Amen, the part that I'd like to preach on is beginning verse number seven there where
the Bible reads,
He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son,
but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers
and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone which is the second death.
The title of my sermon tonight is The Fearful and Unbelieving.
The Fearful and Unbelieving, but before I get into that subject, let me just give you
the context here of what he's saying.
The Bible says, He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall
be my son, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers
and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone which is the second death.
So God is contrasting two different types of people here.
One that overcomes, that becomes a child of God, and then the other who is going to have
his part in the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Now what does it mean to overcome?
Well flip back just a few pages to 1 John chapter 5 and let's define that term from
the Bible.
It's a term that the Bible doesn't use that often, but John uses it frequently in the
book of Revelation and he also uses it right before Revelation in the book of 1 John.
Look at 1 John chapter 5 verse 4, For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
So according to 1 John chapter 5 verse 5, he who overcomes the world is none other than
he who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
So what does it mean to overcome?
Well according to the Bible it means to be born again.
It says whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.
What does it mean to overcome?
Well according to the Bible here it means to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
Now why is that called overcoming?
Because there's so much opposition to the gospel of Christ.
There are so many lies out there, false gospels, false doctrines, and just oppositions of science
falsely so called.
You have to overcome that in order to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the victory
that overcomes the world is our faith.
Now a lot of people will just kind of make up their own definition for overcoming that's
not based on the Bible.
They'll look at verses in Revelation 2 and 3 where it talks about overcoming and they'll
say well overcome that means that you're doing works or you're living a good life or you're
giving up addiction, you're overcoming addiction.
They kind of just make overcoming be about all these other things but if we get a biblical
definition it's our faith, it's being born again that makes us an overcomer which makes
perfect sense that he says he that overcometh shall inherit all things and I'll be to him
a father and he shall be to me a son.
It makes sense because the Bible says as many as received him to them gave you power to
become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name.
So it makes sense that the overcomer is the one who believes in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
So that's talking about those who are saved.
On the other hand the Bible talks about those who are not saved that they will be cast into
the lake of fire and brimstone.
Now it lists a whole bunch of sins in that verse.
It mentions some pretty big sins like murder and sorcery and the Bible says that these
people will go to the lake of fire and most people would have no trouble understanding
that but then he also says all liars and every single person in this world has told a lie
before and so what this verse is illustrating is that all of us deserve to go to hell when
we die but because God loves us even though we're sinners he died for us and he sacrificed
his own life and through his death, burial and resurrection we can escape that punishment
of hell.
That's what it means to be saved, being saved from the lake of fire, saved from that second
death.
That's why the Bible says he that overcometh shall not be heard of the second death and
what's that second death?
That's the lake of fire according to Revelation 21.8 but that's not what the sermon's about
tonight.
I wanted to focus in on a few of the sins that are on this list here.
The very first sin that's listed is being fearful.
That's the first sin that's listed and there's a list of sins here and we're not surprised
to find murder on that list.
We're not surprised to find being a whoremonger on that list.
Of course we wouldn't be surprised to find idolatry or lying on that list but I wonder
how many people don't even realize that being fearful is a sin.
Being fearful, it's the first sin mentioned in this list of things that would condemn
a person to hell.
He says the fearful and unbelieving and abominable and everything else.
Now I find it interesting that fearful and unbelieving are mentioned in the same breath.
Let me show you the connection.
Go to Matthew chapter 8, first book of the New Testament Matthew.
There is a connection between being fearful and being unbelieving.
Now the word fear or afraid is mentioned in the Bible hundreds and hundreds of times.
It's a major theme in the Bible and fear in the Bible is always negative unless you're
fearing the Lord but the person who fears the Lord is not a fearful person.
A fearful person is one who is scared of things other than the Lord.
We're only supposed to fear the Lord.
No one else.
The Bible says fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul.
But fear thou him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Only the Lord deserves our fear but look how fearful and unbelieving go hand in hand.
Matthew chapter 8 verse 18, now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him he gave commandment
to depart under the other side.
Look at verse 23, and when he was entered into a ship his disciples followed him and
behold there arose a great tempest in the sea and so much that the ship was covered
with the waves but he was asleep and his disciples came to and awoke him saying, Lord save us
we perish.
And he saith unto them, why are you fearful, watch this, why are you fearful oh ye of little
faith.
So you see how being fearful and unbelieving go hand in hand?
Many arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm but the men marveled
saying what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him.
Now Jesus Christ in verse 18 had said we're going to the other side.
Now if Jesus says that we're going to the other side we're going to make it to the other
side.
But they doubted Christ, they doubted that they were going to make it to the other side
and so they woke him up and nobody likes to be woken up when they're trying to sleep.
They come and wake up Jesus and he says, why are you fearful oh ye of little faith.
Why don't you just believe that we're going to make it.
Now the reason why fear and unbelief go hand in hand is because God has promised us so
many times in the Bible that he's going to take care of us.
He promised us over and over again that he would supply all our need according to his
riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
He promised us that he would never leave us nor forsake us.
He promised to protect us.
He promised that the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him.
He promised that all things work together for good to them who love God and to them
who are called according to his purpose and knowing that Christ is with us and that he's
going to go to bat for us and that he's going to protect us and that he has sent his angels
to guard us and protect us and minister to us.
How could we be afraid of anything?
Why would we fear anything if we know that God is our protector?
The Lord is my keeper.
Why would I fear anyone or anything?
The only reason is if I'm doubting God's protection.
I mean think about it.
What if I had a little child and I'm taking one of my sons or daughters somewhere and
they started to get nervous about something and I told my son or daughter, look dad's
here.
Dad's going to protect you.
Everything's going to be okay.
Then they continued to fear and tremble and say basically what that comes down to is they
don't quite believe that dad is really going to protect them.
Right?
You know you're putting them on that roller coaster and tell them hey it's going to be
fine.
You're going to love this.
You know why?
They doubt what dad is telling them.
See God has made us all these promises and only doubting those promises would make you
scared because the Bible says in Psalm 23 yea though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me.
Now look if you would at Jeremiah chapter 38 and while you're turning there let me point
out to you the first mention of fear in the Bible.
The first time fear is ever mentioned in the Bible it's a direct result of sin.
Adam and Eve sin in the Garden of Eden and in Genesis chapter 3 verse 9 the Bible reads
and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him where art thou and he said I heard
thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself and he said who
told thee that thou was naked?
Has thou eaten of the tree where have I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Fear is a negative thing my friend.
If you are fearful it's a sin.
If you have fear in your heart today or any other day you should confess that to God and
you should pray for boldness and you should rest on the promises of God.
Now I'm a human being you're a human being there are going to be times when because of
our sinful flesh fear enters in doubt enters in and I can remember many times and situations
where I was afraid and I remember what I did was just I quoted scripture about God's protection.
I quoted scripture about God caring for his children and the fear goes away because God
hasn't given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
So this is something that we should regard as sinful when we have fear in our lives.
We are to have boldness, we are to have courage, we are to be brave and we're not to fear.
Now Jeremiah 38 I'm going to give you a couple of different Bible stories that illustrate
some points about fear and how fear can keep us from doing the right thing.
Fear can actually cause people to commit sin.
Look at Jeremiah chapter 38 this is a story about Zedekiah the king.
Beginning in verse 14 the Bible reads then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the
prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the Lord and the king said
unto Jeremiah I will ask thee a thing hide nothing from me.
Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah if I declare it unto thee wilt thou not surely put me to
death and if I give thee counsel wilt thou not hearken unto me?
So Zedekiah the king swears secretly unto Jeremiah saying as the Lord liveth that made
us this soul I will not put thee to death neither will I give thee into the hand of
these men that seek thy life.
So King Zedekiah secretly brings in Jeremiah and he wants to know what the word of the
Lord is.
But Jeremiah tells him well if I tell you the word of the Lord you're going to kill
me because you know you've already thrown me in prison you've made it illegal to preach
the truth and so why would I preach anything to you you're just going to kill me.
So Zedekiah swears I'm not going to put you to death just tell me the truth just give
it to me straight doc you know what is the word of the Lord?
So Jeremiah is going to tell him what the word of the Lord is verse 17 then said Jeremiah
unto Zedekiah thus saith the Lord the God of hosts the God of Israel if thou wilt assuredly
go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes then thy soul shall live and this city shall
not be burned with fire and thou shalt live and thine house.
That is a promise from God.
God is telling Zedekiah if you obey me I will protect you I will protect your entire family
and I will protect your entire city if you obey me.
Do my will do what I'm telling you to do and you will all be safe and that's a pretty good
promise you know there's a dangerous enemy menacing the land the king of Babylon and
he's being told you your family and the whole city will be spared great.
But verse 18 but if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes then shall
this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans and they shall burn it with fire and thou
shalt not escape out of their hand and Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah I'm afraid I'm
afraid you see that he's given a clear choice.
Do right and be blessed do wrong and face all these horrible consequences.
Why is he afraid?
Why?
Because he doesn't believe God's promise because if he believed the promise then this is a
no brainer.
Do right be blessed but because he doesn't believe the promise he's afraid that if he
does right bad things will happen even though God just told him if he does right nothing
bad is going to happen in this particular situation.
He says I am afraid of the Jews that are fall into the Chaldeans lest they deliver
me into their hand and they mock me.
So what is he specifically afraid of?
He's specifically afraid of being mocked, being made fun of.
But Jeremiah said they shall not deliver thee.
Obey I beseech thee the voice of the Lord which I speak unto thee so it shall be well
unto thee and thy soul shall live but if thou refuse to go forth this is the word that
the Lord has showed me.
And behold all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought
forth to the king of Babylon's princes and those women shall say thy friends have set
thee on and have prevailed against thee thy feet are sunk in the mire and they are turned
away back so they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children the Chaldeans and thou
shalt not escape out of their hand but that shall be taken by the hand of the king of
Babylon and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.
Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah let no man know of these words and thou shalt not die.
Now let me ask you this how many people do you think who are saved godly Christians have
failed to do what was right in certain situations because they were afraid of being mocked?
This exact situation I promise you there are people who thought about preaching the gospel
or they thought about witnessing unto their friends or loved ones or witnessing to a co-worker
but they said well I'm afraid of being mocked.
See fear can often hinder us from doing the right thing from serving God and fear is based
on one thing unbelief not believing the promises of God not trusting in the Lord.
First of all we should be willing to suffer reproach.
We should be willing to be made fun of for the cause of Christ if that has to be then
so be it.
Jesus Christ was ridiculed and made fun of on our behalf and we should be willing to
suffer for his sake but the most interesting thing about this story though is that often
the things that we fear the most never happen anyway the fears are totally unfounded and
not only are our fears often totally unfounded but often by disobeying God will bring upon
us the very thing we fear you see if God tells us to do something and then we don't do it
because we're afraid God will often punish people by causing their exact fear to come
upon them and nail them because they didn't obey for example a Christian decides to to
hide their testimony and not take a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ because they're
afraid of being mocked God would often cause that person to just be mocked for some other
reason why because he doesn't like it when we disobey him through fear he wants us to
have faith in him let me show you how this is fulfilled in the story flip over to chapter
39 so 38 is where he gets the warning let's see what happens in chapter 39 verse 6 then
the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes also the king of
Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with
chains to carry him to Babylon and the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of
the people with fire and break down the walls of Jerusalem so because Zedekiah disobeyed
why did he disobey because he was afraid he said I'm afraid because of that not only was
he punished his family and his whole city were punished the whole city was destroyed
because of his disobedience but what's interesting is that the exact thing that he feared is
what happened and worse can you imagine how terrible it would be to have your children
slain while you watched and that's what happened to him his sons were slain right before his
eyes and then they poked out his eyes so that the last thing that he saw was his children
being slain but if you think about Samson in the Bible he was another character who
had his eyes poked out why did they poke out Samson's eyes that they might mock him
that they might ridicule him you remember what they did once Samson's eyes were poked
out they said bring out Samson that he may make us sport we want to make fun of we want
to have fun with him look he ended up being mocked he ended up being ridiculed he ended
up having his children killed his city destroyed why because he didn't obey the Lord if he
would have stepped out in faith none of that would have even happened go to second Kings
chapter six second Kings chapter six and in my own personal life I can think of so many
things that I dreaded so many things that I just worried about and fretted over and
fretted over and I dreaded and they didn't even happen I mean have you ever had that
happen where there was something that you were just afraid of and you're dreading and
you're just oh it's gonna be horrible and then it turned out it didn't even happen and
you wasted all that time fretting and worrying over something that wasn't even real a boogeyman
a phantom I remember I was I was audited by the IRS you know and that's never fun right
several years ago I was audited by the IRS and oh man talk about being stressed out and
you're nervous and they're coming at you and I mean I'm just spending weeks and weeks assembling
just piles and piles of documents and binders full of documents and sending over all the
electronic files of all these documents for my business and for my personal and I mean
I'm just thinking oh man this is just gonna destroy my finances because you know everything
was fine at first you know it was stressful and a nightmare I get through the whole audit
everything's fine they thought I owed them some token really small amount of money just
over some legal fees it was just a small little thing no big deal but the small little thing
that I owed them it ended up that you know I took it to a lawyer and the lawyer said
well you know it was just it was just like H&R Block tax specialist they looked at it
and they said well no you're right they're wrong you need to appeal this you don't owe
them this money you know and they showed all the legal precedent and everything they said
if you go to court you'll win you know you shouldn't pay this I was like cool okay so
you know the couple thousand bucks I owed them I went ahead and appealed it right so
then I send the appeal off and then I don't know I guess just to punish me I get it I
get a letter like a month later like oh we're reopening the audit and they'd already gone
over everything with a fine-tooth comb and determined that everything was legit everything
was fine oh we're gonna read we changed our mind we're gonna reopen it like what in the
world we just went through all this you went through the whole process we signed it all
it's done it's over nope we're gonna reopen it and then they changed it they come after
me and got me on just this total technicality crossing of the T dotting of the I okay and
they're sending me all this stuff in the mail that I owe them like fifty thousand dollars
they're like they're like well you owe us like fifty thousand dollars and we owe you
like thirty thousand dollars I'm like what because they're like well over here you overpaid
by thirty thousand and over here you underpaid by thirty thousand so I say to the guy like
well doesn't that even out then if I underpaid 30 over here and I overpaid 30 over here like
isn't money green does it really matter you know where it came from and they're like oh
well no so basically we're gonna give you back the thirty thousand or whatever you know
that you overpaid but you owe us thirty thousand but then there's penalties so now thirty becomes
fifty thousand or you know what at sixty thou or whatever it was some crazy you know because
they just charge all these penalties even though they had thirty thousand dollars of
my money it was just the wrong thirty thousand I'm not kidding this is a true story because
they didn't you know cross the T and dot the I and whatever I'm just like oh man what a
nightmare I mean my you know my business is being destroyed you know I'm going through
all this but you know what I went through that whole process you know I called up the
you know taxresolution.com and explained to them you know I went through it but look I'm
not gonna give you all the details and tell you just to make a long story short I'll put
it this way I didn't end up paying any money not even one cent I ended up they gave me
money and I didn't give them any money that's how things ended up so I went through months
of this grueling audit and they're going over everything I do with the fine tooth comb and
I ended up not owing them any money and they ended up giving me money back but I dreaded
something it didn't even happen it ended up being a blessing I mean I was like thank you
IRS man for the free money but you see how sometimes we dread and worry and oh man but
you know what God was faithful and God actually blessed me and it turned out fine everything
was okay you know we stress and we worry about things but God's able to see us through things
and looking back I can see how it all worked together for good even though at the time
it sure didn't feel that way it sure didn't seem that way but it kind of helps me to understand
why our government is in debt so much because they spend all this time and energy auditing
people and then giving them money instead of taking money from them you know so I get
I was like well I guess this is why their finances are a mess you know why they're in
so much debt but I'm just using that example just to show you how there are so many things
that you worry about and they don't even happen you know I know that there are a lot of people
that were nervous today about going to Verity Baptist Church they were nervous about protests
or nervous about you know what could happen a lot of people stayed home just because of
fear which is really a shame you know they should have been there to support their pastor
over there but then you know the people who were actually bold and showed up you know
what they said to me I you know my sister was there she texted me and said this was
a cakewalk she said it was nothing you know because all the protesters were held at bay
by metal barricades they were they were behind bars sort of like an animal in the zoo and
basically they were kept at bay and they were able to go to church and and she said it was
a great service everything was great great preaching great spirit but there's so many
people who dreaded and feared you know people are nervous but everything turned out fine
you know I'm not sure if anybody was nervous or not about you know how they were saying
hey we're going to go down to Panera Bread and we're going to protest the soul winning
marathon at Panera Bread you know people might have been nervous about that but there
was really no need no reason to be nervous since only two protesters came and they didn't
even protest they were too scared you could spot them a mile away because they were so
effeminate but they didn't even protest they and they each had their own personal police
officer you know I think the ratio of police at Verity today was probably like one per
protester also you know everybody gets their own personal cop to protect them I guess but
all that to say this the things that you fear are often just a phantom they're not even
going to happen you know you just need to trust in the Lord now do bad things sometimes
happen yes they do but God can work it out God can use it for good God will see us through
God is faithful in the long run but I think that the majority of things that we're afraid
of don't ever end up happening the majority of things that we're scared of the majority
of things that we're nervous about don't ever even happen that person that you're going
to give the gospel to and you're afraid that you're going to get made fun of you know most
of the time you won't get made fun of presenting the gospel you go door-to-door soul winning
you rarely will have someone mock you you you open your Bible and talk to that friend
loved one coworker you rarely are mocked you know most of the time if you actually
are a zealous Christian who really is serious about what they believe even unsaved people
will have respect for you and think well hey at least this guy stands by what he believes
and they're not going to mock you you know when you get mocked and made fun of is usually
when you're kind of a middle-of-the-road guy because you're a joke at that point but when
you're serious you're no you know when you're a serious Christian when you're a zealous
Christian the world doesn't look at you as a joke they take you seriously because you
take the Bible seriously so don't fear fear is often just a phantom you know the disciples
would have been fine even if they hadn't of woken Jesus up they still would've been fine
they were scared of something that was a phantom look at 2nd Kings chapter 6 this is a great
story in the Bible it says in verse 8 then the king of Syria warred against Israel and
took counsel with his servants saying in such-and-such a place shall be my camp and the man of God
sent unto the king of Israel saying beware that thou pass not such a place for thither
the Syrians are come down so here the king of Syria he wants to attack Israel and he's
holding counsel with his generals about how they're going to do the attack and God reveals
unto his prophet Elisha the battle plans so then Elisha is warning the king of Israel
hey don't don't go there they're waiting for you they're going to ambush you there and
the king of Syria is wondering how do they know our plans we must have a spy in the midst
of us someone is betraying how do they always know what our tax strategy is look at your
Bible there in verse number 10 and the king of Israel sent to the place which the man
of God told him and warned him of and saved himself there not once or twice meaning many
times Elisha warned him and he was saved therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled
for this thing and he called his servants and said unto them will you not show me which
of us is for the king of Israel who's the traitor you know who's for the king of Israel
here and one of his servants said none my lord o king but Elisha the prophet that is
in Israel telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber and he
said go and spy where he is that I may send and fetch him and it was told him saying behold
he's in Dothan therefore sent he hither horses and chariots and a great host and they came
by night and compass the city about now this is such a funny story because they're literally
sending an entire army to arrest one man just the prophet Elisha an entire army is sent
and surrounds the city where he is this reminds me of David in Psalm 3 when he says I will
not be afraid though ten thousands of people set themselves against me round about David
said if ten thousands of people are surrounding me I won't be afraid so let's see if Elisha
is going to be afraid I mean Elisha has an entire army I mean think about it what if
you're preaching just put yourself in the story okay you're preaching let's say in the
city of you know Gilbert right you're preaching in Gilbert and you know that basically the
US military comes and just surrounds downtown Gilbert you know and you're there and they
surround the place the entire United States military just to get you they're all there
you're totally surrounded okay let's keep reading the story therefore sent he hither
horses verse 14 and chariots and a great host the whole military and they came by night
and compass the city about and when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone
forth behold and a host compass the city both with horses and chariots and his servant said
to him alas my master how shall we do and he answered fear not for they that be with
us are more than they that be with them and his young man's looking I'm like what there's
two of us we're surrounded by an entire army and Elisha prayed and said Lord I pray thee
open his eyes that he may see and the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw
and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha man
wouldn't that have been a cool thing to see I mean wouldn't it be cool to be that young
man with Elisha and Elisha says oh fear not we have more people with us and then God just
opens his eyes to just chariots of fire and horses surrounding the enemy on the mountains
we can't see it but it's there I believe that there's a great army of angels a host of angels
surrounding us when we stand for the Lord the Bible says the angel of the Lord and campeth
round about them that fear him not just Elisha no all those who fear the Lord the Bible says
that the angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the
heirs of salvation and he said he maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flaming
fire we have that same protection today literally you know people talk about the guardian angel
it's biblical the Bible teaches that these fiery angelic spirits are there to protect
us in reality we can't see them but they're there and this man was able to catch a glimpse
of the spiritual world I don't even know that Elisha could physically even see what was
there he just he believed it by faith but he said well you know show him he lacks the
faith so show him and then the young man got to see that great vision of the chariots of
fire and the horses and then I like how the story ends up it says in verse 18 and by the
way if you believe that wouldn't that alleviate a lot of your fears if you really believe
that there were angels and and you know angels with flaming fiery swords surrounding you
as you go out soul winning as you go out to preach the gospel as you go out you know and
into the the danger and peril of this world I mean wouldn't that set your mind at ease
if you could see it but if we can see it by faith because faith is the substance of things
hoped for and the evidence of things not seen so watch what happens verse 18 and when
they came down to him Elisha prayed unto the Lord and said smite this people I pray thee
with blindness and he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha and Elisha
said unto them this is not the way neither is this the city follow me and I'll bring
you to the man whom ye seek but he led them to Samaria now it says here that he smote
them with blindness there's two ways that you can interpret this you can interpret that
they were all smitten literally blind but I I don't think that that's what it means
because that'd be a little far-fetched that they would still be wanting to you know hey
let's go still find Elijah Elisha even though we're totally blind what I think is that they
were blinded basically clouded to the truth of the situation where he's able to just pull
the wool over their eyes and just tell them this ridiculous thing oh yeah you're in the
wrong town this is this isn't who you're looking for you know let me show you I'll
take you to the place where you're gonna find Elisha he just reroutes this whole army he
brings them to Samaria which is the capital city of the enemy Samaria is the capital of
Israel so he basically just marches the enemy troops away from where he was aware from where
he would be arrested he just brings them into the center of the capital city of their enemy
where they're just completely vulnerable to their enemy and in verse number 20 it came
to pass when they were coming into Samaria that Elisha said Lord open the eyes of these
men that they may see and the Lord opened their eyes and they saw and behold they're
in the midst of Samaria you know so whether and it's possible that they were literally
blind but I think it's more like he opened their eyes basically they they saw the reality
of whoa we're in Samaria you know they kind of snapped out of the trance that they were
in or whatever delusion that they were under God sent some kind of a delusion upon them
where they thought they're still going to to get Elisha and all of a sudden their eyes
are opened they're in the midst of Samaria then the king of Israel said unto Elisha when
he saw them my father shall I smite them shall I smite them you know what do I do do I just
I just destroy this enemy army verse 22 and he answered thou shalt not smite them would
as thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow he's saying
you don't just kill prisoners I mean if you have prisoners if they're at your mercy you
don't just slaughter them you don't just kill them all you wouldn't even do that if you'd
fought a battle and won the battle you'd you'd take prisoners alive he says set bread and
water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master and he prepared great
provision for them and when they'd eaten and drunk he sent them away and they went to their
master so the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel I mean isn't that
a great story you know he just brings them right into the enemy camp feeds them gives
them water and they're just so scared and they're just so blown away by it that they
just say yeah we're never going to go back to Israel again we're never going to fight
these wars again we're just going to leave them alone and God gave peace now look this
story shows us so many spiritual truths I mean so many truths in the story one great
truth is that God can protect a righteous nation you know if God wants the king of Israel
to be protected he could protect him how by revealing enemy battle plans under the prophet
of God by smiting the enemy with blindness and leading them right in you see if we would
do right in the sight of God as a nation God could protect us if we would do right personally
God could protect us and this is God protecting a righteous nation at that time because the
king at least was putting his trust in Elisha at this point and so he's protected because
he's putting his faith in the man of God and his leading in the ways of the Lord okay but
the other thing we can learn from this too is that the things that we fear you know God
is able to protect us even when it seems impossible like how could God get me out
of this situation when I'm totally surrounded well God can send all kinds of delusions on
people and God can change people's minds and God can cause people to do strange things
in order to protect you and get you out of a jam and let me just close with a few more
scriptures on this on this idea of the fearful and the unbelieving why because the only reason
you fear is because you believe that those angels and fiery swords and chariots you don't
believe that they're there that's when you start to fear you doubt okay the only reason
that you fear is because of unbelief in the promises of God the fearful and unbelieving
now let me just give you a few scriptures on this in closing you don't have to turn
there but Matthew 6 30 wherefore have God so clothed the grass of the field which today
is and tomorrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you oh ye of little
faith what's he saying don't be of little faith God can provide you with clothing God
is going to provide your physical needs you don't have to fear and fret and worry about
it God can take care of you Matthew 6 33 of course the famous verses but seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you and
that is talking in context about food drink and clothing God will take care of you if
you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness Matthew 14 31 is where Peter
is walking on the water and he begins to sink and Jesus immediately stretched forth his
hand and caught him and said unto him oh thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt
Matthew 16 verse 8 which when Jesus perceived he said unto them oh ye of little faith why
reason ye among yourselves because you have no brought no bread he's saying why are you
so worried about the fact that you didn't bring bread I just finished feeding 5,000
people with 5 loaves and 2 fishes you don't think I can provide our dietary needs oh ye
of little faith over and over again Jesus is saying these 2 phrases fear not and oh
thou of little faith fear not fear not so many times fear stops us from doing what's
right stops us from witnessing unto people stops us from going soul winning stops us
from getting up and preaching a sermon stops us from showing up to church maybe when things
get a little hot when the persecution gets hot I just want to know how are people going
to make it through the tribulation they can't even show up to church when there's 200 cops
there and a bunch of metal barricades and the media is there like what do they think
it's just going to be a bloodbath when the media is there and barricades are set up and
there's 200 police and firefighters there and you're afraid to go to church but man
you're willing to give your life for Christ and man you know I'll go with you even unto
death and then you find yourself warming your hands by the world's fire and a little damsel
comes to you and says weren't you with him in the garden also oh no I don't know what
you're talking about I don't even know Jesus a little girl a teenage girl scares you when
you just finish telling us all how oh you're going to stand up look if you can't stand
up now when things get a little hot and I'm not just talking about the fact it's 120 degrees
outside I'm saying when the persecution gets hot and you can't even stand up when the stakes
are oh I might be made fun of oh my family might not approve or oh I could lose my job
you know what I'd rather lose my job than my head I mean think about it what would you
rather lose your job or your head I agree with you whoever that small child was yeah
I'd rather lose my job but you know what God expects us to be willing to lose our head
you can't even lose your job for the cause of Christ but yet in your mind you think oh
man I'd be willing to lose my head for it no you wouldn't you know if you're not willing
to live for Christ you'd never be willing to die for Christ you gotta be willing to
live for him you gotta be willing to stand up when it's easy if you can't run with the
footmen how you gonna contend with the horses I mean it's just people think that they're
a better Christian than they really are is what it comes down to people think oh man
I would do every you know if I was in the days of the Bible man I'd be right there in
the front lines I'd be screaming into battle you know the victory is ours you know if the
Lord's with us and the Spirit of the Lord would be upon me I'd be slaying Goliath and
slate but it's like whoa I might lose my job because you know I go to this church or something
you know that it's just it this doesn't make any sense people now you know I don't think
that 99% of Christians need to lose their job to be good Christian see here's the thing
when you go to work if you're a good worker you're gonna succeed at your job okay now
a lot of people are lazy don't like to work hard don't give a hundred percent at their
job and then their job basically you know I'll put it this way then they'll basically
use their Christianity as an excuse for why they're failing at their job like oh I just
can't get ahead you know because they're persecuting me over there for being a Christian you know
I like I remember there's a story that was told me about a guy where he basically he
said hey I'm not gonna miss church on Sundays you know to you know I'm not gonna skip church
to go to work and amen you know I you know when I when I fill out job applications I
put down that I'm not available on Sunday or Wednesday nights and you know those are
the times I'm not available and I tell them hey there's 168 hours in the week I'll work
all the other hours but I don't want to miss church I'm not going to miss church and you
know I took that stand for many years and stuck with that for you know a decade or whatever
you know before I was even a pastor not a decade before I was a pastor but about seven
years before I was a pastor seven years where you know I didn't miss Sunday morning Sunday
night or Wednesday night for work but I was told a story about a guy who told them hey
I can't miss Sunday morning church and they basically told him hey you know they were
working out of town about five hours away and they told him okay fine but you have to
work your full Saturday eight hour shift and then drive back on your own time to church
you got to drive the five hours you're not gonna get paid for the five hours there and
five hours back because that's you going to church because you wanted to go to church
and teach your Sunday school class that's you okay well the guy is saying well no I'm
not willing to do that and then he loses his job he gets fired no I got to be at church
well no that's at that point that's just you being lazy because you don't want to put in
that 13 hour day and make that drive to get back to church you know if you're going to
take a stand that says I'm not going to miss church for work that might mean you might
have to do some night shifts you might have to give up some other primo days off you might
have to make some other sacrifices you might have to put in some overtime you might have
to get there a little early and stay a little late to make up for the fact that you want
your Sundays off and you know that's how you succeed at your job folks is by working hard
and giving it a hundred and ten percent the rest of the time and then saying hey I just
want to go to church on Sunday morning Sunday night and Wednesday night your boss is going
to understand that so we don't want to just hide behind religious or there are also some
people who would go to their job and just walk on the job praise the lord amen hallelujah
and it's like whoa buddy this is work you know this this isn't a revival meeting and
then they say oh I'm being persecuted at my job because they won't let me praise the lord
every five seconds or whatever well look you need to learn to be appropriate at your job
and realize that when you're at your job you need to shut up and work you know and not
just like well hey let's just stop working and let's just study the bible together on
the clock well I've seen people do stuff like that and then they get in trouble and then
they call being persecuted you know you don't just walk into your job and just start blowing
off your mouth and just like you know obviously you have to use propriety and you have to
realize that when you're working and on the clock you need to do the will of him that
sent you your employer and make them happy and do what they want you to do and act how
they want you to act and you know yeah you can win uh your your co-workers to christ
though when it's appropriate you know when you're in the work truck driving to a job
and the two of you are sitting in the cab that's a perfect time to to talk about the
gospel you know on a lunch break that's a great time to talk about the gospel but what
I'm saying is that we should be willing to give up anything for Christ including our
job and I don't mean through these these foolish ways of losing your job but actually if it
came down to well hey we just found out that you go to faithful word baptist church or
verity baptist church you know well you can't work here if you go to that church you know
at that point that's not your fault if they came to you and said that now you say would
that ever actually really happen well you know my understanding is that that would be
highly illegal because you know you're not supposed to have religious discrimination
but you know I heard about a couple people this week that literally they were approached
like that not at our church but in other bible believing churches that literally were approached
with hey we might have to let you go because we found out about your affiliation and you
know we're just we just love the LGBT which you know LGBT is a great slogan as long as
it stands for let god burn them okay but but the thing is you know that's what it stands
for to me but the bottom line is though that you know if we had to give up you know whatever
a house a job you know friends popularity you know what if you look if you go to school
and obviously you know I believe in homeschooling but I know we do have people in our church
who do attend school you know and I did graduate from public school if you go to school taking
a stand for Christ is going to cause you to sacrifice some popularity sacrifice some things
maybe you're running the risk of being mocked or whatever but you know what though god expects
us to be willing to give up everything for him and people want a religion today that
costs them nothing they want to have the best of both worlds but we need to loosen our grip
on the things of this world and be willing to give everything unto Christ to love not
our lives unto the death and to be willing to give up earthly possessions give up popularity
give up position and career and so forth if that's what god requires and just understand
that look god's faithful he will take care of us he will give us another job he will
give us what we need to survive and get through but we need to be willing to give everything
we need to be willing to give up everything to put everything on the altar and say I'm
willing to give up everything I'm willing to risk everything you know when we're doing
what's right for the cause of Christ we shouldn't hold anything back you know we sent up a church
van full of people to support pastor Jimenez but then a whole bunch of other people went
up so it turned out it was like 60 people but somebody said hey you better not send
that church van because if that church van is parked there and people know who you are
there's a good chance that that church van could get vandalized up there you know what
I mean because I said let's send the church van so that everybody can see that we support
brother Jimenez let it be known that our church you know is up there supporting him we're
not gonna hide that and they said whoa man that church van but I was thinking to myself
you know what I'm ready to kiss that church van goodbye I'm ready to kiss this building
goodbye now I'm not ready to kiss this pulpit goodbye alright I like this pulpit but you
know I'm willing to I'm willing to kiss everything goodbye you know if the government came in
here to shut me down and said hey you can't preach like that so you know and look in the
Soviet Union and everywhere else where they go after churches they don't go after them
and say hey you're under arrest for preaching the gospel they always find some other reason
to arrest you they always find some other thing that you're doing wrong or whatever
hey it's hate speech or hey you know you you didn't do the taxes right or hey you know
just whatever dumb thing and if they ever came in here and and they wanted to shut us
down and they put a padlock on the door and said hey we're shutting this place down you
got to stop preaching this way or you can't have a church and and you know we're gonna
audit you and you know what I would do I would just toss them the keys to the building toss
them the keys to the church van and say it's all yours buddy take everything and then I'd
go across the street and start a church called living word Baptist Church we don't own anything
the only thing we own is that church van and I'm ready for it to be to kiss it goodbye
I don't care if they took apart every piece of that van and stripped it of all its parts
is just a skeleton sitting there I'd say praise God more rewards praise the Lord we've suffered
persecute who cares it's just it's just a hunk of metal at the end of day this building
can be replaced that van can be replaced anything can be replaced except for the one thing that
can't be replaced is your boldness it's priceless cherish it that's what you ought to consider
valuable your faith I preached on the campus about how precious our faith is that's what's
pretty not not cars and buildings no no it's our faith and boldness that comes from faith
I you know my boss I used to work for a guy in the fire alarm business named Tim and they
put the boot they put the boot on his car because he had so many parking tickets but
he would just even though he made good money he would always drive just the junkiest cars
I mean he would drive like a six hundred dollar car and this thing sounded like a washing
machine going down the road and I remember you know he bought this car for six hundred
bucks and then we drove it for like forty thousand miles got in two accidents with it
and then sold it for like four hundred you know and we and that was like the company
vehicle I mean this guy was kind of a shady business guy but anyway I liked working for
him it was fun but anyway he got the boot on his guy he saw them putting the boot on
his car he literally tossed the keys to the guy who was putting the boot on said it's
all yours buddy enjoy and walked away you know what I like that that's going to be my
attitude well hey oh the IRS comes in and says we're going to come and take away everything
that you have you know I just say I don't have anything that's what I told them when
they audited me I don't own anything and they're like well let's see how much money you make
how much you can pay us I'm like okay well I got nine kids it's like whoa what they're
like well if you got nine kids you should be making just the minimums a hundred and
twenty grand a year I'm like I don't make a hundred twenty grand a year so they're just
like so I'm like so how about I pay you guys zero a month because that's how much extra
money I have zero because they're like well anything you make per year above a hundred
twenty grand you got to give us I'm like well I don't make that so I'm fine if you got nothing
you got nothing to lose you know people need to loosen our grip a little bit on the things
of this world now look I'm not saying to be irresponsible or foolish I believe in being
responsible I believe in working hard I believe in in protecting yourself and you know I'm
not saying just oh God's gonna protect me so I'm being idiot or something no I believe
in carrying a weapon I believe in securing your home I believe in you know being smart
with your money and and and being smart with your finances but you know what don't just
get so hung up on the things of this world though where you don't trust the Lord anymore
you know I mean just be willing to just be willing to lose everything just be willing
to just lose just to just to lose everything and be like Job naked came I out of my mother's
womb and naked shall I return the other the Lord gave the Lord I've taken away hey blessed
be the name of the Lord you know what they can never take away your salvation no really
matters to me my wife my children their souls what matters to me the church members that
come here the friends the family you know that's what really matters and you know what
the devil can't really take those things away from us you know so we just need to realize
that and the reason that I preach this sermon is just because of you know persecution is
a subject that's that's been on people's minds over the last few weeks and so when persecutions
on our mind we need to think about the fact that fear is is is a sin now are we all sinners
yeah are we are we of flesh so are there going to be times when all of us fear of course
there are times when I fear but at least I realize it's a sin when I fear and I'll confess
it and forsake it and quote scriptures to bolster my confidence because the Bible says
the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken let's buy
our cards and a word of prayer father we thank you so much Lord for the all the precious
promises that you've given us in the in the word Lord so many times you've you've guaranteed
us Lord that you are looking out for us you you've even got a full staff of angels and
spirits Lord that are guarding us and protecting us Lord help us to have the faith to believe
that and to have the faith that you will feed clothe and nourish us and take care of us
Lord and I just pray that you would help every single person in this room Lord to banish
fear from their hearts and to fully trust in you for their daily needs Lord and in Jesus
name we pray amen