Now therefore, thus saith the
Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It
shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the
sword, and by famine, and by pestilence. Behold, I will gather
them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger
and in my fury, and in my great wrath, and I will bring them
again into this place, I will cause them to dwell safely. And they shall be my people,
and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart
and one way, that they may fear me forever for the good of them
and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them that I will not turn from them to do them
good, but I will put my fear in their heart that they shall
not depart from me. Notice the very last part of
verse 40. I will put my fear in their heart,
that they shall not depart from me. Let me add a couple more
verses on the fear of God. Deuteronomy 6 and verse 10. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy
God, and shalt serve him, and shalt swear by his name. In Deuteronomy 10. And verse
20, Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, him shalt thou fear,
and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by my name. Now, as soon as we commit ourselves
to a consideration of the fear of God, we soon discover that
all fear, according to the Bible, is not the same, and that fear
is taken in a multiple sense throughout the Word of the Lord. There are various sorts of fear
that are mentioned in the Bible, in the Scripture, and they are
experienced by the human family in their course of life. And
that the kind of fear being experienced by a particular individual is
a reflection of that person's relationship unto God and also
expresses, I believe, gives away their view of God, of religion,
of the church and such like. Long time ago, the Puritan preacher
John Flavel wrote a very large article entitled, A Treatise
on the Fear of God. And in this writing, he contended
that there are to be found in the scripture a three-fold fear
that is mentioned and that we may consider. Number one, what
he called a natural fear. And this commenced in Adam and
in Eve as soon as they had sinned and disobeyed God. For they felt
afraid. afraid of the present and of
the magnificence of God, and they hid themselves among the
trees of the garden and even covered themselves with fig leaf
aprons. Genesis chapter 3 verse 7 and
verse 8. And this fear is passed on to
all of their offspring, methinks. Secondly, there is what Flavel
called a sinful fear that is to be found in individuals. Some express that in their reverence
and their worship of false gods. And they worship and they praise
them in a false fear. They seek to allay their fear
by some false means or some false religion, or they fear because
they do not believe in the sovereign providence of God. They are afraid
that things are totally out of control and that destruction
might suddenly come upon them. These kind of people sometimes
are, like we used to say, afraid of their shadow. They expect
a booger bear to jump out from behind every bush they pass. They're afraid that the world
will be destroyed by a meteorite or an asteroid. They're afraid
of global warming and starving and such a thing. But then thirdly,
there is also a reverential and a religious or a phileal fear
that is exercised toward God. And this fear is found only in
the children of God. Now authors like John Clavel,
John Gill, John Owen and others understood this particular fear
that we have just mentioned to be a gracious habit or principle
planted by God in the soul or the heart or the mind of the
individual. Notice or remember what our text
said in Jeremiah 32 and 40, I will put my fear in their heart. I, saith God, will implant in
them my fear. in their heart within them, internally
on the inside. Now, as you know today, the emphasis
is usually not so much upon the fear of God, but upon a mushy
sentimentalism. a feel-good emotionalism, and
a shallow love toward Christ and God the Father. Some actually
they are who preach and teach that it is wrong and sinful for
people to fear God because they liken it to being in bondage. That if we fear God, it is some
kind of bondage. Now, before we move along, let's
say a few things about what we determined or call natural fear
in order that it might get us on our feet and get us on our
way. Methinks that these fears live
close neighbors with the conscience of a person or an individual,
and that this particular fear has a great influence, perhaps
greater than anything else, upon the conscience of men and women. That is one, so is the other. That in many things the fear
holds the reins of conscience so that it actually guides about
the individual. Flavel, or Flavel if you prefer,
put it like this, natural fear will be found to be exceedingly
necessary and exceedingly useful to make man a governable creature,
unquote. When we think about that, the
conscience and the fear of God together, certainly there is
truth in that. Then another put it this way,
Fear is like a bridle by which a horse is governed. For if this
passion of fear should be removed, all other restraints also will
be broken down in the individual. Now, here are examples of the
loss or of the absence of the natural fear of God. You remember
what Paul writes in Romans 3.10-18? Paul quotes there. from the 14th
Psalm and from the 53rd Psalm, and he discusses the brazen action
of mankind and concludes in Romans 3 and verse 18, there is no fear
of God before their eyes. Romans 3.18 is a word-for-word
quotation taken from Psalms 36 and verse 1. Here is that verse from the psalm. The transgression of the wicked
says within my heart there is no fear of God before his eye. That is, David is saying, that
the actions of the wicked man leads him to the conclusion that
there is no fear of God in him or before his eye. He is not
checked from his sin because he does not have the fear of
God in him. He does not fear God and therefore
he runs to the excess of sin. Then think, if you would, of
that penitent thief on the cross who said to his fellow criminal
or comrade that day, When the other mocked God, the first said
unto him, Don't you fear God, seeing the condemnation that
we are in? Luke chapter 23 and verse 40. Do you not fear God, seeing you
are in the same condemnation. There is no greater natural fear,
methink, than that of death exerted on the minds of individuals.
You'll find that in Hebrews 2 and verse 15. But another example,
way back in Genesis 20, verse 11, Abraham and Sarah down in Gerar. Abraham thought
men without fear of God were dangerous men. He thought it
was not well to be around men who had not the fear of God,
who would kill him to take away his wife, is what he thought
as he went down. Abimelech asked Abraham in verse
10 what he had seen that had caused him to say that Sarah
was his sister instead of saying, she is my wife. And the good
man Abraham answered in Genesis 20, And verse 11, because I thought
surely the fear of God is not in this place. Abraham looked
at the behavior of the people of the king and such like and
determined in his heart that the fear of God is not in this
place and among these people. He saw no evidence of the fear
of God in the life or the action of the people. He saw no evidence
of the true worship of God there in Gerar. And he found that the
people there not to be God-fearers, from whom one could expect the
worst, even killing him and taking away Sarah. Now, the Bible said,
the fear of the Lord is to depart from evil. Proverbs 3, verse
7, and again, chapter 16, and verse 6. The fear of God in the
heart, even natural fear, restrains sin. It makes the conscience
convicted and uncomfortable when one sins what they know to be
a sin without who fears God. Think about old Joseph, godly
Joseph, one of my favorite characters in the Old Testament. But in
Genesis chapter 39, it was the fear of God that strengthened
Joseph to resist the amorous advances of Potiphar's wife toward
him. In Nehemiah 5, verse 15, Nehemiah
refused to be a financial burden upon the people, nor took the
salary that other governors before him had taken, quote, because
of the fear of God, unquote. That is, the fear of God was
in his heart, and so he took that particular action. And as Gil said, he could not
bring himself who was well off, to take money and oppress the
poor. And he did this for the sake
of conscience, because he feared God. And I read that and I thought,
my, would that we had a few politicians today who had a conscience and
who feared God. Now, if we look at the lack of
fear of God, And when it is given reign unto sin, then the presence
of the fear of God begats obedience and submission unto our God. No fear, and they run to exit. The fear of God checks them,
and gives obedience and submission to God. I would you consider
what is said of Noah in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 7, that
he was moved with or by fear, prepared an ark to the saving
of his house. He prepared an ark, moved by
the fear of God, having reverence, a reverential fear, a devout
fear unto God. And let us hasten to say, this
fear ascribed unto Noah was not a sinful, it was not a slavish,
it was not a dreadful fear of the judgment threatened upon
that generation. It was a pious, religious, reverential
fear which held God in reverence as the powerful, holy, majestic
God of all creation and heaven. And that verse in Hebrews 11
and verse 7 is all the more important and all the more interesting
because it allows us to make a consideration. That is, it
allows us to consider the relationship of faith and fear unto one another. For both of them are mentioned
in the same verse. By faith moved by the fear of
God, Noah prepared an ark. And both of them are said to
have exerted an influence upon Noah. You know, of course, that
Hebrews 11 is what we call the faith chapter, showing how, according
to verse 1, it is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. And now concerning both faith
and fear, in Noah's case, which is first, Faith or fear? Which one do you think came first
in the life and the heart of Noah? Which one led the way and
the other gladly and obediently followed? It was by faith that
Noah received and believed the warning of God concerning the
things to come. And having been warned of God,
He believed the Word of God. He believed that there would
be a coming flood. And the Hebrew author refers
to as things not seen as yet. He hadn't seen a flood in his
lifetime. A thing that had never occurred
before in the history of the world and the lifetime of Noah,
a flood of catastrophic proportion to destroy all flesh from off
of the earth some would consider far fetched. It had never, some
people think, from Genesis 2, 5 and 6 up to that time, had
never even rained upon the earth that God had watered it from
beneath. By faith Noah believed that it
would flood because God said so. And he prepared, or he built,
an ark. And notice the words again in
Hebrews, moved with fear. By faith, moved with fear, acting
upon the credit of God's word of prophecy and of promise. Now, as far as the relationship
or the connection between faith and fear, I agree with men like
John Owen and author W. Pink, quote, a reverential awe
of God is a sure fruit of saving faith So that fear is a fruit
of faith and not vice versa. That faith is first and then
comes fear. And this saving faith, when given
or imparted, then gives rise to emotion in the mind and the
heart of believers. Joy, love, assurance, trust,
but also fear and reverence toward the Almighty God, a reverence
of His person, a reverence of His Word, and a reverence of
His work. All who believe to the saving
of their soul hold themselves in awe of all that God is and
does. Consider this combined quote
from Pink and Owen, and I put it together, as in Noah, quote,
that fear acted as a salutary impetus in Noah and operated
as a powerful motive for the building of the ark, unquote. Note the two words, salutary
impetus, and they mean a healthy and a beneficiary force are incentive
that moved or motivated the act of Noah. Thus we see what a very
powerful emotion is the grace of fear, as Noah, being moved
by fear, built an ark. And this fear did arise out of
his hearing and believing the Word of God. Let's consider a
passage or two from the last book of the Old Testament, that
would be the book of Malachi. First of all, let's consider
the state of religion in the time of Malachi. The time in which Malachi served
God and wrote and lived. In that generation there was
what one called a bigoted, self-righteous and insolent haughtiness with
no real sense of their sin." When you read Malachi, you certainly
find that out. They even replied against God
when the prophet charged them with sins according to the will
of God. They contradicted what God said
unto them. They said, it's not so. How in
have we done it? And such like. But consider Malachi
1, verse 6. A son honors a father, a servant
his master. If I am a father, where is my
honor? If I am a master, where is my
fear or literally reverend? The apostate priest and the people
boasted that God was their father and God was their master. This
was the profession of their mouth. But they gave him no honor and
they gave him no reverend. Now, it is a settled principle,
I think you will find, a father is due honor, a master is due
fear or reverence. And it is an aberration, that
is, it is abnormal. It is out of the ordinary to
withhold from whom it is due a reverence from a master. Now, the text we read in Jeremiah
chapter 32 has to do with those which God should recover from
the Babylonian captivity and regather those whom He had scattered
as a judgment and a punishment. Matthew Henry wrote about that.
God would, in judgment, remember mercy and set a time when He
would come to remember and favor Zion. Matthew, Henry. Focusing, if we might, on verse
37 through verse 40. In verse 37, they would be brought
again into their land. They would be caused again to
dwell safely in that place. In verse 38, they would be the
peculiar people of God. He would be their God and own
them as His people. Verse 39, He would perform a
great inward work on them, giving them a unity of heart and of
purpose. And verse 40, he would bind himself
to them by a covenant that he would not turn away from them
or from doing them good. And verse 40, he would secure
their devotion. Let me get that emphasized. He would secure their devotion,
their worship, and their service by putting his fear into their
heart. Now, the question is, they have
been throughout their history a disobedient and against saying
people, the nation of Israel. They were rebellious. Rebellious
time after time. Rebellious at morrow. Rebellious
in making the cave. Rebellious when there was nothing
to eat. Throughout their history, they
have been a disobedient and, again saying, people. So the
question is then, how will the Lord gain them as a people to
serve Him? How shall such rebels be cured
of their rebellion and of their disobedience? Can they make themselves
to differ? Can they bring themselves to
fear God? Can they put the fear of God
in their own heart? Can they turn around by their
own resolve or their own free will and become of a different
mind and of a different heart? Can they sanctify themselves
unto the Lord God? Or the question can be summed
up, can they make their hearts new? Can they give themselves
a new heart, a new attitude, and a new motive toward God?
The question is asked, can the leper cleanse himself. Jeremiah 12, verse 13 to verse
23. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin or the leopard his spots? Then may they that are accustomed
to doing evil turn and do good. But it cannot be done. This was
to be done. in Jeremiah, in the framework
of a covenant. Notice. I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. Or as Calvin called it, a perpetual
covenant. One with no end. One which cannot
be voided. One that binds them to God as
His people so long as it is His determinate will. Now, not to
get too far off subject or field, but it is the heart and core
of God saving His people, the covenant. I will strike a perpetual
covenant with them that I will not turn away from them from
doing them good. The prophet had already mentioned
this covenant in Jeremiah 31, 31-34. This is quoted in Hebrews
8, and verse 8 through 12. And in
both places, Old and New Testament, there is a clear contrast that
is made. I will make or establish a new
covenant, another covenant, a second covenant with them. And in Jeremiah
31, 32 and Hebrews 8 and verse 9, It is emphatically and clearly
stated. It will not, rather, be a covenant
like that one made at Sinai. It was made with their fathers. when to use a metaphor, I took
them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt. And there in the
majesty of Sinai, he made a covenant with the fathers. He gave them
the law orally, And he gave them tables of stone and put his law
and his word in the mouth of the teacher and of the prophet. And they said in reaction, in
Exodus 24 and verse 7, all that the Lord has said we will do
and be obedient. And in verse 8, Moses took blood
and he sprinkled the blood on the people. But we know, alas,
they broke that covenant, the covenant which God made with
them, and made it void. The question is, therefore, are
all cut off without remedy. Nay, for the Lord speaks, the
time comes when I will make a new covenant, a new one and a better
one, established upon better principles than the old. It would
not be the old covenant simply recycled. It would not be the
old covenant simply re- or newly established. Calling them back
again under the law or the ceremonial law For Paul calls that a temporary
schoolmaster for their infancy. Thus, the prophet does not just
promise them the restoration of the covenant which they had
broken, but one called something better and more excellent in
the book of Hebrew. And this new covenant has two
things to distinguish it as being superior to the old covenant. Number one, It stands in and
through Christ Jesus. He is the mediator of the better
covenant, Hebrews 8 and verse 8. He is the surety of a better
covenant, Hebrews 7 and verse 22. And His blood, not the blood
of beasts, of goats or of bullocks is the blood of the everlasting
covenant, Hebrews 13 and verse 20. And He called His blood in
the upper room the blood of the New Testament or covenant which
is shed for you. But for this study, we concentrate
upon the second thing that makes this covenant superior, better,
more excellent. And that is, it includes regeneration
by the Holy Spirit of God. I will put a new heart within
them. Listen again, Jeremiah 31, 33.
I will put my law in their inward parts and write
it upon their heart, not upon stone or tablet, but upon their
heart. Jeremiah 32 and 40, I will put
my fear in their heart that they shall not depart from me. 19 and 20. I will give them one
heart and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you a heart of
flesh that they may walk in my statute and my ordinances, and
that they might do them. And they shall be my people,
and I will be their God." Again in Ezekiel 36, 26, and 27. And a new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you. I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, giving you a heart of flesh,
and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in
my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them." This
explains why the Lord said to Nicodemus in John 3 and verse
10, How is it that you, a master of Israel, a teacher of Israel,
know not the truth of the necessity of being born again? For the
prophets spoke of it continually. They spoke of an inward renewal. They spoke of a work of God in
the heart. The prophet spoke of an inward
work that gives a new heart, of the removal of the stony heart
and a new fleshly pliable heart, a heart to know God, a new understanding
of the things of God, of a willingness and a delight. to walk according
to the law, word, and ordinances of God. From our text in Jeremiah
32, we're coming at it from the standpoint of the fear of God,
as when the prophet said, I will put my fear in their heart. And then notice he mentions the
intended result of the fear of God, that they shall not depart
from me. That is, by this inward work
of God, it will prepare the heart to cling to for service and for
worship unto God. Many older writers have taken
note of a fact from Scripture described, as I found it, by
John Gill, and that is, quote, the fear of God has so great
a concern in religion that it is sometimes put for the whole
of it." Sometimes it is simply called or summed up as the fear
of God. One that at one time is called
a worshipper of God, at another time is called one that fears
God. You'll find that in Job chapter
1 verse 1. You'll find it again chapter
1 verse 8, chapter 2 and verse 3 where Job is described as one
that fears God. He's pious and upright. He's
a man of good character. He's a praying man and that manifests
itself in his conduct both before God and before men. Joseph Carl wrote, in his very
lengthy and good, I might say, commentary on Job, that the spring
of Job's righteous behavior and integrity was that he feared
God. Meaning, according to our text,
that God had put his fear in the heart of Job. And Acts 9,
verse 31, it talks there, walking in the fear of God. Those disciples
lived or walked in the fear of God. So that the fear of God
is both a stimulus and a restraint according to the good pleasure
of God and our need. The fear of God works in both
directions. Number one, impelling one to
religious worship and special care for the children of God.
Number two, in causing Job to eschew evil. Eschew is a word
that has largely fallen out of use in our vocabulary, but it
means to let go or to avoid or stay away from. Let him eschew
evil, Peter said, 1 Peter 3 and verse 11. We see it again a time
or two in the New Testament. Not only so, but Proverbs 1 and
verse 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Also you'll see it in Psalm 111
and verse 10. They that fear God, the eye of
the Lord is upon them. Psalm 33. and verse 18. And it will be well with them
that fear God, Ecclesiastes chapter 8 and verse 12. And the Lord,
we read, pities them that fear Him, Psalms 103 and verse 13.
So we see the wonder of the grace of God
put in our hearts by the sovereignty of our Lord. And the conclusion
from that is no one is truly happy, no one is truly wise,
no one is truly spiritual unless And until God puts his fear in
their heart, his fear in their heart, in and by regeneration. There is a slavish fear, a natural
fear that often surfaces in the hearts of individuals, but until
one comes to fear God in the sense of Noah and Job and Abraham
and all others. So again, let us close this study
by restating very clearly, because of human depravity, no son, no
daughter of Adam can frame their own heart to fear God. This fear comes not from nature,
for it is a pious, reverential fear for God, for His worship,
His person, and His Word, that He is holy, and that He is a
fearful and a glorious name, and being and he has all power
and he sees all. And this fear, as Gil said, arises
from and through and out of the grace of God. It is a gift, it
is a grant of God's grace. While Flavell called it a choice
root of the Spirit's planting. How well. It cannot be separated
from regeneration. It will not be found apart from
a spiritual inward renewing. You won't find the reverential
fear of God apart from that. So it comes in with it and is
a product of it and is a work of God. Look at your life, how
we were once. And then how the Lord gave us
a new heart, a new outlook on life. We were not always churchgoers. Did we enjoy the Bible or read
it or study it or believe it? Once we were enemies and alienated,
and the Lord did a great and a wonderful work, and we thank
Him for that.