Thank you. Oh, it really is a tremendous
joy to be with you this morning. I just want to start by saying a
deep thank you to Doctor Mark Job for the opportunity to open
God's Word with you. And the last time I was here at
Moody on the premises was two years ago for a student
leadership event. And I was really blessed by
that. And one of the reasons why I was
blessed by that was because we had the chance to explore a
topic together, discussion, one that changed my life, one that
may not be popular today, but is very popular in the scriptures.
The fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord.
And my time is limited today. So I, I want to get straight
into it and follow up on that message, on the fear of the
Lord, a Part 2 if you will. And there needs to be no need to
worry if you weren't there. This is a standalone message.
It will apply just as much. Specifically, I want to speak to
you about some of the blessings that flow from this fountain
called the fear of the Lord. In Isaiah 11 verse three, we are
told of the Messiah, the perfect servant of Yahweh, who would
delight in the fear of the Lord. Later in that same book, in
Isaiah 33 verse six, we are told that the fear of the Lord is
Zion's treasure. I'm not sure how many people
today would equate the light and treasure with the fear of the
Lord, but the Bible does. The Bible does.
And again, I wish I had the time with you today to unpack what
the fear of the Lord is and how it is totally relevant to the
New Covenant. And though we can't exhaustively
look into that, just in case there may be hesitations
initially, just by even hearing that phrase, the fear of the
Lord, I want to make just a couple of brief comments that
will hopefully bring down any walls to this glorious truth
that has been made available to us in the New Covenant.
Often times we hear that and we think it's just a Old Testament
concept, but here are two things that I want to just make mention
before we touch on just some of these gems, these rubies, these
pieces of gold and silver for the soul that comes from this
treasure chest known as the fear of the Lord #1 The Bible
emphatically declares that the fear of God is an essential
component to the New Covenant. In Jeremiah 3240, the prophet
declares of an everlasting covenant to come, one that God
would honor. And he says in that verse that
he will not turn away from doing good to those in that covenant.
And then he follows it up with this.
After saying that there is coming an everlasting covenant.
I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they may not
turn from me. And that is why when you visit
the New Testament and you read faithfully through those books,
you'll see this, this idea of the fear of the Lord sprinkled
throughout. And so Peter says in first Peter
117 And for those who call on God as Father, that's the basis
of what he's about to say. For those who call on, we call
on God as Father. In Christ.
We've been adopted in Christ, we've been redeemed in Christ,
we have right standing before God.
We've been justified by faith. And Peter says for those who
call on God as Father, who does not judge impartially but will
judge according to each one's deeds.
He goes on to say, conduct yourselves in fear for the rest
of your exile. And then you come to the end of
the book, You come to the conclusion of this glorious
divine library, and you read something interesting at a
critical juncture of the Tribulation period.
In Revelation chapter 14, we were told that there will be an
Angel in verse 6, an Angel who will proclaim the eternal
gospel. And John was very specific.
He didn't just say gospel. He wants to be no confusion.
The eternal gospel, the gospel that has been foreordained, that
has been foreknown from eternity past, the gospel that has been
prophesied by a roster of faithful prophets under the Old
Covenant. The gospel that has been
preached by the apostles, the foundation, their doctrine, be
the foundation of the church. The gospel that I pray saved
your soul, the one that you relish in and you can sing
about, the one that you have tasted, and through tasting
you've seen that the Lord is good.
That gospel, the eternal gospel, at some point will be proclaimed
by this heavenly creature to all nations, all tribes.
And then in verse 7 of Revelation 14, we're told of the
first words that will come out of the mouth of this Angel,
being prepared and knowing that it will be the eternal gospel.
And he says this fear God and give him glory.
Fear God, fear God. How is that related to this
gospel of grace? Well, evidently they're
harmonious. Evidently they don't cancel each
other out. Evidently there is something
that the Lord deposits in the heart of the redeemed soul that
causes it to fear God. Here's my second point.
Although it is impossible to deny the presence and the
evidence and the relevance of the fear of the Lord, yes, even
in the new Covenant, it is very possible to miss define it.
And I wish we can again spend time discussing what the fear of
God is not. And I wish we can spend the next
hour or two to collect all the verses, as many verses as
possible, to get the clearest picture of what the Holy Spirit
means in His Word when He calls us to fear God.
But I just want to present to you one verse, just one verse
that I believe provides a general grasp of what it means
to fear the Lord. And I invite you, if you have a
copy of God's Word in your hand, to meet me in Psalm 33 and verse
8. Psalm 33, verse 8, Let all the
earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of Him. Here we have Hebrew parallelism
at work. And in Hebrew poetry, especially
when it's synonymous parallelism, the author is not
interested like we might be in the English speaking world with
rhyming words. He's interested in rhyming
thoughts. And how that works here is that
you want to say something in two different ways.
Meaning in the first line here we have a statement declared,
let all the earth fear the Lord. And how this works is that the
second line will essentially say the same thing with slight
variations. And the purpose of that and, and
the fruit of that is that the second line often will bring
greater clarity to the first statement or it will bring a
fuller picture to the teaching that is being conveyed in that
breath or in that Psalm. And so with that rule in mind,
what we see here is in verse 8, the fear of the Lord in great
part is equated with standing in awe of him.
Let all the earth fear the Lord. And here's the mirroring
statement. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of him. Awe is a complex emotion.
And I argue that it's an appropriate word to try to
understand this fear, because this fear is complex in itself.
It's a combination of convictions.
It is a mingling of feelings. It includes wonder.
It includes this high honor and holy reverence.
It includes this continual awareness of the majesty of God
and all His splendor and all His excellencies that would even in
a healthy way, bring a redeemed creature to tremble.
It even includes this intense devotion to God, one that would
stimulate the shunning of absolutely anything that would
grieve the very one that we esteem so highly, the fear of
the Lord. And when we understand those
characteristics of this fear, and when you study in depth what
this fear entails, then verses like Psalm 130, verse 4 make a
little bit more sense. Where you read with you there is
forgiveness that you may be feared.
Hold on for a second. Oh my God, Mount Sinai, I get
it. Lightning, smoke, rumbling law.
I get it. Tremble, awe, forgiveness.
But with you there is forgiveness.
Why? That you may be feared.
Yeah. You can stand in awe at the
grace of God. The grace of God should cause
you to fear God. See.
How does that work? Well, when I consider the
holiness of God, the brilliance of God, the purity of God, and
then I take my eyes and plant them on Calvary, and I see the
love of God, the justice and mercy of God, kissing the wisdom
of God, as Paul called it, should I not tremble?
Oh, should I not tremble when I come to the table with those
elements and I realized what that bread and what that cup
signify, the great price of redemption?
Should I not invoke in me a fear?
What a mighty God, what a glorious God, what a powerful
God, what a price that has been paid for my soul.
With you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.
In case what I presented to you as an introduction did not
satisfy potential confusion or hesitation to grasp this, if you
would take from this place a spark, if there's a spark in
your belly, I encourage you to journey into this and begin at a
critical place that will help you clarify this further.
Take this as a nugget, Exodus 20, verse 20, where Moses as a
mediator in the Old covenant faces the people of Israel who
have just experienced this manifestation of the glory of
God. And he calls this people to not
fear. Check it out for yourself.
I don't have time to look into it, but check it out for
yourself in Exodus 2020 where he tells the Israelites, do not
fear. OK, that's good.
Do not fear, for the Lord has come to test you to see if the
fear of Him is in you. Oh wait, you just told me not to
fear, and now you're telling me to fear?
Oh, which one isn't? Well, obviously there are two
types of fear. God is interested in one, and he
wants you to reject the other. This fear doesn't cause you to
cower. This fear doesn't cause you to
be a slave, to shrink from Him. Moses declares that this fear
compels you, it keeps you close. And may I say this fear causes
you to be afraid to be away from Him.
Don't fear. God has come to test you, to see
if the fear of Him is in you. So there is a fear, there is a
love, a perfect love that casts out fear, and then there is a
love that strengthens another one, fear of God.
What are some of the blessings of fearing God?
My time is running short. I want to give you 3.
Don't tempt me by saying that I want to give you 3.
Oh there are so many, I want to just give you 3.
Life altering because this is more than just an emotion that
might come to you in a spontaneous moment of worship or
revelation. This fear of God is meant to be
embedded. It's meant to be a frame of
mind. It's meant to control you and
guide you until you finally see the one that you have feared
along your pilgrimage. Where is the first time the
expression fear of God is mentioned in the Bible?
I'm not talking about an example of it.
I'm not talking about an illustration of it.
I'm talking about the first time this expression fear of God is
mentioned in Holy Scripture. You might be surprised where it
is. Turn your Bibles with me to
Exodus or excuse me, Genesis chapter 20 and verse 11.
Abraham is in a land called Garrar, and Abraham upon the
scene is very fearful. He he observes something that
causes him to lie about his wife.
She's not my wife, she's my sister.
Throw your wife under the bus like that.
So Abimelech take Sarah as his wife, and God visits him in a
dream and he tells him you're a dead man.
She's not supposed to be yours. She belongs to someone else.
Abimelech claims his innocence. He's fearful.
God confirms his innocence, and Abu Malik wakes up very early
and makes things right. He tells his servants they're
afraid, and finally they bring Abraham.
And it's so funny. In that very chapter, we're told
that Abraham is a prophet. So Abraham is now brought under
investigation. And Abu Malik asks Abraham, hey,
listen, you put us in a very dangerous position.
Why did you lie to us? Why is it that you did this?
You put me in a very compromising state.
And here is Abraham's explanation.
And it's the first time the phrase fear of God appears in
the Scriptures. Abraham said, I did it because I
thought there is No Fear of God at all in this place and they
will kill me because of my wife. I did it because I thought there
is No Fear of God at all in this place.
And so I lied. How ironic.
The man who observed that this place did not fear God himself,
did not fear God. To think about it, you lied, you
feared man. And if there's anybody here in
the story who truly feared God, it was the Pagan king.
Because when God told him you're not, you're not supposed to be
with this woman, he said I'm getting rid of her, I'm obeying
you. So you have a prophet according
here to verse 7, who's telling this Pagan king?
You and your people evidently don't fear God.
At least I observed that. So I had to lie.
And here's a man who obviously didn't fear God.
Because when you fear God, you won't fear man.
The fear of God cancels every other fear.
Isaiah 812 Let him be your fear, let him be your dread.
Don't worry about all these conspiracies, Israel, Judah
specifically. Don't worry about all these
nations that are conspiring against you.
Just keep your eyes and you're on God.
But Abraham's not totally wrong in this, at least in his
analysis, at least in his commentary.
I find it quite fascinating that the first time the expression
fear of God is mentioned in the Bible, the Holy Spirit relates
it to the potential loss of self-control in the area of
sexuality. I did it because I thought there
is No Fear of God at all in this place and they will kill me
because of my wife Abraham. You're not wrong there.
When you remove the fear of God from a person's life, when you
remove the fear of God from society, it becomes now the
grounds for much immorality. Here's my first blessing that I
want to present to you, and I'm going to hurry up here.
Number one, the fear of God is a deterrent against sexual
immorality. The fear of God is a deterrent
against sexual immorality. When a man has this awe of God,
realize that it's not just a theological understanding, it
impacts the soul. Let me say this way, the fear of
God fulfills you, you know, and wanting us to pursue holiness
and people even wanting others to pursue holiness.
There's a lot of emphasis on behaving.
Behave, behave, behave, behave. Yes, there are clear
exhortations of what we should do and what we should not do.
But I think about Paul and meditating on this truth.
I think about Paul who said something in 2nd Corinthians 318
where he says beholding the glory of God being transformed
in the same image. And this comes from the Spirit
who is the Lord. So Paul gives us a secret, how
we are conformed, how we are transformed.
And it's not by putting the cart before the horse.
You can tell people to behave all you want, let them pound
their heads against it. But Paul says you got to learn
how to behold. You got to learn how to behold,
and then when you behold, you'll be transformed and the behavior
will follow. Let's return to the practice of
beholding, beholding the glory of God.
Then as a result, I am transformed.
And so when I see Him and all that He is in his, in his
accurate description as provided here in the Scriptures, there's
something that takes place within.
I'm mesmerized. I'm drawn to Him.
I realize also that in Psalm 25 it says that the friendship of
the Lord is for those who fear Him.
And so you can't have intimacy with God unless you first fear
God. You can't know depths of
knowledge of Him in a personal way unless you have that
foundation set. And when you experience Him in
that place, oh, it satisfies. He who was full loads, honey.
But to him who is hungry, everything bitter is sweet.
He who is full loads honey. Look, I had breakfast today.
I'm hoping to eat later on, but I've had plenty of breakfast is
where I'm so full I don't eat till much later in the day.
And let's just presume today was one of those days and I walked
by a buffet and there is those aromas and there's those colors
of the different cakes. Whatever it may be, I can tell
you confidently because of what I ate that morning, I can walk
by that and not even give it a glance.
Why? Because I'm already filled with
a different substance. I am already full.
I loathe it. I don't need it.
Not saying that you don't experience temptation, but all
it gives you the strength to soar above it.
Why? Because I see him and I know him
and I'm drawn closer to Him and it does something to my soul.
I can say more about that because sexual sin today, not in
the world, even in the church, has become a Goliath type sin.
And what we're hearing and seeing more than anything else
is people like the Israelites of that time shaking and cowering
behind the hills thinking who's going to take this giant down?
It's possible not in your own strength, but by the grace of
God who infuses in you the ability through a fear of him
that causes you to be able to look at sin and say, I don't
want you. Let's move forward here.
Let's try to do this turn with me to Genesis 22.
I want to bring you to the second blessing and fearing the
Lord Abraham again, you know this story very well.
Verse one after these things God tested Abraham and said to him,
Abraham, and he said, here I am. He said, take your son, your
only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and
offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains
of which I shall tell you I love this.
Verse 3. So Abraham rose early in the
morning. He didn't wait, he didn't sleep
in that day. God gave me instruction, I'm
going to obey it. He didn't press the snooze
button. He rose early.
And interestingly enough, the geographical location shows us
here that it was a three day journey.
God gave Abraham time to think about it.
You just imagine this, here's this man, very old, waiting for
this promise of a son. The promise comes and here he is
now relishing in that promise, making memories with that
promise. So much hope and future for the
descendants of his own seed through this promise.
And God one night says, I want you to give him up.
Abraham doesn't debate, he doesn't argue.
He rises early, he goes and I love this in verse 5.
Then Abraham said to his young men as they arrived to the
location, Stay here with the donkey.
I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to
you. Worship.
This is worship. Finally.
Now for the sake of time Abraham has his son lay there a
wonderful picture of Christ. And in verse 12 we read as the
Angel of the Lord intervenes after this man that has this
knife in the air. Verse 12, he said do not lay
your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now.
I know that you fear God seeing you have not withheld your son,
your only son from me. When you read this, you have to
compare. You have to always remember,
have I seen this before? And yes, it's not too far back.
A very similar statement was made in the introduction of this
chapter. Notice he says here, I know that
you fear God seeing that you have not withheld your son, your
only son for me. Go back to verse two.
He said take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go
to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering.
Noticing the identification of Isaac in verse 12, the Angel of
the Lord omits something that he introduced in verse 2.
In verse 12 we read here it says the son, your son do not with.
You have not withheld your son, your only son from me.
In verse two he says your son, your only son whom you love.
He didn't include that in verse 12.
Do you know why? Because Abraham proved to God
that he loved God more than Isaac, that's why.
And he says you've passed the test.
Now I know you fear me. There's a marriage between
loving God and fearing God. If I'll say it this way, you
can't know true love for God, greater maturity and love of God
and for God without this fear. Blessing #2 The fear of God
keeps the blessing of God in its proper place.
We are very good at taking the blessings of God and loving
those more than God himself. Isaac was a gift and God wanted
to test him. Let me see if you love this
promise more than the promiser. Give him up.
He does, He's willing. God says you've proven yourself.
You fear me. The fear of God causes us to
honor Him as our supreme delight, our supreme joy, our
supreme, supreme source of everything.
It places God where He needs to be, in places, everything else
where they need to be. Eli did not do that.
Eli had two sons, Hofthy and Phineas.
And we're told about Hofthy and Phineas who were priests in the
Tabernacle. This is this is minute.
These are ministers and the Holy Spirit says they were worthless
men. You know why they were
worthless? The same verse says because they
did not know the Lord. You can be in ministry and not
know the Lord. You can study theology with all
those letters by your name and still not know God.
They were worthless men because they did not know the Lord.
And all these sins that were coming to Eli's attention and he
just a light tap on the wrist, He did not deal with it
adequately. Finally, an unnamed prophet
comes in First Samuel 229 and tells Eli of the consequences of
his sin. He proclaims it faithfully and
he says this. For you have honored your sons
above me. You have honored your sons above
me. So here we go.
We have Abraham, who has the son as a result of a promise,
Abraham, a faithful man, Abraham with no great explanation to
give up his son, and he does so to win the smile of God.
And then you have this other man, Eli, with two sons,
worthless men, disobedient, deserving of chastisement, and
he's not willing to let go of his sons as he should because he
didn't want to bring them to shame.
You've honored your sons above me.
The fear of God will help you honor God above everybody else.
It keeps the blessing of God in their proper place.
If we're not careful, we'll be like the Israelites.
How do they make the golden calf in the wilderness?
Where do they get it? They had one night to leave.
Well, remember when they left, they took the the jewelry of the
Egyptians. And God had in mind that that
jewelry would be used. For what?
Why? So they can look bougie in the
desert? No, because he had a House of
worship in mind that would require that material, an ark of
the covenant, a tent with specific prophetic instruments
and furnishings, and what was meant for the House of worship.
They turn into a golden calf. We could take the blessing of
God and make them in something that they should not be.
Lastly, blessing #3 Leviticus. Leviticus.
Yes, Leviticus chapter 19. This is going to be fast
forwarded version verse 14. Leviticus 19, verse 14, This is
the holiness code for the nation of Israel.
And here we have these sporadic different commands and this
one's caught my attention, He says in Leviticus 1914, you
shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the
blind, but you shall fear your God.
I am the Lord. God's command here is greater
than just the Israelites not being cruel toward the disabled.
This in principle is a command that deals with taking advantage
of a sinful situation because you believe that you will go
unnoticed. If I take something from a blind
person, it's much easier as it not.
If I am my frustration curse somebody who's deaf in my
presence, you get away with it a lot easier, right?
Here's what the Lord is saying, knowing that that would be a
temptation of the people. The blind may not see you, the
deaf may not hear you, but I do so fear me.
Blessing #3 The fear of God provides an unbroken sense of
accountability. The fear of God provides an
unbroken sense of accountability.
There's a lot of talk about accountability.
I think it's important. I've heard it all my Christian
life, a lot of talk about community.
I think communities is huge. I encourage every single one of
you to be a committed member of a local church and to have
people that you do life with. Absolutely, there are a lot of
strategies of how to deal with a variety of sins, but I don't
think they're sufficient. I believe we've left out
something that is so important and that is the fear of the Lord
because your accountability partner won't be able to go with
you on every single business trip when you're in that hotel
room by yourself. Your elders won't be with you in
your room as you file your taxes.
Your teachers are not going to be over your shoulder as you're
browsing the Internet. But you know what will be there?
The fear of God. The fear of God is your greatest
accountability partner. Why?
Because when you understand who He is and all his nature and all
his power, you realize that he's all seeing, all knowing.
I think of Joseph. You've heard this a million
times. Let me present to you a million
and one. Here's this man away from his
home. Here's this man away from his
family. Here's this man away from people
who worship the true God. Here's this man in Potiphar's
house and his wife is throwing herself at him.
It's one thing to be tempted as you look on something or
someone. It's another thing when the
person presents itself to you persistently.
And here's this young man, we're told he was handsome.
He was, he was goodly shaped. And there he is.
And day after day, he's resisting and he's resisting.
And I can't help but be moved every time I stumble upon that
story because this man was able to resist pre infilling of the
Holy Spirit, pre law on Mount Sinai.
How is this man be able to say no to something that most people
would give in to? He could have gotten away with
it. They could have kept it a
secret. Finally he says to her, how can
I do this great evil against God?
That's the fear of God and it's your greatest accountability
partner. I love my God.
I know my God. I I these promises that I've
enjoyed in God. Second Corinthians 7 one, Since
we have these promises, let us bring holiness to completion in
the fear of God. What's my motivation to stay in
the fear of God? The promises, these promises.
Why would I let go of these promises for a cheap thrill?
I'm not, and I'm so close to my God.
I've inherited so much from my God that I refuse to give myself
to something that is inferior to the joys and the ecstasies that
He gives me. Oh, I can tell you today about
how again the fear of the Lord leads into friendship with the
Lord. I could tell you how the fear of
the Lord according to Romans 11 drains the heart from pride.
I could tell you how the fear of the Lord according to
Ecclesiastes 7 liberates people from legalism.
Yes, the fear of God liberates you from legalism.
I can tell you how the fear of God according to the Psalms
promises the assurance of God's providential leading in your
life. But time does not suffice.
All my prayer is in this place is that you would leave here
with the Psalm 8611 cry where David prayed.
Unite my heart to fear your name.
We pray fear away. Get this rid.
Yes, you have every right to, but let me tell you the secret
to squashing every other fear, the fear of him.
Unite my heart. My heart is prone to wander,
Lord, I fear it. So anchor it in your fear.
Help me see you and behold, you know you.
Peel away these layers of the flesh that make me casual around
you. That's my prayer.
Moody Bible Institute students, faculty, and everybody in
between. Staff, fear the Lord your God
and watch the blessings flow. Let's pray.
Lord, we stand in awe of you today.
Our hearts are moved by the revelation of your awe.
Oh Lord, we just pray that prayer that David prayed.
Lord, we know that this is a secret, a secret to longevity,
to fostering integrity, to unlocking fruitfulness as people
are being trained here for ministry, leadership, missions.
Lord, help us have this fear. Thank you that it's a grace that
we receive in the gospel, but it's a grace like many other
graces that needs to be nurtured and protected.
So we pray, Lord, that if that fear is there, may it grow,
Lord, If it's not, there may be birthed.
And Lord, may this place produce ministry, ministry leaders,
ministers who undeniably fear the Lord.
This is our prayer and our heart cry.
Maybe not just for this moment, but maybe a perpetual plea.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
It was a great joy and an honor. I've been told to tell you that
you're dismissed. God bless you.