Fearing God (Part 4)

Continuing directly from the previous post:

Unfortunately, many modern day preachers skip over the verses about sin and don’t preach on it (in seeker-friendly churches). They speak all about God’s love and mercy (which is of course right and necessary), but that’s not all there is to God. And because of it, people are being led astray!

I say this, because I know it’s true, because I’ve been through it. I’ve been subject to “fluffy” preaching. In fact, for a while it’s all I ever knew. But by God’s providence, once I moved away I started going to a church where I began hearing the Voice of Truth. The church is Riverbend Community Church in Ormond Beach, FL and the pastor is Dr. R.A. Hargrave. I can’t tell you how much it changed my spiritual life. I remember being so convicted by the very first sermon I heard from him (which was on being unequally yoked with unbelievers from 2 Corinthians), and going home, and opening up my bible and reading over the verses he’d preached on. I called my girlfriend and told her about it. I couldn’t stop thinking about it all day. This wasn’t normal for me – usually I would think about what I was gonna do after church during the sermon. Usually I would forget about the sermon the minute I walked out the church doors. And to some degree, I was dissatisfied (Proverbs 19:23), although I didn’t completely realize it at the time.

Being subject to godly preaching was what made me truly fear God, because I was hearing the truth of His word! It wasn’t the preacher, it wasn’t the church, it was the word of God that changed me. This fear of the Lord gave me a new passion for learning about Him (seeking wisdom) and led me to seek discipline. And it has been humbling and humiliating at times, but it has led to satisfaction, and I know, from the word of God, that it will bring honor, blessings, and other great things.

Back home, it led me to change churches to where the truth of God’s word was preached. In London (Ontario) I found it at Forest City Bible Church under the preaching of Pastor John Thompson … and it was quite a search – I ended up trying a number of different churches in London before I came to FCBC. If you’re from London, I would encourage you to visit this church to see what I’m talking about, or listen to one of Dr. Hargrave’s sermons on www.graceworx.com. Believe me, I’m not trying to advertise these churches. I’m trying to advertise the importance of the truth of God’s word. If you’re currently going to a seeker friendly church, and hear a sermon from Pastor John or Dr. Hargrave, you’ll definitely notice a difference. Their sermons are convicting because they speak truths coming right out of the bible. Among the many blessings that fearing the Lord has given me, is the courage and ability to write this blog, which, if for no one else, it at least benefits me because it takes a lot of studying the bible for me to write this stuff.

With that said, God uses different means for bringing you to fear Him and gain wisdom. For me, it was being subject to godly preaching. For you, it might be something that you read in the bible that the Holy Spirit convicted your heart with. It might be your parents that have trained you up to fear the Lord, or maybe even an event that happened in your life that caused you to fear Him. No matter what, it is still essential to be under preaching of biblical truths, especially if you’re weaker in the faith. You won’t know what good it does until you’re subject to it, so try it! Learn from me.

In addition, remember that God is sovereign in His timing. Looking back, it’s actually amazing to see how perfect God’s timing was in my life. Although I’ve been a Christian for many years, I didn’t begin to truly fear the Lord until recently, which may seem kind of absurd, but it was God’s timing, not mine, and I just thank the Lord that it happened.

Last point: Proverbs 2:6. It’s self explanatory. It further proves God’s sovereignty. He’s the one who gives wisdom. It’s not the preacher, it’s not your grandpa, it’s not your parents, it’s not yourself because you were smart enough to read the bible, it’s not your friends. It is the Lord who gives wisdom. Remember that, and when you get it, thank God for it.

Fearing God (Part 3)

Continuing again from the previous post:

So I last wrote about discipline, and its necessity as a believer in Christ. Discipline, commanded by God, is a means for believers to overcome sin (repentance) and seek the Lord (fearing Him, growing in wisdom etc.). The bible likens God’s discipline to that of a father’s discipline towards his son (Deut 8:56). So I think this makes it pretty clear what spiritual discipline is. Obviously it’s not getting spankings and getting grounded, but it is other means by which a believer can repent and grow in their walk with the Lord. It could be getting counseling from a godly leader you know, being accountable to a friend and holding them accountable, or making a heartfelt promise with God to do something (eg. read a chapter of the bible every night, or never to get drunk again). In my opinion, the latter two are essential for having good spiritual discipline. The first one mentioned would be necessary if the latter two aren’t working and you’re falling by the wayside in your sins. Of course, having to get counseling would be a difficult thing not only to take, but to pursue, but again the temporary pain leads to righteousness (Hebrews 12:11), and you will be blessed by God for it (Psalm 94:12).

If you are a believer, and you have fallen by the wayside, you need to seek discipline – it is absolutely necessary. Your salvation could be at stake! In Psalm 50:16-18, the Lord says to those who hate discipline that they have no right to even speak His word! In Hebrews 12:7-10 it says that if we’re not disciplined, then we’re illegitimate children of God.

To those of us who see a friend falling by the wayside in their sins, we ought to help them out (disciplining them in a sense). We are told to restore them in a spirit of gentleness (Galatians 6:1). This is not just for his/her good, but for the good of the entire body of Christ, because 1 Corinthians 12:26 says that if one member suffers, we all (as the body of Christ) suffer together.

In fact, one should seek (or give) all the discipline that is necessary for one to repent of his/her sins. Sometimes this means severe discipline (ie. taking desperate measures, along with ongoing counseling etc.), so that you can repent, and avoid being given over to death (Psalm 118:18). Yup, that’s right, death (spiritual, eternal death) can be the result of lack of discipline, if you’re engulfed in sin (Proverbs 5:22,23).

These last two verses bring me to some of my last points about fearing God. To fear God you need to understand God’s nature, and I mean all of his nature (at least all that he has revealed to us). God is a God of mercy, love, compassion, grace. But he is also a God of wrath. God hates sin. He is just, righteous, and all sovereign in being wrathful and hating sin (which we all have by nature). If you don’t understand this you’ll never fear the Lord! In fact, you’ll never even come to understand the depths of his mercy and love! You might not even understand properly why you needed salvation from Him.

Fearing God (Part 2)

Continuing from the previous note:

Proverbs 15:33 also states that fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom. This means not only instruction which you find yourself in the bible, but also that of godly leaders in the faith. (And their instruction should proceed directly from the bible as well. In fact, this is exactly what I mean by godly leader.)

If you aren’t already, you should make an effort to come under the preaching of a godly preacher, ie. one who preaches the truth. In addition, if you aren’t already, you should become associated with friends who do truly fear God. If none of your friends do, then make an effort together. In fact, in this case, you really need to, because the Bible says not to join with those who do not fear the Lord, because disaster will come to them (Proverbs 24:21-22). What I think this means, is that if you and your group of friends do not have a faith based on fear of the Lord, which is weak in wisdom and sound doctrine, it will be easier to “fall from the faith” once a disaster arrives, because it is not built on a strong foundation. Once temptation comes, once tragedy strikes, if you don’t have a firm understanding of God or fear the Lord, it will lead to ruin, sin, falling by the wayside, and (if you or one of your friends aren’t truly saved) eternal torture.

Proverbs 13:20 says that if you associate with wise people, you will become wise. In fact, the more godly leaders you have in your life, the better. The bible says that in an abundance of counselors there is victory (Proverbs 24:6). You need to listen to the words of the wise (whether wise friend, wise preacher, or other godly figure in your life) and apply your heart to it (Proverbs 22:17-18, 8:33). This means not just hearing it and accepting it (which in some cases is half the battle, ie. being humiliated), it also means taking heed to it and applying it to your life.

In addition to hearing words from the wise, we need to also be disciplined, and accept advice and instruction from our godly leaders (Proverbs 19:20), because mere words will not discipline us (Proverbs 29:19). In fact, the Bible says that those who love discipline love knowledge (Proverbs 12:1). This, I believe, is saying that those who are wise, love discipline. This is because a wise person will always seek to be increasing in knowledge, wisdom, and righteousness, and one way to obtain that is from discipline. Proverbs 9:8 says that if you reprove a wise man, he will love you. So, if someone rebukes something you say or believe because it’s wrong, and their belief is correct (ie. of the truth), then you ought to love them for telling you that, so you can know what is true, which will increase your wisdom.

Unfortunately, for those weaker in faith and with less wisdom, reproof and discipline usually comes as an attack. I feel like in our culture, we generally despise reproof and discipline. We hate giving it, and we hate getting it. Kids these days are brought up with barely any discipline at all from their parents, because our culture tells us that it’s cruel to discipline them like they ought to be (I’m talking about spankings here). Criminals are being let off with barely any sentence, because people are more concerned about the rights of the criminals than the crime they committed. It actually sickens me, but that’s another post. And by the way, the bible does say it’s ok to discipline children by spankings (in the bible it says using a rod – same thing) (Proverbs 23:13). It’s not child abuse – child abuse is something much worse, and is obviously wrong.

So basically, if you are willing to gain wisdom, then at first, when you may despise discipline, it will be humiliating and painful. But, you will eventually learn to love it, and you will be honored as it will lead to peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:11). In fact, the bible says in Hebrews 12:8 that if we don't have discipline, then we are illegitimate sons (Christians), so it is an essential part of the Christian faith.

Personally, I’m still probably in the “despising” stage, I know I’m not a huge fan of discipline or reproof, but I do understand its usefulness and importance. I guess I need to pray about this. I need to take heed to Proverbs 3:11-12 and understand that God reproofs those whom he loves. I need to take heed to Hebrews 12:10 and understand that it is for my good.

Fearing God (Part 1)

So, as mentioned in the previous note, fearing God is essential for gaining wisdom, and becoming stronger in the faith, because it is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10). In that sense, you can’t have wisdom (godly, biblical wisdom) unless you fear God.

Fearing God does not mean being scared of Him, because we as believers have no reason to be scared of Him. If you are in Christ (if you are truly saved), then your salvation is sealed, your inheritance is guaranteed, (Ephesians 1:13-14) and you will never be cast out it (John 6:37-39). And, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38-39). Additionally, God works for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28-29). So, again, we have nothing to be afraid of. We are told not even to be afraid of God’s wrath on unbelievers (that which He will pour out on Judgment Day, sending them to eternal torture in Hell) because of the confidence we have in Him. (Proverbs 3:25-26).

Fearing God is basically having a reverence of Him. It means not only respecting Him, but honoring Him by obeying and submitting to Him and standing in awe of Him.

The Book of Proverbs, which is where I've gathered much of the content of this note from, offers a lot of advice and wisdom about fearing God. Fearing the Lord (and hence finding wisdom) does not come easy. It takes a bit of work – Proverbs 2 likens it to searching for a treasure. The notion of “finding” wisdom is also present in Proverbs 3:13. I, having recently begun to truly fear the Lord, can attest to this – it really does feel like you’ve “found it”, and almost does feel like finding a treasure. With that said, again, fearing the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so I definitely wouldn’t consider myself wise. The journey of finding wisdom and becoming wise takes a lifetime. That's why we ought to give the wise, old godly leaders the utmost respect., and seek to learn from them. Of course, there will never be anyone wise enough to be perfectly moral, or to know everything. In fact, even in eternity we won’t know everything. Only God knows and will know everything. Anyways, back to wisdom. You’ve got to pray for it, ask for it, and receive God’s word. (Proverbs 2:1-5). In the process, you may become humiliated. This is because you may realize that certain things you once believed to be true are not true at all (and by the way, I’m speaking to Christians here, not those outside the faith), once you come to an understanding of what God’s word truly says. There is a lot of false teaching out there, and it is easy to be deceived. More (probably a lot more) on this later.

Anyways, the humility associated with understanding God’s word correctly (which, I would say is the essence of truly fearing God) leads to honor and riches in life (Proverbs 15:33, 22:4). Fearing God not only leads to life (good life) (Proverbs 19:23), it is the fountain of life (Proverbs 14:27). By fearing God, we are turning away from evil (Proverbs 16:6, 14:27). Fearing the Lord brings satisfaction, and safety from harm (Proverbs 19:23).

Added RefTagger

Just a brief announcement, I added RefTagger, so I no longer have to write out entire bible verses. Instead, just put your mouse over a verse (ie. James 1:5) and you can read it. It'll save space - I apologize for the previously lengthy posts.

The Value of Wisdom

So, from writing my previous entry, I came across Proverbs 2, in discussion about how to gain wisdom. What a beautiful and inspiring piece of scripture! It is so clear in what it says. Proverbs 1 and 3 also go along with it. Definitely read these first three proverbs. They are full of wisdom on how to get wisdom. To keep this entry short, I'll just post the Proverbs 2. Here it is:

¹ My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
²making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
³yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
⁴if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
⁵then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
⁶For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
⁷he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
⁸guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
⁹ Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
¹⁰for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
¹¹ discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
¹²delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
¹⁴who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
¹⁵men whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.

¹⁶So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words,
¹⁷who forsakes the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
¹⁸ for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed;
¹⁹none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.

²⁰So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

Biblical Guidance for the Strong and Weak in Faith

For the strong in faith,

As discussed in the previous entry, you should welcome (Rom 14:1) and build up (Rom 15:1-2) the weaker ones. Instead of boasting, keep it between you and God (Rom 14:22).

This is what Paul (strong man of faith) wrote to the Colossians (new church, and weak in faith), and I think it's a good model for both strong and weak in faith to take heed to:

"...we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. " (Col 1:9-13)

So to those of you who are strong, continuously (don't cease to) pray for your friends who are weaker in faith. Pray that they will be filled with the knowledge of God, gaining wisdom and understanding. Pray that they would be strengthened, and have patience and endurance, because I know the road to progressing from a weak faith to strong faith is not always an easy one. It can be frustrating and discouraging. Understand that you'll be blessed by helping the weak:

"...by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'." (Acts 20:35)

If I'm interpreting the latter part of this verse correctly, I believe Jesus is saying here that you are more blessed if you give help to the weak, than to actually be blessed with a strong faith that you have received from God. And if I'm not mistaken, I don't think this verse necessarily speaks about weak in faith only. Like, it could mean helping a weak, homeless person by giving them food, or helping a weak old person by helping them across the street or something like that. I think it just generically says that, you who have more of something (eg. more faith, more strength, more wisdom, more money etc.), help those who have less (ie. less faith, etc.).

If you have a friend, weaker in faith, who is struggling in sin, help to gently restore him:

"Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness." Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." (Gal 6: 1-2)

Again, the strong in faith should not boast (Psalm 75:4), because it is not good (1 Cor 5:6) and is arrogant and evil (James 4:16). God opposes (1 Pet 5:5) and hates (Prov 8:13) pride.

For those of you who are weak in the faith,

We've all been weak in faith (or are weak in faith) at one point or another, so don't be discouraged. God is made perfect in our weaknesses, and remember that it was He who assigned you the measure of faith you have. He has a purpose for it, and you'll see some of it unfold as your wisdom increases. Seek knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of God by asking for it through prayer, and reading the bible. In everything you do, do it for God. Give thanks to Him for qualifying you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, and for His love that surpasses knowledge.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives grace generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." (James 1:5)

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly..." (Col 3:16)

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Col 3:17).

Also,

"Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil." (Eph 6:10)"

The armor includes the:

- belt of truth
-breastplate of righteousness
-shield of faith
-helmet of salvation
-sword of the Spirit

(read Eph 6:10-20)

Notice how it says to put on the WHOLE armor of God. Believe me, you need the whole armor on to fend off attacks from evil. There have been times where I didn't put on one piece of armor, and got attacked. Like times when I don't have the breastplate of righteousness on, and the devil spears me in the breast, leading me to do unrighteous things (sin).

You need to fear the Lord, by hating what is evil, in order to gain wisdom, and the Lord will bless and have compassion on you:

"Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (Psalm 2:11)

"The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil." (Proverbs 8:13)

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.His praise endures forever!" (Psalm 111:10)

"he will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great." (Psalm 115:13)

"As a father shows compassion to his children,so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him." (Psalm 103:13).

And read and pray this:

"Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name." (Psalm 86:11)

Proverbs 2 ("The Value of Wisdom") is a really amazing and beautiful piece of scripture regarding gaining wisdom. Definitely read it! I can't even really summarize it because pretty much every line is important, and inspiring. In fact, I'll devote the next entry to it.

Trusting in the Lord is also key, as written in the next proverb (Proverb 3: Trusting in the Lord with All your Heart).

"Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Lastly, although the Christian is difficult, understand that it leads to glory beyond all comparison! And praise God for it!

"For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen." (2 Cor 4:17-18)