Clean Transcript

Learning to Fear the Lord

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• All right, well, let's open our Bibles today to Psalm 34, and I want you to look at verse 11. Psalm 34, verse 11. The title of the message is "Learning to Fear the Lord." So the psalmist says in verse 11, "Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord." So I could begin by asking this question: Do you fear the Lord? Have you ever been taught the fear of the Lord? If you answer yes, then my next question would be, who taught you to fear the Lord? Now that's an excellent question, because in Isaiah 29, verse 13, the Word of God says, "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men." So God says there is a real saving fear, as well as a real biblical fear, and then there is a fear that is just simply taught by the precept of man.

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• In fact, the Lord uses this passage in Matthew chapter 15 and in Mark chapter 7, where He is rebuking the Pharisees and the scribes. So in Matthew chapter 15, verses 7 through 9, our Lord looked at those Pharisees and said, "Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me."

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• "But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." So the only thing that they had was not a real, genuine, saving fear of God or a biblical fear of God. They just had that which the rabbis had taught them, and it was based upon a lot of misapplication as well as misinterpretation. When you ask the average professing Christian, "Do you fear God?"

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• The automatic answer is going to be yes. But may I point out the fact that fearing God is not just simply an intellectual belief. Fearing God is not saying, "Well, I believe that God created the world." Fearing God is not saying, "Well, I was baptized and I'm a church member." There is a real, genuine fear of God, and that fear always leads to obedience. So if one is not obedient, then obviously, according to Scripture, he does not fear God.

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• If you'd look in your Bibles at the whole Psalm 34—we're coming back there—but if you looked at Deuteronomy chapter 29, you're going to find that most professing Christians find themselves in the same predicament that the Israelites did of old. So if you look in Deuteronomy chapter 29, beginning there with verse 2, look what the Bible says: "And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land." So he said, "Your eyes have seen this." Look in verse 3: "The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles." Now look at verse 4: "Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day." So he said, "Your eyes have seen, but you really did not see. Your ears heard, but you really did not hear. And of course, your heart did not perceive what God was actually doing."

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• And so it is today. You have many, many professing Christians who will say, "Yes, they fear God," but at the same time, they do not really hear, they really do not see, and they certainly really do not believe. So the Bible teaches then that one who does not fear God is absolutely foolish and has no understanding. For instance, Psalm 111, verse 10 says this: "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." Now, if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and a good understanding have all they that obey, that do His commandments, where does that leave the individuals who do not fear God and do not obey God? In other words, the Bible would say that they are absolutely foolish and without understanding. So a question that also arises in light of the fear of God is this: What kind of fear do you possess, if you say, "Yes, I have the fear of God"?

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• What kind of fear do you possess? So let me give you a quick quote from Psalm 34, verse 11, written by Spurgeon in his commentaries. Here's what he said: "The master of sentences dwells from this verse on the four kinds of fear: mundane, servile, initial, and filial." Now he describes those. He says, "Servile, when we fear to commit sin simply because of hell torments due unto it. Mundane," he said, "when we fear to commit sin simply because we lose some worldly advantage or incur some worldly inconvenience." Then he said, "Initial, when we fear to commit it, lest we should lose happiness in heaven." And then he said, "Filial," which of course is family, "when we fear only and entirely because we dread to offend that God whom we love with all of our hearts." And so you'd have to ask, what kind of fear do you have? Do you have a mundane fear, or servile fear, an initial fear, or a real, genuine family fear? Now, Matthew Poole said on this verse, "The fear of the Lord is the true and principal way of worshiping and serving God with acceptation."

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• In other words, it's that worship, it's that service that God will accept. Now, what I want you to see right now by way of introduction is this: I've already made the statement, if one does not really, truly, biblically fear God, he is not going to obey God. So it is the absence of the fear of the Lord that leads to wickedness. So I want you to turn back in your Bibles to the book of Genesis, chapter 20.

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• Now, you know the story. Abraham and Sarah have gone down into Kadesh and Shur, unto Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." And even she herself said, "He is my brother." Now, it is true that she was his half-sister, and she was the daughter of his father, but not the daughter of his mother. And so there was some truth in that. But evidently, Sarah was a very, very beautiful woman.

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• And so Abimelech took her. And God came to Abimelech that night and said, "If you touch her, you're a dead man, because she's a wife of a man, a wife of a prophet." And Abimelech said, "In the innocency of my hands and the integrity of my heart have I done this." Said he, "Said he not unto me, 'She is my sister'? And she, even she herself said, 'He is my brother.'" And God said, "I know that."

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• He said, "Therefore I have withheld thee from sinning against me." He said, "But if you touch her, you're a dead man." And said, "You restore the man his wife." And so Abimelech then confronted Abraham and asked him, "Why did he lie? Why did he do such a thing?" Well, the answer is given to us in Genesis 20, verse 11. Here's what Abraham said. Genesis chapter 20, look if you would at verse 11: "And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake." He said, "Where there is no fear of God, they're not afraid to murder. They're not afraid to do anything." So it's the fear of God that leads to obedience. If one truly fears God, he will obey him. So fear and obedience go together. It's impossible to have one without the other. It is the lack of fear that leads to rebellion and to sin. Now, if you would turn right over in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus.

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• Look, if you would, in Leviticus chapter 25, verse 17. Look at this. I'm just showing you where there is no fear, there is sin and wickedness. So notice Leviticus chapter 25, verse 17: "Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the Lord your God." Now, wait a minute. Let's ask this question: What is it that will stop someone from oppressing another?

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• It doesn't matter if it's financial oppression, doesn't matter if it's slavery, doesn't matter if it's tyranny. What is going to stop someone from oppressing another individual? And the answer is the fear of God. Where there is no fear of God, there is oppression.

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• Now, in the same chapter, if you look at verse 36, God says, "Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee." So if you look in verse 35, God is talking about a brother that has gotten waxen poor, fallen in decay. And of course, God says if you lend to him, you cannot lend to him usury nor increase. Why? Because you fear God. But now if you don't fear God, then you're going to rip him off for any and everything that you can get out of him. So it's the fear of God, once again, that's going to stop that from taking place. Now, in the same chapter, if you look down to verse 43, look at what he says: "Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God." Now he's talking about a brother who has become your servant. And God says you're not to rule over him with rigor. But notice if you would, he said, "Thou shalt fear thy God."

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• So what in the world is going to stop someone then from oppressing, defrauding, and tyrannizing over anyone else? It is, in each instance, the fear of God. So what will cause one to deal gently with your brother and not oppress and tyrannize him? The answer is the fear of God.

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• Now, if you would turn right on over to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 25, I want you to look specifically at what God says concerning Amalek, and we're going to read verses 17 through 19. But I want you to note carefully, Deuteronomy 25, verse 17: "Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt." What did Amalek do? "How he met thee by the way," that is, he purposely pressed an attack and smote the hindmost of thee, he ambushed. Note, "he smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary." Look at this: "And he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it." Now, Amalek was the grandson of Esau. Esau, of course, despised spiritual things, and Amalek is a type of your flesh.

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• So just like Amalek did not fear God, your flesh does not fear God. That's why you can be praying and have some of those filthy, vile, wicked, carnal thoughts enter your mind. You can be studying the Scripture, you can be reading the Scripture, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, something will flash through your mind that should never be there. That's because your flesh does not fear God.

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• Now, let me ask a question. Think about this. Why have innocent men and women been viciously and violently attacked, and many times, elderly men and women? What in the world is the cause of the knockout game, when in some of the northern cities, some of these youths slip up behind an older man and waylay him and try to knock him out with one punch? Why in the world are people being tortured? And why in the world are people being hurt in vicious and vile ways? And the answer is this: because men do not fear God. I just read this week where an older woman was attacked by an individual, a youth, and she was beaten in the head, and of course they had a picture; she was in the hospital, her eye was all swollen, and they broke some of those orbital bones up there, just for no reason. He did not even know the woman; he just attacked the woman.

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• So the point being is this: Why is all this happening? And the answer is because men do not fear God. You have to remember all the litany of sins that the Apostle Paul lists in Romans chapter 3, and when he gets to verse 18, he tells you why all those sins are existing, and that is because there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now, the Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs chapter 8, verse 13, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." And when you get to Proverbs 16, verse 6, the Bible makes it exceedingly clear: "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." So if you do not fear God, then you're not going to depart from evil.

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• Now I've got a very quick quote for you from John Gill on Psalm 34, verse 11. I want you to listen to this because I'm going to show you what he says is absolutely true. Gill wrote, "The psalmist," that is the one who wrote Psalm 34, verse 11, David, "the psalmist could not give, nor can any man, the fear of the Lord. He can only teach it, show the nature of it and what it consists of, how it shows itself, and what are the effects it produces."

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• "This is the first lesson to be taught and learned, for it is the beginning of wisdom. It includes all grace and every duty, and regards the whole worship of God and the manner of it." So let's mark this down: Fallen man, by nature, does not fear God. Does not fear God. He may fear the just punishment of his sins; he doesn't want to be punished. But that's just merely a servile fear. He does not fear God in the sense that he respects God, he reverences God, he loves God, he wants to stand in awe of God. No. The reason for the wickedness is men do not fear God.

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• Now, Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 19. Listen to this verse. God said, "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord." Why did they forsake God? Because His fear was not in them. Why did they backslide?

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• Why did they do wicked things? Because His fear was not in them. Now, Gill correctly points out that all man can do is teach the fear of the Lord; he cannot implant it, he cannot give it, he cannot initiate it. Well, the implantation of the fear of God comes through the act of regeneration. It is an act of God's sovereign power and authority. When God sovereignly regenerates and gives us a new heart, He then places His fear in our bosom, in our heart.

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• I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 32, and then we're going to go to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 36. So if you'll look in Jeremiah chapter 32, and let's read there verses 39 and 40. Look what God says. In fact, we can read verse 38. Jeremiah chapter 32, and let's begin with verse 38: "And they shall be my people, and I will be their God." Now look what God says: "And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." So where in the world does the fear of God come from? It comes from God Himself.

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• He implants it in us at regeneration. Now, if you will turn right over to the book of Ezekiel chapter 36, you'll see the same truth stated, but in a little different wording. So in Ezekiel chapter 36, let's begin reading there with verse 26. Look what God says. Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 26. Well, we'll read verse 25 so you can see the context here. God says, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you."

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• "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." So it is the new heart that is given to us in regeneration that causes us to fear God and to walk in His statutes. So it is God Himself who causes us to hear, to see, to heed, to understand, because He gives us a new heart.

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• Now, you remember recently I preached a message on Christian metamorphosis, and I pointed out the four stages of a Christian. There's the little babe, where the apostle Peter said that we're to desire the milk of the word that we should grow thereby. And then when you get to 1 John 2, there's little children, there's young men, and there's fathers. So actually you have four stages there of the Christian life. Each one of us begins as a babe, and then we progress to a little child, and then hopefully to a young man, and then finally to a father in Israel or mother in Israel.

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• In other words, we mature in Christ. It's what it amounts to. So the understanding of each one of those happens to be different. A little child doesn't understand—or does understand more than a baby. And of course a young man understands more than a little child, and the father understands more than a young man. So you have degrees in the Christian life; you have stages in the Christian life. You remember also our Lord talked about bringing forth fruit. He said some brought forth thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold. Now it doesn't matter which stage you're in in your life, whether you're a little babe or whether you're a little child, whether you're a young man or father, you are going to be bringing forth some fruit. You're not going to be bringing forth as much as a father if you're not a father, but you're going to be bringing forth some fruit as well. Now, the interesting thing is, not only is there degrees in fruit bearing, there's also degrees in faith.

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• Stop and think about it. There's faith. Our Lord also spoke of little faith. He told His disciples, "O ye of little faith." And then He said of that centurion, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." So we know there's faith, there's little faith, and there's great faith. We know that faith can be increased because in Luke chapter 17, verse 5, the disciples prayed, "Lord, increase our faith." So just like your faith can be increased, so the fear of the Lord also may be increased. So here's the question. The first question: How do we increase our fear of the Lord? Now, here's the second question that is intimately connected with that one: How do we increase our fear of the Lord without it simply being the precepts of men? You should understand that if there is an increase in the fear of the Lord in your life, there's going to be an increase of faith, there's going to be an increase of submission, there's going to be an increase of obedience, and there's also going to be an increase in humility.

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• Now, three times in the Scripture, God tells us what He requires of us. I can quote it, but write down the Scriptures. Here we go. Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12: "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, 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?"

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• So what does He demand of us? That we fear Him. Note, if we fear Him, we are going to walk in His statutes. If we fear Him, we're going to serve Him. If we fear Him, we're going to love Him with all of our hearts and souls. When you get to Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13, the wise man said, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." Fear God and keep His commandments. In other words, if you fear God, you're going to keep His commandments. And then Micah chapter 6, verse 8: "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" So I hope that you've noticed in just these three verses where it says that which God requires of us, that if we fear God, we're going to walk in His ways. We're going to keep His commandments.

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• We're going to serve Him, and we are going to love Him. Now, let me repeat our questions. How do we increase our fear of the Lord? And how do we increase our fear of the Lord without it being just simply the precepts of man only? And you may be surprised at the simplicity of the answer. There are five passages of Scripture that directly relate to those questions. Five passages that will give us the answer to those questions.

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• And I want you to follow me and let's look at them. So the very first one is Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy chapter 4. And notice, if you would please, verses 9 and 10. Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 9 and 10. Look at this. Deuteronomy 4, verses 9 and 10. The Word of God says this: "Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons." Now watch this: "Specially 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." God said, "You gather them together, I'm going to make them hear me, that they may fear, may learn to fear the Lord thy God."

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• Now, listen to what I'm about to say, and then I'm going to explain it. If you want to increase the fear of the Lord in your life, then you must hear the voice of God. You say, "What?" Yes, you must hear the voice of God. Now, the Israelites heard the voice of God from Mount Sinai. The delivery of the law from Mount Sinai was an era never to be forgotten by the Israelites. You will find all of that given to us in Exodus 19 in detail, but I want you to understand that the totality of Exodus 19 is summarized for us in Hebrews chapter 12. So I want you to go to Hebrews chapter 12 just for a moment, and I want us to begin reading there verse 18. And you will understand the passages I'm going to show you following. So notice, if you would, in the book of Hebrews, let's look in chapter 12, and let's begin reading there with verse 18. Hebrews 12, verse 18. Look at this. The Word of God says:

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• Verse 18: "For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest." So we're talking about Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai, no one could touch it, and it burned with fire, and there was blackness, there was darkness, there was tempest, there was lightnings, there were thunders. Watch verse 19: "And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more."

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• So you read in Exodus chapter 19, God spoke to them out of the mountain with all of this going on, and they didn't want to hear any more, they said, lest they die. He says, "For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart."

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• And watch how terrible this was: "And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." Then he says, but here's the contrary now: "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels." So when you think about Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 19, when God descended upon that mountain with fire and thunder and lightning and terrible tempest and darkness,

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• and yet He spake from that—oh, look, if you would, back in Deuteronomy 4, verse 33. I want you to see what happened. Deuteronomy 4, verse 33. I want you to listen to this. Here's the question: "Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?" So they did indeed hear the voice of God. Look in Deuteronomy 5, verses 24 and 25. Deuteronomy 5, verse 24: "And ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth."

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• "Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die." In other words, they were scared to death. They heard the voice of God, and they said, "We don't want to hear it anymore, lest we die."

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• Now, we are not standing on that mountain that they stood on. We are not at that same scene. We were not present there. So the question would have to be asked, how then shall we hear the voice of God? Here's the answer: His Word is His voice. Here is the definition of inspiration. We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. You remember that passage in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16, when the Bible says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable." The word "inspiration" is the Greek word theopneustos, and it literally means "God-breathed" or "God-exhaled." So what the Scripture is saying about inspiration is that every word that we have has been breathed out of the mouth of God. Now, here's the definition of inspiration. Listen to this: Inspiration is the strong, conscious in-breathing of God into men, qualifying them to give utterance to the truth, so that the words that they spoke and wrote were and are indeed the words of God—listen—so much so, that it demands that we understand that it came from the mouth of God.

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• God spoke these words. So we hear God's voice today in His Word.

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• Now, let me show you. They did hear the voice of God at Mount Sinai. But I want you to turn right on over to Deuteronomy chapter 30, and look, if you would, at verse 10. Deuteronomy 30, verse 10. This is well after Mount Sinai. Deuteronomy 30, verse 10. Look at it if you would: "If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul." Now, how in the world do you hearken to the voice of God? By keeping His commandments and His statutes, which are written in this book of the law. In other words, this book is His voice. Now, if you would turn over in your Bibles to Psalm 95, verse 7, and I'm showing you these few verses just so that you can understand, the word "voice" is still used well after Mount Sinai. So in Psalm 95, look if you would please at verse 7.

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• Psalm 95, verse 7. Here it is. The Bible says, "For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness." This same passage is quoted in Hebrews chapter 4, and it's quoted, "If ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Now, one more, if you will look in Jeremiah chapter 26, verse 13. Jeremiah chapter 26, and look, if you would please, at verse 13.

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• This is well after Mount Sinai. Jeremiah 26, verse 13. God says, "Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you." Well, where do you hear the voice of God? And the answer is in His Word. So we can hear the voice of God today, not audibly, but we can hear it as we read and study the Word of God.

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• Now here's the second thing. I want you to go back to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 14, and look, if you would, at verse 23. So we know that we can increase our faith and learn to fear God even more by hearing His voice. So now the second way is found in Deuteronomy chapter 14. If you would look in verse 23, and this is dealing with the festivals, with the feast. God said, "And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always."

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• Now, may I remind you that actually there were three tithes in Israel. There was the Levitical tithe, there was the festival tithe, and there was the poor tithe, which was taken every third year. But these festivals were annual events, and so the individuals had to go to the specified place—it turned out to be later on Jerusalem—and there they had to take their tithes, and they could rejoice there before the Lord and learn to fear His name. Now, how did they learn to fear?

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• And the answer is by obedience. In other words, they came the way God told them to come, they did what God commanded them to do, and they did it in the way that He commanded them to do it. In other words, they were obedient. So the more obedient we are, the more we learn to fear the Lord. Now, hang on. It is impossible to learn to fear God in disobedience. It's impossible to learn to fear God in rebellion. The only way we can learn to fear God, first of all, is by hearing His voice in His Word, and secondly, by obedience. Now, if you and I are going to learn to fear the Lord, we must learn to be obedient in whatever we see in His Word where He commands us and tells us that which must be in our lives.

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• Now, here's the third one. Since you're in Deuteronomy, go to Deuteronomy chapter 17. The passage that I'm about to read deals with the king. In other words, in this passage, God says if Israel wants a king, these are his qualifications. These happen to be the prerequisites. I'm not going to read all of those, but I will read verses 18, 19, and 20: "And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life." Why?

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• "That he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel."

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• Now, I want you to note the king had to have his own personal copy of the law. God said it was to be read daily. And the reason it was to be read daily was so that he might learn to fear the Lord his God. So when we read our Bibles, we're looking at the Bible and we see God's promises, we see His principles, we see His precepts, we see His warnings, we see His threatenings, we see His truths. In other words, the only way that you can ever, ever learn the Bible is by reading it and studying it yourself. I've heard people say, "Well, you know, you can go to Bible school." You can go to Bible school. That is true. In Bible school, you may learn about the Bible, but the only way you can learn the Bible is study it yourself. The king had a responsibility to read the Bible every single day. You say, "Well, goodness, that was a king." Hang on. Did you know the Scripture tells us in the New Testament that our Lord has made us kings and priests unto Jesus Christ?

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• We are kings. We have a duty and a responsibility and an obligation to read the Word of God and to read it every day. If you're not reading your Bible every day, you're not going to learn to fear the Lord. It's just that simple. You have to learn to read that Bible on a daily basis. I remember when God first saved me and called me to preach, I had a very strong desire to learn to read, to learn the Bible. And so I put myself on a reading schedule. I read through the Old Testament every month, the New Testament every week.

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• I did it over and over and over. I have no idea how many times I've read the Bible through. Even now, I start at Genesis, I read through Revelation; when I finish, I start back all over again. And I'm not talking about my study time. My study time is different. I read the Bible every day just for my own blessing and my own benefit. I don't have to tell you, I've told you so many times, that God has ordained that blessings always follow obedience and curses always follow disobedience. And so if we want to learn to fear the Lord, we have to learn to read His Word. What is it the Bible says in Psalm 1, verses 1 through 3? God says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord."

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• "And in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Wow. If we want to learn the fear of the Lord, we have to learn to read, to meditate, and to think. It was required of a king. And since our Lord has made us kings and priests, it is now still required of us. And the reason he had to do that was so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God.

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• So he wouldn't lift up his heart above his brethren. So he would prolong his days. Blessings always follow obedience.

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• Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 31, we're going to look at verses 12 and 13. And here's the fourth way that you and I are to learn to fear the Lord. Now, by the way, may I point out the fact, learning is a process. You remember that passage in Ephesians chapter 4: "If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man..." He said, "And have learned Christ." Christ must be learned. Christ must be learned. And when we are learning to fear God, we're learning the Lord Jesus Christ.

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• Let me say it like this: Faith has to be developed. Fear has to be developed. Fruit has to be developed. You remember, it is God who gives us faith. But God does not exercise our faith for us. We must exercise it ourselves. God gives us repentance. But God does not turn from our sins for us. We must turn from our sins. You remember that passage in Philippians chapter 2: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." That's verse 12. Now, is God telling us that we have to work for our salvation? Of course not.

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• Everything has to be taken in context. In verse 12, he said, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

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• Now listen to verse 13: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." So God works it in. We must work it out. That's why I told you earlier, the only thing man can do is teach the fear of the Lord. God must implant it. But once God works it in, it's our responsibility to work it out. Okay? Now watch this. So look in Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse 12: "Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it." Now, he said, "You get all the people together that can hear." Now, in the context, they were reading the law of God aloud.

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• I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah, and I want you to look particularly at chapter 8. Nehemiah chapter 8—Ezra, Nehemiah—and look, if you would, at chapter 8, because I want you to see that there was more to reading the law than just reading the law. There's more to reading the Word of God than just reading the Word of God.

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• What are we talking about? Well, look at it. Notice if you would, in the book of Nehemiah, chapter 8, and look, if you would please, at verse 8. And of course, in fact, let's read first of all verses 1 through 3. Look at this. Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 1: "And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday."

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• Now, that's at least three or four hours. "Before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law." And so the people stood for three or four hours and listened to the reading of the book of the law. But they were doing more than just reading. What were they doing? Well, look in verse 8: "So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." Wow! Wow! Notice if you would, there are three things in verse 8. There was exposition: "they read in the book of the law distinctly." There was explanation: "and gave the sense." And then there was application: "and caused them to understand the reading."

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• So expounding the Word includes demonstrating the text and the context, as well as the scope of the passage. That is the first step. The second step was explanation, giving the sense thereof. By the way, I will tell you this: When I first started preaching, I quoted an awful lot of scriptures in my sermons. Sometimes one sermon would have as many as 150 passages that I quoted. I filled my sermons with scripture until it dawned on me one day that God's people did not need the Scripture quoted to them.

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• Back in those days, you could get a tape. You had a tape player, and you could hear the Word of God being read. I realize that God's people didn't need the Word of God quoted to them. They needed the Word of God expounded, explained, and applied. You cannot obey that which you do not understand, and you cannot obey that which you do not know. So they did not just simply read the law; they expounded it, they explained it, and they applied it.

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• Now, exposition and explanation are absolutely necessary to application. So preaching and teaching and exhortation are the means of expounding and explaining. So if you wish then to learn to fear the Lord, you must make listening to preaching a priority. That is listening to God's preaching or preaching from the Word of God. I might remind you that pastor-teachers happens to be a gift from Jesus Christ to His church, and you will find that in Ephesians chapter 4.

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• So my responsibility is to expound and explain the Scriptures. Now it's true, just like today and every day when I preach, I give some applications. But my applications are general. And when I say that, those applications are designed just to make you start thinking, "Well, what else can I do to apply the Word to my life?" I don't know every problem that you have. I don't know every need that you have. I don't know every desire that you have. I don't know everything that you're going through. But I know this: if I expound the Word of God, if I explain the Word of God, if I begin making applications, it'll give you some idea that, yes, I need to make applications of this in my life. So it is my responsibility to expound and explain. It's your responsibility to flesh out that which has been expounded and explained, and make it applicable to your life. If you don't, then the explanation and the exposition would be worthless to you. Every Scripture must be applied.

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• That's why I said, "Gather them together so they can hear, and they can learn to fear the Lord." So in the preaching and teaching of His Word, you're to learn to fear the Lord. And we're living in a day and time when most folks think nothing of skipping out on the preaching. They think nothing of, "I stumped my toe, I can't go. I've got a little headache, I can't go." I'm just saying, we'll never learn to fear the Lord until we prioritize listening to the Word of God expounded and explained and applied.

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• We have to make those applications in our own lives. Now, here's the fifth passage that happens to be our text. So I want you to go back in your Bibles to the book of Psalms and look in Psalm 34. And again, look at verse 11. I want you to watch this. We're talking about learning to fear the Lord. He said, "Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord." First of all, "Come, ye children." I can't teach you if you're not in attendance. If you don't come, there's no way I can teach you. The second thing he said, "Come, ye children, hearken." You can come, but if you don't listen, I still can't teach you. And if you come sleepy-headed and drowsy, and you let your mind wander, I still can't teach you. So He says, "Come, ye children, hearken unto me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord." So the fear of the Lord then is to be the rule of life for every Christian.

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• The fear of the Lord is that which will lead us to holiness, to obedience, to submission, to humility. Fearing God in a biblical manner always leads to innumerable blessings. So since we're in Psalm 34, I want to begin reading with verse 8 and read through the rest of that Psalm. I want you to watch this. He says, "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord." Now look at this. Here's what every man wants: "What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?" That's what we all want. He says, here's what you do.

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• "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate."

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• Notice if you would, he says, "If you'll listen to me, I'll teach you the fear of the Lord." And he begins by showing you what you must do, how you must submit, how you must obey, and how you must trust. And he shows all of the blessings and all the protections that God is going to give those that fear Him. Now, I've given you five passages where the Scripture says that you can learn to fear the Lord. So let me give you some applications to begin your thinking. Here's the first one: The reason there is so much wickedness and rebellion is because there is no fear of God in the lives of the wicked. Now, hang on. Likewise, when a Christian sins, it is because of a lack of fear of God in his life. If you really stood in awe of God, if you really reverenced and respected God, if you really loved Him as a Father, you would not do what you have done or what you're thinking about doing. By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil.

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• That's what the Bible says. And when we sin, especially deliberately, purposefully, premeditatedly, it's because we do not fear God as we should. And we bring the chastisement of God upon ourselves. You remember, I hope, the Word of God says in 1 John 2, verse 1, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not." I hope you remember Romans chapter 6, verses 11 and 12, where the Word of God 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." He didn't say let not sin be in your mortal body, but let not sin reign.

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• Don't let it hold sway over you. Sin is not your Lord; Jesus Christ is your Lord. And then I hope you remember the prayer then of Jabez in 1 Chronicles chapter 4, when he said, "Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!" And I always pray, when I pray that prayer, "Lord, keep me from evil as well, that I might not grieve Thee." That's the main thing. The interesting thing is, when you read about Jabez, the next verse says, "And God granted him that which he requested."

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• I've often thought about this. God withheld Abimelech from sinning against Him. And Abimelech was a wicked man, an unconverted man. Have you ever prayed and asked God to withhold you from sinning? Have you ever prayed and asked God to help you not to grieve Him, not to quench Him, not to vex Him? Wow. So when a Christian sins, it's because he does not fear God as he should. The second application I've got today is this: I want to impress upon you that there are multitudinous blessings that spring from a proper fear of God. I want to just read the verses for you.

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• Psalm 31, verse 19. I could tell you a wonderful story about this verse, but I want you to listen to it: "Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!" Think about that. "Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee." So God has goodness laid up if we have a proper biblical fear. Psalm 33, verse 18: "Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy." I want God's eyes upon me. I want Him looking at me and helping me. Psalm 34, verse 7: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."

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• I'd like to be delivered as well. Psalm 34, verse 9: "O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him." Now here's the thing: If you and I do not want to sin against our Heavenly Father, we need to fear Him in a biblical manner, and we need to seek for that fear of Him to be increased in our lives. When there is a proper increase in the fear of God in our lives, at the same time, there will be a proper increase of our faith. There will be a proper increase of our submission. There will be a proper increase of our obedience. There'll be a proper increase in humility.

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• All of these things go together. God has worked that in our lives. It is our responsibility, our duty, our obligation, and our privilege to work it out, because God has worked it in us. So we need to ask—Lord, ask the Lord, "Lord, increase my fruit. Increase my faith and increase my fear, that I might not sin against thee." By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil.

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• And when you stop and think how gracious and kind and merciful and just our loving Heavenly Father has been to each of us, how could we not stand in awe of Him, and respect and reverence Him, and love Him, and desire that we love Him more, and fear Him more, and worship Him more? So come, my children, hearken! And I will teach you the fear of the Lord. I cannot implant it. I cannot give it, but I can teach it. And if you will listen and make application to your life, you will learn the fear of the Lord and increase in that fear. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee.

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• We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. And we do pray, Lord, that You would teach us and enable us to increase in the fear of the Lord. May we learn to fear Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen. Alright, are there any questions? Alright. Okay, Frank, anybody on your end? Well, I see you, but I don't hear you. No, we're here, pastor. Okay. All right. All right. Well, wonderful. Well, you give everybody there our love and keep us in prayer.

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• Tell Daniel we were praying for him, please. And, uh, and we'll be dismissed in prayer. Father, again, we thank You and praise You. We give the honor and glory and ask, Father, that You'd help us in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen, we pray. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:50:57Z