Open your Bibles to Isaiah chapter
29. And while you're turning there,
I read a word from Paul in Romans
15. Whatsoever things were written
aforetime in the Old Testament, whatsoever things were written,
were written for our learning. We read the Old Testament. We
learn from the Old Testament. written for our learning that
we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have
hope. Patience and comfort of the Scriptures
might have hope. I want to talk to you this morning,
a few minutes, about the fear of the Lord. The fear of the
Lord. In the scriptures, the children
of God are called seekers after God, those who seek the Lord.
In the scriptures, the children of God are called callers upon
God, those who call upon the Lord. God's people seek Him continually. They call upon Him. And God's
people in the scripture are described as those who fear the Lord. Those
who fear the Lord. That's why they seek Him. That's
why they call upon Him. They fear the Lord. The Bible
says several times that the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. beginning of wisdom. I don't
care how religious we may be, we haven't learned the fear of
the Lord. We don't know anything. Not as
we often know it. A man who does not fear the Lord
is void void of true wisdom and understanding and no fear of
God. He has no fear and reverence
for his creator, his sustainer, No fear. His benefactor? No fear. His holy judge? No fear. And the only Savior? No fear. The one in whose hand He lives
and moves? No fear. The One who, of His own will, gives us all that we have, all
that we live upon, all that we enjoy, and He can take it away
in a moment. No fear. No fear. The One to whom we are accountable. I mean stand before in judgment
the one to whom we are accountable for every moment of time that
we've been in this world. Every blessing and gift that
we've enjoyed in this world. That includes from the shoes
on our feet to the house we live in and the job where we bring
home sufficiency. We are stewards of our time. We are stewards of all that God's
given us. I'm saying by that that we are
responsible and accountable under God for every minute of time
we live in this world. He's going to bring us into judgment.
And men don't fear God. Turn to Ecclesiastes just a moment. The last chapter and the last
two verses. This is the whole duty of man. We're put here to glorify God. We're put here to honor and praise
God with thanksgiving. For God shall bring every work
into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good, whether
it be bad. Fear God. And yet, men don't
fear God. Until a man begins to fear God,
he hasn't even begun to be wise. He may be a great philosopher,
a great debater, a great mind as far as the world is concerned,
but he hasn't even begun to be wise. He doesn't fear his Maker. He doesn't fear God. He doesn't
know what this world is all about. He doesn't know why he's here.
He doesn't fear God. The Bible says that the fear
of the Lord is to depart from evil. Two things now. I'm talking to you right now.
There's other things, but two things. Number one, to fear God
is the beginning of wisdom. You haven't begun to be wise
until you learn to fear God. And number two, to fear the Lord,
the fear of the Lord is to depart from evil. It says that in the
Bible. And I conclude from this that
the man who does not depart from evil according to the light God
has given him, he don't fear God. It doesn't matter to him
what God says. Commandments of God don't matter,
make no difference. He has no fear of God. He doesn't even have the beginning
of wisdom. This is true of the individual. This is true of an
educationally advanced nation like the United States of America. Of all the advancements we've
made in science and technology, we haven't learned to fear God.
We don't know anything. Nothing. Nothing that amounts
to anything. Nothing that's lasting. Nothing
that's lasting. The Bible says in Psalm 14 and
Psalm 53, the fool has said in his heart, no God for me. No God for me. No fear of God. I don't fear Him. I won't serve
Him. I don't care what He says. A fool. My message today begins with
this sad news, but it ends up in the best news any man ever
heard, Christ and Him crucified. But as Scott Richardson and many
others have said and written down through the ages, that a
man has never, never, never heard the good news until he's heard
the bad news. John Newton wrote it in his hymn,
"'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and that same grace
my fears relieved." You've never learned to fear.
You've never learned who Christ is. You've never learned your
desperate need of him. You've never known who he is.
This is God's way of saving sinners. John, I read a man yesterday
that no man will ever value the good news until he's heard the
bad news. It'll never be good news to him
until he sees what he is, what kind of trouble he's in. the
distance, the difference between Him and His God. I'm going to read to you this
morning about Israel, a long time ago. But in my mind, as
I read this, I'm thinking about the United States of America
in 2007. 2007 now. Isaiah 29, read these verses
with me, beginning with verse 9. Read them. Let it soak in. Receive with meekness the engrafted
Word, the living Word, which is able to save your souls. It
starts out like this. Stay yourself. Oh, hold up. Stop right there. Listen and wonder. Stay yourselves in wonder. Cry
ye out and cry and keep on crying. This is such a wonder, such a
pitiful thing. They are drunk. Oh, we wonder
at a bunch of drunks, but not with wine. They are drunk, but
not with wine. They stagger. But not with strong
drink. This is talking about spiritually
so. For the Lord, now listen to this. The Lord hath poured
out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, hath closed your eyes. The prophets and your rulers,
the seers, hath He covered. They're just as blind as bats.
They got the Bible in their hand. Just as blind as bats. And the
vision of all is becoming to you as the words of a book that's
sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying,
read this, I pray thee. And he said, I cannot. It's sealed. I don't understand it. And the book is delivered then
to him that is not learned. Saying, read this, I pray thee.
And he says, I'm not learned. I just don't have the education,
the knowledge, the understanding. I can't do it. It's sealed. Wherefore the Lord said, for
as much as this people draw near me with their mouth and with
their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from
me. And their fear toward me is taught
by the precept of men." He means by that, if I understand it correctly,
that their fear was taught by whatever was blowing around in
the wind of contemporary religion. They learned it from men. They
learned it from some creed, some religious man. Therefore, behold, I will proceed
to do a a marvelous work among this people,
even a marvelous work and a wonder, something to cause men to marvel
and wonder. For the wisdom of their wise
men shall perish. The understanding of their prudent
men shall be Warn to them that seek deep to
hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark.
And they say, Who seeth us? Who knoweth us? Surely their
turning of things upside down shall be esteemed in the potter's
hand. It shall be esteemed as the potter's
hand. For shall the work say to him
that made it, he hath made me not? Or shall the thing frame
say to him that framed it, he hath no understanding? These are serious, serious, serious
verses of scripture that I want to look at just a few minutes
this morning. The Bible says concerning Israel
of old, Christ said when he came, he said, you've made the word
of God of none effect through your vain traditions. You have
taught for the commandments of God, the traditions of man. They worshiped God, not as He
was, but as they imagined Him to be. Psalm 50, You think that
I am altogether such a one as Yourself. You think I'm like
You. Not only did they worship not
as the God of the Bible, but they worshiped Him also not
as He commanded, but as they chose. However they chose, that's
how they worshiped. They chose their God. They chose
their worship. And yet they continue to use
the name of God in the same terms that we use in the Scriptures
here, but with no meaning and no significance. They worshiped. But like the woman in John 4,
Christ said, you worship. You worship, but you don't know
what. You don't know what you worship. And that applies to so many churches
and individuals in our day. They worship, but they don't
understand what they're doing. Men receive not the love of the
truth, God sends them the truth. They receive not the love of
the truth. God sends them delusions, strong delusions, that they believe
their lies and perish in their sin. You don't play games with
God. You don't play games with God.
Those who are blessed of God, and only those who are blessed
of God, are those who tremble at His Word. They fear the Lord. They fear the Lord. Not fearing the Lord, as we've
seen in our evening studies, they offer anything unto God
for sacrifice, change the form of offering however they chose.
They offered the lame, the crippled, the wounded, the sick, and the
sore, offered them unto God for sacrifice. And those sacrifices
represented God's Son. And they got upset with God because
He didn't bless them as much as they thought He ought to. And they said, your ways are
not equal. God said, no, your ways are not
equal, mine are just. Equal and just. They did not fear God, and therefore
they did not depart from evil, and God brought terrible judgment
upon them. In verse 9, is an amazing, heartbreaking
thing. God sent a spiritual stupor upon
them. Spiritual stupor. Physically, they're like a drunk
staggering down the street. You see that drunk staggering
down the street? He doesn't really know where
he's going. He doesn't really care. He's just kind of separated
from reality. God sent it upon them in a spiritual
way. In a spiritual way. They were
as drunken men. No true sense of direction. No
true sense of their danger. No true sense of their greatest
need in the world. because there was no true sense
of their awful condition before God. They didn't know themselves. Verse 10, their rulers, their
leaders, their preachers were spiritually as one in a deep
sleep. Now God's describing these leaders.
This is what God's done to them. They're just like men that stagger
and drunken men that are in a stupor. The seeing eye and the hearing ears
of the Lord. And He gave them no eyes to see,
and no ears to hear, and left them in their natural Stupidity. Old drunk walking down the street,
he feels happy and secure. That's the way they felt. That's
the way religion feels today. So happy and secure. Singing
their songs and being entertained on the way to hell. Spiritual sleepwalkers. have no idea what they're doing
or where they're going. Slumbering on toward eternal
destruction and leading multitudes with them, if the blind lead
the blind, they shall both fall into the same deep pit, the bottomless
pit. Verse 11 and 12. This is amazing. But it is here, isn't it? It
is written here. The true prophets and their words were sealed to these prophets
in this day. They heard Isaiah, the wonderful
evangelistic prophet, with no effect. and no prophet. Isaiah cried out, to whom is
the arm of the Lord revealed? They don't see Him. They don't
see Him. They held their traditions above
God's truth. So God made His Word to become
a seal book to them. He didn't give them understanding.
They read it. They studied it. They taught
it. but had no understanding. As it is today, both the learned
and the unlearned are blind to the glory of the most basic and
prominent truths of this book. You listen to me now. You can
call it Calvinism. You can call it the doctrine
of grace. I just call it scripture truth. Absolute sovereignty of
God over all things. Men won't have it. Generally
speaking, men won't have it. But there's nothing so plain
and clear and true in this book as that. The absolute sovereignty
of God over all things. David said, why should the heathen
say, where now is your God? David said, my God's in the heavens.
And if I may paraphrase a bit, just where He's always been,
and He does whatever He pleases. In the heavens, in the earth,
in the sea, all deep places, whatever He pleases, that's what
He does. Job 23, 13. Whatsoever his soul desires,
whatsoever his soul desires, that's exactly what he does and
nothing else. Always he does what he pleases. Always. He's God. Men won't accept that. And they won't accept the depravity
of man, the true condition of man. The Bible said as plainly
as you can write, D-E-A-D. And they translate that means
somewhat disabled, you just need a little help. But if you're
dead, you need life. And life only comes from one
source, God. God's election of grace, how
they fight that. And yet that's the only hope
for any man. If God doesn't choose him, draw
him, he's doomed forever. God's election of grace. Men
hate it. I love it. God's holiness and justice, and
His grace in Christ, a just God and a Savior. Present religion
knows nothing about these things. Some know it, but they won't
dare preach it. They're more interested in the
good opinion of men than in the good opinion of God. No fear
of God. No fear of God. They're afraid to preach what
they know is in the Bible lest they disturb men. No fear of
God. They don't care what God thinks.
It's just what men think. And Christ made this statement
very plain and clear. How can you believe which receive honor one from
another, and seek not that honor which comes from God only." And
what that means is, how can you ever believe? You can't ever
believe. Seek the good opinion of each
other, the good opinion of man, and not the good opinion of God. Not the good opinion of God. Verse 13, their religion was
merely in externals. It was nothing more than a lip
service. They had a form of godliness,
but they knew nothing of the power of God in their souls. God said, your heart, you have
a lot of lip service, a lot of externals, a lot of do's and
don'ts, but your heart's a long way from here. long away from
me, far from me. Your fear toward me is whatever's
blowing in the wind of contemporary religion, whatever's pleasing
to the masses, that's where you'll stay. And their instructors, the instructors
of these poor people, were in a spiritual stupor as
drunken men wandering in their ignorance, blind, blind, blind to the glory
of God. Therefore, in verse 14, I'm going to perform a marvelous
wonder on this, people. And if I haven't seen this the
last week in Washington, D.C., I don't know anything. I'm going to take away the natural
wisdom and understanding from your wise men. That's all I'm going to say about
politics. Trash. But what we see here is how God
hates false religion, how he hates pretense, show, hypocrisy,
play in church. And what he does in response.
Look at Acts 13, just a moment. I remember the first time this
really stuck my heart. Acts 13, verse 26, men in Bradford,
Paul preaching here. children of the stock of Abraham,
and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation
sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem,
and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices
of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day, They were
sealed to them. They have fulfilled these scriptures
that they read and are familiar with in crucifying the Son of
God. They crucified the Messiah with
the Bible in their hand describing just about everything they did
to it. They fulfilled those things and crucified the Son of God. Just a moment. And though they
found no cause of death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that
he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him,
They took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher,
fulfilling the scriptures. But thank God, according to the
scriptures, God raised him up. Religious folks, religious leaders,
the Bible teachers, reading about Christ and His coming, and the
things that would happen to him, all of these things, the miracles
he would do, they fulfilled those scriptures, which they read every
Sabbath. They fulfilled those scriptures
in bringing those things to pass on the Lord Jesus Christ. The
different things they did to him, they were identifying him
according to the scriptures, and yet they were blind. The
book was sealed. The book was sealed. But nothing
wrong with the book, it's their hearts. That's where it is. Christ said concerning these
people who were so particular and so
precise, so overt and outward in their religion, their externals,
He said one thing. He said, clean up the inside
of the cup. The outside will be all right. But they just concentrated
on the outside. They didn't know the scriptures.
They didn't know what sin was. And he said on another occasion,
looking these religious leaders right square in the face. He
said, the publicans and the harlots are going to enter the kingdom
of God before you do. And they felt so safe and secure,
the special people of God, the chosen people of God, the blessed
people of God. And so it is today. God pronounces
no such judgment upon any other sin or play in religion. is awful. Sinful free will works
religion. That's what they had. They were filled with dishonesty and pretense and hypocrisy. No fear of God. No fear of God. Now, I tell you who feared the
Lord. Those whom Paul said those more noble, the Bereans. Paul
came and preached to them, and they took the Scriptures and
searched those Scriptures every day to find out the Apostle Paul
telling them the truth. I want to know the truth. I must
know. I have to know the truth. Hebrews 10, 13, let me just give
you a few references. It is a fearful thing, warning
those who would turn away from Christ, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God. He's a consuming fire. Isaiah chapter 6, verses 1 through
5. Isaiah saw the Lord high and
lifted up. The seraphim singing, holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God of hosts. He saw the glory of God. And
he said, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm cut off. I'm
lost. He saw the Lord. Never fear him till you see him. Job 42, verses 5 and 6, I have
heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth
thee, and he fell on his face into dust in self-abhorrence
and repentance. I fear the Lord. Daniel, the special servant of
God, chapter 10 and verse 8, all of my goodness, I saw the
Lord. When I saw the Lord, all of my goodness turned in me into
corruption. Black spot doesn't show up much
on a black sheet, but if you ever see a black spot on a white
sheet, it shows up real good. And the only way you'll ever
see how black you are is when you see His brightness, His glory. His purity. We don't look so bad to one another.
We even sometimes brag on each other a little. But when a man
sees God, he knows there's none good but one, and that's God.
That's God. None good but Him. One of these
days, I want to say this, one of these days, and I'm sure of
this, there's no doubt, Every man and woman is going to bow
before God and fear God. Fear God. Fear God. They don't fear Him now. They
don't have time for Him. They just treat Him anyway, say
anything about Him. But one of these days. Look at
Revelation 15 just a moment. Revelation 15. Verse 1, And I saw another sign
in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven
last plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw, as it were, a sea
of glass mingled with fire. Them that had gotten a victory
over the beast and over his image, and over his mark, and over the
number of his name, they were standing on that sea of glass
having the harps of God. And they sang the song of the
Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty." You know
who that? They're talking about Christ.
Lord God Almighty. And now he's a wimpy little Jesus,
but oh, wait till that day. Lord God Almighty, just and true
are Thy ways, Thou King of Saints, who shall not fear Thee, O Lord,
and glorify Thy Name, for Thou only art holy. And all nations
shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made
manifest. One of these days, every man
is going to learn the fear of the Lord. With some, it'll be too late
to profit them any, to benefit them any. But they will learn,
and they'll glorify God. They'll glorify God. Turn to
Isaiah, Revelation chapter 6, just a moment. This same day, And I beheld when he had opened
the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, And the
sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became
as blood. And the stars of heaven fell
onto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs
when she's shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed
as a scroll when it was rolled together, when it is rolled together. And every mountain and island
were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, the
great men, the rich men, the chief captains, mighty men, every
bondman, every free man, they hid themselves in the dens and
in the rocks of the mountains. They knew this wasn't an earthquake,
not merely a freak happening of nature. And they said to the mountains
and the rocks, fall on us. Hide us from the face of hell!
They knew who did this. The Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation
1, God said, I'm going to give it to you to roll up this old
earth as a scroll. Cast it away! It's an unclean
garment. When Christ comes, when He reveals
Himself, when He manifests Himself, Everybody knows who He is. Everybody. Everybody. And they said to the mountains,
fall on us. Hide us from the face of Him
that sits on the throne. Today, they won't even acknowledge
that He's sitting on the throne. Most Baptists, especially, they
think that's someplace down in the future. He's sitting on the
throne right now. Acts chapter 2, on the throne
of David. and from the wrath of the Lamb.
For the great day of His wrath is come, and who in the world
will be able to stand? Only those who are standing on
a rock, in the cliff to the rock, Christ Jesus. Standing in Christ,
the crucified Christ. Every man one day You want to learn the fear of
the Lord. Some to their everlasting shame,
destruction. But some in grace in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I say this to you believers,
if Christ is everything to you now, To see Him as He is will be heaven
and glory. Heaven and glory. Happiness and
bliss. If He's everything to you now.
What do I mean by everything? I mean that I don't have anything
but sin. All of my righteousnesses are
just a pile of filthy rags in God's sight. And Christ is my
all and in all. He suffered for my sins. He clothed
me in the garment of salvation, His righteousness. All of my
trust, all of my hope, He's everything. He's not only the Savior, He
is Himself our salvation. He is Himself our salvation. Psalm 130 says, There is forgiveness
with thee. If thou should mark iniquities,
who could stand? Nobody. But there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Spurgeon once said, he said,
if it's all kind of different roads to London, you don't have
to worry about it. You just take whichever road
you choose. All kinds of roads and ways to heaven, just pick
one and tire out. But if there's only one way,
you better be careful. You better be careful. You better
be careful. There's forgiveness in one place,
in one person, and you better be careful you don't miss it.
You better fear. There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. And I want to emphasize this
just briefly. The Apostle Paul, let me say
this, Christianity is a personal thing. Personal. Me, Christ, Christ, me. It's
a personal thing. The Apostle Paul said, I know
whom. Whom. I have believed." Now, who is this whom? He is Almighty God stooped down
to become a man, to take our name and stand in our place before
God and answer all of God's holy demands. And He's able to save
and He is saving to the uttermost. all that come to God by Him,
all of His people. Sinners. Sinners. Who is He? He's that gloriously
unique God-man, the only Savior. None other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. Don't play games with
God. He's on the way. He's a just
God and a Savior. He's a just God and a Savior. I know whom I have believed.
And he said, knowing who He is, not just I know about some things
about Him, I know Him. Intimate fellowship. I know whom. And knowing Him, I'm persuaded. And knowing who He is, what He
is, I'm persuaded. that he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. And I know, I know
it, I know. It's a personal trust, trust
in him. We understand what he did, some
of it, best we can. But our faith is in him. Look
at Acts 26. Acts chapter 26. Paul's talking about what happened
to him. And God said to this messenger, He said, verse 16,
Rise, stand up on your feet, for I have appeared unto thee
for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both
of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in
which I will appear unto thee. delivering thee from the people
and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee." Now notice
this verse. To open their eyes, to turn them
from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sin and inheritance and inheritance
among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. By faith
that is in Christ. We trust a person. We know whom, we know him. We trust him. And we're persuaded
that's a good trust. We'll never be disappointed.
And we know these things. And we fear the Lord, not man.
We're like Moses standing there before the sea, or back, applying
even earlier than that. He said, Moses didn't fear the
king. Mighty Pharaoh, Moses walked
right up to him, dressed like an old poor shepherd, walked
right up to him, said, God said, let my people go. Well, who are
you? Who's your God? It doesn't matter.
God said, let them go. I said, he didn't fear the king
because he saw him who is invisible. He saw God. He knew God. And if God be for us, who can
be against us? Pharaoh? No. Little old Pharaoh,
he's nothing. Moses said, you all stand still,
just be quiet, keep your mouths shut, and behold the salvation
of the Lord. And they did, and they did. They
sure did. We fear the Lord, not man. We seek his favor, not the favor
of man. We seek the good opinion of God,
not the good opinion of man. We've learned to fear the Lord. We fear his word. We tremble
at his word. We don't play with his word.
And those who do have never learned anything yet as they ought to
learn. We live in a day, if we do, when
men are religious leaders as men in a stupor. They see everything
but the right things and do everything but the right things. And let
us be ever thankful and oh so thankful that God stopped at
our house and opened our eyes. That we found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. We didn't earn it. We didn't
deserve it. We found it. It came upon us. We found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. And I'm so thankful for each
of you and that we have found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Let us be ever thankful. Okay, David.