Echoes of Grace
Be Not Afraid
Lesson by Espn McCall, Preacher at Wickett Church of Christ. 12/1/2024
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Duration:
- 36m
- Broadcast on:
- 02 Dec 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
Good morning. This morning, we have lately been talking about God's grace. We have been talking about God's grace, what it means to be a Christian, what we understand as a Christian, or what we get. We've also talked about how it is to become a Christian. But this morning, brethren, I must tell you that God's grace means everything. See, brethren, God's grace means everything so much so that He tells us something very important, something I want you to pay attention to. Now, of course, if you are on the Facebook page, you already know what I'm going to tell you. Or if you saw the question this morning and you're able to put two and two together, you should also have already figured that out. Not only does God's grace mean everything, but God's grace means everything. So do not be afraid. And of course, we're told to not be afraid. We're told to not be afraid in several passages in Matthew chapter 14 and verse 27 says, be of good cheer, do not be afraid. And mark chapter five in verse 36. The synagogue's ruler is dying and he is told, do not or don't be afraid. And Matthew chapter 17, verse six, at the transfiguration, it says, arise and do not be afraid. And in Matthew 28 and verse 10, after his resurrection, the angel says, do not be afraid. Right. So here we have four verses in and of themselves that it is do not be afraid and be of good cheer, do not be afraid. Your daughter is dying, do not be afraid. Let the transfiguration arise, do not be afraid. And after his resurrection, do not be afraid. I'm going to ask you to turn to mark chapter four with me. Mark chapter four, look at verses 37 to 41. Mark chapter four, verses 37 to 41, it says, and there arose a great storm of wind and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship asleep on a pillow and they awoke him and said unto him, master, carest thou not that we perish. And he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, why are ye so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, what manner of man is this that even the wind and sea obey him? So here, we have the story of Jesus on a boat on a ship, he's asleep and there's a storm. It's such a bad storm that actually the waves are beating on the boat. The wind is beating on the boat and it is filling with water. So much to the point that it says so that it was now full, normally whenever you fill a boat past its capacity, it begins to sink. For this boat to be full means this boat is beginning to sink. It is going below the water. And of course, he's under the ship. He's in the bottom of the ship. That's what the hinder part would be, be underneath the ship and they go down. They awake him because he was asleep and they say, do you not care that we die? All right, like, why are you sleeping and help us shovel or throw buckets of water out of the boat? We've got to clear the boat out. Do you not care if we die? And he arises and he rebukes it, and how dare you stop? It's essential what he says and he looks at the water and he says, peace, be still. I'd have no more motion in you, stop. And everything stops, it obeys his voice and he says, why are you so afraid, right? Why are you so afraid, how do you not have any faith, that I am Jesus, that I am the Lord. I'm not going to die here at the sea, why are you so afraid? And it continues to say, and they feared exceedingly. Now they're no longer afraid that they're going to die at sea, they're afraid of Jesus. They feared exceedingly and said to one another, what matter of man is this, that even the wind and sea obey him? I want you to think about that. He says, why do you fear? And then it says that they feared. Brother, let me tell you this, a little fear of itself that's often really good for you. And you go up to a cliff and you look down, you say, I probably shouldn't stand on the edge of this cliff and you take three steps backwards. Well, now you're probably not going to fall, right? We have a commandment, however, if it'll click, says fear God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole duty of man. All right, so a little fear of itself is often good for us. We're even told to command fear God and keep his commandments. And so you say, you're telling us do not be afraid, but fear is good and we have a command to be afraid. Well, yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Because don't be afraid that you're just going to die at any second, or you will, right? You never know when you're going to die, we're not promised tomorrow. So don't be afraid of that. All right, don't be afraid that the ship's going to sink, that you're going to perish. No, I'm definitely afraid of the man that looks out to the water and the wind and says, stop. And it listens, that's, that's somebody of power, right, fear of God and keep his commandments is the command. And if you look just a little bit further into the scripture. He says, and I was afraid, but his Lord answered and said unto him, the wicked and slothful servant, that it says, and I was afraid, I was afraid of what I was afraid I was going to die. I was afraid I was going to starve, right? I was afraid, I was afraid, I was afraid. I was afraid to the point of I didn't come to church. I think about COVID, how many people just didn't show up because you're afraid and there are definitely some people that I have to give the benefit of that out to, but I'm not going to judge their souls. And if you were hospitalized, you're probably not coming to church. But I know people who two years after COVID still didn't go to church because they're afraid. Three years after COVID, oh, I'm still afraid, there are still people in their cars today that drive with a face mask on alone in their car because they're afraid. Well now that fear is just useless, isn't it? You're alone in your car and you're driving down the street and you have a face mask on because you don't want to catch COVID. That doesn't get you anywhere, does it, right? And I was afraid, are you using and I was afraid as an excuse to not worship the Lord? Where the Lord will answer to you and say, "The wicked and slothful servant." Let me show you some more examples of what being afraid really does to you, brethren. In Matthew chapter 14 verse 30, Peter walking on water, he takes a step and he's fine on his first step and he becomes afraid and he begins to sink. John 14 verse 27, Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid." Peter was afraid and he began to sink and Jesus reached out his hand and said, "Have faith." "Peace I leave with you," Jesus says. He doesn't say that to Peter in this instance here, but he says, "Peace I leave with you, let your not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid, and don't be afraid of the things this world can do to you." And first Peter chapter 5 and verse 7, "We have the command casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you." Now of your fears, you cast upon him, it says. And in Romans chapter 8 and verse 32, according to the NIV is where this reads out of, it says, "He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all." Now he will not also, or how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things. Brethren, it says, "He who gave up his son for us." How much more through grace will he give us all things? So brethren, do not be afraid. Although we have that command, fear the Lord, Peter was afraid to begin to sink. Jesus reached out his hand and said, "I have faith on here." He says, "Peace I leave with you, here's your command, do not be afraid, let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid." Cast your cares upon him is another command. Don't worry about the things this life has to give you, this isn't the end. So let's mean of Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3, we'll look at verses 13 and 14. Beginning in verse 13, it says, "Brethren, I count myself, or I count not myself, to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. Being those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." So you might look at this and say, "Well, that says nothing about being afraid." Right it says, it doesn't say, but this I do, being afraid of those things which are behind and reaching forth, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It's forgetting the things of the world, if you will with me here, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Now what does that mean, right? That's anything that's ahead of you. He actually describes it, reaching forth unto those things which are before, reaching forth unto the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It says, "I forget the things of the world, I don't need those. Those are going to pass away, those are behind me." But this prize, God, Christ Jesus, he's ahead, and he's who I'm going to reach for. He's not afraid of the world. He's afraid he's not going to make his goal. Brother and I told you, I do not be afraid and Romans chapter 8 verse 32 as we looked at, right? He gave his only son for us. So how much more is he going to graciously give us all things, brethren? We have the command of do not be afraid because God gives us his grace. He gives us the reason to not be afraid. Now if we want to define the word grace, the very first one you're going to find is to give favor or good will. God gives us his grace, he gives us favor. And he gives us that good will so that we don't have to be afraid anymore. How about this one? To give mercy, clemency, and pardon, or the freely given unmerited favor and love of God. Brother, how can you be afraid when you've been given mercy? When you have unmerited favor and love from God, or how about this? How can you be afraid when you have the influence of the Spirit of God operating in you to regenerate or strengthen you? How can you be afraid of the things of this world whenever God is operating with you to give you strength and to take care of you? How can you be afraid of the things of the world in that case? Let's look at that a little bit deeper. Go with me to 2 Corinthians, chapter 12. 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, we'll look at verses 7, 8, and 9. We're going to use the definition, the influence of the Spirit of God operating in man to regenerate or strengthen him. In 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, beginning in verse 7, it says, "There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I bestow the Lord, I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me, and he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect in weakness." Further in here to the Corinthians, he says, "Satan buffeted me, and I pleaded to the Lord three times, get me out of this, three times he pleads to the Lord, and the Lord responds every time my grace is sufficient." For my strength it is made perfect in weakness. The grace in which he gives us, the strength in which he gives us through the Holy Spirit is made perfect when we're weak, it is sufficient. Go with me to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8 and verse 18, Romans chapter 8 and verse 18 it says, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us, they're not worthy. What does that mean? It means that you have insufficient funds, they'll never make it there. The suffering in which we have in our present time are insufficient to the glory that's going to be revealed to us. No matter what you go through, no matter what suffering you go through, it's not going to ever compare. You're never going to go through enough that God's grace isn't worth it. That heaven isn't worth it. So we all know the song "Amazing Grace" how sweet the sound, beautiful, beautiful song. John Newton wrote an amazing grace, "Grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home." In grace is a song that talks about the grace of God. Even the author of the song understands that grace has gotten you thus far. You've made it as far as you have in life through the grace of God. The grace is going to take you home, grace is going to let you go to heaven. Now go with me to Second Kings. Second Kings will look at chapters 6 and 7. Both chapters, I'm not going to read both chapters because that's a lot of reading and we don't want to be here for the next hour and a half. You might be anyway, but that's your choice. Second Kings in the chapter 6 and 7 in the sixth and seventh chapter, God's grace prevails where man cannot. Let me show you, these relights are surrounded in Samaria by the Syrians. The donkeys' head, they sold costs $100,000 roughly. A pint of pigeon costs about $1,000 and the Samarians turn into cannibals. In other words, it's hopeless, you can't buy a donkey, you can't even really buy pigeon poop, and the people surrounding your catables, they're going to eat you if you leave. And yet we know from the story that Israelite prevails, that Israel comes out of it against all odds, God's grace, God Israelite out of that. You're surrounded, you can't buy a donkey, you can't even buy a pigeon poop, you don't have anything that's too expensive. The people around you are cannibals. What are you going to do? You just give up, let yourself be eaten. I see a lot of head shaking now, it's not my choice either, I don't want to be eaten. Maybe you try and just collect pigeon poop off the street, so you can buy a donkey. I see a lot of gross faces too, you know that's probably not your option. That's not what the Israelites do either. You see, the Israelites turn to God, they're into God and say, "God, what are we going to do?" Hey look where we are, right, these are the things that are against us, there's nothing we can do, we're hopeless. And God said, "I'll show you grace and I'll get you out of it." See brother in God's grace can take us everywhere, do not be afraid, he'll prevail. His grace will prevail. Go with me to Romans 8. Romans 8, we'll look at verse 32. We've looked at this actually, and the NIV, we looked at this but I want you to turn there. Romans 8 32, "He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him, graciously give us all things?" We've looked at this, but you know what we didn't look at was the verse before. Look at verse 31, "If God is with us, who can be against us," or the words it says in the king or the new King James version, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Now for those of you taking notes, I want you to write that four times, "If God is for us, and I want you to write it in a step," the reason I want you to do this is because I want you to look at it, "If God is for us, you can underline God, if God is for us, and underline is, if God is for us, you can underline for, and if God is for us, you can underline us, and you'll see that God is for us." So let's change our Romans 8 31, if you would, "God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?" You see, if you just take out that word, "If," and I'm not saying start going in your Bible and taking out words you don't like, don't do that, we've got a whole other lesson dedicated to not taking things out or putting things in. We have an entire commandment of it, but if you look at it, and you look at everything I've shown you thus far, then this is the conclusion you come to, "God is for us." So how about it? If God is for us, think about it, even if no one else is for you, nobody else wants to stand on your side, God said he would, "Peace I leave with you," he says. He's on our side. Why be afraid? How about again, if God is for us, not was for us, is for us, is now. Was is then, is is now, is will be tomorrow when we get there, right? How about this, if God is for us, turn with me to Isaiah, go to Isaiah chapter 49. Look at verse 16, Isaiah chapter 49, verse 16 says, "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hand." Behold, I have written your name on the palm of my hand. How about verse 15? Go backwards with me. Can a woman forget her sucking child that she would not have compassion on the son of her will? Yay, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee name upon the palms of my hands." That's what it says. This is God's words. Can a woman forget her sucking child that she won't have compassion on the son of her will? Yeah, they might forget. He says, "Yay, they may forget," and he says, "But I won't. I won't forget you." For behold, I won't forget you to the point of I have written your name on the palm of my hand. I'm going to remember you, you are my person. You are my son or my daughter. If God is for us, brethren, then God gives us his grace. If God is for us, then there is no need to fear. If God is for us, then we can go to heaven. You can put this into any sentence you want. If God is for us, then maybe you want to change it. If God is for you, maybe you want to say, "If God is for me, then what can I do?" And if God stands on my side, what can I do? Now that doesn't mean go jump off a cliff. It doesn't mean trying to beat the train across the tracks. God's going to let you die if you do something stupid, but I hate to tell you he's not going to miraculously save you. If you make it across the tracks, you got lucky. You land, it happens to be a puddle of water and a rock hits it first, you got lucky. It's not God saying, "Look, I'm going to let you live because I need you." Because God doesn't work that way. But if God is for you, what can you do? Can you walk on water? Well, no. Don't try it, especially if you're not a swim. When you go study with people, can you give God's Word to the world? Maybe you can pray to Him. Say, "Lord, open up the hearts of these people that they might hear your Word." Maybe you can pray, "Lord, I don't know what to do." Then you get a phone call from somebody, you know, Lucille calls, "Hey, I missed you Sunday." Or Bailey texts you, because I tell her to. Missed you Sunday, everything okay? She keeps telling me to, and I'm like, "It's weird if I do it." Or Becca, he takes you cornbread. You pray to God, and you say, "God, what do I do help me?" And his response is the church every time. His response is the Bible. This probably won't happen, right? But maybe your bookshelf breaks and your Bible falls down and it opens up, right? You open up to Acts 2, 16, repent and be baptized every one of you. I think that's 2, 16. That doesn't sound like 2, 16 after it comes out of my mouth, right? It's not going to happen. If it does happen, congratulations, I guess, you've defied the odds. But if God is for you, then you don't have to be afraid. You don't have to leave your house every day saying, "Oh, I'm going to get COVID, I'm going to die." And that was four years ago. That's almost five years ago now. It's just not going to happen. You don't have to be afraid anymore if God is for you. Turn with me to John chapter 1. John chapter 1 and look at verse 15. John chapter 1 and verses 15, 16 and 17. It says, "John, bear witness of him," and cried, saying, "This was he of whom I speak, that he comeeth after me as preferred before me, for he was before me, and of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man have seen God at any time, or the only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." So this is whenever Jesus is to be baptized by John. This is John Bear's witness of him saying, "This is who I have led up to. This is who I'm telling you about. This is Jesus." And through his fullness, we receive grace and grace and grace and grace and grace. God gives us his grace, brethren. Grace upon grace upon grace upon grace, I don't care how many times you want me to say it. God's there for you. I'm going to tell you, be not afraid. There's nothing in this world that can top God. There's nothing in this world that God cannot conquer. It's your grace. For brethren, God's grace means everything. So don't be afraid anymore. Don't be afraid to go knock on your neighbor's door and say, "Hey, you want to hear the Bible?" Maybe you're afraid to go and pray whenever you sit down on a restaurant. Maybe you're afraid to go read your Bible in a public place. Maybe you're afraid that while you're at work or while you're out in public and somebody's costing, you're afraid to tell them to stop. Maybe you're afraid to step up. Show your role as a Christian, teach people, be ready in and out of season as we saw this morning in Timothy. God's grace fixes that fear. See, once you understand that God's grace means everything, then anything anyone says to you means nothing. There's nothing anyone can do in this world that can stop God. I don't care what the atheists think about it. They can't stop him. Somebody created the world. Somebody is all powerful and that somebody gave us his grace. He gave us the opportunity to be strong. He gave us the opportunity to go to heaven. So if anyone feels as though they don't understand God's grace or that they're not receiving God's grace. Maybe you're just afraid because if you accept God's grace, then your grandma goes to hell because she didn't die Christian. Then ask that you come forward as we stand and sing and ask for prayers of the congregation that you might be able to grow and be one in God's grace.
Lesson by Espn McCall, Preacher at Wickett Church of Christ. 12/1/2024
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.