Fear of the Lord

Jeremiah 5:3-22 “O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased. How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery…”

I. Intro

All throughout Jeremiah’s self written book and in Lamentations, is the same central theme. God is warning Israel through Jeremiah of the coming judgment because of their rejection of Him unless they repent. God is pleading with Israel to come back to Him. Does that sound like a familiar tone today? How long have we been begging our national leaders to return our nation to God to stay in God’s hedge of protection? Once we get away from God, His protection will be away from from us, and judgment will surely fall. God has been more than patient, not only with America, but all of His children. How many times does God have to reign down destruction on His creation before we give Him the respect and fear He so deserves? How many warnings does He have to give us before we fall on our faces and weep over our sin?

Spurgeon wrote these words, “It is indeed, a horrible thing that a saved soul should ever wander from its Saviour. After having had so much of past sin fully and freely forgiven, and after having been made to rejoice in perfect pardon, can it ever turn away from that dear pierced hand which lifted its heavy burden from its shoulders? Can it ever wander from the fountain in which it was washed whiter than snow?”

Since the people would not listen to God’s Word, God told Jeremiah to act out his message. This is the first of at least ten “action sermons” found in Jeremiah. Meanwhile, this chapter deals with four sins of the people of Jerusalem. God commanded Jeremiah to conduct a search of all the city of Jerusalem. If even one righteous person were discovered, the Lord would forgive the wicked city and call off the invasion. The background for this action sermon is God’s agreement with Abraham to spare Sodom if ten righteous men were found in the city. Genesis 18:22-23 “And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” The test in Jerusalem was ‘Does the person practice justice and truth?’ Jeremiah found nobody among the poor who qualified, but concluded their lack of religious education would excuse them. Jeremiah then went to the nobles and the leaders, who knew God’s commandments, but turned away from the law. Jeremiah 5:5 “I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.” When the survey was complete, not one person was found who was honest and faithful.

II. God’s Warning to Us

From the moment sin entered our world at the Garden of Eden, humanity has ignored the warnings from God. For thousands of years, we have done what is right in our own eyes, and not that which is right in God’s eyes. Even God’s destruction of the entire Earth at the Flood was not enough to turn our hearts of stone towards God. God’s people have refused to repent. Everything that has been going on in our world for the past 50-70 years has been a warning from Almighty God. God is yelling at us-REPENT! Turn back to me, remember the fear of the Lord.

If a person goes on a long trip and they travel the same route there and back, most of the time, it seems like the trip home is shorter than the trip to the destination. In actuality, it doesn’t take less time, it just seems that way. Why is that? There is something about traveling home. No matter how far a person has traveled away from God, if they are willing to make the return trip, God will make the time coming back a lot shorter than the time moving away from Him. The trip home always seems shorter.

Do you not think God’s patience is wearing thin with this world? How much more wickedness is He going to allow in His creation? There has to be a point where enough is enough, and we get back to weeping over our sins against the Almighty God of Heaven. He has already destroyed mankind once.

In Jeremiah’s day, the people had turned their hearts away from God, much like us today. Jeremiah was told to conduct a survey of the people. If only one righteous person was found, God would forgive the wicked city, and call off the invasion. But there was only one thing left for God to do. He would allow the invaders to enter the land and destroy the people. Jeremiah 2:15 “The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.” Jeremiah 4:7 “The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.” The people had gotten away from God and were met and destroyed by a lion.

III. Why should we fear the Lord?

Unbelievers should fear the Lord because they have not secured their salvation.

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge

Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Do you fear God, or is He a last resort? He should be a top priority.

It is commanded

Psalms 33:8 “Let all the earth fear the Lord: Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.”

The Hebrew word translated ‘fear me’ is (yr) and it means to fear, be afraid, be feared, be honored. Also means to fear or reverence with regard to feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or to be in awe of.

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

Psalms 111:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: A good understanding have all they that do his commandments: His praise endureth for ever.”

The reverential fear of the Lord is the necessary prerequisite of all wisdom. In this psalm, the wisest thing a person can do is to praise the Lord. The sobering awe of God is the beginning of wisdom; that is, the starting point and first principle of wisdom. Fearing God leads to wisdom, good understanding, obedience, and praise. This psalm now concludes where it began, with praise to God. There should be no end to praising God, which is the primary occupation of the saints.

Only the Lord can create in us a new heart

Psalms 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me.”

The word ‘pure or clean’ (tahor) is an adjective that occurs 94 times in the OT and is a derivative of the verb (taher.) The word is used either in the material, ceremonial, or ethnical sense. David uses the term in its moral sense in asking God to purify his heart, meaning to take away his impurity, filth, and defilement. The cleaning of the pollution or spiritual contamination that enters the heart of men is impossible with man. In Job 14:4 “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” he asks, ‘who can bring what is pure from the impure?’ In contrast to the sinful pollution within man, God’s words are absolutely pure as in Hab. 1:13 “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, And canst not look on iniquity: Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, And holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?” God’s eyes are too pure to look on evil. The Lord alone can make sinful man clean.

IV. Conclusion

We have heard all these warnings from the prophets, and even from God Himself. But the truth is, for far too long, our hearts have grown cold and hard toward God. Take a look through the Psalms, especially Psalms 51 where David is weeping over his sins with Bathsheba. Take a look through Jeremiah, or Lamentations, where Jeremiah is weeping to the Lord over the sins of Israel. When is the last time you wept over your sins. Don’t let the devil fool you. It is okay to weep over your sins, you should weep over your sins, for you are sinning against the Almighty God, Yahweh, the Great I Am, the One who executes judgment on sinners. Psalms 51 was written after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and subsequently had her husband Uriah killed in battle. David’s repentance included: 1.) a godly sorrow for his sins; 2.) verbal confession; 3.) a turning away from sin; 4.) forgiveness; 5.) restoration to God’s favor; 6.) rejoicing in salvation; 7.) a willingness to testify to others about the grace of the Lord.

A man one day was on his way to catch a train. He had to get to work because he had an important meeting. He had to catch the 8:05 train. Now, it had rained the night before and the man was rushing out the door. As he opened the back door, there was his little son playing in the mud. He was busy rubbing mud on his face, mud on his arms, and just having a good ole time playing in the mud. The father, intent on catching the 8:05, jumped over his son, said good-bye, and rushed out of the house to catch the 8:05, but he slipped and fell in the mud next to his son. So now the father is in the mud next to his son. But, the father had to catch the 8:05. He had a place to go. Because of where he needed to go, he did not stay in the mud and play with his son. His son was enjoying playing in the mud and wasn’t trying to go anywhere. But the father had a train to catch. He jumped up out of the mud. Best as he could, he cleaned himself off and took off running because he had a train to catch. He had to catch the 8:05 and he knew that on the 8:05 there was going to be a restroom where he could clean up the dirt that he had accumulated during the time he was in the mud. There are two kinds of people today. There are some who are playing in the mud and are not trying to go anywhere. There are other people who are in the mud, but don’t want to be. Maybe you’ve slipped in the mud or maybe you’ve walked right into the mud, but now it has dawned on you that you’ve got a train to catch-a place to go. You’ve got a God to know, a life to live, experiences to have, and you want all that God has for you. Maybe you’ve decided to leave the mud, to repent, to turn, and catch the train because on this train, God has got a restroom that will clean you up. He’s got the blood of Jesus that will transform you and take you to the destination of God’s purpose for your life. Sin always has consequences. But the good news is that grace is greater than sin.