Holy Fear (1 Peter 1:17)

“Conduct yourselves in fear” might be one of the most misunderstood commands in the Bible. We take 1 Peter 1:17 head-on and redefine holy fear as reverent awe, not nervous terror. When Peter reminds us that the Judge is also our Father, everything changes: holiness stops feeling like a performance and starts looking like everyday Christian living that says, through a thousand small choices, “I belong to God.”

From there, we walk into the judgment seat of Christ, the Bema, and clear out a lot of confusion. We separate the Great White Throne judgment for unbelievers from the Bema evaluation for believers, and we anchor assurance of salvation in the finished atonement of Jesus Christ. No condemnation means no heavenly trial to decide your destiny, and no public replay of forgiven sin. Instead, Scripture points to an impartial evaluation of service, motives, and faithfulness that puts weight and meaning on even the most ordinary acts of obedience.

We also explore three pictures the New Testament uses for the Bema: a refining fire that reveals quality, an awards platform that honors endurance, and a performance review that measures what was spiritually profitable. If you’ve ever wondered whether your unseen service matters, or how to live with real reverence without living in dread, this conversation gives you a clear, practical framework for holiness, sanctification, and hope. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who needs assurance, and leave a review telling us what “holy fear” means to you now.

What does it look like to live a holy life? In In Pursuit of Holiness, Stephen shows you how to think clearly, resist sin, and live differently in a culture that pulls you the other way. Move beyond information to real application. Get your copy today and take your next step with Christ. https://bit.ly/4v5aktw

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Transcript

oliness As A Different Life

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Peter writes here, if you address as Father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your exile, that is, during your brief stay on earth. Conduct yourselves in fear. One author paraphrased it well. Create a way of life marked by reverence for God. This is really another way of saying, as children of your heavenly father, behave. We have begun a series of studies that I've entitled In Pursuit of Holiness. And in our last study, we defined holiness according to the meaning of the original word hagias, from which we get our word holy. It simply means separate or different. We use that uh word in phrases as we discussed, like holy matrimony, to refer to marriage as a different relationship. It doesn't mean that it's a relationship between two perfect people or that it's a perfect relationship, but it is unique. It is different from any other relationship on the planet. You see on the cover of a Bible, perhaps, or in the fly leaf, the words holy, Bible, Biblios, Bible, simply the Greek word for book, but it's a holy book. It's different from any other book. Believers are told we're holy. It's our status. We didn't get that after reading through the Bible in one year, or, you know, never missing church unless we were deathly ill, or when we did come to church, you know, sitting on the front row. Although you four are special to me. I want you to know that. Every Christian happens to be holy, and we happen to be commanded to act like it. In other words, demonstrate to the world our holiness that we are uniquely his. We are distinctively his possession. Peter will write it that way in the next chapter. Now, let's admit it, when we talk about somebody being holy, we immediately think, okay, we're going to talk now in hushed tones and sort of stained glass feeling and maybe organ music in the background. Or if we tell people we really want you to be holy, well, maybe we're telling them we want you to start fasting, you know, or do something severe, take a vow of silence, join some austere group of people who never smile, who never have any fun, or are entertained or entertaining. Nothing could be further from the truth. One author put it well when he wrote, holiness is everyday living. Holiness is the regular business of every Christian. Holiness evidences itself in the decisions we make and things we do hour by hour, day by day, to reveal we belong to God. And that definition, by the way, fits perfectly with Peter's perspective as he writes to these scattered believers in his first letter. So if you're not there already, let's go back to 1 Peter 1, verse 16. You remember he repeats that command from the Old Testament to be holy. He isn't commanding the Christian to start some pilgrimage toward perfection. He isn't calling believers to leave their world, but literally to engage their world by demonstrating they belong to God. Now, in the next verse, Peter corrects not only the idea of true holiness, but he adds another thought that sort of conjures up misconceptions as well, and we're going to need to clear it up. It's something that we'll simply call for our study today holy, holy fear. Holy fear. Look at verse 17. If you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth. How's that for a favorite verse to memorize? You know, I've never seen that on a coffee mug. Conduct yourselves in fear. Frowny face. That's a good motto. In fact, Peter evidently thought so. What did he mean? Does the believer have reason to fear? And why? Well, I want to break this verse down into several defining qualities of what we'll simply call qualities of holy fear. And in the process, we're going to cover other material. We're going to take a visit to the judgment seat. In fact, I'm going to give you this morning, for those of you that take notes, three outlines. Okay, three outlines. And the first one is this. The first defining quality, that'll be one set, the defining qualities of holy fear. I'll try to keep you updated as we move along. The first defining quality of holy fear is remembering your incredible privilege. Notice again the opening words. If you address as Father, the one who impartially judges you. So right off the bat, keep in mind that Peter is not writing this concept of fear to unbelievers, who, of course, have many reasons to fear God. He's writing to Christians, to those who call God father, those who really are related to him as father and child. In fact, here in the text, Peter moves forward the word father to emphasize it in the original language so you can translate it this way: if as father you are addressing him. In fact, the word if is an assumed condition. You could understand it to mean if and since you do, as father, address him. So this is to believers. There's no way around it. Clearly, Peter is highlighting the intimate family relationship that you, the believer, have with God the Father because you've come to believe in God the Son. You can't call him Father unless Jesus is your Savior. But we're supposed to fear God, the Father? Well, think of it this way: suppose you're driving on I-40, heading to the airport, you're late, you've got to catch a plane. It's 65 miles an hour along that stretch. And everybody is just poking along, doing 65. You're weaving in and out, and you're trying to get through that blockade, and you're saying, what is wrong with these people? I'm not speaking from experience, I've seen you drive. Okay, just so the record's straight. And then you spot it just ahead in that right lane. You've gone far enough in your weaving that you finally spotted that highway patrol car in the right lane, and everyone dutifully, conspicuously driving behind them. And you do too. You fear them, don't you? You fear them. They're driving in fear, and you too. That is not what Peter has in mind. Fearing God in a biblical context, if I could use that same driving analogy, is more like you getting your driver's license and having your first solo drive home. And your father is driving behind you. He's not driving behind you, and you're afraid that he's gonna catch you doing something wrong. You fear him in that you want him to see you do it right. You want him to be proud of you. You want him to say, hey, you did a great job. Driving home. A demonstration of all you've learned. That's the idea here. When Peter mentions judgment or fear, he's emphasizing the judge you fear just so happens to be your father. And that changes everything. So point number one is holy fear begins with remembering your incredible privilege. Secondly, holy fear is accepting personal accountability. Notice, you are addressing, since you are addressing as father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's work. Stop there. Peter describes this moment where God is judging. I could make a point that it's in the present tense, and literally he does daily, hold us accountable. We're going to focus on what comes to mind, ultimately the culmination of judgment, which is what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 10, where he says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Well, what is that place? The judgment seat. Well, the original word translated judgment is bematas, or we call it bima. It referred literally originally to a step, like the steps on your front porch. You took steps up to a platform. Later on, the word just simply came to refer to the platform that you access by steps. When Peter was alive and writing, there were beemas in the open. They were in political palaces or areas. Pilate sat on a beam when he judged Jesus. So you have to ask yourself, well, what's happening here? We're going to stand before, we're going to step up to a platform, as it were, before our triune God, who happens to be both Father and Redeemer. What's going to happen to me then? Well, let me begin by telling you what's not going to happen. And this is the second outline. So pull over, and here's the first point. The Bhima is not a place where your eternal destiny is decided and finalized. The Bible makes it very clear that every single human being will one day stand before God. For those who don't belong to Christ, that appointment is called, in Scripture, the Great White Throne specifically. John the Apostle has given a vision of that final and terrifying judgment in Revelation chapter 20. That's an awful event where every unbeliever of all of human history will be shown their guilt. As the books are open, Paul says in his letter to the Romans that every mouth will be stopped, that is, nobody will have any argument when God's done. Their suppression of the truth of a creator God, Romans 1 says is enough to condemn them. Their defiant resistance to their conscience and the law of God written on their heart is enough to condemn them, Romans chapter 2. And for many of them, their denial and rejection of the gospel of Christ is presented to them by another believer or a tract that they may have picked up, or maybe it's a Bible in a hotel room, and they open it up and then they put it back in the door and they slammed it in distaste and unbelief. God will be the judge, and the book of Revelation informs us that all who stand there before that great white throne will be given a guilty verdict. That's why they're there. They're simply there for God to deliver the justification of the verdict. And John writes, then and where they are thrown, their smoke, the smoke of their torment will rise forever and forever. Revelation 14, verse 11, and chapter 19, verse 3. So the great white throne is for unbelievers only. Now you have another judgment called, and that's what we're talking about here, the judgment seat of Christ. And that one is for believers only. In fact, if you're standing there one day, it will be defining proof that you are eternally safe. The only people standing at the bima, the bematas, are believers. So you need to understand that the bima seed is not an intersection where God's going to decide, okay, he goes to hell and he goes to heaven. It isn't an intersection. The destiny is already settled. In fact, if we understand the doctrine of atonement and the crosswork of Christ, we can gain a better perspective than what I have heard in the past preached, what I've heard seen written in books, this future judgment. The Bible tells us that sin, your sin, all of it, past, present, and future, was judged in Christ on the cross. And because you stand by faith in Christ, who has been judged already, you will not be judged for sin. In fact, the Bible tells us that your sin was placed on Christ, that he bore it in his body on the tree. Peter will write in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 24. Isaiah the prophet said that the coming Messiah has borne the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53, verse 6. That's why Paul can write that wonderful, rather staggering phrase to the believer, therefore, Romans 8.1, there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ. I often tell people who are, you know, wondering they got kicked out of the family because of sinning. And John tells us in chapter 1 that if you say you don't sin, you're deceiving yourselves, so make sure you confess often, not for the sake of sonship, but fellowship with God. Well, here's here's here's Paul writing, there is therefore now no condemnation as a release to our status. All of our sin has been taken care of. We're freed. And I often tell people to just circle that text and that word that says now. There is therefore now no condemnation. Isn't that a great word? Isn't that a great text? There is now no condemnation. Paul didn't write, but well, I sure hope one day I'm not condemned. I sure hope that one day I'll experience the fact that I'm not under condemnation and I'm just biting my fingernails until I get to that point when I die and stand before him. No, he writes now, no condemnation. Your eternal destiny has been determined, and even at this very moment you are already freed from condemnation because you're in Christ. So the Bhima is not a place where your eternal destiny is decided and finalized. Secondly, in this second outline, it is not a place where your earthly sins are displayed and forgiven. I've heard a lot of other nonsense related to this, which defies and ultimately denies the doctrine of atonement. You are standing at the Bhima seat not to be forgiven, but because you are and have been forgiven. There's no DVD. You know, when I was growing up, it was a real to real. It's a big round thing with tape. There's no video of your record of sin that God's gonna put on the big screen. And everybody in the church is gonna watch. You're gonna, ooh, and ow, you're in deep trouble now. No, the writer of Hebrews wrote with confidence, God chooses to remember our sins no more. Now wait. Can God forget anything? No. He can't forget anything. That's the glory of that statement. God is evidently choosing not to hold to our account anymore. What has already been paid for in Christ, his son, not to bring to his memory, so to speak, as it were. He's chosen to effectively erase from the record books the record of your sin. Which is why you confess your sin as a believer, not so that he'll accept you, but because he has and you want to please him. Like that young man driving home from the DMV with his license for the first time. He chooses to forget, he chooses to recall them no longer. Micah the prophet said of God, you will cast their sins into the depths of the sea. The record of your sin then has been buried, as it were, in the deep blue sea. And God is promising never to dredge that sea. Drain it. Bring up your sin. He has acid washed your record. Not so that people can't find it. But because he has forgiven it. Listen to God, listen to what God says about your security and his forgiveness. I don't know how it could be any clearer. He writes to the Colossians, Paul does, when you were dead in your transgressions, that is prior to your conversion, you were made alive together with him, that's at your conversion, having forgiven us all our transgressions, all, by the way, not just up to that point, but all, past, present, and future. Having canceled out the certificate of debt, consisting of decrees, that is your record, which was against us and which was hostile to us. And he has taken that record out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. In fact, this is why the Apostle Paul can write to the believers living in carnes about this judgment, and he can end his discussion in chapter 4 and verse 5 by saying, and now we're, and then when it's over, we're all going to end up praising God. We're going to end up praising God? I've never thought about the bimah being a place where I'm going to praise God. Because we have looked at it unbiblically. We will be praising God of the Bima. Why? Because the Bimah is not a place where our future is decided or forgiveness is determined. Because the Bima is a place where our future has already been decided and our sins are forgiven, and we're going to see it so much better than God one day will evaluate our service, and we're going to be in that evaluation ever so thrilled with his grace and his forgiveness. You're there, beloved, at the Bima, because you're his bride. So what kind of bride are you? You're there because he's your father. So what kind of child are we? See, holy fear means accepting accountability for behaving as his child or living as a bride to be in light of our bridegroom's imminent appearing. And Paul encourages his readers by telling them that when he judges, look at verse 17 again, his evaluation will be impartial. Now he's not saying that because he's wanting to collaborate with these believers with, oh boy, he's gonna miss anything. Now he's making this point because the judicial system in his day was plagued with bribes. Judges were known to be partial. Judges were often partial to those who could pay them. In fact, you go around the world as we talk about taking these trips and you talk to those who are serving globally and discover that a big part of the problem is they can't get their stuff off the dock unless they pay a bribe, and they've chosen not to, and it can be held up for days, weeks, and months. First century, the courts favored the rich, favored the well-connected. The more status a person had in the community, the more likely the verdict would go in their favor. Aren't you glad that only happened in the first century? Even in this country. No, it happens in every century, in every country. There is perhaps no greater tragedy than injustice sitting on a bench or corruption in a courtroom. Turns all our stomachs. So Peter is saying this to reassure the believers who are being mistreated in the courtrooms and in the culture of their day. He knows they're ever so slowly. Being pushed to the margins of their culture. They're losing their rights to own land, to own a house, to have a job, to worship their Lord and Savior. Christianity is in the process of becoming illegal in the Roman Empire. And so he says, I want you to know when your father looks at your service, he's impartial. In fact, the word Peter uses for impartial literally means who does not receive face. I like that. Who does not receive face. In other words, it's not going to be based on appearances. You know, he isn't going to get into the celebrity status of the church, you know, those famous people, those best-selling people, those people in the body that have the loudest amen and the biggest smile and everything looks great. No, he's able to see the heart. He doesn't play favorites, he doesn't care about status. His courtroom is holiness and righteousness. In fact, throughout the New Testament, we're given several images to describe the perfection of the Bemasi. Let me give you a third outline. Here's the first point. One image is that of a smelting furnace. In 1 Corinthians, Paul describes the encounter between a believer and the Lord, and he writes it this way Now, if any man built upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay straw, each man's work will become evident. For the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire. And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. The metaphor he's using is that of a smelting furnace. If any man's work which he has built upon remains, he shall receive a reward. Now we know he's talking about the Bima because unbelievers are not rewarded at the great white throne. Okay? He'll receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. 1 Corinthians 3, verses 12 to 15. The fire mentioned there is used elsewhere in Scripture as a symbol of holy deity. Our God, Hebrews 12, 29 says, is a consuming what? Fire. Our God is a consuming fire. Fire is a reference often to the holiness of God. By the way, that verse is not a proof text within Catholicism for purgatory. People who are saved through fire. That's where you go and you sort of burn off the guilt and sin that you've committed, and the better you were, the shorter your sentence in purgatory. Now, this is a reference to the moment when a believer stands at the Bima seat and receives by way of evaluation through the fiery gaze of a holy God those motives, those intentions, those plans, those deeds which were done to glorify him. And won't we all wish we had more? Of course. We will. So here's the encouragement in light of this coming evaluation. Build your life with valuable materials. Not with self-centered material. Build it with valuable intentions and with godly motives and desires to glorify God. And that means in the most mundane of things and activities, whether it's washing dishes or cutting the grass or setting up chairs or making the coffee or teaching a class or serving on a committee or going on a trip or singing in the choir or whatever it might be. It might be you just wait till everybody leaves you and clean the place up. God will judge the motive of the heart and reward that which is commendable, which might sound negative, but the positive flip side of that is that nothing in life is too small, nothing is meaningless, nothing is trivial, if it is done as if God were watching, and for God's pleasure and approval, everything in life then is potentially rewarding. Gives you a whole different perspective on cutting the grass, doesn't it? Do it well. Secondly, Paul also describes the judgment seat as an award ceremony. Those raised platforms in the first century were places where the judges in athletic contests were seated. In fact, during the Olympic Games, Peter had seen this, Paul had seen this. The Bima was the place where the victorious athlete would be awarded. They'd be given a laurel wreath made of leaves or pine needles, depending on the games. They all had different laurel wreaths. For them, it was the crowning moment of dedication. Everything for the past few years of their lives, just as it is today, an Olympic athlete, is dedicated to that possibility. Being awarded. And so they dedicate themselves and they sacrifice themselves because they know they're going to stand, as it were, before the one who gives them an award. Paul speaks with that perspective as he writes at the end of his life to 2 Timothy 4, verse 8. I have fought a good fight, I've finished the course, I've kept the faith. In the future, there is laid up for me a crown, a Stephanas, literally a laurel wreath of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me. He's thinking of the games here. And Paul's excited about it. It's as if he can't wait until the Bebest scene. It may be thinking, Yeah, but no wonder he can't wait. This is the great apostle Paul. He's going to be the only one there. We're all, you know, way back in the back 40. Paul wasn't perfect. In fact, Paul was saved just like you were. And I was a sinner. By grace through faith in Christ alone, entirely fallen. He refers to his fallen nature as a wretched man. In fact, the older Paul got, the more aware he became of his sinfulness. At the beginning of his ministry, he commented that he was the least of the apostles. 1 Corinthians 15 9. In other words, if you line up those 12 guys, I'm last. Or the apostolic community, I'm last. Later on in his life and ministry, he wrote, I'm the least of all the saints. Ephesians 3.8. Line up all the Christians and I'm last. It just got a lot bigger. Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1.15, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. I'm the biggest sinner on the planet. Sounds like Paul's heading in the wrong direction. He's actually gaining ground. He's becoming more aware of his sinfulness and more aware of God's grace. Do you think he's ready and willing and anxious to stand at the Bima because he's arrived? He can't wait. Because he had the proper picture. He had seen the Olympic winners. Maybe you have too. Those athletes as they stand. In fact, even before then, as they all march in. Tears fill their eyes. Their national anthem is played for that gold medalist, and he's filled with honorable, patriotic pride. Paul had seen all of this, and he said, I can't wait to see my heavenly country represented in those things I did for his glory. I'm going to be there one day. That gives your life a sense of awe, doesn't it? It gives a sense of gravitas, gravity to your life and mine. The judgment seat is like a smelting furnace. It's like an awards ceremony. One more. Third, it's like a performance review. He wrote to the Corinthians, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may be recompensed, paid, paid back for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done. Remember, this is not deeds so you can earn your salvation. You're there because you're saved. You're going to be given a review. Whether those deeds are good or bad, your translation may say good or evil, which is really unfortunate. He's not dissecting between sin and righteousness. Those two words in the original language really ought to be translated, that which is profitable, between that which is profitable and unprofitable. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 10. Again, at the beam's seat, it is not sin that is brought up. He's already chosen to forget it. It's service. And again, the common response of people is, well, there you go. I mean, I can't wait to stand there because of my great service, right? I didn't do much. I didn't do anything of great influence. So, you know, what kind of fruit am I going to have? Well, go back to the washing dishes part, okay? Go back to the mundane day-in and day-out God-pleasing perspective you had on life. Some guy in our church some time ago sent me this story. I guess he thought it was funny. It had something to do with the rewards in heaven being related to the impact and influence we had on people. A minister died and was waiting in line at the pearly gates. Ahead of him was a scruffy-looking guy, beat up jacket, worn out jeans. He finally reaches Peter who asks him, Let's see, now, who are you that I might assign your position to the kingdom? Now please overlook all the theological heresies of this story, okay? The guy kind of smirked and said, Well, I'm Joe Baxter, taxi driver from New York City. Paul looked at his list and then smiled and said, Oh, you're Joe Baxter, the taxi driver. Well, here, take this silk robe and this golden staff and enter the kingdom of heaven for your great assignment. Taxi driver kind of sauntered in with his robe and his solid gold staff. Now it was the minister's turn. Peter asked him, Who might you be? He says, I'm Pastor Joe Martin. In ministry for more than 50 years, I might add. Peter looked and looked and looked at his list and said, Oh, so you're Pastor Martin. Well, here's your cotton robe and wooden staff. You can go on in. The minister said, now wait a minute, that man ahead of me was a taxi driver and he got a silk robe and a golden staff, and I get a cotton robe and a lousy wooden stick. And Peter said, Well, it's all about the results. While you preached, people slept. While he drove, people prayed. The two of you woke up in the back there. It's a good thing. Listen, beloved, we're not going to give an account as to how great our service is. Oh man, that guy is going to get a truckload. That gal, she's just, you know, it's all going to back up. It's going to be, she won't even be able to count it all. We're going to give an account as to how God-pleasing, God-serving, God-directed, God-aware, God-glorifying our service was. The subject of that encounter will not be sin. We don't fear that. It's been forgotten. It'll be our reverent awe as it related to a life of service and submission to God. Alright, now let's go back to the first outline. First point was holy fear begins with remembering your incredible privilege. Your judge is your father. And you want him to be proud of you. Secondly, holy fear is accepting personal accountability. Thirdly, holy fear is refusing to act like spoiled children. Refusing to act like spoiled children. Notice, Peter writes here, if you address as father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your exile, that is, during your brief stay on earth. Conduct yourselves in fear. One author paraphrased it well. Create a way of life marked by reverence for God. With everything in mind that we talked about. This is really another way of saying, as children of your heavenly father, behave. You will stand before him, and we all will wish there were more that was indeed worth rewarding. You're gonna see your father at any moment. When my three brothers, I often mention our childhood because it's so filled with illustrations. Our missionary parents would often go to meetings and leave us for the afternoon, especially when we were a little older. One afternoon, I can remember. It was black and white and fuzzy all over. And if you're like me, you remember turning the channels with a pair of pliers. It had been given to my family, evidently by someone who didn't own a pair of pliers, I guess. At any rate, we had it. It had, if you looked in the back panel, you ever took it off, you could see these big glass, you know, um, bulbs that would just glow and uh heat up. With that, our parents drove away. Our parents never told us exactly when they would return. It's like the rapture. It could happen at any moment. Time went along that afternoon. We propped our little brother, who was about five, up on the windowsill so he could see above the bushes at the edge of the yard to where the car would turn in on Redbrook Lane. And uh he did, let out a yell. We had 45 seconds to get it right with God, clear everything up. As soon as they walked in the front door, I remember my mother saying, Did you watch television, boys? Different places of the house, you know, the chorus came in. No. She gathered us in the living room, walked over and felt behind the TV. You could have fried an egg back there. And my brothers got what they deserved. There is a healthy respect. There is a healthy awe. How do you feel? What would you act like if we knew in 45 minutes that Jesus was coming for the church? That would give you a healthy sense of awe and reverential fear. And you and I would look at our lives a little differently for the next 45 minutes. Peter's saying, Would you do that anyway? In fact, Solomon would put it this way, then, blessed is the man who always fears the Lord. Proverbs chapter 28, verse 14. The writer of Hebrews said that in holy fear Noah built an ark. He knew he had a reservation, but filled with a sense of the glory and holiness of God. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 21 tells us that the sight of God was, and he just saw the hinder parts, as it were, of the glory of God, was so awesome that Moses was filled with fear. When the church was birthed in Acts chapter 2, and the Spirit of God was doing amazing things through signs and wonders, we're told that every soul was in fear. Translated in my text, in awe of God. Same verb used here. One Puritan author wrote, the one who lives with a sense of holy fear lives with a sense of God's continued presence. Holy fear of offending God born out of love, he writes. Born out of joy. These graces grow together. Fear, love, joy, awe, respect. And when you have them all and they grow together, the believer is all the more reluctant to displease God. Holy fear is the attitude of someone who is always aware they are in the presence of God. It isn't just that mom and dad are coming around the corner, we got 45 seconds to get it right. It isn't just that Jesus might come in 45 minutes, so watch out. Fear in the mind of Peter is that reverential submission to the Lord's word and the Lord's will as you move through the mundane activities of life. Some of them are exciting and some of them are ordinary. With the anticipation of one day being reviewed. Now, daily, every time, by the way, you go to the Bible, you're reviewed. Every time you memorize a verse of scripture, it reviews you. Discipline and discipling are from the same root word. Happens every day. And then on this day, for the final review, not to discover sin, but to deliver rewards for each child of God for whatever prayer, whatever act, whatever deed, whatever thought, whatever motivation, whatever intention, out of submission and reverence to God. So there you are, beloved, on that day, and you maybe go up a step or two to the Bimasi. I don't think you will be able to stop the flow of tears until he wipes them away. In fact, in my judgment, I can't be right, absolutely certain that this is right, but I believe it is at that encounter where he wipes them away. You will also not be able to hold back your praise. For whatever you did in obedience and humility and submission, in awe and reverence for the sake of God's pleasure will be seen by you at that encounter as never seen before so clearly a result of his grace and his presence and his power and his goodness in and through your life. Which is why. What are we going to do? After we're recompensed, after we get the laurel wreath made of precious jewels. What are we going to do? Revelation 4 tells us. We're going to bow at that throne. And at his feet, we're going to place our wreaths. And we're even given the lyrics of what we're all going to sing. For thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive power and honor and glory. We're going to get it then. We're going to understand. In fact, those lyrics go on to say, For you created all things, as if to imply, and you created us and anything in and through us that was good. You created. It's his. Paul anticipated with great joy the ability one day to be able to say, thank you for what you did in and through me. And now I'm so excited to give it back. Because it's yours. So do you belong all power and glory and honor? Both now and forever.