Fool's Gold Part 4 Series

Introduction

Today we conclude our series, “Why settle for Fool’s Gold?” In our first sermon, we talked about the places where real gold can be found. And if you are looking for real treasure in your life, it is found in the person of Jesus Christ and His Word.

In the second sermon, we discussed the challenges that you and I face digging deep into the Word to get the treasure that is there for us. But if we can dig deep, it will bring us to Christ.

In the third sermon, we talked about how that relationship with Christ grows over time and we indeed treasure Him with all our heart, mind and soul which Jesus Himself told us is the first and greatest commandment. And if Jesus is our heart, we make less excuses concerning the things of God and we begin to see things like God sees them.

In our final sermon in this series, we want to look at what a heart looks like that is sold out to Jesus Christ. A heart that can truthfully say I love God with everything that is within me. Understand that Christians’ hearts are not all the same. Let me just mention a couple of them to you. First, there is the lazy heart. It does not work on its own to dig out the treasures of God from His Word. It relies on someone else to do all the work. The second heart is the half-hearted heart. This heart goes along with God and His Word unless something better comes along. I do not want for our people a lazy heart or a half-hearted heart, I desire that each one of us has a totally committed heart to Christ. And if you have that type of heart, we have this one thing in common, it is that we fear the Lord. People who have a totally committed heart, fear the Lord.

But once again, I must ask myself, “what does that look like?” If I have the fear of the Lord, what does it look like in my life? And so today, we conclude this series by what fear of the Lord looks like in the life of a Christian.

Scripture

Proverbs 19:23 (NKJV)

23 The fear of the Lord leads to life,

And he who has it will abide in satisfaction;

He will not be visited with evil.

Doesn’t that sound like a treasure? To have life and the way Jesus described it, life abundant. To be satisfied in a world that is totally unsatisfied. To be able to avoid evil in a world that is full of evil. I would say that if you possess all those things that you have a great treasure. So, I desperately need to recognize if I have the fear of the Lord in my life. What does it look like if I possess the fear of the Lord?

Point #1

If I possess the fear of the Lord, I should have a daily sense of awe because I know God is doing incredible things in my life each day.

Philippians 2:13 (NKJV)

13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

The idea of this verse is that God is working in my life in a continuous action. He does not work in my life today and then takes a couple of days off and then comes back and works some more in my life. God is always working in my life.

From the moment that I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, God has been continuously at work in my life conforming me to the imagine of Jesus.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)

18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

In doing that, there are times that God does those big things in my life that I certainly can recognize that is from God. And those times I ought to be in awe. But God is also at work in the small things in my life, and I need to recognize those small things as God doing that and stand in awe just like I do the big things.

Those who do not fear the Lord do not see God at work in either the big or small things of their life. They give the credit to the doctor; they give credit to luck; they give credit to happen stance- I was in the right place at the right time.

But those who fear the Lord see things happening in their life as a God-thing. God did that. God brought healing to my body. God had me at the right place at the right time. And I stand at awe of what God is doing in and through me.