Freedom - Part Four

LESSON XLVIII
FREEDOM - Part Four
 
Try to lead the children to Christ as Saviour and Lord. 
1. We are free from fear.
2. We are free from care.

Sometimes small boys and girls are very much afraid of the dark. They do not even like to go to bed in the dark. Of course when they are older they become free from that fear. But even older people are afraid of some things. Yet if we belong to the Lord Jesus we need not be afraid of anything, for He has made us free from fear. Read Romans 8:15. There you find that we are not in bondage or slavery, so that we need to be afraid. And in 1 John 4:18 we find that God’s perfect love to us casts out our fear. 

Many people are afraid of death and well they may be if they are not saved, for then death means separation from God forever in hell. But even some who have believed in God in the time before Christ died, were afraid of death, because they knew so very little of life beyond the grave. In Hebrews 2:15 we read of Christ’s delivering those who spent their whole lives in slavery because of fear of death. Fear was like a terrible master who kept them always unhappy and miserable. They were slaves to this fear. But then Christ came, and died, and rose again from the dead, so now there is no fear of death for us. That fear is gone forever. Psalms 23:4 says that we need fear no evil because the Lord is with us. Death only means going home to Heaven for those who are His.
 
God has planned everything in our lives. Nothing can happen to us unless He lets it, so we do not have to be afraid of what may happen, day or night. If we are sick, we can just rest quietly, knowing that the Lord will do for us what is best. If we have hard lessons in school, we can just ask the Lord to help us with them, and be sure He will, if we do our best, too. We need not be afraid of anything at all, since we belong to God, and He is our Father and loves us and cares for us.
 
Another enemy that some Christians let be their masters is worry. They worry about everything—about what has happened, about what may happen, and about what may not happen. They are never quiet and content. There is a little verse that speaks of this:
 
Said the robin to the sparrow, I should really like to know, 
Why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so. 
Said the sparrow to the robin, Well, I think that it must be 
That they have no heavenly Father, such as cares for you and me.
 
Of course birds cannot talk, nor think about such things, but it is true that we seem to be more worried than they. Yet God cares more for us than for the birds (Matthew 6:26). Read 1 Peter 5:7, Philippians 4:6 and Matthew 6:25-34 to see what God says about His care for us. He takes care of us; why should we worry? Do we think that He cannot do it well?
 
So you see all fear is gone. We do not have to worry about slavery any more for we are free from all bad things. We are free from condemnation and judgment, from the power of sin, and from the law and even from fear and worry. We can lift up our heads, and rejoice in all that God has done for us.

STUDY QUESTIONS

  • Why might you fear death?
  • Should Christians fear death?
  • Where does courage to face death and slavery come from?
 

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