I. "THEY THAT FEARED THE LORD." WHAT IS IT TO FEAR THE LORD?
A. It is to be in reverence and awe of the holy, eternal, almighty, God who has created our universe.
B. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy and the evil way, and the forward mouth do I hate.
Prov.8:13
C. Come ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.
D. We are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Pro.1:7
E. It is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
F. It is by the fear of the Lord that we depart from evil.
Pro.16:6
G. What did those that feared the Lord do?
1. They spake often to one another. Not just occasionally but often.
2. They talked about the Lord with each other.
a. I think of all of the inane talk and chatter about the weather.
b. People are always trying to make conversation.
1. Looking for topics of interest.
2. Trying to get a conversation going.
3. With many, a good way to get a conversation stopped, is to start to talk about the Lord.
3. What a delight it is to gather with friends and just talk about the Lord.
II. AND THE LORD HARKENED AND HEARD.
A. Have you ever noticed how that your ear is tuned to your name?
1. Whenever you mention the name of the Lord, He tunes in.
2. He wants to know what you are saying about Him.
3. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ear is opened to their cry.
4. The Lord declared to Israel that He heard their murmuring.
a. How sad it must be that when we begin to speak to one another about God that we would begin to complain and murmur.
b. How it rejoices the heart of God when we praise and extol His glorious name, and talk of His love and grace.
B. How beautiful it was at the baptismal yesterday when so many came up to me and began to tell of all of the wonderful things that the Lord has been doing in their lives.
1. Just think the Lord was harkening unto the things that were said.
2. In
Psalm 105 we are told to talk of all His wondrous works.
3. In
Psalm 107 we are instructed, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy."
III. THE BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE WAS WRITTEN BEFORE HIM.
A. Moses talked to God about blotting his name out of his book.
Dan 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
PSA 56:8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: [are they] not in thy book?
PSA 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
PSA 139:16 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.
Phl 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and [with] other my fellow labourers, whose names [are] in the book of life.
REV 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
REV 20:12 And 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.
REV 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
B. The book of remembrances was of those that feared the Lord and thought upon His name.
1. It is sort of an awesome thought to think that my name is written in the book of His remembrances.
C. God claims them as His own. "And they shall be Mine." saith the Lord of hosts.
1. I love it when the Lord gets possessive of me. "He's mine."
2. Jesus said that if we would confess Him before men, he would confess us before His Father which is in heaven.
IV. GOD'S TREASURE. THEY SHALL BE MINE IN THAT DAY WHEN I MAKE UP MY JEWELS.
A. When Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, he spoke of his prayer for them that God would give to them the Spirit of wisdom and understanding that they might know what was the hope of their calling, and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
B. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that is hid in a field. When you work out the interpretation of the parable, you find that the treasure is His church. You are his treasure.
C. The estimate of value that God places upon you.
1. What should it profit a man, if he would gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
2. What will a man give in exchange for his soul?
a. Some are selling so cheaply.
b. A few minutes of pleasure.
c. A handful of shiny beads.
D. What God gave to redeem your soul. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
1. For we are redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver or gold from our vain and empty lives, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ who was slain as a Lamb without spot or blemish.
2. Paul declares that we have been bought with a price, therefore we should glorify God in our bodies which are His.
3. Because we have been bought with a price, we should not be the servants of man.
E. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking to buy pearls, and when he finds one of great price, he sells all that he might buy it.
1. You are His jewels, you are His treasure, you are the pearl of great price.
2. God prizes you more than all the world.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
