The Fear of God - What It Is and What It Is Not Quotes

“the promise on which the soul is trusting is everlasting. It does not depend on the assumption that I will obey, but on the unchangeable purpose of God and the power of Christ’s obedience, whose blood made the promise effective. David said, “The LORD is my salvation” and that, “he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure.” Therefore the promise is everlasting and established upon a solid foundation. It is good forever and is for the good of those who are connected with it (Psalm 27:1; 2 Samuel 23:5).”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God: Updated for Today's Reader

“Now, if indeed thou wouldest reverence the Word of the Lord, and make it thy rule and director in all things, believe that the Word is the fear of the Lord, the Word that standeth fast for ever; without and against which God will do nothing, either in saving or damning of the souls of sinners.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“It is to be called a fearful Word, because of the truth and faithfulness of it. The Scriptures cannot be broken. Here they are called the Scriptures of truth, the true sayings of God, and also the fear of the Lord, for that every jot and tittle thereof is for ever settled in heaven, and stand more steadfast than doth the world—"Heaven and earth," saith Christ, "shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matt 24:”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“word in its several, especially of the chiefest, acceptations. First, then by this word fear we are to understand even God himself, who is the object of our fear. Second, by this word fear we are to understand the Word of God, the rule and director of our fear.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“For in the multitude of dreams, there are also divers vanities, but fear thou God"; that is, take heed unto his Word (Eccl 5:7; Isa 8:20). Here the fearing of God is opposed to our overmuch heeding dreams: and there is implied, that it is for want of the fear of God that men so much heed those things.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“fear keeps a man even in his words and judgment of things. It may be compared to the ballast of the ship, and to the poise of the balance of the scales; it keeps all even, and also makes us steer our course right with respect to the things that pertain to God and man.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“Sin and the commandments of God are enemies. If a person delights in the commandments, he hates sin because it is opposed to them. To the degree that he loves the commandments, to the same degree he will hate what opposes them. This holy fear of God takes the heart and affections away from sin and attaches them to the holy commandments. Therefore such a person is correctly regarded as blessed by God. A true profession of faith is recognized by the heart wanting to keep its distance from sin and not wanting to have anything to do with it. This love of and delight in, the holy commandments flows from this fear. It keeps the sinner from those falls and dangers to which other professing Christians so often yield. He greatly delights in the Lord’s commandments.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God: Updated for Today's Reader

“Satan is always for being too soon or too late. If he would have men believe they are children, he would have them believe it while they are slaves, slaves to him and their lusts. If he would have them believe they are slaves, it is when they are sons, and have received the spirit of adoption, and the testimony, by that, of their sonship before.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death” (Proverbs 14:27). It is a fountain or spring which continually supplies the soul. It provides many things to think about to keep the soul on its guard; things like how awful sin is, the attributes of God, death and eternal life. This is holy contemplation, this is holy meditation. It is a fountain of life. Every aspect of this fear of God has a true and natural tendency toward spiritual joy and eternal happiness. For that reason the wise man says in another place, “The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm,” that is, he will be untouched by evil (Proverbs 19:23).”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God: Updated for Today's Reader

“It is the ungodly fear that possessed Adam’s heart when he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord told him, “For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” It was then that he was in such fear of God that he hid himself from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. “I heard,” said Adam, “the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10). We see that Adam had a fear of God, but it was not a godly fear. It was not a fear that kept him from fleeing from God. A godly fear would have brought him to the Lord again, with a broken, contrite, and submissive spirit. No, this fear, like his other sin, chased him until he fled from his God. It made him keep away from God. Everything in Adam wanted to avoid God. I call it ungodly fear because it gives birth to ungodly misgivings about a person’s Maker. It limited Adam’s conscience to see only God’s justice and this led him to despair.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God: Updated for Today's Reader

“This is the honour and majesty, then, that God hath put upon his written Word, and thus he hath done even of purpose, that we might make them the rule and directory of our fear, and that we might stand in awe of, and tremble at them.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“Now this, as I said, is called the fear of the Lord, because it is called the rule and director of our fear. For we know not how to fear the Lord in a saving way without its guidance and direction.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“the fear of the Lord," saith he, "is clean, enduring for ever." The fear of the Lord, that is, the Word of the Lord, the written word; for that which he calleth in this place the fear of the Lord, even in the same place he calleth the law, statutes, commandments, and judgments of God.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“As the presence and name of God are dreadful and fearful in the church, so is his worship and service. I say his worship, or the works of service to which we are by him enjoined while we are in this world, are dreadful and fearful things.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“it is that the name of God is the object of our fear, because by his name his nature is expressed: "Holy and reverend is his name" (Psa 111:9). And again, he proclaimed the name of the Lord, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty" (Exo 34:6,7).”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“For if God shall come to you indeed, and visit you with the forgiveness of sins, that visit removeth the guilt, but increaseth the sense of thy filth, and the sense of this that God hath forgiven a filthy sinner, will make thee both rejoice and tremble.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“there is a company of poor, light, frothy professors in the world, that carry it under that which they call the presence of God, more like to antics, than sober sensible Christians; yea, more like to a fool of a play, than those that have the presence of God. They would not carry it so in the presence of a king, nor yet of the lord of their land, were they but receivers of mercy at his hand. They carry it even in their most eminent seasons, as if the sense and sight of God, and his blessed grace to their souls in Christ, had a tendency in them to make men wanton: but indeed it is the most humbling and heart-breaking sight in the world; it is fearful.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“but because by the glory of that vision, he saw his own vileness more than at other times. So again: "I was left alone," says he, "and saw this great vision"; and what follows? Why, "and there remained no strength in me; for my comeliness was turned into corruption, and I retained no strength" (Dan 10:8,16). By the presence of God, when we have it indeed, even our best things, our comeliness, our sanctity and righteousness, all do immediately turn to corruption and polluted rags. The brightness of his glory dims them as the clear light of the shining sun puts out the glory of the fire or candle, and covers them with the shadow of death.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“Man crumbles to dust at the presence of God; yea, though he shows himself to us in his robes of salvation. We have read how dreadful and how terrible even the presence of angels have been unto men, and that when they have brought them good tidings from heaven (Judg 13:22; Matt 28:4; Mark 16:5,6). Now, if angels, which are but creatures, are, through the glory that God has put upon them, so fearful and terrible in their appearance to men, how much more dreadful and terrible must God himself be to us, who are but dust and ashes!”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“When God giveth his presence to his people, that his presence causeth them to appear to themselves more what they are, than at other times, by all other light, they can see. “O my lord,” said Daniel, “by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me”; and why was that, but because by the glory of that vision, he saw his own vileness more than at other times.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God

“...Want of reverence of the Word is the ground of all disorders that are in the heart, life, conversation, and in Christian communion.”
― John Bunyan, The Fear of God