Fear of the Lord--Unbelievers VS Believers

                                                             

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

Fear the Lord and depart from evil.

It will be health to your flesh,

And strength to your bones.

Do not envy the oppressor,

And choose none of his ways;

For the perverse person (A person who practices perversion)

is an abomination to the Lord,

But His secret counsel is with the upright.

The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked,

But He blesses the home of the just.

Surely He scorns the scornful,

But gives grace to the humble.

The wise shall inherit glory,

But shame shall be the legacy of fools. (Proverbs 3:7-8;32-35)

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,

Some to everlasting life,

Some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,                                             

But fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.                                             

But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt. 10-28)

NOTE: For the unbeliever, the fear of God is the fear of the judgment of God and eternal death, which is eternal separation from God (Luke 12:5; Hebrews 10:31; 2 Thess:1:7-10).

The believer’s fear is reverence of God. Hebrews 12:28-29 is a good description of this: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ’God is a consuming fire.’” This reverence and awe are exactly what the fear of God means for Christians. This is the motivating factor for us to surrender to the Creator of the Universe.(Got Answers: Fear of God)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths. (Provebrs 3:5-6)

Heb. 12 also explains that God does chasten (discipline or punish) His own children....

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,

Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;

For whom the Lord loves He chastens,

And scourges every son whom He receives.”

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?  For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.  Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:5-11)

For God wants His chosen people " to be Holy, because He is Holy." (1 Peter 1:13-16)

For you were washed,  you were sanctified (set apart), but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor 6:9-11)

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)

NOTE: God's foreknowledge is much more than foresight. God does not know future events and human actions because he foresees them: He knows them because He wills them to happen. (Job 14:5;Ps. 139:15-16) Thus God's foreknowledge is an act of His will. (Is. 41:4; Rev. 1:8; 17; 21:6) In Romans 8:29 and 11:2, the Apostle Paul's use of the word "foreknew" means "chose" or "to set special affection on." The electing love of God, not foresight of human action, is the basis of His predestination  and salvation. (Romans 8:29-30,33) (Nelsons Bible Dictionary page 461)     

See verses Jeremiah 1:5; 1 Peter 1:1-2; Acts 2:22-23; 1 Peter 1:20; Romans 9:11-13; Romans 11:2;  Mark 8:31; John 6:44;:65; Eph. 1:4-5.                                                                                                           

Knowing The Terror Of The Lord We Persuade Others

                                                

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,  nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 

But as many as received Him, 

if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

for to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate,  for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,  for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,

For you who were born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 

But as for those who DO NOT believe God: That He so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son....That whosoever shall believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate (debased) mind, to do those things which are not fitting;  being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,  backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;

                                                         

 

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.  Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due,  who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death,

 Their actions bear witness against them.

And they display their sin like Sodom;

They do not even conceal it.

Woe to them!

For they have brought evil on themselves.....

if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked  (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);  then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,                                                     

as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh,  (Genesis 19:4-11)  are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

And as it is appointed for people to die once, but after this the judgment,

                                                  

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

We appeal to you then,  not to receive the grace of God in vain.  For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you,

    and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.  Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,  in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,  when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

(Scripture quoted: 1 Cor 6:9-11; John 1:13; Romans 10:9; Eph. 2:8-9;  Romans 6:1-2; 1 Tim. 1:8-12; Romans 1:18-32; Isaiah 3:9;  2 Peter 2:6-9; Jude 7;  Heb. 9:27;  2 Cor 5:10; 2 Cor 6: 1-2; Acts 3:19-21; 2 Thess 1:7-10)