2 Corinthians chapter 7 and let's
look at this again just for a few minutes in verse 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse
5. If you have a pew Bible, it's
on page 1260. It's one verse. When we were come to Macedonia,
our flesh had no rest. We were troubled on every side.
Without were fightings, and within were fears. We considered this
morning the root, one of the roots, the main root that we
considered this morning, our inward fears, was faith. We looked at that. Sometimes
faith produces these fears that we saw this morning. And I guess if we really didn't,
believe these certain truths, we'd have no fear about them
at all, wouldn't we? Some people say, well, that's just a bunch
of nonsense. I don't believe any of it. Well,
that's why you don't fear. That's why you have no fear about
you at all. No faith, there'd be no fear. Multitudes never fear because
they are unbelievers. But I want us to go ahead tonight
and advance this just a little bit and look at something else,
mainly along the line of, do these fears profit us, even
though they are indeed our infirmities? And we don't go around bragging
about them, but can there be a profit in these fears that
we have? And that's what I want us to
look at just for a few minutes, how these fears can be turned
for our good and I tell you only God in His wisdom can take that
which in and of itself is even wrong and sinful in us and in
His wisdom and in His grace can turn it for our good. Sometimes
when grace and when believing causes some fear within our hearts
that can be a good thing. And I want to show you that over
in Psalms chapter 56. We can leave our text. Psalms
chapter 56. When fear turns to our good, instead of
it causing us to be discouraged or down, it really turns for
our good. And here in Psalms chapter 56,
and look in verse 2, this is an amazing passage. In Psalms
56 in verse 1, Be merciful unto me, O God, for man would swallow
me up. He fighting daily oppresseth
me. My enemies would daily swallow
me up, for they be many that fight against me, O Thou Most
High. But look here now, look here
now how this fear turned for His good. It was obviously afraid
of His enemies. What time I am afraid I will
trust in the Lord. So fear can be for our good,
kid. If fearing our enemy, and I guess we fear them because
we realize what power they have to do us evil, that they can
hurt us. We said this morning none of
us want to be tormented. But when we are afraid, We realize
our fear and what do we do? Well, he says, we trust in the
Lord. And what I think David is saying
here, he seeks a deeper trust, a greater trust. I am fearing
and I'm tired of fearing my enemy. So I'm going to pray to the Lord
about it. I'm going to look to Him. I'm
going to look in His Word. I'm going to do that which by
His grace will give me a more firm trust in Him. What time I'm afraid, I'm going
to trust in the Lord. And you know what trust does?
It dispels our fears. David said, What time I am afraid,
I will trust in the Lord. Now look in verse 4. In God will
I praise His Word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh shall
do unto me. So it was this faith that caused
him a degree of fear to begin with, but it was faith that dispelled
that fear. And he says the same thing down
in verse 11. In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man
can do unto me. So sometimes faith can work for
our good. Fears can work for our good. If you have some fears
about your election and your calling, That may be a good thing. That may be a good thing. You
know what it may cause you to do? More sober and more diligent
to make your calling and election sure with God. Are you anxious
about whether you're one of His or not? Are you anxious to know
for sure that He has called you as it calls you? Has that caused
some fear in you? That's probably a good thing.
Make you more sober. If we never had any anxiety about
those precious truths, it may lead us to some presumption mind
and some carelessness. Anybody that don't see any cause
in election to be serious about finding out if I'm one of his
or not, they're the person who don't know anything about election,
and they don't believe it. We have some fears associated
with our interest in the redeeming death of Jesus Christ, and this
fear drives us to trust Him more fully, to look more to His blood
than ourselves, then that's a good thing, isn't it? Then we can
sing with the songwriter, His oath, His covenant, His blood,
support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and study." I guess when the Lord
first saves us, we can't sing that with too much assurance
sometimes, can we? But I mean to tell you, when trouble comes,
and He hides His smiling face, and this fear begins to creep
in, and saying, died He for me? Boy, it makes us more serious,
doesn't it? And then we look to Him more
fully. Then we say with the Apostle
Paul, yes, he loved me and gave himself for me. If fear drives
us to trust him more fully, then that fear is working for our
good. And just as faith is the root
of some fears, faith is the dispeller of fears. The disciples said
this, we believe and are sure. You know being sure of something,
We'll dispel your fears about that. But how can you be sure
about something? We believe. Greg has a little
saying. I get tickled at him sometimes.
He said, how do you say that, Greg? If I hadn't have believed
it, I'd have never seen it. I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't have
believed it. He turned that around. But that's
Scripture. We believe and are sure. Why
didn't they say, we're sure and we believe? It don't work that
way, does it? Faith makes everything a reality. It's real, whether a man believes
it or not, but it makes a reality to us that we believe and are
sure that they are the Christ. So faith, that may be the root
of these fears to begin with, works in our good. Bring us to
a greater faith, a more settled faith. What time I'm afraid,
I will trust in the Lord, but I will trust and not be afraid.
I like that better, don't you? I like it better. These inward
fears can turn for our good in another sense. They can drive
us to a deeper appreciation of the truth and our interest in
it. You know, sometimes a Christian
can get too relaxed. He can get too relaxed. He can
get somewhat lazy. Get very dull of urine. That
happens to Christian people. And they get where they don't
live in the appreciation of salvation and the truths, these precious
truths that we looked at this morning. Paul was writing to
the Hebrew church and he said, You're dull of urine. I've got
a lot of things to say to you, but you're so dull of urine. And He said, when the time you
ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again,
which be the first principles of the doctrines of Christ. And
boy, then He went on to write some deep and heart-searching
warnings, didn't He? I don't know of any Scriptures
like Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10 that, boy, have a tendency to
waken us up if we sin willfully. after we receive the knowledge
of the truth. If we trample His blood under our feet, we do despite
to the Spirit of grace, and there remains nothing but a fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation. And I know there's
some differences how people believe that, but just reading it has
a tendency to arouse you, doesn't it? And I think that's what fear
does sometimes. It can work in our favor. There's
been a lot of saints that have gotten worldly, and careless
and too relaxed and they've read the book of Hebrews and man,
it's kicked them off of their couch and got them more serious. And if these fears gnaw at us
and bring us to a great appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ and
that salvation that's in Him, then that's a good thing. A true
believer will never perish. The Lord said, I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish. But let him get
neglectful. Let him get slothful. Let him
live in the world. Let him become worldly. And I
tell you what, he'll never perish. But he may reach a point where
he thinks he's going to. And that's what sometimes these
fears do. They arouse you. They stir you
up to be more serious and not be so neglectful. Oh, Peter, when he went to walk
on the water to the Lord Jesus, he thought for sure he was going
to perish, didn't he? You know, that was a good fear. That was
a good fear, wasn't it? Now, I know what a sense it was
when he said, Lord, if it be You, bid me come to You. And
the Lord said, Come unto Me. And boy, the faith it took to
get out of that ship and step out on that water. That took
faith, didn't it? But he's walking out through
there and the wind and those waves come rolling at him. And
he saw the waves. And he said, Lord, I'm going
to perish. And the Bible says he became
exceedingly fearful. He became fearful. And the Lord
rebuked him for it. But you know, that was a good
fear in this sense. It made him appreciate the power
of the Lord that grabbed hold of him, didn't it? The Lord said,
O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And in that
sense it was wrong, but I tell you what, it gave him a renewed
sense of the power of that hand that reached out and got him,
didn't it? The Lord reached out His hand and took a hold of him. And if my fearing will bring
me to the place where I'll say, Lord, save me, I'm going to perish.
I've got myself in a mess. And He reaches that big hand
down and grips me. That's a good thing, isn't it?
That's a good thing. I've been in this place and I
bet some of you have too. Well, you get worldly. You get
to doing things that you wouldn't do that you have no business
doing. And boy, you're awakened. You have this fear. And you can't
sleep for it. And finally, you go and give
yourself up afresh to the Lord. And He reaches down and He lifts
you up. And boy, it makes you appreciate
afresh the grace of the Lord to save you. When Moses was going
up on Mount Sinai to get the law, The Bible says it was written
by the finger of God. And the Bible says Moses exceeding
fear and quite. There that man stood and he was
a mortal man in the presence of God and he saw God's finger
writing in that stone. Can you imagine that? Thou shalt,
thou shalt, thou shalt not. And you know how Moses felt?
He was trembling. He was scared to death. He said,
I exceedingly fear and quake. But you know that was a good
fear? You know what He prayed right after that? Lord, show
me Your glory. Your glory? Man, you saw Him
come down from the clouds and ride on stones. Ain't that glory? No, He said, I want to see another
kind of glory. I want to see His goodness. I want to see His
grace. I want to see His mercy. I want
to see His long-suffering. I want to know that He forgives
iniquity and passes by the transgression of His people. I've got to know
that. And that's what He prayed for,
wasn't it? And that's what the Lord did. He hid Him in the cliff
of the rock and passed by Him and showed Him His goodness and
His grace. I tell you, wouldn't it have
been helpful for the Galatian church who was leaving Christ
and going back to the law? Wouldn't it have been good for
them to get a good sight of the law that way? where they would
fear and tremble. When the Lord first saved me,
I've told you this so much, boy, I was on cloud nine. I thought,
man, it's over with now. Everything's lovely. I tell you
what, all I knew about my sins was I was guilty. I was guilty. But I had no idea of the corruption
of sin that was in me. And when I got a fresh view of
that and the Lord began to teach me that, you talk about a humming
experience. And it stirred me up in fear,
but it helped me. It helped me to seek a clearer
interest in Jesus Christ and His grace. And sometimes when
we see the nature of sin as it really is in us, we want to see
more of His nature as a Savior. That's good. Anytime fear stirs
you up to seek the Lord Jesus better and clearer. That's a
good thing. You know there's some people
who never fear. Jude said it like this. He's talking about
professing Christians. He said they feast with you.
They sit right in the congregation. They feast with you. Feeding
themselves without fear. Nothing makes them afraid. You
can preach the law to them, that don't make them afraid. Preach
the gospel to them, that don't make them afraid. You preach
the blessings and preach the cursing, nothing makes them afraid. They're without fear. And they're
probably going to be like the rich man. Nothing aroused him here. He
never did lift up his eyes until the fire of hell aroused him. And then he said, have mercy
on me. Why didn't he say it before? Why wasn't he interested in mercy
before? He had no fear! No fear! And you know why he
had no fear? He never had any faith. No faith. I'd rather fear now if it drives
me to the side of Jesus Christ to hide me from the wrath to
come than to go on fearlessly and perish in my sins, wouldn't
you? Thirdly, consider this. Fears
can be a good thing if they drive us to a deeper sense and understanding
of the love of Christ. Love will dispel our fears. Isn't that what John said? He
said we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. We believe the love. What kind
of love? Everlasting love. Never dying love. Unconditional
love. Never ceasing to uphold us. Never will be separated from
love. What can separate us from the
love of Christ? John said we believe this about
the love of Christ. When we were lost, He loved us. Isn't that amazing? You wonder
how He could love you now after He saved you, don't you? He loved
you when you were lost. He loved you before you were
born. He loved you and that's why He called you. He loves you
when He sees you in all your weaknesses and infirmities. And
He'll love you all the way to heaven. And when we have this
kind of understanding and faith in that love, here's what John
said, there's no fear in love. But perfect love A knowledge
of this perfect love of God in Christ casteth out all fear,
all tormented fear of God. Love. So love will dispel fear,
won't it? I said this morning, if you believe
in the particular love of God, the everlasting love of God for
His people, then that's going to produce this fear that, am
I one of them? Does He love me like that? And
here that love turns right around in and dispels that fear from
a greater knowledge of it. Fourthly and lastly consider
this. Fear turns to our good if it
leads us into a deeper peace, a deeper peace. The Bible talks
about a peace that passeth all understanding. It's the peace
of God that He gives us in our hearts. And it's inexplainable. It keeps your heart and your
mind dear in trouble. It keeps you from being overly
anxious. It keeps you from reaching the point where you think you
can't sleep, you can't go on about your job, you ladies can't
even wash your dishes, you can't enjoy anything because you're
so filled with anxiety. There is a peace, Paul said,
that passeth all understanding that will keep It will secure
your heart and your mind. And you know this peace dispels
fears? Listen to what the Lord Jesus said. Peace I leave with
you. My peace I give unto you, not
as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Peace dispels fear. I saw a painting one time, I
think it told you about this, the name of it was Tranquility.
And I looked at it and I thought, why would that be called Tranquility? Because it was a huge cliff on
the ocean side and the waves were huge and you could tell
they were dashing against that cliff. And you could see the
mist where it had sprayed everywhere and I thought, What's tranquil
about that? That's a storm beating against
a cliff. And I just kept looking at it,
looking at it, and finally I saw in a hole in that cliff a little
bird sitting there with his eyes closed. I thought, there it is. That's tranquility. That's peace. Right in the midst of the storm,
a little bird. Can you imagine if you could
have talked to that little bird? Little bird, aren't you afraid? You're sitting high on this cliff
and you're looking out over the depths. And sometimes a storm
is coming in and bringing these huge waves and the roar and the
violence of it all. Aren't you scared? You're just
a little bird. I wonder what he'd say. Oh, he would say something like
this. Yes, I'm just a little bird. And if those waves could get
to me, they'd wash a little me away. But I have found security. I have found a refuge in this
rock. Could the waves wash me away?
Oh yes, if I was out there. But for the waves to get to me,
it has to wash the rock away. Ain't that what the little bird
would say? I have sat here for a long, long time, and instead
of being so tormented with a view and upset with the violent waves,
I've reached the point where I've found perfect peace in the
security of this rock." And that's what he said. We're living in
an awful dangerous world, aren't we? There's fighting all around
us. There's fears within. But there's
something that will dispel This fear, and that is peace. Peace, peace, wonderful peace
coming down from the Father above. Sweep over my spirit forever,
I pray, in phantomless billows of love. Peace. Peace. I can't explain that. I can't
explain how peace does that. I can't explain how people can
go through these trials. You see some people, they are
tried all the time. I mean, they just go out of one
trial into another one. There is never any rest for them.
And you look at them and you wonder, that person is just not
normal. That person is not like me. Look
at the peace. Look at the tranquility. And
then you see them in the rock. They are in the rock. They are
in Christ. And they have His peace and they
realize the storm can't bother me. The waves can't wash me away. It has to get Him first. My peace
I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. Peace. The Bible says the meat shall
inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of
peace. And that peace starts now, doesn't
it? From the mountains, for the mountains shall depart, the hills
shall be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, who
hath mercy on thee. They shall go out with joy and
be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you unto singing, and all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands. Peace. Peace. One more. I said that was the last one,
but give me one more. Just one more. If our fears drive us or lead
us into a more holy familiarity and acquaintance with the Lord
Jesus Christ our Savior, then these fears have done a good
work. If they lead us to know Him better, They've done a good
work, because knowing Him better will dispel our fears. I remember when I was a young
Christian, I would think about the Lord coming again, and I'll
be honest with you, I had some apprehensions about it. It sort
of scared me, because I'd read what Peter said about it, that
earth is going to melt with firm and heat, all the works are going
to be burned up, the dead's going to get out of their graves, Going
up to judgment? I'm telling you, that's a solemn
thing, isn't it? And it's still solemn. But you
know, I don't think about it with apprehension anymore. And
the reason I don't, I have learned something more about my Savior. He's not coming back to burn
me up. If you're His child, He's not coming back to harm you in
any way. Whatever judgment that you and
I have to go through as believers, it won't harm us. It won't harm
us. He's not coming back to condemn
us or do us any harm. That's why when you see the saints
in the New Testament, they were always saying things like, Come,
Lord Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus. I have a desire
to depart and to be with Him. What would make a saint say that?
Because he knows something more than he used to about his Lord. Yes, He's coming, and there's
going to be a glorious appearance. But listen, He's coming to finish
the work He began. Paul said our conversation's
in heaven, and we're looking for Him. Oh, Paul, our Savior,
who shall change our vile body and fashion it like unto His
glorious body. If you have some apprehensions
about His coming, You have some fears about standing before Him
in judgment. I tell you, that's a solemn thing.
I'm not saying don't look up on that as it's not solemn. But
maybe if you had some fear and dread about that, maybe you just
need to get to know Him better. Knowing Him better as your advocate,
as your mediator, as your coming Savior. Familiarity, if it be
a holy familiarity. It's good. It will dispel fear.
I'll give you a good example of that. You remember when Peter
and the disciples were out fishing on the Sea of Galilee, and they'd
fished all night and hadn't caught anything. And the Lord says,
let your net down on the other side. And he led his net down
on the other side, and they couldn't hold all the fishes. And you
quoted that. Remember this morning you quoted
that, Randy. Peter saw what the Lord had done, and he fell down
before Him and said, Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man.
And the Scripture said he was afraid. He feared. And he fell down before Him.
Now, that was a good reaction, wasn't it? Randy said this morning,
Lord, depart from me. Lord, don't depart from me. That's
what he was saying. He didn't want the Lord to depart
from him, did he? A bit more than you did. That was a good
reaction. falling down before the Lord
in humility at the goodness of the Lord. But I'll tell you a
better reaction. After the Lord had raised from
the dead, the disciples had fished all night, and the Lord was standing
there on the seashore, and He said, cast your net on the other
side. They hadn't caught anything all night. And the same thing
happened again. They got that nest so full of
fish they couldn't contain them all. Why did Peter do that then?
John said, It's the Lord. Peter didn't fall down and say,
Lord, depart from me. He jumped in the water and ran
to meet Him, didn't he? That's what happens when we get
to know our Savior better. The reaction may be good to fall
down before Him, but I tell you, it's better to run to Him. Oh,
my Savior. That's my Savior. My Lord and
my Savior. Familiarity. More about Jesus
would I know. More of His grace to others show. More of His saving fullness see. That's what I'm saying. More
of His love who died for me. More and more about Jesus. And
I'm telling you, the more we know of Him, The more out these
fears are to be dispelled, that sometime gnaw and nag us. God bless this word. Brother
Baker.