The Fear of the Shepherds

Luke 2:8 and 9: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them: and they were sore afraid."


There is an unholy trend today in which God is disrespected. The ungodly think nothing of taking His Name in vain, bandying it about as though it is nothing. He is blasphemously called the "man upstairs" and many other foolish names. This nation's motto may be "In God we trust," but as a nation, we have done everything we can to keep our Creator at a distance.


We sing "God Bless America," but America does not bless God. In the public schools, Christmas carols are not to be sung. School valedictorians and salutatorians who are Christians and have earned the right to give the commencement address, are told they are not allowed to mention the Name of Jesus Christ. What about their First Amendment right to free speech? The judges who made these outrageous and foolish rulings will someday pay for their hypocrisy when they face the Supreme Judge, Who is Jesus Christ, not John Gordon Roberts!


For some, it is not all right to use the name "Jesus Christ" reverently (They get "offended" at that), but it is fine with them if His Name is used as a cuss word. This is extremely disrespectful to the Lord, and is probably the clearest violation of the Third Commandment there is. Exodus 20:7 says, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." In fact Christians should take offense when they hear this kind of language spoken by the ungodly. "Jesus Christ" is not a cuss word, and those who use His name in vain should be taken to task for it. Jesus Christ is our Lord, whether you or anyone else likes it or not. His name is to be spoken with reverence, not carelessly used as though it were nothing. (By the way, this is the precise meaning of the Hebrew for "in vain.")


Jesus Christ is not a nothing. He is the Creator and Lord of the universe. He is God Who came in the flesh to redeem us from our sin. He is, according to the Nicene Creed, "one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was made in the likeness of men. He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, and on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father, from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end."



Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." Throughout the Scriptures, fear is the first thing experienced when there is an appearance of God or His glory.



I state this in no uncertain terms: Jesus Christ is no one to mess around with. Even as a new born baby, His birth inspired fear and respect. He was God Himself come in human flesh! Our text says that He was born, the angel of the Lord appeared to some shepherds watching their sheep. Not only that, but the glory of the Lord shone all around them. When they saw this, they did not jump up and down and shout for joy or have a fit of "holy laughter," nor did they get "drunk in the Spirit." They were wiser than most people in this world are today: They had a healthy fear o God! Proverbs 9:10 bears repeating: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."



This fear is consistent with other appearances of the Lord and His glory in Scripture. We will show this by examining three important incidents recorded therein; the giving of the Ten Commandments, the call of Isaiah to his prophetic ministry, and the birth of the church at Pentecost.



I. We speak first of the giving of the Ten Commandments.God was speaking, according to Exodus 20:18-21, "And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we shall hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the black cloud where God was."




When the Ten Commandments were given, the people who were there did not shout "Glory to God" or use pious language to spout out phony praise. They were scared to death! They saw how serious God was about them keeping His law. Their fear was so great, that even after Moses assured them they would not die, they still drew back when Moses drew near to where God was. Would to God this kind of fear of God would show itself in today's church. A fear of sinning against God would bring revival to the church, and great blessing to the world.


II. Isaiah the Prophet also had this same fear when God appeared to him and called him to be His Prophet. He tells us in Isaiah 6:1-5, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a Throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet; and with twain he did fly. And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."


Isaiah saw angels, and he saw the Lord in all His glory on His throne. His mouth did not peal out in laughter, holy or otherwise. he was terrified, because he saw himself as a sinner, as a man of unclean lips. Perhaps before this vision, he had joked about God or laughed at some frivolity or dirty joke, thus approving the sins of others. Maybe he heard someone take the Name of the Lord in vain, and said nothing in protest, thus tacitly agreeing to it.


When he saw the Lord, that changed. He was terrified, not only for himself, but also for his nation. He became concerned for those he lived with, knowing they had also sinned and disrespected the Lord. Psalm 15:1 asks this question: "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?" Part of the answer to this question relates to what we are talking about now. In verse 4, David says, the person who dwells with the Lord is one "In whose eyes a vile person is condemned; but he honoreth them that fear the Lord." When Isaiah saw the Lord, he learned the fear of the Lord, and it made him the great Prophet of God that he was.


III. The final incident which shows the fear of men faced with manifestations of God is found in the book of Acts chapter 2. Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, came Pentecost, the birthday of the church, one of the important events in the history of the world. One hundred twenty of His disciples met in an upper room in Jerusalem.


There was also a multitude there who were completely unaware they were about to see history in the making. The Holy Spirit came upon that group of disciples, and they spoke in other tongues. Sixteen groups are listed which heard the gospel spoken in their own languages. Jews and proselytes heard the gospel in their own speech. In themselves the language were not all that important. What is important is that the gospel was preached and 3000 souls were saved.


Certain verses in this chapter will reveal the gospel Peter preached. We will first go to 21-24: "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." Peter was telling them they were the very people that had taken Jesus, a man approved of God, and wickedly had Him crucified and killed. But God raised him from the dead.

Now we go to verses 32-37: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Therefore let all Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and unto the rest of them, Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

Fear prompted the question, "What shall we do?" Less than two months before this, they had crucified the Messiah. Now God had raised Him from the dead. Now He could come back and punish them. The natural question was, What could they do now to reconcile with God?



Peter's reply is in verses 38-40: "Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation."



Three thousand people believed the message, were baptized for the remission of sins, and were saved. Verse 43 is very important here, "and fear came upon every soul." The fear of God does not end with salvation. Reverence for God should keep the Christian from wanting to do anything that would offend Him. After all He is worthy of our respect.



In closing, let us return to the shepherds in Luke 2:8 and 9. Let us not leave them "sore afraid." Let us rather rejoice with them as we read verses 10-14, And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men." Shepherds


After fear comes joy. The shepherds journeyed to the manger and saw the Prince of Peace wrapped in swaddling clothes, not in royal robes. They saw their Saviour in a cow stall by a rude inn, not in a stately bed in an earthly king's palace. Just the same, they believed in Him. This same Jesus, that the shepherds saw in the manger, is the same Christ Who died on the cross for our sins and three days later, rose from the dead. He is the same King of kings and Lord of Lords we must reverence, and not take His name in vain, for He is coming to earth again to judge the living and the dead.

He took your sins on the cross, and died, sacrificing Himself for you. Come and trust Him. As we saw in Acts 2:21: "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."


+++

Fallow Ground

Hosea 10:12b: "Break up your fallow ground."

Jeremiah 4:3b: "Break up your fallow ground."

In the Scriptures, when God repeats a command, it is very important. In the instance of our texts, two prophets of God at two different times in Israel's history gave the command, "Break up your fallow ground." The first time was when Hosea was given the message before the Assyrians invaded Israel and took the Northern tribes captive in 722 B.C. The Prophet was telling the ten tribes to repent of their sin and return to God or He would send the Assyrians to invade their land. About 130 years later, He said he same thing to the Kingdom of Judah through the Prophet Jeremiah when the Southern kingdom turned away from God to worship idols. God warned them He would send Babylon to invade them. Neither would return to God, so in both cases, The Lord followed through with His threat.

Today we also have a responsibility to "break up our fallow ground." Maybe your heart is as hard as the ground during a Michigan winter, and you need God's springtime to soften it. Turning to Him in repentance and faith is the only way to achieve this. Fallow ground is simply ground so hard, nothing can grow in it. What we are talking about is breaking up the hard ground in your heart so God can save you, or if you are already saved, grow more of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your heart and life. Now we will turn to Hosea 10: 9-15 and Jeremiah 4:1-4 and examine this matter of breaking up your fallow ground.


I. First, turn to Hosea 10:9-15.

A. The ground is fallow, so the Lord's kindness is abused by ungrateful people.

Verses 9-11a say, "O Israel, thou hast sinned since the day of Gibea: there they stood: the battle in Gibea against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. It is my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two farrows. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn."

In Judges 19 and 20, the tribe of Benjamin sinned in tolerating the same sin the Sodomites committed. In 19:22, wicked men surrounded a man's house and demanded that the owner, "Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him." I don't believe I need to say in what sense these evil men wanted to "know" the house guest. It is of the nature of what the apostle Paul wrote about in Ephesians 5: 11 and 12: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret."

In Judges 20: 11-13, we read how the other tribes reacted to the sin: "So the men of Israel were gathered against he city, knit together as one man. And the tribes sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibea, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel." In other words, the other tribes were not going to look the other way at this kind of gross sin. They wanted to "put away evil" from the nation.

In verse 14, we have Benjamin's response: "But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel: But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the unto Gibea, to go and do battle against the children of Israel."The tribe of Benjamin not only tolerated Gibea's sin, but defended it! They were willing to go to war to defend sinners against a righteous cause.

In Hosea's time, Israel was doing what Benjamin did in Gibea. Their tolerance of sin was in direct defiance of the Word of God. So His desire to chastise the nation was not because He hated them. He hated their sin. He wanted them to clean up their act. As Proverbs 14:34 says, "Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people." He was going to chastise them to get them to give up their self-destructive ways.

They were still free. There was no yoke around Israel's neck. There was still time to turn things around. God was still acting in grace,sending Hosea the prophet to warn them. The nature of the warning was, "If you don't break up the fallow ground of your hearts, I will send the nation of Assyria to take you, and you will be their slaves."

B. The ground is fallow, so the people must reap what they sowed.

Verses 11b and 13-15 say, "But I passed over upon her fair neck...Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalmaan spoiled Betharbal in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off."

One question: How can a nation or an individual plow wickedness and expect to have decency as a crop? That would be like plowing wheat into the ground and expecting a harvest of corn! That is not going to happen. The more a nation's might is trusted instead of God, the more people will believe lies. It happened in Israel. It is happening in America today. Freedom to serve God is a good thing. Abuse of the freedom God gives to serve your own selfish agenda is not a good thing, but an evil. In God's economy, there is no freedom to sin, no matter what the United States Supreme court says. God's judgment is the ultimate authority in matters of morality. If you want the crop of decency, you must sow decency.

C. The ground is fallow, so the people must break it up and repent.

Verse 12 is the crux of the matter: Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. God says to Israel, "Break up your fallow ground." He says to you and me, "Break up your fallow ground." The might of nations could end in a day, and no one but God knows what will happen from one day to the next. America is not guaranteed survival even though it is the most powerful nation in the world, and unless it once again breaks up its fallow ground and returns to the godly principles on which it was founded, there is no Biblical reason to assume that God will continue to bless our nation. Once again, I repeat Proverbs 14:34: "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people."

As it is with nations, so it is with each of us individually. You and I are not guaranteed another day of life on earth, not even another minute. Therefore, repent! Turn away from your sinful ways and turn toward God. Reap goodness and kind deeds instead of violence. Truly put your faith and trust where it belongs- in the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek the Lord and He will be found.


II. Now, turn to Jeremiah 4:1-4.

A. The ground is fallow, so the people must return to the Lord.

Verses 1 and 2 say, "If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of thy sight, then thou shalt not remove."

The question to be asked is, "Why does Israel need to return to the Lord?" If we go back into chapters 2 and 3, we will see a whole catalogue of sins and wickedness the nation was involved in. In 2:7 and 8, we read that after God had delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt and placed the people in the land that flowed with milk and honey, they defiled the land and made God's heritage an abomination. They did not conquer the entire land, and after the death of Joshua worshipped the gods of the people they did defeat. In verses 12 and 13, Israel forsook God and went their own way. They wanted to live independently of the Lord, and instead of following Him, and do everything their own way. In chapter 3:1, they were committing spiritual adultery. There is no difference between someone cheating on his or her spouse and that same person worshipping an idol. Judah was, in effect, cheating on God Himself! In verses 6-10, Judah ignores the example of what happened to the other tribes that sinned and continued on their same wicked course. They refused to learn from history and continued to make the same mistakes they had been making for 700 years. In their treacherous and hypocritical way in verse 23, they sought deliverance from their idols. No wonder, in 2:26 and 27, the Lord told them to seek deliverance from the stocks and stones they were worshipping.


B. The ground is fallow, so the people must repent of their sin.

Verses 3-4a teach, "For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumsise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem."

What this basically means is "Give your heart to God." This is clearly the teaching of Romans 2:28 and 29, "For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." We see in the Jeremiah passage that the Jews of his day understood that God viewed the hearts of His people as far more important than their bloody foreskins! Sacrifice means nothing to God unless the heart is willing. "Break up your fallow ground" simply means repent of the hardness of your heart and turn to God for salvation or get back into fellowship with Him.

C. The ground is fallow, so the people must repent of their sin - OR ELSE!

In the last part of verse 4, Jeremiah tells the people of Judah and us what will happen if they don't repent of their sin. Here is God's ultimatum: "Lest my fury come forth like fire and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings."

What this basically meant to the people of Judah was if they didn't repent and return to the God of their fathers, their land would be set on fire by the Babylonians and they would be enslaved. It had already happened to the ten-tribe kingdom off Israel in 722 B. C. because their ground remained fallow, and they were conquered ans enslaved by the Assyrians. In 586 B.C. Judah was burned and enslaved by the Babylonians, thus fulfilling this prophecy. Both nations reaped what they sowed. Israel and Judah saw their lands burn and their people enslaved because they did not seek the Lord and repent.


There is something else here. Unless sinners get their hearts right with God while they are alive on the earth, nothing but judgment and hell await them. The Lord Jesus said in Mark 9:43-48 that the punishment and torment of hell are so severe it would be better to lose a hand, a foot or an eye than to go there: "And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to hell, into the fire that is never quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than to have two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched: where their worm dieth no, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Hebrews 10:31 says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."


When Jesus died on the cross, God met His responsibility for your salvation. He laid His life down so you might be saved. Maybe you think you have a heart that has been seared with a hot iron, and it is too hard. It remains your responsibility to repent and turn to God. Trust in Him. He has the power to soften your heart and make you clean. Break up your fallow ground. It does not matter how bad or good you think you are or have been. Unless you repent, you will perish eternally in hell.


Break up your fallow ground and you will be changed. Christian, break up your fallow ground and turn back your life to your Lord. Leave your backsliding behind. Make it thing of the past. Be filled with the Holy Spirit and serve your Lord Who loves you. Those here who do not yet trust in Christ: Listen to me! Repent and turn to God accept your responsibility for your sin and place your trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation. Break up your fallow ground, and and you shall receive a new and eternal life. As Acts 16:31 says, Believe on the lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." This is your responsibility.


+++