Untitled Sermon

Book of Remembrance

Malachi 3:13–18 (KJV 1900)

13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? 14 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? 15 And now we call the proud happy; Yea, they that work wickedness are set up; Yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. 16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: And the Lordhearkened, and heard it, And a book of remembrance was written before him For them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

17 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. 18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, Between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

During the time of Malachi writing, the nation of Israel had strayed far from God. There was much sin among the people.

· Unbelief had moved in with many of the people.

· The majority of the people did what they wanted instead of being in the will of God.

· Many of the people began to laugh at the prophets and show no regard to the law of God.

In reading this scripture,

· I began to think of how much that sounds like America today!

· Many people are straying from God;

· Sin is everywhere;

· There are many who are just not caring about what the Preacher warns.

What once was a moral godly majority is now a minority

Many things have happened over the last few years that once would have been unheard of:

1. the reading of Scripture in public school is prohibited.

2. prayer in public school is prohibited.

3. The Christian manger scene during Christmas in public places is prohibited.

4. the posting of the 10 Commandments is prohibited.

5. Arkansas Supreme Court said the teaching of Creation in public schools is prohibited

6. Abortion (Roe v. Wade, 1973) allowed. Today 400 of every thousand babies are aborted

7. Homosexuality in the military Allowed (Don’t Tell, Don’t Ask).

Times back then are much like they are here today.

During this time of which evil abound, there were many that strayed from God.

· But there were a few that remained faithful.

· Those who sought to do right an honor God, would secretly meet in small groups and would encourage one another and fellowship with one another.

· Those who participated in those meetings of that day would: Talk about the Lord, Think about the Lord, Even sing about the Lord.

· They were small in number compared to those who sought pleasure of this world.

· But nevertheless, there were still that few who wanted to do right.

Now what is interesting here to me is not what the people did, but what God did.

Look at verse 16.

(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.

What did God do?

· He gave attention to what was going on,

· He listened;

· He wrote it down!

· The Lord enjoyed what he heard so much that he wrote it down in a special book!

A Book of Remembrance

· The Lord eavesdrops on us as we gather together.

· Though we may often be small in number, he is placing our efforts in his, Book of Remembrance

In such a time where many were full of evil, there were still a few who stood for God!

· There was a few who still talked of God;

· Loved God more then the world

· They still got together and discussed God’s ways!

· And while they did, God was eavesdropping.

· What God heard was music to his ears!

· God’s eavesdropping thrilled him! So much so, he decided to make “A BOOK OF REMEMBERANCE.”

Malachi tells us in verse 16 that; God liked it so that he wrote down what was said and who said it.

· God was listening to his people, not what was going on around them.

· Many of us have concerns of that which is going on around us.

· We wonder what penalty God will put upon this nation for its turning away from him.

· Then we wonder, what can we do.

· What do we do during such a immoral, ungodly time as this in America?

· I tell you what we are to do;

Comtinue

· Continue to honor him

· Continue to trust in him

· Continue to give praises to his name.

· Continue to come to church on Sunday and worship him

· Continue to join together here on Wednesday’s for bible study

· Continue to have fellowship with one another and talk of God’s goodness

· Continue to encourage one another

Just continue!

Bottom of Form

And if we do, verse 17 tells us what we can expect

(17) 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.

If we continue, God says

· in that day when I make up my jewels” (jewels are his saints),

· God says, he will spare his Jewels.

· So then, how do we know we are a Jewel?

· How does a person name get placed in this Book of Remembrance

1. They remained true to God

· It wasn’t easy to be faithful to God.

· They had so many worldly problems

· The had their job to worry about

· They had their house to fix

· They had their children to worry about

· They got so wrapped up with the world they forgot about God

· They did not pay their tithing

· They did not want to go to church, they had no time

· But to those that stayed true their name was written in the book of remembrance.

2. They esteemed his name

Look at the last part of that verse; “thought upon his name.”

· Here we find where; they were in awe of the Lord

· They considered His majesty

· They honored Him by their words and lives

· They remembered the mighty acts of God

· They believed what the prophets had said and wrote about Him.

· Their thoughts were on God!

When we get together at church,

· our minds should be on God!

· We should be thinking and talking of his many blessings to us.

· There is so much more to be said of his goodness than to complain of anything else.

1, they remained true to God

2, They esteemed His name

3, They spoke about God to one another

Let me tell you about what they were not doing

· They weren’t Gossiping

· They weren’t Criticizing

· They weren’t talking about their problems

· They weren’t talking about the weather or sports or current events

· They could have, but they chose not to.

The times were dark

· But they talked about the Lord.

· They spoke of answers to prayer and so should we.

· What we love the most is what we will talk of the most.

· Jesus should be the thing people say we talk of the most.

· What we speak of the most is what we love the most.

· If we truly have a sincere love for God we will desire to be in God’s church, with God’s people, speaking to one another of his goodness.

Conclusion

The world is watching us to see what Christianity means to us.

What do they see?

What do they hear?

A man gets married. He makes plans for a honeymoon.

He buys just one ticket, gives it to the bride and says, take off and have a good time.

She says, “But aren’t you going?

He says, Must I do that to be married?

She says, "Well, no, but I was expecting you to go along."

And he answered, "Look, we got married, didn’t we? I just don’t want to be fanatical about this!" "Well," she replies, "I just don’t think its fanatical for me to ask you to go with me on the honeymoon."

He says, "But I’ve already seen Niagara Falls. You go to the Falls. And I’ll go to San Francisco." And she says, "Look, people who are in love and get married ought to go places together! That’s the whole purpose for getting married."

It is obvious-those who commit their lives to Christ are called the Bride of Christ, and ought to go places together!

Does Christ go to the place you go?

Do you desire to be with Him?

Christ desires to be with you everywhere you go.

He will not leave you nor forsake you.