Blessed is everyone that feareth
the Lord, that walketh in his ways. Now we need to know what
it is to fear the Lord. And I've heard this preached
on some, and I'm sure you have too. It's something that we must
continue to look at and look into, because I still don't know
much about it. Do you? What it is to fear the
Lord. May the Lord be pleased to reveal
to us more tonight about that. We need to know what walking
in his ways is. You may think, well I know what
that is, and I kind of tend to think that too, but there's another
one now that we need to learn something about. And we need
to understand the relationship between the two. Fearing him
and walking in his ways. Now most children learn what
this fear is when they're very young children. Not every child has a father,
but if you had a father that, especially one that
raised you in the fear and admonition of the Lord, but even in a natural sense. There's this fear that a child
feels especially toward his father. It is respect. It's yes sir,
no sir, please and thank you. Got to be, doesn't it? Boy, that's
just minimal. That's the bare minimum there.
But even that today is abandoned greatly. But respect for your father is
a kind of love too. It's a kind of love. It's not just a cold respect
as you might respect someone from a distance who had achieved
some great thing or some hero of yours that you don't even
know. It's not like that. It's not the same kind of respect.
It's a kind of love. It's a realization on some level
And when we're very young, I say on some level because when we're
very young we don't really think about it, but we still know it. So on some level we realize that
our daddy takes care of us, that he provides for us, that he protects
us, and that he's for us. I always
knew that my dad, and I didn't sit down and think about it.
Boy, I'm glad my dad loves me, you know. But I knew in everything
that he did, in every word that he said, in every action, that he was for me. I wasn't alone. And that's part
of it now. That part is important, because
if you get the sense that your father doesn't love you, and
many children do, sadly, If they prove by their actions
and words that they don't love you, then we're talking about
another kind of fear now. It's not the same thing. The
wrong kind of fear. That's the wrong kind of fear.
It's a kind of love. And there is an element of being
scared of your father, isn't there? Wouldn't you say so? There's an element of that. Sure
there is. But there's a great difference
between being scared of being mistreated and being scared to mistreat
someone. I was afraid of doing anything
to make my dad mad at me, but I never worried about him hurting
me for no reason or mistreating me in any way. Not for a second. Never even crossed my mind. Did
it you? Some of you maybe. I don't know. Your story, all
of you, but never even considered that. But
I was afraid of making him mad. There's a big difference, isn't
there? I knew he'd never hurt me for
no reason. He'd never just mistreat me to do anything hateful to
me. He never did that. And I knew that he never would.
I've never had any reason to fear that. But I knew that he
was not to be trifled with. I knew that. Our fear of the Lord never loses
sight of his love for us, but it includes an awareness that
the one who loves us and the one who we love is the one who
decides who lives and who dies eternally. And so we don't take his love
for granted. Here's another way to think about
it. You cannot have this fear for a God who loves everybody.
You cannot. You can't In Luke 12, verse 4, our Lord
said to his disciples, I say unto you, my friends, and that's
important now, he said, my friends. But then listen to what he said,
he said, don't be afraid of them that kill the body and after
that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom
you shall fear. Fear him which after he hath
killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear
him. Now you see how important it
is that he said, my friends. Thank God for that. My friends. But this is who I am now. I decide
who lives. And I decide who don't. All power, all authority. Fear
acknowledges need. Think about this, it acknowledges
need. On some level, I knew I had to have my daddy. To lose him
would have been unthinkable. It would have been unthinkable.
I never gave that a thought, didn't want to. I fear the Lord
because I've got to have him. That's part of it too. His love
is life. His disfavor is unthinkable. I'm afraid of not having him,
aren't you? Just the thought of it. To fear
is to value. To fear is to value. It's to
reverence. It's to place great confidence
in. And this fear is the beginning
of wisdom. When you just realize, when you
just, whenever that was, I don't have any idea, do you? When I
first just realized that I needed Christ. I had to have Him. I needed Him for so many reasons.
My sins and my sins before God especially mainly. When you just realize that this
is not just a story, this is not just a preacher talking,
this is not a philosophy, this is not a system, this is not
just some discipline, this is simple. You need Christ. When you realize that He is great
and powerful and wonderful and that everything hangs upon His
will, and that though He owes you hell, He promises life. You've begun on the way of wisdom. You've just begun. When you begin
to realize all of that, when you see Him as the one thing. You've just begun on the way
of wisdom. And fear includes faith. In fact, How can you fear
somebody you don't believe? And that's the problem with parenting
nowadays to a great degree, isn't it? A child has no respect because
they've heard it all before. How many times have they heard
it? You're going to get it now if
you do that again. And they didn't get it. So they're going to keep
doing it. I would. Anybody would. But fear is the beginning of
wisdom. And faith is the beginning of
fear. When you believe God, you begin
to fear God. And faith is the gift of God. And so, without faith you can't
fear, or without fear you can't be wise, and none of that comes
unless God gives it to you. He gives it to you. Faith is the gift of God, the
fruit of His Spirit, and Christ is the author and finisher of
it. To walk in the ways of the Lord
is a very simple, simple thing. Fear, not so much. I'm still learning what it is
to fear Him, aren't you? He teaches us things in in natural
lessons like that in our relationships as fathers and children and husband
and wife and concerning the church and things like that. But we
still, that's just an earthly picture of a heavenly spiritual
truth and we'll spend our whole lives really, really understanding
it. But to walk in his ways is simply
to imitate him. You know what that is. I know
what it is to imitate somebody, to act like somebody. Listen to this passage of scripture. Ephesians 5, 1 and 2. Listen to it. Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also
hath loved us. and hath given himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." Walk in love as Christ loved. Be like Him. Imitate Him. In fact, the word followers,
in that passage, be ye therefore followers of God like dear children
would be of their father. and walk in love as Christ. The word followers there has
a two word definition. Often when you look up the Hebrew
and Greek definitions in the scripture, there's not only a
lengthy definition of the word, but there's also two or three
alternate definitions. This is a real simple one. There's
one definition and it's two words, an imitator. That's not complicated. None of it's complicated. We
just don't have the capacity to understand spiritual things
unless the Lord reveals them to us. He's gracious to do that.
An imitator. Be like Him. Be followers of
Him like children are of their father. And walk in love like
He did. As He loved us and gave Himself
for an offering. and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelling savor. Be ye an imitator of God. And the way you do that is to
be like Christ. Love as Christ loved. We are to imitate His love, His
kindness. All of this is scriptural now. We could turn to a verse of scripture
for every one of His kindness. His longsuffering, His mercy,
His forgiveness, His everything. The verse I just read in Ephesians
says to walk in love as, as, and listen to Ephesians 4, 32.
Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. You see what it means to
follow him, to walk after him, to walk in his fear. It's obedience, isn't it? Because
he tells us to do it. So it's obedience. It's also
admiration. Why'd you want to be like your
daddy? Because he was the world to you. He was your hero. You admired him. We want to be Him. He's amazing. He's wonderful. He's good. He
is all that is good. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
that is good. He's the fullness of the Godhead
in a body like mine. I want to be like Him by His
grace. I do. I think about this. I was sin. I was enmity against
God. And he became what I was, yet
without sin. He lived and died as me. He lived
for me as me, yet without sin. Hebrews 2.17. Wherefore in all
things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. To
be made like us. He died for my sins as me, as
the guilty one, as the one deserving of God's
wrath for my sins, my sin. So he lived and died as us. Now
we're to live as him. That's what this is, to live
as him. Paul said, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And that's how we're able to
follow him. to walk after Him, to walk in
His fear, in His love, to be an imitator. How are you going
to be an imitator of Him? He lives in you. He lives in not I but Christ
that liveth in me. This is how we're able even to
imitate Him because His Spirit dwelleth in us and the fruit
of His Spirit is all that He is. Love, faith, longsuffering,
Gentleness, kindness, that's Christ. And those who fear Him, they
do follow Him. There's a relationship between
the two, isn't there? The fear of the Lord is not just
a feeling. It is a way. It is a walk. Listen to Acts 9 31. Then had the churches rest throughout
all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified. They were built
up. They were strengthened. And walking in the fear of the
Lord and in the comfort of the Holy
Ghost were multiplied. Walking in the fear of the Lord. Our verse talks about fearing
and it talks about walking, doesn't it? They go together. Those who
fear Him, want to be like Him. As do your children. And it says,
doing that, they were multiplied. They were increased. They prospered
in the work that He had given them to do. That's the rest of
our psalm. Back to our psalm. Walking in
the fear of the Lord, they multiplied. They increased. They prospered
in what they did. Verse two, for thou shalt eat
the labor of thine hands. Happy shalt thou be, and it'll
be well with you. It shall be well with you. Think about this. Verse one now, says blessed is
everyone. That's like this. And God has
given faith, and fear, and wisdom. Blessed, you're blessed of the
Lord, for thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands. Hmm, you
know this world just thinks that you eat the labor of your hands
because you labored with your hands. Oh no, oh no. No, God's book
says that you eating of the labor of your hands is a blessing from
God. We labor, we do labor. The Lord
said in the beginning, didn't he? By the sweat of your brow,
you'll eat bread. You're going to eat, you're going
to labor one way or the other. Those that, you know, try not
to labor, they work harder trying not to work than they would have
if they just worked. You're not just going to come
to you, is it? Not going to happen. No, you're
not just going to walk around like they did in paradise and
just pick it off the trees like the Lord arranged for us before
we ever made it. He made a paradise and put us
in it. And we ain't in it right now. And of the sweat of your hand,
now but we're under his blessing. We're under His, we're not under
the law anymore, we're under grace if we're His. And He does
provide everything, so it's by the sweat of our brow, we're
still living in this world, we're still in this way, but the Lord's
blessing is upon His people. We do labor, we toil, and we
know that working, you know, wouldn't it be wonderful if working
just involved the physical exertion of getting the job done? There's
a whole lot more to it than that, isn't there? There's a lot of
grief and heartache and unfairness and oftentimes futility and frustration
that working in this world involves. And we do that with great determination
and endurance and effort. If you're going to do it at all,
you're going to have to suck it up, aren't you? And those that fear the Lord,
having done all that, they sit down at their dinner table, realizing
all that it took for that food to be there on the table. And
they say, thank you, Lord, for these good things from your hand,
not by the labor of my hands, from your gracious hand, from
the generosity of your hand. That's where it came from. We receive these good things.
And he gives good things, doesn't he? Good things. And the spiritual lesson of all of this is that
God giveth the increase. He sends forth laborers into
his field. He didn't say, you know, oh,
look at the harvest, you know, there's so much harvest and so
few laborers, you know, I believe I'll just do a miracle here. No, he said, you pray, you pray. That's the miracle. That God
would be gracious enough to hear our prayer and to answer our
prayer and to do something for us. For God Almighty to say to
wretches like a ask, in my name, I'll give it to you. That's a
miracle. But he says, pray ye the Lord
of the harvest. If something's going to be done
about it, the Lord of the harvest is going to have to do something
about it. But what's he going to do? He's going to send forth
laborers into his fields. That's the way he does it now. And Paul said this about that.
So then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth,
but God that giveth the increase. That's the spiritual lesson here.
The work of our hands. Are we truly the circumcision
that worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh? We understand then that the Lord
uses the work of our hands, but the work of our hands is a vanity
unless he blesses us. unless he gives the increase. And let me just say from experience,
from quite a few years of experience now, that working in his vineyard
is fine. It's fine. You know, this world, working
in this world is not fun and games. The world doesn't care
anything about you. Have you noticed that? It's not
going to treat you right. You're not going to get a fair
shake in this world. But those that labor in his vineyard always
receive what's right. You're not going to get it from
this world, but he'll give it to you. And by what's right, I don't
mean what you deserve. You receive, if you're his laborer,
you receive what he deserves, what Christ deserves. That's
what's right, because God has made it that way. He's made it
right for those in Christ to be rewarded for what the Savior
has done. And he says, there happy shalt
thou be, and it shall be well with you. You know, those who
have faith in the Lord and the fear of the Lord and the favor
of the Lord have the righteousness of the Lord. You're not going
to have God's favor unless you're righteous before Him. And there's
just one righteousness and it's His. The righteousness which
is not by the law, which is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ,
Romans chapter 3. Upon all them that believe. If they have the righteousness
of the Lord, and Isaiah 3.10 says, say ye to the righteous,
it shall be well. It shall be well with you. For
they shall eat of the fruit of their doings. Same message as
our text. It's going to be well with you.
You're going to do. But instead of the disaster that
it would be otherwise, the Lord is in spite of you, going to
prosper what you do. It's going to be well. Verse 3, thy wife shall be as
a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house, thy children
like olive plants round about thy table. It's the same thing
we saw in Psalm 127 recently. Last week I get the children
are the result of God's blessing. They're the symbol of fruitfulness
and prosperity from the Lord. Psalm 127 said, children are
an heritage of the Lord. They are the portion that the
Lord gives those he blesses. In that Psalm, God builds the
house. And your house is built, established,
blessed. And that's not measured by the
structure itself, but by what kind of a home it is. That's
what we saw in Psalm 127. And the joy and the productiveness
and the satisfaction that children represent are the blessing of
the Lord pictured here. Listen to what Job said in Job
42.12. He said this after all the Lord's dealings with him.
Some pretty harsh lessons learned on the ash heap. And he said
this, So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his
beginning. For he had fourteen thousand
sheep and six thousand camels and a thousand yoke of oxen and
a thousand she-asses It's nice to prosper in the things of this
world, in material things. You ought to know because every
one of us in here have prospered. We're rich, we're rich. I don't
know anybody that's not rich, do you? But the main reason for that
is, as a father, as a household leader, which is the picture
in Psalm 127, and here too, your children, your children now.
Talk about your children. Why do you want to prosper in
this world? Well, he had also seven sons and three daughters. What do you work for? Why do
you work? Strictly speaking, in material terms, in earthly
terms, as the leader of your household. He had seven sons and three daughters.
That's why it was good to have so many sheep, which was just,
that's just like saying money back then. That's what, that
was the prosperity with the livestock. They didn't have dollar bills,
they had livestock. And he called the name of the
first, Yamama, and the name of the second, Keziah, and the name
of the third, Karenhapak. Probably called her Karen. Karenhapak. And in all the land were no women
found so fair as the daughters of Job. And their father gave
them inheritance among their brethren. That's why he wanted
things to give to them. You see how the children are
a picture. But God's prospering us in every way. You remember how we saw when
we were in Psalm 127 how Paul talked to the churches and said,
You're my joy and my crown. You're my inheritance. You're
my portion from the Lord. You're the proof that God is
prospering this. That this is not just me banging
away. God's in this. God's doing something. God's building something. God's
giving increase. That's what it's all about. And after this Job lived 140
years and saw his sons and his sons' sons even four generations. That's what our text is talking
about. At the end there it says you'll see your children's children. That's just another way of saying
God is going to bless you in every way. In every way. When so Job died, being old and
full of days, four generations of grandchildren around him. Verse four in our text, behold,
that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. Now think about why does he say
this right in the middle of this psalm? He says, hold on a second.
Are you getting this? Behold. Have you seen this? Thus shall
the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. Behold now. Wisdom
cries in the streets, doesn't it? The fear of the Lord is taught
openly, not in a corner. Here you are hearing from God
tonight now. God is saying, wake up now, behold
now, look at this, attention. As sure as I'm preaching this,
some of them will go right back to doing what's right in their
own eyes, with no regard for the Lord, when they hear the
gospel. So he says, behold now, look
at what God does for those. They fear Him, which is the beginning
of wisdom. He prospers them. He blesses
them. It will be well with them, no
matter what. All things work together for
their good. It shall be well with them. Behold, thus shall
the man be blessed. that feareth the Lord. Everything
good is in his hand to give, and he gives it freely to every
one of his children. Do you not need him? I preach this to some. I don't
know what your heart is tonight. I have real good hope for most
of you, if not all of you here. And I know I preach this same
message to some, and they hear this, and the Lord says, Behold,
but they can't see. They can't see. And I see that
they can't see. Don't you need Him? Don't you
fear Him? Thus knocked out fear God. Will you not hear Him? Look at
how blessed is the man who fears Him. Those that fear the Lord are
blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
That's what it is for it to be well with you. It's to be righteous,
which is to be in Christ, which is to have every good thing that
God has. Every good thing that God has.
The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion, verse 5, and thou shalt
see the good of Jerusalem, the good of the city of peace, all
the days of thy life, the good that he bestows upon his people,
his city, his kingdom, his church. You're going to see that. Do
you see that? Do you see how blessed his church is in every
place? His people in this world, in spite of the horrors of this
world, how blessed we are. How richly blessed. Think about
who this is. The Lord shall bless thee. The
Lord shall bless thee. Think about who it is. This is
the one that said in Malachi 3.10, I will open the windows
of heaven, and I will pour out a blessing upon you, that there
shall not be room enough to receive. No wonder Jacob said, I have
everything. I have everything. Esau said,
I have enough. And Jacob said, I have everything. You know, the rich man that said,
you know, I've got my barns, and I'm going to have to tear
them down and build bigger parts of it. My barns aren't big enough
to hold all my goods, you know. He had no idea what it is to
not even have a place to put the blessing that God can pour
out. There won't be room enough to
receive it. And that passage there in Malachi 3.10 is talking
about you giving God what you owe Him. It's talking about stop
robbing Him in tithes and offerings. You restore what you've been
robbing God of. Talking about you pleasing God,
and He'll bless you. Do you know how you please God? How you give God what you owe
Him? In and by the Lord Jesus Christ. We've got nothing to pay now.
We're that parable. We're the one that when they
had nothing to pay, He frankly forgave them both. You know how
God's able to frankly forgive a sinner? In Christ. Christ pleases God. Christ renders
to God what is due unto Him. And by grace through faith you
are in Him and you receive the blessing that He earns and you
won't have room to receive it. God just keep pouring it out. And do you know what the blessing
is? Also Christ. Verse 6. Yea, thou shalt see
thy children's children and peace upon Israel. You will see God's
blessing. God's blessing. That's what the
children are. It's his blessing of you, his prospering of you,
his building of your house for you. Your children's children. You remember what God said to
Abraham? In blessing I will bless you. and your children shall be as
the sands of the seashore and as the stars of heaven. Your
children, you will see the pleasure of the Lord prosper in his hand. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in the hand of Christ. In other words, what God is pleased
to do, Christ does. And bless God, what he's pleased
to do is save a wretch like me and pour out his blessing upon
me in spite of me. Behold. Behold. And you'll see peace. What does
peace look like? Well, peace is made by blood. And having made peace, through the blood of His cross
by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say,
whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. And you,
and you, and you, and you that were at one time
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled. Are you in on that? He didn't
just make peace by the blood of His cross. He made it for
you. He said, this is my body that I broke for you. This is
my blood that I shed for you. And the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Do you see that? It says you'll
see peace. You'll see peace upon Israel,
peace upon his people, peace made for you by his precious
blood. Have you experienced that? This
is my desire for all of us. This is my desire for you. Paul
said, as ambassadors of Christ, as though God did beseech you
by us. What do we say? Be at peace. Be reconciled to God by Christ.
For He made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Be at peace. Be reconciled. That's what the
King's messengers say. That's why I preach to you. That's
why I preach to you. And I say to you, as Paul said
in Philippians 4, 6, be careful for nothing. Don't be anxious.
Don't be worried. Don't fret. But in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Did you hear what he just said?
If you quit worrying, and lift up your hand to Him, you'll have
peace. You'll have the peace of God,
which nobody understands, even those that have it. And it's all through Christ Jesus.
Let's pray.