WEBVTT 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:10.060 We will be in Ecclesiastes, that's in the Old 00:00:10.060 --> 00:00:15.140 Testament. If you can find Psalms, that's kind 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:17.620 of in the middle, turn a little past that, Proverbs, 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:19.920 Ecclesiastes, they're all right there pretty 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:26.920 close together. Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, last 00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:29.920 chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes, last couple 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:32.679 of verses of the chapter, very end of the book. 00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:40.719 Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verses 13 and 14. If 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:43.840 you've never read the book of Ecclesiastes, you 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:47.060 should read the book of Ecclesiastes. But you 00:00:47.060 --> 00:00:49.039 need to be prepared. It kind of will bum you 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:52.079 out, I'll be honest with you. You might wonder, 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:53.840 if you've never read it before, why this is in 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:57.640 the Bible. This seems kind of depressing. And 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:00.960 if I could sum up Ecclesiastes, it would be to 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:04.379 say that... It just kind of reminds us of the 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:08.700 reality of life, that life is hard, that one 00:01:08.700 --> 00:01:11.879 day we'll get old and we'll die, and life is 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:13.780 tough, and it's not going to be good to you, 00:01:13.859 --> 00:01:18.359 and that is, in fact, true. But then there's 00:01:18.359 --> 00:01:21.379 a conclusion here at the end of Ecclesiastes 00:01:21.379 --> 00:01:24.219 that we're going to talk a little bit about this 00:01:24.219 --> 00:01:28.099 morning. Ecclesiastes chapter 12, we'll read 00:01:28.099 --> 00:01:33.879 verses 13 and 14. Then we'll pray and get started. 00:01:36.099 --> 00:01:40.959 When all has been heard, the conclusion of the 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:46.140 matter is this. Fear God and keep his commands, 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:51.620 because this is for all humanity. For God will 00:01:51.620 --> 00:01:55.540 bring every act to judgment, including every 00:01:55.540 --> 00:02:00.280 hidden thing, whether good or evil. Let's pray. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:03.480 God, we come to you today and we thank you for 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:08.180 the powerful truth of this word, God. I pray, 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:10.120 dear Lord, that this morning that we would be 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:14.099 free of the worries and of the distractions and 00:02:14.099 --> 00:02:16.860 of just the stress and the struggles of this 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:19.860 world, even the happy stuff this morning, dear 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:22.520 Lord, that may be competing for our mind. I pray 00:02:22.520 --> 00:02:25.819 that you would free us from those distractions. 00:02:26.659 --> 00:02:29.360 I pray that your Holy Spirit would meet us where 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:32.439 we are. You know what we need. I pray that you'd 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:35.000 grab ahold of us, dear Lord, help us to grow 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:38.159 in you today. I pray that you help me to preach 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:40.319 and teach in a way that brings glory and honor 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:42.860 to you, that you take away any nerves or pride 00:02:42.860 --> 00:02:45.919 that are within me, that every word that is spoken 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:50.240 here today will be for your glory. I pray, God, 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:52.180 that we would be a people that after being here 00:02:52.180 --> 00:02:55.520 this morning and reading these words would be 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:59.240 a people who would fear you and keep your commands. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:03.879 And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:03:05.659 --> 00:03:08.419 I've been working on something this week. I'm 00:03:08.419 --> 00:03:11.340 pretty excited to share it with you guys. Now, 00:03:11.400 --> 00:03:15.860 I know that you all live in the world, and you 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:18.400 know that the world is not always a good place. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:22.879 But I have come up with a solution, and I'm going 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:26.039 to tell it to you all today so that we can solve 00:03:26.039 --> 00:03:29.490 the world's problems. I've decided there's a 00:03:29.490 --> 00:03:32.930 lot of bad that goes on in the world. And so 00:03:32.930 --> 00:03:36.469 what I have come up with is that we will make 00:03:36.469 --> 00:03:41.050 laws to make things that are bad illegal. And 00:03:41.050 --> 00:03:44.069 I'm going to start this morning with Highway 00:03:44.069 --> 00:03:49.090 24 between Liberty and Macomb. There's a lot 00:03:49.090 --> 00:03:50.930 of stuff that happens on that road that is not 00:03:50.930 --> 00:03:54.229 good. So I have decided to solve the problem. 00:03:54.840 --> 00:03:56.919 I'm going to make it illegal for people to go 00:03:56.919 --> 00:03:59.800 too fast and to pass going up a hill. That's 00:03:59.800 --> 00:04:04.039 against the law. Can't do it no more. And since 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:06.139 sometimes you've got to get to work and there's 00:04:06.139 --> 00:04:08.800 some old fool, he's driving about 30 miles an 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:11.080 hour all the way from Liberty Macomb, I'm making 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:14.659 a law that you cannot go under 50 miles an hour. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:18.300 It's against the law. I'm also going to make 00:04:18.300 --> 00:04:20.560 it against the law to own an electric vehicle. 00:04:21.860 --> 00:04:24.360 I'm outlawing electric trucks and cars. You cannot 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:28.819 own them. You have to own a V8. That is the new 00:04:28.819 --> 00:04:32.220 law. You cannot own an electric vehicle. If you 00:04:32.220 --> 00:04:35.040 drive an electric car, I'm sorry. Even a golf 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:41.480 cart, I'm coming for you. It's going to be against 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:47.579 the law to tell a lie. Cannot tell no more lies. 00:04:48.740 --> 00:04:52.459 Can't lie to your employer. It's going to be 00:04:52.459 --> 00:04:56.540 against the law to steal from somebody. You can't 00:04:56.540 --> 00:04:58.600 steal from your neighbor anymore. It's wrong 00:04:58.600 --> 00:05:01.240 to steal. People work hard for what they get, 00:05:01.339 --> 00:05:04.519 and you can't steal from people anymore. It's 00:05:04.519 --> 00:05:09.620 going to be against the law to do that. It's 00:05:09.620 --> 00:05:11.339 going to be against the law to harm anybody. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.500 It's a bad deal when people get hurt. It's going 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:18.120 to be against the law for you to hurt somebody. 00:05:18.139 --> 00:05:20.579 It's going to be against the law. For you to 00:05:20.579 --> 00:05:23.699 kill somebody. It's going to be against the law 00:05:23.699 --> 00:05:26.779 for you to get high on drugs and to get drunk 00:05:26.779 --> 00:05:30.920 on alcohol and to cause problems. You see, I 00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:33.579 have figured out the solution to all of our problems. 00:05:33.980 --> 00:05:36.800 Everything that is bad, I'm simply going to make 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:39.319 a law against it, and that is going to solve 00:05:39.319 --> 00:05:42.000 our problems. And you may say to yourself, I 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.660 don't think that's going to work. But that's 00:05:44.660 --> 00:05:46.779 where you're wrong. Because, see, here's the 00:05:46.779 --> 00:05:51.500 law of all laws. And that is, it will be against 00:05:51.500 --> 00:05:55.620 the law to break the law. Now, with all of these 00:05:55.620 --> 00:05:58.620 laws in place, surely that's going to solve our 00:05:58.620 --> 00:06:02.660 problems as a society, is it not? Well, you know 00:06:02.660 --> 00:06:06.579 it's not. Because you laugh as I say these things. 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:09.779 Because you say to yourself, well, he's either 00:06:09.779 --> 00:06:11.600 an idiot or he don't know what he's talking about. 00:06:11.639 --> 00:06:14.860 These things are already laws. And you're right, 00:06:14.899 --> 00:06:19.939 they are laws. Throughout our civilization, throughout 00:06:19.939 --> 00:06:23.379 the history of man, what do we keep doing? We 00:06:23.379 --> 00:06:26.819 keep making more laws and more laws as if that's 00:06:26.819 --> 00:06:30.860 going to fix our civilization. As if that's going 00:06:30.860 --> 00:06:34.959 to fix humanity. To create more laws and to say 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:37.259 that more things are wrong and to make more laws 00:06:37.259 --> 00:06:39.920 against things that we already know are wrong 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:45.500 is an exercise in absurdity. It's not going to 00:06:45.500 --> 00:06:49.660 fix our problem. Laws are not going to fix our 00:06:49.660 --> 00:06:53.160 problem. Rules that we make are not going to 00:06:53.160 --> 00:06:56.360 fix our problem. I'll tell you today what will 00:06:56.360 --> 00:06:59.800 really fix our problem and what our problem is. 00:07:00.199 --> 00:07:07.879 Our problem is this. We do not fear God. If we 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:12.680 as a people feared God, we wouldn't do half the 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:16.160 things that we do. But the problem that our... 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:19.240 that our society has faced, that humanity has 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:23.259 faced since its creation is we do not fear God. 00:07:23.660 --> 00:07:26.420 When we fear God, we will keep his commands. 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:30.079 When we do not fear God, we will live for ourselves 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:33.180 and we will have no regard for the commands of 00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:38.079 God and the people around us. You know why Adam 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:40.680 and Eve sinned? Because they didn't fear God. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:45.019 God said, don't eat from this tree. They didn't 00:07:45.019 --> 00:07:50.860 fear God. Throughout the Bible, people knew the 00:07:50.860 --> 00:07:53.680 commands of God. The commands that we give today 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:55.860 are no different than the commands that God gave 00:07:55.860 --> 00:07:57.879 years ago. For the most part, there are many 00:07:57.879 --> 00:07:59.860 of the laws that we have today that are just 00:07:59.860 --> 00:08:02.980 built upon the very things that God said. And 00:08:02.980 --> 00:08:06.199 yet we still have problems in our society. And 00:08:06.199 --> 00:08:08.899 we still wonder why our world is falling apart. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:12.079 And we still wonder why there is evil. And it's 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:17.120 because we do not fear God. And I ain't just 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:19.759 talking about the non -Christians. I'm talking 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.939 about us in this room. I'm not talking about 00:08:22.939 --> 00:08:26.819 them. I'm talking about us. I'm asking you today, 00:08:27.019 --> 00:08:29.560 do you fear God? Oh yeah, I fear God. Oh really, 00:08:29.699 --> 00:08:33.039 is that so? But you better stop and think real 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:37.419 close of whether or not you fear God. Because 00:08:37.419 --> 00:08:39.220 if we fear God, there's a lot of things that 00:08:39.220 --> 00:08:42.899 we do that we wouldn't do. There's a lot of things 00:08:42.899 --> 00:08:45.100 that we just continue to do time and time again, 00:08:45.179 --> 00:08:47.580 day after day, month after month, year after 00:08:47.580 --> 00:08:50.720 year of our life, and we say we fear God? You 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:52.940 can gauge how much you fear God by how long it 00:08:52.940 --> 00:08:54.759 takes you to turn from what you're doing wrong. 00:08:54.899 --> 00:08:57.440 And there are some sins in our life that if we 00:08:57.440 --> 00:08:59.720 feared God, we'd have stopped doing them 50 years 00:08:59.720 --> 00:09:05.080 ago. And yet we keep doing them. And you know 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:10.480 why? Because we don't fear God. When you don't 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:15.259 fear God, you live in foolishness. Here's what's 00:09:15.259 --> 00:09:18.720 said in Job chapter 28, verse 8. It says this, 00:09:18.779 --> 00:09:26.679 The fear of the Lord is this, wisdom. And to 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:31.649 turn from evil is understanding. You know why 00:09:31.649 --> 00:09:34.950 our world is evil? You know why we do evil things? 00:09:35.769 --> 00:09:39.169 It's because we are fools. Because we are not 00:09:39.169 --> 00:09:43.490 living in wisdom. Because we do not fear God. 00:09:45.149 --> 00:09:47.710 Proverbs chapter 3 verse 7 says, Don't consider 00:09:47.710 --> 00:09:51.610 yourself to be wise. Fear the Lord and turn away 00:09:51.610 --> 00:09:56.409 from evil. That's our problem. We consider ourselves 00:09:56.409 --> 00:10:00.789 to be wise. We don't see a need for God, and 00:10:00.789 --> 00:10:03.730 so we live for ourselves, and we have no care 00:10:03.730 --> 00:10:07.269 about those around us. We have no care about 00:10:07.269 --> 00:10:10.450 the Word of God. We have no care about our brothers, 00:10:10.529 --> 00:10:13.590 about our neighbors, and we cheat them, and we 00:10:13.590 --> 00:10:16.850 steal from them, and we lie to them, and we cheat 00:10:16.850 --> 00:10:19.909 on our spouses, and we abuse our children, and 00:10:19.909 --> 00:10:22.850 we give in to our temptations of sin because 00:10:22.850 --> 00:10:27.759 we do not fear the Lord our God. the creator 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:30.379 of the heavens and the earth, the one who we 00:10:30.379 --> 00:10:34.340 will have to stand before one day. There will 00:10:34.340 --> 00:10:39.299 be a judgment day that will occur. God gives 00:10:39.299 --> 00:10:41.820 us in his word, his instruction and his commands 00:10:41.820 --> 00:10:45.019 and how we are to live and we have to answer 00:10:45.019 --> 00:10:47.519 for ourselves today, are we living by the commands 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:51.559 of God? When Jesus was asked what law was the 00:10:51.559 --> 00:10:53.460 most important, what did he say? He said to love 00:10:53.460 --> 00:10:55.000 the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, 00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:57.860 soul and strength. And the second is like it, 00:10:57.879 --> 00:10:59.879 to love your neighbor as yourself. That is the 00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:03.799 law of Jesus Christ. That is the law of love. 00:11:05.379 --> 00:11:08.779 And when we fear God, we'll keep those commands. 00:11:09.980 --> 00:11:13.840 When we fear God, we'll love our neighbor. We 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:16.179 won't harm those around us. We won't cheat those 00:11:16.179 --> 00:11:19.860 around us. We won't steal from those around us. 00:11:21.639 --> 00:11:25.370 We need to have a fear of God. God is good. Praise 00:11:25.370 --> 00:11:27.669 the Lord. He's good. He's gracious. I praise 00:11:27.669 --> 00:11:30.210 God for that. A lot of people say, oh, it's just 00:11:30.210 --> 00:11:31.669 fear of the Lord. It doesn't really mean fear 00:11:31.669 --> 00:11:33.529 of the Lord. Like, not really fear Him. Just 00:11:33.529 --> 00:11:35.710 a reverential fear. Well, yeah, we should have 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:38.470 a reverential fear of God. We should respect 00:11:38.470 --> 00:11:41.769 God. But I think there's a real fear there that 00:11:41.769 --> 00:11:44.389 needs to come upon us that we need to realize 00:11:44.389 --> 00:11:47.529 that one day we will stand before the Lord our 00:11:47.529 --> 00:11:50.830 God. And you can sit on this pew every day, but 00:11:50.830 --> 00:11:52.710 if we still are living in sin, then we don't 00:11:52.710 --> 00:11:58.610 fear God. And he knows what we're doing. The 00:11:58.610 --> 00:12:00.409 rest of the people in here may not know what 00:12:00.409 --> 00:12:02.029 you're doing. Y 'all might not know what I'm 00:12:02.029 --> 00:12:04.250 doing. But God knows what we're doing. And one 00:12:04.250 --> 00:12:06.809 day we'll stand before God and you may say, well, 00:12:06.909 --> 00:12:09.110 I follow Jesus Christ and my sins are forgiven. 00:12:09.289 --> 00:12:11.710 Okay, well, praise the Lord. But that's going 00:12:11.710 --> 00:12:13.750 to be a pretty scary day to stand before God 00:12:13.750 --> 00:12:15.629 and he's going to say, you know you did this 00:12:15.629 --> 00:12:20.710 thing? That's going to be pretty scary. Now, 00:12:20.750 --> 00:12:23.450 when I was growing up, I feared my father. It 00:12:23.450 --> 00:12:25.750 was not just a reverential fear. It was a real 00:12:25.750 --> 00:12:28.830 fear. It was a fear that the genuine leather 00:12:28.830 --> 00:12:31.610 of his belt was going to touch the soft skin 00:12:31.610 --> 00:12:33.990 of my bottom and the two were going to become 00:12:33.990 --> 00:12:37.909 one flesh. And so when I got this urge and these 00:12:37.909 --> 00:12:41.389 temptations to do things I shouldn't do, it wasn't 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:43.950 like, oh, I respect my father so much and I don't 00:12:43.950 --> 00:12:45.470 want to disappoint him. Now, sometimes there 00:12:45.470 --> 00:12:48.210 is that in life. But the fear was, I don't want 00:12:48.210 --> 00:12:50.750 the belt to touch my butt, so therefore I'm going 00:12:50.750 --> 00:12:54.669 to do good. That was a fear. He was my father. 00:12:54.789 --> 00:12:57.070 And I didn't walk around every day going, I'm 00:12:57.070 --> 00:12:59.750 so scared of my father. No, I knew he loved me. 00:12:59.809 --> 00:13:02.090 And I loved him. And I didn't walk around in 00:13:02.090 --> 00:13:04.950 fear. But there was a real fear there to know 00:13:04.950 --> 00:13:07.830 that he has spoken and he has told me not to 00:13:07.830 --> 00:13:10.529 do what I was doing and I better listen to him. 00:13:11.929 --> 00:13:14.110 That's the same kind of fear I think we're supposed 00:13:14.110 --> 00:13:17.929 to have of God. A real fear that we respect God 00:13:17.929 --> 00:13:20.620 and we know God. We know God loves us. I don't 00:13:20.620 --> 00:13:22.519 walk around every day thinking God's going to 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:24.620 strike me with lightning, but there's a fear 00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:27.039 there when I'm living in sin and doing what I 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:29.740 shouldn't do, especially repeatedly for a long 00:13:29.740 --> 00:13:32.440 period of time, and there's no peace in that. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:39.779 And so our real problem in life, as individuals 00:13:39.779 --> 00:13:44.600 and as a society, is sometimes the very fact 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:49.549 that we just don't fear the Lord. Maybe if we 00:13:49.549 --> 00:13:51.710 really started to seek God and His commands, 00:13:52.070 --> 00:13:55.450 if we really began to just humble ourselves before 00:13:55.450 --> 00:13:59.450 God and realize that we are sinners and we are 00:13:59.450 --> 00:14:03.070 in a bad way, and that God is the creator of 00:14:03.070 --> 00:14:05.149 the heavens and the earth, and that he spoke 00:14:05.149 --> 00:14:08.549 everything to existence, and that he sees everything 00:14:08.549 --> 00:14:11.830 that we do, and he hears every word that we say, 00:14:11.990 --> 00:14:14.970 and he knows every thought that we think, and 00:14:14.970 --> 00:14:18.450 one day this is the God that we will stand before, 00:14:18.789 --> 00:14:21.269 then maybe if we stopped and thought about that 00:14:21.269 --> 00:14:23.990 a little more than we do, then our actions would 00:14:23.990 --> 00:14:29.389 change. If you think about that for a second 00:14:29.389 --> 00:14:31.090 and your actions don't change, then you need 00:14:31.090 --> 00:14:34.529 to do some more thinking. Because maybe you don't 00:14:34.529 --> 00:14:37.850 know the fear of the Lord. You can tell pretty 00:14:37.850 --> 00:14:40.529 quick, you can tell pretty easy, if a child has 00:14:40.529 --> 00:14:43.250 a fear for their parents or not, because the 00:14:43.250 --> 00:14:46.110 parent will say, you better not do that. And 00:14:46.110 --> 00:14:48.250 if the kid don't do it no more, then you know 00:14:48.250 --> 00:14:50.830 that, well, that parent, they probably got a 00:14:50.830 --> 00:14:53.740 good fear of them. So many times you better stop 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:55.259 doing it. And the kid just keeps on talking, 00:14:55.340 --> 00:14:56.940 just keeps on doing what they want to do. And 00:14:56.940 --> 00:14:59.320 then the parent does what I'm talking about. 00:14:59.779 --> 00:15:01.600 They really drop the hammer. You know what the 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:05.179 parents do? They say, if you do that one more 00:15:05.179 --> 00:15:09.620 time, I'm going to count to three. Oh, you can 00:15:09.620 --> 00:15:11.840 see the kids, the fear. They're shaking in their 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:15.580 boots. I never learned how to count to three. 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:18.600 My daddy never did that. But I learned what a 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:21.360 belt was like. And I learned what fear was like. 00:15:21.379 --> 00:15:23.320 And you know what that fear caused me to do? 00:15:23.419 --> 00:15:25.580 Not as much as it should have. I needed a lot 00:15:25.580 --> 00:15:28.620 more weapons. But that fear caused me to do what 00:15:28.620 --> 00:15:34.980 was right. At the end of Ecclesiastes, the scripture 00:15:34.980 --> 00:15:39.940 says, when all is said and done, this world is 00:15:39.940 --> 00:15:42.259 full of all kind of evil and all kind of horrible 00:15:42.259 --> 00:15:45.220 things, and it is depressing, and it is just 00:15:45.220 --> 00:15:48.490 rotten. Because it's full of people like us and 00:15:48.490 --> 00:15:51.750 we're just rotten to the core. On our own, we're 00:15:51.750 --> 00:15:55.149 just rotten, evil people. And when all is said 00:15:55.149 --> 00:15:58.950 and done, the only solution to our problem, the 00:15:58.950 --> 00:16:01.809 only thing that we can cling to, the only thing 00:16:01.809 --> 00:16:05.269 that we can find hope in, is to fear God and 00:16:05.269 --> 00:16:11.549 to keep His commands. That's what we're called 00:16:11.549 --> 00:16:17.039 to do, is to fear God and to keep. His commands. 00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:24.379 Maybe we failed at that. Maybe we have failed 00:16:24.379 --> 00:16:27.879 at that miserably today. Now look, you can't 00:16:27.879 --> 00:16:30.379 be perfect. I'm not telling you you can be. I 00:16:30.379 --> 00:16:32.799 wish we could do better than we could do. And 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:34.720 we can do better than we can do, but we can't 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:36.779 be perfect. And I'm not saying that you're never 00:16:36.779 --> 00:16:38.960 going to fail. And I'm not going to say that 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:42.299 if you fail once, that doesn't mean you fear 00:16:42.299 --> 00:16:45.740 God. But the fact of the matter is that we need 00:16:45.740 --> 00:16:48.559 some help that is beyond us and our help comes 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:52.500 from Jesus Christ. That's where our help comes 00:16:52.500 --> 00:16:55.759 from. He is the one who can be obedient to God. 00:16:56.940 --> 00:16:59.440 And when we sin, we should never be okay with 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:02.320 our sin and just keep sinning and say, well, 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:05.099 Jesus has died for me. I'll just keep sinning. 00:17:05.099 --> 00:17:07.779 We don't fear the Lord and we don't really understand 00:17:07.779 --> 00:17:10.460 and appreciate and respect and love Jesus Christ 00:17:10.460 --> 00:17:13.240 in the way we should if our excuse is, well, 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:16.000 let sin abound all the more so grace can abound 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:20.440 all the more. Paul says absolutely not. There 00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:24.599 needs to be a love of God there. And a fear of 00:17:24.599 --> 00:17:28.440 God there that we realize that we cannot do it 00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:32.480 on our own. We are powerless on our own, but 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:35.740 through the power of God, through the power of 00:17:35.740 --> 00:17:40.160 Jesus Christ, God can help us to overcome the 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:45.759 things that we fail at. And it's when we seek 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:48.079 Jesus Christ that our hearts can really begin 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:52.539 to be changed. And it's only when we really fear 00:17:52.539 --> 00:17:55.440 God that we will begin to keep his commands. 00:17:56.599 --> 00:17:59.000 That's why it's so important for our world to 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:02.420 hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. People in our 00:18:02.420 --> 00:18:05.900 world are not going to change. You can outlaw 00:18:05.900 --> 00:18:08.460 guns and knives and melt them all down. You can 00:18:08.460 --> 00:18:11.339 do anything you want to. You can take away any 00:18:11.339 --> 00:18:14.240 weapon that anybody can get their hands on, and 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:16.240 guess what? They'll still have their hands. And 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:18.039 you cut their hands off, and they'd still find 00:18:18.039 --> 00:18:20.559 a way to kill somebody because evil comes from 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:24.960 the heart. That's our problem is evil comes from 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:27.480 our heart, and we don't fear God, so we're willing 00:18:27.480 --> 00:18:30.599 to do anything to those who are around us. We'll 00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:33.039 lie, cheat, and steal and won't think twice about 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:39.599 it because we don't fear God as a people. And 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:45.319 until we know who God is, until people know who 00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:47.920 Jesus Christ is, until they begin to trust in 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:50.440 Him, until we realize that we are sinners in 00:18:50.440 --> 00:18:53.180 need of a Savior, until we realize that one day 00:18:53.180 --> 00:18:55.220 we are hopeless and helpless and we will have 00:18:55.220 --> 00:18:58.019 to stand before God and apart from Jesus Christ, 00:18:58.119 --> 00:19:00.839 that's going to be a bad day. Until we humble 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:04.339 ourselves and realize who God is, we cannot fear 00:19:04.339 --> 00:19:09.210 Him. But the moment we begin to fear God, he 00:19:09.210 --> 00:19:11.309 can begin to change our heart, he can begin to 00:19:11.309 --> 00:19:13.869 change our lives, and he can begin to change 00:19:13.869 --> 00:19:19.950 our world. So whatever laws or whatever rules 00:19:19.950 --> 00:19:24.750 we make as humanity, they will fail. Only the 00:19:24.750 --> 00:19:28.390 law of love will succeed. If we would love the 00:19:28.390 --> 00:19:30.289 Lord our God with all our heart and love our 00:19:30.289 --> 00:19:32.289 neighbor as ourself, our world would change. 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:37.660 And we can experience such a love when we experience 00:19:37.660 --> 00:19:42.019 the fear of God. So when all is said and done, 00:19:42.200 --> 00:19:47.359 the end of the matter is this, to fear God and 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:51.740 keep his commands. Let's pray. God, we come to 00:19:51.740 --> 00:19:55.579 you today and we thank you for being good to 00:19:55.579 --> 00:19:58.599 us, dear Lord. And maybe sometimes we just get 00:19:58.599 --> 00:20:03.180 so lax in our lives that we just kind of forget 00:20:03.180 --> 00:20:05.910 who you are. We think about your goodness and 00:20:05.910 --> 00:20:07.869 your grace and your blessings, and those things 00:20:07.869 --> 00:20:09.910 are awesome, God, and they are who you are, and 00:20:09.910 --> 00:20:15.029 we praise you for them. God, you're a pretty 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:19.269 serious God, too. And you don't wink at sin and 00:20:19.269 --> 00:20:21.869 turn a blind eye to it. You forgive us for it. 00:20:21.890 --> 00:20:23.789 We praise you for that through Jesus Christ. 00:20:25.539 --> 00:20:27.960 But you're not okay with us, God, just continue 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:30.359 to live in it. You don't desire for us to, dear 00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:32.880 Lord. Even if it is forgiven, you don't desire 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:35.180 for us to live in the burden of that sin. And 00:20:35.180 --> 00:20:38.960 so, God, I pray that today that we would fear 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:42.000 you and humble ourselves before you this morning, 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:46.180 God. That we would not be so foolish to think 00:20:46.180 --> 00:20:49.339 that we would come up with laws and rules that 00:20:49.339 --> 00:20:54.700 are going to change our world, God. God, our 00:20:54.700 --> 00:20:57.220 world will only be changed when our hearts are 00:20:57.220 --> 00:21:00.220 changed. And our hearts will only be changed 00:21:00.220 --> 00:21:03.220 through Jesus Christ. So God, our world is in 00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:07.740 such a mess today, God. There are so many people, 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:09.599 dear Lord, that are in darkness and they are 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:11.539 seeking and they are searching and they want 00:21:11.539 --> 00:21:14.079 deliverance and they want help and they don't 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:16.460 even know where to find it. They don't even know 00:21:16.460 --> 00:21:18.799 that they need it sometimes, God. But we know 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:21.640 that your word tells us that we need Jesus Christ. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:25.460 And it's only when we come to you and seek you 00:21:25.460 --> 00:21:27.900 and fear you and humble ourselves before you, 00:21:27.940 --> 00:21:30.619 God, that we will find you and that we will begin 00:21:30.619 --> 00:21:33.240 to listen to you and that we will stop seeking 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:38.880 to be wise in our own eyes, dear Lord. But that, 00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:43.259 God, I pray today we would realize that the fear 00:21:43.259 --> 00:21:48.380 of the Lord is wisdom. God, help us to be a wise 00:21:48.380 --> 00:21:51.779 people today. so that we would be those who would 00:21:51.779 --> 00:21:54.079 turn away from our foolishness and turn away 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:58.319 from our evil. I pray that you can start with 00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:00.359 us, dear Lord. Let us not look around at everybody 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:03.359 else that may need these words. I pray that you'd 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:05.319 help us to look at our own lives, God. Maybe 00:22:05.319 --> 00:22:08.180 we're the one that needs it today. Maybe there 00:22:08.180 --> 00:22:09.960 are some things in our life and we just need 00:22:09.960 --> 00:22:11.880 to repent and we need to turn away with them 00:22:11.880 --> 00:22:14.140 and we've been just dabbling with them and going 00:22:14.140 --> 00:22:17.920 along in these sins for far too long. I pray, 00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:21.529 God, today that we would... repent of our sinfulness 00:22:21.529 --> 00:22:23.390 and come to you, God. We know you're a loving 00:22:23.390 --> 00:22:27.369 Father, but God, we also know that you deal with 00:22:27.369 --> 00:22:29.609 us sometimes, but your word says that you discipline 00:22:29.609 --> 00:22:33.089 the one that you love, and so God, I pray that 00:22:33.089 --> 00:22:36.569 you would help us to feel that love today. I 00:22:36.569 --> 00:22:39.730 do pray for our world, dear Lord, that they would 00:22:39.730 --> 00:22:42.269 know of Jesus Christ, that they would know of 00:22:42.269 --> 00:22:46.130 love, that they would know of grace, that they 00:22:46.130 --> 00:22:48.930 would know who you are, God, that they would 00:22:48.930 --> 00:22:53.210 fear you, And keep your commands. And I ask these 00:22:53.210 --> 00:22:55.970 things in Jesus' name. Amen.