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experience, forgiveness, God's love, grace, Jesus Christ, joy, justification, peace, repentance, righteousness by faith, sin, sinner, suffering, the fear of God, The Fear of the Lord, the new self, the old self, true faith
The following is an excerpt of a (not published) book I wrote about seven years ago. I just translated a text of my journal which should clarify that the experience of the fear of God and being justified by Him usually go hand in hand.
To separate awe from God from an everyday, natural fear is not easy. For it is real fear as other languages also make clear:
Gottesfurcht (German)
crainte de Dieu (French)
timore di Dio (Italian)
temor de Dios (Spanish)
The fear of God is, above all, the fear of displeasing God by transgressing His commandments. I believe a further difference compared with other fears is that our natural anxieties cause narrowness inside our mind and make us think of running away from a frightening situation. “Cut and run!” the thief might think when suddenly confronted with the policeman. He, too, is, or at least should be frightened when he must face governmental authority. Nevertheless, it might happen that the thief, instead, goes over to attacking the authority figure when he realizes that his getaway route has been cut off.
However, confronted with Divine Authority, the authority of the living God, no man will ever be able to flee or even try to attack God. Every creature is frightened when it is unexpectedly confronted with its Creator. This fear is of supernatural origin. If we suddenly find ourselves in God’s powerful Divine Presence and, like the thief, we hide something before Him, it will truly be a terrible moment for our soul. Regarding God’s judgment of the sinner there are a few unmistakable passages in the New Testament.
For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge. I will pay them back.” He also said, “The Lord will judge his own people.” It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb 10:30-31 NLT)
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (1 Pt 4:17-18 ESV)
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. (2 Cor 5:11a KJV)
There is a vast difference between the intensity of the fear of God and our “ordinary” fears. I have known panic attacks, the fear of other people or of wild animals, and I also know the fear of death. The fear of God differs from all these fears although the fear of death might come close to the fear of the Lord when we are not yet used to ‘endure’ His holy presence. The fear of HIM who rules the universe seizes our whole person (body, soul, and spirit), hurls us around like a water-soaken towel, and finally razes us fully to the ground. Suffering this kind of humiliation by God (aka mortification) is necessary to awake our sleepy spirits since no human being realizes that he is the worst sinner of all until God shows him the truth. When we eventually know that our old nature which was so important to us is worth nothing but to be destroyed, then at last the grace of God comes into play. For if we, after all this horror, now lay before God’s eyes like an open book with all its misprints, dirty spots, and dog ears, we receive God’s forgiveness and grace so that we become less and less afraid of the fear of God over time. Instead, as we get slowly used to the fear of the Lord, we will detect His loving kindness behind all His dealings with us. For it is part of God’s nature to be devoted to the repentant sinner who no longer trusts in himself. Here is a parable Jesus shared with us, a story which shows the effect of the fear of God on man.
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lk 18:9-14 ESV)
At first it is VERY unpleasant to be humbled by God, but as soon as we stand before him as “poor sinners”, He always pulls us back into His loving, compassionate presence again. Resting in God’s presence is always accompanied by inner peace and incomprehensible joy over God’s grace, combined with the awareness that the sins committed have been forgiven once and for all. The Bible calls the latter experience justification by faith (cf. Rom 5:1). Even Habakkuk, a prophet of the Old Testament, already referred to this inner, spiritual life, which solely springs from our God-given faith. He said,
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.” (Hab 2:4 ESV)
Since Jesus Christ’s days on the earth it is no longer a question of any righteousness based on our own “good” works, but exclusively about the righteousness which Jesus Christ obtained for all men because of living a sinless life on our behalf. Apostle Paul explains righteousness of faith in his letters to the Philippians and to the Romans.
“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.” (Phil 3:8-9 NLT)
“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Rom 3:22-24 NLT)
This righteousness before God can never be “worked out” by any human being. We can merely bow our heads and thank God for this great gift of grace He has given us, undeservedly, in and through His Beloved Son Jesus Christ.
Kenneth Dawson Dawson said:
You got it right Sue.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Thanks, Ken.
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Michael said:
Susanne, as I read your new blog from your book, one sentence you wrote just lit up and went into my heart,
Because I was raised in and have lived in Christian religions or around religious people most of my 72 years, there has always been a teacher, priest, nun, pastor, or some goody-goody-two-shoes person who was ready and willing to point out my sins and condemn me for them. Living under man-made guilt has been “a way of life” (really DEATH) for me. There was a time, for a couple of years that I thought I was righteous and “on top of my game” and God let my self-righteous world cave in on me. I have lived on both sides of Luke 18:9-14, the Pharisee and the tax collector. As it was with Moses killing the Egyptian task master out of his “righteous indignation,” that was the beginning of my time in His school of the wilderness. David said, “My sin is ever before me.” It seems that God would rather have me praying as did the tax collector, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” than judging others from the viewpoint of my own lofty “sinless perfection.” But there is something much greater than this…
There is this thing called “faith.” The just shall live by faith, not self-justification. Our faith must be in the accomplished work of Jesus Christ for us and nothing else. As soon as Satan accuses us (most often through others) and he gets us to look at our own lives, or our sins or even the sins of others, then he has got us trapped under his heel. To live by faith is to live with our eyes fixed on Jesus and what He has done for us, not on our own short-comings or accomplishments. “The letter of the law kills, but the Spirit gives us life.” The law in whatever form forces us to focus on who we are under the law, but to cast our hearts and faith upon Jesus Christ in all things and live by grace in His Spirit, that is LIFE.
Thank you, dear sister, for listening to the Spirit and sharing this great truth… life in Christ through faith. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You are very welcome as to my listening to the Spirit’s guidance, Michael. Actually, I really wondered why God reminded me of that ‘old’ stuff again instead of giving me some fresh insights instead.
Sometimes we might have a hard time to discern whether what we try to do is discerning the spirits, judging a situation, or even condemning a person. To put the cart before the horse, condemnation is something that can only be found outside of Christ in New Covenantal times as we have listened to our old carnal ways of the flesh since
It seems to me that when we walk after the Spirit, we can enjoy God’s freedom (in the Spirit) because
I was reminded of how Paul warned Timothy against false teachers as he said,
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Michael said:
Dear Susanne, you wrote, “Actually, I really wondered why God reminded me of that ‘old’ stuff again instead of giving me some fresh insights instead.” As I prayed and read your reply the words of Jesus to His disciples came to mind,
God has given us treasures both old and new for His Spirit to draw forward to our memory and for us to share as HE sees fit. We never know for sure when it is the Lord, though, until we see the fruit of our obedience. This truly is a walk of faith if we are to be His scribes. Thanks again for obeying His whisper and for the fellowship we share in the Spirit. You are His treasure.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Michael, this Scripture fits perfectly! ⭐
God can use EVERYTHING we have learned to make it alive in our spirits in His time. Before these things, not only Scripture or ‘older’ revelations He has given us before, might seem pretty dead and boring to us, right? But when He quickens these truths all of a sudden, they seem to be almost NEW to us. 🙂
Yes, as to the fruit of obedience, my brother. If you had not told me that you NEEDED to hear what I wrote, I would have truly wondered why God had nudged me to share these things at all. 🙄
You are welcome as to my sharing. Thank YOU for this spiritual fellowship we may share in His Spirit. As we both know it is not always that easy to fellowship when all is blah, dry, and empty. However, when we wait on Him, He will show up again and again. But only In His time, not when we want to make Him show up. The latter procedure would be called weekly fellowship in a church, I presume. 😉
You are a blessing, Michael! ⭐
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Pat Orr said:
Thank you Susanne, for the blog. I have just re-read the blog and read the replies. I seem to have no word of comment on, “The connection between the Fear of God and Justification.” But I appreciate what I have just read on the subject.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You are very welcome, dear Pat. ❤ Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I hope your broken hip has healed over time.
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Fred said:
I have not read this whole thing. I was looking for a post in which you had mentioned people having trouble accepting that they are forgiven for all sins. I wanted to comment on that when you had posted it a few months ago. I think the reason is the fear of the unforgivable sin. That sin scares me a lot. Any way to be relivent to this post I have read a book by John Bunyan that would agree with “The fear of God is, above all, the fear of displeasing God by transgressing His commandments.” that you posted above. I have this type of fear and it is odd that many people tell me I should not have any fear as perfect love casts out fear. I do not want to do any thing that may upset the one in whom I love which would be GOD. I do how ever have a lot of trouble staying out of trouble. Seems like I am always doing the wrong thing. Seems like I am always saying sorry to GOD.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Sorry, Fred, but I could not find this post nor can I remember it. Maybe, I wrote about these things in the comment section of another blog post? 🙄
You might have browsed the internet on the topic of the ‘unforgivable sin’ and if you did so, I would wonder if you were not confused due to the mass of articles, sermons etc. on there. I guess it is not of much help if I tell you that you did not commit this sin and that I believe you won’t do it, either.
The fear of God is a very special thing and I know that I do not ‘feel’ it all the time, merely in moments/periods where God bestows this fear on me. It is always a supernatural experience that causes you to obey God without any doubts, without fear of man, and without undue delay.
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Fred said:
I found the other post and commented on it as well. With my fear of the unforgivable sin I have looked into it a lot. As you pointed out there are a lot of different views of that sin a lot. I have to remind my self often that I have not commited the sin, mainly because no one who does so will seek GOD or want to please him. Even though I know this stuff I have to remind my self of it often. I have found based on John bunyan’s teachings of this sin and my own prays and reasearch that in order for some one to commit that sin 3 or 4 requirements must be meet. All 3 are in the book of Hebrews. 1. Doing the sin openly in front of 2 or 3 witnesses. 2. Willfully doing it. 3. The Esau requirement which is to despise ones birth right which in this case is salvation through the death and resurection of Jesus Christ. 4. is a heardening of ones heart toward the things of GOD. All of those have to be met in order for one to not beforegiven.
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