FEAR
I will be talking about Fear
But I’m not talking about 2Tim 1:7 Fear
2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
The fear I’m talking about is
The Fear of God
Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
This should be the motivating factor for us to surrender to the Creator of the Universe!
But I think this is the Fear that the church is forgetting.
There are preachers and churches that are giving a sickly sweet message and
It is affecting our churches and how the Gospel is being presented and changing the view of who our God is!
It’s funny that I’ve preached about the love of God and now I’m preaching about the
Fear of God
And they don’t contradict each other. They go hand in hand.
First we have to look up the Word Fear and see where it leads us.
Fear –
Webster
6. In scripture, fear is used to express a filial or a slavish passion. In good men, the fear of God is a holy awe or reverence of God and his laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading the subjects of it to hate and shun every thing that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience. This is filial fear.
Strong’s
yir'âh
yir-aw'
Feminine of H3373; fear (also used as infinitive); morally reverence: - X dreadful, X exceedingly, fear (-fulness).
Heb 12:28-29 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.
This is the fear I’m talking about.
Consuming fire
Reverence –
Webster
1. Fear mingled with respect and esteem; veneration.
The fear acceptable to God, is a filial fear, an awful reverence of the divine nature, proceeding from a just esteem of his perfections, which produces in us an inclination to his service and an unwillingness to offend him.
Filial –
Webster
1. Pertaining to a son or daughter; becoming a child in relation to his parents. Filial love is such an affection as a child naturally bears to his parents. Filial duty or obedience is such duty or obedience as the child owes to his parents.
What is it?
Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
Psa 19:9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
Psa 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
With the Fear of God you get wisdom, understanding and knowledge of Judgment. If this Fear was taught in the right way we wouldn’t have as many people leaving the church. We wouldn’t have all the different crazy religions. We wouldn’t have the improper view of God. The view of God as the Grand-pa in the sky or even the view of God as like a Santa Claus. Fear of God is more then just respecting.
Why is it important…what does it do?
Gen 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
Pro 10:27 The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
Pro 14:26 In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.
Pro 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.
Why it is important is because it helps us know how to act and it helps us because we know that there is consequence for our actions. It gives the blind the ability to see, and it gives direction to the lost
How to get it?
The right way:
Pro 2:1-5 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
The wrong way:
1Sa 15:24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
What’s better, learning something after the fact or learning about something before it even happens? Lets use the little kid and the stove as a example. You are the young kid.
Would you want to know that the stove will burn you before you get burnt or after? There are people out there that will say, “Yes but if they get burnt they will know not to do it again.” But our Heavenly Father doesn’t work that way. He will not see us in Hell and say, “Yes but if they get burnt they will know not to do it again.”
What not to fear and Why?
Mat 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.
Do I really need to say anything about that verse?
We are not to be scared of God. We have no reason to be scared of Him. We have His promise that nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). We have His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Fearing God means having such a reverence for Him that it has a great impact on the way we live our lives. The fear of God is respecting Him, obeying Him, submitting to His discipline, and worshipping Him in awe.
After starting the research on this topic I’ve been looked at the world around me, And seeing the effects of the lack of Fear of God has done, mostly what it was done to children and the family.
In a family the father is the leader. The world has changed that and the view of that also. Children have no respect for the father and run wild. And some parents have lost something to. They are raising children to think they are the center of the world. And when that happens it doesn’t leave any room for God.
Our views become our kids view. So if we are wrong it will affect our kids in a big way.
I view it like this. Some time ago when we were getting our Dish Network at our Ralston house I was talking to the Satellite guy. We were talking about how hard it is to set it up. He was telling me that if on his end he was off just even a little bit the signal would be off hundreds of miles away from the Satellite. That made me think of the strait and narrow road that we are taking in our life. If we are off in our beliefs just a little where is that going to take us?
