The Beginning of Wisdom | Pastor Jason McKinnies | Purpose House Church

I want to thank you for joining our broadcast on the Pando app. We love you and we're praying for you. So turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 1, and I'm going to read 10 verses to you. While you're kind of finding Proverbs 1, I want to say thank you to pastor Seth, two weeks ago preached a marvelous sermon in here, a wonderful man of God, his life Lindsey runs a kids program here, children's pastor, wonderful people, and then last week I certainly enjoyed Pastor Jamie Tuttle. I hope you did as well and what God is doing in this place is amazing. So we're going to kick a series off today called The Fear of the Lord, and we're going to read about it here in Proverbs chapter 1, and I'm going to read it out of the new King James. Let's begin in verse 1, Proverbs 1, "The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity, and to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion, a wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel. To understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and the riddles, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother, or they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent." That's going to be kind of the basis of everything. I'm going to come back and pick up a few of those verses. I'm going to give you a few more verses today out of the book of Proverbs, but our main focus, especially for today, is to talk about Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 7, which says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." So before we get really any deeper than that, I just want you to hear a few historical claims that have turned out to be very, very wrong, spectacularly wrong. In fact, in 1945, if you need any verification of these, Sherry Al will be available after this, it's been two weeks, I owe you just a couple of them.

In 1945, the chief of the Federal Government's Office of Scientific Research, and he was the head of the Scientific Research and Development, he declared that using rockets to deliver bombs was absolutely impossible, and would remain impossible for many, many years. 12 years later, the Soviet Union test fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile. In 1839, a doctor proclaimed that the abolition of surgical pain would be an impossibility. He said, "The knife and pain will always go together. They will be forever linked in the patient's mind," seven years later, anesthesia was introduced. An inventor of the radio said in 1926, the television might be theoretically possible, but commercially was not even worth thinking about. John Magazine in 1938 reported that a few scientists foresaw any serious use for atomic energy and to research it was ridiculous. In 1825, the scientific Corley called it absurd to think that locomotives could ever travel as fast as stagecoaches. Why would I bring those to your attention today? It is a dangerous thing to build your life on a certainty that is absolutely wrong. And if your life is built on certainties that are absolutely wrong, you have built on the wrong foundation, because what seemed impossible yesterday is often a reality today. But that would ask us as Christians, where do we put our confidence? Where is our faith put? So I want to turn to one of the man of wisdom, one of the wisest men who ever lived, King Solomon, and say, "Maybe we'll be back." In 1 Kings 4, we read that people traveled from all over the world, all over the known world at the time, just to hear him speak. According to 1 Kings 4, he studied trees, animals, and the natural world with a rigor that we would call scientific today. He wrote 1,005 songs. He wrote over 3,000 proverbs, all because God answered a prayer

that He prayed in 2 Chronicles 1 and verses 10 through 12. At the end of His life, at the end of Solomon's life in the book of Ecclesiastics, after all that learning, after all of that knowledge, after all of that scientific research, He came to a conclusion. I'll read it to you, Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verses 12 and 13. And further, my son, be admonished by these of making many books, there is no end. And much study is wearisome to the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God. Keep His commandments. For this is man's all. Fear God. Keep His commandments. The wisest man who ever lived didn't end his life pointing to his accomplishments. Instead, he pointed back to the fear of God as the one non-negotiable foundation that you should build your life on. He's pointing back and saying, if you're gonna build on anything, build it on fearing the Lord. So what does it actually mean to fear the Lord? Hebrews chapter 11 and verse seven gives us quite a preview of this answer. I'm gonna take like four weeks to answer it. We can sum it up probably in Hebrews chapter 11, verse seven

and then maybe we can move to another series next week. But here it is, Hebrews chapter 11, verse seven. By faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear. He prepared an ark for the saving of his household. Notice the pairing in this verse. Faith and fear are sitting side by side. They're in the same verse. So faith and fear sitting exactly in the same sentence and they are both producing the same action. And the action was obedience. This is a word that the modern church does not like to hear is being obedient. But that's where we're headed today. To fear the Lord and to have faith in the Lord is to be obedient to the Lord. And here's why it's important that we would look at Noah for just a moment. 20 years before his first child was born, 20 years before he even had a family, Noah was planning the construction of the ark with rooms for his sons and his sons' wives and their children. In other words, by faith, Noah was saying, my sons and their wives are going to walk up that plank through that door that God has opened and they're going to be saved from the flood. He believed God so much. He was obedient so much. He was like, listen, this ark isn't just for me.

I'm going to be so obedient. I'm going to build rooms by faith that my children are also going to fear the Lord and they're going to get on that ark and my whole family is going to be saved. I would ask the modern church, I would ask purpose house, do you fear the Lord enough that when God begins to speak to you, that you begin to build with such faith that it isn't just for you, that you begin to build rooms for your sons and your daughters and your grandchildren that your whole house is going to be saved and you begin to operate that way in such faith and such obedience that you're not going to allow your children and your children's children to be lost. Every parent, every grandparent should have that verse underline and say, by faith, by faith in whatever your name is, by faith, I'm going to build a room for my children. How do you build a room for your children? Well, you use the hammer of intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer and then the nail of instruction. In other words, you're going to have to know the word enough to teach your children the word. We've had enough of the church relying on the pastors and the children's pastors to teach your children the word. We get them for two hours. Meanwhile, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, you name it, all of them are getting the dominant time of your children.

You need to pull your children aside and begin to pray over them with intercessory prayer and then give them the nail of instruction. Listen, Facebook is not sure, YouTube is not sure. You can't believe pictures on there. You can't believe anything on there. The only nail on this structure that your house needs to be saved is the Word of God. (congregation cheering) And then you need to ask the Lord, "Lord, help me to help you save my family." How can I instruct my family? Now, here's the thing, when we say the fear of the Lord, automatically in our generation, fear brings up a negative connotation. And this line, "The fear of the Lord" shows up about 18 times in the book of Proverbs, just the book of Proverbs alone. And it's a phrase that we cannot afford to misunderstand. The fear of the Lord is not the fear of a victim towards an abuser. It is not cowering in terror of an unpredictable God who's just looking for a reason to strike you. I used to say this to many of you over the years as I began to walk out my faith and begin to study God for myself and not under a denominational banner. I realized that God was not a mean cosmic cop who was just waiting to knock me back into line. He's actually a loving father.

And the reason why we would know that he is a loving father is the tainting of fatherhood in our generation. Because if the enemy contained how you view a natural father, then he is tainting the view of how you view a heavenly father. (congregation applauding) And we heard last week from Pastor Jamie Tuttle what over 75% of all the issues in America are because we have a fatherless homes. We need the heavenly father and we need to fear the Lord. So God's not an unpredictable God. And what scripture does for us, scripture holds two things together that often feel like a contradiction. Until you begin to see how they fit together. Because this is one of the lines that people use. First John chapter four verse 18. There is no fear in love. And yet we're telling you that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And then the new generation says there is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. And people say you haven't been made perfect in love if you fear the Lord. Well you're having a misunderstanding of what the words mean. Philippians chapter two and verse 12 says that like this. Work out your own salvation with fear and with trembling. Now I'm a metal just a little bit here

because this scripture means something to me. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now these words that we're giving you, these are not opposites. There's two sides of the same relationship. The Greek word behind fear and trembling in Philippians chapter two and verse 12 is paired with another Greek word with trembling. And Paul uses the same word phobos. In second Corinthians chapter five and verse 11. And he says knowing therefore the tear phobos of the Lord we persuade men. So what he said, Paul's saying listen, Paul was taking up to the third heavens, the third heaven. And he sees the all in the majesty of God. And he's like all of us are gonna stand before the lion of the tribe of Judah. And we're gonna stand there. We're gonna give an account and that fear, that respect for what we're going to have to do causes men to want to live differently because we're all gonna give an account to God one day. If you don't live this way, you don't have the fear of the Lord in your life. Because if you can operate and I grew up this way, as long as the pastor didn't know about it, it wasn't a sin. Anybody else grew up that way? Even if it wasn't taught that way, it was perceived that way.

We could live one way as long as nobody in the church found out about it. But can I tell you, you can't build fences to keep God out. Nobody else may know about it, but God knows about it. And Paul is saying you've gotta work out your own salvation with fear and trembling knowing that you also, like everybody else is gonna have to stand before the Lord and give an account of all of your actions. And you're gonna say, but the pastor didn't know about it, but God did. My dad used to strike fear in my heart. He would say, Jason, the subconscious mind records everything you've ever done and everything you've ever said. And you're gonna stand before the Lord and God's just gonna push play. And I'm like, how do I get the erase button? Paul says we are to work out, not work for your salvation. He says you're to work out your salvation. What does that mean to work out one's salvation? Brian, if you'd stand, this is Brian, this is what it means to work out. (congregation laughing) Okay, that's what it means to work out. Thank you, Brian. That's what it means to work out. Okay, some people get saved and they don't do anything with their salvation. Paul's saying, when you get it, you need to work that out.

You've been given a measure of faith. You need to work that out. You've been given this revelation. You need to work on that, work that out in your life so that when you get your salvation, you look like Brian and not Pastor Jason. (congregation laughing) 'Cause when Brian walks in the room, people go, he works out. Can the same be said of you and your salvation? Can people look at you and say, they're saved? They know Jesus and to see them is to see Christ. And if you follow that person, as they follow Christ, you likewise will see Christ. Work out your salvation, exercise it, strengthen it. Notice that Paul doesn't say to just work out our own, just say, I'm just gonna work on it. I'm gonna work for it. We've had a lot of people working for it when you've already got it. And we've all heard some sermons along, some things like, anybody ever heard about Peter walking on the water? Have you ever heard of sermon condemning the other guys that were in the boat because they didn't get out of the boat? Do you know why they didn't get out of the boat? 'Cause Jesus didn't say, come to them. And often what we do is we start comparing our walk with the Lord, with other people's walk with the Lord, or we start looking at other people

and what God's having them do, and we're saying, I'm not doing it like them. You need to do what God called you to do. (congregation clapping) And follow God as God has told you to follow him, and stop comparing yourselves among yourselves. Jesus said to Peter, come, and Peter came. John and Andrew and Bartholomew didn't need to come because they were not asked to come. So make sure you're hearing the command of the Lord in your life. And I would say this to any of you in this room, if God is giving you a conviction, a conviction, you need to hold to that conviction no matter what anybody else says. You need to follow what God has told you for your life and stop saying, well, I don't know if that church agrees with it. No, what did God tell you? It's why we do not have a pastoral standard in this church because I believe and I trust that God will lead you into all paths of righteousness and of truth if you are honestly seeking a relationship with him. Pastoral standards come and go. Biblical, godly conviction should remain with you the rest of your life. Work out your own salvation. So I would ask you, what's God working on in your heart? What's he calling you to do? I read this story about a pastor.

He read two books in one night, fast reader. Two very good books, both by Christian pastors. One book said that Christian should move into the city in order to minister to the multitudes. The other book said that Christian should move out of the city as did the desert fathers. The pastor was unable to recognize God, these two books that he was reading and he was troubled. So he went to the Lord and he asked the Lord, I read two books, one said I should move to the city and one said I should move out of the city. What do I do with this? And God said, what have I called you to do? What have I placed in your heart? I am the one who cared for the poor and this brother is showing that side of me. I'm also the one that moved to a solitary place and the other brother is showing me, showing that side of me. But it doesn't matter what I have showed those brothers about me and for them to reflect, what have I showed you that I'm asking you to reflect about me? And see what many of us do, we get caught up in somebody else's burden, and somebody else's conviction, somebody else's calling, and then we get burned out trying to keep up with them, but God did not call you to do that. So you need to make sure that you're reflecting what God has made clear to you about him. And if you'll do that, then you're working out your own salvation.

And fear and trembling just simply means it like this. You should give some real thought to what you're doing. Work out your salvation thoughtfully. Ask yourself some questions like him. "Is what I'm doing, is that going to bring glory to God? "If everybody found out about this, what would they say?" See, I actually said this to Pastor Jamie Tutter the other day. I said, "I found that there is more honor "in the corporate world than there is in the church world. "When I was in the corporate world, "we had these rules we had to live by. "What would we do if our name made it in the paper? "How would we feel about it if our parents found out about it? "We had all these little rules, and most of the policies "and procedures of purpose house did not come "from other churches, it came right from the corporation "that I worked for, and so people are like, "Oh, you don't ride in a car with another woman "who ain't your wife to lunch, right? "The church didn't teach me that. "Corporate, America taught me that. "And what a shame that corporate America "is leading a morality versus the church. "Why? Because we no longer ask ourselves, "what would Jesus think about what I'm doing? "Because we think that one day, "way down the road, he's gonna forget "about everything we've ever done. "The only way that that's ever going to happen in your life "is you asking to forgive you for it.

"You're going to give an account for every action, "every thought, and every idle word "that you've ever spoken of. "And if that doesn't bring fear and trembling into your life, "I don't know what does." So the church has to have this healthy balance of walking in the fear in the admonition of the Lord. In Acts chapter nine, verse 31, Luke uses this same thought to describe the early church at its healthiest. He says, "Then the churches throughout all Judea, "Galile, and Samaria," this Acts chapter nine, verse 31, "throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace "and were edified, they were lifted up. "And walking in the fear of the Lord, "and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, "they were multiplied. "How did the church get multiplied? "They walked in the fear of the Lord, "and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. "The church didn't grow in spite of Holy fear, "it grew while walking in it. "The church needs to walk in a reverence, "and a fear of the Lord, and in the comfort "of the Holy Spirit. "And so the fear of the Lord, "and the comfort of the Holy Spirit are not competitors. "They are actually traveling companions, "so we need to have the fear of the Lord, "and the comfort of the Holy Spirit operating our eyes." Let me give you an example of this.

How many of you have ever been to the Grand Canyon? Or maybe, let me give you another one. How many have you ever been to Angels Landing at Zion National Park? Now, Zion National Park is an interesting thing. It's all biblical, it's got the three-page chart. Angels Landing is this interesting trail. It's easy, if you will, to get to what's called Scouts Lookout. But from Scouts Lookout to out to the end of Angels Landing is the most terrifying experience you've ever had. You've never been there, you don't know what I'm talking about. My mother, a little four-foot seven lady in our gene skirt is gonna take us out there. We're hanging on the chains, I'm like eight or nine years old. We're hanging on a chains 2,000 feet straight down into the Virgin River. Now, somewhere along the line, I guess the Virgin River brought me some comfort thinking that no one had ever died there before. Except that on the way up there, the Ranger told us that he had lost one of his dearest friends just a few days before we got there because he had gotten comfortable being out at Angels Landing and was walking backwards and talking to a group of people that had got there and went off the side of the mountain and died. And then my mother says, "We're gonna go out there." (audience laughs) So we're walking out there, I'm walking,

we are scooting out there, hanging onto the chains and we're going out there. No one told us past the peak, it was one-way traffic. So another group of people are done out on Angels Landing and they're going to come back. And so we now have to either climb up on this little ledge and let them by or make our way scoot all the way back to Scotland. We did this three times and I finally decided that Scouts Lookout was good enough for me. The reason why I say that is when you walk up to something that is of that size and of that majesty, it's not like Angels Landing is going to reach out and grab a hold of you and hurt you. The Grand Canyon, when you walk up to it, you're like, it's so big, it's so vast, all of a sudden, you're no longer staring at your phone and joking around, you realize now that you're the place that if you are not careful, could hurt you based on your actions and not the actions of the canyon. Not the actions of Angels Landing because you got careless, you could get hurt. And I've seen people do this trying to get their selfies and all this, you're out of your mind. They're hanging off the side of it. Now they put a glass bridge out over the Grand Canyon. No way. I'll trust God's creation over some glass engineer. So the sheer size and the magic, it reorders your volume, it reorders your attention,

and so that's what I would say the fear of the Lord is. When you finally get an accurate view of how big God is and how powerful God is, it'll change the way you talk, it'll change the way you live, it'll change the way you act, it'll change everything about you 'cause you finally got a good view of him and you realize it has nothing to do with his actions, it has everything to do with how I act. So we see this exact reaction happening at Mount Sinai, Exodus chapter 20, verses 18 through 20. So all the people witnessed thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountains smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and they stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, you speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die. And Moses said to the people, do not fear for God has come to test you and that his fear may be before you so that you may not sin, so he says do not fear, but that I need you to know that his fear needs to be before you so that you won't sin, don't need you to fear God, but his fear needs to be before you so that you don't sin. So Moses is not contradicting himself here, he's trying to make the same distinction we're making to don't be terrorized into hiding from God, but let his holiness and his weightiness and his glory cause you to be more aware and allow it to govern

your choices so that you're not tempted to sin. Y'all mopping what I'm dropping? See, I don't think there's a healthy fear of God anymore because we say, oh, I don't wanna be terrorized by God. No, no, that's not what we're saying. We're saying you need to have a respect for God so that you don't live and sin and go out on Saturday night and get into a drunken stupor and then walk in here and try to lift your holy hands to a holy God without repentance in your life. Don't get tied in here, but when it's tied, it's right. We got too many people that wanna play church all week long and then come in here and act like you're a part of the church, but you have no fear of the Lord in your life. Oh, I thought I'd come to a non-denominational church. No, you come to a Bible believing church. (congregation cheering and applauding) See, if you get the definition wrong, you have a fear that paralyzes. This is a fear that actually protects you. If some of you feared the Lord, you wouldn't be divorced 10 times. If you feared the Lord, your children would fear the Lord and you would have rebellious children if you feared the Lord. And some of you need to pray for a crop failure because you've treated your relationship with the Lord with such audacity that your children don't even respect God. And then you get mad at the pastors because we can't fix your children.

You spent 18 years breaking it and what we need is a healthy fear of the Lord again. And we need it not just in this auditorium, we need it across America. We've got people saying, oh, I love the Lord. It vote for me and do not do anything that they said they're gonna do. That person is a liar. Let me just give you a quote and so you can be mad at somebody else or not me. John Piper said it like this. The fear of God is when he is in your mind, in your heart, so powerful, so awesome, so holy that you would not dare run away from him. You would only run to him. That you would have such a fear of God that you always run to him. Now, notice what Solomon says to us. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning. But fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs chapter nine and verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy one is understanding. Now, Proverbs chapter one verse seven, it uses a Hebrew word for beginning there and it's a shit. I want to be careful how I said that. I've worked on it for two weeks. It doesn't just mean first in a sequence. It also carries the sense of being the chief part

or the principal thing. The same word is used in Proverbs chapter four and verse seven. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. It's also the word behind Genesis chapter one and verse one. We're in the beginning, God created. So it's the chief part, the principal thing, in the beginning, God created. Proverbs chapter 9 and verse 10, which I read to you, uses a different Hebrew word for the word beginning. It actually means more like the commencement or a starting point. Psalm 111 and verse 10 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's the same word. It's the commencement of it. It's the starting point of your life is the fear of the Lord. Or it's the chief and the principal thing. So there's two different Hebrew words being translated beginning. But they both anchor the fear of the Lord to wisdom. It's not being redundant. It's talking about it's a double witness, if you will. The fear of the Lord is both where you start and it's what governs everything after. See, I think many of us, we fear the Lord enough to give him our hearts. We thought, well, that's what I need. And then we did not work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. I got saved. And now that's all I'm going to do. I got saved. I came to the front of the church, came to the building. That's all I need to do. And we're doing a disservice to the kingdom of God. And we're doing a disservice to people. When we say, if you pray this prayer, that's all you need to do. No, that's the beginning. That's just the beginning of it. Yeah, it's the chief thing, but it's also the starting point in the commencement of it. In other words, it would be a fool of me as pastor to say, Jesus, when I get to heaven, hey, these are all the people that are brought here to you. And these are all the people that came to Purpose House and they all were acting the same way that they acted when they were babies. First of all, that's an indictment of me as the pastor that we didn't take you from being a baby in Christ and teaching you how that, hey, it's all right for you to sit in the high chair and we swing around the airplane and we feed you. But at some point, wouldn't it be wonderful if you could feed yourself? It's like, hey, here's a fork, here's a knife. This is how you do it. Cut it into, in fact, we had this experience. My oldest daughter, Morgan, used to, let me use the words of my youngest daughter, rage hate,

our youngest daughter because she was an open mouth chewer. So we get a phone call from Zoe this week and she says, I now understand why Morgan would rage hate me on how I ate because I had to sit across from somebody into cafeteria who chewed with their mouth open and spit food all over me while they were talking. And I said, you are finally growing up, right? Because see, the things that you used to do and you didn't have any problem doing it when you were doing it, but now you've matured enough that when somebody else does it, it bothers you. That's the fear of the Lord in operation that when you first got saved, you didn't know any better, but now that you've come into relationship with Christ and you see other people doing the behavior that you used to do and it makes your stomach turn and you go, my goodness, how in the world can they live like that? You are working out your own salvation, but here is where we have derailed it in the church. You want to go to them and rage hate on their immaturity, but you've got to allow them to mature like you used to mature. See, I grew up in a denomination that once we got mature, we expected everybody to be on the same level as we were and we have no compassion and no mercy and no grace on the babies. That's why when I went to church camp, they would bust out the cardboard boxes full of skirts. The minute somebody got saved, they'd say, this is how you're going to dress. How about we teach them something before we start putting a bunch of stuff on them? My God, I'm going to get free up in this house. We want to throw the whole book at people and they're like, you need to know this. You didn't know it all when you got saved. I get more frustrated with the people that have been around for 50 and 60 years and you still only know Acts chapter 2 and verse 38. I better preach to the cameras. Right? You're like, well, you need to know that. What did you ever teach it? You know what the church needs? It needs more people teaching. Yeah. Step up. Why would somebody tell them, well, step up and do it in a teachable, teachable, loving way? This is what the Word has to say. So you can't get real wisdom thinking that once you got saved, that's just everything. It's just the launching pad. And many people just say, you need to read and study to show that self-approved a workman that needs not be ashamed. So it's not just the launching pad, but it's also what keeps everything in place to fear the Lord. Yes, it's the beginning, but it's also what keeps everything into place. You cannot gain real wisdom or knowledge or insight in how to

live unless you first settle who God is in relation to you. If you skip that step, then every other piece of advice you gather gets built on sand. The fool and the book of Proverbs is not an unintelligent man. He's just someone who has decided that he doesn't answer to anyone greater than himself. Once that decision is made, no amount of good advice will land because you've removed the very foundation that makes wisdom worth following in the first place. What point is there to have wisdom if there is no God? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the reason why I would ask that question is that some of you say you believe in God, but you are God. Some of you believe in God, but act like there is no God. And I'm not talking to the world. I'm talking to the church. See, Paul spent most of his writings talking to the church, talking about fear to the Lord and work out your own salvation with fear and treatment. Why? Because they wanted to work out somebody else and not work on themselves. Work out your own salvation. So I would ask this church today. Where is God in relation to you? So most not, we have a very, very important decision to make. And you would think that in our world, we would like, we can make that decision, but we've, we've decided to put it before the Lord. And then there are times where I think, okay, God, you gave me the answer to that.

I thought, Jamie Tuttle gave me the answer to that. I thought, maybe John Gordon gave me the answer to that. And I'm going, wait a minute. I need to take all this and then need to go before the Lord. See, what many people think is that the higher up you go in the natural church. The less dependent you are on God. And the opposite is actually what is true. Can I, can I tell you that I'm just grieved by what I see in the church world? Every time I see these pastors failing and faltering and grooming kids and all this nonsense all over the place, it grieves my heart. And what I have come to the conclusion of is that while they preached about God, they had no fear of God. Do they not see that they're going to stand before the Lord and give an account for their actions? They're going to give an account for all the things that they have done. And they think, I'm getting away with it. Are you kidding me? You're not getting away with that at all. And what the enemy is doing is just parading out all these things. And they're saying, look, they didn't fear God. Why should you fear God? Well, just because they don't fear the Lord doesn't mean you shouldn't fear him. Job says it this way, the climax is one of the most searching poems in Scripture.

A chapter that spends 27 verses asking, where can wisdom be found? He searches minds, oceans, the deepest place of the earth for the answer. And this is what he comes to in Job 28 and verse 28. And to man, he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. Let me read that again. Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. After all that searching, wisdom wasn't found in a mind. It wasn't found in the ocean. It wasn't found in the weather patterns. It's found in a posture towards God. So I've had to ask myself this question my whole life. What does it actually mean to fear the Lord? Now I could probably give you this really big eloquent answer. I wanted to break it down into two parts. Number one, it's a devotion to God. And before I even get into this, I would just ask you what I'm saying this today. I need you to question whether or not you are truly devoted to God. Or are you devoted to a position? Are you devoted to a position? Or are you devoted to a church? Or are you devoted to a pastor? Or are you devoted to a ministry? Or are you devoted to God?

Because all those other things are the wrong foundation. Devotion to God is the first So when we speak of fear in God, we're not talking about it being afraid of him or hiding from him. God doesn't want you running from him. Any more than you want your kids running from you when you walk in the house. Winston should run. But when we speak of the fear of God, we're speaking about a devotion that is so real that we become afraid of doing anything that would grieve God. And before anybody says anything, we do have the capacity to grieve the Lord. Matthew 23, 37, Jesus is weeping over Jerusalem because there was a city that would not respond to him. Moses gives us the clearest picture of what this devotion looks like in practice. In Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12, and now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all of his ways and to love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Let me paraphrase that in maybe a more moderate term. Moses said to the congregation of Israel, as Pastor Jason says to the congregation of Purpose House, God spared you. And now because God spared you, what does he require of you?

Simply that you would love him with all of your heart, your mind, your soul and your strength and do what his word tells you to do. Why would we do that? Because he spared us. Because he gave his life for us. Because John 3, 16 actually came true in our own life. For God so loved the world. No, no, God so loved Jason that he laid down his only begotten son for me. God so loved you that he laid down his life for you so that you would not perish but that you would have everlasting life. So then what does he require out of you? He doesn't require you to die for him. He requires you to live for him. With all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your soul and all of your strength. Notice there in that scripture he says, to serve the Lord your God. He says, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all of his ways. So fear and love are again, sitting in the same sentence, doing the same work. I fear him and I love him. I love him because I fear him and I fear him because I love him. Jesus was even gonna possess this same quality. There's a prophecy in Isaiah about what the attributes would be of the Messiah.

It says, the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding. The spirit of counsel and might. The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord. Isaiah chapter 11, verses two and three. So if Jesus in all of his humanity delighted in the fear of the Lord, then we should stop treating the fear of the Lord as some starter level spiritual posture that we somehow can outgrow. That's been the danger in the church is that we have outgrown the fear of the Lord. We fear the people and not the Lord. That's why churches start preaching greasy grace and tickle my ears because we no longer fear the Lord. We fear the people. My friend, we can never outgrow the fear of the Lord. So the first component to fear the Lord is devotion to God. He spared us. Now he requires something out of us. The second component of the fear of the Lord is to this, is to despise or to dread sin. See, when we start talking about this, he gets real quiet in the church. Talk about loving the Lord all you want. Don't mess with sin. Proverbs chapter eight verse 13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.

So Proverbs chapter eight verse 13 gives us the second component to despise or to dread sin. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil or more literally to be appalled by it. Many of us are now finally arriving at this point. Can I even remind you that Roma's talks about that you're guilty of if you laugh at it. See, early in our walk with God, certain sins felt attractive. The longer we walk with the Lord, the more we see what sin actually does to us and to the people around us and then we should become nauseated by it. Proverbs chapter eight verse 13 emphasizes that the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, which encompasses a comprehensive understanding of sin in all of its various forms. See, many of us were like, well, that really isn't a sin. Well, the Bible actually uses six different words for sin. And I thought I would give them to you because some of us just say the word sin, like, well, I didn't commit adultery, therefore I'm fine. No, but you just ripped up that sister with your mouth. So the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. So recognize in the different terms. a trespass, unrighteousness, and then there's this word evil. And it's crucial for you to understand all those to develop a genuine fear of the Lord.

So it's not just a powerful call that we just need to acknowledge God, but to truly fear him and all of him should compel us to despise evil in all of its forms. And subscription tries to give us these different words to describe sin and understanding this so that we would say, man, wait a minute, that may not be committing adultery, but this is also missing the mark. So the word sin or hamarta signifies just missing the mark falling short of God's standard. Then there's iniquity, it points to moral distortion that leads to guilt. So there's this moral distortion. I think America has a morality distortion right now. Like we have people who are in the WNBA. Do you know what W stands for? And yet they cannot define what a woman is. That is a moral disruption. Do you know why it's a moral disruption? 'Cause somebody already said it. They can define what a woman is, but in order to define what a woman is, would offend the people that they are afraid of. But if you would actually fear the Lord and not the people, then you would say, what a woman actually is. Y'all mop on what I'm dropping? Like, I know what a woman is, but I don't wanna say what a woman is

because I will lose this contract over here because now I'm morally corrupt because I fear them taking the finances from me then order than just being truthful. (audience chattering) When is it a baby? Well, if we disrupt this enough morally, we could say maybe it's in three days, three weeks, maybe in three months. Now we just say, hey, if you wanna have the baby and kill it, it's fine. Moral disruption. Well, I didn't kill the baby. But if you participate with those who do, be careful, it's getting tied in here. Shoot, we got them suitcases ready, Muslim. Okay, then there is transgression. Transgression just is outright rebellion. It's a deliberate stepping over the lines that God has drawn for our good. God drew a line and we're just gonna step over it, just doesn't matter what God says. I'm going to do that, outright rebellion. And most of us like, yeah, I know that one. Yep, okay, then there's trespass. It's the subtle, drifting away from the path of righteousness. Just, it's a trespass. It's just subtle, it's what, they used to write this song called the slow faith. It just happens over time.

We just start slowly fading away. It says, it isn't no big deal. It isn't no big deal. That isn't really, that's not, listen, the Bible's not even culturally appropriate, right? Because we're not supposed to conform to the culture of our world. We're supposed to transform it by the renewing of our minds. Then there's unrighteousness. It reflects a lack of justice and conduct that strays from God's moral code. Then there's evil. It's the broadest term encompassing anything that is morally harmful in action or intention. All those are the definition of, hey, I need to avoid those. So sin's not just flat one category. It's a complex reality filled with missing the mark, moral distortions, rebellions, quiet lapses. We begin to see the full weight of God's holiness and justice. Second component of fearing the Lord is about cultivating a deep aversion to all forms of wrongdoing. Here's one, to abstain from the very appearance of evil. That's why I don't get into a car with somebody who is not my wife, who is of the opposite. It's all right, who is a woman? Why?

Why would I give anybody any father to say, well, it was just pastor and brandy in the car. No, no, brandy, if she wants to go to lunch with me, she has to drive herself to the restaurant. And then I ask for another person to be there because did you see pastor and brandy? They were at lunch together at Olive Garden. And like Melissa, leave your coat on the chair, please. Why? Because the enemy will take any misstep of those who fear the Lord and use it to strike fear in somebody else. There was a little kid that grew up on a pastor, He became fascinated by something that was on the ground. His dad was watching the boy with just eager anticipation what his son was so fascinated with. He thought maybe he was a caterpillar, a worm, or even snake. So he ran over there to see what caught his little boy's attention. He was less than thrilled when he found out that what had caught his son's attention was a cow pie. Or some of you know them as a pasture patty, a meadow muffin, the cow pies, what had the toddler so captivated. The boy didn't know any better, but the dad did. And that's why the dad was disgusted by what had fascinated his son. And more you walk with God, the fascination of things that disgust other people turns away from fascination to disgust. And I would ask you, are things that

are supposed to be disgusting to you? Are they fascinating you? Because what you need is your father to come back by and say, listen, you may find that fascinating, but that's really disgusting. Can I pastor just for a moment? You may be fascinated by that pornography, but it should disgust you. How would you feel if that was your daughter? Your nieces, your nephews. You're fascinated by something that should disgust you. And the enemy has twisted your mind around to thinking somehow that that should be a marital aid. What's fascinating you should actually disgust you. And can I just give you a secret? Stop praying against the pornography and start getting a healthy fear of the Lord again in your life. Hebrews, chapter 12, verses 28 and 29, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire." You'll know you're gaining wisdom when you find yourself no longer wanting to grieve the Father, no longer interested in what used to intrigue you. So what does that look like in practical terms, if you will? It's a business owner who refuses to fudge the numbers, even though no one would catch it.

It looks like a teenager who hesitates before viewing something inappropriate at midnight. Not because your parent might walk in, but because God already sees it. Let me just step right here. You can ghost your parents on your phone, but you can't ghost God. And I know what POS means. So maybe your parent ain't over your shoulder, but God is. And if it's on your phone and it shouldn't be, they'll take it off of it. It's God's season. What the enemy is doing is he is numbing your conscience. It looks like a leader who makes the hard, honest call instead of the popular one. Because the answer to someone higher than the room they're standing in. Can I just defend myself for a moment? If you hear stories about me, just remember they're missing a lot of chapters. It looks like a spouse who guards a friendship from crossing a line, not because they'll get caught, because they don't want to be that kind of person who would. In every case, the fear of the Lord does not restrict your freedom. It gives weight and direction to your choices. See, a compass only works because it's oriented to something outside of itself. The fear of the Lord is what orientes us to something that is outside of ourselves.

Because if we were left to our own devices, we would destroy ourselves. So you have to find the fear of the Lord. And I don't want to end this just with all the warnings, although I probably should. But there is a fruit to being in the fear of the Lord. In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence. And his children will have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to turn one away from the snares of death, Proverbs chapter 14, verses 26 through 27. Psalm 34 verse nine, oh, fear the Lord, you his saints. There is no want to those who fear him. Meaning that you won't want anything if you fear the Lord. Proverbs chapter 19 verse 22, the fear of the Lord leads to life. And he who has it will abide in satisfaction. And he will not be visited with evil. Notice the language in all the words. of dread. Here's one more, it's my favorite of all of these. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him. And He will show them His covenant. Now I know Pastor Melissa doesn't read my sermon notes even though I email them to her. So I knew that today when she was talking about the covenant, about David having a covenant in his pocket was almost a confirmation of what this sermon today is this, God is not required to give you His secrets. God is not required to show you anything. But He says to those of you that are in the fear of me, I will show you secrets. I will give words of knowledge and words of wisdom last Sunday when Pastor Jamie Tuttle was walking through and he was laying hands on you. Listen, I've had people in this building that prophesied a lot of fluff. But I knew when he got the hold of you, John Thomas, I knew right then he was the man of God and I began to pay a little bit more attention to all the words that we're going for because he began to pray

over saying things that only you and I and maybe two or three other people even know about it. And he was saying those things and as we went through the crowd, God was showing Jamie Tuttle secrets about you and what was God doing. He's saying I'm going to use this secret that you and I have together, you and God have together, I'm going to give that to the man of God so that you can hear the covenant over that secret. And what was the covenant? I'm going to heal you. There's a different diagnosis and that was just for John. And so God began to say, listen, the secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him and then He's going to share or show you His covenant with you. Now Paul would write to the church in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 27 and talk about that covenant that's on the inside of you. It's the hope of glory that lives on the inside of you. It's the holiness and the healing power of Almighty God that lives on the inside of you. He said, if you'll fear me, then I'll show you my covenant. We have a lot of people that want to be in covenant with the Lord without fearing Him. I want the healing. I want the blessing. I just don't want to live like that for Him. See, the fear of the Lord doesn't push you, Lord, arms linked from God. In fact, it's what draws you into His inner circle and He starts sharing secrets with you. He starts giving you advice. You remember this scripture for the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. How are they ordered by God bringing you and you coming into His inner circle and He's saying, listen, here's a word for you. Watch out for that. Step over here. See, one day I was very troubled by something. John Gordon Harley ever calls me. And John said, I need to talk to you. Well, when the prophet calls, you take the call. Unless you ain't living right, then you run for the prophet. I mean, I used to have the prophet come in the building and they're like, I'm a Miss Church this week. He's going to be reading my mail. That's what he's supposed to do. So John and I got on the phone together and John said, I need to talk to you. Actually, John, I need to talk to you. I need to share some things with you. What God had done is God had me going up one side of the mountain, if you will, and John coming up the other side of the mountain because I needed an answer and God gave the direction to John Gordon to help me operate what I was going through. What's happening? God is not trying to keep you at an arms length. God's trying to draw you into his inner circle. And sometimes you don't hear the voice of God when he's trying to talk to you in that still small voice. So he has to send John Gordon over to you and say, Hey, God's talking to you. He's trying to give you direction because you have feared him and you're walking humbly before him. And now he wants to show you some secrets.

God gives you direction so that you can avoid the snares that the enemy has set for you. And so how do you avoid the snare of the devil? Get into a secret place with God. The wisdom of the Lord is the doorway into everything else that God wants to give you. So we have to ask the Lord, Hey, Lord, what's on your heart today, Lord? What's your will for me? Sometimes we need to stop saying more what's your will for me and say, Lord, have I obeyed the last thing you gave to me? I don't know how God operates in your life, but God rarely allows my spiritual inbox to get backed up. In other words, if I haven't done the he's not going to give me 11. I've got to do what God's asked me to do and get it cleared off so that I can get the next assignment. Some of you are asking God to do all these other things and God's saying, hey, I sent you an email. I sent you an assignment. I asked you to turn from that and I asked you to stop doing that and I asked you to do that, but you haven't done any of that and now you want me to do something. So when's the last time you were actually obedient to what God asked you to do? That was just a small thing. If you cannot be obedient in the small things, God will not even give you something big to test your obedience with. So if you have something next you want God to do, I'm asking, have you done what God asked you to do? God will show you His covenant. If the fear of the Lord is the chief thing, it's the keystone. The question isn't whether you have enough knowledge or will power to live wisely. The question is whether you've settled who God is in relation to you.

Are you God of your life or is He? See, I'm all for calling upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved, but the word Lord needs to be defined. Is He Lord over just your salvation or is He Lord over all? Where does God sit in relation to you? That field of this church is just on the precipice of something really amazing. In fact, that was the word that you gave me that day. We can't get where God wants us to go, being the people that we were when God told us where we were going. I felt it in the worship service today that the gifts were getting ready to operate, and yet some of you are so afraid of God using you. And yet you want God to do this, and you won't be obedient to what God is telling you here. And you'll never go there until you're obedient here. So just for a moment, with every head bowed, with every eye closed, the author's open if you want to come, but you don't need to, you can stay right where you're at. Because my Bible actually says that his spirit filled the house where they were sitting, where they were sitting. It's a holy spirit, I'm asking you to come right now and to touch every life and to touch every heart. You may great fear come upon your people for you're so holy. You're so wonderful. God, you're glorious. ♪

Let's take holes off the altar, God, and put them upon our lips. ♪ May we reverent you. May we not make a mockery of our worship, mockery of praise. A worship and praise not be about us or who sees us. But may we come back to the heart of worship where it's all about you again. Lord, if there be anything in our lives that is not like you, not of you, not for you. Lord, would you purge us with hissome? In fact, Lord, we can take David's prayer out of Psalm 51 and we can pray it over ourselves. Lord, renewing me her right spirit and restore unto me the joy of my salvation. ♪ So purge us, Lord, renew us and restore us. We repent to you, God. We change our minds about things, things that should disgust us and we're fascinated with, God, we repent of that. things that have caught our attention, Lord, Lord, forgive us for that. And Lord, to be in your secret place. That is our heart's desire. For he who dwells in the secret place of the most high will be under the shadow of your wings. (gentle piano music) So I draw us near to you, because we're drawing near.

I pray, Lord, that your spirit would move upon us. It would rest upon us. That you would show your people, your covenant. That was sealed by your blood. And Lord, because you spared us, we will serve you, Lord, with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul, and all of our strength. For you gave your life for us. And Lord, I am thankful. I am so thankful. (gentle piano music) - Still with just every head bottom of every of our closed pessimists, if you just lead us right now.