God has called you to a certain ministry because He gives you the ability to do that. The talent to do that. And I'm definitely not called to music ministry. Because I do not have any talent in that area. I have no rhythm. I can't read music. And I can't sing. I can make a joyful noise as you just heard. Take your Bibles and turn to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. Now continue to pray for us as we are looking for a music minister. I know Brother Lee's willing to be with us as long as we need him, but he has a degree in music. He was a full-time music minister at a larger church, and he desires to be in full-time music ministry again. But he's willing to be with us and to help us out for a while. We desire a man who's like-minded and on the same page as our leadership is, as that man will serve on leadership as an an ex-officio member of the leadership council. So, 1 Peter chapter 1. I want us to look at verse, go back to verse 13 and go through verse 19 this morning. And I want us to consider the matter of holy fear. Because that is what we are called to in our focal verse, which is verse 17. Holy fear. So, beginning of verse 13 says, Therefore preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on Him as Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without spot, without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for your sake. Who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. And we'll stop right there. As I said, our focal verse is verse 17. Let's go back and read that together. And if you call on Him as Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we love You. We thank You for the salvation that is ours in Christ Jesus. We thank You that we are Your children because of Your grace and mercy. Because of your grace and mercy, we have been called out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of your marvelous light. Father, you called us from death, and you made us alive together with Christ. And now, Lord, you have given us the mind of Christ. You have given us your Holy Spirit. You have made us new men and women so that we are able to hear you as we study Your Word this morning. So we ask that You would enlighten us, that You would instruct us, that You would convict us, that You would correct us, Lord, that You would encourage us and strengthen us by Your Spirit this morning as we study Your Word. Father, we continue to pray for those who may be in our midst who do not know You. Lord, we ask that just as You did a work of grace and mercy in our lives, by Your grace and mercy You called us to Yourself. We ask, Father, that You would call them that you would reveal to them their lost state and their desperate need of your son to save them. Well, we pray that you would grant them repentance and genuine faith in Christ this morning. And this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, what we've been considering over, we've been in, if you're visiting with us, we've been in an expositional study of the book of 1 Peter. That's the way we study the Bible together here is expositionally seeking to go through a book verse by verse. And so, this is where we are in our study of 1 Peter. And for the past couple of Lord's Day mornings, we have been considering how the Christian life is to be lived. In verses 1 through 12, Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, describes that marvelous, wonderful thing called salvation. And then beginning at verse 13, he told us how we are to respond to that salvation, how we are to live in light of the fact that God has saved us in His Son. And he tells us in verse 13 that our first response is with our mind. The Christian life begins with our thinking. He tells us that in light of our salvation, we are to hope. As a matter of fact, we are given a command to hope in verse 13. We read in verse 13, Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That is a command. We are to be a hopeful people as God's children. The hope there that he's talking about is our attitude toward our future. Our attitude toward what God says our future will be. We're to live in light of what God says our future is to be. We're to live hopeful of that future while we're still in this world on this side of glory. And our future is this. One day, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come back and He will take us to be with Him. He will take us out of this world. And we will be in glory with our Savior forever. We must remember, as we've already been reminded in 1 Peter, that we are just pilgrims. That we're aliens. We are strangers. We are exiles here on this earth. Our real citizenship is in heaven. This world is not our home. There is something far better that awaits us. There's something far better that we're looking to. He then informs us in verses 14 through 16 that our response to our salvation is not to stop with our thinking, but it also is about our living. See, the mind is never to be separated from the life. Truth is never to be separated from our living. God's Word is to be informing our living. We are to be walking in the things that we are learning. We are to be obedient to that which we are learning. Conduct matters in this world. I wish the church understood this a little more clearly. But our conduct as God's people, claiming to be of Christ, claiming to be of Christ's church, our conduct matters in this world. We are to strive as we are called upon in verses… 15 and 16, we are to strive to be holy as our God is holy. My friends, God's character is the standard for our conduct. His Word is the standard for our conduct. His character revealed in His Word is the standard for our conduct. So, we are commanded to hope, and we are commanded to be holy. And this morning, we come to another command in verse 17. In verse 17, we are given the command to be people who fear God. People who fear God. This is something else that's not thought much about in the church today or among Christians today. But we are to be those who have an attitude of reverence for God. You're not living the Christian life if you're not living in the fear of God. The fear of God is the beginning of all wisdom. And in verse 13, we are commanded, or in verse 17, we are commanded as exiles, as strangers. Some of your translations may have sojourners. As sojourners here upon this earth, we are commanded to fear our Father. Read it again with me. And if you call on him as father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile or your sojourning here. So I just want to take a few moments and consider this matter of fearing God. The first thing I want us to consider is what this fear is. What this fear is. John Murray. The great theologian of the past said this, the fear of God is the soul of godliness. The fear of God is the soul of godliness. What kind of fear is Peter talking about here as he's inspired by the Holy Spirit to write? Well, what we are often quick to say is, well, this is not talking about terror. This is not talking about dread. We are not to live our lives as believers with a sense of terror, with a sense of dread when we think about God. And I would say that's true, that's correct. So what we often do though is in thinking of fearing God, we think in terms of respect. That's what we often do. And the problem is that many times when we think about the word respect, we are thinking in terms of something that is less than the fear being talked about in this verse. Something far less than we're being commanded to do in this verse. It's not terror. That's true. And yes, we are to respect God. That is true. We are to respect God. And this fear is not terror. That's true. But let me tell you something. It's not some light respect either. It's not some light respect. What in the world are we being called to, though, in this verse? Sometimes it's hard for us as Christians because we know we're loved of God, we know we're in Christ. It's hard for us to think about fearing God or what it actually means to fear God. Well, Kenneth Wiest, a Greek scholar, gives a great definition of what this word fear means. He says, this fear is self-distrust. It is a tenderness of conscience. It is vigilance against temptation. It is taking heed lest we fall. It is constant apprehension of the deceitfulness of the heart and of the insidious power of inward corruption. It is the caution and circumspection which timidly shrinks from whatever would offend and dishonor God and the Savior. Let me ask you something. Do you know anything about that kind of fear? Do you, in a sense, distrust yourself to the point where you are very watchful in in your own life against anything that would dishonor and displease God and the Savior? Are you alert to whatever it would be in your life that would displease the Lord so that when you sin, you recognize it quickly, and then you turn from it quickly? Are you watching out for temptation? Are you living a cautious and careful life? Do you understand the deceitfulness of your heart that even your own heart will lie to you? This is the reason why you never follow the advice, just follow your heart. That's the worst advice you could give anyone. Your heart will lie to you. If you're willing to listen to your heart, instead of listening to the Word of God, your heart will lie to you. And what an error it is when we think that our heart will rightly guide us. Our heart will only rightly guide us when it's submitted to the truth of God. Not otherwise. So are you cautious about what you bring into your life? What we're being called to here is to live a life that is very much God conscious. God aware. To understand that we're living our lives under the eye of God and before men. And there's this distrust of ourselves. A distrust of ourselves and a complete reliance upon the Word of God and a complete submission to what the Word of God calls upon us to be and to do. To be those kinds of people who desire not to do a thing that would offend God or our Savior. That would displease Him. This is what it means to fear the Lord. It's a serious matter. And I don't believe many in the church even consider this idea often. That we are to fear the Lord. That the Christian life is to be a distinct life. Different from the world. Different from those outside the church. Our lives are to be markedly different and distinct. And observably so. And we live our lives that way because we fear God. We don't want to displease Him. We love Him. We don't want to dishonor Him. We don't want to misrepresent Him in this world. So we live careful and cautious lives. We live lives of reverence toward God. Standing in awe of God. This is God that we are talking about. The one whose ways are not our ways and thoughts are not our thoughts. The one who is sovereign and omnipotent and omniscient and above all things. This is God. This is our God. He's not to be trifled with. And when it comes to our living before Him, we are not to trifle with that as well. So this is what it means to fear the Lord. Self-distrust, tenderness of conscience, vigilance against temptation, taking heed lest we fall, constant apprehension of the deceitfulness of our hearts, and of the insidious power of inward corruption. Caution and circumspection. If we live like this, the church would indeed look like the church. Second thing I want us to consider is who lives with this attitude of fear? Who lives with this attitude of fear? He says, if you call on him as father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile. Who is responsible to live like this? Well, Peter makes it very clear at the beginning of the verse who's responsible to live like this. And we can say that in a sense every human being is responsible to live this way because every human being will stand before God one day and give an account for their lives. But he's not addressing the whole human race here. He is addressing a specific people. And that specific people are a large number of believers, Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, who have been scattered because of persecution throughout the known world at the time. He's talking about Christians. He's already described them in verse 14. He says, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former lusts. He's addressing obedient children. He's addressing those who have been born of God, born from above. Those who are new creations in Christ. Those who have the Holy Spirit. Those who have a new nature. Those people who are not the same people they once were. And here he describes them as those who have God as their father. Now, I will address this next week as we look at verses, the following verses. But in verses 18 and 19, he describes them as those who have been purchased with blood. And in verses 20 and 21, he describes them as those who are living in the end of the ages. But here, He describes them as those who have God as their father. And if you call on him as father. So what he's saying here is this. Because you have God as your father, you are to fear him. Fear God because God is your father. If you call him your father, then fear him. Now you'll notice that he begins with the word if. He says, and if you call on him as father. Some have said that it should not be translated as if, but it should be translated as since. Since you call on him as father, because the expectation here is one of a positive response. In other words, if you call on God as father, and you do, then this is how you are to live. But I think it's appropriate that the if is there. And Tom Schreiner does as well. Tom Schreiner said this, translating if as sense is mistaken. Peter intentionally wrote the sentence to provoke the readers to consider whether they call upon God as their Father. Desiring surely that they would answer in the affirmative, the word since does not have the same effect. Therefore, if should be retained." In other words, Peter wrote in the way that he did, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to cause people to do some thinking. to cause people to do some circumspection, to cause people to do some self-evaluation, to cause people to ask themselves this question, do I call on God as Father? Do I call on Him as my Father? So I want to just ask you this morning, do you call on God as your Father? Do you claim to be a child of God this morning? Do you say you know the living God and you're His child? Can you say that this morning? Do you say that this morning? Do you at least claim that? Well if you do, if the answer to that question is yes, then God is saying through the Apostle Peter, then demonstrate your knowledge of God, demonstrate your knowledge of me by conducting yourself in an attitude of reverence, in an attitude of awe, during the time of your sojourn on this earth, this side of heaven. You're in exile on this earth, as the old song says, you're just passing through, and if you call God your father, then fear him while you're here. You know, I wonder what would happen if we held everyone to that standard this morning, in this room. If we took a poll and held everybody to that standard of fearing God. If we were to say that the only true children of God in this place are those who are living their lives reverencing God, living their lives in awe of God, what would that say about us this morning? What would that say about me? What would that say about you? God says, look, if you're really my child, then fear me. Fear me. Live a cautious life. Be watchful against anything that would displease me. That would dishonor me. Be quick to recognize your sin. And to turn from that sin. Know I'm present. Know I'm here. You know, our God is described as the all-knowing God. He is omniscient. He knows our hearts. God's saying, while you're on the earth, listen to me. Heed my voice, not the culture's voice, not your best friend's voice, not your neighbor's voice. Don't heed the philosophies of humanism. Listen to my voice. Hear me and heed my warnings. You know, the Bible's Has as many warnings as it does promises. Probably more warnings than it does promises. And God says, listen to me. I'm telling you how to live. I'm giving you instruction here, you're my child. And this is what I expect of you. You are to live in fear of me. Live a cautious, circumspect life. God conscious, aware of who I am. And what I desire of you. What living for me looks like. Remember my character. God's character is the standard for how we live. And we should stand before him and we should have an attitude of holy reverence and holy awe. So this fear is that cautious, that distrust of self before God, not wanting to displease Him or dishonor Him or the Savior. And believers, His children, are to live like this, with this fear. But why live with this attitude of fear? That's the question we need to ask ourselves. Why live with this attitude of fear? Well, we're given good reason in verse 17. It says, and if you call on Him as Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile. Something interesting Peter does here. Peter doesn't even identify God by the word God until you get down to verse 21. Before you get to 21, all he's doing is he's describing God. And he says, do you call on him as father? And someone will say, well, who as father? And Peter would say this, well, the one who judges impartially. The one who judges impartially. In other words, if you call this God your father, then certainly a life of reverence will be the result. If you call this God your father, then certainly you will reverence him, knowing who he is and knowing what he's like. He is an impartial judge. How is God, how is the God who's the father of those who are in Christ described? He's described as an impartial judge. Well, no, we don't want to get to that first. There's something better before that that we want to think about. He's first of all described as a father. If you call on him as father. He's a father. And as our Father, He is good and He's gracious. He's made us His children. Folks, we didn't do that. He's made us His children by divine sovereignty, by divine election. He has given us life. He's given us a future that we can indeed hope for. His grace and His love and His faithfulness, these are powerful reasons to give Him love and reverence and to hold Him in awe. And to be careful not to do anything that would displease Him or dishonor Him. Let me ask you something. Do you just stop and think every once in a while about how good God has been to you? How good He's been to you. We were talking about rejoicing this morning and joy. Christians should be the most joyous people on the face of the earth because God has been so good to them. There's so much they have to rejoice about in Christ Jesus. But do you ever just stop and think about how good God has been to you? What you are versus what you were. What your future is versus what it was. Now you have the hope of glory. You have the hope of heaven rather than the dread of hell. What your spiritual condition was versus what it is right now. You were dead in your trespasses and sin and He has now made you alive with Christ. Do you ever just take all that in? Just sit down and think about it, take it all in, and do you thank God? Do you express some gratitude to God for what He's done for you? Does it fill your heart with a desire to reverence Him? To stand before Him in fear? He's described as our Father, and that's a beautiful thing. But the emphasis is not on that. The emphasis is on the judge, who judges impartial. He's described as a father, but he's also described as a judge. You know, our culture is quite alright with God being described as a father. But the fact that he's a judge, that's what they have a problem with. That's the reason why men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because if they were ever to accept the truth, believe the truth that's been revealed about God, they would know that He's a judge. And they're going to have to stand one day and give an account for Him. But as Romans tells us, Romans chapter 1, they hold down, they suppress the truth in unrighteousness because that's the one fact about God they don't want to recognize. They don't want to admit is true of Him. But do you realize that your Father will be your judge one day? He will. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1 says this, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge of the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10, and we'll go back to this passage a little bit further. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." What we are told specifically about God, though, is this. He's a judge who judges impartially. He judges impartially. And that has both a negative and a positive. He judges impartially, from a negative point of view, in terms of what he does not consider. What he does not consider. In fact, the word translated impartially literally means, does not receive face. F-A-C-E. Does not receive face. In other words, not accepting the person. God does not receive anyone's face. God is not swayed by those things that sway the judgment of men. Isn't it amazing how we as human beings can be so impressed with face? You can meet someone who's got a big title, Or someone who's well esteemed for their accomplishments. And you trip over yourself trying to impress them. You know one of the things, I'll just throw this in as a sidebar. One of the things that has really troubled me in recent years is the celebrity status that many pastors have. Like even in good solid biblical circles. uh... reformed circles and and and bible-believing circles pastors get put up on a pedestal. And people go to conferences, not so much to hear them, but to get an autograph and to be seen with them, or to be around them. And I've had to remind a lot of people, are you not going to this conference? So-and-so is going to be there, and so-and-so is going to be there. I don't look at those men that way. Because I realize one thing, they put their pants on the same way I do. On their best day, they're men at best. And they should not acquire some celebrity status. But people go to those conferences. Preacher friends of mine will go to these conferences and just trip all over themselves to impress those pastors that they admire. Those pastors that they've given celebrity status to. Now how people are so influenced by how someone looks. Or how much wealth people have. or their status, their title. And why? The face. That's all. The face. I forget where it was. I think it was at the Olympics when they were in Beijing or something. There was a little girl who wrote a national anthem And they didn't want her, who wrote a song, they didn't want her singing the song because she was ugly in their opinion, so they brought in another little girl and had her lip-sync the song. Why? Face, that's all. What you see on the surface. That's what we're so impressed with. Well, God doesn't do that. God's not impressed with what's on the surface. So what does He consider? Well, positively, what He considers is He considers our deeds. Look at this. And if you call on Him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile. God considers each one's deeds. And literally, in the Greek, that's in the singular. It just says each one's work. The body of our life's work in Christ is what God is going to judge believers for one day. Your work since you've been saved. What you've done since you've been converted. I want you to stop and let that sink in. That what you're going to be judged for is what you've done from the time that you were converted until the day that you die, if you're a believer. All your deeds in Christ is what you'll be judged for. He's going to do it without receiving face. He will judge you knowing you. I think when we say that God does it without receiving face, we think that somehow, does that mean that He's unfamiliar with us? That's not what it means. He will judge you for who you really are. His judgment is perceptive. Not according to the estimations of others about you, not according to People's opinions of you? I mean, other people may think you did a great job. You did a great job living the Christian life. It's not going to be according to your own estimations of yourself. You may think that you've done a great job living the Christian life. No, God's judgment will be a perceptive judgment. It will be a perfect judgment. He will not misjudge anything. It will be a sound judgment and it will be a judgment of you as God knows you. God is going to judge why we did what we did as well. What was our motivation? Whose applause were we really after? Who did we really want to please? And you do understand that those things that are not done for God, by the power of His Spirit, are not good things. Even if they were good things from a human perspective, they're not good things. You know what those are called? Filthy rags. That's what those are called. Was God my motivation for doing what I did? Was it for His glory? For His honor? I moved by the Spirit to do what I did. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. I want us to listen to the Apostle Paul. He talks about this judgment of believers. He says, according to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation. As someone else is building upon it, let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each one's work will become manifest. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, He will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." And just flip over to chapter 4. Listen to how Paul, listen to his attitude about this judgment. Listen to his attitude. He says, this is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me, it's a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. But I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges. Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. Now the judgment of believers, ultimately, is going to be for reward. It's going to be for commendation. It's going to be for praise. And that should encourage all of us. It's not a judgment of our sins. And why is that? Because our sins were judged on the cross. So it's not a judgment of our sins. And so we think, great. We take those verses and we sort of water them down when we consider the fact that it is about reward, it is about commendation, it's about praise. And then we take them and we use them to live lazy lives on this earth. That's what we do. And that's not a right application of those verses. You know, Christians should be serving. Christians should be doing kingdom work. Christians should be busy about their father's business just as his son was while he was on this earth. Not being lazy. Not just occupying a pew on a Wednesday evening or a chair on a Wednesday evening or on Sunday morning. They are to be laboring. They are to be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, slaves of God. But we'll take those verses that are very encouraging and we'll just water them down so we can just be lazy. You know, I've got my ticket to heaven. You know, I do believe in God. I earnestly believe in God. I love the Lord Jesus Christ. But, you know, not much labor for the kingdom. Wherever you see these judgments talked about, though, in the New Testament, they are to not make us lazy. They are to spur us on. I mean, there must be something so awe-inspiring, so serious about these future judgments that if you really understand them, you won't waste your life on this earth. If you really understand what's coming, you won't waste your life. You'll live and you will spend and be spent for the kingdom and for God's people. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 6 through 10. Love hearing those pages turn. Somebody said that last week. It is a beautiful sound. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, beginning of verse 6. Paul writing again to the believers of Corinth, he says, So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. There's Paul's motivation for what he did, to please God. I don't care what men think about me. I don't want the applause of men. I want to please God. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. He's talking about the judgment of believers in that text. And what did that judgment, as he contemplated, as he wrote about it, what did it do? It motivated him while he was here in the body to strive to please the Lord and to please the Lord alone. So we have a future judgment coming, folks. We have a future judgment coming. It's going to be found out whether we built on that foundation with silver and gold and precious stones or wood, hay and stubble. But I also want you to understand something right now. God is in the business right now of judging his children. And this is what theologians called a progressive judgment. If you would turn over to 1 Peter chapter 4 and look at verse 12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it's time for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. What is he saying there? He's saying that even while we're here on this earth, our father is in the business of putting us through a refining fire, the refining fire of trial and testing. He is purifying us, judging us in a sense, even while we're here on this earth. Another great passage that illustrates this, and you're all familiar with this, but Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12, beginning at verse 3. He says, consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have endured. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time, as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the pleasant fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone and for holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls, fails to obtain the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled. That no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears." Fathers, let me ask you something. Do you judge your children? Do you judge your children? You should. If you're a good father, you're going to judge your children. You're going to judge their attitudes. You're going to judge their actions. You're going to judge their motivations. You know, why did you clean up your room? Or why did you take the trash out? What's the motivation? Well, I was hoping to get 20 bucks. You judged those things about your children. And why do you do that? Because you love them. You love them. And if you really love your children, you're raising them to love God. That's the goal of being a parent, to raise godly offspring. So if you judge your children, what makes you think that God, as your Father, won't judge you? And if you respect your earthly father, I know this is becoming a, this is going the way of the buffalo as well, among children. If you respect your earthly father, how much more is your heavenly father to be reverenced? Do you realize that the only reason you're alive here this morning, breathing, is because of God? He holds your very life and breath in His hands and all He has to do is just close that hand and you stop breathing. The thing you need to fear is God. You need to reverence Him. You need to stand in awe of Him. Do you call God as Father? Then do you know that your Father is not just your father, but he's your judge. He's going to be your judge ultimately, and progressively right now, he's your judge. Do you know that one day, your face won't matter? Your face won't matter. God's not impressed with your titles. God's not impressed with your accomplishments. God's not impressed with the things that you've attained to. God's not impressed with your degrees. He's not impressed with the well-paying job you have. He's not impressed with any of that stuff. God knows who you really are. He's going to judge you on the basis of that. And might I remind you that anything good you have in your life, here again, here's why God should be feared and stood in awe of, anything good that you have in your life, anything good that you're experiencing right now at this moment, that came down from the Father of lights. That good job you have, it's not because you were smart enough to get it, it's because God ordained that you have it. God gave that job to you. That degree that you have, it's not because you were smart, yeah sure, you were smart, but God, who gave you that ability? I think about doctors and nurses. They go to school. They know so much about the human body, which is an intricate machine. I still don't know how they could believe that it just came out of nothing, or it formed out of a primordial slime pool. But, you know, doctors. And they take great pride in what they do, and the degrees they have, and the hospital that they happen to be at. Be Vanderbilt, Dood, or whatever. But who gave them that ability? Who gave them that intellect? Everything we have is from God. All of it. He is to be feared. He is to be reverenced. Why can't we see that? And why won't we do that? He sent his son into this world. If you're a Christian this morning, he sent his son into this world. His Son came into this world and He lived a sinless and perfect life. Fulfilled the law of God, the standard of God perfectly. And He was living for you. Living that righteous life for you. And then He went to the cross. And He laid down His life. Voluntarily, willingly. Nobody took it from Him. He laid it down. To atone for the sins of all of those who by faith would trust in Him. If you're a Christian this morning, you're one of those who by faith trusted in Him. He atoned for your sins. So He lived for you and He died for you. Isn't our God worthy of our reference, our praise, our worship? Worthy of all of us. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. He is so deserving of that. He is so deserving of our reverence. That's why I cannot believe some of the things I'm seeing going on in modern churches. I was talking Wednesday night. We just had, what, Super Bowl Sunday? And there was one church, you can find this on the internet, there's one church that had this big celebration of Super Bowl Sunday. We're singing secular music. I think Miley Cyrus music and all of this stuff. And some guy kicked a Bible, kicked a Bible through a goalpost. You have all these shenanigans, these silly things that do not speak of a church reverencing God. Rather, taking God lightly, mocking God. Using God for their ill-gotten gains. Standing behind the word Christian so that they can pack pews and have a good time together. It's a shame. But if more Christians, more pastors understood that God was to be feared, those things would not be happening in our churches. I think it was Robert Murray McShane who said this, we fear man so much because we feared God so little. And that's so true. He is worthy of our praise. If you don't know this God, he can be known. This God who is awesome, He can be known through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn from your sin and turn to Him and His Son. And you'll be saved. Let's pray. Father God, I thank You, Lord, for Your Word. I pray, Lord, that You will use it in our hearts and lives today. Lord, what a blessing it is to come to the pages of Holy Scripture and to see how You have revealed Yourself. You don't have to get far into the Bible. To see that you've revealed yourself as a God. Who is to be reverenced a God who demands to be reverenced. Who demands to be approached in a certain way. Who demands to be worshipped a certain way. Lord help us to see that. Help us to know that. And help us to understand as Christians that you are our father. and that you are to be stood in awe, you are to be respected to the highest degree, reverenced. That our lives, because of our knowledge of who you are, and what you're capable of, and your power and your might, should be ordered, circumspectly, and lived carefully, lived cautiously. Lord, that when we come to this place and gather together as your people. That is to be at the forefront of our thinking. This is a God. Our God is to be reverenced. He's to be feared, not in a dreadful way, not in a sense of terror, but he is to be feared. He does have the power of life and of death. He raises up and he brings low. He raises nations up and he destroys them. He's got the power to turn the head of the king where so ever he will it. He holds back the sea with a strip of sand. He's the God who has put people where they are as we read. In Romans or in Acts, when Paul is reasoning with those philosophers on Mars Hill, he's God who has set the boundaries of where people live. He's the God who sent his son into this world to die for sinners. Because of his hate for sin, he poured that out on his son in order that men might be saved through faith in Christ. Help us to see all that. Help us to know that. Work in the heart of the lost man. The heart of the lost woman. Warrior girl this morning. We do pray in Jesus name. Amen. I'm going to have our ushers come forward. If you're here with us today, you may not be a member of this church. Our only requirement for you, we practice open communion. Our only requirement for you, being able to partake of this Lord's supper with us, is that you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If that's the case, then we have a kindred spirit. We share the same Father. And we are brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ and join hairs with Him. And I would always like to remind us that we don't approach the table lightly. This is a very serious time in the life of the church. And it's to be done as a corporate body. God has given us this as a means of His grace. To remind us of who we are and of whose we are. And to remind us of what He has done for us in His Son. And it's a time for us to reflect and to think upon that. And as I said, it's to be done corporately. This is not to be done alone. That's the reason why we didn't do this whenever we had the COVID shutdowns and everybody was in their own homes. Somebody suggested that, but it's not what communion's all about. It's for us to come together and together be reminded of the greatness of our God and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's pray. Father God, I ask you, Lord, to be with us during this time. Lord, I pray that we would be people this morning who have prepared our hearts for this. As we've known, it's been coming for some time. Lord, every day of our lives should be a day of sacrificial praise. We should live. Our living should be our sacrifice. It's a reasonable response where we should be living wholly, preparing to be together from the time this day ends until the next Sunday. Every day should be a day of worship. Father God, I pray, though, that if you reveal to anyone that their sin in their life before they partake of these elements or that they would quickly seek. Your forgiveness for. The Lord help us to have clear minds right now. In order that we may set our minds upon Christ. And his redemptive work upon Calvary's cross. In this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. you you you you Jim, would you pray for us? The Bible tells us that as they were eating, Jesus took the bread, and after having blessed it, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, and he said, take ye, this is my body. Bye. you you Calvin, would you mind offering a prayer, please? We read that he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the many for the forgiveness of sin. Father God, we pray, Lord, that as we have meditated upon your work and your son, Christ's atoning work upon Calvary. Lord, that it would have an impact upon how we live. Realize that his life was given so that we as your people can experience all the blessings, the abundant life that is spoken of in your word. So, Lord, may we leave here with people who have a resolve to live in a way that gives glory to you. For may others see Christ in us, the hope of glory in the world around us. For we love you and we thank you for all that you've done for us and all that you will do for us. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. The Bible tells us that they went out singing after that evening. But I'm just going to dismiss you and allow you to have some time of quiet contemplation. So God bless you. Thank you, Jim.