"what Are You Afraid Of?"

What are you afraid of?

Holly Springs 2/21/2021

I wonder if there is anything you are afraid of? For me as I have gotten older I have a small fear of heights. Now as you know I am not afraid to fly, but when going up a ladder I do it a bit more slowly than I used to.

I can remember when I was younger I used to be afraid of the Devil. I still hear people who are afraid of him. And that got me to thinking why are people afraid of him? As a Christian we know that we have overcome him once we accepted Jesus into our hearts and the Holy Spirit came to dwell inside of us. Yet I know many a Christian that is still afraid of old Satan.

But here is what I want you to understand this morning, we don’t have to fear Satan, not if we are a Christian. And you don’t have to take my word for it, because the Bible speaks directly to our fear. In fact both the Old and New Testament speaks about it.

If you have your Bibles open them to Psalm 121. And once you find that mark it and look in the New Testament at 2 Timothy 1:7. So once again that is Psalm 121 and 2 Timothy 1:7. When you find them please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word:

I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. 8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.

And here is 2 Timothy 1:7: 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

So how does that help us with our fears, our fear of covid, heights and Satan or what other fear you may have? It’s simple as a Christian God has not given us a spirit of fear.

So let’s talk about Satan for a minute. I wonder if maybe you are afraid of him and his demons, even just a little bit. Well today I want to assure you that you don’t have to be.

How many of you remember the story in Matthew 8 where Jesus cast the two demons out of two men? Where after they addressed him, knowing that he was the Son of God asked to be cast into the herd of pigs.

Or where in Matthew one when Jesus commands the unclean spirit to come out of a man. What we often miss is verse 24 that says: saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

Did you notice that the demons knew who Jesus was? And let me tell you why that is important. If Jesus truly lives inside of you Satan knows it. As we have seen Satan and his minions know who Jesus is so they also know who the Holy Spirit is. And the cold hard truth is the devil fears God. And if he fears God, then he also fears Jesus and the Holy Spirit who together are one God.

Now if that is true. And I hope and pray that you believe it is, let’s pivot and ask our selves this question. Does Satan fear you? Should he fear you?

Is the way you are living causing the Devil to fear you? As a Christian every morning that you wake up should give the devil heartburn. He should know that you are going to read your Bible. That you are going to pray at least once that day. That you might even tell someone else about the forgiveness that Jesus has to offer.

I think that all of you would agree with me one of the greatest men of the New Testament was Paul. Now make no doubt about it, we are to model our lives after Christ, but old Paul would run a close second. But we have to be careful because if we focus on Paul we will miss the point and not be the Christian god as called us to be. We will be like the priest in the Temple who says their Prayers for other to hear and only call attention to themselves. But when we focus on Jesus we scare the daylight out of Satan.