Revelation 1:17-18; Psalm 27
A young college student had a summer job as a welder’s assistant, building a hospital. He had never welded before in his life. He was afraid of heights, and wouldn’t you know it, they put him to work welding on the seventeenth floor! Vast sections of steel beams were jutting out over nowhere. He worked, almost immobilized by fear from day to day. Finally, an “incredible hulk” of a welder he was working with looked at him and asked, “What’s the matter, son? Are you scared?” The young fellow said, “S-s-scared? I’ve b-b-been t-t-trying to t-t-tell you for t-t-two weeks ‘I q-q-quit!’ but I c-c-couldn’t get it out of m-m-my m-m-mouth!” He was scared to death. And so are a lot of people. Fear immobilizes. It also intimidates.
Look with me at our first Scripture passage tonight. It is the Lord’s Day. John the apostle is an old man now. The Scripture says, he was in the spirit and suddenly he has an experience with Christ ... the living, risen Christ.
READ Revelation 1:17-18
Are you ever afraid? Can you remember a time in your life when you were afraid? When the overwhelming feeling totally engulfed you?
Our first parents, Adam and Eve, knew about fear. They had sinned. For the first time in the human race sin had come. And after they had sinned, the became afraid of God. God had been coming in the cool of the evening and would spend the ultimate in quality time with them. But this time they hid. God came into the garden and asked, “Adam? Adam where are you?” Adam said, “I was afraid and I hid myself.” And so sin the experience of fear was introduced into the human race.
Everyone experiences fear at some time. All classes ... rich and poor, high and low, young and old, educated and ignorant. We have all felt a sense of fear at some time. And the fears we have experienced cover a range from the fear of ourselves or others ...
the fear of the past, the present, or the future ... the fear sickness, death, poverty and many others. What is your fear?
An article in McCall’s magazine several years ago made a statement about little children going to school and dealing with the fear of a new experience. I believe it is as valid a statement today as it was back then. The children made statements like, “I’ll miss you mommy.” “No one will like me.” “My teacher will hate me.” “The bully is picking on me.”
Some of you may have to reach back a long way to remember what it was like going to a new school. I never attended the same school for more than two years until my high school years, simply because they kept changing the school districts, or building new schools. We only moved once in my lifetime.
Some of our children know the experience of fear at going to a new school. But fear not only come to children. It is also common to adults.
In Luke 21:25 Jesus is talking about what is expected in the last days. We are always intrigued by what He said about the last days. “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves. men fainting from fear.”
We live in a time of fear. Many of you can remember the assassination of John Kennedy.
The World War II, Korea, Viet Nam and Desert Storm. I grew up in the cold war era, and can remember atomic bomb drills that we went through. Knowing what I know now, I think today how futile it was for us go through those kinds of drills. If the blast didn’t kill us, the radioactivity would eventually. We live in a world filled with fear.
Jesus knew that and he came to speak a word of good news, of encouragement, about fear. This is what we read in verse 17. “Fear not!” Jesus is speaking and is using a theme that is woven all through the Bible.
In all the relationships between God and man, God was continually saying, “Fear not!” He said it to Abraham. He said it to Isaac. He said it to Jacob, thinking about his son lost in Egypt. He said it to the children of Israel as they stood at the edge of the Red Sea. Moses said, “Don’t be afraid! Stand by and see what God is going to do!”
If we really examine ourselves we will discover we are basically afraid of three things. We are afraid of life. We are afraid of death. We are afraid of eternity. What Jesus is telling us is we do not have to be afraid. It is not a new thought or statement. FEAR NOT! It is a theme that encompasses the whole of the Bible. Fear not! Jesus has come to John in a special revelation to say it one more time. Fear not!
Fear Of Life
Jesus is saying we do not have to be afraid of life. Do you recall in Matthew’s gospel the story of the men given the talents? One was given 5. One was given 2. And one was given only 1. A day was coming in which they were to be asked to account for what they did with their talents. The one with 5 had gained 5 more. The one with 2 had gained 2 more. But the one who only had 1 talent, what did he do? He went and buried it in the ground. He was afraid.
Are you afraid of the responsibilities of life? Some are and they choose to end their lives rather than face what the world expects. They find the going too tough. What would you say if someone were about to take their life?
It happened to Canon Theodore Streeter. A young English secretary climbed out on a ledge, about to jump. Canon Streeter climbed out on the ledge with her. Not close enough to reach her but close enough to speak to her. For an hour he persuaded her there was something worth living for. At the end of that hour she jumped.
I have wondered what I would have said to her. What would you have said to her to try to convince her life was worth living? You see, Jesus Christ has brought life ~~~ life to the Christian. Life is worth living. Their is hope for tomorrow.
Fear Of Death
When you look at the people of the Old Testament, they did not have a concept of tomorrow, as we might in the Christian faith. That was why it was so important for them to have children. They saw their lives being lived on through their children. That was the best hope they had. But, in the New Testament, we see so many people as they faced death; Stephen as he was being stoned as the first Christian martyr. Paul almost longed for death. They were not afraid of it.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, “O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting?” Somehow it had been transformed in his mind. He said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. He saw no difference. Here he served Christ.
There he dwelt with Christ. Death was a something welcomed. He had no fear of it.
Charles Templeton says, “Christ has taken the cross, and using it for a battering ram, He has driven the end out of the tomb and He has let in the light of day.”
Jesus Christ abolished death. Are you afraid of death? There is something in our faith that keeps us from being really afraid of death. It has been a source of strength to me to watch God’s saints die. I have been amazed that so many people have faced death with no fear. They do not die afraid! Jesus said, “Do not be afraid. Fear not. I am the Lord of life. I am also the victor over death.” We believe that. It is at the very core of what we believe.
Fear Of Eternity
There is a third thing Jesus suggests we should not be afraid of and that is eternity. We live. We die. But then what? Mankind in all the ages has asked, “If a man dies, shall he live again?”
Columbus thought there was more beyond the point that people said there was nothing. He set sail and when he came back he had discovered a new land.
Jesus would say to us, there is something beyond, and He went there. He went to the abode of the dead. He went to the place beyond where death is and He came back to say I have been there. “And I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am, there ye may be also.” As Christians we talk about heaven. We know that if people do not believe in Jesus Christ, they will not know heaven. They will have hell.
I married a young couple one time. They had been counseled by another pastor who told them about Jesus. They chose to go to hell. By not responding they have made their choice. That is a frightening thought.
You see there is something beyond. If we do not have Christ we should most certainly be afraid. Yet Jesus says, “Fear not, I have the keys of death and hell.” The word keys speaks of authority. The word keys speaks of One who has control. We have our escape from that .... our release .....with Christ in eternity.
I wish Jesus had said more about heaven. As the years have passed I have heard more than one dear saint, who in the twilight years of their lives, say that death is not going to be unpleasant. They have more friends on that side of glory than they do on this side. It is not going to be sorrowful to depart this life. It is going to be a day of rejoicing when I reach that great reunion.
Jesus just said I am going to prepare a place for you. Where I am there you will be.
He is saying, “Just trust Me.” That is God talking to us. We don’t have to be afraid when we trust Him.
Why do you think He did not tell us more about heaven? I think our language could not handle it. When you think about the limitations of our language ... you have never heard an adequate description of who God truly is, we just can’t appreciate it or imagine it.
It would be like trying to tell someone born blind what a sunset is all about, or about the beauty of a harvest moon. It would be like trying to tell someone born deaf about the beauty of the Dallas Symphony Chorus singing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It would be like telling someone born without an adequate brain about the enthusiasm of a standing ovation for a brilliant performance of a great pianist.
I guess if Jesus had really told us everything about heaven, we would be so homesick we would not be willing to stay here. But what He said was, “Fear not.” Don’t be afraid of life ... don’t be afraid of death ... don’t be afraid of eternity.
Turn with me to Psalm 27. This is a psalm of faith. I am asking you to consider faith.
READ 27:1-4
What is he talking about? He is talking about the presence of God. Hebrews 13:5 says,
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
What did the psalmist ask for? That I may dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
God said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do to me. The Lord is the defense of my life. I will not be afraid. Why? Because He says He will never leave us. He will never forsake us.
A professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from bygone days was called home to be with the Lord. H. C. Brown. I have some of his books on preaching. His words and works continue to live in the hearts of preachers everywhere. H. C. Brown from the time of 10 years of age was afraid. Because he had rheumatic fever at age 10, his heart was left weakened. He hid that fact from everyone except his immediate family. He lived in fear that people would find out. For 36 years he was afraid.
When he was 46 years old Dr. Denton Cooley did surgery on him in Houston. He did some repair work on his heart. Out of that experience H. C. Brown would begin to say, “I am no longer running from my fear. I am walking toward it, in confidence and faith because of Jesus.”
He told a story in his book, Walking Toward Your Fear. A book that dealt with fear as it had come to grasp his own life. He said a friend of his had taught his daughter to walk toward her fear. One night she came home from a date. It was midnight. Her parents were already in bed. She went to bed. But she thought she heard something in her closet.
Ordinarily she might have felt a little passing fear and then drifted off to sleep. But her father had said, “Walk toward your fear.” She got up, walked to the closet and opened the door. Startled, there stood a man whom she didn’t know. When the door opened he bolted in panic. He knocked her down as he ran. He ran into the hallway. She screamed. He father came out. He saw the intruder. He ran after him. He tackled him. But he got up and jumped out of a second story window and disappeared. Later her father would say, “I taught my daughter to walk toward her fear. If she had not done that, her life could have been taken that night. Maybe all of us were in jeopardy, that night.”
Do you walk toward your fear? Briefly, let me give you four things to do with your fear in our concluding moments. Are you afraid? Certainly we are afraid. Whether we are a young child or an elderly adult, we are afraid. What do you do?
1. As they occur, admit them. Honestly admit the fact that you are afraid.
2. As you admit them, commit them to God, your fears. Say to Him, “I am afraid. But I trusted You because of Your Word and because You said You are always with me.”
3. As you commit your fears to God, release them. Don’t pick them up again. Don’t hold on to them. But release them to Him. Let Him take care. Trust His presence. Trust His power to work in your behalf.
4. Stand firm. Stand firm! What? In your own strength? NO! In your own confidence?
Absolutely not! But in Him. Trusting Him. Let your fears pass you by.
What are we talking about? We are talking about “Hanging In There in Face of Fear.”
Are you afraid? The Psalmist says, “What time I am afraid, I trust in Thee.”
We say that to our children. Maybe we need to say that again to ourselves. Let’s pray.
