The Right Kind of Fear

The Right Kind of Fear

(No. 2971)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1906.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. ON THURSDAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 2, 1876.

"Happy is the mam who fears always." Proverbs 28:14.

BUT did not John say that "fear has torment"? Then how can he be happy
who has fear–and especially he who has it always?Did not John also say
that "perfect love casts out fear"? How is it, then, that he is happy
in whom love is not made perfect, if it true that the fear which John
meant is left in it? Dear Friends, the explanation is that the word,
"fear," is used in different senses–and both Solomon and John are
right! Neither is there any conflict between their two statements.
There is a fear which perfect love casts out because it has torment.
That is the slavish fear which trembles before God as a criminal
trembles before the judge–the fear which mistrusts, suspects and has
no confidence in God– the fear which, therefore, keeps us away from
God, causes us to dread the thought of drawing near to Him and makes us
say, like the fool to whom the Psalmist refers, "No God." Many of you
know what this kind of fear is, for you once suffered from it–though I
trust you are now delivered from it by faith in Christ Jesus and by the
love which the Spirit of God has worked in your hearts.

There is also another sort of fear which springs out of this slavish
fear–and which is to be equally shunned, namely a fear which leads to
the apprehension that something evil is about to happen. There are many
persons who have so little faith in God that they fear that the trials
which will sooner or later overtake them, will also overthrow them.
They are afraid of a certain form of suffering that threatens
them–they fear that they will not have patience enough to bear up
under it. They feel sure that their spirit will sink in their sickness.
Above all, they are dreadfully afraid to die. They have not yet
believed that God will be with them when they pass through the Valley
of Death and, because they cannot trust Him, they are all their
lifetime subject to bondage! They cannot say that all things work
together for good to them.And they often say, as poor old Jacob
mistakenly said, "All these things are against me." And so they go on,
fearing this and fearing that, and fearing the other, and their life is
spent, to a great extent, in sorrow and sighing. May the Lord
graciously deliver any of you who are in that condition!

That is a kind of fear from which the true Believer is free. He knows
that whatever happens, God will overrule it for the good of His chosen.
"He shall not to afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting
in the Lord." Resignation to the Divine will has made him feel that
whatever the Lord wills is right–he does not seek to have his own
will, but he is glad to make God's will his will–and so he is
perfectly satisfied with all that comes. God save you, my Brothers and
Sisters in Christ, from all fear of a slavish sort! Above all, no
Christian ought to have any fear which would bring dishonor upon the
truthfulness, the goodness, the Immutability, or the power of God. To
doubt His promise–to suppose that He will not make it good–this is,
indeed, a fear which has torment. To doubt God's faithfulness–to
suppose that He can ever forget His children, that His mercy can be
withdrawn from them, or that He will be favorable to them no more–this
also is wrong. To doubt the perseverance of the saints, when God's Word
has so plainly declared that He will keep their feet and will perfect
the work which He has begun in them–indeed, to doubt anythingthat has
the Inspired Scriptures to support it–and to tremble in any way when
your trembling arises out of a suspicion that God may change, or cease
to be faithful to His promises and faithful to His Son–all that kind
of fearing is to be cast far from us!

But, dear Friends, there is another fear that ought to be
cultivated–the reverential fear which the holy angels feel when they
worship God and behold His Glory–that gracious fear which makes them
veil their faces with their wings as they adore the Majesty on high!
There is also the loving fear which every true, right-hearted child has
towards its

father–a fear of grieving so tender a parent–a proper feeling of
dread which makes it watch its every footstep, lest, in the slightest
degree, it should deviate from the path of absolute obedience. May God
graciously grant to us much of this kind of fear!

Then there is a holy fear of ourselves which makes us shun the very
thought of self-reliance–which weans us equally from
self-righteousness and self-confidence–and which makes us feel that we
shall surely fall unless the Lord shall continually hold us up and that
we shall certainly die unless He shall sustain our spiritual life. This
fear of our ourselves–the fear of sinning against God–is a fear which
we ought always to cherish and, concerning which the text says, "Happy
is the man who fears always."

I have taken this topic for a special reason. You know that we have
recently had a great deal of preaching of "Believe! Believe! Believe!"
and I have very heartily joined in the evangelistic services which have
been held. We have also had a great deal of singing about full
assurance–and we have had a little chattering about perfection, or
something wonderfully like it. As far as I can make it out and as I put
all these things together, I cannot help being afraid that there will
be a great growth of the mushrooms ofpresumption! With warm days and
damp days, and with everything tending to make vegetation luxurious, we
may expect to see an abundant crop of poisonous fungi growing
up–noxious agarics, toadstools and I know not what besides! They will
come up in a night, but they may not be destroyed in a night. And they
will be a great nuisance and possibly worse than that. So I want to
speak in such a way that we may all be led to do some sincere
heart-searching and to commend to you the cherishing of an anxious fear
lest, perhaps, all that glitters should not prove to be gold, and lest
much of that which looks like wheat should, at the last, turn out to be
tares.

I. My first observation shall be that THERE IS, AFTER ALL, VERY GRAVE
CAUSE FOR FEAR. Otherwise,

Solomon would not have been inspired to write, "Happy is the man who
fears always."

There is cause for fear, dear Brothers and Sisters who love the Lord,
because corruption still remains in us. In the best man or woman here,
there is still the old flesh that lusts against the Spirit–that flesh
which is in constant enmity to the Spirit and will never be reconciled
to it. If that flesh keeps quiet for a time, it is there all the while,
just as a lion is still a lion even when he is lying hidden in his den.
He only needs some dark hour to come and he will rush forth from his
den. So is it with the flesh which still lurks within us. When a man
imagines that all his corruptions are gone, that is no proof that he is
rid of them, but only that he does not really know his true condition,
for, if God were but to lift the veil that covers his eyes and let him
see the great deeps of sin that are in his nature, he would soon
discover that he has grave cause for fear–and he would be driven to
cry out to God, "Oh, keep me, I beseech You, or else I shall commit
spiritual suicide! I must and shall become like the vilest of apostates
unless Your Sovereign Grace shall hold me on my way."

There is also cause for fear, my Brothers and Sisters, if you look
around at the world in which we live. This vile world has not changed
its character–it is no more a friend to Divine Grace than it was in
the days of the early Christians. It was a difficult thing to be a
Christian in the days of Diocletian and the other persecuting Roman
emperors, but I sometimes think that it is an even more difficult thing
to be a Christian now! To be a soldier under Hannibal and to fight
bravely when crossing the Alps must have been a difficult task, but it
was far more trying for the soldiers when they reached sunny Italy and
their holiday amusements destroyed the discipline of the army. The
Christian camp, at the present time, seems to be pitched in a sunny
plain where all the surrounding influences bend to relax the sinews of
the warriors–and to take away their strength. It is hard to keep to
the narrow way when the broad road runs so near to it that sometimes
they seem to be one! The time was when the broad road was so distinct
from the narrow one that we could easily discern who was travelling to
Heaven and who was going to Hell. But now the devil has engineered the
broad road so very close up to the side of the narrow way that there
are many people who manage to walk on both of them–they were never so
pleased as when they could first take a little turn on the narrow road
and then, afterwards, take another turn on the broad one.

Let us never imitate Mr. Facing-Both-Ways, but let us walk only in the
narrow way that leads unto life, whatever it may cost us to do so. You
must be in a very singular position if you never have any temptations.
Indeed, I should not be surprised to learn, if you live where you have
no temptations, that you are undergoing a worse trial than temptation,
itself, would be! In such a place as that you are very likely to get
stagnant. The very pleasantness of the situation may put you off your
guard and you will not live so near to God as you would have done if
your surroundings had seemed to be more opposed to your growth in
Grace. There is cause for fear, then, when all around us there is an
enemy behind every

bush, a temptation lurking in every joy and a devil hiding himself
under every table–when, as old Francis Quarles used to say–

"The close pursuer's busy hands do plant

Snares in your substance; snares attend your need;

Snares in your credit, snares in your disgrace;

Snares in your high estate, snares in your base.

Snares tuck your bed and snares surround your board;

Snares watch your thoughts and snares attach your word.

Snares in your quiet, snares in your commotion–

Snares in your diet, snares in your devotion!

Snares lurk in your resolves, snares in your doubt

Snares lie within your heart and snares without.

Snares are above your head, and snares beneath

Snares in your sickness, snares are in your death." Besides that, dear
Friends–in addition to having a store of dry tinder within our heart
and showers of sparks falling near us–besides having a great heap of
gunpowder within our nature and being constantly exposed to the fires
that burn all around us–we must remember that there is such a thing as
self-deception in the world. This is a great and a common danger. Do
you not yourselves know some who have been self-deceived? I have had a
wide experience in watching over the souls of others–and many persons
have come under my notice who have thought themselves Christians–but I
have often wondered how they could think so! I have seen that in their
lives which has led me to feel sure–as sure as one man can feel
concerning another–that the Grace of God could not be in them! Yet
they have not had any doubt or suspicion concerning their Christianity.
Now, Brothers and Sisters, do you not know some people like that? Well,
then, is it not possible that the judgment which you have formed
concerning them is the very same that others have formed concerning
you? And perhaps that judgment is true.

There have been great preachers who have been very eloquent men and God
has even condescended to use them in His service, yet, afterwards it
has been discovered that they were living in gross sin all the while
that they were preaching holiness to others. If that has been the case
with only one preacher, might it not also be the case with me? Have you
never heard of church members who have come regularly to the Communion
Table and been very prominent in the work of the church–and apparently
leading the way in all good things yet, after all–they were rotten to
the core? They had made a mistake altogether–unless they had willfully
deceived others instead of themselves–in professing to be Christ's
people at all. Well, then, if some have acted like that, may not you do
the same? I do not wish to say anything unpleasant merely for the sake
of making you feel uncomfortable, but I want you to remember that my
text says, "Happy is the man who fears always."

Sometimes to examine the foundation on which we are building for
eternity, to look into the profession which we have made, to see
whether it will stand the wear and tear of daily life and to judge
whether it will be likely to endure the test of our dying day–and the
still sterner test of the Day of Judgment–is a wise occupation for
every one of us. The man who dares not have his ship examined is the
man who knows that some of the timbers are rotten! And if you do not
like being examined, you are the very men who ought to put yourself
through that process without a moment's delay, obeying the injunctions
of the Apostle, "Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith;
prove yourselves. Know you not yourselves, how that Jesus Christ is in
you, except you be reprobates?"

There is also great cause for fear, because some Christians have been
"saved, yet so as by fre" Oh, with what difficulty have some of God's
ships entered the eternal harbor! They have lost their masts, the deck
has been swept clear of everything, they have been well-near abandoned
as derelict! And if it had not been that the eternal Grace of God had
ensured the safety of the vessels, they would have drifted away to
destruction and gone to the bottom of the sea. And what tugging there
has been to get some souls into Heaven! Do you not know some of that
sort? I saw one, not long ago. I had highly esteemed him at one time
but, from what I learned afterwards, I saw how little cause there was
in him for my esteem. He had professed to be a child of God, but he was
weeping and wailing and asking whether there was any hope for him. As a
contrast to such a sad case, I may say that I have stood by the
bedsides of many others and have learned from them lessons that I can
never forget–for they have told me something of the joys of Heaven by
the very glances of their eyes and the wondrous words which have fallen
from their lips–often more full of poetry than poetry itself! They
have seemed to be Inspired and to be favored with visions of the
hereafter as they have looked through the veil which had become so thin
to them.

But I have also seen some such as the one I mentioned just now, who
have not lived near to God, who have neglected prayer, who have done
but little service for Christ–and when they have come to die, they
have been "saved, yet so as by fire." They have had to come, in their
last moments, without any comfort or hope, without any joy in the Lord
and cry, "What must we do to be saved?"–just as though they had never
known the way of salvation, although they have been professors for
years! Instead of having an abundant entrance into Heaven, they have
just been saved and no more.

Now, you and I do not want to have such an experience as that and,
therefore, let us always fear lest we should get into such a state of
heart that this should be our case. Let us fear lest we lose communion
with God. Let us fear lest we misuse any Grace which the Holy Spirit
has given to us. Let us fear lest we become fruitless and unprofitable.
Let us fear lest we lose the light of Jehovah's Countenance. If we do
so fear, we shall understand what Solomon meant when he wrote, "Blessed
is the man who fears always."

II. Now, secondly, I want to prove to you that THE MAN WHO DOES SO FEAR
IS A HAPPY MAN. I will show you that by a few contrasts.

The word, "happy," in our text may not exactly mean that the man enjoys
happiness just now, but that he is really happy. He has the root of
true happiness in him and he will have the fruit in due time. Now, here
are two men. One of them says, "I am a child of God. I have had a very
deep experience. I know all the Doctrines of Grace, blessed be God, and
I feel that I am thoroughly confirmed in Christian habits. I may be
tempted to sin, but I shall be able to resist the temptation." Take a
good look at that man, so that you will know him when you see him
again. With a formal prayer he leaves his bedroom in the morning and he
goes forth to his business, perfectly satisfied with himself whatever
may happen. Here is another man. He says, "I believe I am a child of
God, for I have trusted in Jesus Christ as my Savior and I know that I
am safe in His hands. But I dare not trust myself. I feel that unless
He shall hold me up all through this day, I may, by my words, or my
actions, bring dishonor upon His holy name and I tremble lest I should
do so." Look at him kneeling down there by his bedside and hear how
earnestly he pleads with God. His prayer is something like this, "O
Lord, I am as helpless as a little child. Hold You me up, or I shall
surely fall! I am like a lamb going out among wolves. O Lord, preserve
me!" Now, which of the two do you regard as the really happy man? The
happiness of the two men may, to a superficial observer, appear to be
about equal, but which happiness would you prefer to have? I say–and I
think most of you will agree with me–God save me from the so-called
happiness which is careless and prayerless–and give me that holy fear
which often drives me to my knees and makes me cry to God to keep me!

Well, now, night has come on and the two men have reached their homes.
Neither of them has fallen into any gross sin during the day. They have
both been preserved from that evil. One of them retires to his bed
after a few sentences of formal prayer, with no life or earnestness in
it, and no expression of his gratitude to God. And he soon falls asleep
in perfect contentment with himself. The other man looks carefully over
all that has happened during the day, for he is afraid lest he may have
sinned against God even unconsciously. And he takes notice of things
which the other man does not think anything of and he says, "Lord, I
fear that I erred there, and that I failed there. Forgive Your child
and help me to do better in the future." Then he says, "I thank You,
Lord, that You have kept me, by Your Grace, from being surprised by
sudden temptation and You have enabled me to honor Your name, at least
in some degree. I give all the glory for this to You and now, my Lord–

"'Sprinkled afresh with pardoning blood, I lay me down to rest, In the
embraces of my God, Or on my Savor's breast

Now, which is the happy man of these two? I know which I should like to
be–the man who is so fearful and so full of trembling that he wonders
that he has not fallen–and who is sometimes almost afraid that he has
and who, therefore, walks humbly before his God. Is he not infinitely
to be preferred to the other man who thinks it is a matter of course
that he shall always stand and who has no qualms of conscience about
what he calls little faults? You may rest assured that the seeds of
untold misery are already sown in that man's heart!

Think of these two men under another aspect. Imagine that they are
sailors out at sea. One of them is well aware that a certain course is
very dangerous. Some captains have been able to take it and have made
"a short cut" by doing so, and he decides that he will take that
course. He can see that his vessel is bound to go near some very
ugly-looking rocks and among a number of sharp ledges where many others
have been wrecked. But he is a bold, daredevil sort of fellow–he
believes that all will be right and he has no fear. But here is the
other captain and he says, "My motto is to keep as far away from danger
as I possibly can. I know that in fair weather that passage may be
safe, but then I cannot reckon on fair weather. I may be caught in a
fog and not know where I am. Or a terrible storm may come on and drive
me where I do not wish to go. I shall, therefore, take the longer
course which is also the safer course." Now, in which of these two
vessels would you like to sail? And which of the two captains do you
esteem to be that happy man? Of course you say the second one! We
admire courage, but we do not admire foolhardiness–and the Christian
who seeks to steer clear of temptation, who endeavors to be precise and
exact in his mode of living so as not to go near to sin, but to avoid
it–and keep away from it must be judged to be, in the best sense of
the word, a happier man than the one who courts temptation and
heedlessly rushes into a position of peril!

Look at the difference between what these two men regard as happiness.
The one who was not afraid said, "Why should I fear? Am I not getting
to be an old-established Christian? Have I not resisted temptation for
such a long while that I need not fear it now? I feel that I may do
what young people may not do–it would too dangerous for them, but it
will never hurt me." So he talked, but look at him now! He has become
so fond of the drunkard's cup that he was seen reeling through the
streets, or else he has been so enchanted by the lusts of the flesh
that he has committed himself fatally. Or it may be that he was
strongly tempted to make money very quickly–and quick money-making and
honesty never go together except by a very extraordinary system of
circumstances! But this man thought it would end all right and that he
would make a great haul, so he asked the devil to help him throw the
net in just that once–and now he has got into the clutches of the law,
and his name–the name of a man who once made a profession of
religion–is bracketed with that of other rogues and vagabonds!

But now look at the timid man–the man who said, "I know that I shall
never be intoxicated if I never take anything that is intoxicating. I
know that I shall not be a thief if I never take anybody's money but my
own. I know that if I never indulge even in indelicate expressions, if
I never think of or look at anything that is impure, I shall not be
likely to go in that evil way which I utterly abhor." That is the man
who is both safe and happy! "The man who fears always." Some people
call him a milksop and say that he has not spirit enough to do as
others do–but just look at him. He can go in and out of the House of
God as an honorable Christian, while the other one, of whom I have told
you, is a moral wreck and his name is a by-word and a reproach! I can
bear my testimony that I have seen high professors so act as to become
a stench in our nostrils and, on the other hand, I have seen poor,
timid girls who were half afraid they were hypocrites, and poor
trembling men who used to come to me for comfort and counsel, lest they
should be deceiving themselves. I have seen many of the latter class
enter the Port of Glory like ships in full sail coming into the
harbor–while those other vessels, with their painted hulls that seemed
to tempt a shot from the enemy–have gone to the bottom and they have
been lost to us, and lost to themselves!

Now I will suppose that both these men whom I have been describing,
have fallen into a certain sin. See what a difference there is between
them now! The man who has not any fear says, "Well, yes, there is no
doubt that I did wrong, but then"–and he begins telling all about the
circumstances under which he says that he was "overtaken." He tries to
make out that he was an innocent victim who was deceived by somebody
else. Now listen to "the man who fears always." "Ah," he says, "I have
sinned." And he hangs his head in shame and then adds, "I have no
excuse to make and you cannot say anything to me that will be half so
heavy and so hard as what I say to myself. God will forgive me, I have
no doubt, for I have truly repented, but I can never forgive myself."
The first man has dry eyes and a proud, defiant spirit. And it is very
likely that, having committed that one great sin, he will go on and
commit another–and yet another–and continually get harder and harder
in his heart, yet all the while talk about being one of God's elect who
will be saved at the last.

Well now, that man is not a happy man. I pray that none of us may ever
experience the wretchedness of having a seared conscience and get into
a state of indifference in which we can trifle with sin and yet pretend
to be the servants of God. But, oh, if we dofall into sin, may the Lord
make us very tender about it! Let this be our prayer– "Quick as the
apple of an eye, O Lord, my conscience make! Wake my soul, when sin is
near, And keep it still awake."

Dear Brothers and sisters, may you, by God's Grace, be preserved from
sin! But if sin should come upon you unawares, may your bones be broken
by it and may you feel that your very heart is wounded because you have
wounded your God! To repent of sin is one of the hallmarks of a
Christian, but to have a hardened, untrembling heart is one of the sure
marks of the reprobate who is far off from God!

I might thus continue to show you, by a hundred contrasts, that the man
who fears always is the really happy man. Suppose that we are fishing
and that we have cast our lines into the water. There is one fish that
is altogether afraid of our bait and of all our arrangements–and he
swims as far as ever he can up or down the stream away from us. But
here are some fish that are quite charmed with our worm. They say that
they do not mean to swallow the hook, but we do not believe them. They
say that they mean to get the worm off without letting the hook catch
hold of them. They have very clever ways of sucking worms off hooks and
they are going to show what they can do–and soon they are caught. But
happy is the fish that fears the bait as well as the hook, and so keeps
right away from both of them! When some of us were boys, we used to set
traps for the sparrows and other birds in winter time and we would
watch to see them go in to eat our crumbs inside the trap. Sometimes
there would come a bird that had seen our arrangement before and had
been almost caught in it and knew all about it. Well, as soon as ever
he looked at it, he made up his mind that he would give our trap a very
wide berth, so he flew away as far as he could. But there were some
other birds that would come and look at the trap and even perch on
it–and presently some of them would get into it. Of course they did
not mean to be caught! They thought they knew the way to go just far
enough into the trap to get those grains of wheat and then to fly
out–but once in, they could not fly out.

And sinners are just as foolish as those sparrows! Of course they do
not mean to be caught! They will fly out of the trap all right when
they have eaten the wheat! Yes, but I say, happy is the bird that fears
always, and that keeps far off the trap–and unhappy is the bird that
thinks it can go just so far into the trap, but fully intends to go no
further. Oh, how many young men and young women have been ruined
because they have gone just so far into sin, meaning to stop there! But
they could not stop there–they began to slide and the ice carried them
along where they never meant to go. The only safe plan is to keep off
the ice altogether. If you do not take the first wrong step, dear
Friend, you will not take the second! And if Divine Grace makes you
fear and tremble before you begin to go down the hill, you are not
likely to be found among those who have fallen to the bottom. Happy is
the man, in this sense, who fears always.

III. But I must pass on to notice, in the third place, that THE MAN WHO
HAS THIS FEAR IN HIS HEART WILL DO WELL TO HAVE IT THERE
CONTINUALLY–"Happy is the man who fears ALWAYS."

Have this fear concerning your holy things. For instance, when you come
up to God's House to worship, be afraid, as you are coming along, lest
you should be only a lip-server and get no blessing. If you are afraid
of that happening, it will not happen. And when you are sitting in your
pew, say to yourself, "Now, it is possible for me to become a mere
formalist in worship and I may be listening to the Word of God with my
ears, yet not receiving it into my heart. I am sorely afraid lest it
should be so." Brothers and Sisters, it will not be so if you are
afraid that it will be! And when the service is over, say to yourself,
"I am afraid that I did not worship God in spirit and in truth as I
should have done. I fear that I did not praise Him, or pray to Him with
my whole heart as I ought to have done. O Lord, pardon the iniquity of
my holy things!"

I do not think any man ever preached as he ought to have preached if he
is satisfied with his own efforts. I sometimes feel thankful to God for
the feeling of dissatisfaction that possesses me every time I preach. I
often feel, as I am going home, that I should like to go back and try
to do it so much better–I do not mean better in an oratorical way, but
pressing the Truth of God home to men's hearts more earnestly and more
simply. I think that in this sense it is right that we should fear
always. Ah, my dear young Brother in the College, you are afraid that
you will become cold-hearted, but you never will as long as you cherish
such a fear as that! If you are afraid that you will, by-and-by, preach
in a perfunctory, official manner, you will not fall into that bad
habit if you live in dread of doing so. If you are afraid that you will
not set a good example to your people, I believe that you will set them
a good example. But if you ever feel, "Oh, I can preach and practice,
too–I am all right," it may happen that God will rebuke your pride and
let you see–and

perhaps let your enemies see–what a poor fool you are! Blessed is the
man who, in his holy things, fears always–the man who is afraid when
he is alone on his knees, lest he should not pray rightly–the man who
is afraid lest, either in public or in private, he should act the
hypocrite before his God!

And happy is the man who has this holy fear in his own house–the man
who says, "I am afraid lest I should not act as a Christian father
ought to act towards his children, or as a Christian husband should act
towards his wife." Other members of the household may say, "I fear lest
I should not be such a wife, or such a child, or such a servant, or
such a master as I ought to be." These are the people who usually are
what they should be–those who are afraid that they are not! Those who
are the most anxious lest they should fail are generally those who do
not fail.

And I would like you also to be anxious in your business, for fear lest
you should in any way take advantage of anybody–lest, in the measure,
or in the weight, or in the price, or in the invoice, these should be
any mistake which would unjustly benefit you. The man who is afraid of
anything like that will be an honest tradesman, you may rest assured of
that! As for the servant or the workman who is afraid that he will not
give a fair day's work for a fair day's wage, and the employer who is
afraid that he will not give his servant or workman as much as he ought
to give him–I can only say that I wish we had many more of that sort
of men than we already have, though I know a good many of that sort. If
we are afraid of wronging one another and not loving our neighbor as
ourselves, that is a healthy kind of fear– and the more we have of it,
the more happy we shall be!

And if, perhaps, there should not seem to be in yourself any special
cause for this fear just now–though "let him who thinks he stands take
heed lest he fall"–then begin to be afraid for the church of which you
are a member. This is a fear which is always resting heavily upon
me–the fear lest we should lose our earnestness in prayer–lest we
should not care as much as we ought for the souls of men–lest the
members of our church should grow worldly–lest we should become cold
and indifferent towards our dear Lord and Master. Never lose this
wholesome kind of fear concerning this church and your fellow members,
or concerning any other church with which you are connected.

Then, have a solemn fear about your own children,lest, possibly, you
should not have trained them up as you should have done, or should not
have prayed for them as you should have done, or lest your own example
should not have been such as they could safely follow. Be afraid for
your children, as Job was for his. When they met together to feast, he
"offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job
said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their
hearts." The man who is thus afraid that things may be wrong is the man
who is most likely to keep everything right. Many a man who becomes a
bankrupt is so largely because he does not examine his books. He says
that he does not like looking into his books–they are very unpleasant
literature to him–and he never sees to the details of his affairs
himself. He leaves this to John, and that to Thomas, and the other to
one clerk and something else to another. And then one day he wakes up
to find that everything has gone to smash! Do not let it be so in your
household, or in your temporal affairs, or in your spiritual concerns,
but look into everything yourself and watch everything carefully, for,
in this way, by fearing always, you will be both safe and happy in the
hands of God.

IV. Now, lastly, THERE ARE SOME WHO HAVE, INDEED, VERY GRAVE CAUSE TO
FEAR.

There are some of my Hearers at this service–I am glad that they are
here–who, I am afraid, have cause to fear in a far deeper sense than
that in which I have used my text. Some of you are not saved–you know
you are not. You have never had your sins forgiven, you have never
sought and found mercy through the atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
God's only-begotten Son. And some of you are very ill–you were only
just able to get here tonight. What? So ill as that, yet with no Savior
to help you? Sick, well-near unto death, yet without a Savior? Likely
to die soon, for you are consumptive, yet you have no Savior? Let me
appeal to you, my dear Friend, is this wise? Can you afford to run such
a terrible risk? Why, the healthy may die at any moment, but as for
you, death is already at your door! So, surely you cannot afford to
trifle with eternal things.

And some of you are getting old, yet you are not saved. Sixty years of
age, and not saved? Seventy, eighty, and not saved? What are you doing?
A man told me, the other day, that he would not come to hear me again,
for, he said, "The last time I came, you called me an old fool." Why
was that? I asked. "Why," he replied, "you said that an old sinner was
an old fool." So I said to him, "Are you an old sinner, then? Because
if you are, you are an old fool!" And he could not deny it, for we are
all fools till we are saved by Jesus Christ! A man must be a fool to
run the risk of losing his immortal soul! I have heard that a man once
went up to the top of the spire of Salisbury Cathedral and stood on his
head. What do you think he was? "A fool," you say. Yes, so he was–yet
he only risked his neck–but you are risking your soul's eternal
welfare, risking the loss of Heaven and running a terrible risk of
going to Hell forever! O Friend, is this wise? You know it is not and
that I am only speaking the truth when I tell you that you are a
fool–and one of the worst of fools!

O Sirs, if you are not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are
standing over the mouth of Hell, upon a single plank and that plank is
rotten! You are hanging over the jaws of Perdition by a single hair and
that hair is snapping! I looked down my well, this afternoon, as a man
was going down it to do some necessary work, and I said to him, "Oh, do
be careful! Pray be very careful!" I felt such dread upon me lest,
possibly, the man should fall while he was going down that great depth
into which I looked till it made me giddy–and I cannot bear to think
of some of you, who are in far greater danger, for you are hanging over
the mouth of Hell with only a rotten rope to hold to! Some of you may
be in Hell within a week. I cannot guarantee that any one of you will
live ten minutes longer. All the physicians in the world would not be
able to guarantee to any one individual that he should live even for
five minutes! You are always liable to death and in danger of the wrath
to come. Therefore, escape for your lives, I entreat you!

And meanwhile I would put you in fear about this matter, that, through
this fear, you may be driven to the only place of safety, even to Jesus
Christ, who was lifted up upon the Cross and now is exalted on high a
Prince and a Savior! There is life in Him! There is life for you at
this moment if you will only trust in Him! There is pardon for you now
if you will only believe in Him!