Man, the title of the sermon this morning is Let Him Be Your Dread.
Let Him Be Your Dread.
The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 8 verse 13, sanctify the Lord of hosts himself and let
him be your fear and let him be your dread.
Now what does the word sanctify mean?
Sanctify means set apart.
So the Bible is saying set apart the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear.
What does that mean?
It means that him alone should we fear.
Set him apart as the one whom you fear.
Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread.
Now certainly there are other people in the Bible that we are told to fear only because
the Lord has told us to fear those people like for example he tells us to fear our parents
or to fear our masters according to the flesh.
To fear God given authority but it's not really because we fear that person.
It's actually because we fear the Lord and there's no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God and so yes we serve our masters according to the
flesh with fear and trembling because it's as unto Christ.
The Lord alone is our fear and our dread.
We're not to fear the enemy.
We're not to fear the devil.
We're not to fear what man can do unto us.
But we should sanctify or set apart the Lord of hosts himself and let him be our fear and
our dread.
Now what does dread mean?
The title of the sermon is let him be your dread.
Well dread is just a very strong word for fear.
It's fearing something negative that's going to happen to you, right?
Let me just give you some biblical examples of this.
You don't need to turn there but for example in Genesis 9 verse 2 the Bible says the fear
of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth.
So when Noah and his family get off the ark the Bible talks about the animal kingdom having
a fear and a dread of man.
That's why when you're out in the wild and you come across an animal usually it's going
to run away from you because it has a natural fear and dread of humans.
Exodus 15 16 says fear and dread shall fall upon them.
Job 13 10 says he will surely reprove you if you do secretly accept persons.
Shall not his excellency make you afraid and his dread fall upon you?
So you can see that over and over again dread is used side by side with fear.
It's just a stronger word for fear that has to do with fearing something negative or a
negative consequence or a danger.
The Bible says in Isaiah 13 to sanctify the Lord of hosts and let him be your dread.
Let him be your fear.
Now many people they wrongfully have this belief that the God of the Old Testament is
somehow more dreadful and more fearful than the God of the New Testament.
You'll hear people talk about Old Testament God and New Testament God.
Well here's the thing it's the same God.
There is only one God.
He does not change.
He is immutable.
He's the same yesterday today and forever.
But not only do they have this belief in a difference between Old Testament God and New
Testament God, they'll have a difference in belief of God the Father versus God the Son
Jesus Christ.
And they'll basically say well the Father is the one with all the wrath and he's mad
and you know.
But the Son kind of tones him down or that Jesus Christ is not fearful or dreadful in
that way.
If I'm going to prove to you that's false.
In fact I just did an interview on the radio in Jamaica.
It's not the ones that we uploaded to YouTube it was a different one that I did.
I didn't have a chance to record it.
But this guy said well you know you guys seem to just be preaching the Old Testament.
You know you need to get on the New Testament.
It's that mentality that people have that somehow the God of the New Testament has softened.
This is not biblical.
The God of the New Testament is the only God there is.
And Jesus Christ and God the Father and the Holy Spirit are all in one accord on their
love for mankind and also for their wrath.
They're both in one accord on these attributes.
They have the same attributes.
Now if you would let me show you here in Isaiah Chapter 8 that actually this scripture is
specifically referring to Jesus Christ even.
This verse that even says let him be your dread.
I'll prove it to you because look at the next verse.
And he who is the he it's the Lord of hosts from verse 13 and he shall be for a sanctuary.
A sanctuary is a holy place and he shall be for a sanctuary but for a stone of stumbling
and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel for a jinn and for a snare to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken and be
snared and be taken.
Now if we let the Bible comment on itself and define itself we'll know that this is
referring to Jesus Christ and his coming to this earth.
Now keep your finger in Isaiah 8 because we'll be back there.
Go to First Peter Chapter 2.
I'll prove it to you.
First Peter Chapter 2.
First Peter is toward the end of the New Testament.
First Peter Chapter 2 verse number 6 and we're going to see this actually quoted from Isaiah.
It says in verse 6 wherefore also it is contained in the scripture behold I lay in Zion, Zion
is Jerusalem, a chief cornerstone, elect and precious and he that believeth on him shall
not be confounded unto you therefore which believe he is precious but unto them which
be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same is made the head of the
corner and here is the quote from Isaiah Chapter 8 and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense
even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient where unto also they were appointed.
So the Bible is pretty clear here that that stone of stumbling and rock of offense is
Jesus.
Is the stone that the builders rejected which has become the head of the corner and the
Bible says that that chief cornerstone Jesus Christ that anyone who falls on him is going
to be destroyed and upon anyone upon whom he falls he'll grind them to powder.
So this is specifically referring to Jesus.
Flip over to Isaiah 28 now.
Let's get the other part of that quote.
Isaiah 28.
While you're turning to Isaiah 28 I'm going to read for you from Ephesians Chapter 2.
Ephesians Chapter 2 verse 19 says now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners but
fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom
all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord in whom ye
also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit.
And so this is of course a great scripture that mentions all three persons of the Godhead
in one breath where it talks about Jesus Christ God and the Spirit God they're referring to
God the Father.
And it says that Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone.
That's consistent in scripture that Christ is the chief cornerstone.
Look down at Isaiah 28.
Let's get the other part of that quote from 1 Peter 2.
It says in Isaiah 28 14 wherefore hear the word of the Lord ye scornful men that rule
this people which is in Jerusalem.
Now who is it that he's mad at?
Who is it that he's rebuking as being scornful?
It's the men who rule in Jerusalem.
You know who this is?
The chief priests, the rulers, the scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees at the time
of Christ the rulers the leaders of Jerusalem because you have said verse 15 we've made
a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement when the overflowing scourge
shall pass through it shall not come unto us for we've made lies our refuge and under
falsehood if we hit ourselves therefore thus saith the Lord God behold I lay in Zion for
a foundation a stone a tried stone a precious cornerstone a sure foundation he that believeth
shall not make haste judgment also will I lay to the line.
Now stop and think about this for a moment.
This is obviously having some relevance to Isaiah's immediate audience.
You know 700 some years before Christ he's preaching to an audience and there's some
things that apply to them in their life right then and now but this is clearly also a prophecy
of the Lord Jesus Christ because that's when he laid that cornerstone in Zion.
We know from 1 Peter 2 and Ephesians 2 that that is none other than Jesus Christ himself
and what he's saying here is that when he lays down that cornerstone that sure foundation
of Jesus Christ when he does that it says in verse 17 judgment also will I lay to the
line so Jesus Christ came to this earth not to condemn the world but that the world through
him might be saved so he came that all men through him might believe but most people
rejected him and continue to reject him.
To those people Christ is judgment right if you're not saved if you don't believe on Christ
Christ is your doom he's your judgment he is your undoing and that's what we see here
that when Christ came he didn't just come to only bring salvation but he also came to
lay judgment to the line and that's why John the Baptist started out preaching hey the
axe is laid under the root of the trees I mean there are some people that are going
to be cut down there are going to be some people that are going to be destroyed that
are going to be wiped out in fact Christ predicted that the whole city of Jerusalem will be
wiped out to the point where it's burned with fire and that not one stone of the temple
will be left on another and that's exactly what happened so judgment was definitely laid
to the line let's keep reading it says judgment also why lay to the line and righteousness
to the plummet and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies and the water shall overflow
the hiding place and your covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with
hell shall not stand when the overflowing scourge shall pass through then ye shall be
trodden down by it and this has to do with when Christ came and the leaders of the Jews
the elders of the people who rejected him were punished and wiped out let's go back
to chapter 8 now with that in mind so what did we learn we went to 1 Peter chapter 2
and we clearly saw that the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense is none other than
Jesus consistently in 1 Peter 2 we tied it in with Ephesians 2 with Isaiah 28 it's all
consistent that this is about Jesus so the context then is that in verse 13 it says sanctify
the Lord God of hosts himself let him be your fear and let him be your dread and he shall
be for a sanctuary if you're saved he's a sanctuary for you he's a place of refuge for
you but he's for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of
Israel because they rejected him for a jinn and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
verse 15 and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken and be snared and be
taken so this is just another place that sort of debunks that idea that the God of the New
Testament is all soft or that Jesus is all soft no let Jesus be your dread let Jesus
be your fear he is the Lord of hosts now the Bible continues here in verse 16 bind up the
testimony seal the law among my disciples and I will wait upon the Lord that hideth
his face from the house of Jacob and I will look for him look at the next words it's interesting
behold I and the children whom the Lord had given me are for signs and for wonders in
Israel from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion now again obviously this had
a meaning for the people that were there 700 some years before Christ who Isaiah is preaching
to when he says behold I and the children whom the Lord had given me he's talking about
the fact that he had various children and God told him to name them certain things and
those names meant something like at the beginning of this chapter he names the child Mehar
Shaulal Hashbaz right and he's told specifically name the child Mehar Shaulal Hashbaz because
X Y and Z Hosea was told the same thing he was told to name his child Lo Ami and he was
supposed to name his other child Lo Ruhamah he's supposed to name a child Jezreel they
were given as signs to the children of Israel where his wife has a child and then he gives
it a certain name that has a significance right so that's the primary meaning here when
he says behold I and the children whom the Lord had given me are for signs and for wonders
in Israel from the Lord of hosts but there's a secondary prophetic meaning of Christ again
go to Hebrews chapter 2 Hebrews chapter number 2 in the New Testament and this is just another
proof that this scripture that tells us to let the Lord be our dread is specifically
referring even to Jesus himself because we already saw that he's the cornerstone but
now we're going to see that this scripture behold I and the children whom the Lord had
given me is a scripture that's also referencing Jesus Christ go if you would to Hebrews chapter
2 verse 9 the Bible reads but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death crown with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should
taste death for every man for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all
things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings for both he that sanctify it and they who are sanctified are all of
one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers all about Jesus right saying
I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church will I sing praise
unto thee that's a quote from Psalm 22 and again I will put my trust in him that's a
quote from Psalm 18 and again behold I and the children which God has given me now where
does that quote come from behold I and the children which God has given me is a quote
from Isaiah 8 so Isaiah 8 is about Jesus Christ which shows that he should be our fear and
he should be our dread and you say well how did Jesus Christ have children now of course
we know that our Lord Jesus Christ was unmarried while he was on this earth and he did not
have physical children but Isaiah 53 tells us who shall declare his generation for he
was cut off from the land of the living so the Bible makes reference in Isaiah 53 the
fact that Christ died without having any physical children he was unmarried but then later in
the same chapter Isaiah 53 10 says yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he had put
him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed
Christ shall see his seed when his soul is made an offering for sin he shall prolong
his days because obviously he ever liveth and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand so in what way does Christ have seed because we are his spiritual sons and
daughters that's why Christ has a spiritual seed not a physical seed you see when Jesus
Christ was raised from the dead according to Acts 13 that's the day where the Lord
God the Father said to him thou art my son this day have I begotten thee the Bible says
that the day when he was begotten was the day he rose from the dead why because that's
not the day he became the son of God he's always been the son of God he always will
be the son of God the father the son the Holy Ghost are eternal in both directions but the
Bible calls Jesus the first begotten of the dead so beget means to bring into existence
or to cause to exist to generate and so when Christ was brought back from the dead he was
begotten on that day according to Acts chapter 13 well we when we got saved when we believed
on Jesus Christ our spirit was quickened so we were begotten the Bible calls it being
begotten again unto a lively hope the Bible also used the term born again about our spirit
and so therefore we are his seed because he raised us from the dead when we got saved
and so we are begotten of him so therefore I and the children which God has given me
that's Jesus talking there and that proves again that Christ himself should be our fear
and our dread now go to Hebrews chapter 10 you're there in chapter 2 go to Hebrews chapter
10 let's see if the God of the New Testament has softened up because that's the teaching
that's out there look if we were to ask people if we were to just walk down the street and
just ask people who has more wrath the God of the Old Testament or the God of the New
Testament you know 99% of people are probably saying oh it's that Old Testament God he's
all wrath and now the reason why people have this misconception is because when they go
to church it's mostly sweetness and light you don't hear a lot of churches preaching
on let him be your dread this morning okay there's a lot of preaching on the grace of
God this morning now look I'm all for preaching the grace of God but let me say something
that is extremely important to understand God's grace is meaningless without understanding
his dread I mean what do we even need the grace of God if God's just this big lovable
fuzzball anyway if God is just this softy Santa Claus then what do you even need grace
for you need God's grace to buffer you from his fiery wrath if he has no fiery wrath then
his grace becomes meaningless and that's why all these people who are swinging and swaying
and jamming for Jesus and listening to a 15 minute sermonette from the word of God
on the grace of God that doesn't even touch 99% of the Bible it's just a few familiar
verses brought out over and over again those people don't even understand the grace of
God that's why if we ask those people do you know for sure if you're going to heaven they
don't even know and if we ask them how do they know if they do know they'll say well
I think I'm a pretty good person they have no understanding of the grace of God so define
irony the church that talks about grace every week doesn't understand it the church that
preaches on the fear of God and the wrath of God you know the grace of God is sweet
to us because we understand who we're dealing with getting grace from him is a pretty amazing
miracle when you realize how powerful and terrible and dreadful he is and then you realize
he loves us now you can appreciate the love of God now you can appreciate the mercy of
God now you can appreciate the grace of God but see that loses all of its power when you
eliminate the fear of God fear of God's the beginning right and then we learn about the
love of God and then the love of God is so much sweeter to us because we actually understand
it and so we we get this idea of a different God in the New Testament because the church
is today they're preaching all sweetness and light and they're saying Jesus loves you and
all this which is all great teaching but it's imbalanced because they're only focusing on
that one aspect okay and then the reason that they think of the Old Testament God as being
a god of wrath is just because some of the wrathful stories of the Old Testament are
just so famous that even if the church has never talked about them people still know
about them right I mean people are always gonna know about the fact that God flooded the whole
earth and killed everybody and saved Noah and his family right so that story people know that story
and then people also know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah pretty well that's a pretty famous story
where God rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah and then there are just other stories
that people have heard in Sunday school about you know God sending fiery serpents among the people
and God you know wiping out Pharaoh's hosts in the Red Sea and God plaguing the Egyptians and
turning water into blood not so people know those Old Testament stories but then they go to church
and it's all sweetness and light so they get this disconnect like oh well the New Testament God is
just completely a softy he's changed he's gone softer in his old age as it were that's what they
think and it's a blasphemous teaching because the teaching should be that Christ is the same as he
always was God is always the same he said I change not the Bible says Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday and today and forever well let's check the Bible let's check the New Testament and see
whether God has softened up according to the Bible Hebrews 10 28 he that despised Moses law
died without mercy under two or three witnesses yeah oh yeah see that's how he was back then you
know but nowadays if you despise God's law it's just grace and mercy and a second chance is that
what it says that's what you'd expect it to say though right well he that despised Moses law died
without mercy under two three but thank God Jesus came and softened all that up that's what you'd
expect it to say based on what most people think what most Americans believe see if somebody walked
up to me and asked me who's got more wrath the God of the Old Testament the God of the New
Testament I'd say well the question is flawed because it's the same God and he has the same
wrath but if I had to choose one I'd say the New Testament God just because he had more time to get
mad about more stuff but even that wouldn't really make sense because he already knew the end from
the beginning so he's already mad about that stuff before it even happened but he says here
he that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer
punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who had trodden underfoot the Son of God and
accounted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and had done
despite under the spirit of grace for we know him that it said vengeance belongeth unto me I will
recompense sayeth the Lord and again the Lord shall judge his people it is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of living God not it was a fearful thing it is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God it is right now why because God's wrath is a dreadful and fearful
thing that's what the Bible says go back to Psalm 2 if you would Psalm 2 the title of the sermon is
let him be your dread and the thing I'm really emphasizing this morning is that this scripture
although it's found in the Old Testament Isaiah chapter 8 is applicable right now today why
because it's specifically about Jesus it's specifically about the Son of God and the
Bible's crystal clear that God doesn't change and that God is as dreadful today as he was yesterday
and he's as dreadful today as he was when I was a kid and he and and he was thousands of years
ago because he never changes to him a day is like a thousand years so it was only a few days ago
then he wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah it's only a few days ago that he wiped out the world in a
global flood in his reckoning now if you would look at Psalm 2 verse 7 I will declare the decree
the Lord had said unto me thou art my son this day have I begotten thee again acts 13 applies
this to the resurrection of Jesus Christ verse 8 ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession so this is the father
speaking to the son right saying ask me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession thou shalt break them with a rod of
iron speaking of Jesus thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel I mean what is he
saying he's saying that he's gonna take this earth he's gonna take the nations of this earth
like if you picked up a piece of pottery and just slammed it on the ground just let it shatter
is broken to shivers I mean that's pretty intense judgment that's what Jesus Christ is gonna do at
his second coming he'll take the nations and just break them with a rod of iron he'll dash them in
pieces like a potter's vessel I mean just imagine just taking a rod of iron like a baseball bat and
just swinging it into a piece of pottery and just letting it shatter into a million pieces he's
saying that's what he's gonna do so what's the what's the what's the takeaway what's the moral
of the story here what should we apply this verse 10 says how it's applied be wise now therefore you
better wise up buddy this is who you're dealing with be wise now therefore oh ye Kings be instructed
ye judges of the earth serve the Lord with fear well you know fear that's just a respect right
isn't that people try to soften this and say well when the Bible says fear it just means like having
awe or you know like our God's an awesome God you know awesome it just means it just means he's
awesome you know but but no no he says fear and trembling okay you don't tremble out of respect
and by the way dread is the same thing right you're fearing judgment you're fearing punishment
you're fearing chasing you know when the children fear their parents what does that mean they're
fearing the discipline okay now what does the Bible say here serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling hey rejoice be happy but be a little nervous too I mean look whenever the
great men of God faced the Lord they fell at his feet as dead they trembled before him okay and I
have a funny feeling that if any of us today were confronted with the Lord we would tremble
every single one of us we ought to tremble before him I mean Daniel was so scared that he couldn't
even move he couldn't even God's telling him to do stuff and he couldn't even do it and and God
had to touch him and strengthen him and and and give him supernatural strength because he was just
paralyzed with fear literally in Daniel chapter 8 or chapter 10 rather so the Bible says here
serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling because that God the Father man
he's he's out for blood is that what it says no it says kiss the son lest he be angry and he
perished from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little I mean the Bible saying look you
don't even want to get him a little bit mad I mean when his wrath is kindled just a little bit
I mean imagine imagine people who are just spitting in his face imagine people who are
just blaspheming God today in America blaspheming Christ hating the Lord parading their filth and
abominations before him not even blushing committing murder preaching lies teaching
heresy all the different wicked things that people do and even if he just gets a little
bit mad the Bible tells us you're gonna perish from the way you're gonna get wiped out when
his wrath is kindled but a little a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him you know
there's a lot of preaching on blessed are all they that put their trust in him but blessed are all
they that put their trust in him has greater meaning when it's in the context of breaking
them with a rod of iron shattering them like a potter's vessel serving him with fear rejoicing
with trembling his wrath is kindled then we understand the blessing of what it is to put
our trust in him so we've got to get that context right the Bible tells us over and over again even
in the New Testament of the terror of the Lord 2nd Corinthians 511 you don't have to turn there
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men that's the Apostle Paul and epistle
of Paul right dispensational as buddies I don't have any actually but you know these dispensational
as always the epistles of Paul that matter well even then he says hey we know the terror of the
Lord even right now in this so-called church age dispensation of grace no no wrong he's always had
grace there's always been the church and he's always had wrath go to Genesis chapter 28 so we
see that God is dreadful I don't even have to tell you that God the Father is dreadful because we've
already known that our whole lives but I've also shown you that God the Son is dreadful as well
Jesus Christ himself is dreadful too and so we know that the entire Godhead of Father Son and
Holy Ghost are dreadful but not only is God dreadful the house of God is dreadful that's
what the Bible teaches the church is a dreadful place if somebody asked you hey you went to Faith
for Baptist Church how was it tell them it was dreadful I went to church there and it was
absolutely dreadful that faithful word Baptist Church the dreadful place the Bible says in verse
16 of Genesis 28 Jacob awake out of his sleep and he said surely the Lord is in this place and I
knew it not and he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place you know the church where God's
there that's the dreadful church dreadful Baptist Church I don't know if that name is gonna work
but anyway he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place this is none other but the house of
God and this is the gate of heaven and Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that
he had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar and put port oil upon the top of it and he
called the name of that place Bethel Bethel is Hebrew for the house of God the Bible defines
that for us but the name of that city was called Luz at the first and Jacob vowed a vow saying if
God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and
raiment to put on so that I come again to my father's house and peace then shall the Lord be
my God and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and of all that
thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee notice here he says this pillar shall
be God's house the Bible tells in the New Testament that thou mayest know how thou oughtest
to behave thyself in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of
the truth the pillar and ground of the truth so when we're introduced to this concept of Bethel
the house of God the pillar God's house right and Jacob even says I may bring a tenth of my
earnings unto the Lord when we're introduced to that subject of the church is known as a dreadful
place right then in the New Testament he says hey you better know how to behave yourself in the
house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth see the
pillar and the pillar house of God house of God dreadful place you better know how to behave
yourself see how that goes together go to Acts chapter 5 let's see if God's house a dreadful
place in the New Testament Acts chapter 5 God's house when it was first instituted was a dreadful
place I mean we're talking about before there ever was a tabernacle before there ever was a
temple before there ever was the church in the wilderness with Moses before there ever was the
church with Jesus and his apostles before there ever were the churches of Galatia and the church
at Corinth and the church at Ephesus the house of God is first introduced as a subject in Genesis
28 and it's a dreadful place it's a dreadful place go to Acts chapter 5 let's see if it's
still dreadful in the New Testament verse 1 but a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife
sold a possession and kept back part of the price his wife also being privy to it and brought a
certain part and laid it at the Apostles feet but Peter said Ananias why is Satan filled thy heart
to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land while as it remained was it
not thine own and after it was sold was it not in thine own power why is thou conceived this thing
in thine heart thou has not lied unto men but unto God and Ananias hearing these words fell
down and gave up the ghost and great fear came on all them that heard these it better come on you
if you hear that I mean look if God's just striking somebody dead for lying and deceiving and and
putting on a show like they were giving some huge amount of money when really they were lying about
how much they were giving and God just struck that person dead you know that ought to put some
fear into us right well all the examples of the Old Testament of God doing that according to 1st
Corinthians 10 are examples to us in the New Testament that we would not commit fornication
as they committed for you that we would not lust the way they lusted that we would not blaspheme
the Lord or tempt God the way that they did because he's saying hey it's a fearful thing
to fall in the hands of the Living God we have all these Old Testament examples they're still
applicable if we were to ask people that that are just your average American Christian hey if
there's a story in the Bible where somebody lied about money and God struck them dead you think
that story's in the Old Testament in New Testament he just fell over dead right then and there for
lying they'd probably assume that was an Old Testament thing but that's just because the
Old Testament's a lot longer and has a lot more stories you know the Acts of the Apostles is just
one short book and so we have plenty of examples even in that short book though of God's dread and
God's wrath coming to fruition let's keep going though it says in verse 6 the young man arose
wound him up and carried him out and buried him it was about the space of three hours after when
his wife was finished getting ready no I'm just kidding when his wife she's a little late for
church all right when his wife not knowing what was done came in and Peter answered unto her tell
me whether you've sold the land for so much and she said yay for so much then Peter said unto her
how is it that you've agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord behold the feet of them
which have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out then fell she down straight
way at his feet and yielded up the ghost and the young men came in and found her dead and carrying
her forth buried her by her husband and great fear came upon all the church and upon as many
as heard these things so the the church should be a dreadful place what does that mean it means that
we should have fear and awe and reverence and trembling for God and for the house of God we
need to treat it with respect and we should fear disrespecting it right or or or disdaining it or
treating it with profanity instead of actually acknowledging it as the holy place that it is and
we're not talking about this building we're not talking about a physical structure we're talking
about the sanctity of God's people assembling together to sing praises and to hear preaching
and to be commissioned to go out into all the earth we should treat that with respect we should
take it seriously and not disrespect it and profane it today there are so many people who
have so little respect for the house of God that they'll just turn it into a party they'll turn it
into a rock concert they'll just turn it into a circus and then other people would even go to a
godly church where things are being done decently and in order and what do they do goof off fool
around they're they're not paying attention to the preaching they're not singing out the hymns
right they're distracted they're doing other things and and you know it's just it's just a
playtime for them and you know what we are teach our children to sit up and listen and take it
seriously and the church is a dreadful place not just to come and play with toys throughout church
now I can understand an infant you know but the process should be to get them to where even as
a very young child they're they're listening and participating in the service and hearing the
preaching and treating God's house with respect with fear and trembling before the God of the
universe very important now in the Old Testament we have all these examples of God you know wiping
people out for sin but that still goes on even today not even just the book of Acts but it's
happening now people die people suffer people are punished for their wickedness now in the Old
Testament not everybody got a swift destruction did they there were a lot of people even in the
Old Testament who lived to be old men even though they lived a wicked life the whole time you know
God tends to just make certain examples out of certain people he doesn't just wipe out everybody
who's wicked the reason why is because if every time somebody were wicked they just immediately
got wiped out then you wouldn't have to have any faith in the Lord you just you just see okay if
I push the button the light bulb comes on if I do good I'm immediately blessed if I do evil I've
just immediately wiped out that's not what God wants to do what God does he makes certain examples
and he says look this is an example of my wrath now you're not always gonna see it but when you
die it's there if you're not saved and if you are saved it's coming to you even in your lifetime as
the chastisement or scourging of the Lord and it's the same with the blessings of God God gives us
great examples of blessings but sometimes we have to wait a long time for those blessings or wait
till we get to heaven for them you say well you know I want to see the proof okay well then go
down to ASU then and join the science department they'll show you all the proof of their religion
of their monkey-man religion go go down you're in the wrong place this is a church we walk by
faith not by sight if you want somebody to lie to you and tell you about all the proof then go down
to the science department at the University they'll lie to you and tell you that they have
proof of everything but the bottom line is we have to have faith in the wrath of God faith in
the blessing of God but just because it requires faith it doesn't mean that we don't see constant
examples of it in our lives I've seen more examples than I can count of God's Word played
out in action right before my eyes I mean just year after year of my life everything in the
Bible rings true the people that follow God's Word are continually blessed the people who
disregard God's Word are continually cursed you see it again and again and again and again and
again but in the Old Testament there are certain dramatic displays right the flood Sodom and Gomorrah
you say well God doesn't do it in such a dramatic way anymore well read the book of Revelation it's
gonna be more dramatic than anything he ever did in the Old Testament number one but number two
even in this era even now there are examples where God does this you know one great example
from history is a city of Pompeii you know secular historians will tell us that Pompeii
was a very perverted promiscuous sodomite homo type place and they show all kinds of artwork
saying hey we dug this up in Pompeii and it's it's dudes being a homo and it's just tons of it they
say it's everywhere and they say it was even on public display in the city of Pompeii even just
in the streets and in the public venues they had these perverted images and what does history tell
us happened to Pompeii that there is a volcano that erupted and it was completely buried
underneath the lava that's why they're able to see all this stuff that's why it's preserved
that's why people are actually just frozen dead right where they were because that lava
came through and encased everything and then it dried up and so it's like a time capsule where
everything has been preserved so they love to excavate Pompeii right well let me just give you
a little history lesson Pompeii happened after Christ after Jesus Christ Pompeii was not BC
Pompeii was AD so if God wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah for being a filthy place with fire
and brimstone from heaven you know what looks like that's what he did in Pompeii right well
it was a volcano well maybe God used a volcano to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah too who knows you
know how exactly he rained the fire and brimstone from heaven but the bottom line is that God wiped
out Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone and in the New Testament wiped out Pompeii with
fire and brimstone and there have been a lot of other nations and a lot of other peoples and a
lot of others that have been judged and punished and wiped out for their wickedness even in the
New Testament even now and you know what there are many people who've committed fornication and
died as a result committed adultery and died as a result now it's pretty dramatic when we're reading
in the Bible and it says hey Ur was wicked before the Lord so the Lord slew him and then Ur's brother
was wicked God slew him too and then Onan did that which was wicked and he was slain but you
know what that happens all the time it's just we don't know that the Lord slew them necessarily
oh he got in a car accident oh he got sick and died nobody can explain it oh he's murdered in
his bed you know the cops had the wrong door or whatever but the bottom line is that we see over
and over again people suffer the consequences of a wicked life now that doesn't mean that every
time something bad happens we should say up that was God because sometimes it's like a job situation
or other situations where God allows people to die young for his purposes you know there was a
guy in the Old Testament who died young and the Bible says because there was a good thing found
in him you know things were gonna go so bad for that nation and that family he just did this kid
a favor by ending his life young so the bottom line is that God is the same God God's wrath is
still there and listen when you open up that book of Numbers and you're reading the book of Numbers
and God's getting mad and God sending the fiery serpents and the people are complaining and God
slaying people left and right which you know Numbers one of the most negative books about just
realize that's the same God and then when I preach on the grace of God you'll have a greater
appreciation for it because you put it in the context of wow you know God is really going easy
on us he really loves us he's really merciful to us but if you don't have that starting point of
fear and wrath you don't even get it it goes right over your head and so why should we dwell upon the
fear and dread I'll close on this well number one because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge it's the beginning of wisdom the fear of the Lord's the beginning of understanding number
two because by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil you see the fear of the Lord will not
only cause us to begin to have knowledge and wisdom and understanding of that which is spiritual
the fear of the Lord will also cause us to believe on Christ because we you know we don't want to be
broken like a pottery piece so we're gonna trust in him blessed are all they the trust in him so
caused us to put our trust in Christ as our Savior to get saved right but then thirdly the
fear of the Lord just like the fear of our parents causes us to obey him on a daily basis and to get
the sin out of our life the fear of the Lord the Bible says by it men depart from evil the Bible
says in Psalm 36 one the transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there is no
fear of God before his eyes when you see a wicked person living a wicked life that tells you that
person doesn't have any fear of God in their life so let him be your fear and let him be your dread
let's borrow doesn't have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word Lord and thank
you for all the wonderful things that we can learn thank you for your grace and mercy and love Lord
because without it we would truly be doomed but Lord help us to retain a healthy fear and dread
of you whenever we do that which is wrong because we know that you will repay Lord help us to depart
from evil through your fear and dread and in Jesus name we pray amen