A MAN WHO FEARS THE LORD

THF SUNDAY SERMONS

19TH JUNE, 2022

 

SERMON

SERMON TITLE:                A Man who Fears the Lord

SERMON TEXT:                  Psalms 112: 1 – 3

PREACHER:             Prof. (Mrs.) Bisi Olawuyi

 

MESSAGE

I want to thank God for His grace and His faithfulness. I want to thank our fathers for the exchange of pulpit on this very auspicious occasion as we celebrate our fathers. Mothers, children, the youths, can you please rise up as we celebrate our fathers? God bless you our fathers, we appreciate you. I want to pray that all our youths and children who are males will also rise up to become great and blessed fathers in the nearest future in the name of Jesus.

We thank God because He is a faithful God and we thank God for the father in the house that the Lord has made a good example to everyone of us. God bless you, Sir, that you are a reference point and wherever we go, we are able to refer to a man who fears the Lord. It’s not just outside but to the smallest and minutest issues in life, he is an example of somebody that fears the Lord and we pray that the grace of God upon your life will not diminish. You will continue to be a great example in the name of Jesus.

I will just have a little recap of what we did yesterday. We talked about what it means to fear the Lord, we said it’s not about being afraid of God – the only reason why you will be afraid is when you are committing sin because God is not holding His Word in vain. A day of reckoning is coming and you will give account of everything that you have done but we said, a man that fears the Lord is the one who stands in awe of Him. The man that fears the Lord is the one who reverence this God, the man that fears the Lord is the one that honours Him because of who He is. The man that fears the Lord is the one that wants to put all his love on Him and when you love somebody, you don’t want to offend that person, but when you don’t love somebody, you don’t care whatever happens to that person. A man that fears the Lord loves God with His heart. A man that fears the Lord will know that God is holy and must follow in the Holiness of the Almighty God. A man that fears the Lord trembles at His Word, a man that fears the Lord will not trivialize the things of God.

When a man fears the Lord, He brings good to his household. A man that fears the Lord will bring joy to the whole family and generations to come. We looked at an example of a man who is supposed to fear the Lord, a man that had a colourful and great destiny yesterday. Elijah was a man after the heart of God and a great prophet. Elijah was a fearless man and he brought down the prophets of Baal who had destroyed the land, he was zealous for the Lord. He had a great anointing and Elisha who was his son was following after him, he desired to have a double portion of Elijah’s anointing and the Lord gave him. We know the mysteries that God performed through the hands of Elisha also. Gehazi was a son that was supposed to be following after Elisha, we talked yesterday that if Elisha had a double portion of Elijah’s anointing, only God knows the amount of anointing that Gehazi could have carried, but because he did not fear the Lord, because of what he would eat and would finish in the next minute, he did not only truncate his own destiny but also the destiny of his own generation. The Bible says that a curse was placed on Gehazi because of covetousness and lie. Do you know after he had done that folly, if he prostrated when his father asked him where he went and said, “Father I am sorry, have mercy on me,” the Lord would have had mercy on him, that curse would not have followed him and his generation. That is why I know today that there is hope for a tree, even when it is cut down, it shall rise again. I don’t care how far you have gone, the mighty hands of the Lord is here and it’s not here just for fun, it is here to save and deliver you. As many as are deep into sin, as many as have gone deep down, the Lord will bring you out and you will become clean today in the name of Jesus. A curse was placed on Gehazi that his family and generation will become lepers. Leprosy was added to their compound gene, what a shame, just because of the misbehaviour of a man, just because a man refused to fear God.

The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It means if you don’t fear God, you are not wise. I am sorry, the opposite of wisdom is foolishness. So, it means if you are not wise, you don’t have the fear of God, you are a foolish person, but I pray none of us will be foolish in the name of Jesus. Ecclesiastes 8:12 – 13 says, “Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.” It means a man that does not fear God can be cut down like grass anytime, any moment. When the devil toils with his life and the devil is finished with him, he tosses him around. Of course, that’s the end.

Yesterday, I was giving an illustration about a girl several years ago. Daddy and a few brethren had to do deliverance for her and she was sharing some things about her life. She said in their cult, if a man who does not fear the Lord falls into their hand, even if it is what is called “ordinary kissing,” – there is no ordinary kissing – because when you kiss somebody, saliva is exchanged. Just like medical people know, it can transfer HIV/AIDS and some other diseases, the same way the Spirit can be exchanged. She said, if it is ordinary kissing that she had kissed a man, she can wreck the man, she can turn the man wherever she wants because a spirit has been transferred, her spirit has been transferred into him and that if she wants to collect his money, she would collect the money. If she is not satisfied with collecting his money and wants to turn him against his children and wife, she can do it. How do you explain it? I have seen people that suddenly woke up and the wife they have loved all their years, the children they have loved all their days, suddenly, they don’t want to see them again. This lady said, sometimes she was in a church, she wanted to test a man that was sitting in front of her… they know it, most times they say there is a star that comes up when you are a child of God, the people in the darkness see it. She said that she was in the church, she just used her little finger and lifted up the man right in the church spiritually, and she said “Ha, this man has no power”, she just dumped him.

I want to establish that before anyone can fear God, you must have Christ in you. It is Christ that makes a whole lot of difference. When you are giving your life to Christ, it’s not about service… some people are so religious, you see them here and there, doing one thing or the other, ‘there is nothing they cannot do for God’, but that is where it ends, once they are outside, they are something else. Even some while within the church would still exhibit some of the characteristics of somebody that does not fear God. Wherever we are, whether in the open or in the secret, like I usually tell my children in the Bible club. I used to tell them that if you want to do something bad, look around. Once you have looked around and nobody is there, look up and you will remember God is there. He is the one that sees and knows everything, so you don’t want to trivialize his presence wherever you are and you cannot afford to just live your life anyhow. So, if you have not given your life to Christ, if you have not accepted him as your Lord and Saviour, you need to, because you cannot fear Him that you don’t have in your life. The Bible says, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Once you confess your sin, ask God to forgive you and invite Him into your life. He said, though your sins be as scarlet – he doesn’t care how bad you have been – the moment you confess your sins to him, you have a turning point and he would have mercy on you. So, when you give your heart to Christ, you are able to move forward and you are able to fear God.

Yesterday, we said we should be content with whatever we have. We said that a man that fears the Lord will be content with the wife that God has given him, he won’t be promiscuous. Some women will say that a man is not enough, but we are saying today that it won’t be a woman is not enough, a man that fears the Lord will not do that and you will take your place as a priest in the home. Yesterday, we mentioned the fact that if you are a priest in the home, you will be satisfied with the money you have while you trust God to bless you more, you will be content and not covetous. You want to make God happy even with what you have. You will not do anything… some people can do anything, anything, just to make money. The extent to which people can go because they want money – Yahoo boys and girls all around, in fact, people travel to Ilorin to come and learn how to do it. But a man that fears the Lord will be content, he will be satisfied while he seeks the face of God. The Bible says, the love of money… money is good, but it’s the love of money that is the root of all evil, but a man that fears the Lord will not be entangled in this.

A man that fears the Lord will respect authorities. The Bible says, we should all be subject to governing authorities. A man that does not fear the Lord, of course, will not respect authorities. A man that doesn’t have the fear of God in his heart will do anything and he will not even see whatever is wrong with what he is doing. If a man fears the Lord, he will not be rebellious. Do you know that as you are disobeying authorities, your children are looking at you, your wife is looking at you and by the time you say, “Sit down there,” the son would wonder why he would sit down. He might do it grudgingly because you are commanding him to do it, that is why you see it later in life that such children will rebel because they have not seen a good example in you. You have been rebellious to authorities and have not been obedient and submissive to authorities and now, you are asking them to submit and they are wondering why you want them to submit.

A man that fears the Lord will learn to be obedient whether it suits him or not. Obedience to the things of God, obedience to what God says. John 15:14 says, “You are my friend if you do whatever I command you”, it means if you don’t fear God, if you don’t do what He commands you, then, you are not His friend. You are his friend, we are his friend, when we do what He commands us. There is no in-between, no way, you are either his friend or his enemy. There is no lukewarmness. Revelations says, “I will spew you out of my mouth if you are neither cold nor hot,” there is no in-between, God does not want that. A man that fears the Lord will be on fire for God.

A man that fears the Lord will train and discipline his children (1 Kings 1:6). David was a very great king, but he did not train his children. It was serious war and we all know what happened to him in life. We know what Absalom did, all the evil that happened in his lifetime from his children. We know how the house came up in a chaos because he did not train his children. As his son was misbehaving, the Bible says, he will not even say anything to him. We know what happened also in the case of Eli, his children were supposed to be Priests over Israel forever but unfortunately, because they did not fear the Lord, because he was careless and did not discipline or train his children, all his family, most of them were destroyed and they perished on a single day. This was a man that was held in high esteem in the whole land, the spirit of the Lord departed from him and another person was chosen to replace him. It is easy to replace a man who does not fear the Lord, very easy because as God is placing us in a position, he is already preparing another person, so that once you misbehave, that person takes over, a better person than us for that matter. I pray stones will not replace us in the name of Jesus.

The man who fears the Lord will not run after anything in skirt. If a man fears the Lord, he will not run after anything in skirts, dress or trousers. Some people don’t know how to take away their eyes when they see a lady – covetousness. The beautiful wife that the Lord has blessed you with… you know, most times when I see these things, it amazes me. Somebody showed me one day the person her husband was running after, oh my God! I am sorry but I looked at that person and exclaimed. Another person showed me another one again for her husband and I exclaimed, “What is this?” She said that was what her own younger sister also said. The enemy just enslaved those men but when you fear God, you want to look away from those evil girls because a lot of them actually come out to seduce. I used to think it was just the unmarried ones but I learnt that even married women are worse. A colleague told me that even married women bring themselves to them and I told him that can’t they disgrace them?

Proverbs 6:26 – For by means of a  harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread; and an        adulteress will prey upon his precious life (NKJV).

NLT – For a prostitute will bring you poverty and sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.

A word they say, is enough for the wise. There are some people who don’t have integrity at all. A girl, a woman or a man that carries herself or himself to be used is already a prostitute, already an harlot and it’s a shame to anyone around him or her but a man of understanding, a man that fears the Lord will not allow such a person to reduce him to a piece of bread. You might think you are enjoying now, it’s not enjoyment, it is suffering. The person will suffer here and will still suffer in heaven. Some pride about it, they say, “The other woman,” and I ask, “Who is the other woman?” The strange woman who will reduce your life to a piece of bread? I pray that will not be the portion of any of our fathers in the name of Jesus. Most of them, by the time they know what they have done, they won’t want any such to go near their daughter. The way they so much protect their daughters, it’s amazing and somebody had walked up to one and asked, “You have destroyed other people’s children but now, you are protecting your own.”

A man that fears the Lord will know that some of these things are temptations because a lot of these things come and tempt a man. How do you explain this? Somebody dresses up, leaves her home and puts half of her cleavage outside. When they even wear dresses, they wear skimpy dresses and the slit is almost up to their bottom, as they are walking, everything is showing. We know what people can go through, but when you fear the Lord, you want to think of your life and the Father first. You want to think of the Father who has given you life and want to look away from such people. It’s a shame, a disgrace that a woman who is supposed to carry herself with dignity will be attracting men or when a man comes and opens his mouth to talk to you as a woman and say, “Come and be my friend,” you can’t slap the man and say, “How, where, from where, this is a great insult.” Some people don’t have shame but I know our fathers are fathers that fear the Lord and they will keep fearing the Lord. Sometime ago, I learnt a lady came to church, somebody invited her and after the service, the following Sunday, she didn’t see the lady. She called her to ask why she wasn’t in church and she said, “Oh! When I entered the church, the first person I saw was my man friend,” this lady felt so bad and said, “Ah, she will never come.” So, some men are already driving people to hell fire. I pray none of us will be an instrument that will drive people to hell fire in the name of Jesus. I know whatever you have done, the grace of God is available and he will have mercy on you.

A man who fears the Lord will take the things of God very serious. He won’t trivialize the things of God at all. He wants to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The Psalmist said, I was glad when they said let us go into the house of the Lord, that is where he finds joy. A man that fears the Lord will find joy in the presence of the Lord.

A man that fears the Lord will not turn his wife into a punching bag. I thank God that we don’t have fathers who turn their wives into punching bags. Even it gets to a stage that we no longer beat the children, talk less of your wives. Only a mad man will begin to punch his wife because the Bible says you both are one. The bible says a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh, so it is only a mad person that begins to beat himself and like we said yesterday, a man that fears God will do anything to make His wife what He wants her to be in a godly manner. If you have married a wrong wife, treat your wife because you have been joined together. That is why the youths and children are encouraged to seek the face of God before they get married and be in the will of God. When you seek the will of God you can never miss it, but if you have made that mistake, maybe when you were not saved or even when you were saved, you might suffer for a while but the mercy of God might find you out. It is God, that is why He is God and He is the Almighty and can do whatever He wants to do. Some people will say, “I will change her,” are you God to change a human being? Some will say, “I will change him,” you are not God and some people have found themselves even in early grave because they made a mistake but if you have made a mistake, you are already married, that’s the calabash you have carried, you must make the best of her.

Yesterday, I shared the testimony of a man whose wife was something else. They said, there was nothing this woman could not say with her mouth, she could abuse even a dead person and was a big disgrace to the man. Each time they were going out, she would cause trouble with her mouth but the man did not send her packing, the man kept talking to her and did not only talk, he kept praying. In the middle of the night, I learnt this man would wake up and begin to pray. As the woman will be sleeping, the man would keep prophesying to her, mention her name and say she would do well, her mouth will not hurt her and confess what the word of God says about her. It took a while but the Lord did it and this woman became a changed person. There is nothing difficult for God to do, so whatever you have, whoever you have as a wife now, whatever you don’t like in her, pray it out and whatever you want God to put in her, pray it into her life and you would see God help you marvelously.

A man that fears the Lord does not indulge in pornography. Like I said that a man can bring curses not only upon himself but even upon his generation. We had a daughter several years ago, she is a woman now and have her children. The father almost ran her mad. She got to her father’s study one day and discovered some… she saw the father’s laptop and saw he was watching pornography on his laptop. So, this girl got tempted and every now and then, she would sneak into that study and begin to watch pornography. Her life was almost destroyed before the Lord brought her back. A man that fears the Lord will not even want to do what makes God angry and derail the destiny of his children.

Anyone that fears the Lord will want to await the coming of the Lord Jesus at all times, that will be the uttermost in your heart. You just desire and know that God is coming, Jesus is coming very soon and will want to do everything to make sure that you don’t miss His coming. However, a man that does not fear the Lord will trivialize His coming.

Ephesians 4:29 – Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. A man that fears the Lord will not say anything foul from his mouth. Things that should not be heard from the mouth of garage boys, you will hear some fathers utter it from their mouth, but when you fear God and say anything, you want to wait because you will be judged even with the words of your mouth. Just like you can identify a Hausa, Igbo or a Yoruba person by their dressing, same way even with the speech, you will be able to recognize some people. God’s children should be easily identified by their character, the Bible says that by their fruit you shall know them (Matt. 7:16 – 20). A man that fears the Lord must show that he fears God, the whole world must see it. You will not be the one that is violent and choose to forget about Christianity for now and make to deal with a person the way he wants. He wants to do what God says and please the Lord with everything that he has. A man that fears the Lord will have self-control. The Bible says a man without self control is like a city that is broken down without walls, you know that anything will come in into such a place.

A man that fears the Lord will not mislead other people and will not be found in the company of evil people because evil communication corrupts good manners. A man that fears the Lord will not be found where evil people are. When you have noticed that the person you are working with does bad things… you know something pains me really, I know someone who is a Christian, supposed to fear God but then, he started moving with a group of friends. One day, there was a program and they served red wine and this man carried the drink and was drinking. I looked at him and was surprised. I challenged him and said, “What’s wrong with you?” in the presence of the others who weren’t Christians. He was ashamed at that moment but I discovered that because he had been moving with them, he too started taking red wine. A man that fears the Lord, no matter what happens, once you have noticed that these people will not add to you but deduct from you, you won’t move with them any longer but before you leave them, you are supposed to be the light. A married man comes to talk to you as a woman for instance that he wants to be your friend, are you not supposed to tell that person to accept Christ as his Lord and Savior instead of laughing with him? A man that fears the Lord will do anything to please the Lord.

 

How You Get To Fear God

The first thing you want to do to be able to fear God is to accept Christ as your Lord and personal savior. This is what the Bible says as the Beginning of Wisdom. Once you have Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you have the grace to fear God and the Word of God is paramount in your heart. The word of God is paramount (Psalms 119:1 – 6), in fact, the whole of Psalms 119 is amazing, it says, “Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You… Your Word is my meat that I eat day and night.” The word of God. It is the Word of God that gives us life. When the Word of God is in your heart, when temptation comes, you will be able to fight it. Remember the perfect example of the Lord Jesus, the word of God was in him and so when the tempter came, he had the right word for every occasion.

A man that fears the Lord must be prayerful. He must be a prayer warrior. You are the priest of that home, the one to lead even in prayers. It is not only when you are having family devotion that you pray, no! If your family devotion starts by 5, as a man that fears the Lord, at least 4am, you would have woken up, begin to talk to your God before you bring the family together. Your prayer would not end there. 1 Thess. 5:17 says we should pray without ceasing, all the time. Don’t stop. Keep praying. Some men will say, “I know my wife prays for me,” – you are doomed. You are about to be disgraced. The moment you are misbehaving, if anything happens, it is finished. Of course, your wife prays but it is the owner for the load that will carry it where it is heavier. Your wives are just helpmeet to support. No wonder, unbelievers would enter the Church to marry a Christian and those who are not discerning would go ahead and marry them, when they get home, they become something else. I pray we won’t fall into wrong hands in the name of Jesus.

You must not neglect the fellowshipping of God’s children (Heb. 10:25). A man that fears the Lord would not neglect the fellowshipping of God’s children, that is where your heart will be. A man that fears the Lord would not be a Sunday-Sunday tonic. Some people, because of the nature of their job have to work till night but there could always be a way out. Even such people, when they are on leave, you won’t see them in Bible Study and Prayer Meetings. You won’t see them in anything outside Sunday. A man that fears the Lord would look for every opportunity. A man that fears the Lord would do anything to be in the presence of God. God is happy to fellowship with us. God is always happy for the children to come together. Iron sharpeneth iron.

You must constantly walk in the way of the Lord and run away from every appearance of evil. Constantly! (Psalms 119:9) If you want to grow in the fear of God, every time you see an appearance of evil, you want to run away from them.

 

Beloved, the seed has been dropped, they are inexhaustible but I trust the Holy Spirit to do His work in all our hearts together. Perhaps you you haven’t given your life to Christ, Jesus is here and is ready to save you. I don’t care how far you have gone and what you have done, as long as Jesus Christ said, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red as crimson they shall be as wool.” Confess your sins, His mercy is available, ask Him for mercy. Don’t let this moment pass you by, ask the Lord for mercy. Perhaps you have known the Lord but have backslided, your way has not been pleasing to the Lord, you have been walking in your own way. If that is your situation, tell the Lord you are sorry and ask Him for mercy and His mercy will find you out. If you know you are walking on the right path, the Bible says, “Let he that thinketh he stands take heed lest he fall.” Ask the Lord for mercy to make it till the end.