That is when you take the life of Hananiah and compare it to other men, his life revealed he feared God much more than most men.
In this society in which we live, we do not hear very much about the “Fear Of The Lord”.
One of the reasons we do not SEE and HEAR much about the fear of the Lord is because people do not understand what it means to fear the Lord.
For example, we understand when the preacher talks about loving the Lord. We can relate to what he is saying. But when it comes to the Fear of the Lord most can not comprehend what he is talking about.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN THE BIBLE TALKS ABOUT FEARING THE LORD?
It means several things:
(1) LOVE AND FEAR GO TOGETHER
In fact, LOVE and FEAR are inseparable!
Illus: Some young girls were walking by a coal mine and one of the young girls said, “Let’s go inside!” One of the young girls said immediately, “Oh no, I can not do that, my dad told me to never to go in there!” One of the other girls said in a mocking way, “The reason she won’t go inside is because she is afraid of her father.”
The girl said, “Well, I am afraid of my father, but not in the way you are tying to make it sound. He asked me not to go in there and I am AFRAID if I went against his wishes it would hurt him.”
This is the kind of fear God would like us to have. Our love for him should be so strong that we FEAR if we disobey His commands we will break His heart.
LOVE AND FEAR GO TOGETHER. But also:
(2) FEAR AND RESPECT GO TOGETHER
They are inseparable!
Listen, do not live a sinful life and tell people that you LOVE AND RESPECT almighty GOD. When a professing Christian lives their Christian life like this, they are making a mockery of almighty God.
For example, look how people make a mockery of the God they claim to love.
Look at some of the flimsy excuses that people use for putting things ahead of the Lord.
Illus: They should be AFRAID to live their lives selfishly and hide behind the flimsy excuses they use. Such as:
• “I had a headache”
• “I had a toothache”
• “I had a backache”
• “My child was sick”
The reason we know these are flimsy excuses is because they use these same excuses over and over. The amazing thing is, these people with all the problems they claim to have on Sunday, are suddenly miraculously recovered on Monday and they are able to go to work or to go to school.
Do you reckon they think they are fooling God with these ridiculous excuses?
They should be AFRAID to do such a thing. What if God decided the next time they made up an excuse to stay home, He was going to give them just what they claimed to have?
Illus: A man on his death bed said, “Preacher, I used to give you all kinds of excuses for why I did not come to church.” He said, “I no longer have an excuse, God has now given me a reason why I can not come!”
People who live their lives like this are making a mockery of Almighty God.
When it come to the FEAR OF THE LORD, we have to always remember two things:
• LOVE and FEAR GO TOGETHER.
• FEAR and RESPECT GO TOGETHER.
I want us to look at the “Fear of the Lord”, and ask God to help us grow from this time spent in the Word. Let me show you two things:
I. THE SINNERS LACK OF FEAR OF THE LORD
Rom 3:10-18 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
Notice, God lists some of the things the wicked do, and then God tells us why they do such things - THEY DO NOT FEAR GOD.
WHY DON’T THEY FEAR THE JUDGMENT OF GOD ON THEIR LIVES? Because they have convinced themselves they can sin and
get away with it.
WHY DO THEY THINK THAT?
Illus: Have you ever placed your hand on something that gave you an electric shock? WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU RECEIVED THE ELECTRIC SHOCK? As soon as the electric current hit your body you turned loose. And the shock was so devastating you made sure that you did not come into contact with it again, because you knew if you did, immediately the same thing was going to happen all over again.
Listen, when we come into contact with things that bring about pain and misery to our lives, we become very cautious not to make that same mistake again.
I mention that to say this. God’s judgment does not work that way.
• For example, you can touch sin and play with sin for a long period of time and nothing might develop from it in a negative way.
• When it comes to sin, you might do something and it might be ten years before the results show up.
But one thing is for sure; it will eventually show up. God’s Word says, “Be sure your sins will find you out!”
Illus: This is the way the disease called AIDS works. A man or woman can go out and break the commandments of God and feel like they have gotten away with something, and it might be ten years later that they go to the doctor and find out they have contracted this deadly disease called AIDS, and realize that it is going to kill them.
God is not like the boss man, He does not always pay each Friday. Because God’s judgment is delayed, a lot of folks feel like they have gotten away with something.
Look at Ecc 8:11 “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
Because they don’t have to pay for the sin right away, they think there is never going to be a payday for sin.
Illus: This is the danger of credit cards. You can purchase something now and pay for it later. But because people do not have to pay when they purchase something, they have an inward feeling that they are getting something without paying for it. But in a few months the bill collectors start calling and threatening to take them to court, and they realized they have not gotten away with a thing.
But when it comes to sin, God’s Word says, in Num. 32:23b, “......be sure your sin will find you out.”
We see a lack of fear for God in the lives of the wicked. If they had any idea what the sins they are partaking of are going to cost them, they would stop their sinning immediately.
We have looked at THE SINNERS LACK OF FEAR, but let us look at-
II. THE SAINTS FEAR OF THE LORD
Hananiah feared the Lord.
Look at Nehemiah 7:1-2 again, “Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed, That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, AND FEARED GOD above many.”
Look at some of the things that fear accomplished in his life.
A. HIS FEAR OF GOD WAS RECOGNIZED
The Bible says Nehemiah SAW that Hananiah “...feared God above many.”
You can see the fear of the Lord in the lives of some people by the way they live. Evidently Nehemiah understood the importance of a person fearing the Lord.
Notice, when Nehemiah was getting ready to build the walls and he was looking for men to put in leadership positions, he picked out Hananiah and placed him over Jerusalem because he RECOGNIZED in his life, “…he was a faithful man, AND FEARED GOD ABOVE MANY.”
The reason that Nehemiah chose him was because he knew that He feared the Lord, and as he was selecting men to serve in leadership positions, he wanted men that feared the Lord.
One of the reasons today’s church has turned so liberal and ungodly is because we have placed people in leadership positions that do not fear the Lord.
We have:
• Ministers who will get up and preach from Bible translations that leave complete passages of the Bible out. This does not bother them in the slightest!
• We have churches today that have turned God’s church into a place of entertainment. This does not bother them in the slightest!
• We have Christians today going to church wearing clothes they should be ashamed to wear to Walmart’s. This does not bother them in the slightest!
The reason our society is so ungodly is because they have NO FEAR OF GOD. This is so obvious as you look at their lives.
The reason that many churches have deviated from following the pattern of the New Testament church, is because they have NO FEAR OF GOD IN THESE CHURCHES.
When people live their lives loving the Lord, and wanting to please Him, you can recognized the fear of God among them. Nehemiah saw it in the life of Hananiah, and that is why he selected him for a position of leadership.
You will never have trouble in a church with people who fear the Lord. Why? Because they would never do anything that would break the heart of God.
His Fear of God Was Recognized, but also-
B. HIS FEAR OF GOD WAS RECORDED
We do not know a great deal about Hananiah, but the Word of God says he feared the Lord, and HE WAS A FAITHFUL MAN.
The fear of God produces “Faithfulness.” The reason today we see so much unfaithfulness in the house of God is because we have so little FEAR OF GOD.
On Sunday morning, all across this nation, churches are filled with people. But look at the small crowd that comes on Sunday evening, and even less for the mid-week service.
Listen, a Christian should love the Lord so much that they would be afraid that their staying home would cause a reproach on the God they claim to know and serve.
The fear of God produces “Faithfulness.” And if people in God’s churches feared the Lord it would reflect:
• In their church attendance
• In their giving
• In their daily living for the Lord
They would be afraid to do anything except their best, because they love the Lord. The fear of God produces “Faithfulness.”
His Fear of God Was Recorded
C. HIS FEAR OF GOD WAS REWARDED
Notice, he was given, “charge over Jerusalem:”
Illus: An interesting story is shared in 1st Samuel, chapter 30, concerning faithfulness. King David and his men were away at battle and while away their foes came in and laid the city of Ziklag in ashes, carrying away the wives, and sons, and daughters of the absent soldiers. When the men returned they were overwhelmed with grief. The scripture says they "lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep." They began to blame David.
Then David selected 600 men and set out to rescue the captives. When they came to the brook Besor, 200 were so faint they could not cross over the brook. "Very well," said David. "You two hundred stay here and mind the baggage and the others of us who are stronger will go on."
They went on, made a great recovery, and returned with the spoil. When they returned to the brook Besor, a protest arose on the part of those who went to battle. They did not want to share the spoil.
It was then that David made a great statement about faithfulness: "As his part is that goeth down to the battle so shall his part be that tarried by the stuff. They shall part alike."
What David said was that not all are equally strong yet all can be equally faithful. The 200 that did the best they could were just as worthy of the reward. (Bible Illustrator)
God always RECOGNIZES and REWARDS FAITHFULNESS!
Sometimes Christians look around and see people who are not carrying their fair share of the load, but we have to remember we are not going to give account to the Lord for them, WE NEED TO BE FAITHFUL OURSELVES!
Many times we are more concerned with others than we are with ourselves. In John 21 we have an interesting story.
Look at verses 20-22, we read, “Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, WHAT IS THAT TO THEE? FOLLOW THOU ME.”
In other words, The Lord is saying, “Peter you are all concerned about John. Why don’t you mind your own business and FOLLOW THOU ME?”
Listen, you will never have people who fear the Lord causing problems in the church. Why? Because THEY ARE AFRAID, because they know to cause problems in God’s church would break the heart of the God they love.
Many have lost their fear of God and have turned the house of God into a place of merchandise.
Listen, when we come to church, we do not come here:
• To buy the world’s finest chocolate candy
• To sell insurance
• To look for Avon customers
• To look for Amway dealers
We come here because we love God, and we are afraid to do anything other than that, because we know it will break the heart of God.
I am afraid we are breaking the heart of God today in our churches because we are concerned about ANYTHING AND EVERYONE, but not the God of heaven who created us.
Hananiah was a man who feared the Lord, and the Bible says he was rewarded; he was placed in “charge over Jerusalem”.
Conclusion:
When the Lord return’s for His church, He is going to reward men and women like Hananiah that lived their lives doing only those things that please the Lord, because they did not want to break the heart of God.
Look at the faithful servant who had five talents at his lord’s return. Matt. 25:21 “His lord said unto him, Well done, THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I WILL MAKE THEE RULER OVER MANY THINGS: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
I. THE SINNERS LACK OF FEAR OF THE LORD
II. THE SAINTS FEAR OF THE LORD
