In this enlightening episode of Hope for Today, David Hawking delves deep into the biblical understanding of the fear of God. Through a compelling sermon, David explains that the fear of God is not about trepidation or anxiety, but rather about reverence, humility, and an obedient heart towards our Creator. Drawing from the Psalms and Proverbs, this message unfolds the essence of fearing God, which is the foundational pathway to acquiring wisdom and discernment.
Listen, if you fear God, what that fear of God is, is a hatred of sin. Not sinners, sin. We love people, but we hate what they do. Hatred of sin. If you don’t hate sin, you, in fact, are not described in the Bible as one who fears God. And you’re living very dangerously as a believer if that’s what you claim to be. People who really love the Lord and are really committed to Him… hate evil and sin. They know what it does. They know the damage and destruction, and they hate it wherever it is. We love people, but we hate what they do.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, it’s a blessing to have you with us for this Thursday broadcast of Hope for Today, the Bible teaching ministry of David Hawking. A lot of people talk about God, they sing about God, and even claim to know God, but have never faced the question, this crucial question that the Bible actually asks, What does it really mean to fear God? This isn’t about superstition or religious panic or cringing before some unknown force. It’s about seeing God for who he is and responding with the reverence, humility, and obedience he so very richly deserves. Well, today, David begins a message called The Fear of God. He’ll take us to the Psalms and Proverbs to give us a biblical answer to a question that desperately needs one. What does it really mean to fear God? Stay with us as we bring you the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, right here on Hope for Today. First, if you like the sermon notes for this current series, our current series is called The Attributes of God, and we have a pack that includes all of the sermon notes that David used to preach these messages. They include outline points, cross-references, definitions, historical context, everything you need to follow along with David as he preaches to save the crucial points and maybe even add some of your own notes along the way. These are the sermon notes for the Attributes of God radio series. All 16 messages are covered. And the sermon notes pack for this is just $10. Order at DavidHawking.org or call us at 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or in Canada, 888-75-BIBLE. And Bible is 242-53. And here’s David.
SPEAKER 01 :
If you’d like to take notes, we’re going to deal with three questions today. What is the fear of God? Secondly, why should we in fact fear God? And third, how do you fear God? If you do fear him, how do you do it? In Proverbs chapter 1, and there is a lot in the Psalms and Proverbs about the fear of God. In chapter 1, we read the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom. justice, judgment, and equity, to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles, the fear of the Lord. is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and instruction. Chapter 2, verse 1. My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand wisdom. the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. And then in chapter 3, verse 1, My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands. For length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. And so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. I read that in a Bible study several years ago, and an elderly lady said, That’s for me. My bones hurt. Ha ha. Well, if your bones hurt today, we’ve got good news for you. What is the fear of God? You know, there are many ways to answer this question. I said after doing a long study on the word fear, and by the way, it appears so many times in the Bible, one wonders how much time you would have to have to finish it. But if you study every passage where it’s used, you come to the conclusion that fear, in terms of its in-depth Hebrew grammatical understanding, fear means fear. Amen? Now, all the books I have that comment on fear kind of go the other way. They tell me, in fact, I just did a quick review of that in preparation for this message, although I remember well what they all say. But anyway, I just did a quick review and ran through them. And almost every last theology and commentary on this says, well… It’s not exactly fear. It’s reverential trust. It’s awe. You know, there’s a lot of reasons behind that, as you will soon see. But the truth of the matter, without trying to run away, fear does mean fear. And yet the Bible very clearly wants us to love God and tells us that if you have God’s kind of love, it will cast out fear. So… Aren’t those mutually exclusive? Well, it depends. First of all, it depends on whether you’re talking about the human reaction of fear or whether you’re talking the biblical understanding of fear. I believe the biblical understanding of fear is never to be absent from the believer’s heart. Never. A part of my relationship to God involves my fear of God. In fact, there’s a sense in which I can tell you all believers fear God and all non-believers do not fear God. The very term to fear God is a statement about who is a believer and who isn’t. But, of course, we need a lot more than this. What is the fear of God? And I’m going to use the Bible alone to tell you. Number one, I read in Proverbs 1, 7 that it is the key to knowledge and wisdom. Turn to Proverbs 15, verse 33. You’ll also find the same thing in Psalm 111, verse 10, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. If you want to be smart, really smart, really understand life and what it’s all about, The meaning and purpose of it and how everything functions and works. If you want wisdom and knowledge, the Bible says you need the fear of the Lord. You ask me, what is the fear of God? It is the key to wisdom and knowledge. Whatever it is, we desperately need it. In chapter 15, verse 33, it says, the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. And before honor… is humility. The last phrase is a parallel statement. The honor here would be being wise. And before that honor is humility, which is the fear of the Lord. It’s a type of parallelism in Hebrew poetry that shifts subject and direct object in the two parallel statements. The fear of the Lord is the humility, and the wisdom is the honor. So before you get wisdom, before you’re honored that way, you need humility, which is what? the fear of the Lord. So there you’re getting some insight into what it is. But the key to notice is that whoever has the fear of God in his life is being constantly instructed in wisdom. So those who fear God are going to be much smarter and wiser, especially in terms of the application of knowledge, than those who do not. Number two, turn back to Proverbs 2, verse 5. You say, what is the fear of God? Well, it’s the key to knowledge and wisdom. But number two, the Bible teaches it is the knowledge of God himself. When you say fear of God, we’re not talking simply about being scared, but we’re actually talking about knowing God. And fear is the consequence of that. In chapter 2, verse 5, it says, if you seek for wisdom, verse 4, like you search for a hidden treasure, you’re really after it, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. What is the fear of the Lord? It is the knowledge of of God. Turn to chapter 9, even a more pointed statement. Chapter 9, verse 10. It says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That’s how he started the book in Proverbs 1, 7. Now he picks it up again and says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Here’s a parallel statement. And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. So what is the fear of the Lord? It is the knowledge of God Himself. When you fear God, you have decided that knowing who God is is more important than anything else in life. And isn’t it interesting that our culture is bonkers? I mean, I’m going to find another word to just describe their obsession, but they are bonkers for learning about man and self. and we wonder why we’re not wise. We wonder why we don’t have the wisdom and knowledge of God. What’s wrong? The pursuit is wrong. If you’re pursuing to know yourself, to find out who you are, to really get your act together, first of all, it’s a dead-end street going nowhere. You’re wasting your time, really. But if you’re doing that, it’s leading to that which is not wise. you will learn fast and rapidly that you will never discover the real wisdom that God wants to give you. It comes through knowing God. Turn back to Psalm 33. A third thing, when you ask me, what is the fear of God? It’s the key to knowledge and wisdom. It is the knowledge of God Himself. And number three, it is respect for the power of God’s Word. Why do some people not pay much attention to the Bible and the Word of God in their life? Well, according to the Bible, there’s a problem here about the fear of God. In Psalm 33, I read in verse 8 and 9… Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. You know, just thinking about creation and how it came into existence. By the way, if you don’t believe that the world was created by the direct word of God, guess what? I’m sorry, you’re not smart. You’re not smart. And I’m not here discussing all the scientific theories that our world has come up with. If you do not believe that the universe was the result of the direct word of God, it’s heading you down a course of intellectual and moral blindness, whether you know it or not. He spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. Okay, we Christians might argue over how long the days were and what the processes were and all of that. But listen, you remove God in the beginning God created. And you are now on a road of moral and intellectual darkness. And the Bible speaks about that frequently. You don’t acknowledge God. You set him aside. It’s going to lead to the foolishness of your own imaginations. That’s in Romans 1. And God says you’re without excuse once you do that. You’re in big trouble. So it’s respect for the power of God’s Word. Now, God spoke and it was done. Remember, folks, when God spoke and created the world, that’s a result of the creative breath of God Almighty. Well, so is man the result of the creative breath of God. The Bible says, The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. So the material physical universe is the product of the creative breath of God, and so is… man, and woman. By the way, so is the written word of God. In 2 Timothy 3.16, it says all scripture, graphe, writing, that which was written, every scripture is inspired by God. So in the Bible, we learn three things are the result of the simple word of God, the creative power of God by the simple spoken word, the physical material universe, human people, man and woman, and third, The word of God itself, the written word of God. So you see, the fear of God is a key even to your whole response to the word of God. You say, what is the fear of God? It’s a key to knowledge and understanding and wisdom. It’s also the knowledge of God himself, and it is respect for the power of God’s word. You stand in awe, you fear. Why? Because he spoke and it was done. Turn, please, to Proverbs 8, 13. A fourth thing that the Bible says is the fear of God. Proverbs chapter 8, verse 13. Proverbs 8, 13. It says, The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth, I hate. When you fear God, you hate what he hates. You hate sin. You say, what is the fear of God? It’s the hatred of sin. And what do we see in our culture? We see a giant toleration of sin. We see also a redefinition of sin. Things that God says are wrong, people are saying it’s okay. Listen, if you fear God, what that fear of God is, is a hatred of sin. Not sinners, sin. We love people, but we hate what they do. Number five, turn to Proverbs chapter 14. You say, what is the fear of God? It’s a key to wisdom and knowledge, the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. It’s the knowledge of God himself. It’s the respect for the power of God’s word. It’s the hatred of sin. Proverbs 14, 27 adds another one. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to avoid the snares of death. You say, what is the fear of God? It’s a fountain of life. Whatever this is, the fear of God, it’s the root, so to speak, or the fountain out of which gushes all that is what we call life. And especially as it relates to eternal life. Because obviously the person is alive about whom he’s saying it. So it’s not simply the physical life problem. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to avoid the traps of death. And what he is saying is referring to a believer. All that life is being promised to the believer by our Lord. Everlasting, eternal, wonderful life and all of its blessings. is really rooted in the fear of the Lord. So that’s why the fear of the Lord is sometimes a statement simply indicating a believer in contrast to a non-believer. All believers should fear God. All unbelievers do not fear God. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life out of which all life springs. Turn to chapter 23. I’ll give you one more. When you say, what is the fear of God? It’s the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. It’s the knowledge of God himself. It’s a hatred of sin. It’s a fountain of life. But according to Proverbs 23, 17 and 18, it’s also hope in the Lord. And here’s where we begin to understand a little bit of what the fear of God means. It says, “…do not let your heart envy sinners, but in the fear of the Lord continue all day long, for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off.” When you have fear in the Lord, it is hope in the Lord. So you don’t envy what the world’s offering or what they say is cool or neat or sharp or wonderful or tremendous for you. You don’t envy it. You don’t want anything to do with it. The world is passing away. What the fear of God is, is hope in the Lord. You know that what He has promised will come true. Hebrews 6 says, “…that hope is a sure anchor of the soul.” Our souls are so much in turmoil. Why? Because there’s no anchor of the soul. We’re bouncing on the water, so to speak. We’re not anchored down. And the anchor is the hope and confidence that we have that God cannot lie, and he has promised to us wonderful things. So we trust him. It is a key to knowledge and wisdom. It does mean hate, sin, and all of that. But it is hope. It is confidence in the Lord. Not in what life presents to me, but in the Lord Himself. And you can almost see when the fear of God is dribbling out of your life is when you lose confidence in the Lord. And all of a sudden your circumstances and the events of your life and even people in your circle of ministry… all of a sudden they become the key focus and you’re getting your hope from them. Soon you will see that the fear of God is lacking. You’re more worried about what people think about you. You’re more worried about how the circumstances of your life are turning out. And if they’re in your category negative, that is you don’t like what’s happening, all of a sudden you’re getting bent out of shape. Things are getting worse. You’re losing your confidence. You’re losing your trust. What’s happening? Your problem is the fear of the Lord. We need to fear God. Now let me give you some reasons to answer the second question. Why should we fear God? Why? Turn to Proverbs chapter 10, please, and look at verse 27. Why should we fear God? And there are a lot of wonderful reasons why. One is that it prolongs days. You say, man, I can’t hardly get through a day now. You’re telling me it’s going to be longer? Proverbs 10, 27 says, The fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened. Now, right away comes forth a doctrine that I believe is incorrect, but is taught by many, many Christians. That if you fear God, you’ll live longer than the guys that don’t. That’s what a lot of people believe that says. Looks like it, doesn’t it, on the surface? Do you know any wicked people who’ve lived a long time? Do you know any people who’ve walked with the Lord that so to speak, got their lives cut short, didn’t live very long on the earth. No, Proverbs is not presenting the earthly life as the big deal. The hope of Proverbs, the wonderful joys and blessings of Proverbs are not rooted in whatever this life has. Remember the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 19, if only in this life we have hope, we have all men most, what, miserable. That doesn’t sound like somebody who has the fear of the Lord in his life, who thinks prolonging days means just living longer. Hey, there are a lot of reasons why one doesn’t want to live longer. Let me give an example. I was thinking about this the other day. When a loved one has a heart attack and dies, sometimes it’s a shock, especially if there was no warning, and they just die. And you know, we all, almost in hearing that, go, But you know, if they know the Lord, it ought to be, Wow, that’s great! Imagine that. I mean, it’s like one day you’re here and bang, next moment you’re in heaven. Boy, that lucky guy. Man, wasn’t that something? Praise the Lord he died of a heart attack. You know, if you say that, they’ll call for the guys with the white coats. You know, why aren’t you more grieving? But listen, if we’re absent from the body and present with the Lord, though we sorrow over missing the loved one, is it not true that that is a very sweet and gracious thing of God? Now, on the other hand, have you not also seen what I have seen and still live with every day? The suffering and agony of a loved one. They’re not going to get better It gets worse. And you tell me to rejoice that the fear of the Lord prolongs days and all that means is, well, they lived to be 90. Hey, they might have wanted to die when they were 70 if they’d only known what the next 20 years would have been. No, God’s Word is not promising here earthly extensions. God is talking about the hope that we have in the Lord. You talk about prolonged days. We’re talking about living days. Amen. As the Bible says, Amen.
SPEAKER 02 :
Friends, you’re listening to Hope for Today with Bible teacher David Hawking. And David’s back in just a moment to bring our study to a close. Some additional teaching is just ahead, so stay tuned. First of all, Matt’s here in studio, and we’re going to share a couple of powerful resources with you. These are tremendous. Matt? This month, we are offering a bundle pack for all 27 teaching series by my dad in the The Gospels, Acts, Pauline Epistles, 1 and 2 Peter, 1 and 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation, all are included. Matt, I’d love to read through the Gospels with your dad’s study notes in hand. I think that would help me experience the vast wonder and blessing of our Lord’s life and work on earth. and the life-changing power of Christ’s work of salvation on the cross. You know, Jim, how about the essentials of Christian life and practice that Paul teaches in his epistles? Yeah, the study notes provide clarity, definition, explanation, and application. Your dad tackles these books, answering questions we’ve all asked, and the outlines guide you through each and every verse. And like our Old Testament sermon notes pack, the New Testament series sermon notes are much more than a straight line, one, two, three point list. Yeah, for a given message, David’s sermon outlines and notes start with an engaging introduction, a key verse for the passage. Great for memorization. Exactly, and a theme as well. Then we have outline points to guide your study along with definitions, cross-references, vital notes for the context and more. Now, how about explanations of cultural idioms? Yeah. Exploration of applicable history. Faith-assuring apologetic points. Evidence for the truth of Scripture. And more. More and more, Matt. We’re receiving notes from our listening family telling us of the value of these sermon notes. And again, this month we’re offering sermon note outline packs for all 27 of my dad’s New Testament teaching series. The complete bundle is just $75. That’s less than $3 per series. To order any of the resources we’ve covered today or to support this ministry, visit us online at davidhawking.org. You can also speak with us by phone at 875-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And Bible is 24253. To make a donation by mail in the U.S., write to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, that’s T-U-S-T-I-N, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7OAKS, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. And Abbotsford, by the way, is A-B-B-O-T-S-F-O-R-D. And again, you can make a donation by phone at 875-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada, or anywhere at davidhawking.org.
SPEAKER 01 :
And here’s David. Now, our subject today causes a lot of anxiety and consternation among a lot of God’s people about the fear of God. Because sometimes when we read the fear of God, we haven’t learned what the Bible says about it, but we are rather afraid of God. I’m not afraid of God, but I do fear Him. I know His power. I know His ability. I know His authority, His sovereignty, and His greatness. If I don’t do what he says and apply his word, I fear the consequences. God’s a long-suffering God, as we will learn in our series, but he also is a God of justice and judgment and righteousness. So the fear of God is a crucial issue, one of the things the Bible tells us. is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge in our life is related to the fear of the Lord. That’s the root. The fear of God will also drive us to our knees, to total dependency upon God and what he can do and deliver us from the fear of man, which the Bible calls a snare and a trap. God bless you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, thank you, David. Next time, David Hawking returns with day two of his message called The Fear of God. He’ll take us back to the word to keep answering that crucial question, what does it really mean to fear God? Be sure to join us right here on Hope for Today.
