FEAR IS MISSING

By Rick Mathes

Philippians 2:12 (NASB77) ¹²  So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

Words that you will rarely hear from the pulpit are sin, death, hell, repent, believe and obey. The fear of God’s wrath and the need for your salvation has become old fashioned. Our post-modern, post-Christian era has nothing to offer but relativism. “Thou shalt not” is lost vocabulary.

The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. Whether you fear His wrath or you fear offending Him out of your love, fear of God is very healthy. You are not getting what you deserve and you should praise your Savior for that. You’ve got to get past the guilt of past sins. Ifyou feel guilty, that is telling you that you haven’t repented that sin. Guilt means the sin is still glaring you in the face and you haven’t let go of it. It’s like dragging anchors off the back of your boat. You need to cut the lines and move on without the drag of guilt.

If you leave just a smidgen of an option to sin, you will take it. You can count on it. Satan will hound and nag you and tempt until your weak moment. The only defense it to fear offending God with that sin enough to resist it.

It you walk in open unrepentant sin in blatant refusal to repent, God’s wrath will fall on you. Now understand that there is a major differene between wrath and judgment. Wrath is the warning. Judgment is the punishment. So to avoid the future wrath of God and His final judgment, you need to not only fear his displeasure but be terrified of the consequences of Him giving you over to depravity into the flaming paws of the devil.

You must combat this apathy with a firmness of faith with no doubts about the truth of God’s Word. You must hate the sin that crucified god’s only Son. Your major objective must be to believe and obey. God so loved the world He didn’t send a committee. Jesus is not interested in your opinion. He only wants you to obey.

You need to reverse course from selfishness to selflessness without delay because otherwise you ae contemptuous of His glory. That crown of thorns says it all. How can you not love God and the Son for what they did and do for you in the future through the Holy Spirit?