Man, the title of my sermon this morning is Be Afraid, Be Afraid.
Now there are many places in the Bible that say things like don't be afraid, fear not,
and don't be fearful, and things like that, but then there are also a lot of places in
the Bible telling us to be afraid, and this is one of those places in Romans chapter 13,
and that is simply because there is a time to be afraid and a time not to be afraid.
It's not that fear is always bad or that fear is always wrong.
The Bible tells us over and over again to fear God, for example.
That's a major theme throughout the Bible, and so I've actually preached a sermon in
the past called Don't Be Afraid, and that sermon still stands, but today's sermon is
called Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid, all right?
So anyway, look at Romans chapter 13 verse 1, let every soul be subject unto the higher
powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be ordained of God, whosoever
therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall
receive to themselves damnation, for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the
evil.
Wilt thou then, that means do you not want to be afraid of the power?
Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same, for he is the minister
of God to thee for good, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he bareth not
the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him
that doeth evil, wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience
sake.
So let's back up and go through some of this.
It says in verse 1, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power
but of God, the powers that be ordained of God.
Now the word power means authority, okay?
This is what it's referring to, the higher powers.
We're talking about people who are in charge, people who are in authority.
He's saying let us be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God,
the powers that be ordained of God.
So in our world, there are legitimate sources of authority, and those authorities have been
put in place by God.
Let me give you some examples.
For example, parents have authority over their children.
Why is it that children have to obey their parents?
It is simply because God has given parents authority over their children.
Now if you didn't believe that God existed, if you just believe that you're some evolved
animal and just a product of chance from the big bang, then you don't have to obey your
parents at that point because, you know, let's eat, drink, and be married.
Tomorrow we die.
If we're all just animals, we can just do whatever we want.
Morality comes from God.
Right and wrong comes from God, and this idea of obeying your parents has been put in place
by God.
The powers that be are ordained by God.
Okay, why is it that the servant must obey his master or the employee must obey his employer?
Because God said for servants to obey their masters.
Why is it that the wife is supposed to obey her husband?
Because God said that the wife is supposed to obey her husband.
Why is it that any authority exists in this world, whether it be human government, whether
it be parents, whether it be a boss at work, whether it be authority in the local church,
whether it be the pastor or whoever is an authority in a certain sphere or realm of
our life, it's because God said those things, and that's why we obey because the powers
that be are ordained by God.
Now that's not saying that every single leader is picked by God, every single employer is
picked by God, every single parent is picked by God, every parent is a wonderful parent
that God put there.
No, no, no.
What it's talking about here is the institution.
God ordained the institution of parents, government, whatever the case may be, and so the powers
that be are ordained of God.
Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that
resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
Here's what that's saying.
If God commanded you, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right, and
then the child disobeys their parents, who are they actually disobeying at that point?
They're actually disobeying God.
If God said, wives, be obedient to your husbands and everything, and then the wife disobeys
her husband, who's she actually disobeying?
She's actually disobeying God, right?
If you disobey the boss at work and rebel against the authority at the workplace, who
are you actually rebelling against?
Who are you actually disobeying?
God, because he's the one who put that person in that position or gave them that authority
when he said, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right, okay?
What about verse 3?
It says, for rulers, these are authority figures, people that are in power in any area of our
life, for rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil.
Terror is another word for fear, it's just a more intense fear.
Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?
Hey, do you want to not live in fear and be afraid of the power?
Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same.
But if you do what's evil, he says in verse number 4, be afraid, right?
It says in verse 4, for he's the minister of God to thee for good.
God has put these people in our lives as authority figures, whether it be parents, whether it
be a husband, whether it be the pastor of the church, whether it be the boss at work,
whether it be the government of our nation.
God has put these things in place for our benefit, okay?
They're there because we need them as human beings.
Now you say, well Pastor Anderson, you know, you say a lot of things against the government
but I'm not against government in general.
I'm not an anarchist, okay?
Obviously there are a lot of very wicked things about our current government but that doesn't
mean that government is not ordained by God, okay?
So we are supposed to have a government.
If we had no government, it would be a horrible situation.
If we were living in some kind of a failed state where the government has ceased to exist,
then things would just be run by organized crime bosses, things would be run by drug
dealers, things would be run by feudal lords and we'd have even less freedom without a
government than with the government that we have, okay?
Even if our government is less than what we want, hey, guess what?
It's better than no government at all.
No government at all in that absence of power, that vacuum, horrible forces come in and take
over and that's even worse, okay?
At least we can go to bed and feel safe and everything like that and not just be living
in total anarchy and chaos.
So don't get too overboard on your libertarian views.
I'm libertarian in my views but don't go overboard on that and become anarchist.
That just becomes foolishness at that point, okay?
So God did ordain government.
God put our parents in our life for a reason.
God has order and structure and chains of command in this world because we need that
as human beings and those people are the minister of God for us, for our own good.
And it says, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid for he beareth not the sword
in vain.
And this is specifically referring to human government as in, you know, what we would
think of as the government.
He says they don't bear the sword in vain, meaning what?
You can even commit crimes where they'll put you to death, where they would give you the
death penalty, right?
You go out and commit murder or something, they'll put you to death.
And so he says he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the minister of God, a revenger
to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Therefore, he says, you must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience
sake.
So he's saying, look, there are two reasons for you to obey the God-given authorities
in your life.
Reason number one, because you ought to be afraid not to.
You ought to be afraid of what they're going to do to you and afraid of what God's going
to do to you.
And number two, for conscience sake.
Our conscience should dictate to us that when we do something wrong, we should feel bad
about it, right?
And so we should feel bad about disobeying the authorities in our life.
So there's wrath and then there's conscience.
These are the two reasons why we should be subject.
Now let me give you some specific people that the Lord wants us to fear in our lives.
Go back to Leviticus chapter 19.
Leviticus chapter 19.
First of all, we see that God wants us to fear the Lord and his representatives and
people that he has put in our lives, the powers that have been ordained by God.
So the Bible says in Proverbs 24 verse 21, my son, fear thou the Lord and the king and
meddle not with them that are given to change.
Now many people have this attitude that we're only going to fear God.
The only person we should fear is just God and no one else.
And they'll use a verse like where it says the fear of man bringeth a snare.
You know, don't fear man.
Fear God.
Now obviously there's a lot of truth in that, but what we have to understand is that when
God has put someone in our lives and told us to fear that person, then if you fear God,
you're going to fear that person too.
So that's why he said fear God and the king.
He didn't just say fear God, he said fear God and the king and meddle not with them
that are given to change.
Look at Leviticus 19, of course we're supposed to fear our parents.
You say, Pastor Anderson, I don't appreciate you using the word fear about parents.
What kind of parenting is that?
Well look down at the Bible at Leviticus 19 verse 3, ye shall fear every man, his mother
and his father and keep my Sabbaths.
I am the Lord your God.
Right there it's telling you to fear your parents.
It's using that exact word.
Now if you would flip over to 1 Samuel chapter 15, here's the thing about human nature.
Everybody wants to talk about loving God and obeying God and serving God because God is
just something that they can basically hold at arm's length, this concept of well God's
in heaven and we're on earth, so it's pretty easy for them to just say, oh I love God,
I fear God, I obey God.
But then they don't actually fear or obey the authorities that God has put in their
life.
You know, it's not true that they love or obey or fear God at that point.
What does the Bible say?
The Bible says if a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he's a liar.
For he who loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath
not seen?
And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also.
So it's easy to say, oh I love God, but he said if you hate your brother you're a liar.
So here's the thing, it's easy to say, oh I fear God, but then you have no fear of your
parents, no fear of any other authorities that God has put in your life, then do you
really fear God at that point?
No.
Just like you don't love God if you don't love your brother, you don't fear God if you
don't fear the powers that be and the people that he has put in your life as ministers
of God for your own good.
So the Bible tells us in 1 Samuel 15 that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, right?
Because the opposite of fearing and obeying the authorities in our life is to rebel against
them, right?
What does the Bible say in 1 Samuel 15 22?
And Samuel said hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying
the voice of the Lord?
Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams, for rebellion
is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry because thou has
rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
Now stop and think about this, what if I said to you, hey listen we're going to go out tonight,
we're going to go to a graveyard and it's going to be a full moon tonight, I didn't
check the report, I don't know if it is or not but let's just pretend.
It's a full moon tonight, we're going to go down to the graveyard, we're going to be taking
the blood of a cat and we're going to be taking the cat claw and the witch hazel and we're
going to be basically summoning evil spirits tonight down at the cemetery, right?
We're going to be actually performing witchcraft and I've got Harry Potter's book of spells
and we're going to go down there and we're going to read out a bunch of spells and we're
going to actually perform some witchcraft, we're going to get out a Ouija board, we're
going to communicate with the dead.
I mean what would you think about that?
It's just stupid to even bring it up as an example because it's so far out there of just
a ridiculous sin, right?
I mean it's so extreme, it's so ridiculous.
Say a pastor would never say that, what if one of our church members invited you to something
like that?
How would you react?
You'd flip out and wouldn't you say like this person shouldn't even come to our church,
I mean this person should be thrown out of our church, I mean this person is demonic,
this person is practicing sorcery or witchcraft.
I mean it's pretty much one of the most extremely evil things you can imagine people doing is
going out and summoning evil spirits and performing witchcraft and sorcery.
Do you agree with that?
Okay, well what does the Bible say?
Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
Now let that sink in.
Rebellion is as, how can you even compare those two things?
God is comparing those two things.
This rebellious attitude, nobody's going to tell me what to do and you know my parents
aren't going to tell me and the boss isn't going to tell me and I don't care what Pastor
Anderson says, hey rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, that's what the Bible says.
And then it says, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
So what if we said, hey we're going to bring in a statue into Faith Forward Baptist Church,
we're going to set up a statue right here in front of the pulpit and we're going to
bow down to that statue.
Every Sunday morning when we come to church, before the service begins, we're all going
to get on our knees before a statue up here.
Again you'd be shocked, you'd be horrified and it would be almost similar to that other
example of going out into the graveyard and performing dark arts, right?
He says look, when you're being stubborn, when you're rebelling against your authority,
that's what it's like.
It's like you're bowing down to a graven image, it's like you're summoning evil spirits in
the cemetery, that is what it is like.
Now a lot of people say, well that's just how I am.
Well then you're just a witch is what you are.
That's just how I am.
You know I just kind of, when my authority comes down on me I just kind of bristle, I
just kind of talk back.
You know later I get it right, but first I do a little witchcraft.
First I do a little bit of idolatry.
Folks wake up and listen to what the Bible is saying to you today.
The Bible is telling you not to be rebellious.
The Bible is telling you not to be a witch.
Don't be stubborn.
Submit to the God-given authorities in your life.
The Bible says it's of God and if you disobey the authority in your life that's on this
earth you are disobeying God.
That's what the Bible teaches folks.
It's clear.
It's not a gray area.
Flip over to Jeremiah 28.
The Bible says in Proverbs 17 10, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred
stripes into a fool.
Meaning that if you go to a wise person and you just verbally tell them, you know you
shouldn't be doing that.
They actually listen to that more than somebody who's foolish, you could literally beat them
a hundred times, a hundred stripes, right, just no, you're not going to do that.
I mean just imagine somebody getting flogged a hundred times and being told not to do something.
The Bible says that person is foolish but he said you could just walk up to a wise person
and not even hit them, no violence, you could just say to them you shouldn't be doing that
and here's what the Bible says.
Here's why the Bible says you're wrong and the Bible says a reproof enters more into
a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool.
The Bible says in Jeremiah 28 verse 16, therefore thus saith the Lord, behold I will cast thee
off from the face of the earth, this year thou shalt die because thou has taught rebellion
against the Lord.
Look at chapter 29 verse 32.
Chapter 29 verse 32, therefore thus saith the Lord, behold I will punish Shemaiah the
Nehelamite and his seed, he shall not have a man to dwell among his people, this people,
neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the Lord, because
he hath taught rebellion against the Lord.
Let me say this, don't teach rebellion against the Lord.
Do not teach rebellion against the Lord.
You know what that means?
That means that if some woman comes up to you and says, oh well my husband told me to
do this, but I'm just going to do what I want, I don't care what he says, I'm going
to do it this way, and you say, yeah you go girl.
You know what, you're teaching rebellion against the Lord right there.
If some kid comes to you and says, hey my parents are on my case and they're telling
me I can't do this and that, and then you tell that child, oh well your parents are
too strict, yeah they're way too, you know, you're fine, you should do that.
You know, I remember one time when I was a kid and complaining to a relative that,
you know, oh man my parents won't let me listen to X, Y, and Z music, right?
And this relative said, oh man that's like the best thing you could be listening to.
How can your parents be that strict?
That's the best thing you could possibly be listening to.
I mean they're just lucky that you're not listening to any just listed a bunch of worse
music that was even worse and just said, you know, how can your parents be not letting
you listen to that?
That's so mild compared to this other stuff, I mean they should just be thrilled that that's
what you want to listen to, okay?
And this relative ended up later being found out to be a reprobate and a sodomite.
Okay but you notice how he's teaching rebellion by saying, oh that's what your parents told
you not to do?
That's the best thing you could be listening to.
Those are his exact words.
That's the best thing for you.
No, because if your parents said no, it's not the best thing for you.
It's rebellion.
It's disobeying God.
If your parents told you no, the answer is no.
Okay, so do not be guilty of rebelling but also don't teach rebellion.
Don't teach rebellion.
Don't tell people, hey don't obey your husband, don't obey your parents, don't listen to what
the pastor's telling you, don't listen to what your boss at work is telling you, do
it your way.
Oh, if the manager told you do it this way, do it a different way.
Do it your way.
They're teaching you rebellion, folks.
Okay now, I'm not saying that authority has a carte blanche.
Obviously different authorities have different scopes of influence, okay?
And obviously the Bible said in Romans 13 that we should obey the higher power.
So basically, if our parents tell us to do something that's against God, then we should
not obey our parents.
We have to obey God at that point because the Bible says we ought to obey God rather
than men.
So I'm not saying that just whatever authority tells us to do, we just do it no matter what.
That's not what I'm saying.
But I'm saying that if your parents, when you're a kid, if your parents tell you to
do something and they're not telling you to sin, you have to do it, amen?
You obey your parents.
I mean, that's what the Bible says.
And look, if your husband tells you to do something and it's not a sin, you have to
do it.
If the boss at work tells you to do something and it's not a sin, then you have to do it.
Now, what are the limits on these things?
Well, there are some limits on the boss at work's power because if the boss tells you
to do something that's outside the scope of work, then you may be able to say, wait a
minute, that has nothing to do with work.
Okay, what?
Because the boss is your ruler at work.
He's not the ruler of your whole life outside of work, okay.
You know, obviously it's not even legal for bosses to require their employees to go to
church or something, you know, like telling them what to do on Sunday or what to do on
Saturday.
I talked to a guy one time that worked for Mormons and they required him to attend the
Mormon Church every Sunday in order to work there and he was not a Mormon and he would
just went because he had to.
He's being forced.
Obviously that's an employer that's out of bounds at that point, okay.
Obviously if they're telling you to disobey God, you don't have to obey them, okay.
And then obviously there are certain realms of influence like your employer is your boss
at work.
He's not the boss of your whole life.
But here's the thing, when you're a kid, your parents are the boss of your whole life.
Let's face it, okay.
And when you're a wife, your husband is the boss of your whole life.
Okay.
When we get into other realms, there are limits like, for example, at work, also the pastor.
You know, the Bible teaches that the pastor has authority in the local church.
The Bible says that the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially
they who labor in the word of doctrine.
The Bible says obey them that have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word
of God, whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation.
So obviously the pastor of the church is not just some figurehead that has no authority.
He is considered the overseer, the bishop, the ruler in the house of God.
But here's the thing, my authority only extends to the church, meaning that I can't tell you
what to do in your home, in your personal life.
I can't tell you about what to do at your job or whatever, okay.
My authority is just how the church operates, right.
So I'm basically ruling in the house of God as far as how the church operates, church
related stuff.
That's where my authority is.
The boss at work, he's in charge of work related stuff, right.
And then your parents, they have total authority, okay.
That's a different situation.
Now, when we talk about our human government, what authority has God given the human government?
Well, in Romans chapter 13, he explained that their job was for the punishment of evil doers.
And it says that they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing.
So God has ordained human government for a specific purpose to punish evil doers.
So God did not ordain human government to feed us, clothe us, educate us, and basically
take care of us from cradle to grave.
He didn't create the government to replace your husband, to replace your parents, to
replace your pastor, to replace God himself.
And many people have literally made a God out of the government.
They're literally, you'll tell them, hey, that's not right, and you'll say, no, it's
legal.
Yeah, but it's not right, but it's legal though.
And then they literally think, how can it not be right if it's legal, because legal
determines what's right.
And then you'll tell them, hey, this is what the Bible says we should be doing, oh, that's
illegal.
Yeah, but it's what God told us to do, but it's illegal.
They think illegal equals bad, legal equals good.
If somebody only thinks that things that are illegal are bad and only thinks that if something
is legal that it's always good, you know what that means?
That means that that person's God is their government.
And all throughout history, government has sought to replace God in places like the Soviet
Union, Communist China, North Korea, where people worship the government.
It goes back even further to the Roman Empire, the cult of the emperor where they would actually
worship the emperor as God.
They would burn incense and make sacrifices to the emperor, bow down to statues of the
emperor.
Okay.
So I'm not saying that every authority in our lives has unlimited authority.
There's a scope of authority for the pastor that has to do with the church.
Now, are there pastors who go beyond that?
Yeah, there are pastors that will try to run your personal life.
That isn't right.
There are governments that try to run the lives of their citizens.
That isn't right.
You know what we need the government for?
We need the government to punish people who are stealing, to punish people who are robbing
and killing and raping and pillaging, right?
We need the government to protect us from those kind of people.
And God has ordained human government to bear that sword of the law, right?
I mean, when do we want the cops to show up at our house?
When we're having a disagreement with our spouse?
Is that when we want the cops to show up?
When do we want the cops to show up?
We want the cops to show up when somebody's there to murder, rape or pillage, right?
That's when you're going to call 911 is when somebody's breaking into your house and they
got a shotgun and they're coming in and they've got a ski mask on and they're robbing the
bank, right?
That's what we need the government for, friend.
Or let's say some other army is invading our country.
That's where we want the government to basically defend us with the military, right?
And fight off the foreign invader.
These are legitimate use of government.
We shouldn't look to government to replace church, replace our parents, replace our own
right arm that's supposed to work and make money and feed ourselves.
So yes, there is a limit, but folks, Christians today are rebelling against God-given authority
in their lives and it's witchcraft and idolatry.
And we shouldn't teach it and we shouldn't do it.
That's what the Bible says.
Now let's move on.
Go if you would to Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter number 6 and then we're going to go
to 1 Samuel chapter 16, Ephesians chapter 6 and then we're going to go to 1 Samuel 16
after that.
Ephesians 6, 5 says, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to
the flesh with fear and trembling.
Now let me say this, a lot of people, they try to say that the word fear in the Bible
doesn't really mean fear.
And I've heard this my whole life.
Well, when the Bible says fear, it just means respect.
It doesn't really mean fear like we would think of fear.
Who's heard that before?
Okay, but look what the Bible says here, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters
according to the flesh with fear and trembling.
Is that respect?
Fear and trembling.
You know what?
I'm not saying that you literally go to work and be like, yes, sir.
You know why he put trembling there?
For the bozos that would try to say that fear doesn't really mean fear.
He's putting fear and trembling, he's exaggerating there with the trembling.
Obviously, he's not telling you to literally shake in your boots.
But when he says fear and trembling, he just wants you to know, guess what I mean when
I said fear?
I meant fear.
So when he says fear, he means fear, and he's using trembling as an exaggeration to
show you that you actually should fear and tremble before God.
And when the Bible says fear God, it says serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with
trembling.
So don't tell me I'm not supposed to tremble before God.
I am supposed to fear God in every sense of the word.
And you know what?
Children should fear their parents.
And the Bible says to fear your employer.
That's what the Bible says.
It says, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with
fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart as unto Christ, not with eye service
as men pleasers, you know, doing what's right only when the boss is watching as a man pleaser,
but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing
service as to the Lord and not men.
Not to men.
Go to 1 Samuel 16, verse 4.
The Bible says, and Samuel did that which the Lord spake and came to Bethlehem and watched
the reaction of the men of Bethlehem to Samuel the prophet.
It says that Samuel came to Bethlehem and the elders of the town trembled at his coming
and said, comest thou peaceably?
Boy, they were nervous, weren't they?
I mean, when Samuel's coming to town, the elders of the town trembled at the coming
of Samuel and they're like, are you coming peacefully?
Are we in trouble?
Are we busted?
You know, that tells me that Samuel was a pretty scary guy.
Now, Samuel was a great man of God.
He was a godly man.
He was a preacher.
He was a prophet.
But you know what?
When he came to town, people trembled.
People were afraid of him.
Now, is that good or bad?
That's a good thing.
And you know what?
I'm going to show you in the Bible that we should fear the man of God.
Fear the man of God.
They feared Samuel, okay?
Flip over, if you would, to 2 Samuel chapter 1.
And while you're turning there, I'll show you an example in the life of Paul.
It says in Acts 24, 24, and after certain days when Felix came with his wife, Drusilla,
which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
And as he reasoned of righteousness, judgment, and temperance, I'm sorry, I got that wrong.
And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered,
go thy way for this time.
When I have a convenient season, I'll call for thee.
So here, he wants to hang out with Paul.
He wants to hear the word of God.
He knew that Paul's a great Bible teacher.
He'd hear that Paul's a great speaker.
But when Paul preached to him, when he got this personalized sermon from the Apostle
Paul, Felix trembled when he heard the preaching of God's word.
He trembled and he said, he couldn't take it anymore.
He said basically, just, I'll call you when it's more convenient.
But it was really because he was scared.
The hard preaching had him shaking in his boots.
Felix, when the Apostle Paul preached.
Numbers chapter 12 verse 7, you're in 2 Samuel, but Numbers chapter 12 verse 7 says, my servant
Moses is not so who is faithful in all my house.
With him I will speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches.
And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold, watch this, wherefore then were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and he departed.
Look what it says in 2 Samuel chapter 1 verse 14.
And David said unto him, how was thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy
the Lord's anointed?
And David called one of the young men and said, go near and fall upon him.
And he smote him that he died.
And David said unto him, thy blood be upon thy head, for thy mouth hath testified against
thee, saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed.
Go to Luke chapter 9, Luke chapter 9.
And so we see that the Bible gives us examples of men of God like Samuel and the Apostle
Paul, Old Testament, New Testament, where people trembled.
People were fearful of them.
They did fear them.
And then we see some admonitions of the Old Testament saying, hey, don't be afraid to
just blow off your mouth and speak against Moses.
Don't be afraid to blow off your mouth and speak against King Saul or even to physically
assault King Saul.
You should have been afraid of those things.
Look at Luke chapter 9.
We'll see that people were afraid of Jesus.
They were afraid of him.
Even his own apostles feared to bring up certain things.
They didn't want to say certain things.
Boy, at one time, he caught them having a stupid conversation.
They were having this really dumb conversation about who's the greatest.
That's a stupid conversation, right?
They're talking about who's better, who's the greatest.
And then he comes up to them, he's like, so, what were you guys talking about as you walked
down the road there?
And they were afraid, the Bible says, they were afraid because they didn't want to look
like an idiot in front of Jesus because they were talking about something stupid, right?
Look at Luke 9.44, let these sayings sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man shall
be delivered into the hands of men.
But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them that they perceived it not,
watch this, and they feared to ask him of that saying.
So did the disciples just feel like, oh, we can just ask Jesus anything?
Jesus is our buddy.
Jesus is my homeboy.
You think that's what they felt about Jesus?
No, they were afraid to ask Jesus about certain things.
They feared of being made to look like a fool in front of him, right?
They had a good, healthy fear of Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in Mark 9.31, for he taught his disciples and said unto them, the Son
of Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him, and after that he's
killed, he shall rise the third day.
But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.
Oh, they just felt like they could just ask him anything.
I just feel like I can talk to you about anything.
Is that how they felt about Jesus?
Is that how they felt about Samuel?
Is that how they felt about the Apostle Paul?
Is that how they were supposed to feel about King Saul or David or Solomon or anything
like that?
Well, you can just ask Solomon anything, like, hey, is it all right if I marry Abishag the
Shanimite?
That didn't go over real well.
Remember when he asked that question?
Look, folks, this idea of, oh, the only stupid question is the one that you don't ask.
That's not a Bible verse.
The Bible says avoid foolish questions.
And you know what?
You ought to fear the man of God if you're out living in fornication, if you're going
to go out and get drunk, if you're going to go out and teach heresy, if you're going to
spread lies and heresy and false doctrine in the church.
If you're a wicked person, be very afraid.
You should be afraid.
You say, oh, you're such a bad leader, Pastor Anderson, because people are afraid of you.
You know what?
I hope people are afraid of me.
Because then that means I'm like Samuel.
I hope people are afraid of me, then that makes me like the Apostle Paul.
Look, I'm not as great as Samuel.
I'm not as great as the Apostle Paul.
I'm not as great as any of the disciples, except I'm greater than Judas because he was
a horrible person.
But, you know, the 11 good guys, hey, I'm not as great as them.
I can't even hold a candle to these men of God in the Bible, but you know what?
They're my heroes, though.
They're my role models, though.
That's who I want to be like.
That's who I want to preach like.
That's who I want to emulate.
I want to be like Jesus.
I want to be like Samuel.
I want to be like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.
And you know what?
These guys weren't just a bunch of milk toast cream puffs coming into town.
No, the Apostle Paul, have you read 2 Corinthians?
He said, I am going to come, and I'm not going to spare, and I'm coming with a rod, and I'm
coming to chew you up and spit you out.
And you know what?
There ought to be fear for your parents, fear for the boss at work, fear of the man of God.
Because if you fear God, then by extension, you will fear people that God has placed in
your life.
You know what?
I did an interview not too long ago, and this guy is, you know, we were talking about something.
He's like, aren't you afraid that somebody would be, or he said, don't you think it's
bad that somebody would be afraid to come to you and tell you if they, you know, have
queer tendencies or whatever?
And I'm like, they ought to be afraid to come up and tell me that they have queer tendencies.
They should be very afraid to come to Pastor Anderson and say, well, they just feel like
they can't talk to you.
What Bible verse are you teaching me from?
Is there something I'm missing in this book here?
Because I'm not seeing this doctrine of just, hey, and I remember talking to a guy one time
who had godly parents, but he liked these other people's parents because he felt like
he could just kind of say anything to them.
He could just at the dinner table just kind of bring up anything, and they wouldn't shut
him down.
They wouldn't tell him, hey, that's wicked, that's wrong, that's foolishness.
He just felt like he could kind of just say, he could come out with the craziest thing
and they'd just be like, so, you know, why do you think that?
It kind of reminds me of this guy that was on the radio, George Norrie.
Who knows who I'm talking about?
What was the, Coast to Coast, right?
So I remember driving down the road in the middle of the night, and when you're really
scraping the bottom of the barrel on entertainment, because I used to drive 80,000 miles a year,
and you've listened to all the Alexander Scorby, you've listened to the preaching, you've listened
to the audiobooks, you've stared out the window, you've been driving for 10 hours.
You know, it's the middle of the night, it's three in the morning, and you got like two
or three stations available, and you flip it on and it's, you know, Coast to Coast with
George Norrie.
Who knows the show I'm talking about?
It plays in the middle of the night.
So this show is everything that's weird and paranormal and conspiracy and whatever, right?
And I mean, and it's a call-in show, okay?
So people would call into this show and just say the craziest things, just the wild, I
mean it's like open phones, it's the middle of the night, people are calling in about
alien abductions, I mean just crazy, the weirdest, craziest stuff.
And this guy never, he never told them, that's ridiculous, you're lying, you made this up.
Never!
And I mean, I remember listening to this show, this guy calls in and he's talking about how,
he just goes on this big long story about how, you know, this flying saucer abducted
him and they were like doing some kind of surgery on him through the back of his neck.
I mean it's just weird, crazy stuff, all these experiments they're doing on him and everything.
And then they drop him off and he just tells this long, bizarre, crazy story and you're
just like, come on, like is he gonna say no to this?
He tells them it's the wildest thing ever and there's just a pause, there's just silence.
And you're thinking like, what is George Norrie gonna say?
The guy finishes the story and there's just a pause.
So what do you think they were looking for, you know, when they were probing in the back
of your neck, like he just looked like it was just like, like everything that the guy
said was just reasonable.
Folks, that's not what a Baptist pastor does.
That's not what right, godly parents do, folks, where you just come to them with anything,
any stupid, crazy, weird, look, the thought of foolishness is sin, avoid foolish questions,
you can't just come up with just crazy, you know, if you come to the dinner table and
start telling your parents the earth is flat, you ought to expect your dad to get mad and
yell at you, you should be afraid to even say something so stupid, you ought to be afraid
to say that to me, as a pastor of the church.
I'm telling you, man, this is what the Bible teaches, okay?
Not just this, oh yeah, we should all just feel so comfortable, yeah, you know, so comfortable
with people like Jonadab, right, like Amnon was real comfortable with Jonadab, he could
even go to Jonadab, if you know the Bible story, and tell him his perverted feelings.
And what did Jonadab do, jump down his throat and say, man, that's sick, that's wicked,
you're wrong, you shouldn't be thinking that way, there's a whole bunch of beautiful women
out there, why would you pick one that's too closely related to you, according to God's
word, you just need to get that stupid thought out of your head, here, let me introduce you
to some girls, no, what did his friend say, oh, here, let me help you act on your perverted
desire.
Who knows what I'm talking about, the story with Amnon and Jonadab, in 2 Samuel, see,
that's a real friend, is actually going to rebuke you when you need to be rebuked, tell
you no, tell you you're wrong, not just bolster you and pat you on the back all the way off
the cliff, right?
Mark 932, they understood not the saying, and were afraid to ask, oh, Jesus is so mean,
everybody's afraid to ask him things.
You know why they're afraid to ask, because one time Peter took Jesus aside and started
teaching him a dumb doctrine, and you know what Jesus said, get thee behind me, Satan,
that's what he said to Peter, that's what Jesus said to the apostle Peter, get thee
behind me, Satan, because he's just so approachable.
Let's move on, you say, I don't like this sermon, well, you're about to like it even
less, go to Ephesians, go to Ephesians chapter 5, we haven't even got to the hard stuff yet,
no, I'm just kidding, look at Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians chapter 5, what does the Bible
tell us here?
Ephesians chapter 5, of course, is the famous passage, it's one of the most detailed passages
about wives and husbands, it talks about wives should submit themselves under their own husbands
as unto the Lord, verse 23, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is
the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body, therefore as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it,
this is a powerful passage, it's used in a lot of weddings, it's used in a lot of preaching,
it's one of the favorite passages of husbands and wives everywhere because they want to
know how to have a marriage that honors God.
Well at the end, he has kind of a summing up statement in verse 33, to kind of sum up
the whole 10 verses before it, he says in verse 33, nevertheless, let every one of you
in particular so love his wife, even as himself, and the Bible says, see that the wife reverence
her husband, see that the wife reverence her husband.
Now reverence is closely related to fear, and I want to just cover in the closing moments
here a couple of things that we should reverence.
Number one, wives should reverence their husbands, and number two, the Bible teaches that we
should reverence the house of God, we should reverence the church.
What does that mean for?
It means a respect that's mixed with fear, you know, basically a healthy fear or respect
or awe, being in awe of something, right?
Now a lot, what the modern versions will do here, the modern versions will take out the
word reverence and they'll put the word respect in.
Here's the problem with that, when it says that the wife should reverence her husband,
if they put that as that she should respect her husband, that's toning that down a little
bit because reverence goes beyond respect, it goes beyond respect, okay.
Now if you would, flip in your Bible to Psalm 89, Psalm 89, and while you're turning to
Psalm 89, I'm going to read you some other verses, Leviticus 19, 30 says, you shall keep
my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary, I am the Lord.
Leviticus 26, 2, you shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary, I am the Lord,
okay.
Now, obviously in the Old Testament the sanctuary was a physical building, it was a tabernacle
and then it was the temple, but in the New Testament the Bible says the house of God
is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
And the church is not the building, the church is the assembly.
We should have respect and reverence for the house of God.
We should not desecrate God's house, right?
We should keep it holy and we should basically have a healthy awe and fear of God's house
and not be, what do you mean fear?
Well, not be flippant and just feel like we can just come in and disrespect it and not
take it seriously.
I mean, what if you came in and just made church into a joke?
And you just made church into, what if you came to church and you're just playing a video
game the whole time?
What if you came to, look, a friend of mine told me, well, I have a lot of anonymous stories,
don't I?
A friend of mine, a relative, you know, because why?
Because we all have, we've all seen things in our personal life, but we don't want to
just call out everybody in our personal lives for things, right?
Hey, a friend of mine went to a church and said that there was a teenager in the church
and that every Sunday morning the teenager would participate in the song service and
the moment the preaching started, two headphones went in.
Does that person reverence God's house?
Does that person, okay, let me ask this, does that person fear the man of God?
Zero.
I mean, look, if I were preaching and I saw somebody with headphones on, some teenager
just watching a movie or listening to something, listening to the radio, listening to music
and just ignoring my preaching, boy, I would cloud up and rain.
I would call them out, but see, the reason that doesn't happen here is because people
would probably be afraid to do that here, but at this particular church, apparently
they don't have any fear of the man of God and they don't have any reverence for the
house of God that they would just come to church and just pop in headphones.
They're not taking it seriously, they're not showing respect, they don't have fear of God
or the man of God.
That's what I'm talking about, folks, things like that.
The Bible says in Psalm 89, verse 7, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly, what's
the assembly?
Assembly means church, church means assembly, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly
of the saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
So when we come to church, we should walk in respectfully, fearing God and reverencing
the house of God itself.
And look, this is why a lot of people dress nice for church and you don't have to dress
nice for church and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with coming to church dressed
casually, but what I'm saying is the reason that you see people dressing up for church
is typically because they just take church really seriously, just like they would dress
up when they go to like a wedding or graduation or a funeral or a job interview or something
like that.
All it is is just people just taking it seriously.
And again, I'm not saying it's wrong to wear casual clothes to church, I'm saying that
people, because you could be respectful with casual clothes, but what I'm saying is you
ought to have an attitude of, hey, church is a big deal.
And for a lot of people, because church happens three times a week, it becomes old hat and
it's not a big deal to them anymore, right?
Because it's just they go to church all the time, it's three times a week, oh, ho, hum,
here we go again, here we are at church again, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, you know,
Pastor Anderson's up there, blah, blah, blah, blah.
I wonder what, you know, and you're sitting there like, whoa, Pita Bistro is not open
on Sundays?
I have my mouth all ready for that k-bob Pita goodness with lentils and tzatziki and, you
know, this message was brought to you in part by Pita Bistro, you know, whoa, they're closed
on Sunday?
Whoa, Chick-fil-A, it's like, yeah, you live under a rock, of course Chick-fil-A is closed
on Sunday.
You know, you're trying to figure out, you're trying to figure out the wait times at your
restaurants and everything like that, boy, is that referencing God's house?
You know what, there are people who wish that they had a church to go to, there are people
in foreign countries who have no church to go to, there are people who are sitting through
a series on the preacher of rapture right now, there are people that wish that they
could go to church and hear some biblical preaching, you know, we have a great church,
we got hundreds of people to fellowship with, there's a great opportunity to be here to
make friends, to go soul winning, to hop on a van and go to the most receptive place in
America to go soul winning, on the Apache rides, I mean, look, don't just get to the
point where you're just so spoiled by it all that you just don't even see that it's a blessing
to be in church.
Have reverence, have respect, have godly fear, okay?
The Bible says God is greatly to be feared, no, just fear him a little bit, is that what
it says?
Hey, God's greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be at in reverence of
all that are about him.
See how reverence and fear go together, okay?
Hebrews chapter 12, if you would flip over to Proverbs 28.
Hebrews chapter 12 verse 9, furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected
us and we gave them reverence, the Bible's talking about giving reverence to our dad,
shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live.
Hebrews 12, 28, wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby
we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming
fire.
And the Bible says here, I'll conclude with this, Proverbs 28, 14, happy is the man that
feareth always, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
You know what that hardening of the heart is?
That's rebellion and stubbornness.
Being all stiff-necked, you know, he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall
suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy.
You know, when you sit there and your parents tell you, your husband tells you something,
boss at work tells you something, pastor Anderson tells you, pastor preaches it.
You know what, don't harden your heart, you're going to fall, you're going to fall hard,
you're going to fall into mischief.
And you know, that falling into mischief, that's worse than it sounds.
Because he says, you know, the good man falleth seven times and rises up again, but then,
I don't remember how the rest of the verse goes, but it's something about the bad guy
in that situation falls into mischief.
The opposite of falling seven times and rising up again is falling into mischief, okay?
So whatever it is, it's bad, okay?
That's not really a word that we use a lot, but whatever it is, you don't want to be that
guy because he's the guy who falls and he doesn't get back up.
Are you listening?
Happy is the man that feareth all way.
You know what, you ought to quit having such a lackadaisical attitude and such a flippant
attitude about the authorities that God has placed in your life.
And especially of the Lord himself.
You had better tremble before the Lord.
I can't even count how many times I've gotten on my knees, literally on my knees, or prostrate
on my face and just said to God, God, please do not destroy me.
Please do not punish me.
God bless me.
You hold my fate in your hands.
You hold my destiny in your hands.
You have the power to lift me up or bring me down.
Folks, that's what Psalms teaches, okay?
That's our attitude ought to be toward God.
Now, it doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of other times that I don't love God and I'm
just thinking how great God is and fear's not even on my mind, you know, I'm just thinking
about how great it is to serve God and I'm just loving on God and worshiping God and
communing with God and just feeling all positive feelings toward God.
But you know what, there are other times when God's awesome power really impresses itself
upon me and where I really just grasp the fact that God can just go like this and it's
over for me.
I mean, God holds our breath in his hand and we need to realize that.
Our God, yes, God is love.
And there are plenty of times when we worship God for his love and kindness and his grace
and his mercy and that he is slow to anger.
Praise God for all those things.
But you know, there are other times when we worship God and we acknowledge to God, God,
you have the power to destroy me.
You have the power to wipe me out.
You have the power to take everything away from me, Lord.
Please be merciful unto me and do not destroy me, Lord.
Now look, we need that balance in our lives.
And you know what?
If you just have this attitude of, oh, the pastor's nobody and my parents don't matter
and the boss, well, who cares what the boss thinks, I'm going to do it my way.
Folks, you don't have a proper fear of God.
And if you're going to just disrespect and desecrate God's house, you don't have a fear
of God.
That's the root problem of all of this.
Fear God.
And you know the wicked, the Bible says they don't have any fear of God.
And that's why they do the things that they do.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your love, your kindness, your mercy, your long suffering,
the fact that you're slow to anger, the fact that you are of great mercy, the fact that
you are forgiving and compassionate and pitiful and merciful.
But Lord God, help us to just acknowledge your wrath and your just ability to punish
and your ability to even chastise and chase and even your own children and even to end
their lives, Lord.
Help us to grasp that, Lord.
And help us not only to respect you and fear you, but help us to also fear those authorities
that you've placed in our lives.
And help us not to just flippantly mouth off to them or think that what they say doesn't
matter.
Help us to serve them with fear and rejoice with trembling as we serve you with fear and
rejoice with trembling.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.