Thank you. Go to John 14 with
me now. John chapter 14. I hope the Lord
helps me, helps you to hear, makes this a blessing. I told
someone before this that this was the
message I was looking forward to bringing today. I thought I was saving the best
for last, but the Lord blessed the previous two messages. I
very much enjoyed looking at it myself and those who heard
it seemed to be too. But this one, I know this, that
it's the same message. We're all the same. Just sinners. And God's Word will not return
void. Look at verse 27. One verse and
one part of this verse I want to dwell on. John 14, 27. Our
Lord is speaking to his disciples. Them only. And he says, Peace
I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth. Meaning,
they promise peace, they can't give it. And the peace they talk
about is not peace. Peace, peace. There is no peace. Christ gives true peace. He says, Let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid. So that's the text and that's
the subject and the title. Let not your heart be troubled
nor be afraid. Keeping our heart from fear.
This is the subject, keeping the heart from fear. This is
the Lord's command. When he says, let not, he's saying,
don't let this happen. It's a command. The Lord's promise. He said, peace I leave with you.
My peace I give unto you. Now, don't be afraid. And he says this over and over. You've read Scriptures. You know
how many times he says it. Over. Old Testament, New Testament. Over. And why does he keep saying
it over and over? Because we're so fearful. So unbelieving. But it's a command. It's not a suggestion. It's not just good advice. Don't be afraid. Now, several ways from God's
Word we're going to look at to keep our hearts from fear. Now,
remember, Scripture says, keep thine heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life. These things in our
head are not going to help us. But if the Lord would put this
in our heart, write it on the table of our heart, these things,
His Word, It should keep us from fear, heart fear. Let not your
heart be afraid. So, let's hope the Lord puts
this in our heart. Keep your heart. Mindful of these
things. Now, what our Lord said to these
disciples, He says to all believers, He says, don't be afraid. Don't
be afraid. Didn't He? That's what He said.
Of what? He didn't say. Of anything. Right? That's what he said. Don't be afraid of anything or
anyone. It warrants a great deal about
the fear of man. Well, unbelievers should be afraid. Unbelievers should be afraid
of everything. Have you talked to anybody that
says, I'm not afraid of this. If they don't know God, they
don't know Christ, they should they? Unbelievers don't fear God, so
they needn't be afraid of everything. Unbelievers fear man, fear things. Believers shouldn't be afraid
of anything, because we fear God. You see the irony in that? Don't fear their fear. Our Lord
said, all right, number one, give you several ways to take
a note. Number one, things that help us keep our heart from fear. Number one, look at verse one,
John 14, one. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God. He's talking to his disciples. No man knoweth the Father, but
the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal." Our Lord revealed God
to his disciples, the God who is God, God who reigns and rules
among the armies of heaven, inhabitants of the earth. And God reveals
himself to his people. Patrick, he doesn't reveal himself.
He hides these things from most people, but he's revealed himself
to us and our children. Didn't he say in Isaiah 43, I've
chosen you that you might know me, that I'm God, there's nowhere
else. People that say God wants to,
God tries, God, you know, didn't want this to happen, they don't
know God. But we know God, don't we? When he said this, brother,
he said, you believe in God, to his disciples. Why? Because
he gave them that faith. He gave them that understanding.
You believe in God. And he said, believe also in
me. Why? Because he's God. Again, people
talk about a Jesus standing outside. You know, I bring that up all
the time, don't I? And you believed in
that Jesus one time, didn't you? Years ago. But now you know the
living and the true God, and you know Jesus Christ, who He
is. Who is He? He's God. What's that
mean? God. Reigning, ruling, absolute
control over Everything. There you go hollering again.
Yes. We need this pounded into our hearts and heads. Not just
our heads, but our hearts. God reigneth. Over what? Everything. Don't fear anything but God. God. I know I'm going to repeat
myself many times, It's all right. A good teacher keeps repeating.
Why do you do that? Because they don't get it the
first time. Somebody said to a mother, I
heard you tell that child that five times. Why didn't you tell
it five times? She said, because you didn't
get it after the fourth. Keep telling it. Keep telling
it. So our Lord keeps telling us, over and over, fear not,
fear not. What? I am a God. Dick isn't
a man. There's nothing, there's no one,
there's no thing out there, independent, on its own, outside of the absolute
sovereign control of God Almighty. I feel better already. Do you? Believe God. Listen to this,
which I'm going to cut some of these verses down for time's
sake, but let me see. Well, Isaiah 45 says this, let
me read this to you. I am the Lord, there is none
else. There's no God beside me. I form
the light, create darkness, I make peace, and create evil. I, the
Lord, do all these things. See now, that was one of our
memory verses, see now that I, even I am he. I kill, I make
alive, I wound, and I heal. Is there anything that can deliver
out of my hand? I'm God. That's what he said.
Fear not. So first of all, you believe
in God. Believe God. Trust God. Secondly, believe
Christ made peace for you. Believe that Christ made peace
for you. Verse 27, he said, Peace I leave
with you, my peace. I like the word, my peace. Look
at chapter 16, verse 33. Look at chapter 16, verse 33. These things, and he said a great
deal, didn't he? Brothers and sisters, if you
just stay in John 14 through 17, you'd have perfect peace. All the time. You don't have
to read anywhere else in God's Word. Those are all promise,
promise, promise, promise, promise from Christ to his disciples,
to his people. And he kept saying, these things
have I spoken unto you, these things. Verse 33, these things
have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In the
world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. Fear not,
I have overcome the world. Believe that Christ made peace
for you. You know why people fear things
and fear death? Because there's this fear of
death in their hearts of the unknown, because they don't know
God. And God says there's not going to be any rest, not that
there's going to be any peace for the wicked. I'm not going
to let anybody have any peace that doesn't know me. Man's in
trouble with God. Though he doesn't know God, and
he doesn't have any peace, he's scared to death to die. He needs
to die. And God doesn't let him have
any feet, and not only any feet, as long as somebody's a rebel
against God. You understand that? No, no. But Christ came for His
people, and He did that work on Calvary.
You say, I haven't done it yet. Good has done it. He's the Lamb
slain before the world. He came to make peace by the
blood of His cross. God who's angering with the wicked
every day. And we are, you know, we're sinners. There was a time
we didn't know God. A time we didn't care. A time
we didn't fear God. A time we didn't give Him care
for Jesus Christ and the government. Right? A time we didn't worship
Him. A time we didn't thank Him. Just like everybody else. But
God, what'd He do? Quickened us again. Oh, it's
my grace, He said. You found grace like Noah in
the eyes of the Lord. And He revealed to you His fear. Noah moved with fear. What did
he do? Got in the ark. Told his children about the ark.
That's what we do, isn't it? See, He's revealed Himself to
us. The fear of the Lord's the beginning of wisdom. He's revealed
unto us Christ's ark, Christ our safety. What bore all the
wrath of God against this world? The world was wiped out. But
what bore all the wrath of God that fled? The ark. What happened
to those people in it? Nothing. Not one drop of water
fell on them. They had peace. You said that. I'm not afraid. I'm in Christ.
Good. You don't need to be afraid.
You understand? Christ made peace. If you believe
that Jesus Christ died for your sin, according to the scripture,
if you believe Him, if you love His gospel, love His truth, if
you need Him, brethren, He that hath the Son hath life. Now, as I said, read on your own.
Go back and read all the rest of this. Peace I leave with you. Christ hung on Calvary's tree
and bore the wrath of God that should have been fallen on us.
Like that ark that bore all that judgment. Christ bore the wrath
of God. And Christ said, Peace I leave
with you. I made peace with the Father. He's not angry with you. He's angry with those that Don't
know Him. He's not angry with you. I've
revealed Him to you. I've revealed Me to you. Peace. There's no judgment. There's
no wrath. There's no condemnation to them that are in. Right. Okay. Thirdly, listen to this. Believe God is your Father. Believe God is your Father. I
know many say that. It doesn't mean the same. Who
is God the Father of? All right, look at John 16, verse
27. John 16, verse 27. He says, The Father himself loveth
you. He's talking to his disciples
who believe God, who believe Christ, who he revealed himself
to. The Father himself loveth you
because you love me, and believe I came from God. You believe
me. Do you really, John? John? John? Do you really believe that
Jesus Christ is all your hope and salvation? Do you really believe that? Do you, John? All
your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. Do you know why you
believe that, John? Because flesh and blood didn't
reveal it. Amen. And Christ said, Father
loves you like He loves me, because you love me. You know me. You
believe me. You trust me. Christ said that. And later on, He told the disciples,
I'm going to your Father, my Father, and your Father. And
he's giving us the spirit of adoption, Romans 8. Do you like
Romans 8? Do you love Romans 8? Do you
know how few people love Romans 8? There are 28, but they don't
love 29. Or 30, do you? You know what it says. You didn't
stop at 28. You went up to 29, didn't you,
sister? What does it say? For whom he did foreknow. Love. He did predestinate. Whom he
predestinated, he called. The whole world, I like that
predestination. I do. Whew, do I. So glad that God
has ordered all things in there. Sure. All my hopes, all my salvation. That's what David said. David,
why do you believe that? Must be one of God's. Oh, whom
He predestinated, He called by our gospel. The gospel. Whom
He called, He justified. Do you know how you're justified?
If I ask anybody in here, could you tell me how you justify how
God's going to have you in the glory, how God's going to have
you in the heaven? Could you tell me? Could somebody just
tell me in one word, just give me one word why God should let
you in the heaven? Anybody? Louder. Louder. You know, everybody's friends
in here. Everybody that God chose, they're
all taught of God. Everybody God loves. Everybody
God gave to Christ. They come to Christ. They know
of Christ. They believe Christ. He's all their own. Peace. Fear not. You have nothing to
fear. Next, let me point this out for
your freedom from fear. Christ commands us. Commands
us. You don't want to be a disobedient
child, do you? Fear not. You know, it's distrust. It dishonors him. What if, Patrick,
what if you kept promising Emma something? Kept promising her,
promising her. She's in the car and you're taking her somewhere.
We're going. I'm taking you. This is a good illustration.
I'm taking you to where you want to be. It's going to be good. I'm taking you there. But, Dad,
I don't know. Maybe you ought to get somebody
else. Honey, just trust me now. I'm a truck driver. I'm a professional. You're safe with me. I'm scared,
honey. Don't you trust your dad? He
commands us. It dishonors him. It dishonors
him. But maybe we ought to do nothing. Fear not. Turn to Isaiah 51 real
quickly. Isaiah 51. I do want you to see
this. He commands us. All through Scripture,
he commands us. Listen to this. This is rebuke.
This is reproof. A command. Isaiah 51. I'll never
forget reading this as a young man, young preacher. Verse 7. Hearken unto me, ye that know
righteousness. The people in whose heart is
my law, fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid
of their reviling. The moth is going to eat them
like a garment, the worm like wool. My righteousness shall
be forever, my salvation from generation to generation." Verse
12, "'I, even I, am he that comforteth you. Who art thou that thou shouldest
be afraid of a man that shall die?' and of the Son of Man,
which shall be made as grass. And forget us, O Lord, thy Maker,
that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundation
of the earth, and hath feared continually every day because
of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy."
Where is the fury of the oppressor? The Lord said, I remember reading
that John as a young man. He was afraid to go out. Why
are you being afraid of a worm? God says, don't fear a worm,
fear me. Didn't our Lord say in Matthew
10, fear not them that kill the body. And after that, they have
no more that they can do. And that's what we fear, something
or someone that kills the body. Well, then what's happened? Sin
is to glory. Like Brother Bruce, I read a
message. He said, After we die, we go to glory.
That was it? I was afraid of that? That's
all they could do? Wasn't it wonderful? Well, we've got it all wrong,
don't we? We fear that which we ought to
look forward to. Christ commands us. Be not afraid. Don't fear them that kill the
body. Fear Him who after He's destroyed both body and soul
and cast it into hell. Man doesn't kill anyone. God
does. Paul told the Philippians, fear
is an evident sign of perdition to the unbelieving world. It
brings a bad reply. That's what he said. He told
young Timothy who was afraid, and he faced a lot more fears
than any of us will ever face, young Timothy. He said, God hasn't
given us a spirit of fear, but a sound mind. What mind? The
mind of Christ. Did Christ fear anything? No.
Why? He knew it was all ordered. Well,
it is. Paul, Edward, why don't you believe
the Lord? He commands us. Remember how
past fears caused you so much trouble? You feared this and
you feared that. You remember fearing the worst
and it made you miserable all the while? You were just nothing
but miserable the whole time, when you could have had a little
bit of peace. Maybe the thing didn't happen that you feared
the most. I remember one time I was having some very severe
symptoms. And you always think, what do
you think? When you're having some severe pain or some severe
symptoms, some blood or something, what do you think? Every time,
it's cancer. We do that every time. Right
now, I've got to die of coughing. You know what I thought? Well,
I was outside cutting grass, Steve, and there's pollen. But anyway, I had these symptoms. I just knew it was And for days,
I had a test run for days. I was miserable. I was so sad. I was so distraught. And I just
wasted three or four days being miserable because it wasn't cancer. It's something very minor. Turn to 1 Corinthians 10. But
what if the thing we fear happens? Huh? What if the thing we fear happens? Look at 1 Corinthians 10. Many
of you know this. We need to commit it to memory.
I mean, not just in our heads, but our hearts. Verse 13, there's
no temptation, no trial taking you, but such is common to man,
that is, they all go through it. The same afflictions, Peter
said, are accomplished. Accomplished? Yes, the Lord said
it for a reason. His glory, our testimony, witness,
our good, our faith. Common to man, but God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be attempted above that you're able. Will with the tribe. Make a way
to escape that you're able to bear it. If it happens, He'll
give you the grace. We've got people sitting in this
room right now who went through something you did not want to
go through. The death of a child. Jeanette, you and I haven't gone
through that yet. I don't want to go through it. Do you? Do
you think about it? In fact, I don't think I could
handle it. Is God's grace sufficient? Plus two. Is God's grace sufficient? Look at you smiling. what you went through. I don't
want to go through that. I wouldn't want to go through
what y'all gone through. You love that boy dearly, don't
you? You'd rather go through what you suffered him go through.
Is God's grace sufficient? If the worst thing happens, God said, I'll bring you through
it. I'll bring it through. I promise.
And you know what that does? It bears a witness and a testimony
that you would not witness otherwise. It's easy to say you believe
God and everything's going well. But when the worst thing happens
and you still say, it's the Lord. Jennifer, that glorifies God
unlike anything else. Do you understand? True story. There was a man named
Thomas Bielding, 1531, one of the first martyrs before Latimer
and Ridley and some of the others. Latimer and Ridley loved Thomas
Bielding. He preached the gospel. Well, he was sentenced to die
at the stake, to burn at the stake for preaching the truth.
Okay? The night before he was to go
to be burned at the stake, he was sitting in his room. And
he had a candle there. And he put his hand in the candle
and tried to hold it there. He pulled it. And he started weeping. He started
thinking, if I can't bear a candle on my hand, how am I going to
go and be burned at the stake? I can't do this. I can't do this. You know what happened? The next day. They took him to
the stake, and while they are tying those cords around him
and lighting those fires, he starts quoting and smiling. I'll be with thee through the
rivers, and thou shalt not overflow thee, and when thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, fear
not Jacob. And he died without making a
sound. If the worst thing you fear happens,
it won't matter. God will give you the grace.
Fear not. We just make ourselves miserable.
Oh, my. I've got to go on. Read. Here's something that keeps our
hearts from fear. Read and remember the many precious
promises. Precious, precious promises,
promises, promises. Romans 8. Keep going back to
that. Why? Because it starts out by
saying there is no condemnation. None. In fact, the whole chapter
says it's all good. If children of God join heirs
with Christ, all things work together. It's all been predestined.
If God's for us, who can be against us? What can be against us? Nothing's
against us. It's all for us. He despaired not his son, delivering
him up for us all. How shall he not with that gift
freely give us all things?" And he goes on to say, who's going
to lay anything to our charge? Who's going to condemn us? Nobody.
Who's going to separate us? What's going to keep us out of
the gulf? Nothing. No one. Famine, nakedness, distress,
persecution. Oh, we're killed all the day
long. Sentence of death. Neither death, life, angels,
principality, powers present. things to come, height, depth,
nor any other creature will separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Fear not. Remember the many precious promises. Promise it, promise it, promise
it. Here's another thing. Plead God's
promises with God. The old writers The old writers
used to talk about men arguing with God, not in the sense that
they disagree, but just pleading. One time Moses said, Lord, if
you destroy these people, the Egyptians are going to say you
couldn't save them. They weren't worth saving. But God said he
was going to save them. And then he got angry to show
his wrath against them. He said, I'm going to wipe them
all out. Moses said, Lord, if you do, the world's going to
say you couldn't save them. God said, OK, I won't. Jacob. Boy, if there was ever
a fellow that didn't deserve to be saved, it's Jacob. And
Jacob, after he's all over, after all his power of sin, he said,
Lord, you said, You were going to do me good. You said that
this was all for my good. I was going to have a seed like
the stars. You said this. Lord, you said
this. Would you please do it? Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. I
am God. Well, somebody says, but he said
that to Jacob. Oh, no, no, he didn't. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consented. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help. Another thing, and I'll quit.
We need to consider God's honor more than our own personal well-being. And I want you to turn with me
to Hebrews 11. We need to consider God's honor
more than our personal well-being. I know it's one thing to worry
about your children and grandchildren and others, okay? But ourselves,
we shouldn't. We shouldn't. And our children
and grandchildren, but here's the thing. What about them? Whose
hands are they in? Thank God. They're not in our
hands. There's nothing we can do for
them. And all the Lord. But we need to consider God's
honor more than our own personal well-being or safety. Look at
Hebrews 11. This whole chapter is about people. They all died in faith. They
were persuaded. Verse 13, they received the promises,
exceeding precious promises. And so they were far off, persuaded,
embraced them, confessed they were strangers and pilgrims,
and they believed God. Now look down at verse 34. Verse 33, through faith subdued
kingdoms, wrought righteousnesses, obtained promises, stopped the
mouths of liars. Daniel went right into that lion's
den to quench the violence of fire. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. No, we're not going to bow to
these other gods. We believe God. Cast us in there. What if it destroys you? Well,
what if it does? We still believe God. Out of weakness we're made strong.
They're just like us. We waxed valiant in flight, turned
to flight the armies of the alien. Women received their dead raised
to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance. They might obtain a better resurrection.
Others had trial of mocking, cruel mocking, scourging, bonds,
imprisonment of stone, sonnets. What are we afraid of? Doesn't
this make you ashamed? No, no. What are we afraid of? These consider the honor of the
Lord more than their own well-being. Wandered about in sheepskin.
Verse 38, they wandered in deserts and mountains. Well, here's another thing. Fear
God and not man. Isaiah 8, he said, don't fear
their fear. Fear the Lord and let Him be
your dread. And lastly, lastly, And I want you to turn because
you've probably already forgotten it. I did. I had to make myself
remember it all over again. Psalm 62. Psalm 62. Psalm 62. Here's the last point. To ease our fears, to keep us from
fear, pour out your heart unto the Lord. Call on the Lord. David said, what time I'm afraid,
I'll trust in the Lord. David, are you afraid? Yeah,
I am. To my shame, David said, I get
afraid. But when I do, here's what I
do. I call on the Lord. And whosoever calls on the Lord
will be saved. From what? Fear. Verse 8, Psalm
62a. Trust in Him at all times. There's a reason why I wanted
us all to remember that. Trust in Him at all times. Ye people, His people, pour out
your heart before Him. Tell Him, I'm afraid. Now ease
your fears. God is a refuge, a sea light. Stop and think about that. So
our Lord says, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid. Peace. Father in heaven, oh thank you
again. Thank you for your Word. We don't
know what else to pray except thank you. Have mercy upon us,
help us, save us, or we perish. But Lord, we want to honor you,
we do, in a day, in a world that doesn't even believe you. It's
not thankful. Change the glory of God to a
lie. Worship's a creature more than
a creator. Oh, Lord. We want to bear a good witness,
a good testimony. Lord, give us this faith. Give
us fearless faith. Give us courage. Give us strength.
Give us a witness. Give us something to say for
our God and for our peace, for our comfort. You've said so much. You've made so many promises. You've said so much. What more
can you say to us than you have said? to those who for refuge
to the Lord Jesus Christ have fled. Lord, keep these things
in our memory. Remind us of these things. What
time we are afraid, let us trust in Thee. And it's in Christ's
name we give thanks. Amen.