Fear the Lord Depart from Evil

“By the fear of the Lord, one departs from evil.” [1]

Who wants evil in their life? What good can evil do for anyone? Evil takes. It does not give. The Lord says that the fear of Him will help us depart from evil.

Jesus advised us, “Fear not those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” [2]

The One who has the final word on where we spend eternity is God. Heaven is God’s place, not the devil’s. The devil and all those who follow him to trash God end up in the everlasting incinerator. This is why it is vital for each us to turn to God, to listen to Him and obey Him. To do otherwise, is foolish.

Question: “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?”

Answers:

“He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.”

“He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend.”

“He in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord.”

“He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.”

“He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.” [3]

Now, which one of has not failed the above standard in some form or another? That’s what makes the death of Jesus, God’s Son, on the cross so vital for us. We needed someone who never sinned to take our place and become the perfect sacrifice for us. Unless we realize how bankrupt we are of righteousness, we will never appropriately appreciate what God did for us in sending His Son Jesus into the world to be our Savior.

Jesus Christ is the only Savior that the Apostle Paul preached.

“Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.’” [4]

Paul paid a great price personally to convey this truth to people.

When evil people saw a great multitude turning to Jesus, they formed themselves into a mob and stirred up the entire city into an uproar. They attacked the house of the man who hosted Paul to speak. They troubled both the rulers and people of the city. They even pursued Paul to the next city where he was preaching and stirred up the people there too. [5]

This did not stop Paul from preaching Jesus. Paul preached of the resurrection of Jesus to the idol worshippers in Athens Greece. And He told them, “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands... since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” “...In Him we live and move and have our being.” “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” [6]

Some of the Athenians mocked the teaching of the resurrection, but others believed the Gospel and joined themselves to Paul and his band of harvesters. [7]

Samuel the prophet preached a similar message as Paul to the people in his day. He just did not have the advantage of being able to tell them about Jesus, God’s Son, who fills believers in Him with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us to shun evil and do good.

Samuel told the people of Israel, “Do not turn aside from following the Lord but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.” [8]

Every worship and boasting that is not to God our Creator and Redeemer amounts to nothing in this life and ends in great devastation in the afterlife.

The solution to securing an eternal home with God after this life is simple: “Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about His Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” [9]

[1] Proverbs 16:6
[2] Matthew 10:28
[3] Psalm 15:1-5
[4] Acts 17:2-3
[5] Acts 17:5-15
[6] Acts 17:16-24, 28, 30-31
[7] Acts 17:32-34
[8] 1 Samuel 12:20-21
[9] 1 John 5:10-12