Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] You have your Bibles, Habakkuk right at the end of chapter two and into chapter three tonight.
[00:00:12] You know, This morning we were joking around in, in our elders meeting and, and we were picking on Steve about using the word pedagogy.
[00:00:30] And I said something was presumptuous.
[00:00:37] And Casey even asked me did I know what that meant. I said, yeah, it means to presume. And he says, what does that mean? I said that means to presume. It means to add something up beforehand and think you know the answer. And Brett in his lovely honesty goes, man, I never thought about it like that. He's like, yeah, that's exactly what it is.
[00:00:56] That's what's going on right here tonight. They are presuming they are adding something up before they have all the eternal math, even the temporal math.
[00:01:08] And in their presumptuousness the people basically are charging God.
[00:01:18] They're accusing God of not being just.
[00:01:24] And he says, okay, so check it. That's what you say. So let me send a messenger to you because I have a message for you and I'm here to tell you that is ever more relevant for us.
[00:01:37] A lot of times if we're just really honest, we accuse God when we don't like what God is doing.
[00:01:49] Or maybe I should say I do. I'm sure everyone else in here has this nailed down perfectly, right?
[00:01:56] Steve said he does. Praise the Lord.
[00:01:59] I guess a guy who knows pedagogy has everything figured out, you know, but he's saying, listen, listen, I've got a messenger. And he has a message. And really the message is kind of simple. Prepare the way. Something's coming, something's coming.
[00:02:17] And I would say to this day that is, that is the message I would have. Something's coming.
[00:02:24] And be careful not to presume upon the mind or heart of the Lord without knowing fully the mind and the heart of the Lord.
[00:02:36] I want to say that I. Before we even get to the passage, I, I'm okay with people having big questions for God. I don't think you have to desert the Lord in order to ask questions to that make you or those around you uncomfortable. I think God can handle big questions. And this isn't even the only time that God's people, that Israel has problems. Like here's a clear cut case Jeremiah spoke to this Jeremiah chapter 12. Righteous are you, O Lord when I complain to you. Yet I would plead my case before you. I like how this is how you start a complaint. I know you right, But I still got something I want to Say, men, take note. This is how you talk to your wives.
[00:03:19] I know you, right, honey? But I want to tell you something.
[00:03:22] Now, do you see his question?
[00:03:25] Does anybody else have this question?
[00:03:27] Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why does it seem like. I mean, there's two big questions that always loom before us. Why do bad things happen to good people?
[00:03:37] Okay, I'll answer that one. There's only ever been one bad thing happened to one good person. That was Jesus, because he's the only really good person there. He is.
[00:03:46] That was a free one. That was a free sermon. But then the mirroring question is, why does a good thing seem to happen to bad people? And I want to tell you, that's the one that bothers me.
[00:03:56] So I can get with the people of Malachi's day. I can get with the people of Jeremiah's day. He says, why do all who are treacherous thrive?
[00:04:07] I read that. Why does Congress keep getting elected?
[00:04:13] Hmm?
[00:04:15] Now this. This is the one that gets me. You plant them, and they take root. They grow and produce fruit. You are near in their mouth and far from their heart. Who?
[00:04:24] Who?
[00:04:25] You see, that mirroring question, the one that I'm openly confessing disturbs me.
[00:04:31] Why does good happen to bad people? Huh? Now, Habakkuk, if you've ever looked at the book of Habakkuk, Habakkuk just gets after it, man.
[00:04:42] He says he comes to the Lord, he comes to the Lord. And I like Habakkuk. He said, listen, I got a complaint.
[00:04:49] There's no passive aggressiveness in Habakkuk. It's full assertive, aggressive.
[00:04:54] You know, Lord, I got something I got to tell you.
[00:04:58] And so the Lord answers him and says this in Habakkuk 2. Write the vision, make it plain so he may run who reads it. And he's like, write this down. Other people will struggle and have the same complaints.
[00:05:09] And I want those people to be able to run with me, to walk with me. For still the vision awaits its what church appointed time.
[00:05:18] This is the thing we wrestle with even when we believe God. Sometimes the struggle is like, why ain't this happening at the speed I want it to happen at?
[00:05:27] But still the vision awaits its appointed time. It hastens to the end. It will not lie. If it seems slow, what church wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay. Now, this is the counsel we all need right here. Verse 4, Habakkuk 2:4. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It's not upright within him. But the righteous shall live by faith. Now, that's the question before us.
[00:05:52] Are we living by faith in Christ?
[00:05:55] The problem in Malachi's day is that the people have become indifferent.
[00:06:00] And that's our trouble today, too.
[00:06:04] They are cynical, apathetic, and unbelieving. And so God sends his messenger to confront him. So now there's a question. Some questions before us. Are we church? Y' all with me? Listen to me with your face.
[00:06:17] Are we living as cynical people?
[00:06:20] Are we living as apathetic people?
[00:06:23] Are we living, practically speaking, as unbelievers? You say, I'm at church on Sunday. Okay, you got to go to work on Monday.
[00:06:32] Some of you got to go back to the enslaving force of retirement tomorrow morning.
[00:06:37] But you got to get back to living, right?
[00:06:40] And are we practically living as believers?
[00:06:43] So Malachi comes along, and he's basically saying, listen, there is a promise of justice. There's a promise of justice. Say Amen, church.
[00:06:53] All right, does anybody think about what is the promise of justice?
[00:06:58] With it comes the promise of what?
[00:07:01] Judgment.
[00:07:03] All right, now, I'm sort of like the psalmist who would say, who can approach his holy heel?
[00:07:10] He who has clean hands and a pure heart. Okay, so now we can ask the question, who can approach his holy heel?
[00:07:20] Whoo. Just Jesus. Okay, so with all that and several more things I wanted to say, but I'm going to stop.
[00:07:28] Let's look at I love Ori's like Tim. Start doing the passage. Stop doing every other passage.
[00:07:34] Praise the Lord.
[00:07:36] You leave me alone, sir.
[00:07:39] Malachi, chapter two, beginning at verse 17.
[00:07:44] You have wearied the Lord with your words.
[00:07:49] But you say, how have we wearied him?
[00:07:52] By saying, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them. Or by asking, where is the God of justice?
[00:08:04] Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight.
[00:08:16] Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like a fuller's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings, righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years.
[00:08:53] Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner and. And do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. Would you pray with me, Father?
[00:09:17] Thank you for Brother Malachi. Thank you for this messenger, Father, that points us to prepare the way.
[00:09:25] Indeed God, indeed God lead us to hear this word in Jesus. I pray amen and amen and as simple work as I can make it. Let me share a few quick things. First, is this criticism of God's justice is, as I said, presumptuous and tiresome.
[00:09:46] Now, I like how God presupposes their questions so clearly that they will say, when was we being like that?
[00:09:56] Because it's not always these bold public statements. It's not like they had a Facebook account and they were putting on their Facebook account. I'm sick and tired of God's timing, right?
[00:10:08] This manifests in a habitual attitude and lifestyle.
[00:10:13] It's not these bold statements. It's not like somebody was coming up to the temple and protesting.
[00:10:20] And I think I talked about protesting so much this week in my prayers to the Lord that I drudged up some things on social media. I'm starting to believe that they might actually be listening.
[00:10:32] Jesus is Lord. By the way, the government needs to tighten up if anyone's listening, because I follow this history page and it was this date in the 1950s that a group called Procrastinators of America protested the election of James Madison.
[00:10:53] Now the only one laughing is the guy who's also a history nerd.
[00:10:58] They were roughly, you know, 150 years late.
[00:11:02] But who was it doing the protesting? The Procrastinators of America. They had finally gotten around to protesting James Madison.
[00:11:11] And they also had some things to say about Dolly Madison, who was not too far. She was born not too far from here, as a matter of fact. Used to be a hotel in town called the Dolly Madison. And so they were protesting her, but quite late.
[00:11:24] Now, why do I bring that up? Because a lot of us, I mean, actually very few of us are going to come to church and pick it. Very few of us are going to get on social media and pick it.
[00:11:35] So what actually happens a lot of times where God would read into our spirits is our cynicism and our apathy when we, when we're not living in hope, when we're. And I don't mean wishful thinking. Somebody say amen.
[00:11:50] I'm talking about fit. Amen, Praise God. I'm talking about the fixed expectation that God will keep his promises. That's hope.
[00:11:59] And when we're not living in eager expectation that Christ will return and fulfill all the promises of our salvation in this way, in this way, these people of that time, they were definitely going through the religious motions.
[00:12:18] And part of the condemnation on them is that they were just going through the motions and that they were cynical in their day to day lives.
[00:12:30] And so he says, how have we made you tired? Come on, God, we're doing what we're supposed to be doing.
[00:12:36] He goes, oh, but are you, Are you really.
[00:12:40] You know, you're thinking that I'm not watching your evil neighbors. You're thinking that I'm not paying attention to the things going wrong. I'm here to tell you, God would say to us, everyone is accountable.
[00:12:56] Everyone is present tense forever present tense. Everyone is accountable.
[00:13:05] Now that leads to a couple of questions.
[00:13:09] Are you cynical when you look at the things going on in your life and in your family and in your workplace and in our community?
[00:13:19] When you watch the evening news, do you respond to it with theological truth? Do you lean into the present reality of the ugliness of the world with the true promises of God?
[00:13:33] Or do you kick back and just say stuff? Do you moan and complain?
[00:13:39] Do you labor? Do you labor in the expectation that in the midst of today's labors, Christ may return? Do you live with that sort of expectation?
[00:13:53] Then we, you know, if you're, if you're struggling to answer any of those questions in the faith field. Affirmative. Then we may be like the people Malachi was addressing now, you know, if you hang around me a lot, which there's not a lot of people who hang around me a lot, I tend to say praise the Lord about everything.
[00:14:19] Something goes wrong, I say praise the Lord.
[00:14:22] Now, part of that is a little bit of a habit. It's a little bit of a habit, but part of it is it was a habit I built because I want, no matter what's going on, for my mouth to say praise the Lord. I want my own ears to hear me say praise the Lord.
[00:14:40] I think I broke my paint sprayer yesterday while we were working and I was really angry.
[00:14:46] And me and me and Wayne, you know, he had, he was taking his reading glasses on and off and, and I was trying to look at a sideways and I got, I got quadrifocals.
[00:14:56] I can't look at nothing sideways. I done laid down on the ground and I finally said, I think this thing is broke. I was mad as fire.
[00:15:04] But you know what I said? And I don't want to guess.
[00:15:06] Praise the Lord. And then when Bill and Wayne said they would just do it with paintbrushes and rollers, my mood changed. I said, praise the Lord.
[00:15:17] The fact of the matter is I am very susceptible to cynicism and apathy.
[00:15:27] I am very susceptible to being angry about what's going on in the world.
[00:15:34] Now, some of you may be susceptible to some of these same things in a different way. Some of you are susceptible to worry.
[00:15:42] Some of you are susceptible to depression.
[00:15:47] Some of you are susceptible to utter apathy like you can't do anything about anything. So just take care of number one.
[00:15:57] I don't think it's hard for me to imagine that I could be one of these people that Malachi was addressing.
[00:16:05] Is it hard for you to imagine you could be one too?
[00:16:09] Secondly. Secondly, we see in verse number one of chapter three, the Lord's messenger is a compelling voice of the Lord that draws people to his temple. Now, this is where this passage gets thick and it gets far reaching. Okay?
[00:16:26] Now, Malachi means my messenger. Amen.
[00:16:30] It could also mean my angel because many of the angels are messengers of the Lord, right?
[00:16:35] So it would almost seems like I'm sending you a messenger. So I'm getting ready to fix everything.
[00:16:41] Or as we might say in the Southern parlance, I'm fixing to fix it.
[00:16:47] Here's the problem, what this messenger Malachi is saying, get ready to get ready.
[00:16:54] Get ready to get ready.
[00:16:56] Now, we do this thing at our house. Like last night, Rachel's little boyfriend came over.
[00:17:02] I don't know why that's funny. That's all he is.
[00:17:06] Matthew Acrey. Make sure you tell Matthew Welch I talked about him. Praise the Lord.
[00:17:12] And everybody, they want to know, what time are we leaving? What time are we leaving?
[00:17:17] And 5 o'. Clock. We're leaving at 5 o'. Clock. And I left here and I went home and, you know, I quaffed my beard and was prepared myself to go out for the evening with my family and, you know, R.L.B.F. rachel's little boyfriend.
[00:17:34] And in my habit, usually I live with three women.
[00:17:38] And they go and stand in front of the mirror on the bathroom door a lot.
[00:17:43] And the hairdryer cuts on and off several times in the course of any preparatory movements. And I'll usually say to them in as sweet a voice as I can, I'm Just going to be outside.
[00:17:57] You guys take your time. And I go sit in the car, and I look at the map and I play with the GPS and I listen to sermons from the podcast, and I pretend like I have patience.
[00:18:13] And then soon as the door opens in the house, I hit the buttons and open all the doors on the van. It's assembled to get. Get your behind in this call. I'm ready to go.
[00:18:22] But Rachel's little boyfriend showed up early, and all the women were already ready to go.
[00:18:30] Yeah, Christmas miracle outfits were coordinated. Everything was. Everything was copacetic, man.
[00:18:40] And we went to the alpaca chicken. Y' all in mevin. Yeah. Yeah, I see you guys know about this magical chicken.
[00:18:51] And we walked in and went right into the front of the thing and ordered. And after that, 4,907 people showed up at the same time.
[00:19:02] And I told them. I was like, we owe this to Matthew for being early.
[00:19:06] But what I really wanted to say was, we owe this to you. Women being ready.
[00:19:12] We arrived just in time.
[00:19:15] Most of the time, I feel like it's the opposite. I show up someplace, and I'm already at the end of the line. The moment I started into the thing, well, I said all that to be silly.
[00:19:29] Truth be told, I feel like a lot of days I start out at the end of the line, and I'm wondering why I work so hard.
[00:19:37] Why can't the Lord put me in front of the line?
[00:19:41] This is a tough message for Israel. Silly illustration, but I wanted to. Open your mouth. This is a tough message because he's telling them, I am preparing you to wait.
[00:19:53] That message never works with me. It's equivalent with telling your angry wife to calm down.
[00:20:00] Don't.
[00:20:02] Sarah just chastised Clay for laughing.
[00:20:04] Clay, you've been married a long time.
[00:20:07] Don't do it.
[00:20:09] I'm here for you, brother.
[00:20:11] But you know what he's telling? He's telling them, calm down and wait.
[00:20:14] But it seems like his help is a promise of imminent relief. Except it's not. It's going to be 400 years.
[00:20:28] Now you say, big deal, we're past that. No, we're not. Jesus is going to come like a thief in the night, and he said that 2,000 years ago.
[00:20:35] This message of readiness is equally difficult for us to hear today, too. But it's necessary. It's important.
[00:20:44] And so what he's saying is, I'm a messenger telling you to prepare for a messenger.
[00:20:51] And where it says, behold. I think the better translation would be this. It's Going to sound strange. Some translations say, see here it says, behold. I think you should say. I think what it more accurately should say is behold me.
[00:21:05] What God is saying is, look at me.
[00:21:08] Now, how many of you guys have ever spent any time with a toddler who tells you 5,000 times to look at me, look at me, look at me. The other day in Facebook memories, I came across an interaction I had with Marcy where she told me seven times to look at her. And she kept doing the same thing over. And I said, do something different. And. And she said, okay. And she said, look at me. And she did the same thing for the eighth time.
[00:21:35] Now, I'm going to excuse her because she was like two.
[00:21:39] But I'm much.
[00:21:42] You know, I am much impatient with the Lord. Many days when he keeps saying, look at me, and I'm going do something different.
[00:21:57] Well, the promise is that he is right. He's saying to Israel, keep your eyes on me.
[00:22:03] Keep your eyes on me. How many. How many of you folks play baseball or softball? Baseball. Softball. You know, what was the number one thing they teach you in hitting?
[00:22:14] Look, how many people knew that. Do you know that what Malachi is saying as the Lord's messenger, God is saying through Malachi, behold me.
[00:22:27] Keep your eye on the prize.
[00:22:29] Now, why is this so important? Well, I'm not going to preach five sermons, but I want to. I'm here to tell you it is only beholding the worthiness of God in every season of life that will give us a sustaining patience with. For the. For the trials of waiting for God's next move.
[00:22:49] It is only beholding the worthiness of God. Now, if you do a lot of time with horizontal vision, it will mar your view of God. If you do a lot of time with vertical vision, it will clarify your view of life.
[00:23:04] What does Malachi say? Behold me.
[00:23:10] He's not asking for them to look at him as the prophet. The prophet is asking them to.
[00:23:14] You know, I mean, what's the old hymn? What would it say? Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face. And what.
[00:23:26] And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. I never tire of observing the Lord's Supper because. Because again, it's another one of those things where he says, behold me having baptisms. God saying, behold me. Be buried with me. Be raised with me. Be united with me. Be in union with me. Be in communion with me. I'm never tired of those things.
[00:23:56] Because it is only in counting his worthiness that we Find the strength to handle life's mess.
[00:24:04] Now I see the time. So let me fast forward to something. I won't do all of this or find that slide that's got Matthew 11:10 on it. Okay, 11:10. Wow. That was too fast for me.
[00:24:18] Look, look. This is Jesus speaking about John the Baptist. What does he quote in Matthew 11:10? He quotes what, Malachi 3:1.
[00:24:31] And what he's clearly saying is this, is that.
[00:24:34] Now, that'd be great if Malachi's mail was opened and then the next day John the Baptist mail was open, and the next day Jesus's mail was open.
[00:24:43] Okay, but here's the deal. Malachi's mail gets opened, and it's 400 years.
[00:24:55] John the Baptist mail gets opened, and it's relatively brief compared to 400 years. It's 30 some years. Jesus lives, dies, buried, resurrected, ascended. Okay, I'm waiting for the next piece of mail.
[00:25:14] It is very easy for the church to need the message of Malachi today.
[00:25:20] Amen.
[00:25:21] We're in the same. We in the same place, and we're actually faced with the same temptations.
[00:25:31] You know, I read an article the other day. It said people with four children have it the easiest. And I'm like, nobody read that article to my mother, you know, she did not think having four children was easy.
[00:25:48] And one time she told me I had very much frustrated her. She said, I can't wait for y' all to grow up.
[00:25:56] And at one point, we were grown and a couple of us had been in jail.
[00:26:03] And I asked my mom, I said, how's this being a mother of grownups? She said, I wish I would go back.
[00:26:09] We always think the next move is going to simplify things. And the real struggle of life is to be believing in contentment and to be content in believing that was he was speaking into that. But who is this messenger? It's John the Baptist. Who is this one who would. Suddenly. Suddenly doesn't mean quickly. It means surprisingly. The actual fulfillment of the Messiah would be signaled by a special messenger. And I want to belabor it, but I see the time it was John the Baptist. Let me cut to the chase. Who Malachi is pointing to as a messenger is the preeminent messenger, John the Baptist, who had the preeminent message that Christ is the one.
[00:26:57] So what he was actually doing was saying, you know, hold on, hold on now. I haven't been to one of these things in a while, but who's been to one of these restaurants where they give you the buzzer or the Blinking light. Who's been to one recently?
[00:27:10] Yeah, I love that system. I love that system. I get so excited about that little thing going off, you know, and we have some in the nursery, you know, As a matter of fact, we could give one to y'. All. And if you want to go check on some people's children or something, we could set it off.
[00:27:28] But, you know, if. If I was sitting waiting to eat, and the thing went off, you know, and I've only been eating one meal a day for almost a year, guys.
[00:27:38] And I'm always ready for that one meal. Like right now, I've been preaching, thinking about what the leftovers are doing in the refrigerator of the house.
[00:27:46] I literally, like, I wonder what that chicken doing. That alpaca chicken I left in there. I bet it's just waiting for me.
[00:27:52] I get pretty excited about that meal, right? I am longing for that meal.
[00:27:57] It would enrage me if I had one of those little light things and it went off, and I went up there. Oh, we just wanted to tell you to get ready. It's gonna go off again later.
[00:28:08] I would start talking like Yosemite Sam.
[00:28:11] He satisfies and resurrect.
[00:28:14] But do you realize that what Malachi is doing.
[00:28:18] Here's a light. Oh, wait, It's. It's almost sensible to me.
[00:28:29] It's almost sensible to me that by the time of Jesus, the people were cynical, apathetic.
[00:28:41] Yet again, it's almost sensible to me.
[00:28:44] I am very concerned that the church of God doesn't fall into this very pattern.
[00:28:51] It's tough to say it, but somebody should say amen.
[00:28:55] Thirdly, and I'll try to press through this quickly, what verses two through five tell us is tough to handle. But this is basically what they say. Yes. Each of us will give a personal account to God.
[00:29:10] Some will be purified of sin and some judged of sin.
[00:29:17] Let's break this down a little bit. But let me ask you a question.
[00:29:20] Who has sinned? Who has sinned? Church? All.
[00:29:24] So who would fall under the righteous, just judgment of God? Who?
[00:29:30] Okay, so no injustice is done to any. That mercy is shown to some.
[00:29:39] But let me break this down as quick as I can. Let's focus on this first. Right, this. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Each person and every person will be held accountable for their own sin.
[00:29:53] It says in the first part of verse two, but who.
[00:29:56] But who can endure the day of his coming? That's another way of saying, like, who can approach. Well, nobody can. Who can endure. Well, nobody can, right?
[00:30:07] And that almost feels hopeless.
[00:30:11] That almost feels hopeless. Except there's some good news in here, and trust me, I will get to it.
[00:30:18] Who can endure the day of his coming? No one can survive. Divine the divine judgment of God. No one can stand secure on secure ground based on their own merit.
[00:30:31] So in his mercy, God will purify some and make them fit for righteous service. Now, I get great encouragement from this reality that's unveiled in the latter part of verse two and following.
[00:30:44] He says this. He says, for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap, he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. This is where I would love to get into a sub sermon. There are so many images of discipleship that are violent in nature. Have you ever thought about that? A refining fire. That means to get pure gold out of you, you got to go through some hard things.
[00:31:08] Pruning. I mean, just everybody play along. Everybody play along. Just do like this. You're not going to die.
[00:31:15] All right? Now just imagine your arms as branches. You got it? You got it. And imagine your fingers as twigs. What are you willing for me to come by and chop off, Huh? Yeah. Bert said his hair. The problem is the Lord has claimed it.
[00:31:37] I walked by him early and was trying to see my future in there.
[00:31:42] Don't laugh, Matthew Acrey, I see you laughing over there.
[00:31:48] Listen, this promise is actually a tender mercy, but it does not come through an easy method.
[00:32:01] How many people deserve judgment? Church, preach with me. Preach with me, okay? So that if somebody receives mercy, even if it comes through, difficulty is really critical. Now, I don't know if you guys have ever seen this, but on our sign, it's our. It's East Rock's earliest mission statement, Day one. We had this as a mission statement. We are a people of God becoming fit for the purposes of God. Did you guys know that's on our sign outside?
[00:32:30] It's right there.
[00:32:31] We are people of God now. What does this mean? It means God is committed to our sanctification. It means God is committed to our holiness.
[00:32:39] God is committed to our growth. And it is his mercy. It is his mercy that he does not leave us as he finds us.
[00:32:47] It's his mercy. But your growth.
[00:32:50] I mean, here's the one I hate. Like, I kind of like the idea of involuntary pruning. Like God, come along, Cut some stuff.
[00:32:57] It's when he uses things like exercise.
[00:33:00] Exercise your faith. Oh, so you want me to have some effort, too? You Want me to choose some pain? I think not.
[00:33:08] This is all going to be on you, God. If I'm going to get any better, it's on you.
[00:33:15] But the truth is, God is committed to his children's growth lastly and very quickly. Oh, my.
[00:33:21] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed. In the name of the only Son of God. That is a direct quote.
[00:33:32] John, chapter three, verse number 18. What does it mean? It means that when he comes. When he comes, the guilty sinners who have never feared the Lord, they are already condemned and their condemnation will be satisfied.
[00:33:57] Wow.
[00:33:59] Wow.
[00:34:00] It's actually crazy, y'. All. Okay? I wanted to quote that when I'm witnessing to people John 3:18. I quote John 3:18 five times more than I do John 3:16.
[00:34:12] Because some people. Some people have no idea. Like, you're already condemned.
[00:34:17] People who can even quote, the wages of sin is death. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. Many of them don't view that as you are already condemned. I am already condemned.
[00:34:31] I am born dead in my trespasses and sins, cut off from the life of God. It takes a radical, miraculous rescue by God.
[00:34:43] And if you're at the point where someone is clearly pointing out the nature of condemnation and the reality of the rescue being possible, that is God pursuing that person.
[00:34:55] That is God using a preacher to use Paul's words. He says, the word of God is near you. It's even. It's even in. It's even in your mouth, like you can right now cry out to the Lord. How did that word get there? I like what Adrian Rogers said. He says, I put it there. That's what preaching is.
[00:35:10] How did you get that word in your mouth? I put it in your mouth.
[00:35:13] That's what the Apostle Paul was saying. How does this word get in somebody's mouth? We're taking the gospel and we're putting the word in their mouth. Their first word of faith is a borrowed word come to them by the power of the Holy Ghost through faithful witnesses and teachers.
[00:35:32] So you go to verse five. He says, look, I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers. All this stuff. Do you think it's only those things? Nope.
[00:35:42] It's everything that's unholy.
[00:35:46] Right.
[00:35:50] So to wrap it up, what is Malachi saying here?
[00:35:54] Clearly, clearly, he is saying to those people at that time. He is saying to him without a shadow of a Doubt you. You know, you're cynical, you're apathetic, and you're living as unbelievers. You, you, you know, you're practically being religious, but you're actually being unbelieving.
[00:36:17] We all know none of us want somebody to say they love us and then act differently.
[00:36:25] None of us want that. That's rotten. That's terrible.
[00:36:28] Right? That's basically what he's accusing them of. And he's going, listen, this is your warning to get ready to be ready.
[00:36:38] You know, this. This is. I'm preparing the way for the one that's actually going to prepare the way, you know, And I think the church needs this message today.
[00:36:51] I got four points of application.
[00:36:53] I always have a bunch of them, but I want to point them out to you numerically and specifically. Okay? First, I've been giving you this one the whole way along, okay? This message is just as applicable today as it was to them. Okay? If people.
[00:37:09] If people who claim to be believers, if people who claim to be disciples are not actually living for the Lord, then it's one of two things. They're either using their religion for self deception or they're going through the motions instead of actually abiding in fellowship with God.
[00:37:31] There's a song in the 70s I loved. It was my favorite versions. Go look it up on YouTube. Their outfits killed me. The 70s were horrible.
[00:37:40] It's by this group called Ocean, and his song was Put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee.
[00:37:48] I loved it. My grandma had the record. I said, grandma, play that one. Play that one.
[00:37:53] She said, all them old hippies, then you catch her.
[00:37:59] And the chorus said, put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee. Take a look at yourself and you'll look at others differently.
[00:38:07] That's part of it.
[00:38:09] I'm here to tell you I have no problem being sympathetic with the hearers of Malachi's message because I are one.
[00:38:19] I am susceptible to.
[00:38:22] I am susceptible to all these things. Are you?
[00:38:25] Secondly, I am very thankful, and you should be very thankful that God is committed to your holiness.
[00:38:36] Do you realize that today, like, do you realize if you got something going on, okay, God is working to drive that out of you.
[00:38:48] Refiners, fire, pruners, something. Shears. Thank you.
[00:38:56] Friction. You know what I'm saying? Sharpening. You ever thought about sharpening is heat and friction over and over again. You ever thought about that? Like, God might be pressurizing your life to bring you closer to himself, make you more like his son.
[00:39:11] Whoa.
[00:39:14] The word is pictured as a sword that can pierce you clear to your soul. That's wild to me.
[00:39:22] I want you guys to face this. Remember, every confrontation is actually an invitation.
[00:39:30] And my third application is this okay?
[00:39:33] I wish that ISROC and I say this kind of in expectation and honestly, kind of in wishful thinking.
[00:39:41] I wish Ishroq would hear this and know that who Malachi was pointing to was John the Baptist. And we would say, that's our ministry.
[00:39:53] Our ministry. We are locked arm in arm with John the Baptist.
[00:39:58] And we would boldly say to our co workers, our neighbors, this neighborhood, our family members, prepare you the way of the Lord. Repent.
[00:40:07] Why?
[00:40:09] For the kingdom of God is at hand.
[00:40:13] I think East Rock. Well, my first sermon back after sabbatical, if you'll remember, was at the. It was at the.
[00:40:19] The September 28th service. We, you know, the morning service. And I commended this local church for listening or trying to listen. And do you guys realize we have pretty seamlessly kept the peace and become two gatherings that are both theoretically seeking to grow right now? The question I think that is clearly before us through the preaching of Malachi is are we actually living into it or are we just doing something?
[00:40:49] Are we actually locking arms with John the Baptist and saying to people, prepare ye the way of the Lord.
[00:40:56] I want to prepare the way of the Lord.
[00:40:59] My last application is not the simplest. It's the easiest to say, but not the simplest to hear.
[00:41:08] Believe on Christ.
[00:41:11] Okay, and it's an A and a B, Christian. Be believing on Christ. Believe on Christ.
[00:41:16] Believe.
[00:41:17] Believe before you close your eyes tonight that this could be tonight. But also believe it could be 20 generations from now. And live appropriately in both directions.
[00:41:30] Live with eager expectation and a long term commitment to gospel grind.
[00:41:37] Do both. Do both.
[00:41:40] And then believe on Christ.
[00:41:43] Do you know him today?
[00:41:45] Have you escaped condemnation by believing on Christ?
[00:41:51] Have you?
[00:41:52] And the Bible says you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus was raised from the dead, that that finished work is what pleases the Lord and brings you into his family. Have you followed through in baptism?
[00:42:06] Believe on the Lord. Now, some folks want all the answers. You don't start with all the answers. You don't even know all the questions yet.
[00:42:15] What do you start with in the faith? You start with the answer. And inside of Christ are all the answers.
[00:42:22] Some people will search so long for the lowercase A answers that they'll use as an excuse not to come to the capital A answer, right? How is this word of faith getting into your. Into your mouth through the faithful preaching of God's word. But who's doing it? It's the Holy Spirit himself.
[00:42:40] Do you believe on Christ?
[00:42:45] It's a simple message, but not an easy message.
[00:42:50] Are you cynical, apathetic, living in actual unbelief while you practice seeming belief?
[00:42:57] Is the Lord present in your days?
[00:43:02] And are you thinking?
[00:43:04] Are you thinking in mission with God? Are you living in mission with God?
[00:43:10] I think the thing we're challenged with is we live in a land of such abundance that the American dream is what we use as an idea of success. What God would say the idea of success is, are you abiding with me? That's success.
[00:43:27] Would you pray with me? Father, thank you for the book of Malachi.
[00:43:32] Thank you for your messenger. Most importantly, thank you for the message that points to the answer. It is Christ.
[00:43:39] It is Christ. He is the answer.
[00:43:44] He is the temple, the great temple. He is the one that we need to be hidden in and worship in. And when we lift up Jesus, he draws men to himself.
[00:43:57] Father God, I pray. I pray that you speak to our hearts. You speak to our households. Lord, I believe you want to do a work in our local church.
[00:44:07] And I believe you want that work to be glorifying to you and also good for us.
[00:44:15] Father, I pray you help us to take an earnest look at ourselves and to see is cynicism and unbelief actually ruling our lives. Apathy toward the things of God, our set disposition.
[00:44:31] And God, if it is your confrontation, is your invitation. Call our hearts to yourself. Lead us into pathways of repentance where we will meet Jesus on the broad plane of forgiveness.
[00:44:44] In Jesus I pray. Amen.
