Appendix 7
Conclusion of the Matter
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

“The sum of the matter, when all has been considered: Fear God and keep His Commandments, for that is mankind’s whole duty. For God will judge every deed, even everything hidden, whether good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

What King Solomon is saying in this verse it that nothing else matters in life but fearing God and keeping His Commandments.

Much of our difficulty as wayward believers stems from our unwillingness to take God at His Word, and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and His Commandments to bring Him nearer to our own image of who we think He should be. This is in direct conflict to fearing God.

Fearing God is not just a decision one can make. According to Deuteronomy 4:10 to fear God is to be learned, and there is only one way to learn it: Reading, hearing and studying God’s Word. This is the only way one’s mind can be renewed: praying to Yeshua that He would teach you, and in turn you will learn to Fear God the way He wants us to.

The fear of God includes a knowledge of God’s justice and His anger against sin, and also knows God’s great forgiveness––unimaginable love right alongside holy anger. Both justice and love are expressions of God’s holiness, and we must know both of them to learn the fear of Yahweh (Yeshua), Psalm 118:4, Psalm 76:7.

The fear of God is a reverent submission that leads to obedience. The fear of God means having knowledge of our own sinfulness, God’s moral purity, and of God’s justice and anger against sin.

This knowledge will always lead to obedience to Yeshua and His Commandments. If believers had this kind of fear of God, the thought to mistrust or challenge Him and His Word, would never occur to them.

To know our holy God and Who He really is, is to fear Him. If we want to be filled so that we can feel happy and better about ourselves, then we will never be truly drenched in God’s Love. To fear Yahweh Yeshua, our focus must turn away from ourselves and onto God. We need to focus on learning Who God is––only then will we learn to fear and worship Him as He desires.

The Sovereignty of God
God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice. Mankind has fulfilled this decree from the beginning, by making his choice to do good, or to do evil. When mankind chooses to do evil, he does not countervail the sovereign will of God, but fulfills it.

God gave us His Commandments to keep us on the straight and narrow road of moral choice. It is our choice to obey them or to disobey them. But to disobey comes with a price. A very high price: our very lives––unfortunately in the wrong direction.

If we disobey our sovereign God’s Commandments, we set in motion the laws governing the consequences of disobeying these Commandments. These laws govern our lives, whether we want them to or not. They speak to God what is in our hearts, and if we have any amount of rebellion in our hearts, God will know. There will be nothing He can do if we insist on doing evil (going against Him and His Commandments).

God has already built into His Word the results of disobeying it, and therefore we actually end up punishing ourselves if we disobey God and His Commandments.

No matter what we choose to do in life, we will fulfill the sovereign will of God. But what will our choices speak to Him when we are standing before our sovereign God on judgement day? Will we have allowed Him to teach us His Word and He will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and then we will spend eternity with Him in Paradise? Or will He have to let us go the way of our choice down the evil (wide) road straight to eternity in hell?

Learning to Fear God
A believer belongs to the One True God, and his or her life belongs to Him. A proper fear of Yahweh (Yeshua) would be to willingly and completely give up our lives and let Yeshua lead us on His narrow Way. But of course, we need His help to do this––all we need to do is ask Yeshua for His help.

Believers today seek the honor of, and fear man. But honor among men makes belief in God, and the fear of Him impossible––so we must learn to fear God, and only God. God’s desire is for us to make the once-and-for-all decision to exalt Yahweh Yeshua over ALL––and then He can begin to work in us. Those who do this are precious to God above all treasures on the Earth. One person at a time, we need to turn this around and learn to fear only God.

We need to understand that we are unclean people, and we appear before the Almighty God Who is morally pure. We are rightly ashamed before Him, and punishment would be completely just. The terror or fear of God should be our natural and appropriate response to Him.

But this kind of fear shrinks back from God, and wants to avoid Him as much as possible. We need to get this fear back in our lives to get right with God. We can get right with God only by accepting Yeshua as He is, learning to love and fear Him for What and Who He is. As we begin to learn about Who He really is, we will find it a source of unspeakable joy and freedom that Yeshua is exactly Who He says He is––and that He is just what He is: our Creator, Savior and God. This is a first step to learning to fear Him.

The impulse to pursue God originates with God. The working out of this impulse to pursue Him is because of our fear of God. He takes the credit for our act of coming to Him. In response to this drawing, we must do what it calls us to do––we must pursue God to learn all we can about Him. There must be a positive response on our part, if God's drawing us is to result in an experience of getting to know Him for Who He really is––and learning to fear Him.

It is in our personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. Being made in His image we have within us the capacity to really know and fear Him. We have His knowledge within us. Because He is literally living within us, Yeshua is the One Whom we can draw upon to teach us about Himself and how to fear Him.

If God has given you this impulse to pursue Him, then you have the Holy One of Israel pursuing you! To know that God has chosen you is awesome and fearful, and usually brings one to their knees––an honorable and humble response.

Yeshua is the beginning, the end and the middle of everything. He is beyond doctrinal knowledge. He is always there waiting for us––waiting for us to ask Him to teach us about Himself. Listen to Him, He is always speaking to our spirits.

God's True Word
We do not change our lives, the Word changes them. When we begin to read the Word and allow it to do its wonderful work in us, we will soon find ourselves out of step with the ways of the world, and at odds with everyone who is in step with the world.

However, first we must know what is God's true Word. Reading the wrong end of the Bible might reward us with a little knowledge of the things Yeshua may have done while on the earth, but it cannot do what the True Word of God does––renew your mind and life. The New Testament was not written until about 50-60 years after God was on the earth. So how could He teach from it?

No, it was the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) that Yeshua taught from. If we look up all Yeshua's quotes in the New Testament, we will find that they are all from the Book of Deuteronomy. Yeshua only spoke and taught from His true Word, the Hebrew Scriptures––what we know as the Old Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures are the only Words that can change us and our lives. God's Word is alive and so it is possible for it to work in us to change and renew our minds.

As we make progress in God’s holy Way (His Word), we become out-of-step with the world. This will give us a new viewpoint of the world, and in turn we will find that our relation to God is changing––we are learning to fear Him!

In Job Chapters 38-41 God gives us a very accurate description of Himself, showing just how BIG He really is––and how fearful of Him we really should be. It would be wise to read these chapters to put God and your fear of Him in a better perspective. You really need to know Who God really is.