Is serving God really worth it?

In Malachi 3:13-18, God's people grumble that serving Him is useless — they see no payoff. Dr. Toby Holt answers a question every believer feels at some point: is faithfulness worth it? The people complained that the proud and wicked seemed to prosper while the godly gained nothing. Our circumstances are not the measure of God's love. God keeps a "book of remembrance" of those who fear Him, and calls them His treasured possession — His "jewels." One day the difference between those who serve God and those who do not will be plain.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why did the people think serving God was useless? Because they measured God's love by their circumstances, and the wicked seemed to prosper. They mistook outward comfort for God's favor.

2. How does God see His faithful people? He calls them His "jewels" — His treasured possession — and records them in a book of remembrance. They are precious to Him even when overlooked.

3. Will the difference between the godly and the wicked ever be clear? Yes. Though often hidden now, God promises a day when all will see the difference between those who serve Him and those who do not. "'They shall be Mine,' says the LORD of hosts, 'On the day that I make them My jewels…'" — Malachi 3:17 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.

Are you feeling depressed? Are you downhearted?

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In Malachi 3, God says that His people are special in His eyes, and He wants them to know that.

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Join us for today's encouraging study of Malachi 3.

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Years ago, there were two brothers, two twins, who were born not far from here.

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Now, in some ways, in some ways, these twins were very much alike.

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As you would expect, as they grew up, not only did they have physical similarities,

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but they had behavioral similarities, attitudes, and affections that were similar in many, many ways.

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Now, although there was so much that was similar, there was also, as they grew older,

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something that was different, something that was different.

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And that is this, that in the years after their birth, as they grew up into manhood,

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as they grew and they had their own families, one man came to a saving faith. One man was a

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Christian. One man looked at church and prayer and fellowship and God's word and all these things

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through the lens of a believer and acted accordingly and went to church and went to

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the Wednesday night studies and did all these different things. The other brother did not.

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So much was similar that if you were just an onlooker, a bystander, so much was similar.

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They had similar vocations, they had a similar walk of life, similar sized family.

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It was so much years later that you would say, wow, wow, these are truly brothers, these are truly twins.

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And yet again, there was this distinction, the distinction of one man's faith versus the others.

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Now a question, a question that an onlooker to these twins once had was this.

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The onlooker looked at these two and said,

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All right, so much about their lives has been in tandem, has been in sync,

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and yet one's a believer and one is not.

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What difference did the one man's faith make?

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Both men had similar lives and vocations,

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and their stories, from at least a secular perspective, seemed to line up.

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There really wasn't that much of a distinction,

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but one man was going regularly, consistently to church,

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was tithing, giving, Wednesday nights, Sunday evenings, all these different things.

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He was doing all this, and the question the onlooker had is,

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what difference did it make?

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What difference did it make that this one man poured out his time and energy

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and wallet and all these different things to church, to God,

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read his Bible, did his devotions, said his prayers, ate his vitamins,

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and the other didn't?

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What difference did it make?

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In the final analysis, did his faith really end up mattering that much?

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in the final analysis?

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Well, I suppose it depends on who's doing the analysis.

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You see, when secular men judge religious men,

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when secular people judge religious people,

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they often ask, what's the point?

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They see the law keeping,

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at least the struggles to keep the law.

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They see the prayers, the Bible studies,

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the church participation,

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and they see all that as just unnecessary hokum,

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crutches that some people need sometimes that's how second men evaluate the religious

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because they're engaged in things that really are not that essential and the proof to them that it's

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not that essential comes when they look at the material benefits the material benefits that

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christians seem to receive and when they don't see any clear obvious reward for all their efforts

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they judge it as worthless an onlooker sees two twins one seems to devote himself to the faith

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the other not so much. They both have similar, at least secular materialistic outcomes. There's not

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really an obvious difference between the cars they drive, the jobs they have, and the like.

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And so a secular man looks at it and says, well, what's the point? This man keeps a lot of all

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this stuff. It's no different. In fact, he's got a diagnosis that's not that good. His twin doesn't

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even have that. A secular man can judge religious men on that basis and say, what's the point? Well,

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In today's reading, Malachi 3, that's the exact same question.

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The exact same question.

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The Malachi's contemporaries are going to look around and ask,

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after they see all the law-keeping they've been called to do in the world around them,

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they're going to say, what's the point?

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It's useless to serve God, is what they're going to conclude.

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They're going to look around and say, where has this gotten us?

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We give the sacrifices, we do these offerings and the like,

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we say our prayers, we eat our vitamins, we do all this,

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and yet, what difference does it make?

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look over the hills look at the egyptians look how they're doing they don't serve our god yet

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they seem to prosper the wicked man the pagan man seems to prosper and yet here we are doing

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what we're supposed to do and it doesn't seem to be benefiting as such we're under oppression now

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from persia we've been under oppressed by babylon times past where's the god of justice remember we

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asked that last week where's the god justice that's the analysis that the people of malachi's

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they had. And honestly, it's the analysis of many people in the world around us. They

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look at the faith and they say, well, what's the benefit of all this? Remember, we're all

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risk-reward people. So people look at the faith and say, well, what's the benefit? And

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for a lot of people, in the final analysis, they conclude that serving God is for chumps.

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Serving God is for chumps. This has been an observation secular folks have had across

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the ages. But here's the thing, that analysis, the final analysis of the secular world is not

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the analysis that matters. It's not the analysis that matters. You see, to return to our example,

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these two twins for a moment, the world may see these two twins whose lives seem to turn out

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similar regardless of what their views of Jesus and the church are. But God, when he looks at

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those two men? He makes a wild, breathtaking distinction. Of one, he sees a jewel, a gem,

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a ruby, an emerald, the apple of his eye. To the other, he sees an enemy. Jacob I have loved,

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Esau I have hated. Two twins. Not the twins we're referring to this morning, but it holds true.

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God looks at what we don't. God looks at the heart. And in the heart of man, in the heart of

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the twin, who the world sees what's the value, what did he gain for all his efforts, God sees

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motivations and sacrifices. Motivations and sacrifices that others don't. God sees honor.

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God sees reverence. God sees obedience. God sees sanctification. God sees all the things that he

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esteems. All the things that to him are worth a mountain of gold, God sees that in the holy,

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righteous man. And God esteems it, even if the world doesn't. God values it, even as the world

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places zero value upon these things, upon being holy and set apart and righteous and the like.

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God values it. What microscope will you stand under on that day? It will not be the microscope

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of the world around you. It will be that of he who holds the world in his palm. And in today's

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text he's going to say the man the one the brother the individual who lives as a righteous man should

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live whose heart is right with me such a one sparkles such one is a jewel jewel that's the

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language god is going to use in today's text and describing such a one specifically verse 17 is

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going to say this i'll jump ahead just for a moment god's going to say this they shall be mine

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The ones who live in this way, they shall be mine on the day that I make them my jewels.

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And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.

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And then you shall see.

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This is what he's calling out the world.

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He's calling out all those who make no distinctions.

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And he says here, then, at that moment, you will see.

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You will discern between the righteous and the wicked at that moment.

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Between the one who serves God and the one who doesn't.

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All right, let's return to verse 13.

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Let's build our way through this text in order to see the people's contention,

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their argument their accusation towards God and to see how he responds verse 13 your words have

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been harsh against me says the Lord and yet you say how yet you say what have we spoken against

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you you know we've been studying Malachi five weeks now then every time every time that the

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people open their mouths every time that their viewpoint is phrased in Malachi's pen here every

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time they say anything it is a gross accusation against lord they are speaking harshly they're

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accusing of things that are not true early on we saw their first accusation was this the god you

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don't care god you don't care then they accused him later on of not acting even if you do care

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god you don't seem to do anything about it's what they're going to say later on then remember the

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other accusation which we saw two weeks ago was that you're not just even if you care and even

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if you want to act, even if you can't act, you're not just in how you do it. You're clearly rewarding

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the Egyptians and not us. You're clearly looking after people on the other side of the border and

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not us. You know, when my children were younger, sometimes as a parent, you catch a child, a small

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child doing something that they shouldn't do. And the reaction in that moment, you know, a deer in

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the headlights, you know, they look at you and you accuse them of something. You say, why is your

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hand in the cookie jar and the hand still in the jar and they say no it isn't no it's not they put

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the hand behind their back real quick you just saw it you just saw it as a parent you saw what

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they were doing they know you saw you know that you saw they know you saw everyone knows what

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happened and yet the reaction of the child is to say uh-uh wasn't me well that's what the people

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were doing your words have been harsh against me says lord and yet you say how what have we spoken

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against you. Our hand's not in the cookie jar. That's what we see here. God says your words have

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been harsh. The people bluster. They say uh-uh. No we aren't. There's been no harsh words. A hallmark

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of the sinner is the tendency to redefine sin to be something other than it is. Hallmark of the

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sinner in fact is not only to redefine sin but to make it look innocuous or heaven forbid even

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virtuous. Something to be celebrated. Spoiler alert. Sinners don't see themselves as sinners.

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They see themselves as saints. Hitler looked in the mirror. He didn't see a villain. He saw a hero.

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It's true of sinners everywhere. Cyrus, Nebuchadnezzar, Ahab, Jezebel. Some of the greatest

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villains didn't see themselves as villains. Well, even some of the minor villains, so to speak,

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don't see themselves as villains. Man doesn't identify himself that way. We tend to see

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ourselves as righteous. That's what the people are doing. They said, it's not us, it's you, God.

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You are the one who's at fault. You are the one who's messed up. We're doing just fine.

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Throughout the book of Malachi, the people did this at every turn. God would tell them,

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you've robbed me. You've stolen from me. They'd go, no, no, we have not. They'd say,

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you've defiled my worship. They'd say, no, we didn't. He'd say, you've spoken harsh words

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against me and say they weren't harsh. They say, oh God, you're mistaken. You've obviously

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misinterpreted something about our piety. When you feel the Holy Spirit convicting you of your own

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sin, is that your response? Well, the Holy Spirit convicts you of something you're doing is wrong.

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There's your reaction to go, ah, not me. You misunderstand. For many of us, that's exactly

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what we've done we redefine sin in a way that makes us feel blameless now sometimes in the

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dead of night when the spirit talks and our consciences are more awake than not and maybe

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in those moments we know what we've done but we have an incredible capacity for overriding

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our righteous impulses sugarcoating it with the malaise of our sinful wants and desires to the

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point that what we would desire seems more right to us than that which our spirit convicts us of

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that's what the people were doing let's look at verses 13 through 15 to see how that turns out

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your words have been harsh against me says the lord and yet you say how what have we spoken

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against you you have said so this is god says all right you've already forgotten what you've

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been doing wrong let me remind you and he says this in verse 14 you said this you said it is

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useless to serve god you said it is useless to serve god what profit is it that we have kept his

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ordinance and then we walked as mourners before the lord of hosts so now we call the proud blessed

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for those who do wickedness or raised up even they tempt god and go free so verse 14 the harsh

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words here are identified specifically the people say it's useless to do what we're doing the people

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look at their habits their routines their practices their sacrifices even the three-legged bucktooth

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lambs that they've been giving, they didn't even want to give that, to be clear. They thought God

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was getting plenty just by getting that. They're looking at all that they were doing as low as the

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bar was. You have to remember here, they're saying that keeping the law and doing all these things

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was useless to them, and what they were doing was already so far through the floor. They were

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evaluating terrible practices and saying even that wasn't worth their time. They said it's useless to

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serve god it's a waste of time they said what's the point of keeping god's laws here they said

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we've been doing this we've been worshiping and repenting and mourning before the house of lord

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we've been doing all this but we don't seem any better off than our neighbors we don't seem any

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better off for having done so and our own walk as individuals you can be tempted in that line

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of thinking you can be tempted to say look how i've lived and yet look what has happened to me

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What has been the point of all this?

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Well, if you ask yourself that,

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then you really bought into the prosperity gospel

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and didn't know it.

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Because you thought that your faith

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would automatically be rewarded

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through your circumstances.

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But here's the thing.

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Oftentimes, our circumstances,

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if even the most holy saints,

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are harsh, are difficult.

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Ask John the Baptist.

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Ask Paul the Apostle.

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Ask Elijah as he's sitting in a cave

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being fed by birds.

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Ask him about the circumstances.

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Sometimes our circumstances are difficult

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because that's the environment in which we are going to be best equipped and refined for future

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ministry. Whatever the case is, if you evaluate your circumstances as an individual, as a church,

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as a country, whatever, if you evaluate those things as if your standing with God is right

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or wrong on the basis of how blessed you are, that's a mistake. We said two weeks ago Ahab was

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rich and wealthy. Elijah was sitting in a cave. Well, which man did God esteem more? It wasn't Ahab.

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Your circumstances are not a sign of God's love for you.

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Now, sometimes he does bless us.

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And there's people maybe to our left and our right who are great blessings to us.

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And in a sense, that is true.

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In a sense, God does look after us and make provision for us.

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And in those things, we do see his hand.

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But there are times he'll enter into difficulties.

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And the fact that those difficulties exist is not a sign that you've just been wasting your time when you came to church.

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The people were looking at religious observance as a drudgery because they didn't think it made

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a real difference. The guy out on the golf course right now this morning is thinking the same thing.

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Everyone thinks they're saved, remember? Everyone thinks that God, however they define him, is

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pleased with them. But some people don't think that any attempts to worship him, glorify him,

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honor him, revere him, build up one another, that that's really all that critical.

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This is short-sighted.

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This is short-sighted.

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You know, there was a guy, there was a man who never prayed before.

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He just never prayed.

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He never saw the point, never thought it was important.

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Well, one day this man was up in a job.

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He was competing with one other guy for a particular job.

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And the guy he was competing against was just an absolute rogue, just a villain.

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And the guy thought, well, I'm a shoo-in.

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And he even took time to pray.

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He says, oh, God, oh, God, please give me this job.

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This is something I really want.

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Please give it to me.

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So he prays to God, asks for the job, and yet the other guy gets it.

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The villain, so to speak, gets the job.

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Well, the fact that the wicked man was hired instead of him, in spite of his prayer, caused the man to throw up his hands.

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So what was the point of that?

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I prayed.

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What difference does it make?

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My brother-in-law told me to pray.

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I prayed, and look what happened.

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God, let that guy get the job instead of me.

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I'm done with this.

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I'm done with this.

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You have relatives or friends who maybe the circumstances are a little bit differently,

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but who have said something very similar about church and faith and God.

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They've looked at a circumstance, a situation that didn't go the way they thought it should have gone,

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the way they prescribed to God it should go.

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And when it didn't go as such, they threw up their hands and said,

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all this is useless.

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And there was another man, famous hymn writer,

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Good, devout man.

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And he walked with God.

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One day he's praying earnestly for safe travels for his family.

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Only to hear that their ship went down at sea.

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The ship was lost, taking most of his family with it.

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Yet afterwards, the man declared,

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It is well with my soul.

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It is well with my soul.

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What was the difference between the two men we've just described here?

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What is the difference between the two men?

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Was the first man right to accuse God and the second man a fool to trust in him?

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Was the first man right to say faith is useless?

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See, the first man subjected God to his own views of right and wrong.

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And when God didn't walk the line that he had prescribed that God should walk,

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he threw up his hands and said, well, what's the point?

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Conversely, the second man watched his life fall apart.

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Watched his life fall apart.

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yet because his hope was not contingent on his circumstances, he still had peace in his soul.

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And furthermore, he had hope for tomorrow. He knew that a reunion was coming. He knew that

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what he'd lost would be restored. He knew these things. The second man could quote these words

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from 2 Timothy with conviction. He could say this, I know whom I have believed in. I know who I've

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believed in. I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which has been entrusted to him until that

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day. One man took the long view. One man took the long view. One man saw and worshiped God rightly

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in spite of all the reasons not to. One man saw and worshiped God rightly in spite of all the

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manifest reasons around him why he ought not. Do you remember my servant Job, asked the Lord.

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Job was such a man, we won't detail a story here, but you already know the basics.

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Job was such a man that lost everything across the board.

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And his wife's response to him was, curse God and die.

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You have been devout and holy and trustworthy and believing in all the things you're supposed to do,

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and look how God's repaid you.

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Curse God and die.

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Of course, the story, as we know, is that Job would not.

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I know whom I believed in, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have entrusted to him

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until that day. These are words we see in 2 Timothy. However, they echo, I think, the heart

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of Job. Your circumstances are not the basis for your hope or your joy. If they are, then what's

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going to happen when your circumstances change for the worst? Which they will. You live long enough,

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you end up in a bed. You live long enough, other people take care of everything for you. You live

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long enough you'll lose just about all that you once had your circumstances can't be the focus

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of your joy otherwise there will come a day when your joy will dissipate our joy as with

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the hymn writer as with job our joy is an unchanging god has made promises for tomorrow

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and in the present who calls us to faithfulness it's not useless to do what this one has asked

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Malachi's contemporaries, they didn't take the long view.

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It's much like the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.

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For a moment, they're like, hurrah!

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Look at what God has done, the plagues and the Red Sea.

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Oh my, how great this is going for us.

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We're on into better days.

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Well, that lasted hours, days, and their stomach began to grumble

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and they immediately began to complain and said, wait a second.

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This is terrible.

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I'd rather be back in Egypt with the milk and the honey and the like.

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Our inclination is to accuse God and say that what we're doing is worthless

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and to say that our law-keeping is useless the minute our circumstances conspire against us.

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You have to take a longer view than that.

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This world is not utopia, and it's not going to be that way tomorrow.

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No matter how much you might try to make it such, more hardships await.

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This world is not utopia. It's a war zone.

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and in a war zone, there's hurts and pains and casualties, but here's the thing. We have a

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captain of our salvation, and we know how the battle ends, but for the moment, view it this way.

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You're in the trenches, and you're called to be faithful. You're called to be faithful. Let's look

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at verse 16 to see the outcome, the outcome that we're looking forward to. Verse 16. Then those

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who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. So a book of

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remembrance was written before him for those who feared the lord and who meditated upon his name

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this this is a really cool this is an amazing picture and promise we see here you see when

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when godly men and women when godly men and women live in godly ways when godly men and women do

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what they're supposed to in spite of all the reasons not to in spite of fears and trepidations

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anxieties, the Lord, He's watching. He's listening. Even in the conversations we'll go to, we go out

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these doors. He's watching. He's listening. And in a very real sense, He's writing things down.

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In a very real sense, what you do today, tomorrow, this week matters.

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I think we've been brainwashed to think that it doesn't. To think that only on some occasions

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does what we do really count in the eyes of God

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or in the kingdom?

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What you'll do at 1 o'clock this afternoon

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is as important to God as what you're doing at 11.

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Or 9 in this case.

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It is as important.

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In a sense, God's divine pen is writing even now,

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recording that which he sees.

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The God who wrote the Bible has other books.

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We see that in Revelation.

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Books were laid out before him.

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Books were laid out.

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He's writing an eternal book of remembrance

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for those who fear the Lord and meditate on his name.

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That book will abide forever,

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as will what is written in it.

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You have a chance to add something to its pages today,

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this week.

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Don't ever think that what you do doesn't matter.

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The things you think, let alone that which you say

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and that which you do, will ring out for all eternity.

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If you don't believe that, then you don't believe verse 16.

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A book of remembrance, not just to the people,

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not just a guest book in heaven but of what the people did what they said you and i we are in that

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book that book is comprehensive so even in this season where it feels like our life is on hold

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because of the virus and the likes even in the season of fears and doubts anxieties where so

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much has been put on pause in the world around us even in this season god is watching to see

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the faithfulness of his people in the midst of minor hardship comparatively to that which his

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people have always faced this week as you talk with friends or spouses or children or friends

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as you make decisions for today for the future what words what convictions what observations

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is god going to write down what you and i do and say again it matters we need to take the long view

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a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the lord and meditate on

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his name the book is real and you and i have a say in what goes on its pages this week let's

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look at our final verses verses 17 and 18 verse 17 they shall be mine says the lord of hosts i love

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that mine they shall be my dear ones they shall be those i esteem they shall be those i hold close

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they shall be mine there's a possessive sense in which they belong to me they shall be mine on the

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day that i make them my jewels my jewels given what the kingdom of heaven contains when he says

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that you will be a jewel within it that's pretty cool i don't know entirely what that looks like

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any more than i know what looks to walk down a street of gold but i know this if god says of

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faith and the presence of you and i of children is like jewels before him i know that's pretty cool

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and i will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him then you shall see this is his

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response to the people malachi's day the ones who said this is all wasted time the ones in our

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culture maybe out on the links right now the ones who are looking at church and saying it's

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unimportant. God says this, then you will see, then you will see, then you will discern between

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the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not. You know, if you

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and I, if we go out in the parking lot after church, we go out in the parking lot, and one of us was to

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say, throw down a giant emerald, ruby, sapphire, jewel, amongst all the pebbles that are out there.

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Would you be able to spot it?

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Yes.

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Why?

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Because it stands out.

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Because it's distinct.

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Because it's obvious.

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There's a lot of pebbles in the parking lot, not many emeralds.

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If there was a big old fist-sized one, you'd see it sparkling from across the way.

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In the same way, God is saying that my children sparkle.

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They sparkle before me.

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Of all the gravel in the created realm, you and I alone are identified as gems.

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Sometimes we can fall in the trap of forgetting that.

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We think, because I'm such a wretch, we look in the mirror and we don't like what we see.

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We look at our faithlessness.

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We see the ways in which we've dropped the ball.

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Sometimes our esteem feels so low that we say, well, if I don't see any value in myself, how can God?

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Well, God's not indifferent to you.

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He's not apathetic.

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And if you're his son, if you're his daughter, then you are special and unique.

370

Maybe you need a little polishing, but you're special.

371

You're unique before him.

372

God didn't save you just to treat you like garbage he fished in on his golden shores.

373

He saved you that you would be radiant before him.

374

That you would sparkle more so than anything else in the created realm, even the angels.

375

You want value? You want esteem?

376

The Bible provides it time and time again when it tells us what our relationship is with our God.

377

No matter your sins, no matter your past, no matter your present, you have infinite worth to your creator.

378

And you always will.

379

You always will.

380

And so lest we despair when things are difficult, lest we think God is indifferent, lest we think he doesn't care as the people of Malachi's day said.

381

Rejoice to consider the value he assigns to us when he calls us his jewels.

382

And a day is coming when men and angels alike will see that.

383

We might look at two twins, not make a distinction.

384

A day is coming when everything and everyone will see that difference.

385

They shall be mine on the day I make them my jewels.

386

Then you will discern between the righteous and the wicked,

387

between one who serves God and one who does not.

388

This week, be one who serves God.

389

Be that jewel that sparkles not just before him, but before a fallen and darkened world.

390

Let's pray.