Take your Bibles and turn to the book of Proverbs, chapter 23. You'll need your Bible. I'm going to try to preach most of this. You'll be doing a lot of turning. It's a different passage of scripture. I'm going to work on verses 17 and 18 of chapter 23 of Proverbs, and then I'll be going to a lot of other ones that deals with this fear of the Lord. I'm not going to be able to exhaust this subject. There's so many different types of fear of the Lord, and this is a particular one. This is more common here in Proverbs, as I find. I'll give you a couple of more here in the same, in Proverbs, of the fear of the Lord. And this one really is one that deals with you looking unto the Lord, searching for him, looking to him. And you'll see that in some of the other verses and as I begin to preach. Gives you an idea of just what it means to seek the Lord, set your eyes upon Him. We look to Him, the author and finisher of our faith, the one that can really help us. Instead of what it's, like it says here, it warns you the other contrast in this passage of scripture. Instead of looking elsewhere, We've got someone that'll guide us into all truth. We got someone that has an answer for us. He said he would answer. And I believe these verses and some few other ones I have would help you to see the reason we need to call upon God, look to him, seek him with all our heart. Turn to him with every question we have in our mind and heart and he'll answer You wait on the Lord and this old song book is real There's a song in there. It says have you prayed through a Lot of the old preachers and a lot of the old songs a lot of the old saints of God Even in this song that's in here well deal with praying all night and maybe till the dawning of the morning before you got your answer. But they believed that you just stayed with it. You kept on praying until you got an answer. And certainly God not only wants you to pray, He wants to answer you. He wants to help you. He wants to answer your questions of your mind. We live in a rough world, a wicked world, a world that surround us that tries to get control of us. And so God wants us to look to him, to seek his face, to seek his will, to seek his knowledge, to seek understanding from him. And so this will kind of go along with some other verses and then kind of deal with what happens Uh, there's a warning in here. You see the contrast in here and the other verses I'll read and God gives us, uh, the warning. Uh, if we don't listen, uh, if we don't do as he says, he's patient with us. He's, uh, he desires to help us, but he also requires obedience and it's, I, every time I say that word, I think of Travis and spell it out, OB, just go right on out what he always did sing it. I remember when she used to sing with him and they did, they sound together. She would harmonize with him and they'd sing that song in different places and, and I enjoyed it. And, uh, and thank God that is the truth. All right, let's look at it. Verse 17. tells us to let not thine heart envy sinners." There's the warning. He's telling us that we need to control our heart, and I'll deal with that in a while. We're to keep our heart. I think Dennis preached on it last night. keep the state of our heart in a condition where it's not allowing anything around us or this world's controlling it, not causing us to desire the things of this world. He says, let not thy heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Not just a glance here and there, but you're to be in the fear of the Lord, conscious that there's a God in heaven that's looking for you, and he's wanting to see you looking to him. He's inviting you to look to him. All day long, he wants you to have your mind. I know you can't get your eyes on it all the time, but he wants you to have your mind and your heart with a desire to commune with God, to seek God, to seek God for the answers of the life. Instead of letting this world slip in and get control of your heart and lead you astray, he says, I want you to think about me, look to me, love me, seek me with all your heart all day long. Just never stop searching for your Lord, seeking the Lord, turning to the Lord, calling upon the Lord. He says, I want it to where you look up instead of looking around. Things around you says, look not to the right or the left. Did you hear me talk about it different times? You don't know how distracting this world is and how quickly it gets your attention away from what you really ought to be thinking on. It's just magnetic. And that's one of the reasons he's warning us here. The way the world is around us, it has a draw. It has the power to get your attention. And it also has the power, if you let it, to get your heart, your affections. And so God wants us to be people that are conscious of God's requirements of us. Let's see, am I right as I say, acknowledge Him in A-double-L? all your ways. I think that goes along with this verse, don't it? Acknowledge, invite him into every part of your life. I don't care what you're doing, what's on your mind, what you're facing. Let him into it. Bring him into it. Seek him with all your heart. Invite him into every thought, every conversation, everything you're facing. Look to Him, looking unto Jesus, just seeking the Lord and asking Him to help you to understand these things and to give you the grace to resist evil. This is tempting. This is troubling. The world around us, how it tries to draw our attention to where We almost sometimes, and I'm going to deal with some verses, envy them a little bit with the freedom they have to do what they want to do. And I'll give you some verses on it. But the last, the next verse, and I won't deal this maybe until the end, for surely there is an end. It's going to come. People don't believe it. There's going to be an end to their life one day. They're going to reach an end to a lot of things. There's a lot of things that have endings. Your liberty, your freedom. You know, he's talking about the man, I guess, who had the stroke, and now he can hardly do anything on his own. There's coming a day like that, maybe, for you. Come a day like Cordula heard. I can't imagine. how she felt, and she heard that news of what kind of cancer it's got. And it's going to all, everything's going to have an end to it. A lot of the things that you do now, a few years you might not be able to do. I understand Brother Matthias is really going downhill physically also, not only As he hurt inside from not being able to pastor a church, but he's going down physically. He's not breathing good. He's having real problems. I think he's sitting in a hospital bed now. Pray for him. You don't know what that does on the inside. All these years he's gone and gone everywhere and other churches and visited and running. Now he's, it's ended. There's gonna be an end. And most of her not ready for it. I think Barbara told Darlene just before she passed away. And I'll never forget the words she said. She said, Talk about me. She said, he's not ready. And I wasn't ready. So how I had it in my mind, well, she's got down low before she'll get through this one. She'll be out of that bed running for long. I didn't want to accept an end. But there's going to be an end. There's not only going to be an end for the trials, There's going to be end of the heartaches. There's going to be an end to this life. And I like what he says here. For surely there is an end. Notice he says, and thine expectations shall not be cut off. I hope I can get it out of me what that verse says. I hope I can say. I was reading it, studying it, and I was shouting. Honestly, I got crying and singing a song as I realized just what that song is saying. I mean, that verse is saying. And so I hope that I'm able, if the Lord allows me, to deal with those things. Look with me just for a moment to Proverbs 10. These would be a couple right here. Proverbs 10, and let's see, I got verse 27. Is that what I want? Notice he says, the fear of the Lord prolongeth days. What he's trying to deal with you or what he's dealing with all of us is their benefits. Fearing the Lord seeking the Lord asking the Lord for help and guidance. And so this is something that's rewarding This is something that brings blessing upon you if you'll Acknowledge the Lord if you'll seek the Lord if you'll look for the Lord put your eyes upon Jesus look full of his wonderful face and the things of earth will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace and so you Look to Jesus And this is what it's all about. You seek in Him. The Bible says here that the fear of the Lord prolongeth days. You got the contrast. But the years of the wicked shall be shortened. I've got a verse in here that tells you that it'll be cut off in half your years. I was reading the other day, I think, news article and said the homosexuals lose almost half of their lifetime because of their lifestyle. Most of them lose half their lifetime. There's a lot of people that, I ain't going to get into it, but just waste their life on booze, drugs. What a shame. What a shame. God gives you a life. He gives you a body. He gives you a mind. He gives you an opportunity to have a good life. That's almost hard to really fathom that God wants me to have a good life. Barbara wrote that note to me before she died. She says, we've had a good life together. I treasured that. You can have one. You deal with things and you make sure that you're doing what God says and listening to Him and serving Him. And I'm saying you can have a good life. Look at chapter 14. And verse 26. In the fear of the Lord, notice it. If you're really looking to Him, this I say, this fear is putting your eyes upon Jesus. It's looking unto Him. It's putting your faith in Him. He said, the fear of the Lord is a strong confidence And his children shall have a place of refuge, a place to hide, a safe place, a home worth living in. Notice the next verse. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. It's ever giving life to you. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. There's the contrast. Always there, he shows me you can have it this way or this way. But if you want to have a good life, you want to have a life that's worth living, you want to have a life that you prosper in, a life that is fulfilling, a life that's worth living, he says, look to me, all the earth. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. What's that song? Look in. Live, look unto Jesus and live. So look and live. That's what it's all about. It's looking to him, seeking him for his presence, for his help, for his wisdom. I'm saying you have, excuse me, you have the invitation to call upon him. I was going to give you that verses in Psalms 55, 23. You only live off half of your life. Look at chapter 23. And I believe it's verse 18. Surely, I've read that before. For surely there's an end and that expectation shall not be cut off. There's a song that we sing once in a while. It was kind of a chorus. It says, mankind is searching every day in quest of something new, but I have found the living way, the path of treasure is true. I've discovered the way of gladness. I've discovered the way of joy. I've discovered relief from sadness. It's a happiness without a loy. How do you find that? Looking unto Jesus, seeking him. asking Him to guide you, to help you through the storms of life. Call it upon Him. I'm saying He's going to give you a direction. He'll give you an answer. He'll help you. It's a difficult thing not to do this, not to envy sinners. Now we might say, ah, don't bother me. But it does. It's out there. The sinner's life, if you look at it, it's a lie. Their whole life is a lie. Don't ever let anybody tell you any different. They're not really as happy as they want, they think they are, or they tell people they are. Their whole life is a lie. It's a put-on action because the Bible makes it clear these people, these people will have trouble and torment all their life. They'll have turmoil. Turn to Isaiah 57. I'm going to have to speed up here. Isaiah 57. You see, people think, boy, as you see the world laughing and having a big good time, you know, that's the outside. That's the put on. That's the actions. The only thing you can really believe that's true is the Bible. Listen to what it says in Isaiah 57, verse 16. For, I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth. For the spirit should fail before me and the souls of which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and I smote him. I hid." Notice those three words. I even underlined it in my Bible. It says, I hid me. I told you, there's times he'll do that, exactly what he'll do. "...and was wroth, and he went on forward in the way of his heart, in the way of his desires. I have seen his ways and will heal him. I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace to him that is far off and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him. But," verse 20, but the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked." You see people out having a big time and fun. I remember reading an article one time with this young girl, and you've heard her tell this story before. She went to a dance, had a big old time after the dance. Somebody dropped her off at her house. She wasn't but a few moments out of that house, walked down the road and jumped off a bridge and committed suicide. Had a big time, went to a dance. Had a real, you know, put on a big show. but on the inside. So you can't see inside. You can't see this turmoil on the inside. You can't see this, they never have really a peace of mind and heart. How do you know that, preacher? Because the Bible says so. It don't matter what people say. They tell you they feel good, everything's fine, everything's good. That's not true. That's not true. You've got a conscience. You've got a conscience God purposely put in there. so that he can deal with you about your life. And if you haven't seared the conscience, if your conscience is still alive, I'm telling you what, it's going to be bothering you for everything you do against the Word of God. Everything that's unrighteous, you're going to have problems with it in your mind. I don't care who a person is. I'm saying to you that God has just made a way that he can deal with you and trouble you and, and convict you. Uh, he's going to deal with your life. And I'm saying to you, uh, it's, it's a rough life to try, uh, to, um, live without God. I was raised, I was raised in church. And I can remember times I was on board ship, ashamed of the way I was living, and cry myself to sleep. What a fool. What a fool. I couldn't get away from it. Couldn't get away from dad writing me letters. Couldn't get away from train a child and away he goes. I remember times that I worked in about everything you could think of, horseage, worked on the streets, worked in different kind of mission work, did about everything, turned rotten as could be. But I couldn't get away from those messages. I couldn't get away from the love of my father for my soul. Couldn't get away from the word of God. I could not get peace or rest in my mind. I couldn't run it off. I couldn't get it behind me. It bothered me everywhere I went. About let me know how wicked and dirty and rotten, ungodly I was, how worthless I was. I had the best dad a person could have. A loving dad, an understanding dad, more than that. He not only preached, but he was a praying dad. You sing that song sometimes, somebody prayed for me. Somebody had me on their mind. That's what my dad, and he'd let me know. Real kind, he'd send me notes. Love you, son, praying for you. Send a verse, something. I'm saying he's in heaven now, I'm sure. Not a bit of question to doubt my mind. He was in Margoville Hospital, had pneumonia, and Peg was singing hymns with him just before he died. You don't get away from those things. God uses those things to deal with your life, to awaken you, to quicken you, to draw you. I'm saying this world is saying that they're having a good time and enjoying life. I'm saying to you, they're lying, they're deceived. It's a, people think, I'm going to go a little quicker, a little faster. Look at Ecclesiastics 11. You've all read this. This is for the young people. Ecclesiastics 11. Verse five, and thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit or how the bone do grow in the womb of her that is with child, even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. In the morning sow thy seed, in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not whether thou shalt prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alone. alike good. Truly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing. It is for the eyes to behold the sun. But if a man lived many years rejoice at all of them, rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness for they shall be many. All that cometh. Vanity rejoice young man. Oh young man rejoice in thy youth and let the heart cheer thee in the day of thy youth and walk in ways of thine heart remember all these things I'm dealing with heart the heart problem and In sight of thine eyes, but know thou and you need to read this over and over again read it to the children Let the children know but know thou that in for all these things He says go ahead. Have your big days. Have your time of just running in this world join in the crowd and And he says, know this, know this for certain, but know thou that for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment. God will bring you into judgment regardless. I don't care how much fun and games you're having in the world, how much you're sneaking around and looking at stuff and, and talking to people and all these things. He said. He says, you're going to get judged for it. Mark it down. You are not getting by with it. See, we're dealing with this thing of the warning, not to envy the sinners, not to envy the sinners. You're not going to get by. God doesn't let sinners off. And this is a pressure. I'm saying to you, it is a pressure that you'll have. I want a verse here. Look with me to Psalms 73. I'm skipping a lot because I need to. Psalm 73. Remember in our text, we're talking about how the envy not the sinner. The warning is envy not the sinner. 73, truly God of Israel, even as to such as our clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped, for I was..." What's the word? "...I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Drop on down. Verse 14, "'For all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning, If I say I will speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation of my children. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me." He's talking about the pressure, seeing what the world's prosperity and the way the world, the way they're living, acting like they're just really enjoying life. He said he almost slipped up in verse number two, but notice what he says now. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. And he says, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Gonna be an end. I understood their end. Surely thou did set them in a slippery places. Thou castest them down into destruction. He says, you know, I got to such a state I couldn't even talk hardly. That's what he's saying on the end of this. And he says, but I couldn't answer it. I didn't know how to deal with it. And he says, I didn't figure it out. I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't settle myself with it until I went to the house of the Lord, until I got here and some preaching of the word of God. And he said, then it all changed. everything, I realized their end. They're not getting by. I realized what's going on in their life. I realized what's going to happen to them. Young people face this problem all the time. They face this thing of come and join me, the peer pressure, we call it, constantly trying to call them into a life of sin. I'm saying to you, it's a battle. It's a real battle in children when it comes to that pressure of peers. It's hard for them just to stand off. You know, even some parents are thinking, you know, hey, they need friends. Okay. They may be worldly friends, but they need friends. No, they don't need worldly friends. They need no friends, no matter what it is. If it's going to be a worldly friend, it's going to evil communications, corrupt good manners. They don't need any. Back in our texts, back in our texts, dealing with this thing, let not thine heart envy sinners. Let not thy heart envy sinners. The heart, the heart is something that is senses, is sensual. Galatians 5, 19 through 21 tells the desires of a sensual heart, tells you all the sins it will lead you into. And so it's a, the Bible says out of the heart, is the issues of life. It says it in Proverbs. And so the heart is where this world aims at. And that's why the Bible is telling you, let not thine heart, the desires, the sensual desires within you, that desires to feel the excitement of the crowds and the excitement of the sin they're involved in, all the different things to do. It's always a invite, trying to... That's what Proverbs begins with, Proverbs 1, 10. If sinners entice thee, consent thou not. I remember preachers preaching on that, learning to say no. It's one of the most difficult things for a young person to do is to say no. Just say no. No, I'm not going. No, I'm not going to take that. No, I'm not going to listen to that. No, I don't want that. It's just a pull upon them, a constant pull upon their lives to join the world in some way. And parents need to realize that. They need to realize, uh, others are, can be drawn into that. The world's full of excitement. They have pleasure for a season. Uh, they act like they just never going to die and everything's going good for them. And that's what I'm talking about in that Psalm 73, it just looked like everything was wonderful for them. They were advancing, they were making money. They were just doing anything they wanted to do. They had no restrictions. That's what Psalm 73 is saying. Look at me, I'm trying to live for God and I'm what has happened to me. That's what he says in there in context. He said, I'd never made it if I hadn't went to the house of God. And I realized their end, the heart, the heart is, is a tool. It's within you that seeks until it's converted. Bible calls us and says, give us a new heart. I don't believe a new heart is desperately wicked. Anybody teach you that, you tell them, tell them this, ask them this question. They all gonna preach it to you that the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it? Tell them. What part of that does the Holy Spirit of God involve in? That desperately wicked heart. How does he get the desperately wicked heart to do right? It's a lie. It doesn't fit to the converted person. God says, I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to recreate you. You're going to be a new creation in Christ Jesus. That heart has to go. It ain't the same heart. So the Christian has a new heart. given through regeneration. What is regeneration going to regenerate? What does it do? What does it make new? What is there made new? It's your heart made new. That's where out of the heart comes the issues of life. You got to have a change of heart in order to change your ways. You're going to still go the same way if you don't have a change of heart where God gives you a heart that will love him. will do what this thing says here, they'll be the fear of the Lord all the day long. They'll be seeking God, looking to God, crying out to God, humble themselves before God, serving God. I'm saying to you, this doctrines of devils that's being preached nowadays, that Christians are just sinners like every other sinner, It's a lie. It's a lie. If a Christian is a sinner, then you've yoked up the Holy Ghost to sin. There ain't no other way you could explain it. You've invited God, you've invited God, the Holy Ghost, that's supposed to be guiding you into all truth. You've invited him into your life. He's the one trying to help you and you're the one still sinning. You're not listening to him. Does that sound like Bible? You know it ain't. But it sounds good to people that want to live a sinful life and yet be right with God or be on their way to heaven. It won't work. It won't work. I'm saying to you, the person that goes to heaven is a new creation, a new creature in Christ Jesus. All things are still not with him or passed away. Behold, all things become new. I'm trying to get this across. I don't know how much longer I'm gonna live, but I'm trying to make it clear to you. Don't let a preacher tell you that you're still a sinner. Don't let them do it. How can you be a saint and a sinner at the same time? It's impossible. Well, anyway, let me close with this. Notice here on our text that I've missed a lot of verses. Back to our text in Proverbs 23, verse 18. Proverbs 23, 18, for surely there is an end. It's all going to end. We're going to reach an end. Everybody's going to reach an end. And thine expectations, thine expectations shall not be cut off. You're going to get more than you ever dreamed of. If you're going to seek God with all your heart, if you're going to love Him, seek answers from Him about life, serve Him, the old saying is the half has never yet been told. It talks about in 1 Corinthians that there's things the Bible tells you there. That he has created That I have not seen nor ear heard neither hath entered into the heart of man the things that God hath designed for him You don't know him. I don't know but God has made a wonderful place. I Think they got that song. I was kind of got popular again how beautiful heaven must be You and I, you can't fathom, you try to figure, put a little bit in there about in Revelation, but you and I really, God says you don't know. And you're not gonna know until that time. Way beyond your expectations. Your expectations won't be let down. That's what he's telling you. You're not gonna be let down. You're not gonna get a heaven that you're not gonna enjoy. Don't ever let that come to your mind. Don't let the world teach you that. You think of everything beautiful in this world even under a curse. And yet it's beautiful. You look at the sunrise and the sunsets and you see the ocean and you stand there and watch them waves rolling. And you see the mountains, the beautiful mountains and the streams and all the things that God made. That is no comparison to what heaven's going to be like. It is a wonderful place. It's a beautiful place. It's a glorious place. It's more than your expectation. You can't think Enough about what heaven's going to be like. You can't imagine it. It's not in your mind. It's not in no way that you're going to even imagine how beautiful heaven is, how wonderful it is, how glorious it is. I'm saying you just won't be able to get it. I had a song in here and I've lost it. Can you imagine that, how I lose stuff so quickly? And I wanted you to sing part of it. I don't even think this song's in this songbook. Let's stand. I'll try to sing, I think I found it. I'll sing the first stanza, I'll try, okay? Give me a break. Our trials hard to bear We're tempted to complain To murmur and despair But Christ will soon appear To catch us right away All tears forever over In God's eternal day It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus. Life's trials will seem so small, when we see Christ. One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase. So greatly run the race, we see Christ. One look. One look. Old songwriter had it right. You see him? One look is going to convert Israel. It's going to show him his hands. And scores of Israelites are going to be converted. One look at His dear face, I'm telling you, it'll change us, keep us from murmuring and complaining, keep the devil off our back. We know that He loves us and He really is preparing a place for us. Isn't that a wonder? He's preparing a place for us. Looking forward, one day I've I'm sorry, but I try to think of some of those things. I try to figure in my mind, I wonder how Barbara's doing. I wonder how I think about it. And I'm sure she's there. More sure than anything else in the world, I'm just sure she's there. And I believe she's in joy in Heaven. I don't believe she's sad she's there. I believe she's in joy in Heaven. Hallelujah. Wonderful. Brother Dennis, you just missed the word of prayer. We're grateful and thankful, Lord, for the time together that we can honor and glorify Thee, hear from Thy Word, and I pray that You'd lead, guide, and direct us, Lord, in paths of righteousness, for Your name's sake. Pray, Lord, that You'd meet the needs and the hearts and lives of people. I pray that You'd encourage, strengthen, lift up. I pray, Lord God, that You'd help them along life's pathway to honor and glorify Thee, bless and meet the needs of those that are sick. I pray that You'd encourage them Strengthen them, touch them, may your hand be upon them, may thy will be done, and we'll give you the honor and the glory and the praise. Watch over us now, care for us, keep us safe, bring us back again at the appointed hour. These things we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen, amen.