Good evening and welcome to our
study of the book of Malachi. Malachi chapter 4 tonight and
we would like to read verse 2. And we'd like to say a few things
about fear my name. Malachi chapter 4 and verse 2.
We noticed last week that that word but, that it's a conjunction
and it has something to say to us about what went on before
and something to say about us what is going to go on in the
future. This particular word is used
here, 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. Due to the fall, and we still
discover in the scriptures the extent of the fall, and we discover
that in our own self, and we discover that in others, the
extent of the fall and due to the fall, this fear or reverence
for God that is mentioned in this verse of scripture is not
natural. It only comes in the new birth in salvation and all
that by God. So we're going to look at a few
verses in the scriptures, uh, tonight about having this fear
or this reverence, this reverence for God, this adoration. Now, We read in the scriptures
that there is no fear of God before their eyes. That is what
we have by nature. That's what we're born with.
We may be infants. We may grow up as children. We
may have all the teaching and education, whether it's in Sunday
school or go to a church. But by nature, those lessons
that are taught us If there's nothing else that's ever done,
God never does another thing for us, we will never fear Him. Turn with me, if you would, to
the Psalms. Psalm 36. In Psalm 36, we have these words
recorded about fearing or not fearing the Lord. It's not natural
to fear the Lord. It's not natural to reverence
the Lord. We may have a self-piety about
God. We may have feelings about someone
not dressing like we think they should or not going to church
on the day that we think they should or not speaking like we
think they should or not eating the food that we think they should.
But that is not reverence for God. That's self-imposed reference
about ourselves and self-righteousness. and it has nothing to do with
our belief or faith in God. Psalm 36 and verse one. The scriptures read, for the
chief musician, the psalm of David, the servant of the Lord,
that transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there
is no fear of God before his eyes. And there is no reverence
for God. It is only show. It's not in the heart. It's only
on the outside. We may have a show of reverence
towards God. in what we call our worship,
in our religion, but there is no real reverence for God, no
real fear of God before regeneration. And the Apostle Paul, when he
was used by the Holy Spirit to write a letter to the Romans,
in Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter 3, and there in verse 18, we
have the Apostle Paul take that verse from the Psalms and bring
it into the New Testament as it is here recorded, as it is
here quoted, and he mentions it here as he speaks about the
natural man and the natural man's ways and the natural man's deeds
and the natural man's thoughts, that they're opposed and against
God. There is no fear of God before their eyes. As the Apostle
Paul wrote, he's sharing with us, he's sharing with the Romans
at that time, that there is no real reverence for God in the
natural heart. And again, I might say, we may
look down our nose at the way people do things because we think
they shouldn't be doing it. And where they go and what they
eat and their view of God or the religion that they're in.
But that doesn't represent any real reverence for God. It only
establishes us as being just a little bit higher than everyone
else. And that puts us in the realm
of the Pharisee that said, I thank God that I'm not like other men. No reverence by nature, no respect
for God by nature, no love of God by nature. This fear of God,
this reverence of God, his name and character is created by the
Holy Ghost. The reverence and fear for God
is created in us by the Holy Spirit, and that comes by the
new birth. Now over in the book of Genesis
chapter 22, remember with me that Abraham was asked to do
something that you and I probably have never been asked to do.
And it's used as an illustration here of someone that truly feared
God, trusted God, In the book of Genesis, chapter 22, we read
in verse 12, and he said, Lay not thy hand, God said to Abraham,
Abraham had been asked to go up offer his son as a sacrifice
in Mount Moriah and God said lay not thy hand upon thy lad
neither do thou anything unto him for now I know that thou
reverence or fear God seeing thou hast not withheld thy son
thy only son from me so Abraham demonstrated that there had something
had taken place and that he would even do this, he would go this
far at the request of God. Abraham feared or reverenced
God to the point. And we have God's statement about
this. I know that thou reverence God. I know that you reverence me.
You have a fear of me. So this is God given. And only
God could give this kind of reverence or this kind of fear that is
mentioned here in the book of Malachi chapter four and verse
two. But unto you that fear my name,
that you reverence my name. And we'll look into that in just
a moment. But let us go again over to the psalm, Psalm 22. As we see what the scriptures
have to say about this reverence or this fear, this attitude,
this change that God has given us with regards to himself, truly
it's a change of mind, a change of heart, it's repentance. As
we read in the book, I believe, of 1 Thessalonians that to turn
from Dead works are turned from idols to serve the Living God
that is an act of God Turn me and I shall be turned and that
is truly what God does for us and in that We are able to reverence
Him, to fear Him, to honor Him, to love Him. And only when God
gives us the new birth can we do that. It's not by some confession
of faith that we can do that, but it's by the new birth. It's
not by joining a church, but it's by the new birth. It's something
that God does for us that is beyond our reach on our own.
And we thank God that he gives it to us. And we might ask this
question one more time. How much did you have to do with
your first birth? Well, we can honestly say nothing. And that's just how much we have
to do with our second birth. Nothing. The book of the Psalm,
Psalm 22, and we read there in verse 23. Psalm 22 and verse
23. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify
him and fear him, all ye seed of Israel. Now we notice those
words that are used in there. Those are the words that are
used with regard to the church. Those are the words that are
regarded with regards to the elect or to the sheep of the
pasture of the Lord. These only can do this. Ye that fear the Lord, praise
him. and all ye seed of Jacob glorify
him. That can only happen after we've
been born again, and God gives us that ability. It's not an
ability that we're born with naturally, but it is an ability
that God gives to us in the new birth, in our birth from above. Ye must be born again is what
Jesus told Nicodemus, and that's what must happen. God must do
that in order for us to have any reverence for him or any
fear for him And that's the way it's been since the very beginning.
In the book of Psalms, Psalm 25, would you look there with
me as we look at this subject of fearing the Lord and where
does that come from? It certainly doesn't come out
of a book. And by reading the Bible, we may have some respect
for God as creator. We may have some respect for
him in his holiness. Nothing compared to what we have
in the new birth there is truly no fear of God or reverence for
God by natural man and We can only do that in the new birth
what God does for us Psalm 25 in Psalm 25 and there in verse
14 Scripture share this the secret
of the Lord is with them that fear him the only those who have
a reverence for God and only those who have been given the
new birth have a reverence for God only they Know the secrets
of God. They know the gospel. They know
what the gospel is intended to do They know the gospel bearer. They know the cut of the covenant
of the gospel They know that the one that has the authority
over the gospel the Lord The secret of the Lord is with them
that fear him and he will show them his covenant how blessed
it is to have this ability to Reverence God because in that
we see that there's an everlasting covenant that God is not just
Rattle-banging along and and trying to get something done,
but he's doing it all according to his eternal purpose so these
that are made known by the Lord, those that fear him, as he gives
them the ability, he will show them his covenant, and he will
show them that he is the covenant God, that he made a covenant,
an eternal covenant, an everlasting covenant before the foundation
of the world, and that that is carried out in time, when it's
the appointed time, when his appointed time comes to us and
he causes us to hear the good news of Christ and him crucified
and the benefits of that. All right, going on in Psalm
33. Let's turn there with me if you would. Psalm 33, in Psalm
33, Psalm 33 and there verse 18, we have these wonderful words
spoken. as recorded by the psalmist.
Psalm 33 and verse 18, behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them
that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy. The eye, God
has an everlasting eye upon those who love him and we only love
him because of him loving us first and his eyes upon them
that fear him or reverence him. The Lord Jesus Christ honored
and reverenced his father in the covenant of grace. And in
him, we are able to do the very same thing. And we have this
ability to reverence him, to honor him, to fear him. And we
do hope in his mercy. We know it is only his mercy
that prevents all the things that we are due, all the things
that we could have been given. If it wasn't for His mercy and
grace, we recognize the very fact that there's nothing in
us that kept us or prevented us from getting those things,
from eternal judgment. So we have this wonderful, blessed
thought that we have God's eye upon us, the Lord's eye upon
us, and it is only because He has given us this nature of fear
or reverence for Him, and we hope in His mercy. In the book
of Psalms 34 would you turn there with me Psalm 34 in Psalm 34
and there in verse 7 The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. The angel of the Lord. Now, the
angel of the covenant and the angel of the Lord is our Savior,
the Lord Jesus. And he is, as he promised, gives
unto them eternal life. He is the one that protects us.
He's the one that encamps round about them. that have been given
this wonderful grace in the new birth and have been given salvation
in Jesus Christ and knowing full well that our salvation is fully
of God and of nothing of our doing. And he delivers them.
He delivers them out of all the consequences of sin and all the
consequences of the fall. So it's the angel of the Lord
or Jehovah himself, the Lord Jesus. He's the one that is our
champion that protects us from all this wickedness and evil,
and we have nothing in it. We don't have the ability to
have anybody in the fight. Our fight is in Christ. So it
is a wonderful thing to realize that to have reverence for God,
this kind of reverence, but unto you that fear my name, this fear
is given to us by the Lord. It's a reverence for God. It's
an honor for God. It's a love for God. It's realizing
that He is our all and in all, that He is our Savior, and we're
depending upon nothing else. We have faith in Him, and that
simply means we trust Him for all our salvation, that it is
His blood and righteousness alone that has given us this great
gift of salvation. Turn with me as we look again
in the Psalms, Psalm 103. Psalm 103, and we read there,
Psalm 103 and verse 11. Psalm 103 and verse 11, for as
the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy
toward them that fear him. Now His mercy is an eternal mercy. He had mercy towards His elect
before the foundation of the world. He had mercy for them
in the sense that He had their names written down in the Lamb's
Book of Life. He knew exactly who He was going
to go to the cross for. His mercy It is great. As far as heaven, it's high above
the earth, is His mercy. And His mercy is towards those
that He chose in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, came down to this
earth and paid the sin debt for. He has no mercy, spiritual mercy,
long-term mercy, eternal mercy towards anyone else but those
that He loved from everlasting. So this mercy, this high, lofty,
great, wonderful mercy that He gives us is toward them that
fear Him, reverence Him, and we do not do that by nature.
We cannot say, well, I've arrived and now God's Mercy is upon me. No, His mercy is upon us and
He draws us to Himself. And we acknowledge the fact then
that He is a merciful God. Over here in the book of the
Psalms again, Psalm 118. In Psalm 118, what a wonderful
verse we have here. Psalm 118 and verse 4, the scriptures
share with us, let them that fear the Lord say that His mercy
endureth forever. Let them that fear the Lord.
We can trace that right back to the very headwaters of grace. right at the throne of mercy,
right at the throne of grace, we go right back there. It's
nowhere in us, it's nowhere in our family, it's nowhere in our
relatives, it's nowhere in the church, it's nowhere else but
in Christ. And we only appropriated this
mercy and this grace because of the Lord Jesus Christ laying
down His life, a ransom for many, laying down His life for the
ransom of His sheep. So let them that fear the Lord,
We can only do that in grace. We can only do that in mercy.
And those that have mercy, those that fear the Lord, they have
mercy and they say, His mercy endureth forever. We depend on
that. When we cry out for mercy, we
are acknowledging the fact that we are deadbeat sinners by nature. that we are without hope, we
are without help, without God in this world, that we have nothing
to offer and nothing to give, that our works are worthless.
All the self-righteousness that we promoted is absolutely worthless
and must be thrown away, and we must be given the righteousness
of Christ. They that feared the Lord spoke
often one to another. It's what we read in Malachi
chapter 3 and verse 16 and we read that some time ago. So they
that feared the Lord spoke often one to another. Who? About. About
the Lord. What about? His great salvation.
His great mercy. His great grace. We don't spend
time on the things that are non-essentials. My goodness, it is the grace
of God and the mercy of God and the salvation of God that we
depend on so highly. We make every effort, may God
draw us and lead us in every effort to promote the kingdom
of God and not promote ourselves, not to promote a religion, not
to promote anything but the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
we notice going back there to the book of Malachi chapter 4
and verse 2 it says, but unto you that fear my name shall the
son of righteousness arise. Have you ever thought about what
it means to fear or reverence my name as is brought out in
that verse of scripture? Have you thought about what it
is to reverence the name? To reverence the person? the
nature, the attributes, and the character of God, to have great
honor for it when the Scriptures bear witness of it, that we just
are so gracious that He would reveal it to us, that we say
that is the truth of the Gospel. to fear my name, to fear the
one whose name is Jehovah, to reverence him and his person,
to reverence his nature, to reverence his attributes, and to reverence
his character. Name in scripture implies the
person of anyone. Would you turn with me to a passage
over in the book of Revelation? I want to show you something
here. in the book of Revelation about the definition of name. Revelation chapter 3. Turn there
with me if you would. Revelation chapter 3 and there
in verse 4 and once again we just need to be reminded that
when we go to the book of the Revelation that the very first
chapter, the very first verse, the revelation of Jesus Christ. I don't know how many times I
was told growing up in religion, this is the revelation of John.
Fail to read the first verse, it's the revelation or the revealing
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, here in the book of
Revelation, Chapter 3 and verse 4 says, Thou hast a few names
even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. Thou
hast a few names in Sardis, meaning that there is a few people there. Now God knew their names, but
we look at them, there's people represented by those names. Thou
hast a few people, thou hast a few names, even in Sardis,
which have not defiled their garments. And they shall walk
with me in white, for they are worthy." They're only worthy
because of the grace of God. But here in a place there was
a church, Church of the Living God, a group of people assembled
together to worship God. and to honor God and to reverence
God. And even in that notable place of Sardis, the wicked place
of Sardis, there was a few names, even in Sardis, which have not
defiled their garments. In other words, they have trusted
Christ for their salvation, they have faith in God, they have
faith in Christ and Him alone, in His blood and righteousness,
and nothing in themselves. So there are a few people, a
few persons there, even Sardis, that have this. Now, the name. The scriptures say there in Malachi
chapter 4 and verse 2, but unto you that fear my name. We'd like
to look at a few verses that deal with this subject in the
scripture, and it's filled with verses of scripture that share
with us information about the name, that it represents a person. It represents, and we find many
names in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, the
names of God, that represent him and his character and attributes
in various ways, but it's all about the same God. This is so
valuable. This is so important to realize.
It's all about the same God, not multiple gods, but about
the God, the God of heaven. And so turn with me, if you would,
again, to the Psalms. The Psalms declare the glory
of God. The Psalms are all messianic.
They share with us great things about our God. And here in Psalm
9, would you turn with me to Psalm 9, verse 10? Psalm 9 and
verse 10. They and they that know thy name. Now, it's more than just knowing
a name. It's knowing the person. They
that know thy name will put their trust in thee. Those who have truly put their
trust in God will not deny what the Bible has to say about God
or God's program. They will not say, I know what
it says, but I don't believe it. They that know thy name will
put their trust in thee, for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken
them that seek thee. What a wonderful statement about
our God. He will neither leave us nor
forsake us from beginning to end, from before the foundation
of the world to after the foundation of the world. He will not forsake
his own. And they that know thy name,
they that know thy person, they that know God, they that have
God revealed unto him, those who can say from the heart, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They will be very
careful. God is gracious and they will
be very careful that their trust is in Him. And when they run
into passages of scripture that seem to be hard, they will not
say, I don't believe it. Because God declares in the scripture
his name, his nature, his character, his attributes. And they all
run crossways with man's ideas about God. So we have to say
this. They that know thy name will
put their trust in thee. and nowhere else, and they will
not back up from that. I trust the Lord. I trust in
His character, attributes. I trust in His mercy and His
grace. The sense is that the right knowledge
of the Lord can only induce a right dependence upon Him. What blessedness
is there in the name of Jehovah? Moses, at the close of his ministry,
left this. And just before Moses was taken
off the scene, just before the children of Israel were to be
passed into the promised land, The law, the representation of
the law must be put aside. That's why we don't have Moses
going into the promised land. We're not saying that he wasn't
a believer. We're only saying as a type and a shadow and a
picture of the law Moses could not enter in because in our salvation
it is not the law that rules. We are driven by the law of Christ. We're driven by the law of God. And we're driven by the Holy
Spirit's care over us. Most people believe that the
law must be imposed upon God's people because the Holy Spirit's
not strong enough or powerful enough to direct their lives.
My friends, God is powerful enough to direct the lives of His people.
He will direct them as He directs His people. Alright, over here
in the book of Deuteronomy, just before Moses is taken off the
scene, in the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 28, Deuteronomy
chapter 28 and there in verse 58 we have this recorded. Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verse
58. If thou will not observe to do
all the words of this law that are written in this book that
thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name. Did you notice
the name now? The Lord thy God. that thou mayest fear this glorious
and reverent or fearful name, the Lord thy God. Now we have that in all capital
letters. We have such a significance here
that the wonderful nature of God, if we're given the fear
of the Lord, we have this awe about God, that He is not as
men. He doesn't act as a man. He is
far beyond that. As far as heaven is above the
earth are His ways above our ways. And so this reverence for
the Lord thy God, the Lord that is Jehovah, in his three-fold
character of person, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We don't
run against a brick wall and say, how can that be? We just
trust it because that's the way it is. But thy God, that is God
in covenant, so that in this view of the name of Jehovah is
included both his essence, nature, attributes, perfections, counsel,
will, and purpose, and all his gracious revelations in the person
of his dear son. We read it, we say, thank you,
Lord. What a wonderful statement there
is about God. And when we use the name, as
we found here in the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God. His grace, love, wisdom, mercy,
and all the entire collection of the glories made known in
Christ and by Christ. Now, what is it to take the name
of the Lord in vain? We have that mentioned in the
law. Don't take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. And we
know that it includes using His name loosely or as a byword. We have all heard that. Yet in
three seconds of a TV preacher, there's usually a hundred times
more taking the name of the Lord in vain than by a sailor using
the Lord's name in vain. What you may say, yes, he does, takes the Lord
in vain. We find that this is so common
among religious people to just flippantly use the name of the
Lord. Lying on and about God is by
far a much more dishonoring thing telling people that God is trying,
God has done all he can do, God wants you to send $50 to this
TV ministry you can be saved by repeating after me that is
that is real taking the name of God in vain to the sinner
that has Jesus that name is as sweet ointment poured forth I'm
reminded of that lady that poured that ointment on the head of
the Lord Jesus. And he said, she's doing it for
my burial. Now that was so odiferous. It filled the house. And the
Lord God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah, carried that
scent to the cross. It stuck with him through the
trial. It stuck with him through the
beating. It stuck with him as he's laid
on the cross and those nails are pounded through his hands
and through his feet and he's raised up. There is a sweet smelling
odor about the Lord Jesus Christ and as his name is as an ointment
poured forth. Song of Solomon chapter one and
verse three. Jesus more is more fragrant than all the costly
perfume He is he is as a ointment poured forth in a closed area
The Lord Jesus that name of Jesus There is a name that is above
every name that at his name every knee shall bow and every tongue
shall confess and In the book of Matthew, chapter 1, and there
in verse 21, we find Joseph instructed, thou shalt call his name Jesus. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. His name is
as an ointment poured forth. Oh, such sweet smelling, because
his name represents his person. Name represents his character
his name represents his attributes his name represents God God Almighty
Lord of Lords King of Kings This is that ointment poured forth
we rejoice in it because it means so much to the church To have
him who loved us and gave himself for us His name in the book of
Isaiah, would you turn there with me? Isaiah chapter 9 You
know where I'm going you're in the book of Isaiah chapter 9 Verse 6 Prophecy concerning the coming
one prophecy concerning Unto us a child is born and unto us
a son is given on my mother's side I'm just a few days old,
as we read this, but on my father's side, I'm from eternity. On my
mother's side, at the age of 12, I'm 12, but on my father's
side, I'm from eternity. This name, for unto us a child
is born, and unto us a son is given. Great God-man, the great
God-man, the Lord Jesus. and the government shall be upon
his shoulder. The government of the world,
the government of the church, and the government of every one
of his lost sheep are upon him. It is incumbent upon him to find
them all in his redemptive work and to save every one of them
because he has promised to do so and we find out about this
God that what he has promised he has power to keep. That's
the wonderful thing about this God, whose name is Wonderful,
as it goes on to tell us here. His name shall be called Wonderful. Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. This name
and multiple of other names are mentioned in the Old Testament
as well as the New Testament that deal with the name. Now,
what is there about this name? What is brought up here in the
book of Malachi? But unto you that fear my name,
unto you that reverence my name, you reverence my character. Holy,
holy, holy. You reverence that. You honor
that. You speak of that. He is holy. You reverence my
ability to go through this life without spot or blemish. You honor that. You speak of
that. You reverence my ability to know
all things, to be omniscient. This is glorious to the church
that he's omniscient, knows all things. He's omnipresent everywhere. He's omnipotent, Lord God Almighty. But unto you that fear my name,
if you fear the name of the Lord Jesus, you reverence every character
and attribute of this one, the Lord Jesus, and when we go through
the scriptures and we find another one, we shout out with joy, the
Lord has revealed unto me one more glorious facet about my
Savior. unto you that fear my name. And what does it go on to say,
share there in the book of Malachi? Malachi chapter four, I'm just
gonna read that verse one more time in closing. Malachi chapter
four, and there in verse two, it says, but unto you that reverence,
that fear my name. shall the Son of Righteousness
arise with healing in His wings." What's that mean? Well, we rejoice
in His resurrection. He arose. It's rising. It doesn't
get worse as we go through life. As we approach death, He doesn't
get worse. He gets greater. more loving,
more touches our soul with more grace and mercy. We appreciate
that so much as we move along through the years. So, rising
with healing in his wings, and he shall go forth and grow as
the calves of the stall. There's going to be something
happening to everyone that is saved by the grace of God and
fear him As he is the son of righteousness and he rises with
healing in his wings, something's gonna happen to us. Grow up as
calves of the stall. Gonna be delighted in what he
does. Well, we thank you again for
joining us and we pray God's blessings upon you. And as we
continue here in the book of Malachi, we pray that you'll
join us and enjoy these studies with us. May God bless you and
good night.