Glad to have Donnie and Shirley
here, and Donnie's gonna be preaching for us tonight, and somebody
says, why isn't he preaching this morning? He said he didn't
want to, so that's why. Verse one. And it came to pass after many
days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year,
saying, Go show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon
the earth. And Elijah went to show himself
unto Ahab, and there was a sore famine in Samaria. And Ahab called
Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. Now Obadiah feared
the Lord greatly. Now, what higher commendation
can there be of a man than that? He feared the Lord greatly. Quite often when people speak
of a believer they want to commend, they talk about, boy, they really
love the Lord. Well, I dare say this is a much better description.
He feared the Lord greatly. For it was so when Jezebel cut
off the prophets of the Lord that Obadiah took a hundred prophets
and hid them by fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water. going to the land and to all
the fountains of water and to all brooks, per adventure we
may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose
not all the beasts. I think that's interesting. There
were people who were dying of thirst and he was more interested
in preserving the beasts than he were his people. This is the
type of man he was. So they divided the land between
them to pass throughout and Ahab went one way by himself and Obadiah
went another way by himself. And as Obadiah was in the way,
behold, Elijah met him. And he knew him. And he fell
on his face and said, Art thou my Lord Elijah? And he answered
him, I am. Go tell thy Lord, behold, Elijah
is here. And he, Obadiah, said, What have
I seen that thou wouldst deliver thy servant into the hand of
Ahab to slay me? As the Lord thy God liveth, there's
no nation or kingdom, whether my Lord hath not sent to seek
thee. And when they said he's not here, he took an oath of
the kingdom and nation, and they found thee not. And now thou
say'st, go tell thy Lord, behold, Elijah's here, and is to come
to pass as soon as I'm gone from thee, that the Spirit of the
Lord shall carry thee with her. I know not. And so when I come
and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me.
But I thy servant fear the Lord. from my youth. Was it not told
my Lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord?
How I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifty in a
cave and fed them with bread and water? Now you think about
what a difficult enterprise that would have been. And now thou
sayest, Go tell thy Lord, Behold, Elijah's here, and he shall slay
me. And Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I
stand, I will surely show myself unto him today. So Obadiah went
to meet Ahab and told him and Ahab went to meet Elijah. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in the high and holy name of thy son. And Lord, we ask in
his name that we might have your presence and your blessing, that
you would speak powerfully to us from your word and that we
might be enabled to hear the gospel and the power of your
spirit, that we might be enabled to see something of the glory
of thy son and teach us what it is to rest completely in him. And Lord, that we might be just
as this man is, that we might be men and women who fear Thee
greatly. Lord, we confess our sins. Forgive
us and cleanse us for the Lord's sake. May we be found in Him, be with
all your people wherever they meet together. In Christ's name
we pray, amen. Three and a half years have passed. with no rain. You'll remember
Elijah said, it's not going to rain until I say it will. And
it hadn't rained. And Elijah has been in hiding
for three and a half years. Ahab wanted to slay him, but
he's been in hiding. And now the Lord says, go show
yourself to Ahab. I am sending rain. And this is the introduction
to one of the most thrilling passages of scripture in all
the word of God, when Elijah stands before those 850 prophets. And you remember the story where
he says, the God that answers by fire, he's God. I can't wait
to get into that. And we're gonna spend several
weeks in that story, but right now we're going to consider Obadiah,
and he is commended by the Holy Spirit as one who feared the
Lord greatly." What a commendation. Interestingly,
I read several commentaries on this passage of Scripture and
they didn't speak of him highly. Why was he with Ahab in the first
place? Daniel was with those five different
kings in Babylon and served them, and he served the Lord. Joseph
was under the Pharaoh, but he always served the Lord. The Lord in his providence had
gifted these men to do whatever it was they were doing, and I
have no doubt the Lord in his providence had gifted Obadiah. He was the governor over all
of Ahab's house. He was a chief key servant. to him, and he was good at what
he did. But he served the Lord. And you read what great danger
he put himself into when he hid the Lord's prophets, a hundred
of them in a cave, because Jezebel was out to kill every one of
them. And we're going to consider Jezebel specifically next week.
But she was going to kill all of these prophets, and he hid
a hundred of them in a cave. And I don't know of anything
more commendable than He feared the Lord greatly. Verse three,
and Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house.
He was in control of Ahab's house. He was the steward. Now Obadiah
feared the Lord greatly. Verse 12, and it shall come to
pass as soon as I'm gone from thee that the spirit of the Lord
shall carry thee, whether I know not. And so when I come and tell
Ahab and he can't find me, he'll slay me. But I, thy servant,
fear the Lord from my youth. Now, what is the fear of the
Lord? We know it's called in the scripture,
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning. What is the fear of the Lord? Now there are kinds of fear that
are bad. The fear of mistrust. The fear
of unbelief. The fear of man that bringeth
a snare, where you're more concerned about what men think than you
are what God thinks. Those are not good kinds of fear. What is the fear of God? Well,
we know it's the beginning of wisdom, but here is what the
fear of God is essentially. It's knowing him. It's that simple. It's knowing him. It's knowing
something of his character. It's a product of knowing God. You know he's holy. And every one of us that are
believers know we know very little about that concept. He's other. He's altogether different. And
we're afraid of him. He's absolutely just. He's altogether
righteous. He's utterly independent. He
has no needs. He's sovereign. That means He
controls everybody and everything all the time. He's merciful. He's gracious. all of his glorious
attributes as they're revealed in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Everything God is pleased to make known about himself is
made known in the cross. And if you know him, you fear
him. If you do not fear him, it's
because you have no idea as to who he is. Now the only evidence that you
possess this holy fear of the Lord. Listen to me real carefully. The only evidence that you personally,
or I personally, possess this holy fear of the Lord is that
we're afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone. That's the fear of God. And if
I can look anywhere but Christ, I have no respect, no reverence,
no awe of his person. The fear of God makes you look
at Christ as all you have. You don't plead anything else
before God. You don't plead your works, your
anything. Christ is all you have. He's
all you want. Your cry is, oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in him. I don't want God to look at me
in any way independent of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the
fear of God. Now, the fear of God comes from
the new nature. This is not something found in
the natural man. The fear of God comes from the new nature,
and it's the same fear, listen to this, it's the same fear that
Christ had of his father. Now he's equal to God, amen? He's equal to God, he's the father's
equal. But you know what's said of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Hebrews 5, 7 says, he was heard in that
he feared. He feared his father. Not the fear of mistrust, not
the fear of unbelief, but the fear of all reverence and respect. He who is equal with the father,
feared God. Now, no natural man has this
fear. As a matter of fact, the scripture
says there's no fear of God before their eyes. Romans chapter three,
it's a quotation from Psalm 36. There's no fear of God before
their eyes, because they don't know him. If you know him, you
will fear him. The fear of awe, the fear of
reverence, the fear of respect. Now, the reason men are not afraid
of sin is because they're not afraid of God. If you fear God,
you will fear sin. That's part of it. The fear of
God. Now, this fear is caused by eternal
mercy. If you fear God, you are the
subject of eternal mercy. Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, what's the scripture say? Psalm 103 verse 17, you can look
this up, I'm just gonna quote it. The mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting on them that fear him. Now, if you're somebody who fears
God, that means you are the subject of eternal, everlasting mercy. That means God had mercy on you
before the foundation of the world. That means you've always
been in God's mind and God's heart. You've always been a person
before God who fears him. From everlasting, to everlasting. The fear of God is caused by
eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are the people
who know him. Those that he has had everlasting
mercy on. Think of this, if you have this
fear of God that makes you afraid to look anywhere, but Christ,
he's all you have. You wouldn't plead anything else.
All you have is his righteousness. All you have is his mercy. That
means you have been eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And this fear comes from seeing
his person. And what do I mean by that? Well,
I love it. You remember when the disciples, it says after
they saw him, the rain and the winds were coming down on the
sea, there was a big storm, and he said, peace, be still, and
immediately there was a great calm, and the scripture says,
they feared exceedingly, saying, what manner of man is this, that
even the winds and the sea do obey him? Now when you see who
he is, you'll be afraid. That's the
fear of God that is the beginning of wisdom. I think of Moses before
the bush and he heard the Lord speak, I am that I am. And the scripture says regarding
Moses, he hid his face because he was afraid. He was afraid. Psalm, turn with me, I want you
to look at this, Isaiah 66. Now I can tell if somebody has
the fear of the Lord by their attitude towards the word of
God. This is what demonstrates a true
fear of the Lord. Look at Isaiah chapter 66, thus
saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my
footstool, where is the house that you build unto me? Where's
the place of my rest? What can you do for me? For all these things hath mine
hand made, and all those things hath been, saith the Lord, but
to this man will I look, even to him that is poor. He really doesn't believe he
has anything that he can recommend himself to God with. He's poor. He's of a contrite, fearing spirit. And he trembleth at my word. And that's the man who fears
God, the man who has this great respect for the word of God. Psalm 33 verse 18 says, the eyes
of the Lord, or the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him. And they're described thusly
in the next phrase, that hope in his mercy. Can we tell you somebody who
fears God, who hopes only in his sovereign mercy? That's their only hope. And you
find me somebody that hopes only in mercy, I'll show you somebody
that fears God. You show me somebody that hopes
in their works, who hopes in their experience, who hopes about
something that happened to them in the past, some experience,
or something they think is gonna happen in the future, that's
works, that's all it is. No fear of God. No respect, no
reverence, no awe of his person. But somebody who fears God is
someone who only hopes in his mercy. Listen to this scripture. Psalm 130, verse four. There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. You know when you're gonna fear
God? When you learn something about
the forgiveness of sins, when you see when he forgives, at the beginning, not at the
end, not after you do something, salvation begins with a complete
forgiveness of sins. When you see why he forgives,
for Christ's sake, When you see how he forgives, he took the
blood of his blessed son. The death of his son is the only
way sins can be forgiven. You ever see that? You'll fear.
There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Turn
with me for a moment to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter three. Verse 14, I want you to see this
because this is not something we quote all the time. Ecclesiastes 3, verse 14, the
wise man says, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nothing
can be added to it, nor anything taken from it, and God doeth
it that men should fear before him. Now, if you ever see, if
I ever see the completeness of Christ's saving work, how that
nothing can be added to it, you wouldn't dare add anything to
it. You know that that would mar
it if your fingerprints are on it and nothing can be taken from
it. There's nothing you can do to
mess it up. It's altogether complete. You are complete in Him. Nothing
can be added to that. Nothing can be taken from it.
You will fear before Him. You'll fear. You see, you wouldn't
dare try to add something to what He did. And you wouldn't
dare try to take something from it. You need it all. And seeing
the completeness of His salvation makes men fear before Him. I like this, Proverbs 15, 33,
the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honor is
humility. Now here's something that always
goes together, the fear of the Lord and humility. Where there is no humility, there
is no fear of God. Now what is humility? Humility
is a just estimate of yourself. Take inventory. Take inventory. Before Him, all I am is sin. That's a just estimate of myself.
A sinner saved by grace. You know, when you're truly humble,
you can't judge somebody else for anything they do. You're
not in the position to judge, you're a sinner, that's it. Where there's the true fear of
God, there will be this true humility before the Lord. Turn with me to this scripture,
Jeremiah chapter 32. This is another one we don't
look at so often, so I want you to read this with me. Jeremiah
chapter 32. The way the Lord causes somebody
to persevere in the faith is through fear. And like I said,
this is not some kind of slavish fear. The fear you get sick or
something bad happens and you think, what's the Lord punishing
me for? That's evil to think that way. It really is. It's just so disheartening. I
do it, I still do it. I don't know what. You know,
that's not the fear of the Lord. That's the fear of mistrust.
That's the fear of unbelief. When I'm talking about the fear
of the Lord, I'm talking about that same fear that the Lord Jesus had
for his father when he was hurting, that he feared this respect,
this all of his person. Now look here in verse 39 of
Jeremiah chapter 32. And I will give them one heart. and one way that they may fear
me forever. For the good of them and of their
children after them, and I will make an everlasting covenant
with them that I will not turn away from them. That's a promise
to do them good. But I will put my fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from me." What is it that causes
a believer to not depart? They're afraid to. They're afraid
to. I'm afraid of being anywhere
but in Christ. That is the fear of the Lord. In Joshua chapter 24 verse 14,
Joshua said, fear the Lord and serve him with sincerity and
truth and put away the gods your father served. Now here is the
fear of the Lord. First, it's sincere. It's not
phony religious put on. It's sincere. It's according
to the truth of the gospel. That's what has produced that
fear. You find out who God is. You find out his attributes,
his characteristics, the way he saves. You find out who he
is. And there's no fear of God without the truth of the gospel.
Someone who doesn't believe the gospel of God's grace has no
fear of God. He said, serve the Lord in sincerity
and in truth and put away the strange gods. You know, one thing
the fear of God is, is intolerant of gods that are not the God
of the Bible. They're intolerant of man-made gods. Don't have
anything for them. Put away those strange gods. Psalm 19.9 says the fear of the
Lord is clean. I love that. It's the only thing
that is clean. The fear of the Lord is clean. Anything else is unclean. Anything
else is spoiled and defiled. But the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. It will endure forever. Turn
to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Now, when you read the book of
Ecclesiastes, I think it's best to keep this
in mind. This is why the wise man wrote
everything in here. There's a lot in Ecclesiastes.
I love that book, but keep this in mind. This is the purpose
behind Ecclesiastes. Verse 13, let us hear the conclusion
of the whole matter. Here's the conclusion. Fear God
and keep his commandments, which means believe the gospel. This is his commandment that
we should believe on the name of his son and love one another
as he gave his commandment. Now, here's the conclusion of
the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments. This is
the whole duty. of man. David said in Psalm 86 verse
11, and this was a prayer to his father, he said, unite my
heart to fear thy name. Lord, unite my heart to fear
thy name. Now, I wanna love him. And you
know, I'm always asking, Lord, Lord, cause me to love you more
because my love's not anywhere what it ought to be, and neither
is yours, and you know that. I don't have to convince you
of that. But here's the chief thing. And
you know, if you fear him, you do love him. But still, wouldn't
you love to be like Obadiah? somebody who feared the Lord
greatly. And he demonstrated that when
he hid those prophets in the cave. Jezebel was getting ready
to get rid of all of them. Like I said, next week, we'll
get into Jezebel.