I Will Follow Him

 

Our text for today is Psalm 116:5-8, 12-14 “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For You have rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. . . What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord . . . in the presence of all His people.”

 

So, according to the psalmist, what has God done? He tells us in verses 5-8: The Lord has dealt bountifully with us; He has rescued our soul from death, our eyes from tears, our feet from stumbling.

 

And what, then, ought to be our response? He answers that question in verses 12-14: “What shall I render to Him for all His benefits? I will call upon Him and pay my vows in the presence of everyone.”

 

So, let’s start with verses 5-8. Any honest Christian who’s taken the time to review what their lives were like before they were born again through faith in Christ’s sacrificial atonement for their personal sins – any of them will quickly and willingly proclaim to others “the excellencies of Him who has called [them] out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) They will strive to tell others walking in darkness of God’s incomprehensible truth that He “demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8) 

 

Nevertheless, while we were actively living life our own way, doing what was right in our own eyes, caring not about God or His commandments – despite it all, God delivered His own blessed Son to die a torturous death for us so WE would not have to experience His wrath for our sins.

 

It always causes me to wonder about the true state of someone’s salvation when they brush off my suggestion to routinely ask God to reveal to them their sins – as if to ask Him that question is unworthy of their time.

 

But the truth seems clear to me: Anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ but is unwilling or reluctant to ask God to show them their sins – they’re deceiving only themselves about their salvation. Those who are unwilling for God to reveal to them their sins do so only because they really don’t want to know their sins. They like living as they do and being as they are.

 

An unwillingness for God to reveal their sins is the very antithesis of the attitude of godly men and women described in Scripture. They WANTED God to show them where they were failing Him, so they might repent and please Him. For example, we’ve looked in the past at David’s prayer in Psalm 139, and we do it again to make the point “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!” Psalm 139:23–24

 

Job cried out to God: (Job 13:23) “How many are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my rebellion and my sin;” and Paul counseled the Corinthians: (2 Corinthians 13:5): “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.”

 

So, tell me how a Christian who doesn’t routinely ask God to reveal to them their sins – how is that person walking with Christ?

 

In his book, The Problem with Pain, CS Lewis writes: “We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boyhood as if they were no concern of the present speaker's, and even with laughter. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ: if we have repented these early sins we should remember the price of our forgiveness and be humble.”

 

Repentance is the only means of forgiveness, and humility is the mother of repentance. Without humility we will never honestly repent – and let me reiterate the point: Without repentance there can be no forgiveness.

 

The first recorded words of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel was, ‘Repent’ (Matthew 4:17). And the apostle John warned his readers: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10)

 

Christian, this is critical for our understanding of who we are in Christ, and why being in Christ is so vital to our lives both now and in eternity. If we’re unwilling to let God show us our sins – past and current – then how can we truly rejoice in His rescue, as the psalmist in today’s text describes it? How can we begin to grasp how close to eternal death we’ve come? How can we really appreciate the tears He’s save us from and the disastrous life failures that never happened to us?

 

Listen, please. Unless we see our sins in HIS light, the psalmist’s follow-on verses about what we can render back to God will mean little to us and our answer to that question will be anemic at best: “And perhaps worst of all, our attempts at evangelization will fall flat because the joy of our rescue from the domain of darkness will be muted because we’re not entirely convinced our darkness was really that dark.

 

Listen to those verses in 5-8 again: “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For You have rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

 

Yes. Yes. God is gracious and compassionate well beyond our deserving. And it is worth our while to frequently call to mind our past lifestyles because when we do so with honest hearts we will be able to extrapolate – to deduce – where we’d be today if He had not SAVED us from a life of spiritual darkness.

 

Truly it is so, and please take time – lots of time and often – to think about how God saved us – saved YOU – from a lifetime of tears of regret, a lifetime of meaninglessness. He saved us from ending our lives like Solomon ended his, whose regrets bleed through that last chapter of Ecclesiastes: Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”; before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened. . . Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!” (Ecclesiastes 12:1-2, 6-8)

 

And so, moving further through the text, the psalmist asks – and so should we: “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? Shall we live like ungrateful recipients of His many and abundant gifts? Don’t we know how that hurts His feelings, just as OUR feelings are hurt when our children ignore us or hardly visit or call anymore, despite the many sacrifices we made to protect them and to prosper them?

 

May God forbid it that we – you or I – ever be ungrateful to God for rescuing us from a life of tears and loss and regrets and hopelessness.  And so, what shall we render to Him? The psalmist answers that question in the next two verses: “I shall lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord . . . in the presence of all His people.”

 

To the Hebrews, lifting the cup of salvation was in a measure like publicly raising a glass of toast in joyous celebration and honor to the Lord. If we listen carefully, we can almost hear him call out to the Lord as his cup is raised: “Hallelujah, O Lord. You alone are worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing forever and ever.” (see Revelation 5:12-13)

 

In other words, God’s saving acts ought to produce a public response of gratitude and praise in the hearts of those who are sensitive to and appreciative of His overflowing mercy. And how might the believer ‘flesh’ out that gratitude in public, not only with words but also with actions?

 

Here is only one set of guidance from Scripture: “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . . Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor . . . devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality . . . Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.”

 

The truth is, we give a public response of gratitude to God when we live like Jesus calls us to live. And notice also from the psalmist, God’s saving acts produce within the believer an almost reflexive and spontaneous calling upon the name of the Lord. And that makes perfect sense to the believer: Psalm 8:1  O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth; Psalm 138:2 You have exalted your name and your word above all things; Proverbs 18:10  The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.”

 

What shall we render to the Lord for all His benefits toward us? Oh! How can we not give public thanks and public honor and public obedience to the One who has rescued our souls from death and our eyes from tears and our lives from incalculable regrets?  How can we not unashamedly call on His Name AND, how shall we not pay our vows to the Lord “n the presence of all His people?”

 

I want to pause here a few moments and consider the vows we have made to Him. What were those vows? To be honest, when we first committed ourselves to the Lord Jesus – whether as a young person or as an adult, most of us did not know what such a commitment meant. We only knew we were sinners and Jesus came to save sinners by releasing them from the debts those sins required. Many of us may have also promised Jesus we’d follow Him for the rest of our lives. But how many of us knew what that really meant?

 

I liken those vows to the vows young people make to each other at the altar of wedding. The most common marriage vow is: “I take you to be my wedded [husband/wife], to have and to hold, from this day forward,
for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, forsaking all others, till death do us part.”

 

When young people speak those vows, they usually have no idea where their lives together will bring them, and how those vows will be tested.

 

Many years ago, I met a woman whose husband of 55 years was suffering a slowly debilitating illness that had begun requiring near constant care. I remember asking her how she was coping and I’ll never forget her answer.

She told me she was doing well and then added: “I signed up for this when we first got married.” On the other hand, Nancy and I also know a woman who not very long into their marriage was diagnosed with a life-changing illness. But in her case, her husband divorced her.

 

To have and to hold, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health . . .

 

What are the vows that YOU have made to the Lord? The promises men and women make to each other at a marriage altar should not be different than those we make to the Lord at the altar of salvation. “For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, forsaking all other gods, till death brings me into Your presence.

 

And as many couples renew their marriage vows every 20 or 30 or 50 years, so the Christian ought to renew their vows to God – especially perhaps when life takes a turn for the worse as it often does as we age: “I will still follow YOU, I will still cherish you, I will still love you, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, and I will continue to forsake all that would pull me away from You.

 

Listen to another psalmist for whom life fell apart and yet renewed his vows to Him: “You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor, and do not go out with our armies. You cause us to turn back from the adversary; And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. You give us as sheep to be eaten and have scattered us among the nations . . . All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You, and we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, and our steps have not deviated from Your way.” Psalm 44:9-11, 17-18

 

The prophet Habakkuk also maintained faithfulness to his vow, even though life for him was rapidly falling apart: “My inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3:16-18

 

Just before the Lord’s arrest and crucifixion, He gathered His disciples and told them: “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials.” Biblical scholars believe the Lord was referring, at least in part, to the various and often deadly opposition He faced throughout His ministry during which they also were often in mortal danger. I believe the Lord is here thanking them for their perseverance in remaining with Him.  (Luke 22:28)

 

And I also believe it does no harm to the whole of Scripture if we modified this text to read Jesus’ words to His disciples – you and me: You are those who have stood by Me in YOUR trials.

Think for a moment of the emotional and physical traumas you’ve faced in life – and through which you have persevered. Those trials aren’t anything to be glossed over, are they? They represent your life, your blood, your sweat, and your tears.

 

At any time, you could have given up. You could have walked away from your earlier vows. But you didn’t – and even if you did at one time walk away – you’ve returned. Thanks be to God – you’ve returned.

 

What shall you and I render to the Lord? We will with God’s help continue to publicly lift up the cup of salvation, call upon our Lord, and continue to pay our vows to Him in sickness, in health, in poverty and in wealth.

 

In 1963 a young woman by the name of Peggy March sang what became a popular song. Her lyrics tell of her love for a young man – but as the song played in my memory while I was preparing this message, I realized the lyrics could very easily apply to our love for our Jesus Christ. Think on these words at the close of this message:

 

I love him, I love him, I love him/And where he goes I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow/He'll always be my true love, my true love, my true love/From now until forever, forever, forever/I will follow him/Follow him, wherever he may go/There isn't an ocean too deep/A mountain so high it can keep, keep me away/Away from my love.

 

Amen

 

 

Lift Up Your Heads

 

James 5:7-8 “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near . . . As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”

 

During the past few weeks, we’ve looked at what it means to have a ‘fear’ of God – which is considerably deeper than simply being afraid of Him. The biblical idea combines reverence, awe, honor, and a deep desire to live in a way that pleases Him. As we saw last week, reverence toward God also leads to an increasing confidence in God. It’s the same kind of confidence that allowed Peter to sleep between two Roman guards as he awaited execution in the morning. It’s the kind of confidence that allowed Paul and Silas to sing praises and hymns in that filthy dungeon even while their feet were fastened in wooden stocks and their wounds still stinging from their beatings for preaching the gospel.

 

Today I want to revisit that point of a reverence-driven trust in God’s utter sovereignty over all nations and over all individuals within those nations –those who sleep under bridges and those who are powerful political leaders – and everyone else in between. In so doing today, I hope to remind us that nothing can happen on earth or in our private lives without His direct involvement.

 

Nothing can happen without Him – even if it be a car accident or cancer or a murder or the promotion of wicked people to governmental or religious power. Nothing can happen without God’s direct involvement – an involvement which always flows from His love, His kindness, and His desire for the salvation of souls – yours, mind, everyone’s.

 

Why am I emphasizing this point? Do you follow the national and international news? If you do, then I suspect you have at times become – as I have become – increasingly agitated and even fearful of where our world and our nation are rapidly headed – and how that direction will affect us and those we love.

 

It is clear to all those whose eyes have not been glazed over by the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life that something is happening here. Something not good. Something menacing.

 

In 1965, after reading a chapter in Billy Graham’s book, World Aflame, his wife, Ruth Graham told him: “If God doesn’t soon bring judgment upon America, He’ll have to go back and apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

 

She said that in response to the sweeping sexual immorality, the violence, abortion, and growing lawlessness ravaging America in the 60s. But what would she say about America today?

 

In the short 60 years since that decade, America has slaughtered more than 60 MILLION babies in their mothers’ wombs – and so few in our country care. You know that’s true because Americans – even churchgoers – keep voting for proabortion politicians.

 

And it’s hard to find a movie or TV program that doesn’t treat adultery and fornication as normal fare, whereas virginity before marriage and sexual fidelity in marriage is portrayed as abnormal. And how can it be in this once-Christian nation that we permit the surgical and medical mutilation of boys and girls who want to change their anatomical sex? And Americans still vote for politicians who support that satanic evil.

 

Just watch what happens at the polls in a few weeks.

 

No wonder it’s becoming increasingly difficult for anyone with even a modicum of spiritual understanding to read today’s headlines and not become fearful or frustrated, or a little of both.

 

But please hear this word of encouragement from God Himself as He speaks to us through His infallible and inerrant word we call the Bible: Things are not falling apart. They’re falling into place.

 

I say it again for emphasis. Things are not falling apart. They’re falling into place. Scripture assures us through the prophets and apostles – “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hands of the Lord. He turns it wherever He wishes.” (Proverbs 21:1)

 

The king’s heart and everyone else with political power – all of them, the godless and the godly – they’re each, moment by moment, at the utter mercy of their Creator who easily moves them like pieces on a chessboard according to His will and His plan. And they are abject fools to think otherwise.

 

I think of the godless pagan Pharaoh to whom God gave disturbing dreams that resulted in Joseph’s elevation to vice-regent of Egypt and which ultimately led to the salvation of the twelve tribes of Israel. I think of the wicked pagan King Nebuchadnezzar to whom God also gave disturbing dreams. Those resulted in Daniel’s elevation to leadership in the king’s court and to the protection of the Jews during their Babylonian exile.

 

I think of the pagan monarch, King Ahasuerus, or the Medo-Persian king Cyrus, or any of the dozens of powerful kings and rulers in Biblical and post-Biblical eras who were unknowingly moved by their Creator to do what His plan and purpose had decreed from eternity past.

 

One of my favorite examples of God’s chessboard is found in 2 Kings 19 and repeated by the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 37. When the brutal and ruthless Assyrian king waged war against Israel, King Hezekiah prayed in desperation to the Lord. And God, in response to Hezekiah’s prayer said this to the pompous Assyrian king:

 

(Isaiah 37:26-29) “Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, from ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, they were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb, as grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up. But I know your sitting down and your going out and your coming in and your raging against Me. Because of your raging against Me and because your arrogance has come up to My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came.”

 

Tell me why anyone would think the king’s heart – ANY king or ruler – why they are not like channels of water in the hands of the Almighty?

King David captured the point of it all quite well when he wrote in the second psalm: (Psalm 2) “Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.”

 

It is a fearful thing to be scoffed at by Almighty God.

 

Kings, rulers, and the average individual citizens – God’s sovereignty reigns over all of them, checkmating even the vilest and most powerful.

 

Let me now drive home this point which I direct to all whose faith is in Christ for forgiveness, salvation and eternal life: God’s authority and sovereignty in 2026 have not faltered or changed one iota. He repeatedly declares it – probably so we don’t forget it: Malachi 3:6 – “For I am the Lord, I change not.” Hebrews 13:8 – “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” James 1:17 – “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

 

Which brings us back to the text in the fifth chapter of James we started with: “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near . . . As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.” James 5:7-8

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ – Be Patient. Do not fret because of the growing evil in our nation and even the growing apostasy in so many churches. Be patient. The Lord Jesus is right at the door, and it is about to swing open. “Lift up your heads, O ye gates! And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates! Even lift them up, ye everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.” (Psalm 24:7-10) 

 

God has always used, and is still using, the rich and the powerful – even as He is using you and me – to bring about His purposes, one of which will culminate with the glorious return of the Lion of Judah – King Jesus – to set up His throne on earth; A throne Daniel saw in vision like a stone cut out of a mountain that crushed and scattered all the kingdoms of the earth and which then grew and filled the entire earth (Daniel 2). And what is that stone? Scripture tells us:

 

“The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone

 . . . And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” (Matthew 21:42,44)

 

That stone is the Lord Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior.

 

There is good reason – of course – why God repeatedly tells humanity in general and you and me individually of His unassailable power. Surely He does so to provoke and to mature reverence toward Him – fear, awe, wonder – and reverential confidence in Him. What the Lord Jesus told His disciples living under the heel of a despotic Roman government He speaks also to us living in 2026 as our culture and our political and religious leaders grow increasingly malevolent:

 

“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them.” John 16:1-4

 

He then closed His prophecy with this divine oath: These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

 

Christian, because you are by faith ‘in’ Christ, you have nothing to fear from man or circumstances. Things are not falling apart. They are falling into place.

 

How then are we to live? As always, Scripture guides us. Listen again to James who opened this epistle with a call to patience: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)

 

Listen also to Peter: (1 Peter 1:13-16) “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

 

Now to John: (1 John 3:2-3) “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

 

Fixating on Jesus and walking in holiness are not God’s suggestions to His children. They are His commandments because it is only by living in and striving toward holiness will we find His peace – peace that surpasses all human understanding.”

 

Christian, be patient until He returns. Strive for holiness until He returns. “The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near

 

And live evangelistically, even now, in our old ages in which Almighty God promises us fruitfulness Psalm 92:12-15 “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

 

Christian, we are almost done. We are almost home. Keep at it. “God is [and always will be] our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.” Psalm 46:1-3

 

Things are not falling apart. They are falling into place. Lift up your heads. Our redemption draws near. 

Real Reverence

We focused attention last week on the final verses of chapter one of James’ epistle. Specifically: “If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

 

As we saw last week, we demonstrate reverence God when we live in profound and humble awe of His holiness and His inexpressible greatness. How can we not be in awe when we contemplate who our God is? The heavens declare His unmatched glory and the skies His majesty. Those who can look to the skies, and the roaring seas, and the majestic mountain ranges – indeed, those who can study a high school textbook on human anatomy and biology and still refuse to fall on their knees in utter reverential awe before God make themselves worthy of God’s judgement.

 

The psalmist said it long ago and it continues to prove true: “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” (Psalm 14:1). The Lord Jesus said: “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. John 3:19-20:

 

And so, Paul writes, “They are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20).

 

If you were here, you will remember we looked at three points James makes in these two verses: Guard our tongues, help those who are in need, and keep ourselves unstained by the world. We saw that the deeper our reverence for God, the purer our lives will become because we will strive to please Him and keep our souls unstained by sin.

 

We also saw that we demonstrate reverence for God, and keep ourselves unstained by the world, when we make it our goal to never take Him causally – such as when even Christians use OMG – “Oh, My God” – as if the phrase has no more significance than the word, ‘wow.’

 

Christians might not mean to be casual with God, but by misusing His majestic Name, they are in truth acting irreverently. And make no mistake; That seemingly minor transgression will, if unchecked, lead to further and greater sin.

 

I need to repeat that for emphasis: That seemingly minor transgression will, if unchecked, lead to further and greater sin.

 

Because we ran out of time last week, I want to return to yet another spiritual outcome inherent in reverencing God: We gain a deeper and more robust trust and confidence in Him – even if and even WHEN circumstances are arduous and even fearful. It is to that point about reverencing God that I want to begin today’s message.

 

When theologians speak of “reverencing God,” they mean something considerably deeper than simply being afraid of God. The biblical idea combines awe, honor, a desire to live in a way that pleases Him, and trust.

 

In the next few minutes I want to return to where I left off last time in our examination of reverence and focus on the impact reverence has on our ability to confidently trust in God’s unalterable authority and sovereignty over every circumstance in our lives – the good, the bad, the frightening, the joyful – or whatever.

 

As Solomon wrote: “In the fear [reverential fear] of the LORD is strong confidence.” Proverbs 14:26a:  And the psalmist: “In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man to do me?”  Psalm 56:11

 

In other words, an increasing reverence toward God leads to a deepening knowledge of His character which, in turn, leads quite naturally to a deepening trust in Him. It turns us from self-confidence to a ‘God-confidence.’ And as our ‘God-confidence’ matures, the easier it becomes for us to conclude that when something happens to us that we do not understand – or like – that we do not have to understand it to trust Him. The more we reverence God the less we fear people or circumstances.

 

Let me say that again for emphasis: The greater our reverence for God the less we fear people or circumstances.

 

“If God is for us,” the apostle Paul wrote, “who is against us? . . .  Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:31,37)

 

I’ve read the book of Acts many times, but most recently the stories of Peter awaiting execution, and Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail caught my attention. Luke tells us at the beginning of chapter 12 that Herod “had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.”

 

Peter knew he was to be executed in the morning. But what was he doing the night before? He was sleeping while chained between two Roman guards. And why was he sleeping? I’ll come back to that question in a moment.

 

Then there was Paul and Silas in Philippi. Luke tells us they caused an angry stir preaching the gospel. It wasn’t long before: “The chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.” Acts 16:22b-24

 

It was a filthy place. A demoralizing place. But what were the two doing? “They were praying and singing hymns of praise to God” (verse 25). Why?

 

I think the answer to the questions why could Peter be sleeping between the Roman soldiers and Paul and Silas were singing praises to God in that jail – I think the answer lies in their reverence for God, a reverence which resulted in their deep and profound trust of God and His absolute sovereignty in their circumstances. A trust that allowed them to rest peacefully, or to sing joyously. A trust that convinced them that nothing could happen to them – whether an execution or an imprisonment – nothing could happen to them that their sovereign and loving Father did not ordain for them for whatever reasons He had.

 

Let’s pause a moment. We need to be very careful to not allow ourselves to excuse ourselves from that kind of trust by thinking, “Well, sure. They were saints. They were apostles. No wonder they could do what they did in their ominous circumstances.”

 

We must be careful to not allow that thought to ROB us of what God also wants for you and for me – that being to realize that WE TOO can have their kind of reverence-driven trust in God.

 

Yes, Peter, Paul, and Silas were ‘saints’ as we call them. But they were not ‘stained-glass’ saints with halos above their heads. At their core they were just as prone to sins, to doubts and fears as any of us in this chapel. Scripture tells us Peter played the hypocrite in his relationship with the Gentiles because he feared the criticism and social pressure of his Jewish peers. You’ll find that story in the second chapter of Galatians.

 

As for Paul, he became terribly angry with his missionary companion, Barnabas, because he wanted to take Mark along with them on their next missionary expedition and Paul absolutely refused. If you know the story from Acts 15, the two giants of Christian faith walked away from each other and went their separate ways – Barnabas with Mark and Paul with Silas.

 

By the way, and as an aside, if Barnabas had not been willing to take Mark under his proverbial wing, we might not even have the gospel written by Mark.

 

What’s my point? Despite our failures and sins, there is no Biblical basis why we cannot grow in our reverence for God – for His holiness, His awesomeness, His beauty, His power. And there is no Biblical basis for any of us to not have developed within us the same kind of confidence that developed in Peter and Paul and Silas – and in the numberless men and women of God through the ages.

 

But let’s pause again for another moment. Such reverence for God is not at all something anyone can ‘gin up’ on their own. Our carnal nature strains to get as far from God is it can. As Paul reminds us in Romans 8, our nature of sin “does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Romans 8:7) That’s why the Lord Jesus tells us, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” (John 6:44) And He said, “No one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”(Matthew 11:27) 

That’s why God sent us His Holy Spirit who will teach us, and bring to our remembrance all that the Lord has said to us. (See John 14:26)

 

Christians know that salvation itself is a supernatural work of God. We were all spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, and dead people cannot do anything on their own. That’s why God Himself had to intervene to make us alive together with Christ. Again, here is the apostle Paul: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

 

God had to intervene to make us alive in Christ, and God must also intervene to GIVE us reverence for Himself and to GROW in our reverence for Him. Only by His intervention can we attain to the reverence that results in the kind of trust that Peter, Paul, and Silas had in God.

 

How badly do we want that kind of reverential confidence? How badly do we want such confidence in our heavenly Father that we can even sleep peacefully or sing joyously in hard places?

 

Scripture tells us: “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). It is nothing short of foolish futility to think God will grow our reverence for Him when we choose to leave His book unopened and off to the side. You know the children’s song: Read your Bible, pray every day and you’ll grow, grow, grow.”

 

So, Christian, just as we asked God to save us when He intervened to reveal to us our sins – and He saved us – even so we can ask God to grant us a deep and deepening reverence for Him – and He will do so.

 

Isn’t that the principle James put forth in the first verses of this chapter? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously . . . but let him ask in faith, without doubting.” (See James 1:5-6) Of course it’s the same principle. So, ask, seek, and knock – and it shall be given us.

 

Which now brings us to the next verses in this epistle which seamlessly integrates reverence for God and obedience to Him: “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? . . .. But, if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” (James 2:1-4, 9-10)

 

The context of this section is about prejudiced decisions based solely on outward appearances. And the text speaks clearly enough on its own; We commit sin – condemnable sin – when we judge someone by their appearance.

 

But the principle of James’ warning goes far beyond wealth or the lack of it. The principle applies to ANY decision we make based on someone’s appearance – as, for example, when a white person prejudges a black person, or a black person prejudges a white person based on their skin color. To do so is nothing less than sin. Period.

 

And let me be very clear, God solemnly warns bigots than they must repent and turn from that sin. There is absolutely no room in the heart of a Christian for racial bigotry. These are not only my words. That commandment is rooted in Scripture from one end of the Book to the other.

 

“Jesus loves the little children of the world – red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.” And if they are not precious in OUR sight, we’d better ask God to forgive us and to change our hearts. We will not grow in reverence for God if we judge people by their skin color or their outward appearance.

 

Of course, human nature being what it is, racial bigotry is not the only sin or prejudice of which a Christian can be guilty. Ageism falls into the category of sinful prejudice. I’ve been guilty of it myself. I don’t think I’m still guilty of it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t still practice a form of ageism. We all are quite adept at hiding our sins from ourselves, and only the Holy Spirit can reveal our secret sins to our hearts.

 

Anyway, I’m ashamed to tell you how often in the past I’ve sat in a church whose pastor was 25 or 30 years younger than I, and I smugly told myself, “What can this young kid tell me about walking with God? He was probably in diapers when I was already in the navy.”

 

How arrogant I was to think that to myself. It took a long time before I realized that when a man of God faithfully and accurately preaches the word of God, it is not the young man who speaks to me, but it is the Spirit of God who speaks through the word of God. We all would do well to remember the apostle Paul’s encouragement to young Timothy who likely faced some ageism in his congregation in Ephesus: “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:12).

 

It is nothing short of self-delusion and heart-hardening to think the sin of prejudging someone based on their appearance doesn’t matter much to God.

 

Yeah, it does. James emphasizes that point when he warns in verse 10 of chapter two: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all [of them].”

 

Well, I need to bring this message to a close, so let me quickly review: First, we each should routinely ask God to change our hearts, that we will treat Him with ever increasing reverence, awe, obedience, and trust. And second, we ought to routinely ask God to keep us from the sin of prejudging someone based on their skin color or other outward appearance.

 

As Paul wrote to all with ears to hear and eyes to see: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. ⁹ The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9).

 

We will continue next week with our study in God’s word.