Ingredients, Part 3
Pastor Martin expounds the third essential ingredient of the fear of God: a constraining awareness of one's obligations to God. The essence of that obligation is threefold — to love God supremely, obey Him implicitly, and trust Him completely. He illustrates this powerfully through Abraham's offering of Isaac (where God singled out fear as the virtue tested) and through Christ in Gethsemane and at Calvary, showing how the fear of God operates in supreme love, implicit obedience, and complete trust even unto death.
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Topics
A full transcript is available on the tab. 109 paragraphs, roughly 50 minutes.
Review: Predominance, Definition, and First Two Ingredients
In our previous studies, we have, first of all, sought to grasp something of the predominance of this theme in Holy Scripture. And I'm sure for anyone who has read his or her Bible, for even a very brief period of time, there is the conviction that the fear of God is not some concept that is tucked away in a few remote portions of Scripture, but it's found in the very mainstream of scriptural thought, and therefore to be ignorant of the fear of God is to be ignorant and devoid of the religion which is set forth in Holy Scripture.
Then we grappled for a couple of weeks with the meaning of the fear of God as it comes to us in Holy Scripture. We saw that just as there are two aspects of fear in human experience, so there are two facets to the fear of God. There is the fear of dread and of terror, and then there is the fear of reverence and of awe. Unregenerate men may have the fear of dread and of terror.
It's no indication of the presence of grace for a man to be afraid of God in the sense that Adam was after he sinned. in the sense that Felix was when he trembled at the thought of coming judgment. That fear is simply an indication that a man has not been given up to hardness of heart and to a seared conscience. But though its presence is no evidence of grace, a total absence of it may be indeed not only an indication of a hardened conscience in an unregenerate man, but it may be an evidence of very defective thinking in the life of a believer.
For there is a sense in which we never get beyond this aspect of the fear of God, the fear of terror, the thought of his judgments, at the thought of his rod which will fall upon us as his children if we walk in paths of disobedience. However, the predominant concept of Scripture regarding the fear of God is that fear of reverence and awe, the very presence of which is an indication of the working of God's grace in the heart of a man. The best summary statement I know is that which is given in Professor Murray's book, Principles of Christian Conduct, in which he states the controlling sense of the majesty and holiness of God
and the profound reverence which this apprehension draws forth constitutes the essence of the fear of God. And in that sense, then, we shall fear God for all eternity. We will never get beyond that sense of profound reverence which is rooted in an apprehension of His character. In fact, we might say that what we know of the fear of God now is only a little part of what we will know in that day, For now we see through a glass darkness, but then we shall see face to face and know even as we are known.
And so when you turn to the book of the Revelation and you find there pictures of the redeemed in heaven, you find them crying out, Who shall not fear thee, O God? Even in this state, he is worthy of fear. And then for several weeks now we've been trying to grapple with the essential ingredients of the fear of God. Having seen the predominant note of this truth, something of its meaning, now we're asking the question, what ingredients comprise the fear of God?
If that fear is to be planted in my own heart, if that fear is to grow and to develop in my heart, what things must be present in me and what things must be developed. And we thus far considered two of the essential ingredients of the fear of God. The first was there must be right views of the character of God. There will be no fear of God unless there are right views of His holy character.
As one servant of Christ has said, but whatever the reason, he's speaking of the fact there is so little thinking along the fear of God in our day, the eclipse of the fear of God, whether viewed as a doctrine or an attitude, evidences a deterioration of faith in the living God. Biblical faith means the fear of God Because the only God is glorious in holiness Fearful in praises doing wonders And his name is glorious and fearful If we know God we must know him in the matchless glory Of his transcendent majesty And the only appropriate posture for us
When we see him as he is is to be prostrate before him in awe and in reverence. To do otherwise is to deny the greatness of God, and to deny his greatness is infidelity. The pervasive emphasis of Scripture upon the fear of God as the determining attitude of heart and life in both religion and ethics is a characteristic mark of the people of God. So then there will not be fear of God in us Unless we entertain right views of the character of God And I think it's obvious to any thinking person That this is perhaps the most pivotal reason
As to why the fear of God The sense of awe and wonder has left the church It's because the God of Scripture Has been abandoned for a substitute who is this formless glob of sentiment called love, before which no one dreads and trembles and fears, but up to which people can snuggle when they get good and ready. So there must be right views of the character of God if there is to be the fear of God. And then last week we considered the second great ingredient, there must be a pervasive sense of the presence of God. That this great God is not that God out there somewhere,
but in the light of Psalm 139, this great God is here and He is here now. Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord. And the essence then of walking in the fear of God is to walk not only with right views of God entertained in the mind and heart, but to walk in the sense of His presence. God said to Abraham, Walk before me and be thou perfect.
Third Ingredient Introduced: Constraining Awareness of Obligations
Now we come today to the third essential ingredient of the fear of God. And these three things that I've given to you are not inspired as in any kind of topical preaching. One must try to gather the biblical materials, reduce them to their essential elements, and then lay them out. When John Bunyan wrote what would be, if it weren't in double columns, if it were in single columns, normal size print, about a 150-page book on the fear of God, he came up with 11 ingredients of the fear of God.
I've come up with three. Well, who's right, John Bunyan or myself? Well, I hope we're both right. All John Bunyan did was to break these things down under different headings, and I feel that most of his headings can be gathered under the three that I've given to you.
So I mention this that you'll not in any way think that I claim inspiration for these things. It's simply an attempt to bring together and to collate and gather under these specific headings what Scripture teaches on the fear of God. What then is the third essential ingredient of the fear of God? If it starts with right views of the character of God, joined with this pervasive sense of the presence of God, then the fear of God will be evidenced in what I'm calling a constraining awareness of one's obligations to God.
In other words, to live in the fear of God is not only to know who He is and that He is here, but that in the circumstance in which I find myself, the most important issue is my obligation to this great God who is here. Do you see the connection of it? to walk in the fear of God is to walk not only with right views of God, which will elicit awe and reverence, to walk in the sense that He is here, the pervasive sense of His presence, but that in the presence of that great God who is here,
the most necessary thing is to know and to discharge my obligations to him. To quote one servant of Christ, the fear of God implies our constant consciousness of our relationship to God. That while we are also related to angels, to demons, to men, and to things, Our primary relationship is to God and all other relationships are determined by and are to be interpreted in terms of our relationship to him. The first thought of the godly man in every circumstance is God's relationship to him in it and his relationship to God.
The Nature of Our Obligation: Multiple Relationships
Now let me give you a very current illustration of this. Right now, sitting where you sit, you are all related to, and let me take the author's terms, to angels. If you're a child of God, angels have been sent forth as ministering spirits to do service to the heirs of salvation. You are also related to men.
Some of you are blood relatives. Some of you, the man next to you is your father. The woman next to you is your mother. You have a relationship to one another as casual friends, as pastor to flock.
All kinds of human relationships right here now. You're related to angels, you're related to men, you're related to demons. I don't know precisely how many demons may be actually present here this morning, but Scripture tells us that they are an organized force, that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness?
There are some times when I need no faith to believe demons are here. I can feel their opposition to the preaching of the Word. Other times I wonder if maybe the Lord's cleared the atmosphere of them, at least in this geographical area. But you have a relationship to demons.
You have a relationship to men. You have a relationship to angels. You have a relationship to things. You're related to that pew on which you sit and about which you make an assessment as to its being comfortable or uncomfortable.
Now, you have many relationships here this morning, but if you came into this building in the fear of God you came into this building and you sit here recognizing that the only relationship which really matters or the one which takes precedence over every other relationship is that which you sustain to God. And your concern has been, as you've sat here in this previous 35-40 minutes, is what is God's relationship to me and what is my relationship to Him? What does He require of me, and am I rendering what He requires of me as I sit here this morning?
So that if you have been worshipping this morning in the fear of God, the evidence of that will be, or an essential ingredient of it has already been, that this relationship, yours to God and God to yours, and all that's involved in that by way of obligation and submission and obedience, that has been the most important thing. Now, has that been the most important thing to you? Has it? In this past 35 or 40 minutes?
Or has your relationship to your watch been the most important thing? Saying, well, boy, I've suffered through three quarters of this, only another quarter to go. Has that been your attitude? Or has your relationship to your father and mother been the most important?
Well, I'm here because Mom and Dad said I had to be, so I'll suffer it out. Or has your relationship to your reputation been the most important thing? I'm a member of that church, and if I don't go, people think I'm all fussed and bothered and the rest, so I'll show up. Has that been what's brought to you this morning?
You see how practical this is? what has been the most pressing issue to you from the time you walked through here and even before you came here and thought of coming. If you are walking in the fear of God, then you have been walking in this constraining awareness of your obligations to God. Now, having stated the principle, secondly, let me seek to lay out before you What is the essence of our obligations to God?
Three Aspects of Obligation: Love, Obey, Trust
If an essential ingredient of the fear of God is not only right views of his character, pervasive sense of his presence, but a constraining awareness of my obligations to him, what then is the essence of my obligation to God? Right here this morning, when I go out to work, when I spend that time with my girlfriend, when I sit at my desk in school tomorrow, when I go to the workbench in the place of business, what is the essence of our obligation to God? And I believe anyone acquainted with the Scriptures would agree that all of our obligations to God can be broken down into three great headings. Number one, to love Him supremely.
Number two, to obey Him implicitly. And number three, to trust Him completely. Isn't that the essence of our obligation to God? Love Him supremely.
And I don't need to support that from Scriptures, do I? What's the first and great commandment? What is the summation of all that God requires of us? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength.
This is the first and great commandment. commandment. To love him supremely, and then as the only proof of that love, to obey him implicitly. Jesus said, you are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. And then to trust him completely. Without faith it is impossible to please him. There must be the carrying out of obedience and the expression of love in the context of trust. Trust him completely. So then, to be in the fear of God is to recognize these things and to live accordingly. Here I am in a relationship with my children, with my wife, with my job, with my boss, with my neighbors, with my
house, with my car, men, angels, things. And in all of those relationships, the man who walks in the fear of God seeks to remember and be constrained by the recognition of his obligation to God, which is what? Love him supremely. So that if he senses an affection for his wife, which begins to border on idolatry, if he says, well, honey, I think I ought to go to prayer meeting and she He starts to pull a puss and say, well, I'll miss you.
I want you at home. He says, sorry, dear, my God commands me to gather with his people. And he shows that in that situation where he risks the frown of his wife or the smile of his God, the smile of his God is more important. And if he doesn't do that, he's not walking in the fear of God.
He's set up an idol in his heart. when that shiny new car glistens in the showroom. It's not a matter now of good economic planning. He's going to have to invest so much on the old one, so it would be better to get the new and the rest.
But it's simply the fact it sure would look nice. Now, of course, it means I won't be able to increase my giving, commensurate with my increase in salary last year.
Oh, yes, God says, honor me with the first fruits of all your increase, and that my giving is to be proportionate as God has blessed me, but I sure would like that new shiny car. And now he's in a relationship, you see, where he's going to love paint and chrome more than his God. He's not walking in the fear of God. If he's walking in the fear of God, he won't have that idolatrous attachment to that new car.
Now, is the pastor saying, shouldn't get new cars? No, didn't say any such thing. All I'm saying is if the motivation is such that it means you place a love upon that thing which contradicts supreme love to God and implicit obedience to God, then you're not walking in the fear of God. To love Him supremely.
So that Jesus, when He calls men to Himself, says, If any man come to me and hate not father, mother, brother, sister, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. He says, if you come to me, even legitimate love for yourself, which expresses itself in the desire to preserve yourself, he says, that must be sacrificed. A love for me must go beyond that so that you're expendable. You don't look upon length of days and retirement at 65 and 20 years down in some nice little Christian community in Florida as your ambition.
You're expendable.
So when people say, doing that might get you in trouble, say, well, I'm sorry. It's too bad. My life's not mine anyway. See, this is the principle.
The essence of our obligation to God to love Him supremely, to obey Him implicitly, Now, we've got to obey the laws of the land. God tells us to. Obey them that have the rule over you within the church. Ecclesiastical leadership.
We're to obey the government. We have to obey our superiors. Ah, but he is to be obeyed implicitly. And if there's any contradiction of the expressed will of any superior appointed by God, be it civil, ecclesiastical, whatever realm, then Acts 5.29 comes in where Peter says, We ought to obey God rather than man.
Notice the word ought. It is our obligation, Peter says, to fear to obey God rather than man. Here was this man walking in the fear of God. And walking in the fear of God, he said, I have an obligation which transcends the obligation to obey you men.
Old Testament Illustration: Abraham Offering Isaac
The obligation is to obey my God. You get the idea now of the principle. Now, let me seek to illustrate that principle by two great scriptural examples. I've given you a number of examples, but now I want to pinpoint this third aspect of the fear of God, a constraining awareness of our obligation to Him, the essence of that obligation, love Him supremely, obey Him implicitly, trust Him completely.
I want to take an illustration from the Old Testament and then an illustration from the New. The Old Testament illustration we looked at in part last week, it's this great man called the friend of God, this man Abraham. Turn please to the 22nd chapter of the book of Genesis.
Now remember what we're trying to do as we look at this portion is to see the third element of the fear of God exemplified in Abraham. this constraining awareness of his obligation to God being the supreme obligation loving him obeying him trusting him Genesis 22 1 and it came to pass after these things that God did prove Abraham and said unto him Abraham and he said here am I and he said take now thy son thine only son whom thou lovest.
God acknowledges his awareness of the depth of Abraham's affection for his son. Take the son whom you love, even Isaac, and get thee to the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. The scripture tells us Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass and took two of his young men with him. And Isaac, his son, enclaid the wood and rose up and went to the place which God had told him.
Then you know the story, how that he took hold of the knife and then God stays his hand. Verses 11 and 12, And the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him.
For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. Verse 18, And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. Now God says that this was a test Verse 1 God did prove Abraham And he was proving him at the very point of our study He was proving the reality and depth of his fear of God For when he passes the test God says in verse 12
Now I know that thou fearest God This was the point of test not love primarily, not trust primarily, but primarily the depth and reality of his fear of God. Now, what was involved in that? May I suggest that that which was involved was not only Abraham's right views of the character of God, a pervasive sense of the presence of God, walk before me and be thou perfect. He is called the friend of God.
He cultivated his presence. But here we see demonstrated in Abraham the fear of God revealing itself in this constraining awareness of Abraham obligation to God to love him supremely Abraham, you deeply love Isaac, but do you love me more?
Yes, God, I love you more. All right, prove it.
Takes hold of the knife, ready to plunge it into the breast of his own son. He demonstrated that his obligation to love God was supreme. Sure, he was to love Isaac as his son, and he found this no burden. This was the delight of his heart.
This child given to him when he was past the age when men can father children and when women can be mothers. And so this was no burden to love Isaac, and there was the depth of that attachment naturally. and then added to that the fact that all the covenant promises terminated upon Isaac and he could see in Isaac the whole ongoing of God's purposes of grace and so there was that love which had not only a natural stream but this stream of spiritual identification and of spiritual purpose all the covenant promises tied up in Isaac.
And yet in the midst of that depth of love Isaac reveals and Abraham reveals his determination to love his God supremely. Secondly, he reveals his determination to obey him implicitly. Notice verse 18. In thy seed shall the nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Abraham, you hear the voice of your natural affection for your child. And that voice cries out, don't offer him as a sacrifice. But Abraham, you've heard my voice which says, take thy son and offer him. And Abraham, you've obeyed my voice, not the voice of natural affection.
Then there was the voice of natural reasoning. Abraham, if you offer up Isaac all the covenant promises terminate upon Isaac's head how can you take and offer Isaac unto death and still see the promises fulfilled in Isaac and there the voice of natural wisdom cries out but he says the voice of God that's the voice I'm obligated to obey not the voice of natural affection Not the voice of human wisdom, the voice of the God that called me in er the calledee, in sovereign grace and mercy. That's the voice I'm to obey. And then he trusted him completely.
You say, well, how do you find that? Well, I'm so glad the inspired writer of Hebrews, whoever he was, has told us what went on in Abraham's mind while he made his trip up that mountainside. I might guess what went on in his mind but we don't need to guess about some things for we read in Hebrews 11 verses 17 to 19 this statement of what went on in Abraham's mind by faith Abraham being tried remember at the point of the depth of his fear of God offered up Isaac Yea, he that had gladly received the promises was offering up his only son, even he to whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Accounting. This is what he was reckoning on. Accounting that God is or God was able to raise up, even from the dead, whence he did also in a figure receive him back. What was he doing?
Not only loving God supremely Obeying him implicitly But trusting him completely Saying, alright God If you've got to raise him up To fulfill the promises You were able to do it Why the very fact that there is an Isaac It's almost like a figure of resurrection That you could have brought a living boy From a man whose body was as incapable of being a father as though it had been in the grave. God, if you can give me a resurrection son by birth, then it's perfectly possible for you to raise him up though his body is dead. For he's the son of a dead man. Isn't that what Romans says?
He looked at his own body as good as what? As good as dead, as far as having any power to procreate. and the deadness of Sarah's womb. So he says if two dead people can produce a living son by virtue of the power of God, then that same God can take a dead son and make a living one out of it.
And here is witness to the strength and the completeness of Abraham's faith. So I say that Abraham's fear of God, which is the one virtue singled out above all others in our Lord's response to the test, is a fear which expressed itself in this constraining awareness of His obligation to the living God.
Application to Parents and Children
May I, by way of application, say that this is precisely the thing to which God calls us.
When he says to us concerning our Isaacs, Lovest thou me more than this or than these? And he calls upon us to walk in a course which immediately brings up the voice of natural affection. I heard this past week of a situation that just made me want to reel. and I hear of them constantly or not constantly but with recurring frequency where you'll have mothers or fathers Christian fathers and mothers who have certain ambitions for their children and then when God seems to be leading in a different direction not contrary to his word
but contrary to their own carnal ambitions they seek to hinder their own children from following the will of God. When God says, Obey me! Not the voice of natural affection. Not the voice of natural inclination and human wisdom.
Obey me. You parents. What are your ambitions for your children?
What are your ambitions for your children? If God were to summon you into his presence right now and gaze into your eyes with those eyes as a flame of fire before which all things are naked and open. So you couldn't fudge. And God would have said, what do you want for your children?
What could you answer? Could you answer hardly without thinking, saying, oh God, I have one ambition. That they be what you want them to be. Period.
Period. Period.
Does that mean you want to save them at age seven and take them home at age nine? Thy will be done. If that means you want to lay hold of them and send them out to some obscure place there to die in the eyes of the world and of the church, total failures in poverty,
so be it, Lord. Could you say that? Could you?
If not, my dear parent, you do not walk in the fear of God. You don't love God supremely. Do you love your own cherished ambitions for your children?
I'm not talking as a bachelor.
I've got three children.
Where are your ambitions?
Do you love him supremely and his purpose for those children? or will the voice of natural affection and the voice of human wisdom and personal ambition will those voices dominate oh not if you're walking in the fear of God for if you're walking in the fear of God there will be that constraining awareness of your obligation to love Him supremely to obey Him implicitly and to trust Him completely I say to some of you young people who have perhaps a deep and intimate relationship with your parents. And the time may come when the voice of God says to you, this is the way you must move.
You say, but Lord, if I do that, mom and dad won't understand. Mom and dad may turn against me.
What are you going to do? At that point you need to say, Oh God, by your Spirit so flood my heart with your fear that I will be constrained by the consciousness. My obligation is essentially and primarily and supremely to you.
There may be times when the only way you can walk down the pathway of the will of God is to step on your own father and mother's heart.
you have to do it with tears. You have to do it with a sense of inner grief. But there are times when the only way you can walk down the path of the revealed will of God is to step on your own parent's heart.
That what Jesus said, he that loves father, mother more than me is not worthy of me. Isn't that what he said? Did he say that? Did he say, I came not to send peace, but a sword?
To set the daughter against the mother? Daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law? A man's foes, they of his own household? Did our Lord say that heartlessly?
No, no. Did he say that as some wild enthusiast just seeking to create some kind of disturbance? No, he said it as the meek, tender Lamb of God. But he said it out of the real.
that when his spirit sends the fear of God into the hearts of his people, when he calls them by grace, that fear, rooted in right views of the character of God, producing a pervasive sense of the presence of God, will bring them to that place of a constraining awareness of their obligation to God to obey him implicitly, even if it means the severance of the deepest of human ties. Has the fear of God so worked in you? Has it? It did in Abraham.
New Testament Illustration: Christ in Gethsemane and at Calvary
It did in Abraham. Then there is perhaps the most beautiful example in the life of our blessed Lord Himself.
And He is not only the one to whom we are joined in that vital and mystical union taught so often in Scripture, but he is also our great example. 1 John 2, 6, he that saith he abideth in him ought to walk even as he walked And Scripture says of our Lord a passage we looked at a few weeks ago Isaiah 11 and verse 2 that the Spirit which would rest upon the Lord Jesus was the Spirit among other things of the fear of the Lord The Spirit of the fear of the Lord. And then in Malachi, a passage I wasn't aware of until Mr. Clark quoted it this morning in the Bible class,
Speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it certainly seems that He alone can fit the prophecy which is directed here to Levi. Malachi 2.5 My covenant was with Him of life and peace, and I gave them to Him that He might fear, and He feared me and stood in awe of my name. The Lord Jesus walked in the fear of God.
Not the fear of dread and of terror. Though he did have dread and terror at the thought of the wrath of his Father being poured upon him. But he walked in that sense of reverential awe. Now how did the fear of God operate in him?
Notice these three things again in our Lord. It shows itself particularly when we come to that inner sanctuary of Gethsemane and Calvary that he loved the Father supremely. As a true man, he loved life. As the son of the Father's bosom, he loved and delighted in his conscious communion with the Father.
He could say, Father, I know that thou hearest me always. But now the Father's plan for the Son demands that He walk down a path, a path in which He will be stripped of the sensible comfort of the support of God. He won't be stripped of the fact of God's support, but of the comfort and the enjoyment of the supporting hand of the Father. He will have to give up life itself.
And in our Lord as a true man, this was a difficult thing. For men do not like to relinquish life. Death is a foreign element introduced to humanity. That's why we recoil from it.
That's why we dread death. That's why we fear even the experience of dying. Though as Christians we don't fear death. We fear the experience of actually dying because it's an unnatural thing for there to be this terrible severance of soul and body, a rending apart what God had joined together and will again join together in the world to come.
And yet the Lord Jesus so walked in the spirit of the fear of God that His supreme love to the Father causes Him to say, not my will but thine be done. Though everything within him recoils and we just overlap these first two principles, Scripture says in Philippians 2 that he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Though he were a son, yet learned the obedience by the things which he suffered. And In the midst of that supreme love to the Father and that implicit obedience, our Lord's trust in the Father was put to its deepest test.
Someone has said that our Lord's last words upon the cross, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, were perhaps the greatest act of faith ever exercised upon God's work. Here with no sensible delight of the Father's countenance The heavens shrouded in blackness The Son of God feeling in Himself The Father's wrath and displeasure Against the sins of His people In that situation where Isaiah 50 and verse 10 Was more fully realized than in anyone else Here He was, the servant of God Who obeyed the voice of God walking in darkness, the heaven shrouded in darkness,
and yet he so stays himself upon his Father and the certainty of the Father's promise that he says, in this act of naked faith, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
So in our blessed Lord we see how the fear of God operates in every single relationship, even into the mystery of Gethsemane and the cross. He was not only held by proper views of God, walking in that pervasive sense of the presence of God, but constrained by the awareness of his supreme obligation to God, not my will, but thine be done. So one is not surprised to find the fear of God often linked immediately with the whole matter of obedience. Deuteronomy 6, 24, Deuteronomy 10, 12, where God says, and I'm paraphrasing,
Exhortation to Walk in the Fear of God
this is what I require of you to love me and to keep my precepts or my commandments. Philippians 2.12, as ye have obeyed, now work out your salvation with fear and with trembling. Child of God, would you grow more in the fear of God and walk in that fear?
Then you and I must constantly remind ourselves of this fact. As I stand and where I stand in this present relationship, the most important thing is my relationship to God and what he requires of me in this circumstance. This God, glorious in himself, this God who made me, this God who redeemed me, this God is the one to whom I owe allegiance. So when it means that I must tear off a little corner of truth in order to keep the smile of my boss, I can't do it.
Why? Because of my obligation to the God who's commanded me to speak only the truth. See the ethical implications? Though everything in me in that situation cries out for the gratification of some physical appetite, in that circumstance with that young man, that woman, and my passions cry out, gratify me, and my flesh cries out, indulge me.
In that situation, my God says, flee, youthful life. What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? And there is the constraining sense of the supremacy of my obligation to Him. So then we must constantly remind ourselves of that fact, as I stand and where I stand, my obligations to God are supreme.
Constantly remind ourselves of what obedience involves. Constantly seek to enlarge the scope of our understanding of what God requires by the meditation of and searching, meditation upon and searching out of the precepts of God in his word. And then constantly pray for grace to forget all else that would blind us to this. Then I think we see for those of you who are not Christians, this is the explanation of why you live the way you do.
Romans 3.18 says of unconverted people, there is no fear of God before their eyes. Why do you live the way you live? because you have no profound sense of the greatness of God's person, no pervasive sense of His presence, and no constraining awareness of your obligations to Him.
That's why you can cheat at school. That's why you can lie to mom and dad. That's why you can open your mouth in cursing. That's why you can give your body to sensual indulgence.
Why? Because there is no profound sense of the majesty of God's person. No pervasive sense of his presence and no constraining awareness of your obligations to him. And my friend, you'll go on that way until God is pleased to give you a new heart.
For Jeremiah 32, 39 and 40 says that in the new covenant, God's distinct work is to put his fear within our hearts that we shall not depart from him. The Holy Spirit never comes into the heart of a man or woman, a boy or girl, but what he comes as the spirit of the fear of the Lord. And so if you have no fear of the Lord, it's because you're devoid of the Spirit. And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, what does Scripture say?
He is none of his. And so you can't conjure this up. You can't crank it out. but the God of grace and mercy who has treasured up in his son all that is necessary for the salvation of men bid you look to him through his son and cry to him that in grace he would be pleased to grant you a new heart and to grant you the spirit who is the spirit of the fear of the Lord so then the third indispensable ingredient of the fear of God is this constraining awareness of our obligation to him. May God grant that it shall so grip us and be our portion that even our worship as we gather again tonight
will be different, that every other relationship will fade into the background in the light of this relationship of ourselves to our great God. And may we in every circumstance of life be given to know and constantly reminded of this principle, so that we shall be in the fear of God as Scripture commands us all the day long. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we confess that we feel we know so little of your fear, that so often we are constrained by the awareness of the smiles and frowns of men, by the cry of natural affection and human wisdom. And we pray that your Spirit would so fill us and so give to us that fear of your own name that we may have at every turn of the road in every circumstance of life that constraining awareness of our obligations to you. We do desire to love you supremely. We do desire to obey you implicitly.
We do desire to trust you completely. And we know this is your rightful demand of us. Lord, turn our hearts to your fear, we pray, that we may render the love of which you are worthy, that we may perform the obedience of which you are worthy and that we may confidently rely upon yourself and your promises. To this end, seal your word to our hearts and may the fruit of it be born in our lives today and throughout the days before us until we see you face to face.
Help us to sanctify the remainder of this day. may it be a blessed Lord's day as we meet with you and with one another. We pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
Abraham's offering of Isaac as the supreme Old Testament demonstration of the third ingredient — God identifies fear as the virtue tested above all others
Christ in Gethsemane as the supreme New Testament example of the fear of God in action: loving supremely, obeying implicitly, trusting completely
The command to work out salvation with fear and trembling, grounded in the constraining awareness of obligations to God