Strange, strange things going
on in the world around us today. But you know something? Cheryl and I were talking in
there earlier. She goes, man, has it ever been this bad? Maybe not in our time, but I
recall my father, who would be in his 90s now, saying the same
things that we're saying today about the world that he lived
in. And according to the way he was
raised, what you and I were going through as children would have
been pretty strange for him. So nothing's really changed. It all comes down to this. All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Not just once,
not just one generation, but every single generation throughout
time. There's only one way into eternity,
folks, and that's through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We either are in Him, or we are without Him. We pick up once
again in the letter written to the Philippians in chapter one,
and while you're turning there, allow me the honor to read from
John 15, verse 18, where we read, if the world hate you, Ye know
that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because ye are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, our Lord says. He says the servant is not greater
than his Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they
will also persecute you. If they have kept My saying,
they will keep yours also. But all these things which they
do unto you for My name's sake, because they know not Him that
sent Me. If I had not come and spoken
unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for
their sin. He that hateth me, hateth my
Father also. If I had not done among them
the works which none other man did, they had not sinned. But now have they both seen and
hated both me and my Father." I ask you this morning, what
I just read, can we not see it in our own
lives? Not just the lives we once lived,
but the lives that we're living right now. How many of you have
relatives that attend one faith or another, one religion or another? And it's completely at odds with
what we believe in. Was not our own attitudes towards
the truths of God the same at one time? Before the grace of
our Savior Christ Jesus came and dwelt in our hearts? And I say it that very way because
it was not by our own will. It was not by something we decided
to do, but it was by God's love that He came in the spirit of
Christ and took up residence in our hearts. The world hates the one of truth
because truth exposes the lies that we all once lived. No one
comes into this world thinking of themselves as sinners. No one wants to see that their
deeds are wicked. Imagine what it was for the man
on his tractor tilling the land so that his children could have
food on the table. Or a truck driver who drives
cross-country year after year and spends all that time away
from his family so that his family can have food, shelter. Imagine those
things and thinking, well this is wicked. What I'm here to tell
you this morning is exactly what it is if it's not for the glory
of God. If we're doing it for our own,
serving our own selves, it is wickedness. No one wants to see their deeds
as wicked, but the fact of the matter is this, that if we do
not do this for the glory of God, it is sin. And until we
have been given a new spirit, a new desire, we will live for
ourselves and take no thought of God's truths. When we try
to share these truths that God has revealed to us through His
Word, through the preaching of the Gospel, through the preaching
of Christ and Him crucified, for the most part, the world
will reject them and turn on the messengers of that message. Taking their anger out on the
one who brings the message. How dare you? How dare you tell
me that God rules over my heart? Don't you take my free will away
from me. That's what I've heard. Have
you heard anything like that? I'm just telling you what God
says. It's supposed to be the truth. This is what the Lord's
Word says right here. They try to kill the messenger.
They take their anger out on the one who is bringing the message.
I've got to tell you. Next weekend is exciting for
me. Not because it's a family reunion
and people will come together, but because I get to hear and
see men preach the Word of God. I can't put into words how much
I miss that. I know we've got electronics
now where we can watch it on YouTube and all that. And for
the most part, I get to watch YouTube once in a while, but
mostly I just listen to the messages and it's not the same thing,
just hearing audio. You can hear me speaking, but
you folks can see, you can see by my expression, my body language,
of what I'm talking about and the excitement of having pastors
come next weekend and preach to me. That's the same thing.
That's exactly the same thing. I take great encouragement from
those who preach the truth without fear of men, without the fear
of our loved ones saying to us, that's not my Lord, that's not
my Jesus, I have another Jesus. I bring you to remembrance of
Joseph's words to his brothers who sold him into slavery. He
said to them, you meant it for evil, but God's purpose was for
good. Folks, I'm here to tell you that
there will be many, many, many trials come our way. Especially
trials because we are the bearers of good news. It's good news
to sinners. Christ came to save sinners.
And we bear God's truth, and Paul saw this in his own experience. The church at Philippi had heard
of the apostles' troubles, and he wanted them to have a true
and right understanding of his trials and afflictions. He desired that the weak among
them might not be offended, and that all among them might be
encouraged to bear with patience and cheerfulness whatever afflictions
might befall them for Christ's sake. Look at verses 8-14 of
chapter 1 in Philippians with me if you would. For God is my
record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus
Christ. And this I pray, that your love
may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment,
that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be
sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled
with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto
the glory and praise of God. But I would ye should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. Because of these
things that has happened to Paul, just as Joseph said, your deeds
were wicked, God's purpose was holy and righteous and for our
good, just as it was for the good of the people of Israel.
For Joseph to be taken down into Egypt, to be thrown into prison,
to be accused of all these things, and then to be brought out and
put in charge of everything, all the keys to the warehouses,
to the storehouses of Egypt, so that he might feed his people
in the day that they would come down to Egypt because of a famine. Paul sees his own troubles, his
own imprisonment. for the furtherance
of the gospel. And he says in verse 13, so that
my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace. Everybody
was hearing about who Paul was. Hey, did you hear what that guy
who was waiting to see the emperor said? Did you hear about him?
It was all about this palace of what was going on. And many,
verse 14, of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by
my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. I'd like to talk to you for just
a couple of moments this morning about that. The title for my
message today is to speak the word without fear. A question for you to ask your
own heart. Am I ashamed of the gospel of
Christ and Him crucified? It's easy for me to stand here
before you today and speak about my Lord and Savior. I don't have
any conflict. It's what everybody here wants
to hear. But what about out in the world? We're talking about Paul's bonds
giving us boldness to speak about our Lord and Savior wherever
it is we go. Not just with word and tongue,
but with actions. Last week I brought out how my
child, my son, knows the Lord, doesn't know Him personally as
I do, but he knows of this One that I believe in by my actions,
by my conversation. Am I perfect? No. Am I really
changed from the person I was before in the fact that I put
my trust in my Savior? Yes. Absolutely. Is there still sin in John? Yes.
Absolutely. He who says he has no sin is
a liar. Am I, John, ashamed of the gospel
of Christ and Him crucified? No, but I choose not to speak about it
in front of some. I choose not to discuss it in
front of some. Because I know that their thoughts
are completely different than what the Lord has laid on my
heart through His Word. I need the help of my Savior to speak His Word without fear
in the world around me. What encouragement can I give
you as you face the trials of this world? As you walk through
the valley of the shadow of death with your friends, family, and
neighbors, your loved ones, what can I do, what can I say
to give you encouragement as you face these trials? It is
my sincere desire that you, as it was for the saints of Philippi,
would grow in grace and the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ. What more could one give to another
to encourage? Paul puts it this way, he says,
that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and
in all judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent
that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,
being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by
Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God." Folks, the only
message is this. The only message that can bring
this peace is the message of Christ the Lord. He is Immanuel
with us, or Immanuel, God with us. He is the God-man. God, manifest in the flesh. Turn
with me, if you would, to the 16th chapter of John. And again, while you're turning,
allow me to read from 2 Peter 3, verse 18. Peter says, Grow
in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, to Him be glory, both now and forever. You see, the message comes around
as always to the subject of our peace. And our peace lays only
at the feet of the Son of the Living God, Christ Jesus our
Lord. The only message that is worthy
of glory. Christ and Him crucified. The
message of the blood of God, shed for His chosen people, chosen
from before the foundation of the world, chosen to be the recipients,
the subjects of His love, of which He would fulfill all that
was needed to save them, to sustain them, to bring them unto Himself,
and be with them forever. Our peace, our strength is in
the message of who He is. God was manifest in the flesh,
born of a virgin, not with the seed of Abraham, not with the
seed of Adam, but the seed of the Spirit. There was no sinful nature in
our Lord. He was perfect in every way.
And His perfection has been imputed to His people. How? Because He was made sin for us.
Our Lord took every sin that we have ever committed, every
sin that we will commit, upon Himself. Again, a point that just boggles
the mind of this puny human. How could God die? How could
God be made sin? How could God open the waters
of the Red Sea and depart and allow it to be dry ground underneath? Our Lord was made sin for you
and I, that we would be made righteous in Him. His righteousness,
not ours. He had to walk this earth perfectly.
It had to be the blood of God. It had to be the feet of God.
Everything had to be of God and be perfectly done so that you
and I would stand perfectly with God. There's no other way. We're not going to take one of
our sins into heaven with us. Every sin must be covered. And
our Lord and Savior did that becoming flesh. Our peace and
our strength is in the message of what He has done. He took
that sin to the cross. He shed His own blood, perfect
blood that made the payment for our sins in full. Not partially,
but in full. Oh, how I love to hear about
the blood of my Savior. Sad, but happy. I'm sad that our Lord had to
do what he had to do, but I'm happy that he did. Because I
know I couldn't. Could you? Our peace and our
strength is in the message of where he is right now. Death
could not hold the glory of heaven. Death could not hold the Creator
of all things. He laid down His life and He
took it up again. Isn't that what Scripture says?
That's right. And now He sits on His throne, ruling everything as He has always
done. Do we not see Him as our All
in All? to live for Christ is to walk
with Him as our King, our Lord, our Sovereign. And if you belong
to Him, if you're one of whom the Father has given to the Son,
He will be your all in all. Not by anything that you have
done, not by any works of yours, for as we read in John 1.12,
but as many as received Him, unto them gave He power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which
were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God." It's all about Him. We spoke about this in our Bible
study this morning. What did our Lord say when He
hung on that cross? Cheryl brought it up. It is finished. Salvation is of the Lord. Plain
and simple. He's already done it. Everything
in the Old Testament Scriptures has been completed, has been
accomplished in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Romans
9, 16 we read it this way, So then it is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. There
you have it. There's the message that brings
most offense to mankind right there. It's not what you have
done. It's not all the stuff that you
think you have done good on. It is what our Lord has done,
and that is all that will be accepted by God the Father. Let men do what they will. My
Lord has overcome all things. My Lord rules all things. How can I encourage you to walk
boldly before men, to speak the Word of God without fear? In our study time, Christ tells
the Apostle Peter, he says, Satan wishes to sift you, to sift you as wheat. But I have
prayed for thee, our Lord says, that thy faith fail not. In other
words, will not falter. And then he says, when thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren. A warning that Satan is and will
continually try to trip you up. But folks, I'm here to tell you,
he is no more than a roaring lion. He cannot harm our spirit. Look with me, if you would, at
verses 4-11 of John chapter... Did I skip something there? I did, didn't I? Let's back up. When we make the claim of salvation
of the Lord, making that claim, the world around us, especially
the religious world, rejects and even persecutes us for it. But fear not, for we are not
of this world. Look at verses 1-4 of chapter
16 with me if you would. Our Lord says, these things have
I spoken unto you that ye should not be offended. They, speaking
of the religious folks around us, speaking of our loved ones
around us, they shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the
time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth
God a service. And these things will they do
unto you because they have not known the Father nor me. But
these things I have told you, that when the time shall come,
you may remember that I have told you them, and these things
I said unto you at the beginning, because I was with you." Now
if you would, turn over to same chapter, verse 32. 32 and 33.
Behold, our Lord says, the hour cometh. is now come, that ye shall be
scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me alone, and
yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me." These things
I have spoken unto you. These things that our Lord has
given us in encouragement turn from the things of the world.
Don't worry about what those people are saying to you. They
may be able to hurt us in the flesh. They may be able to throw
us into jail. They may be able to do all these other things,
but they cannot hurt the spirit of God's children. The whole idea here, folks, is
this. God will not let us go. He gave
His only begotten Son for us. And no matter what trials you
and I might go through in this world, what things raise up against
us, including loved ones of another
religion, including those very things, what do we have to fall
upon? We have this very fact, our Lord
will not forsake us. If He's not going to forsake
us, what have we got to be worried about? Speak up! And I'm talking to myself here.
Speak up, John! These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me, in Christ, in Him, we might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. Oh, that is
so easy to read, but so hard to believe, isn't it? Lord, I
believe, but help thou my unbelief." He says, I have overcome the
world. How is it that we can speak the
Word without fear? How can I encourage you to walk
boldly before men, to speak the Word without fear? Look at verses 4-11 of John chapter
17. Our Lord continues here in His
prayer. The true Lord's prayer. This
is where the Lord got down on His knees and prays for His people. He prays for you and I. He prays
for Peter. He prays for all of his loved
ones throughout time. He says, I have glorified thee
on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and Thou gavest them Me, and they have kept Thy word.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given
Me are of Thee, for I have given unto them the words which Thou
gavest Me. And they have received them,
and have known surely that I came out of Thee, and they have believed
that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me, for they
are Thine, and all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and I am
glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to Thee, Holy Father."
Holy Father, he says. Here's our Lord pleading, pleading
for help for you and I, because He knows how weak we are in the
flesh. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one
as we are. How can I encourage you? There's nothing John can say.
Because John needs the same encouragement that each and every one of you
do. except one thing. Read God's Word to you. You want encouragement to go
out into the world? Think about God's Word. Think about the Word
of the Lord when He says to you, I shall never leave you nor forsake
you. Think about the Word of the Lord
where He says, they shall be my people. and I shall be their
God. Oh, for the words that say, must. That's what we were looking at
in our Bible study the last two weeks, must. Our Lord must go
through Samaria. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
Why must He go? Because He has decreed it so.
If He's decreed that you and I shall be in heaven with Him
forever, is there any possibility that we won't? If there is, then
He's not God. But He is God. That means there's
no possibility. We will be there. What kind of
encouragement can we have to get us through this world? In
Romans 10, and I close with this, 10 verse 17 it says this, so
then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. You want encouragement? Look
for it in the word of God, don't look for it in the flesh. Look
to Jesus. Would you stand with me please?