Good evening. Would you join
me again tonight in the book of Malachi? We're working through
this wonderful book of Malachi, and we're in chapter 3. And I'd
like to begin reading with verse 6 and make just a few comments
about that verse. We've done that in the past.
We've looked at that verse here in our study of Malachi. But
there's just a little bit more meat on that bone, and particularly
in today's climate. Malachi chapter three, verse
six, for I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Now we're going to look down
through several other verses of this chapter and we can see
some of the reasons that God brought that verse out to the
children of Jacob here in the book of Malachi through his prophet,
through his preacher, Because he's going to bring up some things
that they're doing and it's a good thing that he changes not and
That's why they're not going to be consumed now from a fleshly
standpoint God was going to bring in his son the Lord Jesus Christ
through this line And he was not going to consume that line
from the flesh But we look at it from a spiritual standpoint
and we're thankful that God has made that promise that he changes
not therefore ye sons of jacob even though we sin daily because
of the blood of christ which taketh away all sin he will not
consume us now we're very thankful that the word of god standeth
sure this is what god's word says he changes not and we're
thankful that his word does not change and in the book of hebrews
would you join me there in the book of hebrews chapter six for
a brief reading. In Hebrews chapter 6 it tells
us about the strength of God and His ability to not be as
man. He is God and beside Him there
is no one else. Here in the book of Hebrews chapter
6 and there in verse 18, verse 18 and 19, that by two immutable
things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, most sure and steadfast, and which endureth within the
veil." So this promise of God that he would not change, therefore
ye sons of Jacob." He changes not. He never has, never will. That's one thing that we can
just take by faith that God Almighty will never change and His Word
will never change. And as we find here, it's impossible
for God to lie. He's not a man, as we are. We're
so thankful that the foundation of God stands sure. Not only
did he promise he'll not change, his word will not change, he
will not lie, but we find out that the foundation of God stand
as sure. And this is a verse of scripture
found over in the book of 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 2. We read this wonderful verse
of scripture about God knowing all things and that the foundation
of the Lord standeth sure. Excuse me. Verse 19 of 2 Timothy
chapter 2. Nevertheless the foundation of
God standeth sure. It's immovable. It's as God is. His word is as God is. The foundation
of God is as God is. Stand assured, having this seal,
the Lord knoweth them that are his. And let everyone that nameth
the name of God depart from iniquity. It should be our blessed prayer
every morning to say, Lord, keep me from sinning. We know we will,
but Lord be gracious to us. But even in our sin, he has promised
upon saving, regenerating his children, his lost children,
and making them known to him and him known to us, he said,
the seal of the Lord is this, the foundation of God standeth
sure. It is God's foundation, standeth
sure as he is. We're also very thankful that
the eternal purpose of God standeth sure. If you'll turn back with
me to the book of Ephesians for a couple readings in the book
of Ephesians chapter, first one is in Ephesians chapter one,
verse 11, we find here that as God changes not, his purposes
change not, his word changes not, his foundation changes not,
they are all as sure as God is and that gives us great hope,
it gives us great peace, We're able to rest in Him. We're able
to rest because of the blood of Christ. We don't have to go
around worried and concerned all the time. We can see the
hand of God moving. We may and we probably never
will figure out what it all means, but we know this, that God is
working all things after the counsel of his own will. And
here it tells us in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 11 in whom
also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. We're so thankful that the eternal
purpose of God stand assured, doesn't change. It's not manipulated. We can't pray and get a group
of people, more people praying for a matter than the people
not praying for the matter and we'll overwhelm God and he'll
have to do it. God has an eternal purpose and he's going to carry
it out. And we've said many times, and we'll just say one more time,
we do not want a God that changes. We don't want a God that we can
get enough people to pray he'll change his mind about something.
We just pray, Lord, may you make me pleased with your will. Here, also in the book of Ephesians
chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3, as we think
about this, is to to be thankful as God changes not, and His word
is secure, He lies not, and His foundation is sure, and here
we find that His purpose of God standeth sure here in the book
of Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse
11, we find this wonderful passage, according to the eternal purpose
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. All of these sweet
blessings are for the church because God changes not. Or as we find Similar passage
of scripture here in the book of or in the New Testament It
carries with it the same as we find there in the book of Malachi
and that's found in the book of James James chapter 1 would
you go there with me? We've read this in our previous
studies, but I want to read it again here in James chapter 1
as we find out what blessings we have that God changes not
and here in the New Testament It says here that there's There's
no variableness neither even a shadow of turning James chapter
1 verse 17 every good gift and every perfect gift is from above
We might just say right there that all spiritual blessings
come down we don't acquire them because we've been righteous
or because we've been doing good works, but they come down to
us because of Christ, and cometh down from the Father of lights.
With whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning so
as we found over there in the book of Malachi chapter 3 and
verse 6 that I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed we find here at James in the New Testament
was bringing out almost the same message There's no variable as
neither shadow of turning Now if you go back with me there
to the book of Ezra excuse me to the book of Malachi Malachi
chapter 3 Malachi chapter 3 and we find there in verse 7 Malachi
chapter 3 verse 6 we found I changed not so I'm the Lord I changed
not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed Even from the
days of your fathers ye have gone away now When we just think
about it for a minute as we look at this from a spiritual standpoint
the sins of our fathers, or our grandfathers, or our great-grandfathers,
or our great-great-grandfathers, whatever they were like. And
most people have no idea what those folks were like. But here,
speaking about the fathers that were of Israel, of Judah, of
Jacob, Even from the days of your fathers, you have gone away
from mine ordinances." Now, even from the days of your fathers,
we need not fix a particular time or age when this apostasy
began. It is an old apostasy. It doesn't matter how far we
go back. We're still going to run into
it. We can go right back to the Garden of Eden. We run into apostasy. when Adam apostatized against
God Almighty. And we're going to find that
in his line as he brings down through the ages. But here, the
children of Jacob, the children of Israel, even the days of your
fathers, you have gone away from my ordinances. No longer had
he gotten them out into the wilderness there, then they are going astray. We're wanting to have what we
had in Egypt. Well, it's just an evidence that
there was no regeneration, even though they had seen the wonderful
works of God. There were a few that understood. It says, with regard to Moses,
by faith he gave the Passover. Well, he was looking forward
to Christ coming. He was looking forward to the
Messiah. He understood that, that this
is a picture of that. That's what faith does. It causes
us to trust God. And as we follow through the
scriptures, we trust God that he would provide the sacrifice.
We trust God that he's the sin bearer. Here's a picture in the
type in the shadow. So Moses offered by faith. Now here it
says, even as the days of your fathers, you've gone away from
my ordinances, have not kept them. These folks were the best
kept people in all the world. They had more of God about them
than anybody else and yet we find Without regeneration, we
just have no concept of the blessings of God. Return unto me, and I'll
return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. Well, calling return
to somebody is like asking somebody that is deaf to come. It doesn't
matter. The language of God, the language
of the Bible, the language of the Spirit is far different than
our natural language, and we just can't comprehend it. I live
around a lot of folks that speak another language, and I don't
know what they're talking about. Few words I can pick out. Well,
people can pick out a few things out of the Bible. They can pick
out creation. They can pick out this or that
out of the Bible. But when it comes to spiritual things, it
is not given to us except through regeneration. Return unto me. Come to me. Well, if you don't
have any hearing, you're not going to pay any attention. Where
then shall you return? So we don't have to just go back
one generation or two generations or three generations. We need
not fix a particular time. My goodness, we don't come along
with our children and say, and it was common in religion, age
of accountability. Well, that's the age when they
became a sinner. Well, the age that we become
a sinner is upon our conception. That's when we take upon the
nature of our father, Adam, and that's when we're a sinner. If
we don't believe that, we have a problem because sin brings
death and many infants have died. Now, they probably have not committed
some overt sin, have they? We're gonna agree on that. But
because they died, they have revealed to us that they too
have the nature of Adam. That's why we die. All right,
going on here to verse eight. Will a man rob God, yet ye have
robbed me? Robbery of God has been the human
trend set from the fall of Adam. Robbery of God was experienced
by the first man, Adam, and is experienced by the firstborn
son of Adam and Eve, and all those who follow, offering the
fruit of the ground. That is robbing God of his blessings. Abel offered a more excellent
sacrifice. What was that? He had nothing
to do with the producing of this lamb. He went out and selected
it, slaughtered it, he put it on a burnt offering, He's saying
to everybody, to himself and to everybody around, three other
people, I'm a sinner. I need a substitute. I need an
atonement. I can't do it. There must be
shed blood. And by faith he did that, and
he's looking at the Lord Jesus. He's looking at the Savior. We
have a picture and a type and a shadow, but his heart is looking
to a Savior. He is doing the same thing that
God's people do today when we take the Lord's Supper. We're
looking at a picture of the Savior. He was looking at a picture of
the Savior. Cain was not looking at a picture of the Savior because
Cain thought he was his own Savior. He could take care of it. It
didn't matter what God had to say. He's robbing God. He's exercised
his will against God just like we find that Adam did. Now, if
you'll turn with me to the book of Proverbs. Book of Proverbs.
Let's turn over there and we'll see here that offering the fruit
of the ground is a demonstration of what we find here in Proverbs
chapter 21. Proverbs chapter 21. As we think
about robbing God. Here in the book of Proverbs
chapter 21. And in verse 1. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth it whithersoever
he will. Now the church takes great comfort
in that. The church has taken great comfort
of that in every generation. In the days of Pharaoh, in the
days of Nebuchadnezzar, in the days of Cyrus, in our day today,
that everybody that has any authority has been put there by Almighty
God, and as rivers of water, He turns them as He wills. And He is going to accomplish
His eternal purpose, and He's going to make sure that the people
He has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world are
going to hear the gospel, and he's going to use these folks
to do it, to get them in the right place, or to move a preacher
to the place that they can hear the gospel. Now, it tells us
in verse 2, every way of man is right in his own eyes, but
the Lord pondereth the hearts. Just as we read here concerning
Cain, he did what was right in his own eyes. I don't care, and
he robbed God of glory, he robbed God of praise, he robbed God,
and he put that praise upon himself. To do justice and judgment is
more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. A high look and a
proud heart and the plowing of the wicked is sin. A high look
and a proud heart and the plowing, the plowing of the wicked is
sin. the plowing of the wicked? Why is the plowing of the wicked
sin? Well, there is always pride in
what we do, and even in planting seed, if we don't know God, we
don't know Christ, we don't know his word, we're going to take
great pride in looking back and seeing what we did. The plowing
of the wicked is sin. Turn with me, if you would, over
here to the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 4. In Daniel chapter
4, We read about a king a great king He's going to be used to
take down Jerusalem and Judah bring him into captivity But
here in the book of Daniel chapter 4 in verse 30 we have this king
speaking now He's a pretty important person, but when he became a
pretty important person to himself Let's look at this the king spake
and said I Is not this great Babylon that I have built for
the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the
honor of my majesty? I have done this. And the plowing
of the wicked here is plowing his field. It is wickedness. because he's giving himself the
glory. And that's what's being brought
out over in that passage of scripture, robbing God of his glory, not
looking at God and thanking God. While the word was in the King's
mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee. And for
seven years he's turned out like a horse or a cow living out in
the field. And it describes his appearance
as he lived out there. But what brought this on? Now
it's his own heart. His own heart. Desperately wicked
heart. I'm proud of what I'm doing. I'm proud of my plowing.
My furrows are so straight. I'm thankful for what I've done
and I'm doing a great job of it. That's what we read here.
And that's no wonder we find over here in the book of 1 Corinthians
with regard to Christ and the benefits that we have in Christ.
1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 30. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and
verse 30. You know that passage of scripture
we've been using a number of times here in this study. In
1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30 we read those words, it says,
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Verse 29, that no
flesh should glory in his presence. We're thankful for what Christ
has done for us. We're thankful for the gospel
that was brought to us. We're thankful that someone brought
it to us. We're thankful for the Work of
the Spirit in us. We're thankful for the revelation
of Jesus Christ that the Word of God becomes precious All of
those things are as a result of God and not ourselves There's
another instance in the book of Acts chapter 12 of a man seriously
robbing God here in Acts chapter 12, you know It's so easy. We just, we like, we like compliments,
we like praise. Over here in the book of Acts,
there's a king that makes an oration. He makes a speech. And
instead of giving God the glory, Acts chapter 12, verse 21. So
giving God the glory, read with me here, Acts chapter 12, verse
21. Will a man rob God? Yes, yes,
yes. Without the grace of God, without
the mercy of God, without the help of God, without the regenerating
act of the Holy Spirit, without Christ in us, we'll do this. And upon a set day, Herod, arrayed
in royal apparel, kind of like the Lord said, you've
whitewashed the grave, but within is dead man's bones. Rade sat
upon the throne and made an oration unto them. He made a speech. He was an orator. Would you rather
have an orator or would you rather have someone who knew something
about the gospel? Well, the people gave a shout. Now they're doing what he wanted
done. They gave a shout, saying, it is the voice of a God and
not of man. Now at that moment, Herod's pride
took over. Paul had the same thing happen
to him, except he didn't give a great oration. He did something
and people said, oh my goodness, this is Mars and he's Jupiter.
He's a God. And what did Paul do? He shut
them down right away. John did the same thing. He and
his, when we read in the book of Revelation, he looked at someone
and he said, fell down and began to work. He said, I'm just like
you, only I'm in a different body. All right, here it says,
the people shouted, great. And in verse 23, and immediately
the angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory. His plowing was wicked. His furrows
were straight, they were deep, but they were filled with pride,
self-pride, self-importance. And it said, and he was eaten
with worms and gave up the ghost. the thought over there. Do men
rob God? Yes, they do. They rob God physically
and they rob God spiritually. What we read over here in the
book of James, chapter 4. James, chapter 4. This thought
is brought up here about going into a city and we're going to
make some wealth. Go to now, verse 13 of chapter
4 of the book of James, James chapter 4 and verse 13. Go to now, ye that say, today
or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year
and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas ye know not what shall
be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapour
that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For
that ye ought to say is, if the Lord will. We will live and do
this or that. If the Lord will, we'll live
through this. If the Lord will, we will do
this. So it's the Lord taking preeminence
in our life, in our heart, and in our mind. Now, robbing God
of spiritual things is more grievous. The very thought of saying God
has done all he can do it's now up to you, is worthy of spiritual
death. The very thought of that, the
very thought of saying Christ even died for those in hell is
worthy of spiritual death. What great lies people have said
about God. He has done all He will do and
He will accomplish all His purpose and He will not fail in one iota. And Jesus Christ died for those
that he intended to save and purposed to save and will save
and not one more and none of those shall be lost or be in
hell. Jeremiah wrote about the false
prophets of Jerusalem. Turn with me back to the book
of Jeremiah. These false prophets in the book of Jeremiah robbing
God, robbing God. Here in the book of Jeremiah,
Jeremiah chapter twenty-three Jeremiah chapter twenty-three
and there in verse fourteen Jeremiah twenty-three verse fourteen
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing
they commit adultery and walk in lies they strengthen also
the hands of evildoers that none doeth return from his wickedness."
If we look at that from a spiritual standpoint, associated with Almighty God. It's a horrible thing. They commit
adultery. They followed after false gods.
They taught people about false gods. They pretended to be right,
but they're wrong. They have no heart for it, and
they walk in lies. There's no truth in them. The
truth is so precious. And here, these guys are walking
in lies. They strengthen also the hands
of evildoers. They want people to be proud
of them. So they'll They'll offer out
goodness to them or blessings to them and that none do us return
from his wickedness there's nobody is ever changed from their wickedness
and There's no thought of being different as I'll turn over a
new leaf tomorrow I'll procrastinate till tomorrow or the new year
comes around and we'll do what we can do about that and before
you know Right back where we were and then it says they are
all of them unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants of Gomorrah
these prophets of Jerusalem in their religion and in our works
of religion are equal to the Sodomites and the Gomorrahites."
Now, we may say, boy, I'm thankful I'm not like that. Well, if we're
robbing God, if we have nothing in us that worships the true
and the living God, we're just equal with those folks over there
in Sodom and Gomorrah. And in fact, The book of Isaiah
tells us in chapter 1, if it wasn't for a very small remnant,
we should all be as Sodom and as Gomorrah. Now today, the same
thing goes on as we find here. Let's just turn with me to the
book of Acts. Acts chapter 15. I'm going to
read two verses out of Acts chapter 15. The same thing goes on today,
just as there in the prophets in Jerusalem, they had not a
heart for it, they had no truth in it, the only company they'd
keep was with evildoers, and they just kept perpetuating the
same negative religion that nobody has ever changed, nobody has
ever helped. Here in the book of Acts, chapter 15, Acts chapter
15 and verse 1, we read these words. This is what they were
dealing with in the days of the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter
15 and verse 1, and this has been perpetuated down to our
day. It's just part of what was brought
in by Adam, and we find that his son Cain perpetuated this,
and it's down through all the religions, and here it ends up
even Jews. Judea, following the apostle
Paul, and certain men which came down from Judea, taught the brethren,
and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye
cannot be saved. Unless you keep the legality
of the law, you can't be saved. Unless you're in bondage to the
law, you can't be saved. Well, we could put that into
today's vernacular, and we would say, unless you're baptized,
unless you keep the Lord's Supper, unless you join our church, or
unless you do this, get down on your knees and grovel, pray
through, all the other stuff. that is brought out with regard
to religion, we find here that they were dealing with it. And
then in that same chapter, in chapter 15 of the book of Acts
and verse 24, Acts chapter 15 and verse 24, Forasmuch as we
have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled
you with words subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised,
and keep the law, to whom we gave no such commandment. The apostle Paul was a preacher
of the sovereign grace of God, that God sovereignly saves His
people from their sins by the sacrifice of His Son, and there
is no room at all in this for the law, for circumcision, for
baptism, for the Lord's Supper, The keeping of those things that
would add anything to our salvation. And so to say that we have to
have something plus Christ is to rob God. And people have been
doing it, they're doing it, and they will continue to do it.
But saved people, God's people, they find out what a blessing
it is to serve God, not rob God. The Lord Jesus uses several times
in his ministry on the earth, beware. Beware. Beware of robbers. Beware of
robbers. Except you be circumcised. Beware
of robbers. All kinds of folks are coming
along. Would you turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter
7? Matthew chapter 7 and verse 15. Matthew chapter 7 and verse 15. We have the Lord Jesus bringing
the subject up because He knew. He purposed what's going to happen. He knew what was going to happen.
Beware of false prophets. which come in to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Well, they
don't have the heart of a sheep. they've never been born again.
They're going to come in with false ideas, false prophecies,
false word, false things about God. They're going to be saying
things that we've heard in religion and we're thankful that God takes
us out of that and puts us into Christ and these things are put
far from us. It's easy to detect. I remember
one time a man came to visit when Nancy and I lived down in
Central Point and something came up and The first thing out of
his mouth was, well, my mother and my dad were both good church
members. Well, he said more than he needed to say right then.
False prophet. People who give credence to where
their parents go, where their family goes, or whatever they
do. This is a revelation of where they are in their heart. They're
ravening wolves, false prophets, and beware of them. And then
if you'll turn with me to Matthew chapter 16, the Lord Jesus comes
here in this Matthew chapter 16 and mentions about leavening.
Matthew chapter 16 verse 6, Jesus said unto them, Matthew chapter
16 verse 6, Jesus said unto them, Take heed, and beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned
among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. My goodness, we as his disciples
sometimes mistake what he has to say, but he's so pleased to
reveal these truths unto us, he goes on and shares with them
what it is, which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them,
O ye of little faith, you know, let's not beat him too badly,
because there's nothing that we get it's not revealed to us.
We cannot come to the truths of these things without the revelation.
of the Scriptures, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit,
showing us the truth about it, and He's demonstrating to them,
the flesh profiteth nothing. It is the Spirit, it is the Spirit
that giveth life. It is the Spirit that reveals
these truths to you. So Jesus perceived, O ye of little
faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread,
Do you not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves and
the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Neither
the seven loaves and the four thousand and how many baskets
you took up? We so easily forget the rich
blessings of Christ and that's why it's so important we go back
and we go back and we go back and rehearse these things and
the Holy Spirit will teach us Holy Spirit will give us the
life of the Scriptures. These disciples, they were looking
at the physical, and the Holy Spirit was going to give them
the spiritual. Verse 11, How is it that ye do not understand
that I spake? It is not to you concerning bread
that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of
the Sadducees. Then understood they. What a wonderful thing when God
allows us to see the truth of the scriptures. Then understood
they. It was revealed to them. Jesus
taught them how that he bade them not beware of the leaven
of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Legalism, you must add something
to the gospel. It's, we're Abraham's children,
and on and on it goes, all the things they have to say. Beware
of the doctrine, the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. It just permeates the scriptures
as the Lord shares with us. that there is a narrow way that
leads to life, and that narrow way is Christ, and He must reveal
Himself to us. We're on the broad way. We're
thankful that He takes us to the narrow way. And if you look
with me to the book of Luke, Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter
20. We think about this, will a man
rob God? It just goes on and on and on
through the scriptures and then we find out what a blessing it
is that he reveals the truth to us and we quit doing that. We quit robbing God. Luke chapter
20 verse 46. Luke chapter 20 and verse Well, excuse me, I'm in Matthew, I'll
go to Luke. Luke chapter 20 and verse 46. Beware of the scribes which desire
to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and
the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at the feasts,
which devour widows' houses, and for a show make long prayers,
the same shall receive greater damnation. Beware of the scribes, the knowledgeable
ones, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings
in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and
the chief rooms at the feasts." My, my. Beware. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision. Philippians chapter 3 and verse
2. So, honor God. Honor His word. Honor His way. honor his gospel, honor his son,
and as we said, honor God. This will be the way to prevent
robbing God. This will be the way to be right,
and we can only do that, I have to say this again, we can only
do that as Christ reveals himself to us in salvation. Would you
turn back with me again to Malachi? Malachi chapter three. Malachi chapter 3, and verse 12, And all nations shall call you
blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.
With all that is wrong, God is able to see all things through
grace. All is falling out for His glory. My church is a delightsome land. Wonderful, wonderful place. Even though all is wrong, all
that is wrong, all that is wrong, God can look at His land as a
delightsome land through grace. Turn with me to the book of Zechariah.
Over here in the book of Zechariah. Chapter 8, verse 23. Quite an interesting
verse it is here. It says, Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, in those days, in the gospel days, in the gospel days
to Abel, the gospel days to Noah,
the gospel days to Moses, the gospel days to Joshua, to David,
the gospel days today. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
in those days, It shall come to pass that ten men shall take
hold out of all languages, my goodness, Gentiles, all languages
of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that
is a Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we have heard that
God is with you. My goodness, God is with national
Israel as he is with all the Gentiles. They are kept from
generation to generation in the purpose of God because they will
be used to bring all of his elect to physical birth. But, what
a blessing it is that we find that somebody who knows something,
a spiritual Jew, These folks are going to attach themselves
because, what? We will go with you, for we have
heard that God is with you. What was it that Ruth said to
Naomi? Your God shall be my God, and
your people will be my people. Well, she had a lot there in
Moab. But there was much more in that
beautiful land, and that was the spiritual land of Israel,
when she went to find what it was to be blessed by Almighty
God. So, God kept Israel because the
Messiah is going to come through there. Mark came, kept Judah,
Messiah. And he also had generations of
generations of Jews, We can call them national Israel. They didn't
know God. They forgot God. They worship
God in a lie. Or, all the Gentiles, and he's
going to keep them from generation to generation. May not save a
soul in this generation or that generation. There may not be
any sheep there, but if they're ones that are going to bring
the elect into this world through the physical birth, he will watch
over them. And it will be a glorious day. Verse 13 of Malachi chapter 3. Verse 13 of Malachi chapter 3. The word says, Your words have been
stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet you say, What have we spoken
so much against thee? Your words have been stout. In
other words, your words have been harsh. Or you have said
terrible things about me. Or you have spoken arrogantly
against me. Or you have criticized me sharply. That's Israel speaking against
Almighty God. And that is common among natural
man to speak words that have been stout against God. And then
it says in verse 14, and ye said, it is vain to serve God. And what profit is it that we
have kept his ordinance? My goodness, out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. You wouldn't think you'd hear
anybody say stuff like that. Religious people saying stuff
like that. And yet we find here in the book
of Malachi that Judah, And Benjamin is saying stuff like that. Ye have said it is vain to serve
God. I had a man tell me yesterday
that I used to believe like you, but I don't do that anymore.
How vain. What is a prophet if it keeps
If we have kept his ordinance, what does it do? If there's no
heart change, you don't believe like the Bible, you don't believe
like Christ taught, and that we have walked mournfully before
the Lord of hosts. Right now, many are wondering
how to escape this plague that's upon us, this coronavirus. How does anybody escape all these
natural spiritual plagues is far worse. How can I escape this
thought of it doesn't do a thing to serve God, or that I'm speaking
out against God, my words are stout, or I'm robbing God, or
I'm out to destroy, I'm out How can I, what can we do? What can anybody do? How does
anybody escape these natural spiritual plagues that plague
us from the very morning to the very end of day? And my friends,
it keeps many people awake at night. The plague of spiritual
plagues. The only thing that can cause
us to be escaped from the natural spiritual plagues that God has
brought out here in Malachi, says, I change not. Therefore,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. And look at all this nonsense
that I'm putting up with. He is so, we are thankful. We are so thankful for the forbearance
of God because he had every right in the world to smash us out.
But because of the covenant of grace and his choice of his people
before the foundation of the world, he has purpose not to. The new birth, God is pleased
to raise his lost children from darkness to light through the
new birth. The preaching of the gospel and
then the spirit of God gives us a new birth. He causes his
people to see, to hear, to feel, to taste him with spiritual senses. Oh, how delightful he is when
he gives us new sight. He's not the same as he was.
In fact, there was nothing about him that we should desire him,
and now he's altogether lovely. We have new ears to hear the
word of God. And like the disciples, so often
we say, I don't know what he's talking about. I don't know what
he's talking about. And then by the grace of God, he lets
us hear something that explains that passage or that thought,
and we go away rejoicing. to our new spiritual tongue. We get to taste things that we
never tasted, spiritual things. We get to taste, as the Lord
said, unless you eat my body and drink my blood, you have
no part with me. That's not physical. That's not taking the Lord's
Supper or any other thing. That's being able to taste the
goodness of God. It affects us in such a tremendous
way. And to our new spiritual skin,
you know what? We don't mind putting our mind
reclining and resting on Christ. Before, my goodness, we wouldn't
think of that. We can't rest in Him. But now,
we have new spiritual skin and it is a attracted to the wonderful
touch of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be like John, recline
on him. We can rest in him. Come what
may, almost all of the disciples of the Lord Jesus were martyred.
They rested in Christ. They rested in Christ. The church
rejoices that he has forbearance with us until he saves us. There's
not one of us that would say, Not one of us would say that
we should not have been dead for what we thought, said, did
before he gave us regeneration. He honored his eternal covenant
to save his peoples. Romans chapter five, verse eight. Romans chapter five, verse eight.
What a wonderful thought is brought out here. Romans chapter five
and verse eight. Many of you could quote that,
but I'm going to read it. It says here, But God commendeth
his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. In that while we were yet sinners,
knowing full well what we were, what we are, he still died for
us, to put away sin. He puts a hedge about his flock. So all the allurements of the
world are not permanent, only temporary. Remember that passage
over there in the book of the Psalms where the psalmist writes,
Psalm 73, just join me over there, I've got two verses there and
then with that we'll close. In Psalm 73, Psalm 73, two verses,
Psalm 73 verse two, Psalm 73 and verse two, but as for me,
my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped, for I
was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked."
Now, that's only temporary though, thank God, because of grace,
that's temporary because look down here at verse 17, until
I went into the sanctuary of God. Now, what is the sanctuary? A lot of people, well, don't
you do anything in the sanctuary? What? Our church where we meet
is an auditorium. Our sanctuary is Christ. So,
He brought me to the sanctuary, brought me to Christ, as it tells
us there, unto God. Then understood I their end. If they don't have the sanctuary,
their end is judgment. He puts a hedge about the flesh
so that all the allurements of the world are not permanent,
but temporary. Thank God he shows us Christ
and then we could see their end. No more envy now. God has been
gracious. We look to him for all our hope
and all our peace. So will a man rob God? Yes. Will he do all this? Yes. God
is gracious though. How do we get out of it? How
do we get out of that plague? Only one way. God gives us the
new birth. We can't prompt Him to do it.
He gives it because of grace. And when He gives it, it's such
a radical change that God gives us new eyes, new ears, new flesh,
spiritual mind touching Him, and we got new taste, new smell. Oh, it's oh so good, the graciousness
of God. May we pray. Gracious Father,
bless us for Jesus' sake. In his name we pray, amen.