Tonight, our text is found in
Proverbs chapter one. Proverbs chapter one. We're gonna be looking from verse
24 down to the end of the chapter, but I, I typically haven't been
covering that many verses, but it's one singular thought that
the Lord gave Solomon here. The proverb that we've been in,
chapter one, has given us the five parables of peace to begin
with. And then the Lord chose to call
Solomon to tell us why he gave that. The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom. That's why those parables of
peace were written. Then, we have warnings. Warnings to God's children. Starts
with my son. Warnings to God's children. Then
we have the judgment upon those who are not the children of God. Now, here in our text, we have
a contrast. Those who are called, those who
are made to hearken, those who are made to heed, those who are
made to bow, and those who do not, those who do not. It's all
based upon an ability, but not our ability. It's all based upon
a work, but not our work. Everything about God's salvation
is about his ability and his work. It's about his truth, him
being the one that promised it, Him being the one that performed
it, Him being the one that kept His word. We have those who come to Christ
because they are enabled to here in this chapter. We have those
who come to the Lord seeking mercy and those, as the Apostle
Paul says in Acts 13, who have judged themselves unworthy of
eternal life. How do you judge yourself unworthy
of eternal life? You believe that you're worthy
of eternal life in and of yourself. The Lord told the Pharisees,
the reason that your sin remains is because you say you can see.
But if you were blind, then your sin would not remain. You would
have had need of a savior. They're blind because their sin
remaineth. They deem themselves worthy of
eternal life. But they weren't. They weren't. Likewise, the same as the Pharisees,
the same as all those who are self-righteous, if we believe
ourself to be worthy of eternal life because of anything we have
done, anything that we're doing, anything that we are going to
do, or haven't done, doing, or going to do, we're unworthy. We're not worthy, where it's
the opposite, isn't it? It's the opposite. We do not
have the fear of the Lord. And that's something that's described
in our text four times. He says the word fear. Everyone without exception will
receive the fear of the Lord, whether it be in mercy unto eternal
life or in judgment unto eternal death. Every knee is going to
bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, that Jesus Christ is God. I've titled this message,
Cause and Effect of Fear. Cause and Effect of Fear. Let's
read the verses here in our text, Proverbs 1, verse 24 through
the end of the chapter. Because I have called and you
refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded.
But ye have set at naught all my counsels and with none of
my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock
when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation and
your destruction cometh as a whirlwind. When distress and anguish cometh
upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer.
They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. For that
they hated knowledge and did not use the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel.
They despised all my reproof. Therefore, shall they eat of
the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple
shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall
be quiet from fear of evil. the cause and effect of fear. Now there's two kinds of fear.
There's man fear, men that hear of God and him being sovereign,
him being God, and they devise an idea about their responsibilities
whenever they have that fear. It's appointed unto men once
to dine after this judgment. But everything that they do,
they believe that they are causing the Lord to be pleased
with them, causing the Lord so that they don't have to fear
anymore. That's not the fear of the Lord. That's the other
kind of fear is the fear of the Lord. Either God sends his spirit and
mercy, quickening the soul and giving godly fear, or we will
have a preconceived notion about who God is, will have a thought
of him and then his spirit will be sent in judgment, not in mercy.
When we see him face to face, he blows, that's what the word
spirit actually means. If you look in verse 23, that
lowercase spirit, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto
you. Last week, we looked at that
as how the Lord blows his spirit according to his will in salvation
for his people. But this is a blow of judgment.
This is what he's talking about here. He either blows his spirit
in mercy, or the word spirit here is breath. Breath. You remember in the Old Testament,
uh, Exodus, whenever the children of Israel were crossing the Red
Sea, scripture says the Lord parted the sea with a blast of
his nostril. It was his breath. So we see that that can come
in mercy or it can come in judgment. If he sends his spirit, his Holy
Spirit, it's only in mercy. But if he sends his breath, that's
his judgment, that's his wrath. And this is what he's speaking
of here. Either he quickens the soul and gives us godly fear
or he sends his breath in judgment, damning the soul. And who is
it that makes us to differ? Every person has the same will
by nature Every person is bound to that will in bondage, born
in bondage, born in slavery. Who makes us two different? We
will not choose God. It's a gift. It's a gift to hearken. It's a gift to come unto him.
It's a gift to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ all by grace.
You remember in Noah's time, in Noah's time, they did not
believe the truth. Somebody said, well, what does
it mean to fear the Lord? It means you believe his truth.
You believe he is true and you're not. That's what it means to
believe the truth. The people in Noah's time, they
didn't believe God's truth that came through Noah. They had never
seen rain, never even heard of rain. Noah says the Lord's gonna
destroy the earth. And for 100 years he preached
unto those people, it's gonna rain, it's gonna rain, here comes
judgment, it's going to happen. Nobody would believe, why? They
didn't have the fear of the Lord. To fear the Lord means you believe
his truth. You believe his truth. And the
only way that we can do that is the same reason Noah did.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Why? Because he
was perfect and upright? No, he was perfect and upright
because he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah wasn't
looking for God. God found Noah, a lost sheep, and brought him
into the fold. He said, I'm going to overthrow
the earth. And he saved Noah and gave us
a beautiful picture, allegory of the Lord Jesus being the ark
for his people, the only way of safety against that wrath
that we just talked about, the wrath of God. Left to ourself,
brethren, we'd be no different than all those in Noah's time.
We would go the way of Cain. We would go after the gainsaying
of Korah. We would fall at the error of
Balaam, which is all about self, isn't it? It's all about self.
We would not seek the Lord. Understand that refusing to come
to Christ is refusing to hearken. It's refusing to bow. Many people
talk about the Lord Jesus Christ and how they've done this and
they have done that and they believe in God, but they don't believe
the truth about God. He's sovereign. He's holy. He demands perfection. And you
and I can't do one thing to please him. This is what the fear of
the Lord teaches us. And by grace, he gives faith
that causes us to flee to Christ. Refusing to hearken is always,
and I can't stress this enough, it's always the response of the
flesh concerning spiritual things. Refusing to hearken is always
the response of the flesh pertaining spiritual things. We read that
over in Romans chapter seven. Let's turn over to Romans chapter
eight. Refusing to bow, refusing to
hearken, It's exactly what Cain did. The Lord told Cain, if you
would do good, would you not be received? If you would offer
up a lamb instead of the works of your hands, would you not
be received? Cain didn't want to do that. He hated his brother
and killed him for it. Refusing to hearken, refusing
to bow is always the response of the flesh concerning spiritual
things. Look in Romans eight. Well, let's
read verses five through eight, and let's stop there. For they
that are after the flesh Do mind the things of the flesh, but
they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For
to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Cannot. That means it's not possible,
is it? It's not possible. The first time sin entered the
world, What did Adam and Eve do when they knew they had sinned?
They knew what judgment was going to be, was death, when they did
it. The very moment they sinned, their eyes were open, the scripture
says, and they saw themselves as naked. And what did they do?
They sewed fig leaves together to fix it, didn't they? But they
that are in the flesh cannot please God. We know that to be
true. The Lord had to be the one to cover them. That's what
all men do by nature, is they try to sow fig leaves together. They try to do in order for the
Lord to approve of them, in order for the Lord to receive them,
and it's not possible. It's not possible. Once the information
is heard that it's appointed unto men once to die, and after
this judgment, men become afraid of God, but they're not necessarily
given the fear of the Lord. The Lord's people are. But everyone
that hears, there is a God with which we have to do. There is
a God that is going to judge the universe. We have to stand
before him. When we hear that, our natural flesh says, well,
I've got to fix it then. I've got to do something to please
that judge. I've got to do something to appeal
to him. You ever heard the expression,
appeal to their better nature? God's only got one nature. Ours
is in fact nature. Now he did take on the seat of
Abraham, but his nature's holy. Our nature's sinful. Can't appeal
to his holiness with what we do? It just adds to our iniquity,
doesn't it? It just adds to our sin every
time we try. Now men hear that we are gonna
stand before God and we start sowing our fig leaves together,
thinking the Lord will be pleased with these fig leaves. Well I
did a good job, look at my fig leaves. And that's what men do
by nature, That's what we would have continued doing by nature
if the Lord left us to ourself. We're just sowing fig leaves
together. It's not doing any good. It's not doing any good. No matter
how good we think we are, what did we just read? They that are
in the flesh cannot please God. Nevertheless, men will take this
information, they'll take the doctrines of grace, they'll twist
them by adding something or taking away something from it. All they're
doing is sowing fig leaves. Men create fear in other men. We're talking about the cause
and effect of fear. Men hear about the Lord and they
create fear in other men by stating that there is a God and there
is a judgment and they create fear and then says, now do something.
They create that fear that requires a response or an action to take
place. But they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. We can't get past that. We have
to stay right there because everything, man says do this. The Lord said
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Only those that were enabled
believed. That's a gift of grace in the
heart. That's all by his work. The Lord didn't offer man to
believe. He said believe. And that man
believe that's the enablement of the Holy Spirit, all by grace,
all by grace. All that false religion can do
is create fear that leads to some response or action. This
is the cause and effect of all false religious fear can only
produce death. Do we know why? Because everything
is being exercised in the flesh. We're still in the flesh. They
that are in the flesh cannot please God. Therefore sowed to
the flesh, they shall of the flesh reap corruption. I find
it interesting that Adam and Eve sowed fig leaves, and then
the Lord says, by Paul in Galatians 6, be not deceived, God is not
mocked, for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. Now
I know he's talking about sowing in the dirt of the earth, that
kind of sowing, and the other sowing is a needle and thread,
I get that. Well, it's pronounced the same way, isn't it? Men hear
that there's danger and they start sowing. Not realizing that
they're sowing fig leaves together, but they're also sowing to the
flesh the whole time. They're just unfruitful works
of darkness. We can't sow anything according
to righteousness, not outside of Christ. He's the only one
that the Lord sees that everything he did was sowing to the spirit. God's not mocked. God is not
mocked. He demands perfection. He says,
you must be holy. He's not mocked. For he that
soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but
he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life
everlasting. God is not mocked. It doesn't
say God won't be mocked. It says not, is not, period,
can't be. God cannot be mocked. If a man
is to be right with God, he must sow to the spirit, not sew new
garments of self-righteousness. He must sow to the spirit. Does that mean go to church more?
Does that mean giving more of time and money? Does that mean
studying more, being more kinder? No, this is what the spirit of
bondage gives unto people. Do more and God will be pleased
with you. What does the spirit of the Lord
teach? What does the fear of the Lord
teach? The rain is coming. You've got to get in the ark.
You've got to be found in the ark. Lord, you're gonna have
to put me there. I can't go and put myself in
Christ. I can't make myself born again.
You're gonna have to do it. The Lord says to any sinner that
ever comes to him, begging for mercy in that state, I will be
thou made whole. We have the record of the scripture.
That's the fear of the Lord given. He doesn't give that to everyone.
This is the fear of the Lord that causes us to believe the
truth. This is the work by his spirit,
all of grace. He just shuts us up to Christ,
doesn't he? Shuts us up to Christ. Now the
spirit of bondage under fear says if you're afraid, do. But if you fear, if you fear
and your fear says do, that's not looking to Christ, is it?
That's not looking to Christ. If you haven't done enough, then
you're looking to what you have done. If I haven't done enough,
if I look and I'm afraid of the judgment, I'm afraid of eternal
damnation, and I see myself and I say, well, I haven't done enough,
I need to do more. I haven't been given the fear of the Lord
then. I've just been given a logical conclusion that there is a God,
and every man by nature can see that in nature. It's what the
scripture says. All men are without excuse. No, God's people do not
do to become in the Spirit. We don't do to become in the
Spirit. They do because they're in the Spirit, because they're
in Christ. What do we do? We look to Christ.
Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do
all to the glory of God, 1 Corinthians 10 31. How am I, everything that
I do, how am I gonna do that to the glory of God? Look to
Christ, your substitute. Look to Christ, your substitute.
No matter what you're doing, no matter what you're doing,
look to Christ. Look to Christ, Lord, I'm sitting at my table
eating supper, and all I'm doing is sinning by feeding myself.
I need a substitute. Lord, I'm standing here right
now preaching. I'm breathing, and all I can do is sin. I need
a substitute. This is how we, we have to have
Christ. This is what the fear of the
Lord teaches us. This is the cause and effect.
When that fear is given, we're made to have the need of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the cause and effect
of the fear of the Lord. Look in verse nine and verse
10. But ye are not in the flesh. Now wait a minute. We gotta stop
right there. I'm standing before you right
now physically in flesh. But see, the way God sees it
is the way that it really is. He don't just stop there. He
continues telling us you are not in the flesh but in the spirit.
If so, be that the spirit of God dwell in you. If the spirit
of God is in you, There's your hope of glory. You're no longer
in the flesh. Now if any man have not the spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. This is what the fear, the cause
and effect does when the Lord gives this fear, this godly fear.
You and I flee to Christ by faith. He gives faith as well. Our body
is rendered dead because of sin. We were crucified with Christ.
We died to the law in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now we've been
resurrected in Christ Jesus unto eternal life. That's what the
Lord has done. We received his spirit according
to his will. Therefore, because we've received
his spirit, because we've received faith, it's in him. It's in him that we live, we
move, and we have our being. It's in him, it's by him, and
it's for his glory. We sow to the spirit. We really
sow to the spirit in Christ Jesus. How? Looking to him. Looking
to him. Not to self. This is the cause
and effect of grace, isn't it? Not looking to self. It takes
grace for us not to look to ourself, doesn't it? If I'm left to myself,
I'm going to examine myself. Why do we have to come and hear
the good news of the gospel so often? Our flesh is literally
dying to look to anything. But Christ, literally, our flesh
is dying. Cannot, will not, hates, our
flesh hates God. Why do we have to come in here?
Because the new man craves righteousness, truth. Tell me the truth, Lord. Tell me the truth. If I don't
have the truth, I have nothing. What does the Lord say? You shall
know the truth. And that truth, that's what's
gonna set you free. The Lord Jesus Christ is truth.
This is what the fear, That's cause and effect of the fear
of the Lord being given. We know the truth and we've been
set free. What is that freedom? It's in
Christ alone. It's in Christ alone. This is the work of God in the
heart of his people. This is the result of the fear
of the Lord being given to the Lord's people. I go back to our
text in Proverbs. Chapter one, that's where everyone
else is described the first part. Because, verse 24, because I
have called and you refused. I have stretched out my hand
and no man regarded. But you have said it not, all
my counsel and with none of my reproof. I also will laugh at
your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. That's the fear of judgment,
isn't it? The real true fear of judgment. When your fear cometh
as desolation, When your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress
and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me,
but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge. That's the reason why. They hated
knowledge, they hated the truth. And you and I would have too
if it hadn't been for the grace of God. They despised, or they did
not choose the fear of the Lord. They did not choose his fear,
nor his truth. They would not of my counsel,
the Lord says. They despised all my reproof.
Therefore, they're gonna be left to themselves. They're gonna
eat of the fruit of their own way, the fruit of desolation,
destruction, emptiness, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and prosperity
of fools shall destroy them. Aren't you glad for that next
word, but? but whosoever, but whoso hearkeneth
unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil. The Lord says because you chose
yourself, you chose not the ark. You chose to stand against the
wrath of God yourself. You chose to endure the water
that fell. You chose to endure the fire
that fell yourself. The Lord said because of this,
it's judgment unto death. The error of men is that they
believe they fear God enough and do enough to please him.
They fear God enough and they do enough to please him. But
refusing to bow to Jesus Christ all along, that's the only thing
that pleases him is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord calls
us to hearken, calls us to bow, Everything our old man does,
our flesh, looks to what it can physically see, that's it. What
does faith look to? Christ. Ask yourself, who am
I looking to? Am I looking to self? Or am I
looking to the only substitute, the only hope that we have, the
Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ? If you're looking to him, you've
been given the fear of the Lord. It's the cause and effect. Looking
to him is the result of being given the fear of the Lord. It's
the evidence that faith has been bestowed. It looks to Christ
always. Those in the scripture that were
murderers, that had killed by law, an avenger, a family member
could kill in return, eye for an eye. They could seek after
the individual that had killed someone in their family, and
they could avenge that person by killing that person. The law
said it's legal, it's permitted. And the only hope is the same
hope you and I had, and that's called the city of refuge. Cities
of refuge were built for that very purpose. When you entered
into that city, an avenger could not pursue. We have an avenger
called the law. Death is the consequence of our
sin. Death is the result of our fallen
nature. Everything we do is sinful utterly.
And we have but one hope to be found in the city of refuge,
the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I would not have sought
the city of refuge unless we see that we're truly guilty,
that we truly deserve death by the law. This is what the cause
and effect of fear is from the Lord. If the Lord doesn't cause
us to truly see that we are utterly sinful, we will not need a city
of refuge. Unless the Lord causes us by
faith to believe the rain is going to fall, we will not need
an ark. In the book of 1 Samuel, remember
when David went into the temple and he was hungry? And he was
running for his life from Saul. He was fleeing for his life and
they had no food and they had no ability to get food, but they
remembered the showbread that was in the temple. And he ran
in, that's a consecrated thing unto the Lord. And the priest
said, no, you can't have that. And he said, give it to me. We're
going to eat it. And they gave. And after they departed from
there, one of Saul's servants, one of Saul's servants named
Doeg, told King Saul that the priest had given David and David's
men the showbread. That the priest had given and
fed Saul's enemy, or who Saul thought was his enemy. David
really wasn't the enemy of Saul. Saul just self-proclaimed that. King Saul then orders to kill
him. And one escaped named Abathar. Abathar escaped, and where do
you suppose he ran to? Where do you think, of all the
places he could have went and hid, where do you think he went
to? He went to David. He went to David, who is the
rightful king. He went to the anointed of the Lord. He knew
that David, with David, there's power to keep him. Why did Abathar
flee? Fear. He was given fear. He would have
had no need to flee. He would have had no need to
go after David. He would have had no need for
protection unless death was upon him. It's the same for you and
I. We would never flee to our King
David, the Lord Jesus Christ, if the Lord does not show us
that we have one after us to kill us. We are guilty. We are guilty and deserve judgment. I love the words that David told
Abathar, and we can hear this from the Lord Jesus Christ to
all of his people. This is what he said. Abide thou
with me, fear not. Abide thou with me, fear not. For he that seeketh my life,
seeketh thy life. But with me, thou shalt be in
safeguard. He said, I'm going to protect
you. The one that's after you is after
me. And is it not true of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross
of Calvary, bearing our sin in his body, that the law enacted
judgment? Judgment came forth. Justice
had to be satisfied. And the Lord says unto his people
now, abide with me. Fear not the one that's after
you. Oh, it came after me instead, but I've put away your sin. You're
in safeguard. You are in the city of refuge.
You are found in the ark, the cleft of the rock, the only place
where the Lord will not destroy you, found in Christ. Our Lord became surety." That's
what David was telling him, I'm gonna protect you, I'm gonna
defend you with my life. Our Lord became surety for his
people and put away the sin of his people by offering up himself,
by dying in our stead, by shedding his blood. Would have done us
no good to shed. If we knew about, if we had some
fear of the Lord and thought we'll just shed blood, it would
do us no good to shed our own blood. It's polluted. Without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. cause
and effect of the Lord's truth coming to us, the fear of the
Lord, is that I have to have a substitute. I'm not good enough. What would Abathar do? What's
he gonna do to stand up against Saul's army? David had an army. We couldn't stand up against
the walls of the devil, we can't stand up against the flesh, we
can't do anything to put away our sin, but the Lord Jesus Christ
did. The Lord Jesus Christ did it for his people. He silenced
the avenger of death, the law. He endured the calamity mentioned
here in our text. Talked about your calamity will
come upon you. Sudden destruction will come upon you. That's what
the Lord endured for his people. The calamity due to them, the
destruction, the wrath of God falling. Scripture says the terrors
of the Lord can pass me about. That's Christ on the cross, the
terrors of the Lord, that fear, that fear that was supposed to
come upon you and I of having no substitute, of having no hope.
That's what can pass the Lord. And yet he, without sin, bowed
his mighty head and gave up the ghost, causing you and I according
to His purpose and will, causing His elect to be given in time
the fear of the Lord. That's the cause and effect.
He does that according to His will. Wouldn't have done us any
good to fear the Lord and not be given faith to believe the
Lord Jesus Christ. Wouldn't have done Abathar any
good to be afraid of Saul and had nowhere else to run to, would
it? He'd have just lived his whole life afraid and Saul would
have come after him. Wouldn't have done any good for
people to start believing about it raining and not have an ark.
We fear the Lord, it's of the Lord to do so. It's his gift
of grace. He immediately gives us faith
that calls us to flee to Christ. Flee to Christ lest we die. It says, he was the one stricken
and smitten of God and afflicted. He emptied himself of life on
the cross for his people. That we, by the grace of God,
can hear these words, abide with me. Abide with me, I'll keep
you in safeguard. He that begun a good work in
you will perform it into the day of Jesus Christ. We now have
peace before the very throne of God. All this that we read here in
our text is cause and effect. Because he called, we did not
answer. We refused because he extended
his hand and we rejected it. But because of grace, we can't
talk about grace and add something to it. Grace is simple. Grace
is all of the Lord given freely. given freely according to his
will, according to his purpose. Because we've been given grace,
we didn't refuse his voice. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me. And we gladly receive his voice.
We want his truth. We have a need by grace to come
to Christ. We're now like Mephibosheth coming
into the throne room If David, he feared. He was afraid, wasn't
he? You can imagine he was an enemy
of David. Fear gripped his heart. If David
would have looked at Mephibosheth, now think about this. If David
would have looked at Mephibosheth and said, all you have to do
for me to show you mercy is stand up. Stand up, Mephibosheth. I'll show you mercy. You stand
up, I'll show you grace, and I'll let you sit at my table,
and I'll give you my ring and my robe. All you have to do is
stand up. but he's lame on both of his
feet. That's not good news, is it? What is the good news of
the gospel? Fear not, Mephibosheth, for I
will show you kindness, not for your sake, but for Jonathan's
sake, because a covenant predates you before you are even a twinkle
in your daddy's eye. The Lord is telling Mephibosheth
it's all of grace. It's all of grace. The Lord made
a covenant with his darling son so that you and I might be made
the righteousness of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, not by
works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy, fear not. That's the cause and effect of
the Lord giving godly fear. It's not fearing to approach,
but hearing the command coming to me. Not fearing the law, but
looking to Christ as the fulfillment of the law. Not fearing the judgment
of God, but looking to Christ as the one that endured the judgment
of God for his people. That's the cause and effect of
the fear that God gives. Fear not, for I will surely show
thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. David didn't say
fear not, be brave and courageous. If you can just be brave and
courageous, I'll have mercy on you. No, I will surely show thee
kindness for Jonathan's sake. He said, fear not, only believe. And if we find ourself believing,
it's because the Lord's called us to. The opposite of fear is
not courage, not stand up and do more. And that's what men
think before God. They need courage to come before
the front and make a profession or do this or do that, and that's
courage. The opposite of fear is not courage, it's faith. Look
to Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. People say, who's ready to do
your part for Jesus? You ever heard that before? He
doesn't need my help. He doesn't need my part. That's
the cause and effect of what the fear of the Lord teaches
us. It's the opposite. It's the opposite of the fear
of the Lord to say otherwise. The opposite of fear is God-given
faith. Faith doesn't say find strength in yourself. Faith says
rest in the Lord and the power of His might. What did David say in Psalm 23?
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil. Why? Why, because my staff and
my sling comfort me? Because I have done this and
because I have done that? No. Thou art with me. Is it not true that we are walking
through the valley of the shadow of death every moment of every
day? We are walking death in and of
ourself. The only way I can't fear this
valley of death that I'm in is if the Lord is with me. And what
does the Lord say? It is I. Be not afraid. Be not afraid. Here's our peace,
brethren. Here's our rest. Here's our hope.
Here's the cause and effect of God-given fear. He's given faith
to flee to Christ as well. Faith to flee to Christ, faith
to believe Him, made to believe, made to hearken, if so be. Look
at verse 33. But whoso hearkeneth unto me
shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil. I
love that word quiet, that's peace be still is what that is.
That's his command given to his people. Peace be still, fear
not, only believe. This is the cause and effect
of fear given of the Lord freely by his grace. It's God given
fear. The result, the effect is believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the effect. Let's pray. Father, we know that
left to ourself, the cause and effect of everything that we
do, we would stand in judgment and die. But Lord, the cause
and effect of everything you did on the cross of Calvary for
your people is all our hope. Christ is all our righteousness.
Lord, if we've never been made to fear, cause us to fear you. If we've never have fleed to
Christ, cause this to be the moment we flee to him from henceforth
and from forever, according to your will. In Christ's name,
amen.