The Fear of The Lord | Moody Bible Institute (President's Chapel, 2024) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Well, it really is a tremendous joy to be with you this morning. I just wanna start by saying a deep, thank you to doctor Mark Job for the opportunity to open God's word with you. And the last time I was here at Moody on the premises was, two years ago for a, student leadership event, and I was really blessed by that. And one of the reasons why I was blessed by that was because we had the chance to explore a topic together, a discussion. One that changed my life, one that may not be popular today, but is very popular in the scriptures.

The fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord. And my time is limited today, so I I want to get straight into it, and follow-up on that message, on the fear of the Lord, a part two if you will, and there needs to be no need to worry if you weren't there. This is a stand alone message. It will apply just as much.

Specifically, I want to speak to you about some of the blessings that flow from this fountain called the fear of the Lord. In Isaiah 11 verse three, we are told of the Messiah, the perfect servant of Yahweh, who would delight in the fear of the Lord. Later in that same book in Isaiah 33 verse six, we are told that the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure. I'm not sure how many people today would equate delight and treasure with the fear of the Lord, but the Bible does. The Bible does.

And again, I wish I had the time with you today to unpack what the fear of the Lord is, and how it is totally relevant to the new covenant. And though we can't exhaustively look into that, just in case there may be hesitations initially, just by even hearing that phrase, the fear of the Lord, I want to make just a couple of brief comments that will hopefully bring down any walls to this glorious truth that has been made available to us in the new covenant. Often times we hear that, and we think it's just a old testament concept, but here are two things that I want to just make mention before we touch on just some of these gems, these rubies, these pieces of gold and silver for the soul that comes from this treasure chest known as the fear of the Lord. Number one. The Bible emphatically declares that the fear of God is an essential component to the new covenant.

In Jeremiah thirty two forty, the prophet declares of an everlasting covenant to come. One that God would honor, and he says in that verse that he will not turn away from doing good to those in that covenant. And then he follows it up with this. After saying that there is coming an everlasting covenant, I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they may not turn from me. And that is why when you visit the new testament and you read faithfully through those books, you'll see this this idea of the fear of the Lord sprinkled throughout.

And so Peter says in first Peter one seventeen, and for those who call on God as father. That's the basis of what he's about to say. For those who call on we call on God as father. In Christ we've been adopted. In Christ we've been redeemed.

In Christ we have right standing before God. We've been justified by faith, and Peter says, for those who call on God as father, who does not judge impartially, but will judge according to each one's deeds. He goes on to say, conduct yourselves in fear for the rest of your exile. And then you come to the end of the book. You come to the conclusion of this glorious divine library and you read something interesting at a critical juncture of the tribulation period in Revelation chapter 14.

Where we're told that there will be an angel in verse six. An angel who will proclaim the eternal gospel, and John was very specific. He didn't just say gospel. He wants there to be no confusion. The eternal gospel.

The gospel that has been foreordained, that has been foreknown from eternity past. The gospel that has been prophesied by a roster of faithful prophets under the old covenant. The gospel that has been preached by the apostles, the foundation, their doctrine being the foundation of the church. The gospel that I pray saved your soul. The one that you relish in and you can sing about.

The one that you have tasted and through tasting you've seen that the Lord is good. That gospel, the eternal gospel at some point will be proclaimed by this heavenly creature. Tall nations, all tribes, And then in verse seven of Revelation 14, we're told of the first words that will come out of the mouth of this angel, being prepared and knowing that it will be the eternal gospel, and he says this. Fear God and give him glory. Fear God.

Fear God? How is that related to this gospel of grace? Well, evidently, they're harmonious. Evidently, they don't cancel each other out. Evidently, there is something that the Lord deposits in the heart of the redeemed soul that causes it to fear God.

Here's my second point. Although it is impossible to deny the presence and the evidence and the relevance of the fear of the Lord, yes, even in the new covenant, it is very possible to misdefine it. And I wish we can again spend time discussing what the fear of God is not, and I wish we can spend the next hour or two to collect all the verses, as many verses as possible to get the clearest picture of what the Holy Spirit means in his word when he calls us to fear God. But I just want to present to you one verse. Just one verse that I believe provides a general grasp of what it means to fear the Lord, and I invite you if you have a copy of God's word in your hand to meet me in Psalm 33 in verse eight.

Psalm 33 verse eight. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. Here we have Hebrew parallelism at work, and in Hebrew poetry especially when it's synonymous parallelism, the author is not interested like we might be in the English speaking world with rhyming words. He's interested in rhyming thoughts, and how that works here is that you want to say something in two different ways.

Meaning, in the first line here, we have a statement declared. Let all the earth fear the Lord. And how this works is that the second line will essentially say the same thing with slight variations. And the purpose of that and and the fruit of that is that the second line often will bring greater clarity to the first statement or it will bring a fuller picture to the teaching that is being conveyed in that breath or in that Psalm. And so with that rule in mind, what we see here is in verse eight, the fear of the Lord in great part is equated with standing in awe of him.

Let all the earth fear the Lord. And here's the mirroring statement. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. Awe is a complex emotion and I argue that it's an appropriate word to try to understand this fear because this fear is complex in itself. It's a combination of convictions.

It is a mingling of feelings. It includes wonder. It includes this high honor and holy reverence. It includes this continual awareness of the majesty of God and all his splendor and all his excellencies that would even in a healthy way bring a redeemed creature to tremble. It even includes this intense devotion to God.

One that would stimulate the shunning of absolutely anything that would grieve the very one that we esteemed so highly. The fear of the Lord. And when we understand those characteristics of this fear and when you study in-depth what this fear entails then verses like Psalm one thirty verse four make a little bit more sense where you read, with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. Hold on for a second. Oh my god.

Mount Sinai, I get it. Lightning, smoke, rumbling, law, I get it. Tremble, awe. Forgiveness? But with you there is forgiveness.

Why? That you may be feared. Yeah. You can stand in awe at the grace of God. The grace of God should cause you to fear God.

How does that work? Well when I consider the holiness of God, the brilliance of God, the purity of God, then I take my eyes and plant them on Calvary and I see the love of God. The justice and mercy of God kissing the wisdom of God as Paul called it. Should I not tremble? Oh, should I not tremble when I come to the table with those elements?

And I realize what that bread and what that cup signify. The great price of redemption should have not invoked in me a fear. What a mighty God. What a glorious God. What a powerful God.

What a price that has been paid for my soul. With you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. In case what I presented to you as an introduction did not satisfy potential confusion or hesitation to grasp this, If you would take from this place a spark, if there's a spark in your belly, I encourage you to journey into this and begin in a critical place that will help you clarify this further. Take this as a nugget. Exodus 20 verse 20, where Moses as a mediator in the old covenant faces the people of Israel who have just experienced this manifestation of the glory of God and he calls this people to not fear.

Check it out for yourself. I don't have time to look into it, but check it out for yourself in Exodus twenty twenty where he tells the Israelites, do not fear. Okay. That's good. Do not fear.

For the Lord has come to test you to see if the fear of him is in you. Oh, wait. You just told me not to fear, and now you're telling me to fear. Oh, which one isn't? Well, obviously, there are two types of fear.

God is interested in one and he wants you to reject the other. This fear doesn't cause you to cower This fear doesn't cause you to be a slave to shrink from Him Moses declares that this fear compels you It keeps you close and may I say this fear causes you to be afraid to be away from him. Don't fear. God has come to test you to see if the fear of him is in you. So there is a fear.

There is a love, a perfect love that cast out fear and then there is a love that strengthens another one. Fear of God. What are some of the blessings of fear in God? My time is running short. I wanna give you three.

Although don't tempt me by saying that. I wanna give you three. Oh, there are so many. I wanna just give you three life altering because this is more than just an emotion that might come to you in a spontaneous moment of worship or revelation. This fear of God is meant to be embedded.

It's meant to be a frame of mind. It's meant to control you and guide you until you finally see the one that you feared along your pilgrimage. Where's the first time the expression fear of God is mentioned in the Bible? I'm not talking about an example of it. I'm not talking about illustration of it.

I'm talking about the first time this expression fear of God is mentioned in Holy Scripture. You might be surprised where it is. Turn your Bibles with me to Exodus or excuse me, Genesis chapter 20 in verse 11. Abraham is in a land called Gerar, and Abraham upon the scene is very fearful. He he observed something that causes him to lie about his wife.

She's not my wife. She's my sister. Throw your wife under the bus like that. So Abimelech take Sarah as his wife and God visits him in a dream. He tells him, you're a dead man.

She's not supposed to be yours. She belongs to someone else. Abimelech claims his innocence. He's fearful. God confirms his innocence and Abimelech wakes up very early and makes things right.

He tells his servants they're afraid and finally, they bring Abraham. And it's so funny. In that very chapter, we're told that Abraham is a prophet. So Abraham is now brought under investigation and Abi Malek asks Abraham, hey listen. You put us in a very dangerous position.

Why did you lie to us? Why is it that you did this? You put me in a very compromising state. And here's Abraham's explanation and it's the first time the phrase fear of God appears in the scriptures. Abraham said, I did it because I thought there is no fear of God at all in this place and they will kill me because of my wife.

I did it because I thought there is no fear of God at all in this place. And so I lied. How ironic. The man who observed that this place did not fear God himself did not fear God. Think about it.

You lied. You feared man. And if there's anybody here in the story who truly feared God, it was the pagan king. Because when God told him you're not you're not supposed to be with this woman, he said, I'm getting rid of her. I'm obeying you.

So you have a prophet according here to verse seven who's telling this pagan king, you and your people evidently don't fear God. At least I observed that, so I had to lie. And here's a man who obviously didn't fear God because when you fear God, you won't fear man. The fear of God cancels every other fear. Isaiah eight twelve.

Let him be your fear. Let him be your dread. Don't worry about all these conspiracies, Israel. Judah specifically, don't worry about all these nations that are conspiring against you. Just keep your eyes and your awe on God.

But Abraham is not totally wrong in this, at least in his analysis, at least in his commentary. I find it quite fascinating that the first time the expression fear of God is mentioned in the Bible, the Holy Spirit relates it to the potential loss of self control in the area of sexuality. I did it because I thought there is no fear of God at all in this place and they will kill me because of my wife. Abraham, you're not wrong there. When you remove the fear of God from a person's life, when you remove the fear of God from society, it becomes now the grounds for much immorality.

Here's my first blessing I wanna present to you, and I'm gonna hurry up here. Number one. The fear of God is a deterrent against sexual immorality. The fear of God is a deterrent against sexual immorality. When a man has this awe of God, realize that it's not just a theological understanding, it impacts the soul.

Let me say this way, the fear of God fulfills you. You know, in wanting us to pursue holiness and people even wanting others to pursue holiness, there's a lot of emphasis on behaving. Behave, behave, behave, behave. Yes, there are clear exhortations of what we should do and what we should not do, but I think about Paul and meditating on this truth. I think about Paul who said something in second Corinthians three eighteen where he says beholding the glory of God, being transformed in the same image.

And this comes from the Spirit who is the Lord. So Paul gives us a secret how we are conformed, how we are transformed. And it's not by putting the cart before the horse. You can tell people to behave all you want. Let them pound their heads against it.

But Paul says, you gotta learn how to behold. You gotta learn how to behold and then when you behold, you'll be transformed and the behavior will follow. Let's return to the practice of beholding. Beholding the glory of God, then as a result, I am transformed. And so when I see him and all that he is in his in his accurate description as provided here in the scriptures, there's something that takes place within.

I'm mesmerized. I'm drawn to him. I realize also that in Psalm 25, it says that the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him. And so you can't have intimacy with God unless you first fear God. You can't know depths of knowledge of him in a personal way unless you have that foundation set, and when you experience him in that place, oh, it satisfies.

He who was full loathes honey, but to him who is hungry everything bitter is sweet. He who was full loathes honey. Look. I had breakfast today. I'm hoping to eat later on, but I've had plenty of breakfast where I'm so full I don't eat till much later in the day.

And let's just presume today was one of those days, and I walk by a buffet, and there's those aromas, and there's those colors of the different cakes, whatever it may be. I could tell you confidently because of what I ate that morning, I can walk by that and not even give it a glance. Why? Because I'm already filled with a different substance. I am already full.

I loathe it. I don't need it. Not saying that you don't experience temptation, but all gives you the strength to soar above it. Why? Because I see him and I know him and I'm drawn closer to him and it does something to my soul.

I can say more about that because sexual sin today, not in the world, even in the church has become a Goliath type sin. And what we're hearing and seeing more than anything else is people like the Israelites of that time shaking and cowering behind the hills thinking who's gonna take this giant down. It's possible, not in your own strength, but by the grace of God who infuses in you the ability through a fear of him that caused you to be able to look at sin and say, I don't want you. Let's move forward here. Let's try to do this.

Turn with me to Genesis 22. I want to bring you to the second blessing of fearing the Lord. Abraham again, you know this story very well. Verse one. After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here I am.

He said, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. I love this. Verse three. So Abraham rose early in the morning. He didn't wait.

He didn't sleep in that day. God gave me instruction. I'm gonna obey it. He didn't press the snooze button. He rose early.

And interestingly enough, the geographical location shows us here that it was a three day journey. God gave Abraham time to think about it. Just imagine this. Here's this man, very old, waiting for this promise of a son. The promise comes and here he is now relishing in that promise, making memories with that promise.

So much hope and future for the descendants of his own seed through this promise and God one night says, I want you to give him up. Abraham doesn't debate. He doesn't argue. He rises early. He goes and I love this in verse five.

Then Abraham said to his young men as they arrived to the location, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. Worship. This is worship. Finally now, for the sake of time, Abraham has his son lay there a wonderful picture of Christ.

And in verse 12 we read, as the angel of the Lord intervenes after this man now has this knife in the air, verse 12 he said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. When you read this, you have to compare. You have to always remember, have I seen this before? And yes, it's not too far back. A very similar statement was made in the introduction of this chapter.

Notice he says here, I know that you fear God seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. Go back to verse two. He said, take your son, your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering. Notice in the identification of Isaac in verse 12, the angel of the Lord omits something that he introduced in verse two. In verse 12 we read here, it says, the son, your son, do not you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.

In verse two, he says, your son, your only son, whom you love. He didn't include that in verse 12. Do you know why? Because Abraham proved to God that he loved God more than Isaac. That's why.

And he says, you've passed the test. Now I know you fear me. There's a marriage between loving God and fearing God. And I'll say it this way, you can't know true love for God, greater maturity in love of God and for God without this fear. Blessing number two.

The fear of God keeps the blessing of God in its proper place. We are very good at taking the blessings of God and loving those more than God himself. Isaac was a gift. God wanted to test him. Let me see if you love this promise more than the promiser.

Give him up. He does. He's willing. God says, you've proven yourself. You fear me.

The fear of God causes us to honor him as our supreme delight, our supreme joy, our supreme supreme source of everything. It places God where he needs to be and places everything else where they need to be. Eli did not knew that. Eli had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. And we're told about Hophni and Phinehas were priests in the Tabernacle.

This is this is min these are ministers and the Holy Spirit says they were worthless men. Do you know why they were worthless? The same verse says because they did not know the Lord. You can be in ministry and not know the Lord. You can study theology with all those letters by your name and still not know God.

They were worthless men because they did not know the Lord and all these sins that were coming to Eli's attention and he just a light tap on the wrist. He did not deal with it adequately. Finally, an unnamed prophet comes in first Samuel two twenty nine and tells Eli of the consequences of his sin. He proclaims it faithfully and he says this, for you have honored your sons above me. You have honored your sons above me.

So here we go. We have Abraham who has the son as a result of a promise. Abraham, a faithful man. Abraham with no great explanation to give up his son and he does so to win the smile of God. And then you have this other man Eli with two sons.

Worthless men, disobedient, deserving of chastisement, and he's not willing to let go of his sons as he should because he didn't wanna bring them to shame. You've honored your sons above me. The fear of God will help you honor God above everybody else. It keeps the blessing of God in their proper place. If we're not careful, we'll be like the Israelites.

How did they make the golden calf in the wilderness? Where did they get it? They had one night to leave. Well, remember when they left, they took the the jewelry of the Egyptians, and God had in mind that that jewelry would be used for what? Why?

So they can look bougie in the desert? No. No. Because he had a house of worship in mind that would require that material. An Ark of the Covenant, a tent with specific prophetic instruments and furnishings.

And what was meant for that house of worship, they turned into a golden calf. We could take the blessing of God and make them into something that they should not be. Lastly, blessing number three. Leviticus. Leviticus?

Yes. Leviticus chapter 19. This is gonna be fast forwarded version. Verse 14. Leviticus 19 verse 14.

This is the holiness code for the nation of Israel. And here we have these sporadic different commands and this one's caught my attention. He says in Leviticus nineteen fourteen, you shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but but you shall fear your God. I am the Lord. God's command here is greater than just the Israelites not being cruel toward the disabled.

This in principle is a command that deals with taking advantage of a sinful situation because you believe that you will go unnoticed. If I take something from a blind person, it's much easier. Is it not? If I, my frustration, curse somebody who's deaf in my presence, you get away with it a lot easier. Right?

Here's what the Lord is saying knowing that that would be a temptation of the people. The blind may not see you. The deaf may not hear you, but I do. So fear me. Blessing number three.

The fear of God provides an unbroken sense of accountability. The fear of God provides an unbroken sense of accountability. There's a lot of talk about accountability. I think it's important. I've heard it all my Christian life.

A lot of talk about community. I think community is huge. I encourage every single one of you to be a committed member of a local church and to have people that you do life with absolutely. There are a lot of strategies of how to deal with a variety of sins, but I don't think they're sufficient. I believe we've left out something that is so important, and that is the fear of the Lord, because your accountability partner won't be able to go with you on every single business trip, when you're in that hotel room by yourself.

Your elders won't be with you in your room as you file your taxes. Your teachers are not gonna be over your shoulder as you're browsing the Internet. But you know what will be there? The fear of God. The fear of God is your greatest accountability partner.

Why? Because when you understand who he is and all his nature and all his power, you realize that he's all seeing, all knowing. I think of Joseph. You've heard this a million times. Let me present you a million and one.

Here's this man away from his home. Here's this man away from his family. Here's this man away from people who worship the true God. Here's this man in Potiphar's house and his wife is throwing herself at him. It's It's one thing to be tempted as you look on something or someone.

It's another thing when the person presents himself to you persistently. And here's this young man. We're told he was handsome. He was he was goodly shaped and there he is and day after day he's resisting and he's resisting, and I can't help but be moved every time I stumble upon that story because this man was able to resist pre infilling of the Holy Spirit. Pre law on Mount Sinai.

How was this man be able to say no to something that most people would give into? He could have gotten away with it. They could have kept it a secret. Finally he says to her, how can I do this great evil against God? That's the fear of God.

And it's your greatest accountability partner. I love my God. I know my God. I I these promises that I've enjoyed in God, second Corinthians seven one. Since we have these promises, let us bring holiness to completion in the fear of God.

What's my motivation to stay in the fear of God? The promises. These promises, why would I let go of these promises for a cheap thrill? I'm not. And I'm so close to my God.

I've inherited so much from my God that I refuse to give myself to something that is inferior to the joys and the ecstasies that he gives me. Oh, I can tell you today about how, again, the fear of the Lord leads into friendship with the Lord. I could tell you how the fear of the Lord, according to Romans 11, drains the heart from pride. I could tell you how the fear of the Lord according to Ecclesiastes seven liberates people from legalism. Yes.

The fear of God liberates you from legalism. I could tell you how the fear of God according to the Psalms promises the assurance of God's providential leading in your life, but time does not suffice. All my prayer is in this place is that you would leave here with the Psalm eighty six eleven cry where David prayed, unite my heart to fear your name. We pray fear away. Get this rid Yes.

You have every right to, but let me tell you the secret to squashing every other fear, the fear of him. Unite my heart. My heart is prone to wander. Lord, I fear it, so anchor it in your fear. Help me see you and behold you, knowing.

Peel away these layers of the flesh that make me casual around you. That's my prayer. Moody Bible Institute students, faculty, and everybody in between staff, fear the Lord your God and watch the blessings flow. Let's pray. Lord, we stand in awe of you today.

Our hearts are moved by the revelation of your awe. Oh, lord, we just pray that prayer that David prayed. Lord, we know that this is a secret a secret to longevity, to fostering integrity, to unlocking fruitfulness as people are being trained here for ministry, leadership, missions. Lord help us have this fear. Thank you that it's a grace that we receive in the gospel but it's a grace like many other graces that needs to be nurtured and protected.

So we pray lord that if that fear is there may it grow. Lord if it's not there may it be birthed. And Lord, may this place produce ministry, ministry leaders, ministers who undeniably fear the Lord. This is our prayer and our heart cry. Maybe not just for this moment, but maybe a perpetual plea.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. It was a great joy and an honor. I've been told to tell you that you're dismissed. God bless you.