Abolishing Anxiety, Part 1

I've missed all that's happening in our country with the coronavirus and not just in our country, but nationally, internationally and internationally. The question comes for you and me as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, how do we respond? What is our responsibility? Anxiety in the heart of many people looms large, not just in America, but around the world. With everything closing down, schools and stores shortening their hours and movie theaters being closed down, maybe restaurants one day will be closed down, you know, what do you do? Where do you go? Is it safe to go here? Is it safe to go there? A lot of uncertainty, and uncertainty breeds all kinds of confusion.

It breeds all kinds of fear in the hearts and lives of people. So I thought as your pastor, it would be wise for me to give you biblical guidance in terms of how is it you as a believer truly live to abolish anxiety in your life? Can anxiety be abolished? Can that attitude of anxiousness, of fear, of distraction and division actually be erased from my heart and life? How do I do that? How do I provide a sense of security and stability to those around me who are extremely insecure and unstable? How do I do that? What's the best way for me to accomplish that? And so this Sunday and next and probably the next and probably the next, I'm gonna talk to you about that. I think it's important for us to get a biblical perspective and because our services are only going to be an hour long, I won't have a lot of time to talk to you each Sunday about that, but I wanna be able to give you as much as I possibly can when it comes to a biblical perspective on how to abolish anxiety when the world is filled with all kinds of anxiousness.

All you have to do is go to the store. Went there this past Thursday night with my son, AJ, and just to buy a few things and it was like the apocalypse was upon us. Everything was gone.

I couldn't even buy noodles because they were gone. Canned goods were gone. Paper goods were gone.

All I wanted was sugar-free hazelnut cream for my coffee. And it was gone. There was none of that.

So I had to buy it with sugar in it. I mean, that's just nasty stuff, but I mean, people think that it's the end of the world. They're buying up everything.

So how do we respond? What do we do? Listen to these words, Solomon, Proverbs 12, 25. Anxiety in the hearts of man weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad. Anxiety in the heart of a man weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad.

What's the good word? Will the good word be when the announcement comes from the CDC that we finally have a vaccine that will curb the virus or obliterate the virus? Will that be the good word that calms the anxious heart? Will the good word be that I can go back to work, I can go back to school, I can go back to the store, the shelves will be restocked? Is that the good word that calms an anxious heart? No, because if it's a virus today, it will be something else tomorrow, right? If you're anxious today about this, you'll be anxious about something else tomorrow. And so what is the good word that calms the heart? What's the good word that is able to settle the soul? Well, we know Hebrews 6, 5 tells us that God's word is good. We know that Psalm 119, 68 says that God is good and does good.

We know that Romans 2, 4 tells us that the goodness of God leads us to repentance. So because there's a God who is good and only does good, that means he only speaks good, that means his word is good. It is the word of God that calms the anxious heart.

It's a good word that settles the soul. Without that word, you will never be settled, calmed, less anxious. And so what does God's word actually say? I wanna give you seven principles, not today, because we can't get to seven principles in 20 minutes, but I wanna give you seven principles over the next couple of weeks that will help abolish anxiety in your heart.

And you probably know most of them. And so it's a way for you to be able to speak to others about their anxious thoughts, about how do you convey this to people in your neighborhood at your work? How do you explain these things to them? So let me begin with point number one, one that all of you probably know that you could all say with me if you were compelled to say it. And it's simply this.

If you're gonna abolish anxiety, you must first of all learn to rest in God's sovereignty. Rest in his sovereignty. Believe it or not, God has never stepped off the throne.

He never even stepped off the throne to stretch his legs, because God is a spirit, right? God has never stepped off his throne. He has always ruled, and he's never not ruled. And in his ruling, he's always done it right.

He's never ruled wrong. So the Psalmist says in Psalm 99, verse number one, the Lord reigns, let the people tremble. The Lord's in charge, so tremble under his rulership.

Is it not true that we tremble more at the crisis than at the Christ? That's a problem. We should tremble more because God rules than anything else. So the Psalmist says, the Lord reigns.

He rules on high. Let the people tremble. He says, he is enthroned above the cherubim.

Let the earth shake. The Lord is great in Zion, and he is exalted above all the people. So if we are to rest in God's sovereignty, how does that happen? We hear words like deadly virus, words like pandemic, words that sort of overwhelm us.

We hear words we can't even spell and try to figure out what they even mean. And they bring fear upon us because the world, the world is in, quote, danger. And does that mean God's in control of all those things as well? Well, I wanna take you back to something I've said to you very, very many times that maybe you have forgotten, but it's something that's very important to understand, that I think we can preach about God's sovereignty.

We just have a hard time practicing God's sovereignty, right? We believe in our heads that God's in charge until there's a crisis, whether it be the coronavirus, whether it be a death, whether it be the health of a loved one, whatever crisis might come our way, right? Then we begin to ask ourselves, is God on the throne? Lord, do you exist? If you do exist, why has this happened to me or to my family, to our country, to my job, to those I love, why do these things happen? So we have to ask ourselves, do we truly rest in God's sovereignty? Remember the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels is the miracle of what? You know what it is? You should know this. If you went to Israel with me, you should know this. You just got back last Sunday, right? It's what? The feeding of the 5,000, right? Couple of you know.

One miracle that exists in all four Gospels is the feeding of the 5,000, excuse me. Why? Why? Because it's all about trusting God for daily provisions. Because if you don't learn to trust him for daily provisions, you'll never trust him in difficult situations.

If you're having trouble trusting him today because of a difficult situation, it's simply because you did not learn to trust him for your daily provisions. How do we know that? Well, the story of the feeding of the 5,000 in Mark chapter six, when our Lord sits down and he feeds them and he asked Philip, you know, where are we gonna get food? He said this to test Philip. He said to Philip or he says to Philip, the Lord knows what he is going to do, what we are going to do.

The Lord knows what he's gonna do because he asked them, what are we going to do about the hunger of the people? And the Lord asked this knowing what he was going to do. And so when he fed the 5,000, remember there are 12 baskets left over that were full. Those baskets are kofinos, which are little coffin like baskets that you carry with you, okay? And you take them with you when you travel through lands that are unclean so you have food to eat.

In other words, God says, trust me for your daily provisions because you're going to have them. And to reassure that, I'm going to give you each of my apostles a kofinos, a basket filled with food to know that you can trust me daily for your provisions. And then in Mark chapter six, it says immediately, immediately after that, Jesus made his disciples get into a boat and go ahead of him to the other side to Bethsaida while he himself was sending the crowd away.

He made them get into the boat, why? He made them get into the boat because he's going to test them. He made them get into the boat because he's going to try them. I've given you an example.

I've shown it to you. I've given you the miracle. You've seen it.

You need to trust me for daily provisions. I can do this. So now I'm going to put you in a situation to see if you're going to trust me because if you don't trust me for daily provisions, you will not trust me for difficult situations.

And they didn't. They failed miserably. And Christ goes up into the mountain to pray and they go off into the boat and there's a great storm that arises and they fear for their lives, right? They're scared to death.

And Jesus comes walking to them on the water, but they don't believe it's him. They think it's a ghost. Why? Because they didn't expect Jesus to show up.

They didn't expect Jesus to show up amidst their crisis. They didn't learn the lesson from the incident of the loaves. Jesus does show up in the midst of the crisis.

He sent them out there because he wanted to show them that he would show himself faithful to them. And when he shows up and he calms the sea, it says, take courage in his eye. Do not be afraid.

Then he got into the boat with them. The wind stopped. They were utterly astonished for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Their hearts were calloused. Their hearts were cold. See, they didn't learn from the incident of the loaves.

That's why Christ says, when you pray, pray this way. Give us this day our daily bread. Why? Because in praying for your daily bread, trusting God for your daily provisions would allow you to be freed up to trust him amidst difficult situations.

And so he gives a perfect illustration of that. He records one miracle in all four gospels because he wants to solidify it in their minds. You need to trust me every day because difficult situations are going to come.

Will you panic? Will you fear? Or will you trust me? And these men, simply because they forgot his divine sufficiency, they feared amidst their difficult situation. God's sufficiency is divine. He provides, he protects, he watches over.

And that's the lesson they had to learn. You see, it's one thing to say God is sovereign until there's a crisis. And then we wonder whether or not God's still on the throne or not.

The Lord reigns, let the people tremble. He is in charge. He's never stepped off the throne.

He's never given anybody else authority to take care of the throne. He is completely in charge of everything. And so the Lord expects us to trust him.

Psalm 1830, as for God, his way is perfect. His way is perfect. Listen to what Solomon said again.

The book of Ecclesiastes, the seventh chapter. Consider the work of God. For who was able to straighten what he has bent? In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity, consider.

God has made the one as well as the other, so that man will not discover anything that will be after him. God has made the day of prosperity. And think about our nation and all the prosperity of our nation and how the economic boom in our country just two weeks ago, a week ago, was at its highest level ever.

In the day of prosperity be happy, everybody's happy, but in the day of adversity, consider. God has made the one as well as the other. God has made the country prosperous and God has caused the adversity.

You see, God is actively involved in every situation or consciously permits every situation. That's his sovereignty. He's either actively involved in it or consciously permits it to happen because he's in complete charge of everything.

So Solomon says in the day of adversity, consider. Consider what? Well, he made the one as well as the other. Do we believe that? Do we believe the day of adversity, the coronavirus, was allowed to happen or created to happen by the true and living God? Think about it this way.

Ecclesiastes chapter three, Solomon says it this way. I know that everything God does will remain forever. Everything.

There is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it for God has so worked that men should fear him. In other words, whatever God has done, you can't add to the plan of God to make it better. You can't take away from the plan of God to make it better.

You can't take the virus away and make the plan of God better or if the virus never existed, make the plan of God better. Can't do that. Because God can't have anybody straighten that which he has bent.

That's Ecclesiastes seven. So if God has made the one as well as the other and everything that God does remains steadfast, secure, stable, it cannot be altered. All God's purposes shall be performed.

God does it so men will fear him. In the day of adversity, consider this. God does what he does so men will fear him.

Romans three tells us that there's no fear of God before the eye of the unbeliever. None. They don't fear God.

Only the believer fears God. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Psalm 130, verse number four.

God forgives you so that you'll learn to fear him because only the believer lives in the fear of the true and living God. The unbeliever doesn't. So God does things, allows things to happen so men will fear him.

God says in Psalm 107, I caused every plague in Egypt. Caused them all. I made them all happen.

Why? Because Pharaoh needed to learn to fear me. He didn't. Egypt needed to learn to fear me.

They didn't. Israel needed to learn to fear me. They did.

And God spared them. God delivered them. You see, God does what he does that man will learn to fear him and him alone.

It says, Psalm 115, verse number three, our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. None of us can do that.

I would like to say I can do whatever I please. I can't. I can't.

God can though. It says in Psalm 135, verse number six, whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all the deep. He does it.

When the disciples of Mark four were on a boat and a storm arose and Jesus was asleep on the boat in complete peace, they were in complete panic. So they arose him. Don't you care that we are perishing? What kind of question is that? Of course he cares.

But for some reason, because he was asleep, calm and peaceful, they got the idea that he didn't care they were perishing. But he gets up, he hushes the seas and says, why are you, of all people, so cowardly? Those who know me best, those who see me every day, those who eat with me, walk with me, teach with me, live with me, how can you be cowards and not trust me and believe in me? And they said in Mark four, when he calmed to sea, what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him? You see, they understood that the Lord controls the wind and the waves. So in 2004, when the tsunami hit and killed 200,000 people, do we still believe that God controls the wind and the waves? Well, why would God do that? It's always the question.

If God is sovereign, like you say he is, then why would God allow those things to happen? If God's in charge, why does he stop it? Can he stop it? Yes, he can. Can God stop the virus? Yes, he can, he chooses to. He can stop and start anything he wants whenever he wants to do that.

But he does what he does so that man will learn to fear him. Fear him. Listen to this, Psalm 112, verse one.

Now, praise the Lord. How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. His descendants will be mighty on the earth.

Why is that? Because you see, as parents, if you don't live in the fear of the Lord, your children won't live in the fear of the Lord. But if you fear nothing but the Lord, you raise children who fear nothing but the Lord. But if you fear anything or anyone else other than the Lord, you raise children who fear anyone or anything else other than the Lord.

That's why the man who fears the Lord, blessed are his descendants, because they will be mighty on the earth. They will be strong on the earth. They will be stable on the earth.

He says this, for he, that man who fears the Lord, will never be shaken. Verse six, he'll never be shaken. He'll never live in fear of what's happening around him.

Listen, verse seven, he will not fear evil tidings. His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is upheld.

He will not fear. He does not fear evil tidings. He doesn't fear what anyone else says or does.

He doesn't fear bad news. Charles Spurgeon says this. This is extremely rich.

Spurgeon, on Psalm 112, seven, about man who fears the Lord does not fear evil tidings, says this, Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil tidings. Because if you are distressed by them, what do you more than other men? Other men have not your God to fly to. They have never proved his faithfulness as you have done.

And it is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with fear, but you profess to be of another spirit. You have been begotten again into a lively hope and your heart lives in heaven and not on earthly things. Now, if you are seen to be distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature which you claim to possess? Again, if you should be filled with alarm as others are, you would doubtless be led into the sins so common to others under trying circumstances.

The ungodly, when they are overtaken by evil tidings, rebel against God. They murmur and think that God deals hardly with them. Will you fall into that same sin? Will you provoke the Lord as they do? Moreover, unconverted men often run to wrong means in order to escape from difficulties.

And you will be sure to do the same if your mind yields to the present pressure. Trust in the Lord, wait patiently for him. Your wisest course is to do as Moses did at the Red Sea.

Stand still and see the salvation of God. For if you give way to fear, when you hear of evil tidings, you will be unable to meet the trouble with the calm composure, which nerves for duty and sustains under adversity. How can you glorify God if you play the coward? Saints have often sung God's highest praise in the fires, but will your doubting and desponding as if you had none to help you magnify the most high? Then take courage and relying in sure confidence upon the faithfulness of your covenant God, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

That's my prayer for you and for me, that we would truly rest in God's sovereignty, live in the fear of God all day long, as Solomon said, that we might honor him. So if God allows these things to happen, why? Number one, because he wants you to fear him. Number two, is next week.

Let me pray with you. Father, we thank you for today. For the things you teach us.

Thank you for men like Charles Spurgeon, who understood in the 17th century when cholera had infested England. Knew what it meant to live and stand strong for the gospel of the Christ. Our prayer, Lord, is that each and every one of us would stand strong.

Not live in fear of what may be, but live in fear of what we know to be. Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.

He rules. Let us live trembling before him. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.