THE FEAR OF GOD: THE REWARDS. (Part 4)

REWARD #2 Turning from evil

The rewards of developing the fear of the Lord are emphasized throughout Scripture. Having the fear of God gives strength to turn away (truly repent) from evil.

I have people tell me all the time that they have repented of such-and-such sin, only to have them fall back into it in the matter of a short time. The problem was that they did not really repent, but confessed.

The word "confession" means to come in agreement with. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of a sin and we confess it, we are coming in agreement with the Holy Spirit that we had unconfessed sin in our lives we needed to deal with. When we confess our sins to the Father we are not telling Him something He does not know. When we confess we are coming in agreement with what He knows and has revealed to our heart.

The same is true about a spiritual truth we read from Scripture. When we confess that we are a royal priesthood, an overcomer, and a child of the King we are not confessing what originated with us. We are confessing or agreeing what the Word of God has already said about us. 

But repentance is different. To truly say we have repented means we have made an about face and headed away from the sin and to the opposite, which is what God says in His Word. Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of heart, which results in a change of behavior.

The greatest asset to true Biblical repentance is having the fear of God. The fear of God causes to hate the sin within us the way the Father hates it. One of the problems among many believers is that they have a love/hate relationship their sin. I have been in to many services when the preacher will mention a sin he does and then makes a joke about it. This si especially true when it comes to gluttony. The issue is that the sin is either nor really regarded as sin or there is no fear of God concerning it.

Proverbs 16:6 KJV  By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

Proverbs 8:13 KJV  The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Proverbs 14:16 KJV  A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.

2 Corinthians 7:1 KJV  Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.