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“…for fear of the Jews”

 

“Howbeit no man spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.”  John 7:13

“And after this Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews…”  John 19:38

“…when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews…”  John 20:19

This is the first Briefing I have written like this. Meaning that I have no idea where this article will go at all or what direction it will take.  All I know is that while in prayer this morning, the Holy Spirit kept saying to me “for fear of the Jews.”  Everything in God’s word is divine and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.  So I will just begin to write a few truths I have seen just this morning while meditating upon the subject.

Who are the Jews?  They are the religious ones who could always be found in the synagogues on the Sabbath, they were the educated ones who thought they knew the word but couldn’t find Christ or even see Christ in the scriptures.  They loved to have the control over the people.  In every synagogue (church) you will find Pharisees (the religious ones), you will find Sadducees (the unbelieving ones), you will find Scribes (the working ones), and you will find the Herodians (the worldly ones).

These are all found in the temple disputing with Jesus and attempting to shut Him up at every turn.   Mark 11:27 says, “And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. And they said to Him, By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” And then Mark 12:13 says, “Then they sent to him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to catch Him in His words.” And then Mark 12:18 says, “Then some Sadducees…came to Him; and they asked Him, saying…”  WOW…all of this happened during one trip to the temple.  Because in Mark 11:27 He enters the temple and He doesn’t leave until Mark 13:1.

When you begin to do anything for God, expect opposition. Look forward to it.  Only spiritual people will support you and back your words.  You will remember that it wasn’t until Jesus began to speak God’s word that all the people came against Him.  Satan is not going to sit back and watch you wreck his kingdom and his people with God’s word without doing something about it.  Satan uses people to get to you; and he uses people you know and sometimes people you love to get at you.  Do not be as those who “for fear of the Jews” would not speak openly of Him.  Be bold and open your mouth and speak forth the words of this life.  Be neither ashamed nor dismayed…for God will back your words.  If you are walking in grace and speaking in love then do not fear them at all.  Gird up your loins, take up your staff, and run to the front lines and show God your faith.  Do not be afraid!!  I also at one time feared men’s words and their positions of authority (that were being abused) and I let their words almost crush me into oblivion until Jesus showed me the truth about these men and their words.

I let their words wound me and bind me up and almost kill me.  I walked away from the ministry completely because of the words of men.  The Lord had to teach me these truths from His word.  Today I see it for what it is…an attack to hinder God’s kingdom from going forward in the earth.  And it takes a spiritual strength to see it and get through it and it takes divine revelation from God’s word to get to the place where their words are like water off a ducks back.  Why does water run off a ducks back?  Because of the oil in its wings.  I’m sure you can put it together.  I can still remember the very first time I ever preached in my life (1989).  They’re were two other spiritual ministers who were seasoned in the word sitting in the audience.  Afterwards they both came up and said it was the most powerful thing they had ever heard or sat under.  This was a confirmation that God had anointed me with power.  But I let the words of other men who weren’t spiritual but were in positions of authority overpower those words and it crippled me for years.

They can be well-meaning men…they’re just misinformed spiritually.  They can’t drink of the new wine because they say the old is better.

And don’t be a “secret disciple” like Joseph of Arimathea .  How in the world will you ever crush satan’s head (for you are the feet of Jesus) openly if you’re living a life for Him secretly?  In other words, your family, your children, your spouse, your church, your workplace, your friends, and God Himself needs to know how serious you are about spiritual things and how much you really love Jesus.  If you are ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of you.  This is what the Lord Himself said.  Are you secretly being a disciple “for fear of the Jews?” Is there something God has told you to do?  Get out there and do it then.  Who cares if you fall over flat?  Learn from it, get up and do it a different way.  God is looking at the heart, and He will empower you, for He is pleased with you when you DO His word (James 1:22) and when you DO His work (James 1:25).

And don’t keep yourself shut up with a bunch of other disciples behind church doors “for fear of the Jews” when you should be out and about promoting and advancing His word and His kingdom.  Be faithful in the little things and God will give you more.  DON’T FEAR THE JEWS!!  The ones who have never done anything for God will be the ones that come against you the most?  Why?  Because their own consciences are smitten; and instead of humbling themselves under the mighty hand of God for their own failures and disobedience, they take it out on you to make themselves look better and feel better.  Oh, the conscience of man…it can be easily appeased and soothed with many excuses.  But you, my friend, go out and preach the kingdom of God with great power, authority, and conviction.

Don’t let religious people get to you.  Be secure in Christ; be firm in your faith.  Religious people are the Jews of our day; they are the tares whom satan has sown among the wheat.  Quit listening to them!!  Listen to Godly men who are seasoned in the spirit and have the real life of God in them.  These men will help propel you forward, for they have nothing to gain from you and they can impart much to you.

God is for you.  God believes in you.  God needs you and is waiting for you to believe Him for great and mighty things.  Tear the roof off the Lord’s own house to get to Him (Mark 2:1 in the Greek bears out that it was His own personal house & if you read the gospels slowly and carefully you will see that He had a house in an isolated place by the sea).  Let Him see your faith.  He loves wild faith…childlike faith.  He told me one day, “I was to Moses, Aaron, and Samuel The God who forgives {Psalm 99:8}, But Robert, I want to be to you the God who is limitless.” Psalm 78:41.  You see, they limited the Holy One of Israel in Psalm 78:41, but we don’t have to limit Him.  Let Him out of the little box of misconception or preconception you may have Him in.  God will be as big to you as you want Him to be.  You cannot out-give God, you cannot out-believe God.  Let Him be to you “the God who is limitless.”

Stay away from dead people.  Spiritually dead people I mean…because their faithlessness is a contagion that will be imparted to you by their words.  Surround yourself with serious Christians that are really loving God and living for God and want to take the whole world for God.  If you’re going to a dead church where there’s only pods and husks to eat and stagnant water to drink…RUN FOR YOUR LIFE before the life is sucked out of you.  Proverbs says that the leech has two daughters and their names are Give and Give.  What does a leech do?  Sucks out your blood.  The word teaches that the “life is in the blood.” I’m sure you’re seeing the parallels here.

Brethren, let’s wake up and be bold about these things.  The kingdom of God is being entered into, and taken by force.  We are in a war and if you can’t see that, then you need to spend more time in His word and more time on your knees.  God will pass you over if you can’t believe Him.  He is looking for believers!!  “These signs shall follow them that believe…”  This has nothing to do with these signs following every Christian…NO…these signs are for those who BELIEVE.  Look at that reference very carefully in Mark 16:17.  It doesn’t say “all who believe” it says “them that believe.”  The signs following are only for certain ones…the believing ones.  Can you believe?  Can you really believe?  Jesus Himself said, “When the Son of Man returns, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)

As for me and my wife, we are going to believe God as never before.  He is “limitless” to us.  We are radically believing Him and standing on His word and He is daily answering us.  It takes a spiritual tenacity to receive from the Lord sometimes.  The four tore off the tiles of the Lord’s own house; yet the Lord didn’t see the hole in His roof, it is recorded that “He, seeing their faith…”  Do you just see a hole in your finances, in your marriage, in your children, in your job, etc?  Or can you see faith coming down on four ropes attempting to reach you.

Can your faith be seen?  Is it tangible?  The Lord healed a blind man in Mark 10:50.  He said to him, “your faith has made you well.”  What faith? What did the Lord see that enabled Him to make this comment?  In verse 50 it says that the blind man threw aside his garment.  This was his beggar’s garment.  He was blind, how would he find it again if he didn’t get healed?  He believed!!! This was what the Lord saw. He saw the item that the blind man put his faith in up to that time being cast aside for a new garment, so-to-speak.  Can you see the reality of this truth.  He had a radical faith, and he did something to prove he had faith.  As soon as he heard that the Master had called him, he threw the old garment away, for he knew he was getting healed!! And on a further note, Bartimaeus didn’t care who heard him or how loud he was.  He wasn’t going to let anyone stop him from receiving from the Lord.  He transferred his faith from the garment to the Lord.

Can you transfer your faith in anything natural to Him?  Get free of the fear, get free of the doubt, and believe God again.  This is all in His word if you will just take the time to search it out and apply it to your own life.

Have no more fear of the Jews. Don’t have a closed mouth (Jn. 7:13), don’t be a secret disciple (Jn. 19:38), and don’t live your life with the door shut (Jn. 20:19).  Open your heart again…and believe again.

 

See you on the front lines, because I need your help up here.