Don't You Fear God?

Don’t You Fear God? Rom 3:18, Ps 36:1 The reason man is so abandoned to sin is because he does not fear God. (Mac Arthur). Fear is the only proper response to the presence and holiness of God. It is the recognition of God’s infinite power, sovereignty, majesty, splendor and holiness, To the extent that we are in the presences of God is the extent of the fear of God in our life. (Jerry Bridges -The Joy of Fearing God).

Distinctions of the Fear of the Lord fear of God

Greek phobeo Fear is the reflection (response) in our conscience of the transcendent majesty and holiness of God (Is 40: 9-28, Job 38-39) (Murray). It is an emotional response to being in the presence of God and an attitude, a subtle state of Mind (Gen 22:12). Fearing God has both a positive and a negative element. 1) fearing God on the positive side means to worship and to be in awe of God. 2) And fear of God on the negative side means to be afraid of Him.(Mac Arthur) It is a “Woe” Fear- to be afraid and a “Wow” Fear- to stand in awe or be awed by God, to reverence, honor, or respect Him. So, there is the dread or terror of the Lord (Deut 2:25, Ps 105:38) and there is the fear of reverential awe of the Lord. The fear that consists in being afraid; elicits anguish and terror and drives men to run and hid from God (Gen 3:10, Is 6:1-5). The fear of reverence; elicits confidence and love (Is 6:8) which grows from encountering his mercy, grace and forgiveness (Is 6:6-7) and draws men toward God (Murray). Luther defined it as a servile fear and a filial fear. Servile fear is a kind of fear that a prisoner in a torture chamber has for his tormentor, the jailer, or the executioner. It’s that kind of dreadful anxiety in which someone is frightened by the clear and present danger that is represented by another person. Or it’s the kind of fear that a slave would have at the hands of a malicious master who would come with the whip and torment the slave. Servile refers to a posture of servitude toward a malevolent owner. Filial fear is the Latin concept of the idea of family. It refers to the fear that a child has for his father. It is of a child who has tremendous respect and love for his father or mother and who dearly wants to please them. He has a fear or an anxiety of offending the one he loves, not because he’s afraid of torture or even of punishment, but rather because he’s afraid of displeasing the one who is, in that child’s world, the source of security and love. (Sproul). Both are seen in Ps 103:13 If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. Judgmental (servile) Fear is found in the first phrase: “Who could stand is frightening fear”. Here is God’s holiness encountering man’s sinfulness kindling a fear of divine retribution. The second phrase, “but with you there is forgiveness” is a proper fear motivated by his grace and mercy, which produces a joyful (filial) fear because of God’s love and mercy toward us. Only one is manifest, if at all, in the unbeliever. They have not experienced God’s grace and mercy, so they only know the servile fear of God. Both are essential elements of fear in the believer. It is not only fearing God in his holiness, but in his grace. (Bridges). Godly fear does not at all consist in servility and guilty dismay, nor in mere dread and terror. Godly fear consists with love. So . . . the more we fear God, the more we love him; and the more we love him, the more do we fear him. Godly fear is not a destroyer, but a regulator of other graces. Without it faith might become presumptuous, hope might lose its sobriety, love might degenerate into fondness or sentimentality, and joy might become giddy. But where the heart is full of godly fear, all these unhappy results are avoided. So far from agitating, it calms and quiets the mind. It seems to give both gravity and cheerfulness. It moderates without depressing; it animates without intoxicating. It is good ballasts to the ship in her passage through tempestuous seas. (Plummer) When we truly fear the Lord, we will recognize that He is the Creator and we are the creatures. He is the Master and we are the servants. He is the Father and we are the children. This attitude will manifest itself in our having a respect for God, His word and in our having a desire to do what He tells us to in His Word. To put it simply, the fear of the Lord is a deep seated reverence for God that causes men to want to please Him as they walk in obedience at all costs. (Eccl 12:13).

Detours of Not Fearing God there is no fear of God (Ps 36:1, Gen 20:11, Luke 23:39-43) They have no reverential fear of Him which is the beginning of wisdom, which is connected with departing from evil, and honoring and obeying Him, . . . on the contrary, they are regardless of His majesty and authority, His precepts and His threatening. It is astonishing that men, while they acknowledge that there is a God, should act without any fear of His displeasure. Yet this is their character. They fear a worm of the dust like themselves, but disregard the Most-High, (Is 51:12,18). The fear of man prevents them from doing many things from which they are not restrained by the fear of God. They don’t love Him, or render to Him that veneration which is due. They don’t respect His authority. Such is the state of human nature while the heart is unchanged." (Haldane) . . . the reckless wickedness of men proves that they are destitute of all proper regard of God, (the fear of God). They act as if there were no God, no Being to whom they are responsible for their conduct, and who has the purpose and power to punish them for their iniquity (Hodge). When men don't fear God's punishment, they will abandon themselves to sinfulness. That's why people become atheists, not because it's logical but because it's the way they can escape their guilt by deciding there's no God, so there's no consequence. There's no fear of God because there is no God, they conclude. They don’t understand, One will never even begin to be wise unless you fear God. (Prov 9:10) And that by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. (Prov 16:6) But unless God's Spirit has worked in the heart, men do not “fear” God. They have no respect for His holiness, they have no respect for His person, they have no respect for His work, they have no respect for His will, they have no respect for His power. There are times when we respond to God out of the pure love of our hearts. And there are times when we must respond to God out of the fear of His chastening power. And where men have neither, they do not desire God's glory and they do not fear God's punishment, they have no control over their sinfulness. . . .. (Mac Arthur) There is no fear of God before their eyes. by the "fear of God", is not meant a fear of God's wrath, of hell and damnation; nor a fearful distrust of his presence, power, providence, and grace; but a reverential affection for God, and which is peculiar to the children of God, which springs from a sense of divine goodness, is attended with holiness of heart and life, is consistent with faith, even full assurance of it, and with spiritual joy in its highest degree; (Gill)

Dynamics of the Fear of God in their eyes

Biblical faith means the fear of God, because the only God is “glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders” (Ex 15:11) and his name is glorious and fearful (cf. Deut 28:58). If we know God we must know him in the matchless glory of his transcendent majesty, and the only appropriate posture for us is prostration before him in awe and reverence. To think otherwise is to deny the transcendent greatness of God, and that is infidelity. . . the fear of God as the determinative attitude of heart (Murray) The basis of this fear is found in the nature, word, and works of God. We must gain a knowledge of him. . . the majesty of God and his goodness must be understood before he can be feared filially (Plummer) Fear is found in

The Sphere . . . the great works of nature. Gazing upon the vast expanse of waters, looking up to the innumerable stars, examining the wing of an insect, and seeing there the matchless skill of God displayed in the minute; or standing in a thunderstorm, watching, as best you can, the flashes of lightning, and listening to the thunder of Jehovah’s voice, have you not often shrunk into yourself, and said, “Great God, how terrible art You!” Not afraid, but full of delight, like a child who rejoices to see his father’s wealth, his father’s wisdom, his father’s power—happy, and at home, but feeling, oh, so little! We are less than nothing, we are all but annihilated in the presence of the great eternal, infinite, invisible All-in-all. Gracious men often come into this state of mind and heart by watching the works of God; The mightiest kings and princes are but as grasshoppers in His sight. (Isa 40:22), like a drop in a bucket and dust that has not weight enough to turn the scale.(Is 40:15) We talk about the greatness of mankind, but, “All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity” (Isa 40:17). (Spurgeon)

The Sovereign The fear of God’s sovereignty leads us to obey Him as our King; for He, to Whom we pray, and in Whom we trust, is King of kings, and Lord of lords, and we gladly own His sovereignty. We see Him sitting upon a throne, which is dependent upon no human or angelic power to sustain it. The kings of the earth must ask their fellow men to march in their ranks in order to sustain their rulers, but our King “sits on no precarious throne . . . As the Creator of all things and all beings He has a right to the obedience of the entire creature He has made. . . . we who believe in Jesus are not afraid of God even as our King, for He has made us also to be kings, and priests, and we are to reign with Him, through Jesus Christ, for ever and ever. Yet we tremble before Him lest we should be rebellious against Him in the slightest degree. With a childlike fear, we are afraid lest one revolting thought or one treacherous wish should ever come into our mind or heart to stain our absolute loyalty to Him. Horror takes hold upon us when we hear others deny that “the Lord reigns”; but even the thought that we should ever do this grieves us exceedingly, and we are filled with that holy fear, which moves us to obey every command of our gracious King, so far as we know it to be His command. Having this fear of God before our eyes, we cry to those who would tempt us to sin, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen 39:9). It is not because we are afraid of Him, but because we delight in Him, that we fear before Him with an obedient, reverential fear. . . . when this kind of fear of God works itself out to the full, it crystallizes into love. So excellent, so glorious, so altogether everything that could be desired, so far above our highest thought or wish, are you, O Jehovah, that we lie before you and shrink into nothing; yet, even as we do so, we feel another sensation springing up within us. We feel that we love You; and, as we decrease in our own estimation of ourselves, we feel that we love You more and more. As we realize our own nothingness, we are more than ever conscious of the greatness of our God. (Isa 60:5), The more we fear the Lord, the more we love Him, until this becomes to us the true fear of God, to love Him with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength.(Matt 22:37), God’s goodness often fills us with amazement, and amazement has in it an element of fear. (Gen 28:17). We are astonished at the Lord’s gracious dealings with us, and we say to Him, “Why have you been so good to me, for so many years, and in such multitude of forms? Why have you manifested so much mercy and tenderness toward me? You have treated me as if I had never grieved or offended You. You have been as good to me as if I had deserved great blessings at Your hands. You have paid me wages, like a hired servant, you would never have given me such sweetness and such love as You have now lavished upon me, though I was once a prodigal, and wandered far from You. O God, Your love is like the sun; I cannot gaze upon it, its brightness would blind my eyes! I fear, because of Your goodness.” Most of us have had friends who have become tired of us after a while. Possibly, we have had some very kind friends, who are not yet tired of us; but, still, they have failed us every now and then at some points; either their power could not meet our necessity, or they were not willing to do what we needed. But our God has poured out His mercy for us like a river; it has flowed on without a break. These many years He has continued to bless us, and has heaped up His mercies, mountain upon mountain, until it has seemed as though He would reach the very stars with the lofty pinnacles of His love. What shall we say to all this? Shall we not fear Him, and adore Him, and bless Him for all the goodness that He has made to pass before us; and, all the while, feel that, even to kiss the hem of His garment, or to be beneath His footstool, is too great an honor for us? Then there will come upon us, when we are truly grateful to God for His goodness toward us, a sense of our own responsibility; and we shall say, “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?” (Ps 116:12). We shall feel that we cannot render to Him anything compared with what we ought to render; and there will come upon us this fear, that we shall never be able to live at all consistently with the high position which His grace has given to us (Spurgeon)

The Scriptures We see further proofs in His word of His greatness in all His merciful arrangements for the salvation of sinners, and especially in the matchless redemption wrought out by His well-beloved Son, every part of which is full of the divine glory. And as we gaze upon that glory with exceeding joy, we shrink to nothing before the Eternal, and the result again is lowly adoration. We bow down, and adore, and worship the living God, with a joyful, tender fear, which both lays us low, and lifts us very high, for never do we seem to be nearer to heaven’s golden throne than when our spirit gives itself up to worship Him Whom it does not see, but in Whose realized presence it trembles with sacred delight. (Spurgeon)

The Sonship The fear of God also takes another form, that is, the fear of His fatherhood, which leads us to reverence Him. When divine grace has given us the new birth, we recognize that we have entered into a fresh relationship towards God; namely, that we have become His sons and daughters. Then we realize that we have received “the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15). Now, we cannot truly cry unto God, “Abba, Father,” without at the same time feeling, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (1Jo 3:1). When we recognize that we are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17), children of the Highest, adopted into the family of the Eternal Himself, we feel at once, as the spirit of childhood works within us, that we both love and fear our great Father in heaven, Who has loved us with an everlasting love, and has “begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away” (1Pe 1:3). In this childlike fear, there is not an atom of that fear which signifies being afraid. We who believe in Jesus are not afraid of our Father; God forbid that we ever should be. The nearer we can get to Him, the happier we are. Our highest wish is to be forever with Him, and to be lost in Him; but, still, we pray that we may not grieve Him, we beseech Him to keep us from turning aside from Him; we ask for His tender pity towards our infirmities and plead with Him to forgive us and to deal graciously with us for His dear Son’s sake. As loving children, we feel a holy awe and reverence as we realize our relationship to Him, Who is our Father in heaven—a clear, loving, tender, compassionate Father, yet our Heavenly Father, Who “is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence of all them that are about him” (Psa 89:7). (Spurgeon)