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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Aron Crews

Facing the Fear of God

The topic this morning is called facing the fear of God.

Anyone here ever been a little bit maybe uncomfortable with the topic of the fear of God?

Because there are things in the Bible, some verses we're going to look at here in a moment, that talk about how we should be afraid of God.

But then there's other verses that say things like you should not be afraid of God, don't fear God.

And it's this Bible paradox that many times I think confuses people, especially younger people as they're growing up and they talk to their parents or their teachers or the pastors and they ask them.

And you may have heard the answer that, oh, to fear God, that just means to reverence Him, to respect Him.

And I'm not going to necessarily argue with that.

So over the past few years, I've been studying this topic out, and I've come to a conclusion.

I've come to a place in my study where I feel very comfortable with this topic.

And this is an overview, this isn't an in-depth, we're going to look at every single verse in the Bible on the topic, but it's an overview And I have found this to be very helpful for me and my Christian walk, and I hope that it can be the same for you.

When I was a young child, I went on a camping trip with my parents and actually with some people at my church.

And on this camping trip, this was my first time ever camping.

And of course, when you think about camping and you think about the fears of camping, what comes to mind, at least for me as a kid, was bears, right?

You're camping and There's bears out there.

So I remember the first night we were there, and I was trying to get to sleep.

And what kept coming up over and over again in my mind is this, is there a bear outside?

And then all of a sudden, I heard something right outside of my tent.

And in my mind, it was as clear as could be that there is a big, bad bear right outside of my tent, ready to pounce on me at any second.

You ever been so afraid in your life that you're literally paralyzed?

That's the first time in my life I was...

I was like, this bear is going to eat my toes and my body.

And it came to the breaking point where I said, unless I cry out for help, it's going to get me.

So I screamed at the top of my little boy lungs.

And within seconds, in comes my dad and he pokes his head in and he says, Aaron, what's going on?

I said, dad, there's a bear right outside.

Sometimes we can convince ourselves that there's things that we should be so afraid of, but in reality it's something totally different.

In Revelation chapter 14, this is 1 of those verses, right?

It's a positive verse in relation to fearing God.

Here this is the very, In verse 6 it talks about, here's the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, every nation, tribe, kindred, tongue, and people.

So this is the everlasting gospel in an end time context, and in the form of 3 angels.

The first angel is sent out, and this is a representation of the message that God's people are to be proclaiming to the entire world just before His second coming.

And the very first 2 words out of this angel's mouth is what?

And friends, if we don't have a proper understanding and grounding in what it really means to fear God, I think we might, I don't know, mix up our message?

So I think this might be the first and most important thing as we begin to proclaim this message.

Then we have another verse that says in Luke 1 verse 50, And His mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.

Well, if you want mercy, you should fear God.

The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear him and he delivers them.

If you want deliverance from God, well you should fear God.

Anyone here could use a little help with their finals this next week or 2 weeks or whenever it happens?

Well, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Another verse says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

But then, this is just a sample of many verses along these lines, but then we have another sampling of other verses that seem to say the exact opposite.

In Revelation chapter 1 verse 17, it says, So Jesus shows up to John and says, John, you're afraid.

Luke 1 verse 74, To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him..." How?

"...without fear." Very clearly here, it's saying that we should serve God without fear.

And then 2nd Timothy 1, a pretty famous verse here, it says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

God has given us a spirit of love, not of fear.

And another famous text says here in 1 John 4 verse 18, There is no fear in love.

There's no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.

But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." Are we seeing the tension here this morning?

In my studies, there have been 2 verses, 2 passages of scripture, 1 in the Old Testament and 1 in the New Testament, where these 2 dynamics of fear, the positive fear of God and the negative fear of God, sort of come face to face.

And I believe these 2 verses give us that better understanding to unlock this Bible paradox.

So first we're going to go to the Old Testament, and this passage is found in Exodus 20.

So there's God and He sets the 2 million-ish Israelites there and He gives them His law, right?

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

And at the very end of His declaration of His law of liberty, His law of love, we get this verse.

Verse 18 tells us, know all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and when they saw it, they trembled.

The implication is with fear and stood afar off.

The trumpet, the lightning, the fire, the smoke, earthquake, I mean God's voice, I am the Lord.

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Facing the Fear of God

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