Beloved congregation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

 

As we look ahead in this new year, there are many things that we are afraid of, aren't there? We are afraid that something might go wrong with our health, our job, or our business. We are afraid of losing loved ones. We are afraid of death. We are afraid of being alone. We have many other fears. 

 

That leaves us with many questions. Is it wrong to have those kinds of fears? Should I feel guilty because of that for the text says that the man who fears the Lord is blessed. Does that imply that we should fear God alone and nothing else in this world?

 

And so, what does it mean to fear God? Does that mean that we must be afraid of him? That’s what the sermon of this morning is all about. The theme for this morning's service is as follows:

 

Blessed Is the Man Who Fears the Lord

1. Common fear

2. Ungodly fear

3. Godly fear.

 

Psalm 111:10 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Who is wise? When we think about a wise person, we think about someone who has had a lot of life experience, and who knows how to handle life. He knows about the many twists and turns of daily life and is able to make some sense of it. A wise person knows how to handle all those twists and turns that life brings. 

 

The dictionary defines a wise man as follows: “a man of unusual learning, judgment or insight.” That definition applies across the board, to believers and unbelievers alike. We all live in the same world. We have many fears in common. For example, we all fear being hurt. That is why we have a healthy respect for fire. For we know that when the flame touches our flesh, that then pain will follow. If the burn is extensive enough, death may result.   

 

That is why also the Israelites, at the time when they stood at the base of the mountain, were afraid. For what did they see? They saw a great fire. As we know from Deut. 5:5, they did not dare go up the mountain because of the fire they saw. Mind you, God was in the midst of that fire. Nevertheless, they were afraid, deathly afraid. Who would not be?  

 

What other things are we all afraid of? We fear many things, especially as we grow old. The preacher describes that quite vividly in Ecclesiastes 12, where old age is described as the age where all kinds of dangers lurk because one’s hearing has decreased, one’s eyesight has diminished, and one’s grinders, that is, one’s teeth, are few. When you stumble along in such a way, there are, as it says in verse 5, many terrors in the way. Then the world becomes a fearful place.

 

The world is also a fearful place for other reasons. Sometimes, we are afraid of people, of what they can do to us. That was the case, for example, with David. As we know from 1 Samuel 21: 12, when he came into the presence of Achish, the king of Gath, he was so afraid of him that he pretended to be a madman.  

 

Isn't that also the way it is in our own lives? We fear those who threaten our lives. We fear those who have power over us: our boss, our teacher, our parents, our enemies who slander our name.  

 

We fear physical things as well: darkness, hail, wild animals, heights, and depths. These fears all men have in common. 

 

Is it sinful to fear these kinds of things? Well, the Lord God knows that we live in a broken world, in a world where we encounter many dangers. Therefore, we need to have feelings of fear. It is good to be fearful of dangerous situations and dangerous people and objects. Such feelings of fear are necessary for our survival. For fear warns us that there is danger ahead. It warns us to flee from a dangerous situation.  

 

That is also what David says in Psalm 55. He writes in verses 4-8, “My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.” (ESV) David wants to escape the terror which overwhelms him. He wants to take on the wings of a dove and fly away. He wants to escape.

 

Who doesn’t when he is confronted by great danger? We want to avoid the danger at all costs. This is only natural. Fear protects us from harm. A child learns to fear fire once it has been burned by it. Fear of danger keeps all of us from harmful situations.   

 

It is this fear that all humanity has in common, believer and unbeliever alike. Such fears are not necessarily sinful. Even the Lord Jesus experienced the fears that are common to all men. That is clear from the time he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said to his disciples in Matthew 26:38, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” (ESV) 

 

The Lord Jesus was very much afraid at this point, for he was confronted, not only by the prospect of his impending death but also by the prospect of bearing the wrath of God against the sin of all mankind.  

 

Let us not forget: the Lord Jesus came to earth as a man, as a human being. Oh yes, he was also God. But he took on the weakness of human flesh. And thus, he was tempted like all men. In that respect, he was not any different from any of us.

 

But, as God, he understood the horror which was about to be visited upon him. So he pleaded with the Father that, if possible, he take away the cup of wrath. 

 

Out of fear and trepidation, the Lord Jesus wanted to escape the cross. Yet, at the same time, he knew that was not possible. So he submitted himself to the Father’s will. Christ’s agony and fear were so great that on the cross, the wrath of God because of our sins pressed out of him sweat like drops of blood.

 

But in all this, he did not sin. It was not an ungodly fear. Ungodly, sinful fear is something different. That is our second point.

 

2. Often, our fears are exaggerated. Instead of helping us avoid harmful situations, fear can also cripple us. Think about the irrational fears we have. Some appear quite harmless. You have big men, for example, who are scared to death because of a little mouse. Others do not dare to fly by plane for fear of crashing. And again, others have a fear of heights, and will avoid heights at all costs.  

 

But there are fears that are clearly quite harmful and that make us compromise our principles and integrity. We may, for example, fear death above all else and consequently take wrong actions. 

 

Think about Abraham. Even though the Lord promised to protect him, he feared the loss of his own life so much that on two separate occasions, he placed his wife Sarah in adulterous or potentially adulterous situations.  

 

And it was fear that drove Ananias and Sapphira to do what they did. They lied about the proceeds from the sale of their property, motivated by fear of losing status or recognition. Their fear of man led them to deceive God and the church, resulting in the loss of their lives.

 

While pretending to fear the Lord, they feared mammon. And you cannot serve both. It is either God or mammon. The one excludes the other. 

What about the apostle Peter? His fear of being associated with Jesus during his trial led him to deny knowing him three times. This fear of human judgment and harm overshadowed his earlier boldness as a disciple.

 

Think about the kinds of fears you have, brothers and sisters. What do you fear in the new year? Are your fears self-serving and ungodly? To what extent do your fears compromise your principles and integrity? 

 

For example, do you fear the loss of income so much that you will compromise your Christian principles and twist God’s laws in order to retain your security?  

 

And what about the loss of your reputation? Do you fear the loss of it so much that you pretend to be somebody you are not? 

 

What about your fear of intimacy? Do you fear deep and committed relationships with your loved ones so much that you will consciously or unconsciously sabotage the relationship? Are you afraid to love others because you have been hurt in the past? 

 

What about your fear of people in general? Do you fear being judged? Do you fear rejection? Is it so excessive that you do not participate in church life? 

 

These are all examples of ungodly fear. What does it lead to? Ungodly fear drives us away from God. It also drives us away from loved ones. Ungodly fear gives us a distorted view of things. 

 

It first of all gives a distorted picture of God. Our fears reduce God to impotency. Our fears tell us that we have to depend on our own strength in order to keep from harm. They tell us that God cannot help, or at least that he cannot or will not help in the way that we think is necessary.  

 

Obsessive fears ultimately display a lack of faith. You make God out to be small and powerless and your enemies to be larger than life.

 

3. How, then, do you deal with fear? Well, the only way is to fear God alone. Third point.

 

Our fears clarify for us what or whom we serve. And whom must we fear? God alone! What does that mean? Does that mean that we must be afraid of him? That we must serve God only because we are terrified of him and of what he can do to us? What does it mean to fear God?  

 

Well, brothers and sisters, it means in the first place to realize how powerful God is. The psalmist says in Ps. 111:2 “Great are the works of the LORD; studied by all who delight in them.’ And in verse 6, “He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the inheritance of the nations.” 

 

God is powerful. His power cannot be compared to anything in the world in the whole universe, for he made it all. All he did was speak, and out of nothing, the whole universe was created. There is no power like his. God is not some impotent creature. He is not some human perception that exists only in our minds. No, God truly exists, and he makes his presence known in so many ways. He makes his presence known in nature. He especially makes it known in his Word. He exists for his people. He is the One who also upholds and governs his creation. And he maintains for himself a people to serve him. He has all things, the whole universe, in his mighty hands. But he rescues his people from the enemy.

 

That is why the Lord God, in his power, rescued them from the land of Egypt. He sent the plagues upon the Egyptians. And in the end, he drowned the mighty Pharaoh in the Red Sea and led his people on dry land. By his mighty hand, he also protected them in the land of Canaan.

 

That is why, throughout the Scriptures, he is called by many other Names in order to indicate his great power. He is called the Mighty One, the Rock, the King, and a Fortress. He is described as omnipotent, that is all-powerful.

 

The wonderful thing is that his great power is also available to you and to me. But, you must also want to be a recipient of that great power. You must not depend on your own strength and your earthly resources. It means that you must believe in him. You must put your trust in him when things are getting out of hand in your life and put your life into his hands. You must fully trust that with God at your side, nothing and no one can harm you. With him beside you, you have power that no one else in the world has. 

 

If God is with us, we do not have to fear people who have earthly power over us. They cannot harm us, not even our reputation. For the only reputation that matters is the one we have with the Lord our God. If what the Lord thinks of us really matters to us, then everything else takes a backseat. Fearing the Lord our God puts all our other fears in proper perspective.

 

Think about that, brothers and sisters. A big fear makes all the other one go away. If you truly fear the Lord, if he is the number one fear of your life, then all your other fears pale by comparison, including the fear of physical death.  Oh sure, then you still fear it, but not in an obsessive way, for you know that God will take care of you even in death.

 

To fear the Lord means that you are fully aware that he alone is in control of all things. It means that you are dependent on him alone. Your life is in his hands and no one and nothing else.  As David says in Psalm 34:9–10, “Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” (ESV) 

 

But the Lord also comes with a warning. Jesus says in Luke 12:4-5. He says, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (ESV) 

 

For what else does it mean to fear God? The fear of the Lord includes this, namely that God has the power to cast you away from his presence. 

 

What do you think the Lord Jesus feared the most on the night of his arrest as he prayed fervently in the garden of Gethsemane? Was it the prospect that his flesh would be torn by the nails on the cross? Was it the pain and the humiliation? Was it the fear of physical death? No, brothers and sisters. What he feared the most was to be abandoned by God. For that truly is hell. That truly is agony. There is no greater horror than that.  

 

That is also what it means for us to fear the Lord. It is the realization that God can cast us into outer darkness for eternity. It is the realization that without his favour, there is only death, a most horrible and eternal death.

 

That is why, in this church, we also exercise church discipline. It is a radical remedy to remind the sinner of what will happen if they remain in their sin. It is to warn the sinner what it means to be totally forsaken by God. We want to spare such a sinner from that horrible fate.  

 

Brothers and sisters, do you know what it means to fear the Lord? It means that you truly believe that God exists and that he is capable of doing what he has said in his Word. He has power over life and death.  

 

Did you know that one of God’s names is Fear? That is what he is called in Genesis 31:42. Jacob says there to his father-in-law Laban, “If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed.” (ESV)  The ESV, as do other translations, capitalizes the word "Fear." For it refers to God. God is the Fear of Isaac. God is our Fear. There is no other fear.

 

Again, does that mean then that we are to be afraid of him? No, not if you are a believer in God. Not if you put your trust in him. Then, no harm will come upon you. That is the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

Jesus suffered hellish agony, being abandoned by God so that we would nevermore be forsaken by him. If you believe in him, you and I do not have to experience hell. On the contrary, God will embrace you and protect you and prepare a place for you in heaven to be with him forever.

 

Psalm 112:6 says that a righteous man will be remembered forever. How do you receive God's righteousness? How do you become a righteous man? In other words, how do you become someone who is considered to be innocent with regard to the keeping of the law? Through faith.

 

If you believe, God graciously looks upon you. He says, come to the fire and be safe. Let me embrace you in my love.

 

If you understand God’s love, then you also understand what it means to fear him. If you understand the great love of God, for his only begotten Son and us, then you also understand what God is capable of. He took what is most precious to him and rejected him. He forsook his only Son so that we never be forsaken.

 

It is the opposite of what we would do. We would do everything to protect our children. We would risk our lives even. That is what a mother did, who was in the news and who sacrificed her life for her child who was attacked by a cougar.  

 

But what did God do? He killed his own Son. That is the power of his fury. And why did he do that? So that we can live. So that we do not have to be afraid of anything in this life, or the life to come. It means that we are fully aware of what the is capable of in this love. 

 

Let me ask you, do you fear the Lord your God? Do you know him? Do you know what he has done for you? And do you also know what he is capable of? Do you tremble before him? Before his almighty power? 

 

Brothers and sisters, God is a God to be feared. But he is also a God to be loved. As John, the apostle of love, says in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (ESV) 

 

What you fear is also what you love. That may seem to be a contradiction. But it is not. For when you fear him, you express thereby that you have cast away all your other fears, your common fears and your ungodly fears. You have done that with the knowledge that because you are a child of God, you are always safe with him. 

 

Brothers and sisters, you do not have to be afraid. You do not have to be afraid in the new year either, no matter what is going to happen. For the almighty God is with those who fear him, with those who love him. With God, there is always safety. Meditate on that throughout this new year. Amen.