Let us turn again to God's Word
and turn into the portion of Scripture that we read in the
book of Malachi. And I want to direct your attention
to words that we find here in chapter 3 and verses 16 and 17.
Malachi chapter 3 and verses 16 and 17 where we read of the
godly remnant, or the God-fearing remnant,
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."
The God-fearing remnant. And there we are told something
of the The circumstances in which they met and spake often one
to another. Observe the opening word here
in verse 16. Then they that feared the Lord. It was when there was great wickedness. when there was much murmuring
against God, such is the context as we see from the preceding
verses. There in verses 10 to 15 we have
such contrasting words. We have the tender words that
God himself speaks to his ancient covenant people. At verse 10
he says, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there
may be meat in mine house. And prove me now herewith, saith
the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room
enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer
for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your
ground, neither shall your vine cost her fruit before the time
in the field, saith the Lord of Hosts. And all nations shall
call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith
the Lord of Hosts." What kind and gracious words the Lord speaks
to His people, and then We see in the following verses, verse
13, following there, violent words against God. He says, your words have been
stout. against me. Yet ye say, What
have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, It is vain
to serve God. And what profit is it that we
have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully
before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy,
and they that work wickedness are set up, yea, they that tempt
God are delivered." All their words were stout. Very striking word that we have
there at the beginning of verse 13 your words have been stout
against me or as the margin as the margin reads your words have
been hard or bold literally the words or the idea behind what
he said here is that their words have been strung strung upon
me says God O men by their sins, as it were, are wrestling with
God and forcing God's punishments to fall upon them. Such is the
arrogance of the way of the sinner. We see it several times, do we
not? We see, for example, in the language
that we find back in the book of the prophet Isaiah, and there
in chapter 5, how he speaks against their foolishness
and their following. Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity
and sin as it were with a cart rope that say, let him make speed
and hasten his work. that we may see it, and let the
counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may
know it." There in Isaiah chapter 5 and verses 18 and 19. Now they will themselves seek
to draw God's punishment upon them. They're so arrogant in
their attitude towards Him. This is the context in which
we find the words of our text. the hard-heartedness of those
around about them, refusing the gracious words of God, arguing
with the Almighty. And in the midst of this, we
find the God-fearing spoken of here in the words of our text
twice. We have this expression in verse 16. They that feared
the Lord. At the beginning of the verse
and then again at the end of the verse. Them that feared the
Lord. There's an emphasis then upon
the truth of those who are the God-fearers. And what a remarkable
grace is that of the fear of the Lord. Now, the wise man speaks
much of it, of course, in the book of Proverbs. He tells us,
by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. Ought to know
something of that fear in all of our hearts. That true, fearful
fear of God. To stand in awe before Him. The fear of the Lord, says Solomon,
is the beginning of knowledge. Ought to have that true knowledge
of God. some understanding of who he
is, his majesty his holiness all that he is is that God who
hides and abhors sin to stand in awe before him but these who
fear God in such a fashion as that they are the same ones who
come to understand that that fear of the Lord though it causes
us to stand off from him as it were It fills us with a certain
amount of dread, yet at the same time it is that that will lead
to that saving knowledge. How the Lord Jesus, when He comes
to pray at the end of His own ministry in that great high priestly
prayer, tells us that this is life eternal, that they might
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent, or the knowledge of God, the fear of the Lord, is the
beginning of knowledge. This is where we must begin,
surely. If we have a true saving knowledge of God, we'll be those
who have a high view of God. I think I've mentioned it on
previous occasions concerning the ministry of George Whitefield
on one occasion when he was over in New England. Remember he made
several trips across the Atlantic preaching there in the New England
colonies and he was announced to be preaching somewhere in
Boston and great gatherings were brought together to hear the
ministry of the evangelist and amongst them there were children
and after the preaching someone asked a little boy what he thought
of Mr Whitfield and his preaching and the little boy said he said
oh he makes God seem ever so big He makes God seem ever so
big, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, or that we might
have those right views of God. Big views of God, to understand
something of His greatness and His glory. To see something of
the holiness that belongs unto Him, the one before whom the
angels have to veil their faces. all those Seraphim, those burning
ones, those pure creatures who have never sinned, and yet, as
we see in Isaiah chapter 6, they have six wings, and with two
they are covering their faces, with two they cover their feet.
The ground is holy ground, and with two they fly, they do the
bidding of God. Or that we might be those who
are true fearers of God. It is the beginning, the beginning
of knowledge, and all true knowledge must begin there. with the knowledge
of God, it is life eternal, says Christ. The fear of the Lord,
why? It's the beginning of wisdom,
to be made wise unto salvation. We'll sing just now in the hymn,
that lovely hymn of Joseph Hart on the fear of the Lord. He tells
us concerning this fear Verse 5 he says, "...his fear is the
spirit of faith, the confidence that's strong, an unctuous light
to all that's right, a bar to all that's wrong. He gives religion
life to warm as well as light, makes mercy sweet, salvation
great, and all God's judgments right." Ought to be those then
who are truly God-fearers. Well let us consider something
of what he said here in these verses verses 16 and 17 concerning
the God-fearing remnant. First of all, their fear of God. 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. They spoke, often it says, one
to another. Now, of what did they speak? Of what did they speak? Well,
they spoke of those things that were obviously in their hearts. They spoke of the things that
were filling their hearts and their minds. We're told at the
end of the verse that they thought upon his name. This was the matter
that they delighted to dwell upon, to think upon God. And
the Lord Jesus tells us, out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh. And what were they thinking upon?
They thought upon his name. And what is the name of God?
Well, we know what the name of God is. It is that revelation
that God has given of himself. God is the one who comes and
he proclaims his name. We see it. We see it so strikingly,
do we not, in the experience of Moses, when he was those 40
days and 40 nights in the mount, And how they had grown so weary
waiting for Him. They wished not to become of
Him. And we have the record there in Exodus of the making of the
golden calf. And how the people had sinned
so soon after receiving the commandments. God had entered into covenant
with them, he'd married himself to them, they'd become his people
and how quickly they'd committed spiritual adultery in the matter
of the golden calf and God would disinherit them. Moses, he prayed
for them. How he's a true mediator on their
behalf, praying to God. And then we see him asking God
that he would come and reveal himself to him. Then at the end
of Exodus chapter 33 and again at the beginning of chapter 34
the Lord comes and appears now to Moses he will not disinherit
the people Moses in his prayer has succeeded with the Almighty
but he asks that God would come and declare his name unto him. In chapter 34 of Exodus we're
told how the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him
there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Verse 5 He proclaimed
the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed the Lord. The Lord God merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilt of visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
unto the third and to the fourth generation. Or when God proclaims
his name, the angel says to Joseph concerning that child that has
been conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of his betrothed,
in the womb of Mary, thou shalt call his name Jesus. for he shall save his people
from their sins. They that feared the Lord spake
often one to another. Or what did they speak of? They
spoke of those things that they were thinking upon. They thought
upon his name, that revelation that God has given of himself. Are we those, friends, who desire
to speak of these good things? to speak of all that God is and
all that God has done or do we not see something of it in David
when he comes to the end of his days when we see David there
in Psalm 71 we see him as an old man, grey headed and we see
his determination the one thing that he will declare is his God
and the righteousness of his God. There in Psalm 71 and verse
16 he says, or verse 15, My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness
and thy salvation all the day. For I know not the numbers thereof,
I will go in the strength of the Lord God, I will make mention
of thy righteousness, even of thine own. Again at the end of
the psalm he says, My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness
all the day long, for they are confounded, for they are brought
unto shame that seek my heart. We have no righteousnesses of
our own, Well, surely we recognize that. All our righteousness is
out of filthy rags. Do we delight to talk of his
righteousness? That was not only David's determination,
it was also the apostles. To be found in Christ, he said,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God, by faith he would simply speak of his God. That's Paul. He would speak of
Christ and all that Christ is and all that Christ has done.
He would speak of the works of the Lord and we see it so often
in the language of the people of God. We see it so many times
here in the book of Psalms. Look again at the language of
Asaph there in Psalm 77. Verse 11 he says, I will remember. the
works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders
of old. I will meditate also of all thy
work and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our
God? Thou art the God that doest wonders.
Thou hast declared thy strength among the people. We delight,
friends, to talk of God. One thinks of times past when
one's had conversation with some, reputed often to be godly people,
but all that wicked Arminianism. How they like to speak of what
they've done for the Lord. I can remember having a conversation
with an old lady, she'd been amongst the exclusive brethren
in her younger days, she'd been brought out of that, she attended
an evangelical church, but she would say, you know me, I tell
them about the Lord. She was always speaking of what
she did, the things she did for the Lord. But not all that the
Lord had done for her, but these God-fearers, they thought upon
His name. They would declare the things
that God had done for them. Again, we have it in the Psalms,
do we not? That 66th Psalm. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, and I will declare what he has done for my soul. It's what God has done for my
soul. And we read here of that Book
of Remembrance. The Book of Remembrance was written
before him. It says, for them that feared
the Lord. And the reference surely is to
that that was practiced amongst the Persians. And we have an
example of it, of course, in the Book of Esther with regards
to Mordecai, when he had exposed that conspiracy that some had
entered into against Ahasuerus, the Persian monarch. And the
matter, we're told, had been written in the Chronicles. The
Persians kept a record of these events. But the king, it appears,
had altogether overlooked the matter. And then, in the strange
providence of God, the night comes when the king cannot sleep. Haman has been plotting against
the Jews, he's seeking the destruction of the Jews and especially this
man Mordecai. who will not acknowledge him,
who will do no obeisance before him. And Haman has obtained a
decree from Ahasuerus for the destruction of the Jews, Haman
being a great favourite in the Persian court. But then we're
told there in Esther 6, on that night could not the king sleep
and he commanded to bring the book of records of the Chronicles
and they were read before the king And it was found written
that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's
chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand
on the king Asuerus. And the king said, What honour
and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king's servants
that minuted unto him, There is nothing done for him. And
you know, or you may remember something of the consequence,
how that very gallows that Haman thought he was going to see Morikei
hanged upon, was the very gallows that Haman, the enemy of the
Jews, would die upon. But there we see the practice
amongst those Persians of keeping the record, the books of the
chronicles. And here we read of a book. The
Book of Remembrance was written before him for them that feared
the Lord. Now we know that there is that
Book of Life and there are those names that are written in the
Book of Life of the Lamb from the foundation of the world. It's not for us to look into
that book the secret things belong unto the Lord our God but there
is a book written and all the names are recorded there the
whole company of the election of grace are written in that
book of life of the Lamb from all eternity but then we also
read of another book the book that used to be opened at the
great day of judgment. And that book is spoken of in
the Revelation. There in the closing chapters
of that last book of Holy Scripture, we read of that terrible book. Closing verses of Revelation
20, John says, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before
God and the books were opened. And another book was opened,
which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in the books according to their
works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man,
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. and
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire." Oh, that book, you see, that is to be
brought out there at the final consummation of all things, and
all are to be judged. God keeps a record of all these
things, and here, with regards to this godly remnant, these
that are the fearers of God a book of remembrance we are told was
written before him for them that fear the Lord and that thought
upon his name. Lord to be those friends who
are truly the fearers of God who reverence his great name
who stand in awe in his holy presence who know him We know
Him because He is that God who has been pleased to reveal Himself,
to declare His name to us. But then, observe here in the
second place, the favour of God. What are we told here in the
text? We are told that God always hears. Look at the repetition
that we have. We're told there in verse 16
how the Lord hearkened and heard it. Now we know that there's
no vain repetition. This is the Word of God. The
Lord Jesus Christ has said that men are to give account for every
idle word. God doesn't speak idle words.
Every word of Scripture carries weight. and authority, if we
really do believe that this is God's book, and we believe in
that plenary inspiration, that verbal inspiration, every word
contained in the originals, in the Hebrew Old Testament, the
Greek New Testament, every word is God's word. It's not just
the ideas and the thoughts that lie behind the words that I use,
but the very words. are inspired by God, they're
God's words. And so we do well, as we've said
before, to take account. And here we have two words, the
Lord hearkened. The verb literally means to incline
the ear, to incline the ear. Sometimes when we get older and
our hearing isn't what it was, we have to listen carefully. We have to incline the ear. That's
the word that's used on this occasion. And the other verb
is simply the verb to hear. The Lord inclined his ear and
heard. Oh, is there not a warning in
this that God hears? Nothing escapes God's eye. We're told how his eyes run to
and fro through the whole of earth. We read in that vision
that John's favoured with in the opening chapter of the Revelation
of the glorified Christ that his eyes are as a flame of fire. All those eyes that are all seeing
and all searching. But not only does God see all
things, God hears all things. Nothing escapes. His notice. He hears us. There's a solemn
warning here. These people, they would argue,
they would argue with the Almighty. We see it so many times in this
very chapter, in the context as we've already intimated. Look
at verse 7. He says, Even from the days of
your fathers you have gone away from mine ordinances and have
not kept them. Return unto me. and I will return
unto you saith the Lord of hosts but ye said wherein shall we
return and the words are said in a mocking fashion again in
verse 8 when a man robbed God yet ye have robbed me but ye
say wherein have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings and again
at verse 13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord,
yet ye say, what have we spoken so much against them? Whenever
God comes to them with his word and a word of rebuke, when God
comes to reprove them, there's not that meekness of spirit and
that submission to the word of God, nor are they ready to argue
with God, to contradict God. And it's not only, you see, in
this chapter, we see it throughout the book. look at what we have
in chapter 1 the very second verse God says I have loved you
I have loved you saith the Lord yet ye say wherein hast thou
loved us? was not Esau Jacob's brother
saith the Lord yet I love Jacob? verse 6 the son honoureth his
father and the servant his master if I then be a father where is
mine honour? And if I be a master, where is
my fear, saith the Lord of hosts, unto you, O priest, that despise
my name? And ye say, Wherein? Wherein
have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon
mine altar, and ye say, Wherein have we polluted them? In that
ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. Now, there we
see him rebuking the priests, rebuking the priests, we see
it I say time after time throughout the whole of the book in chapter
2 verse 14 yet ye say wherefore
because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of
thy youth against whom thou hast dealt treacherously yet she is
thy companion and the wife of thy youth oh you see God comes
and God speaks to them And all they can say is, wherefore? Verse 17, the last verse there
in chapter 2, Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet
ye say, wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that
doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth
in them, or where is the God of judgment? They are too ready
to say foolish words in the presence of God. and God hears it all. Nothing escapes God's hearing. As we've said, every idle word
that man shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day
of judgment. How the tongue, that little member,
is such a dangerous thing! How James exposes the great danger
of the tongue, the things that we say foolishly and how in creation
you see in a sense God has placed a double guard before the tongue
of that little member that's fully iniquity. Why? He has guided
it, has he not, with teeth and with lips as a double guard and
yet still we're those who are prone to utter foolish things
before God. Why we need to be those who come
before Him with that right spirit of reverence. The Lord hears,
the Lord hearkens to all our conversation. Now the Lord of
course is present when we come together in this fashion to worship
Him. How we can profane His name by
insincere words in our prayers. how we can lustily often sing
the words of the hymn and yet really take no true account of
what we are saying in our worship, in our praises to God. Remember
those words that we have in Ecclesiastes 5, keep thy foot when thou goest
to the house of God be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice
of fools for they consider not what they do, be not rash with
thy mouth Let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before
God, for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth. Therefore let
thy words be few." Oh, there's a warning, is there not? There's
a warning here. The Lord hearkened and heard
it. He hears us. There's nothing
escapes our God. He is that One, of course, who
is unlistened. He knows all things. But God's
hearing is not only that that should serve to warn us, can
it not also at the same time be a great encouragement to us?
And surely that is the context here. What we read in our text
is really an encouraging thing for the God-fearer. They 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. Oh God does invite
us to come, does he not? And he wants to hear our voices.
We're not to be those who would come and contradict him or challenge
him in his works when he comes with that word of reproof or
that word of rebuke But you know God will have us to come and
even to reason with Him. He will have us to come. Think
of those words, those familiar words that we have in the opening
chapter of the book of Isaiah. He says, come now and let us
reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Oh, what a gracious Word! What
a sweet and a precious invitation we find there in the evangelical
prophet, in the language of Isaiah. Come, says God. When are we to
come? Come now. Come now. Let us reason together. And what
will God do? Why? He will pardon our sins. He will cleanse us from all our
iniquities. This is the grace of our God.
Again, he says something similar, does he not, in the book of the
prophet Hosea? And there, at the end of Hosea,
he says, take with you words and turn to the Lord and say,
take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. He invites us
to take words and to approach it. or the Lord hearkened and
heard here is the gracious favour that God shows towards sinners
he hears their prayers and you know he hears the simplest of
prayers he hears the shortest of prayers and how precious those
short prayers so often are think of the example that we have in
Peter when he goes on the waters to meet with Christ who is approaching
the ship and then poor Peter he is overwhelmed he suddenly
becomes aware of what's going on about him the raging of the
waters the boisterous wind and he begins to sink and he cries
out Lord save me oh what a what a prayer is that We could but
utter those three words in all godly simplicity and have that
assurance that the Lord is hearkening to us, the Lord is hearing us
when we say, Lord save me. He certainly heard Simon Peter
in a moment, in a moment there is Peter with his Lord safe back
in the ship, safe from the raging elements. Well, again we have
the example of that Canaanite woman, the woman of Syrophoenicia
that we read of in the Gospel, who comes with her daughter and how the Lord initially appears
to refuse her, tells her to be sent to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. She's a Canaanite woman. and yet she will not be denied
and what do we read concerning that woman why she worshipped
him she worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ and how did she worship
him she said Lord help me isn't that the best worship to utter
those simple words Lord help me is this how we come into the
service of worship we want the Lord to help us. We know that
of ourselves we cannot worship Him in a manner that is acceptable
or becoming. We need the Lord Himself to help
us. Our thoughts are so quickly scattered. And I've been there. I'm sure
we've all been in that situation. We sit under the ministry of
the Word of God, and we begin to hear that ministry, and we
want to look beyond the preacher, we want to hear the voice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But how soon our thoughts begin
to wander. How quickly they're scattered,
and we're thinking of all sorts of things. We lose concentration. Well, we read of these God-fearers,
they thought upon His name. Orphans are we those who would
think upon His name. We need the Lord to help us.
We cannot concentrate in and of ourselves. The Lord Himself
must come and He must help us in every part of our worship. He must help us if we're going
to worship even as that Syrophoenician woman worshipped when she said
those words, Lord, Help me. We cannot even utter those words
of ourselves. He must come and He must work
all our works in us. We have to come so often with
that other character, that man that we read of in the Gospel,
who says to the Lord, I believe. Lord, I believe, He said. Help
thou mine unbelief. Or do we not need that the Lord
Himself should help us in the midst of all our unbelief? The
sin which doth so easily beset us. That's the sin that's spoken
of there at the beginning of Hebrews 12. It's unbelief. Hasn't Paul in the previous chapter
been speaking of faith? And the faith of those of the
Old Testament Scriptures? Then he goes on to speak of the
sin that so easily besets. It's that sin that was there
in the Garden of Eden. It's the root of all our sins.
It's unbelief. It's unbelief, friends. We're
all unbelievers at heart. That's why we have to have a
new heart. A believing heart. Oh, but what
an encouragement, you see, the Lord. Harkens. and the Lord hears. Those who
call upon Him, those who cry to Him, they do not seek His
face in vain. Look at what He says to these
God-fearers in chapter 4 and verse 2. Unto you that fear My
Name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healings in His wings
and ye shall go forth. and grow up as calves of the
store. The Lord always hears. And the
God who hears prayers is the God who answers prayers. He's
the one who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think. Oh, we're so limited, so restricted,
so straightened in our unbelief that nothing's impossible with
God. he is able to do exceeding abundantly I so love the language
of the Apostle how he knows how to use words how he piles the
words together exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think
that's the way in which God who hears us answers our prayers
but then also here we see that God is the one who makes a separation
He makes a separation. He speaks, does he not, of that
day? That day He's spoken of. And it's a very solemn day, is
it not? It is that terrible day of judgment,
really. Verse 17 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.
Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the
wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him
not. God makes the separation. What does he do? He makes a distinction
between the God-fearers and the rest. We have that word, discern. Then shall ye return and discern
between the righteous and the wicked. We know Now that at the
end of time, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the One to whom the
Father has committed judgment, He shall return in power and
glory and He's going to make that final separation. He's going
to separate between the sheep and the goats. In Matthew 25,
verse 31, When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and
all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne
of his glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. nor there is to be that great
day of separation, when he comes again, when all matters are put
right, everything is made straight, so much confusion now, We referred
earlier to the words of Isaiah chapter 5 and the arrogance of
wicked men who will draw God's judgment upon them as it were.
But what does he say? They're woe unto them that call
evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light
for darkness that call bitter sweet and sweet bitter. That's
the world in which we're living. It's a world full of confusion. But then you see matters are
to be put right. Here at verse 15, now we call
the proud happy. Yea, they that work wickedness
are set up. Yea, they that tempt God are
even delivered. Again, look at the language. At the end of the previous chapter,
chapter 2, You have wearied the Lord with your words yet you
say wherein have we wearied him when you say everyone that doeth
evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in
them. Where is the God of judgment?
Where is the God of judgment? There will be that great day,
that final day when the judgment will be made and there will be
that final separation. Verse 5, he says, I will come
near you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the
sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false wearers, and
against those that oppress the highling in his wages, the widow
and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from
his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord. Again look at the opening
verse of the next chapter, chapter 4, Behold the day cometh that
shall burn as an oven And all the proud, yea, and all that
do wickedness shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall
burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave
them neither root nor branch. Oh, how plain it is in the word
of God. He will ultimately make the final
separation, and when will it occur? It will be in that day. it will be in that day that spoken
of here at the beginning of verse 17 the separation of the wicked
as they go then to their appointed place but also we see do we not
the salvation of the redeemed or the fullness of that salvation
of those whom he has appointed to glory for whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom
he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he
also glorified. And so he says it, they shall
be mine. They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that
day, when I make up my jewels, He will make up his jewels, or
there shall also be a crown of glory in the hands of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hands of our God. He has a people,
you see, that he has purpose to save. I will spare them, he
says, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Who are these? They are that
remnant that is spoken of throughout the verses, throughout the two
verses of our text. They are those God-fearers. They
are they that feared the Lord. For that we might know, friends,
what it is to be true fearers of God. Those who are looking,
those who are watching, those who are waiting for His appearance. those who are longing for the
day when the Lord himself is to return in power and great
glory. 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. Oh, the Lord be pleased then
to own and to bless his works in each of our hearts, for our
souls' good. Amen. As you can hear, it's 832. The tune is Dennis number 26. The men that fear the Lord in every state
are blessed. The Lord will grant whatever
they want. Their souls shall dwell at rest. 832.