Today, we are going to examine a topic that once was considered to be a very basic part of religious life. It was discussed quite often even to the extent that it was part of common conversation back in the days of our great-grandparents. Today, the topic is shunned by society and even by most churches. I am speaking about the fear of God.
Not long ago, one of the highest compliments you could give an individual was to say that they were a God-fearing person. Today, to say that an individual is a God-fearing person brings derision or scorn. You don’t hear it taught much in most pulpits because a lot of the Christian world has lost touch of what fearing God is all about and how essential it really is to have the fear of God in order to be spiritually successful.
Defining The Fear of God.
I suppose the best way to start our study is to have the Bible define for us what it is to have the fear of God.
Psalm 33:8, “Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.”
Hear, the Psalmist defines fearing the Lord as ‘standing in awe of Him.’ Having the fear of God is to have a awesome reverence of Him due to His being the glorious and majestic Person that He is. We are overwhelmed when we think of His greatness - His infinite knowledge and His power, His complete sovereignty, His high holiness and justice and His benevolent goodness. We are nothing when compared to Him. He is an awesome God and being aware of that fact produces awe and reverence for Him. This is a fundamental part of fearing God.
Malachi 1:6, “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My respect (literally, fear)?’ says the LORD of hosts.”
In this verse, the Lord teaches us what it is to fear Him by using two earthly examples. A child is to honor their father. A servant is to respect their master. Honor and respect comes from recognizing authority. The child honors their father when they recognize His higher authority. They are not equals. The child humbles themself and seek to please and obey their father. They do not disregard their father and scorn him. The same is true with a servant toward their master.
God is both our Father and Master. We are to honor and respect Him due to His rightful authority over us. With humility, we seek to please Him and try to avoid offending Him. This is another part of fearing God.
Luke 12:4-5, "And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who after He has killed has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!”
Friends, if someone confronted you with a loaded gun or some other deadly weapon, it would be quite natural for us to experience fear. It would be quite human for us to be a bit afraid of that person because our life is in their hand. Just as one would likely tremble in the presence of one who could take our life, so Jesus taught us to fear the Lord and more so. Jesus says that another human being might be able to kill our body but they can’t kill our soul. God, on the other hand, can not only kill us physically but has the authority and power to destroy our soul in Hell. He can make us suffer forever and ever. It is not a popular thing to say, but we need to have some good old-fashioned fear of God. I mean to be afraid of God. He can punish us in the most extreme way.
It is common for us to want to avoid or run-away from what we are afraid of. With our fear of God, it should be quite the opposite. Our fear of what He can do to us is to encourage us to draw all the more closely to Him. He is the only One Who can save us from Hell. He provides the only way for our salvation. Psalm 103:10-13, “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.” Psalm 130:3-4, “If Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, That Thou mayest be feared.” Paul also talks about our needing to be careful to, out of fear, seek and work on our salvation with God. Philippians 2:12, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
How To Show Our Fear of God.
Now that we have an idea of what fearing God means, I would like to look at some Scriptures that tell us specifically how we might daily demonstrate a healthy fear of God.
1. Seeking and Accepting Divine Instruction.
Zephaniah 3:7, “I said, ‘Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction.’” The first thing that we can do to show that we fear God is to seek and accept instruction from Him. Our awe of God’s knowledge and wisdom should make us want to learn from Him how to live our lives. Moreover, our honor and respect for Him should motivate us to learn how we might be able to please Him. Therefore, we should want to gain greater knowledge from the Word of God. Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” You can think that you are pretty smart and intelligent but the reality is that you are a fool if you don’t value the knowledge and wisdom found in the Bible. God will teach us how to live so that we can have happy and successful lives. Psalm 25:12, “Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.”
2. Obedience to God’s Will.
Of course, it is not enough to learn what is taught in the Scriptures. We must put into practice what we learn. That is demonstrating a true fear of God. Deuteronomy 5:29, “Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!” Psalm 112:1, “Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.” Proverbs 14:2, “He who walks in his uprightness fears the Lord, But he who is crooked in his ways despises Him.” Ecclesiastes 12:13, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.”
3. Hate and Depart From Evil.
It is not only so important to obey God in what He tells us to do but we need to show the fear of God by avoiding evil. We won’t avoid evil unless we first hate it. Proverbs 8:13, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.” I think that a significant reason why many of us have problems with sin dominating our lives is because we are still in love with it. We have not reached a point where we truly hate evil. We flirt with evil and continue to be corrupted by it.
There is an interesting passage about someone who hated evil. 2 Peter 2:6-9, “He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.”
Please note with me that Lot lived in a godless society (as we do) and the things that he witnessed - what he heard people say and saw what people do - was so repulsive to him that he agonized over it. He was tormented within by the unrighteousness around him. I believe that we have been desensitized to evil. I do not think we are effected by sin as much as Lot was. I think that our entertainment industry is largely to blame. We listen to music and watch television and videos/dvds that or go to the theater and expose ourselves to material that is full of evil. In stead of being repulsed by it, we spend our money on it and fill our brains with it and call it entertainment.
The saddest thing is that there no longer is such a thing as the innocence of childhood because our kids are exposed to unrighteousness at a younger and younger age. It is damaging to their souls and create stumbling blocks for them when it comes to living right when they get older.
We need to fear God and thereby hate evil in all of its forms. We need to stop making excuses and purify ourselves. 2 Corinthians 7:1, “beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Proverbs 3:7; 16:6, “Fear the Lord and turn away from evil….And by the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil.”
Blessings and Rewards of Fearing God.
We should fear God because He deserves to be feared. But, I want to close our study by focusing on the point that fearing God brings to us blessings and rewards. This is because, according to Psalm 147:11, “The Lord favors those who fear Him.” Psalm 115:13, “He will bless those who fear the Lord, the small together with the great.” Psalm 31:19, “How great is Thy goodness, Which Thou hast stored up for those who fear Thee.”
Those who truly fear the Lord receive God’s special attention and care. Psalm 33:18, “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him.” We know that God watches all people but when it says that His eye is on those who fear Him, it means that God pays a greater attention to the God-fearing so that He might be there for them in their lives.
Psalm 34:9, “O fear the Lord, you His saints; For to those who fear Him, there is no want.” Those who fear the Lord will not lack the basic necessities of life. They will not be in want of any good necessary thing.
Proverbs 14:26, “In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge.” Psalm 115:11, “You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield.” Here we find that those who fear the Lord can live lives free from the anxieties of life because they can be confident that God will protect them from situations that are overwhelming. He will never allow circumstances to enter our lives that we cannot endure when we seek Him as our refuge and shield. Psalm 46:1-2, “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.”
We may be tempted to doubt God’s care in the midst of our troubles. Our troubles may cloud our spiritual judgment and tempt us to compromise our convictions and commitment. We may begin to envy the apparent care-free and lighthearted lives of sinners. But, we need to look more at the long-term. A life focused upon fearing the Lord will prosper and succeed in the long-term. Proverbs 19:23, “The fear of the Lord leads to life.” Ecclesiastes 8:12-13, “Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly. But it will not be well for the evil man and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God.” Proverbs 23:17-18, “Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the Lord always. Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off.”
Lastly, living your life in the fear of God will lead to eternal rewards. Proverbs 22:4, “The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor and life.” While it is true that the Lord can destroy our soul for lack of fear, it is equally true that He is happy to give eternal riches and honor and life to those who devote themselves to fearing Him.
Reasons to have fear of God -
1. God’s Sovereignty.
Psalm 33:6-11, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.”
Jeremiah 10:6-7, 10, “There is none like Thee, O LORD; Thou art great, and great is Thy name in might. Who would not fear Thee, O King of the nations? Indeed it is Thy due! For among all the wise men of the nations, And in all their kingdoms, There is none like Thee…. But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation.”
2. All the great things He has done for us.
1 Samuel 12:24, "Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.”
Temporal -
Jeremiah 5:22-24, “’Do you not fear Me?’ declares the LORD. ’Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and departed. They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain in its season, Both the autumn rain and the spring rain, Who keeps for us The appointed weeks of the harvest.’"
Spiritual -
PSALMS 36:1, “Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; There is no fear of God before his eyes.”
PSALMS 67:7 God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.
PSALMS 31:19 How great is Thy goodness, Which Thou hast stored up for those who fear Thee, Which Thou hast wrought for those who take refuge in Thee, Before the sons of men!
PSALMS 103:11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
PSALMS 103:13 Just as a father has compassion on [his] children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
PSALMS 103:17 But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children,
PSALMS 34:7 The angel of the LORD encamps
