Rite of passage to get somewhere else

In Acts 24, Paul is preaching before Felix: “And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come Felix trembled.”

Felix trembled. You know where the “fear and trembling” came from? The judgment to come. You know that. It’s that fear of judgment that gives torment. That’s why in Romans 8 Paul talks about when people are under the law, there’s this “spirit of bondage again to fear,” explains Richard Jordan.

The law binds you; it says “Sinner, sinner, sinner.” But that perfect love that is ours at Calvary casts out fear of judgment that brings torment.

When Paul’s talking about “fear and trembling,” he’s not talking about, “It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” because you’re not going to fall into the hands of a God who wants to roast you, squish you like a bug and crack you like an empty shell.

You’re in Christ; He took it for you. Now you can have a different kind of fear. You can have a fear that comes from His love. You know what that is.

When you love someone and you know they love you, there’s something you don’t want to do more than anything else. There’s something you literally fear more than anything else--you fear disappointing them; failing them.

There’s a difference between fear and dread because of sin and punishment and a love that produces a fear of offending, and that’s what we’re talking about.

The issue in “fear and trembling” is not love on one side and fear on the other. It’s not fear vs. love, because the grace of God takes away the contrariness--the tenseness between those two things--by taking the judgment out of the way, and allows our love to desire a carefulness in our life to submit ourselves to His will above all things.

II Corinthians 7:1: [1] Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

We’re to take our life and bring holiness. That word holy is the same word as sanctify. It means to be set apart for the purpose to which you were created.

Ephesians 2:10: [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Paul says, “Now, we’ve got all these wonderful promises from God about what He’s done. Let’s take all that and let’s give our lives to maturing that, to perfecting that. Bring that to fruition in our lives. Let’s submit ourselves and let’s do it in the fear of God. Let’s do it with a watchfulness and carefulness that means we attend to every detail of our life and put it under His scrutiny.”

Watch how that works in II Corinthians 7: [9] Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
[10] For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

This is talking to Believers who need to work out in the details of their lives the problems they have in life. No. 1, godly sorrow is real sorrow; it’s not psychological guilt that comes when you get caught. Godly sorrow is, “I look at it and I have real guilt. I did it. I made a mistake; I’m guilty.” That’s what leads to repentance.

What is the repentance that godly sorrow works to? Verse 11: [11] For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

I read verse 11 and I say, “Wow, that’s some description of repentance.” You saw your sin and you became careful. You began to say, “You know, if I messed up there, I might have messed up somewhere else,” and you begin to carefully examine life.

What indignation. You know what you can’t do? You can’t look at your sin and realize that’s what crucified your Savior and love it the way you used to.

There’s a detailed attention to your life to put it under the submission to God’s will; to work out your salvation. To have what God says in any given circumstance be more important than what you say or someone else says.

Here’s how the Bible describes what the fear of God does. Proverbs 1:7: [7] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Notice the fear of the Lord is the beginning. Literally, the fear of the Lord is a rite of passage; it’s a beginning that takes you to other things. It’s not the end; it’s what GETS you somewhere else.

In this verse, it’s the beginning of what? Knowledge. Who’s knowledge? What knowledge? God’s knowledge. It’s the beginning of understanding that God’s will is the real thing that matters.

Proverbs 9:10: [10] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Notice, the fear of the Lord is going to be a rite of passage to knowledge, which is going to lead you into wisdom, which is going to lead you into understanding.

Proverbs 8:13: [13] The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

You see, there’s the wisdom and the knowledge and understanding that submitting yourself to God brings. Submitting yourself to God is to tremble at His Word; to realize His thinking is better than your thinking.

Job 28’s a weird chapter. It ends this way: [28] And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Being more concerned about what God says than what man says and what you think--that’s wisdom. It shows you understand how God thinks.

Look at how Paul says in II Timothy 2:19: [19] Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

When you grasp the reality and the vastness of who you are, of who God’s love and grace has made you, the impact that’s going to have on your life is to cause you do what? Demonstrate in the details of your life an understanding of your identity in Christ, and you’re going to depart from iniquity; you’re going to fear God, not man.

You’re not going to fear old age, you’re not going to fear disease or poverty, or fear being excommunicated, or fear ridicule, or fear social ostracization. You’re going to fear what God says and what He says is going to be more important than anything else. That’s going to be the motivation for “working out your salvation”; working out the problems of life.