Explore the powerful concept of fearing God as discussed by our Bible teacher, David Hawking. Dive into the attributes of God and learn why this fear is not about panic, but about deep reverence and trust in the Lord. Discover how the fear of God influences our lives, prolongs our days, and keeps us in His protection from all evil.
The thing that causes one to have the fear of God and trust in the Lord is that everything, no matter whether it’s my perspective of how bad or good it is, but everything God does will be and is good. Do you believe it was good for you to lose that job? Do you believe it was good for you to face that trial and that circumstance and that pain and that sorrow and that tear? You know, sometimes God is gracious and in our life, he gives us understanding of those things. But I’m to trust him to the point that even though the understanding never comes, I will still put my confidence in the Lord that everything he has done is good.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Hope for Today. It’s a blessing to have you with us for this Friday broadcast. The fear of God. The fear of God is not a religious cliche. It’s not panic, and it’s not a shrugging respect that leaves your life unchanged. To fear God is to see him as he is, holy, righteous, exalted, and worthy of your full submission, worthy of my full submission. Today, Bible teacher David Hawking returns with day two of his message called The Fear of God as we continue our series on the attributes of God. David’s taking us back to the Psalms and Proverbs to keep answering a question this generation desperately needs to face. What does it really mean to fear God? Well, stay with us. Our time in the Word is coming up in just a moment. First, we want to tell you about a free resource we have available right now at the Hope for Today homepage, our website, which is davidhawking.org. Now, when you get to davidhawking.org, right there on the homepage, scroll down just a little bit, and you’ll see a wonderful pamphlet called, Does God Truly Love Me? This is written by our good friend Richard A. Bennett, just 10 pages. But wow, it is designed to help you or someone you know be assured that the God we’re studying in this current radio series truly loves you and truly loves them. We have this available. It’s a free download. There’s nothing to sign up for. Click on the link, select the language you want, download it. You can read it, share it with as many folks as you like. Again, this is Does God Truly Love Me? free on the homepage of David Hawking, david, H-O-C-K-I-N-G.org. And here’s David with day two of The Fear of God.
SPEAKER 03 :
So why should we fear God? Because it prolongs days. It means we’re going to be with the Lord forever. It’s a statement again about those who’ve come to believe in Him. If you fear God, you put your hope in the Lord, your confidence is in Him. And what a wonderful promise we have of living forever with God. That’s special. Turn to Proverbs 14 again. A second reason why we should fear God is because it protects us. from some very serious problems. Proverbs 14, 26 says, in the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence and his children will have a place of refuge, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh God, you’re our shield and our fortress. You’re the lifter up of our head. And the Lord is a son and a shield. He’ll give grace and glory and no good will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. The Lord will deliver us. It protects us. In the fear of the Lord, there’s strong confidence. If you understand that it’s putting your confidence in God and who He is and not who man is, then you realize how you can have strong confidence no matter what happens. If you really fear the Lord, there’s a refuge there. He hideth my soul. It’s a place of refuge. Verse 27 again, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to avoid the snares of death. Turn to chapter 19, verse 23. Chapter 19, verse 23. God has promised protection to those who fear the Lord. confidence, a refuge, a place to go when it looks like all hell’s breaking out around you. Hey, in the Lord, there’s strong confidence no matter what happens. And in Proverbs chapter 19, verse 23, it says, “…the fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction. He will not be visited with evil.” God is promising protection of the believer. Even Paul prayed in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 1, Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. When Jesus in John 17 was praying to his heavenly Father, he said, Holy Father, keep them from whom you have given to me. He said, keep them from the evil one. And I read throughout the Scripture that those who put their confidence and trust in the Lord are protected in unique and special ways from evil and the evil one more than perhaps any of us have ever really recognized. Thank God for it. God takes care of us, which brings me to a third reason why I should fear God. Turn to Psalm 33. Not only because it prolongs days and involves living forever with the Lord, not only because it protects us from evil and the evil one, but also it provides for our needs. It provides for our needs. It’s interesting. There are a lot of people who wonder if God will provide their needs. In Psalm 33, verse 18, it says, “‘Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him.'” I like that. “‘On those who hope in His mercy to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.'” Look at chapter 34, please. Verse 8. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints. Parallel statements here. Trust in the Lord. Fear the Lord. There’s no want, no lack to those who fear him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good. or good thing. Not like any good from the Lord. What a fascinating statement that is. God is going to provide for all of our needs. You say, man, I knew it, that new house, we got it. Wait a minute. A lot of us struggle with how God provides for our needs. Isn’t it interesting that this passage in Psalm 34 is rooted in the goodness of God? Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. rooted in our trust in him and that there’s no lack. God will always give good. See, that’s rooted also in my understanding of the sovereignty of God, that all things are being worked together for good to those who love God. If I fear the Lord, then I recognize that. And then we fail to recognize that what God is in fact doing to answer your little list, sometimes telling you no and sometimes just not even responding to you because he’s got something else he wants to do. But he doesn’t get glory. He doesn’t get trust. There’s no fear of God because our list is the biggie. And God, as soon as you do something about my list, then I’ll know that you exist. Hey, wait a minute. In the beginning, God created. The Bible doesn’t set out to prove to you the existence of God. It assumes it. It asks you to respond to it, to believe in him, and to trust him no matter what. And if you never see anything in your life that’s in your category good, would you still trust him? Job said, though he slay me, yet I will trust him. If he takes everything away from me and it looked like he did, I’m still going to trust the Lord. Because who I know the Lord is from the Bible is he always does good. He’ll take care of us. That’s what he said. Now turn to Psalm 147. Let me give you a fourth reason why you should fear God. Not only because it prolongs your days, involves living forever with God, protecting us from evil and the evil one, providing for all of our needs, God doing good constantly for us. But folks, it also pleases the Lord to fear God. It pleases the Lord. Psalm 147, verse 10 and 11. Verse 11 says, the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope. In his mercy. Isn’t that neat? And in this passage, you’ve got even another definition of the fear of the Lord. It involves hoping in the mercy of God. Mercy holding back from us what we really deserve. His loving kindness and tenderness. Hoping in that is the same thing as fearing the Lord. You fear the Lord and you recognize that were it not for his mercy, I’d be zapped right now. What a neat passage. It pleases God. And we’ve got all this busyness going on. We’re into everything and trying to prove that we can handle everything. All of life is like that. And the Bible says God doesn’t take pleasure in that. He takes pleasure in those who fear Him. Let me give you another reason. Turn to Psalm 25. In Psalm 25, I read in verse 12, “…who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way he chooses.” He himself shall dwell in prosperity or goodness and his descendants shall inherit the earth. Look at this next statement. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him and he will show them his covenant. God promises in these verses that God’s going to really show a man. The way that the Lord chooses, he’s going to show him also things that a lot of folks don’t understand or see. God’s going to bless him. God’s going to show him the impact of all the promises he’s made to him. God’s going to reveal things to this man he never would have seen had he not, first of all, feared the Lord with all his heart. How interesting. Turn to chapter 31, verse 19. Chapter 31, 19. Oh, how great is your goodness, the psalmist says, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you in the presence of the sons of men. Again, God promising wonderful, special blessings. He’s laid up, he’s prepared for those who fear the Lord. Again, trust in him. Turn to chapter 85, verse 9. Chapter 85, verse 9. Talk about special blessings. The Bible says, Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. Salvation near to those who fear him. Chapter 103, please. Chapter 103. Look at verse 11. I love these verses. As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who what? Fear him. Verse 13, as a father pities or has compassion on his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. him. Special blessing from God. Verse 17, the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him and his righteousness to children’s children. It’s like a statement of belief in the Lord. It’s referring to believers and the blessing that God will bring. God promises special blessings from his gracious hand if we will fear the Lord. The Bible says to all those who fear him, he will fulfill the desire of your heart. Wow. Tremendous promises. Let me give you one more. Turn to Malachi chapter 3. You say, why should we fear God? Well, it prolongs days. Talking about living forever with God. It protects us from evil and the evil one. It provides for our needs. God always doing good. It pleases the Lord himself. It provides special blessings from the Lord, abundant blessings. And number six, it promises future salvation. It promises future salvation. That’s why we should fear the Lord. In Malachi 3.16, it says, “…then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name.” Chapter 4, verse 2. But to you who fear my name, the son, S-U-N, of righteousness, it’s the title of the Messiah, shall arise with healing in his wings. You shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. He’s talking about the future blessings of the Lord when the Messiah comes again. For who is all this done? Whose names are written in the book of the remembrance of God? Who are those who will find total, complete, absolute, perfect healing from the Messiah himself forever and ever? It’s those who fear God. Now let’s ask the question. We had three questions. One, what is the fear of God? Why should we fear God? Now how do we fear God? Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 6, the fifth book of the Old Testament. Deuteronomy chapter 6. How do you fear God? I mean, what does it actually mean if we’re applying this in our life? Number one, you fear God by keeping his commandments. Obedience. Don’t tell me you fear God if you don’t keep his word. God says this over and over and over again. I hit some highlights, Deuteronomy 6, 2, that you may fear the Lord your God to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you. Verse 24, the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always, that He might preserve us alive as it is this day. Chapter 8 of Deuteronomy, verse 6, therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in His ways and to fear Him. Deuteronomy 28, verse 58, it says, if you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then God would bring judgment. I hope all of this scripture tells you one thing. We’re not talking about learning to be afraid and scared of God, but we’re learning to recognize God in such a dominant way in our life that obedience flows out of it. I want to do what God tells me to do. Number two, turn to Exodus chapter 20. You say, how do you fear God? One, by keeping his commandments, obedience. Two, is by staying away from sin. Staying away from sin. In Exodus 20, verse 20, Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin. You know, that’s almost a paradox. He tells the people not to be afraid, and then tells them that they would fear God. So we learn that fearing God is not simply being scared. And they were scared at this point because they saw a visible demonstration of God. Fire, all of this. They were scared, really scared, frightened by what God did. And he said, hey, don’t be scared. Don’t be scared at all. I’ve come to test you. I want my fear to be before you so that you may not sin. He had just revealed the consequences that could happen to somebody who disobeyed what we know were the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. You see, the fear of God is staying away from sin. We’re to do it with all of our heart, mind, and soul. It means keep His commandments, and it means stay away from sin. Number three, it means to serve the Lord. Those who fear God are not trying to find a way out of service. They are committed to service because they fear God. In Deuteronomy 6.13, it says, You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him. In chapter 10 of Deuteronomy, verse 12, It says, Now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul? Joshua challenged the people of Israel in Joshua 24 with the same thing. If you fear God, you will serve Him. He said, Choose you this day whom you will serve. Those who fear the Lord are going to serve the Lord. They’re going to do whatever they can to be a blessing to others and to do what God wants them to do. So you see, when you ask me, how do you fear God? Keep his commandments, obedience, stay away from sin, and serve the Lord with all your heart. That’s fearing God. Turn to Deuteronomy 14. This one’s going to hurt a little bit, so you better turn. Deuteronomy 14, and I mean turn to the Bible. You know how you fear God in your life? By giving to the Lord a portion of your income. You say, I knew he’d talk about money. I always love to talk about the man that visited here on three occasions. He hasn’t been back in several years, but he visited here three occasions. He said to me, he said, I’ve been there three times. He named the occasions. He said, all three times you spoke about money and giving. I checked my records. It was the only three times I had spoken on money. He said, well, the way I see it, you always speak on money. I said, well, you know, since I checked the records, those are the only three times I spoke on money. Obviously, you’ve only been here three times. And by the way, isn’t it interesting in the sovereignty of God why he would bring you on the Sundays that I would be speaking about giving? You know, you talk about giving people back up. Wait a minute. Deuteronomy 14, verse 22. You shall truly tithe. Yes, tithe was like a taxation. I understand all that. Israel was a theocracy. You shall truly tithe a tenth. All the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. You shall eat before the Lord your God in a place where he chooses to make his name abide. The tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, the firstlings of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to… fear the Lord your God always. Did you know giving a portion on a regular basis of your income to God keeps God on the front burner of your focus and perspective? That’s what it means to fear the Lord. You recognize His sovereignty over all that you have. That’s why a portion of your income is given to Him, to honor the Lord with the firstfruits of your substance, as Proverbs 3, 9 and 10 says. It’s a recognition that all I have comes from God. And it’s a commitment to God, to honor Him, to worship Him, to say, Lord, I know where all this comes from. Number five. As to how do you fear God? By keeping his commandments, staying away from sin, serving the Lord, giving to the Lord, also by praising the Lord. You who fear the Lord. Praise him. All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him. And fear him, all you offspring of Israel. In chapter 135 of Psalms, verse 20. Chapter 135, verse 20. It says, Bless the Lord, O house of Levi. Ye who fear the Lord, bless the Lord. If you fear the Lord, you praise him. You bless him. You give glory to him. And one last thing. Turn to Psalm 115, verse 11. How do we fear God? By keeping His commandments, by staying away from sin, by serving the Lord, by giving to the Lord, by praising the Lord. But here’s the heart of it. By trusting in the Lord. By trusting in the Lord. In Psalm 115, verse 11, it says, You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, that’s David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back shortly to close out our study time for today. Some additional teaching, so stick around for that. First, though, Matt Hawking is here. He’s in studio with me now, and Matt, we have some resources to share with folks. These are fantastic. Let’s talk about them. Jim, you know, when listening to a message or sermon, I wish I had 100% recall and retention. Too often we hear a biblical truth that ministers to our heart or an application that would be perfect to share with a friend. Yeah, something that would be tremendously helpful and life-changing. Yeah, but we can’t get it written down. Nope. It’s lost from memory, right? You can’t write it down and later you can’t remember it. Well, this month, Hope for Today is offering a dynamite resource bundle. David’s original sermon notes and outline packs for all 27 of his teaching series in the New Testament. You know, these are the sermon notes and outlines he used to preach each and every message. And they reflect his extensive study and prayerful applications. The four hours a day thing. Yeah. Yeah, Matt, wow, what a blessing that is that God gave your dad that ability to teach and that heart for studying the Word of God. And these sermon notes are reflective of that study. The sermon notes help you capture the lessons and applications and encouragement from the message, each message in a New Testament series in a comprehensive but concise format. Get in touch today and purchase the study notes, outlines, packs for all 27 of my dad’s teaching series in the New Testament. The bundle is just $75 today. Get this and you’ll be ready for each and every upcoming Hope for Today radio series in the New Testament. Or you’ll have a ready foundation for your own study or to teach a group study. And your purchase or donation will also help the ministry of Hope for Today. And please remember to pray for Hope for Today. Yeah, please do that. Amen. Well, we also want to tell you about a wonderful book from David Hawking called The God of the Bible. Listen, this rich and helpful resource points you back to the truth of who God is as revealed in his word. It is powerful and a deeper study for what you’re hearing on radio right now during our current series. You know, in a time when so many people have shallow ideas about God or wrong ideas about God, This book will help ground you in what the Bible actually says. And if you’re enjoying this current radio series, you will love this book by David, The God of the Bible. David’s book is available right now for just $20. And as you order, would you also consider joining our ministry support team with a donation? A donation that is aside from any resource you might purchase. We covet, first of all, your prayers. And we would also ask you to prayerfully consider standing with the Hope for Today team financially. Your support helps keep this broadcast on the air, helps us continue teaching the Word of God clearly, boldly, and without compromise, and helps us provide strong biblical teaching and resources to people who need to know the Lord and grow in His Word. And that’s everyone, isn’t it? Whether it’s a one-time gift or a faithful monthly contribution, your partnership makes a real difference and makes you a part of the team. Visit davidhawking.org to give or call 800-75-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. If you’re listening in Canada, call 888-75-BIBLE. Bible is 242-4255. And many folks enjoy writing a letter, a good old-fashioned letter. We love those as well. In the U.S., write to HOPE4TODAY, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to HOPE4TODAY, Box 15011, RPO7OAKS, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. Get in touch. We’d love to hear from you. Right now, here’s David with those closing remarks.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ve often said that the root of every problem in my life is a misunderstanding or a misapplication of who God is or what God can do. And I’ve really seen that to be so. Our subject of the fear of God, I hope, has opened up some things to your mind. In fact, if you take the book of Proverbs with a concordance or Bible program and just trace it, like in chapter 1, verse 7, it says, “…the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” That’s pretty strong. In chapter 1, verse 29, it says, being a fool, you hated knowledge. You did not choose the fear of the Lord. So there’s quite a bit in the book of Proverbs. In fact, there’s an interesting definition that I hope will explain what we’ve been doing here on the broadcast. In chapter 9, if you look at verse 10, it says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy, the Holy One, is understanding. So right away we learn that the fear of the Lord is knowledge of God, and that’s the point of our whole series here. God, we have in the Bible, is a plural word, Elohim. The singular is El or Elohei. But God appears in the Bible as a Father and a Son and as the Holy Spirit. That’s where the triunity of God comes from. Again, I just pray that the Lord will open up your heart to the importance of the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER 01 :
God bless you. Well, thank you, David. And next time you’ll hear day three of David’s message on the fear of God. What does it really mean to fear God? Why should we fear him? And how do we fear him in the way the Bible describes? Well, David will take us back to the word of God for clear, strong, biblical answers. So be sure to join us and invite a friend to listen along with you right here on Hope for Today.
