{"id":30,"date":"2011-03-29T15:13:45","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T15:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heraldofgrace.org\/biblicalexpositions\/articles1\/?p=30"},"modified":"2014-10-21T14:09:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T14:09:34","slug":"the-fear-of-god-part-vi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heraldofgrace.org\/biblicalexpositions\/the-fear-of-god-part-vi\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fear of God Part VI"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>How To Maintain And Increase the Fear of God<\/strong><\/p>\n

Albert N. Martin
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fear of God is one of the most basic themes of Holy Scripture, yet sadly it is one of the most neglected themes of Scripture in our day. One mature and very able student of the word of God has been bold enough to make the statement that, \u201cThe fear of God is the very soul of godliness.\u201d In other words, there is no life of godliness unless it is continually animated by the soul of the fear of God. We have seen that Scripture warrants the conclusion that the fear of God is the soil out of which a godly life grows, and the absence of the fear of God is the soil out of which an ungodly life grows. Because this matter is so vital, we need to consider how we are to maintain and increase the fear of God in our hearts.<\/p>\n

A basic text that helps put this subject into perspective is Proverbs 23:17. In this portion of Scripture we have, first of all, this negative command: \u201cLet not thy heart envy sinners\u201d (verse 17a). Don\u2019t allow your heart to begin to be jealous of the dainties of the ungodly. Don\u2019t allow your spirit to begin to be affected with any kind of a longing for what they call life\u2019s pleasures, \u201cBut be thou in the fear of Jehovah all the day long\u201d (verse 17b). In other words, the opposite of a heart that goes out with envy towards sinners and their sinful course of life is a heart that maintains a proper sense of the fear of God.<\/p>\n

How do we maintain the fear of God in our hearts? That it is God\u2019s will that we maintain the fear of God in our hearts is beyond dispute in the light of this text. We have an explicit command to maintain it. But in answer to the question, how do we do this, we will first consider a general principle that is the foundation of the answer and then we will consider eight rules, or eight specific guidelines, for maintaining the fear of God. <\/p>\n

A Foundational Principle<\/strong><\/p>\n

First of all, there is a general principle that we must understand and walk in the light of if we are to increase and maintain the fear of God in our hearts. Simply stated, that principle is this: When it comes to living the Christian life, the concern of your conscious spiritual endeavors is to be whatever God declares to be His own work in you<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Let me illustrate. Galatians 5:22-23 states that, \u201cThe fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self control.\u201d Wherever you see a person who manifests genuine, selfless, Christian love, you must attribute the presence of that love to a deep, powerful, inward work of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love. This means that love is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit\u2019s presence and work. Wherever you see genuine joy and peace and these other Christian graces, it is the work of the Spirit. This is beyond dispute. If we have any acquaintance with Scripture, we know that these graces are only brought into the life and only flow out of the life by the work of the Spirit. <\/p>\n

However, the same God who tells us that these things are the fruit of His working tells us through the same apostle in Colossians 3:12, \u201cPut on therefore, as God\u2019s elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering.\u201d Then he says in verse 14, \u201cAnd above all these things put on love.\u201d The Bible asserts that love is the fruit of the Spirit, and it is God\u2019s work to produce it; yet at the same time, it tells us<\/em> to put it on. And \u201cput on\u201d is a verb of action. You didn\u2019t lie in bed this morning and wait for your clothes to crawl onto you. You had to get up and go to them and get them and put them on yourself. Putting on is activity. Now, which is it? Is the presence of love and meekness in the life of a man the work of God or is it the work of the believer? The answer is that it\u2019s not either\/or<\/em>, but it\u2019s both<\/em>. The fruit of the Spirit is love\u2014put on love. And the same thing is true with all these other graces. The fruit of the Spirit is joy, and yet Philippians 4:4 says, \u201cRejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, \u2018Rejoice.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

This principle is most beautifully stated in Philippians 2:12-13, where Paul says, \u201cSo then, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.\u201d That is, apply yourself consciously and diligently to the outworking of God\u2019s saving purposes in your life, with particular reference to the development of these graces which constitute a blameless life. Yet the command for us to work is based upon the fact of God\u2019s working in us. God\u2019s working does not negate our working, and our working does not cancel out His working. They are coextensive in the life of the believer. <\/p>\n

It is essential to understand this principle if we are to maintain and increase the fear of God in our hearts. Putting the fear of God into the heart of a man is distinctly declared to be a sovereign work of God as a distinct blessing of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 32:40). In light of this, someone could reason that if it is God\u2019s work to put His fear in our hearts, then the way to increase the fear of God is obvious\u2014you\u2019ve just got to pray and trust that the Lord will do it. But that is not how it works. The principle is this: what God declares to be His work in us is to be the concern of our conscious labors and endeavors.<\/p>\n

In our efforts to be directed by the Word of God, we must not allow the accusations of legalism and moralism to scare us away from seeking to discover in Scripture the specific guidelines that God has given us by which we may develop and increase the fear of God in our hearts. Someone once asked a Puritan why he lived such a precise life, a life in which he had constant regard to the principles of Scripture. He answered, \u201cSir, you ask me why I live a precise life? My answer is simple. I serve a precise God.\u201d Why should we be concerned with discovering specific rules and guidelines for maintaining the fear of God? Because the God who has made us and before whom we walk has given us these principles in order that we might know how better to increase His fear in our hearts.<\/p>\n

The conscious, deliberate effort of the child of God is not self-effort in the sense that he is negating the grace of God. No; God alone can put His fear into our hearts. He is working in us to will and to do His good pleasure. But we must work out with fear and trembling the cultivation and development of that fear.<\/p>\n

Specific Directives for Maintaining the Fear of God<\/strong><\/h1>\n

An Interest in the New Covenant<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

That brings us to the second area of our consideration. Having considered the general principle, now we come to the specific directives for maintaining the fear of God in our hearts. Directive number one is, be certain of an interest in the New Covenant<\/em>. I use the term \u201cinterest\u201d in its sense of having a share or a participation in something. In this sense, if someone says he has interest in a business, he doesn\u2019t mean that he goes by once in a while and looks at the shop window. It means he has invested money. If you have interest in something, you have invested of your substance.<\/p>\n

Scripture tells us that this matter of the fear of God in the heart is the result of God\u2019s working in the New Covenant. In Jeremiah 32:40, God says, \u201cI will put my fear in their hearts.\u201d As long as you are a stranger to the New Covenant, Paul\u2019s description of the ungodly in Romans 3:18 will continue to be your experience: \u201cThere is no fear of God before their eyes.\u201d Unless you come to God through Christ in repentance and faith, pleading no grounds of approach to God but the blood of the everlasting covenant shed for sinners, you will be characterized by the absence of the fear of God until you die. By nature no one fears God. You may have a dread of God that drives you from Him, but you don\u2019t have that biblical fear, that regard of God\u2019s character which draws your heart out to Him in love and devotion and desire to please Him. You have a dread of God. You try to push thoughts of God out of your mind. You live your day-to-day life as though God did not exist. You may go into a building called a church once a week and go through the outward motions of worship. But you do not live in the fear of God. What God says in His word about your life has no real, practical effect upon you in your thoughts, regarding what you read, or don\u2019t read, what you watch on TV, or don\u2019t watch, what you say, or don\u2019t say. No, there is no fear of God before your eyes. The reality of who God is and His claims over you are not the dominant, governing principle of your life. <\/p>\n

That is true of every one of us by nature. If you are a Christian, probably you can think back with shame to years in which you lived that way. Just like the heathen wrings off the head of his chicken and sprinkles a little blood on his altar, we wrung the head off an hour or two a week and sprinkled it at the foot of some altar in some church. We gave a little time and a little money, but we lived totally devoid of the fear of God until God arrested us by His grace and put His fear within our hearts. <\/p>\n

Thus, if you would know the increase of the fear of God, be certain that you have come to Jesus Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant. Hebrews 12:24 says, \u201c[Ye are come] to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant.\u201d It is only as we come to Him, with the spirit of the hymn writer\u2014\u201cNothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling\u201d\u2014that He will make good in us all the blessings of that covenant that He sealed with His own precious blood. Child of God, do you long for an increase of the fear of God? Then make your interest in the New Covenant the solid ground upon which you stand when you plead for an increase of His fear. When you say, \u201cOh, God, increase Your fear in me!\u201d, the argument that you press before God should be that Jesus Christ has died as the mediator of the New Covenant. And one of the blessings of that covenant is that God would put His fear into your heart. \u201cLord Jesus, on the basis of Your shed blood I plead for an increase of Your fear. Give me as much of Your fear as Your blood of the covenant warrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Scriptures<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Secondly, feed your mind upon the Scriptures in general.<\/em> Psalm 19 celebrates the excellence of the two great spheres of divine revelation. Verses 1 to 6 celebrate the revelation God has made in creation: \u201cThe heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork\u201d (verse 1). Verses 7 to 11 celebrate the revelation God has made in His word: \u201cThe law of the Lord is perfect . . .\u201d (verse 7). So you have the revelation in creation and the revelation in Scripture\u2014general revelation and special revelation.<\/p>\n

Notice in particular what David does as he praises God for His special revelation, beginning with verse 7. He says, \u201cThe law<\/em> of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul.\u201d Then he uses another term: \u201cThe testimony<\/em> of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple.\u201d Another term is used in verse 8: \u201cThe precepts<\/em> of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart\u201d; and another, \u201cThe commandment<\/em> of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes.\u201d Finally, in the last part of verse 9, he says, \u201cThe ordinances<\/em> of Jehovah are true, and righteous altogether.\u201d Now, notice, in the midst of all these tributes to the word of God, in which David uses these various terms to describe special revelation, what he says in the first part of verse 9: \u201cThe fear<\/em> of Jehovah is clean, enduring forever.\u201d What is the point? David is asserting that there is an inseparable relationship between the special revelation God has made in Scripture and the fear of God. And this relationship is such that, for all intents and purposes, the fear<\/em> of God can be used as a synonym for the word<\/em> of God. This is why David can so freely insert \u201cthe fear of the Lord\u201d in a parallel relationship to all of these terms referring to God\u2019s word. What does that tell us? It tells us that he who would increase in the fear of God must feed his mind upon the Scriptures in general. The word of the Lord is so productive of the fear of the Lord that the two things may be used synonymously.<\/p>\n

This is why, when a present, vital, extensive relationship to the Scriptures begins to wane, the roots of the fear of God are beginning to shrivel up. You will grow no more in the fear of God than you grow in your understanding and assimilation of the word of God written. It is a daily necessity that you expose yourself to the Scriptures as much as possible, both in private and in the family circle. It is also necessary that you faithfully and regularly attend upon the public preaching and teaching of the word of God. For, though there are many portions of Scripture that, as far as we can discern, may have no direct effect in creating and sustaining the fear of God, the overall effect of every truth of Scripture is to feed the fear of God. In one way or another, the man who absorbs the most of Scripture, spiritually assimilating it into his life and being, is the man who will know most of the fear of God.<\/p>\n

When you are tempted to cut corners on those disciplines by which you are exposing your mind to Scripture, remember that such a decline is part of the subtlety of the devil to move you out of the fear of God. And a move away from the fear of God always precedes a departure from the realm of godliness, as we saw in the last study. If you and I are to be moved out of the realm of godliness, we must first of all abandon His fear. Often the first step of abandoning His fear is cutting corners on either the private or public exposure to the word of God.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be surprised, then, if in the pinch, when the pressure is on, and the issue of God\u2019s smile or God\u2019s frown is the all-important issue, that somehow those great eternal realities seem very distant. There is not a Christian who has lived a year as a true child of God who will not confess there are times when God and Christ and heaven and hell and judgment and godliness can all seem so remote and little more than words and theories. Isn\u2019t it true? Sometimes you ask yourself, \u201cWhat in the world am I? What in the world do I believe? How can these things really be a part of me and seem so distant from me?\u201d The answer is often very simple\u2014it is because there has been an erosion of systematic, consistent exposure to the word of God.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not as though you came to a certain day and said, \u201cAll right, from this day forward, the Bible and I will have nothing to do with each other.\u201d It wasn\u2019t like that at all. There was just a little extra pressure that made you cut corners on your set time with God. Just a few extra responsibilities one day and a few added distractions the next day, until, after a week or two, you no longer felt your absence from the Scripture. You were no longer painfully aware of the erosion. Then there was the breakdown in the Christian life and experience, to the extent that one day you said, \u201cWhen did it all happen?\u201d The answer is that it happened as the result of your gradual alienation from the word of God. I know no shortcut to maintaining the fear of God. Therefore the second guideline to maintain the fear of God is that you must feed your mind upon Scripture in general.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Forgiveness of God<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thirdly, feed your soul upon the forgiveness of God in particular<\/em>. Remember how the psalmist asked the question in Psalm 130:3: \u201cIf thou, Jehovah, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?\u201d It is an admission that, if God were to record every sin ever committed and then summon sinners into His presence one by one to give Him an account, no one could ever stand before Him. The prospect of a holy, omniscient God calling the creature to an account for every sin is enough to make one cry out, as they will cry in the day of judgment, that the rocks and the mountains might fall upon him (Revelation 6:15-17). One can only dread a God who marks sins and will call men into judgment for them. But, remarkably, the psalmist answers his own question by saying, \u201cThere is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared\u201d (verse 4). When I discover that this great God, holy and just and omniscient as He is, actually forgives sins, and that all of His glorious attributes are combining to grant me pardon, how can I help but fear Him \u201cwith deepest, tend\u2019rest fears, and worship Him with trembling hope, and penitential tears.\u201d The psalmist is testifying that, as his mind is filled with the wonder of forgiveness, so his heart is filled with the reality of the fear of God. <\/p>\n

Thus, for you also, the measure to which the fact and the wonder of grace sinks into your soul will be the measure of your fear of God. Feed often upon the reality of forgiveness. God, who is holy; God, who is righteous; God, who is called the high and the lofty One, actually forgives me, the sinful creature. Steep your mind often in this great and blessed truth of forgiveness. Why did the second person of the Godhead ever become flesh and dwell among us? Why should deity be enclosed in a virgin\u2019s womb? Why should He be born in a cow barn? Why should He die that death upon the cross? The answer to every one of these questions is in order that the sons of men might receive forgiveness in a way that is consistent with God\u2019s holiness, justice and righteousness, and with the demands of His inflexible law. <\/p>\n

As we feed not only upon the fact of forgiveness but also on the way of forgiveness, our fear of God will be deepened and increased. As the Puritan, Thomas Manton, has so beautifully said, \u201cThe heart is shy of a condemning God, but it adheres to a pardoning God. And nothing breeds this fear of God so much as a tender sense of God\u2019s goodness in Jesus Christ.\u201d Nothing breeds this fear of God like a tender sense of God\u2019s goodness in Jesus Christ. Psalm 34:8 is a well-known text, often used as a gospel invitation. There, David says, \u201cOh taste and see that Jehovah is good.\u201d Then he says in verse 9, \u201cOh fear Jehovah, ye his saints.\u201d We cannot fear God as He ought to be feared, except it be in the context of His abundant goodness and His condescending mercy in Jesus Christ. Therefore, if you would have the fear of God sustained in your heart, feed your soul upon God\u2019s forgiveness. Don\u2019t allow yourself to go back to the terrors of the law that will drive you from Him. Allow yourself to bask in the mystery of His forgiveness, and stand amazed at such a display of grace, that it not only lay hold of you when you were wallowing in your filth, but also bears so patiently with you in all of your wanderings and your stumblings. Stand amazed before such a display of forgiveness.<\/p>\n

The Greatness of God<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The fourth rule is, learn to feed your soul upon the majestic greatness of God.<\/em> By that I mean those aspects of His character such as His holiness, His power, and His omnipotence. Notice this perspective in Revelation 15:3. In this particular vision, John sees a sea of glass, and he sees a multitude of those who have come off triumphant from the conflict with the beast. Verse 3 declares, <\/p>\n

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, \u201cGreat and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What attributes of God are in focus? His greatness, holiness, power, righteousness, and sovereignty. What are these attributes but those aspects of God that set before us the majesty of His greatness? And the heavenly choir says that, as we contemplate His majestic greatness, it is unthinkable that any rational creature would not fear such a God. \u201cWho shall not fear thee, O God?\u201d If a creature knows Him as He is revealed, he cannot help but fear Him. The principle for us as God\u2019s people is this: if you would grow in the fear of God, then you must feed your soul upon the majestic greatness of God. <\/p>\n

More specifically, be familiar with those portions of Scripture most calculated to set these concepts before you. Periodically read through a passage like Isaiah 40 on your knees. That is the passage in which the prophet gives that lofty description of the majestic greatness of God, and he pulls together such imagery as is seldom to be found in any literature. He speaks of the entire expanse of the heavens being but the span of God\u2019s hands. He says all the nations are like a drop of condensation on the side of a bucket. He speaks of all the multitudes of the nations as a little swarming mass of grasshoppers. He thinks of God as a great shepherd and all the galaxies and all the stars as sheep, each of which He calls by name. Such beautiful imagery. What is it all there for? It is there to impress upon us the greatness of our God. The chapter begins with the command to the messengers of Judah to get up into a high mountain and to say to the cities of Judah, \u201cBehold your God.\u201d Look upon Him. Fix your gaze upon Him as He is revealed. We should be familiar with such portions of Scripture as Isaiah 40 and Revelation 1.<\/p>\n

We should also attach ourselves to a ministry that will assist us to maintain lofty views of God. Negatively stated, flee from a ministry that encourages you to snuggle up and make cheap love to the deity. It is an abomination to God. So much that is truly blasphemous goes on in His name. Attach yourself to a ministry that assists you to think of God in His majestic greatness. The hymn writer captured it well: \u201cMajestic sweetness sits enthroned upon the Savior\u2019s brow.\u201d Pure sweetness is unprincipled sentiment. Pure majesty is too awesome to draw near. But when you have majesty and sweetness together, you have the God of the Bible. Therefore, attach yourself to a ministry that assists you to feed your soul upon His majestic greatness. <\/p>\n

Also, read literature that will assist you to think often upon His greatness. Most of the books turned out in our own day are \u201chow to\u201d books. Everything has to do with what we are doing, doing, doing; how to do this, how to do that. You can scour the bookshelves in vain to find a book that will set before you who God is. Generally speaking, you have to go back a few years to find the kind of literature that will help you to think of the greatness of God. When Christians read old books, it is not just because they are antiquarians. It is because they find there the writings of men whose souls were permeated with the sense of the majestic greatness of God. And when we enter into those pages we somehow sense we are breathing the rarified air of the biblical thought of who God is.<\/p>\n

Further, acquaint yourselves with the hymnody that reflects the majesty of God. We sing hymns on our way to church every Sunday. One hymn we have been recently singing is tremendous along these lines. <\/p>\n