Abolishing Anxiety, Part 14

The word of the Lord is just so amazing. To be able to read it, to study it, to apply it, to treasure it, to understand how it works in our hearts and lives is so fantastic. We have spent all these weeks on abolishing anxiety.

I think it's 16 weeks, if my numbers are correct, but that's simply because we want you to understand how powerful the word of God is to bring serenity to your soul, to calm your inner man, that you might truly rest in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have a key verse, it's Proverbs 12, 25, for those of you who forgot already, but it's a key verse because when anxiety in the heart of a man begins to swell, begins to rise up, then it's the good word that makes it glad. And only the good word can bring gladness to your soul, nothing else can.

No other person can, no other possession can, only the word of the Lord. And we who love the Lord should know that more than anybody else. And so when we speak to other people, we might not be the anxious kind, and that would be great, but we need to understand the principles to give to people to say, look, let me share with you that when your loved one dies, this is what consoles your inner man.

When tragedy comes your way, this is how you abolish the anxiety that you're feeling in your heart. Let me walk you through the scriptures, let me explain them to you over a process of time, that I might invest the word of God into your life, that you might understand what God is doing. To be able to do that in a way that takes people systematically through the word of the Lord is very, very powerful.

Because only God's word can soothe the soul. And so we've gone through these eight principles with you, we're looking at number eight, radiating the Christ and his glory. We wanna be able to shine forth the beauty of Christ.

We want others to be able to see Christ in us. And so because we're doing that, at point number eight, we've given you some principles that follow that to help you understand exactly how you radiate the Christ and his glory. To help you understand that you need to be able to be saved.

And God saves you from your idolatry. And once he saves you from your idolatry, you begin to confess your iniquity and you begin to give praise and honor and glory to God. And so we have listed those up for you, you can go to that next slide if you would please, that they might be able to see that and understand what's going on.

We try to help you understand this is how you glorify, you magnify, you radiate the Christ, you put him on display. When there's a sanctification of your body, when your body's been set apart unto God for his purposes, you will make sure that the temple in which he lives in is kept in proper ways. Because this is the place you wanna glorify God in your body.

Did you ever think that when you walk into a room, the first thing people see is what? Your body. Your face. The temple in which God himself dwells.

And that body is to be set apart unto God for his purposes to glorify his name. To radiate his beauty. When you walk into a room, the glory of the Lord should shine forth through you.

You should light up the room. You should brighten the room. When you walk into a room because the Lord's glory dwells in you, the shining forth of his beauty should be seen by everybody you come in contact with because they know there's something different about you.

Jesus Christ reigns supreme. And so the one we wanna talk about today is letter H and that is the proclamation of my authority. The proclamation of my authority glorifies the name of God.

And what is my authority? The authority is the truth of God's holy word. Do you know it's very interesting that every one of us has an authority. We live by an authority.

Whatever we submit ourselves to is our authority. And we must understand that we are to proclaim the one true God who is our ultimate authority. And when we proclaim the truth of God, God is put on display.

Listen to what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians chapter three, verse number one. 2 Thessalonians three, verse number one, he says, finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified. That somehow the word of the Lord would spread rapidly and be glorified just as it did also with you.

In other words, when you receive the word, God's word was magnified. God's word was glorified because you received the glory of the Lord. John 17, 22, because his glory now was in you because God's word is the representation of who he is.

And God was put on display. Over in Acts chapter 13, Paul said this. He says in verse 44, the next Sabbath, nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord.

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming. Paul Abarthus spoke out boldly and said, it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first since you repudiated and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life. Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles for so the Lord has commanded us.

I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. They began glorifying the word of the Lord.

Because the Gentiles understood that the Jews who were given the oracles of God were to be a light of revelation to the Gentiles. But they were not doing that. But Paul, who was a Jew, would be bold enough to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles because they too needed to hear the truth about Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

How important is that? Putting God on display is what is absolutely important. The Bible says over in Galatians chapter one, Galatians one, verse number 22, I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ, this is Paul speaking, but only they kept hearing he who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith, that is the word of the Lord, which he once tried to destroy. And they were glorifying God because of me.

Why were they glorifying God? Because Paul, who once persecuted the Jews, was now speaking the faith that they believed in and understood about the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, when we proclaim the authority of Scripture to a lost world, God is magnified, God is glorified. Why is this so important? Because we're looking to abolish anxiety in your soul.

And everything about these principles that we're giving to you puts everything on God and everything off of you. It focuses your attention above and not below. As long as you are focused inwardly on you, you're gonna be filled with anxiety.

Note this, when anxiety overwhelms the soul, it's because it's all focused on you. What's gonna happen to me? How am I going to feel? What's gonna happen the next day to me? It's all about me, me, me, me, me. But when you are focused on God and not yourself, it's all about the Lord, there's no room for you.

There's only room for Christ and putting him on display. And when we are filled with anxiety, and we determine, you know what? I'm gonna proclaim the gospel. I'm gonna teach other people what Jesus said.

When you begin to do that, everything is placed on God. He is put on display, God is honored. And all of a sudden, abolishing anxiety begins to be abolished in your heart and soul.

That's why it's so important to radiate the Christ and his glory. These principles are so practical. They are so everyday usable.

This is what we do, this is who we are. We wanna proclaim Christ as our authority. Listen, either culture's your authority or Christ is your authority, right? Either society is your authority or the Savior is your authority.

Because you were once enslaved to Satan. But when Jesus saved you, he took you out of bondage. He set you free that you might speak forth the truth of God.

We are now free to live for Christ. As a slave of Satan, you couldn't live for Christ. You could only live for yourself, live for your sin, and live for Satan.

But once saved, there's been a transfer from one kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of God's dear son. When that happens, everything about your life has been revolutionized, transformed from the inside out because you now are a new creation. Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new. There's a proclamation of my authority. What is your authority? What do you bow to? That's why when we say, when you come, they say, you can't sing.

We say, yes, we can. Because we don't bow to the governor. Or the president when it comes to how we worship.

We bow to the king who has prescribed worship for us. Because they will come and they will one day say, you can no longer speak against society in what we believe. And so therefore, if you don't come under us and submit to us, we will close you down.

And we will say, we will not submit. We will not bow down. We bow to one Lord.

We bow to one king. We bow to the only God who exists. That's the God of the universe, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

That's why we have no fear. No fear of what the government may or may not do. Because we trust the Lord.

And all through, we're gonna get to it in, probably not today, but probably next week, about the apostles and how even through persecution, they would not bow to the cultural authority, to society's leaders. They only bow to the Lord because he's our king. So there's a proclamation of my authority, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.

I don't wanna proclaim any other authority other than Jesus Christ is king. Jesus Christ has been crucified and we proclaim him as our Lord. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

We wanna proclaim his death. We wanna proclaim the one who died for us that we might live for him forever. That's what we do.

And when we do that, there's no room for anxiety. There's no room for fear. There's no room for worry because we wanna put Christ on display.

Next, next is the manifestation of my identity. The manifestation of my identity. In other words, I'm going to put on display who I am in Christ.

Forget your Bible, turn with me to Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five, the great sermon on the mount. Remember when everybody was coming to Christ to be healed? It says in Matthew four that everybody in Jerusalem and in Judea and Galilee were coming to him because they were paralyzed, they couldn't see, they were lame, they could not walk.

There were so many diseases and so many things happening to them that they had to come to Jesus because Jesus was the great healer of men. And so he healed everybody who came. Healed everybody who came.

And they sat down on the northern slopes of the Sea of Galilee. And those of you who've been with me to Israel, you know exactly the location or the semblance of that location as to where Jesus would be. And he began to say the words that truly bless people's hearts because he knew, he knew that once they were healed physically, they were still gonna die.

Right? You're still gonna die. And you gotta be prepared to die. You gotta be prepared to die.

You might get the coronavirus and you might be healed from the coronavirus. And you might say, wow, that was a tough one, but you're still gonna die. Something else is going to kill you.

If the virus doesn't, something else will because it's reported a man wants to die and after that, the judgment. The question is, are you prepared to die? That was Jesus' concern. Are you prepared to die? So he talks about those great beatitudes, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And he begins to proclaim the word of the Lord to the people on the side of the hill. After it was all said and done, they would say, never a man spoke like this man. They were so in awe of how he spoke.

They were so in awe of what he said, but nobody came to Christ. Can you imagine the greatest preacher who ever lived preached the greatest sermon ever preached and nobody got saved. Wow, that's amazing.

How does that happen? How does the greatest preacher preach the greatest sermon ever preached, recorded in the scriptures and nobody gets saved? Because unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven, Matthew 5, verse number 20. So he proclaims then those great beatitudes and then he says, okay, in verse number 11, or verse number 10, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness sake. Because what's gonna happen is if you live the way Christ wants you to live, this is how the world's going to treat you.

You're gonna be persecuted for righteousness sake. And once he talks about how the world's gonna treat you, now you're gonna talk about how you treat the world. This is where your identity comes in.

This is what you manifest. And you know these verses. Verse 13, you are the salt of the earth.

You, verse 14, are the light of the world. It doesn't say that you become light or you become salt. It says if you understand the beatitudes and what it means to embrace Christ as Lord and Savior, you now are salt and you now are light.

That's who you are. That is your identity. That's why Paul in Ephesians 5 said, you are light in the world.

Paul declared that. That's who you are as a believer in Christ. Because the world is decaying, you are salt.

Because the world is dark, you are light. You must show the way. You must shine.

Because you are salt, you must shake. Because you are light, you must shine. You must shake and shine every single moment of every single day.

That's who you are. Salt, salt retards corruption. Light reveals the Christ.

The manifestation of your identity is gonna help people understand the beauty of the Christ. You're going to give glory to his name. It says you are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket but on the lampstand.

And it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. It's all about the glory of Christ.

Why do you shake and why do you shine? Because it's all about putting Christ on display. That's why you do it. When you walk into a room, you retard corruption.

When you walk into a room, you reveal the Christ. Whether it's a classroom, whether it's the workroom, whether it's the locker room, whatever room it is, you're gonna shake and shine for the beauty and honor of Christ. That's who we are.

That's what we do. We live that out. Listen, when you're shaking all around, you got no time to worry because you're shaking out that salt.

When the light is on and you're shining bright, there's no time to worry because you're showing the way to a dark world that needs to know who Christ is, the light of the world, the light of life. That's who we are. Listen, the manifestation of your identity is so important.

Listen, we're not in search for our identity as Christians. We're not trying to find out who we are because the Bible tells us exactly who we are. In fact, Peter says it this way over in 1 Peter 2. He says, You are a chosen race.

You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God's own possession. Wow, that's who we are. So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

You ought to proclaim your authority, the proclamation of your authority puts God on display because you're proclaiming the excellencies, the beauties of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. It says, For you once were not a people. For you once were a zero.

For you once were a nothing. But now, everything's changed. He says, But now, what? You are the people of God.

Isn't that interesting? Listen, if you're not the people of God, you're just not a people. You're just not. Because what gives value? Yes, we're valuable because we're made in the image of God.

But listen, that value only goes so far. Because if you're created in the image of God, and you don't come to saving faith, you're gonna burn in hell forever. That image is no value to you.

None. You'll burn in hell forever. But if you now become a people of God, now you have life.

Now you live for his glory. Now you honor him. You were once not a people, but now you are a people.

You're the people of God. And it says this, You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain.

Abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. In other words, when you don't engage in a past lifestyle, the fleshly lusts, which are waging war against your soul every single day, you don't do that because you're a people of God.

You've received mercy. Your life has been transformed. And now, as aliens and strangers, living a life that's excellent among the unbelievers will cause them to give glory to God on the day of visitation, the day in which Christ comes to visit his people.

They will give honor and glory to his name. My friends, to live out our identity, is so important. This is who we are.

We are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world. We are that which retards corruption.

When you go to school, hopefully they're open in the fall. When you go to school, you are that agent that retards corruption in your classroom, in your locker room, in your science room, whatever room you're in. Even in the bathroom, you retard corruption.

And what do you do? You reveal the Christ when you do so. You're shining forth the light of the gospel. That's exactly who we are.

When you're doing that, there is no time to be anxious. None. Because it's not about me any longer.

It's all about the Christ. In other words, when your life is about the Christ, there is no crisis. When your life is about the Christ, there is no crisis that will overcome you.

Because Christ is the great overcomer. And we want to put him on display. May God give us the grace to do so.

Let me pray with you. Father, we thank you for today and the opportunity we have to present you and to proclaim your name. We are so grateful.

And we ask, Lord, that as we prepare our hearts to receive the Lord's table, we pray that, Lord, we would remember once again the great, the great sacrifice on our behalf. That we might be saved from our sin. For that, we are thankful.

In Jesus' name, amen.