In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of learning and fearing God. He uses the example of God judging Ananias and Sapphira in Acts, which brought fear upon those who heard about it. The preacher then focuses on a passage in Deuteronomy where God instructs Moses to gather the people every seven years to hear and learn His word, so that even the young and strangers can fear Him. The sermon concludes with the message that we can learn the fear of God by seeking knowledge and humbling ourselves before Him.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Praise God. Enjoy that. Let's stand together and pray. Yes, Jesus, we love you, Lord. We love that you're our friend, Lord. We love to be your friend. We love your word, Lord. We love the way it works in our life. Lord, we're glad you're not the kind of friend who just always tells us what we want to hear, Lord. But you tell us what we need. And you encourage us. And you bless us. You're a perfect friend, Lord. We ask you to give us what we need this morning, Lord. God, I pray for your grace to speak your words. Lord, have mercy on me. Your word says that those who teach will be judged more harshly. I pray for mercy, God. Mercy in my life, O God, as I teach your word today. In Jesus' name, amen. That's the title this morning. The fear of the Lord is his treasure. I don't know if that sounds a little funny to you or odd or different. It did to me. That's a scripture quote. Isaiah 33 and verse 6. You can turn there if you want, if you will. I want to give a message today on this subject, the fear of the Lord. I was trying to think of how many messages I've heard on that over the years, 24 years as a Christian. I can only remember one. It's not a very popular subject. We do hear about it here from time to time and the concept of it. Today, I'd like to give a whole message on this subject. Because I believe you'll see that it's very important. And I believe you'll see that it's his treasure. This subject of the fear of the Lord is something that I have studied off and on through the years. It has fascinated me and interested me and just recently was again captivated by it in our home fellowship group. We were studying Proverbs chapter 2 and we'll turn there in a minute. Let's read these verses in Isaiah here, 33 and verse 6. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord is his treasure. The fear of the Lord is his treasure. Turn with me to Proverbs chapter 2. We've been studying how to study the Bible in our home fellowship group. And so these verses from verse 1 to 5 were verses that I wanted to go over together. And go through the process that we saw up on the board there this morning. And so we did that as a group. I want you to notice something here as we read these verses. Verses 1 through 4. Note the sense of anticipation. This is a father talking to his son. Telling him something very important. And just here, put yourself in the place of this son. Hearing your father talk like this to you. He says, my son, if you will receive my words and hide my commandments with you. Okay, you got that son? Receive my words, hide my commandments with you. So that you incline your ear unto wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. The son's starting to think, this must be something very important. Okay, all right, I'm going to receive. I'm going to hide it with me. I'm going to incline my ear. And I'm going to apply my heart. I'm going to stretch my heart to understand. And he says, yea, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding. And if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hid treasure. You can almost feel the son just saying, what is it dad? What is this great thing? Tell me. If you do all these things, son. Here's the treasure. Then you shall understand the fear of the Lord. And find the knowledge of God. God does have ifs in the Bible. If and then. There is an if. He said to his son, there's something very valuable. That I want you to have. Like the things we've talked about this morning already. These things are so valuable that you're not going to find them just laying on the ground. Valuable things aren't just laying on the ground to stumble over, are they? Have you stumbled over any gold rocks in your yard recently? No, men have to go search for those things. They go underground. They dig tunnels. They get dynamite and blast rocks out. They come out covered from head to toe with dirt. Valuable things aren't just laying all around to just be plucked up. What is it that makes something valuable? Is it not the fact that it's rare? And that it is difficult to obtain? And it's useful. Those are three I thought of. Maybe you can think of some more. Yes. Valuable things are rare. They're not easy to get. And we might as well complain. If we're going to complain that the ways of God sometimes are difficult. Sometimes it's tough sometimes to get the things that God says in his word. We might as well complain that it's hard to find diamonds in our backyard. I'm just not stumbling over any and I can't find any. I hear about these other people getting them in their caves in South Africa, but I just can't find any in my yard. We would never do that. No. Neither should we complain that it's difficult sometimes. The promises of God, yes, they're there and they're for us. Yay and amen. But they don't just fall off the tree in our lap. They don't just get heaved up by the frost. They take some digging. In the 1800s, there was a California gold rush. People really went crazy. I mean, they left the East Coast, got in a wagon, drove all the way over to California through mountain passes, snows, heat, wild Indians, starvation, you name it. Many of them died along the way. What for? They wanted to get a few shiny rocks and what it could buy for them. Men have gone crazy and done outrageous things for stuff that isn't even treasure. Should it be something that we should blame God for? That His treasures are not just falling out in front of us? We should only expect that to be so. His treasures are the most valuable. There's no greater treasures than what God wants to give to you and I. We heard about some of them this morning. Pleasures forevermore. Does that sound like a treasure? Yes. So we want to talk to you today about His treasure. The fear of the Lord is His treasure. Now I want to show you, I want to do three parts here. I want to show you what the treasure is. Then I want to, let's see, I want to show you, I better read it here. I want to convince you that the fear of the Lord is a treasure worth pursuing first. Then I want to show you what it is. I want to excite you, first of all, that this is a treasure that I should be pursuing. That's worthy of my time, my effort. Then I want to show you what it is. And last, I want to show you how you can get it. I want to leave you with something that you can do. So that's it, three parts. Alright? We read the verse there in Isaiah, it's God's treasure. There's two ways that I look at that. First of all, I see it as God's treasure that He finds in us. It's His treasure. It's what He treasures. It's what He's looking for. When His eyes go out all through the earth, He's looking for some people that fear Him. Why? Why is it a treasure to Him? It's so rare. How many fear God? Especially in the day that we live in. Romans chapter 3, and as I go this morning, I'm going to be turning pretty quickly, so you may just want to get a pen and write the reference down and look it up later. I hope you're going to be like the Bereans, who were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they searched the scriptures to see whether those things were so or not. Romans chapter 3, listen to this testimony. Listen to what God is looking down upon in business as usual on the earth. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asp is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. In the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. That is what God looks down upon in most of the earth. That is why it is a treasure to Him when He sees a soul over here and over there. Maybe a group of them who fear Him. It is a treasure to Him. In Exodus 19, verse 5, God said to His people there, Now, therefore, if you will obey My voice and deed and keep My covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people. For all the earth is Mine, and you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That was God's will. He wanted that peculiar treasure. He was seeking for it. He is still seeking for it. Malachi 3, the end of the Old Testament. Look at this. Look at this verse. Malachi 3, verse 16 and 17. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name. They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels. And I'll spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him. It does something to God when He sees people that fear Him. He says, I'm going to write their name down in a book. And I'm going to make them one of My jewels. They're a treasure. How many of you would like to bring God pleasure? We heard about that in the song this morning, right? I want to be His friend. Well, amen. Psalm 147 tells us how we can do that. Psalm 147, verse 11. It says here, verse 10, He delighteth not in the strength of the horse. He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy. Yes, we want to bring in pleasure. We need to understand what it means to fear God. He takes pleasure in them that fear Him. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Think about that for God. Where is His treasure? Them that fear God. Where is His heart going to be? His heart is with them that fear Him. Praise God. Alright, now, I believe we can see clearly that it's God's treasure. It's something He desires. It's something He loves. It brings Him pleasure. He's looking for it. When He sees it, it blesses Him. It's a rare jewel. And it's something useful. When people fear God, they're useful. He can do something with that person. Someone who doesn't fear God, He can't use them. Because they're not listening. They're not obeying. They're not following like we heard about this morning. Those subtle impressions of go this way, walk that way. Now, the second point there. The kingdom of heaven, the fear of the Lord is God's treasure storehouse for us. It's the other interpretation of that, which I believe are both equally valid, as we'll see in Scripture. I just want to show you what it is from Scripture today. I want to show you what the Bible says about the fear of God. I don't want to give you my idea. I want you to see what God says. It is our treasure. It's a storehouse of treasure that God wants to give to you and me. Matthew 13.44 says, The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which when a man find it, he hides it and goes and sells everything he has so he can purchase that field. Jesus used that image of treasure. That's what the kingdom of God is. It's a treasure. Salvation and knowing the Lord and the fear of the Lord. So much so that we should sell all that we have to go buy that one. There's over 40 promises that I counted connected with the fear of God in the Bible. 40 of them. We won't have time to go through all of them this morning, but I hope I can whet your appetite so that you will want to find out for yourself. You know, that's the way we should approach the Bible, isn't it? It's promises to me. It's something God wants to give me and do in me and how he wants to use me. I hope you don't see the Bible that it's for somebody else. God meant that one for somebody else, but it must not be for me. So what are some of these treasures that are promised to those who fear God? Turn with me to Acts chapter 10. And by the way, this is not just an Old Testament principle. I think there'd be some today who would try to relegate that to the Old Testament and, you know, the old dark religion and so forth. It's in the New Testament. Ten times. It's commanded. Eleven times, I mean. Acts chapter 10. Look at this. The first treasure that is promised to those who fear God is accepted. You will be accepted by God. What's that worth to you? How much would you give to be accepted by God? Look at Cornelius, this man. He was a soldier, a centurion. But it says in verse 2, he was a devout man and one that feared God with all his house and gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. He wasn't even saved yet. And it says in verse 22, and they said, and this was, yeah, verse 22, and they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man and one that fears God. There it is again. And of a good report among all the nation of the Jews was warned by God by a holy angel to send for thee into this house and to hear words of thee. And then, of course, Peter gives him the gospel. And they come to know the Lord. Peter says, as he gets ready to preach, Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is accepted with him. There is a treasure, acceptance with God. It comes through the fear of God. Cornelius, it was said of him three times that he feared God. That's significant. He didn't take it lightly when he went to the synagogue on Sunday. He didn't just ho hum through the service and look out the window. He was interested. He feared God. He believed. He gave alms. He did something about it. And God rewarded him. God rewarded that man. God accepted him. What would you give to be accepted by God? What would you do? Is that a treasure to you? Psalm 103, 17. His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting to them that fear him. And his righteousness is to children's children. Praise God. His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. Eternity past. Eternity future. Is that a treasure? Praise God. What's that worth? Is that worth more than gold? Praise the Lord. And his righteousness to children's children. That's grandchildren. Them that fear God, it says here, his righteousness is from children to children to children's children. You want your children to follow God? You need the fear of God. And listen, in our day, there's this idea of sort of these legalistic transactions of I prayed a prayer. I got saved. Now I'm a Christian. And everything's just, you know, I can claim everything and so forth. I don't believe the Bible teaches that. That there's a fear of God that some Christians have that others don't seem to have yet. That God wants everybody to have. Fear of God. And there's promises that are given to those who fear God. I don't see a promise given to somebody who's casual and takes things lightly. That their children are going to follow God. But there is a promise to them that fear him. We can take that for me, for us. God has promised me if I fear him. Alright, turn to Psalm 25. We're going to look at some more treasures. Psalm 25. If this doesn't excite you, then I don't know what will. Verse 12. What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. We heard about it in Psalm 16 today. He will guide me. Yes, he'll guide me. Why did Jesus get that guidance? He learned the fear of God. Isaiah chapter 11. The prophecy. There shall be a root out of Jesse. It says there that he shall be of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. Jesus. He was of a quick understanding. And yes, he was taught in the way that he should choose. God will teach you in the way that you should choose. How much is that worth to you? It says here, his soul shall dwell at ease. Isn't that what everybody wants? Isn't that what all of mankind is trying to get? They're trying to get their soul to dwell at ease. So they're trying to numb the pain of the guilt through drugs, through other idols, music. No, God says, your soul will dwell at ease if you fear me. Your soul will dwell at ease. And your seed shall inherit the earth. Another promise for our children. And I love this. Verse 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant. There's there's a secret council room. That's what that actually means. There is secret council room with God. If you fear him, it's a secret place that you can go and you can talk with him. He'll tell you secrets, things you need to know. What's that worth to you? How much is that worth? And I'm just going to read through the Proverbs here quickly. There's many, many ones in the Proverbs. Proverbs 3, 5 through 8. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. Physical health. Health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. Proverbs 9 and 10. It's the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of knowing how to live, of how to go about your life, to know what to do. If you would know everything there was to know, what would you do? That's wisdom. Why do this? That'd be the wise thing. It's the beginning of wisdom. But Proverbs chapter 15, 33. It's the instruction of wisdom. It's the beginning, but it's also the instruction. It's walking on and learning more. Proverbs 14, 26. It gives the fear of the Lord gives strong confidence. It's not self-esteem that we need. You know, the world looks on at people who lack self-esteem. No, you don't need to love yourself more or think more highly of yourself. You need the fear of God. And it says here that you're going to have strong confidence. You're not going to be insecure anymore. You're not going to be inferior. But you're going to have a confidence that comes from God. That's right. Confidence. Proverbs 14, 26. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. We heard about that in a sermon a couple of weeks ago. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. Proverbs 16, verse 6. The fear of the Lord enables men to depart from evil. By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. How many would like to get rid of those sins that bother you? That hold you down? You don't want to do it, but you do. The fear of the Lord. By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. What's that worth to you? What would that be worth to you? If you could buy that. I'm free from sin. Proverbs 19, 23. He that hath the fear of the Lord shall abide satisfied. You're going to abide satisfied. You're going to be satisfied. You're not going to need anything else. All the paraphernalia that the world needs to make them happy. You won't need it. Praise God. And he shall not be visited with evil. I don't want evil visiting me. That's worth something. Proverbs 22, 4. The fear of the Lord. By the fear of the Lord, men. I'm just trying to quote it here, but receive riches, honor and life. Treasure. It's a treasure house. Is it not? Now, Psalm 34. It says the angel of the Lord encamps around about them that fear him. It doesn't say the angel of the Lord encamps about others. But it does promise those who fear him have angels, angels around them. And what for? To deliver them. Valuable. And it says that he will have no lack at all. Psalm 34, 9. And in the New Testament there it says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. That's the way we work out our salvation. By the fear of God. Have I convinced you that this is a treasure? Worth pursuing? Is it more valuable than the gold out in California? Is it more valuable than the diamonds in South Africa? Is there anything as valuable as this? Nothing. What will we do to get it? Let's not let those gold rush people put us to shame. They went through all that trouble for a bunch of old dirty rocks. They're all going to melt and burn up. Unbelievable. Let's not let them put us to shame with their zeal. And their commitment to get their treasure. We've got treasure too. Alright, let's go on now. Number two, what is the fear of God? We know it's a valuable treasure, it's something very rare. We've already seen that. As I told you, it's a command. Over 30 times in the Bible, 11 in the New Testament, we are commanded to fear God. So that's significant. Something God tells us we need to do. Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 24. It says here, Deuteronomy 6.24, And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, Why? For our good always. That He might preserve us alive as it is at this day. God's commandments are for our good. The fear of God is not something bad. It's not something to be shrunk back from. It's something to love, to embrace. Matthew 10.28, the words of Jesus. He said, don't fear people that can kill your body. I will tell you who you should fear. Fear Him who has power to kill your body and then to cast you into hell. That's New Testament. It's a command. Jesus told us, you need to fear the one who has power to do that. Alright, the next point. The fear of God is proven by our actions. Not by what we say. Not by what we aspire to. The fear of God is proven by our actions. And I'm going to prove that to you through Genesis 22. Remember the word that God gave to Abraham. He said, Abraham, take your son. Your only son, Isaac. The one that you've been waiting for, for all these years. The one that I gave you. Take him and sacrifice him. And look what God says. And Abraham, let's see. Right when he was lifting up the knife to slay him. The angel said, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. He said, for now I know that you fear God. Seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. The fear of God is proven by our actions. God knows who fears Him. It doesn't matter what we say. It doesn't matter what we aspire to or what we hope to be or all these things. What matters is what we do. Abraham could have said, yes, Lord, I think that's a command I'd like to obey someday. And not done anything about it. And he wouldn't have feared God. He proved it. The angel said, now I know that you fear God. It's proven. You did something about it. You showed it to us. You showed it to the whole world. Abraham feared God. Next point. The fear of God. Proverbs 8, 13 is to hate evil. Pride, arrogancy, and the froward mouth. Do I hate? The fear of God is something that gives within us a hatred of evil. And pride. And arrogancy. And the froward mouth. That is what the fear of God does and what it is. Proverbs 3, 5 through 8. Some of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. In fact, I think they are my favorite. Because I was such a leaner on my own understanding before I came to God. This verse was such a relief to me. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him. And He shall direct your path. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord. And depart from evil. Many verses in the Bible, the fear of God is contrasted with self-confidence. It is the opposite. In this verse here, isn't that what He does? He says, don't lean on your own understanding. Don't think you can figure it out good enough to make out okay. Fear God. Fear God. And depart from evil. There is a connection there. The fear of God is connected with total distrust in my own self. And my own abilities to be a Christian even. And leaning on God. I have a little definition that I worked up. One of the things that we wanted to do in our home fellowship was each come up with a definition. So I got to do that this weekend. I hope you all have got yours already done. But listen to this definition. I don't know if it's perfect, but it's one that means something to me from all the scriptures I've studied. The fear of God. The trusting, reverent fear and respect of the Almighty. Knowing that His eyes are all seeing and His judgments are everlasting. That causes one to flee from evil and pursue good. And to have no confidence in the flesh. Let me read that again to you. The fear of God, the trusting, reverent fear and respect of the Almighty, knowing that His eyes are all seeing and His judgments are everlasting. That causes one to flee from evil and pursue good and to have no confidence in the flesh. Amen. Lord, give it to us. Do you want it? I believe if you're saved that you have it to a degree, all of us. But how bad do you want it? How bad do you want those promises that we read about? How much do you want that treasure? Now I want to talk about how to get it. I've got three points. How can I get the fear of God? More. Number one, it may sound like an obvious thing, but ask for it. James said, you have not because you ask not. Jesus said, ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Ask for it. Have enough faith in you to be willing to ask God to give it to you. How much do we go through life? And this actually demonstrates a lack of the fear of God. We just live our life and we don't ask God to do things. We don't ask Him for wisdom. We don't ask Him for direction. And so we just stumble along. Ask Him for the fear of God. You know, it's part of Him. The sevenfold spirit of God in Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11. I'll just read it to you. The sevenfold spirit of God. Listen to what it is. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Jesus and the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of might, the spirit of knowledge and the spirit of the fear of the Lord is part of God. If you then be evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? The spirit of the Lord is part of Him. And in that Holy Spirit is encompassed this fear of the spirit of the fear of God. It's part of Him. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. It will be forever. Psalm 19. Okay, so we ask God for it. We just be simple enough like a child to just come and ask Him. God, I want that. Lord, I want that treasure. We could be like the psalmist in Psalm 86. Prayed a beautiful prayer. I love the book of Psalms. It teaches us how to pray. Psalms 86 and verse 11. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart to fear thy name. Unite my heart, Lord. Take away all the stuff that's that's un-united, that's together with that. To fear thy name. Pray that prayer every day. If you're going to be praying the prayer of Jabez every day, let's pray that one too. Unite my heart to fear thy name. That's point one is ask for it. Ask for it. Ask and you shall receive. It's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Ask for it. Ask for it. Ask for it. Ask for it. Ask for it. Ask for it. Ask for it. Number two, after you've asked for it, choose it. Choose it. Turn with me to Proverbs chapter one. The fear of God is something you choose. According to this verse, I'm going to read to you. Not something you feel, not something that you hope comes on you someday. Proverbs. This is a book, a chapter here where the father's teaching his son and he's telling him, don't go with these youth that get together and they want to rob people and put their purse together and and, you know, be foolish and go down a road of destruction. And at the end here, he says in verse twenty eight, these people who all this things came upon, he said in verse twenty six, I'll laugh at your calamity. I'll mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then they'll call upon me, but I won't answer. They'll seek me early, but they shall not find me. Why? For that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. In other words, he's saying they had a choice set before them. The fear of God. The pleasures of sin. And he says they didn't choose the fear of God. They chose the sin. And they went on and on and on. There came a day finally they went so far that God would not even hear them. He would not hear them because they didn't choose the fear of the Lord. That should be good news to us today in the sense that you can choose that it must be possible for you to come here this morning and hear this message and go home tomorrow morning and next week and the rest of your life and choose the fear of God. But it may also be possible that you can hear this message and not choose the fear of God. And that's an awesome thing. You ask for it, then you choose it. God, I want the fear of God. The Holy Spirit is prompting us now working in my life. You don't need to take that extra bite of food there, that extra plate of food, do you? That little voice that we hear, speaking to some people that haven't eaten for a while. Praise God, that's a privilege. Well, I think I need it, Lord. You choose the fear of God. Now, I'm not talking about something where you become all bound up in a bondage. But when the Spirit of God is speaking in your life, you choose it. You get ready to open your mouth and say that unkind thing about somebody. And you feel that little check. And you make a choice. Psalm 36, verse 1, it says, The transgression of the wicked says to me there is no fear of God in him. The choices that the wicked man makes tells me there's no fear of God in him. Psalm 36, verse 1. The Apostle Paul said, Herein do I exercise myself. That sounds like a choice, doesn't it? How many of you have exercised recently by accident? Now, that's painful. And that's a choice, right? Paul said, Herein do I exercise myself in Acts 24 and 16 that I may always have a conscience void of offense toward God and man. That's the fear of God. That's another way of saying it. It's keeping my conscience clear before people, before God. When I know I've done something wrong, I must go and tell that person. I must go and tell God. If I've offended a child in my family, I must say I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Please, please forgive me. I'm sorry I have to say that sometimes. It's exercise. It's work. Paul said that that's something that I do exercise myself in always. I'm careful about this one, he said, because I don't want there to be any person that can look me in the eye and say you did me wrong and you never tried to make it right. And I don't want God to ever be able to say you have sinned and you didn't ever confess it. So you choose the fear of God. You choose it. You ask for it, then God's going to present you with choices. Step two, you make those choices. You choose it. And if you fail to choose it, then you repent. There's always that, praise God. And you'll need it. And I'll need it. You ask, then you choose. Now the third point is you learn. You learn it. Did you know you can learn the fear of God? Turn with me to Deuteronomy 31. God was giving his people direction before they went into the promised land. And he knew there was going to come a day when there were young people and strangers who didn't hear about the great things of God and didn't hear his word and thus didn't fear him like they should. So he told Moses to tell the people in verse 12 of chapter 31 in Deuteronomy, gather the people together. He said, every seven years, I want you to do this at the end of every seven years in the solemn time of the year of release. Do this. Gather the people together, men, women and children and the strangers that are within your 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 anything, may hear and may learn to fear the Lord, your God. We learn the fear of God by the word of God. Point A, we see what God did in the Bible. I see that God judged Ananias and Sapphira, struck them dead. It says there in Acts that fear came upon all who heard these things. And that should bring fear upon us. Yes, you don't. You don't mess around with God. You don't take lightly the things of God. You learn the fear of God, not like learning ABCs. You know, you just OK, ABCD. I got all those now. I know I learned that. It's more like learning how to trust God. And it's really connected with that. You don't learn how to trust God by just learning a little creed. Now shall trust in the Lord. OK, I got that one. Let's go on to the next one, God. Now you learn trusting by, yes, hearing the word of God, but then coming into the valley of test with God and finding him to be the faithful one. When you thought it was all over, you were done. How am I ever going to get out? Like somebody said earlier. And God came through. And now you learned to trust him. The next time, God, I can trust you. I remember what you did when I had this happen. That's the fear of God as well. You learn to fear the Lord as you're asking. And as you're choosing, you're learning. You're a student. Let's go to Psalm 34. This is where God specifically teaches us what the fear of God is, how you learn how to fear God. This psalm is just such a beautiful overflow of the man who's who's full of praise and thanks to God. It's interesting that David wrote it after he acted like a crazy man in front of Abimelech, the Philistine king. He says in verse eight, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you as saints, for there is no one 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. They're seeking the Lord in fear and they're tied together. Now, he says, Come, you children, hearken unto me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. He didn't say, Come, you wise ones, and I'll teach you the fear of the Lord. He said, Come, children. If you want to learn the fear of the Lord, you've got to come as a child. Remember what Jesus said, I thank thee, father, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and have revealed them unto babes. You come as a child, needy, teachable. Lord, I don't have it all together, but I want to learn. So come, you children, hearken unto me and I'll teach you the fear of the Lord. Here it is. Praise the Lord. What man is he that desires life and loves many days that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil. Point one, if you're going to learn the fear of God, you're going to have to watch your tongue. You're not going to have the liberty to just say everything that goes through your mind like you did when before you were Christian. No, there's going to have to come up a carefulness there. The fear of God brings a carefulness about our words. Keep your tongue from evil. James said, can pure water and bitter water come out of the same fountain? You bless God with your mouth and you curse man with your tongue. If you're going to have the fear of God, you can't do those two. There's going to have to come a carefulness about that. I'm not going to curse people. I'm not going to. And by cursing that, that's not just calling them some bad name, but that's speaking evil of them or wishing bad upon them. The fear of God starts with the tongue. The tongue is the most unruly member in the body, according to James. No man can tame it, but God can. God starts with the hardest thing of all. You're going to have to stop speaking evil. Son, if you're going to learn the fear of God, you're going to have to stop talking bad. Stop being a source of trash coming out of your mouth. Things that don't build up. Things that drag people down. Things that are not edifying. Get rid of it. Cut it out of your life. And I've been a Christian these years. I've watched different things happen. I've watched people use their mouth to say something against another Christian. To speak against them. And I've seen God bring to pass in their own life the very things that they said. I've watched people criticize others over their children who turned away from God. And I've watched their children turn away from God. That brings the fear of God on me. God, I don't want you to have to do that to my words. Listen to this verse in Psalm, in Proverbs 22, 12. The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor. That speaks something to me about what I'm talking about right here. His eyes see everything and his ears hear every word I say. And it says here that they're going to preserve knowledge. If I'm saying some proud statement, God hears it and he's going to bring me down, as he's done many times in my life. Make me fail. Make me fall right there. He's going to overthrow the word of the transgressor. That's for Christians. If you transgress with your tongue, if you judge another sister or brother in a way that you shouldn't, God's going to overthrow that word. Don't think that you can indulge in a little secret satisfaction in another person failing or falling. I have some friends recently, I discovered that the people I knew in Colorado that were on fire for the Lord when I knew them, both of them are having marriage troubles now where their wives have left them. And these are men that were walking with God. I'm a teacher, so I like to learn what I can from things. I like to look on and say, what might have happened? How? How could this happen? I don't want that to happen to me. But I have a carefulness about me that I don't... Lord, I'm no better than them, God. I need you too, Lord. You're able to keep me from having that happen to me, God. The tongue. If you're going to fear God, you must cease. Keep your tongue from evil. The old saying that says, if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all. It's not bad. It's pretty good. Why not say something good to somebody today? Why do you want to say something bad to them? Why do you want to give a bad report? Say something good. Fear God. Keep your tongue from evil, number two, and your lips from speaking guile. God says you're going to have to become careful about deception to where you hate it. And whenever you engage in it, you repent of it. You flee from it. Don't let a lie come out of your mouth. Don't swear to your own hurt and change it. Take the hurt. That's a hard one, isn't it? That's a hard one in business. I told him I'd do it for this price. It's taking me so much longer. There's a time where you can do that. There's a time when you can't. Keep your conscience clear. The tongue is an unruly evil. Keep your lips from speaking guile. Now, it says in verse 14, depart from evil and do good. You're going to have to get careful about sin. If there's a sin in your life that has you, you're going to have to get very careful about that sin and let God bring deliverance. Don't say it's a light thing. If you're struggling with your moral purity as a young person or as an older person, if you're going to fear God and be under that treasure store of blessing, you're going to have to attack that thing and call it evil. Call it adultery. Call it fornication. Don't smooth over it and say, I just have a little problem or I have a struggle. You know, the people that I've known over the years that got victory in that area, they were people who came to see it as something hateful, disgusting and wicked and sinful. And that gave them a grace to overcome. Those who excuse it, it seems they just continue on in it. So, you've got to keep your lips from speaking evil and do good. God says, depart from evil. But not just that, do good. Do good. Look around, see where you can do good. I think it was John Wesley of the Methodists, he said, we should be going about everywhere doing good. How can I do good to those around me? Those I come in contact with? Those in my family? Those in my church? Those on the street? Do good before God. Seek peace and pursue it. If you're somebody that's going to stir up controversy, try to get this brother turned against that one, did you know what so-and-so said? Did you hear? You don't have the fear of God. God says, seek peace and pursue it. Seek how you can be a peacemaker, how you can come in and somehow bring this together, how you can be a builder up person, not a tearer down. You've got to keep your conscience clear. Psalm 66, David said in verse 16-18, come and hear all you that fear God and I will declare what He has done for my soul. I cried unto Him with my mouth and He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Someone who has the fear of God has that attitude. He knows if there's something in my life that is wrong, God's not going to hear my prayer. I know it. I might as well not even pray because I know, that's what David, where he was at, I know God's not going to hear me. That's the fear of God. And lastly here, let's turn back to Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil and it will be health to your navel and merit to your bones. Do you acknowledge Him in all your ways or do you think you can do things pretty well yourself? I can handle this one Lord. Are you careful? Oh God, what do you want me to do here? I believe that blesses God when we take the time to ask Him. Little children do that, don't they? They know they don't know how to do it. How do I do this Dad? Love to tell you son, this is it. Except for some stubborn children, you know how they are. I'm doing it my way, I figured it out, this is it. Well son, wait a minute, it's not going to come out right, this project's going to be... No, I'm doing it. So you let them do it and what happens? The project's a failure. Do you have confidence in yourself? Do you really think you can figure it out? Or do you make everything a prayer to God? When you're at every crossroad, do you pray? Do you ask God what to do? I've been so blessed by that recently. Just asking Him about everything. Just saying, Lord, I want to do your will. It doesn't matter, God. Here's these two choices. Which one do you want me to do, Lord? And the Lord has been faithful to just somehow show me a thought, an impression, another person, whatever. This is it right here. That just so blesses me. And then you see the results of that. It comes out right and God is glorified and you're blessed. People who fear God do that. They don't trust in their own self. They don't trust in their good ideas that they've got of how to do this and that. And they listen when others have some cautions and so forth. And they ask God, Lord, what is it? What shall I do next? He's wanting to do that for every one of us. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. Do you want the secret? Do you want that treasure? Don't go through your life as if there's no God to be communed with, asked, received from. Go through life as if there's a God who's at your right hand. You know, I like what Mel said there about the right hand. I was thinking, you know, it says that at his right hand are pleasures evermore. But the man said that God was at his right hand. So that tells me that he was going like this and looking. Their right hands were together. His face, his eyes were on God. And he was receiving the treasures, the directions. If you men, if you're coming up to a decision in your family, in your marriage, don't just make a decision. Get your wife and say, would you pray with me about this? I want God's will. There's a power that happens there. There's a confidence that happens in that wife when she knows my husband wants to do what God says. And somehow we've noticed in our marriage over the years that we always come together. We always hear what God has to say. Even though sometimes it's hard. Well, this morning we've seen that the fear of God is his treasure. He has a treasure he wants to give you. And he has a treasure he wants to get from you and I. He wants us to be those people that he guides with his eye. People that are looking and watching. It's not just laying up on the grass for you to pick up the nuggets. It's not going to be easy to walk it out, to learn it, to choose it. But do you want the treasure? It's worth it, isn't it? I want that treasure, that list. I wish I would have wrote them all up on the board there. All those things that God says he wants to give me. Can we pray together? Father, we thank you for your word, Lord, that it's so rich, so enlightening that it is a treasure in itself, Lord. It tells us about all your treasures, Father. We thank you this morning that there is treasure to be found for your people, Lord. Riches, blessings, beautiful things, God. Help us, Lord, not to settle for the old junk of this world, Lord. To look to, Lord, some old rust bucket car as our treasure. Father, when you have offered us these kind of treasures, Lord, that are far greater and far more valuable. Oh, God, turn us from the lesser, Lord. Give us all a heart, Lord, that says, Lord, I want your richest treasure and I want to be the richest treasure that I can in your life, in your heart, Lord. Help us, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. A few weeks ago, Brother Denny preached a message on gluttony and that message has really changed my life. The Lord really used that to just convict me of areas in my eating habits and it has just really, God used that to change me. I guess the question I have this morning is, it says in Matthew, he that receiveth seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit. That's the point, you know, I believe when the fear of the Lord is there in actuality, in fact, in our lives, it changes us. It brings forth fruit. So I think a good gauge this morning is, you know, OK, we're hearing the word. We see the word of God as we, you know, as we have our personal devotions and church service such as this. Is it bearing fruit? There's a question. I think that's a good, you know, a good test to see if the fear of the Lord is there in the depth that it should be. Is it bearing fruit in your life? He that, let me read it once again, he that receiveth seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word. First of all, he hears and he internalizes it. He understands it. The fear of the Lord is there. God, I want to fulfill your will. You know, Jesus, I think the prophecy of Christ one place is, is I'd like to do thy will, O God. That should be as a fear of the Lord is there in our hearts. That should be our constant desire and prayer in the hearing of the word that we are making application to our lives and saying, OK, Lord, this area of my life shall change by your grace, the word. And he understands it, which also bears fruit. OK, I'd like to give time for testimony or comment. Get your hands up, sisters or brethren. You have something to share and we'll get a mic to you. Brother Daniel there. I just like to thank you, Paul, for bringing that to us this morning. I like to confess that I too often don't have the fear of God the way I need to. And yet when when God is trying to teach us the fear of the Lord and to trust in him, it's not for me to decide when I've learned the lesson. It's for God, the teacher, to decide that. So I want to give myself to that and and thank God for what he's done in my life. And I just want to praise God for his care and for his love and for his mercy. God is so good to us. God is so good. And I just want to testify to that. Thank you, Lord. Praise God. Others in the congregation in the back here, get your hands up if there's sisters, feel free. I was thinking of the treasure. To have a value, somebody has to want it. And in my line of work, I see where. Worldly, worldly treasures, people will do whatever it takes and pass on whatever debt maybe to the next generation to get, say, an antique. And the message touched me because I had to ask myself for this treasure, which is the most valuable. What what cost am I willing to give to get it? And that's something I'm assessing in my heart right now is I want to give it all to fulfill this fear of the Lord. Amen, Jeff. God bless you, brother. God give you the desire of your heart there. Amen. Lester, I was very blessed with the message yet very challenged. I forget just what the reference was of one of the quotes that Paul gave out of the Proverbs. It says at her right hand are riches and honor. And I was thinking of, you know, what we had about a Bible study, you know, if we just take that and run with it, OK, we're going to get rich as an honor if we fear God. And immediately my my thoughts went to a couple of verses here in 2nd Corinthians, chapter six, it says, as unknown. These are people that had the fear of God and were walking in his ways. And it says as unknown and yet well known as dying. And behold, we live as chaste and not killed as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing as poor, yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things. I was just blessed with those thoughts. Anyone else have the mic in the back here? Yes, I just want to thank the Lord and you, brother Paul, for bringing that message about the fear of the Lord. I want to thank the Lord for teaching me to fear him. It's it's something that, you know, I've had a lot of good ideas before, but but not really fearing the Lord. I mean, there was some fear of the Lord, but the Lord is teaching me the fear of him. And I also see how much I need to grow in in fearing him and in just learning to love him and and put put the kingdom of God first. I find that it's easy for me to, you know, even though I want to make peace with people, it's easy to get people worked up or disturbed instead of instead of making peace. And I want to be Christlike to be that that my words would be kind and careful. And I know how to answer those who may be angered by something that I say. I just thank the Lord for the whole service and for this message on fear of the Lord. Some more you Bible school students care to share on what the Lord did in this matter of fear of fearing him. One of you. Here's one. Is there another Mike somewhere? I really appreciate the message. I feel like the Lord spoke to me a little in the place where this fear, a proper balance, fear of the Lord will will keep me from falling away. Because I feel like the Lord is, you know, is calling me and working in my life. And I like what I see. But I realize that I need to maintain this proper fear of the Lord to preserve me as I continue to walk, because I can see how it's so easy for the devil to to squash out the the work that the Lord is doing in my life. And I want to have this proper fear that will help to keep me in the way. Amen. God bless you. Anyone else yet? Have a mic. Yes. Thank you, Brother Paul, for that message. It was so convicting to me and also encouraging thinking about the fear of the Lord. I was thinking about what is the absence of fear when we come up against a a cliff or we see a semi coming down the highway and we look at that and the absence of fear is not there. We deal very foolishly. There's no respect at all. And I was thinking about that in my own life. When the fear of the Lord comes to play in my own life, the respect, love and the honor and the righteousness and holiness is imparted in a newer and fuller way. So I was very blessed. Thank you. Yes, I was I was praying for a message like this and God answered my prayer. And the fear of the Lord is a good way that we can come closer to him. And it says here in James four, but he gave it more grace. Wherefore, he saith God resisted the proud, but he gave it grace to the humble. And I guess the other part of fear is to humble ourselves would be to humble ourselves would make God greater and that would give us a fear of him. And I was very blessed by this message and thankful that God spoke to us all in this manner. God bless you, brother. Joy to hear from your students. Yes, I just like to testify that the thing that the Lord has been speaking to me in the past several weeks has been that the last point of those four study points that were given this morning is what I need to do. Apply these things, make application to the word of God rather than just taking it as a knowledge basis. And that's what I want to do with this message. And all the things that I continue to hear from the Lord is to apply it rather than just hearing it. Yes, I too did appreciate that exhortation this morning. Something that the Lord has actually been working on in my life just recently, just to fear him and trust him in all the areas of our life. Whether it be our business or workplace or our family or whatever it might be. And I was just recently in somebody else's home and I got a hold of a book that they had that had some of the old German prayer examples from the Anabaptists translated into English. And I was reading through that prayer book and just reading some of those prayers. And one thing that I noticed in those prayers is that there's a reverence and a fear of the Lord throughout those prayers that I'm not sure that I necessarily have. And my prayer since I read that was that Lord, give me that kind of reverence for you that I see that these people had back then. That comes out so clearly in the prayers that they prayed. And that's just a real blessing to now this morning, just after that, to hear a whole message on the fear of the Lord and how that's worked out in our life. Somebody else have a mic up front here? Brother John, does someone else have the mic? The other one back there. I don't see your brother or sister who ever has it. Go ahead. There's a sister up front for John. How powerful the word of God is just all read together. It reminded me of 15 years ago when Brother Denny had spoken a sermon on the wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom. And I think that really set the course for our lives in having wisdom as the principal thing in our family devotions with our children. And then this was the key to the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. And just as the treasures that it held forth in the word of God, this is also a principal thing. This is the way to get wisdom, a key that we need to latch hold of. The Lord has been speaking to our hearts, my heart, on listening and how important it is to be quiet and ask the Lord for direction. It reminded me of that need in my own life not to just get into a routine, a pleasant way of doing things and just do the next thing, but to listen. Lord, what would you have me to do in this? Acknowledging the Lord in all my ways and how he wants to direct my path and lead me in the paths in the way of his path. I'm going to walk in that. Drew, there's a verse in Proverbs chapter eight that reads like this. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. And, you know, if I have a hatred for evil, I won't be tempted to have anything to do with it. I hate snakes. I will do whatever is necessary to stay away from snakes. And if I have that same attitude toward evil, I will not have anything to do with them. I will stay away from it as far as I positively can. And that's something that I had been praying for a number of years, that the Lord will continue to do a work in my heart, that if there's something that I'm even remotely attracted to, that God would consider evil, that he would put a hatred in my heart for it, that I have no desire to come anywhere as close to it, the same hatred that I would have toward snakes. So I just trust that God's going to continue to do that work because I don't want to have anything to do with something that he would consider evil. Amen. Amen. It's a good word. OK, I think we'll conclude here. Nobody else has a mic. I'd like to read that previous verse, Brother Paul, what you started off with there in Isaiah. It says, The Lord is exalted, for he dwelleth on high. He has filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord is his treasure. He wraps it up in saying, this is the fear of the Lord and this is God's treasure. And this is, you know, when his people are in such a place, as we have just read in those two verses, I believe, is a thought that is brought out there. All right. Well, thank you, Brother. I bless you for your labor and the word. Amen.