The Fear of God
"I
will put My
fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me."
-JEREMIAH
32:40 [KJV]
As
the fear of God springs up in a believing soul, and is maintained and
kept alive by the influences which come out of Christ as a covenant
Head, it produces, as its effects, an abiding in Him. We cannot
depart from Him through the fear of God. It is therefore called "a
fountain of life to depart from the snares of death." If a
fountain of life, it must be fed out of Him who is the life; and as
it departs from the snares of death, it cleaves more fully and
closely to Him as these snares are broken to pieces and left behind.
If
we examine the movements of godly fear in our hearts, we shall see
that all its tendencies are toward life and the Source of life;
toward hatred of sin and love of holiness; toward a desire after the
enjoyment of heavenly realities, and a deadness to the things of time
and sense; toward a knowledge of Christ in the manifestation of
Himself, and a longing to live more to His praise, to walk more in
His footsteps, and to be more conformed to His suffering image.
Now,
as none of these things can be produced but by union with Christ and
abiding in Him, we see how the fear of God helps forward and is
needful to this abiding. For directly that the fear of God burns low
in the soul, there is a gradual withdrawing from, and a sensible
declining of this abiding in Christ.
-Gospel
report by preacher J.C. Philpot (1802-1869 A.D.)
May
18th, EARS FROM HARVESTED SHEAVES
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