Definition, Part 2; Ingredients Part 1

Driving home: How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven.

Awaking from his ladder vision Jacob cries 'How dreadful is this place!' — yet that dread is perfectly consistent with pouring oil on the stone, vowing a tenth, and wanting to be in that same presence. A textbook case of reverential awe as opposed to the dread that flees.

For the subsequent paragraph indicates that it was a fear that was coupled with the most tender characteristics of trust in the faithfulness of God, of confidence in the love and the mercy of God. It's a fear that is perfectly consistent with trust and love. For he then raises a pillar, and he says this will be a monument to the faithfulness of this same God whose presence is dreadful, but who will nonetheless care for me, fulfill his promise, bring me again to this place, and out of gratitude to him I will give him the tenth of all that I possess. And so I suggest that this is a beautiful and...

14:32 - 16:01 Read in full sermon

Moses first intends to turn aside for a little scientific investigation of the odd phenomenon. The moment God speaks, scientific curiosity collapses and he hides his face for fear — yet then draws near to commune face to face.

Moses hides his face, yet Moses talks with this God. It's a fear of reverential awe, of veneration and of honor. Then over to Isaiah chapter 6, if you will please. This will be the last example in the Old Testament.

21:01 - 21:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Never draw near to God in worship without the reverential awe and self-effacing shame proper to a sinful creature before a holy God.

Sinless seraphim veil their faces before the throne without any shame of sin. Isaiah beholds the same object but adds the dimension of sinfulness: 'Woe is me, for I am undone, a man of unclean lips.'

Well, turn, please, to one account in the Gospels which will forever abolish such a thought. In the Gospel according to Luke we have an incident in the life of our Lord Jesus who came for the express purpose of revealing the Father. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. No man hath seen God the only begotten, the only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him.

27:10 - 27:40 Read in full sermon

After the miraculous catch Peter falls at Jesus' feet and asks Him to depart — yet in the very next motion leaves all and follows Him. Awe and attachment in the same heart at the same moment.

Peter got the message of this act of our Lord. Peter saw behind the fact that the net was put down and a great multitude of fishes were enclosed. He saw that the one who did this is none other than the Son of God, Messiah. And the recognition that dawned upon him, to what degree at this point we do not know, but to some degree, that this is God incarnate.

29:21 - 29:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Refuse to look only at the foreground of God's character — meditate on holiness, wrath, immensity, and omnipotence alongside mercy and tenderness.

Pastor Martin's picture of God: a foreground of rabbits, a winding brook, nesting birds — tranquil, tender. But the backdrop is an 18- to 20,000-foot mountain, snow-capped all year, with thunderhead clouds and lightning. A man who looks only at the foreground misses God.

which are well fitted to deepen the impression of awe produced by his eternal, infinite, immutable power, wisdom and holiness. Then he goes on to elaborate, quoting passage after passage and concludes by saying, surely a being such as this is worthy to be feared, surely he is the meet object, of the supreme esteem and reverence and love of all intelligent beings, surely to be the objects of his approval and love and care is the highest honor and happiness of such creatures, to be the objects of his disfavor is the deepest disgrace and misery that can come to any one of those creatures, and of ...

46:36 - 48:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Stop remaking God in your image to fit your sin; you will only begin to fear Him when you take His self-revelation seriously.

At Golgotha God's inflexible justice is revealed: He does not spare His own Son but brings the full brunt of His wrath upon Him. Love so holy it can only find its channel through the broken heart of the Son of God.