False Teaching On The Fear of The Lord

Devotion 10 – False Teachings on the “Fear of the Lord”

Isa.29:13 – “Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honour Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men…”

This scripture clearly warns us that there is false teaching on the fear of the Lord. These are teachings on the fear of God based on man’s thinking, rather than derived from Scripture.

Jude also exhorted the believers to fight for their faith earnestly, because “godless teachers have wormed their way in among you, saying that after we become Christians we can do just as we like without fear of God’s punishment (Jude 4 TLB)

Due to some erroneous teaching on the concept of grace, many believers are overlooking the importance of living a life worthy of a holy and just God. A wrong understanding of the grace of God can lead to spiritual complacency.

Scriptural grace enables and empowers a believer to live a life of obedience.  It is not just all about God – we have a part to play too. We need to learn how to appropriate the grace given to us so that we do not “fall short of the grace of God” (Heb.12: 15) nor “receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Cor.6: 1). 

There’s no such thing as loving Jesus without seeking to obey His Word. Loving and seeking to obey Jesus are synonymous. Thus, the biblical message of grace teaches us to live righteously and to deny ungodliness as the way of expressing our love to God.

Tit.2:11-12 - “The grace of God ... has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly.”

Grace according to the Book of Hebrew

The book begins and ends with the good news of Christ making purification for our sins and sitting down at the right hand of God.  Christ is our perfect sacrifice and priest and shepherd, who will never leave us or forsake us. However, this book is also relentless in its warnings about the dangers of carelessness in the Christian life.

Heb.1:1-2 – “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds…”

 

Heb.2:1-3 – “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.  For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.”

Formerly, the Law was given to the Israelites by angels, and all those who rejected the Law were cursed. Now, the gospel is the message given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, so God warned that if He did not even spare those who rejected the message of the angels, He would certainly judge more severely those who reject the message of His Son Jesus Christ.

In saying that, God once again indicated to men that Christ is of greater authority than the angels, because a rejection of Christ's message would lead to greater judgment than a rejection of the angels' message.  God’s priceless gift of salvation is to be treasured “lest we drift away…and how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation…”

Against Willful Sin

It goes on to warn us that anyone who continues in sin and refuses to repent of it is in danger of becoming an apostate once his heart is hardened and his conscience is seared from the conviction of sin. 

Heb.10:26-29 – “For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”

 

God sent Jesus to die on the cross to deal with our sins and sinful nature. God didn’t sacrifice Jesus so that we as believers can continue to willfully sin without having to face any punishment or judgment. If we have this skewed mentality, we will be insulting the Spirit of grace.

2 Pet.3:10-11 - “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness…”

The Bible warns us that the day of Christ’s return will come like a thief and therefore, we must be ready for His judgment.  Knowing that we need to be in a perpetual state of readiness when He comes should affect our behavior. A healthy fear of God leads to a holy character and righteous behavior.

Ex.20:20 – “And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”

 

What Moses trying to say in this verse is that the Israelites should not be afraid to approach God. He had come to teach them to fear Him so that they would be afraid to sin.