The Fear of the Lord

Rev. W.C. Lamain (1904-1984)

Luther, the great Reformer, once said, “He that wins the youth, wins the future.” Indeed, that statement is very true. The Lord Himself says in His Word, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). It is in the days of youth that man must be molded for the life that is before him. It is a very important task and a great responsibility that God has placed upon the shoulders of fathers and mothers. It is a task so vast that every parent may well ask, “Who is sufficient for these things?” It is a great privilege when the weight of that divine calling becomes so heavy that it drives us to the throne of God and causes us to look to heaven continually, asking God to grant understanding and light.

The conversion of the soul is God’s work, and grace is not inherited. Sometimes, however, it pleases the Lord to magnify His name by working in succeeding generations. We already see God’s sovereignty displayed in the first family recorded in Scripture. Adam and Eve had Abel but also Cain; Isaac and Rebekah had Jacob but also Esau. David had Amnon and Absalom. Hezekiah had Manasseh. God has promised in His Word that His name would continue throughout all generations as long as the sun and moon shall endure. God will promote His own work, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in the hand of Christ. Throughout all ages God will maintain His Church, and Christ shall have subjects. The Spirit of God is an active Spirit, and He will continue to convince the elect of sin, righteousness, and judgment to glorify Christ in them and to seal Christ unto His Church.

God’s council is hidden from us, but we know the revealed will of God. The revealed will of God teaches us in respect to the rising generations, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). The Word of God contains this special promise for those who seek God in their youth: “Those that seek me early shall find me” (Proverbs 8:17b).

A great responsibility rests upon parents as well as children and no less upon the Church of God. Leaving the youth to themselves is a practice that cannot be justified and does not find support in Scripture. Already in the Old Testament days, the Lord, as the Covenant God who had entered into a covenant with the people of Israel at Sinai, charged the parents that they should tell their children about the wonders and institutions of God. They were to do this at every opportunity. God has always been concerned about the care of the children and in the days of King Ahaz referred to them as “My children.”

According to Matthew 28:19, the church has an important calling regarding the heathen. Of no less importance is her calling with respect to her own members, not only confessing members but also her baptized members. It is the duty of the office bearers to guide the entire flock. The children and young people may not be forgotten but must be included in public prayers, for one day their blood shall be required at our hand. This should not become form and custom but a true desire of the heart to remember all of their needs, both temporal and spiritual. Our actions must not give them the impression that they are only hangers-on but that their eternal welfare is of great concern to their parents, ministers, office bearers, and teachers.

Especially in these days of spiritual declension and apostasy in which the truth has less and less effect on the conscience of man and the spirit of darkness hardens men’s hearts, the church should be on guard and stretch forth her hands to grasp them that would falter and stumble into the ways of death. There are many people who impress upon their children from their youth that they are covenant children and that they have only to accept the Lord Jesus and then they can with all ease travel to eternity. We are to sound an earnest warning against such a soul-deceiving doctrine. Our children are conceived and born in sin. Baptism does not seal inward grace unto everyone that receives the outward sign but only to the elect who from all eternity were known and ordained unto eternal life.

We must instruct our rising generation in the firm, immovable foundations of salvation, that they be not carried away by false doctrines. Death in Adam and life in Christ must be purely preached to them and must be clearly taught them. God Himself must work love for the truth within their hearts by the Holy Ghost, but we must do all in our power to engender love for the old tried and true doctrine. Oh, beloved, as a shepherd it is our duty to constantly urge young and old to leave the way of destruction and walk in the way of life and peace. There are two ways about which we must preach. In this we follow the example of the Preacher of Righteousness, Christ Jesus. We are to hold before you not only the propriety, the necessity, the loveliness, and the profit of serving the Lord but also the damaging and soul-destroying results of walking in the ways of death.

May God Himself bless and sanctify the message we now wish to bring to you. If we can bring it to your ear and God brings it to your heart, then He alone shall receive the honor and you will experience its soul-saving profit. At this time we wish to draw your attention to the profitableness of the fear of the Lord as found in Proverbs 14:26, “In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and His children shall have a place of refuge.”

The fear of the Lord is wrought in the hearts of the elect by God and the Holy Ghost. By reason of our great fall in Adam, our hearts are filled with a slavish fear. This slavish fear is present in the heart of the reprobate and was present even in the heart of the most obstinate Belshazzar. The devils also are filled with it. They also believe, says James, and they tremble. This slavish fear causes unrest and disturbance, but it never leads one to God. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and built a city. Saul sought refuge with the witch of Endor but did not humble himself as one guilty before God. Judas went to his own place but did not cry to God, nor did he seek forgiveness of his sins in the blood of Christ.

The fear of the Lord, however, has an entirely different character. It is a childlike fear imparted to the elect of God. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His praise endureth forever” (Psalm 111:10). “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life” (Proverbs 14:27a). It is the most exquisite ornament that we can acquire in our lives. In Isaiah 33:6 it is called “a treasure.” It is also called a gift of God. In ourselves there is nothing but misery, but God by grace endows His people with childlike fear for the sake of Christ.

Only the fear of God keeps from sin. David most assuredly possessed it, and Peter was no stranger to it, but with all their grace there were moments in their lives when they lacked the exercise of the fear of the Lord. Joseph also possessed grace, but the fear of the Lord filled his heart and kept him from sin. When we have the fear of the Lord in exercise, we hate and abhor, as well as avoid, all sin as we would a plague. Then we hate what God hates and love what He loves.

The fear of the Lord is pleasing to God. It consists of this: a child of God blessed with a divine principle of esteem, respect, reverence, and love to the Lord willingly yields himself to the service of God and is extremely careful that he in no way displeases the Lord. Its basis is, of course, the work of God which has been glorified in his soul. He has been quickened from death unto life. He has come into contact with a holy, righteous, and well-doing God. Such a revelation of God in Christ is always accompanied with love, reverence, and humility. If this is not evident, one may well entertain doubt. David, in Psalm 18:1, cried out, “I will love Thee, O LORD, my strength.”

If the work of God is discussed coldly and without love, all that is said is nothing more than carnal reasoning. It leaves no impression. God is love, and in Christ, who satisfied His holy justice, He imparts His love to His people at the moment of regeneration. They cannot always give an account of it, but in their hearts there is such a burning love for God that, if God would justly cast them from before His face forever, they would never be able to curse Him or accuse Him of any injustice. If you should ask any person who has been truly convinced by the Spirit of God regarding the truth of this statement, it will strike a chord in his heart, and he will say with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him....” The woman of Canaan, in Matthew 15, was twice seemingly rebuked, but did she turn and go away? Oh, no! Had Christ repulsed her a third time, she would have remained at His feet. God’s people love Him with all that is in them because He first loved them.

When Christ, the Son of Gods love, is revealed in their heart, love is exercised within them. What a blessed reverence and respect for that holy and precious Being fills their heart. They perceive that God is greater than all. Their heart is humbled, and the manner of their speech is: “I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes.” Such people occupy no high and lofty positions. All that is high and lofty among men is an abomination to God. How low David bowed in Psalms 32 and 51. In what a precious frame of soul was Peter when he left the hall of Caiaphas. Neither of them had any more to say; they lay smitten and defeated before God. A broken heart and a contrite spirit are the sacrifices which God will not despise. When God becomes God in our hearts, we are brought down from our high and lofty positions to be more yielding and less demanding. It becomes an eternal wonder that God continues to think upon us according to His sovereign grace. Then with the covenant Mediator we may unite in singing:

The burden of the sorrowful The Lord will not despise.

Such a soul cannot bow low enough before God. In order to be saved on the basis of the righteousness and holiness of Christ, he would be content to remain a sinner at the feet of God his whole life.

For souls who have learned what sin is and what it cost Christ, it will not be necessary to hold meetings to decide what is and what is not sin. They seek atonement for all their unrighteousness, not only forgiveness of the guilt of sin but also the cleansing of the pollution of sin. They also have a great desire for complete deliverance from sin. For them sin has become death, and in their estimation the world has perished. The Spirit of God has wrought in their hearts a sincere desire to die to all that which is contrary to the laws of God. Because this world is no longer their home, they desire to meditate on those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Although they often sigh, “My soul cleaveth to the dust,” the prayer is always added, “Quicken Thou me according to Thy Word.”

The fear of the Lord causes them to love God as the greatest good and to walk in His ways with an inward delight. As the fear of the Lord more and more influences our lives, the less evil we will do, the more separate we will live from sin, and the closer we will live to God. The fear of the Lord brings a holy quietude of soul and a strong confidence against every enemy within and without, against temptations, persecutions, distress, and even death. There will be a trusting in the Lord, in Christ, and in His perfect atonement. When by grace such a strong confidence is present, then fear, doubt, and dejection must flee away. We must not trust in that fear but with childlike fear trust in Christ. Blessed are they who are no strangers to this fear of the Lord and also have it in exercise. This fear gives a holy boldness before God and the world.

Then shall I with an holy boldness Approach God’s altar without fear.

It is a holy confidence that shall not put us to shame because God, whose work is perfect, is the Rock that will never put us to shame. His fear brings a blessing also upon our posterity, for Jehovah protects and helps those who trust in Him, and His children shall have a place of refuge. The fruits of true piety are reaped by children’s children unto a thousand generations as we read in Psalm 103:17&18 and Psalm 105:8. “His righteousness shall bless the habitations of children’s children through the generations that keep His covenant and obey His law” (Psalter 444:7b).

Grace is not inherited. It does not pass from father to son. If it did, David would have had no Absalom, and Hezekiah would have had no Manasseh; yet we see that God does work at times in succeeding generations. However, He also passes by whole generations. God alone is sovereign. He is the great Potter that makes one vessel to honor and another to dishonor. However, the words of our text are true: “...His children shall have a place of refuge.” For the church of God, in the broadest sense of the term, that refuge is in a Triune Covenant God, but Christ, also, is a place of refuge for His people. Only in the blessed wounds and under His wings is there a hiding place and a shelter. God will be a refuge not only to all them that fear Him but also to those children who are made partakers of the grace that was imparted to their parents.

There have also been instances in which children whose parents feared the Lord have received many temporal blessings. Of course, they are not sufficient for eternity. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3b). It is a blessing to have had a father or a mother who feared the Lord, to have heard their warnings and prayers, and to have seen their tears. Because of this, however, your responsibility shall be greater. It will add to your eternal woe to have had parents who showed you the right ways of the Lord but not to have walked in their steps. Well may you, who have a father or mother in heaven, consider this; and you, who are privileged to have such parents still living, do you value it highly and take their warnings to heart? There are some who go on in sin in spite of all warnings, who dishonor God and cause His anger to rise, and who grieve the hearts of their parents.

The fear of the Lord has all but departed from our land, from the church, from the families, and from the hearts. In the world, atheism is revealed more and more on every side, showing that there is no fear of God before their eyes. God is being excluded everywhere from everything. God is no longer taken into consideration by the leaders of the world or by the common people. Freely and without shame, sin is committed and discussed. Where, in the face of threatening and approaching judgments, is there any thing more of concern than easy living, pleasure, and enjoyment? Banquets are arranged, exhibits are held, and man seeks nothing else than to drown himself in sin. Where will it all end? The Lord’s judgments can be naught else than dreadful.

Is it otherwise in the church? Oh, that we might confess with weeping hearts and eyes that, although we have retained some religion and form of godliness, yet, in general, the practice of godliness is not to be found. The world has invaded the church, and all things work together to grieve and quench the Spirit of God. Where in our day do we find “priests” who weep between the porch and the altar and say, “Spare Thy people, O Lord?” Where is the voice of warning? Where is the admonishing voice? For one reason or another, one is silent, the other no longer dares to speak. What is the result? There is an utter disregard for all divine things, no coming to God, and no bowing before Him. All things are in a state of confusion, and love is utterly lacking. God is withdrawing His Spirit. Oh, let us not seek to cover it with a cloak of pious expressions. God grant that we may own our guilt and that the fear of the Lord may again be in exercise. The fear of the Lord is the only barrier against sin.

How different would conditions be in our families if the fear of God were present. In general, complaints about family conditions are no longer heard. Wherever there may still be complaints about them, how fortunate it would be if their cause were sought in ourselves. A hardened and indifferent attitude is seen in our children. They are filled with greed for the things of the world and the vain things of this life. Let us be honest; do any of our children show true concern about death and eternity or about their guilt and sin, and are any concerned how they can be reconciled to God?

Now the God of all grace bless and sanctify this short meditation to our hearts for Christ’s sake. May He plant His fear where it is not yet present and preserve it where it has been planted. Yea, may He so adorn our hearts and lives with it that the enemy may be confounded, that sin may be mortified, that we may have peace in our own hearts, but above all that the name of the Lord may receive praise and glory.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen