Fear of Man's Opinion
by J. C Ryle
"The fear of man" will indeed "prove to be a snare" (Proverbs 29:25). It is terrible to observe the power which it has over most minds, and especially over the minds of the young. Few seem to have any opinions of their own, or to think for themselves. Like dead fish, they go with the stream and tide: what others think is right, they think is right; and what others call wrong, they call wrong too. There are not many original thinkers in the world. Most men are like sheep, they follow a leader. If it was the fashion of the day to be Roman Catholics, they would be Roman Catholics, if it was to be Islamic, they would be Islamic. They dread the idea of going against the current of the times. In a word, the opinion of the day becomes their religion, their creed, their Bible, and their God.
It always saddens to me see those who once stood with us to go out from us by capitulating to the world and its narrative. It is especially distressing to see this among professing Christians. Dr. Adrian Warnock's 
Historically speaking, God's glory has often shone the brightest when the church was at its weakest. In fact, Christians should see times of cultural/political weakness as a time of the greatest opportunity to exhibit Christ. If God ordains that the Church should endure weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions or difficulties, for Christ’s sake, we should be well content, for when we are weak, Christ is strong. (2 Cor 12:10) Perhaps the greatest apologetic will be to respond to such hardships and difficulties with joy and love toward those who may bring them our way (1 Peter 3:13-22), along with steadfast perseverance in the principles of our convictions.
I was born into this world with certain sinful dispositions and inclinations, and neither therapy nor willpower could produce real change to my fallen human nature. God's holy laws could only expose to me, as a fallen creature, my utter moral impotence and accountability to God (Rom 3:19, 20) but gave me no ability to obey them. The gospel, on the other hand, is not a simple call to behavior modification, but instead, the granting of a renewed heart, a new nature, which loves God's commands (1 John 3:9, 5:1-4; Deut 30:6; Ps. 119:97; Ezek 36:26). And by grace I was declared righteous for Jesus's sake, who fulfilled God's law for me, not because I brought anything of my own to the table. As a result the gospel of grace awakens me to the fact that other sinners are also fallen human beings. So how can I look down on anyone, when God had such amazing mercy on a great sinner like me? I now only want to point others to the light of the gospel of Christ that they might also know Him.
I have recently encountered not a small number of professing "Christians" online who are "offended" when certain lifestyles are referred to as sinful, even though the Bible is not unclear about it. But if something offends a person does that make it wrong? That is not an argument but a tactic. So it always makes me wonder: are these really people who believe themselves to be Christians or are they pretending to believe but have ulterior motives? (since it is easy to hide real identities online) It is true that the gospel can indeed be offensive to sinners and has been offensive to me on many occassions, but God always uses that offense for His sovereign good purposes.(1 Cor. 1:18) The Scripture is clear that if someone is a regenerate believer who loves God they would not be trying to find any way they could to get out of what the God commands in the Bible but would be eager to want to find out how they can, by the grace of God, obey His precepts.
Sin is against an infinitely holy God so the punishment is also infinite. But thank the Lord Jesus Christ, in His great love for sinners, came to fully absorb the wrath of God for us upon His own Person; the wrath that sinners like us deserve, so that all who are united to Him will receive His bountiful mercy. This doctrine is perhaps the most sobering in the Bible, but it also teaches us to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us, and pray for those who abuse us. Because God was kind to ungrateful and evil men like us, so we should likewise be merciful, and extend our love to enemies, even as our Father was merciful to us when we were His enemies. (see Luke 6:27-36).
How is Christianity different than other religions? It is vastly different on many levels. How? Most world religions essentially rely on the testimony of one single individual having claimed to have some kind of revelation from God. Islam and Mormonism, for example, both have the testimony of one man claiming to have had a talk with an angel. The followers basically have to believe the word of one man. Other religions, such as Hinduism, rely on subjective mystical feelings derived from mystical practices developed in obscurity... but Christianity relies on the testimony hundreds of witnesses to the events surrounding the Person of Jesus Christ. Most importantly, the resurrection, the pivotal event in human history. It relies on real history, and real events witnessed by significant number of people - 100s. People willing to die if they had to for believing it - and many did. And the 66 books of the Bible from different authors from different eras all tell the same unfolding, consistent, overarching story.
Jesus Christ: The Interpretive Key to the Scripture: Five Examples of Doctrinal Errors that Arise When this Key is not Used.