Cultivate the Right Kind of Fear

Deuteronomy 5:29
Broadcast Featured Image

<

Pastor Colin emphasises the need for repentance and faith to pursue the new life God calls us to. He discusses the significance of cultivating the right kind of fear—a godly fear—and references Deuteronomy 5:29, where God expresses a desire for His people’s hearts to be inclined to fear Him.

He explains that there are two types of fear: a fear that love removes and a fear that love brings. The removed fear is exemplified by Adam hiding from God due to his sin, while the fear brought by love is a reverent awe of God’s holiness and forgiveness.

Pastor Colin shares personal anecdotes about learning Bible verses as a child and the lasting impact they have had on him. He also encourages the younger audience to memorise Scripture, highlighting the importance of having God’s Word in one’s heart.

The sermon includes numerous scriptural references, showing that both the Old and New Testaments speak of a godly fear that complements love. Pastor Colin asserts that the contemporary church needs to rediscover this fear to avoid trivialising worship and to remain effective witnesses of Christ.

In conclusion, Pastor Colin provides seven reasons to cultivate the fear of the Lord, ranging from gaining wisdom and avoiding sin to enhancing worship and growing in Christlikeness. He calls us to embrace a balanced understanding of love and fear to fully grasp the magnitude of God’s holiness and love.

1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:02,320 We’re continuing our series that’s entitled 2 00:00:02,320 –> 00:00:05,640 take two the power of a fresh start 3 00:00:05,640 –> 00:00:08,200 and we’re learning God’s words to people 4 00:00:08,200 –> 00:00:11,320 who are on the verge of something new. 5 00:00:11,320 –> 00:00:13,360 We’re seeing that God gives to his people 6 00:00:13,360 –> 00:00:15,680 what it takes to break free 7 00:00:15,680 –> 00:00:19,400 from the ingrained and habitual patterns of the past 8 00:00:19,400 –> 00:00:21,040 and to find the courage 9 00:00:21,040 –> 00:00:23,500 to face the challenges of the future. 10 00:00:23,500 –> 00:00:24,760 And we’re finding that this book 11 00:00:24,760 –> 00:00:29,400 is speaking very powerfully and directly to us today. 12 00:00:29,500 –> 00:00:32,500 Last week we saw that in order to pursue 13 00:00:32,500 –> 00:00:35,200 the new life that God calls us to 14 00:00:35,200 –> 00:00:38,080 we need to own what is ours by nature. 15 00:00:38,080 –> 00:00:40,119 The bible calls that repentance 16 00:00:40,119 –> 00:00:43,320 and we need to own what is ours by grace 17 00:00:43,320 –> 00:00:46,759 and the bible calls that faith. 18 00:00:46,759 –> 00:00:48,759 Today we’re going to take the next step forward 19 00:00:48,759 –> 00:00:51,799 in what it means to enter in to something new 20 00:00:51,799 –> 00:00:55,200 to live a new life in Jesus Christ. 21 00:00:55,520 –> 00:00:57,279 I want to speak to you about this 22 00:00:57,279 –> 00:01:01,919 central subject of the place of fear 23 00:01:02,759 –> 00:01:04,720 in a godly life, you heard me right. 24 00:01:05,940 –> 00:01:10,940 The place of fear in a godly life. 25 00:01:12,199 –> 00:01:16,199 Cultivating the right kind of fear. 26 00:01:16,199 –> 00:01:18,639 Now will you look with me at Deuteronomy 5 27 00:01:18,639 –> 00:01:21,480 and verse 29, which is our key text 28 00:01:21,480 –> 00:01:24,720 in this passage of scripture today. 29 00:01:24,760 –> 00:01:28,800 God says, oh, that their hearts 30 00:01:28,800 –> 00:01:31,720 would be inclined to fear me. 31 00:01:31,720 –> 00:01:33,900 That’s what God says, 32 00:01:33,900 –> 00:01:36,239 and keep all my commands always 33 00:01:36,239 –> 00:01:40,440 so that it may go well with them 34 00:01:40,440 –> 00:01:44,760 and their children forever. 35 00:01:46,279 –> 00:01:49,080 You hear the passion of God in these words, 36 00:01:49,080 –> 00:01:53,260 oh, he says, that they would have a heart 37 00:01:53,260 –> 00:01:56,900 that is inclined to fear me. 38 00:01:56,900 –> 00:01:58,300 That’s what God says. 39 00:02:00,900 –> 00:02:03,099 Now, you know that children 40 00:02:03,099 –> 00:02:06,260 have an amazing capacity of memory, 41 00:02:06,260 –> 00:02:08,820 and I’m glad that as a child, 42 00:02:08,820 –> 00:02:11,960 I was encouraged and helped and taught 43 00:02:11,960 –> 00:02:15,460 to memorize a good number of verses 44 00:02:15,460 –> 00:02:18,020 of Scripture from the Bible 45 00:02:18,020 –> 00:02:20,419 as well as a fair chunk of the hymnbook, 46 00:02:20,419 –> 00:02:22,660 I think, that’s kind of rooted from childhood 47 00:02:22,660 –> 00:02:24,779 in my memory as well. 48 00:02:24,779 –> 00:02:26,500 What you remember as a child 49 00:02:26,500 –> 00:02:28,460 stays with you all your life. 50 00:02:28,460 –> 00:02:29,899 It goes in deep. 51 00:02:29,899 –> 00:02:32,000 And so for all of the younger folks 52 00:02:32,000 –> 00:02:34,619 who are learning verses of the Bible from Awana, 53 00:02:34,619 –> 00:02:35,860 I encourage you in this, 54 00:02:35,860 –> 00:02:38,380 this is a marvelous thing you will never regret 55 00:02:38,380 –> 00:02:42,380 having the Word of God memorized in your heart. 56 00:02:42,380 –> 00:02:44,619 And many of you will have done this 57 00:02:44,619 –> 00:02:46,979 over the years and will be doing it now. 58 00:02:46,979 –> 00:02:49,259 I learned many of the verses 59 00:02:49,259 –> 00:02:51,699 that you also will have learned, 60 00:02:51,699 –> 00:02:53,839 one that you saw on the video earlier 61 00:02:53,839 –> 00:02:56,179 in the service that many Christians know God 62 00:02:56,179 –> 00:02:59,460 so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, 63 00:02:59,460 –> 00:03:01,259 John 3 and verse 16. 64 00:03:01,259 –> 00:03:03,460 Romans chapter five and verse eight, 65 00:03:03,460 –> 00:03:06,460 God demonstrates His love towards us in this, 66 00:03:06,460 –> 00:03:09,100 that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 67 00:03:10,779 –> 00:03:13,039 Let me tell you a couple of other verses 68 00:03:13,039 –> 00:03:16,059 of scripture that I learned when I was very young. 69 00:03:17,860 –> 00:03:20,300 From Hebrews in chapter 10, 70 00:03:20,580 –> 00:03:24,000 and I quoted in the authorized version as I learned it. 71 00:03:25,720 –> 00:03:29,020 It is a fearful thing 72 00:03:30,000 –> 00:03:34,600 to fall into the hands of the living God. 73 00:03:37,139 –> 00:03:39,940 Or from Hebrews in chapter 12. 74 00:03:41,179 –> 00:03:45,619 Our God is a consuming fire. 75 00:03:45,619 –> 00:03:48,100 Image of the Lore 76 00:03:48,100 –> 00:03:51,479 Now that lies very deep within my own mind. 77 00:03:51,479 –> 00:03:53,820 It lies very deep within my own heart. 78 00:03:53,820 –> 00:03:55,899 It goes all the way back to childhood, 79 00:03:55,899 –> 00:03:57,619 learning these verses of the Bible, 80 00:03:57,619 –> 00:04:00,880 and here’s my question. 81 00:04:00,880 –> 00:04:04,059 I wonder what you think of planting that 82 00:04:04,059 –> 00:04:07,479 in the memory of a child. 83 00:04:07,479 –> 00:04:11,380 Why in the world would you teach a young boy 84 00:04:11,380 –> 00:04:13,800 that it is a fearful thing 85 00:04:13,800 –> 00:04:15,779 to fall into the hands of the living God? 86 00:04:15,779 –> 00:04:18,359 Why would you choose a text like that to teach a child? 87 00:04:18,359 –> 00:04:21,739 Would you do that? 88 00:04:21,739 –> 00:04:26,940 Why would you teach that boy to associate in his mind 89 00:04:26,940 –> 00:04:31,779 the God you want him to love with a consuming fire? 90 00:04:31,779 –> 00:04:34,760 Why would you do that? 91 00:04:34,760 –> 00:04:36,540 Why would you teach him to remember this 92 00:04:36,540 –> 00:04:38,540 and to carry it with him in his soul 93 00:04:38,540 –> 00:04:43,720 all the days of his life? 94 00:04:43,839 –> 00:04:48,480 There are folks today, and I have read them, 95 00:04:48,480 –> 00:04:51,899 who regard teaching words like these to children 96 00:04:51,899 –> 00:04:56,320 as a form of abuse. 97 00:04:56,320 –> 00:05:00,179 What do you think? 98 00:05:00,179 –> 00:05:02,359 You may say, well, I think that’s going too far, 99 00:05:02,359 –> 00:05:05,920 but personally, as a parent, I would not teach my children 100 00:05:05,920 –> 00:05:08,019 that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands 101 00:05:08,019 –> 00:05:11,200 of the living God or that our God is a consuming fire. 102 00:05:11,200 –> 00:05:12,540 Well, I want to tell you today, 103 00:05:12,600 –> 00:05:15,920 I am glad that my parents did. 104 00:05:15,920 –> 00:05:19,200 I am glad that my Sunday school teachers did teach me 105 00:05:19,200 –> 00:05:21,880 this scripture as well as the great scriptures 106 00:05:21,880 –> 00:05:24,579 about the love of God, 107 00:05:24,579 –> 00:05:27,540 because I need this truth in my life, and so do you, 108 00:05:27,540 –> 00:05:30,640 and if you don’t have it in your life, 109 00:05:30,640 –> 00:05:32,420 I want you to see it in the scripture 110 00:05:32,420 –> 00:05:33,859 and by the power of the holy Spirit 111 00:05:33,859 –> 00:05:38,959 to get it into your life today. 112 00:05:39,100 –> 00:05:44,220 The face of fear in a godly Christian life. 113 00:05:45,100 –> 00:05:47,179 Now, I know immediately that some of us 114 00:05:47,179 –> 00:05:49,559 are struggling with all kinds of questions. 115 00:05:50,619 –> 00:05:53,260 That is why this little understood subject 116 00:05:53,260 –> 00:05:55,779 that goes to the heart of the Bible 117 00:05:55,779 –> 00:05:57,700 is so important for us today. 118 00:05:57,700 –> 00:05:58,820 Look at it again. 119 00:05:58,820 –> 00:06:01,660 Deuteronomy chapter five and verse 29. 120 00:06:01,660 –> 00:06:06,660 Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me! 121 00:06:09,320 –> 00:06:13,500 That it may go well with them and their children forever. 122 00:06:16,660 –> 00:06:19,440 Now folks, let’s begin with an important distinction. 123 00:06:19,440 –> 00:06:22,899 It is critical to grasp that there is a fear 124 00:06:22,899 –> 00:06:27,899 that love removes, and there is a fear that love brings. 125 00:06:28,260 –> 00:06:33,260 A fear that love removes, and a fear that love brings. 126 00:06:34,359 –> 00:06:37,440 The fear that love removes, we will be familiar with. 127 00:06:37,459 –> 00:06:40,940 First John chapter four and verse 18, you know this verse. 128 00:06:40,940 –> 00:06:44,459 Perfect love casts out fear. 129 00:06:44,459 –> 00:06:47,059 There is a fear that love removes. 130 00:06:47,059 –> 00:06:49,420 What kind of fear does love remove? 131 00:06:50,239 –> 00:06:52,820 Well, you get an example of it in the Garden of Eden, 132 00:06:52,820 –> 00:06:55,859 love casts out the kind of fear 133 00:06:55,859 –> 00:06:59,299 that would keep you hiding from God. 134 00:06:59,299 –> 00:07:01,260 When Adam sinned, do you remember what he did? 135 00:07:01,260 –> 00:07:02,260 He hid from God. 136 00:07:02,260 –> 00:07:04,600 He said, I heard you in the garden, Lord, 137 00:07:04,619 –> 00:07:07,239 and I was afraid, and I hid. 138 00:07:08,779 –> 00:07:12,440 And no, there’s something to be said for this. 139 00:07:13,880 –> 00:07:18,000 Far better that Adam knowing that he has done wrong 140 00:07:18,000 –> 00:07:21,059 has some fear of God that causes him to hide 141 00:07:21,059 –> 00:07:23,920 than that he just kind of puts his hands in his pockets. 142 00:07:23,920 –> 00:07:25,359 That’s the wrong phrase for the garden of Eden. 143 00:07:25,359 –> 00:07:26,320 I just realized that, 144 00:07:26,320 –> 00:07:31,320 but he just kind of nonchalantly walks around 145 00:07:31,500 –> 00:07:32,959 as if nothing was the matter. 146 00:07:35,320 –> 00:07:38,019 Friend, it is better to have a sense of fear 147 00:07:38,019 –> 00:07:39,239 that keeps you from God 148 00:07:39,239 –> 00:07:41,239 than to have no fear of God at all. 149 00:07:43,200 –> 00:07:47,000 Only the wicked have no fear of God, 150 00:07:47,839 –> 00:07:50,279 and that’s the worst possible of all conditions. 151 00:07:50,279 –> 00:07:54,200 It is far better to have a sense of shame over evil 152 00:07:54,200 –> 00:07:57,279 that you have done than to be shameless about it. 153 00:07:58,500 –> 00:08:01,500 But love removes that kind of fear. 154 00:08:02,540 –> 00:08:04,239 That’s why, when God comes into the garden, 155 00:08:04,239 –> 00:08:05,739 His love overwhelms this fear 156 00:08:05,739 –> 00:08:07,859 as He reaches out to Adam and to Eve 157 00:08:07,859 –> 00:08:10,720 and embraces them with His promise 158 00:08:10,720 –> 00:08:12,160 and His covenant of love. 159 00:08:13,540 –> 00:08:15,779 Love casts out the kind of fear 160 00:08:15,779 –> 00:08:19,399 that would keep you from serving God. 161 00:08:19,399 –> 00:08:21,559 Remember the story the Lord Jesus told 162 00:08:21,559 –> 00:08:25,660 about servants who were trusted with talents by a master, 163 00:08:25,660 –> 00:08:27,739 and one of them was a lazy servant, 164 00:08:27,739 –> 00:08:28,839 and he dug a hole 165 00:08:28,839 –> 00:08:30,820 and he hid his master’s money in the ground, 166 00:08:30,820 –> 00:08:32,880 and when the master came back, the servant said, 167 00:08:32,919 –> 00:08:35,340 well, I knew that you were a hard man, 168 00:08:35,340 –> 00:08:38,619 and he said I was afraid, Matthew 24, and verse 25, 169 00:08:38,619 –> 00:08:39,820 so I dug a hole. 170 00:08:39,820 –> 00:08:42,260 Fear made me dig a hole, and I hid the money, 171 00:08:42,260 –> 00:08:43,979 and here is what belongs to you. 172 00:08:46,500 –> 00:08:48,700 Again, it’s better to have dug a hole in the ground 173 00:08:48,700 –> 00:08:49,700 and to have hidden the money 174 00:08:49,700 –> 00:08:51,859 than to have spent it on riotous living 175 00:08:51,859 –> 00:08:53,020 like the prodigal son did. 176 00:08:53,020 –> 00:08:55,859 I mean, at least he was able to give it back, 177 00:08:55,859 –> 00:08:58,099 but the master was not pleased, you remember. 178 00:08:59,359 –> 00:09:02,359 A man who knew that the master loved him 179 00:09:02,419 –> 00:09:03,659 would have done better 180 00:09:03,659 –> 00:09:06,619 than bury the master’s talent in the ground. 181 00:09:08,440 –> 00:09:12,599 Now there is a fear we’re saying first that love removes. 182 00:09:13,700 –> 00:09:15,580 Perfect love casts out fear. 183 00:09:15,580 –> 00:09:17,299 It casts out the kind of fear 184 00:09:17,299 –> 00:09:19,539 that would make you hide from God 185 00:09:19,539 –> 00:09:22,340 because you know your sins and feel your shame. 186 00:09:22,340 –> 00:09:24,099 It casts out the kind of fear 187 00:09:24,099 –> 00:09:26,059 that holds you back from serving God 188 00:09:26,059 –> 00:09:28,859 and makes you bury the talent that he has given to you 189 00:09:28,859 –> 00:09:31,460 as it were in a hole in the ground. 190 00:09:31,559 –> 00:09:33,960 And that’s how we usually think about love and fear. 191 00:09:33,960 –> 00:09:37,239 Love casts out fear, we think of them as alternatives. 192 00:09:37,239 –> 00:09:39,640 Where there is fear, there isn’t obviously not love 193 00:09:39,640 –> 00:09:42,179 and where there is love, there obviously will be no fear. 194 00:09:42,179 –> 00:09:44,960 But I want you to see that as well as a fear 195 00:09:44,960 –> 00:09:46,359 that is removed by love, 196 00:09:46,359 –> 00:09:48,400 there is a fear that is brought by love. 197 00:09:50,239 –> 00:09:53,000 Love and the right kind of fear 198 00:09:54,080 –> 00:09:56,799 are inseparable companions. 199 00:09:59,599 –> 00:10:01,000 I don’t know if you’ll find this helpful. 200 00:10:01,919 –> 00:10:03,820 Think of it like cholesterol. 201 00:10:06,000 –> 00:10:07,979 Is cholesterol good or bad? 202 00:10:08,979 –> 00:10:10,400 You see, it’s a more subtle question 203 00:10:10,400 –> 00:10:11,760 than to give a simple answer, isn’t it? 204 00:10:11,760 –> 00:10:14,080 Because you know there is good cholesterol 205 00:10:14,080 –> 00:10:16,559 and there is bad cholesterol 206 00:10:16,559 –> 00:10:20,340 and if your bad cholesterol is going up, 207 00:10:20,340 –> 00:10:22,280 that means your health’s getting worse. 208 00:10:23,479 –> 00:10:24,960 But if your good cholesterol’s going up, 209 00:10:24,960 –> 00:10:27,440 you may actually be getting better. 210 00:10:27,440 –> 00:10:29,799 If you run a marathon your good cholesterol increases. 211 00:10:29,820 –> 00:10:31,500 I read in a survey this week. 212 00:10:32,960 –> 00:10:35,679 So think of fear in the same kind of way. 213 00:10:35,679 –> 00:10:37,200 We want less of the bad kind, 214 00:10:37,200 –> 00:10:38,640 we want more of the good kind. 215 00:10:39,880 –> 00:10:41,799 And some of us have only ever thought 216 00:10:41,799 –> 00:10:43,179 that there was a bad kind of fear. 217 00:10:43,179 –> 00:10:44,799 The only thing that we’ve got in our mind 218 00:10:44,799 –> 00:10:46,719 is perfect love casts out fear. 219 00:10:46,719 –> 00:10:49,840 We have seen love and fear as alternatives, 220 00:10:49,840 –> 00:10:51,820 we have never seen them as companions. 221 00:10:51,820 –> 00:10:54,760 We do not understand the fear of the Lord, 222 00:10:55,979 –> 00:10:58,039 the good kind of fear 223 00:10:58,080 –> 00:11:01,340 that is the mark of health 224 00:11:02,940 –> 00:11:05,159 in an effective Christian life. 225 00:11:05,159 –> 00:11:08,599 So what then is this fear that love brings? 226 00:11:08,599 –> 00:11:10,359 Let me give you an example here. 227 00:11:10,359 –> 00:11:13,359 We’re going to see it across the scriptures today. 228 00:11:13,359 –> 00:11:16,299 Psalm 130 and verse four. 229 00:11:16,299 –> 00:11:18,479 Look at this and think about it. 230 00:11:19,960 –> 00:11:23,919 With you the psalmist says there is forgiveness. 231 00:11:24,919 –> 00:11:29,799 Therefore you are feared. 232 00:11:31,080 –> 00:11:32,239 Now if you’re one of these folks 233 00:11:32,239 –> 00:11:34,359 who has it in your mind that fear is always bad 234 00:11:34,359 –> 00:11:36,000 and that the only thing that can be said 235 00:11:36,000 –> 00:11:37,679 about the relationship between love and fear 236 00:11:37,679 –> 00:11:40,400 is that when love comes in and fear goes out, 237 00:11:40,400 –> 00:11:42,599 you will not be able to understand this kind of verse. 238 00:11:42,599 –> 00:11:45,640 You will just assume that the psalmist ought to have said, 239 00:11:45,640 –> 00:11:47,000 well there’s forgiveness with you 240 00:11:47,000 –> 00:11:48,559 and therefore you’re not to be feared. 241 00:11:48,559 –> 00:11:50,719 Don’t need to worry because you’re a forgiving God. 242 00:11:50,719 –> 00:11:53,039 But that’s the opposite of what he says. 243 00:11:53,039 –> 00:11:56,359 What he says is, with you there is forgiveness, 244 00:11:56,359 –> 00:11:57,960 therefore you are feared. 245 00:11:57,960 –> 00:12:02,640 There is a kind of fear that this massive gift of love 246 00:12:02,640 –> 00:12:05,640 that we call forgiveness, brings you into. 247 00:12:06,840 –> 00:12:09,159 When I experience the forgiveness of God, 248 00:12:09,159 –> 00:12:11,559 there is a kind of fear, a fear of the Lord, 249 00:12:11,559 –> 00:12:13,020 that I’m brought into. 250 00:12:14,039 –> 00:12:14,900 Do you see what we’re saying? 251 00:12:14,900 –> 00:12:17,000 There is a fear that love removes. 252 00:12:17,000 –> 00:12:20,840 There is a fear that love brings. 253 00:12:21,760 –> 00:12:23,260 Remember John Newton? 254 00:12:25,599 –> 00:12:27,359 In his great hymn Amazing Grace, 255 00:12:27,359 –> 00:12:32,440 “‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear 256 00:12:33,440 –> 00:12:36,400 and grace my fears relieved.” 257 00:12:36,400 –> 00:12:37,460 Do you see, he understood this. 258 00:12:37,460 –> 00:12:39,440 It works both ways. 259 00:12:39,440 –> 00:12:42,320 There’s a fear that is removed by love. 260 00:12:42,320 –> 00:12:46,359 There is a fear that love brings. 261 00:12:46,820 –> 00:12:49,260 And love and the right kind of fear 262 00:12:50,219 –> 00:12:53,679 are inseparable friends. 263 00:12:55,059 –> 00:12:56,840 Now, someone may be saying at this point, 264 00:12:56,840 –> 00:12:57,940 now wait a minute, 265 00:12:57,940 –> 00:12:59,619 we’re in the Old Testament here, aren’t we? 266 00:12:59,619 –> 00:13:01,520 Isn’t it the case that the fear of the Lord 267 00:13:01,520 –> 00:13:03,460 is an Old Testament idea? 268 00:13:03,460 –> 00:13:05,260 Isn’t it the case that people feared God 269 00:13:05,260 –> 00:13:06,219 in the Old Testament 270 00:13:06,219 –> 00:13:07,479 and then they kind of outgrew that, 271 00:13:07,479 –> 00:13:08,320 shook it off 272 00:13:08,320 –> 00:13:10,479 and started to love God in the New Testament 273 00:13:10,479 –> 00:13:12,440 and shouldn’t we be doing the same? 274 00:13:12,440 –> 00:13:15,460 Look with me just so that this is settled in your mind. 275 00:13:16,659 –> 00:13:19,820 Look with me in the New Testament about fearing God. 276 00:13:19,820 –> 00:13:21,059 I’m going to run through these scriptures 277 00:13:21,059 –> 00:13:22,299 very, very quickly 278 00:13:22,299 –> 00:13:24,080 but I want you to see this is New Testament. 279 00:13:24,080 –> 00:13:25,099 This is Christianity, 280 00:13:25,099 –> 00:13:27,700 it’s not like there’s two different messages here. 281 00:13:28,960 –> 00:13:29,799 The words of Mary, 282 00:13:29,799 –> 00:13:31,900 Luke chapter one and verse 50. 283 00:13:31,900 –> 00:13:34,719 The mother of our Lord speaks of his mercy 284 00:13:34,719 –> 00:13:36,460 that extends to who? 285 00:13:36,460 –> 00:13:40,599 Those who fear him from generation to generation. 286 00:13:40,599 –> 00:13:42,979 That includes us. 287 00:13:42,979 –> 00:13:43,960 Matthew chapter 10, 288 00:13:43,960 –> 00:13:45,260 the words of our Lord Jesus, 289 00:13:45,760 –> 00:13:46,599 to who? 290 00:13:46,599 –> 00:13:48,760 To his disciples. 291 00:13:48,760 –> 00:13:50,799 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body 292 00:13:50,799 –> 00:13:52,419 but cannot kill the soul 293 00:13:52,419 –> 00:13:55,500 rather be afraid of the one who can destroy body 294 00:13:55,500 –> 00:13:56,840 and soul in hell. 295 00:13:57,739 –> 00:14:00,219 Acts chapter nine in verse 31, 296 00:14:00,219 –> 00:14:01,880 a church health report. 297 00:14:01,880 –> 00:14:03,820 The church at it’s very best, 298 00:14:03,820 –> 00:14:04,900 Acts 9 31. 299 00:14:04,900 –> 00:14:06,739 The church enjoyed a time of peace. 300 00:14:06,739 –> 00:14:09,419 It was strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit. 301 00:14:09,419 –> 00:14:10,739 It grew in numbers 302 00:14:10,900 –> 00:14:15,219 and then Luke says living in the fear of the Lord. 303 00:14:18,140 –> 00:14:19,840 Philippians chapter two in verse 12, 304 00:14:19,840 –> 00:14:21,700 our mandate for the Christian life. 305 00:14:21,700 –> 00:14:23,820 This is New Testament Christianity. 306 00:14:23,820 –> 00:14:25,700 Work out your salvation how? 307 00:14:25,700 –> 00:14:28,820 With fear and with trembling. 308 00:14:28,820 –> 00:14:32,979 1 Peter chapter two in verse 17 a direct command. 309 00:14:34,059 –> 00:14:35,979 Love the brotherhood of believers. 310 00:14:35,979 –> 00:14:38,780 Fear God, honor the king. 311 00:14:38,799 –> 00:14:41,359 Fear God, direct command in the New Testament. 312 00:14:41,359 –> 00:14:43,119 Not the Old Testament. 313 00:14:44,460 –> 00:14:48,640 But perhaps at least in my mind most compelling of all. 314 00:14:48,640 –> 00:14:51,559 Revelation chapter one in verse 17. 315 00:14:52,659 –> 00:14:55,580 The experience of John the Apostle. 316 00:14:56,659 –> 00:15:00,960 The believer who had been closest to Jesus, 317 00:15:00,960 –> 00:15:04,760 the disciple who Jesus loved the gospels say. 318 00:15:04,760 –> 00:15:07,419 The disciple who had leaned on Jesus 319 00:15:07,460 –> 00:15:09,039 at the last supper. 320 00:15:11,599 –> 00:15:13,659 When he sees in the first chapter 321 00:15:13,659 –> 00:15:17,239 of the book of Revelation the exalted Lord, 322 00:15:19,299 –> 00:15:21,880 John says about the Christ, 323 00:15:21,880 –> 00:15:24,700 I fell at his feet as though dead. 324 00:15:28,500 –> 00:15:31,239 Do you think it would be different for you? 325 00:15:31,239 –> 00:15:32,059 Really? 326 00:15:34,239 –> 00:15:36,179 And so the Savior comes to him and says, 327 00:15:36,260 –> 00:15:39,520 John, do not be afraid and picks him up. 328 00:15:43,059 –> 00:15:45,940 Friend, this is not a fear you grow out of 329 00:15:45,940 –> 00:15:49,599 as if religion sort of evolved away from it. 330 00:15:51,219 –> 00:15:53,799 This is a fear that we grow into 331 00:15:54,799 –> 00:15:59,700 if we are followers of Christ like John the Apostle. 332 00:15:59,700 –> 00:16:02,760 We are to fear God as we love Him 333 00:16:02,880 –> 00:16:06,599 and we are to love Him as we fear Him 334 00:16:06,599 –> 00:16:09,760 and both the Old Testament and the New Testament 335 00:16:09,760 –> 00:16:10,940 make these things plain. 336 00:16:10,940 –> 00:16:13,539 So we’re going to be looking at loving God next week 337 00:16:13,539 –> 00:16:14,739 from Deuteronomy 338 00:16:14,739 –> 00:16:18,179 but first this great theme of fearing Him 339 00:16:18,179 –> 00:16:21,419 and you can’t separate them, they are inseparable. 340 00:16:21,419 –> 00:16:23,820 Read through Deuteronomy and you will find it again 341 00:16:23,820 –> 00:16:26,059 and again and again, we’ll keep picking this up. 342 00:16:26,059 –> 00:16:28,380 It’s love and it’s fear and it’s fear and it’s love. 343 00:16:28,380 –> 00:16:31,080 This is the nature of our relationship with God. 344 00:16:31,080 –> 00:16:33,760 John Bunyan, the great Puritan preacher 345 00:16:33,760 –> 00:16:35,880 or the writer of Pilgrim’s Progress 346 00:16:35,880 –> 00:16:39,280 wrote a marvelous book on the subject of the fear of God 347 00:16:39,280 –> 00:16:41,039 and he says this, he says, 348 00:16:41,039 –> 00:16:45,559 “‘Godly fear flows from a sense of the love 349 00:16:45,559 –> 00:16:49,039 “‘and kindness of God to the soul.’” 350 00:16:51,299 –> 00:16:53,900 Godly fear flows 351 00:16:53,900 –> 00:16:58,320 from a sense of the love and kindness of God to the soul. 352 00:16:59,140 –> 00:17:04,140 This whole fear of the Lord is better described than defined. 353 00:17:07,300 –> 00:17:12,020 It is better experienced than analyzed. 354 00:17:13,020 –> 00:17:16,839 As they say in Scotland, it’s better felt than tellt. 355 00:17:16,839 –> 00:17:18,119 Can you follow that? 356 00:17:21,599 –> 00:17:25,979 I felt, I touched just a little bit of it this week 357 00:17:25,979 –> 00:17:29,819 talking in my office with a couple 358 00:17:29,819 –> 00:17:32,359 who are preparing to be married 359 00:17:32,359 –> 00:17:35,640 as I so often have the privilege of doing. 360 00:17:39,099 –> 00:17:40,459 I said to the guy, 361 00:17:42,880 –> 00:17:47,880 when she says that she will have you to be her husband, 362 00:17:51,099 –> 00:17:53,180 when she makes this pledge that we had spent 363 00:17:53,180 –> 00:17:57,180 that time going through to be yours, 364 00:17:57,180 –> 00:17:58,939 for better, for worse, 365 00:17:58,939 –> 00:18:00,319 for richer, for poorer, 366 00:18:00,319 –> 00:18:01,739 to forsake all other, 367 00:18:02,619 –> 00:18:03,699 to embrace only you, 368 00:18:03,699 –> 00:18:06,239 to do this all of her life, 369 00:18:08,439 –> 00:18:11,900 she is giving you a more priceless gift 370 00:18:11,900 –> 00:18:14,359 than any other gift you will ever receive 371 00:18:14,359 –> 00:18:16,160 in all of your experience. 372 00:18:18,219 –> 00:18:21,500 You should be in awe of it. 373 00:18:23,979 –> 00:18:25,699 I said the same to her. 374 00:18:28,619 –> 00:18:31,099 There is an awe 375 00:18:33,540 –> 00:18:37,140 that flows out of the experience of the love 376 00:18:37,140 –> 00:18:40,459 and the kindness of God in Jesus Christ. 377 00:18:40,459 –> 00:18:43,500 There is a fear that is removed by love, 378 00:18:43,500 –> 00:18:45,819 but there is a fear that love brings you into. 379 00:18:47,939 –> 00:18:49,619 The fear of the Lord, 380 00:18:50,619 –> 00:18:53,859 and it runs all the way through both the Old Testament 381 00:18:53,859 –> 00:18:54,979 and the New Testament. 382 00:18:54,979 –> 00:18:57,020 Now here’s my case. 383 00:18:57,020 –> 00:18:59,859 Here’s the burden of my heart in this message today. 384 00:19:00,979 –> 00:19:05,099 The church today desperately needs to rediscover 385 00:19:05,099 –> 00:19:06,819 the fear of the Lord. 386 00:19:06,819 –> 00:19:08,219 I believe that, don’t you? 387 00:19:09,300 –> 00:19:11,540 David Wells has described, I think, 388 00:19:11,540 –> 00:19:15,900 very perceptively the plight of Christianity in our times. 389 00:19:15,900 –> 00:19:17,699 And he’s used this word. 390 00:19:17,979 –> 00:19:19,739 He says what has happened in our culture 391 00:19:19,739 –> 00:19:22,579 is that God has become weightless 392 00:19:22,579 –> 00:19:26,380 in the lives of even believing people. 393 00:19:26,380 –> 00:19:27,459 He puts it like this. 394 00:19:27,459 –> 00:19:30,380 He says the God who is declared 395 00:19:30,380 –> 00:19:33,500 and the God who is worshipped by many today 396 00:19:33,500 –> 00:19:34,780 seems to be, to them, 397 00:19:34,780 –> 00:19:38,380 less compelling than football or fashion. 398 00:19:38,380 –> 00:19:40,300 He seems to be less attractive 399 00:19:40,300 –> 00:19:42,699 when it comes to the end of the day, 400 00:19:42,699 –> 00:19:46,619 as it were, than money or sex. 401 00:19:46,619 –> 00:19:48,660 Taking up this theme, Philip Rykan, I think, 402 00:19:48,660 –> 00:19:49,699 says this well. 403 00:19:49,699 –> 00:19:52,459 It is this weightlessness of God, 404 00:19:52,459 –> 00:19:54,500 he says, that more than anything else 405 00:19:54,500 –> 00:19:57,540 explains the failings of the evangelical church. 406 00:19:57,540 –> 00:20:00,260 It is because God is so unimportant to us 407 00:20:00,260 –> 00:20:02,140 that our worship becomes irrelevant, 408 00:20:02,140 –> 00:20:04,020 our fellowship becomes loveless, 409 00:20:04,020 –> 00:20:06,020 and our witness becomes timid. 410 00:20:06,020 –> 00:20:09,859 We have become children of a lightweight God. 411 00:20:09,859 –> 00:20:11,699 You resonate with that? 412 00:20:11,699 –> 00:20:13,060 You see that in the culture? 413 00:20:13,300 –> 00:20:17,640 And now here, Deuteronomy chapter five and verse 29, 414 00:20:19,280 –> 00:20:22,859 God is saying oh, that their hearts 415 00:20:22,859 –> 00:20:26,119 would be inclined to fear me, 416 00:20:26,119 –> 00:20:30,439 that they would have the kind of fear that love brings. 417 00:20:30,439 –> 00:20:31,260 Why? 418 00:20:33,000 –> 00:20:37,239 So that it may go well with them and their children. 419 00:20:38,060 –> 00:20:39,540 And their children. 420 00:20:41,800 –> 00:20:45,500 Folks, a lightweight view of God in the Christian church 421 00:20:45,500 –> 00:20:47,920 is not good for our children. 422 00:20:49,880 –> 00:20:53,260 If the church persists in fashioning a god 423 00:20:53,260 –> 00:20:56,619 who is nothing more than an indulgent heavenly friend, 424 00:20:56,619 –> 00:20:58,660 it will not go well with our children. 425 00:20:58,660 –> 00:20:59,500 Why? 426 00:20:59,500 –> 00:21:03,040 Because why should they bother with such a lightweight god? 427 00:21:03,040 –> 00:21:05,359 They will see that. 428 00:21:05,439 –> 00:21:08,780 And they’ll see it early in their lives. 429 00:21:10,880 –> 00:21:14,040 So, my case today is that we desperately, 430 00:21:14,040 –> 00:21:17,619 desperately, desperately need to rediscover 431 00:21:18,739 –> 00:21:21,119 what the fear of the Lord in the Bible is, 432 00:21:21,119 –> 00:21:25,239 and especially if our only construct in our minds 433 00:21:25,239 –> 00:21:27,219 has been that love and fear are alternatives 434 00:21:27,219 –> 00:21:28,579 and therefore that fear can have no place 435 00:21:28,579 –> 00:21:30,400 in the Christian life. 436 00:21:30,900 –> 00:21:35,160 And I know of no better place for us to learn this today 437 00:21:35,160 –> 00:21:37,660 than Deuteronomy chapter five. 438 00:21:39,719 –> 00:21:42,680 Because this whole chapter and indeed, 439 00:21:42,680 –> 00:21:45,380 I think we could say the whole book of Deuteronomy 440 00:21:45,380 –> 00:21:48,900 is designed to teach us the fear of the Lord. 441 00:21:48,900 –> 00:21:52,079 Now, I hope you have it open in front of you, 442 00:21:52,079 –> 00:21:55,319 notice that it begins with the 10 commandments. 443 00:21:55,319 –> 00:21:58,359 You say, don’t they occur somewhere else in the Bible? 444 00:21:58,359 –> 00:21:59,339 Yeah, of course they do, 445 00:21:59,420 –> 00:22:01,099 even Exodus chapter 20, 446 00:22:02,380 –> 00:22:06,520 but that was 40 years before, Mount Sinai, 447 00:22:06,520 –> 00:22:09,719 God had come down and had given the Commandments 448 00:22:09,719 –> 00:22:11,260 to the earlier generation. 449 00:22:11,260 –> 00:22:13,819 But you remember as we saw last time, 450 00:22:13,819 –> 00:22:16,459 that in the 40 years that followed Mount Sinai 451 00:22:16,459 –> 00:22:19,339 when God gave the commandments, Exodus chapter 20, 452 00:22:19,339 –> 00:22:21,859 all the people of fighting age and older, 453 00:22:21,859 –> 00:22:24,000 they all died out over the 40 years. 454 00:22:24,000 –> 00:22:27,020 And so now the people who are listening to Moses 455 00:22:27,020 –> 00:22:29,819 like us as we’re hearing his word today, 456 00:22:30,739 –> 00:22:32,500 they were all folks who were not born 457 00:22:32,500 –> 00:22:34,040 when God gave the 10 commandments. 458 00:22:34,040 –> 00:22:36,959 They were not present at Mount Sinai. 459 00:22:38,839 –> 00:22:41,140 So Moses in Deuteronomy 5, 460 00:22:41,140 –> 00:22:42,520 as he lays out these commandments, 461 00:22:42,520 –> 00:22:45,219 he is simply telling a generation 40 years 462 00:22:45,219 –> 00:22:48,780 after Mount Sinai, what had happened. 463 00:22:48,780 –> 00:22:53,780 He is telling them something that was before their lifetime. 464 00:22:54,680 –> 00:22:57,380 This is the second giving of the law. 465 00:22:57,380 –> 00:23:00,719 And that is of course, why the book is called Deuteronomy, 466 00:23:02,219 –> 00:23:04,119 the commands for a new generation. 467 00:23:05,699 –> 00:23:08,060 But what I want every parent to notice today 468 00:23:09,500 –> 00:23:13,939 is that he does not only give the 10 commandments, 469 00:23:13,939 –> 00:23:15,939 not enough to teach the 10 commandments. 470 00:23:16,780 –> 00:23:18,699 From verse 22 onwards, 471 00:23:18,699 –> 00:23:21,199 having given the 10 commandments, what’s he doing? 472 00:23:22,160 –> 00:23:24,800 He is introducing this younger generation 473 00:23:24,800 –> 00:23:27,979 to the God who gave the 10 commandments. 474 00:23:27,979 –> 00:23:31,599 This God of such awesome power. 475 00:23:31,599 –> 00:23:33,020 This God into whose hands 476 00:23:33,020 –> 00:23:35,959 it would be a fearful thing to fall. 477 00:23:35,959 –> 00:23:40,599 This God who is a consuming fire. 478 00:23:42,319 –> 00:23:47,319 Notice what he says from verse 22 as he describes the scene. 479 00:23:47,339 –> 00:23:50,880 The whole event is absolutely terrifying. 480 00:23:50,880 –> 00:23:53,319 It is apocalyptic. 481 00:23:53,319 –> 00:23:54,880 Try and imagine the movie. 482 00:23:56,199 –> 00:24:01,199 Darkness, the blast of trumpets. 483 00:24:03,680 –> 00:24:08,359 The sound of a voice that is amplified so loud 484 00:24:08,359 –> 00:24:11,199 that you can hardly bare to hear it. 485 00:24:13,300 –> 00:24:16,339 But overwhelming all of this. 486 00:24:16,339 –> 00:24:19,060 And impressed 40 years after the event 487 00:24:19,060 –> 00:24:21,699 on Moses’ mind and heart, 488 00:24:21,699 –> 00:24:23,739 as it would be impressed on the mind and heart 489 00:24:23,739 –> 00:24:25,540 of anyone who saw it, 490 00:24:26,939 –> 00:24:29,819 was this massive ball of fire 491 00:24:31,500 –> 00:24:36,500 that came down and rested on the mountain of Sinai. 492 00:24:39,140 –> 00:24:41,660 It’s so dominates Moses’ accounts 493 00:24:41,660 –> 00:24:45,140 that it’s right there in every verse. 494 00:24:45,180 –> 00:24:49,459 Verse 22, the Lord spoke out of the fire. 495 00:24:49,459 –> 00:24:53,479 Verse 23, the mountain was ablaze with fire. 496 00:24:53,479 –> 00:24:57,939 Verse 24, today we have heard his voice out of the fire. 497 00:24:57,939 –> 00:25:01,300 Verse 25, they said the great fire will consume us 498 00:25:01,300 –> 00:25:04,000 and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord any longer. 499 00:25:04,000 –> 00:25:06,459 Verse 26, what mortal man has ever heard 500 00:25:06,459 –> 00:25:08,699 the voice of God speaking out of the fire 501 00:25:08,699 –> 00:25:10,979 as we have and survived. 502 00:25:10,979 –> 00:25:13,219 The book of Hebrews tells us in Chapter 12 503 00:25:13,219 –> 00:25:15,020 that this was so terrifying 504 00:25:15,020 –> 00:25:18,459 that even Moses said, I am trembling with fear. 505 00:25:20,660 –> 00:25:25,660 And that fear that pressed into Moses psyche on that day, 506 00:25:29,599 –> 00:25:32,479 he now describes to a new generation 507 00:25:35,140 –> 00:25:36,540 who had not been at Sinai 508 00:25:38,579 –> 00:25:42,560 because he wants them to see and feel 509 00:25:42,560 –> 00:25:47,180 the awesome presence of a holy God. 510 00:25:50,040 –> 00:25:51,400 Do you know what was happening 511 00:25:51,400 –> 00:25:53,560 when the fire of God came down on Sinai? 512 00:25:56,719 –> 00:26:01,640 God’s people caught a glimpse of the Day of Judgment. 513 00:26:05,359 –> 00:26:07,339 The judge of all the earth came down 514 00:26:07,339 –> 00:26:10,300 and they saw his holy fire. 515 00:26:13,479 –> 00:26:16,300 They felt his power. 516 00:26:17,560 –> 00:26:20,239 The earth shaking, terror. 517 00:26:24,119 –> 00:26:26,239 And they were able to say, this God 518 00:26:27,959 –> 00:26:32,959 is our God, look who he is. 519 00:26:35,140 –> 00:26:38,260 And look what he has saved us from 520 00:26:38,260 –> 00:26:41,380 because we were in his presence 521 00:26:41,560 –> 00:26:42,839 and we lived. 522 00:26:46,979 –> 00:26:51,979 But God knows that even an experience 523 00:26:52,140 –> 00:26:54,300 as intense as that 524 00:26:56,859 –> 00:26:58,119 wears off fast. 525 00:26:59,979 –> 00:27:02,300 Remember that Moses went up the mountain 526 00:27:03,280 –> 00:27:05,540 and what happened within just a few weeks? 527 00:27:07,180 –> 00:27:08,520 People are taking off their rings 528 00:27:08,520 –> 00:27:09,780 and their gold and what are they doing? 529 00:27:09,800 –> 00:27:13,119 They’re casting the golden calf. 530 00:27:15,160 –> 00:27:17,099 And so God says verse 29, 531 00:27:17,099 –> 00:27:18,660 “‘Oh, that their hearts, 532 00:27:18,660 –> 00:27:22,040 “‘Oh, that this generation’s heart 533 00:27:23,459 –> 00:27:25,599 “‘would be inclined to fear me 534 00:27:25,599 –> 00:27:26,699 “‘so that it may go well with them 535 00:27:26,699 –> 00:27:29,219 “‘and with their children forever.’” 536 00:27:29,219 –> 00:27:33,420 You see it’s got to be more than hearing a sermon 537 00:27:33,420 –> 00:27:35,300 on the fearing the Lord. 538 00:27:35,319 –> 00:27:39,780 It’s got to be more than memorizing a few verses 539 00:27:39,780 –> 00:27:42,640 about being fearful to fall into the hand of the living God 540 00:27:42,640 –> 00:27:45,239 or our God being a consuming fire. 541 00:27:45,239 –> 00:27:47,319 It’s got to be more than simply learning 542 00:27:47,319 –> 00:27:49,920 the ten commandments and living a conservative life 543 00:27:49,920 –> 00:27:52,479 in which you try and remain within them. 544 00:27:52,479 –> 00:27:55,479 This is the word of God to this new generation 545 00:27:56,479 –> 00:27:58,079 who did not see the fire 546 00:27:58,079 –> 00:27:58,819 and God says, 547 00:27:58,819 –> 00:28:03,819 “‘Oh, I want the fear of the Lord to be within them 548 00:28:04,000 –> 00:28:07,680 “‘because I so wanted to go well with them 549 00:28:07,680 –> 00:28:11,520 “‘and with their children.’” 550 00:28:14,719 –> 00:28:16,780 So folks, if you were in the, 551 00:28:18,180 –> 00:28:20,459 in the world of thinking that all cholesterol is bad 552 00:28:20,459 –> 00:28:21,800 as it were andyou thought, you know, 553 00:28:21,800 –> 00:28:23,640 all fear is bad, 554 00:28:23,640 –> 00:28:25,380 I hope you’re really seeing now 555 00:28:25,380 –> 00:28:28,079 that there is a fear that love brings us into, 556 00:28:29,000 –> 00:28:32,719 redeemed people of God in awe and His presence, 557 00:28:34,420 –> 00:28:39,420 seeing that they live despite the nearness of that fire. 558 00:28:41,719 –> 00:28:43,839 I hope you see that there is a kind of fear 559 00:28:43,839 –> 00:28:47,479 that plays a critical role in the Christian life 560 00:28:47,479 –> 00:28:51,359 and that it is the kind of thing that we ought to cultivate, 561 00:28:52,719 –> 00:28:54,959 a fear that love removes. 562 00:28:54,959 –> 00:28:56,859 Maybe you’ve got a lot of that in you. 563 00:28:57,859 –> 00:28:59,160 But a fear that love brings, 564 00:28:59,160 –> 00:29:01,859 what have you got of that in you? 565 00:29:04,300 –> 00:29:07,280 Let me offer to you at astonishing speed 566 00:29:08,979 –> 00:29:12,060 seven reasons to cultivate the fear of the Lord. 567 00:29:12,060 –> 00:29:13,380 Are you ready? 568 00:29:13,380 –> 00:29:14,979 I want you to see how far this goes. 569 00:29:14,979 –> 00:29:19,900 I want you to see that this isn’t a side theme in the Bible 570 00:29:19,900 –> 00:29:21,800 that it goes everywhere. 571 00:29:22,819 –> 00:29:24,000 It’s transforming. 572 00:29:26,079 –> 00:29:28,560 Seven reasons to cultivate the fear of the Lord. 573 00:29:28,560 –> 00:29:30,939 Number one, everyone will get this one, I’m sure, 574 00:29:30,939 –> 00:29:32,500 if you were to write them down yourself, 575 00:29:32,500 –> 00:29:33,979 I think most of us would get this, 576 00:29:33,979 –> 00:29:36,339 fearing the Lord will give you wisdom. 577 00:29:36,339 –> 00:29:38,140 Many times in the Bible it says, 578 00:29:38,140 –> 00:29:41,900 “‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.’” 579 00:29:41,900 –> 00:29:43,760 What that’s saying is simply this, 580 00:29:43,760 –> 00:29:46,719 when God carries weight in your life, 581 00:29:47,640 –> 00:29:51,660 you will be on the path of making wise decisions. 582 00:29:51,660 –> 00:29:52,939 When you’re asking the question, 583 00:29:52,939 –> 00:29:55,140 how does God see what I’m doing now, 584 00:29:55,140 –> 00:29:57,140 how does he view what I’m saying, 585 00:29:57,140 –> 00:30:00,420 what does what I’m thinking say 586 00:30:00,420 –> 00:30:01,819 in the light of eternity 587 00:30:01,819 –> 00:30:04,780 when I will stand in his holy presence? 588 00:30:04,780 –> 00:30:07,780 With this kind of fear, you will make the right decisions, 589 00:30:07,780 –> 00:30:09,380 without it, you’ll make the wrong decisions, 590 00:30:09,380 –> 00:30:10,260 without the fear of the Lord, 591 00:30:10,260 –> 00:30:11,339 you’ll go in the wrong path, 592 00:30:11,339 –> 00:30:12,780 you will mess up your life. 593 00:30:12,780 –> 00:30:14,640 But the more you cultivate the fear of the Lord, 594 00:30:14,640 –> 00:30:17,060 it will be for you, the beginning of wisdom. 595 00:30:17,060 –> 00:30:21,939 Number two, fearing the Lord will keep you from sin. 596 00:30:23,140 –> 00:30:27,140 Exodus chapter 20 in the first giving of the commandments, 597 00:30:27,140 –> 00:30:29,000 Moses says, do not be afraid, 598 00:30:29,000 –> 00:30:33,040 God has come to test you so that the fear of God 599 00:30:33,040 –> 00:30:37,719 will be with you to keep you from sinning. 600 00:30:37,719 –> 00:30:38,800 This is wonderful. 601 00:30:40,439 –> 00:30:43,719 The effect of a godly fear in your life 602 00:30:43,719 –> 00:30:45,459 keeping you from sinning. 603 00:30:46,900 –> 00:30:47,880 If you’re in a car 604 00:30:47,880 –> 00:30:50,760 and the traffic in front of you suddenly slows up, 605 00:30:50,760 –> 00:30:54,199 you are so glad that you’ve got good brakes, 606 00:30:54,199 –> 00:30:56,260 they will save you from disaster. 607 00:30:57,160 –> 00:31:01,780 And the fear of the Lord is a brake against sin. 608 00:31:01,780 –> 00:31:03,300 It holds you back. 609 00:31:03,300 –> 00:31:05,479 If there is too much sin in your life, 610 00:31:05,479 –> 00:31:08,119 there is too little fear of the Lord in your soul. 611 00:31:10,380 –> 00:31:12,660 To fear the Lord means that you learn to act 612 00:31:12,660 –> 00:31:14,939 as if you could see the fire on the mountain. 613 00:31:16,699 –> 00:31:20,180 You feel an impulse to sin, but you say to yourself, 614 00:31:20,180 –> 00:31:23,040 how can I do that when this God is watching? 615 00:31:23,719 –> 00:31:26,780 And the more you know the fear of the Lord, 616 00:31:26,780 –> 00:31:30,199 the stronger your defense against sin will be. 617 00:31:30,199 –> 00:31:33,939 Can I make a quick, but I feel I should do this today, 618 00:31:34,939 –> 00:31:36,040 particular application. 619 00:31:37,219 –> 00:31:39,380 There is a great deal of conversation 620 00:31:39,380 –> 00:31:42,400 going on these days about suicide, 621 00:31:42,400 –> 00:31:44,959 and especially amongst young people. 622 00:31:46,939 –> 00:31:48,619 And some of you have come to a place 623 00:31:48,619 –> 00:31:49,619 that you felt was so dark, 624 00:31:49,619 –> 00:31:52,959 that you even contemplated 625 00:31:53,099 –> 00:31:55,219 the possibility of taking your own life. 626 00:31:56,719 –> 00:32:00,060 And the fear of God held you back, 627 00:32:00,060 –> 00:32:03,400 thank God for that. 628 00:32:03,400 –> 00:32:04,680 It restrained you. 629 00:32:04,680 –> 00:32:06,439 You had some sense. 630 00:32:06,439 –> 00:32:10,979 I have to stand in the presence of Almighty God. 631 00:32:12,719 –> 00:32:17,719 I am so glad for multiple reasons 632 00:32:19,160 –> 00:32:20,920 that I learned when I was a little boy 633 00:32:20,920 –> 00:32:22,520 it is a fearful thing to fall 634 00:32:22,520 –> 00:32:24,020 into the hands of the living God 635 00:32:24,020 –> 00:32:26,619 because our God is consuming fire. 636 00:32:26,619 –> 00:32:28,640 I need that. 637 00:32:28,640 –> 00:32:33,640 I need a break on what’s in this heart, don’t you? 638 00:32:37,260 –> 00:32:38,099 Number three, 639 00:32:39,060 –> 00:32:41,819 fearing the Lord will motivate you in evangelism. 640 00:32:42,739 –> 00:32:44,719 Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.11, 641 00:32:44,719 –> 00:32:47,380 since we know what is to fear the Lord 642 00:32:47,380 –> 00:32:48,819 that we try to persuade men, 643 00:32:48,819 –> 00:32:50,780 and he’s talking about the work of evangelism 644 00:32:51,359 –> 00:32:52,959 and what does it spring from? 645 00:32:52,959 –> 00:32:54,420 He said well it springs from our knowledge 646 00:32:54,420 –> 00:32:57,040 of the fear of the Lord in the first instance. 647 00:32:57,040 –> 00:32:58,339 You see what Paul is saying? 648 00:32:58,339 –> 00:32:59,699 We have seen the holy fire. 649 00:33:01,339 –> 00:33:03,060 We have felt the weight of judgment 650 00:33:03,060 –> 00:33:04,859 that is to come in our own lives. 651 00:33:04,859 –> 00:33:07,420 This is why we have gone to Jesus Christ. 652 00:33:07,420 –> 00:33:09,439 This is why we are with Jesus Christ. 653 00:33:09,439 –> 00:33:11,260 And since we know what it is to fear God, 654 00:33:11,260 –> 00:33:13,260 that’s why we try to persuade men. 655 00:33:13,260 –> 00:33:17,199 Folks, love and fear are inseparable companions. 656 00:33:17,199 –> 00:33:21,079 That’s why later he says the love of Christ constrains us, 657 00:33:21,079 –> 00:33:24,599 but notice first he says it’s because we fear God 658 00:33:24,599 –> 00:33:25,640 that we persuade men. 659 00:33:25,640 –> 00:33:26,739 Don’t neglect that. 660 00:33:28,680 –> 00:33:31,400 A church that ceases to believe in hell 661 00:33:32,959 –> 00:33:34,739 may do a great deal of good 662 00:33:34,739 –> 00:33:37,199 in humanitarian and social action, 663 00:33:37,199 –> 00:33:39,959 but it will not evangelize for long. 664 00:33:41,680 –> 00:33:45,040 It is men and women who have seen the fire on the mountain 665 00:33:45,040 –> 00:33:47,000 and have learned the fear of the Lord 666 00:33:47,000 –> 00:33:50,579 who will be compelled to declare the unique glory 667 00:33:50,579 –> 00:33:52,619 of His One and Only Son. 668 00:33:54,560 –> 00:33:59,560 Number four, fearing the Lord will elevate your worship. 669 00:34:00,579 –> 00:34:04,079 It goes everywhere, the whole of the Christian life. 670 00:34:04,079 –> 00:34:06,599 Hebrews 12 in verse 28, 671 00:34:06,599 –> 00:34:09,139 “‘Let us be thankful 672 00:34:09,139 –> 00:34:11,620 “‘and so worship God,” how? 673 00:34:11,620 –> 00:34:16,620 “‘Acceptably with reverence and with awe.’” 674 00:34:17,820 –> 00:34:19,899 And folks, you know, 675 00:34:19,899 –> 00:34:23,080 where the fear of the Lord is lost, what happens? 676 00:34:23,080 –> 00:34:25,739 Worship is trivialized 677 00:34:25,739 –> 00:34:28,899 and adoration becomes entertainment. 678 00:34:30,979 –> 00:34:33,540 But when a congregation becomes gripped 679 00:34:33,540 –> 00:34:37,080 by a massive vision of the glory of God, 680 00:34:37,080 –> 00:34:39,860 when God’s people can say we have seen the glory of God 681 00:34:39,860 –> 00:34:41,580 in the face of Jesus Christ, 682 00:34:41,580 –> 00:34:44,219 what happens then, worship is lifted 683 00:34:45,120 –> 00:34:48,439 and God’s people come before Him with reverence with awe. 684 00:34:50,659 –> 00:34:55,179 Number five, fearing the Lord will make you more like Jesus. 685 00:34:56,179 –> 00:35:01,179 You say, did Jesus walk in this path of fearing the Lord? 686 00:35:01,320 –> 00:35:03,300 I mean, would that be for Jesus? 687 00:35:04,500 –> 00:35:07,320 Listen to these words of prophecy about him 688 00:35:07,320 –> 00:35:09,939 from Isaiah chapter 11 in verse two, 689 00:35:09,939 –> 00:35:12,300 the spirit of the Lord will rest on him. 690 00:35:12,300 –> 00:35:14,040 This is a messianic prophecy. 691 00:35:14,580 –> 00:35:17,000 And then the spirit is described. 692 00:35:17,000 –> 00:35:18,699 The spirit of knowledge 693 00:35:19,760 –> 00:35:22,360 and the spirit of the fear of the Lord. 694 00:35:22,360 –> 00:35:25,239 Can you see that, that the Holy Spirit is described 695 00:35:25,239 –> 00:35:27,659 as the spirit of the fear of the Lord 696 00:35:27,659 –> 00:35:28,959 for this is what He brings? 697 00:35:28,959 –> 00:35:30,979 And then it is said of the Saviour 698 00:35:30,979 –> 00:35:34,199 that He will delight in the fear of the Lord. 699 00:35:34,199 –> 00:35:39,199 He finds joy in this holy awe of the Father 700 00:35:39,580 –> 00:35:43,459 that makes Him say it’s my food to do Your will. 701 00:35:44,820 –> 00:35:49,820 Professor John Murray has a wonderful statement on this. 702 00:35:49,899 –> 00:35:54,899 He says, the fear of God is the soul of godliness. 703 00:35:55,600 –> 00:35:57,379 Isn’t that beautiful? 704 00:35:57,379 –> 00:35:58,800 Wanna grow in a godly life? 705 00:36:00,739 –> 00:36:04,780 Has this strangeness ever occurred to you? 706 00:36:06,020 –> 00:36:08,479 There has never, I believe, been a generation 707 00:36:08,479 –> 00:36:12,040 in history that has been told that God loves us more. 708 00:36:12,760 –> 00:36:14,520 And there has never, I believe, 709 00:36:14,520 –> 00:36:16,739 been a generation in history that feels 710 00:36:16,739 –> 00:36:18,919 that God loves us less. 711 00:36:18,919 –> 00:36:19,760 Why? 712 00:36:20,860 –> 00:36:23,280 Because we’ve missed the foundation 713 00:36:24,639 –> 00:36:27,060 of everything that we’re talking about right now. 714 00:36:30,459 –> 00:36:33,040 Number six, fearing the Lord 715 00:36:35,159 –> 00:36:38,419 will deliver you from all other fears. 716 00:36:38,419 –> 00:36:40,340 Now, this is marvelous. 717 00:36:40,419 –> 00:36:43,939 And it’s a truth that comes many times in the Bible. 718 00:36:43,939 –> 00:36:45,659 Especially Psalm 112. 719 00:36:45,659 –> 00:36:47,379 Everyone who struggles with fear, 720 00:36:47,379 –> 00:36:51,139 Psalm 112 is a most marvelous Psalm. 721 00:36:51,139 –> 00:36:52,860 It begins by saying, 722 00:36:52,860 –> 00:36:56,179 blessed is the man who fears the Lord. 723 00:36:56,179 –> 00:36:57,379 You say, oh I don’t know, 724 00:36:57,379 –> 00:36:59,679 I don’t want to go to a Psalm 725 00:36:59,679 –> 00:37:01,139 that’s talking about fearing the Lord. 726 00:37:01,139 –> 00:37:02,780 Ah, but wait and see what it says. 727 00:37:02,780 –> 00:37:05,080 Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, 728 00:37:05,080 –> 00:37:07,459 and then verse eight it says, here’s the effect, 729 00:37:07,459 –> 00:37:10,060 his heart is secure and he will have no fear. 730 00:37:10,219 –> 00:37:11,060 And, in fact, 731 00:37:11,060 –> 00:37:12,580 it even says he will not live in the fear 732 00:37:12,580 –> 00:37:15,000 of receiving bad news. 733 00:37:15,000 –> 00:37:16,520 Not gonna go through this next week saying, 734 00:37:16,520 –> 00:37:18,379 oh, what’s that news gonna be? 735 00:37:19,419 –> 00:37:21,179 Because if he fears the Lord, 736 00:37:21,179 –> 00:37:23,439 he finds the strength in Christ 737 00:37:23,439 –> 00:37:25,899 to face the news that may come this week. 738 00:37:27,020 –> 00:37:28,820 That’s why one of the great hymns 739 00:37:28,820 –> 00:37:30,580 that has been sung in the past, 740 00:37:30,580 –> 00:37:34,020 has this line, fear him you saints, 741 00:37:34,020 –> 00:37:37,620 and you will then have nothing else to fear. 742 00:37:38,620 –> 00:37:42,639 Fears rise as our fear of the Lord diminishes, 743 00:37:42,639 –> 00:37:46,219 fears diminish as our fear of the Lord increases, 744 00:37:46,219 –> 00:37:48,639 knowing this God is for you. 745 00:37:50,340 –> 00:37:52,280 That would put strength into you 746 00:37:52,280 –> 00:37:55,139 to face whatever is happening for you this week. 747 00:37:56,500 –> 00:37:58,179 And here’s number seven. 748 00:37:59,760 –> 00:38:02,879 Fearing the Lord will lead you 749 00:38:02,879 –> 00:38:04,520 to seek 750 00:38:04,520 –> 00:38:05,939 the Mediator. 751 00:38:05,939 –> 00:38:08,340 And that is exactly what happens right there 752 00:38:08,340 –> 00:38:10,179 in Deuteronomy chapter five. 753 00:38:12,260 –> 00:38:15,260 The people say in verse 25 to Moses, 754 00:38:15,260 –> 00:38:18,159 this great fire will consume us 755 00:38:18,159 –> 00:38:19,340 and we’re going to die 756 00:38:19,340 –> 00:38:22,060 if we hear the voice of the Lord, our God, any longer. 757 00:38:22,060 –> 00:38:22,899 They’re just amazed 758 00:38:22,899 –> 00:38:25,020 that they’ve seen this fire and survived it. 759 00:38:26,219 –> 00:38:29,300 And so they say to Moses in verse 27, go near 760 00:38:30,300 –> 00:38:33,280 and listen to all that the Lord, our God, says 761 00:38:33,280 –> 00:38:35,260 and then tell us whatever God says 762 00:38:35,459 –> 00:38:36,699 and we will listen and obey. 763 00:38:36,699 –> 00:38:37,659 I love that. 764 00:38:37,659 –> 00:38:38,620 Here’s the whole crowd. 765 00:38:38,620 –> 00:38:42,860 And they’re saying, hey, you go, you go up. 766 00:38:42,860 –> 00:38:44,100 Let us stay here. 767 00:38:44,100 –> 00:38:45,419 You go. 768 00:38:45,419 –> 00:38:47,239 And Moses says right there in verse five, 769 00:38:47,239 –> 00:38:52,239 at that time I stood between you and the Lord. 770 00:38:55,199 –> 00:38:56,780 And I just want you to notice here 771 00:38:56,780 –> 00:38:58,899 what God says there in verse 28. 772 00:38:58,899 –> 00:39:01,580 The Lord heard what you spoke to me. 773 00:39:01,580 –> 00:39:03,540 That’s the Lord heard the people say, Moses, you go up, 774 00:39:04,139 –> 00:39:06,919 you go up, we need someone to go there for us. 775 00:39:06,919 –> 00:39:10,760 The Lord heard what you said and the Lord said to me, 776 00:39:10,760 –> 00:39:15,060 everything they said was good. 777 00:39:15,060 –> 00:39:16,620 See what the Lord said, 778 00:39:16,620 –> 00:39:21,340 I’m so glad they’ve seen the need of a mediator. 779 00:39:21,340 –> 00:39:26,040 I’m so glad that having glimpsed the awesome glory 780 00:39:26,040 –> 00:39:30,179 of the holy fire that they see that no man 781 00:39:30,179 –> 00:39:32,899 romps into heaven on his own. 782 00:39:33,899 –> 00:39:36,679 But that I need a mediator, 783 00:39:37,959 –> 00:39:42,459 someone who can go up or better, 784 00:39:42,459 –> 00:39:44,040 someone who has come down. 785 00:39:46,860 –> 00:39:48,379 When you see the fire on the mountain, 786 00:39:48,379 –> 00:39:50,159 when you see the holiness of God 787 00:39:50,159 –> 00:39:52,459 and its awesome fear, 788 00:39:53,379 –> 00:39:56,080 when you see that it is a fearful thing 789 00:39:56,080 –> 00:39:57,939 to fall into the hands of the living God 790 00:39:57,939 –> 00:40:00,340 and that our God is a consuming fire, 791 00:40:00,340 –> 00:40:02,179 you will have no question in your mind 792 00:40:02,179 –> 00:40:03,300 that you need a mediator 793 00:40:03,300 –> 00:40:05,739 and you will embrace Jesus Christ quickly 794 00:40:05,739 –> 00:40:08,840 and gladly and fully and completely. 795 00:40:11,060 –> 00:40:13,219 And we have a better place than Sinai 796 00:40:13,219 –> 00:40:16,020 to learn the fear that love brings. 797 00:40:17,679 –> 00:40:19,419 That place is called Calvary 798 00:40:22,020 –> 00:40:24,340 where the fire of God’s awesome judgment 799 00:40:24,340 –> 00:40:26,699 on my sin and on your sin came 800 00:40:26,699 –> 00:40:29,020 on the Lord Jesus Christ himself 801 00:40:29,020 –> 00:40:31,020 and he entered your hell. 802 00:40:31,959 –> 00:40:35,399 We worship at your feet 803 00:40:35,399 –> 00:40:38,300 where wrath and mercy meet 804 00:40:38,300 –> 00:40:40,899 and a guilty world is washed 805 00:40:40,899 –> 00:40:45,000 in love’s pure stream. 806 00:40:45,000 –> 00:40:48,979 Then he rises from the dead, 807 00:40:48,979 –> 00:40:51,620 ascends into heaven. 808 00:40:51,620 –> 00:40:53,379 And you remember something amazing 809 00:40:53,379 –> 00:40:55,419 that happened and with this we close. 810 00:40:57,100 –> 00:40:58,860 Day of Pentecost, they’re all gathered 811 00:40:58,919 –> 00:41:02,120 in one place and suddenly these believers 812 00:41:02,120 –> 00:41:03,820 hear the blowing of a violent wind 813 00:41:03,820 –> 00:41:05,919 and it comes from heaven and it fills 814 00:41:05,919 –> 00:41:07,739 the whole house where they are sitting 815 00:41:07,739 –> 00:41:11,179 and what happens next, what seemed like, 816 00:41:11,179 –> 00:41:12,020 do you remember? 817 00:41:13,060 –> 00:41:15,800 Tongues of fire came down. 818 00:41:18,219 –> 00:41:19,760 Imagine the terror of that. 819 00:41:21,219 –> 00:41:25,600 And rested on each of them. 820 00:41:26,520 –> 00:41:30,340 Almighty God is with them 821 00:41:31,459 –> 00:41:33,659 and He does not consume them. 822 00:41:36,439 –> 00:41:40,719 They are in Christ and the presence 823 00:41:40,719 –> 00:41:43,080 of the Holy One has come to empower them 824 00:41:43,080 –> 00:41:47,100 for life and to bring them into glory. 825 00:41:48,439 –> 00:41:50,560 What do you know of this fear of the Lord 826 00:41:50,560 –> 00:41:53,159 in your life, oh you’ve been talking 827 00:41:53,159 –> 00:41:55,840 so much about how to get rid of all your fears 828 00:41:55,840 –> 00:41:57,959 and there is a fear that love removes 829 00:41:57,959 –> 00:41:59,219 and that’s very important. 830 00:42:00,600 –> 00:42:02,620 But what about the fear that love brings? 831 00:42:04,020 –> 00:42:05,760 What do you know about the fear of the Lord? 832 00:42:05,760 –> 00:42:08,520 There’s a wonderful prayer that David prayed 833 00:42:08,520 –> 00:42:10,639 that you can make your own with me right now, 834 00:42:10,639 –> 00:42:13,739 it’s from Psalm 86 verse 11. 835 00:42:13,739 –> 00:42:17,500 Give me an undivided heart 836 00:42:18,479 –> 00:42:21,699 that I may fear your name. 837 00:42:22,100 –> 00:42:27,100 Almighty God, we live in this world of trivialities 838 00:42:27,179 –> 00:42:31,719 in which there’s hardly any space so often 839 00:42:31,719 –> 00:42:34,659 for you within the sheer busyness 840 00:42:34,659 –> 00:42:38,080 and relentlessness of our cluttered lives. 841 00:42:39,379 –> 00:42:41,820 And we want to bow before you, 842 00:42:41,820 –> 00:42:43,679 the God of all eternity. 843 00:42:44,800 –> 00:42:49,419 We don’t want to drift as if you were a lightweight God. 844 00:42:50,260 –> 00:42:54,360 We need to be released from many fears, 845 00:42:54,360 –> 00:42:55,639 and we thank you for your love 846 00:42:55,639 –> 00:42:57,500 that frees us from many fears, 847 00:42:57,500 –> 00:43:00,360 but oh, we need to be brought to a place 848 00:43:00,360 –> 00:43:02,699 where we no longer take you lightly, 849 00:43:02,699 –> 00:43:06,399 where we see your redeeming love in Christ 850 00:43:06,399 –> 00:43:08,479 for the treasure that it is, 851 00:43:08,479 –> 00:43:12,100 and learn to live before you daily 852 00:43:12,100 –> 00:43:15,439 in holy awe and love. 853 00:43:16,919 –> 00:43:19,239 So teach us to fear you. 854 00:43:19,659 –> 00:43:24,580 As we love you, and to love you as we fear you. 855 00:43:25,899 –> 00:43:29,919 Until the day when with John, 856 00:43:29,919 –> 00:43:34,320 we would see ourselves also falling at your feet 857 00:43:34,320 –> 00:43:37,360 as if dead, 858 00:43:37,360 –> 00:43:38,979 and then by your grace and mercy, 859 00:43:38,979 –> 00:43:41,439 you would lift us up and say, 860 00:43:41,439 –> 00:43:45,159 fear not, I am the living one. 861 00:43:46,159 –> 00:43:47,620 I am your mediator, 862 00:43:48,639 –> 00:43:53,040 I am your savior and I am your Lord, 863 00:43:54,120 –> 00:43:58,820 who welcomes you into the knowledge of the holy. 864 00:44:00,040 –> 00:44:02,659 Through Jesus Christ, our Lord we pray these things 865 00:44:02,659 –> 00:44:05,439 and everyone said, amen.

Details

Sermon Series
Date
Primary Audience

Monthly Offer

Get 3 free copies of ‘Green Pastures, Still Waters’ by Colin Smith, as well as an Open the Bible UK bookmark and pen, when you set up a monthly gift of at least £5, or a one-off gift of at least £50.

Donate

Colin Smith

Trustee / Founder and Teaching Pastor

Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near – So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on X formerly Twitter.

Linked resources

Sermons on Deuteronomy You already have faith, so what’s it going to take for you to become a man or a woman on a mission? You have been shaped by faith and the tendencies and fears of your parents. But now God is calling you. It’s your moment of opportunity. You need to be ready.

Colin Smith

Search

Search

Header Submit Search