Over the past several weeks I have been learning a lot about
“the fear of the Lord.” For years I’ve
heard the verse, “The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom…” (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 9:10), but I really never
had a full revelation of that verse until recently.
I was having dinner with a good friend a couple months back and
we were talking about some things that God has said to us. One thing that God told my friend, is that,
“You’re not gonna like hell.” Now if that right there doesn’t put the fear of
God in you, then I don’t know what will.
And I believe that God was telling me the same thing through this friend,
“You’re not gonna like hell.” Then about
a week or so later on April 26, my friend Terre Brown was speaking on the Sunday evening program
about how God dealt with her heart regarding sin. And I knew God was speaking to me again that
it is possible for me to go to hell for sins I’ve committed, if I don’t change. (
Jesus tells us who to fear.
Luke 12:5, But I will
forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath
power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
And again in Matthew 10:28, And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
In Romans it says that, “The
wages of sin is death,” and also that “…whatsoever
is not faith is sin” (Romans 14:23, Romans 6:23).
After I read those two passages from Luke and Matthew, I
started to understand what having the fear of God meant. God was convincing me of my sins, and that I
could go to hell. God started working on
my heart and I started making some changes immediately.
The next verse that God quickened to me was Psalm 130:3-4, “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O
Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be
feared.”
Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God.” If you say that you
haven’t sinned, then you’re a liar and deceiving yourself (1 John 1: 8,
10).
Psalm 111:10 The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that
do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
Psalm 112:1 Praise ye
the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in
his commandments.
Having the fear of the Lord means doing the things which God
has commanded you to do. And if you
don’t, you could go to hell. You don’t
want to disobey God because, “It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).”
Once you get a true revelation of the fear of the Lord, then you will have the
wisdom to know that if you continue a life of sin and rebellion, He could send
you to hell. One of the scariest verses
that was revealed to me is, “God is not a respecter a persons.” You can find
that several times in the New Testament. Don’t ever think you’ll automatically miss
hell just because you go to church on Sundays or that you’ve been attending
church your whole life. It doesn’t
matter who you are, or what position you hold, you do not want to disobey God.
Read Luke16:19-31 (click to read) about the rich man in hell.
Now I’m not sharing this to condemn or judge anyone. I’m
sharing this because I’ve experienced this myself and hopefully people will see
that being a Christian is not game. It’s not a part-time job. It’s a way of
life. You can’t just do whatever you
want to do and call it God. I’ve learned
this over the past couple years, and especially the past couple months.
Jesus said in Luke 9:23, …If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross daily, and follow me.
So, how do you get out of a life of sin? How do you take up
your cross daily? Repent of your old
ways, and believe the gospel. The gospel
is how that Christ died for our sins, he was buried and that he rose again the
third day (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4). You
have to believe the gospel EVERY DAY and in everything you do.
Romans 10:9 Confess
with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead and you will be saved.
Luke 15:7 I say unto
you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more
than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
You have to WANT to be delivered, you have to WANT to believe. It’s not going to be easy at first, but you have to use your
will and endeavor to believe. You may
not see any changes immediately, but never stop believing. Humble yourselves
and let God convince you and purge you of your sins. No it’s not fun, and
sometimes it’s quite painful, but I can assure you it is better than going to
hell.
Hebrews 12:11 Now no
chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby.
Romans 10:13 For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
You are never too far away from God. No matter what you've done or what sin you have committed, as long as you have a breath in your mouth
you can still be saved. All you have to
do is say the name “Jesus.”
John 6:37 …and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Hebrews 13:5, 6 Let
your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as
ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
6 So that we may
boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto
me.
Call on the name of Jesus and you will be saved. Call on that name and he will in no wise cast
you out. Call on that name and he will never leave you, fail you, or forsake
you.
Acts 4:12 Neither is
there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved.
That name is JESUS.
God Bless
(I'll say this again: I strongly recommend and highly encourage everyone to watch the video at the top of this post and watch the video from our Sunday night program on April 26, 2015).
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