The series for the summer is
on the book of Proverbs, and the book of Proverbs is designed
to teach us wisdom, and wisdom is really skillful living, to
know how to take the truth of God's Word and to apply it to
your life, to live in such a way that God intended for you to
live. It's a Hebrew word, chokmah, that was used to refer to the
skill of the craftsmen who built the tabernacle and the skill
of the artists as they did their painting, that you and I would
know how to take the Word of God, the truths of the Word of
God, and skillfully apply it to our lives so that we would
live beautiful lives, beautiful in the eyes of God as He intended
us to live. The book of Proverbs really gets
down to where the rubber meets the road. It's not living in
an ivory tower. It's not living where it's just
head knowledge, but it really connects with day-to-day life. I've been asked to speak tonight
out of the book of Proverbs on the fear of God. And so I want
you to take your Bibles because it is so important for you and
me to live our lives in a skillful way that when we lift up the
hood of our lives and look into the engine of what is driving
us in our Christian life, there has to be the fear of God strong
in our hearts. And so, in Proverbs 1, in verse
7, this is the signature passage for the entire book of Proverbs.
If you know one verse in the book of Proverbs, this is it.
This is known as the motto of the book of Proverbs. This is
known as the central theme. This is known as the big idea
of the book of Proverbs. Understand this one verse. And you have gained great insight
into the 31 chapters of this remarkable book. So I want to
begin by just reading this verse, and we're going to take some
time just really opening it up that we can understand what verse
7 is saying. And then I want to take us to
every other verse in the book of Proverbs in which the fear
of God is mentioned. so that we can understand that
if we fear God, this is the blessing that will come to our lives.
If we will fear God, this is what will accrue to our spiritual
lives. And what we will see is that
it is the most positive thing that can happen to your life
is for you to be a God-fearing man or a God-fearing woman. You want to be God-fearing. And so I want to begin by just
reading this verse, Proverbs 1 and verse 7, and as I read
it, let me just say this to you. The first seven verses are what
we call the prologue. It's the front porch. It's the opening of the book,
and verse 7 is at the summit. Verses 1 through 6 is like walking
up some stairs. And at the apex, at the pinnacle,
at the highest mountain peak is verse 7. So everything leads
up to verse 7. Wisdom, instruction in verse
2, sayings of understanding. All of this is building, building,
building. And like the crescendo at the
end of a symphony, this is now the apex of what Solomon writes. And this is what he says. The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom
and instruction. Now, what comes to your mind
when you think of the fear of God. Do you think of someone
cringing in a back corner, just cowering in dread before God? Do you think of someone who never
smiles? Do you think of someone who has a big family black Bible
under their arm? and just carries it around all
the time? Do you think of someone who speaks
in vowels and these and uses King James vocabulary all the
time, speaks of sundry things? Nothing could be further from
the truth. In previous generations, we used to call someone a God-fearing
person. My grandparents were God-fearing
people. That was a compliment. That was
one of the greatest things that you could say about someone,
and it was synonymous with, he's a godly man. She is a very spiritually-minded
woman. But the question is, whatever
happened to the fear of God? You go into the average church
today, and they do everything they possibly can to remove anything
that would communicate the fear of God. You walk into the average
church today, and it's casual. It's cool. It's trendy. Nothing could...do they desire
to ever communicate any type of of fear of God. And yet, as we look at this,
this says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
which is to say you have no spiritual knowledge whatsoever, zero, nada,
without the fear of the Lord. It is absolutely essential in
your spiritual life to have the fear of God. And so I want us
to talk about the fear of God tonight, and as it relates to
wisdom, and as it relates to your spiritual life, because
it is the thread that runs through the book of Proverbs. So let
me ask you, at the outset, before we dive into this, let me just
ask you a personal question. Are you a God-fearing person?
If you peeled back the layers of your soul tonight and were
honest before God, would you say, I'm a God-fearing person?
I hope that you would. Do you want to be a God-fearing
person? As we look at verse 7, I want
you to note several things with me about verse 7. And the first
three things that I want you to note is first, the nature. of fearing God. We're going to
look at the first five words, the fear of the Lord. Now, I
want us to understand what is the nature of fearing God. Then second, we're going to look
at the necessity of fearing God, because this says the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. I would say it's pretty
necessary that you be a God-fearing person if you're to have just
one jot or one tittle of knowledge. And then third, I want us to
look at the neglect of the fear of the Lord. The second line
of verse seven talks about the neglect of the fear of the Lord,
and it's not pretty fools. If you're not a God fearing person,
you're a fool. If that hurts your feelings,
I'm not sorry because I hope it'll jolt you. There's only
two classifications of people in the world, those who fear
God and those who are fools. And the neglect of fearing God
is very serious. It is to commit spiritual insanity. And you're just a fool. And such
a person despises wisdom and instruction. And then after we
do this, I want to talk about nurturing the fear of God. What
increases the fear of God in your life? And then finally,
the nourishment from fearing God. What will come into your
spiritual life in ever-increasing measures if you will be growing
in the fear of the Lord. So, let's begin with the nature
of fearing God. What does it mean to fear God? We see the first five words there
in verse 7, the fear of the Lord. There it is. We've got to understand
what does this mean. We've got to deal with this.
Well, let me say, first of all, this is intensely positive. It may initially sound negative,
but in reality, it is the positive response of your heart to the
greatness of God. The word fear means to be full
of reverence for God, that you're not silly or superficial. towards God, but that there is
a weightiness about God in your life, that there is a gravitas
about your life. Uh, it represents that you stand
in all of God, that you are just overwhelmed with the majesty
and the glory and the awesomeness of God. This word fear, the fear
of the Lord, means that you show profound respect toward one who
is vastly superior to you. The fear of God means that in
your heart there is wonder and astonishment and amazement. that God is so awesome, that
God is so beyond us, that God is so towering in his transcendence,
and that God is so holy and so sovereign, and yet this God has
come down to us to live inside of us, that it is so overwhelming
that there is a healthy, holy fear of God within our soul. It does not mean that we are
trembling in dread and we are paralyzed. It does not mean that. Instead, it means that in our
heart we take God more seriously than anyone or anything else
in this world, and that we realize that we are living in history
at His appointed time for our lives, and that our days are
numbered, and that we will leave this world at His appointed time,
that we are breathing His air, we are drinking His water, we
are eating His food, and our life is in our hands, and God
is in total control over every aspect of our lives. And the
realization of this is stunning. It is bewildering. that God is
so transcendent. It is a high view of God, a grand
and glorious vision of God that stirs within our hearts this
fear, this respect, this reverence, this this awe towards God. It means to kneel in adoration
before God. It means to bow in humility before
God. It means to be overwhelmed with
His infinite perfections. It means to fear displeasing
Him. It means that I would fear to
ever take Him for granted. It is to see yourself in light
of the transcendent, majestic, awesome glory of God. A couple of years ago, I went
to New York City. I took my whole family to New
York City when my daughter, Grace, graduated from the Master's College
and my son, John, graduated from high school. I took the whole
family to New York City and their twin brothers, community and
church. took them, and we had the best
time. And like any tourist, we wanted
to see the Empire State Building. So, we got out on the street,
and we walked for blocks and blocks, and we came to the Empire
State Building, and as we stood there on the sidewalk, we looked
up. And as high as I could see, this
building just kept going and going, and the clouds were moving. And as the clouds were moving,
I was beginning to get dizzy as I was looking up just in awe
of the immensity of this enormous superstructure, this skyscraper. And so I said, I want to go to
the top. And my twin community in church, they said, we're not
going. They were terrified. They were
too overwhelmed. And my youngest son, John, said,
Dad, I'll go with you. So we got on the elevator and
we went all the way up to the top of the Empire State Building. And the last thing my wife Ann
said was, you keep a close eye on John. So we went up to the
top and there were all kinds of barriers around the edge where
there's no way you could ever fall over. And my son, John,
just wanted to get right to the very edge and look down. And
I had two fingers in his belt loops and just hanging on to
him. And as we looked around in every
direction, I mean, there were butterflies in my stomach and
my heart was racing. And I was about to start sweating
at just being so high up in the air. That's something of what
it is to have the fear of God, that as you look into the Bible
and you read about the majesty of God and the perfections of
God and the attributes of God and God's intervention in human
history. that is just like looking up
from ground zero to the top of the Empire State Building, only
God is infinitely greater than that. And in your heart and in
your soul, you are just melted down and you are in awe of the
greatness of God. That's at the heart of what it
is, the nature of fearing God. And that's what happened when
people came face to face with God. They weren't casual. They weren't cool. They weren't
high-fiving God. We read about Isaiah who went
into the temple in Isaiah chapter 6, and he saw the Lord high and
lifted up, and His train filling the temple. And he heard the
seraphim crying out, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Heaven and earth is full of His
glory. And the foundations of the heavenly
throne began to shake like an earthquake. And then Isaiah began
to shake like an earthquake. And he said, whoa, it's me. That's
what happens when people come to grasp the holiness, perfection,
the transcendence, the sinlessness, the blamelessness of God. He's not like us. He's in a category
all by Himself. You remember when the disciples
fished all night in Luke chapter 5 and they caught nothing? Zero. And Jesus the next morning said,
well, cast your net on the other side of the boat. And Peter wanting
to say something like, you stick to the preaching, we'll stick
to fishing. We know fishing. But Peter just gives in and said,
okay, we'll cast the nets at your bidding. And they cast their
nets on the other side of the boat and immediately, instantly
there were so many fish that were in the net instantly that
the nets began to break and the boats began to sink. And it dawns
on Peter, I'm in the presence of God in human flesh. And he
said, depart from me, Lord, for I'm a sinful man. I'm in the
presence of holy God. You remember John on the island
of Patmos in Revelation chapter one, he was on the island of
Patmos in the spirit on the Lord's day. And he heard a voice behind
him. And he turned to see the voice
that was speaking to him. And he saw the glorified Christ
whose hair was whiter than snow, whose face was shining brighter
than ten thousand suns. In the sky above, his feet were
on fire as though standing in burnished bronze. Out of his
mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. And it says that John,
became like a dead man. You know what that means? John just went unconscious. John
fainted. If Jesus Christ right now were
to walk into this room in his glorified sovereignty, every
one of us would go unconscious and we would be on the floor.
We would be under the chair. We wouldn't go up and give him
a little soul bump. We wouldn't go up and ask him
a bunch of questions. We would be speechless. And overwhelmed
at the awesomeness. Of God, that's the way we need
to live our Christian lives. With a healthy, holy respect. And reverence. And all for God
Almighty. That's the nature of fearing
God. And before we go any further,
I want to ask you again. Is that in your heart tonight?
Is that in your soul? Are you like Isaiah? Woe is me. Here am I send me. Are you like
Peter? Rick realizing. That when I compare
my life to the sinless holiness of God. We're in totally different
categories. Are you like John who realizes
the awesomeness? Of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
an amazing thing it is that he would reach down by his grace. And put his favor and mercy upon
us. It's the nature. Of fearing God
now second. Let's talk about the necessity.
of fearing God. It is absolutely necessary for
you to be a God-fearing person. It's not optional. It's not a
suggestion. It is absolutely essential that
the fear of God be in your heart and soul. Look what it says in
verse 7. I want to redirect you back to
verse 7. The fear of the Lord, that's
the nature, is the beginning of knowledge. That's the necessity. This word beginning, do you see
the word beginning? It's a Hebrew word that means
the starting place, the start. Derek Kidner, who is a great
Hebrew scholar, we have his commentary on Proverbs over at the book
table, says this means the first and controlling principle rather
than just a stage which one leaves behind. What he is saying is,
We enter the Christian life with the fear of God, and we continue
in the Christian life with the fear of God, and when we come
to the end of our spiritual journey with the Lord, We are to end
with the fear of God. We never outgrow the fear of
God. You never reach a point in your
spiritual development or growth where you lay behind the fear
of God and you come to some other plateau, some other level of
relationship with God. As long as you know the Lord,
and as long as you are riveted upon Him, you will always be
a God-fearing person. That is what he is saying here.
In fact, Proverbs 23, verse 17, write that down, says, Live in
the fear of God always. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, You are to be living in the fear
of God always. Now, let me just expand this
just a little bit. The necessity of fearing God.
Let me just tell you four things why it's so necessary. Number
one, there is no salvation without the fear of God. No one giggles
their way into the kingdom. We all enter through the narrow
gate with the fear of God beating in our breast. Matthew chapter
10 verse 28, Jesus said, do not fear those who kill the body
but are unable to kill the soul, but rather, Jesus said, fear
Him, referring to God, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul
and body in hell. Whenever we were converted, there
was a healthy, holy fear of God. And if there was not, it was
a false conversion. If there was not the fear of
God in your heart as you came into the kingdom of heaven, you
need to reexamine your conversion. Because everyone who is genuinely
regenerated by the spirit of God, there is reverential awe
for God and for the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, not only is there
no salvation without the fear of God, there is no Christian
growth without the fear of God. To the extent that we truly take
God seriously and are filled with submissive reverence for
Him, to that extent we grow in Christlikeness. Silliness does
not advance Christian growth. Frivolity, superficiality will
never advance us in Christlikeness. It is only those who fear God
who are pursuing holiness and pursuing godliness. Let me give
you some verses. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1, jot
that down. Paul writes and says, let us
cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit. Now, how
are we going to cleanse ourselves? We live in a pretty dirty world,
do we not? It's pretty polluted. I mean, I'm scared just to even
turn on the television these days and just surf through a
few stations, fearing what's getting ready to leap out of
that television screen, just the raw sewage in this world
in which we live. He says, let us cleanse ourselves
from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness,
listen to this now, in the fear of the Lord. That's New Testament. That's New Testament Christianity.
1 Peter 1, verse 17. Peter writes, if you address
his father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's
work, now listen to this, conduct yourselves in fear during the
time of your stay upon the earth, as long as you are breathing
on planet earth. You need to be fearing God and
taking God very seriously in your life. Not only is there
no salvation and there is no sanctification without the fear
of God, there is also no worship without the fear of God. Psalm
99 verse 1 says, The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble. He is
enthroned above the cherubim. Let the earth shake. Those who truly worship God are
those who take God very seriously and who kind of sit up straight
in their chair when we're talking about God and singing praises
to Him. And then fourth, not only is
there no worship of God without the fear of the Lord, And there
is no true service for God without fearing Him. Let me give you
a couple of verses. Colossians 3 verse 22 says, "...slaves,
in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not
with external service as those who merely please men, but with
sincerity of heart," here it is, "...fearing the Lord." As
you go to work? As you do the will of God, as
you put your shoulder to the plow, as you go to school, As
you have a part-time job, as you have graduated and you have
a full-time job, what Paul is saying is that every day as we
serve God in the vocational calling of our life, we are to do so
fearing the Lord. And even when we witness to others,
1 Peter 3, 15 says that we are to sanctify Christ as Lord in
our hearts. And as we testify, he says we
are to do it with gentleness, and reverence. That's the necessity,
fearing God. That's how important it is in
your life and in my life. I can't be saved without fearing
God. I can't be sanctified and grow in grace without fearing
God. That's how important this is. Now let's talk third about the
neglect of fearing God. As I look at Proverbs 1 verse
7, And as I read this verse, I read, the fear of the Lord,
that's the nature, is the beginning of knowledge, that's the necessity.
Fools despise wisdom and instruction. That's the neglect. That is a
devastating neglect. As I've already told you, there
are only two classes of people in the world according to this.
They are God-fearing people and they are fools. It is fools who
despise wisdom and instruction. The word despise here means to
hold in contempt. It means to belittle. It means
to ridicule. And that's what an unbeliever
does when they are confronted with the reality of God and the
Word of God and the Son of God and the plan of God. and the
purposes of God. They reject it. They don't want
God in their life. They can't find God for the same
reason a thief can't find a policeman. They don't want to find God.
They're running away from God. And it says in Romans 3 verse
18, there is no fear of God in their eyes. It's obvious. They don't take God's Word serious.
They call for repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. There's
no fear of God in their eyes. Therefore, their life is a disaster.
There's no restraint in their soul to keep them back from the
broad path that is headed for destruction. They are fools and
plunge ahead into the way that leads to their destruction and
their perishing. But it is the fear of God that
reigns us in and keeps us on the narrow path that leads to
God's blessing. Now, I want to move quickly to
number four, the nurturing of fearing God. You may be saying,
okay, I'm sold on fearing God. I see it clearly in my Bible.
There's no way around it. I see that I'm supposed to fear
God. I want to fear God. I do have the fear of God in
me, but how can it be stirred up? How can it grow? How can
I be more of a God-fearing person? Well, as you have your Bibles
in front of you, I want you to look at chapter 2 and the first
5 verses. Chapter 2 and the first 5 verses,
and there is a cause and effect that is taking place here. Verses
1 through 4 is the cause, verse 5, is the effect. The setting here, he says, my
son, if you receive my sayings and treasure my commandments
within you, the picture here is of Solomon addressing his
son. and giving him life lessons in
how to live life. He says, my son, if you will
receive my sayings and treasure my commandments within you, make
your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding. Verse 3, for if you cry for discernment,
lift your voice for understanding. Verse 4, if you seek her, referring
to wisdom as silver, and search for her, again referring to wisdom,
As for hidden treasures, verse five, then here's the result. Here's the consequence of seeking
wisdom. Then you will discern the fear
of the Lord. You will come to understand the
importance and the necessity and the essence of fearing God
in your life. And if you do not seek wisdom,
you will not understand and not discern the fundamental importance
of fearing God in your life. But as I look at verse 5, then
you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge
of God. The knowledge of God here refers
to, one, the knowledge about God, two, the personal experiential
knowledge of God. Now, what is number one on that
list? If you'll turn to Proverbs 9 and verse 10, I'll show you
what is number one in knowing God that promotes the fear of
God in your life. Proverbs 9 verse 10, we're talking
about nurturing of...the nurturing of fearing God. In Proverbs 9
verse 10, we read... The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. That sounds like Proverbs 1,
verse 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Here it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
And let me just say at this point, the fear of God is the beginning
of everything in your life that is good and godly and brings
the fullness of his grace and his blessing in your life. It's
like first base in a baseball game. You can't hit the ball
and just run to second base. You're out. You've got to go
to first base. And only once you go to first
base can you then go to second base and third base and come
home. But it is absolutely indispensable that you begin by going to first
base. In the Christian life, first
base is fearing God. And only once you fear God does
it lead now to the fullness of what it is to walk with God and
to be in the very epicenter of His will for your life. That's
how important it is. But notice now Proverbs 9 verse
10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and...and
what we have here is what's called Hebrew parallelism where there's
an A line and a B line. And the A line is the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the B line and the knowledge
of the Holy One is understanding. This is synonymous parallelism
and what this is saying, the fear of the Lord is synonymous
with the knowledge of the Holy One. And wisdom is synonymous
here with understanding. We grow to fear God as we understand
His holiness. Now, what does the holiness of
God mean? There's a great book over here. There's only one copy.
There ought to be a mad rush to buy the one copy by R.C. Sproul. It's called The Holiness
of God. That book is a game changer.
That book is a life changer. When I read that book however
many years ago, when I finished it, I closed it and I said, I'm
going to go get my doctor of ministry wherever this man is
teaching. I'm going to sit under him and
take every class that he offers because that is one of the greatest
books that has been written in the last hundred years. And in
this book, Sproul lays out what the holiness of God is. There's
a primary meaning. There is a secondary meaning.
The primary meaning of the holiness of God is the exaltation and
the transcendence of God, that God is high and lifted up. He's not on our level. He's not
on our plane. He is not our peer. He is not
our buddy. He is infinitely majestic in
the height of his throne as he towers over all of the works
of his hands. It is a high view of God. It
is a view of God that makes us dizzy as we look up to Him and
see how small we are and see how high and lifted up He is
and the chasm that separates. I can never come to Him in my
own efforts and in my own religiosity. He must come down to me. He must
reach down to me. I can never reach up to Him.
And that is what He has done in the person of His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has come down to us because
we could never come up to Him. That's the primary meaning of
the holiness of God, that He is a cut above us. It is the only attribute in the
Bible of which it is said, God is holy, holy. The Bible never says God is love,
love, love. It never says He's grace, grace,
grace. And in the Hebrew language, for
something to be repeated three times means to take that word
to the superlative degree. And what the angels are crying
out is God is holy, He is holier. He is holiest. He is the most
holy being in the universe. The secondary meaning of the
word. He is sinless. He is flawless. He is blameless. He is perfect in all his ways. He is perfect in His judgments. He is perfect in His character.
He is perfect in His will. He has never erred. He has never
needed a redo. He has never had to do something
over. Everything that God does is perfect. The day you were born was the
perfect day. The day you will die will be
the perfect day. And everything in between is
the perfect will of God, the holiness of God. And when you,
if you're a believer, when you die and go to heaven and you
stand in the presence of the throne of God above, you will
be awestruck with the holiness of God. You will not be preoccupied
with, are the streets really made of gold? Are the gates real
pearls? Who's here? Who's not here? You
will be captured and captivated by the holiness of God. And in
heaven, your fear of God will be enlarged immeasurably in your
glorified state. Now we have such a limited, healthy
fear of God. And that day when we stand before
Him, we will be on our face, we will cast our crowns at His
feet, and we will join in the chorus and cry out, holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God Almighty. It is the holiness of God that
stimulates greater fear of God. Now, I want to show you one more
thing. Come to chapter 16, Proverbs chapter 16. It's not just the
holiness of God that should enlarge your fear of God. But second,
the sovereignty of God. And we find here in the book
of Proverbs some of the most extraordinary verses, and I just
want to cherry-pick a few of these and lay them before you,
and I want you to see how in control God is of your life and
how un-in-control you are. Sounded awkward. Proverbs 16, look at verse 9,
and the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. God
has a plan and God has a purpose for your life from all eternity
past, and it involves every minute detail in your life, both in
the macro as well as in the micro. And you and I make our plans,
we plot our course, and we should. God commends us making our plans,
but in the final analysis, it is the will of God that will
stand. God is so in control of the circumstances
of your life and my life that it is beyond our comprehension. Look at the end of this chapter
in verse 33, Proverbs 16, verse 33. The lot is cast into the
lap. That's almost like throwing dice.
They used to make decisions in the Old Testament. That's how
Matthias was brought into the Twelve. By casting lots. And they so believed in the sovereignty
of God that God was so totally in control that the lot would
turn up the way that God wanted it to turn up and that He would
providentially reveal His will by the turning up of the lot. It's almost like flipping a coin.
So look what it says. The lot is cast into the lap,
but it's every decision is from the Lord. Hear me on this. There is no such thing as good
luck or bad luck. There is no such thing as an
accident. There is no such thing as blind fate. There is no such
thing as good karma. bad karma. Those are all pagan
myths at best and some belched out of the pit of hell itself. The truth is there are no maverick
molecules in the universe and what seems to be random chance
to us is divine sovereignty from the
perspective of heaven. Do you understand that? You and
I are not in control. We are not running the universe,
and God is the one who is turning up even the smallest little detail. Come to chapter 19 in verse 21.
Chapter 19 in verse 21. This is a jaw-dropping verse.
Many are the plans in a man's heart, but the counsel of the
Lord, it will stand. Ultimately, it does not matter
what you and I decide. Ultimately, what matters is what
God has already predetermined and decided long before you and
I were even born. You and I make our plans, but
the Bible says, the counsel of the Lord will stand. We can praise
God for this. How many plans have you made
that really were not good plans? Some of you might even be married
already by this point, by your bad plans. And it was the grace
of God that His counsel stood. It was the grace of God who had
a better plan for your life than what you even cooked up for yourself. And we ought to have the fear
of God as we realize this, that God's will is greater than our
will. I come to Proverbs 20 and verse
24. You may be thinking, wow, this
is over my head. Well, you're in good company.
Look what Proverbs 20 verse 24 says. Man's steps are ordained
by the Lord. How then can man understand his
way? What this is saying is God is so great and God is so sovereign
and God is so in control that you and I cannot understand and
comprehend how this totally works out in our lives. Let me give
you a couple more. Proverbs 21 verse one. This is
a killer verse. You got to turn to Proverbs 21
verse one. If this doesn't put the fear
of God in you, I fear for you. Proverbs 21 verse one. The king's
heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He, referring to the Lord, turns
it, referring to the king's heart, wherever he, referring to God,
wishes. Look at Pharaoh. Look at Nebuchadnezzar. Look at Belshazzar. If the king's
heart, who is the mightiest, strongest man in the nation,
who gives orders and commands and it is carried out, if the
king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, how much more is your
heart in the hand of the Lord. It's an argument from the greater
to the lesser. If the greatest one in the land, if his heart
is in the hand of the Lord, how much more so those of us in the
basement? Now, when it says in verse 1,
he turns it, the king's heart is like channels of water in
the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes.
You've got to see this picture. I went to Egypt several years
ago. and was going down the Nile River from Cairo down to the
Valley of the Kings, and I could look out the ship and I could
see farmers on the sides of the Nile River, and farmers were
plowing their fields, and they needed the water in this hot,
parched, arid region where there was no water. The only water
was in the Nile River that was accessible to them. the farmers would come over to
the edge of the Nile River and they would cut a ditch, a trough,
and the water would flow out of the Nile River towards their
land. But they had so many different
sections that they had different arms and different stems that
would come out and they would have boards and if they wanted
the water to flow over to that part of the field, the farmer
would put down a board here and put down a board here and the
water would be routed in that direction, but if he wanted to
water the total other side of his field, he would pull the
boards up and the water would flow in an opposite direction,
and the farmer is just over it all, and he is directing and
channeling the water in the direction he desires it to go. Look at
this verse one more time. This is what God is saying about
the heart of the mightiest man in the kingdom and the heart
of everyone here tonight. King's heart is like channels
of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes. How we should fear the Lord.
Our heart, our soul. Our innermost being is in the
hand of Almighty God and He is sovereign over the inner workings
of our soul. Let me give you one more verse
while we're here in chapter 21. Look at the end of the chapter,
verse 30 and 31. He writes, there is no wisdom
and no understanding and no counsel against the Lord. The horse is
prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the Lord. What are you saying? No matter
how big your army, no matter how mighty your legions, no matter
how strong your soldiers, no matter how many chariots, no
matter how many spears, ultimately the victory belongs to Almighty
God. and God will give the victory
or God will grant the defeat according to His sovereign will. How in control God is, how we
should lower ourselves before Him, how we should humble ourselves
in submission and what reverence and what awe and what astonishment
and what wonder there should be. The universe is not being
run by a democracy. It is being run by a theocracy,
the government of one, the government of God alone. Psalm 93 verse
1 says, The Lord reigns, not the Lord and man, not the Lord
and Satan, not the Lord and circumstances, not the Lord and anything else. God and God alone is on the throne
and God and God alone is orchestrating all of the affairs in all of
the events. Martin Luther was right when
he said the devil is God's devil. It's not even a fair fight. How
we should fear God. How we should live in reverence
before him. So finally. the nourishment from
fearing God. What will be nourished in your
soul? What will be nourished in your life? If tonight you
will say, God, I do want to fear you. God, I do want to grow to
have greater reverence and deeper awe in my heart and soul for
you. Well, let me tell you some things
very quickly. Number one, it will lead to holiness. The first
thing the fear of God will produce in us is personal purity and
personal holiness. Proverbs 3, verse 7 says, fear
the Lord and turn away from evil. The reason we plunge head on
into sin, knowing that it is wrong, knowing that it is breaking
God's Word, the reason we run through the stop signs and run
through the barriers and plunge into sin, one major reason is
we do not fear God. But if we would fear God, it
would be a restraint to our heart. Proverbs eight and verse 13 says
the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Let me tell you, there's
some things in your life you need to hate. You need to hate
what God hates and you need to love what God loves and God does
not love everything. God does not love sin. God hates
sin. God is repulsed by sin. And the fear of God. will lead
us to hate evil. Proverbs 16 verse 6 says, By
the fear of the Lord, one keeps away from evil. Did you hear
that? How puritanical does that sound? How antiquated does that
sound? It's so old. It's in the Bible. Listen to it again. Proverbs
16, verse 6. Just listen to me read this.
By the fear of the Lord, one keeps away from evil. I mean, it'll have an effect
on what you watch on TV. It'll have an effect on what
movies you go to. How old-fashioned does that sound? It'll have an
effect on where you let your eyes go. It'll have an effect
on what you let into your ears. It'll have an effect on what
you allow into your heart. It'll have an effect on who you
hang out with. It'll have an effect on the choices
you make. It'll have an effect on the priorities
in your life. It'll have an effect on the language
you use. The fear of the Lord will turn
you away from evil. And number two, not only will
it lead to holiness, it will lead to health. You know, you'll
live longer if you fear God. You say, well, how can that be?
Well, if you fear God, you'll not be a drunkard. If you fear
God, you'll not be sexually active outside of marriage and constrict
sexually transmitted diseases. In the Old Testament, There was
the death penalty for adultery. There was the death penalty for
disrespecting your parents. Yeah, you bet the fear of God
extended years of life. That would wipe out an entire
generation in America. All right, listen, Proverbs 10,
verse 27, the fear of the Lord prolongs life. You'll live longer. In a general
observation of life, yes, there are exceptions. Proverbs 14,
27, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. Let me tell you what
else it'll produce in your life, humility. Proverbs 15, verse
33, the fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom and before
honor comes humility. What this is saying is the fear
of God is the root and humility is the fruit. Do you want to
be a humble person? Fear God. God has opposed the
proud. He gives grace to the humble.
Who wants grace here tonight? Fear God. Proverbs 22, verse
4 says, the reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are
riches, honor, and life. And here it equates the reward
of humility and the fear of God. The most humble people in this
room tonight are God-fearing people. The most arrogant, self-centered,
self-sufficient, boastful, prideful people in this room tonight are
those who are in dire need of getting the focus off of yourself
and getting the focus onto God and to see God as holy and sovereign
and to reverence God and to respect God and to be in awe of God. And as God is bigger, you are
smaller. It's the old teeter-totter principle. Seeing children play on a playground,
only one end can be up at a time. The other end is down. And when
the other end is up, the first end is down. It's real simple.
Have I gone too fast? When God is up, you are low. And when you are up in your life,
God is a flat tire. We want God to be big. We want
God to tower over our lives. We want God to reign and for
us to recognize His reign. And when we do, we are low. It brings humility. Let me tell
you something else. It brings happiness. Proverbs
19, verse 23, the fear of the Lord leads to life, so that one
may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil. You'll sleep better
if you fear God. You won't be all stressed out.
You won't be all worried. You won't be all filled with
anxiety. If you realize who God is, you'll
go to sleep at night. There will be peace for your
soul. Hearing God breeds contentment. It produces peace and rest. Let me put it to you this way.
The fear of God drives out all other fears. And if there's no
fear of God in your life, you're going to fear everything else.
You're going to be too scared to even come out of your bedroom.
You're going to be traumatized. You're going to be a weakling.
You're going to be cringing and cowering in life. But if you
will fear God, you will be as bold as a lion. Because the fear
of God drives out all other fears. Let me give you one last one.
What will the fear of God produce in your life? It'll give you
hope, hope for the future, confidence for the future, a bright expectation
for tomorrow. Listen to Proverbs 23, 17 and
18. You've got to have both verses
together to connect the dots on this. Verse 17 says, do not
let your heart envy sinners. People who fear God do not want
to trade places with those who are sinners in the world. I don't
care how much money you have. I don't care how flashy your
car is. I don't care what zip code you live in. If you...if
you fear God, you are not going to envy sinners. Do not let your
heart envy sinners, envy sinners, but live in the fear of the Lord. How long? Always. Verse 18, the
next verse. Surely there is a future and
your hope will not be cut off. The one who fears God realizes
that God holds the future in his hand. that God has gone before
us, that God is the architect of tomorrow, that God has already
prescripted history, and that God has it all in control, that
God has a master plan, and that God is causing it all to work
together for good, for His appointed end. and that my life finds itself
in this larger scheme of what He is doing here in the world,
and that God is an intentional God, and God has perfect wisdom,
and He is in control of all things. and that my future is in the
hand of God. And as I fear God, as I look
up to this God, as I reverence this God, I can walk forward
into the future with great confidence, knowing that God goes before
me, that God prepares the way, that God has the whole world
in his hand. He's got my... life in His hand
and He has tomorrow in His hand and God will do what is right
and nothing is out of control. If you do not fear God, you will
be the most pessimistic person on the planet. But if you fear
God, you will have a bright hope in God, a confidence for tomorrow. people in Los Angeles would pay
any amount of price, any price to have hope. It's been well
said, man can live seven weeks without food, however long without
water, however long without air, but not one second without hope. That's why people take their
lives. They just can't deal with it. But those who fear God have
hope for the future because they know that God is their God and
God is in control. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and understanding. Do you fear God? Is there reverence for God, respect
for God in your heart? Do you stand in awe of God? Do you need to have your wonder
and amazement enlarged for God? Do you need to stand in astonishment
of the magnitude of the infinite majesty of Almighty God? I call you tonight. to look up
and see the greatness of God and to see yourself in relationship
to this God who is in control of every detail of your life. Even your being here tonight
is a part of His master plan. And who would sit on your right
and who would sit on your left? Your heart is in His hand this
very moment. I call upon You to fear Him,
to give Him the glory that is due His name, to tremble in astonishment
at His holiness and to give Him the glory for His sovereignty. If you have never believed in
Jesus Christ, I call upon you tonight to look to One who died
upon the cross for sinners 2,000 years ago as the only Savior
of sinners. There is salvation in no other
name, for there is no other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved. And if you would desire to have
His full and free forgiveness, you must come to Him and commit
your life to Him. It will be the most serious decision
you will ever make in your life. And you will feel the weight,
the eternal weight of glory as you give your life to Christ.
And it will be the greatest decision. And there will be joy unspeakable
and full of glory. But it will not be a small decision
that you would trip lightly to make. It would be a decision
that would require you to take God very seriously and to tremble
in your soul as you commit your life to Him. Come, commit your
life to Christ. Commit your life to God. Don't
be a fool any longer. Be a wise person and receive
His grace in His Son, Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Father, thank You
for Your Word. which You have spoken to us so
clearly tonight, we in a small way understand more clearly what
it is to fear You. We see how necessary it is. It's
the beginning of knowledge. It's the beginning of wisdom.
It's the beginning of salvation. It's the beginning of sanctification.
It's the beginning of true worship. It's the beginning of serving
Your purposes here upon the earth. And Lord, we've seen the neglect
of it, that we would be fools to live any other way. Lord,
nurture in us a greater fear of You. Let us not be fearful
of what other people would say. Let us not be fearful of being
out of step with the times. Let us be in sync with You who
is timeless and who towers over time itself. Enlarge our fear
of You. May we see how holy and sovereign
You are and may each one of us tonight be led into holiness
and humility and health and a hope for tomorrow. It is all bound
up in fearing You. Father, we pray this in Jesus'
name. Amen.