THE FEAR OF THE LORD AND REPENTANCE

I am writing this post in response to a request from a minister friend who is distressed at how little attention this subject gets from other ministers he knows. I have a few thoughts that I trust will bring some clarity to a subject so many people seem to want to avoid, I have listened to R. C. Sprout, Derek Prince, and others on the topic to complement what I believe on the subject.

Many like to avoid the subject of the fear of the Lord. They react against those who seem scared to live a normal life, always scared to death of what God will do to them next. They also like to claim that Jesus talked more about hell than heaven, though it depends how you count reference and inferences. To be sure, Jesus was unequivocal in warning about hell, and Matthew 10:28 quotes Jesus, “Fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  Some think hell is just a place sinners go, but the sheer terror of what happens IN HELL when God’s wrath is poured out should sober anyone. It sure did ME!  

I was but five years old and I lied (a very stupid one for no particular reason) and my sister told me that would send me to hell. Of course she was right, as 43 scripture verses say that liars go to hell.  Thank the Lord I believed her and knew she was right and I came to know Jesus. That was almost 70 years ago and I have been in the Lord ever since.  A healthy fear of the consequences of sin used to be more routine in the church, but the pendulum has swung in the direction of “love” to the exclusion of everything else.  Ironically, if you keep reading Matthew 10, you will see the love of God towards us in His care for every detail of our lives. 

When we truly understand the totally of who God is, we gain more than mere respect, though that is a good start. We understand the holiness of God and why He has to deal with sin. We understand the price of redemption paid by Christ, so God put himself out there to enable us to avoid hell. Many concentrate on how Jesus felt when the Father looked away as He became sin for us, but it is hard for me to comprehend how the Father felt when he had to forsake HIS one and only precious son on the cross. I am a Father and I stand in awe of a God willing to do that for me. Sometimes the only thing that keeps us from sin are the consequences. I believe we should obey out of love for God, but I do not believe there could be any argument when I say that it is better to obey out of fear than to disobey!

In actuality, having a Fear of the Lord that transcends reverence and awe brings us freedom from sin. Derek Prince calls it gaining confidence in God which can lead to true satisfaction in life and knowing God is our refuge as we seek to totally please him. Proverbs 16:6 says, “By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.” (ESV)) We do not have to repent when we do not sin, and if we genuinely have the fear of the Lord, we sin far less and do not have to keep repenting for the same things over and over again! Israel messed with God repeatedly, worshiping other gods, attributing to idols the works of God, and pursuing carnal pleasures just like the pagans. When people lack the fear of the Lord, they downplay sin and are never delivered from it. They also pay a STEEP price for that. It is no wonder that preachers who refuse to preach about the fear of the Lord also tend to either downplay the seriousness of sin or refuse to use the word “sin” at all!

A man who was talking with John Piper on Skype noted, “Dear Pastor John, hello to you and the team at Desiring God. I’m a relatively new Christian in Sweden, and I have a problem with my church. I got baptized four years ago and became a member. As time passed, I notices our sermons don’t touch on sin and never call for repentance. I’ve asked one of the pastors about this, who said they are not preaching contradictory to the Bible; they just decided ti not talk directly about sin. They want to focus on the love of Jesus and his acceptance of sinners. It sounds well with me as an effort to attract lots of people into the church. At the same time, they don’t celebrate repentance and obedience. What do you think of a church that doesn’t preach against particular sins?”

John Piper’s answer to the confused young man is on the web at https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/my-pastors-dont-preach-against-sin-is-that-okay.  In summary he lists four reasons - The Prophets, Jesus and the Apostles all dealt with sin - naming specific sins and their consequences,.  Secondly, sanctification comes when sin is conquered, and we are supposed to kill sin. How can we kill something we do not even know what it is? Christ bore sin in his body on the cross  so that we might die to sin and Ive to righteousness in accordance with I Peter 2:24.   We cannot die to unnamed and undefined sin.  Third, we are born again to be new people. Free from sin - we need to know what displeases God so we can flee from it.  Fourth, Galatians 5 lists the fruits of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit. If we do not know the fruits of the flesh, how are we going to avoid them and grow into exhibiting the fruits of the Holy Spirit?

When I visit a home, there are often DVD’s in a row by the TV or books on the shelves, I am often taken aback that people see nothing wrong with filthy R-rated movies or books which should never have been written in the first place and are unfit for any human consumption.  I know a pastor who uses four letter words liberally oblivious to the command not to let any filthy communication to process out of his mouth, and knew a now-deceased man who led a Christian men’s group who would tell off-color jokes and cast off correction. I believe one of two things is at work here - either the people do not know right from wrong, as that spiritually ignorant man from Sweden in a poor church clearly had issues concerning, or they KNOW it is wrong but have no fear of the Lord and figure they are saved.  Those who believe in once-saved-always-saved believe they have their fire insurance policy in hand and holiness is optional. A man who became the pastor of a mega-church once told me that you have to get people to accept Jesus as Savior first. The Lordship of Jesus was sort of optional and it would be good it that happened later.  Compare that to Romans 10:9 (ESV) “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” A now-deceased very famous preacher loved by many wrote a book on Eternal Security and stated that a Christian who murdered someone and did not repent would srtill go to heaven when he died because salvation was irrevocable and a gift. I guess he missed Matthew 24:13 which says, “He who endures to the end shall be saved,” as well as a host of other scriptures especially in Hebrews.

Read the Bible! Be a Berean!  Psalm 128:1 says, “Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to Him.” Read I John and Revelation 2-3 so you know how God views professing Christians and churches who do not walk in his ways. You have to know the ways of the Lord.  You must KNOW the ways of the Lord, as Paul told the Romans, “How shall they hear without a preacher”. Paul communicated to Timothy that people will simply not tolerate sound doctrine, but gather around them teachers who will tickle their itching ears. That is an epidemic now just as it was in the first century. We have preachers who refuse to preach the gospel. Scripture says those who preach other gospels are cursed. We have other gospels of Emergent Christianity, Word-Faith, hyper-grace, Power Evangelism, the passion movement,  contemplative practices, circle prayer, universalism, inclusivity, kingdom now, Palagianism, mysticism, Ghosticism, born again in hell, Chrislam, Nicolaitan practices, Oneness Pentecostal modalism, New Apostolic Reformation, manifest sons, holy laughter, and more. We have people forbidden from leadership serving as pastors - men who love money, men who do not rule their households well, men who are not well thought of in the world, Men unable to teach biblically, and of course women who deny the very order of creation and usurp positions of authority in the church in direct disobedience to I Timothy 2.

I believe all of this stems from having no fear of the Lord. People without the fear of the Lord may not murder adults or born children, but support the shedding of innocent blood in abortions. I know a supposedly “Spirit-filled Christian” who claims God put this on the back burner even though God said it is an abomination to Him in Proverbs 6. The same person talks about “spiritual homosexuality” being worse than the physical perversion when a person in the unfavored political party helps another man fight unjust accusations and also believes women do not have to submit to their husbands if they disagree with them! Submission is only needed when we DISAGREE with the person!  Duh! Total deception because there is no fear of the Lord when we are ignoring crystal clear passages in the Bible not open to any different interpretations.

When people ignore the fear of the Lord, they are actually making themselves an idol - they worship their own opinions ABOVE the commands of God.  That brings us back to where we were earlier in Proverbs 16:6 - without the fear of the Lord, we will not run from evil. IF I may be so bold, I would say that without the fear of the Lord, we will always end up EMBRACING evil.  God forbid.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of knowledge.  Those who reject the fear of the Lord are not wise but foolish and do not know anything - their knowledge has not even left the starting blocks.

I think I have made my point.  Comments or additions are welcome!