PMCBC

Luke 1:5-25

INTRODUCTION

• Do you ever get tired of the repetition that happens at Christmas?

• Does it ever seem to you to be the “same old’, same old’”?

• Does it seem to you that we always do the same things every year… the same traditions…the same songs…the same long waits in line…the same wrapping paper and bows that were saved from the year before…the same fattening snacks and cookies?

• It was a few days before Christmas on the Oregon coast. Two men whose families lived next door opted to go sailing while their wives went Christmas shopping. An unexpected storm surprised the weekend sailors. Before long, the sea became angry, and the two had a difficult time keeping the sailboat under control. While heading toward the harbor, the craft hit a sandbar and grounded. Both men jumped overboard into the icy water and began to push and shove in an attempt to get the sailboat into deeper water. Knee-deep in mud and repeatedly bounced against the hull by the unfriendly waves, the one said enthusiastically to the other, “Sure beats Christmas shopping, doesn’t it?”

• For some, Christmas is a time of disappointment.

• There are many that have a real difficult time this time of the year.

• And it is more than an issue of repetition.

• It becomes a time of pain and heaviness.

• Using Luke chapter one, let’s examine five stages in the story of Zechariah that describe how he went from disappointment to merriment.

I. The first stage is the SETTING (vv.5-7)

• Zechariah and Elizabeth knew disappointment.

• Both knew the pain of infertility.

• Here was a couple that was well beyond the normal years of child bearing.

• For years, they heard all of the advice that couples trying to conceive heard.

• The text reveals the fact that both Zechariah were upright in God’s eyes.

• You see, the infertility is not the end of the story.

• For God delights in working through people who listen and seek to follow Him.

• This leads to…

II. The second stage is the SELECTION (vv.8-10)

• Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

• And when the time for the burning of the incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

• Zechariah was one of about 20,000 priests of Israel.

• He served at the temple at Jerusalem for two one-week periods each year.

• Now…when it came to offering the incense at the daily sacrifice, a priest could only do this once in his lifetime.

• It was an honored ministry, for the priest stood in the Holy Place alone.

• As the worshippers prayed outside, the priest offered the incense inside, symbolically offering the prayers of the people to God.

• This was a task of prestige because there were some that would never have the opportunity to enjoy this privilege.

• On this day, it finally happens to Zechariah.

• The lot has finally fallen on him.

• But it is a whole lot more than coincidence.

• This brings us to…

III. The third stage is the SCOOP (vv.11-17)

• It is at this point that Zechariah’s life takes on new meaning.

• God was preparing a surprise for Zechariah and Elizabeth.

• The timing of the surprise was God’s timing.

• Can you imagine this scene for Zechariah?

• He gets all the proper priestly garb on.

• He works to remember all the steps he must follow.

• He is probably a bit nervous.

• And being a faithful man, he was very much humbled by the whole process.

• Just as he is in the routine, there is an angel who must have startled the daylights out of him, for the angel says, “Don’t be afraid!”

• You know why he says that?

• He says it because Zechariah was really scared.

• This is not what he expected to face when he entered.

• And then, the angel gives the gracious part of this message, “Your prayer has been heard.”

• There is going to be child after all!

• Yes, it had looked hopeless, but this is the very thing that God specializes in.

• Zechariah and Elizabeth would have a son.

• And he was to name him John.

• John was the shorter form of the Hebrew name, Jochanan.

• Jochanan means, “God is gracious.”

• It was a name full of meaning, for God was not only being gracious to Zechariah and Elizabeth, God was being gracious to all the people of the world.

• For this son, John, was going to be a prophet in the spirit and power of Elijah.

• He was going to prepare the way for the Messiah.

• For Zechariah, this was the dawn of a new day.

• For 400 years God had been silent, and on this day, he is the first to hear from God.

• But now comes…

IV. The fourth stage is the SKEPTICISM (v.18)

• Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

• This is probably not the smartest thing that Zechariah has ever said.

• He is experiencing the supernatural, but he is stuck in the natural.

• Zechariah is really saying, “You can’t really be serious.”

• We would be thinking, “I really know biology and this makes no sense to me what so ever.”

• Remember this…Zechariah has been faithful.

• And faithful people sometimes make mistakes!

• But for Zechariah, there is more learning that must be done.

• For God teaches us that He often wants us to believe in order to see.

• Which leads us to…

V. The fifth stage is the SENTENCE (vv.19-25)

• Zechariah hears the sentence for his unbelief.

• He will be silent until this day happens.

• Meanwhile, the people are waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple.

• When he came out, he could not speak to them.

• They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

• When his time of service was completed, he returned home.

• After this, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.

• “The Lord has done this for me,” she said.

• “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

• Even though Zechariah is silent, there is a sparkle in his eyes because the Lord has been gracious to both of them.

APPLICATION

• God desires to touch us.

• God wants to make an appointment with you about your disappointment.

• Whatever your heartache, God knows you and cares for you.

• God breathes hope into the stale air of impossible solutions.

• Let God touch you today…realize that God calls you for something very special; He calls you to meet Him.

• Let God touch you today…the Master’s hand wants to touch you because you are a soul of worth and the change is worth the cost.

• Let God touch you today…so that you can leave in speechless wonder and find contentment in knowing that the Lord is near.

Isaiah 9:1-6

“Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordon.” (v.1)

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and his kingdom, established and upholding it with justice and righteousness from the time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (vv. 6-7).

Introduction

• John MacArthur tells the story of “A little girl came home from Sunday school triumphantly waving a paper, ‘Mommy!’ she said, ‘My teacher says I drew the most unusual Christmas picture she has ever seen.’ The mother studied the picture for a moment and concluded it was indeed a very peculiar Christmas picture. ‘This is wonderfully drawn, but why have you made all these people riding on the back of an airplane?’ the mother asked. ‘It’s the flight into Egypt,’ the little girl said, with a hint of disappointment that the picture’s meaning was not immediately obvious. ‘Oh,’ said the mother cautiously. ‘Well, who is this man looking at the front?’ ‘That’s Pontius, the pilot,’ said the girl, now visibly impatient. ‘I see. And here you have Mary and Joseph and the baby,’ the mother volunteered. Studying the picture silently for a moment, she summoned the courage to ask, ‘But who is the fat man sitting behind Mary?’ The little girl answered with a sigh, ‘Can’t you tell? That’s Round John Virgin!”

• We laugh, but the sad truth is that little girl’s mixed-up perspective of Christmas is not really much more muddled than the notions the average person carries around.

• The truth is that much of what most people associate with Christmas is a product of a mixture of pagan ideas, myths, and legends derived from culture.

• But the only reliable source of information about Christmas is the Bible.

• The Christmas story in the Bible begins earlier than most people would suspect—hundreds of years earlier.

• There are over 300 Old Testament prophecies of the birth of a king.

• In them we are told: (1) Where He would be born, (2) What He would do, (3) What He would say, (4) How He would die, (5) How He would rise from the dead.

• But the centerpiece of the all the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming of the king has to be Isaiah 9:1-6.

• About 700 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah introduced the coming king.

• In the days of Isaiah, the world looked dark, and bleak, and hopeless.

• The nation of Israel had turned their back on God and God, in turn turned His back on them.

• To punish them, God was bringing a nation from the North (Assyria) and that nation was going to sweep down upon them like a flood tide and wash them over in vengeance.

• There was something in Isaiah’s words that spoke to His people.

• There was something in the message of this Child that was to be born, this Son that was given, that gave Israel a reason to hope.

• Many in Isaiah’s audience were not godly people.

• They were walking in darkness—in the shadow of death—because they had abandoned God.

• And it was this audience (who walked in darkness) that God gave the guarantee, (1) of a great light, (2) a child of hope and promise, (3) a future for their people that would be a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father, and a Prince of Peace.

• What can the four names of Jesus teach us who He is and how He can help us today.

I. He Is the Wonderful Counselor

• A counselor is someone you listen to.

• Someone you accept advice from.

• And people will listen to the advice of many counselors.

• Some listen to talk show hosts, newspaper columnists, quasi-religious leaders, comedians, actors, singers, and the list goes on.

• If those people that we listen to say that it is true—it’s got to be true.

• Right?

• The problem for Israel, was they had gotten into the habit of listening to the wrong counselors.

• Sound familiar?

• Look with me at Isaiah 8:19, “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritualists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead onbehalf of the living?”

• These men in Israel who were giving the people bad advice.

• These men were advising Israelites to listen to someone other than God—mediums and spiritualists and folks that said they talked to the dead.

• Apparently, these men were trusted enough by the people to be taken seriously.

• And because Israel listened to these counselors, their nation was going to suffer terribly.

• The counselors of this world CAN help you with some of your problems.

• But they can only help you so much.

• By contrast, Jesus (the Wonderful Counselor) has the ability to help us deal with the root cause of all our problems.

• What is the root problem of all our problems?

• SIN!

• Matthew 1:21 says, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

• One of the repeated pieces of advice Jesus gave people during His ministry was this: “Go and sin no more.” (John 5:14; 8:11).

• Sin is not going to go away on its own.

• We must deal with it.

• We must confront it.

• Jesus issues an invitation for all who are in need of a wonderful counselor to come to Him, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).

• And the only way we can deal effectively with sin is to realize that only the Wonderful Counselor can help us remove sin’s power and guilt.

• He IS the Mighty God.

II. He Is the Mighty God

• The word translated “mighty” means “strong one or the powerful valiant warrior.”

• So, the term “Mighty God” is actually a military term.

• He is the God who fights for His people.

• We find in Isaiah 7:14 these words, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

• IMMANUEL—God with us.

• Isaiah’s message was plain: A virgin was to give birth to a son, and He would be known as “God with us.”

• And this child that was to be born—this Son that was to be given would be called “The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father.”

• The New Testament reinforces this: When the angel appeared to Mary and told her that she was to be the mother of the Messiah: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

• He is not only the Mighty God…

III. He Is the Everlasting Father

• It may be a little confusing when we talk about Jesus as the “everlasting father.”

• How can the Son be the Father?

• That question takes us into the complex area of doctrine of the Trinity.

• Suffice it to say, Jesus is not called the “everlasting father” because there is confusion about the nature of God the Father and God the Son.

• Jesus is called the “everlasting father” because of His father-like qualities.

• He is still God the Son but His love and grace are like that of a father with his children.

• The name literally is “the Father of Eternity.”

• He is before, above and beyond Time.

• There has never been a time when He was not and there will never be a time when He will not be!

• He is the great “I AM”!

• By the way, if you are saved, your life is tied to His and you will live only as long as He does!

• This verse also says that He is our “Father.”

• This word means “producer and generator.”

• In other words, He is our source!

• He brought us into being and He sustains our lives by His power.

• For those individuals in our day who struggle for a positive father image here is one that is worthy of the name.

• In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:15-17).

• Here is a father who will never leave you nor forsake you!

• But remember this is true only if you are a part of the family by placing your faith and trust in Jesus as your Savior.

• He is not only the Everlasting Father…

IV. He Is the Prince of Peace

• The term literally means “the prince whosecoming brings peace,” and thus speaks of the effects of His coming.

• He brings peace to troubled hearts.

• The New Testament describes at least three spheres of peace.

• First of all, peace with God.

• Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

• God offers peace to those that want it.

• Peace is a positive change in a relationship between two people who once were enemies.

• It is more than just the end to hostilities.

• It means the restoration of a broken relationship.

• It is what happens when two people who have not been on speaking terms are reunited.

• We are not made right with God by our good deeds nor by the rituals we practice.

• We are made right with God by what Christ did for us.

• Jesus is our Prince of Peace because He makes peace with God possible.

• The reconciliation necessary between God and man is possible “through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

• Isaiah defined man’s problem in Isaiah 53:6, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

• This reconciliation is possible because of an exchange.

• The doctrine of justification says essentially that we have been made right before God because of what Christ did for us on the Cross.

• Man’s part is to put our faith in Christ and His work.

• God’s part is that He cleanses us from sin and credits to us the righteousness of Christ.

• Because of this Paul writes in Ephesians 2:14, “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.”

• The result of this exchange is Peace with God, this not just a feeling of peace but a state of peace.

• We must experience peace with God before we can experience the peace of God.

• Second, the Peace of God brings calm in the storms of life.

• This is a peace that is experience internally.

• In Philippians, Paul writes, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

• The Peace of God is the sense of moment by moment joy which we can have as we trust our Heavenly Father in the midst of the problems of life.

• In John, Jesus is recorded as saying, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27).

• When Jesus said those words, He was warning His disciples of His upcoming death.

• It was going to be a scary and disturbing time.

• But Jesus wanted them to understand that they could have peace in the middle of trials and difficulties that were about to come upon them.

• The year is 1863; America was embroiled in the Civil War. It was a tragic year for a poet named Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In 1861, Longfellow’s wife, Frances died from an accident in their home in which she was using a candle and her clothing caught on fire and she died. And then in 1863, Longfellow received word that his son had been critically wounded and crippled in battle during the Civil War. He was devasted, but finally on Christmas day in 1864, he wrote a poemcalled “Christmas Bells” that later became the words for the hymn, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

• Third, there is Peace From God—which helps us reconcile to each other.

• When we have peace with God and we experience the peace of God, then we can extend that peace to others.

Introduction

• Many today are convinced they’re saved because they were baptized once or prayed a prayer at an altar call or signed a church membership card. 

• But the new birth is not about a moment. 

• It’s about a miracle. 

• It’s about a transformation that leaves evidence.

I. No Hunger

• One of the clearest signs that someone has not truly been born again is that they have no hunger for the Word of God.  

• None. 

• They might go to church. 

• They might own a Bible. 

• They might even quote a verse here and there. 

• But deep down, there’s no craving for truth. 

• There’s no real desire to be shaped, convicted, or changed by Scripture. 

• Let’s be honest. 

• You can tell a lot about a person’s spiritual condition by what they feed on. 

• A healthy body craves healthy food.  

• A healthy soul, a born-again soul craves spiritual nourishment. 

• That nourishment comes from the Word of God. 

• In 1 Peter 2:2, we find, “Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.”  

• A newborn baby doesn’t need to be trained to cry for milk. 

• It’s instinctive. 

• If there’s no cry, no hunger, something is seriously wrong.  

• The same is true spiritually. 

• A person who has truly been made alive by the Spirit will naturally long for the voice of their Shepherd.  

• They’ll want to hear him, know him, obey him. 

• They will delight in the Word, not ignore it. 

• Now, I’m not talking about some emotional high when reading a verse.

• I’m not talking about checking off a devotional just to feel spiritual. 

• I’m talking about a real consistent pull toward the Word because you know that’s where your life is. 

• That’s where your strength comes from. 

• That’s where your heart gets corrected, your eyes lifted, and your soul renewed. 

• Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that comesout of the mouth of God.” 

• So, I ask you, what are you living by?  

• What feeds your thoughts, your decisions, your worldview? 

• Is it the Word of God or is it the culture, social media, news, your own opinions? 

• See, one of the dangers in today’s church is that people are being taught to rely more on feelings than on truth. 

• They think if they feel close to God, they must be saved.  

• But feelings come and go. 

• Truth remains.  

• And the one who is truly born again clings to that truth even when they don’t feel it. 

• They don’t skip the Word when it’s inconvenient.  

• They don’t avoid the Word when it convicts.  

• They run to it. 

• They humble themselves under it. 

• They don’t argue with it.

• They submit to it because they know it’s the very breath of God. 

II. Persistent Unrepentant Sin 

• Scripture is crystal clear on this. 

• 1 John 3:9 says, “No one who is born of Godwill continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.” 

• The child of God has a new nature, a new desire, a new war waging within. 

• But when someone lives in habitual sin and it doesn’t bother them, when there’s no fight, no sorrow, no repentance, then there is no evidence of the Spirit. 

• And where there is no spirit, there is no salvation. 

• We’re living in a time where sin is being rebranded as freedom, where conviction is labeled as shame, and holiness is dismissed as legalism. 

• But let me tell you the truth. 

• If you can lie, cheat, gossip, lust, deceive, harbor unforgiveness, watch filth, speak filth, and think filth, and it doesn’t crush your soul, then your baptism didn’t save you. 

• Your church attendance won’t save you, and your profession of faith means nothing. 

• God sees the heart, and he knows who’s been changed and who’s just pretending. 

• Don’t mistake God’s patience for approval.  

• Just because you haven’t been struck down in your sin doesn’t mean you’re safe. 

• Romans 2:4 says, “Do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? His patience is supposed to melt your heart, not harden it.” 

III. No Desire for Holiness

• Let me say this plainly. 

• Grace does not give you permission to sin. 

• Grace gives you power to overcome sin.  

• Titus 2:11-12 tells us, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us the say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”

• If the message of grace you believe in allows you to continue in sin without conviction, thenit’s not the grace of the Bible. 

• It’s a counterfeit gospel and it’s damning souls.  

• Real salvation breaks the back of sin.  

• It doesn’t eliminate the battle, but it ensures that the battle has begun.

• And if you’re sitting there thinking, “But I believe in Jesus” let me remind you, so do the demons. 

• They believe and they tremble. 

• The question is not whether you believe with your lips.  

• The question is, has that belief transformed your life? 

• Are you crucifying the flesh daily or are you feeding it?  

• Are you carrying your cross or are you hiding it behind a fake smile and religious routine? 

• You may fool the church. 

• You may fool your family. 

• You may even fool yourself. 

• But you will never fool God. 

• If sin is your companion and holiness is your stranger, then you must face the reality that you may have never truly been born again. 

• One of the undeniable marks of the new birth is the presence of spiritual fruit. 

• Not just talent, not just church activity, not just head knowledge, but real fruit, evidence that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence and is producing in you what the flesh could never manufacture. 

• Galatians 5:22 lays it out so clearly; “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

• That’s not a list of personality traits.  

• That’s the supernatural result of being born again.  

• And if that fruit is absent from your life, then no matter what religious boxes you’ve checked, no matter how many times you’ve been dunked underwater, you may not be saved.  

• A person who has truly been regenerated by the spirit will not be perfect, but they will be different. 

IV. Indifference to Spiritual Growth

• You can’t encounter the living God and remain unchanged. 

• You can’t be indwelt by the Spirit and still live in the works of the flesh. 

• Before Paul listed the fruit of the Spirit, he described what the flesh produces: “Sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, divisions, drunkenness, and the like.” (Galatians 5:19-20)

• And then he said something that ought to shake us. 

• “Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21).

• Let that settle in for a moment. 

• It’s not about a label. 

• It’s not about how you present yourself. 

• It’s about what is being produced from your life. 

• The Spirit of God doesn’t just come in quietly and sit in a corner.

• When He comes in, He transforms everything. 

• Your desires change, your responses change, your relationships change. 

• If those things haven’t changed, if you still walk in pride, bitterness, rage, impurity, or worldliness, then you have to ask, what has really changed? 

• We have a generation of people today who want the benefits of salvation without the evidence of salvation.  

• They want the assurance of heaven without the life of holiness.  

• But the Bible never separates the two. 

• If the Holy Spirit is truly in you, He will not be silent. 

• He will not be inactive. 

• He will bear fruit in your life. 

• He will shape your character to reflect Christ.

• And if that process is not happening, then you’re not in Christ.

• Because Christ is not happening, then you’re not in Christ.  

• His power does not go with you. 

• He will not be silent. 

• He will not be inactive. 

• He will be active. 

• His power does not happen, then you’re not in Christ 

• It’s that simple. 

• You can fake a spiritual gift. 

• You can fake a position in ministry. 

• You can fake spiritual language. 

• But you cannot fake the fruit of the spirit. 

• You cannot fake consistent love for difficult people.  

• You cannot fake real joy in trials. 

V. Lack of Love for Fellow Believers 

• They’re bitter and unforgiving. 

• They gossip.  

• They slander. 

• They chase worldly pleasures and have no desire for holiness.  

• And yet they assume they’re saved because of a past religious experience. 

• But Jesus didn’t say you will know them by their church attendance.

• He said you will know them by their fruits. 

• If the evidence of the Spirit is missing, then you have every reason to question whether the new birth ever occurred. 

• Examine your life honestly. 

• Not how you act in public, but who you are in private. 

• Not what others think about you, but what God sees in your heart. 

• Are you more loving than you used to be? 

• Do you have a joy that circumstances can’t shake? 

• Do you pursue peace or stir up strife? 

• Is your heart growing in goodness, in kindness, in self-control? 

• If the answers are no, then you need more than a revival. 

• You need to be born again because no amount of water can produce fruit. 

• Only the Spirit can. 

• And if the Spirit is not bearing fruit in your life, it’s because he’s not living in your heart.  

• Another clear sign that someone is not truly born again, even if they’ve been baptized, is that they love the world more than they love God. 

• It’s one of the most dangerous deceptions in the church today. 

• This idea that you can cling to Christ while clinging to the world. 

• That you can follow Jesus without letting go of your idols. 

• But Scripture is unambiguous. 

• 1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.” 

• If anyone loves the world, the love of the fatheris not in him.  

• That’s not a suggestion. 

• That’s a dividing line. 

• You can’t have it both ways. 

• If the love of the world still rules your heart, then the love of the  Father does not dwell in you. 

• The world and God are not allies. 

• They are enemies. 

• James 4:4 puts it even stronger, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”   

• That means if your heart is still attached to the world’s values, the  world’s pleasures, the world’s systems, and the world’s applause, then you are at war with the very God you claim to serve.

• A person who has truly been born again will feel out of place in this world. 

• They’ll feel like a foreigner because their citizenship is now in heaven and the things of earth no longer satisfy. 

• But the tragedy is this: We’ve got multitudes in the church who have  never truly left the world. 

• They bring the world into the church. 

• They dress like the world, talk like the world, chase after money like the world, and then throw a little Jesus on top to sooth their conscience.  

• They love entertainment, popularity, success, and comfort more than they love truth, righteousness, and obedience.

VI. No Submission to Christ’s Lordship

• Their social media is filled with worldliness. 

• Their conversations revolve around vanity. 

• Their decisions are shaped by self, not by Christ. 

• And yet, because they were once baptized, they assume they’re safe, but they’re not safe. 

• They’re deceived. 

• You cannot serve two masters. 

• You cannot sit at the table of demons and the table of the Lord. 

• The born-again life is a surrendered life.  

• It’s a severed life. 

• It’s a life that has died to the world and been made alive to Christ.

• Paul said in Galatians 6:14, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

• That’s not poetic language. 

• That’s reality. 

• The cross cuts you off from the old life. 

• It marks the death of your allegiance to this world. 

• If that hasn’t happened, then you have not truly come to the cross.

• One of the things we must understand is that the world doesn’t just tempt us with sin. 

• It tempts us with distractions, with substitutes, with things that seem harmless but slowly pull our hearts away from God, such as sports, careers, relationships, and hobbies.  

• None of these are evil in themselves.  

• But when they dominate your affection, when they consume your energy, when they define your purpose, they become your god. 

• And the Lord will not share his throne with anyone or anything. 

• If your love for the world is greater than your love for God, then your soul is still dead in sin. 

• So many people say they believe in Jesus, but their life tells a different story. 

• They worship at the altar of comfort, convenience, and control.  

• They’ll follow Christ as long as it doesn’t cost them anything.  

• But the new birth is costly. 

• It costs you your old life, your old loyalties, your old loves.  

• Jesus said, “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” 

• That’s not radical. 

• That’s basic Christianity.  

• If you’re not willing to lay the world down, then you’ve never picked up your cross. 

• Don’t be deceived. 

• Baptism doesn’t sever your ties to the world. 

• Repentance does. 

• And if you’ve never truly repented, never truly turned your back on this world and fixed your eyes on eternity, then you may be religious, but you are not redeemed. 

• A powerful sign that someone is not truly born again, even if they’ve been baptized, is that there is no real transformation in their life.  

• No ongoing change, no visible growth in holiness, no movement from darkness to light. 

• They look the same, talk the same, act the same, and think the same way they did before they made a profession of faith. 

VII. False Assurance Based on Rituals 

• Maybe they cried during a sermon. 

• Maybe they walked down an aisle. 

• Maybe they got emotional when they came out of the water. 

• But once the moment passed, they went right back to who they were before.  

• That is not salvation.  

• That is not the new birth. 

• The Bible makes it absolutely clear: When God saves a person, He doesn’t just improve them, he makes them new. 

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.”

• That doesn’t mean sin disappears overnight. 

• It means the direction of your life changes. 

• The things you once loved, you now hate. 

• The sin you once justified, you now grieve. 

• The holiness you once avoided, you now pursue. 

• It’s not about perfection. 

• It’s about progression. 

• A true believer is on a narrow road and they’re moving forward on it. 

• If you’re standing still or worse going backward, you need to seriously ask if you’ve ever really been born again. 

• People love to say only God can judge me. 

• But they ignore the truth that Scripture gives us standards to examine our lives by. 

• Jesus said in Matthew 7:17, “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”

• He didn’t say some trees. 

• He didn’t say occasionally. 

• He said every good tree bears good fruit. 

• If there’s no fruit, if there’s no growth, if there’s no change, then something is deeply wrong at the root.  

• Too many people confuse conviction withconversion.  

• They feel guilty for a moment, but their heart is never broken. 

• They’re moved emotionally, but not transformed spiritually. 

• They go to church, maybe even get baptized, but they never  surrender. 

• They never repent. 

• They never receive the life of Christ that produces real change.  

• And here’s the danger. 

• You can surround yourself with Christian language, Christian friends, Christian music, and still not be born again. 

• Judas spent three years walking next to Jesus, listening to every sermon, watching every miracle. 

• He blended in with the other disciples, but he was never transformed. 

• He never truly surrendered and in the end he betrayed the very one he claimed to follow. 

• Don’t assume that proximity to the things of God equals a relationship with God. 

• External appearance means nothing if there’s no internal transformation. 

• We have people in the church who were baptized 10, 20, 30 years ago and they are still stuck in the same sinful patterns, still harboring the same bitterness, still gossiping, still lusting, still lying, still living for  self. 

• And yet they think because they once prayed a prayer, they’re fine.

• But the Word of God tells a different story. 

• Philippians 1:6 says that, “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. 

• That means if the work hasn’t continued, it may have never truly begun. 

Revelation 14:9-12

INTRODUCTION

• There are warning signs in all of life.

• When we look at the sky, we see the dark clouds approaching and we think, “There is a storm approaching. We must take refuge.”

• Or, when we feel pain somewhere in our bodies, we know that something is wrong. 

• Ignoring the pain will not make it go away.

• As Christians, we have this sense of doom within us when we see society make a gradual turn away from God and focusing on self.

• We know that disaster is near, and we take precautions.

• In this passage of Scripture, the apostle John records one of the strongest warnings found in Scripture.

• Take a deep breath as we interpret this passage and make application.

I. THE DOOM OF THE APOSTATE 

• The word “apostasy” comes to mind as we read this passage of Scripture.

• “Apostasy” is generally defined as “the determined, willful rejection of Christ and His teachings by a Christian believer.”

• Hebrews 10:26 says, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

• The words of Jesus found in John 15:22 say, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.”

• Of all the warnings found in the Revelation, this is the fiercest of all.

• The doom of the apostate is the absolute worst!!!

• The reason is that the Church was battling for its very existence.

• If it was to continue the individual Christian must be prepared to face suffering and trial, imprisonment and death.

• If the individual Christian yielded, the Church died.

• In our day, the individual Christian is still of paramount importance, but his function now is not usually to protect the faith by being ready to die for it, but to commend it by being diligent to live for it.

• The doom of the apostate is thought of in pictures of the most terrible judgment that ever fell on this earth—that of Sodom and Gomorrah.

• We find these chilling words in Genesis 19:28, “He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.”

• John echoes the words of Isaiah describing the day of the Lord’s vengeance, “For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause. Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched night and day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again.” (Isaiah 34:8-10).

II. A SIGHT TO SEE

• The wicked will be destroyed in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.

• Part of the blessedness of heaven will be to see the suffering of the sinner in hell.

• Three quotes from the Apocrypha writings reflect this thought.

• First, from 2 Esdras, we find “There shall be shewn the furnace of hell, and opposite to it the paradise of delight.”

• Also, from the Book of Enoch, “I will give them over (the wicked) into the hands of mine elect: as straw in the fire, so shall they burn before the face of the holy: as lead in the water shall they sink before the face of the righteous, and no trace of them shall be found any more.”

• Finally, a feature of the last days will be “the spectacle of righteous judgment in the presence of the righteous.”

• We may dislike this line of thought; we may condemn it as sub-Christian—and indeed it is. But we have no real right to speak until we have gone through the same sufferings as the early Christians did.

• Many a time the heathen had looked down from the crowded seats of the arena on the sufferings of the Christians; and the early Christians were sustained by the thought that someday the divine justice of heaven would adjust the balance of earth’s injustices.

III. APPLICATION

• So, in light of these fearful words, how then shall we live?

• Verse 12 says, “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”

• Satan is ready, willing, and able to through us off course in our walk with the Lord.

• He will use any means to offer up temptations, distractions, delays, or other means to pull us off our main goal in life.

• And what is our main goal in life?

• “To love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.” (Deuteronomy 11:1).

• Anything less that this is not satisfactory!!!

2 Timothy 1:12

IV. SALVATION: THE NATURE OF SAVING FAITH

• The faith required for salvation is more than an optimistic outlook on life.

• It is also more than giving assent to certain statements of belief.

• Faith calls for a total response, involving the mind, emotions, and will of the believer.

• Faith is summed up in our key verse: “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”

• I would like to highlight three things concerning saving faith.

• First of all, saving faith is intellectual.

• Saving faith is not blind faith.

• Facts about God’s work with His creation and the life and work of Christ are a matter of record.

• Some of the facts stretch the human mind.

• The miracles of Jesus, His virgin birth, His death on the cross, and His resurrection have caused many to reject salvation.

• Faith chooses to accept the facts that are crucial to salvation.

• The question often is asked, “What does a person have to know to be saved?”

• This is not an easy question to answer.

• Salvation comes as a person puts faith in Jesus Christ.

• Obviously, after a person is saved, he will need to learn many important truths.

• Three facts essential to know and accept at the moment of conversion: (1) Jesus really existed as a historical person. Listen to what 1 John 1:1-3 says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” (2) Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and acceptance of Christ on this basis is saving faith. Listen to 1 John 4:15, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.” (3) Jesus is the way to salvation. Listen to Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

• Second, saving faith is emotional.

• People are different; some respond to salvation with great emotion, while others do not.

• Everyone, however, has emotions.

• Salvation involves the whole person, and emotions must be part of the experience.

• Emotion comes as a result of realizing that we have been forgiven of our sins and given a new life.

• The redemption we experience in Christ brings a powerful change to life.

• Tears may or may not be shed, but the depth of the salvation experience touches the very depths of the soul.

• Emotion alone, though, does not result in salvation, no matter how powerful the emotion may be.

• Third, saving faith is volitional.

• Volition relates to the will and indicates that salvation is a matter of conscious choosing.

• The meaning of faith has become obscured in the modern world.

• Sometimes when people speak of faith, they mean a church or denomination.

• Sometimes the word is used to refer to a vague mystical commitment.

• Christ emphasized the need to count the cost of believing and to make an unqualified commitment.

• Listen to what Paul said on counting the cost in Philippians 3:7-9, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”

• The reality of the human condition, the fact that we still have our sinful nature, is that we never yield ourselves completely to Christ.

• The growing believer constantly finds rooms and corners of his life that have not been turned over to Christ.

• Although this is true, at the point of conversion individuals must not consciously withhold any part of themselves; so far as they know themselves, they must choose to turn themselves over completely to Christ.

Amos 7:7-9
INTRODUCTION
While visiting a town in the wonderful state of Colorado recently, I 
passed a shop that had a tripod in the window. A weight hung from it 
and a sign read, “Caution: This point is directly over the Center of the 
Earth.”
Well, obviously this was not entirely accurate.
What is a plumb line?
It is “a cord from which a metal weight is suspended pointing directly 
to the earth’s center of gravity; used to determine the vertical from a 
given point.
Literally, a plumb line is used to help determine whether a wall is 
completely straight or not.
If a wall is not built “true to plumb”, disaster can result.
Spiritually speaking, it is used to determine whether a behavior or doctrine is correct.
If a doctrine or behavior is not “true to plumb,” disaster can result.

I. GOD ESTABLISHES A PLUMB LINE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 
(Amos 7:7-8)
In these verses, God himself is standing on a wall He had built “true 
to plumb.”
The wall was built correctly and with sturdiness.
The wall represented the “kingdom of God in Israel, as a firm and
well-constructed building.”
It represented God’s purpose in building His kingdom.
What God builds is straight and strong.
God lays the “plumb line” he created next to Israel’s behavior.
Whatever is not straight will be torn down.
Author Fritz Ridenour writes, “Working under the inspiration of God, 
Amos referred to this familiar tool to explain that God would measure 
men and their devotion to Him by His standards—by His Word—not 
man’s word.”
1 Timothy 4:16 says, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere 
in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your 
hearers.”

II. GOD JUDGES BY HIS PLUMB LINE (Amos 7:8-9)
In the first place, the “high places” were shrines on the hills in the 
open country. “Sanctuaries” were temples usually located in cities 
such as Bethel and Dan. Together, the two terms cover all the 
religious sites in Israel.
God’s judgment will fall on the idolatrous people and practices of 
Israel.
He is no longer going to pass by their false shrines and temples and 
ignore them.
Second, God will destroy the house of Jeroboam.
The “house of Jeroboam” refers to the dynasty of Jeroboam which 
came to an end when Jeroboam’s son and successor Zechariah was 
assassinated (2 Kings 15:8-10).
Jeroboam became king after Solomon died.
When Solomon’s son, Rehoboam ascended the throne, his subjects, 
led by Jeroboam, asked him to reduce taxes.
Rehoboam sided with his young friends and promised to tax them
more.
Jeroboam led a revolt and ten tribes pulled away.
The kingdom split.
To keep people from going to Jerusalem to worship, Jeroboam set up
a new system in the northern tribes.
He built shrines in Bethel and Dan.
He set golden calves there for the people to worship.
Third, Jeroboam, Israel’s first king was a religious apostate who gave
his character to his kingdom and to succeeding kingdoms.
His example was followed by every succeeding king.
They all trod in the steps of the idolatry he established.
Finally, God’s period of grace and patience with Israel was about to 
end.
He would overlook their idolatry no longer.
We forget how seriously God takes sin and idolatry.

III. GOD ESTABLISHES A PLUMB LINE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT (1 
Corinthians 15: 1-4)
Paul firmly establishes the Person and work of Christ as the standard 
by which all men are saved.
The nature of man as sinner is established, resulting in the fact that 
man is in need of a Savior.

• The truth and reliability of the Bible is firmly established.
• 
  APPLICATION
  The walls of false notions, ideas, and altars will be torn down by God.
  They will not stand the plumb line test of God’s Word.
  Paul also commands us to “pull. .. down strongholds, cast. .. down 
arguments and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of 
God” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
  Whatever does not measure up to the standards of God’s Word must 
be torn down.
  That means that our own pet ideas about God that are contrary to 
God’s Word must go.
  People who follow such ideas are like the people of Athens in Acts 
17:21, who “spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing 
something new.”
  They are like those in Ephesians 4:14, who are “children tossed to 
and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of 
men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”
  Question: How is the wall of your life built today? When God holds 
the plumb line of His Word against your life, how will you measure 
up?

Amos in His Time
• Amos (“burden bearer”) was a herdsman and a cultivator of sycamore trees when the Lord called him to be a prophet.
• He lived in the village of Tekoa, about eleven miles from Jerusalem, during the reigns of Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam II in the northern kingdom of Israel.
• Amos was a “layman,” a humble farmer and shepherd who was not an official member of the Jewish religious or political establishment.
• At this time, both Judah and Israel were enjoying prosperity and security.
• Luxury abounded, and “religion” was popular.
• Israel flocked to the royal chapel at Bethel, and Judah celebrated the feasts enthusiastically, but the sins of both nations were eroding the religious and moral fiber of the people.
• Making money was more important than worshipping God; the rich exploited the poor, the judicial system was corrupt, and injustice flourished.

John 6:44

III. SALVATION: Steps in the Plan

A. Conviction

• Thinking back to my conversion experience, I have always been in church. I would go to church with my grandparents often because they were always on time. I hated to be late. My parents often would be late. When I was 11 years of age, I felt the pull of the Spirit to walk the isle, take the preacher by the hand, and confess of my sins. I later was baptized. At the age of 13, I attended church camp and felt the pull of the Spirit again, but this time in a special direction. This is the calling that is being fulfilled every day of my life in the area of special service for the Lord.

• The truth that Jesus is the Son of God is so profound that God’s revelation is required for it to be understood.

• Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:3, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.”

• Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”

• So, when people stand and confess that Jesus is Lord, they do so by divine revelation; God has worked in their hearts to lead them to that understanding.

B. Repentance

• There are many false and deceptive ideas in the world.

• Sometimes these erroneous ideas are taught by religious leaders.

• Wrong beliefs and wrong behaviors need to be changed.

• That is what repentance is all about.

• The New Testament word for repentance is metanoia.

• This word expresses three major ideas: and a turning away from sin and to God.

• Repentance is the process of admitting the filth and impurity of sin.

• Isaiah 1:5-6 pictures sin clearly: “Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil.”

• Repentance recognizes that sin has power and mastery over life.

• Consider the fate of a few men and women who took some defective heroin. It immediately paralyzed them, freezing them in one position.

• That is what sin does; it freezes us in position, taking over and destroying all that it touches.

• The Word of God never changes. 

• Sin is natural to the person who does not know God or chooses to reject God’s truth.

• Consider Galatians 5:19-21, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

• Repentance means three things: First, it means allowing God to change your mind. The only way God can bring cleansing and restore fellowship is for the unsaved person to change radically the way he or she thinks about right and wrong. Second, it means allowing God to change your heart. The emotional basis of life is thoroughly regenerated. We begin to hate sin as God does. Third, it means allowing God to change your actions. Salvation results in a change of conduct. The saved person starts living redemptively.

C. Acceptance

• When a person accepts Christ as Savior, he must accept Him as Lord as well.

• Salvation is not primarily from eternal death but to eternal life.

• The new birth is the beginning of a new life; that is, the life into which the believer is born starts at the moment of conversion. You are not going to be born again when you go to heaven; you are born again. Life is new and radically different in nature and direction.

• No one can be educated into salvation; a decision to accept Christ must be made.

• No one is naturally born into the Kingdom.

• Human birth and spiritual birth are two different things.

• Listen to what Psalm 51:5 says, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

• There must be spiritual birth.

• FAITH makes a good acrostic for the essentials of salvation. Forsaking All, I Trust Him. 

• Jesus made it clear that He is the authority for salvation.

• Christ sets the way; He is the authority. For that reason, we must give up our ideas and yield to Christ.

D. Confession

• We sometimes hear of so-called secret believers, people who believe Jesus to be the Son of God, accept Him for personal salvation, but do not openly confess Him because of the fear of embarrassment, reprisals, or persecution.

• Jesus clearly taught the necessity of open confession.

• Listen to what Matthew 10:32-33 says, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”

• Open confession of Christ speaks to the very nature of faith.

• Saving faith demands that Christ be first.

• Listen to the Words of Jesus in Matthew 19:29, “And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

• Faith is trust and obedience.

• It is stepping out of neutrality and taking a stand for Christ.

• It involves making public confession.

• Several questions beg to be addressed:

• Can one be saved without being a disciple?

• How may one receive such a marvelous gift as salvation and yet refuse to be a disciple?

• How can a true believer not be open about faith in Christ?

• How can one believe that eternal life is vastly more important than earthly life and yet fail to take a stand for Christ because of fear?

Isaiah 1:18

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

I. INTRODUCTION

• Sin is a reality in human life.

• The results of human sin can be seen everywhere, and individual lives are often deeply scarred by sin.

• David expressed the deep need of all people when he called on God to make him clean from sin.

• Listen to what Psalm 51:7 says, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

• Let us look at this verse.

• First of all, hyssop, is “an aromatic oil used to spray lepers and the loathsome sick.”

• Second, this is a man facing up to the spectacle he has made for himself. 

• He sees himself in every repugnant detail and begs for cleansing.

• David realizes that he must be made over, both heart and soul.

• Finally, it is better to have God’s presence even in condemnation than to be separated from him.

• Isaiah held out hope for sinful people when he said, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

• God’s saving plan found its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

• The main work of Jesus is to save.

• That is the meaning of His name, and it is often stated as His work. Let me remind us of what Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

• Salvation is wholly the result of God’s love.

• That fact is stated in the best-known verse, John 3:16, “God so loved the world…”

• Few passages in the Bible so stress and underline God’s universal gospel as does this passage.

• A preacher once said, “God’s will to save is as wide as His will to create.”

• Augustine said, “God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love.”

• The missionary heart is not an option for the Christian; if we are in tune with God, we are burdened for His world.

• God’s love is unmerited, underserved.

• God gave His one and only Son.

• Many people in the history of this world have rejected God.

• The pages of history are full of murder, killing, dishonesty, wars, and injustice.

• Many have chosen to resist and reject God.

• Yet, He has loved all people with love that they do not deserve.

• This gift of salvation is given to all who will believe simply because God is gracious.

• Consider the name of Jesus Christ.

• The name Jesus means “Jehovah is salvation.”

• The name Christ means “the anointed one.”

• Listen to what Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

II. SALVATION: BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH

• Paul makes it very clear that we are saved by the grace of God.

• Grace is one of the most beautiful words in the Bible.

• It means favor, thanks, goodwill, and gratitude, carrying the essence of goodness, gentleness, and helpfulness.

• Basically, the word means to make a gift.

• The Greek word for grace, charis, speaks of God’s redemptive love, which is always active to save sinners and to maintain them in a proper relationship with Him.

• The Bible is the story of God’s saving grace.

• The Old Testament pictures God’s loving kindness through His covenant relationships with people.

• In the New Testament, we find a new covenant in God’s gift of Jesus: “The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

• Salvation does not come as the result of faith in Christ plus our good works.

• In Galatians 5:4, Paul speaks of those who are “fallen away from grace.” But he does not mean that one who is in grace has fallen out of grace.

• He charged the Galatians with falling away from teaching salvation by grace.

• Salvation can come only by God’s grace.

• Illustration: An old Indian, after living many years in sin, was led to Christ by a missionary. Friends asked him to explain the change in his life. Reaching down, he picked up a little worm and placed it on a pile of leaves. Then, touching a match to the leaves, he watched them smolder and burst into flames. As the flames worked their way up to the center where the worm lay, the old chief suddenly plunged his hand into the center of the burning pile, and snatched out the worm. Holding the worm gently in his hand, he gave this testimony to the grace of God; “Me…that worm.”

Romans 5:9-11

VI. CHRIST’S  ATONEMENT: RECONCILIATION

• T.W. Hunt, in his book The Doctrine of Prayer, tells of a counseling session with a woman when he finally reached her by asking the question, “If Jesus’ blood cleans you, how clean can you be?”

• During an evangelistic crusade in Dayton, Ohio, a young woman was won to Christ. She was a drug addict with many needle marks in her arms. She was also a prostitute, put on the street by her mother at age ten to support her mother’s drug habit. When she came forward at the crusade to make her decision public, she said, “I’ve met Jesus today, and He made me clean. I’m no longer dirty and filthy. I’m clean again.”

• Christ died to reconcile estranged people to God. 

• The word reconciliation pictures a separation, an enmity between each person and God because of sin. 

• Romans 5:10 says, “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

• Christ brought God and persons who believe on Him into a right relationship.

• God is not the one who changes; reconciliation is not the process of changing God so that He will smile on us. 

• The sin problem had to be dealt with.

• God initiated a way to reconciliation.

• Romans 5:11 says, “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

• It is we who are changed, we who are reconciled to God, not God to us.

• Consider what 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 says, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.”

• Reconciliation does not mean reformation or “getting religion.” 

• Nor does it mean that estranged equals are brought back together.

• The sovereign God, who could justly judge us, has acted to provide a way to transform us through a new birth (see John 3).

• Born again is a combination of two words.

• It carries the idea of rebirth and recreation.

• Consider what Romans 6:11 says, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

• God did not create us to be estranged from Him.

• When we are reconciled, we begin the process of becoming what we were created to be: persons at peace with God and with one another.

• When people are truly reconciled in Christ and when they seek to follow His teachings, true peace results.

VII. CHRIST’S ATONEMENT: PROPITIATION/EXPIATION

• Consider what 1 John 2:2 says, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

• If you look in the Dictionary of the Bible, propitiation refers to appeasing an angry or offended person, whereas, expiation has to do with removing sin or guilt.

• Neither of these two words truly fit the Greek.

• In the NIV, the Greek word is translated “atoning sacrifice.”

• The crucial truth is that the problem of human sin and separation from God was addressed and answered in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. 

VIII. CHRIST’S ATONEMENT: JUSTIFICATION

• Justification is one of the most prominent concepts in the New Testament.

• The Greek word, usually translated justice or righteousness in various nouns, verbs, or other forms, occurs many times.

• Justice must be righteous.

• It must rest on an ethical base of holiness.

• Righteousness must result in justice.

• Thus, God’s demand for righteousness through the Old Testament prophets is fulfilled only when justice prevails throughout the land.

• The connection is just as sure in the New Testament.

• A just God justifies; a righteous God makes us righteous.

• The Old Testament concept of justice and righteousness was based on keeping the law.

• The New Testament concept is based on Jesus Christ.

• We who believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord have Christ’s righteousness imputed on us.

• Justice is served completely in what Christ did for us in redemption.

• Justification may appear too easy to modern people, but it certainly was not easy for God.

• Leon Morris tells this story: A tramp breaks into your house and steals something expensive and precious, but you forgive him in the end. The forgiveness may be difficult, but not as difficult as if you discovered that the thief was your best friend. Now you feel betrayed, and forgiveness comes much harder. But suppose you find that the thief is your son. All kinds of emotions well up in you. You will forgive him, for that is the nature of parenthood, but you certainly will not find the forgiving to be easy.

• God forgives all those who will come to Christ in faith.

• His forgiveness is not easy; yet He not only forgives but also justifies us, makes us just as though we had not sinned.

• The fact of justification is a miracle of God that is beyond full comprehension.

• Ralph Neighbor has said, “Jesus can never look at me without seeing His own blood. Because I asked Him to forgive me and cleanse me with His blood, no one in heaven can look at me without seeing me through the blood of Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 7:25

IV. CHRIST’S ATONEMENT: SACRIFICE

• If you go to the country of India, you would encounter many worship and sacrificial processes in that great country.

• Many gods and goddesses are worshipped.

• The marriages of the deities are celebrated.

• The holy Ganges River is believed to bring healing if one can get into it at the right time.

• As in India, people all over the world are looking for something that will save them from their sins, something that will bring hope and peace to their lives.

• Forgiveness and peace are available through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

• Jesus did not die to condemn people but to save them completely, regardless of who they are, what they have done, or what they believe.

• The word completely in this verse does not refer to time but to a state of completion. 

• Jesus wants to save, completely, everyone on earth.

• The priestly work of Jesus was accomplished in His atoning death.

• He who knew no sin became the sin bearer for humankind.

• Through union with Him, men and women enter a new life.

• In the death of Christ on the cross, the God of holy love overcame sin through His own sacrifice.

• At first, the disciples looked on the death of Jesus as a cruel defeat.

• They were dejected and despondent until Jesus rose from the grave.

• When the disciples opened their hearts to the teachings of the resurrected Jesus, they realized what He had done for them.

• Look at what Luke 24:45-47 says, “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.’”

• If we are to understand the work of Jesus, we must fully understand the word sacrifice as described in the Bible. There are four types of sacrifice prominent in the New Testament: the burnt, peace, sin, and guilt offerings. 

• Leon Morris lists six steps common to sacrifice: (1) the drawing near to worship; (2) the laying on of hands, which symbolized the transference of personal sins onto the sacrifice; (3) the killing of the animal by the worshiper (not the priest), which indicated that the worshiper was worthy of death; (4) the various ways the blood was applied in rituals, which began the priest’s work and which indicated the seriousness of sin; (5) the burning of the sacrifice on the altar, with the smoke and aroma ascending to God, thus offering the sacrifice to God; and (6) the disposal of the carcass, in which various parts of the remainder of the sacrifice were distributed in a variety of ways, each of which had its significance involving the people in the ritual.

• All of these steps are part of the understanding of the first-century Jew—and indeed of the Gentile, also, for he also had sacrifices—and makeup the background of Jesus’ sacrifices.

• The difference was that Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect and does not have to be repeated.

• He was our sacrifice, and no longer are sacrifices necessary.

• Listen to what Hebrews 7:26,27 says, “Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.”

• All of these qualifications stand in contrast to earthly high priests, who changed with each generation.

• These high priests could not save.

• They were mortal and sinful, like all other humans.

• Their sacrifices were imperfect and temporary.

• They were human mediators with human limitations.

• Jesus is able to save completely those who come to Him.

• This means no sinner is so bad that he cannot be saved.

V. CHRIST’S ATONEMENT: REDEMPTION

• Jesus’ death redeemed us from sin.

• This means liberation and freedom for the believer.

• Listen to what Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.”

• In the ancient world slavery was commonplace.

• A person could be born a slave, be made a slave as a prisoner of war, or be kidnapped by slave traders.

• Once a person was a slave, his children also were slaves, unless a person or a group paid a ransom and redeemed them.

• In the spiritual realm God paid a ransom with His blood, and it was entirely sufficient.

• Scholars in Christian history have speculated as to whom Jesus paid the ransom, sometimes going to considerable lengths to describe the transaction.

• Such speculation tends to create more problems than it solves.

• The primary New Testament point is that Christ set us free, the emphasis being on the incredible power of God to accomplish in Christ that which nothing else before had been able to accomplish.

• Freedom is full and complete in Christ.

• The Person of Jesus and redemptive work of Jesus go together.

• Paul said in Acts 16:31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”

• Jesus did not come to earth on a mission of teaching and preaching alone.

• He came to do something that could not be accomplished without Calvary.

• He said, “The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10).

• In Acts 2:23, Peter declared, “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.”

• Redemption is the result of the willingness of God’s Son to bear our sins in His body so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (see 1 Peter 2:24).

• Why would God allow the cross?

• The best explanation is given by Jesus in John 3:14, 15, “Just as Moses lifted up thesnake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

• In the cross God has done for sinners what they could not do for themselves.

• All of our sins are under His blood.

Hebrews 9:26

I. INTRODUCTION

• The atonement is a subject in which Christians have always been vitally interested.

• The word itself has been popularly explained by breaking the word down:  at-one-ment, bringing the person who is estranged from God into a reconciled relationship with God.

• But exactly how did Jesus’ death on the cross accomplish this?

• Many scholars have tried their best to explain the atonement in various ways. None of the theories exhaust or fully explain it.

• On this point all traditional scholars agree: The cross is at the very center of the Christian message.

• Whatever Christ did on the cross was completely adequate for human sin.

• God’s love lay behind it.

• He planned the action, initiated it, completed it, and honors it.

• God loved humankind beyond comprehension.

• The pain of our separation from Him was real to God, and He took action to solve the sin problem.

• Any theory of atonement that does not take into account the love of God is faulty.

• Love was the dominating force behind the atonement.

• Look with me at 1 Peter 1:20, “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”

• Also, look at Ephesians 1:4 and 5, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will.”

• Sin prevented people from being reconciled to God.

• This problem had to be solved.

• Sin is repulsive to a holy God; sin must be judged; the sin barrier had to be removed.

• In seeking to explain the atonement, some pit God’s wrath and justice against His love and mercy so that God seems to have two natures at war with each other.

• That view is useful in emphasizing that God’s justice requires satisfaction and that God’s mercy will redeem.

• It is not accurate if God is pitted against Himself.

• A human parent loves a wayward child even when the child has to be corrected.

• The parent is not therefore dealing with two natures at war with each other; the parent is a whole person who seeks the best for the child even when the child does wrong.

• God is a whole Person, too.

• He never stops loving us even when we are sinful.

• It was God’s love that found a way to solve the sin problem in a manner that is both loving and just.

• The work of Christ is expressed in a number of ways, none of which is adequate in itself.

• Christ’s atonement and the resultant change in a person’s life are so many-faceted that they must be viewed from a variety of angles.

• As with a prism turned slowly in the hand, a different color is revealed as a different ray strikes it.

• Some of the words are long, but they are well worth learning for the powerful truths they convey.

II. CHRIST’S ATONEMENT: SUBSTITUTION

• Christ was crucified as a substitute for us.

• The word substitute is not found in Scripture in connection with the atonement, but several texts teach the truth of substitution.

• In Romans 3:24-26, we find three key atonement words: justified, redemption, and sacrifice.

• The thrust of the text is that Christ died in our place.

• Look with me at Mark 10:45, which reads, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

• Also, look with me at 2 Corinthians 5:21, which reads, “God made him who was no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

• Also, look with me at Galatians 3:13, which reads, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’”

• The penalty that we owed for our sins has been paid in full.

III. CHRIST’S ATONEMENT: COVENANT

• The concept of covenant is not familiar to many Christians.

• When we speak of covenant, we generally think in terms of believers covenanting together in church.

• We make certain commitments to one another and to Christ.

• This use of the word is valid, but a great deal more lies behind the biblical meaning of covenant.

• An understanding of the concept is central to understanding Jesus’ atonement.

• First of all, we must distinguish between covenant and promise.

• The Bible is full of promises but records only a few covenants.

• The first covenant is the one God made with Noah.

• A major and crucial part of that covenant with that it was made for the benefit of all people, not just one nation. Biblical references are: Genesis 9:9-10, 12 and 15-17.

• Thus, this covenant reveals to us that God’s plan of history included all people.

• The second covenant we will consider is God’s covenant with Abraham.

• God specified His purpose for this covenant that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

• Abraham was to father a nation whom God would train and use in order to reach out to all humankind.

• A continual theme of the Old Testament is Israel’s failure to understand the purpose of its calling.

• A third covenant was the Sinai covenant.

• In it, God shaped the Hebrews into a nation and gave them a charter to be a showcase nation to the whole world.

• Had Israel kept God’s covenant—observed His laws and purpose—they would have demonstrated to the world what life would be if people lived as God intended.

• The people of Israel did not fulfill their part of the Sinai covenant.

• They demanded that Samuel, God’s appointed leader, anoint a king to rule over them (see 1 Samuel 8:4-5).

• Samuel did not want to do this because he recognized it as a rejection of God’s kingship over His people.

• God told Samuel pointedly, “It is not you they have rejected as their king, but me.” (1 Samuel 8:7).

• Soon thereafter, Samuel anointed Saul to be Israel’s first king.

• When David succeeded Saul as king of Israel, God promised that a descendant of David would rule over God’s people forever (2 Samuel 7:11-16).

• The promise found fulfillment in the coming of Jesus, the Messiah (see Luke 1:32-33).

• Because the Sinai covenant and the Davidic covenant were irreconcilable, they account for much of the conflict between kings and prophets throughout the Old Testament.

• The Sinai covenant allowed for no king but God.

• The Davidic covenant promised a king from David’s line forever.

• Only in Jesus Christ could the opposing covenants be reconciled, for He is divine and He is a descendant of David.

• The problem with the Old Testament covenants was that they did not provide the inner power necessary to keep them.

• The law was helpful but inadequate.

• Jeremiah prophesied that the day would come when God’s law would be written on the heart (see Jeremiah 31:33-34).

• The prophecy was fulfilled in the new covenant made possible by Jesus’ atoning death.

• He died, reconciling all who would believe.

• The new covenant is one of inner power, based not on law but on a free, redeemed relationship with God through Christ.

Malachi 3:10

I. INTRODUCTION: Last week, we covered these items:

• Give out of our poverty.

• Give prayerfully.

• Give politely.

• Give pragmatically.

• God wants us to be realistic about our money.

• God’s desire is that you are honest about your finances as well.

II. GIVE PLENTIFULLY

• Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

• Ill.—Tony Campolo tells a story of a homeless man who offered to share his coffee with Tony. Tony said the coffee must have been swimming with bacteria, but he took a drink. Then he said, “That’s very generous of you to share your coffee with me.” And the man said, “I believe that when God give you something extra special you should share it.”

• Ill.—Three boys in the schoolyard were bragging about who had the better father. The first boy says, “My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, and they give him $500.” The second boy says, “That’s nothing. My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a brief, and they give him $1000.” The third boy says, “My dad is even better than that. He scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a sermon, and it takes six men to collect all the money.”

III. GIVE PROGRESSIVELY

• 2 Corinthians 9:5 says, “So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.”

• I believe that everyone has their own comfort level in the area of giving. Maybe the Lord wants you to go beyond your comfort level.

IV. GIVE PURPOSEFULLY

• Matthew 6:19-24 says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

• We should give to heavenly causes, rather than to earthly causes.

• Ill.—A sailor was shipwrecked on a South Sea Island. He was seized by the natives, carried shoulder-high to a throne, and proclaimed king. He learned that according to custom, the king ruled for a year. The idea appealed to the sailor until he wondered what had happened to all the previous kings. Then, he learned that when a king’s reign ended, he was banished to a lonely island to starve to death. So, knowing he was king for a year, this sailor began issuing orders. Carpenters were to make boats, farmers were to go ahead to this island and plant crops, builders were to erect a home. When his reign finished, he was exiled, not to a barren isle, but to a paradise of plenty.

• Mammon was not originally a bad word at all. 

• The Rabbis had a saying, “Let the mammon of thy neighbor be as dear to thee as thing own.”

• That is to say, a man should regard his neighbor’s material possessions as being as holy as his own.

• Mammon also comes from the root word “to entrust.”

• Mammon was the wealth that a man entrusted to someone to keep safe for him.

• But as the years went on, mammon came to mean, not that which is entrusted, but that in which a man puts his trust.

• The end of the process was that mammon came to be spelled with a capital M and came to be regarded as nothing less than a god.

• What is the place of material possessions?

• First of all, all things belong to God!!

• Scripture makes this abundantly clear.

• Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

• Psalm 50:10 says, “For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.”

• In Jesus’ teaching, it is the master who gives his servants the talents (Matthew 25:15), and the owner who gives the farmer the vineyard (Matthew 21:33). 

• This principle has far reaching consequences.

• Man can buy and sell things; man can to some extent alter and rearrange things; but man cannot create things.

• We cannot say, “This is mine.” 

• Of all things, we can only say, “This belongs to God, and God has given me the use of it.”

• Second, people are always more important than things.

• Whenever and wherever that principle is forgotten, or neglected, or defied, far-reaching disaster is certain to follow.

• Third, wealth is always a subordinate good.

• The Bible does not say that, “Money is the root of all evil,” it says that “the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10).

• It is quite possible to find in material things what someone has called “a rival salvation.”

• Material possessions may lead a person to believe that he can buy anything.

• But, if a person desires material things for an honorable independence, to help his family and to do something for his fellowman, that is good.

• One thing emerges from all this—the possession of wealth, money, material things is not a sin, but it is a grave responsibility. 

• If a person owns many material things it is not so much a matter for pride as much as it is a matter of prayer that he may use them as God would have him to do.

V. GIVE POSITIVELY

• 2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

• Ill.—A man on vacation was strolling along outside his hotel in Acapulco, enjoying the sunny Mexican weather. He heard the screams of a woman kneeling in front of a child. The man knew enough Spanish to determine that the boy had swallowed a coin. Seizing the child by the heels, the man held him up, gave him a few shakes, and an American quarter dropped to the sidewalk. “Oh, thank you sir!” cried the woman. “You seemed to know just how to get it out of him. Are you a doctor?” “No, ma’am,” replied the man. “I’m with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.”

• The Bible says that giving is a part of our act of worship.

VI. BENEFITS OF GIVING

• Freedom from materialism.

• Strengthens my faith, increasing Spiritual maturity.

• Investment for eternity.

• A sign of good mental health is the ability to release money.

• People who are use to giving are generally more responsible with the rest of their finances.

• Ill.—A boy and his mother were in a drug store. The boy eyed the candy on the counter. The owner said to the boy, “Do you want some candy?” The boy nodded in the affirmative. The manager said, “Go ahead and get a handful of candy.” The boy just stood there. Finally, the owner reached into the jar and pulled out some candy and gave it to the boy. When the boy and his mother got outside, the mother said, “Why did you not get a handful of candy when the man told you to do so?” The boy replied, “Because his hands were bigger than mine.”

• Let me ask you, “Whose hands do you want to live out of?”

Malachi 3:10

I. INTRODUCTION

• Ill.—A wealthy older gentleman had just recently married a lovely lady, and was beginning to wonder whether she might have married him for his money. So he asked her, “Tell me the truth: if I lost all my money, would you still love me?” She said reassuringly, “Oh honey, don’t be silly. Of course I would still love you. And I would miss you terribly.”

• Ill.—I heard about a farmer who called the office of a local pastor. Wayne Smith asked to see “the head hog at the trough.” The receptionist said, “Sir, if you are talking about our Minister, you may call him Evangelist or Minister, but I don’t think it would be proper to refer to him as the “head hog at the trough.” “Well, all right,” the farmer said. “I just sold a few sows and was going to donate $10,000 to the building fund, so I was hoping to catch him.” “Oh, just a minute, sir,” the receptionist said, “I think the big pig just walked in.”

• Ill.—There is a story about a guy who came to church with his family. As they were driving home afterwards, he was complaining about everything. He said, “The music was too loud. The sermon was too long. The announcements were unclear. The building was too hot. The people were unfriendly.” He went on and on, complaining about virtually everything. Finally, his very observant son said, “Dad, you have to admit it wasn’t a bad show for just a dollar.”

• Money can change your attitude and who you are as a person.

• Here is how we compare to other countries as far as income.

• The average annual income in India is $1000 per year.

• The average annual income in Afghanistan is $800 per year.

• The U.S. is the wealthiest nation on earth.

• Americans are well blessed. 

• ½ to 1 percent of our population controls 40% of our nation’s wealth. 

• Why does God bless Christians? It is because we share our wealth.

• So, the question this morning is: Does your giving reflect greatness?

• A Barna research study conducted back in April 2000 found that only 8% of Christians give 10% of their income or more to the church.

• According to statistics, in American Churches the breakdown of giving looks like this:

• 20% of members give 80% of all funds.

• 30% of members give the other 20%.

• 50% of members give nothing.

• I hope and pray that these statistics are not true.

• Martin Luther said, “I have tried to keep things in my hands and lost them all, but what I have given into God’s hands I still possess them.”

• Ill.—The roof of the church hall of a little Swiss church, at the turn of the 20^th century, was falling down. So the members of the church held regular meetings in the hall after the service to pray for funds to repair the roof. There was an old man, known to be very tight with his money, who used to attend and sit near the back of the hall. He could sneak out just before the collection plate came around at the end of the prayer meeting. One Sunday, he was held up on his way to the prayer meeting in the hall by the Vicar and could only find a seat at the front of the church. During the prayer meeting, a piece of roof fell and hit him in the head. Feeling spoke to by the Lord, he stood up and said, “Lord, I will give $1000.”A voice at the back of the church was heard to say, “Hit him again, Lord!”

• God reminds us patiently that He has asked us to give. 

• How should we give?

II. GIVE OUT OF OUR POVERTY

• Luke 21:1-4 says, “As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘I tell you the truth,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’”

• Three main points need to be stressed here.

• First of all, people who give sacrificially know where their money came from.

• Ill.—Jimmy Stewart, in the movie Shenendoah, plays a farmer who has a bunch of sons. The boys are of fighting age and the father will not let them go off to fight. The family gets the reputation of sitting out the war. There is a scene where they are all around the dinner table and they bow their heads to pray. Jimmy Stewart says, “Lord, we planted this seed, we watered the plants, we picked the food and we cooked it. We did it all ourselves. We worked dog gone hard for this but we thank you just the same. Amen.”

• Second, people who give sacrificially know that they worked hard for what they take home, but they also know God blessed them and provided for them.

• Ill.—When you give sacrificially, you are saying, “Lord, I want you to be God of my whole life, and my giving needs to reflect that.”

• Third, people who give sacrificially trust God to provide.

• They are not only socially secure in Jesus; they are spiritually secure in Jesus as well.

III. GIVE PRAYERFULLY

• Matthew 6:1-4 says, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So, when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth they have received their reward in full. But, when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

• Giving is a private matter.

• Ill.—There is an old story about a king that was coming to visit a certain land. The people in the land were so excited that a king would grace their little village with his presence. They wanted to find a way to honor him, and decided to do so by giving him the best of their wine. Every person was to bring one cup of their best wine from home and they would all put it in one big pot, and when the king came he would taste the best wine from all the people. One person thought if everyone else is bringing their best then I could bring water. It won’t make a bit of difference with hundreds of others bringing their best. When the king arrived and tasted the wine, he discovered that it was all water. The king was not honored.

IV. GIVE PRAGMATICALLY

• In Malachi chapter 3, God is angry.

• One of the things that happened is that His people have not honored Him with their money.

• Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

• Ill.—Ann Landers had an interesting letter in her column. It was from a girl who was writing about her aunt and uncle. She said, “My uncle was the tightest man I have ever known. All his life, every time he got paid, he took $20 out of his paycheck and put it under his mattress.” Then he got sick and was about to die. As he was dying, he said to his wife, “I want you to promise me one thing.” “Promise what?” she asked. “I want you to promise me that when I am dead you will take my money from under the mattress and put it in my casket so that I can take it all with me.” He died, and his wife kept her promise. She went in and got all that money the day he died and went to the bank and deposited it, and wrote out a check and put it in his casket.

• God wants us to be realistic about our money.

• God’s desire is that you are honest about your finances as well.

• Did you know Jesus talked about money more than He talked about heaven?

• In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 1 out of every 6 verses deals with money.

• Of the 29 parables Christ told, 16 deal with a person and his money.

• Why did Jesus talk about money so much?

• We understand things in terms of dollars.

• Because, He wants us to be realistic about money.

• But God promises to honor our gifts in Malachi 3:10.

• Ill.—On the last day of school, children were bringing gifts to their teacher. The florist’s son brought the teacher a bouquet. The candy store owner’s son brought the teacher a pretty box of candy. Then the liquor store owner’s son brought a big, heavy box. The teacher lifted it up and noticed that it was leaking a little bit. She touched a drop of the liquid with her finger and tasted it. “Is it wine?” She guessed. “No,” said the boy. She tasted another drop and asked, “Champagne?” “No,” said the little boy. “It’s a puppy.”

• Be realistic about what God is asking of you.

• J.D. Rockefeller said, “I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week.”

CHILDREN’S SERMON: Who? What? Where? When? Why? == See your Bible.
Opening Statement: HOWDY!! Well. Now that we’re all awake, we are all reminded that our Lord said—and not “mentioned in passing” —that in reference to children brought to him for blessing, He said, “Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 14:17.
A little girl once told her pastor how proud she was of her dad saying, “I just think my daddy is the most religionist man in the church. This morning when he hit his thumb with the hammer, he jumped up and down and talked about God for fifteen minutes.”
SERMON NOTES —- 8/31/25: — In Matthew 24, our Lord says there will come a day of rampant lawlessness. He further prophesied about earthquakes in diverse places, wars and rumors of war, famines and people filled with distrust of one another and even hate especially for the Christian.
However, He adds in 1 Thessalonians 10 that we who wait for Jesus, He will “deliver us from the wrath to come.” Now that’s a comforting assurance. And He offered the same reassurance in Matthew 24:13. Now that’s a prophesy we need to hear. . .and believe.
INTRODUCTION OF THE PROPHET
 Prophet and prophesying. Correct? So how is “prophesying” defined? To be as spokesman for God saying words given by God such as what is pleasing to Him, what deserves His con-demnation, along with what the future has for His creation and His own church.
 Prophet versus Professor: The former has only the limits of his words and actions imposed by the Holy Spirit where the professor is limited by mankind as accepted information.
A WHOLEHEARTED LIFE
 So it stands to reason, Being saved in our Lord Jesus Christ, we have the joy of a wholehearted, positive thinking based life. A personality based on WORSHPING Him and offering our sincere thanks for a soul-filled gladness and HIS LOVINGKINDNESS.
 Along with gladness and wholeheartedness comes an incomparable search. SEARCH AND FIND
 A search for what? Here’s a list. Caution: You may’ve come up with your own list, but here’s a few. . .not a complete list that you each may likely have, but here goes:
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On second thought; I can’t do that but let’s see what the Holy Bible says are those items we must show endurance and integrity.
1.) Life-style: Read 1 Thessalonians 5:17-22: “Pray without ceasing; give thanks for everything. . .Do not quench the Spirit. . .Examine everything holding only to the good. . .Stay away from every form of evil.”
2.) Purpose: Ask that God sanctify yourselves entirely so that your spirit, soul, and body may be prepared without blame at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
3.) Keep a Sharp Eye: Just watch the rest of the world as they fall under the deluding influence. The test? Believing the lie.
4.) Avoid Laziness like a Plague: One not working, one does not eat. (II Thessalonians 3:10) and finish what you start to work but do so in a quiet manner. Remember: Jesus said, “It is finished !”—not “I quit.”
SUMMARY – IS IT FINISHED?
DEFINITION: Be assured as to just what is “IT” when visiting a question to our Lord, whether spoken in prayer or looking back on life in anticipation of a blessed future. What one does, says, writes, or thinks must become a labor of love not self-centered pride. If steadfast and repeatedly done, said, or written, IT becomes a habit and if that “habit” is sustained, it becomes the legacy underlined NAME FOR A PERSON.
 Matthew 5:16 – LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE BEFORE MEN IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY MAY SEE YOUR GOOD WORKS AND GLORIFY YOUR FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN.— Jesus said that. So, who gets the credit? Answer: God does.
 What’s on Your 2-DO list?– Do your efforts bear a successful statement for others – a witness? Let’s work on that; OK? Does your prayerlife accord an abundance of thanksgiving and praise for our Lord? Howabout we work on that, OK? Does your backup Bible Study make it daily? (Pastor Mike is helping with that.) Howabout we kick that up-a-notch, OK? A challenge: Do you have a memory verse effort in the works? No? Howabout we jump-start that effort, OK?
 Caution: Proverbs 23:7 As a person thinketh, so is he. “Take care.not to think more highly of oneself than you should; but to think so as to have good, sound deliberation just as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Pride and the “me- generation” thinking will get a person nowhere with God or to achieve a more vigorous, active faith.
 Ever the Learning Student mind – Finished? Not on your life; every day a new lesson is in the works. Luke 21:15 says in view of troubles “For I will give you utterance and wisdom which no-one will be able to refute—a living sermon of the ever present God we love.
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Here’s some homework from The Word of God:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 – A Future Victory
Invitation for:
 Confession of Jesus as a personal Lord and Savior seeking baptism.
 Rededication of a personal promise to Jesus.
 Expression of Special Service to the Church of Jesus Christ.
 Seeking Church Membership assuring prior baptism.
Invitational Hymn – #410 – A Parting Hymn We Sing. Closing Prayer.
A thanksgiving for Jesus’ magnificent gift of joy in the Good News and a Fellowship Meal to follow..

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 – The Oath of Israel 2. Isaiah 9:6-7 – Prophesy of Messiah

Isaiah 40:31 – Messiah the King

Psalms 22:16-18 – Messiah the Servant 5. Matthew 5, 6, and 7 – Jesus the Preacher 6. Matthew 24 – Jesus the Prophet.

Proverbs 8:1, 35-36

IV. The Most Important Thing

• “When we are defining in what man’s true wisdom consists, the most convenient word to use is that which distinctly expresses the fear of God” (Augustine of Hippo)

• What is the most important aspect of holy fear?

• Listen to these words from our Creator’s heart—words of life, words of truth, words that protect, words that will endure beyond the sun, moon, stars, words surer than the earth we stand upon: “Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding…she is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her” (Proverbs 3:13, 15).

• There is nothing in this world that equals the value of godly wisdom.

• It’s remarkable—nothing!

• This is why we are told, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7).

• We should seek God’s wisdom in every decision we make.

• For we are told, “Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you” (Proverbs 4:8).

• What a magnificent promise!

• When God promotes, no one and no circumstance can demote!

• Wisdom, therefore, is the path to enduring significance.

• Wisdom must be discovered; it’s hidden, but not out of reach.

• Once found, it brings tremendous benefits.

• So, how do we find it?

• “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).

• The Hebrew word for beginning is significant.

• It’s found in the first verse of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

• This word means “the starting place.”

• Holy fear is the originating point for wisdom.

• “A rich store of…wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure” (Isaiah 33:6).

• In essence, there is no lasting wisdom outside of the fear of the Lord.

• Holy fear is the origin of enduring wisdom, but the benefit continues beyond the starting place: “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death” (Proverbs 14:27).

• We need to pay attention to two key words in the previous verse: fountain and snares.

• The Hebrew word for fountain carries the meaning of “a flow” or “constant source.”

• To live well doesn’t result from sporadic good decisions, rather from a constant flow of wise decisions that bear lasting fruit.

• The second word, snares, refers to “traps or bait.”

• The proper understanding of this Hebrew word is to understand “a lure or a bait” on the hook of a fishing pole.

• Two things are basic to this understanding: the lure or bait must be disguised to attract the fish, and the lure or bait must be sufficient to attract the fish into a trap.

• With a good understanding of the key words, look at another passage that offers greater clarity to the truth being stated: “Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord” (Proverbs 16:33).

• In combining the truths of these two passages, we discover that holy fear is a fountain—a continual flow—of the instruction of God’s wisdom.

• It’s an ever-present counselor that doesn’t slumber or sleep but consistently coaches us to make wise decisions in life.

• If you look at today’s society, we have great and intelligent men and women making decisions that are steering those they influence into ruin.

• At the same time others are blind to their foolishness.

• Scripture states that in rejecting holy fear, “they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21-22).

• When minds are darkened, vision is also darkened; it’s only a matter of time before we fall headlong into death’s hidden and baited traps.

• However, the flipside is also true.

• When we firmly embrace holy fear, we have an ever-present, constant-flowing counselor of wisdom that gives us the ability to make enduring beneficial decisions.

• Even when we are unaware of lurking death traps, the fountain continually protects us from unknowingly becoming ensnared.

• Our broadly accepted Western gospel has systematically removed the fear of God from our hearts by teaching a counterfeit grace that trains us differently than God’s wisdom.

• It creates an unhealthy fountain of perverted counsel that removes the restraining force protecting us from sin.

• However, authentic grace doesn’t conflict with holy fear.

• Listen to the words of Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “NO” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”

• We cannot separate the true grace of God from the holy fear of God.

• They are united and both teach—continually counsel us away from the traps of death.

• Embrace holy fear as your great treasure.

• Guard it more diligently than you would millions of dollars, the most expensive jewelry, or the nicest home.

• This is why we are told, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).

V. Successful Living

• “The fear of God corresponds to the humble” (Augustine of Hippo).

• Deep in the wisdom of the book of Proverbs there are what I like to call “the power twins.”

• These two virtues go hand in hand, often complementing each other in Scripture.

• They are identified in the following verse: “Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life” (Proverbs 22:4).

• True humility and holy fear are connected.

• You will never find someone who fears God who is not truly humble, nor will you find anyone who is truly humble who doesn’t fear God.

• Let’s briefly look at the three listed promises: riches, honor, and long life.

• The Hebrew word for “riches” is defined as “wealth, riches, possessions, cattle, and descendants.”

• The psalmist writes: “Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever” (Psalm 112:1, 3).

• What is the purpose of wealth and riches?

• They are a means of blessing others.

• There is a huge difference between covetousness and possessing wealth to impact lives.

• Those who truly fear God know the difference and stay clear of the former.

• In the New Testament, after Jesus was crucified, we read: “As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him” (Matthew 27:57-58).

• Joseph was wealthy, and Scripture calls him a disciple of Jesus.

• However, the irony continues—most of Jesus’ followers had fled and hidden.

• Yet, this rich man has the boldness, which stemmed from his holy fear, to ignore the intimidation of the Jewish leaders and the might of Rome, and approach Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus.

• What a brave man!

• Let us be clear at this point.

• If someone is poor, does it mean they lack the fear of God?

• No, of course not!

• True wealth is not measured in money or possession but in our ability to help others.

• Here is out promise: “Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing” (Psalm 34:9-10).

• It’s a godly desire to impact others for the kingdom, whether it’s prayer, food, finances, teaching, disciplining, hospitality, or serving.

• The proud, religious, and envious will spend their energies arguing why believers should be poor and hold people to convictions that aren’t founded in Scripture.

• King Solomon led and taught the people of his kingdom in the fear of the Lord.

• During this time “Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their own fig tree.” (1 Kings 4:25).

• There was no welfare, unemployment, or poverty with anyone in the entire nation—everyone had plenty.

• The fear of the Lord gives the wisdom that benefits all those under its influence; in this case it was an entire nation.

• What would happen if all our leaders walked in the fear of the Lord?

• Jesus sums it up in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

• Let’s look at the next promise, honor.

• The Hebrew word for “honor” is defined as “honor, glory, majesty, wealth.”

• The word “honor” carries a weightiness, an authority not stemming from a title or position, but rather attached to character.

• So, we discover yet another wonderful benefit of holy fear: nobility.

• It transforms you into a person of dignity and honor.

• Proverbs isn’t the only book stating this benefit: the psalmist uses the same Hebrew word for those who fear God: “They will have influence and honor” (Psalm 112:9).

• Consider the virtuous woman in the book of Proverbs.

• She possesses tremendous qualities.

• She’s trustworthy, wise, diligent, energetic, hardworking, prosperous, wealthy, kind, assists those in need, and defends the helpless.

• Another outstanding trait that is sometimes overlooked and is pertinent to our discussion is, “She is clothed with strength and dignity” (Proverbs 31:25).

• In other words, she wears honor like a garment, no different from her clothing—it’s visible and noticeable to all in her presence.

• And what is her final virtue?

• “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

• It’s holy fear!

• Here is the amazing reality—the nobility and dignity ascribed to this woman are available to any man or woman who fears God.

• The third promise in our opening verse is long life, or longevity.

• It’s closely tied to true humility.

• We look at that now.

VI. Finishing Well

• “Folly brings joy to one who has no sense, but whoever has understanding keeps a straight path” (Proverbs 15:21).

• We cannot fully discuss living well unless we include finishing well.

• In Proverbs 22:4, we read, “Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.”

• A fabulous benefit of holy fear is prolonged days.

• We read: “The fear of the Lord adds length to life” (Proverbs 10:27).

• What a promise!

• And it’s not a one-time occurrence, for again we are told the wisdom of holy fear will “add years to your life” (Proverbs 9:11).

• Not only are we promised added years but that our days will be more productive.

• Still another confirmation is found in one of the Ten Commandments.

• The fear of the Lord inspires us to unconditionally honor our parents, and in so doing we are promised that “you may enjoy long life on the earth” (Ephesians 6:3).

• Once again, we find not only longevity but also productivity. 

• These are promises we can ask for in prayer.

• With this said, it’s important to note that without quality of life, the pleasure of added years diminishes.

• Solomon wrote in his pessimistic years, “The day you die is better than the day you are born” (Ecclesiastes 7:1).

• It’s obvious he must not he must not have been enjoying life when he penned these words.

• What ensures quality of life?

• True humility and the fear of the Lord.

• It is a shame not to have both humility and the fear of the Lord together.

• Somewhere along the line of service, we lose humility and fear of the Lord that he began with.

• Take the case of Uzziah.

• We have recorded in 2 Chronicles 26:16, “But after Uzziah became power, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God.”

• What results came of this intrusion into the temple to burn incense?

• The chief priest, Azariah confronted him and quickly noticed that he had leprosy on his forehead, and quickly escorted out of the temple.

• The Lord had afflicted him!

• He lived with leprosy the rest of his life and was banned from the temple.

• Pride was the downfall of Uzziah.

• One truth is evident: the degree pride dies in a person’s life is the degree we will have a fresh vision of Jesus. 

• Transformation is imperative, and without a fresh vision of Him, we miss the opportunity to grow more like Him.

• Many great men and women have not finished well, yet all of them believed they could escape the inevitable consequence of a loss of humility and holy fear.

• Don’t be fooled—cling tight to true humility, your utter dependence on Jesus, and make holy fear your treasure.

• Do this and God promises riches, honor, and long life!

VII. Finding the Treasure

• A. W. Tozer writes, “I do pray often: ‘Oh God, send a revival of repentance and the fear of God that will sweep through the continent that we may be spared and that we may honor Thee!’”

• To end our study of the Awesomeness of God, I would like to share some Scriptures to help us remain grounded in the Word.

• Psalm 128:1-2, “Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.”

• Psalm 128:3-4, “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord.”

• Psalm 112:1-2, “Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. Their children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.”

• Psalm 112:3, 6-8, “Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.”

• Proverbs 14:26, “Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge.”

• Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”

• 2 Chronicles 17:10, “The fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, so that they did not go to war against Jehosphaphat.”

• Proverbs 23:17-18, “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.”

• Isaiah 11:2-3, “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.”

• Proverbs 2:1-5, “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, they you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”

• Amen!

Psalm 145:19

I. Establishing His Promises

• “Give thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways” (Proverbs 4:26).

• Now let’s turn our attention to the numerous benefits of holy fear.

• We have discussed several already, including the greatest—intimacy with God.

• Let’s continue to unravel the knowledge of “how abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you” (Psalm 31:19).

• Before we begin this exciting discussion, it’s important to clarify a common misunderstanding.

• Often people interpret Scripture through the lens of experience—either their own or others—rather than allowing Scripture to shape their experience.

• In essence, God’s promises are viewed as “hit or miss” scenarios, with this prevailing thought: If God wants this for me, that’s wonderful. But if not, He is sovereign, and I need to accept it.

• This belief sets God up to show partiality with His children, which just isn’t true.

• This can easily create hidden and unspoken resentment against the Lord.

• The real story is quite different; often we must contend for what God speaks.

• To elaborate, we will turn to Scripture to establish this truth.

• Let’s set up a biblical promise most would consider automatic.

• God spoke to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned” (Genesis 21:12).

• This word from God, along with earlier words, made the divine promise clear: the reality of Abraham being the father of a nation and that the coming Messiah would come through Isaac’s offspring.

• With this in mind, let’s see how Isaac’s lineage began, starting with how God picked the girl for him to marry.

• Abraham’s servant travels to his master’s homeland to find a bride for Isaac.

• After a long journey, he stands at the community well and prays for an unmistakable sign from God—the girl who will give water to his ten camels without being asked is “the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac” (Genesis 24:14).

• Let’s pause for a second: After a long journey, one camel can drink anywhere from thirty to fifty gallons of water in fifteen minutes.

• Multiply that times ten, and you will see that a lot of water has to be drawn by servant girl voluntarily.

• Rebekah miraculously fulfilled this task, and was chosen.

• After the servant and Rebekah returned home, Isaac and she were married.

• But Rebekah was barren.

• “Isaac prayed (pleaded) to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.” (Genesis 25:21).

• Again, if there was a promise of God that was sure to happen without any human involvement, it would have been Rebekah’s ability to have babies.

• But this was not the case.

• It took a very specific action from Isaac to ensure God’s promise.

• He had to plead.

• The Hebrew dictionary states, “The fundamental meaning of this word is that of a cry to the Lord.”

• So, it wasn’t just a casual prayer for a fervent petition, one that wouldn’t take no for an answer.

• This kind of prayer that pleases God.

• We are told, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).

• The apostle James states that an effective prayer is an earnest or passionate prayer.

• Isaac knew God’s will and passionately cried out for it to be established on earth.

• Is the same true of believers?

• We are told, “Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89).

• God’s Word is established in heaven.

• It’s not by accident that earth is not mentioned, only heaven.

• Why?

• The psalmist states, “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind” (Psalm 115:16).

• The Lord owns heaven and earth, but He has leased the earth to mankind for a period of time.

• God has given dominion over the earth to mankind.

• With this understanding, we must ask: How does His Word become established on the earth?

• We are told: “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (2 Corinthians 13:1).

• And in Isaiah 55:11, we find, “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

• Notice that the word mouth is specified.

• God’s mouth speaks His desired will, but it takes a human being—who has been given authority on earth—to speak it out of their mouth to establish it on earth.

• In essence, we make a request for Him to come and assist on the earth.

• Now His promise is established on earth as it is in heaven.

• Simply put, He will not force His way into our “leased earth” unless we ask for His will to be done.

• Isaac asked God to open Rebekah’s womb, and He did.

• The result: God’s will was established.

• Listen to the words concerning Jesus, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission” (Hebrews 5:7).

• Again, we encounter the cries of pleading, but this time it is coupled with deep reverence for God.

• Again, the fear of the Lord is connected with the promises of God.

• Notice God “heard” Jesus’ prayers.

• It’s one thing to pray, but it is another matter to be heard.

• Are there prayers that are not heard?

• Absolutely!

• James writes, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives” (James 4:3).

• Again, we have to look at our motives, and the fear of the Lord is what keeps motives in check.

• When we fear God, we can boldly pray and declare God’s promises or will to be done on this earth, and it will be established, as in heaven.

• Could this be why the apostle Paul writes near the end of his time on earth, “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12).

• It’s a fight, and by faith we lay hold of what eternal life provides!

II. The Fear that Eliminates Fears

• “Men who fear God face life fearlessly. Men who do not fear God end up fearing everything” (Richard Halverson).

• We live in a troubled and fear-filled world.

• In fact, Jesus tells us it will only intensify.

• His description of what’s on the horizon is sobering: “People will faint with terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken” (Luke 21:26).

• These fears and anxieties displace hope, peace, and tranquility, leaving only unrest, heavy hearts, and persistent torment.

• What’s the antidote?

• “This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people: ‘Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread. He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare’” (Isaiah 8:11-14).

• Holy fear eliminates all other fears and anxieties, for it is backed by God’s promise of being kept safe.

• Stop for a moment and ponder this reality. 

• In Psalm 31:19-20, we find these wonderful words, “How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you. In the shelter of your presence you hide them from all human intrigues; you keep them safe in your dwelling from accusing tongues.”

• The promise of lavished goodness—being hidden in the shelter of God’s presence, safe from those who would try to harm us—is not made in all, but to those who fear God.

• Jesus often encountered crowds that picked up stones to hurl at Him.

• Another time a crowd attempted to throw Him off a cliff, but in each life-threatening occasion, He simply walked away unharmed.

• “They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way” (Luke 4:29-30).

• The only time God permits someone who fears Him to go through suffering is if it’s granted from above for God’s glory.

• However, in these situations there is a confidence from holy fear that eliminates human fear.

• Consider the three young Hebrew men who were brought before the most powerful king on earth, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

• He had built a large idol and made a decree that all people should bow before it anytime music was heard in the land.

• These three young men feared God and refused to sin by obeying the leader’s decree.

• They were brought before a very angry king, who could instantly throw them into a furnace of fire.

• Were the young men afraid?

• Notice what they said to the enraged king, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).

• What confidence!

• They remained calm and fearless.

• The apostle Paul, a man who greatly feared God, had the same attitude.

• When facing possible execution, he stated, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:20-21).

• The fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, enlightens us with the proper perspective on this life and the next.

• The fear of the Lord leads us to surrender all to Jesus.

• When we do, we live in what others greatly desire but just can’t find: peace, confidence, and freedom from fear.

• Amen!

III. Legacy

• “Train up a child in the way that they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

• There is another great benefit of holy fear: godly legacy.

• Allow me to ask some questions.

• What comes to mind when you think of Benedict Arnold?

• Is “traitor” your first thought?

• How about Mother Teresa?

• Do you think of Missionaries of Charity?

• How about Adolf Hitler?

• Do you think of “tyrant dictator who murdered millions?

• What about Albert Einstein?

• Do you think of the one who discovered the theory of relativity?

• The thoughts that came to your mind are likely the legacies of these well-known individuals.

• The fact is, we all create legacies.

• So, one question we need to ask ourselves is: Will my legacy be well remembered or frowned upon?

• The better question, though, is how our legacy will be viewed in heaven—as beneficial or detrimental to the building of God’s eternal kingdom.

• One definition of the word legacy, according to Merriam-Webster, is “something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor.”

• How does the fear of God affect our posterity?

• To begin, let’s return to the father of faith, Abraham.

• On the mountain, once the angel halted him from killing Isaac with the knife, the Lord said to him, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies” (Genesis 22:17).

• Holy fear benefits our descendants—“They will take possession of the cities of their enemies.”

• Our forever is affected by our descendants creating greater honor and influence for us in both our near future and in the next life.

• In eternity, many will possess greater honor and influence due to their descendant’s obedience in building the kingdom.

• Abraham is an excellent example: his eternal influence will be enhanced by his offspring—Joseph, Sanuel, David, Daniel, Isaiah, and of course, Jesus, just to name a few.

• Even now, his legacy continues.

• Many think everything starts over in heaven.

• However, this is not true.

• As believers, we have already begun to shape eternal history, for we are told, “their righteousness endures forever” (Psalm 112:9).

• Now let us turn to another promise in our key verse, “Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies.”

• In a more modern language, we could state “that our offspring will not be overcome by those who despise God but instead will be successful leaders and influencers.

• Listen to the words of Deuteronomy 28:13, “The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.”

• You may think this in only for Abraham and his direct descendants.

• But we are told in Galatians 3:14, “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”

• Again, in Psalm 112:1-2, we read, “Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. Their children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.”

• The word generation means “a long time,” and it refers to our posterity.

• Zechariah prophesied, “His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation” (Luke 1:50).

• Not only will our immediate children be successful, but this promise encompasses generations.

• Let us look at the life of Jonathan Edwards, a well-known revivalist who authored numerous books and inspired many to take the gospel to the nations.

• He was married to Sarah Pierpoint in 1727.

• This couple greatly feared God.

• They had eleven children, and Jonathan prayed over each child daily.

• He stated, “Every house should be a little church.”

• Jonathan and Sarah’s 1,394 known descendants reveal God’s promise to those who fear him.

• Among their descendants are 13 college or university presidents, 65 college or university professors, 3 United States senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 100 ministers and missionaries, 60 authors of prominence, and 1vice president of the United State, Aaron Burr.

• What a legacy!

• Another example of a well-known eighteenth century individual is Max Jukes.

• In 1874, a sociologist named Richard Dugdale visited thirteen county jails in upstate New York.

• He discovered six persons under four different family names that were blood relatives.

• This sparked curiosity and led him into a deep dive of the family line.

• It led back to an early Dutch settler named Max Jukes, who was born somewhere between 1720 and 1740.

• After years of diligent research, Dugdale identified 540 descendants of Jukes.

• Among them were 76 convicted criminals, 18 brothel keepers, 120 prostitutes, and over 200 government-relief recipients.

• In short, there were generational sins that led to an abundance of dysfunctional behavior and cost the government tens of millions of dollars in today’s currency value.

• Again, what a legacy!

• Enough said!

Psalm 25:14

IV. The Secret of the Lord

• Joy Dawson once said, “We’re never enlightened or surprised by what comes from our own thoughts. But when God speaks, there’s always an element of wonderment and awe.”

• It has been a difficult and challenging journey so far.

• It’s both gut-wrenching and heartbreaking to know that many who expect to hear Jesus say, “Enter into the joy of the Lord,” will instead hear, “Depart from Me.”

• There is no greater deception than to think you are in relationship with God when, in fact, you are not.

• These men and women will suddenly come to the terrible revelation of their foolishness in “using God,” instead of being “united with Him.”

• They used His Word for their self-serving purposes instead of experiencing the magnificent love revealed in obeying His Word.

• With great love Jesus forewarns of this horrible occurrence in order to protect us from slipping into a lukewarm or deceived state.

• Now with an understanding of the counterpart of intimacy, let’s joyfully begin our discussion of the beauty of being genuinely close with our Creator.

• We will begin by looking at a scenario that will take us on a lengthy journey for a while.

• To set it up, let me pose a question: “Is it possible to be a member of the kingdom but still have missed the opportunity to be intimate with God?”

• The quick answer is YES.

• But let’s explore this in Scripture, and to begin, I will share one of my favorites: “The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them” (Psalm 25:14).

• The term “confides” essentially means, “God shares His secrets with those who fear Him.”

• Now ask yourself this question: “Who do you share your secrets with, acquaintances or close friends?”

• I am certain you answered “close friends.”

• God is no different; He shares His secrets with intimate, close friends, and His close friends are those who embrace holy fear!

• God is not everyone’s friend.

• Let me restate it more specifically: God is not a friend to everyone who is in the church.

• To expand on this, let’s begin in the Old Testament.

• There are two men identified as God’s friend: Abraham and Moses.

• Are there others?

• Absolutely—Noah, Daniel, Esther, Joseph, David, Job, Enoch, Isaiah, and many more walked closely with God.

• However, these two men’s lives exemplify the path that leads to a relationship of friendship with the Lord.

• As you look at the life of Abraham, it was characterized by a total attitude of obedience, especially when it made no sense.

• On the mountain, as Abraham was ready to plunge his knife into Isaac, he looks up and sees a ram in the bushes.

• He calls that place, “The Lord will provide.”

• What just happened?

• In that moment, God revealed a facet of His character to Abrahem that no one else had known before.

• Why?

• Because he’s God’s friend.

• Abraham became a closer friend to God that day!

V. The Inside Scoop

• Ephrem the Syrian once said, “The fear of God illumines the soul, annihilates evil, weakens the passions, drives darkness from the soul and makes it pure. The fear of God is the summit of wisdom. Where it is not you will find nothing good. Whoever does not have the fear of God is open to diabolical falls.”

• The example of the friendship of Abraham and God is an example of the friendship that we can have with God.

• Before we discuss our friendship with God, let’s look at what is recorded in James 2:21, 23, “Was not our father Abraham considered righteous, for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to hm as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend.”

• The apostle James speaks of their friendship.

• What fostered this closeness was Abraham’s holy fear, and it was evident by his quick and complete obedience or actions.

• Even when the command did not make sense, had no apparent benefit attached, and was painful to carry out, he trembled at God’s Word.

• Godly fear motivates us both to will and to do what God asks of us.

• It opens the door to intimacy with Him.

• We all remember the event surrounding Sodom and Gomorrah.

• Two angels accompanied God on a visit with Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre.

• God stated, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (Genesis 18:17).

• Thus begins a conversation between two friends about the fate of the two cities.

• Only a friend can talk this way to a King who has the power to execute judgment.

• Coming from a servant or subject, such a petition would be disrespectful.

• The Lord agreed to each request, and then we read: “When the Lord has finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home” (Genesis 18:33).

• Remember, fearing God means that we love what He loves and hate what He hates.

• Scripture states that those in Sodom and Gomorrah were “eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building” (Luke 17:28).

• If you put in modern-day language, “Life is good, the economy is booming, and if there is a God, He doesn’t mind our lifestyle.”

• These cities were less than twenty-four hours away from being obliterated, and the people were clueless.

• What is even more frightening is that fact that neither was Lot.

• The Bible identifies Lot as a “righteous man” (2 Peter 2:7).

• It took two angels of mercy to get him and his family out—all because Abraham prayed.

• Lot was called righteous, but he was worldly.

• He represents the believer who, when forced into a corner, seeks first to serve his or her own best interests.

• This group of “righteous” men and women have a relationship with God that is not two different from my relationship with the president of the United States.

• We may benefit from his decisions and leadership, but we don’t know the inside scoop, his plans, his personal feelings, or his decisions before he makes them.

• When we lack holy fear, we will inevitably seek to get as close to the world as possible without falling headlong into it.

• However, if this is our motive, it is only a matter of time before the world draws us in.

• We must remember we are called into the world to reach the lost, not to be part of them.

• Lot’s life serves as a warning to each of us.

• The day of judgment would have come upon Lot as a thief in the night had it not been for Abraham’s intercession.

• There were terrible consequences for his worldliness.

• As stated, Lot’s offspring were very ungodly.

• His wife was so attached to Sodom that she disobeyed the angel’s command to not look back, and it resulted in judgment—she instantly became a pillar of salt.

• Now it is wise to ask, is this condition of friendship true for those of us who are God’s children?

• Let’s examine that next.

VI. Face to Face

• Let’s now look at the other Old Testament man who is referred to as “friend” in his relationship with God.

• “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11).

• It’s almost incomprehensible that Scripture uses the phrase “face to face” in describing God and Moses’ shared friendship.

• Keep in mind, this is God Almighty, not someone down the street, or even a famous figure.

• Are you grasping the magnitude of this statement?

• This term of intimacy isn’t used just once; it’s used a second time when the Lord was angry with Aaron and Miriam for criticizing Moses.

• He sternly declares in Exodus 12:7-8, “But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord.”

• For God to say “I trust you” is one of the greatest compliments a human being can receive.

• This offers more insight into having friendship with God—the foundation of trust.

• What builds trust with God?

• Unconditional obedience—

o Always doing what’s asked

• Absolute integrity—

o Always keeping your word

• Unwavering priority—

o Always putting His desires first

• Knowing His heart—

o Always choosing God’s will when making decisions

• Consistency in all four is paramount.

• If one area is broken, quick and sincere repentance puts you on the path of regained trust.

• Holy fear motivates this reliability in all four categories, and Moses exuded a high level of it.

• Consider the life of Moses.

• In Hebrews 11:25-26, we find these telling words, “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”

• Just as with Abraham, God revealed his character to Moses.

• How many believers today only know God by answered prayer?

• Their relationship with Him is more transactional, not intimate.

• They know His words, but not His heart.

VII. You Are My Friends

• Luke 24:32 states, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

• The lives of Abraham and Moses exemplify what’s necessary to enter a relationship of friendship with God.

• The Lord went as far as to say of Moses, “He is faithful in all my house” (Numbers 12:7).

• In that generation, God declared there wasn’t anyone else among His people whom He could trust more. 

• What a startling statement!

• Did Jesus alter this criterion?

• Did He open up a relationship of friendship to all who believe in Him?

• The quick answer is NO, but let’s investigate by opening with a statement John writes at the onset of Jesus’ ministry: “Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people” (John 2:23-24).

• The word trust is an interesting Greek word that is defined as “to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance—to have confidence in, to have faith in.”

• Interestingly, this trust is not reciprocated by Jesus.

• Even though people believed to the extent of complete trust in and reliance on Him, He didn’t trust them.

• He knew a vast many human beings were not reliable.

• He loved them and served them but did not hold them at the level of friendship.

• The trust that God attributed to Moses was not extended by Jesus to those who simply believed in Him.

• Let’s move forward to the Last Supper.

• In the previous three years of ministry, most who believed in Him were not reliable; many followed secretly or from a distance or only when it benefited them.

• Many disciples left Him, and Judas betrayed Him.

• Does this give more insight as to why Jesus didn’t reciprocate the trust?

• At the supper, Jesus is now sitting with those closest to Him.

• With gratitude and affection, he says, “You are those who have stood by me in my trials” (Luke 22:28).

• In essence, they had been reliable.

• Peter would have a major hiccup later that evening but would repent and return with an even more loyal heart, and Jesus knew it.

• Judas has left to carry out the betrayal, and Jesus says of the eleven remaining, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).

• The fact that Jesus says “no longer” means that these men were at one time regarded as servants.

• This is not revelation, just simple English.

• Paul expounds this principle in writing: “What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave” (Galatians 4:1).

• We must ask, why does God keep us at the level of a servant when we are heirs of His kingdom?

• The answer: to protect us!

• He doesn’t desire Ananias and Saphira’s plight to be ours; He takes no pleasure in this.

• In essence, the Lord says to us, “Until you are very established in who I am in your life and very established in who you are with Me—the fear of the Lord—I need to keep you at a servant level even though you are an heir—a son or daughter of My Kingdom.

This is to protect you, so you don’t experience judgment similar to Ananias and Sapphira.”

• Jesus is essentially saying, “Up to now, I have not given you the inside scoop—My plans, secret counsel, or intimate areas of My heart. But now I can trust you as I did with Moses and Abraham.”

• This is why Jesus states to all of us: “You are my friends if…” (John 15:14).

• The word “if” is a condition; it’s not automatic, even if we believe in Him.

• What is the condition of friendship?

• “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14).

• There is the condition: the fear of the Lord-trembling at His Word, obeying His commands instantly and to completion, even if it doesn’t make sense, you don’t see the benefit, or it is painful.

• When the Lord’s heart and will are our number one priority, He then can trust us and will welcome us into a relationship of friendship.

• What an honor, what a privilege, and how exhilarating to be a friend of the Creator of the universe!

• The greatest benefit of holy fear is to be welcomed into a friendship relationship with Jesus.

• Stay tuned for more benefits of holy fear!

2

Psalm 27:8

I. Where Intimacy Begins

• “I would rather pay the price to hear God’s voice personally, regardless of how difficult the circumstances may be, than to have to settle for always hearing from Him secondhand” (Joy Dawson)

• As holy fear grows within us according to our increased comprehension of God’s glory, it purifies our motives, frees us from the fear of man, and produces true holiness in our lives.

• The manifestation of holy fear is immediate and complete obedience to God regardless of whether we see a reason or benefit or how painful it is.

• With this knowledge, we can now turn our discussion to this unique gift’s benefits, and focus on what is undoubtably the greatest benefit of all: intimacy with God.

• The word intimate comes from two Latin words: intus, which means “within,” and intimus, which means “very secret.”

• This gives a very good picture of intimacy, a word used to describe an affectionate connection between two close friends on levels far deeper than merely an acquaintance, which is someone you’ve met and know slightly but not well.

• To be intimate is a two-way street; both parties need to know each other’s innermost desires and thoughts.

• Regarding intimacy with God, let’s look at both His and our perspectives, starting with His.

• David writes, “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me” (Psalm 139:1).

• The word “searched” perfectly describes what it takes to enter into an intimate relationship with someone. 

• Time and effort, which are not burdensome but delightful, are given to explore the other person’s innermost thoughts and ways.

• The next word of interest in the verse from Psalm 139:1 is “know.”

• In the Old Testament, it’s most frequently used to convey intimacy.

• It’s used in Genesis 4:1, “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived.”

• The Holy Spirit used this word to identify the closest that two human beings can become in this life.

• In essence, David is saying, “Lord, you know me very deeply.”

• David uses both words to give us the vivid imagery of God searching and seeking out the innermost desires and ways of those He longs to be close with.

• David continues in Psalm 139:2-4, “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.”

• God knows our intimate details beyond comprehension.

• He deeply desires to be close with each of us.

• Yet, true intimacy is spawned from both parties knowing each other well, not just one.

• Just as He searches our innermost thoughts, even so we should passionately seek to create true intimacy.

• Moses pursues this level of relationship by crying out, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people” (Exodus 33:12-13).

• God doesn’t know us as merely a number amid a mass of people; He knows us personally, individually, by name.

• The desire of Moses, as it should be with us, is to go further in his knowledge of God.

• He wants a relationship of intimacy—not only God deeply knowing him but also Moses deeply knowing God.

• So, what about us?

• We are told: “Come near to God, and God will come near to you” (James 4:8).

• With what we have found out already, I think we now hear a call—no, a cry—coming from the heart of God.

• With each passing moment it intensifies.

• “Why do you remain distant when you could be intimate with Me?”

• In essence, we are being informed that we are the ones who determine the level of our intimacy with God.

• Let me say it in simple terms: you determine how close you are with God, not God!

• So, how does the fear of the Lord play into this?

• We are told in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”

• The knowledge of what?

• Does this mean the knowledge of the world?

• No, for the world’s ways are foolish to God.

• Is it knowledge of the Bible?

• Not at all, for the Pharisees were experts in Scripture, but they did not fear God and were very displeasing to Him.

• Our answer is found in these words: “Fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:5).

• The word knowledge is defined by the Dictionary of Biblical Languages as “information of a person, with a strong implication of relationship to that person.”

• Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary tells us this word implies “to have an intimate experiential knowledge of Him (God).”

• To simply state what’s promised: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowing God intimately.

• The truth is, we haven’t even begun to know God on an intimate level unless we fear Him—it’s the starting point.

• If you initiate anything outside of the starting point, you can’t complete it.

• Remember that by the fear of the Lord we depart from evil or lawlessness.

• With this knowledge, consider that Jesus foretells of a large group of people who will be shocked on the day of judgment.

• These men and women call Him their Lord but are going to hear Jesus say, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers” (Matthew 7:23).

• Jesus will say to those who lack holy fear: “I never intimately knew you.”

• This presents a huge issue that we will cover now.

II. A Different Jesus

• “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 16:25).

• Often, in order to better understand a matter, it helps to look at the antithesis of what we seek to know.

• So, before embarking on further discussions of intimacy with God, let’s address its counterpart, illustrated by this story.

• A pastor friend of mine attended a leadership conference recently. Upon arrival at his hotel, he was informed that his room was not available. He instead went to the pool area to relax. He started a conversation with a business woman who was attending a different conference. They exchanged greetings and began to tell each other about themselves. When the woman found out that my friend was a pastor, she began to tell him about her relationship with Jesus. As she talked, my friend began to realize that she did not know Him. She kept confidently stating what she believed, but very little corresponded to what Scripture reveals. My friend silently asked the Holy Spirit for wisdom, and within moments He revealed what to say.

• Once she finished, my friend asked, “Do you see the man sitting across the pool?” Yes, she replied. “His name is Jim, and he’s from Fresno, California. He lives on a strict vegan diet, has a wife and family, and spends three hours a day in physical training.” The woman was intrigued by how well I knew him. She asked, “Is he attending the same conference with you?” I responded, “No ma’am.” She responded, ‘How do you know him so well?” I turned to her and stated, “I’ve never met him.” I let that statement sink in, and then said, “That’s what I believe about him.” She was speechless. My friend continued, “You spoke with great confidence of your belief of who Jesus is, but almost everything you just said about Him is not true; it’s contrary to what the Bible teaches. I know this because I know Him.” The conversation was over, by her choice, but she was noticeably shaken.”

• The apostle Paul makes a startling statement to a church he loves deeply: “For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough” (2 Corinthians 11:4).

• He doesn’t identify a different god, rather, a different Jesus.

• It’s obvious they believe in Jesus yet don’t actually know Him.

• Why?

• They believe whatever appeals to their liking and consequently live estranged from the real Jesus.

• It isn’t hard to do; the Lord is invisible, so you can alter His nature to suit your fancy.

• The children of Israel do something similar.

• Coming out of Egypt is a type of being saved from the world.

• We read, “They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness” (1 Corinthians 10:3-5).

• There are numerous reasons God is not pleased, but it all boils down to one main point: their disobedience to God’s Word—their lack of holy fear.

• All throughout history, there have been numerous occasions that the people of Israel have had many opportunities to intimately know God.

• I am sure that Moses often asked the question, “Why can’t they come into Your presence and intimately know you as I do?”

• In Deuteronomy 5:28-29, we read the words of God, “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”

• God laments, if they only walked in holy fear, they would be able to come into His presence and experience a relationship of intimacy.

• This in turn would empower them to obey, and thus it would go well for them and their children.

• Then God gives this direction to Moses: “Go, tell them to return to their tents. But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess” (Deuteronomy 5:30-31).

• The lady at the pool proclaimed a differentJesus, the Corinthians served a differentJesus, and Israel often followed a differentAlmighty God.

• Are we seeing a pattern?

• It is possible for us to create a deity with the given name of Jesus and yet not know the actual Jesus at the right hand of God.

• And what makes it more disconcerting is Israel and the Corinthian church experienced the Lord’s manifest power and miracles in their prayers being answered.

• Let us examine this very disturbing topic further.

III. I Don’t Know You

• “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations” (Isaiah 65:2).

• We will both grasp and appreciate intimacy with God more if we continue to look at its counterpart.

• Scripture clearly warns in the latter days a gospel would be proclaimed and widely accepted that would offer a counterfeit salvation void of lordship.

• Simply put, a relationship with Jesus is offered without committing to unconditionally obey His Word.

• It’s the antithesis of holy fear and produces a fictitious Jesus, no different from the one Paul accused many of the Corinthians of embracing.

• Many in our world today profess the Lord Jesus but live contrary to His Word. 

• This was a rare occurrence in the early church but is widespread in our modern Western church.

• The consequence of this teaching reduces “Lord” to merely a title rather than a position He holds in people’s lives.

• Jesus prophesies: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

• Jesus acknowledges people who declare Him as their Lord-not those who revere Mohammad, Joseph Smith, Buddha, Hara Krishna, Confucius, or any other false prophet of our era.

• Notice Lord is consecutively repeated in this verse.

• Again, if a word or phrase is repeated twice in Scripture, it is not accidental.

• The writer is communicating emphasis.

• There are many who have invested time and effort in the ministry of our Lord, but never actually knew Him.

• Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your nameperform many miracles?” (Matthew 7:22).

• How do these people differ from authentic believers?

• Jesus tells us in Mathew 7:23, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”

• They never had an intimate relationship with Jesus.

• Even though they call Him Master and Lord, it’s only a title because they didn’t obey His commands.

• John writes in 1 John 2:3-4, “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.”

• This perfectly aligns with how Jesus set up His discourse, “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:20).

• The actions are not Christian service, speaking the message, or attending church, for those who are turned away will have these qualities.

• Let me say it like this: you will certainly find these qualities in a true believer; in fact, a person cannot be a true believer without them.

• However, possessing these qualities doesn’t mean they are a genuine child of God.

• The deciding factor: are they obedient to His words?

• To put a cap on these startling words, we must refer to Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who build his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

• Jesus makes it clear that these two groups are very similar in appearance.

• The group with a foundation of sand will be rejected, but the group with a solid foundation will be accepted.

• One group privately experiences intimacy with God; the other group does not.

• Intimacy with God is promised to those who walk in holy fear!

2

Proverbs 14:26

“Apart from obedience, there can be no salvation, for salvation without obedience is a self-contradictory impossibility” (A. W. Tozer)

IV. A Good Pain

• When a woman gives birth to her child, it is not a pleasant experience; it’s difficult and often painful.

• However, the end result is a desired new family member.

• Without discomfort of the pregnancy and delivery, this beautiful new life could not have been brought forth.

• This offers a glimpse into the next aspect of trembling at God’s Word: Obey God Even If It Is Painful.

• Going back to one of our foundational Scriptures, Philippians 2:12-13, we are reminded to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

• Just prior to these words calling for our obedience, Paul points to Jesus as setting the example. 

• Our Lord relinquished His divine privileges and “humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross”(Philippians 2:8).

• Jesus willingly obeyed the Father’s request even though it would necessitate tremendous suffering.

• Remember, Jesus “faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

• What motivates this degree of obedience? 

• Hebrews 5:7 answers this question: “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”

• His deep holy fear empowered Him to face and endure what human nature would run from.

• In the same way, we are told: “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin” (1 Peter 4:1).

• Before going any further, allow me to interject an important point.

• False religion will seek out suffering for sake of pleasing the god it serves.

• True Christianity seeks to obey God and, in the process, faces a fallen world’s resistance, which often results in suffering.

• Obedience is what pleases God, not seeking out hardship.

• Suffering can occur physically or mentally; the pain of either is very real.

• Peter instructs us to arm ourselves.

• Can you imagine a military going to war without the necessary equipment to win?

• Just the thought is ludicrous.

• In the same way, it’s just as crazy for a believer to be unprepared to suffer, yet many are.

• An unarmed believer can easily bypass hardship for the sake of self-preservation.

• The fear of the Lord is what arms us; it maintains a deep resolve in our will to obey God no matter what suffering it may entail.

• We live in a fallen world that is contrary, and even hostile, to God’s ways.

• This is why we are informed, “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him” (Philippians 1:29).

• Not only Paul, but Peter also writes, “Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:21-23).

• We are not to retaliate; rather, we are to commit any unjust treatment we receive into the hands of God.

• We shouldn’t ignore it, but in prayer we should turn it over to Him.

• God will avenge us, but in His way and time frame.

• The heroes of the kingdom experienced great victories through their faith, but in their obedience to God, some were mocked, chained, tortured, abused, imprisoned, wandered in deserts, lived in caves, and myriad other uncomfortable or painful circumstances.

• Why?

• They lived in a fallen world that is hostile to the kingdom of God.

• They all had this in common: Out of their holy fear they refused to turn away from obedience, even if it hurt.

• But they were confident in this promise: “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them” (Psalm 126:5-6).

• Amen!

V. It Is Finished

• “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways” (Proverbs 4:26).

• A question begs to be asked: Is it possible to reach the full potential of any project without completing it?

• The answer is an obvious NO.

• Our Lord has a massive project in process, which centers on building a kingdom.

• He has given each of us the responsibility of subprojects, which when completed will finish the work of His glorious kingdom.

• Keeping this truth in mind, we transition to our final aspect of trembling at God’s Word: Obey God to Completion.

• The first king of Israel, Saul, is a classic example of someone who doesn’t tremble at God’s Word.

• He easily strayed from obedience when it didn’t make sense, the benefit wasn’t obvious, or it didn’t serve his purposes.

• His lack of holy fear frequently caused pain or harm to others, which is the case with all such behavior.

• This wasn’t always the case.

• Before being crowned king, he was a humble and God-fearing young man—two virtues that go hand in hand.

• When Samuel, the renowned prophet, sought him out, he was quick to say, “But I am not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin?” (1 Samuel 9:21).

• Later, all of Israel had gathered to discover the identity of their first king.

• After a lengthy process, the divine selection fell to Saul, but when the leaders called for him, he was not to be found; he was hiding in an obscure place.

• He had no desire to be recognized.

• Holy fear would not prove to be his treasure.

• As with Solomon, he eventually forsook it once he experienced success, notoriety, and the benefits of leadership.

• As with most, including King Saul, the initial signs of losing holy fear are subtle.

• It begins with ignoring conviction in the small matters, resulting in our consciences becoming more and more desensitized.

• Eventually, when faced with more significant matters, we are unaware of our developed pattern of disobedience.

• In our world today, many are empathetic toward those who are insecure.

• However, what’s behind insecurity is our desire to be accepted, loved, or respected, even at the price of disobedience.

• We lack the realization of how deeply accepted and loved we are by our Creator.

• Insecurity needs to be called out for what it is: a dangerous trap.

• Saul did not complete the tasks that the Lord had given him because of a lack of holy fear.

• Obedience to completion was paramount to Jesus.

• Listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 17:10, “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

• To quit is not an option!

VI. How to Sear a Conscience

• Again, from A. W. Tozar, ‘When men no long fear God, they transgress His laws without hesitation. The fear of consequences is no deterrent when the fear of God is gone.”

• As stated previously, the initial signs of losing holy fear are subtle—so subtle that we need to focus in a little more and elaborate on this important point.

• Have you ever experienced a “gut warning” when presented with an opportunity to do something questionable?

• Most understand it’s our consciencesafeguarding us, but what many don’t realize is that the clarity and strength of our conscience can be altered.

• Our conscience is a gift from God that should never be taken lightly.

• It’s an integral part of our heart; its sensitivity is strengthened by holy fear and, conversely, dulled by the lack thereof.

• We are warned in Proverbs 4:23, “Above all, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

• The word “conscience” appears in Scripture numerous times, either stated directly or indirectly.

• Paul writes to Timothy, “Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith” (1 Timothy 1:18-19).

• Shipwrecked faith is not a trivial matter!

• For Scripture to admonish us to “keep” our conscience clear means initially it’s in good condition.

• The blood of Jesus cleanses and purifies our conscience.

• This is one of the great benefits of a new birth.

• Jeremiah the prophet makes a statement regarding our conscience that is often misapplied.

• He declares, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

• He is not speaking of those who have been born again, with a new nature, recreated in the likeness of Jesus.

• The Old Testament people didn’t have a new heart.

• But God promised them, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

• It would happen when Jesus redeemed our nature and gave us His.

• Due to the miracle of becoming a brand-new person in Christ, we have a trustworthy conscience.

• The challenge is keeping it pure.

• So, now we must ask: How do we defile it?

• The full corruption doesn’t happen in a moment; rather, most of the time it starts with smaller matters and eventually, if not addressed, ends in a shipwreck.

• James writes, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22).

• We come face-to-face again with the concept of obedience.

• We’ve thoroughly discussed the evidence of holy fear being immediate and full obedience—even if it doesn’t make sense, a benefit isn’t evident, or it hurts.

• The person who walks accordingly cannot fool themselves.

• Let’s pause and make sure the impact isn’t missed.

• It’s certainly possible to fool acquaintances—even close friends and family—but it is another matter to fool ourselves.

• In essence, when we disobey, we deceive ourselves.

• We weaken truth’s protection, and our sense of moral navigation is compromised.

• We’re less aware of being in harm’s way.

• Let’s give a hypothetical example of the process.

• Have you ever spoken a slanderous word against someone?

• The moment you did, perhaps it felt like a knife had been thrust into your gut; that’s your conscience’s voice.

• Hopefully you listened, repented, and immediately corrected what you spoke.

• However, what happens so often is we justify our behavior.

• The ensuing reasoning might sound like: What I spoke is accurate!

• Sadly, our misguided argument prevails, and we stick to our statement while ignoring the inner caution.

• We’ve now begun the defiling process; our conscience’s sensitivity is weakened.

• The next time we speak out against someone, it’s not a knife hitting our gut; now we feel a hard pinch in our inward parts.

• Our conscience has spoken gain, but this time with a less recognizable voice.

• Now the internal conflict is not as intense; it’s easier to ignore the warning and justify our words.

• Yet, we’ve polluted our heart, and our conscience’s sensitivity diminishes even more.

• When we speak out against someone again, we don’t sense a hard pinch; now it’s merely a tingle—barely recognizable.

• We hardly need to convince ourselves with reasoning because our conscience’s voice is so soft.

• It’s easier to justify our behavior.

• Our conscience’s sensitivity diminishes yet again.

• Finally, we don’t feel anything at all.

• Our conscience has been seared.

• We are past feeling blinded and have forfeited all sense of discernment.

• Now we are without any moral navigation, and our faith’s shipwreck is imminent.

• In essence, we’ve fooled ourselves—we’re self-deceived.

• All of this could have been averted through simple repentance—a complete change of mind and heart.

• It’s when we acknowledge our wisdom is futile and we firmly embrace the wisdom of God.

• “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

• Mercy and restoration can happen at any stage of the process, but the lack of holy fear delays our response.

• We gamble because our heart becomes more and more desensitized to the conviction of our conscience.

• The wise person is always quick to respond with repentance to his or her conscience’s warnings; they know that to delay is dangerous.

• Listen to the words of Paul in 1 Timothy 4:1-2, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”

• Human skin seared with a hot iron loses all feeling.

• The same is true with our conscience.

• Now we project ourselves contrary to who we actually are with any conviction.

• This is what happened with Ananias, Sapphira, King Saul, and many others.

• The other consequence of searing is that it locks things in.

• If you sear mean, it keeps the juices from escaping.

• Paul writes, “I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 9:1).

• If a believer has seared their conscience, then they can no longer communicate with the Holy Spirit.

• His witness cannot reach our soul, no different from the juices that can’t escape the mean.

• They now are without life’s navigation system.

• Their path is one of destruction.

• In closing, listen to a couple of Paul’s many statements: “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day” (Acts 23:1); and “So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man” (Acts 24:16).

• In conclusion, let’s guard our hearts diligently!

Psalm 119:35

“Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.”

Introduction: Trembling at God’s Word

• In our previous discussion, we discovered that the fear of the Lord can be broken down into two categorical definitions: to tremble at God’s presence and to tremble at His Word.

• Today, we will discuss “trembling at God’s Word.”

• To begin, let’s consider a time period when God’s people drifted from a genuine relationship with Him and replaced it with mere formalities.

• To get their attention, God asks in Isaiah 66:1,“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?”

• If we read the first five verses of this chapter in Isaiah in context, we find the Almighty addressing people who have attempted to develop and maintain a relationship with Him on their own terms.

• They’ve halfheartedly adhered to His ways under the assumption it would appease Him.

• God makes it clear that their chosen path is offensive, but straightaway He gives what’s required to enter an authentic relationship: “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.”

• Here we have three virtues listed: humility, a contrite heart, and those who “tremble at my word,” which is our focus today.

• The one who trembles at God’s Word always exalts what He says above anything else.

• Nothing is more important.

• It’s the true evidence of holy fear.

• This person is most blessed.

• In the same light, Paul writes in Philippians 2:12, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”

• If we focus on the words “always obeyed,” it means unconditional.

• It is easy to obey God when you are in the appropriate setting and the presence of God is strong, but it becomes more difficult when something happens in your life that rattles you.

• We could name incident after incident where God’s presence seems absent.

• If you tremble at His Word, you will obey no matter the circumstances because there is no greater precedence.

• This indicates you walk in holy fear, for “through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided” (Proverbs 16:6).

• The psalmist writes in Psalm 112:1, “Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands.”

• The God-fearing man or woman not only obeys but greatly delights in doing so.

• Obedience is not a burden; it’s a joy.

• This person has the foundational understanding that God is our Creator, and therefore He knows what makes us and what undoes us.

• The person who fears God always obeys.

• This person, at the core of his or her being, is unmovable from the following truths:

o God is the One who knows what’s right for me.

o God is pure love, and I am the focus of His love.

o God will never tell me to do anything that is detrimental. Whatever He says will always end up best.

o Therefore, no matter what He says, I gladly choose to obey.

• The children of Israel complained constantly.

• There were displeased with how they were led and what was transpiring in their lives.

• They blamed God for their discomfort, lack, and anything else that wasn’t gratifying.

• They lacked holy fear and didn’t tremble at His Word.

• God spoke in Deuteronomy 28:47-48,“Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.”

• Trembling at His Word involves joy and gladness in the core of our being.

• If absent, it’s only a matter of time before circumstances reveal the lack of joy.

• Those who fear God are firmly established that there’s nothing more important or beneficial than obedience.

• They obey no matter the cost and don’t filter God’s Word through the culture or trends of present-day society.

• They also don’t base their obedience to God’s Word on how other believers behave; they simply obey.

I. Immediately

• C. H. Spurgeon writes, “It is better to tremble at the word of the Lord, and to bow before the infinite majesty of divine love, than to shout oneself hoarse.”

• A major attribute of godly fear is unconditional obedience to His Word, which will have startling benefits in our lives.

• There are five distinct aspects of trembling at God’s Word.

• The first one is: Obey God Immediately.

• Obedience is a premium for those who fear God.

• They don’t put personal interests before fulfilling what God has told them to do.

• Holy fear instills in our hearts that what’s important to God is priority to me.

• There are numerous Scriptures we could look at, but to set a precedence, we’ll look at two statements from Jesus.

• “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:22-23).

• The implication from Jesus is leave your gift immediately and be reconciled with the other party.

• Jesus addresses the specific situation of “holding a grudge,” but the general principle applies to all circumstances.

• When we are slow or neglect to obey God for any person or purpose, we honor that person or purpose above honoring God.

• It’s a lack of holy fear.

• God says in 1 Samuel 2:30, “Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.”

• Those are sobering words.

• We think lightly of God when we delay or neglect to obey His Word.

• We in essence communicate: “He’s not our priority.”

• We consider the Word of God to be “trivial.”

• Another passage that illustrates the importance of immediate obedience is Jesus’ words to the church in Ephesus: “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Revelation 2:5).

• To repent means to change the way you think—and thus act—in order to come in line with God’s Word.

• If this church delayed its obedience, they would miss their window of opportunity to remain blessed.

• Jesus would come quickly and remove their influence.

• Again, this is a sobering thought.

• Many more missed opportunities are recorded in Scripture that were the result of delayed obedience, but let us look Luke 9:59, “He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But he replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’”

• The man agreed to follow Jesus, but he delayed by putting his personal interests first.

• Scholars tell us in those times when a firstborn son buried his father he received a double portion of the inheritance, while the other sons received a single portion.

• However, if he didn’t fulfill his duty, it would fall to the second born.

• His excuse seemed legitimate, and the delay didn’t fall under the category of sin.

• However, he was left behind.

• Sadly, it was a missed opportunity.

• A second man made the same mistake, wanting to go back and say goodbye to his family.

• What if Moses delayed turning aside from his busy activities of tending the flocks to see the great sight of the burning bush? (Exodus 3).

• What if Abram delayed going to Canaan?

• What if Nehemiah delayed finishing the wall to satisfy the request of Sanballat and Geshem to halt the work and travel to meet with them?

• The examples are endless.

• The bottom line is this: When we tremble at His Word, we obey God immediately.

II. It Makes No Sense

• “We’re not called to live by human reason. All that matters is obedience to God’s Word and His leading in our lives. When we are in His will, we are in the safest place in the world” (Brother Yun).

• Now, we entertain the idea that often wants God wants us to do makes no sense.

• It’s not a common occurrence that God asks us to do something that doesn’t make sense to our understanding.

• But it does happen.

• Let’s ask some questions:

o Did it make sense to spit into the dirt and put the mud on a blind man’s eyes and then tell him to wash if off?

o Did it make sense to pour water into wine containers in the middle of a wedding when what was needed was more wine?

o Did it make sense to instruct experienced sailors to go against their instinct and training, to not abandon a sinking ship when lifeboats were readily available?

o Did it make sense for a man to leave a city-wide revival meeting, one the God used him to initiate, and obey the command to go out in the middle of the desert?

o Did it make sense to walk around towering and fortified walls of a large city quietly for six days, and then on the seventh day, to do the same seven more times, and finally blow horns and shout?

o Did it make sense to put flour into a pot of poisonous stem and then tell all the ministers to eat it?

o Does it make sense to forgive those who have hurt you, you family, or someone close to you?

o Does it make sense to love those who hate you?

o Does it make sense to do good to those who have mistreated you?

o Does it make sense to honor those in authority who are acting wickedly?

o Does it make sense to honor those who treat you dishonorably?

• We could continue, but I think that you get the picture.

• “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

• The Lord’s wisdom far exceeds our own!

III. No Obvious Benefit

• “It is man’s duty to love and to fear God, even without hope of reward or fear of punishment” (Maimonides).

• We have looked at: Obey God Immediately; Obey God Even If It Doesn’t Make Sense; now, we look at Obey God Even When You Don’t See a Personal Benefit.

• You have probably heard a parent bemoan the fact that the only time they hear from their son or daughter attending university is when they need money.

• In this typical scenario, during that rare phone call the child might sound interested in conversing with mom and dad, but the underlying motive is the benefit of the needed resource.

• Holy fear protects us from doing this with our heavenly Father and introduces our next aspect of trembling at God’s Word.

• So far, we have discussed: (1) Obey God immediately; (2) Obey God even if it doesn’t make sense; (3) Obey God even when you don’t see a personal benefit.

• All too often in our Western church, to get believers interested in obedience, benefits must be emphasized.

• Think about it.

• Would we come thirty minutes early for a front-row seat to hear a message on holiness?

• Are book titles that emphasize obedience making the bestseller lists?

• Has leadership strayed from confrontational truth to accommodate this trend?

• In other words, have numerous ministers succumbed to the pressure of gratifying itching ears with inspiring stories, rather than calling God’s people to deny themselves to follow Jesus?

• What makes this trend such a sad reality?

• In shunning God’s wisdom, we actually hurt ourselves.

• His commands, counsel, and wisdom ultimately bring the greatest blessings, both in this life and the one to come.

• We are told there is “great reward for those who obey” God’s Word (Psalm 19:11).

• You can never outgive God; the benefits are far greater than anything you can do for Him.

• On the other hand, it’s dangerous to be motivated by incentives.

• Why?

• If the benefit is obvious, will we have the same resolved to obey God’s instructions?

• Most likely it will be swallowed up by personal interests.

• This is why the fear of the Lord is so crucial; it motivates obedience, whether a reward is obvious or not.

• If you do an analysis of the life of Queen Esther, you quickly realize that she was queen; she had a fabulous life—in fact, anything her heart desired.

• She personally had nothing to gain by the risk of entering the throne room for the sake of God’s people, but she has everything to lose, including her head.

• Yet, holy fear motivated her to make this statement to Mordecai, “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I will go to the king, even thought it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:15-16).

• Holy fear motivated Esther to put God’s kingdom before her own welfare.

• Her comfort, security, wealth, and position were all put in jeopardy by her obedience.

• There was nothing in it for her, yet what was important to God was most important to her, no exceptions.

• She trembled at His Word; she feared God.

• The question is, will you consistently obey God in response to the holy fear that burns in your heart, or will you wait until you see a personal benefit?

2

Psalm 17:5

“My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not stumbled.”

IV. Longevity

• I, like many of you, have been in church services that lacked something.

• They lacked an effectiveness that was evident in the lives of many of the members.

• Their longevity was in question.

• Many churches in our nation and the world still exist, but in name only.

• Their influence in the community was basically ceremonial.

• I have also been in churches that were characterized by a quiet stillness that was brought on by the presence of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of all who were present.

• This is the kind of church that I want to be a part of!

• In Psalm 19:9, we find these penetrating words, “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.”

• In the ideal church, there is an indescribable cleanness, a profound purity that is sensed deep in the soul of everyone there.

• These words, “enduring forever” leaps off of the page of Scripture.

• How do those believers who start pure end up so polluted?

• Why isn’t there longevity of effectiveness?

• It is the lack of holy fear.

• What Jesus delighted in is taken for granted or even shunned.

• What God calls “His treasure,” they talk themselves and others out of.

• But, listen to God’s Word regarding holy fear and longevity, “Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever. Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever” (Psalm 112:1,3,6).

• We don’t have to experience tragedies to discover how important holy fear is.

• For the sake of God’s glory and your longevity, make holy fear your treasure.

V. Cleanse Ourselves

• “If you don’t delight in the fact that your Father is holy, holy, holy, then you are spiritually dead. You may be in a church. You may go to a Christian school. But if there is no delight in your soul for the holiness of God, you don’t know God. You don’t love God. You’re out of touch with God. You’re asleep to his character.” (R. C. Sproul)

• “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever” (Psalm 19:9).

• The psalmist gives two remarkable fruits of holy fear that should not be overlooked or taken lightly: purity and longevity.

• Let’s examine the first one, purity.

• “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

• Here we see the same truth the psalmist communicates, yet in more depth.

• We need to point out first that holiness is brought to maturity through the fear of the Lord, not the love of God.

• If we want an authentic relationship with Jesus, we must purify ourselves.

• Holiness is not the most popular subject these days.

• For many it carries a bad taste because it’s no fun and puts a damper on life.

• It’s viewed as either legalistic bondage or a virtue that’s noble but unattainable.

• C. S. Lewis addressed this ignorance by writing, “How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real think…it is irresistible.”

• So, prepare yourself for the irresistible as we dive in.

• As mentioned before, the primary definition of holiness is “separation unto God,” and this certainly includes purity.

• Paul tells us to cleanse ourselves.

• He doesn’t say, “The blood of Jesus will cleanse us.”

• However, let me make this point clear: the blood of Jesus does indeed cleanse us from our sin; however, we get confused when we mix the work of justification with the work of sanctification.

• When we repented and received Jesus Christ as our Lord, our sins were forgiven, and we were washed completely clean.

• God buried our sins in the sea of forgetfulness.

• He doesn’t remember them!

• This work is complete, perfect, and cannot be improved upon.

• We did nothing to merit this amazing reality; it was a gift from God.

• This is the work of justification.

• But the very moment we received justification,the work of sanctification (holiness) began.

• This is when what was done on the inside of us is worked out, our new nature becomes an outward reality in the way we live.

• This is precisely what Paul addresses when he writes, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13).

• Clearly, it’s still a work of God’s grace, but we must cooperate with the power He gives both to will and to do.

• A common mistake of many teachers in the Western church is declaring the work of holiness the same as the work of justification.

• Let’s delve into this a little bit further.

• Often, people get confused trying to explain the difference between the work of holiness and the work of justification.

• They confuse positional holiness and behavioral holiness.

• Positional holiness is solely due to what Jesus did for us and speaks of our position in Christ; it’s one of the blessings of Christ’s work of justification.

• Paul writes in Ephesians 1:4, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with is pleasure and will.”

• We never could have earned this position.

• Again, Paul writes, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

• Our behavioral holiness is addressed in 1 Peter 1:14-16, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

• This is the process of sanctification, not the free positional gift of being justified.

VI. Our Pursuit

• “Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame will not be disabled, bur rather healed. Make very effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:13-14).

• Holiness is not an end unto itself; rather, it is a passageway into what’s most important.

• Let’s now turn to the irresistible aspect of it by examining our opening scripture from a different translation: “Pursue…holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14 NKJV).

• The word “pursue” is defined as “to do something with intense effort and with definite purpose or goal.”

• There is no question that the real meaning of the word “pursue” speaks of passionately chasing after holiness with the intent to apprehend it.

• The question is this: is this positional holiness or behavior holiness?

• You don’t pursue something that you already have.

• We chase after behavioral holiness “worthy of the Lord.”

• We are told with certainty that the consequence for ignoring this command is not seeing the Lord.

• That is a sobering thought!

• It certainly will affect us eternally.

• It will also affect us in the here and now!

• If we lack godly fear, we lack the drive to pursue the holy behavior granting us the privilege of His manifest presence.

• Jesus says in John 14:21, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

• It’s worth repeating: no behavioral holiness, no seeing the Lord.

• Why is this so critical?

• First, if we don’t see Him—if we lack His manifest presence—we can’t know Him intimately.

• We can only know about Him.

• Second, without beholding Him—not being in His presence—we cannot be changed or transformed into His likeness.

• Paul mentions that those who see the Lord “are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

• This transformation begins within and subsequently works out to where it is witnessed by others.

• Our purity cannot be like the Pharisees’.

• Jesus said, “In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness” (Matthew 23:28).

• Their motives were as impure and filthy as dead corpses.

• They lacked the fear of the Lord, which in turn caused them to pursue a righteousness that was strictly based on outward behavior, making their projected image the focus.

• This prevented the inner transformation that brings forth corresponding outward behavior.

• They believed they knew God, but the reality is they didn’t know their Creator who stood before them, and consequently were out of step with His wishes.

• They fooled themselves.

• It is not enough to have an outward form of godliness but deny the power of the transformation of our inward desires.

• We must long for the truth in our inward parts (motives and intentions); that must be our pursuit.

• The apostle James is very strong with believers who take holiness lightly.

• He writes in James 4:3-4, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

• James uses the word adulterous, a term used for the violation of a marriage covenant.

• Jesus is the groom, and we are His bride.

• The world lives for selfish gain or prideful achievements and therefore focuses on projected and perceived images.

• When we align ourselves with the world’s desires in our neglect of pursuing holiness, we become adulterers.

• “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8).

• We can only purify our hearts by embracing the fear of the Lord, which drives us to pursue authentic holiness!

VII. Desire and Power

• “The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth” (Isaiah 26:7).

• Perhaps at this point you are lamenting the fact that you’ve tried to live a holy life but, quite honestly, have failed more than you’ve succeeded.

• You long for intimacy with God, but you’ve struggled with obedience.

• Please know this upfront: He longs for you more than you long for Him.

• Rejoice, for God is for you!

• Let this truth alleviate the tension.

• If we look at Paul’s command to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, it is preceded by a statement often overlooked.

• In 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, he writes, “As God’s co-workers, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

• The acceptable time has come; we can live a holy life with His help.

• Sadly, God’s grace has been communicated far below it potential.

• It’s been taught as eternal salvation, forgiveness of sin, freedom from the penalty of sin, and an unmerited gift.

• While these realities are completely true, what has not been communicated as widely is its empowerment.

• God speaks to the apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

• Simply put, “Paul, what you couldn’t do in your own ability, you can do now by My power, which is called grace.”

• Peter affirms this truth in 2 Peter 1:2-3, “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

• Why is this truth so vital?

• Christianity is a life of faith.

• The entire message is called the “word of faith” (Romans 10:8).

• In other words, we will not receive anything from God unless we believe, and we cannot believe what we do not know.

• So, if we are unaware of grace’s empowerment, we will continue to attempt to please God in our own ability.

• And that would lead to a fruitless, miserably existence.

• In 2 Corinthians 6:14, we find these words, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

• Paul is reminding us that carnal believers are not seeing the manifestation of the Spirit of God in their lives.

• Once again, we see the promise of seeing God is conditional.

• If we stay clear from the selfish and prideful desires that the world clings to, we are promised an enduring audience with the King.

• The converse is also true: if we contaminate ourselves with the filth of the world, we are not granted an audience.

• Paul concluded with the focused statement: “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

• True holiness is a transcendent, consecrated purity, one that opens the door to deep intimacy with God.

• Amen!

Isaiah 8:13-14

“The carnal person fears man, not God. The strong Christian fears God, not man. The weak Christian fears man too much, and God too little” (John Flavel)

I. The Fear of Man

• True holiness is to be completely God’s.

• A primary definition of holiness is “separation unto God.”

• Its breadth of meaning is so vast that volumes could be written on it.

• Here we will cover the highlights, as godly fear is an integral aspect of holiness.

• But before we embark, it is important to clearly state up from: authentic holiness isn’t bondage; it’s true freedom.

• It’s quite possible Ananias and Saphira’s judgment is a prelude to what every human being will one day face—judgment.

• The lingering question is, is this couple an example of those who suffer “great loss” in heaven, or did they find themselves in Hades?

• The Scripture often used to explain this couple’s eternal damnation is found earlier in the Gospels in Jesus’ words, “but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:29).

• The errancy of this thought is exposed by the definition of blaspheme, which means “to speak against someone in such a way as to harm or injure his or her reputation.”

• This couple lied to the Holy Spirit, but by definition, they didn’t blaspheme.

• This keeps their fate inconclusive.

• In either case, none of us should ever envy their outcome.

• So, do we have an example in Scripture of someone we know is in heaven but will suffer loss at the judgment seat?

• I believe so.

• Allow me to set it up with Paul’s words: “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).

• What a strong statement.

• We forfeit the privilege to be a servant of Christ if we succumb to the pull of seeking popularity.

• In doing so, we will project whatever image is necessary for a favorable perception.

• Paul would have nothing to do with this, and we should be no different.

• Paul walked in a high level of holy fear; remember, he is the one who scribed, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

• He stayed focused on his actual image—the one that will be revealed at the judgment—not his projected image.

• This kept him in the place of true holiness and obedience to Christ, even when met with the disappointment, disapproval, or rejection of others.

• We should keep this truth before us at all times: You will serve whom you fear!

• If you fear God, you will obey God.

• If you fear man, you will ultimately obey man’s desires.

• Often, we worry more about offending the person before us than the One we don’t physically see, especially if we desire a person’s love or friendship.

• For this reason, we are told, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe” (Proverbs 29:25)—a trap Ananias and Sapphira certainly fell into.

• If we live with the consistent goal of pleasing Jesus, we will not slip over to being controlled by how others perceive us; instead, we will live in truth.

• This is an important aspect of true holiness.

• Carefully consider the following passage of Scripture: “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12-13).

• Notice the Word of God pierces deep into our innermost thoughts and desires.

• It exposes us for who we really are, not who we project ourselves to be.

• If listened to and obeyed, God’s Word protects us from self-deception—such as the thought, The Lord does not see us, which causes ungodly or unholy behavior.

• Carefully heeding the Word of God keeps the fear of the Lord active in our hearts.

• It keeps us fully aware of the fact that “nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).

• Now we have a better understanding of why the Holy Spirit counsels us: “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:1-5).

• It is most wise to pursue His Word in our inward parts—the place that governs our motives and intentions.

• When we view God’s Word as the greatest treasure to be found and obey what’s revealed, we enter into the safety zone.

• When we earnestly seek to know His ways as if there were no superior reward, then we know and understand the fear of the Lord and avoid the deception of projecting a false image.

• We are now empowered to live by integrity and truth and have securely planted our feet on the pathway of holiness!

II. Entitlement

• “Wherever the fear of God rules in the heart, it will appear both in works of charity and piety, and neither will excuse us from the other” (Matthew Henry).

• Consider the following passage of Scripture from 1 Peter 1:14,17, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.”

• It’s obvious Peter is writing to believers—those who have denied themselves, are crucified to the world, and are fully dedicated to following Jesus.

• Any manner of conversion outside of this foundation is not authentic.

• Once regeneration occurs, a divine nature is formed within us.

• Yielding to this nature frees us from the dictates of our senses, and we are empowered to do so by His Spirit and God’s revealed Word, as 2 Peter 1:4 says, “Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

• The apostle warns us not to revert back to living according to our own desires that formerly controlled us.

• One of the strongest cravings we must deny and crucify is self-preservation.

• It’s the core motivation behind projecting ourselves to be perceived favorably by others—in other words, the fear of man.

• This propelled not only Peter’s detrimental behavior but also that of Ananias, Sapphira, Barnabas, and others.

• We must keep in mind that “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty” (Luke 17:10).

• The Greek word for “unworthy” is defined as “not deserving special praise, not worthy of particular commendation.”

• No matter how diligently we’ve served God, we should never fall into an entitled attitude.

• It’s the deceptive psyche that easily entraps all of us, especially leaders.

• In this light, if we examine Jesus’ teaching found in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

• Many think that Jesus is referring to a path that leads to destruction for the unbeliever.

• If you look closer, Jesus is talking about the path after walking through it.

• Leon Morris writes, “We enter the gate right at the beginning (committing ourselves to Christ), after which we pursue the path before us.”

• Jesus is speaking of our life in Him after we are saved.

• He declares it’s difficult (or narrow).

• We often think that we can live a broad life, which is not much different from the lost world, and still be in fellowship with God.

• This is not true.

• Holiness is not a “should be” recommendation; rather it is a “must be” command.

• Holiness is not bondage; rather, it is the true liberty that opens the way to enjoy both God and this life.

• We are called to live a life worthy of the One who rescued us.

• It is by the fear of the Lord that we walk in it!

III. Depart From Evil

• “Children, fear God; that is to say, have a holy awe upon your minds to avoid that which is evil, and a strict care to embrace and do that which is good” (William Penn).

• The fear of the Lord is gift from our loving heavenly Father that protects us from departing from Jesus.

• He is the source of everlasting life, love, joy, peace, goodness, hope, and all its many wonders.

• To depart from Him is to move toward death, darkness, and eventually the eternal grave.

• We are told in Proverbs 16:6, “Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.”

• Scripture makes it clear—the starting place of knowing God intimately is the fear of the Lord.

• Without it, we develop a phony relationship with a knockoff Jesus—one who is no the Lord of glory.

• We believe in an unrealistic savior.

• Let this be a warning to all of us!