INTRO.- ILL.- One dark night two guys were walking home after a party and decided to take a shortcut through the cemetery. When they got to about the middle of the graveyard they were startled and stopped moving.
There was this terrifying noise, “TAP-TAP-TAP” coming from the shadows. Trembling with fear, they spotted an old man with a hammer and chisel, chipping away at one of the headstones.
"Holy cow Mister,” one of them said after catching his breath. “You SCARED us half to death. We thought you were a GHOST! What are you doing working here so late at night?"
"Those fools!" the old man grumbled. "They misspelled my name!!"
This is Halloween weekend. And even though I was raised in a church that preached Christ I still went “trick or treating” like most kids did. Apparently, our parents considered it to be a harmless thing to do and it was probably a whole lot safer back then than today.
Do you believe in ghosts, goblins, witches, the boogeyman, etc.?
ILL.- DO YOU AVOID BLACK CATS IN ORDER TO AVOID BAD LUCK? This belief goes back to the Middle Ages when it was thought that a black cat was the companion or mascot of a group of witches, and that it changed into a witch or Satan after seven years of service.
Therefore, people reasoned, a cat crossing one’s path might be a witch or the Devil in disguise, up to no good. It is true that the devil is up to no good, but he is not disguised as a black cat. HE IS MORE CLEVER THAN THAT.
II Cor. 11:14-15 “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness...”
Satan may well appear as a person of light, meaning someone who is godly or well meaning. How well we remember the likes of Prophet Jim Jones of the Guyana tragedy, Nov. 1978, and David Koresh of the Branch Davidians (April 19, 1993). Both of these men and many more gave a good appearance at one time, but could well have been in league with the devil!
ILL.- And here’s an interesting news item about Pepsi and the afterlife. It is said that a number of misconceptions can come when trying to translate a concept from one language to another. The Pepsi Cola company found this out when mounting an ad campaign in Taiwan. The slogan was supposed to read "Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation." Unfortunately, translated into Chinese it read, "Pepsi Will Bring Your Ancestors Back From the Dead."
Needless to say the advertisements were canceled - even Pepsi couldn’t quite live up to that claim. The resurrection from the dead is possible but only through the Lord Jesus Christ!
I Thess. 4:13-14 “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”
PROP.- Let’s consider the truth of God’s Word, which will take any and all fear out of Halloween myths.
1- There are no ghosts, but there is a holy spirit
2- There are no goblins, but there is an evil spirit
3- There is no boogeyman but there is a Savior man
I. THERE ARE NO GHOSTS, BUT THERE IS A HOLY SPIRIT
A ghost is the spirit of a dead person, especially one believed to appear in bodily likeness to a living person and/or to haunt former habitats.
Many people tend to believe in ghosts because of movies they’ve seen over the years. Some of the more popular ones are: The Ghost and Mr. Chicken with Don Knotts (1966), The Amityville Horror (1979), Poltergeist (1982), Ghost Dad with Bill Cosby (1990), “Ghost” with Patrick Swayze (1990), Casper (the friendly ghost, of course - 1995), and Ghost Ship (2002), etc.
It’s amazing how believable some of these movies were and are, and yet what is more amazing is how gullible people are!
ILL.- One writer asks, “Why are people so gullible? One reason is modern man’s loss of religious faith. That loss creates a vacuum ready to suck in some new form of belief. The eminent British broadcaster Malcolm Muggeridge (1903 ~ 1990) had this to say on the subject, ‘One of the peculiar sins of the twentieth century which we’ve developed to a very high level is the sin of credulity (or being open to anything). It has been said that when human beings stop believing in God they believe in nothing. The truth is much worse: they believe in anything.’”
“Why are we so gullible? Another reason is we can’t face the truth. We’re willing to sacrifice the truth whenever it makes us feel uncomfortable. But, as Plato taught, ‘We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.’”
Yes, we are guilty of gullibility, as the famous showman, P.T. Barnum, once said: “there’s a sucker born every minute.”
ILL.- According to a news service in London, a French farmer had an unfortunate accident after watching a horror movie late at night. It seems that shortly after retiring, Michel Maumond, 40, reported seeing "a ghost in white at the foot of my bed,” he said. The frightened man grabbed his gun and shot-off the toes of one foot.
That man has since determined that from now on he will stick to watching safe movies and reading safe books at night. There is really only one safe book to read at night.
Even though we believe there are no ghosts, we do believe in what the old King James called the “Holy Ghost.” Except that the Holy Spirit of God is not some kind of Holy Spook sent from God.
Matthew 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit is the 3rd person of the Godhead. There is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Holy Spirit even though we may not talk much about Him.
Acts 2:36-38 “"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." 37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
We believe that when people put their faith in Christ and are baptized into Him (name of the Father, son and Holy Spirit) then they receive the Holy Spirit into their lives as a gift.
There are no ghosts, but there is a Holy Spirit who lives in you! And greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world!
II. THERE ARE NO GOBLINS, BUT THERE IS AN EVIL SPIRIT
A goblin is a grotesque elf-like creature of folklore, thought to work mischief or evil. Some of the Harry Potter movies have goblins in them.
ILL.- The movie, THE LEGEND (1985), starring Tom Cruise had goblins in it. Legend is a tale of good against evil, right against wrong, and love against lust. The hero Jack (Tom Cruise) is a boy of the woods and a friend of the animals. Then there is his great love named Lily. Jack wants to show Lily something magical, but of course, there is a dark force at work. There is one who wants to destroy the unicorns. The dark force is the devil and with the help of his goblins there may never be another sunrise. Will good triumph over evil? Hey, it’s a fairy tale.
Goblins are also spoken about in literature, found in movies, but are nowhere to be found on planet earth. How people come up with these evil little creatures is beyond my imagination. There are no literal goblins, but there is an evil spirit at work in this world!
Eph. 6:10-12 “10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
I Pet. 5:8-9 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
II Cor. 4:4 “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
II Cor. 2:11 “….For we are not unaware of his schemes.”
Whenever we are ignorant of Satan and his schemes we become “sitting ducks” for him.
ILL.- One night Thomas Carlyle took Ralph Waldo Emerson through the dark streets of one of London’s worst districts and said, “Do you believe in the devil now?” That could very well happen in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, IL, or perhaps even any large city in America!
ILL.- Olden preacher Billy Sunday once said, “I know the devil is real for two reasons. Number one, because the Bible says so. And number two, because I’ve done business with him.”
ILL.- One writer put it this way: “For many Satan or the devil is just an evil influence, or they think of the idea of the devil as merely a synonym for evil but deny that he is a real personal being at work in the world as he is described in the Bible.”
“To others he is the keeper of hell, a slithering snake in the grass, or something obviously evil and easily recognized. For others, the ‘devil’ is merely the demon in a bottle of booze, or gruesome being with horns, a tail, and of course, the pitchfork, which he uses to pitch people into his jail, called hell. But Satan isn’t the keeper of hell. Biblically speaking, such ideas are nonsense and the product of man’s imagination, tradition, and Satan’s own deceptions.”
Job 1:6-8 “One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." 8Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job?"
If God allowed Satan to go after Job, what makes us think the same thing can’t happen to us? I don’t like the thought of this, but it is possible.
Matthew 4:1-4 “1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." 4Jesus answered, "It is written: ’Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” If Satan tempted Jesus…you finish the thought.
Matthew 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left. ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”
Satan is called by many names in scripture:
Satan (Job 1:6-9; Matt. 4:10)
The Devil (Matt. 4:1, 5, 9; Eph. 4:27; Rev. 12:9; 20:2)
The Serpent (Rev. 12:9)
Lucifer, Son of the Morning (Isa. 14:12)
The Evil One (John 17:15; 1 John 5:9)
The Dragon (Rev. 12:7)
The Prince or Ruler (John 12:31)
The God of This World or Age (2 Cor. 4:4)
The Prince of the Power of the Air (Eph. 2:2a)
The Accuser of the Brethren (Rev. 12:10)
The Tempter (Matt. 4:3; 1 Thess. 3:5)
Belial (2 Cor 6:15)
Beelzebul (Matt. 12:24; Mark 3:22)
Not everyone in life is so well named. I wonder why Satan is so well named? Because the Lord wanted us to be sure of whom he is and how he is!
Satan is alive and well on planet earth. He is powerful but he is not all-powerful. He seems to be ever-present but he is not everywhere present. He does not have goblins assisting him in his evil work, but he does have his angels or demons.
Should a person be afraid of Satan? It all depends on who you are and how you are living. If a person is not in Christ he or she is wide open to the devil. Such a person has little defense against the evil, but if a person is in Christ we have the power of the Godhead behind us and with us! Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world!
III. THERE IS NO BOOGEYMAN, BUT THERE IS A SAVIOR MAN
The boogeyman is an imaginary monster used to frighten children.
ILL.- The movie, “BOOGEYMAN” came out in Feb. 2005 and apparently was a great flop. Here are some responses to that movie.
- "Basically, it’s 86 minutes of one man having a staring contest with a door."
- "Boogeyman is endlessly boring, blatantly nonsensical and, frankly, absolutely worthless."
- "Instead of heightening one’s fear of closets, it simply creates an overwhelming urge to head straight for the nearest theater door. "
Brothers and sisters, there are some mean people/men out in the world (like the BTK Killer), but there is no true boogeyman! And I don’t know why our parents or others used to tell us stories about the so-called boogeyman.
Even though there is no true boogeyman, there is a true Savior man!
ILL.- "Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound --- ’Look, up in the sky,’ ’It’s a bird,’ ’It’s a plane,’ ’It’s Superman....’"
Superman was one of my super heroes when I was a kid. How about you? I had one better another time though. A real one.
ILL.- When I was a freshman in high school I enjoyed gym class but not always. Some days we played hog ball and it could get rather hoggy and nasty at times. The class was divided into two teams. One on either side of the gym. Volleyballs were placed in the middle of the gym floor. The coach blew the whistle and the object was to run for the ball and take it to other side of the gym.
Sometimes two fellows ended up facing one another at that volleyball. That happened to me one day and the other guy was Doug Told. He was a rich kid, thought he was smart, etc. Not many liked him, including me. Instead of grabbing for that volleyball we both started hitting one another in the face. I was hitting him just as hard and as fast as I could. I heard many of the class holler, “Get him, Shep!”
Soon the coach blew his whistle, stopped the fight and made us go sit in the bleachers until class was over. BUT IT WASN’T OVER.
After school that day Doug Told (who was two years older than me) and another guy cornered me out in front of the school. We exchanged some heated words and it looked like we were going to start fighting again, but I didn’t like the odds. TWO AGAINST ONE.
Suddenly, my brother who was a senior, pulled up in his old 51 Chevy and said to me, “Get in the car.” He said some choice words to Doug Told and we drove off. First time in my life when my big brother was my savior! I could hardly believe it.
Heb. 2:9-11 “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”
Heb. 2:17 “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”
Jesus is our big brother who has saved us! He is family and He has saved us. We do believe in Jesus as the son of God and the Savior of the world.
Even though my earthly big brother saved me one time from what could have been a bad deal, he can do nothing for me when it comes to death’s door. There is only one Savior who can give mankind eternal life! John 3:16
In the light of Hurricane’s Katrina, Rita, Wilma and the large earthquake in Pakistan that has killed nearly 80,000 and left millions homeless, many people are beginning to believe that the world is coming to an end, even many people who do not attend Bible-believing churches. Many people are taking notice and wondering and worrying. And well, they should.
There will come a day, a time when God will call a halt to this world and we may well see this in our time. And there is only one escape; THE SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!
CONCLUSION-------------------
Mark 4:39-41 “He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
DO NOT BE AFRAID. If Jesus can make the wind and the waves obey him then surely He can save us eternally. Do not be afraid of the myths of this world. Do not be afraid of the Evil one. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world!
