BIBLICAL VIEW | FEAR OF THE LORD (4)

1. Introduction

Psalm 111:10 King James Version (KJV)

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Proverbs 1:7 King James Version (KJV)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

2. But with GOD - it gets into a higher realm...

a) GOD sees every thought...

b) The movies we run in our personal, private, secret imagination's movie theater become the basis for our success or failure in life.

1 Chronicles 28:9 New Living Translation (NLT)

“And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.

Genesis 6:5 New Living Translation (NLT)

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.

c) The "fear of the LORD is when an individual realizes that GOD sees everything that is going on - and that nothing is - nor can be hidden from the eyes of GOD

3. Jesus "nails" the location of the spiritual heart...

Mark 7:14-23 New Living Translation (NLT)

14 Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. 15 It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.”

17 Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. 18 “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? 19 Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)

20 And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

a) These attitudes, ideas, mental pictures, and reactions are all the result of the kind of "information" we allow in our thought-life!

b) Evil is manufactured by stored thoughts and word-pictures called "imaginations."

Matthew 5:28 New Living Translation (NLT)

28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

c) Here's the problem...

d) GOD sees all of that! 

e) If this doesn't put the "fear of GOD" into us - it should... 

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