Good morning, joy so good to
have you here. We had that piano tune Friday
just for you. Can you tell? I can't tell somebody
played it recently. I said man, this thing is really
out of tune, so had the piano tuner come Friday. Good morning. And they sat over his head. His
accusation written This is Jesus. The King of the Jews. Then were
two thieves crucified with him. One on the right. And the other
on the left. Those thieves represent all of
mankind. I want to leave here this morning.
Knowing that. I'm one of those thieves that
the Lord have mercy on. That's my that's my hope. prayer. God will comfort our hearts with
this word. Tom's going to come lead us in
number five in your spiral hymnal. Let's stand together. Number
five. Yeah. Come ye sinners poor and wretched,
weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity joined with power. He is able. He is able. He is willing. Doubt no more. He is able. He is able. He is willing. Doubt no more. Come ye needy. ? God's free bounty glorify ? True
belief and true repentance ? Every grace that brings us nigh ? Without
money, without money ? Come to Jesus Christ and buy Without
money, without money, come to Jesus Christ and abide. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he is to have a need of Him. This He gives you, this He gives
you, tis the Spirit's glimmering beam. This he gives you, this
he gives you, tis the Spirit's glimmering beam. Calm ye weary, heavy laden, bruised
and broken by the fall, If you tarry till you're better, you
will never come at all. Not the righteous, not the righteous,
sinners Jesus came to call. ? Not the righteous, not the
righteous ? ? Sinners Jesus came to call ? Please be seated. Good morning. Please turn with
me to First Chronicles chapter 29, And we're going to read verses
9 through 18. No, excuse me, 9 through 20. To provide a little context. This story is about David's offerings
before the temple of the Lord is built. Then the people rejoiced, for
that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they
offered willingly to the Lord. And David the king also rejoiced
with great joy. Wherefore, David blessed the
Lord before all the congregation, and David said, blessed be thou,
Lord God of Israel, our father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord,
is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory,
and the majesty. For all that is in the heaven
and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor
come of thee, and thou reignest over all. And in thine hand is
power and might. And in thine hand it is to make
great and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God,
we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. But who am I and
what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly
after this sword? For all things come of thee.
and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before
thee and sojourners, as were all our fathers. Our days on
the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. O Lord
our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee
in house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is
all thine own. I know also, my God, that thou
triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness, As for me, in
the uprightness of mine heart, I have willingly offered all
these things, and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are
present here to offer willingly unto thee. O Lord God of Abraham,
Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination
of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their
heart unto thee. and give unto Solomon my son
a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies,
and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the
palace for the which I have made provision. Verse 20, and David
said to all the congregation, now bless the Lord your God,
and all the congregation bless the Lord God of their fathers,
and bow down their heads, and worship the Lord and the king.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father Lord, we pray
that. You would cause us to be willing
in the day of your power. To praise you. Giving thanks. For the perfect heart of your
son, Jesus Christ. The perfect offerings he is made.
Cause us to look to him. Pray that you would give strength
to our pasture this morning to bring a message of salvation
for your people. Lord, we're thankful for your
grace. We pray that you would give us
physical strength in those suffering physical ailments, but most importantly,
Lord, that you would heal us spiritually, that you would give
us spiritual strength, Lord. Please cause us to look to you.
Please open our ears to hear. Please open our eyes to see our
hearts to believe. Please give us that new heart
in your son, Jesus Christ. We're thankful for everything
you've provided, because we know all things that you've given
us are from your hand. And we pray that you would be
pleased to give us the blessing of your son, Jesus Christ, this
morning. May you be with us, Lord. In
your name we pray. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. ? Compared with Christ in all beside
? No beauty can I see ? The one thing needful, dearest Lord ?
Is to be one with thee The sense of thy redeeming love
into my soul convey. Thyself bestow for thee alone,
my all in all I pray. Less than thyself will not suffice
my comfort to restore. More than thyself I cannot crave,
and thou canst give no more. Loved of my God, for Him again,
with love intense I'd burn. Chosen of Thee ere time began,
I choose Thee in return. Please be seated. You turn with me in your Bibles
again to Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter 3. Title from this message comes
from a. A word that the Lord Jesus spoke
in John chapter 7 when he said judge not according to appearances,
but judge righteous judgments. judge righteous judgments. The Lord commands us to judge
the difference between righteousness and unrighteousness, between
righteousness in our text and wickedness, between truth and
error. And my question this morning
for you and for me is, have I judged right? Have I made righteous judgments
about the truth? Malachi chapter three. I know as we saw in the song
of Solomon chapter five, where the daughters of Jerusalem accused
the bride of Christ of being proud and self-righteous and
judgmental and any of us that have ever tried to share the
gospel with a religious person in particular have heard those
accusations. Nothing could be further from
the truth. We know who made us to differ
and we know that but for the grace of God, The Lord got his
children off the bottom of the barrel. God's people know that
they know where they came from, and they know who opened the
eyes of their understanding, who gave them faith, and they
take no credit whatsoever for it. But they make righteous judgments. They know, because they know
Christ, they know the false Jesuses and the false Gospels and the
false spirits, and there's lots of them. And they don't want
to be a part of that. In the book of Revelation, one
of the last warnings the Lord gives His church is, come out
from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. The destruction
of Babylon is coming. And we don't want to be part
of that. So we're making these judgments for the hope of our
own salvation, not in order to look down our self-righteous
nose. There's no self-righteousness
in the child of God. He's, he knows all of his, all
of his righteousness is in Christ. Um, the world hears our righteous
judgments and they accuse us of being self-righteous. Oh,
no, no potsherds of the earth. Nothing could be further from
the truth. We have no righteousness whatsoever outside of Christ. We have no hope of our salvation
had the Lord not chosen us and called us and revealed himself
to us, but we know who he is. We know who he is. And we can't
compromise that lest we lose our hope and he loses his glory. So for two reasons, we make righteous
judgments. for the hope of our salvation
and the glory of God. And our hope is that in making
righteous judgments that others will see the difference. And
that's why I say, I want you to leave here discerning, discerning
for the hope of your own salvation, discerning the difference between
the clean and the unclean. The Lord said in Ezekiel chapter
44, you don't have to look this up, I'll read this verse of scripture
where God says, I'm going to send priests and prophets to
my people and they shall teach my people the difference between
the holy and the profane and cause them to discern between
the unclean and the clean. Now that's why God sent me. to
teach God's people, to discern the difference between the holy
and the profane, between that which is clean and that which
is unclean, that which is righteous and that which is wicked, for
two reasons, the hope of their salvation and the glory of God. Not necessarily in that order.
You have your Bibles open to Malachi chapter three, Look how
this, I started to title this message,
Am I Righteous or Wicked? That's a good question. That's
a good question for each of us to ask ourselves. Am I righteous
according to the standards of God or am I wicked according
to the standards of God? And this passage of scripture
will help us to discern whether or not we are righteous or wicked. Verse 18, then shall you return. That's how, that's one of the
reasons we know God's people just keep coming. They keep coming
back. They can't leave the Lord. They
must come. Then shall you return and discern
between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth
God and he that serveth God not. So that's the message this morning. And it's right here in the text. And the first point was developed
more fully in the first hour than I'll have time to do now.
But one of the ways we know that we're righteous One of the ways
that we know that we are clean is that God has given us faith
to believe his word. He's given us faith to believe
him. We don't strive with our maker. We don't call into question
the word of God. Now, if you weren't here the
first hour, let me just say that Every child of God will say,
well, I've strived with God so many times. You don't do it long,
do you? You don't do it long. Oh, you
may, you may murmur and complain for just a little while and then
the Lord shuts your mouth and he shows you that he sent that. He sent that. Um, but one thing
that child of God never does, he never calls into question
the word of God. Never said, well, but. Look, look at, uh,
look at verse 13. Your words have been stout against
me, saith the Lord. Yet you say, what have we spoken
so much against thee? Those that are righteous know
that every word was given by inspiration of God. And is profitable
for doctrine and for reproof and for correction and for instruction
in righteousness that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished
unto all good works. We, we know that these, these
words did not come by private interpretation, but holy men
of God spake as they were moved by the spirit of God. We don't
stand in judgment of God's word. We don't say, well, yeah, I know
that's what it says, but. Now it's the goats that bud, it's
the unclean that bud, it's the sheep that bow. And we come before
the Lord's word and we cannot add to it. And that's the warning
in the end of this book, isn't it? The Lord warns us and he
says, you add to the words of this book, the curses of this
book will be added unto you, Lord. I don't want any part of
that. You take away from the words of this book and your names
will be taken away out of the book. And so we just
believe God, don't we? One of the reasons I have hope
in knowing that the Lord has given me discernment
is that I can't not believe God's word. Now, a good example of that,
I know I go to, I use Job a lot in my preaching and I like the
book of Job. And I want to, I want to introduce
what I'm going to say about Job by saying that I would never
break fellowship with a brother or sister in Christ over when
Job was converted. I don't know when he was converted. I know what the scriptures say.
about Job at the beginning, that he was righteous man, that he
feared God, that he eschewed evil. And, you know, that's true
of every child of God. Was the Lord speaking of Job?
Job was no question about it, Job was a child of God. When
he became a believer is what I'm dealing with right now. You
see, the same things that were said about Job at the beginning
were said about Cornelius. That he feared God, he prayed.
Was Cornelius converted before Peter came from Joppa and brought
him the gospel? How could he be? How could he
be? God had not spoken. There's no
evidence in the book of Job that God ever spoke until God spoke. And here's the real evidence
of Job's salvation. Not what it says about him at
the beginning, but here's the real evidence of salvation. When
God spoke, Job's mouth was shut. What did he say? Surely I had
spoken without knowledge. You see most of the book of Job,
Job's accusing God of wrongdoing. Job's saying, you know, let me
bring my case before you and I'll prove to you I'm not guilty
of this, I'm innocent. But as soon as God spoke, Job's
mouth was shut. Well, he said, behold, I'm vile,
I'm vile. He said, I'd spoke without knowledge,
but now, Now, I'd heard of thee by the hearing of my ear, but
now my eyes have seen thee and I repent. And you see the real
evidence, the real evidence of a believer is that when God speaks,
they are in 100% agreement with him. They don't strive with their
maker. They don't call into question the word of God. That's, that's
my comfort with Job is that, um, yes, he was upright. He was perfect. He eschewed evil
and he feared God. Um, but when God spoke, when
God spoke, he believed everything God said and he stopped justifying
himself and he stopped accusing God when God spoke. How do I know if I'm a believer? How do I know if I'm righteous?
How do I discern the difference between the unclean and the clean? I believe God. I've heard his
voice and I believe him, everything he says. Not, I'm not saying in response
to what God says, what have we spoken so much against thee?
You're accusing us of speaking against you? No, no, we don't
do that. Look at verse 14. You have said,
you have said it is vain to serve God. And what profit is it that
we have kept his ordinances or that we have walked mournfully
before the Lord of hosts? What's in it for me? That's the
religion of man, isn't it? Now, the natural man's got one
nature and that's the nature of flesh. And that which is born
of the flesh is flesh. And so it's not strange that
he should be looking to God to provide for his flesh. That's
what the natural man does. That's what unbelief does. He
serves God for the benefit. In other words, the unbeliever,
God exists to serve him, not he to serve God. And that's what
they're saying. What benefit is it to me? What
profit is it to me? What am I going to get out of
it? Peter asked that question one
time. He asked the Lord, he said, Lord, we've left everything for
you. And the Lord said, you haven't left anything. You haven't left
anything. In this world, all that have
left father, mother, brother, sister, in this world, they should
receive a hundredfold, and in the world to come, eternal life.
Eternal life. But here's what the. Here's what
the unbeliever says. I'll serve God if there's a.
If there's something in it for me. Their service. To God is
for reward. And that's why they hate the
Gospel. That's why they hate the Gospel. Because. Those that are clean, those that
are righteous, those that are believers, they know that they
are but unprofitable servants. They're not under the covenant.
You see, the covenant of works says, I will believe and by believing,
I will obligate God to save me. That's what he's saying here.
What's in it for me? What profit am I going to get?
When I hear your gospel, you're saying that God saved me before
I believed? And that God's saying, I will
save you and you shall believe? Well, that's a... That's not,
you see, I've got a mercenary God. I've got a God for hire,
a God that I bring on to provide for me when, you know, I'll repent and God will forgive
me. And God said, no, I've already
forgiven you in Christ and you will repent. Your mind will be
changed. What's in it for me? It's vain
to serve God. Here's what the person under
the law would say. If I believed what you believe,
all my motivation for service would be taken away. If I believed what you believed,
all my motivation for serving God and believing God and going
to church and praying and reading the Bible, it'll all be taken
away. I just go out in the world, eat,
drink, and be married. Tomorrow I should die if I believe
what you believe. They don't have a clue. They
don't know what the law of grace is. They don't know anything
about the law of Christ. They don't know anything about
the law of liberty. that sets us free to love God
and serve God, not for the benefit that He gives us, but because
He has benefited us. Listen, next time somebody says,
God bless you, just say, He already has. He already has. You know, people, you do something
good and people wanna say, well, God bless you for that. No, He's
already blessed me. I'm not doing that in order to
get God's blessings. He's already blessed me and that's
why I'm doing it. Doing it out of gratitude. You
see, that's how we discern the difference. Those that are of the flesh,
they have a religion of the flesh. Their religion was founded in
the flesh, it's dependent upon the flesh, it glories in the
flesh. And, uh, that's why they say,
if I, what, what benefit is it for me to serve God or to keep
his ordinances or to do any of that? I've got a God that I can
obligate to bless me and to serve me by what I do. That's the God
of manmade religion. How do I, you see, you can discern
the difference. Can't you? We used to have a
God like that. And then God killed that God
and buried him and put him away and we don't want anything to
do with him. No, we believe everything God says
and our service, our service is not for reward. Good verse 15. And now we call the proud happy. Yeah, they that work wickedness
are set up. Yeah, they that tempt God. Or
even delivered. What's a what? What's the? Malachi
say and what's the Lord say? So we look out there in the world.
They get along just fine. Okay, this is exactly what Asaph
wrote about in Psalm 73. Turn with me to that passage
of scripture, Psalm 73. Now Asaph was David's song leader. He was the chief
musician. And he is one of those men that
were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the infallible Word
of God. So this is one of those holy
men of old that wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And Asaph said, truly, verse
1, Psalm 73, God is good to Israel, even to such as of a clean heart.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh
slipped. For I was envious at the foolish
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there's no bands
in their death, but their strength is firm. They don't struggle
with sin. They don't deal with the death
of this world and with the reality of their own mortality. They
just live their lives They are not in trouble as other
men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride
can pass them about as a chain. Violence covers them as a garment.
They don't have this interior, this inner war going on between
the flesh and the spirit. I've got two natures. We say,
Lord, why am I thus? Because there's two natures.
There's two nations in you. There's two nations in you. But
the world doesn't know anything about that. Child of God, you
struggle every day, don't you? And you look at the world and
you think there's no bands in their death. There's no struggle
with them with sin. They don't understand what's
going on. They're just living their life. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could
wish. They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression.
They speak loftily. They set their mouth against
the heavens, their tongue walking through the earth. Therefore
his people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung
out to them. And they say, how does God know? God's not. Not gonna judge me. That's exactly what Malachi says.
They go about without any fear of God. How does God know? And is there
knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are the ungodly
who prosper in the world. They increased in riches. Verily,
I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency.
I've got a life of trouble and struggles. And they don't have
any of those things. For all the day long have I been
plagued and chastened every morning. If I say I will speak thus, behold,
I should offend against the generations of the children. Asaph is saying
this is an inner struggle, an inner conflict that I can't admit
to other men lest I discourage them. I can only bear this burden to
God. When I thought to know this,
it was too painful for me. Until, until I went into the
sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Surely. Thou did set them in
slippery places. Thou casted them down into destruction. How are they brought into the
desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors? If you've ever had the painful
experience of watching an unbeliever die, they live in complete denial
of death until the last moment. I've watched people die. I thought
they were. I think they were. I think they were looking into
the pit of hell in the last moments of their life. I've never seen such terror on
a man's face. That's exactly what the Lord
say. You see, we live with the reality of that every day, don't
we? And they don't. They just live
in denial. They live in denial until it
until it's too late. David said, I struggle with this
every day. And I was envious of them until
I went into the house of God and heard the word of God. Then
I knew their end. Lord, I'll take that. I'll take
that conflict and that struggle every day to avoid that terror. You can discern the difference,
can't you? Go back with me to our text. Verse 16. Then they that feared
the Lord. The natural man has no fear of
God. There's no fear of God in his heart. God's people fear
God. They fear coming into his presence
without Christ as their advocate, their sin bearer, their surety,
and their substitute. They would never dare come into
the presence of a holy God without pleading the blood and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ for all their acceptance. But the
natural man doesn't, if he ever prays to God, he just runs roughshod
into the presence of God and thinks that God's gonna accept
him like he is. We fear God. We fear him in, turn with me to Romans chapter
11. Romans chapter 11. We have a reverential, All knowing
that God holds our immortal soul in his hand and we'll do with
it what he wills. That's that's our God. The Lord
said to the disciples, when they were being persecuted, he said,
fear, not them, which can kill the body and do no more. but
rather fear ye him which has the power to cast both body and
soul into hell. That's the one to be afraid of.
What is he talking about? He's talking about God. You have your Bibles open to
Romans chapter 11, look at verse 20. Well, because of unbelief
they were broken off. And thou standest by faith, be
not high minded, but fear." They were broken off because
of unbelief. You stand in the presence of God because of faith.
What is faith? I'm looking to Christ for my
righteousness and my acceptance before God. I fear the presence
of God apart from the blood and righteousness of Christ. But
be not high-minded. What do you have that you've
not received? And if you've received it, why do you boast as if you
don't receive? You see, God's people don't. They're not high-minded. They're not boasting. They fear
God. He said, be not high-minded,
but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, that's
Old Testament Israel, take heed lest he spare not thee. And we live with the reality
of that every day, don't we? We come into God's presence as
mercy beggars every day. Lord, I fear thee, fear God. We fear him in worship. Revelation
chapter four, turn with me there. We're talking about, I want you
to leave here this morning. Saying, you know, what God says
in his word about the righteous by God's grace is true of me.
Here's my hope. He's, he's given me the ability
to discern the difference between the righteous and the wicked,
between the clean and the unclean. Revelation chapter four, look
at a verse. Verse 10, the four and 20 elders,
now you know that's the church, the four and 20 elders fell down
before him that sat on the throne and worship him that liveth forever
and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying, thou
art worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for
thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and
were created. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us. You see, the world, they only
have an interest in God as they perceive His ability to help
them in this world. Now here's the truth, child of
God. I'm going to send you a letter this week. We've got an email
list of everybody in our service. I'm going to have Tricia send
this letter out. I got it yesterday from Bruce Crabtree. And you'll
be so encouraged to read it if you haven't already read it.
I don't know if it's already out there. But Bruce's wife, Jo,
Bruce pastors up in Indiana and his wife, Jo, was cut, was diagnosed
with a brain tumor last year and had brain surgery. And it's
been a very difficult year for them. But to read Bruce's letter. How much grace God has given
them. Here's the truth. The greatest
blessings come during the greatest trials. Don't think God exists to serve
your temporal needs. What good is it to serve him
if he's not going to help me? If he's not going to deliver
me from this illness, what good is it to serve him? Isn't that
what they said? Oh no, child of God. The greatest
blessings come during the greatest trials. The Lord draws his children
to himself as he's pouring out his difficult providence on them. For thy pleasure they are and
were created. You're in the book of Revelation.
Turn over to Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19. Verse 4. The four and twenty
elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that
sat on the throne saying, Amen. So be it. What's just happened? The eternal judgment of Babylon's
just happened. And the church says, amen, hallelujah. And a voice came out of the throne
saying, praise our God, all ye servants and ye that fear him,
both small and great. Do you fear God? You fear him
enough to worship him. You fear him enough to depend
upon him for all your righteousness. For all your justification, for
all your salvation, do you fear him enough for that? Or do you
have an idea of a God that needs you for something? That's not
a God to be feared. A God that's dependent upon you
to do something in order to save yourself, make a decision, accept
Jesus, receive him into your heart, do something that it's
going to obligate him. That's not a God to be feared. That's a God who needs to fear
you. And the God of man-made religion
is a God who fears man. Oh, he's in the heavens. He's
wringing his hands. He's so afraid that man's not
going to let him into his heart. He's so afraid that man's not
going to let him have his way. That God doesn't exist. He's
nothing but a figment of men's imagination. He does not exist. The God that exists is a God
to be feared. It's a God to worship. It's a
God to bow down before and be in awe of him. It's a God to
walk after and to follow him. Turn to me to Acts chapter nine. Can you discern the difference?
Can you? And they shall return and they
shall discern between the wicked and the righteous, between them
who serve God and them who serve God not. Which category do you
fit into? Acts chapter nine. Verse 31, then had all the churches rest, rest. resting in Christ, resting in
his finished work throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria
and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in
the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied. We walk in the
fear of God and in walking in the fear of God, we are comforted
by the Holy Ghost. Go back with me to Malachi chapter
3. Then they that fear the Lord
spake often one to another. Oh, there's a way you can discern
the difference. God's people delight in talking
about the Lord with one another, don't they? They hear a message
and they rejoice in what they've heard. They can't contain themselves. Now, listen, I know that some
people are quiet and some people may feel intimidated to speak
because maybe they feel like they don't know much about the
scriptures, but God's people do. They talk to one another
about the Lord. They do. Nobody I'd rather be
with than God's people, but. I want to be with them when
they're talking about the Lord. You know, we can enjoy each other's
company on lots of different worldly things, but to fellowship
around the gospel, to be in agreement with God's people, the Lord said,
they shall all see eye to eye. They shall be able to rejoice
in the Lord always. And there's nothing that encourages
my heart more than to have a conversation with God's people about Christ. And that's what we're doing right
now, in a sense, isn't it? In a big sense. I mean, this
would probably be the first application of that. They spake often one
to another. How often do we speak one to
another? And we're speaking, I'm speaking,
you say, well, you're doing all the talking, preacher, but you're
speaking right now too, aren't you? Your heart, what do you
say when you hear what God says? Amen. Amen. Amen. I'm in agreement with that. I
see you are. You're shaking your head. You're agreeing with what
God says. We're often meeting together
and talking about Christ one to another, aren't we? You're
speaking to me and I'm speaking to you. I've used this illustration
before. It's true. If this building was
empty and I was the only one here, would I be preaching right
now? Nope. I wouldn't be. I could be doing everything I'm
doing right now and saying everything I'm saying right now. I wouldn't
be preaching. Preaching requires hearing, doesn't
it? And what I'm saying to you, child of God, is you're just
involved in, you're as much involved in this right now as I am. Don't
think that preaching is just something the preacher does.
We're in this together. Preach with me, Pastor. Preach
with me. Don't preach at me. Don't preach
over my head. Don't preach to me. Preach with
me. And that's what preaching is.
We're speaking often, one to another, about Christ. And the
potsherds of the earth, they can't enter into this. They can't
enter into it. They'll come and they'll sit.
And they'll hate what they're hearing and they'll leave and
they'll be able to say a word about it. They'll be offended
by what we're talking about. But the child of God speaking
often one with another about the gospel, you discern the difference. Can you enter into that? They spake often one to another,
verse 16, 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. God's people think about him
all the time. They just do. It's called praying without ceasing.
We just, the Lord, the Lord makes sure of it. He makes sure of
it. And what do they think? They
think about his name. What's his name? Jesus. You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. Don't call him
Jesus if you think he hasn't actually accomplished the salvation
of his people and put away their sins by the sacrifice of himself
once and for all. That's another Jesus. It's another
Jesus. And the Lord speaks of that.
2 Corinthians 11, I think it's around verse four, he says that
they have another Jesus, another gospel, and another spirit. There's
plenty of Jesuses out there, but there's one that God's people
think about. He's the Messiah. He's the King
of Kings. He's Emmanuel, God with us. He's
the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the end, the author and the finisher of our faith. And we
have to think about him all the time, don't we? He's the forerunner. He's the
redeemer. He's the rock. And our rock's higher than their
rock, isn't it? He's the good shepherd. And the Lord says in Romans chapter
1 verse 28, they did not like to retain the knowledge of God. They put God out of their mind.
I'm just they just live their lives without any fear of God,
without any thought of God. And we can't go long at all without
thinking about him, can we? They talk to one another about
him, and they think about him, and they fear him, and they worship
him. What a difference. What a difference. And the Lord says he has a book.
Now, God doesn't have to write something
down in order to remember it. This analogy of, this is the
book of remembrance. You see this in verse 16, 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. Turn to me to Psalm 56, Psalm
56, verse eight. When I cry unto thee, then shall
my enemies turn back. I'm sorry, that's verse nine,
verse eight. Thou tellest my wanderings. Oh, we wander a lot,
don't we? We wander and we wonder, and
God knows them. He knows them. Psalm 139, he
goes before us, he comes behind us. He knows our thoughts before
we think them. And here the psalmist says, thou
tell us my wonderings. You know what I'm going through.
Put thou my tears into a bottle. Are they not in thy book? Now here's the discerning difference
between the believer and the unbeliever. The believer trusts
God to keep a record. He doesn't keep a record. The Lord, you know, whatever
the Lord's pleased to honor and write in his book, that's the
secret things. The Lord will take care of that.
What do the religious do? They read their book to you all
the time, don't they? They tell you all the things
they're doing. They keep a record of what they're doing. Job said, oh, that my words were
printed in a book, that they were graven with an iron pen
and lead and a rock forever. Well, they were, Job. There's
a book of remembrance. God keeps it. God keeps it. This idea of a book is because
of the certainty Of something that's important and permanent. And they trust God to take care
of keeping the record. Alright, look at these last couple
verses quickly. God's people don't strive with
him over his word. Their service is not for reward.
They fear God. They speak of him one to another.
They think on his name. They trust him. to keep a record,
and they rest in being his. Look at verse 17, and they shall
be mine, saith the Lord of hosts. Paul in the book of Galatians
says that they, that you knew God or rather are known of him.
We just want to be along to the Lord, don't we? Just want to
be his. Lord, I'm not my own. I've been bought with a price.
I'm your possession. I'm the temple of your spirit. And in that day, when I make
up my jewels, I will spare them as a man spareth his only son,
his own son that serveth him. Now I looked up that word spare
and it's the word pity. Pity. God's people want God to
pity them. The unbeliever, I don't need
to be pitied by anybody. I can stand on my own two feet.
God's people bow in fear and say, Lord, have mercy on me. Pity me, Lord. Look at me. I'm
a mess. Pity me. And the Lord says, I'm
going to gather my jewels. And like a father pities his
own son, I'm going to pity them that fear me. And they're going
to return. They're going to return to the
place that they lost in their father, Adam, walking with me
in the cool of the day in paradise. They're going to return. And
they're going to discern the difference between the righteous
and the wicked, between them that serve God and them that
serve him not. And God give us that discernment
for ourselves. Let's pray. Our heavenly father,
we're thankful for your word and we ask now that your Holy
Spirit Would bear with us and speak to us. Thy truth in Christ,
for it's in his name we pray. Amen. Number 26, let's stand together
26. ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Thank God for love, his sovereign
love. Unchanging is God's covenant
love, which predestined that I should be one of the chosen. family. Thank God for grace, His matchless
grace, amazing, free, eternal grace. Grace chose me and devised
a way to save me and put sin away. Thank God for blood, His
Son's own blood, effectual sin, atoning blood. The blood of Christ poured out
for me, obtained redemption full and free. Thank God for power,
His Spirit's power, regenerating, saving power. The Spirit's power
caused me to live and made me willing to believe. Thank God for peace, His perfect
peace. The blood of Christ has brought
me peace. My conscience free, my heart
at ease. I am redeemed and I have peace. Okay.