Triumph from despair

Mal 3:13-18
ALONG THE ROAD
I WALKED A MILE WITH Pleasure;
She chattered all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne’er a word said she;
But oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked a mile with me!
-Robert Browning Hamilton
Triumph from despair
In this passage we will see the heart of God,the wickedness of man
and a select few who stay true.
Mal 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift
witness againstthe sorcerers, and againstthe adulterers, and againstfalse
swearers, and againstthose that oppress the hirelingin his wages, the
widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right,
and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
Mal 3:7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone awayfrom mine
ordinances,andhave not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto
you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
Mal 3
13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say,
What have we spoken so much againstthee?
14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have
kept his ordinance, andthat we have walked mournfullybefore the LORD
of hosts?

15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are
set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they that fearedthe 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 that thought upon his
name.
17 And they shall be mine, 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.
18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked,
between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
Triumph from despair
I. A Choice Companion
“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.”
― MarkTwain
Vs. 16 “Then they that feared the LORD”
Prov 13:20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion
of fools shall be destroyed.
1Chr 27:33 And Ahithophel was the king's counsellor: and Hushai the
Archite was the king's companion:
Ps 119:63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them
that keep thy precepts.
Phil 2:25 Yet I supposed it necessaryto send to you Epaphroditus, my
brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger,
and he that ministered to my wants.

Rev 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation,
and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is
calledPatmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
A Choice Companion
II. A Fragrant fellowship
Vs. 16 “…spake often one to another”
Lev 6:2 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass againstthe LORD, and lie unto
his neighbour in that which was deliveredhim to keep, or in fellowship, or
in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceivedhis neighbour;
Lev 6:6-7 6 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a
ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass
offering, unto the priest:
7 And the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it
shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing
therein.
Ps 94:18-22 18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held
me up.
19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my
soul.
20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth
mischief by a law?
21 They gather themselves together againstthe soul of the righteous, and
condemn the innocentblood.
22 But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and
fellowship, and in breakingof bread, and in prayers.
1Cor 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of
his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Phil 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the
fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
1John 1:3 That which we have seen and hearddeclare we unto you, that
ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
1John 1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowshipwith him, and walk in
darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all
sin.
A Choice Companion
A Fragrant fellowship
III. An Attentive Auditor
Vs. 16 “…and the LORD hearkened, and heard it”
Num 12:1-2 1 And Miriamand Aaron spake against Moses because of the
Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had marriedan Ethiopian
woman.
2 And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not
spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.
Deut 1:42-45 42 And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up,
neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your
enemies.
43 So I spake unto you; and ye wouldnot hear, but rebelledagainstthe
commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuouslyup into the hill.
44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out againstyou,
and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
45 And ye returnedand wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not
hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.

Jer 8:5-6 5 Why then is this people of Jerusalemslidden back by a
perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented
him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to
his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.
Jer 11:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon
them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry
unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
A Choice Companion
An Attentive Auditor
IV. A RecordedRemembrance
Vs. 16 “…a book of remembrancewas written”
The Bible is an amazingbook; that God would give man not only a
conscience to tell him right and wrong, but book of 783,137 words to reveal
Himself to man.
Here God writes a book for His own readingpleasure about man.
Esth 6:1-10 1 On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded
to bring the book of records of the chronicles; andthey were readbefore
the king.
2 And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh,
two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay
hand on the king Ahasuerus.
3 And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai
for this? Then said the king's servants that ministeredunto him, There is
nothing done for him.

4 And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the
outwardcourt of the king's house, to speak unto the king to hang
Mordecai on the gallows that he had preparedfor him.
5 And the king's servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the
court. And the king said, Let him come in.
6 So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto
the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his
heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?
7 And Haman answeredthe king, For the man whom the king delighteth to
honour,
8 Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the
horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his
head:
9 And let this apparel and horse be deliveredto the handof one of the
king's most noble princes,that they may array the man withal whom the
king delighteth to honour, and bringhim on horseback through the street
of the city, and proclaimbefore him, Thus shall it be done to the man
whom the king delighteth to honour.
10 Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the
horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at
the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.
Job 19:23-25 23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were
printed in a book!
24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth:
Matt 12:35-37 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart
bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure
bringeth forth evil things.
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give account thereof in the day of judgment.

37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt
be condemned.
A Choice Companion
A RecordedRemembrance
V. A Precious Possession
Vs. 17 “…they shall be mine… my jewels”
Jer 23:22-23 22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my
people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their
evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
Exod 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my
covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people:
for all the earth is mine:
Ps 135:4 For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his
peculiar treasure.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucifiedthe flesh with the
affections and lusts.
Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all
iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good
works.
A RecordedRemembrance

A Precious Possession
VI. A Divine Discrimination
Vs. 17 “I will spare them… Then shall ye return, and discern between the
righteousand thewicked”
1Kgs 3:9 Give therefore thy servantan understandingheartto judge thy
people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to
judge this thy so great a people?
Ezek 44:23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the
holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the
clean.
Matt 16:3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is
red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but
can ye not discern the signs of the times?
Luke 12:56 Ye hypocrites,ye can discern the face of the sky and of the
earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?
Heb 5:12-14 12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have
need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of
God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 For every one that useth milk is unskilfulin the word of
righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who
by reason of use have their senses exercisedto discern both good and evil.
1. Take time to be holy,
speak oft with thy Lord;
abide in him always,
and feed on his word.
Make friends of God's children,
help those who are weak,
forgetting in nothing
his blessing to seek.

2. Take time to be holy,
the world rushes on;
spend much time in secret
with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus,
like him thou shalt be;
thy friends in thy conduct
his likeness shall see.
Rev 22
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every
man accordingas his work shall be.
All the honorable mentions of this world will melt as the elements of this world
melt. However it is possibleto get an honorable mention in a book written by the
hand of God, that is not of this world.

Triumph from despair

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Triumph from despair