Sermon: The Snare of Fearing Man

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When Pastor Luke was announcing that I was going to be preaching today, I heard some cheers, and I know that that was mainly the support of the

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Presbyterians due to a recent baptism series.

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Praise God. We are going to be looking at several different passages today, but our main passage is going to be in the

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Proverbs. Please turn with me to Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29.

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Verse 25. Hear now the words of the living and the true

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God. Proverbs 29 .25 The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the

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Lord will be exalted. Again, the fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the

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Lord will be exalted. Thus, ending the reading of God's Holy Word, let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, Lord, we offer You our worship and praise today. Lord, it is encouraging to us to know that all the heavenly hosts joins with us this very evening.

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That You are present even now, Father. That in Your Kingdom, Lord, You enjoy the worship that we offer and the teaching of Your Word and the singing of songs and hymns.

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And that no one ceases to praise Your name. That all power and glory and honor belongs to You, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Please use me today, Lord, as a vessel and instrument, Lord, for Your purposes. Illuminate the

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Scriptures today on the behalf of Your people. God, You've taught me so much through this sermon, and I pray that it would be a blessing also to Your people.

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So God, speak today to Your church and be glorified in the sermon and the preaching of the

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Word. In Christ's mighty name, Amen. So, I remember back in my seminary days, we had a small apartment in Mesa and it came with free cable access.

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And after a late night of seminary, I'd go from 5 p .m. to 10 p .m.

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and I'd get out of class and get home to the apartment. And I had a routine of either waking up my wife, and she was already fast asleep, or kind of disregarding her half -open eyes to exuberantly express to her all that I had just learned in five hours down to a five -minute or 30 -minute lesson, just buckets of theological water just being thrown at her.

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And she would just go, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, whoa, yeah, the atonement was, yeah. And so, I would just, oh my goodness, it was a great experience.

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But I would then, before bed, turn on the television and watch a show on Discovery Channel called

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Alaska, The Last Frontier. And for those of you not familiar with the show, a camera crew follows the

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Kilcher family around. They are four -generation Alaskan homesteaders who, they grow crops, they hunt and fish for meat, and make a living in the

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Alaskan wilderness. So, I watched the show to get a sense of the adventure that I never got being raised by a

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California surfer dad who didn't know a lick about camping or hunting or anything like that.

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So, I would use that show to gain that adventure. Well, I remember in one particular episode,

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I was fascinated by one of the Kilcher sons who was going to his trapping sites.

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He would set snares and nooses to live capture things like minks, foxes, wolverines, you name it.

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He would lay the snare near one of their trails in an inconspicuous area, maybe putting some brush or leaves over the noose, the trap, to hide it.

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He'd come back later to find one of these animals trapped in the snare. The cord looped tightly around this animal and it could not break loose.

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And at that point, it would meet its end so that its fur could be used for selling, bartering, or trading for something of need for the brutal approaching winter.

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And so, that is the image that this proverb is giving us. The proverb says, the fear of man brings a snare.

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It lays a snare for us. And I think the image that we ought to have with this is that due to our fear of man, we lay a trap for ourselves.

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Not only do we fall in the trap often, but we often lay it for ourselves.

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Maybe you've seen that on a movie before when the character lays booby traps all around his own lair to guard from the enemy, but then he himself gets snared in one of his own traps.

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And that is an image of what we can do ourselves. The reality is the fear of man will catch and kill you, no doubt.

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And it can bring all sorts of awful maladies and it'll manifest itself in different ways within each person.

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One of the most common ways that the fear of man manifests itself is through man -pleasing.

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Man -pleasing. Have you ever struggled with man -pleasing? Have you ever tried to seek the approval of others?

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Maybe you've done it subconsciously. Maybe you have never realized you do it. The fact is, we fear most whose approval we seek most.

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Okay? On the scales, we weigh the God of all the universe, and we take the creatures, and we tip the scale often to the creatures in that fashion.

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As our actions and our intents collide, our actions say stuff like this, this offends the

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Lord, but I can't offend my friends. I know this is what Jesus commands, but I will lose my reputation my family, my friends.

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Jesus has offered me the crown of life, but I want the crown of this life.

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The crown that men offer me constantly. And so, the man -pleaser in church will appear righteous, but watch him at work as he laughs with the other men and jokes around about their weekend fornications.

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Put him with his unbelieving family as they dismissively blaspheme the

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Lord. And he doesn't bat an eye, but he appeases his family. Put the man -pleaser in any situation, and his goal is to be affirmed, approved, and admired.

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Isaiah 2 .22 says, Stop regarding man whose breath of life is in his nostrils.

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For why should he be esteemed? Stop regarding man.

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Stop fearing man whose breath of life is in his nostrils. In other words, regard the one that holds your very next breath.

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Not the one who derives his breath from that one. Fear him. In Paul's letter to the

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Galatians in chapter 1, he is amazed that the church has so quickly deserted the true

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Gospel, but is believing on one made by men. The Judaizers, right?

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As he explains the Gospel he gave them is directly from Christ, he says, for am I now seeking the favor of men or of God?

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Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Jesus Christ.

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Pleasing men and being a slave of Christ are like oil and water. They don't mix.

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You're either one or the other. You're either hot or cold, lest you be spewed out. As humans, we are often so anthropocentric, we are man -centered.

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And so our world is built on man -pleasing and fearing man. To excel in society is based less on merit or hard work, but more on being the biggest pleaser.

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And I would say it's gotten worse for newer generations. We are entitled, we are owed, we must be loved and accepted no matter what.

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We coddle each other in our sin, and if we did it right, if we coddled right, we're gonna receive that same coddling in return.

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Here are some characteristics of the fear of man. Listen to this. Such as being disobedient to God's commands, especially when it can cost you earthly.

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Wanting to be highly esteemed. Finding yourself always looking for a pat on the back.

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If only they could just see me and see the work that I do. Hoping others will see you give or practice your good deeds.

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Proverbs 25, 27 corrects this thinking when it says, it is not glory to search out one's own glory.

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When I showcase my works and my hope for acknowledgement and praise, that is a bootleg glory.

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That is a false glory. That's not real glory to search out one's own glory.

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Some other traits of the fear of man are being easily embarrassed, reactionary, and defensive.

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No, that's not what I meant. You just don't understand. Let me explain it. You have to understand my side of it.

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Maybe we can do it together. You can't handle rejection well, easily offended, overly sensitive.

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I should just quit what I'm doing then because obviously I'm not good enough. Obviously I can't do it right. Someone gives you feedback.

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They're trying to help you get better at what you're doing. Well, sounds like you could do it better. Why don't you do it? You ever responded like that before?

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Maybe you're given to gossip. You talk others down to build yourself up.

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Given to peer pressure. You're convicted to do otherwise. You go against conscience but you fear man and so you fall in line with your peers.

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Or this might hit a nerve for some of us. Shyness, insecure, or self -conscious.

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What will they think of me? What will they think? Am I gonna do it right? What will they think of me? The fear of man that brings a snare has no doubt led many to some terrible sins.

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Consider, for instance, King Saul who was commissioned by God to make holy war to exterminate the

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Amalekites and destroy all that they had for their great evil. But it says he and the people spared

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Agog and kept the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fowlings, the lambs, and all that was good and they were not willing to destroy them utterly as the

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Lord commanded. Then we know of course that God was greatly displeased with and regretted making

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Saul king, right? We all remember that, that account. When Samuel the prophet questions him, he lies and says he obeyed

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God and then he deflects the blame by saying the people took the spoils, the people.

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And that's what a weak leader does, right? He deflects the blame and takes no ownership of the sin that he's committed for the people.

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But finally, as Samuel tells him, God desires obedience over sacrifice that verse that we all love and he rejects

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Saul as king. Saul admits this, I have sinned. I have indeed transgressed the command of the

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Lord in your words because I feared the people and listened to their voice.

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He feared the people and so his reign as king had come to an end. The blessing and the anointing and the

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Spirit of God had left Saul. Then in the New Testament, we have

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Pontius Pilate. This man has an appalling sin. The holy and blameless

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Jesus Christ is before him and after examination, Pontius Pilate declares,

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I find no fault in this man. He then sends Jesus to Herod, right?

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And he reports back to the Jews, you brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion and behold, having examined him before you,

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I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against him.

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No, nor has Herod, for he sent him back to us and behold, nothing deserving of death has been done by him.

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And even Pilate's wife, remember, warns him that she suffered much in a dream because of Jesus saying, have nothing to do with this just man, referring to Jesus Christ.

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And looking to set Jesus free, the people warn

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Pilate that to do so would make him an enemy to Caesar since Jesus claims to be a king.

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And the people were incessant and unrelenting to crucify our Lord. And no doubt,

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Pontius Pilate considered his role as a governor, his status, his Roman position, and he feared the people.

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He washes his hands in front of everyone as if that absolves him of his great sin, that he is innocent of this innocent victim,

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Jesus. Mark 15, 15 says, wishing to satisfy the crowd,

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Pilate released Barabbas for them. And after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified.

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And what did it say there at the beginning? It said, wishing to satisfy the crowd. The fear of man has now for two millennia and will continue to be

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Pontius Pilate's historical infamy. The fear of man caused him to slay the

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Son of the living God. Nevertheless, we praise God for his sovereignty, amen.

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That although put to death at the hands of godless men, as Peter says in Acts 2, Jesus was delivered, he delivered himself over according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, amen.

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I'm certain some of us are thinking, excuse me, well, that makes sense,

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Saul, Pontius Pilate, these are bad men, right? Of course, two bad men would not fear

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God, but they would fear man instead. Let me give you some examples of some men we normally hold in high regard.

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How about Aaron, the brother and companion of Moses? Aaron, who is the high priest of God, he speaks to God and is his representative to the people.

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When Moses was on the mountain of God receiving the Lord's commandments, the people come to Aaron, seeing that Moses was delayed, we all know, and impatiently ask

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Aaron to fashion a god for them, one that they may worship and idol, in fact.

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They use the gold from their own jewelry, and Aaron makes a golden calf and sinfully announces this horrible and deplicable false witness.

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He points to this golden calf and he says, this is your God, oh Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

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It's sickening, right? Despite just having seen the power of the one true

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God, Yahweh, deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians, they give offerings and sacrifices to this false

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God, this idol, this demon. If only Aaron had proper fear of the

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Lord, or courage like his brother Moses had, he desecrated his own priestly hands by fashioning this demon.

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It says in Exodus 32, after Moses comes back down the mountain, and Moses said to Aaron, what did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?

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Aaron said, do not let the anger of my Lord burn. You know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil.

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And so what do we see again here? We see the deflecting of blame. Aaron was fearing the people, and not standing firm for what is right, even if it meant maybe they'd desert him, or kill him.

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It is truly God's grace that Aaron wasn't killed like the other rebellious ones who were slayed by the sword by the

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Levites, right? And do you think a pastor could respond in the same way to God on judgment day?

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The pastor who neglects church discipline, who disregards the sin in his own congregation, he lets the sin run rampant, maybe he could just tell

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God what Aaron did. You know the Lord. You know, Lord, how they're prone to evil.

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No doubt. They cannot say that. Pastors could never say that. The Proverbs says that the shepherd knows well the condition of his flock, and he cares for it.

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He tends to it. Pastors must do the same thing. Now on to Peter the

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Apostle, the man with whom I think, at least for me, we can see much of ourselves regarding our own mistakes.

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Our brother Peter is often so bold one minute and then falling on his face the next.

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After they celebrate the Passover and Jesus institutes his supper, they walk to the

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Mount of Olives where he warns them that this very night all will fall away. Peter emphatically says that even if all fall away,

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I will never fall away. And Jesus gives that foreboding statement where he tells

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Peter that he will deny him three times that very night. The bold Peter says,

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I'd rather die than deny you. Later after our

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Lord had been taken and he is being examined by Caiaphas and the elders, Peter follows at a distance in the courtyard.

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As we know, a serving girl recognized Peter as having been with Jesus. He fears, he denies his affiliation with Jesus Christ, right?

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He fears this girl, he fears the people surrounding, he denies his affiliation.

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In an effort to more strongly abate their accusation, he even starts cursing and swearing to sound different.

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He denies the Lord, the rooster crows. Peter walked with the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, through whom according to John 1, all things were created.

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For three years, Peter was discipled, saw Jesus raise people from the dead, heal people miraculously, and saw him glorified on the

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Mount of Transfiguration. But in that moment, in that moment, Peter feared man more than God.

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And you know what? I think it's likely that we would all do the very same thing if we were in his position.

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But I think it is the prayer of us all that the Lord would keep us from such a thing today, that being filled with the

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Holy Spirit, knowing the power of our great God, and the promises that lay ahead, that we would not deny him.

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I know I pray that. But of course we always, Pastor Jeff says, we always consider the gun to the head scenario.

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We always consider the sword to the neck, the quick martyrdom, right? In the place where not many see, where only

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God sees, in the situation where no one but God would know, if you were intentionally not to confess him when you had the opportunity, would you deny him?

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And I think we do all too often if we're being honest. So truly, the fear of man brings a snare, brothers and sisters.

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In some cases it can be a stumbling block to a man from conversion. Apologia Church does a lot of outreach to the

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LDS, to the Mormons. In fact, the team went out this morning, praise God. And we meet all different kinds of LDS, all different levels of commitment, and relativists, and pluralists, and diehard

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Mormons. And so we see all different types.

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On more than several occasions we have either met or learned of a man who said something like this.

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We've heard them say, I know this is all a fraud. I know Joseph Smith was a phony.

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I know that this is all kind of an illusion, but I can't leave it. We've heard that.

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If I left it, I would lose my whole way of life, my identity, my reputation, my family, my friends, my family business, my inheritance.

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Do you know how my father and my mother would disown me and reject me? Do you know that my wife, my wife may leave me and take my children if I leave this organization?

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That's sad. That's truly sad. Jesus says to count the cost, right?

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How sad for what God's Word calls a momentary and light affliction that He would give up the true

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Christ in His salvation. And I'm not downplaying that. That is an incredibly hard thing to do, no doubt.

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But it's a worthy endeavor to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and to leave all behind, amen?

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Fear of man is not just a snare for this kind of person, but literally the noose around their neck.

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C .H. Spurgeon says, so they never come to Jesus because the fear of man which bringeth a snare.

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It keeps them still as the hopeless slaves of sin. But young man, do you mean to be damned just to please somebody else?

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Do you mean to fling away your immortal soul in order to escape the laughter of fools?

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Remember that they may laugh you into hell, but they cannot laugh you out again. Let not the fear of man be the ruin of your soul, he says.

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And there is another area where we fear men, and I believe it to be a most egregious sin.

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When we fear men to the point where we refuse them the soul -saving message of the

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Gospel of Jesus Christ. Like the servant with one talent, we can bury it and bring our

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Lord no return on His investment. And to be honest with you, brethren, this whole sermon, the preparation, everything, has been so impactful to me.

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And so, it's been a purge of sin. It's been a process of sanctification.

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This is as if an epistle to myself. And so, this one in particular is convicting that we are not to hoard the

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Gospel to ourselves. That it has been freely given to us. We are to give it in like manner.

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Of whom much is given, much is required. And a lot of us might say, well,

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I go out, I do events, I get the Gospel to the lost, I go to the

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LDS Outreach, I go to the abortion mill, I go to Mill Avenue, I do the strip club outreach. We do all these things, right?

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And all glory to God, we ought to keep doing those things, no doubt. Keep doing those glorious things to get the

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Gospel out. But I think sometimes, we think to ourselves, street preaching, passing out tracks, witnessing to strangers, we say no problem.

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No problem. But what about lost parents? What about unbelieving siblings that maybe you see often?

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What about unbelieving neighbors that you're becoming friends with? What about those relatives that you've delayed the delivery of the

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Gospel for years because you've just never wanted to go there? What about your co -workers?

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What about friends that you've had for a long time? No, not yet, not yet. I've got to wait for the right time, right?

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And it is so often about people that we will see again. People that we will see again. It's difficult.

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And that's what it is. It's so much easier often to share with people that we don't know. But what will we say when

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King Jesus asks us why we shut our mouth with those who we know so well, right?

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But I just want to keep the peace. Let's just get through this weekend. Let's keep the peace.

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You know, the wife tells the husband, no Gospel talk this weekend, something like that. Maybe it's the husband to the wife.

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I just want to keep the peace. Matthew 10, 34 -37, Christ says, Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.

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I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.

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He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

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You could say this verse almost in this way, He who fears or reveres their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.

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Truly, for those whom you love or care for, the greatest act of love is no doubt

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Gospel proclamation. We say, Colossians 4 .3,

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praying for an open door. Praying for an open door to share that Gospel. And we wait as if someone one day is going to knock on our door and go,

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Hi, I'm ready to hear your Gospel presentation. And that's the open door that we think of.

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And that's not it, my friends. I think really that the doors are open all around us. And we just have to go through one.

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We just have to go through it. So, we ought to share this message of the cross and of our

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Redeemer. Someone we know or not know. It doesn't matter. True love will share this message.

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So fear of man truly lays a snare because the snare can often keep our lips tight.

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Shut tight. So, what is the cure for this great sin? What is the cure for the believer?

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It says, he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. That was the second part of the proverb.

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He who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. He who trusts in the Lord will be put onto a high place away from danger, away from evils.

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Other translations say, he who trusts in the Lord will be safe or kept safe. Transfer your fear from man to God.

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Regard, revere, trust in God rather than man. If I have full faith in God in any particular situation,

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I will be in combat against fearing man. And really, it is an issue of faith.

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It is an issue of faith. So we have to have that full faith in the Lord. I would be like the psalmist saying, what can man do to me?

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Or like the apostle, if God is for us, who can be against us? The fear of man is cowardice, but trusting in God develops courage.

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So that we can say, I'm a soldier in the army of the captain of the Lord of hosts and like our psalm today, whom shall

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I fear? Whom shall I fear? We know in Proverbs 1, it says, the fear of the

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Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And I think the opposite could be said as well. The fear of man is the perpetual cycle of stupidity.

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It doesn't lead to wisdom. And since our main passage is in Proverbs, let's consider some of the benefits or results of trusting, revering, or fearing

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God for a Christian in some more of the wisdom literature. And I'm gonna go through these pretty quick, so don't feel like you have to navigate there.

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But just hear the words of the Lord here. Proverbs 8, 13, the fear of the

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Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance in the evil way and the perverted mouth I hate.

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So if you don't wanna fear man but revere God, you must hate evil. And I think the

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Proverb makes it very clear that it's not just the big evils that you consider in the world like genocide or abortion or slavery or trafficking, but also the evils that are so often in us, where it mentioned the pride, the arrogance, the perverted mouth.

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So if we fear the Lord, we must hate that sin in us and seek to kill it.

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Proverbs 10, 27, the fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be shortened.

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The fear of the Lord prolongs life. In His sovereignty, He may just bless you with a longer life.

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He will do what He pleases with your life. But I think it is also clear that when you fear

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God, you keep away from certain activities, evil activities like drunkenness, drug addiction, thieving, murder, quarreling and other risky behaviors that can undoubtedly shorten life.

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Proverbs 14, 26, in the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence and His children will have refuge.

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Do you lack confidence? Do you lack faith? In the fear of the

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Lord, you can have strong faith so much so that it will be a refuge to you.

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Like being on a high place away from danger, as it says. Proverbs 14, 27, the fear of the

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Lord is a fountain of life that one may avoid the snares of death. The Hebrew word for fountain here can also be source.

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The fear of the Lord is a source of life. It reminds me of Christ and the living waters that He provides.

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He is the source of life. Those who fear the Lord receive His living water by grace and avoid the clutches of death.

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Proverbs 16, 6, by loving kindness and truth, iniquity is atoned for and by the fear of the

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Lord, one keeps away from evil. So not only does one hate evil when they fear the

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Lord, but it will also aid in keeping them away from evil. Proverbs 19, 23, the fear of the

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Lord leads to life so that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.

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Even in the darkest of circumstances, even in some most difficult moments of persecution, many

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Christians, especially the martyrs and those witnessing the martyrs have expressed the ability to have peace.

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That God gives them grace in the moment and we can too when we revere the Lord and not man.

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And so maybe a more familiar example for you would be maybe the night before you have to do a large task or something that takes you out of your comfort level.

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Maybe you have to do some public speaking. I think that's still like one of the most number one fears today.

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Maybe you have to do public speaking or a presentation. So if we abandon our fear of man, we may just sleep soundly, as the

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Proverbs says. Just a couple more. Proverbs 22, 4, the reward of humility and the fear of the

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Lord are riches, honor, and life. So we see here humility, humbleness, and the fear of the

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Lord, they go hand in hand. And they themselves are the riches and honor that we are to strive for, not the praise of men.

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And it reminds me of the Sermon of the Mount with Jesus. He admonishes to not do things openly, you might remember, whether praying or tithing, practicing your righteousness before men, because then you already have your reward.

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You have no reward with the Father in heaven, but because you just got your reward when you do that.

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All you wanted was the men to admire you and the Pharisees, they got it.

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They got the admiration of men. Certainly, they did not want God to be pleased. Last one,

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Proverbs 23, 17, do not let your heart envy sinners, but live in the fear of the

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Lord always. So living in the fear of the Lord will war against our propensity to envy sinners.

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Let us actually pity sinners, knowing the fear of the Lord and honestly knowing the destiny of an unrepentant sinner.

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I think it is important to note that not only when we trust in the

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Lord, we shall be safe from the fear of man, but also from the consequences of trusting the

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Lord, of fearing Him. And so what do I mean by that? How will we be safe in that way?

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We saw to fear the Lord is to hate evil, to do what is right. We see the example of many men in the

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Bible that although they were safe because they fear the Lord, they still suffered. They still suffered, right?

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Suffering is an aspect of our sanctification that the Lord uses to refine us, to bring

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Him glory, to make us more like Christ, no doubt. Christ is the supreme example of suffering and yet regarding the

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Father only and His will. And so there is a greater risk in fearing man and avoiding suffering than fearing the

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Lord and enduring suffering. Does that make sense? Let me say that again. There is such a great risk in fearing man and escaping suffering than fearing

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God and enduring that suffering. Jesus says in Matthew 10 .28,

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do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear

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Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. Remember, what can man do to me?

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What can man do to me? The most he can do is kill our bodies. The most man can do to us is kill our bodies.

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He can't kill my soul. Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

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And he who believes in Him has that eternal life. And you will not die, you will see your

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Redeemer take His stand upon the earth. You will see your Redeemer face to face. You will see the risen

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Christ one day. All who are here who believe on the

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Lord Jesus Christ for salvation will see your Redeemer one day face to face. To forfeit my faith, as I think we have seen many people do in the last year, is the far greater and eternal consequence than escaping the suffering.

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And so this is how you can suffer and be safe at the same time. You could be in a cistern filled with mud like the prophet

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Jeremiah, but he was still safe. You could be in a prison cell for obeying

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God rather than man, but you are still safe. You could be slayed by the sword like James the

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Apostle, but you could still be safe. Because the one who holds your soul is the fountain of life and life eternal.

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To quote Spurgeon again, he says, a Christian man need never be afraid of anybody, for if you are doing right, you have no cause to fear the greatest man who is serving the devil.

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Or I would say the devil himself. So how does one stop fearing man and trust in the

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Lord more? How does one not give in to man -pleasing? We of course need to be renewing our minds, right?

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According to the Word of God. Read His Word and see the promises that the

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Lord has made and how He has kept them. God has never failed in keeping any of His promises, and so we can have faith that He will make good on those promises.

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John 6 .47 says, Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

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Is Jesus God? Yes. Is Jesus impeccable?

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Is He sinless? Yes. Would Jesus ever lie to us? No. Jesus would never lie.

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If we viewed everything we did, our jobs, our family, our church, our public involvement, our evangelism, anything that we did, if we viewed anything like that in light of eternity, and the victory of Jesus Christ on the earth as well as in heaven, how would that change our thinking, our actions, and our faith?

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Do you know what glory awaits the redeemed sinner? How could we fear?

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How could we want to please men for gain if we know what lies ahead? Any gain in this life by worldly standards is actually loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing

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Christ and being found in Him and being given a righteousness by Him.

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So that we ought to believe His Word then. Believe in the promises that God has given us to stop fearing man.

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Another way to stop fearing man and to trust the Lord more is to live Coram Deo. Coram Deo.

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That is a Latin phrase meaning in the presence of the

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Lord. Coram Deo. Live always in the presence of the Lord. I think

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Coram Deo has some really deep implications, but one for the purposes of our study is that God is watching what we do.

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Not just the good stuff at church, but every single thing at every single moment,

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God is watching. He knows what we are doing. Proverbs 15, verse 3 says, the eyes of the

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Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good. The Lord Jesus Christ puts it this way, beloved, but there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.

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Accordingly, what you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

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God is omnipresent. God is omniscient. There is not one place to escape our

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God's gaze. This Coram Deo should be at the heart of our

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Christian walk. Knowing the Lord is watching us ought to affect all of our activities, honestly.

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To do them with integrity and with righteousness. And don't get me wrong, this isn't a yoke.

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This isn't bondage. This isn't a divine babysitter always watching the sin -prone child.

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This is freedom. This is liberty. That the power of the

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Holy Spirit we may reject sin and obey God. Whoever sins is a slave to sin, but the

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Son has set us free. The Son has set us free. So if you still look at the precepts and commandments of God as bondage, we ought to examine ourselves.

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His law is our delight. His law is our delight. His law is our pleasure now in Christ.

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It's no longer burdensome. He's made our yoke easy and the burden light.

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It is because we love Jesus that we obey His commandments. John 14. R .C.

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Sproul says, living under divine sovereignty involves more than a reluctant submission to sheer sovereignty that is motivated out of fear of punishment.

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It involves recognizing that there is no higher goal than offering honor to the living

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God. Our lives are to be living sacrifices, oblations offered in a spirit of adoration and gratitude.

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So to live all of life coram Deo is to live a life of integrity. It is a life of wholeness that finds its unity and coherency in the majesty of our

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God. So, in your daily devotion of Bible reading and praying, you might say a prayer like this,

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God, I know that today You see me. You see me in my job. You see me in my home.

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Lord, You see me in my marriage. You see me in the way that I parent. God, I know You will see me today in how

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I browse the Internet, what videos I look at, in how I act on social media.

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God, You know how I will act when I drive my car on the freeway.

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You will know, God, in how I interact with people at church if I am looking to please You or men.

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So today, Lord, I want to please You above all because You are with me and You are watching me.

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And so, this coram Deo, this isn't something that you might just listen to this sermon and go, yeah,

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I really want to live that way face -to -face in the presence of the Lord. This is something that you're going to have to be intentional about.

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It's something that I'm trying to be intentional about. And reminding ourselves every day that we are in the presence of God, that at every moment,

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He is watching and we ought to glorify Him in our actions. This will lead to trusting in the

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Lord more than fearing in man which lays a snare. I truly believe that. All of these things, of course, help us to trust the

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Lord more and to stop fearing man so much. But they will also help us to stop being man -pleasers.

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We need to turn our focus to Christ and off of ourselves, beloved. Man -pleasing comes from a heart of self -idolatry, vainglory, and pride.

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Christ gave us the perfect example of servanthood. He washed the apostles' feet. We all know

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He washed even Judas' feet, the one who would betray Him. The Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve, right?

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And to give His life as a ransom for many. And so we are called to do the same. And to be honest with you,

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I'm thinking through this, I've often been sick to my stomach thinking about the times that maybe

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I've served in church in such a way that my hope was maybe someone would see and applaud me and to approve me.

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It just makes me sick to my stomach. All that we do should be in the honor of the Lord.

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If we as Christians don't want to serve Christ and serve one another, but we desire to serve ourselves, then we make ourselves out to be an idol.

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We make ourselves out to be God. And that is no doubt a very dangerous place to be for any person.

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So we're wrapping up here. And no, that's not the Jeff wrapping up. We're really wrapping up.

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This really tests what we believe. It really does. This really tests what we believe. Where is my true love?

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In Christ or in the approval of men? Many men feared the

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Pharisees in Jesus' day, not confessing Him. And it says, for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

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Then there's men like Nicodemus who came to Jesus under nightfall. Joseph of Arimathea, it says, the rich man who provided the tomb for Jesus, it says that he was a secret follower of Jesus due to fear of the

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Jews. It is my belief and my strong conviction that these men have repented unto life and they have believed in Jesus Christ.

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And even then, they did. And they probably became public.

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I believe they became public after the resurrection of Christ. That's my hope. Because it says, all who confess

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Jesus before the children of men, He shall confess before the Father who is in heaven.

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But think, they came after the blessed resurrection. We have the full picture. We have the whole revelation.

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So let us cast off the fear of man or man -pleasing because of the glorious atoning work of Jesus Christ.

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That's why we repent from this because of what Christ has done. Because we don't need to please men.

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We don't need to. All we need to do is please our Savior, please our God. And any pleasing that comes to others by our actions ought to be a by -product or a result of pleasing

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God first. Right? When I'm pleasing God in my marriage, it pleases my wife.

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When I'm pleasing God in my ministry, it is pleasing to the church body.

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When I'm pleasing God in my work, it pleases my employer. We just ought to know, beloved, what is primary.

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And that is pleasing God. And no doubt, there will be healthy and good by -products of that.

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In John 5, it says the Jews were looking for any reason to kill Jesus because He was making

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Himself out to be equal with God. In Jesus' defense, He truly condemns them.

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He says in verse 44, How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only

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God? And the point is that they didn't believe, right? He is saying, how can you even believe if you receive glory from one another?

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How can you even believe if you desire the praise of men?

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How can you even believe if you are seeking to please man and not please

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Me? How do you even believe? But, beloved, we are here today because we have believed in the

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Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross. Amen? We believe the

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Gospel. And if you're sitting here today and you haven't believed on this Gospel of Jesus Christ, that He is perfect and we are not and we need

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His righteousness as a covering for our filthiness, that He died, He was buried, and He rose again on the third day defeating death in the grave, then you ought to repent and believe today.

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Don't wait another second. The call is to repent and believe.

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So we throw ourselves at the mercy of God that the blood of Christ might cover us from the wrath that we so rightly deserve.

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Therefore, because we have believed, we ought to no longer fear man. Because we have believed, we no longer fear man.

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There's no need to. We ought to no longer receive glory from one another, but seek the glory from the one and only

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God. To follow Christ's example. Again, God's Word was aimed at me in the prep and now in the pulpit.

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And if God's Word has pierced you too, let's repent together and keep on repenting.

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Let's turn from this and remember the Gospel. Remember the Gospel now. That we are born again.

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We've been washed in the water of regeneration. That there is no longer any condemnation for those in Christ.

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That He has removed our transgressions from us. And truly, greater is

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His grace to save than our sin is to condemn. Greater is

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His grace to save than our sin will ever be to condemn us. Fear of man lays a snare, but trusting the

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Lord is safe. Trust in the Lord and love the Lord because His perfect love casts out fear and it casts out fear of men.

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So, let's put this one to death, brothers and sisters, and walk in the newness of life. Praise God.

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Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, You are the one true and living

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God and besides You there is no other. Lord, we praise You. We pray,

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God, that our worship today was a great offering to You, that it brought You great pleasure,

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Lord. I pray, God, that You would help us from this moment forward.

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If any of us are dealing with this issue, Lord, that You would impact our hearts and our minds.

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God, that You would help us to repent by Your Spirit, to walk in the good works that You've prepared beforehand.

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Lord, that we would not fear man that lays a snare, but we would trust in You to be put in a safe place.

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Truly, Lord, trusting in You is the safest place we can be. So, God, I thank

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You. Please bless the word that went out. Please be with Your people. I pray this all in the mighty name of the