Psalm 111, it does not have a, one of my favorite Psalms, as you said, it does not have a inscription, but it begins with hallelujah, praise the Lord. In verse one, I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. The word of the Lord, verse two, excuse me, the works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever. Verse 4, He has made His wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who hear Him. He will ever be mindful of his covenant. Verse 6, he has declared to his people the power of his works in giving them the heritage of the nations. Verse 7, the works of his hands are verity and justice. All his precepts are sure. Verse 8, they stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness. Verse 9, he has sent redemption to his people. He has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name. Verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do his commandments. His praise endures forever. That is the word of the Lord, and I was going to bring my Hebrew Bible out, but where that question came up concerning cadence and everything, you all know that I can't sing in English, which is my first language, so if I tried to give you an example of singing in Hebrew, I would just... bomb terribly. I would probably make it more confusing to you than just trying to explain it. But it is a wonderful psalm, and I love it in its aleph, beit, gimel, dalet, hey, in its alphabetical order. And it does have a rhythm to it. Mr. Spurgeon says from the Treasury of David, there is no title to this psalm, but it is an alphabetical hymn of praise, having for its subject the works of the Lord in creation, providence, and grace. The sweet singer dwells upon the one idea that God should be known by his people and that this knowledge, when turned into practical piety, is man's true wisdom and the certain cause of lasting adoration. Many are ignorant. of what their creator has done, and hence they are foolish in heart and silent as to the praises of God. This evil can only be removed by remembrance of God's works and a diligent study of them. Therefore, the psalm is meant to arouse us. It may be called the psalm of God's works, intended to excite us to the work of praise. And as far as for the division, Mr. Spurgeon goes on to write, The psalmist begins with an invitation to praise in verse 1 and then proceeds to furnish us with matter for adoration in God's works and his dealings with his people in verses 2 through 9. He closes his song with a commendation of the worship of the Lord and of the men who practice it. And the emphasis that I'd like to bring forth tonight for a devotional thought is from verse 10 of Psalm 111. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. God, excuse me, a good understanding have all those who do his commandments. And you notice if you have the New King James Version or the King James Version that his commandments is italicized. The English Standard Version, I believe that sister you have it, and you have, you might... Not with you in the English Standard Version. You'll notice that it says practice It uses the term practice, which is somewhat acceptable But it says a good understanding have all those who do his commandments his praise endures forever Precepts Yeah, that's in verse seven, precepts. The works of his hands are verity and justice and all his precepts are sure. Commandments are true, but actually in the way that it's originally written in Hebrew, it becomes more inclusive. It actually provides the basis for commandments, which is the fear of the Lord. And that's one of the things we'll look at. Dr. John Gill, who was a predecessor of Charles Spurgeon, preaching in the same congregation for many years prior to Spurgeon, as you can see from the date of his birth, 1697 to 1771, the date of his death. What he says here on Psalm 111 verse 10, or at least the first part of it, concerning the fear of the Lord, whose name is revered is not a fear of his judgments here or hereafter, but of his goodness and grace. It is a reverential affection for him. I thought that was one of the most excellent definitions, if you will, of the fear of the Lord, as far as a simple definition from John Gill. He mentions that we don't have a fear of his judgments, we can't. We're not appointed under wrath, but under salvation and righteousness in Christ Jesus. So it's a very, he points out several good things concerning it. But in our verse, the fear of the Lord, often this is understood as a fear toward the Lord God, as if it was simply something we do. However, in the original Hebrew, Yirat Yehovah, It must be understood first as something originating in the Lord. In other words, this fear is a grace of God that comes from Him. The way that it is structured in Yirat Yehovah, it's His. Not that He's afraid of anything, but that which allows us to have a fear of the Lord must be sourced in who He is, and we receive it as a grace of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and emphasizing beginning. It's the word Rashid. And that's the basis for the word in the beginning in Genesis 1. Rashid is in the beginning or in a beginning in Genesis 1. Rashid here, beginning, the word itself, and that's what it starts with, the Hebrew letter Resh. Rashid not only means first in chronological order, but also means first or chief in prominence or importance. The word does. Wisdom does not only begin with the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the chief importance for any wisdom. As a grace from God, godly fear may include these things which I provided at the top of the Next page princely love toward God Precious passion for God pure reverence unto God and pious devotion to God in other words It's not just those things that stir us up It's also the behavior that's attached to it and it must go in that order because it comes from God It must be an internal work that is expressed outward as anything from God in Christ brother Mike you know, all of a sudden you understand that you are responsible. Yes, and it is the fear of the Lord then becomes a response. Once we understand that it's coming from God, then that fear becomes something that includes these things. Brother Mike. You know, it made me think of David when, what's his name, got killed. You know, all of a sudden he understood that his responsibility was larger. When you mean when Saul got no of that from touching the ark Oh, Uzzah, when Uzzah touched the ark, his responsibility, that's actually a pretty good example. Remember that when David was bringing in the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat, and as it was coming in, he was doing it the wrong way. He should have been responsible for it according to Deuteronomy 16, understanding that. But Uzzah, out of the content of his heart, as it said, he touched the ark, he was struck down. David was angry and three months afterward, I take it that in that three months afterward, he was reading the scriptures and found out, oh, the Levites are supposed to bring it in. Oh, it's not supposed to be on an ox cart. It's supposed to be carried in by the Levitical priesthood. And there he had a reverence for the Lord because of that. Some people take it he was angry at the Lord, and he possibly could be. I preached that he was angry, just angry. Why can't it come in? He was frustrated. And then when he realized that maybe the fear of the Lord came upon him in such a way, reverence for how things are done. Finally, a good understanding have all those who do his commandments. Do is the emphasis. Literally, it says in the Hebrew, good understanding is with all who do. It uses a Hebrew word, which just means simply to do, to perform, to act, to accomplish. What then are we to do? I suggest it applies to the subject of the sentence, the fear of the Lord. I might paraphrase it in this way, good understanding is with all, instead of where it says good understanding have, it's not just the possession, it's with us. Good understanding is with all who embrace, employ, and exercise the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord causes wisdom to begin. It increases good understanding in our exercise and practical application of this fear, and leads eventually to enduring praise, to eternally enduring praise unto our God, for his praise endures forever. Good understanding is with all who embrace, employ, and exercise the fear of the Lord. I have so many people in my life right now who claim to be something they're not because they don't employ, exercise, embrace the fear of the Lord. No, thank you, I appreciate that. I prayed a lot over this psalm, and I knew this was a little deeper subject than we usually cover for a devotional. But as it begins with wisdom and wisdom continues, the understanding is it's not just our possession, it needs to have an outlet, and that's why it is with us. It continues, so it's like an illustration of that would be like what we have within Israel. The Sea of Galilee, it receives the headwaters from Mount Hermon and above and it comes down. It's teeming with life and then it exits out. The opposite of that would be the Dead Sea, which has no outlet. It possesses the water from the River Jordan, but there's no outlet for it, and it becomes dead. There's nothing living in the Dead Sea as far as anything teeming with life. Life, it gives, it receives, and it gives, but as the Lord Jesus said, as we read in Sunday School just recently, it's more blessed to give than to receive. Because the more that we give the more that we can be filled up and this is what a blessing from the fear of the Lord's history Yes, ma'am I'm glad you asked that because I have an answer for that. Young people, from this, I know this devotion as we look at the fear of the Lord, are we afraid of God? It seems like a really tough thing. However, my challenge to you contains maybe a better understanding of how we can a better way of understanding the fear of Lord through its application. How do we apply what this fear of the Lord, what does it look like to us? Here's first, consider these graces from the Lord. One, a princely love toward God or a noble love toward God. That love, since God is love, we should consider these things, the precious passion, those things that I have listed. Precious passion for God, a pure reverence unto God, and a pious devotion to God. And so I ask you this question, and it's something you should meditate on, how do you suppose these graces put into practice help you know God more personally and praise Him more righteously? How do those things where you put those into practice, which are contained in the fear of the Lord, that's the first step of it. Can I praise God more, more righteously? And can I know God more personally because I'm putting these things into practice? That's just the first step of it. The second challenge, yes. Yes, ma'am. I'm getting to that Okay Yeah to simply to simplify that okay a princely of Okay, a princely love. We have what we sense as a love towards our parents or to our siblings, which is really more earthly because we're sinners, right? You don't always show that love and demonstrate that love. When I say princely love, when I mention princely love, it's not just because it begins with a P and it's easier to understand. There is one prince that we should ever and always turn to. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the Prince of Peace. So when we think of love, we got to think of the love not as what I feel or what I've experienced. It's got to be a love that oh, you know the love that I get from my parents That does have a sense of the love a little bit because god gave it to them But the love that we have to go to is beyond what you've experienced It is an eternal love and it's the love of christ That jesus came and became jesus came to earth As a man, jesus went to the cross for our sins. That's the princely love toward God that we should have. As he became a man, he exercised that as an example. And the best example, the only, in fact, the only example I should turn to, that we should turn to, for who, if the fear of the Lord is so important, who is it that would have the fear of the Lord most especially when I look at his life? Yeah, you're right. Go ahead, Jesus. Jesus, we look at Jesus. And so this love is in Jesus. This love, when we look at Jesus, we should think that the fear of the Lord is in everything that he had done. And if it's that important that he is all wisdom, that the things that we see in this, these four things that are mentioned, the precious passion for God everything that Jesus did was for the glory of the Father. He was the Son. Therefore, that as you're a Christian, everything that you do, when you are obedient to mom and dad, when you are, when you are, we're doing this as a precious passion for God, you're doing, your obedience is not necessarily just because, well, I don't wanna get a whipping, It's because I'm doing this for God. He is the one who made me, and He is the one who has given me the parents that I have. He is sovereign over everything, so I have a precious passion to do it. I don't just do it because I was told to do it and I have to do it. I don't just do it because, well, I love my mom and I love my dad and they told me to do this, so that's good. I'm doing it because God has ordained for me to do it for them and through them. Yes, sister. Oh, nevermind. Huh? And when you say princely to me, it makes me think of someone who's doing things thoughtfully and Yes, absolutely Yes, Jesus voluntarily submitted himself to be one who would take orders from the Father. As God, he is equal, but as the Son who became man, he voluntarily submitted himself to be a prince to the King. And that's how we should think of ourselves if we're children of the King. then a princely love would be those things that are doing, that are glorifying to God through Christ. We're doing it for Jesus. Brother Mike. My dad was either the principal or a teacher in every school I went to. And sometimes I would do things that weren't, well, it'd come back to the, well, in this case, that I'm thinking of. He was no longer a principal. He was just a teacher. Come back to the principal, and the principal would go to my dad. And, uh, and, you know, I realized that my actions were affecting my dad. Oh, yeah. And, uh, so I, uh, I shaped up, you know, because, uh, you know, My behavior affected my dad's view. The way the superintendent and the principal that he was under at that time viewed him. So I realized that my behavior was important. Not that I did it. I just realized that I did not want to make my dad look bad. Sure. With the Lord, as we do it heartily as unto the Lord, as Colossians chapter three tells us, whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. We're doing it as unto the Lord. And this is why Jesus is a perfect example of it. This is my challenge to always keep Jesus, challenge to you is always keep Jesus in the forefront of your thoughts and in your mind. Whereas I mentioned the precious passion for God. the father he went to the cross and even going to Gethsemane as you see in his prayer the example that he did right there takes us to his pure reverence unto God that he wouldn't take it on himself to just knowing that he was going from the very beginning of his ministry he's going to the cross but by going to death He made sure that he revered or he reverenced, he honored the father by asking him and not just going. That's the, this is this fear of the Lord that we recognize that I am afraid that I might not do what is right. simply said that I might not do what is right before God. I'm afraid that I will misstep. Jesus had it slightly different because he is very God. However, as perfectly human when he went to the garden and he was praying. And some say that he was actually sweating drops of blood. It says, as it was. He was sweating so profusely that it looked like it may have been blood, but I don't think that it was. It was like blood. It's like the Holy Spirit. He came down like a dove. He didn't come down as a dove. He came down like a dove. So he sweats profusely and prays earnestly because he wants to pray and reverence the Father to go to the cross. That still is much a part of what he is as a righteous man and who he is as a righteous man, as if just going and doing the thing. Both must be together. That which is inside us That spirit that is within us, and that passion, and that love, and all those things that come from God that's inside us, and then they're worked out. If I keep them inside and don't have them exercised out, then they're nothing. But if I do all those things, that no one sees the inside, that I'm just as dead as what Jesus called a whited tomb. Painted on the outside, but dead men's bones on the inside. both must exist, and that is a practical expression of the fear of the Lord. And then pious devotion, holy devotion for God, that's summed up in Jesus going to the cross itself. And then we see the victories behind that, the rising from the dead. So that actually is the practical examples that I gave you. Look at Jesus, consider him in every aspect. Yes, ma'am. Good question, sister. I'm glad you asked that. I'm gonna answer it. Young people. No, that's really good. I'm grateful, because as I was making up these notes, I was wondering, how am I going to do this? But your questions are really terrific. How does this look then? You're not going to the cross. Well, you're not. But spiritually speaking, you are. Because Jesus said, if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. There's three parts right there. One, in denying yourself. Sometimes you'll have to do things that you don't feel like you want to do. That will become less and less as you grow as a Christian. I look back on, there's very few things that I do now that I don't want to do. I do things because they're a joy to me. The more that I end up doing them, the more joyful they become. So denying myself becomes nothing. He increases, as John the Baptist said, he must increase and I must decrease. You think less about yourself when you're thinking about the Lord. Then you start thinking about others through thinking about the Lord. And this is what this devotion is. You were devoted to Christ. And so in doing those things, we take up the cross. Well, you don't have a cross to take and you're not going, you know, you're not going to, even though you're told by the Bible you're supposed to die daily, you're not going to actually die. But what it's doing is, by living the crucified life, you take up Christ's cross, and those things that are not best for you, they end up hanging upon that cross that you're carrying. The cross is Christ's, not your own cross. You have already denied self, so you don't have to be crucified. Now you're taking up, Jesus said, take up your cross. You're taking what Jesus has done and making it your own personal possession. That's the inside thing, the embracing the fear of the Lord and employing the fear of the Lord in order to exercise the fear of the Lord. And then finally, follow Jesus. If there's something that you are doing that is something that Jesus hadn't done, or won't do, then that's something you shouldn't be doing. They had it turned around about a hundred years ago. A fellow named Charles Shulton wrote a book called, What Would Jesus Do? Unfortunately, they had it backwards. They wanted to do all these things to justify that I'm a Christian. That can't be done. It must be the reality of the truth that Christ has saved me and those spring forth. Then We have to know that we're, you don't want to just go and do those things and not be assured that you're doing them correctly, right? That would be the third thing, right sister? How do we know I'm doing this? Well, then we look at those things and ask ourselves the questions. We look at things like the fruit of the spirit. Well, fruit just kind of grows on its own, doesn't it? God brings forth the increase. How do I know that I am walking in the fear of the Lord? When you love, oh wait a minute, I think I wrote it here. Does the thought that you may not be loving Christ in a noble, princely way frighten you? It scares the daylights out of me every single day. That's how you know you're walking in the fear of the Lord. That I'm afraid that I am not going to love God or love Christ. in a manner that he's worthy. And guess what? I fail at that every single day. But God's grace reassures me in that. Does it frighten you with a holy fear that you may take the joy or peace of the Lord for granted? that you have joy or peace, things are going well, you might be out on a boat, you might be fishing, catching a halibut, you might have just a great sunny day before you, or in the winter time you might be hitting the slopes, whatever it happens to be, and you're enjoying yourself, are you taking that for granted? Are you not thanking the Lord for it? And when you are afraid that I might be enjoying things without giving thanks to God for them. I'm taking joy for granted. I'm taking the peace of God that surpasses all understanding for granted. Then you may not be walking in the fear of the Lord. But when you have a holy fear, this fright, I'm frightened that I may not be loving God the way that I should. I might not be as gentle as I'm called to be. The fruit of the Spirit, one of the fruits of the Spirit is gentleness. Am I being as gentle or am I being harsh with somebody? And if I'm afraid that I might be too harsh with somebody, this is a good one for parents. Parents and grandparents, am I? But, in Galatians, what is gentleness followed by kindness? If you are afraid that you're not being kind enough to your parents because they're just human too, you think, well, he's being, my mom or dad are being too, they're not being gentle. Then you should fear that you're not being kind because God gave you that mom and dad. So when you're looking at like those fruits of the spirit and are starting to become afraid that I'm not, living up to a real fruit, that my fruit's getting rotten and nasty because I'm not living according to all those fruits. Brother Mike. It makes me think it's very difficult to live without love. Even for a parent. Brother Mike said it's very difficult to live without love, even for a parent. Is patience easier to experience when the fear of the Lord is exercised in your life? Why or why not? That's a question for you to ponder. When you're becoming impatient and you're not afraid that that impatience is dishonoring God, then that's when you're not walking in the fear of the Lord. But when you walk with this holiness concerning patience, Lord, I want to show more patience instead of praying. I want patience and I want it now. But Lord, I'm afraid that I will get into a situation. Here's an example of that. Lord, I got to go do this thing. And it's an exciting thing. But I have a tendency to rush through stuff. Lord, I'm afraid that I might not be patient. And one of the fruits of the Spirit is long-suffering or patience. That's walking in the fear of the Lord. When you start praying that, Lord, I want to be more patient. And I know that I have a tendency to rush through things because I get excited, and it's a good thing that I get to go do. But Lord, let me show patience. Let me also show kindness to the people that I'm with, so that when patience becomes a part of what you're doing in my life, that I can also be kind to those who are joining me in this journey. And when you pray like that, that's the fear of the Lord moving in you to start understanding that, start understanding that that's the Lord working in me. And when that happens, you start praising the Lord more because his praises endure eternally. And then the praise will come to you, brother Mike. Change your inner narrative brother stop bringing up expressions. I'm gonna have to explain to them later I'm gonna have to look up that one in a dictionary Say I can't wait I made them say I'm looking forward Oh yeah, that's an excellent one. I appreciate you bringing that up because we've had that conversation before. I Can't Wait. Mike was... The Lord put it on Mike's heart to tell his children, don't say, I can't wait. Say, I'm looking forward to. One of my pet peeves when I was raising my children was, I'm bored. I'm bored. But see, the fear of the Lord is such... Most of the time, and I'm not going to tell you all the time, but most of the time I did point to the Lord. How could you be bored when God became a man? They might stop saying that in my presence because they know I was going to preach to them. How could you be bored when God became a man? When everything that he did from the creation saying, let there be light, which shows the light of Jesus Christ all the way through to the creation, to the cross, to his coming again, how could you be bored when this God, this God has come and done all this for us? So, but hopefully this'll be of some use to you. Psalm 111, it praises God, it ends with the fear of the Lord and continual praise. That one verse right there, I think, verse 10, puts in the last three letters of the Hebrew alphabet, it puts in the last three letters a place, a package of your, the inner reality of who you are as a Christian to taking it and applying it and making it yours and then exercising it in your day-to-day behavior. That's those three things. And when those things are happening, that's the fear of the Lord. It's actually a lot easier than I just explained it. In practice, but it's very complex And when you start reading about all the ideas that many people have concerning the fear of the Lord, you'll find out that they have even less of a clue than I have concerning it and and I'm only just scratching the surface of what I'm understanding concerning the fear of the Lord and it is a very important truth and one that is so misunderstood that you'll rarely find good preaching on it. The only book that I found that was ever helpful was one written by John Bunyan called The Fear of the Lord, and I couldn't understand it the first three times I read it. I'm still having difficulty understanding some of the things that he's getting at with it, but it's still the best one I've ever read. All of that. Absolutely. You know, the seven spirits that Isaiah speaks of, that the Messiah would have, the last one in Isaiah, what is it? Isaiah 11. The last one is fear the Lord. and the fear of the Lord, quick understanding, in the fear of the Lord. And the last spirit would be the fear of the Lord. And I believe it's last because it's so important. And this is the attribute that is most exemplifies Jesus. But sister, you're absolutely right. The one thing that's going on with the world today, why it's going to hell in a handbag is because it lacks the fear of the Lord. And the church, the way that it looks in America, the one reason it looks like a spiritual spastic is because it misunderstands the fear of the Lord. And so... So siblings are always on each other and they're fighting, they're not fearing the Lord, correct? They're not fearing, or fearing their parents, right? No, absolutely, sister. Children that are fighting with one another, siblings that fight with one another, at that moment, they are not fearing the Lord. It might be, you know, it's, the hard thing is, young people, it's easy to sit down with your Bible or sit down in a family devotion time and fear the Lord at that time, or come into church and sit in the pews and fear the Lord. The place where it needs to be exercised, where it needs to be employed and needs to be embraced, it should be embraced in here. Once it's embraced in here, it becomes a little easier when you go out there. But when we go out those doors, when you go home, when you're out on the boat, or when you're doing this or that, Outside of these four walls, that's the hardest place to see the fear of the Lord manifested, but it's the most needed before the Lord comes to see the fear of the Lord manifested in our lives. Now, this is the place to embrace the fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom, and possess the fear of the Lord. Out there is where we exercise it. Any other questions or comments? Sister Betsy? I think so often just an awareness of God's presence, everything I'm thinking, everything I'm doing, that puts the fear into me because I'm afraid. Right, that's the very beginning, the very beginning part of it. Since, like, as I mentioned in Hebrew, since it comes from him, we look to him for the fear of the Lord. So his presence should always be before our eyes. In fact, that's the thing I shall, as David writes in the Psalm, I shall not put anything, I shall put no wicked thing before, I shall set no wicked thing before my eyes. The opposite of that, which it should actually, that portion of the Psalm should drive us to that. The thing that should be before our eyes always is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is whom God gave for us to set our eyes upon always. And that's, he's the first person we stop thinking about. He's the first person our eyes are taken off of. He's, in fact, our flesh wants to say, well, this Bible is about a whole bunch of things, but him. That's what our flesh will do. And this is why this has been the biggest part of, I'm sorry, we're not going to have much of a bandana gang time. Oh, cool. I'm still learning. But it, and young people, again, this is one of the most important truths that you'll ever get from me as a pastor and from this church as a place where you're going to get truth. The fear of the Lord. It's not something that you're, you know, afraid of as far as God's judgment. It's something that we're afraid of those things that are not going to bring him glory because we know that we sin. And so when we have our eyes upon Jesus and we're looking upon him, we're less likely to not fear the Lord. We're more likely to fear the Lord because we keep him before our eyes. He is so glorious that the light of his illumination will either melt us because we're not fearing the Lord or it will shine as a light to illuminate our path. But that's where we got to be. That's a good sign. That's actually the beginning, the beginning of wisdom. When your conscience now is pierced by that thing, I'm fighting with my siblings. And sometimes the battle, you might end up losing the battle a couple times before it really clicks in. But when you are fighting with your siblings or not being obedient to your mom or dad, But you recognize that. That's the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is just sprouting in you, sparking in you. Oh, yes. That's that's one who has no fear of the Lord. That's what there's a different word, a different F word for that. It's foolish. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. And that's. Where are we? No, that's all right, sister. I'm glad you did, because I was wondering, even as I was writing these notes, I asked the Lord. He says, don't worry. And I didn't. Sister Vicki was here. Praise the Lord. So I'm going to turn it over to Brother Mike for this.