Don't Fear The Wrong Thing
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 5 viewsNotes
Transcript
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
We are most certainly living in the last days. We see the signs of the time everywhere. We see calamities everywhere. We see diseases, we see hunger, we see cataclysmic natural events taking place, earthquakes in divers places, tsunamis (many of us forgot all about the tsunami that devastated the coast of Thailand back in 2004, we are seeing hurricanes decimate towns and cities. Global warming is taking place, sea levels rising, scientist scrambling to figure out strategies to turn around the human impact that we are having on the seas and the atmosphere.
Seasons are being blurred to the point that we go from hot weather to cold weather immediately. If you have notice, here in Virginia we don’t get the snows that we use to get like when I was coming up. It was nothing to get a foot of snow, 8 inches of snow, now we scarcely get any snow, and there are times that the temperature has reached 70 degrees in the middle of winter.
Jesus said that in the last days there would be wars and rumors of wars. And here it is, the other day President Biden stated and I quote ““We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,”
Not only that, but we have seen false Christs come and go. In this most recent generation, they may not have seen this, but some of us that have been here a little while longer, we have seen it.
We have observed more solar and lunar eclipses than any other time that I can recall on earth. We have seen strange phenomenon occuring in outer space.
We have seen the rise of false prophets and false teachers and now everyone is a prophet, everyone is an apostle, everyone is trying to make their name known by having a following of people.
BUT THE BIGGEST SIGN!!!! Tell someone “THE BIGGEST SIGN!!!”
Jesus said in Matthew 24:10-13....
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Jesus says here that many will fall away!!!
Paul stated that a great falling away was going to happen in the last days.
All we have to do is look around.
People who use to be with us are no longer with us. I’m not just talking about the ones who moved their membership. I’m talking about the ones who no longer go to church. I’m talking about the ones who no longer feel the need to be in the church, no longer feel the need to have a relationship with God, they are “religious” but they don’t come to church. They are “religious” but don’t ascribe to a particular religious belief. They use to believe, but they’ve come up with their own preconceived ideology of who God is and what God’s word says.
Use to worship God, they had the Holy Ghost....or at least they thought they had or felt something, but had itching ears and went after lies and fables and now they deny the faith!
FALLING AWAY!!!
Then Jesus said in the same verse:
Betray and hate each other. Hatred is everywhere, hate based on skin color, hate based on religious beliefs, hate because of what political party you are associated with. Hate, because you don’t live in the same hood I live in, hate because you got something I don’t have, hate, because you are more successful than men.
Politicians hate one another, white hating blacks, blacks hating whites, muslims hating christians, christians hating muslims, crips hating bloods, SAINTS HATING SAINTS!!! They will betray and hate one another.
Many false prophets will arise and mislead many. People don’t know enough of God’s word to know what is right and what is wrong. They want to come in and shout and dance, but don’t want to sit under teaching. They want to cry and get emotional, but don’t want to know how to live saved, how to be holy, and how to be a witness for Jesus.
Then Jesus says in verse 11:
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Sin will be rampant everywhere and the love of many will wax, it will grow cold!!!
Beloved, I want you to be aware of the times in which we live in!!!
The Apostles warned the church and that warning is still reverberating today:
Paul said:
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
And again the Apostle Peter writes:
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
IT IS TIME FOR US TO WAKE UP, IT IS TIME FOR US TO BE ALERT, IT IS PRAYING TIME, IT IS TIME TO REPENT, IT IS TIME FOR US TO GET RIGHT WITH GOD........AND DO IT NOW!!!
IMPORTANT RECONCILATION:
With all of the stuff that is happening around us, there are many people that are living in fear.
Men’s heart are truly failing them for the things that are coming upon the world.
But for us, beloved of God, for us who are saved and are being saved it is not a time to fear.
Thought: Don’t fear the wrong thing.
And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Yes, textually Jesus is talking is encouraging his disciples concerning their testimony of Him. There would come a time in their ministry that they would face stiff opposition. They would encounter some difficulties and hardships. They would be threatened, mistreated, and abused, but Jesus in this text is encouraging them not to fear the wrong thing.
Fear God, reverence God, be in awe of God who has the power to kill both body and soul, fear the one who has the power to cast into hell! This is what is wrong today......the word of God has been so diluted down that people no longer fear the LORD as they ought to.
They are afraid of other things, they are afraid of the disasters that are coming upon this world, they are afraid of people who are in power, they are afraid of the threats of mankind, they are afraid of losing jobs, they are afraid of sickness and diseases, they are afraid of nuclear weapons. What we should fear is God!!! “DON’T FEAR THE WRONG THING!!!”
Jesus is encouraging his disciples and in a sense, he tells them “don’t allow fear to cause you to lose your testimony.” That’s what I want to encourage you with this morning......”don’t allow fear to cause you to lose your testimony.”
Don’t worry about how people are going to treat you, don’t worry about what people are going to say to you or about you.
You need to tell it!!! We tell a whole bunch of other things......and the one thing we should be talking about, the one thing we should be telling, we don’t tell it at all.
Let something happen, we the first to get on the hellaphone and tell it, let something hit your ears, then you find your mouth is on fire, your fingers start twitching to dial someones number so that you can tell someone elses business.
BUT IF WE TAKE AN HONEST EVALUATION OF OURSELVES, SOME OF US AREN’T TELLING THE LORD’S BUSINESS LIKE WE OUGHT TO.
And the BIGGEST reason is FEAR OF REJECTION!!! We are afraid to talk about the LORD, let’s just be REAL FOR A SECOND......SOME OF US ARE EMBARRASSED!!!
Listen what Jesus says in verse 8 & 9:
Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
Anyone who publicly acknowledges Jesus on earth, anyone who testifies about the LORD on earth.....anyone who confesses Him, Jesus says “will confess him also before the angels of God.”
This is a very important verse here. Why? Because this is the second time Jesus says this in this in Luke’s gospel:
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.
WHY ARE YOU AFRAID!?!?! AS GOOD AS GOD HAS BEEN TO YOU......WHY ARE YOU ASHAMED TO CONFESS HIM. WE ARE YOU AFRAID TO PRAISE HIM!!! WHY ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT SOMEONE THINKS OF YOU!!!
DON’T FEAR THE WRONG THING!!!
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Exhortation:
Scriptures concerning fear:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Scriptures concerning afraid and trust:
What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.