In this sermon, the preacher discusses the consequences of turning away from God and not fearing Him. He uses the example of the current situation in Zimbabwe, where the lack of access to clean water is seen as a result of the nation's rejection of God. The preacher also highlights the celebration of perversion and the pride associated with it, questioning the reason behind gay pride marches. He emphasizes the importance of humility and obedience to God's commandments for the well-being and freedom of society. The sermon references Bible verses, such as Proverbs 1:29 and 1 Peter 5:5, to support the message.

Let's hear the Word of the Living God as it's found in Psalm 111 and verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All who follow precepts have good understanding. This is the Word of God. When something is repeated in Scripture, it emphasizes its importance. Loving God, loving His name, His law, and loving His Word is mentioned in the Bible 88 times. Trusting God and trusting in His Word occurs 91 times. But there are 278 references in the Bible to fearing God. And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul. That's in Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12. The fear of the Lord is mentioned more times than any other aspect of devotion. The reverential awe, the respect, the fear of God must be the fundamental attitude of our faith. Any view of God which does not lead to fearing God and obeying His law cannot be a biblical view. And so, the prevalence today of this buddy-buddy, speaking about the man upstairs, and all these disrespectful, shocking, and the lack of respect for God that you find even in churches and seminaries, even in pulpits today, is shockingly unbiblical. Revelation 15 verse 2 to 4 says, Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O God, and bring glory to your name? You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. The official history book of the reconnaissance commander is, We fear naught but God. The theme of the sermon by Jonathan Edwards, which is credited with launching the great evangelical awakening, one of the greatest revivals in history, was sinners in the hands of an angry God. Today, it's more likely to have a sermon on God in the hands of angry sinners. Mary Schlesser was converted to Christ by an old woman who warned her of the terrors of hell on the day of judgment. Mary Schlesser dedicates her life to saving lost souls, first in Aberdeen in Scotland and then in Calabar, Nigeria. How could someone like Professor Martin Luther have the courage to stand against the entire political and ecclesiastical order of his time, to stand before Pope and before the Emperor, and to be able to say, My conscience has captured the word of God. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. Because he feared God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. In the Psalms, the prayer book and the hymn book of the Bible, the biggest book of the Bible, the middle book of the Bible, the most quoted book of the Bible by our Lord Jesus in the Gospels, the fear of the Lord is declared to be the highest expression of worship 62 times, just in the Psalms. Psalm 33 verse 18, But the eyes of the Lord on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love. Psalm 34 verse 7 to 8, The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Fear the Lord, you saints, for those who fear God lack nothing. Psalm 103 verse 11 to 18, For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. From everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children, with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. In Psalm 128 we read, Blessed are all those who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor, blessing and prosperity will be yours. In Psalm 130 we read, If your Lord kept a record of sin, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are to be feared. Now the mercy of God should not lead to complacency and easy believism and cheap grace, because God's grace may be freely received by us by faith, but it's costly grace. It cost God his son, it cost Christ his blood. It should lead us to fear the creator and the eternal judge before whom we must all stand and give an account of our lives. In the Proverbs, the biggest book of the Bible is Psalms, it's the worship book of the Bible, but next to it is Proverbs, the wisdom book of the Bible. We all need wisdom and we all need worship. In the Proverbs, the fear of the Lord is referred to 15 times as the source of wisdom, of knowledge, of discretion, of truthfulness and of morality. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Proverbs 1 verse 7, foundational for all of Proverbs. Previous generations which feared God produced the greatest architectural masterpieces in history, the cathedrals, the greatest artistic masterpieces in the world on biblical themes, the greatest libraries in the world, filled with great knowledge and wisdom, art and music that celebrated virtue. The fear of the Lord led to the greatest advances in civilization, in science, in medicine, in achievements on everything from economics through to engineering. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And you can see what happens when we've got fear of public opinion and fear of man, what that leads to, chaos, selfishness, breaking down of every foundation of civilization. Those who fear God love knowledge and accept rebuke. Proverbs 1 verse 29, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and they spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways, for the waywardness of the simple will kill them and the complacency of fools will destroy them. Just think of what's going on in Zimbabwe right now. This last week, they closed the taps, closed the treatment plants, shut down effectively the entire plumbing for the whole city, capital city of Ferrari. Two million people permanently living in there, another two million living in the surrounding areas dependent on it. So it's four million people affected just like that. And I've posted pictures on Henry Morton Stanley of people literally queuing up for hours with their buckets limited to 20 liters each from central watering points, drinking water out of mud holes, doing washing in potholes in the road. This is the result of turning away from God. This is the consequence of not fearing God, for spurning God's rebuke, for hating knowledge. We live in an age of foolishness and apostasy. Blasphemy abounds. Perversion is celebrated. And I mean, you just think gay pride marches. What are they so proud about? Pride comes before a fall. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. These are all symptoms of a generation which hates knowledge and which chooses to reject God in his ways. This is symptomatic of a country where prayer was abolished in parliament. One of the first things Mandela chose, no prayer in parliament, not even a minute of silence to acknowledge a higher source of authority than themselves. No more reading of scripture before the opening of parliament, which had been done for 129 years, consistently in Cape Town, but we'd had a parliament before 1994. And suddenly we don't need the Bible, we don't need prayer, we don't need Christian education, we don't need Bible education in schools. And most school assemblies no longer open with Bible reading, prayer in the name of Jesus, and with singing the hymns of the faith. And so what happens if you spurn God's rebuke, if you spurn knowledge, if you hate knowledge, you will eat the fruit of your ways. The complacency of fools will destroy them. Proverbs 3 verse 7, do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and shun evil. It is foolish to trust in our own heart. Disney might tell you all the time to trust in your own heart, but the Bible says that only a fool trusts in his own heart. To be wise in our own eyes is incredibly foolish. To fear the Lord is to hate evil. Proverbs 8 verse 13, to fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. God says he hates perverse speech, he hates evil behavior, he hates pride and arrogance most of all. The middle letter of pride is I, the middle letter of lie is I, the middle letter of sin is I, the middle letter of Lucifer is I. Selfishness is at the heart of all our problems. And so we can see at the very root of existentialism, of humanism, the very heart of existentialism and antinomianism and hedonism is I, it's selfishness. But we are told in the scriptures to fear the Lord is to hate evil. Perhaps we tolerate evil because we do not love God enough, because we don't fear God enough. Proverbs 10 verse 27, the fear of the Lord adds length to life. Now, the rise of the gay, GB and the pink inquisition book documents how homosexuals tend to live roughly half the length of a normal straight heterosexual. Literally their life expectancy is half that of the national and international average. In fact, what's also interesting is married people tend to live longer than single people on average. Also intriguing. He who's walk is upright fears the Lord, but he whose ways are devious despises him. That's Proverbs 14 verse 2. The blasphemers in the abortion industry, the false prophets in the church, the Marxists, the feminists, the perverts despise God and they despise his word. But he whose walk is upright fears the Lord, but those whose ways are devious despise God. And they do. You just look at these wicked things that come out there and I've seen some of the most blasphemous posters out there. I've seen at two separate locations, banners saying, if only Mary had had an abortion, we wouldn't have these troubles today. They're not just anti-life, they're anti-Christ. We have people walking around with banners saying, if Jesus comes again, kill him. I've seen another poster person says, if Jesus comes again, we'll kill him. And cremate him. This kind of stupidity and blasphemy, it comes from fools who have no understanding of the fear of God. They do not even seem to be able to think ahead what's going to happen when the Lord does return. They won't be coming up with any of these smart aleck things. They'll be crying out for the mountains to bury them under an avalanche rather than to face the rock of the Lamb. A wise man fears the Lord and shuns evil. Proverbs 14, verse 16. We need to avoid that which dishonors God and which disobeys his commands. Tattoos, body piercing, occultism, perversion, war against our own souls. There is so much in the world that is evil and it's celebrated. And whatever honors and glorifies God is despised and slandered and attacked. We're in a spiritual world war. We're in a battle for civilization itself. Battle for hearts and minds. A battle for the family. A battle for our faith. A battle for our future. Proverbs 14 and verse 27 says, he who fears the Lord has a secure fortress. And his children, it will be a refuge for them. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. Turning a man from the snares of death to fear God is wise. To fear God protects us. To fear God protects us from the snares of death. To fear God is a fountain of life. Proverbs 16, verse 6. Through the fear of the Lord, a man avoids evil. In fact, we saw this just during one of our early training grounds. One of the training grounds for frontline fellowship in early days was Hilbara. In a city, all kinds of crime and grime. And to prepare people who were keen, you know, I want to be a missionary in Mozambique and Angola, well, we'd see how they'd manage for the month or two doing evangelism every night in the streets of Hilbara first. That was one of our training grounds. And the amount of times discovered there how people ruined their lives in these places with vice, drugs, drink, prostitution, gambling, perversion, every kind of foolishness. And they were ruining their lives. And interestingly enough, I learned from a local pastor who's running a local church. He said, the trouble is our church can never get strong because the moment a person gets saved, they abandon the smoking, the drinking, the gambling, all these different drugs and so on. All the things that are impoverishing them. Suddenly they've got vast amount of extra money. They work better. They've got a work ethic. They're more reliable. They've got integrity. They make rights or return things they stole. And at their workplace, they start to rise up. They get promoted. They get better salaries. They've got vastly more money available now because they're not spending all their money on these vices. And before you know it, they've moved out of Hilbara. So he said, our church is continually losing the people that we convert, they all move out. And it was, in fact, you can see this in many cases. The moment people come to Christ, so many lifestyle changes occur that they move into a completely different bracket. Now, this is the thing, through the fear of the Lord, a man avoids evil. The fear of the Lord has led millions of people to turn away from drunkenness and drug abuse and gambling and other vices which impoverish and shorten their lives. Proverbs 19, verse 23, the fear of the Lord leads to life. The fear of the Lord has saved millions from premature death as they've forsaken life-shortening vices such as drugs and alcoholism and smoking and perversion and gambling and crime, getting out of gangs. You can imagine how that extends your life when you're not involved in a gang. So much of the murders that take place in Cape Town are gang-related, gangsters killing gangsters and so on. When a child joins a gang, his life expectancy is dramatically curtailed. His life expectancy is very short in that kind of environment. But when you get converted and come out of it, now suddenly they can have decades more life. So the fear of the Lord leads to life. Proverbs 23, verse 17, always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. Make disciples of all nations, teach obedience to all things the Lord has commanded. The main thing is the main thing, keeping focus on God, His word, His will, His work, His worship. Jeremiah 31, we read, that the new covenant provides redeemed men and women with a new heart to fear God for their own good and for the good of their descendants. Let's hear the word of God in Jeremiah 31, starting in verse 31. The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. I will put my law in their minds and I will write my law on their hearts. I will be the God and they will be my people. And they will be my people and I will be the God and I'll give them singleness of heart and action so that they will always fear me for their own good and for the good of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them and with their children's children. I will never stop doing good to them and I will inspire them to fear me so that they will never turn away from me. Perseverance of the saints transform hearts and life. Blessings going through the generations. Jeremiah 31 and 32 makes it crystal clear that the law of God far from being abolished has now been written in the hearts of the redeemed and the regenerate. Psalm 17, verse 1, the Lord reigns. Psalm 17, verse 10, let all those who love the Lord hate evil. We should fear God because he's sovereign. The Lord reigns and we should hate evil because we love the Lord. Perhaps we see so much tolerance of evil in the world today because we don't really love God with all of our hearts, soul, mind, and strength. Those people who are super tolerant of sin and evil and perversion and blasphemy and things that are hostile to God, they show they don't fear God. They fear man. They don't love God. They love the world. Those who love God hate evil. Psalm 99, verse 1, the Lord reigns. Let the nations tremble. He sits enthroned above the cherubim. Let the earth shake. Great is the Lord. He is exalted over the nations. God is great and awesome. We should fear God because of who he is. He is our creator. He is our eternal judge. He is our savior. He is our Lord. He is our redeemer. He is the one who decides whether we live or die. He is the one who determines how we die. He is a holy and jealous God. And he is the eternal judge. He is righteous and he is just. We must fear God. Jesus said, do not fear man who can only kill the body and hope that he can do nothing else. I will tell you him to fear. Jesus said, fear God who can destroy both body and soul in hell forever. Live in the light of eternity. Live in the light of the eternal great day of judgment and the judgment throne. The fear of man will prove to be a snare. The fear of God is liberating. The fear of man will enable us to fall. But the fear of God will enable us to stand while others are falling back. The fear of God will lead us to stand up when others are remaining seated. The fear of God will enable us to step out in faith when others draw back in fear. The fear of God will empower us to fight the good fight of faith while others are surrendering to the spirit of this perverse and cowardly age of apostasy. We need to teach our children to fear the Lord. To fear the Lord will involve keeping your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. That's Psalm 34. We need to teach respect for the name of God, the names of God, for his church, for his word, the Bible, because his word is pure, enduring forever. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinance of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. Now there are nine different words for the fear of God used in the Bible. Eight are in Hebrew and one is Aramaic. So there's eight Hebrew words and one Aramaic words which describe different aspects of the fear of God. There is standing in awe of God, Psalm 22, being absolutely overwhelmed and just standing in be still and know that I'm God type of awe. There is trembling before God, as we read in 1 Chronicles 16, 30 Psalm 96 verse 9, Psalm 114 verse 7. Trembling before God, often an appropriate response. There's being filled with dread, Psalm 89 verse 7, Isaiah 8 verse 13, Hebrews 12 verse 39. Being filled with dread. This is the appropriate response of an unregenerate soul recognizing the reality of who God is and that they stand condemned before holy God. There's living in fearful apprehension of judgment, also an appropriate response of apostates. Deuteronomy 28 verse 66 to Chronicles 10 verse 19. Living in fearful apprehension of the day of judgment. Being frightened, Exodus 15 verse 16. Speaking about the Egyptians being frightened. And Exodus 23 verse 27, the apostates who had despised God and turned back to the worship of the gods of Egypt and how they were frightened as Moses spoke the word of God to them. Daniel 6 verse 26 speaks of the terror of the Lord. And then there's also terror and horror. Deuteronomy 9 verse 19, for example, speaks of terror and horror. Seeing the judgment of God. Seeing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Seeing the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. God struck the entire Assyrian army surrounding Jerusalem dead. And, for example, Psalm 2 verse 11 speaks of worshiping with trembling. Which is what the nation should do. The nations which are rebelling against God, they should worship, fear God with trembling. So there's different aspects to fear of God. And of course, it also depends. It's different between the redeemed and the regenerate children of God's fear of God and worship. And the fear with nothing but anticipation of condemnation and eternal judgment of the unredeemed. The New Testament speaks of the wrath of the Lamb and the terror of the Lord. And for those who think the fear of God is just an Old Testament concept, well, remember Jesus taught the fear of God. In Revelation 6 verse 15 to 17, we read that all the kings of the earth and the princes and the generals and the rich and the mighty hid in caves amongst the rocks of the mountains. And cried out to the mountains, the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand? And all those blasphemous perverts in Hollywood and all those people involved in, at this moment, promoting and exporting blasphemy and working out how to glamorize blasphemy around the world. They will be crying out to be buried under an avalanche. Rather to face the wrath of the Lamb. That's in the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 11. Since then we know what it is to fear the Lord. We try to persuade men. Knowing that every one of us must give an account of our lives before mighty God on the day of judgment should make us more zealous in evangelism. To present the way of salvation to the lost. To people who are heading into a lost Christless eternity in the fires of hell if they do not repent of their sins and make right with God. His mercy extends to those who fear him and do what is right, we read in Acts 10 and verse 35. The Apostle Peter speaking to the household of Cornelius, the Roman legion, and speaking to the centurion and some of his legionnaires. God's mercy extends to those who fear him and to those who do what is right. And so, plainly, this is New Testament teaching. This is the teaching of the Psalms, the Proverbs. It's teachings of the law. It's teachings in the history books. It's in the Gospels. It's in the epistles. It's in Revelation. Every part of the scripture emphasizes the importance of the fear of God. Acts 10 verse 34-35. Now realize that God does not show favoritism. He accepts men from every nation who fear him. God expects people to fear him. In a good sense. When I started writing our Bible survey for Joy magazine, that series is called Bible in a Nutshell. By the time I got to the third book in the Bible, Numbers, I chose the verse that always starts with a verse that summarized the whole book. And for that I chose, be sure your sin will find you out. And I was told by one of the editors there, we can't put that in. In fact, they didn't. They deleted it. I said, but that is the scriptures. That's not the God I worship. I said, well, that's the God of the Bible. Well, that's not the God we worship in our church. Our God doesn't judge anyone. And they're arguing over this, trying to explain God is the eternal judge. In fact, I remember meeting with somebody who several people have said this over the years to me. Your God is my devil. You Calvinists believe God sends people to hell. Well, in my Bible, only the devil sends people to hell. My God doesn't condemn anyone. Now I've heard this from many Christians. There's a bizarre, twisted, perverted idea. And this just shows a people who are biblical literates that obviously have not read the Bible. Because the God of the Bible is the God who created the lake of fire to punish the devil and his angels. And those who choose to be in submission to the devil and his angels will share the lake of fire. But God is the God who condemns people to hell. And yet I've had, I mean, I remember this one editor saying to me, my God doesn't condemn anyone. Well, the fact that God is an eternal judge is pretty basic. But then you think of the 10 plagues of Egypt. You think of the Lord closing the Red Sea on the pursuing charioteers. You think of God sending fire and brimstone to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. I mean, what would you call that? Is that not judgment? My God doesn't judge anyone. You think of a niacin safari struck dead by God for lying to the church, for lying to the Holy Spirit. You think of the book of Revelation, which is one big book of judgment. How can any Christian who reads the Bible say, my God doesn't condemn anyone. And yet this is pretty standard all over the world. You've got Christians today who are saying that you shouldn't fear God. Are they reading the Bible? Are they praying the Psalms? Do they read the gospels? Do they have any idea what the Bible is teaching? We have got many people happy with a new popular kind of religion that is a pick and choose. It's like a buffet. When you walk into the buffet and you choose, of course, little children when they're faced with a buffet, straight to the desserts. Who needs to go past the fruits and vegetables and those other things? Let's go straight for the ice creams and the cakes and so on. And there's a whole lot of people who decide the Bible is a buffet. We don't want all those fruit and vegetables, obedience and fear of God stuff. Let's just go for the nice positive, like the promise boxes. These were super popular when I got converted. People have these promise box and they pull out the verse and got all these great promises, but they've cut off the conditions and the context. Every promise comes with a condition, just like every command of God comes with a promise. And so we've got to have the context of it. This is the whole point of our Back to the Bible preaching workshops, to get people to read the context. Don't just take a verse out of context. Read the verses before and afterwards. See that this is scripture interpreting scripture, that we've been true to the scripture. But to think we have people today who say, our God doesn't condemn anyone. And your God, the reformer's God, the Calvinist God is my devil, because my God doesn't send anyone to hell. Well, sadly, we've got to say those people worshipping an ufquot, an idol, not a real God. They've created a false God in the temple of their minds. There's a great comfort, says these people, who says, well, my Jesus wouldn't do this. My Jesus would never condemn anyone to hell. Say, well, I agree with you. He couldn't, because your God doesn't exist. He's just a figment of your imagination. He's an idol you set up in the temple of your mind. Hebrews 10, verse 26 to 27 says, if we deliberately keep on sinning after we've received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, except a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Make no mistake, God is not gentle Jesus, meek and mild. He might have been meek, but he is never mild and he is never weak. This idea of gentle Jesus, meek and mild has twisted many people's mentality. They don't understand that this is the Lord who walked into the temple and was angry and took up a whip and chased out these corrupt money changers out of his house, which should have been a house of prayerful nations, turned into a den of thieves. Here's the Lord who will return and destroy the armies of antichrist. So that there will be blood up to the horse's bridles. There will be rivers of blood when God comes and destroys his enemies. Our God is not a weak, tame God. As C.S. Lewis said of Aslan, no, he's not a tame lion. Our God is not tame. And there's all these preachers who seem to think that they can have a tame Jesus, who's there to bless me, answer my prayers, heal me, make me rich and all of that. But he's not meant to be the sovereign who tells me what to do. They sort of have an idea like how the royalty in England has been reduced to a point of being more like a symbol. And the people may sing God save the Queen and speak about the sovereign queen, but she's not allowed to make controversial statements and she's not allowed to interfere in the politics of the country. Well, our Lord Jesus is not a constitutional monarch in that sense. Our Lord Jesus is the sovereign God of the universe and nobody can resist his will. In fact, Hebrews 12, verse 28 to 29 says, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. And so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire. God will destroy his enemies. He is a consuming fire. 1 Peter 1.17, since you call on a father who judges each man's work, impartially, live your lives as strangers, as pilgrims here in reverent fear. The most appropriate way for Christians to live is in the fear of God, which frees us from the fear of man. Now the Lord's yoke is easy and his burden is light, but man's is a burden. The fear of man is a snare. 1 Peter 2.17, show proper respect to everyone, love the brotherhood of believers, fear God. This is the theme throughout all the scriptures. If we do not fear the wrath of God, we will not appreciate the love of God. Only the fear of God can produce lasting justice and righteousness in individuals. Only the fear of God can produce lasting justice in families. Only the fear of God can produce lasting justice in churches. Only the fear of God can produce lasting justice in communities and countries and continents. Only to the degree that people fear God and obey his commandments, can society function for the good and freedom of all its people. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord. Once it was the feeling, now it is his word. Once his gifts are wanted, now the giver own. Once I sought for healing, now for himself alone. Once it was painful trying, now it is perfect trust. Once it was a half salvation, now the uttermost. Once it was ceaseless holding, now he holds me fast. Once it was constant drifting, now my anchors cast. Once it was busy planning, now it is trusting prayer. Once it was anxious worrying, now he has the care. Once it was what I wanted, now what Jesus says. Once it was constant asking, now it is ceaseless praise. Once it was his work, once it was my working, his it's him shall be. Once I tried to use him, now he uses me. Once the power I wanted, now the mighty one. Once for self I labored, now for him alone. Until we learn to fear God, we will be enslaved to the fear of man. People pleases make traitors. We need to please God and be freed from the fear of man. The first time a Lord Jesus came as the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, but the next time he will not come as a lamb, he'll come as the lion and he will destroy his enemies. He who is in you is greater than him who's in the world. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, we thank and praise you for who you are and for what you accomplish. You are our creator, you are our eternal judge, you're our savior and our Lord and our redeemer. And we pray Lord God that you may mercifully and graciously enable us to live wisely in the fear of you, freed from the fear of man. We pray it in Jesus' precious and holy name, amen. Let's turn to hymn eight and conclude with, all to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give. Therefore I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God which is your spiritual worship.