Understanding the Fear of the Lord (Part 2)
Call to worship scripture:
Heb. 12:28-29 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
REVIEW:
The key to developing an intimate friendship with God is understanding and developing a healthy fear of the LORD.
1. To fear the LORD means to have an appropriate awe and respect for God’s holiness and power.
If we are to fear the Lord, we must cultivate this attitude of reverence for him for who He is. This is the first half of our definition of “the fear of the Lord”. But there is one place in all of scripture that actually tells us what the fear of the Lord is. It’s found in the book of Proverbs, chapter 8, verse 13. And it says…
Proverbs 8:13 “To fear the LORD is to hate evil…”
2. To fear the LORD means to hate evil as God hates it. (Prov. 8:13)
Bumper sticker “Hate is not a family value.”
True – but just as fear is good thing in the right settings, so is hate. God’s word tells us numerous times about when hate is called for:
Psa. 97:10 Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Psa. 101:3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.
Psa. 119:104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.
Rom. 12:9 Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
If you truly fear the LORD, you tremble at the thought of being involved in things that would stain you with sin, that would possibly bring His wrath upon you, that would cause Him to be angry with you.
There is NO ROOM in the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ for winking at sin.
We are a church that is centered on the idea that people need a place to come where they can feel the love, acceptance, and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
But what we must never do is confuse this idea with the idea that we are not serious about sin.
We believe that when the Bible calls something sin – it is sin! We believe that God hates sin, and he hates it when people know what is right and do not act accordingly. And he calls us to hate sin, and to hate the deeds of people who willfully choose to sin against His Holy ways.
ILLUS:
Joseph’s response to Potiphar’s wife
Gen. 39:8-9 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”
For Joseph the very thought of committing adultery with his master’s wife was incomprehensible. How could he do it and sin against God? Such an attitude illuminates his fear of the LORD.
QUESTION: Do you hate evil?
When you’re given a chance to sin: A friend invites you to go to a movie full of moral filth, someone proposes a sexual encounter to you, you’re given an opportunity to cheat on a test or to steal something, you’re given an opportunity to slander someone or gossip about someone – WHAT IS YOUR REACTION?
Do you respond like Joseph? “How could I do such a thing and sin against God?”
Or do you respond with your flesh? “That sounds fun. That would be cool! No one would ever know! I deserve this!”
Your reaction to temptation and to the sin that so easily entangles us either illuminates your fear of the LORD, or it betrays your lack of it.
ILLUS:
I once heard the story of a father who was trying to teach his teenagers to be more discerning about what they watched on TV. Having brought home a questionable PG13 movie from the video store, the kids tried to sell their dad on letting them watch it because “it just has a little bit of bad stuff in it. Most of it is really good!”
The wise father agreed to let them begin watching the movie, and then retired to the kitchen.
Soon, the smell of fudge brownies began wafting from the kitchen out to the family room, and the kids started drooling, asking when they would be ready. “In a few minutes” their dad replied.
And so, when they were finished cooking, the dad brought out a trayful of delicious looking brownies. Just as the teens grabbed for a handful, however, he stopped them and told them “I hope you enjoy these brownies - I put in all the normal good stuff, sugar, cocoa, chocolate chips, and then I added in just a little bit of dog poop from the backyard. But don’t worry - there’s just a little bit in there, the rest is really good!”
How much evil are you willing to tolerate in your life? The degree to which you are willing to tolerate evil (or even invite it) in your life is the degree to which you do not yet fear the LORD.
The degree to which you fear the LORD will be the degree to which you hate evil. One leads to the other. You don’t start by mustering up hatred for evil in order to develop a fear of the LORD. The more you learn to fear the LORD by respecting his holiness and his power, the more you will, naturally, hate evil and it’s influence in the world and in your life.
Why is it so important that we develop this hatred of evil – because it has eternal implications. Listen to these scriptures:
SCRIPTURE:
1Cor. 6:9-11 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Gal. 5:19-25 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Rev. 22:12-15 “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
IF YOU DON’T FEAR THE LORD, AND THAT FEAR DOESN’T TRANSLATE INTO A HATRED FOR EVIL, YOU HAVE SOMETHING VERY REAL TO FEAR – THE JUDGMENT OF GOD. ETERNITY APART FROM GOD IN HELL.
FOR GOD’S WORD TELLS US, THROUGH THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW, THAT THOSE WHO KNOW WHAT GOD’S LAW COMMANDS AND REFUSE TO DO IT WILL HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ETERNAL REWARDS HE OFFERS TO HIS FAITHFUL CHILDREN.
Now it’s important to clarify my point here – do we lose our salvation when we fall into sin? No it’s not the falling into sin that will forfeit our place in the kingdom of Heaven, it is the jumping into sin and choosing to stay there even though we know it breaks God’s law. It is the difference between having a momentary moral lapse – where you give in to temptation – and willfully choosing a lifestyle in opposition to God’s holy ways.
I’ve got to be very direct now. Some people here are in obvious, willful disobedience to the clear commands of scripture regarding sexual relations outside of marriage. Some are in less obvious but just as destructive habits with pornography or substance abuse.
I implore you – be reconciled to God. Repent. Recognize the awesome power and holiness of the LORD, and learn to hate this sin as God hates it. And then – do whatever it takes to live in holiness. Make whatever changes are necessary! Heed the words of Peter…
1Pet. 1:15-17 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.
PRAY:
O God – I recognize you are holy – you are completely separate from sin and evil and that you hate it! Right now I pray you will shine your light on any area in my life where I have failed to hate sin and evil. Give me a true awe and respect for you, that I might start to truly hate sin and so turn from it in my life.
I want to experience an intimate walk with you, Lord, and I realize that I will only be as close to you as I am willing to cleanse my life of sin and evil. I want the blessings you promise to those who fear you. Grant me a willing heart to do what I need to do and to know your power in my life.
Psalm 51
A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
