Now let's open our Bibles to
Malachi chapter three. I've entitled the message this
evening, The Messenger of the Covenant. And if you look back in chapter
two, verse 17, which I preached on Wednesday night, the question
is posed there, where is the God of judgment? Now the question
is posed as an indictment against Israel, against the people, because
of their ungodly practices, because of their unbelief, because of
their complaining, because of their ignorance and self-righteousness,
they ask that question. Look at it in verse 17, you have
wearied the Lord with your words, yet you say wherein have we wearied
him? How have we done this? When you
say, everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord,
and he delighteth in them, or when you say, where is the God
of judgment? And I dealt with that, so I'm
not gonna go back over all that again, but when we see a question
like that, we can see the importance of the issue. This is a gospel
issue. This is not just a question for
vengeance. The Bible says vengeance is mine,
saith the Lord. But the God of judgment is the
true and living God. He's the covenant of God. The
same God of judgment is the same God of salvation. The central
issue of the gospel And how God saves sinners is that question
which is posed so often throughout scripture. But especially in
the book of Job, which is considered to be the oldest book of the
Bible as far as writing in time. And that is how can God be just
and justify the ungodly? How can a man, a sinful man be
just with God? And in reality, not to oversimplify
things, but I'll tell you, I like things pretty simple myself.
And I don't think we're oversimplifying it here. The reality is, is if
you're hearing the gospel consistently, then you should know the answer
to that question. That's why the law and the gospel
is set throughout. And so what happens here in the
prophecy, The prophet Malachi, as he's inspired by the Spirit
of God to preach to these people, he's going to answer that question
in chapter three. Where is the God of judgment?
Where is he? Well, here's how he answers it.
Here's the priest, here's the people. They'd wearied God with
their words. They questioned the justice of
God. They said, where is the God of judgment? Malachi says,
we only know the God of judgment. truly know the God of judgment
as We know and understand and have a saving knowledge of the
messenger of the covenant. And so here's God's answer God's
going to send his messenger Christ the messenger of the covenant
now, let's look at verse 1 the first thing he shows us is Is
that the judgment of God? Where is the God of judgment?
Well, number one, the God of judgment or the justice of God,
you can say it that way too. It's the same thing. The judgment,
the God of judgment, the justice of God stands and is revealed
in the person of the Messiah. in the person of Christ. That's
number one. Now look what he says. First
of all, he speaks of another messenger. Behold, he says, look
at this, view this, gaze upon this, set your attention here
now. This is something you need to
hear. Behold, I, God, the God of the
covenant, the Lord of glory, will send my messenger And he,
that is God's messenger, shall prepare the way before me, before
the Lord, before Jehovah. So first there's God's messenger
sent to prepare the way before Jehovah, before the God of salvation. Now you know who he's talking
about. He's talking about John the Baptist. This is one of the
prophecies in the Old Testament of John the Baptist. Turn to
Isaiah chapter 40. Here's another prophecy of John
the Baptist. And I'll tell you, as I told
you this morning, I referred to some passages over in John
three concerning John the Baptist. I love to study the ministry
of John the Baptist because to study the ministry of John the
Baptist is to study Christ. Because that's who John the Baptist
spoke of. That's who he pointed to. But look at Isaiah chapter
40. It begins in verse one, Comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Now this passage here is about
700, 750 years before Christ. And the passage over Malachi
is about 400 years before Christ. So there's 300, 350 years between
Isaiah and Malachi. And he says comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably. And you
might have in your concordance there, it says speak to the heart.
Speak to the heart. So what he's talking about here
is a people who have been circumcised in heart and ears, born again
by the Spirit. I can't speak to your heart unless
God has done a work of grace in your heart. You know that
so. You may hear the words that I'm
preaching, but they'll fall on deaf ears, spiritually speaking,
unless the Lord of glory, God the Holy Spirit, comes and gives
you life. gives you a new heart. So speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem. In other words, they're going
to hear things that give them peace and assurance. And cry
unto her that her warfare is accomplished. What warfare? Well,
here it is. That her iniquity is pardoned.
Now how's that accomplished? By the blood of Christ. For she
hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins, not
only our iniquity taken away, but righteousness established
and given and imputed, which we receive by faith. And look
at verse three. He says, he says, the voice of
him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God. What he's saying
here is the Messiah's coming. And one of the great signs that
will tell you that that time is here is the coming of this
messenger, the voice. He calls him here in Isaiah 40.
Over in Malachi chapter three and verse one, he calls him the
messenger, and he will prepare the way. In Isaiah 40, he's called
the voice, but it's the same person. It's John the Baptist. Look at Matthew. Turn to Matthew
chapter three. Look at these scriptures with
me. In Matthew chapter 3, this is the record of God concerning
John's preaching and when our Lord arrived on the scene and John baptized him. But look
at Matthew chapter 3, look at verse 1. It says, in those days,
Matthew 3 and verse 1, in those days came John the Baptist preaching.
in the wilderness of Judea and here's what he preached, repent
ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He's preparing the
way. See, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That is the establishment
of the kingdom through the ministry and work of the Messiah, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, for this is that
which was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying, the voice, quoting
here from Isaiah 40, the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. You see that? Look over at verse
11. Now John did not point sinners
to himself. That was my point this morning
in this morning's message. John was not out to gain a following
for himself. He knew his mission. He knew
his commission. And it was on his heart to point
sinners to Christ. Look at verse 11 of Matthew 3.
He said, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. In other words, the baptism of
John was a water baptism and it was a confession of repentance. That's what it was. And John
said, I can do that. But he that cometh after me,
now this is the preparation of the way of the Lord. See, this
is what he's doing. He's preparing them for something
far greater than they could have ever imagined. He's preparing
them in his message for one that is infinitely greater than himself. But he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear, he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. That's redemption
and the new birth. That's what he's talking about.
He can redeem your soul. He can give you life. I can't
do that. That's what John's saying. If
you're looking to me for that, you're looking to the wrong place,
wrong person, aren't you? Preacher can't do that. And it
says in verse 12, whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly
purge his floor. That's judgment. That's what
this is talking about. and gather his weed into the garden. In
judgment, he's going to gather his people unto himself, but
he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. That's the
damnation of the wicked. So in judgment, he's going to
gather his people, his redeemed ones, unto himself, and he's
going to judge the wicked. And that's the issue, see, of
the preparation. And then turn over to Matthew
chapter 11. See, these are all preparations. And the Lord, as you know, he
came on the scene and John baptized him. But look at Matthew chapter
11, look at verse 7. Talking about John the Baptist
again, it says, and as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes
concerning John. Now, this is the Lord saying,
teaching about John. He says, what went you out into
the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
In other words, someone who wouldn't stand firm for the truth that
he was convinced of and convicted of. Conviction, you see. That's
what we need today. Preachers who are convinced,
who have conviction. who won't sway with every twist
and turn, every wind of doctrine. But John wasn't like that. He
says in verse eight, but what went you out for to see? A man
clothed in soft raiment. Behold, they that wear soft clothing
are in king's houses. But what went you out to see?
A prophet? He says, yea, I say unto you,
and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is
written, behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall
prepare thy way before thee. Now that's the quotation from
Malachi 3, our text. And he says here that John the
Baptist is that one. He pointed him out. Look back
at Malachi chapter four. Show you something else here.
We'll get to this later on when we finish up the book of Malachi.
This is interesting because it puts things in the right and
proper perspective, I believe, concerning what the true preacher's
task is. Again, it's to point sinners
to Christ. But look at verse 5 of Malachi 4. It says, Behold,
I will send you Elijah the prophet. Now you see what it says there?
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,
and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and
the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and
smite the earth with a curse. What's he going to do? He's going
to preach Christ. This prophet Elijah. Now who's that talking
about? Is that talking about John the
Baptist personally? Or is it talking about Elijah
personally or someone else? It's talking about John the Baptist.
Why does it say Elijah? Because Elijah was the representative
of the school and the tradition and the message of all the prophets.
John the Baptist was the personal fulfillment of that, that tradition,
that word, that school of the prophets. So many when they were
looking for the Messiah to come or for somebody to come to prepare
the way they were looking for it personally, Elijah to come,
that's not what it's teaching. This is talking about John the
Baptist. Turn over to, I know I'm having you turn to a lot
of scripture, but I want you to see this. Look at Matthew
chapter 17. Matthew chapter 17, and look
at verse 10. And then I wanna go back to Luke
chapter one that Brother Terry read there. You remember here, the Lord on
the Mount of Transfiguration, when he revealed this great vision
to John and to Peter, and it was Elijah and Moses who appeared
and they spoke of his decease, and look at Matthew chapter 17,
look at verse 10, it said, his disciples asked him, saying,
why then say the scribes that Elias, Elijah, must first come. In other words, the scribes,
or they were called lawyers, were like the commentators of
their day. You had the Pharisees and the
scribes. The Pharisees, they were the religionists. They led
the people in their morality and their ceremonies. The scribes
were those who read and interpreted and wrote about the law. And
they were teaching the people that before the Messiah must
come, that Elijah himself must come, and they were basing it
on that Malachi 4 passage that we just read. And so they asked
him, they said, well, why do the scribes say that Elias, Elijah
must come? Verse 11. And Jesus answered
and said unto them, Elijah truly shall come first and restore
all things. But I say unto you that Elijah
is come already. And they knew him not, they didn't
recognize him, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed,
whatever they wanted. Likewise shall also the son of
man suffer for them. Then the disciples understood
that he spoke unto them of John the Baptist. He said, Elijah's
already come. They didn't recognize him. You
say, well, Elijah personally didn't come. No, but that message
that was brought in and sealed and finished up by John the Baptist,
he came. That's Elijah. And they didn't
recognize him. They did to him what they wanted.
What happened? Remember, Herod put him in jail and they beheaded
him. But he came. And he was there and he preached
the gospel. Look back at Luke chapter one that Brother Terry
read. Think about this. Listen to his
message. And think about the language
here. Look back there at verse 67.
Now, you know how it was revealed to Zachariah and Elizabeth that
she would have a child. They were past the age of childbearing. So it was a miracle child. And
he said, you're gonna call his name John. Well, Zechariah tried
to name him after himself, Zechariah, but Elizabeth stepped in and
said, oh no, his name's gonna be John. That's what the Lord
said. And it says in verse 67, after his father Zechariah was
filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, blessed be
the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his
people. Now that's spoken of in past
tense. Did you notice that when Terry read it? That's past tense. That hadn't happened in time
yet, had it? But I'll tell you what, it was already sure and
certain in the mind and purpose of God who speaks of things that
are not as though they were because this is the covenant language.
Now go back to Malachi chapter three. Here's your key now. John the Baptist, the messenger
who prepared the way before Messiah preached Christ. And it says
in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 1, he said, he said, behold,
I will send my messenger. He shall prepare the way before
me and the Lord, that's Jehovah, whom you seek. All right. Whom you seek. Now these people
here in this day, they were seeking the Messiah to come. They were
disappointed in their day that the Messiah had not already come.
In fact, they were complaining because the things weren't good. You see, they've been back in
the land 125 years. The temple had been rebuilt.
The walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt. They were in preparation
for rebuilding the whole city. But they were still under foreign
domination. They were in a drought at this
time. Their crops weren't growing.
They didn't have an abundant harvest. and the Messiah had
not yet come. They were seeking him, all right?
What was the problem? They weren't seeking God's Messiah. They were seeking their idea
of a Messiah. And so here's what he says, look,
he says, the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple
Even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in, in other
words, they took pride, what that means is they took pride
in the fact that they had this messianic prophecy. Oh, the Messiah's
gonna come and he's gonna deliver us, say. But what was their idea? Well, the Messiah was gonna come,
he was gonna conquer all their enemies, he was gonna set up
his headquarters in Jerusalem, and he was gonna rule the world
from Jerusalem, and they'd be his lieutenants, and he'd pat
them on the back and say, well done, fellas, you kept it together
till I got here. But that's not the Messiah of
God, in whom you delight in. The one you delight in's coming,
but it's not gonna be like you think it is. We'll show you that
in just a minute. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. What does that mean? Nothing
can stop him. The Lord of hosts, the Lord who cannot be defeated,
the Lord of the great armies. Some say the Lord of the great
angel army. That's okay. The Lord of hosts
means the invincible God who cannot be defeated. Messiah is
coming and nothing can stop him. He's coming in God's appointed
time. He's not waiting on you to do anything or me to do anything.
See, Israel thought, I've heard modern day Jews who deny Jesus
as the Messiah, they say, well, he's waiting on the people to
become obedient. Oh, no, he is not. Because if he waited on the people
to become obedient, he'd never come. Am I right? Why? We're sinners. And he makes that
point right down there in verse six, the one we quote all the
time. I'm the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob
are not considered. He didn't wait on Jacob for anything.
And he's not waiting on you for anything, or me for anything,
or the Jews for anything. He's not waiting on it. It's
his appointed time. It's covenant. And what kind
of covenant is he talking about? Think about this. He's the messenger
of the covenant. Who is that? That's Christ the
Messiah. That word messenger is the same
word that's used for angel sometimes. Angel of the covenant. And what
covenant is he talking about? He's talking about the everlasting
covenant. He's not talking about the Mosaic
covenant here. Now Christ instituted the law
of Moses. and the covenant of Moses, the
covenant of Sinai for a particular purpose for a temporary, temporal
period of time. He instituted that. But his message
is the message of an everlasting covenant of grace. One old writer
put it this way. He said, like the gospel. The
gospel is the preaching of the terms of the everlasting covenant
of grace. where God chose a people before
the foundation of the world and gave them to Christ. That's what
he's talking about. This is the covenant people.
It's called a better promise, a better priesthood, a better
covenant in the book of Hebrews. All three. In Hebrews chapter
13 and verse 20, let me read you this. He speaks of the God
of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ,
the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, the everlasting covenant. Our savior is God and man in
one person. He's eternal. He's the alpha
and the omega, the beginning and the end, has no beginning,
has no end. And He is the messenger of the
covenant. This messenger of the covenant could only be God Himself. No mere man could be the messenger
of this covenant. Man who is sinful and relegated
to time. This is the messenger of the
covenant, the Messiah. In Matthew chapter 26, when our
Lord instituted the Lord's Supper, He said, My blood is the blood
of the new covenant. The new covenant is the working
out in time of the terms of the everlasting covenant of grace
made before time. God set it up that way. It's
a salvation that was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began but is made manifest by his appearing and through the
preaching of the gospel he came in time. And he says, now you
seek a Messiah, you delight in a Messiah. They expected and
looked for him, but not the one who actually came. And it says
here in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 1 that he's going to suddenly
come to his temple. Now Christ came to the actual
temple in Jerusalem. He came as a child. His mother
and father brought him there. Remember in Luke chapter 2 when
Simeon took the child up in his arms and said, Lord, I'm ready
to depart for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He came then.
And that was by appointment and the destination, predestinating
purpose of God. The Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon
that he wouldn't die until he saw the Christ child. And there
they came. Another time that he came to
his temple is when he drove the money changers out. That's in
Matthew chapter 21. That temple was his, that earthly
temple belonged to him because he's the one who commissioned
it. Every part of it, the pattern of it, that was given to Moses
on Mount Sinai which first appeared in the form of the tabernacle
and then later in the permanent temple. It was all made according
to the pattern. So it did belong to him, it was
his temple in that sense. It was also his temple to be
set forth in the old covenant as it was a type of him and his
priesthood and his church. But I'll tell you what, he also
shall come to his temple, in this sense, in this prophecy,
meaning the redemption of his church, which is his spiritual
and eternal temple. That church that he redeemed
with the price of his precious blood. Now look at Verse two,
here's the second thing. The judgment of God, the justice
of God, stands in the redemptive work of Christ. Now think about
what he's saying here. You want to know where the judgment
of God is. Where's God's justice? And what they meant by that is,
well, we just don't feel like God's treating us right and he's
treating the evil people better. We feel like we deserve blessings,
and they deserve curses, but they seem to be getting blessings,
and we seem to be cursed, and therefore it really doesn't matter
what you do. God, he loves them. Just like
today, God loves everybody. Doesn't matter. And the Bible
doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches the love of
God in Christ. And it's unconditional love towards
sinners. So he said, where is the God
of judgment? Well, Malachi says, well, let me tell you where he's
at. There's a messenger coming. He's going to prepare the way
of the Lord. And after him comes the messenger of the covenant.
You're looking for him. He's the Messiah. This is a covenant
of grace. It's not a covenant of works.
It's a covenant of everlasting salvation for sinners. But here's
the point. Who, look at verse two, but who
may abide the day of his coming? Now you think when he comes that
you're going to be well off. You think when he comes that
you're going to stand and you're going to be rewarded, but who's
going to abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when
he appeareth? Who's going to measure up? That's
what he's saying. Well, when he comes, here's what
he's going to do. Listen, he says, for he is like
a refiner's fire. Now think of metal. being heated
up, melted, and refined, and all the impurities being taken
away. What's that a picture of? That's a picture of redemption. That's what he's talking about.
He's coming not to pat you on the back. He's coming not to
exalt you and elevate you based on your works and your doings
which you think are so good. He's coming to redeem sinners. His name shall be called Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. This is a faithful
saying worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. That's why he's coming
for. He's like Fuller's soap. That's the laundry person who
scrubs and scrubs. with that fuller soap to cleanse. What's he telling them? He's
saying, you need redemption. You don't need religion. You
don't need ceremony. You don't need to be puffed up.
You're already that way. That's us by nature. You need
redemption by the blood of the lamb. You need cleansing. You think you're clean. You think
all them folks who are getting blessed as you see it, you think
that they're dirty and you're clean. My friend, we're all sinners. This Messiah is coming to redeem
and to cleanse. That's what he's done. He's going
to cleanse by his blood. That's what he's going to do.
He's coming to set forth the salvation of a people who don't
deserve it and cannot earn it. Romans chapter three in verse
24 speaks of justification, being justified freely, unconditionally,
without a cause. That means there's nothing in
us to warrant and earn and deserve this justification. And he says,
how's it going to happen? It's by his grace, he says in
Romans 3 24. That's what this is all about. This is what John the Baptist
taught. That's why he preached the baptism of repentance. You
think you're fine. You think the Messiah is going
to come and he's going to embrace you all and thank you for doing
him a favor. No, it's not that at all. He says, repent, repent,
you see. You need repentance. That's what
I need. I need repentance. I don't have that by nature.
I need faith in Christ. I don't have that by nature.
It's not of my own will or your own will. It's of God. So we're justified freely by
His grace. And how's that going to come
about? Where's the God of judgment? Well, it's justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And
this is the product of an everlasting covenant, Romans 3.25, whom God
has set forth, that is foreordained, predestinated to be a propitiation,
a sin bearing sacrifice that brings satisfaction through faith
in his blood. How's he gonna satisfy it? Through
faith in his blood, through his death, he's gonna die. He who
has made sin, that's what substitution. That's what imputation, that's
what satisfaction's all about. Those are the gospel principles,
you see. Those are the ABCs of the gospel. Christ, the perfect
sinless lamb of God, having our sins charged to him, went under
the judgment of God and received in his body on that tree the
full measure of the wrath of God for our sins and drank damnation
dry. He drank that, that's the cup,
the cup of damnation, the cup of wrath, even to the point that
he on that cross said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? There's the judgment of God right there in that statement,
isn't it? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Do you
think God the father would have forsaken the son if he couldn't
do it justly? And he wasn't pretending. No
sir, it was real. It was a real separation of the
father and the son that I and no other preacher on the face
of this green earth can explain to you. But I know it was based
on my sins charged to him, imputed to him. And at the same token,
God who set forth his son for the remission of sins, has declared
his righteousness for this purpose, that he might be just and the
justifier of him who believes in Jesus. In other words, not
only did he bring his son under judgment, he brings us into his
bosom of grace and mercy, and he does it justly. There's the
God of judgment in our salvation. That's what Malachi's talking
about. Look at verse three. He says, he shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver. Silver's the symbol of redemption
in the scripture. It's always been so since the
old covenant. Because you remember the silver
that they were to bring when they took a census and they melted
that down and they used that to set the post of the tabernacle
on. That was the base that the post,
in other words, the church, that's a type now, that's a picture
of how the church is built upon the redemptive blood of Christ
the redemptive work of Christ and it says and he shall purify
the sons of Levi now we see the justice of God there in the redemption
of his people and then we see the justice of God in the regeneration
of his people look here he says he shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver and he shall purify the sons of Levi as the
priest and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer
unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. And then shall
the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as
in the days of old, as in the former years." What's he saying? He's saying it's going to be
like it was when it first started there. When he first instituted
that covenant with Moses and set up the priesthood, and how
Aaron and Levi, how they enacted it. And then over time it became
corrupted, even to where it got down to this day. But he says
it's going to go back to the old benchmark, the old landmark
in that sense. That's what he's talking about.
Back to the very beginning, this is what God intended for it to
be. Now turn over with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 10. Whenever I read passages of scripture
like this, I always think of this passage in Hebrews chapter
10 because it's such a commentary on these issues of purging and
cleansing. And it sets forth both the legal
aspects of our being purged and cleansed and the spiritual or
what we might call the moral aspect of our cleansing and purging. Legally being that which Christ
by himself on the cross accomplished for us as the ground of salvation.
Spiritually and morally is what is accomplished within us by
the power of the Holy Spirit as the fruit and the effect and
the result of what Christ did. But look at verse 10 of Hebrews
10. He speaks of Christ coming to
do the will of the Father, verse 10, by the which will, that's
the covenant now, God set it up, Christ the Son of God agreed
to the terms of the redemption of his people,
it was laid upon him, and it says by the which will we are
sanctified, how? We're set apart, made holy, how? Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once. It says for all, that's all whom
he represented, but one time, one sacrifice for sins. And then
he says in verse 11, and every priest standeth daily ministry
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take
away sin. Animal blood couldn't do that.
But this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God. He finished the work from
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
For by one offering, I love this, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. By one offering. That's our perfection. Now, verse 15. Now there's the
legal, there's the ground of salvation. That's the legal aspect
of it. There's the ground of it. Here's
the fruit of it. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. And what is, what is he saying?
He's saying the Holy Ghost, when the Holy Ghost speaks to us in
the preaching, this is what he says. Here's his witness. For after that, he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts. There's
regeneration. That's the biblical language
for it. He said, I will put it in their minds. Will I write
them? And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. They'll realize that God no longer
imputes, charges, sins to them. That he's always imputed unto
Christ. Christ was our surety from the beginning. Now where
remission of these is, there's no more offering for sin. You
know what that speaks of? Repentance. Now think about it.
What would you offer God for remission of sins? What would
you offer him for forgiveness? Well, without knowing the reality
of things, we'd offer him a lot of different things. He said,
well, I'll get right with God. I'll turn over a new leaf. I'll
become religious. I'll get baptized. I'll join
a church. People offer him all kinds of
things, don't they? But once the Holy Spirit writes
the law in your heart and in your mind, regenerates you, brings
you to faith in Christ and repentance, you'll realize that there is
no more offering for sin. There's nothing but Christ, and
you'll love to have it so. Don't need anything more than
Christ. I don't need anything more but his blood. Don't want
anything more. No more offering for sin. Now,
verse 19, look at this. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter in the holiest by the blood of Jesus. There's the ground.
By a new and living way which Christ hath consecrated for us
through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having an
high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a
true heart, an honest heart, a convicted heart, a heart that's
contrite, convicted over sin, in the full assurance of faith.
What's the full assurance of faith? That's the full assurance
that we have in Christ. And he says, and our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience. That's an evil conscience, a
legal conscience. and our bodies washed with pure
water. Back over here in Malachi, this is exactly what he's talking
about. He'll accept the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem. Spiritually
speaking, that's fulfilled in spiritual Israel. And he will
give them offerings in righteousness. He will enable them to bring
offerings in righteousness. How's that? Through the blood.
through the Lamb, through Christ. And then look at verse five.
Here's the God of judgment. I will come near to you to judgment,
and I'll be a swift witness against the sorcerers. That's exactly
what it says. It is those who search for salvation
in themselves, in the stars, or whatever. Against the adulterers. That applies to those who are
spiritually adulterated from God, but those who discount the
word of God and the ways of God. Against the swearers, that's
those who preach a false gospel, a false way, who lie on God.
Against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, that's
the cheaters, that's the ones who abuse and misuse people.
The widow and the fatherless, that's the two classes of people
that were the most neglected in that society. No love. And turn aside the stranger from
his right and fear not me. They don't fear the Lord, saith
the Lord of hosts. And then he concludes that section
with this verse. And I'm gonna preach on this
verse next time. I wanna spend some time on this Sons of Jacob. He says, for I am the Lord, I
change not. That's the immutability of God.
Salvation has always been by grace through faith in Christ.
It never has been different. It wasn't different for the children
of Israel under the Old Covenant. It's not different today. It's
the same. The way Abel was saved, that's the way we're saved today. By the blood of the Lamb. By
the righteousness of Christ. So God hasn't changed. He doesn't
change in His nature. in his character in his person
in his mind he doesn't change we change all the time but God
doesn't and we don't understand that immutability that's something
you can't grasp I can't grasp but we don't know anything about
it except that God tells us that he's immutable but we ought to
take comfort in it for this reason look at I'm the Lord I change
not therefore for this reason you sons of Jacob are not consumed
Why is he called the sons of Jacob there? Now there is a physical
application to Israel under the old covenant, but that was still
temporary. Because many of these were consumed.
But what's he talking about? Who are the sons of Jacob? That's
God's elect. That's Jacob's. And what's he
emphasizing there? He's emphasizing the glorious
and marvelous and amazing grace and mercy of God against the
black background of our sin and our deservedness of hell. Sons
of Jacob, who was Jacob? A sinner saved by the grace of
God. My friend, if we're in Christ,
that's what we are, sinners saved by the grace of God.