Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Soul’s Trembling Joy: Recovering the Biblical Doctrine of the Fear of the Lord

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The Soul’s Trembling Joy: Recovering the Biblical Doctrine of the Fear of the Lord · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed thinking, the deep dive that takes your
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shared sources and pulls out the crucial insights you need to be
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genuinely well informed. Today we're looking at a concept
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that, well, it often gets neglected or, you know, even
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worse, it gets totally misunderstood.
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Even in circles that claim the title Reformed.
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We're doing a deep dive into the doctrine of the fear of the Lord
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and the sources you sent us. They kicked off with a pretty a
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pretty sobering thesis, didn't they?
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They really did. They argue that a lot of
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contemporary evangelicalism is suffering from a catastrophe.
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And not a financial one or a political one.
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Yeah, it's theological, the sources say.
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We've traded this, this majestic, trembling awe that's
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due to the high and Holy One for a, what do they call it, a
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domesticated deity? A.
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Cosmic Buddy. Right Cosmic buddy, whose main
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job apparently is to affirm our self esteem, not to confront us
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with our need for holiness and, well, repentance.
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It's a huge indictment it. Is it suggests we're just
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swimming in information but starving for actual wisdom.
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And that's starvation. According to this material, it
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starts right at the very beginning.
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John Bunyan, you know, the author of Pilgrim's Progress, he
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really sets the stakes for us. He said the fear of God is the
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beginning of wisdom and they that lack the beginning have
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neither middle nor end, which means if we get the start wrong,
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we can't possibly get the rest right.
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And that's our mission today. To recover that true beginning,
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we need to cut through all the religious manipulation, all the
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fuzzy sentiment, and define what the Bible is actually calling us
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to. Our objective is to define this
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recovered posture as the affectionate, trembling
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reverence of a redeemed child before a Holy Father.
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OK, so separating it from just wrong terror?
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Exactly. Rigorously separating it from
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the terror of a condemned criminal.
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We'll approach this systematically, you know, moving
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from the grammar of the biblical text to systematic theology
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showing how Christ perfectly lived this fear.
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And then applying it. Right, applying it against
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specific modern cultural challenges and finally looking
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at the practical difference it makes in your life day-to-day.
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If we get the gravity of the Christian life, we get that this
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fear is the sin qua non ekdi. It's the thing we absolutely
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cannot do without. It's the recovered starting
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point for any genuine worship, for any true holiness.
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So embracing this trembling awe actually helps us stand more
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firmly. That's the idea.
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It gives you a solid place to stand in a world that feels like
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chaos. OK, let's start with the
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exegesis then, because without clear definitions, like I said,
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we're just chasing feelings. The central text for this whole
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discussion right at the start of Proverbs is Proverbs 1.7.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
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The foundational text. It really is.
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So let's break down that Hebrew phrase.
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Right away, you're at YHWH. The sources pointed out that
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this is a construct chain, and I found that really insightful for
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listeners who aren't Hebrew scholars.
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What does it mean that fear, which is Yura and the Lord YHWH,
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are connected in that specific grammatical way?
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Well, the construct chain is so important because it binds the
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two ideas together. It makes them a single cohesive
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concept. It's not just, you know, some
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general fear that happens to be aimed at God.
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It's more specific than that. Much more.
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It shows that this posture is intentional, it's relational,
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and it's covenantal. It's directed specifically to
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YHWH, the Tetragrammaton. The covenant name of God.
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Exactly the name of the God who saves.
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It's the Redeemer, God of the covenant, who is the object of
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this awe. This is a posture that only a
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covenant partner can really exhibit.
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So it's not the generic fright a creature might have for any
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powerful being. No, not at all.
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It's the appropriate response of someone who's been drawn into a
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real relationship with the Holy King of the Universe.
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This shows that the fear we're talking about is evangelical
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from the very start. And then you have the second
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part of that verse where this fear is called the Rashit of
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knowledge. We often hear Rashit just
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translated as beginning, but the sources they really unpacked the
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weight of this word. It carries 2 distinct meanings,
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right? Absolutely.
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The first is what we usually assume temporal priority.
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It's where you start. If you want to build a house,
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you start with the foundation. If you want to know anything
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truly, you have to start with this fear.
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It's the first step. Simple enough.
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But the second meaning is, I would argue, even more
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substantial qualitative supremacy.
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Rishad also means the chief part, the best part, the most
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vital part. Like first fruits.
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Exactly like first fruits or the chief of the oil and the source
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material makes a crucial argument here.
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Without the settled awe as your starting premise, you cannot
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rightly interpret the world around you, you can't rightly
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interpret your neighbor, and most importantly, you can't
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rightly interpret your own heart.
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So all other knowledge is Beth on a faulty foundation.
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Fundamentally twisted and incorrect.
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The beginning isn't just a prerequisite, it's the most
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valuable part of the whole system.
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That makes a lot of sense. I mean, if you define reality
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apart from its creator and judge, you immediately derail
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everything. Science, history, ethics.
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But to really get that, we need to make sure we're talking about
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the right kind of fear. The Hebrew language itself helps
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us make that distinction. Separating Pachad from Yara.
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Yes, this lexical distinction is vital.
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Most people, when they hear fear, they instantly think of
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Pachad. This is that gut level panic.
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It's dread. It's the terrified trembling
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that's caused by an immediate external threat.
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Like in Isaiah 2.10 where people are fleeing into holes in the
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rock because of the dread of the Lord's majesty.
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That's a perfect example. That's Peshad.
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It's an entire motivation is self preservation.
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It's just the desire to run away from something dangerous.
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It's the fear you feel when you suddenly realize you're driving
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too fast toward an obstacle. You slam the brakes.
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Your heart is racing, that feeling.
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Precisely. Now Yaira, when it's applied to
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God, is different. It's not panic.
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It's a settled, enduring disposition.
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It's a reverence that recognizes the intrinsic nature of the
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creator. It's the awe you feel before
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sheer, terrifying grandeur. And it's independent of whether
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he's currently threatening you with judgment.
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It's the simple recognition that one is small and he is great.
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So this kind of fear doesn't make you want to flee.
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No, it makes you want to bow down, to cover your face and to
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worship. It's a recognition of who God
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is, His utter holiness, not just a reaction to what he might do.
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This distinction is powerful, but here's where the argument
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gets really counterintuitive, and I need you to help unpack
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this specific source material nugget.
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How can we possibly maintain that awe that Yera, when the
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threat of God's punishment, the pichard, has been removed by
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grace? That brings us to Psalm 130,
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verse 4. But with you there is
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forgiveness that you may be feared.
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This verse is the pivot point. It's what separates natural
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religion from the gospel. In natural religion, the common
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assumption is I fear God so that I might achieve forgiveness.
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The motive for all my religious effort is to placate the judge.
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Get him off my back. Right, but Psalm 130.4 just
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flips that script completely. The sources highlight the Hebrew
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phrase lamontvar. That specific structure tells us
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the purpose or the why. God didn't just forgive us as an
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end in itself. He granted forgiveness for the
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specific purpose that He might be regarded with awe.
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Wait, that's genuinely that feels backwards.
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If I'm pardoned, shouldn't I be more relaxed, less fearful?
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Where is the logical connection between my pardon and my
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increased awe? The connection lies in the
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nature of God's holiness and our guilt.
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A person who truly understands the infinite offense their sin
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committed against an infinitely holy.
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God, which is something we can barely grasp.
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We can't. But when you start to get it,
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and then you recognize that this infinite offense was pardoned at
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an infinite cost, the blood of the sun, you are just utterly
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overwhelmed. You realize the depth of the
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condemnation you deserve, which would generate that Pashad, that
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terror. And then you see the magnitude
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of the mercy, which transforms that reaction into Yura.
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So forgiveness doesn't lead to carelessness.
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It fuels a fire of reverence because the forgiven person
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knows they are standing outside the condemnation they deserve,
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and they are overcome by gratitude.
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They respond with a deeper, holier, and more grateful
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trembling than any unforgiven person could ever manage.
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Grace leads not to a reduction of awe, but to an increase.
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So the fear becomes relational, It stops being the dread of a
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slave. What will I suffer and becomes
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the affectionate grief of a child.
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How could I offend such a father?
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Exactly the term tavar here. It suggests A passive action.
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God is to be regarded with awe. Forgiveness is the active agent
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that produces this result of reverence.
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It confirms that the fear for the believer is filial fear
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rooted entirely in grace. The believer isn't afraid of
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God. They are afraid to grieve God.
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Exegesis shows us that true gospel clarity means the removal
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of guilt leads directly to an acceleration of holy trembling.
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OK, so that distinction, survival dread versus filial
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awe, is where systematic theology really has to take
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over, because if we confuse those two kinds of fear, we just
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introduced chaos into the Christian life.
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We either terrify the conscience or we make God's grace cheap.
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That's absolutely right. Systematic rigor demands we make
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this distinction crystal clear, aligning with the standards we
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hold. If we're sloppy here, we end up
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confusing law and gospel, which is, you know, the source of
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almost all spiritual distress. So we have to distinguish
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between servile fear time or servalis.
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And filial fear, time or filialis servile fear, is the
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fear of the judge. It's the feel of the law.
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It properly belongs to the covenant of works, which
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demanded perfect obedience under the threat of eternal death.
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And it's motivation is purely self interested.
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Purely it's How do I save my own skin?
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It arises when God's law shines a light on your sin and
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threatens a just punishment. This is the fear of the criminal
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who sees the flashing lights in their rearview mirror, or the
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dread James talks about when he says that even demons believe in
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shudder. They know God exists and they
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dread the consequences, but there's no love there.
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None at all. And the key characteristic of
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servile fear is that it generates resentment.
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It never generates genuine love or gratitude.
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It might restrain outward wickedness.
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It has a civil use in society, keeping chaos at Bay.
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But it contains 0 holiness in itself.
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It's self-serving. Completely.
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And it's the very spirit of bondage that Paul says we who
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are in Christ have not received. You see this in Romans 8.15.
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If any ministry uses only the threat of hell to coerce good
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behavior without grounding that warning in the sufficiency of
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Christ's sacrifice. They're just preaching law.
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They're operating purely within the realm of servile fear.
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And that leads to a performance based spirituality where the
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believers constantly focused on their own activity, their own
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works, rather than Christ's finished work.
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It's just exhausting and crushing.
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It is. So now let's turn to the other
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side. Filial fear.
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The fear of the Father. This is the new spiritual
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environment of the covenant of grace.
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It's implanted in the heart by the Holy Spirit, the spirit of
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adoption. And filial fear is grounded in
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the glorious certainty of justification.
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It knows beyond any shadow of a doubt that the legal threat of
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the law, the penal sanctions, was entirely and completely
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exhausted upon Christ at Calvary.
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So for the justified believer, the dread of retribution, the
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bashat of eternal judgment. It's settled.
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It is gone, OK? And the nature of this fear,
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therefore, is affectionate reverence.
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It's the mindset of a child who loves their father so completely
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that the mere idea of dishonouring him or grieving him
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is what causes them grief. We can use that analogy you
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mentioned earlier. Servile fear is the fear of
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being grounded or sent to prison.
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Filial fear is the fear of deeply disappointing the parent
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you love and respect above all. Others precisely.
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The punishment is irrelevant. The damaged relationship is
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everything. Bunyan called this fear a grace.
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He did, and rightly so. It's a gift the Spirit installs
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in us that acts as the guardian of our holiness.
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It compels obedience not out of dread, but out of grateful love.
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And you see the distinction in where the focus lies.
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Servile fear looks at God's hand, anxiously asking, Will he
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strike me? While filial fear looks at God's
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face. Yes, tenderly asking, will I
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grieve him by my choices? This distinction is just so
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critical for understanding how we approach God and worship.
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I'm thinking of the Westminster Confession of Faith Standard XA
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1.1. It mandates that acceptable
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worship be offered with all holy fear and reverence.
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If we blur the lines between these two types of fear, we fall
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into some very serious theological ditches.
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We do. If we only preach servile fear,
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for instance, we inevitably fall into legalism.
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The sources described the state so powerfully as a Protestant
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purgatory. That's a great term for it.
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The conscience is never settled. The believer serves God
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perpetually just to escape wrath, which is fundamentally a
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system of works righteousness. They deny the reality of a
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finished justification and just trap themselves in anxiety.
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And the opposite ditch is just as dangerous.
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Antinomianism, or just sheer carelessness.
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If we eliminate all fear in the name of a casual domesticated
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grace, we treat the sovereign God with a flippancy that
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Scripture never, ever authorizes.
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And that gets rid of the need for the third use of the law.
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It does, using God's commands as the guiding pass for grateful
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obedience gets thrown out. And the result?
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Believers who are fundamentally comfortable in their sin.
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They believe in Christ, but feel 0 urgency to conform to His
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image. This, as we said at the start,
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is the catastrophe. So the systematic placement of
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this doctrine is essential. It is servile.
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Fear is expelled and rendered irrelevant by Christ's finished
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work and justification, but filial fear is actively nurtured
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and increased throughout the entire process of
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sanctification. So the goal isn't to eliminate
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fear. Not at all.
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It's to elevate it. The mature Christian's fear
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doesn't disappear. It is sublimated entirely into
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love. It acts as the consistent,
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joyful guardian of their soul, compelling them to walk in God's
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ways. OK, so the question now is, how
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does this fear relate to Christ himself?
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Because if we only view the fear of the Lord as a duty laid upon
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us, it just remains a burden to see it as gospel.
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We have to see it's perfection in Jesus Christ, our one
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mediator. Right, he's the model, but also
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the source. Before we get to Christ, though,
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let's briefly trace the theme through redemptive history, just
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to see its trajectory. In Eden, right after the fall,
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Adam's awareness of God's presence was twisted into shame.
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His fear became hiding and evasion.
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I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was
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naked and I hid myself. Genesis 3.10 His fear became
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totally self focused, not God focused.
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And then you see the refining process begin with Abraham.
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Fear gets tied to costly obedience.
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It's demonstrated in action when Abraham is willing to sacrifice
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Isaac. God says Now I know that you
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fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only
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son, from me. So fear becomes the willingness
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to sacrifice your most treasured thing because God commands it,
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right? Then you get to Sinai.
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The awe there is just terrifying.
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It's physical and visceral. There's Thunder, lightning, the
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mountain smoking. The people are panicked.
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It's pure pichat. It is, they say.
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You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak
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to us lest we die. Moses has to step in.
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Calm the panic. Do not fear, he says.
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But then he immediately insists that a steady, conscious
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awareness of God's holiness must remain, that the fear of Him may
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be before you, that you may not sin.
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So even there, the goal is to shift them from servile panic to
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filial restraint. Exactly.
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And that sets the stage perfectly for the Messiah.
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We can't view the fear of the Lord as some ancient, severe
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concept that Christ's arrival just made obsolete.
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Biblical theology shows Christ as the ultimate subject of
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reverence. Let's look closely at Isaiah 11,
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that prophetic portrait of the shoot from the stump of Jesse.
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Yes, Isaiah 11 describes the sevenfold endowment of the Holy
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Spirit resting upon the Messiah, and the list culminates in the
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spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
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That's no accident. Not at all.
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It shows that Jesus in his humanity was perfectly reliant
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on the Spirit to maintain that state of perfect dependent
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reverence toward His Father. This helps us rethink Jesus's
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life. His perfect holiness wasn't, you
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know, effortless. It was the result of a life
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lived in perfect awe, perfect submission and perfect
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dependency on the Father's will. Right.
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And verse 3 gives us that truly stunning insight into his inner
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life. His delight shall be in the fear
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of the Lord. We flag this in the source
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material as needing deeper attention, because if the
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Messiah delighted in this fear, we really need to know what that
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means for us. What does that mean?
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Well, the Hebrew word for delight here, bahario, is just
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so rich. As we noted, it shares a root
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with ruish, which means spirit or breath.
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The sense here is almost physiological.
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Christ breathes in the fear of the Lord, as if it were the
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necessary air of His existence. So it's his sustenance.
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It is, he finds, deep satisfaction, not just duty, in
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total reverence, submission to the Father's plan.
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So when we look at the life of Christ, how did this delight in
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fear actually manifest itself, practically speaking?
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It manifested in every single aspect of his obedience.
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I mean, think about Gethsemane. If Christ were motivated by mere
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servile fear, He would have fled the garden.
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He would have run, of course, but his filial fear, His delight
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in the Father's will compelled him to say Not my will, but
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yours be done. That was the expression of
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perfect, non servile era. He wasn't fearing the cup as
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much as he was delighting in the Father's holy prerogative to
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administer that cup for the salvation of His people.
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And you see it in his interactions too.
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Constantly. He's always deferring glory back
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to the Father. He says I seek not my own will,
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but the will of Him who sent me. His entire life was a
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demonstration of self emptying obedience rooted in this holy
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affectionate reference. The sources also brought up
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Hebrews 5.7, which is a powerful confirmation of this.
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We see Christ's perfect reverence demonstrated in His
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passion. It says He offered prayers with
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loud cries and tears and He was heard because of His reverence.
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That Greek term EULA bear denotes A cautious, pious awe.
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It's just hard to reconcile the casual intimacy we sometimes
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project onto Christ, this idea that he was just sort of hanging
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out with the Father with the reality of him praying with loud
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cries and tears, demonstrating EULA Bear.
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It really is. If the sinless son lived his
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life trembling before the Father's majesty, how dare we,
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as adopted rebels who still stumble, walk casually?
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It should check our flippancy immediately.
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We have to recognize that if the head of the Church walked in
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this awe, then we must follow. But we have to guard against
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reducing this to mere moralism. It's not a crushing command to
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just imitate Christ's reverence through sheer willpower.
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That's the key step then, moving from imitation to participation.
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How does the Gospel enable us to share in Christ's Ulibiya?
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Through our union with Christ, we do not manufacture this
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filial fear ourselves. The good news is that the spirit
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of the fear of the Lord, which rested perfectly on the head,
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Christ, has been poured out upon the Body, the Church.
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So when we are united to him by faith.
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The same Spirit who enabled Christ to delight in the
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Father's will now dwells within us.
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Our command to fear God isn't a fresh weight from Sinai.
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It's a gracious invitation to participate in the distinct joy
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and reverence of the Messiah. We receive this fear, we share
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in His reverence, and because of that, our awe is paradoxically
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mingled with unshakable peace. We tremble with the trembling of
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the sun. Knowing we are simultaneously
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sheltered by his sacrifice. OK, so if the fear of the Lord
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is the beginning of wisdom, then the enemies of wisdom will
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necessarily try to suppress that fear.
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The sources were very keen to move into the modern application
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confronting contemporary idols. The fear of the Lord leads to a
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hatred of evil, but we have to first name the evil and the
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idols that seek to remove God from His throne.
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That's right, the moment we try to live without the fear of God,
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something else has to step in to fill that vacuum.
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Because the human spirit is designed for awe.
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The first great idol identified is secular naturalism, often
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bundled with evolutionary thought, which functions as a
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kind of creation narrative. The core theological problem
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here is the elimination of accountability, isn't it?
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Absolutely. Naturalism is a system designed
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to explain the entire cosmos without any need for a creator
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and crucially, without a judge. If the universe is just a cosmic
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accident, then ethics get reduced entirely to biological
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utility or whatever maximizes the survival of the species.
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So the moment you reject A transcendent creator.
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You eliminate the entire impetus for Yurat YHWH.
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The sources argued that when the Church compromises on the
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doctrine of creation or softens the historical reliability of
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Adam, we undermine the necessary foundation of fear.
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Why is that? Because the doctrine of creation
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is the indispensable basis for the doctrine of accountability,
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we have to proclaim that we live corndeo before the very face of
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the God who intentionally made us and will absolutely judge us.
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If God isn't the sovereign Creator, he can't be the just
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judge and reverence just evaporates.
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So the necessity isn't just about doctrinal consistency.
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It's about maintaining the theological framework that makes
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genuine fear and the subsequent grace even possible.
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We have to define ourselves as creatures before the Creator.
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That's why the conflict is existential.
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If I owe my existence to a blind accident, I owe no one
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allegiance, and I certainly do not need to tremble before a
21:20
judge who doesn't exist. My ethics become self defined
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and my primary goal becomes comfort, not conformity to
21:27
holiness. All right, let's move to the
21:28
second modern snare, which is the fear of man.
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Proverbs 29.25 gives us the central biblical warning.
21:35
The fear of man lays A snare. Now, in the current climate, the
21:39
source has pointed to certain ideologies like critical race
21:42
theory and other broader cultural movements we call woke
21:45
as potent modern tools for manufacturing this particular
21:48
snare. This is a vital point, and it
21:51
has to be handled with theological precision.
21:53
We're not interested in the political labels here, but in
21:56
the theological mechanism the source material is describing.
21:59
These ideologies, according to the analysis, operate by
22:02
instilling A paralyzing fear of social stigmatization, the dread
22:06
of being publicly labeled as oppressor, bigot or intolerant.
22:10
And this manufactured fear becomes the new arbiter of
22:13
truth. Yes, it compels individuals to
22:15
submit to constantly shifting, culture driven definitions of
22:19
morality, justice and human identity rather than submitting
22:22
to the fixed, impartial law of God.
22:25
The fear of man demands silence and perpetual guilt.
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It replaces the need to seek God's approval with the
22:30
desperate need to secure man's approval.
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So the sources are showing that the problem isn't just the
22:35
content of the ideology, but the way he uses social pressure to
22:39
replace the fear of God with the fear of the group.
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If a church leader refuses to stay biblical truth on a
22:46
difficult issue like marriage or gender because they're afraid of
22:49
losing social capital or cultural approval.
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They have succumbed to the snare.
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The fear of man is a genuine tyranny.
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It enslaves the conscience to the court of public opinion.
22:59
When you tremble before a Twitter mob or the
23:02
pronouncements of an HR department, you are giving them
23:04
the spiritual authority that belongs only to God.
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But the fear of the Lord is liberation.
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It is because we tremble before the thrice Holy God, the highest
23:13
authority in the universe. We are freed from the necessity
23:15
of trembling before temporal temporary authorities.
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This freedom enables us to define justice, human nature,
23:23
and sin solely by the authority of Scripture, regardless of the
23:26
cultural cost. So when your fear is rightly
23:29
placed on God, you're no longer concerned with man's labels.
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You're concerned only with God's verdict.
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That's a critical distinction. It shows that fear, when it's
23:38
rightly applied, actually produces genuine boldness.
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Now let's look inward at the church itself.
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The sources identify pragmatism and therapeutic deism as
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internal idols. In a sense.
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Church pragmatism, the whole seeker sensitive movement.
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It's just another manifestation of the fear of man, isn't it?
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It's functionally atheistic because it's driving.
23:58
Question is what works to keep the seats full rather than what
24:02
has God commanded? It absolutely is.
24:04
It fears the empty seat more than it fears the empty unholy
24:07
soul. This approach suggests that
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God's own prescribed means of grace, preaching prayer, the
24:13
sacraments, are somehow insufficient to accomplish His
24:16
purpose. So it relies on human cleverness
24:19
instead. Marketing techniques watering
24:21
down the offensive doctrines. When God's wrath, the reality of
24:24
hell, or God's sovereignty are minimized or just removed from
24:27
the pulpit to make the message palatable, the fear of the Lord
24:30
is being actively suppressed, and this makes the gospel sound
24:33
less urgent and frankly, less glorious.
24:35
And therapeutic deism is the natural result of this.
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If God has preached as merely a means to achieve personal
24:42
happiness or self actualization, he's viewed as the servant and
24:47
man remains the sovereign end. God exists to make me feel good,
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not to make me holy. And this produces a church full
24:55
of people who are perfectly comfortable with their own vices
24:58
because they have never truly encountered the God who is a
25:00
consuming fire. They've only met the cosmic
25:03
buddy. The corrective is undeniable.
25:05
We have to recover the gravity of the biblical.
25:08
God, we have to preach the God who is a terrifying judge to the
25:11
impenitent. We do.
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Only by recovering the terror of the Lord mentioned in 2nd
25:15
Corinthians 5.11, the reality of His judgement, can we truly
25:18
appreciate the profound sweetness of His grace.
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If you minimize the danger of sin and judgement, you
25:24
inevitably minimize the magnitude of the rescue provided
25:27
by Christ. OK, before leaving this section,
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we should address the distortion of legalistic dread again,
25:32
because it's the internal enemy that looks pious but just
25:35
destroys the conscience. Right.
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Legalism uses fear to control the conscience, keeping
25:39
believers in perpetual doubt. Have I done enough?
25:42
Have I repented enough? It confuses the ground of our
25:45
standing, which is justification, with the means of
25:48
our growth, which is sanctification, trapping people
25:52
in an anxious, performance driven state of service.
25:54
And this is a critical theological error.
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It is because it contradicts the very promise of the spirit of
25:59
adoption in Romans 8.15 and the perfect love that expels the
26:03
fear of punishment in first John 4.18.
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Legalistic dread does not produce the peace of God, it
26:10
produces religious panic. Whereas evangelical fear.
26:13
Filial fear it it removes the uncertainty of the condemned
26:16
prisoner, replacing anxiety with reverend awe rooted firmly in
26:19
Christ's completely finished work.
26:22
We have to always clarify the fear of God is either a gift of
26:25
grace that leads to gratitude and holiness, or it's a tool of
26:28
man that leads to torment or apathy.
26:30
There is no neutral ground. We've established the
26:32
theological grammar and we've destroyed the idols.
26:35
So now how does this recover doctrine, change how we live,
26:38
think and feel? Let's apply the fear of the Lord
26:40
to our head, our heart, and our hands first to the hen, our
26:44
doctrine and intellect. The fear of the Lord requires an
26:47
intellectual submission to the apparent paradox of God's
26:50
nature. We have a tendency to
26:52
compartmentalize God. We love the loving God and we,
26:56
you know, we minimize the holy God.
26:57
And we have to resist that modern temptation to pit God's
27:01
attributes against each other. To fear Him is to submit to the
27:04
fact that he is simultaneously ABBA Father, intimate and
27:08
tender, and consuming fire, wholly separate and terrifyingly
27:12
holy. If you reject 1/2 of that
27:14
equation, your whole doctrine of God just collapses.
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And this intellectual submission should lead to a practical
27:20
discipline. It leads to cultivating Coram
27:22
dia, living consciously before the face of God.
27:24
The practical atheist, even if they attend church, lives as if
27:27
God only sees them in public worship.
27:29
But the God fearer knows that every thought, every secret
27:32
action is exposed, and we can bear before the eyes of him to
27:35
whom we must give account. That's Hebrews 4.13.
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If we truly believe in God's omniscience, then we have no
27:42
secrets, and that awareness acts as an immediate check on our
27:45
inner life. It does.
27:45
Furthermore, in the realm of the head, the fear of the Lord
27:48
demands absolute loyalty to God's definitions of reality.
27:52
To fear Him means we believe His definitions of gender, justice
27:56
and sin are fixed and absolute, regardless of what culture or
27:59
social media dictates. We have to let God be true and
28:03
every man a liar. That's Romans 3.4.
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We have to refuse to edit his word to fit temporary cultural
28:10
sensitivities. And this is where intellectual
28:12
reverence turns into public courage.
28:14
It has to if we're editing scripture to make it more
28:17
acceptable to man. It's just proof that we've
28:19
replaced the fear of the Lord with the fear of man.
28:21
A right reverence for God's truth means we hold His
28:24
definition sacred, even when they cost us relationships or
28:27
reputations. OK, second, let's move to the
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heart, our affections and our assurance.
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This doctrine, which is so often mistaken for a source of
28:35
anxiety, is actually a great source of assurance for the
28:38
struggling believer. It really is.
28:40
If you are a St. who doubts your salvation, you're wholly
28:43
trembling is often the evidence of a regenerate heart.
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The sources remind us that the wicked have No Fear of God
28:49
before their eyes. That's Romans 3 point O 8.
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So if you tremble at the weight of God's Word.
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If the thought of displeasing him genuinely grieves you, that
28:58
is proof that the spirit of adoption is at work.
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Because the unregenerate mind lacks that affection entirely.
29:05
We need to cultivate this trembling joy.
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Trembling joy I like. That it's a deep emotional state
29:11
that combines the safety of being perfectly sheltered in
29:13
Christ with the awe felt before the infinite majesty of our
29:17
shelter. It is a peace that trembles.
29:20
But for the complacent believer, the one who is comfortable in
29:23
their secret sin, this doctrine acts like a spiritual smelling
29:27
salt. It does if we can approach the
29:29
Lord's Table or entertain wicked thoughts without genuine grief.
29:33
It's proof that the reverence has faded, that complacency
29:36
shows a loss of Christ delight. Sin without grief is evidence of
29:40
a failed fear of God. So we have to pray for the grace
29:42
to hate sin as God hates it. Not just because it has negative
29:46
consequences for us, but because it is foul and offensive in the
29:49
presence of our Holy Father. This fear compels immediate,
29:52
genuine confession and repentance, not just management
29:55
of behavior. Right third to the adorned are a
29:58
practical obedience and our outward actions.
30:00
The fear of the Lord dictates how we approach the most visible
30:03
aspects of the Christian life, starting with worship.
30:06
In public worship, the fear of the Lord directly dictates the
30:09
principle by which we assemble, the regulative principle of
30:12
worship. Our gathering has to be aligned
30:14
only with what God commands in His Word, not with what we think
30:17
is strategically effective or entertaining.
30:19
Why? Because worship is an audience
30:22
with the King, it cannot be flippant, casual or
30:25
entertainment driven. The atmosphere has to reflect
30:28
the gravity of meeting with the Almighty.
30:31
That's Hebrews 12.2829. The fear of the Lord dictates
30:35
stripping away human inventions and focusing instead on the
30:38
reverent, simple but grave means of grace, reading, preaching,
30:42
prayer, and the sacraments. If we try to make worship cool
30:46
or fun, it proves we've lost the sense of God's terrifying
30:49
holiness. And then there is private
30:51
ethics. Yes, the fear of the Lord is the
30:54
only reliable cure for secret sin.
30:57
When no human eye is watching what prevents sin, the fear of
31:00
the Lord stands guard in the darkness.
31:02
It empowers us to follow the example of Joseph in the House
31:06
of Potiphar. Right.
31:07
Faced with temptation, his response is clear.
31:10
How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?
31:13
Genesis 39.9 Joseph wasn't worried about Potiphar, he was
31:17
worried about God. That awareness of God's
31:19
immediate, all seeing presence restrains the heart in the dark.
31:23
When human surveillance is absent, this holy fear produces
31:26
consistent, genuine integrity. And finally, witness the fear of
31:31
the Lord liberates us for boldness in the public square.
31:34
If we fear man, we're paralyzed. We'll trim our message to fit
31:37
cultural demands, but when we fear God supremely, we gain the
31:40
necessary boldness to speak the full truth.
31:43
The truth about Christ's exclusive claims about marriage,
31:45
about life, regardless of the social or professional cost.
31:49
This is the posture that enabled the early church to grow.
31:52
The book of Acts says the church grew walking in the fear of the
31:54
Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
31:57
Acts 9.31 That combination is non negotiable.
32:00
Aw before the judge, combined with encouragement from the
32:03
Father, it produces endurance, fruitfulness and serious,
32:06
unafraid ministry in the world. Let's briefly list the specific
32:10
character fruits this fear produces.
32:12
The God fear is marked by humility and teachability.
32:15
They stop pretending to be wise in their own eyes, the one who
32:19
trembles at God's Word. That's Isaiah 66.2.
32:22
That's the one to whom God draws near.
32:24
And Psalm 25 notes that God grants guidance and intimacy to
32:27
the one who fears him. The friendship of the Lord is
32:30
for those who fear Him. It's an invitation to covenant
32:34
closeness. And it creates an active hatred
32:36
of evil. It does.
32:37
Proverbs 8 point entree is explicit.
32:39
The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
32:41
True fear doesn't just recoil from judgment, it recoils from
32:44
the offense of sin itself, recognizing sin as the foul
32:48
thing that necessitated the cross.
32:50
This hatred leads to quick confession and proactive
32:52
avoidance of temptation. And this knowledge, knowing the
32:55
weight of God's justice and His grace, is what propels us.
32:58
To persuade others, as Second Corinthians 5.1 on puts it.
33:01
This has than a necessary recovery.
33:04
We've seen that the fear of the Lord is not the burden of the
33:06
condemned, it's the affectionate reverence of the beloved Son.
33:10
It's the Rashid of all knowledge and the chosen delight that
33:13
sustained our Savior in His earthly walk.
33:16
The temptation to trade this holy, affectionate trembling for
33:20
a domesticated deity whose job is just to affirm our comfort is
33:24
a theological catastrophe. It costs us our wisdom, our
33:28
integrity, and our joy. Losing this fear means losing
33:31
our tether to reality, drifting into an age that knows neither
33:35
the weight of sin nor the height of God's holiness.
33:37
And we can't let anyone walk away believing this is merely a
33:40
concept for those already in the family of God.
33:43
If you are not united to Jesus by faith, the fear of the Lord
33:47
remains precisely what we defined as Pichad, A terrifying,
33:50
dreadful expectation of judgement.
33:52
The sources are clear on that. It is a fearful thing to fall
33:55
into the hands of the living God.
33:56
Hebrews 1031. The Cosmic Buddy is a dangerous
33:59
fiction, but the refuge is open. The storm of God's just wrath
34:03
has already been exhausted upon Christ.
34:06
The resolution is to flee to the Savior, kiss the Son, as Psalm 2
34:10
point Tools says, and find that the terrifying judge is also the
34:13
Lamb who was slain for you. This is the path where servile
34:17
fear is transformed into filial peace.
34:20
The ultimate paradox, the thing that compels our holy trembling,
34:23
is seeing the God who is just enough to punish every single
34:26
sin is also gracious enough to bear that punishment himself.
34:29
Our holy trembling isn't a burden we carry reluctantly.
34:32
It's a fountain of life and a strong confidence.
34:35
So as you move forward from here, let this be your
34:38
provocative closing thought. Where in your life are you still
34:40
fearing the world more than the judge who became your father?
34:43
How much actual weight do you assign to God's displeasure
34:46
compared to man's? Let the answer to that question
34:48
be governed by the recovering grace of the holy fear of the
34:50
Lord.