A Courageous Christian

“A Courageous Christian”

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What are you most afraid of? What strikes fear in your heart? All of us have phobias, fears that paralyze us and strike terror in our hearts. I’ll be honest with you; I am afraid of snakes. When I see a snake I jump. I have hurt myself more than one time running from a snake.

I’m afraid of heights; Jesus said, low I’m with you…

I am afraid of needles; the dark, and Tess.

Sociologist tell us the number one fear of people is speaking in public.

Ann Landers a columnist was once asked, “What is the number one thing people write to you about?”

She said the number one thing people write to me about his fear.

We all fear not being liked, accepted, approved of by other people! Fear becomes a problem when we let it keep us from sharing the gospel of Jesus, and declaring the Truth of the Bible!

-“The fear of man is a snare…

The fear of man will trap you, and keep you from living a bold courageous life for Jesus. Maybe you find yourself this morning giving into your fear, living a life as a secret disciple; you’re an uncover Christian.

You are letting your fear of what people will think about you, or say about you, keep you from living a bold, courageous Christian life.

You say, Pastor Eddie, I want to be courageous, and speak up and out for Jesus and the truth; but I am being held back by my fear. How can you I become a courageous Christians?

In these verses, Jesus teaches his disciples how to live a life of courage, to be unafraid and unashamed.

Jesus teaches us to live a courageous live, you must:

1. Remove Every Sin from Your Life.

V:1-3.

V:1-“In the meantime…

Jesus had been having dinner with some religious leaders, and over the course of the meal Jesus had strongly denounced their hypocrisy. When the lunch was over the Pharisees and scribes want to catch Jesus and kill him. A big crowd of people had gathered outside of this Pharisees house, and it had turned into a mob, V:1-“They were trampling on one another…

Get the picture, pressure is mounting from the religious leaders; they want to kill Jesus. The unruly mob want to make Jesus their king.

Jesus was in mortal danger from his enemies; and the fickle crowd of people that followed him.

This meant that the disciples would also be in danger; they were the followers of Jesus, and were identified with Jesus. And the disciples were being gripped by fear; and the temptation would be to lay low, to not be open about their relationship with Jesus. In the middle of this rising fear Jesus speaks directly to his disciples, V:1-“He began to say unto his disciples first of all…

Now that could mean, that first he speaks to his disciples and then others. Or it could mean I want my disciples to hear this first of all. The first thing you need to beware of is the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. He’s telling them if you go live lives of courage, and be unashamed, unafraid you must confess, remove, and forsake the sin that’s in your heart and life. Jesus tells his disciples five times to not fear, not to fear anyone, nor anything but to live bold and courageous for him.

But in order to live a bold and courageous life you must remove hypocrisy, sin from your heart. So Jesus tells his disciples and us, the most important thing we must do in order to live bold, public, courageous lives for him; is to get our hearts completely clean before God! Leaven-Leaven is yeast that works in the dough and makes it rise.

In the Bible leaven is used to describe something small that spreads silently, secretly but ultimately takes over.

Most of the time in the Bible leaven pictures sin. Jesus said the sin of hypocrisy is like leaven, it is secret, silent, but when left unconfessed it will take over. The sin of Hypocrisy had taken over the lives of the Pharisees. Their hearts were filled with greed and wickedness; and they were far away from God.

Jesus says like the yeast in a batch of dough, hypocrisy in your heart will gradually grow and take over. Jesus is telling his disciples they must be careful to not become hypocrites. To make an outward show; without loving God from their heart. Sin is like leaven, when we don’t confess it; it will take over and corrupt us, and leave us afraid and ashamed to speak the name of Jesus. Beware, how easy it is to put pretending to be something were not. Sin in your life will make you a coward!

· Peter, was gripped with fear and denied Jesus because of the sin his heart.

· Shad, Mesh, Abedgo, were courageous and would not bow down, because their hearts were right with God.

You can’t be a bold, courageous Christian if you’re living a life of hypocrisy, and there’s hidden sin festering in your heart.

One reason to remove every sin from your life, and live a life of integrity is that the day will come when the real condition of your heart will be made known. V:2-3-Read.

We may be able to cover our tracks for a little while, but you cannot keep your sin secret forever. Some sins get exposed in this life: the student gets caught cheating on a test. The husband gets caught looking at pornography. The mother gets caught abusing her child. When they get caught, everyone knows the truth! What was concealed gets revealed, what was in the dark gets brought to the light. What was whispered in secret, is now reported on the evening news. It happens every day just like Jesus said.

But even the sins that do not get exposed in this life; will be revealed at the last judgment! We cannot hide our sin forever! God is omniscient; he knows all things.

-“For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing”.

There will be full disclosure on that day! Every prideful act, petty theft, angry word, abusive blow, lustful fantasy, lie, gossip; it will all come to the light on that day. You say that’s really bad news for me! Well here’s the good news: -“If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

If you will confess your sin Jesus will cleanse you, and you no longer have to live in fear of being discovered. Hidden sin, unconfessed sin, will steal the joy of the Lord from your life; and the joy of the Lord is your strength! Hidden sin will break your fellowship with God; and God is the giver of enthusiasm, boldness and courage. You cannot allow the leaven of sin to take over your heart, and at the same time expect the Holy Spirit to give you boldness. -“Whoever covers his sins will not prosper, but he who confesses and for sake sin will find mercy”.

With a heart clean before God, we are ready to live a courageous life for Jesus.

Secondly, to live a courageous life you must:

2. Fear God More than you Fear People.

V:4-5-Read.

I will take a stand for Jesus, when I fear God, more than I fear other people.

We learn from these two verses, there is a wrong fear and a right fear. Jesus tells us not to fear people who can only harm our bodies. This is a challenging statement, because we love our bodies and instinctively protect them anyway we can. We are afraid of physical pain, and shudder at the thought of death. Yet Jesus says do not be afraid of people who can only kill your body.

What is the worst thing a person can do to you? The worse thing a person can do to you is kill you.

Jesus says don’t be afraid of people who can only kill your body. For the believer, death is only temporary. Jesus says our real concern ought to be what will happen to us in eternity!

If you been saved and forgiven of your sin through Jesus Christ; death will be our entrance into his presence.

Don’t be afraid of people, the worse they can do is kill your body. If we should not be afraid of people who can kill us, then we certainly should not be afraid of people who only mock us, scorn us, make fun of us, or laugh at us or reject us!

We are often too easily frightened. Afraid to take a moral stand at work because you’re afraid it might cost you a promotion. Afraid to defend the bible, and a Christian position in the college classroom, or the faculty lounge. Afraid to challenge your friends when you know they’re going in the wrong spiritual direction. Afraid to talk to someone about the gospel, because they may reject you.

Jesus said we should not even fear people who could put us to death; we should not be afraid of them.

There’s only one right and proper fear; and that is the fear of God!

V:5-“When Jesus mentions him who has authority to the cast into hell… He is not talking about Satan.

He’s talking about Almighty God!

Hell is not Satan’s domain, it is his future prison!

God is the one who has authority over heaven and hell. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is seen as having the keys of hell and of death. This is one of several places where Jesus speaks frankly about a place called hell. The word for hell here is the word Gehenna: Gehenna was a Valley, outside of Jerusalem that was used for burning garbage, and dumping dead things, it was a horrible place; Jesus used it to describe the torments of hell.

A god-forsaken place of torment, fire, worms and everlasting punishment. Some people do not believe in hell, but Jesus certainly did. Jesus plainly taught that God will banish unrepentant sinners to hell; therefore, God is to be feared above all others!

There should be no one we fear more than we fear God! No one has the power, authority that God does! We are to worship God with reverence, and respect. A proper fear of God frees us from the fear of man!

When we tremble at God’s authority over heaven and hell, we are ready to defend his cause and share the gospel, not fearing what people will think.

We will be like John Knox, the man who brought the Reformation to Scotland. John Knox never back down from a challenge; spoke forcefully to the Queen, and turn the heart of his nation back to God. John Knox epitaph is:

“Here lies one who feared God so much that he never feared the face of man”

The first disciples were men of courage; they boldly preach the gospel all over the ancient world. According to tradition, all of them died violent deaths, except for John. They face suffering with such great courage, and defied their enemies, because Jesus taught them to fear God more than anything or anyone else! To be a courageous Christian; we must fear God, more than we fear other people.

Jesus gives a third lesson about how to be a courageous Christian. To be a courageous Christian you must:

3. Trust that God Knows and Loves you.

V:6-7.

Whenever we talk about the fear of God, there’s always the danger of someone misunderstanding. We should fear God with reverence and awe, but if we belong to him through Jesus Christ, we should never be afraid that God is out to harm us, because he is not!

On the contrary, God has promised to love us to the very end! So after the warning about hell, Jesus went on to tell his disciples not to be afraid of God, but to trust in his knowledge and love for them. V:6-7-Read.

We can live courageous lives, as bold Christians when we understand that God, who holds the power of judgment is also the God who knows me and loves me! Far from getting ready to throw me into hell, he is watching over me to keep me safe and secure forever. I can stand for Jesus, because I know that he loves me and cares for me. The whole world might reject me; but Jesus will never reject me. Jesus uses sparrows to teach us how much he knows and loves us. He makes a comparison between sparrows and his disciples. 5 Sparrows are sold for 2 cents. Sparrows are not worth very much, they were worth next to nothing in Jesus day. Yet God never forgets a single sparrow. He sees them when they hatch from their shells, he scatters the seed that provides their food, when they die and fall to the ground he attends their funeral.

One prison inmate wrote this poem after watching the sparrows flit around the bob-wire outside his prison cell. “I’m happy and free though tombed within this hell, for mighty acts of God I see through cold bars of my cell. For sparrows play outside my wall and flit from fence to tree; I know he grieves their every fall and He is here with me”

The Point…If God knows and cares for the sparrow, how much more does he care for you.

Jesus said, V:7- “fear not” you are more valuable than many sparrows”.

“His eye is on the sparrow and I know he’s watches me”.

Jesus knows everything about us, right down to the very hairs on our heads. Scientists say that the average person has at least 100,000 hairs, and that a blonde-headed person has more hairs but a dark-headed person. This is a reminder that God’s knowledge is intimate and detailed about you. Nothing in your life is too small for God to know and care about.

People are worth far more to God than birds; because man is made in God’s image.

5 sparrows for 2 cents….

How valuable is man?

-“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”.

You are so valuable that Jesus Christ went to the cross and died for you. God loves you, and values you; your soul is more valuable than the world.

Find your value and identity in God’s love for you; and Jesus death on the cross for you.

Know that God loves you, and you are of infinite value to him, step out and live for him, confess him as your Savior and Lord.

If you seeking your value, worth and identity in this world, and the people of this world; then what they think and say about you will be more important than what Jesus, thinks and says about you.

Courage comes from trusting that God knows and loves you. You are valuable to him, and that is more important than trying to gain value, love, and acceptance from someone else.

To be a courageous Christian you must:

4. Keep Eternity in Mind and Confess Jesus.

V:8-9-Read.

According to the apostle Paul the start of authentic faith involves a verbal confession of Jesus Christ.

-“That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved”

True faith moves from your heart to your lips! A lack of desire to confess Jesus before others is a real sign that something is wrong in your life. Do you really have faith?

Jesus tells us if we confess him on earth, he will confess us in heaven. If we deny him on earth, he will deny us in heaven.

What a comfort to know, if we have confessed Him as our Savior and Lord on earth, when we stand before God, Jesus will confess us as His own!

We who are condemned by the law, condemned by our sin, and condemned and accused by Satan; will be defended by the son of God! He will declare us righteous by the blood of his cross! He will put on us the robe of his righteousness; and the garment of his salvation!

If you have not confessed Jesus as your savior in this life; on Judgement day, when all secrets are revealed before the throne of God, Jesus will testify that you do not belong to him, and you will be cast into hell.

The Pharisees and scribes denied Jesus was the son of God, they attributed his miracles to Satan, thus blaspheming the Holy Spirit; and even though they were religious they were headed for a devils hell.

John MacArthur said, “Heaven belongs only to those who honor the father by truly honoring the son”

What should this cause you to do?

It should cause you to examine yourself, and make sure you’re saved. Have you confessed Jesus as your Savior and Lord?

If you will repent of your sin, and confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will be forgiven, and heaven will be your home; where your name will be shouted down the halls of heaven! However if you reject the ministry of the Holy Spirit in convicting you of sin, and magnifying Jesus there’s nothing left for you. If the Holy Spirit is convicting you of your need for Jesus; then respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit today! Repent of your sin and trust Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord!

Confess him this morning before men, and he will confess you in heaven!

Keep eternity in mind, and boldly confess Jesus on earth; knowing that He will confess you in heaven.

In , Stephen boldly confessed Jesus as the son of God, and preached that Jesus crucified and risen from the dead, and the people stoned him to death, and as he died he saw heaven open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God”.

You stand for Jesus in this world; Jesus will stand for you in the world to come.

To be a courageous Christian you must:

5. Depend on the Help of the Holy Spirit.

V:11-12-Read.

When Jesus told his disciples to be men of courage, to be unafraid and ashamed, he did not expect them to do it in their own strength. On the contrary, he promised that his spirit would be with them to help them. I can be a bold, courageous witness for Jesus if I will depend on the help of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was preparing his disciples for the persecution that was to come against them, in the coming days they would be dragged before various religious and political authorities; both Jewish and Gentile; and there will be threatened, and demanded to deny their faith.

Days after Jesus ascended back to heaven, Peter and John were arrested by the temple police and hauled before the Sanhedrin. ()

Under the threat of such powerful opposition, it would be tempting for his disciples to be afraid. Jesus told them not to worry, because the Holy Spirit would help them know what to say.

God fulfilled this promise, every time the apostles appeared in court they had another opportunity to proclaim the gospel. We see this again and again in the book of acts.

The apostles fearlessly preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, and many people were saved through the ministry. Let me tell you what this promise is not, and then we will see what it is. The promise that the Holy Spirit will give you what to say; does not mean that you don’t have to prepare and study to teach and preach the Bible. You just stand up and read the Bible and say whatever pops in your brain, because the Holy Spirit is going to help you. That is not what this verse means! Peter, himself would say in -“Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asked you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear”.

Paul tells Timothy, -“study to show yourself approved a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of God”.

This is not an invitation to neglect study and preparation; rather it is a promise that when you find yourself in a situation that you could not be prepared for; you can trust the Holy Spirit to help you. The Holy Spirit will empower you, call to mind what you have read and study and help you share it.

You say pastor I’m reluctant to share my faith, because I’m afraid I will not know what to say. What can I do?

First you can learn how to give a simple gospel presentation; , , .

Share the gospel as best as you can, and pray the Holy Spirit would do his saving work in that person’s life.

If you have been living a life as a secret disciple, an undercover Christian, if you have allowed fear to keep you from being unafraid and unashamed; ask God to help you apply these truths to your heart today.

To be a courageous Christian you must, confess the sin that’s in your life, fear God more than you fear people, trust that God knows and loves you, keep in mind that if you confess Jesus on this earth, he will confess you in heaven, and depend on the help of the Holy Spirit.

Thomas Cranmer one of the reformers in the 1500s, was condemned to be burned at the stake by

Queen Mary. Fear gripped his heart, he faltered for some time; but God gave him encourage.

In his final remarks he exhorted people, “care less for this world and more for God and the world to come, do not fear the Queen, but only the power of God”

God is not asking you to burn at the stake, not yet at least. But He is asking you to do some things that are far less painful. Like taking a stand for righteousness at work, or telling a friend about Jesus, or giving your life to preach the gospel.

Take these words of Jesus and become a courageous Christian.

Jesus Christ hung on the cross in a public place, and died in blood in agony for you. If Jesus would do that for you, would you not boldly, publicly, come and confess Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord today!