Is Your Fear of God Too Safe?

Transcript imported from the captions supplied for this teaching.

Kind: captions
Language: en
We all know the Bible says to “fear God”, but 
what does that really mean? Some people say it  
simply means to show God reverence or respect but 
is that really what the Bible is talking about?
People fear all sorts of things. Right now people 
are living in fear of things such as disease,  
the rising cost of living, losing their 
jobs, and government overreach. I want  
to start off by looking at something 
Isaiah said concerning the fear of God.  
He contrasts it with the fear of men and uses 
some very strong words to describe this fear.
“Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ Concerning all that 
this people call a conspiracy, Nor be afraid  
of their threats, nor be troubled. The Lord of 
hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your FEAR,  
And let Him be your DREAD.“ – Isaiah 8:12-13
Focusing on conspiracies and human threats is  
misplaced fear, we should 
not fear anything but God.
Did you know that Christians were once known as 
God-fearing people, but we don’t really hear that  
phrase used anymore. In the Bible, a “god-fearer” 
was someone who was considered religious.  
A “God-fearer” can also mean a “God worshipper”. 
Cornelius was called one who feared God.
“There was a certain man in Caesarea called 
Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the  
Italian Regiment, a devout man and one 
who FEARED GOD with all his household,  
who gave alms generously to the people, 
and prayed to God always.” – Acts10:1-2 
Cornelius was a devout follower of 
God, who was generous in his giving,  
and he always prayed. This is a good description 
of how a person who fears God will live.  
They will live a life of devotion to God, 
praying always, and giving to those in need.
The first mention of the 
fear of God is in Genesis.
“And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, 
or do anything to him; for now I know that you  
FEAR GOD, since you have not withheld your 
son, your only son, from Me.” – Genesis 22:12 
Abraham feared God so much that he was 
willing to give up his only son to obey God,  
and Abraham is considered the father of 
our faith. He was the original God Fearer.
I’ve heard people try to downplay the 
word “fear”. They say the fear of God  
doesn’t mean you actually fear Him, and they 
argue it simply means to show Him reverence.  
Some Bible translations even replace the word 
Fear with the word “reverence”. But when the  
Bible describes the fear of God, it includes 
words such as trembling, dread, and terror.
Hosea compares the fear of God with 
trembling before a roaring lion.
“They shall walk after the Lord. He will roar 
like a lion. When He roars, Then His sons shall  
come trembling from the west; They shall come 
trembling like a bird from Egypt, Like a dove from  
the land of Assyria. And I will let them dwell in 
their houses,” Says the Lord.” – Hosea 11:10-11 
Can you imagine standing near a wild lion and 
hearing him roar? Would you describe your feeling  
at that moment as “reverence” … or “fear”? I 
know if I ever came face to face with a lion,  
I would definitely feel fear. 
Terror would best describe it.
I want to read a quote from C.S. 
Lewis’ book, “The Lion, the Witch,  
and the Wardrobe, and I believe this 
quote portrays the fear of God well.
“Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a  
man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel 
rather nervous about meeting a lion”… 
“Safe?” said Mr Beaver, “Who said anything 
about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe.  
But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 
People want a “safe god” not a dangerous 
and terrifying God. They want to remove  
his teeth and fangs and muzzle his roar. 
They want a pet they can cuddle with, but  
that’s NOT who God is. God is not safe or tame or 
weak. The Bible describes Him as the Almighty One.
These days Christians are more afraid of the devil  
than they are of God because they see satan as 
wild and dangerous, but they think God is tame  
and meek and basically a pushover. But the 
Bible says we should fear God (not satan).
God is dangerous, more dangerous than Satan, but 
God is good. God is terrifying, more terrifying  
than Satan, but God is Holy. And it’s because 
of God’s holiness that we should fear Him.
“Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! 
Tremble before Him, all the earth.” – Psalm 96:9 
Our sin should cause us to tremble before 
a Holy God. The Bible describes people who  
do not fear God as having no understanding, 
and says they have eyes that do not see and  
ears that do not hear. The Bible also 
says it is rebellion to not fear God.
“Hear this now, O foolish people, Without 
understanding, Who have eyes and see not,  
And who have ears and hear not: Do 
you not fear Me?’ says the Lord.  
‘Will you not tremble at My presence… But this 
people has a defiant and rebellious heart;  
They have revolted and departed. They 
do not say in their heart, “Let us now  
fear the Lord our God…” – Jeremiah 5:21-24
The modern Church has emphasized the grace of  
God and neglected the judgment of God. We like 
to read Bible verses that emphasized the love  
of God and we ignored the verses that speak 
about the wrath of God. We have no problem  
saying that “God is Good”, but we don’t want 
to think about God punishing us for our sins.
The Bible says,
“My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I  
am afraid of Your judgments.” – Psalm 119:120
Are we truly afraid of God’s judgment? I think  
not. If we lived in fear of God’s judgment, we 
would walk according to His commandments, and we  
wouldn’t stray from the Word at all. If we truly 
feared God, we would tremble at His feet begging  
for forgiveness every time we sin, and we would 
make it a priority to never do that thing again.
Paul encourages us to work out our 
salvation with fear and trembling.
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, 
not as in my presence only, but now much more  
in my absence, work out your own salvation 
with fear and trembling” – Philippians 2:12 
The most popular verse in the Bible about 
the fear of God is Proverbs 9:10, which says,
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of 
wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One  
is understanding.” – Proverbs 9:10
How is the fear of God the beginning of Wisdom?  
A wise person fears God, and when we fear God, we 
do things that are wise and pleasing to God. We  
don’t go around acting foolish and living in sin. 
Because we fear God, we do what is right and good.
The Bible defines the fear 
of God as hatred of sin.
“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and 
arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth  
I hate.” – Proverbs 8:13
To fear God is to hate sin because  
God hates sin. Thus the fear 
of God is the foundation of  
morality. We do what is right 
and moral because we fear God.
I want to make a strong statement here.  
If you don’t deal seriously with your own 
sin, then you don’t actually fear God.
We become holy when we fear God. The Bible 
says it is the fear of God that sanctifies us.
“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us 
cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh  
and spirit, perfecting holiness in 
the fear of God.” – 2 Corinthians 7:1 
The fear of God sanctifies us, 
but when we don’t fear God,  
we live in sin. Proper fear of God causes us 
to draw closer to Him and gives us a desire to  
do what pleases Him. the Bible says the fear of 
God is loving God and obeying His commandments.
“Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they 
would FEAR Me and always keep all My commandments,  
that it might be well with them and with 
their children forever!” – Deuteronomy 5:29 
The Bible tells us over and over to fear God, 
not men. Listen to what Yeshua said about it.
“And do not fear those who kill the body 
but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear  
Him who is able to destroy both soul 
and body in Gehenna.” – Matthew 10:28 
We live in a world full of fear. People 
fear disease, they fear the government,  
they even fear being disliked on social media. 
But do we fear God more than anything else? We  
are told to fear God, not men, and the midwives in 
Egypt show us a good example of what this means.
“But the midwives feared God, and did not 
do as the king of Egypt commanded them,  
but saved the male children alive.” – Exodus 1:17
These midwives didn’t fear Pharaoh,  
which means they didn’t obey Pharaoh. Do 
you see how fear is linked with obedience?  
By disobeying Pharaoh, they showed that 
they did not fear him. And by obeying God,  
they showed that they did fear God. We 
are told to obey earthly authorities,  
but not when it means disobeying God. 
We must fear God more than anyone else.
So, how do we learn to fear God?
1. CONSIDER GOD’S POWER AND AUTHORITY
The first thing we need to do is consider God’s 
power and authority. When we realize how awesome  
He is, we fear Him. The Bible begins with the 
Creation account for a reason, because creation  
shows us His power and authority. He created all 
things with just the word of His mouth. He didn’t  
break a sweat, He didn’t lift a finger, He simply 
spoke the word “let there be… and there was…”
2. STUDY GOD’S LAW
The next thing we can do to 
learn to fear God is to read  
and study His Law because the Bible says 
we learn to fear God when we hear his Law.
“… you shall read this law before all Israel 
in their hearing. Gather the people together,  
men and women and little ones, and 
the stranger who is within your gates,  
that they may hear and that they 
may LEARN TO FEAR THE LORD your God  
and carefully observe all the words of this law, 
and that their children, who have not known it,  
may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as 
long as you live in the land which you cross the  
Jordan to possess.” – Deuteronomy 31:11-13
By studying His Law, we learn about holiness  
and righteousness. We learn what God loves 
and what He hates. By studying God’s Law,  
we learn to love holiness and 
righteousness and to hate sin.
3. MEDITATE ON GOD’S HOLINESS
The third thing we can do to learn to fear 
God is to meditate on His holiness because  
when we meditate on His holiness, we realize 
our own sinfulness, and seeing His holiness  
and our sinfulness causes us to fear God. This 
also causes us to truly appreciate His grace,  
because we are completely unworthy, and God 
should destroy us because of our sin. So, when  
we receive His grace and forgiveness, we should 
fear Him even more, knowing what we truly deserve.
“If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who 
could stand? But there is forgiveness with You,  
That You may be feared.” – Psalm 130:3-4
4. REMEMBER THAT GOD WILL JUDGE THE WICKED
We also need to remember that 
God will judge the wicked.
“For we must all appear before 
the judgment seat of Christ,  
that each one may receive 
the things done in the body,  
according to what he has done, whether good or 
bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord,  
we persuade men…” – 2 Corinthians 5:10–11
The judgment of God should cause terror,  
and this terror should motivate us to share the 
gospel with others so they can escape judgment.  
Some people think they get away with sin because 
they’re not immediately punished, but the Bible  
tells us they haven’t gotten away with anything. 
They will be punished on the day of judgment.
“For we know Him who said, “Vengeance 
is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.  
And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands  
of the living God.” – Hebrews 10:30-31
Do you want to face the wrath of God? I  
sure don’t. Listen to the conclusion 
the Bible gives on this topic.
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole 
matter: Fear God and keep His commandments,  
For this is man’s all. For God will bring every 
work into judgment, Including every secret thing,  
Whether good or evil.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13–14
This is man’s all. This is our whole purpose.  
To fear God and obey His commandments. Why?  
Because God is going to judge everything 
we say, do, or even think about doing.