Would you turn back to Luke chapter
12. Now this is an unusual command
when the Lord says, be not afraid of them that kill the body. If I see somebody running at
me with a weapon with the intention of killing me, I'm going to feel
some measure of apprehension. And yet the Lord says, fear not
them that kill the body. And after that, they have no
more that they can do. They have no ability to control
your eternal destiny. You know, this life is compared
in scripture to a vapor. that appears for a little while
and then it passes away. Fear him who after he is killed
has power to cast into hell. Those are the words of the Lord.
Don't fear that man that can only kill your body and after
that, that's all they can do. Fear that one who actually has
the power to cast you into hell eternally. that one in whose
hand your destiny is. Yea, fear him. Now the life we are living in
now really is brief. It really is. And then, eternity. Endless existence in heaven or
hell? Heaven is most real, the place
of the worship of God, the place where Christ is. Hell is most
real, the place where God meets out divine judgment against sin. Don't ever Forget the reality
of these two places. This is scripture. This isn't
just trying to scare people. These are the words of the Lord.
When he said, don't fear him that has power to kill your body. But after that, that's all he
can do. He can't have any power over your eternal destiny. Fear
him who, after he hath killed the body, hath power to cast
into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. I've entitled this message, The
Fear of God. Very little is said in our day
concerning the fear of God. It's certainly not the subject
of most of what goes on under the name of preaching, and that
is strange when you think about how much the scripture has to
say about the fear of God. Proverbs 1.7 says the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. You don't have any
knowledge of Him began right here. The fear of the Lord. And then we read in Proverbs
chapter 9 verse 10 where the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Now I want you to think about
that. True knowledge and true wisdom consists in the fear of
the Lord. Not only is the fear of the Lord
the beginning, it's also the end. The wise man called it here
the conclusion. of the whole matter, fear God,
and keep his commandments. This is the whole duty of man. This is where knowledge and wisdom
begins, and this is the conclusion of the whole matter, the fear
of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is worship.
David said, in thy fear will I worship. We read in the Psalms,
serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Hebrews chapter 12? Verse 28. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably. And here's what acceptable service
is by the grace of God with reverence and godly fear. The word reverence means caution
and apprehension. Holy and reverend is thy name.
I read last week about a preacher who was defrocked and he was
restored and he was all excited about it. And he said, I'm so
happy to be called reverend once again. I sure don't want anybody calling
me reverend. There's only one whose name is to be revered. Holy and reverend is thy name. He speaks of reverence and godly
fear. You know, instead of the Lord,
in Hebrews chapter 5, I can't remember what verse it was, you
can look it up, but it said, he was hurt in that he feared. The Lord Jesus Christ feared
and fears and always will fear his Father. The more you fear, the more you
love, and the more you love, the more you fear. The fear of
God is the beginning of wisdom. Without fear, faith turns to
presumption, love to an unbecoming familiarity, joy to without the fear of God. Now what is the fear of God?
As we've seen, the Bible has a whole lot to say about it.
It's where knowledge and wisdom begins. It's the conclusion of
the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments.
What is the fear of God? Now there are a lot of different
types of fear that are not the fear of God. You know, we read
of the fear of man in our text, where he says, don't fear him
that's able to kill the body, but after that, that's all he
can do. The fear of man bringeth a snare,
being more concerned about what men think than what God thinks.
I think of that passage in John chapter 12, it says, many believed
on his name, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess
him, because they love the praise of men more than the praise of
God. There's the fear of mistrust.
There's the fear of unbelief. There's the fear of punishment.
There's the fear of the future. These are all the children of
unbelief, and the fear of God has nothing to do with these
things. The fear of God is not a slavish fear, but it's the
fear of reverence. It's the fear of respect. And
I believe the best way to describe the fear of God is the awe of
God. It's almost humorous how we use
that word awesome. That was awesome. That was awe-inspiring. Really? Really? He is awe-inspiring. We use language flippantly. But the feeling of awe, that
is the fear of God. We fear and tremble at his transcendence. infinite greatness. I have an awe, we have an awe,
of His independence. I love thinking about this, don't
you? The Lord has no needs. He's not worshipped with men's
hands as though He needed anything. I love the way He says, if I
was hungry, I wouldn't tell you The cattle on a thousand hills
is mine. He has absolutely no needs. He's utterly independent. And you and I are completely
dependent upon an independent God, aren't we? We stand in awe
at His sovereignty, His reign. It's not just a doctrine, it's
who He is. You don't believe in God and not believe the sovereign
God, that's who He is. He reigns, He rules, He's in
control. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He, in earth and sea, all deep places. Whatsoever He
pleased. Oh, don't you love to think about
His sovereignty, how it was demonstrated in creation when He spake this
universe into existence by an act of His will. I love to think
of His sovereign control over providence. You're in His hand
right now, and so am I. Do you know the very thoughts
that are going through your mind, He's in control of, either by
way of grace or by way of judgment. That's an awesome thing to think
about, isn't it? That's how much control He has. The lot is cast
into the lot, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. And oh,
how we love His sovereignty and salvation. We stand in awe when
we hear Him say, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
And whom I will, I harden. We stand in awe of His holiness. He's the Holy One of Israel. Only Thou art holy. We stand
in awe at His justice. To think that He's absolutely,
perfectly just. No one is ever going to get by
with the thing. His justice is going to punish
all sin. And we stand in awe of that,
don't we? And we admire Him for that. We stand in awe of His
righteousness, His righteous character. We stand in awe of
His wisdom. How He's so wise that He's made
a way to be just, consistent with all of His attributes, and
yet makes somebody like me, who in and of myself am nothing but
sin, perfectly holy and righteous. We stand in awe of that, don't
we? We stand in all of his love. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. We stand in all forgiveness.
Listen to this scripture. Psalm 137 says, there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared. I love that verse. Did you know that the only person
who truly fears the Lord is the one who's been forgiven? That's
the only one. Anybody else simply has a resentment
of him and a slavish fear and dread of him. But where there
is forgiveness, there is true fear. Now, I'd like to give you
some things that show that we're talking about the fear of the
Lord. There's in religion, there's a type of fear. There's a type
of fear. There's a type of dread. And
then there's the fear of the Lord. And these two things are
completely different. Now, slavish fear has its roots
in the covenant of works. When have you ever done enough?
And you're always afraid. You're always afraid you haven't
done enough. Childlike fear has its roots in the covenant of
grace. Slavish fear is provoked by the
fear of the punishment of sin. Childlike fear by the God dishonoring
character of sin. Slavish fear is motivated by
the hope for reward. Childish fear is voluntary obedience,
and all it's looking for is grace. That's it. Slavish fear, the enmity of the
heart, is never broken. In childlike fear, it's broken
before God. Slavish fear has hard thoughts
of God. Childlike fear has high thoughts
of God. Slavish fear hates the punishment
of sin. Childlike fear hates the sin. Slavish fear seeks self-preservation
and self-honor. Childlike fear seeks the preservation
of the Lord's attributes and the preservation of the Lord's
honor. Childlike fear is concerned about God's honor and glory. Slavish fear never produces humility,
not genuine humility. Childlike fear humbles the sinner
as the chief of sinners. Slavish fear never looks to Christ. childlike fear always looks to
Christ. The fear of God is the awe of
God. It's the awe of a child. And
the fear of God is seen in our fear of his words. No one has
any fear of God who doesn't really pay attention to what the Bible
says. You see, my fear of God is demonstrated by how I bow
to what He says in His Word. Anything else? Let's just talk.
Let me show you that in Scripture. Turn to Isaiah chapter 66. What I really think about the
Lord Himself is seen in by what I think of His Word. Thus saith the Lord, the heaven
is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house
that you build unto me? And where is the place of my
rest? For all those things have mine hand made, and all those
things have been, saith the Lord. But to this man will I look. Aren't you interested in the
one the Lord looks to? To this man will I look, even
to him that is poor. He has nothing and of a contrite,
a crust spirit and trembles at my word. Oh, may the Lord cause
us to be trembling men and women at his word. The fear of God
is seen in our bowing to what he says in his word. It's the
fear of the Lord that makes us afraid of sin. That's what makes
us afraid of sin. It's the fear of the Lord. It's
not even really understanding anything else. It's just the
fear. The Lord hates sin. The Lord's going to judge sin.
And it's the fear of the Lord that causes us to hate what He
hates. He hates sin. We hate sin. It's the fear of the Lord that
makes us afraid to look anywhere but Christ. I love what Paul
said in Philippians chapter 3 verse 8 and 9, He said, Oh, that I
may win Christ and be found in Him. Now this is how afraid I
am of Him. And this is not a slavish fear,
but I know He's so holy, He's so glorious, that the only way
He can accept me is if I'm in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm
scared to death to look anywhere but Christ alone. Now only the fear of God produces
that. You know, no natural man has
the fear of the Lord. Romans 3.18 says, there is no
fear of God before their eyes. You find me a man that is unregenerate,
that God has never done a work of grace in. Oh, he has all kinds
of fears. And he has a dread of God, the
slavish fear of God. He's got all that. But the fear
I'm talking about, this is the work of God, the Holy Spirit
in the heart of men and women. Turn with me for a moment to
Jeremiah chapter 32. Jeremiah chapter 32 verse 39. 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 to do them good, but I will put my
fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me. And we see here so clearly that
this is the work of the Lord, this thing of the fear of God. And the Lord said, I say in you,
my friends, fear not them that kill the body. And after that,
that's all they can do, but rather fear Him, who after He hath killed
the body, hath power to cast into hell. I say unto you, fear
Him. We're afraid of what He can do,
aren't we? We're afraid of Him because of the awesomeness of
His person, but we're also afraid of what He can do. I can't bear
the thought of being cast into hell. And I fear Him who has
the power and the authority to cast me into hell. And the Lord
uses this argument. This isn't just some kind of
hellfire and brimstone preacher trying to scare people. These
are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear him who has power
to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. Now, I'm going to give you some
scriptures regarding the fear of God. I read this week when
thinking about this, where one man said, in the Old Testament,
the emphasis is the fear of God. In the New Testament, the emphasis
is the love of God. That's foolishness. The fear
of God is the love of God. And the love of God is the fear
of God. You can't separate the fear of
God and the love of God. They're the same thing. You love God, you stand in awe
of everything about him. Now, I want you just for a moment
to forget about your love. Just forget
about it. Just pretend like you don't even
know what it means. What do you think of the God
who's absolutely sovereign? What do you think of the God
who is altogether holy? What do you think of the God
who never changes? What do you think of the attributes
of God Almighty that the scripture present? Oh, we fear Him. We love Him. Those two things
cannot be separated. Now let me give you some scriptures. In Psalm 25 verse 14, we read
that the secret of the Lord, and that word secret means the
intimate counsel. That one the Lord has intimate
counsel with. The secret of the Lord is within
that fear. He'll show them His covenant,
that glorious covenant of grace, the secret of the Lord. If I
want to have intimate counsel with the Lord, if I want to have
communion with Him, if I want Him to know me, and if I want
to know Him, the secret of the Lord is within that fear Him. He'll show them His covenant. In Isaiah 57 or 58, I can't remember
which it is, but it says, Thus saith the High and Lofty One,
who inhabits eternity, to this man will I look, even to him
who is poor. In Psalm 33 verse 18, we read,
The eye of the Lord. And this is the eye of His favor.
The Lord sees everybody. He sees you. He sees me. He sees
everybody. But this is talking about the
eye of His favor, the eye of His approval, the eye of His
grace, the eye of His mercy. The eye of the Lord is upon them
that fear Him. upon them that hope in His mercy."
Now let me tell you this about everybody who fears God. The
only hope they have is in His mercy. They're afraid to look
anywhere else. Those who fear God are those
who find all their hope in His mercy. Would you turn with me
to Psalm 103? There's four or five verses I
want to read here. Verse 7, he made known his ways
unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. Now I want
to know his ways, don't you? I don't want to just know his
acts, I want to know his ways. He made known his ways to Moses
and his acts to the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful
and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will
not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. He
has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities. I love that verse. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the East is from the
West, so far hath He removed our transgression from us. Like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear Him. For He knows our frame, He remembers
that we are dust. Now look at the blessings to
those who fear the Lord. Psalm 147 verse 11 says, The
Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him. The Lord
looks down on someone who fears him and he says it gives me pleasure,
it gives me delight. What a beautiful thing the fear
of the Lord is. Proverbs chapter 14 verse 26
says in the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence. You see if you Fear of the Lord,
that means you believe, I want to say this as reverently as
I can, but you believe a very big God, a very glorious God,
a powerful God, and you have strong confidence in Him. If
you fear Him, you have strong confidence in Him. Proverbs 8,
13 says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. It's the fear
of Him that causes you to hate what He hates. That's why you
hate it. He hates it. That's all the reason
you need. You need no other reasons. The
fear of the Lord is to hate evil. And this is seen in a man's speech.
It's seen in a man's attitude. You show me a man or woman that
fears the Lord and I'll show you a humble man or woman. One who walks in lowliness. Show
me a man that walks in pride. I'll show you a man with no fear
of God. You know, I was thinking about
the conflict that a believer experiences. Every believer experiences
that conflict of Romans chapter 7, don't they? What I hate, I
do. What I want to do, I don't do
it. All that conflict, that's the portrait of a truly holy
man. That man who cries out, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? That's
the cry of a truly holy man. And that conflict comes from
the fear of God. The man that fears God is absolutely
afraid to be found anywhere but in the Lord Jesus Christ. Would
that be you? Would that describe you? When
God comes looking for you, there's only one place you want to be
found. In the Lord Jesus Christ. So that all that God sees is
Him. Now I can say this as honestly
as I know how to. I do desire that more than anything. I simply want to be found in
Christ. And I love what David said. Unite
my heart. This is a heart thing. This is
the work of God in the heart. Unite my heart to fear thy name. Now, that's the Lord's wise counsel
to us. I love the way he begins that
verse with, I say unto you, my friends. This is what he says
to his friends. I want to be his friend, don't
you? I don't want him to count me his enemy. I want him to count
me his friend. He said, I say to you, my friends,
don't fear that one that can kill the body. Don't fear any
man. Isn't that wonderful that you don't have to fear anybody
or anything, really, if you believe God. There's nothing to fear. What can they do to you? Well,
they can kill me. That'd be the best day of your
life. That's the day that will usher you into the very presence
of Christ. And if they did it, it's because He moved them to
do it. It's because they were in His hand and He controlled
it. He controls everything. So fear not that one who can
kill the body, and after that there's nothing more they can
do. Truly, we have every reason to not fear anybody. Everybody
belongs to the Lord. He controls everything, every
event. Here's the one to fear. Fear Him who after He hath killed
the body, hath power to cast into hell, yea, I say unto you,
fear him." Now may this be a description of every single one of us. People
who fear God. That fear which is the beginning
of wisdom and that fear which is the conclusion of the whole
matter. Now we're having the opportunity
to observe the Lord's table, and to see a baptism. I want to make a few comments
about that. First, baptism. Baptism. It means to be immersed. That's what the word means. You're
immersed under the water. you come back out from the water. Baptism. Baptism, let me say
two things about baptism. Number one, baptism, what it
represents is the message of the gospel. I love the simplicity
of this. I love the way the truth is so
simple. But baptism is the message of the gospel. When I'm baptized,
what I say about that baptism, is the only hope I have and all
the hope. I'm not even saying the only,
I mean, this is it, this is everything. It's the only, and I'm putting
everything right here that when Jesus Christ lived, I lived. That when he kept the law, I
kept the law. That when he died, I died because
I was in him and my sins were paid for. When he was raised
from the dead, I was raised from the dead. And this is all my
salvation. 100%. This is all my salvation. And baptism is my public confession
of Christ. You know that passage where it
says they were baptized of him confessing their sins? That does
not mean they got in front of everybody and confessed their
sins. Give everybody all their dirty
laundry and then they're baptized after that. No. The act of baptism
was the act of confession. I'm confessing that the only
way this sinner can be saved is by what Christ did for me. Baptism is my public confession
to all the world. that Christ is my salvation. That's what I'm confessing. Who
is to be baptized? Every believer. And to not be
baptized is to walk in disobedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody
says, well, I'm waiting until I feel led to be baptized. I've said this before, my dad's
here right now, but if he told me something to do and I said,
I'm waiting till I feel led to do it, it wouldn't have worked
very well. You don't wait till you're led
to be baptized. You confess Christ in believer's
baptism because he said to do it. No other reason is needed. And if you believe the gospel,
don't wait for anything. Don't wait till you get better.
Don't wait till you have more understanding. Don't wait till
you get your life straightened out more. That just works. That's
all it is. Right now, anybody who believes
that Jesus Christ is God the Son is to be baptized. I love
the way the Ethiopian eunuch He said, here's water. What hinders
me from being baptized? Philip answered, if you believe
with all your heart, you may. And I love his answer, because
that gives me so much comfort. He didn't say, I believe I'm
a Christian, because there's not a day that goes by at some
point when I don't believe I'm a Christian. I think, how could
I be saved to think things like that, or do things like that?
I don't know anybody that doesn't. Anytime you see it, you wonder
whether you're a believer, you know, and that's wrong to do
that, but you do it. But he didn't say, I believe
that I'm a Christian or that I believe I'm saved or that I
believe I'm one of the elect. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. I do too. I do too. I really believe that. And he was baptized. Who should
be baptized? Anyone who believes that. Any other requirements? Nope.
Nope. That's who should be baptized. Well, who should take the Lord's
table? The same folks that are baptized. Those who believe the
gospel. If you rely on the Lord Jesus
Christ as sacrifice, as all that's needed to make you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in the very sight of God, if you rely on
Christ, you ought to take the Lord's table. Any other requirements? Nope. I've heard people say, well,
you ought to be baptized first. Well, if you're not baptized,
that's not right. But I wouldn't even put baptism. The only requirement
is faith. Faith in Christ. Believing the
gospel. So who should be baptized? Those
who believe. I've heard people say, well,
I've been re-baptized. That's impossible to get re-baptized.
You're only baptized once. Now, you might have gone under
the water five or six times. A lot of people have. I remember
one guy said he'd been under the water so many times, the
tadpoles knew him. But you're only baptized once when you believe
the gospel. That other stuff was just going
underwater, kind of like getting in a shower or something like
that. There's only one baptism. That's when you believe the gospel
of Christ, the gospel of God's grace. If you were baptized before
then, that wasn't baptism. And if you're baptized, you weren't
re-baptized, you're just baptized. And who should take the Lord's
table? The exact same person, everyone
who simply believes the gospel. And we have the privilege of
observing both of these ordinances tonight. I love it when we have
both up on the same night. I've been several times we've
done that and that's always a great blessing. So, Duane, you come
and lead us in a hymn, and Grace Wachey is going to confess Christ
in Believer's Baptism. When I was praying, I was praying
for grace for grace, and I thought that, I don't think I've ever
done that before, but grace for grace. What a blessing. What you got? 475.