“Why is it that even among those who profess to be the Lord’s people there is so little real subjection to His Word, and that its precepts are so lightly esteemed and so readily set aside? Ah! what needs to be stressed to-day is that God is a God to be feared. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7). Happy the soul that has been awed by a view of God’s majesty, that has had a vision of God’s awful greatness, His ineffable holiness, His perfect righteousness, His irresistible power, His sovereign grace. Does someone say, “But it is only the unsaved, those outside of Christ, who need to fear God”? Then the sufficient answer is that the saved, those who are in Christ, are admonished to work out their own salvation with “fear and trembling.” Time was, when it was the general custom to speak of a believer as a “God-fearing man”—that such an appellation has become nearly extinct only serves to show whither we have drifted. Nevertheless, it still stands written, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him” (Psalms 103:13)! —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
“If this generation were to take a crash course in the fear of God, our shallow view of sin would immediately deepen.”
-C.J. Mahaney
“While falling all over ourselves trying to conceal this ’embarrassing’ feature of God’s character, we’ve sent this signal to our culture: God is infinitely understanding, sympathetic, patient, and sentimental. God is nice! God is a kind of cosmic Mr. Rogers, always ready to greet you with a warm smile and a pleasant word.
Because we have difficulty reconciling wrath with our perception of a loving God, the Church and this culture have sought to create God in their own image. But Scripture makes no apologies concerning the wrath of God. In fact, A.W. Pink notes that there are more references to God’s wrath in the Bible than to his love. We probably don’t have any of these passages underlined, but perhaps we should. We need to give serious study to the wrath of God.”
-C.J. Mahaney
The above quotes were borrowed from the Reformed Voices blog. It’s a great place to visit!
The Battle Cry 
C.J. Mahaney – that’s a name I haven’t heard in awhile. I used to go to his church about 25 years ago.
LikeLike
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
LikeLike
Amen! The phrase ‘there is/was no fear of God before their eyes’ is several places in the bible connected and not in a good light.
There are a lot of ‘fearless’ folks these days who don’t believe in ‘fearing’ God any more since it’s all about grace. God has become more like the doting grandfather whose grandchildren are the center of his life.
We no longer need to fear judgment and hell if we are his thrugh Christ, but he is still a God to be feared because of who he is.
Here is a link to C.J. Mahaney sremons.
LikeLike