Death is the final certainty for sinners, and without God’s intervention we will all be controlled by our fear of death. Fear itself is wielded by our enemy to make us ineffective in our representation as image bearers of God.
Preliminaries: God holds the power of life and death, and life and death after death – not the devil
Observations:
- Jesus’ humanity is the requirement for His interceding atonement and our hope
- Suffering is satan’s aim and attraction
- This world is satan’s claim – but it was given to man, not satan
Conclusions:
- Jesus’ death and resurrection has destroyed the devil’s power
- Jesus understands human suffering
- The devil’s power isn’t death, but enslavement through fear
Counterattack: for fear and suffering
- Fix your mind on the living Jesus
– What fears are seeking to enslave you? - Bring your suffering to the one who suffered for you
– How are you handling and processing your suffering? - As a sojourner, set your hope beyond this world
– Where you have placed your hope is where satan will attack.
Matthew 12:28
“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Job 14:5
“A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.”
Matthew 6:25-27
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
Psalm 139:16
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Matthew 10:28-31
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Luke 13:16
“Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
Acts 10:38
“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”
Revelation 2:10
“Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.”
1 Corinthians 15:27
“For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.”
Ephesians 1:22
“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church”
John 12:31
“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.”
John 14:30
“I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me”
John 16:11
“The prince of this world now stands condemned.”
2 Corinthians 4:4
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Ephesians 2:1-2
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”
Colossians 2:13-15
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
1 Corinthians 2:6-8
“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
John 16:32-33
“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Hebrews 3:1
“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.”
Hebrews 12:1-2
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Matthew 26:36-39
“Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Hebrews 11:13-16
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”