You're turning your Bibles to
Malachi chapter 1 Malachi chapter 1 Titled the message tonight and
it's from Malachi 3 Where is the God, or sorry, Malachi
chapter two, verse 17, where is the God of judgment? Where
is the God of judgment? Let's start reading in verse
one. The burden of the word of the
Lord to Israel by Malachi, I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet
ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother,
saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated
Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the
dragons of the wilderness. God has an elect people. and his son in this world. It's approximately 100 years
after returning to Judah from Babylonian exile. The temple
had been rebuilt and the Israelites again had fallen into corruption. And God sent his prophet Malachi
with his word. But this proud and unbelieving
people questioning the Lord's rebukes. They questioned his
love, and there was no fear of God in their hearts. The priest
had polluted God's altar. They offered up lame sacrifices. Not what God required. And he
took no pleasure in them, and he rebuked them. over Malachi
chapter two, verse one. And now, oh ye priest, this commandment
is for you. If ye will not hear and if ye
will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name, saith the
Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you. And I will
curse your blessings, yea, I have cursed them already. because
you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed
and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn
feast. And one shall take you away with
it. And ye shall know that I have
sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with
Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. Then God reminded them, And he's
priest of his glory and his covenant with Levi. Verse five, my covenant was with him of life
and peace. And I gave them to him for the
fear wherewith he feared me and was afraid before my name. The
law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in
his lips. He walked with me in peace and
equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's
lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his
mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But ye
are departed out of the way. Ye have caused many to stumble
at the law, "'Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi,' saith
the Lord of hosts. "'Therefore have I also made
you contemptible "'and base before all the people, "'according as
ye have not kept my ways, "'but have been partial in the law.'"
They had corrupted the covenant God made with Levi. They had
dealt treacherously in idolatry, and with the putting away impartial
to the law. Look down at verse 11. Judah
hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in
Israel and in Jerusalem for Judah hath profaned the holiness of
the Lord, which he loved and hath married the daughter of
a strange God. The Lord shall cut off the man
who doeth this, And they wearied the Lord. Look down at verse
17. You have wearied the Lord with
your words, yet ye say, wherein have we wearied him? When ye
say, every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord,
and he hath delight in them. Or where is the God of judgment? They sinned against God. They
called evil good. They called good evil. And then
they proudly asked, where is the God of judgment? He goes on to answer them in
Malachi 3 and 4. Ecclesiastes 8 verse 11 says,
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily,
therefore the heart of the sons of man is fully set in them to
do evil. Remember, God has an elect people
in this world. And he says, though a sinner
do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely
I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which
fear before him. But it shall not be well with
the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as
a shadow, because he feareth not before God. God is righteous. He is the righteous
judge. He is holy. And he has an elect
people chosen in his son to save. But the wicked shall be punished.
Those that are not born of God. And only God knows and he discerns
the sheep from the goats. Thank God we are not the judge.
In Hebrews 13, eight tells us. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday
and today and forever. that God doesn't change. We change. God does not change. His purpose
does not change. His love for His elect does not
change. Before God created all things
for His purpose and glory, the one triune God, God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, made a covenant with
Himself. He would elect a people out of
Adam's sinful fallen race in his son. And his son would come
in the flesh to redeem them with his own blood. And God the Holy
Spirit would create them a new creature in them in Christ and
give them life and faith to believe on him. At God's appointed time
of love, he would call them by the foolishness of preaching
by his gospel, by his power, he would draw them through his
son and reveal Christ in them the hope of glory. Called according
to his purpose for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, his son, that he
might be the firstborn among many brothers. Moreover, whom
he did prodestinate, he also calleth. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
glorified. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
all of the Lord. And it was done in eternity before
the world was. And it was accomplished when
God sent his only begotten son, to this earth to be born of a
virgin, said, call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, came
as a man to suffer, to be tempted, set aside his robes of glory,
and dwelt among us to shed his precious sin-atoning blood He
would go to Calvary's cross and be made a curse for us, hanging
on that tree, and lay down his life for his sheep. All God gave
him before the foundation of the world. And he'd present himself
as the one time sacrifice, the only sacrifice that pleased the
holy justice of God. to put away all the sins of his
elect. Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Not the righteous, he came to
save sinners by his own bloodshed, by his perfect obedience to God
the Father, to the law, to his will. That faithfulness of Christ.
He brought in a perfect righteousness. And he was made sin for us who
knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And then he gave up the ghost.
And he placed his spirit. No other man could do that. Only
God only God man. could place his spirit, commend
his spirit into the Father's hand, finishing the work of salvation
for his elect to the glory of God. God accepted his one-time sacrifice
of himself. Only Christ could do this. The
just for the ungodly, the Holy One laid down His life for us.
He made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
of life in him. And he was exalted. Where is
the God of judgment? He's exalted. He has preeminence. That man, that God man, sits
now on the right hand of the throne of God, interceding for
his elect. saving his people till all his
enemies be made his footstool. Where is the God of judgment?
He's on his throne. He's sitting on his throne right
now. Glory be to God, he's sitting now on his throne and he's in
complete control and he is completely satisfied. Now look in Malachi 3, verse 1. Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant whom ye 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 appears? 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 and as in former years. And I will come
nearer to you to judgment. And I will be swift witness,
a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and
against false swears and against those that oppress the hireling
in his wages, the widow and the fatherless in that turn, aside
the stranger from his right. And fear not me, saith the Lord
of hosts, for I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore ye sons
of Jacob, You're not consumed. Where is the God of judgment? And who may abide when he comes?
Who shall stand before him when he appears? We are helpless, dead sinners. And he is like a refiner's fire
and like a fuller soap He purifies, he cleanses those he loves, he
chastens. Hebrews 12 verse 6, for whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye
endure chastening, God deals with you as with his son, as
a son. For what son is he that the father
chastens not? But if ye be without chastisement,
we're of all our partakers, then are ye bastards, you're not sons. He does it for our good. He refines us, manifest our sinfulness. Things that are not Him, He brings
them out like dross when silver and gold is heated, the impurities,
and shows us exactly what is in us. That's sinfulness. And he shows us how sufficient. How wonderful his grace is. And
his mercy. And his love for us. And our
God is a consuming fire. He is conforming us. To the image
of his son. Through sufferings and through
those fiery trials that God puts us through, he perfects us in
Christ. They're for our good, so that
we might be partakers of his holiness. No one suffered like
Christ did. There is only one who is holy,
and there is only one who is righteous. the God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when he quickens you by the
inward working of his Holy Spirit, he gives you life and faith in
Christ to believe on him. He can't do it any other way. For we're born dead, spiritually
dead, in bondage, in captivity, in trespasses, and in sin, and
the fear of death. We're born with that fallen nature
of Adam, our first representative head, our substitute. But when God is pleased to call
you by his gospel preached, That's the means he uses, the foolishness
of preaching. And when it pleases him to make
his word effectual in you, he causes you to turn, to repent, to agree with God that you are
sin continually, solely at his mercy. You are solely at the
mercy of God Almighty. Him who is holy, and His judgment
is holy, and He only does what's right. He is just to condemn
us to hell, for no sin shall go unpunished. And we are sin,
and we have sinned, and He who sins is worthy of eternal
death, eternal separation from God. That's what we deserve. That's all we merit. That's all we do. That's all
we know. And we take pleasure in it. But
God has a chosen people in Christ, and he has put away His elect
sins forever in His own body. And when He pleases God to reveal
Himself to you, He only does it in the face of His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And He reveals Christ in you,
the hope of glory. There's no good in you. There's
no good in man. If there's any good in you, It's
the Lord Jesus Christ in you, the hope of glory. He must first show you you are
sin and worthy of death and eternal punishment and that you have
offended the holy justice of God. And you got nobody to blame
but yourself. Praise God for his free and sovereign
grace. in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
elect's representative head, the elect's substitute. He shed his blood, his sin-atoning
blood. He died and he rose again that
third day according to the scriptures. For he bore all the wrath of
God. in our place on Calvary's cross. He was offered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. He justified us. Now God's justice
is satisfied in Christ Jesus, his son. And that judgment and that justice
now demands your salvation. Not by your works, Not by your
merits. No, no, no, no, no. It's because
of what Christ Jesus did for you on that cross at Calvary
that you could never, ever, never, ever, it's impossible for man,
you could never do for yourself. It is only possible in the Lord
Jesus Christ. as he paid the ransom for his
soul. He did it. He did it all. He did it perfectly. Only he
alone could appease the holy justice of God. As God's purpose
from eternity, only his son sacrificed. He glorified the Father and he
accomplished the salvation of all his elect. Now look at Hebrews 10 verse
12. Hebrews 10 verse 12. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified in him. Whereof the Holy Ghost
also is a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in
their minds will I write them. and their sins and their iniquities.
Well, I remember no more. Oh, praise God. So who shall
stand in the day of his coming? Only the elect of God. All that
Christ died for. The sons of Jacob that are not
consumed. He's the fire. But the wicked,
the wicked shall be punished. Those that fear not the Lord
shall not stand. And yet they asked, where is
the God of judgment? For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob, You're
not consumed. He told them in Malachi chapter
one and verse two, he told them, we just read it. I have loved
you, saith the Lord, yet ye say wherein hast thou loved us? Was
not Esau Jacob's brother? Saith the Lord, yet I love Jacob. And I hated Esau. God is just. God is holy. God's judgments are right. It's
the electing grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. He has loved us with an everlasting,
eternal love in His Son. And it is for His name's sake
For his namesake, that we're not consumed. God does not change. He knows his elect. He remembers
his covenant. His covenant of grace. And he
will get his glory. That's the purpose of God. He
will not give it to another. He's immutable. Unchanging. He has purposed your salvation
in Christ Jesus and his faithfulness, the faithfulness of Christ that
keeps us, that just shall live by faith, that God-given faith,
that faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by the faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he accomplished on that
tree, on that cross at Calvary. Salvation is of the Lord. It's all God's work. Not in anything
that we have done, that we do, or that we ever will do. Remember,
it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. All we do is sin. That seed, that God, that Christ
seed in you, The elect have two natures. We
still have that old man around our neck that sins continually,
loves it. But that seed that God put in
you for the foundation of the world and his son, it doesn't
sin because it's of God. It's born of him. It's Christ's faithfulness that
keeps us. He endures us to the end. Our faith is weak. Praise God for it. But the wicked,
the Esau's, turn to Proverbs 6. What about the Esau's? God said, I hated Esau. Look at verse 16. These six things doth the Lord
hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him. A proud look, a lying
tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, and heart that devises
wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
a false witness that speak of lies, and he that soweth discord
among the brethren. Any of us fit into those categories?
We ever done any of those things? These Jews were guilty of these
things. And so were some of you. So am
I. It is God that makes us to differ. Christ in us, the hope of glory.
And look on down. Look on down, in that same passage,
look at verse 20. God has an elect people in this
world. My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not
the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine
heart, and tie them around thy neck. When thou goest, it shall
lead thee. When thou sleepest, when you're
asleep, It shall keep thee, and when you awake, it shall talk
with you. For the commandment is a lamp,
and the law is light, and the reproofs of instruction, as we
just read, are the way of life. He does it for our good. Now let's look back in Malachi
chapter three. Look at verse eight. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have
robbed me. But you say wherein have we robbed
you? They said in tithes and offerings. They're glory stealers. They tithe. Remember, we talked
about that before. They tithed the herbs of their
garden. Some of them did, remember? They tithed, but not with a cheerful
heart. They wanted a reward. They wanted
reward. They wanted gain by giving. They sought gain. What pride? Look up at verse seven. Even
from the days of your fathers, ye are gone away from mine ordinances,
and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return
unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But you say, wherein shall we
return? Wherein shall we return? God delights in mercy. but they saw no reason to repent
of their sins against God. They were self-righteous. They thought themselves to be
just fine. They said it's vain, it's vain
to serve God. Look down at 13, verse 13. Said
it's vain. Your words have been stout against
me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, what have we spoken
so much against thee? You have said, it is vain to
serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance,
and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts, and
now we Call the proud happy. Yea, they that work wickedness
are set up. Yea, they that tempt God are
even delivered. They trampled the blood of Christ
beneath their feet as it was nothing. Nothing. Vain to serve you. What profit
do we gain from serving you? Glory stealers. God delivered
these people time and time again. Yet they murmured. They sinned
against him. And they saw no need for repentance. No need for mercy. No need for
grace. No need to give God his glory. They tried to rob God of his
glory. They saw no need for his son, Jesus Christ, that spotless
lamb, that sinner substitute. They saw no need. Have we done those same things? Do we doubt? Do we murmur? Yes, we do. Do we love Him who
first loved us with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our
soul? So why didn't God destroy them?
Why didn't He call down fire from heaven and just destroy
them all right then and there? Why doesn't God destroy us right
now? We deserve it. As we read before. In Ecclesiastes. Because sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil. Where is the God of judgment?
They asked. He said, for I am the Lord, I
change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. God
has his elect people in this world and they must be saved. And he's going to do it. He's
already accomplished it. The long suffering of God. Towards
his elect. He delights in mercy. God remembers
his covenant. He looks at his son interceding
for us. He sees Christ Jesus, his son. And he gives us faith. He gives
his elect faith to see him, to look to him. That blood, his
blood shed for the remission of sins. He sees his righteousness. He sees his one time sacrifice
for the atonement for sins and he's pacified. He's completely satisfied in
his son, completely satisfied with his son and his finished
work. And he's also pleased and satisfied
with all those that he chose in his son for the foundation
of the world. That's why you're not consumed.
It's for Christ's sake. And there are others. We don't
know who God's elect are and who they are. He has his remnant scattered
all through the world. And they must be born. We weren't
born near Malachi's time. We must be born. They must be
born. And they must be called. And
they must be born again. They must be born again. Born
again of the spirit of God in Christ Jesus. They must be saved
by his grace. The gospel must be preached to
them. He remembers his covenant and he is just. His judgment
is right. He's holy, he delights in mercy. Over 2 Peter 3 9 tells us, The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Who is this
any and who is this all? We already know God said he hated
Esau. God doesn't love everybody. He
loves his Jacobs, those he chose, and his son before the foundation
of the world. All the elect of God, all the
sons of Jacob, all that Christ died for, all those chosen, before
the foundation of the world in Christ Jesus, electing grace. And he won't lose one. He's done
promised he will not lose one. What assurance. And in Malachi, let's go back
to Malachi three in verse 16. Look here. They that feared the Lord spake
often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it. And look at this, a book of remembrance
was written before him for them that feared the Lord and had
thought upon his name. and they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts. In that day when I make up my
jewels, he calls us his jewels, and I will spare them as a man
spareth his own son that serveth him. A book of remembrance was
written before him for them that fear the Lord. God remembers his people. God
remembers his covenant and praise God he causes us to remember
him and look to him by faith that looks to the faith of Jesus
Christ. God remembers his people. He
sees his son and he sees us in him and he has given us his spirit. His word is written upon our
hearts. He has given us the mind of Christ. He has made us sons. His jewels,
precious, are we to God in his son. In Hebrews 9.14, Hebrews
9.14 tells us How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? He's made us his sons. He's made us to serve him. And in verse 18, then shall ye
return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between
him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. And going
down to chapter four, for behold, a day cometh that shall burn
as an oven, and all the proud, yea, all that do wickedly shall
be stubble. And the day that cometh shall
burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave
them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name
shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. Oh, do we, are we not sick? Do
we not need his healing? And ye shall go forth and grow
up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked,
for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the
day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. Remember ye
the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in
Herob. For all Israel, with the statutes
and judgments, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
that dreadful day, that coming of the great and dreadful day
of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of
the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to
the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Christ came, he did. Just what
he said, and he was victorious. He is victorious. And he's the
discerner. Beloved to God of judgment is
still on his throne. That fiery judgment shall punish
the wicked, but that same, that same fiery judgment, God's elect
will gonna rejoice in. Because Christ already bore it
in his own body for you. You don't have anything to fear. Not if you're in Christ. Not
if you have been chosen before the foundation of the world by
God in him. He justified us and no flesh
shall glory in his presence. We know this. Look in first Corinthians. That wonderful and it needs to
be repeated over and over. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. It's God's glory. He's not gonna
give it to another. Salvation is all of the Lord.
It's all God's work, and it is finished. It is done. There's nothing left for you
to do. For the Father judges no man, but hath committed all
judgment unto the Son, is what John 5, 22 tells us. So in conclusion, where is the
God of judgment? In glory, right now, there sits
a man, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, ruling and reigning
over all His creation. on the right hand of the majesty
on high, till all his many enemies be made his footstool. God's on his throne, Christ Jesus. All the Godhead resides in him
bodily. All the fullness of the Godhead
resides in him bodily. He doesn't change. If he loved
you before the foundation of the world in Christ, he will
love you forever in his son. He loves you now, and his compassions
fail not, and he will not forsake his jewels in Christ. The God of judgment is coming
again. Behold, the God of judgment has come the first time. And
he bore God's judgment for all his elect. And he has put our
sins so far away forever. He has satisfied God's holy justice
for us. He's coming again. He's gonna
present us. And that day he will present
us faultless, blameless in him before God. and be complete without sin in
Christ, praising Him and giving Him glory forever and ever and
ever. That judgment, all of God's elect
sins will be sought for in the day of judgment, but none are
going to be found. Christ put them away. But the wicked, they will be
cast into the lake of fire forever. And every knee shall bow and
every tongue will confess that he is the Lord to the glory of
God. They'll say your judgment is
right. You are right. You are holy. You are just. And
the righteous in Christ shall rejoice forever. Where is the
God of judgment? He's on his throne, the God-man,
the Lord, our righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ, our salvation,
the prophet, the priest, the king. He's on his throne. Romans 8 too tells us, for the
law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
and that it was weak through the flesh. God sent in his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. Oh, do you see how weak we are? Do you see how hopeless and helpless
we are? There's nothing you can do. Christ must do it all. And he did. How impossible it
is for the flesh to please God. Look to Christ Jesus. Look to
him alone. He is all. Glory be to God forever. May God bless his word to your
heart. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Your gracious Holy Heavenly Father.
We praise you again. For your free and sovereign grace
and your only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we praise you for keeping
us. We praise you for your long suffering and for your faithfulness.
For choosing a people in him. To save to love. Well, keep us forever looking
to you. Refine us, oh Lord. is for Christ's sake. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.