Week #4 Fearing God Understanding His Glory Various Scriptures Presented Live on June 7, 2015

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1 Week #4 Fearing God Understanding His Glory Various Scriptures Presented Live on June 7, 2015 I. Introduction and review A. Last week we saw that fearing God involved recognizing both His person and His position 1. In Malachi, we heard God say that we do not fear His name a. We use it in vain b. We serve Him leftovers 2. Why is that? 3. We do not reverence who He is 4. We don t respect his position, He is the great king 5. How can we say we trust Him and love Him, but then we don t fear Him... even when we say that we do. B. I would wager that most if not all of us have a spare tire 1. Not the kind we hide under our clothes so no one can see it 2. But the kind we keep in our trunks, or under the bed of our pickup or on the back of our SUV 3. We don t think to much about these tires until all of a sudden we need them, and then we need them badly 4. We retrieve our spare when we get a flat Page 1 of 8

2 5. Then we expect them to get us where we need to go 6. They are forgotten when live travels along without a problem, but when the air goes out of our plans, we call upon that spare with urgency C. Some of us treat God in the same way as we treat our spare tire 1. When in life something goes flat 2. When the air leaks out of an important part of our existence II. 3. We call for the spare 4. But when all is repaired, we put God back in His place until we have need of Him again D. Do you treat God as a spare tire? Those who fear Him do not. 1. When the tragedy of 9/11 happened, and most of us can remember that day 2. This nation and its people felt insecure and vulnerable 3. Do you know what happened to church attendance immediately following that tragedy it spiked a. The terrorist attacks on September 11 certainly shattered the stability and comfort of American's lives, leading to a surge in church attendance and Bible sales immediately after the attacks. b. The BBC reports a 20% increase in church and synagogue attendance following 9/11 4. Then, once things got back to normal, people didn t have as much time for church anymore We fear God at the reduced level that we do, because we don t really know and understand who He is A. We don t see God for who He is, we see Him for who we want Page 2 of 8

3 Him to be 1. We tend to create a god in our image and yet keep the same name 2. Psalm 89: 5-7 a. The heavens praise Your wonders b. Who is comparable to You c. You are greatly to be feared 3. If we knew how really incomparable God is, we would give Him the reverence He deserves a. God is in a class of His own 4. What is it that His holy ones see all of the time and understand wee a. His glory b. Most of us don t know His glory B. If it is a cloudy day, does that mean that the sun is not shining as brightly as before 1. No it means that the light of the sun has been compromised by the clouds 2. God s glory is like that, it has been compromised by men who don t see it or understand it 3. On a temporary basis God has allowed this to go on 4. Consider what the angels think about this [Psa. 8] 5. When you recognize the greatness of God and His glory, He will start to remove the cloud cover for you 6. Who has seen the glory of God? a. What does glory mean? b. It means the essence of a person or being c. Their characteristics and attributes seen visibly Page 3 of 8

4 d. The manifestation of what He s like e. Consider Revelation 21:23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 7. Consider also the times when God s glory has been revealed a. Moses sees only a part of God s glory which includes God saying His name before Moses (1) Ex. 33:17-23 (2) Ex. 34:5-8; b. Isaiah appearing in the throne room of God (1) Isa. 6:1-5 (2) His glory fills the earth C. Why does a God like this, with His glory so overwhelming, not get the fear and respect He deserves 1. Because we either don t know who and what He is 2. Or we don t care 3. Consider the situation with Pharaoh a. Ex. 5:1-2 b. When you don t know who He is, you don t fear Him D. How can any one who has a functioning brains not have some idea of the glory of God 1. The heavens declare the glory of God [Psa. 19:1] a. Any fool can look outside and see that no one he knows could have made that b. And yet at the same time see that someone made it c. Consider Psalm 53:1 The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God,".... Page 4 of 8

5 d. Consider the number of stars in heaven (1) Isaiah 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high And see III. who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing. (2) not only did He create each of them (3) He named them and knows their name e. Consider the cells in your body (1) over 100 billion cells make up your body (2) they all came from 2 cells joining together (3) if some of those cells go bad, that s called cancer (4) that means we have a serious flat and need our spare tire (5) we now need God, but if its fixed and we re feeling ok we don t need our spare anymore put it up til we need it again What is causing this problem among men, that they don t fear God A. Some of us from time to time exhibit courtesy fear 1. We say grace before a meal, but all the time its all about let s get this over with so that we can eat 2. We start a meeting with prayer, but are thinking let s get on with business 3. Whether it s a football game or a session of congress, it s the same 4. In other words, we just placate God 5. You can see this in Isa. 29:13 Page 5 of 8

6 6. Consider Rom. 1:20-22 a. They took God down to their level b. As a result, they have no God c. They want God not as He is but as they want Him to be B. Consider the cycles of life and judgement described in the Book of Judges 1. The people think they do not need God anymore 2. They begin doing whatever they want and not fearing their God, except only on a superficial level 3. Things then seem to always go badly for them and they are overcome by crisis 4. Finally they cry out for their God and He rescues them 5. They once again fear and obey Him 6. Until everything goes well for a while 7. And then they put the spare back in their trunk, because they no longer need it, they have plenty of air in their tires C. I am sad to report to you that America is going through the same cycle IV. Concluding thoughts: A. II Corinthians 5:11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. 1. The fear of God is designed to be a deterrent to rebellion and a catalyst to worship 2. Those who view their God as a gentle and benevolent grandfather will always treat sin superficially 3. They will worship halfheartedly and show God only Page 6 of 8

7 courtesy fear at best 4. What should we do? B. Maybe we should instead seek to get the opportunity to see God s glory, even if it is only the afterglow of it and Believer s Bible Class, & Douglas W. Brady Page 7 of 8

8 The Names of God Part Adonai - - Original Name English Primary Important Meanings Translation Scripture Adonai Lord, or Master Gen 15: The Master commands, the servant obeys. Ps. 110:1 2. The Master makes provision for the servant s obedience. Acts 2: Absolute ownership is the relationship. Acts 9:1-9 Luke 6:46 II Cor. 11:23-28 Page 8 of 8