faith has faith in an object. Jesus Christ is the object of
our faith. So therefore, in our affliction,
in our fear, in our storm, in our trials, look not at the sea,
the sickness, or the affliction, but look only to Jesus Christ,
thy Redeemer, who has ordained our troubles, ordained our trials. Look to Jesus, thy Savior, and
thy friend. Now, I got a couple of things
that faith looks to when it looks to Christ. Two things, three
things. Three things that faith looks
to that calms us, calms our fears. First of all, when faith looks
to Christ, it looks to the perfect offering and righteousness of
Christ to calm our fears. That's what faith looks to, when
it looks to the invisible God, it looks to Christ. What calms
our fears is the offering and the righteousness of Christ.
Now, what is the root of all our fear? What is the root of all your
trouble? Why is there any trouble in the
world at all? Sin. Sin is the root cause of trouble. Sin is the root cause of fear. By sin came the curse, by sin
came the sickness, by sin came sorrow and death. Those things
we fear. But now, in the trials of our
faith, Believers, let us look and see that Jesus, by His one
offering, has removed our sins. By the offering of Jesus Christ,
our Redeemer, the one in whom we look to, the one in whom we
trust, He Himself, listen to this, by Himself, has removed
all our sins from us. Go to Psalm 103. Go to Psalm
103. Read this and rejoice in this. Psalm 103. I love this. This psalm begins,
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that's within me, bless His
holy name. Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His
benefits. Look at his benefits. In verse
10, here's a benefit. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins. Is that a benefit? How big is that benefit? What did your sins deserve? They deserved hell. They deserved
eternal damnation. And yet God, in mercy, hath not
dealt with us after our sins. All of the trouble we experience
in this life is not a result of His punishment for our sins. You hear people say, well, man,
I'm going through hell on earth. No, you ain't. And God's people, I know we think
this, and we think there is no greater torment than I'm experiencing
right now. Yes, there is. And this is a benefit. God has
not dealt with us after our sins, so no matter how bad we have
it, it's not as bad as it should have been. He's not dealt with
us nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. This is why. For? Because of this. Because
of mercy. As high as the heavens is above
the earth, this is the reason why, so great is His mercy toward
them that... What? Fear Him. Don't you reverence Him? You
do reverence Him. You fear Him. You honor Him because
of His mercy. And here's another one. This
is why He cannot and will not deal with us after our sins,
because they're gone. As far as the East is from the
West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Pastor, I still feel it. I still do them. I know. Faith must look to those things
that are not seen. I'm telling you this, God says
they're removed. They're removed. Now, where do
they go? Because I don't want them coming
back on me. I believe it was Jacob Wright went into the jail and
they let him out, and he didn't even know why they let him out.
Can you imagine the fear? It's like, when are they going
to come back? When are they going to find out
their error, their mistake? And if God just swept our sins
under the rug, surely then He could come back on us. So where
did they go? How did God remove my sins from
me justly? That's how I want to know. Are
they justly removed? Yes, they are justly removed.
Where did they go? They went to Christ. Yes, sir. I know in the midst of our troubles
and trials, we are so burdened with guilt and shame. We feel
the trials and afflictions as though they're punishment. Now,
God does chasten us for our sins, doesn't He? You are believers.
I know this. He that is without chastisement,
Paul said, are bastards and not sons. Are you chastened? Yes,
we're chastened. But we're never punished. for
our sins. Because of His mercy is high
above the heavens. John said He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins. He may justly forgive us our
sins because of this. Christ Jesus has reconciled us
by His death. By His payment for sin. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
2 Corinthians chapter 5. Look at verse 19. Scripture says, "...to wit, that
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing
their trespasses to them, and hath committed to us the word
of reconciliation." Now, then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's
stead, be you reconciled to God. Tonight, if there is anyone outside
of Christ, I pray you, be reconciled to God. How can a sinner be reconciled
to God? Now if I just tell you to be
reconciled to God, and you go about, okay, well, how do I do
that? Well, I need to go to church, and I need to be baptized, and
I need to start doing good and stop doing bad, and then I can
be reconciled to God. That's not what the Scripture
says. If I stop there, then it seems like you can reconcile
yourself to God any way you please. No. Here's the grounds by which
you may be reconciled. Not your works, but the work
of Christ. Look at that, the next verse.
Here's the grounds, the only grounds by which a sinner can
be reconciled to God. Four, God made Christ to be sin
for us. That's the only way it can happen.
It's the only way God can remove our sins from us justly, is by
imputing them to His Son. He made Him to be sin. for us who knew no sin. It was there. It was there that
God justly dealt with my sin. It was there the wrath of God
gave my sins exactly what they deserved. And he did that in the flesh
of his own son. That we, this is the reason Christ
died, that we might be made the righteousness of God So believer, let me ask you this. Why should you ever fear judgment? The only reason you should fear
judgment is if God isn't just. If God's not just, He can punish
Christ and punish you. Is God just? Then you have no
reason to fear. You see, faith is fearless. Fearless
in the face of judgment. Why? Because judgment already
took place. The price for all my sins have
already been paid. Why are we troubled? The trials
are not punishment for sin, but rather to cause us only to look
to the reconciliation that Christ has made. And not only this did Christ
offer Himself for our sins, but He has Himself provided the righteousness
of God on our behalf. I like this idea of substitution,
don't you? I love this idea of federal headship. Men don't like this. You know,
we talk about Adam being a federal head, right? Adam was our federal
head. When he sinned, guess what? I sinned. When Adam died, I died. And men say, I don't like that.
They suppose they could do better. Well, it's too late. You can't do better. You were
born dead. You were born in sin simply because
of the act of a federal head. This is salvation. All that Jesus
Christ did. I did. All that he suffered, I suffered. And all that he merited, I merited. See, federal head. That's how
we're saved, by the righteousness of God. The scripture says, even
the righteousness of God without the law is manifest by the righteousness
of the prophet. I'm sorry, I misquoted that.
It's Romans 3 and verse 22. It says 21. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifest, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God. Well, how is this righteousness
merited? By the faith of Jesus Christ.
How did you receive it? It's unto all and upon all them
that believe. There's no difference. And so then faith is fearless
because we are made the righteousness of God in Christ and Christ has
redeemed us from all our sins. Now, I must tell you this. If you are without Christ, you
have every reason to fear. If you have not the blood and
righteousness of Christ, you have every reason to fear. God
says to those who are outside of Christ, they shall fear and
they shall be ashamed together. Isaiah 44 and verse 11. But to
the sons of Israel, Look at that in Isaiah 44. Go
over there. Look at this one. Isaiah 44. I hope the Lord will
give you comfort in these texts. Isaiah 44. He gives you every reason to
be comforted. Look at verse 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
for thou art my servant. I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant, O Israel. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. And why should you not fear?
Because you've not been forgotten. You may forget God. God will
not forget you. I will not have you not forgotten. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. Why? I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgression, and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto me, for I have redeemed
thee. Isaiah 54 and verse 4, Fear not. For thou shalt not be ashamed,
neither be confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame. For thou shalt forget the shame
of thy youth, and thou shalt not remember the reproach of
thy widowhood any more. Why? Because of this, in righteousness
thou shalt be established, thou shalt be far from oppression. For thou shalt not fear. and from the terror, for it shall
not come unto thee." Now, do you see why faith should not
fear? It should not fear because their
sins have been removed. Faith should not fear because
Christ has provided the righteousness of God for you. And because of
this, listen, God will not forget you. God will not leave you. He will
not forsake you, no matter how things appear. Now, I've got
a few minutes left. I'm going to give this last one.
True faith not only looks to the work of Christ in His death
and His righteousness, but true faith is calmed in our afflictions
when we see the perfect love of God. The perfect love of God. Believer in thy troubles and
fear, look not to the trial or to the circumstance as any sign
of God's love. Isn't this a fearful thing when
you feel that God no longer loves you? When you've sinned and you feel
as though there's no way God could have any more love for
you. I know this. We do this. We fear this. But you can't look at any circumstance
and determine the love of God. Listen what he says in Ecclesiastes
9. He said, For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare
this, that the righteous and the wise and their works are
in the hand of God. How are you made righteous? How
are you made wise? Well, that was a hand of God.
That was the work of God. And no man knoweth either love
or hatred by all that is before him. You cannot determine the
love or hatred of God by the circumstance you are experiencing.
How then may we know we are loved of God? It is not by the circumstance,
but rather by looking to the Word of God. What does God say? Isn't that more important than
what you feel? What you think? Isn't that more important than
the circumstance that you're experiencing? What does God say
about His love for you? He says this in Jeremiah 31,
in verse 3. He said, yes. I like when you
begin a script... That's a very positive text,
isn't it? To begin with yes. Yes! Do you love? Yes, I have loved
you with an everlasting love. Well, that sounds good, but how
do I know you love me? How do I know he's talking to
me? Therefore, with loving kindness, have I drawn thee? That's a good question. Have
you been drawn? No man Jesus said, no man cometh
unto me, can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me,
what? Draw him. Have you been drawn to Christ?
Have you fled to Christ? Well, that's the manifestation,
isn't it? Faith, isn't that what we said at the beginning? Faith
is the evidence of our acceptance with God. Faith is the evidence
of our love, of being love of God, believer. told believer
that God's love for us transcends all time. His love is eternal. It's immutable. It's unchangeable
as himself. How high is the love of God?
How high is it? Can you measure it? When you
get to the end of the highest that you can think, it's infinitely
higher than that. That's how much God loves you.
And you know what? He never loves you any less. We love each other kind of up
and down. I love you more today than I
probably loved you yesterday. God never does that. His love
is immutable. He said, I behold, I am God.
I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. How are we to see and know the
eternal, immutable love of God when God manifested by drawing
us and giving us life, and so then only faith in Christ by
looking to Jesus is the manifestation of this love? Now, I know this. If you look
at your love for God, you're going to fear. Just as much as
if you look to your own faith, you will fear. We must then Look rather to God's
love to us. Now, how do you see God's love?
Again, it's not in circumstance. You can't determine God's love
by what's happening to you right now. You determine God's love
simply by this. Looking at his son. John said
in this was manifest the love of God. Because God sent His
only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love. Not that we love
God. Herein is love. Don't look at
your love. Look rather to the love of God. If you would be
without fear, Don't look to your love. We do love him. We confess
that, don't we? Like Peter, when he was asked
that three times, Lord, you know I love you. You know I love you. I tell you what, you ask me three
times, I'm going to be grieved like Peter, because my love is
weak. Here in his love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sin. And so then as we look at these
things, as we by faith, like Moses, we may endure, not fearing
what men shall do unto us, not fearing the circumstances or
the wrath of kings, we may endure by looking to Him who is invisible. Now go to Romans 8 and 28 again,
and we're going to close with this. I want you to read this.
Again, keep in mind that the whole purpose of this is that
true faith, if we're looking to Christ, is the remedy for
fear. And look what he says here. He
says this, We know that all things work together for good to them
that love God. Who are they? Well, they are
the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, He also called, Whom He called, He also
justified. Whom He justified, then He also
glorified. Now, what are we going to say
to these things? What shall we say to these things?
Here it is. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how then shall He not with Him? freely give us all things. Faith by looking to Christ says
this, if God is for me, what or who can stand against me?
Paul said, look, I'm persuaded that neither life nor death,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, and if I missed anything,
nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus. You see, by looking to
Christ, faith is the remedy for fear. Not that you're not going
to have fear, you will. But the remedy is listed here
for us. Moses manifest that remedy, didn't
he? He did not fear the wrath of
the king. Why? He saw Him who was invisible. How do you not fear the wrath
of the king, or man, or circumstance, or sickness, or death? Simply
this. We see Him who has died for our
sins. We see Him who is our righteousness
and acceptance with God. We see Him who loves us. And if He's for me, who can be
against me? Faith, the remedy for fear. I
pray God will help you with this. Let's be dismissed and pray.
Our gracious Father, please be gracious to us in the midst of
our fears, in the midst of our griefs and sorrows. Oh, God,
consider our flesh. Consider that we are but dust. fragile and frail, in ourselves
wicked. But I pray, Father, that you
would see us as you see us in Christ. I thank you for his blood
that's cleansed me from my sins, his righteousness that covers
me. I thank you, Father, for your love, your eternal love
that never ends. I pray you'd bless your people
with these things. And I ask this in Christ's name,
amen.