Characteristics of a Man Who Fears God

I'd like to turn to Proverbs 22. We've heard about humility but in the scripture humility is always coupled with the fear of God and here is a verse that says that the reward of humility and the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord means reverence for God.

The reward of humility plus reverence for God are riches, honor, and life. Now if you look at people in the world they are looking for riches, they are looking for honor, and they are looking for long life. Everybody in the world but they're looking for it in the wrong place.

They're looking for something that will pass away but here is the way to get riches and honor and life that are everlasting. It's by humility plus the fear of the Lord, the reverence for God. So a truly humble person is one who has a tremendous reverence for God in his life, in his private life.

Reverence for God is something seen in our private life and there are two people in the Bible about whom God spoke that they feared him. I want you to look at that the book of Job chapter 1. You've often heard me say that even though Genesis is the first book in the Bible, Genesis was written by Moses about 1,500 years before Christ. But Job lived before Moses and his book he must have written long before Moses lived.

So Job is the first book in the Bible really. But you know the book, the poetical books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Oliver are put together in the middle because those are the poetical books. But in terms of time Job is the first book.

So and when we believe that the Bible is inspired by God, think of the first word that God inspires in his book. It's not Genesis 1 verse 1. That's not the first thing God writes. The first thing that God writes when he wants to write a Bible, his book, is there was a man, verse Job 1 verse 1, who feared God and turned away from sin.

Isn't that interesting? I believe that's the first word that God wrote in his book because Job was the first book written. That the first, when God wants to write something for man, he talks about a man. There was a man who feared God and turned away from sin.

So I see there what is uppermost in God's heart as he looks at the world today. He's looking for someone who will fear him and turn away from sin. That's coupled with humility as you heard.

And he was blameless, upright, and not by New Covenant standards, but according to the understanding he had. All of us are judged according to the light we have. Blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil.

And it's not just that. You read in verse 8, you read about Satan. In the very first book that God writes, he writes about Satan.

Satan had already fallen. He was the highest angel. He had already fallen by that time.

God writes about him that Satan comes up to him and God says, he boasts about one man. Have you considered my servant Job? And what does he tell about him? There's no one like him on the earth. Now Job was a very wealthy man, but that's not what God boasts about.

Let me tell you something, God doesn't care one bit what your income is and how much wealth you have. He says there is a blameless, upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. I mentioned this before when I was a young Christian, soon after being born again.

I want to read through the whole Bible. I came to the book of Job and I saw there that God boasted about this one man. And the thought came into my heart, Lord Jesus, can you boast about me to the devil today? Can you look at Satan and say, have you seen that young man there? I was one corner of India those days, one who fears me and turns away from evil.

I said, Lord, that is what I want more than anything else. Before that, when I was not converted, my ambition was to be somebody big in the world. And I was in the military and I wanted to go to the top.

But once I read this verse, I said, this is the only thing that matters. And I'm very thankful that after 65 years of knowing the Lord, this is the verse that comes to my heart even today. Lord Jesus, I want you to boast to Satan about me.

Not how well I can preach. I'm not interested in that. But can you say, have you seen a man like him who fears me and turns away from evil? And I want to say that to all of you, dear brothers and sisters.

I hope you have a great longing in your heart that the Lord Jesus can boast about you to Satan. Not just about one man like Job. He wants to find many men and women and even some of you young people.

It's wonderful if the Lord can long. I had that longing when I was 19 years old. And so you should have that longing as a young man.

Lord, I want to be one whom you can boast, one who fears you and turns away from evil. That's a mark of humility. I showed you that verse in Proverbs 22.

Humility and fear of the Lord go together. And if you turn to Job in chapter 31. Now when you read Job chapter 31, you'd almost think this is a new covenant Christian.

And he's not new covenant. He's even before old covenant. Old covenant started with Moses.

New covenant started with Jesus. And Job is way before any covenant. He was under a time when there was no covenant.

And what is God? What is Job? This is his testimony. He's saying this in the presence of God. This is inspired scripture.

And he says, I made a covenant with my eyes. How can I look at a virgin girl and lust after her? How many young people among born again believers are there today like that? I want to ask you men who are here, what do you do with your eyes? Do you look at young women, pretty women? Let Job put you to shame. The guy who had no Bible, who did not have the Holy Spirit, who did not know anything about Jesus, who did not know about being born again, who did not sat and sit in meetings like this, had nobody to preach to him, and who did not claim that I'm a new covenant Christian, I go to NCCF, nothing like that.

He had nothing what we glory in. But he had one thing. He feared God.

And because he feared God, whenever he, he was a man, and all men are tempted when they look at pretty women. He said, no, I can't do that. What was that? Which verse was he thinking of? Some verse in Matthew chapter 5? Didn't exist in his time.

Some sermon he heard? No, nobody preached to him. Only one thing. In his heart, he had a tremendous reverence for God.

And I want to say, dear brothers and sisters, from what I have seen of the many Christians I've seen in my 85 years, there are very, very few like that. Very few who come to the level of Job, leave alone new covenant, who come to the level of Job. How then can I look with lust at a woman? How can I ever do that? That's his question.

How can I do it? Do you feel like that? No wonder Job could, God could boast about Job. There's a man who fears me. And he goes on to say, doesn't, verse 4, doesn't God see all my ways? When you are tempted, do you feel like that? You say, doesn't God see all my steps? Doesn't he see every step of mine? Doesn't he see it? Are you aware of that at that time? That's what prevents him from looking with lust.

And he says, let God weigh me. If my heart, verse 9, has been enticed by a woman, if my heart has been enticed by a girl, maybe some pretty girl you see in the office, and your heart, you don't never, you don't touch or talk, but your heart is enticed by a woman. And you think about some girl other than your wife, or if you're not married, you just think about some girl in your heart in a lustful way.

Or he says, if I lurked at my neighbor's doorway where I go to some area, young people go to some place where there's a pretty girl, he says, if I have done that, let judgment come upon my wife. There are many married men who don't have victory over the lust of their eyes, leave alone single ones. Go to the book of Job and learn.

And that's not all. His fear of God is seen also in the way he treats people who are inferior to him. You know, the way you treat people who are greater than you proves nothing.

The way you treat people who you feel are equal to you proves nothing. The way you treat people who are lower in society than you, that is a test of whether you fear God or not. If I have despised the claim, verse 13, of my servants in my home, he was a rich man, he had servants in my home, and he said, if I ever treated them badly, that I did not give them what they deserve, did not pay them properly, or if they have a complaint about the way I treated them, how can I stand before God? If I have treated people poorer than me or a lower level of society than me in a way that I look down on them, and look what he says, didn't the one who make me make them also? They were born in some mother's womb, and I was born in a mother's womb.

Amazing man, that he did not think that they are lower in society. They were born in some mother's womb, and I was born in some mother's womb. We are really the same.

I want to ask you, brothers and sisters who belong to New Covenant Christian Fellowship, is that how you look at people who you feel are inferior to you? Even in school or college, your children can look down at some boy who is not so smart as you, not so clever as you, not so well-dressed as you, all types of things. Learn from Job. He says, if I have not cared for the orphan who are 17, eaten my morsel alone, and the orphan has not shared it.

There are children around us whose fathers have died, orphans. You know some of them. How do you treat them, people who are poor? And he goes on to say, if I lifted my hand, verse 21, against an orphan, let my hand fall away from the socket.

Then he talks about money. This is the one who God boasted about, verse 24. If I put my confidence in my bank account, or called today bank account as the one I trust in, if I gloated, that means if I made people aware how great is my wealth and made them feel small, because with my hand I worked hard and earned.

A pride that comes into the heart of people who have earned a lot of money with their hard work. Then another area is when your enemy is defeated. Somebody you don't like was punished by God.

Verse 29, have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy or exulted when evil befell someone whom I didn't like? And some calamity came on that person. And instead of feeling sorry, I said, ah, he deserves it. The guy treated me, a child of God, so badly.

God dealt with him. Job didn't feel like that, by the way. You may feel like that, but not God, not Job.

And then another thing, when I committed a sin, verse 33, have I covered it up like Adam? Oh, there's a sin in my heart, bosom means heart, have I hidden it there, covered it up so that, can I cover it up from God? He says, Lord, verse 35 middle, answer me. He's not saying this to impress us. He's saying, God, I'm saying all this, tell me if I've done any of those things.

Lord, tell me, have I lusted after some women? Is there somebody who works under me who I did not pay properly? Is there someone who's inferior, who I thought was inferior to me because he was born in a lower level of society, is not so educated as me? Have I looked down on another human being? It could be in a church that you look down on others. I want to ask you, brothers, do you always mingle in this church with people at your own level of society? Have you ever mingled in this church with someone who is lower than you in society? Ask yourself, have you ever in the last so many years? Think about that before you imagine that you're very spiritual. Learn from Joe.

That's the type of person whom God boasted about to Satan. Have you seen a man like Joe? There's no one like him in the whole earth. We glory in, we're a better church than others.

Even if you don't glory it, you may feel it in your heart. But what is the thing that makes us better? Is it these qualities that we read today? I hope so. May God help us.