Things That Go Bump In The Night (2)

Greet everyone and ask if they are well rested from the extra hour of sleep that they received last night?

Mention of the baptismal service immediately following the regular service. (Baptizing Joshua Michael Applegate, “Jake”).

Wednesday evening is a night for PRAISE AND WORSHIP only!

Today is the National Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church around the world. We stand together today with our brothers and sister around the globe and we pray for those who are being persecuted in the name of and for the cause of Jesus the Christ. (TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO PRAY)

Well, let me start off this morning by recapping last week’s message, as today is a continuation of that message, in a sermon series entitled, “Things That Go Bump In the Night”.

I asked the question last week, of “why do so many people, especially Christians, love to pursue things that produce FEAR, in their lives?”

I also asked about about the DARKNESS and things of horror and the macabre and of why such things allure and draw so many people in?

Why are people so intrigued with DEATH and destruction and the occultic?

If so led, mention of Lisa and Wicca and witchcraft and ouija boards, etc. And also the “witchcraft” of rebellion. (, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.”)

And to what lengths do people go to investigate and explore this area in order to satiate their appetite of such things?

In speaking of FEAR, I mentioned that there are actually healthy FEARS and then there are unhealthy FEARS.

The Bible clearly shows us that the FEAR of the Lord is not only a wise and good thing, but it also the the source of all blessings and true life for the believer!

David said in the Psalms, “Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!”

And his son, the wise king Solomon said, “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.”

The FEAR of the Lord does not refer to the strong emotion caused by an anticipation or awareness of danger to the individual, but rather, the “FEAR of the Lord God” refers to a reverential and worshipful way that a true believer approaches the Lord!

And when you have that healthy and reverent and worshipful FEAR of God in your life, then you begin to walk in the abundant blessings of the Lord!

And those who walk in the FEAR of the Lord God and who desire His presence in their lives and who strive to do everything that He commands us to do in His Word; they don’t live in the FEAR of the things of this world!

And as we will see in a minute, FEARING the things of this world is not a HEALTHY FEAR and in fact becomes sinful for the believer!

This is why David, while on the run from King Saul, wrote . It was a time in which David had acted out of the FEAR of men and pretended to be crazy, to spare his own life and then afterwards, realized that as long as he FEARED God only, he was completely protected!

Listen to some of what David tells us in this passage, he said, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my FEARS. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who FEAR Him, and delivers them. Oh, FEAR the LORD, you his saints, for those who FEAR Him have no lack! Turn away from evil and do good!”

for those who fear him have no lack! Turn away from evil and do good!”

Turn away from evil and do good!”

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

around those who fear him, and delivers them

So David tells us in this passage, as do other passages found in the Bible, that FEARING the Lord God is not only a healthy FEAR, but it is a must for any true believer!

I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me.

You cannot walk with God, if you do not truly FEAR Him in all reverence and holiness!

I also mentioned last week, that the emotional state of FEAR, is a normal and healthy thing that God created and placed within us, as a protective mechanism. (The “fight-or-flight” syndrome, as we call it.)

This is another type of FEAR that is normal and healthy, because it serves to keep our bodies from harm.

Now, there are those who exist, who are what we call, “adrenaline junkies”, who go after certain types of experiences which produce the “fight-or-flight” syndrome, in order to get that large rush of adrenaline into their systems. (Like people who base jump, or climb the side of sheer cliffs!)

and delivered me from all my fears.

The closest thing to going after an “adrenaline pumping” scenario for me, would be walking into the Black Friday shopping crowd at Walmart, when all of their big screen TVs are 75% off!

He freed me from all my fears.

That’s about as wild and adventurous as I really ever need to be!

My point is, the emotional response of FEAR, is a kind of FEAR that is not unhealthy, when it is prompted by circumstances that could be harmful or fatal to us.

Unless of course, a person develops irrational FEARFUL scenarios in their minds (phobias) about different things. Then it becomes unhealthy.

There are a lot of people in America now, in the younger generations especially, who have the phobia called, “Mageirocophobia (magiro-kah-phobia)”!

This phobia is a nasty one........it is the FEAR of cooking!

Seriously though, there are millions of people in the United States, who have these irrational FEARS, that we call “phobias”.

There are phobias of: (READ FROM LIST)

Does anyone know which phobia is usually always in the top 10, if not in the number one slot in America?

It is, “Glossophobia”, the fear of “public speaking”. Having to stand in front of a crowd of people and speak, produces an irrational FEAR in the hearts of more than 1/4 of Americans!

More so than that of DEATH, which, this year, was not even in the top 10 list of phobias. Snakes was number 1 and even the fear of birds was in the top 10, but not the FEAR of DEATH, surprisingly.

And speaking of DEATH and the FEAR thereof, I also mentioned to you last week, that to a true and faithful Christian, the thought of physical death, is not FEARFUL.

The reason that I say this, is because the DEATH of a believer is nothing more than the removal of the veil that exists between our physical life and our spiritual one and our walking into eternity, to be with our Lord and Savior!

This is why Paul said in , ”For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.”

It is not the DEATH of our bodies that we should FEAR as humans, which is the 1st DEATH according to the Bible. Rather it is the 2nd DEATH we should FEAR, which is the eternal judgement against our spirit and of being cast into the lake of fire and into the outer DARKNESS for ALL ETERNITY!

This is why Jesus said, “Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. But I’ll tell you whom to FEAR. FEAR God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to FEAR.”

You see, without Jesus truly being Lord of your life, there comes the guarantee of and the FEAR of expectancy of eternal separation from God and the removal of all love and all hope and all peace, by being cast into the very place that has been reserved for the devil and all of the fallen angels that went with him.

5 “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

This place is also the place of torment for everyone who rejects the truth of the gospel and who makes a mockery of the Son of God and of His great sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary.

It is a place that Jesus, referred to three times in Matthews gospel account as the, “outer darkness”.

And in mentioning this place, Jesus said of it, “in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

In other words, THIS place, will be a place of pain and suffering for all eternity!

To a true Christian, this expectancy of suffering and FEAR has been removed, because the love of God in their life, removes any FEAR of eternal judgement and punishment, according to .

I want to park here for a second on this issue of the “outer darkness” that Jesus made mention of those three times in Matthew, since we are talking about FEAR and specifically the FEAR of the judgement of God against those who reject Yeshua, His Son.

I taught a lesson a couple of years ago, about the realities of a place that exists and its sole purpose of existence is for the eternal punishment for the devil and all of the fallen angels who rebelled against God and also for every man and woman who would ever reject God’s salvation through the Christ.

This place is a place unlike anything that man can imagine. It is a place that the book of Revelation refers to as, “the lake of fire”.

We tend to refer to this place as “hell”, but “hell” is another name for

This is what John the revelator wrote in dealing with this place, he said, “And the devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. . . Then Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

This is a very real place, just as heaven is a very real place. And this is a place where torment never ends.

Jesus said this about this place of torment in , “ hell, ‘where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”

The area at the south side of Jerusalem was known as the "Valley of Hinnom", (or Gehenna in the Greek), and it was the place, where in the OT, people would sacrifice their children to the god Molech.

By the times of Jesus and the NT, the Valley of Hinnom came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. The fire of gehenna never went out, and the worms never died. So it came to be used symbolically of the place of divine punishment.

So, Jesus used this name to refer to a place that was designed for torment and punishment; the same place that John would later refer to as, “the Lake of Fire”.

And this place is not just a place of torment by means of fire, but it is also a place that is devoid of any light, devoid of any hope, devoid of any love and devoid of any compassion, at any level and for all eternity!

I don’t think that too many people really consider what this place will be like. Jesus refers to it as the “outer darkness”.

Why does He not just say, “the darkness”, verses the “outer darkness”? Is there a difference in one darkness and another?

Well, if you look at , in referring to those who live in sin and rebellion, Peter says that for them, the “blackest darkness” has been reserved!

And in , Jude says the same thing of those who defile what they do do not understand and who defile the flesh, that for them, the “blackest darkness” has been reserved, FOREVER!

In both of these uses of “blackest darkness”, the understanding is that of a place of gloom and punishment.

This “darkness”, isn’t like anything that we can relate to or describe, because it is something that God has set aside for the eternal punishment of those who rebel against Him and His Son.

In , we see the 9th plague from God come across the land; the plague of “DARKNESS” that came across all of of Egypt.

The Bible describes this darkness as a darkness that could be felt.

There are those who say that this “darkness” was mentioned, because it was a sand storm that darkened the land, or that people had to “feel” their way around, but I like the way that Mathew Henry commented on this “darkness”. He said,

“No man rose from his place, v. 23. They were all confined to their houses; and such a terror seized them that few of them had the courage to go from the chair to the bed, or from the bed to the chair. Thus were they silent in darkness… Spiritual darkness is spiritual bondage; while Satan blinds men’s eyes that they see not, he binds them hands and feet that they work not for God, nor move towards heaven. They sit in darkness. …Let us dread the consequences of sin; if three days’ darkness was so dreadful, what will everlasting darkness be?”

There is a darkness that exists, that is beyond what we know or understand.

I believe that this “outer darkness”, this “blackest darkness” that the Bible speaks of, exists in a place where the flames never cease and the worm never dies and the torment never relinquishes.

And the same God who controls the laws of physics in the universe, has created a fire that burns with the most intense heat, yet sheds no light, so that the “darkness” is beyond comprehension!

A place where those who are cast into it, will never feel relief from its physical torment. They will be swallowed up in DARKNESS, never again to feel any form of PEACE, HOPE, JOY, LOVE, COMFORT/CONSOLATION. Nothing but the continual sounds of torment and throughout all eternity, knowing that the ONE they rejected in life is forever now out of reach for eternity!

Why do I speak of this place called the “lake of fire” with you this morning? Simple. Because if we’re going to talk about man’s fascination with FEAR and that of “darkness” and of things that pertain to the spiritual realm, then you must understand what all there is that involved in that realm and what awaits those whose hearts and souls do not lie with the Lord God!

The Bible tells us that, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

God is the antithesis of “darkness” and in His domain and wherever He exists, there is ONLY LIGHT!

continued by saying, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Be very careful as to what you are calling “light” in your life and calling it acceptable within the kingdom of God. If it drips darkness, it is has all of the appearances of darkness, then it is most probably DARKNESS and we should have no part of it.

Jesus said, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”

If something that we watch, or occasionally dabble into, has all of the appearances of “darkness”, then why allow it into your life?

The OT prophet Isaiah said, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness”.

I will say this and then we will begin to move forward, why do we want to dabble into things that wreak of the DARKNESS, when we are called to be the ambassadors of light?

The Bible clearly tells us in , “For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them.”

And why do so many people watch and view the things that clearly have no part in the light and are of darkness and yet they do not recognize it as such?

Because we, as a culture and as a nation, have become desensitized to and even tried blending the light and the dark together.

We now have what I call, M&M, Christianity. (Take bag of M&Ms and demonstrate how the candy coating comes off in my hands, but not the chocolate itself, which is what they promised.

This is how it is with Hollywood and what they have been spoon feeding people and all the while saying that it is good and that it won’t hurt you.

Yet all the while, it is staining you and it will eventually show!

Why do I say that people have become desensitized to things that Hollywood and the media are putting in front of us?

Because they have spoon feeding us such small doses of darkness over the decades, that we no longer call it darkness.

Let me ask you a question this morning. How do you get people to the point to where they don’t even recognize, or mind the underlying tone and message and darkness of something?

Well, first, you take these things and you repackage them. You make cartoons out of them and yet, within the cartoons, you still openly show that its darkness and you even go so far as to tell the people the kingdom from which it comes.

And people ingest it and write it off as a morally good movie or program.

HOW? Simple. What Hollywood and the media did was remove God from the equation and replace Him with the “good vs evil”. And in the movie, “good” always wins, so that the people still feel at peace with it and still call it morally virtuous.

As long as it is “good vs evil”, then it must be OK, because the “light” wins in the end, right?

What if your child was watching a show one evening about a bad character fighting a good character and the bad character looked ominous and dark and yet your child says, “it’s alright, there just a mean person.”

And then during the show, as you watch, (and you should know and watch what your kids/grand kids are viewing), the “mean” character just comes out and transforms into a large beast and makes the statement, that their power comes straight from HELL itself, (a.k.a. the devil)!

Would you say, “It’s just fantasy, it’s a kids show. As long as they show good prevailing against the bad, then I’m OK with the darkness being openly demonic”, or would you say, “OK, that’s it, no more”?

Let me give you an example of something, just to show how open and yet subtle this progressive movement of Hollywood has been over the years. (PLAY CLIP OF SLEEPING BEAUTY FROM 1959.)

Now, am I bashing all of the Disney movies and I am saying that we should all go on a Disney movie burning marathon? NO, not all.

What I am trying to show you, is the very slow and soft and subtle way that the darkness has been introduced into our home and lives for decades, and all under the disguise of “good vs evil”.

They kept God out and replaced Him with a concept.

Since this whole message has been centered around FEAR and things that bring FEAR into our lives and why such things are not beneficial for us, let me mention another thought about FEAR and of what it robs you of.

FEAR will redirect your trust. When your trust is no longer on God and you begin to FEAR other people and other circumstances and not have your trust in God, then you are in a bad place.

Have you ever watched, or saw something so disturbing, that it prompted you to run to God and ask for Him to protect you. Like if you were little and you see something that scared you, and you run and jump under the bed covers and ask for God to keep you safe?

Only to turn around and do it again and again and again, until eventually you no longer have that FEAR and you don’t even think about running to God, because now you have it under control, right?

Let me give you an example of the shifting of our attention and our FEAR and where we keep our eyes and our hearts and our trust.

In we read of a very familiar account in the Bible. Jesus walking on the water. (Elaborate on the account)

As long as Peter (who was still scared), kept his eyes, his heart, his trust, on Jesus, he was doing great and the fear had no grip on him. BUT, the moment that he gazed again on the situation and what was all around him, FEAR instantly gripped him and his eyes and his trust left Jesus and he sank!

And when Jesus pulled him out of the water, what did he say to Peter?

“You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

In other words, “Why did your trust in me leave you?”

When our trust is no longer in God and we begin to FEAR others and our circumstances, then we are in a very bad place.

A place in fact that the Bible condemns and warns us about.

Whenever you do things that promote FEAR and DARKNESS in your life, then you are taking your eyes and your trust off of God. Because if you develop FEAR over a situation, or a person or a thing, then your trust is leaving, or has left God and His power and protection for your life.

FEAR of anything or anyone of this world (and I’m not talking about the “fight or flight” scenario, but of FEAR and dread of danger and harm that you feel is potentially coming your way, this means that your trust is no longer residing in God.

And when your trust is no longer in God, then you are like Peter in the water; you are sinking!

Listen to what the Bible says about where our trust lies:

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Isaiah 2:22 NLT

22 Don’t put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. What good are they?

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Psalm 118:8 NLT

8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people.

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Proverbs 29:25 ESV

25 The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

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Jeremiah 17:5–8 NLT

5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. 6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. 7 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.

The Bible clearly shows us that when our trust is away from God and His care and provision for our life, then we are in a very bad place.

And FEAR causes people’s hearts to turn from God. Otherwise, FEAR wouldn’t be there.

Nehemiah, while working on the wall of Jerusalem, was constantly harassed by the enemy as they tried to intimidate him into stopping his work. In , Nehemiah recognized that a certain man was not from God and his advice to “hide” was not from God and thus Nehemiah said, “For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.” Nehemiah finished that chapter by praying to God and asking God to remember those men who were coming against him and trying to make him afraid.

Nehemiah recognized that when we become fearful of men and our situations, our trust is not in God and sin can easily creep in.

This is why many people drift from relationship to relationship. They FEAR being alone and thus they compromise and many times over, they sin in this process.

Paul said in ,

Romans 14:23 ESV

23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

If we are moved to an action out of FEAR and not because of our FAITH in God, then it is sin!

And one last passage about FEAR in our lives and its control over us. Listen to what John records in , where he sees the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem.

Revelation 21:6–8 ESV

6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Revelation 21:7–8 NLT

7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. 8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Those who became afraid of persecution and didn’t trust in God and turned to other people as a source of life and protection, lost everything in the end, because they were afraid of “men” instead of their trust and belief in God.

For this reason, G.K. Chesterton made the following quote, “We fear men so much, because we fear God so little. One fear cures another. When man's terror scares you, turn your thoughts to the wrath of God.”

I will probably finish next week with this series on FEAR and the things associated with it. And I will most likely be speaking on the things that deal with the demonic and angelic activity that takes place all around us.