The Lord's Treasure: The Fear of the Lord - Derek Prince

now I learned from dawn this morning that brother edy coal whose two messages I heard on the two previous evenings and enjoyed so much made a comment I write at the close of his message this morning and he said the thing that this nation needs most and the families in this nation need most is the fear of the Lord and I'm happy to tell you that is the title of my message tonight the fear of the Lord and it the message was given to me several days before edco made that comment so I feel were right in line with what God is saying at this time now when I say the fear of the Lord some of you respond to that word fear you see I don't like fear I don't want to hear that message it's not going to bless me and you more or less tune me out well you're free to do that but it's a big mistake because you really have no idea of what you're tuning out when you react against the fear of the Lord in Isaiah 33 in verse 6 there are eight little words at the end of that verse which say the fear of the Lord is his treasure the fear of the Lord is his treasure so it's not something to be despised it's not something to be afraid on it's God's treasure that he's sharing with his people will you please adopt that attitude from this time onward in this meeting I'm not threatening you I'm not confronting you with some grim alternative I'm telling you about lords treasure which he shares with his people I wonder how many of you know or knew that that verse was in the Bible eight words the fear of the Lord is his treasure there eight words that come at the end of a verse in Isaiah chapter 33 in verse six the fear of the Lord is his treasure and I was asking myself why was that jewelle of truth tacked on at the end of a verse in Isaiah and I came to this conclusion because God wants us to search for truth jesus said search the Scriptures for in them you'll find the truth about me I want to ask you tonight are you one of those people who search the Scriptures do you really turn to the Bible with a diligent quest for truth do you look to it for the answer to your needs and problems you see there are many people who are afraid of what God might say to them but that's a disaster also Jesus said search the Scriptures so if you're not searching the Scriptures you're disobeying the Lord I've been a Christian more than 58 years if you can believe that and I think I've never read the Bible through less than two times in any given year so that means I've read the Bible at least 116 times and there are many many passages in it I read probably a thousand times or more I've been searching the scriptures and I wonder when I meet Christians why some spend so little time in the Bible if they go give God 10 or 15 minutes a day they think it's a big thing that's your misfortune because you're shutting yourself off from something that is immensely something that will do you tremendous good I think many of those people who refuse to give time to the Bible are suffering from a spiritual disease and I'm going to tell you what the spiritual disease is ice call it spiritual laziness and I call it that because it's only in that area that those people are lazy they can hold on a job they can be a housewife they can keep a spotless kitchen they can cook wonderful meals they can earn a good living in some honorable profession they can be industrious in everything except one thing which is reading the Bible I suppose there are many of you here tonight you would sit an hour in front of a television set and think nothing of it but if you were to give an hour to studying the Bible you would think it a tremendous achievement you see that's not natural if you're only lazy in one particular area of your life it's not unnatural laziness it's a spiritual laziness and it has a spiritual cause and it's causes the enmity of Satan who wants to keep you from the thing that will help you more than anything else in your life so I just want to check with you for a moment I'm not going to ask anybody to raise a hand but if I've been describing you and you have to acknowledge it's true brother Prince I'm not a lazy person I own a good living I do a good job I have a good reputation but there's just one thing I'm lazy about - reading the Bible if that's you let me urge you repent right now before you go a step further in this meeting just tell God God I'm sorry I've let the devil trick me he's got the better of me he's deceived me he's persuaded me of something utterly untrue that the Bible is a down or difficult book it's not it's a message of life it's a message of love only through the bundle can you begin to know the measure of God's love for you if you shut yourself off from the Bible if you give it just a few brief moments or perhaps no time at all in a week you're shutting yourself off from the revelation of God's wonderful love for you don't do it don't be a spiritual pauper don't accept the disease of spiritual laziness just pause and consider that for a moment you can be industrious and successful in almost every other aspect of your life but when it comes to reading the Bible you flunk you're a dropout that's not a natural condition that is a spiritual condition and behind it is the spiritual enmity of Satan who's trying to cheat you out of your inheritance in the law so you need to repent if that describes you you need to repent now I'm going back to the theme which I announced the fear of the Lord so many Christians have got the idea well that was something from the Old Testament it was under the law we don't need the fear of the Lord in our lives at all that's old-fashioned that's totally unscriptural and uncorrect I want to give you just a few simple effect effects from scripture about the fear of the Lord Psalm 100 and some 19 and verse 9 says this the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever so there's never a time when the fear of the Lord ceases to be relevant it endures forever and in proverbs 23 verse 17 the writer of Proverbs says that you may continue all day long in the field of the law so the fear of the Lord is forever and it's for all day long in other words there is no time in life when you should not be in the fear of the Lord now many people have a very negative view of what is meant by the fear of the Lord I want to tell you some things that it is not first of all first of all it is not natural fear it's not the kind of fear you experience in an automobile when you feel you're going to crash that's not the fear of the Lord secondly it is not demonic fear there is a spirit of fear a demon I've dealt with a priest probably say hundreds of people who needed deliverance from the spirit of fear but that's not we're talking about the poor Paul says in 2nd Timothy 1:7 God has not given us a spirit of fear he has not given us a demon and in 1 John 4:17 John says there is no fear in love for perfect love casts out fear for fear has torment that's not the pier we're talking about tormenting fear is from the devil and it has no place in the life of a Christian but it has a place in the life of some of you and really the greatest remedy for the tormenting fear is the true fear of the Lord and then the fear of the Lord is not fear of man it delivers us from the fear of man and it enables us to show respect and honor for the Lord so what is the fear of the Lord well I'll give you just a few English words none of which fully described this extraordinary spiritual realm of being it's fear of a special kind sometimes it is very powerful physical fear for instance when Moses was confronted with the glory of the Lord and the voice of the Lord at Mount Sinai he said this so terrifying was the sight that Moses said I am exceedingly afraid and trembling now Moses lived as close to the Lord as most of us in fact I would guess much closer but when he was confronted with a revelation of God's majesty and glory he said I'm exceedingly afraid and I tremble if Moses could tremble so can you that's not a harmful experience in fact I think nearly all of us need a much greater clearer vision of the or and the majesty and the power of God I would say one of the best words to describe it is all awwe from which we get the word awesome that has a certain religious connotation it expresses our reaction to majesty to power to holiness another word is reverence but unfortunately reverence has changed its meaning I remember as a boy growing up in the Anglican Church in this country when we got inside the church building we changed our behavior we didn't speak alone we walked very carefully we stood very stiff and we thought that was reverence that was bondage was not reverence reverence is a response to a revelation of God you cannot have reverence without revelation when God reveals himself I believe the only appropriate response is reverence and then with it goes submissiveness a submissive attitude toward God is an expression of the fear of the Lord in our lives when we're high-handed arrogant self-sufficient self proclaiming as many of us are that has nothing to do with the fear of the Lord there is no fear of the Lord in a person who becomes conducts himself like that another very amazing thing revealed in Scripture is that in a certain sense what you fear is your God in Genesis 31 Jacob is talking to his uncle Laban or his father-in-law Laban and he's saying he didn't treat me right that God looked after me and in Genesis 31 and verse 42 he says to Laban unless the god of my father the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac had been with me surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed so he called God the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac in other words what Isaac feared was the true God it was his God and then at the end of the same chapter in verse 53 Jacobson's the God of Abraham the god of nahor and the God of their father Judge between us and Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac so what Isaac feared was his gun what you fear is your God if you fear people's opinions let's you're gone if you fear poverty that's your God if you fear disease and sickness that's your gun what you fear for you is gone do you fear the Lord is he your God then it's very informative to study the life that the fear of the Lord in the life of Jesus now Jesus was God's own beloved son who pleased his father all his life and all his days and yet when Isaiah speaks about the anointing of the Holy Spirit that was to margies us out as Messiah as the noin tada that Israel was expecting he described seven distinct aspects of the Holy Spirit that would rest on Jesus and these are found in Isaiah chapter 11 beginning at the first verse there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots that's the Messiah the descendant of David now this is the mark of the Messiah the mark of the Son of God the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord that's the Sevenfold manifestation of the Holy Spirit speaks in revelation of the seven spirits of God which are seven lamps of fire burning before the throne here is a list of the seven spirits of God the first one is the Spirit of the Lord that is the spirit that speaks in the first person as gone and in acts 13 the Holy Spirit said send forth Barnabas and soul to the work which I have called him the Holy Spirit was speaking himself as gone that's one of the aspects of the Holy Spirit and then we have the spirit of wisdom and then the spirit of understanding the spirit of counsel the spirit of might the spirit of knowledge and on the fear of the Lord the final manifestation of the Holy Spirit that marked out Jesus as the Messiah and God's beloved son was what the fear of the Lord and then it the next verse says this his delight is in the fear of the Lord and he shall not judge one side of his eyes no by the hearing of his ears so Jesus was marked out as Messiah by the Sevenfold anointing of the Holy Spirit upon him the seventh and final anointing was the fear of the Lord and then it says his delight is in the fear of the Lord dear brothers and sisters surely we cannot improve on Jesus if Jesus God's beloved son Messiah and Savior was marked out by the fear of the Lord and if he delighted in the fear of the Lord how can you or I ever dare to say we don't need the fear of the Lord it's a terrible thing to say now I want to speak about the conditions that we have to fulfill to have the fear of the Lord I'll go through it rather quickly Psalm 34 verses 11 and 12 God is speaking and he says come you children listen to me I will teach you the fear of the Lord I believe that's the Holy Spirit speaking the fear of the Lord has to be taught come you children listen to me and if we listen to the Holy Spirit he will teach us if we don't listen he won't teach us listen to me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord and then it describes the kind of person you have to be to experience the fear of the Lord and it says who is the man who deserves a lot desires life and loves many days that you may see good keep your tongue from evil in your lips from speaking God what's the first mark of the person who receives the fear of the Lord what does it manifest itself in first in his speech the way we use our tongues and our lips brothers and sisters just check on yourself for a moment does the way you speak the way you you use your tongue your lips does it represent the fear of the Lord or are you at times arrogant self pleasing fearful irritating impatient unwilling to receive correction that's not the fear of the Lord and then something that has impressed me deeply is that we must choose the fear of the Lord in proverbs chapter 1 God is speaking to people who've rejected him and he says some terrible words I know I think sometimes we don't really appreciate how terrible the things that are are that God says we have a picture of a nice courteous old gentleman ups on heaven who never says anything difficult or hard or unpleasant he just cuddles us that's not God listen this is what he says in proverbs 1 verse 25 and following because you disdained all my counsel and would have none of my recruit I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your terror comes that's God speaking when your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind when distress and anguish come upon you then they will call on me but I will not answer they left it too late they will seek me diligently but they will not find me why because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord you have to choose a fear of the road and if you do not choose the fear of the Lord God will not restrain his judgments in your life then proverbs 1 and verse 7 says this the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction we can adopt any contemptuous attitude towards the fear of the Lord and just advertise our own foolishness and then in proverbs 3 and verse 7 it says do not be wise in your own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil so you cannot associate with evil and have the fear of the Lord if you're going to have the fear of the Lord in your life you have to depart from evil and then it says also we are not to trust in our own wisdom if you have self confidence and arrogance in your life think you have all the answers you have no place for the fear of the Lord and another thing it says depart from evil we cannot combine evil and the fear of the Lord we have to make a different choice which are we going to make room for in our lives the fear of the Lord or things that are evil and then this is something I love I've been in love with the fear of the Lord for almost as long as I'm being a Christian I cannot read these verses without getting excited and I'll just tell you briefly out of Scripture some of the things that the fear of the Lord will do for you beginning in job 28 in verse 28 that's an easy verse to remember the job 28 28 - man God said behold the fear of the Lord is wisdom and the depart from evil is understanding true wisdom is inseparable from the fear of the lone we've got an idea of wisdom is something intellectual cleverness it's not cleverness because cleverness can be compatible with evil but the fear of the Lord is incompatible with evil we have to have one or the other but we cannot have both and then again these are so wonderful Psalm 25 verse 12 Psalm 25 12 who is the man that fears the Lord him shall he teach in the way he chooses you see God doesn't teach everybody and God doesn't choose his students on the basis of examinations he chooses his students on the basis of character and God does not commit himself to teach those who have no fear of the Lord you can go to a Bible School you can go to the best training center even here but without the fear of the Lord you're not a pupil of God you can be a pupil of human teachers but not of the Lord and then another wonderful thought in the same song verse 14 of Psalm 25 the secret of the Lord is with those who fear him and he will show them his covenant isn't that marvelous that if you fear the Lord he'll share his secrets with you nobody shares his secrets with an enemy if you share your secrets with somebody that's a person who's intimate with you it's a person whom you trust God says the fear of the Lord is in your life I'll share my secrets with you and he says I will show you my covenant you know one of the most critical truths of the Bible is the truth of covenant in fact the whole Bible revolves around covenant it's the new it's the Old Covenant and the New Covenant covenant is the theme of Scripture but God only those who fear the Lord understand covenant that's why there's so many covenant breakers in the church that's why there's so many people who break the Covenant of marriage because they have no fear and alone the fear of the Lord is an essential ingredient in a happy successful marriage without it a marriage can never function as it should I had an interesting a conversation some years ago with a man and his wife he was a leader in the evangelical movement in the United States I won't give his name and they were sharing very frankly about their own problems in their marriage and the wife was telling us they came to a point in their bedroom one night when they are having a real argument and he was pointing his finger at saying you have to submit and she was saying I don't see why I should you've made some pretty silly decisions and they were getting really angry and then they remembered they were Christians and they were not behaving like Christians and they fell down on opposite sides of their bed on their knees and began to seek God and the wife said this it was as if a cold wind blew through our bedroom and it said submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God and we realized there was no fear of God in on us no fear of God in our marriage I think the fear of God is an essential ingredient in a happy Christian marriage praise God they repented that that man went on in his ministry to be successful but I've never forgotten that I can pick picture in my mind there they were kneeling by the bundle beds and this cold wind blew through the bed since submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God I don't believe you can have a successful Christian marriage without the fear of Allah I have not always been a successful husband I fail many times but I can say one thing my my first wife who was Danish and very outspoken she said the only thing that's kept you faithful to me is the fear of God and I thought of myself that's not such a bad sense statement as it sounds I mean it did keep me brothers and sisters let's be realistic there are temptations in a marriage there are a few men who don't experience some temptation to break their marriage bonds what keeps you from doing it I'll tell you what kept me from doing it the fear of God the fear of God is clean and indoors forever it's purifying its sanctifying well let's go on proverbs 10 verse 27 the further we go the more exciting it gets I hope at least I've done one thing by the time I finished I'd give you a desire to know more about the fear of the Lord proverbs 10 verse 27 says this the fear of the Lord prolongs days but the years of the wicked should be shortened so listen if you have the fear of the Lord in your life you will long you will live longer than you would have without it doesn't tell you how long it'll live but you'll live longer than you would have lived without the fear of the Lord in your life and I've lived a long life and I need some more light years of life because my job on earth is not finished and I tell you I'm very careful to cultivate the fear of the Lord because it prolongs life who would turn that down the only people who would turn that down are people who are totally unbelieving or totally ignorant you cannot afford to live without the fear of the Lord all right then proverbs 14 26 is one of the most amazing verses in the Bible and you probably didn't even know it was there why because you don't search the Scriptures in the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence doesn't make you timid doesn't make you weak it gives you strength you fear the Lord you don't have to hear anything else it's the remedy for all other ungodly forms of fear and then I think this is my favorite one and I just want to ask you how could you turn down a promise like this proverbs 19 23 the fear of the Lord leads to life and he who has it will abide in satisfaction he will not be visited with evil dear brother and sister how can you turn down an offer like that I mean you're really out of your mind the fear of the Lord light leads to life he who has it will abide in satisfaction and will not listen to medieval I have to tell you as far as I'm concerned that's my promise I want it I can't believe I can hardly believe that God would make an offer like that on the basis have one thing the fear of the Lord the fear of the Lord verse 27 the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to avoid the snares of death and then proverbs 22 verse 4 by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life see here the Lord doesn't go with pride you cannot mix it with pride it's a remedy for all product but very humility and the fear of the Lord are riches honor and life and I don't want to be in any way arrogant but I have to say I've proved that in my experience I can say it's true it's true in the land of Derek Prince not because I deserve it but because I've met the conditions I have a record of serving the Lord for 58 years and he's given me riches spiritual riches and some material riches you know I became a Pentecostal when no Pentecostal ever expected there to have any money when my first wife and I got married we never believed we'd own a car to be Pentecostal was to be poor I mean that's the way it was it was also to be uneducated when I came back from Middle East to Britain and tried to make myself known to the Pentecostals in Britain god bless them when they heard that I've been a fellow of King's College Cambridge they couldn't believe that I was a Christian I'm not exaggerating I'm telling you the truth I had to sit with him a long while and convince them I speak in tongues spite of having being a fellow of King's College came spite of having been a scholar he I speak in tongues just the same as you do today I think it's rather the other way around I think we're too concerned to be rich today some of us I think not me well I mean you're the one to decide that Lord not me all right now I want to give you just quickly some pictures of the fear of the Lord in the life of God's people and we'll turn to Psalm 2 Psalm 2 verse 11 serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling that doesn't make sense to the carnal mind how can you have fear and rejoicing how can you be trembling and rejoicing did you see that's the spiritual combination the two go together the fear of the Lord and trembling rejoicing and trembling and then in the in the New Testament in Acts chapter 9 a description of the early church acts 9 this 31 X 931 then the churches throughout all Judea Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified or built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit they want multiply you see the carnal mind can understand that the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit how can they go together but they do and they should never be separated and as a result they were edified and they multiplied in other words that's the key to church growth the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit but our little natural minds say how can I mix fear and comfort you can't but God can and he does and then I want to speak about this is the thing that I've just written a book called husbands and fathers so I know all about this from experience and I'll tell you there are certain things that women eject too and one is being told to submit that I don't blame them because it's taken out of context listen I want to read two verses in Fe Vision step defiant and in my Bible these two verses are separated by a subheading put in by the editors so that the two things are totally separated it says about walking in the Holy Spirit and this is one of the marks of being full of the Holy Spirit incidentally it's submitting to one another in the fear of God so all Christians should have a submissive attitude to all other Christians then it says wives submit yourselves to your husband but when we take it out of the context it sounds like wives are the ones who have to do all the submitting and that's the way it's often being presented to women but the teachers who present it to women should themselves be submitted should themselves be walking in the fear of the Lord well I have no problem with women I never have had well I've been married 50 years 30 years to my first wife 20 years to my second wife and both of them are now with the Lord and I'm looking forward to joining them but I've got a little more to do before I do but I've had two happy successful marriages and I am the head of a family which now numbers 150 plus persons some people say well if I have so many children I couldn't serve the Lord nonsense nonsense now people say well I'm saved I don't need their fear of the Lord that's when you need it most let me show you in 1st Peter 1st Peter chapter 1 verses 15 through 19 and remember this is written to people who've been redeemed by the blood of Jesus but has he is who has called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct all your conduct not some of it because it is written be holy for I am holy and if you call on the father who without partiality judges according to each one's work conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear whom was it written two people redeemed by the blood of Jesus what did it say conduct the time of your sojourning here in fear and why knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your father's but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot that very fact that God paid our Redemption with the blood of Jesus the most precious thing in the universe is a reason why we should always walk in fear fear that we somehow betray our Redeemer fear that somehow we lower the price of our redemption to something cheap and insignificant that's the mark of a committed Christian that's the mark of a Christian who understands what it costs gone to redeem brothers and sisters I am really anxious not to do anything that would in any way belittle the price of the blood of Jesus he paid for me with his precious blood I don't want to make that cheap I don't want to act as if it wasn't the supreme sacrifice have gone if God was willing to sacrifice that much for me how can I lead a carnal self-indulgent self pleasing life how can I be more occupied with what I want than what God wants it's the most in a way I'd say this year on offend you but then one of the most terrifying things in my life is God paid with me they paid for me with the blood of Jesus know the most precious thing in the universe I didn't deserve it I was totally unworthy and so were you but if God paid that much for you how can you act as if you achieve how can you act as if your Redemption didn't cost God the most precious thing that he ever had the very fact that our redemption is a challenge to holiness finally and when I say finally like brother Edco you have to understand in the context I think it will be finally but I don't guarantee I want to read just briefly from proverbs chapter 2 proverbs 2 this is 1 through 5 and this is how you can receive the fear of the Lord I don't want to leave you just with an idea that's something tremendously important that you need but you don't know how to get it because here is the answer it's in the first five verses of proverbs chapter 2 and it begins with an if in other words there are conditions to be fulfilled my son if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding yes if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures then then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God so that then comes after that if what are the conditions let me go through them briefly if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you that is we receive God's Word with respect with an attitude of submission and obedience we receive it as the most valuable thing in life treasure it the Hebrew word means to store something up in a secret place because it's the most valuable thing you have that's condition number one receiving God's Word condition number two so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understand you know something about the human body you cannot incline your ear without bowing your head did you know that there's no way your head can move apart from your head so when you incline your ear what do you do you bow down or you become submissive and teachable when I was a trainer of teachers in Kenya which was a long while ago it may have changed now but when a tuple came up to a teacher in an African school he would come with his exercise book like this and he would bow and you know what that was saying you're the teacher I'm the pupil and that's how we should come to God you're the teacher I'm the pupil I receive your words I do not argue with them I do not reason them away I don't explain them as out of date because the fear of the Lord endures forever it's never out of date verse 3 if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding so that's prayer impassioned prayer crying out for dissent lifting up your voice for understanding and then verse 4 if you seek her silver and search for a house for hidden treasure it's it's a search God doesn't put everything right out in the open that verse that I quoted from Isaiah 33 6 you have to search to find it the fear of the Lord is this treasure you can read that many many times and not even notice it's there God doesn't put his jewels right on on the pavement for anybody to pick up he puts them in places where you have to grasp for them and grope for them alright we come now to the end then you will understand the fear of the Lord so it's not an easy thing it's not something cheap it's not something too simple the arrogant man said I don't need that I'm clever let me tell you aren't we when I was at school with Cambridge we used to make fun of the religious people and we quoted to them I think it's a poem of Longfellow be good sweet maid and let who will be clever and we we laughed sin you can be good but we're clever you know what I've met far more clever people in my life than I have met good people it's much easier to be clever than it is to be good then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God and I don't believe those things can ever be separate the knowledge of God can never be separated from the fear of the Lord you remember that in Isaiah 11 it said the fear of the Lord we're making the Holy Spirit were making a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord and He will delight in the knowledge of the law you cannot separate the knowledge of the Lord from the fear of the Moon you don't have more knowledge of the Lord in your life then you have fear of the Lord I'm not talking about the ungodly fear I'm not talking about the tormenting fear I'm not talking about the religious fear that's taught by the precept of men I'm talking about a fear that only the Holy Spirit can teach come your children listen to me I will teach you the fear of the Lord bless his wonderful name he's willing to do it I am so amazed that the grace of God I've been a Christian yes I tell you I'm much more amazed that the grace of God in my life and I was when I first first say I've discovered all the things that God had to deal with I mean have I been gone I wouldn't have taken me on I'll tell you that but he did and he's taking you you on and if you you'd been God you wouldn't have taken yourself on another he's marvelous oh he's so gracious you know the one grace we've so misinterpreted these God's undeserved favor his alarm his compassion that we've done nothing to deserve in fact we've done everything not to deserve it but you can't earn it you cannot earn grace anything you can earn it's not grace there's only one way to receive it by faith stop trying to earn it you see all religious people I've got the idea that they've got to earn something then there are things we do earn but not grace grace comes free received by faith so let me read those words again and I commend them to you I think I can say them my heart I won't do it I don't want to be arrogant or boastful but Ruth and I memorized those first five verses of chapter two many times over my son if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you condition number one condition number two so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding condition number two if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding passionate prayer condition number three if you seek a silver and searched for as for hidden treasures condition number four a diligent motivated search then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God how precious our wonderful now I've come to the end of my message but it would be unfair to leave you with nothing but a message I want you to think over for a few moments what I'm insane and then I want you to consider whether you'll do this when you ask God to impart to you the fear of the Lord you won't do it against your will anyone threaten you he offers but you have to receive and you may be here today and you are a sincere Christian I'm sure you are but really you there's very little of the fear of the Lord in your night and for that reason to say the truth and tell you it like it is there's really little holiness as the fear of the Lord cannot be separated from holiness no holiness from the fear of the Lord listen I have a I have a large family and praise God almost all of them are walking with the Lord which is wonderful I mean I think god damned Nitro but I'll tell you this it's very easy to take God for granted most them I think all my children have known the law and from childhood they've walked with the loan but there can come a time in any person's life when you take things for granted that you have no right to take for granted well here I am I've done my best if you really feel here to know that God has been awakening you to a need in your life of the fear of the Lord which is clean and endures forever which prolongs your life I'm going to suggest that you just do this in a moment don't do anything right now but just to apply what I've been in teaching and if you're ready walking in the fear of the Lord don't do it praise God for you but if you have to acknowledge Lord I've I've lived by his standards of the church I go to church and I listen to sermons and I put money in the offering but this fear of the Lord you've been talking about I've really never heard about that in church is that true true of most churches and I'm not a critical churches I think I believe passionately in being part of a church I've never found a perfect church and if I did I couldn't join it because then it wouldn't be perfect but both my first wife and my second wife we have always made it a principle to be part of an local congregation and when we went out on our journeys they sent us out and when we came back we reported to them imperfect as they were they were better and better than nothing well well anyhow listen and don't tell me that you're much better than I am because I believe it now we're seriously you really have heard something tonight that stirred your desire you have an appetite for something more how terrible to provide food for people who don't have an appetite but tonight you heard something there is something here this fear of the Lord it's something I've never really understood I nobody ever told me about it but I see it's only in the Bible from beginning to end from Genesis to Revelation and whatever it is ruined I don't understand it fully but I want it now if that's the way you feel and I want you to be very careful because it's easy to respond in an atmosphere like this and go out and forget what you've done which will not please go on but if you are here tonight and you say brother Prince after listening to you I realize I have had no understanding of the funeral I didn't know what it was I didn't appreciate it but I really want it I want to ask God to give it to me I want to ask God here tonight to give it to me if that's what you want I'm not going to call people forward to the front I just want you if that's your response I want you to stand to your feet right where you are right now and I'm going to ask the the musicians to come and lead us in the singing of a song which I believe is appropriate but now I want you who are standing to just quietly without being making yourself too audible just I want you to say these words to the Lord when you are you ready say these words O God my father I come to you through Jesus Christ my Savior and tonight you have put in my heart a desire for the fear of the Lord and I'm asking you from now on to lead me to teach me and to impart to me this wonderful treasure of the Lord the fear of the Lord in Jesus name Amen and I'll take just a little while to shut yourself in with God and commune with him and then the musicians are going to lead us in a final act

Channel: Derek Prince

Views: 93,696

Rating: 4.8905926 out of 5

Keywords: fear of the lord derek prince, bible study the fear of the lord, bible study about the fear of the lord, sermon on the fear of the lord, the fear of the lord bible study, sermon on the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom, Sermon on the beinning of wisdom, how to face the last days without fear, perilous times will come, sermon on treasures in heaven, sermon on treasure in earthen vessels, sermon on the mount treasures in heaven, Sermon on the beginning of wisdom

Id: WozKND-8G8E

Length: 55min 14sec (3314 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2013