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Sermon

Explore the concept of fearing God as a reflection of our commitment to Him, cleansing ourselves to perfect holiness and orienting our lives around His presence, promises, and purposes. Discover how the fear of God shapes our fundamental outlook on life.

billyhiggins
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  1. Sermon • Ecclesiastes 12:13 • Psalm 130:4, 145:18-19 • The Joy of Fearing God

  2. Psalm 145:18-19 • The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, • To all who call upon Him in truth. • 19He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; • He will also hear their cry and will save them.

  3. Psalm 130 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? • 4  But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

  4. It looks as if we are all we have. Given what we know about ourselves, and each other, this is an extraordinarily unappetizing prospect; looking around the world, it appears that, if all men are brothers, the ruling model is Cain and Abel.

  5. Neither reason, nor love, nor even terror, seems to have worked to make us ‘good,’ and worse than that, there is no reason why anything should… • …As things now stand, everything is up for grabs.

  6. Nevertheless: Napalming babies is bad. • Starving the poor is wicked. • Buying and selling each other is depraved.

  7. Those who stood up to and died resisting Hitler, Stalin, Amin, and Pol Pot -- and General Custer too -- have earned salvation. • Those who acquiesced deserve to be damned. • There is in the world such a thing as evil.

  8. (All together now) • Sez who?” • God help us. • -Arthur Leff

  9. John Murray… • The fear of God in us is that frame of heart and mind which reflects our apprehension of who and what God is, and who and what God is will tolerate nothing less than totality of commitment to him.

  10. It is orienting our lives around His Presence, Person, Promises, and revealed Purposes.

  11. 2 Cor 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

  12. Psalm 31:19 How great is Your goodness, Which You have stored up for those who fear You, • Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, Before the sons of men!

  13. “It involves the ability to view that information with the right perspective and to use it for its proper end…. It is the fear of the Lord that gives us the right perspective and prompts us to use it for the right end. It is the Fear of the Lord that should determine our fundamental outlook on life.” –Jerry Bridges

  14. -First there is the all-pervasive sense of the presence of God, Psalm 139 • -Second, there is the all-pervasive awareness of our dependence on Him and our responsibility to Him. • -Thirdly, the fear of God implies our constant consciousness of relation to God as our primary relationship.

  15. Our Consciousness is not biblical unless it is conditioned by the fear of God. - John Murray

  16. The fear of God is a gracious work of the Holy Spirit. – Heb 12:28-29

  17. “Reverential Awe.”

  18. -An emotion in which dread, veneration and wonder are variously mingled. • -Submissive and admiring fear inspired by authority • -A fearful reverence inspired by deity

  19. “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” • -Romans 3:18

  20. The fear of God is the soul of godliness. • - John Murray

  21. The fear of God in which godliness consists is the fear which constrains adoration and love. It is the fear which consists in awe, reverence, honor, and worship, and all of these on the highest level of exercise. It is the reflex in our consciousness of the transcendent majesty and holiness of God.

  22. John Bunyan – Godly fear flows from a sense of the love and kindness of God to the soul. Where there is no sense of hope of the kindness and mercy of God by Jesus Christ, there can be none of this fear,

  23. but rather wrath and despair, which produces a fear that is …devilish…but godly fear flows from a sense of hope of mercy from God by Jesus Christ.

  24. Where do you experience your biggest moments of happiness and your darkest moments of sadness? • What angers you or crushes you with disappointment? • What motivates you to continue or makes you feel like quitting?

  25. What do you tend to envy in the lives of others, or where does jealousy make you bitter? • What makes you think your life is worth living or causes you to feel like your life is a waste? • When you say, “If only I had _______,” how do you fill in the blank?

  26. What are you willing to make sacrifices for, and what in your life just doesn’t seem worth the effort?

  27. How is the Fear of God Good News?

  28. Keep your eyes focused on Christ, not on yourself or on others • – HE IS THE VISIBLE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD.

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