Herbert W Armstrong

   How do you learn the fear of God when you're celebrating and enjoying life to the full? Turn, if you would, to Deuteronomy the 14th chapter.

   I'd like to read you a well-rehearsed scripture that we read quite often about the Feast of Tabernacles, about the festivals all through the year, because this particular passage has to do with what we call the second tithe. That money which we set aside with which we keep the festivals.

   It says in verse 22 (Deuteronomy 14:22): You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed that the field brings forth year by year, and you shall eat it before your God in the place where he shall choose to place his name, the tithe of your corn, of your wine, of your oil, the firstlings of your herds and your flocks. And notice, here he gives the purpose that you may learn to fear the Eternal your God always. Is that definitely one of the purposes for which we come here, for which we set aside this special amount of money.

   And we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, we enjoy it in all kinds of ways, and we have more to spend than any other comparable eight days in the year, probably for most of us, anyway. And we spend it to celebrate, but the purpose, he says, is to learn to fear God. Now, logically, that I got thinking about that.

   I thought, you know, the best place to fear God is if you live in California and you feel an earthquake rumbling through. Now, many of you are Californians here, and you'll remember well that day in 1971 in February. Happened to be a Tuesday morning the night.

   And I was jolted out of bed since I didn't normally get up at that time. And I can remember looking out the door and seeing palm trees swaying back and forth and hitting one another as an earthquake rolled through. It's an exciting experience.

   I recommend it for everyone. That's the time you would think. That's when you learn the fear of God.

   People tend to pray at times like that. All people. Anybody.

   Or if I lived on the Gulf Coast, I would expect to learn the fear of God in the midst of a hurricane as it comes thundering in off the sea. And as the radio warnings say, move out, your home may not be there tomorrow. I would think that's the time to learn the fear of God when you see the majesty of his power unleashed on the earth.

   Or maybe in the Midwest. I've been in the Midwest before when the tornado warnings were out and you just keep looking on the horizon, looking for that funnel that might come meandering its way toward you. That's a time when people take stock.

   A lot of people do it during a time of disease and sickness, a time of trials and heartache. That's the time they consider God and His power, His power to save them, His power to change their lives.

   But at the feast, is that the time that you should learn the power and the fear of God during the Feast of Tabernacles? I mean, last night, while I was thinking about the sermon, I decided to take a little walk. It was about a 30, and we're staying out at the Granada Royale.

   It's a Spanish hacienda-like hotel with a courtyard, and in the middle are all kinds of different activities. And it was a very warm breeze blowing. And I walked out and just started taking a little walk.

   And lo and behold, I came across the Charlie Elliotts reclining there in some lounges over the pool as they were resting after coming back from a sumptuous dinner at a gourmet restaurant. I perceived they were really covering is what they were doing from dinner.

   Went a little ways further, and here was Stuart Meyer, the John Curlies, and a number of others sitting in the therapeutic warmth of a jacuzzi, talking, enjoying themselves. Went a little bit further, and as the breeze kind of came through the courtyard, there, you could smell all the steaks that were barbecuing out in the various barbecue pits. Teenage kids having a great time in the pool.

   And I even found a bunch of little kids way off in a corner playing with little cars, little boys. They were playing with little cars out there driving around in the bushes. Probably toys they were given as gifts at the Feast of Tabernacles.

   These people were enjoying themselves. And I remember looking around because I've been thinking about this subject and saying, this is the fear of God. These people are enjoying themselves.

   And indeed, that's what the feast is for. So let me ask that question again. How do you learn the fear of God in the midst of opulence, celebration, and inspiration in the Feast of Tabernacles?

   The answer to that question is the real purpose for this sermon this morning. And the answer to it is important not only for right now and how we keep the feast here today and tomorrow and the remaining two or three days, but it has to do with your relationship to your family, to your children. And indeed to your God throughout the remainder of the year and the years to come.

   How do you fear God? Or perhaps we should first of all ask, what is the fear of God? At the beginning here, I'd like to, at the risk of sounding academic, I'd like to go through some definitions.

   And we have to first look at the word fear. And after we go through our definitions and get some ground rules established here, we’ll then go into the Bible and look at how the Bible defines, how God defines the fear of God, and why it is that only the children of God have it. And yet, remember, it's an interesting subject because this world is filled with fear.

   But somehow or another, it's not the right kind. Somehow or another, it doesn't do the trick. People don't honor God, they don't know God Almighty.

   The fear of God is a very special relationship. Now let's notice fear itself. Fear, by dictionary definition, can be called a feeling of anxiety or agitation caused by the presence or nearness of danger, of evil, or pain.

   It is timidity, dread, terror, fright, or apprehension. English synonyms that we use for fear include these words: panic, fright, alarm, dread, dismay, terror, anxiety, apprehension, horror, trepidation, and phobia.

   You know about phobia. I brought a Xerox page out of the very first Quest 77 that was published. In the middle, there was a special section called 135 Fears that Humans Have.

   They're called phobias. We have 135, and I believe by now there are a couple more. Phobias.

   That psychologists, psychiatrists, and other people who work with the mentally disturbed call fears or phobias. Let me read you a few of them because maybe you have them. Everybody has something, I guess.

   We always refer to claustrophobia. Of course, that's the fear of being closed in a tight space. Claustrophobia.

   Ornithophobia. The fear of birds. And on and on go the phobias.

   The fear of dust we even have. I didn't know anyone had that.

   It's called amethophobia. If you suffer from amethophobia, I suggest you not live in Tucson. In fact, if you have pyrophobia, the fear of fire, I suggest you not live in Tucson.

   It's warm here. There are people who have gamophobia, fear of marriage, either founded or not. Gamophobia.

   There are people who have. Sinophobia, a fear of rabies. You know, sino is a Latin term for dog.

   And when you refer to a cynic, that's where the term came from. In ancient Rome, they referred to those people who go up and dig up all kinds of garbage. They referred to them as dogs, cynics.

   We have many phobias, fears. That is the broad sense of the meaning of fear. All these things that I Just read you over the past 30 years.

   Communication specialists and sociologists have studied the use of fear with people quite intensely. And there was good reason to. If you will recall, during World War II, the American people and the British people, as the war wore on and more of the atrocities of Hitlerian Germany came to life.

   People became stunned by the thought and the belief that just by simple fear, this madman could drive a whole nation and indeed a whole world to war. That a whole nation of people, the Jewish people, could, if time had not intervened, be basically expunged from off the face of the earth because of simple fear tactics that were used by the Wehrmacht and its propaganda tactics. Then during the Korean War, some of our Asian races, nations, used fear in a new way, a new strategy, and brought forth an effect on American servicemen who were prisoners of war in Korea, effects that we didn't believe were possible, where they could break them down by concepts and threats that played on fear.

   So as a result, a lot of study has been done on fear. And one very basic thing has been learned about fear, and I would like to illustrate it to you today by giving you the results of a study. In this study, you will all recognize readily, it has to do with cigarette smoking in America.

   Remember, back in 1964, the Surgeon General's report came out and gave some proof that there is a correlation, not a causal effect necessarily, but a correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, as well as other respiratory illnesses. So, as a result, the Surgeon General decided we've got to put this little warning on cigarette packages. In fact, some of you in here may have been smokers at that time.

   And you can appreciate what kind of fear was played upon you at that time. So, in 1964, there came the Surgeon General's report and the fear of cancer, and it was widely publicized. However, not a whole lot was done until 1969, when massive anti-smoking advertising or anti-tobacco industry advertising blanketed our mass media.

   Now, to look at the effects of fear, let's go back and I'm going to read you the statistics of cigarette sales with those two dates in mind. In 1963, there was an all-time record of 516.5 billion cigarettes sold in this country. The very next year, the year of the Surgeon General's report, there was a sharp dip in sales, and it dropped to 505 billion cigarettes in 1964.

   By 1968, it had crawled back up to a record 540 billion. By 1969, now we have that second fear appeal coming in. In 1969, anti-smoking advertisements were going on television, and you can recall how grizzly they were. They would always show someone whose throat had been eaten away and he was smoking through his windpipe or something. And they were intended to scare and to frighten people away from cigarette smoking.

   So in 1969, there was a dip from the high point, now of 540, a new high point, down to 528 billion. In 1970, bounced right back up to 540 billion cigarettes sold. 1971, 553 billion. 1972, 567.5 billion. 1973, 590 billion. 1974, 600.5 billion cigarettes.

   And from there, it's only gone higher. Up into the 600 billions of cigarettes sold a year. That's in the face of fear.

   Now if you look at the statistics closely, here's what you see happening. Cigarette sales had been skyrocketing, moving upward. Until the first fear appeal came in 1964, there was a temporary setback, and then the line continued going up.

   And then in 1969, when the advertisements of fear got very intense, there was another slight decline, and then the line keeps going up. And it's going out of sight for two reasons. Number one, the American tobacco industry has discovered that they had to build new markets.

   Hence, you've come a long way, baby. Women have become a principal new market for the tobacco industry and the statistics prove that too.

   In the last 10 years, lung cancer and emphysema in women has grown 100%. They are the new market, and it tends to validate the correlation between tobacco use and cancer and other respiratory illnesses. But what's more important to us in this sermon on fear is that this particular group of statistics on a national scale shows one phenomenon about fear.

   Fear by itself. Fear without teaching. Fear without other concepts. Fear by itself creates only a momentary arrest. Fear by itself has only a temporary effect and it quickly wears off.

   You become injured to it. And we've all had that experience in our lives. I can remember in college, every now and then I'd go to the gymnasium back then to listen to a Sermon, and every now and then there would be the proverbial, what we call the hellfire and brimstone sermon, where the minister would get up and talk about the wages of sin, the lake of fire, and what would happen if we didn't change.

   And don't get me wrong, I'm not against that kind of sermon because I really personally feel we need that every now and then to shake us from our atrophy, our complacency. We need to be shaken up every now and then. So I'm not against that, but I'm thinking about the effect it had on me.

   I can remember being stirred up during those sermons and going home and going, I'm going to change this and this and this, and that change was effective to somewhere about Monday afternoon. Fear by itself does not change you. Now, I hope that that did have a more lasting effect, and that what the minister said didn't quickly go away, it only gradually went away.

   And next week, I came back and got a sermon that pushed me on a little more. I rather think that's the, the effect. But fear as an appeal only has an immediate effect when left by itself.

   That's very important to remember about fear. Fear has only an arresting effect by itself. Now you can immediately start imagining a great deal of use of this phenomenon in child rearing.

   In child rearing. If fear is the only tool you're using in rearing your children. You will only, my friends, have an arresting effect.

   You will not change. You will not direct. You will not help the development of your children.

   But I'd like to say a little more about that later. So let's go on and look at fear the way it's presented in the Word of God. In the New Testament, I'm going to give you two different words and then we'll do a little study of what fear looks like as it's presented in the Bible.

   In the New Testament, the word fear almost always comes from a Greek word called phobos. And I think that's quite easy to follow. Phobos, from which we derive phobia.

   Phobos. It's a very broad-meaning word, just like fear in the English language. It has many meanings.

   Let me give you a few from the Arn English Greek lexicon. It can mean fear and terror, fright, alarm, slavish fear, and it can mean respect and reverence. It's got a broad meaning.

   Now, with that kind of a word, and you're going to study it in the Bible, you have to, therefore, allow each passage in which it's used to determine what meaning it takes. That's something that I think we've all learned long ago. You can't rely on a dictionary or a lexicon or something like that.

   I can remember so many times when I was in college hearing Mr. Armstrong say, let the Bible interpret itself, let the Bible determine its own definitions on these words. All right?

   The lexicons help us, they guide us to looking at it as it's used in the Bible. So, in the New Testament, we use almost this one word that has many meanings and we must let the context determine. But in the Old Testament, we have a different situation.

   In the Old Testament, the word fear, as you see it in your King James Version, comes from any one of 29 words or word-related roots. 29. To our one phobos in the New Testament.

   Actually, there's one more word in the New Testament, but it's only used once. But 29 different variations, and they're a different word each time. So, for the purposes of this sermon, I obviously do not want to go through all 29 of those words.

   I want to focus on that one word that always shows up when God talks about the fear of God. That one word is Yahweh, almost like the name YHWH, only it's got an R sound in the middle of it.

   I'm sure I'm pronouncing it a little odd if there's a good Hebrew scholar in the crowd. Forgive me, I speak with an English accent. But Yahweh, that's the word that shows up when we talk about the fear of God.

   The Brown Driver and Briggs Hebrew lexicon says that this word is a little more finite in its meaning. It means fear, awe, reverence, and respect. Now, armed with Phobos and Yahweh and that basic phenomenon about fear.

   Let's take a look at the fear of God as it's given in the Bible. First of all, turn to Hebrews the 10th chapter, and while the actual fear of God is not what's being directly spoken of here, we see one concept that we must remember with a fear of God. This is the starting point.

   If the pages in my Bible will agree and all stay in the same place. In Hebrews, the 10th chapter, beginning in verse 30 (Hebrews 10:30), Paul was inspired to write, For we know him that has said, vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense, says the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people.

   It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. When we study the fear of God, this is the beginning point. We must recognize the awesome power, the majesty, and the total capacity of God Almighty to absolutely expunge all life from this earth.

   He has the power of life and death, not only in this temporal, physical form, but spiritually. God has the power to put down the devil himself. And Jesus said, he saw that battle, and he said, I saw Satan fall like a crack of lightning from the heavens.

   That's the power of God. And we should never lose that. And when we begin studying the fear of God, we always start with this: that the fear of God is rooted to His power and His majesty, and we respect that.

   But you know, it's got to go beyond that. In fact, in II Corinthians 5:10, I won't turn over there, Paul refers to the terror of the Lord. Not just the fear, but the terror.

   There is terror with God. And let me tell you something. In the tribulation, the prophecy tells us that there's going to come a time when the people of this world are going to crawl into caves.

   It says that they're going to throw their gold and their silver and their wealth to the bats. And they're going to cry for the rocks to fall upon them. You know why?

   Because they will see the terror of the Lord. But you know what? That doesn't make them any closer to God.

   You would think that if somebody saw the terror of God, they would want to be there, and I want God to help me and to save me. But somehow or another, the terror can also frighten people if you have only fear. But there's more to the fear of God than simple terror.

   Much more. And that's what I'd like to go on next. Turn to Proverbs, the 8th chapter.

   Proverbs, the 8th chapter. In verse 13 (Proverbs 8:13), we see a simple definition of Yahweh, that Hebrew word I told you, Yahweh. The Yahweh, the fear of the Eternal, is to hate evil, which is summarized as pride and arrogancy, the evil way, and the forward mouth do I hate.

   You notice what the terminology is? God says, and he's inspiring this, he says, the fear of the Eternal. To fear me, Yahweh, in its pure sense, is to hate what I hate, as he says.

   I do hate these things. The fear of God transcends simple terror and simple fright. That's what this world is so plagued with: fear and insecurity.

   But the fear of God transcends that. You fear God's power and his strength, but so much so that you come to the point of identifying with God's wishes, with his desires and his outlook on life.

   You come to an intense personal identification with God. We see this same thought in Psalm 66.

   Psalm 66:16, he says, Come in here, all you who fear Yahweh, God. All you people out there that fear God, come here, I want to tell you something. And I will declare what he has done for me.

   I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. Actually, praise is involved here, too. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

   That if I have an iniquitous, a carnal, in the sense of being wicked, heart, God will not hear me, he says, all you who Yahweh, God, all you who fear God. But truly, God has heard me, He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away from my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

   To totally fear God includes more than simple fright, it includes identifying with God's mind and being in tune with God. But it doesn't stop there. Turn to Proverbs, the 14th chapter.

   Let's take another look. Proverbs, the 14th chapter, beginning in verse 26 (Proverbs 14:26). The Yahweh of the Eternal.

   Another one of those definitions. In the fear of the Eternal is strong confidence. And his children shall have a place of refuge.

   You know what confidence can be equated with? Trust and faith. The fear of God goes beyond fright.

   To the point of identifying with God, so much so that you have total trust and confidence in God. That's what it says here: that Yahweh, the fear of the eternal, includes this kind of faith. In Psalm 145, turn there if you would.

   We'll see another facet of this many-faceted quality. Psalm 145:19 and 20, he says, He will fulfill the desire of them who Yahweh who fear him.

   He will also hear their cry and will save them. The Eternal preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. Here we see, in context, the notion of love attached to the fear of God.

   That when we fear God, we not only are afraid of his terror and power, that we identify with him. But also, it says here that we love him.

   Did we come to the place, and Jesus Christ says in the New Testament, you've got to come to the place where you love God more than yourself. That's quite a bit. And let me tell you, that's a part of totally and entirely fearing God.

   Love toward God, respect, and reverence is entwined with this word. Love, respect, and reverence. Notice Psalm 22, that famous psalm which we read quite often during the spring of the year to depict the thoughts and the feelings and the passion of Jesus Christ as he was crucified. In verse 23 (Psalm 22:23), he says, You who fear the Eternal, Yahweh, same word, you who Yahweh the Eternal, praise him. All you seed of Jacob, glorify him and fear him.

   All you seed of Israel. The fear of God includes not only love, not only identification, not only trust and faith, but praise to the point of worship. You see, the fear of God, brethren, is an outgrowth of reverence.

   And it's far more in its composite than simple terror and fright. Let's review these for a moment. We talked about terror.

   We talked about hating evil and identifying with God's mind. We've talked about trust and faith and confidence. We've talked about love and respect and reverence, praise, glorification, or worship.

   All of these words, in their many-faceted meanings, in their composite, make up the fear of God. That's how the fear of God transcends terror by itself. Remember, fear by itself doesn't change anybody.

   It only slows you down. It only slows you down. But when you have these other qualities, it creates something far more than that.

   Now turn to Proverbs the first chapter, and let's read a verse we are almost aware of. Proverbs, the first chapter, when we see the beginning of the book of Proverbs, I'm sure Mr. Duke will be spending a lot of time on this this evening.

   So I'll give him an introduction in verse 7. Proverbs 1:7 gives the keynote of this entire book when it says the fear, the Yahweh, same word. The Yahweh, the fear of the Eternal is the beginning of knowledge.

   It's the beginning. Have you ever wondered when you read this and you think about it and you say, well, why? Everybody fears God.

   You know, you've never seen someone who doesn't fear God during a hurricane. During an earthquake, everybody fears. Why doesn't everyone gain the knowledge of God then?

   You know why? Because they only have fear. They only have fright.

   Then they only have terror. But the fear of God is far more than that. The fear of God transcends simple terror.

   Not long ago, there was an NBC special on television showing how America is filled with fear. Fear at every level. We lock ourselves in the world.

   Into our homes, into our cars. We arm ourselves. We have security guards.

   We do everything we can to protect ourselves from ourselves. And if we can protect ourselves from an act of God, we do that too. We live in a country, and it isn't our country only, it's the whole world, has been immersed in fear.

   That thing which Satan the devil would love everybody to be bitten by: fear and insecurity. But we have something else. We have the fear of God.

   Let me give you a definition. My own definition, so you understand where it came from. In a very real sense, the fear of God is a state of mind in which the carnal consciousness, tempered with awe and respect, identification with, and confidence and trust in, and love and worship toward God, has become receptive to God.

   The fear of God is a state of mind which includes fear, respect, reverence, and awe, in which your mind has become receptive to God. And that's the difference, the fundamental difference between the fear of God and simple fear.

   Remember, fear by itself does not change anyone. The fear of God does more than that.

   Turn to Psalm the 25th chapter and let me illustrate. Psalm 25. In Psalm 25:12, it says, What man is he who Yahweh fears the Eternal?

   Him shall he teach the way in which he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth. Notice, the secret of the Eternal is with them who, Yahweh, fear him.

   And he will show them his covenant. Do you grasp what he's saying here? That beyond the terror and fright of this world, there is a different kind of fear.

   That fear that is a total relationship with God comes to the point and it develops to the point where God says, I will make a covenant with you. You conversion itself, God gives as a gift to those who Yahweh, who have the fear of God, a special gift. And they're different from the other kinds of fear.

   This kind, remember, has confidence, has security, and trust, and you can count on it. Conversion and the truth itself is wrapped up. In you developing and having developed in your life a healthy fear of God.

   And all that that phrase connotes: the fear of God. You know, we come about this fear of God in two different ways. We come about it in two different ways.

   Turn over to Deuteronomy the fourth chapter and let me show you something. Deuteronomy the fourth chapter in the tenth verse (Deuteronomy 4:9). Let's begin in the Ninth verse.

   Moses told the people, he said, Only take heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently. Watch how you serve God, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, meaning when they were coming out of the land of Egypt, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And remember, we're talking about the heart now.

   But teach them to your sons and to your sons' sons. Let this tradition flow through your families, so they understand the meaning of God's power.

   Specifically, or especially, the day that you stood before the Eternal your God in Horeb, when the Eternal said unto me, Gather me the people together. Now, just pause there for a moment and think back in your mind of what that time was like. Recall for a moment what it was like when the people stood at Horeb.

   Remember what they did? They shook with fear and fright, and they ran and they said, Moses, you go talk to him. We don't want to talk to him. Moses, we're afraid of him. Nonetheless, God through his thundering voice let those people of Israel at Torah fear the Ten Commandments.

   But that was enough for them. They had a tough time. They were so fearful.

   It was a fearful thing. It said that the mountain quaked. It was a big earthquake.

   It was smoke all over coming out of the mountain. Not your normal Sunday afternoon picnic. These people were so afraid they besought and appealed to Moses that he would go do something to God. They knew God's power.

   They saw what God had done to the Egyptians. And they saw when God decides to intervene what he can do. They saw the walls of water part and saw themselves walking through the Red Sea, probably with such astonishment and incredulity that it still hadn't sunk in.

   They saw God's power. They knew God's power. But notice what he says here: He says, I want you to remember that day, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to Yahweh, fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. You notice what he says?

   He says, You know why I want you to teach these things? Because I want you to hear my words, not see my terror. That's all they remember from Horeb.

   All they saw were the earthquakes and the smoke, and them running and climbing over each other to get behind. The rocks. But that wasn't the lesson God was trying to get through to them.

   He said, I want you to hear my words. And up here he says, I want them in your heart. That's what the fear of God is.

   When you hear and you conceive and understand what those words mean. We have an obligation through this scripture and many others that I can point to you to transmit a healthy. Fear of God to our children.

   Now, a question for you. Many of us, most of us probably, in here, in one way or another, are parents. How are you doing with your parents and with your children?

   Maybe the children are going to ask that. How are you doing with your parents? We heard a very inspiring, to me, anyway, sermon yesterday.

   It was aimed at the youth of the church and how they have a great future and such a beautiful thing in front of them. So let's pause for a moment. And talk to us, me too, the parents in this congregation.

   How are you transmitting the fear of God to your children? Do you, and I'll ask a very embarrassing question: do you transmit only terror and fright? Their image of Dad is somebody dragging his knuckles and a cudgel in the door in the evening to work them over?

   There have been those extremes, and I'm glad to say there are very few, but there have been extremes like that. And they're not restricted to us at all. All over the world, child beating is a terrible crime.

   A terrible crime. When fear by itself is used as a child-rearing tactic, it only has a resting effect. You know why?

   Not only because that's the nature of fear, but because one of these days those kids are going to be as big as you. In a few cases, they're bigger than you. And your simple brute force can no longer control them.

   One of these days they're going to grow out of your physical control. If you depend only on physical and brute force to direct and guide your children, you're only having a temporary effect.

   And let me tell you, it's going to be a sad day when they come to hate you. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we shouldn't have that kind of, I'm not talking about beating, I'm talking about not sparing the rod, as we say. I think we have to understand that.

   That just as the fear of God begins with a healthy respect for God's power, so child-rearing begins at an early age, fairly early age, with the junior or whoever it is learning a healthy respect for his parents' capacity, for his parents' supervision over their life. But as with the fear of God, it only starts there, it doesn't end there, it goes on, and those children should learn. Confidence and trust in their parents.

   They should learn adequate identification with your values because you're teaching them to them. They should learn to praise the Eternal your God because you do it. They learn, in short, by your example.

   The way the fear of God operates in your life is the way that your children and my children are going to have it operate in their life. And I learned from my father, and you learn from your parents.

   And some of the things that I say here today about the fear of God are undoubtedly, and I will admit that they are understood and seen through my eyes with my background with my parents. Let me tell you a story about where I grew up. So, those of you in the Southern California churches, I've used this example before, you may have heard it.

   And it bears repeating, I think, because it illustrates as best I can illustrate a relationship between a father and a son. I remember as a boy, growing up, my father ran his own auto repair shop. And at the ripe old age of 12, I was taken down to work there with him.

   And let me tell you: one of the greatest experiences of life is for a son to grow up with a close relationship to his father and to have that kind of relationship. And I'm sure the same with girls toward their mother, not to the exclusion of the opposite parent. But I remember I worked down in the shop, and that first summer I slept a lot, I remember under cars.

   But I was still growing. Dad would give me little jobs to do. We talked a lot.

   We'd stand over the bench while he was doing something or I was. And we talked a lot. We shared a lot of life.

   And I finally got to the place where I was probably 15 or 16, and Dad said, all right, kid, you always call me kid, still does. He says, Here's this old Dodge truck here. You can overhaul it.

   I want you to do the whole job by yourself. Me? I was dumbfounded. It was great. So I did.

   I'd been through the routine many times before. I went through all the routine, a two-day job for me. Overhauled this old truck.

   I remember the excitement and the thrill of getting it back together and running over and poking a hose in the radiator and filling it up with water so I could roll and start it up. I started it up and it sounded so good. That was the first job I'd ever done.

   Until there was this faint rattle. And the rattle got worse. It turned into a knot.

   And it finally flooded across my mind, you know how that kind of an inspiration hits you? That the engine had no oil in it. That the damage I had just done to that engine was worse than the condition in which I found it.

   I remember reaching over and turning the key off. I remember those moments as your life passes before you. Some thoughts came to my mind because I knew dad would be there in a moment.

   He couldn't have missed it. It was a very expensive mistake. And Dad came and I kind of wished he would have beaten me to death.

   I was so embarrassed. You know what it's like. You're 15 or 16.

   This is the first real responsibility you get to do something with. And I remember Dad looked at the truck, the smoke coming out, and he said, well, kid, he said, I thought you knew better. I think he turned me to liquid with that statement.

   I would have preferred a beating. I would have preferred anything to that. But let me tell you something: not once did it cross my mind, he's going to kill me.

   I'm going to be dead in five minutes. It never occurred to me to run from him, to leave home and join the French Foreign Legion. It did not cross my mind.

   And to this day, my father is much larger than I am. At that time, he weighed about 235 pounds, about six four, and he dealt with little jobs of a sledgehammer with one hand. He could have really worked me over.

   He could have exploded. He could have done anything. But you know, I knew my father better than that. I've gotten spankings before when I was littler. But as I grew, my relationship with my father, and I always respected his strength to this day, he's stronger than I am.

   And I respect that, and so does my brother, so does my sister. I remember as we were growing up around the house, he listens to our discredit. He didn't listen to my mother very much.

   She spanked us a lot, but we did, you know, we. But when dad spoke, mom would call us to come to the dinner table and we'd keep up doing what it is, but when this lower voice came out of his get in here, you would see people flying through the house. We respected dad, and we've grown to respect mom much more.

   And the funny thing is, this relationship that we had with our parents, with our father, as you notice, it tempers my belief and my understanding of the Word of God today. But it's with my brother and with my sister, who are not in God's church. They have religions and beliefs of their own.

   But we have ever been as close a relationship. We don't haggle about our religion, our beliefs. But that relationship transcends physical things that are here and now.

   As I picture the fear of God, it goes beyond simple fright. It goes to that relationship that's quite similar to what you have in a family. You're a father and a mother.

   In those early years, yes, there are those spankings. Yes, you come to respect. To learn to honor the strength and the power your parents have.

   You also come to respect them and trust them for guidance, for help. Sometimes you try to get away from them, you rebel, you always come back. You honor them, you always praise them, you always will.

   That's the kind of relationship that we should be building in our children. Don't get me wrong, my family certainly had all its problems and everything, but one thing. Transcends and overrides normal problems that humans have.

   It's the tightness and the closeness of that human-family-God plane relationship. One of the most profound truths I ever heard in my life, I was about 16 or whatever I was, 17, 18, when in 1964 Mr. Armstrong published a book called God Speaks Out on the New Morality.

   In the other part that dealt with the birds and the bees, that did not impress me as much as the one analogy he had in that book. That we are like God by analogy, and that analogy carries far greater and much further than many analogies do, which usually break down right away. That we are like God, and we're creating in our families that God-plain relationship and the fear of God and all that connotes, all those qualities that are godly qualities, are a part of the way we have a family relationship.

   So, let me ask you, parents again: how are you doing with your children? How do they respect and fear God?

   It's a composite of the way you fear God and the way you teach and train and love them. That's the way their relationship is going to be, and that's what they're going to learn. And you know, there's still another facet of learning the fear of God and another way by which we obtain a healthy and proper fear of God.

   Turn to a very obscure scripture if you would. Well, first of all, turns to Jeremiah. 7. I'll read one that we're quite familiar with, and then one that I'll let you haven't read in a long time. Jeremiah 7. Jeremiah 7:22 and 23, we see what God's desire and his intent was for Israel when they came out of Egypt.

   They saw the fear and the fright, they saw the terror, and that's all they interpreted because they didn't have anything else in their mind. They didn't have that honor and love of God.

   They didn't hate evil as God hates evil. They didn't glorify God either. They only knew the gods of Egypt, so maybe we shouldn't be so harsh on them.

   They didn't have knowledge. He says, For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God.

   And you shall. Be my people and walk you in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. God says, That's what I wanted.

   But all they saw was fright, all they saw was terror. And God says, This is what I wanted. I wanted you to be my children, I wanted to have a family relationship with you.

   But you wouldn't do it. Maybe there's a good reason. Turn over the 32nd chapter of this same book, chapter 32, beginning.

   Verse 37 (Jeremiah 23:37), and we see one other aspect, one other facet of the fear of God. Behold, I will gather them out of all countries. And we're speaking here prophetically of the world tomorrow for which we are observing this feast to honor that day, the millennium, that millennial day of God.

   Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them, mean the Israelites, in my anger and My fury? Oh, yes, they're going to see the terror of God, all right. That's what they identify with, that's what they're going to see.

   But afterward, God isn't going to leave them hanging in fear, and terror, and trepidation. He said, No, in great wrath I sent them there. I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

   And I will give them one heart and one way. And that they may, Yahweh, fear me. Forever for the good of them and of their children after them.

   Notice verse 40: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my Yahweh fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Do you realize that? If the fear of God in part must be given by the Spirit of God, that the fear of God is wrapped up with that covenant relationship and God changing your hearts.

   That explains, brethren, why so many people in this world are ravaged with fear, but none of them have the fear of God, it seems. They don't have this personal relationship with their God. They only know the harshness of insecurity and terror.

   They only know dread and horror of war, Holocaust, and insecurity. We have a different kind of fear, a fear that has changed our hearts to where we, yes, we fear the power of God, and we better respect that and never sell that short.

   But going beyond that, we have a relationship with God that is a part of the fear of God, and God says, one of these days He's going to give it to all of our brethren nationally and indeed internationally. They're going to be given the Spirit of God, they're going to be given the fear of God in their hearts through the Spirit of God. In its final analysis, I suppose, we'd have to say that the fear of God is a gift of God.

   It is a gift of God. Because remember, by definition, what I mentioned earlier, it is a state of having a mind receptive to God. And the only way that can happen is with the gift of God itself.

   That's what we read. If you'll turn over to II Timothy, now we're jumping into the New Testament for a while. In II Timothy and verse 2, a couple verses, I'm sorry, chapter 1 and verse 6 (II Timothy 1:6).

   Two verses here that we have read often. And now read them in this context. Wherefore, Paul wrote, Timothy, a younger minister, he said, I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God which is in you by the putting on of my hands.

   He said, I want you to know something, Timothy. God has not given us the spirit of fear.

   And the word is not probos. The word has to do with timidity, [inaudible], cowardice. God hasn't given us that kind of fear, but we have another kind Yahweh.

   That is a relationship with God of respect and honor. No, we haven't got timidity, but power and love and a sound mind.

   Those are fruits, those are parts of the gift of God, the Spirit of God. That's what we have. You know, that's a fabulous heritage.

   And we have it. Turn over to I John and think for a moment and kind of just sit there and let this soak in of the profoundness of what John wrote here when he considered our state. And many of you probably already thought of this one.

   I John 4, beginning in verse 16 (I John 4:16). We have known and believed the love that God has to us. Know why? Because God is love. And if we're going to identify with God, remember what the psalmist said? We must love God.

   God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness. Remember, confidence is a part, and trust and faith is a part of that fear of God.

   He said, We may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no timidity.

   There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love.

   These are the poor people down through the ages who have never known the fear of God. They have only known the pride and timidity of the wiles of the devil. They have never had that relationship, that confidence, and that boldness.

   That is in the fear of God. Turn for a moment, if you would, to Psalm 34. And I have a composite of the fear of God here, believe it or not.

   Psalm 34, and I'm going to read from the RSV. And before I read this particular passage, he reads you what a Jewish scholar says about this passage. He kind of grasps on to what we're saying here.

   In introducing the notion of the fear of God in this passage in Psalm 34, he says the phrase, the fear of the Eternal indicates, and this is his words. This is a Jewish scholar who's reading the Hebrew. He says this indicates the essence of religion.

   And it should be noted that the definition which follows is in ethical terms. Alright, Psalm 34:11, beginning there, and I'm reading from the RSD. He says, Come, O sons, listen to me, and I will teach you the Yahweh, the fear of the Eternal.

   That's what we're here doing today. He says, I'm going to teach you the fear of the Eternal. Here it is.

   What man is there who desires life? Remember Mr. McCarroll's sermon?

   Who wants to live and be like God forever? Because who desires life and covets many days that he may enjoy good? Keep your tongue from evil.

   If that's the way you want to be, if you want to fear God, watch your mouth and your lips from speaking deceits. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it.

   The eyes of the Eternal are toward the righteous, and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Eternal is against evildoers, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Eternal hears.

   He delivers them out of all their troubles. Because he has that relationship, I might add. The Eternal is near to the brokenhearted and saves the trusting spirits.

   Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Eternal delivers him out of them all. He keeps all of his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

   The Eternal redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. This is kind of a composite that David wrote.

   David was a man who. God said had a heart very much like mine in the book of Acts. And here David wrapped it all up.

   And he said, if you want to fear God, this is what it is. It's beyond fright. In fact, it has no bounds, brethren.

   It isn't limited. It continues to grow, just as we heard in the sermon yesterday, the day before. It's one of those things that grows and will continue to grow as a relationship through all of eternity.

   It is a relationship. As I mentioned earlier, the world is filled with terror and fright and insecurity. And it was a profound observation about fear in the premiere edition of Quest 77 magazine in the prologue.

   I'd like to read that to you today. It was written by the new editor of, or the editor, of Quest 77, a man who's been long-standing in the Journalist with the world. He's named Robert Schneerson, and of course, many of you received the magazine.

   You can read his articles. I thought it was interesting that a man of his thoughts and beliefs would be drawn to us when we become the editor of this magazine. Let me read his first prologue.

   And he deals with journalism per se, but apply what he says to life itself. He said, The prevalence of fear is man's chief blight. A touch of fear makes humans urvive.

   Remember, we're talking about the fear of God in that sense, and children fearing their parents. A touch of fear makes humans survive, but too much of it stifles talent, freedom, and love.

   As bread negates life, so courage nourishes it. You know, the fear of God, remember, has courage, confidence. More than ever, we need a journalism of courage, writes Schneerson, of hope instead of fear.

   Much of the press disseminates fear. Not for any perverse reason, but simply because so much news is conventionally defined as the record of man's inhumanity to man.

   Only the fatalists would deny that reality teems with thieves, murderers, crooked politicians, and feudal wars. It is imperative for the press to expose charlatans, swindlers, and techsmithian presidents. But something is missing when the world is uniformly portrayed as a boss canvas.

   A ghastly scene of follies, cruelties, lunacy and decay. Not long ago, an embarrassingly short time ago, I began to sense the poverty of the journalistic vision. For years I had assumed that every day, in every way, things were getting worse and worse.

   I enjoyed that notion, possibly in self-defense. I was wrong. For all around me, in new, is contrary evidence, new ideas, inventions, works of art, world records, the quiet heroism of ordinary people coping, healing, and teaching. The unknown best and brightest in a billion corners of the earth. Unknown because good news isn't news.

   Our editor, Schneerson, is captivated an awful lot. If this man drawn to us, is moved by these words, how much more should we be when we comprehend the fullness of the fear of God? When we comprehend the other messages we've heard earlier, and what we'll hear later during this festival, what lies before us and what relationship we have. We need his opening words again. They bear repeating.

   The prevalence of fear is man's chief blight. A touch of fear makes humans survive, but too much of it stifles talent, freedom, and love. As dread negates life, so courage nurtures it.

   At the beginning of the sermon, We read Deuteronomy 14:23, in which it said that we were to gather up our tithe, our festival fund, and go to a place where God chooses, and we're told elsewhere to celebrate, to enjoy it. But in that passage, to learn the fear of God. Let me read you what a foremost Jewish scholar says about Deuteronomy 14:23.

   The biblical phrase to fear God, Yahweh, is to be filled with a sense of dependence upon. God. And that was the purpose of giving the Israelite eat this tithe in the holy city.

   He would impress upon him the thought that the year's produce was the bounty of God. Furthermore, inasmuch as man and his household would not be likely to consume the whole of the tithe, he would be compelled to give part away in charity. That's how the Jewish scholar used that verse.

   And you know, in part, he's right. But I feel he limits God. He limits the fear of God to simply considering and thinking of our blessings, of our privileges, and our opportunities.

   You know how we learn the fear of God at the Feast of Tabernacles? By listening to a sermon like Mr. Armstrong gave the other day, when he talked about the family relationship and our relationship toward our children, and how imperative it is that we strengthen that bond and that relationship.

   When we hear a sermon like Mr. Kelling's, when he exemplifies the power of God and what it's like to be eternal. That's learning the fear of God.

   When we hear a sermon like Mr. Mapero's and stretch our minds into thinking about the future and how God is growing and changing, and we have a partner with that relationship, and we're going to be with Him forever. And the sermons that are to come-that's how we are learning.

   Not seeing terror and fright. But we learn about it, we hear about the terror and fright of God, and we've got to respect it. Better be cautious.

   But it's much more than that. It's the embodiment of all the rest of these sermons and messages. In fact, it includes leaving your daily routine, as the ancient Israelites were instructed, and going and counting and considering your many blessings of the year and how God has been a Father to you.

   Not just to God, He's been a Father, a loving Father. He's giving you blessings by taking time, eight days, thou be it, eight days to spend more time with your family, can you do at any other time during the year to strengthen those relationships and to portray and to build that relationship in your family?

   And yes, we receive the fear of God through the outpouring of God's Spirit. That's what we read in Jeremiah. If the ultimate and the quintessence of God's Spirit is the gift of God, and we receive it when God pours out His Spirit, that's how we learn the fear of God at the Feast of Tabernacles.

   Let me conclude today, our good brethren, by reading you what I think is one of the most grandiloquent pieces of poetry that have ever been set to print. And the reason it's so beautiful is not only the wording, but because of its rich meaning and its reality as the word of God. Turn, if you would, to Psalm 103, I'd like to read from the Revised Standard Version.

   I'm going to read ten verses or so. And every time the word fear and the fear of God shows up in this passage, it comes from the Hebrew word Yahweh and embodies all of these things that we have talked about this morning: the fear of God. You listen, and if you want, just sit there and close your eyes and listen to this relationship, to this form of relationship that we have with God.

   In verse 8 (Psalm 103:8), the Eternal is merciful and gracious. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.

   He does not deal with us after our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love for those who Yahweh, fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Eternal pities those who, Yahweh, fear him. For he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust.

   As for man, his days are like grass. He flourishes like a flower of the field, for the wind passes over it and it's gone. And the place knows it no more.

   But the steadfast love of the Eternal is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who Yahweh fear him and gives righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenants and remember to do his commandments.