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Turn in your Bibles to Proverbs
chapter 1. Proverbs chapter 1, we're going to consider the fear
of God as set forth in the Proverbs and in other portions of Scripture.
This morning we looked at Matthew chapter 10. The Lord Jesus gives
as a reason why we ought not to fear men, we ought to fear
God. He says, do not fear those who
can kill only the body, but rather fear Him who has the power, the
ability to destroy both body and soul. in hell. So it would be good for us to
increase, grow, develop the fear of God, cultivate it in our own
hearts as that will hopefully displace the fear of man that
unfortunately lurks in our hearts as well. I just want to read
Proverbs 1 verses 1 to 7 and then we'll look at some of the
passages in this great book. The Proverbs of Solomon, the
son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction.
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 and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain
wise counsel. To understand the proverb 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 seek the Lord again
in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. We pray now for the Spirit to guide us and truly
in our hearts cultivate the fear of God. We just pray that we
would not fear men, that we would not fear peers, that we would
not fear friends or foe, but we would faithfully and consistently
testify and confess Jesus Christ before men. We praise you God
for your mercy and for your grace and we pray that you would supply
that even now and we ask through Christ the Lord. Amen. Well this
is introductory in the book of Proverbs. Notice in verses 1
to 6 what we have is the purpose for the book of Proverbs. In
other words, when Solomon takes pen to paper, and he starts to
record these various proverbs that he has rehearsed with his
sons. He gives the design. He tells what it's for, 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. All of these are his aim in this particular book. But then notice in verse 7, the
necessary prerequisite to receiving God's wisdom. It is the fear
of Yahweh. It is the fear of the Lord. The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise
wisdom and instruction. In other words, in order to receive
God's wisdom, in order to function properly in God's world, in order
to conduct ourselves in a manner consistent with His Holy Word,
the prerequisite, the presupposition of the fundamental element that
is necessary in our hearts is this fear of the Lord. So it is good for us to understand
what this doctrine or what this concept means biblically and
then, as I've mentioned, to try and cultivate it in our own hearts
so that we may rightly relate to our God. Just a couple of
men that we can quote in terms of a working definition of what
the fear of God is. John Murray, in his book Principles
of Conduct, describes the fear of God as the soul of godliness. The fear of God is the soul of
godliness. Jerry Bridges in his book trusting
or hoping or something in the fear of God says there are three
elements involved in the fear of God. He says reverence toward
God in recognition of his infinite worth and dignity. Reverence
toward God. Respect toward God. Honor toward
God. And then he says admiration of
his glorious attributes to stand in awe of what God or who God
is. God is Spirit, infinite, eternal,
and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice,
goodness, and truth. It is good for us to admire those
attributes in our reading from the prophet Isaiah. In fact,
it is in the prophet Isaiah that God reveals Himself as the Holy
One of Israel so many times in that prophecy. So we not only
are reverent toward God in recognition of his infinite worth and dignity,
we admire his glorious attributes, and then he says, and we are
amazed at his infinite love, the reality that our God has
bent to bless us so richly that He has stooped to save us, that
He has condescended through His Son to deliver us from hell,
from damnation, and from sin, and bondage, and the devil, and
all bad things, we ought to stand in amazement at the infinite
love of God. Then finally, John Murray again
defines it this way, 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 totality commitment to Him. So the fear of God in us is that
frame of heart and mind which reflects our apprehension. We
understand, we know something about who and what God is and
where we stand in relationship to Him. And he says that fear
of God demands nothing less than totality commitment to Him. Great working definition. So I want to make four observations,
as I said, primarily from the book of Proverbs, though we will
venture out of this particular book on a couple of occasions.
Four observations concerning the fear of God, and then a couple
of practical applications. The first is that we need to
understand that the fear of God is wrought, or placed there,
or put in the heart by the grace of God. The fear of God is wrought
by the grace of God. In other words, I cannot preach
to an unbeliever, you need to fear God the way the scripture
says. No, you need to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Newton captured it well in that
fantastic hymn, Amazing Grace. He says, "'Twas grace that taught
my heart to fear." We need to understand that man outside of
Jesus Christ, man apart from the gospel, does not fear God. Now there may be certain aspects
or elements about God that are scary to him, but in terms of
this apprehension of who God is, and what God is, and a realization
that He demands totality commitment from us, and that reverence,
and that admiration, and that amazement, the unbeliever simply
does not have that. Remember in Romans chapter 1,
the Apostle Paul introduces his theme in verses 16 and 17. He
said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the
power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek. If we were to ask the question,
why is that, Paul? Verse 17, for in it, for in the
gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith. that just as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. That's the thesis statement for
the epistle to the Romans. The apostle is going to explain
the gospel. Now notice that Paul does not
start with God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your
life. Paul starts with the wrath of God in Romans 118. He says,
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men. Why? Because they suppress the
truth in unrighteousness. God has made this world, God
has made man in his image, God has stamped himself upon the
soul, and yet man denies the very existence of our gracious
and great God. Paul then says that Gentiles
are dead in their trespasses and sins. Moralists are dead
in their trespasses and sins. Jews are dead in their trespasses
and sins. And then he summarizes his entire
argument, beginning in chapter 3, around verse 9, and he takes
it to verse 20. And in verse 18, when he's corroborating
this thesis that God or that sinners are rejecting God, they
do not honor God as God, they're not thankful to Him, Paul tells
us that there is no fear of God before their eyes. Man apart
from grace, man apart from the gospel, man who is a stranger
to the covenant of grace, man who is dead in his trespasses
and sins, does not fear God. It is through God's grace. It wasn't just Newton who taught
this. The prophet Jeremiah, or God
through the prophet Jeremiah. In an announcement concerning
the new covenant, God the Lord says, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them
good. Beautiful language. That's our
God. He covenants. He says, I will
not turn away from you to do you good. Incidentally, this is the passage
in the prophet Jeremiah. He says, I will plant you in
the land with all my heart and all my soul. But in verse 40,
he says, I will put my fear in their hearts. so that they will
not depart from me." We need to understand that the fear of
God is wrought by the grace of God. If there is a proper fear,
if there is this reverence toward God, an admiration of His glorious
attributes, an amazement at His infinite love, maybe you haven't
ever encapsulated it that way, but you say, yeah, I'm tracking,
that's true of me, then praise God for sovereign grace. Praise
God that He taught your heart to fear, that He put His fear
in your heart so that you would be rightly related to Him. John
Flavel, the Puritan, says, this fear of God is a gracious habit
or principle planted by God in the soul. Isn't that beautiful? We don't tell unbelievers, hey,
you need to learn how to fear God. We tell unbelievers, believe
on the gospel, believe on the Lord Jesus. We trust God to plant
the fear of God in their hearts. He says, this fear of God is
a gracious habit 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 hates. It is planted
in the soul as a permanent and fixed habit. To fear man is natural,
but to fear God is wholly supernatural. It's the first observation. Secondly,
the fear of God affects our thinking. The fear of God affects our thinking. It's an interesting thing that
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2.16. He says, with reference to believers,
we have the mind of Christ. When Jesus is asked, what is
the greatest commandment? He answers with the Shema. He
answers with Deuteronomy 6, 4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
mind. The Lord Christ highlights that
reality in terms of total commitment to the living and true God. Notice
He speaks of our mind. He speaks of rightly relating
to God intellectually. He speaks of rightly relating
to God in terms of how we think, in how we rationalize, and in
how we reason. We see that in Proverbs 1, 7.
The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge. Until you fear
the Lord God Almighty, You may have certain bits and pieces
of truth by virtue of God's common grace, but you don't understand
the way things are. You don't understand the way
things ought to be. You are borrowing capital. You are using things from the
Christian worldview. Proverbs chapter 2, verse 5,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the
knowledge of God. You see, we ought to give ourselves
wholly and totally to God, not just in putting off sin, though
we ought to, but in the way we use our minds, the way we think
God's thoughts after Him. This fear of God ought to affect
the way that we engage the intellect. Proverbs chapter 9. And verse
10, similar to 1-7, "...the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
Proverbs 14 and verse 26, "...in the fear of the Lord there is
strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge."
And then in Proverbs 15, in verse 33, the fear of the Lord is the
instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility. So you see,
when we have this fear of God planted in our hearts by God,
when we have this disposition, it ought to affect the way that
we think. It ought to affect the way that
we reason. It ought to affect the way that
we interpret the world around us. We ought to take God's Word
and use it as the lens, use it as the means by which we make
heads or tails of the world around us. Thirdly, the fear of God
does affect our actions. The fear of God affects our actions. Notice in Proverbs 3 and verse
7. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and, here it is,
depart from evil. Don't run to evil, don't engage
in evil. Those who have this gracious
disposition planted in their heart, this fear of the Lord,
when they fear the Lord, they will run or depart from evil. We see this in Proverbs chapter
5. Notice in verse 21. For the ways of man are before
the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths. Now I realize speaks nothing
of the fear of God there, but the entire chapter is pressing
upon men the necessity to guard their hearts from sexually immoral
women. Proverbs 5, verse 8, remove your
way far from her and do not go near the door of her house. Proverbs
5, I think it's around verse 12. Rejoice with the wife of
your youth. And here in Proverbs 5, 21, remember
that the Lord God Almighty is watching where you go, He's watching
what you do, and He is observing the conduct that you engage in. Remember that. He ponders those
things. Do not go into her house. Proverbs 8, verse 13. The fear
of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance and the evil
way and the perverse mouth I hate. Proverbs 15 and verse 16. Better is a little with the fear
of the Lord than great treasure with trouble. Proverbs 16 and
verse 6, just to show you how these things are indeed to affect
us in our thought, in our practice. In mercy and truth, atonement
is provided for iniquity. And by the fear of the Lord,
one departs from evil. So perhaps if you have a problem
with a particular remaining sin, you have a problem continuing
in a particular pattern, what you ought to pray is, Lord, increase
the fear of God in my heart. Help me to get a better view
of who you are. Help me to have more of an appreciation
for your attributes. Help me to stand in awe and amazement
at your love, and help me to revere you and fear you. Because
as I ponder God in that way, as I consider Him in His beauty
and in His glory, as I consider Him in His excellence, then perhaps
that will overflow my soul such that I will not go and engage
in that particular activity." Joseph in Potiphar's house. What's
driving that man? It's the fear of God. How can
I do this and sin against God? Proverbs 19 and verse 23. Proverbs
19 and 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. So the fear of God is wrought
by the grace of God. The fear of God affects our thinking.
The fear of God affects our actions. And fourthly, the fear of God
preserves our soul. We've already read that in Jeremiah
32, 40. 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, here it is, so that they will
not depart from me. You see, it's not Calvinism that
teaches the perseverance of the saints. Well, they do. But it
wasn't Calvinism or Reformed theology that developed the doctrine. This is a God-wrought promise
connected to the covenant of grace. I will put my fear in
their hearts so that they will not depart from me. When you
read through the New Testament, when you read passages like John
10, where Jesus says, I have them in my hand and nobody shall
pluck them out. When you read Philippians chapter
1, I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in you
will complete it onto the day of Christ. When you read Romans
8, where Paul says, I'm convinced there is nothing that shall separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,
that is by virtue of the covenant of grace sworn by the Father. Jeremiah 32, I will put my fear
in their hearts so that they will not depart from me. The
fear of God preserves our soul. The fear of God is absolutely
crucial. I submit we ought to seek by
the grace of God to cultivate it. Proverbs 14, 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain
of life. To turn one away from the snares
of death. Proverbs 10. and verse 27. Proverbs 10, 27, the fear of
the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened. Proverbs 22 and verse 4, by humility and the fear of the
Lord are riches and honor and life. Proverbs 23, 17. Do not
let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of
the Lord all the day, for surely there is a hereafter and your
hope will not be cut off. And then Proverbs 31, 30. Proverbs
31, 30. Perhaps a very known passage to the young ladies
and older ladies in our church, the description of the godly
woman, the virtuous woman. Charm is deceitful, and beauty
is passing. That's a reality, isn't it? 20s, you're motoring along, you
look good. 30s, you start to recognize there
is such a thing as gravity. 40s, 50s, all of that stuff sets
in. You see, beauty isn't everything.
Charm isn't everything. Charm is deceitful and beauty
is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her
hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. It is the fear
of God most high. graciously planted in the soul
that affects our mind, that affects our actions, that under God's
grace preserves us and keeps us and will ultimately bring
us into His heavenly glory. The fear of God is a good thing. Let's just make a couple of observations
or applications and then we'll close. The first thing is the
cultivation of the fear of God. If the fear of God is a good
thing, how do I get more? Well, ultimately, you go to God.
God is sovereign. God is gracious. It is God who
delivers the goods. It is God who implants. It is
God who flourishes or causes it to flourish. God causes it
to grow. We do have some things in the
scripture, though, that ought to inspire it. It ought to promote
some admiration of His attributes, some reverence in His sight,
some amazement at His love, the realization that the fear of
God characterized our Savior. You see, it's a good thing. The
Lord Jesus Christ feared the Lord. The prophet Isaiah, there
shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse and a branch should
grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of
the Lord, and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor
decide by the hearing of his ears. His delight is in the fear
of the Lord. This is what marked the Lord
Christ as man. He communed with God. He feared
the Lord. This was a disposition of heart
that he possessed. The consideration of God's omnipresence
God's omnipresent. Psalm 139. Read that psalm sometime
with the view, with the goal of cultivating the fear of God. Where can I go? If I ascend to
heaven, there you are. If I descend into hell, there
you are. You are the one who knit me together
in my mother's womb. You are the omnipresent God. Wherever I am, there you are. That ought to promote the fear
of the Lord. a consideration of God's omnipotence,
God's power, God's strength, God's magnificent. The prophet
Jeremiah 10 says, Do. That is repeated again in
Revelation chapter 15. Who would not fear Thee in light
of Your power, in light of Your majesty and Your excellence and
Your glory? Certainly the Christian who has
the Spirit of God, who has that disposition implanted there by
sovereign grace, can cultivate it by a view of God. That prophet,
or what we read in Isaiah 40, verses 12 to 31. I mean, stand
amazed at that. God, let that promote the fear
of God. in your hearts. He measures the
Earth in the span of his hand. He knows the names of the stars.
There's hundreds and billions of galaxies with hundreds of
billions of stars in each one. I got five kids and I mess up
their names. It used to be at the time they
all started with Micah, you know, because he must have got a lot
of the attention in terms of parental discipline. So you talk to Lindsey, you talk
to Josh, it's mutt Lindsey. You mess up five kids. He numbers
the stars. Fear him. He is sovereign. Fear him. Birds do not fall out
of the sky apart from his will and decree. Fear him. He knows the hairs on your head. Fear him. Cultivate the fear of God by
considering who God is. This is why a study of theology
is important. Theology proper. Who is God? His essence. He is triune. Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. His works, creation, and providence,
and redemption. His attributes, holiness, goodness,
justice, love, mercy, all of those things ought to promote
in our hearts a righteous fear of God. As well, with reference
to a cultivation of the fear of God, a consideration of the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you, Lord, Psalm 130, should
mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? The psalmist goes
on to say, but there is forgiveness with you that, what? You may
be feared. When we have been begraced, when
we have been washed, when we have been blood soaked in the
lamb, we ought to fear God Almighty. The cultivation of the fear of
God. Secondly, by way of application,
there ought to be a corporate manifestation of the fear of
God. And by that, I mean church. I
was thinking recently, it would have been an odd sight at the
base of Sinai to find somebody selling lattes or fraps. I don't even like saying
frap. Could you imagine the congregation
of Israel walking before the thundering God of Sinai in some
laid-back, casual manner. You say, well, that's Old Covenant
Israel. That's the theocracy. That's
the people back then. You know, it's interesting in
Hebrews chapter 12, while there is contrast between the two covenants,
The old has passed away. The new is a better covenant
founded on better promises. It affords a better hope. Nevertheless,
there's continuity between those covenants, vis-a-vis the doctrine
of God. Notice in Hebrews 12, 18, for
you have not come to the mountain that may be touched, and that
burned with fire, and to blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and
the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, so that those
who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to
them anymore, for they could not endure what was commanded.
And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned
or shot with an arrow. And so terrifying was the sight
that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. This is
Sinai. The Apostle's saying, you've
not come to Sinai, but, verse 22, you have come to Mount Zion
and to the city of the living God. This is a contrast between
Old Covenant and New Covenant. That's what the author is developing
here. the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of
angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who
are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the
spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the
new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better
things than that of Abel. See that you do not refuse him
who speaks. For if they did not escape who
refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape
if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven, whose voice
then shook the earth. But now he has promised, saying,
Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now
this yet once more indicates the removal of those things that
are being shaken. As of things that are made, that
the things which cannot be or which cannot be shaken may remain."
Now notice the implication. Here's a therefore, here's his
practical application. Therefore, since we, those who
have come to Mount Zion, those who have come to Jesus, the mediator
of the new covenant, not talking about those who went to Sinai,
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken,
let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably." What's
that mean? That means the worship of God
is not a free-for-all. It means we don't get to define.
It means we don't throw our felt needs into the hat and pick them
out and structure a service accordingly. Acceptable worship is defined
by God. Acceptable worship is mandated
and regulated by God. Now notice, let us have grace
by which we may serve God acceptably, here it is, with reverence and
godly fear. You see, when we approach in
the corporate place, when we gather for worship, the primary
function The primary purpose, the primary focus is on God. It's not on our therapeutic needs. It's not on what we perceive
to be helpful for me. It's about God. It's the Lord's
day. It's not your day. It's not my
day. It is the Lord's day. It is the Lord's house. And as
a result of that, let us come acceptably, let us do so with The Harlem Shake and Gangnam
Style ought not to be brought into the church. We ought to approach God with
efference and godly fear. That's the emphasis of the text. Now notice the underlying reason
is found in verse 29. pulled right out of Deuteronomy.
Yes, it was applicable to the covenant people of Israel in
the Old Testament. Yes, it was applicable at the
foot of Sinai, but it's the same God, so it's the same application
with reference to the saints in Zion who come to Jesus, the
mediator of the New Covenant. Paul, or the Apostle, says, let
us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear. Why? For our God is a consuming
fire. We ought not to seek entertainment. We ought not to seek self-help. We ought not to be here first
and foremost for the social element. It is good to talk to brethren.
It is good to fellowship with one another. It is good to catch
up with the saints. All of those things are blessed
corollaries of the primary reason the Lord's Day is there and the
Church of Christ exists, so that we may come with acceptable worship
to our God and approach Him with reverence and with godly fear. And then thirdly, with reference
to unbelievers, you should fear God, but you don't. Romans 3.18
again says, there is no fear of God before their eyes. The place that you need The one
you need is the Lord Jesus Christ." Newton was absolutely spot on
reflecting the theology of Jeremiah 3240. "'Twas grace that taught
my heart to fear." And God is gracious. God is merciful. Christ did die and rise again. And he says, all that the Father
gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me,
I will certainly not cast out. If you have not come to Christ,
come. That means believe the gospel,
believe the truth as it is in him, and you will have everlasting
life. It is Calvary that is the first
stop. It is Calvary where you need
to go. Well, let us pray and ask the
Lord to save sinners and to strengthen in our hearts the fear of the
Lord. Father, we thank you for your
word. We thank you for the Proverbs. We thank you for these other
passages, the promise of the new covenant, and how we give
all glory to you, God in heaven. It's not that we stumbled onto
these things. It's not that we developed in
our own hearts the fear of the Lord, but it's you who planted
this in us, and we give you praise and glory and thanksgiving. We
ask that you open hearts of others. We pray that as the gospel has
been preached throughout the world today, we ask God that
it would not return unto you void, but it will, in fact, accomplish
the purpose for which you sent it. Peter says we are to consider
the long-suffering of our Lord to be salvation. We know there
are other centers and tribes and tongues and people and nation
groups that have yet to be called out of darkness. So God, send
your word, conquering and to conquer, and bring multitudes
unto your dear son. Go with us now, we pray. Watch
over us in this coming week and help us to have a right view
of you, Lord God, to stand amazed at your love, to admire your
attributes, and to revere you, and to honor and to glorify you. And we ask through Jesus Christ
our Lord, amen.
