in their heart that they will
not depart from me." I didn't have the microphone plugged in.
Now, as soon as we commit ourselves to begin a study of the subject
of the fear of God, then in rightly dividing the Holy Writ, we soon
discover that there are more than one fear in the scripture,
that we discover that all fear is not the same, and that we
must consider it in a multiple sense, that there are various
sorts of fear that are mentioned in the scripture which we might
rightly divide. And those fears are experienced
by the human family and the kind of fear being experienced by
a particular individual is a reflection of their relationship or of their
view of the great and mighty God. that one's view of religion
cannot be separated from their fear of God or the degree of
their fear of God. John Slavel, who was a Puritan
preacher of centuries gone by, wrote one of the larger treatises
that I have ever had the privilege of reading on the subject of
a practical treatise of fear. And in this writing, he contended
that basically all fear might be reduced to three heads. That
there is a threefold fear that is mentioned in the Bible that
is found operative and active in people who live in the world. Number one, there is a natural
fear. There is a natural fear in most
people. And I think that he's right,
that this commenced with Adam and with Eve when they sinned
against God in the garden. For as soon as they sinned, as
soon as sin had stained their conscience and gripped their
soul, they were afraid, afraid to meet God, and they hid themselves
among the trees of the garden And they made fig leaf aprons
to try to cover their nakedness. That's Genesis chapter 3 and
verse 7 and verse 8. This fear is passed on or passed
off unto their offspring. There is a natural fear that
is to be found in so many. You might not recognize it, or
called it by that name, but as it is operative in them, it certainly
answers to the title of a natural fear. Secondly, there is, says
Flavel, a sinful fear that dwells in many people, such as when
one fears and references and worships and gives sacrifices
and such like unto false gods. Or when one praises and serves
the false gods that have been created out of thin air or in
the minds of men. Or when people seek to allay
their fears or conquer their fears or put their fears away
by some false means not of God's approving and providing. They do not believe in the sovereign
providence of God, and so their life is one of fear. They are, so to speak, afraid
of their own shadow. As one said, they expect a bear
to jump out of every bush that they pass by. They are afraid
that all things are going to crumble around them. They're
afraid that the earth is going to be destroyed by a meteorite
or an asteroid or by global warming or global freezing or something
of that nature. Afraid of every day that they
live in the world. And then thirdly, there is also
what we want to consider today a reverential fear, a religious
fear, a philial fear of our Father God. And this is found in the
children of God, which such authors as Clavel and Gill and Owen,
all of them named John, understand in this way. How would you describe
this fear? How would you sum up this fear? Well, they've done it this way.
Quote, a gracious habit or principle planted by God in the soul."
I don't think you can get any more succinct than that. A gracious
principle that is implanted by God in the soul. Now the text
in Jeremiah 32 and verse 40 is clear. I will put my fear in
their hearts. I, saith God, will implant in
them my fear. I will put it within them. I
will put it in their heart. I will put it within their innermost
being." Now, as you know, as you hear preaching that is done
today, modern preaching we might call it, you know that the emphasis
today is not so much, or hardly at all, upon the fear of God. Rather, preaching today is more
after mushy sentimentalism than anything else. It is a feel-good
emotionalism. It is some kind of shallow love
toward the Lord and toward the Father God. Some today actually
consider it wrong to fear God, to live or to stand in fear or
awe of God, because they liken it unto being in bondage, as
they mistranslate some other Scripture. So let's say a few
things about natural fear to get us on our way. Now, Methinks that this lives
close neighbors to the conscience. That this natural fear that we
are speaking about is a close relative and a close neighbor
of the conscience. It has a great influence upon
the conscience of a man that is one, so is the other. As the state of his fear, so
the state of his conscience. That in many things, the fear
holds the reins of the conscience of an individual so that it is
influenced by it. Here's how Flavell put it, forgive
me, but I read extensively from his article, quote, natural fear
will be found exceedingly necessary and useful to make a man a governable
creature, end of quote. Another put it this way, Fear
is like a bridle which one puts upon a horse, so that the horse
is governed, or guided, or directed, and goes and stops according
unto that bridle. Now, if this passion, this passion
of fear is removed, all other restraints will break down along
with it. If a person does not fear God
in the proper sense of the word, then all other restraint will
also be loosened and slackened and reduced in the life of that
person. Now here are examples of the
loss, or could we say the absence, of natural fear. Remember what
Paul said in Romans chapter 3? And verse 10 through verse 18,
he quotes there extensively from the 14th and from the 53rd Psalm,
and he's discussing the brazen, open, sinful acts of mankind. And he concludes that discussion
in verse 18, that's Romans chapter 3, saying this, there is No fear
of God before their eyes. Now Paul makes the connection
very definitely. Romans 3.18 is almost a word-for-word
quotation taken from Psalms 36 and verse 1. Here is that verse. The transgression of the wicked
says within my heart, There is no fear of God before their eyes. Listen to that. David said, the
psalmist said, When I behold the brazen, open rebellion and
disobedience and violence and acts of men about me, that speaks
to my heart. That says something inside of
my heart. And what it said, the psalmist
said, is that there is no fear of God before His eye. The wicked action of wicked men
leads me to conclude that they have no fear of God before their
eyes, or literally in their heart and in their life, because He
is not checked from His sin. He has not in him the fear of
God. He does not fear God, and therefore
will he run to all kinds of excess. You remember the penitent thief
on the cross spoke across to his fellow criminal when that
fellow criminal mocked the Lord. And the penitent thief said this,
Don't you fear God seeing that you are in the same condemnation? You are dying. You are here being
put to death. Do not you fear God even in the
hour of your death. And that justly, Luke 23 and
verse 40, there is no greater natural fear than the fear of
death. Hebrews 2, verse 15 talks about
people who all their life were in bondage under the fear of
death. In Genesis 20, verse 11, there's
an experience that Abraham had when he journeyed down into the
land of Gerar. And while he was there, Abraham
thought that men without the fear of God as a bridle and restraint
upon them were dangerous men." Let me say it like that. Abraham
considered men without the fear of God to be dangerous and violent
men who would kill him for the sake of taking away his wife. Now, Bimelech, who would have
taken Sarah as a wife, asked Abraham after a rather scary
experience with God in the night. He comes out and he says unto
Abraham, the friend of the faithful, what have you seen? What is it
that caused you to say that Sarah was your sister rather than your
wife? And the good man Abraham answered
the king in Genesis 20 and verse 11, because I thought Surely
the fear of God is not in this place." This is a place where
men do not fear God. And not fearing God, they are
dangerous and liable to all kind of wicked action. Abraham saw
no evidence that there was fear of God, or the true worship of
God in that place caused Gerar. He found the people there not
to be God-fearing people, not at all, for whom one could expect
the worst if one does not fear God, even to the killing of Abraham
and the taking of his wife. Now we remember how powerful
is this grace or passion of fear. The fear of the Lord is to depart
from evil. Proverbs 3, 7 and 16 and 6. The fear of the Lord is as a
bridle and it restrains evil. It makes the conscience uncomfortable
when one sins who fears God, who has some fear of God in them. Let's see the power of this fear
and reverence toward our Holy God. In Genesis 39, Remember
the experience of Joseph in the house of Potiphar. The fear of
God so strengthened Joseph that he was able to resist the amorous
advances of Potiphar's wife. Nehemiah 5 and verse 15, they
have returned and are rebuilding the city and the temple. Nehemiah
says there, that he refused to be a financial burden upon the
people. He did not take the salary that
the 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 therefore his word is that he could not allow
himself to oppress the people and the poor. in such a hard
time as that. And this he did for conscience
sake, because he feared God. And I couldn't help but think,
oh, that we had in our land today a few leaders who had a conscience
and that feared before the God of heaven. Now, if the lack of
the fear of God give reign to sin, lay the reins, as it were,
upon the neck, and it does, then the presence and the operation
of the fear of God begats obedience and submission and reverence
unto God the Father. Consider something that is said
of Noah in that great chapter on faith in Hebrews chapter 11,
and particularly verse 7. The author, having come to the
case of faith as it worked in Noah, said that he was moved
with or by fear to prepare an ark. Fear having the meaning
of reverence, a reverential fear and awe before the God of heaven. a devout fear. It was not just
natural fear, and it was not sinful fear. But let us hasten
to say, this fear that is ascribed there unto Noah was not a sinful,
not a slavish, dreadful fear of the judgment of God threatened
to come upon the world. It was a pious, reverential fear
which God because Noah to hold God in reverence and in awe. It was a fear of the powerful,
all-knowing, and majestic God that was in the heart of Noah. And this verse in Hebrews 11
and verse 7 is all the more important and all the more interesting
because it allows us to consider the relationship of faith and
of fear. Here again, we have two things
in close proximity. For both of them are mentioned
in the same verse. By faith Noah, when mourned,
by fear prepared an ark to the saving of his house. Both of
them are said to have a magnanimous a great influence upon Noah,
his faith and also his fear. Notice, this fully explains,
or is a great illustration of Hebrews 11 and verse 1, that
faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of
things not seen. Now concerning both faith and
fear, In Noah's case, we would ask the question, which one is
first? If there is one that is first,
is it fear or is it faith that first and foremost led the way
in Noah's case? We read that it was by faith
that Noah received and believed the warning of God concerning
things to come. by faith, Noah being warned of
things to come. He believed the Word of God concerning
the coming flood. He believed what God had said,
which the Hebrew author refers to as things not seen as yet. By the way, a thing which had
never occurred before in the history of the world. a flood
of catastrophic proportion sent by God to destroy all flesh off
of the face of the earth. It had never even rained before,
according to Genesis 2, verses 5 and 6, and yet Noah believed
that God would send a flood and prepared an ark in obedience
to the command of God. But by faith, Noah believed that
it would flood because God said so. He believed the Word of God. And he prepared, or he built,
an ark. And notice the words again in
Hebrews 11 and 7, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the
saving of his house. By faith, moved with fear. acting upon the credit of God's
Word and of God's promise, and moved by that fear within his
heart. Now as for the relation or the
connection between faith and fear, or vice versa, I think
I agree with John Gill and with A.W. Pink, quote, a reverential
awe of God is a sure fruit of saving faith." A reverential
fear of God is a sure fruit of saving faith. So that fear is
a fruit of faith and not vice versa. And that this saving faith
gives rise to various emotions in the mind and the heart of
believers. Such as, we'll name some, Joy,
love, assurance. One has faith, he has these things. As well as fear and reverence. That out of faith, true faith
in God, there flows one as well as the other. With saving faith,
there comes a reverential fear of the Almighty God. A revering of His person, of
His words, and of His work and of His worship. And all who believe
to the saving of the soul hold themselves in awe of all that
God is as revealed to us in the Scripture. Consider this combined
quote from Arthur Pink and from John Owen put together on the
premise that faith is a Fear is a fruit of saving faith as
in Noah. Here it is, quote, that fear
acted as a salutary impetus in Noah and operated as a powerful
motive in his building of the ark, unquote. Note the two words
that they use. Salutary impetus means a hardy,
or a beneficial force, or an incentive to act. In other words,
the incentive upon which Noah acted to build the ark was his
fear of God. Thus we see what a powerful emotion
is the grace of fear in the heart of a person. Noah, being moved
by fear, built an ark. And this fear did arise out of
his saving relation to God, his believing God. Consider, if you
will, a passage or two from the last Old Testament book. That would be the book of Malachi. But first, let's consider the
state of religion in the time that Malachi is writing these
things unto the people. And their attitude about religion
was that they were for the most part a bigoted, self-righteous,
and had an intolerant haughtiness concerning any rebuke or any
correction. With no real sense of their sin,
they even time and again replied against God and replied against
the prophet. Wherein have we done such things? They said to the prophet. Consider
Malachi 1.6. A son honors a father, and a
servant his master. And here God says then, if I
am a father, Where is my honor if I am a master? Where is my
fear? Of course, it was their profession
that God was their Father, that God was their Master. But the
apostate priest in that day boasted that God was their Father, was
their Master, but they gave him no honor. They gave him no reverence
either. as a father or as a master. Now, it is a settled principle. A father is due honor and a master
is due fear or reverence from those that serve under him. It
is, therefore, an aberration. That is, it is abnormal out of
the ordinary to withhold honor from whom honor is due are reverence
from a Master from whom reverence is due. Now, the text that we
read from Jeremiah 32 has to do with God recovering the people
out of captivity, regathering them again from all of the nations
wherein they had been scattered. Matthew Henry, another old-timer,
wrote, God would in judgment remember mercy, and a set time
would come to remember and favor Zion." That God in His mercy,
even though He had judged them and sent them away, dispersed
them among the nations and sent them into an awful captivity,
yet a time was set when He would remember and favor Zion. up on verse 37 through verse
40 of that text that we read, noticing that in verse 37, they
would be brought again into their land, and they would be caused
to dwell safely again in that land. God would in judgment do
that, and in mercy remember them. Verse 38, they would be the peculiar
people of God. And He would be their God. He
would own them as His people, treat them and regard them as
His people. Look at verse 39. He would perform
a great, great inward work on them, giving them unity of heart
and of purpose, making them as one. Then look at verse 40. He
would bind Himself to them by the making of a new covenant,
that He would not turn away from them to do them good. And, in verse 40, He would secure
their devotion unto Him. He would gain their heart. He
would gain their obedience and their service by putting His
fear in their heart. He would do that. Now the question
is, They have been throughout all of their history a disobedient
and a gainsaying people. They were rebellious. How then
will the Lord God now gain them as a people to be faithful and
to serve Him? How shall such rebels be cured? How shall their attitude be changed
toward God? Can they make themselves to be
different? Can they turn by means of their
free will and become an obedient servant of the Lord? Can they
sanctify themselves by their own ability so that they are
serving the Lord? Can they make their hearts, their
own hearts that have been wicked, new? Can they make themselves
a new heart? When a leper can change his spot
and when the Ethiopian can change his skin, the prophet said, then
and only then may you that have done evil turn and do good. This was to be done. This new
heart, this fear of God, notice it carefully, was to be done
in the framework of an everlasting covenant. The words are, I will
make an everlasting covenant with them. Or, as Calvin called
it, a perpetual covenant, one not open-ended, one with no end,
one which cannot be voided, that binds them to God and God unto
them. Not to get too far afield from
this covenant, but it is the heart and the core of God saving
His people. The covenant that God makes is
the heart and the core of that salvation that God has purposed
for His people. His words are, I will strike
a perpetual covenant with them that I will not turn away from
them to do them good. The prophet had already mentioned
this same covenant in Jeremiah 31, 31-34, and which is quoted
by the Hebrew author in chapter 8 and verses 8-12. In both places, a clear, definite
contrast is made. I will make, I will establish,
I will set up a new covenant, another covenant, a second covenant
will I make. Jeremiah 31-32. Hebrews 8 and
9, it is emphatically and clearly stated, it will not be a covenant
like that one that I made with your fathers in that day when
I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. To use a metaphor, I took them
by the hand to bring them out. Majesty of Sinai, that smoking,
thundering mountain. He made a covenant with the fathers. He gave them the law there orally. He gave them the law orally and
upon tables of stone. He gave it to them in the mouths
of their teachers, in the mouths of their prophets. And they said,
the people said, in Exodus 24 and verse 7, all that the Lord has said we
will do and be obedient." But that's after they had seen the
awful majesty of Sinai. And in verse 8, Moses then, Moses! Now listen, God said, here's
the covenant, the people said we will do and be obedient. And in verse 8 of Exodus 24,
Moses took the blood and He sprinkled the people. With that, this is the blood
of the covenant. But alas, as you know and all
know, they broke the covenant which was made with them and
they made it void. The question then is this, are
all cut off without remedy? Shall none experience the goodness
and the grace of God? Nay, because the Lord speaks
The time comes when I will make a new covenant, one new and one
better than the old. It would not be the old covenant
recycled or reinstituted. It would not put them back under
the rigor of the law which Paul likens to a temporary schoolmaster
in the book of Galatians. does not promise them the restoration
of that covenant which they had before and which they had broken,
but one called something better and more excellent. A better
and more excellent covenant. And this new covenant has two
things that distinguish it as superior and excellent to the
old covenant. Number one, it stands in, upon,
and through Jesus Christ. This covenant is founded upon
and through Christ. He's the mediator of the better
covenant, Hebrews 8 and verse 6. He's the surety of the better
covenant, Hebrews 7 and verse 22. And His blood And not the blood of beasts,
of goats or bullocks or any such thing, is the blood of the everlasting
covenant. Hebrews 13 and verse 20. And he calls his blood, the Lord
did, the blood of the new covenant or testament. This is my blood
of the new testament shed for you. But for this study, we concentrate
upon the second thing that makes this covenant superior and gives
it success. And that is, it includes regeneration
by the Holy Spirit of God. This covenant includes regeneration
of those that are in the covenant. That all that are in this covenant
will be regenerated by God. Listen to the Old Testament prophets
preach regeneration. Jeremiah 31, 33. I will put my
law in their inward parts and write it in their heart." Again
in Jeremiah 32 and 40, I will put my fear in their heart that
they shall not depart from me, our text. Listen to Ezekiel 11,
verses 19 and 20, and I will give them one heart and I will
put my new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart
out of their flesh, give them a heart of flesh, that they may
walk in My statues, and keep My ordinances, and do them, and
they shall be My people, and I will be their God." Again,
in Ezekiel 36, 26, and 27. A new heart also I will give
you, a new spirit will I put within you, And I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh,
put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statue,
and ye shall keep My judgment and do them." Now, this explains,
does it not, why the Lord said to Nicodemus in John chapter
3 and verse 10, how is it that you A teacher and a ruler in
Israel know not the necessity of the new birth. How is it that
you, a teacher, for the prophet speaks of inward renewal, of
an inward work that gives a new heart, of the removal of the
stony heart, and giving a pliable or a soft heart, a heart to know
God, of a new understanding, of a willingness, to walk in
the way of Jehovah and His ordinances. And from our text there, in Jeremiah
chapter 32, we are coming at it from the standpoint of the
fear of God. And when the prophet said, I
will put my fear in their heart that they will not depart from
Me. Now many older writers have taken
notice of the fact from Scripture as described by one of them,
John Gill, that The fear of God has so great a concern in religion
that sometimes it is put for the whole of it." In other words,
a child of God is described one that fears God. One that feared
the Lord is described the essence of religion. One that is at one
time called a worshipper of God is at another time called one
that fears God. So they are interchangeable.
Remember Job, of course? Job chapter 1-1, Job 1 and 8,
Job 2 and 3, where Job is described as one that fears God, that is
pious, that is upright, which manifested itself in his character
before men. Joseph Carl wrote in his 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 so that as in
Acts 9.31, walking in the fear of God is how some are there
described. His fear was both a stimulus
and a restraint. This fear works in both directions. Number one, impelling Job to
religious worship in special care for his children. Number
two, in causing him to eschew evil. Job stayed away from evil. It is a word that has more or
less fallen out of use to eschew, but it actually means to turn
from or depart from, to remove, to stay away, or to stay clear,
or to avoid. So fear goes in both directions. Not only so, but Proverbs 1 and
verse 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. You'll see it also, Psalms 111
and verse 10. They that fear God, the eye of
the Lord is upon them. Psalms 33 and verse 18. It is well with them that fear
the Lord. Ecclesiastes 8, verse 12. And the Lord pities them that
fear Him. Psalms 103, verse 13. So the conclusion of all of this
is, no one is truly happy or truly wise or truly spiritual
unless and until they have the fear of God. Let's close by stating
clearly, because of human depravity, No son or daughter of Adam can
frame their own heart to fear God. This fear comes not from
nature, but it is a pious reverence for God, for His worship, and
for His Word. It says that He is holy, and
with a fearful and a glorious name is how we view our God. And He has all power, and He
sees all. And in these are the ingredients
of our fear of God. This fear, as Gil said, arises
from the grace of God. It is a gift and grant of the
grace of God, which Flavel called a choice root of the Spirit's
planting." It cannot be separated from regeneration. It will not
be found apart from inward renewal, this fear of God, is worked within
and in conjunction with that great work of regeneration. And
it stands in conjunction with the covenant. Regeneration and
the covenant. Regeneration and fear. Fear God. Wonderful truth of
the Scripture. It is amazing how much the Bible
says about this fear. How often the Bible mentions
the fear of God in the sense that we are speaking about. But
that's it for today. Let's stand, please. We'll have
a word of prayer before we are dismissed.