Evangelist Psalm 56:3-4 What time I am afraid, I will trust in you. I. THERE ARE MANY TIMES AND CIRCUMSTANCES CALCULATED TO AWAKEN OUR FEARS. 1. Our state of sin should awaken great fear in our hearts. 2. Well may we fear when conscience convicts and condemns. 3. In times of temptation we ought to fear. 4. A backsliding state may well make us afraid. 5. To be in affliction and nigh to death in a state of impenitence, is a state which should excite the greatest fears. II. THERE IS AN ADEQUATE RESOURCE UNDER EVERY KIND AND DEGREE OF FEAR. 1. God has revealed the doctrine of His providence as an antidote to all those fears which relate to this life. 2. He has revealed the doctrine of His grace as an antidote to all these fears which result from sin and guilt. 3. He has revealed the doctrine of immortal glory and blessedness to remove the fear of death and our anxiety concerning another world. III. THERE IS A GREAT BLESSEDNESS IN KNOWING THIS RESOURCE BEFORE OUR FEARS COME. 1. In some cases the knowledge of this Divine resource has delivered the mind from all fear. — Fear concerning the body or the soul — life or death, the grave or eternity (Job 13:15; Proverbs 28:1). 2. Where it does not do this, it may prevent the worse effects of fear. Two ships in a storm, the one with a good anchor and anchorage, and the ether without either, meet that storm under widely different circumstances (2 Corinthians 7:10). 3. Sometimes in the most fearful circumstances it enables us not only in patience to possess our souls, but to glorify God. IV. THE GREATEST OF ALL FEARS WILL SEIZE UPON THOSE WHO KNOW NOT THIS ONLY TRUE ANTIDOTE TO FEAR. 1. The absence of that salutary fear, which leads to provision against danger, proves the extremity of that danger in which we are involved. 2. That fear which is accompanied with utter despair must be the portion of those who have not found the true refuge. 3. They will realize infinitely more than they ever feared in the very deepest seasons of their despair in this life. For it is very certain no man ever formed a sufficiently awful idea of the worm that dieth not, and of eternity. Let all these considerations induce sinners to prize that refuge of mercy and grace which the Gospel presents, and let us be allowed to turn them all into an occasion for urging upon them the immediate and indispensable necessity of trust in God. (Evangelist.) Parallel Verses KJV: What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. |
    |