The Fear of God & Pastoral Ministry - Dr. Tom Ascol

It is a joy to be here with you for this conference and appreciate the invitation, appreciate all the efforts that have gone in to providing for us, and I bring you greetings from Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral.

The folks there have assured me that they'll be praying for our time together, and also bring you greetings from Founders Ministries and the Institute of Public Theology. If there's any way that we can serve you through Founders or IOPT, please let us know.

You can go to the website, founders .org, and get all the information probably that you would ever want to know about Founders, and also ways to communicate with us if you think of ways that we can be of service to you.

The Fear of God in New Covenant Christianity

Well, tomorrow I intend to address that verse that was read earlier, Acts 20 -28, about the role and responsibility of pastors. And tonight what I want to do, kind of as preface to that, is to talk about a subject that we don't hear much about anymore in our churches or in the way that we talk about those who follow Jesus.

But there was a time when people talked about, in our churches far more than they do now, the fear of God. And we referred to those who are following Jesus Christ as God-fearing people. But we don't talk like that much anymore, and there's probably a variety of reasons for that.

But one significant reason is that there has been some teaching that has come into evangelical churches over the 20th century that could best be described as kind of a hyper-dispensationalism that has looked askance at the idea of fearing God being a part of New Covenant spirituality.

That is, fearing God being appropriate for Christians in this era. Psalm 19, verse 9 says, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. And C .I. Schofield, who has a study Bible that helped to preserve, in some ways, evangelical orthodoxy on the main doctrines of Scripture in the early part of the 20th century, also spread the worst elements of dispensationalism through that same mechanism.

His notes on Psalm 19, verse 9 says this, the fear of the Lord is a phrase of Old Testament piety. In other words, he was saying that this is appropriate for Old Testament people who knew God, but no longer appropriate for those who are knowing Jesus Christ under the New Covenant.

Well, that way of thinking and dividing the Testament so severely has its roots in second century Marcionism. Marcion was a heretic who said that the God of the Old Testament is not the God of the New Testament.

The God of the Old Testament is angry and full of wrath. The God of the New Testament is full of love that we know in Jesus. So in the Old Testament era, being fearful of God was an appropriate form of piety.

But in the New Testament era, where we know God is love, that place for fearing God should no longer be recognized among God's people. Well, I hope that tonight we will be able to see and be convinced that the idea of fearing God is not something that stopped with the close of the Old Testament canon.

But it's very much part and parcel, indeed, I would argue, the heart of New Testament piety as well. A simple study of the phrases fear of God or fear of the Lord will reveal that those phrases are used over 150 times in the New Testament.

And when you couple with the exact usage of those phrases, ideas and illustrations where the fear of God is being commended and described in positive ways, well, we have to conclude that certainly fearing God is a major theme of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.

Not only that, but the Bible repeatedly commends leaders of God's people, being those who lead in the fear of the Lord. For example, when Jethro gave counsel to Moses about dividing up the leadership responsibility of the newly exiled Israelites who had been led out of Egypt, Exodus 18 .21 records this part of his counsel.

He tells Moses, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe and place such men over the peoples as chief of thousands of hundreds of fifties and of tens.

They fear God, making them trustworthy, making them impervious to being bribed from doing something that God would call them to do. Deuteronomy chapter 17, God gives instructions about the kind of man that should be anointed as king in Israel.

He says, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law approved by the Levitical priests and it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord, his God, by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them so that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers and that he may not turn aside from the commandment either to the right hand or the left so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel.

Make sure that the man who would be anointed king among you is a God fearing man so that he will keep my commandments, that's what God says, so that he will not turn God's people away from the way of the Lord.

The last words that are recorded of King David found in 2 Samuel chapter 23 makes the same point, listen to this, the king said, the God of Israel has spoken, the rock of Israel has said to me, when one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth, it is a blessing to be led by a man who fears God, because he knows that he answers to far more than the people to whom he gives leadership.

Faithful leaders are those who lead in the fear of the Lord. Well why is it that the fear of God is such a major theme in the Bible? There's a simple answer to that question, because the God of the Bible is a fearful being.

The scripture describes God for us and calls upon us as creatures made in his image to respond to this God the way that he truly is. Psalm 89 says this, for who in the skies can be compared to the Lord, who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, a God greatly to be feared in the counsel of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him.

After recounting some of the mighty works of God, in Psalm 38 we read, let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. The God of the Bible is so fearful of a being that the only appropriate response for creatures made in his image is indeed to fear him, to be in awe of him.

In fact, Psalm number 67 says that fearing God will be the result of the word of God going out to the ends of the earth in power. Listen to the way the psalmist puts it. Verse 7 of Psalm 67 concludes by saying, God shall bless us, let all the ends of the earth fear him.

Well if the Bible speaks of the fear of the Lord so frequently because God indeed is a fearful being, and if we are rather infrequent in our consideration of God being fearful, then what does that suggest about our thoughts of God?

It suggests that perhaps our thoughts of God are too light. They're not significant enough. That the reality of God doesn't rest heavily enough upon our thinking. If we allow our thoughts of God to remain this way, then we will continue to drift further and further from the way he's revealed himself to us until ultimately we might drift away from the true God revealed in scripture.

There may not be a concept in all the Bible that is more misunderstood than this idea of the fear of the Lord. And because of that I want to take some time this evening to survey what the Bible has to say on this subject.

And in doing so I want to encourage all of us to measure our own attitudes by what we will see in the scripture concerning how we ought to think about God and cultivate fear of God. The late Scottish theologian John Murray begins the last chapter of his classic book Principles in Conduct with this sentence.

He writes, the fear of God is the soul of godliness. In other words, genuine biblical spirituality is cultivated in, it's nurtured in a healthy fear of God. In order to see what Murray's talking about here as we survey some of the biblical passages on this theme, hopefully God will help us to elevate our own sense of the priority of fearing God for true biblical spirituality.

Psalm 111 verse 10 is a great passage that expresses what is found elsewhere in the Bible. After externing the greatness of God's work and the way that these works reveal His grace and power, the psalmist concludes in Psalm 111 verse 10 with these words.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. Wisdom begins with the fear of God. And a good understanding comes with the practice of the fear of the Lord.

And that's just as true for pastors as it is for everyone else. So if a pastor is going to be wise, if he's going to grow with a good understanding, and if he's going to be effective in leading people to be wise and also to have a good understanding, then he must cultivate a proper fear of God.

What this means is that faithful pastors will fear God and will teach others to fear God as well. So I want to ask three questions of this subject tonight and then search the Bible for answers of them.

The first is how should Christians fear God? The second is how does the fear of God encourage spiritual growth and holiness? And then thirdly, how can the fear of God be cultivated? What can we do in order to grow in this?

Servile Fear and Filial Fear

So what is exactly that the Bible has in mind when it talks about the fear of the Lord? What is it? In what way should Christians fear the Lord? Well we need to understand that the Bible talks about the fear of God in different ways.

It's not monolithic in that sense. On the one hand, the Bible holds out the fear of God as an essential characteristic of a spiritually healthy child of God, what Murray calls the soul of godliness. But on the other hand, you have the Bible condemning fear, as for example in 1 John chapter 4 verse 18 where John writes, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Now what this means obviously is there's got to be more than one idea about fear that we've got to come to terms with and make sure that we don't confuse the two. There's a fear that results in dread and causes people to run away from God, much like a thief runs away from a police officer when he recognizes that the officer is about to catch him.

But then there's the fear that the Bible commends, fear that doesn't drive us away from God, but actually draws us to God. Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther and many of the Puritans all distinguish between these two ways of fearing God by describing the first as a servile or slavish kind of fear, and the second as a filial or godly kind of fear.

Servile fear is the fear that a slave has of his demanding taskmaster, fearful of what will happen to him if he does not do what the taskmaster requires of him. He'll be punished and so he's fearful of that punishment.

Filial fear or godly fear by contrast is the fear that a son has toward his powerful father. The son is moved by his father's greatness as well as his goodness. He fears his dad, but he fears him in the sense that he hates the thought of disappointing his dad and not doing what his dad has called him to do.

The difference between these two is found in the relationship that exists between the one who is to be feared and the one who is to fear. Now, God provokes both kinds of fear in people. He provokes people.

The Bible makes a distinction between these two different ways of fearing God, but it acknowledges rightly that God provokes both of them in His creatures. In Exodus 20, we get this two ways of fearing God side by side after the Ten Commandments have been spoken by God from Mount Sinai.

Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, that your fear of Him may be before you that you may not sin. So the people were commanded not to fear so that they might fear. The scene obviously was smoke, lightning, thundering voices.

The people have been warned not to come to the mountain, not to touch the mountain, and now then this God that has just delivered them from Pharaoh humbled the mightiest emperor on earth to deliver them is speaking audibly to them, and they're terrified at the sight, at the sound.

And Moses tells them, put off your terror so that you might appropriately revere and stand in awe of this God who has delivered you, who has saved you out of your bondage. Both aspects of fear, terror and awe, are provoked by the reality of God being revealed to His creatures.

Again, John Murray writes, these two meanings of fear enter into the concept of the fear of God. There is the dread or terror of the Lord, and there is the fear of reverential awe. There is the fear that consists of being afraid, it elicits anguish and terror.

And there is the fear of reverence, it elicits confidence and love. Our God is a consuming fire. He's sovereign. He is almighty. He rules over all the earth. Empires and emperors, kings and all those in authority are placed where they are by His decree.

He raises up and He casts down. He hates sin. He's angry with the wicked every day. He will not let the guilty go unpunished. He is jealous for His own glory. The world and everything in it was created by Him and for Him and owes its existence and honor to Him.

That such a one as He is should not evoke fear in sentient creatures is a testimony of irrationality that exists in humanity. It is a testimony to spiritual and moral blindness that has been induced by sin.

Where God is known or acknowledged even in a small degree, the only reasonable response by sensible beings is fear. And the fear that He provokes can be distinguished in two categories depending upon the relationship of the beings to the Creator.

Servile fear, slavish fear, is found in the person who is confronted by the reality of God but because of his rebellion against God due to his sin, hates God. This is what we see in Adam after his sin and disobedience to God's command that put him in a rebellious relationship against his God.

Genesis chapter 3 verse 10, when God called for Adam in the garden, Adam responded and said, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid. He was afraid because he had rebelled against the God who brought everything into existence.

That's why he hid. This sort of terror at the thought of the Lord is often downplayed. Sometimes it's denied outright by people who feel the need to rehabilitate God's reputation in our judgmental world.

Yet the Bible makes it abundantly clear that when a rebellious sinner is confronted with the reality of God, the only rational response is to be terrified, to be sobered, to be scared. Revelation chapter 6 describes such a scene when the Lamb opens the sixth seal.

Listen to the way that John describes it as it was revealed to him. When the Lamb opened the sixth seal, John said, I looked, verse 12, and behold there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth and the full moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.

The sky vanished like a scroll that's being rolled up and every mountain and every island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand?

Think of that scene. Generals that lead armies into battle, kings, mighty ones, rich people who've been able to do anything they want to do. When the revelation of the true God, the Lamb who has wrath, is made known to them, they're begging the mountains to fall on them and hide them from this God.

There's no question about whether this being should be feared or not. The only question is how can we escape his presence? This sort of fear is both real and rational for people who do not know God. But this is not the kind of fear that the Bible commends to believers in Jesus Christ.

The kind of fear that is essential for spiritual life and vitality is filial fear, relationship fear, gospel fear, godly fear. This is the fear of a son toward his father. The fear that does not repel us from God because of our sin but draws us to God because of his grace.

This fear doesn't see less in God than servile fear does. It sees more in him because this fearful God is seen and known to be full of grace and mercy and salvation. Jerry Bridges in his excellent book, The Joy of Fearing God, tells the story about a young Marine recruit by the name of Butch McGregor who during basic training was confronted by a two-star general who came and chewed him out.

And he describes this general as steely-eyed and McGregor was terrified of him. Well, as would happen later in his career, McGregor winds up being the chauffeur for this general and the general is kind of distant from him but he thinks he likes him and he likes the general well enough but there's that distance between them until one time in a war zone they're driving through a field and the vehicle hits a mine, a landmine, and it explodes and the general is expelled from the car and McGregor's pinned in the car.

And the general, though he's severely wounded, makes his way back to the vehicle and rescues Sergeant McGregor. And McGregor goes into the hospital for weeks and every day of every week the general comes to visit him.

And during that time Sergeant McGregor realizes the general loves me and I love him. And he couldn't wait to get out of the hospital to go back to being the chauffeur for this general. And he continued to salute him and he continued to say yes sir and no sir because he's a two-star general.

But the relationship was transformed from being one of terror to one of love. Godly fear, filial fear is what Christians are to cultivate in our lives day by day. It's that relationship that grows because we know this fearful God that causes generals to want mountains to fall on them rather than face them.

In Jesus Christ is their God and Father. The God who loves us. The God who gave up his son for us. All the things that make God terrifying and true, or terrifying and causing fear in people who would run from him are still true.

But because of his grace and mercy this God who is fearful in every dimension of his being is for us. He loves us and he's drawn us to himself. This is what John means in 1 John 4 .18 when he says perfect love casts out fear.

It casts out that kind of terror. Why? Because that kind of terror, that kind of fear has to do with punishment. As Christians we know that our sins deserve to be punished eternally by the wrath of God.

And that's a terrifying thought. When you think honestly about your sin and honestly about what God says about sin and what you know your sin deserves, it's a horrific thought. But as Christians, we also know that every last one of our sins has been paid for fully by Jesus Christ on the cross.

And so we don't bear our sin anymore. And there's no condemnation for us because we are in Christ Jesus and it is his stripes that have reconciled us to God. Because of Christ our relationship with God has been transformed.

We're no longer criminals who have to run from him. We're children who are invited to run to him. We're welcomed at his table. And this relationship of sheer grace is what enables us to fear him without being paralyzed with terror of him.

This is what we see time and time again in the early church. In Acts chapter 5 when God killed two church members in Jerusalem for lying, what do we read? We read this, great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things.

Their fellow church members were killed by their God. They were worshiping a God who kills people and yet they kept worshiping him. They kept living for him. They kept evangelizing for him. We read in Acts chapter 9 that God killed some of them.

And the fear of God was what enabled the church throughout Judea and Galilee and Samaria to go on spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and Luke describes it as having peace, the church had peace, they were being built up while walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

Walking in the fear of God and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Those aren't things that are incompatible. They're not mutually exclusive. When we know the fearful God through faith in Jesus Christ, we have the Spirit and can walk in the comfort of the Spirit while we walk in the fear of this God.

That's what the early church did. It's possible to experience both fear and comfort at the same time. And I would argue it's not just possible, it's essential for vital biblical spirituality. John Calvin correctly said, nothing prevents believers from being afraid and at the same time possessing the surest consolation.

Fear and faith can dwell in the same mind, and they will, where we are growing in our understanding of and devotion to this fearful God who gave up his son for us in Jesus. Well, having considered the kind of fear that Christians are to have toward God, let's now consider how this fear of God encourages spiritual growth, encourages pursuit of holiness among God's people.

Fear of God and Spiritual Growth

Ephesians 4 verses 11 through 13 teach us that Christ gives pastors to churches to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

So pastors exist for that purpose. Pastors are given to churches so that churches might grow up in Christ, so that believers might become more mature. Well, what place does the fear of God have in that process?

Well, the Scripture teaches that godliness arises out of fear. It arises out of the fear of God. We see this in the way Scripture connects the fear of God to salvation itself. So, as we read in Psalm 111, the fear of the Lord's the beginning of wisdom.

That's said again in Proverbs 9 10, the fear of the Lord's the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 1 7, the fear of the Lord's the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 14 27, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life that one may turn away from the snares of death.

This language is language of salvation, saving knowledge, saving wisdom, saving life. Salvation is described in all of those terms. John 17 verse 3, in Jesus's high priestly prayer, he says, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, in Jesus Christ whom you sent.

In 1st Corinthians 1 30, Paul writes that Christ has been made for us wisdom, the wisdom and knowledge that we need to be right with God. It begins in the fear of God. All saving wisdom and knowledge find their starting point when a person experiences the fear of the Lord.

This is why we repeatedly see in the book of Acts when Gentiles who are either on their way to or becoming sensitized to the God of the Bible or else have recently been converted through faith in Christ to the God of the Bible, are described as God-fearers.

People like Cornelius, who is described in Acts 10 as a devout man who feared God with all his household, who prayed continually to God. Or Paul in the synagogue in Pisidia of Antioch, or Antioch of Pisidia, he said, men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.

And later in that same setting, Paul said, brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, he's talking about Jews, and those of you who fear God, Gentiles who were learning of this God and had a right reverential respect toward him.

He said, to us has this message of salvation been sent. You remember the thief on the cross? He recognized the importance of fearing God when he realized that he was next to someone who was not like him and his fellow thief.

And he asked Jesus to remember him when he comes into paradise and the other thief cursed Jesus. This one said, do you not fear God since you're under the same sentence of condemnation? It is this reality that also explains why those were enslaved in sin are described in the scripture as having no fear of God before their eyes.

Spurgeon describes this initial fear of God as the lowest grade of godly fear, but he goes on to say that all true piety takes its rise from this lowest grade. Listen to the way he explains it. By nature, the sinner does not dread the wrath of God.

He thinks sin is a little thing. He looks upon its pleasures and forgets its penalty. He declares he dares the Almighty to war, and he lifts up his puny arm against the eternal. No sooner, however, is he awakened by God's spirit than fear takes possession of his heart.

The arrows of the Almighty drink up his spirit. The thunders of the law roar in his ears. He feels his life to be uncertain and his body frail. He dreads death because he knows that death would be to him the prelude of destruction.

He dreads life, for life itself is intolerable when the wrath of God is poured out into his soul. To know God is to fear him because, as the author of Hebrews reminds us, our God is a consuming fire. It's therefore impossible for a sinner to be reconciled to this God against whom he's rebelled without at least some measure of fear arising in his affections.

So our evangelism must not neglect sounding this note about God in very appropriate ways, even as we evangelize our children. King David says in Psalm 34 11, come, O children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

We mustn't withhold the truth about God, even from our dear little ones, but remind them that they too have been made by him, for him, and must be reconciled to him in the only way that he is provided.

Well, not only does true godliness arise out of the fear of God, but it also is nurtured by the fear of God. Philippians 2 12 has Paul admonishing us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

This indicates that spiritual growth in the Christian life is to take place with a proper kind of trembling before God, a proper kind of fear of God. When Christians have a godly fear of the Lord, it will cause them to grow spiritually.

Let me point out three specific areas of your life that will be impacted as you cultivate a godly fear. It will promote holiness in your life. We see this with Joseph when he was being seduced by Potiphar's wife.

When Joseph resisted her finally and ran from her, he said that he could not do this great wickedness and sin against God. He was thinking of God 1 Peter 1 17. Peter writes, if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.

Colossians 3 22. Bond servants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but with the sincerity of heart fearing the Lord. Why do you do what your master says?

Because you fear God. Why do you do what your employer says? Why do you not cheat him? Some time for the full day's pay you expect, not because you're afraid of getting caught, but because you fear God who sees you.

Ephesians 5 21. We're to submit one another to one another out of reverence for Christ. It's the word fear there, out of fear for Christ. In 2 Corinthians 6, the last part of that chapter into chapter 7, it's a wonderful description that Paul gives to us there about how we are to live together, being separated from those that don't know our God, and being careful about how we walk.

And then he says this at the beginning of chapter 7, since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Holiness grows, it matures in the fear of God. When Nehemiah was appointed governor in Judah, he didn't conduct himself the way that previous governors had conducted themselves. He didn't indulge in tyrannical practices, and listen to the way he describes how he conducted himself in Nehemiah 5 verse 15.

The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people, but I did not do so because of the fear of God.

When you fear God, it will change the way you live. It will change the choices that you make about how you spend your time, how you spend your money, how you talk, how you think. You will not want to sin because you will not want to dishonor this fearful God who is, through Jesus Christ, your loving Heavenly Father.

You want to please Him. You want to be holy before Him. Well, godly fear also stirs up worship. Hebrews 12, 28, 29 says, therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence.

The word can be translated godly fear and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. I wonder how much of our anemic worship, how much of the boredom that seems to permeate so many of our worship gatherings can be traced to this very reality that we forget in whose presence we come to worship.

We're coming before a consuming fire. And so, when we think of this and realize that this is the God of whom all the things we've just considered are true, but who in His Son has reconciled us to Himself, we won't be bored in worship.

We won't be satisfied with weak efforts of worship. Could it be that we have forgotten who it is so often? We forget who it is that we gather to worship. Another impact is that godly fear motivates mission.

You know, God's final sermon to the world is recorded in Revelation 14. There we read what John writes. He says, then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, language, and people.

And He said in a loud voice, what's that gospel message going to be? Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and the springs of water.

A gospel sermon calling upon God's image bearers to fear Him. Second Corinthians 5 .11, Paul writes, therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. Could it be that our evangelism is so indifferent and we're so apathetic about trying to persuade people to turn from sin and trust Christ?

Could it be that the root of that is that we've just lost this fear of God? That we don't know, we don't experience what Paul experiences when he says, knowing the terror of the Lord, I plead with people, I try to persuade people.

So we see the fear of the Lord has a direct relationship to vital godliness, both at the outset of a Christian's life, as well as the continuation of that life in our ongoing spiritual development. Well, having considered how the Bible instructs Christians to have godly fear, and what the relationship is between such fear and true spirituality, let's next think finally about how can godly fear of the Lord be cultivated.

Cultivating the Fear of God

And I have five considerations I want to set before you on this. This is certainly not exhaustive, but it is suggestive of other ways that we can begin to think holistically about what God's called us to be so that we might cultivate the fear of Him in our hearts.

First, recognize that godly fear has been implanted in every believer. It is a blessing of the New Covenant to fear God. Listen to Jeremiah describe it in Jeremiah 32, speaking of the New Covenant, they shall be my people, I will be their God, I will give them one heart, one way that they may fear me forever, for their own good, and for the good of their children after them.

And I will make them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. Every New Covenant Christian has, by virtue of that covenant, the fear of God implanted in his or her heart.

It is a part of our inheritance. But though that's true, we must also use the means that God's provided for us to cultivate a growing fear of the Lord in our lives of devotion to Him. So we must pray, as we see in Psalm 86 verse 11, unite my heart to fear your name.