The Failure of Fear
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 13 viewsNotes
Transcript
After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Introduction
Introduction
On August 14, 1989, Time reported the sad story of a man from East Detroit who died of fear. He had taken a number of fur-trapping expeditions over the years and had been bitten by his share of ticks. Then he heard about Lyme disease, which is carried by deer ticks. He became obsessed with the fear that he had been bitten in the past by a tick with the disease and that he had passed the disease to his wife.
Doctors tested him and assured him he didn’t have Lyme disease and that, even if he did, the disease was virtually impossible to transmit to his wife. But the man didn’t believe the doctors. Paranoid, because of the disease, the man killed his wife and then himself.
The police found the man’s mailbox jammed with material describing Lyme disease and a slip confirming a doctor’s appointment for yet another Lyme-disease test.
Fear distorts a person’s sense of reality. Fear consumes a person’s energy and thoughts. Fear controls.
Fear comes from Satan.
Fear comes from Satan.
The worse thing the devil can put upon you is fear. If you even had a cancer and didn’t fear, and believed God would heal you, you wouldn’t be in too bad a shape. God take care of that; if you were sick, whatever it is, if you didn’t fear.
52-0900 - God's Way That's Been Made For Us
1. Fear has failed to Motivate Us.
1. Fear has failed to Motivate Us.
It’s interesting that you can’t get people motivated to do the right thing by fear. If you do get them temporarily motivated, it won’t last. This pandemic is proof of that.
(quote)
Have you ever noticed how the people who lead others astray bind them closely to themselves by fear? They say that if the people don’t do what they say, or if they leave, then destruction will follow.
They are false prophets, for a true prophet will always lead one to the Word and bind the people to Jesus Christ and he won’t tell the people to fear him or what he says, but to fear what the Word says.
CAB 09 - Laodicean
Illustration.
“The problem with this is that while fear can be an effective motivator, this only works in the short term. It might help you get to the gym for a couple of weeks or might help you eat better for a little while, but over the long haul it just doesn’t last.
A 2014 report from Canada about heart attack and stroke survivors shows this perfectly. Having a stroke or heart attack is a pretty major event and in the majority of cases, diet and lifestyle habits are a contributing factor, if not a major factor, for why someone has one of these events.
This is the kind of thing that you’d expect would give you a wake up call if you survived it. Something that would make you reassess your life and have you thinking “I need to make a change”.
And this is exactly what the Canadian report showed, with six in 10 survivors even going so far as to equate surviving the episode with being given a second chance at life and no longer taking their health for granted.
But what is interesting is that when it came to making these changes, more than 50 per cent couldn’t maintain it or didn’t try at all. Despite possibly the biggest wake up call someone could get, it was an effective long term motivator for less than half the survivors.” (sevenhealth.com)
Fear of the end times will not be enough for people to repent.
And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Now I’m going to say something. National force put Israel in her homeland; national force will put the church in the World Council of Churches; but the power of God will put the people in the Bride. The world forces this way, and the world forces that way, but God forces upward. The Spirit of God, which is the Word of God, “My Word is Spirit and Life,” will put the Bride in Her place.
Cause, She’ll recognize Her position in the Word, then She’s in Christ, will put Her in Her place. No national force will do it. But the national force did drive Israel to the homeland; the national forces of the Council of Churches will drive every organization into it; but the Power of God will raise the Bride into Glory, out of it.
64-0726M - Recognizing Your Day And Its Message
2. Fear has failed to Moderate Us.
2. Fear has failed to Moderate Us.
Some say that we should balance faith with fear. Nonsense.
Some say that we should balance faith with fear. Nonsense.
There are two types of fear in the scripture, reverence and torment.
There are two types of fear in the scripture, reverence and torment.
Tormenting fear has no place in the Christian life.
Tormenting fear has no place in the Christian life.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
φόβος, fear, terror,
κόλασις, punishing, punishment, perhaps with the idea of deprivation,
More Perfect Illustrations: For Every Topic and Occasion Fear: Fear Leads to Death
During the Gulf War of 1991, Iraq launched a series of Scud missile attacks against Israel. Many Israeli citizens died as a result of these attacks. After the war was over, Israeli scientists analyzed the official mortality statistics and found something remarkable. Although the death rate had jumped among Israeli citizens on the first day of the Iraqi attacks, the vast majority of them did not die from any direct physical effects of the missiles. They died from heart failure brought on by fear and stress associated with the bombardment.
Psychological studies conducted on Israelis at the time showed that the most stressful time was the first few days leading up to the outbreak of war on January 17 and peaking on the first day of the Scud missile attacks. There was enormous and well-founded concern about possible Iraqi use of chemical and biological weapons. The government had issued to the entire Israeli population gas masks and automatic atropine syringes in case of chemical attack, and every household had been told to prepare a sealed room.
After the first Iraqi strike turned out to be less cataclysmic than feared, levels of stress declined markedly. As in other wars, the people adapted to the situation with surprising speed. Then as the fear and anxiety subsided, the death rate also declined. There were 17 further Iraqi missile attacks over the following weeks, but Israeli mortality figures over this period were no higher than average.
It was fear and the psychological impact of the missiles, not the physical impact, that claimed the majority of victims.
Citation: Paul Martin, The Sickening Mind (HarperCollins, 1997), pp. 3–4; submitted by David Holdaway; Stonehaven, Kincardinshire, Scotland
Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
9 The whole world, did you ever see the like of nervousness? Just to let me tell you, even, every night when I’ve been here, and I watch the audience. Now, each one, I want every man and woman to be sincere with me. Feeling the pressure when nervous people come to this platform, there’s a least, right now in this building, eighty percent of what’s setting here is nervous, afflicted with nervous trouble. That’s exactly right.
You be sincere with me. Every man and woman, boy or girl in here that has any nervous trouble raise your hands. Raise your hand. What’d I tell you? What’s the matter? The Bible said, men’s heart failing, more heart troubles, number one disease. Is that right? And fear, sights upon the earth, perplexed of time, distress between the nations; sea roaring, big tidal waves washing away parts of cities and breaking upon the shores, just before the coming.
It’s setting a stage for the greatest drama that was ever acted out in all ages, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Could you imagine seeing a little lamb out in the field feeding; he becomes nervous. Why is he nervous? He can’t see nothing, but back in behind the rushes yonder there’s something that’s moving. It’s a lion, crouching, getting ready to spring on. That’s what the nervousness is about.
53-0509 - The Pillar Of Fire
We love him, because he first loved us.
3. Fear has failed to Move Us.
3. Fear has failed to Move Us.
Paul at the end of his ministry.
And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
20 There is a conscious and a subconscious. It’s just like a…If we start overseas and by ship…And there’s a man setting up here; he’s the one who gives the orders. The man goes down in the ship to run the ship down here, well, he don’t see where he’s going, but he just takes orders from up above. Well now, he says, “Steer to the left or to the right or give this engine more and that,” or whatever it is. He just works by orders.
But way down in the midst of us, here in our heart, is the subconscious, and it takes orders from up here. Well now, you’ve heard me on the platform many times, no doubt. I was just hearing a tape from the Owensboro meeting the other day about a person who was crippled, was healed. And I…And how it was speaking, how the Holy Spirit speaking.
21 Now, up here, this conscious comes up to the platform, “Brother Branham, praise the Lord, I have faith.” But right down there in that other little conscious said, “Now, you know you haven’t.” See? Well now, if you can get this one and that one in harmony with that one, that, you see, it…
This one’s saying, “Yes.” all the time. This one’s saying, “Yes.” But way down in there there’s something that little fellow just. See? It just…You want to make it. You want to say, yes, but it just down there that little shadow that may, if you help…don’t deal with this little fellow down here very much, well, you’ll find out he just kind of does the ruling. You see?
So, if this fellow…After all, he’s the one who drives the ship. See? He’s the one who does the steering. This one might say a lot, but this is the guy that does the work down here. See, see? So this one right here say, “Oh, yes. I believe that. Oh, sure I do.” Well, if that’s right, this is the going to…this and this agrees with that then we’ve got it. See? And then it’ll have to work.
22 But until that does it, well, it just won’t work. That’s all, because you got orders going this way, and this one going this way, and they’re just pulling your ship one way and you don’t get out of harbor. You see? You’re still out here.
And so, we just got to get those fellows to agreeing and saying, “God is right.” This says, “God is right.” This says, “God is right.” Then we move forward. You see? We got orders, everything. There’s nothing in your way. There’s nothing to make you doubt it, all the symptoms you could have.
You might go back to the hospital in the morning. They’d say, “Well, your arm is still stiff. Your cancer’s still there. It’s…” That wouldn’t have one speck of…That wouldn’t faze you a bit. See? If that, this, and this is agreed. See? That’s right. Faith does anything.
23 Now, in you is God. You who have the Holy Ghost, God is in you. Do you believe that? And now, Jesus said, “I give you power.” Let me show you the weakness of the church by God’s grace. “I give you power over unclean spirits. You’ll cast them out.” Not I will, you will. “You’ll cast…In My Name they shall cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. They take up serpents, they drink deadly things, it will not harm them.”
We think of the great Saint Paul, one time landed on a certain island. The ship was wrecked. God had promised him that he was going to make a certain destination. He was going back to Rome and to stand before Caesar, and he believed God. So he was helping the men; he had chains around him, a prisoner. And he was helping the men throw some wood in the fire.
24 And when he throwed some wood down, a great deadly beast, serpent, bit him right through the hand. And that beast was so deadly, till if it bit a person, they usually dropped dead within a minute or two. And so the natives said, “That man…” Said, “Look, his chains on him. He’s a prisoner. He must be a murderer, because he’s certainly…He might escape the storm, but he’s just not going to escape that—this serpent and he’s going to die.”
Now, look. A moment, Paul looked and seen it. This, this, and that all agreed. There was not a speck of fear. He said, “They’d take up serpents and it’ll not harm them.” He looked at that deathly bite, no fear.
If you fear, then Satan steps in. Satan’s fear. But perfect love casts out all fear. There you are. “I’m God’s man. There hangs the serpent, but there’s not one speck of fear here, here, or there.” See? It’s all in harmony.
25 He looked at the thing. He thought, “Well, well,” shook it off in the fire, went over and got some more sticks and he had to put them on. “Why,” you say, “Paul, aren’t you afraid you’ll fall dead?” “Why, certainly not, can’t fall dead. The Holy Spirit’s in me.”
Now, the very Holy Spirit that made the heavens and earth had that man so charged with His power till that death in that fang of that serpent wouldn’t even go into his body, because his whole body was full of Spirit as same as it’s full of blood. See? And…Is that right?
26 And every little cell of blood is a life, and there you are all charged, full of the Holy Ghost. Why, certainly, they walked on water. They done great miracles and so forth. Why? They were so perfectly in harmony with God, that first church. And Christian friend, until we can get back to that…
Now, you…We can’t argue and quarrel and fuss with denominations and ever get to it. Denominations won’t bring us to it. It’s a perfect love and confidence in God, just what brings it. See? There you…See? And you…And we may shout; we may speak with tongues. We may do—be great teachers of theology, we may have D.D.’s hanging on to us, but it’ll never work until that, this, and this comes in harmony.
53-1212 - The Inside Man
Conclusion.
Conclusion.
Why could Paul have no fear? The purpose of his trip had already been revealed.
Why could Paul have no fear? The purpose of his trip had already been revealed.
And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.
For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.
Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.
We’ve been cast on an island of a pandemic, but don’t fear, we know the purpose of the trip. We declare fear has failed.
We’ve been cast on an island of a pandemic, but don’t fear, we know the purpose of the trip. We declare fear has failed.
I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God.