From His Heart

Speaker 1

Is very, very difficult to live in a society where the foundations are destroyed.

And so the devil is smart and wise. He's the enemy of our souls.

And he knows if he wants to topple Christianity, if he wants to topple your faith, he's going to attack the foundations of your faith and my faith.

Because if he can destroy the foundations, the whole structure will come down, and he works overtime to attack us.

Foundational things about the faith.

Speaker 2

Welcome to From His Heart, the broadcast ministry of Pastor Jeff Shreve. And we also want to welcome you to a new month of truth, love, and hope from God's Word. Today we begin our study of Psalm 11, verse 3, which says, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

You see, God has established foundations for a successful society. But tragically, these foundations are under attack today more than ever in the modern age. And Christians more than ever need to be taught what our foundations truly are. If not, we'll pass the point of no return. This foundational and powerful series will help you stand on the pillars of our faith that are essential for a fulfilling, happy, and purposeful life, even, or maybe especially, in these turbulent times.

The series is called Foundations, where Pastor Jeff boldly shares biblical truth, which is often interpreted as politically incorrect. Now, if you missed any part of today's message or any of the lessons from this timely Foundations series, then you can go online to listen again at fromhisheart.org or download a free MP3 of this broadcast to share with others along with the sermon notes.

Again, that's at fromhisheart.org. If you can now open your Bible to the book of Proverbs for this first lesson in the Foundations series, it's entitled "The ABCs of Life."

Speaker 1

Now, as every builder will tell you, the most important part of any structure is the foundation. It's the part that you don't see. But that part is critical because that unseen part of the house or of the building has to be right and it has to be strong, because it's that foundation that anchors the structure to the ground. It's that foundation that makes it strong. Foundations are critical.

Now, in the book of Psalms, Psalm 11:3, the question is asked, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? It's very, very difficult to live in a society where the foundations are destroyed. And so the devil is smart and wise. He's the enemy of our souls. And he knows if he wants to topple Christianity, if he wants to topple your faith, he's going to attack the foundations of your faith and my faith. Because if he can destroy the foundations, the whole structure will come down. And he works overtime to attack us on foundational things.

Now, it's important to know foundational things about life. Because if you know foundational things, then you can have a strong foundation and you can grow strong and you can grow tall and you can recognize when there's an attack coming on the foundation. You can have your antenna up, so to speak, and you're very sensitive when an attack comes on a foundational point.

Well, to start off this series, we want to talk about the ABCs of life. Very, very foundational part of life. And that foundational, those ABCs, it's very simple. It's called in the Bible the Fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord. Now, we know when we're teaching our kids how to read, we teach them the ABCs. I mean, those are the basic building blocks of the language. You have to know the alphabet in order to read. You have to know the alphabet in order.

And so I remember with little Emmy, my granddaughter, we would have flashcards. And M is for this and L is for that. You know, L is for lion and M is for monkey, and P is for, you know, petunia or whatever it was. Probably not petunia. That'd be hard for a kid. P is for pneumonia. I think we had that one, you know. But you have to learn your letters so that you can learn to read and write well.

The basic, basic building blocks of a relationship with God for a society, for an individual, is the fear of the Lord. David said in the Book of Psalms, Psalm 34, verse 11, "Come, you children, listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord." Get the children around, because when they're little, they need to learn. From the time that they're able to learn anything, they need to learn about this thing called the fear of the Lord.

In Proverbs, written primarily by Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, he starts off Proverbs. And Proverbs is a book of wisdom. And he says in verse seven, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction." He says in Proverbs 9 that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So it's the beginning of knowledge, it's the beginning of wisdom. It is the important foundation of a life, of a family, of a church, of a society. The fear of the Lord.

So we want to talk about that today. I want to share with you three discoveries about this thing that the Bible talks about a lot. This thing called the fear of the Lord.

Discovery number one, the fear of the Lord is critically important. Critically important. You know, in the book of Proverbs alone, the fear of the Lord, that phrase, those words, the fear of the Lord is used 14 times in the whole Bible. It's used 25 times. The two words "fear God," that command, that's used 14 times, and "fear the Lord" is used 29 times in the Bible. So over and over and over and over and over and over again, God is saying, you need to fear me. You need to fear me. You need to fear me. You need to fear me. It is critically important.

And one of the reasons it's critically important is because it's the beginning of it all. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It's the beginning of wisdom. Now, in Proverbs 1:7, the word there for beginning means the first in place, the first in time, the first in order, the first in rank. It's a principal thing, it's a foundational thing, this fear of the Lord. And if, like the old American Express commercial, "don't leave home without it," you need to have this thing called the fear of the Lord, because that's what life is built upon.

I remember when my kids were little, I wanted to build a swing set or buy a swing set and then put it together a little different than building it. But I buy it and then I have to put it together. You know, it looks great at the store because it's all constructed and then you get it and it's in a bunch of boxes. And so, you know, that's not my forte, is putting things together. I like it better when it's just like, yeah, just deliver that one. You know, get it in the backyard somehow.

So I was putting it together and somehow I missed a key step. And there was this anchor bolt that you had to put in early on. And I don't know why I didn't get that, but I didn't. And I'm ready to say, I'm all done. And then it was like, now connect that anchor bolt that was in step one to this other part. It's like, anchor bolt, had it in my hand. It's like, ah, that's what that is. And I had to tear the thing down and put it back together using. You know, I gotta get the first step right, otherwise this swing set's not gonna work.

It's kinda like when you're a kid. And when I was a kid, I went to school and we wore shirts that buttoned. And as a little kid, first grader, you know, one of the things my mom told me is like, "Jeff, it's really important to make sure you get the first button in the right hole." Because if you don't get the first button in the right hole, I don't care what else you do with the shirt, it's not gonna look right. You gotta. And that seems like a little thing when you're six. It's like, all right, you know, this isn't a pullover shirt. And I gotta make sure.

Cause sometimes I was like, "Mom, this shirt's all messed up." You got the button in the wrong hole. Now your life will be messed up if you don't get the first button of life. And the first button of life, the beginning of it all, is the fear of the Lord. It is critically important, and it is an indispensable aspect of a successful life. You're never going to have a successful life in the sight of God and in your own heart without the fear of the Lord.

Now, I want to just rattle off some scriptures in the book of Proverbs that talk about this. Proverbs, chapter 14: "In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence, and his children will have refuge." Strong confidence in the fear of the Lord. "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life that one may avoid the snares of death." "The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom. And before honor comes humility." "By loving kindness and truth, iniquity is atoned for. And by the fear of the Lord, one keeps away from evil." "The fear of the Lord leads to life, so that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil." "And the reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor, and life."

Do you notice how many times life is included with the fear of the Lord? It leads to life. It's the fountain of life. That's when you're going to find riches, honor, and life is with the fear of the Lord.

I watched an interview not too long ago. I put it on Facebook. It was an interview with Tom Brady, the very, very popular and winning quarterback for the New England Patriots. He had just won his third Super Bowl, and he was being interviewed on 60 Minutes. And they're like, man, you know, you've seen Tom Brady. He's tall and strong and athletic and good looking, and he's an excellent quarterback. And he's got a gorgeous wife. Some people say, you know, she's one of the most beautiful women in the world. And he's got a $60 million contract from the Patriots.

And so they were talking to him and they said to Tom, man, Tom, you have it all. You're 30 years old and you have it all. He said, what do you think about that? And Brady said, yeah, I think there just has to be something else. This can't be all there is. There's gotta be something else to life. And the interviewer said, what's the answer to that? And he said, man, I wish I knew. I wish I knew.

Here's a guy who had everything, who has everything, but he doesn't have the fear of the Lord, and there's a hole in his heart. The fear of the Lord is an indispensable aspect of a successful life. You'll never. You can have money, you can have fame, you can have a good looking wife, but you're not going to have peace and you're not going to have joy and you're not going to have a sense of fulfillment. Because the fear of the Lord is the fountain of life and it's the beginning of wisdom and the beginning of knowledge.

Speaker 2

What a wonderful, marvelous, profound truth to know that the fear of the Lord is the foundation of life, giving us knowledge and wisdom. And Pastor Jeff Shreve is in part one of the first message from this series simply titled the ABCs of Life. He'll return in just a moment.

Complete this lesson from his heart is the Media Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve. He receives no income from the ministry. He's our chief volunteer, and we're working hard each day to expand this outreach on television, radio, and online. At this time of our great cultural change that we all see in our nation, our mission becomes even more important. People need to know that God's way is always right. They need to know that there is hope in Christ, even in the darkest moments. And they need to know that God loves them with an everlasting love, not because of their performance, but because of who he is.

So because you care deeply about this truth, we're asking you to give generously to Data from His Heart to help us continue proclaiming the truth of God's word around the world. As thanks for your gift, we'd like to send you Pastor Jeff's new book, *The Devil's Newsroom: Muting Satan's Fake News and Tuning in to God's Truth*. To get your copy, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-24253) or go online to fromhisheart.org.

Know that your gift will help us reach more people around the world on radio, TV, digital platforms, YouTube, podcasts, and everywhere the Lord opens doors for us to speak the truth in love. God bless you for your help as God leads.

Now, let's conclude part one of the lesson called the ABCs of Life. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Speaker 1

**Second discovery. The fear of the Lord.** Not only is it critically important, it is sadly misunderstood. So many people misunderstand. What does this mean? The fear of the Lord. And the natural thing when you talk about the fear of the Lord is I'm supposed to be afraid of God. I mean, if I'm supposed to have this thing called the fear of the Lord, I guess that means that anytime you get around God, you back up because you get afraid of God.

Listen, the fear of the Lord. God does not want you to be afraid of him. God wants you to fear him. There's a big difference between being afraid of God and fearing God. See, God wants you to fear him in reverence and awe. You say, "Jeff, what's the difference between not being afraid of God, but fearing God?" Exodus chapter 20. In the book of Exodus, chapter 20, God comes to Mount Sinai. Moses and the people are there, camped at the base of Mount Sinai. And God tells Moses, "Come up here." And God is giving Moses the Ten Commandments.

Well, when God visited Mount Sinai, he did it with smoke and fire and thunder. And it was a scary deal. He just showed up on that mountain, and you could tell the presence of God was there. The scripture says this: when Moses comes down off the mountain, Exodus 20:18, "And all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, 'Speak to us yourself, and we will listen. But let not God speak to us, lest we die.' And Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid, for God has come in order to test you, in order that the fear of him may remain with you so that you may not sin.' Don't be afraid, but fear him. Don't be afraid of him, but fear him and let that fear of him remain.

God doesn't want me to quake in my boots every time his name is mentioned or every time I come into his presence. Oh, I'm so scared. I could be in God's presence. No. You know, in this room today, there is something here that no one is afraid of. But all of us who are in our right minds fear. And that is electricity. Electricity is flowing through this room. It's powering the lights and the sound and the screens and everything. There's electricity. But I don't think anybody walked in today and said, "Man, I'm so afraid to be in the church because there's electricity there." Nobody's doing that.

But listen, we all have, hopefully, a healthy fear of electricity. You don't go to the fuse box and just start sticking a metal rod in there saying, "I wonder what happens if I do this." You don't climb the electrical pole and start banging on things with your metal pole. You're gonna fry yourself. Because electricity is powerful. And that's the same way with God. God says, "Don't be afraid of me, but revere me. Stand in awe of me, and know who you're dealing with."

See, God wants us to know and understand who he is and who we are in relation to who he is. Moses said in Deuteronomy, chapter 10, verse 17, "For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty and the awesome God, who does not show partiality nor take a bribe." He's the God of gods. He's the great and mighty and awesome God. The scripture says in Psalm 33, "Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he stands, he spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast."

As one preacher said, when God created everything that we see in the book of Genesis, he stepped onto a platform of nothing behind a curtain of nowhere and spoke the worlds into existence. That is the greatness of God. And God wants us to know who he is. He's the great and awesome God. He is the infinite God. He is the eternal God. He is the omniscient God. He is the omnipresent God. He is the God who can do anything, the God in whom nothing is impossible. He is the God who is almighty. He is the God who is most holy. He is the God who is full of loving kindness extended to you and to me. That is God. And God says, "I want you to know who I am in relation to who you are."

Now, in Isaiah, chapter 40, Isaiah talks about the greatness of God. And Isaiah says this: "All the nations are as nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing and meaningless." Because God is so great, you and I compared to God are like a pimple on a flea. I mean, we are so insignificant. And David, one of the things that made David so great and gave him such a passion for God, is he spent a lot of time with God as a shepherd on the hills of Judea. He would have time outside. And there's something about spending unhurried time just outside, looking up at the sky and looking up at the stars and talking to God and observing what he made.

David said these words in Psalm 8: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you take thought of him, or the Son of Man that you care for him?" God, you're so great and you're so vast, and I am just little David on the hills of Judea. What is man? What am I that you would think of me? That you would even take one thought from me? But the truth is that God thinks about you all the time. Because God is a God of love.

Now, this great God of the universe who wants us to have reverence and awe of him, he also wants us to obey him. He is the master; you and I are the servant. And so the fear of the Lord involves obeying God. The Bible says in Proverbs 8:13, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the perverted mouth and the evil way. I hate. I hate evil. Why? Because I fear you, God. I fear you." Proverbs 15, verse 3 is a good definition of the fear of the Lord: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good."

Well, because the eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good, it's not that God's going to get me; it's that God sees everything that I do. And I don't want to do things that displease the great, the mighty, the awesome God. God wants us to obey him. It's important to obey the Lord, to do what he says. Any disobedience in your life and my life is us saying to the great, the mighty, the awesome God, "Well, that's fine, God, for you to tell other people what to do, but I'm gonna do what I wanna do."

And so the scripture talks about sin. See, sometimes you can sin by shaking your fist at God and just say, "I'm gonna do what I wanna do. God, you tell me not to do X, Y, and Z." Whatever X, Y, and Z is. "Well, I wanna do it. That's what my flesh wants to do. And I wanna lust, and I wanna cheat, and I wanna lie, and I wanna divorce my spouse, and I wanna go after my secretary," or whatever it might be. "I'm gonna do what I wanna do." That's called sinning with a high hand. That's a dangerous place to be. Some of us sin that way, but some of us just kind of wander into sin.

We don't shake our fist in the face of God; we wander into sin. "All we like sheep have gone astray. Each one has turned to his own way." Now, the sheep doesn't look at the shepherd and say, "I'm not doing what you want to do. I'm going to go over here." He just wanders off. And many of us do that. We just kind of wander away from the Lord. But whether you shake your fist at God or whether you wander away from God, it's still disobedience. And disobedience is a serious thing because the eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good.

How are you doing in this thing called obeying God? God wants you to do that. It's part of the fear of the Lord.

Speaker 2

Today on From His Heart, you heard part one of the message, the ABCs of life from the timely series Foundations. This timely resource gives you biblical insight into some of the foundational principles that God has established for a society to survive and thrive. These principles are under attack in our culture today. But in the series, you'll learn how to stand firm for the truth even when it's assailed on every front.

You can re-listen to any broadcast at fromhisheart.org and request the series Foundations on USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or MP3 digital download. That's all from the resource center online. For your gift of any amount this month, From His Heart would like to say thank you by sending you Pastor Jeff's new book, The Devil's Newsroom: Muting Satan's Fake News and Tuning in to God's Truth. Again, that's for a gift of any amount this month to From His Heart. Call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go to fromhisheart.org.

I'm Larry Nobles, inviting you to be here tomorrow for part two of the lesson, the ABCs of life. That's on Tuesday, when Pastor Jeff Shreve will open up God's word and share real truths, real love, and real hope—right here on From His Heart.