Jeremiah Part 2 Lesson 6

In last week’s lecture, we looked at chapters 35 to 39 and we saw basically three things.

1.  We saw that people want prayer but they don’t want interference from God in their lives.

2.  We saw that leadership can make or destroy a nation.

3.  And the third thing that we saw was this: we as individuals—we as individuals—listen to me carefully—must take a stand for truth, for righteousness, and for justice. You and I must do what is right no matter what the nation does. Do you understand that? Do you understand that? Because we belong to a different Kingdom. Our citizenship, as Paul says in Philippians 3:20, our citizenship is in heaven and you and I (and I’m combining two Scriptures) are waiting—we are waiting for the One who is to come who will be the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

WE MUST FEAR GOD. Since last week what has happened? I mean just since last week? The President of the United States spoke at a Human Rights Campaign dinner. Now that title sounds really good—Human Rights Campaign. But it was a gathering and he said it was to those who are, and I’m quoting him, “gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.” I listened to the whole speech. And in the speech this is one of the things that he said. “Thank you so much all of you. It’s a privilege to be here tonight to open for Lady GaGa (applause). I made it. (Laughter) I want to thank the Human Rights Campaign for inviting me to speak and for the work that you do every day in pursuit of equality on behalf of the millions of people in this country who work hard in their jobs and care deeply about their families and who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender. For nearly thirty years you’ve advocated on behalf of those with a voice. That’s not easy. For despite the real gains that we have made there are still laws to change and there are still hearts to open. There are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors, even loved ones, good and decent people who hold fast (this is you—this is me) who hold fast to outworn arguments and old attitudes—who fail to see your families like their families, who would deny you the rights most Americans take for granted…” and then he goes on and he promises that he is going to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the military. And the other thing (and listen carefully) that he promised, he promised that since the House has passed the Hate Crimes Speech Bill which was attached to the (again—again) to the Defense Bill—the Defense Bill of our nation, that since it has passed it—as soon as it hits his desk he’s going to sign it. It was a year ago about now I guess that I spoke at a Deeper Still conference. And I spoke at Deeper Still—I think there were about 19,000 people there. That was in Atlanta. I was so burdened—I was throwing up before I brought the message—I was a mess—I was an absolute mess—because the message was so heavy. And I was bringing the message and I remember in the middle of it I got so tired and that is not like me. I don’t get tired when I’m teaching. When I am teaching—I am energized when I am teaching. It was a royal, royal battle. It was before we had elected the candidates for the Democratic party and the Republican party for the presidency—who was going to run? Was it going to be Clinton? Or was it going to be Obama? And I made this statement of the Hate Crimes legislation. And how they tried to pass it and how two people stopped the passing of that bill. One was Duncan Hunter in the House and the second one was Senator John McCain of course in the Senate—and those two people stopped it. Hillary Clinton voted for it and Obama didn’t vote—but he was supporting the Hate Crimes legislation. Afterwards some people went to the table and they said, “Do you realize that you could lose (they were saying this to Lifeway) that your 501(c)(3) would be in jeopardy because of what she said?” You mean I can’t state the voting record of people? Yes you can. But there’s that threat—do you understand? There’s that element of an enemy—listen carefully—trying to sew fear in the hearts of God’s people. Young, older, trying to sew fear so they can shut your mouth so that you don’t say what is true and you don’t say what is right. We need to know. Everything in a sense, and you’ve seen it this week, rises and falls on leadership. You’ve seen it haven’t you? You’ve seen it as you looked at Gedaliah. You’ve seen it as you looked at Ishmael. You’ve seen it as you looked at Johanan. You saw those people. You saw their leadership. You saw the results of the leaders. Yes the people, and we’re going to look at it, waved back and forth and we look at the hearts of the people and the hearts of the people are evil and wicked also. You and I need to be prepared for the days ahead. They are going to be days that are going to challenge your faith and listen to me very carefully, you cannot live by the fear of man. You MUST fear God. We must fear God and we cannot fear man. We must trust God and we cannot trust men. You and I if we would study history, if we would go down through the ages, you would see that people are ruled by fear and the fear of man brings a (what?) a snare (Proverbs 29:25) the fear of man brings a snare.

THE FEAR OF MAN BRINGS A SNARE—FEAR OF LORD BEGINNING OF WISDOM—LORD IS OUR SHIELD. Now, what is the Word of God to us from chapter 40 to 44? What is the Word of God to us? What are His precepts for life? Well, I believe that His Word to us is a word that says to us is that the fear of man brings a snare; the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10, 15:33, Ps. 111:10). So it is the fear of God versus the fear of man. When we look at fear—when we look at fear—we find that the first speaking of “fear” in the Bible—the first time God says to a person, “Do not fear” is He says it to Abram—He says it to Abram in Genesis 15:1. It says, 1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, (Now why is Abram—and his name is going to be changed to Abraham—but why is Abram not to fear? And this is what we want to know—why is he not to fear?) He says because I am a shield to you; (You and I have to remember that there is only one Shield that can stand and that Shield is God. And if we are walking in the way that God says walk, it does not mean that we will not suffer persecution. It is a given to every single child of God. It is given to you not only to believe on Jesus Christ, but also to suffer for His namesake. (Philippians 1:29) With salvation—watch—if this is salvation—with salvation comes suffering. The two go together. And all who will live godly (2 Timothy 3:12) all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. It’s going to come. But, that persecution and that suffering whatever it is—is not more than I can bear and I have a Shield and that Shield is the One that I am to fear—it is God Almighty. Now He says this right after Abram goes against the kings of Sodom and all of those that have stolen his nephew Lot and then he comes to pay tithes to Melchizedek. And in Genesis 14:19-20 it says that Melchizedek 19 … blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; (Possessor of heaven and earth) 20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And then says (Genesis 15:1), 1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear.” So we know that God is God Most High—He is El Elyon. He delivered the enemies into his hands.

WHY FEAR THE LORD? Now I’m going to give you some Scriptures. I’m going to give them to you quickly and I would suggest that you simply get down the address and let me read these to you.

  1. The fear of the Lord keeps you from sin. Exodus 20:20 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” So if you are going to fear God the fear of God is going to keep you from sin. And when the fear of God keeps you from sin then God is able to bless you.
  2. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 1:7 says this, 7 The fear of the Lord. What is fear? Let me just stop and say What is fear? Fear is respect. Fear is trust. It’s understanding who God is and respecting Him as God. It’s understanding who God is and trusting Him because He is God. So 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Do you see that? Fools despise wisdom and instruction. They played the fool—the absolute fool and look at the consequences.
  3. The fear of the Lord comes (and this is so important because this is what you are doing and I’m so proud of you.) The fear of the Lord comes from seeking wisdom. You are seeking wisdom. Proverbs 2:1-8. 1 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, (now what are you doing when you are studying with us precept upon precept? What are you doing when you devote yourself to 5 hours or more of homework a week? You are receiving His words. You are treasuring His commandments.) 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; (You’re not just getting knowledge, but you want the wisdom of the Lord. Wisdom is taking knowledge and putting it into practice. Wisdom is taking knowledge and putting it into practice.) It says, 3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; See? That’s what I do when I study the Word of God. That’s what I do when I prepare your lessons. Lord, what is Your message to the people? And I’m crying to Him. I’m desperate sometimes.) 4 If you seek her (wisdom) as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; (That’s what you are doing—you’re searching the Scriptures—you’re slowing down—you’re marking the text.) 5 Then you will discern the fear of the Lord (Then you will discern the fear of the Lord— So the fear of the Lord comes from seeking wisdom—from seeking understanding.) And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up (now watch) sound wisdom for the upright; (for the upright) He is a shield to those who walk in integrity. (Do you see the shield again?) 8 Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His (what?) godly ones. (What was He trying to do in our lesson this time? He was trying to preserve the ways. Jeremiah goes to the Lord for 10 days he’s seeking God. What do they do? Do they go down to Egypt? Do they stay? Just tell us which way and God gives them that way—but they don’t take it—they do not take it. I’m telling you, the destruction of Jerusalem was sad—this was the saddest—this was the saddest because of the whole setting of it—He preserves the ways of His godly ones.
  4. The next thing I want you to see about fear is it is better than great treasure. Now what you see is they were offering bread cakes to the queen of heaven because then they were prosperous they said. And what He’s saying here is: The fear of the Lord is better than great treasure (Proverbs 15:16) Nita knows that. She knows that. She was from a wealthy family where servants waited on her all the time and then she married her husband Paton. And then the government took over and he became a doctor for them and then finally they left the country with absolutely nothing. They lived with a box for their table and they had nothing. And they would just take that little bit and bless God as our country made him go back through school—all this time—he’s an outstanding ophthalmologist—but they feared the Lord. And when you hear her testimony and when you look at this dear, dear woman. Stand up for just a minute so they know this dear, dear woman—so they know who to come and talk to if you want to hear her story—it’s an incredible story. But it’s a story of two people who fear the Lord. It’s a story of two people who live for the Lord. It’s a story of two people who use their finances for the Lord not for themselves. It’s a story of people who the wisdom of the Lord is their treasure. So he says (Proverbs 15:16) 16 Better is a little with the fear of the Lord Than great treasure and turmoil with it. Those people wanted their treasure and what they got was turmoil.
  5. The next thing I want you to see is it keeps you from evil. The fear of the Lord keeps you from evil. (Proverbs 16:6-7) 6 By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, (now listen) And by the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil. (I remember a time in my life when I was greatly tempted. And I was greatly tempted by something that would be a great sin. And I will tell you it was the fear of the Lord that kept me from going the way that my flesh was absolutely longing for. I never would have had this privilege. I never would have had the ministry that I had if I had taken the path that my flesh wanted to go.) Verse 7 goes on to say, 7 When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. What did Jeremiah say? “Listen, stay here, stay here and Babylon will be at peace with you.”
  6. The next thing you see is there’s a future for those who live in His fear. (Proverbs 23:17-18). It says, 17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the Lord always (always—day-by-day). 18 Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off.
  7. The next thing I want you to see is it is our treasure. The fear of God is the stability of our times.