Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart. 2 Corinthians 5:11-12

Often in Christianity today we hear a watered down , sugar coated gospel. We hear about a Jesus who only loves, yeah doesn’t require repentance or obedience. This is why we have so many false converts throughout the Church, there is no fear of The Lord. 

The Bible tells us “The Fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom and understanding” (Proverbs 9:10) So what does this mean? How can “fear” bring us to wisdom or understanding? Well first if you dive into the original Hebrew word translated as Fear here its “Yirah” which also means Reverence or Awesome. 

Many people will affirm Jesus loves them, and Yes Christ loves everyone as He demonstrated his love towards you on the cross. But the real question is “Do you love Jesus”? If you claim to love Christ, then why don’t you demonstrate your love? Jesus said “If you love me, Keep my commandments” (John 14:15) If a child continually defies and dismisses what their parent says, do they really love them? No, true love is a respect or reverence for someone. So do you really have reverence for God? 

Back to our original question, how can fear bring wisdom? The first question is why do I need a Savior? Often people dismiss the gospel because they don’t understand the purpose of the gospel, we have all fallen short of the glory of God, we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) How can the knowledge of sin be obtained? By the Ten Commandments, Gods moral law. If you want to know if you need Jesus, just walk through the Ten Commandments and examine your life

The Bible also says “It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31) The bad news is there are consequences for your sin, as the Bible says “The Wages of Sin is death”(Romans 6:23) the second part of the verse gives us the gospel or Good News “BUT the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23) You can’t have the good news without the bad news, right? Otherwise the good news doesn’t sound like good news!

As the Apostle Paul says “Knowing the terror of The Lord, we persuade men” How do you persuade people to need Jesus? You give them the bad news first, we are all sinners headed to Hell, the good news is Jesus Christ gave us the way to eternal life, Amen!