Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Paul Washer - What does it mean to Fear God?

Episode Date: July 8, 2021

Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis: Big Questions, Biblical Answers, is a series that seeks to provide biblical answers to some of the most prominent and fundamental questions regarding God, the Gospel, and the BibleIn this episode Paul Washer, from HeartCry Missionary Society answers the question: “What does it mean to Fear God?"Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGB5fYWHTNemqp9aZC232egFor more information visit: https://www.jonnyardavanis.comd

Hey guys, this is Johnny Artavanis and this is Dial In. In this episode, I sit down with Paul Washer, the director of the HeartCry Missionary Society, and ask him the question, what does it mean to fear God? Let's dial in. Paul, thanks again for being with us. I'm reading in Proverbs 1-7. It says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says, Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of men. We see this idea of fearing God riddled throughout the Scripture.

It's a strong theme. And yet today, many people don't even understand what that means and how they can grow in their fear of the Lord. Can you talk to us, Paul, about what it means to fear God, how we can grow in our fear of the Lord, and why it's so important? Well, first of all, we need to look that there are different aspects of the fear of the Lord. The unbeliever should fear the Lord. In what way? As judge, as righteous judge who is angry every day. So there's a sense in which, you know, the unbeliever who's living in rebellion against God,

who's not reconciled through Christ, for him to fear the Lord is to fear that aspect of his holiness and his righteousness that manifests itself in wrath. Now, for the believer, it's different. It's that first fear that I talked about that drives you to Christ. And coming to Christ, we are now reconciled through him. And we bear the righteousness of God in Christ. Our legal standing before God, our immutable legal standing before God is the righteousness of God.

So we're clothed in the righteousness of Christ. So obviously the word reverence there, or fear is going to change. I think one of the most perfect examples of what it means to fear the Lord is actually found in the Lord's Prayer where he says, Our Father who art in heaven. And, you know, we hear today, I've heard this for 30 some years, you know, Abba Father, so we can call him Daddy or in Spanish, Papito or something.

That's not what that means. That's not what that means. The closest thing I've seen on earth to what I think it means, Abba Father, has been in several different people groups in Africa where a child will come to their father with knowing that their father loves them knowing that they are endeared to their father and yet they will almost do something like this and drop and some almost bow in the presence of their father when we say daddy it's almost this trite Santa Claus flippant. So here in the Lord's Prayer, it's our Father, all that that means.

And then who art in heaven, our Father is the creator and sovereign of the universe. And it's maintaining those two things. Now, people will ask me, you know, OK, what does it mean to fear the Lord? It is to reverence him. When it says hallowed be thy name, what it's saying there actually is that God in my heart, in my estimation, in my value of him, would be put in a completely other category. He's not like me, just bigger or better. He's not like me at all.

When we talk about God, we're talking about a completely other category, or some theologians have talked about the otherness of God and is is that why do I not take his name in vain because he's in that category infinitely separate above all other things in nobility and beauty and holiness and justice and righteousness he is a completely other. Now, so people say, I want to grow in the fear of the Lord and my reverence for him, my respect for him, which begins with my estimation of him. OK, you can't have reverence without a high estimation. How do you get a high estimation? And here again, we go back to the Word of God. How has God revealed who He is? The more I know about God, biblical true knowledge, if I'm

unconverted, the more I know about the biblical God, the more I'm going to hate Him. But if I'm converted and I have a renewed heart and I love righteousness, the more I know about God, the more I'm going to love him. Do you see that? And so it all goes back to scripture. You know, and people will often say when hearing about the fear of the Lord that that's an Old Testament idea. And so there's an illiteracy to the reality that Jesus says, you know, Luke 12, I'll tell you who to fear. Paul, just as we close, talk about how the fear of the Lord is not just isolated to the Old Testament, but it is the anthem of even Jesus' preaching. I think here's something that's very important. Even if it was only isolated to the Old Testament, the Old Testament is still the inspired scriptures. So I don't know

where people...it's this lie again that plays the Old Testament off the New and vice versa. Jesus is different than the Old Testament God, all these different things. And again, it's just a lie of the devil. So even if it wasn't in the New Testament, but it is. And I'll tell you what it is. It's this constant, who is man's, and let me say this tongue in cheek, who is man's greatest defender? It's always the devil. It's always in the garden, what does the devil do? Did God give that command? would he be that miserly

i mean i i want to vouch for you i think you need to be able to eat from that tree how dare god keep you from that tree so the devil is always on man's side against god and that's the same thing that happens here really i? I mean, is God a megalomaniac that he would want you to fear him? No, that's just, if he can't destroy it utterly, then he just says, oh, that's just an Old Testament thing. And you know, in the Old Testament, it was just man's interpretation, primitive man's interpretation of God. And there's a better interpretation in the new. I mean, he'll even play the Old Testament and the New Testament against one another.

And so what we need to see is that what is reference? It is simply seeing God in greater and greater light of the scripture, discover who he is. And the more majestic, the more wonderful, the more, you know, holy and just and loving and all these things we see, the greater and greater our estimation and the greater and greater our reference. I remember, you know, there are men who I know, godly men who will say, Paul, call me by my first name. And I go, I can't. I just can't. Well, I mean, I'm almost 60. I can't. And they say, why? I just, I have too much respect. Honoring, yeah. Yes. And that's creative because I know this man. I've seen him now for years,

and I can't just call him by his first name. And then it's the same way. All these years of growing in my knowledge of God, he's just too wonderful not to show that respect. And when I don't, because when we sin, we don't, it strikes the heart. Or if I say something trivial, it strikes my heart. Why? Over 35 years of growing in the knowledge of God, and that's why Jeremiah, you know, don't boast in wisdom, riches, strength. Boast in this, that you know God, his attributes.

And as we fear God, you said it is to have proper and high estimation of him. Consequently, we will have a reasonable estimation, even though not to the degree that we should, of ourself. And as we do so, we'll be able to be useful for Christ, honoring to him, because we'll see God rightly and then we'll see ourself rightly. We're talking even in eternity. We're talking about a progression, dynamic as opposed to static. I mean, even at the end, if we can say it this way, an eternity of eternities, we will still have not sounded the depths of the glory,

of the beauty, of the power, of the holiness of God. No matter how far we travel in to knowing who he is, there's still more to know. And that's what makes heaven heaven. That's what makes eternity eternity. It's an ongoing, constant, dynamic discovery of more and more about the glory of God, which leads to greater and greater heights of joy and fulfillment as the creature.

So good. The fear of the Lord is what God deserves, but it's also the beginning of wisdom. So thank you for helping provide clarification on what that means and how we can grow in our fear of God. So thank you, Paul. You're welcome.