In the sermon 'Do Not Fear the Face of Man,' Paul Carrington emphasizes the importance of trusting in God rather than fearing man. Drawing on Jeremiah 17, he contrasts the blessings of trusting in the Lord with the curse of relying on human strength, likening it to a shrub in a barren desert. Carrington highlights the biblical warning from Proverbs 29 about the dangers of fearing man, noting that true safety and wisdom come from trusting God. He stresses the value of a clean conscience and the peace it brings, regardless of the cost or difficulty of obedience to God. The sermon calls for believers to honor God above all and resist the temptation to prioritize human opinion. Carrington encourages looking to biblical and historical examples of faithfulness in the face of opposition, underscoring that hope and comfort come from relying on God, not our own strength.

One of my favorite verses is found in Jeremiah 17 and he speaks of the blessing of the man who trusts in the Lord, but before that he speaks of the man who fears man and he basically says, cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and then he departs in his heart from the living God. He talks about him as a shrub in the desert and he shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited." And so sometimes we can be so careful to preserve things that we think we've built up, whether it's our names or our platforms, we can triangulate every decision. If I do this, what will this... I think that's a great, great danger. A lot of times we want to be wise, but we want to primarily honor God.

And if a man who has a view of fearing God and honoring God above all else He doesn't have to be too preoccupied with what everyone else is going to say what everyone else is going to do He just has God Preeminently in his mind And you have to ask how many verses do you find in the Bible? You know, Proverbs 29, for example, talks about the fear of man brings a snare, but he who puts his trust in the Lord is safe. And there's so many scriptures in the Bible that talk about fearing man, fearing man, don't fear their faces. And it's such a temptation. I think most of us, if we're honest, would have a certain amount of fear of man.

And that's why we're called to fear God above all. And that sometimes is gonna be a fight. But what I would love to do at the end of the day is, you know, they say that the softest pillow is a clean conscience. And you can go to bed at night, I obeyed God. Yes, this was the cost, this was the difficulty, but you know that you obeyed your God whom you're going to stand before, whom you're going to have an account to.

And so I think we have great reason to fight to not be afraid and to live in a way that gives glory and honor to him in all seasons. We have a great cloud of witnesses in the Bible. Church history is a wonderful example of men who were just like us, women who were just like us, who stood in the face of great opposition. We read their biographies, but we want to also follow in their train. Let's not just be people that glorify the Reformation and people who glorify wonderful things that have happened in history and yet cower at the first sign of opposition, but may God help us as well, like he helped them to stand.

It's not in the arm of flesh, it's not in our own strength, but it's by clinging to God that we derive all our hope and comfort.