Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to our second reading, Malachi
chapter 3, and reading for our text, verses 16 and 17. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard
it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. And they
shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I
make up my jewels, and I will spare them, as a man spareth
his own son that serveth him. Malachi chapter 3 verse 16 and
17. They that feared the law contrasted
with the wicked. This is the reason why we read
the portion in Psalm 73 as well as the verses here. Before we
come to some specific points, I do want to make two opening
remarks. And the first is that there is
this contrast. If you look at the portion that
is before us, we have from verse 13 to 15, the charge, your words
have been stout against me. And the charge is in verse 14,
you have said, it is vain to serve God, what profit is it
that we have kept His ordinance. And then in verse 15, now we
call the proud happy, yea, they that work wickedness are set
up, yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. And so we
have the first part of these verses is the picture of the
wicked, we have a picture of those that have been serving
God but have been looking at it and saying, what profit is
there? Why are we worried about serving
the Lord in this way because it hasn't really profited us?
And when we look upon the wicked, they seem to be prospering, they
are getting on well, why should we serve the Lord at all? And
then we have the new change. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another. And so we have a very different
picture in the words of our text than what is gone before. No
doubt those that feared the Lord, they saw exactly the same picture
as well. They saw the wicked prospering.
They saw those things that had caused the others to come to
a very different verdict, but we are not really told what the
verdict of those that feared the Lord was, and no doubt many
of those things that they were speaking were those same things
that were perplexing the psalmist when we go Going back to the
psalm that we read, Psalm 73, and there is Asaph, and he says
that his feet were almost gone, his steps well nigh slipped.
Why was it? He was looking at the wicked,
they prospered, there was no bands in their death, they seemed
to have everything going for them, Whereas the people of God
were afflicted, they were tried, they were tempted, they did have
bans in their death, they did have troubles in that way. And
the psalmist, this was a real trial and real trouble to him. And he says in verse 13, Psalm
73, verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, washed my hands
in innocence, and it may be there some of you tonight. You're thinking,
you're looking back over your life and looking at your servitude
of the Lord, your chapel going, your worship, your family worship,
your private worship, and the devil says, what prophet is it?
What help is it? I see my neighbors and they're
wicked and they're doing better in business and got better houses
and better cars and better health and strength. What profit is
it? And he's just looking at this
time stone. And so Asaph, it all changed
when he went into the sanctuary of God, verse 17. Until I went
into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end. And he
viewed death as it were, a divide. And the God's people, they know
what is beyond death. And that is why they have the
fears, the troubles, they want to be right. The ungodly, they
blot it out. They think, well, all their religion,
everything is just for this time's day. Paul says in 1 Corinthians
15, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we have all men
most miserable, look is for eternity, not for time. And so the psalmist,
when he viewed in the sanctuary, then he realized as soon as they
pass through death, then they were consumed with terrors, then
they could see the Lord, then they would believe, then they
would know, but it's too late. Then the wrath of God is upon
them. And that made all the difference with the psalmist. And of course
then he comes and calls himself foolish and says, I am continually
with thee. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel and afterwards receive me to glory. And he's got his
sights on glory. He's got his sights beyond the
grave. And maybe there are those of
you Tonight you need this, lifting up away from the world, away
from self, your afflictions, your trials, and point beyond
the grave, point to where we shall spend eternity, and that
puts a very different line on all of our seeking and all of
our desiring to hear the Word of God. Now you hear the Word
also that Job said, And of course, Job is in a position where he
was much afflicted. One that we are told at the beginning
of the book of Job, that he feared God, he eschewed evil, and yet
these things came upon him. Now how many of the people of
God, the devil has said to them, if you serve God, these things
wouldn't come upon you. These things wouldn't happen.
And even Job's friends, they falsely accused him. But in Job
chapter 21 and verse 7 we read, Wherefore do the wicked live
and become old? Yea, are mighty in power, their
seed is established in their sight with them, their offspring
before their eyes, their houses are safe from fear, neither is
the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth and faileth
not, their cow calveth and casteth not her calf, They send forth
their little ones like a flock, and their children dance, and
he goes on in that way. They spend their days in wealth,
and in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore they say unto
God, Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty that we
should serve him? What profit should we have if
we pray unto him? Many have said, and where we
are at Cranbrook, the reason why there's no interest in the
things of God is because it's an affluent area. People have
got everything. They've got their pleasures,
they've got their wealth. They don't need, in their own
eyes, to worry about their soul or eternity, what is beyond them.
And when we look then at what we read in the context of our
text, we read Psalm 73, we read this with Job, it's a very common
stumbling block and a trial to the people of God. So this is
a trial to you. May this word tonight be a help
because you're looking at the other side, the people that know
the Lord are people that have a hope beyond the grave. They're not just living for time. And the difference is, in our
text, the fear of the Lord. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another. The second point, before we come
to some main points, is really referring to the verse 18 after
our text. Then shall ye return and discern
between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth
God and him that serveth him not. It is only after we've learnt
the lessons of Asaph and the lessons we've learnt here that
we can rightly discern, rightly view and make a right assessment. Remember Asaph in the beginning,
he was carried away, he was making a wrong assessment. He was thinking
that the ungodly, they were in the right, they were prospering.
and in the verses before our text those are saying there that
it is better really not to serve the Lord because better things
can be got. But when we know the other side,
when we're in the balances of the sanctuary and we have eternity
before us and the things of this life have got this stamp of vanity
and emptiness and passing away, then we can rightly discern And
it's a great blessing to have discernment. Not every man, and
not everyone, that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven. Our Lord was very clear on that.
There is a way that seeth right unto a man, but the end are of
the ways of death. And the many that were saying
name, that they are walking in the ways of the Lord, or that
they are Christian, that really there's no separation with the
world, they're still in union with the world, than Christian
in name only. Our Lord was very clear to those
that believed on Him, according to John 8, that if you continue
in my word, then you shall be my disciples indeed. You shall
know the truth, the truth shall make you free, free from every
error, And it's a blessing to be a disciple indeed, a real
disciple, not just one that followed afar off or one that was just
in name. Remember one of the churches
in the Revelation now has the name to live and yet are dead. So with those two comments, we
come to what is set forth here of those that fear the Lord. I want to speak to you from four
points. Firstly, they that fear the Lord. Who are they and what is it that
marks them out as the fear of the Lord? And then what they
that feared the Lord were doing. We're told very specifically
what they were doing in these two verses. And then thirdly,
what the Lord did. We're told what the Lord did
in these two verses as well. And then lastly, we have what
the Lord said at the end. But let us look first at those
that fear the Lord. Our text begins, Then they that
feared the Lord. And in the middle of verse 16,
them that fear the Lord." So who are they that fear the Lord? What is this fear of the Lord? Well, if we look to the Psalms,
Psalm 111, and if we look to the Proverbs, Proverbs 9, then
we read in both places that the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. The beginning of wisdom is the
fear of the Lord. So what is the fear of the Lord? Well, what it is not is a slavish
fear, a fear that has terror in it. The fear of the Lord really
is best described like a child with a loving father, and that
father administers loving discipline. The father loves the children.
The children know that whatever that father does, it is for their
good. There's no malice, there's no
hurt, there's nothing adverse towards that child at all. The
child knows that. But they also know if they overstep
the line, that father will lovingly chastise them. They reverence
their father, they esteem their father, and it's in that way
there is a a fear, it's a balance between love and the knowing
of the authority that that father has to administer discipline
and correction. Remember, we have in Hebrews
12 the mark of God's children is that every one whom the Father
loveth, he chasteneth. Every son he chasteneth. They
shall know those two sides to it. And we're not left really
in doubt. We have those examples in the
Word of God where the fear of the Lord was given in that way.
We think of the case of the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. And as they came out of Egypt,
they went through the Red Sea. And with the Red Sea, there is
two things shown. One, there was great mercy for
them, because the Lord opened that Red Sea and brought the
people of God through it. The Lord showed them mercy. And
when they got the other side, And then the Egyptians were pursuing
after. They saw the other side of the
Lord. They saw the judgment. They saw
the wrath of the Lord when He took off their chariot wheels,
when He covered them with the waters, and they saw their enemies
dead. Forty years later, Rahab was
to say that all those in Jericho They were in great fear because
of what they had heard had happened those 40 years before. They were
on the side of being the adversary in the land that God had given
the children of Israel and that they were to be destroyed. The
children of Israel were under the blessing of the Lord, but
they could see the other side of the Lord as well. Then we
have it with the children of Israel. We have it in the time
when the ark was taken in Eli's day, and it went through the
land of the Philistines, and the Lord afflicted the Philistines
in each place where it came. So they sent it back with some
presents to Israel, went to Beth-shemesh, and very clear token for the
Philistines that it was the Lord that had done all that he'd done
to their land. But then you think, well those
of Israel, well they're glad to see the ark come back. But
then there were those that looked in the ark, and 50,000 of them
were slain. And they feared, they feared
that ark. They feared the Lord for 20 years. They did not come before the
Lord or come before that ark. They saw the other side. And to do with the ark again,
in David's time, David wanted to bring up the Ark from Kerjath-Gerim
and to bring it up to Jerusalem. But he patterned off what the
Philistines did. The Philistines, they had put
the Ark on a cart. But God had told them in the
wilderness it had to be borne on the shoulders of the Levites. And so the ark came to a threshing
floor, Azza he put forth his hand to steady the ark because
the oxen shook it and the Lord killed him. And you think of
all of that assembly, the dancing, the joy, the gladness of bringing
up the ark. You know if we were naturally,
if we were I was so reverently in God's position, what wouldn't
the temptation be? They're having so much fun, they're
glorifying my name, they're so joying at bringing up the Ark.
Let's just overlook this, that they're not carrying it on the
shoulders of the Levites. Just let them bring it up this
time, we'll correct it later. No. The Lord marked it. And David again, he feared, and
the Ark went to the house of Obed-Edom, And David feared to
bring it to Jerusalem, but then he heard the other side. God
blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had. And when
David heard that, then he brought up the ark. And he says to the
Levites, you carry the ark. You did it not at the first,
as you should have done. And he knew exactly why the Lord
had smitten them. But he had the two sides. He
had the severity of the Lord, the chastening, but then he had
the blessing. One of her hymns says, My soul
stands trembling while she sings the honors of her God. Because we know the two sides
of it. The New Testament church went
through a very similar thing. God had been blessing them, in
fact so blessed them that they opened the hearts of the people,
and those that had lands, they sold the lands, and they gave
to those that had nothing. And then Ananias and Sapphira,
they heard of this, they wanted to be numbered amongst those
that looked like those that were saved. They had land, But they
still wanted to keep back some of the money. It would have been
quite all right if they said to the apostles, look, we've
sold our land, we're giving half to the church. But they didn't. They planned, they made out that
they were giving the whole. And Peter's charged them with
lying to the Holy Ghost. And each of them individually
was struck down dead before the apostles, carried out and buried.
And we read that great fear came upon the church. It didn't stop
the church growing. It didn't stop the church increasing
and being blessed. But it really put a dample, the
fear of the Lord to know what the Lord was, who He was. And then they had a balance because
they had Saul of Tarsus who was persecuting the people of God.
And we would think, surely that is worse. Then lying about a
people of land, Saul is hailing men and women to prison, and
he's having them slain, and he's standing as a witness when Stephen
the first martyr is slain, surely the Lord will slay him and kill
him. But he didn't, he converted him. And then made him the apostle
of the Gentiles. And you see the sovereignty of
the Lord. on one hand severity, on the other hand mercy, and
it is in that way we have the fear of the Lord, knowing how
sovereign He is, knowing how holy He is, knowing that He has
our lives in His hands, in His words. He can cause a nation
to perish or a nation to rise up. He can go in Hezekiah's day
and slay 185,000 of Sennacherib's men, just like that. And so the
fear of the Lord is a very real sense of the Lord's presence,
His power, His authority, His ability to do whatsoever He pleases. And yet He is a loving God, a
just God, a God that cannot at all acquit iniquity, and yet
He can show mercy. And of course in these Gospel
domes, when the light of the Gospel is very clear, we know
the basis on which the Lord can show mercy and blessing is upon
what the Lord has done at Calvary. When we think rather than pass
by sin, the Eternal God would deliver up His only begotten
Son, and that He should suffer in the place of sinners, and
the Lord should accept that sacrifice. When we realize what this Holy
God has done, to redeem his people, to make a way of escape from
the wrath to come. And then we see this is that
God whom we serve. I wonder how much of a reality
is the Lord's presence with us? Do we have the fear of the Lord? We read that the transgression
of the wicked saith within my soul there is no fear of God
before their eyes." So the actions of the wicked are saying, we
don't fear the Lord. We are acting as if he doesn't
see, he doesn't hear, he doesn't have any power at all. But how
are we acting? Are we acting the opposite? so
that those that see us realize that we do believe in the Lord. We read in Hebrews 11 verse 6,
that without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh
to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him. It is a vital thing that we have
ought to believe in the true and living God as He really is,
not just in a picture book or the way He's portrayed so often
today, just as a God of love, but a God of justice and holiness
and righteousness. They that fear the Lord, are
we amongst them? Have we been taught who He is?
And those things that have happened in our lives have had a mirror
of those samples that I've had from the scriptures tonight.
And you say, the Lord's taught me this. We read in one place,
it's a solemn place, charged against the children of Israel,
that the fear of the Lord, my fear, is taught by the precepts
of men. And what actually is meant is
that man makes up their own laws, their own precepts, and says,
you obey them, and that's the fear of the Lord. In our Lord's
day, the Jews, the Lord said, you have made the commandments
of God of none effect by your tradition. So they replaced it
with something else. The fear of the Lord is based
on the word of God, not upon man. Not upon man's laws or man's
ways, but the word of the Lord and the law of the Lord. A true
fear of the Lord is not a superstitious fear, but is grounded upon the
word of the Lord. I want to look then secondly
at what they that feared the Lord were doing. In our text
we read, Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another,
and the Lord hearkened and heard him. We read at the end of that
verse, Then they thought upon his name. They were doing two
things. They spake often one to another,
and they thought upon his name. They spoke often one to another. One thing that drew my attention
to this word. One spoke in my hearing was through
a message of the blessing of gathering together on a Lord's
Day with the Lord's people. Now there are many of our chapels
that we don't have many that we go and meet with. Some I know,
they just meet with their own family, at least for one service,
immediate family. I know you've got extended families
here, but just immediate family. And so when they go up to the
house of God, they're not meeting with other Christians from other
families at all. And then I thought, how many
chapels where they've got a lot in the congregation, a lot in
the church, But they may not speak often one to another. Now I wonder how that is with
you. We might come into the Lord's
house an hour. Maybe you have time to talk afterwards
or between services. Some of you may work together.
Of course, those who have got a husband and wife and a family,
you can talk one to another with the things of God. Those two
on the way to Emmaus, you just thought, husband and wife. They're
speaking of those things that had happened at Jerusalem and
the Lord drew near. But it's something that shouldn't
just be taken for granted, but should be thought, what provision
what time is there in your congregation here or any congregation, those
represented here, where you can actually speak one to another
with those who fear the Lord. Those of the same mind. Those
with oneness of the fear of the Lord. Think on it and think Is this
really happening? Because here it's not just an
occasional thing, it is often one to another. You know, it's
a blessing to have a good sized congregation, a good sized church,
but in a sense it's a blessing wasted and lost if there's not
that fellowship, that communion and speaking one to another. and speaking on what? Not gossip, not on things all over the world. Yes, you will obviously speak
on those sort of things as well, not gossip, but on secular things. But the specific point here is
mentioned, these are fearing the Lord, and what they have
to speak is what only those that fear the Lord will actually understand. They'll understand what is said.
The same heart, the same mind. This is in the context here of
looking at the world as it were prospering in all their ways,
but you find another one or another two And you think, I'm not alone. I can share what is going on
in my soul. I can share my fears. I can share those puzzling things
with another and speak. So the subject really is highlighted
in this and that thought upon his name. What they speak about is what
they've been thinking about, meditating about. What they'll
be meditating about is the Lord and His salvation. Jesus, His
name shall be called Jesus. He shall save His people from
their sins. But not just that, but the whole
of the plan of salvation. How would we make that provision? Well, we have the case with the
eunuch. When they were travelling, they
were walking together. Sometimes it might be in the
car together. Often try to be mindful of that.
With my dear wife, if we might be travelling on a two hour journey,
certainly coming up this way, then to use that time to speak
the better things one to another. When we have our family reading
and prayer, then to discuss what we have read Or because we follow
the TBS reading scheme, we know what each other has read privately,
and so we say, I was thinking about this verse and what is
set forth there. How do you view that? And we
start to discuss it and search and go over it. And we can speak
one to another. It's in those situations where
you're actually thinking We have something better to speak of
than the world and the things of it, and we are blessed with
a wife or a husband, or with a work associate, with one that
fears the Lord. And we can speak on the better
things. So think of what is here said,
what they were doing that feared the Lord. we wouldn't just confine
it to one-to-one either. I mean, today you've got WhatsApp,
you've got email, you've got letters. The years gone by, we've
got books of letters of John Newton or James Bond. And our present day seems to
lose out on that, because we don't communicate like that,
so it's not passed on to the next generation. But to do good
and to communicate, forget not. It's not just communicating goods
or blessings, but actually speaking one to another. So may this be something that
does exercise your hearts and minds. You may already much do
it, and the Lord bless you in doing it. But if you haven't
considered it and thought of it, Then do think of this verse
as to what those that feared the Lord were actually doing. They spake often one to another. On to look then thirdly at what
the Lord did. While these are speaking one
to another, what is the Lord doing? This is Jehovah. They that feared the Lord spake
often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it,
and a book of remembrance was written before them that feared
the Lord, written before him for them that feared the Lord,
that thought upon his name. So the Lord, he was a silent
listener. Those two on the way to Emmaus,
they didn't know who it was, but he came and the first thing
he did, he just listened. You know, I've got some beautiful
times, times I remember on that. When I was first eating the Lord,
when I was 20, in my own house, and I was doing night school,
and in the common room at night school in Melbourne, they were
talking, swearing, saying all manner of things. And I felt
unable to say anything, to reprove them, and I just went out. When I came home that night,
and I felt wretched, I felt, why couldn't you speak? Why couldn't
you object to what they were saying? And I phoned up my mother,
who lived 10 miles or so away from me, and I shared it with
her. We spoke together on how I felt
and how I felt so I betrayed my Lord. I hadn't spoken right
and I'd just gone along with it really by not saying anything.
And as I came off the phone, I put the phone down, the Lord
dropped in the lines for the hymn. It was 906, the first line,
though where shall I find a guide to direct, while skillful and
kind and brave to protect? And it really softened me down.
And I got on the piano and I sung him through. And the Lord then
laid the last line upon my spirit, you one day will be a minister
of the gospel and only be living to publish his praise. And you
don't forget that. You think the Lord hearkens that
phone call. He heard me pouring out my failures
when I said, and he answered. Another time is connection with
here. When we had church troubles,
possibly 2004, 2005 it was, we came on holiday down to Bea and
we were lying on the stones there. Now the backdrop to this When
we emigrated, or my wife did, over to Australia, one of the
Lord's servants came to East Peckham, and he came with Jacob's
word in Genesis 28 verse 15. I will be with thee in all places
whither thou goest, and I'll bring thee again to this land.
I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken
to thee of. And remember, that was spoken
when he got stones for his pillow. He was lying on stones. Well,
we were lying on Via Beach, which is stones, as you know. And I
said to my wife, I said, wouldn't it be a blessing if we went to
Chao Chao Chapel tonight and the Lord's servant brought that
word and that text again for us and reminded us of that again. Well, the Lord hearkened and
heard. We came here that evening, and the Lord's servant, the late
pastor, he read that chapter, Genesis 28. And our heart leapt. Was he going to give out that
text? Well, he didn't. But he gave out a better one,
because he went to Psalm 146, verse 5, where we read, Happy
is he that hath the God of Jacob for
his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God." And the Lord really
blessed that time to us. You know, 20 years, more go by,
and it's still as fresh and new, and you think, the Lord heard
as we spoke one to another on that beach together. The things
that were upon our heart, the burdens that we had, and he answered
in the ministry. And it may be you've got those,
where you've been persuaded, you've had a talk at home, you
may be talking even before this service, and you come and you
think, how did the minister know? It's as if he was listening to
what we were saying, and he's brought these things out, and
he's answered these questions that we had in our mind, and
we have the answer here because the Lord hearkened and heard.
And when we read that the Lord does this, He doesn't just listen,
he acts. He does things, he acts. But
there's another thing here because it's spoken of that a book of
remembrance was written, which kind of indicates that there
is a time factor here as well. In our case, with those two cases
I mentioned, it was almost immediate. But there are other times the
Lord delays, and it may be months, it may be years, before the Lord
actually hears. Remember the Lord said with the
children of Israel in Egypt that He heard their groans. He knew
their sorrows. He had respect unto them. He
recognized them as His people. Oh, when Moses was born, that
was when They were having all of their sorrows. The babies
were being drowned in the Nile. 40 years went by with Moses in
the Pharaoh's household, 40 years in the desert, and then the Lord
sends him out. The Lord had been hearkening.
He heard their sighs and groans all of that time. And he was
doing things. Things were in preparation. You
read of Joseph, until his time came, the word of the Lord tried
him. But the Lord was working all
the time, His purposes widening fast, unfolding every hour. The Lord doesn't forget, that's
the message here. When His people speak one to
another, He listens, He doesn't forget. He regards the prayer of the destitute,
but He hears the groaning of His people when they're speaking
one to another. One thing in Psalm 73, The psalmist
said, if I should speak thus, it would offend against the generation
of my children. Are there things that you thought
in your mind, questions of faith? Things like Asaph was struggling
with, and you thought this? I daren't tell this to someone
else. I daren't share this with this person, not esteem, one
of God's people who fear the Lord. He could so turn around
and say to me, You're one of the Lord's people. You fear the
Lord and you think that? You can't be one of the Lord's
if you're thinking that. They'll be offended at it. How
many of you have got those things? You dare bare your soul to another
because you think that they would think you're some stranger or
an unbeliever. Now many times when I was at
school, the teacher would ask, is there any questions or anything
like that? And all the class would say silent. I'd put my
hand up I ventured to ask this question, I thought everyone
was going to laugh at me. And I asked the question, and
the teacher gives the answer, and you find the rest of the
class, they all wanted to know the same question, but they didn't
ask it. And many times that's with the
people of God, and Asaph said that. He fashioneth their hearts
alike, as in water face art with the face, so the heart of man
to man. You mustn't think that, like
Dabble would say, you're the only one that thinks things like
that, you're the only one that has thoughts like that, the only
one as sinful as you and has such a sink of iniquity in your
heart and you're trying to isolate the people of God. But you try
and bear to one another those things that are going on within
and you suddenly find They understand, they know, they struggle with
the same things and sometimes it is through the ministry. Hopefully
like tonight you'll find out from the minister that he has
those same struggles and same trials and same questions and
needs the Lord to come in and help him and lift him up out
of those temptations. It's part of the work of the
ministry. When thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren. was the charge to Peter, and
Peter fell. Peter knew what it was to be
humbled and to be brought down low. So it is the Lord that then
hearkens, he hears, and he makes this Book of Remembrance, and
he then visits his dear people at his time, the right time,
and what a blessing that that is. Well, there's a last point
here. It's not what the Lord did, but
what he said here. In verse 17. And they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts. This is what he is saying. In
that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man
spareth his own son that serveth him. And so here there is an
intimation again. This is not a blessing for now,
but it's the day when I make up my jewels. We read, they shall
be mine. You might say, but aren't they
already the Lord's? Of course they are already the
Lord's. That's why they fear the Lord.
That's why they speak often one to another. They are the Lord's. But in this present time state,
the wicked are looking upon them, they're despising them, they're
walking in tribulation and trial and trouble. But going back to
Psalm 73, the other side of the grave, the judgment day, here's
the Lord saying to this poor, despised, cried people that feared
the Lord, these are mine, they are mine. And you that lived
in peace and lived in prosperity, you are not mine. You think of
what the Lord said about Lazarus and the rich man. This side of
the grave, the rich man, all his riches and all his wealth.
The poor man, and it wasn't just his poorness as being one of
the Lord's people, but outward poverty, But beyond the grave,
what a different picture is set before us then. What does the
Lord say? When the rich man wanted to send
Lazarus to his brethren, they had Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. If they will
not hear them, neither will they be persuaded, even if one rose
from the dead. We have the Word of God. We have
the Gospel of God. The Lord blesses that, uses that,
but His poor people here, they try, they attempt to, they fear
the Lord, they speak one to another, but beyond the grave, the Lord
shall publicly own them. We have those the Lord speaks
of, open-armed sewers. The Lord says, depart from me,
I never knew you. They say, thou has taught in
our streets, we've been called by thy name. Depart from me,
all ye that work iniquity. And others were saying, When saw thee naked, and we did
not clothe thee, or sick, and did not visit thee, inasmuch
as ye did it not to the least of these my brethren, ye have
not done it unto me. His people, they wondered, when
did they do this? When did they minister to the
Lord? For them it is, inasmuch as ye
did it to the least of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me." And you see that drawing together. In John 1 we have,
we know that we have passed from death unto life in that we love
the brethren. And here are the brethren spoken
of as those that feared the Lord and because of that love they
are drawn together and they speak one to another of the better
things, the things of God. And the Lord has that to say
of them, that they are His people, and that that last day He will
spare them. The wrath of God really is on
everyone. We're born into this world, we're
under the sentence of death, we're under the wrath of God.
It's only the Lord, through the Lord Jesus Christ, through His
sufferings and death, that turns away the wrath of God. He has
endured that wrath. And those that are in the covenant,
they are secure. Remember with David, David made
a covenant with Saul and with Jonathan, that he would show
mercy to his seed, that he wouldn't destroy all of their seed. And
after he became king, he sought out one of Jonathan's sons. And
he was told of Mephibosheth, who was laying in both his feet.
And he brought him to the king's table, he sat at the king's table,
and the king's servants, not because of anything he'd done,
but because of a covenant, agreement made between his father before
he was even born, that he might have life. Later on, there was
a famine, three years. And David asked, why is that
famine? And the Lord said, it is because
of King Saul. Saul had slain the Gibeonites
that had been sworn to in the wilderness that they would have
life. But Saul, a false zeal, he'd
slain them. So David said, what to the Gibeonites,
what shall we do? Well, how can we recompense this?
And they said, We'll have no man's life in Israel, no money,
nothing except the man that slew us, the man that put us to death. Let his family, let his sons,
seven of his sons be slain. And so David delivered up those
seven sons, but he spared Mephibosheth. Why? Why was Mephibosheth not
given the wrath that the others had? because of the covenant.
He was spared it. So when you read here, as a man
spareth his own son that serveth him. God's people are spared
the wrath of God, not for good in them, but what the Lord has
done for them. And in this life, he has given
them grace. And we read in Psalm 84, he shall
give grace and glory No good things shall he withhold from
them that walk uprightly. They're not given grace and glory
because they walk uprightly. They're given grace, they walk
uprightly, their lives bear witness to the reality of the grace in
them, and they are those that shall be in glory at last. By their fruits, ye shall know
them. And so in this case, the type
here, the illustration here, is those that are fearing the
Lord and that are speaking often one to another. And that thing
that could be easily despised, overlooked, is not a token of
being the Lord's people. Here the Lord sets it as a real
token, a real reality. Two hearts, More are met together,
united together, to speak on the things of God. You know when
I look back at my unregeneracy, the last thing I'd ever want
to do was to go and to speak to someone on the things of God.
Wouldn't want it. And to those of you here, I think
your conscience would bear witness if you went back quite a few
years, you'd say that was me. I didn't want to speak of the
things of God. I didn't relish those things.
But now it's different. Maybe you don't speak because
of the fear of man, but you long to. You long to share things
with those that fear the Lord. And it may be even a husband,
a wife, and to have that blessing of speaking on the things of
God. Former generations sadly seem to have neglected it very
much and haven't had that blessing of fellowship, communion, one
with another, on the things of God. May you, may I, be one that
evidences the fear of the Lord by speaking with the people of
God of the things of the Lord, of His name, of His salvation,
of those things that trouble us, those things that sorrow
us, those things that concern us, those things that we might
see something beautiful in the Word of God and want to share
what we've seen with another. These are things that the Lord
draws near and He listens and He hearkens. And sometimes, in
quite short span, He gives that evidence that He has heard, and
gives those answers. But if it's not in the short
term, He will at last, and He has that to say of them, that
they are His people, they are His chosen, they are His jewels. Could ever it be that poor sinners,
feeling so worthless in themselves, should be said that they are
the jewels? in the crown of the Lord. These
people, the Lord's people, that are brought to fear His name
and know His name, well, may we be amongst them. May the Lord
be precious to Him, and if these should hold their peace, the
very stones should cry out. And you know, if we are used
to speaking one to another before we are called to go and tell
to a church, It'll make it so much easier in speaking to the
church. I believe I proved that in my
own case. And it's a blessed thing to begin
early in the way. You don't have to say that I
am a professed member of a church before you start speaking one
to another with the Lord's people. It's a blessed thing to feel
that union and flowing together. And it leads them to realise
that you are numbered with them. Your prayer might be, numbered
with them now, may I be, and to all eternity. And then you
haven't realised that actually you are with them, because you
speak the same language, you feel the same things. And being
let go, you go to your own company. May the Lord bless us, and bless
us with being those that fear the Lord. Amen.