The Fear God

Knowing God — Steve Gregg

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The Fear God

Knowing GodSteve Gregg

Steve Gregg delves into the concept of fearing God in this thought-provoking exploration. While some may view the Old Testament God as wrathful and fearsome, Gregg argues that fear should not be associated solely with punishment. Instead, he proposes that fear of the Lord is a healthy reverence and awe, a recognition of His immense power and wisdom. Gregg emphasizes the importance of understanding the fear of God as the foundation of true wisdom and righteousness, urging listeners to embrace a wholesome fear that leads to a closer relationship with God and a rejection of sinful ways.

Transcript

We are going to be talking today about the subject of the fear of God. And the fear of God is a wonderful subject, judging by the large number of things the Bible says about it, all of them very positive. The Bible is very adamant that men ought to fear the Lord, and that there are tremendous benefits attached to fearing the Lord.

Essentially, those who fear the Lord are equated with those that know the Lord. And it cannot be thought that a person really knows God if there is no fear of God. On the other hand, the fear of the Lord is something no doubt easily misunderstood, because there are people who have an unhealthy trepidation or an unhealthy alienation from God because of false notions of God, because they don't know Him properly.

Their fear of God, if there is any, is more of a neurotic fear, more of a terror, that is uncalled for, more of a dread and a trepidation about God that He is always against them, and that they can never have confidence toward Him, they don't feel good praying to Him. They might pray, as all people must by necessity at times, but they doubt that God is on their side, and they fear Him in a way that is not at all what the Bible has in mind when it talks about the fear of the Lord. Therefore, I would like to clarify that the fear of the Lord is a consistent biblical teaching from early in Scripture until late.

This study of the subject will take us to many passages of Scripture, perhaps more than most of the subjects we teach here, because much of what the Bible says is found in single statements, and many of them in Proverbs or in the Psalms or in other places, but it is not strictly an Old Testament teaching. Many people think, well, the fear of God, that makes sense for the Old Testament, because God in the Old Testament was a fairly short-fused, peevish, angry sort of a God, and anyone ought to be afraid of Him. One false step and it would appear that He hurls lightning bolts, and therefore fearing God seems appropriate with reference to the God of the Old Testament.

But in the New Testament, after all, there is a different manifestation of God in Jesus, one where He is the friend of sinners and there is nothing to be afraid of anymore. That is not exactly true. On the one hand, for the Christian, there is nothing to be afraid of, but that doesn't mean that the Christian has no fear of God in the biblical sense of that term.

For the non-Christian, there is every bit as much reason to be afraid of God ever since Jesus came as before. There is no less judgment in God, nothing less to be feared in God since Jesus has come than there was before Jesus came. Let me show you, first of all, the beginning, the teaching of Jesus Himself on the subject, that it might be made obvious that the fear of the Lord is a New Testament concept as well as a frequently mentioned concept in the Old Testament.

In Matthew chapter 10, in verse 28, Jesus said, And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both the soul and body in hell. Now, at one level, this is a teaching about fearlessness and the need to do what is right without reference to, without being dissuaded or intimidated by people who could do you harm, people who would resist what you are doing, people who would oppose the right thing that you do, some of whom wield power, some of them actually, as He acknowledges, have the power or who can kill the body. He says, don't worry about them.

They are nothing compared to what there is really out there to fear. What is interesting is He doesn't just say, don't fear anything. He says, don't fear this, but do fear that.

And don't fear merely those who can kill the body, but rather fear Him who can do more than that, who can kill the body as men can, but who can also destroy the soul in hell. Now, to me, that is an obvious reference to God, fear Him who can kill the body and the soul in hell. I should say, just before moving beyond this, that there are some who believe that He is referring to the devil here, Him that can kill the body and the soul in hell, that they think this is the devil.

There are a couple of reasons I have doubts about this possibility. One is that nowhere in the Bible does it ever teach that the devil destroys any souls in hell. I think it is maybe from medieval art or from Milton's Paradise Lost or from some classic literature that people have the idea of the devil going around in hell with a pitchfork tormenting people down there.

The devil doesn't do any destroying of anyone in hell. The devil himself, the Bible says, is cast into the lake of fire and that is a judgment upon him. He is not the lord of hell by any stretch of the imagination.

He is the victim of hell. Jesus said the eternal fires or eternal flames are made for the devil and for his angels, not for them to revel in, but for them to perish in. Therefore, the idea that Jesus would refer to the devil as one who destroys the soul in hell is, to my mind, without any biblical parallel at all.

Furthermore, it is just unthinkable that Jesus would tell the disciples to fear the devil, especially just after telling them not to fear people. Don't fear people, they can only do you physical harm. Well, if he means to say, well, the devil, however, he can go beyond what people can do and he can do spiritual harm to you, well, the devil can do no spiritual harm to you more than what people can do.

I mean, the influence of bad people can tempt you just as much as the influence of the devil himself. I really don't see that there would be a clear dichotomy here between fearing man and fearing the devil. In any case, the devil and man can hurt you physically and the devil and man can, if you allow them to, influence you toward evil and hurt you spiritually.

There's no great contrast here between man and the devil as persons who ought to be feared or not to be feared. But the one who is to be feared is God. And the Bible is very clear that he's capable of killing bodies.

He's killed many. He killed all the inhabitants of Sodom in a single moment. He killed all the inhabitants of the earth except for Noah and his family.

In a flood, he can kill easily. He killed Ananias and Sapphira. He killed Nadab and Abihu.

He killed Korah and those who rebelled along with him. God does and can kill the body, but he can also destroy the soul in hell. It is not the devil who will determine who goes to hell on the Day of Judgment.

It is not the devil sitting in judgment sending people there. It is God who will decree the fate and the destiny of all people. So it is clearly an exhortation to fear God.

It would be a very strange thing for Jesus to tell them to fear the devil when in fact he had told them on another occasion, I give you authority over serpents and scorpions, over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you, and gave them confidence to face the devil often and to resist the devil and heal the bleeding and so forth. Of course, that statement comes from James, not from Jesus, but that is the teaching of Scripture. We are not to be afraid of the devil, but we should fear God.

Jesus said so. So did Peter. In 1 Peter 1, in verse 17, Peter says, And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.

Obviously, he means the fear of God. He just said God judges everyone without respect to persons, without partiality. Therefore, be afraid.

Be afraid of what? Of his judgment. The fear of God essentially is the fear of his judgment, as we shall see yet. Look over at the book of Revelation in chapter 14.

In Revelation chapter 14, verse 6 says, Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come. And worship him who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the springs of water. So, here we see the everlasting gospel preached to all nations is a gospel that includes the exhortation to be fearful of the judgment of God.

There's no compelling reason why a sinner should even pay attention to an offer of salvation unless there's something terrible to be saved from. And the judgment of God is that terrible thing from which people need to be saved. The lack of the fear of the Lord is a great scandal.

It is a scandal that people are not fearful of the judgment of their creator. And actually, I'm amazed at the lack of the fear of the Lord, even among Christians at times. Now, I realize that Christians have less to be afraid of because of their alignment with the Lord.

But, nonetheless, there are times when Christians obviously do not take care to align themselves in obedience with God and act as if there was nothing to fear in the judgment of God. And I don't know exactly how they do this, how they reason with themselves to do it, but it's always a shock to me to see it. And you do see it from time to time.

It says of certain wicked men, Paul in Romans chapter 3 is quoting from the Old Testament about certain wicked people. He says, there is no fear of the Lord. There's no fear of God before their eyes.

This is a shocking observation about somebody. This is Romans 3 and verse 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

This is from a quote of Psalm 36, verse 1. And if a person has no fear of God before their eyes, then they will fit the description that Paul gives in the preceding verses of persons. And what Paul does there in Romans 3, verses 10 through 18 is give a sort of a mosaic of characteristics of sinful man derived from several passages of the Old Testament, most of them in the Psalms, some from Isaiah. And these characteristics describe the utter depravity of people.

In verse 10 he says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. There's none who understands. There's none who seeks after God.

They have turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no not one.

Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced 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 they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. And that is why all these previous statements are true of them. Because there is no fear of God, which is the beginning.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, we shall read later. And it is the beginning of all godliness. Without the fear of the Lord there is no godliness.

So what is the fear of the Lord then? Well, let me turn your attention to three passages, and I'll see if you can spot what they have in common with each other. Psalm 89, verse 7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. Notice, not just among the heathen, but even the saints should greatly fear the Lord.

God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around him. Okay, keep that scripture in mind. And look at Malachi, chapter 1. Malachi is probably the easiest of the minor prophets to find in your Bible.

Minor prophets sometimes get lost in the shuffle between themselves, but Malachi is quite an easy one to find because he is the last. Chapter 1, verse 6. God says, A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my reverence? says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise my name.

Yet you say, in what way have we despised your name? Where is my honor and where is my reverence? He says. Now, one other scripture. Hebrews, chapter 12.

Hebrews, chapter 12, verses 28 and 29. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

Now, something that all three of these verses have in common is an appeal for reverence. Two of the three passages we read actually link reverence with the fear of God or almost equate it with it. In Hebrews 12, 28, it says that we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

The Psalm 89 that we read, verse 7, says, God is greatly to be feared and to be held in reverence. The fear of the Lord and reverence are somewhat parallel in the formation of that poetic couplet there in Psalm 89, 7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be held in reverence by all those around him. Obviously, the parallelism suggests that reverence and fear are not distinguished from one another, at least not by very much.

Now, the first thing about the fear of God, then, is reverence. Reverence has to do with being awestruck by God and responding with great honor and respect to that awesomeness of God. Now, it's perhaps more unfortunate than fortunate that the word awesome became a popular term back in the, I guess it was in the 80s, as a term for almost anything that one is reacting positively to.

They say that's awesome. And I remember back when that happened that I saw t-shirts that people wore that said, God is awesome. And, of course, we know Rich Mullins' song, Our God is an Awesome God.

I have no objection to using the term awesome with reference to God. And, by the way, I like Rich Mullins' song very much. I don't have any problems with the way he uses it in that song.

I wondered, though, I once saw, I think, a Time magazine picture of a crowd of youth. I don't remember what the story was about, but one of the youth, one of the teenagers, had a t-shirt that said God is awesome. And I wondered, because awesome had become such a watered-down term by applying it to anything that someone is excited about, I wondered if that wearer of that shirt had any idea exactly what that phrase meant, that God is awesome.

Look at Psalm 8, and you'll see that David certainly believed that God was awesome. But there is specific content in that sense of the awesomeness of God. In Psalm 8, in verse 3 through 5, and actually beyond, I suppose, Psalm 8, verse 3 says, When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the Son of Man that you visit him? And he goes on, but the point is that David was struck with reverential awes.

He looked at the heavens and realized these things were made by God's fingers. Like I might put together, I might thread a needle or do some other delicate little work with my fingers. God did that.

He threw these planets and these stars into place, and the sun and the moon with his fingers. It's delicate little work for him, this huge universe of ours. And he is huge.

He is immense. And his power and wisdom must be similarly immense. And David, of course, had access to more information than simply that about God.

He knew of God's holiness and God's law and God's judgments, as his psalms also attest in other places. And that being so, he was just amazed that a God of such immensity and power and wisdom and holiness would pay any attention at all to that little speck moving around on this speck called Earth, and this speck called the solar system, that God would note that man even existed. It was an astonishing thing.

He was overwhelmed with awe and reverence. That is certainly a beginning of the fear of God. If a person has no awe, if a person has no reverence toward God, they cannot be in any sense said to fear God.

And I believe that reverence and awe are, some would say, are the same thing as the fear of God. And I would say it would be very difficult to separate the two. But if there is any separation of the concepts, I would be inclined to say that the reverence and awe are that from which the fear of God springs, just like rays of light spring from a source of light, inevitably.

So anyone who has the kind of reverence and awe that is appropriate toward God will have the fear of God as a natural upshot or consequence of that. Now, what is astonishing is that people rebel against God or mock God or curse God or show any, or even just disregard God rather than fear Him. And others fear Him somewhat.

They know something of the fear of the Lord, but something is deficient in their knowledge of the fear of the Lord, and it never really takes hold of them as it does in a godly person. An example of this is seen in 2 Kings, chapter 17. After the, well, 2 Kings, chapter 17, there is a description when the Assyrians have taken away the people of Israel and replaced them with foreigners.

And some of the original inhabitants are still there, but they are intermixed with foreigners who serve other gods. There is this mixed up religion that resulted, which was later developed into the Samaritan religion of the time of Jesus. But the peculiar, incongruous description of the religious lives of these people is found in the 17th chapter of 2 Kings, verse 33.

It says, they feared the Lord, yet served their own gods according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away. They feared the Lord, but they served their own gods. Obviously, they didn't fear Him very adequately.

This seems to mean that they acknowledged that there was a Jehovah. They acknowledged that worshipping Jehovah was a good thing to do, but their fear of the Lord was so truncated, it was so anemic, that it did not prevent them from following after other gods other than Him, which, had they fully assessed God in the proper way, they would realize that that's a very dangerous thing to do. To serve other gods makes God jealous, makes God angry.

There is judgment that comes upon people who do that. Yet, they were not totally without the fear of the Lord, but they did not have enough fear of the Lord to save them or to be a factor in their relationship with God. They apparently didn't know God.

And I would compare this with persons today, who, maybe even many of which would be called Christians in churches. They know there's a God there. They know He's not a God to be ignored altogether.

That someday there will probably be a reckoning with Him, and they don't want to neglect God altogether. They fear the Lord enough to perhaps attend church or to avoid scandalous sin, but they still have other gods. They still, in the day-by-day life, they serve other interests more than the interests of the kingdom of God.

They have their idols, which are perhaps their family or their friends or their entertainment or their money or their car or their sports or whatever. They serve something. Something actually dominates their behavior more than God.

And so, such people could be said to fear the Lord but serve other gods. Well, I would say that fearing the Lord like that is a fear of the Lord that will not produce any benefit in itself, unless it is abandoned for a more thoroughgoing fear of the Lord. We can see another case of somebody who did not lack altogether the fear of God, but did not go all the way, did not allow himself to walk in the fear of the Lord.

That is found in Acts chapter 24, and we're talking about Felix, who was the governor, the Roman governor over Palestine, and Paul was imprisoned during that time that he was governing. And from time to time, this man, out of curiosity and also hoping to receive a bribe for Paul's release, would call Paul from prison to come before him and to talk to him about things. And it says that Paul reasoned with him.

It says in Acts 24, 25, Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid. Actually, I think the King James says Felix trembled, if I'm not mistaken, and answered, Go away for now. When I have a convenient time, I will call for you.

But he never did, and he never responded. But when he heard about the judgment of God, and God's demands of righteousness and self-control, this man, who was not rightly aligned with God, feared. He trembled.

He was afraid. He feared the Lord, but not enough to change. It was a momentary angst.

It was a momentary dread that seized him, made him shudder. But it did not seize him at the deepest point of his soul, where he committed himself to the fear of the Lord, and to live according to the fear of the Lord. This is a danger.

There are those who do not have any fear of God before their eyes, but there are others who have some, but not enough. Not enough to let it rule their behavior. Now, there are some things about the concept of the fear of the Lord that are hard to grasp, but they can be grasped.

I believe, I hope we can clarify them today. But there are many areas where confusion arises over it. Let me show you something in a couple of Psalms.

Actually, one is in the Psalms and one is in the Proverbs. In Psalm 34, in verse 11, in Psalm 34, David says, probably to his own children, in verse 11, Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord actually is something that needs to be taught to children, and probably to adults who didn't get the training when they were children. It is not something that necessarily is a natural ingredient in the human spirit. It needs to be acquired.

The fear of the Lord perhaps comes more easily to some than others, but it is still not there at birth. It needs to be taught to children, and to adults who did not learn it as children. Also, in Proverbs 2, verses 1-5, says, My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you, this is the second chapter of Proverbs, so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding.

And yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. The fear of the Lord and knowing God are linked, and neither is found or understood casually. Notice, if you treasure my commands, if you incline your ear, if you apply your heart, if you cry out for, if you lift up your voice after it, if you seek for it as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will qualify to understand what the fear of the Lord is, and find the knowledge of God.

It is quite clear, people don't just kind of stumble onto this. This doesn't just arise up as someone is walking down the street, they suddenly find themselves in possession of the knowledge of God and the fear of the Lord. This is taught, this is sought.

It is not something that is natural, it must be acquired. And it is acquired not without diligence, not without commitment, not without an obsession after it. If anything is more important than the knowledge of God and the fear of God to you, you will probably not ever understand what the fear of the Lord is, nor find the knowledge of God.

You must seek for it as you seek for hidden treasures. So I would like, from the scripture in this session, if possible, to help to teach and to familiarize you with what we are talking about when we talk about the fear of the Lord. Now, one reason that the fear of the Lord is not easily grasped or understood is because the word fear has more than one way of being understood.

If we talk about fearing God, some people are going to say, well wait, I love God and perfect love casts out fear. If I love God, I don't have to fear God, so why should I ever be exhorted to live in the fear of the Lord and to fear God who can kill the body and the soul? How am I to understand this? Well, let's look at the scripture that is thrown into here, into this mix, to bring about this confusion. In 1 John 4, verse 18, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.

But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. Now, that should be seen in the context of the verse before and the verse after. Because in verse 17 it says, Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. He who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us.

Now, the statement, perfect love casts out fear, makes us wonder, first of all, whose love and whose fear? Does this mean that God's love for us casts out our fear of him? Does it mean our love for others or our love for him casts out fear of him or fear of other things? Is it because God loves us that we don't fear man? Or is it because we love God that we don't fear God? What is actually going on here? Love and fear are, of course, the objects are not clearly defined of these emotions in verse 18, but it would seem from verse 17 and 18 that we're talking about loving God. We love him because he first loved us. And love becomes perfected in us, it says in verse 17, resulting in boldness toward God, not fear, not being afraid of God, in the day of judgment, no less.

Judgment, the judgment of God, is that which inspires fear. But if our love is perfected, we are not afraid of the judgment. We have boldness in the day of judgment.

The perfection of love removes that emotion that we would normally have at the prospect of the judgment of God, that fear, that terror, which is tormenting. It's a tormenting thing. That's why so many people go to their deaths in such torments and anguish of soul because they're going to judgment and they know they've made no prior arrangements to be free and to be justified in that judgment.

The fear of judgment is natural enough once a person becomes aware of it and becomes aware that it's imminent. But the Christian can be bold in the face of judgment, does not have to be fearful at the judgment, does not have to be tormented by such fears. Why? Well, if they are perfected in love.

To the degree that we are perfect in love, to that same degree, there's nothing to fear in judgment. But are we perfected in love? Some of us are not. I would have to say I am not.

It says, he who fears has not been made perfect in love. To the degree that I do not love perfectly, I have something to fear. If I would love perfectly, there would be nothing left for me to be afraid of in God.

But I am not perfect. If I love perfectly, I will commit no sin. If I love perfectly, I will always do that which is commanded of me.

And the judgment will hold no terror from me because I love perfectly. But as so long as I am imperfect in my love, there still is occasion to fear. Now that doesn't mean that as long as I am an imperfect Christian, which will probably be the rest of my life, that I can never have a peace or a boldness in the day of judgment.

What it means is, while I am walking in love, I am not walking in terror of judgment. The only thing that's imperfect about my love is not so much its quality, but its quantity. I don't have perfect love all the time.

If I'm walking in the Spirit, I am loving. And my loving banishes fear. If I'm doing the loving thing toward my wife, and toward my children, and toward my friends, toward my enemies, toward God, if I'm walking in love, I do not at that same moment have fear.

The imperfection of my love is that it's not constant. That there are times where it's not the way I'm living or acting. And it is at those times that there certainly is grounds for fear.

But that very fear drives me back to repentance and drives me back to do it right next time. What he's saying is, while you are walking in love, you are not experiencing the fear that has torment. But you may well be walking in love partly because you do have a fear.

It's simply that the torment of fear is banished There is a fear that has torment, and there is a fear that does not have torment. And the fear that does not have torment is simply wisdom. I am afraid to put my hand on a fire, a flame.

I'm not tormented by that fear because I don't put my hand in the flames. In fact, it's that very fear that prevents me from doing so. It's that very fear of it that makes me secure to know that I will not do it.

There is a fear that resides in me of certain behaviors. I know that if I did them, it would be very painful or hurtful to me. That fear of those things keeps me from doing them.

And therefore, there's no torment in it because I don't do those things. There is a fear that does not have torment. It is a fear that simply is the fear which is a product of wisdom.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, we shall see. And if somebody knows that God can hurt people real bad if they are His enemies, that person who knows that and takes it seriously will do a great deal to avoid being one of His enemies. And when that person is living as a friend of God, in love, in that behavior, in that attitude and spirit that pleases God, there will be no terror.

That doesn't mean the fear of God isn't still there underlying that. Just like I almost never think about my fear of putting my hand onto a flame. But if I came near a flame and there was a possibility that I was working near a flame and my hand was maybe in danger of perhaps drifting over that way or into a flame, my fear of flame would become very active.

I'd become quite aware of it and it would keep me from doing that. I would not be tormented by the fear. I would simply be made more cautious by it.

By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. We shall see, the Bible says. And so this is a fear that does not have torment.

If I'm walking in love, I am not afraid. But I am in a sense afraid, afraid of not walking in love. I am afraid that, I mean, I know that if I were not to live in the way that God pleases, then there would be much to be afraid of.

And that awareness is the fear of God in me. I was thinking about illustrations of this. You've heard some of my illustrations about this before.

I know even earlier this year I mentioned an illustration that comes to mind easily. I mean, I use it frequently because it came, I thought of it once and it just seemed like it really made the point and is very easily accessible, makes the information accessible, is the question of whether you're afraid of cars. I'm not afraid of cars.

I drive a car every day. I drive at high speeds, speeds that if I would hit a tree at that speed or another car, I'd probably die. But I'm not afraid.

I get on, not always because there's not an interstate near here, but I frequently will get on an interstate and drive at very fast speeds with other cars that are moving at similar speeds or some of them are even going faster. Am I afraid? Well, some of them are not aware of it. I don't think about it all that much.

And the reason I don't think about it very much is because I take pains to be in harmony with the flow of traffic. Am I afraid of traffic? Not really, so long as I'm in harmony with it, so long as I'm facing the right direction and flowing with it as I should. But if you would ask, am I afraid to go on the wrong side of the freeway and drive against traffic or to simply cross the freeway, or to simply blindfolded or lay down in the fast lane, would I be afraid of cars? I think so.

I think I would be. And it's the very fact that I fear that that prevents me from doing it. Now, why would I be afraid? I would be afraid, first of all, because cars are much bigger and stronger than I am and a conflict between myself and one of them is likely to end up to my disadvantage.

In all likelihood, the car would kill me if it hit me going at a high speed. And while I'm not really afraid to die, I'm not really eager to die young, and I'm not really eager to be maimed or linger at all either in a painful condition. There are consequences of being hit by a car that I would find extremely undesirable.

And because of that, I will avoid doing any of those silly things I mentioned a moment ago that I'd be afraid to do. And why? Because if I would go against traffic, I am in wrong relationship with that power that has the power to kill or to maim or to hurt bad. And whenever you know of such a destructive force, if you are wise in any sense, you will align yourself with it to be in right relationship with it.

And when you do, there's nothing about it that scares you. But all the while that you are rightly related to it, you are careful to remain rightly related to it because you do in fact fear the consequences of getting out of line and getting into the wrong relationship with it. Now, when I drive my car, that is always underlying my thinking.

I don't think about it consciously all the time. I mean, when I'm driving my car, listening to the radio or whatever I'm doing or talking to my family, I'm not thinking, boy, am I terrified at the thought of being out of line with this traffic near me. But once in a while I get a wake-up call and a big old truck comes running by.

I think, man, I'm glad that guy is in that lane. I'm in this lane. And occasionally near disasters occur and I think my heart is beating fast or I hit black ice or something.

My car swirls around two or three times on the road and comes to rest in the ditch and your heart is pounding. You realize, wow, this isn't a game. This driving on the freeway, this is not a play thing.

Most of the time, because I keep my car aligned with traffic, I have no fear. I don't even spend time thinking about being afraid of it. But whenever anything happens that may remind me of the prospect of coming into conflict with traffic, that's a scary thing and it should be.

And it's that very thing that makes me drive on the right side of the road or the wrong side of the road virtually all the time. Am I afraid of guns? I'm not afraid of guns. They're very powerful and destructive things.

But I'm not really afraid of guns, to tell you the truth. I have a few of them even in my house. They're not loaded.

I don't know if I could find the bullets if I needed to load them. But there are a few around. But suppose I had a loaded gun in my house.

Would I have any fear of that gun? Well, it depends on which end of it I was at. In fact, if there was a danger, if there was a bear on my property scratching at the front door and I had a nice high-powered rifle, having that high-powered rifle would probably actually be far from encouraging terror in me. It would probably give me a measure of security because I have that great power on my side against a fearsome danger.

But if that same high-powered rifle was at the other end of it was facing me and the possibility was it might go off, that would be a frightening prospect. And for that reason, when I handle a gun, on those rare occasions I ever do, I'm careful to make sure I know which way it's facing. I want to make sure it's facing the same way I am and in front of me.

And that is because of a healthy awe, a healthy respect, a reverence, we might say, or a fear of the destructive potential of that instrument. But that doesn't mean that I live in terror every time I see a gun or every time I think that there's a gun in my house somewhere. I don't lie awake at night fearful of that gun because I take pains to avoid being careless in my relationship with that gun.

And so these are, I think, analogies of a proper sword, of the fear of God. We are aware there is a powerful God who is not pleased with everything that goes on and who will judge painfully those who refuse to align themselves with Him. But it just so happens I've aligned myself with Him.

It just so happens I'm facing the same direction He is, moving hopefully about the same speed, and at least in harmony with Him. I'm not facing Him in rebellion. I'm not trying to resist Him.

God resists the proud, the Bible says, but I don't want to be proud because I don't want Him resisting me. I want my relationship to be such that I am loving Him and loving others in such a way that He's pleased and that casts out any sensation of fear. It does not eliminate the undergirding foundation of the fear of God or reverence of God, which must always be present because if that is ever eroded, if that foundation is destroyed, what can the righteous do? If there is no fear of God before someone's eyes at all, then there is no restraint.

There is nothing that would really prevent a person from doing terrible things that would displease God and bring great disaster upon themselves. I'm not afraid of guns, but if you said, Hey, Steve, what are you doing this Friday night? How about a game of Russian roulette? I think you've got to be kidding. I wouldn't even dream of it.

Russian roulette? You could get killed that way. That's just plain stupid. I wouldn't even consider it.

Well, why are you afraid of guns? Well, under certain conditions I am. I'm not stupid. And for that reason, I know that a gun can be a harmless thing to me.

Being around a gun doesn't have to scare me. But using a gun wrongly and not relating with it properly, that is a frightening thing. And of course I am afraid to play Russian roulette or I'm afraid to drive the wrong direction on the freeway.

And I'm afraid to sin. I'm afraid to apostatize. I'm afraid to thumb my nose at God or spit in His face or turn my face toward God and resist Him and invite His resistance back to me.

That is the fear of God. Now, what role does the fear of God play in our lives? Much, much every way. And there's a great deal of very encouraging scriptures on this subject.

Let's start over in Proverbs 1, looking at some of these things. I've already alluded to this. I said we will look at this.

We will see this. I'm going to fulfill my promise now. Proverbs 1, verse 7, says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Now, notice this, that the fear of the Lord is the opposite of despising wisdom and instruction. Apparently, a person who fears the Lord will welcome wisdom and instruction. Why? Because he knows that he needs to walk a path that is rather narrow.

And missteps can be dangerous. It's like walking on a tightrope over Niagara Falls. You would not be at all begrudging of people if you had to walk blindfolded over a tightrope over Niagara Falls.

If someone said, shout at you, you're about to take a step a little too far to the left. You say, thank you very much. I'm glad you told me.

Because I don't want to step the wrong way. I need to be directed if someone sees I'm going the wrong way, because I fear the Lord. And a person who does not fear the Lord is a fool and doesn't have knowledge.

And therefore will despise wisdom and instruction. There's a similar verse to this in Proverbs 9 and verse 10. Similar but not identical.

And actually, I think this one is more often quoted than the one we just looked at. Proverbs 9, 10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Now, the other one said, fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

This says, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Now, wisdom and knowledge are not exactly the same thing, but obviously we think of them as being at least somewhat in the same general category. Knowledge is a grasping of information, an apprehension of facts.

You know your times tables. You can quote them to me. If you say them correctly, they are correct.

And that reflects knowledge on your part. You know that if you're hiking in the woods and you hear a rattling sound, and you look over and on a rock very close to you, or at least about where you're getting close to, there is a snake there with a rattle, and it's rattling at you, and it's hissing, and it's menacing. You know what that is.

You know that's a venomous snake. You know that that snake can bite you, and it's very likely to if you get too close. That's knowledge.

Wisdom is the application of that knowledge in a way that is in the best interest of yourself and of all concerned. Therefore, if you see and recognize a rattlesnake, it is knowledge that tells you that that is a rattlesnake. Your knowledge of those things tells you that he can do you harm, and your wisdom is what tells you to either hold still or back off or go another way.

In other words, your wisdom dictates the response to your knowledge. If you didn't have basic knowledge, you might just think that's a beautiful, attractive animal and want to go over there and pet it. But your knowledge is such that it tells you that this is not the right way.

Actually, your wisdom tells you that's not the right way. Your knowledge tells you that you can get hurt getting near that animal, and your wisdom tells you that you should therefore not do so. Now, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and it's the beginning of wisdom.

Now, I think when we say the beginning of knowledge, it doesn't mean of all knowledge. Obviously, you can know one species of flower from another and one species of bird from another without having any fear of God. There are atheists who have a great deal of knowledge in terms of apprehension of facts.

I think when it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, I think what Solomon means is the knowledge of God. And that seems to be confirmed by his similar but different statement here in Proverbs 9, 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One, the knowledge of God, is understanding. He's talking about spiritual knowledge and spiritual wisdom.

Now, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom for the simple reason that if a person doesn't fear God, they're stupid. That's just all there is to it. They're just stupid.

If you don't know that God is greatly to be feared, or if you do know that and don't live that way, you're just stupid. Can a man take hot coals into his bosom and his clothes not be burned? I mean, it's plain stupid. And therefore, Solomon says that if a person does not fear God, he has no wisdom.

John Bunyan said if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then it seems obvious that he that has no fear of the Lord not only has not the beginning, but has not the middle, part, nor the end either. A person without the fear of the Lord is without all wisdom. He hasn't even begun to get smart yet.

They may be educated, but they may be an educated fool. That is entirely possible if there is no fear of God before their eyes. But not only is the fear of the Lord the beginning, the fear of the Lord is the end as well.

Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 12. It's interesting that Solomon, who wrote Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, started Proverbs in chapter 1 by saying the fear of the Lord is the beginning. And then he ended Ecclesiastes by saying the fear of the Lord is the end also.

Because he said in Ecclesiastes 12 and verses 13 and 14, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is a man's all. That means it's the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. The fear of the Lord is not just the beginning of wisdom, it's the conclusion of everything. After all has been considered, after all points have been brought forward, the last point to be remembered, and that which sums it all up is fear God.

And keep his commandments. You keep his commandments because you fear him. You know, some people think, well, I just don't see why you should fear God.

Isn't God a God of love? Doesn't God have grace toward us? Isn't he a God of mercy? We are not under law, we are under grace. Why should we keep his commandments? Why should we fear in this way? Isn't this kind of contrary to the whole concept of the grace of God? No, it is not contrary, it is in fact aligned with it. In Psalm 130, I find this peculiar statement, peculiar to those who think the way I was just describing anyway.

Psalm 130 and verse 4 says, but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. Because you forgive, you are to be feared. That's a strange conjunction of ideas.

It would seem like God is more to be feared, not in consideration of his forgiveness, but in consideration of his judgment. Certainly those who are not forgiven would appear to have more to be afraid of. But obviously the psalmist did not believe that God's grace was somehow a disincentive to fearing God.

Once God forgives you, it doesn't mean you walk carelessly after that. If you have been forgiven by God, you realize you have just escaped a close call. You could have been judged rather than forgiven, and you walk more circumspectly afterwards.

A person does not ever receive forgiveness until he is dealing seriously with his sin. Forgiveness is not found among the unrepentant. God does not extend forgiveness to those who do not humble themselves, despise their sin, change their mind about their sin, and repent.

Therefore, the person who receives forgiveness is not one who takes lightly sin and judgment, but one who has taken it seriously. Else he would not know forgiveness at all. Let me show you another scripture like that.

We looked at this one earlier, but I didn't highlight this point in it. Let's look at Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12.28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

We receive grace, and this results in our serving God with reverence and fear. Because we have received grace, grace does not eliminate a walk of reverence and a walk of godly fear. If anything, grace seems to encourage it or inspire it.

In Titus 2, verses 11 and 12, it says, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that we don't have to obey God any more. Oh, I'm sorry, that's not what it says. It says, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age.

Soberly, righteously, godly. This is what grace teaches us to do. The grace of God does not inspire a life of carelessness or lack of caution, but rather the opposite.

That we fear the Lord. Because there is forgiveness in Him, because we receive grace, but we do so only because we take sin seriously. People who do not fear the Lord will probably never obtain forgiveness anyway, because they won't fear Him enough to seek it on His terms.

The fear of the Lord is... Well, have you ever seen... Have you ever seen these toys or mechanical devices that... I mean, they're used for industrial purposes, but you hardly ever see them. I mean, the average person hardly ever sees them in use. But you might see them in exhibitions somehow, where something can balance almost on the head of a pin, and it goes every which way, and it doesn't ever fall off.

Or on a little thread, this large item that's kind of moving around and so forth, but it's balanced by a single point on a thread, and it just looks like it ought to fall over and fall off and so forth, but it doesn't. Those things are held in place or balanced by, I think, at least they used to be, I don't know, they might have something more technological now than that, but by what we call a gyroscope. And don't expect me to explain how a gyroscope works.

Someone here could probably do that better than I can. But I don't know how. All I know is that a gyroscope can do an amazing thing.

It can keep something in balance on a very small point without falling off, even though it's in motion, even though it's moving around, leaning and so forth, it's still... It's point of contact with the thing upon which it rests remains secure. It gives it a balance that it will not apparently ever lose. And there are certain, like I say, there are industrial uses for these, I just don't know, I don't see them in use in those places, in airplanes and so forth.

I consider the fear of God to be like, sort of like a gyroscope in the soul. We're in motion, and we're on a narrow path, but the fear of the Lord keeps us on the path. Where others would fall off for lack of balance or for lack of wisdom or whatever, those who fear the Lord stay on the path.

And it keeps us in place. And therefore we are exhorted in Scripture to be always in the reverence or in the fear of the Lord. In Proverbs chapter 23, it says, but be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.

That's set in juxtaposition with the recommendation that we not envy sinners. If you fear the Lord, you don't envy sinners, you pity them. But it's the 23rd Proverbs, Proverbs 23, verse 17.

Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be... The New King James says, be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day long. The words be zealous are in italics, which means they're not in the Hebrew. The King James is much more brief.

It says, but be in the fear of the Lord all the day long. The point is, rather than envying sinners when they appear to be having a good time, when they appear to be prospering, when they appear to be getting away with everything, don't envy them. And I'll tell you how to avoid it.

Just fear God. Just realize that these people are... It's like people who are juggling with huge knives, you know. And they're not very good jugglers.

They may appear to be initially, but you know, they're not going to, in every case, grab that meat cleaver by the right end. And I'll tell you, some people love to go to circuses and see people, you know, the trapeze artists swinging through midair to be caught by another one who's blindfolded or something. And everyone gasps and everything and is amazed to see them do these death-defying things.

They want to go see Evel Knievel jump over the Grand Canyon in a rocket car or something, you know. People, a lot of people just love to see people almost get killed. I don't.

I've never wanted to... I've never liked those kinds of performances. Partly because I know they could get killed. I really think that some people of a certain sort would like to see, would like to be there the one time when that acrobat misses the catch, you know.

I mean, when it's on the news, they can say, yeah, I was there, I saw that. I just can't stand it. I don't want to see people get hurt.

I don't want to see people get killed. I don't even like it simulated in movies. I like a nice movie where no one gets hurt.

I don't like to see people get hurt. Now, if they're Christians and they get martyred, I don't have the same aversion to it. But if it's non-Christians, I just dread seeing anyone get killed because I know what happens to non-Christians after they die.

At least I have an inkling of it. And I do not envy sinners, and I don't have any pleasure in seeing them do their death-defying lifestyles. And all sinners are living a death-defying lifestyle because they are expecting not to die, but living in mortal bodies in a world full of deadly dangers.

And therefore, they have no guarantee that they will go to bed the same day, peaceably, as they woke up any given day. And to live in sin is a terrifying thing to those who know the fear of God. You do not envy sinners, and you will not copy them or imitate them if you live all day long in the fear of the Lord, as it exhorts us to do here.

Another scripture that indicates the fear of the Lord is just the general disposition that resides in the heart of the wise believer and keeps him on the path of virtue. In Acts chapter 9, there is a general description of the state of the church after Saul had visited the first time and left because there were threats on his life. Just describing the way the church was after that, it says in verse 31, Acts 9, 31, Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit they multiplied.

So the church walked in the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the general attitude, or at least one of the general attitudes, also the comfort of the Holy Spirit. We saw earlier, 1 Peter 1, 17, which says, Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.

Exhorting Christians, If you call God your Father, who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. 1 Peter 1, 17. So to dwell in an attitude of the fear of God is wholesome, wise, healthy, and commanded.

By the way, Jesus feared the Lord. Imagine Jesus having the fear of God in him. Well, he did.

He did. If you'll note, in Isaiah chapter 11, here we have a passage about Jesus, an Old Testament prophecy about him. But it says in the opening two verses of Isaiah 11, There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

This is a prediction about Jesus. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might. The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Well, we should not be surprised to find the fear of the Lord there, because he's got the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of understanding, and the Spirit of knowledge in there. You can't have any of those without the fear of the Lord. So not surprisingly, Jesus walked in the Spirit.

And the Spirit in which he walked included this aspect, this description, he walked in the fear of the Lord. In Hebrews chapter 5, we read this about Jesus also. In Hebrews, the fifth chapter, in verse 7, speaking of Jesus, it says, Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and was heard because of his godly fear.

Though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Jesus' prayers were heard because he feared the Lord. Now what did he have to be afraid of? Nothing.

He walked in perfect love, and perfect love casts out fear. Yes, he didn't ever have that fear of God that brings torment, in the sense of being terrified to stand before the God of judgment. But he walked in the fear of the Lord anyway.

And that's what no doubt was one of the things that kept him from falling into temptation. When the devil said, why don't you just bow down and worship me, I'll give you all the kings of the world. Jesus said, God forbid.

He didn't say God forbid, but that was his reaction. He said, it is written, you shall worship only Jehovah. Him alone shall you serve.

He just wouldn't even dream of violating what God had said, what was written. Why? He feared the Lord. Wisely so.

He was the Lord. But as a man, his lot was to live in submission to his Father, and he did so in the same way that we're expected to do so, by walking in the spirit of the fear of the Lord, the fear of God. Now, there are evidences in the life of a person who fears God.

We're not going to get through everything, I'm afraid, today. There's much more. I'm going to have to take two sessions on this.

But here's some of the evidences the Bible indicates are present if the fear of the Lord is present. Do you wonder, do I fear God? Well, there are some ways to take your pulse, you know, your spiritual pulse on this. Take your temperature.

Here's one of them. In Isaiah 66.2, 1 and 2, I guess, thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne and Earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build me, and where is the place of my rest? For all those things my hand has made, and all those things exist, says the Lord.

But, here's the part I was reading it for, on this one will I look, and he means look favorably, on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. A person who trembles at God's word, clearly because of the fear of the Lord in his life, that person reads with trembling and reads with reverence God's word. Now that person is also described as poor and of a contrite spirit.

Poor in spirit and contrite in spirit. Jesus said, bless her who is poor in spirit. There's the kingdom of heaven.

Here's a person who is poor in spirit and contrite. The word contrite literally in Hebrew means crushed, small, a broken spirit. To put this in the most homey terms, without this kind of imagery, it means a humble person.

A person who has got humility. They come to God's word with humility and reverence. And they tremble at his word.

That's the person God favors. But in spite of the fact that such a person has humility and reverence, that doesn't mean that they are shy or intimidated. Rather, they are bold and confident.

According to Proverbs 14.26, it says, In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and his children have a place of refuge. If you fear the Lord, you are on his side and he is on your side. There is plenty to be confident there.

He is a strong refuge for those who fear him. That's why Jesus said, don't fear man, but fear God. Because if you do fear God, you won't have any reason to fear man.

If you fear the Lord, God will take care of man. Or at the very least, he'll take care of you. But the fact of the matter is, there will be nothing for you to fear.

In Isaiah chapter 8, at a time when the nation of Judah was terrified by a confederacy of two nations coming against them to attack them, God gave words to Ahaz, the king, not to be afraid and that God was going to save the city. In the midst of his encouraging of the people of Judah on this occasion, he said this, In Isaiah 8 verses 12 and 13, Do not say a conspiracy concerning all that this people call a conspiracy. Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.

The Lord of hosts, him you shall hallow. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. Listen, you just fear the Lord.

You just dread having God be your enemy. And by the way, that's fortunately something you can control. You can't control every time a man chooses to be your enemy, but you can control whether God can be your enemy or not.

Because he's on your side, so long as you're on his side. If you make yourself his enemy, then you can guarantee that he'll be yours. But let him be your dread, let him be your fear.

Don't dread man. Don't worry about conspiracies. You ever hear any conspiracy theories that sound scary? Don't worry about those.

They may be true or they may not be true. It hardly matters. God's got a conspiracy too, and he's the one who's sovereign, and what he has declared is what will happen.

Just make sure you fear God and you stay on his team. So, you will have confidence. You'll have lack of fear.

You'll be humble and you'll tremble at his word if you have the fear of God in you, but you'll also have strong confidence. And you will not fear what men fear, or dread what they dread, because you do fear and dread the Lord. Also, a mark that people are walking in the fear of the Lord is that they don't sin.

They depart from evil behavior. Look at Proverbs 3, first of all. There are several verses that would make this point.

Proverbs 3, verse 7. It says, Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. There is a cause and effect relationship between fearing the Lord and departing from evil.

That there is that cause and effect relationship here is not so clearly stated in this verse as in another, but they are linked here in this verse. Proverbs 3, verse 7. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. But if you turn to Proverbs 16, verse 6, you'll see the cause and effect relationship established.

16, verse 6. In mercy and truth, atonement is provided for, iniquity. And by the fear of the Lord, one departs from evil. A person departs from evil because they fear the Lord.

Now, you might say, well, I depart from evil because I love God. Okay, that's fine. Then you've gone a step beyond.

But let's put it this way. If a person does not depart from evil, it's a clear proof that they don't fear God. If you have departed from evil, it is because you fear the Lord.

It may even be more. You might even have gone beyond that. You might even love the Lord.

Some people stop sinning just because they fear the Lord and they don't really love Him. But, of course, the Christian has another step in their relationship with the Lord that they can enter even beyond that. But to love God doesn't mean you don't fear Him anymore.

It just means that you have crossed another threshold into your enjoyment of serving God and of the relationship. But you fear Him still. You ought to.

Philippians 2.12, just so we can always put a New Testament authority on these points. Philippians 2.12 says, 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. The Christian is to be obedient at all times to God.

In so doing, they are working out their salvation. This is clearly done through fear and trembling, through a fear of the Lord and trembling in His word. Now, not only does a person who fears God adequately depart from evil, but he hates evil.

He finds it contemptible. That person is not going to enjoy movies that depict sin. Or they are not going to enjoy being in the presence of people who sin.

Finding entertainment in such is a clear evidence that the fear of the Lord is absent. In Proverbs 8.13, it says, The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance, and every evil way, and the perverse mouth I hate. Pride, arrogance, evil ways are hated by the person who fears the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Not just to depart from it out of fear of consequences, but to see evil as the arch enemy. To hate evil as a person hates cancer or some other thing that destroys loved ones.

And would destroy you if it got into you. It is something that you find to be the arch enemy of your peace with God. And therefore you hate it and avoid it.

In Hebrews 1.9, we read this of Jesus, who we already earlier established, Jesus walked and lived in the fear of the Lord. Well, it says in Hebrews 1.9, You have loved righteousness, this is speaking to Jesus, it is quoting from Psalm 45, You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.

Jesus hated evil and loved righteousness. He did not hate evil people, but he hated evil. In the end, he hated sin.

Just as Christians do. And this being so, a person who fears the Lord will be known somewhat by the companions he keeps and the entertainment he enjoys. As for the companions, look over at Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter 3 is talking about the greatly backslidden condition of the nation of Israel in the time after the return from exile.

And in verse 16 it mentions there was a remnant. Even among the backslidden nation at the time there was a remnant. Malachi 3.16 says, Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them.

So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on his name. Now, even though the nation was largely, the spiritual state of the nation was largely in abeyance, yet there were those, some, few, who feared the Lord. And they found each other and they spoke often to one another.

They sought out company and fellowship with one another. This is always the case. If you go to a large church and the church is largely made up of, let's just say it's a big church where there's a great deal of compromise.

If you happen to be godly, you will soon find out who in that church is godly and you will seek them out. You'll be at their home. They'll be in your home.

You'll gravitate to these people in the church because in a world or a church largely compromised, if you are not compromised, if you fear God, you will be attracted to those who fear God. You can know a person's fear of the Lord or lack thereof by the company they keep, by those people that they find attractive to them. In Psalm 119, on the point of what entertains one, I said you can know the fear of the Lord or the lack thereof by the entertainment one seeks also.

In Psalm 119, in verse number 104, a very long psalm, 170 something verses, in verse 104 it says, Through your precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. I hate every false way. I don't enjoy them.

I don't entertain myself with people who are on them. It's something I find disgusting. Now by the way, the fear of the Lord will also be seen in terms of your motivation for evangelism.

If you really have the fear of God operating in your life, as you should, you'll be motivated to evangelize. It says in 2 Corinthians 5.11, 2 Corinthians 5.11, Paul says, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. What? To become Christians.

We are persuading men. Why would we bother to do that? Because we know the terror of the Lord. That's a very strong term for the fear of the Lord.

Terror. Likewise, Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 4 indicates this idea that if you fear the Lord, you'll be seeking with great interest in the conversion of others. In Deuteronomy 4.10, it says, Especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, Gather the people to me, and I will let them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.

If you fear the Lord, you'll teach your children. You'll teach others to fear the Lord also. That's why David said, Come, my children, listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

You will want to teach others the fear of the Lord, because your concern will be for them to not be out of harmony with God any more than you desire to be yourself. Now, how do we acquire the fear of the Lord? You might say, well, I don't know, some of the things in my life make me wonder whether I really do fear the Lord. But, you know, should I just sit around and bemoan it, or is there something I can do? Well, there is.

The Bible indicates there are things, steps to take, and that you don't have to just be a victim of the absence of the fear of the Lord. You can decide whether you will have the fear of the Lord. First of all, in Proverbs 129, wisdom is speaking as if it was God, or God is speaking as if He is wisdom, one or the other.

And He says in Proverbs 1, Then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, and they will not find me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is something you choose.

I choose to fear the Lord. You know, people, almost all people have thoughts cross their minds from time to time of the awesomeness of God. Even unbelievers, I'm sure, if they live much of a lifetime, they must have their moments, where it just dawns on them that if they're not right with God, it's a scary prospect.

They may shudder briefly and then put it out of their mind. Well, that's the worst thing they can do, put it out of their mind. You choose.

It might make me uncomfortable to think in those terms, but if I choose not to fear the Lord, then I come under the judgment of God that I should have feared. But I can choose to cultivate the fear of the Lord. Now, I believe the fear of the Lord, if it's really going to be effectual and life-changing, must be birthed of God.

And for that reason, it must be sought from God. And in addition to choosing it, I believe you must pray for it. The psalmist said this in Psalm 86 11.

In Psalm 86 11, he said, Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. He prayed that God would so order his heart as to fear God.

So, I choose to cultivate the fear of God, and I pray that God will give it to me, that God will so order my thoughts and my heart as to encourage the fear of the Lord in me. Now, here's something you can do very practically day by day to cultivate the fear of the Lord. I would encourage you to entertain long thoughts on three things.

One, God's greatness and his power. In other words, encourage yourself in the area of reverence toward God. Think of God's might.

Think of his power. Think of his majesty, his greatness, his holiness. Think on these things.

Meditate long on them. Entertain long thoughts on these things. In Psalm 139, verse 14, it says, I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. I meditate on how marvelous God is in designing even my own physical body. And in creation, just noting God's fearfully and wonderfully made is actually what he says.

It actually inspires the fear of God to notice how wonderfully he has made me. It's a fearful thing. I'm fearfully made.

That doesn't mean that I'm made in a terrifying state. It means that as I contemplate the way that God has even made my whole being, as you look at your own hands, or contemplate your own brain, or something like that, it's just stunning. It's awe-inspiring.

I mean, not that you're in awe of your own brain, but you're in awe of a God who could so design and construct such. It's a fearfully and wonderful thing. And to think of God's great power in his designing wisdom and holiness, I already drew your attention to Psalm 8, where David said, When I consider the heavens, the works of your hands, the moon and the stars that you have made, the works of your fingers, what is man that you are mindful of him? You see, he went out and contemplated God.

He went out in nature, looked at the sky. He cultivated a reverence for God. We don't often, many times in the city, go out and look at the sky.

There's not much to see out there sometimes. But to get off away and look at the works of God, get far enough away from the works of man and the buildings and the machines and so forth that man has made, and just look at what God has made. It's so superior to what God has made.

It's just inspiring to put the fear of God in you. Darius, after he saw what God did in delivering Daniel from the lions, made this decree. Daniel 6, 26, I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God and steadfast forever.

His kingdom is one which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall endure to the end. The majesty of God. Darius had a graphic demonstration of it in the deliverance of Daniel from the lions.

And he said, I decree that everyone must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, because he is the living God, because his kingdom is forever, because his dominion shall endure and so forth. Entertain high thoughts of God. Thoughts that inspire reverence and awe.

Secondly, not only God's greatness and majesty, but think long on his holiness. At Mount Sinai, an aspect of God's holiness was manifested, and the people trembled. They didn't even want to hear the sound of the voice anymore.

When God spoke to Habakkuk, well let me see if I can get to it here. I'm mindful of the fact that the clock is against me very cruelly at this moment. But Habakkuk chapter 1 and verse 13 says, You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on the wickedness.

Why do you look on those who deal treacherously, etc., etc.? God's eyes are too pure to behold evil. Think about God's holiness. If his eyes are too pure, it doesn't mean to behold in the sense that he can't see it.

It means he cannot countenance it. He cannot look with any sense of favor upon it. Therefore, one must contemplate that the eyes of the Lord are watching us, and the holiness of God cannot countenance evil.

That will help to cultivate the fear of the Lord. It says of Jerusalem in Isaiah 3.8, For Jerusalem stumbled, and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory. The eyes of his glory are watching, and they provoked his eyes.

That's Isaiah 3.8. To do things before God's eyes that provoke him is a frightening thing. Remember, he's a holy God. Meditate on his holiness.

And thirdly, meditate long on his judgments. The psalmist said in Psalm 119, verse 120, My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments. Psalm 119, verse 120.

My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments. Also in Psalm 90, verse 11, It says, Who knows the power of your anger? For as the fear of you, so is your wrath. Now, if you know God's wrath, if you know the power of his anger, then the fear of God follows.

Now, I wanted to give you, so here's how you get the fear of the Lord. You choose it. You pray that God will give it.

And you cultivate it by thinking long on the greatness and power of God, on the holiness of God, and on the judgments of God. You can do this by reading Scripture and paying attention to what you're reading. Or you can do so in other settings.

But do so, and you'll inspire the fear of God. What are the promises to those who fear God? I have to go through them real quickly. Psalm 34.7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.

Psalm 34.7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. The protection of God is upon those who fear him. Psalm 34.9 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but those that fear the Lord shall not lack any good thing.

There is no lack to those who fear him, it says. Psalm 34.9 Protection and provision for those who fear God. It says in Psalm 25 and verse 14.

Psalm 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him. And he will show them his... I'm not looking, I'm trying to quote, and I forget the last word. That's Psalm 25, I'll read it to you.

Psalm 25 and verse 14 He will show them his covenant. The secret of the Lord. Intimacy with God.

God shows his secrets to those who fear him. You want intimacy? Then fear God. He will not trust you with his secrets if you are not among those who fear him.

In the same Psalm, Psalm 25, verse 12 Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way he chooses. The guidance of God. God teaching you the way that he wants you to go.

Only those who fear the Lord. Psalm 25.12 Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way that he chooses. God will give revelation to those who fear him.

It says in Malachi 4.2 Malachi 4.2 Unto those who fear my name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings. These are the promises to those who fear the Lord. Unfortunately, we've run out of time.

And I would love...