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No Longer a Slave Series | Part 3
No Longer a Slave to Fear
Isaiah 41:8-10; (Rom 8:14-15; 2 Tim 1:7, 12)

Big Idea: When you are a child of God, you are no longer a slave to fear.

Introduction
What are you most afraid of?
Top American Fears (2016, according to a study by Chapman University)
1. Corrupt government officials
2. Terrorist Attack
3. Not having enough money for the future
4. Government restrictions on firearms and ammunition
5. People I love dying
Today we are talking about breaking the chains of fear
What kind of fear are we talking about?
Not talking about
1.) Fear of God – a profound respect/reverence
Illustration: An electrician has a fear of electricity if he is going to have longevity on the job. That doesn’t mean he trembles every time he goes to work. But it does mean he knows what’s in those wires. He has a respect for that power. Now that’s the idea of the fear of Lord.
2.) Natural, healthy fear
Like looking both ways before you cross a busy road.
Or being aware of your surroundings.
Or choosing the other side of the road when there is a big mean dog and you’re walking back from the butcher shop
3.) We are talking about the fears that consume you.
The spirit of fear that enslaves you.
Illustration: Legitimate fear… is like a thunderstorm. The lightning flashes, the thunder rolls, then the storm passes. The clouds roll back and the sun shines again. The spirit of fear… is like a constant darkness. A drizzle, a fog. You live in it. God has not given you that kind of spirit. That’s not productive.
(2 Tim 1:7) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.
God has not given us a spirit of fear that enslaves you – binds you – consumes your spirit
What are you most afraid of?
I’m not talking about spiders, snakes, heights.. Dig deeper.. More honest reflection.. “What do you find yourself worrying about – for some, frequently recurring, for some others, everyday it’s on your mind?”
Illustration: write it down on the card.. verbalizing our fear makes it less formidable, more manageable, it helps to define them.. 
4 Common Categories of Consuming Fear
1.) Fear of failure
2.) Fear of riding shotgun
….Fear of security, loss of control
….You’re convinced that you’re spinning your own world
….Fear of tomorrow
3.) Fear of rejection
….Fear of loneliness (no one to love or be loved by)
4.) Fear of death
You do not have to remain in bondage to your fear.
Some people have said, 365x in the bible, the command is given “Do not fear.” I haven’t gone exhaustively searched for all of these, but I do know of 119 places, and if God said it once, that is enough, and if He said it 119x I definitely get the picture, “Do not fear.”
But it is one thing to say to someone, “Don’t be afraid.” It is altogether another thing to make fearlessness a reality.
That’s why when God says, “Do not fear.” He upholds that calling to fearlessness with pillars of unchanging, unfaltering promise
5 Pillars of God’s Promises to Free You from Fear (Isaiah 41:10)
Do not fear: 
1.) for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, [do not be dismayed, discouraged, anxious, afraid]
2.) for I am your God.
3.) I will strengthen you, 
4.) surely I will help you,
5.) Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
(Amplified Bible) I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation].’
I will not fear, because:
1.) God is with me.
2.) God is my Father God.
NOTE: begins with who God is and because who God is this is what He will do
3.) God will strengthen me.
4.) God will help me.
5.) God will hold onto me.
Is God just talking to the Israelites of the OT, or are these promises for me? 
Yes, these promises are for you!
Isaiah 41:8-9
⁸ “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend,
Now at first, you’re thinking, “Yep, just the Jews.” But then look what God says next:
⁹ You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its remotest parts And said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you.
This is language of gathering, gathering beyond a specific geo-ethnic entity. This is language that is recalling the God’s promise to Abraham, the mission of God, God is speaking, contemporaneously, to those who are called by Christ from among the nations.
Now, perhaps you’re still skeptical, so look at Galatians 3:
⁵ So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? ⁶ Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. ⁷ Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. ⁸ The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” ⁹ So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
And now Romans 9:
⁶ For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; ⁷ nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” ⁸ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.
What is a child of the promise? the man/woman/boy/girl in whom the Spirit of God dwells by grace through faith in Jesus Christ
Listen to Romans 8:
¹⁴ For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
When God is your Father, when you are a child of God, you are no longer a slave to fear.
God has broken those chains. God has released you. Satan has no power over you. 
Fear is expecting the devil to move. Faith is expecting God to move.
When you are – by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord – you expect God to move. You can expect God to set you free.
You don’t have to stay in bondage any more.
1.) God is with you.
2.) God is your Father God.
3.) God will strengthen you.
4.) God will help you.
5.) God will hold on to you.
You are no longer a slave to fear. You are a child of God.
Conclusion
CH Spurgeon.. story of a New England service when the pastor was waxing on eloquently, and the people were listening or otherwise. It was a substantial edifice in which they were assembled, fit to outlive an earthquake. All went on peacefully in the meeting house that morning until suddenly a lunatic jumped up, denounced the minister and declared that he would at once pull down the meeting house about their ears, like Samson! Taking hold of one of the pillars of the gallery, this newly announced Hercules repeated his threat! Everybody rose. The women were ready to faint. The men began to rush the doors, and there was danger that the people would be trampled on as they rushed down the aisles! Fear was taking over, and there was about to be a great mayhem. No one could see the end of it, when suddenly one cool brother sitting near the pulpit produced calm by a single sentence. He said, “Let him try!” “Let him try!” was the stern sarcasm which hushed the tempest!
Satan – the lunatic who has lost already, the defeated deceiver – may try to pull down the pillars of God’s promises.
But he cannot pull down the pillars of God’s promises!
If you are a child of God you are no longer a slave to fear. These are God’s promises to you:
1.) God is with you.
2.) God is your Father God.
3.) God will strengthen you.
4.) God will help you.
5.) God will hold on to you.
Rest – find peace – find fearlessness – on the pillars of the promises of God your Father
You are no longer a slave to fear. You are a child of God.
1.) Fear of failure – God wants your best, but He has never demanded your perfection.
2.) Fear of riding shotgun – (Luke 12:25-26, 28b, 30b-31, NLT) ²⁵ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? ²⁶ And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things? ²⁸… [your Father in heaven] will certainly care for you… ³⁰ … your Father already knows your needs. ³¹ Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
3.) Fear of rejection – (1 John 4:15-16, 18a) ¹⁵ All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. ¹⁶ We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. ¹⁸ Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear.
4.) Fear of death – When God gives you the promise for eternal life, it’s not a promise to be cashed in one day in the future. It is a promise that because your tomorrow is secure – no matter what comes, even death cannot hold you – so live free in the fullness of today.
You are no longer a slave to fear. You are a child of God.
And now it’s time to let God break those chains of fear that have enslaved you.
Illustration: You take that card out. Pray to God. Tear that card up and cast that fear to feet of Jesus. Jesus has got you. You don’t need to pick it back up. Those chains have been broken.
You are no longer a slave to fear. You are a child of God.
Salvation: Free from Fear Forever and Ever
From prison, Paul writes to Timothy in his second letter. A letter in which he reminds Timothy, “God has not given us a spirit [of fear], but of power and love and [a sound mind].” (2 Tim 1:7)
Paul says this, “…I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” (2 Tim 1:12)
“Free Indeed” Illustration: Elephant held down, in place by a little stick and a short chain. How? Because they’ve been trained since they were small that that chain would keep them down. And though they have grown big, they still think they are bound by that change. Some of you have been chained up so long, you have forgotten who you really are – a child of God.. God is with you.. God will help you.. God will hold on to you.. God will strengthen you. You are no longer a slave to fear. You are a child of God. So cry out in praise “Abba, Father! Let Him break those chains!