Scared Of Nobody

The only way to get rid of fear is to have something or somebody that’s stronger than what threatens you.


Scripture: 1 Peter 3:12

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much and hello again radio friends. How in the world are you? Yes, indeed that little greeting establishes the fact that this is indeed your good friend, Bob Cook and I’m delighted to be back with you once again just for a few precious moments in God’s Word, I love the Word of God, don’t you? How precious it is and how it speaks to my heart day by day.

You and I have been talking about the blessed life, a blessing, a life of blessing, “hereunto were called that ye should inherit”, said he, “a blessing”. Now, what is it that blessed life consists of, quickly we’ll run down the points that we’ve covered in the last few days. A life that you love, not just endure, “he that would love life”, days that are good not just days to grind on through, every day an adventure with God. How do we achieve this blessed life, well he said, “Refrain your tongue from evil and your lips that they speak no guile”.

Let the Spirit of God control your heart and your talk, a life that is controlled by the Holy Spirit so you refrain from saying the wrong thing and trying to be manipulative in what you say, “let him eschew evil” that means turn away from it, hate it and “do good”, that’s the contrasting phrase there. Turn away from evil, hate it but go after that which is good. Seek peace said he, and pursue it. A person who seeks for peace, not compromise, there’s a difference isn’t there. God never asks you to compromise your convictions in order to have peace, that’s the Neville Chamberlain kind of compromise that leads to more trouble. No, he says, “Seek peace and pursue it”. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers”.

So that’s part of the blessed, achieving the blessed life, isn’t it? Then what? He says, “the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, his ears are open unto their prayer and the face of the Lord is against them that do evil”. Live your life knowing that He sees you, “the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous”. Every moment He is waiting for your prayer, “his ears are open unto their prayers”. Live your life not only with the knowledge that God sees you and that He answers your prayer but that He takes sides with you. “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil”.

Then what, live your life with the realization, “who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good”, you’re unsinkable when you’re in the will of God. There are two words to emphasize; one is “harm” the other is “followers”. The word “followers” is our word zealot, if you are a zealot, a person who has just one idea in life and that is to follow that particular interest. He said you get to feel that way about good things and doing good and being good. People will criticize you and attack you because you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, he pointed out to his disciples that when they are persecuted, they’re persecuted because they belong to him, not because people are against them particularly but because of that connection.

One of our Youth for Christ workers was caught in a mob scene in France many years ago and he said to the leader of the mob as he was being shoved about and threatened, his very life being threatened, and he said, “Why are you so against me?”, he said, “Because you preach that book” and he pointed to our man’s Bible. You see they’re against you not because of you, but because of Jesus, and always remember that.

But he says, “nobody can harm you” why? Because the real you is not subject to damage as long as Jesus Christ is in control. Yes, they may hurt you physically; the real concern is not how I feel or not what’s happening to me physically. The real concern is what’s happening to the will of God in my life.

What must those young men who were murdered in the Auca jungle have thought just in the split second when they were catapulted into eternity there on the sandbar in the middle of the river where they had landed their light plane? Seeking to established contact with these Auca Indians what must they have thought, I don’t know, but I know this, that the snuffing out of those lives began an Evangelistic effort that brought whole tribes to the Lord Jesus Christ. And some years later, the scene had changed and now a grandfatherly old Indian was holding a little flaxen-haired dolly of a little girl on his knee and dangling her on the knees as grandpas will, who was that? That was the man that threw the lance that killed her daddy.

Now a Christian, now belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ, what are you going to say to all this? A blessed life, he said, this is what you’re called to. You’re called to a blessed life, a life that you love, days that are good, an awareness of God’s supervision constantly, a blessed awareness that prayers are answered an awareness that God turns toward you when you’re doing His will. “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil”. “If man’s ways”, the wiseman said, “If a man’s ways please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him” and the knowledge that you’re unsinkable when you’re in the will of God. Nobody can harm the real you.

Now Peter goes on to say, “But, and if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are you, be not afraid of their terror and neither be troubled”. What is my attitude if people attack me because I’m a Christian, he said, “happy”, that’s our word blessed again. You’re blessed; see he’s following out that same thought. What does it mean? You have a positive attitude toward God, His control of your life, and as a result everything else that happens. So he said, “Be not afraid of their terror” that means they can’t threaten you, and “neither be troubled”, they can’t confuse you and make you say why is this happening to me.

If you suffer for righteousness sake, you’re blessed, you’re happy, and you don’t have to be threatened and you don’t have to be confused. I think we spin our wheels often times and waste our own time by saying, “Why is this happening”? Job suffered the loss of his property and the loss of his family, all of his children and their families destroyed, and then finally the loss of his health, all of it in a very short time. Now as he ponders all of this he says, “Why was I born. Why was I allowed to grow up and become a man and experience all of this heartbreak and then lose my health in the bargain, why did this happen.

He asked these different questions as the conversations with his three so-called friends went on. Now he never got an answer to the “why” questions. What he did get was a fresh vision of God. God says, “Come on now, answer my questions” and Job said, “I’ve said too much already”, he said, “I’m going to lay my hand on my mouth, I’ve already said too much”. He said, “I’ve heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee and I repent and abhor myself in dust and ashes”.

Job, “you’re the righteous man”, yes, but I’ve gotten a vision of God, I repent. I’ve had a vision of God. See the net result of all the trials was that God got the glory; Job never did forsake his faith in God, contrary to what Satan had expected. Satan said, “Take away all that he has and take away his health and he’ll curse you to your face”. “No”, God said, “He’s my man, he won’t do that”. But Job needed a new touch, a new vision, so as to settle the why questions in his life.

God very rarely tells me why He’s doing things. What he does is to reveal himself through what happens. Can you remember that? See, Peter goes on to say, “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts” and you can very well put the little word as “sanctify the Lord as God in your hearts”. Let him be God, let God be God in your life that means don’t question what He’s doing to you. If you’ve given yourself to Him, then let Him lead you.

I don’t know how you feel about this type of truth, to me it’s a very precious thing to realize that because I gave myself to the Lord he has taken over and what is happening then in my life is not happenstance, not good or bad luck, but it is the working, the sovereign working of a sovereign God, Almighty God has taken an interest in Bob Cook.

My sister said to a doctor one time when he was saying, well he hoped that everything would be Alright, she said, “Well I know it will because years ago I gave my body to the Lord and whatever he wants to do with me is going to be alright”. See there’s the difference. When you belong to God, body and soul, there is a difference. Sanctify the Lord in your hearts. So, this blessed life gives you a happy, positive attitude even toward things that are going wrong or attacks from people who attack you because you belong to Jesus, he said, “Don’t be afraid”. You don’t have to be afraid, that’s to be threatened by it.

Now that’s a big order because every one of us has had the feeling of fear, you know how it feels, it’s not pleasant, and terror takes over, “Be not afraid”, he said. Now what is — what takes away fear, well, the only thing that can take away fear of a thing or a person is something that is greater than the threat. I’ve told you about that my experience of being bullied by older boys when I was a little guy just to going to 3rd and 4th grade and then one day I found a larger, stronger boy who became my friend and he walked with me down that particular block where I would ordinarily have been attacked.

The only way to get rid of fear is to have something or somebody that’s stronger than what threatens you. “It is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you” Jesus said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you”, God says. Jesus said, “Behold I am with you all the way, even to the end of the world”. The way to get rid of fear is to trust the Savior who’s greater than anything else.

Dear Father, today take away our fears as we trust in Thee, in Jesus name, Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!



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