Transcription
In this session, we're going to, as I said earlier, we're going to go through just some of the passages. There's 15 of them on the fear of the Lord in the book of Proverbs. Of course, there are more, but I've selected these as primary passages, just so that before we move on from this theme, you have something of an idea, a better idea of what it means to to reverence God, to honor Him, to respect Him, to live for His glory.
Now, let's go to the Lord in prayer because we really need His help. Father, thank you so much for the opportunity to be with these young people, Lord. Even though it's through video and, Lord, in all our limitations, great limitations, please use this time, oh dear God, to bring glory to Your Son and to to cultivate in the heart and minds of these children, these young people, a sense of genuine faith in Jesus Christ and and true piety, true worship of God. Lord, I'm asking something from You that that I cannot even begin to do in myself, nor can these children, Lord, open up their own minds and hearts and and just receive by their own power. But Lord, You can't do what we cannot do, and I pray that You will show Yourself strong and help us in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, so we have an overview of the fear of the Lord, of the reverence toward our God, and we're going to start. And please, I've actually got these all out on a list because I don't want to look at the text itself because I'll look at the verses around it and end up just, I'll I'll teach a lesson on each one. So let's let's try to go through this and just get an overview.
Proverbs chapter 3, verse 7. Open your Bibles and look there. "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil." Now, here, here we have the two options, and there's there's really no middle ground here. And we're talking about about morally and spiritually. Do you have a choice? You're gonna be wise in your own eyes, you're gonna go your own way. Remember what we said about the book of Judges? The reason why they got into so much trouble is everyone did what was right in their own eyes. But we're not supposed to do that. The opposite of that is to fear or reverence the Lord. You say, well, how is reverencing God going to direct me in my path? Because if you reverence God, you're going to reverence His Word. You're going to study it, and His Word is going to be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. His Word, according to Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2, He's going to renew your mind. You're going to cultivate the mind of Christ, and you're gonna begin to think as God thinks, and that will direct your path. So please, starting out, realize you're not, you're not that smart. I don't want to ruin your day. I'm not either. You're not that smart, you're not that wise, you can't see what's coming. So trust in the Word of God and demonstrate that you truly reverence God.
Now, look at that last part, "and turn away from evil." Because God and evil, daylight and dark, there, there is, there's nothing, there's no, we say affinity, friendship between evil and God. There's not. And it's not just because God is holy, He is holy, or righteous, He is righteous, but it's also because God is good and God is loving. And a good and loving God will hate evil. And the closer you get to God, understanding His character, to be transformed by it, the more you're going to hate evil. Now, I want to be very careful here. We're hating evil. We're not determining, looking outside ourselves and determining that certain people are evil and therefore worthy of our hatred. No, that's religious fanaticism. We hate evil. We have a disdain for that which is contrary to the will of God, but we love people, even our enemies. We bless those who curse us, we pray for them. Okay? So we're talking about evil, and you don't need to look very far to find sin. Matter of fact, just go to your bedroom and look in the mirror. In our own lives, we find it. So I'm not trying to create a bunch of young people who are going to become evil haters and somehow translate that into this person isn't as righteous as I am, therefore I don't like them. That is a terrible thing, and it is completely outside of Christianity, you understand? So look, "Do not be wise in your own eyes." Worry about yourself. Order your life according to the will of God, and that will lead you to turn away from evil. Evil that is always destructive.
Proverbs 8:13: "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." Here we go again. Do you see that? Do you see how the fear of the Lord is meant to protect us? And you know what happens? The more you study the Word, and the more you become conformed to the image and mind of Christ, you're going to have the same view of sin that He has. Christ hates sin, and He hates the destructive results of sin in people's lives, and you will too. You'll learn to recognize sin, and you'll learn to see it as God sees it. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." Now, He's going to describe that evil: pride and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverted mouth. I hate. Do you know what? Again, we don't have to look very far, do we? We don't have to look very far at all. Pride, that's a monster that all of us have to fight. Arrogance, that manifestation of that pride towards others, a haughtiness, "I'm better than you, I don't have to listen to you." An evil way, any way, any footstep, any path that is contrary to the Word of God. And the perverted mouth. It, a perverted mouth is not just a mouth that may be full of cursing or immoral things, but a mouth that is rebellious, that talks back. You see something that God hates. A mouth that slanders, a mouth that gossips. You see? So when we truly fear the Lord, look at how many things start getting cleaned up in our life.
Now, Proverbs 9:10: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." That's a lot like the verse that we just studied, right? Proverbs 1:7, "But the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." And then the second part is a little different: "the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." I cannot emphasize this enough. As a matter of fact, I have a workbook, and it's, it's good for young people too. It's on, it's on who God is, the attributes of God. And the more you understand who God is, who He really is, the more that light is going to help guide you in your life. You know, if you just know the character of God, now I want you to know the character of God and the will of God. But if you just know the character of God and not His will, you're gonna be able to figure out pretty much His will by looking at His character. That He's holy, He's righteous, He's loving, He's good, and you'll do the same.
Now, let's look again. Let's go on. Proverbs 10:27: "The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be shortened." And you say, Brother Paul, now I have seen righteous people die young, and I have seen wicked people live a long time. Yes, so have I. And so, so, so have the wise. They've seen the same thing. Well, then what does this mean? Well, remember what I told you, these are general observations. These are general observations. It does not mean that if you truly fear the Lord, young person, that if you watch all these Bible studies and you read your Bible and you fear the Lord, that you're going to live a long time. That's not what it means. But what it means is this: when the wise sit on their bench and they look at the general course of life, people who fear the Lord and follow His commandments live longer and definitely have greater, how can I say this? Because the word seems to achieve greater prosperity. And I'm not talking about driving fancy cars. I'm talking about a prosperous life, relationships, friendships, a conscience that's clean, a whole life, a healthy life. That if you look at someone who fears the Lord and keeps His commands, you look at those people, and then you look at people who who hate God and hate His will and do just the opposite, you're gonna see that generally what happens is this group over here does far better, far better.
But here's the thing: whether we live a long time or a short time, there is great benefit in the fear of the Lord because we know that there is more than just this life. But one day, all of us are going to stand before God. Whether we live 15 years or 415 years, death is coming. There is a day when we will all stand before God, and those who fear the Lord will have great confidence.
Proverbs 14:2: "The fear of the Lord..." Let's see, 14:2. "He who walks in his in his uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is devious in his ways despises Him." And this is a very important point. You know that statement, "You can't judge a book by its cover"? Well, that is true with regard to physical traits. You know, you could see a little man who doesn't seem like he's very tall or very strong, only to find out that he's a Navy SEAL, and you really don't want to mess with it. Looks can be deceiving. But there's a way in which you can know a book by its cover, and that is morally and spiritually. And that's what it's teaching us here. He goes, if a man truly, or a woman, or a boy or girl, if they genuinely fear the Lord, they will walk in uprightness. That doesn't mean they're going to be perfect, but it means that the course of their life is going to be directed by the Word of God. They're going to sincerely try to obey the Word of God, and when they disobey the Word of God, they are going to repent and confess their failure to God and maybe to others. So you see an entirely different course of life in those who genuinely fear the Lord.
But if someone says that they fear the Lord, as many people do, and in verse two, but they're devious in their ways, they're twisted in their ways, they're not conforming to what God has told us about His character, they're not conforming to what God has told us about His will, then, then they really despise Him. They really do despise Him. Now, that doesn't mean that if, if you're seeking to walk in uprightness and you fail, that it automatically means you despise the Lord. We all fail. But what we're talking about is a general course of life. When, as you go through life, are you seeking to know God's Word, to apply it? Do you have joy in it? You do apply it, joy in His grace, not in your performance, and you have sadness when it becomes clear to you that you just fade, and it leads you to repentance and confession. If that's you, that's the normal Christian life. What we're talking about here is someone who says, "I fear God," but everything in their life is to the contrary. And if you're like that, be very, very careful. You need to do some very, very deep soul-searching. Talk to your parents. Talk, talk to your pastor.
Now, let's go on. Proverbs 14:26: "In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have refuge." What does that really mean? Psalms chapter 1: "The Lord knows the way of the righteous." Now, He knows the way of the wicked too. So why does it say He knows the way of the righteous? Because the word "know" there has more than just knowledge in it. It it means an intimacy, an awareness, a concern, a preoccupation, a relationship. That God is profoundly concerned for those who walk in the way of the righteous and He, in the way of righteousness, and He, He guards them, He helps them, He forgives them, He strengthens them, He builds them up. And that's what it's talking about here. That if you're walking in the fear of the Lord, you desire to honor God, you believe God with regard to what He said about His Son, because if you don't believe the gospel, you don't, you don't reverence God. But you're trusting in God, you're wanting to do the will of God, you believe that God is everything He says He is. Well, you can count on the fact that God knows your way. He's intimately and profoundly concerned and involved in your life. And that's what it means, and that's why we have confidence. Not because we think, "I am so righteous," or "I've done so, so, so much good that God is going to help me." That's not it. But those who believe Him and seek to honor Him. And isn't this a comforting thought? God, God is profoundly concerned about little me. You know, sometimes when I'm really troubled and I can't sleep at night, I I'll get up, and I don't know why, just like looking out the window in the darkness, and it's such a comfort to get down on my knees and say, "Just this, God, you know." I don't even have to say anything, you know. And you can really go back to bed knowing, really, you really can. And that's the confidence we're talking about.
Now, Proverbs 14:27: "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death." And that doesn't, it doesn't seem to go together. I mean, it's a fountain of life, and we think, well, we drink from it and we get life, and it guards you from the snares of death. And you know what one of the things I believe is going on here is this? Do you know when something is so marvelous that you just can't describe it, or it is good in so many ways that you can't just say one thing, you've got to say just many different things about it? You know, or sometimes I live near the mountains here in the Appalachians, and and the beauty of the forests and everything, and sometimes, you know, seeing a sunset or a sunrise, you look at it and you just can't describe it. Yeah, you need, you can, "Y'all come in the house, you know, wake up my wife. You should see this. It's absolutely beautiful." And this, and this, and she says, you know, "You're not even making sense." It's because it's just too good for words. And the fear of the Lord is like that. And it does so many good things that sometimes it seems like, wow, it's just a list of things that don't seem to go together. But, but look what it, it is a fountain of life. It, it, it is, you know, there's a saying that says, you know, "Many people are buried thirty years after they die." And what that means is so many people, they really don't have a life, they have an existence. But for the Christian, that should never be the case. Those who reverence God, who fear God, when you really understand it and you're really drawing from it, it's like rivers of living water. It replenishes you, it satisfies you, it makes you full. You know, if you reverence God, that you are in an intimate relationship with God in which He is intimately concerned about you. And God does bless, young person. You know, all these TV preachers, they talk about prosperity. You just need to know how to. I don't agree with them. God's not a vending machine, and the goal of the Christian life is not to become rich or even healthy. But I can tell you this: those who believe in God's Son, and those who seek to walk in reverence, their life will be full, even sometimes when their life is full of pain, even sometimes when they're surrounded by great suffering, even sometimes when they're scared. At the same time, there's this kind of deep sense of "God is with me," and it's like a fountain of life. It really is.
So it's like a fountain of life, and at the same time, it will help you avoid the snares of death. And what does that mean? The snares of death is basically walking in places that are dangerous, walking too close to sin. You know, one of the most important things that you need to learn, young person, is this: you need to learn not to trust yourself. Not only do not trust your wisdom, do not trust in your ability to get close to sin without falling. That's like, you know, a daredevil will seek to get as close as he can to fall without being burned alive. That is not wise. That is not wise. If you fear the Lord, you're going to realize that His Word is true, and that Word tells you there are dangers out there that you need to not fight with, but you need to avoid them altogether. You really do.
Now, we've gone almost twenty minutes, and so, and we've only cut this in half. So we'll come back in the next session and we'll finish the next few verses because, and again, you know, starting out the book of Proverbs, we really need to take this time because these first seven verses are so foundational to our understanding the rest of the book. So God bless you, and I'll see you in the next session, Lord willing. God bless you.