Should You Fear God? (Part 2)

Opening Banter and Ministry Updates

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. Mike Abendroth here.

What�s stuck in my pocket? I got some new equipment. I�ve got a Rode Castor Pro 2 that we�re going to start using. For the last 14 years, I�ve had the exact same equipment with, I think, new headphones.

That�s it. Oh, and a splitter cord, a little Y cable for the headphones. I think that�s the only thing we replaced in 14 years. So I�ve got the same power cord. I should probably replace that. I�ve got the same mixer, premium mic line mixer, a 1202-Victor Lazarus Z3, a little Marantz professional digital recorder, PMD -620, and so I�ve got the new Rode Castor Pro 2.

I�m going to use these microphones that we�ve got. I can�t see what they are, but I was told that they�re fine. Anyway, Mike Ebenroth, No Compromise Radio, Gospel Assurance, a 31-day guide to assurance, and some of the chapters are easy.

They get harder. I know that. Maybe I should have put together an easier one, but anyway, I think you�ll benefit even if you only read the first 10 chapters. It is out on Kindle as well, and we�re working on Audible.

I don�t know if that�s going to happen or not because I tried to figure it out and I can�t get all the data. Excuse me, I�ve got the narrator, but we shall see. What else is going on? I just recorded a five-part series on assurance, Gospel Assurance, for American Gospel Television.

I�m supposed to record some stuff for the Cessationist movie, but so far nothing, and hopefully American Gospel 3 will be out. Maybe I�ll make an appearance. Maybe I�ll be on the cutting room floor. Either way, that�s kind of what I�m doing outside of this.

Where am I going to go? I think I�ve got a couple of conferences lined up. We�ll see. I�m devoting myself to being a grandfather. Amos John Horek was born on October 12th. I don�t know if I�ve done a show since then, really, a grandfather.

Then he was in the NICU for 10 days, and we�re hoping that everything�s fine, and there�s no, as they say, deficits, if you want to think about Amos, to pray for little Amos, no deficits, and that God would save him one day.

That would be awesome. I would thank you for that. We do have two to three slots left open for Israel. A few people have canceled, and you have between now and November, I don�t know when, maybe by the time you hear this, it�ll be too late, but we might be able to get you in.

Email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. We�re talking about the fear of the Lord, and should Christians fear? Last time, we discussed it a little bit, and we�re going to talk about it a little bit more.

The Fear of the Lord and the Christian Life

I was specifically talking about Jesus and Jesus fearing the Lord. And of course, this whole topic came up because I�m in Ecclesiastes, and that�s one of the themes, right, even at the end of it, fear God and keep his commandments.

And as you know, if you think about your relationship to God, that helps in many areas, right? With the law, it�s now a guide. It�s no longer a condemning judge because I am a son, and the wrath of God has been assuaged in my place because of the Lord Jesus, and I am free from that, and I�m adopted as a child of God, and therefore, I have a relationship that�s different.

God�s the same, the law is the same, but I have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Maybe what we could say is what�s different? Yes, my relationship, because I now am different. I have been declared different and am in the process of becoming different, and one day will be ultimately different, if I could exchange sanctification categories for different categories.

Or as we say in Nebraska, different. I asked the question, did Jesus on earth fear the Father? And we had talked a little bit about 1 Peter chapter 1, about even if you call God your Father, you need to conduct yourself with fear, and that helps us kind of think through this relationship deal.

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Should unbelievers fear God? Yes, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Should Christians fear God? Yes, but in the same way, cringing, afraid, what�s Judgment Day going to be?

And sadly, many pastors who talk Romans 2 or Romans 7, who teach final justification stuff, they�re going to make you afraid of Judgment Day. Christians shouldn�t be afraid of Judgment Day. They shouldn�t be wondering what�s going on here.

And of course, the Gospel Assurance Book will probably help it when you focus on the Lord Jesus. How can you be lost? When you focus on yourself, how can you be saved? Jesus feared the Father. It says in Isaiah 11, speaking of the Messiah in this messianic passage, �A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse.

From his roots a branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

And he will delight in the fear of the Lord. Talking about the Messiah, �delighting in the fear of the Lord. That�s amazing. You can think he revered, he obeyed, he submitted, he honored, but it also says he delighted in that.

Of course, Jerry Bridges says, �If you want to be like Jesus, you also should delight in fearing God. Wow, that�s amazing, �delighting in fear. So, if it�s the first kind of fear, servile fear, as an unbeliever must have, should have, is going to have.

Well, okay, that�s a little different, but different. Hebrews 5, verses 7 through 10, �In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his fear, or reverence.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, believing that�s John 6, �being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, Melchizedek King Sedek, righteousness.

I did start my Duolingo Hebrew. I did quite a few days of Latin, and then I�m going to Israel, so I thought I�d better brush up on some modern-day Hebrew, yallah, yallah, let�s go, yallah. I think yallah comes from, maybe that�s Arabic, Arabic, yeah, I think they just switched it over, yallah, yallah, yallah, let�s go, yallah, that�s your word of the day, yallah.

So Jesus feared, and in this particular case, it isn�t the typical word for fear in Hebrews 5, it�s the word eulabia, eulabia, and it means to act cautiously, to fear, to beware, a handle with care, eulabia would be something with nitroglycerin, handle with care, to be circumspect, to make sure you�re not just doing what you want to do, but what the Father wants you to do.

Piety and devout, circumspect character as that of Christ, that�s what that is, according to A .T. Robertson, God was able to save him from death altogether, Robertson writes, He did not do this. He was able to sustain him under the anguish of death and give him strength to suffer the Father�s will.

He was also able to deliver him from death by resurrection, both these He did. It is not possible that both these may be combined. Is it not possible that both may be combined in a statement He was heard?

Reverence, Awe, and the Fear of God

All right, the other time that this word is used is in Hebrews 12, �Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence, fear, and awe.

Here we go. I like it, don�t you? Reverence, fear, our Father who art in heaven. And there�s a trust involved too. There�s a trust, remember, with Abraham, and he was going to slay Isaac, and the angel stopped him, he said, �Now that I know you, fear God.

Right? You believe God, and you�re going to do what He says. Do you fear God? I mean, remember Romans 3, the fear of God is not in their eyes, it�s not before them. There�s no fear of God. What�s the actual quote?

There�s no fear of God in their eyes before them. Did I just say that? There�s no fear of God before their eyes. See? That�s Romans 3, verse 18. Interesting. What�s the ESV Study Bible say about that?

The citation from Psalm 36, 1, identifies the root cause of sin as the failure to fear and honor God. Any society that commonly assumes that God will not discipline sin in this life or judge it in the next will have no fear of God and will therefore give itself increasingly to evil.

Now that�s kind of fascinating here on No Compromise Radio. Why? Okay. The ESV Study Bible rightly says, a society that says, you know what, God doesn�t care about sin now, and He�s not going to judge it later, well then, why are you afraid of Him?

I mean, if He�s just some fluff God, some, you know, God up in the, you know, George Burns God of that old movie, or, you know, Grandpa God, or floating in the clouds God, or do whatever you want God, made in your own image God, then why?

You know, Grandpa God, He�s not going to discipline you. I�ve told the story many times that I was raised every other day in my grandparents� house. Raised at night, of course, with my parents, but both my parents worked when I was little.

I went to Grandma Abendroth�s house, Grandma and Grandpa Abendroth, and Grandma and Grandpa Anderson, my mom�s parents. And Grandma and Grandpa were the Abendroths. Grandma and Grandpa, up the hill, they lived up a big hill.

Pretty big hill with a pretty big tree. That house is still on a hill when the tree�s gone. Cut down. Little tiny house up on a hill. And Grandfather would usually be working or drinking. And Grandma pretty much raised me.

Grandma up the hill every other day, right during the day. Grandma Abendroth, she didn�t really put up with as much. Hedvig Anna Clausen Abendroth. And so I obeyed her, but I didn�t obey Nona. Nona Anderson.

I forgot what Nona�s maiden name was. She was a Roman Catholic. Anderson, Grandpa was Swedish. I don�t know what Grandma was. What was Grandma Nona�s maiden name? Wow, that�s amazing. Anyway, I love my grandparents.

And Nona would say, �If you don�t obey, Mike, you�re going to get the yardstick. You get the yellow yardsticks from the Ace Hardware or Habashan or whatever the hardware place is called. You get paint sticks or in those days you could get yardsticks for free too because I think it was advertising or maybe you had to pay 50 cents or something.

She said, �I�m going to take that. I�m going to use that on your bottom if you don�t obey me. And I walked over and took the yardstick and I broke it over my knee, handed it to her, and she still didn�t spank me.

And that�s the Grandma Nona who said, �Henno. I should have said to her, �Henno. I should have said, �Henno. That�s funny. You say, �Oh, what are you doing? You�re just laughing at your own jokes

�Henno. People say, �You just sit there in your office by yourself laughing, doing a radio show, laughing at your own jokes. Yes, of course I do. Who else is going to laugh at him here? I actually do think many times, I haven�t thought about it today, but many times I do the radio show, since I know many of you and have met many of you at different conferences and of course the folks at the church here, I know you.

And so we laugh at our own jokes. Henno. Fear of God. Back to that point. Not thinking there�s going to be any future judgment. Okay, so for the unbeliever, that�s a really bad thing. There�s future judgment.

But for the believer, this is even a bigger point because I�m mainly preaching to Christians in this show, there�s no future judgment for you. Don�t let John Piper, don�t let Shriner, don�t let Moo, don�t let New Perspectives on Paul, don�t let Doug Wilson, don�t let anybody tell you.

If they�re telling you that, don�t believe it. If an angel from heaven comes and tells you that, don�t tell you. Think about Jesus�s death. Let�s just think of a few words of comfort so you know you don�t have to pay for anything in the future.

It�s done. If you�re a Christian, eternal life. Done. No condemnation. Let�s think about the death of Christ. That will solve your problem. If you want to have assurance, think about the death of Christ and, of course, his life.

Forgiveness. Sins are taken away. Justification. Declared perfectly righteous. Sins credited dead to Jesus. Sanctified. Definitive sanctification, set apart. Reconciliation. You were enemies, now you�re friends, because of the Lord Jesus.

Redemption. In Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Ephesians 1, 7. Slaves to sin, bought out of the marketplace of sin with a price called a ransom. Jesus redeems us. He is the ransom price.

Think about Jesus. It is finished, He said on the cross. One word, tetelestai, paid in full. Three English words. How are you going to have to pay for anything if those words are true? Propitiation. Now remember what happens with propitiation.

People know they do bad things. They have a conscience given by God, and they realize they break God�s law. They break laws. They do bad things. They sin. Well, other gods, you make propitiation unto them.

They don�t make propitiation for you. You say, well, I have to give up something for Lent. I have to give some oranges to the little cat god at the restaurant. I have to give the virgin daughters to this god.

I have to give babies to Molech god. Otherwise, we�re not going to have good crops. We�re not going to have rain. We�ve done some bad things. There�s a drought, and we make propitiation. But we can never make propitiation for our sins.

We�re sinners. How do we then extract ourselves from such a Chinese finger puzzle? It�s impossible. Is it even okay to say Chinese finger puzzle anymore? I mean, I just said it, but that�s what we always call them.

That doesn�t make it right. Maybe we said that because they�re made in China. That�s my guess. We can�t get out. It�s a straitjacket. It�s self-imposed. Get it from our father, federal head, and then ourselves.

Consequently, sin nature. We sin. But God makes propitiation. God is the one, right? You go back to the Old Testament, and you think of the mercy seat and the bloods on top of the mercy seat from the sacrifice of the animal, and it�s as if you were God looking down, and you can�t see through the mercy seat into the Ten Commandments that were inside the Ark of the Covenant, because those laws were broken, right?

We have man in there and Aaron�s rod, but we have the Ten Commandments in there, and they�re broken. And there�s mercy because there�s blood poured out of the mercy seat, and it�s a covering, right? Of course, God can see, but the picture is so it�s covered, and so they�re taken care of.

There�s already been death. You break the law, you die. Well, there�s already been a death, and there�s blood here to prove it. God makes propitiation for our sins. We don�t make it for ourselves. So, when we�re thinking about final judgment, we already know what it is.

And that judgment, no condemnation, is pushed into the future. No. In the future, it�s pushed into the present. And when you believe, you�re told there�s no condemnation for you because you�re in Christ.

Forgiveness. Therefore, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That�s true. And it�s always true. I just want you to know there�s a different kind of fear that a son should have than an enemy, right?

I�m just trying to think of if I�m a tough guy, and I�m a boxer, an MMA guy, and I fly off the handle or whatever, and you rub me the wrong way, I might go after you, and then I have a son, and I protect.

It�s different because of our relationship. Anyway, God�s not an MMA fighter. I knew I was going to be giving a bad illustration the second I opened my mouth. Wisdom teaches us to say, �The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And, of course, wisdom goes on to say, �Fear the Lord and keep his commandments. Let me find what Ecclesiastes 12 says. I want to know what the study notes say here in the book of Ecclesiastes. �The end of the matter, all has been heard.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Ah, see? Mike, I got you. I got you.

Chapter 12, verse 13 and 14, ESV study notes. �The preacher has already pointed out the need to fear God. Chapter 3, chapter 5. We could add chapter 8. �And to keep his commandments. The whole duty of man thus involves genuine faith in God as well as works which are the inevitable result of true faith.

That�s good, right? Evidences, consequences, not conditions. �God will bring every deed into judgment, thus the importance of obeying his commands. So, what kind of judgment are we talking about? I mean, is there going to be some judgment?

Well, let me read to you 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 6 and following. �So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or, the text says evil in ESV, but it�s really worthless.

See, I�m going to be judged one day. Christian, are your sins going to be judged? You�re going to go to the tribunal bench, and you�re going to be judged for your sins? For what do you? Now, let�s see what the ESV Study Bible says.

Oh, it�s debated, however. One, whether the aim of this judgment is to determine the measure of reward that Christians will receive in the age to come. Two, whether the aim is to provide demonstrative evidence regarding who is lost and who is saved.

Say what? And then they give almost all their study note time to that. That�s interesting. Paul�s context of the statement refers back to both the believer�s hope of the resurrection and to the reward of glory beyond all comparison, chapter 5 and chapter 4.

It would seem that both aims are in view? Really? In the second case, some interpreters hold that the believer�s deeds will also provide public evidence brought forth before the judgment seat to demonstrate that one�s faith is real.

Public evidence, not as a basis of salvation, but a demonstration of the genuineness of faith. Likewise, giving evidence for the genuineness of one�s faith, Paul is confident that the genuine believers will pass Christ� judgment, since the new covenant ministry of reconciliation has brought them under the life-transforming power of the Spirit, based on the forgiveness of their sins through faith in Christ alone, all of which is the result of God�s grace alone.

Well, I usually like the SB Study Bible, but not so much here. How much fruit do I need? How much evidence? Does anybody know? Answer? More? If you must, think this way. God accepts my works, frail and feeble as they may be, sin tainted because He accepts me.

You are accepted. Paul is not going to change his mind about that. He�s not going to change 2 Corinthians 1, to the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in affliction.

Assurance in Christ and the Final Judgment

Anyway, show is over. My name is Mike Abendroth, and I want you to know, you�re not going to be judged for sins. I don�t care what the SB Study Bible says, you�re not going to be judged for sins. They�re taken care of.

You�re reconciled, redeemed, forgiven, justified, sanctified. Sins.

Have been propitiated. You�re good to go. Amen? No Compromise Radio, with Pastor Mike Abendroth. It�s a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church, firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God�s Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We�re right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.