Walk In Victory Over Fear Heb.2:15 CLICKTITLE FOR AUDIO

There are four things of which Christians are particularly afraid.  Christians fear the loss of their life, their self-esteem or self-worth, their reputation and their dignity.  Put another way, Christians fear death, falling, dishonor and derision.  As my former pastor used to say, “People fear ridicule worse than they fear death.”  If you want to get out of this bondage of fear and have victory, then follow these four things that Paul and our Lord Jesus Christ did.

To have victory over fear you need to:

Walk in Death – Heb 2:15 – if you are already dead then you have no reason to fear death.  We are dead in Christ; we are crucified together with him [Rom 6:6-7].  Paul said that he was “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,” [2 Cor 4:10].  Just to be sure, he said “I die daily,” [1 Cor 15:31].  Every morning you should consciously take your place on the cross with Christ [Gal 2:20].  Then like Paul you will be able to say, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” [Phil 1:21].

Walk in Humility – Prov 16:18 – if you are all the way down then you can’t fall any further.  Peter said, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, the he may exalt you in due time,” [1 Pet 5:6].  And let’s add, now is not the due time.  So, get all the way down before the Lord.  A good way to do this is to prostrate yourself before the Lord in prayer each day [Num 16:4; Jos 5:14; Ruth 2:10].  It will help you to abase your pride.

Walk in Dishonor – Jn 12:43 – the Pharisees loved honor [Matt 23:6-7] and they feared the people [Matt 21:26].  They had reputations that they we’re trying to protect.   But look at Jesus.  He made himself of no reputation [Phil 2:7].  Paul didn’t try to protect his reputation, either [1 Cor 4:10].  And you cannot worry about your reputation.  If you don’t have one to guard in the first place, you won’t have anything to worry about.  If your friends or family don’t know that you’re a Christian, then you have a false reputation, anyway.  Let then know who you really are.

Walk in Derision – Lk 8:53 – people laughed at Jesus Christ.  They mocked him on the cross [Lk 18:32].  They mocked Paul [1 Cor 4:13].  If you step out to live for Christ the world is going to make fun of you.  You are wasting your time to be afraid of ridicule.  Just face it.  If you can’t laugh at yourself then you leave the job to someone else.  It would really help you to come out of your shell and take your stand with Christ.  It would help you to see that their laughter doesn’t hurt you nearly as much as you thought it would.  And remember that he who laughs last, laughs best [Prov 1:26, Ps 2:4],  Walk with the team who gets the last laugh.

Conclusion: Get on the cross with Christ every day, get down and stay down, make yourself of no reputation like Christ did, and be happy being the offscouring of the earth.  You are not greater than your Master [Matt 10:24-31].