The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

Proverbs 14:31-35 He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker, But he who is gracious to the needy honors Him. The wicked is thrust down by his wrongdoing, But the righteous has a refuge when he dies. Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, But in the hearts of fools it is made known. Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people. The king’s favor is toward a servant who acts wisely, But his anger is toward him who acts shamefully.


“Better to remain silent and be thought of as a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt”. Ever heard this quote before? It is frequently attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Some say it was uttered by Mark Twain. Either way, it’s a pretty profound statement which points to the biblical truth that we are called to be “quick to listen and slow to speak” (James 1:19). Today’s Proverb proclaims that “Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, But in the hearts of fools it is made known” (Prov 14:33). Idle babbler comes to mind in regards to the fool who must share every thought, make known every feeling, verbalize each and every opinion on all matters.

Matthew Henry States regarding the fool who must make his “wisdom” known, "Openness and ostentation are a mark of folly. If fools have a little smattering of knowledge, they take all occasions, though very foreign, to produce it, and bring it in by head and shoulders. Or the folly that is in the midst of fools is made known by their forwardness to talk. Many a foolish man takes more pains to show his folly than a wise man thinks it worth his while to take to show his wisdom."

One example of the type of foolishness displayed by the idle babbler can be seen on social media. For instance a Pastor, who has studied God’s Word most of his adult life, whose sole job it is to rightfully divide the Word of God, shares a verse of scripture online along with a brief commentary and application, both of which are in accords with scripture and 2000 years of tradition in Church history. Suddenly, every fool with a keyboard chimes in to share their wisdom and tell said Pastor just how wrong and dumb he is for holding that particular theological position.
Another area of life in which this type of foolish talk can be seen is in how oftentimes we are very slow to recognize when we are engaged in casting pearls before swine, and in our sharing of “wisdom”, we wind up looking like the fool we are engaged with. I think of conversations with coworkers with whom I have shared the gospel many, many times. Over the course of 6 years and dozens of conversations, each discussion devolves into an opportunity for said coworker to mock, scoff, twist words, and make a spectacle of the whole affair, while never having a genuine desire to hear the truth or engage in an actual conversation. What ends up happening is that in my own pride to be right and not made a fool of, I wind up trying to tear down strongholds and lofty opinions with my own might and wisdom, rather than the word of God, and as the Proverb tells us: “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19).

One last application that may hit close to home, is directed towards us as parents. To be sure, God’s Word is clear that we are to train our children up in the way they should go (Prov 22:6). In Deuteronomy 6, when it states “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (verse 7), there is no ambiguity when it comes to the issue of whether or not we are to teach our children the things of God. However, hand in hand with this doctrine, is the reality that in our teaching, instructing, and disciple, we are to NOT provoke our children to wrath (Eph 6:40. I am reminded of all the times this happens when, instead of applying God’s Word to a situation in the home because I fear for the soul of my Child, I, having been personally offended, browbeat said child with the multiplication of the words of the father, me, rather than lovingly applying God’s Word to the situation, which may mean not saying anything, and allowing natural consequences to be the teacher.

Brothers and sisters, the Proverb tells us that wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding. If you are a child of the Most High, you are indwelt with the Holy Spirit and have intimate access to the One in Whom are hidden ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Why waste an opportunity with your child or an unbeliever sharing your finite wisdom and displaying folly, when you can hold up the wisdom of God found in Christ Jesus? Consider that when we exercise restraint with our words, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we may well be removing a stumbling block from before our neighbor, taking away an opportunity for them to sin with their words. Our Lord Jesus was a lamb led to the slaughter, who was oppressed and afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth (Isaiah 53:7). Let us repent of the ungodly multiplication of our words,and ask our Father to grant us wisdom and restraint in conversation.

If you are able, please kneel as we confess our sins before God Almighty, whose lovingkindness extends to the heavens, and faithfulness to the skies (Psalm 36:5).
 
Father God, maker of heaven and earth.
We come before You this morning, only by the blood of Your precious Son Jesus, not in our power, strength, or wisdom, but by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
Father, we oftentimes act and speak with zeal, but no knowledge. We frequently multiply our words in haste, feigning a defense of our faith, when in reality we seek to guard our own pride.
We argue and strive with our neighbor under the guise of advancing the Kingdom, claiming to be doing your will, but in reality we are seeking to build our kingdom and are tacitly saying “Our will be done”.

Please forgive us Father, for our arrogant use of words. Forgive us when we have sought to defend our pride, rather than to give a defense for the hope that is within us. It’s in Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Please join me in standing, and listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

Psalms 126:5-6 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 03/15/2020 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie.)

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

Proverbs 14:21-30 He who despises his neighbor sins, But happy is he who is gracious to the poor. Will they not go astray who devise evil? But kindness and truth will be to those who devise good. In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty. The crown of the wise is their riches, But the folly of fools is foolishness. A truthful witness saves lives, But he who utters lies is treacherous. In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death. In a multitude of people is a king’s glory, But in the dearth of people is a prince’s ruin. He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly. A tranquil heart is life to the body, But passion is rottenness to the bones.
 
I once heard in a workplace prayer group years ago that the fear of the LORD didn’t really mean to “be afraid”, because our God does not want anyone to fear Him the way we oftentimes think of fear, but rather means a “Holy reverence” or a fear akin to that which a child may have for their parent. I do not disagree with these notions. In fact a case for this perspective could  be made from scripture that these are aspects of the fear of the LORD. However, in this case, the “fear” of the LORD as spoken here does not merely mean “holy reverence” or “parental fear”, it means literally, to be terrified, or in awe of.

Years ago in my early 20’s I went skydiving. Just prior to jumping out of the plane the “jumpmaster” had me and the instructor strapped to my back step out of the open hatch of the plane at 15,000 ft and place one foot on a little step about 8 inches wide with our other foot still planted on the floor of the planes cabin. We stood there, leaning out of this moving plane for what seemed like an eternity, until we received the command to “Jump!”. Terrifying does not begin to describe those 5-10 seconds of standing half in and half out of the plane, or the 8 seconds of acceleration which followed my exit from the plane. As with any analogy which seeks to explain the attributes of God in human terms, the fear I have described here is insignificant to that which the LORD and His Holiness and hatred of sin ought illicit within us. My fear as I stood on the step of that plane pointed to the reality that it is not natural for a man to be dangling outside of a plane at 15000 feet, and should have driven me to fight, kick, and scream my way back into the relative refuge of the plane. Now, had I been without a parachute, that is exactly what would have happened.

In a similar, but far greater way the fear of the LORD, coupled with His commands, ought to lead us to flee temptations and sin right into the arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The fear of the LORD in the heart of a Christian ought not only be a Holy reverence or paternal fear, but a fear which recognizes how complete and perfect God’s hatred for sin is, and not only sin, but workers of iniquity. A biblical fear of the LORD will lead a believer to recognize the very present danger they are in as they skirt the edges of temptation and sin, outside the refuge of God’s Son Jesus. God hates workers of iniquity brothers and sisters. Practitioners of sin. Those that walk in darkness whose manner of living is void of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Is this you?

In regards to the fear of the LORD, Matthew Henry states that:
 “It is a sovereign antidote against sin and temptation. Those that have a true relish of the pleasures of serious godliness will not be allured by the baits of sin to swallow its hook; they know where to obtain better things than any it can pretend to offer, and therefore it is easy to them to depart from the snares of death and to keep their foot from being taken in them.”

One of the telltale signs that a person has a genuine, biblical fear of the LORD, is in how they respond to the commands of God.

Consider Noah. In Genesis 6:11-13 we read: “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.’”

Here we see God communicating to Noah that because of sin, destruction was coming upon the sons of men. What follows are a series of commands issued by God to Noah regarding the construction of the ark: make the ark out of gopherwood; make it with rooms; cover it with pitch; make it 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits tall; make a window, a door in its side, with lower, second, and third decks. After these commands, God then issues a promise to Noah “But I will establish a covenant with you”. The chapter concludes with “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did” (Gen 6:22). Noah was a man who had found favor in the eyes of the LORD (Gen 6:8), and because of this grace God had shown him, he recognized the bible truth that the wages of sin is death. He recognized that God was Holy, Holy, Holy, and hated sin, while man was corrupt and sinful. When God told Noah that He was going to destroy mankind from the face of the earth, pouring His wrath out upon man by means of a terrifying global flood, Noah believed Him, feared Him, and responded accordingly in faith, without which it is impossible to please God. God commanded, and “Thus Noah did”.

It is so simplistic. It is so very basic to what our relationship with God ought to be, is it not? God commands. We obey. There is a line from C.S Lewis’ book A Horse and His Boy that goes “To hear is to obey”. It is uttered by subjects of the Calormen leader called the Tisroc in response to any command or request made. This isn’t how we respond to God though, is it? Our obedience is far too often predicated with a bunch of “yeah buts and what about that's?”

 Jesus asks “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). The answer is simple really. We do not fear the LORD. 

We fear man. We fear looking foolish in front ofman. We fear rejection by men. We fear losing our reputations. We fear how obedience to God may affect our standing among our coworkers. We fear that family and friends will turn their backs on us. We fear how the world will respond to us, and view us. But we do not obey the commands of God or fear Him, the One Who can throw both body and soul into hell.

If you are able, please kneel and let us repent of this treason against God Almighty.
 
HEAVENLY FATHER,
Save me entirely from sin. I know I am righteous through the righteousness of another, but I pant and pine for likeness to thyself; I am thy child and should bear thy image, Enable me to recognize my death unto sin; When it tempts me may I be deaf unto its voice.

Deliver me from the invasion as well as the dominion of sin. Grant me to walk as Christ walked, to live in the newness of his life, the life of love, the life of faith, the life of holiness. I abhor my body of death, its indolence, envy, meanness, pride.

Forgive, and kill these vices, have mercy on my unbelief, on my corrupt and wandering heart. When thy blessings come I begin to idolize them, and set my affection on some beloved object —children, friends, wealth, honour; Cleanse this spiritual adultery and give me chastity; close my heart to all but thee. Sin is my greatest curse; Let thy victory be apparent to my consciousness, and displayed in my life.

Help me to be always devoted, confident, obedient, resigned, childlike in my trust of thee, to love thee with soul, body, mind, strength, to love my fellow-man as I love myself, to be saved from unregenerate temper, hard thoughts, slanderous words, meanness, unkind manners, to master my tongue and keep the door of my lips. Fill me with grace daily, that my life be a fountain of sweet water.

From The Valley of Vision, titled “A cry for deliverance”.

Please join me in standing, and listen to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

Revelation 21: 1-4 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

 To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 03/08/2020 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie.)

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

As you work your way through the pages of scripture, what you will see unfolding is a grand tale of two families on two very different trajectories. Each family can be identified by who their representative is: one family living under the headship of Adam, the other of the Lord Jesus Christ. One family toils away vainly, trusting in the work of their hands, building a kingdom grounded in the world, which is passing away, while the other family trusts in the One Who said “It is finished”. The family of Adam is one who is born of the flesh, whose works are evident:  “Immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Gal 5: 19-21).

Conversely, those in the family of Christ, born of the Spirit, can be recognized by their fruits, “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control” (Gal 5: 22-23). While all found in the household of Adam die, 1 Corinthians 15:22 tells us “Even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”

The Proverb today, Chapter 14 verse 11, states in unambiguous language that those who turn from God and seek their own way will be brought to ruin, while those who look to the Lord Jesus Christ will live. The house of the wicked will be destroyed, But the tent of the upright will flourish.
 
 Matthew Henry had this to say regarding the contrast between these two families:
“Note,
1. Sin is the ruin of great families: The house of the wicked, though built ever so strong and high, shall be overthrown, shall be brought to poverty and disgrace, and at length be extinct. His hope for heaven, the house on which he leans, shall not stand, but fail in the storm; the deluge that comes will sweep it away.

2. Righteousness is the rise and stability even of mean families: Even the tabernacle of the upright, though movable and despicable as a tent, shall flourish, in outward prosperity if Infinite Wisdom see good, at all events in graces and comfort, which are true riches and honours.”

The household of Adam is built upon a foundation of sinking sand, with its members trusting in their weak arm of flesh, fallible wisdom, and in a savior that is not the Christ of the scriptures. The cares of this world, the trials and temptations of this life, and the flaming darts of satan easily shake and destroy those found in Adam. Those found in this house stumble and “there is not another to lift him up” (Ecc 4:10).

Those in Christ Jesus however have no such worries. Jesus says of those in His house that “no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:29). As Christian’s we have received the Holy Spirit of adoption, by which we are able to cry out “Abba! Father”! As Christians, because of our faith which was granted to us as a gift, we can rightfully say that we are Abraham’s descendants, because like Father Abraham, we believe and it is accounted to us as righteousness. While those living under the headship of Adam perish, those in the family of God flourish, are fruitful, and can rest assured that the gates of hell will not prevail.

The distinctions between the household of Adam, and that of God are clear, and here is the caveat. Each and every one of us who calls upon the name of the Lord, who have been adopted into the family of God: work with, live with, and have relations with members of that other household which has Adam as the head. Each and every one of us, whether in our workplace, our homes, or in the marketplace have entanglements with those whose household will be destroyed because of sin. In the words of Francis Schaffer, “How should we then live”?

God says that we must be separate, to come out from among them. “Be Holy because I am Holy”, says God.
We are called to expose the unfruitful works of darkness, rather than participate in them.
In our separation from the things of this world, our pursuit of holiness (without which no one will see the Lord), and our exposing of the sin in our different spheres of life, we must remember above all else to have faith in the Lord Jesus, and to love the Lord our God, and our neighbor as ourselves. Without faith it is impossible to please God, and without love, we are nothing more than noisy gongs and clanging cymbals.

In our workplaces, this may look like you doing all of your duties without grumbling and disputing. It may mean you as a servant submitting to the authority of an incompetent, tyrannical boss. At home, it may mean you fathers disciplining your children despite your wife telling you to ease up, that it was just a little disobedience. Or perhaps it means that the family peace all your relatives long for, so that thanksgiving and Christmas pass by smoothly, gets disrupted because you as a man of God speak truth and expose sin in the camp. Where in your life might there be compromise in this area? How might you be declaring “peace peace” with the household of Adam, having one foot in his camp, and attempting to keep the other in Christ’s? 

If you are able to, please kneel as we pray to our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus our Savior.

Heavenly Father, We long for peace. Each and every son of Adam who ever lived desires peace above all else. As fallen men, women, boys, and girls, we sought refuge in the perishable things of this world: wealth, food, clothes, relationships, hobbies, careers, and the like. As lost men and women, we pursued the desires of the flesh, our sinful human nature, to no end. A vain pursuit. But now, as your children, we have access to the peace which passes all understanding. Father, please help us to remember that we have been transferred from the domain of darkness, into the kingdom of Your Glorious Son. Help us to remember, and live our lives in such a way that the light we have is used to expose the unfruitful works of darkness, rather than participate in them. Please be merciful to us Lord. Please strengthen us in the inner man for this battle, and forgive us where we fall short of your Glory. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
 
Please join me in standing and listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 03/01/2020 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie.)