Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 18 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn
book. Number 18, The Bible is a Book of Christ. Let's all stand
together. God gave his holy inspired word
for only one great end, the prophets and apostles to reveal the sinner's
friend. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. The prophecies of old record
God's wondrous mighty deeds Those deeds of power and of grace Set
forth the woman seen The Bible is a book of Christ, it only
speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. The prophets all reveal our Lord
as prophet, priest, and king. The types of great redemption
show Christ's blood and grace now bring. The Bible is a book
of Christ. It only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. Behold the Lamb, the Baptist
said, the sin-atoning One. As it was promised long before,
God's Son as man has come. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. Our substitute obeyed the law,
then died and rose again. And in his word our Savior said,
Rejoice, I come again. The Bible is a book of Christ. It only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ. It only speaks of Him. Please be seated. Good evening. Let's open our Bibles together.
to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. Oh, how we hope that the Lord
will. Reveal Christ to our hearts tonight. The Lord is my light. And my
salvation. Whom shall I? Fear. What is the fear of God? That's
gonna be the subject for the message tonight, but it's not
coming from this text, coming from Psalm 26, but the Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? If God be for me, who can be
against me? If I have acceptance before God,
what else matters? When the wicked, even my enemies
and my foes, come upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled
and fell. Though a host should encamp against
me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against
me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of
the Lord and to inquire in his temple. When we come here, we get a little
taste of what we're gonna have for all eternity. We look through
a glass dimly now, but then face to face. For in the time of trouble, he
shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle
shall he hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall my head be lifted
up above my enemies round about me. Therefore, while I offer
in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy, I will sing, yea, I will
sing praises unto the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry, With
my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer me. When thou saidest,
seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will
I seek. Hide not thy face far from me.
Put not thy servant away in anger. Thou hast been my help. Leave
me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation, when my mother,
my father, and my mother forsake me. the Lord will take me up. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and
lead me in thy plain path because of my enemies. Deliver me not over into the will of my
enemies, for false witnesses are risen up against me, and
such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait
on the Lord, Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine
heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. I didn't realize this past Sunday
was Benjamin Clark's first time in church, but he's here again
tonight, and I want to pray for Benjamin and for Adam and Rachel,
and also Jennifer. Dunbar's father had surgery this
past week, had a hip replacement and he's recovering from that.
And Adam Clark told me that his dad has been in the hospital
with some lung problems. So let's go to the Lord together. Our merciful heavenly father, we ask that you would enable
us by thy sweet and holy spirit to wait on thee, to look in faith
and rest all the hope of our salvation on thy glorious son
and on his accomplished work of salvation. Would you pray
for Jerry and we ask Lord that you would be merciful to him. We pray that you would cause
him to see his need for Christ. We pray for Adam's dad and ask
Lord the same for him. You would use this time of physical
trial to cause them both to see that they have a spiritual sickness
that only you can cure. And Father, we do rejoice in
the miracle of life and we thank you for little Benjamin and we
ask Lord that you would place your hand of grace upon him.
We pray that you would direct his steps. We pray that in time
that you would give him ears to hear cause him to have his
hope and all his salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for
Adam and Rachel and ask Lord that you would give them the
wisdom to raise this child in thy nurture and in thine admonition. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Let's all stand together again
and we'll sing hymn number 239 from your hardback timbrel, 239. Art thou weary? Art thou languid? Art thou sore distressed? Come to me, saith one, and, coming,
be at rest. Path he marks to lead me to him
if he be my guide. In his feet and hands are wound
prints and his side. Is there diadem as monarch that
his brow adorns? Yea, a crown in very surety out
of thorns. If I still hold closely to him,
what hath he at last? Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan passed. If I ask Him to receive me, will
He say, be day? Not till earth and not till heaven
pass away. Finding, following, keeping,
struggling, is he sure to bless? Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
answer yes. Please be seated. Tom, is that that hymn you were
looking for Sunday morning to sing after the message? That's
a good hymn. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles please to Psalm 25. Psalm 25. What is it to fear God? The scripture makes it clear
that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Now we know that God has made
Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be unto us our wisdom. So there's no knowing Christ
without the fear of God. The fear of God is what the Lord
puts into the hearts of His children when He regenerates them and
enables them to look in faith to Christ. And yet, we think
of that word fear oftentimes in a much more negative sense,
don't we? Truth is, there are three kinds of fears. There's
natural fear. That can be a good thing. If
you can't swim, it might be a good thing to be afraid of water.
You know, some people are afraid of snakes. I'm afraid of heights. You know, put me underwater,
I can swim, but I can't fly. You know, there's things that
we're naturally afraid of. And that fear is, it protects
us, keeps us from doing foolish things, doesn't it? When God
speaks of the fear of the Lord, he's not talking about that kind
of fear. The second kind of fear that there is, is a sinful fear.
Now, a sinful fear is what Adam experienced after he sinned,
when he, fled into the woods and hid among the trees and tried
to cover his nakedness with fig leaves. That was sinful fear. All men, all men experience natural
fear and sinful fear. Only the regenerate know anything
about a holy fear. But there's one thing that all
three of these fears have in common. Natural fear, sinful
fear, and holy fear will make you run. Throw a snake at somebody's feet
and see if it doesn't make them run. Sinful fear, like Adam, makes
us run from God. Holy fear makes us run to Him. That's the difference. The fear
of God is what causes us to run to Christ in fear of our sin
and in need of a savior. Now, if a cringing fearful spirit
is what the fear of God's all about, then how do we understand
Hebrews chapter five? Turn to me there, to Hebrews
chapter five. One thing I love to think about,
the Lord Jesus Christ, He never intimidated sinners. Sinners were always attracted
to Him. He never presented Himself to a sinner in such a way as
to make them to be afraid of Him. They were drawn to Him. and he hasn't changed and sinners
are still drawn to him. Look what Hebrews chapter five
says at verse seven, who in the days of his flesh, when he had
offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears
unto him that was able to save him from death. Now that's our
Lord's life, but we see that coming to a pinnacle at the garden,
don't we? When he sweat drops of blood
and prayed to the Father, Father, if there be any way this cup
can pass from me, let it be nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done. He was crying with tears unto
Him that was able to save him from death. Trusting the Father
to deliver him from the grave. and was heard in that he feared. He feared. Now, was that the
kind of fear that we think of in a negative sense? No, no. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered and being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey Him, believe on Him, trust Him, fear Him, run to Him. All right? So the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever
this thing of the fear of God is, the Lord Jesus Christ experienced
it perfectly. Perfectly. And And we know that
the relationship that our Lord had with his father was not a
cringing, fearful sort of thing where he was in some sort of
bondage of fear. The scripture says that God has
not given to us that spirit of fear, but of power, the power
to believe, of love, the ability to love God and to love His salvation
and of a sound mind or a saved mind. That's what that word sound
means. It means to have a right understanding
as to how it is that God saves sinners. How does He save sinners? All right, let's go back to our
text. Psalm 25, verse 9, the meek will
he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way. Never was there a man so meek
as the Lord Jesus Christ, the meek and mild, harmless savior
of sinners. He never, he never, caused his
people to be afraid of him. See, the fear of God is not being
afraid. It's having hope. What is the
opposite of fear? What's the opposite of fear?
Peace. Peace is the opposite of fear,
isn't it? We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's what holy fear is.
Look what he says. The meek, didn't the Lord say
in Matthew chapter five, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit
the earth. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
blessed by his father as the meek savior of sinners and gave
to him, gave to him authority over all men. so that as a result
of his obedience, he became Lord over the living and over the
dead. He inherited the whole earth. Why? Because of his meekness,
because of his fear of the Father. And the Father taught him in
his way. And here's our hope. When we're
able by the Spirit of God to look in faith to the Lord Jesus
Christ, He gives us the spirit of meekness. He causes us to
realize the hope of my salvation has nothing to do with anything
I've done. Now that's a sinful fear is to be under the law. That's a sinful fear. It's to
be told that you've got to do something in order to earn favor
with God. I've watched people die. I watched
my poor mother counting the beads on her rosary in her dying hours
and wondering if she had done enough. She died in fear. That's sinful fear. That's the
kind of fear that Adam had. That's the kind of fear that
will drive you away from God. The God who is, you see that
kind of fear drives you to the law. That kind of fear just makes
you think, well, if I just do a little more, get a little more
committed, a little more sincere, do a few more works. Verse 10, all the paths of the
Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant. What is it to keep his covenant?
is to believe that the hope of my salvation is firmly founded
in that covenant of grace that the Lord Jesus Christ made with
his father in eternity past. I'm looking there. And if I'm
looking to his covenant promises, I have nothing to be afraid of.
There is now therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
Who is it that condemneth? It is Christ that justifies. There is no condemnation. Perfect
love casteth out fear. How many times the Lord said,
it is I. Don't be afraid. And the disciples
on the boat, when they thought they were going to die, the Lord
was right there with them. What did He say? Why are you
afraid? Oh, you have little faith. You see, they were experiencing
sinful fear. Thinking that they had to somehow deliver themselves
in the presence of God. To not fear God is to not believe
God. To fear him is to believe him. That's what he's saying here.
All the paths of the Lord, every step of the way is mercy. What is mercy? What is mercy? Mercy is God withholding from
us what we deserve. That's what mercy is. Grace is
God giving to us what we don't deserve. All the paths of the
Lord are mercy. There's why I don't fear. The
reason why I don't fear is because God delights in showing mercy. He withholds from me that which
I deserve. What do I deserve? I deserve
the wrath of God. Why does he withhold it from
me? because he exercised the full fury of his wrath on the
Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. I don't have to fear the
judgment of God. I don't have to fear the wrath
of God. It's been expiated in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has
satisfied the demands of God's justice so that we have peace
with God. Look what he goes on to say.
For thy namesake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. And we just sang that hymn. This
book is a book of Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ owned
the sins of his people on Calvary's cross, bore them in his body
upon the tree. And his sin, it's like I said
Sunday, when we think of by his stripes we are healed and the
wounds on the back of the Lord Jesus Christ, one sin left on
us will drive us to hell. One sin. And we can't bear the burden
of one sin. Can't do it. And he bore the
burden of all the sins of all of his people of every generation. And so when he says, my iniquities,
it's great. It's great. Fearing God, calling
out on the God of promise, the covenant God. Lord, keep your
covenant promises. and put away these sins, be satisfied
with the sacrifice that I'm making for the forgiveness of these
sins. And our iniquities are great,
aren't they? Matter of fact, everything we
do is iniquitous. Every thought we have, every
word we speak, every step we take falls short of the glory
of God. And that's what iniquity is.
And so we cry out to him, Lord, have mercy upon me according
to like covenant mercies. And my iniquities are great,
pardon them, pardon them, put them away. And if he pardons
them, we have nothing to fear, nothing to fear. Now it doesn't mean that we're
not gonna have natural fears. Now, if you've got a debilitating
phobia, you might want to talk to somebody about that and get
some help, but that's not what we're talking about here. There
are self-preserving fears that are natural to all men. But,
Lord, deliver us from sinful fear. Deliver us from the fear
that would cause us to run from you like our father Adam did. Verse 12, what man is he that
feareth the Lord? Well, we know what man he is.
He's the God man. There is a man in heaven standing
between us and God making intercession for us, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's the man that feared
God perfectly. And as we are enabled by the
Spirit of God to look to Christ, we're fearing God. We're fearing
God. You see, part of the fear of
God is the fear of the thought of standing in the
presence of a holy God without an advocate, without a substitute. Now, that's a fearful thought. But we have an advocate, Jesus
Christ, the righteous one. Him, the man that fears God,
Him, verse 12, shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. Now, the natural man chooses
a way that's not right. There is a way, there is a way
that seems right unto man. You know, if I can just do a
little bit more, I pray the right prayer, if I just, if I make
a decision, if I perform enough works, That's the way that seems
right on demand. That is sinful fear. That is the kind of fear that
will drive you to the law. That's the kind of fear that
religion puts on people when they put them under the law and
put them under the rule of elders and all the sorts of things that
men do in religion to try to control people's behavior and
dominate men's lives. That's the kind of fear that
the Lord said, that spirit of fear is not of me. It's not of
me. Him, the one that fears God,
fears the Lord. Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose. My ways are not your ways. I've
chosen my son. I've chosen my people in him. And the Lord teaches us in the
way that he chooses. We don't choose him. He said
to the disciples, you see, you didn't choose me. I chose you. I chose you. I'm the one that's
doing the choosing here. The God of man-made religion
is a God that's like the modern day politicians, isn't he? He's
up for votes. He's going around begging men
to vote for him. Oh no. How do I know that I have
something of the fear of God in my heart? Because he's taught
me the way that he chose. They shall be all taught of God.
Father, I thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the
wise and the prudent, and you've revealed them unto babes, even
so, Father, seem good in thy sight. He reveals these things
through the gospel to the hearts of his people. The only reason
I have nothing to fear is because I have a righteous advocate before
God. My sin's been put away. God's
justice has been satisfied. The law has been silenced. It
has nothing to say to me. The law can't condemn me. Who
is he that condemneth? It is God that justifieth, yea
rather it is Christ that died and is risen again. You see the fear of God is to
not be afraid. That's the fear of God. Don't
think of the fear of God like that natural fear or like that
sinful fear, it's not. I said all three fears have one
thing in common, they'll all three make you run. But only the third one will make
you run to Christ. This one who fears God, who shall
be taught the gospel, his soul shall dwell at ease. Oh, perfect peace, Isaiah said,
belongeth to them whose mind is stayed on thee. We have the prince of peace.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
you're gonna be at ease. You're gonna be able to sit still.
You're not gonna fear whether or not you've done enough. You're going to be able to rest
all the hope of your salvation in the way that I have chosen
in my son. And that's why the Lord, I mean,
this, this, this passage first and foremost relates to him,
doesn't it? His soul shall dwell at ease. He rested his, his soul. He, he gave up the ghost after
saying, father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit. He didn't
die with all the agony that he died in. He didn't die a desperate
death. He died at ease, bowing his head
and giving up the ghost, trusting. Why? Because he feared God. He
believed God. He believed God. And he believed
that his father was going to be faithful to keep his part
of the covenant as he had kept his part of the covenant. And
what do we believe? We believe the same thing, don't
we? And his seed? Now who's that? We're talking about this man
who fears God perfectly and his seed shall inherit the earth. Who's the seed of the Lord Jesus?
Well, you know who it is. It's his church. It's all those
for whom he died. It's all those that he opens
the eyes of their understanding and teaches them the gospel,
enables them to have faith to rest their soul at ease in him
and his accomplished work of salvation. Lord, I've nothing to be afraid
of. Sinful fear. It's the fear of
judgment. Guilt? Guilt, isn't it? Are we guilty? Yes. Are we afraid
because of guilt? No. No. No, He took that. He took that. His soul shall dwell at ease,
and His seed shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear Him." That's why I wanted to bring this message
on what it is to fear God. It's to rest in Christ. It's
to believe God. The Lord Jesus Christ was heard
in that He feared. And we are heard in that we fear. It's not a slavish cringing fear. Matter of fact, in Hebrews chapter
5, that passage we read a moment ago about the Lord himself being
heard because he feared. That word in that particular
verse is translated reverence. Reverence. He reverenced his
father. He bowed in obedience to his
father. He believed his father. And we
believe or we obey when we believe. And we reverence Him. We reverence
Him. We worship Him. We're like that. We're going to look Sunday at
the Syrophoenician woman. The Lord called her a dog. And
she worshipped Him. And she said, Truth, Lord. Truth,
Lord. Oh, but the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from the children's table. Lord, just give me a crumb. One drop of your oil dropping
off the border of your garment. That will be sufficient. One
crumb will be sufficient. The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear Him. This secret is a mystery. The
gospel is a mystery. The natural man is desperately
attempting to atone for his sins. He's doing exactly what Adam
did in the garden. That's sinful fear. When we try
to atone for our own sins by knitting together fig leaves
to cover our nakedness before God, that's sinful fear. And
I don't care if you're religious or irreligious, all men outside
of Christ are attempting to atone for their own sins. All the unrighteous
believe themselves to be righteous. Every one of them, whether they're
professing atheist or whether they're committed religionist,
they believe there's something about them that's righteous.
But if they're ever honest, they'll cringe with fear, wondering,
is my righteousness enough? Have I done enough? But the secret of the Lord, that's
the mystery of the gospel. The finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The fact that we have an advocate
with God and we're able to look in faith to him. Behold me, behold
me. Behold the Lamb of God. We look in faith to the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's fear. That's the fear
of God. The fear of God. Lord, I fear my sin. I fear myself.
I fear my worst enemy. And I fear if I don't have, if
I don't have a savior, I've got no hope of salvation because
I'm not able to satisfy the demands of the law. I'm not able to produce
anything that would be righteous in thy sight. I need Christ to
stand in my stead and be my advocate. That's the fear of God. The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear him. Yeah, I've been thinking about
that passage where it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. And I've never, I've never really, you know, you know
things and then you don't know them. You know, you know, things
are true and then the Lord just reveals them so much better to
you. And I've always thought, well,
you know, somehow I've got to, if I'm going to have more wisdom,
I'm going to have to have more fear. But there's no salvation
without the fear of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. There's no coming to Christ without
the fear of God. And he will show them his covenant. Man-made religion is all based
on the covenant that I make with God. Now covenant is a promise
and one thing that every fearful religion has in common is that
you've got to do something, you've got to make a promise, you've
got to pray a prayer, you've got to make a decision, you've
got to perform some works. It's your covenant that secures
your salvation. God's done his part, now you've
got to do your part. And men that live under that
are living under the law. They've got reason to be afraid.
They're hiding from God is what they're doing. They're hiding
behind their fig leaves. But those who fear the Lord,
he shows them his covenant, his covenant. The promise that God
the Father made to give his son a bride. The promise that God
the Son made to redeem his bride. Look at the last verse of this
chapter in Psalms. Redeem Israel, O God, out of
all his troubles. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did when he shed his blood on Calvary's cross. It was the
price of redemption, his precious blood. You're not redeemed with
silver and gold. or with corruptible things, that's
all we can bring. We can bring our silver and gold.
We can bring our corruptible things. We're not going to be
redeemed by them. In Psalm 51, when David said,
he said, sacrifice and offerings
thou wouldest not. How did David know that? The last nine months of David's
life, he'd been going to the temple every day, making sacrifice
and offerings. Now that's sinful fear. And then Nathan came to him and
said, thou art the man, God has forgiven you. Then he knows something about
the fear of God. He said, oh, a broken spirit and a contrite
heart that will not despise. Why? Because he gives us that
when he gives us the fear of God. He gives us a broken spirit
and a contrite heart. He causes us to be meek before
him. He causes us to realize the only
hope of my salvation is not the sacrifices and offerings that
I've made, but the redemptive blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
is all the hope of my salvation. Stand outside of that, I have
reason to be afraid. Verse 15, mine eyes are ever
toward the Lord. I've got no place else to go. I can't find anything else to
calm my fears. Not when I think about eternity
and the reality You know, David said there's no bands in their
death. They go to the grave as if, you
know, God's going to reward them for their good works. Believers are the only people
that understand what's at stake here. We understand what's at
stake. We understand there's eternal
judgment for all those outside of Christ. And there's eternal
bliss and happiness for all those that are found in him. Oh Lord,
my fear is that I would be outside of Christ. And so mine eyes are ever toward
the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. What is the net that we all deal
with? It's that sinful fear of self-righteousness. It's the thought. It's the accuser
of the brethren. What does he say to us? Well,
if you were really a child of God, you wouldn't be thinking
like that. You wouldn't say that. You wouldn't do that. You wouldn't
act that way. What's he doing? He's putting us under the law.
He's the master of fear. It's not unusual or uncommon
or unreasonable that we would be afraid of snakes. That's what
Satan is. The Lord shall pluck my feet
out of the net. Verse 16, turn thee unto me and
have mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted Lord, I don't have
anything. What am I going to offer God
to earn His favor, to have His acceptance? What am I going to
bring to the table? Lord, I'm afflicted. I'm sinful. I need a Savior. That's the fear of God. The fear
of the Lord is to realize that outside of Christ we have no
hope. And sinful fear is when we start
thinking, well, you know, I can do David spent nine months in
great fear, great fear, trying to cover up his sin. And we know
something about that every day, don't we? And that's why we have to keep hearing
the gospel. That's why the Lord keeps bringing us back again.
Turn me again, oh Lord. Turn thee unto me, verse 16,
and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate. I'm desolate, I'm a
desert. There's no life, there's no growth,
there's no hope, there's no salvation, anything I'm able to do. And
I'm afflicted by my sin, the troubles of my heart are enlarged.
Oh, bring thou me out of my distresses. How is he gonna bring us out
of our distresses? By making us better? by making us look to Christ. The troubles of my heart are
enlarged. Oh, bring thou me out of my distresses. Save me, Lord. Save me from my
sinful self. But I'm afraid of me more than
anything else. Look upon my affliction and my
pain and forgive all my sins. Now the Lord Jesus Christ prayed
that prayer from Calvary's cross and God heard him. He was heard
in that he feared. Remember what we just read in
Hebrews chapter five? He was heard in that he feared. He feared God perfectly. And God heard his prayer. and
put away the sins of his people that he had taken for his own.
And God made him who knew no sin to be sin that we may be
made the righteousness of God in him. What is there to be afraid
of? Consider my enemies, for they
are many. Oh, you think you conquered one
sin and just another one pops up, doesn't it? It's just, you
think, well, who? They're just there. They're just
everywhere, aren't they? And they hate me. And that word
cruel is the word violent. They hate me with a violent hatred. And they hated the Lord Jesus
Christ with a violent hatred, so violent, that they put him
to death. Oh, keep my soul and deliver
me. Let me not be ashamed for I put
my trust in thee. That is the fear of God. The fear of God is that you're
afraid to go anywhere else that you cast all your care upon him,
believing that he careth for you. Let integrity and uprightness
preserve me. And that's what preserves us,
the integrity and the uprightness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
protects us and preserves us. For I wait on thee. I wait on
thee. So yes, there is such a thing
as natural fear. And when God says the spirit
of fear is not of the Lord, perfect love casteth out fear. He's not
talking about natural fear. Those things, some of those things
are good to have. There's a sinful fear. And that's
the fear that drives us away from God to try to find some
hope of salvation outside of Christ. And then there's the
fear of God that leaves us with no other option but to trust
him for all our salvation. Disciples were in the boat and
the Lord said, why are you afraid? Why are you afraid? Oh, you little
faith? I'm here. I caused this storm. And in my
time, I'm gonna calm it. Oh, we just got so much sinful
fear, don't we? I love what the Lord said to
Jairus when they came and said, bother the master no more, your
daughter's dead. 12 year old little girl on her
deathbed. And they came to him and said,
she's gone. What'd the Lord say? He looked
at Jairus, he said, do not be afraid, only believe. Only believe. Now there's the
definition of the fear of God. Do not be afraid, only believe. Only believe. You got nothing
else. You got nothing else to do but
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, any message of salvation
that leaves us something to do causes fear, because we don't
know if we've done enough. The Lord says of the world, there
is no fear of God before their eyes. They don't know anything about
holy fear. All they know about is sinful fear, the fear that
causes them to try to do something to earn God's acceptance. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
12. Look at verse 1. And there shall,
I'm sorry, Isaiah chapter 12. And in that day, thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. Thou wast angry with me, but
thine anger is turned away and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. He also is become my salvation. He's all my salvation, all my
salvation. all my righteousness, all my
justification, all of my sanctification, all of my acceptance before God,
there was a time when I had reason to be afraid. There was a time
that that fear drove me to try to atone for my own sins. But
now, but now, thine anger is turned away. Thine anger has
been expiated. Thine anger has been has been
quenched when the sword of God's justice was plunged into the
heart of the Lord Jesus Christ, the anger of God was taken away. Don't fear judgment. Don't fear wrath. The Lord has
become my salvation. Turn with me to Psalm 112. Psalm
112, we'll close with this passage. Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is
the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his
commandments. Oh, and we do, we delight in
all the word of God. And in the Psalms, often the
word commandments is being used just like the word testimonies
and the word precepts. It's a reference to the whole
canon of scripture. And we love God's word. We love
every word of it. His seed shall be mighty upon
the earth. The generation of the upright
shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in
his house, and his righteousness endureth forever. Unto the upright. There rises light in the darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion
and righteous. A good man showeth favor and
lendeth. He will guide his affairs with
discretion. Surely he shall be moved. He shall not be moved forever. The righteous shall be an everlasting
remembrance. He shall not be afraid. He shall not be afraid. of evil tidings. Why? Because
his heart is fixed trusting the Lord. There's the fear of God.
The fear of God is to not be afraid with sinful fear and to
trust Christ for all your righteousness and all your acceptance before
God. And if God be for me, who can
be against me? The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we confess to You, Lord, that in our flesh and in our thoughts,
we often are brought under the bondage of fear, being deceived and thinking that
that we've got to bring you something to earn your favor, your acceptance. Lord, how clear you are in your
word that your covenant promises are the only means by which we
have the hope of our salvation. And Lord, we pray now that you
would continue to turn us to thee and cause us, Lord, to trust
you. That the fear of God might be
true and freeing in our hearts. For we ask it in Christ's name,
amen. Number 352, let's stand. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Savior, hide, Till
the storm of life is past. Safe into the haven guide, O
receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, hangs
my helpless soul on Thee. Leave, ah, leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is stained,
All my help from Thee I bring, Cover my defenseless head With
the shadow of Thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in Thee I find, Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am all unrighteousness. False and full of sin I am, Thou
art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with Thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams
abound, they can keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain
heart, freely let me take of Thee. Spring thou up within my
heart, rise to all eternity. Okay.