Free Revival's Golden Key by Ray Comfort Page B

lacked the fear of God. To him, God was just a good friend. One day he found out that his girlfriend’s parents were out of town. He immediately dropped to his knees and earnestly prayed, “Lord, this could be of You . I want to lose my virginity today. I will know it’s of You if she says to come on over.” She invited him over and he became a fornicator that day. Then he earnestly thanked God for what he saw as the Lord giving him his heart’s desire.
    He found a place of genuine repentance some time later, and is now soundly saved and fervently serving God.
    A lack of the fear of God isn’t confined to the pews. Some years ago, Christianity Today found (in a confidential survey) that nearly one in four pastors in the U.S. had been involved in some sort of sexual sin.
    Those who lack the fear of God will not stop at fornication. A wise man once said, “Most I fear God. Next to Him, I fear him that fears Him not.” If someone has no fear of God, he will lie to you, steal from you, and even kill you... if he thinks he can get away with it.
    How Many Lies?
    A six-year-old boy once approached his father, who, as a pastor, understood the importance of a sinner having knowledge of sin. The child said that he wanted to “ask Jesus into his heart.” The father, suspecting that the child lacked the knowledge of sin, told him that he could do so when he was older, then sent him off to bed.
    A short time later, the boy got out of bed and asked his father if he could give his life to the Savior. The father still wasn’t persuaded of the son’s understanding, and not wanting the child’s salvation to be spurious, he sent him back to his room. A third time the son returned. This time the father questioned him about whether he had broken any of the Ten Commandments. The young boy didn’t think he had. When he was asked if he had lied, the child said that he hadn’t. The father thought for a moment, then asked him how many lies he had to tell to be a liar. When it was established that one lie made a person a liar, the child realized he had lied, and broke down in uncontrollable tears. When the father then asked him if he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart, the child cringed and nodded his head. He was cringing because he now had a knowledge that he had sinned against God. That produced fear. At this point, he could do more than experimentally “ask Jesus into his heart.” He could find a place of godly sorrow. Even at his young age, he could exercise repentance toward the God he now understood that he had offended.
    After speaking of the importance of the place of fear, L. E. Maxwell said:
    Is the majesty of the Moral Ruler to meet with no respect? Is the authority of His Law of no consequence? Is there nothing in God to fear? An effete dilettantism would feign tell us so. Nevertheless all history and Scripture and experience cry out against such an emasculated and effeminate theology.
    It is the fear of God that should stop the Christian from flirting with the eternal well-being of sinners by diluting the message with which he has been entrusted. His devotion to the truth will be rewarded: “Those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them” (Proverbs 24:25).
    It seems that John Wesley had those in his day who refused to preach the Law to bring the knowledge of sin. They justified their method by saying that they preached “Christ and Him crucified.” So Wesley pointed to Paul’s method of preaching Christ crucified:
    When Felix sent for Paul, on purpose that he might “hear him concerning the faith in Christ;” instead of preaching Christ in your sense (which would probably have caused the Governor, either to mock or to contradict and blaspheme,) “he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come,” till Felix (hardened as he was) “trembled,” (Acts 24:24,25). Go thou and tread in his steps. Preach Christ to the careless sinner, by reasoning “of