Malachi

I might say that I'm happy and thankful to be here on a Thursday night and with the company of the Lord's people, and I pray for you. I just, good to see you and be with you this brief time. It was only suitable, again, that I be here these two nights, and I'm just happy for that, and pray earnestly that the Lord will bless his word.

Sometimes you wonder, you know, just what should be said and what would be most suitable, not knowing, not knowing the circumstance in which you're found, but if we can speak of Christ, if we can, if we can exalt Christ, well that's a wonderful thing. Our hearts can be warmed and blessed under the sound of his word, and so we want to do that with the help of the Lord, is to speak well of our Lord Jesus. Now, if you have a Bible, turn to the book of Malachi.

It's not difficult, not difficult to find. It is the last book in the Old Testament, right? The book of Malachi, and four short chapters in this book, and brother was asking me at the back about it. He says, well that's kind of unmarked territory.

Well, we're going to go through it, and look at some verses, and we're going to, you know, you just, I ask you to keep your Bibles open, because we're kind of going to go back and forth a little bit through the book, and I'm going to try and highlight some themes, in a way, in this lovely book. Malachi, the last of the, sometimes called the minor prophets, but I don't know about that. I mean, all the prophets are significant and important, and Malachi is at the end, and he's writing, really, the last, if you want to put it along, Ezra and Nehemiah.

Those books occur earlier in the Old Testament, don't they? But they fit into the end time, after the captivity, and settling back. The children of Israel now coming back into the land, and settling down, and the temple being reconstructed, and so on. So all that was going on as they settled.

Maybe they shouldn't have been so settled in the land, and occupied. In a way, we will come back to some of that. Let me say this too, that I enjoy Malachi because it bridges.

It bridges the Old and the New, and there was a gap of time, wasn't there, several hundred years between the Old and the New, and Malachi somehow bridges that, and I'll point out something. He will speak about John the Baptist, and he will speak about the Lord Jesus. So, like I say, he bridges that time era, frame of time.

Okay, so let's read, please. Commence in Malachi, and read at 1 and 1, chapter 1, verse number 1. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi, Malachi. Maybe in your margin, you have the meaning of a name.

You know the names were very significant. You didn't just name, somebody was asking me about my name, we were commenting on names, you know, so you have this name, that name. But you know, especially in Bible times, names are very significant and meaningful.

Malachi's name means, you got it down, my messenger, my messenger, the messenger of the Lord, Malachi, and we come back to that. Verse 2, I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet you say, wherein have you loved us? Was not Esau, Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau. Okay, I just, stop there a moment.

The love. Brothers and sisters, we're object of his love, right? He loved us. He loved us when there was nothing lovable about us.

We were in our sins. We were separated from him, but he loved us. God is love, for God's love the world.

He gave us only begotten son. So God is love, and he's loved us, and he's loved his own in a very special way. John 13, having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the uttermost, unto the end.

The love, we sing, don't we? The love that Jesus had for me to suffer on the cruel tree, the love. Are we under the umbrella of that love? Is everyone a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? Does everyone know something of the love of God? Can you say with the great apostle Paul, the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, making it very personal, the love, and the love that Jesus had. Love that would take him, beloved, to the cross, and all that's suffering, knowingly, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Led as a lamb to the sly, sheep done before his shears, open not his mouth, took all the reproach and all the same, and bore our sins, Peter says, who his own self bear our sins, and his own body upon the tree. Oh, the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Ephesians chapter 5, well, what an exhortation.

Husbands, love your wives. Husbands, love your wives. But what I want, as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.

There it is, brothers. As Christ loved that was sacrificial, Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. We would exclaim with the revelation, one, unto him that loves us and gave himself for us, the Lord Jesus, his love.

Our love would spring out of his love, right? He first loved us. We love him because he first loved us. And yet, here's a people, and what are they saying? They're saying, we're in us, thou loved us.

They're bringing this into question. And the people in Malachi say, they did this repeatedly in this little letter. They questioned the goodness of God.

We're in us, thou loved us. You know, sadly, sadly, some have strayed. Maybe we all have strayed in some degree or measure.

Well, we bless God that he's a God of restoration, and he brings us back again. But there's something, a little remark that kind of burned into my soul the other, just the other day, maybe yesterday, you know. Well, maybe that person has got cold in their love.

They have left their first love. You know, the Ephesians, I've already referred to the Ephesians, the Ephesians letter, how much it talks about love. Ephesians chapter five, walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor, walk in love.

And those Ephesians in their zeal, those Christians love. It was tender, it was precious, and it was ongoing in the church. But you come to Revelation chapter two, and that's how it starts, the first of the seven churches.

And that's the indictment, that's the charge brought against them. Thou hast left thy first love. Would we stray? Would there be those that would forsake the assembling of themselves together, saying, wherein hast he loved me? And they've grown cold.

Oh, we all need to be restored into our first love and our love for the Lord Jesus. Forbid that you should be like the people of Malachi's day and saying, wherein hast you loved me? God's love was very evident. What I was going to say too, in verse number one, it says, the burden of the word of the Lord.

Any significance to that? Does the word of the Lord become a burden? Every messenger, every spokesman for God, every minister of Christ, every gospel preacher, they should have this burden as to the word of the Lord. You know, beloved, the word of the Lord is so vitally important and significant today. And unfortunately, that is what is being set aside in many places, in many circles.

And maybe it's become more of a social meeting, gathering, rather than a gathering over the scriptures and the word of God. Exceedingly important. As to our salvation, it was the word of the Lord, wasn't it? John 5, 24, he that heareth my word and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life.

It brought us salvation, right? Taught us salvation, the word of the Lord. Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord. And so it's important that we speak the word and the hearing of the word results in our salvation.

I was thinking also just a few simple things. The word of the Lord promotes growth. What does Peter say, 1 Peter 2, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that they might grow thereby.

That is an ongoing thing. And there is a sense, beloved, now I know the meats, the solid food, that's important as well. But there's another sense in which we would indulge and continue in the word of the Lord.

And that would be fresh like milk. It would promote growth. I'm talking about spiritual growth, just as a newborn babe needs what? Needs milk to grow and mature and be strong.

So the new believer. And what do we teach them? What do we teach them? We teach them the word of God. Many places I go and I see, you know, new convert or a new soul or see them reached in the gospel.

I say, where are you reading in the word of God? Get your Bible. What about this verse, that verse and have a Bible discussion. The word of the Lord is so extremely important for growth.

It's also important for one's guidance and direction. And it's also important for just a number of things. It's also important for purity, cleansing in the Christian life.

What did Jesus say? John 15, he said, you are clean through the word that I've spoken unto you. What do you mean by that? He meant spiritual cleansing. This world, this world is a defiling environment.

And we're exposed to it in the classroom, in the workplace, and as we travel, you know, the billboards, it's a defiling world. And we have to have the word of God stored up within us as cleansing. Psalm 119, you know it.

What did the psalmist say? Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. Wherewithal shall a young man make himself clean, but by taking hitherto according to your word. And so it has a deep, deep cleansing effect on the life of the believer.

I mentioned that verse in Ephesians chapter five, didn't I? How does it go again? Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot in the wrinkle. In that little collection of verses, there's a past, a present, and a future, isn't it? The past, Christ gave himself, Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. The present, that's ongoing, that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word.

Future, that he might present it to himself a glorious church. Oh, what will it be when in spotless purity, the bride is presented to Christ? The word of the Lord, that was what lay heavy upon the heart of the writer here, Malachi, and he had a message from God for the people of God of his particular day, and it was a burden from the Lord, okay? The messenger, I noticed a couple of other messengers, just let me, because this is kind of a theme, just as Malachi, messenger of the Lord, notice with me, please, this verse here, and again, we're just going to move around just a little bit. In chapter 2 and verse number 7, for the priest's lips shall keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth.

He is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. The same thing as the title, Malachi, messenger. Here you have the messenger now, they are the priests of the Lord.

Now, I wonder if they were fulfilling their duties and responsibilities. I wonder if they were really presenting the sacrifice and the tithes and giving the Lord his portion and his time, the priests of the Lord. They were to be the messengers of the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of might, the Lord of armies, that's the Lord of hosts.

But notice with me again, messenger, because there are a couple of other messengers in chapter 3 and verse 1, behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. We got a messenger there? I think we got two messengers there.

I think we got the messenger, John the Baptist, and the messenger of the covenant, the Lord himself, messenger. And what about this here first messenger? He shall prepare the way before me, John Baptist, forerunner of the Lord Jesus. John the Baptist, just a cousin of the Lord, closely related, but he prepared the way for the Lord.

Oh, I hear him say, on the banks of the river Jordan, hear his words. Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. As he saw the Lord Jesus Christ coming up and coming onto the scene, behold, look, the Lamb of God, Jesus, that takes away the sin of the world.

In the old economy, in the Old Testament, they had brought their sacrifices to God. And many times it was a lamb. They had brought their lambs to God.

But it was a remarkable day, beloved, when God brought his lamb to man, when God brought his lamb to us, and it was the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus. And so John, he, as you know, he's imprisoned, he's beheaded for the cause of Christ. He goes off the scene, and the Lord Jesus Christ comes on, and he is the messenger now.

What does it say? The messenger of the covenant. I like that. He's the messenger of the covenant.

Where does that take you? Well, you study it? You study the covenants of scripture, you know? Go back to Abraham, go way back to Abraham. God made a covenant with Abraham. It involved the land of promise.

It involved a seed. And ultimately, it was going to be the Lord Jesus, because there was going to be blessing that would, that it would extend universally in the covenant that was made to Abraham. Covenant made to Moses.

Covenant made to David. It's going to be king, and so on. But best of all, there was a covenant, a new covenant that came with our Lord Jesus Christ, and shall be established in a very real way.

And the Jewish economy would look for it. We have come into the good and the blessings of much of it. Let me read quickly a verse in the New Testament, and you will recall.

I will read in Hebrews chapter 10, and just mark out here the covenant. Hebrews 10, reading please at verse number 15, a couple of verses. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for after that he had said before, this is the covenant, verse 16, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord.

I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds, and I will write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Beloved, that's something of the depths of the new covenant, and I like that. Sins remembered no more.

Oh, in the old economy, what did you have? You had sin covered. You had sin covered, and you had them looking forward by faith to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but beloved, he's put away sin. Hebrews again, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at God's right hand.

His work is complete, the new covenant, and so I'm thankful. As I think of these messengers, these messengers, and they came with a message. Malachi came with a message to a people that were at ease, a people that were materially prosperous and wealthy, and he came with a message that would stir them.

Just let me get a verse here. Chapter one, again, I'm going to read verse number 13. This people that were at ease, verse 13.

He said also, Behold, what a weariness is this, and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts, and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick. Thus ye brought an offering. Should I accept this of your hand, saith the Lord? What were these people doing? What were they bringing? First of all, it says here, they were weariness, weariness.

Now, how do you feel in your Christian experience, in your Christian life? Oh, do you feel, well, it's kind of wearisome, you know, I'm getting a little bit tired, you know, reading the Bible, and pray every day, and so you just, you know, shut out that, and the fellowship, and the fellowship of the Christians, and the form. Uh, you say, we're just, we're just maybe, we're just maybe going through a form, and, and you're growing cold, and it's become a weariness, and a burden to your soul. Oh, that's a spiritual condition that we could all get into, if we're not careful, and then you say, well, bring to God.

What can I bring to God? Oh, you say, here's something that's not, not too needed. I don't need this anymore. Well, let's bring it, and give it, give it up to the church, give it up to a meeting, or something, you know, and something that you, you haven't got any room for now, or time, you know, we're bringing something, an offering to the Lord, that is really not acceptable.

It's not the first fruits, it's not what he would really desire. Oh, we could all get into that sort of condition, and so we're warned here, we're warned here about the message, the message. You know, it's also a message of, of judgment.

Now, could I just carefully, cautiously say something about that? Let's, let's read a verse, please, over the page, in chapter, in chapter three, and we'll continue reading in verse number two, it's a message, a message of judgment. But who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? Now, this is the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. I take it, second advent, I take it that it's coming back, he's coming back to judge, to judge here.

And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller soap, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, as in the former days, and I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and so on. So here's the Lord, and he says, I will judge, I will judge.

God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. Wrath he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised them from the dead. Oh, what will it be in that day, and at that judgment? Just a word of warning, just a word of warning.

If there's anybody here not saved, not knowing the Lord Jesus Christ is their Savior, you will stand in judgment one day. You will have no coat of righteousness. You will stand in that day exposed, and the Lord shall judge in righteousness.

Oh, that you might be sheltered. Oh, that you might know the Savior, and that you might look forward to his coming with joy, sweet and happy day when Jesus comes again. Okay, so there is a judgment day coming.

You could develop it in another way. I'm not going to right now, but there's the judgment seat of Christ, and Paul would make that clear in 2 Corinthians 5 and 10, for example. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

You know, it's good to make that distinction. What's up here, and what's over here, okay? Because there'll be no believer up there at the judgment seat of Christ, and no unbeliever up there, and there'll be no saint. There'll be no believer at the judgment, at the great white throne, so you must distinguish between those two.

We must leave that. Anyway, a day of judgment coming. May we just stand in readiness for that.

Also, the message. The message was concerning a godly remnant who feared the Lord. Now, I want to be careful of those words, because I want to go over them.

A godly remnant who feared the Lord, and I'm going to read a verse, and then we're going to leave it and come back to it. I'll read in chapter 3 and verse number 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 fought upon his name.

Blessed. Lovely verse. There were those in the midst of all this trouble, and at that day, and they feared the Lord.

I'll pick that up again. I have two points, two kind of just headings that I would like to just conclude on. First of all, I would like to speak.

I would like to speak about the messenger and the message, and I kind of have developed that in a way. The message and the messenger, and we have talked about Malachi as a messenger. We've talked about the priest as a messenger.

We've talked about John the Baptist as a messenger, and we have talked about the messenger of the new covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, I'm kind of going to leave that, and I'm going to go on to my second point here. The reverence of his holy name.

The reverence of his holy name. You just say, what do you mean by the reverence? I mean the respect for, or the fear. I'm going to pick that up from the verse that we just, them that feared the Lord.

The fear. Beloved, do you know what the fear of the Lord is? Do you know what it is to fear the Lord? And I don't mean, I don't mean afraid. I don't mean something that will take you away, but I mean something that would draw you.

Fear and reverence of the Lord. And I sometimes think about that, and in the text of scripture, and I'll give you a few verses, and I sometimes, beloved, maybe we've lost it. And as I want to point out to you, it was kind of lost in Malachi's day.

His day was the last day. Our day for the church, we've come to last days, and I wonder if the fear of the Lord isn't being lost. Lost.

Psalm tells us, Psalm 89 and verse 7 says, God is to be feared in the assembly of his saints. God is to be feared in the assembly of his saints. Do we fear God? Proverbs says, and it tells us more what the fear of the Lord is.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 8 and verse 13 says, the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.

You know, when I thought about that verse, you know who I thought of? Joseph. Joseph. You know the story of Joseph? How that he was maligned by his brothers and betrayed by his brothers.

Joseph. And Joseph was carried down to Egypt. But you know what Joseph carried with him? He carried with him the fear of the Lord.

It was instilled into his soul, the fear of the Lord. I wonder if it's what his parents, his father, Jacob, I wonder if it's what he had taught him, Joseph. And down in Egypt, he's heard to say, and I think it, I think it occurs a number of times in action, but at least once it's declared, Joseph says, I fear the Lord.

I fear God. I fear God. And you know, when he was in Potiphar's house and there was a great temptation there to sin, he fled.

Why? Because he feared the Lord. He feared the Lord. And there's principles that were, were, were, were, were established within.

There was lessons that were taught him. And so he escaped from it. He escaped from it.

When he was in the prison, again, the fear of the Lord and, and maligned, falsely charged and so on, but he's lifted up now and, and he's in Pharaoh's household and he's, he's, he's governor over all the land of Egypt. And it's amazing. It's amazing.

When his brothers come down, when his brothers come down, they didn't know, they didn't know, but he recognized them. You know what he told his brothers? He says, I fear God. And I tell you, those brothers were just, just trembling.

Those brothers were conscious of actions and things that they had done, things that they had said. Oh, they didn't recognize at that point, they didn't recognize that it was Joseph. I fear God.

I wonder if it can be said of us. We fear God and we too depart from iniquity, hate, evil. Another thing about fear, just to, just to try and explain it a little bit.

Psalm 25 and verse 14 says, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. If you want to get to know your God and your savior in a more personal way, then you, we, we, myself included, must depart from evil and call upon his name and truly regard him and fear him.

And one other thing I want to introduce to this is the keeping of his commandments. Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 13, Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 13 says, the fear of God is to keep his commandments and to really love him. Isn't that what Jesus taught as well? If you love me, keep my commandments.

His word, his word. So there's a true indication that we're in love if we keep his commandments. I'm reminded, just a moment.

I'm reminded in a moment of Peter, Peter, remember him on the shores of Galilee and he took up fishing in the Lord Jesus Christ in resurrection and the Lord Jesus Christ found him there and he called him to shore multitude of fishes. Oh, but there was, the Lord Jesus had a supply there. He had a fire and he had fish and so on, feeds them.

But he's speaking to Peter and he said to Peter, Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you really, really love me? And what, some three times over, a little play on some words there, we'll leave it. But Peter, do you really love me? What did he say to Peter? What did Peter say? What did he say to Peter? If you love me, feed my sheep. If you love me, you love the sheep, right? I hope brothers and sisters that we have a genuine love for the flock of God.

For the sheep, they need that tender care. They need to see the example before them. Brothers, are you going before the flock and feeding them and tending them? And the lambs sometimes, you know, they get held up in this and that and maybe in a pit or something and they need to go and they need to be lifted out and carried on.

You know, there's a great shepherd work today. I think, widely speaking, you know, in the assemblies, in assemblies, there's possibly a lack of shepherds and shepherd care. Oh, give yourself to it.

We need shepherds that will care for the sheep. So, that was a real test for Peter. How did Peter come out? Peter come out on top.

You know, if you want to know, if you want to know more about Peter, you just read. And there's great lessons that Peter learned and he's going to record them in 1st Peter and 2nd Peter, 1st Peter primarily. And he's even got a word for shepherds in 1st Peter chapter 5. I leave it, okay.

The reverence, the respect for his holy name. I would like to go back to chapter 1 and read verse number 6. Chapter 1 and verse 6. A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is my honor? And if a master, where is my fear? You see, that's what the Lord was looking for.

He was looking for that, those that would fear him, and those that would obey him, and those that would reverence his holy name. And so he says, where is those that fear me? Saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priest that despise my name. I'm thinking of his holy name.

You know, his name, I said earlier about the significance of the name, significance of the Bible names. You know that. Isaiah 9 and verse 6, you know that? His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, his name.

His name would relay to us a message and tell us about his person. And most often about his divine person. Call his name, Matthew chapter 1, verse 21, call his name Jesus.

For he shall save his people from their sin, Savior. Verse 23, call his name Emmanuel, God with us. Wonderful.

You know, think of his name, didn't Moses, I think of a struggle that Moses had there at the burning bush, at the burning bush. What a sight he beheld, the bush that burned, but didn't burn up. It wasn't consumed.

And it was, you know, his holy ground. Oh, his holy name. Moses, take your shoes from off your feet.

The ground you stand on is holy ground as he approaches that site. And as he's commissioned and as he's told to go back to Egypt and see those people come out of Egypt, lead them out. He says, but who are you? What are they? They're going to ask about your name, your name.

What is it? John. I am that I am. Is that sufficient? Tell them you're the I am.

His name. What a message. You know, we value that, don't we, in the gospel.

In John's gospel, the I am. How clearly it comes out. The I am.

All those I am. What, the seven I am's or something? You know? You know them all? I am the door. By me, if any man enters in, he shall be saved.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives us life for the sheep. I am the resurrection and the life.

I am the bread from heaven. I am the true vine. John 14 and 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life.

I am. Every time he was, you know, there's possibly seven other times, maybe eight, seven, anyway. Seven other times when there's no pronoun, there's nothing attached to it.

He just says, I am. I know sometimes in our Bible it has, I am he. But for the most part, the he is italicized.

So you read it without. He says, I am. Just like in the garden, they come to rest the Lord Jesus Christ in the garden.

What did he say? I am. They were powerless. They just fell down before him.

That was a divine title. I am. Before Abraham was, I am.

They knew that it was divine. They knew that it was divine. That's why the hatred toward the Lord Jesus Christ, he was.

Truly Emmanuel, God manifest in flesh, the wonder of it. So this divine person here, the name, I just wanted to, and the fear of, the fear of that name, the name and the fear of the name. Okay, another verse, please.

In chapter one, again, chapter one, again, reading at verse number 11, from the rising of the sun onto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place, incense shall be offered unto my name of a pure offering. For my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.

That name, that worthy name. Oh, the greatness of that name. And amongst all the heathen, you know, it's going out now.

There's a message today that is going out universally through all the world, all the Gentile nations. It's that worthy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And truly this has happened.

From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, my name is great among the Gentiles, among the heathen. Oh, the name. You know, those that are calling upon the name, little groups of Christians that are gathered, the significance of the name.

What did I say? Saved at the name of Jesus, at the name. Neither is there salvation in any other. There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

The name of Jesus. Baptized, the name. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The name of Jesus. The name of Jesus. And where I was coming to, you know, you know where I was coming to.

I says we gather in that name, don't we? Around that lovely person of the Lord Jesus. Where two or three are gathered together unto my name. There am I in the midst of them.

Oh, the Spirit's work. The Spirit's work to gather to the believers together. You see, humanly speaking, and I mean, I'm somewhat engaged in gospel work and see these souls saved and testimonies to the Lord.

We want to see them established and blessed. Humanly speaking, we might do all that we can. Even, even relative to the gathering, you know, you might arrange for a building.

You might arrange for a time and all that. You might, humanly speaking, work out. But you want to see the Lord gather the saints together unto my name.

You gotta post it up here somewhere, okay? So, that's precious and valuable. The name. I leave this verse.

Throughout our world today, there are gatherings of the Lord's dear people. And I have visited them, my wife and myself have occasion. I have a sister in the south in Chile and son over in Africa.

And we were working with the Chinese and the students said, the students said, I'm going home. Come to China. Come to China.

And we met and gathered with the Christians out of Beijing, China. And the simple gatherings. I gathered with the saints in Nazareth and, you know, just simple things.

Simple things. Well, it just might. We all have, we all have in our gatherings, brothers and sisters.

We all have some customs, some arrangements, some human responsibilities. We take for that, right? Now, don't be shocked. Don't be surprised.

As you travel and as you go from place to place, there's a great variation. There's a great, not in principle, but in the physical things. Sometimes, you know, I remember in Africa, offering, a little offering.

You know what it was? It was a hen. Come up and, you know, just put it under the table or whatever. A little loaf of some food or something.

Simple things. You know? And so, there's a great variation. Maybe in some places, a man sit one side, the woman on the other.

You know, it's just custom. Custom. That's not, it's not something you've got to be dogmatic about.

No. Or be strife over. No.

Anyway, as you travel from place to place, you see a great variation in many, or humanly, arrangements that might be made. The value of that name. Can you look with me further? Oh, I was going to say before we leave it.

It's so precious, beloved. The incense. The incense is going up.

And when I read that, you know what I thought of? What you're thinking of. I thought of the incense altar. The incense altar.

And you know that in the tabernacle, there stood the brazen altar. The brazen altar of sacrificing the court. But as you moved inside, as you moved inside, there was one, two, three articles.

But let's just think of the golden altar. The golden altar. And it was also called the altar of incense.

The altar of incense. And what went up there is the incense went up. The priest would come in there with a censer, fire from off the brazen altar, and so on.

And there would be sweet incense go up to God. He valued it. The work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I mentioned it already. Did I not? Ephesians chapter five and verse two. An offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

Oh beloved, as we meet together in fellowship and worship all the brothers audibly and the sisters silently. Yeah, we're always out. All the brothers.

All the brothers. Get up and give thanks to the Lord. And the incense is going up.

And the sisters are there. And they're saying amen. Right.

So, you know, the assembly functions like that. Priests and our responsibilities. Wonderful.

That's the incense is going up. It's also there's another line that you could take up the prayers. The prayers of the saints.

The prayers of the saints is going up as incense. And what a great delight God would take as we speak. Of his son, the Lord Jesus.

So here's the incense going up. And then it says here. Notice, notice verse 14.

I want to get this fear again. Verse 14. Just read the last part of verse 14.

I am a great king saith the Lord of hosts. My name is dreadful among the heathen. There's that name again.

That name. I wanted to, I wanted to develop something in chapter two and I haven't got time. But I'll just give you a reference quickly.

Chapter two. Let's read verse number, verse number two. Chapter two, verse two.

If you will not hear and if you will not do lay it to heart. To give glory unto my name saith the Lord of hosts. I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessing.

Yea, I have cursed them already because you do not lay it to heart. So there. Give glory unto my name, beloved.

Do we love his name? Can I just, I'm looking back at chapter five. A little phrase in, in verse number five. Chapter one.

Chapter one, verse five. The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. That's all right.

I could go into that. The border of Israel. There's Jordan, Syria and all around.

Little Israel. Little Israel. But here is the Lord is going to be magnified.

What is it? What does it mean to magnify something? Make it big. Make it big. A magnifying glass.

You know. And the object becomes big. And that's how it should be with the Lord.

We want to magnify his name. Involved his person. His being.

Magnify the Lord. And that's wonderful. Now, just quickly.

In chapter three, we just have to skip over some. In chapter three, I want to lift out verse number 16 again and say something quickly. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.

The Lord hearkened and heard. A book of remembrance was written before him. For them that feared the Lord and thought upon his name.

And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels. Yes, brother. It's no jewel today.

It's no jewel today. Here I am. And kind of, you know, a bit infirmed.

And my pace has slowed up. And I have this problem and that problem. Your jewel.

Your jewel. And you'll be a jewel in that day when the Lord gives that call. And we, anyway, in verse number 16, they that fear the Lord spake often.

I wonder, is this our talk? Is this what we speak about? Those that fear the Lord spake often one to another. And it's recorded. It's all recorded.

What's our conversation? Oh, the weather today. It's changed. It's different.

You know, a lot of rain in this country. Up in our country, you know, well, we're just like drought. And, you know, we talk about the weather.

Or maybe it's business talk and talk about our schoolwork. Listen, can we talk about the Lord? Can we talk about the things of the Lord? That is going down on record. Now, I'm done.

I just have to leave it. Those that feared. That would be a good indicator of those that feared the Lord.

Do you speak about it? Do you make him big? Do you magnify him in the eyes of sinner and saint alike that he might be magnified? Now, quickly, just as I conclude in chapter 4. In chapter 4. And I would love to read it all. But I just, I'll just have to cut back. Notice with me chapter 4 and verse 2. But unto you that fear my name.

There we have it again, beloved. His name and the reverence of his name. The respect for it.

Unto you that fear my name. Shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. And you shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.

Beloved, what will it be? When the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings. What will that future be? What will that millennium be like? I was in the situation the other day and I could have, I walked away. I could have said, well, I never want to be in that situation again until the millennium.

The millennium will be so different. When Jesus reigns in righteousness. When the son of righteousness rises with healing in his wings.

Answer to all the problems, political problems, religious problems. He will reign. Isaiah 32 and 1, a king shall reign in righteousness.

What a great day that will be. The son of righteousness. Oh, you say, I'm not going to get in on that.

We'll be with Christ. We're the bride of Christ. And we're the church.

And we shall be with Christ where he is. And that will be wonderful. On his side.

You see, it's a little bit different at the end of our Bible. If I could give you a quick, you know, Revelation chapter 22. When he would say, I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star.

And maybe that's special for the church today. He's the root and the offspring of David. You figure that one out.

He came before David and he came after David. The Lord Jesus is eternal, right? Being. But he says, the bright and morning star.

We're looking for that, aren't we? The Lord Jesus Christ. He'll give this out. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. The Lord himself shall come with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God.

The dead in Christ. That means the ones that are saved. The dead in Christ shall rise first.

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to be with the Lord. Beloved, fear God. Call upon his name.

Remember, we're living in end times. End to end times. And that's a great cost, maybe.

I hope it is. Sacrificially to lay out your life for the Lord. Dear young people, live to serve the Lord.

I met a man today in McDonald's. All right, cup of coffee in McDonald's. And I saw him over there give thanks for a little provision.

I went over and I spoke to him in there. I said, these are your grandchildren. One, two, three.

Yeah, he said, these are my grandchildren. I said, it's wonderful. It's wonderful to be thankful.

It's a wonderful thing to know the Lord. And we spoke together about the Lord. And I said to the children, I said to the children, I said, you have a wonderful example going before you.

Here's a grandfather, cares for you, loves you. And dear children, what he's telling you about the Savior. Believe it and be saved.

Give him a little card. Anyway, there's another generation coming in of the Lord, Terry. May they be men and women of God and serve him.

Know him, serve him for his name's sake.