RENOUNCING OUR FEARS

 “There is no fear in love…” 1 John 4:18

Continuing on in our study of to “curse God,” Job also needed to renounce the attitude he had toward God. First, we may say that Job’s relationship with God was based upon what nearly all false religions are based upon—slavish fear. Job served God because he feared not to serve God. His was not a healthy reverential respect and awe of God, but a fear that was a constant torment to him. Job himself confessed to his friends that he lived in great apprehension, did not feel safe, and had no peace and rest in his heart and life. This was in spite the fact that he was doing everything he could to appease God, who he felt would strike him down if he did not. This is clearly seen in his fetish sacrifices for his children, as if this constant ritual somehow would turn away God’s anger toward him and his family. This reminds us of the works of penance that we see practiced in many false religions of today; or the barbarous acts of the heathen in maiming themselves or sacrificing their own children to appease the wrath of their ferocious gods. This kind of fear is fostered by none other than the devil who uses it to control his subjects and to move them to carry out his hideous works.

Job 1:4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

Job 3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

Job 23:15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Heb 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

From the arguments that Job presented to his three friends, we can see the importance that Job placed upon his own works to satisfy the demands of God. Although Job recognized that he was not perfect, he nevertheless presented his own righteousness to appease the wrath of a God whom he dreaded. The whole basis of his debate with his friends and with God was that he had lived his life doing good works and did not deserve God’s judgment against him. He had done all that a man could do to deserve God’s favor and avoid His wrath, and still this trouble had come into his life. Instead of coming to God for mercy, he wanted to come before Him to plead his cause and to show that he was being wrongfully punished. In his arguments he says, “if I,” “then let,” meaning he was willing to be judged if wickedness could be found in him, even though he was convinced in his own uprightness. He was like many of us who come to God in prayer and say ‘If I have committed any sins, please forgive me.’ Of course we have committed sins, and if we would only examine our daily walk in the light of God’s truth we could name them specifically; but we pray thusly in an attitude of our own self-righteousness.

Job 10:1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days,
6 That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.

Job 23:1 Then Job answered and said,
2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Job 31:5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.
7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;
10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)
19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:
28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.
33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?
35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.
37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
38 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Luke 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Man’s fall into sin produced this unhealthy and unproductive fear of God; and the Devil has been very cunning and opportunistic in using it to foster his program. The fruit of man’s disobedience was death; and although much could be said of what happened in the Garden, God did not condemn man to die because he disobeyed. Death was the natural result of their disobedience. God’s warning to man not to eat the forbidden fruit was to protect man from something that would destroy his relationship with God and bring about his death. Adam, who had once enjoyed a loving relationship with God, after the fall lives in fear and runs from the only One who could help him. While seeking to hide from whom he perceived was an angry God, whom he feared was going to punish him, he ran into the arms of the Devil. The guilty couple immediately began to try and appease this wrathful God in a feverish attempt to stave off death and judgment. Satan has, from that day until the present, driven man into doing all kinds of devilish works by constantly using man’s dread of God for his own means.

Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

While good works are commendable, and we are admonished to “maintain good works,” they have nothing to do with our relationship with God. Mankind has been on a futile attempt to appease God by our works since Adam and Eve’s first attempt to cover their nakedness with something they made. Now, because this subject requires much more detail than we can give to it here,[1] we will not attempt to explain or justify all that we say. However, for the sake of our present topic, it is necessary to understand something regarding man’s fall in the Garden. Adam and Eve’s disobedience had brought them under the full weight and responsibility of keeping the Law of God. Falling under the demands of this law, which they were incapable of obeying, they saw their nakedness—their inability to keep it. They were confronted with their natural limitations by perceiving that they were naked. They were created as perfect natural beings with a body, soul, and spirit; and they did that which was naturally good in their innocence. They were perfect beings as God created them and they were perfectly happy in the world into which they were created. They were of the earth. They were not spiritual beings capable of obeying the law of God, which was inherently spiritual. To try and amend their shortcomings they attempted to hide their nakedness by covering themselves with fig leaves—which represented their own works of righteousness. They attempted to satisfy the demands of a spiritual law by doing their own natural good works, which fall far short of pleasing God.

1 Cor 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Ever since Adam and Eve, mankind has been on this futile and endless quest to satisfy this newly enthroned taskmaster of God’s law. To free ourselves from this tyrant we must find a different way to please God. Man must renounce the idea of coming to God on the basis of his own good works. We must stop holding these works up to God as some kind of appeasement, or offering, or bargaining chip with which we try to obtain things from God. We must come to God empty-handed, begging mercy, confessing our sins, inabilities, and shortcomings. We must now accept the covering which God made for Adam and Eve, and which only He can supply—the skin of a sacrificed animal; which pictures the sacrifice of the spotless Son of God. Jesus, who is the incarnate God of Glory, was the only one ever born as a man who could satisfy the law’s demands. He not only lived perfectly, but He offered Himself as a lamb without spot to God. By His sacrifice He washed away our sins with His blood; and He gave to us, who trust in Him, His spotless robe of righteousness.

Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

2 Cor 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

1Pet 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Those who are in Christ have nothing to fear in this world. We no longer have to fear the condemnation of God’s law. We no longer have to fear the wrath and judgment of God because of our sins. As long as we are in the boat with Jesus there is nothing that can harm us unless God allows it. Even the storms of life and the devils of hell are under His control. On more than one occasion Jesus reassured His disciples with the words “fear not.” Throughout the Scriptures those words appear seventy-five times. Those same words can also bring to us comfort and peace when are relationship with God is built upon Christ.

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Matt 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

Matt 8:23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.
24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

Luke 10:17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Job lived in fear because the foundation of his relationship with God was based upon his works and not God’s mercy and grace. In spite of Job’s best efforts, God allowed all of his fears to be materialized—he lost the children he had so diligently made sacrifices for; he lost his wealth and social standing, and was now ridiculed; and he lost his feeling of personal acceptance with God, and now lived in despair. God allowed all this to happen to reveal to Job the utter folly of thinking that his own goodness was responsible for his safety. Likewise, God must chasten us when we harbor false ideas about why God cares for us, protects us, and blesses us.

Job 3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

Job 30:26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

Job 30:1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

Job 30:9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

Job 10:1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.