Thank you, Brother James. Let's
open the scriptures this evening back to the book of Malachi chapter
3. We visited this scripture, at
least the last verse of the second chapter this morning, and I've
got a few things I want to say again from this, the last book
of the Old Testament. Here's the last few words of
the second chapter of this great prophecy of Brother Malki. The last question is, this is
what the ungodly ask. They saw no judgment of God upon
sin. It didn't appear to them to be
any difference and make any difference whether you were seeking to do
good or whether you were seeking to do evil. In fact, they said,
and I'll just back up and read, the Lord said, when you say everyone
that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth
in them. Sort of like universal, God's
universal love. He loves you, loves everybody. And I tell you, whoever he loves,
it's for sure, they're going to be just fine. They'll be all
right. So lots of people look at this. In fact, somebody told
me this morning, That fellow told him, said, this verse, he
said, that's where they get the idea that God loves everybody. It just doesn't make any difference
who you are, what you do. God doesn't see evil and He sees
good. Everybody's going to wind up
in heaven someday. Well, that's false. That's false. Just one way to glory. One way to God. And that way
is by our Lord Jesus and His work. His work. We don't just
preach Christ. We preach Christ crucified. Someone sent me a letter this
week and this was their criticism of their pastor. They said, he does preach Christ,
but he doesn't preach Christ crucified. Well, we do preach who he is,
but we also preach what he did. Because if he didn't die, to satisfy God's justice. And
there's no salvation for anybody. We preach Christ and Him crucified. But this is what those scoffers
asked. They said, where is the God of
judgment? And here's the answer to that
question in the first verse. of the next chapter. This is
indeed God's own Son speaking. The Son of God says, Behold,
I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before
me. And the Lord whom ye seek, you
ask, where is the God of judgment? This God that you're asking about,
one day He will come suddenly to His temple. He shall come suddenly to His
temple. Well, who is He? The next statement
says He's the messenger of the covenant. The messenger of the
covenant. Thank God for that everlasting
covenant of grace, that counsel of peace. Our Lord Jesus, He's got everything
to do with that covenant. In fact, God the Father says
to Him in Isaiah, I've given you for a covenant. He is the
covenant. He's the messenger of the covenant.
He is the substance of the covenant. He is himself the mediator of
the covenant. He is the surety of the covenant. He's the message of the covenant. He's the blessing of the covenant. He died and shed his blood that
ratified the covenant. His obedience unto death is the
only condition of the covenant. Now you think about that. That's
the condition. Everything based on that. The
substitutionary sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. Back in that
covenant of grace, God the Father entrusted to His dear Son a great
group of people. Oh, they come out of every nation,
every kindred, every tribe, every language. It's a great multitude. At any given time, just a few
folks like us tonight. But oh, when they're gathered
together, all of us together, all the ransomed of the Lord,
all of those chosen and given to Christ Jesus in that covenant. It's going to be a vast group
of people. A vast group of people. In that
covenant of grace, God the Father gave all of us to His Son for
safekeeping, for everlasting salvation. He says, I give them
to you. I give them to you." These are
the ones that the Savior made mention of in John chapter 6
and verse 34. He said to those unbelieving
Jews, they wouldn't have anything to do with Him. They said, well,
show us another sign, we'll believe you. He just fed them the day
before along with 5,000 other men plus women and children.
They said, show us a sign, we'll believe you. He said, you've
seen me. You don't believe Me. But there's
somebody that's going to believe Me. Who are they? All that the Father giveth Me,
they're going to come to Me. They're going to come to Me.
He says in verse 44, no man can come to Me except the Father
which has sent Me. Draw him. He says, I'll raise
him up at the last day. Our Savior is going to draw people
unto Himself. If I be lifted up, He said, I'll
draw all unto Me. All of His elect were drawn to
Christ Jesus because we've been given to Him. Given to Him. This is the gift. You see, our
Lord Jesus, He's God's gift to us. Right? Thanks be unto God
for His unspeakable gift. And guess what? We're God's gift
to His Son. He gave us to Christ Jesus. And the Son of God accepted full
responsibility for our salvation. And if any one of the sheep,
even one sheep, God entrusted His Son before the world began. If one of those sheep isn't brought
to the Father by the Shepherd, you know where the shame is going
to be? On Him. That cannot be. He'll bring everybody home safely
to the Father. Save His sheep because He's the
messenger of the covenant. He is, as I said, the mediator
of the covenant. He died and He sealed the covenant
with His blood. He is Himself the testator of
the covenant. This is His last will and testament,
everlasting salvation of all those given to Him in the covenant
of peace. He's going to save us all, but
in order for His will to be effectual, He had to die. He had to die. I told somebody the other day,
I was talking about our Lord Jesus and we love His life of
obedience, His life of perfection, but if that's all He did, if
He just was born, obeyed Mary obeyed Joseph. Got older,
obeyed the laws, the civil laws. Obeyed God's law. Up until age
33, if he had gone back to glory, There wouldn't be any putting
away of sin, there wouldn't be any righteousness for us, there
wouldn't be any salvation for us, there wouldn't be any redemption
for us, because without shedding the blood, there's no remission
of sin. He just had to die. I wrote that
article last week in the bulletin, and if you didn't read it, I
hope you will read it, and if you read it, read it again. Our God in the garden after Adam
and Eve had fallen, Adam being the representative of the race,
of our race. Eve didn't represent anybody,
but Adam represented everybody. They left God. They went running
away from God. God sought them in the cool of
the day. Thank God He seeks sinners. He
came after them. He wouldn't let them go. He wouldn't
let them go. He announced the gospel to them.
And you know, before they sinned, they were naked and had no shame. No sin. Nothing to be ashamed
of. That's the two of them. Then
they sinned. They looked at themselves. Oh
my, we're naked. We've got to have something to
cover us. And I think there's a spiritual
It goes a little deeper, or a religious thing to this, they realize their
souls are naked. We've got to do something here.
They make these aprons. That's not going to cover your
shame. You've got to have a better garment than that, something
that your own hands make. That's salvation by works. That's
salvation by the deeds of the law. By the deeds of the law
shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. And they watched
as God Almighty killed animals. And then used the skins of those
animals. Then He robed them. He robed
them. He wrapped those garments around
them. There is no righteousness. There
is no covering. There is no justification apart
from the bloody death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for His life. I told
somebody the other day, I said I was listening to a message
that somebody suggested I listen to and in the message it said,
look to the life of Jesus Christ, look to the life of Jesus Christ
for all of your righteousness. That's not correct. And I'm stating
the truth. That's not correct. Look to his
death. That's what's emphasized in the
Scriptures. There's no way God could clothe
Adam and Eve with the skins of those animals unless there was
bloodshed, unless there was death. You and I, we're not going to
have a righteousness that God approves of. unless God's own
Son dies. And by that death, he's satisfied
in full God's justice. He removed our sins from us as
far as the East is from the West. And He robed us in the garments
of righteousness. And even God Himself can't find
fault in us. Ain't that something? We stand
justified in His sight. You know how far back you can
trace all this? Back to that covenant. Back to
that covenant of grace in old eternity. The Son of God says, behold,
I send my messenger, that's John the Baptist. He's going to prepare
the way before me. This isn't Malachi speaking.
Malachi, when he writes, he's writing the Word of God. There's
no question about that. He's inspired these men who were
moved by the Holy Spirit to write the Word of God. But listen,
this is the Son of God speaking. He said, I send my messenger.
No wonder there's a word, behold, in front of it. This one who
is the messenger of the covenant, he says, I'm going to send my
messenger before me. The Lord you seek, you want to
know, you've asked this question, where is the God of judgment? He's going to come suddenly to
His temple. To His temple. Four hundred years go by. And then, John the Baptist was
born. This one that our Lord sends. He said, I'm going to send him.
He sent John the Baptist. Preaching, prepare ye the way
of the Lord. He's coming. He's coming. John the Baptist, he's the last
of the prophets. Our Lord said of John the Baptist,
of those born of woman, John the Baptist, he's the greatest
prophet. Greatest prophet. I wonder why he said it that
way. Well, I think for this reason, all the other prophets, they
wrote about him, spoke about him. John lived to see him. He
identified him. He said, right there he is. Right
there he is. He told his disciples, he said,
behold, God's Lamb. There He is, behold, the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He says, I'm going
to send John the Baptist. Then all of a sudden, the God of judgment, He's coming. You say, but He didn't come in
judgment. Well, wait a minute. I know He
said in John chapter 3, He said, For God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him
might be saved. That is the world of His elect.
The world of His chosen people. He didn't come to condemn His
chosen people. He came to save us. He came to
rescue us. That's why He was given the name
Jesus. For He shall save His people
from their sins. And yet He did come as a God
of judgment. Because He came to judge our
sins. He came to do something about our iniquities. Look over
with me in Romans chapter 8. Look at Romans chapter 8. The
Son of God did indeed come As the God of judgment, where is
the God of judgment? Oh, suddenly He is going to come
to His temple. He didn't come to judge His people.
He didn't come to condemn His people, the world of His elect. But He did come to condemn something. Look at Romans 8, there is therefore
now verse 1, No condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit of sin,
the law, the spirit of life. In Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death, for what the law could
not do, and that it was weak through the flesh. God sent His
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin." He sent Him
into this world concerning this issue of sin. That's why God
sent Him now. He said, well, He set a good
example of how we ought to live and all of that. Well, He's a
perfect man, no question about that. But He wasn't sent to be
our example. He's sent to be our Savior. He's
sent to be our Redeemer. God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. What did He do? He condemned
sin in the flesh. He didn't condemn people, though
we sure deserved it. He didn't judge people, though
we merited it. He judged our sin. He dealt with the issue. I mean,
he got right down to what the real matter is. What is the real
problem? It's sin. And he took it on himself,
charged it to me, laid it to my account. Like Paul said there
in the book of Philemon. Put it on my account. I'll pay
it. I'll pay it. That's what Christ
said to the Father in the covenant of grace. Put it on my account.
I'll pay it. I'll pay it in full. Now go with me to Luke chapter
2. So they said, here's the question. Where is the God of judgment?
And the answer comes back, the God whom you seek, He's going
to suddenly come to the temple. Here's the title of the message,
A Temple Meeting. Here's a meeting at the temple. Let me just give you a few thoughts
from there. This is such a wonderful story. And I know, you know all the
Bible. I don't want to be guilty of elevating one scripture over
another. Because it's all the Word of
God. It's like a vast mountain range, isn't it? The Word of
God is. And yet at the same time, we have to be honest. There are
certain scriptures that just really speak to us. maybe more so than others. I
mean, that's just fact, and that's just the way it is. It's due
to our lack of understanding, I'm sure, and our lack of discernment. But, you know, God blesses His
Word to us, and He uses various Scriptures to do it, various
passages of Scripture. And I dare say in your conversion,
God taught you the Gospel, different passages of Scripture. I'm sure
if I went around to each of you and I said, you know, was there
a particular verse of Scripture that God used in your conversion? You know, you may say, oh, you
know, this one or that one or another one. Because God uses
different portions of His Word. His Word is quickening. His Word
is life-giving in the hands of the Spirit. Well, this passage
concerning this man Simeon, it always blesses my heart. For
some reason or another, and all Scripture does. I won't even
say any more about it. You know what I'm trying to say.
You know what I'm trying to say. But this is what I want to show
you. Luke 2 verse 27. Here's this man Simeon. Luke
2 verse 27. And he came by the Spirit, into
the temple. Now remember what is written
there in Malachi chapter 3. That one you seek, the God of
judgment, the Lord that you seek, He will suddenly come into His
temple. Well, here the Spirit of God
brings a man in. His name is Simeon. And then, and when the parents
brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom,
the law. Here he comes to the temple.
Suddenly, here's a temple meeting. Here's a man, a sinner, and here's
the Savior. I'll tell you this, and I know
this is not a temple. This is a house made with hands. But this, we would say, this
is the house of God. In this sense, it's where God's
people meet. It's a special place. It's set
up for a reason. For worship. This is where we
come. And if the Spirit of God has led you here this evening,
and I've said before you, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, This
is a meeting place. It's a meeting place. You think, how many times have
we met with Christ Jesus here by His Spirit? Why, numbers of
times. In fact, the Lord has said this
is where He's going to be, where His Word is set forth, where
His Gospel is proclaimed. I quote that passage this morning
where two or three gathered, gathering in my name. I'll be
in the midst of the Lord. He's given us His Word. He's
given us His promise. He will be with us. And the Spirit
of God brings you here. Here's Simeon. What do we know
about him? Well, he's a man who loves the
Lord. He loves the Gospel. In fact,
you go back up here, look at verse 25. And behold, there was
a man in Jerusalem His name was Simeon. His name means one who
hearkens, one who listens. I tell you, that's a good description
of every child of God. When the Spirit of God gets their
ear and gets their heart, you listen to the things of God.
Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. We listen. We say like old Samuel, Over
in 1 Samuel, I say old Samuel, young Samuel, we said, speak
Lord, for thy servant heareth. We come here to hear the Lord
speak. Behold, there's a man in Jerusalem
whose name was Simeon, a listener. He's a listener. It's a blessed
day when God shuts our mouths and opens our ears so we hear
the Word of God. Stop giving our opinions. Well,
let me tell you my two cents worth, preacher. Well, it's not
even worth that. Just close your mouth and God
open your ears to hear the Gospel. We always want to say something. This man Simeon, he's one who
hearkened to the Word of God. He hearkens to what the Lord
says. His name was Sinion. He was just. He's a justified
man. How is He justified? He's justified
by grace. In fact, He's been justified
forever. There's an everlasting aspect
to justification. It's got to be because it's the
eternal God who justifies. I tell you, He's just. Christ hasn't
even died yet. He's still just. Like brother Lot. God delivered
just Lot. That doesn't mean He's the only
one. It means justified Lot. Righteous Lot. He's righteous
way back yonder. In fact, you can even go back
before Him to Noah. He's a righteous man. He's a
justified man. Justified by grace. Justified
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Being justified. We are in a state of we are right
before God. We are right with God. You see,
since our Lord Jesus has died for us, and He settled the issue
with God for us, it is only right for God to justify us. He would
be wrong if He didn't. He'd be doing wrong. Everybody
whose debt is paid, it is paid. And everybody for whom Christ
died on that cross, they're reconciled to God. There's nothing in the
way. Sin's been removed. God's justice is appeased. There is no wrath of God to us.
I just read there in Romans chapter 8 verse 1, there is therefore
now no condemnation, there is no judgment, there is no wrath,
there is no hell for everybody that Christ died for. Everybody
Christ died for is going to be drawn to Him. by the Spirit of
God. There is going to be a meeting
between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God is
going to bring you to the Savior, just like the Spirit of God brought
Simeon in. I don't know what Simeon was
doing that day, but I do know this. The Scripture
says the Spirit of God led him to the temple. I tell you what, when you heard
the Gospel, I mean you really heard the Gospel. When you heard
that in your soul, in your heart, maybe you had heard it before
and it didn't have any effect on you, but then the voice of
God spoke to you. You heard His voice. You hearkened
to the Word of the Lord like old Simeon did. That's what his
name means. It was because the Spirit of
God brought you. He brought you effectually to
the Son of God. And that's what's got to happen.
That's what's got to happen. Maybe that's why God brought
you here tonight. Wouldn't that be something? Wow, what a miracle. Here we
are, folks gathered together around the Word of God. Maybe
somebody watching on the internet. I call that Pajama Church. Pajama Church. And somebody told
me tonight, they've been to Pajama Church several times, due to
sickness though. Due to sickness. But the Spirit
of God crosses your path with the Gospel. He brings you to
hear the Gospel. Not just hear it with these ears,
but you hear it in your soul, you hear it in your heart. And
all of a sudden you say, this is the gospel I need, because
I'm in such a mess. And God's so holy, God's so righteous,
and God's so just, and me being so... I'm just miserable in my
sin. And then I hear the good news
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There's forgiveness in Christ
Jesus. There's acceptance in Christ
Jesus. There's righteousness in Christ
Jesus. Oh God, that's the Savior I need! I'm coming to Him! I'm trusting
Him! Who brought you to believe Him?
The Spirit of God. A meeting at the temple. He brings
you to meet the Son of God. That's the way it was with Simeon.
I go back up and look again, verse 25. He's a just man. He's a righteous man. He's devout. He's a worshiper. He's serious
about the things of God. He's reverent. He reverences
the Lord. And you know what he's doing?
He's waiting. He's waiting. We're also introduced to Anna
in this in this passage of Scripture. You know, her name means grace.
Grace. And if you look up in verse 38,
over to verse 38, she coming in that instant, she came to
the temple, she gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of Him
to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Looked and waiting,
same word. Looking and waiting. Waiting
and looking. Well, what are they looking for?
What are they waiting for? Well, for Simeon, waiting for
the consolation of Israel. Waiting for that one who brings
him comfort. Comfort. And nobody can comfort
you like Christ Jesus. Oh, the world can whisper peace,
peace in your ears, but that don't give comfort to the heart.
But I tell you whose voice, the voice of the shepherd speaking
to his sheep, that will give you comfort. Even the preacher's
voice can't give you a heart comfort. But the voice of the
Son of God can give you comfort. He's waiting for the consolation.
I tell you, the greatest comfort to the child of God, and this
is the comfort all those Old Testament saints were waiting
for, was redemption. I know some folks here have heavy
hearts. Some of you going through difficulties
and various sicknesses and things of that nature. Here's your consolation. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Boy, that soothes the troubled
heart right there. Everything is alright between
you and God because of Christ Jesus and His work of redemption.
That's soothing and that gives me consolation. This world is
going to hell in a handbasket, it sure is, but I'm happy in
Christ Jesus. I'm comforted in Him. Well, I
don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, preacher. I don't either,
but I have a strong consolation in Christ Jesus. Because the
One who saved me by His substitutionary death, He sits on His throne
and He's executing God's eternal purpose, bringing it all to pass
by His providence. Waiting for the consolation of
Israel. It says the Holy Ghost was on
Him. And he had special revelation. Verse 26, it was revealed unto
him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he
had seen the Lord's Christ. And I'll tell you what we have
by divine revelation. We have this word from God that
God is not willing that any of His elect should perish. But
they all come to repentance. Not a one of these is going to
be lost. Not one. Why doesn't God just wrap up
this whole shit match and take us out of this mess and take
me out of my own sinfulness and my own rottenness? Why didn't
He just take me to glory now and all the rest of the saints
of God and bring them in to the rebellion in this world? and
the wickedness in bringing in the sin, some of His elect still
got to hear the Gospel. Maybe some of them haven't even
been born yet. But they're going to have to
find out who God is. They've got to find out who they
are. They're going to have to learn this Gospel. And God's
going to teach them. He's going to teach them. after
all the elect are gathered in safely. Here's all the sheep,
all safely in the fold of salvation, brought to faith in Christ Jesus,
brought to true repentance of their idolatry. And to look back
on all their works of religions, they're just dead works. Lord,
I'm so sorry. I thought I was doing you a favor.
I thought I was doing good things and earning brownie points with
God. All I was doing, I was just working more iniquity. Didn't
even know it. Lord, I'm so sorry. He brings you to true repentance
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and all the sheep are gathered
in. That's when He's going to come. That's when He's going
to wrap this whole thing up. And not one of God's elect gonna
see death until they see Christ Jesus. See Him with the eye of
faith. See Him as their all in all.
See Him as their wisdom, their righteousness, their sanctification,
and their redemption. See Him as everything they need
to put them in good standing before a holy God. God see Him. He came by the Spirit. into the
temple when his parents brought in the child Jesus to do for
him after the custom of the law. He took him up in his arms and
he blessed God. He blessed God. We bless God
for Christ Jesus. I know the whole world, at least
the world that we're acquainted with, is celebrating the birth
of a baby. We don't need a day on the calendar
to do that. Somebody tell us, remember His
birth. Oh, we're always thankful. We're
thankful to know that He who was born came to die. Came to
give His life a ransom for many. And we bless God. We bless God. Because in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we see God's salvation. We see our salvation. He said,
verse 29, Now let thy servant depart in peace according to
thy word. According to your word. Well,
God's always true to His word, isn't He? He says, for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the
face of all people. Who is he? He is a light to lighten
the Gentiles through revelation. He is the glory of thy people
Israel. Joseph and his mother marveled
at those things which were spoken of. They listened to this man
Simeon. They couldn't believe the things
he was saying. Astonished. And then Simeon blessed them
and he said unto Mary, his mother, Behold, this child is set. This
child is destined. This child, his destiny is fixed. It is appointed for the fall
and the rising again of many in Israel. Notice the order for the fall
and the rising. Remember how the Lord said over
in 1 Samuel, He said, I kill and I make a life. What does
He do first? He kills and He makes you alive. He strips you and He clothes
you. And He'll bring you to fall down
before Him. And He'll raise you up. That's
always His order, isn't it? That's always His order. He's
going to bring you down to raise you up. He ain't going to raise
you up until He brings you down. For a sign which shall be spoken
against yea, He says a sword shall pierce through thy soul
also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Then
there was one Anna, Grace. I tell you, these two people
here, these two aged saints of God, Here's Simeon, his name
means one who hearkens. And here's Anna, her name means
grace. They're typical of all the people
of God. Because grace was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began. She's a prophetess, the
daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great
age. She lived with her husband seven
years. From her virginity, and she was
a widow of about four score and four years. Been a widow a long
time. And she didn't depart from the
temple. She served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant,
there's Simeon holding this infant. She coming in that instant gave
thanks likewise unto the Lord. and spake of Him to all them
that looked for, that waited for redemption in Jerusalem."
All those Old Testament saints and the saints who were alive
at this time, they were looking for, waiting for redemption.
Waiting for redemption. You see, we look back to redemption. They were looking forward to
redemption. But the Old Testament saints
and the New Testament saints, we look to the same event. The
substitutionary sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. See, God
didn't save them in a way that's different from the way He saves
us. He didn't save them by law obedience and then save us by
the death of Christ Jesus. He saved them on account of the
cross. On account of the sacrifice of
Christ Jesus. All of them that look for redemption.
We don't look for redemption. Because redemption's already
been accomplished. We're looking for the Redeemer.
And He's going to come back someday and take us all home to glory. Oh, blessed day that that will
be. Oh, here's a temple meeting. As the Spirit of God drew in
Simeon to see the Lord Jesus. May God bring us to that sweet
meeting place. where we meet the blessed Savior.
When a sinner meets the Savior, something's going to happen.
Something's got to happen by God's marvelous, free, and sovereign
grace. Well, let's sing a closing song.