Fear of the Lord

Well, lately, I guess over the last few months, I've been covering some things periodically that are foundational to our belief, foundational to who we are, foundational to our very walk with God. And as we talk about our walk with God, there's just certain things that we have to be.

You know, not too long ago I gave a sermon on loving God with all your heart and all your soul.

And those are words that we've heard throughout our church life. But those are words that have to have some meaning to us because God has some meaning in them. When He says, "'Love me with all your heart and all your soul,' that's something we do over the course of our lifetime." Last week, we talked about words to people that are about to cross over, as Moses said them, and then we adapted them to our situation here today.

As we are on the verge of perhaps the end of this age, as we watch things going on around us, and certainly Jesus Christ returning to establish a kingdom and a government that will be good for all people. And other aspects that we've looked at, and today I want to talk about another one of those things that we've heard of all our life and draw attention to it.

For many of us, it'll be a refresher as we talk about it. For some of us, it may be the first time that we've heard about it. And I can't come up with it. I couldn't come up with any other better way to introduce the subject than to drawing our attention to a few of the stories in the Bible. So you can be turning over to Judges, and let me give you some background on the first family that we're going to talk about here.

In modern-day language, we'd say these are two church families we're going to look at. Both had the knowledge of the truth. Both of them were following God, or at least believe they were following God. One family, when they were faced with a test, they came through it with flying colors.

The other family who, looking from the outside in, you would think maybe had more reason to know God and what His will and what His purpose was, they didn't fare so well. So the first family we're going to look at here, we can find in Judges 11. And His name is one that usually, when people hear it, there's not questions, but He's an interesting, interesting man. Jepsa is here in Judges 11. And Jepsa, you remember, was the illegitimate son of Gideon. And as he grew older, his brothers didn't want him anywhere around. So they pretty much banned him from the family. And he went out, he developed his own following where he was. But he apparently was a man of valor.

Now, when Israel ran into trouble with the people of Ammon, they turned to Jepsa. They had no real leader in Israel that they felt comfortable with to offset the advances of Ammon. So they went to Jepsa, knowing he was a brave man and knowing that he was one who had some talents to that regard.

And he found it quite ironic that they would come looking to him after they couldn't wait to get rid of him and not have him part of the family. And so he talks with him, and he pretty much establishes the fact that he's going to be one of their leaders. Well, Jepsa obviously was a man of God. And he knew that even though he had some skills in war, without God on his side, there wasn't going to be a victory. So here in Judges 11 and verse 29, he makes a vial to God. Judges 11 and verse 29, The Spirit of the Eternal came upon Jepsa, and he passed through Gilead, and he passed through Mz.

Pah, and from Mz. Pah of Gilead, he advanced toward the people of Ammon. Verse 30, And Jepsa made a vow to the Eternal, and said, If you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, which shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering. Now, you know the rest of the story, and you know what happens here.

Jepsa makes a promise to God. Jepsa is engaging God. He wants this. If it's God's will, that he will deliver Ammon into Israel's hands, and he makes the vow without, some people say, thinking it all the way through. Well, you probably know the rest of the story. God does deliver the people into his hands. Let's read down in verse 34.

Nope, nope. Let's finish the story up here. Verse 32, Jepsa advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he defeated them from error, as far as minutes, twenty cities with a very great slaughter. And the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

And so Jepsa is coming home victorious. God has answered his prayer. God has defeated this great enemy of theirs. And when Jepsa came to his house at Mitzvah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing. And she was his only child. Besides her, he had neither son nor daughter.

And it came to pass when he saw her that he tore his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low. You are among those who trouble me, for I have given my word to God, and I can't go back on it.

Now, you can just imagine what Jepsa thought when he saw his daughter come out of that house.

And he knew well what he had promised God. He didn't make any provision to say, Anything except my daughter, anyone except her, he said, Whatever comes out, whoever or whatever I see first, I will dedicate to God. And then we can talk about the conjunction in there, and I will offer it as a burnt offering. And Jepsa knew he had a commitment that he had made.

We don't read about Jepsa going through his mind, thinking, What did I tell God? How do I get out of this? How do I get out of this? How do I undo what I said? Can I tell God, Well, this isn't what I meant. Obviously, you know, I wasn't going to dedicate my daughter to you.

And as some people think, offer her up as a burnt offering, Jepsa knew the commitment that he had made. And he told his daughter what he had made. In verse 36, her reaction is quite remarkable for a young lady. She said to him, My father, if you've given your word to the Lord, do to me, according to what has gone out of your mouth, because God has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon. Look at her attitude. She didn't bargain for this. She wasn't part of what her father had said. And she said, But if you said it to God, then it has to be done exactly as you said. And then later on, in verse 39, the end of verse 39, it says that Jepsa, the second part there, carried out his vow with her, which he had vowed. She knew no man. And for some of you, there may be questions in your mind now. What does that exactly mean? And if there are, we can talk about those after services at another or at another time. But I want you to think about Jepsa, and I want you to think about his daughter. People that followed God, who had a great respect for God, and in the face of something that Jepsa didn't think through, he never thought of the possibility that it would be his daughter. When it came to it, he was willing to do for God exactly what he had promised to do. And the daughter also knew God. Because, you know, she could have gone run off running away as well. She could have been screaming like, What were you thinking? There's no way I'm going to let myself, or this happened to me. But she was very compliant, and she was very yielded to God. If you said it to God, then you have to follow through with it. It's something about that family that's very encouraging, very inspiring. Just a couple books forward, we find another family of God in 1st Samuel 2. And this family, where Jepsa was an outcast, if you will, who was brought back into Israel as their leader, this family had always had a man who was looked up to. He was the high priest, and he was responsible for seeing how everything got done in the tabernacle there, and that it was being done according to God's way. And his sons would have exceeded to that same position, and they should have been well taught by him in the service of God. But Eli, who was the high priest at that time, we find a different story here. 1st Samuel 2, and in verse 12, we find about the sons, these children who grew up in the church, if you will. Now, the sons of Eli were corrupt. They didn't know the eternal. They didn't know God.

Well, they knew who he was. They knew there was a God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They could probably repay back all the Ten Commandments. They could maybe repay back all sections of the law. They had knowledge. They knew what the rules of the tabernacle were. They knew how they were supposed to be doing things. But they didn't know God. They didn't know him as didn't follow him.

And the priest touched them—I don't want to read verse 13—he talks here about some of the things that they did with the sacrifices that were brought to them that were contrary to what God had set up to be. So let's drop down to verse 17. The sin of the young men was very great before the Lord. For men abhorred the offering of the Lord. Well, what was going on in Israel at that time? They were bringing their sacrifices just as they were supposed to. And what was supposed to happen at the tabernacle was these burnt offerings, trespass offerings, thin offerings, were all there. They knew that it was also food for the priest, but the young men were abusing it. And so when the people brought their offerings there, they knew what they were supposed to do, but they were uncomfortable with what the young men were doing. It would be like if you were sending your tithes or offering into someone, and then you saw someone at the top who was just spending it on anyone. You hear some of that in political parties sometimes, and how the contributions go, and then the candidate has used it for themselves. Well, it kind of makes you step back and think, I guess, and think, well, I wish I wouldn't have sent anything there. And that was what was happening in Israel. They didn't want to do the offerings because they knew what these young men were doing with it. And even though they knew they should, they didn't like what was going on at the Tabernacle, if you will. So, verse 18, Samuel ministered. I don't want to read about Samuel either. Let me see where I want to go next. Verse 22. Eli. Okay, so we have this sin that's going on in the Tabernacle, and Eli, who's the high priest, is very well aware of what is happening. Verse 22, Eli was very old, and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they even lay with the women who assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of Meeting. So he had all the knowledge of what was going on with the sacrifices and offerings, and he also knew this other thing. Nothing was hidden from him. So he said to them, Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. No, my sons, it's not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord's people transgress.

They could have been examples. And now the people, some of them who just didn't want to do it because they didn't want Eli's sons to be able to ride herd with the sacrifices they gave, now they were even withholding some of that because of their actions, they were causing other people to sin. And there's a lesson for all of us in that, isn't there? When God calls us to His way of life, He expects us to be learning it and to be inculcating it into our lives, that it becomes part of our mind, part of our heart, part of our being. And other people who look at it from outside who may read some literature or you may have talked to instead, you know, I keep all. I believe that we keep the way and live the way that Jesus Christ did.

Everything He believed, I believe. Everything He did, I do. And when they look at you, are they seeing that? Are they seeing that somehow you're just kind of ignoring this and maybe maybe in business something is going differently than what you think? Maybe they see how you talk, how you act, and maybe it even makes them or someone even new at church might see us doing something and say, well, if they can do that, I can do that too. It's incumbent on all of us to live the way of life God has called us to. These young men weren't doing that and the people of Israel were either withholding what they should have done or they were being led to sin too, thinking if the high priest sons can do this, I can do it as well. So Eli goes on to say in verse 25, if a man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him? And that says, "...neither the less these two young men did not heed the voice of their father because the Lord desired to kill them." Well, God doesn't desire to kill anyone. His will is that everyone would live. But these young men, by their pattern of lives, had shown they weren't changing. They weren't listening to Dad. They weren't listening to God. They were simply sinning against God. And he was going to take action against them because they were corrupting the very temple and his place of life. And so, indeed, as you go through this story, you find that God did do that. Eli, Hophni and Phineas all died on the same day. God took care of that family.

Now, if we look at the two families, if we look at Jephthah and his daughter, and we see their reaction in the face of a vow that was made that turned out differently. It had a different outcome and a different person involved in it than Jephthah ever thought.

And then we see Eli, Hophni and Phineas here, who have responsible positions in how they handled them. Two church families, if you will. Two people who knew God or knew of him.

Two people who could repeat back much of the law, just like you and I can.

Two people who were supposed to be living that way. A one family—what an example. If we said it to God, then we're not going to talk about it. Father and daughter agree. You follow through on exactly what you said you were going to do. You said it to God, and you promised Him.

And the other family just kind of sluffs off. Whatever it is, if it was offered to God, we treat it as just every day, common stuff that comes our way.

What's the difference between those two families? They both knew the same thing. They both were trained in the same way. What resulted in one's behavior and the others? Well, we get part of the clue in verse 27 here, 1 Samuel 2.

A man of God came to Eli and said to him, Thus says the eternal, Did I not clearly reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt and Pharaoh's house? Didn't I choose him, out of all the tribes of Israel, to be my priest, to offer upon my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before me? And didn't I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? Why, then, did you kick it, or do you kick it my sacrifice than my offering, which I have commanded in my dwelling place?

Why do you honor your sons more than me, to make yourselves fat with all the best of all the offerings of Israel, my people?

See what God is telling Eli? There's a difference. You may know the law. You may be going through the daily rituals of what happens at the temple, you personally, Eli. But you also know some things that are happening in your household that you haven't taken any action on. And you've held your sons up that you will follow and allow them to do what they want rather than doing my will.

And it was a very corrupt time in the temple at that time.

Let's turn back to Psalm 36. Psalm 36.

Here in one verse, we can find the answer and the difference between Jephthah's family and Eli's family. Psalm 36, verse 1, An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked.

There is no fear of God before His eyes.

There is no fear of God before His eyes.

The fear of God. It's something from the time we came in the church, maybe in churches before, we've heard of the fear of God. God says many times in the Bible, Old Testament to New Testament, we'd better, or part of our being, better be a healthy fear of Him.

The fear of God, the fear of God, the healthy, reverential fear, not a terror, not a dread, but a heavy, reverential fear, recognizing who God is that Jephthah and his daughter had.

And they thought, you know what? No matter how difficult this is, we have to follow through.

We have to do it. We promised it to God. God. No higher authority than that. And if we said it to Him, how can we lie to Him about what we did? Meanwhile, Eli and his family were like, it's God's? Well, that looks pretty good. I'll just use it for myself. And I'll just kind of abuse it and do whatever needs to happen here and take the advantages and just kind of forget God even exists.

Meanwhile, perhaps repeating back to the people what the book of the law said during that time.

Let's turn back to Deuteronomy. Review a few places in the Bible here where the fear of God is very prominent in what God, through Moses and through the apostles in the New Testament, tell us that must be part of our makeup. Deuteronomy 6 and verse 1.

That's where we started last week with the sermon. Now, this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the eternal, your God has commanded to teach you that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life that your days may be prolonged. When you go over, God says, the fear of God must be there. You keep the commandments. Now, we'll see here. Let's go back over to the same chapter in verse 24.

The Lord or the eternal commanded us to observe all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always. He commanded us to keep all these statutes to live this way of life. He tells us to make them and write them in our minds, on our hearts as part of our souls. He tells us in verses 4 through 9 there to find them. When someone sees you, they know the way of life that you live because that's just who you are. That's how you behave. That's how you live life. And when they walk into your house, they know how your house is ruled because it is you. You live by the word of God and not by the rules or the norms of society when they transgress or when they transverse to each other. And notice, he says here, he commands us to observe all these statutes to fear God for our good always.

Because whatever God commands us to do, whatever he puts us through, whatever tests, whatever trials, whatever he teaches us is for our good always. Because while we may look at what's happening next month or next year, God is looking at eternity. He's looking at where will you be when Jesus Christ returns. And he's getting you and me ready for that. And he knows he's got a lot of work to do on me and that he is going to put us through trials. He's going to try us. He's going to test us. He's going to show us the things that are wrong to see. Will we abide by him?

Or will we say, no, this is what I want to do? Not that bad. I don't need to follow everything God says. How is that hurting anyone? But the fear of God. But what God puts us through is for our good always. He's looking at the future and what he wants us to be and where he wants us to be.

Let's go over to Deuteronomy 10. In this chapter also and throughout, throughout Deuteronomy, throughout the Old Testament, over and over and over you will find the fear of God as one of the things that God's people are admonished to have. Chapter 10, Deuteronomy 12. Now Israel. Or we could say now, people of God, what does the eternal your God require of you? What does he require of you? But to fear him, to walk in all his ways and to love him, to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul and to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes, which I command you today. And he adds, for your good. What does he require? Fear him, serve him, love him with all your heart and soul and keep his way of life.

Let it be written on your mind and heart. Let it become you. Fear him is what God says.

Let's go over to Romans 3.

And see that it's not just an Old Testament concept, the fear of God, but in Romans 3, and beginning in verse 10, Paul, when he's writing to the church there, he quotes from the Psalms, but he's speaking to them in their day because these words very much fit them, or fit his time. And as we read through these words here in verses 10 through 18, watch how well they fit the society that we live in today. Romans 3 verse 10, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands, there is none who speaks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they've practiced deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. A miserable society, a miserable state of human being. In verse 18, the conclusion, there is no fear of God before their eyes.

If they feared God, if they really knew Him, if they really knew His power, if they really knew what His plan was, if they really loved Him and feared Him, that type of behavior wouldn't be existing. Let's go over to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Verse 17. Peter makes a very succinct comment in the midst of his instructions to the people he's writing to at that time.

And us. Verse 17, he says, Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the King. Fear God. And in Philippians 2, verse 12, a memory verse for most of us. Philippians 2, verse 12, it says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation. Work it out with fear, and work it out with trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Work out your salvation with fear and with trembling. Remember the verse, Isaiah 66, verse 2. God says, It is to this man I look, who has a poor and contrite spirit, and who trembles, who trembles at my word. I have to ask myself sometimes, do I tremble at God's word? When I read His word, do I tremble, especially when I see something in it that is different than the way I am behaving or acting? Do I tremble? Do I come when I read His word? Do I realize this is God speaking? These are the words of truth. These are the words of eternity. This is who we must become.

It is to that man that God looks, who is poor, who has a poor and contrite spirit, and who trembles at His words. Fear of God. We read in Psalm 36 that if we had the fear of God, we wouldn't do evil. We wouldn't do things contrary to His will. We wouldn't sin like Eli's sons did. We would be more like Jephthah and his daughter, at least in that instance in their life, that if it's God who we've promised it to, if it's God who we've committed to, which we all have, then we do it. We put our own will aside and we follow His. Well, today in society, fear is not a good thing, is it? You look around, you don't see Paul's admonition that we read in 1 Peter 2.17 so much where people honor the King or honor the President. In fact, fear just seems to be one of those things that who needs to respect anyone, we're all equal, right? So what the President does or what anyone does doesn't make any difference. It used to be when we were children, I loved my parents, but I feared them too in the right sense of the word. I knew that if I let an attitude come out of my mouth, I knew what was about to come back. I've got vivid memory, vivid memories of some of those. And you know what? I learned not quite the way to respond.

Or if I did something that was against the house rules or whatever, there was a price to pay. I loved them, but I also feared them because I knew that they held the power over me. God holds the power of life and death. He holds all our eternity, or all His eternity at stake. Everything we have, everything we ever will be is wrapped up in Him. Who more to fear than God? Who has the power of life and death? Who has the power to say, no eternal life or yes, eternal life?

You know, not so much in homes today, out in society in any way, is fear-taught. So many parents just want to be friends with their kids. And the norm is, whatever your child wants, you just give it to them. You just want them to like you in the way that you like, that they like you if you kind of let them do whatever they want to, and give them whatever they need. That seems to be more and more the way the world is going. And as you see young people demonstrating and you see the problems in the world, you see the effect of some of that. Not that none of it went on back decades ago, but not to the extent that we see today. Fear is something that we can teach at home. It's something we can learn in life, too. When God gives us His Holy Spirit, He does teach us to fear Him.

Let me just read just an excerpt out of an article. I've read this before, so you may find this familiar. There's a lady by the name of Susan Reimer who wrote an article on this very concept of fear and children. And where that has its place in its home, and she was talking about her own children when she reads this, she says, I volunteer to lead the campaign to restore fear among children. Not the monster under the bed, boogeyman variety of fear, your kids will keep you all night, up all night with those kinds of fears. I'm talking about the fear of authority, fear of consequences, the kind of fear that will keep you up all night if your children don't have it. The kind of unexamined, nonspecific fear we grew up with, the fear behind the refrain of our youth, my mother will kill me if... She says, I want that for my children. I want them to live in fear of what I will do if I catch them doing whatever it is they're thinking about doing. And I want my children to fear more adults than just me. I want my children to be afraid of what their father will do when he gets home. I want my children to be afraid of what the teacher will do when she stops writing on the board, turns around, and sees them acting up. Most of all, I want them to live in stomach-flipping fear of what will happen if they don't do their homework. And at all other times of decision and conscience, I want them to worry about God, about what God would think if he knew what they were doing, because he will know, even if they fool me. She knew if those children had a healthy fear of her and her husband, it would keep them from many times doing what was wrong. And she knew if we had a fear of God, it would be the thing that would keep us from going the way of society, the way of people around us. If we really remembered the consequences, if we knew who God was and we remembered that he wanted everything for our good, but that he has the power to say, your life is over at the time that he returns, or in the resurrection.

We may. We may stop and not do some of the things that we may do all too easily these days.

So let's look at a couple verses here about fear in Jesus Christ. Let's turn back to Luke. In Luke 12, Christ in His own words tells us to fear God. And what's at stake when God calls us, when He puts His Holy Spirit in us, when He leads us? And what He expects us to do? Luke 12 and verse 4. Christ speaking, He says, I say to you, my friends, don't be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear Him, who after He has killed has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear Him. Have your healthy respect and your reverence awe toward God. Recognize who He is. Recognize that He will shake the world and that He has shaken your world. And that's why you're sitting here today. Because He's opened your minds and let you see the truth and know where mankind is, where mankind is going, what God's plan for them is, what will happen when Jesus Christ returns, and in a time leading up to that. God is in control. He's given the world over to Satan because man chose that. But He's well in control of what is going on. Fear Him, Christ says, and fear Him with a healthy respect, not a fear as in terror and dread because God is not that way at all. We love Him, and John says, perfect love casts out fear. We still fear God, we still obey Him, but we love Him. And as we truly love Him, we love His way of life and we love what He has called us to. Let's go back to Luke 7 and verse 11. Here's an incident where the people of Christ's time learned something about Him, and they learned the power of God. Luke 7, verse 11. It happened the day after that He went into a city called Nahyan, and many of His disciples, speaking of Christ, went with Him in a large crowd. And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was the widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, instead, don't weep. Well, you get the picture. Here's a funeral procession, her only son. Her only son, and this is the funeral for him. And Christ came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried Him stood still.

And He said, young man, I say to you, arise. So he who was dead sat up and began to speak, and He presented Him to his mother. Now, if you saw that happen, if you saw Jesus Christ, go to a coffin in a funeral, touch the young man, and say, arise. You would realize you were in the presence of someone far greater than anyone you'd ever met, right? This is someone who demands your respect, all of your commitment. And that's what the people did. The fear, it says. Not fear has been dread, not terror, but fear like whose presence are we in? Fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, a great prophet has risen up among us, and God has visited His people.

That's the type of fear God wants us to have of Him. So much more than we can imagine, so much more than we know. We read the stories in the Bible. Maybe we haven't seen the Red Sea open. Maybe we haven't seen someone raised from the dead, but we know He can do it. We know that He can heal anything that comes our way. He can solve any problem, and anything that comes, He sees us through. We know that if we believe the Bible. He has done that before, and He will do it again. That's the God you worship. That's the God I worship. That's the God we should fear, and remember who He is. Ancient Israel saw all those things, and yet they somehow never feared Him. They never used that tool that God gave them to follow in His past. Let's go back to Exodus 19. Exodus 19 and verse 16.

It came to pass on the third day in the morning. This is after Israel has been delivered from Egypt. They've seen God bring the place upon the Egyptians, deliver them.

It came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain. The sound of the trumpet was very loud, so all the people who were in the camp trembled. They trembled in God's presence. Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the eternal descended upon it in fire. It's smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. When the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered Him by voice and told Him, Come up here, Moses. And Moses did. In chapter 20, Moses brought down the Ten Commandments. He brought down the way of life that Israel was to lead, to live, for their own good, if they wanted peace, if they wanted prosperity, if they wanted a joyful existence and a prolonged existence in the land. If they lived this way of life, God said He would give it to them. Let's drop down to chapter 20 in verse 18. All the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people thought they trembled, then they stood afar off, and they said to Moses, You speak with us and we will hear, but don't let God speak with us, lest we die. We know His power. We know His power. We fear Him with the right kind of reverential awe. And Moses said to the people, Don't fear. Don't be terrified of God, for God has come to test you. And that His fear, that healthy fear, that healthy, reverential awe that we would have for Him, that His fear may be for you. Why? So you may not sin. So you may not sin. If we have a fear of God, it can be a deterrent to sin, to do things the way God said.

If we have, as part of our being, this fear of God, and we love Him with all our heart, mind, and soul, and we follow His way, and we are led by His Holy Spirit, part of what we do, the part that was missing with Eli and his family, but the part that was there, apparently, with Jephthah and his daughter. Let's go over to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 32.

Certainly the fear of God is throughout the Old Testament. It's there throughout the New Testament. God expects us to live it today. He wanted Israel, His people back then, just like His people today. He expects us to fear Him, and it's a healthy fear. In the millennium, there will be a fear of God as well as part of the re-education process, or the education process, of the people that live over into that time. Jeremiah 32 and verse 37.

Speaking of the future time, it says, Behold, I will gather them, and that's His people, out of all countries where I have driven them in my anger, in my fury, and in great wrath. I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one way, the same way you and I know today, the same heart that God gives us through His Holy Spirit. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, that they may fear me forever, for the good of their children, for the good of them and their children after them. From the beginning of time until the time that mankind ceases to be on this earth, God expects that a fear of Him would be in us, and it would be a tool to keep us following His way and to be looking to Him and letting Him lead us. Well, let's look at a few scriptures here.

A few scriptures here in the Proverbs, because the fear of God—the first scripture I'm going to turn to—spells out what we've been talking about. Proverbs 16, verse 6. But the fear of God helps us to resist sin when we remember who it is and the love that we develop for God as well as we go through our lives. Proverbs 16, verse 6. In mercy and truth, atonement is provided for iniquity, and by the fear of the eternal, one departs from evil. By the fear of God, we depart from evil. We leave it behind. We follow Him. Keep your fingers there in Proverbs. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1. 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1. Paul writing, to the New Testament Corinthian church, Therefore, having these promises, the promises that God made them, the promises that God has made us, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, the very thing that God is doing with us, purifying us, making us blameless, making us perfect, perfecting holiness. How? Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. God is going to perfect us if we're going to ask Him to make us blameless, purge our minds, purge our hearts, purge all the garbage that's in our minds. We better have His fear, because He perfects us in the fear of God. Let's go back to Proverbs again.

To people that fear God, and to people who obey God, and to people who love God with all their heart, soul, and mind, and who learn how to do that over the course of their lives, from the time God calls them to the time that they commit to God, and then the rest of their physical lives, until He returns and makes those who have followed Him spirit beings, there are many things that are our benefits to those who fear God. Proverbs 14 and verse 26.

In the fear of the Eternal, there is strong confidence.

Well, if we have confidence in ourselves, we're going to fall, right? In the fear of God, there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge.

Well, that's comforting to know. In a world that is becoming a world different than any of us have known before, in a world that is quickly changing, it's nice to know that God says, if we fear Him, we'll have confidence to stand through the things that stand between us now and the time of His return. And these children have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord, He says in verse 27, is the fountain of life to turn one away from the snares of death. Follow Him, fear Him, it leads to life. Don't fear Him, and it leads to death. Minimize Him, and it leads to death. Act like it just isn't that important what God says, and it leads to death. Proverbs 19, verse 23, The fear of the eternal leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction.

Everyone wants to be satisfied. Everyone wants to be filled. The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction. He will not be visited with evil. It's quite a promise that God makes. Proverbs 22, verse 4, By humility, and we know that's one of those foundational things that a Christian must have, too, he must have a humble nature. By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life.

All good things that come from fearing God in the right sense of the word. Because when we fear God, when we obey Him, when we love Him with all our heart and soul, when we commit to Him, when we yield to Him, when we submit and we are led by His Holy Spirit, He says, All those things are for our good, over and over and over. Proverbs 3, verse 7.

Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear the eternal and depart from evil.

And when you do, verse 8, it will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones.

Fear God. Follow Him. Abide by His principles, His way of life. Do the things that He says. Make them part of you, just the way you are, just the way you live, as His mind transformed us into what He wants us to be. Do those things, and it'll be health to your flesh and strength to your bones.

Let's go back to Psalm 34. We know that David was a man who feared God when his sin was brought to his attention.

He immediately repented, and He allowed God to change the course of his life, and He walked in fear of God from that time forward. Psalm 34. Let's pick it up in verse 8.

He writes, O taste, and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the man who trusts in him. O fear the Lord, you his thanks.

There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the eternal shall not lack any good thing.

That's what David says.

Wherever you see the fear of God, you see something good occurring, something that mankind wants. It all comes, we learn, from obeying Him, yielding Him, and letting Him leave our lives.

But not everyone has that fear of God.

Not everyone does. And when people come into the truth, they need to learn that. And our children need to learn it. It can be part of what we teach at home, to fear God and to make sure they understand who He is and how powerful He is, far-transfending, Mom and Dad, the authorities that God has placed in that home.

In verse 11 of Psalm 34, David says, You can learn it. Come, you children. Listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

I'll teach it to you. Is it lacking in your life? David says, I'll teach it to you.

And down here in a couple of verses, verse 13, he says some of the things that we can do as we learn to fear God. If we believe Him, if we believe this Bible, if it is His Word, if we believe that Christ is returning, if we believe He's going to set up a kingdom, and that kingdom is going to be a time of good and just wondrous advancements or a wondrous time for mankind as you're reading or studying in your home lesson there. And he says some of the things that we can do. And some of them, well, all of them, come down to us. Do we choose to fear God? Because we can choose to fear Him, or we can choose to obey Him, or we can choose to not do that.

In verse 13, he says, keep your tongue from evil. Well, that's a choice we make, isn't it? We've all said things in our lives that we regret having said. And James, in the book of James, it says, the tongue is like the worst instrument or the worst weapon there is. We can wound people, we can assassinate character, we can do awful things with our tongues, and we've all done it.

But there's a choice. Keep your tongue from evil. And you know, as we choose to fear God, as we choose to have Him build that in us, we can ask God as we see tendencies in us to do things or say things or act in a certain way. And sometimes we don't recognize until we get home later that night, and we think, ah, what have I done? I fell into the same old habits again and did the same thing. We can ask God, let me see. Let my conscience, let your spirit tell me when I'm doing these things, signal me so that when I'm about to say something evil, I stop and I make a choice. No, as much as I want to give that little juicy piece of gospel, I'm not going to say it. As much as I want to give my opinion on that person, I'm just not going to do it. Or whatever it is. God will, and in the fear of God, as we want that, He will help us to overcome it. Keep your tongue from evil. Keep your lips from speaking deceit. And we know deceit is rampant in the world. Now, we've all said deceitful things, but lead people along one line that we want them to think as opposed to what maybe the truth is. Keep your lips from speaking evil. Depart from evil and do good. And if we have the fear of God, it says we'll depart from evil. Seek peace and pursue it. The world says it wants peace, but they don't really seek it. They call cease-fires peace, but they really don't know what peace is. Seek peace. Pursue it. Do the things that God said. Let's go over to Proverbs 2.

Mr. Solomon has something to say about this as well.

Proverbs 2.

And verse 1. As he's admonishing his sons, and it's as if God is speaking to us when he says, My sons, my people. Verse 1, My sons, if you receive my words, if you treasure my commands within you, if those are the things that are really important to you, if that's who you want to be, so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, if you do all those things, if you show God, that's where my heart is. That's what I want in my life. And I neglected to turn to Proverbs 1 verse 7. You can look back at it. At the beginning of everything that we do in life is the fear of God. Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. Or verse 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 9 verse 10 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's right there at the beginning, and it must be there right through until the day that we die. And Solomon says, if you seek it, if you do these things, verse 5, then you'll understand the fear of the Lord, and then you'll understand and find the knowledge of God. If you want it, seek it, and ask God to give it to you.

Well, the fear of God is something that we need to have. We must have. There are some enemies of the fear of God, just like there are enemies of faith, the doubt and the discouragement that can damage our faith. There are things that can damage the fear of God as well. One chapter back here in Proverbs 1, we see some of those things. Proverbs 1 verse 28. Now, let's pick it up in verse 23, to get the context here of what is being written. Verse 23 of Proverbs 1.

Turn at my rebuke. Surely, he says, I will pour out my Spirit on you. I will make my words known to you. Because I have called you, though God says, in verse 24, because I've called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke. When I tried to reach you, when I tried to correct you, when I tried to draw your attention to these things, you just kind of cast it off and ignored it. Because you disdained all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke, I will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. But God is saying, if you would just listen, if you would just listen now, those things wouldn't come upon you. Then they will call on me, but I won't answer. They will seek me diligently, but they won't find me. Because they hated knowledge and because they did not choose the fear of the Lord, they chose the fear of sons, like Eli did. He feared his sons more than he feared God. He nailed them in more in all respect than he feared God. Jeff didn't make that mistake. Because they hated knowledge and they didn't choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none of my counsel. They despised my every rebuke. Therefore, should they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and they will be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning away of the simple will slay them. Those who don't really understand wisdom, those who don't really understand what knowledge is and where it becomes, those who really don't understand what they've been called to and appreciate it and they don't fear God. And who, when time comes in society, or at the work, or in jobs, or in relationships, you know what? I don't think what God says applies. At this time, I'll just do it my way.

What the world says, what the society says, that's okay. And we see that all around us today. Forget God's word. We've outgrown it. We live in the 21st century. Why do people need to get married? If they can just live together. Who says two people the same sex shouldn't be married?

Well, God does. But society would say, who are you to say? And we could go on and on and on in the list. The turning of the way of the simple will slay them. And some of us can find ourselves agreeing with some of those things. If we don't keep our mind where God is and realize He's the one who authored life, then there is one way that leads to eternal life. The turning away of this simple will slay them. And the complacency of fools will destroy them. Those who just become lackadaisical in it. All I need to do is go to church, be there on the Holy Days, have my kids at Sabbath school, just like Eli, Hockney, and Finneas. Well, as long as they're doing the service of the Lord, that's okay, right? God doesn't really care. As long as we're there and we make a presence, that's enough. That isn't all that God's looking for. Should we do those things? Absolutely. We should be where God wants us to be. We should do what God wants us to obey His commands, but He wants to see what's in the heart. And if we have the fear of God, those will be in our hearts. Then the complacency that so well defines what the laodicean era of the church is.

One foot in the world, one foot in the church. I'll believe this because I know it's truth, but you know what? I have a hard time. I have a hard time leaving the society behind. I really like what's out there. And God cautions them. Well, He could say, fear Him. Fear Him. Counsel.

He would say, Counsel, that you would be refined in the fire. Be purified and be strong for Him.

So turning away to the world, the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to Me will dwell safely and will be secure without fear of evil.

Fact is, as you go through and look at all the great men of the Bible, every one of them are marked by a fear of God. Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Jesus Christ Himself. It says in Isaiah 11 and 12, He had the spirit of the fear of the Lord. And when He was on earth, He was led by God's Spirit, and He feared God. Now, we read where He feared God. And the people of God, who He is preparing, will have that fear as well. Let's go back to Revelation 19. Revelation 19. We're all here. God has called us. God has given us the understanding of His way of life. He's working with us. He wants to perfect us everything for our own good. He wants us to be ready for the time Jesus Christ returns. Now, we know that what He's doing is preparing a bride that will work with Jesus Christ in His millennium. Revelation 19 and verse 5.

A voice came from the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you His servants, and those who fear Him, both small and great.

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sounds of many waters, and as the sounds of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns, let us be glad and rejoice and give glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. His wife, who fear Him, who obey Him, who gave themselves to Him with all their mind, all their heart, all their souls, who adopted His way of life as their way of life, who let His Holy Spirit transform their minds into His mind, and who let their will or His will become their will. That's who God is looking for. That's what He's working with, with you and me. He's getting us ready. All those things we talk about, we must be aware, we must do, we must be conscious of it, and we must be there, and remember to always fear God. If we do, those things will be there. You know, Hebrews 11 lists the number of men and women who have already died and who God has already judged they will be in that resurrection.

Jephthah is one of those people. God saw His heart. God saw what He would do. And even in the face of extreme displeasure, if you will, He was willing to give up His daughter to honor God, and His daughter was willing to do that, too. Eli, on the other hand, had a great position. He wasn't willing to do any of that. He wasn't willing to put God above His children. Let's all make sure we fear God, fear Him, and be there when Christ returns.