Now, my text this morning is
that Malachi chapter 3 passage, verse 6, that I'm going to deal
with and launch out from if you want to turn there. But I want
you to go back to Hebrews chapter 11 to start off with. The title of the message is in
the form of a question. Am I a son of Jacob? Am I a son of Jacob? What is
a son of Jacob? Now you remember over in the
book of Hebrews chapter 11 we've been going through that and I've
been taking each one of these not only dealing with each person
that's mentioned here in the Hall of Faith, sinners saved
by the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ, that's who
they were, Old Testament saints. justified, chosen of God before
the foundation of the world, justified by Christ's righteousness
imputed to them, regenerated, called into the family of God,
redeemed by His blood, washed in, they were washed in the blood
of Christ, and that blood which was shed 2,000 years ago on Calvary's
cross. And in the last couple of messages,
we dealt with this issue, this man Jacob, verse 20 of Hebrews
11. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning the things to come. And that's Jacob and
Esau. Jacob have I loved, the scripture
says. That's God's love to Jacob. Esau
have I hated. That's not the sinful emotional
hatred that we have, that's God's justice against sin. God's hatred
is not sinful, it's not mean, it's not God throwing a temper
tantrum, it's his justice against sin. He hates all workers of
iniquity, the scripture says. What's he talking about? He's
talking about those who are not in Christ. That's what he's talking
about. Those to whom iniquity is charged
who have no righteousness before God. The only righteousness that
I can have before God is Christ crucified and risen from the
dead. Anything else is filthy rags. That's what Isaiah said
in Isaiah 64. So Jacob's a prime example of
a sinner saved by grace. If anyone deserved God's hatred,
God's wrath, God's judgment, it was Jacob. And I'll say it
this way, if anyone else deserved it, me. My salvation, the blessings
of God, my preservation, my entering glory are all things that I don't
deserve and have never come close to earning. It's all grace, grace,
grace, period. And grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life, not by my doing or my dying, but by Jesus
Christ our Lord. And that's what people have forgotten
today now, I'm telling you. If you think about it. Well,
there in verse 21, this is what I dealt with last week concerning
bearing the name of Jacob. It says in Hebrews 11, 21, by
faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph
and worshiped leaning upon the top of his staff. And if you
remember back in Genesis 48, now I'm gonna turn to all these
verses and if you wanna turn with me, you're gonna do some
work. But that's okay, I started to do the screen up here on that
and I thought, no, no, they need to work. I don't wanna make it too easy
for you. Jim makes it too easy for you. I don't want to do that.
I want you to worry. I want you to know your Bibles.
I'm just teasing anyway. But anyway, the blessing, now
it says, when Jacob was on his deathbed, he blessed the two
sons of Joseph. Jacob had 12 sons. Joseph was
one of them. But Joseph had two sons by an
Egyptian woman when he was second in command of Pharaoh and all
that. You know the story. And his two sons were Manasseh
and Ephraim. And what I brought out last week,
that's a picture of the salvation of God's people. Jacob blessing
those two boys. Manasseh, what does that name
mean? It means forgetfulness, forget. Ephraim means fruitful. When God brings a sinner to be
born again, what does he do? He brings that sinner to be fruitful
in faith and repentance, forgetting what's behind and looking forward
to Christ. That's what that's about. And
that's what Manasseh and Ephraim represent there. Forget my past. You know, every time you talk
about, you go to most people today who claim to be Christian,
you ask them if they're saved, what do they normally go to?
Well, back when I was 12 years old, or I got baptized. Forget
it. Are you looking to Christ today?
That's the key, isn't it? Whatever happened in the past.
And that's faith and repentance. That's what it's talking about.
But here in Genesis 48 verse 16, here's what the blessing
is. He says, the angel which redeemed me from all evil. That's
Christ. That word angel doesn't always mean an angelic being.
It means messenger. Like that word messenger in Malachi
3. The angel, the messenger which
redeemed me from all evil. And Jacob speaking in the past
tense because God had promised it before the foundation of the
world. It was sure and certain to happen in time. So he speaks
of it as if it already happened, even though in time it hadn't
already happened. That's how sure and certain this
thing is. All the promises of God in Christ are yea and amen. And so he says in verse 16 of
Genesis 48, the angel which redeemed me from all evil blessed the
lads, Manasseh and Ephraim, and let my name be named on them. He says, and he said, and the
name of my fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and let them grow into
a multitude in the midst of the earth. So Jacob gave them his
name. Well, the spiritual application
of that is that everyone who is saved by the grace of God
basically is a Jacob. And you know, Jacob had two names.
There's the name of his sinfulness, his sinnerhood, Jacob. And then
there's the name that described his salvation by the grace of
God, which is Israel, which means those who have prevailed with
God. And how does a sinner, how can any sinner prevail with God?
Well, he can work hard and try to get right with God. No, that's
not how you prevail with God. How does a sinner prevail with
God? Well, he joins the church and gets baptized, turns over
a new leaf. No. How does a sinner prevail
with God? He pleads the blood of the Lamb,
just like Abel. He comes to God like that old
publican, God be propitious, merciful to me, the sinner. That's how you prevail with God.
God said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,
hear ye Him. You want to prevail with God,
sinner? Come to Him through Christ. Nothing in my hands I bring,
simply to the cross I go. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross, the finished work of Christ, His righteousness
imputed to me. I don't have anything else. You know why that prevails with
God? Because it glorifies Him, it honors Him, puts me in the
dust where I belong. Old preacher up in West Virginia,
he'd just say, senator, put down your shotgun and make your headquarters
in the dust, because that's where you belong. And that's it. Well, the people of God, the
true people of God, the elect of God, the redeemed of the Lord,
the justified, the saints, are identified as you've seen in
these descriptions. They're identified in the scripture
with many different names. And one of those names is the
name Sons of Jacob. The Sons of Jacob. Look back
here in Malachi chapter three now. Last book of the Old Testament. 4,000 years of recorded human
history. And what do we see? This prophet
of God, Malachi. He comes to the people of God
who are under the old covenant. Most of whom were unbelievers.
But God had made a covenant with them according to a promise that
He made with Abraham. And He brought them together
as a nation. He kept them together despite all of their sinfulness.
Isn't that the way God does us? God saved me and saves me in
spite of me. Do you know that's true? You
think you're helping him out? You think you're contributing
to the program? Huh? You think that anything
that you can do can contribute to what the Son of God has already
done in His obedience unto... Absolutely not. So what are we
then? What place do we have? Well,
Ephesians 2.10 says it. We are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto, not because of, but unto good works, whereunto
the Lord has ordained that we should walk in them. We're the
fruit. We're the result. Christ said, I'm the branches.
You're the what? The fruit. That's it. Sinners saved by grace. But here
Malachi comes to the people of God in Israel. What do we learn? Well, here's the main two lessons.
Since the fall of man 4,000 years or so before, man basically has
not improved. He's still just as sinful, just
as depraved, just as rotten as he always was. What have we learned
since then up to our time? Same thing. Man's still just
as sinful. Oh, we pride ourselves on our
technology, don't we? We pride ourselves on our philosophies. But man by nature is just the
same as he always was. Sinners who have no righteousness
by their nature or by their works, sinners who are just as much
in need of the grace of God as we always were. We pride ourselves,
I mentioned this in the Sunday school, I love my country, I'm
a patriot. And we pride ourselves on our
Constitution and the philosophies of freedom and liberty and all
of that. But basically, as far as salvation goes, as far as
a right relationship with God goes, we're no better off than
any time. That's right. But here's the
second message, the second lesson that we see at the closing of
the Old Testament. The sovereign grace and mercy
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ is still, and always will be,
the only way of salvation for sinners like us. That won't change,
never has changed. Never will change. You say, well
back during the law they were saved by their works. No, back
during the law they were lost by their works. That's why Paul in 2 Corinthians
3 calls it administration of what? Condemnation and death. And listen to what he says. Look
at Malachi chapter 2 and verse 17. Jim mentioned one line out
of this, but here's what happens. In Malachi 3, Malachi gives a
response to the question in verse 17 of Malachi 2. And this is
what he says, you have wearied the Lord with your words. You know what that means? They
were preaching false gospels. And my friend, there's a lot
of false gospels today. There's a lot of false Christianity
today. That's why I try to get people
to look at themselves, examine yourselves according to the word
of God. You have wearied the Lord with
your words, yet you say wherein have we wearied him? They didn't
realize they were doing that. They weren't intending to do
that, but that's what they were doing. When you say, everyone
that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord. Now listen
to me, you know, it sounds like the book of Judges, doesn't it?
They call good evil and evil good. And he delighteth in them. In other words, they're looking
at people who are trying to establish a right relationship with God,
but in an evil way. Well, what is the evil way? Any
way but Christ. You take a fellow who says, well,
you know, I've been a scoundrel all my life, I'm going to turn
over a new leaf and get right with God. Now that in society would seem
noble, but in God's sight it's evil. Because God says the only
way for a sinner, whether he's a scoundrel or whether he's standing
behind a pulpit, The only way you can get right with God is
through Christ. There's no other way. Through
His blood, His righteousness, there's no other way. Every other
way is evil with God. That's why men hate the light,
John 3, 19. Because it exposes what men and
women by nature esteem and highly honor and judge to be right with
their words. to be evil because it doesn't
glorify God. It denies Christ. It lifts the
sinner up in pride. That's why it's evil. So he says, so they say, well,
where is the God of judgment? In other words, they didn't feel
like they were under God's wrath, God's judgment. Well, Malachi
then launches out in verse one of chapter three. And remember
now, when the Bible was originally written, it wasn't written in
chapters and verses. So he just comes right on, he says, behold,
I'll 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, the angel of the covenant, Christ
of the covenant, whom you delight in, in other words, whom you
claim to delight in because they said they were looking for Messiah
to come. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts, the
Lord who cannot, the invincible God of an army that cannot be
defeated. That's what Lord of Hosts means.
Nothing's going to stop this. We were talking a while ago about
the Jews today, the unbelieving Jews. They don't sacrifice animals,
according to the book of Leviticus, yet they claim the Messiah hasn't
come. I asked a Jewish rabbi in Louisville,
Kentucky one time, why aren't you sacrificing? And he told
me this. This is his view. He said, well, the people are
in disobedience. And he said, as soon as the people
come back in obedience, the Messiah will come. I said, not so. Now, you know what God said? Here's the people in disobedience
right here, and here's what the Lord says. Messiah is coming,
and it can't be stopped. My friend, if the Messiah was
going to come only when people were obedient to the Word of
God, we'd never see him. And look at verse 2, he says,
but who may abide the day of his coming? Who shall stand when
he appeareth? For he's like a refiner's fire
and like a fuller's soap. He shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver. In other words, he's coming in
judgment. Who's going to stand in the day of the Lord? No sinner
will stand on his own merits. And notice this, he says, he
shall purify the sons of Levi. What does that mean? Well, the
sons of Levi were the priest. That was the priestly tribe.
They are the ones who attended the service of God in the tabernacle
in the temple. The high priest, who represented
Christ, went into the holiest of all one day a year with the
blood of the lamb. The other priests were his people. And the sons of Levi represent
spiritually the redeemed of the Lord who are made priests and
kings unto God. What is the priesthood of the
believer? You ever heard that term, the priesthood of the believer?
You know what I used to think that was? I used to think, well,
that means you can read the Bible and figure out what it means
to you and I can read it and figure out what it means. That's
not what that means at all. The priesthood of the believer
means this. You can see it, we won't turn there, you can see
it in Hebrews 10, 19 through 22. We have full right and title
to enter the presence of a holy God through the blood of Jesus
Christ. That's the priesthood of the
believer. I don't need a man with a funny collar to confess
to and go in for me. All I need is Christ, my great
high priest. And that's what he's saying.
He says in verse three, that they may offer unto the Lord
an offering in righteousness. What is our offerings in righteousness?
It's a sinner coming to God like Abel, pleading the blood of the
land, the righteousness of Christ. Verse four, then shall the offering
of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days
of old, as in former years. What he's talking about there
is how we stand in Christ. This is a prophecy. of what it's
going to be like in the kingdom of God in Christ, the spiritual.
And that's made up of God's chosen people, Jew and Gentile, believers. Sinners saved by grace. Verse
5, I'll come near you to judgment. I will be a swift witness against
the sorcerers. That's false religion. against
the adulterers, against false swearers, against those that
oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless
that turn aside the stranger or the foreigner from his right,
and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. He's talking about
people who lead people wrong in whatever way. But here's the
key, verse six. For I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Now, whoever these sons of Jacob
are, they're not going to be consumed. They're not going to
perish. And the reason they're not going
to perish, the only reason he gives, is because he doesn't
change. You know how most people think
of God, don't you? They think of God, I use this term all the
time, they think of God as some kind of a cosmic chess player.
God's up there and he makes his move, and then we make our counter
move, and then he tries to figure out the next move. That's not
the God of the Bible, is it? The God of the Bible is immutable.
I cannot wrap my mind around that. How about you? Something,
all I know is change. But God doesn't change. He's
always been the same. And what does he say about himself
concerning this issue of salvation? It's always been by grace, and
it's always been based upon the righteousness of his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, you sons of Jacob,
you sinners, are not consumed. That's the only reason. Now here's
the question. Am I a son of Jacob? Because
that's who that describes. That's a metaphor for God's people.
The church, the redeemed, the elect, the saved, the believers,
the bride of Christ, all of that. Different terms. You know, Christ
has many names in the scripture because of the fullness of his
glory. Well, his church has many names too. One of those names
is sons of Jacob. How do you know? Because they're
not going to be consumed. And who's not going to be consumed
by the wrath of God? Only those for whom Christ died
on that cross. Because on that cross, what did
Christ do? He consumed the wrath of God
for His people. That's what He did. Everything that I deserved and
earned because of my sin Christ consumed it. My sin was imputed,
charged, accounted to Him. My debt was given to Him and
He paid it in full. He satisfied justice. He brought
forth everlasting righteousness. Now how do I know that He did
that for me? Because if He didn't do it for
me, I'm going to be consumed. That's what the Scripture teaches.
There's not going to be people consumed for whom Christ died,
folks. If you believe that, you've just destroyed the justice of
God. Now I'm telling you, I've been writing on that all week
for the new book. Justice is satisfied for those
who will not be consumed. Righteousness is established.
Sin's been put away. Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. And if the blood of Jesus has
washed them away, they're gone. So now, am I a son of Jacob?
You remember, last week I quoted this verse I read. It's Numbers
23, verse 21. Where, prophetically speaking,
It says this, he says, God hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob. God doesn't see iniquity in Jacob.
What is iniquity? That means it doesn't balance
out, it doesn't equal out. The scales are tipped against
us, that's what that means. But it says, God hath not beheld
iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel,
The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among
them. Now that has some applications back in Numbers 23 that I don't
have time to go into this morning. But as it applies to the sons
of Jacob, as it applies to sinners saved by grace, what does that
mean? When God looks at me, does he
see iniquity and sin? Well, he sees everything. The
Bible says he sees our hearts. You're sitting there right now
listening to me, right? Are you listening to me? Or did some fleeting thought
shoot through your mind? I didn't see that thought, didn't
hear it, and probably you don't want me to. But I'll tell you
who did see it. God did. God's omniscient. So when it says that God sees
no iniquity in Jacob, it's not talking about his omniscience.
Omni meaning all, science meaning knowing. God knows everything. It's not talking about His omniscience.
You know what it is talking about? It's talking about His justice. It means this. It means, as He
said in Hebrews chapter 10, He will remember my sins no more.
He will not charge them against me. He will not impute iniquity
to me. Psalm 32.1, blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Romans 8.33, who shall
lay any charge to God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ. What it means is
this, in the law books of God, there is no sin, even though
we're sinners, there's no sin recorded against His people to
bring them to condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. My sins were charged to Christ. He was made sin for me. 2 Corinthians
5. His righteousness is charged
to me. I made the righteousness of God
in him. That's what the law books of
God's justice say. I read in Psalm 103 a while ago,
there's another verse in that Psalm, verse 10, that says this.
Psalm 103 and verse 10, He hath not dealt with us after our sins,
nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. It doesn't say
God hadn't dealt with our sins. It says God hadn't dealt with
us after our sins. He dealt with our sins, the sins
of His people. When did He deal with them? On
the cross of Calvary in the person of Christ. That's why believers
aren't under the wrath of God. Christ came under the wrath of
God as our surety and substitute. That's why, that's why Our judgment
is done because Christ took it. You see, this speaks of the non-imputation
of sin and the imputation of righteousness to His people.
Sons of Jacob. Turn to Isaiah 41. I'm going
to give you a little time to turn. I've got three or four
verses here I want you to look at and then I'm going to close. I want to show you something
here. Do a little Bible study. Isaiah 41. Now, am I a son of
Jacob? That was the question, right?
Are you a son? That's the same thing. Somebody
asked me, am I one of the elect? Am I one of the redeemed? Am
I truly saved? All those questions can fall
right, am I a son of Jacob? If you're a son of Jacob, you
won't be consumed. Listen to this in Isaiah 41. Look at verse
10. This is a prophecy of Christ. He says in verse 10, Fear thou
not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee. Yea, I
will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. You
see, the justice of God keeps coming through in this. Verse
11 of Isaiah 41. Behold, all they that were incensed
against thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be
as nothing. They that strive with thee shall
perish. That's unbelievers. Thou shalt
seek them and shall not find them, even them that contended
with thee. They're gonna perish, they're
gonna be consumed. Those who live and die in unbelief. He says, they that war against
thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of naught, of nothing. For I, the Lord thy God, will
hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not, I will help thee.
And look at verse 14 now. Fear not thou worm, Jacob. And you men of Israel, I will
help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer. The Holy One of
Israel. Fear not thou worm. He calls
us worms. Now I know that that's not a
very appetizing thing to bring up before lunch. But if you know
Christ, I'm going to show you something that's very appetizing
to you spiritually. That word worm there. You know
there's basically a couple of words in the Bible that Translated
in the English version, worm. In fact, there's two different
words used in one verse. It's over in Job 25. Job 25. And that's where one
of Job's miserable, comforting friends, one of them named Bildad
the Shuhite, was talking about how a sinner can be justified
with... He asked this question, how can
a man be justified with God? How can a sinner, God's holy
and just and righteous, He must punish sin. How can I, a sinner,
be justified, made right with God, be forgiven, be righteous
in His sight? Or how can He be clean that is
born of woman? Job 25 verse 4. Behold, verse
5, even to the moon and it shineth not, yea the stars are not pure
in God's sight. God is holy. And he says in verse 6, how much
less man that is a worm. Now the word worm there in Job
25, 6, that first word worm, how much less is the man that
is a worm? You know what we translate that
in our English language today? It would be maggot. How much less man that is a worm?
Maggot. That's what he calls us. Isn't
that offensive? You know that song? Alas, and
did my savior bleed and did my sovereign die? Would he devote
that sacred head for such a worm as I? You know how many so-called
Christian churches have changed that word worm because it's offensive
to people? That's what we are by nature,
maggots. That's what it is. Feeding off the dead, that's
what a maggot does, doesn't it? Man in his false religion, feeding
the dead, feeding the dead. But then there's a second word
here in Job 25.6, and the son of man, which is a worm, that's
a different word. If you're interested, it's the
word transliterated, tola, T-O-W-L-A, that's a transliteration, and
it's a kind of worm that they used to make a red dye out of. Not a maggot. But they used it
to make a red dye out of. And I'll tell you something very
interesting here. That's the word that's used here
in Isaiah 41 and verse 14. Fear not thou worm Jacob. That
red worm. Not the maggot. Now Jacob by
nature is a maggot. I'm a maggot by nature. But he
said the red worm. And you know another place that
that Hebrew word is used in the Old Testament? Isaiah 1 and verse
18. The exact same Hebrew word, but
it's translated differently. And if you don't know what Isaiah
1, 18 says, let me show you. This will float your boat. It
says in Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 18, Come now, let us reason
together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson." That's
the same word translated worm in Isaiah 41, 10 or 14 and in
Job 25, 6, the second time. Crimson, that's the worm. And
what's he talking about? Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as white. What's he talking about in Isaiah 1?
He's talking about the blood of Christ. That's how my sins,
scarlet though they are, are made white as wool. That's how
though they're red like crimson, they're made as snow. Christ
washed them away. Now one more verse. Turn to Psalm
22. Am I a son of Jacob? Fear not,
thou worm Jacob. Look at Psalm 22. I apologize for having you turn
to so many scriptures. I'm telling you this is something.
You know Psalm 22, they call it the Psalm of the Cross. You
know how it starts out in verse 1? Look at it. My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Where have you heard those words
before? That was Christ on that cross. Suffering for the sins
of his people. And this is a prophetic psalm
here, Psalm 22. This is Christ speaking. The
Lord of Glory, before He came, He reveals how it's going to
be on the cross. And He says, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Look down at verse 6. Here's
Christ speaking now. Psalm 22, 6. But I am a worm. The Tola. That's what that means. The crimson. I am a worm and no man, a reproach
of men and despised of the people. That's what Christ went through
on the cross in suffering for the sins of his people. That's
what Jacob's are as we are identified with Christ. Be, fear not thou
worm Jacob. Now am I a son of Jacob? Go all
the way over to verse 30 of this psalm, Psalm
22. Psalm 22, this is the result
of the death of Christ on the cross. As the worm, as the crimson,
the savior, the surety, the substitute. He said in verse 3, a seed shall
serve him. How does a sinner begin serving
Christ? As he is brought by the Holy
Spirit in new birth, the faith in Jesus Christ. And repentance
of dead works, just like Manasseh and Ephraim, fruitful in faith
and repentance. It shall be accounted to the
Lord for a generation. This is the Lord's doing. It's
accounted to Him. The account is His. My righteousness
is His. My merit is His. My worthiness
is His. Worthy is the lame. It's all
accounted to Him. You see what I'm saying? Verse
31, Am I a son of Jacob? They shall come and shall declare
what? What are they going to declare?
His righteousness. That's what I wanna talk to you
about. That's what I wanna preach to you about. That's what I wanna
write about. I wanna talk about His righteousness. I'm not gonna
talk about your righteousness, it's no good. I'm not gonna talk
about, talk about His righteousness. You see that? Unto a people that
shall be born. That's talking about the new
birth. That He hath done this. Salvations of the Lord. That's
what sons of Jacob believed. That's what sons of Jacob say
and testify and preach and witness. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. You
see, I'm identified with Christ. I'm washed in His blood. I'm
clothed in His righteousness. And by His grace, He's brought
me to see it and testify of it, believe it, live in it, live
by it, and just spend my life bragging on Him. Talking about
His goodness and His grace and His mercy. That's what sons of
Jacob do. Am I one of them? The Lord says
all who come to Him, pleading Him, they're sons of Jacob. Alright,
let's open our hymnals.