Four Great Fears Removed

Solomon wrote these words. In much wisdom is much sorrow. The word sorrow there is grief.
In much wisdom is much grief. And he that increaseth knowledge,
increaseth sorrow. in much wisdom is much sorrow,
and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." Now, we want
to be modest, and we ought to be. And if God dwells in our
heart, we will be. And we want to be humble and
truthful. We do not lay claim to much wisdom. We do not lay claim to great
knowledge. Scripture says the man that thinks
he knows something really doesn't know anything, as he ought to
know it. But through the Word of God and
by the gift and grace of the Holy Spirit, we have acquired
and we, by His grace, are acquiring some spiritual wisdom and some
spiritual knowledge. God has taught us some things
and God is teaching us. We're learning something about
Him. and about ourselves. We've learned something about
God's power and God's sovereignty. Turn to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. We've learned something about
God's power and God's sovereignty. In Psalm 139, beginning with
verse 4, David said, There's not a word in my tongue, but
lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. God is omniscient. Keep your
hand there a moment now. God is omniscient. He knows all
things. He's omnipresent. He's omnipotent. Thou hast beset me behind and
before, and laid thine hand upon me. Verse 6, Such knowledge is
too wonderful for me. It is high I cannot attain unto
it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee
from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, art
there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me." We've learned
a little something about him, haven't we? The wisdom of God,
the power of God, the sovereignty of God, omniscient, omnipotent,
omnipresent And we've learned something. We've acquired some
wisdom, some knowledge, in reference to God's holiness. We have not
seen God's holiness like Isaiah saw it. No, we haven't. When
he said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high
and lifted up. His train filled the temple,
and the cherubims and seraphims about the throne of God covered
their faces, covered their eyes, covered their feet, They cried,
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty. And then we haven't seen His
glory as Job saw it. God revealed Himself in the whirlwind. God visited Job. And He said,
Lord, I've heard about you, but now I've seen you, and I hate
myself. We haven't seen the glory of
God like John saw it on the Isle of Patmos, His holiness. when
John fell at his feet as a dead man, we haven't seen God's holiness
and His glory as Israel saw it at Sinai when they backed off.
And they said, Moses, you speak to God for us. Don't let God
speak to us lest we die. We don't want anything to do
with an absolute God. We want a mediator between us
and Him. But we have in the person of
His Son, in the work of His Son, In the revelation of His Spirit
to our hearts of His holy law, we've learned something about
God's holiness. And we're learning a little bit
more about His holiness. Be still and know that I'm God. Enter into His courts with thanksgiving,
into His presence with praise. The Lord's in His holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before Him. We've learned something
of His holiness. And then we've learned something,
I believe, of his righteousness, his justice. Shall not the judge
of the earth do right? God will do right. And then he
said, I will by no means clear the guilty. And then he said
through his servant James, to offend in one point of God's
holy law is to be guilty of the whole law of God. And seeing his righteousness
and his holiness makes us exclaim with Job, well, how can man be
just with God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Behold, the moon it shineth not. The heavens are not clean in
God's sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man that drinketh
iniquity like water? Oh, the holiness, the righteousness,
the glory, the justice of God Almighty. That's the reason men
who approached God approached Him with fear and trembling.
That's the reason Paul talked about preaching the gospel in
weakness and fear and trembling. We've learned something about
His holiness and His glory and His righteousness. And when we've learned something
and we're trying to acquire more knowledge of our fall in Adam,
each day we become better acquainted with ourselves. In Romans chapter
6, in Romans chapter 7 it is, Romans 7, beginning with verse
22. Listen to what Paul said, Romans
7, 22. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man, You can't, a regenerated man can't, the more he sees of
God's law, the more he delights in it. He may not find that he
measures up to it, he'll find that he doesn't, but he still
delights in it. The more he sees of God's holiness, the more he
delights in it, of God's righteousness and justice. He doesn't try to
bring God down to his stature. down to his measurement. God
said, you thought I was altogether such a one as yourself. Idol
worshippers form a God according to their own dimensions and specifications. Men who know the living God adore
and worship Him as the living God. And the more holy, the more
righteous, the more powerful, the more almighty, the more sovereign
He is, the more they delight in Him. Let God be God and every
man be a liar. One of our real problems in interpreting
doctrine is we want God to come down here and be like us. He
said, your thoughts are not my thoughts, and your ways are not
my ways. And I delight, Paul said, verse 22, in the law of
God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members, O wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Augustine said one time, Lord, deliver me from my worst enemy, myself. David said, If thou,
O Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, who, O Lord, could stand? Now,
you may feel that you are, as you grow older, becoming more
holy, and you may feel that you are as you grow older becoming
more sinless, but this was not the experience of the apostles.
In one of his last epistles, we believe that Titus, I and
II Timothy were Paul's last epistles, and in one of those last and
final words, Paul was heard to exclaim, This is a fateful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. We've learned some things. I hope we've learned some things.
We're acquiring some knowledge about God's God's holiness, God's
sovereignty, God's power, God's righteousness, God's justice,
and our own complete inability, our complete fall in Adam, and
our sinfulness. And this increased knowledge,
he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. In much wisdom
is much sorrow, and this increased knowledge brings certain fears. The more we know of ourselves
and the more we know of God's holiness and the more we know
of God's righteousness and the more we know of God's justice
and the more we know of the attributes and character of the living God, the more these fears become a
reality. Paul was aware of them and he
dealt with all four of them here in our text in Romans 8. What
are they? Number one, there's the fear
of satanic opposition. Number two, there's the fear
of our sins. Number three, there's the fear
of final condemnation. And number four, there's the
fear of falling from grace. Now, don't be high-minded if these are not your experience, but rather you have a greater
fear. The absence of a wrestling with
these fears is an indication of a lack of knowledge of oneself
and of God's Word and of God's Law and of who God is. Because the Apostle Paul dealt
with these things in Romans 8, he dealt with them all the way
through his 14, 13, 14 epistles. The first one is the fear of
satanic opposition. In verse 31 of Romans 8, Paul
said, What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who
can be against us? Now, the best advice that I can
give you in regard to Satan and demonism and demon power, and I didn't arrive at this conclusion
overnight. The best advice that I can give
you in regard to Satan and demon power is this, and this is important. Don't become too interested in
demons and Satan and his work. And yet, don't ignore them. Satan's a very real enemy. Don't become too interested in
him and his work and his demons, but don't ignore them. Adam and
Eve experienced his subtlety and craftiness and deceit. He
was real to them, very real. Job, he was real to Job. Job trembled and suffered under
personal visitation from Satan. from the forces of hell. Peter fell before the onslaught
of Satan, did he not? Our Lord said, Peter, Satan hath
desired thee that he might sift thee as wheat. Even our Lord,
even the Master himself, was sorely tried by Satan. So he's
a very real enemy, and Paul warns about him. I want you to look
at three scriptures, first of all in Ephesians 6, in Ephesians
6, verses 11 and 12. In Ephesians 6, 11 and 12, Paul
says, Ã¬Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able
to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, these are not our real enemies, but
against principalities. against powers, against rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. And then listen to this scripture
over in the book of 2 Corinthians 2. In 2 Corinthians 2, verse
10 and 11, Paul's writing to the church at Corinth, and he
said in verse 10, 2 Corinthians 2, to whom you forgive anything,
I forgive also. Or if I forgave anything, to
whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of
Christ. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we're
not ignorant of his devices. We're not ignorant of his devices.
Paul said, I'm carrying out the royal law of love and forgiveness
and mercy. lest Satan get an advantage over
us. We're not ignorant of his devices.
And then in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3, Paul writing again,
I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that's in Christ. Look at verse 14, and
no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light. He's so crafty, he's so deceitful. Satan understands human nature
better than human nature understands itself. Satan's been in the business
of tempting. He's been in the business of
trying human nature for 6,000 years. Next to God, he's the
best student of human nature. He knows where to touch us. He
knows how to try us. He knows when to touch us. He
knows our weak points. He knows our flesh. He knows
how to cover the hook, somebody says, with the bait. He's an
experienced adversary, a very real adversary, a very crafty
adversary. And he does not fly his true
colors. He's a counterfeiter. He does not fly his true colors. He comes under a different cover,
a wolf in sheep's clothing, a demon as an angel of light. an enemy
of God as a messenger of righteousness. That's how he comes. And Peter
said, listen, be sober, be vigilant. Your adversary the devil, as
a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Now, what I said at the beginning
of this message, he that increaseth wisdom increaseth sorrow. in
much knowledge is much sorrow. And if you will take God's Word
and read these examples and read these warnings and read these
experiences of God's men and women through the years, and
you don't have any fear or any concern about this tremendous,
powerful enemy, one to whom the angel of God said, The Lord reduced
thee, Satan, of whom Peter said, Your enemy,
your enemy, the devil walketh about seeking whom he may divide.
And our Lord taught us to pray in the Lord's prayer, deliver
us from the evil one. Well, what can we do about these
fears? All right, look at verse 31. I'll remove that fear. I'm
not going to do it. The Word of God will do it. The
Apostle Paul, the inspired apostle, will remove it. He says, What
shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Whether it be the world, or whether
it be man, or whether it be Satan, or whether it be all the forces
of evil, who can be against us if God's for us? There's your comfort. There's
your strength. Peter, Satan hath desired thee,
but I have prayed for you. That's the difference. That's
the difference. If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God be for us, first of all,
in covenant mercies. And I say unto you with all my
heart and as sincerely as I can say anything, if I were you,
I would become a student of this book here. Believe me, I would. He says in verse 31, before he
says, If God be for us, who can be against us? He says something
else. He says, What shall we say to these things? What things? The things he's been talking
about. The things he's talking about
in the preceding verses. Verse 28, We know that all things
work together for good to them who love God, who are the called
according to his purpose, for whom he foreknew. And that word
is ordained. That's what that word is, ordained.
Whom he ordained. He predestinated. Whom He predestinated,
He called. Whom He called, He justified.
Whom He justified, He glorified. In other words, Paul says, if
God is for me in covenant mercies, if God is for me in His eternal
purpose, if God is for me in His predestinating counsels,
if He's for me, who can be against me? What does it matter if Satan
is my enemy? What does it matter if all the
forces of hell are arrayed against me? What does it matter? I'm
in the purpose of God. I'm in the counsel of God. I'm
in the covenant of God. God ordained me and predestinated
me to be like His Son, and He called me, and He justified me,
and He glorified me, so who can be against me? What shall we
say to these things? If God be for me, who can be
against me. God is for me in covenant mercies. And then secondly, God is for
me in substitution. Look at the next verse. He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him, with his son, also freely give us all things? Those things which he designed
and which he purposed The Son came down here and purchased.
The Son came down here and secured. The Son came down here and gave
his life to redeem. The forces of evil cannot block
God's divine purpose, and the forces of evil cannot block the
Lord's divine purchase. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me, he said. I know my sheep, I lay down my
life for my sheep. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of my Father's
hand. They're my sheep. My Father gave them to me, and
I bought them and paid for them. And if God be for me in the eternal
covenant, and the Son of God be for me in substitution, and
the Holy Spirit be for me in calling me, who can be against
me? So I'm not discounting the power
of Satan. I'm simply saying he's the servant
of the Lord. I'm not discounting the forces
of evil. They're very real. And it may
be for God's purpose and for God's glory and for my good,
like Job, I'll be turned over into the hand of Satan, but he
can't hurt me because God's for me. God's for me. You see that? That answers that
fear. It removes that fear. All right,
the second fear, fear of sin, fear of our sin. David, let's
turn to Psalm 51. Let's look hard at this Psalm
over here, Psalm 51, for just a few moments. And as you look at it, you'll
feel a kinship with this man who knew God. He said in Psalm
51, verse 1, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness,
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions, wash me throughly from mine iniquity, cleanse me
from my sin, acknowledge my transgressions, my sin as ever before me, Against
thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be cleared
when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
in sin did my mother conceive me." No truly redeemed person ever
denies his sin. Because God said, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Because God said, if we
say we have no sin, we make him a liar. And no regenerated man
is going to call God a liar. And he that say he hath no sin,
deceives himself, and a regenerated man is not a deceived man. Our sins are real, and we know
they're real. And as David said, they're ever
before us, and they cause us to mourn and to grieve and to
weep. Our sins of thought and temper, our sins of lack of love
and lack of spirituality, our sins of word and deed and imagination,
our sins of omission and commission, as Paul said, oh, the exceeding
sinfulness of sin. The things I would do, I do them
not, and the things I would not do, I do. What about this fear? What about
the fear of sin? The awareness of sin is there.
The awareness of the existence of sin, the hatred for it, the
desire to be delivered from it, the inability to escape it. Well,
Paul answers this fear. Look at verse 33. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. It
is God that justifies. In 2 Corinthians 5.19, the Word
of God says, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself,
not charging their sins. Look at it, 2 Corinthians 5.19,
not imputing or reckoning or charging their sins to them. Isn't that good news? We go down to the store and buy
something. We've got these little plastic cards in our billfold
that get us in a lot of trouble. We go down there and we see something
we want. Oh, we want that so much! We
just think about it, you know, well, I don't owe too much. Add
this to it, and the payments will go up two or three dollars,
and oh, go ahead and get it. And we get it, you know, and
they send it to us, and a few days later, a bill comes, and
man, I wish I had done that. Look at that. Look how much I
owe. Look how much I owe. Well, you just think about, and
we think about our sins, how many, oh, our sins, our past
sins, our present sins. How much I, I don't owe anything.
I don't owe anything. That's what it says here. God
was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not charging,
not imputing their sins unto them. God says, I remember their
sins no more. Paul said, who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Not the law, not Satan, not even
our own hearts. Because God has justified us. That's right. God's justified
us. And Paul said in Colossians,
look over there at Colossians chapter 1, Paul says here in
Colossians that we are actually unblameable. And actually in
Colossians 1.22, unreprovable in God's sight. Now, not in your
sight. Not in your sight. There's a
lot that we can reprove each other for, and we need to rebuke
and reprove each other privately. But in God's sight, we're unreprovable. We're unblameable because Christ
has taken all our sins and put them away. That's right. Paul
said in Ephesians 1 that we're holy and without blame. And Jude
wrote in Jude 24 that he'd present us in God's presence. Holy. So who can lay anything to the
charge? You say, well, you and all of
us have certainly sinned. Yes, we have. But we don't owe
anything. That's what it says. That's what
the Bible declares. God said there are sins. I'll remember
no more. He's freely justified us. Their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Turn to 1 John 1. 1
John chapter 1. Here in verse 7 of 1 John 1. If we walk in the light as He's
in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we're
in trouble, aren't we? We deceive ourselves. The truth's
not in us. Don't say that. Don't say you
don't have any sin. You just make a liar out of yourself. But if we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Now, if we say we have not sinned,
we make God a liar in his words not in us, in that strong language. To save my life, I've never known
why any person would want to deny their sin before God, profess
to be what they know they're not. Now, you can deceive men,
but God's not deceived. You can put up a front before
people, and you can deceive people, and you can make them think you're
what you aren't, but God looks not on the outward countenance,
God looks on the heart. And he says, keep thy heart out
of it of the issues of life. Out of the heart proceeds evil
thoughts and all these other things. Out of the heart. And
these are the things that defile a man. But oh, this fear, Paul
says, just remove this fear. Why do you sit around and have
this fear of your sins when Christ said they're forgiven? I'll remember
them no more. Alright, the third fear. Fear
of condemnation, final condemnation. Verse 34, who is he that condemneth? Now listen, the most dreadful
fear that can disturb a reasonable person is the fear of finally
being condemned at the great white throne judgment. I can't think of anything as
sweet and precious as to hear the Lord say, Thy sins be forgiven
thee. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not charge sin. Isn't that something? Blessed
is the man to whom God will not impute sin. But I can't think
of any words more horrible, horrible, than to hear him say at that
great day, Depart from me, I never knew you. Well might Belshazzar's loins
be loosed, and his knees smite one against another when the
handwriting appeared on the wall. It's over. You're weighed in
the balances and found wanting. The Apostle Paul offered a loving
prayer for Onesiphorus, his friend, and he could ask no more than
this, The Lord grant that he may find mercy in that day. I can't think of Any better prayer
to pray for you than that. We're praying for all these sore
toes and broken arms and junk like that, you know, and old
Paul's praying that old Neciphorus will find mercy in that day. Isn't that a great prayer? What
a prayer. God grant that my friend, old
Neciphorus, may find mercy of the Lord in that day. In that
day. Oh, to hear him say in that day,
bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness. I never
knew you." You ever bothered by that? The fear of final condemnation? Paul gives four reasons why he
doesn't fear it. Four reasons. Verse 34, why he
does not fear final condemnation. And you notice he doesn't say
anything about being a church member. He doesn't say anything
about being baptized. He doesn't say anything about
how many churches he's organized, or how many epistles he wrote.
He doesn't say anything about how many good deeds he has done.
He says in verse 34, Who is he that condemneth? Number one, Christ died. It is
Christ that died. It is Christ, the anointed, Christ,
the ordained one. It is Christ, the Redeemer, Christ,
the Son of God who died. Yea, look at this word, rather,
rather. We don't give enough weight to
that word rather. Yea, he not only died, but yea
rather, he's risen again and his resurrection denotes total
clearance of all the sins he bore. Those sins he bore on Calvary
with which he was buried, he rose without them. And His resurrection indicates
our acceptance with God, for He died for us. Rather, He's
risen again. Who is, look at this word, even. Who is even? At the right hand
of God. Our representative is at the
right hand of God. We were amused last night. Bob
and I were talking. He's in business down in southern
Kentucky, and he told me about the people down at the state
park that would be unhappy maybe with their services and always
threatened to call the governor. They'd say, I'm a friend of the
governor, and I'll call the governor. Well, that's not too much weight.
My representative's at the right hand of the father. speaking
for me. I got some connection now. How
about that? The right hand means love, it
means acceptance, it means honor, it means power. That's what he's
saying here. Who can condemn me? It's Christ that died for me,
for you, yet rather He's risen again. God put His stamp of approval
on His death and on His payment. He's even. at the right hand
of God, and he also, see it, also maketh intercession for
us. That ought to remove the fear.
That ought to remove the fear. When our Lord prays, he says,
Father, you always hear me. He never prays a prayer that's
not heard, and that's it. Easy, effectual high priest.
And that can remove your fear of final condemnation. Now, if
you're resting in the fact you're a pretty good little girl or
little boy, you're in trouble. Lord, you can't condemn me. I
preached in your name. Lord, you can't condemn me. I
prophesied in your name, and I cast out devils in your name,
and I did many wonderful works. I kept the Sabbath day, and I
tithed And it wasn't like other people. Depart from me, I never knew
you. Lord, you can't condemn me. Christ died for me. And he
rose for me. And he's on your right hand interceding
for me. Who is he that condemned me?
You see that answer? That removes that fear. And there's
the only place you can find an answer for that fear of final
condemnation. It's in his hands. If I go to
hell, I'll go to hell believing in, trusting in, clinging to
Jesus Christ and his substitutionary work. And that ain't possible. Now, four, the fourth fear, fear
of falling from grace, falling away. Now, I'm going to be as
straightforward and honest in dealing with this question as
I can be with myself and with you. I know this is a battleground,
but to save my life, I don't know why. I cannot understand
why this is a battleground. I can't understand. I do understand
it, too. Our Lord said you do err because
you don't know the Scriptures nor the power of God. And we're
living, we're surrounded with ignorance, my soul, at the religious
ignorance that we're having to put up with in this day. But
I'm going to make two statements here that will clear the air
on this subject for myself and I hope for you once for all. Paul said in verse 35, who can
separate us from the love of Christ? Now there's no possibility,
now get this briefly, there's no possibility, not even a probability,
there's no possibility of anyone in Christ ever falling away from
Christ. No possibility. Our Lord said,
"...all that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. I came down from
heaven not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will, that of all which he hath given
me I'll lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day."
That's what He said. And again He said in John 10,
My sheep hear My voice, I know them, they follow Me, I give
them eternal life, they shall never perish. And Romans 8 up
there in our text said, Whom He ordained, He predestinated.
Whom He predestinated, He called. Whom He called, He justified.
Whom He justified, He glorified. The gifts and calling of God
are without change. Christ did not die in vain. No
one in Christ will ever get out of Christ No one who has been
redeemed by Christ shall ever be separated from Christ. No
one given to Christ in the eternal covenant will ever be taken away
from Christ. Payment God's justice cannot
twice demand, first at the bleeding surety's hand and then again
at mine. All who are in Christ are eternally in Christ both
ways. Now that's settled, that's so.
But the question that's all important for me and you is this, and this
is what needs to be answered. Are we in Christ? That's the problem. When I think
about, shall I fall away, I just might. Fall away from what? Fall away from the church, fall
away from the doctrine, fall away from my profession, fall
away from my principles, fall away from my philosophy, fall
away from my claim, fall away from my decision, fall away from
my so-called baptism. Yes, sir, you can fall away from
those things. You can come here faithfully for 20 years and read
your Bible and pray and claim to be a Christian and wind up
in the pitfalls and dunghills of infidelity and atheism. Sure you can, but you never were
in Christ. You were in the church and in
the pool and in the doctrine and in the studies of the scriptures
and in all these other things, but you weren't in Christ. John
said they went out from us And it's perfectly clear to me they
never were of us, he said, or they would have continued with
us. They might have been of us, but they weren't of him. Now,
you can put that down. That's so. I'm in the church.
Yes, I am. I'm pastor of this church. But
am I in Christ? You're in the church. Some of
you men are elders and deacons, and some of you have been here
for years and years and years. You're in fellowship. But are you in
Christ? I can't answer that. The heart's
deceitful, desperately wicked. There are people who are in doctrine
and who are in fundamentalism and who are in morality and who
are in all these other things who are not in Christ. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me, and of all that the Father hath given me
I'll lose nothing. And we are in Christ complete. That's what the Scripture says.
Complete in Him. Now look at this right here in
verse 35 of Romans 8. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? It doesn't say who shall separate
me from my love for Christ. It's Christ's love for me. Herein
is love, not that we love God. We want to, we ought to, we try
to, we pant after it. We will. But here is love. He loved us and gave his Son,
Father. Who shall separate me from the
love of Christ? And then he names all these things,
and then he says in the last line of verse 39, none of these
things can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ. This is what I'm trying to preach
to you. Peter says, give diligence to
make your calling and election sure. If you do these things,
you'll never fail. Turn to 2 Corinthians 13 and
listen to this all-important verse penned by the Apostle Paul,
2 Corinthians 13.5. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith, the faith. prove your own self, know ye
not your own self, how that Jesus Christ is in you, Christ in you,
the hope of glory, unless ye are reprobate. Now this fear
of falling away, it's real. Paul talked about becoming a
castaway. Paul talked again about take
heed lest there be found in you an evil heart of unbelief, departing
from the living God. There are two things that are
true. Number one, nobody in Christ will ever fall away. Nobody in
Christ will ever be separated from Christ. Nobody in Christ
will ever hear these words, depart from me. But the thing I want
to settle in this heart of mine, and the thing I want to seek
and pursue, and it's a lifetime, I believe it's a lifetime occupation,
a lifetime pursuit, and that is Christ in me, the hope of
glory, and I in Him. Four great fears removed. Satanic
opposition, like these farming covenant mercies and substitutionary
sacrifice, who can be against me? My sins, who can lay anything
to my charge? God justified me. Fear of final
condemnation. Christ died. He rose again. He's even at the right hand of
God, interceding for us. Anybody separate me from His
love, anything? Not if I'm in here. Not if I'm
in here.

Four Great Fears Removed

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Four Great Fears Removed

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