Remember, we began a series of lessons on God last week and this morning is part two of last week's lesson on the Fear of the Lord. The reason that we began with the Fear of the Lord in this series on God with the Fear of the Lord is because the scriptures tell us that the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Next week we will continue on and be talking about the glory and the majesty - the splendor of God, his nature and his attributes. This morning though we're going to pick up with part two of the Fear of the Lord. You might have noticed last week that we spent a good deal of time in the Old Testament; and that's very important because if you really want to get to know God, that is where you want to spend your time. That's where God reveals himself - that is where God reveals his nature and that is where God personally talked and interacted with the people of the day. You remember that he personally spoke to Adam and Eve, to Cain and Enoch and Noah, Abraham and Jacob and Isaac. He spoke with Moses and Joshua. He spoke with Samuel, David and the prophets. And then you remember that for 400 years he was silent and people longed to hear the voice of God again. Then the writer of Hebrews tells us in the first couple of verses of Chapter 1, that God spoke at many times and in many different ways in the past but that today he speaks to us through his son. And, of course, we still have Jesus' words to us in the Bible; but a lot of people see God in the Old Testament as being different from the God of the New Testament. In the Old Testament they say you see more of the judgment and more of the wrath of God; but in the New Testament you see more of his love and his grace through Jesus; and since the old law has been done away with, people then seem to kind of embrace the New Testament and the love and grace of God as all there is to know of God.

What I'd like for us to do this morning is to just take a few minutes to see what the New Testament has to say about the Fear of the Lord. You remember last week that Paul told us in Romans 11, Verse 22, to consider the kindness and the sternness or the kindness and the severity of God; and since there are both of these sides to God and since the beginning of wisdom is the Fear of the Lord, let's look here to understand the presence or the essence of God and how we should view him and how we should approach him. I want us to begin in Matthew Chapter 10, Verse 28. Jesus himself is speaking to us in this passage this morning. In Matthew Chapter 10, Jesus is speaking to his disciples. He called his twelve disciples together - he's now sending them out to teach in the nearby towns and villages. He says in Verse 16 that he's sending them out like sheep among the wolves. In Verse 17 he says, "Be on your guard against men." He says they're mean, they're cruel, they'll hand you over to the local authorities, they will beat you because of me, Jesus says. But in Verse 26 he tells them, "Do not be afraid of them." He explains a little further in Verse 28 and that's where I want us to begin reading this morning - Matthew Chapter 10, Verse 28. Jesus says, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Now Jesus acknowledges that there will be people in this world and people in our lives that will abuse us. They will treat us badly and they will want us to be removed from the scene and Jesus tells us, "Don't be afraid of them." Don't be afraid of those who can just kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, what Jesus says is be afraid of the One or fear Him, if you're reading out of the King James version, fear Him who is able to destroy both the body and the soul in hell. Who was Jesus talking about here? Who has the power to destroy both the body and to throw that same body into hell? That would be God. And Jesus says be afraid of Him.

Now there's a parallel passage in Luke Chapter 11. If you would, let's turn and look at that ... just a few pages over ... Luke Chapter 12, Verses 4 and 5 - Luke Chapter 12, Verses 4 and 5. This is Luke's account of these words. Again Jesus is speaking and in Luke Chapter 12, Verses 4 and 5, Jesus says, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Jesus says, "Fear God."

Now that's where we left off last week. You remember the Fear of the Lord and Fear God. You remember the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah; they were told by Pharoah to kill all of the baby boys as they delivered them at birth. But Exodus, as we read last week, tells us that Shiphrah and Puah feared God, that is they feared God more than they feared Pharoah - the commands of Pharoah and so they obeyed God rather than obeying Pharoah. Jesus said in these two passages that we just read, "Fear God." Be afraid of him who cannot only destroy our bodies but also destroy our souls. Jesus said He is the one that we are to fear. Not men, but God.

Let's look at one more passage and then we'll talk a little bit about what this word, fear, means in just a minute. Turn with me if you would to Acts Chapter 5 - Acts Chapter 5. As we begin the book of Acts, the apostles have been waiting in Jerusalem as Jesus had told them to do. They're waiting for the promised Holy Spirit to come to them. He came to them on the day of Pentecost. Peter, who was filled with the Holy Spirit, preached the first gospel sermon. Three thousand people responded and were baptized on that day and the church began. The apostles continued to teach and to preach. You remember that Peter and John were put into prison because of their teaching. They had to appear before the Sanhedrin Court the next morning and they were commanded to no longer speak or teach in Jesus' name. But Peter and John, as Jesus had told them, feared God more than they feared men and they told the Sanhedrin Court, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right to obey you rather than God." And so they continued to obey God because they feared him more.

But then in Acts Chapter 5 we see the story of Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias and Sapphira, remember were part of this first church as it began; and you remember that they had a piece of land that they sold and they brought the money to Peter and the other apostles. But they lied about the money, about how much they received; and they said that everything they got from the sale of the land, they laid it at the apostles' feet. Peter confronted them on this and said that they were not lying to men but they were lying to God. I'm going to start reading here at Verse 5 after Peter confronts them. Acts Chapter 5, Verse 5. "When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, 'Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?' 'Yes,' she said, 'that is the price.' Peter said to her, 'How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.' At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband." And look at Verse 11. "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events." Great fear and great fear of God at the beginning of the church in the New Testament.

When we study God's word, I think it's important to notice that the Old and the New Testaments do not contradict one another. They compliment one another. And the God that we see in the Old Testament is really the same God that we see in the New Testament; and the fear of the Lord that we see in the Old Testament, it's still present in the New Testament. As a matter of fact, if you're still there in Acts, turn a couple of pages over to Acts, Chapter 9 - Acts Chapter 9, Verse 31. Saul had come onto the scene to persecute the church. He was encountered by Jesus. He was converted. After his conversion, look at what the Bible says in Acts Chapter 9, Verse 31. "Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord." Our response to a Holy God should not change based on what Testament we're looking at. God has not changed. He is who He is. And the place to begin in a relationship with him is the Fear of the Lord. Now exactly what does this mean - the Fear of the Lord?

Well, what we hear a lot of times is that the Fear of the Lord ... it just simply means a certain level of respect for God and who God is. But there's a lot more to it than that. In the Old Testament the word used most often in connection with the fear of the Lord is the word "yaray". It's a verb that simply means "to be afraid - to be afraid of, to stand in awe of or simply to fear". The adjective form of yaray is afraid, fearful, reverent; and the noun form is fear or reverence. And we find the same meaning in the New Testament with the Greek word "phobos" - fear. Phobos has the idea of being so frightened that you want to take flight, that you want to run for your life. And it also carries the idea of reverential fear of God. These words can mean to be afraid, as in fearing for my life, as well as reverence and awe. And when you look at the verses that talk about the fear of the Lord and fearing God, you get the idea that God is so great and he's so powerful and he's so intimidating that the only response that one can give when he's in His presence is to simply fall down in reverent awe and worship. We are in an instant, when we come into God's presence, within an instant struck with the vast difference between his holiness and our un-holiness, his purity and our impurity, his power and our powerlessness. And we simply fall to the ground and worship because when we come before God, we don't have to stop and figure these things out, it's immediate. We know how awesome God is and how un-awesome we are. And so that's the only proper response to God because of who He is. The fear of the Lord is to worship God, to revere Him and honor Him, to treat Him with all of the respect, with all of the obedience and all of the awe that is due Him. Why? Because He is God. And His very presence demands it. Don’t fear Him because He will destroy you, but fear Him because of His power, that He has the immediate power to destroy you and He chooses not to.

But what I see in the world though is a total lack of concern for God. There seems to be no fear of God in the world, not even a respect of God in the world. I remember seeing a sign in a record store a few years ago that said, "Jesus is coming, look busy." I remember the famous wrestler, Steve Austin, and his irreverence of God, who quoted from Austin 3:16. Oh, how many times have we heard God's name and Jesus' name being used in connection with profanity or being used as profanity itself? There's no fear of the Lord in the world. But, really, I guess that's kind of normal. To some degree anyway, there will probably always be someone who does not know God and so they will not know to fear God. As a matter of fact, all the way back in the book of Exodus when Moses approached Pharoah to let the Israelites go, the first response Pharoah had to Moses was, "Who is the Lord? Who is the Lord that I should obey Him and let Israel go. I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go!" And so there are many people in the world today who, like Pharoah, don't know the Lord and don't know to fear Him. I guess what's really disturbing is that those who do know God do not fear Him. It seems that in recent years the love and grace of God has been so prevalent in our teaching and in our study that we've lost the fear of the Lord. I think one of the more serious sins of Christianity today could very well be just the casual, almost flippant, manner in which we often approach the great power that is God.

Now please don't get me wrong, the love and grace of God are important and a relationship with God is important. God want us to have that relationship with him, but if you'll turn over to Hebrews Chapter 10, Verse 19, I think maybe a couple of passages in Hebrews will help explain what I'm trying to say. Turn to Hebrews Chapter 10, Verse 19. God does want us to have a relationship with him but that relationship must be on God's terms, not on our terms. It must be based on who God is and a reverent awe of him. Hebrews Chapter 10, Verse 19 tells us that "we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus." The Bible tells us that we have confidence to enter into the Most Holy Place; that is we can, and the Bible encourages us to, to just walk right up to the very presence of God. Can you imagine that? that we have the ability, in Jesus, to be able to walk right up to God; and the writer encourages, he says we have confidence to be able to do that.

Now turn with me to Hebrews Chapter 12, Verse 28. Hebrews 10:19 isn't the only place that the Hebrew writer tells us that we have confidence. He says the same thing in Chapter 4, Verse 15, that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence. But that same writer tells us in Hebrews Chapter 12, Verse 28, this: "Since we are receiving a kingdom of God that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." This is important because this scripture is telling us that acceptable worship is done with reverence and awe. And what the Biblical writers are telling us is that there is a line in the sand when it comes to our relationship with God, and we're not to cross over it. For example, and this is just an illustration and it may not be the best illustration; but for an example, when a tornado is coming our way, what do we do? I mean, do we run up to it and say, "How you doin', old buddy, old pal" and try to give it a hug? You know, we'd be crazy. You're gonna' get whipped if you do that. A tornado strikes fear into our hearts and we stand there in awe of the power. We watch it from a safe distance; and when it gets close, we take cover. We take cover, we hit the storm cellar. Are we afraid? Do we fear? You Bet! Are we safe from it? Yes! If we're prepared and we're in the storm cellar. But just because we're safe, does that mean we have any less reverence or awe of the storm? No. We aren't gonna' stick our necks out and get a better look when it comes over our heads, are we? We know better! Well, can I suggest to you this morning that the power of God is so much greater than that. So much so that I can't even describe it to you. Should we fear that power? Should we be terrified in its presence? No doubt! Are we safe from it? Yes! If we're prepared and if we're in the storm cellar whose name is Jesus Christ. Just because we're safe in Jesus, does that mean we have any less reverence or any less awe of the power and the presence of God? Absolutely not!

But many have crossed over that line of respect and awe and reverence; and instead of standing back and holding up God in our lives as he is, with all authority and power, we've crossed over that line; and we've brought God down to our level, even to be so bold as to tell God what he can do and what he can't do, where he can go and where he cannot go. We've completely misunderstood who God is and we've brought him down to our level; and that is disrespectful and that is irreverent to God. I think no where is that more clear than in the concept that many call the separation of Church and State. Now, I'm not talking politics here, I'm just talking about a concept of God. We seem to have a concept of God that we can limit where God goes and what He does. We can say, "God, I'm sorry, you can't go in there. You're not allowed there." We restrict God to certain areas in our lives. He can't be in the schools, he can't pray at the football game, he can't talk to people about God at work, he has no place there. And chaplains in the army are not allowed to pray in the name of Jesus because it may offend someone. Have we ever stopped to think that maybe God is the one that's being offended? We have no business, we have no right, to limit God and tell him, "God, you can't go there or you can't do that."

I'm reminded of the second Psalm. David writes, "Why do the nations conspire and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Let us break their chains, they say, let us throw off their fetters." Isn't that exactly what we see in the world today? As the ACLU sues every company and every school until they're just scared to death, as the Ten Commandments are removed from one place after another, as God is removed from every public place, and history books are being rewritten to take away our heritage as a Christian nation, that's founded on the principles of God. But as the Psalm continues, "The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them." As if all that they're trying to do can change who God is and the fact that He is in control. God laughs. But maybe, have we in the church, have we forgotten the fear of the Lord? Have we, as the church, forgotten what Psalm 50 says that "every animal of the forest is mine and the cattle on a thousand hills." He knows every bird in the mountains and the creatures of the field are his. Maybe if we bring this up to a modern day perspective, have we forgotten that every ruler of the nation is his, that all of the children in a thousand schools belong to God and he knows every lawmaker in the capitals and the people of his creation are his. And who are we to tell God what he can and cannot do? We've crossed the line. And it's time for us to get our priorities in check and stop fearing the powers that want to be and start fearing the power that is.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. I have to admit, this subject has been a difficult one to preach on and it's difficult because I have a communication problem. I cannot adequately present to you the awesome presence of God and why we should fear him just using words. But I pray that these words will help you and that these words will give you a beginning - a beginning of wisdom and a beginning of understanding of who God is and his awesome presence, an awesome presence that no amount of misunderstanding or lack of knowledge or laws will ever change. God is who he is and his presence demands our worship. He will be worshipped whether by our own choice in this life, safely in Jesus, our storm cellar if you will, or we will worship him on demand when he reveals the full extent of his glory in his righteous judgment one day. Who do we fear most? In our lives, who do we fear the most? Do we fear the laws of the land or do we fear the lawmaker of heaven and earth?

Do you need to come to Him this morning? Do you need to approach the Most Holy Place where God himself dwells? Maybe it's time that we as a church again approach his presence and are in awe of who he is. Maybe you as an individual this morning need to come to God for whatever reason through Jesus Christ this morning; or whatever your needs may be, we're here to help you with that in any way that we can. Would you please come forward as we stand and as we sing.