Good morning everybody. It’s so awesome about what Kris was saying, just the power of God's Word, nothing can compare to it. Many men and women through the ages have had plenty of things to say, but when it comes forth with the Word of the Lord, amen, there are incredible things that begin to happen. And I was thinking throughout this week — really reading through the Scriptures — and one thing I really noticed in the Old and the New Testament, was that all throughout the Bible we read about many people who feared the Lord.

There are many people we can list, and we ourselves are also instructed and commanded from the Word to fear the Lord for ourselves, for our own lives. And I want to say today: when you fear God, everything comes into order. When you fear the Lord, everything falls into place in your life. Though we may face many troubles— when you fear God, you can trust that He's going to deliver you through every single one of them. When we fear the Lord, even if it seems as though there may be a famine that has come, we can still yet trust that the Lord is going to provide exactly what we need. You see, in all things we know that God will keep us safe, that He will guard our lives because we belong to Him.

And church today I want to talk about exactly that, of how God takes care of those who fear Him. The first question I began to think about is: “Why do we fear the Lord?” Jesus himself said in the Scripture, he said, “Don't fear man, but fear God who has power to cast the soul into hell.” In other words, fear God who has life and death in His hands. He is able to bring us into His Kingdom and to save us from darkness, but it is all in His control! And for those who fear Him, He blesses them and brings them to Himself. The Scriptures also say that, “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him.”And lastly, “But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those who fear Him and His righteousness with their children's children.”

So it's clear and it's very evident of the importance of fearing the Lord, and how great it is. It is great because we see also that those who fear the Lord, God takes care of them. He pours out His unfailing love and He is sure to deliver them through every circumstance and situation, amen!

So my main question today… actually before we even get there— I began to seek the Lord and ask: “Lord, what does it mean to fear you?” And what I discovered in the Scriptures was that to fear God is to follow and obey Him. To follow His ways, to follow Him knowing that He is the King. Regardless of the world, man, or even the devil, regardless of what the world does or what the devil thinks or anybody else isn’t our concern— our concern is to walk in reverence and in holy fear before the Almighty God, which is everything for us.

Fearing God means that we follow and seek the Lord who has the power to build and also the power to destroy. Those who understand this — those who live in this truth — I want to say that they are blessed because God pours out His unfailing love on those who fear Him, amen!

So my main question today is: What exactly happens to those who fear the Lord? What happens to those who decide — “Father, you are worthy to be feared. I will follow and obey your instructions, I will do your will as you have commanded me to do.” And we’re going to find out. If you have your Bible, we’re going to be reading from Psalms 34, one of my favorite Psalms to read. And here, David, he speaks repeatedly about the fear of the Lord. Commanding us, instructing us to fear God. He talks about all the things that happen to those who fear the Lord. So we’re going to start with verse seven, it'll be up here for those of you who might not have the Scripture in hand.

The first thing I'd like to talk about today is— What happens to those who fear the Lord? They are delivered. Church, they are delivered, and so let's read verse seven, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” You see, God will deliver His people from all evil. When God says that the angel encamps around them, He’s speaking about His very own presence. And you see, God, He’s not looking to just bless us for a temporary moment with His presence - no! He says that He will encamp around us. You see God is looking to permanently dwell in the heart of man, God is looking to permanently surround us, so that we would live a life of joy and peace in him, and in him alone. This is the life of a child of God, we live a life covered by the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, men and women who fear the Lord have a wall of protection around them in all that they do and in everywhere that they go because God is with us.

And listen, when God is with us, He is sure to always deliver— through every situation, through every circumstance in order to bring glory to His Name. Amen! When evil comes knocking at the door, the Lord will rise in our lives and He is able to give us the strength to deliver us from every temptation. When evil shows up and it looks to affect our families and it looks to stop the plan of God in our lives, we can trust that because we fear the Lord, He will make a way and He will deliver us and our children into His hands.

He can and He will deliver us from the evil that seeks to destroy. He will deliver us from the evil that seeks to keep us back from knowing God. Church, the Lord Jesus Christ has come that He would break the powers of the devil. He has come to break the powers of evil, therefore fear the Lord! Honor Him and He will deliver you. He is calling us today to be among those who would live trusting in the Lord and trusting in his Word. Where there is no fear of “what's gonna happen” even when the darkness seems to be so strong against us, He says: that though a thousand may fall at your side, though ten-thousand may fall at the other, your feet shall not strike a rock for I shall deliver you. Listen, even if disaster were to come, we still know that God is going to work it through, and He's going to deliver us.

God is going to see you through because you fear and revere His mighty Name. He will deliver us not only from evil, but from our sin. Sin has been such a great downfall for all mankind, right? Sin is what still separates many people — countless numbers of people — still today from God. It separates us from knowing the Giver of Life. It separates us from knowing the God who has formed us in our mother's womb. And instead of being with God, it causes us to be against God, it has caused us to be separated from Him, to walk without the fear of the Lord; which is utter danger. Utter danger to be in this life without God, yet hallelujah! To those who may have been dead in their sins and transgressions, God has given us an open door today! That when we fear God, there is deliverance from sin! When we fear the Lord, there is deliverance from the darkness that holds us back! There is deliverance from the sin of our decisions, the sins of our forefathers— because Jesus is able.

Sin is always a snare and it always serves to trip us up, and bring us down. Right? It's that snare sometimes that just seems to hold us back. Maybe it's an addiction, maybe it's our disobedience or rebellion— Listen, whatever it is, it is time today to come to the Lord to receive the fear of the Lord in our hearts; for Him to be able to enter in in a new way. The fear of the Lord, it will drive you to the Lord Jesus like never before because we know that without Him we are hopeless. We know that the Lord Jesus is King and that without His mercy, without His presence we lose against this battle of sin. But hallelujah! The Lord Jesus can destroy the snare of sin and darkness in our life by empowering those who fear His mighty Name. He gives us the victory over sin, He gives us the victory over darkness. Hear church, today, fear the Lord!

The Word of the Lord says, “Fear the Lord you his holy people,” and He will empower you to be victorious. We are called to be victorious in this life. He gives us deliverance throughout this world. When we think of this world and living here, it’s being on a journey. So many will journey through this life and through this world without fearing God: walking in their own way, walking apart from God. And you know what? It costs people — many people — their lives. Listen, it's always going to cost something because this world will consume us. Sin and darkness will enslave us in so many different ways. One way or another we will be consumed in sin: enslaved to money, and prestige, and all the things that the world tells us to go after— that only leads us to one place, to Hell and away from God. But see, those who fear the Lord, we are on a different journey! We are on a journey with the Father: Awaiting the day of salvation that is promised to those who fear Him, promised to those who have trusted in His Name to be the One that would free us, to be the One that would guide us, and the One that would deliver us from darkness into His wonderful Light! Thank you, God!

I want to say that even on this journey, though we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, God will deliver us because those who fear the Lord, we’re not afraid of the valley. We are not afraid because we are those that hold to His rod and to His staff; they follow God, those who fear the Lord and obey His command. As we follow the Lord — even if we are led into the desert — we know that God will be the water. Even if we are led into the darkest night, we know that the Lord Jesus will be our light, because we can be sure that the angel of the Lord will be encamped around those who fear His mighty Name. And He shall deliver them!

10:46

Many fret and go crazy — if you really think about it — at everything that we see and hear on the news. Our nation right now is so sad, it just seems to be tragedy after tragedy, right? Every time you look at the news or you are to take a peek and see what's happening, it's a terrible thing and it produces so much fear. And fear is spread every day by all these different things— but listen, as those who fear the Lord, we are different. When you're with God you can be sure that He's going to carry you through, regardless of what state the world is, regardless of what the news is telling you, regardless of the things that are happening around us. Listen, we cannot turn to the news, but we have the Good News, because those who fear the Lord know He shall deliver. Church, this is why we've got to continue to get serious about following the Lord, obeying His commands because He is the only hope in this life. He is the only hope in the life to come. He is our only deliverer. For God delivers those who fear Him. And so, those who fear God, we know that He delivers us.

Secondly, for those who fear the Lord, they lack nothing. Let's look at verses nine and ten for a moment, it says: “Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” You will lack nothing with God when you fear Him. Fear the Lord, you His holy people because if you fear Him, if you revere His Mighty Name in everything that you do, there is a reward— you will lack nothing. I'm not saying that all of a sudden all of our bank accounts are to be filled with a million dollars. I'm not saying that we are all going to be driving a Mercedes-Benz. What I am saying, what the Lord is saying is that: “You will never find one who fears the Lord, nor their children begging for bread.”

We will not lack. In this life God will be sure to provide every beneficial thing that we need. We will never lack what we need in order to do God's work and in order to serve Him. Think about it— God wants to show the world who He is. What better way than to do through His children? What better way than to do it through a group of people who fear His Mighty Name; Who follow His commands and say, “Lord, I know that you’ve got this. Father, I'm done with charging my own way. I'm done with worrying and going every other direction but to you. But I am going to trust you. Father, I have decided that everything in my life will be rooted in your Word and it's going to be rooted in your kingdom.” And I'm telling you right now church, when we fear God in such a way, you can be sure that you will never lack anything with God.

Do you need a clear mind today? Fear the Lord. Do you seem to lack common sense? Fear the Lord. Are you worried about the job? Fear the Lord. You might be saying, “What about school? What am I gonna do?” Fear the Lord. The bills? Fear the Lord. We can go down the list, but there is one answer today church and it is: “Fear the Lord, you His holy people.”

Think with me for a moment… What causes us to worry the most in life? If we really think back on it, isn’t it in our times when we’re in a fear of lacking something? When we’re worried about not having something that we might need, right? But listen— as Christians, we do not worry and fear like the rest of the world. We don't even worry about tomorrow, we’re not consumed with what's gonna happen because we trust in the One who is in control, the One who is all powerful. “Don't worry,” Jesus says. He says, “Don't worry about what you're going to wear, don't worry about what you're going to eat, don't worry about what you're going to do.” In other words, listen, do not fear “lack”. Don’t drain yourself pondering and wondering about “who, what, where, why”. Don't spend all of your heart and strength in trying to preserve yourself or to keep, but just know that it is God alone who is in control.

This made me think about Abraham. One of the biggest parts of his life is where God calls Abraham, and He says, “Sacrifice your son Isaac to me. Your one and only son. I want you to sacrifice him to me, to give him to me.” And you know, I really thought about this. I started to think about Abraham and how Abraham, in those moments, he could have started to really worry. He could have started to wonder— If Isaac is sacrificed, who’s going to continue my lineage? Who’s going to carry my name? If Isaac is sacrificed, and I lack a son, how is God going to fulfill the promise in my life? I realized something very special about Abraham: Rather than fearing the lack, rather than fearing what he was going to lose, what he was going to have or what he wouldn’t...Abraham feared and trusted the Lord. He followed the command of God, he obeyed as God said to go and we know what happened, right? God stopped him just in time and He looks at Abraham and He says, “Abraham my servant, now I know that you fear me, now I know that you revere my name because you were not willing to fear lack, you were not willing to fear anything, but you were even going to give me your son, therefore you shall never lack Abraham! Your household shall be full! You will be blessed, and you will be carried on my wings!”

If we’re just willing to trust the Lord and truly fear Him and follow Him, we can see the same miraculous power in our life. Regardless of how things may seem, there is no need to compromise. All we need to do is to fear the Lord by following Him to the end. Will you follow the Lord? To lack nothing is also not to be in want. There’s a secret I discovered from David. We know that King David also wrote Psalm 23, and what is he saying there? He says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” It's the same thing here, we shall not lack. In other words, to lack nothing is to actually have God awaken our senses to see what we really need in life. Isn't that different? Those in Christ have discovered something special because they’ve tasted of this great mystery. The mystery that the Lord Jesus Christ satisfies like no other. The mystery that we will lack nothing because the Lord Jesus has become all that we need.

Fearing the Lord means, yes, we might enjoy some things in this life, but nothing would ever be able to compete or take the place of the satisfaction that comes only with being in Christ. Is He your satisfaction today? Do you seem to always be in want? Do you seem to only lack? Have you come to the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you revered and come into the fear of the Lord? If not, I pray today that the Lord would open your eyes that you would be able to taste and see that the Lord is good! That you will taste and see, that you shall not lack anything, that you shall not be in want because He satisfies like no other. Because the Lord goes so deep, because he goes so deep to a place where no other can go. We will find that we lack nothing because we find everything in Him.

So many people in this life are in want. They are driven by their wants and desires. They are driven — even though they have lots of money, you can have lots of things, even lots of people in your life — but many still lack because nothing satisfies like the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of all things. To fear the Lord, church, is to run to the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that He is our all and all, to know that nothing can compare to Him and we shall lack not one thing, because we fear His Mighty Name.

Lastly, in this very same verse, you look at it and it says, “The young lions may grow tired and weary and hungry, but those who seek the Lord,” right? Which is all a part of this, “shall lack no good thing.” And it made me begin to think about this specifically, this part of the verse says, “no good thing.” Why? Well, we know at this point that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one that can satisfy, but this also says that Jesus, everything about Him is the only thing good in our life. He is the one good thing that we shall not lack. He alone is good and we shall not lack Christ’s goodness in our lives. This is significant because Jesus is every good thing that we need to live for God and to live in His kingdom, amen.

The person who lacks the Lord Jesus, lacks everything that is good. But to fear the Lord is to come to Jesus. Those who fear Him know that the Father has sent the Son to complete and fulfill every good thing in our lives. That we shall never lack His goodness, that we shall never lack in doing the good works that God has called us to do. Those who trust in Him find that they lack no good thing because they don't lack Jesus. Are you ready today to come into the fear of the Lord? As we fear Him, the one who is good brings His goodness into our own hearts. And His goodness, His wisdom, His hope, His guidance, everything is found because He is seated on the throne of our heart. We shall never lack any good thing because we shall not lack the Lord Jesus Christ, amen?

The Scripture says, “There is no one good, not one.” And furthermore it says, “that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” You see, apart from Christ, that's exactly what the human race is: fallen and not good, dark. But see, those who fear the Lord— they are different. They are filled with the goodness of the Lord Jesus, no longer living from the old sinful life, but living from the very goodness of Jesus. You shall lack no good thing! You shall lack nothing because there will be an abundance of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the promise of those who fear Him! We shall lack nothing. And so we know that those who fear the Lord, that God will deliver us, that God will allow us to never lack.

And lastly, we know that they receive life. Those who fear the Lord receive life. Let's look at verses 11 to 14. It says, “Come my children, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many days, keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.” And He asks us… He says, “Is there anybody here that loves life? Is there anybody here that wants to live?” Then fear the Lord. Let me teach you the fear of the Lord— this is the key to life. Just as death is the product of sin and evil, life is the product of fearing the Lord. “Let me teach you the fear of the Lord ,” He says. And immediately He begins to teach us. He says, “Listen, keep your tongues from evil and lips from lies.” This is very important I believe for all of us. How many times in our lives have we said something that has been evil and we have found ourselves in an abundance of trouble, right? Because of something we said, because of the way we answered something, because we're just like, “Man, I shouldn’t have said that, but I did say it. And maybe it came out the wrong way. No, it was in my heart and it came out.”

But hallelujah, today church, to fear God changes all of it! The fear of the Lord will keep your tongue from evil and your lips from lies because he or she who fears the Lord would never want to offend the Almighty God, never would want to bring dishonor to the children of God. Therefore, we are those who are careful to watch and to seek God, to obey His commands, to only speak when He's calling us to speak, and to do what He is calling us to do. What is it that we do and speak during the week, church? What is it that comes from our lips? Is it lies or is it the truth of the Lord? The fear the Lord will change the way that you speak; not so quick to speak our own thoughts and attitudes. When we fear the Lord we’re not so quick to do our own thing, but we’re a lot quicker to stop and begin to consult God. Not so quick to defend ourselves, but quick to stop and say, “Father what is it that you feel? What is it that your opinion is about my life, or about this situation?”

I'm reminded of Job. God himself had said you know, “Job, he is a man that fears me.” And there’s something great to learn about Job. As a man who feared God, he concluded to one major thing — and I love this — his conclusion was that: God was the one who founded the earth, He's the one who founded the universe and everything that we see, there is nothing that God does not know, nothing that God does not see, nothing is hidden from Him. Therefore, forget about what we think, forget about our own opinions, forget about our own ways, follow God, listen to Him and fear Him, and everything that comes from your lips shall bring Him glory. It shall not be death, but it will be life. It shall not destroy, but it will build up. For those who fear the Lord receive life and they give life, and they have His life within them!

One thing I learned in life is: You can trust somebody that fears the Lord. That the person that fears God is trustworthy; they’re never going to lie, they’re never going to be partial with anything, but they're always going to do what is right because they are accountable to God, because they fear His Mighty Name and they know that He sees and He knows all. And those are the very ones who are full of His life.

The fear the Lord will turn us away from evil and lengthen our days, filling us with life. Evil will age you very quickly and it will rob you of life. We look at the world today and despite all the glamour that it presents, all the wonderful clothing and the money and the riches that people portray on social media and television. You know what the reality is? None of it can stop or ever cover-up the sin that is killing man from the inside. Not fearing God and living in darkness weakens us from the inside out and it sets us up for destruction. But hallelujah, to fear the Lord will turn us from evil. It will turn us from the ways of the world. It will turn us from our own way without God. The fear of the Lord turns us from evil and darkness. It’ll be the very thing that will stop you right before you make that bad decision.

The fear of the Lord will be the thing that put you in check to reiterate your plans before God and stop and say, “Father, wait a minute... I need to take your plans in effect here. This is not what I want, but it is what my Father in heaven has called.” It will stop the habit of deciding to move and to live and to walk without seeking God and doing our own thing. It will lead us from the path of death and bring us to the path of life. The Bible says, “It will go well for those who fear God, but the wicked will not lengthen their days because they do not fear him.” Although sin breaks us down and weakens us like a sickness, the fear of the Lord will be like a medicine. It will go very well for you to fear the Lord because when you look to God, when you obey His ways, when you follow His commands, there is healing, church! There is healing from our wickedness! There is wholeness from a life that we walk without Him and going astray! There is life and there is hope! For those who walk their days with God receive life and they receive it abundantly!

The Scripture makes it so clear that the days of those who walk without God, it says that they, “will not lengthen their days.” This is not just our days on earth. Somebody that walks in wickedness — maybe they live a good number of years on earth — but there is no doubt that the day that they close their eyes there is sudden and utter destruction. But church, for those who fear the Lord, He says we shall lengthen our days! Even if it's not just the days on earth — Hallelujah! — we will one day have our days lengthened for an eternity in the kingdom of glory of God in heaven, in all of His splendor and all of His goodness!

Fear the Lord, you His saints, for there is life that we receive in it!

Lastly, the fear of the Lord will cause us to seek His peace which leads to life. What does it mean to seek peace? He says, “Seek peace and pursue it.” It's to seek peace with God. To fear God is to desire peace with Him, but no flesh can ever make peace with God. God is holy and righteous; and flesh is fallible and corrupt. What do we do? How do we ever come to terms with God? How could peace ever be made with the Giver of Life? I'll tell you how today, church— Through the precious life of the Lord Jesus Christ. To seek the Lord Jesus is to find peace with God, for the Father loves His Son.

Jesus, everything about Him is pleasing to the Father. Everything about the Son is good to the Father. He lived a life that was pleasing to God. He feared His Father and walked and obeyed every command. He followed Him all the days of His life here on earth, even to the cross. He took our punishment — the punishment that we deserve — He took it on the cross, nailing it, so that we would have peace; that we would no longer be separated in death, but now brought in life and back to the Father.

Jesus is peace and when we fear the Lord we are led to seek Him like never before that we would receive life and find peace with the Almighty God. God is calling us today not only to just have peace with Him, but to also have the peace of God within. That's right, to have the peace of God within us that allows us to truly live. We’re not alive until God is alive in us. Peace where nothing else matters but God, what He desires, and what He wants to do within our lives.

To fear God is to have this peace. To fear God is to have this peace to know that He is our defender. To fear God is to have this peace knowing that He will carry us through and answer as we begin to seek His face and cry out to Him. To fear God is to have the peace that surpasses all understanding, that amounts to the abundant life that He has called for each of those who have called and revered and feared His Name to live and to have. To fear God is to accept His Son. Knowing that the Lord Jesus is the gift of God that He sent to earth to redeem us back to Himself. That He was the one sent to rescue and deliver us. That the Lord Jesus was the one sent that we would turn from this world and we would find that we lack nothing in Him. That we would find satisfaction in Christ and in Christ alone. That the world would see and know that God is alive because He is alive in His people. That we wouldn't be drowned out by the darkness of this world, but we would live! That we would be alive in Christ and in Christ alone because we have feared and revered His Mighty Name.

Fear the Lord! For those who fear Him lack nothing. Fear the Lord, you His holy people.

And so we know very clearly the great benefit, the great hope that comes to those who fear the Lord. There is deliverance today church. There is deliverance for your circumstance or situation. If you lack, if you find that you're always in want, if you find that there is something missing, then God says today, “Fear my holy name” and there is life. As we begin to come to a close, God is calling us to something very simple. He says, “If you fear me, I'll take care of the rest. Fear me and obey me. Fear me and walk in my ways. Seek me with everything in you. And if you do that, listen, I'm going to take care of all of it. I'm not going to leave you hanging. I’m not going to leave you dry, but I will be sure to pour out my unfailing love on those who fear me.”

This verse came to mind this morning and it speaks about Jesus. It says, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.” That's Jesus. It says He delights in the fear of the Lord. His greatest delight was to follow His Father. His greatest delight was to be in the will of His God in heaven, to obey His commands. God is calling us to have the same heart of the Lord Jesus Christ today.