Be Not Afraid - Part 1 of 3

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, the chorus of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.

This is LeSare Bradley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. Alleluia praise Jehovah, from the heavens praise his name. Praise Jehovah in the highest, all his angels praise proclaim. All his hosts together praise him, sun and moon and stars on high. Praise him, all ye heaven of heaven, and he floods above the sky. Let them praise his gift, Jehovah, for his name alone is high. And his glory is exalted, and his glory is exalted, and his glory is exalted, far above the earth and sky. Let them praise his gift, Jehovah, they were made at his command.

Then forever he established, his degree shall never stand. From the earth, oh praise Jehovah, all ye flying dragons, all fire and hail and snow and vapour, stormy winds that hear him call. Let them praise his gift, Jehovah, for his name alone is high. And his glory is exalted, and his glory is exalted, and his glory is exalted, far above the earth and sky. All ye fruitful trees and seeders, all ye hills and mountains high, creeping things and beasts and cattle, birds that in the heavens fly.

Kings of earth and only people, princes great as judges all. Praise his name, young men and maidens, aged men and children small. Let them praise his gift, Jehovah, for his name alone is high.

And his glory is exalted, and his glory is exalted, and his glory is exalted, far above the earth and sky. We're going to be bringing a message today entitled, Be Not Afraid. I pray that it'll be a blessing to you. We'd like to hear from you.

You can write us at Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17, 037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. And you'll remember times when you were a little child and you were ripped with fear. Maybe you had a bad dream.

Maybe something disturbed your thoughts and caused anxiety and you were very much in need of having your mother come and tell you everything's all right. Don't be afraid. Well, as we grow older, we find that fears may come to us from other directions, but fear is still a reality in our lives. We sometimes are afraid just because we've imagined that there is a danger ahead. Sometimes we are legitimately afraid when there is some reason to be concerned. But there are a great many things that can cause us to fear. I want us to look at a text in Matthew chapter 14, the 27th verse, in which Jesus spoke to his disciples telling them, be not afraid. And that's the subject for my message.

But straightway, Jesus spake unto them saying, be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. For a little child that cries out in the night, it means a lot when mother or daddy comes and puts their arm around him and says, don't be afraid. It means a lot when we're facing difficulties in life to have a friend say, I want to be all the help to you, I can. Don't be afraid of these things that you're facing because I'll stand with you.

But you may be facing something that the friend is unable to really provide the resources that you need, and as much as they want to console you, they're really unable to help and make a difference. But when Jesus Christ says, be not afraid, we've got solid ground upon which to cast fear aside. So I look at this text, I first am struck with the reality of fear.

Now sometimes people will say, you don't have anything to worry about. You need not be afraid. And yet, from your standpoint, the way you're viewing things, you feel that your fear is real.

It's well-founded. And just for somebody to say, don't be afraid is not enough, it doesn't make anything better. You're still full of anxiety. The fact that Jesus says, be not afraid, I think confirms the fact that he is saying, fear is real.

It's not just imaginary. There's a reality to fear, and there's so many kinds of fear. People fear sickness, go in for some tests, and all while you're waiting for the results, the days pass, and finally the time comes to go back to the doctor and get the results. And maybe your heart beats a little faster as you're waiting for him to tell you what the results are. There's fear. And if he says, I've got bad news for you, you have a serious problem. It's going to require surgery, or you're going to have to take prolonged treatments.

Or I'll just have to be very straightforward and tell you that unless there's a miracle, you only have six months to live. The fear of sickness is a very real fear. The fear of losing a job. With the many changes and transitions that we've seen in the business world in recent years, people do not have the sense of security that they once enjoyed in the workplace. There's always the possibility of a company being bought out, possibility of downsizing, people being laid off. Somebody's worked at a place for a long time, they've built up seniority, they're expecting to retire there, but there's this underlying fear.

Am I going to be able to hold on to this job? Some people have an inordinate fear of poverty. There's stories about those that had money in the bank, but basically lived in poverty, they were afraid to spend what they had because they thought that they would ultimately be without any resources at all. Some people have a terrible dread of criticism. They're constantly afraid that somebody's going to challenge them, going to disagree with them, going to criticize what they've said or what they're doing. A fear of rejection.

I want people to like me, I want to be accepted, but I fear being rejected. More and more we see the reality of fear in response to the violence that is perpetually growing in our country and around the world. No doubt there are places that you might have been comfortable to visit after dark some years ago in our city that you'd be reluctant to go to today. There is a real fear of being harmed, of becoming a victim of violence, and that grows into the fear of war. Oh, we've been wonderfully favored in this country. It's been a long time since a war was fought on American soil. But when you read continually of the uprising and wars of various kinds around the world, you are struck with the fact that potentially such conflict could one day come to our own country. And that can become a terrible fear. Fear of the future. Some people fear things that they're facing today. You know, some people really are just slaves to fear. They fear the wind, they fear the rain, they fear storms, they fear hot weather and cold weather, and they fear the present, and they fear the future, and they're just constantly fearful. But in particular, as people begin to look down the way and try to anticipate what the future holds, they can be very much gripped with fear. There's the fear of old age. What's going to happen to me when I get old? It's a difficult time when this old body begins to wear out.

A person is not as active as they once were. They don't think as quickly as they once did. Individuals have been very independent, never depending on other people, always able to make their own arrangements and plans, and finally that sad day comes when family members say, we're going to have to take the car keys.

You can't drive anymore. And people fear that stage of life where they've lost their independence. They're totally dependent upon other people. And as health may continue to decline, they fear being institutionalized, being separated from family and loved ones, suffering as death approaches. And then the greatest fear of all is the fear of death. The scriptures acknowledge that. Speaking of those who for their lifetime were in bondage to the fear of death.

That's constantly in the back of our mind. Why do you say to your children when they leave home to go to school in the morning, be careful? You're afraid they might get hurt. You're afraid they could be killed. Why is it when somebody leaves on a trip you're anxious to get the phone call when they tell you, we got here, everything's fine, we're all right?

Because you read every day about accidents on the highway in which people are dying. There's that fear of death. It's a real fear. Not only are we made to recognize the reality of fear by the fact that Jesus addresses the issue and by the fact that we observe many fears when we look at ourselves and look at others about us, there are a great many biblical examples. To cite just a few, we find in Genesis chapter 3 in the 10th verse that after Adam sinned and the Lord came calling for him saying, Adam where art thou? Adam said, I was afraid and I hid myself. Understandably he was afraid because he had sinned.

He had violated the law of God. And one of the great fears that can grip an individual is the realization that I have sinned and I am now apt to face the consequences of my actions. The fear of punishment, the fear of having to answer to God for our sinful behavior is a very dreadful fear. Now let me hasten to add here that there is an appropriate fear. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

And in that respect we are to fear, but we're talking about the dreadful slavish fear, the inappropriate fears that control us from time to time that must be dealt with. Joseph's brethren in Genesis chapter 43 in the 18th verse were afraid when they were called back and it was revealed that the money was in the mouth of their sack. They knew they had not placed the money there, but they felt that this was part of the punishment being meted out because of the way they had treated their brother. And the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house and they said because of the money that was returned in our sacks that the first time are we brought in that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for bondmen and our asses. These brothers were afraid. They knew they had done wrong.

They had discussed the possibility of killing their brother. They had sold him into slavery. Now their being called, though it was before Joseph, they at this time did not recognize that's who it was. He had not revealed himself, but at any rate they were in great fear facing the consequences of their actions. First Samuel chapter 17 in the 11th verse indicates that the whole Israelite army was stricken with fear because the giant Goliath stood out there and challenged them, called for somebody to meet him. Day after day they listened to his challenge as he defied the armies of the Most High God, but nobody was willing to go.

Saul himself, who was a man of war, a powerful man, was unwilling to go. The people were afraid. What a tragedy to see God's own people trembling in the presence of their enemies.

If God be for us, who can be against us? If we're made to recognize as David did when he went forward and met the giant and killed him that the battle is the Lord's, then there's no reason for fear. But how many times have you and I stood before our enemies, our spiritual enemies, our opponents in this world, the ungodly of our time, those who would have done us harm and we have feared because we have forgotten the Lord. In Psalm 18, the expression is used in the fourth verse, the sorrows of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The floods of ungodly men made me afraid. When you see the wickedness that's in the world, all the ungodly men around you, upon this earth, and you know the potential danger, you know the harm that they can do if God doesn't watch over you and sustain you and protect you, and therefore you're made to fear.

Nebuchadnezzar, that king in the time of Daniel was made to fear. In chapter 4 of the book of Daniel and verse 5, he says, I saw a dream which made me afraid and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. He was made afraid because of his dream. Now this was a dream that God had given him. Have you ever been troubled by a dream?

It may not have been one the Lord gave you. You had too much to eat the night before and you had all kinds of dreams and visions and some people get terribly confused by them and try to read things into their dreams when they're not of God at all. But this mighty king was greatly troubled because he had this dream and was afraid and the thoughts then that were in his mind troubled him further and he called in all the wise men and the magicians that they might interpret it. Remember, he was afraid. Then we think of the experience of Jonah. Remember, as he boarded the ship, the Lord had told him to go to Nineveh and he bought passage on a ship to go down to Tarsus. And God sent a great storm and that ship was being tossed about. The mariners on board had never seen a storm like that.

They no doubt considered the fact that they were capable men at their job. They had been able to get through many a difficult time, but this one was beyond anything they had encountered. They began to throw overboard everything that they thought might weight the ship down. They were using all of their skills to the limit, but it's said that these men of the sea were afraid.

And when it ultimately was made manifest, this is stated in Jonah chapter 1 in the fifth verse, and when you get to the tenth verse, it's revealed that Jonah, their passenger, is the problem. That this is the storm that God has sent and God is dealing with this runaway preacher. And when they found that out, they were more afraid. Now you've seen some people who like to present themselves with an image that they're never afraid of anything. You know, some men feel like they've got to let everybody know just how tough they are. You can't scare me.

There's nothing that can alarm me. I want to tell you, friends, that God can send the storm into your life that can scare you within an inch of your life. No matter how tough you are, no matter how bold you are, how courageous you are, how many muscles you have, how many tough places you've been through in the past. I mean, these were strong, powerful, knowledgeable men, but they encountered a storm that was beyond anything they'd ever faced before and they couldn't handle it. And they were afraid.

Fear is real. And then you see the lesson in the case of the disciples who were in the ship with Jesus and Jesus was asleep in the back of the ship. And the storm was tossing them about and they come in and awaken the master saying, carest thou not that we perish? Here, the followers of Jesus in the very ship where Jesus himself was present, though he was asleep, but instead of by faith saying, well, as long as the master's on board, everything's all right, they were stricken with fear. Lord, don't you even care about us?

Here we're out here doing everything we can to try to keep the ship afloat and you're sleeping. Let me tell you, with Jesus on board, there was no cause for fear, but they feared nevertheless. And so the reality of fear may be observed by the fact that there are so many examples, and we've cited just a few in the scripture, where it is evident that human beings are prone to fear. I think the reality of fear is addressed further in the scripture from the standpoint that there are so many admonitions given not to fear. Charles Spurgeon referred to the little expression, fear not, as a plant which grows plentifully in the garden of God. He says, the Lord planted a lot of those little fear nots all through the Bible, everywhere you go, find one here and one there and a little clump of them here and a little clump there, beautiful little flowers of his grace, fear not, fear not, fear not.

Now why do you suppose he had to put so many of them in there? Because we're prone to fear. You know, you could think, well, if the Lord tells you one time, fear not, that ought to settle the issue, but it doesn't, he has to tell us again. Genesis chapter 15, the first verse, he told Abraham, fear not, I am thy shield. You don't have to be afraid, I'm going to protect you, I'm going with you. If the Lord's our shield, are there any arrows that can hit us? Can anybody hurl any fiery darts at us? Can Satan be successful in hurling the fiery darts and striking us down if the Lord is our shield?

You tell me, what can possibly penetrate that kind of a shield? If the Lord is your shield, you're in great shape, aren't you? Today we have fear not, you don't have to be afraid, I am your shield. Perish, Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, O thou of God and man the Son. Be will I cherish, be will I honor, thou my soul's glory, joy and crown. There are the meadows, there still the woodlands, Gold in the blooming garb of spring. Jesus is forever, Jesus is ruler who makes the woeful heart to sing. There is the sunshine, there still the moonlight, And all the twinkling starry flows. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer than all the angels have had most. If you would like to help keep this program on the air, you can make a donation by going to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org. I'll appreciate your prayers that our needs will be supplied that we can continue on all these stations. Now, till we greet you next time, this is LaSara Bradley, Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior, praising my Savior, praising my Savior all the day long.