Fear the Lord - 3rd and last Installment
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Overview - What will it produce in us?
Overview - What will it produce in us?
Keeping Commandments
Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!
You will fulfill your purpose.
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
It will remove other fears
man, wordly suffering, rejection, loneliness and most every thing that we fear on this earth, the devil,
Fear of others - Time of War
Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”
Fear of other supernatural powers.
And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
Fear of Man
The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
Constantly
It will bring you to an obedience of God
It will make you love His commandments
He will be more pleased with you.
Psalm 25:14 (ESV)
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,
The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.
Contentment
Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it.
The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.
The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.
So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
Do you want to evangelize more and talk to other about your faith?
Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.
When fearing other things more
Here int he story Samuel tells King Saul to overtake the Amalekites and to destroy them all and leave nothing behind but the people saw that the sheep and cows looked good so they spared them. In doing that they disobeyed God.
Then Samuel confronted Saul about the disobedience. This is what he said,
Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
Q: Can you see how fearing other things in life can result in disobeying God?
START HERE
Compare this to with these passages
The Fear of God in people in the Bible
The Fear of God in people in the Bible
Job - The God Fearer
Job - The God Fearer
When Job is first introduced, the one thing that is described of him is this.
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
Q: How was Job described by God?
What do we observe about God?
Now we see something different.
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
During this time Satan takes away Job’s Oxen, Donkeys, Sheep, servants, camels, and his sons and daughters were all killed. What was his response?
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.
Abraham
Abraham
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
This is when he was 25
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
More time passed
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”
Abraham then had a son at 100 years old
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
He got up and took his son and went to do as God had said.
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
What was credited to Abraham as the reason for his obedience?
Q: What do you think about that?
We know Abraham to be a man of faith and he was.
Abrahams perfect obedience by taking his son Issac to sacrifice as God commanded is an example of the fear of The Lord.
Joseph
Joseph
Joseph had 11 brothers, they envied him and were going to kill him but instead they sold him into slavery. He spent over 10 years in prison because of his brothers. Then he was able to by interpreting dreams to become 2nd in command in Egpyt. His brothers then come to him and he was capable of killing on enslaving them.
Q: Why didnt he?
When Joseph was 2nd in command in Egypt and his brothers were trying to get food because of the famine, he instructed them what to do and said this.
And he put them all together in custody for three days. On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God:
JESUS
JESUS
Here is something crazy to think about
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
Who is this talking about?
Keep Going
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
What does examples do we have of practical things that are produced by having a Fear of God?
Takeaways
We see in Abraham that the fear of God produced Obedience
Obedience even when it doesnt make sense
Obedience even when it cost us something
We see that the fear of God produced mercy within Joseph
Mercy for those who have wronged us
Mercy for those who we think should be punished
We see that the fear of God made God pleased with Job
We cannot know God fully unless we fear him. The fear of God is precious.
The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.