Let's take our Bibles tonight to the book of Ecclesiastes. It's in the Old Testament. Ecclesiastes 12. We're going to read just one verse here. It's going to be the verse that I springboard off tonight's message. The title of the message tonight is The Fear That Frees. I was given the topic tonight to preach on fear, and I could have gone a lot of directions with it, but I feel like the fear of God is really what transforms a life. Amen? The fear of God. I've realized that in our culture, there's no fear of God, right? And we look at the culture, we talk about them enough, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time there tonight, because I believe that God is going to begin when he comes back with the church. Is there a fear of God in this place? We have five children. And with each one of them, they all have different temperaments and personalities. And, you know, I have some children who I just got to look at them, and they shape it up. They stop the nonsense, right? And then we have other children who they have no fear of dad. And it doesn't matter how much correction, doesn't matter how much I threaten, doesn't matter what I take away. They're just going to do what they want to do. And I always tell you, right now the toughest period right now is with our four-year-old, Zuri. And she's going to hear these messages later on in life, and she's going to be upset with me. But I believe God had made those babies who were born at 20, 20, and on a little different. I keep saying that. They have a strong will. Even today, mom was texting me, you know, she's with the emojis, like, man, I took him to the park for a little bit, and Zuri would not leave the park. And my wife said, I got in, I got all, you know how you, our parents used to scare us, like, I'm gonna leave you here. And then we'd shape up real quick. Okay, no, no, no, no, we'd come. Not Zuri. They were all the way in the car. She could see her, right, babe? But she's just playing, she has no fear, zero fear. I just want to, like, babe, what do we do? Like, we pray a lot for her. I'm going to be honest. But I believe in the family of God. There are those who are like my four-year-old, who have no fear of God, no respect or reverence or awe of the mighty God of the universe. And the Bible talks much about the necessity of the fear of God. Now, let me read this verse in Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 13. The Bible says, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Now, if you know the context of Ecclesiastes, this is Solomon, the wisest man other than the Lord Jesus who ever walked the planet. One of the richest men, the Bible just lays out that he had affluence on a level that you and I can never comprehend. He had every pleasure. He had 800 women. He had every type of skill set you can think about. He studied books. He knew he was an expert in music and in agriculture. And I mean, he had houses with cedar wood from from Lebanon. I mean, he would have been the Elon Musk. of his day. He was technologically more advanced than anyone of his day. He was light years ahead of the other kings. The history books record that the Queen of Sheba came because she wanted to behold Solomon in all his glory. He was something else, y'all. But none of that fulfilled him. None of it. Under the sun, he eventually came to the end of his life and he said, it's all vanity and vexation of spirit. none of it satisfied and so he gets to the end of the book of Ecclesiastes as he toils with this and he said this let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter this is the sum of everything that I've learned everything that I figured out everything every experience that I've had known to man the sum of it all the whole purpose of it all our life, listen to me, fear God and keep his commandments. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is man's all. I want to ask you tonight, do you fear the Lord? Now let me explain what this means. This term is sometimes confused and I've heard a lot of different viewpoints on the fear of the Lord, but the fear of the Lord is not terror. I don't want my children to be terrified. Some of you grew up in a home where you were abused. Your father used his strength and his power to abuse you. Your mother maybe tormented you, so you were terrified. You walked around on eggshells, and if there's There's something that I believe God really frowns upon is those who harm helpless children who, listen to me, who use their God-given strength and position to harm kids. And Jesus said it'd be better that that one never be born or that he have a millstone wrapped around his neck and thrown into the ocean. And I want you to get the strength of that. Jesus is going to avenge every, everyone unrepentantly who has hurt children. Listen to me. We know that our society has gotten away from God when now it seems like everybody can come for the children. There's no men standing up in front of the drag queen hour to say, absolutely not over my dead body will you come in here. and dance in front of my six years old. And I'm just, I'm sorry, that's just a little rant. We just, we see it all the time. But the fear of the Lord is not terror. Now for the unbeliever, the fear of God is a terrifying thing. Hear me out. Unbelievers experience this fear. And I've noticed in our culture, no one wants to talk about death. We avoid it. You'll find hundreds and thousands of books written every year on health and wellness, on being your better self, and self-improvement, and all these other things, and no one's really preparing for the day that will come for every one of us. When the Bible says it is appointed unto men once to die, then after this is the judgment. I don't care how healthy, how meticulous you are on your diet, how faithful you are to exercise, there's going to come a point in time when, what is your life? Solomon talked about this in Ecclesiastes. What is your life? it is but of that it is here for a moment you're our lives are here like listen to me the other day i was 10 years old i remember i was my son's age pastor and i remember going to school and playing with you know uh pogs anybody in my age playing with pogs and you had those slammers and and collecting baseball cards and just not having a lot of cares in the world. And now I'm going to be 40 this year. It just goes so fast. This life is a vapor. Anybody can testify of that? But we're going to stand before God. And for the unbeliever, there should be some fear there. They fear judgment, because eternity is written in the heart of every person. Every atheist I meet, I say, I don't believe in you. I don't believe you. Because God has written his signature on every soul that he created. Amen? But they fear judgment. That's why they get so angry when we talk about God. Like, you don't get mad when we talk about Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy or, you know, mystical creatures, you know, in the ocean. You don't get mad about that. Why do you get mad when we talk about the God of the Bible? Hmm. Makes you wonder, huh? But they fear judgment. They fear eternal death. I believe it was Richard Hawkins, and he was a staunch atheist and he spent his life you know just fighting those who had faith and but in his life he was he was still hardened towards God but he was fearful because he was going to die. They fear separation from God and it should be a terrible thing to think about it because I know we don't like to hear this and if you're in this room today my intention isn't to Try to scare you into heaven, but maybe it is. But the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10 that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. It is a fearful thing. You say, pastor, what do you mean? Jesus put it this way. And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Strong language. People say, oh, Jesus loves you. And he does. But they don't like to come to these verses when Jesus talks this type of language, this type of strong warning. He said, don't fear man. He can only kill your body. But fear the one who can kill body and soul in hell. Hell is a real place, guys. We're asking God to rend the heavens because we desire to see the church lit on fire so we can get back to warning the lost. Because we do believe that there's two destinations after this life, heaven or hell. There's no in between. There's no purgatory. A decision for Christ has to be made before you take your last breath. God is merciful. If you're hearing this tonight, He's giving you another opportunity. He's extending His grace to you one more time. If you do not know Christ, I want to encourage you tonight to believe on Him. to receive his free gift of salvation. It's free because he purchased it. We just sang all hail King Jesus. And why we exalt his name is because he shed his blood on the cross for my sin and for your sin. May we never get over that. May we never lose the awe of the cross. And he's extending to the world, even to this moment. It is only because of his grace, he hasn't returned yet. Some people say, oh, I just want Jesus to come back. And I understand that, don't get me wrong. But really, are you really ready for Jesus to come back? Christian, are you ready for Jesus to come back? Listen to me. My mom used to sometimes leave the house and give us a to-do list, and I'd spend the day, you know, just lollygagging and not, you know, procrastinating and not doing what I'm supposed to do. And then I'd hear those keys jingling in the door, and I'd be, ah! Because I knew what was coming. The whole point of revival is to awaken our spirit, listen, so that we can get We should be ready for when he does come. There are healthy fears in the world. I'm thankful. We teach our kids to fear running in the street where there are cars moving that can hit them and hurt them. I hope you have a healthy fear of the electricity in your room. I'll never forget trying to change an outlet in my home, and I thought I got the right breaker, and I didn't. And what I felt close to tears. There are healthy fears in the world. The fear of God is one of them. As I mentioned for the unbeliever, they may be terrified, but for the believer, the fear of God looks like this. We are to be in awe of God, to reverence and adore Him, to honor Him in all that we do. The fear of God It is a clean thing, the Bible says. It's a beautiful, it's a beautiful thing in the life of a believer. You see, and I wanna just unpack it just in two quick points tonight. We won't be long. The fear of the Lord is a, the fear that transforms our lives is a fear that leads to worship, a fear that leads to worship. Once we recognize God for who he is, listen, some of you only worship God when he's doing what you think you, what you desire, when everything is going well in your life, when you're healthy, wealthy, and well, and that's when you worship God. But true worship comes from the heart. it's no matter what though you slay me I still would trust in you no matter what Lord I exalt you God whatever you choose I will I will walk in it Lord it is a heart position once we recognize the character of God we should respond to that in worship, in obedience, in serving Him. Do we truly worship God? Now, worship isn't just a song. I want you to understand there are so many different words for worship in the Bible, and each means something different. And do you know that Cain and Abel, Abel brought an acceptable offering, and that word offering there was, it could be translated as worship. So he worshiped God in bringing God the best of his flock, the firstborn, the fatted calf, May we say, and Cain, he did not worship God respectfully. God had no respect for Cain's worship because it wasn't his best. It wasn't, it was probably whatever he felt like throwing together. God was concerned with the heart of what they did. And I want you to hear me tonight. The fear of the Lord leads to genuine worship. Genuine worship. I was thinking about this tonight. The result of genuine worship is a changed heart. If I'm in love with the Lord and I'm honoring the Lord and I have a healthy reverence for the Lord, I desire to love and to serve and to obey Him. It is not a chore. It is not something that I have to be coerced to do. It is not something that someone has to put a battery in my back and say, hey, go serve in the children's ministry, go serve in the media team, go whatever it might be, go witness to someone. When someone is truly in awe of God, it is an honor and a privilege to serve him. genuine faith leads to a changed heart. God is concerned with our heart. He's concerned with whether or not we truly love Him and fear Him. And I hope that during this we're in the heavens, as you've heard some hard truths, you've heard some conviction, you've experienced God, and I hope the results of this is genuine worship from our hearts. Listen to me, I wanted to be here. Like I said, if we could, and this is, I believe pastors are too, we would open the church every night. You know, it's hard with five kids and with, like I said, lack of sometimes help, but our desire, like what David said, I was glad when they said it to me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Listen, I'd rather spend one day, better is one day in your court than thousands elsewhere, Lord. I have desired, and one thing I will seek, listen to me, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all my day. Is there anyone like that tonight where you love Jesus? You want to be in his presence? You want to worship and exalt his name? Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. I'm telling you. We got to get back to that, where we're on fire, passionately in love with Jesus. That's what he wants. He doesn't care. Listen, you can work, you can do all these things, but if your heart isn't there, God isn't pleased with that. You can sing songs until we're blue in the face, but if your heart isn't there, he is not pleased. He's looking for true worshipers tonight. Amen? What did David say when he was repenting? He said, restore to me the joy of my salvation. He wanted the joy back so he can worship. He wanted the fellowship back, the fellowship that I had. God, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. We quench and grieve the Spirit all day long and we don't care. David, he's walked in the fear of the Lord. He wasn't perfect, we know he sinned, but he walked in the fear of the Lord because he wanted the favor of the Lord. Anybody here need the favor of the Lord? And fear God. Walk with him. Psalm 34, 11, come you children, listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Are you teaching your children to fear the Lord? Listen to me, there's times when I have to, my kids, we'll have prayer at night, and they're young, and you give them a little grace, but when they get to be about four or five, and they wanna be a little too rambunctious during prayer, every now and then you have to correct them and say, no, we are praying to the holy God of the universe, child. Do not disrespect. And listen to me, teenagers, I'm going to start calling some of you out, too. We're in church, we're preaching, and I see you over there chit-chatting with your bud. I love you, but I'm going to tell you about yourself. Not just the young people, there are people who come to this church. and we hear about them and their lives are just, they're living a duplicit life. They're living a hypocritical life. Some come in the prayer room and they put on the facade like they're spiritual, but then we hear that they have things going on that should not be named within the family of God. I think like, is there no fear of God in your heart? Is there no, like, you could, listen to me. If the shoe fits, wear it. Serve the Lord with fear, Psalms 2.11 says. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Godly fear leads to worship. Genuine faith, I would say this too, leads to godly fear. And pastor said it the other night, we don't like to say this. I think a lot of problems within the Western church is due to a lot of people who are not saved, who are religious, who just comes to church. Genuine faith, genuine faith will lead to godly fear at some point. I'm not saying it's going to happen overnight. When I got saved, you know, I still sinned afterwards. I still stumbled and I fell. You know, I still do till this day. But I want to get, I want to get you this. If you're in a lifestyle of sin, if you're just, there's no fear, there's no, no little, little, little flinch when you said something you shouldn't say. I had a word come out the other day, pastor, on the basketball court. I'm like, where did that come from? I'm like, I searched my heart. One of the things I pray every day, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me like what David prayed. And that's what we have to constantly be doing. We have to constantly be giving our heart to God because our heart is deceitful and wicked. The Bible says above all things, who can know it? We can think that we're right with the Lord sometimes, But if we aren't dealing with sin, if there's not a reverence and a holy fear of God in our lives, then chances are there's areas of compromise that are undealt with. And I wanna encourage us this week, as we talked about the other day, that holiness is the path that leads to revival. So genuine faith leads to godly fear, fear that leads to worship, but I wanna see secondly, We should have a fear that leads to wisdom. Now, this seems to be cliche. We all know this verse, Proverbs 1 and verse 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. We aren't even on the path of wisdom. And what is wisdom? Understanding God's principles, his truths, and walking out in it, living it out. I'll tell you where a person will be 10 years from now by how they are walking with the Lord. If they are walking in wisdom, if they are taking the counsel of the word of God, of godly counselors around them, I'm telling you, it will determine where we are. But the fear of the Lord is the very genesis of wisdom. And the Bible says what the fear of the Lord looks like in Proverbs 8 and 13. It says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, hate evil. I want you to hear this tonight. Just like there are things that God hates, there should be things that we hate and that we should align with his standard on certain things. And the fear of the Lord says, I don't want any part of those things that God hates. I don't want to be in any fellowship where there is people who are indulging in these things that God hates. I don't want to hear, I don't want to be around a so-called brother and sister who is sowing discord in the church. I don't want to be around someone who's bearing false witness. I don't want to be around somebody who's involved in treachery and trying to shed innocent blood. I don't want to be around an arrogant, prideful person. Now, we don't hate people, we hate the sin, right? And we don't want them to show up in our lives. And I've learned this, that I'm right there. I could be right there in a moment. Spiritually arrogant. For many years, I used the scriptures and my knowledge of the scriptures to beat up on people and to be superior in a sense. Man, I'm so thankful that God wouldn't let me stay there, Pastor. I'm so thankful that He broke me down. And you know what He did? He used to do that, and He's probably doing it in some of your life right now. He used failure. He used trials. He used difficulties. He was resisting me. Listen to me. Nothing was going right in my life a few years ago. Not finances, not ministry, not relationships. It seems like everything that I touch, you know how those who have the favor of God, everything that they touch, it seems to turn to gold. Sometimes those people who have that favor, I was the opposite and I knew God was revealing it to me. You're arrogant, you're prideful, you're critical and it's, repulsive to me to hate evil pride is the first thing he mentions is was mentioned there by the proverb writer and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate biblical fear of God For us, it includes understanding how much God hates sin. Do you guys know how much God hates sin? All we have to do is take one look at Calvary. That's how much God hates sin. It is diametrically opposed to his nature. He is holy, he is perfection, and he hates sin. He hates it. And so we should ask the Lord to give us a heart. where we are too sensitive to sin. Are we entertained by sin tonight? Does sin make us giggle and laugh? Do we laugh at those who engage in it? Would you be open for someone to go through your website history? Would you be open for someone to see your Netflix account tonight? Your social media followings? Would you be open? Would Jesus be comfortable on your social media feed? Pride and arrogance, listen to me, there's people on the right right now, there's people in the political realm, and Pastor talks about this all the time, he warns them, even though they may be right on certain positions and certain policies, there's an instinctive arrogance about them. And the way that they promote themselves is to put down others. That is repulsive to God. That is repulsive to God. the prideful, arrogant person. You can be as right as a day is long, but your spiritual gun could be as empty as can be because of pride. And that's not walking in wisdom. That's not the fear of God. And wisdom tells us how to walk out the fear of God. Do you know God will correct you and me? I was reading about it again this week in Hebrews 12, how he will chase in the son he loves. He will whoop you. And the Bible says, don't despise the whooping of Jesus. That's my paraphrase. He will spank you if you're prideful, filled with pride, arrogant, bombastic. I don't want to spank him from God again. I know what that feels like. Not for the same thing. I have some kids who I have to correct them once about one thing, and you don't have to deal with that again. Others, it's just every other day, every day. Are you on this side tonight? God is the same correction is going on that was going on 15 years ago in your spiritual life because you are hardheaded and you won't submit to God. That's what the Bible says. Submit to God and flee the devil, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Some of you, you're not submitting to God because you're prideful, you're arrogant, you're not teachable, no one can speak into your life. There's no you don't handle constructive criticism. Your wife can't tell you anything or you get so defensive and Listen to me. We do enough counseling to know and so You you're not resisting the devil. You're saying here devil come in and that's not wise Bible says the fear of the Lord Proverbs 14 27 is a fountain of life It's a fountain of life Listen to me Fear of God is a fountain of life. We heard about the fountains the other day when seeking the Lord and pass a sermon how there's an endless supply pretty much of water in our earth and there's fountains and there's deep springs that burst up and bring life. Listen to me. Get a healthy fear of God in your life. Start walking in his wisdom and his ways. Your life will flourish. Your life won't be Easy peasy, it won't be a bed of roses. We learned about perseverance earlier last week, but I want you to hear me tonight. If we get back to fearing the Lord and walking in that, God promises that he will bless that life, that it would be like a fountain of life. And what does that mean? He will fill that person with his spirit. He will fill that vessel with his presence. Anybody want that? Amen. It's up to us. We have as much as God tonight as we want. I have as much as God as I desire, and I need more of God. I realize that. I'm the first to tell you. Anybody else need more of God? All right. Let's fear Him. Let's put Him in His rightful place in our hearts and our lives. The fear of the Lord, Proverbs 19.23, it leads to life. And he who has it abides in satisfaction. Solomon got to the end of his life. He started off strong, right? God blessed him with a lot. And the blessing of God took him away from God. I believe a lot of people in America, because we've been so blessed, a lot of people have been taken, their heart has been taken away from God. But Solomon started well, but he didn't end well. Why? because he lost the fear of the Lord. He began to build altars to other gods for his many concubines and wives and the land. And he himself began to sacrifice unto these false deities. He didn't fear the Lord. And so we know what would happen. His son would come on after, take the throne after him and the kingdom would be split. And there was a trickle effect. I want, because my wife and I, we try to fear the Lord, I want my grandkids to be blessed. I want my kids to be blessed. I want my kids' kids to be blessed. I want there to be a, listen to me, as I stand here tonight, do you guys understand that by God's grace, my wife and I, we're breaking generational curses. I come from people who do not fear the Lord. Men who, I just found out just a few months ago that one of the children that my father had while he was married with my mother passed away at 20-something years old. You know, womanizers, alcoholic, party, I mean, just you name it. That's where I come from. But by God's grace, he got a hold of my heart in my 20s. And I've chosen the fear of the Lord, not perfectly. And some of you, maybe you will be the first in your family. Maybe you will break the curses. the fear of the Lord and maybe instead of death and addiction and depression and all these other things that are ravaging families in the U.S. today and around the world, instead of that maybe out of your family God will bless and give a fountain of life and there be fruit that remains. I want to encourage us tonight. The fear that frees. This is the best fear you can have. This is a healthy fear to fear God and to keep his commandments. That is the whole of the matter, church family. If we just got back to that, fear God, keep his commandments, it would transform us. It would transform our families. It would transform the churches in America. It would transform this world eventually, I truly believe. So tonight, do you fear the Lord? Tonight, if you're an unbeliever, if you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, What I spoke about earlier about the terror for those who do not have Christ as their Savior, the coming judgment for those, that is a reality, but there is hope. I want you to know there is time. God has given you a chance, even tonight, to come to Him. The Bible says that he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life. It's that simple. Tonight, give your heart to Jesus. Acknowledge that you are a sinner, helpless before a holy, righteous God. Acknowledge your need for a Savior. Turn to the one and only Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and call on His name. The Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Amen? It's that simple. And He'll save you tonight. He'll take your sin and He'll impute upon you His righteousness. You will be placed in Christ. You'll be sealed by His Holy Spirit and He will hold on to you until the very end. You don't have to perform, you don't have to continue and have a certain level of excellency or anything of that matter. He saves you by His grace and He begins the work in you of sanctification. sanctification, setting you apart, making you holy, conforming you into his image. And tonight, if that's what you need, I want to encourage you to come to Christ tonight. If you are a believer, you can't say with 100% assurance that, hey, I've been walking in the fear of the Lord. I've been avoiding sin. I've been trying to press in. And I'm working out my salvation in fear and trembling. I'm walking in a way because I know one day I'm going to stand before the Lord. If you haven't been walking in the fear and awe and reverence of the Lord, I wanna encourage you tonight to get that right. Forsake the sin that has easily tripped us up and get back to run that race, okay? I don't know about you, I wanna finish strong. It doesn't matter if I do well and then we hear it about all the time, preachers just are dropping like flies, right, pastor? Listen to me, God, He is able to keep us until that day, but it is dependent upon our submission to his will, our walking in the fear of the Lord. I wanna encourage you in that. If you need to do business, as we always say with the Lord, you can come to the altar tonight.