No Longer A Slave To Fear Series

No Longer a Slave to FEAR

Series: No Longer Slaves

Chuck Sligh

February 3, 2019

PROP: A rod and reel for object lesson under point II.

NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.

TEXT: 2 Timothy 1:7 – “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

INTRODUCTION

John Hunter in his book, Knowing God’s Secrets, writes: “Medical science now recognizes that between 60 and 90% of our sicknesses are caused by such emotions as fear, sorrow, envy, resentment, hatred.”

I don’t know his source for such figures, but I’ll say that if these statistics are even close to accurate, then we need to learn how to deal with how we feel. As believers we need to learn how to be freed from the slavery of our emotions—such emotions as fear, worry, depression, bitterness, anger, stress, loneliness, and guilt. That’s partly what this series on “No Longer Slaves” is about.

Last week we looked at how to be liberated from WORRY. Today I want for us to learn how to be free from FEAR in our lives.

Illus. – One night in a severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was about to turn the light off when he asked in a trembling voice, “Mommy, will you stay with me all night?” Smiling, her mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, “I can’t dear. I have to sleep in Daddy’s room.” A long silence followed, at last broken by a shaky voice saying, “The big sissy!”

All of us have experienced fear. Clarence Macartney said, “From the cradle to the grave, fear casts its baleful shadow.” Let’s talk about fear today and how God wants us to be free from it.

I. WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT FEAR?

Examining every verse in the Bible that mentioned fear, I discovered that the Bible speaks of fear in three different ways:

1. First, there is a HOLY fear.

We read in Deuteronomy 6:13, “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve Him.”

We’re commanded to fear God and serve Him. We’re to fear his wrath on sin if we do not accept His free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, but if we’ve been saved, we have a natural fear of disappointing our wonderful, loving Lord. That is, we’re no longer afraid OF Him, but we fear hurting our loving Father.

Illus. – A young girl was out with some friends and they were tempting her to go to a bar and get drunk; but she wisely refused to give in to the temptation.

One of her friends taunted her, “What’s the matter? Are you afraid your parents will find out and hurt you?”

She said, “No, I’m afraid my parents will find out and I will hurt THEM.”

And so it is with believers and God.

2. There are also HEALTHY fears.

During the Great Depression President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” That’s sounds good, but there’s one thing wrong with it: IT’S NOT TRUE! Jesus taught us that there are some things we OUGHT to fear. He said in Matthew 10:28, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

In addition, there are always certain normal fears we need to survive in life. As long as there are rattlesnakes, poisonous spiders, scorpions, electricity, politicians, and other things that can hurt us, fear can be a HEALTHY matter.

• A SMART ELECTRICIAN had better have a healthy fear of electricity if he’s going to make it home for supper.

• An EXPLOSIVE ORDINANCE TECHNICIAN had better have a fear of explosives if he wants to see another birthday.

• As PARENTS, we teach our children to have a fear of certain things that can burn, that can shock, and that can cut, that can break bones.

3. Besides healthy fears, and holy fear, the Bible also speaks of HURTFUL fears.

Paul told Timothy in our text in 2 Timothy 1:7 – “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

There’s the FEAR OF THE LORD and there are NATURAL FEARS. What is hurtful is a “SPIRIT of fear”…when fear controls us instead of us controlling our fears. The spirit of fear is when we allow ourselves not to trust in God as we face the future and the cousin of fear is worry.

WHY do we worry?—Because of FEAR of something in the future that we’re not sure of the outcome. If we allow ourselves to be beset with a SPIRIT of fear, our fears will victimize us, neutralize us, and immobilize us. We will be enslaved by our fears.