I had the honor to preach in Cedarvale Lodge again on June 24, 2018. Here is the sermon notes:
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, it is a blessing to be with you all today. Last time I spoke to you in February it was still snowy and cold outside but now we are enjoying the beautiful flowers and singing birds everywhere. God is good. Amen.
The sermon today is titled “The Fear of the Lord”. We will attempt to explore and answer 3 questions:
Why should we fear the Lord? What do we mean by “fear of the Lord”? How should we fear the Lord?
I know that I have picked an unpopular topic today by talking about “fear of the Lord” because most sermons you heard on Sundays are about love, mercy and grace of God. We don’t feel comfortable when we hear the term fear, judgement and hell. However, having a proper understanding of fearing God will actually draw us closer to Him.
We live in a culture where most people have no fear of God or authority. We see rising crime rates, violence, substance abuse and terrorist attacks. Parents are constantly struggling to deal with their rebellious children. Even the church has to deal with Christians who are addicted to pornography or engaged in adultery. “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes”. When men have no fear of a higher authority for punishing their wrongdoings, men could behave like an animal driven by lust of the flesh.
We should fear the Lord because God requires us to do so as His people. In Deuteronomy 10:12:
“And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul.”
And in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, the wisest man king Solomon said:
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
We tend to forget that the One True God Jehovah is holy, just and righteous. He is the Judge of all things and He must punish all sins and evil among His creations. You and I are sinful creatures and one day we will have to stand in front of a holy God and receive His judgement on our lives. This fact alone should send shiver down our spine and drive fear into our soul because the judgement for anyone who disobeyed the Creator is eternal damnation in the lake of fire.
We should fear the Lord because it is the first step in getting wisdom. Proverb 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction
(Prov 9:10 [KJV])
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
These two verses teach us that all reasoning and logical thinking begins with the fear of the Lord. We cannot understand God and the matter of this world without wisdom and we cannot obtain wisdom without first learning to fear the Lord. I am going to digress a little bit here to clarify the word “fear” used here in Scripture. The Hebrew word “yirah” does not simply mean to be afraid of or be dreadful of. It has a richer meaning of showing reverence to or standing in awe of someone whom you greatly respect and love. For example, a child can fear his father but love him at the same time. A servant can fear his master but respect him at the same time. We will talk more about this later.
Now, some people like to distinguish that the Old Testament God is a fearful Supreme Judge who expressed His wrath by punishing the Israelites whenever they sinned against Him. But in the New Testament Jesus Christ, the son of God, was a loving God who welcomed sinners and was full of compassions and care. This is a similar argument that Christians are no longer under the law but under grace.
Hebrew 12:28
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.
Our God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He never changes. The Old Testament God Yahweh is the same New Testament God manifested in His son Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul teaches us that God accepts our worship only when we approach Him with reverence and godly fear. If we don’t, the last sentence reminds us that the Lord is a consuming fire, meaning He will devour and destroy anyone or anything that disobeys His laws and commandments. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
We should fear the Lord because there are many blessings promised to those who fear God.
By humility and the fear of the Lord Are riches, and honour, and life. (Proverbs 22:4)
In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: And his children shall have a place of refuge. (Proverbs 14:26)
The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, In those that hope in his mercy. (Psalm 147:11)
So a Christian who understands the true meaning of “fearing the Lord” would hold the key to the rich blessings of mercy and grace from God. Next we have to find out what is the proper meaning of “the fear of the Lord”.
The fear of the Lord is the conscious awareness of the greatness, glory, holiness and power of the Triune God revealed in the Bible and we as His creation are smaller than dust before His presence. The fear of the Lord should open our eyes and help us to realize the filthiness our sinful lives and the horrible wage of sin, which is eternal torment in the lake of fire separated from God. The fear of the Lord should compel us to obey God’s commandments and love righteousness in order to please Him and receive salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Because of his sinful nature inherited from the first man Adam since the fall, a natural man does not fear God.
In (Ps 36:1 [KJV]), King David said
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
And again in (Rom 3:18 [KJV]), Paul said
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Some of us might have encountered a spoiled or ill-mannered child around and we would call him a “brat”. Let us give this brat the name Johnny. Johnny could have come from a single mom home where he has no father to teach and discipline him since he was small. Or Johnny could have come from a wealthy family with both parents who simply allow him to do whatever he wishes. Either way, Johnny runs wild all the day long and shows no respect to anybody around him. Then comes a day when little Johnny grows up to be a man. If he comes from a poor family, he might end up lingering on the street and joining a criminal gang. Most likely he would spend his life in jail or even worse, he would get killed and die at a young age.
If Johnny comes from a rich family, he might end up wasting his parents’ money on cars, women and other luxuries. Just like the “prodigal son” in Jesus’ teaching, Johnny’s extravagant lifestyle would not last and he might end up broke with nobody willing to take care of him because he has no real friends. In either case, a brat has no good ending.
But why would Johnny become a brat in the first place? I believe the most important reason is that he wasn’t taught the fear of God and respect for authority from a young age. In a border sense, before we are saved by Jesus, all of us are like Johnny. All of us are self-centered, selfish and we sin against God and mistreat other people in a thousand ways.
If Johnny learned to fear the Lord when he was a child, his wild heart would be restrained and knew that he would have to face God one day for all his deeds. When he hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he would gladly accept the free gift of salvation because the fear of the Lord would drive him to the cross. In the same way the law is a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ (Gal 3:24), the fear of the Lord actually brings us to the love of God.
I have never been to the Great Canyon, but I have seen documentary films and photos of it. If I have the opportunity to visit the Great Canyon someday, I am sure I would be speechless in front of the incredible view. My heart would cry out, “How great thou art, O Lord”. When we see the majesty and magnificence of the Almighty God, when we stand in awe of all His creations in nature, when we understand the infinite power and perfect wisdom of Him, we should fear God for who He is.
Whenever the great saints in the Bible encountered God physically or in a vision, their reactions were almost identical:
When Moses first met God in front of the flaming bush, Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God.
When Ezekiel saw the appearance of God in a vision, he fell upon his face immediately.
When Paul met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, he fell to the ground immediately.
In the book of Revelation, when Apostle John saw Jesus Christ, John fell at his feet as dead.
There are 2 types of fear that we have to be aware of: a godly fear of God which is appropriate and an unholy fear of God which we need to avoid.
The wrong type of fear is when we think that God is going to do us great harm and we run away from God and we end up feeling angry, afraid, distress and desperate. The Bible warns us in
(II Tim1:7) For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
In (1John 4:18 [KJV]), it says:
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
The proper type of fear is when we are fully aware of God’s judgement and wrath on sinners, therefore our hearts have this healthy fear of not offending God through disobedience to His Word but at the same time we have the awe and respect for His holiness. The godly fear should draw us closer to God.
I would like to quote from an author named Stephen Yuille on his comments on Puritan theologian William Perkins:
“When we speak of the fear of God, it is important to distinguish between ungodly and godly fear. Perkins affirmed that these two are distinguished by our perception of God. Ungodly fear is the result of viewing God as a potential source of harm, and it causes people to take steps to minimize the perceived threat while continuing steadfast in their sin. For Perkins, this ungodly fear occurs when people fear only God’s punishment. In marked contrast, godly fear is the result of viewing God as the greatest good. This may include a fear of God’s wrath, but it is not limited to this; on the contrary, it focuses on God’s majesty. Perkins maintained that this fear is synonymous with fearing God’s name — the fullest revelation of His glory. It is a fear that grips the affections, thereby making a divide between the soul and sin. In other words, it is a fear that manifests itself in the pursuit of holiness.”
Wow, that is some deep teaching from Perkins 500 years ago.
So, how can we cultivate this godly fear of the Lord?
If you are not a Christian, you need to get saved first. As we mentioned earlier, a natural man does not fear God or when he hears about God’s coming judgement, he would run away from God to avoid his punishment.
After we become a believer in Jesus, we have to be diligent in our prayer, worship, studying the Bible, serving in church, loving others and very importantly, repenting and asking God for forgiveness whenever we sin.
In (Phil 2:12 [KJV]), Paul said
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye 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.
(2Cor 13:5 [KJV])
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.
Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone and not by works, however, here Paul is talking about sanctification which is a lifelong process whereby we have to labour and work hard to pursue holiness. Getting saved is only the beginning, our end goal is to become like Christ more and more, day by day.
We can learn to fear God by embracing his chastisement when we sin and fail to obey His commandments. Just like a good father would discipline his son when he misbehaves, our Heavenly Father will surely chastise His children because He loves us.
(Heb 12:6 [KJV])
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Giving tithes regularly to your local church can also help us to learn to fear the Lord.
In (Deuteronomy 14:22-23), “Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, and tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always.”
Tithing reminds us that every dollar or fortune that we earn on this earth comes from the Lord and it is because of His blessings that we have the ability to make a living.
In Romans 13:1, Paul says “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.” Practically, this means that we should obey the law and submit to the government. Children should obey their parents in the Lord. An employee should submit to his employer as if he is working for God. A layman should submit to the elder or pastor at church. Of course, when I say “submit” it does not mean we blindly obey anything that the authority tells us to do. However, we need to respect and give honor to people who has authority over us.
In closing, Christians need to walk in the fear of God and serve the Lord with fear. A proper perspective of fearing the Lord would help a person to learn respecting the authority on earth and in my opinion, this concept is an anchor in holding together the social fabric in our contemporary society. If a person no longer fears the Almighty God, he will never hesitate in breaking the moral laws and consequently he will never obey the civic laws setup by the government.
Tozer once wrote, “No one can know the true grace of God who has not first known the fear of God.” I couldn’t agree more. Until we know the dread, wrath and terror of the Almighty against sinners, we can never fully appreciate the redemption his son Jesus Christ has provided on the cross.