Well, good morning everybody. Often we have different men fulfill our pulpit, and the first thing they say is, I'm glad to be back. Well, I am glad to be back, even though I'm here every week. But it's good to see, it's good to be gathered together in the house of God and to worship together and see each other's faces. So I welcome each one of you. And as we continue this second part of a message I started, I don't remember how long ago, a month ago or so. I don't remember, but it was on a verse in 1 Corinthians 6.12. I'll just do a quick recap. So in 1 Corinthians 6.12, Paul says, all things are lawful unto me, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. And it's that last phrase I want to focus on. And just a reminder what the three main meanings of all things are lawful for me. The first possibility is he meant all things that were formerly forbidden by the ceremonial law are now available. They're no longer under that ceremonial law, so they're lawful. And Paul talked about that, I believe it was in Romans 14, 20, he said something along those lines. Some commentators say, he was quoting, he was saying like, you say, sort of like Matthew 5, you say all things are lawful for me, but I say, not all things are expedient, or in another verse, not all things edify. So it's quoting what they say, which they learn from Paul, again, in Romans 14, 20. That's a very common, a lot of commentators think that's what he was doing. You say, you know, all things lawful, but there's more to that. And another possibility is all things indifferent, are not sinful in their nature, those are lawful to us to use. But it doesn't matter which one, it's very clear that it is important to ascertain what really is lawful for us in life. But my focus is really on this last phrase, I will not be brought under the power of any. And last time we had, we talked about things that enter the body, what we allow to, like, We were talking about alcohol, what we eat, drink, inject, whatever. Then we talked about things that enter our mind, having control over our eyes, having a covenant with our eyes, and by example, we would include our ears. And then we talked about our thoughts, having control over thoughts. And then we talked about different scriptures that can be brought to mind to help us in those areas. But I missed a whole category, and that category is negative emotions. Certainly negative emotions can have great control over us, and there's a whole laundry list of emotions I could cover, but I really only wanna cover two, because they really cover a good many. The first is anger, and the second is fear. Those are the two I'm gonna cover. So let's just move on to our control of anger. Don't we all have, from time to time, a problem with anger? It's very rare to find a person who doesn't slip into an angry disposition from time to time. Now before I go too far, I want to make, we need to look at the scriptures and understand that there's actually two different words for anger. And it's kind of important to understand these as, because if you look at, and do a search for anger, there's hundreds of verses that use these words. So you need to understand which one is he talking about. So it's always been a confusion. You've heard, be angry and sin not. And then it says, do not be angry. Well, what is he talking about? How can that be consistent? Well, the first word we're gonna examine is thumos. And thumos is translated wrath or anger or rage or fury. The other is Orge, and that is translated anger and wrath, just like Thummas is, but it also is translated punishment and vengeance. Thummas is also sometimes translated temper or indignation and it indicates a kind of a rage, a very intense anger. When it's used of God, it's talking about his holy wrath and this word Thummas in relation to God is only found in Revelation, nowhere else. Some of you have heard of William Vine. William Vine did a scholarly work called Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Terms or Words. And he said this, Thumos is to be distinguished from Orge in this respect, that Thumos indicates a more agitated condition of the feelings, an outburst, and you'll see outbursts. As we go through, from inward indignation, while Orge suggests a more settled or abiding condition of mind, frequently with a view to take revenge. Orge is less sudden in its rise than Thumas, but more lasting in its nature. Thumas expresses the more inward feeling, Orge is a more active emotion. So thumos may issue in revenge, though it doesn't necessarily include it, and it's characteristic that thumos quickly blazes up and quickly subsides. So when it comes to man, orge is an intentional anger, whereas thumos is generally not. You see the difference. So turn to Revelation 14.9, and we'll see some examples of this. And I want to compare these different words in relation to God versus relation to man. In Revelation 14, 9, it says, the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast in the image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the thumos, the wrath of God. The sudden indignation which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the lamb. And then turn to Revelation 1911. These are two, I think there's eight or nine examples of thumos in relation to God in Revelation. I'm just picking a couple. Revelation 1911, and I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and treadeth the winepress of his fierceness and wrath of mighty God. Again, the word is thumos. So we can see in this last verse, or the verse before, it talks about in righteousness he doth judge and make war. So we can conclude from these two and some others that thumos, when used of God, it means a righteous anger against sin. So what about thumos with man? Turn to 1 Corinthians 12, 19. 1 Corinthians 12, 19. Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you. We speak before God and Christ, but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. For I feared, lest I come, I should not find you such as I would, that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not, lest there be, so this is a warning here, lest there be debates, envies, and wraths, and that wrath there is thumos, strife, backbiting, whisperings, swelling, tumults. And there's a similar list, you don't need to turn there. Galatians 5.19 says the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and it goes on, and wrath, thumos, is listed in that list. So here we have thumos condemned. as works of the flesh that should not be found in us. And thus we can conclude that when thumos is used of man, it means an unrighteous anger against others or even to God when we are angry about our circumstances. So let's take a quick look then at the other Greek word for anger, which is orge. So again, orge is an internal disposition which steadfastly opposes someone or something over an extended period of time. So there's 36 occurrences of this in the New Testament. And you don't need to turn to some of these, I'm just gonna read some of them. John 3, 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth in him. So you see how this is Orge. The Orge of God abideth. So it's a long-term different kind of anger. In Matthew 3, 7, he says, when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? The orgy. Not so sudden, but a determined, an intentional anger. In John 2, 5, it gives us a reason for this kind of anger, this orgy anger of God. John 2, 5. but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasureth up unto thyself wrath, or gay wrath, against the day of wrath and revelation at the righteous judgment of God. And we're familiar with Mark 3 when he heals a man with a withered hand and he's accused about healing on the Sabbath. In 3.5 he says, stretch forth thy hand and he stretched forth. And it said, his anger being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. So you can see Orge is directed at a long-term hardening of our hearts and that kind of anger is is again, it's against sin, but it's a more intentional, long-term thing. And then in Romans 3, it actually, it talks about, is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? And that word is not, is the same Greek word, it's orge. So you can see there's a vengeance or punishment. So we can see from these, with reference to God, it's closely associated to righteous judgment, righteous punishment, and a punishment. But in either case, of Thoumas or Orge, in reference to God, both are tied to displeasure against sin. And the difference mainly has to do with intensity, but also the suddenness of its onset, and what sense of punishment and vengeance. So Thoumas sometimes subsides, it comes and it goes, but sometimes that Thoumas, grows into an orgy. Depends on whether there's repentance. If there's repentance, the thumos will go away. If there's not, the thumos will become orgy. See that? Turn to Ephesians 4. So here's, Here's a command for us to be angry. We're familiar with this, I mentioned it, Ephesians 4.26. Here's be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. So what word is this? It's an orgy. Be angry, but not thumos, orgy. Have that kind of, hatred towards sin that we should have. Have a determined and a consistent, a steadfast, but controlled anger against sin. But you see, it comes with a warning. The command is to be angry. The Greek word is orge. Have controlled sin, I mean, have controlled anger against sin is what it's saying. And then it says, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Well, that word wrath is par or gizmo, so orge is within the word. And it's really an anger that's provoked. And it's more of a collective anger against the collective sins. So that's what we're commanded to do. But notice the warning. The command to be angry is followed by a warning, sin not. And in the very next verse, verse 27 says, neither give place to the devil. Well, what's the warning? Well, orgy anger, controlled anger against sin, when referenced with man, can mean a controlled and yet unrighteous anger. So Ephesians 4.31, since we're right there, says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger, and now we have both words in one passage here, let all bitterness and orgy and thumos and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And Colossians 3 has a very similar list. It mentions to put away both anger and wrath, thumos and orge. Well, we're told to put both of these away, yet we're told to be angry. So isn't that inconsistent when it says be angry and then here just a few verses later tells us not to? The difference is a controlled righteous anger versus a controlled or unrighteous anger or a controlled anger but it's misguided, it's misdirected. And it's certainly, orgy can lead to a rage that becomes out of control where we can't think rationally or biblically. James 1.19 gives us a warning or a command. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. The wrath here is orgy. So we should be slow even to be controlled anger. I think the point there is we should be forgiving, we should be forbearing, we should love one another. That's why we should be slow to that, even orgy. An orgy is something we can have, but we need to be careful about that. Even justified orgy anger against sin can bring with it feelings of animosity, revenge, bitterness, and hatred. And that's why Paul says, do not even give the devil an opportunity. Don't give him an opportunity for that orgy proper anger to get out of control and lead us somewhere we shouldn't. And it definitely should be an orgy anger should be open to forgiveness. So a thumos is a very different anger. So the warning is that we don't have an unrighteous anger against a person or our circumstances, which would reflect an anger against God. And this is a hard thing for us. Even David talks about being angry from time to time. It's something we all have and we can struggle with. But we can have a righteous anger against sin that's consistent with God's word and his will. So let us be diligent to keep that under proper control and properly directed. J.I. Packard says, God's wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is instead a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. So uncontrolled anger or misguided anger can be very negative in our relationships. William Barclay observed that anger is the wrecker of personal relationship and the destruction of fellowship within the community. So the holy and sinless wrath of God, which is controlled by him, does have a place. He, of course, is the moral governor of the universe. He's sinless in his character, and he's perfect in all his ways. And because of that, he's able to exercise perfect wrath with absolute perfection. And that's why scripture says the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. We find that in Romans. Now turn to Proverbs 30. I wanna examine something here. Proverbs 30. We're gonna be in Proverbs 30, then we're gonna work back a couple times. So we'll be here for a little bit. So Proverbs 30 verse 33 says, the churning of anger produces strife. And it's read, surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the ringing of the nose bringeth forth blood. So the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife. So I can churn milk for a little while, and if I only do it a little while, nothing happens. I can twist my nose or somebody's nose over here. I can do it for a little while, and as long as I don't do it too long or hard, nothing happens. But if I continue to do them, and if I do them too much, what's gonna happen? Something's gonna become of that action, something negative, and isn't that true with our anger? We can be rightly angry over sin, but we can let that anger become something else. And that is uncontrolled anger that leads to strife. And we know this from experience, that anger results in friction and conflict. The danger of losing control of our anger is mentioned in the previous chapter. If we look at chapter 29, 22. Very quickly it says, an angry man stirs up strife, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression. So anger and hot-temperedness are often found together, and this attitude results in sin. But anger often comes with cruelty, too. Turn back to Proverbs 27. So, of course, we're in Hebrew language now. So, Proverbs 27.4, wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy? Now, there's a whole nother category, and that's jealousy and envy, and a whole nother negative emotions. Listen to a message Gary did a few years ago on envy. I'm not even gonna talk about that. There's a really good message that Gary has on that. But anyway, I'm gonna concentrate on, wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous. So, okay, we're in Hebrew, there's two different words here. Wrath is translated elsewhere as burning anger, fury, hot displeasure, hot tempered, even poison and venom. So this first wrath is very similar to thumos, and that is clearly, it says, it's cruel. Is it not? Aren't we often cruel when we have that kind of hot disposition? The other anger is translated face most of the time in the Old Testament. So what's the connection? Well, there's an anger that is sudden, and it also says that anger is outrageous. So the word outrageous is tied to an outburst, a flood, an uncontrolled flood that overreaches its banks. So you can see somebody who reaches this kind of anger, their face turns red, and it just bursts forth. It's out of control. So here you see a hot-tempered, burdened, sudden anger. Both these words are tied to thumos in the Greek. So both of these words, we see in Proverbs 27, we can see a loss or a lack of self-control. And that lack of self-control can lead to cruelty. Now look at Genesis 30. We'll see an example of controlled anger in Genesis 30. One of many examples. Verse one, when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob, give me children or else I die. So here, what's the sin here? Envy. And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel. And he said, am I in God's stead? Who hath withheld from thee the fruit of thy womb? Jacob was angry at the sin, and he showed his displeasure in his reply to Rachel. And this is what Matthew Poole said, I thought he said it better than I would. Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel for the injury done to himself, and especially for the sin against God. In this case, anger is not only lawful, but necessary. So here we see a justified and a controlled anger. It wasn't a thumos, it was a controlled anger against a sin And just as orgy can mean a controlled anger though, it can also lead to an uncontrolled unrighteous anger. So before we go to scriptures and look for anecdotes, it's important for us to just come to terms with some of the reasons that we become angry. And I'm really just gonna cover a couple. One big area is when a big to me, one of the biggest is when our goals and our desires are blocked by something or someone. Isn't that so often? You're driving in traffic, somebody does something, they're blocking you, you just, it pops up. That is a very common reason that anger comes to us. An example of that is Esau and Jacob in Genesis 27. or also in Numbers. In 27 it says, when the donkey saw that the angel of the Lord fell down under Balaam. Oh, this is a different example, sorry. Esau and Jacob, of course, we know the story about how he raged out of control very suddenly, but here's another one that's interesting in Numbers. When the donkey saw that the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam, and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the donkey with a staff. So you can see that kind of anger, that thumos anger, leads to actions that are out of your control. It leads to inappropriate action. We can also burst into anger when we're corrected. But as the children of God, we should guard against the tendency we sometimes have when we are corrected or chastised. So for example, Hebrews 12, 11, this is our antidote to that kind of anger. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Yeah, at the time, it's grievous. But remember what it yields. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. So there's our antidote to an anger when we're corrected or chastised. And children, it's important for you to learn that chastisement at the time it happens can quickly stir up your anger. And this is something we all have to deal with. And it's in our sinful nature that we do that. But try to recognize that that chastisement has as its yield or as its goal a yield of fruit that bringeth righteousness. So let's look at some other scriptures that are antidote to anger. There's so many, I didn't even know what, there's just many, many. Look up the word anger or wrath and you'll see many other that I'm gonna bring up. I just wanna bring a few. One thing to keep in mind is we talked about what our reaction should be when we face circumstances that lead us to a thumos anger. Sinful words against us often stimulate anger in us, but we have to answer this way. A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger that we find in Proverbs 15.1. Charity or love toward another person is an antidote to the sin of anger. We are to love others at least minimally in the sense that we care for the state of their souls. If we love saints and others in that mindset, that's what we care about, we'll be able to conquer an anger that harms ourselves, harms others, and offends God. So, of course, 1 Corinthians 13 is the love chapter, and it says love is patient. Well, uncontrolled anger reflects impatience. Love is kind, uncontrolled anger is fierce. Love does not seem, behaves unseemly, but uncontrolled anger is very unbecoming. Having love towards someone will mean we are not easily provoked to anger, but a lack of love will mean we are easily provoked. So we see some of that in 1 Corinthians 13. We can overcome sinful anger the same way we overcome all sin. And we talked about this last time I preached. And that is through the spirit of God. Paul says in Romans 8, 13, if we live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live. And anger is a deed of the body. It's interesting that the word, Oh, I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong place. Here's some other passages. James 3 and 13 through 17. It says, who is a wise man and imbued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not above, but is earthly, sensual, death, devilish. For where envy and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. And here is a verse, this is the verse I want to bring to mind, you know, if you struggle with this. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Romans 12 talks about recompensing no man evil for evil, living peaceably with all men, and the Lord has vengeance. Proverbs 14.29 talks about being slow to wrath. Proverbs 16 is, again, slow to anger. It says, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit, or controls, has self-control of his spirit, is better than he that taketh a city. And then, again, we read in a couple places where we are commanded to put away the things of the flesh, and wrath and anger were listed as two of those. So those are just a few of the many passages that we can bring to our minds if we have difficulty in this area of anger. Let's move on then to fear and I'm going to include anxiety since anxiety is really a form of fear. I'm gonna cover fear, but if anxiety is really your difficult area, this is just as appropriate or pertinent. The main Greek word translated fear is phobos, means a terror. It's a cause of alarm that invokes a response of withdrawal or fleeing, and that's key. When you fear something, you wanna run away from it, get away. We fear fire, you know, uncontrolled fire, we run away from it. It's also defined as to separate or remove oneself because of fright or dread. And this is a negative emotion. But the Bible is clear that fear can be a positive and necessary attitude of our hearts. We are to have a reverential fear of and awe of God. This positive sense of the word, is not to be avoided or denied. For again and again in the Old Testament and New Testament, God talks about having a positive fear of him. That's a vertical fear. It's a fear of God that means a respect and an understanding of the consequences of his judgments. Well, what are we fleeing from then? If we're to fear God, we're fleeing from something. Well, we're fearing from sin, being controlled by sin, and worldliness, which James talks about those two things are opposed. So when we fear God, we are fleeing from something, and we need to flee to him. So turn to Acts 5 as we begin looking at fear here. So we know there's many examples of positive use of fear. If you look up the word fear, again, there's hundreds of passages, so I'm just touching the surface. In Acts 5, beginning in verse 5, it says, Ananias, hearing these words, I'm not gonna cover, you know the context, Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost and great fear came upon all them that heard these things. And great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." And it says, 15, they brought forth the sick into the streets, laid them on beds so they could be healed. I paraphrased. So after God killed Ananias and his wife because of their hypocrisy and their lies, a fear of God came upon the believers who saw now God as majestic, magnificent, powerful. This fear was full of reverence, full of awe, but a respect also of his judgment and the consequences of his judgment. This is the vertically minded fear. It's a fear that should cause us to restrain our fleshly desires and to pursue holiness. This is a fear that God desires. In 2 Corinthians 7, verse one, it says, having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So here's one of the purposes. There's all these purposes of having this fear. And probably the main or encompassing purpose is this, that it should lead us to holiness. If you're still in Acts 5, I believe you are, go to Acts 9. Acts 9, verse 31. Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost and they were multiplied. So here is a proper fear of God. A goal or purpose is to be obedient. That's the sense of walking. You're walking in the fear. You're being obedient to his commandments. So that's a purpose. And it also has a result. And the result is rest. The church has had rest. And we're gonna talk about that a little bit later. But if we walk in his, if we walk with a proper fear of God, we will find rest. Rest from anger and rest from our fear and anxieties. In Acts 10, you can turn over if you want, but it talks about Cornelius the centurion, a devout man, one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. So here's a man who feared God, and what was the result? What was the purpose? Well, it led him to benevolence, which we also saw earlier in verse 15. It says they brought forth sick into the streets, and there was benevolence. There was care for others. And, as it says here, with Cornelius, it led him to pray. When we have fear of God, we will pray to him. In Job 1.1, it says, there is a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed, or shunned, evil. And there's other verses that talk about that too, but here we see a purpose that fear of God will cause us to hate evil. And in Exodus 20 verse 20, Moses said unto the people, fear not for God has come to prove you and that his fear may be before your faces that ye sin not. So another purpose, really holiness is all encompassing but specifically there's some sub things and this one talks about the purpose of us of fear, godly fears to keep us from sinning. In 2 Corinthians 5.11 it says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Now the word terror there is phobos. It's fear. It's the same, it's just translated terror. Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. So there's another purpose of having fear of God. It should give us a desire or urge to bring others to come to Christ, to persuade men. With God's help that they would repent and believe the gospel message. So godly fear has an important part of our life. And if we have this positive fear, we will turn away from sin. It will have a purifying effect on us. It will motivate us into action. This is a fear of action. We will persuade men, we will worship and serve the living God. Psalm 5, 7 says, but as for me, I will come into the house, into the multitude of thy mercy, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. So there's another motivating factor or purpose, which is to worship him. This is not a fear that leads us to despair, but it's rather one that's linked to trust. and more importantly, love. In Psalm 130, in verse three and four, it says, if thou, Lord, should markest my iniquities, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. So God has the power to forgive. And he who has that kind of power is to be feared in the positive sense of the word. So Ecclesiastes 12.13 says, let us hear the conclusion of this matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. So these are just a few passages. There's many, many others that mention a positive fear of God. But then there are scriptures that says we're not to fear. So let's start with Matthew 1 verse 18. So turn there, Matthew 1. So obviously there's a different kind of fear here. I think it's obvious where I'm going with this. Matthew 1 verse 18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately or quietly. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee, Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Here's a fear demonstrated by Joseph. It's a different kind of fear. This is a fear of inaction or sometimes inappropriate action. It's a fear that is crippling or paralyzing. A fear that causes inaction rather than motivating us to proper action. Take a look at Galatians 2. Galatians 2.11, let's go where we're going to start. Galatians 2.11, when Peter was come into Antioch, this is Paul talking, I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself. Why? Remember what I said about the term fear, what it meant, phobos. It meant withdrawing from, separating himself, fleeing. Well, that's what he's doing. Why is he fleeting? He withdrew and separated himself fearing them which were of the circumcision. So Paul goes on to say that he reproves Peter for this. Peter earlier had feared men than the consequences of righteous action when he was discovered as Christ's disciple, denied him three times. That fear of men caused an inappropriate action. In this passage, we see Paul correcting a horizontal fear, a fear of something that is not God-directed. In this case, a fear a man And notice again, he withdrew and separated himself, a very clear example of what phobos means. But there's another Greek word translated fear commonly, and that's delos. And this has a meaning of cowardice or being timid or faint hearted. Look at 2 Timothy chapter one, 2 Timothy chapter one. Starting in verse six. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, now this is the loss, this is being timid. He didn't give us the spirit of being timid, but of power. And the word there is dunamis, where we get dynamite. Dunamis gives us the ability to perform something, gives us energy, that's why dynamite comes from that. So he doesn't give us the fear of being timid, he gives us the power of love and a sound mind, therefore we shouldn't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. William Vine again says this term delos denotes cowardice and timidity and is never used in a good sense. In secular literature, delos refers to somebody who flees from battle. So here, in that sense, both phobos and delos mean we're fleeing from something that is feared. When Jesus' disciples encountered the storm and the sea of Galilee, the disciples became fearful. And Jesus said, why are you afraid, you men of little faith? That word is delos. They became timid. But Jesus was with them, so that fear was unjustified. Revelation 21.8 is a very frank warning to those who fear man and circumstances. Revelation 21.8 says, the fearful, and the word there is delos, The timid, the fearful, and unbelieving, the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. This shows what a weighty matter it is for us to be fearful before others when we should stand strong for the Lord. And as I said, fear can cause us to take the wrong action or no action at all. But especially powerful of Christ's words that talk about both kinds of fear. You'll see the vertical and the horizontal in Matthew 10, 28. Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul. Don't have horizontal fear, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. So we see the vertical and, the vertical positive sense of fear and the horizontal negative sense of fear. So, what are the scriptural antidotes to fear? Well, certainly Christ is the solution to our fears. He says, do not let your heart to be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. That's John 14 one. And he assures us, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. So he's talking about temporary or untrustworthy peace. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. Or, in this case, delos. That word is delos. Don't be timid. If we have fear in life, let us fear the Lord. And then, there's many I'm gonna mention. I'm not gonna read all these. Psalm 56, what time am I afraid? I will trust in thee. Psalm 11, in God I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. And then I list a number of others there, you see in the outline, which I don't have in front of me. In 1 John 14, there's a film in a passage about perfect love, perfect love excludes anger, or fear, I'm on fear. Perfect love excludes fear. And fear prevents love from being perfect. The two counteract each other. The more perfect the love, the less possibility of fear. The more of the fear, the less perfect the love. So if we can have our goal, have perfect love, fear will be banished. It's easy to say, isn't it? But it's hard to do. I mentioned anxiety is a type of fear. I'll bring one verse that's tied to that, Philippians 4, 6. Be careful, and that word careful is anxious. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, and here's the antidote, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the result, the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I have a whole host of other ones, Joshua 1.9, that's not in there, Matthew 6.34, Isaiah 43.1, and of course, Psalm 23.4. Though I walk in fear of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because thou art with me. There's a whole psalm that's good with this too, Psalm 18. Specifically in verse four, David admits to being afraid. David had the same problem that we do. But read Psalm 18. It's a good one to overcome that kind of fear. So we can have comfort that men like David struggled with fear. Oswald Chambers, he was a Scottish Baptist evangelist. There's a lot of things I don't agree with him, but he said something interesting here. He said, the remarkable thing about God is that when you perfectly fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else. We fear men so much because we fear God so little. I thought that was a great quote. Finally, let's turn to Psalm 37. And Gary and I were talking about this because it was actually brought up in a sermon he heard recently on the radio by, who was it, did you say? Jeremiah, David Jeremiah. And I was just in this and this came up in a sermon I guess on the radio. So Psalm 37, you'll see the word, the term fret not. You'll see it several times. Fret not, it's how it starts. The fret not is actually translated anger. So the word behind fret not is anger. Uncontrolled, unrighteous anger. But it's also, in other places, it's translated distressed. So whether your problem is with anger, maybe it's a problem with fear, maybe your besetting sin is anxiety, Whichever one it is, read the psalm that way. Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like grass and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good, so that thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way to the Lord. Trust in him, and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as light, and thy judgments as the noonday. Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently for him. fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in thy way, in his way because of the man who bring wicketh devices to pass. So those are, you can see in between those two frets are several different helpful things on commands on what we should do. Whether we're struggling with anger, whether we're struggling with fear, anxiety, depression, And then there's some reassuring words toward the end in verse 23 that says, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. And we know about that in Romans 8. We are not condemned. We are not absolutely condemned. Why are we not cast out? Well, the Lord upholdeth us with his hand. And in 28, for the Lord loveth judgment and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever. And then 34, wait on the Lord, keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. So how do we control uncontrolled fear, uncontrolled anger? uncontrolled negative emotions. Trust, delight in, commit thy ways, rest, wait patiently, but also think righteously and pray. Let us seek to discover the sin that's within us by self-examination and let that then lead to the remedy of uncontrolled sinful anger and unwarranted fears. The righteousness in the cross of Christ, that is our remedy, he and he alone can perfectly deal with these enemies of fear and anger. In 1 Corinthians 9, 24, know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize, so run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things, self-control. That's what temperate means there. How can we develop this inner self-mastery that's so important for our life and our life eternally? We must be filled with the Holy Spirit so that he may produce self-control in our life. We must be willing to set our mind on the things of the Spirit and put to death the deeds of the body so we may live. But let us not only have self-control, let us be controlled by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What should have power over us? I concluded my last message the same way. Colossians 3.15, let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body and be thankful. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we are thankful for your word. For your word gives us so much comfort. Help us to turn to your word when we struggle with negative emotions that tend to tear us away and make us flee. Help us not to flee from you. Help us to flee to you. And as we sang in the last hymn, we pray that we would arise and put our armor on and hear the call of Christ who is our captain. And now the weak may say that they are strong. May the spirit come and put strength in our strides and give grace to every hurdle that we may run with faith to win the prize of a servant good and faithful. So we thank you for your word. We thank you for your son who you sent, who upholds us with his hand and keeps us under his wings. And we pray this in the name of your son Jesus, amen.