Seeking the help of God and your
prayers, the words to which I would direct your attention this morning
are found in the fourth chapter of the prophecy of Malachi. The
book of the prophet Malachi chapter four and the last part of verse
two. The book of the prophet Malachi
chapter four and the last part of verse two. And he shall go
forth and grow up as calves of the stall. And the whole verse
reads, But unto you that fear my name shall the Son of Righteousness
arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow
up as calves of the stall. This, of course, is the closing
book of the Old Testament, and it's really a very sad book. Malachi comes with a message
of correction and condemnation to the nation of Israel. And
it must have been a discouraging time for Malachi, mustn't it?
He was one of those that feared the name of God, and yet from
this book we get the impression that he was very much in the
minority. What was the issue in the nation
of Israel at this time? Well, really, it was not so much
that they had stopped worshipping God in an outward way. They were
still keeping those traditions. They were still going through
the motion as it were, but it was very much a religion that
really was consisting only of outward things. They were breaking the commandments
as well. If you notice in the first chapter,
what were they offering? And Malachi corrects them for
it there in the seventh verse. He says, or the Lord through
Malachi says, ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar. They were
offering, as it says in verse eight, the blind for sacrifice.
And the lame and the sick, they were still offering. But we get
the impression that they weren't really paying much attention
to what it was they were doing. as if they were thinking, well,
this sick lamb, it's not going to be any use to us, we may as
well offer it. Or this blind lamb, it's not going to be much
use to us, we may as well offer it to the Lord. And the Lord
has to correct them. If ye offer the lame and sick,
is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor.
Will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? Saith the
Lord of hosts. He has to correct many things.
And yet the tragedy is that the The Jews in general, they don't
seem to understand that they've done anything wrong, do they?
Every time the Lord speaks to them of something, they reply,
when have we done this? Ye offer polluted bread upon
mine altar, says the Lord. And their reply is, wherein have
we polluted thee? And in the chapter that we read,
in that third chapter, the Lord says unto them, will a man rob
God? And again, they say, where in have we robbed thee? As if
they would say to the Lord, well, we're doing everything right.
Aren't we keeping the tradition? Aren't we following the same
processes as our forefathers? We're still doing the offerings.
We're still worshipping in the way that Moses told us to. We're
still coming up to the temple. We're still offering day by day. Every time the Lord says that
they've done something wrong, they're ready to argue, they're
ready to correct him, as it were. And yet they are complacent,
there's this spirit of complacency, isn't there? Where they're not
thinking about what they're doing. Your words have been stout against
me, saith the Lord. They're in the 13th verse of
that third chapter. Yet ye say, what have we spoken
so much against thee? They're like those that we sung
about in our opening hymn. The hymn writer speaks of the
worldling who treads the court of God and they're content to
see the outward building and the other people who worship
there. But they're not so much interested in that worship that
is in spirit and truth. And you remember that's what
Jesus said to the woman at the well. He said, in effect, the outward
worship is one thing, but it's more important to worship in
spirit and in truth. That's what these Jews had forgotten. And it comes very close, doesn't
it? It was a condemning word for them. Isn't it a condemning
word for us sometimes? Isn't it very easy for us to
fall into that same attitude? And we become complacent and
we think, well, we've been to chapel, we've had a service,
we've sung the right hymns, we've read from a good translation
of the word of God, we've heard good preaching. These are all
good things and they're important things. but how we need that same spirit
that the hymn writer knew. When he said, what is the house
to me unless the master I can see? That's what these Jews had
forgotten. And it's even more tragic when
people make excuses for that kind of complacency. Don't you
find some people, when you speak to them, they're very ready to
say, well, of course, there's been a departure. And they say,
well, the spirit has departed. And they almost give you the
impression that it's not our fault. They almost, as it were, by implication,
blame the Lord Himself. And they say, yes, we are in
a bad way, but it's the Spirit's fault, He's departed. Well, the
Spirit can sometimes withdraw Himself, in a sense, but He never
does it for no reason. The Apostle speaks of grieving
the Spirit and of quenching the Spirit. When we find ourselves in that
situation where the spirit seems to have departed, it ought to
prompt us to examine our soul. That's what these Jews needed
to do. It would have been a tragedy, wouldn't it, if the Jews had
said, well, the spirit's departed, there's nothing we can do about
it. We may as well just sit down and be complacent with the way
things are. No, it ought to have prompted
self-examination and repentance and a turning, doesn't he say?
Return unto me. and I will return unto you." Well, if we are content like
these Jews were with the outward worship of God, and if we don't
desire any inward worship, if we don't desire to see the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Master of the house, when we come to the house,
well, don't be surprised if we don't see him. If we're satisfied
without him, we are not likely to see him. What did the Lord
Jesus say? Seek and ye shall find. Ask and
it shall be given you. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. That's what these Jews had forgotten. This was the context
in which Malachi spoke to them. This was the situation that he
was found in. As I said, it must have been a very discouraging,
a very depressing situation, mustn't it? We get the impression
that it was the majority that had departed. Don't we get that? Isn't that implied at the beginning
of the third chapter, when the Prophet speaks of the coming
of John the Baptist, and then he speaks of the coming of Jesus
Christ himself, and he says, who may abide the day of his
coming? As if there were very few that were ready for that.
Who may abide the day of his coming? Who shall stand when
he appeareth? And again, in the fourth chapter, he speaks of
the day that would burn as an oven, and he says, all the proud
and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. as if there was a
great crowd of these people. But unto you that fear my name,
it's as if he's speaking of a small number. Must have been a discouraging
time for Malachi. And he speaks of judgment, he
speaks of condemnation. He says to them, in effect, the
day is coming when all this will be revealed, when all your religion
will be seen for what it really is. I will send my messenger
and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye
seek shall suddenly come to his temple." Oh yes, they were seeking
him in an outward way. And no doubt if you'd spoken
to these Jews, they would have said, oh yes, we're all looking
forward to the coming of the Messiah. But what does Malachi
say to them? He says, well, it's not going
to be what you expect. He's not going to come to you and say
to you, well done, you've done it exactly as you were supposed
to. No, he says, he shall come and he shall refine Who shall
stand when he appeareth? He is like a refiner's fire,
and like full of soap, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier
of silver. And don't we see that fulfilled
when the Lord Jesus Christ came? Isn't this what offended the
Pharisees and those chief priests in the temple so much? What did
they expect? Well, they seemed to expect the
Messiah to come and just to spend his time with them, and to to compliment them and
to bless them and to say to them, well done. But he didn't, did
he? He came and he spent his time with the publicans and sinners.
And the Pharisees and the Jews were offended at him. All they
said, why is he spending his time with that kind of person?
Shouldn't he be spending his time with us, the good people? He comes to refine, he comes
to purify. And he shall purify the sons
of Levi. and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer
unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." Well, says Malachi,
there is one coming who's going to put all this right, who's
going to uncover all this hypocrisy. And the Lord Jesus often spoke
of the scribes and Pharisees. He said, hypocrites. It's a word
that really means actors. They were going through the motion,
but their heart wasn't in it. And so Malachi speaks of judgment,
he speaks of condemnation, the day cometh that shall burn as
an oven and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be
burnt up. And the day that cometh shall
burn them up saith the Lord of hosts that it shall leave them
neither root nor branch. And then in the fourth chapter
he speaks of this note of hope, doesn't
he, in the second verse? And it's a great contrast, isn't
it, between the first and second verses of that fourth chapter? He speaks of condemnation and
judgment to the proud, to those that do wickedly. And they're
strong words, aren't they? As if the Prophet would say,
well, there's only two sets of people. And the Word of God often divides
the whole of humanity into two sets, doesn't he? The wise and
the foolish, the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the chaff.
And it's the same here. In the first place we have the
proud and all that do wickedly. And that's all of us as we're
born into the world. It's a strong word, wickedly, isn't it? It's
not a word that we use so much today. And perhaps you think
of people and you know people outside of the church and you
think, well, they're very nice people, they're very kind people,
they would do anything for anybody. Well, to do wickedly is simply
to break the commandments of God. And we all do that. And no matter how nice and how
generous a person is, they do that. There's not one person
in the world who loves the Lord God with all their heart, soul,
strength and mind. That's the first and greatest
commandment, and to break it is to do wickedly, no matter
what else we might do. The Prophet speaks of condemnation,
but then he speaks of hope. It's a wonderful little word,
isn't it, that word but that we have at the beginning of the
second verse in this chapter. Isn't it a word that very often
changes everything? even in natural things, even
in our everyday life. If someone is giving you some
bad news and you're becoming cast down and unhappy and then
they say, but, well, very often it means they're going to tell
you some good news. You think of a man who goes to the doctor
and he has these symptoms and the doctor does some tests and
says to him, well, you have got this serious disease. and it's likely to be unpleasant
and difficult for you. And then the doctor says, but,
and you can imagine immediately, there is hope in the heart of
the man. Perhaps there is something that can be done. Perhaps there
is hope. Well, it's the same here. The
Prophet speaks of condemnation, of judgment. But then he says,
but, there is hope. That's not all that he speaks
of. Unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings. and ye shall go forth and grow
up as calves of the storm." It's a great contrast, isn't
it? It must have been an encouraging word to these God-fearers and
to Malachi amongst them, as if the Lord would say to them, yes,
there is to be a judgment and there is to be a condemnation,
but that's not all. There is blessing, there is hope,
there is encouragement also. And that's true of the Gospel,
isn't it? The Gospel is good news. Why is it good news? Because it doesn't only speak
of condemnation. It does talk about sin, doesn't
it? The Lord Jesus Christ often has to talk about sin. He often
has to talk about condemnation. You remember the way that he
spoke to Nicodemus when he said, you must be born
again. He that believeth on him is not condemned. He talks about
condemnation. He that believeth not is condemned
already. But again, there is that note
of hope, there is that note which speaks of salvation, which speaks
of redemption. God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might
be saved. Sin and salvation, judgment and
hope, Who is this promise to in the
second verse? Well, just briefly notice that it's to those who
fear the name of God. Unto you that fear my name. And
we all know something about the fear of God, I expect. It's something
that is spoken of very frequently as we look through the word of
God. And it's spoken of as a good
thing. Clearly this is not the kind
of fear that John talks about. You remember he speaks very much
about love and then he says in his first epistle, there is no
fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. There is an
unhealthy kind of fear, isn't there? And we see from time to
time in scripture those who feared God in that unhealthy way. You
think of Adam and Eve there in the garden when they'd eaten
the forbidden fruit and the Lord God comes down and speaks and
what do they try and do? They try and get away from him.
They don't want to be near him. Well, that's not the kind of
fear that Malachi is talking about here. It's not a fear that
drives a man away from God, but it's a fear that draws a man
to him. It's like the fear of a child to their parent. Those
of us that are parents, we don't want our children to be afraid
of us in that sense, do we? We don't want them to be those
who are repelled and want to be away from us. If there was
a child and every time the father came into the room, the child
wanted to go out of the room and get away from him, well,
we would think that was an unhealthy kind of attitude, wouldn't we?
But we do want our children to respect us and we want them to
recognise our authority and to do what we say. This is the kind
of fear that the Lord is speaking of here, a fear that has reverence
in it, but it's a fear also that has love in it. Unto you that
fear my name. We have to ask ourselves, don't
we, what is our attitude towards the name of God, towards God
himself? How do we think of him? What is he to us? Are we still
thinking of him as someone who is far off and distant? Someone
who just speaks condemnation? Someone who gives us all these
laws to tie us down and stop us doing what we want? That's
not the kind of fear that Malachi is talking about. This fear is
a good fear. It's a right fear. It's a fear
that has attraction in it. And what's promised to those
that fear His name in the first half of the verse? Well, the
Prophet uses this expression and speaks of the Son of Righteousness.
The Son of Righteousness is a beautiful expression, isn't it? And we
see, don't we, at this time of the year, the effect of the natural
sun? Don't we see how the sun, in
a natural way, seems to change everything? You can look out
the window one day, and it's a grey and cloudy day, and it's
pouring with rain, and everything looks miserable. And the next
day you look out, and there is bright sunshine. It's almost
like a different world, isn't it? It changes everything. Well,
isn't it like that with the sun of righteousness? Don't you see
it in the experiences of those in the Word of God, of those
in the history of the Church, how very often they experience
something of this? And it's not that they're taken
out of the situation that they're found in. You take a man like
Paul and he's thorn in the flesh. It was unpleasant, it was difficult
for him. He didn't like it. And he prays to the Lord three
times to take it away. But the Lord doesn't. He gives
him something better. My grace is sufficient for you. That really
is in effect the same thing that's promised here. The son of righteousness
arising. And now Paul sees everything in a different light. He still has the thorn, he still
has the problem, but now it seems almost insignificant. Gladly,
he says, will I glory in my infirmity. When the sun of righteousness
arises, just as the natural sun can make all the difference,
so a man who is in trouble and walking through the valley of
the shadow of death and doesn't know where to turn and where
to look and everything is confusion, And he feels like he's going
in entirely the wrong direction. Then the Sun of Righteousness
arises and he's still in the same situation. But now that
problem that seemed insurmountable yesterday, it almost seems insignificant. And he thinks to himself, I don't
know why I worry so much about it. The Sun of Righteousness,
the Sun gives light, doesn't it? It shows us things. It gives
warmth. It gives life. There would be
no life without the natural Sun. Equally, there would be no life
without the spiritual son, this son of righteousness. And he
arises with healing. Clearly, this is not a promise
to those who are perfect. Those who are perfect don't need
healing. They don't need the son of righteousness. The Pharisees
didn't think they needed it, did they? Who is it that needs healing?
It's those that are sick. It's those that are not well. It's
those that are imperfect. It's those that have difficulties
and problems that they can't solve themselves. What's the Lord's promise to
them? He shall arise with healing in his wings. You feel your need
of this healing. The hymn writers very often did,
didn't they? They speak of this son of righteousness.
Charles Wesley knew something of that desire, didn't he? Son
of Righteousness, he says, arise, triumph for the shades of night.
He felt to be in a dark place, he wanted the Son of Righteousness. He says, dark and cheerless is
the morn unaccompanied by thee, joyless is the day's return,
till thy mercies beams I see, till they inward light impart,
glad my eyes and warm my heart. There is a man who's in darkness,
but he wants the Son of Righteousness. Well, it's a good prayer, isn't
it, if we find ourselves in dark places. And it's good to plead
this promise, to plead for the Son of Righteousness to arise
unto us with healing in his wings. But it's more the second half
of the verse, really, that I wanted to speak on this morning. And
here's something else's promise. And the first half really speaks
of something that would happen to these God-fearing people.
the sun of righteousness arising unto them. But then in the second
half of the verse there is a promise of the effect that it would have
on them. And it speaks not so much of what would happen to
them, but of what they themselves would know and do. It speaks
of an experience. And there are two things, aren't
there? Two separate things spoken of. And ye shall go forth, there
is the first thing. And the second is that they were
promised that they would grow up as calves of the stall. Well,
the word that we have here, translated as grow up, it's a good translation,
but it doesn't give us the whole meaning. And if you look at the translation
that John Wycliffe provided all those years ago, he translated
it in this way. And you shall go forth and skip
as the calves of the stall. And we, I expect, can all recognise
something of the illustration that the Prophet is using. You imagine the calf born in
the winter and kept inside. It's not warm enough for him
to go outside yet. And he's kept in the stall, maybe for a number
of weeks or months. And then when spring comes, the
door is opened and he's let out into the field. Well, what does
he do? You may have seen it. He doesn't
just walk out and plod around. No, he leaps and he skips. He
knows freedom and he rejoices in it. You see it with lambs. You see it with human children
sometimes, don't you? They're kept inside for a time. And then
you let them out and they don't just walk around. They're full
of energy and we say, well, they're going to let off steam. That's
the illustration the Prophet is using. This, he says, will
be the effect when the sun of righteousness arises, with healing
in his wings. There will be a going forth,
and there will be a growing up, a skipping, a leaping. It speaks
of two things, doesn't it? It speaks of freedom, and it
speaks of rejoicing. Going forth, growing up, leaping. Well, what's the implication
of the first of those two things? Well, where there is a going
forth, there must be a going out of something. the calf of
the stall. It's not free until it goes forth,
is it? It's kept, as it were, imprisoned. And we are not born free. When
we're born into the world, we're not born free. Don't we learn
this by experience? Don't we come to those points
when we realise that we know that we ought to do this, but
we find ourselves doing that? And sometimes we can make excuses
and we say, well, I couldn't help it. But ultimately, it's
a sign that we are not free. This is what the apostle spoke
of when he wrote to the Galatians. He spoke of the law and he spoke
of sin. And what does he say concerning those two things? He says, before faith came, we
were kept under the law, shut up. unto the faith which should
afterwards be revealed." It's as if he's speaking about a man
in prison, a man who cannot deliver himself, who was shut up, kept under the
law. And the same word appears in
the previous verse when he speaks of sin. He says, the scripture
hath concluded all under sin, the scripture hath shut up all
under sin. This is what scripture teaches
concerning man. Man is not free. Man is not born
free. We very often think we are, don't
we? We very often think we're free.
Isn't that what the Jews thought and how they were so offended
when the Lord Jesus Christ came to them and spoke to them of
freedom? He says to them, you shall know the truth and the
truth shall make you free. And what do the Jews say? They
say, we be Abraham's seed. We were never in bondage to any
man. We're not slaves, they would have said. We do what we want.
We're free. We be Abraham's seed and we're
never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou you shall be
made free? And Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin, and the
servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the son abideth
ever. If the son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed. You shall be free indeed. It's
the same promise that Malachi speaks of here. You shall go
forth. You shall be free. By nature we are not free. When
the apostle in the Galatians speaks of us being shut up under
the law, he uses a word that is only used a few times in the
New Testament, and one of the few other places that it's used
is in that account that's told us in the Gospel according to
Luke. You remember the disciples are fishing? and they haven't
caught anything. And then Jesus says, cast your
net on the right side of the fish, of the boat. And what does
it say? They enclosed a great multitude
of fishes. It's the same word. This is the picture that the
apostle is using. Those fish that were enclosed
in that net, they were caught there. They couldn't escape.
They couldn't deliver themselves. It's the same with the man born
under the law, born into sin. There's no escape. No escape
by our own efforts, at least. But there is a freedom. There
is a freedom that is spoken of in the Gospel, that is promised
in the Gospel. Jesus spoke of it. If the Son
therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Paul
spoke of it to the Romans. In Romans chapter 6, he speaks
a great deal of this freedom. He says to them, God be thanked
that ye were the servants of sin. And the word servants, it
really means slaves. The slaves of sin. Well, what
was true of the slaves in those days? Well, it wasn't in the
slaves' power to just go to his master one day and say, well,
I've had enough of working for you. I think I'm going to retire
and perhaps I'll take a job with somebody else. That wasn't in
their power. They couldn't do that. Their master owned them. They
really belonged to the master. And Paul says to these Romans,
ye were the servants of sin, the slaves of sin. you couldn't
deliver yourselves from that power, from that authority. But then he says, but ye have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered
you, being then made free from sin. What does he mean when he
talks of them being free from sin? Well, we have to understand
that he's not talking about perfection. He's not saying to these Romans,
well, when you were converted you then immediately didn't sin
anymore. No, he's talking about being
under the control of sin, being the slave of sin. He says to
them, you were there but you're not there anymore. Being then
made free from sin, free from its power, you became the servants
of righteousness, the slaves of righteousness. This is the freedom that the
Gospel speaks of. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
came to accomplish. He came to redeem. That was the
only way a slave could be delivered, wasn't it? They needed someone
else to come and to pay the price for their freedom. You were the servants of sin,
but then you became the servants of righteousness. And so the apostle speaks of
these Romans as being dead to sin. How shall we that are dead
to sin live any longer therein? We are buried with him by baptism
into death, but like as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life. He that is dead is freed from
sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we should also
live with him. You read through that epistle to the Romans and
you'll find the apostle speaking of this freedom, the same freedom
that Malachi speaks of, ye shall go forth. And notice how that freedom came
to the Romans. It says, you've obeyed from the
heart. That form of doctrine, it began with doctrine. Doctrine
is unfashionable today, isn't it? People don't like, in general,
to speak about doctrine. I remember when I worked somewhere
10 or so years ago, and there was a Christian union there,
and they were running a course to introduce people to the Christian
faith. At least that's what they claimed.
But on the poster it said, we're going to do this without doctrine.
Without doctrine, without dogma. As if you can teach people what
the Christian faith is without talking about doctrine. The Christian
message is doctrine. It tells us what has happened.
It talks about history. It tells us what Jesus Christ
did, what he came to accomplish. If you don't talk about doctrine,
you can't talk about the Christian faith. This is how those Romans were
made free. They obeyed from the heart that
form of doctrine which was delivered to them. You shall go forth, says Malakai.
There is freedom. Well, we might think about that
freedom and how it was accomplished and we've already spoken about
the work of redemption and Jesus Christ and what he came to do.
That work is historical work, isn't it? It's something that
has happened. This freedom that the Prophet
here is talking about is something that's experienced. It's not
something that just exists in history. You again think of the
illustration of a slave with his master. Perhaps one day someone
comes to the master and redeems the slave. But it might be some
time before the slave knows about that. The slave is already redeemed. He's already free. That work
has been done. The price has been paid. But
eventually the slave will be told about it. And they will
go forth and they will grow up. Well, that's the kind of thing
that the Prophet is talking about. It's not just talking about a
history that is accomplished outside of a person, but it's
something that the person experiences. You shall go forth, and you shall
grow up. They're delivered from that slavery.
They don't belong to sin anymore. They have a new master. And it's
not that they're delivered from one slavery into another. The
Christian faith, it doesn't come and say, well, it doesn't come
and deliver a man from the law and then say, well, here is another
law that now you have to keep. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
say? He said, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. If we think
of the Christian faith as just another set of rules, and if
we say, well, if it wasn't for the Christian faith, life would
be so much easier, we could do whatever we wanted, we haven't
begun to understand it. Really, we're in that same situation
that those were in that Paul talked of, who said, shall we
sin that grace may abound? But Paul says, God forbid, if
you think in that way, he says, you've not understood the message
that I've been speaking of. Though the Christian message
is one that speaks of freedom, of deliverance from sin, a deliverance
from slavery into freedom. You shall go forth. This is the effect of this son
of righteousness when it arises, when he arises with healing in
his wing. There will be a going forth. And don't imagine that
this is something that the Christian will only know once. When you
read through the Psalms, don't you find David wanting this time
and time again? Just like Charles Wesley in that
hymn that I just mentioned, when he said, son of righteousness
arise, he'd already known something of the son of righteousness arising,
but now he wants it again. David wanted it again, didn't
he? After that sin that he committed with Bathsheba. the sin of adultery,
the sin of murder, and he thought he'd covered it up and that nobody
would find out. And when he's convicted of it,
what does he pray for? In Psalm 51 he says, Make me
to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken
may rejoice. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and
uphold me with thy free spirit. What is he praying for in effect?
Isn't he praying for the Son of Righteousness to arise? Doesn't
he want to see that same thing that he's seen before? The Son
of Righteousness arising with healing in His wings? Unto you that fear my name shall
the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and
ye shall go forth. There is to be a going forth. The Gospel
doesn't leave a man where it finds him. There is a freedom. There is a deliverance. That's
why the hymn writer again, he spoke in that way. Let the water
and the blood from thy riven side which flowed be of sin the
double cure. Cleanse me from its guilt and
power. Ye shall go forth. There is freedom,
but then the Prophet also speaks of a rejoicing, a growing up,
a skipping, as I said. Ye shall go forth and grow up
and rejoice as calves of the storm. Well, when we look out into the
Christian church so-called today, there's a great deal of rejoicing,
isn't there? But much of that rejoicing is
really superficial. It's not real. It's not the kind
of rejoicing that the Prophet is speaking about here. This
rejoicing will not lead a man to be careless about sin. It
won't lead a man to say, I have committed lots of sins, but now
I've known forgiveness, and it doesn't really matter what I
did. And if I sin again, I'll be forgiven again. What does
it matter? I'm rejoicing. That's not the
kind of rejoicing that's spoken of here. Yes, there may be a
great deal of false joy around in the so-called Christian church
today, but that ought not to make us suspicious of all joy,
because there is a joy in the Gospel. There is a real joy. There is a solid joy. Don't you
see it very evidently in the early church? How were they described
to us? It's not that they had easy lives,
those early Christians. Very often they were persecuted.
Very often they found themselves with enemies. But what do we find them doing?
You read about it there at the end of the Day of Pentecost.
when there were added unto the church about 3,000 souls. And
it says they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple
and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat
with gladness, with gladness and singleness of heart, praising
God and having favour with all the people. Just a few chapters later on,
we find the disciples brought before the council And they're
beaten and commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus and they
let them go. And what do we find them doing? They departed from
the council rejoicing. Rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for his name. There is a joy. There is a real joy. But it's
not something flippant. It's not something superficial.
That's why the Apostle Peter speaks of it in the way that
he does. When he speaks of a joy unspeakable and full of glory. A joy unspeakable and full of
glory. We might almost describe it as
a solemn joy. And you might think that's a contradiction in terms. But this joy is a joy that is
deep. It's a joy that's unspeakable,
full of glory. He shall go forth and grow up
as calves of the stall. And as I said earlier, it's not
that the man is taken out of his trouble. It's not that all
his problems are done away with, that's not what the Christian
faith speaks of. No, it gives something better
than that. Just as Paul was given that promise, my grace is sufficient
for you. Unto you that fear my name shall
the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. You
shall go forth, there is the freedom and grow up as calves
of the store well. As you look through the history
of the Christian church, and as you read the experiences of
Christians, you'll find that this is not always their experience,
is it? They don't always know joy. They
don't always know that freedom. Perhaps we have to say sometimes
that we still feel like slaves to sin. And we want to know more
of this freedom, and we want to know more of this rejoicing. Well, if that is our attitude,
well, it's a It's a good sign, isn't it? Where a man is troubled
by sin, and where a man has to say with the Apostle Paul, O
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? Paul knew something about this, didn't he? He knew what
it was to have sin dwelling in him. He knew what it was to say,
for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that
which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Well, we're going to sing in
a few moments, in our closing hymn. This was the experience
of John Berridge. He knew something of this. And
he says in the hymn, Art thou by sin a captive led? Is sin
thy daily grief? Is sin thy daily grief? Is sin
your greatest problem, as it were? We all have difficulties
in this life, don't we? We all have things in our lives
that we would rather were not there. Things that we have to
deal with, responsibilities that we bear. And sometimes we find
them too hard for us. But what is your greatest problem?
What is your largest problem? If you had to make a list, what
would be at the top of the page? Is sin your daily grief? Not
other people's sin, but your sin. Well, the hymn writer goes
on to speak of this freedom. He says, the man who break the
serpent's head can bring thee sweet relief. This grieving over sin is a sign
of the fear of God. It's the sign of that fear that
the Prophet speaks of. Unto you that fear my name. What
is one of the symptoms of this fear of God? Well, it's a hatred
of sin. And it's a mourning over it. His name is Jesus, says the hymn
writer, for he saves and setteth captives free. His office is
to purchase slaves and give them liberty. This is his job, says
the hymn writer. This is what he came to do. Perhaps we have to say, well,
I've tried to escape from sin and I've tried to resolve my
sins and I can't do it. Again, the other hymn writer
said, my grief, my burden long has been because I could not
cease from sin. If you're struggling with sin
this morning and if your life is difficult because of your
sins, well, take notice of what the hymn writer says. His office
is to purchase slaves and give them liberty. It's not your office,
it's not something that you have to do. You're like that fish
in the net, you can't solve this problem. So the hymn writer says,
no money for thy ransom take, but mercy much in treat. Go with
the chains about thy neck. This is what we're so reluctant
to do so often, isn't it? when we feel ourselves under
the power of sin and perhaps we read something of the forgiveness
that Christ came to accomplish and we read his words when he
said, come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden. How
often we say to ourselves, well I can't come in this state, I
can't come with all this sin. I must resolve this issue, I
must do something about it and then perhaps I can come. No,
says the hymn writer, go with the chains about thy neck. Go
with the chains about thy neck. You don't have to get rid of
them before you come to him, he says. That's his job. His
office is to purchase slaves. This is how he accomplished that
freedom. The apostle speaks of it, doesn't
he? Wherefore, my brethren, he says,
ye also are become dead to the law, dead to the law delivered
from its power, no longer under its control. It's not your master
anymore. Ye also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring
forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members,
to bring forth fruit unto death. But now, he says, we are delivered
from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we
should serve in newness of spirit. It's still a life of serving.
It's not that we're delivered from serving the law and that
we're then to serve ourselves. No, says the apostle, this has
been done in order that we should serve in newness of spirit and
not in the oldness of the letter. Go with the chains about thy
necks as the hymn writer and fall before his feet. Tell how
thy bosom tyrants lash and rage without control. Show where the fetters gore thy
flesh and bruise thy inmost soul. And then he speaks of Christ,
the sight will melt his piteous heart. Isn't he one that is spoken
of as full of sympathy? Isn't he full of sympathy when
you see him here below? When sinners come to Him, when
publicans and adulterers come to Him, He doesn't say, well,
sort yourself out first and then come. Seeing then that we have a great
High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an High Priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Go with the chains about thy neck and fall before his feet. And what does the hymn writer
say? The sight will melt his piteous heart, soon touched with
human woe, and healing up thy guilty smart. His freed man,
thou shalt go. It's the same promise that Malachi
speaks of. Unto you that fear my name shall
the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and
ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the store. Well
how we have to plead these promises from time to time when we feel
the chains of sin about our neck. We have to come with those chains.
We have to come because of those chains. Because he is the only
one that can redeem his office. is to purchase slaves and give
them liberty. Well, may we know what it is to fear his name,
to know the son of righteousness arising with healing in his wings,
and to go forth, to know that freedom, not freedom to sin,
not freedom to live in sin, not freedom from sin in the sense
of perfection, but that new master, that new service, that service
that is in spirit, in the newness of the spirit, not in the oldness
of the letter. May we know what it is to grow up as calves of
the store, to skip and rejoice, and to know that real joy despite
circumstances, despite the situation we may be in. Unto you that fear my name shall
the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and
ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the storm. May God
bless his word to us. Amen.