Overcoming Life’s Greatest Fear

overcoming

Surely the greatest fear we have is death and the greatest pain that we can experience is the separation from our loved ones through death.

Wouldn’t you agree?  Is there anything that you fear more than death itself?  The pain felt through the loss of a business, failure in career or exams can never be compared to the pain of losing someone you love.


Why then is death the source of our greatest fear and our greatest pain?  Because we were never meant to die. God never intended for us to experience death. That is why we are unable to deal with it well.  

God originally created us to be immortal, to live forever in His love and to enjoy eternal communion with our loved ones. That was God’s original design for us. What changed all of that? Sin.

Sin turned us away from God and brought about death and separation. The separation was first of all a separation between man and God. Today, sin continues to destroy human life. It causes strain and strife that results in fights, divorces, wars, broken families, forsaken children and abandoned parents. Sin is the root cause of death and separation. 

 

The Good News – God’s Rescue Plan

On the first Christmas in human history,  two thousand years ago, God came down in the person of His son Jesus Christ.  He gave His Son to this world for the sole purpose of breaking the vicious cycle of sin.


Jesus Christ lived a sinless life that none of us is able to live.  He lived a life that matched God’s standards of holiness and righteousness.  After living that perfect life for 33 years on earth, Jesus was crucified on the cross.  Why? To pay for the sins committed by all of us.

It pains God to see us struggle under the effects and influence of sin.  Jesus conquered the greatest fear by conquering death.  Three days after his burial, He rose again.  His resurrection was witnessed by over five hundred people, an irrefutable fact that has changed human history.  That is why today our sense of chronology and events are based on the calendar calculated from the event of Christ’s birth.

Through His resurrection, Jesus conquered our greatest fear. Jesus says in John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and life, anyone who believes in me will live, even though he dies.  Whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

For those who believe in Jesus, our spirits live on even after our physical bodies die.  We live on in the presence of God forever and we are not separated from Him in eternal condemnation.

Yes, there is life after death.  All of us intuitively know that we continue to exist in our spirit form even after our physical body expires.  The Bible says that God has set eternity in the hearts of man.  All of us innately know we are eternal beings.  We do not just cease to exist when our physical body ceases.  The spiritual dimension is very real.  Through Jesus, God has made a way for us to spend eternity with Him and with our loved ones.

Today, you can be free from fear.  The Bible says that where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love drives out fear.  The moment you allow Jesus to come into your heart and your life, one of the first things you will experience is that fear disappears from your life.

Not only has God removed our greatest fear, He has also removed our greatest pain.
How did He do that?  Jesus died on our behalf on the cross. Jesus paid the price for our sins.  For all who believe in Jesus, His blood washes away all our sins, past, present and future, so that sin no longer blocks our relationship with God. Forgiveness is a free gift.  We just have to take it by faith, be humble enough to say I need God, I believe and I am willing to take this gift.

Is it really so simple? No good works needed? No religious rituals to comply with? It does not take all that to have eternal life because Jesus has already paid the price for man to be saved. Eternal life cannot be earned by man’s good behaviour. We owe a debt we cannot pay, and yet Jesus paid a debt He did not owe.

 

God’s Invitation

Today, you can receive a gift that money cannot buy, a gift of life, by simply believing, by saying you are willing to receive this gift.  This gift will change your life. God will begin a work of healing in you, in your family, and in your relationships.  

As you read this, if you feel God wooing your heart, this is a Father’s love extending to you. Come home to God and experience the greatest miracle that a human being can experience.  Let God heal you, touch you.  

You can receive this gift of life with this most powerful prayer that will change your being:

“Lord Jesus, I choose to believe in you. I respond to your invitation with faith. And I thank You for dying on the cross for me. Let Your blood wash me of all my sins and its devastating effects. I thank You Lord that You resurrected in my place. Now, I receive You as my Lord and Saviour. Touch my whole family, save my whole household that we will never ever separate and live in eternal love with You. I thank You Heavenly Father for hearing my prayer. I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

If you have prayed this prayer or would like to know more about Jesus, we invite you to write to us at
knowdaddygod@riverlife.org.sg. We look forward to hearing from you!

 

This message was adapted from Pastor John Koe’s sermon at RiverLife’s Christmas Services in 2014.