#074 "A Fear to Be Desired" (Luke 1:50)

What comes to your mind when you hear the words fear God? Panic? Confusion? A vague sense of, “I know I’m supposed to…but how?” 

In this episode, host Kate slows down to look inside Luke 1:50 and help uncover what Mary understood long before she ever sang her Magnificat: that God’s mercy is deeply tied to a right, biblical fear of Him.

But this week, Kate is doing something she has never done before on the podcast—something that invites you to sit at the feet of a faithful voice from church history and see the fear of God with a clarity that just might move you to tears.

If you’ve ever wondered what it truly means to fear God in daily life…or if that phrase has ever made you shrink back instead of draw near…this episode is for you. Come behold the mercy of God, the tenderness of His confirmation to Mary, and the awe-filled fear that leads to deeper love and greater joy.

If this episode encourages you, consider supporting the show or becoming an abidible+ member through Buy Me a Coffee (linked below).

Introducing abidible+
☕ Become a Member ☕
☕ Buy Me a Coffee ☕

Important Links:

Abidible Advent Study: Mary's Song
"A Fear to Be Desired" (Charles Spurgeon)
Try our Free Demo Study
Abidible "How to Study the Bible" Course
Subscribe + Enter to Win a Free Study

----

Thanks again for listening. If you know someone who would be blessed by what you just heard, please share The Abidible Podcast with them. Help us spread the word so we can make MUCH of the Word. Be sure you are following our podcast so you’ll be notified when new episodes drop. And finally, if you’re enjoying this series, please take a moment to give us a review or become a monthly supporter.

You can:

Learn more about us at abidible.com
Follow us on social media
Email us anytime with questions: hello@abidible.com 

---
"Rhodesia by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/"

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage: Fear God
• 3:40 Mary’s Personal Mercy Becomes Public
• 8:20 Fear And Mercy In Elizabeth’s Confirmation
• 12:40 From Favored One To Call For Fear
• 18:00 Announcement: Sharing Spurgeon’s Sermon
• 19:40 Spurgeon’s Distinction: Two Kinds Of Fear
• 26:00 Awe, Holiness, And Childlike Reverence
• 33:00 Fearing God’s Goodness And Our Response
• 42:40 Warning To The Unmoved And Ungrateful
• 47:20 Host Reflection: Mercy In Christ
• 53:20 Practical Picture: Safe In The Storm
• 57:40 Prayer For Holy Fear And Assurance

Transcript

Kate: 0:00

Hey guys, this is Kate from Abidible.com, and you're listening to the Abidible Podcast. I'm just a regular wife and mom who's had my life transformed by learning to study the Bible on my own. If I can, you can. On this show, I help you know and love God more by abiding in Him through His Word yourself. Fear God. What just came to your mind when I said those two words? I'm gonna challenge you to hit pause and identify your immediate response. When I said fear God, what happened for you? Did you feel panic, resistance, concern, agreement, confusion? Maybe consider writing your thoughts down. Fear God. That's what we're talking about today. This is what Mary, the mother of our Lord, and the subject of our Advent study here in Luke 1, fear God, that's what Mary wants us to do. And what is of critical importance is this. Before Mary ever tells the world to fear God, we can tell that she has already experienced God's mercy personally, a mercy that actually shaped how she feared him. In Luke 1.50, she says, and his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. What does it mean to fear God? I think we can read a verse like that and say, okay, fear God, got it, moving on, but actually have no clue what it means biblically to fear God or how in the world to apply it to daily life. At least that's how I feel. It's a two-word phrase, fear God, that appears straightforward on the surface, but carries with it profound depth. It's a command, right? So skimming over it or rushing past it simply won't do. This is why we study. This is why we pause. This is why we have this podcast to camp out on a verse, to pull it apart, to investigate, and to gain true understanding by the grace of God and with the Holy Spirit's help, so that we can live it out. Because if it's in God's word, it matters and it's for our good. I want to know what this means because honestly, I don't feel like I know how to fully live this out on a daily basis. Do you? So let's begin with some questions. What does it look like to fear God? Is this the concept Mary made up? Is our verse today, Luke 1.50, the very first time we are introduced to the idea of fearing God in the Bible? Is fearing God just reserved for Mary or for the people of her time? Or does it carry over to us today? It looks like God's mercy is contingent on fearing him. So how do I know if I'm doing it correctly? Is this idea of fear meant to be a cowering fear, an all-consuming panic? Am I to flinch at the hand of God? Or is it something else? In a moment, to answer these questions, I'm going to do something I've never done before on any of our podcast episodes. But before I get to that, I want to quickly set the stage. We are in the fifth verse of Mary's song. This verse, verse 50, is a transition point in the song, and we want to note that change. Mary is going to go from personal to public, from who God is and always has been to her personally, to who God can be to all. So far, we have seen that Mary's heart is filled with joy upon being given the news that she has been favored and chosen by God to carry the long-awaited Messiah. She magnifies him and rejoices in him with all that she is. She calls him by name, the Lord. She indicates the personal nature of her relationship with him by saying, God, my Savior. She demonstrates that she knows his proven historical character and attributes by calling him the God who sees, Almighty God, and the one whose name is holy. No matter what this news of carrying a child might cost her as a betrothed virgin, in a place and time where the consequences of turning up pregnant could be fatal, what naturally pours out of Mary are the very words of God. This has given us clear evidence that Mary knew Torah. And because of it, she knew the God written about in it, personally, intimately, and actively. And yet, there is a very personal human element to the timing of her song. And I think this reveals an aspect of God's character that we don't want to miss before we transition with Mary to the more public portion of her song. Remembering the work we did with context, we have seen that Mary's praise comes on the heels of an important confirmation of her call to carry this child. But it isn't the words of Gabriel that cause her to burst into song. Upon seeing her cousin Elizabeth, the baby in Elizabeth's womb leaps for joy. Elizabeth calls Mary the mother of her Lord and blessed among women, confirming everything that God had already said to Mary through the angel Gabriel. This is where mercy and fear meet in a human moment. God could have left Mary with only angelic words, but he chose to use Elizabeth, another God-fearing woman, to confirm his favor. That tender human confirmation is itself evidence of God's mercy poured out to one who already feared him rightly. It shows us how fear of God and experience of his mercy go together. And it's these merciful words of Elizabeth that cause Mary to burst into song. Commentator Alexander McLaren notes this purely personal expression of the glad emotions awakened by Elizabeth's presence and salutation, which came to Mary as confirmation of the angel's annunciation. Not when Gabriel spoke, but when a woman like herself called her mother of my Lord, did she break into praise? There is a deep truth there. God's voice is made more sure to our weakness when it is echoed by human lips, and our inmost hopes attain substance when they are shared and spoken by another. What a beautiful picture of God's mercy through community to two women who feared him. God could have just sent Gabriel, but he didn't. To reassure Mary, he sends Mary to Elizabeth. Knowing what added human confirmation would mean to Mary, God goes the extra mile. He uses another beautiful, God-fearing woman to comfort, assure, and strengthen Mary in her new calling. Just pause here with me for a moment and allow this element of God's nature to wash over you. This is mercy meeting a faithful, reverent heart, and it shows the mercy promised to those who fear him. He sees, he knows, and he meets our every need. He is tender and caring. And if he calls us to it, he will find clear ways to confirm it and equip us for it. Now, Mary, the one whom the angel Gabriel first addresses in 128 by saying, Greetings, O favored One, turns her personal experience of God outward. In the rest of the verses in her song, we're going to see that her focus shifts toward a new message. The God who is my God can be your God too. This past week, I saw a quote that said, Don't stand on the stage before you sit at his feet. The topic of today's podcast is about fearing God. It's the first thing Mary wanted to share from her figurative stage as the now public person she would become as the mother of the Messiah. But before she ever considers looking about her, speaking in her song essentially to all mankind, we have seen that she has spent much time sitting at the feet of God. That time is what now qualifies her to call the rest of us to fear God. Again, and it should not come as a surprise, fearing God is not a concept made up by Mary. Yet again, she's referring to Scripture and the ages-old concept, as old as Abraham, in fact, in Genesis 22, of fearing God. It's even tied to the end of the Shema that we studied in our God is one series from Deuteronomy 6. Do you remember? It is the Lord your God, you shall fear. From this place, the God-fearing woman Gabriel calls, O favored one, now calls all others to fear God too. This Greek word for favored has nothing to do with Mary and everything to do with God's mercy. It means to pursue with grace, compass with favor, honor with blessings, and make accepted. Mary is able to say that his mercy is on all who fear him from generation to generation, because the very theme she'd studied all her life in Scripture had now come true for her. The most profound demonstration of the mercy of God, the Son of God, now grows in her womb. He will be her savior, but not just hers. He will be the savior of the world. And that's what we see happening here. Mary turns her attention to God's dealings with all mankind. And the first message of her mission is an intimately personal one. It's a promise and a warning. God is a God of mercy, but his mercy is reserved for those who fear him. God was Mary's God. That personal relationship was the foundation for the message she now shares. My God can be your God, but only if you fear him. And because of the critical nature of this message, I'm now going to do something I've never done before on the podcast. But first, real quick, if you're a big fan of the Abidible Podcast, please check out the link in the show description to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee. So, what is this thing I'm going to do for the first time ever? I'm going to share an entire Charles Spurgeon sermon. As I researched what it means to fear God, I came across this message, a fear to be desired, that Charles Spurgeon preached on November 7th, 1878. I had tears streaming down my cheeks multiple times as I read it. And so I thought, how can I write anything better than this? I can't just share excerpts of it. I want to share all of it. So that's exactly what I'm going to do today. Because this sermon is public domain, I'm able to share it with you like this, but I'll also link it for you from spurgeon.org in this episode's description. Let me quickly add one more thing. The verse Spurgeon uses for this sermon is Hosea 3.5, which refers to the nation of Israel and essentially says, afterward, the children of Israel shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days. While Spurgeon offers a brief summary of this specific scenario addressed here by Hosea, what Spurgeon primarily deals with in this message is the concept of fearing the Lord. And that's where I'll begin. Are you ready? Here is the rest of his message in its entirety. It's amazing. On this occasion, I intend only to call your attention to this expression, they shall fear the Lord and his goodness, for what Israel will do in a state of grace is precisely what all spiritual Israelites do when the grace of God rests upon them. The fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, fills the heart, and the goodness of the Lord becomes the source and fountain of that fear in the hearts of all those whom the Lord has blessed with his grace. So I shall, first of all, ask you to notice a distinction which is to be observed, secondly, a grace which is to be cultivated, and then, thirdly, a sin which is to be repented of in the case of many. First, then, here is a distinction to be observed. Human language is necessarily imperfect. Since man's fall, and especially since the confusion of tongues at Babel, there has not only been a difference in speech between one nation and another, but also between one individual and another. Probably we do not all mean exactly the same thing by any one word that we use. There is just a shade of difference between your meaning and mine. The confusion of tongues went much further than we sometimes realize, and so completely did it confuse our language that we do not, on all occasions, mean quite the same thing to ourselves, even when we use the same word. Hence, fear is a word which has a very wide range of meaning. There is a kind of fear which is to be shunned and avoided, that fear which perfect love casts out, because it hath torment. But there is another sort of fear which has in it the very essence of love, and without which there would be no joy even in the presence of God. Instead of perfect love casting out this fear, perfect love nourishes and cherishes it, and by communion with it, itself derives strength from it. Between the fear of a slave and the fear of a child, we can all perceive a great distinction. Between the fear of God's great power and justice, which the devils have, and that fear which a child of God has when he walks in the light with his God, there is as much difference, surely, as between hell and heaven. In the verse from which our text is taken, that difference is clearly indicated. Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord, so that this fear is connected with seeking the Lord. It is a fear which draws them toward God and makes them search for Him. You know how the fear of the ungodly influences them. It makes them afraid of God, so that they say, Whither shall we flee from His presence? They would take the wings of the morning if they could, and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth if they had any hope that God could not reach them there. At the last, when this fear will take full possession of them, they will call upon the rocks and the hills to hide them from the face of Him who will then sit upon the throne, whose wrath they will have such cause to dread. The fear of God, as it exists in unrenewed men, is a force which ever drives them further and yet further away from God. They never get any rest of mind until they have ceased to think of Him. If a thought of God should, perchance, steal into their mind, fear at once lays hold upon them again, and that fear urges them to flee from God. But the fear mentioned in our text draws to God. The man who has this fear in his heart cannot live without seeking God's face, confessing his guilt before him and receiving pardon from him. He seeks God because of this fear. Just as Noah, moved with fear, built the ark wherein he and his household were saved, so do these men, moved with fear, draw nigh unto God and seek to find salvation through his love and grace. Always notice this distinction and observe that the fear which drives anyone away from God is a vice and a sin, but the fear that draws us towards God, as with silken bonds, is a virtue to be cultivated. This appears even more clearly in the Hebrew, for they who best understand that language tell us that this passage should be read thus. They shall fear toward the Lord and toward his goodness. This fear leans toward the Lord. When thou really knowest God, thou shalt be thrice happy if thou dost run toward him, falling down before him, worshiping him with bowed head, yet glad heart, all the while fearing toward him and not away from him. Blessed is the man whose heart is filled with that holy fear which inclines his step in the way of God's commandments, inclines his heart to seek after God, and inclines his whole soul to enter into fellowship with God, that he may be acquainted with him and be at peace. It is also worthy of notice that this fear is connected with the Messiah. They shall seek the Lord their God and David their king, who stands here as the type of Jesus the Messiah, the King of Israel. And further on, it is said, they shall fear the Lord and his goodness. And I should not do wrong if I were to say that Christ is Jehovah's goodness, that in his blessed person you have all the goodness and mercy and grace of God condensed and concentrated. In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So that fear, which is a sign of grace in the heart, that fear which we ought all to seek after, always links itself onto Christ Jesus. If thou fearest God and knowest not that there is a mediator between God and men, thou wilt never think of approaching him. God is a consuming fire. Then how can thou draw near to him apart from Christ? If thou fearest God and knowest not of Christ's atonement, how can thou approach him? Without faith, it is impossible to please God. And without the blood of Jesus, there is no way of access to the divine mercy seat. If thou knowest not Christ, thou wilt never come unto God. Thy fear must link itself with the goodness of God as displayed in the person of his dear son, or else it cannot be that seeking fear, that fear toward the Lord of which our text speaks. It will be a fleeing fear, a fear that will drive thee further and yet further away from God, into greater and deeper darkness, into dire destruction. In fact, into that pit whose bottomless abyss swallows up all hope, all rest, and all joy forever. Let this distinction be kept in mind, and then we may safely go on to consider in the second place the grace which is to be cultivated. They shall fear the Lord and his goodness. We will divide the one thought into two, and first I will speak about that fear of God, which is the work of the Holy Spirit, a token of grace, a sign of salvation, and a precious treasure to be ever kept in the heart. What is this fear of God? I answer first in a sense of awe of his greatness. Have you never felt this sacred awe stealing insensibly over your spirit, hushing and calming you and bowing you down before the Lord? It will come sometimes in the consideration of the great works of nature, gazing upon the vast expanse of waters, looking up to the innumerable stars, examining the wing of an insect, and seeing there the matchless skill of God displayed in the minute, or standing in a thunderstorm, watching as best you can the flashes of lightning and listening to the thunder of Jehovah's Voice. Have you not often shrunk into yourself and said, Great God, how terrible art thou, not afraid, but full of delight, like a child who rejoices to see his father's wealth, his father's wisdom, his father's power, happy and at home, but feeling oh so little. We are less than nothing. We are all but annihilated in the presence of the great, eternal, infinite, invisible, all in all. Gracious men often come into this state of mind and heart by watching the works of God. So they do when they observe what he does in providence. Dr. Watts truly sings, here he exalts neglected worms to scepters and a crown. Anon the following page he turns and treads the monarch down. The mightiest kings and princes are but grasshoppers in his sight. The nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance that has not weight enough to turn the scale. We talk about the greatness of mankind, but all nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity. Again, Dr. Watts wisely sings, Great God, how infinite art thou, what worthless worms are we. When we realize this, we are filled with a holy awe as we think of God's greatness, and the result of that is that we are moved to fall before him in reverent adoration. We turn to the word of God, and there we see further proofs of his greatness in all his merciful arrangements for the salvation of sinners, and especially in the matchless redemption wrought out by his well-beloved son, every part of which is full of the divine glory. And as we gaze upon that glory with exceeding joy, we shrink to nothing before the eternal. And the result again is lowly adoration. We bow down and adore and worship the living God with a joyful, tender fear, which both lays us low and lifts us very high. For never do we seem to be nearer to heaven's golden throne than when our spirit gives itself up to worship him whom it does not see, but in whose realized presence it trembles with sacred delight. It is the same fear, but looked at from another point of view, which has regard to the holiness of God. What a holy being is the great Jehovah of Hosts. There is in him no fault, no deficiency, no redundance. He is whole and therefore holy. There is nothing there but himself, the holy, perfect God. Holy, holy, holy is a fit note for the mysterious living creatures to sound out before his throne above. For all along he has acted according to the principle of unsullied holiness. Though blasphemers have tried many times to snatch from his hand the balance and the rod, re-judge his judgments, be the God of God, they have always failed. And still he sits in the lonely majesty of his absolute perfection, while they, like brute beasts, crouch far beneath him and despise what they cannot comprehend. But to a believing heart, God is all purity. His light is as the color of the terrible crystal of which Ezekiel writes. His brightness is so great that no man can approach unto it. We are so sinful that when we get even a glimpse of the divine holiness, we are filled with fear, and we cry with Job, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. This is a kind of fear which we have need to cultivate, for it leads to repentance and confession of sin, to aspirations after holiness, and to the utter rejection of all self-complacency and self-conceit. God grant that we may be completely delivered from all those forms of pride and evil. The fear of God also takes another form, that is, the fear of his fatherhood, which leads us to reverence him. When divine grace has given us the new birth, we recognize that we have entered into a fresh relationship towards God, namely, that we have become his sons and daughters. Then we realize that we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Now we cannot truly cry unto God, Abba, Father, without at the same time feeling, behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. When we recognize that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, children of the highest, adopted into the family of the eternal Himself, we feel at once, as the spirit of childhood works within us, that we both love and fear our great Father in heaven, who has loved us with an everlasting love and has begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. In this childlike fear, there is not an atom of that fear which signifies being afraid. We who believe in Jesus are not afraid of our Father. God forbid that we ever should be. The nearer we can get to him, the happier we are. Our highest wish is to be forever with him and to be lost in him. But still, we pray that we might not grieve him. We beseech him to keep us from turning aside from him. We ask for his tender pity toward our infirmities and plead with him to forgive us and to deal graciously with us for his dear son's sake. As loving children, we feel a holy awe and reverence as we realize our relationship to him who is our Father in heaven, a dear, loving, tender, pitiful, meaning having pity on us, Father. Yet our heavenly Father, who is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. This holy fear takes a further form when our fear of God's sovereignty leads us to obey him as our king, for he to whom we pray and in whom we trust is king of kings and lord of lords, and we gladly own his sovereignty. We see him sitting upon a throne which is dependent upon no human or angelic power to sustain it. The kings of the earth must ask their fellow men to march in the ranks in order to sustain their rulers. But our king sits on no precarious throne, nor borrow no. Leave to be a king. As the creator of all things and all beings, he has a right to the obedience of all the creatures he has made. Again, I say that we who believe in Jesus are not afraid of God even as our king, for he has made us also to be kings and priests, and we are to reign with him through Jesus Christ forever and ever. Yet we tremble before him lest we should be rebellious against him in the slightest degree. With a childlike fear, we are afraid lest one revolting thought or one treacherous wish should ever come into our mind or heart to stain our absolute loyalty to him. Horror takes hold upon us when we hear others deny that the Lord reigneth. But even the thought that we should ever do this grieves us exceedingly, and we are filled with that holy fear which moves us to obey every command of our gracious King so far as we know it to be his command. Having this fear of God before our eyes, we cry to those who would tempt us to sin. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? It is not because we are afraid of him, but because we delight in him, that we fear before him with an obedient, reverential fear. And beloved, I do firmly believe that when this kind of fear of God works itself out to the full, it crystallizes into love, so excellent, so glorious, so altogether everything that could be desired, so far above our highest thought or wish, art thou, O Jehovah, that we lie before thee and shrink into nothing. Yet even as we do so, we feel another sensation springing up within us. We feel that we love thee, and as we decrease in our own estimation of ourselves, we feel that we love thee more and more. As we realize our own nothingness, we are more than ever conscious of the greatness of our God. Thine heart shall fear and be enlarged, says the prophet Isaiah. And so it comes to pass with us. The more we fear the Lord, the more we love him, until this becomes to us the true fear of God, to love him with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. May He bring us to this blessed climax by the effectual working of His Holy Spirit. Now, I want to dwell with somewhat of emphasis upon the second part of this fear. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness. It may at first seem to some people a strange thing that we should fear God's goodness, but there are some of us who know exactly what this expression means, for we have often experienced just what it describes. How can we fear God's goodness? I speak what I have often felt, and I believe many of you can do the same as you look back upon the goodness of God to you, saving you from sin and making you to be his child. And as you think of all his goodness to you in the dispensations of his providence, you may perhaps be like Jacob, who left his father's house with his wallet and his staff, and when he came back with a family that formed two bands and with abundance of all that he could desire, he must have been astonished at what God had done for him. And when David sat upon his throne in Jerusalem, surrounded by wealth and splendor, as he recollected how he had fed his flock in the wilderness and afterward had been hunted by Saul like a partridge upon the mountains, he might well say, Is this the manner of man, O Lord God? In this way, God's goodness often fills us with amazement, and amazement has in it an element of fear. We are astonished at the Lord's gracious dealings with us, and we say to him, Why hast thou been so good to me for so many years and in such multitudes of forms? Why hast thou manifested so much mercy and tenderness toward me? Thou hast treated me as if I had never grieved or offended thee. Thou hast been as good to me as if I had deserved great blessings at thy hands. Had thou paid me wages like a hired servant, thou would never have given me such sweetness and such love as thou hast now lavished upon me, though I was once a prodigal and wandered far from thee. O God, thy love is like the sun. I cannot gaze upon it. Its brightness would blind my eyes. I fear because of thy goodness. Do you know, dear friends, what this expression means? If a sense of God's goodness comes upon you in all its force, you will feel that God is wonderfully great to have been so good to you. Most of us have had friends who have become tired of us after a while. Possibly we have had some very kind friends who are not yet tired of us, but still they have failed us every now and then at some points. Either their power could not meet our necessity, or they were not willing to do what we needed. But our God has poured out his mercy for us like a river. It has flowed on without a break. These many years he has continued to bless us and he has heaped up his mercies mountain upon mountain until it has seemed as though he would reach the very stars with the lofty pinnacles of his love. What shall we say to all this? Shall we not fear him and adore him and bless him for all the goodness that he has made to pass before us? And all the while feel that even to kiss the hem of his garment or to lie beneath his footstool is too great an honor for us. Then there will come upon us when we are truly grateful to God for his goodness toward us, a sense of our own responsibility, and we shall say, What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? We shall feel that we cannot render to him anything compared with what we ought to render, and there will come upon us this fear that we shall never be able to live at all consistently with the high position which his grace has given to us. And God said, concerning his ancient people, we shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that he has procured for us. It will seem as though he had set us on top of a high mountain and had bidden us walk along that lofty ridge. It is a ridge of favor and privilege, but it is so elevated that we fear lest our brain should reel and our feet should slip because of the height of God's mercy to us. Have you never felt like that, beloved? If God has greatly exalted you with his favor and love, I am sure you must have felt like that many a time. Then, next, this holy fear is near akin to gratitude. The fear of a man who really knows the love and goodness of God will be somewhat of this kind. He will fear lest he should really be or should seem to be ungrateful. What he asks, can I do? I am drowned in mercy. It is not as though my ship were sailing in a sea of mercy. I have been so loaded with the favor of the Lord that my vessel has gone right down, and the ocean of God's love and mercy has rolled right over the masthead. What can I do, O Lord? If thou had given me only a little mercy, I might have done something in return to express my gratitude. But oh, thy great mercy in electing me, in redeeming me, in converting me, and in preserving me, and in all the goodness of thy providence toward me, what can I do in return for all these favors? I feel struck dumb, and I am afraid lest I should have a dumb heart as well as a dumb tongue. I fear lest I should grieve thee by anything that looks like ingratitude. Then the child of God begins next to fear lest he should become proud. For says he, I have noticed that when God thus favors some men, they begin to exalt themselves and to think that they are persons of great importance. So if the Lord makes the stream of my life flow very joyously, I may imagine that it is because there is some good thing in me and be foolish enough to begin to ascribe the glory of it to myself. A true saint often trembles concerning this matter. He sometimes gets even afraid of his mercies. He knows that his trials and troubles never did him any hurt, but he perceives that sometimes God's goodness has intoxicated him as with sweet wine. So he begins to be almost afraid of the goodness of God to him. He thinks to himself, shall I be unworthy of all this favor and walk in a way that is inconsistent with it? He looks a little ahead and he knows that the flesh is frail, and that good men have often been found in very slippery places. And he says, What if, after all this, I should be a backslider? Thou, O Lord, hast brought me into the banqueting house, and thy banner over me is love. Thou hast stayed me with flagons and comfort me with apples. Thou hast laid bare thy very heart to me and made me know that I am a man greatly beloved. Shall I, after all this, ever turn aside from thee? Will the ungodly ever point at me and say, Aha! Aha, this is the man after God's own heart? Is this the disciple who said he would die rather than deny his master? Such a fear as that very properly comes over us at times, and then we tremble because of all the goodness which God has made to pass before us. I think you can see, dear friends, without my needing to enlarge further upon this point, that while a time of sorrow and suffering is often to the Christian a time of confidence in his God, on the other hand, a time of prosperity is, to the wise man, a time of holy fear. Not that he is ungrateful, but he is afraid that he may be. Not that he is proud, he is truly humble, because he is afraid lest he should become proud. Not that he loves the things of the world, but he is afraid lest his heart should get away from God, so he fears because of all the Lord's goodness to him. May the Lord always keep us in that state of fear, for it is a healthy condition for us to be in. Those who walk so very proudly and with too great confidence are generally the ones who first tumble down. My observation and experience have taught me this. When I have met with anyone who knew that he was a very good man and who boasted to other people that he was a very good man, he has generally proved to be like some of those pears that we sometimes see in the shop, very handsome to look at, but sleepy and rotten all through. Then, on the other hand, I have noticed a great many other people who have always been afraid that they would go wrong, and who have trembled and feared at almost every step they took. They have feared lest they should grieve the Lord, and they have cried unto him day and night, Lord, uphold us, and he has done so, and they have been enabled to keep their garments unspotted to their life's end. So my prayer is that I may never cease to feel this holy fear before God, and that I may never get to fancy for a moment that there is or ever can be anything in me to cause me to boast or to glory in myself. May God save all of us from that evil, and the more we receive of his goodness, the more may we fear with childlike fear in his presence. Now I must close with just a few words upon this last point, which is a sin to be repented of. I cannot help fearing that I am addressing some to whom my text does not apply except by way of contrast. Are there not some of you who are unsaved and yet who do not fear God? Oh sirs, may the Holy Spirit make you to fear and tremble before him. You have cause enough to fear. If you live all day long without even thinking of God, or if, when you do think of him, you try to smother the thought at once. If you say that you can get on very well without him and that life is happy enough without religion, I could weep for you because you do not weep for yourselves. You say we are rich, yet all the while you are wretched and miserable and poor. Your poverty is all the worse because you fancy that you are rich. You are also blind. That is bad enough, yet you say we can see. It is doubly sad when the spiritually blind declare that they can see, for they will never ask for the sacred eye sav or go to the great oculist who can open blind eyes so long as they are satisfied with their present condition. It is a great pity that many unconverted men do not fear God even with a servile fear. If they would only begin with that, it might prove to be the lowest rung of the heavenly ladder and lead on to the blessed fear, which is the portion of the children of God. There are others of you, I am afraid, who never fear either God or his goodness. How I wish you would do so, for the Lord has been very good to you. You were saved at sea after you had been wrecked. You were raised up from fever when others died. You have been prospered in business on the whole, though you have had some struggles, blessed with children and made happy in your home. All this you owe to the God whom you have never acknowledged. The goodness of God to some ungodly men is truly wonderful. I think when they sit down at night, when everybody else has gone to bed and remember how they began life with scarcely a shilling to bless themselves with, yet God has multiplied their substance and given them much to rejoice in, their hearts ought to be full of gratitude toward their benefactor. I would like all such people to recollect what God said by the mouth of the prophet Hosea. She did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. Take care, O ye ungrateful souls, that the Lord does not begin to strip you of the mercies which you have failed to appreciate. I pray that you may be led to confess whence all these blessings came, and to cry, My Father, thou shalt be my guide, henceforth and forever. Since thou hast dealt so lovingly and tenderly with me, I will come and confess my sin unto thee, and trust in thy dear Son as my Savior and Friend, that I may henceforth be led and commanded by thee alone, and may fear before thee all the days of my life. May God grant every one of us the grace to believe in Jesus and to rest in him, and then to walk in the fear of the Lord all our days for Christ's sake. Amen. Okay, you see why I had to read the whole thing, right? That was unbelievably powerful. And do you see it? Jesus is the mercy of God. In her song, it is clear that Mary had personally experienced the mercy of God, and she knew that his mercy was tied to fear. To fear God means to love him, to make much of him, and to magnify him. Mary does this in her magnificath. That was the background soundtrack to her life. But Mary didn't want to keep this to herself. My God can be your God, she says as she now turns outward. Fear him, magnify him, love him, and his mercy will wash over you generation after generation. She understood the covenantal promises of Scripture. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout all generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you, showing steadfast love to thousands. But McLaren points out the main subject is the new revelation, which is not confined to Mary, of the threefold divine glory fused into one bright beam in the incarnation. Power, holiness, eternal mercy are all there, and that in deeper and more wondrous fashion than Mary knew when she sang. Even Mary's anticipations fell far short of the reality of that power in weakness, that holiness mildly blended with tenderest pity and pardoning love, that mercy which for all generations was to stretch not only to them that fear him, but to rebels whom it would make friends. She saw dimly and in part. We see more plainly all the rays of divine perfection meeting in and streaming out to the whole world from her son, the effulgence or radiance of the Father's glory. The baby in her womb was a demonstration of God's mercy that had never before been seen. Matthew Henry says, For there are gospel privileges transmitted by entail and intended for perpetuity. Those that fear God as their creator and judge are encouraged to hope for mercy in him through their mediator and advocate. And in him, mercy is settled upon all that fear God. Pardoning mercy, healing mercy, accepting mercy, crowning mercy from generation to generation while the world stands. In Christ, he keepeth mercy for thousands. Here's the big idea. Mary's baby is the greatest demonstration ever of God's mercy. And his mercy through Christ extends to all who would come to him in reverent fear or love, including rebels like you and me. I am dumbfounded by God's desire to show me a far-off rebel mercy. I do not deserve it, and I never could have earned it. I hope this burgeon's sermon helped give you a better understanding of what it means to fear God. It helped me tremendously. And I realized fearing God is simply loving God with all my heart, soul, and might. It's what we discussed in our God is one series, and it's the place we arrive when we abide in Him through His Word. We come to know Him, and therefore we can't help but love Him and live for Him. This is the same as fearing Him. It's the awe and wonder and reverence that we arrive at in increasing measure as we abide in Him. It's choosing God first and most. He says, I picture myself climbing in the mountains, say the Himalayas, and I'm on these massive rock faces and I see a storm coming. It's going to be a massive storm, and I feel unbelievably vulnerable on these mountain precipices. And so I am desperately looking for a little covert in the rock where I won't be blown off the side of the cliff to destruction. And I find a hole in the side of the mountain, and I spin quickly, and suddenly the holiness and justice and power and wrath and judgment of God breaks over me like a hurricane. But I know I am totally safe, which means all that horrible danger is transposed into the music of majesty, and I can enjoy it rather than fearing it. And I think that is what the cross is. Jesus died for us to provide a place where we could enjoy the majesty of God with a kind of fear and trembling and reverence and awe, but not a cowering fear. Fear God, friend. And as you do, his mercy will meet you all the days of your life. Stand in trembling, reverent awe of who he is and of all that he's done. Your best path there is through his word. And that's why we abide. If you have never bowed your knee to Jesus, I'll close by repeating Spurgeon's final prayer. Pray this with me if you desire to cry out to God today. My Father, thou shalt be my guide henceforth and forever. Since thou hast dealt so lovingly and tenderly with me, I will come and confess my sin unto thee and trust thy dear son as my savior and friend, that I may henceforth be led and commanded by thee alone, and may fear before thee all the days of my life. And that's it for this episode. If you know someone who would be blessed by what you just heard, please share the Abidible podcast with them. Keep spreading the word so we can make much of the word. Drop us a review, tell us what you love and what you're learning. Check out the link to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee one time, by joining our Abidible Plus women's membership community for $10 a month, or by becoming a monthly supporter. For those of you following along in the workbook, go ahead and begin working on our next verse in this series, Luke 1.51, on pages 38 to 41 in your study workbook. Ideally, you would have this section done before you listen to the next episode, number 75. In this episode, we begin the section of Mary's song that provides the supporting evidence for God's worthiness. Five times we'll hear Mary say, He has. This section is rich with the mighty, merciful actions of God, real history-shaping works that reveal who he is and why he is worthy of fear that manifests as love, trust, patience, and surrender. The verse next week is Luke 1.51. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. Next week, we will zoom in on this picture of God's arm, his power, his justice, his decisive action in the world, and we'll watch Mary pull back the curtain on a God who isn't distant, passive, or indifferent, but strong and active on behalf of his people. We're going to talk about why his strength comforts the humble but confronts the proud. And how this one verse exposes something deep in every human heart. If you've ever wondered what God's strength really looks like or how it meets you in your actual life, you're not gonna want to miss this episode. I'll pray for us and then wrap things up with our memory work for verse 50. Father, as we sit under the weight of this message, we ask you to give us that fear which is truly to be desired. Not the fear that drives us from you, but the holy, reverent fear that draws us near to you. Grant us the fear that is a gift, a grace, a safeguard for our souls. Deliver us from the fear that dreads your presence and work in us the fear that seeks refuge in you. Lord, teach us to tremble rightly. Let us tremble at your holiness, your justice, and your majesty, but not as those who are hopeless. Give us the trembling of the forgiven, the trembling of those who know that the God who could condemn has chosen instead to save. Shape us in that fear which Spurgeon called joyful, humbling, purifying, and preserving. May this fear keep us from sin, keep us small in our own eyes, keep us watchful and keep us near the cross. Let it slay our pride, quiet our self-confidence, and fix our eyes on the blood of Christ, our only safety from the righteous wrath we deserve. Make us those who delight to fear your name, because in fearing you rightly, we find ourselves most secure. And Holy Spirit, we ask for your help in this daily. We cannot produce this fear in our own hearts. Work it in us. Sustain it. Cause us to walk each day with that holy awe that Spurgeon described. The awe that is both tender and trembling, both rejoicing and reverent, both cautious and confident in Christ. Father, give us this fear that leads to life. The fear that abides forever. The fear that glorifies you. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Savior and Mary's, the one who was and is the greatest demonstration of your mercy. Amen. Let's close by doing our memory work together. I'm going to repeat Luke 155 times. Say it out loud with me or quietly to yourself. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. Luke 1 50. Remember, you are able to abide in the Bible. We'll see you next time. Until then, let's abide.