Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19, verse 23. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life,
and he that hath it shall abide satisfied. He shall not be visited
with evil. The fear of the Lord. Now, what
does the Word of God have to say about that? The fear of the
Lord. Well, Proverbs 8.13 says, The
fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, arrogancy and the evil
way. I know this about the fear of
the Lord. Those that possess it have a
resistance towards sin. It causes something to happen
within. Job said concerning what he saw
in himself. He said, I loathe myself. I loathe myself. I hate what
I see within. Here's another question. Is it
found everywhere? In every person? Listen to the words of Genesis
20 11, and Abraham said, because I thought surely the fear of
God is not in this place, they shall slay me for my wife's sake. Those that possess the fear of
the Lord do so by the grace of God. Those that possess the fear of
the Lord will do something that man by
nature cannot and will not because he cannot do. Call on the Lord
for help. The fear of the Lord must be
there for a man or woman to cry out for mercy. Listen, on the
day of our Lord's crucifixion, One of the thieves crucified
with the Lord asked the other one. At one time they were both
railing on the Lord and all of a sudden one of them just changed
his attitude. Something was done for him that
wasn't there. Life was imparted. And instead
of railing on the Lord, he turned and started railing on the other
thief. And he said, Dost not thou fear God? seeing that thou
art in the same condemnation as we indeed justly, for we receive
the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing
amiss." There's nothing there. And if
all men have not the fear of the Lord, how is it obtained,
Jeremiah 32, I jotted this down just a few moments ago. Jeremiah
32 and verse 40. How is it obtained? Jeremiah 32, 40. I will make
an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away
from them to do them good. But I will put my fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from me. Those that fear the
Lord remain because they're kept by the power of God. God Almighty
puts fear, respect in a man or a woman's heart. And then concerning
This thing of the fear of the Lord. Listen to Psalm 3411. Come
ye children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of
the Lord. What's the means by which the
fear of the Lord is imparted? What's the means? I'll tell you
what it is. It's the hearing of the gospel. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved." How are they going to call on
Him of whom they've not heard? How are they going to hear without
preaching? I will give you pastors according
to my heart and they will teach you. Teach you. It's a tremendously
humbling responsibility to stand before God's people and teach
the Word of the Lord. What respect we owe His Word. No man has the ability to effectually
teach or communicate, but I'll tell you this, when it comes
to the fear of the Lord being taught The Spirit of God is going
to have to give a man, a woman, a new heart. I'll give you a
new heart. The fear of the Lord, the reverence
or the respect of Jehovah, to believe Him, to trust Him, to
lean on Him is a grace given by God through the proclamation
of the Gospel. Does it matter what you hear?
Absolutely. Oh, listen. You would be better
to hear nothing than to hear a false gospel. I've heard people
say, well, you know, I wasn't able to hear, be in a place where
the gospel is preached, but you know, it'd be better just to
go somewhere wrong. Come out from among them. Be
you separate, saith the Lord. You just ask that the Lord give
you a place to go, but don't go and sit under a false preacher. Don't do it. I wouldn't even
begin to be through talking about the evil of sitting under a lie. Don't do it. The fear of the
Lord. If God Almighty has given you
a heart to be where the gospel is, He'll make a way. He'll give
you a place. Believe me. Philippians 1.29,
for unto you it's given in behalf of Christ not only to believe
on Him, but to suffer for His sake. Wherefore, 2 Thessalonians
2.14, He calls you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory. of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's
granted unto you. God's people fear the Lord, they
believe Him, and it's a privilege to fear the Lord. A privilege
given. So that beautiful Fear of the Lord. God's people,
in regenerating grace, possess it. But now, for those that possess
it, and I understand, I understand, until the Lord gives a man or
woman a heart to fear the Lord, to respect Him, to honor Him,
men think that they possess it. They think they do. I respect
Him. What's the characteristic of
a man or a woman that fears the Lord? Well, those that fear and
reverence the Lord, first of all, and this is going to sound
so, so, you know, well, let me tell you what it is. Those that
fear the Lord are alive spiritually. Someone would say, Well, that's
obvious. That's obvious. Mr. Spurgeon,
he wrote a book called Lectures to My Students. He had a preacher's
class, Lectures to My Students. And he said, here's the first
thing about God calling a preacher. Here's the first thing. He saves
him. He saves him. You say, well, that's so obvious.
Yeah. God doesn't call them until he
saves them. The first characteristic of a person that fears the Lord
is God Almighty saves them, gives them life. And until then, I
said people say, you know, well, I'm alive. Look at John 8, 39,
or just listen to me read it there. John 8, 39. He's talking
to some Jews here. And they claim to be children
of God because they were children of Abraham. And they're looking
at their natural, you know, lineage. And verse 38, John 8, 39, it
says, They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. And Jesus saith unto them, These
were direct descendants of Abraham. I mean, they trace their lineage
back. We go all the way back to Abraham.
The Lord says, if ye were Abraham's children, and obviously they
weren't, spiritually. If you were Abraham's children,
you would do the works of Abraham. If you had life like you claim
to have, He said you'd act like Abraham. There's a course, a
direction in a man or woman's walk that evidences that they're
alive in Christ. How do you know that? Because
Proverbs, back in Proverbs 19 verse 23, the fear of the Lord
tendeth to life. It applies itself. It's that
word, it's in italics, but that's what the word tend, tend, T-E-N-D,
it applies itself to life. It has the characteristic of
life. They walk, they talk, they think
like a believer. You've heard me say that before.
A believer talks like a believer. He doesn't talk like Religion
has a way of saying things, and it has a religious sound, but
there's no life to it. I don't know how to explain that,
but you that know it know what I mean. A believer talks like
a believer. That's just one of those things
that just the Lord has to reveal. I don't know any other way to
say it. You talk to a believer, and it's not Mere religion. You know what I mean? Yeah. Those
of you that do, you know, you do. They talk. Does that mean
that there's no sin? Oh no, absolutely not. 1 John 1.8, if we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, the truth will not end us. But
those that fear the Lord tendeth apply themselves to life. But how? What is it, that life? Listen to 1 Thessalonians. One
of the best passages that I could think of, you know. The Apostle
Paul says, Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your
labor of love, patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in
the sight of God our Father, knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. How, Paul, how? How is it? I can't see into heaven
right now. I can't see the book of life
right now. I don't know if it's a real book.
I don't know what it is. The memory of God, I don't know.
It's described as being written in heaven. A book of life. Written before the foundation
of the world. I mean, there's no new entries
being made. It's done. It's done. All those who are God's elect,
their names are written in heaven. Be glad your names are written
in heaven. Not that the devils are in submission to you. Be
glad your name is written in heaven. How do you know? Listen to these words. First
of all, how do you know those that fear the Lord? For our gospel
The gospel of God's grace. The gospel of salvation by the
grace of God. No works. I've got to be baptized
to be saved. No, you don't. No, you don't. I have to exercise my free will.
I've got to accept the offer to be saved. No, you don't. No,
you don't. That's a lie. Do people willingly
come? Yes. Why did they come? Because God made them willing
in the day of His power. You know, when they came, after
He called them out of darkness, after He saved them, regenerated
them. Nobody does something first in
order to be saved. That's works. That's works. That's
not right. How do you know your election
of God? Our gospel came unto you, not in word only, but in
power. and the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you, for
your sake. First of all, how do you know
those that fear the Lord? They believe the gospel. They believe the gospel of God's
grace. Gospel is an offer. No, it's
not. The gospel declares what God
has done, What he shall do, what he has done, and then he tells
his people through the gospel, the Spirit of God, bearing witness
to their heart. Then they know, they know, the
Lord saved me. Called me out of darkness. Secondly,
and you were followers, you became followers of us and of the Lord,
having received the word in much affliction with joy in the Holy
Ghost. How do you know those that fear
the Lord? How did this, it tendeth to life. What is this? The gospel
comes in power. And then they become followers.
You know all God's people believe the same thing. All God's people. I've said this before, you take
all of the religions in the world. And there's diversities, Jeff.
You know, now this one over here says you got to do this. Now
this one right here says a little different. This is what you got
to do here. This one says this is what you got to do. And this
one over here changes it. This one speaks in tongues. And
this one's got to be baptized. And this one's got to do this.
And this one's got to do that. And this one's got to go to Mecca.
And this one's got to over here. You know all God's people believe
the same thing. They believe God. They believe
the scriptures. And then thirdly, it says in
1 Corinthians 1, and that you were examples to all that believe
in Macedonia and Achaia. The gospel comes in power. You
become followers of God Almighty as he sets forth himself in the
word and you are an example. Those that fear the Lord evidence
that fear in that it tendeth to life. The fruit of those that
are actually alive being passed from death unto life, they reverence
the Lord and believe in their heart that salvation is by the
grace of God and they lay no claim to anything that they've ever
done. There's no confidence in the flesh. None. None. None. No confidence. Scripture
says in Ephesians 2, 1, And you had to quicken who were dead
in trespasses and sins. I'm going to tell you something.
Those who feared the Lord had been resurrected. They were dead. Not able to do anything. Colossians
2.13, you being dead in your sins, the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you
all your trespasses. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy. Now you think, what does a man
by nature hope in? Whatever he's done. Whatever
he's done. I can tell you so many times
in my mind, I remember sitting under false, man-centered, free
will religion. Thinking back to myself, I just
don't know if I was really sincere that day. So I'm going to go
ahead and do it again. I'm going to be sincere this
time. And I'm going to work myself
up and I mean this. And I say, Lord, and I'd go through
it again. If I wasn't sincere, I mean I'm
sincere now. Boy, what confidence in that! The eye of the Lord is upon them
that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy to deliver
their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. The first characteristic of a
man or woman that fears the Lord is they're alive. They have a
characteristic of life according to the scripture. Secondly, those
that fear the Lord shall abide satisfied. That's what verse
23, you know. Attended to life, he that hath
it shall abide satisfied. When I Just look at Genesis 33. This is just a beautiful, beautiful... "...that fear the Lord shall
abide satisfied." Genesis 33. Jacob had, you know, gotten the
birthright. Esau was the oldest. Jacob came
in, deceived his father, and he left. He fleed. And Esau, oh Jacob didn't want
to face Esau, he feared to face Esau. Years later now, here they're
getting ready to meet, and Jacob is sending out his people, you
see my brother Esau, you tell him, I'm sorry, didn't mean to,
he's preparing himself. And listen to these words, he
sees Esau. And when Esau saw him, look at
verse 4, Genesis 33, 4. Esau ran to meet him, embraced
him, fell on his neck, kissed him, they wept. And Jacob had
all these gifts he was going to give Esau, peace offerings.
And look at verse 9, and Esau said, when Jacob was going to
give him all these things, look at verse 8, Esau said, What meanest
thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are
to find grace in the sight of my Lord. Jacob told his brother
Esau, I'm giving you all this, make amends. Verse 9, Esau said, I have enough. My brother, keep that thou hast
unto thyself. And Jacob said, No, I pray thee.
Now if I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present
at my hand. For therefore I have seen thy
face, as though I have seen the face of God. Thou wast well pleased
with me. Take, I pray thee, my blessing
that is brought to thee, because God hath dealt graciously with
me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took
it. You know these two brothers said the same thing to each other.
Same word, but not the same thing. Same word, but not the same thing. Verse nine, Esau said, I have
enough. And I looked these words up,
look them up. I have enough is what he said.
I have enough. I have much. I got plenty. I got plenty. And Jacob said
to him in verse 11, no, you take it. God's dealt graciously with
me. The Lord has shown me his grace.
And because I have all, I have everything. I have a Christ. You take these temporal things.
Esau said, I've got, I got plenty. I got plenty. Jacob said, no,
you take them. I have everything. In Christ,
I have it all. The believers position in the
Lord. Those that fear the Lord, they
have all. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. What am I going to lack? Nothing. Nothing. I won't lack anything
in this life. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. But
in that day, I can have, a man can have much and not have all. Jacob said, I've got everything
in Christ. The fear of the Lord tended to
life. And he that hath it shall abide
satisfied. David, King David, Psalm 84.10,
A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I'd rather be
a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents
of wickedness. Many walked away from him. The
Lord asked his disciples, Will you go also? Lord, where are
we going to go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. They all say, as Paul, or Saul of Tarsus on the road,
what would you have me to do? He that fears the Lord knows
that the Lord has blessed him with all spiritual blessings. I have all. Those that fear the
Lord, the scripture says, shall abide satisfied. Let me ask you
this. You that know Him, you that fear
the Lord, everlastingly loved of God. If
the Lord be for me, who cares what somebody else
thinks? Who shall be against me? Who
cares? You're hated of the world. They
hated the Lord first. Chosen in Christ from before
the foundation of the world that you should be holy and without
blame before God in love. One of these days, that's going
to really mean everything. Predestinated unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Redemption through the blood
of Christ. The forgiveness of sins. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. A man can say, I got a lot. A
believer says, I got everything. I have it all. What if you run out of money?
What if you run out? If I starve to death, I'll go
to be with the Lord. I've got it all. The fear of
the Lord tendeth to life. He that hath it shall abide satisfied,
and he shall not be visited with evil. Does that mean that a believer
never experiences trials? Does that mean that he never
feels the jabs of Satan's darts? Does that mean he never knows
anything of this world's hatred and resentment toward him? No,
but what it means is he'll not be visited with evil. The Lord has not appointed him,
numbered him with the evil. He'll never be charged with evil. When the Lord deals with the
people, He doesn't deal with them for their hurt and chastisement,
but for their good, whom the Lord loveth. He chasteneth and
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. Psalm 103, 10, 11, He has not
dealt with us after our sins. nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities, for as the heaven is high above the earth, so great
is His mercy toward them that fear Him." We ought to praise
the Lord for what He's not done to us, as well as what He's done
for us. Up to this point, with all the
deservings of condemnation, we've never suffered what we merited,
believe me. As far as the East is from the
West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like
as a father pitieth his children, he knoweth our frame. The Lord
pities those that fear Him. He remembereth that we're dust. And those that fear the Lord,
who have that Fear of God. Respect of God. They've had their
sins put away. The Lord has dealt with them
in Christ, in the Lamb, in the Redeemer. And here's the conclusion
of the whole matter. For those that fear the Lord,
truly know Him. There's therefore now no condemnation. To them that are in Christ Jesus
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Psalm 91 verse 10 says, There
shall no evil befall them, approach them, meet upon them. Neither shall any plague come
nigh thy dwelling. If the Lord sends chastisement
to His people, and He will, He will. Whatever the case, whatever
it is, here's the truth of it. It was beautifully versed, I
mean vocalized by Joseph. Remember Joseph was sold and
to slavery, and the Lord raised him up in Egypt. Years later
his brothers come, he reveals himself to them. I mean, he'd
been mistreated. But as for you, he told his brothers,
you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to
bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive. This is what a believer knows.
All things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. The fear of the Lord Bless these words to our heart
for Christ's sake. Amen.