The Fear of The Lord
Prov 22:4¡K Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor
And life.
1. The importance of the fear of the Lord.
a. All the blessings a person hopes to find flow through a humble heart that honors the fear of the Lord.
List of Blessings:
ć To overcome sinful habits Proverbs 16:6
ć To begin learning knowledge Proverbs 1:7
ć To start being wise Proverbs 9:10
ć To have longer life Proverbs 10:27
ć To discover a fountain of life Proverbs 14:27
ć To learn contentment Proverbs 15:16
ć To grow wisdom Proverbs 15:33
ć To get riches, honor, and life Proverbs 22:44
ć To experience true worship Psalm 5:7
ć To have no wants Psalm 34:9
ƒá To Experience God¡¦s salvation Psalm 85:9
ć To receive daily provision Psalm 111:5
ć To experience strong confidence Prov 14:26
ć To have a satisfying life Prov19: 23
ć To share the secrets of the Lord Psalm 25:14
ƒá To Experience God¡¦s goodness Psalm 31:19
ć To have constant protection Psalm 33:18-19
ć To be delivered from trouble Psalm 34:7
ć To be looked to for truthfulness Psalm 60:4
ć To receive a special heritage Psalm 61:5
ƒá To be given God¡¦s mercy Psalm 103:11
ƒá To have the Lord¡¦s pity Psalm 103:13
ć To bring delight to the Lord Psalm 147:11
ć To become a special treasure of God Malachi 3: 16-17
2. Consequences of not fearing the Lord!
ƒá No restraint of Evil¡K Rom 3:10-18 "There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one. " "Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving," "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 paths, And the path of peace have they not known." "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
ƒá No effective church discipline¡K Acts 5:5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came upon all who heard of it.
Also¡K 1 Tim 5:20-21 Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also may be fearful of sinning.
ƒá No guard against wrong church members¡K Acts 5:11-13 And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things. And at the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico. But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.
ƒá No perfecting of holiness¡K 2 Cor 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
ƒá No scriptural submission¡K Eph 5:21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
ƒá No maturity in salvation¡K Phil 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
ƒá No influence to unsaved family¡K 1 Peter 3:1-2 In like manner, ye wives, (be) in subjection to your own husbands; that, even if any obey not the word, they may without the word be gained by the behavior of their wives; beholding your chaste behavior (coupled) with fear.
ƒá No effective witnessing¡K 1 Peter 3:15-16 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
ƒá No fulfillment of Godly desires¡K Ps 145:19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.
ƒá No effective restoration¡K Jude 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
3. Definition of the fear of the Lord!
The continual awareness that I am in the presence of a holy, just, and almighty God, and that every thought, word, action, and deed is open before Him and being judged by Him.
Be assured that God is paying attention to our way of living.
Prov 5:21¡Kfor the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD,
And He watches all his paths.
4. Wholesome fear vs destructive fear:
The same Hebrew and Greek words are used for both kinds of fear.
Luke 12:4-5¡K"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!
The fear of the lord goes far beyond a reverential trust. It includes a controlling awe of His power and righteous retribution and a wholesome dread of displeasing Him.
We must never focus our fear on the results of His workings but instead on Him and His instructions. When the storm over took the disciples on the sea, Jesus instructed them not to fear these types of things. Then he calmed the waters teaching them to fear the power behind nature not nature itself.
The wrong fear is destructive to the Christian life. The destructive fear will defeat your faith and cause bitterness and doubt to thrive in your soul.
Faith will over come destructive fear.
Mark 4:38-41¡K Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"
And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.
And He said to them, "Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no faith?"
They became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"
The ones in the boat are now required to re-examine the concept of fear. When God speaks of fearing Him, he is wanting us to acknowledge an aspect of His character such as justice, holiness, or power.
For each attribute that God want us to fear him for he also has a balancing attribute.
Balance of fear and faith
ƒá For His justice ¡K He shows mercy
ƒá For His Holiness ¡K He gives grace
ƒá For His Power ¡K He displays loving kindness
The more we fear, acknowledge and understand the justice, holiness, and power of God, then the more faith, hope and love we will have in our life.
Our understanding to fear God¡¦s power, holiness and justice will have a direct effect on our ability to pray a prayer of faith.
Experiencing God¡¦s grace, mercy, and loving kindness will encourage us to believe in God enough to pray a prayer of faith.
Exodus 3: 1-23 Study
The faith of Moses was increased when he was introduced to the fear of God during the burning bush experience.
The fear of the lord increased: The faith of Moses increased:
God¡¦s indestructibility God¡¦s Attentiveness
(Bush nor consumed) (God hear the Hebrews cry)
God¡¦s Holiness God¡¦s Compassion
(Moses was on Holy Ground) (God understood the Hebrews Sorrow)
God¡¦s Eternal Nature God¡¦s faithfulness
(He said, ¡§ I Am¡¨ not I was) (God stays in relationship)
God¡¦s Justice God¡¦s Loving-kindness
(Judgment on Pharaoh) (Deliver Hebrews from bondage)
God¡¦s Wrath God¡¦s Provision
(Destroy the wicked) (Bless Hebrews with Promised Land)
5. Learn to Fear the Lord!
Learning to fear the Lord will bring many blessing into your life. Refusing to fear the Lord will bring His judgments.
1. Understand the scripture: When we read word like terror, fright, dismay, astonishment, trembling, and dread we need to have a working knowledge of what those words actually mean to God. How are they describing His attributes and who he is?
2. Understand how small we are as compared to other parts of His creation. Ps 8:3-4¡K When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; what is man that you take thought of him!
3. Make a daily commitment to God¡¦s Word¡K Deut 17:19¡KIt shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes.
4. Relate the reproofs of life to the violation of God¡¦s principles
Design of God and Self Acceptance: God has a specific purpose and design in His creation. If we violate
His design for money we will have financial bondage.
His purpose for marriage we will have divorce
His design in having children we will have abortion
The first step in honoring God¡¦s design is through self-acceptance because he designed you!
Authority and Proper Submission: The fear of the Lord relates to the authority God has given to parents, church leaders, the government officials and employers to carry out His plan. When we resist that authority we come under judgment of God and Man. However we are also instructed not to violate God¡¦s will and follow unscriptural commands. Scripture gives us instructions to make proper appeals to our authorities. Unscriptural appeals will always lead to authority problems and God¡¦s judgment.
Responsibility and a Clear Conscience: God holds us accountable for the knowledge He has given to us. We must take responsibility for our action, words, attitudes, and lifestyle. We can only have a clear conscience if we humbly come to God and others asking forgiveness and then making the issues right in the eyes of men.
Suffering and full forgiveness: Our challenge as a Christian is to avoid suffering because of our own faults and when suffering for Christ¡¦s sake have the right attitude.
When suffering for our own faults we must forgive fully every hurt, comment, attack, and pain that comes against our life. If by chance you might be suffering for the cause of Jesus than we must maintain a solid goal of glorifying His name.
Ownership and Yielding Rights the fear of the Lord requires recognition that everything we have belongs to the Lord and has been entrusted to us for a purpose. Stewardship states that if anything we have is considered our own it has become an idol in our heart. Security in our life of all our possession only comes through yielding all our personal rights to God.
Freedom and Moral Purity Freedom is not the right to do what we want but the power to do what we ought. Only the fear of the Lord can empower us to depart from moral sins. Only through the fear of the Lord will our teens have the power to be virgins until marriage. Only through the fear of the Lord will our nation turn away from pornography.
Eccl 12:13-14¡K The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
Study aids for this sermon were:
"The fear of the Lord" By John Bevere
MAterials from Basic Youth Conflict by Bill Gothard
