Fear of God

There are different types of fear. There is one type of fear. It's the fear of danger. And that can be a good thing. Some people have a fear of driving too fast. And that's really a healthy fear. That's a good fear, driving too fast. Some people have a terrible fear of tornadoes, and that's a good thing, too. About two weeks or so ago, in F3, or maybe it was more than one tornado, actually went through St. Charles and really affected some of the brethren up there. One gentleman had his power went out for about 24 hours, and with the horrible rain, they were having to hand the scythe and the water out of their sump pump well, because it wasn't running. And then finally, he ran down to the store and bought a battery and a couple other things and hooked it up and was able to take care of it there. But other than that, his home was spared, but his neighborhood was just demolished. There were so many trees and maybe demolishes. Well, some of the places were demolished. There's no other way to put that. Another church member had extensive damage in the street right across from him and so on, but his home was spared. And so we're very grateful for that. But some people, on the other hand, have no fear of tornadoes. Now, they have tornado tourists. Did you know that? They have tornado vacations.

And they have bachelor parties offering to find tornadoes. And here's really an advertisement from the website. Here, I'll read it to you. Do you get excited at the thought of hunting down nature's most awesome storms in the heart of Tornado Alley? And do you want to view amazing tornadoes, jaw-dropping storm structures, and dazzling lightning displays from safe vantage points while learning all about these spectacles? Do you want to be guided on a severe weather intercept expedition by some of the world's best storm chasers? If the answer to these questions is resounding yes, visit our tour schedule page and begin planning your atmospheric adventure of a lifetime today.

And then it says, these tours intercepted a half a dozen tornadoes during the May 18th to 20th period. Big thanks to the Silver Lining tour guide Rich Hamill for some of the images shown below. And then they have some photographs there. But, you know, there's a lot of problems with that. And about, again, two weeks ago, three experienced tornado hunters, that's kind of an interesting word. It's kind of a semi... I mean, it's got tragic consequences. Anyway, these three experienced tornado hunters were killed last week while chasing down about two weeks ago now, chasing down a tornado.

And then about two weeks ago or so, an experienced storm chaser with Weather Channel. You'd think they would know better. He and his crew were caught in a tornado. And maybe you saw the footing, the filming, whatever they call it, the footage. That's what I'm trying to say. Their SUV rolled about 200 feet. Bruises, everybody suffered bruises, but one of the three suffered broken bones and had to be taken to the hospital. And then, of all the strange things that happened, their TV camera fell out of their SUV, and it was able to take pictures of this SUV rolling through the field.

It was just an incredible picture. So anyway, Mike Bettis is married with a family, and he is rethinking what he has been doing and wondering if he... because they thought they knew what they were doing. You get behind the tornado on the south side, and supposedly they're safe because it tends to go northeast. But it turned on him. It made a hook and it turned, and they got caught in it. So anyway, he's rethinking what he's doing because he is a family man.

He's a father. He has children, and he wants to be around there for them. So they have... some people have no fear of tornadoes, but fear of danger is a healthy thing. Another type of fear would be cowardly fear or fear of man. And let's turn to Matthew 27. Matthew 27, cowardly fear or fear of man. Here we have Pontius Pilate, who knew that Christ was innocent, and his wife knew that Christ was innocent.

And Herod knew that Christ was innocent. And yet it says here in Matthew 27, 24, when Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. You see to it. See, he had a riot going on. He had a problem. And instead of being a real man and a real hero and stepping up to the plate and doing the right thing, you know, he was afraid.

He was afraid of people. He was a coward. He was a coward. And he tried to save his position by selling out on Jesus. And yet that didn't work well for him at all, because in a few years anyway, he was deposed and then he died a few years later. So he tried to save his position, but it didn't work. And cowardly fear is not a good thing. In Matthew 10 verse 39, in Matthew 10 and verse 39, he that finds...

I'll read this in the King James, he that findeth his life shall lose it. And he that looseth his life for my sake shall find it. So, you know, he was trying to find his life. Pontius was trying to extend his life, extend his career, extend his position, and he lost it. He lost everything. But if you do the right thing, even if you lose your life for it, you know, you shall find eternal life.

Matthew 10, 39. That's really a powerful statement in the Word of God. And it is actually found seven times in the Gospels. You know, in some cases, almost word for word and the occurrence in John is a little bit different, but it does say it means the same thing. You find your life, you'll lose it. If you lose your life for Christ's sake, you shall in the long run find it. So, it's very, very important concept. Israel was troubled with cowardly fear. They feared man.

Let's turn to numbers. We're very familiar with the Scripture, but here in Numbers 13, and verse 32, you know, they spied out the land, the 12 spies, and you know, 10 of them came back with a very negative report. And they gave the children of Israel, Numbers 13, 32, a bad report of the land, which they had spied out, saying, the land through which we have gone on as spies is the land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people whom we saw there are men of great stature.

So, they had, it was a cowardly fear. It was a fear of man. And then in verse 9 of chapter 14, Caleb and Joshua are saying, do not rebel against the Lord. Do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Maybe that's where, maybe that's an Old Testament way of saying they're just a piece of cake. You know, they are our bread, and their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.

So, this is a very instructive verse for us, because if we have a cowardly fear, we have a fear of man, then that can lead to rebellion against God. The rebellion against the Lord, the first part of verse 9, and fearing people of the land is connected together. So, you see, so if you fear people, and you don't get a hold of yourself, we don't get a hold of ourselves, well, that's the same as rebelling against God. And that's something we obviously don't want to do. Let's turn to Proverbs 29 and verse 25. The Proverbs have a lot to say about fear, both the fear of man and the fear of God. But regarding the fear of man, Proverbs 29 and verse 25, the fear of man brings a sneer, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. We don't want to have a cowardly fear of man. We trust in God, we shall be safe. That's 29 and 25. Proverbs 28 and verse 1, The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. That's a very wonderful scripture to think about. The righteous are bold as a lion.

Now, in Psalm 27 and verse 1, David is contrasting the very same thing. He's talking about the very same thing. He puts it in his words and his beautiful way of putting things. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? I remember ministers saying a long, long, long time ago that when he would get up and speak as an early minister or a trainee or a beginning minister, that he had a lot of fear as a speaker, as we all have to struggle with as public speakers.

But this was the psalm that really helped him. Since God is my light and since God is my salvation, I don't need to be afraid. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Then in verse 3, though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident. The confidence that he had was, of course, in God. This particular verse has helped a lot of men. We struggle with nervousness, whatever. We know what an awesome job it is to speak, because we're standing before the great God and his Son Jesus Christ. So we realize, well, God is my light and my salvation. Of whom shall I fear? Let's go to Psalm 56. I'll just read this to you. You don't necessarily have to turn to it. In Psalm 56 and verse 4, In God I will praise his word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

So what the contrast is, I'll praise God. I'll put my trust in him when I won't fear what flesh can do to me. Psalm 118, let's turn to that. Psalm 118 and verse 6.

The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Again, the contrast was Pilate. Pilate was a coward. He didn't understand this particular passage. He was a carnally-minded man. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Now, the definition of the fear of God is simply this awe, reverence, deep respect for the most powerful Father in the universe. So the fear of God is awe, reverence, and deep respect for the most powerful Father in all of the universe. It's not a craven fear. It's not a cowardly fear. It is a healthy fear. The fear of God is a healthy fear. And let's turn now to Psalm 130. It's fascinating. We see how the term fear of God is linked with so many other concepts. It really tells quite a story. Psalm 130, verse 3.

Psalm 130, verse 3. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? None of us would stand if God remembered every one of our sins. But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. There is forgiveness with you so that you will be held in awe. That you will be held in reverence. That you will be held in deep respect because you who are perfect, you who never sin, never have a bad day or a bad thought or a sin. And you don't have those things, but you do forgive us. Therefore, we hold God in great fear, awe, reverence, and deep respect. So God's forgiveness is something we stand in awe of.

Now, fearing God is also linked with loving God. And I really appreciated Mr. Groom's sermon that I thought was just an excellent message and just the concept of what he's saying here about the importance of a father figure and those statistics about absentee fathers and just what a terrible effect it has upon the children and the coming generation. And how many times, you know, absentee fathers, how many times more will a child or a boy end up probably in jail because his father is not around. And in the Church of God nationwide, we do see those problems coming up. Here we've got a list of these campers, and there's 80 of them. And you find out pretty quickly when you're a dorm parent and they open up and they start talking, you find out pretty quickly whether or not mom and dad are really active in their lives. It comes out, it just comes out of them. Not that they're caddling on their mom or dad or whatever, but they come from, you know, two solid loving parents. It really shows. And they don't come from two solid loving parents, and they've got to work a little bit harder, maybe quite a bit harder. So anyway, I really appreciate that sermon, Ed, and it says so much. And what we're trying to help people is to understand that the fear of God is a healthy fear. You're fearing a loving parent, a loving father. And so you have awe and reverence and deep respect and not cowardly, craven, afraid, shaky, nervous, trembling type fear.

Now again, you would have trembling type fear if you decide to commit the unpardonable sin and go off into that direction. But if you're working on a relationship with God, then, you know, you love Him. And that's what this particular scripture says. Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12, and now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all of His ways, and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your hearts and with all your soul. And you keep and to keep the commandments of the Lord and of the statutes, which I command you today for your good. But again, notice verse 12 that to fear God and to love Him are in the same verse. The healthy fear of God, because we have a relationship, and I'll be talking a little bit more briefly, very quickly about that, but to have that healthy fear of God, and then to, again, you're going to be loving God as well. So again, looking at the positive approach, Proverbs 14, Proverbs the 14th chapter, and looking at verse 26, in the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence. In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence. You know, there's so many songs out there now that are anti-authority, anti-establishment, anti-police, you know, because people grow up in this society, and I am, obviously this type of thing is on my mind, not only as we prepare, we are told to do some personal studies, you know, for four camp and prepare ourselves by brushing up on some things, but I'm also reading a book entitled, Boys at Risk. Boys, does that tell a story? Boys at risk. And why do we have an epidemic of failed young men in the country? Why is there that epidemic? And it's a hard-hitting book. Obviously, you don't agree with everything he says in it, because he's not, you know, he's not of, you know, he's not converted and baptized and so on, but he does have some real interesting and some telling facts out there. So people that grow up in an unhealthy environment are going to have a very hard time really understanding that in God's realm and the fear of God is strong confidence. And that's what we're trying to put forth in the church and in camp and in the example that we set to show people, to demonstrate to people that the fear of God, there is strong confidence and his children will have a place of refuge and protection, you know, and safety. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to avoid the snares of death. So the fear of God, the awe of God, the deep reverence and respect is the opposite of what the direction that this culture is heading into. And as parents, as ministers, as leaders, as fathers and mothers, we have got to project this kind of attitude, this kind of teaching. And Mr. Groom brought out, you know, he's of a third generation, you know, coming down of problems, all along difficulties, and he's determined he's going to, with the help of God, change the mold, you know, break the mold, do something a whole lot better. And that's something we all have to consider in our own personal lives as well. So the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to avoid the snares of death.

The proper fear of God actually builds our relationship with God. You know, we're not craving or, you know, cowardly that type of thing. It actually builds our relationship with God. Let's turn to Genesis 21, and we have here the example of Hagar, and she had been, you know, cast out with Ishmael, and he was about ready to die because of exposure, you know, dehydration, and, you know, thirst, and, you know, dehydration. And so, we see here in Genesis 21, 16, then she went and sat down across from him. This was in the wilderness of Beersheba, and sat at a distance of about a bowshot, for she said to herself, let me not see the death of the boy, because he was soon to die, and had not intervened. So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice, and wept, and God heard the voice of the lad. So the boy was crying out as well. And the angel of God called Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, because God, or for God, has heard the voice of the lad where he is. God is going to respond, and really give him a great blessing. His mail was greatly blessed. You know, as a tribe, and he became a very wealthy, you know, tribal chieftain, and was greatly blessed. Now, did he use all of his blessings wisely? Well, that's the subject, you know, for another story, of the sermon, perhaps. But the point is, is that when God hears our voice, we don't have to fear. When we know that God hears the voice of the lad, or Hagar, or you, or me, and we know that God hears our voice, we don't have to fear. And when we don't have to fear, then we have a better relationship with God. We have a close relationship with God. God hears our voice, takes away our panicky type fear, and therefore we can build a relationship with God. I'd like to turn to Proverbs chapter 2, and verse 1. Proverbs chapter 2, and verse 1, My son, again, it's the loving father speaking to his children. My son, if you receive my words and treasure, my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, and if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you do all these things and you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord. So, young people, we encourage our young people to seek after God's commands, God's understanding, his wisdom to seek as if it's great treasure, seek as if it's silver and great treasure. And I would like to contrast this particular proverb here with this another book I'm reading. That's seven men who rule the world from the grave. Seven men who rule the world from the grave. And these are people who have really messed a brilliant people, genius level type people, who completely messed everything up. And of course, one is Charles Darwin. Biology is destiny. And his thinking about the selection of the fittest, and the survival of the fittest, and natural selection. And he was writing this in the 1840s, 1850s. And he basically said, get rid of the weaker and more inferior species or people. Well, yeah, he did indicate that because when Adolf Hitler came along, he read his book. He read Charles Darwin's books and thought it was a great idea to get rid of inferior people. Because they were just a burden upon society. They had Charles Darwin, and you had Carl Marx, the founder of socialism and communism. Workers of the world unite. I find that a funny statement. Did he ever work a day in his life? Anyway, and what a smart person he was, they say.

Julius Wellehausen comes along and denies the divine inspiration of the Bible, the divine inspiration of, particularly, the Old Testament. He finds four different authors that wrote the Old Testament. Nothing in there about God, see? And so he messed up a lot of things with that. Sigmund Freud, looking within. John Dewey, the prodigious writer and author and a man who had a lot to do with the modern-day educational system. The great economist, John Maynard Keynes, that says that the problem with the economy, the problem with the national economy, is the solution with the national economy is to get the government involved. The government will fix financial problems. If we're having a hard time, print more money. Flood the nation with more money. But put a big name on it, like quantitative easing. And you'll be dazzled, everybody. Well, I'm not going to say those weren't his words, but this is a modern-day spin-off of what he was preaching. And then, Sior and Kierkegaard, the skeptic, who did a lot to undermine true Christianity. And these men all basically lived and worked in the 19th and into the early 20th century. And their thinking has permeated society, education today. And they made a mess out of things. And the point is certainly well taken. These are men who rule the world from the grave, and so different from what we've just read here in the Proverbs about inclining your understanding, looking for wisdom, discernment, seeking for these things as for hidden treasure. Proverbs chapter 3, and we'll start here in verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. This book is full of men's ideas who leaned upon their own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be healthier flesh, and it will be strength to your bones. Proverbs 10 and verse 27. The Proverbs is filled with so many examples of the proper fear of God. Proverbs 10 and verse 27. The fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened. The law of God. God says it. It's true. It will happen. The fear of the Lord prolongs days. Proverbs 15 and verse 16. Better is the little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure with trouble. People are always out trying to make more money, you know, win the lottery. I think I gave the sermon a few weeks back on, you know, five reasons why you don't want to win. Well, that was just a part of the sermon. You know, five reasons why you don't want to win the lottery. And it's amazing that, you know, all of a sudden you'll have all your friends and relatives that you never knew you had all of a sudden show up at your front door. And, you know, the bankruptcy rate, this is just unbelievable, but the bankruptcy rate among a lot of real winners is very high. That doesn't make sense, but that's what happens because they just start spending and spending until they spend it all. So it's better to have a little with the fear of God than great treasure with trouble.

Going on to Proverbs the 19th chapter, and I'll just read this to you here.

Proverbs 19 and verse 23. You know, the fear of the Lord tends to life, and he that has it shall abide satisfied. He shall not be visited with evil. Again, the fear of God tends to life. And the true riches come this way. Proverbs 22 and verse 4. This is where the true, you know, the true riches come by humility and fear of the Lord, our riches and honor and life. By humility and fear of the Lord, our riches and honor and life.

This is where true wisdom begins. Let's turn to Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 7. This is repeated at least three times in the Proverbs. This is mentioned once in the book of Job, this one concept. So it really is a big concept. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Another one has the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord, Proverbs 1 and 7, is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Now, some people tend to have or seem to pretend to have, but you know, no fear. And so as I was going through my notes on this sermon, I thought, no fear, you know, I've heard that before. I see it on T-shirts, you know, no fear, T-shirts. So I, you know, wanting to be up on things, I looked it up. So no fear is an American lifestyle clothing brand that was created in 1989 by Mark Simo, Brian Simo and Marty Moats. No fear, incorporated products are sold at various retail stores. Probably, you know, 80 teenagers come to camp, probably some of them will come with a no fear T-shirt. It also offers no fear energy drinks under the same brand and a joint venture with Pepsi. The company currently employs about 450 people, and on February 25, 2011, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. So somehow they got out of that, but apparently they didn't have any fear of financial worries, I guess. Then there's a no fear music video, and I'm not going to go there with it. Just say it this way, strange. This no fear music video, just strange. Let's turn to Revelation 16, verse 21.

How hardened will we become as a people? How hardened will this world become? How unrepentant and hardened will they come? In Revelation 16, verse 21, And great hail from heaven fell upon men, every hailstone about the weight of a talent. A talent is a unit of measurement, it's a unit of weight. It starts from the Hebrew, the Old Testament goes all the way through, and it's somewhere between 75 and 100 pounds.

Hailstone is that huge, but instead of men falling underneath, instead of men repenting, it says, and men blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail. And since that plague was exceedingly great, so instead of the right approach and the right attitude of serving God and praying to God, what did they do? They blasphemed Him. Let's go back to the Psalms and read some more psalms about proper fear. Reading some more psalms about proper fear. Psalm 34, Psalm 34, and verse 7. The angel of the Lord camps, or end camps, all around those who fear Him and delivers them.

O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who trusts in Him. O fear the Lord, you his saints. There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. So those who fear God and seek after God are going to be rewarded. Psalm 112, we have these blessings for a healthy fear of God. I hope none of us have a craven fear of Him. I hope we do, from the very bottom of our being, trust in His mercy. Mercy is a great theme, maybe the greatest theme in the book of Psalms, as well as all through the rest of the Bible. Mercy and forgiveness. So I hope we have a healthy relationship towards God.

A healthy respect, love, all, and a healthy relationship. Psalm 112, verse 1. Praise the Lord, blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on the earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in His house, and His righteousness endures forever. Going on. Until the upright, there arises light in the darkness. He is gracious, full of compassion, and righteous. Let's drop down out of verse 6. Surely He will never be shaken. The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. So again, we see this very important contrast here. We're not afraid of evil. Why? Or even evil tidings. Maybe the evil haven't got here yet, but we have tidings of evil. But we're not afraid of evil tidings. Why? Our heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Verse 8. His heart is established. He will not be afraid until He sees His desire upon His enemies. And even though we may have enemies who are trying to harm us, our really converted desire is that they will come to God and come to repentance, and that they will be given the chance for forgiveness and God's Holy Spirit as well. But just to focus on verse 7 again, we're not going to be afraid of tidings. You know, that's news. You know, news of evil because our heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. That's why we can build the right relationship with God. Psalm 115. And verse 13. He will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great. It doesn't make any difference to God whether we're small or great, you know, rich or poor. God blesses those who fear Him. And then verse 14. May the Lord give you increase more and more, and may you and your children, may you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth. So again, we get blessed for the right and the proper fear of God. One more psalm here before we move on to another topic, and that's Psalm 147 and verse 11. Psalm 147 and verse 11. The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy. God does take delight in those who fear Him, and how precious few people fear God anymore. People are thumbing their noses at God. The Bible says people were blasting God when the hailstones come. You know, some people fear God today. They should. God does take delight in those who fear Him, and may we always fear God. May we always fear God and give Him the honor as due His name, because we'll hold Him in awe. We hold Him in respect. We hold Him in reverence. And God takes pleasure in that. Most of the world hates Him. Totally hates Him. Now, here's a point I want to bring out. How we treat others, especially the vulnerable, is the way that we show the fear of God.

Repeat that again. How we treat others, especially the vulnerable, is the way we show fear of God. Let's give several examples of that. Let's turn to Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19 and verse 14.

Leviticus 19 verse 14, you shall not curse the deaf, thinking, well, I'll curse Him, because He's deaf, He won't hear me. Ha, ha, ha. No. You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind. Well, the blind won't see it, so he'll stumble over it, hurt himself, and ha, ha, ha. But you shall fear your God, I am the Lord. Now, we wouldn't think, would we? Well, sometimes it happens. Sometimes the very most vulnerable people of all are treated this way, but they won't be treated this way if we have fear of God. You won't be treated this way if we have fear of God. Verse 32, you shall rise before the great-headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God. I am the Lord. So, the way that we treat the elderly, the attitude we have towards the elderly is a way that we show that we really fear God. We can claim we fear God, but how do we treat the vulnerable? How do we treat the vulnerable? Leviticus 25 and verse 17.

Leviticus 25 and verse 17. Therefore, you shall not oppress one another.

Maybe you have, and your neighbor has not, you know, in the Jubilee years coming, and you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God. I am the Lord your God. We're treating those who are less fortunate than us in a proper way. In Leviticus 25 and 36.

Take no usury or interest from Him. This is one of your poor brethren. Take no usury. It's kind of funny with credit cards. You know, it goes, okay, so a person has a credit card, so maybe he falls behind and he can't make the payment. So what do they do? They penalize him with, what, 25% more interest. Now, wait a minute. If he can't pay it to begin with, how's he going to pay more penalty? But that's what banks do, and that's what credit cards do. But if it's of your brother, take no usury or interest from him, but fear your God. Treat him right. Treat your poor brother right. Fear your God that your brother may live with you. And then verse 43.

These are, he says, you know, the slave. There was a slavery system in the Old Testament. We do understand that. It's not to be done today, of course. We understand that as well. But he says, you shall not rule over him with rigor, verse 43, but you shall fear your God. Now, have this nation, 150 or so years ago, even obey this one verse, and there's many others as well, but we wouldn't have had the tragedies that we had that led up to the Civil War. You shall not rule over him with rigor, but you shall fear your God. Let's turn to 1 Kings 18 and look at a story of Obadiah.

And Obadiah was, I would think you would call him the Chief of Staff. You know, the President has a Chief of Staff, and the Chief of Staff is basically in charge of everything under the President, right? He's just got a lot of responsibility here, is she? A lot of responsibilities. And so Obadiah would have been, in those days, the Chief of Staff. Ahab, wicked King Ahab, had called Obadiah 1 Kings 18 and verse 3, who was in charge of his house. In other words, he ran the whole thing. Now, Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. Now, Ahab was a very wicked King, and he made an oops! He chose a man that feared God. He chose an assistant that feared God. Now, Ahab didn't fear God. He finally came around to fasting, we know that point. But then, his wicked wife Jezebel, we know that story. But Ahab somehow slipped up and let a righteous man into this high office. Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, for so it was when Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord that Obadiah had taken 150 prophets and hidden them, 50 to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water. And why did this man risk his life? Not just his job, but his life. Why did he do that? Because he feared God. Like I said before, the way we treat the vulnerable is a measure of how we fear God, how much we fear God. So Obadiah, he's running the show. He's, you know, Chief of Staff. Uh-oh, Jezebel is killing all the prophets. Well, let me see what I can do. I'll hide 100 of them. At least, I can save 100 of them. I'll put 50 in this cave, and all I can feed them is bread and water, but it's better than nothing. And I'll put 50 in that cave, and feed them bread and water. That's better than nothing. And I'll save them. Now, why will I save them? Because I fear God. I fear God. Now, this particular theme is really throughout the Bible. Feeding the vulnerable is a way we show fear and reverence to God. Let's turn to the story of the Hebrew midwives, Exodus chapter one. Another downer of a situation with the Hebrew slaves. So, in Hebrews 1 verse 16, and he said, he being Pharaoh, when you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stools, if it is a son, then you shall kill them. But if it is a daughter, then she shall live. Well, there's a problem with this plan. Great plan, except he had a problem with it. The midwives feared God, verse 17, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded, but saved the male children alive. Now, I guess we can contrast that with the professional, the medical profession today, doctors and nurses who are killing, what is it, 1.3 million babies a year in this country. Why are they killing 1.3 in abortion? Why are they killing 1.3 million babies a year in abortion? Why? They don't fear God. If they feared God, they wouldn't be doing this. If they feared God, they would not be doing this. And having these horrible, murderous abortions taking place. So, the bump, you might say, in Pharaoh's plan, was that these midwives collectively feared God. And they demonstrated their fear of God by protecting the vulnerable. Again, brethren, we demonstrate our fear of God by protecting, by looking after, the vulnerable. Let's go to a third biblical example of that.

That's in Nehemiah chapter 5. Nehemiah chapter 5. We'll go to that.

That's kind of where we are in the Job right now in our Bible reading program. In Nehemiah chapter 5 and verse 14, moreover, Nehemiah was really, in many ways, a very righteous man.

Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor, verse 14, in the land of Judah, from the 20th year until the 22nd year of King Artaxerxes, 12 years, neither I nor my brothers ate the governor's provisions. In other words, because their physician cut them off, siphoned off things like people do today when they're in government. Many times they're over money or they're over goods and they take a bunch of stuff for themselves first. Then, if they think left over, they give it to the Boer people. But the former governors who had been before me laid burdens, verse 15, on the people and took from them bread and wine. Besides, on top of that, 40 shekels of silver. I mean, it's just like today, you know, only in Old Testament language, besides 40 shekels of silver, yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so. Why? Because of the fear of God. He respected the vulnerable. He treated the vulnerable in a kind and caring and generous way. And what drove him to do that? The fear of God, the fear of God. So this is very important that we understand that when we act kindly to the vulnerable, when we look out after the ones that are really down on their luck, down on their life, then that's the way we show the fear of the great God. So, I will tell you, I've been wanting to give a sermon on the fear of God for some time now. I just didn't get it all together, but the inspiration for the sermon came as a result of the assignment which I volunteered for, for our Christian living class at camp. And the title of our Christian living, or my Christian living section, would be fear of the Lord. And I think most of us understand that at camp, we take about a half hour in the morning or so, 25 or so minutes, to have a little, maybe a split sermon type message. But we don't want to call it a split sermon. We want to trick them into thinking it's something else, not really. But we call it a compass check or a Christian living, but it's a split sermon. It's the Bible, what it is. And so, it's going to be the one I'm going to give on Wednesday is fear of the Lord. I pray it is effective and helps the kids.

But then, at the end of the day, they start out with prayer in their dorms, maybe even a scripture reading. And then they walk to the dining hall and we pray for, you know, not only the day protection, but the food. And then, after we eat breakfast, we go down to another area. And we have about a half hour or so Bible study, Christian living. And then, we try to refer to that story or that lesson all day long. And then, at night, we come back and talk about it again. And so, at night, around 9 or 9.30, we try to give them an example of what does it mean to fear the Lord. So, I think one of the examples that I come to my mind would be the best example would be how these Hebrew vidwives feared God. And I think that should really help the young people because it's an ancient story, but, you know, what's the problem with abortion today? It's just as real today as it was back then. You've got the medical profession that are involved with that type of thing. They don't fear God. I'm sure there's many doctors and nurses that won't have anything to do with abortion, but there's too many that do. That's why there's 1.3 million abortions a year. But that's a real living example. That's a real living example of fearing God, taking care of the unborn. So, how we look after these kind of people that shows God how serious we are about having awe towards His name. Feast-keeping is tied in with the fear of God. Deuteronomy the 14th chapter and verse 23, And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place which he chooses to make his name abide, the tithes of your grain, and of your new wine, and of your oil, the firstlings of your herds, and of your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. You may learn to fear the Lord your God always. So, why do we keep the Feast? We keep the Feast so that we come back from the Feast more in awe of God. More having more respect, more reverence, more of a worshipful attitude towards God. That's why we keep the Feast. Everything else we might do with the water skiing, mountain climbing. I love going through that festival brochure they give us. I wish I could go to every feast site. I just can't seem to work that into my schedule, but the one that really caught my eye a little bit is, go to Zimbabwe. There's Victoria Falls, which is the world's largest waterfall. I think it's the world's tallest. I think volume-wise, I still think Niagara Falls, 50 miles from where I was raised, is still the most volume of water. But I might be wrong on that. Anyway, you can check it out. But the thing that caught me about this Zimbabwe Feast is you can do bungee jumping at 324. Basically, I guess that gorge, that's that you can go 324 feet bungee jumping. Wouldn't that be a great way to keep the Feast? So, I'm really being tongue-in-cheek because I'm going to wait until I'm a spirit being before I do any bungee jumping. But it is fascinating to me to read those little descriptions of various Feast sites. One will say, this is really the most beautiful place in the world, and this is really the most beautiful place in the world. But somehow, the write-up on Canmore, Alberta, has got me convinced that that's one of the prettiest places in the whole world. Somehow, they got me sold on that. So, at any rate, though, and to me, when you see the awesome natural beauty that God has created in this world, and so many of our Feast sites are set in those areas of gorgeous, gorgeous beauty, then we learn to have reverence towards God, awe towards God, and fear God always. So, there's more to Feast keeping than bungee jumping. We learn to fear the Lord your God.

Fear of God motivates us not to sin. This is another point. The fear of God motivates us not to sin.

Exodus 20 and verse 20. And Moses said to the people, Texas 2020, Do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin. Now, this is right in the chapter on the Ten Commandments. You know, do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you. So, don't have an unreasonable fear. Have an awesome fear of God, so that you may not sin. I may have referenced that we have a couple of bus drivers in the church, one bus, school bus driver here, and one in St. Louis, and one in St. Louis trying to get the kids to straighten up, which is going to be risky, I guess. And so, it was straighten up among themselves and treat each other nice and nicely. And so, he said one day, he said, Have you ever heard of the golden rule, as you would have men do to you, you know, do so to others? Anyway, I don't think he quoted it, but he just said, Do you know the golden rule? Yeah, they said, we think it's a dumb rule.

That's pretty tragic. That's pretty sad. They don't know what sin is. They don't have godly fear. Too bad they're not being taught Exodus 20 and verse 20. I'll read 2 Corinthians 7. You don't need to turn to it. I've got several scriptures on this. You know, fear of God motivating us not to sin. But 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 1, having therefore these promises, dirty beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The fear of God motivates us not to sin. Proverbs 8 and verse 13. Proverbs 8, chapter, and we will look at verse 13.

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth, I hate. God lists some of the things that he hates, but he does say the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. And the scripture tells us that Jesus Christ hates evil and loves righteousness. He hates evil and he loves righteousness. In this world, it's called tolerance if you love evil. Tolerance. If you stand up for the truth, well, then you're a bigot or you're intolerant. But, you know, the truth of the matter is that the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Proverbs 16 and verse 6. Let's go to that one there. Proverbs 16 and verse 6. In mercy and truth, atonement is provided for iniquity and by the fear of the Lord, one be parts from evil. So, maybe young people get together and they're thinking about getting themselves in trouble and one young person says, I'm not going to do this. Well, why aren't you going to? Because I fear God.

That person might be last to scorn or maybe not. Maybe not. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13.

Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment and every including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.

So, fear God and keep His commandments. This is the whole duty of man.

And let's turn to 1 John chapter 4 and verse 8. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 8.

We're talking about the love of God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this, the love of God, verse John 4 and verse 9, was manifested towards us that He sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. And again, we know this verse, we know this concept by heart, but then do we? Do we? Is God's love manifested, made bright and shining toward us, that we live a life knowing that He loves us? And that whatever evil the world could throw at us, whatever evil Satan might throw at us, it doesn't make any difference in the long run because we're going to overcome it with God's help. And we're going to overcome it with God's help because His love is shining brightly. His love is manifested towards us. His love illuminates whatever it is we do. And this is love, verse 10.

Not that we love God, not that we love God first, as implied, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation of the Atonement for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God in any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us because He has given us of the Spirit. We have seen and testified the Father sent His Son a Savior into the world. And then dropping down here to verse 16. We have known and believed the love that God has for us. Well, again, rather than we know this verse, we have this verse completely memorized, at least the concept, but do we really know and believe the love that God has for us? Do we really know it? So that whatever the fiery darts of the wicked doesn't matter. Because His love is manifested towards us. God is love, and He who abides in love abides in God, and God in Him. These are very simply stated sentences. They are so powerful. Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness. Not cowardice, but boldness in the day of judgment. Because as He is, so are we in this world. We're practicing Godlike character. There is no fear in love. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment, or fear has torment. And that's the opposite of what God wants for us to be. But He who fears has not been made perfect in love. So people who fear, from the point of man-type fear, has not yet grasped the great love of God. Let's just turn to one more scripture, Acts 9 and verse 31.

Acts 9 and verse 31. This is, I think, a good scripture to end on, because it links fear and comfort in one verse. And that's interesting. Fear and comfort aren't they opposite? Fear and comfort aren't they diametrically opposite to each other? No. Not according to God. Verse 31, Acts 9 and 31. Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace, and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied. The fear of God, the awe of God, the reverence of God is comforting.

It's comforting. And that's what God wants us to know about the proper fear and awe of God.