Turn this morning in your Bibles
to the book of Job. The book of Job, in the 28th
chapter. I call this message, Wisdom,
its source and its substance. You see, Job here asks a question. He asks a question, and he says,
Where does wisdom come from? Look with me in verse 20. He
says, Whence then cometh wisdom? And where is the place of understanding? If you notice what he says immediately
after that, he says that saying, seeing it is hid from the eyes
of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air, Destruction
and death say we have heard the fame thereof with our ears."
In other words, he says wisdom, true wisdom is hidden from the
eyes of all living. That means that we all as sinners
are blind to what true wisdom is. But if you look in verse
23, he says, God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth
the place thereof. God knows where wisdom is. God knows where wisdom comes
from. It comes from God. And if you
look in verse 24, it says, He looketh to the ends of the earth,
and seeth under the whole heaven, to make the weight for the winds,
and he weigheth the waters by measure. When he made a decree
for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then
did he see it. and declare it, he prepared it,
yea, and searched it out." In other words, God has known this
wisdom, and he has known it since long before he ever did any of
the created things. And what he says now is that
it is no longer a secret. He's saying that God has therefore
made known what wisdom is. And that's what he says in verse
28. And unto man he said, Behold
the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. Now, I don't think there is a
clearer statement in all of Scripture that is any more to the point
than verse 28. to say to God that they didn't
know, he says unto man, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is
wisdom. And you find statements like
that all throughout the Scriptures. I know at least seven times that
such a statement as that is made in Scripture. As a matter of
fact, in Psalm 110, run 11, it says this, The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all
they that do His commandments. His praise endureth forever. where Joe read in our readings
there in Proverbs 1, it was stated by the wise Solomon, led by the
Spirit of God, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And I would say that obviously
by what we see all around us, There is, as the Bible says in
men, no fear of God before their eyes. As a matter of fact, the
psalmist made this statement. He said, the transgression of
the wicked saith within my heart that there is no fear of God
before his eyes." In other words, simply by virtue of what men
do, and by virtue of what men say, and by virtue of what they
don't do, they give evidence that they have not this fear
of God. And that's why when you get over
to the New Testament, the Apostle Paul makes the same statement
in Romans 3 and verse 18. He says, there is no fear of
God before their eyes. What does that mean, before their
eyes? It means that in their estimation,
in man's evaluation, they see no reason to fear God, and in
reality they see no God to fear. And it is this inward view of
God, or rather I might say it is the lack of it that determines
what man's moral conduct is before God. An old preacher said this,
he said, they have not that reverential fear of him which is the beginning
of wisdom and which is connected with departing from evil. It is astonishing that men while
they acknowledge that there is a God should act without any
fear of His displeasure. They fear a worm of the dust
like themselves, but they disregard the Most High God. And this is why God Himself says
in Isaiah 51, I, even I, am he that comforteth you. Who art
thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and
of the Son of man which shall be made as grass? And forgetest the Lord thy Maker. that has stretched forth the
heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and has feared
continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor,
as if he were ready to destroy." Where is the fury of the oppressor? In other words, men and women
Because of a nature of sin, they fear other men and women, but
they have not this wisdom which is the fear of the Lord. Now, you think about this. People
fear what men will do, but not what God will do. They fear what
men will think, but not what God thinks. They fear what men
and women will say, but not what God has said. They fear what
men and women will not say or not do, but not what God says
or will not do. And they fear to be different
from other men. But what about how different
we are from God Himself? And this peer pressure, as it
is called in our day, is nothing less or more than simply the
fear of man. And what does he say in that
book of wisdom in Proverbs 29? He says, the fear of man brings
a snare. It makes for a trap. He says,
but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Now, I know this. I know also
that there is a slavish fear which brings bondage and dread
and which is often used by false religion and its preachers to
keep people in bondage. They use it to bring them into
captivity And they hold them in their deceitful systems of
salvation by works and law. They use a kind of fear to cause
them to do what they say. But I'm here to tell you this
morning, that is not wisdom and that is not this true fear of
the Lord. As a matter of fact, the Scriptures
teach that in reality, those that do such things and those
who are held in bondage by such things, they are the very ones
who exemplify this fact that there is no fear of God before
their eyes. They may fear punishment. And
they may fear the consequences of their sin. They may be afraid
of a lot. They may be afraid of losing
a reward. But they have not this fear of
the Lord. But those who have true faith,
those who are given by God's grace that gift of true faith,
they also have this fear of the Lord, this fear that is characterized
by reverence for God. They revere God. And it is just as was said of
those midwives in Moses' day, that they spared Moses rather
than having him put to death as the king had commanded, it
says, because they feared God. And likewise, Hananiah in Nehemiah's
day, of whom it said that he feared God above many. And this very man that we're
reading from the book that bears his name In the very first chapter
and the first verse of Job, it says, there was a man in the
land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and
upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil. He feared God. Cornelius in the book of Acts
is described as one that feared God with all his house. So there are obviously those
who are set in contrast with all these who by nature do not
have the fear of the Lord. These are said to fear God. Now, I know that in our day,
on the one hand, there are those who use this fear to manipulate
men and women and hold them in bondage. They want to scare them
out of hell and scare them into heaven. And on the other side,
there is a modern liberality who has no idea and who will
not have as any part of the concept of what they believe any notion
of fearing God. But God in His grace has said
that He will put this fear of the Lord that is the beginning
of wisdom in the hearts of his people, and he gives that as
a very distinguished covenant promise. He does it, and he alone
can do it, and there is a great difference when he does do it,
and it is evidenced by what they confess. There was a great example
of that given in a man that hung on the cross there on one side
of the Lord Jesus Christ. At one time in the beginning
of that crucifixion, there were both of these thieves, each hanging
on one side of him, and the Bible says that both men railed on
Christ. But something happened to one
of them. Something happened, and it says in Luke 23, and one
of the malefactors, which were hanged, railed on him, saying,
If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us, but the other. But the other. One who did just
exactly, not long before like this one did, but the other,
answering, rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fear God? Seeing thou art in the same condemnation,
and he turned to the Lord Jesus Christ on that middle cross and
he said, Lord, remember me. when thou comest into thy kingdom."
In other words, all of a sudden now, and that because of God's
grace by His Spirit given to Him, He now regards the man who
is hanging on that middle cross and who is dying just like He
is, as more than a man. And he says, Lord, remember me when you come into
your kingdom. That's the fear of the Lord. And just as God tells us in all
these texts, There is blessing that comes from that because
the Lord Jesus Christ said to him, today you will be with me
in paradise. You see, the foolish words and
actions and deeds and religions and blatant wickedness of men
and women in our day proves that they are all destitute of any
real and proper regard for God. You see, a man can write a letter
publicly, and it will be published in the newspaper, and what he
says not only is not true, but what he believes is the exact
opposite of what God says in His Word, and a multitude of
people, they'll say, that fellow was right. They have no regard for God. And they act as if there were
no God or no being to whom they are responsible to for their
conduct and whose ability it is and purpose it is to punish
each and every sin of man. But more so, the absence of wisdom. The absence of this fear of the
Lord is most clearly demonstrated in the willingness of men and
women to stand before God in their own persons. A man could stand up somewhere
in a public place or forum today and stand up there and literally
with every known word of profanity stand there, look up in the sky
and curse God. And people would say, that's
awful. What's he thinking? Surely that
man will die and he'll go to hell. It's a wonder God doesn't
strike him dead right there where he's at. And yet, far worse than
that, by God's own mouth, far worse than that is every person
who seeks to come before the thrice holy God on the basis
of who they are, or on the basis of what they've done, or on the
basis of their obedience to a certain law or command, when the Bible
says that man at his best state, is altogether vanity. That person does not fear the
Lord. When a man or a woman would imagine
in their heart and trust in their heart of hearts that because
they once walked down the aisle in a religious service, or when
they once felt some kind of a feeling emotionally in a religious service,
or they were sprinkled with a little water, or dipped into a pool,
or signed a card, or repeated a prayer, any of these things. When we are willing to go out
into eternity with any confidence in any of these things, We do
not possess this fear of the Lord. We do not possess this
wisdom of God. The greatest evidence is that
men and women would be judged by God, the perfect, holy, immaculate,
just God, They'd be judged according to their works and their righteousness,
and they would go out into eternity without price. They say things like this. Well,
I'll tell you what I believe. I believe if you do the best
you can, you'll make it in. That's exactly the opposite of
what God says. He says, by the works of the
law shall no flesh be justified. Well, you know, I try to treat
my neighbor as best that I can, and I try to be good to my wife
or to my husband or to my children. I do all these things. I give
charitable gifts. You see, the problem is it's
all I. It's not Christ. You see, would there be the godless
false religions and the false professors and the fools' gospels
if men feared God? No way. Would there be this provoking
of God with the language that's spoken, the irreverent comments,
the filthy communication, the outward ungodliness? if there were men and women who
feared the Lord? Would there be this indifference,
this continued disregard for the gospel of His grace and this
rejection for the Lord Jesus Christ while the judgments of
God fall all around us at every hand and in every moment if there
was a fear of the Lord? I'm convinced of this. bring
the severest judgment, just like God showed in Israel. He said,
I did all these things. I did all these things. I sent
famines. I sent this thing and that thing. Your sons and daughters died. I did all these things, but you
didn't fear me. The more judgments that fall
on this world every day, whether it's a natural disaster such
as a flood or a tornado or a hurricane or an earthquake or a landslide
or whatever it is, the more that come, it seems the less men and
women fear the Lord. Would there be this contempt? for the grace of God and for
the many mercies that we enjoy even in the natural realm if
there is any fear of God? Or would there be any violation
of the oaths and the promises and the pledges that people make
one to another if we feared the Lord? Would there be any reckless disregard
for life and for law if men feared God the Creator? Would people
talk about so-called free will and regard their works as a ground
of acceptance before God if they feared Him? They wouldn't ever
open a book or open the Bible and say, well, I don't believe
this business of election. Well, I'll tell you what, I love
the Bible and I read it, but I don't agree with this predestination
stuff. You do if you fear the Lord. I like what Pink said, I wrote
it in the bulletin this morning. He said, the only source of these
things is from the Scriptures. Somebody didn't gather somewhere
and decide, you know, we're going to have as a part of our little
five points or whatever it is, election and predestination and
total depravity and particular redemption and effectual calling
and such as this. These things are from the Word
of God. And if we're found among those
that fear the Lord, we'll have such a reverence for His Word
that we can't help but believe them. Oh, I know they rub the
flesh the wrong way. They bring us down, but they
exalt God. They hurt us in our flesh, but
they make God to rejoice. He says, to depart from evil
is understanding. What does that mean? I know what
we think. And naturally so, we are to depart from all evil. He said even shun the appearance
of evil. That's not all he's talking about
when he says that. You see, if the beginning of
wisdom is to fear the Lord and to depart from evil is understanding,
that is to show also that that which is evil in the sight of
God is to be departed from. You see, sometimes it's kind
of easy. We know in the flesh that we're
to do some kind of repenting of when we said a bad word, or
to repent of when we did something we ought not to do, or spoke
a word in anger, or something like that. But what about this? What about
when God says, that which is highly esteemed among me is an
abomination in the sight of God? What does that mean? It means
we're to depart from, we're to forsake, we're to repent of not
only our imagined evil works, but that which we believe are
good works as far as any ground of acceptance before God. And human nature says, well,
you know, you need to do a few things. You know, you're not
getting any younger. And you're going to die one of
these days soon, and you're going to go somewhere, and you're going
to meet God, and you don't really need to straighten up. Well, that's probably true. You
and I always need to straighten up. But that will not make us
acceptable before God. Nothing less than Jesus Christ. Nothing less and certainly nothing
more than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Who He is and the
death that He died and the blood that He shed and the righteousness
He established before God, that and that alone is good. And everything else is evil. And to depart from evil is understanding. You see, to
fear God consists in having such a real sense of the majesty and
the holiness and the justice and the goodness so as to make
us thoroughly fearful of offending God, or to be anywhere or in
anyone but Christ." You see, if we have a right view
of the majesty of God. I was reading something that
somebody wrote and called it a hymn. And I read it and I thought,
you know, that's beautiful. It's really beautiful. And the
next thing that struck me was, it's only beautiful in the sense
that it's poetically beautiful. doesn't really have anything
to do about God as He is and as He is in Christ and what He's
done. But to have a real sense of the
majesty of God and the holiness of God and the justice of God
and the goodness of God will bring us to the point that we
would not dare ever to approach Him or meet Him or be dealt with
by Him in any other way except in Christ. The psalmist said, Lord, if you should mark iniquities,
who can stand? And he does mark iniquities.
And the fear of the Lord, knowing and seeing these attributes of
God, rightly seen, raise a real and a genuine fear in a person's
mind. And this lays the guilt and the
blame for all the situation in our day, the immorality and the
spiritual death everywhere on the pulpits, the pulpits of religion in our
day. Why is it easy for men and women
not to fear the Lord? Well, because all they hear is
this one-sided view of God who's like an old grandfather, a Santa
Claus or somebody that just, you know, He doesn't ever do
anything but give you good gifts if you'll just agree with Him.
No, God is holy. And He's almighty. And He is
infinitely just and pure, and of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. And you know, the amazing thing
is, we can preach law, the very law that said, Thou shalt fear
thy God, for I am the Lord thy God. We can preach law and it
will produce no more the true fear of the Lord, than it did
with Israel. You see, it's not the product
of law which can only reveal its absence, but it is the product
of grace, covenant grace. Turn over to Jeremiah 32. I love the covenant language
of God that we find in the Old Testament because I find it in
reality fulfilled in Christ. Jeremiah chapter 32, and listen
in verse 37 as God talks about His elect people, His sheep.
This is what He says, ìBehold, I will gather them out of all
countries whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my
fury, and in great wrath. And I will bring them again unto
this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely, and they
shall be my people, and I will be their God." Now, you say,
how do we know that he's talking about something in our day? Because
the Apostle quotes that in the New Testament, and he ties it
to Christ. and the people of God who are
brought to believe on him. And they shall be my people,
and I will be their God, and I will give them one heart and
one way, and they shall fear me forever for the good of them
and of their children after them. And 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, and they
shall not depart from me." They will not depart from me. That's what God says He'll do. And that's what He's done for
all His people because of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And He will give this through
the gospel that He gives to be preached. In Psalm 22, he says, I will
declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation
will I praise thee, ye that fear the Lord praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob Glorify
him and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel." Now, there are
about three or four names that are given to God's elect. He
describes them as the seed of Israel. He describes them as
the seed of Jacob. He describes them as my brethren. He describes them as the congregation. And He describes them as ye that
fear the Lord. You see, to fear the Lord, to have wisdom, is simply to
believe on. and to trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's to see how God in him has
solved the most serious and the most lasting and the most difficult
question of all time in eternity, and that is, how can this God
Be a just God. And at the same time, save a
sinner like me. And so Paul says to the Corinthians,
he says, But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And he said, to those that are
perishing, this preaching of Christ, this cross death of Christ,
is foolishness. But to those of you who are being
saved, it's the wisdom of God. He's the wisdom of God. In Him
reside all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now, believing on Christ, possessing
this fear of the Lord that He gives by grace, results in many
blessings. Many blessings. I want to just
read a few of them to you in closing this morning. Most of them are declared and
stated in clear words in the Psalms,
because the Psalms are most particularly for God's people, for those that
fear the Lord. In Psalm 31, he says, O how great
is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! which thou hast wrought for them
that trust in thee before the sons of men." Who are those that
fear the Lord? Those that trust in Christ. And
he said God has laid up great blessings for them. Again in
the psalm, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him,
and He will show them His covenant. He'll show them all these spiritual
blessings in Christ. He says again, Behold, 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 angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him and delivereth them. O fear the Lord, ye His saints,
for there is no want to them that fear Him. Surely His salvation is nigh
them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. The mercy
of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that
fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children. He
will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him. He also will hear
their cry and will save them. The Lord takes pleasure in them
that fear Him. That's just a few. In Ecclesiastes, he says, though
a sinner do evil a hundred times, And as days be prolonged, yet
surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God." Now you think about that. This
is the Spirit of God. And this is what he says, Surely
it shall be well with them that fear God. Is that true? The Lord said it's true. It shall
be well with them that fear God. Wisdom, where does it come from? It comes from God. What is it? It is the fear of the Lord, which
is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Himself the wisdom
of God, and to depart from every other thing. as any part of our
salvation, as any part of our standing and acceptance with
God, because such things in God's sight are evil. Trust Christ, and only Christ. He is the wisdom of God. Our
Father, this day we give you thanks and praise that you have
spoken, that you have told us, that you have declared because
you know and you give this wisdom and declared that it is in these
last days that you've spoken unto us by your Son. We pray
that You would help us, that we might look to Him, that we
might be among those who do possess and who do fear the Lord, who
reverence You and regard You. We pray that we might have true
faith and that You would not leave us to ourselves, but bring
us to the knowledge of Him whom to know is life eternal. that
we might live and abide in the fear of the Lord forever. We thank you and we praise you
and we ask all things in Christ's name. Amen.