The Fear of God

"The Fear of God" – Proverbs 28:14 "Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief." The fear of God is not living in dread: it is respect, reverence, love, and obedience. It is what brings down the ego and the pretense that knowledge rests in us. And its opposite has a name: stubbornness, that hardening which refuses to listen or to admit an error. This study walks through seven passages —from Proverbs to Peter— to show what God asks, whom we ought to fear, and why true happiness lies in keeping a tender heart before Him.

I. The tender heart and the hardened heart

A. "Happy is the man that feareth alway" (Proverbs 28:14). Blessed means happy, favored, fortunate: true happiness is not in having everything, but in keeping a tender heart before God.

B. The heart hardens over the smallest things, and every time a person allows it, the damage is to himself.

C. The heart is the worst or the best thing we can have. In it stubbornness, irritation, and anger collect, and a person becomes the victim of his own heart; but handed over to God, He makes His dwelling there, and then neither the good day nor the bad day pulls us out of His love.

D. Filter what enters through your ear. Many things do harm, and what they do is plant a root of bitterness; and where there is a root of bitterness, the problem belongs to you.

II. What the fear of God is, and what it is not

A. It is not living in dread. It is living with respect, with love, and with obedience to His will.

B. It is what stops you when no one is watching: you do not steal in a store because of the fear of God, not because of the police.

C. It is born of gratitude: if we could see how many favors God has done for our lives, that fear would grow.

D. It is exercised in prayer: living in prayer, doors open or close, and so one knows where God is leading.

E. Today the word "respect" is barely known, neither among the young nor among their elders. Teaching it to our own from childhood is part of the battle.

III. The sensitive heart and the word put into action

A. The advantage of a sensitive heart is that it hears when the Holy Spirit corrects, and then a person is humble enough to admit his faults and seek direction.

B. The heart hardens when a person stops praying, stops reading the Scriptures, stops listening, and stops forgiving; then he drifts from the good and ends up stumbling.

C. We see everyone else's fault, but never our own. That is why a bitter memory lingers over a person's life.

D. The word enters through the ear, settles in the heart, and becomes action when it is believed. If Sunday's message produced no action by Wednesday, it was not taken; and what is not taken, leaves. Action is what remains.

IV. Stubbornness: "he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief"

A. The one who hardens his heart is the one who does not listen, who resists changing or admitting his errors out of pride.

B. "Shall fall into mischief": he will suffer the consequences. All stubbornness pays consequences.

C. The stubborn man wraps himself ever tighter in his stubbornness, and it hardens in him day by day. Stubbornness always belongs to the one who holds it; the meek, being meek, obtains

V. Deuteronomy 10:12 — what God requires

A. "What doth the LORD thy God require of thee?" Not sacrifices or complicated rites, but a sincere relationship, a communion with Him. And yet prayer is what is scarcest in the Church.

B. To fear the LORD your God: to recognize His greatness. The day we know His greatness we will fear and love Him from head to foot, and there will be no need to pretend or impress anyone.

C. To walk in all His ways: to live by His example of justice and compassion. It is not hard in itself; what is hard is how entangled a person gets in the passions of the world, for from there comes the bondage.

D. To love Him: that is the center of everything, because love for God inspires true obedience.

E. To serve Him with all your heart and all your soul. We are flesh, soul, and spirit: the spirit joins itself to the Holy Spirit and pushes toward God; flesh and soul pull the other way —two against one—. The soul is what reasons, what argues, and it is the most vulnerable part of us.

F. Service is not half-hearted or done out of obligation, but with surrender, gladness, faithfulness, and sincerity. There is no more beautiful quality than sincerity, and none harder to sustain, because the soul pushes toward pretense.

VI. Joshua 24:14 — decide for God

A. This is part of Joshua's final address, when he was already old. He reminds the people how God brought them out of Egypt, protected them in the desert, and gave them the promised land; then he issues the firm call: decide for God.

B. "Fear the LORD": recognize that God is holy and deserves total obedience. He dwells in the third heaven, worshiped by thousands of thousands; the same God who made billions of stars sent His Son so that His blood would wash us.

C. "Serve him in sincerity and in truth": a whole heart, without duplicity; sincerity that does not pretend or serve for appearance. God does not want empty service, but genuine and faithful service.

D. "Put away the gods": Israel reached the promised land still dragging along objects and customs of idolatry. It is not enough to remove the idols: the heart must be filled with service to the true God.

E. And that service shows in the body: when one member is sick, the body aches. What we have learned is to love ourselves; that is why great miracles are not produced, and a church ought to produce great miracles.

VII. Ecclesiastes 12:13 — the conclusion of the whole matter

A. Solomon tasted wisdom, riches, pleasure, power, and fame, and concluded that none of it fills the soul without God: "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man".

B. Everything else is passing. What you fight to have today will not fill you tomorrow; but whoever fears God through the years grows firm, and nothing that comes knocks him down.

C. Keeping His commandments requires reading the Word: believing is not enough, one must live according to it, and no one lives by what he does not know.

D. "This is the whole duty of man": we were not created to accumulate —and accumulating is what human beings do most— but to worship and obey. The meaning of life is not in achievements but in communion with God.

VIII. Isaiah 8:13 — sanctify the LORD

A. Judah was terrified of the enemy nations, and God tells Isaiah not to fear as the rest of the people do, but to put his fear in the right place.

B. "Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself": to recognize Him as the only holy, sovereign, and worthy One. Instead of exalting problems or enemies, exalt God.

C. "Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread": do not fear man, nor enemies, nor the future. The only healthy fear is the one born of deep respect toward God.

D. He holds all power, and also all the love needed to deliver us and pull us out of the deep pits. To fear Him is to trust His authority.

IX. Matthew 10:28 — whom to fear

A. Jesus prepares the disciples for the persecution and rejection that were coming, and teaches them that true courage and true fear must be directed to God alone.

B. "Fear not them which kill the body": the power of men has a limit; no one touches the soul without God's permission.

C. "But are not able to kill the soul": the soul belongs to God, and no enemy, sickness, or human force can seize the eternal life He gives. The only thing that separates from God is hidden sin.

D. "But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell": not paralyzing dread, but recognition of His power and His justice. There are two destinies, and God is the sovereign who assigns them.

X. 1 Peter 1:17 and 2:17 — pass the time in fear, honour all men

A. "If ye call on the Father": the relationship is intimate; God is not a distant judge but a Father who cares for us and is jealous over us. Yet that love does not cancel His justice.

B. "Who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work": God is not impressed by titles, appearances, or words; He looks at the heart and the deeds, and every mortal will give account.

C. "Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear": we are pilgrims, and however long the life, it is temporary. To live in fear is to walk with respect, obedience, and awareness of His presence: continual honor, not dread.

D. "Honour all men": treat every person with respect, care, tolerance, and dignity, whatever their position or belief, reflecting the character of Christ.

E. "Love the brotherhood": a special love toward the family of faith, which holds the church together and shows the world that we are disciples of Jesus (John 13:35).

F. "Honour the king": Peter writes under Nero, an unjust ruler, and still commands respect for civil order and prayer for those in authority. Politics turns easily into gossip and strife, and the believer must guard against that: voting is a right, but criticizing and quarreling is not the commission; praying is.

XI. Application

A. Guard the tenderness of your heart. Every hardening you permit costs you, not the other person.

B. Trade stubbornness for meekness. Stubbornness pays its own price; meekness brings

C. Turn the word into action this week. What is not put into practice is not retained.

D. Filter what you listen to, so that no root of bitterness is planted in you.

E. Teach respect at home, from childhood, and teach the fear of God to children and grandchildren: everyone will give account.

F. Pray for those in authority instead of arguing politics, and honor everyone, even the one who treats you badly.