Learn the Fear of God

We all have come home and have been at a feast which is enjoyable. It was a time of rejoicing. And we all look back and say, what have we done? Did we enjoy the feast? How did it go?

Was there specific things that you can remember that we've learned from the feast? And I would like to ask you one question. Is there something primary that we should have learned from the feast? Is there one thing in your mind that you say, that's one of the things that God wants us to learn from the feast? And I don't want you to say it out loud, of course, but think about it and say, well, maybe it was the plan of God.

Well, maybe it was maybe the theme of the feast where I was. Maybe it was about the world tomorrow. Maybe it was about a lot of focus on how the world will change. And it's true. But what does the Bible say? That it should be the main goal of what we should learn from the feast. And let's turn with me, please, to Deuteronomy 14, which is where it talks about tithing, as we call it in the church, the second tithing, which is basically for us to plan for the feast. And we'll start reading from verse 22.

As Deuteronomy 14, verse 22, You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. And you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to make his name abide the tithe. So it is a tithe that you're going to eat.

So the first tithe is the one that you give it to God. It's the Lord's tithe. The second tithe is, as it says here, you take it for you to eat. And this is the tithe of your grain and of your wine and of your oil, of the first born of your birds and of your flocks. For what reason? So that we go to the feast. For what reason?

We go there to learn the fear of the Lord your God always. The main purpose while we go for the feast, that God institutes the whole tithing process for us to go to the feast, is for us to learn to fear the eternal your God always.

And then it goes on. If the journey is too long, you take it into money. And then in verse 26, it says, And you shall spend that money forever your heart desires. In other words, you'll buy with that money that you've accumulated, whatever you desire, obviously within God's principles and God's laws, of course, for oxen and sheep, for wine, or for a similar drink. You know, you have a pleasant time in a godly manner. Forever you desire, you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice.

The end result, as you and your household obey God and learn through this process of learning to fear God, is that you will be happy.

There will be rejoicing. That is the end result, the outcome. So the question is that I have today, and this is basically the theme of my sermon today, are we learning to fear God? Are we learning to fear God? Because it says we go to the feast to learn to fear God always, but that's not just at a feast. We need to be doing that every day of our lives. And what is fear? What is the fear of God? Is it terror? Is it a fear, like a frightful fear?

Or what is it? Do we understand what the fear of God is? You see, John Paulus, in the first book of John, chapter 4, John tells us that God is love. Now, how does that tie in with the fear of God? Some people might see that as a contradiction, but it's not.

First John, chapter 4, it says that God is love. But a little bit lighter in that chapter, it says in verse 18, For there is no fear in love. There is no fear in love. But we are to learning the fear of God, but there is no fear in love. And God is love. So how does that tie together? But perfect love costs out fear, because fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

Now, the word for fear is a word that in English is similar to the word like a phobia. The actual word is phobus. But where do you get phobias? Certain fears. And it's basically a dread, a terror, something that strikes terror. So in love, there's no phobias, there's no terror, there's no, none of that striking terror, because love costs out fear, costs out terror, costs that out.

So true God's love, the love of God, does not have terror, does not have that type of fear. But, again, what is the true Godly fear? Just go back a few pages to Hebrews, chapter 5, Hebrews, chapter 5, verse 5 through 7, and talking about Christ being appointed as a high priest, Hebrews 5, verse 5 through 7, so Christ did not glorify Himself to become a high priest, but it was you who said to Him, You are my Son, today I have begotten you.

As He also says in another place, You are a priest forever, according to Odo Matilzedek, who in the days of His flesh, when Christ was living in the flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him. You know, was He had absolute faith that when He prayed to God, that God would do.

That was faith. In tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His godly fear. Christ had fear, a fear of God, a godly fear. That's not a phobia. That's not a terror. In fact, in Greek, it's a completely different word. It's eulabia. It sounds very different than phobos. Eulabia is very different. It actually means reverence. It means caution, circumspection. You know, that godly fear is a reverence, it's honor, it's a respect. And therefore, because of that, because you respect God, because you honor Him, because you have that circumspection, you have that caution knowing that if you go in the wrong way, what will happen in no doubt come, because you know doubt come, cause and effect, right and wrong, you know.

And therefore, because of that, you have that circumspection, you have that godly fear, you have that reverence and respect, and you do what is right. And that's what it means here. He was hurt because of his godly fear. There was not terror. There was not torment. That's a completely different negative fear. God's fear is a positive fear. The fear of God is a positive fear, which is a reverence, a caution, a circumspection, an admiration that produces good results.

Produces good results. Turn with me, please, to Deuteronomy chapter 10, because this is not something new, it's something old, right there in the law. Deuteronomy chapter 10, let's look at verse 12. Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 12.

Very, very important, because we're talking about the fear of God, and we're trying to understand what is the fear of God. So we want to make it very clear that what is the fear of God. So in verse 12, and now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? And what does the Lord today say? Well, you don't need anything. Nothing is required of you. What the Lord today says, all you need is to believe in Christ and you'll be saved. There's nothing required of you. But it says, what does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your God. The beginning is the fear of God. As you read elsewhere, the beginning of wisdom, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. So the beginning is the fear of God. That fear of God, which is that reference, which is that caution, that is that awe, that respect to God, that admiration, that fear, which is a positive fear. It's a respect, it's a positive fear. That leads you to do the next step, which is to walk in all these ways, to do what he says. And that, with that, is to love him, because God is loved. And that is therefore you are serving him to serve the eternal your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your being. And that obviously is, verse 13, to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes, which I command you today. Why? Why? Why does God tell us to do that? Why is this required of us? What does God require of us? To fear him, to walk in his ways, to love him, to serve, to keep. Why? To punish us? No, but for your good, for our good, because God is loved. And he knows that way is the way that we will be blessed. That is the good outcome that will be blessed. So, brethren, fearing God has a good outcome is to be blessed. And when we are blessed for our own good, we are happy, right? That we can rejoice. That's why the feast says you go to the feast to learn to fear God all your days and you will rejoice. So, you fear that's the beginning and end result of this whole chain of events, because you are obeying God and doing what's pleasing. For your own good, the end result is true, genuine joy. That's not vain, happy, happy, happy. But it's genuine, sincere joy from inside, genuine joy, that you really can rejoice in, because it is for our own good. Let's look at another scripture in Isaiah 66.

Also, a very strong, powerful scripture, Isaiah 66. And we're going to just focus on verse 2, Isaiah 66 verse 2, because it's talking about, you know, what shall you build for God? What is it really that God is looking for? Shall you build a God a house? Shall you buy him a Rolls Royce or whatever? A nice car or whatever it is? What are you going to do for God? No, he doesn't want any of those things. He says, for all these things my hand is made, and all these things exist, it's eternal. But this will I look. This one thing God will want.

This is what God wants. This is the best gift you can give to God. This is the gift that God wants. This is the real...if you want to give God a real gift and want to make him happy, what is it? This is it. And he says, on him who is poor and of a contrite heart and who trembles at my word. This is what God wants. That we are poor in spirit. That means it's humble. That we are humble.

That we are contrite, teachable. In other words, we're not a big head. We're not important in our eyes. We just humble, we're contrite, and we tremble at his word. Tremble at his word. And that's a fear. That's a fear. That's a respect for God's word. Because that is...that's not terror, but it is a deep respect. You stand in awe and a complete respect of God's word, which is the Bible.

God's word is the Bible, isn't it? Also, everything is jewel in the Bible, believe it or not. There's a lot of things that are jewel. Isn't the word the one that became flesh? Isn't the word the one that became flesh, which became Jesus? And isn't he the word of God? And we need to tremble at God's word, which is Christ, the spiritual speaking as well. Physically speaking, it's the Bible, but Christ is the word. And you'll need it. Let's look at another scripture about understanding the fear of God, and then let's look at that in Psalms 147, Psalm 147, verse 11.

This is, for the Lord takes pleasure, the eternal takes pleasure in those who fear Him. God is pleased with those people that have fear, the fear of God. Why? For our own good, as we read earlier, for our own good, so that we will listen to Him, we'll do the right things, we'll live a right way for our own good, so that we'll be happy.

That's what He wants. In other words, putting it in another way, in those who hope in His mercy. Those that fear God know, know that we have sinned, know that we have failed. And therefore, we know that our only hope is God's mercy. And therefore, we fear Him because we are at His mercy. And so, the fear of God is tied, as we saw early on when Christ offered prayers because He had godly fear, because He knew that God was able to resurrect Him.

And therefore, He prayed, as we saw that in Hebrews 5, in godly fear. So, it's tied to faith, but it's also, as you can see here, it's tied to mercy. There's a linkage of the fear of God, because when we fear God, we have in our minds the hope that He's going to be merciful. And we know that He's going to be merciful. So, that fear of God is tied into a lot of things like faith and mercy. And the fear of God, why? Because we know that we got it all by God's laws.

So, there's justice, mercy, and faith. Aren't those the weightier matters of the law? And so, the fear of God channels us into that way. Channels us into that way. So, what is the fear of God? The fear of God is an absolute deep respect, is an admiration, it's a caution, understanding that there is an end result. And therefore, we want to obey.

We want to walk for our own good in His way. It's tied to justice, to mercy, and faith. It is not a fear of penalties without repentance. Yes, because there will be penalties if we don't repent. It's not a terror. It's not a cover-up or anything like that. The fear of God is a genuine disrespect for God, an absolute admiration for Him, an absolute awe and reverence, knowing the end result. And because of that, we love Him, and we want to do what He tells us to do, because He loves us. He is love. And therefore, it's a two-way street.

He loves us, and He does it for our own good. And we want to do it, because we know it's for our own good, and because we admire Him for doing it for us, because without Him, I would not be a...not a vaz would be a...not a vaz would be a. I tell you, just take a bit of time for yourself and meditate about your youth.

And I tell you, you probably can think of situations that had not God intervened in your life, you would not be alive today. I can think of situations for myself. If God had not intervened, I would not be alive today. Well, in first place, if God had not brought me to life, I would not be after that. But I mean, we all can think of situations as, but for God's mercy, yeah, I stand.

I mean, I can think of situations where I could have been in terrible disasters. It's just unbelievable. God intervened for us and for me, and for you. We all can think. Therefore, we have that deep respect for God. We've got that deep love for Him, and He has it for us. And that's what the fear is. It's not a torment. It's not a phobia, but it's just an awe of respect. That's what the fear of God is. Now, still talking about the question initially, which I'm saying, are we learning to fear God? Now that we understand what the fear of God is, are we learning to fear God? What is it and where we learn that fear from? Well, obviously, it's from His Word, from the Bible. Turn with me, please, to Deuteronomy chapter 31. Deuteronomy chapter 31. I'm just going to read towards a small section there in verse 24 through 29. And it says, So it was when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, so that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book of the law, probably at that time, based on what I'm reading, it was probably the book of Deuteronomy, take this book of the law, and...

Sorry, I lost my place here, so I'm trying to get my eyes back into it. Moses commanded the Levites to bore the ark, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it up, put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you.

For I know, for I know, said Moses, your rebellion, for others, said God, I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, this is Moses, you have been rebellious against the eternal, then how much more after my death?

I know you're going to do it wrong. So, therefore, you ask the book, let's put it there, the law, let's put it there, write it into history, that it's going to be there, and this is, Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in the hearing, and call heaven and earth to witness against them, for I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

Moses knew the outcome, God had revealed it to him, Moses knew the outcome, and things, he says, yeah, things are going to, and evil will befall you in the latter days. Brethren, these evils are going to befall upon our nations in latter days, because mankind, in particular the Israelites, have done evil in the sight of the eternal. And so, we have to understand what the law says, and we've got to do it, because if we don't, there's going to be serious evil affecting us.

That's going to affect all of mankind, but we need to do our part. And therefore, it did happen. Terrible things. You know how the Israelites went to slavery. The Israelites themselves, the northern kingdom, got scattered, and the southern kingdom, which is Judah, went to slavery, and then after slavery, they came back. And as you read in Nehemiah 8, I'm just going to go through a section there in Nehemiah 8, when they came back, Israel and Nehemiah, Nehemiah 8, when they came back, then starting from verse 1 through to verse 18, they had a whole chapter.

So I'm not going to read the whole thing, I'm just giving you... They got together, and they start reading the book of the law. They start reading on the first day of the seventh month. It was on the day of trumpets. And they start reading it, and said in verse 5, And Israel opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people, and when he opened it, all the people stood up.

There was a respect. Those people had been in slavery. They had been brought back, and now they knew that they had been punished because they had to survive. So they were very respectful when Ezra opened the book and started reading. And then, and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands. And they bowled their heads and worshiped the eternal with their faces on the ground.

And then, jump to verse 8, so they read distinctly from the book of the law of God, and they gave the sense. And it was they explained the meaning and helped them to understand the reading. So Ezra and the other leaders that were with them, they were the Levites. They helped the people to understand the law. They explained the meaning. Basically, what we're talking about is the Bible, God's Word. They were understanding what they needed to do, God's Word, because they trembled at God's Word, right? And the Amaya was the governor, and it goes on, and the people got sad, as you can see there at the end of verse 9.

And they started mourning and weeping when they heard the words and how they had broken the law. They were sad. And then verse 10, then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, send your portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to the Eternal. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. That's a powerful statement.

The joy of the Eternal is your strength. And all the people went their way, and why? And then it says, and they rejoiced greatly, because they understood the words they were declared to them. As they understood God's words, as God's words understood their portion of the Bible that they were reading, and they started to understand it, God filled them up with joy, with happiness.

And they had that fear, and God blessed them. So they started there over a period of time. They started reading the Bible. After that, they started reading the Bible regularly. If you look at the Jewish history, they start reading it. Every three years, every Sabbath, they would read the Bible at the synagogue every year, and every third year, they would start again from where they started. And they would read the law, but also they would read the prophets. The law only the Levites could read.

So the law only the priests, the Levites, could read. And then they had leaders of the congregation to read the prophets. And that was, in a sense, their way of Bible study. Because remember, they didn't have a Bible in their lap that you could take home, or in their laptop, or on the iPad, or whatever.

They didn't have a Bible to read. So they had to come to the synagogue and let the Levite read it to them. And they had to listen to it there, because that was how they got their Bible study. That's how they knew what was in the Bible in New prophets. So that's how they heard it. So that was a tradition that they started. Now, interesting enough, when Jesus Christ came, he accepted that tradition, and he used that tradition. As you look, as you go back to Luke chapter 4, if you look at Luke chapter 4, this is the time when he started preaching after he had been tempted.

As Mr. Adams mentioned about the temptation of Satan, I want to talk a little bit more about that in a moment. But after he was tempted, then he came into Nazareth. He begins his ministry. And then he came into Nazareth. And verse 16, it says, as his custom was, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. Now, obviously, he did not stand up to read the law, because the Levites did. So they went to the synagogue, the Levites read the law.

And then prominent people in their area that were respected, they had certain experience, they would then read the prophets. It's like you have a sermon and a sermonette, you know, type of thing. They had the others. So Christ, because he was not a Levite, he was of the tribe of Judah, he was not of the tribe of Levi, could not read the law. So he read the prophets, and therefore he stood up to read from the book of Isaiah. As we all know, the portion of the scripture there, starting in verse 18 through 19, which is the portion of the scripture in Isaiah, which actually pointed to his first coming.

So you can see that Christ, he backed up that tradition of, let's call it, Bible study. That's how they knew the law, and they knew what the prophets said. They went there to the synagogue and they read it every day. Likewise, Paul did that same thing as well. Turn with me to Acts 13. Acts 13th chapter. Acts 13th chapter.

And you wonder, where am I going with this? I'm going is that they did Bible study the way they could do, and that's the way they did it. I'm going to it is that we need to do Bible study in a way we can do, which is today with the technology and capabilities we have today, which is different. But let's just show you how Paul also supported that in Acts 13 verse 13. And now, when Paul and his party set sail from Pithos, and he came to Perga and Pamphylia. And this is the area that became there like southern Turkey in his first missionary trip. And that is basically the area. That area is referring to is the Galatia area. So he was basically there, starting the Galatian church. And it says, and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from P They came to Antioch in Sijed, and they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, you see there was that tradition. So Paul sat down. And so after they had like the sermon and the sermon, they had top of thing. And then they had a visitor. And they said, well, why don't you give the announcements about your trip and what you've done and things like that? So in a sense, I'm just using that in analogy to what we do today. But the people there in the synagogue, the Levites read the law. The prominent people in that area read the prophets. And then there was a visitor, which he was respected because they knew he had studied at the feet of Gamaliel. And they knew that he was very knowledgeable and very studious. And therefore, they said, okay, why don't you tell us what's happening? So they, verse 15, after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. And then Paul stood up, and then he started exhorting us. And he says, men of Israel, and you, who fear God, listen. And so he went on speaking about what had been done. But again, to the people, they were God-fearing. Again, God-fearing is an important principle. But you can see that in the time of the beginning of the law, when Moses gave it up, and you didn't go into there, but you can read where Moses told them to read the law every seven years to read the whole law. We saw also from Nehemiah that after there they started the tradition of every three years reading the law and the prophets. And Christ backed that up, and we saw that Paul backed it up. There was basically a principle of doing Bible study. They did not have the Bible like you and I have today, but they had to do some study. And look how Paul then, in two chapters later, in Acts 15, he basically shows how he does that. Paul, Acts 15, verse 31, and this is now to the churches of God, and he says, yeah, in verse 21, he's now talking, and he says, For Moses has had, when he was explaining at the conference there, the Acts 15 conference, For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every seven. So there is this form of Bible study every seven in the cities. This is happening.

So we can see, yeah, that that was being done in every city. That information was being disseminated. The Bible study was being done. That's how they did it. And the New Testament church followed the same format. And in fact, when Paul instructs Timothy, he instructs him on the same way. Look with me first to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy.

Chapter 4, verse 13. So Paul is instructing Timothy. Timothy was, let's call it, a young new minister that is being coached, that is being trained. And these letters of Timothy were teaching Timothy how to be a minister and how to conduct himself as a minister. Basically, that's a very brief summary of that. So in verse 13, till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine. Till I come, give attention to reading. In other words, public reading of the Scriptures. And yes, again, in those days, they did not have Bibles. And so they did public reading of the Scriptures. He is also instructing Timothy to give exhortation. Exhort, encourage people to do the right things. And to doctrine. This word of doctrine is continuously emphasized in the book of Timothy. Continuously doctrine. If you just stay right here in Timothy, just look in verse 6. It says, if you instruct a brethren in these scenes, you'll be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the good words of faith and of the good doctrine. That word means teaching. Doctrine means teaching. It's the instruction from God's word and taking this teaching, and that becomes a doctrine.

Look in verse 16 of the same chapter. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. In other words, take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Be careful with the doctrine, with the teaching. Stay to the teaching. Stay to the core trunk of the tree of the teaching. Continuing them. For in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. And if you just turn one page forward to chapter 6, verse 1, it says, It says, let as many bondservants as are under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God be not blasphemed. I think I've got the wrong chapter here. No, that's the one. And to those who believe in masters, let them despise and serve, but rather serve them because they are those who benefit our believers. Teach and exhort these things. And then continue, universally. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to the wholesome words, even the words of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine, which affords with Godliness. So He's continuously emphasizing doctrines to the very doctrine that accords to Godness. In other words, with the right way of being like God is. So Bible study is critical to know the doctrine, to know the teaching, to know the law. Why? As we fear God, we need to do Bible study to know the right teaching. And this is the whole problem where a lot of people have come up with, is they are not being careful with the teaching. They're not being careful with the teaching. Paul is telling Timothy, be careful, be critical of Bible study, but speak to sound doctrine, to doctrine which is very sound, which is clear, which is correct.

Brethren have followed, unfortunately, a lot of different doctrines. And I really appreciate the sermon here today, because it just shows how so subtly, so craftly, Satan deviates us from the true doctrine. It's so easy to deviate. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1-4. 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1-4. And it says, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all suffering and teaching, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But according to their own desires, because they have each in years, they will heap for themselves teachers, and they will turn their years away from the truth and be turned away to things that are not true, to finals, to things that are not true. And brethren, how is that possible? How is it possible that people will turn from the truth? In other words, people have the truth, and they turn away to finals. In other words, to things that are not true. How is it possible? Well, it is possible because the God of this world is the one that blinds people. Turn with me. We're going to come back to Timothy in a short while, but let's go to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4. Verse 2 to 4. 2 Corinthians 4. Verse 2 to 4.

But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness. Now, notice word craftiness. That's subtlety. That's kind of being very crafty in what you say and how you say things. Not handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commanding ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age, in other words, Satan, which the God of this world has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine of them.

In other words, Satan does not want the truth to shine on people. And because of that, he has blinded the minds so that they are taken the wrong way. Now, you could say, oh, well, that's easy in the world. And yes, you can rook it in the world. There's many doctrines that people have followed, such as the immortal soul, doctrines of many doctrines. You can think of going to heaven, the rapture.

They are not in the Bible. Oh, yes, people use scriptures to prove them, but they very craftily changed those meanings of those words, and they've been very crafty. But it's also in the church, regrettably. People are very crafty in creating certain things to deviate from the truth. The God of this world is that. Turn with me, please, to Ephesians, chapter 4, the fourth chapter of Ephesians 11 through 15. Yah is an instruction to the ministers and to the church, and he's saying in Ephesians 4 verse 11, and he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, some teachers, for the equippling of the saints and for the work of the ministry.

In other words, God has given us people of different talents, and it's not that one is better than another, given people different talents for the training, for the equipping of the saints, so that we can serve. So that we can serve for the edifying of the body of Christ, as we heard in the sermon, the body of Christ. That's what it is, the body of Christ, that's the church of God.

So we'll all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's our goal, to be like Christ. We are following Christ, to be like Christ. Then we should no longer, verse 14, be children. Now this is important. That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine.

You see, we've got to stick to some doctrine, not being carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of man, the crafty, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. Wow! Now, maybe some men are deceitfully plotting things, but I see that it's actually Satan. Satan hates God's people. Satan hates the truth. And he is deceitful, plotting things, and some of the men are actually following it without knowing.

Yes, he does say, by the trickery of man. Yes, some men are maybe tricky and doing tricks. But I think there are some others that actually don't even know what they do. And they're doing the innocence and following that cunning craftiness, which is a deceitful plot of Satan.

And that's why it says, speaking the truth in love. And yes, love is important. Because God's love is love. God is love. And they say, for the fear of God, we've got to have the fear of God and tremble. Because if we don't know God's word, and if we don't know the truth, and if we're not stuck to sound doctrine and really close to sound doctrine, this craftiness could deviate us so subtly, so is a subtly from the truth, from us following Christ.

That's the whole point. We've got to be careful not to be carried about by every wind of doctrine. Because Satan is very crafty. Going back to Timothy, 1 Timothy, chapter 4, 1 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 6 and 7. 1 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 6 and 7.

If you instruct the brethren in these things, you'll be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine, which has been carefully followed. The good doctrine is the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the Bible, he's the word. And one of the things that I really want to do in future sermons is spending quite a bit of time going through breaking down and studying the Sermon of the Mount. Because there's a lot of material of the doctrine of Christ. Just like the Ten Commandments, in a sense, is the nutshell of the whole law, the Sermon of the Mount is the expansion of those Ten Commandments. There's a lot of material. And I want to go through that in different sermons, go through that and expand on that. Which I think it's helpful for us to really focus on the good doctrine, which you've carefully followed. But, verse 7, but reject, profane and old, wise, stables, and exercise yourself towards Godliness. So that's what we're going to be working on, on the good doctrine. And jump to verse 16, take heed, as I read a little early on, to yourself and to the doctrine. Take heed, be careful, to the doctrine. Look at another example, yeah, in 2 Corinthians. And this is the last example I want to give as far as this, as far as exhorting as, as far as doctrine. It's in 2 Corinthians, chapter 11. 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 3. And this is Paul talking to the Corinthians, and he says, but I fear. Now he's talking to God's church, he's talking to God's people. And he's saying, I fear. In other words, I'm concerned about you. This somehow, as the serpent deceived heave by his craftiness. Again, there's that word, craftiness. So your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Brethren, there's a simplicity in Christ. In my communication with brethren in Portugal, I've come across a number of different issues and problems. And trying to help them, the situation gets so confusing and so intricate and so, and they created things based on this thing and that thing and the other thing. And you can write volumes and hundreds and hundreds of pages. And I say to myself, where is the simplicity that is in Christ? Where is the simplicity that is in Christ? Because it's so crafty. Some of those things are so cleverly stated and said that deviate people from the simplicity that is in Christ. And if we continue, you can continue. Verse 4, if he who comes preaches another Jesus who would not preach and his sake goes on. Brethren, we are going to be judged by Christ's words. We're going to be judged by what's written in the book. That's what it is. You can read in Revelation 20 and see it as a resurrection and the people come alive and the books were opened and you'll be judged according to what's written in the books, which is the Bible. So we're going to be judged by the books, by the Bible, by God's Word. That's what we're going to tremble. So when we have the fear of God, the true fear of God, we have an absolute reverence and respect for God. We have an absolute respect and we tremble at God's Word, which is the Bible, which is obviously what Christ said. That's the doctrine of Christ. That's his doctrine. We need to understand the basic, simple doctrine of Christ. We really need to understand that. We need to get back to the basics, in a sense. We really need to do that. And as we do that in the true fear of God and we learn in a humble way to follow the simplicity that is in Christ, his instructions, his knowledge, we then, as we do that, we rejoice. We'll be happy because God's Spirit will guide us.

Brethren, turn with me to Matthew 28. Matthew 28 is an instruction that you all have read many times. But it was after Christ had resurrected, and then after Christ resurrected, he came and spoke to the disciples.

Matthew 28, and we're going to read verses 16 through 20, that lost section. And when the 11 disciples went away into Galilee, or obviously at that time, there were 11 because Judas had died and decided to go in a different direction. So the 11 disciples, that's Matthew 28, 16, went away into Galilee to the mountains with Jesus as appointed for them. So Christ had told them, come and meet there. So they went there, you told them to meet him. And when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. I mean, it's unbelievable. I mean, after all this, some still doubted. Now, obviously, they hadn't received God's Spirit yet, so that came in after Pentecost. But of those 11 disciples, some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, now look at what Jesus said. He said, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Now, I've got two questions about that, which basically means maybe before it wasn't so.

I don't know. But the other thing is, what else is there? The second question is, what else is there besides heaven and earth? What else is there? He's got all authority. It rests upon Christ. So all authority on the universe, in heaven and earth, everything has now been given to Christ. It is possible it was not so before. I don't know. But the way it's written, it kind of implies that. But what else is there? Everything now is under Christ's authority, obviously under the Father. Christ is under the Father. He said, I am less than the Father. Father is greater than me. But it just shows that God the Father gave everything being given to Christ now. And then He says, go therefore and make disciples. Of whom? Disciples of whom? Disciples of Jesus, of course. Disciples of Christ. That's who we follow. Christ, like we heard in the semanets, is the samples of Christ. It's not of this organization, or that organization, or this group. It's the samples of Christ, of all nations. Because we are founded on the rock, and the rock is Christ. Not a church group, not a man, but Christ. Baptizing them into the name, or in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as the semanet clearly explained, that it's into that family, into that body, the body of Christ, which is the name, the family of God, teaching them to observe all things. What things? That I have commanded you. Who has commanded them? Christ. It's Christ's teachings. That's what we're going to teach. He's the Word. He's the one that spoke to Moses. He's the one that gave us the sermon on a mount, which the basic teachings amplifying the law. So teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

So, brethren, we have a job to do. And our job is to understand Christ's teachings. Because that's where we're going to tremble. We tremble at God. We tremble at His Word. That's the fear of God. That's what we are learning every day. But that's not terror. That's not a phobia. That's a deep, reverent respect. And as you and I learn the Bible, and as we do our Bible study regularly, and as we study Christ's teachings, we need to apply that. Not just at the feast, but every day of our lives. And we apply, as we apply them, as we apply the true doctrine, the true doctrine, the sound doctrine, that is the way. Because Christ was the way. And that is the way of love. Because God is love. And at the feast, brethren, you and I are commanded to learn to fear the eternal. And then, because of that, we do all the other things. The end result is joy.

Brethren, we need to do that year-long.