A Proper Ending to This Year

So, allow me, if I may, just to open with a quiz.

While I preach, God's people should do what?

Pray.

And listen, it's a multitasking opportunity.

And I trust that you will continue in that habit and that biblically informed pattern for the remainder of your lives.

I sat on the front this morning, and it has been my habit.

I have never come to this pulpit without a certain amount of trepidation.

I've often thought to myself, if the time would come that I would no longer have a little amount of anxiety at the approach to the pulpit,

that I probably should go sell used cars.

The thing that has remained a consolation for me in those moments is a thing that I remind myself of.

It's this.

I believe in the sufficiency and the authority of the Word of God.

That's what I'm here to preach.

I believe in the efficacy.

That's a fancy word for the effectiveness of the praying of God's people.

That's your part.

And I believe in the work of the Holy Spirit.

That being said, let's pray and dig in.

Amen.

Amen.

Our gracious Father, this morning we are thankful that you have given to us your Word.

Lord, you have given to us eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ.

You have given to us the indwelling Spirit.

And this morning we as your people are here depending upon you to work in our hearts,

to hear, to frame our thinking, and to effect our living for the glory of God.

And we, in advance of that work, declare that we trust you and give you credit for what you will do even this morning in and through us.

And we ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, the end of the year is an interesting moment in a church's time and in our time.

And it's appropriate for us to kind of stop and think, okay, so what are some thoughtful things that we can glean from this text in relationship to the time we find ourselves in?

And I'd like us to look at several different passages this morning to kind of frame our thinking.

First, I want you to turn in your Bible to 1 Samuel 7, verse 12.

1 Samuel 7:12

1 Samuel 7, verse 12, finds the nation of Israel at a very interesting moment in their history.

1 Samuel 7:12

1 Samuel, actually the book of Joshua and Judges and 1 Samuel, if you kind of give yourself a little bit of a history quiz,

you would have to admit is not one of the brightest moments in Israel's life.

If anything, you kind of follow the pattern of Israel and you recognize that the songwriter put it well,

prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.

And you track the history of Israel and you find kind of up and down, up and down from one crisis to another

and just kind of floundering spiritually in many cases.

In this instance, the nation had struggled for quite some time and eventually they'd ended up in a real conundrum

and they'd cried out and asked Samuel to pray for them and following his prayer,

the nation had received a great victory over their enemies, the Philistines.

And in that context, we find that Samuel sets up a stone of remembrance.

And here's what he says there in verse 12.

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer.

How many of you remember singing the song, Here I Put or State My Ebenezer?

Remember that?

How many of you are old enough before they changed it in the hymn book and nobody could know what Ebenezer was

and so they wrote it out, Stone of Remembrance, okay?

And so here is Samuel saying, this stone we're going to set up and we're going to call it Ebenezer.

Why is that?

There in the text it tells us, Till now the Lord has helped us.

And what Samuel was doing in that case was he was...

Someone, get me a glass of water, please.

Thank you.

I am going to cough and drive myself nuts.

I don't know about you, but it wasn't planned.

Thank you, Donna.

So here we are.

Israel is reminding themselves of what they had received in the way of blessing.

And I'd like us to kind of take that thought from 1 Samuel and carry it over

and think a little bit about what God has done in 17.

It's behind us.

For all practical purposes, less than 24 hours from now, we're going to be in a new year.

And it's appropriate for us as we kind of think about what God has done to kind of track some of the particulars.

And I want to say in advance that I'm not going to cover all the things that God has done in our fellowship.

But it is appropriate for us to stop and think of some of the things that He has helped us to accomplish.

For one, I walked down our 200 wing this morning and looked at the lights.

And I have to tell you, I thought to myself I was on a runway.

Someone popped through the doors in the Sunday school wing, and I could actually see their face.

It's the first time in 31 years that I could see from one end of the hall to the other.

And it's like, Stephanie, that's you.

It's amazing.

And I actually stopped and thought about the blessings of watching this fellowship for the last several years go through the remodel process.

Now, there are some of you here that don't remember the paneling that we cherish for about 31 years in the lobby.

But I walked in this morning, and I looked around, and I thought, man, there are so many things that we are thankful for that have happened because of God's people working together

and prompted by a desire to make things right, we're seeing progressive improvements in many different areas.

And I want to say thank you.

Thank you very much, Donna, for that.

That's a servant's heart.

You know what?

Thank you for that.

There used to be a bottle here, but someone has absconded with it.

Was that you, Seth?

Okay, just checking.

Kathy said no, so I believe it.

Okay.

But it's appropriate for us to say thank you to the Lord for what he's done.

I have to tell you another little thing that I'm tickled pink with is in our bulletin this morning,

if you notice our bulletin on the back, it says caring for your children.

There are no blanks in that, and there haven't been any blanks for quite some time.

You may not think that's very important, but it is.

And I'm thankful for that.

And I don't mind saying thank you to Jesus for it, right?

It's a blessing that people that have gifts and determination have worked to bring some of these things about.

It's just neat to see the way in which God has helped our fellowship serve so willingly across such a wide scope of things.

I realize that this morning there's snow that we didn't plan on.

But I have to tell you, yesterday there were seven or eight different people here that were helping clear the snow, volunteers.

Just clearing it privately, quietly, without any fanfare.

And coming again this morning, in fact, I am tasked as part of my job of building the grounds or whatever else.

I would take care of snow on Sundays, and it's normally when I'm not preaching, it's fairly easy.

But when I'm preaching, I'd prefer not focusing on snow and the sermon.

Two S's at the same time.

Someone said, Pastor, I've got it covered.

You don't worry about it.

And sure enough, cared for, and I appreciate that.

So many different things.

The way in which you as a fellowship, prompted by the Spirit of God,

willingly serve across the wide range without a lot of duress and pressure.

I look back over the summer ministry that our fellowship had.

I think about VBS.

And by the way, I don't think it's too early to say that VBS is coming in 18, Lord willing,

and there's already work that is going on in putting the artistic part together.

All hands on deck type of thing.

We're working on it.

But I think about VBS.

I think about youth missions trip.

I think about TLC.

And I look in retrospect and really am thankful for the fact that our senior pastor-elect,

Pastor Shearer, God kind of opened up the opportunity for him to just be directly involved

in so much of what was happening in our youth ministry.

And it's been a blessing to us to have his involvement, his leadership in that.

And we're blessed, blessed, blessed by that.

I look also at what has happened this year in neighboring.

And I have to tell you that I really appreciate the tenor and spirit with which we've approached

the matter of neighboring.

And instead of taking it as just a single event that we're going to do this and done,

it's kind of being woven into our fiber and our thinking.

It's a matter of our prayer life.

It's something that engages us in serving the people that we're around on a regular basis,

not for the sake of an incident, but for the sake of the heart of Christ and caring for

other people.

I'm encouraged when I hear the fellowship talking about neighboring, not as something that they're

kind of beating their chest on, but it's just part of their life and their interest.

And that's progress.

I am encouraged to see that the issue of neighboring has not been driven towards,

I want one single opportunity to share the gospel, and after that, I check the box and move on.

Now, I've got to tell you, if you don't know me, you should know that I care about having an

opportunity to talk to people about Christ.

But it's not to be a once-and-done event.

It's something that the ongoing love for people draws us into giving us the opportunities for

that.

I have to tell you, I look back across this last month in particular, and I think about

the Christmas program and the wonderful ministry that our fellowship had with music and weaving

the gospel in in such a clear and pronounced way throughout the entire program, bringing it

together and just making Christ and the gospel stand out clearly.

The luncheon, over 60 people, I think, attended that and very thankful for that.

And I think it's the first year we kind of push at that, but I look forward to us continuing

to make progress in that and very thankful for that.

It's very interesting for us to recognize that we are about seven months away from the conclusion

of our transition period.

And I remember actually beginning the planning for that about eight years ago.

It's hard for us to think about that far back.

But there were those that began thinking about this that far back, and we slowly moving towards

that.

I can tell you with confidence that God has had His hand in this facet and this movement,

and it's a blessing to see it happening the way it has.

We are a week away from having a candidate come to serve, or at least be considered to serve

on our pastoral staff.

And I know that in the last year, we've been praying and praying and praying for God to

provide the right man.

And here we are, again, thanking Him for His hand and His provision and His direction.

And so here we are, looking back across the year, and it is right for us to do what Samuel

instructed the nation of Israel to do, namely, in setting up a stone and saying, hey, this is what

God has done, and this is how far He's brought us, and thanking Him for that.

And I trust that as you walk away from here this morning, one of the things that will be on your

heart is a spirit of thanksgiving that you have been able to see God at work in a body of believers,

producing the fruit of righteousness and producing ministry that is to His glory and to His name.

Now, I want to come to another passage that I want us to focus on, and turn over in your Bible,

if you would, to Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes chapter 12.

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

Ecclesiastes chapter 12.

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

We look backwards.

Now, I want to come and focus on how do we look forward in a fundamental way and a very,

very simple way.

Ecclesiastes chapter 12, if you will follow with me as I begin reading there in verse 10.

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

The preacher sought to find words of delight, and upright he wrote words of truth, and uprightly

he wrote words of truth.

The words of the wise are like goads and like nails.

Firmly fixed are the collected sayings, and they are given by one shepherd.

Question.

How many of you have been goaded before?

Raise your hand if you have been goaded.

How many of you know what a goad is?

A goad is something that you poke with.

Okay?

You can goad sheep.

You can goad cows.

You can goad husbands.

You can goad children.

You can goad...

You get my point?

Goads are things that you use to sometimes gently move people in the direction they need

to go in.

I mean, you remember what the Scripture says about Paul when he says,

it is hard for thee to kick against the goads, if you remember it in the King James, more or less.

The idea is that, hey, something's pushing you, prompting you in a certain direction.

And here it says, the words of the wise are like goads.

They're valuable.

They're helpful.

And they're like nails.

What you hang things on and depend upon.

Now, look, if you will, in verse 12.

My son, beware of anything beyond these, of making many books.

There is no end.

And much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Now we come to 13.

The end of the matter all has been heard.

Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

I want us to think this morning about the importance of believers focusing on Him.

Focusing on Him.

Here we are at the very end of a very broad survey put together by Solomon relating to the issues of life.

And he is bringing things down to the absolutely essential matters.

I remember literally decades ago when the holiday season was graced by just about only one bowl game, right?

Remember the Rose Bowl and that was pretty much it.

And you had one channel to watch it on.

And now how many Rose Bowls are there?

I mean, how many bowl games are there?

I remember looking the other day and I thought, you know, I could kill myself watching all these football games.

It's just too much.

I did watch one, though, last week.

And I remember watching in particular as a receiver ran a perfect route.

The blockers in front of him made perfect blocks and opened up a lane for him to run as soon as he caught the ball.

And Barrett threw a perfect strike.

It was coming right at his numbers.

And he made one fatal flaw.

Do you know what it was?

Before he caught the ball, he planned where he was going.

And you could see his eyes shift and look down the field.

He took his eyes off the ball.

And as a result, when the ball got there, his eyes weren't focused on the ball and he dropped it.

I mean, it was an easy play.

And he failed at the essential thing.

And I bring that up because here is a very simple statement about an absolutely essential spiritual truth.

I'm not going to give you a Bible survey about the fundamental value of fearing God.

You can do that later in your own studies.

But I want you to understand that fearing God is fundamental for us in our walk.

I do want us to recognize on a negative aspect that true God fear, godly fear, is not just a habit or a ritual.

I want you to look at Isaiah.

Keep your finger there in Ecclesiastes and turn over to Isaiah just for a moment.

Isaiah 29, verse 13.

Isaiah 29:13

Isaiah 29, verse 13.

Isaiah 29:13

And the Lord said,

Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips while their hearts are far from me,

and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.

Okay?

So here is something that I want you to recognize.

It's very easy for us to kind of pick up the vocabulary of fearing God and even go through the motions

and not have it make any difference whatsoever in our daily life.

Some of you grew up in liturgical churches.

And by that I mean churches where everything was ritualized.

When you walked into the sanctuary, there were certain things you had to do.

You would genuflect.

You would dip your hand and put water on your head or whatever.

It was all a matter of ritual.

One thing after another.

It was all taught.

Read from a book of prayer, and there was a time to kneel.

There was a time to stand.

Everything was kind of packaged together, and it was taught.

You know, it's easy for us to get caught up in some of the same habits here as believers who know Christ

and yet can kind of let our relationship kind of become just a matter of habit and ritual

rather than a sincere and intimate communion with the living God.

You can sometimes show up and just be sad.

Well, I went.

Did it make any difference in your life?

Are you different as a result of hearing the Word of God and worshiping with God's people

and being in His presence?

Maybe not.

Let me give you a classic illustration of something else that can become just mere habit.

What about praying for food?

How many of you pray fairly consistently for your food if it's over 50 cents?

I know if you're eating fries at McDonald's, you don't have to.

It's a value meal, right?

But we have certain lines that, you know, okay, we've got it here.

But really, sometimes we become just caught up in a habit,

and it's not really making any connection that we're saying,

you know, Lord, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have this.

And I'm thankful for it.

But we can very easily become very habitual in our practice of faith,

and we can go through the routine, and it's just a matter of habit

rather than an affection of the heart.

And so here we find that Ecclesiastes is telling us we've got to fear God.

And I'm telling you this morning that fearing God is not just a matter of habit,

but it's a discipline of the heart that thinks carefully and seriously about who God is

on a consistent basis.

So when we think about fearing God properly, what does that involve?

Well, for one thing, it means that we do give other people good reason to trust us.

I want you to turn back in your Bibles just for a moment to Genesis chapter 48,

Genesis 48 · chapter mention

42 rather, 42 verse 18.

We find there in Genesis chapter 42,

Genesis 42 · chapter mention

Joseph interacting with his brothers,

and you'll remember that Joseph's brothers had been rather unkind to Joseph,

and now they are living with a high degree of anxiety that payback is imminent.

They're afraid he, remembering the way they had treated him,

he's now going to get even with them.

But listen to what he says there to comfort their hearts.

42 verse 18.

On the third day, Joseph said to them,

Do this and you will live, for I fear God.

What a summary he was giving them of his life.

You do not have to worry about the way I'm going to treat you.

Why?

I fear God.

I fear God.

And the outflow is this,

is that when we have a right view of God,

the people that are around us

don't have a reason to be afraid of us,

do not have a reason to distrust us,

because we, in our relationship with God,

are going to treat them the way we should.

Why?

Because God's there.

What in particular does it mean to fear God?

I want you to ask yourself that question just for a moment.

Do you know what it means to fear God?

Well, let me give you a couple different things to hold on to.

For one, it means to have a sense of his presence.

It means to have a sense of his presence.

When was the last time that you found yourself tempted to do something

and looked around to see if anybody was going to see you do it?

You ever do that?

You're thinking about doing something,

and one of the things that you do in factoring in the probability of you doing it,

is you kind of like,

I wonder, is anybody going to see me do this?

What you're reflecting on is that you're wondering

whether or not you're going to get caught

or whether there are any consequences.

And when we fear God,

we have a sense of his presence,

and that colors our thinking consistently.

I'll give you an illustration of that.

Children, younger ones in particular,

more readily observed in this,

can be a little nasty to each other

in the absence of parents.

How many of you noticed that?

You as parents are upstairs,

and something's going on in the basement,

and you can hear the conversations, right?

And they're being a little sarcastic,

a little critical, a little sharp,

and then all you do is let them know

that you can hear them,

and what happens?

They have an epiphany.

They have a change of heart.

They're suddenly softer and kinder in their tone.

Oh, I...

Why?

They know you're present.

And the characteristic of a person who fears God

is that there is a consistent sense

that God is present,

and you know he's there.

You know he's there.

Furthermore,

a fear of God

is a reflection of a biblical view of God,

and it's informed by Scripture.

In other words,

I know who God is,

and I believe in him

because of what I have been told

by the Scriptures.

That means that our thinking

has been influenced

and led

by what the Bible tells us

about our God.

Let me give you some of the things

that we all here together

would hold on to

and say,

in principle,

we entirely agree with

that God is sovereign.

He's in control of all things.

It's very interesting

that I hear people hold on

to Romans 8, verse 28

Romans 8:28

pretty consistently,

and yet they can get caught up

in a high degree of anxiety

when things aren't going their way.

If God is sovereign,

are there accidents

that he has completely neglected

to pay attention to,

and you are left

to your own devices,

and you are floundering

because he's not paying attention?

What's the answer?

No.

No.

Furthermore,

if we believe that God is holy and just,

and he's tracking things,

is there a reason

that we need to become exercised

and demand judgment

and people be dealt with

according to proper pattern?

I'll give you an illustration.

The other day,

I was driving,

actually coming back

from West Jefferson

with the snowblower

in the back of my truck

because I was going to clean

the lot here,

and there was an individual

driving down the road

at a very rapid pace,

came up right behind me,

and I could see his irritation

in the rear view mirror.

And I thought,

well, you know,

the appropriate thing for me to do

was just pull over to the side

and let him pass me.

I mean,

he was in a hurry,

and I didn't want to lose

the snowblower out the back

or around whatever,

and I thought,

you know,

the righteous thing

would be just to get over,

and I was not irritated.

I pulled over,

didn't wave,

I just pulled over

to the side of the road,

put my blinker on,

good driver,

you know,

put my blinker on,

got over the road,

and he zips around me.

I mean,

it was snowing,

you know,

but good tires,

I guess.

He zipped around me,

and the next thing he did

was he gave him

the hand signals.

And I thought to myself,

where are the officers

when you need them?

And then I thought to myself,

that's God's problem,

it's not mine.

You know,

if we believe

that God is sovereign

and God is just

and we believe

that he's holy,

it should play out

in the way

in which practical theology

leads us to behave

when things don't happen

our way,

right?

His justice,

his grace,

his love,

his immutability.

And to fear God

is to think consciously

and deliberately

about the nature of God

regularly in our life

and let it have a part

in the way in which

we structure our daily living

and our attitudes.

A sure reflection

that we do not have

a right view of God

is that when we allow anxiety

to occupy the same space

that belongs to him

and we confess

is part of trusting him.

Or,

a self-righteous insistence

on our own glory

and having things

our way

and easily offended.

Well,

there's another thing

that is an indication

of our genuine fear

of God

and that is a strong desire

to please him.

Not out of a fear

of being punished,

but out of a desire

to satisfy

and please him.

Martin Luther,

in one of his

exhortations

on the subject

of the fear of God,

made a distinction

between,

I'm going to use

a little fancy word here,

servile,

kind of a serving

fearfulness of judgment,

servile fear

and filial

or fatherly fear.

He said that

godly fear

is a fear

that is interested

in pleasing God

and satisfying God,

not a fear

of his judgment

and his condemnation.

Over in 1 John,

it says,

first,

his love,

perfect love,

casts out fear.

It's saying that

our relationship

with him

tamps down

that fear

of judgment.

We know,

as it says

in Romans 8,

there's no condemnation

to them

who are in Christ Jesus.

We have no reason

to fear him.

And so,

what does

a fear of God

do for the believer's heart?

For one,

it tells us in Proverbs

that it is the beginning

of wisdom.

It is the beginning

of wisdom.

And you stop

and think,

just how valuable

is wisdom?

Can you put

a dollar amount

on the value

of wisdom?

Let me give you

some illustrations

that help you

do that.

Several weeks ago,

I was involved

in helping

an individual

in a rather

difficult predicament.

And as we were

going through

the process

of helping him,

it came down

to he needed help

with making

a payment

on a car

that was

three months behind.

doesn't have a job,

but he has a Lexus.

You got that?

And the income

that has come in

sporadically

has gone to

pharmaceuticals

that are not

off the shelf.

Now,

here's my point.

Is there cost

to a lack of wisdom?

And the answer is

there's high cost.

Here is the scripture

that tells us

that fearing God

is the beginning

of wisdom.

It helps,

when we fear God,

our hearts

and our lives

are governed

by instruction

from him

and we don't drift

to the left

or the right

and we keep ourselves

in a place

of safety

with him.

Furthermore,

a fear of God

opens our eyes

to see things

that we would not

see apart

from a right view

of God.

Turn in your Bible

to Psalm 25,

Psalms 25:12–14

verse 12 through 14.

Psalm 25,

12 through 14.

Fearing God

gives us

understanding

that we would

not have otherwise.

Who is the man

who fears the Lord

him will he instruct

in the way

that he should choose.

His soul

shall abide

in well-being

and his offspring

shall inherit the land.

The friendship

of the Lord

is for those

who fear him

and he makes

known to them

his covenant.

Stop and think

about what that

passage is saying

and its value

to us.

It says,

the man

who fears the Lord

is the one

that God

is going

to instruct.

How does that

play out?

When we have

a right view

of God

and we long

to know him,

our heart

is an open

vessel

to receive

the truth

of who he is.

When we

in our stubbornness

and our resistance

have no interest

in God

and no fear

of God,

we're not going

to learn the things

he has for us.

There are some

of you sitting

here this morning

that are thinking

to yourself,

why is it

that my relationship

with God

in 17

has not been

more vibrant

and marked

by greater growth?

Ask yourself

the question,

do I fear God?

Am I governed

in my thinking

about God

by what the

scriptures tell me

is true about God

or am I demanding

that he be like

I want him to be,

kind of a guy

up there that gives

me what I want,

in any case,

in any case

that I have a desire?

I want us to

recognize that

a fear of God

also checks

our natural

selfishness,

our irritability,

our pride.

A fear of God

checks

our natural

selfishness,

our irritability,

and pride.

Interestingly enough,

I remember

a conversation

not too long ago

with an individual

and I made the statement,

hey, I'm still

working on my pride.

The person

looked at me,

it wasn't in our

fellowship,

everybody knows

I'm working on

my pride here,

but you know,

you're working

on your pride?

Yeah, I am.

I've had a lifelong

battle with it.

Really?

Yeah.

A fear of God

keeps that in check

by reminding you

of who you are

and where you are.

Furthermore,

a fear of God

keeps us from sin.

Keeps us from sin.

I want to plead

with you this morning

that a protective

nature of a fear

of God

is a wholesome

desire

to not sin.

A fear of God

keeps us

from sin.

When was the last time

that you found

yourself consciously

and deliberately

debating

doing something

that you knew

was wrong,

you knew nobody

else was watching,

and you reminded

yourself that God

was present

and He was paying

attention to your heart?

A fear of God

will keep us

from sin.

For the sake

of self-diagnosis,

let's just ask ourselves

a couple quick questions

here

to kind of help you

evaluate whether or not

you have a fear of God.

So here we go.

How easily

are you offended

when people

mistreat you

or say unkind

things about you?

How easily

are you offended

or irritated

when people

mistreat you

or say unkind

things about you?

A reminder,

remember when

Shimei threw stones

and dust at David

and David's friends

wanted to hack

the guy to death

and David said,

what, what, what?

Are you not

paying attention?

He's doing this

because God's allowed it

and God may

do something

in my favor

as a result

where I respond.

That's kind of

a free rendition.

Okay.

How often

do you allow,

listen carefully,

how often

do you allow

anger or moodiness

to put ugly marks

on your relationships?

Let me say that slowly.

How often

do you allow

anger or moodiness

to put ugly marks

on your relationship?

relationship?

How many of you

know what I mean?

It's where you

wake up

and you know

you got a bad attitude

but you think

your wife ought

to have a part

to play in that

and let her know

you have a bad attitude,

right?

How often

do you let

anger or moodiness

put an ugly mark

on your relationship?

Here,

how quickly

do you ask

for forgiveness

when you've sinned

against someone else?

Yes.

Everybody,

I have a little

theology quiz.

Any of us in here

sin free?

Raise your hand.

No one sin free.

How many of you

have sinned

in the last 24 hours?

Didn't have to

raise your hands,

okay?

How many of you

having sinned,

a lot of our sins

happen to other people.

Do you follow

what I'm saying here?

Other people

are affected

by our sin.

So who did you

go to last

and say,

listen,

I am grieved

that I've sinned

against God

and you have also

been the recipient

of that.

Will you forgive me?

How often

do you ask

other people

to forgive you?

When you do

find yourself

tempted,

do you stop

to think

that God knows

and sees?

How quickly

do you remind

yourself that

God's present

and He's paying

attention?

So,

to summarize

it this way

before we step

to one other piece,

ask yourself

this question

practically,

do I fear

God?

Check the box,

yes,

not like I should.

Let's come

to the last part

of Ecclesiastes

and close.

In the passage,

the writer says this,

the end of the matter,

in other words,

hey,

this is it,

this is the whole

part,

fear God

and keep His

commandments

for this is

the whole

duty of man.

In the end,

we're talking

about applied

theology here,

namely,

keeping His

commandments,

in the end,

the way we think

and act

is a reflection

of what we

believe about

our God.

God.

Do you follow

me?

The way we

think and act

is a reflection

of what we

believe,

what we think

about our God.

Let me give you

an illustration

just off the top

here.

When we steal,

what are we

saying about the

God who we

believe provides?

us?

Hmm?

When we

disobey a

clear command

and instruction,

what are we

saying about

God's wisdom?

I want you

to understand

that the

passage that

tells us

keep His

commandments

is telling us

in practical

terms,

show what

you actually

believe about

God in

behavior that

honors Him.

Practically

speaking,

our obedience

affirms our

love.

John chapter

John 14:15

14,

verse 15,

by this shall

all men know

that you are

my disciples,

He said

elsewhere,

because you

love one

another.

But in

14,

15,

He says,

if you

love me,

what?

What?

Keep my

commandments.

Keep my

commandments.

Our

obedience is

also one of

the means of

grace,

in that some

of the blessings

that we stand

to receive do

not fall

apart from

obedience.

What do I

mean by that?

no farmer

was ever

blessed with

a good crop

apart from

dogged

obedience to

getting up and

going to work

on a daily

basis.

Does that make

sense?

Obedience

is one of the

means of

grace.

And when you

obey Him

and do that

which pleases

Him,

it means you

are in the

place where

blessing

happens.

Let me

close by

asking you a

couple very

practical questions

at the end.

First of all

is this,

have you

come to the

place where

the fear of

God has

taught you and

drawn you to

the cross?

grace.

The song

Amazing Grace

has a line

in it or a

few lines in

it that apply

to this.

It says,

"'Twas grace

that taught

my heart

to fear

and grace

my fears

relieved."

You know

what it's

saying?

It's saying

that the

grace of God

brought me to

realize the

absolute moral

bankruptcy and

darkness of my

heart and led

me to realize I

couldn't save

myself and I

needed Jesus.

Have you

come to that

place?

Have you

come to that

place where

the grace of

God has brought

you to a place

of fear of

God and you

in humility

have cried out

and said,

"'Jesus, I

need you to

be my Savior.'"

Second question

is for you who

are believers

here this

morning,

how often

does a fear

of God

affect your

daily thinking

as a believer?

How often?

I want to

appeal to you

that if you

took time to

study the New

Testament in

particular,

you would find

that the fear

of God occupies

more space than

we are inclined

to think.

God is not

just some nice

old companion

up there that

gives us what

we want.

It says in

scriptures,

it's a fearful

thing to fall

into the hands

of the living

God.

In Revelation,

it speaks about

fearing Him.

And so I

want to

encourage you

who are

believers this

morning as you

think about

18, that what

you will do

is this, is

that you will

say,

Lord, you

being my

helper, I

want you to

stir my

heart that I

will have a

fear of you

that honors

your great

name.

Let me close

with a simple

verse for you

to hold on

to.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5:9

chapter 5

verse 9.

It wouldn't

be a bad

one to

memorize.

Certainly

it wouldn't

be a bad

one to

underline.

And so I'm

going to ask

that you turn

to it to

give you the

chance to

frame it

in your

own

thinking.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5:9

chapter 5

verse 9.

So whether

we are at

home or

away,

so whether

we are at

home or

away,

whether I

am here

or there,

we make

it our

aim

to please

him.

This is

my desire.

I want

him

satisfied

with my

life.

Let's close

in prayer.

Father God,

this morning as

we take your

word in hand

and we remind

ourselves first

of blessing

and then

counsel and

instruction,

we want

to be a

people that

fear you,

that obey

you,

that delight

in you,

and give

you delight.

We ask

that you

would work

in us

to that

end,

to the

glory of

Christ.

And we

pray this

in his

name.

Amen.