Well, good evening and welcome
again to our study of the book of Malachi, the gospel according
to Malachi. We are in the fourth chapter
of this wonderful gospel book, declaration of our Savior, declaration
of His salvation, declaration of those who preach that salvation.
And we look here in the book of Malachi chapter four tonight,
I'd like to read verses one two and three kind of keep some continuity
to this study and We've we've been here for some time and we
may be here for a little bit longer, but let us read tonight
Malachi chapter 4 verse 1 for behold the day cometh That shall
burn as an oven and all the proud yea and 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,
and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. Verse
three, Malachi chapter four, verse three. 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. I had to ask the question as
I read that passage of scripture, how do we tread down the wicked? I know that we have never been
called on, and we shall never be called on, to take arms, fists,
or anything else against anybody over the gospel. Now we find
that religion has been horrific when it comes to their methods
over the years, over history, how so many have died as a result
of religion trying to promulgate their religion. We're never been
called on to do that. So I know that this verse is
not telling us to do that This seems to refer to the miracles
of the church by which the wicked through divine grace Yielded
and submitted themselves For there could be no other way employed
for their subjugation to the gospel by Christians. Our fight
is spiritual, it is not physical. As we read over in the book of
Romans chapter 14 and verse 17, the kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, or it's not physical. Let's just go over there and
read that passage of scripture in the book of Romans chapter
14. May we remember that our ministry is not physical, it's
spiritual. We depend upon physical blessings
in this life, but we truly are dependent upon spiritual blessings. We're dependent upon the spiritual
blessing of our Christ Jesus the Lord as Savior and all His
spiritual blessings. But we are not dependent upon
physical things to subdue, or as it tells us in that verse
of scripture, Malachi chapter four and verse three, he shall
tread down the wicked. We're not using any other means
than what we have in the gospel. So Romans chapter four, chapter
14 and verse 17, it says, for the kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. It's not physical. It's not for
a physical warfare. It is not to beat people into
submission to the gospel. That's not it. It's not by physical
means. It's not by emotional means.
It's not by guilt means. All of the things that the religious
world has to give, it is not that way. It goes on to tell
us in that same verse of scripture in the book of Romans chapter
14, the kingdom of God is not these things, but righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in the Holy Spirit. So
the way and the means by which we shall tread down the wicked
is by spiritual means. That's all we have. We are given
an insight into this in the first promise in the entire Bible,
the promise of a Redeemer over in the book of Genesis, chapter
3 and verse 15. We're just going to read that
again if you don't mind. We'll travel over there to the
first book of the Old Testament, chapter 3, and there in verse
15. And we're studying the last book
of the Old Testament, chapter 4 and verse 3, but over here
in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, the word of God, the scriptures
share this, as God himself is speaking to the serpent. And by the grace of God, Adam
and Eve get to overhear this, and by the grace of God, it's
recorded so we can overhear this conversation that the Lord God
sent unto the serpent. There in verse 14. In verse 15,
and I will put enmity between thee and the woman. and between
thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel. Now there's going to be a serious
bruising of the heel, going to be permitted to the Lord Jesus
Christ as he came. But we find the promise there
that there shall be a bruised head, in other words, a dead
one. This is going to be a serious
death blow to the serpent. And so the promise is given. And the illustration is brought
out over in the book of Joshua. Would you travel there with me
in the book of Joshua? Joshua chapter 10. Joshua chapter
10. An illustration is given to us
here in Joshua chapter 10. And they're in verses 24 and
25. Joshua says here in Joshua chapter 10, verse 24, and it
came to pass when they brought out those kings unto Joshua that
Joshua called for all the men of Israel and said unto the captains
of the men of war which went with him, come near. Put your
feet upon the necks of these kings. and they came near and
put their feet upon the necks of them." Now, that's very symbolic
to Joshua and to these leaders of the army of Israel. Very symbolic. And Joshua goes on to tell us
in verse 25, and Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed. Be strong and of good courage,
for thus the Lord shall the Lord do to all your enemies against
whom you fight. So this is the Lord's dealing. It's the Lord's way. Illustration
is given. You're going to put your feet
on their neck, but it is going to be of the Lord. So as we find
the scriptures teach us so plainly what must be done in order to
tread down the wicked. In the book of Daniel chapter
seven, let's go over there and look at that passage of scripture
as we read here Daniel's words concerning this great subject. Daniel chapter seven, and there
beginning with verse 15. Daniel chapter seven and verse
15, Daniel says, I Daniel was grieved. He was grieved in my
spirit, in the midst of my body. I think he's illustrating the
point of every believer He's illustrating a point of every
God called minister of the gospel. He's illustrating a point I was
grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body and in the visions
of my head troubled me I came near unto one of them that stood
by and asked him the truth of all this and so he told me that's
one thing about asking god he's going to give us the truth and
god's ministers are going to give the truth the truth according
to the scriptures that's all we have so he told me verse sixteen
and made me know the interpretation of the things these great beasts
these great beasts which are four kings which shall arise
out of the earth But the saints of the Most High shall take the
kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. So there is a spiritual blessing
that God promises the saints that we will enjoy and appreciate
the kingdom of God, and that we will enjoy and appreciate
the way that God brings other people into the kingdom of God,
that it is His battle. We have no defense, we only have
an offense, and that is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then
if you'll drop down in that same chapter down to verse 27 Daniel
chapter 7 and verse 27 it says and the kingdom and dominion
and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall
be given to the people of the Saints and of the Most High,
whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall
serve and obey Him. That is our only hope. the promise that every dominion
shall serve and obey him. And we are members of the kingdom. We have a king. His name is Jesus
Christ the righteous. He has a kingdom. He has a spiritual
kingdom. Now that does not stop him from
ruling over all peoples according to his eternal purpose. he does
that very thing and he will move people so that they will hear
the gospel or he will move someone who knows the gospel to where
they are that they might hear the gospel but he will do the
moving and it tells us there that he shall give to the people
of the saints of the most high the saints of the most high not
the probably high There's a whole bunch of people that think they're
saints and they have no idea of being saints of the Most High,
whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Someone asked me the
other day what my impression of the end times was, and I just
simply answered I'm a pan." And they said, what's that? And I
said, it will pan out just like God determined it to pan out.
And it's filled right here. There is an everlasting kingdom.
If there's an everlasting kingdom, there's an everlasting king. and we teach, and he is the present
reigning Christ. And because of his great activities
that he gives in the gospel, he is saving his people from
their sins, bringing them into the kingdom, and it is only by
the preaching of the gospel that we are able to tread down the
wicked. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ The Savior that actually saves has the only ability of
humbling a proud sinner, and the message of the Church is
to preach this all-successful Savior. That is the only way
that will humble proud sinners. Christ, the champion of the Church,
has already won. He has won all things. He has
won the field. His victory at the cross gives
the church great hope and blessings to know that the victorious Savior
is seated in heaven and preaching and declaring that victorious
Savior will bring success to the preaching. That's all we
have. Is the preaching of Christ, it
will bring success. Now it may not bring, it will
not. bring the success that we think. It will bring the success that
God knows. That's the thing. The preaching
and declaring that victorious Savior will bring success to
the preaching. It will bring success to the
believer. It will bring success. It will
take the proud, haughty, self-righteous, Bring them low tread them down
the gospel will tread down all That offend and they will be
raised to newness of life The word Will ring true in the
heart of all the lost sheep that the resurrection raises to life
dead in trespasses and sinners, proud, boastful, all the things
that we read in the scriptures about natural man. The gospel's
power is overwhelming because it is of and from an omnipotent
God. This is the only way we're going
to be able to tread down the wicked, is the preaching of the
gospel. He will tread down those that
he has appointed to tread down. Turn with me and let's look at
a few verses of scripture that share with us the gospel's power
and one of them is contained over in the book of Romans chapter
1 You know the place where we're going over here in the book of
Romans Romans chapter 1 and there in verse 16 Romans 1 and verse
16 you knew that before we got here didn't you because it says
for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ the Apostle Paul his
the disciples of the Lord Jesus and Everyone that has been called
of God to preach the glorious gospel of the successful Savior
are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, not ashamed, for it
is the power of God. He has all power summed up in
the preaching of the gospel and the overwhelming power of this
omnipotent God to come upon lost people that are too proud to
bend themselves, he will bend them and cause them to bow before
him. Every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess. the Lord Jesus to the glory of
God the Father. That's how we tread down the
wicked. It is through the gospel preaching.
It is through testifying of a great and victorious Savior. Not someone
that's trying to do something, but someone that has done something
and that something is so grand and so glorious that He will
be the one that will apply it to our lives and to our hearts.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. It was preached to the Jews,
and many, we read, many of them were saved at the time of the
preaching of the gospel in the New Testament times. And then
we find that the gospel was sent out to the Gentiles, and we are
reaping the glorious benefits of that gospel being preached
to the Gentiles. He has tread down a whole flock
of Gentiles. And my friend, if you are a Gentile
and you're saved by the grace of God, you've been tread down
by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone brought that
gospel. Now, it wasn't them that tread
you down. It wasn't them that trod on you. It was the gospel
and it was the Holy Spirit and it was the Son of God. Going
over to the book of Jeremiah, we're going over there and then
we're coming back to the New Testament again, but in the book
of Jeremiah, there's a wonderful verse of scripture here about
the great power of the gospel, the great power of God, the great
power of preaching the gospel and letting, well, I shouldn't
even use that word, please forgive me, not letting God do His work,
He's gonna do His work. Gospel preacher doesn't try to
get in the way of that he turns is just stand aside and see the
salvation of the Lord when Jeremiah chapter 23 Jeremiah chapter 23
and there in verse 29 Jeremiah chapter 23 in verse 29 is not
my word This is the word of the Lord is not my word like a fire
Saith the Lord Oh, a fire has the ability of overwhelming almost
everything. Oh, to consume, to come upon. You'll never forget being in
a fire. And it says, and like a hammer that breaketh a rock
in pieces. The gospel has the ability of
taking what we think about salvation and converting us and laying
us low to raise us up. He kills that he might make alive. So the word of God is powerful. It's like a fire. And it's like
a hammer that breaks the rock to pieces. This is a glorious
gospel that we're permitted to preach. It's a successful gospel
that we're permitted to preach. And that gospel is Christ Jesus,
the Lord. He has promised that his kingdom
will bring in all those that will be subjects of the king.
Going back over to the book of 1st Corinthians now back to the
New Testament if you join me there 1st Corinthians chapter
1 and verse 18 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 18 For the
preaching of the cross Now there's so much said in those words,
preaching of the cross, preaching of the Christ to the cross, preaching
the purpose of the cross, preaching the success of the cross, preaching
the blood of the cross, preaching so much here. But for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Our hearts
are so proud and prideful and we've not been brought low. But
unto us that are saved, it is the power of God. Unto everyone
that's been brought low by the gospel, that gospel was the power
of God. It was the resurrecting power
of God to raise us out of the place where we are by nature.
It's by the grace of God that we're brought up out of that
place. And so it is a powerful gospel. It is a powerful word
because it is the power of God, the omnipotent one. In the book
of 1 Corinthians, again, in the same chapter, down in verse 23,
1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 23, it says here, but we preach
Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the
Greeks foolishness. Verse 24, but unto them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. So it is a wonderful thing that
God does when he allows us to hear the gospel and he breaks
us down. He takes that pride that we had by nature and all
the things that we had lined out of what we had to do in order
to meet God, of all the good works, hoping they'd outweigh
the bad works. And all those things that we
had in our own mind, we are sent the truth about it, and we find
out that we didn't know a thing about salvation. God reveals
that to us in the person of Christ. And this revelation brings to
us that it is nothing that we do, but it is completely dependent
upon the blood and righteousness of our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
Over in the book of 1 Thessalonians, we have here again a record given
about the success of the gospel. First Thessalonians. The book
of First Thessalonians chapter 1 and there in verse 5. First Thessalonians chapter 1
and verse 5 and 6 we want to read for our gospel. Isn't it
wonderful that you and I that are saved get to claim it as
our gospel. It is what raised us. It's our
gospel now. It's the power of God. It's our
gospel. It is the power of God in us.
for our gospel came not unto you in word only." Now, so often,
so often we may see that it is just in word only. But as he
writes to these saints in Thessalonica, he writes to these folks in Thessalonica
that the gospel was the power of God unto salvation. Those
that had met him Met the gospel and were trod down by it. They
were trod down by the gospel We are promised that that's going
to happen that there now not to everyone But to the ones that
the Lord has appointed it goes on to tell us here Our gospel
came not into you in word only but also in power and It came
in power and in the Holy Ghost. We have the power of God and
we have the almighty, omnipotent Holy Ghost and much assurance
as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. We came preaching the gospel,
preaching a successful gospel, preaching a successful God. preaching
a successful Christ, preaching a successful salvation. We preach
that and God in his infinite wisdom and wonderful power has
brought this salvation upon those appointed to be saved before
the foundation of the world. Here in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse
6, it says, and ye became followers of us and of the Lord. Oh my, that's going to be the
difference. So many have made professions
of faith and they just can't follow. The man who brought me
the gospel, he just shared with me, he said, people make a profession
and now we have theologians. They have all understanding and
they're going to tell everybody what to do. You became followers
of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction
with joy in the Holy Spirit, with joy in the Holy Ghost. Have
received the word. It is the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ and we become followers of the Lord. We're not going
to try to outstrip him. We're not going to try to outrun
him. We're going to be followers of the Lord. What an indication.
My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Travel with me to
the next chapter here in the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter
2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and there in verse 13. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2 and verse 13. We have to ask ourselves, we
have to ask ourselves, how were folks trod down in old times? How were people of old tread
down? How was it? Was it by the preaching
of the gospel and by the successful salvation of the Lord? How were
you tread down? Was it by the preaching of the
gospel and the successful gospel applied, brought to our attention,
bringing us out of darkness to its marvelous light? And how
will our children and grandchildren be tread down? By exactly the
same manner and in the same means, by the preaching of the gospel.
We by nature have a double portion of pride, but it is going to
be only the only remedy for that pride. Our natural pride is the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that he humbles his people
to bow before him. It is not a strain. It's not
grievous. His ways are not grievous, His
ways are right, and we will bow before Him. As we look over here
in the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13, it says,
And this cause, for this cause also thank we God without ceasing,
because when we receive the word of God which ye When ye received
the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as
the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which
effectually worketh also in you that believe." Now, there is
a bunch in this verse of scripture, isn't there? Did you notice that
with me? Because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard
of us, someone brought it, someone preached it, someone declared
it, the gospel of the Lord Jesus, that he came on purpose to lay
down his life a ransom for many. He came on purpose to come to
this cruel cross. He came on purpose knowing full
well that the Father would pry out his justice upon him and
that he would leave him dead. Our sins were put on him as a
coat. He became sin for us. Our imputed
sins were placed upon him and justice was poured out and he
died to ransom his people from their sins. He paid for them
completely. What a successful salvation. Receive the word of God which
ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men. It is
far superior to anything that we can do. Now, we may have been
disgruntled when we first heard it. We may not have wanted that,
what we heard. that there is salvation in no
other but in the Lord Jesus. We may have had it all worked
out that we have a little bit of trust in Jesus and we have
a little bit of trust in what Jesus did and then we have some
trust in what we're doing and if we continue to the end and
we're faithful and we continue to work and gain our rewards,
we'll be okay. The Word of God shares with us
instantly. That is not what saves us. As the truth, but as the truth. It's not the Word of men, but
as the truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh in
us. Effectually worketh in us. Isn't that interesting? God effectually
worked it in us. He operated in us. To be at work
to put forth power God Effectually put forth power to work in us
and that is such a glorious thing that God did not leave it up
to us But it is a factual power Effectually worketh also in you
that believe so God's great grace to us in this very subject now
in the end in the end When all have been saved that God intended
to save when the Lamb's Book of Life with all the names written
down Every name has been checked off and I use that as a as a
picture a type or shadow and for my own mind but we're working
down as we go through the Lamb's Book of Life and we have working
down through every generation. When the last one that God wrote
down in the Lamb's Book of Life is saved by this grace, by this
wonderful gospel, by the preaching of Christ and the successful
Christ, that he came for one purpose and that was to ransom
his people. When that is finished, when it
is over, When the end is finished, when the last one is saved, when
the preaching is no more necessary because the last one has been
saved by the effectual power of God, then we find that God
will mete out judgment. He truly will tread down the
wicked. Now there's not one believer
that won't say that they were wicked. The Apostle Paul goes
through two or three stages as recorded in the Word of God.
He's the least of all apostles. He's the least of all saints.
And then he's the chiefest of sinners. We have here that God,
he deals with wicked people. There is not a believer that
will not admit that they were not wicked people, and they still
are, except for the grace of God and the great salvation.
We have everlasting life only in Christ and not in us. But
there is some things that are going to be done by God when
He treads down the wicked. We don't have this right. We
don't have this ability, but God does. He has the ability
to do all things whatsoever He pleases. And in the book of Matthew,
chapter 25, we have the Lord Jesus sharing with us some things
about the end. It's interesting that there's
nothing said in the Gospels from the Lord or nothing said by Peter
or Paul or the rest of the writers of the New Testament. We have
nothing said. about so much that is being said
today that's going to have to happen before the Lord comes
again. We find in the scriptures that the only thing that has
to happen is the last person saved, and that will wrap this
up. And here we find in Matthew chapter 25 and there in verse
31, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, that's when
He comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then
shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. and before him
shall be gathered all peoples or nations." I had someone tell
me, that's going to be the nations that are going to be judged.
And I said, when is that going to happen? Germany at one time
was a great stronghold for the gospel. England at one time was
a great stronghold for the gospel. United States at one time was
a great stronghold for the gospel. The Middle East at one time was
a great stronghold for the gospel. Look at the seven churches of
Asia. Now, are we going to judge them at that time when they were
great strongholds? Are we going to judge them 200
years later, 500 years later? Now, what's that? This is not
talking about that. This is talking about people.
It's talking about sheep and goats. That's all it can be talking
about. It says here, you shall gather
all nations and shall separate them one from another as a shepherd
divided his sheep from his goats. And the Lord brings out several
times in his own preaching about sheep and goats. We don't have
that question to answer what this is about. The Lord answers
that question. The problem is in the hearts
of men. It's in the hearts of people
that want to make it different than the scriptures are. Well,
here he says he's going to separate the sheep as a shepherd, divided
the sheep from the goats. He knows them. He knows them. We don't know them, but he knows
them. And it will be quite apparent. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king
say unto them on the right hand, who are those? Well, of course,
it's the sheep. He just told us that. It's the
sheep. Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to go back
and find out what the Lord is talking about in that verse of Scripture. He's very plain about it throughout
the scriptures, but through his own ministries very very plain
about who these folks are He told a group of Pharisees one
time you believe not because you're not on my sheep Well,
if you're not of his sheep, you're of his goats He still owns them
now drop down to verse 41 in the same passage of scripture
And it says then shall he say also unto them on the left side
now, who are those? Well, he's already told us those
are the goats Those are the ones whose names are not written in
the book of life. He has nothing to say to them except this, depart
from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and
his angels. Now that's God truly treading
down the wicked. And those folks, by and large,
are all religious. Those folks are. Now, He will
tread them down. We don't have the ability and
we don't have the right to do this. We are not to touch even
the tares. Jesus told His disciples that
came to Him in that parable of the sower, parable of the tares,
He said, let's go out there and pull them up. He says, no, no,
no, leave them alone until the end and then we'll take care
of it. We'll take care of it then. He will take care of it.
Over in the book of Luke, we have another passage of scripture.
It tells us that the Lord shares here that he's going to take
care of the final treading. Luke chapter 20. Would you turn
there with me? Now, during this era, during
this time, during this gospel time that we're alive in, gospel
time we're in, preaching in, the only thing that we can do
to tread down the wicked is preach the gospel. God will honor his
word and those that are wicked that he has purpose to save the
gospel will be effectual to them and they will be made is People
now he doesn't take goats and make sheep and he doesn't take
People and make them his people. They've always been the lost
sheep now they're Revealed to be the found sheep. Well here
in the book of Luke chapter 20 in verse 17. Would you look there
with me? He will tread down his in time
He will tread down the wicked in time verse 17 of Luke chapter
20 and he beheld them and said what is this then that is written
the stone which the builders rejected the same has become
the head of the corner and Well, we know from scripture by his
own words that he is the head cornerstone. He's the head cornerstone. Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone shall be broken. Now, that's a wonderful thing
to have our pride broken and bow before the king. when we
come and fall upon the Lord Jesus. When He brings us to that point,
and He alone can do it. We'll not come on our own. Turn
me and I shall be turned. Grant repentance and I shall
repent. Give me belief and I shall believe. All these things. I
will love you because you first loved me. Everything must start
with God. Not from here up, but from Him
down. And then it goes on to say, whosoever
shall fall upon this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever
it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. What an illustration. We just read about some of that
over there in the book of Matthew, chapter 25. He will tread down
the wicked and it will be serious. We have the privilege in our
day and in our time, in our generation, to preach the gospel and let
God take care of the results. We have the privilege. And we're
going to see. We're going to see. If nobody else, we're going
to see ourselves. If you know the gospel, if you
know Christ, if you've been regenerated, if you've been born again, you
will recognize the fact that he took a terrible, terrible,
terrible, wicked person and gave them new life, resurrected them. We've been brought low. so that
we might look up to him. But there will be a day when
this will happen. All right, and then over in the
book of Luke chapter 13, the book of Luke chapter 13, the
Lord will tread down the wicked in his day. It will be taken
care of. We find this in the book of Revelation.
We find this in Jude. We find it in first, second,
third John, God's judgment upon the wicked. But here in Luke
chapter 13, verse one, There were present at the season, some
of the told him, of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all Galileans
because they suffered such things? Boy, if they hadn't been such
sinners, they wouldn't have been treated like that. That's just
about like Job's friends. If you weren't so bad, you wouldn't
be treated like this. Well, that's not the way God
does things. But he says, I tell you no, but except ye repent,
ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the
tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were
sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? Can you imagine
reading in the newspaper? The Lord's bringing it up. This
was common knowledge. Eighteen died when a tower fell
on them. Are they there in the shade?
Are they working around this tower? It doesn't tell us. But
when that tower fell, and it fell on purpose, it killed 18,
and the Lord Jesus brings up, are they sinners above All sinners
that dwell in Jerusalem, I tell you no, nay, but except ye repent,
ye shall all likewise perish. Now that's being tread down as
we read there in the book of Matthew. As we read in the book
of Revelation, death and hell shall be cast into the lake of
fire which burneth forever and ever. So our, the words to us,
that we found over there in the book of Malachi, those words
that we found over here in the book of Malachi, and ye shall
tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles
of your feet in the day, in the day, the day that I shall do
this, saith the Lord of hosts. When the Lord's active, when
the Lord works, gospel is praised. He calls on people to preach
the gospel in its truth and in simplicity. Keep the gospel simple. Keep it preaching Christ. Make
the main thing the main thing. Preach that, and then we'll see. It has worked. It has performed. It has done its purpose, God's
purpose in the past. The gospel has tread down the
wicked. Ask Saul of Tarsus. Ask Levi
or Matthew the Publican. Ask these folks. Ask yourself,
what brought you down? It was the preaching of the gospel.
And so it is today. That's the only way proud, proud
sinners will ever be brought down is by Jesus Christ and the
message of Him being crucified. Well, we're going to close tonight
with those thoughts. And we look forward to coming
back to the book of Malachi next time and looking at the verses
four, five, and six, the last three verses of this book. So pray for us as we prepare
and we pray for you that this might be a blessing to you. God
bless you and may you have a good week.