Fear of the LORD

Review of Proverbs' Purpose and Introduction to Proverbs 1:7

0:01 Let's turn again tonight to the book of Proverbs as we continue our studies in this very unique book of Holy Scripture, the book of Proverbs. We come tonight to the third in a series of studies which we've begun in this book. The first of our studies was taken up with some rather technical matters such as the literary form of this book. It is a book of Proverbs, a collection of these sayings that come in that literary form of pithy, succinct statements,

0:40 catchy statements of principles that apply in broad areas of life and human experience. We considered who the authors of this book are. We looked at the theme and something of the overall structure of the book. Then in our last study, we went to the text in chapter 1 and verses 2 through 6 to consider the author's purpose in writing this book.

1:08 And we saw in our study of these verses that there is first of all a purpose in general to all the people of God. Verses 2, 3, and 6. The purpose of the book of Proverbs in a general sense with reference to all of the people of God is to fill their minds with right principles, to know wisdom and instruction, to discern the words of understanding. Secondly, to mold their lives by these principles, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity.

1:44 And thirdly, to furnish their minds with the tools of further discovery of wisdom, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their dark sayings. Then in verses 4 and 5, Solomon tells us that he has a purpose which focuses upon three distinct groups of people. First of all, there are the simple. And he says his purpose is to give prudence to the simple.

2:12 That is to give them the capacity to exercise sound judgment in practical matters. Second category, the young man, known for his perhaps gullibility, but most of all for his impetuosity, for his zeal, for his undiscipline, and he says the purpose of the book of the Proverbs is to give to this young man knowledge and discretion, to so instruct him that instead of acting on impulse, he will act wisely. Instead of acting with just mere blind impetuosity, he will act with open-eyed wisdom and purpose. And then the third category is the wise man.

2:55 And he says his purpose, with reference to the wise man, is to make him more wise and to make him more useful. That the wise man may hear and increase in learning, and that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels. Now tonight we come to the first proverb as such. Verse 7 is the first proverb in the book of Proverbs.

The Pivotal Importance of Proverbs 1:7

3:23 The introductory section that we've just considered does not come in proverbial form, as such. But here in verse 7 we have one of those catchy statements in which you have a succinct expression of a principle that is generally applicable, and it comes to us in this contrasting manner. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. Verse 7 is not only the first proverb, strictly speaking, in the book of Proverbs, first in terms of order, but it's also first in terms of importance.

4:08 Verse 7, in a very real sense, is the key to unlock the entire book of Proverbs. To change the figure, verse 7 is the canopy which spreads itself out over the entire book of Proverbs. To change the figure in another way, verse 7 is the very...

4:30 the atmosphere which one should breathe as he reads the entire book of Proverbs. If you wrench the rest of the book of Proverbs from the perspective of verse 7, you end up with mere, empty, moralistic teaching. You must never wrench the instruction of the rest of the book from the perspective of verse 7. In other words, the entire book of Proverbs needs verse 7, but we must never wrench verse 7 loose from the entire book of Proverbs, for verse 7 needs the rest of the book.

5:08 They both need each other. And it's only when we understand that the fear of the Lord is the beginning or the chief part of knowledge that we'll understand the kind of knowledge imparted in the book of Proverbs. And it's only when we realize that the fear of the Lord prepares and disposes us for knowledge, but it does not impart all of the knowledge that is needed that we will then appreciate the rest that follows. And so this verse is a most pivotal verse, and I indicated last Lord's Day I just didn't feel I was ready to preach on it, and I have a confession to make.

Explaining the Positive Assertion: 'The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Knowledge'

5:44 I still don't feel ready to preach on it, but I'm going to attempt to do so anyway, and we'll just see what happens. Now as we come then to this very important text of Scripture, we'll approach it first of all seeking to explain the meaning of the words, and then...

6:00 Then we shall move into the realm of the application and the enlargement of that meaning and what they say to us. How then will we come to grapple with, come to grips with these words, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. Well, it's obvious that you have in the first place a positive assertion and then a negative contrast. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, there's the positive assertion, then the negative contrast, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

6:43 So we'll try to understand the words as they come to us as a positive assertion and secondly a negative contrast. Now in this positive assertion, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, we must ask two questions. What is the fear of the Lord? And in what sense is it the beginning of knowledge?

7:04 If we don't understand that, then the meaning of the text will evade us. We'll never grasp what Solomon had in mind, better yet, what the Holy Ghost had in mind when he gave these words through King Solomon. So then let's address ourselves to those two questions. What is the fear of Jehovah or the fear of God?

7:26 And in what sense is it the beginning of knowledge? Since many of us, of you were here a year ago when I spent some ten studies on the fear of God, it should not be necessary for me to go into any detailed exposition of this biblical concept of the fear of God. For the benefit of those who are not with us, I'll say a few things that will be repetitious, and for the benefit of coming to grips with this text, even those of you who were with us, I trust this will not be tedious. The fear of God is one of the dominant themes of Holy Scripture, both in the Old and the New Testament. And I'm

8:09 amazed at how learned men have overlooked this principle. One of the commentators whose comments were considered worthy enough to go into a set of commentaries that has been the tool of preachers for a number of years, actually takes the position that the fear of God was part of the elementary religion of the Old Testament, whereas we move out of the realm of the fear of God into the love of God in the New Testament. Well, if you were half-awake just one-tenth of the time a year ago, you don't believe that. I hope you don't. For we saw in a broad overview of the biblical concept of the fear of God

8:48 that all the way from Genesis to Revelation, literally, when we have a picture of the saints in their glorified state, the fear of God is the very soul of godliness. And wherever there is true religion the fear of God is present. In some cases that term, the fear of God, is a simple synonym for true biblical religion. What, then, is the fear of God? This thing

9:18 that pervades the entire biblical perspective with regard to true religion, just precisely what is true religion. the fear of God. Well, let me give you Bridges' brief and, I think, very accurate definition or description of the fear of God. Bridges says, the fear of the Lord is that affectionate reverence by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his father's law.

9:51 Affectionate reverence. Those two words must be together. It's not that trembling reverence of the guilty criminal before his judge. It is an affectionate reverence by which the child of God, a person who knows God in the father-son relationship, bends himself humbly and carefully to his father's law. His wrath is so bitter, and his love is...

10:21 so sweet that there springs an earnest desire to please him, and because of the danger of coming short from his own weakness and temptations, a holy watchfulness and fear that he might not sin against him. This enters into every exercise of the mind and every object of life. What is the fear of God? That affectionate reverence which the child of God has for his heavenly Father, in which he dreads the frown of his Father and delights in his smile. I read from John Brown,

10:59 who defines the fear of God in similar terms. We are to fear God, that is, we are to cherish an awesome sense of his infinite grandeur and excellence, corresponding to the revelation he has made of himself in the world. We are to fear God, that is, we are to cherish an awesome sense in his works and word, including a conviction that God's favor is the greatest of all blessings and his disfavor the greatest of all evils. This will lead us, practically, to seek his favor as the chief good we can enjoy, and to avoid his disfavor as the most tremendous evil we can be

11:43 subjected to. Such is the fear of God. Which Christian men ought to cherish and manifest. You see what John Brown tells us the fear of God is? It is that sense of the grandeur and the infinite excellence of God, which produces in us

12:03 this conviction. To have that God's favor is life's greatest blessing. To have his disfavor is life's greatest curse. And when that conviction is present, it will work itself out into the life, so that in life we seek to do the things that will be such as to incur his smile, and we will seek to avoid the things which would incur his frown. To quote Professor Murray,

12:34 and this is just to try to give you a general sense of what the fear of God is, the fear of God is that fear which consists in awe, reverence, honor, and worship, and all of these in the highest level of exercise. It is the reaction in our minds and spirits to a sight of God in his majesty and holiness. The fear of God involves this controlling sense of the majesty and holiness of God, and the profound reverence which this

13:12 apprehension elicits. This constitutes the essence of the fear of God. So when Solomon says, the fear of the Lord is the chief part of knowledge, he is speaking of that disposition in the heart and mind of a man, a woman, a fellow, or girl, in which there is first of all right views of God, and right response to those views of God, both in heart and in life. The fear of God is rooted in right views of God, some understanding of his infinite magic,

13:50 majesty and holiness, his grace and his power. And those right views of God have produced in us a right response, that is, we long to know his favor, we dread his disfavor. Now it's obvious when we begin to study the scriptures that because of the presence of sin, no man has the fear of God in his heart by nature. So if the fear of God is to be present, it's because, there has been special revelation of God's character, there's been special grace moving the heart rightly to regard that character. So the fear of God is paralleled with the knowledge

14:32 of God in chapter 9 and verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. You see, there can be no fear of God until, first of all, there is the knowledge of God. So that Solomon, in Proverbs 9-10, actually parallels the knowledge of God with the fear of God. So when he says the

14:58 fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, he's intimating that there can be no true knowledge without the fear of God, and no true fear of God without the knowledge of God. But the knowledge of God alone is not enough. Demons have right views of God. The devil has right views of God, but he doesn't have the right views of God. So he's intimating that there can be no true knowledge

15:21 without the fear of God. And it sells postagna to the obedient Pete. Not because of the coverage of Jerusalem, but because there is clear evidence that people like Paul were true believers. There must not only be right views of God, but a right response to those views. And we do not have that by nature. This is why God

15:31 says in Jeremiah 32-40 that one of the great blessings of the New Covenant is that the Lord will put His fear into the hearts of men. So there must be a special revelation of who God is. That isn't something that We know of in the Bible, but that The Lord has responding to our eyes with southwestern and Islamic divine providence of God, that the there must be special grace moving the heart to respond to him as we ought. So then, the fear of the Lord is that understanding of God's character producing in us that awe, that reverence in the light of his character expressed in a desire to please him,

16:13 expressed in a desire to avoid that which will displease him. That, in a very simple, and I hope oversimplification is not the case, is what the fear of God is. Now, in what sense is that the beginning of knowledge?

16:29 When Solomon says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, what did he mean? Well, you'll notice if you have an American Standard Version, that in the margin, or at the bottom, you have this translation of the word, the fear of the Lord is the chief part of knowledge. In other words, the fear of the Lord is, to all knowledge, what the alphabet is to all writing. You can never write until you learn your ABCs.

16:58 You've got to learn the alphabet. You've got to learn these symbols, which put together make up words. Now, the alphabet is the beginning, it's the starting point of all writing, but it's also the chief part of all writing. And the minute you cease to use the alphabet, you cease to write.

17:17 So it is not only the starting point, and once you learn the alphabet, then you forget it, and you go on to writing. No, no. You learn the alphabet, and then it is incorporated into everything that is related to writing. So it's in that sense that he says, the fear of the Lord is the chief part of knowledge.

17:37 It's not the beginning thing, and you get that under your belt, as it were, and then forget it and go on to something else. It's the starting point, and it is the essential ingredient of every development, of every sphere of true knowledge. Matthew Henry suggests that it is the fear of God which is the chief part of knowledge in three ways. The fear of the Lord is the first part of all true knowledge, first in importance.

18:09 If a man is ignorant of this, he really, in a real sense, knows nothing.

18:15 It's the first part of all knowledge. Secondly, it's the primary requisite for the attainment of all knowledge, all other knowledge in life. A man cannot have true knowledge of any other area of life if he does not have the fear of God. And it's the chief part of knowledge in the sense that it's the ultimate end to which all other knowledge should contribute.

18:38 If a man is truly growing in true knowledge, the evidence will be that he's growing in the fear of the living God. So then, the very goals that he has set before us in verses 2 to 6, to know wisdom and instruction, discern the words of understanding, receive instruction in wise dealings, these very goals, Solomon says, cannot be attained unless the fear of God is an integral, vital part of the young man, of the simple, of the old man, or of the people of God in general. The fear of the Lord is the chief part of all knowledge.

Explaining the Negative Contrast: 'But the Foolish Despise Wisdom and Instruction'

19:21 Now then, what did he mean in this negative contrast? And all we're trying to do is get at the meaning of words, and then we'll come to flesh it out in terms of its abiding message and application.

19:35 He says, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. Well, two questions. Who are the foolish? And what does it mean to despise wisdom and instruction?

19:46 Well, the foolish in the context are those people who are devoid of the fear of God. You see, the contrast is between the man who has the fear of God and therefore is qualified to absorb, to learn, to receive true knowledge, and that person who despises true wisdom and knowledge because he is devoid of the fear of God. So, to be foolish in the sense of the book of Proverbs has nothing to do with your IQ.

20:18 It has to do with the heart and its relationship to sin and grace. The foolish, the foolish man is the man who is either ignorant of God's character and therefore cannot fear Him, or being aware of God's character is willfully rebellious in terms of giving to God the response which His character deserves. So, the foolish is the ignorant, the rebellious, those indifferent to God's character and to God's government.

20:58 It's interesting that when the Scripture deals with why men live the way they live, in their sinful state, again and again it brings before us this principle. It's because they're in a state of spiritual folly and they know not the fear of God. In Romans chapter 3, when Paul is done summarizing all of the manifestations of sin in humanity, he puts the capstone over it all in these words, Romans 3.18.

21:28 There is no fear of God before their eyes. He said, you want to know why they live the way they live? The answer is not to be found in their intellect. The answer is not to be found in their culture.

21:44 The answer is not to be found in any of these human factors. Here's the answer. There's no fear of God before their eyes.

21:53 They came to that state as he tells us in chapter 1. They did not want to retain God in their knowledge, but became foolish in their imagination. And their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, God says, they became fools.

22:08 And when is a man a fool? You say a man's a fool when he says the earth is flat. No, a man's a fool when he can prove to you scientifically that the world is round. But he lives in ignorance of God's character or he lives indifferent to God.

22:24 God says that's the man who's the fool. That's who the foolish is. And then this text says that he despised wisdom and instruction. The word despise simply means to regard lightly or to regard with indifference, to regard with disrespect or with contempt.

22:44 And so, Solomon says, the man devoid of the fear of God has no preparation for true wisdom and true understanding. By casting off the fear of God, he actually robs himself of any ability to do good. The ability to be truly wise as much as the man who casts off the alphabet robs himself of the ability to read and write.

23:11 What is the alphabet to all reading and writing? It's the chief part. Throw out the alphabet and either willfully forget it or say I'll have nothing to do with it. You've lost every ability to read and write.

23:24 The fear of the Lord is the chief part of all knowledge. Throw that out and you've lost every ability to attain to true knowledge in the biblical system. Such is the meaning of the words of the text as I understand them after seeking to grapple with the words, checking my most trustworthy commentators. That's my present understanding of what Solomon meant when he said, the fear of the Lord is the chief part of knowledge, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

True Religion as the Foundation of All General Knowledge

23:56 Well then, having come to some understanding I trust of the basic meaning of the words, what does that text say to us? What are the great leading principles? What are the great and abiding and eternal declarations of the text and their relationship to us? Well, let me suggest three or four tonight.

24:17 First of all, this text asserts that true religion is the foundation of all true knowledge in general. True religion is the foundation of all true knowledge in general.

24:35 You see, this is God's world. You and I are God's creatures. We were made with a capacity to know Him. We were made to love Him and to serve Him.

24:47 And when God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, He placed him in a world in which true religion was a part of His world. You see, God never made the world with this dichotomy, this separation, this distinction between secular and secular. And sacred, as we now have it, part of Adam's world was God. And the knowledge of God and fellowship with God and communion with God.

25:16 In that sense, Adam was brought into this world in the atmosphere of the fear of God. God had revealed Himself to Adam. Adam's heart had right attitudes to God and the revelation He had made of Himself so that everything Adam began to learn as he examined his world, whether he was picking up the Bible, whether he was picking up a stone there in the garden to dress out his little rock garden, whether he was looking at his wife, whether he was listening to the chirping of a bird, whether he sat watching his own body and was fascinated by the intricacy of its mechanism. In any sphere of knowledge, Adam was learning in the context of true religion.

26:01 He was assuming the reality of God, the reality of God's world, the reality of God's work in creation, the reality of God's presence and God's power. And so the moment we wrench the fear of God, the knowledge of God, and a right relationship to God out of this world and try to understand any part of that world, we're doomed to fail.

26:29 This text asserts then that true religion is the foundation of all true knowledge in general. I need not remind you of how eloquently our own generation is witness to this fact. For having ruled out true religion as a necessary element of true knowledge, our generation staggers under the influence of the heady wine of its own self-imposed ignorance.

27:06 We don't need true religion to understand the world. All we need, is the test tube and the telescope and computers and physics and Einstein's insights. We'll understand our world. We don't need true religion to understand man.

27:27 We have the insights of the psychologist and the psychiatrist. And we have all the insights of the modern disciplines in these areas. We don't need true religion to understand man. We'll understand man.

27:41 God says, All right, smarty, go ahead. And I say our generation is drunk with the heady wine of its own self-imposed folly. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The chief part of knowledge, leave that out and you despise all true wisdom and instruction in every realm.

28:08 So the scientist who looks into his telescope and sees nothing but a mass of matter so many light years away of such and such a density taking such and such a time for the light to come to us and says, I understand a part of God's world. He doesn't understand it until he sees in that glistening star a manifestation of the glory of God. For the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. And until he sees in that star these words written the glory of the Creator God, he hasn't seen a star.

28:49 He's seen it, but he hasn't seen it.

28:54 Sure, the doctor may look at the human body and analyze it and see all of its intricate functions, but until he says with David, I am fearfully and wonderfully made and sees in the human body a manifestation of the wisdom and the power of God, he doesn't understand the human body. Why? Because he's ruled out true religion. That receives the self-revelation that God has made and responds to that revelation in love and in obedience.

True Religion as the Foundation of All Knowledge of Human Duty

29:30 Now, the second assertion that I want to make based on this text, and it's just an outflow of the first. True religion is the foundation of all true knowledge of human duty in particular. True religion is not only the foundation of all true knowledge in general, but true religion is the foundation of all true knowledge of human duty in particular. True religion is the foundation of all true knowledge of human duty in particular.

29:59 For you'll remember in our first study of the book of Proverbs, we saw that the great concern of the book of Proverbs is a delineation of man's conduct in all its intricate and delicate relationships. The first nine chapters which are addressed particularly to the young, we have beginning with the warning that we'll start with the young, God willing to look at next week, the warning against sinful companions, moving on into the warnings about despising of wisdom, and moving on to the warnings and instruction about immoral women and about sluggardliness and laziness and surety and all of these things.

30:44 We have this amassing of much instruction concerning human duty, man's conduct in the world in which God has placed him. So that the great drift of the book of Proverbs is practical, intensely practical. And Solomon would have us to understand right at the outset that true religion is the foundation of all true knowledge of human duty in particular. So in the unfolding of the many areas of duty, the dangers, the responsibilities, that which undergirds everything is this fact, you are a creature of God.

31:24 Your conduct is under the eye of God. Your conduct is that for which you are accountable to God. You are obligated to submit to the government of God. That's what the fear of God means in the realm of human conduct.

31:41 That in every relationship, father to son, son to father, son to his companions, his companions to him in his business and ethical relationships, all of these things touched upon, Solomon, says, oh, understand at the outset, wrench human conduct loose from true religion. And there's no perspective anymore. The fear of the Lord is the chief part of knowledge, not only all knowledge in general, but knowledge of human duty in particular.

32:18 What's the reason for the tremendous breakdown at almost every level of interpersonal relationship in our own society? Here's the answer. The chief ingredient has been taken away. The fear of God.

32:35 You can't have any stable business ethics. You can't have a stable economy. You can't have a stable labor market without the fear of God. What a classic illustration I had of this the other day when I tried to get some snow tires put on.

32:51 I called up. They told me that nobody was there yet. So I said, I'll be right over. I was, I think, third in line.

32:58 Should have taken, maybe, half an hour.

33:02 But you should have seen those fellows who were supposedly working for this particular company.

33:07 Talk, kibitz, five, ten minutes. Some girl come in, talk around, mess around for a little bit with her. Then go on over and take a tire. I was having mine studded.

33:16 They had this little thing that you'd be able to stud a tire in about five minutes. It's a pneumatic thing. Put one stud in, lay it down, talk with his buddy, pick it up. Put another one in, lay it down, talk with his buddy.

33:28 Well, as I began to think of all the implications, what was happening? Well, resentment was building up in the hearts of those of us who were waiting there. Our time was being robbed. We were being made very edgy.

33:41 So it'd be very difficult for us to be pleasant unless we learned to just sort of laugh the thing off in a very stoical way together. What was happening to that company? They were not getting a full hour's work for full pay. That man, in turn, probably feels, well, I'm not going to work anymore.

33:57 I don't feel I'm paid for anything more than what I'm doing. So that because he feels that management is unfair to him, which management may be, I don't know in this instance, he's not going to put out. So management, in turn, says, I've got enough sense to see that guy's not really putting out. Why should I give him a raise?

34:15 And so the tension between labor and management, the tension between the purchaser and the worker, all of these things. Here was a classic example in what was the only cure for this? The fear of God. If that man believed that Almighty God gave him directives as to how he should work and that whether anyone was there to see him, God's eye was upon him and God was concerned as to whether or not he was diligent, whether or not he was rendering due work for the pay received from his employer.

34:47 That's all that was necessary to completely change the entire perspective. The fear of God.

34:55 That's all that was necessary. But you see, without that, in the simplest realms of human experience, there's an absolute breakdown. And so Solomon tells us at the very outset of these detailed instructions about every area of life, you cannot implement them. You cannot understand their weight unless this ingredient is present, the fear of the Lord.

35:17 True religion is the foundation of all true knowledge of human duty in particular. Let me ask you a very simple question tonight. Has the grace of God brought you to the place where the fear of God is the governing principle in all of your conduct?

35:39 Has the grace of God brought you to that place? So that it matters not what human eye may or may not see you. You live your life as under the eye of your Savior God.

35:53 That's why Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 7, 1, having therefore these promises, Dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves of all defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Ephesians, 5, 22, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.

36:13 And so we are told by Peter to pass the time of our sojourning in fear. In other words, in every single duty, whether it's that of mutual subservience of believers one to another, whether it's working out the matters of our own remaining imperfection in the realm of sanctification, or whether it's a statement of the general drift of our conduct, the fear of God is to be the regular principle. Why? Because it is the chief part of knowledge.

Rejection of True Religion: Not Superior Intellect, But Perverse Nature

36:42 And so there can be no true knowledge of human duty in particular without the fear of God, without true religion. Third assertion I would make based on the text is this. Rejection of true religion is not due to superior intellect, but to a perverse nature.

37:08 Those devoid of the fear of God who reject his self-revelation in scripture, who refuse to give him the homage due to him, the reverence due to his name, they do so not because they are too wise, but because they are fools. For this text says the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. They regard lightly that true wisdom and instruction which cannot be had without the fear of God, and therefore God calls them fools. Why do some of you who sit here tonight reject the fact of your accountability to God or push it out of your mind and try to dismiss it

37:53 from your thinking? Why are you indifferent or openly hostile to his claims, his command that you repent and believe the gospel? Why are you indifferent to his throne rights over you? Why are you indifferent to his government?

38:08 Is it because you have such superior intellect as to make God and the fear of God unnecessary for your life? No. It's because you have a perverse nature which God says is the very essence of folly. But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

38:30 It is that perverse nature with which you were born that has so warped your thinking that you really imagine that you can face life wisely and successfully without the chief ingredient of all true knowledge. God calls you a fool. God says you're a fool.

38:54 One of the themes that is enlarged upon in this very first chapter, one of the most frightening themes in all of Scripture is found beginning with verse 22. How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and scoffers delight in scoffing and fools hate knowledge.

39:13 Then God goes on to say if you won't listen to what wisdom is saying, the time is coming when judgment will fall upon your neck. And then He says, when you come to your senses and realize your need of this instruction, God says you'll call and I will not answer. You mock the overtures of My grace. I'll mock the cries of your despair.

39:36 I think it's one of the most frightening passages in all of Holy Scripture. When men will be brought to that place where they acknowledge their rejection of true religion was not based upon the fact that true religion was a foolish thing, but because they themselves were fools in rejecting it. Oh, I plead with any of you here tonight, young or old or anywhere in between, don't look upon your unbelief and your indifference to God's government and the claims of His Son and His Gospel as a matter of your superior intellect. God says you're a fool if you continue on in life without that chief and most necessary ingredient of all true wisdom,

Growth in Fear of God Unlocks Proverbs' Teaching

40:20 namely the fear of God. Now the fourth assertion I would make based on this text is this. The measure to which we grow in the fear of God will be the measure to which we really understand and appropriate the teaching of the book of Proverbs. If the fear of the Lord is the chief part of knowledge and if this book of Proverbs was given to impart knowledge and instruction and wisdom, then I say, the extent to which we grow in the fear of God will be the extent to which we really understand and appropriate to ourselves the teaching of the book of Proverbs.

41:07 As I increasingly learn that His eye is upon me in every area of my life, as I increasingly discover His greatness, the majesty of His person,

41:23 as more and more there is born in my heart and developed in my heart, there is born in my heart, there is born in my heart, there is born in my heart, there is born in my heart, that has developed in my spirit this longing. His smile is all that really matters. As there is increased in me this sensitivity, His frown is my only real dread in life. To the extent that you and I grow experimentally, personally, vitally, really in the fear of God, to that extent, the book of Proverbs will open up before us.

Parental Responsibility in Education and the Fear of God

41:53 And as we seek to walk in the light of it, we will be experiencing the very purposeful, purpose for which this book was given to us. And then my last application and assertion is, in the light of this principle, how can a Christian parent be indifferent to providing an educational framework for his children in which the fear of God takes its rightful place? I just don't go around looking for opportunities to plug Christian schools, but when the text stands out and clenches its fist and points its finger at me,

42:32 I have to be true to what it says. If the fear of the Lord is the chief part of knowledge, what is God's estimation of a framework of instruction that has as its major premise, the fear of God shall not enter? Excuse that question. If God says that true religion,

43:02 what is God's estimation of a framework of imparting knowledge that has as its basic premise, God shall not enter? I leave you to answer the question. And I leave every Christian parent to wrestle with this. Am I fulfilling my responsibility to God in the education of my children? If I do not do all within my power to provide a framework for that education,

43:36 in which the chief ingredient of all knowledge is not just merely there and assumed, but there and pronounced and expounded and applied and amplified and all of its implications extended into every discipline of learning. Let me say again, as I have said from this pulpit, I do not stand in judgment upon any of you who, for one reason or another, do not have your children in a Christian school. I do not stand in judgment upon any of you who, for one reason or another, do not believe that is my prerogative. I pass no judgment upon the sanctification of those of you who teach in a public school situation. God being witness to me, I can say

44:19 that looking some of you right in the face who apply, to whom this applies. But I am asking you in the light of a text like this to do some serious thinking. That's all I can ask. That's all I can ask. And I trust as one who confesses subjection to God's truth that you'll seriously

44:40 consider this fact. The fear of the Lord is the chief part of knowledge, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. You see, there is no such thing as neutrality in the realm of learning.

44:58 The minute that little kid looks up at you and says, look, teacher, why shouldn't I cheat?

45:05 The minute your son or daughter says, why shouldn't I cheat? You've got to give a reason for that assertion you have made. You should not cheat in school. And your reason will either reflect your belief in God or your belief in God. You should not cheat in school. You should not

45:16 cheat in the perspective of true religion or it will reflect something that is the antithesis of that, the exact opposite. Your reason will either be rooted in what God has revealed of himself and of man and the necessary duties which flow out of that relationship or will reveal that you've ruled God out of all your reasons for human conduct. And when you've done that, God puts you in the category of the foolish who despise wisdom and true instruction for God. The fear of the Lord is the chief part of knowledge.

Conclusion and Call to Wisdom

45:54 So then we are confronted at the very beginning of the book of Proverbs with this first prerequisite of attaining the goals outlined in verses 2 through 6, namely, the fear of the Lord, which is the chief part of knowledge. But there are those whom God calls foolish who despise this wisdom and this instruction. And the Lord willing, next week we'll look at what we might call the second main prerequisite for the attainment of true knowledge, and that is submission to God-appointed instructors. And so we have the words, My son, hear the instruction of thy father.

46:33 Forsake not the law of thy mother. Promises what they shall be. And then his first warning is against the influence of evil companions fleshed out in a specific situation that had great relevance and that was the first instruction of the Lord. And the Lord willing, we shall look at it and see its relevance to us and the warning given to us in this area.

46:56 Do you have the fear of God implanted in your heart by God's grace?

47:03 The fear of God never grows upon a damning stock unless there has been that blessed intrusion of divine grace and mercy. God says, I will put my fear in their hearts. I will cause them to walk. I will cause them to walk in my ways.

47:22 May God take some of you who this night came into this building, fools according to this text, and make you wise. Make you wise, first of all, unto the knowledge of salvation which is through faith in Jesus Christ. Then implanting his fear in your heart, increasingly make you wise in every area to which he speaks in the book of Proverbs as we study it together. Let us pray.