join me tonight in the book of
Malachi chapter 3 Malachi chapter 3 and I'd like to read the first
six verses of this chapter and then spend a little time here
tonight Malachi chapter 3 verse 1 through 6 behold I send my
messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord
whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall
come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of
his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire,
and like fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner,
and a purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah
and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old,
and as in former years. And I'll come near to you to
judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers
and against the adulterers, Against the false swears and against
those who oppress the hireling in his wages and the widow and
the fatherless That turn aside the stranger from his right and
fear not me saith the Lord of hosts For I am the Lord I change
not Therefore he sons of Jacob are not consumed that last verse
is such a Wonderful counsel to the children of God to have him
safe. So forcefully I Change not Now
we're not going to spend our time there We're going to look
at that in a future date But that is really the capstone of
this whole passage that we just read here for all of the things
he has to say here now we went over just a little bit that verse
1 and in a previous study, behold, I will send my messenger. Now, if you turn with me to the
book of Matthew again, Matthew chapter 17. Matthew chapter 17. We looked at this two or three
weeks ago, but I'd like to look at it again because as we read
here, the disciples had questions about the scriptures. I find
that interesting. Every disciple has questions
about the scriptures. We all have questions about the
scriptures. And here in the book of Matthew chapter 17, beginning
with verse 10, Matthew chapter 17. And here in verse 10, it
says, and his disciples ask him saying, why then say the scribes
that Elias must come first? Now they'd been reading Malachi
and Isaiah, and yet the disciples had questions about those passages
of scripture. They're just like you and I,
and there's only one that can answer those questions. God,
the Holy Spirit is led, leads us into the answers about the
word. Now the Holy Spirit will never lead you differently than
he will lead me. The Holy Spirit will always lead
all His people exactly the same. There will not be any discrepancies
about the Word of God except in our own head. The Holy Spirit
is faithful to lead us honestly and truthfully about the truth
of the Scriptures. So when someone comes up and
has a different idea about the Scriptures than I do, One of
us or the other of us or both of us are wrong, but both of
us cannot be right, particularly about serious things that are
contained in the word of God. Nobody can say the Holy Spirit
has led me to believe in a God that is not sovereign because
the scriptures teaches plainly that he is. So that person is
not being led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will declare
unto us the truths of the gospel, the truths of God. Now, as it
goes on to here, Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly
shall come first and restore all things, quote from scripture. But I say unto you that Elias
is come already. And they knew him not, but have
done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the
Son of Man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood. that he spake unto them of John
the Baptist. Now he is the answer to this
question over here about who's the messenger. John the Baptist
was the announcer. He was the messenger of God. He's the one that was prophesied.
And Jesus Christ makes that very plain to his disciples when he
answered their question. They understood then by God revealing
this to them, by the Holy Spirit opening up their understanding,
And they weren't in bad shape when they didn't know this, but
they were in better shape when they did know this. We plead
ignorance sometimes simply because the Holy Spirit has not revealed
those truths to us, those thoughts about the word. But when he does,
we thank him for it for one more time. He's given us some vision
about the truth of the gospel, the truth of the word. But they
now understood that that one that they had been speaking about,
the scribes had been speaking about, the one that they were
bringing up about, The answer to that, here's John the Baptist. He was the messenger. He's the
one that's been promised to come, the messenger, and he shall prepare
the way for me. Now, I like what John says in
John chapter one, because he understood some things about
his calling. He understood some things about
what he was supposed to do. He was no ignoramus. Even though
he ate locusts and wild honey and dressed in a camel hair,
You know, I just think about how many people would not go
to hear this man preach simply because of his food and his dress
But his mouth was filled with the greatness of Almighty God
and here in John chapter 1 verse 34 John chapter 1 and verse 34
we have his testimony he bear record to something and he bear
record about Jesus and he bear record about Jesus Christ and
he bear record about Jesus Christ and As it tells us here, this
is the Son of God, this one. I bear record, and we find in
other places, his record is true because he was given this information
by the Holy Spirit. He was revealed to him that this
is Jesus, the Son of God. Now, there's not many people
understood that. John understood that, but everyone
that the Holy Spirit revealed unto them, Jesus Christ understood,
even though they may not have understood all of his ministry,
they understood that he is the Son of God. Many of them misunderstood
that he must go to the cross. They had a misconception about
that. But when things were revealed to them, they never went back
to their old thoughts about those scriptures. They understood the
scriptures, and these scriptures are teaching about Christ, and
he must be crucified, he must be buried, and he must rise again
the third day. That is what must happen. And
they went from the time of the resurrection to the end of their
writings and to the end of their life always declaring Christ
in him crucified and this is the only way that people are
going to be saved is preaching Jesus Christ in him crucified
so the disciples understood that he spake about John the Baptist
and John's testimony is I I saw him and I bear record of this
he is the Son of God the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly
come as it tells us back here in the book of of The book of
Malachi, there in chapter 3, verse 1, the latter part of that
verse, shares with us there, he says, and he shall prepare
the way, that's John, and the Lord whom you seek. Now that's
an interesting phrase that's put in there, whom you seek.
There's a whole bunch of people that were looking for a kind
of Messiah to put down the hardships that they were going through.
There were a few that understood. why he really came. There was
a lady that poured a whole bunch of ointment on him, and Jesus
said, leave her alone, because she has done this for my burial. She understood some things. All
the disciples understood after the resurrection. There were
a few that understood in preparation for the resurrection, but this
one, he said, it tells us here, The Lord whom you seek shall
suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the covenant
now he had a The message of the covenant was the culmination
of all the Old Testament prophets those prophets prophesied now
they they're not telling so much what's going to happen in the
future most people think that a prophet is going to predict
the future a Prophet a true prophet is going to preach Christ And
when we do that, we're going to be telling people he's coming
back. That's all the future that we
have revealed to us is he is coming back. No man knows the
day nor the hour, but he's coming back and he will come in power
and great glory, and he will come with the sound of the trumpet."
We've got all those things said, but the central theme of this
is he is coming back. Now, the Old Testament prophets
mentioned some about the resurrected Christ, but the main thrust of
their message is someone's coming. And this someone was the one
that was promised there outside the Garden of Eden. And all through
the Old Testament scriptures, the prophecy, the telling about
who this is, they mention this one as the Savior, as the one
that can take care of the problem. He's not going to throw off dictatorial
rule. He's come to take care of our
sin. He may not move us one iota out of the conflict that we have
in this world, but he's gonna take care of the conflict that
we have with Almighty God. He's gonna settle that issue,
and when he settles that issue, we won't have near the problem
with what's going on around us. We'll realize through the revelation
of the Holy Spirit to us that all things happen according to
the good purpose of God. But when he settles the issue
between us and God, as he did by the blood of Christ, we don't
have such a problem with about what's going on here and here
and here. He settles that issue and he
takes care of it. So the messenger of the covenant,
this message of the covenant is someone's coming. I like what
is mentioned by, well, just turn over here to the book of Luke
chapter two. I don't think there's been a
time that our studies have been so intertwined as they have been
Sunday and Wednesday night. Bible class, the message, Wednesday
night, so intertwined as they are at present. But here in the
book of Luke chapter 2, Luke chapter 2, we read these scriptures
that are such a blessing to the church and have been since they
were written. for us Luke chapter 2 and there in verse 21 Luke
chapter 2 verse 21 excuse me verse 11 excuse me
verse 11 for unto you is born this day in the city of David
a Savior culmination fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophets. Here he is. Simeon recognized
that. Anna recognized that. The disciples
are going to recognize that. As it tells us there in verse
11, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord. A Savior, which is Christ the
Lord. That was the message that the
prophets had been preaching since the fall in the Garden of Eden.
That's the message that God gave to Adam and to Eve. when he spoke
to that serpent and said, this one, the seed of the woman, is
going to take care of that problem right there and take care of
this problem right here. That's what he's going to do.
He has promised to take care of the problem. He's not going
to leave it up to man. As we go on in this passage and
find out, he's not going to leave it up to us. Left up to us, we'd
be in the same boat that Adam is in. or was in. That's where
we start. That's where we'll end. We'll
be in the same place that he was. Fallen creatures. But he
didn't leave us there. He didn't leave the church there.
He didn't leave his children there. He didn't leave his people
there. He didn't leave his elect there. He took care of them.
And he took care of them so resoundingly that all those folks that he
brings out of that pit are going to sing praises unto him for
eternity. It's something he's going to
do. All right, there in verse two of our scripture, reading
over in the book of Malachi, it says, but who may abide the
day of his coming? Who's going to abide the day
of his coming? Now, if he comes without preparing us, if he came
the first time without preparing the ground, if he comes the second
time without preparing us, nobody is going to be able to stand.
And let's look at this, as it says, who may stand, who may
abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth,
for he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller soap. A refiner's
fire. Now a refiner's fire is a fire
that takes care of the dross in precious metals, takes care
of dross in brass, takes care of dross in silver, takes care
of dross in gold, takes care of dross in the impurities. And it's interesting that when
you see silver, good silver is 99.9%. Our human ability is not able
to take out all the dross, but we take out a lot of it. When
it comes to gold, 0.999% pure. There's still some. But when God takes care of the
problem, he takes care of all the dross. the ones that we don't
even know about, the ones that are hidden and we can't even
comprehend that are there. We find that he takes care of
all the dross. Who shall abide in this day? Now, it mentions there about
a fire, a refiner's fire. And he shared with the prophet
Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse
29, he says, my word is like this. My word is like a fire, and it's
like a hammer that breaks the rock to pieces. My word is like
a fire. There's nothing like the word
of God. That's one thing that is so wonderful is that when
the gospel is declared, when we preach the gospel, share the
gospel, the person that heard it cannot ever get rid of it. They can't get rid of it. They
will never, ever be the same. Some, through the gospel, are
converted and brought to Christ. Some will never be converted,
but they will never be the same, and they can't get rid of it.
They are in a position. Now, I've had people, I asked
a preacher one time, what about all of those folks over in Africa
that never heard? And his comment to me was, That's
not the issue. What think you of Christ? So
we're not gonna talk about them. We're gonna talk about the ones
that do hear it. And his word is like a fire. It doesn't matter how long since
we've had our finger burned, we're gonna still remember it
and we'll probably carry a scar. And that's the way the word is.
we will never, ever be able to completely get rid of that gospel
that we heard. And that gospel will stir us,
and that gospel will penetrate us to the point that we'll never
get rid of it. We're thankful that to his sheep,
he uses that gospel, he uses the preaching of the word, and
the Holy Spirit, in his miraculous way, gives us a new birth, and
we have Christ in us, the hope of glory. What a gracious, glorious
time that that is when God reveals his son to us. It's not us asking
Jesus into our heart. It is God taking up residence
against our will with our full consent. Saves us by his grace. It is a fire. In the book of
Revelation chapter one and verse 14, it says his eyes are like
a flame of fire. There is nothing that can be
hid from the Lord God Almighty. There's nothing that can be put
away. As we look over here at a couple of verses, would you
turn with me to the book of Luke? No one can hide what they are
truly depending on for their salvation from God. No one can hide what they're
truly depending upon from God. Now we may keep it from other
people. We may keep it from our spouses. We may keep it from
our friends. We may keep it from our family.
We may never say, I really don't believe. I believe that there
is something that I'm doing that will really make an impression
with God. But nothing like that can be
hidden from God. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Luke, Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18 In Luke chapter
18 we have a group of folks like folks today. There's no difference
that trusted in themselves and It's revealed here that God knows
that they can hide that as much as possible But this fire this
revealing fire this revealing this eyes of the flame of fire
It never can be fooled I'm God I change not I'm God I see all
I'm God I'm everywhere so nothing can be prevented from God knowing
and here as we read in Luke chapter 18 and there in verse 9 and He
spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that
they were righteous and despised others Now it doesn't have to
tell us that they told him that We know he knew it He read their
heart. He read what was important to
them. He read that baptism was important. He read that praying
through was important. He read that all these acts of
religion was important. They trusted in themselves. And
then he goes on with this parable. Two men went down to the temple
to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a publican. And we know
the rest of the story. But the group of folks that he's
speaking to are those who trusted in themselves. No one. This fire is so refining. This fire is so revealing. The
word is so revealing that God knows exactly what we are depending
upon when it comes right down to it. When it comes right down,
He knows what we're depending upon for our salvation. He knows
if we're not depending upon Him that the only answer is Him.
Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Luke chapter 15.
Back up just a little bit. Luke chapter 15, excuse me, Luke
chapter 16, verse 15. Verse 14 and 15, and the Pharisees
also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided
him, and he said unto them, ye are they which justify yourselves
before men, but God knoweth your hearts. That which is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination inside of God The law and the
prophets were until John since that time the kingdom of God
is preached and every man presses into it So he says you have all
these statements. You have all these ideologies.
You have all this religious feeling fervor Whatever, but God knoweth
your hearts the wonderfulness of Almighty God is that he knows
our hearts and And there is nothing that he will do to condemn one
of his children that his son has died for. He has the ability
of taking care of all that blasphemy that's in our heart to think
that we can outdo God when it comes to salvation. He puts it
aside. And we're just so thankful that
he can get to that deep recess of our heart and put it away.
And we're thankful that he is the Savior that actually saves. He is a refiner's fire that boils
it down to purity. There's no dross left over. There's
nothing he's going to find. It is 100% pure righteousness. No dross. And the church says,
oh, thank you, Lord. Because the best I could do,
there's still all of that corruption. And we know it. We still live
with it. Would you turn with me to the
Proverbs? Proverbs 30. Proverbs 30. Proverbs 30, and
there in verse 12. Proverbs 13 verse 12 There is a generation that are
pure in their own eyes and Yet is not washed from their filthiness. I It just can't hide it from
God. And He has the ability of giving
us pure, 100% pure righteousness, the righteousness of Christ.
There is a group that Isaiah brought out that said, they say,
I am holier than thou. Well, not holier than God. He
has the ability of giving exactly what we need, and that is 100%
pure righteousness. His refining fire goes beyond
the refining fire of the greatest refining fire that has ever been,
to completely clean the gold. No dross whatsoever. There's
no stamp on there that says they reached 99.99. But that 100% is still dross. When we're presented before the
Father, we are presented spotless. And that's good. That's wonderful. In Mark chapter
10, going back to the book of Mark, Mark chapter 10 and verse
24, we have those that trusted in riches. And there's always been. That
fellow that talked about the disciples and said, if this is
of God, it will stand, and if it's not of God, it will fail.
That's not the truth God's had his church wiped out in this
place and another one over here. Don't this prosperity gospel
and There's a whole throng of folks world around that if I
have Riches that means God has blessed me and I'm in good standing. Well, let's just read right here
mark chapter 10 verse 24. I Mark chapter 10, verse 24. And the disciples were astonished
at his words. But Jesus answered again and
said unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust
in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to
enter into the kingdom of God." And I don't know about you, but
I was told that that was a doorway in the city wall of Jerusalem,
and if you got your camel down low enough, he could get through,
but it took a lot of humility. The answer is, it's impossible. That's not the kind of eye of
a needle he's talking about. He's talking about an eye in
a needle. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Now, we find that there are those who believe in the prosperity
gospel, that God has blessed me because I have all this wealth.
It goes the other way, too. There are many that feel that
their righteousness is their riches. I am rich in my righteousness. And he says, how hardly shall
those folks enter the kingdom of heaven. With man, it's impossible. What is he saying? Our righteousness
is impossible to influence God. But his righteousness is 100%
pleasing. to God. Our righteousness means
we're depending upon ourselves. His righteousness means that
we're depending upon Him. He is all our hope and all our
righteousness. Well, how hard it is. Most people measure the blessings
of God by their wealth. And all of us measured our righteousness
as our wealth. And it takes the Holy Spirit
to reveal to us that it's not our righteousness, it's not works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saves us. To be rich in our own righteousness,
self-righteousness. There is a passage over in the
book of Jeremiah, before we look at this last thought here, in
Ezra, excuse me, Malachi, in the book of Jeremiah, chapter
6. Jeremiah, chapter 6. Jeremiah, chapter 6, and there
in verse 29. The bellows are burned, the lead
is consumed of the fire, the founder melteth in vain, for
the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call
them, because the Lord hath rejected them. Now there's a whole group
of folks, as he brings out here in the book of Jeremiah, and
he's pointed most of his finger towards the Jews, but boy, in
our day and time. It's not pointed towards the
Jews specifically. It's pointed to everybody that
has their own righteousness and it may be really nice silver
as he brings out. But it's reprobate silver. It
is silver that one account of the silver is
keeping the law or service to God and yet nothing Nothing, no draws, nothing will
ever make it right with God. It is reprobate silver. It is cast off silver. It is
worthless silver because God says, I will put it away. And
that word reprobate doesn't mean a pleasant thing. It's judged
by God. And we read in the book of 1
Peter, 2 Peter there, as it was appointed them. So this refiner's
fire, we're thankful that it burned completely at the cross
on the behalf of his people, on the behalf of his children.
Now, if we go back to that passage there in the book of Ezra, chapter
3, we find out that he also mentions another cleansing agent called
Fuller's soap. Fuller's soap. Ezra chapter 3. Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter 3 and verse 2. Two items there. Two cleansing
agents. For he is like a refiner's fire
and like Fuller's soap. A cleansing soap. Now, it's interesting
that when he was on the Mount of Transfiguration, he is described
in his transfiguration as having raiment whiter than any fuller
soap could make it. What's that tell us? It can't
be of this world. It's got to be higher than this
world. It's got to be divine. It's got to be spiritual cleansing. There's not enough soap. It's a soap opera, and there's
not enough. Religion is a soap opera, but
there's just not enough soap, and it's not high enough quality.
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. It makes us
whiter than snow. It is greater in its ability
than any fuller soap can make it. There's nothing here that
can even come close to making it. Living a godly knife is not
enough because we still have all that dross and all that impurity
within us. We can wash the outside until
it's spic and span. But the inward part is full of
corruption. It's like washing the back of
your dish, leaving the inside of the dish without washing.
We wouldn't go to a restaurant that served us meals on dirty
dishes, even if the back was clean. So here it is, this thought. Turn with me to the book of Mark
again, would you? Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9, and the word
here for transfigured, you probably know as metamorphosis. Metamorphi is what it is, but
we get the word metamorphosis. And it won't be long if we have
a butterfly lay an egg on our milkweed. or some weed, we can watch that
process on the outside, but we can't tell what's going on on
the inside. It's a marvel to me that a caterpillar could go
in that, spin itself into it, and whatever time later it takes,
it could come out as a butterfly. That's metamorphosis. And here
we read that very word about the Lord Jesus Christ in Mark
9, verse 1. It says, and he said unto them,
verily I say unto you, that there shall some of them that stand
here which shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of
God come with power. And then the very next three
verses he talks about going up onto the mount, and that is they
shall not taste death until they see the transfiguration of Christ. After six days Jesus taketh with
him Peter and James and John and leadeth them up into a high
mountain Now there might have been a problem with the rest
of the nine For a while about this But after the resurrection
they didn't have any problem with it You know, He's a God of sovereignty. He's a God of election. He took
three out of 12 up on that mountain to let them see what He is like
in His glory. He is transfigured before them. All right, let's notice this. Mark 9, and there in verse Verse two, apart by themselves,
and he was transfigured before them. And as raiment became shiny,
exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white
them. That's a wonderful statement
about the righteousness of Christ, about this garment that he's
wearing. Our garment that we get to wear, it is not of human
cleansing. It is the best it can be. My grandmother used to use lye
soap. We washed our hands with it.
If you used enough of it, it'd take the hydride off. She used
lye soap. Lye is caustic. Mixed with lard
how it makes soap. I don't know and it's almost
as much of mystery about the blood of Christ that his blood
can cleanse us as white as snow like no other agent on this earth
can do His raiment was whiter than any earthly fuller could
make it. And that's his righteousness.
It is declared by this scene that we see here. And he goes
on, and there appeared unto him Elias with Moses, and they were
talking with Jesus. Moses and the prophets represented
here. They're in conversation with
the Lord Jesus. Now don't go on and say, well,
look at what Peter did. Peter did nothing else than you
and I would do. Have done but the Lord continues
to share with us and the voice from heaven continues to share
with us Listen to Jesus Christ and him only he's my beloved
son hear ye him It will despair all those thoughts that you had
about him The irreverent ones the unscriptural ones it will
take care of those but his raiment and was wider than any fuller,
any soap could make it." What? What does it say there? On earth. Any soap on earth could make
it. There is nothing that matches this. So this fire, refining
fire brings out 100%. And this soap that he uses is
100% with no dross left. I find no fault in them. Welcome thou good and faithful
servant because there's no dross. I don't know how many times going
to church, my mother got a hold of my ear and with a handkerchief and spit in it and wash me behind
my ears. Talk about a spit bath. So I
would be more presentable in church. I wouldn't have dirt
behind my ears. Well, by nature, the best we
can do is still have dirt behind our ears. and we cannot ever
meet God in that fashion. We must meet him in the blood
of Christ. This word metamorphosis that's
used here is used two times with regard to the transfiguration
of Jesus Christ and two times with regard to the church. Four
times in all the Bible, that word is used. Let's just read
the first one found in Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12
and verse 2. Romans chapter 12 and verse 2. Be not conformed to this world,
but be ye transformed. That's the same word. How do
you do that? God had better do it or it's
not going to be done. God must do it or it won't happen.
All of our transforming, all of our progressive sanctification,
all of our getting better is not enough. It takes the blood
of Christ. By the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. The raiment became shiny. exceeding
white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them. A refiner's fire, no way to be
like that from works. And so it's no wonder that the
prophet was used to write these words by inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. Who shall stand? Who shall stand before him? He's
like a refiner's fire and a fuller soap. Who shall stand? Nobody
in their own righteousness. Only those in the righteousness
of Christ will be able to stand. And they'll recognize. We recognize. It's not us. It's He in us. It's not our cleansing. It's
His cleansing us. It's Him. It's no wonder that
Paul wrote to the Galatians, he says, I'm so surprised that
you're so soon turned from him. He's such an attraction. He is the messenger of the covenant.
He is the covenant. He's the representative of God.
He's the son of God. And to be turned from him, this
one? Well, if we don't have Christ,
we'll be easily turned. If we have him, we can't be turned.
That's all there is to it. Well, we'll go on, and that verse
six just resounds again. I am God. I change not. Therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. I find no fault in you.