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Colin Smith: Malachi tells us that God has a book of remembrance. 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.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m Steve Hiller, glad you’ve joined us today. Colin, last time we began a message called "God Remembers," based on Malachi chapter 3 and verse 16, which says, "Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him."

Colin Smith: Yeah, the book of remembrance. Back in the time of Malachi, it was the practice that heroic deeds, deeds that should be honored, were written down in what was called a book of remembrance. Back in the book of Esther, there’s a marvelous 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 honored as a result.

Now, what a marvelous thought this is, that God has a book of remembrance, that he never forgets what his faithful people have done. 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. I hope you’re going to be encouraged by that wonderful truth today.

Steve Hiller: Well, we’re going to look at that truth some more from the book of Malachi, chapter 3 and verse 16. So grab a Bible, join us there as we continue our message, "God Remembers." Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: 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."

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 entrusted to you by Almighty God? 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’re 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 and 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 and 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 a 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. "O 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."

Steve Hiller: Pastor Colin Smith here on Open the Bible in a message called "God Remembers." It’s been one of the most listened-to messages of this past year. So we’ve taken this message and the other top nine and bundled them together in a series called Listener Favorites 2026. You can get a copy for yourself on CD. Ask about that when you call us at 1-877-OPEN-365, or you’ll find ordering information online at openthebible.org. Let’s get back to the message. Again, here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: 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 work, 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, 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.

Steve Hiller: Pastor Colin Smith, wrapping up our message, "God Remembers," in a message called Listener Favorites 2026. You can come to our website and listen online, come to openthebible.org. Well, Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. It is your generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin’s teaching each day, and as you give a gift to Open the Bible this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a copy of a book written by Brad Wetherell called "Saved to Sin No More." Colin, who is Brad Wetherell and why should we read this book?

Colin Smith: Well, you know, I’ve often said that we should choose books not by the title but by the author. And the reason for that, of course, is that when you read a book, you’re actually reading a person; you’re reading what has come out of that person. So who has written a book is really very, very important. And I’m just so glad to have the opportunity to introduce Brad Wetherell. His name may not be widely known. He is my successor as the senior pastor of the Orchard Evangelical Free Church. I’ve served that church for 30 years. I’ve worked with Brad for more than 15. I stepped down from being the senior pastor just over a year ago to focus full-time on the ministry of Open the Bible.

And so Brad is someone that I feel very, very close to and very, very confident in. He has a deep, authentic walk with the Lord. That’s always the first thing you want to know about someone who you’re going to read. He has a wonderful gift of preaching and a wonderful gift of writing. This is his first book, and he’s chosen to write on a subject that he’s studied very deeply, and it’s this wonderful truth of union with Christ. I think this, Steve, may be the most important and least understood doctrine in all of the Bible. People often can look a bit quizzical. Union with Christ, what’s that? Well, folks are going to love this compelling and clear introduction to what I think is one of the most encouraging truths in all of the Christian life.

Steve Hiller: Well, the book is called "Saved to Sin No More: How Union with Christ Empowers a Life of Holiness." And we want to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for financially supporting Open the Bible this month. You can call and give over the phone. Our number is 1-877-OPEN-365, or give online at openthebible.org. Again, our phone number’s 1-877-673-6365, and the website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I’m Steve Hiller, thanks for listening, and I hope you’ll join us next time.

Colin Smith: This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible. Everyone has questions about heaven, but the question that matters most is how do you get there? Many people have the idea that if a person was to get into heaven, they’d get there by living a good enough life. Well, the thief on the cross hadn’t lived a good enough life, and he wasn’t in a position to start living a good life. But Jesus said to him, "Today you will be with me in paradise."

Well, if the thief could get into heaven, so can you. "Heaven, How I Got Here" is a compelling 60-minute film in which Stephen Baldwin portrays the thief on the cross in a one-person play. Many have found that this story opens their eyes to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and to the hope of heaven. You can watch the "Heaven, How I Got Here" film for free on the Open the Bible website. For more information, visit openthebible.org/heaven. That’s openthebible.org/heaven.