Anxiety vs Gladness | Proverbs 12:25-28

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Check. Good afternoon, Apologia. How are you? Good. I am so glad to be here.

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I got to tell you I have spoken behind pulpits before but it is a true honor and blessing to be serving my own congregation today.

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If you would, I guess maybe a brief introduction. I've been here at Apologia about three and a half years.

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My wife, Summer, our four kids obviously as well. So tonight we are going to be continuing in the book of Proverbs.

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It will be in chapter 12, verses 25 -28. If you want to turn there with me, and I will give you a minute to turn.

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Proverbs, chapter 12, verses 25 -28, this is the word of the

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Lord. Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.

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One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

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Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth.

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And the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.

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Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you,

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Lord, for the gift of salvation in your Son. We thank you, Lord, for your unwavering mercy, your unwavering grace towards us,

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Lord. And we thank you that you are sovereign over everything in this universe. We thank you,

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Lord, that you are sovereign because it is due to that sovereignty, Lord, that we have hope. Lord, build hope within your people tonight in Christ, and it's in his name that we pray.

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Amen. So, today we're going to be covering four verses, the section of Proverbs that we're in.

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It's a series of 375 different sayings, jewels, if you would, of wisdom, to be believed and lived out by the wise.

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These nuggets of wisdom are presented in this way, right? Two contrasting ideas.

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You have the fool does this, but the wise does that.

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The righteous does this, the wicked does that.

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Each of today's four verses could be the jumping off point of an entire sermon, but we are going to be spending the bulk of the message addressing one very important topic, anxiety versus gladness.

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And the question of whether we are anxious or glad comes down to this.

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Are we believing God? Are we fearing him? Or are we believing a lie?

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Now, what is anxiety? Anxiety, it's a future -focused feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease.

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You see, most of us are not anxious about what we ate for dinner at Thanksgiving five years ago, unless you came to my place five years ago.

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Nor are we anxious about the flu that had us in bed watching The Price is Right in elementary school.

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But there really is a temptation to be anxious about future events.

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But what does the proverb say to us tonight? It says, anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down.

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We've all been there. We've all been weighed down by fear of what the future will bring.

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But the proverb also says this, a good word makes him glad.

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So what's a good word? For the purpose of today's message, I'm going to define a good word as this. A good word is a necessary truth that is expressed.

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It's true that if I eat well, my health will improve, right? But that truth doesn't really matter if I'm on the side of the road with a flat tire.

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The good word in that moment is that I have triple A, right? So no matter how true it is that eating better will improve my health, that's not the necessary good word for the moment when

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I'm on the side of the road. Not only must the good word be true, but it must also be the truth that is needed for the moment.

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It must be the necessary truth for a given situation. Likewise, it must be an expressed truth.

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Now, whether that good word is expressed by another or if we express it to ourselves, regardless, it must be expressed if it's going to result in gladness.

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Hopefully, I would sure hope here, we can all agree that there's no more necessary truth than that which

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God has told us about himself and his character. This truth, this truth is the good word that sits at the foundation under every other good word that can ever be expressed.

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The only reason, get this church you need to, the only reason goodness and gladness exist is because the good and glad God has created this universe and he governs it according to his purpose.

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Who is God? Who is Christ? What is the gospel? These, these are the foundational truths that give meaning to all of life.

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If you don't have these rights, no other good word will ever actually matter.

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These are the core truths we express to every person we have ever evangelized.

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Above all others, they are the foundations of our Christian life. Get these wrong and you get everything else wrong.

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Apologia. Y 'all get these questions right and I'm very thankful for that.

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I have seen it. I've witnessed you proclaiming these truths for years and it really is beautiful when

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I have the opportunity to see it. This is in our very DNA as a congregation, is it not? We're evangelists.

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We love to go tell God's truth to the world. But the topic of today's sermon might illustrate that no matter how good our theology is on paper, we all struggle at times with actually believing these truths that we so eloquently profess.

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We all have moments where no matter how faithful we are at proclaiming these truths to others, we fail to express these truths to ourselves.

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Now not only does our experience teach us that this wreaks absolute havoc on our

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Christian walk and our peace, the failure, if you would, to preach to ourselves robs us of gladness.

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But more importantly, the scriptures teach us that our failure to remember, believe, and internalize these truths, our failure to fear

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God, is the root of our sin, including the sin of anxiety.

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For most of us, I think this is obvious, but we are Christians. Let's establish it from the scriptures, shall we?

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I'll give you three examples. I'm going to give you one example from the law, one example from the prophets, one example from the writings, an example from each section of the

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Old Testament. As to the law, in Exodus chapter 20, after witnessing the gods of Egypt destroyed, after seeing

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Pharaoh humbled, after being backed up against the sea and witnessing the most powerful army in the world baptized in the wrathful waters of judgment, the people of God came to Mount Sinai, where God delivered the

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Ten Commandments through Moses, and then witnessing the power and the might of Yahweh, and standing at that mountain, we read this in Exodus chapter 20, verses 18 to 20, it says, now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, you speak to us, and we'll listen, but do not let

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God speak to us, lest we die. Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, listen to this part, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.

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Translation, fear God, so that you may keep his commandments. Right, that's the law.

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As to the prophets, in Isaiah, and you don't have to turn with me, but you can, in Isaiah chapter 35, verse 4, after this dreadful prediction of God's wrath being poured out upon the nations in chapter 34, in chapter 35 we read the following, it says, say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not, behold, your

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God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God, he will come and save you.

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Once again, translation, do not fear what is coming, fear God, that you may not sin.

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He is faithful to his promises. Do you believe that, church? And finally, the writings, both

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Psalm 13 and Psalm 43, which was read a moment ago, these are both short psalms, I'd encourage you to go read them later, but the premise behind both of them is this,

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David is downcast, his heart is heavy within him because of his enemies and his tribulations, he feels rejected and forgotten by God, but then

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David remembers who God is, he speaks truth to himself about God's character and his promises, and David concludes with this, in Psalm chapter 13, verse 5, he says, but I have trusted in your steadfast love, my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

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And again, in Psalm 43, verse 5, what we read this morning, why are you downcast, oh my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?

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Hope in God. For I shall again praise him, my salvation, and my

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God. The law, the prophets, the writings, all of the Old Testament testify to the link between not fearing

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God and then experiencing anxiety. The New Testament, likewise, makes this connection.

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What does Christ tell us about anxiety? He tells us to not be anxious, does he not?

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Do not be anxious about your life, about what you will eat or about what you will wear. But God is so good, he didn't just leave it there.

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He doesn't simply tell us, do not do this thing, we're actually told why.

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We're told why we are not to be anxious. Is not your life more than food and your body more than clothing?

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God feeds the birds. Are you not more valuable than a sparrow? God clothes the fields.

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Will he not also clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. The scriptures identify the source of this anxiety as a lack of faith.

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God is all -powerful, amen? We know that he is good. We know that he owns the cattle on a thousand hills and provides for all of them.

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Does he not also own you? Has he not adopted you as sons and daughters?

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And which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

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If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your

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Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?

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And elsewhere, we're commanded to ask. Did you know that? Did you know we're commanded to ask?

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Do not be anxious about anything, but in all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, listen to this, let your requests be known to God.

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And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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Now, once again, we know this, right? We've all heard it a thousand times. We know it.

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But what good is it, church, to know a truth, yet to not operate on it?

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What good is it to know where to go to have my oil changed, yet to never go have it changed?

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And then, engine explodes, right? That would be foolish. I'm not a mechanic. I don't know if an engine would explode for that, but that would be, that'd be dumb.

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Yet that's how many of us operate when we are in the midst of anxiety. There are real struggles in this world, church.

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Engines really do explode. Fear and worry really do lead to anxiety.

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But what possible reason could you have for languishing in that anxiety when your

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God has given you the solution? God has given you promises, church.

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Do you believe Him? Or do you think He's lying? Trust Him.

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Go to Him. Thank Him. Ask Him for what you need and experience His peace.

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Now, let me be clear about what I am not saying. Listen, I get it. I know that there are very, very real problems in this world.

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Pain and suffering that you never thought you would experience. Sickness, divorce, joblessness, the list goes on and on and on.

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And many of you here are in the midst of that suffering as we speak. Listen to me, please.

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I am not telling you that your pain isn't real. I'm not. It's very, very real.

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I'm not telling you to do what pagans do and to simply utter a few words as if they're a magic spell and then suddenly expect that everything's going to go away.

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It's all going to get better because you said these words. I'm not telling you that. But what I am telling you, and you need to hear me on this, your pain and your suffering is not without purpose.

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What I'm telling you is that your pain and your suffering does not have to lead to anxiety.

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And we are told that it ought not. Your trials and your tribulations, church, these have been designed for you by a sovereign

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God who loves you. And through them he is shaping you into the image of his

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Son. He is working all things together for your good. Once again, do you believe that?

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Do you believe that God has a purpose for your pain or do you think that God is lying?

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Do you get where I'm going with this, right? Because this is the struggle that we all have to face on a daily basis.

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Do you believe God or do you think that God is lying? Because that is the question that will ultimately determine how you're doing in here.

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Church, your Father is not shaping you from a distance.

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You are not alone. He is very near to you, child of God.

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And he's not lying, nor is God ignorant of what suffering feels like.

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Christ knows what it is to be poor and abandoned. He knows what it is to be brutalized and violated in the most horrific ways imaginable.

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And the Father knows what it is for his Son to die. Your Savior suffered all things on your behalf.

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He was tempted in all ways and yet he did not sin. And because of this, church, we have hope.

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The book of Hebrews tells us that it was by means of his suffering that the founder of our salvation was made perfect.

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Get this, all right? Really try to wrap your brain around this. The Father saw fit that the author of life, his

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Son, the perfect and spotless Lamb of God would suffer and be made perfect through that suffering.

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Yet we have the audacity to think that we are somehow exempt.

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Us, the one whose sins nailed our Savior to the tree, we think we're exempt from suffering.

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Brothers and sisters, we, however, do have a merciful and a faithful high priest.

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And did you know that Christ, if you are in him, he died for that audacity as well. Christ died for your audacity.

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Rejoice. And because we have a merciful and faithful high priest who lives forever to make intercession for you, we have hope.

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This is a good word. This is a necessary word. This is a true word.

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And this should be sweet to your soul. So whatever you hear, please do not hear me saying that your pain and your suffering is not real or that you just need to buck up, champ.

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But do hear this, Christian, you are not alone. Your God is near.

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Your Savior knows what it is to suffer. And because of this, there is purpose in your pain.

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And brothers and sisters, that purpose is never anxiety. Now, I'd be willing to bet that if I was going to give you guys a test on basic Christian teachings,

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I've thought about it, but I think you guys would ace it. If I said, hey, here, what are these basic Christian teachings?

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You guys would spout them off, right? Everybody here who's been a Christian, let's say a year or more, all of you could probably quote back to me

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Genesis 1 .1, John 1 .1, Ephesians 2, Deuteronomy 6 .4,

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right? Most of you kids could probably recite catechism questions until you're blue in the face.

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Actually, let's try that. Kids, are you listening? Do I have your attention? Kids, what is the chief end of man?

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Say it proud. Come on louder. Let's try this again. Kids, what is the chief end of man?

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Very good. How about this one? Children, who is the first and best of beings? See, these truths have been stored up in your hearts, undoubtedly, from the very beginning of your

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Christian life. These truths are more precious than gold and silver.

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And on that day of temptation, it is the words of God that are stored up in our heart that keep us from sinning against the

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Holy One. Apologia, the human authors of scripture knew these truths.

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Our Reformed forebearers knew these truths. Christians from all ages have known these truths.

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And brothers and sisters, you know these truths. In Christ, these are the foundation of our hope.

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These truths are the foundation of our peace. And listen, the foundation of our very existence is the character of the triune

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God and His promises. As Calvinists, we especially know this, don't we?

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We get it. God is sovereign. But oh, how quickly we forget about our foundation when the trials and the tribulations of this world smack us in the face.

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When the cancer comes. When our bodies are failing. When a loved one abandons the faith or we're facing eviction or an empty fridge.

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How quickly we are tempted to close our eyes and our minds and our hearts to the beautiful promises of our sovereign

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King. There is beauty in these simple truths.

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And if we get these wrong, if we forget about God's power and love and faithfulness to His promises, we are, of all people, without hope.

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Now don't get me wrong. Don't hear me saying something I'm not, right? There is glory in studying and understanding the depths and the riches of scripture and theology.

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Do it. Seriously, do it. It's good. But might I suggest that if you're faltering in your faith, if you're downcast and full of anxiety and fear and worry, it's probably not because you don't understand the differences between infralapsarianism and superlapsarianism.

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If you're struggling with the sins of anxiety and fear and worry, you have probably forgotten something much, much more foundational.

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God is God. You are not. God is sovereign.

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You are not. God has determined the end from the beginning.

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He sits in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. You do not.

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Do you believe this, church? Or is God lying?

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Many of us, many, many, many of us can expound upon the riches and the depths of God's mercy and grace on the streets.

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I've seen it. We sing hymns about the one who holds the universe in the palms of His nail -scarred hands.

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And then we get cancer. Or we reach the end of our money before we reach the end of the month.

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Or, heaven forbid, we order clothes for our unborn daughter and find out that we will be placing her in a casket before she ever has the chance to wear those clothes.

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Suddenly, all of that grand theology is reduced to ashes. How does this happen, brothers and sisters?

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Was God surprised by your cancer? Was God surprised by your suffering?

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How can we have such a deep understanding of Scripture and the character of our

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God, yet when the promised tribulations of this life actually appeared, all we can see is our suffering and not the one who suffered all things on our behalf?

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Can we be honest here? Can we be honest for just a minute and admit that we have all been there?

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All of us have had hearts that are weighed down by the worries and the anxieties of this world.

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As a matter of fact, is that not the very thing that brought many of you to the foot of the cross to begin with?

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You were weary. You were heavy laden. You were tired of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps day in and day out with no end in sight.

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And even when you tried, you failed. You couldn't do it.

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Yet, you found rest and comfort and forgiveness and peace and gladness in the good word of the

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Savior. And like David in Psalm 43 that we read before service, we've all had that moment, right?

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What does he say? He says, Why are you cast down, O my soul? Who is

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David talking to? David's talking to himself.

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Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me, hoping

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God? For I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my

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God. It's almost like Solomon, the one who penned today's passage, heard this principle from his dad, isn't it?

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That's the inheritance we want for our children, right? This is the good inheritance we want for our children, that they would have the words of God within them.

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Solomon heard this from his dad, and what a beautiful inheritance he received from David. In today's text, in Proverbs chapter 12, 25, once again it says,

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Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.

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Ultimately, the good word that we need is the good news of the cross. I mentioned at the beginning of tonight's service that we have four verses, right?

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And that each one of these verses could very well stand on its own as its own sermon, that's true. But there is a tie that binds them together.

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Dare I say there's a unifying theme that sits under all of the wisdom literature, fear of the

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Lord. Proverbs 1 .7, Proverbs 9 .10, 14 .27,

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Proverbs 16 .6, Psalm 111, verse 10. We could go on and on, right? Do yourselves a favor, if you weren't here, you didn't listen to Pastor Jeff's initial sermon on this, go back, listen to it, it will bless you.

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But all of this can be summed up, I would argue, like this, Ecclesiastes 12 .13,

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the end of the matter, all has been heard, fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

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Do you want knowledge? Fear God. Do you want wisdom?

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Fear God. Do you want good understanding, insight, hatred of evil, long life, satisfaction, comfort, gladness, do you want peace and rest?

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Fear God and keep his commandments. What is anxiety, if not a lack of peace and rest?

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And according to wisdom, what is the solution for a lack of peace and rest?

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What is the solution for a heart that is weighed down? I bet you can guess the answer, fear

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God. Saints, you know the scriptures, you know the simple truths of the

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Christian faith, you know Christ. I am not here tonight to present anything new to you, on the contrary,

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I want to give you something very old. I want to gift you with something that you've heard a million times before and it truly is my prayer that by the

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Spirit of God, this old truth would be as sweet to your soul now as it was when you first believed.

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All of us, okay, all of us have the tendency to check out when we're being presented with something that we already know.

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This is common, we all do it, but might I suggest that it is that very tendency that leads to anxiety.

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Might I suggest that if your heart is weighed down by the very real and the very painful troubles of this world, that perhaps the truth you need to embrace is the good word that you've heard expressed so many times before.

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You need the gospel, it's what you needed when you first became a Christian and that is what you will need into eternity because that's your hope.

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You need the gospel, you need the good news, you need the good word. Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.

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We know this, right, we know this in our brain, we know this up here, but do you really know this in the depths of your being and do you actually live as if this is true?

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Because brothers and sisters, the way that we live illustrates what we are actually believing in that moment.

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Are you worried? Are you fearful? Are you anxious?

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If so, it's illustrating what you're believing in the moment.

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Be honest, alright? What is our knee -jerk, fleshly reaction when pain and suffering enter into our world?

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What do we say? In that moment, it is so easy to believe the lies that we're expressing to ourselves, to deceive yourself into believing that God could not possibly have a sovereign and good purpose in your suffering.

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Tell that to Christ. Tell that to the one who was brutalized and murdered according to the predetermined plan of God to purchase you as his own.

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Tell that to Christ. The most wicked thing that has ever occurred in the history of mankind, the most wicked thing that has ever occurred was purposed by God.

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It was wielded by him as the means by which he would bring many sons to glory.

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The means by which he would bring you to glory. God has a good and holy purpose for your suffering.

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Do you believe him? If not, it's no wonder you're still crippled by anxiety.

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If not, you are lying not only to yourself, saints, but if you believe that God is not in control and that he does not have a good and holy purpose in everything, then you're not only lying to yourself, but you are lying about God and what he has already said is true.

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Come on, Eric. You don't understand what I'm going through. You don't understand my pain or my suffering.

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You don't know how hard it's been in my life. I don't need to. Some of you

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I do, but I don't need to. God knows and God has always known, and yet he commands you, do not be anxious about anything.

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Can you see how what we believe about the character of God is so vital to Christian gladness?

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God is sovereign. God is holy. God is good, and he loves you,

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Christian. You can trust him. The end of the matter is this, fear

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God and keep his commandments. How many of you, don't show hands, how many of you have committed the sin, key in on that word, the sin of catching the flu or getting cancer?

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These concepts are silly. These are ridiculous, right? Because having the flu or having cancer is not sin.

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To be certain, these are both the result of living in a sinful and a fallen world.

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Yes, these are both enemies, by the way, that are being placed under the feet of our conquering king, but they are not sin, and God does not command you to never get sick.

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But you see, the problem that many of us have is that we treat anxiety as if it were the common cold.

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We treat it as if it's something that happens upon us totally outside of our control. But might I say, brothers and sisters, that is not the case.

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Nowhere does God say, thou shall not have the flu, but he does say, do not be anxious about anything.

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Church, you can yell out the answer if you know it, all right? What do we call it when

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God commands us to not do something, but we do it anyways? What do you call that?

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Sin. See, I knew your theology was good. We've got it. We know these things. But why do so many treat this particular sin as if it has its own special category?

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We wouldn't do that with any other sin. But my, oh my, how the pearl clutching starts when we bring up anxiety.

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At the beginning of your Christian walk, when you were weary and heavy laden, when the guilt and the shame of your sin was finally revealed to you and you were crushed, where did you turn?

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Where did you turn for comfort? Did you make excuses and justify your actions at that point?

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Did you lessen the reality of your situation before the thrice holy God? No. In that moment, you feared the

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Lord and you found rest. In that moment, when you realized that all of the condemnation that you rightfully deserve was gone, and your sins had truly been cast as far as the east is from the west, in that moment, this glorious truth was revealed to you.

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And it's beautiful. While we were still sinners,

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Christ died for us. In that moment of anxiety,

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Christ died for us. On your deathbed, Christ died for us.

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And echoing into eternity as you gaze upon the face of your Savior in glory, Christ died for you.

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And you will be like Him. Now if that is not a good word for the anxious heart,

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I don't know what is. But there's more. It gets better. You don't have to wait for that moment to be free from anxiety.

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You don't have to wait for that moment to be putting to death the sin of not fearing the

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Lord. Church, you are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus now.

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You can approach the throne of grace boldly now.

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God has given you a prescription for anxiety now.

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And unlike the prescriptions that are forced into the arms in this world, God's prescriptions actually work.

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Unlike Uncle Joe's cookies, the side effect of God's prescription is life.

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God's prescription works, saints. Do you believe that? What does God say? Rejoice.

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Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. And much as it was a command, do not be anxious.

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This too is a command. Rejoice in the Lord always. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

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The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

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And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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That doesn't make sense, Eric. I can't do that. How on earth will that fix anything?

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How is God going to give me peace in the midst of such misery?

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Listen, you don't need to understand how this peace works. You don't.

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As a matter of fact, God says that you can't fully understand it. This is the type of peace, right?

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The type of peace that he promises to give you is that type of peace, which is incomprehensible by you.

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Creature, God is God. You are not.

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Do you believe that? I've tried. I've tried and I've tried and it hasn't worked.

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Do it again. And again and again. If necessary, God has said it. That settles it.

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This is the important part. I'm not saying just do it, do it, do it. Do it and believe it. Repent of your sin of not believing

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God. Fear God and keep his commandments. The book of 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 6 to 11 puts it this way.

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Peter says, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he might exalt you, casting all of your anxieties on him.

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Big word here. Because. Because he cares for you.

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Be sober minded. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

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Resist him. Firm in your faith. And after you've suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to him be dominion forever and ever.

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Amen. You see, brothers and sisters, the means of our resistance against the devil, the means of our resistance against the lies that we preach to ourselves, the way that we conquer the sin of anxiety is not by pulling ourself up by the bootstraps and trying, right?

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It's not by the long -term consumption of medication. But I do want to say that there may be a time for medication, but that's not a long -term solution.

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The problem of anxiety is a spiritual problem. The cure to anxiety likewise is a spiritual cure.

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The weapons of our warfare are the words of the living and true

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God. Is that not precisely how our Lord combated the lies of the devil in the wilderness?

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Right? He's the Son of God. He created Satan. He holds the universe together by the word of his power and certainly could have cast

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Satan into hell at that very moment, but that is not what he did, is it, saints? What did

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Christ do? What did Christ do in that moment of temptation? He struck at the enemy with a weapon that is sharper than any two -edged sword.

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He struck at the enemy with a weapon that is more powerful than legions of angels. He struck the deceiver with the expressed truth of God.

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We must do likewise. The Apostle Paul says it this way in the book of 2

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Corinthians, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

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We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey

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Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.

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Did you hear that? The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but they do have divine power to destroy strongholds, arguments, and lofty opinions, even our own lofty opinions.

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Solomon tells us today that anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad and that one who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

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This is the way of the wicked. Anxious thoughts lead them astray. This is the way of the righteous, guiding your neighbor and speaking good words.

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Which one do you want to be? You see, here's the problem. Long before you're able to guide your neighbor and speak good words to others, which you should be doing, by the way, you had better be speaking those good words to yourself.

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You need to be practicing righteousness. Just like prior to Christ you practiced your sin, you got better at it, you figured out new ways to do it and new ways to hide it, now, new creation, now you must practice righteousness.

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Practice it. Get better. Learn from your mistakes. Go back to the Word. Correct those mistakes.

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Repeat over and over and over and over again. You must be reminding yourself constantly of God's good promises and His perfect character.

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This is your only hope if you're ever going to put to death the sin of anxiety. We know this much.

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Life is hard. Trials and tribulations are coming.

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Suffering is on its way. It's not a question of if, brothers and sisters, it's not.

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It's a question of when. And if in that moment, in that moment of anxiety, you have not been preparing for battle, you will fail.

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Perhaps you're in the midst of anxiety right now. I don't want that for you, saints.

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I don't. God does not want that for you, saints. That is not what

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He created you for, Christians. And more importantly, that is not what He re -created you for.

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Be practicing righteousness and know this. God is always faithful.

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And He will most certainly accomplish in you, child of God, exactly what

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He intends to accomplish in you. He is conforming you into the image of His Son.

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It's happening. He's working.

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And when you fail, I pray you do not, but when you fail, know this.

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You have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, and it is finished.

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Your righteousness has been accomplished by another. Repent. Confess your sins.

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He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

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And if you were in Christ, God would be unfaithful not to. Is God unfaithful?

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Can God be unfaithful? Of course not. Do you believe that?

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Do you? Please believe that, saints.

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Please believe that. Because this is good news. There is hope for tomorrow.

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Church, God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self -control.

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Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, but share in the suffering for the gospel by the power of God.

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God has not given you a spirit of fear.

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So what are you afraid of? What are you worried about?

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And ask yourself this, is that fear and that worry coming from God? Or is that coming from you?

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Who are you believing? Perhaps the problem in that moment, brothers and sisters, is that you are looking to yourself for the solution.

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And can I share something with you? Please hear me if you haven't been listening, right? If you look to yourself as the solution, the only possible result is more anxiety.

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You are not big enough, nor are you sovereign enough for that task.

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This is why. This is precisely why we needed another to accomplish it on our behalf.

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We are the problem. We are the source of anxiety.

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Christ is the solution. Believe Him. Now, a little point of wisdom in applying this truth, yes?

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Anxiety in a man's heart truly does weigh him down. And a good word really does make it glad.

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But listen, when you are the one with the good news, okay, when you're the one with the good word for a person in the midst of their suffering, you don't always need to give a theological treatise.

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The theology lesson ideally needs to happen way before the tragedy. The theology needs to be learned here first, so that it can be applied with wisdom at the moment of impact.

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I'm not saying don't give God's wisdom. Don't hear me saying that. But I'm saying you don't always have to get into the deepest of theology lessons as soon as somebody lost their child, okay?

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Sometimes it's simply better to mourn with those who are genuinely mourning. A few years ago, when our daughter

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Mara died, when we were mourning the loss of our precious little girl, there was nothing, there was nothing to be said in that moment that we didn't already know.

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All of our rich theological knowledge was expressed back to us by the way of tearful hymns.

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But without the truth that was expressed in those hymns, we would have been lost.

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And ultimately, that truth, that is the good word that all people need to ground their life upon, yes?

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But you see, the good word that was expressed to us by others in that moment came in the form of flowers, casseroles, and cards, reminding us of what truth?

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We are not alone. In that moment, that was the only thing that was appropriate. We weren't alone.

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We knew that. But it was nice to have the reminder from saints. But even those flowers and casseroles and cards, those too were resting upon the very same beautiful foundation that we're talking about here tonight.

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All truth, all wisdom, all knowledge, all peace, all righteousness, all goodness, all of it is hidden in Christ.

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Therefore, fear him. Trust him. Obey his commandments.

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He is good. Now, did that bring our daughter back to us?

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Nope. Did it remove our pain and our sorrow?

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Not even a little. But because of God's good promises towards us, we could be glad.

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Not glad at the circumstance. You need to hear this. It's not glad at the circumstance, but it is glad in the

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Savior. We are die -hard

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Calvinists here at Apologia, yeah? Amen. For the one Calvinist over there, thank you.

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We understand the sovereignty of God. We understand that God has ordained all things whatsoever that come to pass.

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We know this, yes? Yes. But we also know that just because God is sovereign and has ordained all things, that does not remove our responsibility.

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God has ordained the ends, but he has also ordained the means.

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And it is the lazy person who behaves otherwise. Do not be anxious about what you will eat or drink.

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Yeah, but get a job. Don't worry about what clothes you will wear, what house you will live in.

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True, but manage your finances. Can being anxious add a single moment to your lifespan?

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No, go take care of your body. In Proverbs 12, verse 27, Solomon says the following, whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth.

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Or said otherwise, I kind of prefer the second translation. A lazy man does not roast his prey, but the precious possession of a man is diligence.

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Yes, God is faithful, right? Yes, God is faithful. God is faithful. We need to know this. He has created a world, he's created a world where a bird can airdrop a pre -fertilized seed into your garden from a hundred miles away.

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He causes water to evaporate out of the Indian Ocean, transport invisibly across the world, materialize over your garden, water that seed, and three months later you have bell peppers.

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That's sovereignty. That's power. I don't think that atheists can explain that one, but anyways, even with all of that sovereign direction, even with all of that providence, even with magical bird gardeners, you still got to go pick the pepper.

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And God has even built within you the mechanism of hunger to get you off of the couch to pick that pepper.

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Sorrow, fear, worry, these are mechanisms designed to lead you to Christ.

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But here's what this lawful person does. God's sovereign, why try? Nothing matters.

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Nothing I do matters. God's sovereign. Brothers and sisters, that's lazy. It is sinful.

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It is a lack of the fear of God, because the same God who told the bell pepper to grow also told you that if a man will not work, he shall not eat.

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You see, the slothful man may have food in his freezer, but he ain't gonna get up to cook it.

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And as a result, he will not eat. And if he doesn't eat for long enough, he's gonna die.

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If this is true, brothers and sisters of the body, how much more does this hold true for the soul?

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Proverbs 12, 27, a lazy man does not roast his prey, but the precious possession of a man is diligence.

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Be diligent, brothers and sisters. Be diligent, not simply in the work of your hands, but in the work of your minds.

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Who do you believe? Okay, be diligent in your mind. This diligence is a precious possession.

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Therefore, Paul says in Romans chapter 12, therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

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What you are doing, royal priesthood, is presenting all of your life to God.

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Your actions, your thoughts, your emotions, all of it is presented to God as spiritual worship.

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How so? Well, Paul continues. He says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

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Church, what you do matters. Because of Christ, everything matters.

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And what you think matters. Everything you do, everything you do, including how you respond to trials and suffering, matters.

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But know this, you are not suffering alone.

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God has promised that he will never leave you nor forsake you. So much so that after bearing the wrath of God for your sins, after being pierced through the hands and the sides for your anxiety, your

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Savior ascended into heaven and along with the Father they sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in you as the new, eternal, temple dwelling of the thrice holy

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God. Can you get much closer than that? God is with you. He has not left you alone. And by that very same power, he has raised you to new life.

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You are new creations. And one day you will pass out of the land of the dying and into the land of the living.

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You are assured of this reality. But why? Christ has given you his righteousness.

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And verse 28 tells us, in the path of righteousness is life and in its pathway there is no death.

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Now if the Son of God has already suffered for your anxiety, do not call him a liar and present him to open shame by acting as if that never took place.

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God is with you. Here's my refrain, do you believe him?

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Or is he lying? God has said he is with you. Do you believe him? Please believe him.

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You have not been left without the tools necessary to honor God when anxiety smacks you in the face.

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Take it captive. How? By the word of God. No temptation we're told, including the temptation by the way to be anxious, no temptation has overcome you except that which is common to man.

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And then two of the most beautiful words that I ever find in scripture. No temptation has overcome you except that which is common to man.

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But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure.

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What is that escape brothers and sisters? What is the escape from the temptation towards anxiety?

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What is the escape from unbelief? Be renewing your mind Paul says. Fear God and then obey his commandments.

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You have the righteousness of Christ. Now practice righteousness.

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This is a reality, now practice it. In that pathway there is no death.

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Okay, I'll finish with this. Christian, if you are weighed down in your heart by anxiety, okay, if you're failing to believe the promises and the faithfulness of God, remind yourself of your foundation.

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Speak true words, good words, God's words.

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He is faithful. Remind yourself of the basic truths of the

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Christian life. Believe them and look to the cross because brothers and sisters, it is there on that tree that was spoken into existence by your

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Savior and nurtured to maturity by him to be the altar of his ultimate sacrifice.

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There on that tree, the battle was already won on your behalf. Rejoice in the

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Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.

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The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

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And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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This is the way to gladness. Rejoice in God and his sovereignty.

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Rejoice in his Savior and your adoption. Rejoice in your forgiveness and rejoice in the fact that with faces unveiled, you will see your high priest face to face and you will be like him.

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Again, I say rejoice. This is the way to comfort.

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Believing in the core of our being, the fundamental truths about God and Christ and the gospel, repenting of our unbelief when it arises, casting ourselves at the foot of the cross again and again and again and again over and over and over again, not as a one -time action, right?

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This isn't a one -off, time -bound action, brothers and sisters, but this is the way of life of the Christian. This is how we are conformed into the image of our

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Savior, fearing the Lord as he is worthy to be feared.

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And when pain comes, when trials and suffering enter your world, and they will, when the temptation towards anxiety comes, you, y 'all, of all people, have the ability and the knowledge to respond appropriately by the

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Spirit of God. You, of all people, know the true value of life and the heinous reality of death.

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But unlike the unbelievers, we do not mourn as those who have no hope.

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We mourn deeply and grieve deeply, precisely because we know the truth.

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And more importantly, we are known by the truth. We are known by the one who paid the ultimate price to conquer sin and Satan and death, and who rose again from the dead.

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This is the good word that brings gladness. This is the good word that brings gladness in the midst of trials and tribulations and suffering.

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Fear the Sovereign Lord as he is worthy of being feared. Your God is faithful and just.

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He is merciful and loving. He will most certainly grant you an incomprehensible peace, one that is rooted in the very nature of the triune

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God. Your God can not lie.

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Believe this. And then, along with the saints of old who are currently rejoicing in the presence of our

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Lord, you too, at this very moment, right now, you too, in the midst of true suffering, will be equipped to sing like we did at the beginning of service.

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Jesus, the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease, tis music in the sinner's ears, tis life and health and peace.

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Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the goodness that is your word and the goodness that is your spirit.

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Lord, trials truly do come into this world. Suffering is real.

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But Father, you are our rock and our foundation. And it's in you, our sovereign

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King, that we rejoice. It is in you and you alone that we find our peace and our rest.

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And it is my prayer today, Father, that you would apply this good truth, this good word to your saints.