Fear of the Lord - 1

Fear of the Lord - 1

Subject – Understanding the Fear of the Lord

By Rick Welborne

Isaiah 33:5-6 (NIV)
⁵  The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
⁶  He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. 

--As we look all around us here in the United States, I think we can agree that we see very little of what we would call the Fear of the Lord. 

--But let me be honest. When we look through the church, it is difficult to see those who truly have a genuine fear of the Lord. I guess we need to start with us (the church) if we will deal with this situation.

1 Peter 4:16-19 (NKJV)
¹⁶  Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
¹⁷  For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
¹⁸  Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?"
¹⁹  Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

--In verse 18 a statement is made that appears to be passed over at least in my mind by most of us and it does strike the fear of the Lord in me…If the righteous one is scarcely saved. Work out your salvation with fear…

--Not too many of us suffer for being Christians. I heard this for the first time in a long time the other day. If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

--What Isaiah is saying in our text is that holy fear is the key to God’s sure foundation in our lives. In that godly fear we find the treasures of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. Sounds very important.

--The fear of the Lord along with the love of God sets us up to have a sure foundation to live in a depraved world. We cannot truly love God until we fear Him; nor can we properly fear Him until we love Him.

--Once I asked the Board of Deacons what it meant to fear the Lord. To fear Him is to love Him, to revere Him, to respect Him, to obey Him, to honor Him, to obey His Word, and one of them said ditto. 

--Same question to our pastors. Reverence. It is honor and respect that brings obedience. It is the beginning or a launching place for our relationship with God. It is fear and trembling before God.

--They continued…it is a multifaceted response to His holiness. It is being excited and terrified at the same time. It is death to self. It is awareness of His presence. Being broken. 

--What would your answer be? How do you see God? Is your fear of Him and your love for Him your sure foundation? Asking people their definition is definitely a way to get people thinking. 

Proverbs 9:10 (NKJV)
¹⁰  "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 

--I keep looking back up in my sermon to the statement… we cannot truly love God until we fear Him; nor can we properly fear Him until we love Him. 

We cannot truly love God until we fear Him; nor can we properly fear Him until we love Him.

We cannot truly revere God until we fear Him; nor can we properly fear Him until we revere Him.

We cannot truly respect God until we fear Him; nor can we properly fear Him until we respect Him.

We cannot truly obey God until we fear Him; nor can we properly fear Him until we obey Him.

We cannot truly honor God until we fear Him; nor can we properly fear Him until we honor Him.

--Our attitude when we approach God has to be right…when we come to church…when we worship…when we pray…when we want Him near in our everyday lives…our hearts have to be filled with reverence.

Leviticus 10:1-3 (NKJV)
¹  Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.
²  So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
³  And Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD spoke, saying: 'By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.' " So Aaron held his peace. 

--Nadab and Abihu saw what Moses had experienced God’s glory and presence and they wanted to get in on having that kind of power with God. They did not fear the Lord. God killed them with fire.

--I am so glad that we are under grace now and we are New Testament Christians and we do not have to worry about that. Really? Anyone remember Ananias and Sapphira.

--They sold a possession and held back a portion of the money for themselves. No problem so far but they gave the appearance of giving it all so Peter said you have lied to Holy Spirit. He died! She died! Result:

Acts 5:11 (NKJV) ¹¹  So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

--Great fear came upon all the church and all who heard these things. What do you think the answer would have been if you would have asked anyone in that church…What is your definition of the fear of the Lord?

--So what are you saying, Pastor Rick? I am saying that we may need to take a step back and re-evaluate what we really feel or believe about the fear of the Lord. Take a serious and sober look.

--Of course I believe to fear Him is to love Him, to revere Him, to honor Him, to obey Him, to respect Him. Make no mistake though, we must understand that He is holy and He has to be approached properly.

The fear of the Lord - can be defined as a continual awareness that you are in the presence of a holy, just, and almighty God, and that every motive, thought, word, and action is open before Him and will be judged by Him.

1. It is important how we see God the Son…Jesus Christ.

Psalm 89:6-10 (NKJV)
⁶  For who in the heavens can be compared to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the LORD?
⁷  God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, And to be held in reverence by all those around Him.
⁸  O LORD God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
⁹  You rule the raging of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.
¹⁰  You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one who is slain; You have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm. 

--Before we continue discussing the fear of the Lord, we must capture a glimpse of the greatness and the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Whom we serve.

--Notice how the psalmist first declares the awesome wonders of God and then, he gives the exhortation to fear Him and to reverence Him. In other words, who in the universe can compare to Jesus?

--He is saying how can we really respect and honor the Lord if we are not aware of His greatness, or why He deserves our fear of Him and reverence for Him.

--Sadly, in our world we know the greatest athletes, the greatest singing groups, who is the top ten in America’s Got Talent, and our favorite politicians. Do we truly know Jesus intimately?

--Now contrast that with the Creator of the universe Jesus Christ and Him becoming Immanuel which means God with us. His welcome was not that great.

John 1:10-11 (NKJV)
¹⁰  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
¹¹  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

--What was even more sad was that He came to His own, to the ones who were watching for the Messiah to come, and His own did not receive Him. Matter of fact, they rejected Him. They nailed Him to a cross.               

--Before we get to critical of them, maybe we should look at how important it is for us to fear or reverence the One Who paid it all for us. He is coming back and will we be ready for His return?

Isaiah 29:13 (NKJV)
¹³  Therefore the LORD said: "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,”

Isaiah 33:6 (NIV)
⁶  He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. 

--Those who honor God with their lips but their hearts are far from God He will take away their wisdom and knowledge. But to those who fear the Lord they will have a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.

--But there is definitely more in these verses… And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men. He is saying that the people had reduced the glory of the Lord to that of corruptible man. 

2. We have made God in our own image.

--Moses climbs Mt. Sinai to receive the Word of God. Because Moses was there too long the people got together in their own wisdom. In their impatience they create God the way they were comfortable. 

--Even though they had seen God manifest His glory and miracles they form a calf out of gold. For four hundred years they had seen images in Egypt. They were content with a false God.

Exodus 32:4 (NKJV)
⁴  And he (Aaron) received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!"

--They told there would be a feast to the Lord…They used the name of the only true God. Jehovah or Yahweh. They point at the golden calf and proclaim this is your One True God Who delivered you. 

--They reduced the greatness of the Lord to common terms and images they were familiar with. They still said it was Jehovah but they had no fear of Who God really was. 10 Commandments – No carved images.

--Before we get to critical, remember the coming out of Egypt is a type of coming out of the world and being saved in the New Testament. Jesus did not go on the mountain but He ascended to heaven.

--I am afraid that in the church we are serving a Jesus Who is not depicted in scriptures. We have made Him into the image of God that we want Him to be. We have no fear or reverence for Him.

Romans 1:22-23 (NKJV) ²² Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man…

--Is the Jesus you serve the Jesus of the Bible or is He the Jesus you have created Who winks at your sin and lets you live anyway you want with no consequences?