Calvary Road Baptist Church
“FOR THE LORD MOST HIGH IS TERRIBLE”
Psalm 47.2
I hope you have your Bible with you. It’s always good to come to Church with a Bible. Please share your Bible with someone who may not have one as we turn to Psalm 47. And when you find the 47th Psalm, please stand for the reading of God’s Word.
1 O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
2 For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah
5 God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
8 God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.
9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.
My, what an excellent psalm to read and rejoice over. This is a psalm that celebrates the fact that our God reigns. This is a psalm that exults over the fact that God is King, that God sits on the throne, and that God will subdue and conquer unbelievers. This is a psalm that anticipates victory.
My text for this message is one phrase in this Psalm, the first half of verse 2:
“For the LORD most high is terrible.”
To say that God is terrible is to make an astounding statement in the day and age we live. But that’s only because our culture has so twisted and perverted the notion of what it is to be terrible that folks always think of terrible as always being bad. But understand, God is terrible ... and that’s good.
When Scripture describes God as terrible it does not mean that God is bad. It means that God is One Who is fearful. It means that God is One Who is fit to be feared.
In this day of spiritual apostasy, many who claim to be Christians will decry the notion that a Christian should fear God or that God should inspire terror in His children. But you need to understand that God is fit to be feared by His children for their good.
Two considerations for the Christian about fearing God:
First, WHY YOU, AS A CHRISTIAN, SHOULD FEAR GOD
I’ll give you only three reasons why you should fear God, who know Christ as your Savior:
First, you should fear God because of who you are. Consider Isaiah 6.1-5, the words of the prophet Isaiah:
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
Think about this. Here is an anointed prophet of God. And his life is holy and consecrated for service to God. But when he catches a glimpse of God’s glory and greatness he is terrified, and when he hears the angels crying out the holiness of God he realizes something about himself. You should fear God, as Isaiah obviously feared God, because of who you are.
Second, you should fear God because of who God is:
Isaiah 8.13:
“Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.”
This is a powerful admonition. You should fear God because of Who He is. You should fear God because it is right. Scripture declares that God is terrible in majesty. In other words, He is just so profoundly impressive that He should be feared.
Third, you should fear the LORD because your fear of the LORD is a treasure. Listen to Isaiah 33.6:
“And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.”
Did you catch that? The fear of the LORD is God’s treasure. He doesn’t fear Himself. That’s not what He considers to be a treasure. It’s when you fear Him that He considers it a treasure.
So, here are three reasons why you should fear God. First, because of who you are. And who are you? You are nothing compared to God. Second, because of Who God is. God is everything compared to you. And third, because fearing God is something valuable, something treasured by God, something important.
HERE’S ANOTHER CONSIDERATION ABOUT CHRISTIANS FEARING GOD. THERE ARE BENEFITS DERIVED FROM FEARING GOD.
What are these benefits that a Christian derives from fearing God? Let me quickly review only five of the benefits from the negative side of the coin.
First, if there is no fear of God, there is no wisdom:
Job 28.28:
“Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.”
It is wise to fear the Lord.
Proverbs 9.10:
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”
Without the fear of the LORD, you have no wisdom since the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.
First Peter 3.2:
“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.”
I wonder if many women fail to influence their unsaved husbands because, since they have no fear of God, they do not have the wisdom necessary to deal with them appropriately.
Second, if there is no fear, there is no knowledge:
Proverbs 1.7:
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.”
And doesn’t this make sense? A person who doesn’t know enough to fear God is an individual who doesn’t know much.
Psalm 25.14:
“The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him.”
There are things God will reveal to a person who fears Him that He will reveal to no one else.
Romans 3.18:
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
This is the great indictment of God against the unsaved. They do not fear Him, and He holds it against them.
No fear, no wisdom, no fear, no knowledge, and third, no fear, no clean: Psalm 19.9 declares that “The fear of the LORD is clean.” That is, it is pure and holy and undefiled to fear God. But that’s not all. Look up the number of times the Bible reads something like “that feareth God and eschewth evil.” One way fearing God is clean is by provoking the child of God to avoid sin. Contrariwise, if you do not fear God, you will not fear sinning against Him. Proverbs 14.16 is only one of the numerous verses that confirms this truth:
“A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil.”
Fourth, related to the previous benefits of wisdom, if there is no fear, there is no obedience: Some people think there is something wrong with serving and obeying God from the motive of fear. But fearing God is wise and clean and knowledgeable. King Solomon understood the connection between fearing God and obeying Him, as we see from comments Solomon made when he was dedicating the Temple in Second Chronicles 6.31:
“That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.”
It’s a truly foolish person who thinks there is a conflict between loving God and fearing God or between loving your father and fearing him simultaneously. And the same is true or should be true of your mother. It isn’t the love that produces the motive to obey, but the fear.
No fear, no wisdom. No fear, no knowledge. No fear, no clean, no avoidance of sin. No fear, no obedience. And finally, no fear, no evangelism. Where there is no fear of God, people are not being saved. Let me remind you that the lost will not fear God if the saved do not fear God, and when there is no fear of God, no one is saved. Your children are less likely to be saved if you do not fear God.
Second Corinthians 5.11:
“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”
Our knowledge of the fear of God prompts us to seek the salvation of the lost. But notice what the Word of God says about the fear of the lost of God. I read from Psalm 66.18 and Psalm 85.9.
Psalm 66.18:
“Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.”
The psalmist sought to tell those who feared God what had been done for his own soul. Could it be the psalmist knew that those who do not fear God are not properly prepared to hear what God did for his soul, that those who do not fear God are unprepared?
Psalm 85.9:
“Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him.”
Perhaps we would do well to seek to bring the lost to a healthy fear of God and then show them how they can be saved since salvation is nigh, or close to, them that fear God.
How can anyone who claims to be a Christian decry a healthy and wholesome fear of God? Simple. The so-called Christianity that is espoused these days, which denigrates and criticizes the fear of God, a fear which really is fear, is not Bible Christianity at all.
SERMON:
“The LORD most high is terrible.”
To say that God is terrible means that He is fearful and fit to be feared. I have mentioned why God should be feared and the benefits of fearing God during my exposition to the saved. Let no one be mistaken, however, who thinks that only those who have come to Christ ought to fear God, for that would be in error.
I direct you to Jeremiah 5.21-22:
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence?
Foolish people, without understanding, who are blind and do not hear, are people who are lost. And God says to such,
“Fear ye not me? Will ye not tremble at my presence?”
Let me share with you four reasons why you should fear God and tremble before Him:
First, BECAUSE YOUR NATURAL LIFE SPAN WILL BE SHORTER IF YOU DO NOT FEAR GOD
Ecclesiastes 8.12-13:
12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
Ephesians 6.1-3:
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
Just a few comments here before we move on. Yes, there is the occasional wicked man who lives to be very, very old. Yes, some do not fear God and live for many, many years. There was George Burns, who lived to a ripe old age, and Jack Benny, Bob Hope, and John D. Rockefeller. But those men are exceptions. The man who lives to a great age but who does not fear God lives days that are described as just shadows because they mean nothing and will all too quickly pass, leaving him to face at the Judgment Seat the God he has refused to fear.
As for the person who fears God (and the fear of God is a proper motivation to honor one’s parents since the one who does not honor his parents does not fear God). The one who fears God is promised a longer life than it might ordinarily be.
So, you should fear God because God controls the duration of your natural span of life. You should fear God because it is God’s pleasure to either grant you or deny your next breath or the next beat of your heart. And because you do not fear God, your life will be shorter.
Second, YOU SHOULD FEAR GOD AND TREMBLE BEFORE HIM BECAUSE EVEN FEARSOME MEN KNOW TO FEAR GOD
Here is a portion of Acts chapter 10:
“There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God.”
You may not know anything about Roman centurions from your own reading or investigation. It could be that your entire mental impression of a Roman centurion comes from some old movie starring Victor Mature or Charlton Heston or Stephen Boyd. But there are some things about Roman centurions that we in our society do not relate to very well because there is no counterpart in our society to a Roman centurion. Though not physically imposing, since most Romans as a rule were from four to six inches shorter on average than we are, the centurion was, nevertheless, a commissioned officer in the Imperial Roman army in charge of one hundred of the most brutal and efficient killers the world to that time had ever seen. Those men were the building blocks on which the empire the world has come to know as Rome was built.
Roman centurions were typically not men who majored in compassion and sensitivity. They were not community policing specialists. Neither were they anything like an effeminate sissy or an effete snob. They were capable men who led fearsome soldiers. They were men who wielded imperial authority, who routinely made life and death decisions. They were men who built an empire.
Yet we find, first in Matthew chapter 8, then here in Acts chapter 10, and in other portions of Scripture and Church history, that Roman centurions were God-fearing men. Roman centurions who, as personally powerful and unopposed in the routines of everyday life as they were, found cause and occasion to fear the one true and living God.
So, if you do not fear God, it will not be because you are too manly. It will not be because you are too powerful, too fearsome, or too strong. If you do not fear God, it will only be because you are too foolish, or too blind, or too deaf, ... or too stupid.
Third, YOU SHOULD FEAR GOD BECAUSE OF THE EXPECTATION OF GOD’S JUDGMENT AND FIERY INDIGNATION
Hebrews 10.26-27:
26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
That passage was written to converted people.
This comes right after that verse that warns Christians not to be like those who don’t go to Church. The point of this passage is that those who continually sin when they know better, yet who refuse to do right, have no more sacrifice for sins,
“But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.”
Your iniquity has separated between you and your God. Your stubbornness fuels his anger against you for your rebellion to a greater intensity, and all you have to look forward to in this life, should you not be saved, is the judgment and fiery indignation of God.
How very depressing is the thought of going through life with a certain fear of judgment and fiery indignation. But, of course, a person will try his best to suppress such feelings because who wants to think about God’s impending judgment all the time? After all, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” And who wants to continually think about falling into the hands of the living God? This will necessitate that such a person not think of God, and not give any credence to spiritual matters. This will result in not only him but his wife and kids, and almost certainly, his grandchildren will go to Hell with him since he will be an obstacle to their involvement in Church and will oppose any exposure to the Gospel that might result in his own conscience being pricked.
Finally, YOU SHOULD FEAR GOD BECAUSE IT IS GOD WHO WILL SOMEDAY CAST YOUR SOUL INTO HELLFIRE
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
That’s what the Lord Jesus Christ directs people to do in Matthew 10.28. And His directive would be well for everyone to follow.
I say this because Hell is the destiny of every man and woman who does not fear God, who does not fear God enough to turn from sins and turn to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and salvation. After all, there are only two possible destinies for every immortal soul, and your soul’s destiny will not be altered or changed in any way after you die and go to where you are going to go.
My friend, “The LORD most high is terrible.” He is fearful, and He is most fit to be feared. Yet you do not fear Him. Why not?
You do not fear God because the fear of God is a grace, a sweet and blessed work of the Holy Spirit of God in the lives of the elect who know Christ or will come to know Christ. This is why the writer of Hebrews says,
“Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”
As well, this fear of God, being, as I mentioned before, “God’s treasure,” is a choice jewel and a rarity of heaven. And just as “All men have not faith” (Second Thessalonians 3.2), so all men have not the fear of God, which is more precious than gold.
When poor vagrants come straggling to some rich man’s house, they may perhaps obtain a few scraps and fragments to eat. They may also receive old shoes and old clothes to wear. But they get none of the rich man’s jewels. They are not allowed to touch his choicest treasure. You see, the choicest treasure is kept for his children and those who will be his heirs. So it is with the fear of the LORD.
I do pray that God will grant you this grace of fear. I desire that this grace of fear will soften your heart and will make you stand in awe of both the mercy and the judgment of God.
I do hope that you will, as David said in Psalm 4.4, “Stand in awe, and sin not,” because “the LORD most high is terrible.”
Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.
Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church