FACETS OF FEAR

Introduction: Usually the expression “the fear of the Lord” in the Bible refers to a profound reverence. But sometimes it refers to being afraid, for example, fearing due punishment when one disobeys Him.

I was raised on a ranch in Western Oklahoma. As a child I feared God, though most of my friends and family did not. We never went to church, but I was taught that God created the world in six days and rested the seventh. My dad never worked on Sunday because he thought it was bad luck and God would punish us if we did.

Everyone was afraid of lightning. When there was a storm we would seek shelter in the house or the barn. I remember when some of the cattle lying near a barbed wire fence were electrocuted by lightning. I heard about the father and two brothers of my brother-in-law being killed by lightning when they were working in the field. I heard people say God did those things. I feared God because I respected Him. I had so much respect for God that I carried a rabbit’s tail in my pocket all the time. It was well groomed by my fingers.

The first time I went to church, I was eighteen years old. I didn’t know what to expect as I didn’t know what a church looked like on the inside. The first message I ever heard from the pulpit was about hell. (I didn’t so much as know that thing the preacher hid behind was called a pulpit.) Before this I just throught “hell” was a curse word. The preacher showed from the Bible that it is a real place. He gave graphic illustrations from World War II of soldiers without God going into eternity with great fear. The message scared me so badly, it made me tremble. My fear subsided at the end of the service when everyone in the church began to sing.

But then after church some young people began to talk to me. They told me I was an enemy of God. I certainly didn’t think I was, but they showed me some verses in the Bible like James 4:4, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (cf. Rom 8:7; Rom 5:10; Acts 13:10). I knew I was a friend of the world, and I knew I wasn’t a friend of the church, so I began to understand.

Why on earth did I go back a second time after such punishment? But I did go back every night, and by the end of the last service that week, my respect for God had changed to reverence because I had learned that God loved me even when I was a sinner and His enemy. Romans 5:8 clearly says, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." When I realized that Jesus loved me enough to die for me, my heart melted. At last, I committed my life into the loving arms of the Lord Jesus Christ. I reverenced His name. I worshiped His person, ("But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Psa. 5:7-8) "There was great joy and rejoicing in my heart because of the eternal salvation that He so freely gave me. The fear that I left the church with was a fear not only of respect, but of reverence and rejoicing.

The phrase “the fear of the Lord” is used twenty-seven times in the King James Bible. It is used fourteen times in the book of Proverbs alone. It is the theme of Proverbs. “The fear of the Lord” is the basis of salvation, the basis of sanctification, and the basis for serving the Savior. “The fear of the Lord” is the key that unlocks all the intricate portions in the book of Proverbs.
Let’s begin at the beginning. “One cannot gain knowledge of spiritual things if he begins at the wrong point, refusing to fear the Lord (i.e.,to recognize God’s character and respond by revering,trusting, worshiping, obeying, and serving Him). (The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty, Old Testament. Ed. By John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck. Pages 907-908).

In the future I would like to share some thoughts from Proverbs and tell how the book has affected my life, so I thought I would start with this topical message that I first preached many years ago.

I. THE ESSENCE OF THE FEAR OF THE LORD

Webster’s Dictionary defines “essense” in several ways.  Here is the way I am using it: “The property necessary to the nature of a thing.”

A. The Beginning of the Fear of the Lord – Prov. 9:10

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding" (9:10). 

B. The Behavior of those that Fear of the Lord – Prov. 8:13

“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” (8:13). 

(Deuteronomy 10:12) “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul”.

(Jeremiah 32:39–40) “³⁹And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: ⁴⁰And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me”

(Deuteronomy) 13:4  “Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

C. The Blessing of those that Fear of the Lord – Ps. 60:4

“Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah” (Ps. 60:4).  “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love” (Song 2:4). 

(Prov 14:26)  “In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.  

(Prov 14:27) “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.”

(Prov 19:23)  “The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.”

(Prov 22:4)  “By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.”

(Psa. 34:7)  “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”

(Psa 34:9)  “O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.”

II. THE ESTEEM FOR THE FEAR OF THE LORD  

The esteem for the fear of the Lord does not come automatically. If one does not place a high value on it, he or she will not seek it.

(Prov 2:1-5)  “{1} My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; {2} So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; {3} Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; {4} If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; {5} Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.”

(Isa 33:6)  “And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.”

III. THE ELECTIVE OF THE FEAR OF THE LORD

Again, the fear of the Lord does not come automatically.  One must consciously choose it, realizing its importance for his or her walk with the Lord here on earth.

(Prov 1:29)  "For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD."

(Psa 86:11)  "Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name."

This is one of the clearest verses that explains how much David wanted to experience the fear of the Lord in his life.  He mentions three things:  1) His desire to find the will of God, 2) His desire to follow the will of God, 3) His desire for fellowship with God.

IV. THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE FEAR OF THE LORD

The fear of the Lord must be taught by every means starting with the parent-child relationship. 

(Psa 34:11)  “Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.”

(Psa 111:10)  “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.”

(Prov 15:33)  “The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.”

(Eccl 12:13-14)  “{13} Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. {14} For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

(Zeph 3:7) “ I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.”

In II Kings chapter 17, God sent lions into Samaria, which at this time was an Assyrian province, to teach the people he had transplanted there the fear of the Lord.  So the king who had conquered Samaria, the northern kingdom of Israel, sent an Israelite priest back to teach the people how to worship the Lord.

V. THE EXERCISE IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD  

We must follow the principles of the Word of God in our lives.

(Acts 9:31)  “Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.”

(Neh) 5:15)  “But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.”

 (Mal 3:16-18)  “{16} Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. {17} And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. {18} Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.”

(1 Pet 1:17)  “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.”

VI. THE EXHORTATION IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD

We must remember to fear of the Lord in all of life’s circumstances.

(Deu 6:24)  “And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.”

(Deu 13:4)  “Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.”

(Mat 10:28)  “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

VII. THE EXAMPLE OF THE FEAR OF THE LORD  

The Lord Jesus Christ is our principal example of what it means to fear God.  He always obeyed the Father.  What an example!

Isa 11:1-5)  "{1} And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: {2} And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; {3} And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: {4} But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. {5} And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins."