Deity: The Fear of God | Dr. David Jeremiah

there's a power within you to help you overcome your most daunting challenges where could life take you if fear was not a factor are you ready to move from worry to confidence from anxiety to hope why be safe when you can boldly step into what's next [Music] it's time to move from fear to fear not [Music] hello i'm david jeremiah as we've been learning to move from fear to fear not over the course of this series of messages we've identified nine fears that we need to conquer through faith in order to grow in christ and experience greater intimacy with god but this week is different instead of discussing the fears that hinder our relationship with god i want to talk about a fear that actually improves that relationship the fear of god himself the fear of god is mentioned in over 120 passages in the old and new testaments and today i'm going to spend our time shedding light on that fear because it's clear from the bible that it's important to god and so it should be important to us as well in fact god makes dozens of promises to those who fear him i'll explore some of these promises as we consider deity the fear of god the final message in our series today on turning point are you in a place in your life where you need hope dr jeremiah wants to teach you how to move from fear to fear not in his book hope living fearlessly in a scary world in its pages dr jeremiah explores the top seven fears holding so many of us back as he shares practical lessons for facing down these fears learn to walk the path of hope and experience the providential power of god who as dr jeremiah explains still controls even the smallest details of your life discover strength and encouragement in hope by dr jeremiah yours for a gift of any amount and if you give 65 or more in support of this program dr jeremiah will send you in appreciation the living fearlessly set which contains his book his current teaching series what are you afraid of on your choice of cd or dvd and a correlating study guide plus the fear to fear not bookmark which will serve as a reminder to claim hope each day hope and the living fearlessly set yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of turning point today in appreciation of your viewership today dr jeremiah would like to give you the fear to fear not bookmark a powerful reminder containing scripture to help you travel each day down the path from fear to fear not receive the fear to fear not bookmark completely free when you contact turningpoint today now here is dr jeremiah with his message deity the fear of god what i'm about to tell you about today in many respects is a life-changing concept that if you get your arms around it if you get this in your heart it will change the way you do life it will change the way you do your faith and in the understanding of this fear you will gain power over all of the other fears that come into your life i am going to try to help you learn how to fear and i'm going to encourage you to fear because today i want to talk with you about the fear of god in fact there are two ways the bible tells us that we fear god two ways first of all we fear god with awesome dread awesome dread you say pastor jeremiah where does that come from well did you know that the first time the word fear appears in the bible it appears in the book of genesis chapter 3 and verse 10. after adam and eve sinned and god drew near adam hid himself from god's presence and he explained genesis 3 10. god i heard your voice in the garden and i was afraid because i was naked and i hid myself and i want to make this point that i am sure that what adam felt at that moment was much more than awe and reverence for his god he was stone cold afraid exactly as he should have been god had warned him that if he were to eat of the forbidden tree he would die he had done what he had been told not to do and now god was looking for him now the reason i bring this up is because there are many christians today who seem to think that because of the incarnation and the lord jesus christ coming as the god-man we have eliminated the need for any fear of god those who adopt this mindset as the whole truth often describe jesus as a gentle compassionate and loving person and he was and he is all of those things but he is more he is the fearsome jesus who took a whip and single-handedly drove from the temple a mass of thieving merchants you can be sure that these men felt fear all and dread are natural responses of the imperfect to the perfect of the mard to the beautiful and of the contaminated to the pure when jesus walked into the temple that day they were not afraid of him because he had a whip in his hand they were afraid of him because the presence of almighty god was in their midst in the words of the prophet isaiah isaiah 8 13 the lord of hosts him you shall hallow let him be your fear and let him be your dread now whatever you might want to think about the fear of god let me just put it on the table right up front there is a sense in which you and i need to cultivate a healthy fear of god you say what does it mean to fear god it means awesome dread but there's another way that we fear god and this is the way we are more comfortable with this is what we might call astonished devotion the bible tells us that as christians this is to also be a part of our lives in fact philippians says my beloved brethren work out your salvation with what fear and trembling first peter says conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear for active followers of jesus christ this concept is the most meaningful for everyday living we fear god by honoring him by reverencing him by cherishing him we fear him because of his greatness and his majesty which reduce us to an overpowering sense that nothing else we can ever confront in this world is like the god that we serve let me just explain to you this morning friends that when we truly worship god we enter into the wonder of who he is we hit the pinnacle of worship when we are brought into the presence of the god we serve and made to be aware of his majesty and his wonder and we were caught up in it because for a moment or so we're made aware that this god of the universe is the god that we know and the god that knows us could i just stop for a moment and say there used to be more of that than there is today even among those who do not know god it used to be in our culture that there was a kind of maybe distant but nonetheless respect for god and a certain kind of respect for those who knew god i don't know if you've noticed but that's not around anymore we've lost that let me tell you a different way we used to have great and high regard for someone if we would say about that person he is a god-fearing man you say that about someone today and they'll look at it and say he's weird a god-fearing man used to be someone we we looked up to we would say a god-fearing man a god-fearing woman and we would say we respect them people ask me all the time what's gone wrong with our nation and i tell them we've lost our fear of god we've lost our sense of reverence for the god whose principles were the foundation of this country you say dr jeremiah why should we fear god let me give you three reasons first of all we should fear god because of who he is psalm 89 says this for who in the heavens can be compared to the lord who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the lord god is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be held in reverence by all those around him we should fear god secondly because of what he has done once again the psalmist helps us with this by the word of the lord the heavens were made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth he gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap he lays up the deep in storehouses let all the earth fear the lord let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him for he spoke and it was done he commanded and it stood fast think of it what has he done he spoke and the world came into existence in order to help us get a picture of it the psalmist says he gathers up the waters in a heap he holds them in his hands the god that we serve the god before whom we stand in awe and fear and wonder is the god who created the world in which we lived and yes we believe he created it and he didn't need any help to do it he created it out of nothing in the exact time periods the scripture says he created it he spoke it into being he is the almighty god and we should worship him because of what he has done amen because of who he is because of what he has done and thirdly because of what he is doing all of god's great work is not in the past he is at work even today we should fear him because of what he is doing psalm 66 5 says in the present come and see the works of god he is awesome in his doing toward the sons of men let me ask you what is he doing today that should inspire such awe and fear in us we could make such a list but i want to focus on one thing if you wonder why we should be in fear of god because of what he is doing let me just say one word forgiveness psalm 130 verses 3 and 4 read like this if you lord should mark iniquities oh lord who could stand but there is forgiveness with you now watch this that you may be feared that we may hold you in awe these verses remind us that if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and some of us were forgiven of our sin when we were born again so many years ago that we have forgotten and we no longer allow ourselves to wonder in this truth that a holy god who was 100 righteous with no flaw in him could accept us through the simple process of his forgiveness and i am forgiven i am a sinner like all of you but i am a forgiven sinner only two kinds of sinners those who are forgiven and those who are not and forgiveness has been made available to all of us if we will just accept it and it comes right from the heart of almighty god it is the great work he is doing today and when we hear people whose lives have been changed and we listen to what they are saying and and how they are saying it and how god brought them through a process and now they are christians and their whole life has been changed and they're in a whole new direction from where they once were this life transforming thing is called forgiveness and it's the work god is doing among us today it's the great work of god your forgiveness and mine before i go on to the last part of this message i want to answer a question that sometimes people ask and that is how can i love god and fear him at the same time because the scripture seems to say that we cannot do that first john 4 18 says there is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment but he who fears has not been made perfect in love the bible tells us that we're to fear god and we're to love god and they're not in conflict at all this verse reminds us that when we truly know the fear of god we will understand the love of god and when we truly know the love of god we will understand the fear of god they are not mutually exclusive only in our own minds now when i told you at the front of this message that this doctrine was kind of overwhelming to me here's where i'm going with that i just was not aware of how many places in the bible we are given promises if we will fear god i mean i can only give you a few and there are many these are things the bible says will be ours if we learn how to fear god and hold him in esteem as we are called to do first of all is the promise of provision here's the verse psalm 34 9-10 o fear the lord you his saints there is no want to those who fear him the young lions lack and suffer hunger but those who seek the lord shall not lack any good thing the bible says if you fear god he provides for you number two the promise of protection behold the eye of the lord is on those who fear him on those who hope in his mercy to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine when you fear god he protects you the promise of purity psalm 103 verses 12 and 13 as far as the east is from the west so far as he removed our transgressions from us as a father pities his children so the lord pities those who fear him second corinthians 7 1 therefore having these promises beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of god according to these verses godly fear is a necessary ingredient to sanctification the fear of god is not only the key to our knowledge of god it is essential to our maturity as believers if we do not have a healthy awe and fear of god we cannot grow we can never be mature we will always be like little children but when we understand who he is it inspires in us a desire to know him more and then love him better and to grow in our relationship with him the promise of provision and protection and purity here's one some of you will like the promise of prosperity psalm 128 1-4 once again watch for the fear word blessed is everyone who fears the lord who walks in his ways when you eat the labor of your hands you will be happy and it shall be well with you your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house your children like olive plants all around your table behold thus shall the man be blessed who fears the lord this teaches us that you can have a god-fearing family i grew up in a god-fearing family and you know what i learned how to have a god-fearing family so my family is a god-fearing family and i'm watching my kids and they're building god-fearing families the bible tells us that when you fear the lord he prospers you and it's not just financial things but he prospers you in the well-being that we all seek for our lives here's the next one and this one i put at the top of the list but i don't want to do this just for myself this is the promise of prolonged days the fear of the lord prolongs days but the years of the wicked will be shortened the bible says and this is a principle a general principle like we find in the psalms and in the proverbs that generally speaking those who fear the lord have longer more productive lives you say well i know somebody who died it was don't give me that i know all that too but what i'm saying is that in the long run over the long haul if you fear the lord well what happens if you fear the lord well you don't ruin your body with alcohol and drugs and promiscuity and all of that and so you're just going to live longer it also says that god blesses those who fear him this is pretty exciting stuff provision protection purity prosperity prolonged days and here's a word some of you've never heard before but i'm going to give it to you anyway because it starts with a p perpetuity do you know what that means that means the continuation of something into the generations that go forward remember i told you that if you have a god-fearing family you will create god-fearing families going forward it's right out of the scripture listen to this deuteronomy 5 29 all that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments that it might be well with them and with their children forever psalm 103 17 but the mercy of the lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him and his righteousness to children's children men and women when we fear god we create an environment in which our children grow up so that when they go out of our home to start their own home they create families that fear god who then create other families that fear god we can do this if we follow the word of god and the key is our attitude toward god himself when we fear him and the question then comes as to how do we learn to fear the lord is fearing the lord something that you were born with or do you learn it well let me suggest to you from the scriptures that i have found this is something we can learn in fact it was taught in the bible when we began to understand the blessings that can be ours by fearing god we will want to begin doing it and it is possible to learn how to fear god the bible tells us we can do that and here's some verses that will help you understand what i mean deuteronomy 4 10. here we are told that god told moses to bring the people together and instructed moses like this gather the people to me and i will let them hear my words that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth and that they may teach their children so it sounds like you can learn this doesn't it king david wrote in his psalms come you children and listen to me i will teach you the fear of the lord psalm 86 11 says teach me your way o lord i will walk in your truth unite my heart to fear your name and solomon after he had finished writing the book of ecclesiastes and it experimented with all the wisdom of the world that he could find and kept coming up with the phrase and it's all vanity and it's all vanity and it's not meaningful and you remember solomon was writing the book as if there were no god trying to find out meaning in life without god in the picture he gets all the way to the end of it and he comes up with this summary listen to this you guys let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear god and keep his commandments for this is man's awe the last words that a man speaks before his death are often considered highly significant with that in mind consider the last words of david the king second samuel 23 verse 3 he who rules over men must be just ruling in the fear of god and the final words of joshua now therefore fear the lord serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river and in egypt serve the lord did you ever dream the bible had this much to say about fearing god my goodness maybe it's the secret we've missed maybe it's the thing we've lost maybe we haven't understood that if god wants to bless us we have to learn how to fear god and hold him in reverence and read his word so that we can come to know him better yes it is possible to love god and fear god it is possible to know god in this incredible way the god who is awesome and the god who loves us so much that he gave his son to be our savior you know what i'm so amazed because i came out of this study realizing my god is much greater than i even thought he's so wonderful he's so marvelous this god we serve it is the terror of god and our protection in the midst of it that brings such joy and wonder to our hearts we have a fearful god but he's the same god who has wrapped his arms around us in the middle of life and loved us to himself it is the very wonder of who he is that causes us to be overwhelmed that for such a one as me he would give himself as he has and therefore i can fear him and i can love him and by loving him i learn to fear him and by fearing him i learn to love him and the bible says that love and fear go together and here's what i want you to know if you get this fear right it will begin to obliterate all of the other fears of your life for if you know him and you know he knows you what is there to be afraid of what is there to be afraid of hallelujah dr jeremiah will return to close today's program right after this thank you for watching turning point dr jeremiah would like to offer you his book hope living fearlessly in a scary world to help you learn to move from fear to fear not dr jeremiah's book will be sent to you as a thank you for a gift of any amount in support of this program and for a generous gift of 65 or more dr jeremiah will send you in appreciation the living fearlessly set which contains his book his current teaching series what are you afraid of on your choice of cd or dvd and a correlating study guide plus the fear to fear not bookmark which will serve as a reminder to claim hope each day receive these resources when you support the ministry of turning point today [Music] and now with one last word for today's program here is dr jeremiah did you ever think you would hear someone encourage you to be fearful well the fear of the lord is a unique kind of fear one that is both wonderful and awe-inspiring at the same time enabling us to see god as our creator our righteousness our protector and our heavenly father a father who loves us so much that he sent his son to pay the price for our sin and prepare a place for us in heaven are you living in that kind of healthy loving fear of the lord would you like to learn how to experience it let me send you a couple of free resources that will help a booklet called your greatest turning point and our monthly devotional magazine turning points these gifts are yours at no charge if you take a moment to contact us here at turning point next time on turning point and it's that son of god who stands before all of us today with his arms wide open and say come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest thank you for being with us today join dr jeremiah next time for a special easter celebration here on turning point

Channel: David Jeremiah

Views: 59,171

Keywords: Dr. David Jeremiah, David Jeremiah, Turning Point with David Jeremiah, Turning Point, God, Jesus, Christ, Bible, Safe, Anxious, 2021, troubles, overwhelmed, overwhelming, death, job, fear, comfort

Id: BNqdLkfSjL4

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 28 2021