Fear God And Keep His Commandments

Solomon looked at life from the human perspective and declared that "under the sun" everything is empty. Power, prestige, popularity, wealth and pleasure - nothing can fill the void in man's life but God Himself!

Solomon came to the conclusion that the real foundation of human life is:

"Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden things, whether it is good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14, NIV, emphasis added).

In the context, the phrase "His commandments" does not mean only the Ten Commandments. God's commandments include the whole laws (not the whole of Moses Law) and commands of God pertaining to the New Testament, commands of Christ, full counsel and truth of God's Word. To keep His commandments means to obey Him wholeheartedly and be doers of His Word in our Christian walk.

The prase "whole duty of man" speaks of the "whole man, his whole being in heart attitude, conduct, thoughts and deeds in life". Man's heart attitude is as important as his deeds in God's sight.

In other words, the whole purpose of the existence of man is to fear God (to show reverence, great respect and honor toward Him) and to keep His commandments. Man's life is in Him and He will judge every man's work and his secret thoughts.

He who fears God keeps His Commandments

The fear of the Lord expresses the keeping of God's Commandments. It is not possible to fear God without keeping His commandments. Similarly, it is not possible to keep His commandments without fearing God at the same time.

Let us look at the First of the Ten Commandments:

"You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3, NKJV).

We are commanded to give God our pre-eminence. That is to give God His rightful place in every area of our life. Nothing should come before God. We shall let nothing else be in the same level with God in our Christian walk.

Notice that another god is not necessarily a false god. It can be any other object of our worship that takes the place of our worship toward God. It can be a man, a pet, a career, a home, a car, money and wealth.

Jesus said to the Pharisees concerning the First Commandment, "You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment" (Matthew 22:37).

The man who wholeheartedly obeys the First Commandment is a man who fears the Lord.

Jesus and the Fear of the Lord

Isaiah gave a prophetic preview of Jesus:

"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jess, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, ...." (Isaiah 11:1 - 3, NKJV, emphasis added).

Notice that Jesus was filled with the seven-fold Spirit of God. The anointing of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus that set Him apart as the Messiah culminated in the fear of the Lord. Notice that the fear of the Lord pairs with the Spirit of knowledge:

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, ...." (Proverbs 1:7).

The writer of Hebrews described Jesus as the High Priest:

"Who, in the days of His flesh, when He Had offered up prayers and supplication, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear" (Hebrews 5:7, emphasis added).

The fear of Lord gave Jesus unhindered access to the Father. It delivered Jesus from the hour of temptation. If Jesus needed the fear of the Lord before his prayer was heard, how much more we need to fear God in order to have our prayers heard and answered!

The Early New Testament Church and the Fear of the Lord

"Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied" (Acts 9:31, emphasis added).

The above verse describes the condition of the Churches in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria in the beginning of Paul's ministry immediately after his conversion.

As a result of the believers' "walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit" two things happened in the early Church:

1. They experienced peace and were edified. They enjoyed the presence of the Holy Spirit who gave them rest.

2. The number of believers multiplied. In other words, the Church grew.

It is interesting to compare the early Church to our present day Local Churches. The early Church experienced peace and was edified because in the Spirit realm they walked in the fear of God and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Can we say the same with our Local Churches today?

Without exception, all Elders and Pastors desire revival and growth in the local congregation. Christians pray for revival in their prayer meeting. But, the Scripture says that unless we choose to fear the Lord He would not answer our prayer. To fear God is an act of will; we need to choose to fear Him or not to fear Him.

"Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, ..." (Proverbs 1:28, 29, NKJV, emphasis added).

"He will fulfill the desires of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them" (Psalm 145:19, emphasis added).

Church growth is directly linked to the fear of the Lord.

Prayer and the Fear of the Lord

The above verses of Scripture show that the key to effective praying is to fear God.

Furthermore, Daniel discovered that when a God-fearing person prays, the Lord confides with him and He reveals His secret to him.

"Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and kight dwells with Him" (Daniel 2:20 - 22, emphasis added).

Daniel said the above because he realized that the key to tapping spiritual secret and to answered prayers is by fearing God!

The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdow (Proverbs 9:10) and the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). These are given to those who have understanding.

The Psalmist relates the fear of the Lord and obeying His commandments with understanding:

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments" (Psalm 111:10).

Therefore, anyone who fears the Lord will have wisdom, knowledg and good understanding. This makes his prayer effective.

The Promise of God for those who fear Him

The promises and benefits for those who fear the Lord are many. Most of these promises can be found in the Books of Proverbs and psalm. It is beyond the scope of this message to mention all of them. But, here are some very interesting ones:

1. The Lord promises to prosper those who fear Him

"Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant" (Psalm 25:12 - 14).

Notice the five promises:

a. The Lord will teach him the way He chooses. This also speaks of the wisdom of God.

b. He shall dwell in prosperity. This also speaks of the peace of God.

c. His descendants shall inherit the earth. This also speaks of the blessings of God for future generations.

d. The Lord reveals His secret to Him. Notice that, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, ...." (Deut. 29:29).

e. The Lord shows him His covenant. He will impart to him who fears Him the true knowledge and understanding of His covenant.

In my opinion, the first three promises - The widsom of God, the peace of God and the blessings of God for future generations are what we are praying for most of the time! The wonderful thing is, by just fearing God we have the answers to most of our prayers without actually praying specifically for them!

2. The Lord is merciful to those who fear Him

"Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy" (Psalm 33:18).

"For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him" (Psalm 103:11).

"The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy" (Psalm 147:11).

The above Scripture verses need no further explanation.

3. The Lord promises abundant blessings to those who fear Him

"Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments" (Psalm 112:1).

Once again the fear of the Lord is closely associated with obeying in His commandments.

In fact the entire Psalm 112 is a list of promises and blessings for the man who fears the Lord:

• Wealth and riches will be in his house (V. 3).
• He will never be shaken (V. 6).
• He will not be afraid of evil tidings (V. 7).
• His horn will be exalted with honor (V. 9).

4. The Lord promises strong confidence to those who fear Him

"In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death" (Proverbs 14:26, 27).

God's children who fear the Lord will have strong confidence that they have a place of refuge and the Lord will turn them away from the snares of death.

5. The Lord promises life to those who fear Him

"The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil" (Proverbs 19:23).

"By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life" (Proverbs 22:4).

Conclusion

We can sum up all these promises and benefits of God for those who walk in the fear of the Lord with one word - LIFE!