No More Fear of Death: Jesus’ Triumph Over the Devil

The book of Hebrews. Now listen to this. The book of Hebrews tells us this about the work of Jesus. It says this: He came that he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14). Jesus came that he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery (Hebrews 2:15). Did you catch it? They were subject to lifelong slavery. Why? Fear of death. Terrified of death. It produces all kinds of fear of missing out. It creates all kinds of religiosity. “Better be good enough to get past the fear of death. Better be good enough not to be condemned by God.” It creates all kinds of carnality. “I’m never going to be good enough for God. Might as well get drunk. Stoned. Sleep with as many people as I can. Just give myself as much luxury as I possibly can.” It creates all kinds of sin out of fear. Christ takes away all that fear by dying on the cross for sinners. He says there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). He eliminates the accusation of the devil. The devil is called the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10). Well, I have news for you. Christ is a justifier of the brethren. He is. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). And the devil will lay out a coffin for you, and he’ll make that coffin look like a garden. But when you jump into that garden and find out it’s poison, he will be there with accusations to nail the coffin shut on your hope. Christ! Breaks coffins open. Christ takes people out from the dead. He eliminates the fear of death by paying for all of our sin. And by freeing us from the power of the Dark One. And so you need to resist his power of accusation because it’ll keep you stuck in a rut of ungodliness for your whole life right now. No matter what you’ve done, no matter what you’ve done. If we played it on the screen up here, it wouldn’t matter. It’s all covered in the blood of Christ. It’s all eliminated by his perfect righteousness and his perfect justice. And amazingly, if you understand that there is now no accusation that can stick to you. You actually get a fresh power not to keep doing the things that the devil will accuse you for. Again and again and again.