I have been writing about the six objectives of the Christian life. The first objective is FEAR GOD. We must become a God-fearing people again.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes. 12:13
No fear of God, and man leads man to his basest state
Lu 23:40* But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
Ps 36:1* <
Ps 53:5* There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.
Ro 3:18* There is no fear of God before their eyes
The very concept of morals comes from a fear of God... no fear of God, and we have no morals. We may have ethics, which is man becoming a god; attempting to invoke his own morals. But these change as man's desires and ideas change... humanism...situation ethics...
Humanism has made itself into churches in America. Christianity today is egocentric - its all about me. There is a popular contemporary religious song, the theme and title of which is,"We get lifted up." Christianity is in no way about lifting up the individual. Christianity is about lifting up Christ! It is not all about me; it is all about HIM! The problem? We no longer fear God.
Oprah is turned off by a jealous God
On "YouTube" there is a video of Oprah Wenfrey recounting an experience she had in church as a young adult. She states that, the preacher was eloquently describing the Character of God. She was stopped dead in her mental tracks when the preacher said that God was a "jealous God." She wondered, "What does God have to be jealous of. Is He that insecure that He cannot be disagreed with?" She proceeds to explain that this was the point she began to turn from the traditional view of God. Jealousy is anger over being displaced. This is a sin in us, but God deserves the highest of positions. After all, He is God. Even some Christians have trouble with this concept.
But the Bible clearly states:
Ex 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealousGod,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Ex 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
The evangelical god of today's church is all love and no judgement. We picture God as this benevolent old Grampaw up in Heaven who deals out goodies when we decide to come visit. This image is not the God of the Bible. But the Bible says:
De 4:24* For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
De 9:3* Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee;
as aconsuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face:
so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.
Heb 12:29* For our God is a consuming fire.
A child tells his parent, "I hate you." because he doesn't get his way. He does not know what is good for him. The father does.
Luke 11:11* If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?
or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?12* Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13* If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children:
how much more shall yourheavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
We need to learn to pray with the Psalmist; "Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth:
unite my heart to fear thy name." Ps.86:11
You can't have strong faith without fear of God.
Ro 11:20* Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Heb 11:7* By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house;
by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
You cannot have wisdom and understanding without ther fear of God
Ps 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.
Pr 9:10* The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy isunderstanding.
You cannot have proper use of knowledge without the fear of God
Pr 1:7* The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Pr 1:29* For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
You will not repent outside of the fear of God
Pr 16:6* By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
Pr 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.
We talk a lot about soul winning around here. The #1 motivation for soul winning is the fear of the Lord!
2Co 5:11* Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
The Problem? We do not fear God!
I'm not trying to win people to Christ to save their marriage... to keep them from being lonely ... to cure their depression. I am trying to save their sorry hide from the judgment of God in eternal hell fire!
We do not fear God!
We are passionate about our hobbies and casual about our God. America is a nation of "have fun-ers" and feel good-ers. We play at working and work at playing. And in trying to reach a wolrd damned to hell we try to give them a Christianity that taistes like the poison they are drinking. Then we wonder why church doesn't feed us. GET YOUR BIBLE OPEN AND FEED YOURSELF!
We do not fear God!
We treat church like a hobby and sprots like a religion. We dabble in sin and dabble with Christianity the same way. Then blame God when we suffer the cosequinces of our own sin. We ignore God until the path gets rough then get mad when we don't know where He is. We think tithing is a sacrifice, while having envey in our heart for the world's toys. We stiffen our necks and turn a deaf ear when the preacher strikes a nerve and quickly gloss over the message as though it were for somebody else.
We do not fear God! It is high time we got repented, and got back to being a God-fearing people again.
In my next writing I will tell you how to develop a good healthy fear of God.
Just a thought. Thank you for reading.
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