The fear of the Lord is presented as the foundational principle for knowledge and a life of righteousness, contrasting sharply with foolishness and wickedness. The sermon draws heavily from Proverbs 10, highlighting the numerous "but" statements that juxtapose the outcomes of wise and foolish actions, such as gathering in summer versus sleeping in harvest, and the righteous mouth as a well of life versus the wicked mouth filled with violence. It emphasizes the importance of controlling one's tongue, likening it to a fire that can spread destruction, and urges listeners to speak kindly and wisely, reflecting the wisdom of Solomon. Ultimately, the sermon concludes that the fear of the Lord, understood as recognizing God's presence and will in all actions, prolongs days and leads to strength and stability, while the wicked face shortened lives and destruction.
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Can we open our Bibles, please, to the tenth chapter of the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter ten. And we'll read the whole chapter. The Proverbs of Solomon. Our wise son makes a glad father. but foolishness is the heaviness of his mother. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death.
I'd like you to notice as we read the number of times the little word but, B-U-T, comes. Verse after verse. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish, but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathers in summer is a wise son, but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. Blessings are upon the head of the just, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot.
The wise in heart will receive commandments, but a prating fool shall fall. He that walketh uprightly walketh surely, but he that perverted his ways shall be known. He that winketh with the eye shall cause sorrow, but a prating fool shall fall. The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. Hatred stirs up strides, but love covereth all sins. In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding.
Wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction. The rich man's wealth is his strong city. The destruction of the poor is their poverty. The labor of the righteous tendeth to life, the fruit of the wicked, to sin. He that is in the way of life that keepeth instruction, but he that refuseth reproof heareth. He that hideeth hatred with his lips, and he that uttereth a slander is a fool. In a multitude of words there wanteth not sin. But he that refrains his lips is wise.
The tongue of the just is as choice silver. The heart of the wicked is little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for want of wisdom. The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. It is as sport to a fool to do mischief, but a man of understanding hath wisdom. The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him. but the desire of the righteous should be granted. As the whirlwind passes, so is the wicked, no more. But the righteous is an everlasting foundation. As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.
The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. The hope of the righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. The way of the Lord is strength to the upright, but destruction to be to the workers of iniquity. The righteous shall never be moved, never be removed, but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth. The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom, but the frolic tongue shall be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable. but the mouth of the wicked speaketh forwardness.
We ask God's blessing on our meeting. Blessed God, again we seek that faith. We've read these Proverbs, these contrasting statements written by thy servant long ago. We believe inspired by the Holy Spirit. We ask the Lord that out of these kind of mixed up sayings that we've read tonight, the Holy Spirit might select something for our hearts that will help us to live for thee in this world where they cast out thy beloved Son and crucify him. We seek thy blessing tonight on thy word in our Savior's precious name.
Amen. Nearly a year ago, to be precise, on the ninth of June, Sunday evening, the ninth of June last year, I was speaking for the first time last year on the ninth of June, for the first time on a Sunday night in this chapel, in that in last year. And I've been waiting upon the Lord for some subject. I like to speak progressively, you know, from the various books in the Bible. And we've been waiting on the Lord. The book of Proverbs was laid upon my heart. I remember saying all this last June.
I just got hold of a little book and put it in our bookstore. Listen, my son. It came out by William MacDonald. And I know Bill MacDonald personally. I've known him over the years, twenty years, twenty-five, six years I've known him. And he's written lots of good books. This is a very good book. Just about that time we were reading, my wife and I, and some of you were reading at that time, in the Scripture Union Daily portion, and the subject was Proverbs, and let's put Proverbs on my mind. And so by waiting upon the Lord, I came to the decision that our subject, when I spoke evenings, for some while anyhow, would be from the book of Proverbs.
And I don't know how many times I spoke, I could count up, but it must be, well, we covered nine chapters, so we probably spoke seven or eight times on the Book of Proverbs. And I don't know what you thought and how much you remember of it. By the way, I put on one of the tapes this afternoon, listened, and preached to myself for an hour. On the first talk, we gave on Proverbs, and I must say I enjoyed it. I really did. It was, I learned something. I learned something listening to myself this afternoon. The human mind goes, you forget so quickly. And I was so glad to recall some of the things that God brought to my mind that night on the first chapter of Proverbs.
Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings. God chose Solomon, a wise man. I remember we read on that occasion some verses. I'll just read them again in First Kings. And it'll refresh your memory as it refreshes mine as you pick up the threads here again. In First Kings, when King Solomon came to the throne, God appeared to him. And in First Kings and chapter three in verse five, it says this, In Gideon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night.
And God said, ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father, and I am but a little child. I know not how to go out or to come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen a great people that cannot be numbered and accounted for multitude.
And this was Solomon's request. Listen. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this thy so great? of people. And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and has not asked for thyself long life, neither has asked riches for thyself, nor has asked the life of thine enemies, but has asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment, Behold, I have done according to thy words.
Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. I have also given unto thee that which thou hast not asked, for its riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And then go on over to chapter three, I think, or by reading three.
Chapter four. Chapter four, verse twenty-nine. One Kings. And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East Country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezra-Heit, and Haman, and Calcol, and Dada, the sons of Mahal, and his fame was in all nations round about. and he spake three thousand proverbs and his songs were a thousand and five he spake of trees from the cedar tree that is in lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall he spake also beasts and of fowl and of creeping things and fishes and it came of all people to hear the wisdom of solomon from all kings of the earth which had heard of his wisdom and then later on when the queen of sheba came to see him she made wonderful statements about him and this is what she said she said it
was a true report that I heard this is one Kings ten and verse six it was a true report that I heard in my own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom How be it I believe not the words until I came, and my eyes have seen it, and behold, the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I had heard. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee, and yet hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighteth in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel, because the Lord God loved Israel forever. therefore made he the king to do judgments and justice.
So God gave Solomon great wisdom, so that none before and none since have had the wisdom of Solomon, and he it was who collected these proverbs. Now there are thirty-one chapters to proverbs. We said all this last year when we started this series of talks. And I think I read then from this little book by Dr. MacDonald, and he says, just what, if I can find it, what I was going to say, there are thirty-one, yes. The fact is, there are thirty-one chapters, and this makes it ideal for monthly reading.
You remember me saying this last year, it makes it ideal for monthly reading. A chapter a day, every day of the month. Now, for some long period in my life, five or six years, years ago, I actually put this into practice. I heard a preacher say once, it's wise to take the Proverbs, the thirty-one chapters of the Proverbs, and when you get up in the morning and you see the calendar and you see the date, that's the day, that's the chapter you're going to read. And so you read through Proverbs once a month. I did it for a number of years, and I learned many, many, many things. It's a good habit. And he suggests to do this. The book is difficult to outline.
Instead of presenting a continuity of thought like a moving picture, it presents individual pictures like colored slides. This is MacDonald. That wonderfully puts it. Instead of being like a moving picture running continuously, it's like individual colored slides popping up and changing all the time. As you study it, you'll find it resembles the Book of James in many ways, and so on. This Book of MacDonald, it's not a great treatise. He just takes the thirty-one chapters, and he takes them verse by verse, and really it's almost like a revised version of the chapter verse by verse he takes it and he just gives a little talk very very briefly on each verse and i have found it most interesting now the first nine chapters of proverbs there is some kind of continuity you can kind of find a stream of thought as we noticed as we were speaking on it during the several evenings i spoke on the proverbs here we did find a continuity of thought
But when you get to the ninth chapter, and for a period of some, probably thirteen or so, perhaps there's more than that, you know, about thirteen, you'll get to twenty-second chapter, it's all tight little sayings and contrasting statements. And as I said when we were reading, the word but comes in between nearly all of them. As we read the ninth, we started. A wise son makes a glad father, but. A foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death.
And so this will go on now for about thirteen chapters like this. There are, I wrote it down here somewhere, there are... uh... three hundred and seventy five proverbs in this short section three hundred and seventy five proverbs and nearly all of them got this little butt to to divide the one thing for the other contrasting statement which with uh... with solomon in his wisdom wrote about so we can't preach a sermon for this there's no beginning there end there's no continuity all we can do is pick up one or two verses here and there just talk about them and that's what we propose to do tonight Now, I notice I got McDonald's book here and I noticed that's just what he says.
He says, up to this point in the book of Proverbs, there has been a definite flow of thought and a connection between the verses. Subjects have been dealt with in paragraph form, but from... Chapter ten, verse one, through chapter twenty-two, sixteen, we have a series of three hundred and seventy-five Proverbs, each one distinct in itself, most of them presenting contrasting statements separated by the word but. That's just what I said all that. I see he's got it here just the same. Now, that's what we've got here. And unless we pick one out of the verse and made a sermon on it and preached a sermon on it, then we can't get a definite outline or some consecutive thoughts here, but we try and pick up a few things.
I would like to, he talks about the Son, the Father and the Mother and the Wise Son and the Foolish Son. Now, these things are very practical for the age in which we live. This book is as up to date as the daily newspaper. It's right up to date, this book of Proverbs. And you can take it verse by verse, day by day, as you turn your calendar over, and you'll find it's absolutely up to date. And it's God's message for us today. It's written in an old time language. It's written about men and women and their ways. in days long, long gone by, but the heart of man has never changed, and the love of God has never changed, and the word of God has not changed, and so it can be applied to our lives today.
How true it is, verse five. He that gathers in summer is a wise son. But he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causes shame. How true that is in every detail of our lives. When we are young, in the summer of our lives and we have a chance to to gather and to learn and to get wisdom when our brain is clear and fresh and young and our memory is good oh what a wonderful time it is that's why young people go to college when they're young and they go to school when they're young because that's when the brain can whole things and you and I know here tonight those of us that are up in the later years of life we remember the things we learned when we were sixteen seventeen years of age but what we heard last week we can't remember at all so it's a good time to go to school when you're young and he says the boy this son that gathers in summertime he's a wise son he's a wise son But why does he gather?
Why does he gain knowledge? What for? Because there's harvest time coming. There's a reaping time coming. And after he's studied and after he's done all he can and learned all he can, if he lies down and gets lazy then when the harvest comes, he says he's the son that causes shame. But we can apply this to our lives as Christians. Living here at Park at the Palms, I sometimes try and challenge my heart. I wish I had more time to do more of this, but when I think of all the way that God has led, all the lessons is learned, all the years and years I've sat at the feet of men of God and listened to the Bible and learned the Bible when I was a young man.
When I was in my teenage, nothing in the world would keep me from the Bible reading. I was studying for an engineering degree in the University of Bristol, but I would not go to the classes that came on a Wednesday night, because Wednesday night was the Bible meeting, and that was more important to me than an engineering degree. And I never missed them. I was there week after week, month after month, year after year, listening to the brethren as they discussed the Word of God. And I remember when I was a teenager, they went verse by verse in that meeting. through Ephesians, through Colossians, through Hebrews, through Romans, through Song of Solomon. Great lessons I learned.
Leviticus, the offerings, all these things I learned when I was a teenager as I listened in that summertime, when I was gathering in the fruit that God was giving me. Sometimes I sit down and think, well, why in the world am I not using it more? Now it's time for harvest and we ought to be reaping the fruit of all we've learned all through life. And it seems to me there's so many other things gathered. So many other things seem to take our time and attention. And we have to serve tables, as it were, as the apostles put it. They have to serve tables when they should be free to be serving and ministering the Word of God.
This thing, I pray about it. And I'd like you to pray about it too. Life is short. And we learn more and more at Park of the Palms, how short life is, as one by one passes on into the presence of the Lord Jesus. We were here this afternoon with the remains of our brother Stuart, who's now gone to glory. And I think Mrs. Elder told me that since she came here, I think it was twenty-four, was it you say? Thirty-two. Mrs. Elder says, since she came here, we've had thirty-two funerals at Park of the Palms. That's inevitable. Because of our age around here, that's inevitable. We can't live forever.
Man's a lot of span seventy years. A lot of us are over that. A good bit over it, some of us. And it's inevitable. But how quickly it's passing away. And we have so little time to do what we want to do for the Lord. The harvest will soon be over. And he says, a son that sleeps in harvest is causing shame. Who may God search your heart and mind? I don't think we're too old to do things for God. I'm so glad that now, tonight, three of our number, and if we count John Meyer into it, four of our number are out preaching the Gospel. Our brother Wardenburg is down at Fort Lauderdale. Our brother Woodhouse is down at Winter Garden.
And our brother Gawley is down at New Smyrna Beach. And our brother John Meyer is preaching up somewhere in Indiana. How wonderful. that we are going out with the gospel. This is great. This is what we have to do. How wonderful that there's a group that goes to the nursing home on Wednesday afternoons and in some way tries to get the Word of God over to these people, many of whom are gone beyond it. They've had the chance in life and some of them have missed it and it's so hard to... they've gone beyond it and their brains won't take it now. But thank God there are those that are going and those that are trying. Thank God for our respect and those that go to the jail and seek to get the Word of God in over there to those men who somehow have missed the way and need God's salvation more than anything else on earth.
Thank God for that. There is a time of harvest and we should be reaping He that gathers in summer is a wise son, but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. May God tell us to do more and more and more in the little while that's left in life. Verse eight. I'm picking a few verses out because we can't follow it verse by verse. Verse eight. The wise in heart will receive commandments, but a prating fool shall fall.
And the commandments are here. They're in this book. And God will count you and me, wise, if we receive these commandments. We get them into our hearts, and we learn more and more of the commandments in this book. God has laid down a plan and a pattern for your life. I remember the first talk I gave on Proverbs, I called it, and I took it from a saying by On It. He said that Proverbs, his title for Proverbs was, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth.
That's good, is it? Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth. I called that Proverbs. the title of my first talk here on Proverbs. Laws from heaven for life on earth. And God has given us these laws and they're His commandments. And oh how He's told us to hide His commandments in our heart. Go to verse eleven. And I'm just hurrying through. The clock is going fast. Verse eleven. And notice now for a number of verses we're talking about the mouth and the lips and the tongue.
The mouth and the lips and the tongue. The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. Verse thirteen, the lips of him that has understanding, in the lips of him that has understanding, wisdom is found. Verse fourteen, wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction. How he talks about the mouth. Do you know, I think I mentioned the first time I spoke here on Proverbs that I came to the conclusion after reading Proverbs for many years, I don't know, maybe five, six years, I read it every month, every month I read, every day I read a chapter, and I came to the conclusion that the great lesson I had to learn from Proverbs was to keep my mouth shut.
And I think we've got it here. Verse nineteen, yes. Verse nineteen. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin, but he that refrains his lips is wise. And in another place it says, Even a foolish man, if he can keep his mouth shut, he becomes a wise man. Now James, you see, MacDonald said it's very much like James. Do you know what James says about the tongue? He says it's a fire. It catches everything alike. How little fire and it all spreads. A great eagle.
Let's read James a minute. See how he puts it so beautifully. And this is what Solomon is telling us. The Holy Spirit is telling us through Solomon. This is chapter three of James. He says in verse three, Behold, we put bits in the horse's mouth that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold, also the ships, which though they be so great, are driven and driven by fierce winds, yet are they turned about by a very small rudder, very small helm, with us whoever the governor listed.
Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold, a great a matter, a little fire, kindly. The tongue is of fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body and set it on fire the course of nature, and it set on fire of hell. Every kind of beast and bird and serpent of things of the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind, but the tongue No man can tame. It's an unruly evil full of deadly poison. Therewith, bless we God, even the Father, therewith, curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
Out of the same mouth, oh, beloved, how true it is, out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Does a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either a vine figs? So can no fountain both yield salt, water and fresh? That's what he says about the tongue. And that's the conclusion I came to about Proverbs. Keep your mouth shut. And this is what he's telling us here. He talks about the tongue and the lips and the mouth.
He gives us a lot of verses. The mouth of our righteous man is a well of life. That's what James says, out of a well, beautiful fresh water. He says, how can you get foul salt water out of that fresh water? He can't do it. But we do it. And the Lord says, out of a man precedes evil. It isn't what goes in. The Lord said, it isn't what goes in that defiles a man. We can keep out of the way of evil, yes. And we can keep ourselves from looking and gazing and thinking about evil things. But it isn't the going in, it's the coming out that shows what a man is. Out of the heart, the Lord says, comes murders and wickedness and adultery and all wicked things.
James says, how can there be two? But there are two. We have an old nature and we have a new nature. Solomon didn't know anything about that. This is New Testament teaching. And so he says, we who are Christians, the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life. The lips of him that have understanding, in his lips wisdom is found. These are the lessons God, I think, will have us learn tonight from this chapter to control our tongues. Let's go down a little bit. Verse sixteen, the labor of the righteous tendeth to life, but the fruit of the wicked to sin.
He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction, but he that refuses reproof eras. The instruction is in this book. I often say, and I've often said from this platform, and I repeat again, God's plan is so simple. Salvation is so simple. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Nothing could be simpler. And yet nothing seems to be so difficult to the person that's not saved. Until suddenly that flash of light we were speaking of this afternoon at the funeral service. The light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. God said, let there be light. The light shall mean. And when that light comes down, how do we make progress in the things of God?
Only from this book. It's so simple. We're saved by simple faith. And the Christian pathway is so simple. You read this book and do what it says. That's all. That's it. Read this book and practice what's in the book. That makes the Christian pathway very easy. Read it every day and put in practice what you read. I tell you what, please stop the tongue being used like a fire, wouldn't we? We've stopped the evil water coming out that we've put into practice while it's in this book. Verse nineteen, in the multitude of words, there one is not sin.
How often we go home at night, I don't know whether, I do, I expect you do. How often I go home at night and think, oh, I wish I hadn't said that. But you know, when you said it, you can't call it back. You throw a pebble on a calm, placid lake, and you throw a stone in. And what happens? The ripples go out, out, out, out in ever-widening circles, and you make some mistake, you say some foolish thing you wish you'd never said, but you said it, and the circles go out and out and out. And this one here is, and that one here is, and then it's exaggerated, then it's changed. Oh, that we didn't say these things. And Solomon says, look after your tongue, just keep it.
In the multitude of words they want, if not sin, but he that refrains his lips is wise. I don't think he's telling us to go along like a lot of dumb things, you know, and never speak to one another. I don't think that. But I do think we should mind what we're saying. My brother, Welscher, told me a little story this morning out there in the foyer, and I'm just trying to recall how he put it. He said he was reading about Harold Singen. Some of us knew Harold Singen. I knew him. A wonderful... Britisher who gave his life. He was an accountant, a clever accountant, but he gave it all up and served the Lord. Went to South America as a missionary, but he didn't stay there too long, went back home.
And he was a ministering servant of God for many, many years, conference speaker. I've heard him, and he's been to this country. And when he died, his sister Patricia Sinjin, St. John, you would pronounce that name. Sinjin, he pronounced it. And there's several of her books. She's quite a good writer. And several of her books are in our bookstore there. And she wrote her father's life, a kind of a biography of her father. And Mr. Welsh was telling me this morning in the book, it says, that Mr. Sindham was never known to say anything unkind about anybody. Now, if you heard him speak, you'd understand that.
His very voice was a kind, gentlemanly voice. And he was never known to say anything unkind about anyone. and somebody, two or three got together and thought, we'll make him say something. And there was one certain lady there that they all could have said something about, see. And they went to Sinyin and said, what do you think of Mrs... No, what do you think of... It was the brother, it was the brother, the brother that he kind of upset and annoyed people and I'm probably changing the story, but the fact was they thought, we're sure to get him to say something critical of that brother. He was a great child, this brother to the And Shingon thought, what do you think of that brother they said?
He thought for a long time. He said, I'll tell you. He's got a very pretty wife. How about that, eh? He's got a very pretty wife. But he didn't say anything unkind about the brother. Oh, beloved, wouldn't Parker the Palms be wonderful? Keystone Christian colony wonderful. If we could do this, When we're going to say something about somebody, and, oh, dear, I've had regrets this week, and I expect you have. Instead of saying them, we just think of something good about them and say that. Wouldn't that be wonderful? He says, he that refrains his lips is wise.
The tongue of the just is as joyous silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth. Verse twenty-one. The lips of the righteous feed many. Ah, wonderful. The lips of the righteous feed many. How we should be studying the Word of God to feed people. The lips of the righteous feed many. But fools die for the want of wisdom. The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it. Now let's go further down. to this wonderful verse, verse twenty-seven. We said in our first talk about Proverbs that the key word to Proverbs is the fear of the Lord.
Let's go back to chapter one of Proverbs. And verse seven, and I've written against this verse, the key, key word of Proverbs. Look at it, verse seven. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Now you see, now wait a minute. Beginning of knowledge is in kindergarten. Then it's in grade school, then it's in high school, and then it's in university. Oh, no, no, no. The Lord says that's not the beginning of knowledge. The beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord. And that's what they put out of our schools today. God is not in all their thoughts. God is dead.
We don't want God. But Solomon says, and God says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. What does it mean, the fear of God? It means I'm frightened of God? No, it doesn't mean that at all. Ah, true, before we were saved. We had a reason to fear God. The God of justice and judgment and equity. The God who's going to sit upon the throne. We had a reason to fear him. But when we found the way of salvation in Christ, we don't fear God. God has become our father. We don't fear him. What does it mean then, the fear of the Lord? Oh, I like to put it my way. My way of putting is this. It's the recognition of God as the Lord in my life.
The fear of the Lord. I don't do this, I don't do that, I don't say this, I don't do anything except doing it in the presence of the Lord. And with the thought that the Lord is my Lord and I'm obeying him and I'm doing what he wants me to do. The fear of the Lord. And I'd be afraid to do some things. I would have been afraid to come to Park at the Palms. I don't know how you came here. Well, you said, well, that'd be a nice place to live. Let's go there. I didn't. God called me here. And I waited a long time and prayed a long time. And I would have been afraid to come here if I were not sure it was God's will for me. And I know it was God's will.
When years ago he took me to Greece, I didn't go until he took me there. And I knew it was his will. And I can say for the last... Ah, fifty years of my life, I have been where God put me nowhere else, and I wouldn't go anywhere else. The fear of the Lord. The recognition of God in my life that I only do what He wants me to do. What a contrast to listen to the people of today who say, I want to do my thing. I want to do my thing. That's not the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is doing God's will. And he says, the fear of the Lord, that's the beginning of knowledge. And then he goes on further.
For he mentions the fear of the Lord several times here. In verse thirteen he says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. But in our chapter ten he said, listen to it. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, the fear of the Lord prolongeth days. If young in life, God saves me. And if young in life, I bow before his feet and say that he's going to be my Lord for all my life. I tell you what it means. I'm going to live a long life. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days. Chapter three, listen.
Chapter three, verse one. My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. Listen, for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. Verse six, in all thy ways acknowledge him. This is the field of the Lord. Acknowledge him. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord. Depart from evil. Honor the Lord and so on. The fear of the Lord. It prolongs days. And when I see a Christian who's lived like our brother here, who passed away yesterday to ninety years of age, I can only bow my head and thank God for what his book says.
The fear of the Lord prolongeth days. But the years of the wicked shall be shortened. how many are cut off, cut off because of their wickedness. I came in here, I told you this morning, I came in here on Friday night with those young people, and I sat right way to back there and listened. There was a young pastor there, very serious, earnest young man, and he told them, he told these teenagers how at seventeen years of age, He said at high school he got away, he got away from God far away.
But at seventeen years of age he was in a revival meeting and God spoke to him and he said I couldn't help it. I went right down to the front and I accepted Christ as my Savior at seventeen. He said it changed my life, absolutely changed my life. He was talking very seriously to these young people. And he said these meetings, special meetings lasted a while and I went to some of them. And he said, in one of the meetings, I had already been down to the front and yielded my life to the Lord. But there was a appeal being made at another meeting. The altar called, and sitting just behind me were two of my friends, he said.
We were in high school together. We were in sin together. We were in the things of the world together. And he said, the Holy Spirit said to me, go and speak to George. He said, Lord, I can't do that. I've never spoken to anybody. I was only saved three nights ago. What can I say? Go and speak to George. He said, Lord, what can I say to him? And the Holy Spirit said, go and speak to him. And then they made the altar call and he got up and slipped back by George's side and he said, George, I was saved three nights ago. If you go down to the front, I'm going to stand by his side. George thought, he said, no, not tonight, no, no.
Then he said, he went to the next boy, I forget his name. I think it was Mike. He said, Mike, can I help you to go down there? Mike, I want nothing to do with this stuff at all. Not for me, this stuff, he said. Turn right away. I went back to my seat and I prayed. And I said, Lord, I won't have been saved three days. I don't know how to pray. But save George tonight, Lord. Save George tonight. And he said, you know what? I saw somebody pass me. And I slipped up and passed along behind him. It was George who went down the front. And George accepted Christ as Savior. Three nights after I was saved. And he said... I haven't seen him for many years, but I know he went on with God.
But let me tell you about Mike, he said. He said, Mike went on with the world, and the last I heard of Mike was up at Macon, Georgia. He got tangled up in some mess in a tavern, and he was shot dead outside the tavern door in Macon. That was the end of Mike. See what we were reading. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. Verse thirty, verse twenty-nine, the way of the Lord is strength to the upright. Verse thirty, the righteous shall never be removed, but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.
The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom, and the lips of the righteous know what is acceptable. What a wonderful book, what a wonderful chapter about our lips and our tongues and our mouths. And I wish it be under the control of the Lord and living in the fear of the Lord day by day. Shall we close? Blessed God, our Father, we thank you for this book. Seems to be so scrappy and mixed up in the verse here and the verse there. We see two sides of a picture with a little word but in between, but we thank the Lord in all this we hear thy voice. O Lord, control our lips, control our tongues, control our speech, control our lives.
Help us to live day by day in the fear of the Lord, which prolongeth days. We thank you for this day, from early morning to late night. Thou hast been with us. We pray thou bless the bereaved ones, our dear Mrs. Stewart and her daughter, and the son up there in Connecticut, and the daughter, and we pray thou be with them at the graveside on Tuesday morning at the Lord's Rally, and give them a safe journey up there. So, Lord, as we come to the end of the day, we think of some of our sick ones, our sister Ivy Chase in the hospital, our brother Huller, be near them and bless them, we pray thee. And some of our number are missing tonight, Lord, and we don't know why, but we pray thou bless them in their homes.
And we pray, Lord, that they may be reading thy word there. And just as thy word is spoken to us tonight, he may speak to them, and we might have the joy of seeing them back with us very soon. We commit them to thee. And we seek thy parting blessing now, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.