John Bevere - Fearing God vs. Scared of God
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All right, welcome to session three of Driven by Eternity. Now, that last session was really tough, wasn’t it? But here’s the thing: I would rather have a healthy fear and understanding to avoid trouble. I mean, if somebody’s walking toward a cliff, are you just going to try to teach them away from it? I mean, literally, if they have a blindfold on, are you going to say, «It’s a little prettier over here; if you just come over…»? No! You’re going to say, «Stop!» and you’re going to say it with urgency and passion. The Bible makes it clear in Acts 4:12: «There is salvation in no one else. God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.» I love that we must be saved! Can you say Amen to that?
Here’s the deal: you hear it constantly—"How can a loving God send people to hell? How could God do this?» Because they may never hear about Jesus. Let me read this to you: «For ever since the world was created, through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.» How about that? There is no excuse!
As I said in the last session, I’m literally meeting people in the nations of Malaysia and the Middle East who have been crying out to God, and Jesus literally appeared to them. There’s a church I preach at in Indonesia with 140,000 members; over 70,000 of those members are converted Muslims. When I was there, the administrator of the church told me, «I was a devout Muslim. I went to the mosque every Friday.» He was a wealthy man and said, «I was in the interior room of my house—there were no windows because the house was so big. This room had no way in or out except for my office door.» He said, «I was working, and I looked down, and all of a sudden, I knew someone was there. I slowly looked up, and there was a man in a purple robe who opened his hands and said, 'Behold my hands, I’m Jesus, ' and he disappeared right in front of me!» He said he started searching, and then he got saved. Now, he’s the administrator of this great church.
But anyway, there’s no excuse because if anyone says, «Truly, I want to know who God is,» God will reveal Jesus to them. Can you say Amen? But I want to address a specific group today: the deceived—the people who think they’re going to heaven but end up not going. In the late 1980s, I had a very disturbing vision. There are different visions the Bible talks аbout: an open vision where you literally see it as if you’re there, and then there are spiritual visions. I saw a vast sea of people, so large that you couldn’t see the end of it. They had come to the gates of heaven; behind me was the gate, and between me and the gate was Jesus. Every one of these people called him «Lord.» Every one of them was expecting him to say, «Enter into the Kingdom of God.» Instead, I heard the words, «Depart from me; I don’t know you.»
What God let me experience in that vision was the horror, the agony on their faces, the shock beyond belief at hearing those words. God put a passion in my heart, not just for the lost on the street but for the lost in the church. I want to show you some words out of the mouth of Jesus. He says this: «Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord, ' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.»
Now, I want to point something out. First of all, these people call him «Lord,» and notice he says «Lord» twice. Whenever a word is repeated in Scripture, it places emphasis on it. Like when Jesus says, «Verily, verily, I say unto you,» it’s said with passion. Not only does it communicate emphasis; it communicates emotion. If you look at 2 Samuel 19:4, David the king cried out with a loud voice, «Oh, my son Absalom, my son, my son!» It’s written twice because, not only is there emphasis, there’s great emotion.
If we keep reading, he says, «When the Judgment Day comes, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord! '» See that emotion again? They’ll say, «In your name, we spoke God’s messages.» They are emotionally invested; they believe in the teachings of the gospel, and they give voice to it: «We spoke God’s messages by your name; we drove out many demons and performed many miracles.» So they’re involved in ministry.
Let’s review this: They believe in the gospel, they are emotionally invested, they are speaking God’s messages, and they are at work in the ministry—yet they will hear, «Depart from me.» After all, having these four things does not make a person a Christian. Now, I will certainly say this: you can’t be a Christian without these four things, but just having these four things doesn’t make you a believer. If we keep going, I will declare to them, «I never knew you.» The Greek word for «knew» is «ginosko,» which means «I never intimately knew you.» «Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.»
Remember, he said, «Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord, ' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father.» They practiced—now here’s the key word—practice lawlessness. «Lawlessness» comes from the Greek word «anomia,» which means «not being submitted to the authority of God.» The key is that we’re not talking about a person who falls into sin and goes, «God, I’m so sorry.» I mean, Jesus said, «If your brother sins against you seventy times seven in a day and truly repents, forgive him.» You’re supposed to forgive like your heavenly Father. If you were to sin—if you could do it seventy times seven in a day and truly repent—what does repent mean? You are so deeply sorry for hurting his heart that you’re forgiven.
We’re not talking about those people; we’re talking about people who say, «Hey man, it’s all right; everybody’s got needs. You know, I’ve got my ways; I’m saved by grace; it’s okay.» Wow! You’re in dangerous territory when you talk like that. I don’t want anyone watching to be one of those people I saw in that vision. I don’t want it! You know what Paul said? He said, «I am innocent of the blood of all men because I did not shun to declare to you the entire counsel of God.» I read that scripture at a pastor’s conference, and a pastor walked up to me, irate, saying, «How dare you put that Old Testament stuff on us?» I said, «Really? Would you open your Bible to Acts 20?» He did, and I said, «Would you read what Paul said? Paul said, 'I am innocent of the blood of all men because I did not shun to declare the entire counsel of God.'»
Here’s what we’re doing today: We’re finding the scriptures we love—the ones that make us feel good—the ones that tell us, «Hey, God loves me.» Yes, he loves us—he loves us so deeply and dearly that he died for us—but it’s the whole counsel of God. This is the love of God: that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. These people obviously practiced lawlessness; they weren’t keeping the commandments; they practiced it in a habitual pattern, going, «It’s okay; grace covers me; I’m good.»
Do you know what one very famous minister said? He said, «The sinner’s prayer has caused more people to go to hell than all the bars in America.» Why? Because it takes away the fear of the Lord out of their lives. «I prayed the formula; I’m in!» Folks, we are living in very dangerous times, and we’ve invented a Jesus—Paul called him a «fictitious Jesus"—that basically allows people to live in their sin, live in the world, just like the world, no different than the world, not be a set-apart people, and take comfort in heaven. It’s an unscriptural mercy, and I want to expose that.
That’s why I’m talking about this today. If you look at what Paul said to Timothy, he said, «You should know this, Timothy: that in the last days there will be very difficult times.» Come on, Paul, what do you mean? He’s talking about our day, and he says there will be very difficult times. How could our times be more difficult for him? If you read, he was beaten with rods—three times—beaten with rods. You know why they beat people with rods? To bruise their bones.
Anyone ever bruised a bone? I remember playing ice hockey; I fell on my stick one time and bruised my ribs. I went to preach like that for the next six weeks, asking, «When’s this going to end?» They said, «Well, you bruise your bone; it takes about six to eight weeks.» But they beat people with rods so they’d be in that kind of pain for weeks. Paul was whipped with thirty-nine stripes—five different occasions—and he was stoned! And he tells me our day is going to be difficult? Then he tells why it’s going to be difficult. He says, «People will still love themselves; they’ll love money; they’ll be unthankful; they’ll be unholy; they’ll be unforgiving.»
He goes on to say this about these people: they will act religious but will reject the power of God’s grace that could make them godly. Wow! So, in other words, they say, «Hey, grace covers me.» Listen carefully: grace not only frees us from the penalty of sin; it frees us from the enslavement of sin. So that’s the thing: we’ve got to proclaim that so people can know, because you can’t have grace unless you believe, and you can’t believe what you don’t know. If people don’t know that grace empowers us to live godly—that it is God’s power that gives us the ability to live godly—how can they live godly? We’re doing them a disservice!
Look at verse eight. Paul says they have depraved minds and counterfeit faith. Notice that they have faith, but it’s counterfeit. But evil people and impostors—now who are these impostors? The impostors I’m talking about are living under an assumed character. They will flourish—notice they will flourish; they’ll have large crowds; they’ll go from meeting to meeting. Paul says they’ll ever be learning but will not be able to come to the knowledge of the truth. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived. These are the people who are going to expect Jesus to say, «Enter in,» but they’ll hear, «Depart.»
I don’t want anyone among that number! Can you say Amen? This is why Jesus says you can truly identify people by their actions. I remember when my kids were in grade school, going to Christian schools. I said, «Hey, you know how you know if one of your classmates is a Christian? Not by what they say, but by how they live.» You’ll know them by their actions. Can you say Amen to that?
This is why Jesus goes on to say there’s a foundation. When he talks about this in Matthew chapter 7, he said, «There’s a foundation.» And here’s the foundation: «Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.» You see the rock is his foundation. «But everyone who hears…"—so both hear the words of Jesus—"but everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them"—so the only difference between these two people is one does them, and one does not—will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
When storms hit a house built on sand, I don’t care how beautiful it is; it’s going to fall. That’s why we need a healthy foundation in our lives. Can you say Amen to that? So what is that foundation? Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 33:6: «He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge. The fear of the Lord!» Everybody say, «The fear of the Lord!» «The fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.»
What we are told here by the prophet Isaiah is that the foundation for our life should be the reverential fear of the Lord. Let me affirm this by looking at what Jesus preaches: «These words are red.» Jesus says, «The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all.» Now he’s talking about Judgment Day. What are all those things that are covered up—thought intentions, motives, actions—that you think others haven’t seen? It’s covered up, but it’s going to be revealed. All that’s secret—intentions, motives, thoughts—will be made known to all.
«Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and whatever you have whispered from behind closed doors will be shouted from the rooftops for all to hear.» That’s at the judgment. So you know what his next statement is? «Dear friends"—the very next statement—is this next verse: «Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body. They can’t do any more to you after that. But I’ll tell you whom you should fear: fear God!»
Look at these words out of Jesus' mouth: «Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he is the one to fear!» So what Jesus is saying is the fear of God keeps us from believing the lie that we can hide something from God. Let me tell you, you can take—like you take a thermometer and get the temperature of your body—you can take a thermometer of how much fear of God you have!
How much do you think you can hide from God? «I don’t think I can hide anything from God.» Well then, why are you living and thinking like that? Why are your motives like that? Why are you trying to hurt that person? You say, «Oh, I know it’s really true, but I need to tell you what happened,» when you know the only good it’s going to do is bring damage to that person? You’ve gotten to a place where you think God doesn’t even see your motives.
Listen to what the leaders of Israel said: «Then the Lord said to me, 'Ezekiel 8:12, Son of man, have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing? They are saying, „The Lord doesn’t see us."' You can literally get to a place where you think you can hide things from God because you reduce him down to a level. The fear of God keeps him elevated, as he should be worshipped—he is God!
I mean, Isaiah is a godly man. He preaches, «Woe to those that call evil good and good evil; woe to those who are drunkards; woe to those who are proud» in Isaiah chapter 5. But then in Isaiah 6, he has one glimpse of the Lord, and he’s not saying, «Woe to the drunkard.» He goes, «Woe is me!» For the first time in his life, he realizes who it is he’s really serving. For the first time, he realizes who he is before this holy God.
This is the deal: the fear of God is healthy because it keeps you aware that God is with you, that he is God, that he is pure and he is holy. Thank you, God, for giving us the ability to live that way and think like that because of your grace! I want grace. I am a grace junkie! Write it down, broadcast it: John B is a grace junkie! I want all the grace of God I can get because I know I can’t live godly without it!
I don’t want the grace covering my outward actions; I know it begins here. I have to have right motives, right thoughts, right intentions, and that will produce right actions outwardly. Can you say Amen to that? I’m preaching right now! You cannot separate the fear of God from judgment. You just can’t!
Having a healthy understanding of judgment—the Judgment Seat of Christ, the Great White Throne Judgment, Judgment Day—yes, keeps the fear of God in our lives. Look what Paul says: «For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.»
Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord… isn’t that interesting? Paul says, «Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.» What is the fear of the Lord? Can I say this? I don’t believe the fear of the Lord is to be scared of God. How can we have intimacy with God? How can he be our daddy if we’re terrified of him?
If you remember, when Moses delivered Israel out of Egypt, he brought them to the mountain. When God came down, they had the same kind of response that Isaiah did, except Isaiah’s was godly because he got cleansed. Theirs was ungodly; they ran from God. Moses was so disappointed. He thought, «Man, God delivered you; he brought you out; he wants to introduce himself; he’s your Daddy! The whole reason I brought you out of Egypt was to bring you to myself, and now you’re running?»
Moses looks at them and says, «Hey, do not fear,» because «God’s come to test you so that his fear may be before you, that you may not sin.» Isn’t this interesting? «Do not fear» because «God’s come to test you.» And what’s the test? To see if his fear is in you. Now, that sounds like a contradiction, but it’s not.
What Moses is doing is differentiating between being scared of God and the fear of the Lord. What’s the difference? The person who is scared of God is someone who hides. Why does Adam run from the presence of God in the garden when he disobeys him? Because he’s scared!
The person who fears God has nothing to hide. They’re scared to be away from God! So if you want the first definition of the fear of God, it is to be terrified to be away from him. The person that fears God doesn’t say, «How close can I get to this sin without falling in?» The person that fears God says, «I want to stay so far away from that; I don’t even want to see it!» Because they want to be close to him; they’re experiencing intimacy with him.
Do you see what I’m saying? The fear of the Lord means that we honor, esteem, value, respect, and revere him above everything and anyone else. It means we love what he loves and we hate what he hates.
Okay, so let me show you something. One day, I was in prayer; this was back in the late '80s. You know, I prayed two hours every day: I got up at five and prayed till seven every day! I was praying, right? And yet I preached, and it was like, boing, boing, boing, boing! My preaching had no power. I said, «God, why isn’t there a stronger anointing in my life?» You know what the Lord said to me? «Because you tolerate sin—not only in your life but in the lives of others.»
He said, «Read what I said to Jesus when I inaugurated him as the Lord and King of the church.» Wow! He said, «Because you have loved righteousness…"—this is the Father speaking to Jesus—"and hated sin; therefore God, even your God, has anointed you above your fellows.» He said, «You want a stronger anointing in your life? Learn to hate sin the way I hate sin, and you’ll see a stronger anointing in your life.» Man, that changed my life forever!
This is why John the Baptist preached with authority; this is why Jesus didn’t preach like others; he preached with authority because they had a holy hatred of sin. If you look at Jesus, Isaiah said he shall be the stem or rod of Jesse; the Spirit of the Lord will be upon him—"The Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Might, the Spirit of Knowledge, the Spirit of Understanding, and the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord.» His delight is in the fear of the Lord.
If you look at Hebrews chapter 5, it says he (Jesus) was heard because of his godly fear. There are people praying, but are they heard? That’s what we’ve got to know: it takes godly fear to be heard. Do you understand what I’m saying? Are you tracking with me?
The fear of the Lord means if you really want to break it down, it means we love to obey. We tremble at his word; we’re passionate to obey! It means we’ll obey him even if we don’t understand. We’ll obey him even if it doesn’t make sense. We’ll obey him even if it hurts. We’ll obey him even if we don’t see a benefit. We’ll obey him to completion. That’s the fear of the Lord.
The manifestation of the fear of the Lord, therefore, is obedience to his Word. Can I show you something that Paul said to the Philippian church? This is amazing! This is the Apostle Paul writing this, but I want you to remember the scripture is no private interpretation. This is really God because all scripture is inspired by God. This is God speaking to us.
I want you to hear these words like God speaking to you. «Therefore, my beloved"—notice he calls you his beloved—"as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.» Fear and trembling cause you to obey God when you can’t see him, right? When you can’t feel his presence, you know how people will obey God when they feel his presence, but then when his presence isn’t around, they start acting like the world?
They have no fear of God because the fear of God keeps you obedient. It keeps you pressing in toward him—even when his presence isn’t around—when you’re in a desert, when you’re in a wilderness. The fear of the Lord is so important. It’s the very foundation of the Judgment Seat. If you have a very strong fear of the Lord, you’ll fare well at the Judgment Seat.
So what we’ve learned from session one and this session is this: it takes the two power twins—the fear of the Lord and the love of God—to give us confidence at that Judgment Seat. You can never separate the two! Because if you don’t fear God, then you really don’t know God. You’re loving somebody; you’ve just made an image of a lot of people, like LeBron James. But I bet if they met him, he might be different in person than he is on TV. I’m sure!
So you can make a Jesus who’s really different than the Jesus on the throne if you don’t fear him. Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowing him intimately! How can you love someone you don’t know intimately? You’re loving the image of somebody, not really HIM.
So it takes the love of God and the fear of God to give us the confidence we need at the Judgment Seat of Christ. I don’t know about you, but when the Lord put it in my heart to redo this, I said, «God, thank you so much!» Because I remember how this book impacted me when I wrote it. No book has ever impacted me like this. When I started going through all the preparation and all of the rereading and re-editing of the book, because we added a lot to it—we took some stuff out—it did so much good for me! Amen!
The fear of the Lord is safe, so keep it! Cry out to God; ask for it! How do you get the fear of the Lord? The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord! Jesus said, «Ask your Father and he will give you the Holy Spirit.» Ask him for the Holy Spirit of the fear of the Lord! Amen! Amen! God bless you! See you next time, session!
All right! The fear of the Lord is our foundation, and that foundation, according to Jesus, keeps us on track so we’ll have confidence on the Day of Judgment because we will have obeyed his words. You know, in my personal journey, I remember when I first really found out about the fear of the Lord. I was reading about it in the New Testament one night; I preached it in the service. The pastor got up and corrected me for fifteen minutes!
The next night, I was devastated. It was a big church, and I thought I had hurt the church. I went out the next day, cried out to God—literally screamed, «God, I’m so sorry for hurting your church!"—but yet I felt the pleasure of God, not the anger of God. And so I found myself crying out for God to fill me with the fear of the Lord. I later discovered it is one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus says, «Ask your Father for the Spirit,» the Holy Spirit, he’ll give you the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. I cried out that day, and my life was changed.
Now I’ve seen things through a totally different perspective, having the reverential fear of the Lord in my life. Do you know that church doesn’t even exist anymore today? Let me tell you something: the fear of the Lord endures forever; it’s clean! So I want to encourage you as your action step this week: read the scriptures in the New Testament about the fear of the Lord, go to Isaiah 11, and see how Jesus delighted in it. Then cry out for God to put his Holy Spirit of the fear of the Lord in your life!