We come tonight to the last chapter
of Malachi's prophecy, the last chapter of the Old Testament
scriptures. God's prophet Malachi appears
as one standing on the very tiptoe of faith, filled with hope and
expectation looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus, the promised
seed of woman, the Messiah who would redeem and save his people
from their sins. Malachi has assured us in verse
16 of chapter 3 that the Lord's people are a people for whom
God Almighty has written a book of remembrance, a book in which
he has recorded the names of those who fear him, those who
trust him, worship him, who speak often of him and think often
of his name, think often of his person, his glory, his majesty,
his name by which he reveals himself. In verse 17 of chapter
3, we're told that these, God's chosen sons and daughters, his
elect, shall be his in that day when the Lord Jesus comes to
make up his jewels. And they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts, the Lord of all creation, the Lord who controls
everything and everybody. They shall be mine in that day
when I make up my jewels in the day of redemption. In the day
when he comes in grace to regenerate and call his own, in the day
when he comes to gather his own out of this world, calling them
unto himself, in that day of the last day in resurrection
glory, he gathers up his jewels, the jewels of his crown, his
royal crown of glory, and they shall be in his right hand a
diadem in that day. And they shall be mine, he says. And then he says, and I will
spare them. I will spare them. When he comes
to destroy everybody else, I will spare them. When he comes in
wrath and judgment, I will spare them. And I love the way he states
it. As a man spareth his own son
that serveth him. In that great day when the world's
on fire and God Almighty consumes in
His wrath all who believe not on the Lord Jesus Christ because
of their hatred of God and their rebellion against Him, in that
day He will spare you. as he spares his own dear son
who serves him perfectly all the time. Now spare them as a man spares
his own son. Will God Almighty save such as
we are so fully, so wondrously, so majestically, so perfectly
that he accepts us even as his son who serves him perfectly? Indeed he shall. He shall so
save us as Christ Jesus himself has been delivered from death
as our substitute because of his perfect obedience. Then in
verse 18, the prophet assures us that there is a day coming
in which all men, both the righteous and the wicked, all creation,
the angels who lost not their first estate and the angels who
fell with Lucifer and are reserved in chains of darkness under the
judgment of the great day, when all creation shall clearly discern
the everlasting distinction of grace by which the triune God
separates and distinguishes the human race. Then shall you return
and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that
serveth God and him that serveth him not. I know this comes as a shock
to many. but not everyone loves your pastor
like you do. And I am on occasion accused
of lots of things. And I have learned in my at least
approaching older age, I'm learning some things. I've learned never
to respond except perhaps as Paul responded to those at Corinth.
who challenged and accused him being a false apostle, his false
brethren came pretending to be God's servants and they said,
Paul's no apostle, he's a pretender, he's using you and so on. He
said, it doesn't matter much to me what your judgment of me
is. If you read the fourth chapter,
in essence, this is what he said, I'm prepared to wait. There's
a day coming when everybody's going to find out who serves
God and who serves Him not. Everybody. You're going to know,
I'm going to know, Heaven's going to know, and Hell's going to
know. God's going to make plain all things, and it shall be clearly
manifest who serves God and who serves Him not. Now, let's look
at chapter 4. Let me show you what God the
Holy Spirit inspired his servant Malachi to describe for us as
he begins this fourth chapter with these words, for behold,
the day cometh. Behold, the day cometh. Now, obviously, that word for
with which Malachi begins this passage we're looking at tonight
relates back to that which has been stated previously. Telling
us plainly that the separation here that our translators have
made between chapters 3 and 4 is Though it's a matter of convenience
for us to find the passage It shouldn't be translated in our
mind or should not be separated in our minds But rather chapter
4 is a continuation of what the prophet has been speaking of
This day that Malachi is talking about now is the same day He
was talking about in chapter 3 the very same day. He's describing
now there are Many who would say, well no, this is talking
about a literal 24-hour day. It's talking about the literal
day when Christ came in the flesh. Or it's talking about the literal
day when the Lord Jesus came when Jerusalem was destroyed
in 70 AD. Or it's talking about the literal day when Christ comes
at the end of the world. But really, there's no need for
us to look at it like that at all. He's not talking about a
literal 24-hour day at all in this passage. Let me see if I
can illustrate it for you. We use the same kind of language
all the time, use a day to speak of a period of time. We talk
about the day of Martin Luther. We talk about Calvin's day, Spurgeon's
day, Gill's day, and so on, referring to an era of time in which these
men lived and worked and had influence. And the day of the
Lord that Malachi is here describing is referring to that which John
describes as the last time, the last tick of the clock, the last
space in time, this gospel day in which we live, this last day. People say, well, I believe we're
living in the last days. We had been for over 2,000 years.
We've been living in the last day for over 2,000 years. It
began with the first advent of our Savior. And it is continuing
now. And it is consummated, or will
be consummated, with the last second advent of our Lord Jesus.
And we read this morning, then come at the end. when the Son
shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father, and God may be
all in all. So this last day of which Malachi
is speaking, speaks of the coming of our Lord Jesus. It certainly
points to that time of the end when time shall be no more, when
God sets all men before Him in judgment. But it also refers
to the day of our Lord's influence and work as our mediator and
substitute. So it speaks of his coming in
the incarnation. It speaks of the day of his grace
coming to chosen centers, calling them by his grace. It speaks
of the day when he comes again in resurrection glory. Now, the
first thing in verse one that the prophet speaks about. Is
the climactic day of the end. For behold, the day cometh that
shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that
do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall
burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave
them neither root nor branch. Malachi is talking about the
day of judgment. a day of terrible burning, when
God Almighty shall end this present state of things, consuming the
earth in a ball of fire, and consuming all the wicked in the
terrible wrath of the great day of judgment. Turn to 2 Peter
chapter 3. Let's read about this a little
bit. 2 Peter chapter 3. I am not in the least concerned,
and I would not be concerned if I thought the scientific evidence
were pointing to it, though that certainly isn't the case. I'm
not at all concerned about global warming. I'm not at all concerned
about polar bears dying out. Matter of fact, I don't care
if they do. I'm not at all concerned about extinction of rattlesnakes. I could get along without them.
I don't know about you, I'm just, I'm not concerned about those
things. But I'm here to tell you, God Almighty has set a day
when he will destroy this earth. And he will destroy it with the
fire of his wrath. And destroy it in such a way
that no one will ever imagine that you're using too much aerosol
sprays the cause of it. He will destroy it in climactic
judgment. Read what it says, 2 Peter 3,
verse 7. The heavens and the earth, which
are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to usward, not willing that any, any of his people, any of his
elect should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. You know how a thief comes? Unannounced. He comes to take you by surprise.
He comes unannounced. The day of the Lord will come
as a thief in the night. That ought to convince everybody
that every man in any age who makes a prophecy predicting when
Christ is coming again is utterly ignorant of what he speaks. The
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, unannounced. But these are signs of the Lord's
coming. Find me somewhere in this book where he tells us to
look for signs of his coming. It's not there. We're to look
for his coming. There's a big difference. There's
a big difference. He'll come as a thief in the night. Read
on. Into which the heavens shall pass away with great noise and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also
and the works that are therein shall be burned up Everything. Everything. That just makes everything seem
to be well described by Solomon, doesn't it, Joe? Vanity. Just
vanity. Just vanity. The only meaning
to history. The only meaning to history. is the salvation of God's elect
for the glory of God's Son. Oh God, teach me this. The only
thing that has meaning is the salvation of God's elect for
the glory of the triune God. Verse 11, seeing then that all
these things shall be dissolved, what matter of persons Ought
ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness that is in all
holy life and godliness Looking for and hasting unto the coming
of the day of God For some of you Nothing is more terrifying
and rightfully so you're gonna meet God in judgment For God's
people, for you who believe, there's absolutely no reason
for terror, no reason for fear, no reason for apprehension, but
rather this is that to which we ought to be constantly looking
and hasting, the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with
a fervent heat. Turn to Revelation 20. We'll
read about this same end of time Revelation 20 verse 11 And I saw a great white throne
And him that sat on it from whose face the earth in the heaven
fled away and There was found no place for them And I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were
opened. And another book was opened,
which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out
of the things written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. Death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire this is the second death and Whosoever was
not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake
of fire chapter 21 verse 7 He that overcome us shall inherit
all things and I'll be his God he shall be my son But the fearful
and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers
and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part
in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is
the second death. Soon, you and I will meet God
Almighty before his great white throne in judgment. And Merle
Hart, you will be rewarded with everlasting life or everlasting
torment according to your works, exactly as justice demands. As recorded in one of two books,
in one of two books, there is a book and which is recorded
all the wickedness of humanity. All that you are and all that
you've done if you stand before God outside Christ Jesus. And the Lord God speaks of those
whom he pardons and he's I want to look for. Brother Jacob Burrell. And nothing's written against
him. Because I know whom I shall reserve and whom I've pardoned. And he'll look for you. Who believe not in hell. Indescribable second death. Torment forever shall be yours. Because that's what you deserve.
That's what you deserve. Every soul out of Christ judged
exactly according to that which you have personally done. And every soul found in Christ,
who is that? If right now, oh God help you,
if right now you trust the Son of God, that's you. Every sinner who believes on
the Son of God shall too be judged according to his works as written
in this other book. It's called the Book of Life
of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And we shall be
judged according to our works and received into heaven's glory
on the basis of works the perfect works of Jesus Christ, God's
own dear son, for we are one with him. One with him. So that all the law of God, all
the demands of holiness, all the demands of justice, I have
fully met in my substitute. And the Lord God, my Redeemer
and my Savior, who made me one with himself, and performed the
works of obedience on my behalf, and paid the debt I owed in my
room instead, and bore my sin in his own body on the tree,
consuming all the wrath of God, shall look at me and say to me,
well done, thou good and faithful servant. Inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Now, back in our text, look at
verse two. Here's the second thing God tells
us by his prophet. Before that day comes, before
the end of the day arise and time shall be no more, The day
of the Lord, that is this day of grace, shall be for many a
time of blessed sunrise. But unto you that fear my name,
you who worship me, you who believe on me, shall the son of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow
up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked,
for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet. In the
day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Oh, what a blessed
prophecy. This is the day of our dear Savior,
the Lord Jesus, the Son of righteousness. He is the sole fountain of light. He is himself the sole son of
righteousness. All life and all light and all
heat and all reviving and all refreshing come from him. I cannot
imagine in how many ways these things could be rightly applied,
much less declare in how many ways. But Peter speaks very much
of this same thing. You don't need to turn there.
But in first Peter, our second Peter one verse 19, he speaks
of this rising of the sun of righteousness as a light that
shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star
arise in your hearts. That day dog, that day star that
arises in our benighted hearts is Jesus Christ, the son of righteousness,
who arises with healing in his wings. He is the bright and morning
star. He's the light of life and the
light of man. And now this son of righteousness
arising certainly can be illustrated in numerous ways. All was darkness. in God's creation. You remember
in Genesis 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth. And the earth became, or the
earth was without form and void, became without form and void,
and darkness was upon the face of the deep until God, the Spirit,
brooded upon the face of the deep. And God commanded and said,
let there be light, and there was light. So it is that the
son of righteousness arises in our dark, dark souls and gives
light. He was the day dawn and the day
star. In the light of redemption, even
before the world began in the council of peace, he stood forth
as our bright sun shining with light and life for us. And in
due time, Christ arose in the earth. Oh, how dark was the day
when Christ came. how dark, filled with superstition
and unbelief, the Gentile world filled with corruption, the corruption
of their degenerate religion, and the Jewish world filled with
corruption, embracing the Gentile corruptions in their own religion. So the world was full of darkness. And then arose Christ the light,
shining with brightness upon a few chosen sinners. And today,
in the saving operations of his grace the Lord Jesus comes by
the power of his spirit and causes the light of the glory of God
to shine in the hearts of chosen sinners in the face of Jesus
Christ by the revelation of himself so that we who sat in darkness
all our lives now see We see because the light has come and
the light not just coming to shine upon us, but the light
has come in us, giving light from the inside so that we discern
all things, having the mind of Christ, the words of God, the
promises of God, the works of God, the mysteries of God were
all as darkness to us. And now We open the book and
we read it and isn't it amazing how the light shines? How God
causes us to understand those things that were once mysterious
and hidden to us. The light shines in our hearts.
And then soon, soon that light will shine upon us. and perfection
of heaven's glory, and we shall be satisfied when we awake in
the likeness of our Redeemer. But look at verse 3, and rejoice
in this blessed conquest. We sang, O victory in Jesus. Ye shall tread down the wicked,
for they, the wicked, shall be ashes under your feet. ashes. Tried my best to get some
concept of what the prophet is saying. What's lighter? What's less significant? What's more meaningless than
ashes? Not even burnt things, ashes
under your feet. He says, you shall tread the
wicked, and they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.
In the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts. Let's see
if we can get some idea of what he's saying. When the Lord Jesus
comes to the chosen sinner, who lives under the dominion
of sin, vainly imagining that he can control it. vainly imagining
that he actually can do good. He lives under the dominion of
sin. But when the Lord Jesus comes
in the power of his grace, as the son of righteousness arising
in your soul with healing under his wings, he enters in to the
strong man's house and he binds the strong man, the wicked one,
Satan, and cast him out. He depossesses Satan of that
which had been his domain, willingly as you submit yourself to Satan's
will. But he now sits up as king in
the heart of man. He comes and causes the wicked
of the world, who so much influence all your thinking, to be deposed. He comes and brings to you freedom
from the religion of this world, from the great whore by whom
all the peoples of the earth are made drunk with the wine
of her fornication, a free will works religion. And he comes
and rules in us by his grace. So that this corrupt, evil nature
that is ours no longer controls and rules but rather he rules
us by his grace and by his spirit. And then in the end of the world,
when he comes in his glory, the God of peace shall bruise Satan
under your feet. Brother Darren read it in the
Psalm 118 back in the office a little bit ago. And you shall
see your desire and put all your enemies, put all your enemies, every foe,
the demons of hell and Satan consumed in the fury of God's
wrath. When he comes again, the great
cry is Babylon is fallen, Babylon is fallen, Babylon is fallen. And the Lord God shows himself
triumphant. And at last, hard as this is for me to imagine, even the evil that I am and that's
in me, all the havoc I've worked in this world, All the evil for
which the multitudes of the damned are consumed in the fury of his
wrath forever, at last, even this evil, I will tread under
the soles of my feet as insignificant, meaningless ashes. Having no effect, having no continual
curse, having no power, having nothing against me. All right,
look at verse four. Remember ye the law of Moses,
my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel
with the statutes and the judgments. What a strange exhortation. When
Christ comes, when he comes and makes himself known, when he
reveals himself to us, giving us faith in himself, we're told
that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. We're told that you're not under
the law, but under grace repeatedly. But here, the Lord God tells
us to remember the law. the law he gave to Moses at Horeb,
back in Exodus chapter 20, with all its statutes and ordinances,
with all that's required in the law and all the ceremonies of
the law. Why? Because the law was our
schoolmaster unto Christ. And now, since Christ has come,
go back and look And behold, as we've been doing for the last
couple of years in Exodus, look at all the law and the statutes
and the ceremonies and say, my Christ is that he fulfilled all
that. He did all that. Remember the
law turned Isaiah Isaiah chapter 58. We remember the law with joy
because Christ fulfilled the law for us and we remember the
law. when we rest in Christ the Lord. When we find Christ, our Sabbath
rest and rest in him. Isaiah 58, 13. If you turn away thy foot from
the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the
Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt
honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure,
nor speaking thine own words. Then shalt thou delight thyself
in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places
of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Now there are lots of folks who
will try to convince you as they try to convince me that we ought
to keep a Sabbath day or pretend to. We ought to pretend that
Sunday is Saturday, which is what the Sabbath day was, and
we ought to treat Sunday as the Sabbath day and keep the Sabbath
day. But nobody does. It's all fake. It's all fake. For one thing, I don't know anyone
who measures up to what was required in the Sabbath. On the Sabbath
day, men were required to do nothing pleasurable and self-serving. Nothing. Not even pick up sticks
to build a fire. Nothing. They were required to
devote themselves continually to God through the day. Required
to bring a sacrifice by which they would worship God. I don't
know anybody who keeps the Sabbath day. Nobody. And those who pretend,
I know a good many Sabbatarians. I've known a good many all my
Christian life, all my life as a believer. I'll tell you what
I've never seen. Tell you what I've never seen. I've never seen one who even
acted like it was a delight. You talk about miserable people.
Well, I can't play ball today. I can't watch the Super Bowl
tonight. I can't watch the cats play ball on Sunday. But I'm
doing this because I want to, you know. I wonder if they really fool
themselves. It's torture. It's torture. Nothing delightful
about it. I've told you this before. The
first time I was in England back in 1987, Brother Allen Jellett's
three boys were just little bitty fellas. And those kids were standing
around there on Sunday afternoon, I was sitting, listening to preachers
and imaginary theologians debating one thing, then another. And
the kids were all standing around like this. I mean, just like
they were just bored out of their minds. And I got tired of listening
to the preachers. And I said, y'all want to play
some ball? Man, you'd have thought I asked them if they wanted to
strip off and dance naked. I mean, the folks were shocked. We're keeping the Sabbath. Ain't
it fun? No, no, no. Believers rest in
Christ. He alone is my righteousness
and my redemption. I don't pretend to fool myself
into thinking I can do something to commend myself to God. Do
you? Do you? We call the Sabbath the delight
because we have found that the work is finished. That's what
the Sabbath is all about. It's the cessation of work. Look
yonder in glory sets the God man Christ the mediator and he's
finished righteousness. He's made an end of sin. He brought in everlasting salvation. It's finished. And the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. And Christ Jesus,
the Lord, sitting in heaven, testifies it's done. And now
we rest in him. Oh, how delightful to be done
with obligation and done with debt and done with curse and
done with condemnation, done as God himself would have it.
Redemption's work is done. Christ has risen upon my soul,
the son of righteousness with healing in his wings. And now
I remember God's law with joy. All right. Look back at Malachi
four. For just a minute. In verses five and six, the Lord
God says, behold, I will send Elijah, send you Elijah the prophet
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. Now, It's amazing to me the number
of good commentaries, good commentators who suggest that this is not
talking about John the Baptist. It's not talking about John the
Baptist, it's talking about Elijah coming physically, before the
Lord Jesus comes, before the coming of the millennial age.
But that's strange, because our master said, concerning John
the Baptist, this is Elijah. That's what he said, isn't it?
This is Elijah. So he's talking then about John
the Baptist coming, preparing the way for the Lord Jesus as
the voice of the Lord. But is it only talking about
John the Baptist? Oh, no. When the day of the Lord
is set to come upon a man's soul. When Christ, the son of righteousness,
has determined to arise in the dark soul of a man. He will send
his messenger, his prophet, his preacher with the message of
grace to prepare the way of the Lord. He will cause the one whom
he's chosen and redeemed to hear the voice of his gospel and turn
them to the Savior. And it tells us what the result
of the prophet's work will be. When God blesses the word to
your heart, he will turn the heart of the father to his children. Brother Don, that's the way all
things are. Oh, no. Oh, no. No way on this earth
can a man be what a father ought to be until he's made the servant
of God willingly. And he will turn the heart of
the children converted by his grace to their fathers. So that
in his marvelous work of grace, by the preaching of the gospel,
the Lord God restores humanity to what humanity ought to be. Walking together in love one
for another, in genuine commitment to one another. But I can't send
you home without calling your attention to the last thing here. The Lord God says this is what
shall be done. Lest. I send the curse upon the earth. The Old Testament closes. With
the word curse. The whole of the Old Testament
closes with the word curse. And for 400 years, God didn't
speak another word until John the Baptist came, proclaiming
the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And the king sat down on the
Sermon on the Mount, and he said, blessed. Blessed. Blessed. For Christ is the fulfillment
of the covenant, the fulfillment of the prophets, the one who
alone removes the curse. Oh, may the son of righteousness
arise in your heart and dispel darkness. And may he ever rise
in my heart and in the hearts of you who are his through the
days of our lives, dispelling darkness before us continually.
Oh, blessed son of righteousness, arise, spread forth your wings,
dispel the darkness of my soul, the death I feel within. I try, but cannot lift myself
or cheer my troubled heart. Spirit of God, Jesus, reveal
fresh grace to me, impart the bones that you have broken, Lord,
the wounds that you have made. No hand but yours can heal again,
Father. behold my need. This darkness that overwhelms
my soul is caused by my own sin. The fault is mine. Purge me with
blood. Restore and make me clean. Helpless,
I wait for grace, my God. In pity, look on me. Your covenant, remember, Lord.
Revive and set me free. Oh, blessed son of righteousness. Send forth the healing ray. Arise within my gloomy soul. Bathe me with light today. Amen.