Victory
Over Fear
“There 1s no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” --I John 4:18
I. Fear has Torment.
Will I lose my job? Is my child
using drugs? Is my mate faithful to
me? Do I have a disease? These and ten thousand other questions
torment the modern man. There are so
many pressures, so many contingencies, that people are often overwhelmed by life.
Teenagers are also
afraid. Will I find the right person to
marry? Am I doing well enough in
school? What will I do with my life?
Fears drive people to
irrational actions. Fears make people
insecure with their loved ones, and they often try to control them in terms of
their fears. Manipulative people are
often very fearful people, and they manipulate people because of those
fears. Fear destroys confidence and
joy.
It is interesting that the
word translated “torment” is the same word used in Matthew 25:26 for eternal
“punishment.” It is true that those who
are overcome with fears may think of themselves as under the wrath of God and
suffering a foretaste of hell itself.
There is perhaps no earthly agony similar to being overcome with fears. They eat away at the heart, destroy the
will, and render a man empty and impotent.
II. Fear is Bondage. Innumerable fears drive the actions of
people every day. Hebrews 2:14,15 says
that the devil holds people in bondage all their lives because of the fear of
death. The fear of witchcraft and evil
spirits, of the evil eye and the power of evil spells hold many in bondage,
especially in those lands where the gospel has not gone. The rise of the occult in our day will bring
ten-thousand fears to America.
But even in America fears
hold men in bondage. The fear of what
people will say controls the actions of many.
Young people get into drugs or abuse alcohol because they fear the
opinions of their peers. Men fear their
wives; wives fear their husbands; children fear their parents; parents fear
their children; workers fear their bosses; bosses fear their workers. Often fear is the most powerful driving
force of a person's life. The fear of
poverty drives many a workaholic; the fear of rejection is the soil of much
grief and heartache. Mate abuse and
child abuse is often driven by fears.
Fear enslaves men to empty religious ceremonies and rituals. The fear of hell has been a powerful force that has enriched the temples of the world and transferred great wealth to priests of every kind. Men give their bodies to be afflicted and starved, beaten and abused, because they fear the punishment of the gods.
True Love is the Remedy for Fear
“Perfect
love casts out fear” [I John 4:18]
The key is “perfect” love. The Greek word
translated “perfect” means “come to maturity,” “brought to fulfillment,”
“having reached its end.”
It is interesting that the
true and lasting remedy is not in removing the objects of fear, but in changing
the person who views those objects. The
problem is in the person, not in his environment. Several things need to be said:
A. True
Love is the work of God in the heart. “The love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us”
(Romans 5:5). The root of this love is
justification by faith (Romans 5:1).
When I see that God has given His son to die on the cross for me to
deliver me from sin, my whole perspective on life is changed. If God has given me the greatest blessing of
all, then why should I fear that He will withhold lesser things (Romans 8:31-33)? It is this faith, working by love, that drives fear from the
heart.
B. True Love seeks to please God. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and
his commandments are not grievous” (I John 5:2). This love delivers us from the fear of man, for we esteem the
favor of God more than the favor of men.
This is the reason that Jesus could call his disciples to forsake their
mothers, fathers, children, even their own lives (Luke 14:26,27,33). The first consideration of perfect love is
the favor of God, not the favor of men.
C. This love is an echo to God's love to us. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
that he loved us… (I John 4:10). The
more we feel that God loves us, the less we will fear. “All things work together for good to them
that love God...” (Romans 8:28).
“Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord” (Romans 8:38,39).
D. Without
this delivering love everything is empty.
“Though I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as
sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries,
and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove
mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my
body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (I
Corinthians 13:1-3).