Job 28:28
I. Review
A. Heart Problems are THE problem in life (Jer 17:9)
B. The Christian Life is a New Life (2Cor 5:17)
II. Introduction - The Modern push for No Fear (Psalm 36:1).
A. Popularity of “Fear Factor”, and of ever more terrifying films
B. What people are doing is making fun of people’s fears – it just forces people to become numb towards fear – which is not always a good thing
C. Today, more people than ever are living in terror of more and more of life – fearful of muggings, thieves, rape, being alone, cancer, aids, a falling economy, rejection by friends, and just anxiety attacks
D. But ONE fear is lacking – the fear of the Lord God of Heaven
E. Everyone today only talks about the love of God – ignores the need for the fear of the same God
F. There is a holy, a clean kind of fear
G. And then there is an unholy kind of fear
H. Everyone needs a good balance in knowing what to fear and what not to fear!
III. Preview – To Fear God is Good
A. God is to be Feared
1. World Events Prove It
2. Word of God Proves It
3. Noah’s Flood Settles It
B. God Honours Those that Fear Him
IV. Message
A. God is to be Feared.
1. Principle is this - You will never respect someone you don’t fear
2. God is to be feared – not just admired, or prayed to, but in awe of, and fearful of being on the wrong side!
3. World Events Prove It (Luke 21:10-11)
a. Hurricane Katrina
b. Indonesian Tsunami
c. Massive earthquakes
d. Asteroid Collisions
e. Not to mention constant increase in wars
4. The Word of God Proves It.
a. Psalm 76:7
b. Luke 12:5
c. 2Cor 5:11
5. Noah’s Flood Settles It (Heb 11:7) – it was a cataclysmic judgment for sin!
a. Who was this Noah?
1) He knew how to walk with God in the midst of the darkest and most sinful hours of world history
2) He survived the greatest world tragedy ever – need to learn how and why
3) He saved his family – no one else got on that ark, but Noah’s family did
4) By building the ark, he accomplished something so immense and impossible, that he deserves to be in the record book for it!
5) This world needs young people like Noah, who will:
a) Fear God
b) Take God seriously
c) Keep himself pure from the sins and the trends of the world
b. The World in Which Noah Lived (Genesis 6:1-11)
1) Population explosion (6:1)
2) Over-emphasis on women, and beauty of the woman – rejected masculinity and made the beauty of women their focus of attention – worshipped sex. Venus, Aphrodite, Diana, Madonna, Britney Spears
3) Demonic interference in world affairs – the god of this world began to corrupt the flesh of humanity
a) Fornication – spread of disease
b) Adultery – spread of disease
c) Homosexuality – spread of disease
d) Bestiality – introduction of new diseases
e) Demonic and Satanic sexual abominations – mental diseases
4) No concern with God at all – just went on with their lives, excluding God, rejecting the evident truth of creation, and of divine judgment of sin
c. God judges people for their sin
1) God was fed-up with the conditions of the world (6:3), and was desperately grieved that He had even made the world – it was THAT bad!
2) Sin and immorality was totally out of control, world-wide (6:5) – nobody cared about the immorality – only people’s rights, pleasure, possessions
3) The imagination of EVERYONE was ONLY evil CONTINUALLY (6:5)
4) The whole world was filled with violence (6:11) – it was self destructing (much like today)
5) No one thought God’s patience would wear out!
6) But ALL land-dwelling life was about to be utterly destroyed by God with a catastrophic flood – the judgment of God is NOT a subject preached very often anymore – only another sign we are getting near then end!
7) And Then There was Noah - In the midst of such darkness, and at the precipice of such imminent destruction, Noah was faithfully living and going against the flow, and just simply walked with God
8) He obeyed the word of God, and trusted the Ark to protect him from the coming judgment of God – which it did!
B. God Honours Those that Fear Him.
1. Those who are willing to obey Him, and honour them with their life
2. Psalm 34:9
3. Psalm 103:11
4. Psalm 145:19
V. Conclusion - The Fear of God is Good
A. Many people are fearful of trusting the living God
B. That keeps them from getting the cure to sin – like being afraid of a cancer cure – because you have heard some rumours, and no matter what the doctors tell you, you reject it simply out of fear, not because of fact
C. God is to be Feared
1. World Events Prove It
2. Word of God Proves It
3. Noah’s Flood Settles It
D. God Honours Those that Fear Him
E. God will save anyone who clings to His Son for forgiveness (just as Noah trusted in that ark for protection from the judgement!
Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig