Let's open our Bibles to Isaiah
chapter 61. Isaiah chapter 61. We want to remember that this
coming Friday, we're going to have a Christmas party at the
Holbeck's house. Their address and time and so
forth is here in the bulletins. Hope we can all be there to attend
that. We want to remember Brother Eric
Floyd is preaching in Rocky Mount this morning. We want to remember
him as he preaches and he and Abby travel. Last Friday evening,
Janet got an early Christmas present, and we went to see the
part of the Handel's Messiah performed. I'd never seen it
before. It was fascinating. But one of the things that struck
me in the performance of that is the singers, a couple of them
in particular, by their body language, showed such excitement,
such excitement in the promise of the coming of the Savior.
Now, the world was not excited about it at that time, I know.
but we sure should be. Think about that as we read this
prophecy of the Messiah, what he's coming to do and how excited
we should be to see him. Isaiah 61 verse one. The spirit
of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to reclaim liberty to the captives and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound. to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. All right, let's stand
together as Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship. So... Amazing love, eternal grace,
Redemptions were displayed, In God's edestin' grace, To His
eternal praise. God's Son by Him were all foreknown
and registered above, predestined to a crown by everlasting love. On this eternal fixed decree,
all things in time depend. Salvation perfect, full and free,
and glory without end. ? Predestinating grace and love
? ? Transforms the chosen race ? ? Prepares his saints for joys
above ? ? And gives triumph a grace ? It's not real easy to get extra syllables
out of a few of those words. We'll not blame the author. If
you would, please turn to song number 93. Hark the herald angels sing,
glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled. Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies, With angelic hosts proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King! Christ by highest heaven adored,
Christ the everlasting Lord, Late in time, behold Him come,
offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead
see. Hail the incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King! Hail the heaven-born Prince of
Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings,
risen with healing in His wings. Mild he lays his glory by, Born
that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth, Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King. Come desire of nations, come
fix in us the humble home. Rise the womans, come bring seed
Ruse in us the serpent's head. Adam's likeness now efface, Stamp
thine image in its place. Second Adam from above, Reinstate
us in thy law. Hark the herald angels Let's
open our Bibles now to the book of
Malachi. The last book in the Old Testament,
Malachi chapter 3. After I read this, Jonathan,
would you come lead us in prayer, please? Malachi chapter three. Behold, I'll send my messenger
and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you
seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of
the covenant whom you delight in, behold, he shall come. saith the Lord of hosts. But
who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when
he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire
and like fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi
and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah
and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old,
as in the former years. And I will come near to you in
judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers,
and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against
those that oppress the hireling in 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, for I am the Lord,
and I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob,
Let's pray together. Our Holy Most High Heavenly Father,
may your name be glorified in this place today among your people.
We pray that you send your spirit that we may worship you in spirit
and also in truth. that you be with our pastor to
declare your word, to declare your name boldly and truthfully,
that you be with him and give him a message from you to we,
to we, your people, your chosen people, unworthy and ourselves. We're so thankful that Christ
has come and stamped his image in Adam's place,
that because of Christ's work, we sinners, we prisoners are
set free, free from the law, free from sin, free from guilt. In fact, children and sons adopted
in Christ that we do in Christ have the right to bow before
you and address you as our father. We pray that this time here today
be a true time of worship, that you be with us and allow this
time to be a time to worship your name as it ought to be worshiped,
with reverence, with humble hearts, and also with joy that only the
freedom in Christ can bring, that we worship with joy here
today. We pray for ourselves, Father,
that you be with us Give us hearts to worship. We pray for those
that are struggling through whatever the trial is that you're bringing
us through. The broken hearted, the cold hearted, the sin that
we all are so familiar with. Father, forgive us. Remember
that we're dust. Be with those that are sick and hurting. Father, you know the trial. I
pray that you be with us. We pray this thankfully today
in Christ's name and for his sake alone. There will never be a sweeter story
Story of the Savior's love divine Love that brought Him from the
realms of glory Just to save a sinful soul like mine Isn't
the love of Jesus something wonderful, wonderful? Isn't the love of Jesus something
wonderful, wonderful it is to me? Boundless as the universe
around me Reaching to the farthest soul away Saving, keeping love,
it was that found me That is why my heart can truly say Isn't
the love of Jesus something wonderful? Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something
wonderful? Wonderful it is to me. Love beyond our human comprehending. Love of God in Christ, how can
it be? This will be my theme in never
ending, great redeeming love of Calvary. Isn't the love of Jesus something
wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something
wonderful, wonderful it is to me. You would open your Bibles now
again with me to Malachi chapter three. The title of the message this
morning, the messenger of the covenant has come. You know,
it's no surprise to anyone here, Christmas is coming. Everybody
knows that. And since it's coming, Christmas,
December the 25th is not the birthday of our Lord, but the
birth of Christ is on our mind. This is when the world stops
to recognize the birth of our Savior. So you just can't help
but have the birth of Christ be on your mind at this time.
The radio stations I normally listen to play hymns, joy to
the world, our failed angels sing, a weary world rejoices. Oh, I like it. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. I like it.
And since this is what is already on our minds, I wanted to bring
a message this morning from one of the last prophecies of the
Messiah that's in the Old Testament. And next time, Lord willing,
look at the birth of Christ, who's a fulfillment of these
prophecies. Now, it's important to understand, I think, what's
going on as Isaiah writes this prophecy. God sent Malachi to
prophesy to Israel after the temple had been rebuilt. Israel
had been in captivity. They've come back. They've rebuilt
the temple. The sacrifices are being offered again. The priesthood
has been established. Israel is observing outwardly
the right form, the right ceremony of religion. But everything wasn't right.
The ceremony seemed to be right. The outward seemed to be right,
but everything was not right. See God, it looked right on the
inside, but God saw on the heart. The heart of the people wasn't
right. Even though they had the right form, they had the right
ceremony. There was not true worship of the Lord in Israel.
Look at verse eight of chapter two. But you're departed out
of the way. You've caused many to stumble
at the law. You've corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the
Lord of hosts. You've corrupted it. You can't
worship with it, but you've corrupted it. Look at verse 17. Here they
have all the right form and ceremony. They're doing everything outwardly
right. But the Lord says, you've wearied the Lord with your words.
Yet ye say, wherein have we wearied him? How have we wearied him?
Well, here's how. When you say everyone that doeth
evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he that delighteth
in them. But where is the God of judgment? See, everything
was right on the outside, but God said, you weird me with your
word. This is not worship. And that shows us that true worship
is a heart matter. It's a heart matter. God's not
worshiped by us having the right doctrine. He's not worshiped
by us having the right order of surface. He's not worshiped
by us acting very serious and religious on the outside. God's
worshipped from the heart. You can only be worshipped from
a new heart that God gives in the new birth. God is worshipped
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way God can be
worshipped. God is worshipped when we preach Christ. God's
people can truly worship anywhere that Christ is preached. Anywhere
he's preached. And by nature, you and me, we're
just like the old Jews. God's given us his worship and
the flesh has come in and just messed up the worship of God.
But God is not going to leave his people in that mess that
we made. How's God going to straighten this thing up? He sent his son. He sent the messenger of the
covenant to straighten everything up for his people. The messenger
of the covenant is coming to show us, here's how God saves
sinners. Here's how God is truly worshipped.
God's not worshipped through the law, through the mosaic law.
God's not worshipped in the ceremonies. God's worshipped in Christ, in
Christ, always and only in him. And if God the Holy Spirit ever
gives us eyes to see Christ and hear what he's saying, what the
messenger of the covenant is saying, we'll worship, we'll
worship, truly worship. and that worship will be accepted.
So a few things I want us to see from these verses. Number
one is this, before we hear from the messenger, we've got to hear
a messenger. Verse one, behold, I will send
my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me. Now Christ
is the messenger, the messenger of the covenant. And it's so
important that we hear him, that we truly hear and believe what
he's saying, that God sent a forerunner to come before him to tell everybody
Christ is coming. The messenger of the covenant
is coming. Now you get yourself ready to hear what he's got to
say. And the forerunner, this is what all this is about, at
that time, suppose an important king or ruler had a message for
the people. Well, if our president has that
today, he has a 8 p.m. press conference sitting behind
his desk, my fellow Americans, interrupts the show that you
want to watch. You don't hear what he's got to say. You want to watch a show,
don't you? This is how he gets his message out. Well, they didn't
have that in that day, did they? So the king would go out to the
people. He'd go out to the town and the king or important ruler,
some important man, and he's coming to a town. What he'd do
is he'd send a forerunner to go there first to tell everybody
the king's coming. The King's coming with an important
message. Now you need to know He's coming. Get yourself ready.
Clear your schedule. Wash your good clothes. And be
here to hear what this man has to say. He's got something important
for you to hear. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is so important.
He's the King of Kings. He's the Lord of Lords. He's
so important. We must hear Him. If we would be saved, we must
believe Him. So He sent a forerunner. And
the forerunner here is a prophecy of John the Baptist. Now Malachi
is the last book in the Old Testament, but he's not the last Old Testament
prophet. John the Baptist is the last of the Old Testament
prophets. All the other prophets, beginning at Moses, kept telling
us somebody's coming. Somebody's coming. All the ceremonies,
all the sacrifices, all the peace days and the Passover days and
the Sabbath days, all those things were telling us in picture, somebody's
coming to fulfill all this. Somebody's coming. John said
the same thing too, didn't he? He said, somebody's coming. Somebody's
coming after me to shoe lace. I'm not worthy to bend down and
die. I'm not worthy. Somebody's coming. And then John
had the distinct honor of saying, here he is. Look and behold. How often do all those Old Testament
prophets, Jeremiah says here, behold. Malachi says, behold. All those Old Testament prophets,
behold. Behold. John the Baptist says, behold.
The Lamb of God must take away the sin of the world. Look to
Him. Go to Him. Go to Him. Don't stick with me.
You go to Him. Those disciples of John's that
were with him, he said, behold, the Lamb of God take away the
sin of the world. They left John and went to Christ. And John
wasn't upset about it. We need a forerunner. We need
somebody to tell us the point is behold the Lamb of God. We're
so lost in sin. We're blind and we're dead. We
miss the Son of God come in human flesh. if a forerunner didn't
tell us he was healed. We're so blind, the light shined
in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not because we're
blind. Somebody's got to tell us the light's on. God turned
the lights on. Here's the light of the Lord. There he is. Now
quit. Quit trusting in all your religious
activity. Quit trusting those ceremonies.
Quit trusting your obedience and trust Christ. Malachi says
John's going to come and prepare the way before Christ. He's going
to prepare the hearts of his people. How's he going to do
that? Well, John's going to come and
he's going to remove things that keep people from coming to Christ.
And you know what those things are that keep us from coming
to Christ? Our religion and our works. He's going to take those
things out of the way. He's going to tell people to
quit trusting in those things. John's going to come with a message
of repentance. Well, who needs to hear that message? Who needs
to hear a message of repentance? Sinners do, don't they? came
to repair the hearts of sinners to hear Christ the Savior. He's
coming. He's coming. He's exactly what
you need. John kept pointing out our sin to show us our need
of a Savior to come and put away our sin. And then he had the
honor of saying, here he is. Now you go to him. You trust
him. And we preach the same message today. We preach Christ, we preach
the message of the gospel. Taking those things out of the
way, trying to tear down those religious strongholds of religion
and works and take those things out of the way, remove every
impediment that there is so somebody can see Christ, see only Him,
see only Him. Don't preach yourself, preach
Christ. Don't preach how to live. People already know how to live.
Preach Christ. Don't get anything in the way that somebody could
confuse and get their attention off looking to Christ. Here He
is, now go to Him. John's the forerunner. The last
Old Testament prophet. John all that special. What did
John say about himself? I'm just a voice. I'm just a
voice. Christ is the message. I'm just
a voice. And here's the thing about voices.
They all sound for a while, don't they? Huh? Those voices sound
for a while, don't they? And then they're silent. This
poor Lisbon stammering tongue lies silent in the crowd. Then
I'm following and be praising him like I want, like I should.
Voices are silent eventually. But the message continues. The
message continues. One day, this voice is going
to be silent. I pray God will raise up another
one in this place. But I'm going to tell you what,
if he doesn't, the message is going to continue. I promise
you that. The message is going to continue.
Christ is going to be continued to preach somewhere. It's going
to be a different voice, but the message remains the same.
From Moses to today, the message stays the same. And if the Lord
tarries tomorrow, the messenger will stay the same too. Before
we hear from the messenger, God's gotta send us a messenger to
tell us who he is. All right, here's the second
thing. Now, Malachi prophesied of him,
now Christ, the messenger of the covenant has come. Behold,
verse one, I'll send my messenger and he shall prepare the way
before me and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his
temple even the messenger of the covenant. God has an eternal
covenant of grace, and Christ is the messenger of it. If we're
going to hear of this covenant, if we're going to understand
this covenant, if we're going to believe the God of this covenant, we're
going to have to hear through the Lord Jesus Christ. Have to
hear Him. If we're going to hear how God
saves sinners, if we're going to understand and believe how
God saves sinners, I tell you what we're going to have to do.
We're going to have to hear Christ and believe Him. Believe Him.
God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. He's spoken
unto us by His Word. The Word who was made flesh and
dwelt among us. That's how we hear of God. That's
how we hear of God's covenant of grace. And not only is Christ
the messenger of the covenant, He didn't just come to tell us
about the covenant. Christ himself personally is
the covenant of God. He is the covenant of grace.
It's all found in Christ. It's all revealed in Christ.
It's all seen and understood in Christ. The only way we can
understand and believe and love God's eternal covenant is to
see Christ. I never would have known God
loves sinners unless I saw Christ come to die for sinners to be
the propitiation for their sin. I might have had some sense of
my sin. I might have had some sense of my sin polluting me
and damning me and needs to be taken care of before God looks
at me. I might have had some understanding of that, but I
never would have known that God completely and utterly puts away
the sin of his people by the sacrifice of his son, by the
blood of his son, not by my obedience to the law. I never would have
known that. And as God sent his son as the messenger of the covenant
to reveal that salvation to me and in me. You can only see it
in Christ. I never would have understood that righteousness
did not come by my obedience to the law. I mean, doesn't that
just make sense? It's just logical sense to the
human mind. I guess we got to be careful
about following logic too far, but doesn't it make logical sense
to your mind? Well, God gave the law because
he intended for me to keep it and do as good as I can to keep
it. And if I do as good as I can, he'll accept me. That's what
every human being believes. I never would have understood
righteousness, did not come by my obedience to the law, unless
I ever saw Christ in His perfection. Now I see, I see Him. I never
could have understood that my life could come from the death
of another, or the death of a substitute. I never would have understood
spiritual life is like a grain of corn dying, buried under the
ground, doing whatever it does, germinates, whatever it does,
to grow up to a lush ear corn. You get a lush ear corn from
a dried up old hard piece of corn you can't even bite into,
it's so hard. And a lush ear corn, just juicy and full, comes
from that dead grain of corn. I never would have understood
that's a picture of spiritual life coming from the death of
Christ, unless I saw Christ crucified for me, for my sin. A man by
nature cares about a covenant, And we think, yeah, I see that.
I see how salvation is a covenant. I see that. But man by nature
thinks this, that salvation is my covenant with God. God, I'll
do this and you do this. Our covenant is a bargain with
God. We can't really promise I'll
do something. Our covenant's a bargain. But
the only way that I can know salvation is found in a covenant
between God and God. Between God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit. is by seeing Christ, by seeing
Christ. The only way I can know the Father
promised in this covenant, he promised, I chose a people, I'll
save them, I'll accept them. The Son promised, I'll redeem
them. The Spirit promised, I'll call them, I'll give them life.
Where's what I do in that? Nowhere. The covenant is a promise
between God and God. Salvation is not me doing something
to please God. Salvation is Christ pleasing
God for me, Christ pleasing the Father for me. Salvation is in
Christ and that can only be seen if the Holy Spirit is pleased
to reveal Christ to my heart. Like I said, December the 25th
is not the birthday of the Lord Jesus, but I'll tell you this,
whatever day it is, I'm mighty thankful he was born. I'm mighty
thankful he is born. I'm mighty thankful he is born
in the flesh. So he could be my substitute.
So he could be my representative. So he would have a body that
could be sacrificed for me so that he could grow from a baby
to a man, to a man, to a full grown man being perfect. And then being sacrificed for
my sins. That's God's covenant. That's
how God purposed to give life to his people. And I can promise
you this. If the Father chose to save you,
sooner or later, Christ is gonna appear to you. He's gonna appear
suddenly. You might have heard the gospel
10,000 times. It's just words. Yeah, that sounds
good, whatever. And then suddenly, Christ appears. You see him, you're just breathless.
It's just, where have I been? He appears suddenly. That's the way God does it. It's
always been the way he does it. 4,000 years before Christ was
born in Bethlehem, God made a promise to Adam. The woman sees coming
Adam. He's going to undo everything
you just did. He's coming. Thousand years later, most people
completely forgotten about the promise. And suddenly he appeared,
Bethlehem's manger, and the angels sang joy to the world. Suddenly
he appeared. Eight days later, Joseph and
Mary took that baby to the temple. He suddenly appeared in the temple. Seeming he'd been looking for
him, hadn't he? He'd been looking for him. He suddenly appeared. as the law keeper for his people.
Why was it that day he came to be circumcised? To keep the law. He appeared as the law keeper
who's going to establish righteousness for his people. One day, Christ
suddenly came to his temple. His parents were there observing
some, some feast and they left and they thought the child Jesus
was with him and he wasn't. And they searched everywhere
for him. Can you imagine losing your 12 year old? They go back and they find him
sitting there explaining the scripture to the scribes and
to the Pharisees. And they were just, son, what
have you been doing? Are you worried or sick? He said,
don't you know it must be about my father's business. He suddenly
appeared in the temple as the fulfillment of the scripture,
as the one come to save his people from their sin. The scriptures
kept promising, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming, he's
coming. He suddenly appeared, he suddenly
appeared. Oh, those Jews, they had just
completely corrupted the worship of God. They had money changes. I mean, they're selling doves
and turtle doves and lambs and selling these things at a premium,
you know. People, they make money off people. They have this animal
to sacrifice. And that had been going on for
a while. It had been a pretty good money-making scheme. And one
day the Savior suddenly appeared in His temple. He found some
twine laying down. They probably had that twine,
you know, they tied up some, some lamb, you know, and sold
that lamb at a premium and that lamb's off being slaughtered.
What they just had that little lamb tied up was laying down
there. He just picked up those pieces of twine, some braided
a whip and he drove them out. The Savior suddenly appeared
to his temple showing my house is a house of worship. Oh, Christ
is to be worshiped here. I don't ever want the Lord to
have to come use a whip and drive us out of this place, to be forgotten.
We're here to worship Christ. We're here to exalt His name.
We're here to hear Him. Oh, when the gospel's preached,
that's when the Lord, when the gospel's preached, He suddenly
appears to the heart of His people. He purposed to save you from
eternity. His Son came and died for you, offered the sacrifice
for your sin to the Father 2,000 years ago. He's coming. He's
coming to get you if he died for you. He's coming. He'll suddenly
appear. And when he does, you'll see
Christ is all I want. That's what I've been looking
for. That brings me to my third point. Sinners must seek Christ,
must seek him, the messenger of the covenant. Malachi says
here, whom ye seek, whom ye seek. Now, if we want to hear from
God, we must seek Christ. Yes, it's true. Scripture says,
the Lord says, I'm found of them that sought me not. Well, by
nature, you never did seek him, but he's going to make you seek
him before you find him. We must seek Christ, the messenger
of the covenant. I'm not even talking about seeking
the blessings of Christ. I'm telling you, we must see
Christ, seek him, seek to know him, seek to have him. And everybody
in this world is searching for something. Everybody is. They're searching for something
to fill that empty hole in you. And whether you know it or not,
whatever it is you're searching for, it answers Christ. You're searching for Christ.
You just don't know, but it's found in Christ. Oh, if you're
seeking peace for your heart, seeking peace for your heart. Are you? You're afraid to meet
God in judgment. You seek peace. I'll tell you
what, Christ is who you're seeking. He is our peace. He made peace
for us by the blood of his cause. Are you seeking righteousness?
You know, you can't do good enough. You're seeking righteousness.
Maybe you don't even know exactly where righteousness is, but you
know, I got a problem here. I got a problem here. God can't
accept me the way I am. I'm seeking a righteousness.
Are you seeking that? Well, I'll tell you who you're
seeking. You're seeking Christ. Jehovah
said, can you? The Lord, our righteousness.
He's the righteousness of his people. Are you seeking forgiveness
of your sin? You think about your sin and
it bothers you so much and you can't even quit sin. You can't
even sin less than you ever used to. You need forgiveness. Are
you seeking forgiveness? I'll tell you what, Christ is
who you're seeking. The forgiveness of sin found
in his blood. Are you seeking mercy? Are you
seeking grace? Grace for your soul? I'll tell
you what you're seeking. You're seeking Christ. He's the
fount of all mercy and all grace. Are you seeking joy for your
soul? I reckon everybody's doing it,
but I just, and they've always done it, I guess, but I mean,
how many times do you people say, I just want to be happy.
I just want to be happy. Well, how in this world are you
going to be happy in this sinful, dark, barren world? Are you seeking
joy? Want me to tell you where joy
for your soul is found? You're seeking Christ. Oh, there's joy
in Him. There's joy in knowing Him. There's
joy in resting in Him. The world won't get no better,
but you'll have joy. The other day, I heard a group
of people stand and say, hallelujah chorus. Lord God, I want you
to reign in me. This world's going to hell in
a handbasket faster than it ever has in human history. And I found
joy for my soul. Lord God, reign with me. Lord God, reign with me. If the Lord chose you, I know
right now you don't see him. You don't care much about him.
Right now you're wondering how many more minutes until Frank's
done. The Lord chose to save you. There's coming a day He's
going to arrest you. He's going to lay hold upon you.
And He's going to make you seek Christ. I mean, He's going to
make you need Him. Like Brother Chapman preached
here a few weeks ago, the blind men following the Savior. I never
thought about how hard it was for blind men to follow Him.
But they did. They needed him. If God chose to save you, he's
going to lay hold on you and you're going to seek Christ and
you're going to seek him with all you got because he's going
to make you need him. And when you do that, you have that promise from the
Savior himself. And the day that you seek me
with all your heart, you'll find me. You'll find me. You won't
find an example anywhere in scripture. Somebody seeking the Lord didn't
find him. You might wait a while. Simeon waited a long time. Simeon's
an old man. He got up that morning. He think,
how am I going to do this again? They trudged down there to work.
Trudged down there to work. He's looking for the Savior.
And suddenly, that baby appeared. He held that child in his arms.
He's oh my soul satisfied. or let thy servant depart in
peace according to thy promise. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
Oh, Simeon was seeking Christ, wasn't he? He wasn't seeking
that baby. He wasn't seeking a religious
miracle. He was seeking a savior from his sin. And he saw this
baby's gonna grow. It's not the baby that's gonna,
it's the man. The man that's gonna do it, but he's gotta start
out as a baby, doesn't he? Because you and I started out
as babies. And this child has grown to full-grown maturity.
He's going to save me from my sin. He's going to wash me from
my sin, his precious blood. Mine I have seen thy salvation.
This is all I want. My soul's at peace. Let me go
be with the Lord. I tell you, if you're a sinner,
you seek Christ and you keep seeking him and you keep seeking
him and you keep seeking him. Keep calling out to him, begging
for mercy. Well, maybe he hasn't answered you yet. Keep calling.
Again, you'll never find one instance in scripture, somebody
calling out for mercy, did not get it. Keep calling, keep calling. Do you want to know Christ? Do
you want to be found of Him? Do you want to be found in Him?
Do you want to believe Him? Do you want to be able to trust
your soul to Him like you see others trust your soul to Him?
Tell you what to do. Make it your business to be where
somebody's preaching Him. That's where He'll appear to
you. He'll appear. He's coming. And when Christ
suddenly appears, oh, you'd be so happy. You'd be so happy. And that's the fourth thing.
Christ, the messenger of the covenant, when he comes, he's
gonna delight his people. Malachi says here at the end
of verse one, whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come. He's coming, saith the Lord of
hosts. And oh, he'll be your delight. Your sinners delight
in Christ, the messenger of the covenant. Those who believe Christ,
they delight in Him. He's our joy. I just insist on the best that
we can preaching true, right doctrine. That's what reveals
Christ. But knowing the doctrine, that's
not my joy. Having ceremonies. You know,
they had ceremonies in the Old Testament. according to Old Testament
law. They observed those things because
those things were pictures of Christ. Those ceremonies are
done away with. I don't even want our order of
service, you know, the way that we do things. Sometimes I think
we just ought to just pick out of the hat or something. What
we're going to do next is just to switch it up. It's not ceremony. Our joy is Christ. It's Christ. We used to think
salvation was had by our law keeping, by doing all the right
things. And boy, that's a tough row to
hoe, isn't it? That's a row you never get done
with. You just never get done with it. My uncle told me about
it. He and my dad were boys. They'd
go out in the summer. Their uncle had a farm. He said
they'd go out there and they'd pick soybeans and different things,
you know. And he said, I was just, you
know, eight, nine years old. And the men would all go out
in the morning, and they were, my dad and my uncle were in line,
these boys were in line with all these men. And they go through
that field picking, and they all stay in a line. And my mother
goes, look, I just think, this road never ends. I can't even see the end of it. That's the law. It's a tough
road to go. But when you see Christ, you're
absolutely delighted. Now I see the end of it. Now
I see it. I'm delighted, delighted in the
way that God saves sinners. We're delighted in Christ. He
takes all the pressure off. Salvation in Christ is full and
free. All we do is believe. Have it
freely from his hand. Just rest in Christ because he
is everything that God requires of me. Not only has he done everything
God requires of me, He is everything God requires of me. All the pressure's
off. I delight in Christ my righteousness,
don't you? I don't have any of my own. Can't
earn any. I sure delight in Him. He's my
delight. All right, here's the fifth thing. What is the messenger of the
covenant gonna do when he gets here? Well, he's gonna make all
of God's covenant happen. He's gonna bring to his people
everything God promised them in the covenant. Verse two, who
may abide the day of his coming? Who shall stand when he appeareth?
For he's like a refiner's fire and like fuller soap. He shall
sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. And he shall purify
the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they
may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Who may abide
this day? Christ is gonna suddenly appear.
But who's gonna abide? Who's gonna be able to stand
in that day that he appears? Sinners. Only sinners. Only sinners. Sinners are the
only ones that Christ came to save. He came to save sinners.
Sinners are the only ones who will come to Christ. They're
the only ones who will stand in that day. In Christ the messenger
of the covenant is coming. to cleanse those people from
their sin. That's what he's gonna do when
he gets you, he's gonna cleanse them from their sin. And the
illustration that Malachi uses is fuller soap. And I don't know
if anybody uses fuller soap anymore, but here's how they use fuller
soap in that day. They take their clothes, especially
their white clothes, and they would boil those clothes in water,
boiling water. And then they'd take those clothes
out of that boiling water, and they'd scrub those clothes with
fuller soap. Now, I don't know how you make
it, I don't know what's in it, but from what I read, fuller
soap is very harsh, and you just scrub it, and boy, it'll take
stain out. It sure will. I'll tell you the
other thing it'll do. It'll soften that cloth right
up. It just takes the starch out of that clothes, those clothes.
But, I mean, it's harsh. It softens the cloth up, but
it removes every spot and stain. It'll be white as snow. See why
Malachi used that illustration? The believer is cleansed by the
snow in the blood of Christ. Cleansed from every spot and
every stain. Here's the thing about being
washed in the blood of Christ. It'll take the starch right out
of you. Take the starch right out of you. Make you bow at his
feet. Being cleansed in Christ. Knowing that he is all myself. I can't contribute anything.
It's all him. Buddy, that takes the pride and the arrogance right
out of you, doesn't it? I got nothing to be proud of.
I'm just going to put my hand over my mouth. Independence on you. The Savior cleanses his people.
He does more than cleanse the outside of the cup. He cleanses
his people inwardly. He cleanses them in the heart,
makes their heart pure. That's what the refiner and the
refiner's fire is a picture of. Christ made his people holy,
inwardly and outwardly, by taking their sin away from them and
putting it on himself. And he alone, by himself, went
through the fire of his father's wrath against sin. And he suffered,
making his soul an offering for sin. And the fire of God's wrath
fell on him until sin was gone. God's elect had been purified.
White as snow, not a speck of sin left in them because of the
suffering of Christ. Sinners are purified in Christ. It's not the form of religion,
it's the blood. Look at Hebrews chapter nine.
Hebrews chapter nine. Verse 22. And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is
no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of
things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the
heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should
offer himself often as the high priest to enter into the holy
place every year with the blood of others. For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now, once,
by one sacrifice, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's how Christ
purified his people, is by his suffering, by his sacrifice,
by his blood. And that's why David cried, Lord,
perch me with hyssop and I shall be clean. And what he's talking
about there is they'd use that hyssop to apply the blood, apply
the blood of Christ to my heart and I'll be clean, cleansed inwardly
and outwardly. Now, mostly what Malachi is talking
about here is the being cleansed from sin and the blood of Christ.
But this is also true. Believers are cleansed by going
through the fire of trial. He talks here about the purifier
of silver and gold. Believers are refined. They're
prepared for God's use through the fire of trial. Trials make
believers more valuable. Makes God's jewels more beautiful
by burning off some of the draws. Nobody wants to go through a
trial. Nobody wants to go through that. But here's comfort for
us in the trial. God puts only his children through
this fire, through the refiner's fire of trial. He never puts
lead, ever, through the fire. Only silver and gold, only his
precious jewels. And when God puts his people
in the refiner's fire, the fire of trial, where's God while that's
going on? Right where he was before when
I was in sunny days and on the mountaintop. Right where he was
before. He's on his throne. But when
his people are in the fire, the refiner sits right there. Right
by the fire. Making sure it's just the right
temperature. Making sure it's just burning
off dross, not causing any damage. And making sure his child only
needs to be in the fire as long as needed. And that way we're refined, made
fit to help our brethren in times of trouble too. Made fit to learn
one more time, just gonna rest in Christ. All right, here's
the last thing. Christ, the messenger of the
covenant, is the surety of that covenant. And it's sure because
he's the successful Savior. Verse four, then shall the offering
of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days
of old, as in the former years. Now God was never pleased with
all those animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. He was only
pleased with them in this way, that those animal sacrifices
were a picture of Christ, the one who's coming who would put
sin away. But now Christ has come. Now he's been sacrificed
for sin. Now the Father is completely
satisfied. Completely satisfied. Not looking for another sacrifice
because the sacrifice of Christ is all it took to put away the
sin of His people and make them accepted. Not acceptable. Accepted. Completely accepted. Because the work is done. And
their worship is accepted. Their worship, their sacrifice
is accepted. Because what sacrifice do we come before the Father
in? Not an animal sacrifice. Not the sacrifices, you know,
something we've given up in this world. It's the sacrifice of
Christ. We come on the basis of Christ's
sacrifice for our sin, pleading his blood, pleading his righteousness,
pleading his person. And that's a good hope. Now that's
a good hope. Now the Savior's coming. The
Savior's coming to put away the sin of his people. But you know,
he's coming a second time too. He's coming a second time as
the judge of the earth. And look what he says in verse five, I'll
come near to you in judgment. And I'll be a swift witness against
the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against false
swears against those that oppressed the hireling in his wages, the
widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger
from his right. Fear not me, sayeth the Lord of hosts. All
those people are going to be destroyed in God's justice. He's
going to give them exactly what they deserve. But it's going
to be swift. I mean, that judgment is sure
and certain and eternal. What hope does a believer have
to be saved from that wrath? Those people are no worse than
me by nature. I'm no better than them by nature. So what hope
do we have? We're just as sinful as them.
Why won't I be damned? Why won't God's justice get me?
What's the believer's hope of escaping that justice? Appearing
in heaven in glory. Here's our hope. Christ, the
eternal, successful Savior, the surety of the covenant. Verse
six. For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Let me give you just a few things
about this unchanging Savior, unchanging covenant. In closing,
I hope it will be of help to you. What's our hope of escaping
this damnation? It's justice against our sin
that we deserve. Well, it's His covenant, isn't it? It's the
messenger of the covenant. We hope in God's eternal covenant. God's covenant is eternal both
ways. I tell you this all the time,
we're so full of ourselves, we think eternal starts with me
and goes on without ending. That's not eternal. Eternal has
no beginning and it has no ending. God has always loved His people.
And He always will. And nothing that happens in time
will change that. Our love changes almost always
for the worse. God's love never changes. It's
always perfect. Number two, we hope in a sure
covenant. This is the sure mercies of David. The sure mercies of the son of
David. The sure mercies that Christ the son of David accomplished
for his people. It's the sure mercies. that we
can be just as sure of, just as confident of when we're on
our deathbed as David was on his, because it's unchanging. Thirdly, this is a good hope.
A good hope to trust in the covenant of grace, not in a covenant of
works. You know, if God's covenant was
a mixture of grace and works, I'll save you by my grace, but
you got to keep yourself saved by your works. That's not a good
hope, is it? I hope that's a hopeless hope.
That's not going to happen. But a covenant of grace tells
me how and why God will not damn me for my sin. Why won't God
damn me for my sin? Why won't he pour out his justice
on me for my sin? Because he gave my substitute
what I deserve. That's a covenant of grace. I
like it that way, don't you? And the last thing is we hope
in an immutable covenant. It's a great big word, immutable,
that just means this. God's covenant of grace cannot
change. It's ordered in all things and
it's sure. It's sure because God never changes.
And I sure do wish that I wouldn't sin anymore. I sure do wish it. I wish I'd go home today and
not sin. But we will. I don't want to do it. I hate
it. I'm ashamed of it. But here's our hope when we sin. The believer's not consumed because
God never changes. He never changes. He never changes
in His covenant. He never changes in His mercy.
He never changes in His grace. He never changes in His forgiveness.
And He never changes in His justice. He never changes in His justice.
Get a hold of this now. You know why God never changes
in His grace to you who believe? because he never changes in his
justice. Christ paid the debt for you. He never changes in
his justice. God's never gonna demand payment
from you too. That's a good hope. Let's bow. Like I said at the beginning,
aren't you excited he's coming? Aren't you excited? I hope so.
Our Father, we pray you bless your word. Bless your word to
your glory. Bless the word the hearts of
your people to give life, faith, comfort, and assurance in Christ
our Savior. Oh, how we thank you for your
covenant of grace. How we thank you for the messenger of the
covenant, that the Lord Jesus Christ, your son, is the surety
of the covenant, that makes it the sure mercies of David, that
makes it ordered in all things and sure. Father, I pray that
as we leave here this morning, you'd make Christ to be all of
our hope. the sole object of our hope and
faith and confidence. You promised that You'd come
suddenly to Your people. Fathers, those here that know
not Thee, I pray You'd come suddenly, give faith and life. There's
those who are hurting, those who are in deep waters, Father,
I pray You'd come suddenly and relieve them. There's those who
are hungry and thirsty and weary, Father, I pray you come suddenly,
feed and comfort and edify our souls by one more time thinking
of Christ our Savior. It is in his blessed name we
pray and give thanks. Amen. That's all I'm showing. Okay, if you would stand and
turn to song number 102. Jesus, wonderful Lord. Born among cattle in poverty
sore, living in meekness by Galilee's shore. Dying in shame as the
wicked one swore, Jesus, wonderful Lord. Wonderful, wonderful Jesus. He is my friend, true to the
end. He gave himself to redeem me. Jesus, wonderful Lord. Weary yet he is, the world's
only rest. Hungry and thirsty, with plenty
has blessed. Tempted he promises, grace for
each test. Jesus, wonderful Lord. Wonderful, wonderful Jesus. He is my friend, true to the
end. He gave himself to redeem me. Jesus, wonderful Lord. Friend of the friendless, betrayed
and denied. Help of the weak in Gethsemane
cried. Light of the world in gross darkness,
he died. Jesus, wonderful Lord. Wonderful, wonderful Jesus. He is my friend, true to the
end. He gave himself to redeem me. Jesus, wonderful Lord.