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welcome to everyone for our call to worship you can turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation Revelation chapter 19 Revelation chapter 19 i'll read verses 11 to 16 now I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war his eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns he had a name written that no one knew except himself he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God and the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean followed him on white horses now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword and that with it he should strike the nation's and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron he himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God and he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written king of kings and Lord of lords amen will please turn in your Trinity hymnal to him number 136 hymn number 136 will stand as we sing together [Music] Amen well let us pray our Blessed God and our holy father it's a joy and a privilege to gather in your house again on the Sabbath day we acknowledge that you made us for this purpose to worship and to glorify and to honor you and you made the Lord's Day for us as well it's a blessed gift we get to come from out of the world we get to gather together with our great God and with the people of God and in this we greatly rejoice and we pray that tonight you would be exalted and praised and glorified as we sing as we pray as we look to Holy Scripture we asked that the Holy Spirit would guide us and direct us so that we may indeed worship you in spirit and in truth you are worthy to be praised and worthy to be glorified and God we thank you for the sending of your son the Lord Jesus Christ apart from him as our mediator we can never approach to a holy God we thank you for his offices as prophet priest and gang we thank you that he answers to everything that we need and how we thank you that you are both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in our Lord Jesus Christ we acknowledge Lord God your grace that taught our hearts to fear we acknowledge your grace that provided the gifts of faith and repentance we know God it was not a possible for us as dead sinners to exercise saving faith but you raised us up you made us alive you gave us all that we stood in need of and you have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ and in this we greatly rejoice we ask that tonight you would encourage our hearts she would instruct us from your word that you would conform us more and more unto the image of the Lord Jesus Christ that you would send us into this workweek send us into this world with a desire to shine as lights in a in a crooked and perverse generation and grant us courage and boldness and grace and strength to hold forth your word of truth or certainly the Apostle Peter tells us that we need to always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us that certainly presupposes that we will be a hope filled people it presupposes that persons will ask us about that hope and may we indeed with meekness and fear give the answer that scripture sets forth that Christ and him crucified is the way of salvation that he alone is our hope he is our our Savior and our champion and our friend and our Father we pray that you would look with favor upon this congregation do forgive us for our sins and our transgressions not only as individuals but corporately we know that the church we know that the people that make up the church are called to live in holiness and in righteousness and in compliance with your law we confess our transgressions to you and we pray that you would cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ we always stand amazed at that blessed promise in the Apostle John that if we confess our sins you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness so we confess now to you who trusting believing in the forgiveness of sins wrought out by our Lord Jesus Christ we pray for those who are unsaved tonight we pray that tonight would be the time of salvation that they would hear the word of truth by the power of the Spirit of Truth and they would come to embrace the Living truth the one who said I am the way the truth and the life that no man comes to the Father except through him we pray that today sinners would be saved by your grace and for your glory and that the Saints would be more and more conformed unto the image of Jesus Christ we pray for other churches in our community we thank you for them we pray that you would bless them we pray that they would know the nearness of God as their good and that their preachers their pastors would faithfully proclaim your truth and that sinners would be saved and the people of God made more holy we pray for this nation as a whole God we ask that your churches would indeed be a people that that pray and that that that think your thoughts after you and that that seek to intercede on behalf of the various aspects of wickedness that do prevail in our land it does look like days in which Isaiah prophesied when men call good evil and evil good and it's not just Canada it's not just the United States its nations throughout the earth we know lord god almighty that the nations Rubel they they plot vain things they oppose you they oppose your Christ and certainly there is nothing new Under the Sun so we pray for an outpouring of your holy spirit we pray for churches that the people of God would be would be zealous and desirous to evangelize and engage in world missions and we pray for those who are dead in their trespasses and sins that they would be awakened by the preaching of the gospel through the power of your Holy Spirit we ask that you'd be gracious and merciful to the Hamiltons in China we ask that you'd be gracious and merciful to those house churches in China we know it's a difficult thing to be a true believer in that land and we pray that nevertheless they would persevere by your grace and for your glory we pray for the nation of India and we know that there is great religious persecution against the people of God there and we do pray that you'd uphold your Saints that you would give them the grace of perseverance and Lord God even in the midst of such trials may the gospel continue to be continued to run swiftly and be glorified we pray this for every nation under under heaven we pray that Christ would indeed have dominion from sea to sea we pray that men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation would come to Zion by the grace of God through the the means of our Lord Jesus Christ and would indeed worship the God of heaven and earth we ask now that you would continue with us we ask that you would be praised and glorified and we ask these things through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well please turn with me again in your Trinity hymnal to number 454 454 will stand as we sing together [Music] [Applause] [Music] well you can turn in your Bibles to the prophet Jonah we're in Jonah chapter 2 last week when I introduced the book we can essentially break down the book in its four chapters chapter one deals with Jonah's flight from God God gave him a specific mission and Jonah ran from God the chopped' chapter two is his rescue by God third his mission for God and then fourthly his anger with God so last time we found that Jonah had been cast into the sea and we'll pick up reading in Chapter 1 at verse 17 now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights then Jonah prayed to the Lord is God from the fish's belly and he said I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction and he answered me out of the belly of Sheol I cried and you heard my voice for you cast me into the deep into the heart of the Seas and the floods surrounded me all your billows and your waves passed over me then I said I have been cast out of your sight yet I will look again toward your holy temple the water surrounded me even to my soul the deep closed around me weeds were wrapped around my head I went down to the moorings of the mountains the earth with its bars closed behind me forever yet you have brought up my life from the pit o Lord my God when my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord and my prayer went up to you into your holy temple those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy but I will sacrifice to you with the voice of Thanksgiving I will pay what I have vowed salvation is of the Lord so the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land amen just a couple of observations here in the first place we ought to appreciate the amazing grace of God remember in Chapter 1 God calls Jonah to us specific mission and instead of embracing that mission Jonah runs the other way and yet when we read in verse one of chapter 2 then Jonah prayed to the Lord as God and he says I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction and he answered me that's the God whom we serve I'm not suggesting we run from God we flee from God or we resist God but we'll find that if we are truly connected to God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that even when we do the Lord God never the last years and never let less answers and then we see specifically Jonah's ascription to god of his power alone in the salvation of sinners he says I will sacrifice and verse 9 to you with the voice of Thanksgiving I will pay what I have vowed salvation is of the Lord now certainly in this particular instance Jonah faced quite a calamitous situation in the depths of the sea the whale or the great fish was prepared to save Jonah Jonah would have and some suggest that he did in fact drowned and was dead and then he was swallowed up by this great fish so the fish was the vehicle of God's salvation to deliver Jonah to the shore and Jonah ascribed salvation to God alone this is a recurring theme throughout Scripture salvation in the temporal sense when it comes to drowning in the depths of the sea or salvation in the eternal sense or spiritual sense when it comes to drowning in the depths of our own sin and depravity the Saints on high in the book of Revelation take this theme and they ascribe it to God Most High and to the Lamb who sits upon the throne salvation belongs to our God and to the lamb who sits upon the throne the whole debate between what's called Arminianism and Calvinism could be quickly answered by an appeal to the prophet Jonah and to the Saints on high in the book of Revelation salvation truly is from first to last and in the middle of God most high and in that we greatly rejoice will let us pray our Father we thank you for salvation we thank you for the many many times that you no doubt have delivered us from great temporal ruin but most of all we thank you and we praise you for delivering us from eternal ruin we thank you for the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for your great grace we see in Scripture and we see in our own lives that when men cry to you out of affliction and out of deep distress you bend your ear toward them you hear the prayers of your people and you come to their aid into their rescue may this encourage us to be a prayerful people may this encourage us to be a dependent people a people dependent upon their great God and their Savior and we thank you for these mercies through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well for our final him before the preaching you can turn to 631 631 again will stand as we sing together [Music] proverbs chapter 1 we introduced the book last week by simply focusing on verse one in light of first Kings chapter three Proverbs of Solomon the son of David king of Israel so we looked at first Kings chapter three to see the credentials of the man who instructs us in terms of God's wisdom and certainly solemn was in fact the wisest man on the face of the earth only outdone and outshined by that greater than Solomon even our Lord Jesus Christ and so tonight we'll look at the purpose of the Book of Proverbs in verses 2 to 7 beginning in verse 1 notice we read the Proverbs of Solomon the son of David king of Israel to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding to receive the instruction of wisdom justice judgment and equity to give prudence to the simple to the young man knowledge and discretion a wise man will hear an increase learning and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel to understand a proverb and and an enigma the words of the wise and their riddles the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction amen let us pray father thank you for the written word of the Living God thank you for Solomon and thank you for the greater than Solomon even our Lord Jesus Christ that one in whom is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and how we thank you that you sent him to die for us and to rise again and as well to instruct us by the word of truth and we pray tonight that is the Prophet Christ rules and reigns at the right hand of the Father we would know by the spirit what the Word of God has for us tonight may these things strengthen us may these things conform us more unto the image of our beloved Savior and God we do pray for our children is one of the primary focuses of the book is to instruct little ones in the fear of the Lord taught I pray that you'd open ears and open heart that you had guide us by the spirit and we pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well as I said last week when we looked at Solomon in first Kings chapter three God indeed answered his prayer when God asked him what is it that you want Solomon Solomon didn't ask for riches he didn't ask for wives he didn't ask for cars or houses or summer homes rather he asked for wisdom and this petition pleased God God indeed endowed him with a great deal of wisdom in fact first Kings three first Kings four first Kings can tell us and describe for us the kind of wisdom that Solomon had this is certainly a book the bulk of which are indeed the Proverbs of Solomon some other contributions as well but the bulk of the book is indeed the the Proverbs of Solomon as well the book of Ecclesiastes most except that he indeed wrote the book of Ecclesiastes and there again he evidences a great deal of wisdom so Solomon the son of David the king of Israel has given us this particular book and the purpose is stated in verses 2 to 6 and then the prerequisite for proverbs has stated to 4 in verse 7 in other words we have the purpose and then we have what is sort of a principle part or a foundational issue or something that is absolutely necessary a prerequisite to a rightful reception of the Proverbs and that is found in verse 7 but note in the first place in terms of the purpose the general purpose is specified here in verses 2 and 3 to know wisdom and instruction that is the goal that God has for us as his people we bear the image of God we're studying Genesis in our Bible study on Wednesday evening and in the creation account there's only one entity that does bear the image of God there is only one creature that is in the image of God and that is man and one aspect of the image of God in man is rationality certainly animals the lower animals they all breathe and they have circulatory systems and they eat food and they expel waste and they do the same sorts of things that man does but man bears the image of God man has a rational capacity that the animals do not animals function by instinct man functions by discursive learning by the reception of a knowledge and by putting those things into practice and God calls us specifically in the commandment to love him with all our heart with all our soul with all of our mind and with all of our strength and so the saw the book of Proverbs is addressed to us so that we will know wisdom and instruction secondly we are to perceive the words of understanding in other words note knowledge perception and then reception according to verse 3 to receive the instruction of wisdom one man describes wisdom this way it means generally masterful understanding skill or expertise we might say very simply that wisdom is taking the knowledge that one possesses and applying it with reference to specific concrete situations it's the art of living properly wisdom is absolutely necessary for us to conduct ourselves in a proper sense before God and before our fellow men without wisdom we are going to be those who are unfortunate at the very least now notice the judicial purpose it's not only got this general overarching purpose in terms of knowing wisdom and instruction perceiving words of understanding and receiving the instruction of wisdom but note in verse three to receive the instruction of wisdom and then he says justice judgment and equity remember that Solomon is a king and one of the primary aspects are one of the primary focuses of the book is that he addresses his sons remember that Solomon was a dynastic king he was one who succeeded his father David and likewise his sons would succeed him and take their rightful positions upon the throne so not only is it principles for spiritual things for ethical things and for practical things it's also applicable in the civil spear and Solomon highlights this on several occasions of the book they're highlights this on several occasions this is in fact a book of insights from the royal court notice in chapter 14 just to show an evidence this civil application of the book of Proverbs notice in proverbs 14 verse 34 we read that famous statement that righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people proverbs 16 at verse 12 it is an abomination for Kings to commit wickedness for a throne is established by righteousness now I point this out because I think at times as the people of God we forget that our Lord taught us to pray that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven now his will in heaven is not abortion clinics it's not euthanasia it's not sodomy when we see those sorts of things rampant among us we ought to pray first and foremost that God would save our civil leaders I think this is the emphasis by Paul in 1st Timothy chapter 2 but as well we ought to pray that he would remove the godless civil leaders the Lord God is sovereign in fact Christ speaking as wisdom in proverbs chapter 8 chapter 8 at verse 13 says by me Kings reign so if a king is reigning poorly we ought to go to the one by whom they reign and ask him to remove them now I'm not suggesting he removed them via car accidents or some other unfortunate or unsavory way but that he does remove them through the lawful process of votes and whatnot or if he does deemed to remove them in some others unsavory way we ought to see the connection between wicked leaders and the nation as well notice in 1770 she's not becoming to a fool much less lying lips to a prince now there's certainly a text that basically has no application in the modern political scheme we we expect politicians to lie don't we I mean that's just their job that's how they're defined that's a characteristic or an attribute well that ought not to be the way that it is he says excellent speech is not becoming to a fool much less lying lit to a prince notice in proverbs 25 five proverbs 25 five will investigate this whole matter of the civil government or civil magistrate more detail as we move through Solomon school but again just to show show you that these are in fact insights from the royal court just a sampling a passages here notice in twenty five five take away the wicked from before the king and his throne will be established in righteousness again others highlight that reality there's this general purpose and there's this judicial purpose involved in the book of Proverbs now notice secondly in terms of the purpose the audience addressed the audience addressed is very comprehensive it's very extensive the Lord Solomon or God invites us to solemn in school irregardless or rather regardless of our particular state or position or our lot in life notice in chapter one at verse four after highlighting the the purpose specifically he addresses the parties and he says to give prudence to the simple that's an invitation to all of us oh yeah I'm not simple okay then you're gonna be addressed later because you're the wise or the man of understanding but God invites the simple to Solomon school isn't that a good thing it's not a wonderful thing he doesn't say stay in your simplicity now he doesn't expect everybody be a PhD he doesn't expect everybody to split the atom he doesn't expect everybody to be Plato or Aristotle or Socrates or the Apostle Paul or he doesn't expect that but if your simple you ought to take yourself to the Word of God Solomon's school will make wise the simple the psalmist rejoices in the Word of God on that very / for that very reason Psalm 19 in psalm 119 the psalmist says the law of Yahweh makes wise this simple and God through his word invites the simple to Solomon school now notice secondly the young verse 4 to give prudence to the simple to the young man knowledge and discretion listen to John Gill with reference to this statement concerning the young he says this book will teach him young the knowledge of things moral civil and religious to think and act to write how to behave and conduct himself wisely and discreetly before men and be a means of forming his mind but times or early for piety and religion and of furnishing him with rules for his deportment on future life in all the periods of it and in whatsoever state and condition he may come into lords children young people read the book of Proverbs parents take the book of Proverbs and educate your young people this is a great great book of practical wisdom given by inspiration of God most died for the furnishing of young minds with that intellectual equipment that will fit them for life before God and others matthew henry makes the observation youth is the learning age you know that old saying you can't teach an old dog new tricks there's legitimacy to that but you can teach young dogs a whole host of tricks it's just the way God made them it's just the way God formed it it's just the way God rolls if I can be so crass youth is the learning age catches that instructions and retains what is then received it is therefore of great consequence that the mind be then seasoned well nor can it receive a better tincture than from Solomon's proverbs now perhaps it's important for us and as I said in our study in Solomon's school we will investigate more thoroughly the civil magistrate its function its role its power its what it's supposed to be about but but brethren especially as Christian parents today we ought to be educating our children with the Word of God because of the encroaching state because of government education because of the indoctrination that is more often than not the case we are dealing with young people today that are being programmed to be great citizens for the liberal state and if we as parents do not take seriously the religious instruction of our children they will not be in a good and happy place if they continually suck in the pablum that the state gives them by way of the authorized dogma that's not a good thing we as the people of God need to counteract in so far as we are able all of those outside and competitive competing interests with reference to the Word of God parents take seriously the admonition of Solomon over and over and over again he says my son my son my son if you are not engaged in regular family worship and you have children may I encourage you to engage in regular family worship may I encourage you that a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children we may not be able to leave silver and gold we may not be able to leave real estate we may not be able to leave you know a mountain of dough but we can leave a godly heritage in the way that we instruct our children this is a mandate from the Word of God and this is something we need to take seriously as parents as Grandparents so the youth and the simple and then as well the wise and the man of understanding in other words the Proverbs of Solomon furnish a great abundance of wisdom not only to educate the young man not only to help the simple to grow into a place where he's not so simple but there's enough in the Solomon Solomon's proverbs to continue to guide the wise man and the man of understanding and I think that this ought to cause us to stand again and marvel at the Grace and the goodness of God charles bridges in his most excellent commentary on the book of proverbs has a footnote with reference to this section he says over the gates of Plato's school Plato was a philosopher you hear Plato kids and don't think clay and chip molding little animals plato was a philosopher and Brigitte says over the gates of Plato school it was written let none who is not geometrician enter but very different is the inscription over these doors of Solomon let the ignorant simple foolish young enter other words Plato says you can only come into my school the fewer out you're already good at geometry you can only come to my school and study if you've if you've met these prerequisites if you've you've satisfied these basic requirements not so with God God says to the simple God says to the ignorant God says to the youth he says come and learn at Solomon's school he said God knows that that's exactly what simple people need God knows that's exactly what the foolish need saw Plato is going to keep people away from the very thing that they need and yet God invites all commerce to Solomon school now note the application of wisdom in verse sex we see not only the purpose of the book but the target audience with reference to the book and then the application of it verse 6 to understand a proverb and an enigma the words of the wise and their riddles there this is the take home this is the practicality of it all you're supposed to be skilled in the knowledge of these things so that you're able to understand so that you can penetrate below the surface so that you're not living as a wise or as a simple rather and foolish and ignorant person but you're able to understand things and you're able to put things into practice that you have learned from the Word of God so that's the purpose of the book of Proverbs now notice secondly the prerequisite for the book of Proverbs verse 7 he says the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and descend instruction now in terms of the function of this verse it's probably not the first proverb it's still connected thematically and linguistically or lexically rather by the words that are employed with the preceding saktia so it's not the case that solomon introduces the purpose of the proverbs introduces who the target audience is and then verse 7 appears as the very first proverb no I think it's more like this it's the foundation stone upon which this book is to be addressed in other words this is they the first principle you may have heard of the word epistemology it has to do with the doctrine or theory of knowledge epistemology is sort of a backdrop to the things that we why do we know or how do we know the very things that we do know and proverbs 1:7 specifically functions epistemologically in other words how do we approach proverbs 1 8 to proverbs 31 well having the fear of Yahweh how do we properly interpret how do we properly receive how do we know and how do we successfully apply these things to our lives as the people of God well it's the fear of the Lord it's the fear of God that suits the soul it's the fear of God that that provides the mind it's the fear of God that provides the proper context by which we understand what Solomon is saying and how we then implement those things in our day-to-day lives now when we see this phrase the fear of the Lord we ought to understand that the fear of the Lord oftentimes in scriptures comes to us in one of two ways there is first a slavish fear and that slavish fear is when we run and we hide from God slavish fear sees who God is fears God in the way that it drives him away when Adam and Eve recognized that they had in fact rebelled against God and they were naked they went they ran and they hid themselves that's a slavish fear of God the fear of God spoken of here by Solomon is a filial fear and that's the way a son relates to his father intriguingly both these types of fear show up in Exodus chapter 20 Exodus 20 Moses said to the people do not fear that's in the slavish sense in other words do not run away from God for God has come to test you and that his fear the filial type of fear may be before you so that you may not sin so he says do not fear do not run from God but rather stay put so that the fear of God may indeed come upon you that fear of God that frames the heart and the mind a right so that one can rightly relate to God Almighty John Murray and his excellent book the principles of conduct sights the fear of God or has an article on the fear of God and there and he describes it as the soul of godly Nath's I've always been struck by that short compass that short statement of identification as to the the primacy of the fear of God it is the soul of godly Ness and then Marie goes on to say the fear of God in us is that frame of heart and mind which reflects our apprehension of who and what God is and who and what God is will tolerate nothing less than total commitment to him so in other words those who have this filial fear of God those who approach God properly have an apprehension of who he is and have an apprehension also of who they are relative to him and that fear of God is the legitimate response that by God's grace we evidence now note before we move on and explore this fear of God in a bit more detail note the contrast in verse 7 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction you know the the book of Proverbs outlines or highlights the way of the righteous to be sure but it also highlights the way of the fool now if in our subsequent sermons on the book of Proverbs you continually find yourself being described as or defined as or your conduct rather is in tune with the fool of proverbs may I encourage you to repent now fool there is not a belittling term about the person's intellect fool in the book of Proverbs has an ethical connotation in other words he's ungodly he's unrighteous there is no fear of God before his eyes he has not the proper orientation he doesn't have the due apprehension of who God is he doesn't have a due apprehension of who he is relative to God and as a result his life is marked by foolishness falling the Bible is not name-calling the Bible is describing two types of man in the book of Proverbs the righteous of the wise and the or the wicked we need to appreciate that reality so as we move through Solomon school if you find more sort of connection with the fool in the book of Proverbs repent and look to the Lord Jesus Christ now let's just sort of amplify this whole idea of the fear of God I want to suggest first of all the fear of God is the legitimate response of the creature to God the fear of God is the legitimate response of the creature to God if you remember this morning the diagram we had sort of the the chain of being in terms of creature and then we have this chain of being not change as being with creator well what ought the creature to think with reference to the Creator the creature ought to fear the creature ought to scanned amazed at the Creator we ought to realize that he is not like us in fact both prophets in the Old Testament and in the new highlight this legitimacy you can turn to the Prophet Jeremiah Jeremiah just fleshing out or amplifying a little bit more what this fear of the Lord is that is necessary that is a prerequisite with reference to a study of the book of Proverbs Jeremiah 10 at verse 7 well beginning in verse 6 in as much as there is none like you O Lord you are great and your name is great and might who would not fear you O king of the nations for this is your rightful do for among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you you see creature who sees creator ought to fear because there's none like him this is the legitimate response of the creature toward God notice the New Testament prophet John the Apostle he's called a seer in the book of Revelation seer is another word for prophet in the book of Revelation specifically at chapter 15 the opening of the seven bowls of the prelude rather to the opening of the seven bowls or the pouring out rather of the judgment of the seven bowls we see in chapter 15 verse 3 they saying the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the lamb saying great and marvelous are your works Lord God Almighty just and true are your ways o king of the Saints who shall not fear you O Lord and glorify your name for you alone are holy for all nations shall come and worship before you for your judgments have been manifested you see the fear of God is the legitimate response of the creature to God a second thing that we ought to consider is that the fear of God ultimately is wrought out by the grace of God the fear of God is wrought out by the grace of God which makes sense as we approach verse 7 in terms of a prerequisite or an axiom or a presupposition in terms of an epistemological first principle as to understanding the rest of the book of Proverbs it makes sense who understands the book of Proverbs those who know the grace of God those who have been saved by His grace and when we consider the fear of the Lord its wrought out by God's grace by Nature man does not fear God now when I mentioned in the first point the fear of God is the legitimate response of the creature to God I was not implying that all creatures functioned legitimately in fact I would argue just the opposite we argue illegitimate or we function illegitimate Lee while it is the legitimate response of the creature to God sin depravity total inability all those things the Bible sets forth before us has rendered such as illegitimate the creature does not fear God by nature Romans chapter 3 when the Apostle Paul is highlighting the sinfulness and the culpability of men and the fact that all creatures are liable to God for his just punishment he says there is no fear of God before their eyes by Nature man sees God as his enemy according to Romans chapter 8 at verses 7 and 8 as well by Nature man esteems himself as better than God man looks to his own interests rather than God's interests man is busy pursuing his own lusts his own desires his own things and he gives no concern to God but it's by grace that our hearts are taught to fear by grace man is given the fear of God John Newton wasn't just exercising a bit of poetic spin when he said twas grace that taught my heart to fear that reflects the Prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 32 at verse 40 God says I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good but I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wiff knowledge and that fear of the Lord is wrought out by God most high in conversion the grace of God is what produces the fear of God in the hearts of man John Flavel said this fear of God is a gracious Abbot or principle planted by God in the soul whereby the soul is kept under an holy awe of the eye of God and from thence is inclined to perform and do what pleases him and to shun and avoid whatsoever he forbids and AIDS it is planted in the soul as a permanent and fixed Abbot to fear man is natural but to fear God is holy super natural that's a great thing that we ought to appreciate when we come to verse 7 so by way of sort of a sideline note what do we do tonight if we don't have the fear of God what do we do tonight if we want to learn it solemn in school what do we do tonight if we want to be instructed and and gain the benefit that the book of Proverbs affords to the sample to the yacht we ought to flee to the Lord Jesus Christ we ought to by grace forsake our sin and look unto Him who is altogether lovely in chief among ten thousand look unto him who we saw this morning engaged in a mission of mercy to come into this world to assume humanity with all of the essential properties in the common infirmities thereof yet without sin that one who identified with us that one who is both our fellow and our head that covenant all had that representative that surety that mediator that one who was ultimately crucified not because he was an unwilling or helpless victim at the hands of a godless mob no it was according to the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God Most High this answered the demands of what's called the covenant of redemption this was consistent with what is called the decree of God this son of God lived in obedience to the Father this son of God lived as a as a perfect obedient servant to his father every jot and tiddle of his life and he ultimately died not for his sins but for the sins of sinners and as a result God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him so if you feel yourself as one not having the fear of God or you know yourself is not having the fear of God if a rite of pre apprehension of who God is and who you are relative to God is something absolutely foreigner contrary than repent believe the gospel the way to receive instruction in Solomon school is knowing the fear of the Lord thirdly the fear of God affects our intellect the fear of God affects our intellect for the good you see today we are told that to think apart from God is the sign of genuine learning genuine wisdom is seen in the Atheist genuine wisdom is seen in the the PhD atheist a professor at the secular University not according to Solomon genuine wisdom an intellectual superiority is seen in our ten-year olds who can answer the question who is God God is spirit infinite eternal and unchangeable it is being wisdom power holiness justice goodness and truth that is far wiser than any PhD atheistic scholar on the face of the earth we need to understand that the fear of God affects our intellectual ability we see it here in 1:7 we see it again in 910 notice in 910 the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding notice in 14 26 14 26 in the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence and his children will have a place of refuge the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to turn one away from the snares of death and 1533 the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honor is humility so the fear of God affects our intellect and again this jives with what I cited earlier from Matthew 22:37 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind brethren it is simply unacceptable for us to not utilize our minds and the service and in the worship of God Almighty there has I think many have have been many who've observed over the last sort of couple hundred years at least in America probably throughout the rest of the world been this anti-intellectualism with reference to the Christian faith we often times approach the Bible with this sort of idea whether stated or not what's the bare minimum I need to believe in order to go to heaven I mean that's good we need to know what we need to believe we need to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we need to understand something of his life as death is resurrection the Brethren the the works of the Lord are great the psalmist says they're studied by all who have pleasure in them if we are saved if we are God's people if our minds have been affected properly by the fear of the Lord why is it that we don't often time use the intellect in our pursuit of who God is we need to know him we need to understand him we need to we need to learn him it's sort of like a relationship with a man and a woman the way that you grow in your love and appreciation for one another is by getting to know one another right you say well I don't know my wife knows me and she doesn't seem to be growing in her love actually that's not true my wife says she's going in her life you see we need to know something to grow in our love and appreciation for it and yet Christians at times oftentimes not always but don't see this blessed privilege to grow in our understanding of who God is fourthly the fear of God affects our actions not only the intellect but our actions notice proverbs 3 7 proverbs 3 7 do not be wise in your own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil it will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones you know how you flee from evil you know how you depart from evil you've got a problem with a particular sin that you're struggling with pray to God to increase the fear of God your own heart you got a problem with whatever the problem is you name the sin take the the virtues of the the fruits of the spirit and then look at the vices there in Galatians chapter 5 if any of those things are indicative of you pray to God to increase the fear of God in your heart the fear of the Lord is to depart from evil in other words when we understand who God is we want no truck with wickedness notice 5:21 5:21 now this doesn't mention the fear of the Lord but it's sort of the third leg in Solomon's argument on why his sons ought to reject and resist sexual immorality and it's essentially three arms he says remove your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house the second R is to rejoice with the wife of your youth and then that third R is to remember remember God is watching you when it comes to sexual immorality proverbs 5:21 for the ways of man before the eyes of the Lord and he ponders all his paths now while the word fear of God is absent I believe the concept there is present I've already alluded to proverbs 8 I messed up that's not 8a I'm sorry 811 I'm sorry 813 the fear of the Lord is to hate evil pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate earlier I said that was verse 15 verse 15 is Christ speaking his wisdom when he says by me Kings reign and rulers decreed justice proverbs 8:13 shows us the fear of the Lord affects our actions the fear of the Lord is to hate evil pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate and then of course proverbs 15 16 proverbs 15 16 better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure with trouble better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fatted calf with hatred it's better to fear God than to have great treasure with trouble it affects our actions it affects the way we properly interpret the world proverbs 16:6 in mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity and by the fear of the lord one departs from evil and in proverbs 19 at verse 23 the fear of the Lord leads to life and he who has it will abide in satisfaction he will not be visited with evil and then finally the fear of God preserves our soul the fear of God preserves our soul and for this proverbs 14 27 proverbs 14 verse 27 the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to turn one away from the snares of death and then as well proverbs 22 verse 4 proverbs 22 verse 4 by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life and may I just say again by a sort of sideline note that the fear of the Lord is that which produces humility show me a proud man which is probably all of us and it evidences a lack or an absence of the fear of God in other words when we have that proper apprehension of who God is and we have a proper understanding of who we are relative to God how in the world could we be proud how in the world could we ever stand arrogant and proud before a holy God and in the midst of other creatures that's simply unacceptable and the fear of the Lord will help us God willing to be killing pride and of course the fear of God preserves our soul again jeremiah 32:40 I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me so brethren that's the purpose of the book of Proverbs that's the necessary prerequisite for our study of proverbs all of us are invited to Solomon school all of us are invited to pay attention to listen to take aid but all of us are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and the way to the fear of God is by the grace of God with faith in our Lord Jesus Christ it is the necessary prerequisite for the fear or the necessary prerequisite for the study of proverbs as well when we jump outside the book of Proverbs it's a necessary sort of element in our pursuit of holiness and second Corinthians chapter 7 we are too perfect pursue holiness perfecting holiness rather in the fear of God Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 verse one we ought to realize the absence of this fear of God characterizes the unbeliever and we ought to realize that this fear of God is wrought out by the grace of God and that it is available to those who look unto the Lord Jesus Christ we as God's people ought to seek to cultivate the fear of God by having a better appreciation of who God is it's another theme I hope to pursue are the perfections of God what does Solomon say about God how to solve them and describe the being of God in the book of Proverbs I think that will go a long way to frame the heart a right to apprehend who he is so that we will indeed have that pervasive fear of God in our souls so that we may receive with Thanksgiving the Word of God through Solomon the wise man will let us close in a word of Prayer our Father we thank you for your word and we thank you for this book of Proverbs and we do pray that as we embark on this study that you would guide us that you would instruct us and that we would see growth and grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ certainly there are a whole host of practical issues and applications and lessons that come from a study of this book so we pray that you'd give us hearing ears and receiving hearts and grace to put things into practice and do bless our children and bless our young people certainly there is a full-scale assault upon the truth of God's Word in the secular realm and we know that very often our our young people are exposed to such things may they be exposed to the truth of God's Word at the family altar may they be exposed in their own private times of reading Scripture may they be exposed in the preaching of the word of God in our local church and may you fit them and equip them and may you grant them grace to resist the sorts of tendencies that are so rampant in our own day and age cause them to stand fast and to stand strong and to be intellectually equipped to deal with the sorts of things they will face in this world we ask that you would go with us now and we pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well please take your Trinity hymnal we'll close our service by singing the first stanza of him number 35 hymn number 35 stanza number one please stand as we sing together [Music] now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever amen God go with us now and may you indeed cause us to pursue the things that you've called us unto may you protect us may you defend us may rule over us and may we indeed be a people who spend time with you in Scripture and prayer each and every day may our families be marked by a religious devotion to the Lord God Most High and may our church be marked as a place where Christ and him crucified has always proclaimed always preached and maintance strength and grace may you watch over our suffering brothers and sisters both in our church and throughout the world and may you preserve your people by your grace and we pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord amen please be seated you