Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/church4u/sermons/86824/fear-the-lord/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Psalm 86, verse 11.

[0:12] Teach me thy way, O Lord, I will walk in thy truth, unite my heart to fear thy name. I'll say that again. Teach me thy way, O Lord, I will walk in thy truth, unite my heart to fear thy name.

[0:27] Fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. By and large, people do not fear God today. We know the vast bulk of humanity.

[0:40] Care little for the name of Jesus and use his name as a swear word. I know Julie's familiar with the song that goes, he's more than just a swear word, more than just an I don't care word.

[0:51] He's the precious son of God. And of course, we treat his name with reverence. We fear his name. We honour his name. But by and large, the world around us does not.

[1:02] And we see the world full of chaos, hatred, violence, sin. No wonder there's no fear of God in their eyes. Think of fear.

[1:13] Have you ever got burnt? Have you ever got burnt? I have. And now I have a healthy fear of fire.

[1:27] A healthy fear of fire. I don't play with it. Now, young people here, you don't play with fire. Because it's dangerous, isn't it? And you could get hurt.

[1:38] Others could get hurt. There's a fear of it. A healthy fear. It's good to fear things that will hurt us. Things that we shouldn't play with. Mess around with. Take lightly. And the memory of that pain has stayed with me through a lifetime.

[1:52] I don't mess with fire. I treat it with respect. I have a healthy respect for fire and hot stoves.

[2:05] I know where I work, they've got hot desks. They call it where people share a desk. And I almost feel like going, ouch. But of course, a hot desk isn't hot. But a stove is hot, isn't it?

[2:16] Ouch. Ouch. There's a healthy fear when you touch something hot. And a healthy respect. And it's good to take heed of warning.

[2:27] To be aware of danger. When you see a big red sign, danger, danger. You don't go down that road when it says, wrong way, go back.

[2:37] Turn around, quick, smart. Because there's a danger there. And to fear being burned. To teach children to avoid strangers. So be careful near busy streets.

[2:50] Look left, look right, look right again, look left again. Before you cross the road. There's a healthy fear of traffic. Young people. You don't go crossing that road without looking very carefully before you cross the road.

[3:03] People can get tunnel vision where they just look ahead and they think they're safe. Who's ever seen those YouTube clips when someone's crossing a railway line. And they're looking this way, but the train's coming from that direction.

[3:14] As they try to run across the tracks when you're not supposed to. Because the red lights are going and the ding, ding, ding, ding. And they're looking this way for the train. But the train's coming that way. And they nearly get collected.

[3:25] You have to have a healthy fear of such things. And so too, people need to fear God. We should have a healthy fear of God. A healthy respect.

[3:36] We need a revival of a fear of the living God. Sometimes they don't talk about such things in some quarters. The fear of God. It's a subject that hardly is talked of.

[3:50] But the Bible says much about the fear of God. And how it's a needful thing. In Hebrews 10.31 it says, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

[4:04] When a man or woman mocks God, they will one day face Him. They won't be mocking them. There won't be any smirking, smiling, mocking, laughing, scorning.

[4:19] Their face will fall in shame. As they face Him and they answer for that. A lifetime. Wasted. Having a fear of God is the rightful thing.

[4:31] It's the right thing for us. It's the smartest thing for us. Let's look at some things that the fear of God affects. Firstly, the fear of God affects our wisdom.

[4:47] In this verse it says, Teach me thy way, O Lord. There's wisdom. As we ask of God. As we ask Him to teach us. As we're receptive.

[4:58] As we're teachable. We can learn the fear of God. We can ask God for that fear. And He will give it to us. As the psalmist said, Teach me thy way, O Lord. And Proverbs 9 verse 10.

[5:10] Of course the word says, And numbers of times along this line it says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 9 verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

[5:23] It's where it starts. It starts at that. And the knowledge of the holy is understanding. It's the beginning of wisdom. You know, you might have letters after your name.

[5:35] You might have degree certificates on your wall. But you haven't even begun to learn. Unless you have the fear of God. That's where it begins. You haven't begun to know anything. Without this.

[5:46] This one thing. The fear of God. It's the basic building block of wisdom. And of knowledge. God is awesome. Awesome.

[5:58] He's full of awe. There's an awe. There's a wonderment. There's an amazement about who he is. We should be in awe of him. We're living in a crazy world.

[6:10] People go mad without the fear of God. That's the cause of the madness of our world. Where some people thinking they're religious by killing themselves and others.

[6:21] That's madness. That's madness. The fear of God is lost. It's missing in these quarters, in these minds that do such things. And we see the world as it promotes more and more smart and evil and vile things.

[6:38] We see some while back there was a movie promoted by our world. A sacrilegious movie called Evan Almighty. Evan Almighty. As some kind of comedy show.

[6:50] Some kind of comedy representation. Making a mockery of Noah and of the judgment of God on planet Earth of the flood. And it mocks that. The fear of God was missing in the creator of that movie.

[7:04] And those who watch it and laugh along with it. And we see such things as a Lutheran college in Minnesota in the US. Affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

[7:17] This Lutheran college has hired a Hindu to head up its religion department. Can you believe it? A Lutheran college hires a Hindu as the head of the religious department of that college in America.

[7:34] This is shocking and horrific stuff. The fear of God is missing. It's madness. And then we see such things as in our world. They're trying to ban the words mother and father.

[7:47] Because it might offend some in our community. And they claim that the words husband and wife are to be banned.

[7:59] Or people are trying to prohibit such things as mother, father, wife, husband. Because these words are homophobic. You know, we shouldn't be homophobic.

[8:13] We should be God-phobic. Amen? The fear of God. That's who we have to answer to. That's who we have to front one day. And face up to him. And we see churches that are specifically being built to look like nightclubs.

[8:29] They want to copy the nightclub atmosphere and environment. Paint everything black. And just have it where there's the spotlight on the stage. And just all the razzmatazz and even the smoke machines.

[8:44] You know, we don't need such things. We need the fear of God. We need to get back to the Bible. The authority of the Bible. And take its message to heart.

[8:55] Return to the Bible standards concerning honouring God. Honouring Him. Lifting Him high. Exalting Him. In terms of morality. Modesty.

[9:06] Music. In all aspects of life. And if we fear God, we've got to take Him seriously. Take it seriously. Such that we don't toy with our Christianity. As if it's some kind of play thing.

[9:18] That we play church. We put on a show. We put on a face. But it's a lifetime. A living sacrifice. It's who we are. It's our core. The core of our being.

[9:29] It's who we are. We fear God. We take Him at His word. And we take Him seriously. And we want to follow His word. In our daily actions. In our lifestyle. In our day by day decisions.

[9:41] We want to obey Him. The fear of God. It means you're going to want to live for the Lord. And for His glory. Such that every decision.

[9:51] Has got that in the back of your mind. In the front of your thinking. The fear of God. And if you truly fear the Lord. You're going to regard His authority. You're going to want to live to please Him.

[10:04] You're going to want to know more of Him. And how to bless. And be blessed. And to know Him. And when you have the fear of God in your life. You want to go.

[10:15] You're going to want to keep your heart right. With others too. You know there's the vertical. And there's the horizontal. It affects every dimension doesn't it. That we want to keep right with Him.

[10:26] And we want to keep close accounts with others. And get things right. And when we're talking about fearing God. We mean loving Him. Honouring Him. Respecting Him.

[10:37] And we'll have that earnest desire. To know His will. And to do His will. We don't want to displease Him. Abraham is an example. He showed the fear of God.

[10:47] When he placed obedience to God. Above the life of his promised son. That's Genesis 22 verse 12. He went to that extent.

[10:59] That he trusted God. And wanted to honour God. And obey God. Above that which was humanly. Very hard. And impossible.

[11:10] Humanly. Yet he put his trust in God. Above and first and foremost. In Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13. It says let us hear the conclusion. Of the whole matter.

[11:21] The philosopher in Ecclesiastes. Was talking in various dimensions of life. And living. And he says this is the conclusion. This is where I've come to.

[11:32] In all of my wisdom gathering of life. This is the conclusion of the whole. The whole matter. Fear God. Fear God. And keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty.

[11:45] Of man. It's the whole duty of man. And it boils down to this. If you kind of condense it all to this ultimate truth. Fear God. Fear God.

[11:57] And keep His commandments. And then we see right in the end of the book. In Revelation 14. As we see the time of judgment. And we see John. He saw an angel.

[12:08] At the end of the world. In Revelation 14 verse 7. Right at the end of the book. We see Abraham in Genesis. We see Ecclesiastes. The philosopher.

[12:19] Fear God. Keep His commandments. And we see right at the end of the book. We see Revelation 14 verse 7. John saw the angel. Saying with a loud voice.

[12:32] Fear God. And give glory to Him. For the hour of His judgment is come. And worship Him. That made heaven and earth.

[12:43] And the sea. And the fountains and waters. So it's right there. Right through the book. From cover to cover. The fear of God. So that includes the present.

[12:53] Doesn't it? Because Revelation is yet to be fulfilled. And come to the conclusion. So someone has said. You can tell a person's maturity. By observing the things they fear.

[13:06] You know. At four. We fear the barber. You know. You see. Take a little child to the hairdresser. And sometimes they get scared. And the scissors start cutting away. At their hair.

[13:17] At four years old. They might fear the barber. And then at eight. We might fear the dentist. You know. Zzzz. Oh. Who loves that sound? And the feeling of the probes and what not.

[13:31] Going in the mouth. You know. It's one of my fears still. I've got to confess. The feeling. Fearing the dentist. This. So I'll go as little as possible. But. And then we might. Come to the point.

[13:41] Where we fear the driving examiner. You know. About 16 or whatever. Time you start to drive. And you've got to go for the driving test. You get fearful of that. Because you've got to pass the test. And then. You know.

[13:52] Through life. There's various things. Isn't there? Some people might be. Afraid of the police. Especially if they've got. Things in their past. Or. There's. Undealt with things. Or whether.

[14:02] You might fear going to the bank. To try to get that loan. That you need to buy something. Or. A fear of spiders. And such things. As. All of these fears in life. Isn't there?

[14:12] But. The most important thing. Is when. Do we come to fear God. When do we come. To that place where we. Truly bend the knee. The heart. The will. To know him.

[14:24] To love him. To fear him. Our Lord Jesus used to. The fear of God. To rouse men. He says. And fear not them. Which kill the body.

[14:35] But are not able to kill the soul. But rather. Fear him. Which is able to destroy. Both. Body and soul. In hell. Fear him.

[14:46] The Lord Jesus says. And the fear of the Lord. Is a fountain of life. The fear of God. It's about wisdom. Number one. It's about wisdom. Teach me.

[14:57] Thy way. O Lord. Number two. It's about. The walk. The walk. I will. Walk in. Thy truth.

[15:07] If you fear God. It's going to show. It's going to show through. It's going to shine through. True. In your life. In your daily living. In your daily walk. You know.

[15:18] It's interesting. The Bible says that the Christian life is a walk. Isn't it? One foot after the other. One step in front of the other. Now. Sometimes we think. We try to complicate it. And make it too.

[15:28] Onerous. We might try to make it too complex. But really. The Christian life is very simple. One step. One step. One step. It's a walk.

[15:39] It's a progressive journey. A growing. A going forward. And if you fear God. It's going to show. In your daily walk. So there's going to be a radical difference.

[15:50] In Acts 9. It says. Then had the churches rest. Throughout all Judea. And Galilee. And Samaria. And were edified. They were built up. And.

[16:00] They were walking in. The fear. Of the Lord. And in the comfort. Of the Holy Ghost. Were multiplied. So the fear of God. Went hand in hand. With the comfort.

[16:11] Of the Holy Ghost. In the. Edifying. The building up. The encouragement. The growing of faith. And. Walking in. That fear of the Lord. So if you really fear the Lord.

[16:22] It's going to make a. A radical turning around. Of. Our life. A radical turning around. In our soul. And so. We won't feel comfortable.

[16:33] In. Disobedience. We won't feel. At peace there. Anymore. Because. We can't settle. In that state.

[16:44] Because. The Holy Spirit. Is living inside us. And we're going to want to. Walk in God's ways. To delight in his commandments. To find.

[16:54] Our. Value. To find our. Meaning. In. Following him. And. Blessing him. And we'll find that real relationship. With God.

[17:06] Salvation. It's a relationship. Do we really believe. Do we really believe. In hell. That hell is real. It's eternal. Do we really believe.

[17:16] Such that we have that. Wanting. To rescue the perishing. To rescue them. You know. We talked this morning about. At the time of the Titanic. Going down. Of a lifeboat.

[17:27] Just drifting. That had. Space for more. But just went. On its way. While people were crying out. And. What a picture. Of how we should rescue the perishing.

[17:39] There's still opportunity. And we should have that. Heart for that. And I praise God. For those that. Have got a heart for souls. Such that they want to. Minister the gospel. Through tracks. Through witness. Through soul winning.

[17:50] Through public. Private. Witness. Rescue the perishing. The fear of God. Will move us. It will motivate us. That we'll want to tell others. The fear of God.

[18:01] Will cause people to. Depart from evil. It says. In Proverbs 16. Verse 6. Again. We won't feel. That that's our place anymore. Maybe it once was.

[18:12] But we won't feel. That we can stay there anymore. The fear of God. Will cause people to. Depart from. Evil. Proverbs 16. 6. The fear of God.

[18:23] Will move us. To reach others. As I say. Hebrews 11. 7. By faith Noah. Being warned of God. Of things not seen yet.

[18:34] Prepared an ark. For. The saving. Of his house. By the which he condemned. The world. And became heir. Of the righteousness. Which is by faith.

[18:45] By faith Noah. Being warned of God. Of things not seen as yet. Moved with. Fear. He prepared an ark. He was moved.

[18:56] By the fear of God. The judgment. Looming. He prepared an ark. And fear will move us. It will motivate us. It will mobilize us.

[19:08] It will motivate us. And if we had more of the fear of God. In our churches. We would see more. Blessing. In terms of. Conversions.

[19:20] Salvation. We would have more people living like. They are real Christians. Not pretend. And they will walk like it. The fear of God. It affects our wisdom.

[19:32] It affects our walk. Our walk. We are going to walk like it. Because we will be a God fearing people. We are going to walk in his truth. We are going to walk. When it is hard to walk.

[19:44] We are going to walk. And keep on walking. Even though. At times. We want to go back. Because. There is a struggle within. There is a fight going on.

[19:55] You know. The black dog. And the white dog. As it were. The old man. And the new man. The flesh. And the spirit. The struggle within. That goes on.

[20:05] And goes on. Until eternity. Until we. That cord gets loosed. As it were. And we. Are with him. And our soul.

[20:16] Is in his presence. Then. We won't struggle anymore. But if we had more of the fear of God. We'd see. That. We will walk in his ways.

[20:28] Now. We're going to walk. When it's unpopular to walk. We're going to walk. When it goes. Against the flesh. Because it always will. Amen. It always will be. Such.

[20:40] And we're going to walk. Even when it's uphill. And when it's a battle. When it's a struggle. We're going to walk. And keep on walking. Because. We fear the Lord. We fear the Lord.

[20:51] We're going to walk. In his truth. In the fear of God. And God's going to give us. The victory. It may not feel like it. Sometimes. Isn't that true?

[21:02] Sometimes it doesn't feel like. We've got the victory. But the word says. We have it. This is the victory. We have it. Even our faith. And we're going to.

[21:13] Have the fear of God. Such that we're going to mean it. We're going to live. Like we mean it. We're going to worship. Like we mean it. We're going to witness. Like we mean it.

[21:23] Because it matters. It eternally matters. Proverbs 8.13. It says. The fear of the Lord. Is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance.

[21:34] And the evil way. And the froward mouth. Or the perverse mouth. Do I hate. Think of that. The fear of the Lord. Is to hate evil. You know. Some people.

[21:45] They. Use the phrase. I've seen it lately. Of Christians. They call them. Haters. Haters. Because we. Against some things.

[21:56] You know. You're going to. You're going to be. Stand for something. And you're going to be. Standing against some things. And that's what we do. The word tells us. Hate evil. Hate it.

[22:07] Don't just. Kind of. Brush it under the carpet. And pretend it's not there. Or. Or try to excuse it. Or. Just turn a blind eye. We can't. Do that.

[22:17] We've got to hate evil. Hate what is wrong. What is. Unworthy of him. And the fear of the Lord. Is to hate evil. Not just excuse it. Or accommodate it.

[22:27] Or allow it. It's a new way of walking. That's what we call to. A walking in his truth. A walking in the way of life. A walking in the spirit. A walking in the light. It's a new walk.

[22:38] A new pathway. A new direction. A new destination. As we veer off the old way. The old way of death. And darkness. And start walking with God. Young people.

[22:49] Today is a good day. To say. I want to walk with God. Today is the good day. To say. I want to walk with Jesus. I want to walk in his truth. To start walking with God.

[23:00] To go arm in arm with Jesus. And he'll go with you. Every step of life's journey. Every step of your way. Because he never leaves us. Nor forsakes us. You know. Don't you love that.

[23:11] Poem that's. You know. Footsteps in the sand. Or whatever it's called. Who's heard of that one? Footprints in the sand. Where. You know. There's. A person reflects.

[23:23] On the. Sandy. Past. Where they've walked along the beach. And there was two footsteps. And then. They see at one point. There's only one set of footsteps.

[23:34] And. And you know. The picture is. Of. That the Lord was walking with them. And so they think. Well the Lord left me at that point. And then. The. The truth is. That the Lord carried them.

[23:44] At that point. When they couldn't walk anymore. On their own strength. That the Lord was there. Carrying them. At that. Moment. That time. That period. When there was just one foot.

[23:55] One step. One set. Of footprints. And. It's a picture of that. Walking with God. That he never leaves us. He's always by our side. Sometimes he's carrying us through. Amen. That's what he does.

[24:05] Our Lord. So start walking with God. Know his presence. Know his. His. Accompaniment. Through life's journey. And the fear of God. We see. It will bring us wisdom.

[24:17] Teach us thy way. O Lord. Wisdom. Ask him. Ask him for his wisdom. Ask him. To. Teach you. To be. A teachable. Christian.

[24:28] Wisdom. We see the walk. That he. Will help us to walk. In his truth. And thirdly. We see. That. The fear of God.

[24:39] Affects our will. It affects our will. It's not just something that. That we take lightly.

[24:54] Our. Will. Is a part of this process. This. Truth. I will. Walk. In thy truth. Unite my heart.

[25:05] To fear. Thy name. There's a certain willpower. A willpower. I've heard it said to you. We need a willpower. And a won't power. Amen. As a Christian. You've got to say. I will.

[25:17] And I won't. To sin. I won't. Won't power. Sort of. An interesting. Way of putting it really. And we need to have the both. In a way. So when you become a Christian.

[25:27] You enter into a new dimension. A new dimension. The fear of God. Wow. The creator of the universe. Is my friend. He's my. He's my.

[25:39] Accompaniment. He's. I mean his company. In his. I'm with him. And. When we enter into that new dimension. That new realm.

[25:50] Of thinking. Of behaving. Of acting. It affects our will. It's our willpower. Our relating. Our choices. Such that we make choices that. Will stand the test of time.

[26:02] And eternity. That. These. Values. That matter to us. Are eternal. They're God given values. They're foundational. Fundamental. Truths. I will.

[26:14] Walk in thy truth. I'm going to make a conscious decision. To have my conscience awakened. To realise right and wrong. To realise the truth. And the lies. And to choose the path.

[26:26] That blesses. My life. And gives honour to God. Through all of life's journey. From this point. Forward. Many years ago. There was a father. And his daughter.

[26:37] They were walking through the Canadian. Prairie. And through the grass. And. In the distance. They saw some smoke. And they realised. There was a big bushfire.

[26:47] Coming right at them. It was blowing really hard. They could see the smoke. And the flames. And they could almost. Feel the heat. As the fire was approaching them. Through the prairie grass.

[27:00] And. They saw. This prairie fire. Coming towards them. They realised. That it would soon engulf them. They were going to be burnt to a crisp. By this fire. As it was.

[27:11] Racing towards them. And so the father knew. There was only one way. To escape. And what the father did. He quickly. Began a fire. Right where they were.

[27:23] So he got. The fire going. He lit the fire. And it burnt. A whole patch of ground. Around them. A whole circle of grass. Near them. And when the fire approached.

[27:34] The girl was terrified. By the raging flames. They knew. That this was very dangerous. And. The fire was coming. Right. Blowing. With the wind blowing. Towards them.

[27:44] And. They could see. That they were in great danger. But her father then carried her. To the section of grass. That had just burnt. And he assured her. The flames can't get to us.

[27:55] We are standing where. The fire. Has already been. We're standing where the fire. Has already been. And we know that. Obviously the burnt. Patch.

[28:06] Would catch fire. Because it was already burnt. And. It's a picture for us. Of the place of safety. That we have. In Christ. When we think. Of the wrath.

[28:17] And judgment of God. Rightful judgment. Against our sin. He's rightfully angry. He's rightfully. Displeased with our sin. He's rightfully.

[28:29] Right. In judging. And condemning us. But the good news is. That. The judgment. Fell. On Christ. The judgment.

[28:39] Fell. At the hill of Calvary. The judgment. Happened. Way back then. At Calvary's hill. In Christ. Because the word tells us that. Our sin.

[28:50] Was in his own body. On the tree. When he. Bled and died. And later rose. His sin. Our sin rather. Was dealt with there.

[29:02] He had no sin. But he had our sin. In his own body. And so. It's like the fire. Has already been there. Because. The judgment. Has already fallen. Upon him.

[29:13] And so we have a place of safety. From the wrath and judgment of God. Because the Lord Jesus. Has already taken it. So. Think now. Of ourselves. Does God matter to us?

[29:26] Do we care? Or is it just. Like some. Would treat. A Christian. Thinking. As kind of. Just something. Like a hobby. Like something we just kind of.

[29:37] Fit in. When we can. Like. Playing sport. Or we go. I'll go to training this week. Or. I won't bother next week. Or. I've got other things. Whatever it be.

[29:48] Where. We treat it lightly. Carelessly. And we don't. It doesn't matter to us. It's not important. Or does it. Our Lord really mean. Anything to us. That.

[29:58] We will really. Fundamentally. Be. Prioritizing this. Our faith. And our following Christ. Is. The essential.

[30:11] Core. Of. Who we are. And what matters to us. That we. Readjust our priorities. And. We. Make that. The priority.

[30:22] We seek first. The kingdom of God. And his righteousness. Like I. Touched on this morning. But for some. God is just a. Passing interest. It's like. Oh. I'm feeling a bit Christian today.

[30:33] Or I'm feeling religious. I'll. You know. Go to church. Or whatever it be. Or. I'll make a token. Show. I'll pay token attention to it. Or is it.

[30:44] That which. Drives us. That. It blesses us. We. We. It's motivated for this. In 2 Corinthians 7. 1. It says. Having therefore these promises. Dearly beloved.

[30:55] Let us cleanse ourselves. From all filthiness of the. Flesh and spirit. Perfecting holiness. In the fear of God. There's promises here. Having therefore these promises. Let us cleanse ourselves.

[31:07] There's a. A wanting to be clean. You know. I'm a bit more mindful of this lately. I know. Muddy shoes. And. I was down in the garden today.

[31:18] I just couldn't be bothered changing. And then doing some gardening. And then. Oh. Muddy shoes. You know. Like. Oh. Or. Planting plants. And my hands are all dirty.

[31:29] And. And you think. Oh. I've got to get clean. And. Something about being clean. Isn't that? Like. Being. Cleaning up. But more spiritually so. There's a sense of.

[31:41] Cleansing ourselves. More filthiness. Of the flesh and spirit. We want to be. Having that right spirit. Before God. That holiness. And not a manufactured. Man made.

[31:52] Or a. A man. Legalized thing. By. Men's rules. But because we love him. We want to be clean. We want to be right. We want to have a right heart.

[32:04] And. It says we can perfect. Holiness. It can become. Complete. And. And. It can. Kind of. Travel through our whole being. It can be. Such that.

[32:16] It's. It's. It's in our very core. That. We perfect it. We make it whole. It's. It's entire. It's complete. That holiness. In the fear of God.

[32:26] That's how. We can know. That purity of life. When we truly fear him. In Psalm 19. 9. A psalm. It speaks about the word of God. It says. The fear of the Lord.

[32:36] Is. Clean. It's clean. Enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord. Are. True. And righteous. All together. So the fear of God. It's going to lead us to praise.

[32:48] It's going to lead us to want to magnify him. To thank him. For having mercy on us. And fearing the Lord. Means we'll love the Lord. We'll love the Lord. Not just a kind of.

[32:59] Oh. I love Jesus. No. You're going to fear him. You're going to love him. With all your heart. And soul. And mind. And strength.

[33:11] And you'll want to keep your heart clean. In that right relationship. Your mind. Your heart. Your spirit. The fear of the Lord will motivate us.

[33:22] To do his will. That our will. Becomes more and more his will. That that will be what matters to us. God's will. That we'll want to fear him.

[33:33] And love him. And. That we'll be motivated to. Do his will. And to refrain from evil. To hate evil. And when people do not fear the Lord. Their lives will be.

[33:44] Filled with wickedness. And strife. Because it says. There is no peace. Saith my God. To the wicked. Isaiah 57. 21. Not that our peace.

[33:54] It's about our circumstances. But it's about the inside of us. Isn't it? The storm might be raging. But we'll have peace within. Peace within. Peace that passes all understanding.

[34:05] That will keep our hearts and minds. Through Christ Jesus. Proverbs 19. 23. It says. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life. And he that hath it. Shall abide satisfied.

[34:16] He shall not be visited with evil. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life. Proverbs 19. 23. And he that hath it. Shall abide satisfied.

[34:28] There's a sense where we can be satisfied. Not like the rock singer that says. I can't get no satisfaction. We can be satisfied. We can be. We can learn that contentment.

[34:40] That we have him. We have our Lord. We have his blessing. We have his promises. We have his goodness. And it doesn't matter that we may not have much else.

[34:51] Because that's what matters. And we see in Philippians 2 verse 12. Paul says. Wherefore my beloved. As you have always obeyed. Not as in my presence only.

[35:03] But now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation. With fear and trembling. There's a sense where our salvation. We work it out.

[35:13] It's kind of lived out. With that sense. That we fear the God. That we love. We fear him in that. We regard him with an awe.

[35:24] That he is awesome. He is mighty. And absolute. And there's a sense where we reverently honour him. And worship him.

[35:35] And esteem him. And lift him high. And lift him above. And exalt him. And so we get things in perspective. Such that we know who God is.

[35:46] That he is bigger than we are. And we consider his holiness. His justice. And we're afraid to offend a holy God. Think of this as we close now.

[35:58] That if we do not have the fear of God. We displease him at our peril. We displease God at our peril. I think of these ones. That mock and scorn.

[36:10] And scoff. That one day. The smile is going to be wiped from their face. As they stand before him. And realise what a fool.

[36:22] They have been. You disobey him at your peril. You disregard him at your peril. You dishonour him. At your peril.

[36:34] Don't make that mistake. People of God. Let us treat salvation seriously. And that our soul. Is so precious.

[36:45] That Christ. By his very blood. In his very person. Took our penalty. And shame. And made it his own. He that hath no sin.

[36:55] Was made sin. For us. That we. Might be made. The righteousness of God. In him. That's amazing. Isn't it? We can't. Grasp that. But our soul.

[37:07] Is in great danger. If we neglect. So great salvation. If we just. Give it some. Passing. Fancy. Some. Token. Measure. Without really.

[37:17] Taking it. To heart. And. It's been said. Treat each day. As if it were your last. Because one day. It will be. We've got no guarantee.

[37:29] You may not see. Israel brother. It may not get there. You might be. You might see the new Jerusalem first. But. Brothers and sisters. We've got to. Be mindful of this. Don't we?

[37:39] That there's no guarantee. Of tomorrow. But we've got now. So let's make every moment count. Such that we have the heart of the psalmist. Teach me thy way. Oh Lord.

[37:50] Wisdom. Starts with the fear of God. I will walk in thy truth. The fear of God affects our walk. That's how we live. It affects the step by step.

[38:01] Journey of life. Unite my heart. To fear thy name. Have that heart. That will. I will walk. Unite my heart. To fear thy name.

[38:13] Let us pray. Lord. We thank you. That we can. Know. Your love. We can know. That your wrath. Your anger. Against our sin.

[38:24] Was fully paid. And poured out. In the person of your son. Lord. We thank you. Father. That you sent your son. To die on the cross. For our sin. To rise again.

[38:34] For our justification. Lord. That you. Grant. That gift. To those who believe. And. With no merit.

[38:45] No good. That we can do. Of our own. But all the good. That you have done. And Lord. Yet. In awe of that. In. Fear. And. Wonderment.

[38:56] At what you have done. Lord. We. We want to. Take this. Message. Seriously. Not lightly. We want. Our salvation. To be. Such that. It's within.

[39:08] Our very core. And. It affects. Every. Every. Choice. Of life. Even when we make. Wrong choices. Lord. We. We can't settle. With that.

[39:19] Because your spirit. Convicts us. And draws us back. Lord. We thank you. For your presence. That this walk. Of life. We're not alone. You carry us through.

[39:30] Especially in the hard days. You carry us. And you accompany us. In every step. Of life's journey. Lord. We pray for everyone here present. That each one.

[39:40] Young and older. Will know. What it is to trust you. To know your salvation. And to know that walk. To walk in thy truth. And to pray. Unite my heart.

[39:51] To fear thy name. We think Lord. Of your name. The name of Jesus. Saviour. Lord. Salvation.

[40:01] Is in your very name. Yeshua. Lord Jesus. We thank you for that. And we bow our heart. Our will. And we pray. Guide our steps.

[40:12] That we'll walk. In thy truth. We pray for every. Person here today. That they will. Take this. Seriously. That they won't. Treat salvation.

[40:23] And Christian. Truth. As some kind of. Little hobby. But they'll. Take it. As a very vital part. An essential part. Of life. That changes.

[40:33] Our whole. Way of living. Because we'll want to. Walk in thy truth. And teach me thy way. Oh Lord. Unite my heart. To fear thy name. I will walk.

[40:44]  In thy truth. In Jesus name. Amen.