I would like to ask you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Proverbs chapter 31, verse 30.
! And as I have you turn there, let me say at the outset that I gladly admit the text that I'm going to use this morning is not one that is new.
It is one that is in the book of Proverbs that I am confident most every one of you are familiar with.
It's one that on more than one occasion I have come back to in some 30 whatever number of years it is that I have preached on Mother's Day.
And it is a text that I trust is more than just a passing curiosity to you, but I trust it is one that is imprinted and affects your thinking.
My call and responsibility today is to take up the Scriptures, to rely upon the enabling of the Spirit of God,
to rely upon the time of prayer and study that God has given to me, and your prayers to preach the Word.
And I trust that as I am preaching that one of the things you are doing along with listening is that you are praying that the Word of God would have free course
and that it would make a difference in your life.
Today is a day that we celebrate, and rightfully so, the role and ministry that mothers have in our lives.
But the text that we are going to be looking at this morning is a text that covers all of God's people,
in that the Scriptures encourage us here to give due regard to the mother, to the wife in particular, who fears the Lord.
And if we are here today and know Christ as our Savior, one of the characteristics of our life should be our fear for the Lord.
I want to encourage you to know that after the sermon, it will be our privilege to see two individuals that are baptized in obedience to Christ.
And after that, Jack, your small group is going to be passing out roses.
And I trust that that is an encouragement, a blessing to all of the ladies in our congregation,
and just a reminder of the value and respect we hold for those who are a blessing to all of us.
Now, I'm going to ask that you turn to the passage and follow with me as I open this up
and think with me a little bit about some of the background,
and then we're going to step into the specific details that are involved in fearing the Lord.
Chapter 31, verse 1, it says,
The words of King Lemuel, an oracle that his mother taught him.
What are you doing, my son?
What are you doing, son of my womb?
What are you doing, son of my vows?
Do not give your strength to women,
your ways to those who would destroy kings.
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine,
or for rulers to take strong drink,
lest they drink and forget what has been decreed,
and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
As we open the passage this morning,
I want you to understand that this is a very interesting closing chapter to the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs.
The one who wrote the majority of Proverbs,
Solomon,
that we know,
marked in the Scriptures as the wisest of all men,
nevertheless,
was a man who we know
had a great deal of trouble
with his discernment
when it came to the matter of women.
Am I right?
So, an interesting close
to the book of Proverbs
is this comment made by
King Lemuel's mother
in which,
after we get through the introductory part,
from verse 10
on to the end of the chapter,
we find that the author
gives to us
a very, very important
piece of information
regarding women.
I want you to understand
that it was written
in such a fashion
so that each letter
of each sentence
or little statement
matches up alphabetically.
We call it an acrostic,
and the purpose of an acrostic
is for the sake of memory work.
The implication is that
in the educational process
that took place
in the Hebrew home,
Dad and Mom
were engaged
in teaching their children
not A is for apple,
B is for ball,
and C is for cat,
but they were involved
in teaching their children
Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth,
He, Wow, Zion, Heth, Ted,
Yod, Kof, Lamed, Mem, Nun,
whatever else,
and as they were rattling
through these things,
each one of the letters
of the alphabet
was tagged
with a specific characteristic
for what you're looking for
in a wife.
I've heard lots of parents say,
I pray every day,
I pray every day
for my daughter
or my son
marrying a godly spouse.
I think that's
an appropriate prayer.
But the Bible indication
is that along with the prayer,
guess what we should be doing
as well.
Surprise.
Actually equipping them
so when they go
kicking tires,
how many of you know
what I mean by kicking tires?
I don't mean that literally.
Some of you are going to post
something there on Facebook.
Did you hear what Pastor said
about kicking tires?
I think he was alluding to,
I was not.
So when you go kicking tires
or when your son
or your daughter
goes out
and begins the process
of thinking very seriously
about their future
and moms and dads,
listen to me carefully,
your children actually
began thinking about it
long before you thought
they did.
The purpose of this passage
is that God
in His interest
in our children
making wise decisions
for life partners
have a template,
have a basis
for making a good judgment.
We are not going
to take the time
to look at all
of the passage,
but we are going
to go to the very end
where we find there
in verse 30
that the author,
King Lemuel's mother,
does what any good teacher
would do
and presses the lesson together
and gives us
a summary statement
that locks it in
and makes it manageable
in terms of information.
If you don't remember
anything else,
get the last part.
Let me read it to you.
Charm is deceitful
and beauty is vain,
but a woman
who fears the Lord
is to be praised.
Charm is deceitful
and beauty is vain,
but a woman
who fears the Lord
is to be praised.
Now one of the things
I said early on
is that actually
the application
to this passage
has bearing
on every single person here.
You are here
this morning
either an individual
who by faith
has come
to know Christ
as your Savior
and as the songwriter
John Newton
rightly said,
he said,
"'Twas grace
that taught my heart
to fear
and grace
my fears relieved."
And so you are here
as one who has come
to faith
and in that relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ
and the creator
of this universe
is also a wholesome
awe and reverence
and real fear.
Or you are a person
who is here
this morning
that does not know Christ
and though you may have
on occasions
little indications
and little cautions
as to regards
to judgment
for the most part
the scriptures
characterize you
as one who has
no fear of God.
As we look at this passage
and we find that
the author
the Holy Spirit
actually is telling us
that the summary
of godliness
is a fear of God
we have to ask ourselves
the question
what does fearing God mean?
In a previous generation
one of the things
that you would hear said
about individuals
is they were
God fearing.
Oh it's a God fearing man.
Or she is a God fearing woman.
That vocabulary
is not used
very much today.
I can't think of
the last time
that I heard someone
say that.
And so let me have you
just think for a moment
when was the last time
you
personally
feared
God.
Think about it.
When was the last time
that you
personally
feared
God?
Sadly
it's not something
that occupies
much of our thought
and time.
And as we think
about this issue
of fearing God
I want to
I want you to understand
that while it is
essential
it is something
that in our
present day
is not given
much attention
and given
the fact that
scripture
sees it as important
I want you to be
a humble student
of the scriptures
and allow the scriptures
to inform your thinking
going forward.
We do see that
fearing God
is essential
but I do want you
to understand
that the unbeliever
and the believer
fears God differently.
Let me say it again
the unbeliever
and the believer
fears God differently.
The unbeliever
really has
for the most part
little thought
about God
or fear
of His glory
and power.
Let me refer
to a passage
in Romans chapter 3
verse 18
it says this
there is no fear
of God
before their eyes.
Why do people
do the things
they do?
Or
why are people
restrained
from doing
some of the things
they are inclined
to do?
In some cases
the reason people
do or do not
do things
is because of
the presence
of a force
that directs
them in a different
path
and so
the individual
who has no fear
of God
goes about their life
really kind of
thinking about themselves
as the center
of the universe
and their behavior
is proportionate
to their attitude.
The unbeliever
may on occasion
have a fear
momentarily
about judgment
but after a period
of time
that fear
gets tamped down
by just the
ongoing process
of living
and the person's
pride and arrogance
harden the heart
to the point
that they have
no concern
whatever
about the holy
judgment
of the God
who has created
this universe
and is absolutely
authoritative
over all of it.
The unbeliever
doesn't fear God.
The believer
begins to fear
God by grace.
The believer
begins to fear
God by grace.
Probably the best
illustration
of that little
opening process
is over in the
book of Luke
chapter 23.
I want you to
turn to it
just for a moment
and think with me
of the very
interesting circumstances
and setting
that is presented
for us.
Luke chapter 23
verse 40
is the crucifixion
setting
with Jesus
being crucified
and if you'll
remember from
the synoptic
gospels
that means
the other
gospels as well
we have a picture
of the cross
with the two men
on either side
and early
in the crucifixion
process
both of the
criminals
are railing
against Jesus
but there's
a turning point
and in verse
40
as one of them
is railing
against Jesus
the other
verse 40
the other
rebuked him
and said
do you not
fear God
you are
under the
same
sentence
of condemnation
in essence
what that
thief was
saying
is
it's reasonable
to fear God
because he is
the judge
of the whole
earth
and he
has brought
upon us
judgment
proportionate
to our crime
that was a
confession
immediately
after that
he turns
to Jesus
and he says
there in
verse 42
he says
remember me
when you
come into
your kingdom
if that
isn't faith
I don't
know what
it is
and Jesus
follows up
and says
truly I
say to you
today you
will be
with me
in paradise
so coming
back around
we understand
that really
the believer
begins to
fear God
by grace
peace
and if you
are here
this morning
and you
have come
to faith
I have
no doubt
that one
of the
things
that took
place
is that
the spirit
of God
brought you
to a point
of understanding
the bankruptcy
of your
own soul
and understanding
the hardness
of your sin
and began
to bear down
upon you
and you
sensing the
divine justice
and judgment
of God
cried out
and said
what must
I do
to be saved
and you understood that Jesus Christ was your only hope.
Not only does the believer begin to understand God and fear Him because of grace,
the believer should grow in fearing God.
And I want you to understand that that is an important feature in the process of growing to be more like Christ.
We should grow in our fear of God.
As I posed the question to myself earlier this week,
so Tim, when was the last time you feared God?
I have to tell you honestly, it was when I was having a little problem with going left of center in my attitudes.
How many of you understand attitudes?
You know, I'm an attitudinal specialist.
I have advanced degrees and studies in it, and I don't have to really stretch or warm up to get an attitude.
I have attitudes about all kinds of things.
And I found myself drifting into that attitudinal corner where I was pretty comfortable.
And then I had this weird thought of, yeah, and what's God think about that?
How many of you have been there?
It's like, yeah, sorry.
Let's back out of this situation.
Here, the believer should grow in his understanding of fearing God.
And fearing God is something that you start with salvation, but it should begin to characterize some of your thinking.
Now, when we talk about fearing God, it's interesting that there's some very particular details that I want you to understand.
Fearing God means don't fear him, but do fear him.
How's that for complicated?
Exodus chapter 20, verse 20.
God says, do not fear.
Remember, he revealed himself to the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai.
And how did that pull off?
Does anybody remember?
Smoke and thunder.
And the people are all standing way back, and they're saying,
Moses, would you go on up the hill and talk to him, but don't have him come down here.
Just have him tell us what you want, you know.
And God says, don't fear.
But fear.
Huh.
What am I supposed to do?
Well, the essence of it is this.
Is as we grow to know him, we do grow to fear him.
But we also grow to love him.
Very interesting to see that this is not just an Old Testament concept.
2 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 1 says,
bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
So what?
Everybody smile, because I'm talking to you.
What does progressive sanctification look like?
It means growing in a personal interest in living a godly life
with a profound sense of the presence and the glory and the authority of God.
Are you moving in that path?
Or are you just kind of deedle-dee, deedle-dum,
kind of working your way through and just kind of whatever, you know,
perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord?
Philippians chapter 2, verse 12.
Many of us know it.
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
How many of you of late found yourself actually engaged in a conscious,
deliberate, intentional pursuit of developing your spiritual life,
and in doing so, you were doing it so with a fear?
Godly fear.
Godly fear is rooted in three essential things that I want you to think about.
Number one, a sense of God's majesty and glory.
Godly fear involves a sense of God's majesty and glory.
Number two, godly fear involves a sense of God's presence.
Number three, godly fear involves a sense of God's divine will and word.
Now, let me back up and have you think about these three things
because they are profoundly important.
And there are some of you perhaps this morning who are sitting here,
and the truth of the matter is it's been a decade.
It's been a long time since you have actually had a holy fear of God,
who is the creator and sustainer of this universe,
and with whom we have to deal.
You do not fear what you do not know.
Illustration of this would be,
I grew up in India,
and actually this is the gospel truth, not a story.
We had leopards that walked around outside our building at night,
and I could hear them snarling outside the window.
They took one of my dogs for supper.
It was a German shepherd-sized dog that ended up being Dindin.
And I can tell you that without information about leopards,
I would not have had the least bit of fear about them.
But when I could hear them actually snarling,
walking around outside my bedroom window,
and my Aya,
I want you to know that I was the perfect child growing up.
My Aya,
that was like the nanny,
my Aya would say to me,
Timmy,
if you do this,
I am going to ask a leopard to come and eat you.
It was like,
ah!
Suffice it to say,
it didn't last very long.
I'm going to have to have a tiger come and eat you.
I'm going to have to have an elephant stomp on you.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, so,
here's the point.
If you're sitting here,
and you're really not afraid,
truth of the matter is,
is you're not afraid of something you don't know.
And if you are here without a fear of God,
it may be that you really don't know Him.
Secondly,
you do not fear what you do not think is present.
You don't fear in abstraction.
There are some of you here that have a pathological fear of ladders.
I'm not talking about one or two rungs off the ground,
but I'm talking about when you get up there in nosebleed territory.
I know there are some,
Todd,
you're back there.
I can wave at you.
When any ladder work is needed in our family construct,
it's hire grandpa,
have dad come,
you know,
because ladders don't bother me.
I can go up.
I can come down most of the time reasonably.
There are some people that when they think about ladders,
when they think about ladders,
it begins to kind of set the stage for apoplexy.
You know,
their heart begins to change irregular patterns,
and blood pressure begins to respond.
It's a,
you know,
truth of the matter is,
is every time they think about a ladder,
it resonates.
And so,
if you're here,
I want you to understand that fearing God means understanding His majesty and glory,
understanding His presence,
and understanding that He cares about what you're doing.
Now,
what does fearing God bring?
Now,
in this passage here,
we find that,
that fearing God is the absolute summary.
This is what it works to help you grow to be a godly woman.
This is what you should look for,
young man,
as you look for a godly wife.
So,
let me speak in broad terms,
then come back to the book of Proverbs 31 in particular.
Fearing God,
number one,
opens the door to increased wisdom.
Proverbs chapter one says this,
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
If you're not afraid of Him,
you're not going to listen to what He has to say.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Secondly,
fearing God also brings a deeper understanding into the things of God.
Psalm 25,
verse 14,
it says,
the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him,
and He makes known to them His covenant.
In the King James,
it says,
the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.
And you may be sitting here,
and the truth of the matter is,
is that when you think carefully about where you are in understanding God,
you have to be honest and say,
you know what?
I got that salvation piece,
but after that,
it's just like,
nah.
If you lack a fear of God,
there will not be much growth and insight into who God is.
Third,
fearing God helps us to keep from sin
and its destructive harm.
Over in Proverbs chapter 16,
verse 6,
it says this,
by the fear of the Lord,
one turns away from evil.
By the fear of the Lord,
one turns away from evil.
There are some of you this morning that are caught deeply in sin.
There are habituated issues that are going on in your life.
Maybe no one else knows about it,
but at the heart of what is going on
is you're behaving as you are.
You're engaged in what you are
because you have no fear of God.
Remember Joseph when he was tempted
by Potiphar's wife?
And sure,
it was going to be a bad career decision
to mess with his boss's wife,
but at the end of the day,
what he says is,
how can I do this against God?
So let me speak
now in more particular terms
from the book of Proverbs itself.
What happens
when a wife,
a mother,
fears the Lord?
Fearing God brings absolute trustworthiness.
Proverbs chapter 31,
verse 11 and 12.
I want you to look at it just for a moment.
Mark what it says here.
Verse 10 says,
An excellent wife who can find she is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
All the days of her life,
she will do him good.
I told my mother about a year ago,
I said,
Lord willing,
if I preach your funeral,
I don't know when that will be.
She is not very well today.
This is the passage I think I will preach.
I don't know if the Spirit of God will change it,
but I will say this.
She did her husband good
all her days.
Why?
Because she feared God.
I want you to mark also that
a woman who fears the Lord
is one who consciously and deliberately
rejects anxiety.
Look at verse 25.
I want you to take your...
How many of you ladies here,
how many of you people
kind of struggle on occasion with worry?
I mean,
you don't have to stretch
and kind of limber up to do it.
You're right on top of...
How many are worriers?
Worriers.
Come on.
Oh, we got some.
Okay.
Follow along.
Verse 25.
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
Do you know what that is?
It's like,
huh,
bring it on.
It's okay.
I'm with it.
How does that go
for the anxious person?
Right?
Chicken littles.
This guy is falling in.
I had a dear grandmother.
She's with the Lord right now,
and she knows that
all the prognostications
about how the world
was going to collapse.
There was never a Sunday dinner
we didn't eat
where she didn't kind of
ventilate about
how bad the world was,
and she was convinced
that, you know,
it was going to be
apocalyptic that day.
I mean,
same song,
second verse,
little louder,
little worse,
next Sunday,
and then the Sunday,
she could cook,
but I tell you what,
you had to put up with
every time we ever
came over there,
you know,
the sky is falling in,
and I like this.
It says,
that girl
who fears God,
she laughs
at anxiety.
Everybody said,
amen,
right?
Got that?
If you're here,
and you're a fretful person,
and you're kind of
caught up being anxious,
the problem is
you're fearing
the wrong person.
Remember what Jesus said?
Don't be afraid
of those people
who can cut your neck.
Be afraid of the one
who can throw you
into hell.
Fearing God
makes us laugh
at hardship.
Third,
fearing God
leads to lips
that speak
with wisdom
and kindness.
Verse 26,
she opens her mouth
with wisdom,
and the teaching
of kindness
is on her tongue.
Hey,
how many of you know
what a fishmonger's wife is?
Does anybody,
I mean,
that's kind of an illusion
from being a literature person,
you know,
and growing up
reading poetry.
A fishmonger's wife
is someone
who is just brassy
and sassy
and hard-edged
and, you know,
at least I'm truthful.
You know,
yeah.
Not kind.
You know,
what happens?
I have no respect.
I have no respect
for the woman
that specializes
in being unkind
with her tongue
and then takes pride
in declaring the fact
that at least
she's truthful.
God forbid.
Do you follow me?
Everybody,
that's wrong.
Everybody say,
that's wrong, right?
Can anybody say it with me?
That's wrong.
So how do you tamp down
that kind of brassiness?
Here we go.
Fear God.
And so,
there may be a wife
or there may be a mother here
that needs to work at this,
and what they probably should do
is since they need help with this,
they probably should say
to their husband,
the next time I go off page,
why don't you just say to me,
you know,
questions are always
less dangerous
than confrontation.
How many of you know that?
Are you following me?
Ask the question.
So,
honey,
are you fearing God right now?
You know,
try that.
You know,
it's like,
You got it?
Okay.
Let me close with this.
Why does fearing God matter?
Yes,
yes,
our text
was intended by the Holy Spirit
as a guide for picking a godly wife
and for mothers and dads
working in their children's lives
to help them grow
to be God-fearing.
But there's something else
that we shouldn't miss
when we think about this passage
because not everybody's married
and not everybody will be married
and not everybody
is going to be a mother
or a father or whatever,
but here's the truth,
every one of us
are face-to-face before God.
And so,
I want you to understand
that fearing God
may be redemptive.
And as you sit here,
not having come to faith,
one of the things
that I trust the Holy Spirit
is doing at this moment
is bringing in your heart
a growing sense of fear
for the holiness
and the justice of God
that leaves you
with an unsettled sense
of if I were to die today,
I have no complete confidence
in where I would spend eternity.
Do you know what the answer
for that fear is?
Is come to Jesus.
Come to Jesus.
He is the one who died on the cross
to pay the penalty for your sin
and the sin that at this point
has alienated you from God.
God,
Jesus Christ has already
satisfied the debt,
but He is waiting for you
to come in faith
and say,
listen,
I am a morally bankrupt scoundrel
and I deserve judgment
and yet I hear
that you paid my price.
And even though I can't
completely understand
all that you did,
I am thankful
that you died in my place
and I plead with you
to be my Savior.
Savior.
There's another piece.
I want to say this carefully.
Fearing God
is the soul
of spiritual growth.
Fearing God,
by the way,
it's not original with me,
I think it was John Murray
that said that.
Fearing God
is the soul
of spiritual growth.
You know,
I don't think
we give enough thought
to where we are spiritually.
We kind of just kind of hiccup
and go on through life.
But the truth of the matter is
is that one of the characteristics,
everybody smile
because I'm talking to you, right?
One of the characteristics
of a genuine believer
is that they're moving uphill.
Now,
we are moving uphill
a little slower than I'd like,
personally speaking,
but we are moving uphill.
I had a person call me.
I think it was Thursday.
Got my cell phone.
It was a person
that went to school with me
in India
and they wanted to know
if I was coming
to the reunion
up somewhere in Wisconsin.
I said,
no,
I'm not.
But,
but in the course
of conversation,
I said,
I got to tell you,
my days at Woodstock
were pretty tough.
Mainly because
I was such a skunk.
But I'm glad
to be able to say
that I am not the man
I used to be
because of Jesus.
And I got to tell you,
fearing God
is the soul
of spiritual growth.
Let me give you
a Bible verse
to resonate with that one.
Revelation chapter 15,
verse 4,
it says,
who will not fear you,
O Lord,
and bring glory
to your name
for you alone
are holy.
Do you understand that?
So,
who wouldn't fear him?
You don't fear
who you don't know.
And you don't fear
who you do not sense
is present.
And there are some of you
here this morning
that do not know Christ.
And I would plead
with the Holy Spirit
to work
to bring you
to a holy terror
of the judgment
that is to come.
And there are some of you
here today
that are believers
that have,
following your conversion
and your faith,
have become careless
in the presence
of the Almighty
and he is present.
And I would plead
with you to humble yourself
and say,
God,
you work to give to me
a holy fear
that will bring
spiritual growth.
John,
would you come
and lead us
in a song
as we prepare
for baptism?
We'd ask the candidates
to come
as we come
to the baptism.
Thank you.