All right, greetings to everyone who's here for the Bible study tonight. I have been fairly busy today and of course, we're busy last week. So that's why we didn't do the Bible study last week. All my people who are here right now know that already. And then Sunday, because we had the baptism, we didn't get the chance to explain what the plan was today. So I'm glad that all of you. Already set aside the time and we're here. That's 1 reason. I try to keep it consistent. I try not to take off or miss days or any of that kind of stuff because I don't like to make it hard on people. I like for you to know that on Tuesday, we do this on Saturday. We do this. I don't want to make it complicated. But anyways, I appreciate those who are here already and a part of the Bible study with us. We're going to pick back up with our study of what is wisdom. And for this study, if you don't know what it is, we are since we're only three lessons in, I'll give a little bit of introduction again to it. We are looking at the concept of wisdom in the Bible, and we are just going through. How should I say it? We're going through, especially the book of Proverbs, but we're gonna be looking at other passages. In fact, tonight, my text begins in Psalms, and we're gonna try to understand what God teaches about the concepts of intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, those concepts of unintelligence, Foolishness, scornfulness, simplicity. We're trying to use Bible words for all of them. So as we go through, we'll explain what all of these things are to try to help you understand them a little bit better. But tonight we're going to pick up where we left off last time, although that's been a little while. So I'll refresh that much that last time we were doing this, we were talking about what we said was the heart of the matter and it's the heart. That when it comes to your capacity to learn, it's not as much a matter of the mind as one would think it is. It's an issue that begins in the heart. That's where wisdom and understanding proceed forth from. And by that, we know I'm not talking about the vessel in your chest that pumps blood. I'm talking about your soul. That's where the capacity for intelligence comes from. So, understanding that we can then go into our chart again, I'm actually going to bring the chart up. Let me see if I can make this work. So, there we go. But I'm going to bring the chart up again. If you don't know what this is, this is a chart that I made. It was something that I worked on because I wanted this to let people look at it and understand what the concepts of wisdom look like and how they relate to one another. I'm not going to go back through the chart because actually the very first video was that. But the reason I bring it back up and use it this week, and I'll probably bring it up to some degree every week, is because of the fact that I want to show you that as you look at the heart, which you see your heart can be one of two directions, you'll notice that the heart is either touched by the fear of the Lord or by unbelief. And we understand like with the fool, the Bible actually gives you really good verse for understanding what the problem, the chief problem of a fool is, what the heart of the matter is. And the heart of the matter with the fool is that the fool has said in his heart that there is no God. God tells you that two different occasions in the book of Psalms. Now with the wise man, you got to do a little more searching, but it's there. It's quite clear that the issue for the wise man in a good way is that his heart has been touched by the fear of the Lord. So as we talk about the beginning of wisdom tonight, you probably already know what we're going to be talking about. We're going to be talking about the fear of the Lord. As we do this, we'll probably go ahead and address unbelief that way. I don't have to do a separate lesson just on unbelief and how it affects our capacity to learn because the two go hand in hand together. And I would mostly be using the same exact verses to teach each one of those. So having said that. Let me get my verse. I'll leave the chart up for just a second while I do this But let me read to you my text verse Which is Psalm 111 in verse 10. So if you want to follow with me, I encourage you to have your Bible. It is a Bible study Psalm 111 verse 10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a good understanding to have all they that do his commandments, his praise endureth forever. Now this statement appears, or at least something like unto it appears three different times in the Bible, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning. In fact, actually, I would say four times, because there's a fourth one that says something very similar once you know what it means. So at least four different occasions, God says something to the extent that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, or the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, or so forth. Most over in the Proverbs, the very first time he says it, though, is here in the book of Psalms. So here he starts us off with this idea, something that we're going to pursue tonight and try to understand what it means. What does the fear of the Lord have to do with wisdom? Because wisdom, while it is a hard issue, is a matter of intelligence, a matter of capacity, it's a matter of ability to take knowledge and use it. And so we could say in a lot of ways that your wisdom is your worldview, that once you have This capacity to take knowledge and apply it and filter it and so forth. A lot of your worldview comes forth from your wisdom. It's not to say wisdom is limited to that definition, but that, but your worldview is a large part of how you use wisdom. So, with that said. The idea that how you see God would then affect how you see the world around you is a very simple idea. And it's really the heart of this idea itself of the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is how we see God is the beginning of how we process all other information. It's the beginning of our capacity to take the knowledge, the things that we're taught, the things we learn, and to use those things. So that's our beginning for this. There's actually many things about the fear of the Lord. Brother Boyle says the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, Proverbs 8, 13. And we will actually probably close to the end of this lesson. I will go in and I will, what am I trying to say? I'll go in and I'll read several verses throughout the book of Proverbs showing what these things look like. And I see that there's, joking in the comments, I'm not gonna address that, I'm not gonna let y'all distract me. But the fear of the Lord is one of the most important concepts in the Bible. Let me just go ahead and jump into that. The fear of the Lord is you're going to affect your capacity to learn. It's going to affect everything about your life. It is something that the Bible puts a tremendous amount of emphasis on, and it's something that we will try to better define tonight. Now, anybody from my church or people who listen to me preach for any amount of time already know where I fall on this. What you may not know, if you haven't ever heard these things, is that there's actually a debate as to what it means. Some people would tell you that the fear of the Lord simply means to be afraid like I fear and tremble. Some people would tell you that the fear of the Lord is simply to respect or to give honor to God. Now, the truth is, biblically, the fear of the Lord is not limited to either of those things. Those are really biblically. Those things are more so the products of what the fear of the Lord is that it is the fear of the Lord is producing these things within us. Now, the easiest definition I can give for what the fear of the Lord is, is seeing God for who he is. It's a realization. It's God being a reality to you. And I'll explain what that means. Don't let me lose you on that if you don't understand that or if that's not the way you would normally define it, because I'll show you what I mean by that. And you may find that it's the same idea you already have. It's just a different way of phrasing it. So don't get too alarmed yet. But I want to give you a few of those verses before we get too excited about trying to define the fear of the Lord itself. As I said, there's more than one time where we're told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of something. So the next one I want to go to is Proverbs 1 in verse 7. We actually already have read this one before. It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despite despise wisdom and instruction. So, you know, from the chart, you know, from the lessons, if you followed that, the opposite of wisdom is going to be foolishness. And a fool's issue is that he doesn't have the capacity to take what he learns, what knowledge he may possess and do in much anything with it. Because being foolish doesn't mean that you lack information. It doesn't mean that you've not been to school. You can go to university. You can go to Bible college. You can go to whatever kind of college you want and still walk away with a foolish heart. Because foolishness is an issue of the heart. It's not an issue of education. It's an issue that you don't know how to use that knowledge. You don't know how to rightly apply it to your life. That's really the breakdown of what foolishness would look like. So in this verse, we're being told that if we fear God, it will help us. It will be in the beginning of our knowledge is where we will really begin to know things. And then you see the contrast given in the latter part of that verse where we're told that a fool hates wisdom and instruction. He doesn't want to learn. He doesn't want to know how to use knowledge, and he doesn't want any of that stuff. And that's the issue when it comes to the fool is he doesn't have the capacity to know these things, and he doesn't want to. And there's where you see the problem in the heart. And a lot of that's going to be what we're going to see tonight is where you see scornfulness and foolishness go hand in hand together the same way wisdom and understanding go hand in hand together. So much of our lesson, our last lesson, we talked about the heart itself. dealt with the fact that wisdom and understanding are right there, hand in hand, that if one's growing in the heart, the other is gonna grow with it. They just naturally grow up side by side. It's like the breathing in of oxygen and producing carbon dioxide. It's just, it's a natural, you know, if one's coming, the other's going. You know, they work hand in hand like that. Maybe that's not the best illustration for what I mean, but I hope you get my point. that the same thing is true of the relationship to foolishness and scornfulness. And it's for a very good reason. Understanding fuels wisdom. Now, the same thing is true in reverse, but more so you see it from the side of understanding. Scornfulness fuels foolishness. A scorner is someone who refuses to be taught. They refuse to understand. They refuse to be educated. They feel like they know everything already, you know, in pride, they're lifted up and they feel like they've got it all figured out. And so when you try to teach them anything or tell them anything, they don't listen. It's a cup that's already full, so there's no room to put anything else in it. That's what a scorner is. He's so full of himself and so full of pride that there's no place to teach him anymore. And because of that, that's why scornfulness fuels. I mean, it expands foolishness exponentially is because of the fact that when someone has scornfulness in their heart, it makes them incapable of being taught or being educated or being helped in the places where they lack. And so because of that, foolishness naturally goes along with it. It's just, again, that natural production, that one's going to increase the other. So tonight, we're probably going to see that relationship more because a lot of these verses will show that. So you see, even from the beginning here of Proverbs, you're getting this idea that if you want to know more and we understand with wisdom, you want to know how to do something with that knowledge, then fear God. If you don't fear God and you walk around in this life with a heart that in the fullest sense is hard, that there is no God. then you're going to shut yourself off to growing. You're going to shut yourself off to learning. You're going to shut yourself off to actually being increased in truth, you know, and in knowledge. No, let's not say that you won't get educated. Let's say you won't have a big degree, that you won't have a nice title, that you won't be able to speak, you know, big swelling words. You can do all of those things, but there's going to be the issue of wisdom in the heart lacking when we shut ourselves off to these things. So the next verse I want to move to, this is the one that actually says a little bit more. It's Proverbs nine, Proverbs nine. I think I want to start reading all the way in verse six. It's a pretty big passage, so maybe I'll break it down. Either I'll read it all and then break it down or break it down as we go. It says forsake the foolish and live and go in the way of understanding. He that reproveth a scorner geteth to himself shame, and he that rebuketh a wicked man geteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet the wiser. Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. For by me, thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself, but if thou scornest, thou shalt bear it alone, thou shalt bear it. Now, this passage is about wisdom, and it starts off with wisdom hath built in her house and so forth. So as you come into this passage, you understand that there's a contrast between wisdom and other things. Actually, it's important to note, especially in relation to what I was just talking about, the fact that understanding is what feeds and multiplies wisdom, whereas scornfulness is what feeds and multiplies foolishness, that this passage actually helps you to see that a little better because the contrast here is that a scorner will never increase in wisdom, but someone who fears the Lord will increase in wisdom. So it's showing you that the issue of a scorner or a fool is that because of that scornfulness, he cannot be wise. It's an interesting thing being presented there, but let's try to break it down. I said I would try to do verse by verse breakdown of that. It says, forsake the foolish and live and go in the way of understanding. So there's actually a lot more into that verse than I can get to tonight because some of that we'll have to talk about as we get into foolishness and the fact that foolishness is a destructive force. about the thought that applies is that we have to make a choice whether to be foolish and scornful and to set in our heart that there is no God and try to understand the world in our own means, in our own understanding, with our own worldview and perspective and so forth, or are we gonna seek after the truth? Because if you seek the truth, you'll find But the reason why many don't find this, because they don't seek, they're approaching everything with their own, their own dogmatic view of things, which is ironic. I guess, use that word since that's usually the word applied to Christians, but I've never met an atheist that wasn't dogmatic. I've never met an evolutionist that wasn't dogmatic. Anyone who believes something is dogmatic and in this case their belief or unbelief is that they are absolutely dogmatic and said that there is no God and everything they see about the world, the entire way that they filter the information around them is so as to disprove God. Even if that means that you have to Jump take two steps forward one step back two steps back one step forward over and over again and you never get anywhere what I mean by that is Listen to the wisest man in the world talk or supposedly wisest man. I'm sorry The most highly esteemed to me and that's what I mean to say in the world talk about things such as how the universe come to existence, you know how life began and so forth and honestly when you listen to him talk the more you listen to it if you have ounce of wisdom, you begin to unravel everything they're saying. I mean, we did a Q&A on the Big Bang not so long ago, and the fact is you can unravel it very quickly because at the end of the day, there is no answers as to how it can exist without believing that there is some creator. Otherwise, you're just putting yourself in a circle where you're over and over answering the same question with, you know, where you keep going back and forth, back and forth with this circle. Okay, well, there was a universe that then collapse, it became infinitely dense and then it expanded. Okay, well, where did that universe come from? The universe before it collapsed, it became infinitely dense, then it exploded and expanded. And you just keep going back and forth over and over again. It's like what I said before, you know, the greatest minds in the world used to think that we're riding on the back. of a giant tortoise, and then you want to ask, what's the tortoise sitting on? He's sitting on the four elephants. And when I ask, what are the four elephants sitting on? The four elephants are sitting on top of a giant snake. What's the giant snake sitting on? The giant snake is sitting in a cosmic ocean. And those were the minds of the philosophers and the scientists of their time, the most intelligent people. And that same foolishness of, well, yeah, I mean, this makes more sense to me than saying God did it. That same foolishness that makes it where you're blind and you refuse to see the truth. You won't even open your mind to consider any other possibilities. That same foolishness that was there then is what makes many people take the side they do today. And I understand, it's not lost on me what I'm saying right now, because everything I'm saying is usually said about Christians. Now here's the difference. For me, I look and I study and I find that science does not, you cannot give me any provable factual science that disagrees with creation. Everything actually points to a young universe. The flood answers any questions you have about why the earth has any bit of aged appearance to it in terms of the bones and so forth. There's nothing you can give me in science. And I've studied it. And here's the difference. So I studied with the approach where I'm willing to learn. I'm willing to take what comes. I'm willing to take the information and use it and so forth. I'm not starting with a, this is the answer. Let me find what I have to do to get there. I'm willing to study it out and see what I come up with. I'm willing to search things out. And wisdom allows you to do that because I'm not afraid. I believe that God created the universe, and I'm not afraid that if I go into any equation measuring the information that's given to me and that somehow it's going to disprove that. If I'm wrong, then I would rather know the truth that I believe God created. And so far, all the science I've ever seen just comes to support that. All right, so let me keep moving forward, though, because I got bogged down quite a bit on that one first. He says in verse seven, he that reproved the scorner giveth to himself shame. And that's just because again, the scorner thinks he knows everything. And there are some people you've seen. I mean, actually one of our last video, the last video I did on prophecy, a man come in like last minute of the video and started just saying all kinds of nonsense. I mean, they were nice about what, about it. They come in to argue, but just saying all kinds of nonsense of, you know, what the 420 elders were and, you know, the stuff you could not find this in the Bible. No, you would have to, I mean, you couldn't even find Catholic additional, you know, fan fiction books that would say this kind of stuff about, you know, that it's an elected position and it changes and all this is crazy stuff when he was coming up with. But the reason why I bring him up is because at the same time, When I mentioned that, well, you know, those things can't be found in the Bible. Maybe you should go back and listen to the lesson. His answer to me was, your lesson has no bearing on my beliefs. And then he just left. But what that shows you is that since the lesson was a Bible study, where we're going verse by verse and studying things from the Bible. that that person had already closed off their heart and was not willing to be educated. And that's why there are some people that just be honest with you. I'm not going to pour time into them because they're unwilling to be educated. And that's why what he means here with this idea of he that approved the scorer, get it to himself, shame. You're not going to help the person usually who is a scorer because they have a heart issue and God needs to deal with their heart. You're better off to leave them alone. To be honest, a lot of times, I pray for him, of course, but in terms of you having a personal interaction, a lot of times you're better off to put a little distance in some things. And he that rebuketh a wicked man get it himself a blunt. So same concept just applied to the wicked man. When you rebuke him, you know, it's what's the saying, you know, that if you argue with the fool, you both look foolish. That kind of thing is what the Bible saying here. Reprove a scorner, verse 8, reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee. Same concept. He's going to hate you. You're just going to look bad trying to fight with him. You know, the people who are watching from the distance are going to look at you both and think you're both a bunch of fools when you're arguing with someone who refuses to learn. It's a lesson we all have to learn at some point, especially anybody who engages in online debates and stuff of that nature. Rebukal, wise man though, and he will love thee. So this is showing you that big contrast that someone who has wisdom in their heart, that has that capacity to understand, and it's not so full of themselves that they can't understand anymore. That person, when you rebuke them, when you tell a wise man that he's wrong, he's going to love that. Maybe not immediately, because no chastisement is pleasurable for the present according to the Bible itself. But a wise person will take the rebuke. Maybe they go home and they think about it. They send you a message later and say, you know, you were right. Maybe in a month, you're talking to him and you hear him repeat exactly what you just said the month before. But at the end of the day, you'll see that that wisdom does actually have, that information has the ability to pierce into a heart. And verse nine supports this by saying, give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet the wiser. So wise man is going to increase because he has the ability to understand, he has the ability to take that information, process it, and then see how to use it and so forth. So because he has those capacities, he is going to increase in his wisdom. And then he says that the knowledge of the Holy is understanding. And this is coming back to that idea that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I'm sorry, actually, I skipped down to the end of the next verse. It says, teach a just man and he will increase in learning. Now, There are two ways to look at this. One is that we understand a sense of justice as part of wisdom in the first place. So it could be appealing to that. But honestly, I think this is more so appealing to the idea that someone who wants to be right, which kind of is the same point, but someone who wants to be right, someone who wants to be just, they're going to learn and they're going to take things to heart and they're going to try to adapt and adjust to be just. So then the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge with Holy is understanding these two ideas go hand in hand together. It's just it's almost a two different ways of saying the same thing that the more we know God and the more we see him for who he is, it changes the way we process information and changes the way we see the world around us. And that's what's going to be the core theme of what we're talking about tonight. That's why I'm giving it a very simplistic answer because we're going to talk about it as we go. Then verse 11, for by me, this is about wisdom, for by me thy days shall be multiplied and the years of thy life shall be increased. So this is a contrast to the fact that foolishness brings forth destruction and death. Wisdom brings forth, you know, a longer, better life. And then verse 12, if thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself. But if thou scorest, thou alone shalt bear it. So the idea is that either way, whether you're wise or foolish, you're the one who's going to have to bear the consequences. But the idea of wisdom is that, you know, you get the benefit, you know, you get the benefits for your benefit personally for you is why you should be wise. But if you're a scorer and you don't want to learn, then you're going to have to take the consequences on your own. So it's actually a really great passage, and I'm sure we'll look at it more and more as we go through. I just try to rush through it because I have more stuff to talk about. I mean, it's only my first three, the first three passages I've written down, and I've got several more to go. So what I want to do before I try to build on this idea of how the fear of the Lord affects our worldview and our processing of information and so forth, is I want to go back and try to show you a definition of what the fear of the Lord is. And of course, anytime we're going to do that, you know, my people will know that the best way to do that is to go back and look at the first time something is used, the first mention. Because God writes the Bible in a way where it defines itself. And one of the ways it does that is usually the first mention gives you a basic understanding. And then the next mentions will help build upon that foundation that was laid. So let's go back to 1 Samuel 11. 1 Samuel 11. Verse 5 through 7, and that's where we're getting. to try to lay some of this foundation, this understanding. So this is the first mention. I'll explain, we're gonna jump into the middle of a passage, but I'll go back and explain to you what it's about. It says 1 Samuel 11, 5, and behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field and Saul said, what aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh. And the spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings and his anger was kindled greatly. And he took a yoke of oxen and hewed them in pieces and sent them through all the coast of Israel by the hands of the messenger saying, whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell on the people and they came out with one concern. Now, first of all, let's get the context. What's going on here is that the Jabesh has been surrounded. They've been given a choice that they have to pluck out their right eye and all kinds of just awful stuff that if they want to be given mercy, if they want to survive, because you can't really call it mercy at that point. But if you want to survive the siege, this is what you have to do. They tell the bad guys, you know, wait a little while, let us have a chance to reach out for help. And it's amazing that they accept this, you know, that they say, okay, you know, give us a few days to see if somebody is going to help us. And if not, we'll surrender. And so they sent out for help. And Saul's one of the people who gets the message of these awful conditions, this idea, you know, you have to, everybody's going to have to pluck out the right eye and so forth and so forth. And Saul is really upset with this when he hears it. In fact, let me read you the condition. It's in verse two. It says, and Nahash the Ammonite answered them on this condition, while I make covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes and lay it for approach upon Israel. So it's also a spiritual attack against Israel as well. That's why I want to go back and read it, because there was more to it than just the eye. But anyways, when Saul hears this, his answer is to how to stir people up and make this real to them and not just some, okay guys, let's go to battle. But a real call is he takes and he slaughters an ox and he sends it around to everybody so they can see it with their own eyes and says, look, if you don't come help me, I'm going to do this to your ox next. And so then everybody takes it serious. That's when people really get moved and people get up and they start doing something. I mean, attack by flight. But that's when they take it to heart and they have to do something. They can't just ignore the problem anymore. Now, the reason why I think that's so important is because, first of all, if you approach the fear of the Lord and you're going to find it by saying it's simply reverence and respect. that are you telling me that when they saw that dead ox, they said, man, I really respect God because Saul killed that ox. I mean, he did such a good job butchering that ox. You know, even Stefania would be impressed with how good he butchered that ox. I have a newfound respect for God after seeing that dead ox. I honestly don't believe that's what they meant. Now, if you told me that we're afraid of God, then you could fit that into the context. And of course it would fit with the word itself, fear of the Lord. But the thing that we often miss when we get caught up in debates like this is that so many times people who go in one ditch to avoid the other are wrong, no matter which ditch they go in. That in truth, the answer is usually gonna be found somewhere just by ignoring the ditches and driving on the road. And in this case, the answer is quite simple. That respect and literal fear go hand in hand together, at least to a certain degree. Now, we're talking about fear of something evil that, yeah, there's not going to normally be respect because it's something unrespectable. But when we're talking about something respectable, or in this case, someone who is respectable, then to have an actual literal fear of him and to have a respect or honor in our heart naturally would go hand in hand together. They would be produced properly. A parent-child relationship is always going to be the one, the go-to thing to explain our relationship to God because we are his children when we put our faith in him. It's natural that a child should have a literal fear for their parent when it comes to being punished for the wrong that they do, but also respect for their parent that governs their actions in every other part of their life. And so we understand that two things go hand in hand together. We have that in other relationships. It's not strange here. But what's interesting is what you notice is if you try to cram either one of those as the only definition as to what happened here in this story, it fits. I mean, to a degree, it's like you took a hexagon-shaped piece and you stuck it in a round hole. So, I mean, it passed through, but it's like you're missing something still. And that's why I say the reason is because what happened is the whole point of this story is Israel needed to wake up and take things seriously. They needed to wake up and realize that life was not a game, that they couldn't just ignore the cries of others and that, you know, God had given them a purpose and that they so often failed and they couldn't just ignore when evil and things were going around, that they needed to take stuff more seriously. And that's why the word that's going to apply most when you're trying to define the fear of the Lord, you're really going to find yourself using the word serious or sincere a lot. Because what it really comes down to is it is getting a serious perspective of God where you begin to take him serious. You begin to see him for who he really is. And the best ways I know to explain it actually are based off of what God himself does. And of course, You know, Job, you know, I'm talking about Leviathan, but the idea of what I see the fear of the Lord is, is there are some things that you don't take them serious until the consequences, the reality of it, and all of that becomes real to you. And there's many ways I can explain. I mean, I'll give the example that the Eiffel Tower is huge, but you don't take it very serious when you're just looking at pictures of it. It's not that big of a deal when you're looking at pictures of it, or even when you're seeing it from very far away. It's not until you really get close to it that you start to appreciate it. But even more so, it's when you're standing on it and you're there close to the edge and your insides start to draw up because you realize how far that fall is, that's when you start taking it a little more serious. Especially you got kids in your arms and one kick is all it would take to send them hurtling down all that distance. One kick from them, not from me. I'm sure you're not reading me the wrong way, but just one time of them kicking out of your arm and kicking themselves loose, because otherwise that sounds really, really bad. But one time of them kicking loose, all it takes for them to go flying down and they're gone. It becomes such a reality then. It's like anybody who's ever done roofing. When you're working up at the top of the roof at the center, it's not so scary. It's not such a big deal. You can almost laugh and play and not take it very serious. When you get over there next to the edge and it's a pretty good fall, you start to take it a lot more serious then. And that's really what the fear of the Lord is going to boil down to. That Anybody who's ever worked on a farm, anybody who's ever been around big animals that most of us, we see them in a zoo or something, or we see the big bulls and stuff out in the field. They're not a big deal to us. We're not afraid of them. We don't think about them. But the people who work with them understand that all that thing has to do, that thing has so much power in it. that one kick could crack your entire rib cage. I mean, they understand that these things are serious, and you have to be more careful. You have to approach it with a certain level of care. And when you go back and study what I'm talking about there with Leviathan, which I would encourage, if you don't know, to read those last chapters of Job, because God He gives you the definitive definition for the fear of the Lord there when he's talking about the story with Leviathan. And he's just asking those questions of, would you put a hook in his mouth? Would you do this or would you do that? No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't try to catch a massive creature and treat it like it's nothing because its power has become real to you. Its ability to affect you has become real to you. And the issue with the average Christian is that when it comes to God, We, even though in our heart, we believe he's real on a day to day. Many times we run in, we run in the issue, the habit, or even the rut. You could say, you know, that, that rut that gets worn into the road. We get into those things of living as if he's not, even though in our heart, we know he's real. but we live as if he's not. And maybe the best way to compare this is someone who lives far away from their family, especially if you're not in good communication with them, is, you know, they're real, you know, they exist, they're your family, you know, you've been there with them, you've touched them, you've hugged them, you know, you know, they exist, but you live your day almost as if they don't, because how much did you think about? How much did you react to them? You know, did you make your decisions based off of how it affected them and so forth? Anytime we get distance from something, it changes our perspective of it. It changes how real it is to us. And so when it comes to our relationship to God, the fear of the Lord is that ability that even though we might be quite distant from him in terms of he in heaven and us on earth, that kind of way. that he becomes real to us in such a way that he affects our day-to-day life in every step. That's why I think this story is actually a great place to get your definition, this first mention there, because what happened was you had people who probably weren't taking it serious. At least that's what it would seem to be from the story. That's why it's going to be a reproach on them. But in this moment of seeing some consequences, even though these weren't consequences being delivered directly from the hand of God, this was just, you know, from the king and God's messenger, you know, from Saul and Samuel, it was enough to stir them up and say, you know, I don't want to have to give an answer to God if I sit still and don't do anything. In fact, it seems like they get to the point where it's more than the ox they're worried about, that they're worried about what's gonna happen if God makes them answer for not doing something. That's what I would say it means when it says the fear of Lord fell on them and they came all with one consent, meaning they all got together, they all got on board, they were all ready to go fight. Because they realized that it's a scary thing, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. And so they understood that. So there's your first time that the fear of the Lord is mentioned. Your second time would be 2 Chronicles 14, 12 through 15. I'll read. It says in 2 Chronicles 14, 12, so the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar, and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before the Lord and before his host, and they carried away very much spoiled. And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the fear of the Lord came upon them, and they spoiled all the cities, for there was exceeding much spoil in them. They smote also the tents of the cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem." So in this story, you have a similar concept. You have people who are fighting, God shows up and does something really incredible so that their enemy Gets utterly defeated and they see that and it's like their eyes open up and for a moment they realize God's not just a story. He's real. He's able to do exceeding abundantly above more above all the women ask her thing that he's able to defeat any enemy and it charges them and so they go out and they go and fight and When you have fear of something, fear of whatever it may be, it changes the way you live your life. It affects your perspectives of everything. It affects the way you see stuff. You know, everything about you is shaped and affected by this fear. And I mean, it influences the way that you talk, the way that you act, the way you dress. All these things that you communicate will show that this fear is deep down inside of you. In fact, the problem I see with the average Christian, and this is allowing for the ones who are saved, not just the people sitting in church who never trusted Christ, I'm talking about the saint ones. The problem I see is that so many of them would profess that they fear God, but what they communicate through action and words and so forth would say otherwise. Their Facebook, for example, would definitely say otherwise. You go on their Facebook and they take everything else far more serious than they take God. You go on their Facebook and whatever is being taught in the news today, that's it. Doesn't matter whether it's conservative or liberal. I know people on either side that they will listen to these things no matter what. In fact, I'll be honest with you. One of the most discouraging things I've read recently was in the Independent Baptist Church Facebook group. I just had to open my Facebook one day and of course, you know, it tells you the group And so 1 of the 1st thing on my list was a man come into the group and was talking about how that, you know, maybe we should consider that some of what we're facing is about God, you know, and about God taking away his blessings and in truth. He's not wrong about a lot of what he's saying. He just maybe he phrased it in a way where people, even spiritual people didn't take his side because the way it was phrased. But my point is what actually bothered me was the response that people come in and their argument wasn't using. They didn't come to argue with him using Bible. They didn't come to argue with him. based off of any spiritual principles. It was entirely off of patriotism and politics. You know, the news channel says this and so forth. And I just, I mean, it's not that I couldn't believe it because I already am used to this and know this, but it still is troubling and heartbreaking to see that you have people that profess that God is the center of their universe, that God is the one in whom, you know, they look to for everything, for all their information that they're, You know, fear him supremely and that he is the one that, you know, is in charge of everything. And then, you know, when it comes to an issue like what this guy was talking about, no, no, no. We got to look at this politically. We got to look at this patriotically. We only get this way. Forget quoting Bible verses and all that kind of stuff. And the truth is actually the irony of it is the answer to what they're arguing about was there in the middle of their conversation. Somebody already pointed out that the issue is a lack of revival, a lack of people turning to God. And the only thing is the conversation proved it because everybody was arguing stuff. Even the one who I think had a pretty good point was arguing stuff from a very fleshly perspective and not from a spiritual perspective. of the Bible and not using the word of God. And it shows you that so much of our opinions come from the news, come from Facebook, come from family, come from friend, come from peer pressure, come from these kinds of things, but not from the word of God. And that shows you that the fear is not so much for that. That's not what we take serious, not as much as we think we do. That there's a genuine lack of fear in places that it should be. Now, some of the verses I need to hit really quick because I've used a lot of time talking about other stuff. In fact, my time's pretty much up. I took way longer talking about this stuff than I thought I was going to. I always have to go back and re-listen and see where I got sidetracked. But one of them is Job 28. Job 28, 23 through 28, says, God understands the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth and seeth under the whole heaven to make the weight of the winds, and he weigheth the waters by measure. When he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then did he see it and declare it, and he prepared it and searched it out. And unto man he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. and to depart from evil is understanding. So let me say that one of the reasons why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom is because we look for wisdom then from the source of true wisdom. And what I mean by that is what he's talking about here is how that God, who by wisdom created the universe and his infinite wisdom spoken into existence, we're looking to him. So let me ask you just a very simple idea. Would it not be much more wise of me to go to someone who's a specialist in something and ask them their advice than somebody who's never had? I mean, let me just put it this way. Wouldn't it be more wise for me to ask, let's, I'll pick somebody who's here, I'll pick Safania. Let's say I want to know something about, about meat in particular, you know, something, some concept of how you would butcher this, how you would prepare this, so forth. You know, if you want to grind this and make this, what seasonings would you mix? Something of that nature that's in the specialty of his job, the thing that he's trained for and spent, you know, at this point, getting close to half his life, having learned this stuff. Wouldn't it make a lot more sense for me to go to him and ask his advice on that than Josiah, who doesn't even know what a spice is, doesn't even know what salt tastes like? I'm pretty sure it would be a lot more wise of me. So one idea that Job's presenting here as to why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom is because in the fear of the Lord, you're looking to the one who is the author of all things. You're looking to the one who is the father of wisdom, the creator of wisdom. And from him, you're taking this information from him. You're looking to get all your you're looking to learn things. You're not going to someone who doesn't know anything and then getting all your information from them. So that's one of the reasons he presents. Another one is Proverbs 2. Proverbs 2, I'm gonna start in verse one. It says, my son, if thou will receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding, if thou cryest after knowledge and lifteth up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as hidden treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom out of his mouth, cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. So what you have at that point, is this idea that if we want to know something, we should search it out. We should search for it like a hidden treasure. As a treasure hunter is going there and they're following the clues and so forth to find something. And you'll hear me reference this verse a lot because it's very important. But he's saying that if we fear God, it's essentially having someone there to interpret the map for you because you're going to, again, the author of wisdom. And it's the Lord that giveth wisdom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. You know, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask God who giveth liberally and upbraideth not. That God enlightens the heart and gives us that ability to understand and process the information that we're given. So if you'll go ahead and search it, if you'll look to God and ask him to help you, God will help you to understand. But part of that means that you have to rightly see God as he is and give him the honor and glory to his name to believe that he is the one who can help you to understand these things. And then Proverbs 15, 31 through 33 says, Proverbs 15, 31 says here that here at the reproof of life abideth among the wise. So this is going back to the idea that, you know, wise person will listen and hear. He that refused the instruction despises his own soul, but he that hears reproof, giveth understanding. So the ones who are willing to take they'll increase in understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility. So if we will put God in the right perspective, see him as real, see him for who he is, as I've talked about, then he says that that fear of the Lord helps us to, in the instruction of wisdom, to learn wisdom, to know wisdom, to increase in wisdom, also to increase in understanding and these kind of things. So the answer for us as to why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And once you have this, you'll understand why unbelief is the beginning of foolishness is really very simple. It's a matter of, as we said from the beginning, that if wisdom is at least in a very large part, your worldview, it's how you look at the universe around you. It's how you process and interpret information is how you understand things. If that's true, then whether or not you see a God in that picture makes all the difference in the world. It is, you know, you have these pictures that people can look at them and, you know, like the, a lot of tests and stuff that psychiatrists do, but more so I was thinking of the pictures that you'll see people post that are optical illusions and stuff that you can look at them and different people see different things. Whether or not you see God in the picture and by that then interpret everything else changes everything. I mean, speaking of pictures, I have a picture right behind my head of a old church on a country road with trees all around it. Whether or not I see that as a view of a universe wherein God created all these things and this is the beauty of his craftsmanship and his handiwork and his fingerprints are there. That changes everything about how I process all other information because then I look at that tree and I understand that it did just did just over time through many different mutations and so forth come to be what it is, but that this was carefully crafted by a skillful creator who. With infinite wisdom was able to speak it into existence just like that with all the information needed in its genetic code for it to be what it is to be there for information beyond our understanding at this point, because we don't really begin to understand as much as we think we do when it comes to genetic coding and stuff that. When I see that church, I mean, again, just referencing this picture behind me as an example of what I'm talking about, then I can look at a picture of something like that and understand that that's not just a bunch of people who are desperate for hope, but those are people who are looking to the one who actually has real hope to give to them. It's not people who are just grasping at the air because they have nothing else to hope in. These are people who have found the real and living hope. And so you see, it changes everything. You can have a man who has a doctor's degree, multiple doctor's degrees, superbly educated, look at that same picture and tell you, well, that church is just a sorrowful thing because it's a bunch of people, you know, worshiping the air because they have nothing else to find hope in. Those trees are just the product of mutations that just happen to go right. And you see, it's an entirely different view of things and it shapes everything. So whether or not we believe in God really shapes the entirety of how we view the universe, how we use the process information. And the truth is, because all things are really going to be pointing to God, because the universe around us and all these things are going to be showing that there is a creator. When you approach it with unbelief, you have to shut your mind off to that information. You have to, when somebody confronts you with the moon dust, because I actually saw this recently, somebody talked about it, that there's only so many thousand years worth of moon dust. Then they look at that and say, Yeah, well, you know, I don't know, but it's just something, you know, when they're confronted with the idea that the sun, if it was more than so many thousand years, you know, if it was more than 10,000 years old, it would have destroyed the earth when they're confronted with something like that. And they look at it and say, well, it must have not been shrinking at one point. It must have just, you know, been at a consistent size. And then suddenly it started shrinking, you know, a few thousand years ago or something, but you see how they start adapting and trying to reshape and change things instead of Looking at what's clearly presented because unbelief is what's shaping their heart. It's what's shaping the way they process and understand information. Whereas when you believe, I look at that and I'm open to the information to be what it is. So when I look at anything, you know, and stuff that people would normally interpret it in opposite, like canyons and so forth, or the fossils and things. When I look at that, I don't look at that and think, oh man, what am I gonna do? How am I going to explain that away so that I can continue to believe in a creator? No, I look at that, and then I start considering what does the Bible say about it? Does the Bible address this? And in this case, the Bible does. Now, there's gonna be things that maybe I haven't found what the Bible says about it yet, but this one's quite easy. The flood answers all these things. I mean, we talk about a canyon or something, and we think it takes millions of years to form, but Mount St. Helens erupted and canyons formed in hours. You look at the Grand Canyon, and there's actually a floodgate at one end of it. It's very clear that at one end, there was a body of water that was there, that floodgate broke, and the water came rushing through. It's something anybody can see when they open their minds to be willing to see it. But when you want to believe that millions of years, no God, just all by chance, then you look at that and say, no, it's a little blue by a little by erosion, even though the science very much shows something else. You know, many people go to these kind of things and they they go to visit a cavern and they tell them that, you know, slag tides and slag mines can only be formed over millions of years. And then logic tells you in a moment that's not true. In fact, it actually doesn't take that long to fossilize wood. You just have to have the right process, the right mineral supply, where the minerals are being brought in to replace the material there that actually was the wood, and water flowing across it, and it can happen very quickly. I mean, we've seen stuff fossilized that you would never have thought, things that have clearly been made in recent times, things that we put there because the circumstances were perfect for that and watch them fossilize. It doesn't take very long at all for that process, but people believe that. People who claim to be very intelligent, people who are highly educated, people who are college professors, people who are experts in their field, believe that it takes millions of years for stalactites to form, even though I can show you pictures As I said when we did the Q&A a while back, I can show you pictures of houses in Virginia. I mean, a house in Virginia can't be more than a couple hundred years old, but I can show you pictures of houses in Virginia with stalactites formed from their ceiling because the circumstances were right. The water flowing through and the mineral supply were available. Again, flood really does help explain all of this. The fact that water broke up from the earth and come from under the ground and so forth, all of that is there. One of the ones I would have struggled with, still going along this train of thought, one of the ones I would have struggled with in the past would have been the idea of light coming from far away if the speed of light is this and so forth. And instead of approaching it with a mindset of, okay, well, How do I, you know, it's going to ruin my whole belief. If I can't figure out how this fits in the Bible, I just looked at it and began to consider what does God say about it? What is this show? And as we look at it, God talks about stretching out and we understand what actually brother could give a tremendous lesson on. Relativity in the zoom Bible study, and he explained a lot of that, but actually, once he said it, it changed even some of my view, because originally, my understanding was just very simple that God created the universe with light in place already, as if it had already existed. It doesn't need that. He starts to start and then has to wait for the light to come. But actually the stretching out of heaven and relativity would explain how the Bible fits into that without me having to come up with a bunch of crazy theories and all this kind of stuff. So my point of running through that logic right there is just to show how that when you approach it with unbelief, you have to try to fit everything in. If ever the answer clearly says God did it, then you have to desperately scratch and and find and do whatever you can to say no, there is no God. I found this other way and you have to go through that process over and over again and you see that there's so much of the stuff you get taught going to school and going to these places. You can then turn around and disprove it just like that. It's like place like my still one of the craziest ones to me that people believe it and every time I've ever took a tour of a cavernous system, they teach it even though it's a bold face lie. We know it to be untrue. We've seen it with our own eyes and we've seen these things form much quicker than that. But people still teach it. People still teach a lot of stuff that we know is untrue. But when you've settled your heart into unbelief, you're willing to take it because it's easier to believe the lie because then you don't have to believe in God. So that is where the fear of the Lord and unbelief really shape our worldview. They shape our ability to process information, our willingness to receive information in regards to scornfulness and understanding. It shapes all of this because when the fool has said in his heart, there is no God, That has to be the narrative in which he views everything through. Once you open yourself up to the understanding that there is a God, there is a creator, then little by little you can grow in wisdom. You can grow with understanding. You begin to see things in new lights, and that doesn't mean you immediately jump to some of the conclusions of things that I've said, but it means that you're on a path to grow and see these things where you get to a point where you're more interested in the truth than what fits your narrative and. That's the thing, many people who are open to the idea that God doesn't immediately jump on and understand all of this, and they're not looking for things to prove all of this. It's just that this is what the evidence shows, and as you grow, you get there. That's why so many people who are sincere scientists become Christians at some point in their life, because this is what the evidence is pointing to. So anyways, much longer lesson than I intended it to be. Hope it makes sense as to why, how you see God as the beginning of your journey of wisdom or your journey of foolishness. It really comes down in a lot of ways to, to that basic principle of whether or not you shut yourself down to learn because you want to deny the creator, or whether you open yourself up to learn because you're willing to see things, you're willing to see what God has there. And you see, and again, as more you see God as a reality, the more you're going to increase in wisdom. Uh, because he does help us to understand where he actually takes a personal interest in teaching as according to what some of these verses say. So having said all of that, I hope it all makes sense. I can take a question if there is one. Uh, I probably didn't allow enough time to take questions, but I can take one real quick. If somebody has one, I apologize. We didn't have a lesson last time. So I guess I had to go a little bit extra makeup for, uh, let me look at these comments real quick. See if anything I need to respond to comes in. Uh, OK. Some joking and some references. Oh, I forget to read the verses about the fear of the Lord. Maybe I'll do that if I don't have any questions coming in, because I pulled those back up so I could read them. I just got distracted and didn't do it. Nick says two to 300 years ago, that scornful attitude would be enough to condemn a man to a death sentence. I mean, if we want to be honest, that scornful attitude condemns men to intellectual death all the time. That's why people don't learn. And many times it's what condemns them to eternal death. So. I understand your point, but it just set me up to say something that I think is important for people to understand, that a refusal to learn is a choice to shrivel up and die intellectually, but a refusal to see God and that way in which you interpret all information where there is no God sets yourself up for eternal destruction. All right, I don't see questions. I see a lot of amens and so forth coming in. So Let me give you real quick some verses of what God says about the fear of the Lord. And I'm just going to do the ones in Proverbs. It says Proverbs 1.29, for they that hated knowledge did not choose the fear of the Lord. 2.5, we already read that one. 8.13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. pride and arrogancy in the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate. 1027, the fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. 1426, and the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge. 1427, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of evil. 1516, better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. 1533, the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honor is humility. 1606, my mercy and truth and iniquity is purged and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. 1923, the fear of the Lord tendeth to life, and he that hath it shall abide satisfied. He shall not be visited with evil. 224, by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches in honor and life. 2317, let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. I'm sorry, that's actually the last one in Proverbs. So you see a lot of the ideas we're talking about are presented there and talked about in regards to the fear of the Lord. We actually don't have any questions tonight, it looks like, so I'm just gonna go ahead and throw up the banner, even though a lot of you have already said amen, and we're going to post amen and comment to let me know that you're here. But I appreciate everyone who was part of the Bible study. I hope you walk away from this with a little better understanding of the fear of Lord, even though I feel like I probably could have done a much better job if I wasn't for the fact that I've talked about this so much. I was trying not to use the same verses and same references I always use. But I hope it makes sense and I hope this idea of how that affects your wisdom and your knowledge makes sense as well and your understanding. But thank you for being a part of the study. Again, hope it's a help to you. Hope it's an encouragement. And we look forward to seeing our people tomorrow, seeing people back next week when Dr. Martin will be speaking for us. So be sure to come back next week and hear Dr. Martin. And then Safania asked his random question, do angels have wings? I think that he just asked that question whenever he doesn't have another question, but I'll say this as I close, angels do in fact have wings according to the Bible. So thank you again to everyone. I'm glad to see some extra people in tonight, especially from our church. Some people who don't normally get to be a part of these, and then also for the visitors who come in as well. Thank you for being part of it, and hope you have a good evening.