“Fear Him: The God Who Saves the Soul”
An Article‑Sermon Documentary Inspired by Matthew 10:28**
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” — Matthew 10:28 (KJV)
There are verses in Scripture that whisper comfort.
There are verses that sing hope.
And then there are verses that ring like a warning bell in the night—
verses that shake the dust off our souls and call us back to eternal realities.
Matthew 10:28 is one of those verses.
Jesus speaks it not to frighten His people into despair,
but to wake them,
steady them,
and anchor them in the truth that eternity is real,
hell is real,
and God alone holds the destiny of every soul.
This is not a verse of cruelty.
It is a verse of mercy—
because warnings are mercies when danger is real.
Susan Barker Nikitenko 2026©
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The Forgotten Word in a Comfortable Age
Baptist preacher Vance Havner once said,
“The problem with our day is that the fear of God has been replaced with the fear of man.”
We fear embarrassment.
We fear rejection.
We fear being different.
But Jesus says plainly:
Don’t fear the one who can only touch your body.
Fear the One who holds your soul.
This is not the fear of a tyrant.
It is the reverence due to a holy God who loves us enough to tell us the truth.
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A True Story: The Coal Miner Who Saw Eternity
In the early 1900s, a West Virginia miner named Thomas McGraw survived a collapse that killed several of his friends.
Pinned in the dark for nearly 20 hours, he later testified in a small mountain church:
“When the roof came down, I thought about my wife.
Then I thought about my children.
But when the air grew thin, I thought about my soul.”
He said the darkness felt like “a taste of eternity without Christ.”
He prayed—really prayed—for the first time in years.
When rescuers finally broke through, they found him singing an old Baptist hymn:
“Lord, I’m coming home.”
He lived another 30 years, and every time he told the story, he ended it the same way:
“The fear of God saved my soul.
The love of God kept it.”
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Vance Havner once said,
“The problem with our day is that the fear of God has been replaced with the fear of man.”
We fear rejection.
We fear embarrassment.
We fear being different.
But Jesus says:
Fear God.
Not man.
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“Payday Someday,”
Baptist evangelist R.G. Lee, famous for his sermon “Payday Someday,” once declared:
“If Jesus Christ spoke the truth, then hell is a fact as real as heaven.”
Jesus spoke of hell more than anyone else in Scripture—not to condemn,
but to rescue.
He described:
Gehenna — the place of final judgment
Hades — the temporary realm of the dead
Outer darkness — separation from God
The worm that dieth not — the unending consequence of rejecting grace
These are not poetic images.
They are warnings of love.
A parent who sees a child running toward a cliff does not whisper.
They shout.
They run.
They warn with urgency.
So does Jesus.
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A True Story: The Dying Soldier and the Baptist Chaplain
During World War II, a young soldier lay wounded in a field hospital.
A Baptist chaplain knelt beside him and asked gently:
“Son, are you ready to meet God?”
The soldier whispered,
“Sir… I’m not afraid to die.
I’m afraid of what comes after.”
The chaplain opened his Bible to Matthew 10:28.
He explained the gospel simply—
that Christ bore the judgment we deserved,
that He conquered death,
and that He saves all who call upon Him.
The soldier prayed with tears,
and before dawn he slipped into eternity—
not in fear,
but in peace.
The chaplain later wrote:
“The fear of hell drove him to the mercy of Christ.
And the mercy of Christ carried him home.”
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The Fear That Leads to Freedom
The fear Jesus commands is not the fear that paralyzes.
It is the fear that sobers,
awakens,
and redirects the heart toward salvation.
Baptist pastor Adrian Rogers said it beautifully:
“The fear of God is love on its knees.”
It is the fear that recognizes:
And when a sinner bows in that fear,
They rise in freedom
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Final Appeal
If you have wandered—come home.
If you have doubted—look again at the cross.
If you have feared—let that fear lead you to the Savior who loves you.
Jesus still calls:
“Come unto Me.”
And the Scripture still warns:
“Fear Him… who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Not to terrify you—
but to save you.
Because the God who warns you
is the God who wants you.
And the God who could judge you
is the God who died to redeem you.
Amazing Grace Baptist Church 2026©
Hinkley
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