is completely done, isn't it?
We ended last week with, well, turn with me and your Bible to
Proverbs chapter one. I guess we better start there. We ended
last week with a statement that the Lord gave kind of on the
spot. What the Lord reveals through
his gospel to his people is he is God, Salvations of the Lord, and it
is finished. And that song says completely
done. That's what it is finished means,
isn't it? That's our hope. Here in Proverbs
chapter one, we're going to be looking at this through that
lens of him being God and salvation being of him, by him, for him,
and to us word, the Lord's people, and that it is truly finished.
That's the lens I hope to look through this passage tonight.
But up until now, Solomon had given us the five reasons, if
you will. We call them the parables of
peace in a series, and those five purposes of Proverbs was
one, to know, two, to perceive, to receive, to give, and lastly,
to understand. And we've looked at all of those.
These are all gifts of God, gifts of grace that teach us these
three truths, these three truths about God. Number one, he is
God. Number two, salvation is of the
Lord. And number three, it is finished. This is the sum and
substance of God's gospel. To sum it up even farther, it
would be Christ is all. Christ is all. Now by grace through
faith, The only way we can see that, the only way the Lord's
elect can know that is if the Lord gives us the fear of the
Lord, the fear of the Lord. And that's what Solomon mentions
here in our text. So let's read it together, Proverbs
1, verse 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son,
hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy
mother, for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head
and chains about thy neck. Solomon sets forth two distinct
differences, two distinct differences, polar opposite points, truly,
is what's given here. Number one, You have the wise,
they that are wise of the Lord, the one that the Lord has elected,
the one the Lord has given wisdom, the one where he says in the
previous part, verse five, a wise man will hear. We've looked at
that. Who's a wise man? It's the one that the Lord has
called and shown wisdom to, one that the Lord himself is their
wisdom. And this is what he's talking about here whenever he
said, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but
fools despise wisdom and instruction. This is two polar opposite individuals. There's only two types of people
in the world, the believers and the non-believers, and it's the
Lord that make it the difference, isn't it? On one hand, you have
the wise of the Lord. By the Lord for his glory, they're
made to have the fear of the Lord. They're made to see by
the gift of grace in the heart that the Lord is high. He is
lifted up. He is holy. This is repentance towards the
Lord and it always comes with faith towards the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord doesn't give repentance and not give faith. They're hand in hand. They're
joint. They're the same in so many ways. They're the gift. Now, on the other hand, you have
the fool. That's what he says. The fools
despise wisdom. and instruction. That's the opposite,
isn't it? That's the polar opposite, is
the wise and the fool. And it is the Lord that maketh
the difference. It is the Lord that maketh the
difference, not us. Psalm 53, verse 1 says, the fool
hath said in his heart, there is no God. Corrupt are they,
and have done abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good.
Now he said, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God,
but understand something brethren, this is not talking about the
atheists. He said the ones that commit iniquity. Now the iniquity
we know is what we try to do to fix our sin problem, isn't
it? Now the atheists do fall into the category of the foolish,
but that's not who he's addressing here. When he says the fool hath
said in his heart, there is no God, they're just part of the
category that do not believe in God or on the Lord Jesus Christ.
If we are to know God, If we are to approach God, it is only
and can only be through and by the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't
mean that we come to the Lord Jesus Christ in order to approach
God. No, he draws us unto himself
in order for us to approach, to begin with. No man come to
the Father, but by me. It's his choice. It's his right.
It's his calling. It's his drawing. It's his saving.
Salvation's of the Lord. But if we are to know him, we
are to come through and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Unless we
know God through Christ, we don't know God at all. We don't know
God at all. Philip asked the Lord once, said,
Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth us. And he said,
Philip, if I've not been with you so long, so long, when you've
seen me, you have seen the Father. There'll be nothing else revealed
but the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of his people, as
the Lord Jesus Christ, as the sovereign King of kings and Lord
of lords. Remember in Revelation how John
viewed him, said that he was seated upon a horse and he had
a vesture dipped in blood and written upon his thigh was what?
His name, King of kings and Lord of lords. King of kings and Lord
of lords. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can
cause us to see him. And you know how he does that?
By giving us the fear of the Lord. Giving us the fear of the
Lord. Remember what the gospel teaches
us. He is God, salvation is of the Lord, and it is finished.
And I don't want to deviate too far from that. This is a very
simple message. When Solomon's talking about fear here, He's
not talking about fear as in lawmongering. And men do that
in religion all the time. They're preaching law, you should
obey, you should obey. And if you don't obey, here's
the consequence. Sunday, I hope to look in Hebrews chapter two,
it says, how shall they escape? How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? We're gonna look at that in depth,
Lord willing. But this is not talking about putting you or
me underneath the law and making us afraid of hell and afraid
of death. This is not what the gospel,
when it goes forth, it shows us that we're sinners. Yes, absolutely.
But what did we just read over in Psalm? It's the forgiveness
of the Lord. Therefore we fear him. This is
different than the message that's going forth today that says you
better do and live because the gospel message is God is God,
salvation's of the Lord, and it is finished. There is no do
and live in that. It's finished. It's done. The work for sinners is completely
done. That's the hope that we have.
This is what the fear of the Lord teaches us. Unless given the fear of the
Lord, men believe that they are God. They don't just, that's
what he's saying there. The fool hath said in his heart
there is no God because he views himself as God. There's the polar
opposite, isn't it? They're the fool. They say that
God is like unto them, subject to their power and their will.
Hence, there is no God then. He's not like us at all, is he?
No, he's other than we are. Less given fear of the Lord.
All who hear about salvation will think that they have to
do something to contribute to salvation. The salvations of
the Lord. This is the fear of the Lord.
That's it's where it comes from. It's the under, His salvation
comes from Him, through and by Him. This fear is a fear unto
salvation. It's not just fear and trembling.
Yes, we do approach with fear and trembling, but my hope tonight
is that we can see that it's the loving kindness of the Lord,
wherewith we've been enabled to fear. People cannot fear God,
for they know not who He is. If you fear the Lord tonight,
it's because He's revealed to you who He is and what He's done. It's because you're His. People
may have a general idea of God as a higher being, but unless
you see him high and lifted up as Isaiah did, unless you see
him as Job did out of the whirlwind, see yourself as vile, there is
no fear of the Lord then, is there? No, he has to give repentance
and faith. Why would he do that? It's because
of love, the love that he has for his people. That's the mystery
of the gospel. Here in his love, not that we
love God, but God loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for us. Unless given the fear of the
Lord, we'll think we have to contribute something, live a
certain life, either do something before or after salvation. No,
salvations of the Lord. Make salvation of us if we do
it, the salvations of the Lord. Unless given the fear of the
Lord, no man can believe it is finished. We can sum up the truth
of the gospel by just saying it is finished. Everything that
the Lord Jesus Christ purposed to do was accomplished on the
cross of Calvary for God's people. It is finished. That is our hope.
That is our rest. But to the religious in our world
today, That's a stumbling block. It's finished. No, there has
to be something else that needs to be done. That's a stumbling
block, isn't it to them? Or what about to the wise among
men? They would say, well, that's just foolishness. That's just
foolishness. That's what Paul was addressing
in Corinthians. We'll turn there in just a moment. But. Understand
something, it's not that we're. Left to figure out we've been
made to know Christ is all. Christ is all. He's not a stumbling
block. He's the rock of a fence. He's the foundation. He's the
chief cornerstone, isn't he? No, he's not foolishness. He's
the wisdom of God and the power of God. That's our hope. It's not about accepting Jesus,
it's about, except Jesus left a remnant, except the Lord leave
a remnant, we'd be lost. There's a big difference. We
preached a message on that a while back, A-C-C-E-P-T and E-X-E-P-T. I probably didn't spell that
right. A-C-C-E-P-T, accept Jesus, or A-E-X-C-E-P-T. I think I spelled
it right that time. Except the Lord. That's the difference,
isn't it? It's not the wrong except. It's pronounced the same.
Except the Lord, leave a remnant. Lord, unless you give us your
fear, we'll never see you. We'll never look at you as God. We can't. Not in the flesh. We
are our own God by nature. That's why the Lord says, no
man comes to the Father, but the Father which sent me, draw
him. He's the one that does it. He's
the one that draws. And here's the good news of the
gospel the Lord said in John 17, or John chapter six, I'm
sorry, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And how do we come? With
a broken heart and a contrite spirit, because he put it there.
We come in fear and admonition of the Lord, begging for mercy,
begging for grace, because out of love he gave grace to do so. Lord said my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me and I give to them eternal
life. That's not contingent, is it?
I love that it's not contingent upon me and you. I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. Boy, that's simple. That tells me God is God. Salvations
of the Lord and it is finished. That's what that tells me. That's
simple. How did we arrive at that? Well, we didn't. The Lord
made us to know it. We didn't come to the conclusion.
We didn't draw it. The Lord said, live, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we believed. This is his
gift. This is what he's talking about
in the fear of the Lord. It's the beginning of knowledge
to see him. That's the very beginning. This
is the word beginning here actually also translates the principal
part. the principle part. The first thing we realize, and
you and I have this as our confession, the first thing we realize is,
I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I need a Savior. That's what the Lord gives immediately.
When life is given, we see ourself as what we are, and then we see
Him. And there's that fear that, but it's not the fear of you
better do and live. It becomes the truth, the true
fear, which is we realize we can no longer look to ourself.
No, I'm afraid to look to myself, to any part of my salvation any
longer. That's the fear of the Lord. Otherwise we would be looking
to ourself, not afraid to lay hold of it, not afraid to try
to add to or take away from it. This fear is what teaches us
that God is God, salvation's of the Lord, and it is finished.
That's what it teaches us. The simplicity that we preach,
this is the stumbling block to the religious, and foolishness
according to the wisdom of man. I told you we were gonna turn
there. Let's look in First Corinthians. Paul addresses that exact issue. First Corinthians 121. For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. but we preach
Christ crucified under the Jews a stumbling block and under the
Greeks foolishness." Now, anytime you see the word Jew here, anybody
that's not a Jew is a Gentile, but here he's talking about Greeks
as in philosophers and those that are gaining wisdom, but
the Jews are a reference to the religious. So here you have the
religious community, whoever they may be, and you have the
irreligious that have, obtained wisdom. And in their own eyes,
they're wise in their own eyes. And this is what he's saying.
It's a stumbling block to the religious and it's foolishness
to the wise, according to man. But verse 24 tells us, but unto
them, which are called, there's the difference. They're called
both Jews and Greeks. It doesn't make a difference
whether you're Jew or Gentile, if you're called, it's the Lord that did
it. Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom. This is what the fear of the
Lord reveals, brethren. This is what the fear of the
Lord reveals. Christ is the power. Christ is the wisdom, not us. Why is it? Why is it that the
Lord? has made it that the foolish
things confound the wise and the meek things abase the strong. Why did he do it that way? Well, he tells us, look in verse
29, that no flesh should glory in his presence. That's why. There's your reason. That's my
reason. This is what the fear of the Lord teaches us. No flesh
will have any glory in his presence. We preach Christ Jesus. the successful
redeemer of his people, the successful redeemer of his elect, and it's
foolishness to the world. And it's a stumbling block to
the religious. They don't like it. You ever
stubbed your toe before? You like stubbing your toe? No, I
don't either. It hurts, don't it? You can have a good day and
all of a sudden it's just ruined by cracking your toe on the end
of a couch or end of your bed. That's what that word stumbling
block means. The religious hate it. They hate it, no. What did the Lord tell Paul?
He said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Saul was
in the dirt or on the ground. He acknowledged, said, Lord.
He knew exactly who was talking to him. Lord, that's what he
cried out unto the Lord. He said, it's hard for you. The
Lord said, it's hard for you to kick against the pricks, isn't
it? The pricks of the heart. Only
the Lord's people have their heart pricked. Everybody else
is just stubbing their toe on the gospel and they hate it.
They hate the gospel. It's too simple. No, it can't
be. I have to add something to it.
I have to do something. There must be something I must
do. No, God is God, salvation's of the Lord, and it is finished.
There's the truth. This is what the fear of the
Lord reveals. It's not dependent upon us in any way, shape, or
form. You know what it means, it is finished? It means he's
seated. We say that all the time, but think about everything that's
spinning in this world, everything that's going on, every second
that passes by, whatever's happening. He's seated right now. He's seated. He's not going to
get up until it's time to come and retrieve his bride according
to his will. It's finished. Everything is
finished as he has ordained and purposed it. This is who God
is. The religious hate him for that
reason. The intellectual sees him as foolishness. It's too
simple. But to his people, he gives the
fear of the Lord, the beginning of knowledge, the beginning of
knowledge. Psalm 130 verse four, we read
that in our call to worship, it says, but there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared. It means the forgiveness
that he shows towards his people. We fear him, we fear him in true
humility, in true adoration. But we're not motivated by a
cowering, no, he said, come, take of the water of life freely.
We approach boldly with complete confidence in the Lord Jesus
Christ, not in and of ourself. That's what the fear reveals.
I can't approach in and of myself, I can't come nigh unto that mountain,
I'll be killed. He says, come, take of the water
of life freely. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what his fear teaches us. It's not judgment that leads
men to repentance. Men always are talking about
the Lord's judgment. I remember, and it's still going
on very much alive and well in society and in Paul's churches,
fire and brimstone, hellfire and brimstone preaching. Get
up and try to scare men, make them afraid, and convince them
to do something, to walk an aisle, pray a prayer, to do something,
and to feel better. I've done my part. And it's a
lie. You won't find an altar call
in the scripture. It's not real. It's man's imagination. It's
another attempt at being God. But what does the fear of the
Lord teach us? God is God. Salvation's of the Lord. And
it is finished. It is finished. We preach the
good news of the gospel, the free and sovereign grace of the
Lord for dead dog sinners. The Lord ever makes us see that
we're a dead dog sinner, it's because he's given us the fear
of the Lord. It's the only way. We're gonna sing Amazing Grace
here in a few minutes, but the second line, second verse in
that song says, was grace that taught my heart to fear. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed. Why is it that you're afraid,
or why is it that we've been given fear of the Lord, I should
say? We're afraid to approach on our own now aren't we? But
why do we have the fear of the Lord? Grace. That's it. That's the answer. Grace. The fear of the Lord is the gift
of the Lord to his people. Who convinces men of sin? Who
gives this fear? Well, it's the Holy Spirit, isn't
it? It's the Spirit that convinces us of sin. No amount of law preaching,
no amount of law preaching can convince us of the sin that we
are. It can only reveal that we have
committed sin. But by man's standard, they would
still say, well, I'm not as bad as so-and-so. I'm not as bad
as so-and-so. But God's standard is if we've broken one law, we've
broken them all. Furthermore, we were born in
sin, weren't we? We see that. We see that we need a substitute.
This is what the fear of the Lord teaches us. You can't approach
Him. Don't mistake, I want to reiterate
this, I said this already, but don't mistake the fear of the
Lord for lawmongering. It's not true. It's not the same
as the fear of the law or the fear by the law. The fear by
the law reveals hell and death and judgment The fear of the
Lord is not given to obligate, not given to obligate, but to
illuminate, to illuminate him. It's to shine forth the light,
showing what we are and who he is. It's not given to obligate.
It's not given, so fear of the Lord's never given to make you
do something in order to be saved. No, if you're given the fear
of the Lord, it's because you've been saved. You've already been saved.
It's not given to humiliate like men do from the pulpit where
they talk down to people and they browbeat them and different
things about different lifestyles, making them feel bad about themselves.
That's not what the fear of the Lord does. No, the fear of the
Lord reveals the glory of Christ on the cross of Calvary, the
same glory given to his people. That's what it reveals. The fear
of the Lord is not to enslave you and I, the Lord's people,
it's to set us free. It's to set us free. By grace alone, God's fear is
given to his people and creates the holy, humble, reverential
affection as a father to the son, as a father to his son.
Turn back to Proverbs, this is what he's saying here. The Lord creates a reverential
affection by this fear. This is the new man created in
Christ Jesus that I'm referring to. If there's anything holy
about us, it would be that, and that's not about us at all, is
it? It's Christ in us, the hope of glory. That's the point. This
is a reverential affection that he's referring to as a father
to their son. Look here in our text again. Let's just read it
again. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom instruction. What is this? The next two words say, my son,
my son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not
the law of thy mother, for they shall be an ornament of grace
into thy neck and chains, or thy head, I'm sorry, ornaments
of grace to thy head and chains about thy neck. My son, this
is the effectual call to the Lord's people. My son, hear. My son, live. This is what's
happening here. Lord says, look, behold. This is the effectual call to
the Lord's people, giving a new heart that desires to know him,
to hear him, to see him. You remember Mary, whenever the
Lord came into the house, Mary and Martha, Mary was, or Martha
was, uh, she was taken with all the responsibility. She was doing
all the chores. She was making everything, um,
everything pretty, I suppose. What was Mary doing? Martha was
running around the house doing the work. Mary was sitting at
his feet. Why? He tells us why. Martha
says to him, why don't you tell Mary to help me? Paraphrasing,
of course. He says, Mary has that one thing
needful. She's been given that one thing. What is that? The fear of the
Lord. The fear of the Lord. I've got
to hear his voice. This is a good fear. This is not a negative
fear whereby men condescend upon each other with words. No, this
is this is seeing Christ as your Redeemer. And we're afraid to
even look at ourself to examine to see if there's anything good.
We know there's not anything good in us. And we desire to
hear and see him that's all. Now unlike religion, unlike religion, God is not I love the thought that he's
not, if I say this, I want to say it properly, he's not doing
anything. It's finished. We understand
what I mean by that. I don't think I need to elaborate on
that. Is he working in midst of us? Yeah, that's the hope,
but you understand what I'm saying. As far as salvation is concerned,
it's finished. He's not trying to do anything. Maybe that's
a better way to put it. He's not trying to do anything. He's not saying,
well, you better do this or else. That's what men say. Have you
ever said that to your children? Yeah, I have. You better listen
or else. Here's the consequence. Well,
yeah, there's a general call that goes forth that we see that
what the penalty of sin is, the wages of sin is death. We see
that call go forth or that it's not a call, it's a declaration. It's a declaration. But that's
not what this fear of the Lord is all about. This is when the
Lord says, my time is over. For you was a time of love. I saw you polluted in your own
blood. I saw you dead and trespassed in sin. I saw you without hope.
I saw you without help. I saw you without none. I pity,
pitying you, pitying you. None I, nobody had pity on you.
Nobody cared for you. Nobody loved you. Nobody wanted
you. You were an outcast. You were nothing. He says, I
spread my skirt over you. My time for you was a time of
love. I had compassion upon you. I had mercy upon you. I said
unto you, live. He said, I anointed you, I put
a robe on you, I put a ring on your finger. Is there any more
motivation for the believer than that? That's the motivation,
isn't it? We don't speak on, well, like
religion does, we just declare the good news. It's not that
the Lord is demanding obedience or else. You better think about
in a marriage, if I look at my wife, and you can laugh if you
want to, if I look at my wife and said, you better listen to
me or else, boy, that would be pretty detrimental to my marriage,
don't you think? What better motivation does she have towards
me if I show her love and affection and patience and understanding
and nurture and care? You don't even have to ask. She
just does for you. I mean, that's how it is, isn't
it? That's the same with the Lord. It's not any different.
This fear that he gives us is not a cowering fear where we
can't we can't look. No, it's the opposite of that.
We don't look to ourself. We do look to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's more motivated by his love for us. Not that we
love God, but that he loved us. That's what the scripture teaches
us. He's not saying repent or else. He's saying, I've given you repentance.
Therefore, you're going to repent. I've given you faith, and therefore
you're going to believe. I've given you fear, the fear
of the Lord. That's the beginning of knowledge. He promotes devotion out of love,
creates a desire to honor him. We desire to give him all the
glory and praise, don't we? We don't want any glory, not
for self. The fear of the Lord is where
salvation begins. It's the head. It's the fountain
where all by the Lord's blessings flow. It's all through through
and by the Lord Jesus Christ. We understand that, but at the
beginning he gives fear the fear of the Lord. He is God. This is what that fear reveals.
He is God. I am not salvation is of the
Lord, not of me, and it is finished. He finished every bit of the
work on Calvary's Cross. This is the root source, the
Lord Jesus Christ. This fear of the Lord given to
his people. This is the root source, the
foundation. The foundation where everything
else is built up is the fear of the Lord. This fear reveals
that we can't even worship him. Because we can't worship in spirit
and in truth and in and of ourself, can we? No. No, Lord, I'm gonna
need you to cause your spirit to be in the midst of us. Lord,
we need your truth. We need the Lord Jesus Christ,
his spirit to blow upon us, cause us to worship. And this fear
creates a desire to worship him in spirit and in truth. We desire
really to worship the Lord. Not to pretend, not to conjure
up emotional stirrings where we feel good about ourselves.
No, we really desire to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. And only
the Lord's people desire that. They have praise and worship
services now. They don't do a bit of preaching
to my knowledge. It's all about singing and stirring emotions.
No, the focal point is God's gospel. It's the point is God
the preaching of the gospel. That's where we see him. That's
where he has chill. What did we read in First Corinthians,
he might save them through the foolishness of what preaching
the Lord did that. It's what he's ordained. This fear reveals that we must
worship him, not as an obligation, but a privilege. We know how
to worship the Lord now. We worship him in spirit and
truth, not in and of ourself, not in what we do. That's what
this fear teaches us. It's a privilege purchased by
his own blood. Think about the glorious truth
of the Lord. The fear of the Lord teaches
us this, fear not, for I have. That's what the fear of the Lord
teaches us. Now, you explain that to somebody, they're gonna
say, well, that's foolishness, that makes no sense. But you understand
exactly what I'm talking about, don't you? The fear of the Lord
has taught you, fear not, for I have. That's what the Lord
said. Fear not. Jacob, I have redeemed you. I
have purchased you by my own blood. You are mine, fear not. What does the fear of the Lord
teach the Lord's people? Fear not, for I have, for I have. God committed his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In closing, I wanna tell us,
remember the parable of the prodigal son. Prodigal son had lived his
life with his father and his brother, the scripture says,
and he decided he wanted to leave the house and take his inheritance
with him, and he asked his father of it, and his father gave it
to him, and he went his way. The scripture says that he spoiled
it on riotous living. He did all kinds of different
things, and I'm sure he had a lot of friends at the time, people
around, but as soon as the money ran out, there was nobody to
be found. He found himself in a hog, on
a hog farm, and would have feigned filled his belly with the husk,
but he remembered something. Scripture says when he came to
himself, do you know what the fear of the Lord does to the
Lord's people? It causes us to come to ourself, which is him
causing us to come. I mean, that's, it's all him.
It's not, we didn't just arrive. We didn't just wake up and no,
it's him that does that. And he said, the prodigal son
said, There is servants in my father's house, are there not
many? And I would starve here eating these husks of these swine. Swine represents the Gentiles,
the outcasts, those who were not Jews. It's an unclean creature
is what it is. And he was eating the same thing as them. That's
a picture of false religion where men do not glorify God as God
is what it is. He couldn't eat that anymore.
He remembered his father. Now you think of the fear and
the dread that he would have had of his father. He said, well,
I'm no longer worthy to be his son. He actually says that to
his father. I'm no longer worthy to be his son. Just make me a
servant. Just make me a servant. This
is the begging. This is the pleading. See, the father had all the power.
The son had already taken all of his living. The son had already
taken his inheritance and he'd spoiled it. Father had all the
power, all the right to reprimand him, to do all kinds of different
things to him. I mean, he had the right to do so. You ruined the inheritance
that I gave you." In all likely accounts, he would have been
angry, we would have thought. But what happened? When he saw his
son approaching afar off, did he sound an alarm and warn his
son to stay away? No. No, he ran to him. He ran to him, and he took his
robe, and he put it on his back, and his ring, and he put it on
his finger, and he said, this is my son who was lost and is
found. And the son fell down and said,
father, I'm no longer worthy to be your son. Just make me
a servant. Just make me, he said, nonsense. You're my son. You're
my son. Kill the fatted calf. My son
has returned. That's what the fear of the Lord
teaches us. We bow before the Lord. We bow
before the Lord, begging, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.
But all we hear in return is what sin. It's gone. It's finished. The sin's been put away. You're
my son. Here's the ring. Here's the robe
of righteousness purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. This
is what the fear of the Lord teaches us. What greater crown upon our head
than the ornament of grace, he says here. Hear the instruction
of the Father, and forsake not the law of thy mother, for they
shall be an ornament of grace unto thy neck, or an ornament
of grace to thy head. What greater ornament of grace
than the crown of righteousness purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ?
What greater chain around our neck with the righteousness of
God found in Jesus Christ? We hear his voice and we're kept
by him. I love that he doesn't, he doesn't
encourage us. He doesn't say, if you want to
hear the words of the father, he says, my son, hear the words
of the father. It's not our faithfulness. It's
him. He has crowned his people. He's robed them, put a ring on
their finger. This is what the fear of the Lord has taught.
us, the Lord's people. He is God. Salvation is of the
Lord, and it is finished. Amen. Let's pray. Father, like the prodigal, we
would find ourself with the hogs if you leave us to ourself. Lord,
this is the fear that you've taught us. We are afraid of being
left to ourself. But Lord, we hope in your promises
that there is forgiveness with you, that you would never leave
us or forsake us, and that all that the Father gave you will
come to you. Calls us to come right now. Come to Christ. In his name we pray, amen.