The Fear of the Lord
The Fear of the Lord
John 6:63-64: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.
· Did you know there is a difference between being Bible taught and Spirit taught? You can teach the Bible, but never produce any true “living Christianity” or “practical godliness” because the reader still lack the radiance of the Spirit.
· You can’t really dismiss them as hypocrites because so many of them are serious about their faith, but they are still blind from lack of a vital relationship with the Holy Spirit. This is our Promised Land. It’s important for us to understand this.
· The Scriptures must be read with the same Spirit that wrote them to be understood!
· This is how the written truth becomes the living truth within us. Jesus is the truth and cannot be confined to mere words, but the Spirit delights in making Jesus come alive for us in the Scriptures.
· The Bible is the door to “real experience” with Jesus, through the Spirit.
· In these last days, we need believers who are spiritually hungry that will first know the Truth of the Scriptures; and second, will know the Word through the enlightenment of the Spirit. So let’s begin with the fear of the Lord:
Proverbs 9:10: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
· Here’s a great truth; No one can know the “grace of God” who has not first known the “fear of God.” This is essential in understanding His grace. Unfortunately many want the grace of God… but their journey didn’t begin with the fear of the Lord.
· God’s plan of redemption was spoken to Adam and Eve while they were hiding in “terror” from the Lord after they had sinned.
· The Ten Commandments were given to Moses as he and the children of Israel trembled in terror from smoke, fire, quaking and the voice of thunder and the sound of a trumpet called out to them from Mt. Sinai.
· Even the shepherds who lay in the fields at night on Christmas night trembled and were afraid as the host of angels proclaimed the coming of our “God with us.”
· From Genesis to Revelation, the presence of the Holy God struck fear in the hearts of sinful men. There’s something within us that instinctively knows the “terror of a Holy God.” It’s something supernatural. We can’t expect grace without the knowing of Holiness.
· It’s where the “created” comes into contact with “the Creator.” The “animal in us” is very prideful and self-confident, until we, as sinful creatures, come into contact with pure Holiness; that is the fear of the Lord! Therefore grace is amazing.
· It’s the beginning of wisdom and understanding. Let’s see this with the Prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 6:5: So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
· Isaiah was a good man, well educated, a cousin of the king, and very well respected. Yet when He came into the Presence of the Holy God, Isaiah was “undone.” He saw that he was “unclean.” He needed to repent, not of what he had done, but repent for what he was.
· Until we repent of what we are, we will never understand how wonderful the love and the grace of God is for us in our New Covenant.
· Until we understand the terror of the Lord, our “carnal heart” will understand the love of God as confirming our own “self-righteousness.” We will think of ourselves as “lovable.”
Isaiah 6:6-8: Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me. And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
· Isaiah had no more self-confidence; he’d seen what he truly was. The fear or terror of the Lord had completely destroyed his self-confidence. Until our self-confidence is destroyed our Lord will not show Himself to the eyes of our faith.
· Until our self-confidence is gone, we will not be able to tell the people the truth of His gospel with His power.
John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
· We all love this verse and believe it with our hearts. But it’s not always wise to take verses out of their context. This can make giving our lives to the Lord as something that’s like buying fire insurance.
· We are encouraged to say a little prayer, and go along our merry way! Let’s look at more context:
John 3:19-21: “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
· Coming into the Light of God requires repentance from us. We must agree with why we are alienated from God in the first place, because we are condemned as sinners. It requires us to believe that there is a Holy God and I am not Him!
· Cain and Abel are examples; Cain brought a sacrifice before the Lord thinking God would accept him as he was. Abel brought a sacrifice before the Lord because he knew he was unacceptable “as he was.”
· The fear of God would have changed the direction of Cain’s life.
· I think that many preachers have tried to induce the terror of the Lord into people by making threats of hell in the name of the Lord. Hell and judgment are real, but they cannot produce this mysterious thing we call “the fear of the Lord.”
· It’s the deep reaction in the heart of a fallen man. We can preach condemnation; but it usually fails to produce long term results.
· Only the Holy Spirit can produce this fear of the Lord in a man’s heart… it’s like a warning of danger. It’s a supernatural thing.
· But being filled with the Spirit brings the Presence of the Spirit into a congregation or church.
· It’s just like when Moses came down from the Mount Sinai, his face glowed with the Spirit and it caused the children of Israel to fear the Lord because of that sight. Moses didn’t threaten them, he just shined!
Isaiah 1:16-18: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow. 18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;”
· There should be a radical transformation in the life of a believer.
· The idea of pardoning a rebel without his giving up his rebellion is wrong throughout the whole Bible.
· A governor of a state was going to pardon a young man in prison and decided to go visit him. The young man did not know his visitor was the governor. He asked the young man what he would do if he was released, he said, “I will go and slit the throat of the judge that put me in here.” The governor left, the convict stayed in prison.
· I think that the preaching of salvation without repentance is deceitful in handling the truth, and therefore some think they are saved when they might not be. There is no salvation without repentance, and there’s is no transformation without repentance.
· These are the hypocrites that give Christianity a bad name and actually repel those who may be seeking a life of salvation.
Acts 8:18-23: And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”
· There are many in “the faith” that are seeking a deeper relationship with the Lord. Their hearts are genuine; they love the Lord and want all that is promised to us in the word. They are seeking the Promised Land of Christ.
· There are many churches that are offering a new form of “snake oil.” They say, “You can have the power. You can heal people and prophesy… you can be a super-saint.” Too many people want all the gifts of the Spirit without first developing the fruits of the Spirit.
· The problem is that the moral groundwork has not been laid for this kind of ministry. The foundations of the faith are not present. There is no real salvation and reformation without repentance from what we are.
· If you develop the fruits of the Spirit … the gifts will follow you wherever you go.
· Simon wanted the power of God without knowing the Lord, and that is of the devil.
Acts 19:13-20: Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
· This is as true today as when Jesus said it. I believe that we should look for the fruit in our own lives to determine where we are really at in our relationship with our Holy God! Is our faith real, or is it based on something else, or someone else’s faith? It’s time to find out!
Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
· Real faith is a disturbing thing to those who don’t really have it. Paul tells us that Jesus is the object of our faith. When we look to Him, faith is a supernatural result.
· Real faith demands a change in our lives; this change is also a “supernatural result.”
· We see that a part of us is against our “Holy God” and it must die. We accept what we are… to become what we will be.
· Many Christians have so arranged their lives that they can do just fine without the help of God, yet are still pretending to seek Him. True faith is an absolute trust in God, all-in, no plan B.
· Here’s the truth; since Adam first stood on planet Earth, God has never failed anyone.
· But the man of pseudo faith will do his best to never put himself in a situation where he would need to use real faith…he stays in his comfort zone. Our God is looking for someone who will leave his comfort zone.
· We must trust God in this day as fully as we must trust Him in our last day. Because for each of us a day is coming where we must trust Him because we will have nothing but God.
· Health, wealth, friends, and hiding places will all be swept away. It will be a tragedy to find out that we had not really been trusting God during our earthly days.
· It would be better to invite God to remove every false trust, remove our hiding places, and discover for ourselves whether we can actually trust Him. It’s a harsh cure but time is running out for all of us.
· The terror of the Lord is the beginning of grace!