Abolishing Anxiety, Part 12

I woke up yesterday and I had on my phone one of those news alerts. I don't know if you have a phone that does that for you or not, I'm sure you do, but it had a news alert that said America is in turmoil. Well, that's not really newsworthy, we know that, right? But it says as you opened it up that America is about to face its third crisis.

We know about the first crisis, it's centered around the virus. We know the second crisis was centered around the violence and the vandalism, but there's a third crisis looming on the horizon that has so affected our country, it will affect it like nothing before. So I began to read the article.

And the article dealt with man's mental health. And it said that, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, that there had been three times as many people diagnosed with mental issues than ever before in our nation's history. 80% of Americans have a significant fear and stress over the future.

The writer of the article, who is a doctor, said that mental illness today is unlike anything he's ever seen in his lifetime. Man is filled with stress and anxiety. That's why we're doing the series.

Well, not only the reason why we're doing the series, but we thought it'd be good when we began several weeks ago about what it means to abolish anxiety. And so we have a topic, and it centers around anxiety. We have a text, and that text is Proverbs 12, 25.

And we have the truth, the principles that are supposed to be up there, but they're not yet. Is there a reason why they're not? Ah, there they are. And I thought I'd put them there for you, so I wouldn't have to review them every week, right? Helping you understand that the principles from the Word of the Lord are that which begin to abolish all anxiety in our lives if we follow them.

If we understand what God's Word says on the issue, then we can rest in all that He says and trust Him only. And so today, as we address the topic once again, I want to apply it to our fathers because it is Father's Day and help you understand that as we embark still on principle number eight, which is to reflect or to radiate the Christ and all of His glory, we want you as fathers to light the way for your family. We want you as fathers to be able to shine forth the beauty of Christ and His glory so that your wife and your children will be able to see that in you and be able to then follow in your footsteps.

Because if we as fathers don't lead the way, then how can we expect our children and our wives to follow suit? And so we need to lead the way. We know that according to man's conscience in scripture that it's dark, depraved, and dead. We know that the family unit is divided and destroyed, more so today than ever before.

We also know that the government of our society, the police of our society, have been devalued and are sought to be dismantled. But the church, the church of Jesus Christ, will never be demolished. Because it was Jesus who said that the gates of hell will never prevail against the church that I build.

Not only will it never be demolished, it will never be deterred. Because first Timothy chapter three tells us that the church is the pillar and the foundation of the truth. And because it will not ever be demolished, it will never be deterred, the true church, then we know that the true church will never be denied the opportunity and the privilege to radiate to Christ his beauty and his glory.

For Paul would say in Ephesians chapter 3 verse number 21 that there is to be glory in the church, both individually as well as corporately and perpetually, because it's to continue from generation to generation. And so if we are going to radiate the Christ and his glory, what it does is that when we are focused on that, we are no longer focused on our inner man. We are no longer focused on the anxiety that might envelop us, because we are so focused on putting Christ on display, that it automatically gets our eyes off of ourself and on to the Christ, so that others will see him and not us.

And we want others to see the Christ. So how does that happen? How do I radiate the Christ and all of his glory? How is it I put him on display? I'm going to give you some principles today and I'm probably not going to finish. I guarantee I'm not going to finish today.

So I'll hopefully finish it up next week to help you understand how it is you give God the glory, how it is you do the thing that you can do, because everything around you, you cannot control. All the circumstances and all the situations, you have absolutely no control over. But the one thing you do control is whether you choose to put Christ on display.

You choose that. I choose to radiate Christ. I choose to lift him up.

I choose to say, Lord, I'm going to, in this situation, radiate your glory. In this situation, I'm going to put you on display. In this situation, I want others to see Christ, and I choose to do that.

That's the one thing and the only thing that you ever have control over in this life. And it all begins with the first principle, and the principle deals with salvation. When you are saved, it's to the praise and glory of the Christ.

Ephesians chapter 1 verses 4 to 6 and following talks about how God, in his sovereignty, predestined us, and he chose us from eternity past. Why? For the praise of his glory. And so when God saves you, listen to this, when God saves you, that salvation is from idolatry, because we are idolaters.

We are either going to worship Satan, worship ourselves, or worship some sin that is dear to us. That's why Paul says in Romans chapter 1 that we have exchanged the glory of the invisible God in order to worship creation. And he goes on to say these words, God has given them over in their lusts of their heart to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them, for they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who was blessed forever and ever.

Man's problem is he's exchanged the glory of God for the glory of himself. He is an idolater by nature. And so if we're ever going to give glory and honor to God, there is a salvation from our idolatry, the worship of self, the worship of sin, or even the worship of Satan, because we have been taken captive by Satan according to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 to do his will.

Therefore when a man repents, according to 1st Thessalonians chapter 1 verse number 9, he turns from idols to serve the true and living God. That's what repentance is. It's a turning from the worship of idolatry, the worship of something outside of the one true God, and it turns you completely around that you might fully and truly worship Christ himself.

That's what God does. That's why Jesus said in Luke chapter 9, if any man come up to me, let him deny himself. Why does he have to do that? Why does he have to deny himself? Because he is a worshiper of himself.

He is so enamored with himself, but he needs to be enamored with the Christ. So if any man come after me, he must deny himself. He must deny his ambitions and aspirations.

He must deny all that he is and all that he wants, that he might embrace me, hold on to me, and come after me and follow me. That's what salvation does. It saves us from that idolatrous nature that focuses on Satan's self and sin instead of the savior of the world.

In the book of Revelation, the eternal gospel is preached, and it needs to be preached because in the book of Revelation you have this thing called the great and terrible day of the Lord, the tribulation that's going to engulf the world for a time period according to Daniel chapter 9, seven years. And those seven years are going to face the greatest tragedy the world's ever known. But there's going to be a way that the gospel is presented.

How? By two witnesses, one like Elijah, one like probably Enoch, and they are going to preach the gospel. A hundred and forty-four thousand Jews will be saved, and they will preach the gospel in this country, in this world. And then there's actually going to be an angel that flies in midheaven.

Think about that. An angel will fly in midheaven. It says this in Revelation 14 verse number six, And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, to every nation and tribe and tongue of people.

And he said with a loud voice, Fear God, give him glory. Give glory to God, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the springs of water.

You need now to fear God and give him glory. You need now to fear him enough that you're going to worship him. No longer do you worship the Antichrist, because in Revelation 13, it's all the description of the Antichrist, how he comes to power and demands that all the world, in fact they use the phrase, those who dwell upon the earth, those earth dwellers, a phrase used over 10 times in the book of Revelation, only to speak of the unbeliever, that those who dwell upon the earth will worship the beast.

And the angel flies around him in heaven, says, No, no, no, you don't worship him. You don't worship Satan. You worship the one true God.

You give him glory. You bow before him, because Jesus said in John chapter four, I am seeking what? True worshipers. Why does Christ seek true worshipers? Those who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

It's because we are false worshipers. We are worshipers of something other than the one true God. And so he's coming after us, that we might give him glory, that we might put him on display.

And if we're ever going to radiate Christ and his glory, it all begins with salvation from idolatry. Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to Mark's gospel, I mean, Matthew's gospel, Matthew chapter 19. Let me show you how this plays out in everyday living and in man's life.

Matthew chapter 19. My time is so short every Sunday, so I quote more verses than read them. Sorry about that, but the time is really cut short.

And so if I'm ever going to finish this before 2023, then I have to quote the verses. And so it says in Matthew chapter 19, verse number 16, And someone came to him and said, Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life or obtain eternal life? Mark's gospel says, he came to him and said, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And that's why Jesus responds by saying, Why are you asking me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.

Christ is going to measure his life against the Decalogue. And so he asked the question, the rich ruler does, which ones? If I'm to keep the commandments, if you can tell me which ones I'm to keep, which ones are more valuable, which ones are more important, then I can tell you whether or not I have eternal life. Because if there's something I can do to get it, I want to do it.

And so Christ says, You should not commit adultery, you should not commit, excuse me, commit murder, commit adultery, you should not steal, you should not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And the young man said to him, all these things I have kept. I've done all that.

I haven't stolen from anybody. I haven't committed adultery. I've honored my father and mother.

Certainly I haven't murdered anybody. I've done all that. I love my brother as I love myself.

I do that. But he knew that there was something still lacking because he says, what more can I do? Because is there something I'm lacking? Is there something I'm missing? And there was. So Christ says to him, these words, if you wish to be complete, if you wish to be made whole, if you wish to obtain eternal life, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.

Of course, people say, well, does that mean I got to sell everything? I have to give everything I have to the poor. Is that going to get me into heaven? That's not, that's not what Jesus is saying. See, Jesus knew that the heart of that man, there was another God.

And so when Jesus said the second half of the Decalogue, those that refer to man's relationship to man, this man, according to his standard, met that standard. So Jesus now is going to take him to the first part of the Decalogue, all dealing with God. You shall have no other gods before me.

And he doesn't have to state it that way. Instead, he hits the heart of where the man's worship really lies. He loves possessions.

He loves treasure. He loves the things that he has. So Jesus says, if you want to go to heaven, you must honor me.

You must glorify me. You can have no other God before me. So you must deny yourself, get rid of all that you have, give it to the poor and follow me because there must be no hindrance in your life.

Of something that takes priority over me. And of course, the Bible says in Matthew's account, but when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving for he was one who owned much property. Instead of saying, you're right, I do have another God.

I do fall at the feet of my finances. I do cherish my treasures. They are my God.

Whatever you want me to do, Lord, I will do. I think that if he would have said that, our Lord would have said, keep your treasures because they haven't come between me and you. Fall down and worship me.

And he would have done so, but he didn't do that. Mark's account tell us that our Lord felt love for this man because he knew that he came to die for sinners. He knew that he came to die.

That man might learn to worship him and fall down before him and honor him. And he knew that this man was going to do so. That's where it all begins.

A salvation from my idolatry. When that happens, number two, there's a confession of my iniquity. Fear God, give him glory.

Why? Because salvation glorifies him. Worship him because you were worshiping something else. Salvation from my idolatry gives him glory.

Confession of my iniquity gives him glory. Way back in the book of Joshua, when, right after Israel had defeated Jericho, they went to fight a little town, a little village, and only sent 3,000 Israelites because they knew it was so small. It wouldn't take much to defeat them.

But instead, they lost the battle. 36 men were killed and they came back and fear encompassed them. Listen, fear surrounded them.

Their hearts melted with fear. Why? Why would there be anxiety in the heart of the Israelites? They just walked around Jericho. The walls fell in.

They conquered a great city. God was on their side. He moved them into the promised land.

Why all of a sudden would they lose to a very small city and then all of a sudden be filled with fear and anxiety? And Joshua was perplexed. And he went to the Lord and God says, you have sin in your camp. And Joshua says, we have sin? Yeah, because I restricted you from taking anything that was under the ban because it was reserved for me.

But there's one person who has taken something from under that ban and you must find him. And so they went through the process of finding this man and it came that it was a man called Achan. And Joshua says to him in Joshua 7, verse number 19, my son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel.

Give praise to him and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me. So Achan answered Joshua and said, truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did.

And he confessed his sin. He gave glory to God and they took he and his family out. They stoned them and then they burned them because one sinner destroys much good.

Ecclesiastes 9, 18. One little leaven leavens the whole lump. There was sin in the camp.

They could not win the victory as a nation because there was somebody who disobeyed the true and living God. And God wasn't going to let them continue on in victory if sin ruled in their camp. And one man had sinned.

Therefore, he needed to be dealt with. And therefore, when he confessed his sin, he gave glory to God. Do you know that when you confess your sin, the word confess means to say the same thing about your sin that God says about your sin.

Notice what he said, what Achan said, I have sinned against the Lord. All sin is sin because it violates the character and nature of God. That's why it's sin.

That's why when Nathan confronted David, David said, I have sinned against the Lord. And he confessed his sin to the Lord. He never said, I've sinned against Bathsheba or I've sinned against Uriah.

Did he stand against them? Yes. But the reason he sinned against them is because he sinned against the Lord and the heart of true confession realizes that we have dishonored the Lord and we go to him and we say the same thing about our sin that our Lord says it. That's why first John one, nine says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That's why the Bible says if we regard iniquity in our heart, the Lord will not hear us because it's our sin that separates us from God. So we give glory to God by confessing our iniquity. When there's salvation from my idolatry, then there is confession, confession of my iniquity.

And number three, I give glory to God when there was a demonstration of my spirituality. When there's a demonstration of my spirituality, that's over in John chapter 15, verse number eight, when our Lord says these words on the eve of the crucifixion, he says, my father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. If you want to glorify the Lord, if you want to radiate Christ and his beauty and splendor, it begins with salvation from my idolatry, a confession of my iniquity, and a demonstration of my spirituality.

In this is my father glorified. In this is my father put on display. In this you radiate my father's splendor.

In this you put my father on display that you bear much fruit, that you bear much fruit. And we know you've been to the grocery store, right? And you've been to the fruit section. There's a certain fruits that are appetizing, that are attractive, right? And when you see them, you're drawn to them.

No one is drawn to fruit that's bruised. No one's drawn to brown bananas. We want them yellow on the outside, right? No one's drawn to brown apples.

You want red, juicy, luscious apples, because you know that that fruit is attractive. You know the fruit's appetizing. We are automatically drawn to that which is attractive.

Well, if we bear much fruit, we become very attractive. Listen, the inner man should be so attractive that those in your family love to take a bite out of you in a good way, not in a bad way. The fruit of the Spirit, right? Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control.

Can you imagine displaying that fruit? We know that we're to be imitators of God and walk in love, right? So we love our wives, how? Unconditionally. We love our wives volitionally. We love our lives beneficially, because love benefits the object it says it adores.

And so when we love our wives and love our children unconditionally, we are bearing much fruit. When we exude joy in our hearts and lives, because the joy of the Lord is within us, and the joy of the Lord, as Nehemiah says, is our strength. We exude that joy and our family becomes very, very joyous.

Have you ever been a family that's always like, how you doing? Good. Are you doing good? Good. They're not doing good.

There's no joy in the heart. It doesn't mean you got to jump up and down, but there's a certain kind of beauty that you radiate from your heart, because the Lord lives in your heart, right? And he's the God of joy. He's the God of peace.

We live in peace and tranquility, because we are content with our Lord and the condition and situations he has placed us in. And so there's a certain peace that we exude, that when those around us take a bite out of that appetizing fruit, they then too become at peace. They too experience that joy.

They do experience that love, because you've demonstrated your spirituality. There is that patience and kindness. Love is patient.

Love is kind. First Corinthians 13, in the Deuteronomy article, precedes them both. The love is patient.

The love is kind. Why? Because there's a certain kind of love. It's God's love, and God's love is patient and kind.

It's long suffering with those who sin against it, and as long as you're sinning against him, what's he do? He bestows acts of kindness toward you. That's what we do. We are long suffering with those who have wronged us, and we just keep returning good for evil.

That fruit is self-control. We have control over our emotions. We have control over our thought life.

We have control over our responses. God has not given us a spirit of fear. But he's given us a spirit of self-discipline.

So that spirit allows us to be in control of our lives. If we as fathers don't exude self-control, neither will our children. Look at your children.

Watch your children. Observe your children. Are they under control? Do they have self-control? Are they able to restrain their emotions and keep them in check? If not, ask yourself, where are you not restraining your emotions and not keeping them in check? Because our children model our lives, right? And if you do it in a very small way, they're going to do it in a huge way, because what we do in moderation, our children do in excess.

And so are you bearing much fruit? Is there a demonstration of your spirituality? Are you growing in your walk with the Lord? Is there something about your life that is so attractive and so appetizing that those around you want to be a part of your life? Because when that happens, all of a sudden we are putting Christ, who is the God of love and the God of joy, the God of peace and the God of patience, and the God of kindness, the God of gentleness, right? Come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me, for I am gentle, right? I am kind.

I am meek. We are actually, when we bear much fruit, we are putting Christ on display, and others now see him, and now others want to be a part of that. Yes, there will be those who reject it because they want nothing to do with Christ, but as fathers in our home, we lead the way by demonstrating our spirituality.

That's what it means to begin with, how you radiate Christ and his glory. You glorify him, fear God, give him glory. When there is salvation from your idolatry, that's what God does.

God does that. That's the work of the Spirit of God in the heart of man. When God does that, then there is a confession of my iniquity.

Confess your sin, give glory to God, Joshua told Achan. And then there is this demonstration, this outward demonstration of my spirituality on the inside, because I want to bear much fruit, for in this, my Father in heaven is glorified. He's put on display.

Others will see him through the fruit of the Spirit that dominates the inner man. My prayer for you and me this Father's Day is that that's how we would be. There's so much to cover in this arena of giving glory to God.

Lord willing, we'll finish it next week. Let me pray with you. Father, we thank you for today, for truly, Lord, you are great and worthy of praise.

Thank you, Lord, that you saved us from our sin. You saved us from Satan, and you saved us from ourselves, that we might worship only you and glorify your name. That we might say the same thing about our sin that you say about it.

All you who love the Lord hate evil, and we do. And now, Lord, we want to put your fruit, your character on display, for the fruit of the Spirit should dominate our lives. Our prayer, Lord, is that that would happen.

And as we do, all of a sudden, everything is about you, nothing is about me, and we abolish anxiety. That's our prayer. In Jesus' name, amen.