|
|
|
|
Do You Fear God?
The fear of God is the BEGINNING of wisdom. By Ken Raggio "Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God," Ecclesiastes 8:12-13. I have a question for you. Do you fear God? In forty years of ministry, I've heard a lot of people deal with the subject of the fear of God, and I've had people say to me, "I'm not afraid of God. God doesn't want you to be afraid of Him." But I have a hard time with that argument because I do not find that kind of a statement in the Bible. The scripture plainly says (and the WISE man, Solomon, said it), "The fear of the LORD is the BEGINNING of wisdom." I do not know any other way to translate or define the word "fear" than to say that you are afraid of something. If I say, "I fear a snake," then I am afraid of a snake. If I say, "I fear a monster," then I am afraid of a monster. If I fear the loss of my life for some particular reason, that means I am afraid of dying. And to fear God? I do not know how we could interpret it any other way, except to say, "The fear of God is to be afraid of God." If you have a true perspective of how GREAT God is, you WILL have an overwhelming reverence for Him. But more than that. You will be afraid of what He can do to you if you get on His bad side. God is not a man like you and I. He is not the son of a man. He cannot be lightly esteemed. He will not be disrespected. Because He is God. He is our Creator. He is infinitely higher than all of us. He is the Lord and Master of the entire universe. He has everything under His control. Not only are we His creation, we are also His subjects. No man will ever rise who can overthrow Him. God will prevail over us all - FOREVER! Think of a Master/Servant relationship. The servant characteristically adulates his master. A servant has no sovereign rights of his own. Every right a servant has is granted by the benevolence of his master. As servants of the Most High God, every right and every privilege we will ever enjoy comes down from our Lord, Master, and Creator. But now we see a civilization that HATES their Creator. They are FEARLESS! They DEFY God, and they really don't think there is going to be any consequence for it. But I have to tell you. THAT scares me! In the book of Romans, chapter 1, Paul talks about conditions in society that cause God to become very angry. This comes from Romans 1, beginning with verse 20.
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Friend, this is a description of people who are FEARLESS of God. Knowing the judgment of God, they commit these things that are worthy of death, and have pleasure in others who do the same. That is FEARLESSNESS. That is RECKLESSNESS. That is FATAL!! And I am afraid of that. I am afraid of the possibility that Almighty God could say to me, "I don't like your attitude, and I am going to turn you over to a STRONG DELUSION. I'm going to cause you to fall into the pit of the deepest sins from which you will never recover!" We have got a whole society today that ignores, and disregards, and even HATES God. It has caused our society to melt down. Just like the first chapter of Romans told us, this societal meltdown is the result of people's FEARLESSNESS. They DO NOT FEAR GOD. When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, so God gave them their pleasure in unrighteousness. He certainly was not giving them their pleasure as a reward for their behavior. He was giving them their pleasure as a CURSE! Friend, it is a DANGEROUS THING to fall into the hands of a living God. It is a DANGEROUS THING to trespass against Him and have Him turn you over to a REPROBATE mind - a mind that says "Good is evil, and evil is good." Everywhere we turn, we see men and women flaunting their FEARLESS DEFIANCE of God. This whole generation suffers from lethal deception of self-sufficiency. They think they do not need God and that He is of no consequence in their lives. The collective ego and pride of this generation is the cause of its own damnation. Sometimes casually, sometimes viciously, men speak of God as if He is an ancient myth that must be purged from modern thought. This young generation is categorically dismissing the entire notion of a Supreme Deity. Humanism (which puts human ideology in the place of God) and hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure) are supplanting the historical Judaeo-Christian mindset, upon which every great nation has been built. Every kind of false religion and evil ideology is gaining traction among the masses. Society is CANCEROUS with spiritual defiance, moral perversion and reprobate thinking. Their willful choices have forced God to pronounce a STRONG DELUSION upon them. Men have ignored the lessons of history. They have refused to consider the great body of evidence that shows that NO NATION and NO SOCIETY has ever survived after rejecting the core teachings and values of God and the Bible. Instead, the masses of humanity are now indulging themselves on a steady diet of whatever pleasures and entertainment that are numbing their minds to truth and reality. They tragically assume that since the masses of people no longer believe in God, then there really is no God. But that is just not true! God is NOT DEAD! EVERY man will someday give account to Him in judgment. vast multitudes of people are trying to eliminate all consciousness of God. They do not want to think about it, (unless of course, they have a tragedy in their lives, then suddenly they all believe in God, and they are ready to pray). But when things smooth out, there is no God anymore. But I can tell you this. Sooner or later, every man is going to face God. God systematically deals with men throughout their lifetimes. He tries to invade their lives. He tries to break their carnal will and bring them into relationship with Him. But if that man or woman refuses to be broken, then God has to deal with them again. You can run FROM God, but you can't hide. The harder you run from Him, the harder you are going to run INTO Him. You may refuse to bow down to God now, but you must know that someday you WILL bow down to Him. In Romans 14:11, God said, "As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." If you do not fear God, you are in big trouble. Fearlessness is foolishness. Jesus said, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," Matthew 10:28. "Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him," Psalms 33:8. "The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them," Psalms 34:7. "O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth," Psalms 96:9. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding," Proverbs 9:10. Wisdom says, "Fear God." 
http://kenraggio.com I am continually writing new content for this site. Please return often for more material, and tell your friends about www.kenraggio.com , too! THANKS! And God bless you! Ken Raggio 
Click here for BOOKS and VIDEOS by Ken Raggio ALL ARTICLES WRITTEN BY KEN RAGGIO, Copyright 1988-2010 Articles may not be republished on the Internet without express permission. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Thanks for coming by!
Please Donate to this Ministry |