Good morning. Had a great trip
to Mexico. I'm flat worn out, but. Which turned 1st Samuel Chapter
17. That's such a blessed time when we have. Tom to. Fellowship around the
gospel like that. First Samuel 17, verses 10 and
11. And the Philistine said, I defy
the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine,
they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Verse 23, And as he talked
with them, behold, there came up the champion of the Philistine
of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines,
and spake according to the same words. And David heard them,
And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man fled from him
and were sore afraid. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in the name of thy son and Lord, how thankful we are that we can
come into your presence. and be heard and accepted and
loved even as he is. Lord, we're amazed at your gospel
and we give thanks. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that your word would be spoken, preached in the power of your
spirit that you give us hearing ears and receptive hearts. And Lord, we confess our sins. Lord, we ask for grace to sin
not. Lord, we're aware of our sinfulness,
but we don't want to sin against thee. And we ask for grace to
sin not. We ask that we might be enabled
to be like our Redeemer. Lord, wherever your gospels preach,
we ask that you'd bless it. We pray for your blessing upon
our nation, that we might being able to live quiet and peaceable
lives in all godliness and honesty. Lord, give us grace truly to
love you more and truly to love one another more. Lord, be our teacher, be our
savior, be our all. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now let me remind you, how would you like to have hand-to-hand
combat? with someone who was anywhere
between 9 foot 9 and 11 foot 3, who had a 26 foot long spear
with a 20 pound head at the end of that spear, who had armor
on that weighed 180 pounds. Just his armor. Now what kind
of foe would that be? And what if you were called upon
to fight hand-to-hand combat? with this man, would you be dismayed
and afraid? My soul, I would. Would you not
be one who fled from him and be sore afraid? Now here's the
point. Fear can be so debilitating. Fear. And there's so many different
kinds of fears. Fear of the future, fear of your
past, Haunting you. Fear of the present over which
you have no control. There's the fear of sickness. The fear of being alone. The
fear of not having enough money when it comes time for retirement.
Who's going to take care of me? What's going to happen to me?
The fear of having no one to help. The fear of being insecure. The fear of paranoia. I mean,
if you're paranoid, that fear is still real fear. It might
as well be real. What kind of fear people experience?
The fear of not really being saved. The fear of standing before
God in judgment and hearing him say, I never knew you. Fear. It's a horrible thing, isn't
it? Fear of death. Fear of judgment. When Saul, verse 11, and all
Israel heard these words of the Philistines, they were dismayed
and greatly afraid. Dismayed means broken down, utterly
discouraged, greatly afraid. Now, the fear of God is clean. It's glorious. It's the work
of God in the soul of a sinner. The fear of God. Now, what is
the fear of God? The fear of God is what makes you afraid
of sin. If you fear God, you're afraid
of sin. And if you fear God, if I fear
God, we are afraid to look anywhere. but Christ alone. We're afraid
of works. We're afraid of anything that's
contrary to grace. Oh, the fear of God makes you
afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone. But the fear they were
experiencing was the fear of unbelief. Now, if I thought that
I had to fight Goliath, I'd be afraid. And you would too. You'd be scared to death. But if the Lord fights this battle
for me, do I have any legitimate reason for fear of anything or anybody? If God is for me, what do I have
to fear? Now, in the scripture, there
are over 80 commands to fear not. These are commands. Fear not. And eight times it
says, fear not and don't be dismayed. So I didn't think I could handle
one less than all 80 commands, but we're going to look at eight.
eight commands that I hope God will give me you and you the
grace to truly not be afraid. Afraid of the Lord, fear him,
but have no other fear of anybody or anything. Wouldn't that be
a blessing if the Lord, that fear of the Lord that causes
us to not fear anybody else or anything else. I first turned
to Deuteronomy chapter 31. Verse seven, and Moses called unto Joshua
and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, be strong and
of a good courage for thou must go with this people into the
land which the Lord has sworn into their fathers to give it
them. And thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the Lord,
he it is that doth go before thee. He will be with thee. He will not fail thee nor forsake
thee. So here's the command, fear not,
neither be dismayed. He will be with you. He'll not
fail you. He'll not forsake you. And here
is the glorious promise. All of them are glorious, but
here's what He said. He will go before you. He will go before
you. You know, everything that happens
to you, He's already gone before you. It was all His will, His
purpose, His providence. He goes before you in everything. Whatever happens to you, it's
Him going before you. Isn't that great? It's Him going
before you. Anything that happens in Providence,
He says, be of good cheer. It's I. Be not afraid. He goes before you. That means
anything that happens to you. I don't care if when your car
breaks down, you get sick, you lose something, your house gets
broke into, whatever takes place, He's going before you. He's in control of it all. Now,
I think of salvation. I think of Him going before me
in the great covenant when He became my surety. He went before
me. He went before me when He kept
the law for me. He went before me when He died. You know, the reason we don't
fear death is He's already been there. He's died and come back
and we will too. He goes before me as my great
intercessor right now. As a matter of fact, He's called
the forerunner in the book of Hebrews. He's called the forerunner. Isn't
that glorious? The Lord goes before you. So if everything
that happens is Him going before you, what is there to fear? Even if it's painful. You still
know it's for your good and His glory. He is going before you. That gives me such comfort to
know that He goes before me. And turn to Joshua chapter one. Verse nine, have not I commanded
thee Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou
dismayed. This is a commandment. For the
Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. Have not I commanded
thee? Now, one of the things I love
about faith is faith is not given as this would be good advice
for you or this would be the good thing for you to do. I am
commanded to believe the gospel. And my right to believe, my personal
right to believe, because He commanded me to. It's not wrong
for you to do what He commands you to. And in this thing of
fearing not, He commands you. Don't fear, neither be afraid. Now, if He gave you that commandment,
if He gave me that commandment, we have legitimate reason to
not fear or be afraid, to obey His command. He commands us,
just like we're commanded to believe the gospel. You know,
you think, do I have the right to believe me? Yeah, He commands
you to. Do I have the right to repent?
Yes, He commands you to. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. And your right to do this comes
with the command of God to you. So. Here's a good reason to fear
not. He commands you not to. And all
not fearing is is obedience to his command. We trust him. We
trust him. That doesn't mean we're happy
about everything that happens. In a way, I mean, when something
hard happens or difficult happens, it's not like, oh boy, this is
great. No, but I am commanded to not fear because I know it's
him going before me. Turn to Joshua chapter seven,
or chapter eight, I'm sorry. Verse one, and the Lord said
unto Joshua, fear not. Now, I have to say this. It's
one thing for me to tell you not be afraid. You'll still be
afraid. It's one thing for you to tell
me not to be afraid. Don't be afraid. Oh, okay. But if the Lord says it, if the
Lord says it, Oh, the power of his word. And the Lord said unto
Joshua, fear not, neither be thou dismayed. There's the double
command. Take all the people of war with
thee and arise, go to Ai. See, I have given. into thy hand the king of Ai
and his people and his city and his land." Now notice he did
not say, I will give the king of Ai to thee. I will go before
you and fight this battle for you. He said, I've already done
it. I have fought this battle for
you. I have given king Ai into your
hand. Do not fear because the battle
has already been won. This is an old illustration,
but last night when I got in, what do you think I did? Can
anybody guess? Lynn taped the game for me. I
watched the game. She says, how do you watch a
game when you already know who won? Easy. Easy. The victory, my dear friend,
has already been won. I think of that scripture in
Romans chapter 8, verses 29 and 30, for whom he did foreknow. And understand, this is all historic.
This is not prophetic. This is all historic. I mean,
it's actually history. And history can be changed. Sort
of. My history's been changed. I've
got a new history. A history that's all good because
his story is my history. His life is my life before God.
But listen to these scriptures. 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, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. And it's in the past tense. It's
already taken place. Every aspect of our salvation
is history. And it's good history. It's all
good. What a blessed thing. That's
why I can fear not because the battle has already been fought
and the battle has already been won. Speaking comfortably to
Jerusalem, tell her her warfare is accomplished. She has received,
she's been forgiven of her iniquity. She's received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Joshua chapter 10. Verse 24, it came to pass when
they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called
for all the men of Israel and said unto the captains of the
men of war which went with him, come near, put your feet upon
the necks of these kings. And they came near. and put their
feet upon the necks of them. And Joshua said unto them, fear
not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage, for thus
shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom you fight. Now, before we go on, who are
my enemies? Who are your enemies? My enemies
are my sins. That's my enemies. My enemies
are my sins. And the Lord will deal with my
enemies. If there were no sin, there would
be no fear. Well, Lord's going to deal with
all my enemies. I love thinking about that. My
sins that harass me and oppress me, and the Lord's going to deal
with every one of them. I don't have to. And you know,
with regard to death, the only thing that would make you fear
is if the sin question's not taken care of. But if the sin
question's taken care of, your enemies have been dealt with,
what is there to fear? Would to God that everybody in
here would enjoy full assurance of faith. Full assurance of God's
favor for Christ's sake. And that, you know, when we doubt
and fear, That's so dishonoring to the Lord. What we're doing
is we're doubting Him. And we're questioning Him. Oh,
may the Lord deliver us from such base unbelief and ingratitude. You know, lack of trust is the
worst thing there is. Unbelief. Now, somebody says,
well, I can think of worse things than that. No, because every
other sin comes out of that one sin. Unbelief. Turn to 2 Chronicles
chapter 20. Verse 14. Then upon Jehaziel, the son of
Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeal, the son of all
the different sons, came the spirit of the Lord in the midst
of the congregation. And he said, Hearken ye all Judah,
and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat, thus
saith the Lord unto you, be not afraid, nor be dismayed by reason
of this great multitude. And they were outnumbered in
a way that they could have, no way they could have won on their
own. They were outnumbered so much. But he says, I love this. The battle is not yours. It's
God's. Now you go on reading. Let's
read some more verses here. Verse 16. Tomorrow go ye down against them.
Behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz, and you shall find them
at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jeruel. You
shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand
ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah
and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow
go out against them, for the Lord will be with you. And Jehoshaphat
bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping
the Lord. And the Levites of the children
of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korites stood
up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
And they rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness
of Tekoa. And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat
stood and said, Hear me, O Judah. And he inhabited Jerusalem. Believe
in the Lord your God, so shall you be established. Believe his
prophets, so shall you prosper. And when they consulted with
the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, that they should
praise the beauty of holiness. And they went out before the
army to say, praise the Lord for His mercy endures forever.
And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments
against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were
come out against Judah. And they were smitten. For the
children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of
Mount Seir and utterly to slay and destroy them. And when they'd
made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy
one another. They looked at these people and
they were killing each other. Israel just watching while all
their enemies were killing one another. Now, you just stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. Now, there is a very
real sense in which salvation is a spectator sport. I've heard people say, you know,
Christianity is not a spectator sport. I understand when people
say that, but there's a sense in which it is. We're looking
to him, aren't we? To fight our battles for us.
Looking unto Jesus. And as a spectator, I'm just
as happy when my team wins as if I was the one doing the playing.
And in that sense, we are looking on Him fighting our battles for
us. He turned these men against each
other, and they defeated one another. 2 Chronicles chapter
32, verses 7 and 8. Be strong and courageous. Be
not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all
the multitude that's with him, for there be more with us than
with him. With him is an arm of the flesh,
but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves
upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. Now he said, don't
be afraid. There's more for us than there
is for him. And he wasn't talking about the
number of the armies of Israel. He says, the Lord's on our side. If God be for us, I've already
said this a couple of times, say it again. If God be for us,
who can be against us? Turn to second Kings for a moment. Second Kings chapter six. I love this passage of Scripture. And this is always the case,
beginning in verse 15. And when the servant of the man
of God, this was Elisha's servant, was risen early, 2 Kings 6, verse
15, and gone forth, behold, and host compassed the city, both
with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him,
Alas, my master, how shall we do? Then he answered, Fear not. For they that be with us are
more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord,
I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man. And he saw, behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. You know, there's mountains of
horses, of angels even now around us. More with us than with them.
angels, but most especially the Lord. He's the one who makes
the majority. He is the majority. This is always
the case. So fear not, nor be dismayed. You have the Lord omnipotent
for you. Fear not. Isaiah chapter 41. beginning in verse 8. But thou, Israel, art my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, thou whom I
have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the
chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant. I
have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Fear not. for I am with thee. Be not dismayed,
for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. I will
help thee. Yea, I'll uphold thee with the
right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were since
against thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be
as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou
shalt seek them and shall not find them, even them that contend
with thee. And they that war against thee
shall be as nothing and as a thing of naught. For I, the Lord thy
God, will hold thy right hand, saying, Fear not, I will help
thee. Fear not, thou worm of Jacob. And you men of Israel, my marginal
reading says you few men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." Now, I never will
forget hearing Scott Richardson comment on this passage of Scripture.
And he said, you can't take a promise to yourself in the Bible unless
you personally fit the character of the one the promise was made
to. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. I'm no worm, promise wasn't to
you then. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. I am with thee. And he calls
himself, I'm your redeemer. Now if the Lord's redeemed me,
you know what that means? I've been redeemed. Redeemed, he's
my redeemer. What a name for our God, our
redeemer. He says in this promise, I'm
with thee, I'm by God, I'll strengthen thee, I'll help thee, I'll uphold
thee, I'll hold your hand. Jeremiah 30. Jeremiah 30. Verse 10. Therefore, fear thou not, O my
servant Jacob, saith the Lord, neither be dismayed. There it
is again, fear not nor be dismayed, O Israel, for lo, I will save
thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of captivity. And
Jacob shall return and shall be in rest and be quiet, and
none shall make him afraid. That word rest is the same word
used as Boaz when Naomi said of him, he will not rest until
he had finished the thing this day. Now, what is rest? Rest
is a response to a finished work. That's when you rest. When you're
responding to a finished work. And quiet means peaceful and
easy. Don't be afraid. You rest in
response to this finished work and you be peaceful and at ease. Now, I couldn't help but think
I want to close by just reading Psalm 23. Let's read that together. Psalm 23. You know, David was a shepherd.
He had those few sheep out in the wilderness, but he was a
shepherd. And he knew what he was talking about when he talked
about the Lord being my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. The green pastures of his word,
I lie down and rest. He leads me beside still waters,
waters of quietness. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for thou art
with me. Thy rod and thy staff, They comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Fear not.