Call Him, Fear Him, Love Him

11-9-25

Hoonah-Hadley

Psalm 145:1-5, 18-21

Call to Worship Psalm 98

Daily Verse’s Psalm 145:18-20

Call Him, Fear Him, Love Him

“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him...He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him…The Lord preserves all who love Him…” Depending on the context and usage, call, fear and love may all be considered verbs, and a verb is the part of speech that expresses action, or we could say, requires action. Any body have a phone? Does the phone do anything unto itself? If you don’t plug it in the battery will die and it will be of no use whatsoever. If you don’t pick it up and push the buttons, or speak to it, 0, nothing. For you to talk to someone, communicate in some manner you must make a conscious decision first, then act on that by picking up your phone and in most cases, manually, physically do something. With technology today many of you may just speak to your phone, “Call Aunt Betty”, and it will be done. When our lesson says, “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him…”, this call is a conscious, deliberate, intentional action, with pen, voice, prayer, song, from your heart to His ever-present hearing ear. Among others, Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Psalm 34:17 “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.” Proverbs 2:3,5 “Yes, if you cry out…and lift up your voice for understanding…Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” One of the most famous, 2 Chron. 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face…then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin…”

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Vs. 19 “He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.” We’re talking about God here, our Lord, the One that fulfills His promises, the only God that will, “He will fulfill…”  Ezekiel 12:25 “…I will fulfill whatever I say…” Matt. 5:17 “…I did not come to destroy but to fulfill…” Isaiah 55:10-11 an all time classic: “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Here’s the key to God fulfilling your desire, “of those who fear Him.” Fear God and you will fear nothing else. Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Exodus 20:20 “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” Deut. 31:12-13 “Gather the people together…that they may learn to fear the Lord your God…and that their children…may learn to fear the Lord your God…” Psalm 23:4 “I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” 1 Peter 3:14 “Do not fear what they fear.” Rev. 14:7 “…fear God and give Him glory…” There is more, much, much more on fear, the dos and don’ts of fear, what to fear and what not to fear. I’m guessing Zach Williams famous song “Fear Is A Liar” comes from 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of sound mind.” A large part of the world’s economy hinges on fear. Medicine, pharmaceuticals, insurance, social media, politics, fear is profitable. Maybe it started when mom said, “Wait till your father gets home.” Fear comes in many forms, doubt, worry, anxiety, it disables us mentally, physically and spiritually. Knock it off! Fear God, that’s it, and it’s free.

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The second half of verse 19 “He also will hear their cry and save them.” We’re not splitting atoms here, anyone can pray, cry out, shout with a loud voice, touch the hem of His garment, stand afar off. He knows our hearts, the words before we speak them. If you believe in your heart, confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. This is not subject to debate or argument. Jesus Christ came to save sinners, that’s it, real simple. Know this, Christ is forever attentive to your plea, ever seeing, ever hearing, He even knows our thoughts. He heard Mary Magdalene and saved her. He heard the Canaanite woman, saved her daughter. He heard the cry of the blind men, the lepers, the dying thief on the cross and promised him paradise. Remember the 10 lepers, the one returned and gave thanks? The nine were healed physically and temporarily, the one, spiritually and eternally. The tax collector stood afar off and beat his chest, saying “God, be merciful to me a sinner! This man went down to his house justified…” The heart of justification is salvation, salvation, grace, and grace is free save your cry. Can you afford to raise your voice, cry out, beat your chest, get on your knees? For grace to do its work, we must first recognize our spiritual poverty, once that work is complete, and the role is called up yonder, the only thing left to do is enter the gates with thanksgiving. Psalm 10:17 “Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear.” Phi. 2:12-13 “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” When our poor soul is humbled before God, when we return, beat our chest, cry out, when His saving grace becomes our sole desire, He “will hear our cry and save us.”

It's God’s will, His election, but our desire, our cry is critical to the equation.

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Vs. 20 “The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy”

Question, would you rather be preserved or destroyed? There is no middle ground here, you are either preserved or destroyed. This is God’s mercy and God’s justice, both are as certain as the rising sun, it is the blessed assurance of the risen Son. 1 John 3:8 “…for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 Tim. 1:15 “…that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Psalm 1:6 “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” The Lord preserves all who love Him. Question, do you love Him? The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke converge on this very thing when the Pharisees question Jesus saying, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” Anybody? Somebody? Why does Jesus teach us what we “shall” do? Because we need to be taught. Our inherent, fallen, sinful nature does not lend itself to the love of God, fact, we need taught, we need reminded, we need told. Actually in 1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them…the world is passing away and the lust of it; but those who do the will of God abide forever.” But those who “do” the will of God! John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His…Son…” There is no love without giving. In order that we might be preserved eternally in the presence of our Lord, loving Him is a deciding factor. In closing let’s review. “The Lord is near to those who call upon Him…who call upon Him in truth.” This call needs to be sincere and genuine, God is not mocked, the truth will be told. “He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him.” A desire that is fulfilled, is grounded in the fear of God. “The Lord preserves all who love Him.” Christ said, “Do you love Me?” Amen.