Sunday Deleted Scenes

I was trimming my message on the fly on Sunday (listen here!), but there were a couple of things more I really wanted to say regarding the fear of the Lord in light of Christ. . . . so I thought I would post them here. . . .


Look again at Proverbs 16:6. . . . look at the second half of the verse. . . . .


That second half of the verse is as curious as the first. . . . . here’s why. . . . Do you remember how Pastor Ken defined the fear of the Lord?


I think that’s a great and a right definition. . . .. but I think the coming of Jesus, enlightens and transforms it. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. . . His final and fullest revelation. . . . .. so now we can, we should, we must say this. . . .


The fear of the Lord is now the fear of the Christ. . . . Now look again at Proverbs 16:6. . . . .


The first half tells how our past sins are dealt with, but the second half tells us how to deal with our future temptations to sin. . . . So let’s take the second half of the verse and tweak it just a bit. . . . what I want to do is just swap the “fear of the Lord” with how we defined it. . . . like this. . .



How do you get forgiveness of past sins? By believing the Gospel.

How can you keep away from temptation and sin tomorrow? How can you gain victory over your besetting and habitual sins that you always fall into? How can you face the daily struggle of sin that we all do?

By believing the Gospel. . . . Not first and foremost by trying harder. . . . not by only trying harder. . . . . .not by beating yourself up or by running off to the monastery. . .. you will take your sins with you. . . .. but by the fear of the Lord. . . . by an active, awareness of, dependence on and humble submission to Jesus Christ . . . . one keeps away from evil.

You need to see His love. . . . you need to take His love and bury it in your own heart. . . .. you need to do whatever it takes so that all that He has done for you, becomes real to you and alive for you. . . . .meditate on it. .. .memorize verses like Proverbs 16:6 and 1 John 4:9-10. . . .. You need others in your life who will remind you and tell you of only the love of Christ can constrain us. . . . only the grace of God and teach us to say no to ungodliness.

What happens if you’ve got a radio and a television on in the same room? Which wins the battle for your attention? Audio or video?

So many of us have the love of Christ, the Gospel, on audio. . . its playing in the background of our lives somewhere, assumed. . . . . sectioned off. . . .we tune in a bit on Sundays.

But the temptations we face come to us in living color video. . . ..

And its video that wins the battle for our attention all the time. . . . Somehow we’ve got to get Christ and His love on video. The Lord's Table is just one way do that.

What we're talking about here is Gospel-driven sanctification. More on that tomorrow. . .

Love to hear your thoughts.