Sermon Tone Analysis

Today we are talking about the fear of the Lord.

And we are talking about those who fear God, "When A Man Fears God".

What kind of person will they be?

Will they be a person who will come to know God personally?

In Proverbs 1:7 the Bible says, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

So regardless of how much college we may have or university training we may have, we don't have wisdom unless we fear God.

Now, we need to understand what the fear of the Lord is and what the fear of the Lord is not.

The fear of the Lord is not a cringing kind of fear.

It is not being afraid of God.

That is not what we mean when we say the fear of the Lord.

We are not talking about being afraid of God.

We are not talking about being afraid of what God may do to us.

Or believing that God is a policeman who is waiting for us to break one of the laws so that He can pounce on us and punish us.

We are not talking about that kind of fear.

God doesn't want that kind of fear from us.

When we talk about the fear of the Lord we are not talking about the kind of fear that causes anxiety or the kind of fear that causes us to shy away from God.

This is not the fear of the Lord.

The Bible talks about the bondage of fear.

There is a fear that comes from Satan and he would like us to believe that God is not a good God.

God is a vengeful God.

God is out to get us, He is out to hurt us, and Satan would like for us to believe that God is not a person in whom we can trust, but He is someone that we truly have to be afraid of in a negative sense.

But the fear of the Lord is not a negative term.

It is a positive term.

To fear the Lord means to take God seriously.

It means to believe in Him.

It means to believe that God is who He says He is.

That God will do what He says He will do.

And That God means what He says.

It means to take God seriously.

It means to obey God completely.

If we fear God, we will obey God.

It means to love God with all of our heart and it means to serve God whole-heartedly.

We are going to look at these as we look at our lesson today.

God longs for us to fear Him in this sense, that is take Him seriously.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 5:29, "Oh that there was such a heart in them that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always; that it might be well with them and for their children, forever."

God was looking for a nation who would fear Him, who would recognize Him as sovereign of the universe.

It means to recognize God's position, to recognize God's possessions, to recognize God's power.

And He was looking for a nation that would do that.

So in Deuteronomy 5 God is saying, oh that my people would have a heart for me that they would fear me and keep all my commandments?

Do you think that most Americans fear God?  Do you think most in our society take God seriously?

Well, most of the time we hear people joking about God.

We hear people talking lightly about God.

Well, that is a sign that people don't fear God, that they don't take God seriously.

And the Scripture calls a person like that a fool.

The Scripture says a person who doesn't fear God is a fool.

It says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

The person who says I don't want to hear from God, God doesn't tell me what to do, I don't want to follow His instruction, is a fool, the Scripture says.

So the contrast between the believer and the unbeliever, the saved and the lost, is the one who fears the Lord has begun to have wisdom.

And the one who does not fear God is a fool no matter how intellectually bright he may be.

So to fear God is to take God seriously.

And I thank God that there are enough people in America left that take Him seriously that they do not want marriage that is not between a man and a woman.

I thank God there are still enough people in America who take Him seriously enough that they really would like to see God back in the public discourse.

That they really would like to see a stop put to all these abortions on demand and abortion used as some kind of birth control.

I thank God there are still enough people left in America who can vote their conscience over their pocketbook.

And when I see that I think there is hope for our nation.

Obedience is proof of fearing the Lord.

In Acts 9:31 it says that when they feared the Lord the church grew.

It says, "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied."

It says they were walking in the fear of the Lord.

I.       WHEN A MAN FEARS GOD HE HAS COME TO KNOW GOD

To fear God will always be to our advantage because the Scripture says, we will always be rewarded for fearing God.

Proverbs 13:13 says, "...He that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded."

Deuteronomy 6:24 says, "And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always...".

God says this is for our good.

So when a man fears God it shows he knows God.

Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom.

Proverbs 15:33 says, "The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom..." and Psalm 11:10 says, "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."

And these are folks who know the Lord, not just about Him, but they know Him.

So a man begins to know God when he starts to fear Him.

He continues to know God as he continues to walk in the fear of the Lord, as he continues to live before God in the fear of the Lord.

Now notice, this is a fear that has to be chosen.

To fear God or not to fear God is a choice that people make.

Proverbs 1:29-30 says, "For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof."

And he goes on to say in that same chapter, "therefore I will laugh when calamity comes upon them."

God says, I am going to have the last laugh.

They can laugh at my people, they can laugh at me, they cannot take me seriously, but God says, I am going to have the last laugh.

When calamity comes on them like a storm, God says, I am going to laugh.

He said, "Then they will call unto me and I will not answer them.

They will seek me but I will not be found of them."

Why, because they chose not to fear the Lord.

It is a choice that we make.

Not only that, but it is also, the fear of the Lord is a learned fear.

It is something we develop.

In Deuteronomy 4:10 the Scripture says, "the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children."

So it something we learn, to walk in this fear of the Lord.

In Psalm 34:11 the Psalmist said, "come ye children, harken unto me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord."

So it is something we learn and that is the fear of the Lord.

II.

WHEN A MAN FEARS GOD HE DESIRES TO PLEASE GOD

Now the fear of the Lord is something to be desired.

Nehemiah 1:11 says, "O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.

For I was the king's cupbearer."

Notice he said, I desire to fear thy name.

He said, prosper I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy."

We must desire to fear the Lord.

It is something to be desired.

It is something that requires obedience to God.

The Book of Ecclesiastes is a rather dark book where the writer tells about his journey in life.

King Solomon talks about all the things that he has accomplished and how they brought him no joy, riches brought him no joy, intellectual pursuit brought him no joy, all the wives and concubines he had brought him no joy, all of his houses and land brought him no joy, all his victories brought him no joy.