If you will, open your Bibles
this evening to the Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon chapter three. Song of Solomon chapter three. I know that we are living in
days when there's much fear among people, and yes, even among God's
people. How many times, if you had to
guess, how many times do we find in the word of God these two
words, fear not, fear not? We find several verses of scripture. And I want to give you two of
my favorite verses, one from the Old Testament and then one
from the New Testament. The one from the Old Testament
is in Genesis 15 and verse 1. Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward. And it's interesting that when
the Lord appeared unto Abraham and spoke those words, fear not,
Abram, I am thy shield. He had just returned from defeating
several kings and rescuing his nephew Lot. But think about the
fact that Abraham was living in a country. Here he was with
his wife and his servants in this country, but there was all
of these other families, large families and nations that surrounded
him. And yet the Lord came to him.
No doubt he experienced fear like all of us do from time to
time. Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield. With God as our shield, why? should we be afraid. I love that
verse of scripture, but this one in the New Testament I believe
is my favorite. In Luke chapter 12 and verse
32, when the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to his small group of disciples
and he said, fear not, little flock, for it is your father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. To give you the kingdom. Salvation is a gift. The wages
of sin, the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter six in verse
23, the wages of sin. This is what sin earns, death. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. You know, when Satan comes
and he whispers in your ear, maybe you're not worthy. You're
not worthy to be a child of God, a son of God, a daughter of God,
then you might respond like this. This is what I've learned to
do. I never, I never said I was worthy. I never confessed to
be worthy. I'm thankful that my worthiness
is Jesus Christ and him alone. I remember this story I read
many years ago. There was a preacher, a black
preacher in Virginia. And this was in the days of slavery. His name was John Jasper. And
God blessed him and used him in preaching on plantations and
especially at funerals at different plantations there in Virginia.
And of course, he lived to be freed and was used in establishing
a church in Richmond, Virginia. But he said this one time. He
said, people ask me, what are you going to say when you arrive
at heaven's gate and you're asked, John Jasper, what right have
you to be here? And he said, I'm going to respond
like this. John Jasper ain't got no right
to be here. I don't come in my name. I come
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes. It's not a matter
of being worthy. Christ is our worthiness. Christ
is our righteousness. Christ is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. That's what the
Apostle Paul tells us. And who can forget this verse
which speaks to us, fear not, Isaiah chapter 41 and verse 14. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and
you men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Think of the two creatures
that are mentioned in those two texts. the text in Luke and the
text in Isaiah 41. Fear not, little flock. Now that
refers to sheep. And then, fear not, thou worm. What two creatures could be any
more helpless, powerless, and defenseless as sheep or worm? And yet, God speaks and tells
us, fear not. will help the eye and i see it
will help me well now if you will i want us to read herein
the song of solomon chapter three verses seven and eight and i
turned to this passage of scripture because it speaks to us affair
affair now let me read song of solomon chapter three verse seven
and a behold his bed, which is Solomon's. Threescore valiant
men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. They all hold swords,
being expert in war. Every man hath his sword upon
his thigh, because of fear in the night." This verse tells
us that King Solomon had 60 valiant men about his bed. Each one of them
had his sword, and each one of them was expert in using his
sword. I thought about the passage in
2 Samuel that speaks to us of David's valiant, faithful men. He had a number of them that
are listed there. And I read about this one man
by the name of Benaiah. He was one of David's valiant
men. Now, I don't read anywhere in
the scripture about Solomon's valiant men by name and what
feats they accomplished, but I'm sure they were men just like
those valiant men of his father David. And Benaiah, one of David's
valiant men, listen to what the scripture says about him. It
says, he slew two lion-like men of Moab. Can you imagine that? Men who had the appearance maybe
and the strength and the ferociousness more like a lion than a man. He slew two lion-like men of
Moab. He went down into a pit. Think
about this now. He went down into a pit and slew
a lion in the midst of the pit in the time of snow." Think of
it, in the time of snow, how easy your foot could slip, how
easy you could get displaced in snow. And yet this man, this
valiant man, went down into that pit and slew a lion in the time
of snow. And then it says this also, He
slew an Egyptian, a goodly man, a strong man, maybe somewhat
giant-like. And the Egyptian had a spear
in his hand, but he that is benign, he went down to him with a staff."
You know, a staff like a shepherd uses. He went down to fight this
man who had a spear in his hand, and all he had was a staff, and
yet with his staff, He took the spear away from the Egyptian
and slew the man with his spear. So these men, these 60 men that
surrounded the bed of Solomon, every man, the scripture here
says, had his sword upon his thigh. That means that each one
not only had a sword, but he had a sword ready to use. I mean,
at the very appearance of danger. He had his sword at hand to use
to protect King Solomon. Now, we would call these men
today bodyguards. I remember when a person, a man,
young man, attempted to kill President Reagan. And I've seen
that clip several times, I'm sure you have as well. And how
his bodyguards, those secret servicemen, immediately protected
him. Even though he was shot, but
they protected him. They moved between him and the
shooter immediately. Those are valiant men, bodyguards. Solomon, he had 60, 60 of these
men around him. And notice it mentions in the
night. Look at that verse A. They all
hold swords, being expert in war. Every man hath his sword
upon his side because of fear in the night. You know, when
things take place at night in the darkness, it just seems to
add to the fear. And these men were there at all
times to protect him. And I thought about this verse,
and I thought about the Lord's words in Matthew chapter 6 when
he was speaking about not allowing ourselves to be anxious and fearful,
about being overly concerned for the things of this life.
Things that are necessary, yes, but things that God has promised
to provide for his people. And he said this, the Lord Jesus,
he said this, Consider the lilies of the field. You just look at
the lilies, the day lilies, how beautiful they are. Consider
the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither
do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even
Solomon, even Solomon, in all his glory, and he had Plenty
of glory, if you consider the things of this world, the riches
of this world. He had plenty of glory. But even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. And so I thought, well, let me
take some liberty with that verse of scripture and paraphrase like
this. Even Solomon, with all his bodyguards,
Even Solomon, with all his bodyguards, his valiant men around him, was
not protected and guarded like all of God's children are protected
and guarded. Every child of God should consider
these five truths I'm going to mention now when tempted with
fear. First, Consider the ministry
of your high priest. If you are a child of God, if
you're one of God's children, you have a great high priest. Consider his ministry, first
of all. When God gave instructions to
Moses concerning the office, the vesture of the high priest,
he told him to make his clothing in such a way that he always
had the names of the 12 Tribes of Israel upon his shoulders
and the 12 tribes, the names of the 12 tribes upon his breast. Showing us that our high priest,
because Aaron, he was a type of our high priest, that first
high priest. He was a type, a picture of our
high priest. And when tempted to fear, consider
the truth about our great high priest, that he always has you
on his shoulders. That is, he always has the ability
to strengthen you. Whatever the fear is, whatever
the difficulty is that comes your way, and you will meet with
many of them as you go through this world. But know this, the
ministry of your great high priest is to strengthen you. As your
days shall demand. This is what the word of God
says in Deuteronomy. As your days shall demand, so
shall your strength be. Whatever strength you're going
to need for today, he's going to give you. He's going to give
you. And not only does that show Him giving us strength, but His
carrying the names of His people on His heart remind us of His
love, His great love for His children. And how could we doubt
His love when He has given Himself His precious blood? I thought
of that just a moment ago when we were singing that hymn, Come
Thou Fount. He interposed His precious blood. Yes, that's His precious blood
that saves us. How can we doubt, how can we
question His love? And then think of His work, the
work of the high priest in that tabernacle. Every day they were
to burn incense upon that golden altar. They were to burn that
incense and of course the smoke would go up towards heaven. And
what a picture that was of our Lord's prayer, of His intercession,
that even now, at all times, He is there making intercession
for all of us who come unto God by Him. That's His Word. That's
His Word. So, when tempted to fear, consider
the ministry of your high priest. Consider the ministry of the
Holy Spirit. Consider His ministry to you. You know, one of His titles that
our Lord gave Him is Comforter. Comforter. And He will do that. He will comfort you in every
condition, in every trial, in every difficulty that you face. He will comfort you. When our
Lord spoke to His disciples about the Holy Spirit, the night before
He was to be crucified, He said, I will pray the Father, and He
shall give you, now listen, another comforter, that He may abide
with you forever. Another comforter. Here these
11 disciples were. And since they had been following
the Lord Jesus Christ, since He had called them, and they
had been following Him, they had been confronted with many
difficulties. The priests, the Sadducees, and
the Pharisees, they would bring a problem to Him, and all kinds
of difficulties. You know, there would be a big
crowd there, and they were hungry, and what are we going to do?
All of these difficulties. But the Lord Jesus Christ had
always been with them to help them, to comfort them, to show
them the way. But now He's leaving. But I will
not leave you orphans, he said. I won't leave you like an orphan.
I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter
that he may abide with you forever. The Holy Spirit indwells every
child of God, every child of God. No one has ever been saved
apart from the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. He is the one
who regenerates a person. The new birth is the work of
God, the Holy Spirit. You know, the word for spirit,
the word that is translated spirit is the same word translated wind
or breath. And our Lord says, as the wind
bloweth where it listed, and you hear the sound thereof, but
you can't tell from whence it cometh nor whither it's going.
So is everyone that is born of the spirit. the new birth, except
a man be born of water, even of the Spirit, he will not enter
into the kingdom of heaven. And every person who's born again,
who's regenerated by the Spirit of God, God the Holy Spirit,
comes to indwell, and he will never leave us. Lo, I am with
thee always, even unto the end of the ages. Third, consider
the ministry of angels. Now, I've mentioned this recently
several times in messages, but consider the ministry of angels. Psalm 34 and verse 7 says, The
angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. Now,
every child of God fears him, fears God. That's the beginning
of wisdom. It's not that slavish fear. It's
not that slavish fear that a person may have of a cruel despot or
cruel parent or something like that. No, it's that reverence,
that reverence of God that is one of the promises of the new
covenant, that he will put his fear in us. And so every child
of God fears the Lord. And this verse of scripture tells
us the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them. that fear him
and deliver them. He's there to deliver, to deliver
his people. And then that verse in Psalm
91 in verse 11, he shall give his angels charge over thee to
keep thee in all thy ways, lest thou dash thy foot against a
stone. So consider the ministry of your
high priest when tempted to fear. Consider the ministry of God
the Holy Spirit who indwells you. Consider the ministry of
the holy, or of the angels rather. And fourth, consider the many
promises in God's word. I want you to turn with me to
Psalm 121. Now many of you know this Psalm by memory, but let's
look again, Psalm 121. When tempted to fear, consider
the many promises in God's Word of His keeping grace and His
protecting grace. Psalm 121, I will lift up mine
eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh
from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Now, God spoke the
worlds into existence. We think about His creative power,
His omnipotent power. Surely He is able to help and
deliver you, no matter what the situation is, what it is that
brings fear your way. My help cometh from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth. He, that is the Lord, He will
not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Solomon had those 60 men around
his bed, and I'm sure he slept well because he knew those men
were on guard. But child of God, think about
this. The Lord, who is your keeper,
he never slumbers. He will not slumber nor sleep. He's always there, always ready.
The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee,
keep thee, preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy
soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out, and thy coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. Consider the many promises in
God's word when tempted to fear. And lastly, fifth, consider, now listen, consider
his precious promises, special promises, consider his special
promises to every child of God. his special promises to every
one of his children. I want to give us one in the
Old Testament and one in the New Testament, a special promise
to every child of God. Psalm 84 and verse 11. For the Lord God is a sun and
shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. Now listen, no good thing will
he withhold from them that walk upright. No good thing. And the verse, special promise
in the New Testament is Romans 8 and verse 28. And we know that all things work together
for good, to them that love God, to those who are the called according
to his purpose. Fear not, fear not, little flock. It is your father's good pleasure
to give unto you the kingdom. I pray that the Lord would bless
this word to all of us tonight. living in days when there's much
fear on every hand, and yet God's children, we have every reason
not to fear.