Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

An Awesome God Pt.6

He is preparing that offering, sanctifying our lives. The Scripture says we are to present our bodies living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto Him, which is our reasonable service. We are not to be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of our minds, proving the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. What a privilege, just to be able to offer up that which God has given us, our lives. Our lives were lost. Think about that. Our lives were taken from Him, and we were under the dominion of Satan, the god of this world. Man was captured, held in captivity, by the powers of darkness. Jesus came and broke that power, bought us, then gave us grace to receive that eternal life. With that, He reestablished our ability to make choices for righteousness. Then we choose to offer back to Him that which He gave us. He gave us our lives to be able to freely give them back to Him. That's what this offering is all about.

We want to talk about that a little bit this morning as we talk some more about the fear of the Lord, because that's really what the fear of God is about. It is about giving ourselves as that offering to the Lord. No show of hands, but isn't one of the most difficult things we do making that absolute choice of surrender to the will of Father? We have talked about in the teaching here on the fear of God, that it is a lot easier to obey God than it is to trust, because obedience still factors in some self-involvement. We are very uncomfortable when we are out of control. We are very uncomfortable when we become that absolute sacrifice to God, but it is only then that we most honor Him. It is only then that the greatest expression of our love is really known in the heart of God, when we have absolutely surrendered our lives to Him.

A living offering, holy and acceptable, which is our reasonable service. "Reasonable" meaning it is what is right because of redemption. We have been bought back from sin's power. We have been freed by the blood of Jesus. It is only right that in thanksgiving we give our lives back to Him. We want to talk a little bit some more about that aspect. We left off on talking about the justice of God.

Now let me spend just a couple minutes of review again. We want to go into point four in this five-part study on the fear of God. Point one, we were talking about recognizing the majesty or the awesomeness of God. We talked about a little bit about that vernacular of the day: "Oh, that's awesome!" "Oh, they're awesome!" "They're awesome!" "What an awesome game that was last night, to see the Cowboys go down!" I got back into town just to see the last 12 minutes of the game. That was the whole game, wasn't it (any of you that watched it)? That finish was fun, but it wasn't "awesome." When we saw this term "awesome," we saw in Psalm 33 that man was to "stand in awe" of God. It means "to be smitten down." Awesomeness-and only God is awesome-speaks of the incapacity to comprehend. Awesomeness as it pertains to God is the awareness that He is so majestic, He is so holy. The word "holy" doesn't just mean "pure." It means "separate or distinct." God the Creator is distinct from all of His creation, and all of His creation stands in awe of Him, recognizing Him as the source of our very life. It is in Him that we live and move and have our being.

We realize, then, that all things were made by Him and (say it) for Him. You see, your life isn't for yourself. It is for God. All things were made by Him, and it was made for Him. You are not an accident of the universe. You are design of God. You were created by Him, and you were created for Him. He gifted you to perform a certain function in His kingdom. Are we recognizing that? To fear God and to honor God is just to fulfill the purpose for which He created us. Ecclesiastes said the whole duty of man is to (say it) fear God and what? Keep His commandments. Life is simple, isn't it? We have two things to do: fear God and keep His commandments. If you will fear God, if you choose to honor God, to reverence God, to stand in awe of Him, to recognize His majesty-now think about that. What comes to your mind when we say "His majesty"? A sovereign, right? "Her majesty," "his majesty"-a sovereign. We are not our own. We were made by Him; we were designed by Him. Before we were formed in our mother's belly, He knew us and He predestined us to be about His business. Are you going to fight the will of God or live in obedience to His lordship? That's what fear is: just recognizing His sovereignty, His majesty. Fear is humbling ourselves to where we are no longer lord. We are not calling the shots; He is. Once we realize His role, it makes ours much more simple, when we recognize His strength, His attributes. As we saw in our sovereignty study, who can resist His will? It is irresistible.

As God is working in our lives to fulfill His purpose, we stand in awe of Him. The Scripture says that as they approached Him on the mountain, they saw that separateness and that holiness, and they feared to even enter into His presence. They told Moses, "Go up and hear what the Lord has to say. Then come and tell us, and we'll do it."

Then we looked in Deuteronomy, Chapter 10, and we saw that there were things that God required of us. "These things does the Lord require of us." We saw the four things. They were fear, obey, love, and what? Serve. The greatest among us is who? The servant of all. But all of us want to be lord. We don't want to be servant, but the fear of the Lord helps us to understand the privilege of serving, the high calling of serving. We are not just talking about serving one another. We are talking about relating to one another in a way that we build each other up because we are serving whom? God. When you are obeying your parents, you are obeying your parents, but you are really obeying whom? When you submit to your husband, you are submitting to your husband, but you are really submitting to whom? To God. When you love your wives and you lay your lives down for them, you are loving your wife, but you are really loving whom? God. When we realize that aspect of it and begin to flow in the body in service, we realize that serving doesn't have to do with rank. It has to do with privilege, of being called to be part of God's body, part of God's team. What does the Scripture say in Deuteronomy 10 that the Lord requires of you? To fear, obey, love, and serve.

Then in our last session, we talked about this aspect of fearing the Lord, and we talked about the justice of God, or the judgment of God. We fear God because there is a day of judgment coming. There's a day of reckoning coming. There is a day when the secrets of all of our hearts are going to be opened up. Is that scary to anybody? It is to me! Boy, I'm glad God can forget! My heart is going to be revealed. I don't know about you, but my heart is ugly. I battle every day the sin that's in my members. In me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. I'm a murderer. I'm an adulterer. I'm a thief. I'm a liar. I'm a rebel. And Jesus redeemed me. He redeemed me. He bought me back from the dominion of all of those things that are in me. They no longer dominate me, but they are in my flesh.

In the process of my redemption, I'm being sanctified, and these things are being cleansed out of my behavior. They are still in my members, but I don't respond to them any longer. They are no longer in dominion over me. Sin no longer has dominion over me. I still sin. I still murder periodically: when I love my brother less than I should and prefer myself, I'm a murderer. Isn't it murder to hate your brother? That word just means "to love them less." I still murder. I still lust. I still covet. But it has no power over me any longer. It is not who I am, and it is not what I love. When I see that in my life, I confess my sin, and He is faithful and just to forgive me and to (say it) cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Old things have passed away, and all things are new. I love God. I now fear God. I want to be obedient. I want to be that servant. That's what is in me. Sin no longer has dominion over me, and I realize that there's going to be a day of judgment. But even in that day of judgment when all of these things are revealed, what else is going to be revealed in that day is that these things have been cast into the sea of God's forgetfulness. They have been removed from me as far as the east is from the west. Make sure, as the Scripture says, that your sins go before you and don't follow. If they go before you, they can be forgiven and forgotten. If they follow, you're going to answer for them. That day is coming.

Fearing God is making things right today. The fear of God makes things right today. It sends our sins before us where they can be forgiven. We confess our sins, and He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We saw in our last study, Psalm 76 said, "Who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?" We talked about the holiness of God, the anger of God. We saw, then, in Hebrews, that it is a very fearful thing, Hebrews 10:26 says, to fall into the hands of a living God.

The problem in our society is a misunderstanding of who God is. We have made God into grandpa or Santa Claus, and we need to understand again the attributes of who God is. God is loving. God is merciful. God is gracious. He is longsuffering. He is not willing that any should perish. But He is holy, and He is just, and He is righteousness. We have seen in our studies in the last year or so, as we talk about the plurality of the attributes of God, how they work in perfect harmony. One does not oppose the other. God's love is absolutely just, and His justice is the expression of His love. We have seen that the natural man can't fully comprehend these things, but we know them to be true. Because of that, we trust in God. We need to restore in our lives-in our personal lives, in our children-the fear of the Lord.

I was flying home last night, and on the airplane, there was this TV program they were showing. I had been studying and reading a little bit, and actually dozed off. I awoke, and this thing was on. I watched a little bit of it, and I'd never seen it before, this program. I think it was called Two And A Half Men or something like that. There were these two guys and this one guy's kid came to visit. The whole show was about this young kid terrorizing them. He controlled the situation because he just wouldn't take no for an answer, and he wore them down, and his attitude was "Whatever." There was no reverence, and there was no fear. It was made to be comedy, but in some of these areas, comedy is reality to the extreme, isn't it? That's where our society is today.

In that whole process, I'm trying to envision myself with this child-and him still being alive when this episode was over. My question is, Why do people tolerate this and the broken order in our society today? The broken order, the divine order of God: the head of the woman is the man, and the head of the man is who? Christ. Children are to do something. What is it? Obey your parents in the Lord. We always come back, and we talk about this often, because it is the expression of satanic rule. It is rebellion. Every man doing what is right in his own eyes. There is no authority. Who do you think you are? Who made you? "God made me." When kids say, "Who made you the head?" say, "God made me the head. You don't like it? Take it up with Him. I'm doing my job." God made you husbands the heads of your families, and God made me the overseer of this fellowship, and God made Bush the President of this nation. And Romans 13 says that to resist the authority is to resist whom? God.

That's what we were looking at as we closed out our last session in Romans 13. We were talking about the need for order to come, and fear of justice, judgment, and divine authority. There is no fear any longer. There is no fear of going to the principal. There is no fear any longer of our judicial system and penal system. Why? Because the penal system is no longer punitive. People have it better in jail than they do free. I guarantee you the majority of the guys in prison couldn't afford the cable they're getting in prison if they were out. Now, we know there are disadvantages also. "So what are you saying?" I don't want to get off into the civil aspects of it. My recommendation would be to like go to New Mexico, fence it off, throw everybody over the fence, and say, "You're on your own. Grow your own food. Survival of the fittest. You want to live like an animal? There you go. You want freedom? Have at it! Everybody inside the fence is absolutely free to do whatever they want." That will stop some shoplifting! We have grown up in a whole generation when nobody is afraid any longer of doing wrong.

God is just. Man is going to get exactly what he deserves. We don't like to see God that way, but in the last day, Jesus is going to look at every man and say, "I came and I died for your sins. I took your sin upon Me. I was a holy God and I was made sin with your sin. I was separated from God the Father so you didn't have to be, but you chose to serve yourself. Because of that, depart from Me. I never knew you." We need to fear God, because there's a day coming when there can no longer be a reconciliation. Many of you-and we have talked to some of you young people in here-seem to think that anytime you want, you can run out and play with the world and live anyway you want-"Whenever I feel like it, after I've sown my wild oats, I'll come back to the Lord." No man can come unless the Father draws you. God will not always suffer man. Does that cause any fear in your heart, or do you say, "Yes, yes. I've heard that." But you have never seen it. We have a whole generation that doesn't believe that there are consequences.

As we are looking to serve God, we have to examine our own hearts and ask ourselves this question: Do I truly fear God? You remember, we talked about Bruce Banner last time. Do you remember that? For those of you who don't know, Bruce Banner was Bill Bixby, "The Hulk." You remember the one phrase in the Hulk-"You don't want to see when I'm angry!" Because when you ticked him off, he turned into "The Hulk," right? You don't want to see God when He is angry. Can I share something with you? How many of you have been in trials in your life? Let me see your hands. How many of you have been through some severe trials in your life? Let me see your hands. All of that was God's love. You have never seen Him angry yet. The worst thing you've been through was God's love to you. You don't have a clue what it is like for God to get angry. God hates rebellion and hates sin, and He will recompense to every man, the Scripture says, according to his words and his works. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God, Hebrews 10 says.

First Peter says, "Since every one of our works is going to be judged, let us sojourn, or journey, here in fear." First Peter, the first chapter, verse 17. We are on a journey. Let me ask you question. Have you made any plans recently that you haven't checked with God on? Can I ask you this? Those of you that are pursuing life's ambitions and goals, some of you who have been drawn to certain individuals as potential life mates-and we have talked about that a lot here in our fellowship-have you taken some of those things back into your own hands, or are you sojourning in fear? Here's what I'm saying. Are you afraid to make your own decisions? I have proven what I can do on my own: I can royally mess stuff up. When you finally grow up to the place that you realize you can't do it, "For me to live is Christ. I can do all things through Christ. Without Him, I can do [say it] nothing." When you grow up to that point and realize that without Him, you can do nothing, you are afraid to make your own decisions. When you grown up enough to be humbled-humility is a character trait of the mature. Humility is a character trait of the mature. The more you know, the more you know you don't know. I am afraid of being wrong. I'm afraid of taking things back into my own control and judging according to my own judgments and making decisions based upon my own wisdom. I want to know that God has orchestrated my steps. I don't want to make one move that would take me outside of the grace and the mercy of God, and put me back under His justice. That creates in us a fear, a reverence, an acknowledging of His majesty, a seeking of His will and of His purpose for which we are created, and fulfilling the whole duty of man.

We have seen those three aspects, and that suffices in review. Let's go to the fourth step. The fear of the Lord is to live lives of total obedience, unconditional obedience, to His will and to His ways. Turn over to Deuteronomy for just a second. Deuteronomy, Chapter 10. We made reference to this, but I want to speak toward it again as we just quoted it. "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, To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day [so that you'll be bummed out, never have any fun, and life is a drag? Say it.] for thy good?" All of these things bring good to us. It causes us to be able to honor God. The fear of the Lord is to live lives in absolute obedience.

Psalm 112, verse 1, says that we delight in His commandments. How do we respond to the commandments of God, to His directives in our lives? Now, there are a lot of different commandments. We know that there are the general commandments that you and I have, such as the different things that God has spoken to us. We are to be witnesses, go into all the world, and preach the gospel. Do you delight in being salt and light, the call of God on our lives? How many of you know that it is an obligation, but you kind of actually hate the fact that, "When I go to work, I'm the oddball. I'm the one that's always speaking against the spirit of antichrist. I'm sharing the things that I've seen and heard. Yet, people are despising me for it." The Scripture says that we are to count it (what?) all joy when we fall into these different trials, and temptations, and when all men speak evil of us for His name's sake. Do you delight in that? How many of you boast and delight in being rejected by the majority of the world? See, it is one thing to do it, and it is another thing to delight in it. I don't know about you. I'd like to go from doing to delighting, really counting it a privilege to be hated of all men for His name's sake, to fear God to the place where I delight in standing separate from all of the rest of the world and don't any longer serve their gods. The delight is what creates joy. It is what Jesus said: "I have meat to eat that the rest of you don't know anything about, a strength to do the will of He that sent Me."

We want to talk about this aspect for just a little bit, that delighting in the Lord. Proverbs, Chapter 8-turn over there for just a second-gives us some interesting perspective in what the fear of God really creates in us. We'll probably end up with this portion for this morning.

We are going to have a good time tonight. It has been about a year since we had our last emphasis for missions. We don't have a lot of specific needs right now. What we really need towards missions is for everybody to keep doing what you've been doing as far as your pledges that you've made. If there are some of you here-there are people that have been added new to us over the year-and you're not a part of this, then we are going to give you an opportunity tonight to become a part monthly of supporting the outreach that we have generally for missions. A lot of exciting things are going on.

We have a lot of additional expenses right now, and we are going to take an offering. You see a lot of faces here visiting from Africa, and we have to get them back. Now, they can walk or we could fly them, and it costs money from all the flybacks. We are going to be taking some offerings tonight to cover airfare and many of these things that would be part of the outreach. Be prayerful. Ask Father what He would want you to do toward that support. A lot of great things are going on.

So tonight, we are going to have the men come up. Rob will be with us, and Forbe and Ronnie, and we'll just be sharing a little bit from their perspective. You can ask any questions you want. We are going to go back. How many of you would like to get another look at the faces of all those people you saw at Christmas and hadn't seen before? I would, because in the midst of the Christmas program and all the cool stuff that was going on, that little missions video kind of got lost. Now when you approach 40, your memory-I mean, when you're departing. Well, kind of like what Hope said the other day. I've told you the stories about Hope, right? We were playing the other day, and I said, "You guys hide your eyes and Grandpa is going to hide." We were out on the sidewalk at some store. So they go down there, and you know how the trees on the sidewalks are about that big around [pastor indicates diameter of 3 inches]. So I got behind this tree, and I said, "Okay. I'm hiding! You guys find me!" They turned around, and I'm standing there. "I said I'm hiding! You can't see me!" She said, "Grandpa, your ends are hanging out!" She's always got something to say along those lines.

I told you about the pink footies, right? We came home from one of our trips, and the girls were excited. They said, "We have a surprise! We have a surprise!" And they came down in these full-length pajamas with these footies and these fuzzies, and they said, "We have some for Greer!" So they give Greer her pair, and she put them on. They were the same size Hailey was wearing; Hailey's were just a little long on her. So they're excited. They come down for a picture, and we have a picture of all three of them. So, as I normally do, I'm going to tease them a little bit. I said, "Hope, when we go home, Grandpa is going to steal Greer's fuzzies and put them on tonight and wear them." She looked at me and she said, "Ain't gonna be pretty."

So that brings us to where I was on this one. They had a game for Christmas, and we were playing. It said, "Eight years old and up." I said, "Hope, it's eight years old and up! You're 'eight,' so you get to play, and grandpas 'up.'" She said, "Yeah. Way up!" As one that is "way up," you do forget some of these things every once in awhile, don't you? So from somebody who's "way up," we have known a few things. We have experienced and seen a few things of the faithfulness of God and the need to enter in and embrace His love and His presence and let Him work these things in our lives. I would say the one thing-and I've shared this in many of the pastors' meetings. The one thing that I've learned about what God is doing in my life-and I've been involved now in ministry for a lot of years. I've been involved in full-time ministry for 37 years in pastoral ministry. I one thing I've learned is I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I don't how to go out, and I don't how to come in. But I do know the One who called me and sent me, and I know that His promises are sure to a thousand generations. And I know that He is not willing that any should perish, and I know that not one of all of His good promises ever falls to the ground. In every situation, I just look to the character of God, the goodness of God, the immutability of God, and the fact that He doesn't change. Whether it is this century or another century, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We just do things the same. We just repeat it over and over and over. People's names change; people's faces change; all of the residual circumstances surrounding it change. But the basic problems are the same, and the solution is the same every time. You just speak the same thing: the Word of God. One of the things that we need to learn in this generation is the fear of the Lord. We need to learn that obedience is better than sacrifice. To fear the Lord is to live lives of obedience.

Psalm 119, verse 65 says, "I choose to be a companion of all of them that fear thee and obey Your commandments." I'd like to ask you a question this morning. Whom have you chosen to make your closest confidants, your closest friends? This is one of my favorite verses in all of the Scriptures, Psalm 119:65: "I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts." "I am a companion of those that fear You and obey You." Whom have you chosen to hang out with? The Scripture says, "Be followers of those who through faith and patience are inheriting the promises of God." Who has it working?

You know, there are a lot of good talkers, but who is living this thing? Who is embracing the cross? Who is coming through the trials of life, being refined, and coming out on the other end? It is one thing to preach it. It's another thing to live through it, isn't it? It is one thing to encourage somebody in their adversity and in their problems, to encourage them with the Word of God. It's another thing to be a life example to them, of being able to comfort with the same comfort wherewith we have been comforted. Have you stood true through the trials? This is what the Scripture says in Proverbs 8. Look at it, 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. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength." We are talking about the wisdom of God, the Word of God.

Now watch what it says-and I'm going to end with this part for this morning. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogance." We can talk about many different evils and probably, if we took a survey, we would all have different things on our list of what evil is. Can I suggest to you this morning that we stop looking at evil and emphasize the evil one? The source of evil: Satan, the evil one, the spirit of antichrist that prevails today, that permeates our environment. Are you comfortable in the world's environment, or do you hate it? We can talk about the world's environment in many different ways. You can perceive it from the moral, the social, sociopolitical arena. In all of these ways, we look around us, and to fear the Lord is to depart from these things-and not only to depart, but to hate them. As we delight in God, we hate this spirit of the world. "That's wrong. That's bad. We shouldn't do that." You hate it because of its origin, because of the evil one, because it opposes God. See, this is what I want to talk about. To fear the Lord is to be able to realize that the world is at enmity with God. It is not just a different, alternative lifestyle.

Greer and I were in line. I wish I had seen this. She told me about it, and I just busted up. We were in line, and we were going to see Phantom of the Opera. No, no, it was Celine. It was Celine, and she went out to get some sodas. I was at the seat. She went out to get us a soda, and she was in line. She said there were these two people from an "alternative lifestyle" behind her-queers. She said the waiter said, "Sir, what can I get for you?" These two guys are standing there, and he says, "I'll have this." And he turns to the other guy and says, "Ma'am, for you?" I wish I would have been there! How cool was that? Those two guys, they busted up. They thought it was funny too, which is sad.

We look at the world's system, and we have been so vexed. That is not an "alternative lifestyle." That's an abomination to God. But it is against the law for us to say that now in our country. See, I'm breaking the law this morning by saying that. But the powers that be are ordained of God that we might live peaceably on the earth. So they are breaking the law by making that law, and so I refuse to bow to their injustice, their defiance of the holiness of God. There is a higher law, and it is the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of our wisdom.

We see it in every area. Do you realize that we as a nation could end up with a Hilary ("I'm Hilary, the first, I am.") and Slick Willy as First Lady? I'm not even talking about a political problem, because I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. I'm a Christian. So I'm not worried about political parties. If that were to take place, what concerns me-and I'm not even talking about as an American. I love our country. As an American, in proper perspective, I have a love for this country, an appreciation. I hate seeing it going down the toilet like it is, and I'm hoping I'll be out of here before the final swirl. But as we are looking, does anybody see the problem potentially with a woman President and a woman Speaker of the House? Does anybody besides me see a problem? "Well, Pastor, we know you're a feminist." Right. "We know that you actually are a chauvinist." No, I'm not; I'm a Christian. If anybody elevates the role of women, I do, because I've chosen Jesus' standard and Apostle Paul's standard, and they have elevated women more than anybody else ever-elevated them to the place that God created them to fulfill. Because that's what is right, and everything else is evil.

Can there be women leaders? We have seen it. It can be scriptural if it is ordained of God. I'm not diminishing that. I'm talking about the trend of elevating individuality, emphasizing equality, in areas where God states there is not an equality but an order, and I hate that. I hate the broken order of our society. I hate the broken order of our homes, our political areas, the society. I hate the broken order of our homes. I hate the broken order of our morality today, the immorality. I don't dislike it; I hate it. Is anybody here passionate against these things? The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Evil is anything that originates from the evil one, Satan, anything that comes from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Anything that opposes the Word of God, the standard of God, the wisdom of God, is evil. We don't just say, "It's alternative. It's just their way of approaching it. It's what they think." No, it is wrong, absolutely wrong. Now, that's the fear of the Lord.

What is that going to do? It is going to cause us to become so separate. Everybody is going to hate us. We are going to be seen as bigots and narrow-minded. No, we are right, and the rest of them are wrong. Are you going to make some choices to stand today in the fear of God against the pressures of the world's system? That's what I'm asking this morning. Are you choosing to obey God, resist the power of sin, and are you willing to pay the consequences of being rejected by the majority? Are you going to delight in His commandments? Are you going to delight in our persecutions? That is the fear of God. It is a death to self. It is embracing the cross. It is choosing the pearl of great price.

Let me end with this for this morning. Psalm 36, turn over there. This will be our last verse for this morning's session. You see, to fear God is to come totally separate from what everybody else treasures and loves. Being a Christian isn't being moral. Being a Christian is having Jesus as Lord. Being a Christian is not to be a man or a woman of benevolence. Being a Christian is being a slave to righteousness and being made a pillar in the house of our God.

In this passage, Psalm 36, the Scripture says, "The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. [You see, they have no fear of God before their eyes, the psalmist says.] For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good. He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." He makes a distinction here between those that fear God and those that don't. Those that refuse to recognize His majesty, His awesomeness, His holiness, are those, the Scripture says, who flatter themselves in their own eyes. They set their own standards of morality. They've embraced the wisdom of the world, the sufficiency of man and not God. We end this morning by asking ourselves, Do I fear the justice of God? Am I living a life in absolute obedience, knowing that to obey is better than to bring sacrifice, than to have to come back and go around that mountain one more time?

Father, we do thank You this morning for what You are doing in our lives. You are an awesome God. Our God is an awesome God. We tremble at the thought of You. At this moment, to see You in Your glory would take the very life from us, for nobody can look upon You in their natural frame and live. You live separate from us; You are not one of us. Your ways are higher than our ways, Your thoughts than our thoughts. We deceive ourselves. We lie to ourselves. We make standards that are lower than Your statutes, and yet You have set all of these things for our good. You have told us to hate evil, pride, and arrogance. What arrogance, to think we can stand before You and give an answer! What arrogance, to think that You are going to answer to us! "Why, God? This isn't fair, God!"

If the fear of God is working in you, there is no questioning of God's wisdom and ways. We just did the teaching on sovereignty. If we fear God and see Him as that sovereign Being, see "who can thwart His will?" and realize that nothing can stop the hand of God, who are we in our pride to think we know better, that we have figured this out, that our way is best? "Why, God, do I have to accept this? Why, God, do I have to endure this? Why, God, do I have to experience this?" "But what about this, God? What about that?" "To obey for our good," the Scripture says. What is the fear of the Lord? Hate pride. Pride. What is pride? Pride is just thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to think. Who are you? "Why me, Lord?" What do you mean, "Why you?" Pride says, "Why me?" Nothing has come upon you that isn't common to man. People have experienced this through generations. Millions have experienced what you're going through. There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, and with every temptation, He makes what? The way of escape-if you will acknowledge His sovereignty, His holiness, His goodness.

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil and pride and arrogance and the crooked tongue, the tongue that flatters, the tongue that tries to justify itself, the tongue that speaks in two ways to flatter those that are around them for personal gain. The fear of the Lord is to hate the froward mouth, the mouth that takes anything into the heart that would be spoken contrary to the will of God, the goodness of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the Scripture says.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning. As we stand in His presence, Gary playing for us, I don't want to rush anything, so we are not going to sit at the Lord 's table this morning. We will in this evening's service, probably right at the end of prayer time. We are just going to take some time to honor the Lord and take communion before we start our missions service tonight. So come prepared to just partake of that broken body and that shed blood. But this morning, let's just focus in these last couple of moments on our own hearts and ask ourselves, Am I a vessel to God's honor? You know, I think about the fear of the Lord. What is more fearful than losing His presence?

I remember Katherine Kuhlman talking about the torment that she would experience prior to going out on the platform in some of her services. The thing she said that she feared was-and there were some natural tendencies in there and maybe even some pride, I don't know. I'm not going to judge her heart. I do know one thing. To a very, very, very, very, very, very, very small degree, I understand some of what she was talking about through those years of our miracle rallies. What if I go out there and God doesn't show up? What if I go out there and make these bold statements of the power of God and the miracle healing and the presence, and He doesn't show up? I'll tell you what. Nothing is going to happen. But it is a very real fear, when you have tasted His presence, to think of ever living without it.

I don't ever want to be on my own again. It scares me. "Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me," the psalmist cried. Moses was told by God, "I will give you Mercedeses. I will give you mansions. I will give you houses to live in you didn't build. I will give you the money and the wealth of all of the pagan nations, but My presence isn't going to go with you because you are a stiff-necked people. You are in it for your personal gain." "Is that what you want? I'll give you all that you want. I'll give you jewels, and I'll give you cars, and I'll give you mansions, but My presence isn't going to be a part of that." Moses turned and said, "If Your Spirit doesn't go, I'm not interested in going."

Do you fear God that way? I am afraid. I don't want to be involved in anything that doesn't have Your presence in it. I'm afraid of being alone. You see, before I came to know Him, I hung out in crowds. I was the hero. I was the one that everybody looked to, the star. People feared me because of my physical prowess. Everybody on campus knew my name, and everybody in the town knew my name; and I was alone, and I was frightened. Then Jesus became Lord, and I'll never be alone again. I'll never be alone again, for He will never leave me nor forsake me. He will not leave me comfortless. I was surrounded by crowds, and I was alone, and I was afraid, and I'll never be alone again. Take not Thy Spirit from me. Do you fear losing His presence? I'm never going to go back to being alone. You can forsake me. I've been forsaken by a lot of people over the years. But I will never be alone. That's the fear of the Lord.

Let's rejoice in His presence in our lives, His lordship, His sovereignty being made real to us this morning. Let's sing it together. Lord, for that fear, the reverence, the terribleness of God, Your awesome holiness that will one day consume all iniquity. We thank You, Lord, for what You have done in our lives. Cause us to fear You more, we ask in Jesus' name, Amen. Before you go, turn to somebody and say, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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