The terror of God's wrath and judgment often produces a legal fear of God, a dread, even a horror of meeting him in judgment. But the preaching of law, sin, and judgment will never produce an evangelical or saving fear of God. It will never cause a sinner to look upon the Lord God with reverence, faith, and love. This fear of God arises from the knowledge and experience of the forgiveness of sins through the merits of Christ. "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." The damned are terrified by God's law and justice, experience the horror of his wrath, and are convinced of their guilt; but they do not repent and there is no fear of God in their eyes. It is "the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance." Repentance is the gift of God's goodness. It is the result of experiencing God's goodness in the free, full, and everlasting forgiveness of sin through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But the power of persuasion is not in the terror of God's law. It in the goodness of his grace.