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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org
The Disciples- From Fear to Faith
We are so glad that you have come to join Cornerstone Church this morning.
My name is Michael. I want to welcome you this morning.
Before John comes up and has a few announcements, I want to be certain that everyone knows that the
Church Center app has everything that you need to know to connect with Cornerstone.
You should have received a flyer from the greeters up front. It just puts up some things that are upcoming, like some of our church meetings and some ladies men's events, those kinds of things, especially the men's retreat and the ladies retreat.
Their QR codes are on there. You take your phone, you point at it with your camera, click on the link, and you're in.
You're there with all the information. So there's a lot of things in there that will help you connect with Cornerstone.
John, you have a few announcements for us? I want to say good morning to everybody who made it through the deep snow.
The roads are pretty clear, but the snow is beautiful. I think that just being able to see how
God, in his providence, provides this way. You're going to talk about that in a minute, so I'll let it go.
But it is good to be here. I'm going to open us up in Proverbs 15, verse 4. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge.
Let me read that again. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge.
So it's important for us, first of all, to understand this concept of having a heart of knowledge.
I'm sorry, a heart of understanding. I think that understanding really is a gift that we get from God, through the power of the
Holy Spirit within us, working within us. It's a gift that God gives us so that we can perceive what real truth is.
Now, before salvation, we are dead in our trespasses and sins. Real understanding cannot be, but with salvation comes the gift of the
Holy Spirit, and with that, I believe, comes within our hearts the ability to understand and perceive what is truth, not what is promulgated.
You see, the world promotes a perception that what our feelings are, where we want to go, defines things that are going to satisfy our flesh, satisfy our own worldly desires.
But understanding is a gift that comes from God. I believe that when the heart is driven by God, true understanding motivates us to seek after true truth.
So the heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge. Don't let the world motivate you or distract you to pursuing something other than his knowledge and truth, that understanding that comes from God.
That's our ability, that's our blessing. Some announcements that I want to give you.
I'm going to start out with tomorrow at 7 o 'clock, we have a congregational meeting. We announced it last week, we're announcing it today.
Tomorrow is a called congregational meeting. This will be an amazing opportunity.
For the last many years, we have been talking about how is God going to lead us with regard to the fact that our building, our facility, only accommodates so much.
To gain access to additional seating, we've had to lose two of the classrooms that were here.
Pastor Jeff, when you came, there were actually two more classrooms. So we've been thinking and considering and seeking
God's hand. And so several years ago, there was a piece of property. Well, let's buy that piece of property.
But we couldn't. And then later we said, but maybe now it's time we tried to buy that property.
And we couldn't. And then this woman bought it and she wanted to build. It didn't work out for her. She sold it and then he sold it.
Now there's a gentleman who owns that property who's building a house. And it seems like God is opening a door for us to consider buying that house, which would immediately give us things like classroom space, meeting space, a kitchen, additional bathrooms, perhaps rooms for somebody to live in.
There are so many advantages to buying that house. And so Pastor Jeff, last week, gave a great overview about what this opportunity looks like.
And that's what tomorrow's meeting is going to center on. We are looking for congregational authorization to place an offer on that house and to identify funds that would allow us to complete whatever needs to complete.
Here's another, oh, by the way, there are some things that still need to be done. And what cool will it be as if we as a church get together for work days over there, guys, you can put your tool belts on.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. And we can, we can put a trim work, we can paint, we can do this.
What an amazing opportunity for fellowship that would be. Please come back tomorrow at seven.
We're going, we have some membership discussions, but mostly all we're going to talk about that, that house next door.
Next week is the NFC championship game football and the men have had a long standing tradition of getting together for fellowship on that night.
The Stocklands have graciously offered their house again, and rumor has it there's going to be some good food.
Brenda's nodding, hopefully. So please sign up so they know how many there is a fee to help cover the costs.
You can sign up on the app. You can sign up Pastor Jeff's, Pastor Graham, there are ways to link up or they could probably just talk to you.
You're not that scary. No. Okay. So this is not just a men's fellowship.
If you have sons that you would like to bring dads, it's up to you if you think they're old enough to really appreciate and to be part of it.
That leads us into tonight at six o 'clock.
We have our prayer meeting and there are things that are coming up that are so significant in the life of our church, whether it's, whether it's going to be tomorrow's meeting, whether it's times of fellowship, come back at six o 'clock tonight for our time of prayer.
We look forward to having you there. So moving forward from that, next two weeks from today starts our starting point class.
If you're new to the church, you would like to learn about more about the church or about the Evangelical Free Church.
If you're interested in membership, it's a three week class about that. It will be held during second service the first three
Sundays in February. You don't have to sign up to show up and we look forward to seeing you there.
Okay. Now some cool opportunities coming up in April. Then we have our annual retreat.
It will be in the Pocono Mountain Bible Camp. It will be the 12th to the 14th,
Friday to Sunday. It will be us up there and we're looking for, if you've never been to the
Pocono Mountain Bible Camp, it is a great venue for us to have our retreat at and we're looking forward to it.
The sign up again, please do that. It's on the app, it's on the website, it's on Pastor Jeff's, Pastor Graham.
So please sign up for that. Again, it's for the men and for their sons. Dads, you know if your sons are old enough to be able to appreciate.
Your friends, you don't have to be attending this church to go. You have friends, you have relatives. Let's make this time a great time of teaching and fellowship.
Now rumor has it the women have gotten so jealous that the guys have this annual retreat that they're going to have one and it's going to be two weeks after the men's retreat up at Pocono Mountain Bible Camp.
So Pastor Jeff is strongly encouraging that the women come for a good time of fellowship and being with one another up there.
It is a retreat where there will be speakers, there will be other churches there. Again, the sign up is there.
So women, that will be two weeks after the men's. So I guess that's the 26th to the 28th.
So that's for the women's retreat. Let's turn to prayer. Lord, we come to you today in worship, in acceptance of your sovereign authority over all.
We come today seeking to hear your word and to receive truth.
We come to you because your truth is the only answer to Satan's deception, is the ultimate protection against the desires of the flesh.
Thank you, Father, for the gift of your Son who took our sins in payment on the cross and for the gift of the
Holy Spirit that indwells, guides, and reveals your truth that we may understand it.
We pray, Lord, that our time of worship today will be for your glory and that we will draw closer to you in it.
We pray you'll be with Pastor Jeff as he brings your word and that you will open our hearts to hear, to receive, to grow closer to you.
We pray this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.
Let's stand as we sing. It says in Hebrews 4 16, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.
I believe you gave sight to the blind. I believe that the dead came to life.
I believe there are wonders and signs, and you're still the same.
I believe every word that you said. I believe there are scars in your head.
I believe their unworthiness will have end, and you'll never change.
I will tell of your wonders, sing of your grace.
The God of creation knows me by name. The Lord is faithful, yesterday, now, and always.
Always. Your mercy is mighty, age after age.
All generations will bow down in praise. The Lord is faithful, yesterday, now, and always.
Always. I believe you will come in the clouds.
I believe you are here even now. In your presence
I know there is power, power to save.
Always. You are, you are, you always will be
God. You are, you are, you always will be
God. Yes, you always will be God.
I will tell of your wonders, sing of your grace. The God of creation knows me by name.
The Lord is faithful, yesterday, now, and always.
Your mercy is mighty, age after age.
From the ends of the earth, from the depths of the sea, from the heights of the heavens, your name be praised.
From the hearts of the weak, from the shouts of the strong, from the lips of all people, this song we raise forth.
Throughout the endless ages, you will be crowned with praises,
Lord. Most high, exalted in every nation, sovereign of all creation,
Lord. Most high, be magnified. From the ends of the earth, from the depths of the sea, from the heights of the heavens, your name be praised.
Lord, we are redeemed. We are thankful that you came to this earth. Despite the sin that we had in our hearts from the fall of the garden, we come to you,
Lord, because you are the God of all creation. Lord, we want you to speak to us this morning.
Open our eyes. Soften our hearts. We pray for Pastor Jeff as he delivers your word to us.
Challenge us, Lord, to be more like you. Speak to us this morning.
Speak, O Lord, as we come to you to receive the food of your holy
Word. Take your truth, let it deepen us, shape and fashion us in your likeness, that the light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory.
Teach us, Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility.
Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity.
Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority.
Words of power that can never fail, let the truth prevail over unbelief.
Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds.
Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us.
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we'll stand on your promises.
And by faith we'll walk as you walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory.
Some of the ladies in first service were worried about me because I'm wearing short sleeves on the coldest day of the year.
But I'm not as unreasonable as it looks because on days like this, this is when the heat is cranking the most in the building.
And it's like sunny Florida up here. It's nice and warm in the pulpit. I do wear a coat when I go outside, be assured.
So I'm not as unreasonable as I look. Let's go to the
Lord in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, as we see the snow, the beautiful driven snow, we are reminded that the blood of Jesus washes us whiter than snow.
Thank you, Father, for the glory of creation that we can see your splendor in the things you have created, how the snow falls from the sky and how it covers the trees.
The beauty of your creation, I even saw a fox running through our neighborhood in the snow yesterday and just the splendor of the things you have made.
I am in awe of you, Lord. The testimony of who you are is everywhere before our eyes.
We give you glory for who you are and what you have done. And we thank you,
Lord, for this specific revelation, the word of God, which now we open and we pray that as we open the word, you would work in our hearts,
Lord. We pray that faith would overtake fear and diminish the fear in our lives.
Where faith rises, fear must flee. And so we pray for those who come this morning with a spirit of fear, that you would replace that with a spirit of power and of a sound mind.
Grant to your children that we would have increased faith. Lord, we believe.
Help our unbelief. In Jesus' name. Amen. Stepping out further in faith actually increases the danger to which we are exposed, while at the same time diminishing our fear.
Stepping out in faith actually puts us in a position to be in danger. The missionary who leaves family and friends and comforts behind and goes overseas to a pagan culture or perhaps to an animistic people or perhaps where there are cannibals in Erie and Jaya, as my friends
Gary and Johanna Fowler did, and I used to know in Florida. These people who step out in faith are exposing themselves to danger.
So why is it that these people are the least fearful people you've ever met?
They're at the most danger and yet they have the least fear. Faith and fear cannot coexist.
There is a street preacher who does the Love Life Ministry in Chicago.
He will preach in front of the murder mills where women go in to have abortions. And just this last week as he was preaching, he was assaulted right in front of that building.
Him stepping out in faith to preach the gospel resulted in greater danger and yet he walks with faith and no sign of fear in him.
We ourselves were preaching and sharing the gospel gently and quietly and peacefully in front of the
Cherry Hill Women's Center. There was a King's Highway. There was a large median and then a large lane for parking, a shoulder of the road, which was at least 12 feet wide, when all of a sudden we looked back and a car was swerving out of his lane into the shoulder.
We saw in the window his gnarled face. He was screaming as he steered his car to mow down this group of prayer warriors.
At the last minute, he swerved. We could feel the breeze of his car go by us.
We were at great danger because when you step out in faith to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the forces of hell rage against the children of God.
And where faith increases, fear diminishes. We felt no fear.
We called the cops. We reported the situation. But we had faith that God was protecting his children, even when we were at the greatest danger.
Just on November 15th in Glendale, Arizona, there was a pastor named
Hans Schmidt. He pastors in the Victory Chapel. He's 26 years old, young, beautiful wife with two beautiful little children.
But his practice was to daily or at least a few times a week go out to the corner of 51st
Street and Pura in Glendale, Arizona, and preach the gospel. He was a street preacher.
He would put out banners and invite people to church that evening. He was doing that on November 15th, all by himself on the corner as cars passed by when he was ruthlessly shot in the head.
It looked like he was going to die. But all over the country, many of us have been praying, and by God's grace, he has woken up from that coma.
He seems to be regathering his strength, and it looks like God is restoring him to his family.
So what do you do when danger increases, when this corner is haunted by an evil man who hates the gospel of Jesus and who has literally shot their pastor in the head?
What does the church do in Glendale, Arizona? I'll tell you what Victory Chapel did. Rather than having one preacher on the corner, the next day, the whole church was standing on that corner.
And ever since then, there's been at least 20 of them out there every day preaching the gospel where the pastor used to stand.
Most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged by what was suffered, as in the book of Philippians.
When Paul suffered, it encouraged the believers to step out in faith. They were not captive to fear, even when danger was at its peak.
Faith and fear cannot coexist. The resurrected
Christ speaks forth the increase of faith, like speaking wind over the congregation.
When his word goes forth, the resurrected Christ awakens faith. And where faith grows, fear diminishes.
Let's learn this in John chapter 20, verses 19 to 23.
John 20 and 21 are the resurrection appearances of Christ.
The purpose of the entire book of John, and here the resurrection accounts, is recorded for us in John 20, verses 30 and 31.
Right in the middle of the resurrection accounts. So you have Peter and John running to the empty tomb and discovering that it's empty, and John believes right away.
Then you have Mary Magdalene thinking that Jesus is the gardener. Today we'll have the disciples in the room.
The doors are locked and he appears to them. Then we'll have doubting Thomas.
And that brings us to John 20, verses 30 and 31. John inserts the reason his gospel is written.
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.
But why are these things written? Why did John choose these particular things? But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God. And that by believing, you may have faith in his name.
Every unbeliever who encounters the gospel of John encounters signs, evidence, eyewitness accounts that Jesus rose from the dead, indicating he is the
Son of God, he is the Christ. So this book is written to unbelievers in order that they might believe.
But John is also very much writing to believers. His goal is to strengthen the faith of those who already believe.
Lord, we believe, help our unbelief. We believe, but we're struggling here.
We need greater faith. We need an increase in faith. And so very much like Hebrews chapter 11, the resurrection accounts, each one are meant to awaken faith.
And John is very strategic in the stories that he tells and how he tells them. Matthew, Mark, and Luke have already recorded the evidence of the resurrection.
When John writes, he is very specific in what he tells and the details that he shares.
So when he tells the story of Mary Magdalene, here is a woman who is deluded with false beliefs, that the body was stolen and somebody put it somewhere.
And it's captivating her mind, and she's fixating on that. And John wants to show us that faith is taking
God at his word. She was believing lies. She was taking demons at their word.
But faith is taking God at his word. Today, we will see another description of faith.
We don't have here a definition of faith. We have a description. Faith is taking
God at his word. Faith is stepping out despite your fears.
That's what we'll learn today. Next week, faith is overcoming your doubts.
Because doubting Thomas won't believe until he sees more evidence. Faith is overcoming doubt.
And then we'll see as the fishermen go back to work, faith is working. It works.
Faith is not alone. It works for God. Faith is love.
Faith expresses itself in love, as Peter must learn, feed my sheep. And faith endures to the end, as John learns.
It continues and it perseveres all the way through the end of life. In other words, what
John is doing in the resurrection accounts is he is awakening faith and he is strengthening the faith of the believer.
Now, each of us sitting here today will to some degree or another struggle with fear.
Fear. In some cases, it can be crippling. In some cases, it can have you locked up inside of your room behind barred doors.
Accomplishing nothing in ministry, accomplishing nothing for the sake of the name because it is fear that grips the mind of a believer.
And John here will address that head on. John 20, 19 to 23.
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the
Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you.
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the
Lord. Amen. It says,
Jesus said to them again, peace be with you as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.
And when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the
Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.
The first principle that we gather, especially from verses 19 and 20 is that fear must fade as faith rises.
Fear must fade as faith rises. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, this is the
Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead. Now we need to understand from the other gospels what they know at this point in time.
Mary Magdalene, Salome, the other Mary, and some other women have seen the resurrected
Christ. Mary thought that he was the gardener until Jesus said,
Mary, and she answered, Ramboni, she recognized him. And the women went back to the apostles and told them.
But Luke 24 verses 10 and 11 says that they did not believe the women because they thought it was only idle tales.
Now that's never happened before, has it, guys? That a man would be dismissive of his wife thinking these are just emotional stories of other women.
They're just emoting, they're just hopeful. And so the men, the majority of the apostles, are not yet believing.
They consider these to be idle tales. Now we do know that Jesus appeared to Peter who now believes.
John believed as soon as he saw the empty tomb. The two on the road to Emmaus believed because in the breaking of bread, they recognized him.
And they got on their horse, man, they ran seven miles back to tell the others. So now the others are hearing stories from everybody who claimed to see the
Lord, but they themselves are not yet believing. Some of them. So here we have another appearance of Jesus.
Notice the doors being locked where the disciples were. Why? For fear.
And this is John's point in this particular pericope. This section is about fear. Locking people up, closing them up inside when they should be going and telling.
You tell me, on the day that Jesus rose from the dead, where should the apostles have been?
On the housetops, on the mountains, going everywhere, telling people that Jesus rose from the dead.
Instead, here's the point of the text. They're locked up. The Greek word here means barring the door.
They've gone inside. They've shuttered everything. They've locked themselves in for fear of the
Jews. And Jesus comes and shows himself. Now, is he a ghost? Is he only a phantom?
Is he just a spirit? And that's why he can appear in their midst. No. Jesus rose bodily from the grave.
His glorified body is somehow different in that he can pass through walls.
Maybe he just moves the molecules of the wall around as his body goes through it.
But I'll tell you this. When they rolled a stone in front of the tomb, he didn't need an angel to roll it away in order to get out.
The stone was not rolled away to let Jesus out. It was rolled away to let the witnesses in.
He rose from the dead and bodily being the son of God, he had all power within himself to walk right out of that tomb.
So we see he walks right into the room. Doors locked. That doesn't keep him out. He goes right into the midst of where they are.
I'm sure they're startled. So the first thing he says is also a word that we need breathed over us.
Peace. Peace be with you.
He breathes over them. He grants them faith by opening their eyes to see him in the flesh.
And when their faith rises, notice in the text a transition from this fearful, locked up state, this anxiety that gripped them because of this fear of the
Jews. Notice the change that happens in verse 20. When he said this, he showed them his hands and sighed.
Then the disciples were glad. Then the disciples were glad.
When we use the word glad in English, it kind of refers to almost like a muted kind of joy, right?
Oh, I was glad to hear that my team won. Oh, I was glad to hear that your kid's going to the school.
It's kind of a muted joy. The word glad, that doesn't do justice to the Greek word ekarison.
It means overjoyed. But the transition here is then, as in they were fearful to the contrasting position, they were overjoyed.
Then they were glad when they saw the Lord. The point is, when your eyes are open, the eyes of your faith are open to see the
Lord, the things that you're fearing so much that seems so daunting in your life, what you're worried about regarding your children, your marriage, your finances, your job situation.
All of these things can cause a believer to be gripped with fear and become insulated around that, locked in a prison of their own mind, their thoughts running wild.
But when you begin to look at Christ and when your eyes are open faith displaces that fear.
When your faith rises, then you are glad. Faith and fear do not coexist.
I love the story of Genesis 37 to 50. And we know that as the story of Joseph.
And it is the story of Joseph being sold by his brothers into slavery. And then as a
Christ figure, as a prefiguring of Christ, he is resurrected in a sense to bring deliverance to his brothers.
But this story is also about Judah. It's not only about Joseph, it's also about Judah.
The two stories are interwoven around themselves. And Judah in the first place is sinful and captive to fear.
Two of his older brothers, Simeon and Levi, desire to kill Joseph because they're so jealous of Joseph.
They want to shed his blood and kill him right there. But Reuben, the oldest, says, you know what, let's just throw him in this pit.
Let him languish and die there. And then he goes away and is surprised to find Judah's solution.
Judah, in a spirit of fear, is unwilling to stand up to the violent older brothers,
Simeon and Levi. And so he proposes that they sell him to slave traders.
And go back and tell their poor father that he was torn by animals. They took the coat of many colors and they dipped it in goat blood, drenching that coat with blood and brought it back to poor
Jacob and said, I guess he was eaten by animals. When in fact, they sold out their own brother.
This fearful, sinful state only gets worse. We learn about Judah, what happens next.
He goes and marries a Canaanite, a woman who did not believe in Yahweh, but worshiped the idols of the nations.
And so the child born between them was named Er, and he was wicked, and the
Lord killed him after he had grown and taken a wife of his own. So the second son was named
Onan, and Onan was wicked just like Er. He also married the same woman as was the custom since his brother had died.
And so the Lord killed Onan. And now Judah's thinking, man, every son of mine that I give to this woman dies.
There must be something with her. So he doesn't give the third son as he should, and instead withholds that son from her.
This young boy grows up. He doesn't give him in marriage. And Tamar, the scorned widow, is angry.
And so she dresses herself like a prostitute. And she deceives him with a veiled face.
He doesn't know that it's her, and Judah goes to the prostitute, his own daughter -in -law.
And from this wicked union comes a boy named Perez. And so the story of Judah looks to me like a complete train wreck.
No hope here. He's violent. He's evil. He sells out his own brother.
He's sexually immoral. His family is a wreck. There's no hope for Judah until halfway through the story when the famine in the land drives them down to Egypt, and they discover
Joseph, this picture, this figure of Christ. And there's deliverance through Joseph.
But what's amazing about Judah is that when, and you'll have to read the story to get all the details.
I'm assuming many of you know it, but I also understand that some of you don't. So you'll later read Genesis 37 to 50.
But for those of you who remember the story, Benjamin came down to Egypt, and Joseph set it up that it would look like Benjamin stole a cup of divination.
And so Joseph was going to take Benjamin as his slave. And now
Judah, the very one who sold out his own brother, steps up and in faith in God, with love for his father, whereas before he disdained his father and brought grief to his father by selling out the brother, now
Judah steps in and says, take me instead of Benjamin. He's willing to substitute himself to become a slave, to die for the sake of a brother.
And this beautiful act of faith indicates that he has become regenerate.
He has become to believe in God. His heart has changed, and now he has love for the father.
Turn with me to Genesis chapter 50, verses 15 to 21, because this is a word that believers need to hear.
Genesis 50, 15 to 21. Understand that this is the last chapter of Genesis, the end of the story of Joseph and Judah.
Here in the context, Judah's a believer. He's begun to walk by faith.
He's received grace and now forgiveness from Joseph. And they live in the land of Goshen and they're shepherds and they're blessed.
They're redeemed. But in Genesis 50, verses 15 to 21, you see what
I'm going to call a reversion to fear. Child of Abraham, chosen, kept and secure in the hand of God, who knows what it is to walk by faith, who's done it before and yet now reverts to fear along with his brothers.
Genesis 50, verses 15 and following. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.
Pause right there. Do you see their view of Joseph? This is not faith. This is not trusting in the grace that God has shown through Joseph.
And Joseph here is a picture of Christ. But in fear, they concoct this scenario of what might befall them.
So they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father gave this command before he died.
They're walking in the flesh at this point. They're making up stories. Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgressions of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you.
And now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.
Now notice Joseph's reaction. Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
When Joseph saw Judah repentant and now lovingly giving himself in place of Benjamin, the
Bible tells us that Joseph wept and he could no longer conceal who he was. He wept tears of joy because here is faith.
Now Joseph is weeping tears of sorrow because he sees in his brothers a spirit of fear.
And Joseph's heart is broken. Is this what you think of me? Did you think once dad dies,
I would just kill you in vengeance? Don't you know that I love you? Don't you know that this grace is coming from my heart?
Don't you know that I wept on your shoulders, each one of you, because I love you. But they're fearful and they're trying to manipulate.
And it says in verse 18, his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, behold, we are your servants.
They tried to enslave themselves to him. Because of their fear, it's trapping them.
Verse 19, but Joseph said to them, and this is what every Christian needs to hear 365 times in the
Bible, one for every day of the year. Do not fear.
For am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. Verse 21, let me repeat.
So do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones.
Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Christian, child of God, you who believe that Jesus rose from the dead, will not the father who gave you his son to die on the cross in your stead, this one who rose from the dead, will he not also with him give you all things?
Don't you know what it means that you were bought with the precious blood of the lamb?
Don't you know the heart of the father in his grace toward you? Therefore, why are you afraid?
And you say, well, why am I afraid? Joseph was a child of God and they threw him in a pit and they sold him to slave traders and they took him to Egypt.
And as soon as things were looking a little better in Potiphar's house, Potiphar's wife accused him of accosting her and Joseph was thrown in a dungeon.
So children of God can be thrown in dungeons. And here is the lesson for every
Christian that will change the way we think. And this is the antidote to fear. Genesis 50 verse 20.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.
It was God's loving hand in his purpose that sent
Joseph in to slavery. Yes, it was the responsibility of wicked men who betrayed their own brother and they're responsible for that.
But this doctrine of the sovereignty of God, God meant even what appeared to be the worst thing that could happen to be the best thing.
The wickedness of Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Jews and the
Roman soldiers when they took Jesus and they subjected him to torture and the most horrifying death known to man.
They meant that for evil, but the cross of Jesus Christ was meant for your good. In the same way, anything that you are asked to endure that God puts on your plate, so to speak, it will come from the loving hand of a father with good purposes for you.
This is why Christians should never be afraid. Women often struggle especially with fear because as the
Bible teaches, there's a difference between men and women. Women are the weaker vessel and that's not pejorative.
It just means there's a physical strength in men that give us a bit more confidence in the face of danger.
It's how God designed the world. But women need to understand that to be like Sarah, according to Paul, you are her children if you do not fear what is frightening.
Paul says, do not fear what is frightening. That is, there are real dangers in the world. God could providentially allow the driver of that car to mow down those who are preaching the gospel on the corner.
Hans Schmidt could have died when shot in the head. Juan Riesco this week preaching the gospel could have died at the hands of the one who attacked him.
But only if God intended that for the good of his children. Anything that we endure comes from the hand of a loving
God who has a purpose for allowing these things. And when your faith in God rises to see he is
God, the one who made this driven snow and made all the world and everything that is, he has already forgiven you your sins.
And maybe your past is as sordid as Judah's. But the gospel proclaims to you that if you believe, if you repent and believe the good news, you have forgiveness of sin.
If that is true, then you walk secure in the hands of a loving
God. Nothing to fear. And so as your faith rises, the fear that has gripped your life must go.
So turn back with me. We have two more short points to make from John 20. The first point was that where faith rises, fear is displaced.
The second point is that faith does not remain alone, but is commanded to go in the great commission.
Notice what Jesus says in verse 21. Jesus said to them again, peace be with you.
As the father sent me, even so I am sending you. There is a misunderstanding of the way the world works.
And many people are gripped by this lie. And that is you are safe when you insulate yourself and protect yourself.
Do you see the disciples doing this? They barred the doors, they've locked themselves in. The truth is you are safe when you're doing the will of God.
Notice in verse 21, he says, peace be with you. As the father has sent me, that's apostolos.
The apostles are the sent ones. They've been sent. Even so I am sending you.
When you begin to step out in faith, to do the things God has called you to do, your faith rises and here's what you'll discover.
God is always faithful. You step out in faith, he shows himself faithful.
He shows himself strong. And as that obedience takes you out on the water, so to speak, as Peter stepped out of the boat, walking in faith,
God was found faithful. This history of walking with him, of going where you're sent, doing what you're called to do, you must be active in your faith to experience an increase in faith.
When you pull back and insulate yourself, what ends up happening is you get captured by fear.
I'm gonna give you one half of a verse to memorize this week. Can we do that? Daniel 11, 32b.
Just the second half of the verse. I want you to memorize this and contemplate it all week long.
The context here is the most prophetic chapter of the Bible. Daniel 11 has the most prophecies.
It foresees the coming of one named Antiochus Epiphanes, one of the most wicked men who ever lived.
He came upon Jerusalem, he sacked the city, he murdered many people, set up prostitution in the temple and defiled the temple with sacrifices, commanding that the
Jews not obey the law of God. And so his test was to take pig meat and force it into the mouth of the
Jews and those who refused to eat would be immediately put to death. Under that context, we have in Daniel 11, 32.
And I'm sure your situation is frightening, but you gotta admit, it's not as bad as that. Whatever we have going, it's not that bad.
But listen to this. He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant.
One of the things that was said to the Jewish people is, look, the friends of Eliezer, for example, came to him and said, just pretend that you're eating the pig meat.
Bring your own kosher meat. And as they come, we'll let you eat that lamb or whatever it is.
Pretend that you eat the pig meat and you'll go free. They didn't want to obey this ridiculous, psychotic king.
These were their friends. But Eliezer said, if I dissemble to gain a brief moment of life, the young would be led astray.
Eliezer was a man of very old age. He was nearing the end of his race.
And so when they took the pig meat and forced it to his lips, in the face of the king,
Eliezer spit it out. He was warned of what would happen. And again and again, he said,
I will not discourage the young men by dissembling. They tried to force him to eat and he spit it out.
And so they took him to torture and to death. But by his obedience, now look at Daniel 11, 32B.
When Judas Maccabees and his brothers saw the bravery of Eliezer, they rose up in revolt.
And with guerrilla warfare, they ended up driving Antiochus out of the temple, out of Jerusalem.
In a seven year war, they eventually won back the Holy Land. They took action.
They fought. They stood firm. They were willing to die and God blessed their faith and set them free.
That's the whole festival of Hanukkah. Do you ever wonder what Hanukkah was about? It was about this period in 167
BC, where God kept the candle burning in the candelabra in the temple.
These were those who stood up, they stood firm and they took action. So memorize this verse, the people who know their
God shall stand firm and take action. Every person in this room is called to be a
Maccabean in that sense, to take action. There is some trial in your life.
There is some mission field before you. It could be your neighbor. It could be your coworker.
You're called to go to them, to preach the gospel, go make disciples of all nations.
And when you take action, when you step out in faith, your faith rises and the fear that grips your life has to flee.
There is a connection between being sent, go and make disciples, your obedience and the faith that characterizes your life.
Now there's one last thing that we need to see. You're not to go on your own and you don't have the wind in your own sails to do this.
You need the breath of the Holy Spirit upon you. Let's read this last point. John 20, 22 and 23.
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the
Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.
If you withhold forgiveness of sin from any, it is withheld.
Isn't that interesting? No one can forgive sin but God alone.
In fact, when Jesus claimed the authority to forgive sin, that was one of the reasons they wanted to kill him because he's making himself
God. Why are we told in verse 23, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.
The answer is in this idea of being a sent one. In verse 21, as the father has sent me, even so I am sending you.
An apostolos, a sent one here, has delegated authority to speak for God.
An apostle in Rome, someone sent from the king. If he had a message from the king sealed with the signet ring of the king, to disobey that apostle would be to disobey the king.
Or if you attacked an apostle of the king, it would be like attacking the king himself.
There is the authority of the one sent behind these words. And what God is telling you is that in the preaching of the gospel, you proclaim the forgiveness of sin in his name.
You are able to say, through the authority of Jesus Christ, repent and believe and your sins are forgiven.
Conversely, you are able to say to someone, God does not forgive your sins.
You are still under a curse. We just went out to a college on Thursday, Phil and Tim Robinson and I.
We were preaching the gospel in the courtyard, sharing the gospel with many people. In fact, one of the people who went by, he was an unbeliever who was beginning to learn of the things of Christ.
He was listening to the book of Deuteronomy as he walked by and Tim approached him with the gospel and shared for a long time.
It was the Holy Spirit that led that encounter. But once we got cold and we needed to warm up a little bit, we went into the
Princeton Chapel. And I had commented, I don't know if the gospel has ever been preached here.
Because in 1925, J. Gratian Macon took all of the conservatives left at Princeton and they founded
Westminster Seminary. And this chapel wasn't built until after that split.
So I wonder if anybody's ever preached the gospel here. But as we warmed ourselves in that little foyer, two people walked in and by the wind of the
Spirit, a conversation ensued and we began to share the gospel with these two.
They were from mainland China. She was 30 -something years old, a research assistant at Princeton University in the
United States of America. And as we shared the gospel with her, she told us she had never heard that Jesus died on the cross.
She had never heard in the history of her life, she had never heard that Jesus rose from the dead.
We had such a privilege to share this news for the first time with someone who had never heard the gospel.
She seemed open to it. Her friend was likewise open, but he said at the end, I'm still agnostic.
I still think that all roads get you to heaven as long as you are moral in what you do.
And so I was able to say to him, the God who would send his son to be crucified and tortured because of his justice and his love requires of you that you believe that he is who he claimed to be.
And if you leave with this view that you're good enough to get to heaven, rejecting
Jesus, you are still in your sins. I could not let him leave assuming that everything is just fine.
He'll figure it out later. There is a holy boldness that comes from the words that Jesus gives us here that we can have this urgency and tell people, look at verse 23.
If you forgive the sins of any, that is not you knowing the heart of a person. When we baptize someone, we say on the basis of your profession of faith,
I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Taking their profession as genuine, we can baptize and proclaim the forgiveness of sin.
Does it mean that someone couldn't be a false convert? We can't know that. But the idea here is we can proclaim forgiveness to those who believe.
But what can we say? If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.
By the authority of Jesus Christ, you can preach a command to repent and believe the good news.
This requires the power of the Holy Spirit to say such things. It is completely countercultural to say that to someone who is sincere in their own religion.
But Jesus is granting this kind of authority, and it requires the wind of the Holy Spirit to have you say such things.
Very often, we fall back into fearful mindsets. In fact, I had this view when going to the colleges that we would have to endure an hour of being rejected before the first person would listen because I observed this was happening.
We would go out to the college. We would preach. Nobody wanted to hear it. And then after about an hour, all of a sudden, people were open to listening.
So I had this theory in my mind, and I would tell Phil, like, we're going to have to endure for an hour, and then
God will open the door for the gospel. You know what
Phil said to me? Yeah, I don't think that's biblical. And I stopped, and I thought, you're right.
What is that? That's not biblical. That was a spirit of fear insulating myself, protecting myself.
And once I got rid of that wrong belief, all of a sudden, the doors have been opening first conversation right away.
You see, a spirit of fear comes over Christians too, just like it did over the brothers who were already brothers to Joseph.
And we must learn to walk in faith and not allow a spirit of fear.
You have not been given a spirit of fear, but of peace and of a sound mind.
That's the point of our text today. So in closing, remember Hans Schmidt.
So bold to go preach the gospel in Glendale, Arizona. And even though he was shot in the head,
God will raise him up and is raising him up. His church was spurred on to more preaching, more faith.
We do not have a spirit of fear. Remember Judas Maccabees.
Remember Eliezer, the old man. We are living in a culture that will press in upon us to try to shut us in our houses.
They literally tried to do that at one point, mask us up and stick us in our houses. They'd be prone to do it again.
Listen, we must stand firm and take action. There is in our country an effort to overthrow what
God has established in this great land. And sadly, many
Christians are so afraid of what they're doing, so worried that we do nothing.
But faith means being sent. It is to go to your neighbor. The reason that you don't talk to your neighbor about Jesus Christ is probably not because you're too busy.
It's probably not because you have so much on your plate that there's just no time in the day. The reason is fear.
Fear of being rejected. Fear of looking silly. Fear of saying the wrong thing.
But this passage seeks to displace our fear with faith. And when you start doing that, when you're focusing on His commission and what
He's called you to do, everything else falls into place. Matthew 6 .33, I think it is.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you.
So let's pray for that kind of faith. God, this morning we have heard
Your Word and we ask that You would breathe on us the breath of Your Holy Spirit.
We need a fresh filling of the Spirit of the living God. Your Word says, do not get drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery.
Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Lord, fill us with Your Holy Spirit now. Father, Your Word says, do not grieve the
Holy Spirit with whom You were sealed for the day of redemption. We pray that we would not grieve the
Spirit with sinful behaviors like those that entangled Judah, but instead walk in freedom, stepping out in faith.
Lord, I pray right now that You would release someone in this room who is captured by a spirit of fear.
We pray that fear go in Jesus' name, that faith rise up and take its place.
We pray against anxiety. We pray that You would send us out and give us each a ministry to do, a mission field to go to.
Send us out in faith, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
Holy confidence That our souls to Him belong
Who holds our days within His hand What comes apart from His command
And what will keep us to the end
The love of Christ in which we stand
Oh, sing hallelujah Our hope springs eternal
Oh, sing hallelujah Now and ever we confess
Christ our hope in life and death
What truth can calm the troubled soul
God is good, God is good
Where is His grace and goodness known In our great
Redeemer's blood Who holds our faith when fears arise
Who stands above the stormy trials
Who sends the waves that bring us nigh Unto the shore, the rock of Christ Oh, sing hallelujah
Our hope springs eternal Oh, sing hallelujah
Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death
Unto the grave, what shall we sing
Christ, He lives, Christ, He lives And what reward will heaven bring
Everlasting life with Him There we will rise to meet the
Lord Then sin and death will be destroyed
Then Christ shall feast in endless joy When Christ is ours forevermore
Christ our hope in life and death Oh, sing hallelujah