In our study of the mandate found in 1Pet 3:15, for the believer to be prepared to give a defense of the hope that was within them we saw that the context of the request was suffering. 1Pet 3:14; We saw that Peter quoted Isa 8:12; for believers not to be intimidated or fearful and not to be troubled by the suffering or those who were the source of the suffering.
Paul has the same instructions for believers in Phil 1:28; where the word translated "alarmed" in the NASB is the Greek word "pturo" that means to be frightened or intimidated.
So last time, we started a study on the mandate for the believer not to fear that is found in Matt 10:28,31; Rev 2:10; Isa 41:10; LXX.
The word translated "fear" in these passages is the Greek word "phobeo" in the imperative mood.
Matthew presents fear in two ways, in a positive way as in fear, respect, awe, or reverence toward God and in a negative way as in sinful fear of mental attitude sin.
Both are commands to the believer and we started to look at the negative side of the mandate first.
The emotional sin of fear is characterized by panic when one is in a dangerous situation or under sudden pressure. When someone is intimidated they are usually under pressure to compromise their norms and standards. In such a state, the principles of Bible Doctrine become less important the desire for self preservation.
Fear is one of the emotional complex of sins, which include fear, worry, anxiety, panic and hysteria, and is aroused by the perception of impending danger or disaster of some form.
Fear is manifested in the following ways:
Apprehension, which is anticipation of some future evil; being fearful of what may be about to happen.
Dread, which is extreme fear, apprehension or anxiety regarding future events. It is an extreme reluctance to face or meet a situation
Panic which is a sudden and overpowering feeling of fear usually affecting a group of people, originating in some real or supposed danger which often is vaguely understood that leads to the entire group fleeing in an attempt to secure safety from the perceived danger.
In an economic sense, "a panic" refers to a condition of widespread apprehension in relation to financial and commercial matters, arising in a time of monetary difficulty or crisis, and leading to hasty and violent measures to secure immunity from possible loss, that may actually cause the onset of the financial disaster that was feared.
Hysteria is an overwhelming unmanageable fear or emotional excess.
Terror is an extreme degree of fear, is an intense fear or dread of some imminent impending event.
These are all emotional reactions to real or imagined adversity or threat of loss.
Based on these definitions it is apparent that we are presently living at a time when fear dominates the thinking of our nation.
Fear is a characteristic of the wicked Prov 28:1 and is actually defined as a curse that God puts on a nation that is in the cycles of discipline because of their rejection of Bible Doctrine. Lev 26:17; Lev 26:36-37;
Since the emotion is designed by God to respond to rational thinking, fear and its associated sins represent the thinking of Kosmic system viewpoint and OSN control of the soul when under pressure.
Thinking doctrine under pressure results in rational analysis, confident decision making, and courageous application of problem solving devices. Psa 56:3;
On the other hand, the emotional sins associated with fear produce irrational thought, decision, and action as is described in Rev 6:15-16; where the unbelievers in the Tribulation want to commit suicide by asking the rocks to fall on them because of their fear of TLJC.
Some of the principles, which describe the escalation of fear in one’s life, are as follows:
The more things you surrender to fear the more things you fear.
The more you fear the more irrational you become.
As a result you are transformed into a different personality from the one that distinguished you while under the influence of the truth of Bible Doctrine.
Consequently, you lose your spiritual identity, which is derived from your personal sense of destiny in spiritual self esteem resulting in a loss of capacity that causes you to be afraid of life.
The extent to which you surrender to fear, the greater is your capacity for fear.
Capacity for life is transformed into a capacity for fear.
As a result, fear controls more and more of your life.
Increasing fear in your life means an increasing sense of insecurity. Insecurity destroys all happiness and capacity for happiness.
The greater the capacity for fear, the more you increase the power of fear in your life.
The more you increase the power of fear in you life, the greater the failure to execute the mechanics of the spiritual life.
The greater your capacity for fear means the more you become preoccupied with yourself.
Preoccupation with self enters the believer into the arrogance skills of self-justification, self-deception, self-absorption, denial and projection.
The greater the power of fear in your life the greater the self-induced misery that you bring upon yourself.
The emotional sin of Fear produces cowardice.
Arrogance takes on the façade of a false courage in time of prosperity but under the pressure of adversity it is transformed into cowardice.
Fear and cowardice remove the Word of God as the highest priority in life and destroys the function of the spiritual life.
When emotional reaction replaces rational thought from the doctrinal norms and standards of the spiritual life it creates a pseudo-reality of unrealistic expectations, denial, and projection in the believer's soul.
The believer cannot be afraid without putting abnormal emphasis on themselves, which incorporates the sins from the arrogance complex that are associated with fear including bitterness, vindictiveness, jealousy, implacability, and self-pity.
Fear allows circumstance to overcome the believer and left unchecked leads to personal disaster.
On the other hand, The plan of God is designed to remove all fear from the life of the believer and replace it with confidence in His Word which leads to courage toward man and circumstances. 2Tim 1:7;NET
This courage becomes a mental attitude which reflects one's confidence from spiritual self-esteem in relationships with people and circumstances.
This means that true courage finds its source in one's personal love for God resulting in the believer trusting in God which gives capacity for unconditional integrity love as a problem solving device.
Spiritual self-esteem, personal love for God, and confidence in doctrine motivate and enable courage toward man and circumstances.
Courage is not necessarily the complete absence of fear but is a system of thinking that has mastery over it. Psa 56:3;
This courage is expressed by sound doctrinal thinking under pressure, decision-making from a position of strength, and action founded in rational thought rather than irrational emotion.
Courage is manifested in the application of the problem-solving devices of personal love for God and unconditional integrity love for mankind.
We see in 1John 4:18; that Virtue love drives fear out of the soul.
1John 4:18; Fear does not exist in virtue love but virtue love drives out fear, for fear causes punishment. In fact, the person who is afraid has not been matured by virtue love.
The mature believer is able to eliminate fear by recognizing that living, dying, adversity and prosperity are parts of the plan of God for them. Gal 2:20; Phil 1:21; 2Tim 4:4-8;
We see that in his suffering, Job had resolved the issue of his death. Job 13:15a;
Fear of death destroys capacity for life and enslaves Heb 2:15;
No believer has control over the time, manner, or place of their physical death. Psa 31:15;
The death of the believer and their exit from the planet is the imposition of the wisdom of God's omniscience that is perfectly executed from his sovereignty according to his righteousness and justice. Psa 116:15; Isa 57:1;
The death of the positive believer involves their transfer from time into eternity by means of dying grace.
Dying grace is the experience of physical death under special provisions of grace, whereby the mature believer experiences both blessing and happiness while dying.
It removes the fear of death according to Psa 23:4;
Dying grace takes the sting out of death according to 1Cor 15:55-57;
Dying grace begins the process of converting escrow blessings in time into escrow blessings for eternity. 2Tim 4:7-8;
When the believer through their PMA of Bible Doctrine understands that there is nothing to fear in death then they can begin to understand that there is nothing to fear in life.
Unless fear of death is resolved by means of one's confidence in God's Word then the believer receives no pleasure out of living, Instead they are constantly limited by a fear of losing logistical support, of losing their prosperity, or of losing their life.
The emotional believer does not have the ability to think doctrine or to use problem-solving devices.
The first stage of the adult spiritual life is spiritual self-esteem that results from grace and doctrinal orientation and the function of cognitive self-confidence which is the opposite of fear.
The adult believer is able to identify and eliminate fear from their soul since their self-confidence identifies it as an irrational diversion from clarity of thought.
Kosmic believers emote themselves to death. Rather then responding to doctrine in the soul, they react to outside adversities creating stress in their soul.
Adversity is inevitable and necessary as part of God's plan for the advance of the believer, but stress is the result of the believer's improper thinking regarding the adversity
Adversity is often caused by circumstances outside of the control of the believer, but Stress is the result of how one thinks so it is totally within the control of the believer.
When understood in this way, it is easy to see that stress is actually a sin.