With Fear and Trembling

You have pardoned my transgressions You have sanctified my soul You have honored my confession By Your blood, Lord, I've been made whole Lord, You prosper and protect me And Your love, Lord, is everlasting And Your blessings ever flow You have filled me with Your glory You have made me as white as snow I am saved by Your mercy I've been transformed by Your love You're my glory You're the lifter of my head, strong in labor You'll fight my battles in my stead You have preserved me by Your mercy Hallelujah, I am saved And through Your blood, Lord, I have forgiven By Your grace, I've been set free I am saved by Your mercy I've been transformed by Your love You're my glory You're the lifter of my head, strong in labor You'll fight my battles in my stead You have preserved me by Your mercy Hallelujah, I am saved by Your mercy I've been transformed by Your love Hallelujah, I am saved Hallelujah, I am saved Hallelujah, I am saved ♪ Ooh, hallelujah, he is free ♪ Hallelujah, I am blessed ♪ Hallelujah ♪ Hallelujah ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ Hallelujah ♪ Hallelujah, he is still my hope ♪ Hallelujah, he is in my heart ♪ Hallelujah, he is still my hope ♪ Hallelujah ♪ Hallelujah, I am blessed ♪ Hallelujah ♪ Hallelujah ♪ Hallelujah

♪ Hallelujah Everybody, all together, hallelujah! ♪ Hallelujah Hallelujah. Oh, thank you, Lord, for saving my stinking, wretched soul. Thank you, Christ Jesus, for reaching to the bottom and lifting all of us up. Lord, we were lost, dead in trespasses and sins. We were blind and dead and rebellious, but God, who is rich in mercy, saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to your mercy and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Praise God. Good morning, everybody. It's good to see you. Wow, this music and the spirit of the Lord is here. Hallelujah. You don't mind if I take a deep breath and enjoy this, do you? Wow, thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. I welcome, along with Pastor Greg, everybody watching from probably 95 or 100 countries this morning. And now, Lord, we come to this moment when the mightiest thing that can be said on earth will be said. It will come from your mind, your heart, and your mouth, through the mind, heart, and mouth of a mortal. And I'm praying today that you will speak to all of us. If everybody will look at me right now

and just point your hand in this direction and say, Lord, speak to me. Help the pastor to preach with your anointing and speak to me, Lord. In Jesus' name, thank you for being seated. Well, let me get my eyes cleared up here. I'm telling you, I'm more like Sandra every day. I'll say it the way the old-timers used to say it. When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that he's done for me, I can't help it. I'm not even going to try to help it. If you're visiting with us today and you've never been in a loud church, I'm praying it gets louder and louder. Hallelujah. If you've never been in a happy church, you're in one this morning. This is what we call spirit-filled worship. And now you're about to hear spirit-filled preaching. This month, lots of very naughty people will display their very dirty lifestyle in front of children and adults alike as they parade through cities and march down streets. No respect and certainly no fear of God. One of my... asks, actually, I'd like to rephrase that. One of my privileges as a pastor is to teach the congregation the difference between right and wrong from the Bible, to teach people to differentiate between the profane and the holy according to the Bible.

Another thing I'm to teach is the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord. Why don't we just read from Romans chapter 3, I'll begin with verse 9, just to let you know, Paul is telling them, you may be Jews and you may have all the credentials, but if you're living the same way the world's living, it makes no difference. Verse 9, what then? Are we better than they? Not at all, for we have previously charged to both Jews and Greeks, that's Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside, they have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb, with their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. And I want you to notice this verse. The reason all of these other things are practiced, there is no fear of God before their eyes. They do not fear God.

I have come to believe that the fear of God really comes after you get saved. When your eyes are opened, when your heart has been washed, when you come to understand that you are saved by grace and now you're a new creation in Christ Jesus, it dawns on you. I was on my way to hell. I was under the judgment of God. I was one breath away from torment in the lake of fire, one heartbeat away from eternity in the darkest of dark places. But God saved me. And you begin to realize, oh, how close I was, how good He is. And at that moment, a healthy, holy, biblical fear of God will begin to grow inside of you. Fear has to be taught. See, if I read Psalm 34, verse 11, in fact, let me go there. This is what the psalmist said. Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. It has to be taught. People have to be told, instructed. Who is the man who desires life and loves many days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. You see, the fear of the Lord will tell you to do things and not do things. The Spirit of God inside of you will remind you that now you are a Christian. There are places you cannot go, things you must not look at, words you must not say. It cannot come out of a temple.

In fact, your whole life should be guarded. In your heart, there are things you cannot participate in as a child of God. And the Holy Spirit is there, and He reminds you, and teaches you, and guides you. Stay away from this. Flee the appearance of evil. Don't hang around with those people. Don't engage in these activities. That goes on all the time in your life. Proverbs 16, verse 6 says, By the fear of the Lord, one turns from evil. Wow. By the fear of the Lord, one turns from evil. When you realize who He is the best you know how, when you read His Word and see His requirements, when He displays His grandeur, His holiness, His beauty, you start looking at your life and your tendencies, your weaknesses. The only thing you can conclude is, I cannot sin against this God. I cannot be a part of this world. This world is not my home. I will not try to fit in. I will live a separated life. I will live a holy life. By the fear of the Lord, one turns from evil. I was told this week about a mega church pastor, another one, who has fallen into sin. And in the counseling process with people who are trying to rehabilitate him, he was asked, Did you lose your love for God? He said, No.

I lost my fear of God. I want to tell you, this makes me want to take a moment and let that sink into your life. I didn't lose my love for God, he said. I lost my fear of God. You see, you can talk all day long about how much you love God and still engage in sin. By the way, Jesus said, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. People do it all the time. The men scroll through the pornographic internet all day long and remember, the Lord loves them anyway. They love the Lord, too. And one day they're going to get this fixed. Well, you may say you love the Lord, but you don't fear the Lord. Because if you fear the Lord, you won't do that anymore. Because you know judgment's coming. People cheat in business all the time. All the while thinking, I sure do love the Lord. Glad I got a good church to go to. Wow, the Lord loves me. Just cheat. But if you feared the Lord, you wouldn't do it. Lie. Lie to get that business deal, make that profit, sell that warranty. I preach about this a lot. Because there's a lot of deception in the business world. I hardly trust anybody. And Christians find themselves being pressured into telling half-truths, which is a whole lie, and selling people things they don't need. And all the while thinking, I sure do love the Lord.

I can't wait to get to church Sunday. But if you feared the Lord, you would never do that again. Taxes. I don't know how this country operates with the number of people that cheat, don't pay taxes, lie about it. I don't know where we get all the trillions that we get. But you see, people can do those kinds of things and talk about the love of God. He loves me. He loves me. No matter what, He loves you. He won't ever stop loving me. And you can do those things and talk about the love of God because you don't fear God. That bothers me. I want to say to this group and maybe anybody else watching, sir, if you really feared God, when you got off work, you'd go home instead of the sports bar. Especially if you have a wife there waiting. Especially if you have children there waiting on their dad. Boy, I could go through all kinds of lists right here of the things that people do all the while claiming to be born again, claiming to be Christian, declaring that they love the Lord, but you can see from their activities that they have no fear of God before their eyes. Because I say it again, when you fear God, you won't do those things that violate the heart of God. When you fear God, you won't do things that grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

Now, you won't sit there and drink glass after glass of alcohol and get drunk and talk stupid. And you know, people are funny. They get really religious when they get half lit. I got a brother, he's not in this service, but, and it's not my brother, Dennis. He's watching right now. But this brother comes to the early service and we've joked with each other about past life stuff. And he said, pastor, man, we would get together on Friday night and we'd get that Irish whiskey out and start drinking it for, you know, we're having church. We're talking about the goodness of the Lord, how if it hadn't been for God, we wouldn't be this far. And he's just drinking it all away. But you see, that violates Holy Scripture. Drunkards will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And if you believe the verse that I just said, it would put the fear of God in you and you would never do it again. There are people right now at 1122 who are throwing back the sheets of adultery. They were with somebody else last night or the blankets of fornication and look at each other and smile and say, well, you know, we should have gone to church this morning, but the Lord loves us anyway. I had a young lady come up to me one time after a service.

She said, oh, and I've learned to recognize these chicks. Oh, this is my second Sunday here. I'm so happy. I found my church. I've been looking for something like this forever. And they always say this, and I'm going to get in the choir. I said, well, wonderful. Second Sunday, huh? She said, yeah, my boyfriend hasn't been able to make it either time. But the other morning we were lying in bed just talking about how much we love the Lord and how good God's been to us. No fear of God before their eyes. Readily admitting fornication in front of a preacher in a spirit-filled church. No fear of God before their eyes. No clue whatsoever. So when I talk about the fear of God, it's from the beginning of the Bible all the way to the end. The Old Testament prophets stressed, they screamed, fear God, keep his commandments. God was always telling them, fear the Lord, your God. He has the power to take the breath out of your lungs. Fear God. From him comes everything you have. You do not exist without God. If it hadn't been for God, you'd already be dead in hell.

If it hadn't been for God, you'd be living in a dried up land of famine. If it hadn't been for God, your people would have been wiped off the face of the earth. Fear God. He's a good God, but he's a demanding God. And he's a just God. You can't just love God. You better fear God. But pastor, I thought you preached. All right, here we go. When they say that, everything I preach comes out of here. So you ought to say, but I thought you preached from the Bible. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. You can't preach that. That's in the Bible. It's not the same thing. Paul was telling Timothy, you don't have to be afraid or ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God didn't give you a spirit of fear that you run away and hide and are intimidated. You get up, you preach it, you live it. Don't be ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ because God has not given you that spirit of fear. He's given you love and power and a sound mind. Yes Lord.

Yes Lord. Yes Lord. Yes Lord. Yes Lord. Yes Lord. Yes Lord. That's different from fearing the Lord. When I talk about the fear of the Lord. Lord, listen to these words. I'm talking about reverence. There's a certain way you act around people you revere. I'm talking about deep respect. Heartfelt honor. Adoration, devotion, awe, admiration, worship, praise. It's different when you come to realize that God is here. One of the greatest Bible teachers that I've ever met is a friend of mine. We're about the same age. He is in Alabama. He may be watching now, Roger Daniel. We've done conferences together. He was the Bible teacher. I was the night speaker, on and on. We got to be good friends. He is a scholar. But you know, some scholars have it up here and can't get it out here. He has a gift. So one night, they're introducing me. He's sitting beside me. And he said, Loran, did you ever think that God is going to listen to this sermon tonight? And I went, huh.

I don't know why that stunned me the way it did. He's going to listen to the sermon. He's listening now. And when you think about the things you say, preachers listen to me. Now sometimes you stretch your illustrations, add to, take away, edit, dress them up, so that the people can identify. Or you don't tell quite the truth about the number and the statistics. Preachers, are you hearing me? If it's not true, and God is listening, God is grieved. That's why our tongues have to be sanctified. That's why an angel from heaven has to touch our tongues with a cold from the altar of God that we might speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And I have to tell you, I laid a little while before the Lord yesterday, and I said, please don't let me say one word that's not true tomorrow. Don't let me create an image of anything that is not honest, because Lord, it has dawned on me again that you are listening to everything. God's in this building right now. God is sitting in these pews. Messengers of the Lord are here. When you get in your car to go home, God's going to get in the car with you. He'll hear what husband says to wife and vice versa. When you get home, He'll hear the conversation. He'll watch the goings on. Oh, if we really fear God, we will learn to practice the presence of Jesus. We will be careful about what we see, what we let our eyes fall upon. David one time said, I have made a covenant with my eyes not to look upon an unclean thing. Did you hear that? David said, I made a deal with my eyes that we won't look at anything that will hurt the spirit inside of me. But you see, we've come to a day of relax, we're loose.

You older Christians remember the day when they used to preach against, well, everything. And I remember them preaching against television. And you know what they said? You're going to be looking at things that don't glorify God. I think they were right. Listen to worldly music. It'll get your mind off Jesus." I think they were right. And now look at us. We got it all on our phones. All kinds of music Christians listen to. You've heard me before. I've upset enough people. I know you remember it. Christians that go to secular concerts and stand there and sway and sing always with a cup in their hand. You've got to be kidding me. Because if you really fear God, there are things you shun. You cannot do that. It grieves the Holy Spirit of God. But I tell you why we are not so particular these days. Because the ministry hasn't been very particular. This is what I told a group of pastors. I've said it to you. If you ever want to measure the spiritual temperature of Israel in the Old Testament, look at how the priests were living. When the priests were doing their duty and serving their God and keeping the law and remembering that they were special and called out and separated, Israel was a spiritual nation. But when the priests forgot about it, and they started bringing sick lambs and sick animals instead of the healthy ones, and when they disregarded the house of God and let it go into disrepair, the same thing happened to Israel.

The people became worldly and they went after other gods. And I'm telling you that's the condition of the American church today. I lay it at the feet of the preachers. The preacher ought to be the prayinest man in the congregation. The preacher ought to be the scholar of the Word in the congregation. He ought to lead spiritually in every way. He ought to preach the whole counsel of God. And how many times have you heard me preach this? I know preachers, they have told me, I love to preach, but there are certain things I'm not going to preach. And one of them is the book of Revelation. Because it upsets people, they don't understand it and I don't understand it, so I'm not going to preach it. And yet that's the only book that has two blessings attached to it. If you hear it, do it and read it. But there are preachers who are still so numbers-minded and income-obsessed that they will preach only what they think the congregation can handle. And that's the reason the church has turned into an auditorium, it's turned into nightclubs, that's why lights are flashing and confetti is falling and it's dark everywhere. And instead of preaching the whole counsel of God, it's just an entertainment series. Well, I can't let that happen here. I don't know what you want and I'm not going to ask you what you want. All I know is that when God says preach something, it's got to be preached. And I know that when the Bible says, Fear the Lord, all ye saints, for there is no lack to them that fear him. And I read in Isaiah chapter 8, The Lord of hosts, him you shall hallow, him you shall fear. Let him be your fear and dread.

That means you don't have to be afraid of anything or anybody else. You don't have to fear man. What can man do unto me? I belong to the Lord. But if you have any sense at all, you will fear God, you will walk in the dread of the holiness and power of God. That's why Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, Don't you fear those who can kill your body, but you better fear him who has the power to cast both body and soul into hell. Folks, we need a revival of the fear of God. Walking softly, walking truthfully, walking prayerfully. We've taken this thing far too much for granted. You see, one day, I am going to stand before Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Don't forget this, God is your Father, but he's also your judge. Jesus is your Savior, but one day you're going to stand before him as judge. And although he loves you, and you will have a place in heaven, he's also your judge. God is going to call you forward, and with eyes of fire, He's going to tell you everything you ever did, and why you did it. Unconfessed sins, He will deal with then. Confessed sins are gone, praise God, in the sea of forgetfulness. But God will, through Christ, will say, This is what I see in you. If what you've done for Christ lasts, for His name, for His glory, if you've walked in the fear and admonition of the Lord, He will have a reward. Praise God. Listen to this preacher.

I want to say it till somebody hears it. You cannot earn salvation. Salvation is a gift. But everything else, after you get saved, is earned. You've got to work for it. Crowns, and rewards, and eternal blessings, you work for. And the harder you work, and the more you pray, and the more succinctly you live holy, and the more determined you are to please God, whatever your hand finds to do, you do it with everything you have for the glory of God. And that's how crowns and rewards are laid up for you in heaven. And that's why every step I take in my life has to be taken carefully, prayerfully, with the fear of God in my life. Folks, I will never be at the white throne judgment. I'm a Christian. The white throne judgment at the end of the millennium is for unbelievers. Everybody that goes there is going to hell. But I am going before the judgment seat of Christ. And the older I get, hear me, the older I get, the more I serve the Lord, the more uneasy I am about it, the judgment. Not seeing Jesus, but the judgment. Have I done what I'm supposed to do? Am I walking in the path that He has cut out for me? Am I living the life He requires of me? And I'm honestly, at this stage, and I say it often, at this stage and at my age, I'm a little panicky now. Because I don't have that many years left. I want to make sure that I give it all I've got. I want to preach the whole counsel of God. I want to win souls.

I want to instruct you in the ways of righteousness. I want to teach you the fear of the Lord. I want you to know the difference between holy and unholy, good and bad, right and wrong. I want you to understand, understand this is not your world. This earth is not your home. Quit trying to fit in. Quit trying to be a part of it. You can't. You've been separated by blood and spirit, called out, balked. This is not your home. Your home is waiting for you in a place called heaven. So while you're down here, while you're down here, walk circumspectly, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Clean up your life. Clean up your language. Clean up what you watch. Clean your life out. Get rid of everything that keeps you cumbered, makes you feel guilty. The Lord lets me live. I feel impressed to preach on repentance next week. I shouldn't have told you. And I am going to repeat this. You see, people offer a lot of excuses to God as to why they can't quit. And people say, well, you know, people can't just go to church if they've got addictions and all this stuff. They can't just go to church and expect to quit. Why? If that's not true, then I'm preaching a false gospel because I'm preaching that the blood of Jesus Christ

is able to set the captive free. And Paul, oh, and Paul spent a whole chapter in Romans, Romans chapter six, saying things like this. Sin shall not have dominion over you. You are now Christ, the Spirit of God dwells in you, and you don't have to be a slave to sin. I mean that for addictions as well. Oh, but you know, people need counseling these days, I guess it just takes more these days. What did you just say to me? You said the blood of Jesus was not sufficient. You said the blood of Jesus needed some help. I dare to differ with you. The same blood of Jesus that can heal a leper and a sinful leper and a drunk, the same blood of Jesus that was poured out for the sins of the world is able to set a drunkard free, a drug addict free, an adulterer free, a fornicator free. If it doesn't work, I quit. Then, then, then, then, then Pastor, why do so many people go back? Want me to tell you? All right, I want you to turn over with me to Philippians 2.12. Philippians 2.12. Therefore, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians 2.12. Therefore, my beloved, beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Did you get it? Fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Listen to me, church. Right now, something mighty and holy is going on inside of you. The Holy Spirit of God is doing a work inside of you that you don't even feel. You can't explain, but he's working inside of you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. My job is to make the environment for God to work easy. Do you understand that? And to do that, I have to work out my salvation. Let what's on the inside work its way to the outside. You can't just come to church on Sunday and hoot and holler and raise your hands and praise the Lord and hallelujah, and then go out, I shouldn't have yelled, and do what you were doing. Keep on doing what you were doing. Something's wrong somewhere. That praise you just gave God fell to the ground because you have to, with fear, and he added trembling, work your salvation out. Every day of your life, you get up and say, God is here. The Lord is with me. God is in this room. God will go to work with me.

God is in front of me, behind me, around me, inside of me. I'm in the middle of God's presence. I can't act like my flesh wants to act. So with fear and trembling, that's how serious it was to Paul, trembling. I let the salvation of God come out in my life. You know, we do not see the dire consequences of the dire importance of Scripture. Lots of people will get up every morning at early and put on their gym shorts and their little shoes, and they'll run two miles, and then they might go to the gym and lift some weights, you know, sweat a little bit, wipe their head and drink some old nasty pond water and try to, you know, healthy, and then say, well, I think I'll go back and have devotions. It's over. You already missed it. Did you hear what I said? If you do anything before you get before God, you have ruined the day. Are you kidding me, Pastor Loran? No, I'm not kidding you. Everything of God must come first. First day of the week we worship. The first tenth of our income we give to God. First! And if it doesn't come first, God says, then keep it. If I'm not important enough for you to crawl out of your bed and crawl in my presence and not eat a bite of anything

till you've eaten a bite from the Word of God, then forget it. This is serious business, church. I'm not talking about some little devotion at 10.30 in the morning after you've already done everything else. I'm talking about serious, eternal stuff, where when you open your eyes you say, I've got to get in the presence of God. I've got to get this day started right with God. And you minister to the Lord, and then the Lord ministers to you. And everything else falls into place. I can't get an amen today from the balcony. Amen. One more, and I'm done. Second Corinthians 7.1. Therefore, having these promises, and I've just told you a bunch of promises, have I not? Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. We need a washing. Folks, how can I say this? How can I say this? You cannot live a dual life. You cannot serve God sometimes, part time. You are His all the time. And therefore, you must keep yourself clean from the filthiness of the flesh and the spirit. Keep going.

Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. That means when I get up in the morning, I'll make it even more special than that, as I'm standing here right now. And when we say amen, and when I walk down, and when you walk out, I'm supposed to be perfecting holiness. What am I going to say now? How am I going to act now? God is here. What are you saying to me, Lord? Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. It never goes away. God is always there working inside of you, that which is well-pleasing in His sight. And you recognize that, and it will change your demeanor. You will become more aware of spiritual things. Angels sent to minister to us. God in our midst. It will not be a flighty Sunday morning thing. It'll be that realization. God is here. I walk in reverence and fear of that knowledge. Stand with me, please. I'm not going to give an altar call, because everybody needed this message today. Yeah, I needed it. I want to be so aware of the presence of God that I can hear the whispers of the Spirit all the time. I want my heart to gently remind me, He is here.

Hallelujah. He is here. Amen. He's here. He's watching. He's listening. He's working. And He's coming. Heavenly Father, I thank you for loving me enough to remind me today that you are not just a God up there, but even right now you are walking up and down the aisles of this church and in these pews. Lord, make people painfully aware that when they get in the car, there is another passenger in there. Lord, help us to be aware that when we say things, you are listening. Lord, help us to be reminded that when we think on things, you hear our thoughts. Our thoughts are yelling. So help us, Jesus. Help us this day. And I, I'm desperate for you And I, I'm lost without you Everybody sing those two verses And I, I'm desperate for you And I, I'm lost without you Now may the Lord make His face shine upon us Lift up His countenance and give us peace May the Lord make Himself more real than ever before

As we walk in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart Be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer, Amen We pray that today as you watch Pastor Livingston's message You will be encouraged and ready to dig deeper into a life with Jesus To help you on this journey, Central has two resources for you First, you can sign up to receive Central's Jail and Prison Correspondence course through the mail By writing to Central Church, Jail and Prison Ministries Discipleship Center 5143 Sardis Road, Charlotte, NC 28270 Second, by using Central's app and clicking on the button below You will find a short daily devotional that will encourage you to read and pray daily as you draw closer to Jesus Thank you for watching