Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord

Good evening, church. It's good to see you all tonight. As Ben said, tonight we're beginning a new devotional series on the fear of the Lord. So if you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to page 527. We're gonna be looking at a number of Proverbs over the next couple months and specifically talking about what the fear of the Lord is, what the fear of the Lord does, and why the fear of the Lord is so important. Our verse tonight Proverbs 1.7 lays the foundation for the whole book of Proverbs. It's the final verse in the prologue and it's the thesis statement for the entire book. Proverbs 1.7 says this,

the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

So at the foundation of every single proverb written, every instruction given, every wise word spoken in this book is the fear of the Lord. Three points for us to consider tonight from this proverb. First, the posture of Godward fear. Second, the promise of godly living. And third, the peril of despising wisdom. The posture of Godward fear, the promise of godly living, and the peril of despising wisdom. So first, we see that this proverb teaches us about how we should posture ourselves before God. We should have a posture of fear before the Lord. The fear of the Lord, that's the main phrase of this sermon series, and usually when we think about fearing something, we mean that we're afraid of it. We distance ourselves from it. We avoid it. But in contrast to worldly fear or natural fear, the fear of the Lord is not something to be avoided. It's something to gain. It's a good thing and it's something that we should be pursuing. The fear of the Lord is ultimately something that God gives to his people. God grants his people as a way of blessing them. In a really, really overly simplistic sentence, the fear of the Lord is the right response to a true understanding of God. It's just a right response to a true understanding of God. So to fear God is to first see him rightly in his holiness and his glory. It's to recognize that there is no one like him, that there is none who compare to him, And that there is none who come even marginally close to competing with him. And in one sense, that should induce terror in us. This is the God who creates and destroys. The God who gives life and takes it away. Who causes everything to happen and directs all the affairs of earth and heaven. But it should also induce a tremendous sense of awe and wonder and reverence for God. Our view of God should be bug-eyed and jaw-dropped, the same way that we view an ocean, the same way that we view mountaintops, the same way that we view the Grand Canyon or a starry night sky. And unlike a natural fear or a sinful fear, A right fear of God should attract us to him. Because a true understanding of God will also recognize that he is not only high above the heavens, but he has also descended to earth. That he has revealed himself to people, that he has compassion on people, and that he desires to share himself with us. King Solomon, the king of Israel and the primary author of Proverbs, he knew that God had saved the nation that he ruled over, that he saved them from the Egyptians and brought them to Mount Sinai and gave them the law so that they would rightly fear God. His father, King David, wrote in the Psalms of a God who forgives sin and iniquity so that he may be feared. A right fear of God doesn't just marvel at the holiness and sovereignty of God, but also at the goodness and the grace of God. As Christians, our fear of God is ultimately driven by the gospel, where the glory and goodness of God is on full display, where the Son of God descended from his heavenly throne, took on full humanity, lived a perfect and sinless life, and then willingly suffered an unjust trial and brutal death on a cross. He then rose from the grave, defeated the power of sin and death, and he did all of this so that our sins could be totally forgiven, so that we could be completely reconciled to God. Not because we deserve to be saved, not because we had anything good in us, but because God in his goodness extended grace to us. The fear of the Lord, it ultimately isn't just terror. It isn't just reverence. The fear of the Lord is love. We fear the Lord in a way that a man fears his bride as she walks down the aisle on their wedding day. As the way parents fear their newborn child as they hold it in their arms, hold him or her in their arms for the first time. love that is so intense, so grateful, so amazed that you wouldn't dare waste it or squander it or do anything to ruin it. Charles Spurgeon puts it like this,

right fear falls on its face before the Lord, but falls leaning towards the Lord. The more we fear God, the more we love him, until this becomes to us the true fear of God, to love Him with all of our heart and mind and soul and strength.

In other words, the fear of the Lord causes us to entrust ourselves to God. We come underneath His sovereign love and follow Him as the ruler of our lives. We actually allow Him to be our Lord. And for all those who do fear God, God promises growth. He promises increase. He promises guidance and direction and a sure path. Our verse says that he promises knowledge and wisdom. Brings us to our second point, that the fear of the Lord promises godly living. The three words used in this verse give us a comprehensive understanding of what the fear of the Lord provides. It provides us with a sure foundation for knowledge, for wisdom, for instruction, These, in Proverbs, these are the three key components of godly living. Wisdom is the highest virtue in the book of Proverbs. It's valuable and it's worth obtaining at all costs. Wisdom is described to be like silver. It's like a hidden treasure. It's worth storing up and ingraining in our hearts. None of us start out wise. We all need instruction. Some translations use the word discipline here. We need to be formed, we need to be corrected, we need to be trained in order to develop wisdom. The foundation of true wisdom is right knowledge. To have right knowledge, it means to have a correct understanding, to have the right information, to draw the right conclusions based on the information at hand. Knowledge, it's like a map. It shows you the right destination and directs you how to get there and aligns you to your current coordinates. Our verse tells us that such a knowledge for life can only be obtained through a right knowledge and fear of God. Wisdom then takes that knowledge to another level. It's applied knowledge. Wisdom puts knowledge into action. As it pertains to God and ourselves and the world, wisdom can be defined as skill in godly living. So while God has provided for us sufficient revelation in his word, he hasn't necessarily given us every single answer to every single question that we might have in the Bible. That's where wisdom becomes such a valuable asset for godly living. Wisdom helps us navigate the gray areas of life. The decisions that aren't so black and white, the forks in the road, the impasses. If knowledge is like a map, wisdom is like a compass for when we don't have a map, when we're navigating uncharted territory in our lives. And the fear of the Lord is the magnetic force that points us in the right direction. Without wisdom, without instruction, without Knowledge? We're aimless. We're helpless. We're as good as dead. And yet our verse tells us that there's a type of person who is guaranteed to end up lost and who is bound for destruction. It's the fool. Proverbs 1.7 warns us about foolishness and instructs us against foolishness. So our final point to consider this evening is the peril of despising wisdom, the peril of foolishness. While wisdom is the valuable virtue of Proverbs, foolishness is the danger to be avoided. It's anti-wisdom. In Proverbs, foolishness is closely associated with wickedness and unrighteousness and sin. While the foundation for wisdom and knowledge is a fear of God, the foundation for foolishness is self-reliance. It's to disregard God's clear instruction and guidance and to do what is right in our own eyes. It's to devalue godly wisdom and trust in your own understanding. Ultimately, foolishness is nothing more than a rejection of God. Psalm 14.1 tells us that