The Fear of God - Genesis Part 44

Now, I'm going to begin today by making one of the most unpopular statements in all of modern day Christianity.

And here it is. God is a God of judgment. You see, in our 21st century brand of Christianity, the predominant theme we hear everywhere today is that God is a God of love, a God of mercy, a God of forgiveness, a God of leniency, a God of understanding. And you know what?

All of that's true. But the Bible also teaches without equivocation that our God is a God of justice, and He is a God of holiness, and He is a God of righteousness, and He is a God of judgment. And the Bible teaches that anyone, anyone who ignores or minimizes this aspect of God's character does so at their own severe peril. Now, listen to what the Word of God says about all this. Hebrews 12, verse 23, You have come to God, the Bible says, the judge of all men. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 30, For we know Him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, and again the Lord will judge His people. Hebrews 10, 31, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, and this is why the Bible warns us to approach God, Hebrews 12, 28, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Today, this is what we want to talk about, because as we continue in our verse-by-verse study of the book of Genesis, we're in Genesis chapter 19, where the people of Sodom and Gomorrah learned this lesson the hard way.

We want to go back and see what happened there, and then we want to bring all that forward and talk about, okay, so like what difference does that make to me here in the 21st century? So, are you ready? Are you ready? Good. Okay, let's begin. Now, to begin, let's say this, that the Bible repeatedly reminds us that our God, the God of this universe, is a righteous God. Daniel 9, verse 7 says, Righteousness belongs to you, O Lord. Psalm 36, verse 6 says, Your righteousness, God, is like the mighty mountain. Psalm 89, verse 14 says, Righteousness and justice, Lord, are the foundation of your throne.

And finally, Psalm 33, verse 5 says, The Lord loves righteousness and justice. But what exactly does it mean to say that God is righteous? Well, it means two things. Number one, it means that God always does that which is ethically right, that which is morally pure, and that which is utterly virtuous, and that He is incapable of ever doing anything different. But it means a second thing.

It also means that not only is God Himself righteous, but also that He deeply cares about His creation operating righteously. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 11, The multitude of your sacrifices, God says, What are they to me, says the Lord. I hate your festivals and your feasts. I am weary of bearing them. They have become a burden to me.

Well, Lord, if you don't want us to bring you sacrifices and you don't want to celebrate the feast you told us about, what do you want us to do? Stop doing wrong, God says. And learn to do right. Seek justice. Care for the oppressed. Defend the fatherless.

Plead the case of the widow. The point is that God cares about people treating people righteously, and because He is a just God, and because He is a holy God, He is committed to repaying every unrighteous deed ever done here on this earth. Listen, Acts 17, verse 31, For God has set a day, the Bible says, when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. And He has given proof of this to all men by raising that man, the Lord Jesus Christ, from the dead. This is God's promise, that there will be a day when every human deed will be settled up with absolute and utter justice. And the Lord Jesus said that Himself. In Matthew 16, verse 27, Jesus said, For the Son of Man will return in the glory of His Father and with His angels, talking about the second coming, and then He will repay every person according to what they have done. And by the way, nobody is going to pull any wool over this judge's eyes.

Nobody's going to trick him or get by with something with him. Listen, Jesus said, Luke 12, too, For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in secret shall be shouted from the rooftops. I mean, we're talking about the ultimate Judge Judy meeting right here.

Yes, sir. You say, Well, Lon, this is great, but are you telling me I have to wait till the second coming of Jesus before I see any kind of justice here on the earth for unrighteousness that's been done? No, no, no, no, no, I'm not saying that. No, God certainly judges here and now, right here on earth, unrighteous deeds, as well as doing so when He comes back. Listen, Psalm 7, verse 14 says, He who conceives evil will fall into the pit which he has dug, and the mischief he planned shall return on his own head. Proverbs 5, 22, His own evil deeds shall capture the wicked, and he will be ensnared with the cords of his own sin. Numbers 32, verse 23, Be sure, God says, your sin will find you out. Now, all of these verses are talking about God judging people for unrighteous behavior right here on this earth now. But perhaps the most comprehensive verse dealing with God judging people here and now for unrighteous behavior comes out of the New Testament. Galatians chapter 6, verse 7, it begins by saying, Do not be deceived.

Now stop. When the Bible says, Do not be deceived, it's about to tell us something really important. Do not be deceived.

Nobody makes a fool out of God for whatever a person sows, that is precisely what they will reap. You know, when my boys were younger, every spring, my wife Brenda would make me go out in the front yard and till up a bunch of the front flower bed and plant a garden. And I didn't want to really do this, but she said I had to. She made me. And she said, I think it's really, I said, Why do I have to do this? She said, It's really important that our children see where tomatoes come from.

Well, you see, that wasn't a problem for me. I mean, I'm Jewish. And when you're Jewish, you know exactly where tomatoes come from. They come from the supermarket. That's where tomatoes come from, right? Jewish people don't farm. Are you serious? We don't grow vegetables in our front yard.

Are you serious? I'd never done this in my life. I'd never planted anything.

So Brenda came out and helped. And I learned some things about farming. I learned that if you sow green beans, you're going to get green beans. You're not going to get broccoli and you're not going to get carrots and you're not going to get Brussels sprouts and you're not going to get eggplant. If you sow rutabagas, you're going to get rutabagas.

Now, all of us understand that when it comes to the world of farming. But what Galatians 6, 7 is telling us is that that very same truth applies to human behavior because, don't miss this now, because in His massive justice, God sees to it that it happens. You say, well, but wait a minute.

I know people who've done some really unrighteous things and, you know, they've never reaped anything for all that unrighteous behavior. I mean, it looks to me like they've gotten away with it. It looks to me like they've beaten Galatians 6, 7. Oh, my friends, no, that's just a mirage.

It's not so. You know, if anyone ever beat this rule that what a person sows, that's what they reap, they would have made a fool out of God. And this verse says that's not going to happen. Listen to me, my friends, it may take more time in some people's cases in order to see Galatians 6, 7 fulfilled, but you can take it to the bank. Galatians 6, 7, what a person sows, they're going to reap, will always be fulfilled.

Always. Now, this brings us to Genesis 19 and to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 13, the Bible says, now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinning greatly against the Lord. So, in keeping with Galatians 6, 7, the two angels that God sent to Sodom told Lot, Genesis 19, 13, we are going to destroy this place because the outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it. Now, it's interesting this outcry against the people of Sodom. It's interesting that God mentioned this very same thing to Abraham in the chapter before. Chapter 18, verse 20, God said to Abraham, the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin is so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry against them.

So, here's the question. Who was making all this outcry against the people of Sodom and Gomorrah? Well, I can't tell you for sure, but I think that it's probably the angels in heaven that were doing this. I think they were saying, hey Lord, You are a holy God. You are a righteous God. The sin of Sodom is abominable.

It's like over the top and You have been long suffering with these people and long suffering with these people. But Lord, how can You keep tolerating sin like this without judging it? I believe the outcry was coming from the angels. And finally, the Lord said, OK, OK, we're going to unleash Galatians 6, 7 on the people of Sodom. But you know what? In His mercy, before God did that, He gave these people one final chance to escape.

One more chance to avoid His judgment. Genesis 19, verse 12, right after dinner the night before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the angels said to Lot, Do you have any other people here in the city, people you love, people you care about? If so, get them out of here because we are about to destroy this place. So Lot went out and spoke to his son-in-laws and said, Hurry, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy this place.

But his son-in-laws thought he was joking. In fact, my friends, I think there is strong implication in the Bible that Lot spent the entire night frantically walking the streets and warning everybody he met in Sodom to take God's threat seriously, repent of their sin and get out of dodge. You say, Well, where do you get that from?

Well, think about it now. The angels told Lot the night before at dinner that they were going to destroy the city. Now the next morning, verse 15, chapter 19, with the coming of dawn, when Lot hesitated to leave the city, the angels had to grab Lot's hand and had to literally pull him out of the city. I think there is strong implication here that Lot had never even gone to bed that night, but that he had been out trying to persuade the people of Sodom to escape, to repent, and that the reason he hesitated and resisted when it was still dawn is because he wanted to keep on trying to reach some of these people. Hey, but as we all know, despite all of Lot's attempts, whether he stayed up all night or whether he didn't stay up all night, regardless, the people of Sodom totally ignored him. And so let's summarize and say that the people of Sodom had a really bad habit, and that is they regarded their sin as a trivial thing in the sight of God. They minimized God's holiness and they minimized his outrage at their sin. They had no fear of God.

They had no fear of the judgment of God, and they paid a terrible price for it. Now, that's as far as we're going to go in our passage, because we want to stop now and ask our most important question of the day. So, all of you at Prince William and all of you at Bethesda and everybody at Loudoun and down in the edge and around the world and here, are we ready?

You sure? All right, come on now. Here we go. All of us, here we go.

One, two, three. Oh, that's sweet. You say, Lon, so what?

Say, I don't really know if Lot stayed up all night or if he didn't really stay up all night, but what difference does that make to me in my world today? You know, I don't see any connection here. Well, let's talk about it. You know, the Bible actually mentions the phrase, the fear of God, nearly a hundred times. And a lot of commentators have tried to soften that phrase and they've redefined it and called it the reverential awe of God, because their opinion is, hey, our God is a loving God and therefore we should not, He doesn't want us to be afraid of Him.

Well, friends, even though they've tried to redefine this as the reverential awe of God, it's simply not true. The word that's translated fear in this phrase in Hebrew, in the Old Testament, and the word that's translated fear in this phrase in Greek, in the New Testament, they both mean the same thing. It means to be afraid. It means fear.

And you know what? The fear of the Lord is a healthy thing. Yes, God is a loving God, but fearing Him at the same time for His justice and His holiness and His righteousness is a healthy thing. Deuteronomy, chapter 5, verse 29. Oh, God says that there the Israelites hearts would be inclined to what? Say it. To fear me.

Why? God, why do you want them to fear you? So that they would keep my commandments.

So that it might go well with them and their children forever. God understands who we are as human beings. God understands that when we fear God, it forms an impetus for us to obey God. And when we obey God, it accomplishes the blessing of God in our life.

And that's what He says here. This is why Psalm 19, verse 9 says the fear of the Lord is pure. And why Psalm 111, verse 10 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You know, I've got to tell you, I've been walking with Jesus over 40 years now in my life. I've been a pastor for over 35 years. I'm born again. I know I'm born again. I know I'm going to heaven. I know my sins are forgiven. I know I belong to Jesus.

I know I'm a child of God. But let me tell you something. There are a number of things in life I don't do for one simple reason. And that is I am scared to death what God would do to me if I did them. And I've got to tell you, in my life, this is a healthy thing in my life. I'm so prone to self-destruction that I need to be afraid of the consequences God might lay on me because it keeps me where I belong. And it keeps me on the straight and narrow.

And you know what? The fear of God is a good thing in your life, too. Because if you're afraid what God might do to you if you do some things, you won't do them. And as a result, you'll avoid some really nasty consequences and instead get the blessing of God.

The fear of the Lord is pure. Now, let me go from preaching to meddling, can I? And say that as followers of Christ, there are many of us here today, I believe, who were not involved in any egregious sin. We're not involved in murder or adultery or embezzlement or kidnapping. But we're dabbling with sin.

We're playing with sin. You know, just a little pornography on the computer. Just a little fudging on our taxes. Just a little flirting at work. Just a little plagiarism or cheating.

Just a little stealing from the office. Just a little lying to our spouse. Just a little misuse of funds or a little bit of inappropriate sexual behavior with our boyfriend or our girlfriend. And because God hasn't judged us yet, because God hasn't dropped a boom on us yet, we have been lulled into a false sense of safety saying we can get away with this stuff. And because God's a God of love and mercy, He'll never do anything.

My friends, listen, when we act like this, we are acting like the people of Sodom acted. We're ignoring God's righteousness and ignoring God's holiness, just like they did. We're presuming on God's mercy, just like they did. We're trivializing our sin and minimizing God's outrage at our sin, just like they did. We're dismissing God's command that we be zealous about living lives of personal holiness and daily repentance, just like they did. And lastly, we are not living in the fear of God and we're pushing God's patience to the limit, just like they did. As followers of Christ, I want to issue to you and to me a stern warning today. Remember what the Word of God says. Hebrews 10, verse 30, we know Him who said the Lord will judge.

What's the next word? His people. That's us, followers of Christ. He's going to judge His people. Hebrews 10, 31, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So let us approach Him with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire. Friends, we must take God's holiness seriously. We must take God's righteousness seriously. We must take the fear of God seriously. We must take our personal holiness seriously and we must not trifle with God or the consequences even for us as followers of Christ can be and often are catastrophic. You say, but Lon, none of us are without sin.

I mean, none of us can get it right all the time and we all fall short no matter how hard we try. Oh, absolutely. And that's why God put some good news for us in the Bible about all of this. He said, Psalm 103, verse 11, for as far as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy to those who what?

Say it. Who fear Him. You say, what's that mean? It means that when we are authentically trying to live our lives in the fear of God and when we are authentically repenting from the heart, whenever we fall short, God says, I will treat those failures with mercy. I will meet those failures with mercy, abundant mercy, overruling mercy, all cleansing mercy when your heart is right in the fear of God and repentance before God. And that's how you live in. Don't worry about it when you fall short. I'll give you all the mercy you need. But that's where I want your heart.

That's the deal. So what's the bottom line for the day? The bottom line for today is that, yes, we thank God deeply from our hearts for His mercy. But, my friends, as followers of Christ, we dare not presume on it.

Personal holiness and obedience to God and Christlike behavior and godly character and cleanliness of heart and purity of motive and honesty of speech. God takes these things seriously and we have to take them seriously, too. And the way we all are, I don't know about you, I speak for me, I unravel so quickly, it's scary. I mean, I can be right where I need to be with the Lord and 20 seconds later can be totally unraveled and need to repent and get back. I mean, and it doesn't take much.

It really doesn't. I believe there's a lot of us here who are just like me. And if we don't deal with that immediately, right then, what happens is spiritual sloppiness builds into our life. And friends, the bottom line here is we have to deal with, we got to clean up that spiritual sloppiness and return to living in the true fear of God. So let me say in closing that as I was working on this message this week, man, I got to tell you, the Holy Spirit was just kind of was beat me up. And I kept saying, you know what, Lord, I need a serious examination of my heart.

I need a serious conversation with you. And my conversation was Psalm 139, like David prayed, search me, O God, and know my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me. Show me, Lord, where I've gotten sloppy. Show me where I need to repent.

Show me where I need to tighten up my game and get the fear of God back on the top rung of my life. And I believe there's a lot of us here who need that same conversation with God. And it's a good conversation. It's a good conversation because that conversation, when we're really seeking to repent before God, is dripping, dripping, oozing with the mercy of God.

So it's a good conversation. And I hope that our message today will drive you to have one of these conversations with God often, just like it drove me. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we are reminded that you once said, this is a hard saying, and who can hear it? Well, I believe our message today has been a hard saying, but I believe that a disciple can hear it because a disciple welcomes your admonishment. A disciple welcomes your correction and your rebuke. A disciple welcomes a call to repentance in his or her heart because disciples have hearts that want to be aligned with God's holiness. And disciples rejoice when the Holy Spirit exercises his convicting ministry in our heart to get us there. So, Lord, help us respond today to this message like disciples.

And we ask you to be pleased with our response today. Lord, forgive us for fraying at the edges so quickly, so easily. And help us live in the fear of God, where we repent for that not weekly or monthly, but moment by moment and day by day, and try to stay with the fear of God at the top rung of our ladder. Lord, you love us, and yet we need to fear your righteousness and holiness, and only a disciple gets that.

But that balance is pure. So accomplish it in our lives, we pray. In Jesus' name. And what do God's people say? Amen. Amen.