A. How should we fear God?

What does fearing God mean?

Fearing God means to revere Him, to respect Him, and to admire Him.
It involves being loyal to God and surrendering to His will.
We must know God in order to fear Him.
We must understand who He is and what He can do in our lives.
Like Abraham, we must put our focus on God instead of on ourselves.

God must be first: Genesis 22:12

KJV ¹² And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

CEV ¹² “Don't hurt the boy or harm him in any way!” the angel said. “Now I know that you truly obey God, because you were willing to offer him your only son.”

We fear God, we respect Him, and we revere Him because of His infinite wisdom, His unbelievable power, and his amazing grace.
Fearing God involves submitting to His will and living for Him.

Fearing God in a practical way.

Moses explained that fearing God is to keep His commandments: Deuteronomy 6:2

KJV ² That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

CEV ² And if you and your descendants want to live a long time, you must always worship the Lord and obey his laws.

Solomon wrote that fearing God and thus keeping His commandments “is man’s whole duty”: Ecclesiastes 12:13

KJV ¹³ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

CEV ¹³ Everything you were taught can be put into a few words: Respect and obey God! This is what life is all about.

Read Ephesians 2:8-9

KJV ⁸ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast. CEV ⁸ You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. ⁹ It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about.

Doesn’t grace exempt us from keeping God’s commandments ?

Jesus didn’t do away with His Law, He exalted it and encouraged us to obey it: Matthew 5:17-19

KJV ¹⁷ Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. ¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. ¹⁹ Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

CEV ¹⁷ Don't suppose I came to do away with the Law and the Prophets. I did not come to do away with them, but to give them their full meaning. ¹⁸ Heaven and earth may disappear. But I promise you not even a period or comma will ever disappear from the Law. Everything written in it must happen. ¹⁹ If you reject even the least important command in the Law and teach others to do the same, you will be the least important person in the kingdom of heaven. But if you obey and teach others its commands, you will have an important place in the kingdom.

We show that we fear God (we respect Him and revere Him) by keeping His commandments, by His grace.

Fearing God every day.

Fearing God goes beyond keeping His commandments.

If we fear God, we will make Him our only Lord and we will live to serve Him: Deuteronomy 6:13

KJV ¹³ Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

CEV ¹³ Worship and obey the Lord your God with fear and trembling, and promise that you will be loyal to him.

Matthew 6:33

KJV ³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

CEV ³³ But more than anything else, put God's work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.

Jesus will be the center of our lives.

Our eyes (our thoughts, our goals) will be fixed on Him: Hebrews 12:2

KJV ² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

CEV ² We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete. He endured the shame of being nailed to a cross, because he knew later on he would be glad he did. Now he is seated at the right side of God's throne!

It’s a matter of the will.
We must decide to remain faithful to the One we fear.

B. How can we give glory to God?

Giving glory to God is closely related to the judgment, like in Revelation 14:17

KJV ¹⁷ And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. CEV ¹⁷ Another angel with a sharp sickle then came out of the temple in heaven.

Joshua 7:19

KJV ¹⁹ And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.

CEV ¹⁹ “Achan,” Joshua said, “the Lord God of Israel has decided that you are guilty. So tell me what you did, and don't try to hide anything.”

Jeremiah 13:16

KJV ¹⁶ Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.

CEV ¹⁶ You hope for light, but God is sending darkness. Evening shadows already deepen in the hills. So return to God and confess your sins to him before you trip and fall.

Malachi 2:2

KJV ² If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

CEV ² You had better take seriously the need to honor my name. Otherwise, when you give a blessing, I will turn it into a curse. In fact, I have already done this, because you haven't taken to heart your duties as priests.

Acts 12:23

KJV ²³ And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

CEV ²³ At once an angel from the Lord struck him down because he took the honor that belonged to God. Later, Herod was eaten by worms and died.

Giving glory to God is also an expression of repentance and abandoning sin:

Ezra 10:11

KJV ¹¹ Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.

CEV ¹¹ Now you must confess your sins to the Lord God of your ancestors and obey him. Divorce your foreign wives and don't have anything to do with the rest of the foreigners who live around here.

Revelation 16:9

KJV ⁹ And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

CEV ⁹ Everyone was scorched by its great heat, and all of them cursed the name of God who had power over these terrible troubles. But no one turned to God and praised him.

We give glory to God by accepting His forgiveness and by living according to His principles.

Paul encouraged us to give glory to God in everything we do: 1 Corinthians 10:31

KJV ³¹ Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. CEV ³¹ When you eat or drink or do anything else, always do it to honor God.

We respond to God’s love by giving glory to Him with our thoughts and actions.

This frees us from fearing the judgment: 1 John 4:17-19

KJV ¹⁷ Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. ¹⁹ We love him, because he first loved us. CEV ¹⁷ If we truly love others and live as Christ did in this world, we won't be worried about the day of judgment. ¹⁸ A real love for others will chase those worries away. The thought of being punished is what makes us afraid. It shows we have not really learned to love. ¹⁹ We love because God loved us first.

C. Who can fear God and give glory to Him?

Accepting the call of the first angel to “fear God and give Him glory” sanctifies us by the grace of God.

The saints keep the commandments of God and the faith (or faithfulness) of Jesus: Revelation 14:12

KJV ¹² Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. CEV ¹² God's people must learn to endure. They must also obey his commands and have faith in Jesus.

Revelation explains that the future glory will be reserved for the victors:

Revelation 2:7

KJV ⁷ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

CEV ⁷ If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will let everyone who wins the victory eat from the life-giving tree in God's wonderful garden.

Revelation 2:11

KJV ¹¹ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

CEV ¹¹ If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. Whoever wins the victory will not be hurt by the second death.

Revelation 2:17

KJV ¹⁷ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

CEV ¹⁷ If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To everyone who wins the victory, I will give some of the hidden food. I will also give each one a white stone with a new name written on it. No one will know that name except the one who is given the stone.

Revelation 2:26-28

KJV ²⁶ And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: ²⁷ And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. ²⁸ And I will give him the morning star.

CEV ²⁶ I will give power over the nations to everyone who wins the victory and keeps on obeying me until the end. ^27-28 I will give each of them the same power my Father has given me. They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash those nations to pieces like clay pots. I will also give them the morning star.

Revelation 3:5

KJV ⁵ He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

CEV ⁵ Everyone who wins the victory will wear white clothes. Their names will not be erased from the book of life, and I will tell my Father and his angels that they are my followers.

Revelation 3:12

KJV ¹² Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

CEV ¹² Everyone who wins the victory will be made into a pillar in the temple of my God, and they will stay there forever. I will write on each of them the name of my God and the name of his city. It is the new Jerusalem my God will send down from heaven. I will also write on them my own new name.

Revelation 3:21

KJV ²¹ To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

CEV ²¹ Everyone who wins the victory will sit with me on my throne, just as I won the victory and sat with my Father on his throne.

Revelation 12:11

KJV ¹¹ And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

CEV ¹¹ “Our people defeated Satan because of the blood of the Lamb and the message of God. They were willing to give up their lives.

Revelation 21:7

KJV ⁷ He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

CEV ⁷ All who win the victory will be given these blessings. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Victory over sin is not legalism.

It is victory through Jesus Christ, whose perfect life of perfect righteousness, and that alone, is what gives us the promise of eternal life.

It is faith in action.

It is transforming, life-changing, miraculous grace in the life of the believer.