The Fearful Loss of the Fear of God

Aim: To gain a fresh appreciation of the fear of the Lord.

Doctrine: There are awful consequences to losing the fear of the Lord. It creates an artificial and dead world and it ripens sinners for destruction.

Exegesis: The results of losing the fear of God: all sensitivity to truth departs (vv. 20-25); all care for others departs (vv. 26-29); all true religion departs (vv. 30-31).

Further application: God's cures for the diseased and deceived heart: by grace, let us hear Christ's word, and with humility, let us tremble before the sovereign Lord.

Key verse: v. 22 '''Do you not fear Me?' says the Lord. 'Will you not tremble at My presence, who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.'''