Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

William Stidger tells this fascinating true story out of history: It was the final battle in the war between the Tartars and the Russians as they faced each other across the Oka River in 1462.

For several days they were engaged in bitter fighting.

Time after time the Tartar hordes tried to drive across the river, but they were thrust back.

The Russians were far inferior by number, but the water of the Oka was their protection.

Then something happened that struck fear into the hearts of the Russian defenders.

A cold wave swept down from the snow-clad peaks of the Ural Mountains, and the waters of the Oka began to freeze over.

Once the ice was strong enough the Tartars could cross over and annihilate the Russian forces.

As they sat around the camp fire talking of the advantage the enemy would soon have, and as they felt the weather getting colder and colder, their fear grew to a panic, and before midnight the whole army was fleeing back to Moscow.

The following morning when the Tartar sentries were able to look across the river, they were amazed to find that the enemy had vanished.

The Tartars immediately suspected a trick.

They thought that perhaps the Russians had crossed the river several miles down and were planning to attack from the rear.

Uncertainty as to what the Russians were up to caused fear to spread through the camp, and in less than two hours the Tartar host had abandoned its tents, and was in full retreat.

Two panic stricken armies were running from each other, both having been conquered by fear.

Fear is a great conqueror.

It is one of the most universal and powerful forces that man has to contend with.

Every man, even the bravest, has to fight with fear on many different fronts.

We feel fear because of inadequacy.

We fear people who are superior.

We fear those with more education, and those with more talent.

We fear those who are more widely traveled.

We fear dozens of different relationships with others because of our ignorance and inadequacies.

The result is that we flee in retreat and let fear defeat us and deprive us of many of life's blessings and opportunities.

Not only do we have social fears that control us, but we have bodily pain fears.

Certainly it is a rare person who does not fear a heart attack every time they get a pain in the chest.

We hear so much about physical problems in all age groups that we are conscious that no one is immune from serious and fatal diseases.

The result is a constant weight of fear pressing down on us.

Add to this the fear we have over economics.

We fear inflation and depression.

We fear we won't be able to afford to send our children to college.

We fear a thousand different things in relation to money.

When a woman says she hasn't a thing to wear she is saying that she fears to be out of style.

Fear even plays a role in determining our wardrobe.

Children fear they will not win their parents affections, and parents fear they will not raise their children right.

Parents fear they will not maintain their love and loyalty to each other.

Everything seems to be built on shifting sand, and there is no certainty.

Therefore, fear reigns, and masses go down in defeat before fear every day.

We haven't even mentioned the dozens of religious and superstitious fears that fill our institutions for the mentally ill.

We quote, "I will fear no evil for thou art with me," but then we do not walk in fearlessness as we talk.

We shun the conflict with the enemy like weaponless orphans.

Boldness and courage are quenched by fear, and we do not witness as we ought.

God says to go and conquer, but like the Israelites of old, we let our fear reign and reply that there are giants in the land.

Every obstacle looks like a giant, and we feel like pigmies.

I can't, I can't, is the theme song of the average Christian.

What they mean is, I fear, I fear.

There is no victory march of certainty ringing in their ears.

They hear only the dismal dirge of doubt which holds them down.

John Masefield in The Hell-Hounds tells of a priest who let fear terrorize him into cowardice.

He became faithless to his duties, and he hid himself in fear.

Then he heard the message of some birds singing-

Open the door, Good saint, they cried;

Pass deeper into your soul!

There is a power in your side

Which hell cannot control.

The story is fiction, but the message is one of the most essential biblical facts that every child of God must grasp.

We do not need to be controlled by fear.

We have a power within that can control fear.

This is one of the major messages that the Apostle Paul communicated in his letters.

Here in Romans 8 he makes it so clear that none can miss it.

We can be sure, and have complete certainty, and absolute assurance that deprives fear of a foothold in our lives.

Uncertainty is what gives fear its power.

People are uncertain about life, its meaning, purpose, and goals.

This leaves them helpless victims of fear, but Paul says the Christian can have certainty in all of these areas.

We can be certain of being led by the Spirit.

We can be certain of immortality of the body as well as of the Spirit.

Man fears non-existence, but the Christian need not do so, for he can have assurance of eternal life.

Man fears to be nobody, and to be insignificant.

The Christian need not fear this, for over and over Paul says the Christian can be assured that he is a child of God.

He has a place in God's family for time and eternity.

Men fear that they will have nothing to show for having lived, but Paul says the Christian can be assured of an eternal inheritance.

We will be co-heirs with Christ of all the infinite riches of God.

With assurance of immortality, identity, and inheritance, you would think Christians could march boldly on to victory unhindered by fear.

Unfortunately, this is not the case, for what is possible is not necessarily actual.

William Adams Brown writes, "A noticeable feature of contemporary religious life is the loss of the sense of certainty."

It is considered to be pride to absolutely sure of anything.

Someone said that we are not even sure that we are not sure.

Men are even fearful of being certain.

Part of this is due to the false certainties of past.

Men have been dogmatic in science and religion, and they were so sure they were right that they persecuted those who came up with something new.

Certainty led to intolerance and narrowness, and a loss of freedom to pursue the truth.

In reaction to this the modern man has gone to the other extreme and says that we cannot be certain of anything.

The task of the Christian is to find the happy medium between these two extremes.

In the first place, the Christian must recognize that certainty is not essential in all areas.

It would be interesting to know exactly who is right as to just how God created the universe.

Did He do it in 7 literal days, or 7 ages?

Did He do it directly, or by process?

It would be interesting to know for sure, but such certainty is not necessary for effective Christian living.

It is not essential for life abundant to know if the church will go through the tribulation or escape it.

We can survive and even thrive with uncertainty in many areas over which Christians debate.

What we need to know for sure is, are we saved, are we children of God, and do we have eternal life?

If we have certainty in these areas, that is what really matters, for that gives us a solid basis from which we can fight off all the fiery darts of fear.

The second thing we must recognize is that certainty does not mean infallibility.

To be certain of something does not mean you possess full knowledge of it, and can never change.

Certainty is not to be confused with changelessness.

I can be certain of my salvation as a child, but my account of it and its basis at that point may be radically revised as I get older, and grow in my knowledge of God's Word.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but in relationship to me He is ever changing as I grow in knowledge.

Yesterday Jesus may have been an enemy to a man, today a Savior, and tomorrow a Lord to be followed.

Our relationship, our maturity, our knowledge causes us to be changing all the time, but through it all we can be certain that we are children of God.

Paul states it clearly in verse 16 where he says that the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

The value of a testimony depends upon the character of the witness.