God Remembers the Righteous

All right, everyone, good morning again.

So glad you all are here with us.

My name is Josh. If we have not had the chance to

meet, I'm also one of the pastors here at Vita Springs.

Another warm welcome to you if you're visiting with us for the

first or second or third time. We're very glad you guys are

here with us. We are on our penultimate week

in the book of Malachi, second to last week.

Go ahead and open up your Bibles to page 8, O2.

If you're using one of the Bibles under the seat in front

of you, if you don't have a Bible, please take that one home

with you. It's our gift to you.

We would love for you to have a Bible you can read and enjoy

God's Word. So that is a gift to you.

If you do not have a Bible. We are in Malachi chapter 3 and

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

we'll be reading verses 13 to 18 here in a moment.

But to give us a little bit of context, particularly for those

who have not been with us so far in the book of Malachi, Book of

Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament.

The Israelites are have had a history of waiting on God by

this point, 400 years in slavery in Egypt.

This is long before the book of Malachi, 70 years in captivity

in Babylon shortly before this. Presently they're waiting for

things to be made right as the Persian Empire now has their

thumb over them or their rule over them.

And little did they know it was it would be another 400 years

until their Messiah would be born in the town of Bethlehem.

And I don't know about you, but waiting is difficult.

We've got one light as you leave our, our development, our

neighborhood, some of you know, it well, feels like as you're

approaching it, it's green. And so you know that as you get

to it, it's going to turn red. And it's kind of bumpy on the

way out. And it's, it would be dangerous

to speed right through. But sometimes I gun it because

I, I got to try to make that green light.

Maybe some of you do that when you're leaving the church.

Don't lie. I've seen some of you do it.

Waiting is difficult. Waiting is also revealing, like

a like when you squeeze a sponge and outcomes the contents of the

sponge. When we're squeezed by waiting,

you'll see what the contents of our hearts contain.

We might be surprised at some of the things we think while we

wait. We might be surprised by some of

the things that we say or feel that might be untrue.

We can be tempted to despair or doubt or give up.

Might say things to yourself like is it really worth it to

wait for that promotion? Maybe I'll just change companies

or switch fields entirely. Is it worth it?

Do you think we can we should really wait till we can afford

this or that. Maybe we'll put it on credit,

maybe the raise will come. Is it really worth it to

persevere with God? Heaven feels so far away.

I'm not sure I'm going to have the strength to persevere with

him to the end. Might think things like does God

even care about me or see me or what I'm going through?

Is following God even worth it? My friend, I'm curious, where

are you waiting right now and how is it going?

What is God revealing in you as you wait?

The Israelites, as I mentioned, had a history of waiting and by

this point in their history they had grown tired of waiting.

It LED them to breaking covenant with God, as we've seen through

Malachi in all sorts of ways. The book constructed in the form

of arguments they make with God. God had prescribed how he was to

be worshipped and he's God, he gets to do that.

And they had said, I don't know why bother?

God doesn't love us, we're still poor, our enemies still prosper.

We don't have the things God promised to us.

What difference is it going to make?

I think I'd rather go marry women who worship other gods.

Maybe I'd rather divorce my wife.

Maybe I would rather just bring polluted sacrifices to God or

not give him at all what he deserves.

Or, and as we'll see today, speak distrusting words to God,

we'll see how waiting revealed the contents of their hearts of

a few different groups of people.

The ungodly speak and reveal their distrust.

The godly speak and reveal repentance.

God listens and he pays attention, and then God speaks

and he reveals his mercy. That's our outline for today.

The ungodly speak, the godly speak.

God listens and then God speaks. But before we go to God in His

word and in prayer, it is our practice here to take a moment

of silence, to prepare our hearts, to ask God to give a

softness of heart and readiness to listen to him.

So would you join me in silence for a time and then I'll pray

for us and read from Malachi. God, you said at the beginning

of Malachi that from the rising of the sun to its setting, your

name will be great among the nations, and in every place a

pure offering would be offered to your name.

You said your name would be great among the nations and God,

that is true while we gather here this morning.

God, your name is surely great here.

We want to offer ourselves to you today as a pure offering.

God, we want to offer ourselves to you every day in service to

you, because there's none more worthy than you, God.

And yet, God, we confess that daily we need Your grace to

cover our sins even despite our best efforts, God, we are still

hindered by the sin in our own hearts and in our own minds.

Got some of these sins we've been fighting against for

decades? Some we may continue to fight

against for decades more. God, we thank you that when we

confess our sins, you are faithful, You are just.

You will forgive us our sins and purify us from all

unrighteousness. God, what Amazing Grace you have

for us. I thank you, God, for the peace

that we can have with you through Jesus.

God, as challenging as our sufferings can be, just as we

see, we'll see today in this passage, the Israelites, we're

in the middle of so much suffering.

God, we choose today to give you thanks for our suffering and to

rejoice in them. You said that suffering produces

endurance and endurance would produce character and character

would produce hope and hope would not put us to shame

because you've poured your love into our hearts.

And so God, we know and we believe that you are able to

keep us. You are able to keep us.

And you will present us blameless before you one day and

you will fill us with never ending joy in your presence.

So God, give us the endurance and the perseverance we need to

make it to the end. We praise you, we love you.

God, to you be all the glory this morning in Christ's

wonderful name. Amen.

Well, would you join me as I read from Malachi 3 verses 13 to

Malachi 3:13–18

18, and then we'll take a look at the first few verses.

Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord.

But you say, how have we spoken against you?

You have said it is vain to serve God.

What is the profit of our keeping His charge, or of

walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?

And now we call the arrogant blessed evil doers not only

prosper, but they put God to the test, and they escape.

And then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another.

The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of

remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord

and esteemed His name. They shall be mine, says the

Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession,

and I will spare them as a man spares his Son who serves him.

Then once more you shall see the distinction between the

righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and

one who does not serve him. The first group we see to speak

up in the midst of their waiting are the ungodly.

They speak up saying things like it's vain to serve God or what a

waste, it's useless. What's the profit of our keeping

his charge or walking in mourning before the Lord of

hosts walking in mourning. Probably just meaning they had

taken up this practice in a somewhat of a ritualistic way.

Or they're kind of like sackcloth and ashes, making

themselves look all distraught. But it was just a show, you

know, there was there was no, there was no substance to it In

this final dispute or argument between the Israelites and God,

It seems the the peak of the argument.

It's reached its climax. God says your words have been

hard against me, literally grew strong.

They were firm, arrogant, bold. They're hardened like like the

peak of an argument that's growing heated and you start to

say ridiculous things. They don't look like godly

people right now. These are God's chosen people,

at least by race or nationality, but they don't look like God's

people right now. They're speaking the words of

ungodly people, saying things like it's it's vain to serve God

or what a waste. Evildoers prosper and they

escape God's wrath. In Job 21, Job would say that

they're speaking like wicked people.

He says of the wicked. The wicked say to God, what is

the Almighty that we should serve him?

What prophet do we get if we pray to him?

Squeezed by their years of waiting, their speeches starting

to reveal some deep beliefs that they had in their own hearts.

First of all, they thought they were doing just fine in their

own obedience. When they say What's the prophet

of keeping God's charge, they're essentially saying, God, we've

kept your charge and what's the benefit?

We're not, we're not getting any of the goodies.

We're not getting the blessings we thought we were going to get.

They clearly thought they were doing just fine.

They were convinced of their own righteousness.

They believe that God owed them blessing for their supposed

righteousness. Now, we don't think you've kept

up your end of the deal. They don't think they're getting

what they're owed. And so they believe as well that

God doesn't show any distinction between the righteous and the

wicked. The end of these first section

we looked at the arrogant are blessed, they say actually it

seems like they're the ones who you prefer God.

The arrogant are blessed. And in the end they conclude

there's no prophet in serving the Lord.

It's vain, it's useless, no reward is coming.

That's a sad conclusion, terribly sad conclusion they

reach. But truthfully, they're only

asking out loud some things that we've all sometimes thought

about in our own minds. They see the quiet part out

loud. You might say, what's the profit

in following God? Is it really worth it?

God, my circumstances sure don't look like you're in control.

He definitely brown nosed his way to that promotion.

She definitely put herself out there a little bit to get that

guy's attention. That company's cutting corners

so they can get higher profits. And I'm just trying to be honest

in my work. It actually looks like the

arrogant are better off and the evil doers prosper.

Why am I still following God? Is it even worth it?

The Israelites answered it's in vain, it's useless.

God has left us. But like we are all prone to do,

they were just fixating on their temporary circumstances.

We do the same. We ask the same questions and we

come to the same conclusions when we look at our own

temporary circumstances. But our lives are much longer

than the 7080 or years that God gives us here or bless us to

give us more. The best things in life always

involve trials, struggles of various kinds.

Think about it. If you failed the test, would

you give up on that major or on that career?

Just because you had one rough go on a test, your child

disobeys. You wouldn't say she's a

hoodlum, she's gone forever. Give up on her.

If you had a conflict with a friend, would you really just

move on from that friendship because it was your first time

having conflict with that friend?

Vita Springs is was particularly slow growing at the beginning.

Was it worth it? Might answer that question, Lee,

if you left after year one versus sticking around till year

10, was it worth it? If I is following God worth it?

We're really asking, well, is following God going to get in

the way of my vision for a comfortable middle class life

where I get most of the things I want with little suffering, and

I get it all at least as fast as my peers, and preferably a

little bit faster. And if God won't get in the way

of that, then great, sign me up. I would like that.

And God. But that's not the life that God

promised for those who follow him.

For valuable things, for priceless things, we endure.

We expect suffering when we're pursuing something worthwhile.

It's the same in our following after God.

Some of the promises in Scripture which are not the ones

we might first go to to quote to ourselves.

Paul writing to Timothy, all who desire to live a godly life in

Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Jesus saying to his disciples in

this life you will have trials, but take heart, I have overcome

the evil one else we're saying through many trials.

The Christian must enter the Kingdom of God through many

trials. And why would he on earth would

he put us through so many trials?

We'll see by the end of this chapter.

It's because He has something glorious in store for those who

fear Him, something even greater than this good world that He has

made with all of its goodness. Right now we just have a little

taste of God's glory and His goodness.

But the full glory is coming, my friend.

What is God revealing in your heart?

And you're waiting. What is He revealing in you?

Is there a part of you that feels like God owes you

something for your obedience? Is there a part of your heart

where you might say you know God?

I think I've done a pretty good job at either going to church or

small group or giving or whatever it may be.

So why am I still struggling to pay my bills or find a spouse or

reconcile with my kids or make new friends here in Gainesville?

Is there waiting? Revealing any sins that you need

to repent of or turn away from? Self righteousness or pride,

impatience, anger, lack of hospitality, unkind speech,

whatever God might be revealing in you, just like we'll see in

verse 16, which we'll get to here in a moment.

If you have oxygen in your lungs, it's never too late to

repent. Confess those things to God.

Ask Him to forgive you. He delights to forgive.

He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust to

comfort as well. Obedience or obedience to God

doesn't make us right before God.

We look to the finished work of Jesus on the cross, risen from

the and risen from the grave and we say God, I receive your

forgiveness because Jesus said it is finished.

So take comfort. He loves to forgive the

Israelites in their waiting. Some of the godless Israelites

that is spoke and revealed their distrust of God.

God has forgotten us. They said to themselves, it's

not worth it. Whatever. 16 we see that when

the righteous speak, they reveal repentant hearts.

Look at just the first half of verse 16.

Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another.

Those who feared the Lord spoke with one another.

Just 10 words, but some pretty important things to note.

First of all, the word, then this point in time where it

seems that even the ones who had feared the Lord had been a part

of all the disputes and arguments against God that we've

looked at so far throughout Malachi.

But then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another so

their hearts did not remain stone cold and hardened to God.

They were softened, they were cut to the heart when they heard

the words of God through the prophet Malachi and they

repented. It would seem that's this is

very good news. And you should know as well, if

you're not a follower of Jesus, you wouldn't call yourself a

Christian. Please know the church is not

full of perfect people. Far from it.

You won't find a single perfect person here at Vita Springs.

It's true. Even Christians can be prone to

forgetfulness or tempted to despair or apathy in the midst

of trials. Even Christians could be tempted

to approach God with entitlement rather than trembling.

If you want a reference for this, just go read Psalm chapter

Psalms 73 · chapter mention

73 and listen to the kinds of things the psalmist is praying

to God to. Pay special attention to how the

Psalm shifts on its head. In verse 16 of that Psalm, the

attention changes. No, the church is full of

sinners, but by God's grace, the church is full of repentant

sinners, as we saw. It's not.

The second observation I might make from this first part of

verse 16 is that it's not too late to repent.

You can turn to God. People can change.

Thank the Lord for that. That is amazingly good news.

Even with heart and hearts, they, the hearts, our hearts can

be softened. And what is it that

characterizes this group of repentant sinners?

It's this phrase. They feared the Lord.

Those who feared the Lord spoke with one another.

Now that's an interesting phrase we're fleshing out for a little

bit. Maybe you've heard it before.

Fear of the Lord simply means to stand in awe of or be awed by

God. It's a heart posture of

reverence, of honor, of respect towards God.

But you know what else the word fear means?

It means fear. It's wise and it's right to have

a proper fear of God. It's like people who are at the

top of a Cliff or a building without a railing and have No

Fear of falling over the edge have something off in their

noggin. They're missing a right kind of

fear. The fear of the Lord is wise.

Proverbs 910 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the

beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is

insight. Because even though our God is

loving, he's not tame. He and His wrath are real and

fearsome. Jesus said do not fear those who

kill the body but cannot kill the soul, rather fear him who

can destroy both the soul and the body in hell.

And it's the fear of the Lord that changed everything for this

group of repentant sinners. They're described.

They're described in contrast to all the folks who spoke evil

against God in the first half of this section we've looked at.

So we can presume they gathered with some shared understanding

that they were not essentially good like the first group who

thought God, we're we're in the right, we've obeyed you.

Where's our goodies? Where's the blessings?

This group seems to understand where we've been in the wrong.

They know they're guilty before God.

They see their sin for what it is.

They didn't think little of God's holiness.

They saw him rightly. They had a right fear of him.

They knew he was to be held in honor and reverence.

No, no doubt they're still experiencing the same

sufferings, right, and trials and waiting as all the other

Israelites. So no doubt they still wanted

those comforts that all the others wanted as well.

They wanted the reliefs. But in their estimation, in

their calculus, it was God himself who was more valuable

and all those other things that they were waiting on.

They could continue to wait for as long as they had right

relationship with God. Their humble posture, their

repentant posture prompted them, interestingly, to get together.

It's the final observation I'll make on this verse.

This group of repentant sinners who feared the Lord get together

and they speak with one another. We're not told much.

They just find each other and they gather and they speak with

one another. Probably true words or

encouragements or maybe even confessions or prayers.

I heard one pastor say recently that he could preach on the

importance of church membership from any book in the Bible.

If I were to try to do that, I'd probably start here.

In the book of Malachi. These God fearing folk gather.

They don't. They don't wait to see how God

might respond to their arguments against them.

They just act. They commit to gathering

together. It's wise for us to surround

ourselves with other God fearing people, isn't it?

It's wise we're protected from going astray when we gather

together and when we collectively agree with one

another and proclaim the good news through our singing and

preaching and praying and listening.

God receives a unique kind of honor when hundreds of people

gather together who especially who otherwise wouldn't have

anything in common, just Jesus. That gives a unique kind of

honor to God, and it shows how lovely and glorious our God is.

Vita Springs, to quote an author, Michael Lawrence.

He says we should look radically different from the surrounding

culture, not just because we are each privately following Christ,

but because we take the witness of the whole quite seriously.

We know that we belong to each other because we belong to

Christ. So a couple potential

applications from this idea. If you have been attending

regularly and not pursuing membership, I would strongly

encourage you to pursue membership at Vita Springs if

you've been attending regularly, or another church if you're

still looking for a church in Gainesville.

If you're a follower of Jesus, you need to commit to a local

body of believers. God gave us each other, as

Gordon hinted at earlier, so that we could be built up and so

that we could build others up as well.

If you are a part of Vita Springs, small groups are

another great way to deepen your relationships here where there's

opportunities to build one another up.

It's not the only way to do that, but it's a great way to do

that. It doesn't even have to be

people that you share things in common with, right?

It could be a group of people completely unlike you.

And I would say even if that's the case, all the better.

Gives more glory to Jesus when you surround yourself with

people who you have nothing in common with except you love

Jesus and you want to seek Him together.

We're not perfect, my friends. We certainly don't have

everything in common. But those who fear the Lord are

wise to surround themselves with others who do the same so they

can be built up and encouraged and challenged.

This group of repentant sinners who have a fear of the Lord,

they gather and they speak to one another, and it turns out

that their repentance and their trust in God was well warranted

because God is listening and He takes note.

Look at the second-half of verse 16.

The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of

remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord

and esteemed His name. Look at how much detail is given

to God's attentiveness, described in three different

ways. God paid attention and he heard

them and a book of remembrance was written for them and how

little these repentant ones have even done so far.

They just kind of got together and spoke to one another and God

says, I'm sorry, we got to write this down in real time.

God is ensuring that their names are written down, that it's

documented by name. Who are the ones who will be

blessed? Remember, the ungodly had

believed that God was perhaps absent or uninvolved or

detached, that He preferred the wicked.

But God is not apathetic or disinterested in you or your

lot. God is attentive.

The Lord paid attention and He heard them.

Elsewhere in Scripture, we see God is paying special attention

to the humble. Second Chronicle is 16/9.

An incredibly encouraging verse says that the eyes of the Lord

run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong

support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him.

He is looking to help and support those who fear Him and

esteem His name. The first group we looked at

believe there's no prophet in obedience.

It's all a sham. God said a book of remembrance

would be written before him of those who feared the Lord and

esteemed his name. God would not forget the ones

who feared him. He would reward them generously.

Maybe you're familiar with Book of Esther in the Old Testament,

who was a queen, who were her cousin?

Mordecai said. Perhaps you've been raised up

for such a time as this to help deliver Israel from another time

where his role was oppressed in their history.

Perhaps he'd been raised up for such a time as this.

There's this gripping subplot about her cousin Mordecai all

throughout the book, and I just want to summarize it a little

bit for us. Mordecai overheard in Chapter 2

overheard a couple guys who were making a plan against the King

Xerxes to kill him. Mordecai takes that news to his

cousin Esther, who is the queen, and informs her.

She takes that to the king, and after it's discovered or sought

out, it's found to be true. Those men were hanged.

And what happens gets written down.

Write that down in the words of the book for the Chronicles in

the presence of the king. What Mordecai did doesn't get

his blessing immediately. But write that down five years

later, still no recognition for Mordecai's life saving work.

It actually looks like Mount Mordecai is going to die because

the antagonist of this story, Haman, can't stand Mordecai.

He's the King's right hand man. He wants him dead because

Mordecai would not honor him. It says he planned to have

Mordecai hung this the very next day on some new gallows that he

had constructed. Wouldn't you know that very

night that Haman is making plans to kill Mordecai?

By God's Providence, the king was an insomniac.

He couldn't sleep. And you know what he asked for?

As he's lying in his bed trying to fall asleep, he says, bring

to me the book of memorable deeds, the Chronicles, and they

were read before him. And he reads Mordecai's story.

He says, has anything done for that guy who saved my life five

years ago? Well, no Sir, the scribes say

nothing's been done for him. What did you know?

Haman walks in to the King's court, all proud of himself,

feeling self-righteous. The king says what should be

done? He says to Haman, what should be

done for the man in whom the king delights to honor.

I'm going to read for us a few verses.

Haman said to himself, Whom would the king delight to honor

more than me? This is chapter 6, verse seven

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

of the book of Esther. And Haman said to the king,

Haman speaking For the man whom the king delights to honor, let

royal robes be brought which the king has worn, and the horse

that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set,

and let the robes and the horse be handed over to 1.

To the one of the King's most noble officials.

Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and let

them lead him on the horse through the square of the city,

proclaiming before him. Thus shall it be done to the one

whom the king delights to honor. And then the king said to Haman,

Hurry, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do

so to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the King's gate.

Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.

So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai,

and he led him through the square of the city, proclaiming

before him. Thus shall it be done to whom

the man delights to honor. My Christian friend, you may be

waiting on God for a number of things.

Take heart, God will not forget the ones who fear Him.

He is attentive. He is looking to strengthen

those whose hearts are committed to Him.

He sees, in fact, even the smallest of your faithful acts.

Mark 941. Whoever gives you a cup of water

to drink because you belong to Christ, will by number means

lose his reward. Even the faith, your

faithfulness done in secret, that no one but God will ever

see you will be rewarded for Matthew 6.

Give, pray, fast, do all these things in secret, and your

Father who sees in secret will reward you.

You can trust Him while you wait.

We saw the ungodly speak and they revealed the distrust of

God. The godly spoke.

We saw their repentant hearts. God was listening, poised and

ready to take note to ensure their future reward.

And in verses 17 and 18, we see that when God speaks, we see His

mercy. Look at verse 17.

They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I

make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man

spares his Son who serves him. And then once more you shall see

the distinction between the righteous and the wicked,

between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Again, we just think about how little these repentant sinners

have done so far. They got together and they spoke

with one another. And God says you're going to be

mine, my treasured possession. I will spare them.

Clearly it's not because anything them that is

impressive, but it's because God is merciful.

God is merciful. He does not give us what we

deserve. He didn't have to speak through

Malachi. As we remember from last week,

their fathers, they had this history of disobedience against

God. They could have been wiped out

long before this book was written.

He didn't have to speak through Malachi.

He could have judged the rebellious people.

He would have been just in doing so, even if he acknowledged the

repentance. He certainly didn't have to make

them his treasure to call them his own treasured possession.

So maybe a couple questions enter your own mind.

How could God be so merciful to them?

And why would God be so merciful to them?

First, how? How could be he be so merciful

to such an obstinate people? God is holy and his sin is

offensive against Him and it deserves punishment.

And they had been racking up this growing list of debts

against him through all their disobedience.

So how did the economics of that even work out?

Someone has to pay for all that faithlessness against him,

right? Yes, someone does, and someone

would. God himself would pay for their

faithlessness against him. God would send one who would pay

for all of their offenses, one who would bear our griefs and

carry our sorrows, One who would be stricken by men, smitten by

God, and afflicted. God sent Jesus, who was pierced

for our transgressions. He was crushed for our

iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement

that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.

Isn't that what forgiveness is? Taking the weight and pain of

someone else's wrongs against you, and taking those weight

upon yourself, relieving them of any debt of repayment?

My Christian friend, rest in that truth.

There's no repayment left to be made for your soul.

He won't. God won't let you take partial

credit. It's finished.

There's nothing left for you to contribute to your own salvation

because of the perfect and merciful love of God and Jesus's

work on the cross and Him being raised from the dead.

He said the work is finished. He's purchased us.

He's made us his own. And if you're not yet following

Jesus, what a wonderful gift that God wants to leave you with

this morning and that He wants you to receive.

He wants you to receive eternal life with Him, the cleansing of

your conscience of all of your sins, past, present and future.

Now that doesn't mean that we go on sinning just because our

sins, though covered, are covered.

Oh boy, it gets to carry on in my sin.

No, God loves us too much to let us continue in the deathly grip

of sin. He intends for His people to be

holy and pure. In the book of Titus chapter 2,

Titus 2 · chapter mention

it says that God gave himself for us to redeem us or purchase

us back from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people.

Here's that word again. For his own possession, who are

zealous for good works. So while our sins are paid for,

that doesn't mean that there's no cost to following Jesus.

It surely will cost you everything he can.

Only he is the one who can be lured.

We can't have two Lords or two masters at the same time.

But my friends, the exchange is worth it.

We get again. We get to be freed from the sin

that's killing us. The eternal wrath of God in hell

that awaits us if we do, if we refuse to repent.

And instead we get to receive the hope of eternity with God,

an eternal Kingdom that cannot be shaken.

And best of all, we get to receive God himself.

He can be our treasured possession, just as he says that

he will treasure us and we will be His treasured possession.

In the wise words of Jim Elliott, he said he is no fool

who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

The exchange is worth it of those who turn to him.

God says they shall be mine, my treasured possession, not

because they're impressive, but because God is merciful.

How could he do that? He could do that because he sent

his son to pray the price to purchase back for himself a

repentant people. Why on earth would God do that?

Why would he make them his treasured possession?

Admittedly, it's a bit of a funny question to ask and to

answer because if you think about your own treasured

possessions and ask why do you treasure them?

And by the way, I'm not talking about things that you like or

enjoy. Even if you use a strong word

like love to say I love, I love ultimate Frisbee.

It gives me a sort of return on investment.

You might say it's exciting and I enjoy it.

I love coffee, the modest return on investment I get from my

coffee morning routine. But we don't use the same

language for the things that we treasure most.

It's like a different category. Why do I love my wife and my

children? I can't not love them.

Try to make me stop loving them and I can't do it.

Why does God? Or I should say to an infinitely

greater extent, God loves his children.

He loves those who repent and follow him.

He gave his own sons so they could be saved from sin and

hell. Why does he love them those who

turn away from their sins? Perhaps the best answer is that

because it's in the character of God to do so.

He is faithful, He is merciful, He keeps his covenant and his

promises, and he is steadfast in his love.

You might say that he can't not love those who turn to Him in

faith. They shall be mine, My treasured

possession, God says, and I will spare them.

There is great reward waiting for those who fear God.

I know all of us would admit that waiting is difficult.

In our waiting we can distrust God, we can throw in the towel,

we can say it's not worth it. It's vain to serve Him.

Or we can repent of our pride and our waywardness, and we can

receive His mercy. We can do so with the assurance

that God will not forget the ones who fear Him.

He will reward them generously. Kurt will address this in

greater detail next week. But God promises clearly here

that the day is coming, where, as we see in the end of verse

18, you shall see the distinction between the

righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and

one who does not serve Him. On the surface, based on our

circumstances, it may seem that in our days the wicked prosper

and the righteous suffer. But it will not be that way

forever. God will make a distinction

between those who serve Him and those who do not.

Those who reject Him will suffer in eternity apart from Him.

Those who fear Him will be remembered, for He has written

their names down in His book. He will surely reward them and

treasure them and save them. And while we wait, May God give

us assurance. It's not vain to serve Him.

He's worth following. He will remember His people.

So may we say along with the Psalmist from Psalm chapter 27,

Psalms 27:13

verses 13 and 14, I believe that I shall look upon the goodness

of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage and

wait for the Lord. Let's stand together, continue

to worship our God through our faith, through singing to our

faithful God. Worship team can come on up.