11) Isaiah 41:10 - Winning Against Fear

and we're in a series dealing with the subject of winning your personal battles and so as we begin this morning here in Isaiah 41 I want to talk to you about winning against fear now fear is something very common all of us experience fear every one of us in this room but some of you in this room are paralyzed by fear you have fear that hinders you greatly in your Christian life you are stumbled from obedience many times because of your fear you can be fearing what man thinks you can be kept from an activity or some command that God has given to you because of your fear you can be fearing what will happen in the future and it is it's an incredibly difficult issue to deal with and I have people call me and talk to me about their fears quite often and so over the years of ministry I have dealt with this over and over again and I find that fear stumbles people and that is the point of this series each of these studies is addressing the specific things that stumble us as believers and fear is one of the great ones so what is your greatest assurance if you are a person who struggles with fear what is your greatest assurance well it's right here in this passage notice this promise Isaiah 41:10 one of my favorite passages he says fear not for I am with you be not dismayed for I am your God I will strengthen you not I might strengthen you I will strengthen you yes I will help you I will uphold you with my righteous right hand can be no more powerful promise than these words that God speaks to his people and he is telling them I its my objective to help you conquer your fear he commands them fear not and so it is an essential thing that you learn how to fear not or else it will ultimately stumble you at some point in your Christian life David ben-gurion who was one of the fathers of the State of Israel he said this I love this quote it is a powerful quote I'll refer to this several times this morning in this study he says courage is a special kind of knowledge I love that courage is a special kind of knowledge the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared so courage is his point and it comes from a special kind of knowledge now that is what I want to share with you this morning I want to share with you that special kind of knowledge that is essential if you want to overcome your fears so what knowledge is that well the first issue is that people many times struggle with the question of is all fear destructive is all fear bad if I have any fear does that mean I am some kind of coward or a wimp if I have some kind of fear and I would have to say absolutely no there are two kinds of fear there is a constructive fear and there is a destructive fear there's a rational fear and there's an irrational fear so let me just start this morning by just explaining these and showing you where find these truths in the scripture because they're there so this is a special kind of knowledge that you need if you're gonna have real confidence and assurance in your your daily walk so let's look at these two kinds of fears first the constructive kind of fear how is fear a constructive thing well there's two kinds of constructive fear the first is the fear of God and then there is a practical fear that God places in every single one of us that is to caution us and protect us so the spiritual fear of God where where do you get that well it says in proverbs chapter 1 verse 7 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction so notice the fear of the Lord is called the beginning of knowledge so if you want the correct balance on fear you need the knowledge of God this knowledge of God or the wisdom of God that he says here fools despise is where you get the balance of all of the truths I'm about to share with you so without that personal relationship with him and that understanding of the fear of the Lord you cannot have that it says in proverbs 8:13 the fear of the Lord is to hate evil pride and arrogance and the evil way and the and the perverse mouth I hate and God says so the fear of the Lord is to hate evil and so that is probably one of the great first pieces of knowledge that God gives to you if you have that relationship with him you are going to hate what he hates you're going to love what he loves you will have his heart on these issues now that is the spiritual fear of God and it's beneficial to you it's what gives you wisdom in life and then the practical fear that God gives to every man whether they are a believer whether they have the fear of God or not it is a practical fear that is beneficial - it's that which cautions you from doing that which will harm you or where you can be harmed now probably the best example of this is when you walk up to a cliff I don't know if any of you have ever been to Yosemite and gone up to Glacier Point you go up to Glacier Point and it's this sheer rock face you can go right up to the edge of it and you can look down 3,000 feet to the bottom of the valley and you look at the people and the cars down there and it's like they're like little ants that's how far it is down it's a long way thank goodness they have a rail up next on the edge of that cliff now if you were up there would you go running out lackadaisically up to the edge of that cliff why why would you be cautious what's fear isn't it and this practical fear is the result of wisdom and experience you see you know that you have the potential to fall but how about a child a child that doesn't understand that or really doesn't understand how far it is down over that cliff well you would hold their hand you jannat you would you would try and protect them until they gain the wisdom and the experience not to be foolish so there is a practical kind of fear that's good another example of this is when you go into a part in garage and you're the last person out and out of the mall and it's an underground parking garage and you see one person down at the end of the garage looking at you and you're the only one in that garage and you say yourself we'll wisdom and experience would say get in your car quickly because you will the hair on the back of your neck will stand up you will sense a fear and you should sense that fear if you don't you're being foolish you know what the potential is there and so you protect yourself because of that natural fear so those are two kinds of constructive fear that is beneficial to you and does not harm you now the opposite is destructive fear now there's two kinds of destructive fear this is an important knowledge and understanding to have there is a rational destructive fear it's rational its thought-out it's plausible its reasoned it's over real issues but it's based on faulty thinking let me give you an example of this Jesus addressed destructive fear when he spoke about worry I worry is a low-level fear worry and anxiety that's our study next week so he addresses this issue of worry and fear concerning your provision he says this Mathew 6:25 therefore I say to you do not worry about your life what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body what you will put on is not life more than food and body more than clothing and the answer to that is yes it is and we are not to worry about these things why because he is our provider you just read a little further down in the context and he says if you will seek me first I will take care of all of these issues I will provide for you I will take care of you in every way so this is a destructive fear but it's over rational things I mean plausible issues I mean food clothing provision housing all these things what happens if I lose my job what am I gonna do so it's rational but it's based on faulty thinking because he says you need to trust in me not trust in yourself there is the faulty thinking now the second kind of destructive fear is irrational destructive fear that is not based on real threats not rational threads it's based more on feeling and irrationality now I have had the occasion over the life of my ministry to meet many individuals who think that the CIA is after them and the FBI is following them and the helicopter overhead has got a camera on them and everyone is after them and it's just not a rational thought process that is taking place and you've met people like this and so you say to yourself this is not a rational fear because it's not based on rational thought process it is it's just a feeling that someone has and there can be all kinds of medical issues that go along with us in proverbs 28 and verse 1 it says the wicked flee when no one pursues that's irrational fear it says but the righteous are bold as a lion I have met a lot of people that think somebody's chasing them and there's nobody there so this is a real issue that people struggle with and the scripture speaks about it says in 2nd Timothy 1:7 for God has not given us a spirit of fear but power and of love and of a sound mind now Paul here addresses another aspect of this destructive irrational fear it is a spirit of fear some fear is demonic because Satan loves fear he uses fear that is one of his key tools that he uses against people in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 it says that he the one who had held others in the bondage of this fear of death he said the Lord Jesus has conquered him and he uses that fear upon people and so there is a demonic source of this kind of fear as well and so you have to be very concerned about this I mean those in the medical field have identified 530 phobias that people can have and I would bet that some of you in this room are struggling with some of those because it is normal and I pray that you will hear what I'm about to say to you so how do you win your battle against your fears well let me just give you here eight very simple points this morning to help you conquer your fears now the first two are probably the most basic they're the most fundamental and they really will are the basis upon which you put into practice all the rest of what I'm going to say to you this morning the first is probably the simplest if you want to conquer your fears then you have to develop your love relationship with the Lord why and first John chapter 4 verses 18 and 19 it says there is no fear in love you know what that Greek word there is for fear it's the Greek word Fobus it's where we get our word phobia he's saying there is no fear in love you can't say it any stronger than that that is the basis of your freedom we need to know be confident assured of his love John also says in his first epistle we have known and believed the love that God has towards us so a person might know about his love but he has to believe it and receive it an essential aspect to freedom from fear and Luke 12:32 jesus said do not fear little flock for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom it is your father's good pleasure it's it's what the love of his heart wants to do he wants to give to you more than you are even willing to receive it that is his heart but do you believe that do you believe that he wants to love you in that manner because that is critical for growth the second thing that you need to do if you want to win this battle with your fear is you need to fear God the fear of God has got to be in a higher place a higher priority than the fear of man than the fear of circumstances than the fear of whatever it is you fill in the blank whatever your fear is you have to fear God more this is Jesus prescription for freedom from fear his disciples were about to go out and they were gonna begin to preach the gospel and he warned them he said you're gonna be persecuted you're gonna be beaten and you're gonna be put to death just like I will and he said this Matthew 10:28 he said do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell and so Jesus makes it very clear he says you know if you fear men and you fear persecution and you fear what they will do to you and you are going to do what I've called you to do which means you don't fear me I have to be first let me show you this in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 1012 there Moses speaking for the Lord speaking to Israel he says and now Israel what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God to walk in all his ways and to love him to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul so notice that he connects their fearing God and loving God now many times Christians say well I don't see how does that work how do you connect those two well the fear of God is reverence towards him that's what it means that's the what the Hebrew or Greek word means it means to reverence him to respect him and so when you reverence God you come into that special knowledge of him that others do not have and that knowledge of him is what reveals his love to you you see and then you will love him back all very intricately connected together the third way that you conquer your fears and win in this battle against fear is you have to investigate your fears now this is a really an important thing especially for those of you who have little children that have a lot of fears because this is a normal thing for kids I mean if can you remember your children ever saying to you daddy mommy there's a there's a monster under the bed there's a monster in the closet there's somebody outside you know I'll tell my daughter had all kinds of fears like that and I used to go in and I would take a flashlight and I would say you know what get out of bed look under the bed this is called investigating your fears look under the bed look in the closet there's nothing in there I mean she had to have the the closet closed it couldn't even be open and after she investigated her fears she got over it eventually I remember one night there was it was a windy night and there was a bush that was scratching against the screen and she says somebody's trying to get in to my room if you ever had that with your kids and I again I got out of bed I said put your bathrobe on come here and we walked out and I had to show her this is a bush here that's it that's all of this oh okay so investigate your fears it is an essential thing because why what is what does that do to help you well it helps you to rationally think through your fear to rationally look at the at the specific things that you're fearful about when people say to me I just can't get on an airplane Steve I mean I I just have this tremendous fear of flying this is what I tell them to do you need to go investigate how many how many people died in airplane crashes versus automobile crashes you see there are you know there's usually a 2,000 foot elevation difference for any plane flying anywhere near an error another plane and the car that's going the opposite direction is a couple of feet from you and at any moment that car can veer across the line into your your lane now your if you're sitting here thinking okay I'm not gonna drive anymore you're in trouble you have a fear issue and you've got to deal with this so this this whole issue is investigate your fears you have to look at that I mean you don't that there are some years that no one dies in an airplane crash no one not at all not one person in a commercial airplane crash but there are hundreds and thousands of people who died in automobile accidents every year there's not one year that there's never been at least one person versus hundreds of thousands so you have to investigate your fears it says in Isaiah 1:18 God says there come now let us reason together says the Lord why does God say this because he wants you to reason through things in your mind you are not to check your brain at the door of the church you're not to check your brain for daily life you need to use your brain you need to use your thinking process and that means investigating things and learning about that which you fear one of the best another good example of this is in 2nd Corinthians 7 verses 5 through 7 here is the example of Paul the Apostle he was fearful about what was going on in the Corinthian church so he sent Titus to go check out what was happening in the church because he was fearful he was he was concerned about what was going on there when Titus came back he said it was a comfort to his heart because he had sent him to investigate he came back with the information it says there in that passage for indeed Paul said when we came to Macedonia our bodies had no rest but we were troubled on every side outside were conflicts inside were fears so the Apostle had fears hmm nevertheless God who comforts the downcast comforted us by the coming of Titus and not only by his coming but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you when he told us of your earnest desire your mourning your zeal for me so that I rejoiced even more so investigate your fears find out the information that you need it's the special knowledge that gives you courage and comfort now the next issue the fourth issue that will help you to conquer your fears is you need to make a choice to trust God and his protective hand now fear or courage comes down to a choice that's the entire Christian life is a choice and so in every place where you stumble a choice will always be made and so you have to make a choice when you're fearful about something you have to say am I gonna continue being fearful for this or am I going to trust God so Christians get angry sometimes when you say to them look you just gotta trust the Lord oh okay yeah you gave me the Pat answer well it is the Pat answer it is the simply the simple answer to the problem you have to make a choice am I going to trust what I feel what I don't know or what I do know and what I know is the truth so you have to make a choice in Hebrews chapter 13 verses 5 & 6 there the Apostle says let your conduct be without covetousness be content with such things as you have for he himself has said I will never leave you nor forsake you now why do we need to know that notice so we may boldly say the Lord is my helper I will not fear what can man do to me you see you can only kill the body that's the ultimate but he cannot kill the soul and so if God is your helper if he will never leave you nor forsake you that is where you get the boldness to say the Lord is my helper he is going to help me the text we started with this morning remember that's what he promised I will help you and he will help you if you make a choice I am NOT gonna be conquered by my fear I am going to master it I'm going to conquer this fear and I'm gonna overcome in Psalm 56 for this is where the writer of Hebrews got that understanding he got it from David Psalm 56 4 it says in God I will praise His Word and God I have put my trust I will not fear that's a clear decision of choice and the choice of his heart what can flesh do to me and so this is a choice you have to make and if you if you don't make that choice then you will be continually mastered by that fear so it is essential choose to trust his protective hen but that means you have to trust that he loves you and that he will never leave you nor forsake you you see why that first point we spoke about this morning is so essential and then the fifth issue the fifth print stop giving in to your feelings of fear now basically fear is a feeling that you have and so you have to not yield to your feelings if you only obey what you feel you will not do what you are called to do you will not forgive because unless you feel like forgiving well no I'm commanded to forgive whether I feel like it or not but if a person lives by feelings they are not going to forgive you will not love others because well I don't feel any love I'll feel like loving them well I'm commanded to love others so if you only live by what you feel you will remain an immature Christian you will not be made perfect in love because it is a choice to act to obey without a feeling now that is an essential issue of growth in your own life in Psalm 3 verse 6 there David said I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around now you remember David I only had six hundred men with him there were thousands coming against him with Saul and he said I'm not gonna be afraid I am not yielding to this fear that is in my heart I'm not giving in to it I and so you have to stop yielding and giving in to those feelings of fear the sixth principle that helps you to overcome your fear is you need to stop dwelling on fearful thoughts now this is what gives you the feelings of fear thoughts and feelings are directly connected together you cannot separate so a person says to me well this is the way I'm feeling and I go well why are you why are you feeling that way well I don't know and I say well just listen to your own thoughts listen to what you're thinking in your own mind because that's gonna tell you why you feel the way you do so thoughts and feelings go directly together one of the best passages we've already covered this in one of our previous studies but in mark 1472 after Peters denial of Christ it says there a second time the rooster crowed then Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him before the rooster crows twice you will deny me three times and when he thought about it he wept so let me put yourself in Peters shoes I mean the Lord told him this is what's gonna happen and here the rooster is crowing the second time and he it all comes back to his mind what the Lord told him was gonna happen and he begins to weep what he thought about created the emotion and he wept do you see the connection there you cannot separate what you think and how you feel so your special knowledge of God of the Scriptures is what's got to govern your thinking if my thinking is contrary to the Word of God my thinking is wrong that's the bottom line it's wrong so I need to conform my thinking to his thinking and when a Christian does that they won't mature they will go forward this was the answer that Paul gave to the Philippian Church of how he dealt with his circumstances tough circumstances in jail for something you didn't do no real reason for being in jail except somebody that hates me how would you feel if you were in that circumstance how do you get through that well its control you're thinking in Philippians chapter 4 verses 8 and 9 he says finally brethren whatever things are true whatever things are noble whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely whatever things are of good report if there is any virtue if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things or think on these things that is a willful choice and decision I am NOT going there in my head I am going here in my head the opposite direction I am gonna dwell on something other than this that's how he got through that and notice he says the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me these things do and the God of peace will be with you do you want the God of peace with you I do then that means I've got to choose the right things to think about and meditate on and I need to do what I am commanded to do take the action that is required now the seventh principle that helps you overcome your fears is you need to stop avoiding fearful situations fearful circumstances now this is a critical part of this whole issue of overcoming fear because the way fear masters a person is a person yields to that fear they say well I had a bad experience here so I'm not gonna go there anymore I'm not gonna do that anymore and what they do is they start retreating and a person basically what they do is they paint themselves into a corner and the walls slowly close in on them and they get themselves into a place where they're fearful to do anything or go anywhere or do anything that's out of their comfort zone but what happens is that that wall will get closer and closer many years ago I I'm in astir to a man who was so fearful that he would not even leave his bed I I thought to myself how does somebody get there how does somebody get to that place where they are such an agoraphobic that they cannot go out of their bedroom or leave their bed and when you sit down and you talk to people like this it's because they have a fearful encounter somewhere this particular guy had an altercation with an individual in a public place and he said well I'm not going to those places anymore because that might happen again then pretty soon it was I'm not going anyplace I'm not going out of my house and then pretty soon I'm not I'm not even gonna go into the bedroom or into the living room I'm gonna stay in my bedroom and then pretty soon I'm not getting out of my bed and so all because the man basically kept retreating every single day every single month every single year till pretty soon he would go nowhere that is a person mastered and controlled by fear I think one of the biggest fears that Christians have is sharing their faith with others I say if I asked you for Show answer I bet you the majority of you say I'm fearful of that well so mine so is everybody but you know what when you refuse to yield to that you are going to master it you're going to overcome that fear because I'm not gonna well I don't feel like doing that well but you're commanded to preach the gospel to every creature are you not so there's a command but I don't feel like doing it and so the longer you refuse to do that the harder it will become in your mind in just that one issue so I would encourage you don't avoid that circumstance when you get a prompting in your heart to share with someone you need to say Lord you're with me fill me with your spirit and able me empower me and jump in and you know what every single time you do that it gets easier and easier I had a personal experience with this issue of avoiding fearful situations about eleven years ago many of you know I had a near-death experience out in as surfing issue we would go up every year to Santa Cruz and we would go out surfing and you know many the guys who go out surfing together I take my body board we go out had a great time except this one year I got caught in a rip and I was overcome and I almost drowned well you know what happened to me the very next time I was thinking about going out body boarding again all of a sudden my heart began to pound I began to sweat and I'm thinking to myself whoa what is that what is this and I'm thinking to myself yeah maybe I won't go today and then all of a sudden I realized you know what if I don't go back out in that water I will never go out and so it's an essential thing don't avoid fearful circumstances it only gets worse and you will paint yourself into a corner don't go there Mark Twain said this he said courage is the resistance of fear the mastery of fear not the absence of fear so there's never gonna be a time when you're gonna have an absence of fear but real courage is the resistance of fear the mastery of it do you master the issues of fear in your life or did they master you which is it are you resisting those things that are fearful to you or giving in to them the eighth and last issue here is if you want to conquer your fears you got to develop your prayer life and you've got to find that victory in prayer now this last point really brings me back to the first point because you only come to God in prayer if you believe that he loves you notice this passage in Romans chapter 8 verse 15 there Paul said for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear you see that's what fear is it's bondage do you want to be in bondage or do you want to be free from bondage you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba Father you see I cry out to him as father because I believe he loves me and I believe he is big enough to handle what I'm fearing and he will enable me to overcome it and master it so that's what you need to do prayer develop your prayer life another great example of this is nehemiah in nehemiah chapter 6 verses 9 and 10 now nehemiah was being challenged by his enemies he was there rebuilding the city walls of jerusalem and all of the enemies around him they were inventing and challenging him and trying to make him afraid saying oh we're gonna send letters to the king and tell him you're gonna you're just building these walls so you can repel so you can be king and this is what nehemiah said he said for they all were trying to make us afraid saying their hands will be weakened in the work and it will not be done notice what he does now therefore oh god strengthen my hands you see what does he do he goes to prayer you see he knew who would strengthen his hands strengthen his heart would uphold him because he knew what the scripture declared what Isaiah declared what God declares all from the beginning of the scripture to the end he God tells Abraham do not fear I'm with you I am the all sufficient one I will take care of you so that is what sets somebody free but you have to have that openness he's got to be your father your loving Heavenly Father that you can come to him and receive from him if you can't do that then nothing of what I've just said to you will happen it's not going to happen because you have to access his power his strength let me just read our passage that we began with this morning Isaiah 41:10 fear not for I am with you who is with you I am with you be not dismayed for I am your God I will strengthen you yes I will help you I will uphold you with my righteous right hand let's go to him in prayer father we thank you that Lord you have promised to uphold us to strengthen us Lord to be with us and lord I just ask that you would just touch your people this morning touch each here that is battling and mastered by their their fears Lord I pray that you would just Lord fill them with that understanding that special knowledge of your love for them your care for them or just fill them with that special personal faith to just commit this to to make that choice and commit it into your hands Lord we we just choose to release it into your hands we release that person Lord we release that that issue Lord that we have been mastered by Lord just set your people free Lord I believe you to do it if you're here and you don't know Christ this morning you you're not a Christian well that's what you were you need to begin you need to receive him and believe in him as your heavenly Father you see the scripture says as many as received him became and they were given power to become the children of God so we're not all the children of God automatically we have to receive Christ to become his child to come into his kingdom we receive him this morning if you believe that you're a sinner and you believe that Jesus died for you what's keeping you from responding right now if you say nothing then I want you to pray with me right now are you are you willing to surrender yourself into his hand if you are just pray with me just say Lord I believe in you father I acknowledge you and I acknowledge I'm a sinner I have broken your law I have disobeyed you forgive me Jesus come in take over my life right now I receive you by faith fill me with your Holy Spirit right now are you praying that prayer if did you just pray with me just now if you made that commitment this morning I want you to just acknowledge yes Steve I prayed with anyone here just lift your hand up let me know yes I prayed with you this morning anyone here this morning because we'd like to pray for you Father we give you praise we give you honor Lord you are mighty God and Lord you can set us free from every bondage every fear the Lord I believe you to do that this morning Lord we as a as an assembly Lord we we just we thank you that you are the deliverer you have delivered us for we ask it in Jesus name Amen and amen let's stand together

Channel: Pastor Steve Carr

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Length: 46min 58sec (2818 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 27 2014