Road to Reality - the Fear of the Lord - Part 1 — K.P. Yohannan

Welcome to The Road to Reality, the radio ministry of Gospel for Asia. Today, Brother KP Yohannan asks, What does it mean to fear the Lord, and how does fearing God impact my life? These are difficult questions, but essential to our walk with the Lord.

Let's join Brother KP as he unfolds the cost and the blessings of truly fearing the Lord.

Abraham’s Test and the Fear of God

I just want to read a few verses to you from the book of Genesis, chapter 22, and briefly share with you a few thoughts that the Lord laid upon my heart. This is in Genesis, chapter 22. The story is about God asking Abraham to take his son, his only son, and offer him up as a sacrifice, a bond offering.

And so we'll begin with verse 1. Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham, here I am, he replied. Then God said, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.

Sacrifice him there as a bond offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about. Early the next morning, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac.

When he had cut enough wood for the bond offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there.

We will worship and then we will come back to you. Abraham took the wood for the bond offering and placed it on his son Isaac. And he himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them went on together.

Isaac spoke up and said to his father, Abraham, father. Yes, my son, Abraham replied, the fire and the wood are here. Isaac said, but where is the lamb for the bond offering? Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb for the bond offering, my son.

And the two of them went on together. Verse 9, when they reached the place God had told them about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on the top of the wood.

Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham. Here I am, he replied. Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said.

Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. Then down in verse 18, And through your offering, all nations on the earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.

The kind of assignment I have is fear of the Lord and how it motivates us to serve him and do his will. And I took this passage to share briefly and bring some practical applications. This is the first time in the Bible it mentioned the fear of God.

If you are reading King James or some translation from NIV, it says, Now you know you fear God. In King James it is, Now I know you are the fearer of God. Now God still says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And Abraham we know what an incredible call God gave him. Out of a home just was filled with idolatry and just the normal life, didn't know nothing about the living God. But God called him by his grace and said, I am going to make you a blessing.

And I am going to make a blessing to the whole nation, for the whole world. And I am going to bless you. And he became, what we know, the wonderful statement, the friend of God. Someone who is so ordinary.

Someone who just lived with all the troubles and mess. When you talk about 70 divorce rate and all the mess. And the churches are not exempted from these difficulties. And men, fathers, husbands, you know the struggles you go through, you went through.

No matter where you are, God is the same God who calls us out of whatever we are in, to make our life incredible blessing with God's authority in our life. And as I read this passage, is there a key to this whole thing?

Friendship with God and Intimacy with the Lord

Well, I see very clearly, Abraham becoming a very close acquaintance of the Lord. He became a friend of God. John chapter 15, Jesus said, hey, I don't call you anymore slaves or distant people. You are now my friend.

Someone that Lord can talk to face to face, share his intimate feelings, his concerns. Not, Lord save me, I am now born again and this and that, no. But you grow to the place where the Lord says, hey Tom, I just want to talk to you.

Say, Lord, what do you want me to tell me? What do you want me to say to me? What do you want me to do? And that close acquaintance. And I think it's important for us to understand that to know the Lord intimately, the way Abraham knew him, we must understand something about the fear of the Lord.

Grace, Obedience, and the Fear of God

Now, you all have heard explanations about it. Now, as I was looking through these passages and thinking about this conference, it dawned on me that in order to build our personal life on a correct foundation, our family, our service, our future, we must understand what it means to relate our life with this concept of walking in the fear of the Lord.

Did you know of the entire Bible, three quarters of the Bible is the Old Testament, only one quarter is the New Testament? The principle theme of the Old Testament is the fear of God. The principle theme of the New Testament is the grace of God.

The way to distinguish between false grace and true grace is by finding out whether the grace people preach, they are incorporating the fear of God in it. You realize the grace of God is preached in the New Testament to a people that knew the fear of God, the Jewish people.

But today, we preach the grace of God to a people that don't understand nothing about the fear of God. So if you feel like it, do it. We misunderstand obedience as legalism. So we say, this guy is going to put us on a guilt trip of condemnation.

Hey, man, get off. That's California talk. Leave me alone, man. But sometimes we miss the whole point about the call of God for radical obedience and sacrifice because He is God. About Jesus, it says in Luke 2 .40, Grace of God was upon Him.

He grew in wisdom. But how? The fear of God brings wisdom. Hebrews 5 .7, Jesus, it says, He had godly fear. Strange, isn't it? The foundation of all that we are, will become is knowing the Lord intimately and have reverence and the fear of the Lord.

Where is wisdom found? Psalm 51 verse 6, Lord, it is in the innermost, in the deep, hidden part. A passage of scripture that struck me very strong some time ago is Leviticus chapter 19. Don't read the whole thing.

The whole passage is about fear of the Lord. Our horizontal relationship also. How you deal with one another. What you should not do. What you should do. And God says these things in the end. He says, no explanation.

No explanation why you must do these things. Only a few words. I am the Lord. Just because I am the Lord, you do it. We live in a time, especially in a culture here, that we are basically the masters of our life.

We don't like to think in terms of our life being servanthood or being a slave or any of those things. And we say, accept Jesus as your Lord, but basically that means you do what you want to do anyway.

Servanthood and Surrendering Self-Rule

But you know, when you read in the life of Paul, in Romans chapter 1, he says something very interesting. I am a born slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. All that I am, all that I do in my service of the Lord, it is because He is Lord.

He is my master. I have given up the right to run my own life. Some time ago I wrote in the back of my Bible a simple poem that I read once in a while. It became very special to me. I am seeking for one who will wait and watch for my beckoning hand, my eye, who will work in my manner the work I give, and the work I give will not pass by.

And oh, the joy that is brought to me when one such as this I can find, a man who will do all my will, who is set to study his master's mind. I am but a slave. I have no freedom of my own. I cannot choose the smallest thing, nor even my way.

I am a slave, kept to do the bidding of my master. He calls me night or day. Were I a servant, I could claim wages, freedom sometimes anyway. But I was bought. Blood was the price my master paid for me.

And I am now his slave and evermore will be. He takes me here. He takes me there. He tells me what to do. I just obey. That is all. And I trust Him too. What is the basis of our commitment to Jesus and our service to Him?

It's a question. The call sometimes we hear. Please come. Jesus died for you. He is waiting. He paid the price. Come. Peace, happiness, healing, miracles, Mercedes Benz, Rolls Royce. It's all for you.

Now and then, Heaven is waiting for you. What more do you want? The biblical basis of authentic service to the Lord and commitment of a life team. By the way, there is no dichotomy here. Serving the Lord, your commitment is the same.

Service is basically your life manifesting what is inside. The only true basis of this kind of commitment that God calls for is Lord, I am a thief. I am a robber. I stole my life away from you. You made me for yourself.

I come back to you as a repentant sinner and I turn my life over to you. I am not going to run my own life.

You're listening to Brother K .P. Yohannan from Gospel for Asia in a message he's entitled, The Fear of the Lord. In a moment, we'll rejoin Brother K .P. Now, if you'd like a free copy of Brother K .P.'s book, Revolution in World Missions, please visit our website, gospelforasia .org or you can call us toll free 1 -866-WIN-ASIA.

And now, let's rejoin Brother K .P. to conclude today's program.

Abraham’s Secret Obedience and Authentic Ministry

God who called Abraham to give his life to bless the whole nation, to fulfill a ministry through his life and his family, God called him and secretly said to him, very privately, Abraham, yes, I just want to tell you something.

Don't tell anyone. I'm adding a few words here. Because nobody else knew. His wife didn't know. His servants didn't know. Nobody knew. Just alone. Yes, Lord. I want you to take your son and offer him up.

Your only son. The one you love. And Abraham obeyed the Lord in secret. The foundation of genuine godly service. And God said, you are the fear of God. He went through many tests of leaving all, Genesis 12, separating from the Lord, chapter 13, and finally come to the place of the greatest of all tests, if he will do it.

Interesting about Job, God says the same thing in Job chapter 1. No one like him, the one who fears God. God didn't say nothing about how amazingly wealthy and wise and strong and his good look and his cultural behavior.

Nothing. None of those things. God is still valuing this more than anything else. You and I, our fear, our walk with him. 2nd Corinthians chapter 7, verse 1, a book where it talks about ministry, authentic ministry.

It says, therefore, having these promises, you cleanse yourself of all the sinfulness and perfect yourself in holiness, in the fear of God. That means you cannot, I cannot become like the Lord without our submitting to the Lord in this manner.

Also our chamber said this tremendous statement. If we have never heard God speaking a hard word to us, it is doubtful whether we have ever really heard from God at all. Abraham had years to hear. What kind of service are we fulfilling through our life?

Is serving God is one of the things you add on to the many other things you do? Or is it the basic outcome, the result of your life? For Abraham, it was one and the same. I got two children. My son Daniel, he is here, he is 20 years old and I got a daughter, 17 years.

And every time I read something like this, I cannot help but think about my children and you do too, I'm sure. Imagine the previous night. Did Abraham sleep? You don't sleep? I'm sure he looked at his son about 10 ,000 times and wiped his tears and tried to go to sleep.

But how difficult it was for him to give up his son, that he got in his old age. But there is no complaint in the sacrifice to serve the Lord. He didn't say, Lord, I gave up all of the chaldeans, the rich, the affluent and all the luxuries.

My parents thought I was going just crazy when I said, I'm leaving. And I couldn't even explain about you because they don't understand. And I walked away from this whole mess and I did that. Now, why you ask me for this?

It's too much. You listen to the average Christian radio and television program here. I will not call in names, but it's unbelievable the amount of teaching there is going on about how to take care of yourself.

There are programs totally dedicated on how to exercise in the Christian way and how to take care of your wife and your children and your husband. It is incredible the amount of stuff going on in telling us how to take care of your own life, your own family.

Counting the Cost of Discipleship

But how do you explain words like Jesus said, unless you love me more than father, mother, son, daughter, your own life, you cannot be my disciple. Forsake all and come after me. Give up your ambitions, take up the cross daily and follow me.

Where do you fit in all those Bible verses? It seems that God, Jesus is blue eyes, blond hair and fair skin. You realize that nearly 3 billion people live on planet earth right now that never had a chance to hear the name Jesus.

You realize that Jesus died on the cross nearly 2 ,000 years ago and even today more people on planet earth know about Coca-Cola than the name Jesus. What is our problem? Our problem is we are so self-centered, we are so ingrown, we are taught to take care of ourselves when half of the world is moving toward fast lane for hell and for eternity.

The problem is this, we cannot accept pain, inconveniences and sacrifice to worship and serve our living God because God is just a body we carry in our pocket, so to say, and take him out and say, do this for me, Jesus.

Then put him away. Then we go on with our lifestyle. There is no cross, there is no pain, there is no sacrifice. And I tell you what, A .W. Tausser said, Oh, the blessedness of possessing nothing. Coming into close relationship with the Lord.

If God had asked Abraham to give 10 ,000 sheep or rams or whatever, I am sure he would have easily said, Oh, no problem, I will do it. But, no sir, the best. Tell you something, How many of you have children?

Raise your hand. Are you concerned about your family? Are you concerned about your future? If we honor the Lord, He will certainly honor us. And our children will follow the living God. Abraham was old.

Isaac was a young man. He could carry enough wood on his shoulders for the burnt offering. He was not a little two-year-old little kid. He was a macho man, kind of. And Abraham just walked up, and his son is laying on the chopped wood.

He takes his hands and legs and ties. How did that happen? You think Abraham had a major wrestling match with him? He said, Boy, you are going to submit to me. I am going to make you do it. I am the Father.

God. None of those nonsense. Did you know, in the United States of America, you can buy over 1 ,000 different commentaries in English language on the book of Acts alone. You fellows, how many Christian concerts have you been to?

How many seminars on how to do things? How many dozens of books have you purchased? How many churches have you hoped? How many study Bibles have you purchased? I plead with you, listen to me. You may get 10 PhDs in all the knowledge of theology and the Word, you will never find a change in your heart, nor in your family, in your generations, because it is not knowledge that changes things, but it is radical lifestyle.

And our problem is, I will go one step further, as followers of Christ, it is not the quantity or quality time, it is not the books, it is not the church, it is not what you know, what you don't know.

It is your life, not information that makes the difference in your family and the work of the kingdom in your generation. I came to America, and I say this not with smile and lot of joy, and after a while here, I just want to become like any American.

When I first came to America, I thought hot dog was dog meat. Honest, honest, I really believed that way. It took me a while to figure out, no, hot dog was not dog meat. I was in a seminary, and start living my life, and called to pastor church there, and all those things, and I will not go into all the details, but all of a sudden I got into the life of materialism.

Quite a bit of money was given to us through my wife's people in Germany, so I did not buy nothing on credit. Only I will buy the most expensive Rolex watch, my suits, Neiman Marcus, 70 neckties, brand new cars, a house, a library of my own, seven or so most expensive leather-bound Bibles, nothing wrong with having nice things in life, Newsweek, Timex, and sports, stuff that I don't care nothing about.

Sports, what is this? I don't know. But I had them in my house. People walked in and said, wow, this guy is really, wow. Oh, I was sound, fundamental, born again, evangelical, preaching, teaching. What else you want in America?

A Personal Awakening to Eternity

Two years went by. I found I couldn't cry anymore. I did everything right. I said everything right for me. And one day the Lord began to say to me, son, what is this all about? Some 60 ,000 people in India die every day and plunge into hell.

And what are you doing with your life? This is what I called you about. And first time, it hit me like a rock would fall on my head. Hell! And I realized, Jesus died for this whole world and people that do not know Him, they are going to hell.

And not for two days, not for one million years, not for ten million years, but for billions or trillions of years. No, never to end. Weeping and crying out, just for one drop of water. And I said, do I really believe in this thing?

Do I really believe in this thing? Don't misunderstand. Don't write me off. I am not against your boat, your nice house, or your Rolls Royce, or whatever else you got. That's none of my business. But for me to have something else, I realized that I am a follower of Christ.

I must obey Him. I must commit my life to Him. It's the grace of God. It is the grace of God that He allowed me to come before Him. And I prayed a simple prayer. I said, Lord, take eternity and stamp on my heart.

You've been listening to The Road to Reality, the radio outreach of Gospel for Asia with K .P. Yohannan. If you've been challenged by Brother K .P.'s practical approach to fearing the Lord, please visit our website at gospelforasia .org.

We'd love to send you a free copy of Brother K .P.'s most popular book, Revolution in World Missions. This is the story of Brother K .P. as a young evangelist in India and his calling to launch a worldwide organization called Gospel for Asia.

In it, you'll find stories of God's amazing work in the lives of people here in the West and on the Indian subcontinent. Thousands have written to us over the years with the same testimony. This book can truly change your life.

For your free copy, simply go to our website, gospelforasia .org, or you can call us at 1 -866-WIN-ASIA and request Brother K .P.'s book, Revolution in World Missions. Please listen in next week at this same time to hear Brother K .P. conclude with stories from his own life that taught him what it means to fear the Lord.

Thank you for listening to Road to Reality, the radio ministry of Gospel for Asia.