Malachi tells us that God has a book of remembrance. So when you are tempted to think that perhaps your service for God is in vain, you need to know that God remembers what you have done. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick. And Colin, last time we began a message called God Remembers, based on Malachi chapter 3 and verse 16, which says, Those that feared the Lord spoke with one another, the Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him. Yeah, the book of remembrance. Back in the time of Malachi, it was the practice that heroic deeds, deeds that should be honoured, were written down in what was called a book of remembrance. And back in the book of Esther, there’s a marvellous example of how the book of remembrance was brought out and a heroic deed was read out loud to the king, and the person who performed that deed was honoured as a result. Now, what a marvellous thought this is, that God has a book of remembrance, that he never forgets what his faithful people have done. And that wonderful truth is written right throughout the Scriptures. Again and again, we’re told of what God remembers. He remembers our words. He remembers our deeds. All that goes into serving the Lord is present in his mind and in his heart, and it is never forgotten. And I think this is the most marvellous encouragement. If you think that somehow what you have done for the Lord has been in vain, that somehow it’s been forgotten. It is never forgotten by the Lord. And so I hope you’re going to be encouraged by that wonderful truth today. Well, we’re going to look at that truth in the book of Malachi, chapter 3 and verse 16, as we continue our message, God Remembers. Here’s Colin. Now, what does God remember? Well, let me just identify a few things. First, God remembers your work. Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 10 states this so clearly, God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints as you still do. Now, perhaps you feel that no one sees what you do and that no one cares about what you do. Who knows the love and the care that you are putting into the work that has been trusted to you by Almighty God? And the answer to that question is God sees what you are doing and he will not overlook your work. And not only does God know and remember your work, God knows and remembers your words. Back to Malachi chapter 3 and verse 16, remember what we have just learned, that those who feared the Lord spoke, spoke with one another. And the Lord paid attention and heard them and a book of remembrance was written before the Lord. The connection is very clear. God is remembering and writing down the words that are spoken that were words of faith that honored him. God hears us when we speak to him. But what we are seeing here is something else. God hears when we speak about him. Those who feared the Lord spoke to one another and the Lord heard them. God hears what we say to one another. When you speak to a brother or a sister, when you speak even to someone who does not believe, when you speak with faith and you speak with hope and you speak with love and you speak with courage, God hears what you say and he will never forget it. When they spoke to one another, a book of remembrance was written before the Lord. And then God remembers your tears. I love this verse in Psalm 56 in verse 8, where David says to God, you have kept count of my tossings, put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? In your book. You see what he’s saying? God knows your highest hopes and God knows your deepest fears and God knows every tear that has ever rolled down your face. David says, collect my tears in your bottle. Are they not written in your book? God knows the pain that you carry and God remembers your tears. And then God remembers your desires. Psalm 38 and verse 9, David says, O Lord, all my longing is before you. My sighing is not hidden from you. Now, one of the things that you discover very early in the Christian life is that your desire exceeds your grasp or your reach. You want to be more godly than you are. You want to accomplish more for the Lord Jesus Christ than you actually do. This is true of the most mature believers. Paul, towards the end of his life, says, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. Not that I’ve already obtained all this. I’m still pressing on. That’s what he says. God knows what you want to be and he knows that you haven’t got there yet. And God knows what you want to do. This is a wonderful encouragement, by the way, in times of disappointment. Perhaps there was something that you thought you might do, wanted to do. Something good and the door just didn’t open. Or perhaps the door that seemed to be open was closed. And you live with a sense of disappointment. I wish that I’d been able to do this, but it was not. You know, David was in that position. He really wanted to build the temple for God. And that privilege was given to his son Solomon. And there’s a wonderful statement that Solomon makes. He tells us in 1 Kings chapter 8 and verse 18, that God said to his father David, Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well. You did well that it was in your heart. Now, David didn’t get to build the temple. It was a huge disappointment to him. But God knew that it was in his heart. God remembers not only what you did, but what you wanted to do. Oh, Lord, all my longing is before you. Now, friends, here is something wonderful to encourage faithful believers. Your work, your words, your tears, and even your desires are all written down in God’s book of remembrance. All recorded, never to be forgotten. Now, what God remembers is wonderful. But what’s even better is what God chooses not to remember. You see, there are other things about us that the Bible tells us are also written down. Jeremiah tells us the sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron. With a point of diamond, it is engraved on the tablet of their heart and on the horns of their altars. Now, you see what Jeremiah is telling us, that our sins are also recorded. And they’re not written in pencil so they can be easily erased. They’re not even written in ink. They are, he says, engraved with a pen of iron. They’re chiseled out with a diamond point. Our sins are written down. The small things, small sins that you hardly remember, the secret sins that you think no one else knows about, the great sins that you wish that you could forget, they’re all written. And with every year that passes, the list gets longer. Now, here is the wonderful news of God’s grace. In Jesus Christ, God remembers your work, your words, your tears, and your desires. But in Jesus Christ, God does not remember your sins. Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 34, God says, I will forgive their iniquity. I will remember their sin no more. Now, you ask the question, how can God remember our sin no more? If it is written with a pen of iron? Well, Paul tells us that when Jesus went to the cross, he canceled the writing that stood against us. Colossians chapter 2 and verse 14, he tells us that God forgave our sins by canceling the record of debt. Literally, the writing. The record of debt, the writing that stood against us with its legal demands, he set it aside. How? By nailing it to the cross. The written charge sheet with all of the accumulated writing over all the years of our lives, the small sins, the secret sins, the great sins, all that was written against us. Jesus Christ took that charge sheet and nailed it to the cross. When he was nailed to the cross, our sins were nailed there with him. And when he hung there under the charge sheet, he dealt with all that would have been ours and all that would rightly have been otherwise charged against us. So that in Jesus Christ, God says, your sins and your iniquities, I will remember no more. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message, God Remembers. And if you ever miss one of our messages, don’t forget, you can always catch up or go back and listen again online. Come to openthebible.org.uk. There you can listen to any of the messages which have been previously broadcast. You can also find us as a podcast on your favorite podcast site. Just search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates. Back to the message now, God Remembers from Malachi chapter 3 and verse 16. Here’s Colin. How are we to use this wonderful truth? That we’ve been focusing on in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 16, that God remembers. Well, let me suggest four ways that we can make this very practical and use this wonderful truth in our lives. And the first is very simply, use this to help you treasure Jesus. Think about it. How can it be that God would remember your works, your words, your tears, and your desires, but he would not remember your sins? And the answer to that is, as we’ve just seen, because of his great mercy to us in and through Jesus Christ. Lord, this is amazing. That you would remember my work, but you would not remember my sins? That is mercy indeed. Use this wonderful truth to help you treasure the Lord Jesus Christ. Then here’s a second application. Use this to strengthen you in service. Remember that when Malachi says, a book of remembrance was written before the Lord, he says this by way of answer to those who were tempted to think that it might be vain to serve the Lord. Friends, it is never vain to serve the Lord. And here’s why. A book of remembrance is written before him. God remembers your work, your words, your tears, and your desires, and even a cup of cold water given in the name of Jesus Christ will not go without its reward. It will be rewarded, Jesus says. So use this wonderful truth to strengthen you in service. Your labor in the Lord is not in vain. He remembers. And then here’s a third application. Use this to sustain you in patience. A book of remembrance was written before the Lord. Now, of course, the whole point of a book of remembrance, as we saw from the illustration in the book of Esther, is that there will be a day of future reward. God does not promise to us immediate recognition or immediate reward in this life. What he does tell us is that he remembers. And when you know that he remembers, that will sustain you in patience. Jesus said repeatedly, when you pray, when you give, you do this in secret. But your father who sees what you do in secret, well, the day is going to come when he rewards you openly. Right now, we are like servants who are trusted by a great king to do certain work that has been given to our hands by him. The king has gone to a far country, and no one really sees the work that we are doing in his name. But one day, this king will return. And when he returns, what we have done will be made known. Then the king will say, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into your master’s joy. The day of your reward is coming. Well, now use that to sustain you in patience. But then I want to give you one more application of this truth that I think speaks very powerfully to us in these difficult days in which we are living. And that is that we use this truth to help us grow in grace. Brothers and sisters, you don’t need me to tell you how desperately our world needs an infusion of kindness, of grace, of love, of patience, of forgiveness, and of peace. We live at a time where people have so often become used to thinking the very worst about each other. And we’re not immune from the effects of that in our own hearts and in our minds. The Apostle Paul says, brothers, sisters, whatever is honorable, whatever is true, whatever is just and pure and lovely and commendable, if anything’s worthy of praise, think about these things. The Puritan Thomas Watson makes reference to a story about Alexander the Great. Apparently, Alexander the Great had an ugly scar down one side of his face. And when his portrait was painted, the story goes that the artist chose to have him seated with his elbow on a table so that the fingers of his hand covered the scar. Watson says, and I quote, the painter who drew Alexander’s picture drew him with his finger upon the scar. So God puts a finger of mercy on the scars of his children. That’s beautiful. God puts a finger of mercy on the scars of his children. Sarah once laughed at the promises of God. But in the New Testament, God just passes over that and simply commends her. As a woman with a gentle and quiet spirit, God’s finger was over the scar. We saw earlier that Job said, in his darkest days, some terrible things. On one occasion, he cursed the very day that he was born. But as we saw last time, at the end of the book of Job, God passes over all that. He puts his finger on the scar and simply draws to the attention of his friends the ways in which Job has spoken well of the Lord. Peter denies the Lord Jesus Christ with cursing and with blasphemy. And when the risen Christ restores him, there’s simply a question. Peter, do you love me? And Peter says, Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus does not go back to rehearse all that went on on that awful night. He simply says to Peter, who loves him, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. God puts a finger of mercy on the scars of his children. His love covers a multitude of sins. And if God can remember our works and our words and our tears and our desires and yet not remember our sins, then we can learn also to do the same towards others. Pastor Colin Smith there, wrapping up the second message in our series, Encouragement for Faithful Believers. The message was called God Remembers and it was taken from Malachi chapter 3 and verse 16. And don’t forget if you missed either part of that message or if you want to go back and listen again to that or any of our previous messages, you can always do that online. Come to openthebible.org.uk or why not subscribe to a podcast and receive regular updates of all Pastor Colin Smith’s messages. You can do that by going to your regular podcast site, search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to Open the Bible Broadcast. Also on our website and available as podcasts, you will find Open the Bible Daily. And that’s a series of short two to three minute reflections with a new one every day based on the teaching of Pastor Colin Smith and read in the UK by Sue MacLeish. Again, come to our website, openthebible.org.uk or search for the podcast on your favourite podcast site, Open the Bible UK. Open the Bible is supported by our listeners, that’s people just like you. And this month, if you’re able to begin supporting us with a new donation in the amount of £5 per month or more, we’d love to send you a free gift. It’s an Advent devotional and it’s called The Coming of the King by J.C. Ryle. Colin, who would you say this book is written for? Well, let me give you a couple of answers. One would be anyone who wants to prepare well for Christmas. Another would be anyone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, because that’s what this book is about. It is about the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ and about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are short readings for Advent. They help us to prepare for Christmas and they focus the light and all the attention on Jesus Christ himself. I love this little book because of its focus on Christ and because of the way that it builds faith and brings hope. Just a couple of pages to read each day and very simple, very clear and wonderfully Christ-centred. Well, we’d love to send you a copy of this book if you’d like to join many other Christians in supporting the work of Open the Bible this month. If you’re able to set up a new donation in the amount of £5 per month or more, we’d love to send you this book. Full details on our website openthebible.org.uk. For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick and I very much hope you’ll join us again soon. What will a great day of reward be like for Christian believers? Find out next time on Open the Bible.