What's the big deal with fearing man? What's the problem with trying to impress one another?

The desire for pure approval. That dopamine hit that we get when we impress others. That desire

to be admired. What's the problem with it all? Well, on Monday, we looked at 1st Peter 315,

and there we saw that the commission that we honor Christ or rever Christ in our hearts. It's a

it's a text about fearing God. And I brought back to mind the sermon Pastor John preached 42 years

back in the fall of 1980. I wanted to share a clip from that old sermon today that we talked about

on Monday. Here's 34-year-old Pastor John to explain this connection between revering Christ

and dying to the approval of others. What is this reverencing the Lord Christ in our hearts? What's

this amazing thing that has the power to turn the fear of man into hope and the power always to give

us a reason for the hope that is in us that we can speak to others? Now to answer that question in

accord with the immediate context, what we need to do instead of importing our ideas in there,

as I will ever know what reverence is, is to notice what Peter's doing. Peter is quoting from Isaiah.

He's quoting from Isaiah chapter 8 verses 12 and 13, and I'd like you to look at that with me. Isaiah

chapter 8 verses 12 through 13. He's taken this quote that God gave to Isaiah for his day and he's

adapted it for his own situation. God gave Isaiah a warning in these verses about how he should

feel about his adversaries and about how he should feel about the Lord God. We'll start reading at

verse 11 of Isaiah 8 and you'll hear immediately the similarity to first Peter. The Lord spoke thus

to me with his strong hand upon me and warned me not to walk in the way of this people saying,

do not call conspiracy all that this people call conspiracy and do not fear what they fear nor be

in dread but reverence the Lord of hosts let him be your fear and let him be your dread. You can see

clearly that Peter was alluding to this text, not an exact quotation but an adaptation for his

own situation. God had warned Isaiah, don't fear what men fear. Fear me, reverence me in your

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