Sunday, October 19, 2025 AM

By whom we know you all in your Holy Spirit. So Father, I thank you for your great grace and confess that we are here to bring you great glory and honor. Pray that you would remind us here this morning of what it means to be made in your image and to live in your fear.

We pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased, amen. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Proverbs chapter three. We're reading verses one through 12.

Wisdom in Proverbs and the Father-to-Son Handoff

So Wesley's to the rescue. Thank you. Your absent-minded pastor does more than leave coffee cups all over the building. He also forgets his audiovisual equipment. There we go. We've been talking about wisdom from the book of Proverbs.

Wisdom is the skillful mastery of life to the glory of God. Wisdom entails the righteous arrangement of our expectations and our exertions. We have been made to master the gift of life for the giver of life who was our master.

Now Solomon has been teaching his son in the first two chapters of Proverbs that there is great wisdom in holding fast to the instructions of his wise mother and father. And yet that would be inadequate if isolated.

Here in chapter three, Solomon boldly passes the baton. He's been teaching his son, honor your father and mother, hold fast to their instructions, don't let go. But in this, what he wants his son to do is he wants to lay his son's hand to lay hold upon the heavenly father.

He wants to make that handoff as strong as possible. And so the themes that truly underlined chapters one and two in Proverbs now headline chapter three of Proverbs. Regarding the special and vital relationship between God and man, Proverbs three is the crown jewel of that theme in all of Proverbs.

You might look at Psalm eight for the crown jewel of the Psalms are the same type of theme. But I invite you to stand as we read Proverbs chapter three, verses one through 12. And we consider who it is that the Lord loves and what he does for those whom he loves.

This is the word of the Lord. My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands. For length of days and long life and peace, they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lay not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil.

It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase. So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord nor detest his correction. For whom the Lord loves, he corrects. Just as a father, the son in whom he delights. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

You may be seated. Last time we thought about King David and his final instructions to his son, Solomon, as that handoff of royal authority was taking place early in the book of 1 Kings. And we find that there's a great deal of overlap between what he told Solomon and what now Solomon says to his son in Proverbs 3.

A list of instructions, something easily remembered and yet not lacking for depth, not lacking for help. What a list of instructions. Trust the Lord, fear the Lord, honor the Lord. If these are the final instructions of a father to a son, of parents to their children, they're not lacking.

But as is often the case, these kinds of lists signify an internal connection. They are more of a chain than a collection. The instructions you see are linked. When parents leave a list of instructions for their children and then later on discover that they have not been followed in full, what happened?

There was a broken link in the chain. Something snapped, something didn't connect and thus we have partial obedience. As my parents were off to tell me, partial obedience is not obedience. Parents cannot find folded laundry still in the washer, cannot find clean dishes still in the sink or emptied trash cans never taken to the curb.

Likewise, there is a link between these instructions of trusting the Lord, fearing the Lord and honoring the Lord. At the very least, if we're going to ask this question, what will ensure the full follow through of our obedience given God's great authority and it's this that we fear the Lord.

It is the fear of the Lord, it is the reverence of the Lord that will lead us to fully obey. It is the reverence of God, it is the fear of the Lord that stills the objecting mind and calms the anxious heart.

How often do parents, their real objection to partial obedience, incomplete obedience is this, that if you respected me, you would have followed all the way through. Well, that's what carries us all the way through.

Now, a child may protest a parental rebuke regarding unfinished obedience. It is the glass half full retort. I mean, at least the laundry is washed. At least the dishes made it to the sink, at least the trash is out of the house.

But what good is partial obedience given the lack of achieving the goal? Remember God's own rebukes of Israel's shortcomings. It wasn't that they didn't obey at all. It wasn't the utter absence of any kind of obedience that he was rebuking them for.

How well did they conquer the land of Canaan? Partially, big problem. How well did King Saul follow through on all his duties? Partially, big problem. How well did David pursue justice even in his own household?

Partially, big problem. How well did Solomon worship Yahweh, the one true God? Partially, big problem. How well did Israel keep covenant with God? Partially, big problem. They could have pointed to the feasts and the fasts.

They could have pointed to the sacrifices and the temple. But what did the Lord ask for? He looked for loving kindness and truth. He looked for chesed and emeth. What did God say to Saul in 1 Samuel 15 by the prophet Samuel?

Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heathen the fat of rams. What did David say to the Lord in his reflection on his sin with Bathsheba?

Psalm 51 verse 16, for you do not desire sacrifice or else I would give it. You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. These, O Lord, you will not despise.

What did God say to Israel in Amos 5? I hate, I despise your feast days. I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.

Take away from me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your strained instruments but let justice, let righteousness run down like water and righteousness, truth, like a mighty stream.

And what was the verse that Jesus quoted to the Pharisees and Sadducees more than once? Hosea 6, 6, I desire mercy. I desire chesed. I desire covenant faithfulness and not sacrifice. And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Why is that important to consider? Because at this critical moment when Solomon is instructing his son, as the King of Israel is instructing his son in the ways of the Lord and how to be wise, he is saying to him this list of instructions, trust the Lord, fear the Lord, honor the Lord.

And he means this in totality. He is calling his son to a full obedience recognizing the importance of his position. Well, verses one through four challenges us in this Proverbs to not forget our father's commands.

Verses five through 10 of Proverbs 3 poses a critical question whether or not we are going to rely on our own counsel. Will we look to ourselves and our own understanding? Will we look to our own perception and our own capacities and abilities?

Will we look to our own means and our own goals to determine what is good and what is bad? What is wise and what is foolish? Obviously we are told in verses seven and eight, our focus for this morning, Solomon says to his son, do not be wise in your own eyes.

Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. This is the same pattern of instruction we see in the previous two verses and the next two verses where in there's a command given to the son regarding his relationship to God followed by a promise.

A promise that encourages and motivates. Look at the command here, fear the Lord. Now, if there was a great theme of Proverbs, it's that. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding. How often do we find an exhortation to fear the Lord in the book of Proverbs? What was the great sin of Israel that they did not fear the Lord? Oh, they feared the nations around them.

They wanted to be like the nations around them and to have the kings that they had and to have the armies that they had and to have the gods that they had. And they feared death, that thus they worship the gods with great fervor that they might survive foreign invaders and they might survive famines and plagues, but they did not fear the Lord.

And that was their great besetting sin. How vital it is that we fear the Lord. This fear is not a terror. First John tells us that perfect love casts out fear for that kind of fear involves torment. This is not about being terrified of a mighty God who at any moment may do something awful.

The God of Gary Larson in the far side, sitting behind his computer and on the screen is a man just walking down the street, minding his own business and God's finger is hovering over the smite button on the keyboard.

Not this torment and terror of what might happen next, but a reverence that occupies the entirety of a life. This fear speaks to a kind of awe that overtakes the mind and saturates the heart. It is a reverence that is both automatic and authentic.

To fear the Lord is to have your thoughts and plans and desires entirely affected by God as your primary concern. And that matters. When you think about fear, it is important to recognize the way that God has made you and the kind of impact that fear has on you.

What or who you fear controls you, motivates you and thus determines your worship. Fearing the Lord means that you would think of him first and think of him most. And doesn't that just make sense? That that would be the way that we think, that we feel, that we act.

It makes all the sense in the world given who he is. Job in confessing the power and goodness of God in Job 42 verse two, he says, I know that you can do everything and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you.

The psalmist in Psalm 135 verse six says, whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all the deeps. In Proverbs 21 verse one, it says that the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord.

There's the king's heart, it sits right there in the hand of God. And like rivers of water, he, God, turns it, the king's heart, God turns the king's heart wherever he wishes. In Isaiah 45 verse seven, God says to Israel, reminding them of who he is because they have forgotten.

I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things. Daniel informs the great king of the great empire of Babylon. Daniel informs the most powerful man on earth about who is really in charge.

Daniel chapter two, verse 21, and says of the Lord, he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.

God makes the world go round. So we think of him first and think of him most. Those who say that money makes the world go round, they think of money first, they think of money most. Those who think that politics make the world go round think of people and politics and governments first and foremost.

But the truth of the matter is, God makes the world go round, so let us fear him. The fear of the Lord, you see, is an implication of him being the creator. He alone fathoms the world. He alone fashioned the world.

He alone has given life. All things proceed from him. Thus all things are related to him and his point of view matters the most. Daniel Hubbard says the fear of the Lord produces a new way of looking at all of life.

The fear of the Lord sees each moment as the Lord's time. Each relationship as the Lord's opportunity. Each duty as the Lord's command. And each blessing as the Lord's gift. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom because there is no righteous mastery of our relationships or our responsibilities or our resources unless we begin there with the fear of the Lord.

This is the beginning point of all godliness, all righteousness, all worship. And I would have you notice that there is an active responsibility put upon the son. Solomon says first the prohibition, do not be wise in your own eyes.

Then the exhortation, he commands his son to fear the Lord. It's not even in the passive or in the middle voice. It's not be afraid of the Lord. It is you actively, you need to fear God, fear the Lord.

We need to learn that. We need to live that. We need to lead out in that. How do we learn the fear of the Lord other than by fearful, prayerful study of God's word? How else do we know the fear of the Lord except by knowing who he is and then submitting to that and rejoicing in it to learn to say the amen of the God revealed here in his word, to be warm to this, to hear what God has to say about himself and what he has to say about the world or what he has to say about us and not say amen.

Let it be, so be it, I agree. How else do we live out the fear of the Lord except by continual repentant confession? How often am I distracted and concerned and led astray in my thinking and my motives away from the Lord that I would fear man and be ensnared, that I would fear death and be enslaved, but I am called to fear the Lord and thus be free.

I'm to model this for my children. I'm to model it for my wife. I'm to model it for my brothers and sisters, to model it for my neighbors. I am to be very clear and obvious in living out the fear of the Lord that I truly am thankful for the food that I eat and others are going to hear about the provider who gave it.

That I am truly dependent on him for a safe drive from point A to point B. And I ask for the help before I go and thank him when I arrive. That I am up in arms about knowing how to help somebody and encourage them and counsel them and to be kind to them.

And so I will ask for wisdom and help. And I'll let them know that I have. And I'll pray with them asking God to help because I'm not the one with the answers and the solutions. That we would live it, that we would model it, that we would show in everything we do that the Lord is the giver of life and we want to take up that gift in the best way possible for his glory.

Fear the Lord. We are to be active in the fear of the Lord. How often does a young child look for his mother? How often does a young child look for her daddy? How often do they check and see where all the members of the family are?

Take notice, learn. Of such is the kingdom of heaven, the young one who looks to the heavenly father always, constantly, depending. This is fear of the Lord. What is the concern that Solomon has? He says, do not be wise in your own eyes.

Do not be wise in your own eyes. What is the opposite of that? Fear the Lord. If we refrain from being wise in our own eyes and we fear the Lord, what is this other than departing from evil? Aren't you glad that's part of the model prayer that Jesus has given to us?

Deliver us from evil in concert with asking the heavenly father for everything that we need and giving him glory regarding everything that he does. What is this other than Jesus teaching us to pray in the fear of the Lord and recognizing that this is our deliverance from evil?

If wise in your own eyes is contrasted to the fear of the Lord, this must mean that being wise in your own eyes is thinking of yourself first and thinking of yourself most. That you would make yourself the main character in any given situation.

As you build the narrative of what happened and how I got here, that you would lead yourself into position of the main character. Being wise in your own eyes means that as you seek information, as you seek guidance and counsel, that you would filter everything you take in by what makes best sense to you given that the world revolves around you.

That's why in the book of Proverbs very often the fool, who is of course wise in his own eyes, is so often portrayed in comedic situations. How often do we find the humor and see the fool in these comic strips of doing these zany things?

Oh, what a fool. Because he thinks that the world revolves around him. Being wise in our own eyes is often, the danger of it is often obscure because often it's in the name of safety. It's in the name of best practices.

It's in the name of self-care. It's in the name of making sure that everything's going to be just fine. And so often we are wise in our own eyes, but it does not deliver us from evil. It does not deliver us from that which is morally twisted and broken and perverse.

It is a surefire way to run headlong into evil. Solomon says, do not be wise in your own eyes, depart from evil. The word depart here means straight up in the Hebrew means turn, it means repent. It's the Hebrew word for repent.

Repent from evil. Being wise in your own eyes means necessarily trusting yourself.

With all your heart,.

Acknowledging yourself in all your ways. But the heart is deceitfully wicked. Who can know it? God does. God knows the heart. God is not like man. God looks upon the heart. Man looks upon the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart.

And he says that every intent of the thought of man's heart is only evil continually, unless the heart is changed. Unless the heart is changed and reborn and raised from spiritual death, submitted to the life of giving Lord Jesus Christ.

When that heart trusts in the Lord. And a heart that trusts in the Lord lets God say, let God say who I am. Let God say how things are. He'll tell me who I am and he'll tell me how things go. Now, one may think that King Solomon would say to the son, I'm gonna leave you some words of wisdom for taking over the kingdom.

And I think that one of the philosophies that you ought to promote is this, fear the king, right? We need a good, solid, centralized monarchy here. We don't want things, you know, breaking apart and divided kingdom, that would be awful.

You might expect the king to instruct his son in leadership as a despot, as a tyrant. Better to be feared than to be loved. You get more done that way. And interestingly, this seems to be the path that Solomon's son, Rehoboam took.

He did not do as his father said. He spoke as his father did, and more so. In the wake of Solomon's death, Rehoboam was on the throne and the tribes gathered together, the leaders of the tribes gathered together and they wanted to know if Rehoboam was going to back off the policies that Solomon had enacted, the taxation and the trouble that he had put upon all the people and how burdensome it was for them to continue to glorify Jerusalem.

And so Rehoboam looked about and tried to get some advice and some counsel from the elders in his court, but he didn't like what they said. And so he got some other counselors who said things that he liked to hear about how he had to promote himself and do more than what his father had.

And so in 1 Kings 12, verses 13 through 14, we read, then the king, Rehoboam, answered the people roughly and rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men saying, my father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke.

My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges. And indeed, Rehoboam ran headlong into evil. He was wise in his own eyes. He did not fear the Lord. What is the comfort that Solomon gives to his son?

If we only would fear the Lord, if only you would depart from evil by fearing the Lord, it will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. King James renders this, it shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones.

Other translations render the word strength and marrow as refreshment. And the idea bears the freight of covenantal blessings. What is the alternative to health to your flesh and strength to your bones?

What would the alternative be to that blessing? Then it would be the covenantal curses, wouldn't it? It would be the famine and the wasting diseases, the desolations and the plagues that we read about in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.

And the thought of such an alternative is meant to be harrowing. A starving man with skin hanging off dry bones is surely a haunting from God's covenant curses. It's exactly what lies ahead, an Israel and a Judah that forsakes the Lord and does not fear him.

It's a judgment experienced by Israel more than once in the history that we read in the Old Testament. The opposite of folly is this wisdom and this faithfulness in fearing the Lord, which is sure to bring the covenant blessings, health to the flesh and strength to the bones.

The very picture of health and vigor is that of the covenantally blessed man with his fruitful household. Consider the pictures that were given in the Psalms. Psalm 112 verses one through three, praise the Lord.

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in his commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house and his righteousness endures forever.

That's the blessing side of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. This is how it's going to work. The more that Israel fears the Lord, the more blessed they're going to be, the brighter light they're going to be to all the nations saying, hey, there's one true God and he's manifesting his light in Israel.

Come worship him, come know who he is. Same thing with Psalm 128. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you will be happy, it will be well with you.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord blesses you out of Zion and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.

Yes, may you see your children as children. Peace be upon Israel.

When what?

The shalom of Israel, every man under his fig tree. All the blessings are right. The family's full, there's no death, there's only prosperity. When does that happen in the life of Israel, God's covenant people?

When they fear the Lord. When the fear of the Lord is present amongst his people, then the light of God is bright there and all the nations say, there is a God and he is the God of Israel. Let us go there and worship.

The fear of the Lord, thus represented in the old covenant, represents a return of the made to the maker, a reminder of the creature to return to the creator, a return to Eden with everything within and it affects everything without.

The fear of the Lord is native to the image of God. It's like a fish being in water. Where the fish is supposed to be is in water and everyone made in God's image, all mankind is made to live in the fear of the Lord.

That is our native place. Outside of the fear of the Lord, what is it? It's death, it's death. Absent from the water, the fish dies, so also Adam and Eve. Absent from the fear of the Lord, what happens?

They die, they die spiritually, they die relationally, ultimately they die physically. Now think about where we're at right now in Proverbs, the timeframe, Solomon instructing his son, having been instructed by his father David, Solomon, Shalomon, the man of peace, the son of David, called Jedidiah, the beloved for the Lord's sake.

Here he stands and instructs his son about how to live. God has integrated all his dealings with Israel into his anointed servant, the king, the son of David, who reigns on David's throne and so God gave his blessings and brought his curses according to the king who stood in for the people, very important.

He would judge them on faithfulness or the lack thereof based on who the king was and how he lived. Do we remember David's sin brought judgment upon the whole nation? Do you remember David's, even his personal bodily wasting that plagued him in his sin concerning Bathsheba?

What is that? It is the covenant curses upon the man bringing destruction upon the nation, the weight of the covenant upon a single man, God's anointed king, and on that single man hung the balance of God's chosen people.

The same was true for Rehoboam. Consider these passages from 2 Chronicles regarding Rehoboam, a mixed bag, 2 Chronicles 12, 12. When Rehoboam humbled himself, on the occasion that he humbled himself, the wrath of God turned from him so as not to destroy him completely, and things also went well in Judah.

Do you hear that? How does the king perform? How does he stand in for the people? That is all that they experienced. Now, two verses later, verse 14, Rehoboam, and he did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.

And then what happens? Destruction and disaster upon the people because the king who stood in for the people was the mediator. And then blessing or cursing came by who the king was and what he did. So the whole nation would know strength and health according to the faithfulness of their appointed anointed.

When God stated at Ebal and Gerizim, blessing and cursing, life and death, where he compelled Israel, choose life that you may live, here in that very space stands the son of David and Zion, and he exhorts his son, choose the fear of the Lord, choose life that you may live.

And in the context surrounding that is everybody else who's depended upon him. When Adam and Eve disregarded their creator, the end thereof was death. It wasn't health through their flesh, it wasn't strength through their bones.

It was the opposite. And God's Old Testament covenants address the same rebellion by not only amplifying the ruin of creation in the life of Israel, but also by, in the life of Israel, anticipating the reign of Christ, the king who stands in for us, and by his obedience we are blessed, who bore the curse for us in our place and for our sake.

God sets before all of humanity life and death. He says to Israel, choose life.

What did that mean?

Israel could never live up to the level of faithfulness that God gave to them at Sinai. So what does it mean for Israel to choose life? It means that they would choose the seed of Abraham, that they would choose the son of David, that they would find life where all the world is called to find life.

The alternatives of blessing and cursing set before Israel were meant for all nations to see. All the families of the earth are blessed when they bless the seed of Abraham. And Paul says that seed is Christ.

All of the weight of the covenant hangs upon a single man, the son of David, Jesus Christ. And so life is to be found there. Life is to be found there. Life is to be found in Christ. He is our great physician.

He has borne our sin and our sorrow. He has borne our damnation and our diseases, so fear the Lord. Make him first and foremost in all your considerations. Remember that the good shepherd has all of the blessings and he gives them in his time.

There is not a stitch of the saint's tapestry that hangs outside of Christ. Every trial and every trouble is redeemed by our Savior. Remember that. And it's all in his timing. So do you need healing? Ask the Lord and in obedience, wait upon his blessing and his timing.

Live by faith. Do you need guidance? Ask the Lord in humility. Seek his answer through his word, by his spirit. Do you need forgiveness? Ask the Lord. Consider his perfect righteousness and thorough sufferings for you and rest in his satisfaction of God's offended glory.

Life is found in Christ. Seek him daily. Seek him always. Seek him by faith, through prayer, in the spirit. What does it mean to fear the Lord as we live in Christ? Let me tell you what the opposite looks like and then you'll know what it looks like.

The opposite of fearing the Lord, the opposite of fearing our Lord and Savior, creator and master Jesus Christ, what's the opposite of that? Neglecting him. I'm fine. I don't need to think about Jesus.

I don't need to have Jesus thoughts. I don't need to bring him into this part of my life or that part of my life. All these low-level things that don't matter very much. Neglect is the opposite of fearing the Lord.

Let us fear the Lord actively. Trust the Lord and fear the Lord. This will lead us to honor the Lord. In verses nine and 10. We don't have time to explore that this morning, but I'm gonna close with Colossians three.

Colossians three, verses 12 through 17. And here, just listen to the wisdom of instructions given to the saints. A list of instructions, but how ultimately they are linked together and where do they end up?

Colossians three, verse 12. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Do you hear that? In the most personal moments of hurt and pain and suffering, think of Christ first. Think of him most. Then you can forgive. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were also called in one body and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And here's the culminating instruction where it all leads to, verse 17.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. There is a verse in the Bible that tells us what it means to fear Christ. It's that verse right there.

Whatever we do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. That is true wisdom.

Closing Prayer for Fear of the Lord and Trust in Christ

Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for the time you've given us.

In your word.

We thank you for the promises that you give, that it is true refreshment to our lives. And I know that we feel it when we are delivered from the fear of man and the fear of death, and we can feel the liberty of fearing the Lord, rejoicing in his truth, that it truly is refreshment all the way through us, that life is different as we trust and rest in Christ.

And so Lord, I pray that you would help us with that, that you would help us to truly fear you, to fear the Lord, and to trust in your promises. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.