The Woman Who Feared the Lord

I would like to ask you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Proverbs chapter 31, verse 30.

Proverbs 31:30

! And as I have you turn there, let me say at the outset that I gladly admit the text that I'm going to use this morning is not one that is new.

It is one that is in the book of Proverbs that I am confident most every one of you are familiar with.

It's one that on more than one occasion I have come back to in some 30 whatever number of years it is that I have preached on Mother's Day.

And it is a text that I trust is more than just a passing curiosity to you, but I trust it is one that is imprinted and affects your thinking.

My call and responsibility today is to take up the Scriptures, to rely upon the enabling of the Spirit of God,

to rely upon the time of prayer and study that God has given to me, and your prayers to preach the Word.

And I trust that as I am preaching that one of the things you are doing along with listening is that you are praying that the Word of God would have free course

and that it would make a difference in your life.

Today is a day that we celebrate, and rightfully so, the role and ministry that mothers have in our lives.

But the text that we are going to be looking at this morning is a text that covers all of God's people,

in that the Scriptures encourage us here to give due regard to the mother, to the wife in particular, who fears the Lord.

And if we are here today and know Christ as our Savior, one of the characteristics of our life should be our fear for the Lord.

I want to encourage you to know that after the sermon, it will be our privilege to see two individuals that are baptized in obedience to Christ.

And after that, Jack, your small group is going to be passing out roses.

And I trust that that is an encouragement, a blessing to all of the ladies in our congregation,

and just a reminder of the value and respect we hold for those who are a blessing to all of us.

Now, I'm going to ask that you turn to the passage and follow with me as I open this up

and think with me a little bit about some of the background,

and then we're going to step into the specific details that are involved in fearing the Lord.

Chapter 31, verse 1, it says,

The words of King Lemuel, an oracle that his mother taught him.

What are you doing, my son?

What are you doing, son of my womb?

What are you doing, son of my vows?

Do not give your strength to women,

your ways to those who would destroy kings.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine,

or for rulers to take strong drink,

lest they drink and forget what has been decreed,

and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

As we open the passage this morning,

I want you to understand that this is a very interesting closing chapter to the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs.

The one who wrote the majority of Proverbs,

Solomon,

that we know,

marked in the Scriptures as the wisest of all men,

nevertheless,

was a man who we know

had a great deal of trouble

with his discernment

when it came to the matter of women.

Am I right?

So, an interesting close

to the book of Proverbs

is this comment made by

King Lemuel's mother

in which,

after we get through the introductory part,

from verse 10

on to the end of the chapter,

we find that the author

gives to us

a very, very important

piece of information

regarding women.

I want you to understand

that it was written

in such a fashion

so that each letter

of each sentence

or little statement

matches up alphabetically.

We call it an acrostic,

and the purpose of an acrostic

is for the sake of memory work.

The implication is that

in the educational process

that took place

in the Hebrew home,

Dad and Mom

were engaged

in teaching their children

not A is for apple,

B is for ball,

and C is for cat,

but they were involved

in teaching their children

Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth,

He, Wow, Zion, Heth, Ted,

Yod, Kof, Lamed, Mem, Nun,

whatever else,

and as they were rattling

through these things,

each one of the letters

of the alphabet

was tagged

with a specific characteristic

for what you're looking for

in a wife.

I've heard lots of parents say,

I pray every day,

I pray every day

for my daughter

or my son

marrying a godly spouse.

I think that's

an appropriate prayer.

But the Bible indication

is that along with the prayer,

guess what we should be doing

as well.

Surprise.

Actually equipping them

so when they go

kicking tires,

how many of you know

what I mean by kicking tires?

I don't mean that literally.

Some of you are going to post

something there on Facebook.

Did you hear what Pastor said

about kicking tires?

I think he was alluding to,

I was not.

So when you go kicking tires

or when your son

or your daughter

goes out

and begins the process

of thinking very seriously

about their future

and moms and dads,

listen to me carefully,

your children actually

began thinking about it

long before you thought

they did.

The purpose of this passage

is that God

in His interest

in our children

making wise decisions

for life partners

have a template,

have a basis

for making a good judgment.

We are not going

to take the time

to look at all

of the passage,

but we are going

to go to the very end

where we find there

in verse 30

that the author,

King Lemuel's mother,

does what any good teacher

would do

and presses the lesson together

and gives us

a summary statement

that locks it in

and makes it manageable

in terms of information.

If you don't remember

anything else,

get the last part.

Let me read it to you.

Charm is deceitful

and beauty is vain,

but a woman

who fears the Lord

is to be praised.

Charm is deceitful

and beauty is vain,

but a woman

who fears the Lord

is to be praised.

Now one of the things

I said early on

is that actually

the application

to this passage

has bearing

on every single person here.

You are here

this morning

either an individual

who by faith

has come

to know Christ

as your Savior

and as the songwriter

John Newton

rightly said,

he said,

"'Twas grace

that taught my heart

to fear

and grace

my fears relieved."

And so you are here

as one who has come

to faith

and in that relationship

with the Lord Jesus Christ

and the creator

of this universe

is also a wholesome

awe and reverence

and real fear.

Or you are a person

who is here

this morning

that does not know Christ

and though you may have

on occasions

little indications

and little cautions

as to regards

to judgment

for the most part

the scriptures

characterize you

as one who has

no fear of God.

As we look at this passage

and we find that

the author

the Holy Spirit

actually is telling us

that the summary

of godliness

is a fear of God

we have to ask ourselves

the question

what does fearing God mean?

In a previous generation

one of the things

that you would hear said

about individuals

is they were

God fearing.

God fearing.

Oh it's a God fearing man.

Or she is a God fearing woman.

That vocabulary

is not used

very much today.

I can't think of

the last time

that I heard someone

say that.

And so let me have you

just think for a moment

when was the last time

you

you

you

personally

feared

God.

Think about it.

When was the last time

that you

personally

feared

God?

Sadly

it's not something

that occupies

much of our thought

and time.

And as we think

about this issue

of fearing God

I want to

I want you to understand

that while it is

essential

it is something

that in our

present day

is not given

much attention

and given

the fact that

scripture

sees it as important

I want you to be

a humble student

of the scriptures

and allow the scriptures

to inform your thinking

going forward.

We do see that

fearing God

is essential

but I do want you

to understand

that the unbeliever

and the believer

fears God differently.

Let me say it again

the unbeliever

and the believer

fears God differently.

The unbeliever

really has

for the most part

little thought

about God

or fear

of His glory

and power.

Let me refer

to a passage

in Romans chapter 3

Romans 3:18

verse 18

it says this

there is no fear

of God

before their eyes.

Why do people

do the things

they do?

Or

why are people

restrained

from doing

some of the things

they are inclined

to do?

In some cases

the reason people

do or do not

do things

is because of

the presence

of a force

that directs

them in a different

path

and so

the individual

who has no fear

of God

goes about their life

really kind of

thinking about themselves

as the center

of the universe

and their behavior

is proportionate

to their attitude.

The unbeliever

may on occasion

have a fear

momentarily

about judgment

but after a period

of time

that fear

gets tamped down

by just the

ongoing process

of living

and the person's

pride and arrogance

harden the heart

to the point

that they have

no concern

whatever

about the holy

judgment

of the God

who has created

this universe

and is absolutely

authoritative

over all of it.

The unbeliever

doesn't fear God.

The believer

begins to fear

God by grace.

The believer

begins to fear

God by grace.

Probably the best

illustration

of that little

opening process

is over in the

book of Luke

Luke 23 · chapter mention

chapter 23.

I want you to

turn to it

just for a moment

and think with me

of the very

interesting circumstances

and setting

that is presented

for us.

Luke chapter 23

Luke 23:40

verse 40

is the crucifixion

setting

with Jesus

being crucified

and if you'll

remember from

the synoptic

gospels

that means

the other

gospels as well

we have a picture

of the cross

with the two men

on either side

and early

in the crucifixion

process

both of the

criminals

are railing

against Jesus

but there's

a turning point

and in verse

40

as one of them

is railing

against Jesus

the other

verse 40

the other

rebuked him

and said

do you not

fear God

you are

under the

same

sentence

of condemnation

in essence

what that

thief was

saying

is

it's reasonable

to fear God

because he is

the judge

of the whole

earth

and he

has brought

upon us

judgment

proportionate

to our crime

that was a

confession

immediately

after that

he turns

to Jesus

and he says

there in

verse 42

he says

remember me

when you

come into

your kingdom

if that

isn't faith

I don't

know what

it is

and Jesus

follows up

and says

truly I

say to you

today you

will be

with me

in paradise

so coming

back around

we understand

that really

the believer

begins to

fear God

by grace

peace

and if you

are here

this morning

and you

have come

to faith

I have

no doubt

that one

of the

things

that took

place

is that

the spirit

of God

brought you

to a point

of understanding

the bankruptcy

of your

own soul

and understanding

the hardness

of your sin

and began

to bear down

upon you

and you

sensing the

divine justice

and judgment

of God

cried out

and said

what must

I do

to be saved

and you understood that Jesus Christ was your only hope.

Not only does the believer begin to understand God and fear Him because of grace,

the believer should grow in fearing God.

And I want you to understand that that is an important feature in the process of growing to be more like Christ.

We should grow in our fear of God.

As I posed the question to myself earlier this week,

so Tim, when was the last time you feared God?

I have to tell you honestly, it was when I was having a little problem with going left of center in my attitudes.

How many of you understand attitudes?

You know, I'm an attitudinal specialist.

I have advanced degrees and studies in it, and I don't have to really stretch or warm up to get an attitude.

I have attitudes about all kinds of things.

And I found myself drifting into that attitudinal corner where I was pretty comfortable.

And then I had this weird thought of, yeah, and what's God think about that?

How many of you have been there?

It's like, yeah, sorry.

Let's back out of this situation.

Here, the believer should grow in his understanding of fearing God.

And fearing God is something that you start with salvation, but it should begin to characterize some of your thinking.

Now, when we talk about fearing God, it's interesting that there's some very particular details that I want you to understand.

Fearing God means don't fear him, but do fear him.

How's that for complicated?

Exodus chapter 20, verse 20.

Exodus 20:20

God says, do not fear.

Remember, he revealed himself to the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai.

And how did that pull off?

Does anybody remember?

Smoke and thunder.

And the people are all standing way back, and they're saying,

Moses, would you go on up the hill and talk to him, but don't have him come down here.

Just have him tell us what you want, you know.

And God says, don't fear.

But fear.

Huh.

Huh.

What am I supposed to do?

Well, the essence of it is this.

Is as we grow to know him, we do grow to fear him.

But we also grow to love him.

Very interesting to see that this is not just an Old Testament concept.

2 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 1 says,

2 Corinthians 7:1

bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

So what?

Everybody smile, because I'm talking to you.

What does progressive sanctification look like?

It means growing in a personal interest in living a godly life

with a profound sense of the presence and the glory and the authority of God.

Are you moving in that path?

Or are you just kind of deedle-dee, deedle-dum,

kind of working your way through and just kind of whatever, you know,

perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord?

Philippians chapter 2, verse 12.

Philippians 2:12

Many of us know it.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

How many of you of late found yourself actually engaged in a conscious,

deliberate, intentional pursuit of developing your spiritual life,

and in doing so, you were doing it so with a fear?

Godly fear.

Godly fear is rooted in three essential things that I want you to think about.

Number one, a sense of God's majesty and glory.

Godly fear involves a sense of God's majesty and glory.

Number two, godly fear involves a sense of God's presence.

Number three, godly fear involves a sense of God's divine will and word.

Now, let me back up and have you think about these three things

because they are profoundly important.

And there are some of you perhaps this morning who are sitting here,

and the truth of the matter is it's been a decade.

It's been a long time since you have actually had a holy fear of God,

who is the creator and sustainer of this universe,

and with whom we have to deal.

You do not fear what you do not know.

You do not fear what you do not know.

Illustration of this would be,

I grew up in India,

and actually this is the gospel truth, not a story.

We had leopards that walked around outside our building at night,

and I could hear them snarling outside the window.

They took one of my dogs for supper.

It was a German shepherd-sized dog that ended up being Dindin.

And I can tell you that without information about leopards,

I would not have had the least bit of fear about them.

But when I could hear them actually snarling,

walking around outside my bedroom window,

and my Aya,

I want you to know that I was the perfect child growing up.

My Aya,

that was like the nanny,

my Aya would say to me,

Timmy,

if you do this,

I am going to ask a leopard to come and eat you.

It was like,

ah!

Suffice it to say,

it didn't last very long.

I'm going to have to have a tiger come and eat you.

I'm going to have to have an elephant stomp on you.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, so,

here's the point.

If you're sitting here,

and you're really not afraid,

truth of the matter is,

is you're not afraid of something you don't know.

And if you are here without a fear of God,

it may be that you really don't know Him.

Secondly,

you do not fear what you do not think is present.

You don't fear in abstraction.

There are some of you here that have a pathological fear of ladders.

I'm not talking about one or two rungs off the ground,

but I'm talking about when you get up there in nosebleed territory.

I know there are some,

Todd,

you're back there.

I can wave at you.

When any ladder work is needed in our family construct,

it's hire grandpa,

have dad come,

you know,

because ladders don't bother me.

I can go up.

I can come down most of the time reasonably.

There are some people that when they think about ladders,

when they think about ladders,

it begins to kind of set the stage for apoplexy.

You know,

their heart begins to change irregular patterns,

and blood pressure begins to respond.

It's a,

you know,

truth of the matter is,

is every time they think about a ladder,

it resonates.

And so,

if you're here,

I want you to understand that fearing God means understanding His majesty and glory,

understanding His presence,

and understanding that He cares about what you're doing.

Now,

what does fearing God bring?

Now,

in this passage here,

we find that,

that fearing God is the absolute summary.

This is what it works to help you grow to be a godly woman.

This is what you should look for,

young man,

as you look for a godly wife.

So,

let me speak in broad terms,

then come back to the book of Proverbs 31 in particular.

Fearing God,

number one,

opens the door to increased wisdom.

Proverbs chapter one says this,

the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

If you're not afraid of Him,

you're not going to listen to what He has to say.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Secondly,

fearing God also brings a deeper understanding into the things of God.

Psalm 25,

Psalms 25:14

verse 14,

it says,

the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him,

and He makes known to them His covenant.

In the King James,

it says,

the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.

And you may be sitting here,

and the truth of the matter is,

is that when you think carefully about where you are in understanding God,

you have to be honest and say,

you know what?

I got that salvation piece,

but after that,

it's just like,

nah.

If you lack a fear of God,

there will not be much growth and insight into who God is.

Third,

fearing God helps us to keep from sin

and its destructive harm.

Over in Proverbs chapter 16,

Proverbs 16:6

verse 6,

it says this,

by the fear of the Lord,

one turns away from evil.

By the fear of the Lord,

one turns away from evil.

There are some of you this morning that are caught deeply in sin.

There are habituated issues that are going on in your life.

Maybe no one else knows about it,

but at the heart of what is going on

is you're behaving as you are.

You're engaged in what you are

because you have no fear of God.

Remember Joseph when he was tempted

by Potiphar's wife?

And sure,

it was going to be a bad career decision

to mess with his boss's wife,

but at the end of the day,

what he says is,

how can I do this against God?

So let me speak

now in more particular terms

from the book of Proverbs itself.

What happens

when a wife,

a mother,

fears the Lord?

Fearing God brings absolute trustworthiness.

Proverbs chapter 31,

Proverbs 31:11

verse 11 and 12.

I want you to look at it just for a moment.

Mark what it says here.

Verse 10 says,

An excellent wife who can find she is far more precious than jewels.

The heart of her husband trusts in her,

and he will have no lack of gain.

All the days of her life,

she will do him good.

I told my mother about a year ago,

I said,

Lord willing,

if I preach your funeral,

I don't know when that will be.

She is not very well today.

This is the passage I think I will preach.

I don't know if the Spirit of God will change it,

but I will say this.

She did her husband good

all her days.

Why?

Because she feared God.

I want you to mark also that

a woman who fears the Lord

is one who consciously and deliberately

rejects anxiety.

Look at verse 25.

I want you to take your...

How many of you ladies here,

how many of you people

kind of struggle on occasion with worry?

I mean,

you don't have to stretch

and kind of limber up to do it.

You're right on top of...

How many are worriers?

Worriers.

Come on.

Oh, we got some.

Okay.

Follow along.

Follow along.

Verse 25.

Strength and dignity are her clothing,

and she laughs at the time to come.

Do you know what that is?

It's like,

huh,

bring it on.

It's okay.

I'm with it.

How does that go

for the anxious person?

Right?

Chicken littles.

This guy is falling in.

I had a dear grandmother.

She's with the Lord right now,

and she knows that

all the prognostications

about how the world

was going to collapse.

There was never a Sunday dinner

we didn't eat

where she didn't kind of

ventilate about

how bad the world was,

and she was convinced

that, you know,

it was going to be

apocalyptic that day.

I mean,

same song,

second verse,

little louder,

little worse,

next Sunday,

and then the Sunday,

she could cook,

but I tell you what,

you had to put up with

every time we ever

came over there,

you know,

the sky is falling in,

and I like this.

It says,

that girl

who fears God,

she laughs

at anxiety.

Everybody said,

amen,

right?

Got that?

If you're here,

and you're a fretful person,

and you're kind of

caught up being anxious,

the problem is

you're fearing

the wrong person.

Remember what Jesus said?

Don't be afraid

of those people

who can cut your neck.

Be afraid of the one

who can throw you

into hell.

Fearing God

makes us laugh

at hardship.

Third,

fearing God

leads to lips

that speak

with wisdom

and kindness.

Verse 26,

she opens her mouth

with wisdom,

and the teaching

of kindness

is on her tongue.

Hey,

how many of you know

what a fishmonger's wife is?

Does anybody,

I mean,

that's kind of an illusion

from being a literature person,

you know,

and growing up

reading poetry.

A fishmonger's wife

is someone

who is just brassy

and sassy

and hard-edged

and, you know,

at least I'm truthful.

You know,

yeah.

Not kind.

You know,

what happens?

I have no respect.

I have no respect

for the woman

that specializes

in being unkind

with her tongue

and then takes pride

in declaring the fact

that at least

she's truthful.

God forbid.

Do you follow me?

Everybody,

that's wrong.

Everybody say,

that's wrong, right?

Can anybody say it with me?

That's wrong.

So how do you tamp down

that kind of brassiness?

Here we go.

Fear God.

And so,

there may be a wife

or there may be a mother here

that needs to work at this,

and what they probably should do

is since they need help with this,

they probably should say

to their husband,

the next time I go off page,

why don't you just say to me,

you know,

questions are always

less dangerous

than confrontation.

How many of you know that?

Are you following me?

Ask the question.

So,

honey,

are you fearing God right now?

You know,

try that.

You know,

it's like,

You got it?

Okay.

Let me close with this.

Why does fearing God matter?

Why does fearing God matter?

Yes,

yes,

our text

was intended by the Holy Spirit

as a guide for picking a godly wife

and for mothers and dads

working in their children's lives

to help them grow

to be God-fearing.

But there's something else

that we shouldn't miss

when we think about this passage

because not everybody's married

and not everybody will be married

and not everybody

is going to be a mother

or a father or whatever,

but here's the truth,

every one of us

are face-to-face before God.

And so,

I want you to understand

that fearing God

may be redemptive.

And as you sit here,

not having come to faith,

one of the things

that I trust the Holy Spirit

is doing at this moment

is bringing in your heart

a growing sense of fear

for the holiness

and the justice of God

that leaves you

with an unsettled sense

of if I were to die today,

I have no complete confidence

in where I would spend eternity.

Do you know what the answer

for that fear is?

Is come to Jesus.

Come to Jesus.

He is the one who died on the cross

to pay the penalty for your sin

and the sin that at this point

has alienated you from God.

God,

Jesus Christ has already

satisfied the debt,

but He is waiting for you

to come in faith

and say,

listen,

I am a morally bankrupt scoundrel

and I deserve judgment

and yet I hear

that you paid my price.

And even though I can't

completely understand

all that you did,

I am thankful

that you died in my place

and I plead with you

to be my Savior.

Savior.

There's another piece.

I want to say this carefully.

Fearing God

is the soul

of spiritual growth.

Fearing God,

by the way,

it's not original with me,

I think it was John Murray

that said that.

Fearing God

is the soul

of spiritual growth.

You know,

I don't think

we give enough thought

to where we are spiritually.

We kind of just kind of hiccup

and go on through life.

But the truth of the matter is

is that one of the characteristics,

everybody smile

because I'm talking to you, right?

One of the characteristics

of a genuine believer

is that they're moving uphill.

Now,

we are moving uphill

a little slower than I'd like,

personally speaking,

but we are moving uphill.

I had a person call me.

I think it was Thursday.

Got my cell phone.

It was a person

that went to school with me

in India

and they wanted to know

if I was coming

to the reunion

up somewhere in Wisconsin.

I said,

no,

I'm not.

But,

but in the course

of conversation,

I said,

I got to tell you,

my days at Woodstock

were pretty tough.

Mainly because

I was such a skunk.

But I'm glad

to be able to say

that I am not the man

I used to be

because of Jesus.

And I got to tell you,

fearing God

is the soul

of spiritual growth.

Let me give you

a Bible verse

to resonate with that one.

Revelation chapter 15,

Revelation 15:4

verse 4,

it says,

who will not fear you,

O Lord,

and bring glory

to your name

for you alone

are holy.

Do you understand that?

So,

who wouldn't fear him?

You don't fear

who you don't know.

And you don't fear

who you do not sense

is present.

And there are some of you

here this morning

that do not know Christ.

And I would plead

with the Holy Spirit

to work

to bring you

to a holy terror

of the judgment

that is to come.

And there are some of you

here today

that are believers

that have,

following your conversion

and your faith,

have become careless

in the presence

of the Almighty

and he is present.

And I would plead

with you to humble yourself

and say,

God,

you work to give to me

a holy fear

that will bring

spiritual growth.

John,

would you come

and lead us

in a song

as we prepare

for baptism?

We'd ask the candidates

to come

as we come

to the baptism.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.