PEOPLE WHO SCARE ME TO DEATH
Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday morning, Oct. 31, 1999, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia:
PEOPLE WHO SCARE ME TO DEATH
By Michael D. O’Neal Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church Albany, Georgia
Scripture Reading: Galatians 4:1-11
Text: Galatians 4:11
Galatians 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Introduction: We are commanded in God’s word to fear Him. In the Old Testament:
Leviticus 25:17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God.
And in the New:
Ephesians 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Hebrews 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
1 Peter 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
The wisest men of the Bible, such as Joseph, Job, and others were said to have feared God.
The Bible is clear in its statements that we should fear God and Him alone. The only time we should fear men is when those men represent God’s authority:
Leviticus 19:3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
Romans 13:4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
We should not fear our enemies:
Psalms 56:4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
Numbers 14:9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
However, Paul DID say that he was afraid of the Galatians. No scripture can be interpreted “privately.” That is, it must be interpreted in light of its immediate context and the rest of the scriptures. Therefore, the correct interpretation is that Paul was afraid of them for danger to THEMSELVES not for danger to HIM.
It is like a mother who watches her child do a “dangerous trick” and she says to him, “You scare me to death!”
In that sense, some people do scare me to death. Some of YOU scare me to death. I’m not afraid of danger you might do to ME, but I AM afraid of danger that you might do to YOURSELF.
I. PEOPLE WHO REJECT SALVATION SCARE ME TO DEATH
2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation)
Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
A. Time here is so fleeting
B. Torment in hell is so fierce
II. PEOPLE WHO REBEL AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF GOD SCARE ME TO DEATH
Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
A. To rebel against the Spirit of God is to defy your own Creator
B. To rebel against the Spirit of God is to despise your own Comforter
C. To rebel against the Spirit of God is to defile your own conscience
III. PEOPLE WHO ROB GOD SCARE ME TO DEATH
Malachi 3:8-9 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
A. You curse your own finances when you rob God
B. You curse your own family when you rob God
C. You curse the family of God when you rob God
IV. PEOPLE WHO RUN FROM SERVING GOD SCARE ME TO DEATH
Jonah 1:1-3 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
A. Because of its effect on your church
B. Because of its effect on your children
C. Because of its effect on your chastisement
D. Because of its effect on your crowns in glory