The Gospel of Fear

Q: What does the Bible say about the spirit of fear?

The Bible states that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul reminds us that God has not given believers a spirit of fear but a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. This 'spirit of fear' refers not to the reverential fear of God that brings wisdom but to irrational fears that can hinder our faith and obedience. Believers are called to trust in God's sovereignty and rely on the strength He provides, allowing us to walk in confidence and not in fear of judgment, death, or the world.

Q: Why is fearing God important for Christians?

Fearing God is vital as it leads to wisdom and a proper understanding of His holiness and authority. Fearing God is essential for Christians because it reflects a deep respect and reverence for His holiness and authority. The 'fear of the Lord' is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7), as it acknowledges God's rightful position over creation. This fear is not a hostile fear that drives us away from God but rather a worshipful awe that draws us closer to Him. In understanding God's majesty, we can properly orient our lives around His will and experience the peace that comes through faith.

Q: How do we know salvation is not based on our works?

The Bible asserts that salvation is according to God's purpose and grace, not our works (2 Timothy 1:9). In 2 Timothy 1:9, Paul clearly states that salvation is not according to our works but according to God's own purpose and grace. This doctrine emphasizes that salvation is entirely an act of God's sovereign will, given to us in Christ before the world began. It reinforces the Reformed understanding that humans contribute nothing to their salvation; it is all of grace. This truth assures us that our standing before God is secure, not based on our flawed efforts but on the perfect sacrifice of Christ.

Q: Why should Christians not be ashamed of the gospel?

Christians should not be ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). In Romans 1:16, the Apostle Paul expresses that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. This assurance comes from understanding the transformative power of the gospel in lives, as it reveals God's righteousness and grace. By embracing the gospel, believers stand firm in their faith and witness, unashamed despite societal pressures to conform or remain silent about their beliefs. The gospel's power and truth should embolden Christians to share their faith boldly.

I want you to open your Bibles
with me to the book of 2 Timothy. I feel quite strongly and very good about the scripture
text today. If the Spirit of God, if the Spirit of God is pleased
to give me the preacher some wisdom. And oh, how we need wisdom in
instructing others in the things of God, and liberty to preach
this text, this particular portion of Scripture. If the Spirit of
God is pleased in His divine purpose to give you and I understanding
of this passage right here. We can enter into what is written
right here. Then we'll go away from this
place comforted, encouraged, and well taught in the gospel
of God's dear Son. One of the things that makes
this particular scripture to be especially precious, and Peter
calls it the precious, precious promises of God, exceeding precious
promises. Not only is it inspired of God,
but these are the words of the imprisoned apostle, some of the
last words that Paul wrote to one of his most beloved brothers, That's what makes it especially,
especially precious. I want to begin with verse 7,
2 Timothy 1, 7. 2 Timothy 1, 7. Try to listen carefully, pay
attention, and watch how one verse just flows into the other,
as Paul from his pen just flows the grace of God, precious promises
of God, the strength of God to the believer's heart. He says
in verse 7, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear.
Let's stop right there. The word fear can be used in
several ways. God hath not given us the spirit
of fear. Now the thief on the cross asked
this question. of the other thief, he said,
Dost thou not fear God? Dost thou not fear God? Of course
we do. The beginning of wisdom is the
fear of the Lord. David said in Psalm 27, O fear
the Lord, ye his saints. I preached one time down in the
Panama Canal zone to the First Baptist Church there. And one of the chaplains of their
several army bases and naval bases there, one of the chaplains'
wife came to the service and I preached a message on the fear
of the Lord. And I remember it like yesterday,
this had been years ago, but she got so angry. She came down
after the service and she said, We're not supposed to fear God.
We're supposed to love God. Well, David said in Psalm 27,
9, O fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them
who fear him. And then he said in verse 11,
Come, ye children, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Dost thou not fear God? I do. But now, this is not a slavish
fear. This is not the fear demonstrated
by Israel as they fled from Mount Sinai. That's not the fear I'm
talking about. When they saw the presence of
God and the power of God on the mountain, they turned and ran.
We don't run from him, we run to him. But this is not a slavish
fear. When I say we fear the Lord,
I'm saying that it is a reverence. It is a worship. It is an awe
of His majesty and His glory and His holiness and His greatness.
Dost thou not fear God? He's King of kings. He's Lord
of lords. He's God, holy and perfect. He's all that I'm not. He's all
that I'd like to be. He's infinitely above us. He
holds all things in his hand, all things come and go at his
will. Peter said this, if you call
him Father, you pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. Now, I know it's a common illustration,
but I'm going to use it anyway. My father was a man whom I respected
in many areas a great deal. He was a firm man, a very firm
man, and I loved him. But there was a sense in which
I feared him. You understand what I'm saying?
I mean, his word, he was my father. He was head of the home. He was
the supplier of my every need. the one who chastised me and
corrected me, and while I loved him and admired him, I feared
him. I feared his disfavor. I feared
his wrath. I feared his anger. I feared
displeasing him. You understand what I'm saying?
Well, infinitely above that, the Heavenly Father, I love him
because he first loved me. And my love for him is pittance
compared to his love for me. But I fear God. I walk before
God in reverence and awe and fear. This little sticky, emotional,
sentimental, religious love, I don't know much about that
foolishness. I worship God. But now the fear,
when he says here, God has not given us the spirit of fear,
he's not talking about what I've been dealing with. If you really
know God, you'll fear God. And the more you know Him, the
more you'll fear Him. and worship him and reverence his name. But
this fear here, he's not given us the spirit of fear, is all
other fears. When a man fears God, he has
no one else to fear. See what I'm saying, Chuck? When
a man fears God, he has no one else to fear and nothing else
to fear, because if God be for me, who can be against me? David wrote again in Psalm 27,
the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid? He's
my light. He's my salvation. Whom shall
I fear? Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. That's the fear he's
talking about. He has removed from us the spirit
of fear. Let me read you a Psalm. Don't
turn to this. quickly to it, but if you're taking notes, it's
Psalm 56-4. Listen to this. In God, in God,
I will praise His Word. In God, I put my trust, and I
will not fear what flesh can do to me. Mine or anybody else's. That's it, isn't it, Cecil? I
trust Him and fear Him. I don't have to fear anybody
else. You see, I don't fear men because he has all power over
all flesh. Even the heart of the king is
in the hands of the Lord. He'll turn it with us wherever
he will it. I don't fear providence because
it's the Lord's providence. I don't know about tomorrow,
and I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know good and well
who holds tomorrow. And we don't have to fear providence
because it's my Father's providence. And I don't have to fear death.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
I don't have to fear judgment because there's no judgment to
them who are in Christ. Now you just, the preachers that
tell you that believers are going to be called into judgment, to
be judged according to their works, they're not telling you
the truth. Because there's no judgment to
them who are in Christ. Christ bore my sins in his body
on the tree, my sins of omission and commission. We will be witnesses
of the judgment. We will not be subjects of the
judgment because there is no judgment to them who are in Christ. I don't fear the judgment. So
what he is saying here, God has not given us the spirit of fear.
He hasn't taken out of our hearts a reverence and awe of worship
and fear of our God, but he's taken out of our hearts fear
of everything else, and everyone else. And he has given us, look
at verse 7, he has given us, instead of the spirit of fear,
the spirit of power. I can do all things through Christ
which strengthens me. Paul said, this awful thorn in
the flesh, Lord, would you remove it? The Lord said, no, but I'll
give you some power to overcome it. My grace is sufficient. He's
given us the spirit of power. We're conscious of a power, the
power of God. And he's given us the spirit
of love. We're not on the defensive. I had to learn that in my ministry. I've had to learn it just lately.
I have to keep learning it, that I'm not God's private secretary.
I don't have to defend his honor. He'll defend his honor. One thing
that helped me most of all, Spurgeon said, you don't have to defend
the line, L-I-O-N, turn it loose. He'll take care of the matter.
And so I don't have to explain the gospel, just proclaim it.
It's not my responsibility to make men believe, it's my responsibility
to teach it and preach it and tell it forth, a forth teller. Is that not a prophet? The rest
of it's in God's hands, and we love men. We've got to have a
spirit of compassion and love for Christ, and God's given us
a sound mind. He's given us wisdom. The cheap
reference here to a sound mind and wisdom is it's a revelation
of his purpose and grace. We don't fear men. We don't fear
providence. We don't fear grave and death
and judgment. because we know what God's doing.
He's taught us some things. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise
cast out. But no man can come to me except
my Father which sent me draw him, and they shall all be taught
of God. And every man that hath learned
of the Father and been taught of God comes to me, because he's
got a sound mind. He's got wisdom. He's been taught
of God. He knows what sin is. He knows
who God is. He knows who Christ is. He knows
what the law demands. He knows what the law requires.
He knows what righteousness demands. He's been taught. He's got a
sound mind. Wisdom. So he comes to Christ. Having been taught of God. Taught
of God. The natural man hasn't been taught
of God. He received it, not the things
of God. They're foolish. This is all foolishness to the
natural man, but to us that are saved, it's the power of God.
We've been taught of God. See that? We have a reason not
to fear men, because we have a sound mind. Fear is born of
ignorance. Spiritual fear is born of ignorance. Isn't that right? Ignorance of
the power of God, ignorance of the love of God, ignorance of
the purpose of God, ignorance of the grace of God, that's what
makes me fear. You do error not knowing the
scriptures are the power of God. So God's given us a sound mind.
And because we have, look it flows into the next verse, because
we have this wisdom and sound mind, we're not ashamed of the
testimony of our Lord. What is the testimony of our
Lord? It's the gospel. It's the gospel. We're not ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, not ashamed of his person. He's
God in human flesh. We're not ashamed of his offices,
prophet, priest, and king. We're not ashamed of his righteousness,
his perfect obedience. We're not ashamed even of his
ignominious death. That's a horrible death. But
he died our death. Let's don't be ashamed of him
who died, let's be ashamed of what made him die. In other words,
you say, well, that's your Savior hanging on that cross, naked
and battered and bruised and hardly looking like a man, his
face so marred like no other human being, cursed and spat
upon and deserted of God. Yes, my Savior, aren't you ashamed
of that situation he's in? Well, no, not at all. It's not
his situation, it's mine. I glory in his death because
he died as a substitute. Understand? Jesus, shall it ever be a mortal
man ashamed of thee? Ashamed of thee whom angels praise,
whose glories shine through endless days? Ashamed of Jesus, my dear
friend, on whom my hope of heaven depends? No. When I bless, be
this my shame that I no more revere his name. Ashamed of Jesus? Yes, I may. I may when I have
no guilt to wash away, when I have no tear to wipe, no good to crave,
no fear to quell, no soul to save. But till then, nor is my
boasting vain. Till then, I'll boast of Savior
slain. And oh, may this my glory be
that he It's not a shame to me. Now, when you learn the gospel,
I know this religious environment, and I'd be ashamed of some of
the things they preach. But people are embarrassed. They
say, you religious? You go to church? Well, I'm not ashamed of the
glory of God. I'm not ashamed of the sacrifice
of Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of his grace. Are you? I'm not ashamed. Not ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. But now watch this. Now we've
got some wisdom now. We know who Christ is, the testimony
of our Lord. It's a gospel concerning his
Son, his blood, his righteousness, his death. We're not ashamed
of his church, but be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel.
We're ready to partake of the afflictions of the gospel. One
thing I know, those who partake of Christ will partake of his
sufferings. That's certain. One thing is
sure, those who partake of Christ will partake of his sufferings.
He said, marvel not my brethren. If the world hate you, it hated
me before it hated you. And if you were of the world,
the world would love you. But because you're not of the
world, even as I'm not of the world, then the world hates you.
Turn to Philippians, just a moment, chapter 1. Philippians chapter
1, verse 28. Philippians 1, 28. Listen to
this. What I'm saying is, God's given us some understanding
of the gospel. Because he has, we're not ashamed
of the true gospel. We're not ashamed of the true
gospel. I don't want to be identified with the oddball, strange religion
of today. I just don't want to be identified
with that. I'd be ashamed of that. It's just, it's not God's
gospel. But I'm not ashamed of the truth.
This is the Word of God. This is the glory of God. This is the testimony of crucified
Christ, buried, risen, seated, reigning in heaven. Jesus Christ
reigns. He's sovereign, almighty. It's a man's gospel. That's right. It's a man's gospel. You shut the women up in the
average church and they'd close their doors tomorrow. That's
exactly right. This is truth. This is not pretense
or play-like. This is truth. This is the truth
of God, and I'm not ashamed of it. But now you mark this down. Those who are partakers of this
gospel and this grace of God are going to partake of the offense
and the persecution that goes with it. in Philippians 1, 28,
and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, don't be afraid
of them, which is to them an evident token of perdition. Your
adversaries, people that hate your gospel and hate the grace
of God, that's just evidence of their perdition and their
condemnation and judgment. But their hatred of you, to you,
it's an evidence of salvation and that of God, and that salvation
is of God. You understand what he's saying
there? In other words, when you stand for the truth of the gospel,
truth of Christ, the glory of Christ, the power of Christ,
the grace of Christ, the love of Christ, the victory of Christ,
the sovereignty of Christ, the truth of Christ Jesus, folks
gonna hate you. But their hatred is an evidence
of their damnation, if they hate you for the gospel. And their
hatred of you is an evidence of your salvation. Because they
have no other reason to hate you, they don't know you. There are people in this town
that despise this preacher and this congregation who don't even
know us, who've never met us in their lives. Why? Why? They hate God. It's the God we
preach. It's the sovereign, almighty,
powerful God of glory. And their hatred is an evidence
of their damnation. And their hatred of you is an
evidence that somebody's telling the truth. See what he's saying? Verse 29, for unto you it is
given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, that
was given to you, to believe on him. You didn't do that by
yourself. He gave you that ability. But he also gave you something
else. What is it? To suffer for his sake. That's
his gift, too. So if you partake of him, you
partake of what goes with it. See that? All right, now, all
of this is not in our own strength. I know that. Look at my text
again, 2 Timothy 1, 2 Timothy 1, 8. We're not ashamed. We're not ashamed of his people.
We're partakers and ready to be partakers of the affliction
of the gospel. But it's according to the power
of God. It's not I. It's Christ that dwelleth in
me. Paul said, I labored more abundantly than all of you. Not
I, but Christ. It's the power of God. If I know
anything, it's the power of God. If I am anything, it's the power
of God. If I can do anything, it's the power of God. That's
right. Cause, verse 9, here's this flow. See it flow into verse 9 there?
Because it's the power of God that saved us. Who saved whom? Sinners saved ourselves. No. He saved us. Salvations of the
Lord. Jonah. Boy, he found it out,
didn't he? Down there in the belly of the
fish. Darkness about him. Seaweed wrapped around his head.
Iron bars closed, he said, forever. And I looked, he said. How could
he look? He couldn't see. A man can look
who can't see. A man can look to God even from
the belly of a fish. I'm glad of that, aren't you?
And he said, I looked once again toward thy holy temple where
the mercy seat was. And he said, salvations of the
Lord. And true it is. Not of the will of man, not of
the will of the flesh, but of God. Not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth, but of God. Of God. Are you in Christ Jesus,
who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification? He saved us,
look, and He called us. He called us. He said, I know
my sheep, I called them by name. He called us with a holy calling. He called us unto holiness. Not
because we were holy, but that we shouldn't be holy. He called
us, and look at that next line, and not according to our works.
Not according to our works, but according to His own purpose. That's why God saved you. David said in that scripture
I read a while ago, I didn't read the next verse at the beginning
of the sermon, after David talked about the Lord is great and the
Lord killeth and maketh alive, maketh rich, maketh poor. So
with all things of God, he said, but who am I? Well, here's the
answer. He called you according to his
purpose and his grace. And that was given to us in Christ. That was given to us in Christ.
Now, I listened to television the other day, and you may not
pay attention to things like this, but I pay attention to
them because they tell you what people believe. And this little
lady was doing the preaching, and she had her eyes all squinted
up and trying to look religious, and she said, Lord, I know you
personally love me, and you personally love me. Don't you take that
too far now. God the Father loves Christ, and He chose you in Christ. Now, you better remember that.
He didn't look down and see some little snotty-nosed, freckle-faced,
red-headed urchin down here in 1926 or 30 or 31 and set his
love upon it. He loved that little urchin in
Christ. Now, isn't that so, Cecil? In
Christ. He chose us in Christ. He loved
us in Christ. He accepted us in Christ. And
these mercies and purpose and grace was given us in Christ. Don't ever forget that. Now that's
very important. That's very important. Christ
be my first elect, God said, and he chose his people in their
head. I wish I could teach this like
it ought to be taught, but our position, positionally, legally,
judicially, spiritually, whatever, before God is always in Christ. That's how we're regarded. That's right. And what's this? And it was given us before the
world began, before you ever walked this earth, before you
ever were heard from, before you were ever imagined, when
you were only known by God and only by God. He loved you. Now,
read that verse again. He saved us. He called us with
a holy calling. with a holy love. How in the
world could he call people unholy with a holy calling? The holiness
was in Christ. It's a holy calling. Not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ before the world began. But that's not the end of it. What's the next verse? That flows
into the next verse. known unto God all his works
from the beginning, but there was an everlasting covenant of
which Christ's blood is the surety, but he is now, right now, on
this earth, made manifest, revealed, put into action, accomplished
by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ. I tell you, I tell
you how important this is right here. It was purposed in eternity,
it was promised by the Father, it was pictured in the Old Testament,
but it was manifested and set into action and accomplished
in person in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that says. And he, look, who hath abolished
death, how do you abolish death? By death. That's a strange way
to abolish death, isn't it? It looks like you could abolish
death by creating life. No, he abolished death by his
death. He died our death. He paid our
debt, took our sins. And he abolished death by death,
and he hath brought life and immortality to light. He abolished
death. He destroyed the law of sin and
death. He destroyed Satan, who has the
power of death. He destroyed sin, the cause and
sting of death. And he abolished the second death,
said because I live, you live. Now he's brought life. He's brought life and immortality. He was the first to rise and
die no more. That's right, the first to rise
and die no more. Immortal life is brought to understanding,
to light. But Brother Preacher, I don't
understand immortal life. That which is corrupt shall be
incorruptible, mortal shall be immortal. That which is weak
shall be strong, that which is shame shall be glory. I don't
understand. The only way you can is through
the gospel. Life and immortality is brought
to light. to understanding through the
gospel. There's no way to understand
life and immortality by human works, by burning candles or
holding hands around the circle or sprinkling infants or I put
on a robe and a hat and stand up here and do all kind of shakes
and all this sort. You don't understand life and
immortality You ought to understand how the dead can live, how sinners
can be made holy, how the corrupt can become incorruptible, how
that enemies can be sons, how that those who are worthy of
death can live forever. Only one way to understand that,
and that's, only one way, that's brought to light. What is light? Well, this light helps me see
these words. If that light was shut out, I
wouldn't see anything. So the only light upon resurrection
and life and immortality is to go to the cross and sit down
and watch him and see in him the justice of God satisfied,
the law of God fulfilled, the righteousness of God accomplished,
all the debt paid, see him go to the grave and roll the stone
and lie in debt and see the Lord roll the stone away and Christ
walk out, released from the grave justified of all sins he bore
without sin, and you'll understand life and immortality by then.
You'll come to life. I see. I see. It's brought to light through
the gospel. Now, look, let's try that closing to verse 11.
Whereunto I am appointed a preacher. I'm a preacher of this gospel,
Paul said. I am too. I'm a preacher of this
gospel. And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? That's the reason we're not sent to make
us a name. We're not sent to build us a
following. We're not sent to leave our names
on a stone or a tablet or on things we've written and all
this sort of thing. You know, that's not the purpose
of God putting a preacher in the pulpit, a pastor in the church. He's up there for one purpose.
And that's to preach this gospel. That's to take this Word and
show you what that says right there. That's what that says.
Right there, that's what that says. It doesn't matter what
you think of me. It doesn't matter whether my
name lives. His name's going to live. And if I've done my
job, His name will live in your heart. You'll forget me and remember
Him. That's right. And that's your
job. Your job. That's your job tonight. It's
just to tell the people the truth, that's all. And then you slip
on out. And then somebody has to come
along and tell them the truth. So they look to Christ. We're
not playing religious games and organizations. This building
will serve its purpose and then it will collapse. And this day
will serve its purpose sufficient for the days of evil thereof.
I'm appointed a preacher. and an apostle and a teacher
of the Gentiles, verse 12, for which cause I suffer these things."
Whatever these things are, we're just going to endure them and
take them and go on preaching. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed.
I know whom I have believed. It's not I know when or what,
it's whom. Somebody says, when will you
say? Well, what difference does it make to you or to anybody
else, huh? I know whom, and if I don't know
him now, I want to know him, don't you? I mean, this silly
thing about defending a position or a place or a time or an hour
is stupid. I want to know him. Paul said,
oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. I may know him.
I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded. I know whom
I have believed. Do we? I'm persuaded that he's
able, are we? To keep that which I've committed
to him, have we? Have we? I've committed to him
against that day, whenever that day is. Who cares when it is?
It's his day whenever it is. Who cares? I watch the fellow
going to fill me in on all the prophecy. I don't want to be
cluttered up with that sort of thing. I don't want to be cluttered
up with all those things that surround His coming. I want to
look on Him whom they pierced and be looking for Him. Not a
sign, but Him. Don't you? I know whom I have
to leave. I'm persuaded He's able to keep
that which I committed to him. That's the gospel. Doesn't that
comfort you, give you strength and assurance? The more I can take
our hope out of ourselves and put it on Christ, the more assurance
we'll have.

The Gospel of Fear

What does the Bible say about the spirit of fear?

Why is fearing God important for Christians?

How do we know salvation is not based on our works?

Why should Christians not be ashamed of the gospel?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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The Gospel of Fear

What does the Bible say about the spirit of fear?

Why is fearing God important for Christians?

How do we know salvation is not based on our works?

Why should Christians not be ashamed of the gospel?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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