Sermon Tone Analysis

! The fear of God in the life of the Christian

 

 

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Opening question: What is it that you fear most?

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What we are not talking about in this discussion of fearing God

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The unbeliever of course should fear God-  God will punish them for their sin

 

Romans 2:1-11 (NASB95) \\ 1 Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

2 And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.

3 But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same /yourself, /that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will render to each person according to his deeds: 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; 8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.

9 /There will be /tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

11 For there is no partiality with God.

 

           

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The fear of God in the life of the Christian

 

/Proposal: Fear of God should be one of the primary characteristics of the believers life/.

 

1 Peter 1:1-19 (NKJV)

/observe the flow of thought/

\\  3 Blessed /be/ the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who *according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope* through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an *inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you*, 5 who are *kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed* in the last time.

6 *In this you greatly rejoice*, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, /being/ much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love.

Though now you do not see /Him,/ *yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,** 9 **receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of /your/ souls*.

10 *Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully,* who prophesied of the grace /that would come/ to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

12 *To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven*—things which angels desire to look into.”

/Summary: We have been adopted into the family of God and made heirs on a heavenly inheritance.

As a relult we have living hope and joy inexpressable.

We additionaly are blessed to have post cross understanding and aplication of salvation./

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/Point: We have such a  privledged position as recipitrnts of salvation and children adopted by faith into the family of God!/

 

Our response:

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 13 */Therefore/* g*ird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest /your/ hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;** 14 **as obedient children*, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, /as/ in your ignorance; 15 but *as He who called you /is/ holy, you also be holy in all /your/ conduct,** 16 **because it is written, /“Be holy, for I am holy./*/”/

 

17 even *if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay /here/ in fear;** *18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, /like/ silver or gold, from your aimless conduct /received/ by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

We are children of God.

We a loved by God our adoptive Father.

God will never kick us out of His family.

Christ has paid for our sins.

God will never send us to Hell.

Side note: For God’s children His judgment of our sin is discipline not destructive.

But this discilpne is no light slap on the wrist.

Hebrews 12 (NKJV) \\ 4 *You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.**

**5 **And you have forgotten the exhortation* which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 *For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives*.”

7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons….*11

**Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness* *to those who have been trained by it*…

 

*Hebs** 12:6**  “**For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”*

Scourges used 7x in the NT.

% of them in the exicution narritves of Christ, once in refernce to Christians being persecuted “they will scourge you in their synogogues.”

This chastening and scourging can be through physical illness or even death.

1 Corinthians 11:23-32 (NKJV) \\ 23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread…26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

*29 **For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.**

**30 **For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep (are dead).*

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

*32 **But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”*

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/The Israelites and Moses saw the fear of God in an overwhelming way/

 

18 For *you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire*, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard /it/ begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.

20 (*For they could not endure what was commanded: /“And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned/ or shot with an arrow.”**

**21 **And so terrifying was the sight /that/ Moses said, /“I am exceedingly afraid/ and trembling.”)*

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We are dealing with the same God but an even more serious situation

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22 *But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,** **23 **to the general assembly and church of the firstborn /who are/ registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,** **24 **to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than /that of/ Abel*.

*25 **See that you do not refuse Him who speaks.

For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more /shall we not escape/ if we turn away from Him who /speaks/ from heaven,* 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, /“Yet once more I/ shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”

27 Now this, /“Yet once more,”/ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

*28 **Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.**

**29 **For our God /is/ a consuming fire.**”*

Yes, we are loved children of God.

BUT

 

V17 even /(and,even,also)/ if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, *conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay /here/ in fear*

 

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Why should we live in fear of God?

1)     v15-16 God our Father is Holy- God hates all sin

2)     v17      God our Father is a impartial judge- God responds disapprovingly to all sin, even that of His children

3)     v18-19 God our Father paid and incoprhesabley high price to pay the penalty for our sins and   redeem us: the very precious blood of Christ

 

!! /Definition of the “fear of God”/

 

MacArthur

…*Scripture tells us repeatedly that /fear /of God is the very foundation of true wisdom* (Job 28:28; Ps.111:10; Prov.

1:7; 9:10; 15:33; Mic.

6:9).

*People often try to explain the sense of those verses away by saying that the "fear"  called for is a devout sense of awe and reverence.

Certainly the fear of God /includes /awe and reverence, but it does not /exclude /literal holy terror.*

*"It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.

And He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread" (Isa.

8:13).*

*We must recapture some of the holy terror that comes with a right understanding of God's righteous anger…*

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!!!! Melissa’s story about breaking the table and hiding in the closet

 

 

 

/Jonathan Edwards// All True Grace In The Heart Tends To Holy Practice In The Life/

*The principal thing meant in the Scriptures by the fear of God, is a holy solicitude or dread lest we should offend God by sinning against him*.

Now, *if a man do truly fear to offend God, and if he habitually dreads the thought of sinning against him*, this will surely tend to his  avoiding sin against him.

/Edwards, //RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS/ - *The Scriptures place much of religion in godly fear; insomuch, that it is often spoken of as the character of those that are truly religious persons, that they tremble at God’s Word, that they fear before him, that their flesh trembles for fear of him, and that they are afraid of his judgments, that his excellency makes them afraid, and his dread falls upon them…*

 

!!!! *2 Results of the fear of God in the life of the believer*

 

“in any person whatever, just so far as the fear of God reigns, just so far will it lead its  possessor *to avoid sin* and to *aim to be holy*.”

Edwards

 

1) The fear of God causes the believer to hate and avoid sin

 

RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS Part III Sec 14

 

Proper evidence of the true fear of God:

Pro.

8:13, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.”

Psa.

34:11, etc., “Come, ye

children, hearken unto me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Keep thy

tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile: depart from evil, and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.”

Pro.

3:7, “Fear the Lord, and depart from evil.”

Pro.

16:6, “By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil.”

 

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A telling pair of verses that explain this aspect of the fear of God