If you turn in your Bibles to
Malachi, it's often interesting to think, isn't it, that 400
years before the Lord Jesus, the people that heard this sermon
of Malachi's had in their possession somewhere and within easy reach
of them because there weren't that many of them, maybe 40 or
50,000 by Malachi's time, and they were all in that region
of Jerusalem, Judea, and they had in their possession all of
the Old Testament apart from this sermon. Isn't that remarkable?
They had the whole book of Isaiah. written in their own tongue there. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Lamentations,
all of the books of Moses, all of the Psalms, finished, completed,
all of the Proverbs. This is Malachi called the last
of them. His name means God's messenger. And so typical of the Lord's
people, we know nothing of Malachi himself. What a blessing. We know nothing of his history,
we just have a name. And we have just this one short
sermon. And what a sermon it was. to
a wicked and disobedient people. And you can imagine the congregation
listening to this sermon of Malachi as he gets to chapter 2 verse
1 and there in front of him is a mixed crowd, mixed multitude. And he begins in 2 verse 1, he
says, O now, O you priests, this commandment is for you. You can
imagine the attention would have been focused somewhat. So there
was this group of people with their priests amongst them, And
Malachi brings this message, and it's a remarkable message,
it's been convicting and in some ways delightful and challenging
to go through it, but Malachi with God's help and in under
God's direction exposes these people exposes their sin and
exposes their hearts. In fact, he exposes things that
they wouldn't be game to share amongst each other. And let's
read down from verse 8. We're just going to look at the
verses down a bit further, but it's good to think about it,
isn't it, in context. Will a man rob God? Will a man
rob God of his honour, his worship, his effective finished work? Yet you have robbed me. But you
say, wherein have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse,
for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring all
the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine
house, and prove me now herewith, says the Lord of Hosts." What
a challenge to them. Prove me now, test me and see
how faithful I am. If I will not open to you the
windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not
be room enough to receive it, I will rebuke the devourer for
your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruit of your ground, neither
shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field,
said the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you
blessed, for you shall be a delightsome land, says the Lord of hosts.
Verse 13. Your words have been stout, your
words have been strong, your words have been hard against
me, says the Lord. Yet you say, what have we spoken
so much against you? 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. Then they that feared the Lord
spoke often to one another, and the Lord hearkened and heard
it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, said
the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and
I will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him. Then shall ye return and discern
between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves
God and him that serveth him not." What a word, what a great
word. God again and again highlights
the difference between faith and unbelief. We have to remember
I'd like you to turn to Hebrews just for a little while. Let's
begin, because all of this wickedness, all of this sin, if you wanted
to put it all under one umbrella, wherever it's seen, wherever
it's seen, is just unbelief, isn't it? Just extraordinary
unbelief. Let's look at Hebrews chapter
4. Let's go through it. through its warnings, through
its challenges and through its amazingly blessed promises. Hebrews chapter 4, let us therefore
fear, the same word that is used of these people in Malachi, they
that feared the Lord often spoke one to another. Let us fear,
lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, that
any of you should seem to come short of it. Let's fear, says
the writer of the Hebrews, lest any should come short of believing,
entering into his rest. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them." You see, the Gospel hasn't changed. From
Genesis 3 to Revelation, at the end of the Book of God, the Gospel
has never changed. They had the same Gospel preached
to them as we did. But that Gospel that they preached,
that Gospel that was preached to them, that Gospel that they
heard again and again and again did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in them that heard it. They had the Gospel,
they heard it, and yet there was no belief. For we which have
believed to enter into rest, as he has said, as I have sworn
in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world." Faith acknowledges
God's eternal covenant, the realities of that covenant, finished from
the foundation of the world. For he spoke in a certain place
of the seventh day on this way, and God did rest the seventh
day from all his works, and in this place again, if they shall
enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remains that
some must enter in. See this is a God of election
and predestination, this is a God of purpose, this is a God of
fulfilment of those purposes. Some must enter therein. And to they to whom it was first
preached ended not because of unbelief. Again, he limits it
to a certain day, saying to David, today, today, after so long a
time, as he said, today if you will hear his voice, harden not
your hearts. Malachi exposes the hearts of
people. The Word of God exposes our hearts. We'll see in a minute. For if
Jesus had given them rest, then he would not afterwards have
spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest has also ceased from his own works as God did from him. Let us labour therefore to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart." What a great description of Malachi's message. Neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, But
all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom
we have to do." We have to meet God. We have to do business with
God. And then it finishes with these
beautiful verses, doesn't it? Seeing then that we have, God's
children have, A great high priest that has passed into the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Let's hold fast to what we confess. Let's hold fast to the apostolic
testimony of who the Lord Jesus is and what He has done. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
It's one of the most beautiful descriptions of the Lord Jesus,
isn't it? He was touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He knows your infirmities, brothers
and sisters. Not only does He know them, but
He's touched with the feelings of them. So He feels and knows
our emotion. And it was yet without sin. And
then there's a promise isn't there? Let us therefore come
boldly unto the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. The Old Testament concludes
with a remarkable exposure of the hearts of these people by
God Almighty, but it finishes with remarkable declarations
of the grace and the glory of God. We have a high priest who's
touched. Therefore let us come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy in Thine
grace to help in the time of need. You see, the whole issue of these
people, isn't it, in all of this sin, the whole issue again is
just unbelief, isn't it? God had made promises. God had entered into a covenant. They had entered into a covenant,
and the covenant was a covenant of blessings and curses, a covenant
of promises. But underlying that mosaic covenant
was this eternal covenant, this eternal covenant that secures
His elect people, secures them for eternity. His works says
the Hebrew writer, are finished from the foundation of the world.
What's the cure, did you think? That his works of salvation,
his works of grace, were finished before we were born. before we are born? Can the things
of time affect the things of eternity? Can the fickle movements
of our emotions affect the things of God in eternity? They can't. Will a man rob God? Will man
speak proudly and boldly and stoutly against God? These priests
he's speaking to now in Malachi, back to Malachi chapter 3. These
priests speak hard and strong words against me, says the Lord
of Hosts. They speak against his character
as God. They speak against his gospel. They speak against His ordinances. We went through some of the things
that they spoke against last week, didn't they? They spoke
against His love in Chapter 1. They spoke against His ability
to be a just God who loved Jacob and hated Esau. I spoke against
His Majesty's power, His glory, His honour. I spoke against His
name. I spoke against His sacrifice. I spoke against His judgement,
His dominion, His glory. They spoke against His covenant.
They spoke against His holiness, His faithfulness, His refining
and His purifying. What a great list of the characteristics
of our great God we have before us in Malachi. They speak against
His providence and against His worship. And yet what do they
say in their hearts? when convicted by God and spoken
to by God. What have we spoken so much against
you? It is a remarkable gift of the
grace of God, isn't it, that when God sends a word that is
rebuking and convicting, that He sends into His people a heart
of softness that accepts it as a word from God. Let's not argue
with Him when He brings convicting words against us. But listen
to what they say in verse 14. You have said, you have said,
it's vain to serve God. It's empty, it's worthless, it's
useless to serve God. What profit is it that we have
kept his ordinances? Just listen to these people.
Malachi has spent these last three chapters explaining how
they've never kept his ordinances. In fact, they've robbed his priests
of the sustenance to keep his ordinances in his house. We have walked mournfully before
the Lord of hosts. As it says earlier, they flood
the altar of God with their tears. The crocodile tears of hypocrisy. You see, it speaks of their actions,
doesn't it? Their actions say there is no benefit in serving
God. No reward in serving God. It's a waste of time. What an
extraordinary thing. What an extraordinary thing it
is, unbelief. What ignorance unbelief brings,
what blindness unbelief brings, what ingratitude unbelief brings,
what selfishness it brings, what profit is it to me that I've
kept His ordinances? Dear, oh dear, oh dear, God is
worthy of worship whether He rewards us or He doesn't. What
an extraordinary thing. We have to keep remembering that
this, as much as an indictment of the wicked, is an indictment
of our Adam flesh, because, brothers and sisters, we have said those
same things ourselves, in our hearts, in our flesh, in our
actions. Not only have we said it, but
we read in the Word of God as we saw in Psalm 73 the other day, that
that's exactly how David felt, didn't he? I washed my hands
in innocency for nothing. It's just vain. Job answers one
of his accusers by saying the same thing in Job 21 verse 6. Verse 7, sorry. Wherefore do
the wicked live? Become old, yea, are mighty in
power. The wicked seem to do very nicely,
thank you very much. Their seed is established in
their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the right of God upon
them. They're bulls, gendereth, they're bulls. serves and is
successful. And faileth not their cow, carveth
and casteth not her calf. They send forth their little
ones like a flock, their children dance. They take the timbrel
and heart and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend
their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave. No bans
in near death, no qualms and no fears. Therefore they say
unto God, depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of
thy ways. What is the Almighty that we
should serve him? What profit should we have if
we pray unto him? I don't know about you brothers
and sisters, but often in times when things are difficult, we
are inclined to say that of the wicked. Look at the world out
there. Look at the struggles that we
have because of the Lord Jesus. Look at the pains that we have
that the world knows nothing of. It's vain to serve God. What profit is there? We walk
mournfully before the Lord of hosts. What did David say in
Psalm 73? He said, all of that was the
case until, until I went to the sanctuary of God. Until I went into the sanctuary
of God, then I understood their end. Surely you set them in slippery
places, you cast them down to destruction." So this is how
they see others, isn't it, that part of that verse. We call the
proud happy. They that work wickedness are
set up, established. They that tempt God, they that
tempt God, they that tempt Him to bring destruction upon them
even, are even delivered. You see they look at their actions
and they say it's vanity, there's no profit, there's no benefit
to us. They look at the others around
and they say they're happy, they're set up, they're even delivered. Unbelief is ignorant. Unbelief
is blind. Unbelief displays appalling ingratitude. Unbelief is selfish. Unbelief
is short-sighted. Unbelief is dark. Unbelief gives a perfectly inverted
understanding of the things of this world. Brothers and sisters,
we need the Word of God. We need the Word of God as a
lens through which to see. as Hebrews says, let's not have
that wicked heart of unbelief. Evil is unbelief. Let's look
on this beautiful description, isn't there, of God's elect. It's a great contrast, isn't
it? You see, they that feared the Lord had heard Malachi's
sermon And as the people of Nehemiah's day, they were cut to the heart
and they were broken hearted as the people were when Peter
preached that great sermon after the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus. They were cut to the heart in response to a sermon. You
see they who were God's children owned no doubt the fact that
in their hearts they said the same things that the wicked had
said. They didn't set themselves above the wicked. They were not
only at times thinking like them, but at times and probably very
often they acted like them. But God causes. his people to
hear his voice. He gives his people a heart of
flesh and not a heart of stone, a heart of flesh that absorbs
the Word of God, a heart of flesh that feels the Word of God rather
than a heart of stone that just bounces off. Of course we know
from Isaiah that it always doesn't work. Let's follow this description
of these people. They are they that feared the
Lord. They heard his words and they
accepted them. They accepted their sin being
exposed. They accepted and heard his call
to return. I love what Jeremiah said. They
had this before them, didn't they? Jeremiah 15, 16 says, Thy
words were found. Probably in a sense a reference
to Josiah finding the Word of God. Just imagine that. All of
those extraordinary writings were there in the temple and
they only discovered them and Josiah had them brought to him
and he read them and he wept. and he repented and he was just
horrified at what God had said and horrified to the extent that
he and his family before him and the priests around him had
hidden these words away and ignored them. "'Thy words were found,'
says Jeremiah, "'and I did eat them, and thy word to me was
to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by
thy name, O Lord God of hosts." God's Word brings conviction.
God's Word exposes us. God's Word brings repentance,
brings faith, brings worship. and love. They heard God's message
and what did they do? Not only did they hear the words
of Malachi, they heard them as the words of God and then they
spoke often, one to another. What a beautiful description
of the Lord's people, out of the abundance of the heart, the
mouth speaks. What do we do when we get together?
Some of the most delightful things for me after the services and
even before the services here are people gathered around and
often I'm sort of sitting away repenting of letting my Lord
down yet again in the words I say. And I see these groups of people
talking one to another and often, it's not a rule is it, but often
we find a lot of people talking about. Who are people talking
about? They're talking about the Lord
Jesus. It's a great thing, isn't it, to talk often to one another
about our Lord God and about our Saviour. We talk about what
He did in eternity. Before the foundation of the
world, He had a people who were His. that He gave to His Son,
and His Son in that covenant said, I will take full responsibility
for everything in their lives. I'll take full responsibility
for their sin, and I'll take full responsibility for their
holiness. They are mine. They're the gift
of the Father to Him. They're His delightful choice. And He came into this world to
redeem them as His own. He loved them to the end. He loved them to the uttermost. And they are his. He is watching
over them now as a jealous husband. We talk often of electing love
and redeeming blood. We talk often of covenant faithfulness. If someone is a minister in this
book according to the New Testament, they are a minister of the New
Covenant, made by God to be ministers of the New Covenant. They must
talk about it all the time. It must be the framework in which
their Gospel proclamations are declared. You can read about
it in 2 Corinthians 3. Who is up to this? Who is worthy
for this? God makes His people worthy,
but He makes them ministers of the New Covenant, ministers of
the Eternal Covenant, ministers of that Eternal Covenant in His
blood, according to Hebrews 13.20. We talk about special providence,
the amazing providences of God. You can chart His hand upon your
life, from before your salvation, through your salvation, and the
preservation, the way He preserves us. His mercies are new every
morning. We talk of forgiveness. We talk
of perfect and complete and holy righteousness. We talk of heaven's
glories. We talk about how amazing our
God is. It's the best of conversations.
It's the best of conversations. They thought upon His name. They spoke often to one another
and they thought upon His name. We've just been dealing with
the Shulamite in Song of Solomon. What a blessing it was to her
in His absence, in her sin, in her neglect. What did she do? She thought upon His name. She thought gloriously upon His
name. What names we have of God. I
can just read a few of them to you. You can go and look them
up. The scriptures speak so beautifully of Him, don't they? Jehovah,
Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. And in the context,
so many of these names are references to redemption. That was Abraham's
description of his God when he was about to slay Isaac. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that
heals you. Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our banner. Jehovah Makedesh, the Lord which
sanctifies you, the Lord who makes you holy. Jehovah Ra, the
Lord my shepherd, the Lord our maker, the Lord our God, the
Lord thy God. Jehovah Elahe, the Lord my God. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our
peace, the Lord of hosts, The Lord Most High, that beautiful
one in Jeremiah 23.6 and 33.16, Jehovah's Akinu, the Lord Our
Righteousness. That's the name of God's people,
brothers and sisters. and beautifully, isn't it? The
Lord is there, Jehovah Shema. The Lord is there. They thought
upon His name, they thought upon His character. They talked about
Him one with another, and they thought about Him. And then we
have the Lord's description of these people, His response to
them and His description of them. These are people who feared the
Lord, talked about Him one to another, responded to the message
of Malachi. He hearkened and heard. He heard
and listened. God hears and listens. Think, brothers and sisters,
of those conversations that you've had. And the conversation has
been about Him. There has been someone else there.
listening with delight. He loves to hear his people talking
delightfully about him and his glorious redemption. He hearkened
and he heard. A book of remembrance was written
before him, not that he needs a book to remember things, but
just an indication that his people's names are written in a book.
It's something that reminds us, isn't it, of the certainty and
the surety of His remembrance of His people. It was written
before Him for them. He delights to hear them. We talk of His greatness, His
goodness, we talk of His glory. And as we saw in Song of Solomon,
several times in Song of Solomon, He feeds He is nourished, not
that He's lacking anything, but He delights in the praises of
His people, the praises that He brings into their lives. The Lord is near unto all them
that call upon Him. To all that call upon Him in
truth, He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him. He will also hear their cry,
and will save them." What a great promise from our God, Psalm 145. They are seeing his sight. He hears them, he writes the
Book of Remembrance, and then he describes them. Just brief
descriptions, but what beautiful things he says of them. He says,
mine, mine, mine. They are His by creation. They are His by covenant love. They are His jewels, He says. Jewels. They are His precious
jewels. Think of the jewels on the high
priest's breastplate that he carries into the Holy of Holies. He carries them in and presents
them as glorious. You see, they shall be mine,
says the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels,
when all of my jewels are gathered together. But in that day, he's
talking about the day of the Lord, and he will spare them. He will spare them as a man spares
his son. He'll set them aside as precious,
kept for him. Then, And this is a good word for us,
isn't it? Then they shall return. They'll return. You can read
about it in John 17. They'll return to the glory that
they had in the Father's heart before the foundation of the
world. The Lord Jesus at their glory is as one glory. The Lord Jesus' love from His
Father and the Father's love for His people is as one. What
a great returning. What a great culmination. What
a great bringing together of all things. They shall return. And on that day, at the end of
the day, at the end of the daily ages, then you shall discern
between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves
God and him that serves him not. It's a great It's a great thing
to think about, isn't it, brothers and sisters? The Lord Jesus says
we are not to go chasing after the tears. We are not, according
to Matthew 13, parable and many other places, we are not to go
around rooting out the tears. We have no idea who they are. We proclaim the Gospel Indiscriminately
we have reason, because of people's response to the gospel, to be
fearful for them. But this verse gives us great
reason to wait, great reason to hope, great reason to leave
in God's hands the things that are God. Then you'll discern
between the righteous and the wicked. I like the fact that
it's not my job to discern. God has given us a simple task,
brothers and sisters, to proclaim the Gospel. That doesn't mean
that we treat those who are enemies of the Gospel with anything other
than the seriousness that the Lord causes us to bring. But we have a day when we will
discern with clarity. The Gospel is the light and the
Gospel is the test and we hold the Gospel and we contend for
the Gospel and we stand the Gospel there and we do not allow it
to be trodden under the feet of people. And then we wait. We wait for God to do what He
has done. And we don't let our thoughts
of discerning the righteous from the wicked to distract us from
the one thing that we are to do, to preach the gospel and
to trust God. And wait. He will do it. It's Friday.