One of the things I like about the men rotating, they'll use whatever Bible version that they are using, King James Version, New King James Version, English Standard Version, so that when you go out and visit another church, if they're reading from a Bible that you are not familiar with, you can still follow along. You're already getting into the habit of doing that. And as is our worship service, where we read a passage of scripture. I do want to also make mention of this. We've been out of Job for over a month. In fact, since March, because I'd gone back to Scammon Bay to preach at the Lower Yukon Conference. And then Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday were upon us when I got back. So now we're back into the groove of reading through the scriptures chapter by chapter. As another disclaimer here, to make mention, especially for our visitors, that I'm not teaching through the book of Job in our worship service. That's a thing that I actually got an email while I was in Scammon Bay about, you need to be a better teacher, because when they came, I wasn't teaching about Job. I was teaching about Jesus Christ. And that's the emphasis of our worship service. We're here to exalt Jesus Christ and to glorify God through his exaltation We only have really that one time when we gather together specifically for worshiping God in Christ. And the word certainly is a part of that. And so in a sense, I preach a topical message, though we've been reading through the Bible since 1989 as a congregation, when Pastor Blau started us on that track. And I'm glad that he did, because it does say in Timothy to be mindful of reading the scriptures when we gather publicly. And so that Pastor Blau took the heart and that's what we do. So I wanted to make mention of that. Now, having done so, being in the Book of Job, now being in chapter 28, we see the author is possibly Moses or later. Remember, I want to make sure that you understand that. This is a poetical book, but It couldn't have been written before, even though the time may be of the time of the patriarchs that are listed, say, in Genesis chapters 10 and 11, where we see also the descendants of Abraham. It was written after Moses because the name of Yehovah, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh in Hebrew, the name of Yehovah is used in Job because The name of Jehovah was not known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We know this from Exodus chapter 6 and verse 3. He was known as El Shaddai, El being God, Shaddai meaning Almighty. He was known as God Almighty to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, specifically from God, mentioning to Moses that he was not known by his name Jehovah, or as some would pronounce it, Yahweh or Yahveh. At the time of the book, we recognize that in Job chapter 42 and verse 16, that Job lived 140 years and saw his sons and his sons, four generations, as it says in Job 42 and verse 16. Living 140 years after he had already grown 10 grown children, that must make him pretty old. So he's probably older than Abraham who lived 175 years. Or earlier, Sarug, which is in the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he lived 230 years. The father of Abraham, Nahor, lived 140, excuse me, the grandfather of Abraham lived 148 years. And Terah, the father of Abraham, was 70 when he begat Abraham, Nahor, the grandson of Nahor and Haran. So the man of the book of Job is a real person. Though this is a poetical book, Job is a real person. His name is Ayov in Hebrew. Aleph, Yod, Vav, Beit is how it's spelled. And some of your commentaries might suggest that he might be Jobab who is mentioned in the Old Testament. It is not. Yovav is a different name. If you could hear me pronounce it in Hebrew. Yovav, Ayov. sound completely different? That's because they're different names. And so he is a real person because Ezekiel 14 in verses 14 and verse 20 speaks of him right alongside Daniel and Noah. If Daniel and Noah are real persons, then Job is a real person and a righteous man. according to God's grace. And even our New Testament mentions Job, James chapter 5 and verses 10 and 11. Verse 11 in particular names Job outright. We have heard of the patience of Job in the King James Version or the steadfastness of Job. Some background for Job to chapter 28 to remember that as the sons of God are gathered together, that's angels who haven't fallen, in chapters 1 and chapters 2 before Jehovah God, and Satan appears before the presence of God. A fallen angel, the chief of angels, if you will, according to the scriptures, who led a rebellion of a third of the angels, according to Revelation chapter 12, with his rebellion, sweeping them away with a dragon, sweeping them away with his tail. Symbolic imagery of the fall of Satan and his rebellion. The head is authority, but the tail is rebellion. And so, There are unfallen angels, but Satan appears before God. That's because in the fall, as you know, that in the fall of Adam, when he disobeyed God, that in relinquishing all the dominion that he had over the earth that God had given him when he was created, that was turned over to Satan. And this is why that the cross and the bloodshed of Christ and the wrath that he had suffered and the sacrifice that he had made is so powerful that it must also be powerful enough to bring about a new heaven and new earth because Satan not only stained the world, he stained heaven with his very presence. So we recognize that in Job chapter one and verse six and Job chapter two, verse three, where Satan goes before God to say that when God says, have you considered my servant Job? He's an upright man who fears God and turns from evil. That Job says, hey, let me go forth and tempt him and test him. and he'll curse you. He didn't curse God, at least at that point. Job is a sinner just as we all are. However, he displays in his person a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, because Jesus not only was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, he was also the man of sorrows acquainted with grief, and Job represents the man of sorrows and his sufferings. And so after he suffers not only the calamity of all that he possesses that were granted by the grace of God, his children as progeny that were also taken away in death. The second time coming around, he was inflicted with loathsome sores, that loathsome sores or sore boils in the King James Version from the crown of his head to the to the sole of his foot and for seven days he sat in miserable silence until he laments in Job chapter 3. He laments his condition and then throughout that he goes through three discourses with his friends who are interesting because they are presumptuous and they commit the sin of presumption. They presume that Job has done something wrong. These were the predecessors to the health, wealth, and prosperity doctrine. Name it and claim it group. They thought that if you do, since you've been unfaithful, this is why this calamity is upon you. And they make proper assertions at times. They say some correct things at times, but they draw the wrong conclusions because they don't have the privilege of us who have the written record of Job in chapters 1 and 2. God wasn't upset with Job. He received God's grace the same as we do. He was, if you will, an Old Testament Christian. But their assertions, some of them being right, but they were like Balaam, the false prophet, who prophesied four times of God's word concerning Israel, the people of God. However, he counseled Balak as he was a greedy prophet, for profit, and being a false prophet, he provided some terrible counsel to Balak to cause Israel to sin. So they say, these friends of Job say some correct things, but apart from Christ, it means nothing because anything apart from the Lord Jesus Christ means nothing. Means nothing. Even the good work you do which we'll actually talk about more next week in Job chapter 29. The good work you do. Prophets, Jesus, nothing. Luke 17, 10. Remember, the Lord's been bringing up that verse over and over again, that in the English Standard Version, it says we've done just our duty in the parable that the Lord Jesus tells. We are unworthy servants, and that Greek word means unworthy, but in the King James Version, it says unprofitable. And we have to remember that, that even all the best work that you do will never amount to what the Lord Jesus has done. It doesn't profit him anything because he's eternal God. God who became man and as he walked as a sinless and righteous man there's no work that you can do, there's no work I can do, there's no work that we can do collectively as the body of Christ or in fact all God's people since Adam's fall until Jesus comes again which will measure up to what Jesus has done. I had to turn off the Pandora, listening while I was processing last year's fish. Yeah, that's how late I am. Processing some fish to hang to smoke. And I'm listening to this hymn and... quote-unquote hymn, this Christian song that says, do not allow, I'm paraphrasing the words, but don't let me believe the lie that I'll never measure up. And I, what? I had to go over and at least, wait, before we turn it off, let me see what the title of this thing is. Cause I don't want to listen to that garbage again. You'll never measure up. That's why Jesus had to come. He is the treasure of heaven. And I'm preaching way too early because I have more notes here. So now as we see what Job is going through after his third discourse, and you can see there's strikeouts in the progression from chapter 26. Now, every place from chapter 26 to chapter 31, Job is speaking. And as he speaks, he brings forth his defense finally to his quote-unquote friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. And as these men rail on him for being unfaithful, Job is going to slowly descend into the darkness of self-justification. And then we'll see Elihu, who's not mentioned until chapter 32, and he'll say everything correct. He's kind of like a real, again, a real type of Jesus Christ when we get to Elihu, whose name means he is my God. and he's like a type of Jesus Christ because he's a young man and he's never mentioned the whole time the old men and Job, the prophet of God, are talking and then all of a sudden speaks truth concerning Yehovah God. And then Yehovah God speaks until the end and brings about the confession of God because that's exactly what Jesus does. When Jesus speaks through his church, he ministers to us so that we can hear from God's word and know the truth of God's word so that we may confess that I know nothing truly of who this God is, but I've heard you now and I've seen you with eyes of faith and therefore I confess. So what's the beauty of our verse? We go to chapter 28, verse 28, and the title of the message is, as you can see, The Wisdom of Godly Fear. And godly fear is just too big a topic. It is huge. And I've been talking about it almost constantly for at least the last several months and here and there for the last seven years since Lisa and I have been here. But we'll look at three things in particular, the basics of wisdom, the breakdown of the wise saying, and the blessed application of wisdom's truth from this last verse, verse 28. And in the English Standard Version, it says, and he said to man, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to turn away from evil is understanding. That's our introduction. But I need power from on high. to tackle some of the things that we're gonna take a look at concerning wisdom, and more importantly, godly fear, the fear of the Lord. Let us pray. Our most blessed and gracious God and Father, we come before you in Jesus' name, and for his sake, I thank you that you sent the very best, the treasure of heaven to save our lives, to minister unto us, to save us, to save our souls. Lord Jesus, you suffered God's wrath paying a debt you did not owe for a debt that we owe and cannot possibly pay. You've given, you've laid down your life. You have greater compassion than I'll ever muster. than we'll ever muster. Lord Jesus, minister unto us. Holy Spirit, commune with us so that you may teach us the things that will glorify Christ, that will testify of Christ, and that will minister unto us that we may be convicted of sin, righteousness, and judgment through the truth of the cross of Jesus Christ as we look at wisdom and godly fear. that we may fear not only Jehovah God, but also fear the God-man, Jesus Christ. In his name we do pray, amen. So first, the basics of wisdom. And most of you who are Christians or been a Christian for at least 12 minutes, You know that one of the key verses for wisdom is in Proverbs 9, verse 10. It says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And I'm, you know, it says knowledge of the Holy One is understanding or insight. But the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And it says the fear of Yehovah. It says Tiklat, which means the beginning or really, In Hebrew, tichlad is the opening. And it's also in the feminine because chachma, which is wisdom, is a feminine word. We have masculine and feminine in the Hebrew language, like the Spanish language or several other languages that have gender roles. So this is why the communities that are, what is that, equity inclusive and so forth, Can't grasp Christianity, because there is a son who came, there is a father who gave. And even the language of scripture has masculine and feminine forms. When you obliterate that, how could you even consider having absolute truth? You can't. Because their minds are blinded by the God of this world. But the light of Christ can pierce even that. And so, where it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's actually backwards. It says, beginning wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord, literally in the Hebrew, if I'm reading from right to left. And it's the fear of Yehovah. It's the name that was revealed to Moses in the burning bush in Exodus three and verse three. of 14, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, or what some people might call Yahweh or Yahweh. It's the fear of the triune God, the name revealed to Moses in the burning bush. And that will be interesting in just a moment. But we see in what Job presents to us some great truths because from verse 28, that says, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. which we'll cover, we'll do it in the breakdown, but we see that the source of wisdom, as Job rightly contends, is from God. We see in verses 20 and 21, from where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? Verse 21, it is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air. Verse 22, Abaddon or Abaddon and death say, we have heard a rumor of it with our ears. We only get a glimpse of what true wisdom is because verse 28 tells us that the fear of the Lord is wisdom. And again, you have to wait for a minute, wait, it's coming, what the fear of the Lord is, why that is so crucial and why it is wisdom. And is it a contradiction? Because we said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And when we cover why the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, you'll see how it fits together. There are two truths that seem to oppose one another, but there is a great harmony in it because it's pointing to Christ as all the scriptures do. So as we consider that this is verses 20 to 21, 22 rather, the source of wisdom is God. Remember Deuteronomy 29, it says the secret things are with the Lord, but the things that he has given us are unto us and to our children, so that we may keep his commandments, that we may be obedient. And that's just kind of a condensed thing that he gives in Deuteronomy 29, verse 29, that's expanded through the prophets and the writings, and then even more expanded when Jesus Christ comes and the Remember, when the New Testament was written, they were preaching Christ from the Old Testament and explaining it. And that's what the New Testament hasn't done away with the Old Testament. It actually only explains the Christ of the Old Testament. We find out that not only is God the source of wisdom, but God is also the stay of wisdom, or if you will, the sustaining strength or the sustaining power. wisdom. Verses 23 to 27, God understands the way of it. He knows its place. Verse 24, for he looks to the ends of the earth. Why? Because he is everywhere present. He is omnipresent as it is. He is everywhere present all at once. So he looks to the ends of the earth and he sees everything under the heavens. There's nothing beyond His gaze and that everything under the heavens is not just for a moment in time. That is for all of eternity because He is all-knowing. omniscient. Verse 25, when he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, speaking of creation, when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, also providence even after the fall. Verse 27, then he saw it and declared it, he established it and searched it out. Because of the fall, as I've mentioned in the past, when we looked at Genesis 3 along with these topics, that one of the main reasons that it exists there, why did it happen is because it was to show that in the perfect environment with the two perfect people, with fellowship with God, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, there is only going to be deception, dishonor, and disobedience, and then a departure from that which is godly. That's all there's going to be apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's just one of the reasons, it's one of the main reasons. It's not the only reason that the whole garden exists. Everything exists for showing the truth of the cross. And so finally it says, then when he saw it, he declared it, he established it and searched it out. Why? To bring about the truth of Christ, verse 28. And he said to man, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. and to turn away from evil is understanding. And this is where we break down this verse itself in verse 28. You see, when it says the fear of the Lord, you'll notice that if you were to turn, and I didn't have you turn to Proverbs, when you see the word Lord, that's all kind of uppercase, L-O-R-D capitalized, that's the name of God from the burning bush, Yehovah, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh in Hebrew. And when you see it not capitalized, you see Lord in the Old Testament. It is the word Adonai, which means Lord, Master, or Teacher. In fact, in modern Hebrew, Adon, it would be a term like our same mister. I could say for Benjamin Netanyahu, I would say Adon Netanyahu. It would be like saying Mr. Netanyahu. Adon Sutton, Mike Sutton, it would be Mr. Sutton, Adon Sutton, that would be the Hebrew rendering of it. But when we see that Lord Adonai, we know that it speaks of the Messiah. We know that it speaks of the Messiah, one of the great portions of scripture. But we actually, we started today in the book of Isaiah from, you know, in the back of your handout, you have the Robert Murray McShane reading plan, the four portions that you read. And in Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah had been preaching as a prophet. during the days of the kings. And here he comes in chapter six in the days that King Uzziah died. He saw the Lord, Adonai, high and lifted up. It was a Christophany, an appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ before his incarnation. We have many of those in the Old Testament. Even our children know the word Christophany, an appearance of Christ before the incarnation. And in Isaiah six, He sees Adonai high and lifted up. It is true of Jesus because Jesus prayed. You remember he prayed in the garden in Genesis, excuse me, John 17, verse five. Father, restore me to the glory I once knew with you before the world was. And that was the glory that he knew, the eternal and infinite glory that he shared with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And that was even in the Old Testament. when he became a man, the incarnation, an unusual thing, one person, the second person of the Trinity, being fully man and fully God, two natures in one person, that was a unique, never done before, never to be done again event. God became man, but it didn't mean that he became less than God. God can't stop being God, Philippians 2 tells us. If he could stop being God or become lesser than God, then he wouldn't be God. God's infinite and eternal. He is immutable, unchanging. So God, the second person of the Trinity, becoming man, brings about a great truth for us so that we can see. the truth of God. We can see, we who don't see Christ because he lived on the planet and was crucified and risen, ascended into heaven, but we see him through spiritual eyes and the testimony that is given, that's a powerful miracle every time you as a believer read scripture. When we read scripture, it's a miracle every time that you either see Christ or because of Christ, that word ministers unto you. It's a miracle. Because we, our flesh rebels against that. Our flesh hates the gospel, it hates grace, it hates God's son, it hates God. It wants to puff up self. And we know Luke 9 and verse 23 tells us that, if any man come after me, Jesus says, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. Denial of self, as we looked at last week, is the most important aspect of that following Christ. Why? Because it's what Christ did. He denied himself and laid aside his glory as God to become a man. And so when we see this, Truth, it starts off with a very wonderful thing in verse 28, and he said to man, and there are a couple words for man. Gabor is one of them, which means somebody who is strong, because Gabor means might. that's lesser used, ish means man. In fact, husband and wife are called ish and isha, the male and the female. In Hebrew, ish is a word for man. But then there's also the other word for man that's used and became the name of the first man, Adam, because he was made from the red clay of the earth and from the dust of the ground. And so he was given a name that had the root of blood and red clay, Adam. And that's what it says here. It says, Vayomer L'Dam. Vayomer, and he said to, and he said, L'Dam is kind of a contraction. La means to or of or for, Adam. Why does it say that? Why is it using that? And I believe that it's using that because it's telling us a truth that is from the beginning. This truth is truly from the beginning. Remember that it said in Proverbs 9, verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Because the beginning of wisdom speaks of the truth that in order to be saved, you must fear the Lord. If you do not fear the Lord, have a trembling in your heart for the Almighty God that you'll never have wisdom. It's the beginning of wisdom. Because the decision, quote-unquote, in order to receive Christ is the only wise decision a sinner can have to enter into the kingdom of heaven. But it can't be done unless God, by His grace, instills the truth and revelation of His character so that you fear. He has all judgment. You deserve wrath. You deserve death. You deserve the eternal punishment for sins that you've committed against an infinite God. And in order to be wise, it comes with that fear. That's why it's the beginning of wisdom. So unto Proverbs 9 in verse 10, it speaks of a salvific, if you will, a salvific truth. It's a salvation truth. But this, now that we're saved, it says this, hen, is the Hebrew word, hen. It means behold or see, look. It's a word that really, we say behold, but it's supposed to just grab our attention. It's like saying, hey you! In Biblical Hebrew. Hen, yirat adonai, he, chakma. That's hen yirat, yirat Adonai. Behold, see, look, hey, you! The fear, yirat, of Adonai, the Lord Jesus. The fear of the Lord Jesus. And then it goes on to say, he chachma. He is the word for it. And it takes on a feminine form. It's like saying she. Because who means he, he means she, me means who. That's why in Hebrew we read from right to left because, you know, all our words are backwards. Who is he, he is she, me who? So me means who, actually, you know? So, hen yirat adonai hi chakma. So, the fear of the Lord Jesus, that is wisdom. It's like saying, hi chakma is saying, that is wisdom. When you now recognize that the fear of the Lord Jesus is wisdom, you know, we sing, what a friend we have in Jesus. We have all these wonderful things. We see even the hymn that we're going to end with today, that majestic sweetness sits enthroned. This Christ who has saved us. It's true that he has condescended, and this is the corruption of our flesh. And this actually happened to a good friend of mine out in the bush, and as he was lay pastor, he called himself lay pastor, I said, no, you were the pastor, because you had to deal with everything I had to deal with, and still had to minister. And he said, he saw that truth, he says, I'm unworthy, because he saw Luke 17, 10, that we're unworthy servants. He used the New King James Version, which says unworthy, and the English Standard Version says unworthy. But the King James Version has a good translation of it, too. It says unprofitable. And so he was rebuked by a pastor because, quote-unquote, he went to Bible college or been to seminary or whatever. And because of his education, he says, no, no, no, you're a friend of Jesus. Don't sell yourself short. And I said, no, brother, you were right. And you'll have to put up with a lot of that nonsense. And that's the problem with the church in America today, is that kind of stuff, I'll just call it stuff, is that kind of stuff that, I don't want to call it garbage, but there's that thing that's coming from the pulpits. When Jesus said, you call me master and so I am, and you're my servants, but now I call you friend. They don't see that God, almighty God, the creator of the universe, the redeemer of your soul, has condescended, has made himself low, has humbled himself to call you and me friend. That's the way that it should be viewed. And this is why it's a fearful thing. We should never, we should rejoice in the salvation we have with Christ, but it should also be a fearful thing. Because when Jesus went to the cross and he paid the debt that you and I owe, paid that sin debt, paid it, and he owed nothing. He came down and offered his life freely, suffered the wrath of God. poured down on him eternally for the three hours of darkness. It was an eternal punishment he received. And he received it infinitely because the sins that you and I commit against an infinite God are by virtue of who we sin against. He's infinite. And so even the smallest sin deserves judgment. And so when we understand that judgment has been removed from us, But that God who saved us, Christ Jesus, the God-man, He still has all judgment. He says in Matthew 28, all authority is given unto me because He purchased it. And the given is not because He didn't own it, because He's God. It's because everything He went through on the cross secured it. without a shadow of doubt. So he has all authority and we should fear and tremble. But we don't fear and tremble in a slavish way over this. It's not a slavish thing that whereas we think that we're going to get retribution if we've done wrong. The godly fear of the Lord Jesus contains with it love. It contains this love. Behold, and this is why I actually think that even the English Standard Version and the King James Version where it uses the word behold, it's a great word. It's not just getting your attention, but it's saying. grab onto, behold, be fearful of Christ, but hold the fear of Christ. It's a loving fear. It's when you, young people, when you see your parents, you know they love you, even if they're sinners. Saved by God's grace, they aren't always perfect, but Christ is. But when they tell you to do something, you look at them and know that when they're telling you something, they're telling you most times it's in love and that they love you. Now, Jesus isn't like our sinful parents. Jesus is the everlasting Father that we see in Isaiah 9, verse 6, in our memory verse. And He will be perfect in His discipline, and He'll be loving in His commands. And so, when I hear His commands, because He has purchased me, I'm His son, You're his, and daughters, you're his son. You have every inheritance of the firstborn. So you're not a second-class citizen. You just have a different role in certain things that you do because of whom he, in his sovereignty, has made you that way. And men, we have certain responsibilities as well, and they don't bleed over. They complement one another. And so when God gives us that, when Jesus gives us those commands, We fear that we may fail Him because the corruptions that still remain in our mortal flesh will never measure up. And we fear that this Christ who saved you and me from the sins that were such an offense to the Father, such a blight upon the Son, and such a grief to the Holy Spirit, that in saving us, when I fail, I will disappoint and dishonor Christ. And I don't wanna dishonor Him. I don't want to break His heart, because don't you fear breaking the heart of the one you love? He even gives us, for many of us, husbands, wives, and wives, husbands, and we have this relationship, and even given us children to love, And we don't want to break their hearts. We fear with trembling. Imagine Joseph and Mary. I brought up that illustration, I think, on Palm Sunday or Resurrection Sunday here. The two imperfect parents have the perfect child. Imagine the godly fear that they had. Watch, I'm walking on eggshells. But that's what it is. When the Holy Spirit ministers unto us the truth of God's love to us and now we respond in love and godly fear. And the reason why I do that, I say love and godly fear. You can't have love without godly fear. They're synonymous. Godly fear, the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord Jesus, the fear of Yehovah God, it has love in it because God is love and His love causes us to respond. The sacrifice of Christ, so perfect. This is why we fear. We see the judgment, and this is what is due. That when Jesus was beaten so mercilessly and so ruthlessly, before he went up, up all night, dehydrated, six trials, three Jewish trials, three Roman trials. His beard, Isaiah 50, verse six says, it was plucked completely from his face. He gave his, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucketh out the hair. So that when he was reduced to human rubble of Isaiah 52 in verse 14, unrecognizable as a human, when he was at his weakest point physically, that's when God poured out his wrath so that no one can say, it wasn't enough. Your sins, my sins, our sins have put him up there. And we need to see Christ. And when we see Christ, we see that even the smallest thing, my wrong thoughts about Jesus that I had some years ago, or if they crop up this morning and I have a wrong thought of Him, even those sins put your Savior, my Savior, put the Lord of glory up on a tree so that He might suffer the wrath of God for you and me. And there's a second part to it, which I'm not sure we're gonna get to, but it says of a sort, and turning from evil is understanding. It's like, I saw it in one commentary and I thought it was a good analogy. I can't remember which one. And you know, mostly I read the old guys. This goes back to either John Gill or Matthew Henry or possibly even Spurgeon, where he says that the fear of Jesus or the fear of Adonai is the root, but then turning from evil That understanding, that's the branches, that's the product of what is born deep into you. That's being buried in you so that it can grow. The blessed backdrop of your faith and growing in grace. That's the breakdown of this wise saying, knowing that it is Jesus and that it's an eternal truth because it started with Adam. It may not have been said to Adam, or it might have been. Job is a prophet, and he may have been saying that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that in between the lines of the 930 years since Adam had disobeyed to his death, that somewhere God said it to him because Adam was a prophet too. that he may have heard, that the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Messiah to come, the fear of the pronouncement from Genesis 3.15 that a virgin-born son would bruise his heel in crushing the authority of Satan. So the fear of that son, that Messiah to come, that anointed one, that virgin-born Son of God, born of a woman, of the seed of a woman which we've covered before. That's deep down inside us is fearing Adonai. And then from that, we want to turn from evil because evil was already struck upon the Lord Jesus through your sins and mine. We want to turn from evil. Or in the old King James Version back in Job chapter one, astew evil. So how do we apply this? The fear of Jesus is wisdom. The fear of Jesus is wisdom. For us to make any choices we need to see, any choices that we make upon this planet. See, as we mature, Jesus lets us make choices. He lets us go one way or another. I actually got to minister again out in the bush when I went to the Lower Yukon Conference. I said, this is how you will do that. You look at one thing and look at another and pray to the Lord, which will give you most glory and most honor. Lord Jesus, which will honor you most if I go this way or go that way? Now he might say this one will honor, then you go that way. He might say that one will honor, then you go that way. What if he says nothing? Then one of two things are going on. You need to either wait and continue to pray for him to bring up another choice, as it was for Noah and Rebekah in many situations that they shared in Sunday school, or he says that you pick one. If you take this one, you'll be blessed and you'll receive blessings and many gracious things if you go this way that this one won't offer, but it'll have its own problems. Or if you pick this one, you'll get those kinds of blessings. So there's where wisdom lies. And, but faithfulness of Jesus is going to be key. And I don't have time to talk to you about it today. So hopefully you'll all be here next week when we go to Job chapter 29, because there's a really good verse in there concerning imputed righteousness. Spoiler alert. I've already studied beforehand. knowing where we're going. So there'll be a wisdom part two. But Jesus imputed righteousness. Not only was our sin placed on Jesus who did nothing to deserve that, that was part one of what he did. That's why there's two goats sacrificed on the feast, two goats in the truth of the day of atonement in Yom Kippur. One is sacrificed, which is what Jesus did. And the one is let go. One is let go. So there's, two things that are happening also with imputation. One, our sins were placed on Jesus when we believe in Him. Our sins were taken by Christ. However, His righteousness is placed on our account. And to walk by this miracle, which we'll talk more about next week, you will live a life that is miraculously transformed by believing on the truth of Christ's faithfulness. And I don't have enough time to cover that, but we know the truth of imputation. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And also Philippians 3, verse 19, the apostle Paul says, Again, he says, that I would be found in him. Not having righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, in righteousness from God that depends on faith. And the very first part of that is saying, it's not by anything I've done. Like what Augustus Toplady wrote a song like that. No price in my hand I bring, simply to your cross I claim. But here, know this, that faithful behavior is based on Christ's imputed righteousness. And again, we'll see more on that next week. But how does this look, what does this look like, this godly fear? And I've turned here before, but I want you to see it again a little bit more precisely in two places. Turn with me to Genesis 22. This is one of the best places I think that you can understand what love and godly fear is all about. Because if it doesn't start with that, one thing that I mentioned last week when we took communion and looked at Galatians chapter 6 verse 14, was as returning to Genesis 22, that Well, I lost that thought. It's not going to be found. It's in the lost and found right now. It's like the baggage claim, or in fact, it's worse than that. It's like the airport at Bethel after eight o'clock, it's closed. If you missed your flight in Bethel and you don't have Noah here flying you out of the bush, you're stuck. Like I was for three days. Yeah, so, Genesis chapter 22, apparently that wasn't for you. Maybe it'll come up next week in Job 29. But remember that in Abraham, it says, after these things, God tested Abraham, or tempted in your King James version, and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here am I, in Ani, in Hebrew, Verse two, he said, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. And so verse three, the very next verse. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. So he takes Isaac, who's probably 33 and a half years old, the age of Jesus when he went to the cross. All I know are some of our Sunday school pictures, and I know Sister Vicki doesn't like those pictures of Isaac being like a 12-year-old boy, same as David being a 12-year-old boy slaying Goliath. You know, he's probably 33 years old because he's just a lad. It uses the Hebrew word na'ar. But he took two servants with him, so he didn't take three little boys. He took three young men. Because at this point, Abraham's 133 years old, probably. It doesn't say how old he is. But he does so immediately. He's exercising faith. And it'll come together in a moment. Verse 4, on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. In verse 5, Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. I and the boy. It uses the same Hebrew word, nar, and it could mean a young man. 33 year old young man compared to someone who's 133. Notice that it was three days travel to get there. How many days was Jesus in the grave? It was three days and three nights. So in verse six, Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, and he took it in his hand, the fire and the knife, and so they went both of them together. Verse seven, and Isaac said to his father, my father, he said, here I am, my son. And he said, behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Verse 8, Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son. So they went both of them together. And God did provide a lamb. That was prophetic of the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world that would come much later. Now in verse nine, when they came to that place of which God had told him, in fact, that place was the very same place, it was this Mount Moriah, where he was told in verse two to go. This place is the very same place where Jesus was crucified. We know this from 2 Chronicles because of the temple, the Solomon being built upon this particular place, the threshing floor of Ornan or Arunah. said by both names, so this is the same place where Jesus was crucified. And so they built the altar there and laid the wood, in verse 9, in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. In verse 10, then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. Verse 11, but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, make sure he gets his attention because he's a man. Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here I am. Verse 12, he said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know you that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. Now we know this to be a Christophany, appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, the angel of the Lord. Oh, not every time that the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is Jesus, but most of the time it is. This is a Christophany appearance of the Lord Jesus before he was born as a babe in the manger and then went to the cross. But notice this, as I mentioned, that it says the fear of the Lord. Abraham's ready to come down with the knife in his hand to slay his son on the command of God. Right there, there's the gospel. that a father who loves his son by command of God is to slay his only son whom he loves. See, in verse 2, remember, it says, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I tell you, a consecration offering, the first offering that is codified in Leviticus chapter one, the burnt offering. And this is the first place that the word love is used in the Bible, the Hebrew word ahav. Ahav, here, the only son, your only son that you love. take him and offer him as an offering and hear Abraham with faith because he loves his son. Here's godly fear that he fears God whom he loves more than the son whom he loves whom God had given him. God gives you blessings. He abounds in blessings. Christ gives you blessings. But to go against His command, to break His heart, to give up a blessing, the blessing is nothing if I do not have the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, John 15 and verse 5, where Jesus says, I am the vine, you're the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in you will bear much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. That tells us two things. That one, that apart from the Lord Jesus, we can do nothing. But apart from the Lord Jesus, if we're not abiding in Christ, we are nothing. The only thing branches are good for that are not abiding is kindling. Which is what we deserve. that the compassion of Christ brings us in. And so it ties fear into love for without the love of God in Christ and to attempt to work up godly fear, it's a grace. But when we are responding in love to God's love, godly fear is a grace that comes by miraculous grace. It's gracious as it comes that my fear of God to break his heart, to disobey him, And it means even if I take the son, because we recognize from Hebrews that this is very important. This is quite important. In fact, keep your place in Genesis 22. Remember that, let's see faith in action. Hebrews chapter 11, remember the faith chapter, Hebrews 11, we added in Sunday school. By your request, we walk through Hebrews. And we got to chapter 11 and we saw faith in verse eight from Abraham. And I'll wait for you to get there. As I tell you and remind you that godly fear is loving and contains love. I know that you fear God, he says. I know that you fear God because you do not withhold your son. And while you're turning there, maybe you're all there, are you there, say amen. If you're not, say amen, I'll wait for you. Okay, Hebrews 11 and verse 17, by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his son, his only son, verse 18, of whom it was said through Isaac, shall your offspring be named. Now, note this. Remember, as we're looking at it, as I read through until that verse there that Abraham was holding up his knife, and by faith, see, faith is acting upon what God said, right? I believe what God said and I'm doing it. But that could lead to a harsh heart, a hardened heart, and legalism, that I'm doing it, and then we'll start presuming, we'll be like Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, we'll start presuming that what I've done is important, more important than Christ, but it's not. That's what will happen when we do not have love and godly fear. We will act out in faith and believe God, and then we'll obey what God says, and we'll put more credence in our obedience than what Christ did in obeying the Father, because it lacks this, love and godly fear, which we see in Genesis 22, verses 10 through 12. It must have godly fear in it. Faith and obedience are products of godly fear. And that's what I told you, and now the thought came to me. It was not the right time. Remember last week in Galatians when we were taking communion, that I said that if it does not spring forth from love and godly fear, it's as good as sin. Godly fear that contains love in it will produce this. And many people are teaching the scriptures by faith and obedience without devotion. Doctrine, oh, that was from Sunday school. Doctrine, what we believe, and duty, what we do, is important. But if it comes by itself without devotion, without loving Christ, being devoted to Christ, it means nothing. It will be the Lord, Lord crowd of Matthew 7. Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we cast out demons in your name? Didn't we do mighty works in your name? Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness. I never knew you will be the Lord's answer. Because it didn't spring forth from love. But Abraham shows us love. You don't have to turn there or if you have your place there. Genesis 22, love and godly fear exalts Christ. It not only empowers us to have faith and obey the fear of Christ, but it exalts Christ in verses 13 to 14 in Genesis 22. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God saying you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. Verse 13, and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. Faith and obedience following love and godly fear will produce the truth of Christ and him crucified. It will move in that direction. Otherwise, without love and godly fear, it will just be what you have done. It will be one of those works that has no power in it because it has no love. Love and godly fear exalts Christ in his cross. And notice not only the substitute, he was stopped when his hand was up high. He was going to go through with it, and we have scripture verse that goes along with that. Whereas, remember that in the dedication of the temple in 2 Chronicles, that Solomon gives us the explanation that David was denied in 2 Samuel to build a house for the Lord. because he was a man of war. His hands were bloody. But Solomon told us in his dedication of the temple, he said, but God had counted it as if he had done it. He had counted it righteousness to my father, that it was in his heart to do so. And so that's one of the things that we see with Abraham. But more importantly than that, We see the truth of what Jesus told in the parable in Luke 17. When Abraham raises up this knife over his son to do his son in, he was going to do it because Hebrews 11 tells us that he was going to do it. He was going to do it, but God stopped him. The Lord Jesus stopped him because nothing you do will equal the truth of the cross. Nothing you do will ever be as glorious, be as exalted, be as valuable as what Christ did on the cross. So we put so much emphasis on results and being pragmatic and we should never be. Because the truth of Christ and Him crucified is the miraculous proclamation. It is the truth for all ages. It's not something we should depart from ever. Christ and Him crucified is everything. The gospel of Jesus Christ is everything. The gospel of Jesus Christ is everything. And if I have not the gospel of Jesus Christ, I have nothing. See Hebrews 11, verses 17 to 19, as we close with this, love and godly fear expects eternal results. It expects eternal results. Remember that in Hebrews 11, in verse 19, because we read 17 to 18, Hebrews 11 verse 19 said, he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. And see, we don't walk with that kind of faith in America, hardly ever. That's why I can only preach in some, you know, preach in many Baptist churches once, because I preach, we've heard that before, you preach the gospel, you're trying to show us Christ from the Old Testament, you're off your rocker. But see, he believed that Christ would resurrect his son whom he loved. And that's the eternal result. When we walk in the truth of faith, we'll expect eternal results. Not only was Christ crucified, but he rose from the dead. And so everything that happens, you don't finish something. That's in God's hands. When you share the gospel as a witness, the salvation is His. If it was yours, you'd take all the credit for it. I know I would. Maybe you wouldn't, but I would, because that's how filthy my flesh is. But when Christ does the saving, the truth of His crucifixion is the thing that becomes most valuable. The thing of His resurrection is the thing that becomes most powerful. And so when we attempt to do things for God because we love Him, Love and godly fear moves the truth of faith and obedience into the realm of the supernatural. You may not accomplish what you've been set out to do. Before I came to Alaska, you know where I was headed? China. But thankfully, I had a praying wife that said, Lord, I don't want to go to China. So we've been up in Alaska for most of, since 2002 with that brief break. And so thankfully so. And in fact, if we didn't leave the bush, I wouldn't be here with you all. And even last week, I'm tickled a little bit, I'm reminded of Brother Steve when you spoke up last week. I was sitting there and I was almost in tears of joy because I'm in a congregation that is just so free to be themselves in Christ that they can say such a thing during a worship service. It was about a hymn number, I think, and it was at Brother Mike's expense, and Brother Mike is such an easy target to tease. He's going, I'm trying to find Galatians 6, and Brother Steve goes, it's right after Galatians 5. And I about died, in my heart, died with tears of joy because it just, it made me love this church because Christ loves you. I know He loves you because I preach too long. I stammer when I preach. And I say things sometimes backwards, but the Holy Spirit ministers unto you and you're still blessed. That's how I know the Lord loves you. I know what I've been doing in my office all week long. Sometimes it's not always in the Spirit and He still blesses you. That's how I know He loves you. And because He loves you, I love you too. That's the truth of the cross. We respond to the love that God has and our love will never come close. But if we just get a glimpse of that love and can carry it out just a little bit to respond, we're like little children, aren't we? We can say, like we say to our parents, mom, dad, I love you. We can say, and it's become so cliche that people don't want to say that anymore. Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you with an everlasting love. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Let me pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for bringing us together and making us together. And even though we're parts of the same body and going elsewhere, that you are everything. The blessing of who you are and what you've done is everything. And we ask, Father, You'll create a miracle, because I've gone a little bit way, way long. And so, please keep the food from burning and minister unto hungry bellies as the Lord Jesus broke fish and wonder bread on the, bait fish and wonder bread on the Galilee Sea. Also provide for the meal that we're going to have afterwards. As we sing this last hymn of praise, may we reflect upon the majestic sweetness and sing with love and godly fear. Unto our Lord Jesus Christ, in his name we pray, amen.