The Snare of Fearing Man | Sermon 08/14/2022

Apologia Utah

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Turn to Proverbs chapter 29, Proverbs 29 verse 25.

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We're going to be, this is going to be the heart, this verse is going to be the heart of the sermon, but we're going to be looking at several different texts on this topic.

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The title of this sermon is The Snare of Fearing Man. The Snare of Fearing Man.

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Starting and ending in verse 25 of chapter 29 of the

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Proverbs, hear now the words of the living and true God. The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the

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Lord will be exalted. Thus ending the reading of God's word, let's pray quickly church.

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Lord, would you please teach us today, would you please illumine the scriptures to us.

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Would you, by your spirit, the same spirit that wrote the scriptures,

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Holy Spirit, would you teach us today by your word.

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God, would you help us to see the folly of fearing man and man -pleasing and to see the truth and righteousness in fearing you,

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God, the right way. Lord, help me to speak in a way that is helpful and clear and let it always be true.

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I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So I remember back during my years at seminary, we had a small apartment complex in Mesa, Arizona.

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This was 2013, 2014 time. And in that small

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Mesa apartment, we had a local cable access amenity with the apartment, which it was very little to have that now.

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And here in Utah, they charge you $200 extra for mandatory cable and internet, and I was not used to that.

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But this was back when it was just simply a local cable jack gift.

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But I remember we had cable TV. And after a late night of seminary, after a late night of class,

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I worked during the day, I worked 7 a .m. to 4 p .m., then I'd go to seminary at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.

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I'd go from 5 p .m. to 10 p .m. I did that for four years, and it was a challenging time,

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I think, in our family's life, but it was also a glorious experience as well.

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I remember I'd have a routine. I'd get off of class from seminary, I'd come to the apartment, and I'd either wake up my wife, or with her half -open eyes,

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I'd exuberantly express to her all that I had learned in five hours, and I'd put it in 30 minutes like a shower of theological just dumping on her.

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You've got to hear this, you've got to know this, and I know a lot of you guys probably do that to your wives too when you learn something new.

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But I would do that, right? I would do that all the time. And then I would often turn on the television, which

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I seldom do anymore, but back then, of course, you know, I'd turn it on, and I would go to Discovery Channel, and I really, for whatever reason,

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I truly enjoyed this show on Discovery Channel called Alaska, The Last Frontier.

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I don't know if you've ever heard of it. I know we've got a couple people in this church who lived in Alaska for a time, so I'm sure they've heard of it as well.

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For those of you not familiar with the show, a camera crew follows around the Kilcher family, four -generation

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Alaskan homesteaders. They would grow crops with the short springtime, summertime.

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They would hunt for meat. They would fish, smoke the fish, preserve it through the winter.

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They'd make their living literally off the Alaskan wilderness, and I just was so drawn to that show.

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I would tell Sarah, we've got to drop everything. We've just got to get to Alaska one day. But I didn't even know how to put chicken in a slow cooker properly, let alone go hunting and preserving stuff, so it would take a while to get there.

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I watched the show for a sense of adventure that I never got growing up. I grew up in California in Phoenix, Arizona, which is like California 2 .0,

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and my dad was a surfer dude, and we would go to the beach sometimes, but he didn't know anything about camping.

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He didn't know anything about hunting. We never did any of that. So I think I watched the show because I would dream of that possibility one day.

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I remember one particular episode, one of the Kilcher sons,

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I was very fascinated by what he was doing. He was going to all his trapping sites. He was setting snares and nooses to live capture things like minks, foxes, wolverines, ferrets, you name it.

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He was trying to capture rabbits, things like that. And he would lay a snare. He would somehow be able to recognize these animals and their tracks and where they would typically go, and they would funnel towards these kind of small openings, and he would set the snare there.

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And he'd come back later after he'd set these nooses and snares, and you'd see, sure enough, live wolverines and minks and stuff, and the cord would be wrapped tightly around the animal, and it could not break loose.

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It would try all that it could, but it could not break loose. And at that point, that's when the animal would meet its end.

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Its fur would be stripped from it. It would be sold for different supplies for the winter.

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It would be used for bartering, trading, something for the brutal cold approaching.

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So the proverb says, the fear of man brings a snare.

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It brings a snare. It lays a snare for us, just like that snare that the kilcher son used.

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

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Not only do we fall into the trap, but we actually laid it ourselves.

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Have you ever seen that on a movie, when the character has laid all these booby traps for a coming intruder, and then he forgets that he sets up these traps, and then he falls into his own trap, and he gets, like, strung upside down, and it's, like, this big event.

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How is he going to get down? And that's kind of the image of what we see here.

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The reality is the fear of man will catch you. It will catch you. It will seek to hurt you.

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It could bring awful maladies to you or manifest itself in different ways.

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

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

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Now, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if almost all of us have struggled with varying degrees of man -pleasing.

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In fact, I would probably guarantee, I could probably say it with certainty, that we've all struggled with man -pleasing in some sense.

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Maybe even do it subconsciously. The fact is, we fear whomever most we seek the approval of most.

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We fear whomever most we seek the approval of most.

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And on the scales of weighing the God of the universe and people, tipping the scales all the time to the creatures rather than the

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Creator. That's what we do. We give creatures more weight, more substance than God.

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

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Lord, but I can't offend my friends. I know this is what

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Jesus commands, but I'll lose my reputation, I'll lose my family, I'll lose my friends.

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Essentially, Jesus has offered us the crown of life, but we, in our choices, want the crown of this life.

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The crowns that are offered in this world is what we strive for sometimes, not the crown of life that Jesus gives.

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The man -pleaser in church will appear holy and righteous, but watch him at work, and he laughs at the jokes of men's weekends fornications.

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Put this sort of man -pleaser with his unbelieving family at Thanksgiving dinner, and they dismissively blaspheme the

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Lord our God, and he doesn't even bat an eye, but he appeases. He laughs with it when they blaspheme our

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Lord and take His name in vain. Put the man -pleaser in any situation, and his goal is to be affirmed, approved, and admired.

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Especially admired. This sort of person is often a chameleon. They can change their colors.

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They can change who they are depending on their environment and who they're with. Well, right now

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I'm with work people, and this is cool, and I'm cussing, and I'm talking about worldly things, and I'm laughing at their worldly jokes, and I'm giving no witness to Christ in any way.

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In fact, they wouldn't know I'm a follower of Christ by the way I act. But now I'm at church.

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Hey, brother, how are you? Hey, brother, come here. Let's pray. Come on. You know, we change.

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This sort of person changes who they are even if that means compromising Christian morals and convictions.

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Isaiah 2 .22 says, Stop regarding man whose breath of life is in his nostrils, for why should he be esteemed?

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Stop regarding man. Stop fearing man whose breath of life is in his nostrils.

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In other words, regard the one who holds your very next breath. Regard the one who holds your very next breath, not the one who had to have the breath of life breathed into him by God.

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Fear God. In Paul's letters to the Galatians, in chapter 1, he is amazed that the church has so quickly deserted the true gospel but is believing on one made by men.

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I'm sorry. There we go.

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They've deserted the true gospel. They're believing on one that the Judaizers came in and brought. As he explains the gospel he gave them is directly from Christ.

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He says this, For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God?

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

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

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They don't mix. You're either one or the other. Jesus said you're either hot or you're cold lest you be spewed out.

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And humans are always so anthropocentric. That simply means they're man -centered.

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They're focused on themselves. And so our world is honestly built on man -pleasing and fearing man.

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That's how our societies are built. To excel in this society is based less on merit or hard work but on being the biggest pleaser.

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The biggest pleaser in getting the best popularity in work, schools, churches.

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Hopefully not. Probably sometimes. Man -pleasing.

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I would say it's probably gotten worse for new generations if I've observed literature and things in the past.

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We are entitled. We are owed. We must be loved and accepted no matter what.

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We coddle each other in our sin. And if we did it right, if we coddle each other, maybe we'll receive some coddling back.

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That's what we want in this society. Here are some characteristics of the fear of man.

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Listen to these. The characteristics of the fear of man are being disobedient to God's commands, especially when it can earthly cost you.

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So that means you know God's law and yet because you don't want to sacrifice something that matters to you in this life, you disobey

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God's word to maintain it. Wanting to be highly esteemed by others.

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Finding yourself always looking for a pat on the back. You always want to be reassured that you're doing the right thing.

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Hoping others will see your giving or your good deeds. And often this person takes themselves too seriously.

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Meaning when your man -pleasing doesn't work and you feel threatened or your pride feels threatened, you can turn on others for the smallest thing.

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For the smallest thing. Turning everything into a grave offense because you know, it's about me.

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We can turn things into bigger things because it's me. It's not them.

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It's me. And we look at it as no one could offend that person, but they can easily offend me.

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Because I'm important. I'm very important. No one can do that to me.

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

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That's huge. It is not glory to search out one's own glory.

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It is not true glory to search out your own glory. That is a bootleg glory.

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That is a false glory. That's not real glory. Some other traits of the fear of man are being easily embarrassed, reactionary, defensive.

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No, that's not what I meant. You don't understand me. Listen, this is what I really meant. Stop. You're taking me out of context.

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Listen, listen, listen. You can't be wrong. People have got to know. They've got to know.

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That's not what I meant. You can't let it go, right? Defensive. Can't handle rejection well.

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Easily offended. Overly sensitive. I should just quit what

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I'm doing because obviously I'm not good enough at it. I'll just quit then. Maybe we get feedback.

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Feedback that seeks to help us and say, well, looks like you could do better, so you do it.

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Sounds like you could do it better than me. You do it then, buddy. That's what we tell other people.

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Maybe we're given to gossip. You talk others down to build yourself up. Given to peer pressure.

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You're convicted to do otherwise, but fear of man tells you to fall in line with your peers.

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Or this might even hit a nerve. This is kind of a small part of fear of man, but it definitely is fear of man.

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Shyness. Timidity. Insecurity. Self -consciousness.

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That's not fearing the Lord your God. That's fearing man. That's fearing what others think about you. That is a way of fear of man.

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What will they think? The fear of man that brings us near has no doubt led many to some terrible sins.

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We've gone over some of these before. But consider again, for instance, King Saul, who was commissioned by God to make holy war to exterminate the

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Amalekites. And he was to destroy all that they had. Everything. Every person.

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Every animal. Everything they were commanded to destroy. But it says that Saul and the people spared

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

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Then we know, of course, that God was greatly displeased and regretted making Saul king. When Samuel the prophet questions him, he lies and says, he obeyed

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God. Saul says, no, I obeyed God. So he lies. Then he says, the people!

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The people took the spoils. Saul points to them. That's truly what a weak leader does, right?

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A weak leader deflects blame. A weak leader takes no ownership.

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But finally, as Samuel tells him God desires obedience over sacrifice and rejects him as king,

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Saul admits this, I have sinned. I have indeed transgressed the command of the Lord and Your words because I feared the people.

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And listened to their voice rather than Yours. I feared the people.

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And so his reign as king had come to an end. The blessing, it says, and the anointing of the

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Holy Spirit had departed from him. Then in the

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New Testament, we have Pontius Pilate. And this man has an appalling sin.

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Completely appalling sin. The holy and blameless Jesus Christ is before Pontius Pilate and he is being examined by him.

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And Pontius Pilate declares this, I find no fault in this man. He declares Jesus innocent.

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Without guilt. He then sends Jesus to Herod because the people are still kicking against him in his judgment.

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

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I find no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you've made against him.

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

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Once again, that's Pontius Pilate's judgment. This man is innocent. He has done nothing.

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Even Pilate's wife warns him for having a dream the night before. She says have nothing to do with this just man.

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Don't be a part of this. And looking to set Jesus free, the people warn

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

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The people were incessant and unrelenting. Crucify him. Crucify him, they say.

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And no doubt, Pontius Pilate considered his role as governor. He considered his status.

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He probably had more wealth than others. He considered his Roman citizenship, his position, and he feared the people.

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

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

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

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What does it say there? Wishing to satisfy the crowd. Wishing to satisfy the crowd.

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That is what Pontius Pilate did. The fear of man has now for two millennia and will continue to be

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Pontius Pilate's historical infamy. That he feared man rather than God. The fear of man caused him to slay the

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Son of God. Nevertheless, we praise God for His sovereignty in that as Peter says in Acts 2, in his sermon, he says, although Jesus was put to death at the hands of godless men, it was

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God's predetermined plan that He would do this. It would be a willing offering of Himself.

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So amen for that. So I'm certain some of us are thinking, well, that makes sense.

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Two bad men would not fear God, but fear man. That makes sense. These are pretty bad guys,

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Pontius Pilate and Saul. Let me give you some examples of those who we normally hold in high regard.

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How about Aaron? The brother of Moses. The high priest. Aaron even speaks to God.

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Aaron receives revelation from God, and he is God's representative to the people.

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

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Aaron to fashion for them a god that they may worship, an idol. An idol.

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So they use the gold from their jewelry that they had taken from Egypt, the plunder.

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They take this gold, and they have Aaron fashion for them a god that they may worship. A golden calf.

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And Aaron announces this horrible false witness. Listen to what Aaron says right here. He says,

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O Israel, this is your god. O Israel, this is your god who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

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Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Despite just having seen the power of God, Yahweh, the one true and living

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God, take them from the land of Egypt from slavery. Despite having just seen all that, they turn so quickly to a false god, to a demon.

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If only Aaron had proper fear of the Lord or courage like his brother

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Moses, he desecrated his own priestly hands. He was unclean.

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

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

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So what do we see again? We see deflecting blame. Deflecting.

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Don't you see that the people are prone to sin? Aaron was fearing the people.

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He was not standing firm. He was not doing what was right, even if that meant they would desert him or they would kill him.

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It's honestly truly God's grace that God didn't strike Aaron down right there that day.

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Truly God's grace. Especially when you see other instances in the Bible like Nadab and Abihu and Uzzah who drops the

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Ark of the Covenant and things that we would maybe even consider lesser. Aaron makes a golden calf an idol and says this is the

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Lord. It's honestly truly God's grace He didn't kill him that day like the other rebellious ones whom the

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Levites slayed with the sword. Do you think a pastor could respond that way on the

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Day of Judgment? The pastor who neglects church discipline, who neglects loving correction and admonishment, who disregards the sin in his congregation, maybe he could just tell

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God, Lord, You know the people. They're prone to sin. I don't think that would cut it.

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I don't think that's being a good pastor. The Proverbs say the shepherd know well the condition of their flock and I think that applies especially for pastors as they care for them.

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Now, on to our last example, Peter the Apostle. Peter the

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Apostle, honestly, isn't he a man whom we can see much of ourselves in? I know

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I can. Especially, of course, before the resurrection. Our brother

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Peter is often bold one minute and then faltering the next, making these wrong statements and then

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Jesus even saying, rebuke you, get behind me, Satan. You know how fearful I'd be if Jesus said that to me?

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I'd probably fall to my knees dead. Unbelievable. But he has these moments, right?

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And after they celebrate the Passover and Jesus institutes the supper, they walk to the

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Mount of Olives and Jesus warns them that this very night they will all fall away. He tells all the apostles this very night you will fall away.

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You will not stay with me. You will leave me. And Peter emphatically says, even if all fall away,

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Lord, even if every single one here, this guy, that guy, that guy, if everyone leaves you, not

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I. I will stay with you, Jesus. That's what Peter says.

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He makes this bold claim. Right? And Jesus gives that foreboding statement.

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He says, Peter, this very night, you will deny me three times. You will deny me.

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And so, later after our Lord had been taken and He is being examined by Caiaphas and the elders,

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Peter follows at a distance in the courtyard. And a servant girl, as we know, recognizes

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Peter as having been with Jesus. He fears this girl. Peter fears the people surrounding and he denies his affiliation with the

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Lord Jesus. And in an effort to more strongly abate their accusation, he even curses and swears.

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He doesn't want to sound like a follower of Jesus anymore. He doesn't want to sound like a Galilean.

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His speech betrayed him. He sounded like a moral disciple of someone. And now he's cursing and swearing that they wouldn't recognize him.

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No, that's not me. So he denies the Lord the rooster crows.

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Peter walked with the Lord Jesus Christ. He walked with the Lord Jesus, God in the flesh, through whom, according to John 1, created all things for three years he was discipled, saw

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Jesus raise people from the dead, heal people miraculously, and he saw Jesus glorified on the

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Mount of Transfiguration. But in that moment, he forgot all that.

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In that moment, he feared man. He did not fear God. And you know what?

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I think we would likely do the very same thing. I think unfortunately we would do the same thing as Peter.

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They were yet to be given the Holy Spirit. That was before the Spirit's coming and the day of Pentecost.

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The Helper would come. Of course, I know that they were faithful to the Lord. But ultimately, we would fear man as well

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I think. I think it is the prayer of all of us though that the

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Lord would keep us from such a thing today that us being filled with the Holy Spirit, knowing the power of our great

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God and the promises that lay ahead that we would not deny Him. You know, 1

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Corinthians 12 I believe says only those who have the

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Holy Spirit can say Jesus Christ is Lord. Only by the Holy Spirit can one say

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Jesus Christ is Lord. And a lot of people go, I know tons of false people that say

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Jesus Christ is Lord. Does that mean they have the Holy Spirit? But what we're missing there often is the context.

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In the first century, for them to say Jesus Christ is Lord out loud in public would be a death sentence.

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So, Paul is saying one could only say Jesus Christ is Lord by the courage and power of the

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Holy Spirit because it would fail you in the moment you needed it. You wouldn't be able to muster enough courage in that moment.

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You need the power of the Holy Spirit to help you say Jesus is Lord with the threat of death in front of you.

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That's the context. And I pray that, of course. We always consider kind of the gun to the head, the sword to the neck moment, right?

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The martyrdom scenario. But in the place where not many see, in the place where not many see, where only

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God sees, in the situation where no one but God would know if you intentionally did not confess

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Him when you had the opportunity, would you deny Him? Would you deny Him?

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And I think we do that sometimes in our Christian walk. I think we have the opportunity to confess Him, and sometimes we deny

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Him. Truly the fear of man brings us near, brothers and sisters. In some cases, it can be a stumbling block to a man from conversion.

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Apologia Church does a lot of outreach to Mormons. And we meet all kinds of them.

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

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I've heard it before multiple times. They'll say something like, I know all of this is a fraud.

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I know all of this is a sham. I know Joseph Smith was a phony. I know all of this is an illusion.

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They'll admit that, but they'll say, I can't leave it. I can't leave it. If I left it,

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

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It would cost too much to leave this. Do you know how my father and mother would disown me and reject me?

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Do you know that my wife would leave me and take my kids from me? And I don't deny the fact that that would be honestly the hardest things you could ever do in your life.

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That would be incredibly difficult to do. I don't downplay that at all. But Jesus says to count the cost, brothers and sisters.

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Count the cost. What is it worth? What would it cost a man if he gave up his own soul for the sake of those things?

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Right? To give up his own soul. How sad for what God calls a momentary and light affliction, this type of man would give up the true

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Christ and His salvation. Fear of man is not just a snare, but literally it would be the noose around the neck of a man like that.

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

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

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

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

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End quote. There's one more area where we fear men, and it is a most egregious sin.

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

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Gospel. Like the servant with the one talent, we can bury it.

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We can bring it to the Lord one day, but there will be no return on his investment.

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This one is particularly convicting to me. I always have to check myself in this area. We are not to hoard the precious

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Gospel to ourselves. As it has been freely given to you, give freely in like manner.

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Of whom much is given, much is required, right? Well, you might say, I go out,

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I do events, I go to the Thursday night thing, I go to the abortion mill sometimes, I'm giving out tracts,

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I'm going to these events, and it's like that is a blessing, that is a good thing.

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To those things we say, no problem, I'll go to Thursday night anytime, often. But what about lost parents?

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What about lost siblings? What about lost relatives? What about your neighbors?

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We make the 40 -mile drive or whatever to Provo every week. What about my neighbors, right?

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That's huge. That's huge. My co -workers, my best friends.

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What about the people I will see again? And that's where it is. The people I will see again.

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It is difficult to give them the Gospel. Because we may lose them. We may lose our reputation.

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We may look like a loony. We will. The Bible says it. It says the wisdom of God is foolishness to this world.

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It's foolishness to those who are perishing. The message of the cross is foolishness to them. They don't get it.

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They think we're nuts. That's okay. That's alright. We'll be nuts together right here.

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I'll be the biggest nutter, right? But we do that.

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

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King Jesus asks us why we shut our mouths around those who we know so well? But I wanted to just keep the peace.

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I just want to keep the peace. Matthew 10. 34 -37

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Christ says, Do not think that I came to bring peace. I do not come to bring peace but a sword.

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For I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law.

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And a man's enemies will be the members of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.

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And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. You could also say those who fear or revere man more than Jesus is not worthy of Him.

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You could kind of put that in there as well. Truly, for those whom you love or care for, the greatest act of love is

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Gospel proclamation. If you love them, the greatest act of love is sharing the

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Gospel. We say, well, Colossians 4 .3. I'm praying for an open door.

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I've been praying for an open door for years, and we don't realize that there's open doors all around us. We've just got to walk through one.

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We can't use that as a crutch. We can't use that as an excuse to rationalize the open doors are there.

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They're all around us. Share this message. Share the good news. If we believe this good news, if we believe that it's going to save sinners,

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I started, for fun sometimes, I'll just start reading again

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Pilgrim of Progress. What is it? Pilgrim's Progress, thank you.

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And you know, Christian's running from the city of destruction and his friends come up to him and he considers all of it.

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He considers his family, the friends, his city, his nice home, and he just keeps running.

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He won't stop running because he believes it. He says something is coming to this city and it's going to be destroyed and everyone needs to know about it and yet we don't do that.

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We don't do that. We don't act that way. Something is coming. Judgment is coming.

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They've got to be ready. Fear of man truly lays a snare because that snare can keep our lips shut tight.

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So, what is the cure for this sin? It says that he who trusts in the

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Lord will be exalted. He who trusts in the

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Lord will be put on a high place. That's what the Hebrew points to. Exalted is a high place.

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That means away from danger. Away from evils. Other translations say, He who trusts in the

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Lord shall be kept safe. Transfer your fear of man to fear of God.

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Regard, revere, and trust in God rather than man. Fear of man is really an issue of faith.

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An issue of believing. Faith overcomes fear of man. It does.

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If I have full faith in God, in any particular situation, I will be able to combat the fear of man.

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I will be able to say like the psalmist, What can man do to me?

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What can man do to me? Or like the apostle who says, If God is for us, who can be against us?

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The fear of man is cowardice, but trusting in God develops courage.

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We would be soldiers. We are soldiers in the army of the Lord of Hosts. And therefore, we can say, whom shall we fear?

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Whom shall we fear? Right? And we know in Proverbs 1, it says the fear of the

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

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The fear of man leads to foolishness. Whereas the fear of God leads to wisdom and knowledge.

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And since our passage is in the Proverbs, let's consider a few benefits or results of trusting or revering or fearing the

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Lord for a Christian in more of this wisdom literature. I don't have it on the screen, but you can write it down real quick or I could give you my notes later.

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I'm going to go through a few real quick. Proverbs 8 .13 says, The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverted mouth

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I hate. If you don't want to fear man but revere God, you must hate evil.

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That's a requirement. If you're going to fear God and not fear man, you must hate evil.

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And I think the Proverb makes it clear that it's not simply these big evils that we consider completely terrible in the world like genocide or abortion or slavery or things like that, but also the

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Proverbs says it's pride, it's arrogance, and the perverted mouth.

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Despise those things in you. If we fear the Lord, we must hate that sin and seek to kill it in us.

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

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The fear of the Lord can prolong life. In His sovereignty, He may bless you with longer life.

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He will do what He pleases with your life. But I think it's clear also that when you fear God, when you keep away from evil activities, right?

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If someone keeps away from drunkenness or drug abuse or thieving or murder or quarreling or other risky behaviors, you will obviously prolong your life.

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You will not shorten the life with those activities if you abstain from them. Proverbs 14 .26

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In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence, and His children will have refuge. Do you lack confidence?

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Do you lack faith? In the fear of the Lord, you can have strong faith, so much so that it will be like a refuge to you, like being on a high place away from danger.

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Proverbs 14 .27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death.

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The Hebrew word here for fountain can also be source. Source. The fear of the

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Lord is a source of life. It reminds me of how

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Christ is the source of living water. Those who fear the Lord and by His grace receive living water, they will avoid the clutches of death.

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That's the principle here. Proverbs 16 .6

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By loving kindness and truth, iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord, one keeps away from evil.

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So not only does one hate evil when they fear the

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

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The fear of the Lord leads to life, so that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil. Even in the darkest circumstances or the most difficult moments of persecution, some

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Christians have expressed the ability to sleep satisfied, to sleep soundly. Unbelievable.

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And we can too when we fear the Lord and not man. One application for you might be, well, maybe you have to do a presentation at work tomorrow, something like that.

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It's said that among all the many hundred or more, I don't know, phobias in the world, the biggest phobia for people in America is the fear of public speaking.

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It's having all eyes on you and waiting for you to say something and maybe say something stupid, right?

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That's the biggest phobia that people have. But according to this, if you fear the Lord, you could sleep soundly before you have to do that if you fear the

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Lord rather than men. Only a couple more. Proverbs 22 .4 The reward of humility and the fear of the

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Lord are riches, honor, and life. Proverbs 22 .4 So we see here humility, humbleness, and the fear of the

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

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Not the praise of men. It reminds me of the Sermon on the Mount with Jesus. He admonishes not to do things openly.

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He says not to pray in such a way where men will see you, right? He says for you to not bring a big basket with all your tithe, with all your denarii, and you're like, oh boy, this is so heavy.

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I'm just giving so much to the church. Boom, you set it down. All the coins really make a ringing sound, right?

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He says don't do that. Don't fast in such a way where you're like, oh, we talked about it last week. Oh boy, gosh, this has been so rough.

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There's dirt on your face. I've been fasting. I'm starving, right? Otherwise, you have your reward.

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Your reward then is what other men see, and they're like, wow, that's a pious person.

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Wow, that's a holy person. That's a very godly person. It's like you got exactly what you wanted.

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You're not getting the eternal, the heavenly reward though. That's what he says. Certainly you didn't want

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God to be pleased in such a situation. Proverbs 23, 17, last one. Do not let your heart envy sinners, but live in the fear of the

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

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Sometimes we can look at people in this world, we look at what they have, but what they have compared to what we will receive in eternal life is peanuts.

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It's nothing. It's nothing. But we can look at what they have. We can look at the big houses.

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We can look at what the movie stars have who are godless, who say they've sold their souls to Satan.

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Some of them have said that. And we can envy them. But I don't envy them.

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Because you know where they're headed unless they turn to the Lord. So, let us actually pity sinners knowing the fear of the

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Lord and knowing the destiny of the unrepentant sinner. I think it's important to note that not only when we trust in the

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Lord we shall be safe from fear of man, but also spiritually safe despite possible physical peril.

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So, what do I mean by that? We saw that the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, to do what is right.

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We see the example of many men in the Bible, and although they were safe because they feared the

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Lord, they can still suffer for it. Does that make sense? Suffering is, of course, an aspect of our sanctification that the

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Lord uses to refine us and to bring Him glory. And Christ is the supreme example of suffering, and yet regarding the

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Father only in His will. There is greater risk in fearing man and avoiding suffering.

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There is greater risk for us in fearing man and avoiding suffering than fearing

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God and enduring suffering. You will actually be safer and in a better place when you fear

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God, even if it may bring suffering. Jesus says,

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Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul. Rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.

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Remember, what can man do to me? What can man do to me? The most a man can do in this life is kill my body.

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He can kill my physical body. That's the most a man can do to you today. You could walk out of here, and if you follow

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Christ, you have nothing to fear. What can man do to you? He could kill your body. We could go to the abortion mill.

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We can stand up for babies, and we may lose our life. It may happen one day.

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It may happen in a different scenario. You're telling me that's the worst they can do?

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All you can do is kill my physical body? That's nothing. That's nothing because I have eternal life.

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I follow the One who is the resurrection and the life. He who lives and believes in Me, even if His body dies,

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He will live. He will live. He says to Mary, Do you believe this?

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Martha, do you believe this? That's nothing. To forfeit my faith, as I think we have seen a lot of people do in the past couple of years with this so -called

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Christian deconstruction movement, that has far greater and eternal consequences.

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Follow that. This is how you can suffer and still be safe.

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You can fear God. You can trust the Lord, but you will be put on a high place.

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You may endure physical things in this life, but ultimately you're exalted.

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You're on a high place. You will be kept safe. You could be in a cistern filled with mud like the prophet

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

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God rather than men and still be safe like the apostles in Acts.

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You could be slayed by the sword like James the apostle, but still be safe. You could be in a lion's den surrounded by hungry lions and yet still be safe.

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You could be in a fiery furnace sent in to die, but you could still be safe.

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Because the one who holds your soul is the fountain of life and life eternal.

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To quote Spurgeon again, he says, a Christian man need never be afraid of anybody.

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If you are doing right, you have no cause to fear the greatest man who serves the devil.

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That's huge. A Christian man or woman need never be afraid of anybody, for if you are doing right, you have no cause to fear the greatest man who serves the devil.

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Because you know who you serve. You know who holds your life. So how does one stop fearing man and start trusting in the

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Lord more? How does one do that? How does one not give in to man -pleasing?

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We of course need to be renewing our minds. According to the Word of God, we need to read

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His Word, see the promises that the Lord has made and how He has kept them, that if we follow through with fearing

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God, He will make good on the promises that He has given us, that we have a high expectation of the life to come, that it's going to happen, and we know that.

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So whatever we lose here on earth, it's worth it. That's the first thing. We need to see God's promises.

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Jesus says, Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. Is Jesus God?

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Yes. Is Jesus perfect, impeccable? Yes. Is Jesus sinless?

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Yes. Would Jesus then tell a lie? No. Jesus promised them and us,

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Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me will have eternal life, and he cannot lie.

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If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ today, you will live forever with your

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Lord. He will make good on that promise. That is the hope of the Gospel.

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If we viewed everything we did, church, in light of eternity, if we viewed everything from jobs, our families, our church, our public involvement, our evangelism, anything we do in light of eternity and the victory of Christ here on earth as well as in heaven, how would that change our thinking?

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How would that change our actions? How would that change our faith if we viewed everything in light of that truth?

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

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How could we fear? We don't need to fear. Why would we please men for gain if we know what lies ahead?

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Any gain in this life by worldly standards is actually considered loss compared to the surpassing knowledge of knowing

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Jesus Christ our Lord. It is considered rubbish compared to what the

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Lord will give us and the righteousness that He imputes to us. So first we are to believe

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His word, believe on His promises. Another way to stop fearing man and to trust in the Lord more is to live coram

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Deo. I talk about that a lot with some of the guys I'm mentoring and discipling.

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Coram Deo. I learned that primarily from R .C. Sproul. I found it very useful.

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Coram Deo is a Latin phrase and it means in the presence of the Lord. It means face to face with your

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God. Live always in the presence of the Lord. I think coram

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Deo has some very deep implications for the purposes of our study.

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And it is that God is watching what we do. God watches us.

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Not just the good stuff in the church. God doesn't just see your attendance here in this church this evening, but every single moment at every single place where you're at, every single thing you do,

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God sees it. God is omnipresent. He knows what we are doing.

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God is omniscient. He is all -knowing. He knows. Proverbs 15, verse 3 says,

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The eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good. The Lord Jesus Christ puts it this way,

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But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and nothing hidden that will not be known.

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

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There is not one place to escape His gaze. There is not one place.

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There is no getting away from our Lord. This coram

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Deo should be at the heart of our Christian walk, knowing the Lord is watching us, ought to affect all of our activities and do them in integrity and righteousness.

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And this isn't a yoke. This isn't bondage. This isn't a babysitter always watching the sin -prone child.

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That's not what we're talking about. You don't need to walk around. God sees what

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I'm doing, and we're shaking, right? That's not what we're saying. We have freedom. We have liberty that Christ has purchased for us.

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We have liberty to obey His commandments, to obey His precepts.

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His law is our delight. His law is our pleasure now in Christ, and because we love Jesus, we now do

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His commandments as He says to do. R .C. Sproul says regarding this, living under divine sovereignty involves more than a reluctant submission to sheer sovereignty that would be motivated out of fear of punishment.

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He says it involves recognizing that there is no higher goal than offering honor to our

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God. Our lives are to be living sacrifices, oblations offered in a spirit of adoration and gratitude, to live all of life coram deos, to live a life of integrity.

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It is a life of wholeness that finds its unity and coherency in the majesty of our

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God." So, in your daily

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Bible devotion time, in your daily time of prayer, you might even say something like,

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

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Lord, today You see me in my home. Put that in front of your mind. Put coram deo in front of your mind every day.

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When you start your day, say, God, I know You will see me today. God, I know

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You will see how I drive. I know You will see what I do at work.

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I know You will see me when I'm in my bedroom alone. I know You'll see me when I'm on the computer. I know

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You'll see me when I'm on social media. I know You'll see me in the secret place.

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I know You'll see me when I'm with my family. I know You'll see me. Say that in your prayer. I know it,

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Lord, and I want then, Lord, what I do to be pleasing to You. I want all that I do, all that You see today to be pleasing to You, Lord.

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I desire to bring You praise and glory. Today, Lord, I want to please You above all because You are with me and You are always watching.

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So it's something to really consider. Coram deo is something you need to be intentional about.

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Believe it or not, every day, we forget that God is watching. We do. Every day we forget

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God is watching and God knows. So this will lead to trusting in the Lord more than in fearing man, which lays a snare.

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Another way to stop fearing man or committing man -pleasing is to embrace moments of humbling.

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Embrace moments when you are made low. When you got something wrong, don't be defensive, but own it if you made a mistake.

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Don't simply try to cover it up right away to hide what you've done.

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Fix it, but then take responsibility. Okay? Learn to laugh at yourself.

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Learn to take yourself not so seriously. If you get obsessive about a situation, and sometimes we do this, we play back the scenario over and over again, what they said and what we said, and we become fixated and obsessed about how we interacted, how we did it, how we could have redone the event to avoid the embarrassment that we have now.

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Just let it go. Let it go, church. Lean into the humility. Lean into the mistake.

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Lean into it. Understand that that's good for you, that it is a desire to maintain your precious pet of pride.

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That's what we're trying to do in those moments when we get defensive about that, when we're not being humbled by our mistakes.

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We are then petting the precious pet of pride. Let iron sharpen iron.

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If you're rubber and all other people are iron, how can anyone ever correct you?

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How can anyone ever joke with you? How can anyone ever converse with you without you feeling damaged or offended?

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So don't be rubber. Be iron and iron. Be iron that sharpens iron. Harden up. Right? Man -pleasing is ultimately self -pleasing.

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

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Christ gave us the example of servanthood, though. He washed the apostles' feet.

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And the most amazing thing is that Jesus, even knowing what Judas would do, He washed

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Judas' feet. Jesus washed Judas' feet. It says,

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The Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. And do the same.

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Sometimes when I think about it, I am sick to my stomach when I think about the times that I simply served so that someone would see me, that maybe

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I'd get the pat on the back, that maybe the elders would say, Wow, you did a good job here.

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It makes me sick to think that I ever used to do something like that. If we as Christians don't want to serve

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Christ and serve one another, but desire to serve ourselves, then we make ourselves out to be an idol.

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Don't do it. Don't do it. So let's wrap this up now. I'm concluding now, church.

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This really honestly tests what we believe. Where's my true love?

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

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Pharisees in Jesus' day, not confessing Jesus. And it says,

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For they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

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Nicodemus came to Jesus under nightfall. Joseph of Arimathea, the rich man who provided the tomb for him, it says he was a secret follower for fear of the

01:01:34

Jews. Now it's my strong conviction and my strong belief that after the resurrection, these men like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea became public.

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I think it speaks about them in a good way. I think the

01:01:53

Scriptures lean towards the fact that I believe we're going to see them in eternity.

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Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. Even though they feared men in that moment before the resurrection.

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Because all who confess Jesus before the children of men, He shall confess before the Father in Heaven. And think, we have the fuller picture now.

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We have the complete picture. We have the full revelation. Let us cast off any fear of man, or man -pleasing, because of the glorious atoning work of Christ.

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Because we don't need to please men. We don't need to please men. We don't need to do it anymore.

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And any pleasing that comes to others by our actions ought to be by the by -product or the result of pleasing

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God chiefly. What do I mean by that? I mean that when I'm pleasing

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God foremost in my marriage, it's then pleasing to my wife. When I am pleasing

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God in my work and in my career, it then pleases my employers.

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When I am pleasing God primary as a pastor here in this church, hopefully that is pleasing to the congregation.

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That is easier. That is better for the congregation. It is a by -product.

01:03:21

We please God first, and then things will be pleasing to others. We just need to know what is first.

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In John 5, it says the Jews were looking for any reason to kill Jesus because He was making Himself out to be equal with God.

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In Jesus' defense, He truly condemns them. He says this in John 5.

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How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only

01:03:53

God? The point is, of course, that they don't believe. He is saying how can you even believe if you receive glory from one another?

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How can you even believe if you desire the praise of men? And how can you even believe if you seek to please men?

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But beloved, we are here today because we have believed. We have believed in the

01:04:24

Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in His finished work on the cross. It was not fear of man that brought

01:04:31

Jesus to the cross for redemption, but love of His Father and love for us.

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We believe the Gospel here. So the call is to act in accordance with that Gospel and with His Word.

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We do not need to fear man anymore. We don't. Church, you do not need to fear man anymore.

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You don't need to do that anymore. Fear the Lord your God because fear of man lays a snare, but trusting the

01:04:58

Lord is safe. So trust in the Lord and love the Lord. It says, for His perfect love casts out fear, and His perfect love will cast out the fear of man.

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So let's ask the Lord to do that for us. Okay? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, please bless the message that went out.

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We thank You, Lord, for Your Word. How it is sometimes so very cutting.

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And yet, Lord, there's so many promises. God of Your redemption of us.

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There's so many promises that You will finish what You've started in us. Lord, it is our earnest desire today that we do not fear men, we do not commit to man -pleasing, that we do not regard our reputation, our lives, our careers, anything above You.

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Help us to regard You and You above all things. Help us,

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Lord, to fear You and revere You and to trust You, to trust Your promises.

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Let us follow the example of our Savior, who did not fear men, who never feared man, but trusted and loved

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You, Lord. So, God, please use this today for the sake of Your people.

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Use this today for all of us. Help us, Lord, to commit to these things, to our heart, to live coram

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Deo, in the presence of our Lord, to live in such a way, Lord, where we do not regard our lives as higher than following after Christ.