Paul Washer - What does it mean to Fear God?

paul thanks again for being with us i'm reading in proverbs 1 7 it says the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction in ecclesiastes solomon says fear god and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of men we see this idea of fearing god riddled throughout the scripture it's a strong theme and yet today many people don't even understand what that means and how they can grow in their fear of the lord can you talk to us paul about what it means to fear god how we can grow in our fear of the lord and why it's so important well first of all we need to look that there are different aspects of the fear of the lord the unbeliever should fear the lord in what way as judge as righteous judge who is angry every day so there's a sense in which you know the unbeliever who is living in rebellion against god who is not reconciled through christ for him to fear the lord is to fear that aspect of his holiness and his righteousness that manifests itself in wrath now for the believer it's different it's it's that first fear that i talked about who drives you that drives you to christ and coming to christ we are now reconciled through him and we bear the righteousness of god in christ our legal standing before god our immutable legal standing before god is the righteousness of god so we're clothed in the righteousness of christ so obviously the word reverence there or fear is going to change i think when the most perfect examples of what it means to fear the lord is actually found in the lord's prayer where he says our father who art in heaven and you know we hear today i've heard this for 30 some years you know abba father so we can call him daddy or spanish papito or something that's not what that means that's not what that means the closest thing i've seen on earth to what i think it means abba father has been in several different people groups in africa where a child will come to their father with knowing that their father loves them knowing that they are endeared to their father and yet they will almost do something like this and drop and some almost bow in the presence of their father when we say daddy it's almost this trite to flip it santa claus flip it so here in the lord's prayer it's our father all that that means and then who art in heaven our father is the creator and sovereign of the universe and it's maintaining those two things now people will ask me you know okay what does it mean to fear the lord it is to reverence him when it says hallowed be thy name what it's saying there actually is that god in my heart in my estimation in my value of him would be put in a completely in a completely other category he's not like me just bigger or better he's not like me at all when we talk about god we're talking about a completely other category or some theologians have talked about the otherness of god and is is that why do i not take his name in vain because he's in that category infinitely separate above all other things in nobility and beauty and holiness and justice and righteousness he is a completely other okay now so people say i want to grow in the fear of the lord and um my reverence for him my respect for him which begins with my estimation of him okay you can't have reverence without a high estimation how do you get a high estimation and here again we go back to the word of god how has god revealed who he is the more i know about god biblical true knowledge if i'm unconverted the more i know about the biblical god the more i'm going to hate him but if i'm converted and i have a renewed heart and i love righteousness the more i know about god the more i'm going to love him do you see that and so it all goes back to scripture you know and people will often say when hearing about the fear of the lord that that's an old testament idea and so there's an illiteracy to the reality that jesus says you know luke 12 i'll tell you who to fear yeah paul just as we close talk about how the fear of the lord is not just isolated to the old testament but it is the anthem of even jesus's preaching i think here's something that's very important even if it was only isolated to the old testament the old testament is still the inspired scriptures you know so i don't know where people you know this it's this lie again that plays the old testament off the new and vice versa jesus is different than the old testament god all these different things and again it's just a lie of the devil so even if it wasn't in the new testament but it is yeah and and it's i'll tell you what it is it's this constant who is man's let me say this tongue-in-cheek who is man's greatest defender it's always the devil it's always in the garden what does the devil do did god give that command would he be that miserly i mean i want a vouch for you i think you need to be able to eat from that tree how dare god keep you from that tree so the devil is always on man's side against god and that's the same thing that happens here really i mean is god a megalomaniac that he would want you to fear him no that's just see if he can't destroy it utterly then he just says oh that's just an old testament thing and you know in the old testament it was just man's interpretation primitive man's interpretation of god and and there's a better interpretation in the new i mean he'll even play the old testament in the new testament against one another and so what we need to see is that what is reference it is simply seeing god in greater and greater light of the scripture to discover who he is and the more the more majestic the more wonderful the more you know uh holy and just and loving and all these things we see the greater and greater our estimation and the greater and greater our reference i remember you know there are men who i know godly men who will say paul call me by my first name and i go i i can't i just can't well i mean i'm almost 60. i can't and they say why i just i have too much respect honoring yes and that's that's created because i know this man i've seen him now for years and i i can't just call him by his first name yeah you know and then it's the same way all these years of growing in my knowledge of god he's just too wonderful not to show that respect and when i don't because when we sin we don't it strikes the heart or if i say something trivial it strikes my heart why over 35 years of growing in the knowledge of god that's why jeremiah you know don't boast in wisdom riches strength boast in this it's no god his attributes and as we fear god you said it is to have a proper and high estimation of him consequently we will have a reasonable estimation even though not to the degree that we should of ourself yes and as we do so we'll be able to be useful for christ honoring to him because we'll see god rightly and then we'll see ourself right now we're talking even in eternity yeah all right we're talking about a progression dynamic as opposed to static i mean even at the end if we can say it this way in eternity of eternities we will still have not sounded the depths of the glory of the beauty of the power of the holiness of god no matter how far we travel in to knowing who he is there's still more to know and that's what makes heaven heaven that's like eternity eternity it's an ongoing constant dynamic discovery of more and more about the glory of god which leads to greater and greater heights of joy and fulfillment as the creature so good the fear of the lord is what god deserves but it's also the beginning of wisdom so thank you for helping provide clarification on what that means and how we can grow in our fear of god so thank you paul you're welcome

Channel: Dial In Ministries

Views: 307,286

Keywords: jonny ardavanis, Paul washer, masters university, heartcry, missionary, fear god, what does it mean to fear god, dial in, podcast, hume lake, paul, jonny ardo, big questions, biblical answers, fear of god, the fear of god, the masters seminary, rc sproul, shocking youth message, ligonier, desiring God, Steve lawson

Id: NUI0Q0DQRYk

Length: 10min 1sec (601 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 08 2021