Well, in 1985, I was a romping,
stomping preacher. Made a lot of noise, full of
sound and fury. I made a lot, and I'll probably
make a lot tonight. Pretty bad, pretty bad about
being loud. But turn with me to Malachi chapter
3. John, thank you for that message.
Oh, the will of God. And everybody that the Lord teaches,
they're going to come to Christ. And I'm so thankful that He continues
to teach us. I don't want to be left to myself,
do you? No, no. I know what happened
when I was left to myself. But look here with me in Malachi
chapter 3. And let's start reading in verse
13. Malachi 3.16, your words have
been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet you 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 full of pride, happy. And yea, they that work wickedness,
they're set up. Oh, they've got life made. Everything's
just good for them. Yea, they that tempted God, tempt
God, are even delivered. They're saved. But then watch
what he says here. Then, then, a different type
of people here now, a different class of people altogether. Not
got stout words against the Lord. Don't say it's vain to serve
God. What profit is it to do anything? 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 for them that feared the Lord. and that thought
upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts. And that day, when I make up
my jewels, I will spare them as a man spareth his own son. I want to use that verse of scripture
there. Then they that feared the Lord.
A blessed, blessed fear. What a blessed fear it is for
those who fear the Lord, who fear God. Fear is a good thing,
it's a good thing. You know, parents teach their
children, stay away from something, stay away from this, stay away
from that fire, stay away from this heat, stay away from that
ditch, stay away from that place. You know, they teach them things,
good things, so they'll protect them. And we learn as we get
older, when we was young, we didn't have much sense, so we
just do things not thinking the consequences. You grow a little
bit, And then you see that you have a fear to keep you from
getting hurt. Cause parents to teach, protect their children,
keeps people out of danger. Has a positive fear and a negative
fear, two sides of fear. And then there's a fear that's
a very, very bad thing. John said, there's a fear that
hath torment. I know what that side of fear
is. I know it very, very well. It's a bad thing. There's people
that get paranoid. They think people are after them.
They think people's talking about them. They think people's gonna
do something for them. I remember years and years ago,
after I came back from Vietnam, every time I seen a search car,
I said, they're coming to get me. They're coming to get me,
put me away. And that's an awful, awful state
to live in. And so, you know, it's an unreasonable.
It can be torment. It can be crippling. There's
people that have phobias that can't get out of their house,
can't go first in places, can't do things because they have such
great fears. But Job said, he himself said,
you know, that that I feared the most, that that I feared
the most came upon me, came upon me. But here he says, they that
feared the Lord. Oh, what a blessed, blessed fear
it is to fear the Lord. That puts everything else in
the background. The fear of God, what a blessed,
blessed fear it is. The scripture says it's the very
beginning of wisdom. When a man, God brings a man
to the fear of the Lord, he's just starting to get some sense.
He's just starting to learn a few things. When God brings a man
to where he fears the Lord, and this fear of God, there's three
things I want to tell you about God's people. The first of all,
these three things about the Lord's people is that they have
a reverence for God himself. This says there in verse 16,
they that feared the Lord. God's people have a great, great
reverence, a great respect, if I could say it, a
great honor. to honor God in their thoughts,
honor God in their attitude, honor God in their words, honor
God in their minds, honor God in their hearts. And I'll tell
you, they just fear God. And I'll tell you something,
we're not afraid about God. I'm not afraid of God punishing
me. I'm not afraid of Him punishing
me. I'm not afraid of His righteous
retribution towards me. This is a fear that we're talking
about, which motivates us to honor Him, to glorify Him, to
bless Him, to praise Him, to use His name in the most reverent,
godly, holy way we possibly can. Never, ever use His name, but
in the most respectful, glorious way we possibly can. Huh? And it motivates us to honor
Him, no longer afraid of His presence. You know the first
man Adam, when Adam sinned in the garden, you know what the
first thing he did? He feared God, he was scared to death of
God and went and hid from God. And now, we are just the opposite,
we want to always be in the presence of God. And here's another thing, not
only do we always want to be in the presence of God, but we're
conscious that we are always in the presence of God. Ain't
that right? Oh my! The fear of God influences
our attitude and our disposition and our circumstances. When we
have circumstances, and certain things go on around us, when
we have circumstances, How do you react to them? It's according
to what you think about God. It's according to whether you
fear God or not. If you got these circumstances
around you, you say, how am I going to get out of this? How am I
going to deal with that? Listen, you just stand still. For I am God and there's none else. And you know why we, no matter
what disposition we're in, what circumstances we're in, is because
we fear God and trust Him, and we're afraid to do anything else
than trust God. I tell you, oh listen, and this
fear of God, it affects our worship. It affects our worship. We're
here tonight to worship the Lord. Oh, we're not here. Oh, listen,
we worship God in reverence and godly fear. He says what Paul
said to the Hebrews. He said, Hebrews 12, 28, let
us serve God with grace and godly reverence. Oh my, we don't get
together to see who's the most spiritual. Who can holler the
loudest? Who can give the best testimony?
Who can shed the most tears? No, no, no. It affects our worship. Do you know when people are reverence
in God, and this is back when I was in religion, if people
didn't holler amen, things like that, you just say, oh my goodness,
you said, man, I failed, I just, ain't nothing going on. But boy,
when you learn something about God and the fear of God and the
gospel and the worship of God, you want to sit there and be
still before God. You want to hear what God's got
to say. You don't have to be making a lot of noise. An empty can makes a lot more
noise than if one is full, don't it? But oh my. You know, and then let me just
show you another thing about the Lord's people. Not only did
they fear the Lord, but look what it says down in the last
part of the verse here. Them that feared the Lord, and listen
to this, and thought upon his name. They thought on his name. Oh, you talked about his name,
about his will. Oh my, his name is his character. You tell a person, you know,
down home, they say, well, he's got an awful good name. He got
a bad name. I wouldn't trust him. I wouldn't
do this. But when you talk about God's name, thinking upon God's
name, you automatically start thinking about a person, a person,
you know, and that person has a certain character and his name
is precious. precious. Moses stood back and
said, Lord, I want to see your glory. How many times have we
said that? Lord, I want to see your glory.
And God said, you know what I'm going to do? He said, I'm going
to put my hand over you. And then I, listen to what he
said. He said, I'm going to cause my goodness to pass before you. And God caused His goodness to
pass before us in the coming of His blessed Son. He caused
the goodness to come before us when He went to the cross. He
caused His goodness to come before us when His blood was shed on
that tree. He caused His goodness to pass
before us when He saw Satan by His grace. He caused His goodness
to pass before us when He come to us every time we was in need
and met the harsh needs of every one of us. Oh, he calls his,
oh his goodness comes by tonight. How good is it to let us call
his name? How good is it to let us to meet?
How good is it to let us have his word? How good is it to give
us a Bible? Oh, he calls his goodness to
pass before us. Then he said, I'm gonna proclaim
my name. What is it? I will, I will. I will. I will. I will. Nobody else's wills matter. Nobody
else's wills matter. His name is precious. The name
of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it
in her sake. And His name is powerful. Oh,
what powers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! What powers
in the name of God Almighty! You know what name we plead when
we pray? You know what name that God taught
us to pray in? You know what name that God said
for us to approach Him in? You know what name God told us
we could call on Him in? The name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my. That's what he said. He
said, wherever two or three are gathered together in my presence,
I'm right there. And oh my, here's another thing.
And oh, when we talk about that, they thought upon his name. How do we describe God? How would
you describe God? God describes himself by names
and by titles. There's, I forget what psalm
it is, I think it's, but there's five titles of the Lord in five
verses. But you know, when we talk about
God, we have to describe him by titles. He calls himself almighty. He calls himself just. He calls
himself righteous. Calls himself holy. Calls himself
good. Calls himself gracious. Calls
himself all-powerful. Calls himself eternal. Calls
himself Savior. And calls himself God and there's
nobody else like me. He said, I'm God and tell me,
show me somebody that's even like me. Oh, I tell you, that's
what this, He is so, oh, He's so far above us, so far beyond
our understanding, but bless His holy name, He condescends
to let us see Him, hear Him, and know Him. And what a condescension
it is. What a condescension it is. Oh,
my. He said, He leads me beside the
still waters. Why? For my name's sake. Oh my. You know what the Seraphims
call him when they gathered around him? Holy, holy, holy. And you know what we're gonna
do when we get around him? Gonna do just like those 24 elders
and all them four beasts. Holy, holy, holy. That's what we're gonna do. Gonna
be the first word out of our mouth. Holy, holy, holy. And then let me tell you, let
me show you this about them. And back up here in verse 16,
look what it says. Then they that feared the Lord,
listen to this now, spake often one to another. We've done a
lot of that today. We've done a lot of that today.
I told you my experience. You said, how'd you come to learn
the gospel? How'd you come to get in contact with the grace
of God? You told me how you did, David. We've all had a time and
a place where God crossed our paths. And now you know what
we love to do? We love to speak about Him and
tell what He's done for us and what He did for us and when He
did it. And we can tell time and time
and time and time again all that God's done for us. But when we
get together, we talk one to another about these things. I
get on the phone with my brethren, we talk about the Gospel, we
talk about the Word, we talk about our preaching. Now how
many times today have we talked to one another about Christ,
about God, about grace, about the Gospel, about preaching? Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress, they'd
walk along and say, now tell me how the Lord brought you here. And they'd walk along and they'd
talk to one another, you know, and they'd talk about what God
done for them. David said it like this, Psalm
66, verse 16. He said, come all you that fear
the Lord, and I'm gonna tell you the great things he hath
done for me. Oh, where do you start? Where
do you start? Where do we start when we start
talking about God? Where do we start when we talk
about Him saving us? I didn't even exist when the
Lord bore my sins. I didn't even exist when Christ
died for me. The world didn't exist when God
chose us in Christ. That's just a couple things I'm
saying. And those have to do with things that, if we didn't
have the word of God, we wouldn't know any of that. We wouldn't
know any of it. Oh my. And you know, you know
how long we're gonna talk, speak often to one another? About every
time we talk. About every time we talk. All right, let me give you this.
Now there's three things about the Lord's people. They reverence
him, they thank upon his name, they're very thoughtful, and
their testimony is they speak about him, one another about
him. Now let's give you three things about the Lord in these
verses. Verse 16, then they that feared
the Lord spake often one to another, and listen to this, and the Lord
hearkened and heard it. Huh? What does that mean? When
we're talking to one another, he's listening. He's got his
ear turned. He's paying attention to us.
He's listening to what we got to say. The Lord hearkened and
heard. Huh? I heard Scott Richardson
preach a message in Babscott, West Virginia. That's been many
a moon ago. Earl Crockett was up there. And
Scott preached from Psalm 116, one and two. He said, I love
the Lord. He said, you know why I love
the Lord? Because the Lord inclined his
ear and listened to what I had to say. The Lord listened to
me, heard me, heard my, you know, If you ever seen an old-timer,
you know, before they had hearing aids, they'd put their head behind
their ear and turn like that so they could hear. We used to have a couple people
in our congregation that'd do that. They'd turn sideways, you
know, and cup their ears so they could hear. That's why God says,
you know, the Lord inclined. What'd you say? I said, Lord,
I'm talking about you. Oh, I hear you. I hear you. I
hear everything you say. I know what you're saying. I know
exactly what you're saying. Oh my. He listened. Oh, the Lord
hearkened and heard. Oh, what does he hear us say
sometimes? All the things I'm ashamed of
that I've ever done in my life, the things that I said about
God before he taught me the gospel, before he revealed Christ to
me, was the things I said about him. And he heard every one of
them. He heard every one of them. He
hears what's said about himself. I think that's the most important
thing that he listens to. What do we say about him? What did we say about Him? What
do we say about Him? Huh? Oh. What do we say about Him? Do
we say He's almighty? Do we say He's sovereign? to
say his will is going to be done. I had an old man the other day,
he told me all he could talk about, he was real, real sick
in the hospital, and all he could talk about was what the Lord
had done for him. He didn't deserve anything, but the Lord done this,
the Lord done that. That's all he could talk about.
All he could talk about was what the Lord had done. That's all
he could talk about. And David said it like this,
he says, there are more than can be numbered. I can't wreck
them up in order and there are more than can be numbered. Where
are you going to start now? Oh, bless His name. He hears
what we say about Him. And let me tell you, He not only
hears what we say about Him, He hears what we think about
Him. Let me ask you something, can
we exalt God enough in our mind in our thoughts, in our hearts,
in our souls. Can we exalt him enough? Can
we put him too high? Not only does he hear what we
say about him, but he hears what we say about one another. Do
you know that? Oh, be careful what you say.
Be careful what you say. The Lord's listening, the Lord
hearkened. You know, the Lord's interested in our words. It says
this about, by thy words thou shalt be justified, by thy words
thou shalt be condemned. A good man out of the treasure
of his heart he brings forth good things, but an evil man
he can't, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
And I tell you, he hears what we say about one another. And
that's why we gotta be very, very careful. Always speak highly
of the Lord's people. Oh, if they hurt your feelings,
turn the other cheek. You'll get over it. You'll get
over it. If they hurt your feelings, you'll get over it. Won't you? If I had my feelings, if every
time I had my feelings hurt, I went with my jaw down like
that, my jaw would be like that all the time. I'm easy. My feelings are easily offended. You can tell, can't you? But
no, what I'm telling you is, is that whatever happens, be
very careful what you say about one another. Brag on one another. Lift one another up. If somebody
hurts you, somebody says something, somebody mistreats you some way,
take it to the Lord. You tell the Lord about it, and
ask the Lord to help you Not them, you, me, we're the ones
that need help. Now the Bible don't tell us how
we're, how you're supposed to treat
me, it tells me how I'm supposed to treat you. All right, here's
another one. Not only did he hearken in here,
but look what it says there in this verse again. The Lord hearkened,
heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that fear the Lord. Oh, book of remembrance, you
reckon God needed really, you know, he puts language that we
can grasp, that we can understand. We can understand the book. Here's
a book of remembrance right here. Here's a book that God wrote.
But you know, he had a book of remembrance that was written
before him for those that feared the Lord. You know, there's a
couple of books in the Bible. There's one called the book of
life. Paul told the Philippians, he mentioned a couple of people
and said, those whose names are written in the book of life.
And then there's the Lamb's book of life that was written before
the foundation of the world. And I do know this, some things
is not put in this book. I know one thing's not put in
that book, our sin's not in it. God said, I'll not remember their
sins anymore. Our sins are not in that book.
No, not in there. No, no, no, they're not in there. Uh-uh. And let me tell you something
else. You look at the Old Testament saints and all the things that
they did, and then you look in the New Testament, when you look
at their names mentioned in the New Testament, their names is
always by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. Noah got drunk,
but you don't read about it in the New Testament. Abraham dishonored
his wife, but you don't read about it in the New Testament.
Huh? That's what, you know why that
is? Because Christ died for them and God does not remember his
people's sins. Huh? David's mentioned, you don't
hear anything about how bad he was, but here's David. He subdued
kingdoms for all righteousness. Oh my. And I tell you things,
oh listen, the Old Testament saints, they're not in that though. But I tell you what, I tell you
some things he does remember. He remembered us from eternity. He knew us before we ever were. And then because he remembered
us there, he comes along and he remembers us in time. And
in time, he sends us the gospel across our paths with the grace
of God, with a preacher. And oh my, and I tell you what,
he's gonna, I do know this, he isn't gonna get out his book
and start reading and say, now listen, I remember that real,
real good thing you did. Oh no. I remember them good words
you said. I remember them kind deeds you
did. No, none of that's gonna be in there. No, no, no. You keep this here. Look with
me on Psalm 139. I want you to see this. Talking
about God's book. God's book. I don't have a clue
how long I've been preaching. But I'm not going to quit until
I'm done. You know, they tell me at home,
they're going to break all the clocks. But oh, you know us preachers,
we'll get awful long winded if you ain't careful. But oh, look
what he was talking about the book now. Look what it says here
about the book. Look in verse 15 of Psalm 139. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was made in secret before I was ever formed, and
curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Listen to
this. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect, and in thy book, and in thy book, all my
members were written, which in continuous were fashioned, when
as yet one of them didn't even exist. I put you and everything about
you in the book. And you know, here's the thing
about it, like you was talking about the Armenians and free
wheelers. They say, well, now God's going to put your name
in the book of life tonight. But now if you don't live right,
he'll scratch it out. Well, I'm going to tell you something.
God accommodates us in his language. The only books that matter And
these are the books that everybody's going to be judged out of. This
right here. Yes, sir. That's the one's going to be
going to be judged. And you know how long the judgment of God's
going to take? Just like that. He ain't going to have to remind
anybody what they did. Judgment's already set. Judgment begins at the house
of God, but let me go on here now. Let's go back over here
then to this, and let me show you the last thing. The last
thing. God, you know, we talked about
a book of remembrance, and He heard us, and he hearkened to
us, and listens to us. He said, my ear is not short,
my ear is not heavy, my arm's short. He told in another place,
talking about His hearingness, He said, he that made the eye
shall he not see, and he that made the ear shall he not hear? But look what else it says now.
And down in verse 17, I love this, and he's so faithful. And
they shall be mine. They shall be mine, saith the
Lord of hosts. They shall be mine when I make
up my jewels. You don't quote it, John. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me, Well, boy, he sinned awful bad. I'm not casting him out.
He said a bad word. I'm not casting him out. He didn't
think of me all day long. I'm not gonna cast him out. I'm not gonna cast him out. No, no. And I tell you what, he said,
they shall be mine. The foundation of God's stand
is sure. The Lord knows them that are
his. And look what he says, they shall
be mine. They're going to be mine to choose. They're going to be mine to love. They're going to be mine to save. They're going to be mine to keep.
They're going to be mine to feed. They're going to be mine to teach.
They're going to be mine to lead. They're gonna be mine to glorify
one of these days. Father, I will that they whom
thou hast given me be with me, that they may behold my glory,
which I had with you before the world was. They shall be mine. It's mine. You know, little kids do that
all the time. That's mine, that's Michelle. Some of my kids tell
you, that's mine, that's mine, that's mine. God says, that's
mine, that's mine, that one's mine, that one's mine, that one
over there's mine, oh, mine, oh, mine. To keep us, to feed
us, to glorify us. And then, you know, he says in
the day when I make up my jewels, you know what it says in the
margin? Special treasure. We say, boy, we ain't worth nothin'.
I tell folks down home, they say, you ain't worth the salt
goes in your biscuit. I don't know if y'all ever heard
that or not. You know, he just, he ain't worth just so many things
that people say. But God says about us, we wouldn't
say this about ourselves at all for nothin' in this world. But
God says, when I make up my jewels, my special treasure, Oh my. And he says, and this
is what I'm going to do for them. I will spare them. I'm going
to spare them. I'm going to spare them a lot
of heartache. I'm going to spare them a lot of suffering. I'm
going to spare them. I'm going to spare them from sin. I'm going
to spare them from judgment. I'm going to spare them. I'm
going to spare them from my wrath. And he said, as a son that serveth
him, And you know why he spares us? Because he did not spare
his own son. He spared him not, but delivered
us up for him all. Huh? Spared us, but didn't spare
him. Huh? Oh. Bless his holy name. Bless his
holy name. Bless His holy, holy name. No
one like Him. Thank you all very much for letting
me come.