The Fear of the Lord

(Psalm 33 & 34)

What are the Psalms?

1) The Psalms are words from ancient songs - I believe that they are inspired and preserved for us.

- Different than a parable

- Different than a historical account

- Different than a story or narrative

- Different than a book of prophecy

- Different than a book of commands

- Different than the other books of poetry

Yet, each of these is found in the songs.

Children of God always sing; if you can rise above the controversy of the many styles of music and look seriously at the words, you will find out what was happening in people's lives and what was happening in the church.

- A Mighty Fortress Is Our God says Dr. Martin Luther

- Lord Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace says Saint Francis of Assisi.

- One Day The Silver Chord Will Break . . . I Shall See Him Face To Face - wrote Fanny Crosby.

- I am Willing Lord . . . To Be Just Exactly What You Want Me To Be sang Joni Erickson Todda.

- I Can Only Imagine

- Blessed Be Your Name

- It is Well

Musicians become inspired to write a song leave an account of what was happening - by the way the world does the same thing.

These are not inspired of God as Scripture; that is different. Nonetheless, our songs are written by inspired men and women.

God inspired and preserved words of the Psalms also reflect that musician inspiration, yet they are for us, inspired Word of God.

When you drink from the Psalm it will help you to see this.

2) The Psalms have the most bizarre extremes of any book in the Bible.

- Reflections of the most intimate walk with the Living God.

The Book of Psalms---the prayer book of the OT---best captures the warmth and intimacy of the prayer that grows out of the believer's relationship with his God.

- To imprecatory prayers for the Living God to crush His enemies and even dash their babies upon stones.

PS 137:7 Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did

on the day Jerusalem fell.

"Tear it down," they cried,

"tear it down to its foundations!"

PS 137:8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,

happy is he who repays you

for what you have done to us--

PS 137:9 he who seizes your infants

and dashes them against the rocks.

IMPRECATORY PSALMS 35, 58, 69, 70, 83, 109, 137, 140, among others. These contain expressions of an apparent vengeful attitude towards enemies. For some people these psalms constitute one of the "moral difficulties" of the OT. In his covenant with Abraham, God promises to curse those who curse his people (Ge 12:3). See Curse; Psalms.

That is what I call bizarre extremes. We have to recon with these extremes. Dr. Hauser used to tell us, "Don't only read the passages that agree with your positions."

The Lord who is my shepherd is also the Lord who will crush the serpents head and cast all who belong to him into the lake of fire.

MT 10:26 "So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

That makes me Love Him and Fear Him.

I have an important weather report for the church today. Strange winds blow; winds of uncertainty about some of the most basic principles of Scripture. A great storm front has caused a division between two obvious principles of Scripture - they have become separated, when they are supposed to be one.

They are quite distinct in meaning - but in order to serve the Living God they meet together.

Psalm 34:11 - "Come my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord."

Proverbs 1:29 - "Since they did not choose to fear the Lord . . . they will eat the fruit of their ways."

Proverbs 2:5 - Accept, store up, turn your ear, apply your heart, call out, cry aloud, look, search . . . then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

I love God and I fear Him.

Does that sound good to you?

The fact that it doesn't sound very good to many in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is the tell tale sign of the storm front of division that I see in the body of Christ.

In the Psalms, both are wonderfully seen in the Living God - not with contradiction and animosity towards one another - but meeting one another and even embracing one another.

There is a great analogy here; it is like the coming together of a man and a woman. What a wonderfully touchy situation!

I used an illustration in the wedding ceremony of Lynn Stoll and Todd Taves - nearly 20 years ago. I am sure that they both remember it well. I read in a magazine about a description of two rivers coming together and forming one. The two very distinct rivers look very normal while meandering their way through life. They however are going to meet up and become wedded into one river. The point where this happens is usually quite a sight. The water boils and churns - the rivers even splash and clash against each other. Then they complete their wedding and become one much greater river - sometimes overflowing and producing other tiny rivers (but that is another whole story). This greater river eventually settles down and just flows on down towards the sea.

When love and holiness meet together - and they will meet in the living breathing church - similar actions are produced.

The goal is not to separate them - they are made for each other.

Are they meeting together in my life?

By Grace we are saved through faith and this is the free gift of God.

By much searching and crying out do we find ourselves able to Love God and Fear Him.

How can this come to pass in my life?

Three important calls must be heard:

I. Hear the call of the Lord to his people to love Him and fear Him.

Psalm 33:8 - "Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere Him."

II. Hear the call of the Lord to his people to see how this is wonderfully at work in Him.

Psalm 33:5 - "The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love."

III. Hear the call of the Lord to his people to let these become wedded within them.

Psalm 33:18 - "But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love."

Psalm 33:22 - "May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you."

The church is having enormous trouble letting love and holiness come together in her.

We can't seem to decide if what the Lord has clearly said is true concerning our moral actions towards one another.

Don't sin sexually. "Marriage is honorable above all and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge."

The church now can't decide whether or not homosexuality is against God's law.

The day may come when I may be jailed for saying such things. That will be a sad day for the United States and for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

My friends to the north are already up to their neck in this battle.

In Canada to say what God says may be judged as "hate speech"; and may be prosecuted by the law.

What is the answer to this and any moral standard in Scripture (there are many)?

When I say what God says about sin, I must be sure that I do it with a heart that knows God's love. When I teach the fear of the Lord, it must be wedded to the unfailing love of the Lord.

I may still be judged as being hateful and condescending; but at that point I shall have to rely on the Ultimate Judge. But I do not want to stand before Him having been hateful and condescending.