Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter 3. I would like to read verses 1 through
6. Malachi 3, verses 1 through 6. 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 appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire
and like fuller's soap. He shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver. 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
in Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old,
and as in former years. And I will come near to you in
judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers,
against the adulterers, against false swearers, against those
that oppress the hireling and his wages, the widow, the fatherless,
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, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed." Let's pray. Our Father, this evening, how
we thank You Oh, for the privilege to be able to read your word.
Lord, we pray your blessing upon this time that we have together.
Lord, we ask your mercy upon those brethren that we've mentioned.
Lord, have mercy, I pray. according to Your everlasting
covenant of grace. Bless Your Word. Oh, to the calling
out of Your people, we pray for Christ's sake. Amen. Last time we ended the study of this book
of Malachi, we were considering how the false preachers The Scripture
says, had wearied the Lord with their words. Now, I know this. That terminology right there,
the Lord is speaking and is relating to us in such a way as after
the manner of men. He's speaking in a way that we
can perceive. God's attitude and thoughts toward
these that the Lord was displeased with. Look at verse 17 of chapter
2. You've wearied the Lord with
your words. Yet you say, here's the blindness
of a man's heart. Here's the blindness of a false
prophet. Right here. Wherein have we wearied
him?" Then the Lord answers, He said, when you say, everyone
that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth
in them. Or, where is the God of judgment? The Lord set forth that the things
spoken by these liars exhausted him. That's what the word, wearied,
it exhausted him. He couldn't bear to hear them. That's what it said. You think about the condescension
of God to relate to us on a level that we can perceive. We can't grasp the depth of God's
thoughts. So He speaks to us in a way that
we can understand. You've wearied me. You've exhausted
me. Now you know, for us, we can
enter into that. I mean, I listen to somebody
on television. I've told you before, I'll be
flipping and I'll stop. And I know I'm going to get mad.
I know I am. But I still, I stop. And that
first thing I'm going to say, do you hear that? Do you hear
what they said? That exhausts me. That wearies
me. To hear something like that.
But for the Lord to say it. For Almighty God to set forth. They proclaimed, the Scripture
says, then as men do today, that God loves all men. That's what
they were saying. You say, where in? Have we wearied
Him? When you say, everyone that doeth
evil is good in the sight of the Lord. Now, you know better
than that. The Scripture says there is none
good. No, not one. All men at their
best state. Altogether vanity. Altogether
vain. Altogether empty. Altogether
nothing. This is what God has said. But
He said, you've said that everyone that doeth evil, which is all
men, as they're born in Adam, all of them that do evil, are
good in His sight. And they mocked the coming of
the sovereign God. Where is the God of judgment?
Now, you know, I'm not saying that they didn't
actually say it. I'm sure that they actually verbalized
that. But do you know that every false
preacher that stands and proclaims lies, lies on God, what they're
doing is, They're mocking the day of God's judgment. There's a day coming when all
men are going to stand before God. You know that. There's a
day coming that every person that's ever died, every person
that's ever been on this earth, everybody, we shall all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ. We're going to be there. And
men that stand and proclaim lies right now to men, false preachers,
false prophets mock His coming at coming in certain judgment.
By the lies they tell and the hearers mock His return by believing
them. When a man stands up, Tells men,
there's a little good in all of you. God wants to save you.
You've got a free will. By works of righteousness you
can earn. You're mocking the day of God's
judgment. Mocking that day in which all
men, these liars, they're without excuse. They're under certain judgment
if they die in that state. Hold your place right here. Turn
with me to Galatians 1, 6-9. We have one basis of truth. One standard. Here's the standard. What does
God have to say? What does God have to say about
any man that stands in a pulpit and preaches a false gospel.
What does God have to say about it? Here it is, Galatians 1,
6-9. I marvel, the Apostle Paul said that you are so soon removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ and to another
gospel. Which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you. and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. But though we are an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed, as we said before."
You take the repeating of this statement. Enough said it one
time, but that Paul said it again under the inspiration of the
Spirit of God, as we said before. So say I now again, If any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that you've received,
let him be accursed. Let him be under the curse of
God. Let him be under the judgment of God. If Almighty God calls a sinner
out of darkness, God keeps them. As we said last week, I give
unto them eternal life. They'll never perish. They'll
never perish. Once Almighty God calls a man
by His grace and keeps him by His power, he's kept. He's kept. They're not leaving. They're
not leaving. But Paul was amazed, even for
those that did sit for a while. It amazed Him for those that
would sit and then be so soon removed from Him and would leave.
It amazed Him that anyone would walk away having seen and heard
and beheld the wonder of God's revealed will in His Word, that
they would walk away. And go back to a system of works
in grace. That's what it is. People say,
I believe in grace, but I have to exercise something in order
to make that grace official. To make it so, to have some sustenance
to it. Paul said, I'm amazed. that you're removed so soon,
that you walk away from that. I think about this. You don't
have to turn it. I'll turn it for you. I love this Scripture. I quote
it all the time. Listen to this. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. We're bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. You know what amazes me is that
someone can read that and walk away. It amazes me. It amazes me. Not by works of
righteousness that we have done. Not by works of righteousness
that we have done. But according to His mercy, He
saved us. Well, I believe that you have
to do this in order to be saved. It amazes me. That amazes me. That we were chosen in Him, Ephesians
1-4, from before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. Chosen in Christ. Predestinated. to the adoption
of children. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me. All power is given unto the Son
that He should give eternal life to as many as the Father hath
given Him." And then to hear somebody say, I just can't go
along with that election stuff. That amazes me. It amazes me. Paul says, I'm amazed that you're
so soon removed back in Malachi. These men, I said, are without
excuse. Amazed. But you say, I'm amazed
with you, and I just can't see how they can do it, but they
will. Man by nature, He's dead. He's a rebel against God. But
in response to the lies that are being preached and believed,
the Lord assures His people that He's going to save them. Now
that's what we just read. Last week, in those first two
chapters, we considered, and you have to remember now, this
is the last word that was sent from God through a prophet for
400 years, God was not going to speak. These were the last
words that they were going to hear from the Lord. And don't
you know that the last words that they heard, those were waiting. What did God have to say? What
did the Lord have to say? What did the Lord promise? I
can tell you this, He promised first of all in those first two
chapters that He's going to judge all the liars. He's going to
judge these false prophets. But then in these six verses
that I just read, here was the precious, precious promise. I'm going to save my people. I'm going to call them out of
darkness at least nine times. I'm not saying that there's not
more that I could have looked at, but I counted at least nine
times in verses 1-6, shall and will is mentioned by the Lord
concerning His coming and His work of redemption and the recovery
of His people. At least nine times. He promised. I promise. I promise. I will. I shall. You will. He promised
that he was going to send his messenger. He said he was going
to prepare the way before me. I'm coming. I'm coming. And I'm going to send my messenger,
John the Baptist, when he pleased the Lord. John was born six months. Six months. He was the Lord's
cousin. His earthly cousin. And six months
prior to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist
was born. And he was out in the desert. Preacher of righteousness. And John's calling, ministry
was very, very short. Very short, head cut off. But
in that short ministry, John the Baptist was the messenger. I will send my messenger. He shall prepare the way before
me. Turn to John, the gospel of John
chapter 1, 32 to 36. John 1. John 1, v. 32. John was going to proclaim. The messenger was going to proclaim
that the Lord Jesus Christ had been born, that He had come into
the world, and He was going to be found in the midst of them.
And in John 1, v. 32-36, listen to these words,
John bare record saying, the Spirit descending from heaven
like a dove and then to bode upon him. And I knew him not. But he that sent me to baptize
with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see
the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth
with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that
this is The Son of God. He said, now this is the signs
that the Lord has given me concerning the Messiah that's going to come. In verse 35, again, the next
day after John stood and two of his disciples, and looking
upon Jesus as He walked, He saith, Behold, the Lamb of God. There He is. Now that had been
foretold. 400 years before it happened. This is the Word. This is my
promise to you. I'm going to send my messenger. He shall prepare the way before
me. Before I come, I'm going to send
John the Baptist. John the Baptist is going to
announce And then the Lord said, And the Lord whom ye seek..." Now, it's hard to say. I know that there were some that
looked for the coming Messiah as just to be the one that was
going to deliver them from the bondage of Rome. I know that. I know that all the Jews knew
that the Messiah was going to come. They were looking for an
earthly King. But there were some, like old
Simeon, the one that the Lord had promised. He said, you're
not going to die until you've seen the Christ. And when the
Lord Jesus Christ was born, eight days after He was born, He brought
Him in and was going to do unto Him according to the law. Old
Simeon, Scripture says, took that young child, the child that
was born, the son that was given, the Lord Jesus Christ. He took
him in His hands and He said, Lord, let now Thy servant depart
in peace. Mine eyes have seen Your salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ, the One
that 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." They look forward to Him coming the first time.
And we look forward to Him coming the second time. And we know
this. It's going to be soon. I believe
it's going to be very soon. Very, very soon. What if it's
a thousand years? Very soon, like one day. One
day. To the Lord. A thousand years. A thousand years. One day. The
Lord that you seek shall suddenly, unexpectedly, that's what that
word means, come to His temple. Before you know it, a twinkling
of an eye. When you least expect it. On a day that you think not.
I've said before, you think He's going to come tonight. You say,
well, I don't think so. It's going to be a night just
like today. Just like tonight. Just like today was. Just like
this morning was. We'll all be going about. We're still here.
And before you know it, you never knew it. You never knew it. You were never even aware that
it even happened. In the twinkling of an eye, before
you have time to think, all of a sudden you'll realize, I'm
standing before God. Today is the day that I've heard
so much about. Today is that day of judgment. Today is the day that Almighty
God is going to separate the sheep from the goats. Today is
the day the Lord whom you seek shall
suddenly come to His temple. I read those passages just a
few moments ago. Who may abide the day of His
coming? Who shall stand when He appeareth? He's like a refiner's fire, full
of soap. He shall sit as a refiner, purifier
of silver, shall purify the sons of Levi, purge them as gold and
silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
Now, I don't doubt some of the Some of the commentators, writers,
they said that that was referring to the cleansing of the temple
when the Lord came and platted a... You know, turn to John 2. We'll just look at it, what happened.
I don't doubt, I mean, you know that our Lord absolutely did
this. John 2.12. After this, he went
down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brethren, his
disciples. And they continued there not
many days. And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up
to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and
sheep and doves and changes of money sitting. When he had made
a scourge of small courts, he drove them all out of the temple. The sheep, the oxen, poured out
the changers' money over through the tables and said unto them
that so does, take these things hence. Make not my father's house
a house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered
that it was written, the zeal of thine house has eaten me up. That was in Psalm 69. 8 and 9. When he did that, that Scripture,
Mark of Prophecy, came back to their minds. That's what he's
talking about. Back in Psalm 69, 8, the zeal of thine house
has eaten me up. And they said, we just witnessed
the fulfillment of that prophecy. So I don't doubt for a second
that when our Lord who came into the temple and took that scourge
of rope and drove those money changers out, I don't doubt for
one second that that could have significance to this particular
passage of Scripture. But I think that the passage
of Scripture that we looked at, verses 1 to 6, has got a much
greater sense of fulfillment, spiritual Meaning. And it most
clearly sets forth the mercy of God in regenerating grace
to His people. Now let's look at it for just
a few minutes and then I'll close. Verse 1 says, Behold, I will
send my messenger. He shall prepare the way before
me and the Lord whom you seek. shall suddenly come to His temple. John the Baptist came that first
time and absolutely prepared the way of the Lord. But I'm
going to tell you something. God sends messengers right now.
When He's going to come to His temple, His people, know ye not
that ye are the temple of God? Know ye not that you are the
temple of God? The Lord whom you seek, whom
you look for, They look for Him, and now we look for His second
coming. But I tell you this, Almighty
God is going to suddenly come to His temple before His people
are called out of darkness. They're not seeking Him. He's
going to seek them. Then they'll seek Him. But I'll
tell you, He'll come to His temple suddenly. The messenger of the
covenant. who they now rejoice in, who
they now delight in, He shall come. And who may abide the day
of His coming? The Lord God is going to come,
He who is the messenger, the spokesman, the prophet, of God's
eternal covenant of grace. And He's going to come in power
and mercy and compassion to His people. Now, He's coming to His
temple. Who is He? The messenger of the
covenant. He's going to come. Who's going
to abide the day of His coming? Who shall stand when He appeareth?
When the Lord comes, He comes suddenly. That is, straight way,
opening the eyes. Eyes to see, ears to hear. Graciously
drawing His people to Himself. Follow me. His people in the
day of His power. Now they seek, now they come,
now they long, now they love. When He comes, He comes powerfully. Who may abide? Who may maintain? Who can contain is what the word
means. Who can stay the indescribable
power of Almighty God when He comes? Who shall stand? Who shall
continue? Who shall continue in rebellion
when He comes? Who shall? When He comes to His
people, when He calls, what do they do? They come. Hear my voice. They come to me made willing
by a new heart to bow. Before He comes in power, they
don't seek. Only one given a new heart seeks. Only one given a new heart loves. But when He comes, when He comes
suddenly, when He comes in power, who shall stand when He appears? He cleanses His people by the
removing of that old heart of stone. That's what He said. I'm
going to remove that heart of stone from its place of royalty. And that old heart, that old
man, that old heart that rebels against God, that heart of stone,
He removes it from its place of prominence. I'll give you
a new heart. Heart of flesh. Like a refiner's
fire. Like fuller soap. And He, through
the fire of His Word, powerfully makes known the chastening, cleansing
power of His blood. We have no idea what happens
when the Lord Jesus Christ is honored and set forth and exalted
in the preaching of His gospel. You have no idea what's going
on around you. But according to this Word, He
comes in power, and He's like a refiner's fire, full of soap. He makes them clean, cleanses
them, robes them in righteousness. And when He comes, He comes as
the King, the finisher of their salvation, faith, authored finisher
of their faith. He sits. The Scripture says refining,
purifying His people. Purifying them is gold and silver. Exactly knowing what it takes. Gold and silver is refined. I was doing a little bit of reading
on it. It's done in a precise way, precise
heat, precise time. Not just arbitrarily. He knows. What's it going to take? What's
He going to take to purify His people? Oh, He's going to take
it and robe them in Himself, robe them in righteousness, reveal
to them. He said, I've borne your guilt. Put it away. By that blessed
Holy Spirit, He's going to call them out of darkness and give
them a new heart that they may offer unto the Lord, offering
them righteousness. That's what Hebrews 13.15 says. The sacrifice of praise to God
continually. That is, the fruit of their lips
giving thanks unto His name. Verse 4 says, Then shall the
offering of Judah and Jerusalem... And I truly believe that Judah
and Jerusalem is a picture, is a type of God's church. Then shall the offering. of Judah
and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord. Who else would be pleasing
to the Lord in the Lord Jesus Christ but His people? No one
else could be. No one else is going to be pleasing
in His sight. Then shall the offering of Judah
and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old,
as in former years. Now, I'm going to be honest with
you. I'll tell you, I tried to read and I think that I have
some understanding on that last phrase right there. To be honest
with you, I could not find any writer that wrote something that
really truthfully bore witness to my heart when I read it that
I said, that's it. You know how that is, Carl, you
study and you read something and you say, that's it. They
nailed it. They nailed it. I couldn't find anything. But
what I did was I looked and studied and asked our Lord concerning
the wording. And there's so many times that
I will, I just have to just be honest. Lord, I don't know what
it means. Lord, this is Your book. Lord,
these are your words. Lord, would you give me some
light on this? And I'll tell you what I think
that it means. He's been saying he's going to
come to his people. He is saying that He is going
to come suddenly to His temple, verse 1, who? The messenger of
the covenant. He is going to come and who is
going to be able to abide the day of His coming? Who shall
stand when He appears? This is the speech, this is the
message of salvation and power and effectual calling. He is
like a refiner's fire, full of soap. He shall sit as a refiner,
purifier of sin. He shall purify the sons of Levi,
purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness, that offering of praise. Then,
when He's called them out of darkness, when He's given them
a new heart, when He's given them a new mind, a new spirit,
when He's given them eyes to see, Ears to hear. Then shall
the offering of Judah in Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord. Before
they were called out of darkness, they were, as all men are, rebels
against God. They didn't know God. They didn't
know anything about God. They were strangers to the covenant
of grace. Strangers. knew nothing of Almighty
God, rebels against Him, but when He calls them out of darkness,
then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto
the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years." Now,
in that former years right now, I know it says right there in
the margin, my margin has got this word, ancient. Ancient. But the actual word former there
is eternity. Eternity. Then, when He's called
them out of darkness, then their sacrifice of praise in their
blessed Redeemer, in the Lord Jesus Christ, will be pleasant.
And the oneness that was in eternity when they were called, chosen,
and put in the Lord Jesus Christ before the fall, before they
rebelled against God, before they were adamant and headstrong
and would not have this man to rule over them until He called
them out of darkness. When He does, then, It's going
to be as the former years. The oneness. The love. As they've always been in Christ. It's going to be as it has always
been in eternity. As God has always beheld it to
be. When the Lord is the mediator,
the great High Priest, when by the Holy Spirit of God, who helps
our infirmities because we know not what we should pray for as
we ought, then in Christ, when the Lord calls His people out
of darkness, those that are accepted in the Beloved, they shall in
Him offer the offering of praise unto the Lord Jehovah Himself
as It has always been in God's eyes. As it has always been eternally. As it has always been, then it's
going to be openly manifested to be. That's as close as I can
come to the understanding of that. As the days of old, when
He calls them out of darkness, Then it shall be openly manifested
as it always has been in eternity." Those things that were blinded
to us, those things that we never knew, I did not know until God
came to me as a refiner's fire, a fuller's soap, a refinery purifier. I never knew until He came to
me in power that Almighty God had everlastingly loved me. I
never knew that I was chosen in Him. I never knew that His
delight was always with me. I never knew that. But when He
came, It was revealed to be as things always have been. And then the Scripture says in
verse 5, And I will come near to you in judgment, and I will
be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers,
against false swears, against those that oppress the hireling
in his wages, the widow, the fatherless, and that turn aside
the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord
of hosts. According to verse 5, the Lord
is absolutely going to judge all outside of the Lord Jesus
Christ that fear not the Lord of hosts. But toward ye sons
of Jacob, and what a blessed, blessed title. Sons of Jacob. Those that Almighty God has chosen
to show mercy to. Those that he's everlastingly
loved in Christ. Those that he's given his word
to that he's going to save and he's going to have compassion
on. Those that his immutable counsel
shall always stand because he does not change. I'm going to
show mercy. I'm going to judge all outside
of my Son. How these precious verses must
have sent and given the Lord's people so much comfort, so much
hope. I know they didn't know that
the Lord would not speak again for 400 years. But as those words
continued to ring, I'm going to send my messenger. And they'd
watch, and they'd look, and they'd watch. The years went by, and
the years went by, and the years went by. I'm going to send him,
and the one that you seek is going to come to his temple.
Suddenly, powerfully, assuredly, what comfort that they would
know that he said, I'm not going to change. Those that I've everlastingly
chosen in my Son. I'm the Lord. I'm not going to
change. I will have them. You sons of
Jacob. That's what we are. Sons of Jacob in ourselves. But
oh, to hear that blessed title, that blessed new name that he
said not anymore. Israel. A prince with God. It's good for us to be taught
afresh that there is One that does not change. There is One
whose heart does not alter. Everything else is changing,
but according to His glorious covenant of grace, according
to Him whose counsel shall absolutely stand, according to Him in whom
there is no variable and is neither shadow of turning. Watch the
shadow. See the sun moving. You look
around, it doesn't look like anything. It just looks like
a shadow. It just looks like it's right
there. But just watch it. Just watch it for just a second.
And before you know it, if you get it lined up on something,
get it lined up on a line on the sidewalk and just watch that
shadow. And you'll notice it. And you
say, you know what? That thing's moving. It's absolutely
not even a shadow of turning within. I change not. This one thing I know. Almighty
God has promised. He's going to save His people.
He's going to call them out of darkness. And the days of old,
the former days, that which Almighty God has ever said was so, right
now. Because He is the eternal God.
He's going to make known. Lord, for Christ's sake, and
for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and for the comfort of
your people as we go through these days. Bless these words
to our heart.