Sermon Tone Analysis

A Courageous Christian

“A Courageous Christian”

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What are you most afraid of?

What strikes fear in your heart?

All of us have phobias, fears that paralyze us and strike terror in our hearts.

I’ll be honest with you; I am afraid of snakes.

When I see a snake I jump.

I have hurt myself more than one time running from a snake.

I’m afraid of heights; Jesus said, low I’m with you…

I am afraid of needles; the dark, and Tess.

Sociologist tell us the number one fear of people is speaking in public.

Ann Landers a columnist was once asked, “What is the number one thing people write to you about?”

She said the number one thing people write to me about his fear.

We all fear not being liked, accepted, approved of by other people!

Fear becomes a problem when we let it keep us from sharing the gospel of Jesus, and declaring the Truth of the Bible!

-“The fear of man is a snare…

The fear of man will trap you, and keep you from living a bold courageous life for Jesus.

Maybe you find yourself this morning giving into your fear, living a life as a secret disciple; you’re an uncover Christian.

You are letting your fear of what people will think about you, or say about you, keep you from living a bold, courageous Christian life.

You say, Pastor Eddie, I want to be courageous, and speak up and out for Jesus and the truth; but I am being held back by my fear.

How can you I become a courageous Christians?

In these verses, Jesus teaches his disciples how to live a life of courage, to be unafraid and unashamed.

Jesus teaches us to live a courageous live, you must:

1. Remove Every Sin from Your Life.

V:1-3.

V:1-“In the meantime…

Jesus had been having dinner with some religious leaders, and over the course of the meal Jesus had strongly denounced their hypocrisy.

When the lunch was over the Pharisees and scribes want to catch Jesus and kill him.

A big crowd of people had gathered outside of this Pharisees house, and it had turned into a mob, V:1-“They were trampling on one another…

Get the picture, pressure is mounting from the religious leaders; they want to kill Jesus.

The unruly mob want to make Jesus their king.

Jesus was in mortal danger from his enemies; and the fickle crowd of people that followed him.

This meant that the disciples would also be in danger; they were the followers of Jesus, and were identified with Jesus.

And the disciples were being gripped by fear; and the temptation would be to lay low, to not be open about their relationship with Jesus.

In the middle of this rising fear Jesus speaks directly to his disciples, V:1-“He began to say unto his disciples first of all…

Now that could mean, that first he speaks to his disciples and then others.

Or it could mean I want my disciples to hear this first of all.

The first thing you need to beware of is the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

He’s telling them if you go live lives of courage, and be unashamed, unafraid you must confess, remove, and forsake the sin that’s in your heart and life.

Jesus tells his disciples five times to not fear, not to fear anyone, nor anything but to live bold and courageous for him.

But in order to live a bold and courageous life you must remove hypocrisy, sin from your heart.

So Jesus tells his disciples and us, the most important thing we must do in order to live bold, public, courageous lives for him; is to get our hearts completely clean before God! Leaven-Leaven is yeast that works in the dough and makes it rise.

In the Bible leaven is used to describe something small that spreads silently, secretly but ultimately takes over.

Most of the time in the Bible leaven pictures sin.

Jesus said the sin of hypocrisy is like leaven, it is secret, silent, but when left unconfessed it will take over.

The sin of Hypocrisy had taken over the lives of the Pharisees.

Their hearts were filled with greed and wickedness; and they were far away from God.

Jesus says like the yeast in a batch of dough, hypocrisy in your heart will gradually grow and take over.

Jesus is telling his disciples they must be careful to not become hypocrites.

To make an outward show; without loving God from their heart.

Sin is like leaven, when we don’t confess it; it will take over and corrupt us, and leave us afraid and ashamed to speak the name of Jesus.

Beware, how easy it is to put pretending to be something were not.

Sin in your life will make you a coward!

· Peter, was gripped with fear and denied Jesus because of the sin his heart.

· Shad, Mesh, Abedgo, were courageous and would not bow down, because their hearts were right with God.

You can’t be a bold, courageous Christian if you’re living a life of hypocrisy, and there’s hidden sin festering in your heart.

One reason to remove every sin from your life, and live a life of integrity is that the day will come when the real condition of your heart will be made known.

V:2-3-Read.

We may be able to cover our tracks for a little while, but you cannot keep your sin secret forever.

Some sins get exposed in this life: the student gets caught cheating on a test.

The husband gets caught looking at pornography.

The mother gets caught abusing her child.

When they get caught, everyone knows the truth!

What was concealed gets revealed, what was in the dark gets brought to the light.

What was whispered in secret, is now reported on the evening news.

It happens every day just like Jesus said.

But even the sins that do not get exposed in this life; will be revealed at the last judgment!

We cannot hide our sin forever!

God is omniscient; he knows all things.

-“For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing”.

There will be full disclosure on that day!

Every prideful act, petty theft, angry word, abusive blow, lustful fantasy, lie, gossip; it will all come to the light on that day.

You say that’s really bad news for me!

Well here’s the good news: -“If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

If you will confess your sin Jesus will cleanse you, and you no longer have to live in fear of being discovered.

Hidden sin, unconfessed sin, will steal the joy of the Lord from your life; and the joy of the Lord is your strength!

Hidden sin will break your fellowship with God; and God is the giver of enthusiasm, boldness and courage.

You cannot allow the leaven of sin to take over your heart, and at the same time expect the Holy Spirit to give you boldness.

-“Whoever covers his sins will not prosper, but he who confesses and for sake sin will find mercy”.

With a heart clean before God, we are ready to live a courageous life for Jesus.

Secondly, to live a courageous life you must:

2. Fear God More than you Fear People.

V:4-5-Read.

I will take a stand for Jesus, when I fear God, more than I fear other people.

We learn from these two verses, there is a wrong fear and a right fear.

Jesus tells us not to fear people who can only harm our bodies.

This is a challenging statement, because we love our bodies and instinctively protect them anyway we can.

We are afraid of physical pain, and shudder at the thought of death.

Yet Jesus says do not be afraid of people who can only kill your body.

What is the worst thing a person can do to you?

The worse thing a person can do to you is kill you.

Jesus says don’t be afraid of people who can only kill your body.

For the believer, death is only temporary.

Jesus says our real concern ought to be what will happen to us in eternity!

If you been saved and forgiven of your sin through Jesus Christ; death will be our entrance into his presence.

Don’t be afraid of people, the worse they can do is kill your body.

If we should not be afraid of people who can kill us, then we certainly should not be afraid of people who only mock us, scorn us, make fun of us, or laugh at us or reject us!

We are often too easily frightened.

Afraid to take a moral stand at work because you’re afraid it might cost you a promotion.

Afraid to defend the bible, and a Christian position in the college classroom, or the faculty lounge.