“There is No Fear of God Before Their Eyes”

Well, you know, Thanksgiving is always a nice holiday. I always appreciate Thanksgiving because it's the one time of the year that family, whether they're in the church or not, can get together and enjoy being together without having to worry about any of these other things that go on for some of the holidays and whatever.

And it's always a pleasant time because it's one holiday of the year that it's very good that the country, at its beginning, took the time to actually thank God and recognize Him for what He did not. You know, as the family fathers looked over what had gone on in the years leading up to the formation of the government and leading up to the time that they had the independence they did, they were able to see God's hand in it because there was just no reason at all for this country to exist except that God's hand in it.

There's many in the world today that would like to rewrite history and say, you know, the family fathers really didn't care about the Bible, they really didn't care about this, none of our constitution or anything was based on the Bible. For our young people, who I guess must still be the Bible study, I don't see them here today, so... For the young people that are here, that is an absolute false state. The people that founded our country were very aware of the Bible. They didn't have all the understanding that we do, they didn't understand the Sabbath day, God didn't open their mind to all of that, but they knew the Bible, and they knew the Bible was the truth.

If you look through history, you see that of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 24 of them had either been to a seminary school or had gone to a Bible college before hand. As you read through the Constitution, you can see God's hand in the Bible, written through the laws of this land. As you look through the writings of some of the people, the first five presidents of every single one of them at some point, then their private writings, not just to win an audience or to play political games, wrote in there on how they knew what the Bible was, they knew that the Bible was the Word of God, and then it was the only book in the world that told all the truth of the world and gave all the truth, and they were committed to that.

As they said, God gave this position there. George Washington himself, you know, some say it could have been the first executive order from the president. He declared a day of thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November in 1789, and Abraham Lincoln later made that a formal holiday. But in 1789, George Washington, you know, said it's time with the blessing of both houses of Congress to dedicate the day to thank God for everything that had been done, to thank Him for the bounty and for the mercy system that He had put on the people of the world.

And to ask God to lead them to the future of the country would always be a blessing to the people that lived in it, as well as anyone else that came in contact with it and the other nations of the world. So, you know, as we're here on this day of thanksgiving, we don't hear about those things much anymore. I mentioned in my letter that I was really disappointed when I turned on the news, and there was nothing, just one small snippet about thanksgiving, and it really had a political slant to it when I listened to it.

But the rest of it was all about shopping. And as I saw, this one holiday, this one holiday of the year, the back, you know, two, three hundred years, two hundred fifty years ago or whatever, you know, it was established to thank God that more and more gets ploddered out by the people of the world. And that's why I was surprised by the holiday that follows in December, and shopping and all the things that are very materialistic in nature, and oh, God has not even mentioned any more of it.

But we as God's people should remember, it is God who gives us his blessings. This God has given this country the blessings. We should always have an attitude of thankfulness and attitude and gratitude that defines us. You know, we think we discussed just a few weeks ago about an attitude of gratitude, and how Paul said that Philippians 4-6, that all of your supplications to God be marked with thanksgiving. And to be thankful for him, because if we are thankful to him, it's going to generate so many of the other attitudes that God wants us to have in our lives.

We don't have gratitude, we will fail. We will fail. We will fail him, and we will fail ourselves, and we will fail our families. That's one of the foundational attitudes that we have to have and never forget. I don't want to talk about that today, because we've talked about it a little bit in the recent past. But I do want to talk about another foundational attitude that is very crucial to us as Christians. Something that we have to have, and without it, we won't be in the kingdom of God.

You know, we can say gratitude, and many psychologists say that gratitude and his grandfather are all good attitudes. And indeed, if we don't have gratitude, we probably aren't going to be able to develop this attribute that we have as well. And we've all heard of what I'm going to talk about today. And it'll be a reminder, if you will, in many cases. And Peter said in 2 Peter 3 or 2 Peter 1, he would remind us of the things that we needed to have in order to be in God's kingdom.

But that's what we're all here for. And we need to be reminded, and I need to be reminded from time to time, of what those foundational things are. Because when we don't, watch out what's going on. We can lose those things. We live in a world that has very, very different attitudes than what we have. And if we don't watch it, we can become more like them and lose out on the very thing that we know God has called us to be part of. And something that we have to be attention to, because if we lose it, as we'll see, some people in the Bible, they lost what God had given them as well.

Well, let's go back to 2 Samuel. That's our first Samuel here. First Samuel. And let me make you think a little bit about what this foundational attitude or attribute or character trait or whatever we want to call it is. Here in 1 Samuel 2, we have the story of Eli, Ephesus, and Phineas. And you remember Eli. He was a high priest at the temple of God, and Phineas were the sons.

And God had promised that as long as they obeyed him, their sons, and trained their sons in the way they should go, they would be in that position forever. It was a noble calling just like God has given us, a very high calling, a very noble calling. Eli, often the Phineas, though, had lost something along the way. Because Eli was no longer having the favor of God, as we drop in on 1 Samuel 2 here. He no longer was in God's favor because he had a lot of something to happen to him in the process of his tenure as high priest, as his tenure as parent of his sons. And his sons, if you will recall, just made a mockery of God's way. You know, they would make a mockery of the offerings that were brought there to them. God had given them all of those things to eat. They had plenty of things. But, they had made a mockery of all of that. And God looked at them and he saw what was going on. He was merciful to Eli. He had sent him, other people to mourn him. But let's pick it up here in 1 Samuel 2.27 and see what happens after years of allowing this attribute that you and I need to just sort of loin in him.

1 Samuel 27, a man of God came to Eli and said to him, Thus says the Israel, Didn't I clearly reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt, to Pharaoh's house? Didn't I make myself perfectly clear? And he might say to us, Don't I make myself perfectly clear? Don't you know what I expect of you? Don't you know what is going on? Don't you know what I expect of you? Did I not choose him, your ancestor, 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 God might say to us, Didn't I choose you out of all the people of the earth? Didn't I choose you to come in and receive my blessings? Didn't I choose you to be prepared for the kingdom of God? Didn't I choose you to be a priest and a king in that future when Jesus Christ returns? Didn't I choose you? Didn't I make myself clear? Didn't I choose you out of all the people that were there on earth? If that's the case, he says in verse 29, Why do you picket my sacrifice and my offering, which I have commanded in my dwelling place, and honor your sons more than me, to make yourselves sat with the best of all the offerings of Israel and my people? I made myself clear. I chose you. Didn't you take it seriously? Didn't you understand that what I said I really expected? And if you really remember those things, then why are you kicking in me? Why are you doing things apart from the way I said to do them? It's not okay to do it, part way. It's not okay to do it a little bit. It's not okay to take days off or times off of obeying God. That isn't what he called us to, just like he didn't call Eli Hopkins the Infinius. To obey him part-time, and then the other times he would just kind of admit it to you, heard him sermon at week at those times. He called us to be attentive to him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and remember what he did say. And notice what he said. Eli, why did you put your sons before me? You knew what they were doing wrong. People came to you, they complained, they knew. They knew that they weren't following God. Well, they were even being offended and not even coming to the temple anymore because of the behavior of these guys. And you just looked the other way. You just shook your head and said, Oh well, is God really going to do something about it? Is God really that serious about what is going to happen? Hey, you know the temple's still running, so good enough. Good enough. No? Not good enough. Eli knew better. But Eli made a crucial mistake. And there was something missing in him that allowed him to make that crucial mistake. Something that ended his physical life. As you go down in the verses, it says, Because Eli, because you haven't paid attention to me, because you haven't dealt with me the way that I asked you to, therefore the Lord God of Israel says, I said indeed, that your house and the house of your Father would walk before me forever. Just like he tells you and me, you have eternal life. I've given that to you. You have it in you and I'm not going to take it away. But you can give it back. You can orbit it. Eli and his house were given. The priest took forever. But Eli didn't live up to his end of the bargain. He lost something along the way. I said indeed that your house and the house of your Father would walk before me forever. But now the Lord says, Far be it from me. For those who honor me, I will honor you. And those who despise me shall be lightening esteem.

I gave you a lot. I gave you the blessings of the earth. I gave you so much more than you even realize. Just like all of us sitting here. We have all the blessings of living in this country. Under the government that we have, it allows us to freely meet, freely assemble. We have all the blessings of the earth. I don't know that any of us has ever known a day of involuntary hunger. We all have homes. We all have places to be. We all have cars that we drive. We all have clothes. We all live a good life, no matter how mean you think your life might be. It's so much better than most of the rest of humanity that has ever lived. Andy. Andy's given us truth. Andy's given us eternity. Andy's given us so much more than we walk in. And I include myself in that. Even begin to realize and appreciate.

Eli failed to appreciate it. Eli allowed the times and the sons and circumstances to just kind of take it all away from him. And God judged him. And later, in one day, him and his sons, he and his sons, were killed. They lost it all. Lost it all. The same thing that could happen to us. What was Eli missing? Was he missing faith in God? I think he believed. I think he believed there was God. Was he missing gratitude? I think he was missing gratitude. He'd forgotten that he needed to be grateful to God and recognize what God had given him. But he was missing something else, too, that may be emanates from gratitude. Let's turn back to Psalm 36.

Psalm 36.

And verse 1.

This is David. David had this attribute that we're talking about. David was certainly grateful as you read through the Psalms. You read all the Psalms of praise that he wrote to God. Psalm 36, verse 1. An oracle within my heart, concerning to its transgression of the wicked. Those who sin, those who step apart from God, who don't do his will. There is no fear of God before his eyes.

There is no fear of God before his eyes.

Now, when I say fear of God, maybe some of you were thinking, oh man, I've heard this so many times before. I would say, listen up. I would say, listen up and hear how much the Bible says and how important the fear of God is. It's been a few years, maybe more since we've talked about this. But it's good to be reminded of these things because we can let it wane and we can let it lapse from our mind.

And all of a sudden, we could be like Eli. Allowing things to go on in our lives that we would never have allowed to go on 10, 15 years ago. It's called letting things go on in our lives and compromising with things and putting people and putting events and putting our own wants and desires ahead of what God's Word clearly is.

And justifying our minds, thinking, God's okay. God's okay. He'll overlook this time. No, he doesn't overlook. What he wants us to do is repent and overcome and become 100% Christians. 100% obedience to him. A place that none of us are today. It's a place that he wants us to be. And if we follow him, and if we have the appropriate gratitude, and if we plant the fear of God, which he plants in us, and we cultivate in us, then we can do it. But if we lose the fear of God, if we forget who he is, if we forget the power that he has, oh, we run the same danger that Eli did here in losing it all.

Let's go on in verse 2 here, Psalm 36, because David kind of goes on and he talks about those who no longer have a fear of God, what they can become like. Verse 2, there is no fear of God before his eyes. Verse 2, for he platters himself in his own eyes.

He platters himself in his own eyes when he finds out there's a nuclei on one knee-ace. Oh, he might see something in himself. He platters himself. That's not me. Come on, I don't have that. I'm going to look the other way. I'm kind of falling into that. I don't want to see that in myself, and so I'm going to make excuses. You know, Eli did some of that. He listened to what the men said, other people said, about his sons. I'm going to look the other way, but no, no, no, that's not my son.

That's not my son's. God's okay. That's okay. They're not that bad. They're not that bad. People who lose the fear of God, platter themselves when they find out they're iniquity at one knee-ace. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good. When we lose the fear of God, we lose the wisdom that God is giving us. He devises wickedness on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn't abhor evil.

He no longer sees it as really bad. Something that's not quite what God wants, but it's okay. It's okay. My intent is good. Everything wants to do well. The one that has a diesel DVC 100 video. You know, I kind of did this, and it's not bad in the world's opinion. Not bad in my opinion, but when I measure it against the Bible, Oh, it's bad. Oh, it's wicked. Oh, it's against God's will. No excuse. No excuse, no justification. But the God's will is black and white.

There are some great errors that we talked about last week. Most of it is black and white, and when we violate a black and white, we end the God. No matter what the excuse, we might have lost some of what the people have got.

Well, if you're a God, it's not just the Old Testament concept. Paul talks about it over here in Romans. Romans 3, as he's talking to the Gentiles and the Jews who are in the church there in Rome, and both sides look down on each other, and the Jews look down on the Gentiles and say, Oh, they're really, really, really bad sinners. And the Gentiles look on the Jews and say, look what they're trying to do.

The first two chapters of Romans, Paul pretty much tells them both. You're both. You're both. You're both sinning. You're both not living by God's will. Well, two different types of sins, not understanding each other, trying to justify one group to another. Verse 10, Romans 3. As it is written, there's none right to do not live. There's none who understand. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not want. Isn't it amazing what Paul says here? Their throat is in open tune.

With their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of past is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift as shed blood. Just murder me, or we can assassinate each other's characters with our words, just as well as we can assassinate people with our bullets. Their feet are swift as shed blood.

Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. Look at this miserable existence that they're in. Paul concludes, there is no fear of God before they rise. They're missing something new. They're missing something crucial. There is no fear of God before they rise. Now, as Paul writes there in verses 10-18, you can look in your margins and you see, there are psalms that he's quoting that David has written, a number of psalms.

And in the verse we're going to say, as well as he puts them all together, and he says, you've got the problem here in Rome, in the church in Rome, the fear of God isn't before your eyes. It's something you need to develop if you want to be true Christians, if you want to follow God, if you want to be like Jesus Christ, you need a foundational attribute. You need to be able to develop the fear of God, and you have to understand what it is and what it can do so that you want to develop it.

That it's not just a text phrase and something that you read and that you've heard about from the time, as long as you've been in the church, but something very real, very basic, but very real, and if we're doing without it, you know we've got a problem as Christians. Now, the word fear today is not a good word in the world today. Now, when we talk about the fear of God, we're not talking about the same fear that's translated.

Fear is 7 Timothy 1.7. That fear is of his community when Paul writes to Timothy and says, God hasn't given you the spirit of timidity. God hasn't given us the spirit of timidity. He does, in his Holy Spirit, give us the spirit and the fear of God because the fear that he's talking about here is something very real, very dynamic, very moving, and very motivated. Today, as you say the word fear in the world, you don't get much of a reaction.

Well, I know you probably do. You probably get a very negative reaction because there really is no fear in the world today. If you listen to the media and see what's going on, there's no fear of anything in the world today. No fear of authority is being taught. If you listen to the media and you wonder what goes on in schools and you think there's just no fear of anything, you don't have to obey with respect to anyone. You don't have to fear what they have to say.

There's no consequences of what you say, what you do, or how you say it. I know this is past week or the week before. You probably saw the video on where the young 14-year-old in a school, I don't even know where the school was, was challenging his teacher and challenged him over and over and over again. He stood there and just popped up and said, whatever he was saying, quick expletives, peppering the entire confrontation. He had absolutely no fear or respect for that teacher. And finally, the teacher lost it, naturally the media got involved, the teacher just let him have it. He was just humbling.

They got an all-out brawl right there in the classroom. And it made the stories, and the media wanted to say, look what this teacher did. You know, it's interesting to watch the reaction the next day, is that many people were contributing to the legal fund of the teacher because they understood it. This young man had no respect at all, he had no fear of authority. You listen to what's going on, you watch what's going on, our children who are in schools, they're learning it well, you don't have to respect anyone.

You don't have to fear authority. They're the authority. And so if you, you know, it's much different today than when I was growing up. You know, we were always had authority. It never even dawned on me when I was in school or high school or even college, that I had the right to talk back, that I had the right to not hand in homework, and I had the right to do any of these things. Today I think all those old kids realize, I don't want to do it, I don't have to do it.

We're missing something big, we're missing something big, and the concept of fear, the concept of the fear of authority, that translates into a fear of God, but we're not teaching it at home. That our children that grow up, when we grow up, is very sorry to young people. Very sorry young people, because they will live this out on a lot of the benefits that God called you and I to, and that He offers to you and I.

So we have this fear of God. What is the fear of God? Let's go back to Genesis 22. Genesis 22 is the first time fear of God is mentioned in the Bible. It has to do with Abraham. In Genesis 22, we find, of course, the occasion where God has asked Abraham for the supreme sacrifice. Abraham sacrificed Isaac to me. His child that you've been waiting for, his child that you and Sarah, you know, was a miracle to you. Sacrifice him to me. I'm going to read of Abraham questioning God. I'm going to read, I don't even read of Abraham as a taker.

Over the course of his life, he had loved come to fear God. He had come to respect God's authority. He had come to the understanding that God is sovereign. As we talked about a few years ago, he has the right to request anything of us. Our only job is to say, yes, sir. Yes, sir. And Abraham did that. So if I had to check on verse 22, Abraham is there. He's ready to sacrifice Isaac. And in verse 12, God interrupts him. He said, Don't lay your hand on the lab, or do anything to him, for now I know. Now I know, the same words that God is going to say over you and me one day.

Now I know that you'll do it, for now I know, as in the case of Eli, that you want. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not repelled your son, your only son, from me. Why did Abraham do it? Is he grateful to God? Absolutely. Did he fear God? Yes, he did. And that fear motivated him to do good. That fear of God, that healthy fear of God, was something that was of enormous benefit to him, of blessing from God, something he chose to do.

Abraham was old, got all of God's commandments, statues, ordinances. He obeyed God implicitly. And he believed God, and he had a fear of God. That fear gave him the power, gave him the motivation to make a choice that you and I have never been asked to make. And that I dare say that if I was asked to make it today, I would hope that I would respond the way Abraham did.

But I have to wonder what else. Would I hesitate? Would I think this isn't God who would ever ask me of this? Would I make excuses? Would I stop? And think, I'll wait on this for two, three, four days and see what God says? Or would I just do what Abraham did because I so thoroughly believed God and feared him? What do you do that I will do? What do you ask him to do?

What God wants us to do is have that healthy fear, that healthy fear that would help us to do what he says to do and to love him. Let's look at Luke's side. Over here in the New Testament, we find the fear of God. It's a motivating fear. It's a recognition of who God is and the power he holds over us. He owes the power of life and death.

Eternal life or eternal death? It's simply his. When it comes time, it'll be his decision based on what we've done, not ours. We're not going to sit there and be able to argue back and forth and say, What? This happened? Then this happened. Did we do it or didn't we? Yes or no? Luke 7, we find another aspect of this fear. One is recognizing God's sovereignty and believing that what he has called us to is good. As you heard in the sermon, that was 828.

Everything he does is for our good. Luke 7, verse 11. Hear Jesus Christ. Having come from dealing with a man who was willing to just have Christ say the word, because he also was a man under authority. In verse 11, as they left that place, he says, It happened a day after that he went into the city, and in Luke 7, verse 11, called man. And many of his disciples went with him in a large crowd. And when he came here, the gates of the city, behold, the dead man was being carried out.

The only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her. And he said to her, Don't weep. Then Christ came and touched the open fallen, and those who carried him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say to you, arise. So he who was dead sat out and began to speak. And he presented it to his mother. Then here, verse 16, a healthy reverent, awed fear, came upon all.

And they glorified God, saying, Great prophet has risen up among us, and God has visited his people. They weren't frightened, but they glorified God. Look at what God has done. Look at what this man has done. We should fear him. There should be a respect for him that transcends any authority on earth. There should be a respect for him that transcends any of our wants, desires. Anything that our family or companions or work or whatever, that transcends anything. He's the power. He has the power of life and death. He does good for all of us. The power of our future is in his hands.

Not in our hands, not in our excuses, not in our wants. In his hands. Fear of God. An appropriate, respectful, awesome fear. Even a terror, if you will. As the word can indicate here in the New Testament. A terror when we recognize the power of God. What he does for us. Who he is. A fear that we can lose. We can kind of forget who God is and the power he is.

When we make exceptions to the lives that we live or to the rules that we live by, and the man's that we live by. Now we don't see that immediate punishment. We think, okay, God's okay. So when we do things and, you know, God who is patient for us may even, you know, prick our conscience and say, we shouldn't be doing this. Do we listen? Or do we just go ahead and do it anyway? Is there a blame on what else? Blame it on circumstances? A healthy, healthy respect for God. Let's go back to 1 Samuel. A healthy respect for God. And a way that we see here in 1 Samuel, this time not about Eli, this time talking about King Saul when he's made the king of Israel, the first king of Israel. We see the people in 1 Samuel and Israel at that time. They also develop a fear. Here, if you remember about King Saul, he was the tallest, he was the best looking. God said, this is the man that the people will want, so he gives him. But Saul was a quiet man. He wasn't an outspoken, you know, fire-breathing man. He was a quiet, docile man. And so some people looked at him and said, is this the man the king? Is this who we should follow? Now, 1 Kings 10, 1 Kings 27, you know, see, some of the rebels said, eh, we don't really want to follow Saul. But God created a situation here in 1 Samuel 11 that brought Saul to light. 1 Samuel 11. After Saul is installed as king, it says, Nahash the Ammonite, the Ammonites were enemies of Israel, came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, make a covenant with us, and we'll serve you. So making an alliance with the enemy.

Nahash the Ammonite answered him, on this condition I'll make a covenant with you, that I may put out all your right eyes and bring reproach on all Israel. You want to lie with me? You're afraid of me? Here's the price you pay for my peace. Every single one of you is going to put out your right eye. Pretty stiff price, right? Pretty stiff price. Well, even Israel is like, okay, we're kind of desperate. We kind of want to make an alliance, but we don't know that we want to go that far. So in verse 3, the elders of Jabesh said to him, hold off for seven days, that we may send messengers to all the territory of Israel, and then if there is no one to save us, we'll come out to you. Okay, give us a week, and if there is no one that we can rely on, then we'll come out to you. So the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and told the news and the hearing of the people, and all the people lifted up their voices and wept. And then there was Saul coming behind the herd from the field, and Saul said, what troubles the people that they weep? And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh. And then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused. So he took a yoke of oxen, cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle, so it shall be done to his oxen. Here's a man who is pretty laid back, and all of a sudden the Spirit of God comes on him and he says, okay, this is what's happening, and you know what? If you don't follow what we say, this is what's going to happen to all of your oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent. They saw the power. They knew what was going to happen. They knew this could happen to them if they didn't follow Saul. Do we realize what God can do to us? What our end will be if we fail to follow him? If we fail to honor him the way he called us to honor him? If we fail to obey him in the details as well as in the overall aspect of our lives? You know, God is not a God of just the big things. It's okay if you just do this and that. He who is faithful and little is faithful in much. Are you growing? Are you paying attention? Are you becoming more and more like Jesus Christ? And the big things as well as the small things. Do you fear him? Do you know what he can do or the power that he has over us? We'll go back to Luke. Luke and scriptures that probably have come to your mind as we've been talking to you. Luke 12. Luke 12. As Jesus Christ is speaking to his disciples, he says in verse 4. Luke 12 verse 4. I say to you, my friends, don't be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. His disciples, the apostles, all met that in their lives. They were all faced with death. They could have all waffled. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They could have all waffled when what they were faced with was death if they didn't do what the authorities said. Daniel could have. Every one of God's people that we read about faced that life and death situation or could well have faced that life and death situation. Don't be afraid of those who can kill the body, but when you're dead they can do more. No more than that. They have power over you in just that little bit.

Verse 5, 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. He can take away life, this physical life. He can take away eternity. Much more than any man can do, much more than any boss can do, much more than any child can do. Fear him. You have your respect to him, and when you're choosing who to obey and what to obey, you remember, he's saying, who God is. Fear him. Fear him. And when you have that healthy fear, it does have benefits. Let's look at Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 and verse 31.

Hebrews 10 and verse 24 and 25 tell us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, to exhort one another. And then in verse 26 says, if we sin willfully, if we kind of forget God and go back to the way we were before, or just kind of let ourselves get to the point where we just will sin and make choices that we know are wrong, but our minds just kind of get callous to it.

You know, then he says there should be a fearful expectation in verse 27. Verse 31, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. A fearful thing. God is merciful. God is patient. God is compassionate. God's will is that all of us receive eternal life.

But it's a fearful thing if we take him for granted. It's a fearful thing if we slink back, if we become complacent, if we put our own needs or others' needs or whatever in front of him. If we lose the fear of God, we become people who are in very grave danger of losing what God has promised us.

So let's go back and let's talk about fear. What is it and what benefits does it have? We know that it's a feeling and an attitude of awe, reverence, even terror of God, but the right kind of terror, not afraid of him, in a sense that we shrink back in fear, but of an awesome reverence that we understand who he is. If we go back to Exodus, Exodus 20, we see Israel, who comes face to face with God's power in a physical way. And Moses has something really astute that God has inspired him to say here, as they're standing at the base of Mount Sinai, and God has just thundered out his commandments. These are the things that you should do. In Exodus 20, verse 18, it says, It says, You know, Isaiah 66, verse 2. Isaiah 66, verse 2, a memory verse for many of us. It says, He who trembles at my word. Now I have to ask myself, do I tremble at God's word? When I read something and I say, oh, that's something where I've been off, do I tremble? Israel trembled. Israel trembled when they saw the power of God. If we recognize the power of God, we would tremble too. When they saw it, they trembled and 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. And Moses said to the people, don't fear. Don't have the right kind of fear. Don't be afraid. Don't be timid. For God has come to test you. And that his fear, the right kind of fear, the reverence, the yura, Y-I-R-A-H, that his fear may be before you. Why? So that you may not sin.

Ever wish that, you know, when a temptation comes up and you keep falling, pray to it, and over and over again, you say, God, just keep doing the same thing over again. You want to break that sin? Have the fear of God. His fear will give us the power to not sin if we have the appropriate fear of God. If we don't have the appropriate fear of God, we will make the same mistake over and over and over again. You know, one of the stories that I love, not the most, but of many of the things in the Bible is the story of Joseph. Joseph, when he was in Potiphar's house, and God had given him literally everything. He came out of a childhood, as we talked about, that was kind of pampered, if you will. He became a slave, became a servant, and rose up to Potiphar to become the chief in Potiphar's house. And there's Potiphar's wife, throwing herself at him, a young man. And you know, every part of Joseph was saying, why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I? How is Potiphar ever going to find out? Joseph said, no. No, I won't do it. I won't sin against God. Joseph had the fear of God. Joseph had the fear of God. It kept him from making a grave mistake. Maybe grave mistakes that we can go back in our lives and realize, I had the appropriate fear. That's what kept me from doing that, which seemed so natural. And if I didn't have that fear of God, I would have walked right down that path. Joseph had the fear of God. The fear of God can help us to not sin. Let's go to Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16. You know, Solomon, wise man, outside of Jesus Christ, the wisest man who ever lived, he wrote these Proverbs for us. Solomon, who had the fear of God early on in his days, but through the course of his life, he let material things, he let circumstances in life, he let the hundreds and hundreds of wives and concubines that he had, he let them all destroy the fear of God. So he didn't have that, and he lost it along the way. But here in Proverbs 16, Proverbs 16 and verse 6, Proverbs 16 and verse 6, it says, In mercy and truth, atonement is provided for iniquity. God will forgive us. In mercy and truth, atonement is provided for iniquity. And by the fear of the Lord, one departs from evil. By the fear of God, one departs from evil. If you don't have the fear of God, we're not going to respect him, we're not going to respect authority, we're not going to depart from evil, we're going to walk right into it. It's the fear of God that gives us the ability, that gives us the power, that comes from the Spirit of God to depart from evil.

Proverbs 14, a couple chapters back. Proverbs 14 and verse 16.

A wise man fears. A wise man fears.

Same Hebrew word. Yura, a wise man fears and departs from evil. But a fool rages and is self-confident.

But a fool is rages and is self-confident. But a wise man fears. And that helps him to do what's right, to depart from evil, from sin or any other thing that is apart from God's way, that he would have us all be living by.

So fear certainly has its benefit in all of us.

Fear is something that we should want, the fear of God. Fear is something we should cultivate. Fear of God is something that we should ask him for. Fear of God is something we should be cognizant of and we should be thinking of and reviewing our lives to see do we fear God the way Abraham did? Do we fear God the way David did? Do we fear God the way the men of the Bible that we read about in Hebrews 11? And even the New Testament apostles feared God, and were willing to give up everything because they feared him more than the consequences of this life or what people might think of them.

Well, let's go back to Proverbs 1. We're talking about some foundational things here. The fear of God is right here at the foundation of what we believe and what we do and how we act. Proverbs 1 and verse 7, it says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It's right there. It's at the base level. The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge.

It doesn't get any plainer than that. But fools despise wisdom. And they despise instruction. Fools despise them both. But people who are of God, who have the fear of God, that's the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 9, verse 10.

Proverbs 9, verse 10, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You want to be seen as wise? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You're not going to have wisdom without the fear of God, the wisdom of God anyway. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Now we also know from Psalm 111, a good understanding of they who do His commandments, who understand, who know the commandments and then do them. Not just repeat them back. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. But actually do them and count them as life principles and life commitments that we make to follow them explicitly and more and more closely as each month, year, decade passes. The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 15, Proverbs 15, verse 33.

Let's begin in verse 31. Verse 31. Proverbs 15, verse 31. The ear that hears the rebukes of life. The ear that hears the rebukes of life. Kind of tough to hear rebukes sometimes. The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise. But he who disdains instruction despises his own soul. But he who he's rebuked gets understanding. He grows in the way. So, you know, there's times in life when we may be rebuked, we may be to be corrected. Just listen to it. Listen to what God has to say. Listen to the Bible and listen to others and compare it to the Bible. And if it's there of God's way, get wisdom. Get wisdom. Verse 33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. Now that can be a confusing verse, but when you look up the Hebrew word that's translated instruction, you can kind of figure out what they're saying. Here's the way the God's word translation translates. The fear of the Lord is discipline leading to wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the discipline leading to wisdom. There's a choice we make. We choose to fear God. It's not something He just automatically gives us. He'll give it to us, but we have to choose to live that way. We can disdain it, just like we can disdain everything else in life. The counter is not important. Think that it's mundane, boring. But it shouldn't be mundane or boring because it's a key. It's a foundation of our lives, of our Christian lives. The fear of the Lord is discipline leading to wisdom. Verse 33, another one of those foundational virtues, and before honor, is humility. Talk about thankfulness. You can talk about the fear of God. You can talk about humility. Those three had best be there if we are going to follow God, be instructed by Him if we're going to be in His kingdom. So, the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge, the beginning of wisdom. It can keep us from sinning if it's really before our eyes, if it's really part of what we are, and we would not sin against God because we have such respect, such awe, such reverence for Him that we wouldn't do that. Let's look at Proverbs 14, verse 26.

In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence. There is strong confidence.

You know there's a confidence of the world. There's a confidence that Saul got later on in life, a self-confidence, if you will. He started off well when the Spirit of God was on him, and he made his pronouncement to the men of Jabesh Gilead and to the Ammonites. But then later, he lost the fear of God, and he became confident in his own eyes. He decided that when Samuel didn't show up, as Samuel instructed him, you wait for seven days until I get here, he said, you know what, he's too late, I'm going to do it anyway. He took things upon himself that he wasn't granted. In his confidence, he did things and thought, I have the authority to do this. I have the right to do this. He didn't have the right. God took the kingdom from him. It's God who gives us, not ourselves. And Saul had a kind of confidence, but he was never able to get back to where he was before when he was small in his own eyes. God says, if you want confidence, get it from me. In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence. Confidence isn't in ourselves. Confidence is in God.

That's where we get our strength. That's where we get our abilities. That's where we get the inspiration of God. It's not about us. It's about him, what he's done. And never forgetting that, always having the fear of God before our eyes, the gratitude, the recognition, the humility to remember it's God who provides.

You know, David was a man who feared God. And there he was, a young man, the entire armies of Israel. Remember? When they were faced with Goliath, this giant. All the armies of Israel shrunk back. We can't fight this man. He's too tall. He's too powerful. And here's this young boy that comes in, this teenager. And David never hesitated. He looked at him and he never thought about himself and thought, you know what? Look what I can do. He never thought about, you know, I'm the one who can do this. He said, if God will do this, we can't have this man defying the armies of the living God. David doesn't hesitate. David had all of his faith in God. His confidence wasn't in himself and the skills that he had honed while he was being a shepherd. He knew what God had prepared him for. He had seen what God had done. He gave himself credit for the bears that he killed and the lions that he stood up against and snatched the lambs out of their mouths. He gave the credit to God. He realized who it was that gave him that power. So when Goliath was there, his confidence wasn't in himself. His confidence was in God. The same confidence that you and I need when we face the giants of life, the things that can overcome us. If we don't have the strength and the foundational attributes that God would give us and hone in us so that we can overcome whatever it is in life that we need to overcome. And for all of us, it's a different thing, but all of us have something we need to overcome. And there is some giant out there that will slay us. That will slay us if we have our confidence in self and not in God and allowing him to slay it for us. Let's go back to Psalm. Let's look at a few verses here that David wrote about the fear of God. Psalm 34 is a chapter that is full of the fear of God. Let's look at Psalm 34. The first verse we'll look at is verse 8. Because just like God gives us many benefits, following Him, obeying Him, doing His life, there are many benefits to knowing God. There are many benefits to the fear of God. Psalm 34, verse 8.

There is no want to those who fear Him. There's no want to those who fear Him. You don't have to worry about your meals. You don't have to worry about your housing. There is no want to those who fear Him. One verse above, verse 7. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and He delivers them. The armies may be raging. It may look hopeless. It may look like we're in a sinkhole that we're never going to be able to pull ourselves out of. If we fear God, if that is part of our being, and part of our being that drives us and motivates us to follow Him more closely, and to resist sin, and to do the things that He would have us do, if that's who we are, He'll save us from all those things.

Verse 15. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and here His ears are open to their cry. He listens. He pays attention. He'll protect.

You know, in Proverbs 14, I don't know if I read it or not, but in Proverbs 14, 26, the next verse there in 27, or maybe it's the last part of 26, talks about, to Him who fears God, there is a place of refuge. He'll protect their security and safety in Him when we look to Him. Let's go back to Proverbs, this time to Proverbs 19.

Proverbs 19.

Verse 23. The fear of the Lord. Proverbs 19, 23. The fear of the Lord leads to life.

The fear of the Lord leads to life, and He who has it will abide in satisfaction. He will not be visited with evil.

You want to have the satisfaction in life? A kind of good feeling where it's like, I'm content with what's going on. I'm not always looking for more. I'm not always feeling like something is missing, that I'm missing out on something, that there should be more that I'm getting out of whatever it is in life. You want satisfaction? You want to be filled up? The fear of the Lord leads to life. The fear of the Lord leads to satisfaction. But if we don't have the fear of God in our minds, we're missing something in knowledge. We're missing something in wisdom. If we're looking to ourselves and not being led by the fear of God as a motivating and foundational part of our being, we'll always feel like we're missing something. That there's always something more out there. God will satisfy. God will complete. God will fill us up if we look to Him.

Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22, verse 4. By humility. One of those other foundational things. By humility and the fear of the Lord. The two together. Gotta be humble. Gotta fear God. By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life. Our riches and honor and life. You want riches? None of us should be living our lives just because we want riches. You want honor? Or do you think that honor should ever come to you?

And life doesn't come by our will. It comes by the fear of the Lord.

Let's go back to Psalm 25. See another thing that David wrote here. Psalm 25. Psalm 25 and verse 12.

Who is the man?

Who is the man, David writes, the fear is the Lord. Who is he? Him shall he teach in the way he chooses. God will teach the fear of God. Him shall God teach in the way he chooses. Not in the way we choose. Maybe not the way we want. God will teach him in the way that God chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity. And his ascendant shall inherit the earth. Quite a promise that God makes to us, to those who fear the Lord.

The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him. And he will show them his covenant.

Want to know the mysteries of God? Understand his plan? His secrets? His plan? What he's doing? Why we're here? Where we're going? He may not give us today every detail that we want to know.

But the secret of the eternal is with those who fear him. And he will show them his covenant.

There's many things you could look up. You can look up, go into the concordance, and put the fear of God in. They're just put in fear, or the fear of God. And look at all the verses that talk about it. It's throughout the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Psalms, and the Proverbs, and other places as well.

It's one of those foundational things that we must do.

Let's go forward again to Psalm 34, because I hope we see the fear of God we must have.

If we're going to be in God's kingdom, we have to have the fear of God. You know, back in Genesis, Abraham had the fear of God. In Revelation, when it talks about the Bride of Christ, when Christ is calling, or God is calling, he says, Come, you who fear Him, come to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Those who will be in the bridal supper, they'll fear God.

If they don't fear God, they won't be part of that supper. Psalm 34. What do we do? What do we do if we want to fear God? How do we develop the fear of God? Psalm 34. David writes, Come, you children, listen to me.

You know, we've got to listen to God. We've got to listen to the things that He says and do it the way He says. Not just discount it and say, I've heard that a million times, I don't want to hear it anymore. Know that, been there, done that. There's a better way. Listen to me, God says. He gives us His word to read.

In many cases now, we can listen to sermons from all sorts of places in the church, of people who have the knowledge. Come, children, listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. It's something that has to be taught.

Just like parents have to teach their children the respect and fear of authority. And without it, their lives are going to be sorry, their lives are going to be miserable, their lives are going to go nowhere. The same lesson applies to you and me.

If we don't have the fear of God, our lives are going to be miserable. They're going to fall apart. We're going to go nowhere. We'll be spinning our wheels, and when Jesus Christ returns, we'll look up at Him and say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do this? Didn't we do this?

And He's going to say, I didn't know you. You didn't fear me. You didn't pay attention to me. You have paid attention to everything else, but you didn't pay attention to me. You didn't listen to me. Come, children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves many days that he may see good? Who is this man that wants these things that God promises?

And He tells us, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Now, that's one thing we can all do, right? I know I hold myself to account on this. You know, James 3 talks about the tongue being an evil thing, more difficult to control than armies of Earth. And we've all been there. We've all said things that we think, why did I say that?

And we go back at night and think, shouldn't have said that, shouldn't have done that, or we can find ourselves getting carried away with any kind of conversation, saying things we shouldn't have said. God says, have the fear of God. Think about what you're saying and stop. Stop what He's doing. Use His power. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil. And do good. Stop sinning. Don't do the things. Don't compromise with His law. Don't make excuses for yourself in saying, this is the only way to do it.

Do what He says, simple and clear. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. God's will is that all be one, that all be united. And yet, in the churches of God, and even in our own congregations, we have things that are anything but peaceful.

Something's missing. Something's missing in some relationships. I dare say it's the fear of God. I dare say it's some of the foundational principles that every Christian has, that every single Christian is in danger of losing if we don't watch out what's going on. Just like Saul lost it. Just like Solomon lost it. Because they let the cares of life and their own personalities and everything else get in the way of what God had called them to do. That shouldn't happen to you and me. That shouldn't happen to you and me. Have the fear of God and keep it before him. You know, when I read, read, depart from evil, seek peace and pursue it. Back in Hebrews 12, at the feast I read this verse this year because it just struck me one day when I was reading it.

In Hebrews 12 and verse 14, in a chapter where God is talking about how he's going to correct us, and it can be difficult to go through times of correction, but it is times where God is that he loves us. Just like parents who love their children correct them and want them to grow up with all the attributes that they need in order to be successful. And God does the same thing to us.

In verse 14 he says this, Pursue peace with all people. Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Without which no one will see the Lord. Show how important that is to God. Pursue peace. Pursue holiness. Without him. No one will see. No one will see the Lord. In 2 Corinthians 7, speaking of holiness, in verse 1 Paul makes a simple little statement.

2 Corinthians 7 verse 1. After he admonishes the Corinthians, and every Christian who lives come out from the world, be separate from them. In chapter 7 verse 1 he says, Therefore, having these promises, Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. How do we perfect holiness? In the fear of God. Without the fear of God, we're not going to perfect holiness. We can deceive ourselves, and we can fool ourselves, and we can rethink and pat ourselves on the back and say, Ben, I'm doing a really good job.

Without the fear of God, we won't be perfecting holiness. Well, we can go through, and I've got a lot more scriptures, but I can see my time has paused. But, you know, as you go through the Bible, I would encourage you, do a study on the fear of God. See how many times God talks about that. Look at the men, look at the instances, look at the admonitions. They're from Genesis all the way to Revelation. You know, Abraham had the fear of God.

The men and women of Hebrews 11 all had the fear of God. David had the fear of God. Jesus Christ had the fear of God. Even in Isaiah, it talks about the spirit that will be on the Messiah, and it includes the spirit of the fear of God. Even Jesus Christ had the fear of God. You and I must have the fear of God.

Solomon, for all the things that he did in his life, for the beginning of his life, and all the blessings that God gave him that he allowed to go to his head, and he allowed himself to dabble in all the things of the earth.

And he says, I've tried everything. I've had more wives than you can imagine. I've had the wealth to do whatever I want, but you know what? My life wasn't full. My life wasn't satisfying. There was something missing, and at the end of my life, I regret. I regret what I have done and how I've done it. In Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13, I'm sure again a memory verse, but one that has so much meaning to us.

At the end of his life and at the end of this letter that he writes, in Ecclesiastes he says, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Let's hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all. Remember those foundational attributes, those foundational attitudes, those foundational characteristics that we should have.

People who are thankful always, people who are humble and recognize God's work in our lives always, people who fear God and use that fear to motivate us to become more and more like him every single day.