In chapter one of Job we find that Job was a man that feared God, he was a man that was upright, one that eschewed evil, I believe his goal in life was to live so that God would be pleased with his life. He may never have read what Paul said in 2 Cor. 5:9 " Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him." But he believed in his God and he knew that one day he would stand before him and he wanted to hear his God say to him well done thou good and faithful servant, we find where he even sacrificed on behalf of his children.
Then we find where Job lost everthing, his oxen, his sheep, his camels, all of his servants, even his children, and on top of all of this his wife tells him why don’t you just curse God and die, but in Chapter 2:10 we find some of the sweetest words in all the bible "... In all this did not Job sin with his lips." Thats means that although he went through all that he did, he still remained faithful to God, why, I believe he realized where his strength came from, and even in the midst of it all he was determined to be faithful to God, that’s how dedicated Job was to the God he served, I believe that is a good lesson for you and I. You know after all of this you would think that their would be nothing that Job would be afraid of, but look at are text Job 3:25 "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." Now as I thought on this I realized that their are some things that you and I as christians need to be scared to death of, But first let me say their are some things that we don’t need to be afraid of, for example
#1 PUBLIC OPINION- I think one of the things that is wrong in our churches today is that people are afraid of what others might think of them. We need to be like the Apostle Paul over in Gal. 1:10 " For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." You see the driving force behind Paul’s life was that when he stood before God that he would put his stamp of approval on his life, and because of this he didn’t care what anybody thought about him, listen to what he says in Philip. 1:20 "... so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.", you se he had one purpose and that is brought out in Philip. 3:10-15 " That I may know him, and the power of his ressurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings..." verse 13 " Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and REACHING FORTH un6to those things which are before." verse 14 " I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." now notice what he says in verse 15 " Let us therefore, as many as BE PERFECT BE THUS MINDED...." You see it is high time that we realize that we don’t have to worry about man, but God who we will stand before one day and give an account of our lives.
#2 PREACH THIS BOOK- In 2 Tim. 4:1-5 Paul admomnishes Timothy a young preacher to Preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering. We need to preach the whole counsel of God, not only about Heaven but also about Hell, not only that God is a God of love, but that he is also a God of Judgement, I had a preacher one time tell me that his deacons told him he needs to preach more on sin, their right because listen if we don’t warn those around us God will pour out his judgement on them, it’s time we stop sugar coating sin and begin telling the people just exactly how it is, if you have a drinking problem then your an alcoholic, if you have extra marital affairs then you are an adulteress or if your not married then you have committed fornication, listen sin is sin lets tell it like it is
#3 TO PRAISE GOD- I think that this is another problem in the church we don’t praise God enough, were afraid to shout AMEN< PRAISE THE LORD< I mean it will look like we went over the deep end, become a fanatic, I think of over in the book of Luke 19 when Jesus had his triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the Pharisees said master rebuke them tell them to hold their peace, well Jesus said in 19:40 "I tell you that if these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out." Listen to me Ps. 50:23 "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me..." My friend lets start offering praise and glorifing the only one who is worthy of our praise but their are somethings that I’m scared to death of
#1 SIN- Why because it was sin that caused Adam to loose his Paradise, it was sin that got the wisest man that ever lived, Solomon,, it was sin that got the strongest man that ever lived, Samson,, it was sin that got the man that was walking close to God, David,, and you mark it down if sin can cause these men to fall it can get you and I too. You say not me preacher I’ll never give in too sin, well my friend then you better beware because the Bible says in 1 Cor. 10:12 " Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Listen we take sin so lightly anymore, we don’t realize just how dangerous sin can be, no matter how small we think it may be to how big, sin is sin in God’s eyes. You see the devil has deceived us into thinking, well everybody else does it and God’s not chastening them so it must be alright, or how about it was just a little white lie, and because of this our hearts have become so insensitive to certain sins, but you know what makes sin so dangerous??
A. IT WILL LEAD YOU ON- you see it will bind you tighter than you want to be bound, it will keep you longer than you want to be kept, and it will take you farther than you want to go, you see once you start it just seems like you can never get out of it, ask David, ask Samson, ask Ananias and Sapphira, ask any one who has been caught in the trap
B. IT WILL SEPERATE YOU- from God Is. 59:1-2 "Behold the Lord’s hand is not shortened that he cannot save, neither his ear heavy that he cannot hear: but your Iniquities have seperated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." my friend listen to me I believe the one thing that greives the heart of God the most is when one of his children falls into sin. but not only God I have seen sin divide families, husband and wives, parents from their children, I’ve seen it divide churches
C. IT WILL STEAL- 1st of all your Peace, read Ps 51 when David repented of the sin he committed he said in verse 8 "Make me to hear joy and gladness.." verse 12 "restore unto me the JOY of my salvation." you see David had lost that inner peace and joy that he had when he was walking with God. 2nd it will steal your POWER. When you talk to others either by your life or verbally you will not have the power of the Holy Spirit upon you to bring other unto a convicting state.
3rd it will steal your PERCEPTION, you don’t even realize that what your doing is wrong the backslidden person can’t see the condition he or she is in,
D. IT WILL SCARE YOU FOR LIFE- isn’t it funny how you can accomplish great things for God, and you make one mistake and all people will remember is that mistake, you see God forgets, but man don’t
E. IT WILL FIND YOU OUT- you see sin has a payday read Ex.32:23. But not only am I scared to death of sin but
#2 SELF- You see we are are greatest enemy, you see if I’m not careful I find myself wanting to do things that I’m not suppose to do, or go places that I’m not suppose to go, or reading things that I’m not suppose to be reading, you see it is a constant battle between the flesh and the spirit and the one I give into is the one that I have become a servant to, that why it is important that we fill OUR MINDS with the right stuff, read Matt 15:10-20 verses 18-19 sums it all up "But those things which proceed out of the mouthcome forth from the heart; and they defile the man, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false wittnesses,blasphemies.." Listen you look at what is on the t.v. any more is it any wonder that we have such a rebellious generation, remember it is the generation that the t.v. raised. What ever happen to the Family Alter, Bible reading and so on, the t.v. took its place and you see the result.... We need to focus not only our Minds, but howabout our EYES, lets face it they like to look upon sin, how about our Hands, you see the same hand that carries the Bible to Church can handle or touch things that it not suppose to.. How about our Feet, these same feet that bring us to church can take us to those forbidden places, if were not careful, How about our mouth. We need to realize that when we got saved we are no longer our own because we were bought with a price, therefore we need to glorify God.
Not only am I scared to death of SIN< SELF< but I’m also scared to death of
#3 SHELF-Not to be used of God, Paul put it this way in 1 Cor. 9:27 "But I keep under my body, and bring it under subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." The one thing that Paul was afraid of was that God one day would put him on a shelf and never use him again, my friend we need that kind of fear today, how terrible it would be for God to never use us again, I think I would rather die and go to Heaven. Yes I’m scared to death of SIN #4 SAVIOR- You say why preacher because one day I am going to stand before him and I don’t want to be ashamed, you see I believe their will be those who will stand before him with their heads hanging low, read 1 John 2:28 "And now little children abide in him: that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming." What will make them ashamed, I believe when we see and realze all that he has done for us and just how little we have done for him, we will hang our heads low, or when we see all our works burn up and gone or when we allowed this world to have the preieminence over our lives and we stand before him and see that truely he was not Lord over our lives. My friend the best part is if this has happen to you, you can change right now by confessing that sin and allowing him to have the pre-imimenence in your life will you do that now, May God Bless you
