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               The Fear of The Lord In the Latter-Day Church

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By David Wilkerson
July 8, 1991
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          Most of the Old Testament prophets predict God will
          raise up a last-day church that will be full of glory
          and the fear of the Lord. And Scripture says this
          mighty church will arise during the world's worst hour
          of confusion and wickedness.

          I believe hopelessness, confusion and despair best
          describe what most people feel today. In a May 6 letter
          to the editor of the New York Post one woman wrote:

          "I am writing this letter because I am tired of all the
          abuse, lying and corruption. What are we doing to
          ourselves? Child abuse, drugs, murders, fraud, rising
          taxes, service cuts, homelessness, muggings! What else
          is there to life in New York City? What is going on?
          Where has our conscience gone? Where have basic human
          dignity and values gone? Cheating each other seems to
          be the order of the day. And people are being killed
          for fighting back! We seem to fall deeper and deeper
          into hopelessness. I continue to dream of leaving this
          city some bright day. Signed, Charlene, Voice of
          Despair."

          Unbelievably, the same confusion, chaos and wickedness
          seen in the world now characterize the church of the
          Lord Jesus Christ. God showed the prophet Hosea that
          just prior to the latter-day awakening in the church,
          God's people would become spiritual harlots, turning to
          other lovers in spite of all the goodness and mercy
          He'd shown them.

          The church is pictured as "a woman beloved of her
          friend, yet an adulteress" (Hosea 3:1). Yet God said of
          this cheating adulteress, "I bought her" (verse 2). And
          indeed, the Lord Jesus has bought the church with His
          own precious blood. What a picture of unimaginable
          love!

          In recent years I have denounced the iniquities and
          compromises that have swept into God's house. I believe
          it is scriptural to cry out against such spiritual
          harlotry. I have seen abominations in God's house that
          have so overwhelmed me that I wonder sometimes why He
          doesn't strike with heavenly lightning.

          But we dare not lose sight of a great prophetic truth,
          one that was known and understood by all the Old and
          New Testament prophets. It is this: "This church may at
          present be a harlot, her heart given to others,
          divided, confused and unfaithful. She may be exposed as
          having a cheating heart, in love with the world, going
          astray in spite of the love shown to her by the Lord.
          Yet she still belongs to Him. He purchased her with His
          own blood. And He has promised to woo her back to
          Himself - to make her a faithful, worthy bride."

          The Lord said to Israel, "Thou shalt not play the
          harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will
          I also be for thee" (verse 3). Then He declared,
          "Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and
          seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and
          shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter
          days" (Hosea 3:5).

          When this prophecy was written, David had long been
          dead. The mention of him in this passage is instead a
          prophecy about Jesus, Lord of all. This is a double
          prophecy, speaking literally of Israel, yet also of the
          spiritual Israel of God, which is His church. And the
          prophecy in this verse is that the latter-day church
          will rise out of the chaos of harlotry and deception
          and return to seek only the Lord.

          Right now, this last-day people are coming out from the
          harlot churches, out from all the sensuality, hype and
          entertainment. They are not running to meetings to see
          men perform miracles. Instead, they are running after
          David - King Jesus - their Lord! They have no other
          desire but Him.

          Yet, sadly, some believers are still "playing the
          harlot." Their eyes are not on Jesus. They want a
          celebrity gospel; they are lovers of men and pleasure.
          They relish the excitement, the crowds, the pomp and
          ceremony.

          Why are so many caught up in this? Why aren't they
          grieving over the fleshly showmanship in God's house?
          Even sinners see the sham - but many Christians don't.
          It is because they are still man-centered, not
          Christ-centered. They travel all over America to hear
          their favorite teacher or preacher.

          I believe most Christian television programs today are
          nothing more than spiritual harlotry. All the hype and
          silliness make truly godly people blush. The world is
          shocked, amused and dumbfounded by this incredible
          hypocrisy - but many Christians swallow it whole!

          Yet as bad as Christian TV is, I believe dead, dry
          churches and equally dried-up pastors are just as
          adulterous. How can we expect sinners to go to churches
          that are so dead even believers can't stand them? Such
          churches are the joke of hell! But God promises us this
          is all going to change - because the fear of the Lord
          is going to be restored in the latter-day church:

          "And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and
          the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and
          that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the
          prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy
          name" Revelation 11:18). God's judgment is coming but
          first He's calling out those who serve Him
          wholeheartedly!

          The last gospel appeal will be to "fear God and give
          Him glory": "And I saw another angel fly in the midst
          of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto
          them that dwell on the earth ... saying with a loud
          voice, Fear God, and give glory to him" (Revelation
          14:6-7).

          "And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God,
          and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous
          are thy works, Lord God Almighty .... Who shall not
          fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?" (Revelation
          15:3-4).

          Beloved, in these passages God is speaking of a special
          kind of fear. It is not the fear of His wrath, judgment
          or anger. The Bible says the church "shall fear the
          Lord and His goodness in the latter days" (Hosea 3:5).
          Yet how is it possible to fear the goodness of the
          Lord?

          Puritan writer Jeremiah Burrows wrote: "We are almost
          afraid to preach the goodness of God, because so many
          have vile hearts and abuse the message.

          That is why the preaching of the goodness of God has
          damned so many souls. Yet God so loves His church He
          will not withhold the message from them, even at the
          risk of the damning of the souls who are hardened by
          it."

          You see, the goodness of the Lord is a dangerous truth
          if your heart is not right. Many preach it and then
          relax spiritually, using it as an excuse for sin. Yet
          even so, God will not withhold the preaching of it from
          His church.

          Let me suggest at least four reasons why the church
          will fear the goodness of God:

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                    1. The Latter-Day Church Will
                    Behold the Presence of Christ
                  as No Other Church In History Has.

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          The church of our age is so wicked and undeserving. But
          God, in His great love, will fill the church in these
          final days with so much of His glory, goodness and
          mercy that we will experience the greatest
          manifestation of the presence of Jesus of any church in
          history. We will behold Him in such power and glory
          that a great, holy fear will come upon us: "He shall
          come to be ... admired in all them that believe" (2
          Thessalonians 1:10).

          Beholding Jesus in all His power will bring forth in us
          a tremendous fear of His goodness. Fearful amazement
          will grip us as we experience such undeserved
          manifestations of His presence. He will come suddenly
          to Zion and will walk wonderfully in our midst, and we
          will begin to fear the awesome revelation of who He is.

          Here is the goodness of God that will flood our souls
          with both awe and fear: that God chooses to manifest
          Himself to the most adulterous church of all time, the
          one most deserving of His judgment. And as if that were
          not enough, He then places within us a heart that seeks
          after Him, and gives us clean hands, pure hearts and a
          holy fear. Who can take it all in?

          Even those whose hearts already are set on Him, who
          walk in His tender love and holiness, have been called
          out of spiritual adultery and harlotry. Did you or I
          deserve to have a heart full of love for God? No!

          Read the stories of the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11.
          They endured cruel mockings and whippings. They were
          bound, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in half, slain with the
          sword, hunted, hungry, naked and destitute. Yet they
          were full of faith, unflinching and unbending.

          Do you think even for a moment that we measure up to
          them in devotion, faith and sacrifice? Today we panic
          if we miss a month's rent, or even a few meals. When we
          get a few stomach pains, we think we're dying!

          What of Moses, who esteemed the reproach of Christ as
          greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt? He went
          without food for forty days in the presence of God,
          saying, "I'd rather die than have these people be
          without Your presence." What of Paul, who was stoned,
          shipwrecked, beaten and imprisoned? In this age of
          pampering the flesh, none of us come anywhere near this
          kind of abandonment to God!

          I ask myself why Jesus is so real, so manifest among us
          at Times Square Church. Is it because He was drawn to
          us by an unbounded love for Him? Did He see in us some
          outstanding qualities of holiness and purity?

          Not at all. The truth is that, like Israel, we all are
          bent on backsliding. Left to ourselves, the harlotry in
          our hearts is soon exposed. When we sit under red-hot
          preaching that convicts us, we repent and pray,
          becoming sober, sincere and faithful. But in just a
          short time, without a prophet or pastor holding up the
          mirror of the Word to our faces, we soon slip back into
          spiritual laziness.

          Yet this is the reason there will be a people of God in
          the latter days who will greatly fear His goodness.
          They know their black hearts, they know their tendency
          to grow cold and indifferent. And yet God says of us,
          "An adulteress loved by a friend who sticks closer than
          a brother."

          You see, God is going to wake up a holy remnant church
          that will never go back to the world. He will put in
          His church a heart that continually seeks Him, a heart
          wholly set on the Lord. He will stir us up to love only
          Him.

          Ask Him now, "Lord, why am I reading this message right
          now? Why am I sitting among the godly?" I tell you - it
          is because of His goodness! How can your heart not be
          filled with holy fear when you consider how good He has
          been to you? Why is He flooding your soul with joy? Why
          is He exciting your soul with His love and presence?

          What unfathomable goodness this is - and, beloved, the
          best is yet to come!

          According to what God told Hosea, our seeking after God
          is going to grow more intense. Our longing for Jesus
          will increase. We will not turn away, and we will never
          need another King. We will turn to no other but Jesus
          for direction. No longer will another love come between
          us.

          "I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will
          betroth thee unto me in righteousness .... I will even
          betroth thee unto me in faithfulness" (Hosea 2:19-20).
          He's saying, "I'm going to make you a faithful people!"

          Yet this is not going to happen to everybody. When the
          Holy Ghost comes down and moves, we must respond to
          Him. It is only then that He brings us into the
          fullness He talks about. What an incredible thought:
          not only has He rescued us - He is going to keep us!
          And the love we have now is going to get hotter,
          brighter and stronger until Jesus comes or we go to be
          with Him.

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              2. This Church Will Witness The Promised,
                     Final Shaking of All Things.

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          "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also
          heaven. And this word, yet once more, signifieth the
          removing of those things that are shaken ... that those
          things which cannot be shaken may remain" (Hebrews
          12:26-27).

          More and more I see this as a prophecy of what Jesus is
          going to do in His church. Keep in mind, our battle is
          against spiritual wickedness in high places.

          About five years ago I became disheartened when many
          pastors opened up their churches to rock concerts.
          Teenagers went wild, dancing in the aisles, going
          straight out of church and into the back seats of cars
          for sex. Parents wrote to me brokenhearted, saying, "My

          teenager was on fire for God. Then our pastor and youth
          pastor brought in these wild groups, and I lost my son.
          He is backslidden. He got an appetite for occult music,
          right in our own church. And the pastors ridicule our
          questioning!"

          One time in Times Square Church we had the former
          president and owner of the three worst heavy metal
          "Christian" labels in America. The Holy Spirit woke him
          up one day and told him he was a purveyor of filth and
          was damning a generation. He has repented and has been
          warning pastors and youth leaders ever since, saying,
          "I produced it, and I know what's in it!" Yet still
          many of these leaders will not listen. The devil has
          blinded them.

          Thank God, He's promised to shake it all. When God
          begins to move among His people, the house of God will
          become a representation on earth of the war raging in
          the heavenlies. He is going to start walking into their
          meetings with powerful conviction - and they will turn
          white, their hearts failing them for fear!

          A great moving of His Holy Spirit will occur, and
          multitudes of kids are going to see Jesus and be drawn
          to Him. They will totally reject anything that is not
          pleasing to Him! They won't have to say, "My parents
          begged me out of this," or "I was preached at and
          condemned out of it." No, I believe Jesus wants to come
          and walk among them, to manifest His presence, so they
          can say, "Look, Jesus appeared to me, and I experienced
          His presence. It changed me!"

          No more will we stand by grieving, hurting, weeping and
          crying out, "Oh, God, strangers have been brought into
          Your sanctuary and have polluted it!" Instead, we will
          thrill as multitudes testify, "Jesus came to me! He put
          a new love in my heart for Him. Nobody had to condemn
          me but the Holy Ghost; nobody had to tell me to clean
          up my act. It was all Jesus - and I'm beginning to seek
          after Him with all my heart!"

          We are going to see many strange and wonderful things
          during this great shaking. Already a new belief in an
          actual hell has gripped America. U.S. News and World
          Report called it, "Hell's Sober Comeback." According to
          the cover story, three out of five Americans now
          believe in hell and damnation.

          Watch what happens when the Lord begins to really shake
          things up - in the economy, in nature, in government,
          in leadership. Not long ago, The New York Times ran a
          big story on multi-million-dollar sports figures who
          are turning to Jesus. In football, baseball, basketball
          and other sports, athletes are getting saved left and
          right. Many are discovering that big money has brought
          them only misery, drug addiction or alcoholism. Now
          they're having prayer meetings in their clubhouses!

          Wait till this move hits Broadway, and then Congress.
          Wait until some statesman gets up on the congressional
          floor and preaches and nobody walks out!

          This stirring is going to be so widespread and awesome,
          it will ignite fear in all who know how significant it
          is. We will cry out, "Lord, You said this shaking would
          take place just prior to Your coming. You must be right
          at the door!"

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                3. There Will Be Such a Pure and Holy
                 Awe in Worship, It  Will Strike Fear
                      In Saint and Sinner Alike.

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          "O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places"
          (Psalm 68:35). God is going to do before our eyes what
          He did for Moses. He is going to cause all His goodness
          to pass before our eyes (see Exodus 33:19). But it will
          be a greater glory than Moses beheld. In fact, what he
          saw will be gloomy compared to the glory ahead.

          When Moses got this revelation of the goodness of God -
          of His justice, mercy and truth - he rushed to worship
          Him: "Moses made haste ... and worshipped" (Exodus
          34:8). And so will we! Every day will bring forth a new
          revelation of His goodness. Sinners and family members
          will turn to the Lord, and the most unlikely people
          will be testifying and preaching. There will be no
          sleeping, no boredom, no mind-wandering in His
          presence. We will make haste to fall in awe and
          worship.

          A revival of praise and worship is now being proclaimed
          among many charismatics and evangelicals. Yet something
          has been missing from all this talk of praise and that
          is the sobering fear of God. "Who is like unto thee, O
          Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in
          holiness, fearful in praises" (Exodus 15:11).

          David shows us clearly what has been missing: a
          trembling in His presence! "Serve the Lord with fear,
          and rejoice with trembling" (Psalm 2:11). This last-day
          church will come before Him, hearts cleansed and
          repentant - and like Moses they will make haste to
          worship.

          The Puritans had this saying: "Joy commonly turns to
          vanity in the heart." This is true when our joy does
          not spring forth from repentance. We want the gladness
          without the awe, fear and seriousness.

          I have witnessed what some have called "joy
          celebrations" - flying banners, marching, and loud,
          happy singing. But underneath, it had no foundation of
          the glory of His holiness. It was fleshly, not at all
          the spontaneous outpouring of a work of God in the
          soul. It was more of a cheering session - cheering for
          a Jesus who was not feared.

          True, we are commanded to serve Him with joy and
          gladness; this appears throughout the Word. But there
          is also a tendency in the church to spill over into
          lightness, vanity and silliness, and to lose the fear
          of God by not wanting to be serious or tremble before
          Him. I believe what is coming, though, is a worship so
          pure, so full of Jesus, it will smite all with
          conviction for any hidden sin!

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                  4. There Will Be a Holiness In The
                 Countenance of God's Servants - and
             It Will Be a Rebuke to Those Living in Sin.

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          "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the
          saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are
          about him" (Psalm 89:7). A holy man of God once wrote:
          "Surely, when the saints shall be exalted in their
          holiness, when every one of them shall have their
          hearts filled with God, it will cause abundant fear in
          the hearts of those who shall even talk with them." In
          other words, when you are full of Jesus, you
          automatically become a rebuke and reproof to anyone who
          has secret sin in his heart!

          A guilty conscience cannot endure the gaze of a holy
          child of God. Centuries ago, a righteous servant of God
          named Basil was to be imprisoned. Officers were sent to
          apprehend him. But when they entered his room and he
          turned to face them, his countenance was so full of
          Christ that the officers fell backward to the ground.
          They could not lay a hand on him!

          I have a young pastor friend who is so full of Jesus
          that his face radiates. Recently, he was in a
          restaurant with a few other young preachers who also
          love the Lord. They heard that a very famous evangelist
          was in the restaurant as well, and they wanted to meet
          him. This man was in the process of being restored from
          an exposure of sin in his life - and my young friend
          wanted to bless him.

          When the young man met him, the evangelist didn't look
          him in the eye; instead, he began joking around.
          Finally, the evangelist turned to the young man's
          friends nearby and said, "You fellows have been hanging
          around this preacher boy too long. You all have that
          holy look of his!" They left the man's presence deeply
          grieved.

          A truly godly person is a rebuke to those living in
          secret sin. His look is not sad - red-eyed, weeping and
          sorrowful - but rather is full of peace, with God
          shining through. It is a look of assurance that says,
          "All is right between God and me." This type of bright,
          peaceful holy countenance is piercing a beacon light of
          conviction to a dark and sinful world.

          Beloved, I tell you again with all assurance: In the
          last days a church is coming forth that will be full of
          the fear of God - and it will be the righteous fear of
          His goodness. And that glorious revelation of His
          goodness and glory will keep them from the power of the
          wicked one!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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