Clean Transcript

Do You Have 20/20 Hearing and Understanding?

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• Exodus 20, verse 20. And the Word of God says this—Pastor, we lost you. Okay. Well, I don't know why. Are you there now? I hear you. Oh. Now it says your microphone is muted. Your video was stopped. Unmute. Okay. Sorry about that. Alright, good. I don't know why it muted itself. Okay. Alright, Exodus 20 and verse 20. Look at it. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not, for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that you sin not.

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• Now the title of the message today is this: Do you have 20/20 hearing and understanding? So I can hear people reply concerning the title of this message, "Pastor, you must be confused. 20/20 applies to vision and not to hearing and not to understanding." Well, I know that 20/20 is the standard for vision, but according to Exodus 20 and 20, it is also the standard for hearing and understanding as well. So just like someone's vision may not be 20/20 and be off the standard, so likewise, someone's hearing and understanding may not be 20/20 and off the standard as well. So you have to understand that a loss in vision always leaves someone impaired to some degree. And likewise, a loss in hearing and understanding always leaves someone impaired to some degree. So when you talk about 20/20 vision, think about this: there are people that are nearsighted, farsighted, there are people with astigmatism, central vision loss, peripheral vision loss, and night blindness, blurry vision, cataracts, glaucoma, and a host of other vision problems as well.

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• In fact, there is one vision problem that's simply known as lazy eye. And I think that could be very applicable in our sense because we sometimes have lazy hearing and lazy understanding as well. But in the context, you will understand why I said, "Do you have 20/20 in hearing and understanding?" entitling this message. So in the context of our passage, God has revealed himself to the children of Israel on Mount Sinai with lightning, smoke, thunder, and darkness. I want you to look in Exodus chapter 19 and let's begin reading there with verse 16. Exodus chapter 19, verse 16. Look at this. The Word of God says, And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the nether part of the mount, and Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

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• Note now, and when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai on top of the mount, and the Lord called Moses up to the mount, and Moses went up. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. But note if you would now, all of this is happening: there is fire, there is smoke, there's lightning, there's thunder, there is darkness, and God speaks. Now watch this in Exodus chapter 20, verses 1 through 17, which we're not going to read, but there God gives the Decalogue, well known as the Ten Commandments. But he gave these Ten Commandments in the midst of the fire, the thunder, and the smoke. Consequently then, the people were absolutely frightened and they were all struck at the same time. So if you look in Exodus chapter 20 at verses 18 and 19, look at this now.

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• God has given his law in thunder, lightning. Verse 18: And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die. So clearly then the people were terrified. They were frightened.

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• Now, I don't know about you, but probably if you were standing somewhere near a volcano and all of a sudden there was lightnings and thundering and that thing began to smoke and bubble and shoot ash and liquid fire into the air, I'm sure you would be not only awestruck, but you would be terrified as well. Now here's the interesting thing in verse 20. Look at it: And Moses said unto the people, Fear not, for God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that you sin not. Now in one verse Moses says, "Fear not," and then in another voice he says, "and fear the Lord." In other words, he says "fear not" one time and then he says "now the fear of God must be in you." Now the interesting thing is it is exactly the same word that is used both times. Now let me rephrase that: it is the same root word that is used both times. So when Moses said, "Fear not," the Hebrew word is yare, which means do not be afraid or do not be terrified.

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• But the same root word yare is used when he said, "and let the fear may be before your faces." In other words, this time it means fear, reverence, respect, submission, and you're standing in awe and bowing before God in obedience. So Moses is telling us very plainly that there is a proper use of this word fear in "fear not" and there's another proper use of the word in "fear the Lord." In other words, in order to understand verse 20, we would need to note the importance first of all of interpretation and secondly the importance of linguistics. In other words, we have to know what words actually mean to understand the verse.

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• Now, so Moses now informs the people that in the demonstration of God's power, God's holiness, and God's sovereign majesty, that God in giving his law has come to prove them. So look at it. He just gave the law. Now in verse 20, and Moses said to the people, Fear not. Don't be afraid, don't be terrified, for God has come to prove you, that his fear, that his reverence, awe, respect, submission, obedience may be before your faces, that you sin not. Now, the interesting thing is the word prove. It is the Hebrew word nasah, and it means to test, to try, to prove, and to assay. Now this is the same word that is used in Genesis chapter 22 and verse 1 when it said, "And it came to pass that God did tempt Abraham." The word tempt there does not mean to try to lead Abraham into sin. It just simply means that God came to prove Abraham. He came to test Abraham. He came to give Abraham a trial, so to speak.

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• So here are two questions, and I want to answer them before this message is over. The first one is this: What does it mean to be proved or tested by God? And how is that done? Think about that. What does it mean to be proved or tested by the Lord, and how is that done? And here's the second question: How is the fear of God involved in this proving and in this testing? Now, before I answer these questions, I want you to consider the fear of God. I've preached a number of messages in times past on the fear of God, but in order to understand Exodus 20 and verse 20, you must understand the fear of God in relationship to proving. So when we talk about proving and we ask this question, "What does it mean to prove? What would be the results of proving?" We must consider the intent and also the ultimate result of proving. So I want you to see that this word is used many times in scripture.

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• Now, the scriptures I'm going to show you are from the exact same Hebrew word. So I want you to follow me because it's important that you not only see but you hear what I'm reading. So if you look back in Exodus chapter 16 and verse 4, look at this. Exodus 16 verse 4. This is what God says when he sends the manna. Exodus 16 in verse 4: Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or no. Note if you said, "that I may prove them." It's exactly the same word that we found in Exodus 20 and verse 20. Now I want you to turn to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 8. You might as well hold Deuteronomy. We'll come back there a little bit later. But look in Deuteronomy chapter 8 if you would please, and let's read verse 2. Deuteronomy 8 and look at verse 2: And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to

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• prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. Now skip down to verse 16 in the same chapter, Deuteronomy 8, verse 16. He says, Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end.

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• Now I want you to turn right over to the book of Judges, Joshua, Judges. And look, if you would, at chapter 2, Judges chapter 2, and I want us to read verses 21 and 22. Judges chapter 2, verse 21, God said, I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died, that through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein as their fathers did keep it or not. Now look in Judges 3 in verse 1: Now these are the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan. Now skip down to verse 4: And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

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• Now, if you look at these passages with me, and if you listen carefully as I read them, in each of these passages, you're going to make an amazing discovery. That each of these times the word prove or proving was used, it had reference then to a test of obedience. Anytime God proved Israel or anytime God proves an individual, it always has reference unto obedience: whether or not we're going to obey or disobey, whether or not we're going to love the Lord or hate the Lord, whether or not we're going to respect his authority or deny his authority. Now I want you to note that the tests and the trials are not always the same. First of all, we read about those tests and trials in relationship to the manna. What did God do? God said, "Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to send that manna.

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• And every day, each one of you go out and you gather so much, no more, just so much. But on the sixth day, I'm going to allow you to get double." And of course, those who did not get double on the sixth day, when they went on the seventh day, there was nothing there. And those who tried to get over and above on a daily basis, then it bred worms and stank. And the Lord God said, "I'm proving you just to see if you trust me, if you're going to obey me and recognize my authority."

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• Now, the other times we just read it had to do with enemies. In other words, God left them to prove Israel whether or not they're going to listen to these wicked people or listen to God.

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• Now, the point I'm trying to make is this: It doesn't matter what the test is. It doesn't matter what the trial is. What we need to see is it's always a test of obedience, whether or not we're going to obey God, whether or not we're going to have faith in Him, whether or not we're going to believe Him and trust Him in obedience. Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. God has the absolute sovereign right to test, to try, and to prove each of us. God has that right inherent in himself. He's the creator, and we're the creature. He is the Lord, the master, and we're the servant. He is the Father, and we're the child. So God has the absolute sovereign right to test us, to try us, to prove us as he sees fit. However, we do not have the right to test and try and prove God except in the way that he has ordained and in the manner which he has ordained. For instance, in Matthew chapter 4, when our Lord was tempted by Satan.

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• Our Lord answered one of the temptations, which I will give you momentarily, but He answered it in Matthew 4 and verse 7, and Jesus said, "It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Now, the word tempt is the word ekpeirazo in the Greek. Ek is a preposition which means "out of," peirazo means to tempt, to test, or trial. In other words, what he's saying is you cannot draw God out, you cannot tempt God, you cannot test God, you cannot prove God. Now, this statement, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," was in response then to a suggestion by Satan. In Matthew 4 and verse 6, Satan said, "If thou be the Son of God," and you remember I told you in times past, in the Greek it's a first-class condition with the indicative, which literally means "since thou art the Son of God." He was not questioning whether or not Jesus was God. He knew he was. But he says, "Since thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."

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• So what he is saying is, "Jesus, since you are the Son of God, why don't you prove it? Why don't you kick your foot against this big old rock over here and trip and maybe fall over the side of this mountain, because the scripture says he has given his angels charge over thee and they'll bear thee up lest you even hurt yourself." And our Lord said, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Now I'm going to make a statement and I'm going to say it twice. The first time is this: There's a vast difference between faith and foolishness. So if you want to go to the top of the Empire State Building and jump off and say before you jump, "I'm trusting God to catch me before I hit the pavement below," guess what?

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• They will wipe you up with a mop. Because God cannot be tempted. God cannot be tested that way. It's absolutely foolish for you to try to test and try to prove God in that sense. And our Lord refused to be drawn into that sin. And so here it is the second time: There's a vast difference between faith and foolishness.

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• Now, here's the good thing. God does invite us to test him, and to try him, and to prove him. But he does so in a specific and a certain way, and it has to be done in the specific and certain manner that he has ordained. Let me show you. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Malachi. Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, right before Matthew. You look in Malachi chapter 3 if you would, and let's begin reading there with verse 8. So Malachi chapter 3 and notice if you would please verse 8. Here's what the Bible says. Malachi 3 verse 8. Watch it. God says, "Will a man rob God?

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• Yet have you robbed me? But you say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." Now look what he says in verse 9. "Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation." And then God says this: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Look at verse 11: "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed, and ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord."

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• Now, if you will note something here. First of all, what God says in verse 10, "prove me." The word is bachan in the Hebrew, and it means to examine, to try, to prove, and to test, and to make trial. But if you will note in this passage, the testing, the trying, and the proving of God is done by obedience. It's not done by foolishness. It's done by obedience.

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• In other words, it is our duty, our privilege, and our obligation to recognize God's sovereign ownership and authority. Everything we are and everything we have comes from God. I've said this so many times, but I will say it again. Blessings always follow obedience and curses always follow disobedience. And the interesting thing is God says in this passage that if we are under the curse, the curse is removed by obedience. Look what he said. Verse 9, "Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation."

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• Then he said, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Look what else he said: "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts." In other words, the curse is removed by obedience.

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• So if you and I do not wish to be cursed, we must obey. So God now in this passage pledges himself to his creatures in such a way that we may verify and prove him. So he said, "If you will obey, I will supply all of your needs. And if not, I will continue your dearth." Here's a quote from Adam Clarke on this passage. He says this: "What you give to God shall never lessen your store. Give as you should and see whether I will not so increase your store by opening the windows of heaven, giving you rain and fruitful seasons that your barns and granaries shall not be able to contain the abundance of your harvest and vintage." So God is saying, if you want to test me, if you want to prove me, you do so by obedience. There was a little couplet that John Bunyan wrote many years ago. It said this: "There was a man, and many did count him mad; the more he gave away, the more he had." And that's what he meant when he said when you give to God, you never ever lessen your store. That is

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• for sure. Now in light of this passage where God tells us to prove him, we need to look at three specific passages. I want you to watch this. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 26. Deuteronomy 26. And let's begin reading there, if you would please, with verse 12. Deuteronomy 26, verse 12. Look at this. Deuteronomy 26, verse 12, and we'll read through verse 17. Verse 12, Deuteronomy 26.

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• "When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates and be filled." Let me just stop there. Whether you know it or not, there were three tithes in Israel. There was a 10% Levitical tithe for the priests, for the teaching of the law. There was a 10% tithe which was the tithe of rejoicing, which you actually spend upon yourself and your family each year in what you and I would call a religious vacation, because they used this 10% when they went to Jerusalem to those seven annual feasts, okay? And God said in Deuteronomy 14, "Whatever your heart desires, spend it on."

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• And Lord, just so it's not anything wicked or sinful, if you wanted a T-bone steak, have at it. If you wanted, you know, the best lemonade possible, have it. If you want a glass of wine, have it. You just couldn't get drunk. You couldn't do anything sinful. OK, now that was the tithe of rejoicing. Then there was the third tithe, which was a poor tithe, which was also 10 percent, which was taken every third year. So that meant three and a third percent per year.

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• This is why he's talking about the widows and the strangers and this kind of thing. So 10% then went to the Levites for teaching, 10% went to your family for your family religious vacation, and three and a third percent per year went for the poor tithe for the undergirding of the society of faith when they needed help. Now, that shows you they were actually tithing 23 and a third percent per year. Now when you get to the New Testament and you get the Romans there and adding all their taxes, you see why the people were suffering so in the New Testament. It's kind of like today when about 50 to 60 percent of our income is devoured by taxes in one shape, form, or fashion over and over and over. So look what God says now in this. He said in verse 12, "When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing,

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• and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates and be filled; then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey." Now look at verse 16: "This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul." Here it is: "Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and

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• to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice." Now he said, when you are obedient and you gave to the Lord as he demanded and commanded, he said in verse 17, "Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice."

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• Now, the Hebrew word for avouched is the word amar, and it means to avow and to avouch. Now, that doesn't mean two things for us. Too many things because obviously we still wouldn't know what the word avouch means, but here it is. The word avouch means a frank acknowledgement of, or an affirmation of, or declaration, or to assert with positiveness, a guarantee, or to confess. So when you are avouching that God is your God through obedience, you are declaring, you are affirming positively that He is the one true and the living God.

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• And that you're worshipping him. Now the word avow means simply to declare frankly, to declare openly, to admit and confess. So actually by our obedience and doing what he commands us to do, we are actually admitting and confessing that he is our God. Now, that was through the obedience of tithing. But look if you would now at verse 18. Here's the second passage. Same chapter, Deuteronomy 26.

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• But look at this: "And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments." So when we are obedient and avouch that God is our God by our obedience, God in return avouches that we are his people because we're doing exactly that which he has commanded. Isn't that amazing? It's just like some parent, some father especially, at sports.

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• He sees his son make a football touchdown and what's he say? "That's my boy." What's he doing? He's avouching that that's his son. He's thankful that the boy succeeded in making a touchdown. This is what God is saying. You're avouching me to be thy God through obedience. I'm avouching you to be my child because you're obedient to me. You're listening to me. You're hearing me and you're obeying me. Now this third passage is found in 2 Chronicles chapter 31. So if you'll turn to 2 Chronicles 31, look at verse 10. 2 Chronicles 31 verse 10. You're going to see what Azariah the priest said. Look at this. 2 Chronicles 31 in verse 10: "And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the Lord hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store." Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the Lord.

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• "And they prepared them, and brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully: over which Cononiah the Levite was ruler, and Shimei his brother was the next." In other words, God says, "You obey me, I'll bless you." And so now they have an abundance. They have to build places to keep all the blessings that God has bestowed upon them. I want to give you a quote from John Trapp. I want you to listen carefully. John Trapp was a Puritan. I love the way they wrote and I love the way they spoke. Now they always elevated God and put down man where he should be. And here's what John Trapp said on Malachi 3 in verse 10, "and prove me now herewith." He said this: "A wonderful condescension that God should call upon man

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• to take experiment of him, to make but a trial, to put it to proof whether or not he will prosper the penitent. This is somewhat like the other passage in Psalm 34 and verse 8, 'O taste and see that the Lord is good,' or 'Come and let us reason together, saith the Lord.'"

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• Now listen, "O we never enough adore the depth of God's goodness, that he should stoop so low to us clay and dirt, dung and worms meet. He is so high that he is said to humble himself to behold the things in heaven and in earth (Psalm 113:6). If he looks at all outside of himself to see but what the angels do, he doth therein abase himself. That he will deal so familiarly with us, who are no better than so many walking dunghills, as to bid us prove him as to what he will do for us, this deserves acknowledgement and admiration in the highest degree."

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• "Should he have used martial law with these malapert miscreants in the text, that is Israel, that robbed him of his rights, and not only have reproved them and cursed them with the curse of penury, but have written his law in blood upon them, he might have justified his proceedings. But thus to commune with them, and not only to prescribe them a remedy for the removal of the curse, 'Bring ye all the tithes,' but thus to persuade them and to permit them to prove his bountifulness in giving and his faithfulness in keeping his promise with them, and that with an oath, is absolutely wonderful." So God has told us that we may prove Him, but the manner in which we prove Him is always obedience. Now, we may not only prove God and His Word, we may also prove God and His will.

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• Now, you can probably quote Romans 12:1-2. Paul said, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Are you listening? "That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." So there's a way that we may prove God, there is a way that we may prove His will. Now the word prove, in Romans 12 in verse 2, is the Greek word dokimazo, which means to test, it means to examine, to prove, and to see whether or not something is genuine. We could use the word to assay.

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• So if I happen to be digging in my backyard and I see this huge little rock that shines with a yellow shine, and I think, "Man, this is a big gold nugget." What am I going to do? I'm going to take it to an assay office and have it assayed so I can prove it's gold or prove it's not gold. It could be fool's gold. So I'm going to make sure that it is gold before I say, "Hey, folks, I found a gold mine." Now, this is what God is saying, we may prove His will. So Adam Clarke says it like this: "That ye may have a practical proof, an experimental knowledge of the will of God, of His purpose and determination, which is good in itself, infinitely so, acceptable, well-pleasing, and well-received by every renewed and transformed mind."

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• Then he said, "In perfect, finished, and complete, when the mind is renewed and the whole life changed, then the will of God is perfectly fulfilled, for this is its grand design." Now I've given you a lot of stuff, but I want you to look back now to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 20. I want to try to put this together for you so that we can understand this verse. Look in Exodus 20 in verse 20: "And Moses said unto the people, Fear not, for God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that you sin not."

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• Now, I want you to remember this, that proving is simply testing and trying. When we use the word temptation, we have to understand that that word is used in a good sense and in a bad sense in the Bible. So if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of James chapter 1, and you need to hold James because we'll be coming back there as well. But look in James chapter 1. Hebrews, James, right after the book of Hebrews. Hebrews, James. In James chapter 1, look if you would beginning there

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• with verse 12. He says, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Now, when you look at verse 12, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation." In verse 12, temptation is a noun. It is peirasmos. In verse 13, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God."

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• It is the verb peirazo. Now, in verse 12, temptation there just simply means a trial. It means to be proven. So he says, "Blessed is the man that endureth trying, testing, proving, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life." But the same word is used differently in verse 13: "Let no man say when he is tempted"—that is tempted to sin, tempted to violate God's command—"don't let him say that I am tempted of God." No, because God cannot be tempted of evil, neither tempteth he any man. Now, let me tell you this: when it comes to testing, when it comes to trying, when it comes to proving, God already knows what is in our hearts. He already knows what's in our minds. But we don't. And others do not. So the test then, or the trial, or the temptation, reveals what's really and truly in us. That we may know what is in us, and that others may also know that which is in us. Now, our tests, our trials, our temptations are for our good, that they may make us more holy, more obedient, and more patient.

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• So, I want you to turn back, first of all, to the book of Romans chapter 5. Look in Romans chapter 5, and we'll begin reading there with verse 1. Look at what he's saying. Romans 5, verse 1: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." So we can say, "Man, we can jump up and down, we can rejoice in the fact that yes, we're saved by the grace of God, and God is going to wipe away every tear. He's going to make us absolutely perfect in Jesus Christ."

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• We will spend eternity worshiping him. Yes, we can rejoice in this hope of the glory of God. Oh, when you get to verse 3: "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also." Tribulations? We jump up and down in tribulations just like we do in hope of God's glory? Why would we jump up and down being tested, being tried, being proven? "Knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." He said we can rejoice because these tests, these trials, this proving is designed to make us more holy and give us everything in our lives that we need to worship and serve God more effectively.

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• Now, I want you to turn back to James chapter 1, if you would, and let's begin reading there with verse 2. Look at this. He says, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations"—different kinds of temptations. When's the last time you have thankfully and joyfully said to the Lord, "Wow, Lord, isn't this wonderful? I don't have enough money this month to pay my bills. Isn't this great?" When's the last time you said, "Lord, I've got a stomach virus and I'm so sick. Thank God. Hallelujah." You know, we don't normally do that. But this is what he said, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers" or different kinds of "temptations." Why?

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• "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect" or mature "and entire" or complete, "wanting nothing." So God has designed these tests and trials so that we will be mature and complete in Him. Now if you will turn over just a few pages to 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1 and look at verses 6 and 7. 1 Peter 1 verse 6. And in fact, we'll read verse 5: "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." So we're being kept. Now look, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations"—trials, provings—"that the trial of your faith, being

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• much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Wow.

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• Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20, and I want you to look at verse 20 again, and let me ask you a question. Why did God come to prove Israel? Well, here's the answer. "And Moses said unto the people, Fear not, for God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that you sin not." God's test and God's trial was that his fear may be before our faces, that we sin not. Now I want you to very quickly turn with me through several passages. I want you to go to Deuteronomy chapter 6 to begin with, and I want you to note that I told you, you need to see the fear of God in relationship to proving, in relationship to testing and trials. So in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 2, look at what he says. Deuteronomy 6 verse 2: "That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged." Now look at verse 2 again: "That thou mightest fear the

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• Lord thy God." What is it to fear God? "To keep all his statutes and his commandments which he hath commanded." Hmm. Look in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 6. Deuteronomy 8 in verse 6: "Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him." Hmm. What is it to fear God? It's to walk in His ways and keep His commandments. If you will turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 10 and look at verse 12. Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12: "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God?" What does it mean to fear Him? "To walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul." In the same chapter, look in verse 20, Deuteronomy 10, verse 20: "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name." So what is fearing the Lord?

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• It's serving him, it's cleaving unto him, it's swearing only by his name. Now, very quickly, if you will turn over to the book of Proverbs, chapter 16 and look at verse 6. Proverbs 16 and verse 6. Look at this. Proverbs 16 and verse 6: "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. If you do not fear God, you will not depart from evil. If you fear God, you will depart from evil. Now, look in Proverbs 19 and verse 23. Proverbs 19 and verse 23: "The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil." The fear of the Lord tendeth to life. Why? Because you're obedient. He shall not be visited with evil. Wow.

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• You must remember that in the New Testament in Romans chapter 3, there's a whole list of sins that are stated there by the Apostle Paul. "Their feet are swift to shed blood, their mouths are open sepulchres," all of this. And when you read down that litany of rebelliousness, you get to verse 18. He tells you why all of these sins are so prevalent: "There is no fear of God before their eyes." And you remember that passage in Luke 18 I've mentioned before of that unjust judge: "He feared not God, nor regarded man." So if you have no fear of God, you'll have no regard for man either. Now, so the fear of God is to keep us from sinning. That's what he said in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 20: "and that his fear may be before your faces, that you sin not." Now listen to me.

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• If sinless perfection is a heresy—and it is, because there is no one on this earth now that is sinlessly perfect. The only one who was was the Lord Jesus Christ. So if sinless perfection is a heresy, and it is, an equal heresy is that you must sin and you have to sin. 1 John 2 and verse 1: John wrote, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not."

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• What are you going to do with Romans chapter 6? When he says, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." So I would encourage you to read over Romans chapter 6 about five or six times this afternoon. Because that passage teaches us very clearly and definitively that sin is no longer our Lord.

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• For an unsaved man, that is true. When sin tells an unsaved man to jump, he asks, "How high?" But when sin tells a Christian, "You have to do this," or "You need to do this," or "You want to do it, don't you?" say, "I do not have to. You're no longer my lord. Jesus Christ is my Lord, and I'm not obligated to obey King Sin. Sin is no longer my king. Jesus Christ is my King." We've been freed not from the evil principle of sin, but we've been freed from the dominion of sin. And God gives us power over sin through the Holy Spirit. In eternity, we'll be freed from even the very presence of sin itself. So we have to understand that no, we do not have to sin. That's why I said in Exodus 20 in verse 20, "that the fear of the Lord may be before your faces, that you sin not." Now Adam Clarke gives us this statement. He said, "The maxim contained in this verse is, 'Fear not, that he may fear.' Do not fear with such a fear as brings consternation into the soul and produces nothing but terror and confusion, but fear with that fear with reverence and filial affections, inspire that you sin not, that through the love and

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• reverence you feel to your Maker and Sovereign, you may abstain from every appearance of evil." So note if you would, he says, "sin not."

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• Now, let me try to make some applications very quickly. The first one is this. When Moses said, "Fear not," don't be terrified, probably there was an allusion in one sense of the word to their fear of Pharaoh, who's the ruler of Egypt. Because Pharaoh took the life of whoever he wanted to take. If he wanted to let you live, fine. You remember the story of the butler and the baker. The butler he spared, the baker he hanged. It was his birthday. "I'll let one live, I'll celebrate by hanging my baker." Well, don't fear in that sense of the word. Don't fear that God is some tyrant, some wicked individual who just wants to hurt people. No, no, no, no. He says, don't do that. He said, you fear God with reverence and with respect and awe, with submission and a desire to obey Him. That is how we fear Him. It is a filial fear.

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• I mean, I love my Father. My earthly father, but I got news for you. I did not want to be whipped by him. So I feared him, but I loved him. So we have a reverential fear, we have a fear that brings us in submission to him. Here's the second thing: you might as well mark this down, that God will test us and try us and

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• prove us in different ways. Our testing, our trials, our proving is to demonstrate as to whether or not we will obey Him regardless of the circumstances and regardless of the situation. God is still God no matter what we're going through. God is still God no matter what is happening unto us. So our tests, our trials, are going to determine whether or not we are obedient, whether or not we will continue to be faithful to Him, and to honor Him, and to reverence Him, and to worship Him. And we will do so if we understand what it means to fear God, because that way we will not sin against Him.

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• Now, here's the other thing, and that is this. Passing our tests, passing our trials, passing our afflictions always makes us more holy, more godly, more obedient, and more submissive. Always. It always brings what you and I would call greater sanctification. The word I used earlier in Romans 12 and verse 2 for prove, the word dokimazo, actually means to prove with a good result. So when I take that lump of rock that I found to the assay office and he looks at it and he says, "Preacher, you struck it big. That's pure gold." That's what I want to hear.

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• It just passed the test. And this is what God is saying in 1 Peter. The trial of our faith, being much more precious than gold that perisheth, shall be found to the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ when he returns. So if we understand our tests, if we understand our trials, if we understand what we're going through, it's going to increase our faith, increase our obedience, increase our love, and lead us into a greater sanctification so that we can honor and worship our Lord the way he deserves to be honored and worshiped. "Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord." The only way we can test God is through obedience. That's what he wants. And if we test him through obedience, he will prove himself, he will prove his word, he will prove his will, and we will know that he is God alone.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:30:45Z