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Serve The Lord With Fear
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Introduction: This verse shows us the great importance of having grace: that strengthening influence from Christ that comes to us through the gospel. By it, we may serve God in such a way as to please him. Pleasing the Lord involves reverence and godly fear on our part. When we come to grips with the fact that our God is a consuming fire, we will understand our need for his grace to enable us to do always those things that please Him.
We cannot truly love God unless the fear of God is in us and true love for Him is expressed by our walking in obedience to His Word.
1. How much does our fear of the Lord affect the way we live?
A. There are some who have no fear of God. If they did, they would tremble and obey him.
1. The devil believes and trembles, but he will not obey God.
2. Achan was numbered among the believers, but disobeyed the express word of God that came by Moses.
B. Thank God for those who fear him and keep his commandments.
1. When Jonah was commanded to go to Tarshish & preach to the Ninevites, he fled from God’s presence and headed in an opposite direction. While he was sleeping in the hold of the ship he had boarded, a great storm arose at sea that threatened to destroy the vessel and everyone on it. The sailors cast lots to determine for whose sake this trouble came and determined that it was because of Jonah. They woke him up and he confessed, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven.”
“Then why have you fled from his presence?” To them, it didn’t make sense.
Take me up and cast me forth into the sea; I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you” (Jonah 2:12).
2. The Lord said of Job, “One that feareth God and esheweth evil”
a. Does Job fear God for naught? You have hedged him about on every side.
b. Job never charged God foolishly (Job 1:22).
3. The parents of Moses feared God and not man
4. Noah feared God.
If you don’t have the fear of God, you will eventually believe that God is easy on sin. You’ll think that since He’s your loving Father, He’ll never reject you – that you can sin all you want and keep getting up. You’ll get on a merry-go-round of “sin, confess, sin, confess” – and you’ll say to yourself, “I can do whatever I want. I’ll just run back to Jesus and make it right. He’ll forgive me at any moment!”
E. The fear of the Lord governs whether we withhold anything from him.
1. Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son (Genesis 22:12).
2. Ananias and Sapphira withheld part of the money from the land they had sold. Nothing wrong with that, but they lied and said they gave it all to the church (Acts 5:1-11). When the church saw this, great fear came upon all (Acts 5:11).
3. There are some in the church who still withhold.
a. Time.
b. Talent.
c. Finance.
2. The fear of God is to be chosen (Proverbs 1:28-31). Why? Because it is rewarding.
A. The fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. Prov 10.27
B. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10);
C. Fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 1:7
D. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. Ps 19.9
E. The Lord pitieth them that fear Him (Psalm 103:13).
F. Angel of the Lord encampeth around about them that fear Him (Psalm 34:7).
G. There is no want to them that fear Him (Psalm 34:9).
3. The Lord is ready to teach His fear to all who desire it: “Come, ye
children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Psalm 34:11).
A. Before he died, Moses prescribed for Israel’s kings how to walk in obedience. Moses could see prophetically that the children of Israel were going to choose kings after their own lusts. So he warned them of the time to come:
“And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write him a copy of this law in a book … and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them” (Du 17:18-19).
Every king was to constantly feed his mind on God’s record of past dealings with Israel. He would learn to fear God by seeing how the Lord blessed the obedient – and how he utterly destroyed and cursed all who disobeyed His Word.
1. When the king did that which was right before the Lord and walked in the fear of God, the Lord was with him, and blessed him and prospered him, and put the dread of Him in all their enemies.
2. When the king did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the ways of God, and walked according to his own ways, then the Lord departed from him, and there was famine and ruin and destruction that came upon the land.
It was very simple: The ones who did what was right, God blessed; and those who did what was evil, God forsook.
B. Conclusion: “Learn to fear the Lord thy God always” (De 14:23).
