Proverbs 19:23

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is our model here. He's the model of the fear of the Lord. He always did the will of the Father. He always honored God in his interactions. He always trusted God and had perfect confidence in his promises. Jesus feared the Lord so perfectly that he willingly laid down his life and went to the cross in obedience to the Father so we could have eternal life. And this eternal life with Jesus is infinitely better than anything we can imagine. We could go on and on, couldn't we? It's how much better that eternal life is for a believer. No more tears, no more pain, no more sin, perfect worship and communion with God. Eternal life with Jesus is indeed our best thought that we can even think. Our life on earth is just a vapor, poof, it's gone. That is what we, and we should be fixing our life at, compared to our eternal life, we shouldn't be fixing our life on this vapor, but on that eternal life. It makes sense that we would fix our eyes on that, and we should look to the one who holds the keys to life and death, and we marvel that Jesus would die for us. That is amazing. God is powerful and able, but he's also just and good. because we don't deserve to have that, but that comes later. As we live our lives, thinking, doing, making decisions, turning this way, that, the fear of the Lord should be our map, should be our compass. It's the rules of engagement. The world would have you follow any other path, but that way leads to death. I think car commercials do this really, really well. We've all seen, I've been watching the Olympics, and I've seen some car commercials, and they always seem to be, there's the straight and narrow path, it's paved, that's the way they're supposed to go, and then the two look at each other, and off they go off-roading. And they make it to this beautiful place, and they're really cool, and they're happy, because they broke some rules, they went a different direction, they went their own path. I have nothing against off-roading. I would love to go off-roading, it's a lot of fun. But when we choose our own path, it leads to death. It's not true. God's way is the only way that leads to life. So how can we rest satisfied? Why can we rest satisfied? God is so good that he gives us blessings in this life when we fear the Lord. Our verse reads, whoever has it, and it is referring to the fear of the Lord, rests satisfied, or in some versions, sleeps. Believers are at peace with God, and that is restful and satisfying. We are no longer at war and rebellion with the creator of the universe and the source of all life. When we think about this peace, this rest, we shouldn't think about the touchy-feely new age peace. This is peace with someone we were at war with. We are his enemies, and now we have peace with him. That's good news. That's where you say amen. Thank you. We have lots of examples of not being at rest and satisfied in our lives. Have you ever been in conflict with someone? You all are thinking about that person. Been frustrated with the situation? Been troubled by your sin or someone else's sin? Wanting but not having? Being sick? Hurting? These things are not restful, yet we have them. They're not satisfying, and we have them. As I meditated on this passage, and usually I did that early in the morning, my thoughts were drawn to Matthew 8, 23 through 27. This is probably a familiar story. I won't read it all, but I'll summarize. This is a time that Jesus and his disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee by boat, and a storm arises. Jesus is sleeping, and the disciples are fearful of losing their lives because the boat is being swamped. Jesus is sleeping in complete confidence in his father's plan. He's not worried or scared or restless. The disciples wake him in the midst of the storm, and then Jesus calms the storm with a word, and disciples rightly marvel. The disciples were afraid, fearful, thought they would die, and they did the best thing they could. They went to Jesus, and as he spoke in the sea calm, the disciples were astonished. This was no ordinary man. We can sleep knowing that God is always working for our good. Do you believe this? Help our unbelief. Even in the midst of hard things, the storms of life, we can rest satisfied when we suffer under the fear of the Lord. Matthew 5, 6,

blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

In Philippians 4, 11 through 13, Paul speaks of being content in every circumstance, hunger and need, abundance and plenty. How? Through Christ who strengthens. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 13, verses 5 and 6 encourages us,

be content with what you have, for he has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me.

We can be satisfied when our fear is properly placed. Matthew 10, 28, this is the placement.

Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

We can rest satisfied knowing that God is working all things together for his glory and our good. So we see how the fear of the Lord leads to life, ultimately eternal life, and that when our thoughts and actions and fears are properly placed, we can rest satisfied. But this proverb ends with another benefit. He will not be visited by harm or visited by evil or untouched by evil. This is the fuel of our satisfaction. We should not equate harm with hard. We will have hard things happen. Troubles and struggles are a part of being sinners in a sinful world. When we look at this phrase, not visited by evil, we should think about judgment.

The wages of sin is death.

Every one of us deserves death. And once again, we should think about Jesus who took on our sin and was judged at the cross so for all those who believe in Christ may be judged according to his righteousness. We will not be visited by evil because Christ took our place. Knowing and believing this should cause us to move back up through the proverb. We can rest because we're satisfied because we fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is indeed the beginning of knowledge as we looked at the beginning of this series. We can be satisfied with the truth that Christ saved us from our own sin. That's where you say hallelujah. Yes, you can all say it together. There you go. So what do we do with this? So what? Now what? What do we do? Here's some points of application. Number one, believe. Reaffirm your belief if you're a believer. And this is not complicated. There's no need to complicate it. It's just believe. The word of God is true. We only have life through Jesus Christ. Submit your life to him. The disciples, though rebuked for their little faith, did the right thing by going to Jesus and saying,

Lord, save us, we're perishing.

You will perish apart from Christ. Number two, know how much Christ has forgiven you. We underestimate this. Tim Keller said it this way.

The gospel says you are simultaneously more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe, yet more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope.

Number three, resist the devil. Walk in the light. I might cry here. Read the word. Pray. Love others. Think about what you're filling your life with. Sin makes you stupid. There's no safe way to sin. Sorry. When you mess up, Remember point one and two. Practically, read your Bible every day. Make it a habit. You can't live without it.

Draw near to God, and he'll draw near to you.

Fourth, and the final one, have an attitude of gratitude. Be thankful to God for who he is, what he has done, and for all things in your life. because he uses it all. And so give thanks in all things. So, how are you sleeping? Where do your thoughts run? Are you anxious? Are you angry? Are you blaming, complaining, sinning? There are many things that can keep us from true rest. I've been there, obviously. At times, you may even feel hopeless. But here's the good news. There is hope in Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Lay all your burdens on him, and he will give you rest. Submit your life to God, acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make straight your paths. In summary, fear the Lord and submit your life to him. When you do, you will have true life because you will have true security and contentment. And ultimately, you will have eternal fellowship with Jesus. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for you. Lord, you are amazing. And Lord, help us, help us to believe. Help us to repent. Lord, forgive us when we turn away from you. And Lord, we just ask that you would let this fear of the Lord, that you would just impart it to us and that it would be a comfort to our souls. Lord, we thank you for this evening and we ask for your blessing as we go from here. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.