BY SETH PIERCE

This article was originally a sermon given at the College View Seventh-day Adventist Church, in Lincoln, Nebraska, on January 26, 2002, by Union College theology major Seth Pierce. Some characteristics of the oral presentation remain intact.--Editors.

OMANS 8:31 SAYS, "IF GOD IS FOR US, who can be against us?" Do we believe that? We repeat it, but do we really believe it?

Turn your Bibles to Mark 6. Here is a story about someone who was supposed to be a blessing to those around Him, but because fear was allowed to creep in, the blessing was distorted. Mark 6:47 says, "When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land."* This is Jesus. The story continues: "He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, 'Take courage, it is I. Don't be afraid'" (verse 50).

Take a look at the characters in the story. The disciples-followers of Christ-were people who knew Jesus. They had seen His miracles, they had seen His power. In Mark, chapter 1, Jesus casts out a demon and starts healing people. In Mark 2 Jesus heals a paralytic and thwarts the Pharisees. In chapter 3 He starts drawing large crowds. In chapter 4 He calms the storm. The disciples even declare, "Who is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!" The dead are raised, demons are driven out, and a woman with an issue of blood is healed in chapter 5. Early on in chapter 6 Jesus feeds 5,000 with something the size of a Happy Meal. These people knew who Jesus was. There are some people you don't forget. I mean, you can forget your wallet, your keys, your homework, but if someone were to come to Lincoln, Nebraska, handing out healings, feeding everybody, and giving accurate weather predictions-I tell you what, every TV station and everyone in Lincoln would know that God was in town.

Now, think of Jesus. Kind. Loving. Redeemer of this world. He sees His disciples straining; they're having trouble, they're tired, they're in need. So He goes out to them to be a blessing, but instead of rejoicing at the sight of their Redeemer, they look at Him and cry out, "It's a ghost!" The Greek word here is phantasma; it's where we get the English word "phantom." Essentially, they are so terrified of Christ that they look into the face of Jesus and call Him a monster.

After meditating on this, I've come to the conclusion that if fear is allowed to overtake a person, even the most devout followers of Christ will look into the face of their Redeemer, be absolutely terrified, and call Him a monster.

Not only is it possible, it's probable. It's happening right now. With all our international and national safety issues, the devil has set a marvelous stage to distort God and His blessings, thereby diffusing our faith and replacing it with fright.

I have a personal example. A year ago Pastor Dan Goddard, before he died, showed us a video in which people from this congregation and Union College were asked if they were ready for Jesus to come back. The responses broke my heart.

Now, the children, with their childlike faith, were all ready, and they smiled. But the adults-no. With the exception of a couple, they said: "I'm not ready. No, there are things I haven't taken care of. I'm not ready to go." I know that video didn't represent everybody in here, but I believe there are people here who cringe at the thought of Christ coming back before they're ready.

The second coming of our Savior is no longer a blessed hope, but a wretched curse. Not only has the devil gotten us to focus on sin and the evil of this world, but he's made us afraid of the one who takes us away from the sin and evil of this world. And I wonder, if I were to pose the questions "Do you have the assurance of salvation? Are you saved and going to heaven, do you know that?" how many of you would trip and stumble over your answers and give me an answer about as assured as a college student taking a pop final. Then you would dismiss it, not as fear, but as humility, saying, "I don't want to be like those other Christians who talk about their salvation. I'm being humble."

Maybe I'm just young, maybe I'm inexperienced, but I get a bigger blessing from someone who's more willing to boast in the Lord than in his or her own humility.

And what's the first thing we say when we have trouble? We encounter circumstances, and the first name that comes to mind is the devil's. We say, "The devil has got me down. The devil's bothering me. The devil's giving me a hard time. The devil, the devil, the devil."

I'm sorry. We have too many Christians talking about the devil when they should be saying, "Get thee behind me in the name of Jesus," and putting the devil in his place.

Yes, the devil has power, and it's good to be aware of it. But it's not God's will that we should be afraid of it. The Bible specifically says that the perfect love of Christ casts out-what? All fear. We have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power and a sound mind. This sermon is not going to focus on the devil's power, downplay the power of God, or prance around with some politically correct face so the devil won't get angry. This sermon contains material that's going to harass hell, shame the devil, and move bad thinking. Because I tell you, the words of Jesus Christ to His disciples are just as true today: "Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid" (see Matt. 14:27; John 6:20). We're going to kill that demon called fear this morning.

Who Is Bigger?
Turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 5. We're going to do a little comparison/contrast this morning between God and the devil, to see who's bigger. The first area we're going to look at is the presence of God versus the presence of the devil. Now, it's true we need to understand that the devil has areas he works through; however, we are not to let that intimidate us into thinking that God's power cannot penetrate the most vile locations, the most evil people, and make a stamp on the heart of the most hardened sinners.

In other words, the devil may have his playground, but God's got the whole world in His hands.

Chapter 5 begins this way: "After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon." Let me give you a little background here. Dagon was the god of the Philistines, and this particular temple was one of the biggest. He was a national figure, and he was also a weird figure. Literally. He had the body of a man, and the bottom of a fish. But this wasn't some Disney character. When the priests were doing the rites and ceremonies, they would take large fish, gut them, and wear their carcasses. That would add a special smell to the temple, wouldn't it?

The Philistines, because of their age and influence, not only had animal sacrifices, but they had something called kernos-these are hollow ceramic rings, on which they'd put the heads of bulls, rams, and birds. And if you read 1 Chronicles you see that the head of Saul was on one. All these severed heads would add that special ambience that's so hard to find in a heathen place of worship.

Judges 16 talks about drunken feasts that they had. This place had all manner of sins-it was seething with evil. It was a den of demons, and the presence of the devil was everywhere in this place. And the poor, precious little carriage of God-the ark-is taken into this den of demons and put right beside the pagan god. Poor little God in His little box is going to be immersed in this world of evil. What is God going to do?

I'll tell you what He does. He gives new meaning to the phrase "Big things come in small packages." Keep reading. "When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place" (1 Sam. 5:3).

What do the priests say when they see that? "Well, the poor dear must've fallen down. He must've gotten tired; he must've fallen asleep. You know, it's a lot of work being a big mindless piece of rock all day. Here, Dagon, let's set you up there. It happens to the best of pagan gods; don't worry. Just stay there. It's OK, Dagon. But man, that ark is givin' me the creeps. But everything is fine. Dagon's up. Nothing to lose your head over."

Next verse: "But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained." Friends, it's not just a new day, it's a new Da-gon.

Dagon's head is smashed, symbolizing that no one outsmarts God. His hands are crushed, symbolizing that no one can contain God. And his limbless, lifeless stone body is lying prostrate before the ark of the Lord as a testimony from God saying, "It doesn't matter if you're a devil, a demon, or a nation. Nobody can stand against Me. Whether you're wood or stone, idol or idea, spirit or flesh, all false gods will fall down and suck dirt before Me because I'm the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, and the end, and everything in between." [Amen.]

And then the Philistines began the biggest game of hot potato you ever saw. They tried to pawn the ark off on other cities. The presence of God was so powerful, the pagan nations could not contain it. The ark had to be with its people.

That same presence is here, right now, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our God, Emmanuel, God with us. And if He is with us, who can be against us?

What's in a Name?
Let's talk about names now. God's names versus the devil's names. Try this one. A lamb that kills a dragon. Now, that's embarrassing for a dragon. What about this? Satan, the accuser. The accuser, the one that hunts down Christians, that accuses them, throws their sins in their face. How can we possibly get away from someone called the accuser? We might if our God is the Wonderful Counselor.

Surely there've got to be some names that can compete against the Lord of lords, the Lord of light. The Lord of all those who have ruled, the Lord of the mystery of existence. There's got to be something. Matthew 12. Ah, here we go! Verse 24: "But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, 'It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.'" Beelzebub-what does that mean? Beelzebub, Beelzebub. Oh! Ha! Beelzebub means the Lord of the . . . flies. Now, that is interesting. A bunch of dirty, irritating little insects.
Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz. It's all they do.

We could keep talking about these and other names, but I must mention that there are still Christians who prefer to focus on the devil's power. Almost a year ago I was at this Week of Spiritual Emphasis and there was this pastor, and all he talked about was the devil's power. He tried to scare us; he tried to scare me. He was talking to me, and he's like "You know what the devil did? One time he switched all the lights on and off in the room. He was knocking on the walls and the demons . . ." Oh, please. All my God has to do is say "light" and He can create it; the devil's got to use a light switch? My God says "shout" and the walls fall down, so what's this knocking business? I don't think so.

Even nature obeys God better. You may say, "What about the snake in the garden?" Yeah, the devil made a snake talk. But even then the most beautiful, the most intelligent animal he had to use, and he couldn't even get it to tell the truth. God used a stubborn mule, gave it not only the intelligent gift of speech, but spiritual discernment to see angels in the road. I mean, I can't see angels in the road. And you say, "Well, what about the time when all those demons possessed a herd of pigs and ran them off the cliff and drowned 'em?" Oh, my God moved on every animal, organized them two by two, and then put them in a boat so they'd float on top of the water.

Called to Overcome
Turn in your Bibles to Luke 10. There's a powerful, powerful verse here. Luke 10:17: "The seventy-two returned with joy and said, 'Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.' He replied, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.'"

Stop right there. Did he fall like a feather? like a cotton ball? Did he even fall as hard and as fast as a ton of bricks? It said he fell like lightning. Friends, lightning travels at 186,000 miles a second. If you were to take somebody, hike them all the way up to heaven, and then throw them down at 186,000 miles per second, you'd better believe they're going to hit the earth pretty hard, and they're going to know exactly where they stand.

But just in case we've forgotten, Christ goes on: "I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you" (verse 19). He calls us to overcome. He says nothing is going to hurt us, and the Greek word paten used there for tread means "to trample." He's not talking about tulips. You don't go tip-toeing through the armies of darkness; you crush them underfoot like Christian soldiers with the power and the glory of God. And when you start to understand this, it's powerful. But there's more-Jesus promises even more!

Verse 20. For all of you who are cringing at thoughts of the Second Coming, doubting, and asking, "Can I really have the assurance of salvation?" He says, "However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." In other words, don't rejoice in what you're doing, but be thankful because you can have the assurance of salvation-the assurance that your names are written in the Book of life. Would anyone tell you to rejoice over something if it was not sure? I'm going to paraphrase a couple Bible stories right now to show you just how sure we can be in God.

Fire From Heaven
Elijah and the Baal prophets-I love this story (1 Kings 18:17-40). You want to talk about a guy with an attitude? Here is one prophet of God versus almost 1,000 pagan prophets. He challenges 'em and says, "OK, you call on your god, I'll call on mine, and let's see who calls down fire. You can even go first."

These pagan priests go to town. I mean, they're dancing, flailing, screaming. The Bible says they slashed themselves until the blood flowed (verse 28). And Elijah, seeing all this pandemonium, doesn't get scared. He doesn't waste time getting offended. What he does is taunt them! He taunts these people who are dancing around, bleeding everywhere! You know, at first glance Elijah strikes me as a man who doesn't have all his pews in one sanctuary. Missing a pew or two maybe. All his information isn't in the bulletin.

When Elijah taunts them, he says, "Maybe he's sleeping. Cry louder, maybe he can't hear you!" And then he says, "Maybe he's on a journey." Then he shuts it all down and says, "It's my turn. Now, for a good fire, what we're going to need is three jars of water. I want you to pour that on the altar." Elijah then prays very fervently and says, "Lord, send Your fire." A lightning fire from heaven comes down so hungry it not only devours the sacrifice, the wood, the stone, and the soil, but it has enough room to lick up the water in the trench. After God shows His power in a very big way, Elijah disposes of those dancing, screaming prophets.

A Slingshot of Authority
David and Goliath. I love this story, too (1 Sam. 17). Here is someone who understands the power of God working in his life. When faced with a giant problem, the first thing David does, with all these scared people around, is ask "Hey, who is this uncircumcised Philistine?" Now, when a child of God calls somebody an uncircumcised Philistine, there's going to be a rumble.

David marches right up there, and the great Goliath, in all his wisdom, says, "Uh, you, comin' to me like a dog. I'm gonna feed your body to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field." Hallelujah, Goliath. You finished a sentence and made a simile. That's impressive.

David gets up there and gives a whole faith dissertation on what's going to go down. He's like "OK, Goliath. First of all, I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, and not only are you going to get handed over to me, but I'm going to chop off your head, I'm going to kill you, and I'm going to kill all your friends over there. And I like that idea about the birds and the beasts. We're going to use that as well. And then, Goliath-stay with me, Goliath, come on-we're going to go over there, and I'm going to destroy you so everybody will know that it's not by sword or spear that the battle is won, but that the battle has been the Lord's from the very beginning. Now, why don't you hold still while I load my sling?"

You have to take authority as a Christian.

Problems? Who Has Problems?
You're probably wondering about the tests and trials people face every day. Yeah, we have tests and trials, but the whole point of a test is to pass it. And let me say something else-and you might think I'm crazy at first-but for the Christian there is no such thing as a problem. How many think I'm crazy? Raise your hands. How many of you have some problems? Let me change your thinking a little bit here.

For the Christian, there's no such thing as a problem, only an opportunity for testimony.

You may wonder about people who have problems their entire lives. Let me tell you something, if you have problems your entire life and you can hold on to your faith, that is a high calling, because what you are doing is being used to shame the devil. And believe me, you will have a testimony, because people like that are so faithful that no matter what the devil does to them, they just keep coming back. They'll testify in the end times.

Think about the martyrs. Hundreds of years later we still talk about them. Powerful testimonies. And God has called us to overcome. If you don't believe me yet, check out Revelation 2 and 3.

Do you feel like overcoming this morning? [Amen.]

In closing, I'm just going to share this promise from the Word of God, to affirm you that God is with us. Repeat it with me: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16, KJV). When we can grasp that, when we can believe that, when we can get an attitude about that, get filled with that, we can look at the kingdom of darkness, we can look at all our supposed problems, and declare very boldly with the psalmist, "I will fear no evil, for [God is] with me" (Ps. 23:4).

And if He is with us, who can be against us?

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*Unless noted otherwise, Bible references in this article are from the New International Version.

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Seth Pierce is a senior theology major at Union College, in Lincoln, Nebraska.