what has captured his heart - he says, “The Lord will provide.” There's a fearless man. And I love this moment in Scripture where Abraham is now building the altar, and the Hebrew word that's used for what he's doing is, it's a word used for stacking something neatly in order. Now that tells you about his heart. He wasn't saying, “I can't believe you asked me to build this altar to take this son away from me, who I waited so long for. Where are you? What kind of God are you?” No, this man's heart is at rest and he carefully builds that altar. He raises the knife and God provides an animal for sacrifice. That's a fearless man. Able to look at what seems to be unthinkable and not be moved, believing that the God he knows, the God who has captured his heart will provide. That’s fearlessness. I think of that moment when Israel is in the Valley of Elah facing the Philistine army. This is the army of the Most High God, this is the army that God said, “I will deliver those nations into your hands, I am the Lord.” And that first day, that giant warrior Goliath comes out and the army of the Lord goes back to the tents in fear and they commiserate, “What are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do?” They do that for 40 days. It's shocking. The reason they're in their tents afraid is because they're, at that moment, a whole bunch of identity amnesiacs. They've forgotten who God is and they've forgotten who they are as His children. Hear this, a good biblical theology of the majesty of God doesn't just define who God is, it redefines who we are as His children because He has poured out His glory on us for our salvation. It's a scandal what this army is doing. These sadly fearful men who've forgotten the Lord and forgotten who they are as His army. David shows up, he's there to deliver a lunch to his brothers, bread and cheese, and they sort of make fun of him and tell him to go back to his sheep. And David says, “Why aren't we fighting? I'll go.” Now, David doesn't do that because he's trusting his own strength. Because he says, “God delivered the lion and he delivered the bear, and he will deliver this Philistine this day.” David knows who his God is, he knows what his power is, and he is not entering that valley in his strength. He knows he has no human ability whatsoever to defeat that giant, none. The giant mocks him and says, “Am I a dog that you'll throw me a stick?” And I love that scene where David starts walking toward that giant. I hear the timpani begin to roll as the drama builds. And David goes closer as the giant is taunting him and he starts doing this with his sling. And when I see that sling, I hear the symbols begin to crash at this drama of this moment, and he lets go of that stone. It hits the giant in the temple, knocks him out, and David runs out and cuts off his head. That's fearlessness. That's facing an enemy you have no hope of defeating and not running away but moving forward because you're so convinced of the power of your Lord. Men, when do you run away instead of moving forward? Because you've forgotten who your God is. Listen, the only thing that will ever release you from that myriad of horizontal fears that can capture your heart is when your heart is now ruled by vertical fear. For Abraham, for David and for us, it's only ever fear of God that will release me from fear of everything else. Look at verse seven. "He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord." I love this, his heart is firm. It means that fearlessness is firmness of heart, it's strength of heart, it's an immovability of heart. I'm afraid that many supposedly strong men - hear what I'm about to say - have wobbly hearts. I mean, it just takes a little bit of traffic for your heart to wobble. For some of us, a flat tire brings us 75% of the way to atheism. We have wobbly hearts. An argument with your wife makes your heart wobble. A little bit of financial difficulty makes your heart wobble. The rebellion of one of your children makes your heart wobble. You wobble, you begin to doubt God's presence, you begin to doubt His goodness, you begin to do things you shouldn't do. You have a wobbly heart.
Transcript: Session 1
MEN OF FAITH
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