My heart shall not fear
Notes
Transcript
Story: Polycarp
Story: Polycarp
Ploycarp of Smyrna was a Disciple of the Apostle John. He was a very holy man, and he lived a long life. He would pray continually and for all people. He was a leader of the Church, and even as an old man, he was considered a threat to Rome.
Christians would not sacrtifice to the gods, they would not sacrifice to Ceasar, and they refused to sya “Ceasar is Lord” for only Jesus Christ is Lord!
Polycarp was on the run, and so he was moved from house to house so that the authorities couldn’t find him. But eventually they managed to catch one of Polycarp’s young asscoiates and they tortured him to get the inforamtion about where Polycarp was hiding.
They then sent a posse to arrest Polycarp. When they got to the house Polycarp was praying upstairs. He came down and greeted his persecuters. He asked that food be served to them, and then got permission to keep praying for another hour before they took him away.
“he stood and prayed, being full of the grace of God, so that he could not cease for two full hours, to the astonishment of those who heard him, insomuch that many began to repent that they had come forth against so godly and venerable an old man.”
He prayed for each of his soon-to-be captors. He prayed for all the people he had ever met. He prayed for the whole church.
Afterward, they took him to the city to face his fate.
On the way, one of the roman officials and his son met the party, and they took Polycarp into their chariot. As they road along the oficcial and his son tried to use persuasion, sweet words, to convince Polycarp. “What harm is there in saying, “Lord Cæsar,” and in sacrificing, with the other ceremonies observed on such occasions, and so make sure of safety?”
When Polycarp would not be pursuaded, they started with the threats and nasty words. Eventually they physically assalted the Old Christian, and knocked him off the chariot onto the ground, dislocating his leg. Polycarp, unfased, stood up and kept walking toward his fate.
They brought him into a stadium. There was a massive crowd, and the crowd was so loud you could barely hear anything. But some heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Be strong, and show yourself a man, O Polycarp!”
The Roman Proconsul there began to try and convince Polycarp to renouce Christ and bow to ceasar. “Swear by ceasar! Swear, and I will set you at liberty, reproach Christ.”
Polycarp responded: “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?”
—
The proconsul then said to him, I have wild beasts at hand; to these will I cast you, unless you repent.
But he answered, Call them then, for we are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil; and it is well for me to be changed from what is evil to what is righteous.
But again the proconsul said to him, I will cause you to be consumed by fire, seeing you despise the wild beasts, if you will not repent.
But Polycarp said, You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. But why do you tarry? Bring forth what you will.
—
Polycarp steadfastly stood before the governing authorities, unmoved, with a stadium full of people roaring for his death. “While he spoke, he was filled with confidence and joy, and his countenance was full of grace, so that not merely did it not fall as if troubled by the things said to him, but, on the contrary, the proconsul was astonished.”
Yet the people clamoured for death, and so Polycarp was tied and placed on a pile of wood ready to be burned like a sacrifice. He looked to heave and prayed:
“O Lord God Almighty, the Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of You, the God of angels and powers, and of every creature, and of the whole race of the righteous who live before you, I give You thanks that You have counted me, worthy of this day and this hour, that I should have a part in the number of Your martyrs, in the cup of your Christ, to the resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and body, through the incorruption [imparted] by the Holy Ghost. Among whom may I be accepted this day before You as a fat and acceptable sacrifice, according as You, the ever-truthful God, have foreordained, have revealed beforehand to me, and now have fulfilled. Wherefore also I praise You for all things, I bless You, I glorify You, along with the everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, with whom, to You, and the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and to all coming ages. Amen.”
Then they lit the fire. It blazed up and surrounded Polycarp. Yet he was not burned.
Eventually they took a dagger and peirced his heart.
He died a spectacle for the bloodthirsty crowd.
He died surrounded by enemies of God.
He died at the command of the authorities.
Yet, he “he was filled with confidence and joy, and his countenance was full of grace”
(excerpts above from https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0102.htm)
The Lord is my stronghold
The Lord is my stronghold
Polycarp Reminds me of the man of Psalm 27.
27 Is one of David’s Psalms and it is brimming with joy and confidence in the face of overwheliming Odds.
David knew what it was to be on the run and attacked, by his freinds and allies, and even by his own son!
David spent years in wilderness, in exile, under threat. Yet his trust in the LORD continued throughout.
He is an example to all the Godly of what it looks like to to g through great, overwhelming threats and not give way to fear and doubt.
But David is not a Disney story writer, he doesn’t ask us to look inside ourselves for our own inner power or courage, he looks outside himself to the stronghold that is his God! There he takes refuge. There is stregth!
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Who? Who is there to be afraid of?
Evildoers? traitors? Bosses? Governments?
What?
National disasters? Climate change? Economic collapse?
When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
David knows that even as his enemies come against him, eventually God will bring them down. They will fall.
The Righteous endure, the wicked are defeated.
David comforts himself with the truth even while the bad guys look like they’re winning.
Some of you need to know that there are enemies of God out there. And they do opress the righteous.
We are the people of love, we are the proclaimers of peace, we do pray for our enemies, but in order to pray for our enemies, we need to have some.
Far too many Christians think they can be at peace with everyone, and in so doing they invite wolves amongst the sheep. Do not be deceived - we will have opposistion, we will have persecution, we will face slander and threats and opression from our enemies.
But we shall not fear!
We shall pray for them, but we shall not fear them.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
An army! Imagine the might of a superpowers army surrounding you, their tanks are arrayed, their platoons of soldiers are assembled. The warships are sailing up the coast, the bombers circling overhead. The balistic missiles are armed and aimed on your position.
My Heart shall not fear.
Yet I will be confident.
Because there is any thing in me that can stand against the might of these forces?
No!
Because the Lord is my stronghold.
The LORD is my Salvation.
There is no room for fear!
Story: Hezekiah
Story: Hezekiah
Hezekiah was king in Judah and he was threatened by Sennacherib, King of Assyria. Sennacherib had a massive army, and they swept down from the north taking over all the military cities of Judah.
Hezekiah and Jerusalem were the last ones standing.
Sennacherib sent a letter to Hezekiah, taunting him and saying “Do’t trust in your God. All the other gods of the nations have fallen to me, what makes you think yours can defy me?”
Hezekiah took the letter and went to the temple. There he prayed and pleaded with the Lord:
2 Kings 19:15–19 “And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.””
The LORD heard his prayer and promised to deliver.
Hundreds of thousands of Assyrians were on Israelite teritory, poised to destroy Jerusalem. They seemed an unstoppable and overwhelming force.
Yet,
God had heard their prayer, and God delivered.
2 Kings 19:35–37 “And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.”
He will hide me in his shelter
He will hide me in his shelter
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
David’s desire is not for deliverance to lead a slefish life. Devid’s desire is to live so that he may glorify God.
He wants to live with God, in his presence.
And in his context the manifestation of the reality was to go into the temple.
We live in the Now & Not Yet. We now have the temple of God among us as the Church, where God dwells by his Spirit, where we bring sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, and offer even our very selves to God through service to one another.
But we also live in hope of the day when we see God face to face and live with him, in his revealed Glory. We look to the fulfillment of our salvation, where we can gaze upon the beuty of the Lord.
Till then we will face trouble, but when we do face trouble, the Lord will be our shelter:
For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.
The Lord will be our shelter! We will find our refuge with him.
In time we will be with him in spirit and body.
Even in the midst of the present enemies, we can serve the LORD with joy!
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
David is making melody while his enemies surround him!
In the midst, we serve God with prayer, and song.
You may be tempted to shrink back when you face opposition. Instead, lift up your head in Christ and make melody!
Sing! Sing loud!
be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ - Eph 5:18–20.
Whether in this life your the next, you will find shelter in the Lord! Lift up your head!
Story: Stephen
Story: Stephen
Stephen was an honourable young man. He was a trusted member of his comunity, so much so that when an opportunity came up, he was appointed to help manage food distribution to widows. He had a good reputation, full of God’s Spirit, full of wisdom.
Christianity was very new in those days. And there were alot of Jews who needed help understanding how the Gospel of Jesus was the fulfillment of OT Judaism.
So they would have debates. They would argue it out. Stephen would show them the proof. His opposition though couldn’t hack it: Acts 6:10 “...they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.”
SO they started spreading romours. They slandered him and made false accusations until they whipped enough people up into a frenzy to form a mob. They also got into the ear of the local authorities and convinced them that Stephen needed to be dealt with.
Instead of hearing the truth and changing their own views to match. They stopped up their ears and sought to kill the one who said things they didn’t like.
Stehen was arrested, brought before a court. The trial was rigged with false accusations.
But Stephen sat there with the face of an angel.
When given the chance stephen proclaimed the thruth from the OT. He spoke clearly and he was not afraid to confront those there with the plain truth.
His opponents couldn’t stand it. But Stephen peered into heaven Acts 7:56–58 “And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.”
Acts 7:59–60 “And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
The LORD will take me in
The LORD will take me in
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
Seeking God’s face - God’s countenance, his blessing.
Pleads with God for deliverance.
Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
There is good reason for the Lord to be angry - our sin, but he is forgiving and gracious.
Pleading, pleading,
Everone has abandoned, even his own parents, but he trusts that he will find shelter with the LORD.
The Lord will take you in, even if your own family disown you. The Lord hears our cries for help, he will answer, he will forgive, he will not cast off the contrite and humble who call on his name!
Story: Jesus
Story: Jesus
A man who lived a perfect life.
Betrayed by his countrymen. Betrayed by those who should have been expecting him. Betrayed by his own creations.
You will not abandon you holy one to corruption!
I’ll Wait for the LORD
I’ll Wait for the LORD
As David looks to the LORD for deliverance, he is confident, and will wait for Him to answer.
He asks the Lord to instruct him and help him stay true in the midst of the trouble:
Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.
Level path, the Godly way.
Adversaries, may the not triumph, not get their way. (it’s ok to pray that the wicked’s schemes would fail!)
Complete confidence:
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Ends with Hope and courage and joy!
