A Book of Remembrance
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INTRO:
Memorial Day was set aside to honor all the veterans of the military
I’m very grateful for the freedoms we have today
The total number of Americans killed in all US wars is more then 1.1 million
But there is another army that the Lord talks about. An army that is not of this kingdom that I want to talk about this morning.
Joshua 5:13–15 (LEB)
13 And it happened, when Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up, and he saw a man standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said, “Are you with us, or with our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “Neither. I have come now as the commander of Yahweh’s army.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and he bowed down and said to him, “What is my lord commanding his servant?” 15 The commander of Yahweh’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
This army also have many of its soldiers killed just for following Jesus
Christianity Today
'70 million Christians' martyred for their faith since Jesus walked the earth
Cath Martin 25 June 2014 | 2:13 PM
A new article series in Christian History magazine says a "global war" is being waged against Christians.
The reports are in the latest edition of the quarterly publication and co-authored by members of Voice of the Martyrs USA.
Although they particularly examine the persecution of Christians in the last 300 years, they also contains figures going back through Christian history.
The data, attributed to the late researcher David B Barrett, puts the number of Christians martyred since the time of Jesus at 70 million.
God has called His people into battle
Ephesians 6:11–13 (LEB)
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil, 12 because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Because of this, take up the full armor of God, in order that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.
Ephesians 6:18 (LEB)
18 with all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the Spirit, and to this end being alert with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints,
The Sermon Notebook: New Testament The Christian Soldier’s Secret Weapon (Eph. 6:18)
Prayer is the process by which we dress up in God’s armor;
The power by which we go forth to do battle in God’s army;
The practice by which we appropriate and aim God’s artillery
Today I want to challenge you who are of the Lord’s army, the bible calls a remnant
Taken from the book of Malachi
A. About Four Hundred Years Before Christ’s birth
1. God’s last message in the Old Testament
2. Thus begins the Four Hundred Silent Years
NOTE: God is now silent
3. The next message from God comes to the nation of Israel through John the Baptist
TEXT:
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord And who meditate on His name.
17 “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
18 Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him.
Verse 16 starts with the word then which is an adverb ʾāz in Hebrew which can refer to a time in the past, James Pohlig, An Exegetical Summary of Malachi (Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1998), 177.
So lets look back at verses 13-15
Malachi 3:13–15 (NLT)
13 “You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord. “But you say, ‘What do you mean? What have we said against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven’s Armies that we are sorry for our sins?
15 From now on we will call the arrogant blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm.’ ”
Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Amazed, “Be” Commentary Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 161–162.
These people were guilty of saying “harsh things” against the Lord. For one thing, they felt that serving the Lord was drudgery; it was “futile” to be His servants. The priests may have been the leaders in this complaining, but the common people were just as guilty. “We’re not getting anything out of it!” was their grievance. “Things just keep getting worse.”
I hear this complaint from some believers about their churches. “We’re not getting anything out of it!” But a church is like a bank or a home: you don’t get anything out of it unless you put something into it. We serve God because it’s the right thing to do, not because we’re rewarded for our service. (We shall be rewarded, but that’s not our main motive.)
But they had a second complaint: the pagan peoples around them who didn’t know the Lord were in better shape than the people of Judah! The wicked were prospering while the godly were suffering. Of course, it would have been difficult for the Jews to prove that they were “godly,” because they were guilty of disobeying the Lord. God would have blessed them if they had yielded themselves to Him, but they preferred to have their own way and then complain about what didn’t happen.
It’s a serious thing to serve the Lord, and we’re commanded to “serve the Lord with gladness” (Ps. 100:2). It’s a sad thing when a servant of God is a drudge, merely doing a job because that’s what he or she has to do or for what they get out of it. Philippians 2:1–12 is God’s portrait of Christ, God’s ideal Servant, and His example is the one that we should follow.
A book of remembrance was written before Him
WHO ARE THOSE THAT ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE
THOSE WHO FEARED THE LORD
THOSE WHO FEARED THE LORD
THOSE WHO SPOKE OFTEN OF HIM
THOSE WHO SPOKE OFTEN OF HIM
THOSE WHO MEDITATED ON HIS NAME
THOSE WHO MEDITATED ON HIS NAME
THOSE WHO FEARED THE LORD
THOSE WHO FEARED THE LORD
The fear of the Lord is wisdom Job 28.28
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Psa 111.10
the fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom Prov 9.10
the fear of the Lord teaches one wisdom (Prov. 15:33);
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7);
the fear of the Lord lengthens life (Prov. 10:27);
the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life (Prov. 14:27);
the fear of the Lord leads to life (Prov. 19:23);
the fear of the Lord is his treasure (Isa. 33:6);
in the fear of the Lord there is security (Prov. 14:26);
the fear of the Lord will keep you from sinning (Exod. 20:20);
Francis Chan:
Churches must bring 'sacredness' back to worship as increasing numbers abandon Christianity
'We're seeing the world look at evangelical Christianity as an absolute joke'
By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Christian Post Reporter| Friday, May 21, 2021 and here she quotes Francis Chan
As more and more people publicly walk away from the Christian faith, pastors must urge their congregations to have deep, personal encounters with God and bring “sacredness” and “reverence” back into worship, according to pastor and author Francis Chan.
“I am seeing so many people, friends of mine who were in ministry, who are just saying they don't believe, or they're walking away; ‘I don't know if I believe that anymore,’” Chan said during Exponential's Reset Summit this week. “And I just think that's crazy. We're seeing people that we look up to, leaders fall. We're seeing the world look at evangelical Christianity as an absolute joke right now … it's every day you can just jump on Instagram … and someone is saying, ‘I'm not a Christian anymore.’”
The Until Unity author lamented that there’s a “lot of Isaiah 29:13” going on in churches and denominations across the country today. The verse reads, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”
God knows and has a record
God knows when and where we did wrong
God knows if we are real are a showman
God is the keeper of all men’s lives
God knows if we fear him.
I. THEY FEAR THE LORD vs. 16
A. Fear
1. Not of terror or guilt but fear of a love that is always alive to the possible alienation of its object
2. Reverential love
Minor Prophets, Hosea-Malachi (Notes)
feared him. The word “fear” (yareʾ [TH3373, ZH3710]) especially connotes loyalty to Yahweh as the covenant-making God. The term assumes the volitional response of obedience to God’s commands, the moral response of proper conduct, and the ritual response of right worship
NOTE: But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children Psalm 103:17 KJV
B. They had a reverential fear of the Lord
1. Personal relationship with Yahweh
2. It signifies a personal fellowship with Yahweh
Golden Nuggets—Volume 6 Some Things Young People Should Remember
But the essence of all truth is in fearing God and keeping His commandments. This is the whole of man (Dr. G. Campbell Morgan) The evidence of reverential fear of God is in keeping His commandments. This is the highest wisdom, and the only way of saving life from vanity, futility, frustration.
Abraham had that fear when he went to offer Issac
Golden Nuggets—Volume 28 (The Trial of Faith)
Genesis 21:1–34; 22:1–24“And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.” Genesis 22:12
the trial of faith brings glory to the Lord and it strengthens the Christian. Faith moves the heart of God; “… lay not thine hand upon the lad… ” Faith exercises reverential fear, “… for I know that thou fearest God… ”
13 He will bless those who fear the Lord, both great and lowly.
How is your reverential fear?
THOSE WHO SPOKE OFTEN OF HIM
THOSE WHO SPOKE OFTEN OF HIM
A. They Spake Often One To Another
1. The more the ungodly spake among themselves against God, the more these faithful spake among themselves for God
2. In order to strengthen each other against the ungodly sayings of the ungodly
3. Jewish saying: “When two sit together, and there is no words of the Law spoken between them, there is the seat of the scorner.”
NOTE: Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful Psalm 1:1 NKJV
Sermons and Bible Studies: Volume 10 (Some Confessed, and Some Confessed Not)
THERE WERE THOSE WHO BELIEVED HIM NOT AND CONFESSED HIM NOT.
They would not confess Him because He meant nothing to them. Their attitude toward Christ was one of rejection, and negation. They had no room for Him; they had no love for Him. Instead of confessing, they denied Him and they denounced Him.At the foot of the Cross, the crowds passed by, wagging their heads, and crying out against the Son of God.There are still those who deny our only Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. They cry out against Him as though He were a malefactor. If they could, they would rush Him once more down the streets and out to the hill that is lone and gray—they would nail Him again to the Cross.2.
THERE WERE THOSE WHO BELIEVED AND CONFESSED HIM NOT.
We read in John 12:42, 43: “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”We would not say that these rulers in Israel had saving faith, for the Word of God plainly says that, “He that doeth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest” (John 3:21). Yet, these certain men certainly had an intellectual faith in Christ. They believed in Him and in His claims, but they were unwilling to take a stand at His side.
This is often the case There are those, who, deep in their hearts, accept the fact of the Cross; they acknowledge themselves as sinners, but they are unwilling to pay the price of confessing Him before men. This is a great fault, and a common one.
Those who confessed Him.
The people who confessed the Lord Jesus Christ did so at a great cost. They did not care what men should say against them. It is a beautiful thing to behold the saints in Ephesus as they “believed and confessed and showed their deeds.” They ceased their curious arts which they practiced, and brought their books together, and burned them before all men; then they counted the price of them, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.When saints are ready to cast to the flames nearly $10,000.00 worth of the books and arts which represented everything that they had formerly believed, we know the sincerity of their faith. The result in this instance was: “So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed” (Acts 19:20). The contrast is before us and it is plain: “Some confessed, and some confessed not.”Let each one take their proper place, on one side or the other of these distinctions.
Matthew 10:32 (NLT)
32 “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
Revelation 12:11 (NLT)
11 And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.
Luke 12:8
“I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels.
Romans 10:9-10:10
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
Revelation 3:5
All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.
Mark 8:38
If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Luke 9:26
If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.
2 Timothy 2:12
If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us.
2 Peter 2:1
But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.
Holman Bible Publishers, The Holman Christian Standard Bible: Cross-References (Nashville: Holman, 2009), Mt 10:32–33.
Are we speaking often about about Jesus the Messiah
THOSE WHO MEDITATED ON HIS NAME
THOSE WHO MEDITATED ON HIS NAME
What is meditaion
from The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary
MEDITATION. “A private devotional act, consisting in deliberate reflection upon some spiritual truth or mystery, accompanied by mental prayer and by acts of the affection and of the will, especially formation of resolutions as to future conduct” (Cent. Dict., s.v.). Meditation is a duty that ought to be attended to by all who wish well to their spiritual interests.
God’s Names
Adonai—Lord of All
Elohim—The Strong One, Above all others who are called god
El Shaddai—The God of Strength
El Elyon—The God Most High
El Olam, Everlasting God
El Roi, The God Who Sees
Yahweh—The God who Is
Yahweh Jireh, The Lord Will Provide
Yahweh Nissi, The Lord Our Banner
Yahweh Shalom, The Lord is Peace
Yahweh Sabbaoth, The Lord of Hosts
Yahweh M’qaddishkhem, The Lord Your Sanctifier
Yahweh Raah, The Lord My Shepherd
Yahweh Tsidkenu, The Lord our Righteousness,
Yahweh El Gemolah, The Lord of Recompense
Yahweh Nakeh, The God Who Smites
Yahweh Shammah, The God Who Is Present
Yahweh Rapha, The God Who Heals
10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Names of Jesus)
Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8)
Lion of Judah (Rev. 5:5)
Anointed One (Ps. 2:2)
Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16)
Author of Life (Acts 3:15)
Mighty God (Isa. 9:6)
Branch (Zech. 6:12)
Nazarene (Matt. 2:23)
Bright and Morning Star (Rev. 22:16)
Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6)
The Christ (Matt. 1:16)
Rabbi (John 1:38)
Daystar ( 2 Pet. 1:19)
Root of David (Rev. 5:5)
Everlasting Father (Isa. 9:6)
Root of Jesse (Isa. 11:10)
Gate (John 10:9)
Son of David (Matt. 15:22)
Good Shepherd (John 10:14)
Son of God (Mark 1:1)
Holy and Righteous One (Acts 3:14)
Son of Man (Matt. 8:20)
True Vine (John 15:1)
Immanuel (Isa. 7:14)
Wonderful Counselor (Isa. 9:6)
King of Kings (Rev. 19:16)
Lamb (Rev. 5:6–13)
Lamb of God (John 1:29)
The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook, Walter A. Elwell, Editor, (Harold Shaw Publ., Wheaton , IL, 1984), p. 384AskingA
Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine, H. Wayne House, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publ. House, 1992), pp. 51-52.
I Am (John 8:58)
I AM
I was regretting the past
And fearing the future...
Suddenly my Lord was speaking:
“MY NAME IS I AM.” He paused.
I waited. He continued,
“When you live in the past,
With its mistakes and regrets,
It is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I was.
“When you live in the future,
with its problems and fears,
it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I will be.
“When you live in this moment,
It is not hard.
I am here.
My name is I am.”
Helen Mallicoat, quoted in Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel, 1987, Word Books Publisher, p. 136[1]
[1]Galaxie Software, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002).
Word John 1:1
1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
Word of God (Rev. 19:13)
13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God.
Do you Meditate on the WORD, who is GOD!
8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.
HE IS LISTENING
HE IS LISTENING
D. The Lord Hearkened And Heard It
1. Hearkened – bent His ear from heaven
2. Heard–understood attentively
13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
17 For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.
HE IS REMEMBERING
HE IS REMEMBERING
What is God remembering
E. A Book Of Remembrance Was Written For Them Who Fear And Thought Upon His Name
1. A book of remembrance
NOTE: Earthly Kings had books written containing the good and evil deeds of their subjects toward the throne
a. The Story of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai Esther 6:1-2 NLT
b. That night the king had trouble sleeping, so he ordered an attendant to bring the book of the history of his reign so it could be read to him.
c. In those records he discovered an account of how Mordecai had exposed the plot of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the door to the king’s private quarters. They had plotted to assassinate King Xerxes.
Genesis 30:22 (NLT)
22 Then God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children.
24 God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
b. You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8 NLT
HE IS RECORDING
HE IS RECORDING
What records does God keep?
God Keeps Records
Here are the tallies of the Almighty
A. God is eternal and all-knowing; therefore He knows all things at all times. Scripture tells us of a number of records that God keeps—He records and makes books of those records.
1. The Book of the Living “Erase their names from the Book of Life; don’t let them be counted among the righteous.” Psalm 69:28 (NLT) Deals with all life that ever took place on earth
“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” Psalm 139:14 (NLT)
2. The Book of Life mentioned 8 times in NT “And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.” Philippians 4:3 (NLT)
“I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.” Revelation 20:12 (NLT)
3. The Book of Tears“Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” (Psalm 56:8).
4. The Book of Works“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” (Revelation 20:12).
5. The Book of Remembrance “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” (Malachi 3:16).
He has Record of the Number and Names of Stars“He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names” (Psalm 147:4).
He has Record of the Number Hairs on Our Heads“The very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30).
He has Record of the Physical Features of Every Person“Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:16).
He has Record of Every Spoken Word“I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36).
He has Record of Every Godly Work“For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister” (Hebrews 6:10).
He has Record of the Investments Made in God’s Kingdom“Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:20).
This material is adapted from page 151 of the Men’s Manual, Volume II.
New Living Translation (Chapter 3)
On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure
New Living Translation Chapter 3
I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. 18 Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”
There is coming a day of judgment.
The Return of Jesus
Malachi 4:1 *The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says, “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all.
2 “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.* And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. 3 On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Mal 4:1–3.
It seems to be talking about the Rapture when Jesus comes to get His Church, Jewels in one translation, here he uses Special Treasure.
I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. 18 Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”