The Fear of God, Part 2

Psalm 130, verse number 4 says, There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be what? Feared. You know why God saved you? So that you'll fear him. That's why he saved you. That's why he's taken away your sins. That he may be feared. Now that's a little different than what you hear in most churches, isn it? To understand what that means, we need to be able to explore the scriptures to understand the f of God. The question needs to be asked, in your life and in mine, are you a God-fearing person?

We tend to ask the question, when were you saved? You need to ask the question. When did you begin to fear God? That's a more accurate assessment of a man's commitment to Christ. When you fear God more than you fear earthquakes, when you fear God more than you fear fire, when you fear God more than you fear being robbed, when you fear God more than you fear anything else, then you begin to understand the fear of God. Long as you fear something else more than you fear God, you have a spiritual problem.

You don't understand God. And in Matthew chapter 10. Verse number 28, he says this: And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul. But rather fear him who was able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Now, Christ is talking to his disciples. He's saying you need to understand something. When you go out and face a hostile world, people are going to be against you. They're not going to like you. You're going to face all kinds of obstacles, all kinds of persecution are going to come your way.

But understand this: don't fear those things. Don't even fear the one who can kill your body. Only fear the one who kills both body and soul. That's me. Only fear me. We from Revel chapter 1, verse number 18, that Christ holds the keys to de and Hades. Death is the condition. Hades is the place. And Christ is the one who holds the keys to death. Hades, and because he does, that's the one in whom you are to fear. He's not saying that if you don't live right, I'm going to send you to hell. That's not what Christ is saying.

The point is that we are to fear the one who can determine the destiny of our souls, not the ones who can only determine the destiny of our bodies. It says in Revel 11, verse number 18, the time has come, say the 24 elders, to reward your servants and those who fear. Your name. When it comes time to face God at the judgment seat, the ones who will face Him and receive their reward are the ones who fear Him. Because those are the ones who have lived their lives in light of his glorious return. Those are the ones who understand that God forgives sins.

So that he alone would be feared. I trust tonight that you have received the forgiveness of sins. And because you have received forgiveness from your sins, you fear God. I trust that that's you tonight. As we continue on in our outline, we want to talk tonight specifically about how do we fear God. If you were with us last week, we talked about what is the fear of God. And number two, why should we fear God?

Tonight, we want to conclude with how. Do we fear God? And I think as we go through these things, it's going to help you tremendously understand what the Bible says about the fear of God.

So let me give you seven elements that help you understand what it means to f God. How do we do this? Number one, by submitting to His commands.

By submitting to his commands. If you have your Bible, turn back with me to Deuteronomy chapter 6. And we're going to run through a plethora, and I mean a plethora, of verses. So, if you can't get them all, just hang with me, write them down, but understand the implications. This is really, really good. So, hang with me. Deuteronomy chapter 6. Now, verse number 1. Now, this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it.

So that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God. To keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you all the days of your life, and that your days may be pro. Last week you talked about why do we fear God? We fear Him because our days will be prolonged. Tonight, we talk about how do we fear God? We fear him by submitting to his commands. Over in verse number 24. So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes. to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival as it is today.

You want to survive? You want blessing in your life? Then you need to fear God. How do you fear God? You do it by submitting to the ordinances and statutes. that he has given. Over in Deuteronomy chapter 8, it says this in verse number 5 Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and to f him. Again, keeping God's commandments is how we fear Him.

Over Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse number 4. You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him, and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling. To him. Over in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse number 13: fear God and keep his commandments. In fact, Solomon says, This is the end of man. If you want to sum up a man's life, this is what it is. Man needs to fear God and keep his command. So important. How do we fear God? Very simply, keep His commandments. You say, Well, Pastor, I mean, I think we got the point now.

Let's go on to point number two. Well, I like to say that was the case. But the problem with most of us is that we don't like to keep the commandments that go against our lifestyle. We have a problem with those. And so we don't keep them. And whenever you don't do what God's word says, you say, God, I don't fear you anymore. I fear someone else. Whenever you don't speak out of the marketplace because you fear your boss or you fear losing your job, what you're saying to God is, God, I fear that more than I fear you.

And God says, wait a minute. If you're going to fear me, you've got to keep my commandments. And you've got to be salt and light. And you've got to speak out. Be ready to give an answer to every man who asks you of the hope that's within. If you want to get married to somebody and you're a believer and they're an unbeliever and you have fallen madly in love with this person and this person says, man, we got to be together. We got to be married. You got a choice to make. Fear never getting married or fear God.

What's your choice? Say, I'm sorry. The Bible says that I cannot be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever.

Therefore, I will not marry an unbeliever. As much as I love you, as much as we're together, I'm not going to do that because I fear God more than I fear losing this relationship. I fear God more than I fear never being married and always being single the rest of my life. See that? So important. It was Os Chambers who said this. The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else. Whereas, if you do not fear God, you fear everything else. Isn't that good? Isaiah 66, verse number 2.

To this man will I look, to him who is of a contrite spirit. And who trembles at my wor. Wow. I would venture to say that there's not too many of us who are here. When we open the Word of God, we tremble before it. And God says, to this man I will look, to one who is of a contrite spirit and who sh uncontrollably before my wor.

There's a man who fears me. There's a man who will do what I say. There's a man who will obey my word. There's a man who will follow in my footsteps. There's a man I can To stand in the fire, to stand when no one else stands, and that's the man I will look to. How do we fear God? By submitting. To his commands. Number two by staying away from sin.

By staying away from sin. Job twenty-eight, verse number twenty-eight. And to man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understand. Wow. You fear God when you stay a from sin. Over in Exodus chapter 20. It says this, after God had given the Ten Commandments, it says in verse number 18, and all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet. and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance.

Then they said to Moses, Speak to us yourself, and we will listen. But let not God speak to us, lest we die. And Moses said to the people, this is so good. Listen to what he says: do not be afraid. You don't need to be afraid. Don't be fearful. For God has come in order to test you and in order that the fear of him may remain with you. So that you may not sin. Isn't that good? You don't have to fear losing your life. You're God's chosen people. And God, in all of his glory and all of his majesty, and all of his greatness, these people were fearful, man.

And Moses said, Don't be afraid. You're not going to lose your life. But God wants you to understand how serious he is. He has given you these commands that you may fear him so that you will not sin against him. You fear God by staying away from sin. Over in Acts 5, verse number 11, Ananias and Sapphir, the Bible says that great fear came upon the whole church.

Remember when Ananias and Sapphir lied about how much they sold their property for and how much they gave to the church? Remember that? And Peter confronted him, and God struck him dead. Boom, boom, right in the church. And the Bible says, great fear came upon the church.

And you go on to read a little further in Acts chapter 5. Great fear came upon everybody who heard about what happened in the church. God says, I don't want you to sin against me.

So I'm going to do whatever I got to do to help you understand that I'm serious about sin. But see, most of us don't think God's just serious about sin. That's why we keep on sinning. We don't think he's going to come down and zap us dead because we cheated on income taxes that are due tomorrow, by the way. In this case, you forgot, you've got to file by tomorrow. We don't think God's going to strike us dead because we cheated on our income tax. God's not going to do that. God's not going to strike me dead because I cheated on my wife.

God's a God of grace. God's a God of mercy. God's a God of forgiveness. You forgot that God forgave you, not so that you love him. So that you'll fear him. See? He wants you to stay away from sin. 1 Timothy 5, verse number 20. When an elder continues in sin, the Bible says you rebuke him publicly.

Why? The Bible says, 1 Timothy 5, verse number 20. That the rest also may fear. If you have an elder in the church, if you have a pastor in the church. Who continues in sin and is unwilling to repent? You rebuke him publicly so that everybody in the church will know that you're serious about sin. And the reason you're serious about sin is because God is serious about sin. And therefore, fear will come upon all the people for fear that their sin will be exposed as well. See? God is serious. About sin.

And still, you'll hear people say, You know what, Pastor? God's just not going to do that. Well, what am I going to tell you? Read 1 Corinthians chapter 10. God killed those who grumbled. Think about that. You grumble? And God killed them. 2,000 people fell because they committed immorality. God killed them. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, in the church of Corinth. Many were sick, many died because they ate and drank of the cup unworthily. Think about that. They ate and drank of the cup unworthily, and God says, That's it.

You're done. It's over. 1 John:, the sin and the death. God says, if you're a believer and you want to continue on in sin without any repercussions, without any repentance, without any thinking of how it affects other people, be careful of the sin unto death.

That is, that God takes you home because your testimony is so bad. In fact, that's a good monitor. If someone says that they're a Christian and they're living in sin and they've been living in sin a long time, They're probably not a Christian because God would have taken them home by now.

Think about it. God doesn't want his name marred to the world. He wants his name put on display so people understand him and people glorify him because of us. So, how do you fear the Lord? By submitting to his commands, by staying away from sin. Number three, how do you fear God?

By serving the Lord. By serving the Lord. That's how you fear God. Over in Joshua chapter 24, verse number 14. Listen to the words of Joshua. Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve. The Lord. How do you fear God? By serving Him. Joshua says, Don't serve anything else. But God. Moses said it well in Deuteronomy 6, verse number 13. You shall fear only the Lord your God. And you shall worship him and swear by his name.

You should only serve him. Be careful when you go into the promised land. Then, when you begin to live in houses you didn't build, drink from wells you didn't dig, that you forget about your God and you don't fear Him anymore and you don't serve Him. Deuteronomy 10, 12, 10, 20, Deuteronomy 13, 4, Psalm 2, 11, talk about serving God. Let me ask you a question.

You serve the Lord? I trust that you do. I can tell that's too convicting. We should move on to the fourth point. How do we fear God? By sanctifying our lives. By sanctifying our lives. 1 Peter 1, verse number 17, conduct yourselves in the fear of God. Conduct yourselves in the fear of God. It says, if you call on the Father who impartially judges, interest statement. If you call upon God who impart judges Each man's work, conduct yourself in the fear of God. Your Father is your judge. Every man will be judged.

Romans 14. 2 Corinthians 5, verse number 10. We don't want to offend God. We don't want to sin against God. And so we will sanctify our lives. Christ would say, or Peter would say in 1 Peter 1:15, but like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior. Because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. And then he says, Because you address your father as the judge who is imp, he shows no partiality in his judgment. Conduct yourself in the fear of God. Peter would go on to say in 1 Peter 2, verse number 17: honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the king.

That's what you got to do. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the king. Over in 2 Corinthians 7, verse number 1, we are to perfect holiness in the fear of God. Over in Philippians 2, verse number 12, we're to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Think about that. We're to live out our salvation. We are to finish out all the way to the end until that salvation is ultimately completed when we see Christ and we are totally like him for we will see him as he is. We live it out.

And how do we live it out? We live it out in fear and trembling. Knowing that we are accountable to the one who is greater than we are, and that is the God in whom we ser. So, by sanctifying our lives, by setting it apart as being holy for God. That's how we fear God. God, I fear you. I love you. I honor you. I've given my life to you. I want to be as holy as you are holy, as pure as you are pure, as godly as you yourself are. Next. By sacrificing to the Lord. Oh, I wish I could spend some time here.

This is so good. Back in Deuteronomy chapter 14. In Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse number 1, listen to what Moses says: You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. And the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Moses says, Man, you are a special people. You are so significant. God has chosen you. God wants you as his own treasure.

You are a holy people, and therefore, because you are, I want you to understand something. God has set up some laws. He says, Look, you're going to treat death differently than other people treat death. Why? Because you know where you're going to go after you die. Number two, I've given you some laws about how you dress and how you eat.

Because I want everybody to know that you are different than everybody else. And then he says this: verse number 2:2. You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year, and you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God at the place where he chooses to establish his name. The tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, in order that you may learn to fear the Lord God always. The reason you give of the first produce of your crops is because you need to learn to fear God.

You need to learn to trust God. And whenever you do that, whenever you give Him off the top, You are saying, Lord, I fear you more than I fear my bank account or the lack of money in my bank account. I fear you, Lord. I'm going to give you the first fruits.

And I'm going to learn to fear you. And I'm going do that by giving to you the best of what I have. And when you sacrifice the best of what you have to God, he is pleased. And it demonstrates the fact that you fear God. More than anything else. It says over in Jeremiah chapter 5, verse number 24, that the reason people did not Give to God and honor Him is because they did not see Him as the one who is the sole provider of all their needs, and therefore they did not fear God. Next, you fear God by standing in awe of the Lord.

By standing in awe of him. It says over in Acts 2, 43, everyone kept feeling a sense of fear. A sense of awe. The church had been born. And there was a sense of fear that had overcome the people who had given their life to Christ. It says in 1 Chronicles 16, 25, For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. You know the rest of the verse? It goes like this. He also is to be feared. 1 Chronicles 16, verses 29 and 30. Worship the Lord in holy array. Tremble before him. All the earth, fear him, all the earth.

It says in Revelation:, as the angel was flying in the midst of heaven at a time of great reckoning. Speaking this, fear God and give glory to Him and worship Him who made heaven and ear. God says, Fear me.

Stand in awe of who I am and what I've done. worship me. And lastly, you fear God by surrendering to the Lord. You trust him and you hope in him. Psalm 115 verse number 11 states it this way. You who fear the Lord, tr in the Lord. And then Psalm 119, verse number 74. May those who fear thee see me and be glad because I hope in thy word. Do you fear the Lord this evening? Have you surrendered your life to Christ? I trust that you have. If so, Proverbs 23:1 says, Be in the fear of God all day long.

And Proverbs 28, 14 says, Blessed is the man that fears all ways. I trust that that's you this evening.