Malachi

[0:00] As the Lord shall be pleased to help me, I shall call your attention to a subject you will find in the book of Malachi, and the third chapter, and the seventeenth verse.

[0:23] And they shall be mine in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

[0:41] The book of Malachi, chapter 3, and the seventeenth verse. I want to say something that will be helpful to you, and encouraging, and how glad I should be, if I could help you, as God shall help me, that you might be made sure in your own soul's feelings, that you will be numbered with these jewels in the text, in the great day when the Lord shall make them up.

[1:22] There is a day to dawn when God will gather together all his people, of all conditions of all ages, of all ages, and then his church will be complete.

[1:36] The Lord Jesus will present them before his Father, when time shall be no more, saying, Behold I and the children whom thou hast given me.

[1:49] And the greatest mercy that you and I can possess, is to have some sure evidence, that we are numbered with these jewels.

[2:02] And what will help you to feel, that you are numbered with them? Malachi was inspired of God to record, who they are that are designated jewels.

[2:15] And he says in the previous verse, Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it.

[2:28] And the book of remembrance was written before the Lord, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

[2:39] So it is, poor sinners, whether old or young, and especially when young, it is so noticeable, who have godly fear lodged in their hearts, desire to live in accordance with the blessed teaching of it, and who are found amongst them, that think upon his name.

[3:04] And now, if you let your consciences tell you, they will tell you whether you do think on his name, whether you do desire to live, as godly fear shall teach you, and live in accordance with its blessed dictates in your conscience, as an unctuous light to what is right, and a bar to what is wrong.

[3:29] It is wonderful how simple it is, they that thought upon his name. And now, I said, let your consciences tell you, do you think upon his name, the name of Jesus?

[3:47] What means the name of Jesus to you? It is a sweet subject in the word of God, his name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

[4:02] And the name of Jesus to many of us has been as ointment poured forth for long years, along life's way. And some of us are always glad to sing how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ears.

[4:22] It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fears. And now, if you are such a character, one of those that think upon the name of Jesus, it means that God has given you a mind so to think.

[4:41] For as you were born, you will not think like that. Man as he is born, when he thinks of Jesus, his attitude is, we will not have this man to reign over us.

[4:54] Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thee, or thy ways. But when a sinner is born again, then he is given a new heart, and a new nature.

[5:08] And in that new heart, he has new thoughts that he has never thought before. And he thinks upon the name of Jesus. And he wants to belong to Jesus.

[5:20] He wants to find in Jesus all his salvation, and all his desire. He becomes one of them that think upon his name.

[5:33] And it is a wonderful mercy, if you have such thoughts welling up in your breast, after God and godliness. And you do know what kind of a life you are living.

[5:46] And I say again, let your conscience tell you, if you do desire to live according to godly fear within, and if you are one of those that think upon his name, and wonder if you will be found among his jewels in the day, when they shall be made up.

[6:08] And now, I want to look at this subject, and say something to you, that may be helpful and instructive. And if I could only be helped of God, to enable you to feel, you will be numbered with his jewels in the day, when he shall make them up.

[6:28] How glad I shall be. And now, these jewels, the word of God says much about jewels. And in thinking of the subject, I thought about Aaron the high priest.

[6:44] And you will remember that the word of God speaks about a wonderful breastplate that was made for Aaron. And it was filled with precious stones, jewels, 12 jewels.

[7:03] Their names are given. I will read you the little record of it. And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work.

[7:15] After the work of the ephod, thou shalt make it. Of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it.

[7:28] Four square, it shall be, being doubled. A span shall be the length thereof, and the span shall be the breadth thereof.

[7:39] And thou shalt set it in settings of stones, even four rows of stones. The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle.

[7:53] This shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. The third row shall be a ligure, jacinth in the margin, and an agate, and an amethyst.

[8:12] And the fourth row, a burial, and an onyx, and a jasper. And they shall be set in gold, in their enclosings.

[8:23] And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet.

[8:35] Every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes. How wonderful this breastplate must have been! How valuable it must have been, too, in the way in which it was ordered of God to be made.

[8:53] But when you think of Aaron going into the holiest of all to plead on Israel's behalf, and he had this breastplate on, he was pleading on behalf of all Israel, according to their twelve tribes.

[9:09] There were twelve stones, one stone for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. And it helps you to think about this text, and they shall be mine in that day, when I make up my jewels.

[9:26] And as I was thinking on this subject, I remembered that in our old Stephen's hymn book, which we used to use, we used to sing a hymn about it, which I will read to you.

[9:40] Now let our cheerful eyes survey our great high priest above, and celebrate his constant care and sympathetic love.

[9:52] Though raised to a superior throne, where angels bow around, and high o'er all the shining train, with matchless honor crowned, the names of all his saints he bears, deep graven on his heart, nor shall the weakest Christian say that he hath lost his part.

[10:19] These characters shall fair abide, our everlasting trust, when gems and monuments and crowns are moldered down to dust.

[10:30] So gracious, Savior, on my breast, may thy dear name be worn, a sacred ornament and guard to endless ages born.

[10:44] We used to sing that hymn years ago, and it refers to the high priest with his breastplate before God, worshipping on behalf of Israel of old.

[10:58] And now coming to the subject of jewels. There are many wonderful jewels in the world, but there seems to me in looking into the subject, it is a very simple subject in one aspect of it.

[11:18] When you get down to what the basis of some jewels is, and yet how valuable they are as jewels, yet the basis of some of them is only flint, amethyst, jasper, and onyx, with color in matter added, and by crystallization changed into beautiful jewels.

[11:43] The ruby is formed from clay, and the diamond is pure carbon. And there is one wonderful thing I want you to keep in mind about these jewels in the text.

[11:59] And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels. And now, what is the difference between a lump of coal and a diamond?

[12:14] The difference is very simple. Coal receives light and keeps it. A diamond receives light to reflect it back.

[12:28] It makes it sparkle and shine. That is all the difference there is between a lump of coal and a diamond. The coal receives light and keeps it to itself.

[12:45] And of course, it makes it useful for household use and other purposes. But the diamond receives light to reflect it.

[12:57] And now, if God should make you one of these jewels in the text, may He help you by His grace to shine wherever your lot in life is to be to live, to shine to the honor and glory of God.

[13:18] You often hear the pastor quote of Scripture, which I am very partial to, that you be blameless and harmless as the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world.

[13:40] And now, in thinking of these jewels, I want to say something and each characteristic I refer to will begin with the letter P so that will help you to memorize what I desire to bring before you about these jewels.

[14:00] and they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels. And now, the first P stands for procured.

[14:15] Jewels have to be procured. You do not walk along the pavement and pick them up out of the gutter unless it might be an occasional one that someone has lost, but that is not their natural habitation.

[14:29] they have to be sought for, procured. And God procures his jewels and he searches them out from nature's quarry among the vast, mighty mass of mankind beneath the sun.

[14:49] Here and there and yonder he sees poor sinners whom he designs to save with an everlasting salvation. salvation and he begins his good work in their heart.

[15:02] He seeks them and searches them out. He procures them that they shall be numbered with his jewels in the day when he shall make them up.

[15:14] And when you read the word of God you will see some he has procured and made manifest as his jewels who look most unlikely ever to be made such characters.

[15:28] When you think of Manasseh and Saul of Tarsus and the dying thief and Mary Magdalene but God is a sovereign in how he makes known who his jewels are.

[15:43] And he has declared I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy.

[15:54] And so he fulfills his eternal purposes and one word in his word declares as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

[16:08] And that is how these jewels are procured and made manifest. But then jewels when they are procured when they are found in the mines and nature's quarry where God has ordained they shall be.

[16:28] There are some places in the world at large like Kimberley where there are diamond mines and so on. And a great deal of work has to be done in gathering these jewels out from nature's quarry and then coming to the next pea.

[16:48] They have to be prepared prepared. You cannot gather a jewel from nature's quarry and immediately think it is ready to wear. It has to be prepared.

[17:01] There is what is called grinding and cutting and shaping and that is the work of specialists to do. And when God calls poor sinners by his grace, when they are made manifest as numbered with his jewels, for the rest of their lifetime, when they are born again, they are being prepared.

[17:27] God has his own way of doing this which will bring me to the next pea. All jewels need to be polished. And God has got his polishing process and that is by means of tribulation.

[17:43] we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of heaven. Sometimes you sing in the house of prayer.

[17:54] Trials make the promise sweet. Trials give new life to prayer. Trials bring us to Christ's feet. Lay us low and keep us there.

[18:05] Sometimes although we hope we are jewels, we may get very dim and not shine much on the Lord's behalf. And then a trial comes into our life and we want to be brought back to God and to get some good from the trial.

[18:25] And it is good when you can say it is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statute. These trials that God sends into our lives, they are sent to polish us as jewels.

[18:41] that we may shine all the better and brighter to show whose we are and whom we serve. So they are procured, prepared, and they are polished.

[18:58] And then the next P stands for purchased. God has purchased his jewels, the jewels in the text, at a very great cost.

[19:09] you read about it in the epistle of Peter. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb, without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.

[20:00] They are purchased at great cost. The precious blood of Jesus Christ was the price that had to be paid. Nothing less would do, and that meant that the dear Son of God came down from heaven to be seen among men as verily man, verily God, clothed in a body like our own, and yet without sin, and in that body he suffered, bled, and died.

[20:34] And when he said on the cross, it is finished, then love's redeeming work was done. The price was paid that had to be paid, that these jewels might be made manifest in that day when the Lord will make them up, when they will be found in any eternal state, dwelling forever with the Lord.

[21:01] Purchase. The next P stands for proved. They have to be proved, because sometimes people have thought they found a jewel, and have taken it to those who know about jewels, and can test them, and make sure whether they are genuine or not, and they have only been bits of pretty colored glass, so that all jewels have to be proved, and God's jewels have to be proved too.

[21:38] There are counterfeits as regards those who are found sitting in pews, that things look well, they are good chapel goers it may be, and it seems as though they are friendly to the truth, but time proves it to be otherwise, and you remember the five wise and five foolish virgins, they had to be proved, and when the bridegroom came and the midnight cry was made, then five were found to be wise and five were foolish, yet they all look to light as they live their lives together, and so it is that all who are taught of God, all who profess the name of Jesus, all chapel goers have to be proved as to whether their religion is just outside show and chapel going, or whether they are genuine jewels, and that they desire to live unto God and live for God and shine to his honor and glory in the lives they live.

[22:53] Do watch that, dear young people, lest you should only be a counterfeit, a solemn thing, a saint to appear, grow up with wheat, and prove to be a tear, and very solemn it will be at the end of life's journey, to have teakles stamped upon you and be weighed in the balances and found wanting that which makes your religion to be genuine.

[23:20] This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. So this P stands for proved, and you will find if you are a jewel, if you are genuine, it will be your concern to be genuine, to be made manifest that you are, and you will not mind any test that you may be put to to prove whether you are genuine or otherwise, a counterfeit.

[23:57] you remember the Savior said, He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God, and every one who is born again is willing to come to the light, for they do want at all cost to have matters right between their soul and God, therefore, they are willing to be put to any test, and to come to the light, and they say, search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my ways.

[24:38] They want matters to be made right at whatever cost it is between their souls and God. So then, these duels are proved.

[24:50] And now, the next P stands for protected. There is a great word I like to look at, and what wonderful protection this is.

[25:02] One hymn writer sings about it, duels being so valuable, they are protected. They have a guard set upon them sometimes when they are for public exhibition, that no one should try to rob the jewel, and go off with it, which would be a great loss.

[25:28] Now, you sometimes sing, Christ is the keeper of his saints. He guards them by his power, subdues their numerous complaints in every gloomy hour.

[25:42] What though they fear its dread alarm, tried and severely tossed, upheld by God's almighty arm, none, none shall e'er be lost.

[25:55] They are protected. God has set his heart upon these jewels. They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day, when I shall make up my jewels.

[26:10] There will not be one missing, there will not be one among them that is only colored glass. Everyone, all of them, will be genuine, real, and true.

[26:26] And those who have religion that God is the author of, and they are protected. Sometimes you sing another hymn, in every state secure.

[26:42] What a wonderful feeling that must be. kept as Jehovah's eye, it is well with them while life endure, and well when called to die.

[26:53] And you find again the Apostle Peter speaks about it, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

[27:11] God protects his jewels, jewels, because they are precious in his sight. He values them, he speaks of them. In that day, when I make up my jewels, you see, every sinner born again, whoever he or she may be, whether young or old, the eye of God is upon that poor sinner, wherever he or she may be, to earth's remotest bounds.

[27:41] And you read, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy, to preserve them from death, and to keep them alive in a time of famine.

[27:59] And so these jewels, they are protected. And how many instances you have in the word of God, of this wonderful protection, which God gives to these jewels of his.

[28:15] Think of Daniel in the lion's den. Think of the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace, and many an instance you have read about in the lives of the godly and in the word of God, kept by the power of God through faith, unto salvation, salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

[28:43] So these jewels then are protected. And that brings me to the last P, and that stands for placed. And now, in what I read to you about the high priest breastplate, you noticed the word setting.

[29:05] Jewels have to have a setting, and God gives to every one of his jewels, whether they are young or whatever age they may be, he sets them in a sphere where they can serve the Lord Christ.

[29:22] As you read in this chapter here, then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.

[29:36] Now, every one of his jewels, however humble they may seem to be, and however little their sphere in life seems to be, yet God places them where they are, that they shall shine as his jewels in that sphere, however humble it may be.

[29:59] He puts them in a sphere of usefulness, and it says, ye shall serve the Lord, ye serve the Lord Christ. The Apostle Paul speaks of writing to one church, and what a wonderful honor it is to be in a sphere where you can live unto God and live for God.

[30:23] It may not be anything very spectacular, it may not be broadcast before the church of Christ, but to do what you do as unto the Lord, and do it for Jesus' sake as well as your own.

[30:40] You see, Paul and Silas were in prison for preaching the gospel, their feet were fast in the stocks at Philippi, and their backs were sore with stripes unjustly laid on, yet they sang praises at midnight, and the prisoners heard them, and God overruled it all, so that the jailer himself was made a miracle of grace, and numbered among these jewels.

[31:11] And I like to think of that little maid that was a maid before Naaman's wife, and how when her master was stricken down with leprosy, how she said, would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, he would recover him of his leprosy, and it was told to her master, and you all know what happened, Naaman was healed of his leprosy, through that little maid just witnessing and speaking on God's behalf, as a jewel, she shone in the sphere where God had permitted her to be as a little captive maid, and you can shine for him in your school life, your college life, and in earning the bread which perisheth, whatever sphere God has placed you in, you can let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay, lest ye fall into condemnation.

[32:20] Then these jewels are placed, in a particular setting, and it is interesting to notice that in the book of Exodus it tells about what God did in regard that these jewels should be put in particular settings, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, see, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Eurite, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

[33:28] when God gave the pattern of the tabernacle to Moses in the mount, and said, see that thou make all things according to the pattern shown to thee in the mount, he also provided him with the workmen who should do it according to the pattern shown to Moses, and one of those things was the cutting of stones to set them, and there is one thing about wherever you are set in a sphere, you may want to make a change, it may be, you might be not happy in your sphere, you might feel you would like to be elsewhere, where you think, if you are indeed a jewel, where you could shine more for God and godliness, but you must leave that for God to make plain before you, and if you think it is needful that you should have a change, do remember what Moses said, if now I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, whatever you do, get in touch with

[34:47] God, and get your commission from God, at any time, to make a move where you feel you would like to be, and where you could shine on God's behalf in another setting to where you now are.

[35:06] So the seventh P stands for placed, and I name all these P's again, procured, prepared, polished, purchased, proved, protected, and placed.

[35:27] And now in that day, when I make up my jewels, and now that day is coming, it may be quite a long way off yet, I have no doubt that it really is, because God has got much to do yet in this world, before time shall cease to be, according to what saith the scriptures regarding prophetical truth, it will be quite a while yet, before time shall be no more, for God has got much to do, and to make manifest that he reigns on his throne on high, and he has got much to do regarding these jewels, in making them up, it may be God in his eternal purposes has got millions more yet to find in nature's quarry, and search them out, and make them manifest as his jewels, awaiting the day when he shall make them up altogether, what a mercy it will be, if you and I are favoured with a new heart, a new nature, if God has given us that religion, which will do to live by, and that the last to die by.

[36:46] And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day, when I make up my jewels. The children will remember what they sing, when he cometh, when he cometh, to make up his jewels, all his jewels, precious jewels, his loved and his own, like the stars of the morning, his bright crown adorning, they shall shine in their beauty, bright gems in his crown.

[37:23] Oh, that that mercy might be granted to you, dear young people, that you might be made manifest as his jewels, and then in that day when he shall make them up, you will be found amongst his people, and dwell forever with the Lord.

[37:44] The Lord help you to think on these things, and bless you indeed, for time and for eternity. Amen.