Okay, go back with me to Isaiah
8. Thank you, Jeanette and Gabe. Isaiah chapter 8. Read again
with me verses 12 and 13. The Lord says, Say ye not a confederacy
to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy? Neither
fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. Let him be your fear. Let him
be your dread." I don't think we could hear a more important
message, a more relevant message in these last days. I am convinced
we are in the very last of the last days. Our Lord says to His
people, don't be afraid of what they, speaking of the world and
even religion, is afraid of. Don't fear what they fear. You
fear the Lord. Let Him be your fear. And if
He is, then you really have nothing to fear. So, I don't think we
could hear a more important or more relevant message In this
day, people are so fearful of so many things, everything but
God. The thing that characterizes
the people of this world is no fear of God before their eyes. Right? David wrote that in Psalm
36. He said the transgression of
the wicked, what men do, what they're doing and the way they
use God's name and so forth, says within my heart, there's
no fear of God before their eyes. That is what characterizes unbelievers. And religion. Like Israel, about what they
were doing. All the idolatry. It says very plainly, they don't
fear God. They don't fear God. They fear
many things, but not God. But the thing that characterizes
God's people, number one, more than anything else, the ear of
the Lord. You read about Job, didn't you?
What did our Lord say about Job? He feareth God, and is true of
evil. By the fear of the Lord, men
depart from evil. So, this is what separates saints from the
world. This is what separates the true
from the false. This is what separates the true
people of God from those who claim to be. Fear the Lord. And if we can find out in this
message if we fear the Lord, And as we said, we have nothing
to fear. Nothing to fear. The Lord, in
verse 11, spake thus to me, Isaiah said, with a strong hand. We need Him to speak thus to
us with a strong hand. You see the picture here, like
a father would take his son and lay his big, strong hand on his
shoulder. of his small son and say, Now,
son, you listen to me. This is what the Father teaches
his children. And that's what our Lord said.
They shall all be taught of God. The same thing, the same truth
and the same lessons. We learn the same truth from
God's word, from God's mouth, from our Heavenly Father. We
learn the same lessons in life. And this is his doing. He sends
these trials and tribulations from which we learn. Here's what
the Lord said in verse 11. He spake thus to me with a strong
hand, that is, with a warning and in faithful guidance. He
put his hand on him and said, I'm going to lead you. I'm going
to steer you right. Now, you listen to me, son. And
he instructed me, first of all, That I should not walk in the
way of this people. That I should not walk in the
way of this people. And verse 11, he says, don't
say with them. When they say a confederacy,
that is, we're all joined together. Everybody's together, united.
Are you with us? That's what this confederacy
means. To be joined together for a cause. United in a cause. And the dictionary
says it's usually in a bad way, a bad cause. But the Lord says,
don't join with them. When they say, join, are you
with us? Say, no, I'm not. That's not
the question. Remember what Moses asked? The question of questions was
not, is the Lord on our side? That's not the question, is it?
What is it? who is on the Lord's side, who is in it for His glory
and His honor, not who is on our side. Alright, he says, don't
walk in the way of this people. What is the way of this people?
Go back to chapter 1. Go back there and let's see if
this doesn't sound like all men and women by nature You know these verses. And Isaiah
in verse 1, it says he went through, let's see, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz,
Hezekiah, and Manasseh. Manasseh had Isaiah torn asunder,
killed him. So he went through Uzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh. Kings. How many have some of
you been through? I counted one day in my lifetime. The president, when I was born,
I think, was Ike Dwight Eisenhower. How many have there been? I forget
how many. A bunch of them. A bunch of them. And it has progressively
gotten worse, hasn't it? This nation has progressively
gotten worse. was the worst of the worst. And
because of Manasseh, the Lord said, that's it. I'm done with
them. Right? If you've read the history
of Israel. And look at verses 2 and 3. The Lord said, Hear this, I've
nourished the children. They've rebelled against me.
The ox knows his owner. The ass his master's crib. But
Israel doth not know my people. They're supposed to be my people. The people of God. They don't
even consider it. God's not in their thoughts.
Verse 4, he says, a sinful people, laden with iniquity. Verse 6
says, from the sole of the foot to the top of the head, no soundness.
There's no soundness. Sick. We saw that recently. We live in our society is sick,
isn't it? It's sick. Some of you that are
up in years now, Can you believe what you're beholding in public
now? It's a reprobate society. United
States of America. I'm glad a few of our young people
are here tonight to hear this. He said down in verse 9, except
the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should
have been as Sodom and should have been as Gomorrah. The Lord
should have been done with this nation a long time ago, shouldn't
He? A long time. But the Lord has
a remnant, a people, a true people of Him. He's not left Himself
without a witness in His generation. He's not left Himself without
a people. Even in the dark ages, back a
thousand years of darkness, I've been reading that, God had a
people, small in number, but He had a people. They were the salt of the earth.
He preserved this world, waiting, and then poured out His Spirit
for a while. But look down at verse... The Lord is so merciful. Even
though this nation is turned into like Sodom and Gomorrah,
Yet God in mercy, look at verse 16, He says, wash you, make you
clean, put away the evil. Put away the evil doing before
mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Come now, He
said, learn to do well. Come now, verse 18, let us reason
together, though your sins be as scarlet as white as snow. What a merciful God. It doesn't
matter how wicked. And some of you that read about
Manasseh, God was even merciful to him.
I don't think it was a saved man,
but he finally came to realize, what have I done? What have I
done to this nation? And he briefly repented, God
being so merciful, so gracious. He said this over and over, let
the unrighteous forsake his, the evil man forsake his evil
way, and how abundantly, pardon me, come now, let's reason together.
How are our sins going to be? Are they going to be as scarlet
as white as snow, John? One way. The Lord Jesus Christ
washed in the blood. And the Lord, and this description,
such were some of you. Me, right? We were all walked
according to the course of this world. Captive to the prince
of the power of the air. Children of disobedience. Even
as others. Children that walked in darkness.
Even as others. But God, rich in mercy, reasoned with us. Did more than that. Gave life. Revealed Himself to us. Brought
us to see ourselves. Like Isaiah in chapter 6. Isaiah. Who's going to fear the Lord?
Who's going to know the Lord? The one that the Lord reveals
himself to. The one that the Lord comes to
and says, I'm your God. I've chosen you to know me. And
Isaiah saw the Lord, didn't he, in Isaiah chapter 6. And all
the woe he pronounced here and throughout, of course, several
chapters. It's true. Woe, woe, woe, woe,
woe. And then when he saw the Lord,
what did he say? Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a sinner. I'm
a man of unclean lips, dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. But the Lord in mercy got a coal, and this is not my text,
but how can I pass this up? A coal from the altar, the gospel,
and laid it on his lips and says, you're iniquitous, perjured,
your sins are taken away. And Isaiah said, well, let me
go tell everybody about it. Let me tell everybody what you've
done for me. He said, go. But he said, they won't hear
you. They're not going to hear you. And I'm going to blind their
eyes and stop their ears. And then I'm going to move you. Well, look at chapter 2. Now,
he called Israel Sodom. Didn't he? Sodom. This nation used to be called
one nation under God, didn't it? It's one nation under God's
wrath, that's what it is now. Indivisible with liberty. What
they mean by that now is liberty to sin, license to sin. And justice? For some, not all. He called
them Sodom. Look at verse, it's amazing how
relevant, verse 7 and 8 of chapter 2, the land is full of silver
and gold, full of horses and chariots. Verse 8, the land is
full of idols. But he said in verse 10, enter
into the rock, hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord, the
glory of His majesty, because the lofty lips of man are going
to be bowed down, aren't they, going to be humbled. What describes
our day? No fear of God. And when there's
no fear of God, not thankful, No glory for God,
it's vainglory. And look at me, look what I am,
look what I've done. And our Lord said, the lofty
looks are coming down, coming down. Look at chapter 3. I wish
all of our young ladies were here to read this with us. And
verse 16 says, the daughters of Zion are haughty. walk with
stretched forth necks and wanton eye." In other words, strutting
their stuff. Look at us. The Lord said, I'm
going to bring you down. Bring you down. My, my. Chapter 3 and verse 9, it says,
"...the show of their countenance doth witness against them. They
declare their sin as Sodom. They hide it not." Woe unto their soul! They're
going to reap what they've sown. They've rewarded evil unto themselves. Amen. But the Lord mercifully lays
his hand on some of these sorry sons of Adam and says, don't
walk in their ways. Don't do it. Don't walk. in their ways. Don't talk like
they talk. Don't think like they think.
Don't act like they act. Don't dress like they dress.
Be not conformed to this world, but rather transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Come out from among them and
be you separate. And I'll be your God and you'll
be my son. And God has to do that, doesn't
He? He has to lay His hand on us and say, do you see what you're
doing? You're going the way of all flesh.
Turn. He has to turn us or we'll not
be turned. Turn us. Turn us. We know that
it's of the Lord, isn't it? It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. The way of this world is the
opposite of God's way. The way of this world is the
opposite of God's way. He said that in the very beginning, before
he destroyed the earth by flood, and as in the days of Noah, so
will it be in the coming of the Son of Man. He said he looked
upon all the earth, he said the whole earth had corrupted his
way. His way. Everything that God
said, this is the way, walk in it. They're 180 degrees opposite. Completely turn around. Isaiah
59. Judgment is turned backward.
This is the way. In a chapter, look at verse,
chapter 5. Go over there. Chapter 5. Is
this not now? Verse 20. Woe unto them that
call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light,
light for darkness, bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. corrupted God's way in. You say you're preaching a message
of doom. Yes, upon this world, but a message of salvation of
His people whom God, like Israel of old, saved out of Egypt. Out of Egypt. He said, I've come
to bring, come down to bring you out, to bring you up. The
way of this world is 180 degrees opposite from God's way, the
way of religion. Didn't our Lord say, wide is
the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction? And
many go there. That's the Confederacy. Everybody,
join with us. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't
do it. Like Israel of old, it said that
they feared the Lord and Worship their idols. You can't do both. You can't
do that. You can't mix idolatry with the
worship of God. You can't do it. That's what
we've got today. Don't join with them in any of
their causes. And, you know, we never have,
by God's grace, and never will, and the world can't understand
it. why this church will not unite with other so-called churches
in our community and all over and join with them in their various
causes. I'll tell you why. Their cause is not our cause.
The world is in it for itself. Religion is in it for itself. For numbers, for money, for its
own glory and honor, its own name. What is our cause? Do you remember when Israel,
God's people, were faced with Goliath, who was taunting God? Like Sennacherib, the Assyrian
king you read about in 2 Chronicles the other day, said, your God
is no different than the other God. He was taunting God. And
David, a man after God's own heart, that means he had God's
glory, God's honor, God's name, the fear of the Lord in his heart
and his mind, and he came running, and though nobody stood with
him, he said, is there not a cause? What was it, David? The cause
of God and truth. The cause of God's glory. The
cause of God's name. This fellow is defying God. This
fellow is mocking our God. And this giant called religion
today is mocking our God, is it not? This is the truth. This is the truth. It's never
been worse. Never been worse. Don't join
with them. Not about to. What harm could
it be? A little of it. Don't join with
them. Our cause is not their cause.
Our rock's not their rock. Our God, we have a different
God. A different gospel. Another gospel. Our gospel is
the gospel of God's glory. God's Son. His glory. His honor. His namesake. We're in it for His namesake,
by the grace of God. Now look at this. Here's what
I want to dwell on. for our comfort and our admonition and our instruction. He said, don't join with them
in a confederacy, neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Don't fear their fear, nor be
afraid. Now, there are three kinds of
fear. There's natural fear. We're born with it. There is
a sinful fear, which is unbelief, and there's a godly fear, good
fear, fear of God. It's natural fear. Because of
sin, when sin entered into this world, fear came with it. Fear of many things came because
of sin. Before sin, there was no fear.
Adam and Eve had nothing to fear. When sin came in, though, the
first thing it says is that Adam and Eve were afraid. Remember that? They were afraid.
They said, Adam, where are you? He said, I was afraid. Afraid. And all of these fears, we're
born with these fears. We fear danger. Some of this
is self-preservation. God gives us fear for self-preservation
to flee danger. like the animals, but we were
born with the fear of danger, fear of the adversary, we have
predators, we have adversaries after us. We fear darkness, that
is the unknown, what we can't see, we fear. We fear pain, we
don't want to go through pain or suffering. The greatest fear
of all, all our lifetime we're subject to this fear, death. Sin came in and death by sin. And the one thing that we fear
the most is death. And the one thing, the one fear
that we need that we don't have and we're not born with is the
fear of God. We don't have that. We fear everything
and everyone but God. But God. And as we grow older,
this is natural fear, as we grow older and wiser and learn some
lessons, we learn that some things we need not fear. You know, we
grow older and we're not so much afraid of the dark. Or we may
be. Fake it. For our children's sake. But we're not afraid so much
of these things as we grow a little older. But these are natural
fears. And all of this came in with sin. Okay, natural fear.
It's a blessed thought. I read John Flavel. He said,
what a blessed thought. All the saints in glory are free
from fear. No fear. They're totally out
of harm's way. Totally, completely out of reach
of danger. There is no danger, there are
no adversaries, there are no enemies, there's no darkness,
no evil, no predators, nothing unknown, they know as they've
been known, no pain, no death. What a blessed town. Free from
fear. Free from fear. And they all
feared God. That's why they're in glory.
Then there's this second fear, a sinful fear, and it's unbelief.
And natural men have it, and believers have this. Unbelief. In spite of God's clear
power and Godhead, Romans 1 says, His eternal power and Godhead
is clearly seen. They're without excuse. All men
and women and young people can clearly see somebody powerful
is in control of all this. Someone we should fear. But in
spite of that, yet men don't fear God. They don't call upon
the One in whose hands their breath is and all their ways. of whom in Psalm 2, you know
that Psalm well, don't you? It says that when we need to
fear the Lord, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling,
kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish from the way when
his wrath is kindled just a little. And several of you, I heard,
say that very thing when we just recently saw just a little glimpse
of God's, the blast of his nostril. Just, you know, just a blast
of his nostril. That's what the scripture's talking
about. We saw what devastation he can
make in the earth. Just a little bit. And he keeps
sending these things. Like Egypt, you remember when
the Lord sent all those plagues, devastation. Egypt never, they
never did call on God. And Romans 1 says, the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth. And there's the next thing. God
has spoken His Word so clearly throughout every generation that
without excuse, so were we. So were we. The Word of God has
been heard, been read, been preached, been declared. You read through
the prophets and you'll hear where it says, He sent the prophets,
rising up early. He kept sending them, rising
up early, kept sending them. Would they hear? Would the people
hear? No. Stephen said, which of the prophets have not your
fathers killed? And then that prophet came, the
Son of God. I'm here. God's here. Did they
hear Him? I don't believe Him. God is so
merciful. God is so gracious. God is so
good. His tender mercy says, listen
now, come now, let's reason together. Look at this. I'm angry. Now listen to me. Here's the
way. Here's the truth. Here's the
life. He says, why will you die? Doesn't
he? In mercy. Why will you die? You
don't have to die. Come now. Will they come? Our Lord said, you will not come.
So what's he got to do? I've got to reach down and pull
you in. Thank God for election. Thank
God for sovereignty. Thank God He gave commandment.
Almighty love. Arrest that man. He ain't coming. So bring Him. Compelling to come
in. God's so good. But He gives warning
and warning and warning and judgment and judgment and judgment. And
the Word is preached. The Word keeps being preached.
The door of the ark is open. The door of the ark is open.
Still open and there's still mercy. We preach there's mercy
for anybody that wants it. Come on. Come one, come all. But we don't preach this God
who loves everybody. No, no, no. Well, here's the sad thing. This is
unbelief. The sad thing is, we as believers
often In spite of the clearest signs that God is for us. Like Israel of old, you know.
All the plagues hit Egypt, but Israel was fine. But we still... Listen, did you
read the article by Brother Mahan in Sunday's bulletin? Too many
and too much? And I put it in there again,
not to fill up space, because it needs to be read over and
over again. He said, We have entirely too many fears for a
people to whom the Lord has said, Fear thou not. I am with thee. Be not dismayed. Oh, what are
we going to do? Wait on the Lord. I will strengthen thee, I will
uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah
41. He says, we have far too many doubts and fears concerning
God's mercy, God's love and grace for his people, to whom the Lord
has said, him that cometh to me I will no wise cast out. I
give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish." We
spend entirely too much time grumbling and complaining about
our trials and troubles for a people to whom the Lord has said, in
the world you shall have tribulation. Be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world. We have entirely too much attachment
to this world, this present life, for a people who's looking for
a city whose builder and maker is God. We have entirely too
much anxiety, care, and fear, far too much concern for earthly,
material things, for a people to whom the Lord has said, your
Father knows what things you have need of. Fear not. Don't fear their fear. Don't fear their fear. What do
the people fear? They don't fear their fear. They fear the elements. Who sends
the elements? Someone may call me a fool, but
I go outside when the wind starts blowing really strong. I want
to see it. I was in Florida one time, right
in the middle of that hurricane, one of the worst hurricanes they
had. We were down there, weren't we,
men? We rode it out. Our back door was moving. The glass door
was moving. It was fearful. But I walked out on the porch.
I had never seen a hurricane. We never had one here. I walked
out on the porch and trees were laying flat on the ground. It
was awesome. You know what I thought? Oh,
the mighty power of my God. The world is cursing God. I was
amazed at His power. Fear the elements. Fear God.
Fear the elements. Don't fear man. Don't fear man. I'll never forget when I first
read this in the book of Isaiah. He told Isaiah, he said, who
are you that you should be afraid of a man that shall die? And
the son of man is a worm. And not fear me. He said, why
would you fear man more than me? I do want you to turn to
Matthew 10. Our Lord said this in warning
and exhortation and admonition to His disciples and to us. Look
at Matthew 10. He said in verse 28, Verse 27, what I tell you in
darkness, speak ye in the light. What you hear in the ear, that
preach ye upon the housetop. And Brother Gabe, you and I,
we go preaching, and everybody's not going to like what we say. Well, Isaiah feared that, and
so did Jeremiah. They all feared that. Moses said,
they said, don't be afraid. Don't fear their faces. I need
to hear that. Speak it. I'm with you. The disciples
of old, he sent them before kings, before rulers, and their lives
were in danger. Not really. Not really. Never. Read on. Verse, fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather
fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Who
kills anyway? Who does the killing? Deuteronomy 32, 39, I kill. The Lord said, I make a life. I wound and I heal. Nobody can
touch us unless the Lord sends it. Is that right? That's right. Fear God. Don't fear man. Don't
fear man. He said in verse 29, are not
two sparrows sold for a farthing, half penny? One of a sparrow
won't fall to the ground without your father. That's hard to believe
in. It's true. The hairs of your
head, I can't grasp that, but I believe
it. Fear ye not, therefore, you're
of more value than many sparrows. Me? Yes, you. Well, I'm not worth
anything. Did Christ die for you? Did He
send His Son to die for you? And you're of infinite value
to the Father. You were worthless. You're worth
something now. And that won't be wasted on you. Don't fear
their fear. Don't fear man. Fear God. And
it is unbelief for us to fear men more than God. to ascribe
to men what is only ascribed to God. Man can't do anything. He can't do anything. Osama bin Laden. You know, those
three fellows that came into this country and bombed buildings
and all that? Arabs. Now, I wasn't there, and I'm
not making light of all the horror and all that. It's serious. It's
a time of great terror and fear, wasn't it? Yes, it was. Who sent them? Osama Bin Laden? There's a story. You remember
David and his men went to Ziklag to get back their wives and their
family that was stolen and all that? You remember that? And
there were 400 Arabs jumped on camels and started fleeing. And one of the men said, shall
we go after them? David said, no, it's just 400 men on camels.
What are they going to do? That's God's people. Don't be
afraid of men on camels. Come on, fear God. Fear God. Don't fear things. It is I. Fear not, he said. It is I. The disciples were in the midst
of that storm like they'd never seen before. Who did it? The
Lord writes in Psalm 107, He raises the stormy wind, the waves
crash. Who did that? It is I. Why did
He do that? To show them their absolute distrust
of Him. He was in the boat another time
to show them, look, you have nothing to fear. Go sleep. Fear not. He that keepeth Israel,
never sleep. It is I. And here in our text,
and I've got to quit, he says, sanctify the Lord of hosts, let
Him Himself. That means to set apart, let
it be established in your hearts and mind that Jesus Christ is
indeed Lord. He's not a figurehead. He's absolute
Lord, absolute sovereign controller over all things. of heaven, he
said, all authority. Christ said right before he went
back to glory, he told his disciples, he said, all authority is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. Now go. I'll be with you at the
ends of the earth. Authority over angels, devils,
men, elements, everything. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. The Lord of hosts, he's called.
Our God, and He's with us. David said that, didn't he? He
said, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies
and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled
and fell. Though one host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war arise against
me, in this will I be confident. The Lord is my salvation. Don't
fear their fear. Don't act like you don't believe
God. Don't be like them. They don't believe God. They
don't have a God that they can trust. Their God, you know, He's
a bystander. Their God's a bystander. He doesn't
want bad things to happen to Him in any way. Their rock is
not like our rock. We've got a firm foundation,
don't we? A rock solid. And He said back
in chapter 7, He said, if you don't believe, you won't be established.
Don't believe you won't be established. You'll be torn apart by everything
you see and hear. Don't fear their fear. Fear me. Now, what's that mean? Well, let me say this. If we
fear God, our greatest fears will be relieved. Our greatest fears will be relieved. Let me ask you a question. Could a great army come against
the United States of America? What were we talking about, Gabe?
China. You know, they have more foot
soldiers now than the United States. Many more. Many more. Their technology.
Is it equal to ours? We're buying everything they
make. China. A godless nation. So what would happen? It happened to Israel, didn't
it? Seneca and all of them came after
them, didn't they? What happened to his people?
Could our economy collapse? Could our economy completely
collapse to where we lose all of our earthly possessions? Could
it? Rome did. Rome corrupted from within and
just fell apart in a moral cesspool until German invaders just wiped
it out. The most powerful nation on earth.
Could it? Ask me later, and ask me what I think is going to happen. From the Scripture, I'll give
you my opinion for what it's worth. Could our economy collapse? Yeah. Could we lose all our possessions? Yes. Our homes, everything. What would we do? Has it ever happened to his people?
Yes, it has. Happened to Job, didn't it? I
was so glad you read that. You read Job chapter 1. What
did Job do? What did Job say? He didn't worship
God. He said, Make it I came for my
mother's womb, and make it I shall return. The Lord gave. The Lord
has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Why? He feared God. He feared God. Will we go hungry? No. Oh, no. We'll never be without
food or raiment. Never. David said, I've seen
it all. I've never seen God see forsaken
or made a victim. Not once. That's all we need. Could we lose our salvation?
No. No. Christ can't lose us. Trust Him. Believe Him. What is it to fear
God? It's to fear His Word. to tremble
at it. When you read God's Word, it
talks about sinners and sin and what God thinks about it. Does
it cause you to tremble? He says, that's me. The world doesn't
tremble. The world doesn't even believe
it. The world doesn't read it. Do you? To this man will I look.
He that is poor and of a contrite heart and tremble at my Word. Who fears God? They read God's
Word and they tremble. Oh, that's me. Woe is me. To
those that fear God, he says, they're not. To fear God is to fear sinning
against Him. And you dealt with this in Psalm
130. But to fear sinning against Him. By the fear of the Lord,
men depart from evil. Men don't fear God. They don't
fear sin. They run toward it. They don't
believe there is a God to answer to. They don't believe there's
any consequences for it. It's to fear His name. Unite
our hearts to fear Thy name, He said. The whole world is blaspheming
the name of God. Young and old. Who fears God? Who really fears
God? Let me hear how they mention
His name, and I'll tell you. Show me how they worship, and
I'll tell you. Show me who's getting the glory, and I'll tell
you. Show me who's worshiping God
in Christ. Show me who is coming to God
by the blood of the Lamb, and I'll show you who fears God.
When it says, let Him be your dread, what that means is you
don't want to face this holy God without the blood of the
Lamb. Men don't believe in a God like
that. I just don't believe in a God like that. He's not that
holy. He's a lot more holy than that.
He's a lot more holy than that, than we could imagine. A man's
not that bad. He's a whole lot worse than you
can possibly imagine. But I just don't think we're
under... Oh, it's this way. You fear God. Fear God, dread. It says in the next verse, he'll
be for a sanctuary. A sanctuary. Oh, my old dog used
to fear me because, you know, I trained him to fear me because
it was to save his life. I trained him to fear me to do
what I said to save his life, to keep him running from the
rest of the dogs that were going to be destroyed. that they wanted
to go was destruction. And I trained Him to come. I
trained Him to sit. I trained Him to heal. I trained
Him to follow me. I trained Him to lie down at
my feet. And He feared me. And every now
and then, He'd stray, and I'd chase Him severely. And He grew
to fear me. But buddy, whenever He did something
wrong, all He had to do Don't run from
me now. Don't run from me. Run to me. He would run to me with his tail,
little old stub between his legs and his ears down and his head
bowed down. What did I tell you? Fear not. No way. I wouldn't hurt you for
the world. Fear God. Let Him be your dread.
Don't fear man. Don't fear thing. Don't fear
germs. Men on camels? Let Him be your
dread. Trust Christ. He'll be your sanctuary. A stone of stumbling, a rock
with fence, but a sanctuary for His people. Okay. Stand with
me. Our Lord, we thank You for Your
Word that both rebukes us, reproves us, corrects us, and instructs
us. Oh, how we thank You for Your
Word that arrests us and puts our
feet in paths of righteousness for Thy great name's sake. Now
we thank You for Your Word that calls us out, that brings us
to You. Now we thank You. Blessed is
the man whom Thou choosest and causes us to approach unto Thee,
to fear You all his days, to call upon You, and Thou art a
refuge for all who fear Thee. Lord, cause us to grow in This
grace of fear to gift causes us to be merciful as thou art
merciful, fearing thee, gracious, forgiving as thou art forgiving,
lest we be not forgiven. Lord, this is the fear of the
Lord. In all these things, Lord, instruct us, we pray, in the
fear of the Lord. Let us teach our children. Let
us bring them up in the nurture, fear, admonition of the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for your son. It's in his name we pray. Amen.