There Is No Fear Of God! — Richard Owen Roberts

The Fear of God as the Foundation of True Christianity

I'm deeply convinced that the vast majority who call themselves Christians are not, because they have never truly exposed themselves to the God of the Bible. I remember giving a series of sermons on the fear of God, and they were three in number and a very simple approach, really.

Three Functions of the Fear of God

Number one, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Number two, the fear of God is the only true preservative against personal evil. And number three, the fear of God is the only guarantee of social justice.

The Church’s Lack of Wisdom and Moral Integrity

The response to those sermons absolutely astonished me. People very adamantly said, we can't believe in a God, you have to fear. And we've got a lot of evidence around us right now that for multitudes in the church there's never been a beginning of wisdom.

They don't seem to have any true wisdom from God at all. Certainly, the fact that the morality rate in the church is essentially no better than it is in the world is another clear indication there can't be a fear of God, or else people could not possibly be living the way they're living.

The Absence of Social Justice and the Degradation of the Nation

And certainly no one in their right mind would suppose that our country has become famous for social justice. We are so far removed from that that it's hard to imagine that we ever were even a caring society, let alone a Christian society.

And when you think about that whole matter, a man can be witnessed committing a murder, maybe 11 eyewitnesses who saw him actually put somebody to death, and 14 years later they're still toying around in the courts pretending to administer justice.

False Converts and the Decline of the Church’s Witness

So the absence of the fear of God has resulted in the degradation of the nation in every conceivable realm. Now what I see happening in these churches that are flourishing, that are drawing great crowds, that are adding rapidly to their membership, every new false convert that is added to the church of Christ cheapens the message of the gospel and brings the nation down another rung in true godliness and holiness.

There was a time, I believe I could have honestly said, that the positive witness of those who called themselves Christians and really were was remarkable in its impact upon the nation. But we can't speak words like that today.

Repentance from Make-Believe Christianity

What we have to say today is that the negative influence of those who call themselves Christians and are not is vastly greater than the positive impact of those who truly are. So as we go on adding more and more and more of these shallow make-believe Christians, we are bringing the nation down deeper and deeper into the depth of immorality and ungodliness.

So I believe Tozer was 100 right and that there are multitudes of churches and pastors that have no hope whatsoever until they get on their faces before God and repent of the sham Christianity that they are presenting.