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Fear Not; Be Not Afraid Part 2
(Rev. Barry Johnson and Rev. Rodney Johnson)
Introduction
In part one of our study on fear, we walked through Numbers 13, the record about how the ten spies or tribal leaders responded after they explored the Promised Land that the Lord had given to them. The primary point we brought out in the passage was that they took what they had seen and internalized it and concluded that they could not go in and occupy the land. In other words, because of what they had seen, they were so filled with fear that they forgot about God’s promise to them. Not only had they forgotten about God’s promise to them pertaining to the Promised Land, they literally forgot about what their lives were like in Egypt and what it took to get Pharaoh to release them. They forgot about all the plagues and walking across the Red Sea on dry land – all forgotten because of fear. And, for us, there are two overarching, yet similar points in this passage. The first point is that fear can cause us to forget God’s promises to us even though the Bible says in Titus 1:2, “in the hope of eternal life which God, Who cannot lie, promised before time began.” And, in a way, the second point follows the first. Because of the initial fear of the ten spies, who convinced the men and women of their tribes that they could not enter the Promised Land, the Children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
Numbers 14:28-38 records the following; “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you; (29) your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, all your numbered men according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. (30) ‘By no means will you come into the land where I swore to settle you, except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. (31) Your children, however, whom you said would become plunder—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. (32) But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. (33) Also, your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your bodies perish in the wilderness. (34) In accordance with the number of days that you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall suffer the punishment for your guilt a year, that is, forty years, and you will know My opposition. (35) I, the LORD, have spoken, I certainly will do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. They shall be worn out in this wilderness, and there they shall die.’ (36) As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, and who returned and led all the congregation to grumble against him by bringing a bad report about the land, (37) those men who brought the bad report of the land also died by a plague in the presence of the LORD. (38) But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.”
The ten spies who brought the negative report based on fear died immediately before the Lord for making the people afraid and causing them to not enter the Promised Land. Then, all the adults age twenty and above were told that they would wander in the wilderness for forty years, one year for every day the spies spied out the land. After that forty year span, God would bring their children to the Promised Land and they would get to enjoy what their parents refused. So in those forty years, all of the ones who doubted God and did not believe Him died in the wilderness. Now it’s important to understand that God did not keep the Children of Israel out of the Promised Land.
The Children of Israel kept themselves from receiving the promise. In other words, they forfeited what God had already given to them and we see this in Hebrews 3. The writer is encouraging the reader not to give in to unbelief by hardening their hearts against God’s Word and we see this in the beginning of several verses.
“(7) Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, (8) do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness’.…(12) Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; (13) but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.…(15) while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ (16) For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? (17) Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? (18) And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?” (Hebrews 3:7-8, 12-13, 15-18)
Ladies and gentlemen, verse 19 explains why the Children of Israel did not inherit the Promised Land. It also explains why Christians today are not receiving all of God’s promises to them. “(19) So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:19) And we all know what drove their unbelief – FEAR! Faith overcomes unbelief while fear feeds it! As a result of the adults’ unbelief and sin, every child under the age of 20 at the time the Children of Israel rebelled by refusing to take God at His Word, entered into the Promised Land. So, the second point is this, and it’s important: fear produced a 40-year delay in God’s ability to take the Children of Israel into the Promised Land. And not only that, fear led to all of the adults over the age of twenty to die in the wilderness and never see the Promise Land for which they had left Egypt for. Many truly would have lived longer had they stayed in Egypt not having faith in God! Ladies and gentlemen, this is how powerful and devastating fear can be in our lives. Not only can it cause us to forget what God has promised us in His Word, but it also can keep us from ever receiving those promises. It can also shorten our lives!!! With this background in mind, we’re going to examine three passages that bring out three points: (1) Fear happens quickly and without warning. (2) Fear occurs when we don’t know or truly believe what God has said. (3) Fear manifests when we are not living by faith. The three passages we are going to explore in this lesson are Matthew 14:22-32, Mark 5:35-43 and Luke 8:22-25.
Fear Happens Quickly and Without Warning
Let’s begin with Matthew chapter 14. Jesus has just fed about 5,000 men with two loaves and five fishes (verse 21). That was some miracle, right? Not even close. Let’s read the verse: “(21) Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” (Matthew 14:21) The number of people who were fed would have been around 15,000 or more. The disciples have just witnessed something that they had never seen before. Jesus prayed – let’s say it this way – Jesus spoke and more than 15,000 people were fed. With this in mind let’s pick up the chapter with verse 22.
“(22) Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.” (Matthew 14:22) [Jesus tells the disciples to get into a boat and go to the other side to Capernaum. Based on how this is worded – “Jesus made His disciples” – it appears the disciples did not want to leave Jesus behind. Earlier in the chapter we read that Herod, who beheaded John the Baptist, had heard about Jesus. Could it be that the disciples were afraid to go to Capernaum by way of Gennesaret because that was part of Herod’s jurisdiction and they didn’t want to go without their Lord and Protector?] “(23) And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. (24) But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.” (Matthew 14:23-24) [Sudden gusts of wind were common on the Sea of Galilee. But, in this case, the waves the wind produced were so strong that they covered the vessel with water.] “(25) Now in the fourth watch of the night [between three and six in the morning] Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. (26) And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out for fear.” (Matthew 14:25-26) [In the Greek, the word ghost is phantasma and means “apparition” and it caused the disciples to cry out with exceedingly great fear. The Amplified Bible says “And they screamed out with fright.”
The Jews were taught that if a person saw a ghost it was a sign that they were about to die.] “(27) But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.’” (Matthew 14:27) [The disciples were terrified because they believed they were about to die, but Jesus quickly tells them “do not be afraid.”
When you read throughout Scripture, whenever someone comes face to face with God, He always encourages them in the same way. Some examples include Genesis 15:1, Genesis 21:17, Judges 6:23, Matthew 28:5 and Luke 2:10.] Let’s continue with verse 28. “(28) And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ (29) So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. (30) But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’” (Matthew 14:28-30) [What we see in Peter we saw in the ten spies from in the first lesson. Just as they responded to what they had seen in the land that God had promised to them, Peter is also responding to not only what he is seeing, but what he is hearing and feeling (the wind) even with Jesus’ assurance that he could come to Him. Peter had Jesus’ word, but he let what he could see, hear and feel push what Jesus had said out of his mind.] “(31) And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31) [Why did Peter sink? He doubted what Jesus had said and he did not have enough faith to believe that Jesus always spoke the truth.] (32) And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.” (Matthew? ?14?:?32? ?NKJV?)??????????????????????????????????????????????????
The reason we wanted to examine this passage, as it relates to our study on fear, is because it shines a light on a very uncomfortable truth: We say we trust God and we say that we believe what He says in the Bible, but when an unpleasant situation takes us by surprise, our fallback position is fear and not trusting in God. When it comes to fear, for a Christian, it has more to do with not believing God and trusting what He says than the actual situation.
What we see in this passage is this: fear, alarm or fright happen when we don’t truly accept and believe what God has promised. For example, look at what He promises us in Hebrews 13:5: “Let your conduct (how you live) be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” It is difficult for many people to live without coveting something that someone else has. It is hard to accept having “less” while believing God will never leave or forsake us. It is easier to believe this when you have more and that is part of our problem relating to fear. When you think about Peter, he believed Jesus and therefore he did walk on water. He was the only disciple to do it. So the problem wasn’t that he believed Jesus initially, but what happened when he was in the midst of the storm. You see where we are going. It’s easy to believe and walk in faith when everything is fine. But when you are walking on the water with nothing underneath you to stop you from sinking and the winds are howling and you see Jesus but can’t touch Him, fear can reign unless you stay with believing what you initially heard. Remember, nothing with the weather had changed for Peter. The waves were up before he stopped out of the boat. The wind was blowing before he stepped out of the boat. So if he was going to be afraid, he should have stayed in the boat. What changed was he had to fully believe in Jesus when he stepped out of the security of that boat. Some of us are clinging to a boat in our fear versus stepping out in the water on our faith! Now let’s turn our attention to Mark chapter five.
Fear Occurs When We Don’t Know/Truly Believe What God Has Said
A ruler of the synagogue named Jairus has come to Jesus because his daughter is dying. He falls at Jesus’ feet begging Him to come with him, lay hands on her and heal her so that she will live (verse 23). Jesus agrees to go with him. There was a crowd of people pressing upon Him and in the midst of them was a woman with an issue of blood. I’m sure you’ve read the story. She touches Jesus’ garment and is healed instantly. After she confesses everything to Him, Jesus says “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” (Matthew 5:34) What jumps out at me each time I read this verse is that for 12 years she had no peace. Now she does! And we also see in her that we did not see in the Children of Israel – she believed that the healings that Jesus had done in the past, He would do for her that day. And she was right. Jesus tells her that she was healed because of her faith in Him! Now, Jairus has just seen the miracle that took place in the woman’s body because of her faith. But we know from the previous chapter that once something like this happens, Satan comes immediately to take away the remembrance of it. In the parable of the sower in Mark 4, Jesus explains what happens to the person who receives seed by the wayside, which we will see in just a moment, applying to Jairus. “And these are the ones by the wayside where the word was sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.” (Mark 4:15) What was sown in Jairus? The first thing that Jesus told the woman with the issue of blood – “.… your faith has made you well.” He has just seen the results of faith and who it is that must have faith. Now, with this in mind, let’s pick up the record with verse 35.
“(35) While He was still speaking, [At the same moment Jesus was speaking to the woman with the issue of blood] some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?’ [Now pay attention to the next three words.] As soon as [The Amplified Bible reads “Overhearing but ignoring.” Ladies and gentlemen, that is so important. Jesus is speaking truth to the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus’ servants arrive at that moment to tell him his daughter is dead. That was no coincident. Immediately, the enemy was trying to steal the word that Jairus was hearing Jesus speak to the woman. Jesus’ response is instruction for us: we don’t allow the facts of a situation to override the truth of God’s Word.] “(36) As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not be afraid; only believe.’ [Ladies and gentlemen, it doesn’t get any clearer than this. When what we see disagrees with what God says, and when what we hear disagrees with what God says, we believe God! If we don’t and allow fear to dominate our thinking, then what ultimately happened to the Children of Israel will happen to us – in this case, we will not receive the blessing, the healing and the deliverance that God has promised to us.] “(37) And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. (38) Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. (39) When He came in, He said to them, ‘Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.’ (40) And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying.” [When it comes to dealing with fear and unbelief in our lives, this verse needs to be burned into our subconscious. The phrase “And they ridiculed Him,” reads “And they laughed (loudly and with contempt) Him to scorn” in the KJV. When the people ridiculed Jesus for speaking the truth – for saying the child is not dead but sleeping – He literally put them out of the house. Jesus put those who carried doubt and unbelief out of the house so that Jairus and his wife would not hear any thing contrary to what Jesus had said and would say. Do you see the authority that Jesus walked in? Do you see how He refused to let nothing but His word stand in this situation? Ladies and gentlemen, as sons and daughters of God, we have that same authority. But we must believe we have it and we must be willing to exercise it.] (41) Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, ‘Talitha, cumi,’ which is translated, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.’ (42) Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement. (43) But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.” ??(Mark? ?5?:?35?-?43? ?NKJV??)??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
In this passage we saw how Satan tried to fill Jairus with fear after he heard what Jesus had said to the woman with the issue of blood. Satan wanted what Jairus was hearing to go in one ear and out the other. How any times have we done that? How many times have we heard a message that blessed us, that encouraged us to make changes in our lives and before we got home, it was gone? The enemy had stolen the message from your heart and what God desired for you. When he can steal the Word from us, it leaves a place in our lives for fear to take up residence. But what Jesus told Jairus, He’s telling us today: “Do not be afraid; only believe.” (verse 36) One additional point before we leave this section. When the people ridiculed Jesus, He did not get offended or distracted. He did not let Jairus get distracted. When Jesus put the people out of the house, He was letting everyone know that there comes a point when you literally have to separate yourself from people who will cause you to doubt God. Well-meaning family and friends can cause us to walk in fear because they are walking in fear. They will sometimes ridicule our faith because they do not have any. Because something did not work for them they believe that it will not work for you either. They mean well but what they are doing is trying to get you to accept their unbelief as fact and a way of life. All of us have had times and will have times when we need to clear the room of those who do not believe so that we can focus on what God has said! And to that end, that bring us to point number there.
Fear Manifests When We Are Not Living By Faith
The third passage we will examine is Luke 8:22-25. It reads, “(22) Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.’ And they launched out. (23) But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. [The Amplified Bible says “And a furious storm of wind (of hurricane proportions) arose.…” The weather changed suddenly and without warning and a storm threatened to sink the boat. We are pointing this out because the disciples were seasoned fishermen and were used to dealing with challenging weather. But this was different.] “(24) And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ [Can you hear the fear in their voices? Can you see the panic in their eyes and on their faces? The boat was overflowing with water and they wanted Jesus to help them bail it out the water.] Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. [Instead of bailing water, Jesus dealt with the root cause of the problem – the wind and the water. He used His authority, the same authority that we have today, and He commanded the wind and raging water to stop. He spoke to the wind and water like they had ears! (25) But He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ [Jesus asked the disciples “Where is your faith?” Why would He ask them this question unless they also had the ability to use their faith to calm the wind and water? In the situations we face, do you think His question for us would be any different?] And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, ‘Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!’” (Luke? ?8?:?22?-?25? ?NKJV??)????????????????????????????????????????????????????
In verse 25, it says the disciples were afraid and they marveled at what Jesus had done. What this tells us is that they were so full of fear that they could not understand how Jesus could do what He did even though He told them how He did it when He asked the question “Where is your faith?” In this instance, fear had made it impossible for the disciples to wrap their minds around the truth that the wind and raging waters could be stopped and that were the ones who could have stopped it! In these three passages, Matthew 14:22-32, Mark 5:35-43 and Luke 8:22-25, we see the relationship between fear, doubt (unbelief) and faith. Whenever we have fear in our lives, we will have doubt, but we will not have faith. Fear negates faith. But faith can dominate fear!
