INTRO - FEAR GOD

Jesse Bocanegra

FEAR GOD • Sermon • Submitted 8 months ago • Presented 8 months ago

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Intro:

Nomophobia is the fear of being without your mobile phone.

Xanthophobia is a fear of the color yellow.

Decidophobia is a fear of making decisions

Omphalophobia is a fear of belly buttons. People with omphalophobia will avoid seeing or touching belly buttons, even their own. They might even put a bandage over their belly button to avoid looking at it.

Vestiphobia is a fear of clothing.

NEED: We are about to enter a deep study on fear - but this fear doesn’t require treatment, it is actually the cure to all other fears

Without this fear - you will fear irrational things

Without this fear - you will be a fool

Without this fear - life is dull

Without this fear - there is no lasting pleasure

Without this fear - your religion is worthless

Without this fear - there is no salvation

This is the Fear of God - THEOPHOBIA - when God is the object of our fear

This is one of the most dominate themes in the Bible w/ 175 direct references to the Fear of the LORD & dozens more of indirect references.

You need to study and obtain an ACTUAL, BIBLICAL & healthy fear of God - if you want to know God, if you want to make wise decisions, if you want to be happy IT IS IMPOSSIBLE w/out a fear of God

DEFINITION: It is that affectionate reverence, by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his Father’s law

The fear of God is the fear which powerfully produces adoration and love for God. It is the fear which consists in awe, reverence, honor, and worship, and all of these on the highest level of exercise. It is the reflex in our consciousness of the transcendent majesty and holiness of God.

It’s some mixture of that feeling a child has of fear towards his father & the fear that you have towards a police officer, the fear that a criminal has towards a judge & the fear that a zookeeper has towards a lion - it is some perfect mixture of all that which = a fear of God.

So with that definition we will embark on our journey through the Bible studying different passages that focus on the fear of God. We will make pit stops in every genre of the Bible in hopes that we will get a different angle at each stop, we will glean a little bit more until we conclude and have a more full picture of this Fear.

THESIS: Tonight by way on introducing this study - I’d like to give you 3 factors that drive you to fear God

1. The PRESENCE of God

If we would just get a taste for the actual presence of God, if we would just realize that God is totally everywhere always - we might begin to understand why His presence brings fear.

ILLUS: To explain this concept right away imagine you’re at canes after youth… CCM walks in - how would you feel? So - multiply that feeling infinetntly and then you’ll understand why God’s presence demands fear.

Three things that makes His presence fearful

FIRST His own greatness and majesty because no man can be in the presence of God without dying

Ex 33:20 “20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!””

In the OT - when the priest would enter the holy of holies - which was the closest man could get to the presence of God - he had to go through a rigorous routine in order to prepare himself & even then other would tie a rope and bell around his ankle so that if he was consumed by the presence of God, they could drag him out without entering themselves

even when He is showing His grace, kindess and compassion - the only response is dread and fear

Jacob in Gen 28 has a dream that God communicates to him in and in a non threatening, non agressive, very kind, compassionate approach God says to Jacob “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you”

What does Jacob say? woke up AFRAID and said “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it...How awesome [fearful] is this place”

When you are in the presence of greatness - you will be in fear

ILLUS: Like stepping on a court to 1v1 lebron, or stepping up to hit against shohei othani, like being forced to sing acapella in front of mariah carey - just being near the presence of God strikes fear because of how great He is

SECOND His presence reveals more of who we are

The most well know example of this is the prophet Isaiah - He said “WOE IS ME” “ I am undone for I am a man of unclean lips!”

What led a prophet who SPEAKS for God to say his lips are unclean? He says “For my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts”

Even our BEST qualities and finest deeds look hideous when next to the purity of God

We may think that we are somewhat of a bright light in a dark world, but when the overwhelming perfect light of God shines it makes us seem rather dim

It is the presence of God that emphasizes the disproportion between God and man

So when we come to the presence of God we should be MOVED to fear because of just how horrendous we compared to how majestic He is

You might say but why should I fear Him for that? He has already forgiven me! Transition...

THIRD His Goodness

When sinners receive the goodness of God in the forgiveness of sins, it will cause firstly a fear.

Jer 33:8-9 “8 ‘I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me. 9 ‘It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.’”

When you come to God on His terms through His son - you will experience His presence like never before - the light of His glory will shine on you - you will finally see God for who He is and will be closer to Him than you have ever been and that will ALWAYS result in FEAR

You might say “shouldnt God forgiving us cause joy NOT fear?” Yes and no. When you recieve the forgiveness of sins Psalm 2 says you must

Psalm 2:11 “ rejoice with trembling.”

“If God shall come to you indeed and visit you with the forgiveness of sins, that visit removes the guilt, but increases the sense of your filth, and the sense of this, that God has forgiven a filthy sinner, will make you both rejoice and tremble. O the blessed confusion that will then cover your face. While you ,so vile a wretch, shall stand before God to receive his hand and pardon , and so the first fruits of your eternal salvation”

This is why i say to you - FEAR GOD AND RUN TO HIM - like a child who is disciplined by their father and then clings on to them right after - the fear of God causes us to run TO God not away from Him.

As an enemy of God you should be in fear BECAUSE God will not lose to His enemies He will destriy them - your sin must be punished - but if you would hear this TRUTH - God sent His son to pay sins penalty - O that you would FEARFULLY run to Him confess your sins, place your faith in Him and find true forgiveness.

The presence of God must drive you to fear Him and in this study we hope to better understand God’s presence. But also His name...

2. The NAME of God

Names are to distinguish. names expressed the nature of the thing so named. That is why the name of God is the object of our fear because by His name, His nature is expressed.

Psalm 111:9 “Holy and awesome is His name.”

The name of God should always be held in reverence by God’s people. In fact even the heathen world should world should fear His name ^^

Psalm 102:15 “15 So the nations will fear the name of the Lord And all the kings of the earth Your glory.”

Maybe this is why God wrote in the 10 commandments Ex 20:7 “7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”

Lev 20:3 “3 ‘I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off (who) profane(s) My holy name.”

We need to have a reverential fear at the mention of God’s name

APP: I don’t say lightly that many of you make evident with the way you talk that you do not fear His name.

THIS SHOULD SPARK QUESTIONS

You who claim the NAME of CHRIST yet:

you lie, make inappropriate jokes, gossip, slander - do you not see the dreadful state you are in?

Its come to my attention that many here CLAIM the NAME of CHRIST by calling themselves Christians and yet will not forsake sin - that’s blasphemy

2 Tim 2:19 “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.””

3. The WORSHIP of God

Psalm 5:7 “7 But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You.”

Psalm 2:11 “11 Worship the Lord with reverence And rejoice with trembling.”

It is the worship of God - Any type of service brings fear along with it according as the quality or condition of the person is to whom the worship and service are done

Service brings fear when the one your serving is important

Illus: workers to employers, students to faculty, children to parents - our service is to the DIVINE

APP: 30 signed up for crew - do you serve in fear?

God watches our worship -

Rev 2:1 “1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:” and He watches as Rev 1:14-16 “14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.”

Until men have a fear of God, their best services are but glorious sins

God is jealous of His worship

Ex 20:5 “5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,”

I mean think about the things that we do because of a WRONG jealosy - in HS dating Brooke - I’d get jealous IT WAS WRONG - If a dude even said Hi to her or followed her on IG I’d feel all defensive and say that guys a weirdo… I’d do crazy things out of a wrongful jealousy WHAT WILL GOD DO OUT OF A RIGHTEOUS JEALOUSY - He is jealous over His worship because it BELONGS TO HIM!

I recognize many of you come here from different religious backgrounds - catholic, mormon, athiest - whatever - hear the TRUE word of God - He is jealous that you WORSHIP HIM and HIM alone. Give God what is His - repent of your idols and serve God

God judges those who “worship” w/ out fear

Nadab & Abihu - offered starnge fire and were burned to death from fire out of heaven

Eli’s sons - tried to do priestly duties without fear and were slain by the sword

Uzza touching the ark of the covenant and died

IN THE NT - 1 Cor 11:30-32 “30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”

So how much more should we who no longer have to go to a temple to worship but can worship in spirit. Us who now say our body is the temple. How much more should we be fearful of God because He watches and judges our worship.

CONCLUSION: 3 Rebukes

Those who don’t worship

Psalm 79:6 “6 Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which do not know You, And upon the kingdoms which do not call upon Your name.”

Jer 10:25 “25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You And on the families that do not call Your name; For they have devoured Jacob; They have devoured him and consumed him And have laid waste his habitation.”

Those who are physically present to worship BUT for wrong reasons

Many come here or go to church to

mess around

to grow their popularity

to flirt

to feed their lustful eyes

what a sad day it will be when these false worshippers will give an account for all they have done because they did not fear the Lord

Those are apathetic towards worship

I think may hear will say “I agree with everything I just heard” yet you have no fear of God in you. You think God just overlooks you, or your situation s unique, God won’t care, He will undertsand

- Isa 29:13-14 “13 Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, 14 Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.””

Repent of your hypocricy and turn from your sin and trust in the Lord who is able to forgive you because He paid the debt for sin on the cross.

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