Back into the scriptures though, hey man? I'm looking forward to it. I hope you learned something here about the fear of the Lord. And I like to just use scripture a lot of times and just go through. Scripture, so you hear what the Bible has to say, not just my opinion on it, but what the Word of God says comparing Scripture with Scripture. Here a little, there a little. Line upon line, precept upon precept. Amen, that's what the Bible says. Let's pray. Father, I pray you bless us now and help us to understand all these truths in your Word. Help us to have a healthy fear of the Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. All right, we left off with the fear of the Lord. In talking, the last verse we had was the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the holy is understanding. The knowledge of the holy is understanding. Next verse, turn to Proverbs chapter 10 and verse number 27. A little bit different here this morning. A little bit different of a message. It's more like a study here this morning. That's fine. We need all the Bible we can get in our lives, amen? It'll help you. And it'll help strengthen your faith and build you up in the Lord. That's what we're here to do, is edify the saints. Amen? Proverbs 10, verse number 27. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days. Now think about it. The fear of the Lord Prolonged days. Now, there's a lot of practicalness to that statement. I mean, if a man turns into a drunkard, he usually doesn't live a real long life. He usually dies, doesn't he? He continues in that. A drug addict, they usually don't live a long life, do they? They usually die. Because why? They don't fear the Lord. It's a principle. Amen? It's a principle of life. A murderer, a whoremonger, They might get some disease and die. Murder, get shot up or broken up in a house. Those that, just like these kids that had no fear of the Lord, their parents have no fear of the Lord either, but those kids that run around knocking people out, and then what happened? Their life was ended. Why? Because the fear of the Lord prolongeth days. Amen? Healthy fear of the Lord will prolong your life. Amen. To keep you from some of the things you shouldn't be involved in. That's a perfect example. How many times have you seen somebody get drunk and go out and kill somebody or kill themselves on the side of the road somewhere? Huh? What happened? No fear of the Lord. They just got drunk and went out and drove and killed somebody or killed themselves. Their life was not prolonged. You know, there is a law of sowing and reaping in this life. What you sow, you'll reap. But it says here, the fear of the Lord prolongeth days. But the years of the wicked shall be shortened. The years of the wicked shall be shortened. It's a very sobering thought, isn't it? It's meant to be. God put it in there for a reason. To sober us up and to get us to understand. If you live yourself a wicked life, Your days are going to be shortened. How many times have we seen that? I mean, come on, that is so common. To see that where people, they just don't make it. Why? They live a wicked life. And God takes them from this earth. Or their own devices. Proverbs chapter 14 and verse number 26. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. You know, think about this for a second, if you would. A lot of people mistaken a preacher or even a godly man or a woman that's living for the Lord that they're proud or they're... No, they just have confidence. They believe this book. And they believe what God says. So they boldly stand up. There's a boldness that comes with the fear of the Lord. It says it's a strong confidence. In what? In God! Why? Because they fear Him. They have a fear of Him. They have a reverence of Him. So some people don't like bold preachers, and like we showed in the book of Acts, though, when they were put into prison, and God released them from prison, God had them release them, and they left rejoicing and singing, and they came back, and what did they pray for? Oh, you guys, you guys, did the church, did they come back to the church, and the church said, oh, you guys are just a bunch of wicked sinners, you got arrested. That's what it's like today if you go out and preach in evangelism like we do out on the streets. You go out there and you lift up the gospel and you preach the gospel out there. People will tell you if you get in trouble with the police or the police don't like what you're preaching and they'll arrest you. By the way, that's always been the problem. Look all through the book of Acts, I dare you. Read through the book of Acts and find out what happened. Folks, you don't get arrested knocking doors door to door, inviting people to church. Why? Because that doesn't really offend that many people. But when you preach the Gospel in the open air, it upsets some people. But look at the book of Acts. That's what we're supposed to be doing the same thing, preaching. Not trying to make people mad. Preaching the Word of God makes people upset. But you think about it. What did they do? They prayed for confidence and boldness. Why? Because they feared the Lord. They feared Him. So they prayed, God, make us bold. Make us bold as a lion. Amen? The fear of the Lord. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. By the way, that strong confidence will offend people. It will offend people. It does. When you are confident in what you're preaching and what you believe out of this book and how you raise your family, it'll make some people upset with you. They will be upset because they don't understand that strong confidence and boldness that you have because they don't have it. And you know what? When you're not fearing the Lord, you know how many weak Christians there are today that don't fear God? So what do they walk around with? They can't stand up to sin around them. They won't get the sin out of their life and they'll get mad at the preacher that preaches against Freemasonry and the preacher that preaches against Hollywood. And the preacher that preaches against rock music and everything, why? Because the boldness is not there. The boldness. The strong confidence in the Lord is not there. Because they don't fear God. But when you see a preacher that fears the Lord, a man that fears the Lord, a lady that fears the Lord, and she has a strong confidence in the Lord, and a strong confidence in His Word, what does it say? She's walking in the fear of the Lord. And his children shall have a place of refuge. So it says in the fear of the Lord is strong competence and his children shall have a place of refuge. That's interesting, isn't it? I don't have time to go down that road there about that place of refuge. But boy, that sure has some end time applications. Proverbs chapter 14, verse number 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. To depart from the snares of death. Why is it a fountain of life? Because it will make you depart from the snares of death. There are a lot of snares of death out there. If you look in the Proverbs, like we're in right now, Solomon's mother was warning his son Her son, and David was warning his son to depart from these things. Be careful. You better be careful. My son, hear my instructions. Take heed to what I'm saying. Listen. Because the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. Proverbs chapter 15 and verse number 16. Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. You know, I've met a lot of people that chased money down the road. I've met a lot of people that did that. They chased the money. They chased everything down the road they could. Prosperity. Everything else. And they were never happy. Never. They were never happy. They never had the joy of the Lord. Yeah, they're never satisfied. Better is little with the fear of the Lord. Better is little. You know, I'd rather live in a little hut somewhere and have my family together than to live in a mansion somewhere alone by myself. I'd rather have hardly nothing. I don't have a whole lot, but I'd rather have hardly nothing at all and just have my family together serving the Lord and walking with God than chasing every other thing in the world. Because it doesn't mean anything. Because better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Haven't you seen it, how people get so snared with money? They get so caught up with money. They get so caught up with that life. Fathers working so much they never see their family at all, period. Kids that grow up without fathers. Even mothers chasing around money. Can't take care of their children. Neglect their children. But the fear of the Lord, better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. A lot of families where mom takes care of the children, they do a lot better than if somebody else tries to do it or somebody else's. You shirk it off to somebody else. I've seen people ruin a whole marriage because they said, I don't want to take care of my kids. I want somebody else to do it. And that father said, well, you know, they need mom. But mom said, no, I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. I know of a family right now that's being torn apart because of that very thing. But better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Proverbs 15.33, the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. Let me just say, I believe mom ought to be home with the children. I do believe that. When they're in their formidable years, they need mom. They don't need a daycare center. They don't need the school system. They need mom. They do. Because God gave them to you. You may not agree with me on that, and you don't have to. You don't answer to me. I don't tell you what to do in your home. That's up to you and the Lord. But I will say this, that better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Proverbs 15.33 The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. You see that? It is. When you and I fear the Lord, we get wisdom. It's our instruction. It's what teaches us everything else. Doesn't that make sense, though? If I have a reverence for God, then I will be able to learn everything that He wants me to learn. Why? Because I respect the Teacher. That's why. I respect the One who is teaching me. I reverence His holy name. So what He teaches, I believe because I fear Him and He's my God. Make sense? So when you wonder, why don't these people obey the Bible? Why are they out living like this? Because they don't fear God. That's why. They don't fear Him. If they feared Him, if they had a fear for Him, then they would live for Him. And you can lose that, I believe, by getting into this world. I'm not saying that everybody that doesn't have that strong fear, they're not saved. What I'm saying is, is that they're wrong. They need to get right with God. Amen. They need to have that healthy fear of the Lord, because the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. And by the way, he says here, and before honor is humility. It's altogether lacking today, humility. We are training generations of children that believe they're too good to do some things. One young man said, well, I'm too good to work at McDonald's. Well, you'll never work anywhere then, if you're too good for it. I'm too good to do this. I'm too good to do that. No humility. Why? No fear of the Lord. Proverbs 16, verse number six, by mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. Wow, by mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. That's a whole lot of saying right there, isn't it? And by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. So then could we not say then that men that do not fear God don't depart from evil? Absolutely. You show me a lady that'll run out on her husband, and I'll show you somebody that doesn't depart from evil and does not fear the Lord. You show me a husband that runs around on his wife, and he doesn't depart from evil, he doesn't fear the Lord. You need to understand one thing. Whatever rules you have, whatever you try to do, You and I get into trouble in our marriage, in our home, in our lives if we stop fearing the Lord. We get into trouble. A man that has lost his fear of the Lord is capable of anything. Anything. Any sin. If he stops fearing the Lord. She is capable of any sin if she stops fearing the Lord. Anything. Why? Because the Bible's very clear. And by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. By them fearing, they depart. They'll leave it. They'll stay away from it. Why? So what is it? It's the effect of a greater cause. What is the greater cause? The cause is to fear the Lord. The effect of it is that I depart from evil. Do you understand that? But today we're trying to teach people the cause is depart from evil. No, it's not. The cause is because I teach my family, my children, I order my own steps in the fear of the Lord. The effect of that is I depart from evil. God is the source. and the fear of Him. We're looking for every other answer. I'm amazed that people think, well, I can't believe this person did this. No, you don't understand. They don't fear God. They're capable of anything. You've got to preach to them the fear of the Lord and understand who God is. The judgment is coming. That you can't get away with what you're doing. That there's a price for what you're doing. And God's going to punish you for it. God's going to chasten you if you're His. If you're not His, you're going to die and go to a sinner's hell for what you're doing. They need to fear the Lord. The effect of that is to depart from evil. We wonder why we're so messed up. We're messed up because of 75 years of shallow Bible teaching. Mostly man-made concepts. And not just straight Bible. Not the Scriptures. Not strengthening people. Don't you understand a pastor's job, his calling in life, is to edify the saints. And we're to edify one another. But it's to edify them and strengthen them with strong Bible doctrine. And that doctrine, they ought to have an understanding that it's the fear of the Lord that will cause a man to depart from evil. It's not just... That's the rules. You just follow them. Why? What for? What reason? Proverbs 22, verse number 4. By humility, And the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life. By humility. God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. And those that be of a contrite spirit, a broken heart and a contrite spirit that will not despise, O Lord, Why? Because that person has a fear of God. They're broken before Him. Just like that man that went into the temple in the New Testament where the Bible talks about in the Gospels where he smote his breast and said, woe unto me. I'm a sinner. What was he saying? He was broken. God, I can't do it. Forgive me, Lord, I can't do it. That's humility. And the fear of the Lord are riches and honor in life. Proverbs 19, verse number 23. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life. And he that hath it shall abide satisfied He shall not be visited with evil. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life, and he that hath it shall abide satisfied." You know, when a man has a healthy fear of the Lord, he's not chasing every wind of doctrine and everything he can imagine in this world and ran around by this world when he has a fear of the Lord. That doesn't mean he's not driven or he doesn't try to succeed or anything like that. What it means is that that's not what drives him. What drives him is the fear of the Lord, obeying God, pleasing God, walking in the fear of the Lord. Amen. Proverbs 23, verse number 17. This is a very important verse here. Let not thine heart Envy sinners. I happen to believe today that this is a major problem among God's people. Let not thine heart envy sinners. They look at the loss. They look at their life. And some Christians look at them and think, well, I got to have that. They have an envy in their heart. They got to have that lifestyle. I got to live like that. No, you don't. You don't. I'll tell you a story. I know somebody. I know a story of somebody. Well, there's a lot of stories out there like this, but I know a story of somebody that other people started talking to. Other lost family members started talking to her. Got her to basically be ungrateful and not happy with her life. Married for four or five years. have a child, just recently, a year and a half ago, had a child, not happy with their life, and was sold a bill of goods by a bunch of lost people that your life could be so much better if you do this, if you leave your husband, if you do this, if you do that, you'll have all this, you can have the career, you can have all these other things that you've always wanted. Everything the world has to offer, you can have. Just leave your husband, just step away from him, and you'll be happy. Let not thine heart envy sinners. Why would you envy that? There's some people that envy that, oh, well, that person's married, or they have this and I want that, they have this and they make more money, and they have this, they have that. Why would you envy sinners? That's a command. Let not thine heart envy sinners. But, Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long." Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. So there's a contrast there. The heart that envies sinners is not walking in the fear of the Lord. They're not living in the fear of the Lord. Do you see the contrast there? He's saying, let not thine heart envy the sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. That's a contrast. You know, stop looking for something better and be grateful for what God has given you now. Whatever that is, be grateful. You know, we're coming up on Thanksgiving here, and I wonder how thankful we really are. You know, the height of hypocrisy is to have a Thanksgiving meal, sit down and act like we're thankful, and then three hours later run off to the stores and get all the best deals we can. As if! As if! It's not enough. I'm not saying it's wrong to go buy stuff. My point is that if that's really what drives you, if that's really that exciting, I mean, isn't it any wonder that you have Thanksgiving and now Black Friday was invented? The day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday was invented. Why? It was invented so you wouldn't be thankful anymore. You forgot about all that thankfulness. Oh, you're done with that ceremony of thankfulness. Now let's go buy. Hey, I bought things on Black Friday. I'm not saying that you're an immortal sin by buying things on Black Friday. My point is, is that really our mindset? Is that where we're at? Does that really show how thankful we are? Think about it. I'm not again. I'm not I'm not trying to bribe you I'm just saying you just think about it for a second. Is that not the greatest trick the devil ever pulled? It's a pretty good one, isn't it? To watch you be thankful so to speak on Thursday and all that thankfulness is over. Let's go We're off to the races, aren't we? Amen Understand the devil's a master of merchandise. He gets it. He knows how to do it. He's very smart at what he does. Again, I'm not saying you're a devil if you go out and shop. I'm saying it's ironic, isn't it, though? That it would be like that. Think about it. Just something to think about, I guess. Search your own heart. Nobody's your judge but God on that. I'm just saying, just think about it. At least ponder the thought of it. Is this really what we're about? Is this really where we're at? Look at our nation at the point of where it's at right now. It seems like everything is just a bunch of hypocrisy that we do, the motions that we go through in this time that we live in. Doesn't it? It just seems very hypocritical. I'm not saying it's not a blessing. God bless us with this country. God bless us with prosperity and everything else. I realize that and I believe that. I do believe that. I don't believe that's a sin either. My point is that we ought to think about it though. We ought to make sure that our hearts are right. Look at your heart into the matter and judge it according to the scriptures and just make sure that I really do have a thankful heart. Make sure that Let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Isaiah 2.10 Enter into the rock and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty. He's talking about the lost here, I believe, as he says that to them in these end times. Well, you better fear the Lord. You better go into hiding. You better understand the wrath of God is on the way. Look at verse 11. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled. The Bible says there is a generation, oh, how lofty are their eyes. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down. Wow. And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Amen. There's coming a day where that's going to happen. The day of the Lord where that will take place. Where the lofty looks of man and the pride and haughtiness of man will be brought down. Isaiah chapter 11 and verse number 2, "...and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding." It's talking about Jesus, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord. Why? Because Jesus did always those things that pleased the Father. And he always looked at the Father's will first, and looked at His will first, not his own. and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rot of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Amen. That's when Jesus comes back. Amen. He steps down and He takes the authority and the rule of the rod of iron out of His mouth and He leads the world. Amen. Isaiah chapter 33 and verse number 6. and the wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord is his treasure." The fear of the Lord is his treasure. Acts 9 30 Which, when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus. Then had the churches wrestled all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." They were walking in the fear of the Lord. Those churches when Paul came to preach and did some miracles, some things happened. That's why God did those miracles, were signs and wonders for a reason. Amen? They were a reason for those. And He did those to show the Jews that He was doing a mighty work. It was a sign to them. to show them that. And He showed them those miracles and He did that. Why? So they would walk in the fear of the Lord like He did when Moses was in Egypt and He showed them great signs and wonders. Why did He do that? So they would fear the Lord. So they would walk in His ways. They would see the power of God. I like what happened. Great fear came upon all of them. It says when Ananias and Sapphira, remember what they did? They went in and they said they sold a piece of land for this amount of money and they put that in the offering box there and they lied. They lied to the Holy Ghost. And they died. Could you imagine that church meeting? Wouldn't that be something? How would you like to explain that to the cops? Wouldn't that be one? Huh? Oh man, Ananias and Phira just dropped dead right there. One after the other. Yeah, how'd these guys die? Oh, we've got to have an autopsy taken. They're checking it out, trying to figure out how these people died. Now, they died because they didn't fear the Lord. That's why. And God took their life because they didn't fear Him. Do you think that God can't take our lives if we don't fear Him? The Bible says there is a sin unto death. I do not say you should pray for it. There is a sin that a Christian can do. And I don't know what that is for each and every person. I think it's different. But I believe there is a sin unto death that they can commit that God will take their lives from them. Why? Because they're not walking in the fear of the Lord. I'm not saying that to scare you. I don't want you to fear me or my words. I want you to fear the Lord and have a reverence for Him and understand that God chastens His children. Amen? God will chasten His own children. You and I, like we talked about on Wednesday night, imaginations. You and I believe that we can conjure up all these images in our mind and think on these things and that God won't judge us for these things. And then outwardly we manifest these actions and we do these things and then we think for some reason that God won't judge us. Well, listen, Ananias and Sapphira, man, all they did was didn't give the amount of money they said they were going to give. And they lied to the Holy Ghost. And what happened? God judged them. What did it say happened afterwards? And great fear came upon all of them. And there's no man joined themselves to them. Nobody came to join the church for a while that wasn't serious about the Lord. They said, I ain't going in that place and lying. They had a fear of the Lord. They said, I ain't going in there. Great fear fell upon everyone. No man just said, hey, I'm just going to join the church. No. They had a great fear that came upon them. There was a fear. But why? Because God showed forth His mighty power and took their lives. It's going back a little ways. Just a few of the verses that kind of go along with that. Genesis chapter 42 and verse number 18. And Joseph said to them the third day, this do and live, for I fear God. He was talking to his brothers, his servants. He had been hid from his brethren. And his brethren came the first time, just like a picture of Christ. When Christ came the first time and they were blinded and they could not understand Him, they could not receive Him, they could not accept Him. Israel's brethren came, all of the brethren of Israel came. And what happened? They didn't recognize Joseph the first time they came. So what happened? He came a second time, didn't he? The second time he said, this do and live, for I fear God. Joseph said, I fear God, so I'll do right. It ought to be as simple as that for you and I. We ought to fear God and do right. That ought to be how it is. That ought to be how we live our lives. Because we fear God. Exodus 18 and verse number 21, Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God. By the way, do you know that's the men that are supposed to be chosen to do something for the Lord? Those that fear God. Not that fear men. Why? Because we live in a day and age where preachers have got to stand up and they've got to boldly proclaim and preach the Word of God. Why? Because we are living in a time when they will not endure sound doctrine. They just won't endure it. They just can't handle it. They'll heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears. That's what they're doing. That's what's popular. That's why Joel Osteen's popular. I mean, you gotta admit. Anybody ever listen to Joel Osteen? You've listened to him a few times, haven't you? I mean, man, I mean that guy makes me want to go sell Amway. When I listen to Joel Osteen, I think I could sell like a million dollars worth of products. I mean, Joel Osteen is in the wrong business. He ought to be in the multi-level, well he is actually in the multi-level marketing business, in a way. He is. He's making millions of dollars. I mean, he's a salesman, he's a con artist, that's for sure. And I know you might think I'm being mean, but I'm not being mean. Any man that gets on Larry King Live and can't tell you whether Muslims are going to hell if they don't receive Jesus Christ, your Savior, is a salesman. All right? He's just working for somebody else. Now, anyway, so Smiley Face gets on there, and I'm gonna tell you something right now, he reminds me of, he's better than Zig Ziglar. I'm telling you, that guy is better than Zig Ziglar. I don't watch television, but I was on Facebook, and somebody had a clip of him on a talk show. And they clicked, and man, I played, I just looked at it, I said, well, I wonder what this is all about, so I watched it. And I mean, this guy is just like, this talk show, this Hollywood talk show host is just swooning over this guy. Oh, I just love you, man. You're just great. And he's just talking, and by the time you're done, you think, man, I could jump over the moon with this guy. Why? Because he's just a motivational speaker. That's what he is. And he's a good one. But he doesn't fear God. Because if he feared God, he would preach God's Word. But he fears man. So he doesn't. Now, I'm going to tell you folks, we've got a lot of pastors today that aren't Joel Osteen, but they don't fear God, so they won't tell the truth. They're more afraid of man than they are of God. And they won't tell you because they're afraid you won't come back to church. Or you won't give money in the offering plate. Or they'll lose their million dollar building that they shouldn't have went in debt to get in the first place. Right? But it says here, Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness. Wow. and placed such over them to be rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens." Those in leadership, a principle of leadership for the New Testament church and for any leadership all the way through the beginning of time were men that were able men such as feared God, men of truth. Why are they able men? Because they fear God. There's a lot of men out there that have master's degrees in theology and doctorates and everything else, but they don't fear God. Then you find out they've been committing fornication with youth department kids and all that kind of other garbage that's been going on. They had all the education. They had everything else going for them. I'm not saying everybody's like that, but you see there's a great number of them that are doing that. Why? Because churches today are so blinded by this that they're looking more for able men such as able men. They have to have the degree. They have to have this. They have to have that. You know what? You look through the Bible and you don't find those men. Those men are usually the worldly wise men. The ones that God called were the ones that He wanted. They were not the ones that had everything. Remember, they were a bunch of dumb fishermen. You ignorant fishermen. But God took those ignorant fishermen and turned the world upside down. Amen! God took those that weren't worldly wise and He turned the world upside down with them. I'm not saying it's wrong to be educated. I study and read all the time. Hours and hours and hours a week. That's not the point. The point is, He said to choose men that such as fear God. Hating covetousness. Wasn't that a principle of leadership? They fear God and they hate covetousness. That means they're not going to go after riches. Get you pastors today that will not... A lot of these men get out of Bible school today and they won't take a church unless they give them a certain amount of money. I have no salary here. Whatever's given is given. Whatever's in the offering plate, it's in the offering plate. It's what I'm going to live on for the week. That's how it works. Why? Because I'm not here for money. Because this is too hard to do for money. You understand? If I wanted money, I'll go make a million dollars. If I was in the ministry, I know I could. That's not what God's called me to do, though. I know that. I have to hate covetousness. I can't love it. You know, one thing that happened to me, I was in sales and I made a lot of money for a young man. I was 19 years old. I ran six different offices around the country. I went on big trips and cruises and won $5,000 bonuses and all kinds of stuff in sales. Flew out to Boston, flew over there, flew over there, did all these other things and had all this stuff. But you know what? Once I got saved, I called the priest. I was like, I don't like this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. God took that out of my heart. Why? Because I couldn't love that life. And God never allowed me to make a lot of money. pastoring or make a lot of money. When I was working full-time here before we first got started, I was working full-time for the whole four years. I mean, He didn't let me make a lot of money ever. I never really made a lot. Because I couldn't, because it would take my heart away from what God had called me to do. Because you've got to hate covetousness. You can't love that. Job 1, verse 9, Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for not? Satan was questioning Job's fear of the Lord. Why? Because Satan knows of the fear of the Lord. When a man fears the Lord, there's a lot of power there. The devils know when a man fears the Lord. That's why they don't want to be around a man that fears the Lord. Because he's going to take that sword out. He's going to fight. We're almost done here. Psalm 66, verse number 16. Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. Isn't that a reason to preach the gospel to a lost and dying world? Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. That can be done in the assembly too, by the way. That's not just the gospel. That's my testimony. That's what God's done for me. Ecclesiastes 8, verse number 12. Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him. And we'll get to the next verse at the end here. That's Ecclesiastes chapter 8 and verse number 12. Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him. Luke 23 verse number 40, But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? He fell on the cross, looked over at the other one on the cross and said, He was railing on Jesus, saying, if you're the Son of God, why don't you just come off this tree and get us off of here, man? Boy, that's interesting, isn't it? There's a lot of people today that want to escape hell, but they don't want to follow Christ. Ain't that the truth? Wasn't that what He was saying? Well, come on, get me out of this, Jesus! Get me out of this mess, man! If you're the Son of God, come off this cross and take us off with you! Let's get out of here! What did he want? Well, he wanted Jesus just to save him from punishment. He didn't want to follow Jesus after he did, though. See the difference? He had no desire to follow Jesus. What did he want? Just get me off this cross and I'll go about my way and live my own life the way I want to. If you're God, you can get me off of this. Then just pop me off this cross and I'll go walk away and do again what I got put on here for. And end up right back in the same place again. That's what he was saying. That sounds like some modern day evangelism today, doesn't it? Just pop me off this cross and get me out of this judgment of God and I'll go do whatever I want to do. That's not salvation, folks. What was salvation? The guy on the other side. The guy that said this. What did he say? But the other answer rebuked him. He rebuked that spirit. And what did he say to him? He said, dost thou not fear God? Sing, thou art in the same condemnation. What did he say afterwards? Remember me, Lord, in thy kingdom? Why? He wanted to follow Christ. Pretty powerful, isn't it? That's real simple, isn't it? It's a real simple understanding of what took place there. Let me off of this. No, that guy said, just remember me in your kingdom. I deserve to die. I'm in this condemnation, but you're God. You shouldn't be in this. You're doing this for me. You're dying for me. Dost thou not fear the Lord? Acts 13, verse 16, Then Paul stood up in beckoning with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. He said, some of you fear God. Would you listen to what I have to say? Some of you fear God. Listen, please. 1 Peter 2.17, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Fear God. Peter saying you better fear God. That's part of your duty is to fear God. Revelation 14 and verse number 7, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come and worship Him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters. That was an angel that came out of heaven that said, you better fear God and give glory to Him. Why? Judgment's coming. I can preach the same thing right now to a lost and dying world. Fear God. and give glory to Him for the hour of judgment has come. Me, I would have to say it's coming. Amen. But it's fitting, because the hour of judgment is coming. and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters. Why? Because in Revelation 13, all the world was wondering after the beast. That's what happens. All of them are following the beast. All of them are following the government. All of them are going to follow that one world government that takes place. That's being set up right now. The design is there right now. It's all there. And it's all been implanted in American history. It's all there. It's been planned. It's been plotted. All the trigger points are there. Everything has been designed for that. If you look at Washington, D.C., everything says that. Everything. It says it in symbols right there. It tells you. Look on the dollar bill. It tells you on the dollar bill what's going to happen. What the plan is. It's right there. Turn to Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13 and we're done here. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. What's the whole matter? You know, at the end of this man's days, Solomon had left the Lord. He had run around. He had done everything. And he was lamenting a lot of things. And at the end of his days, he was saying, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty of man. You want to teach your children right? You want to raise your family right? What do you do? You sit down and teach them this. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments. Amen? That's what we're supposed to be doing. Fear God. That's the conclusion of it all in my life is fear God and keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty of man. What is man judged by in the end? Did you obey my commands? You see, that doesn't take him to heaven. No, Jesus Christ forgives sins. Amen? But the problem is they're going to hell because why? Because they disobeyed His commands. And they didn't reach out for the One that paid for it all. The One that kept His commands. They didn't trust Him by faith. They didn't repent and believe the Gospel. The Gospel. Jesus Christ is the is the payment for sin. He's the only acceptable payment for sin. He's the only one that can forgive sins. You don't have a belief problem, you have a sin problem. Now, believing is the answer, but sins are what Jesus came to save you from. That's why He came. He didn't come to save you from hell. He came to save you from your sin. Because you deserve to go to hell and I deserve to go to hell. He came to save us from our sin. That's what He came for. Because we're sinners. And we need a Savior. The problem has always been sin. That's why Jesus came. That's why the promised seed came. That's why the promise was given in Genesis. And the conclusion of the whole matter is to fear God and keep His commandments. This is the whole duty of man.