morning, I'm speaking tonight
from Malachi. The main part of the message
will be taken from Malachi 3. But before we look at Malachi
3, we have to say a word about chapter 2, because that's what
leads up to the third chapter. It wasn't until the about the
seventeenth century, that the translators divided the Bible
into chapters and verses. Prior to that, it wasn't written
in chapters and verses. Chapter 2 leads us up to the
beautiful proclamation of the third chapter. The title of the
message is, Where is the God of Judgment? Chapter 2 is filled
with rebuke, rebuke and judgment against both the priest and the
people, the prophets and the people, for their sins. The priest departed from the
way of the Lord and caused the people to stumble, and the people
liked it that way, and so the rebuke falls upon both. Let's look at chapter 2, verse
1. And now, O ye priests, priests of Israel, this word is for you,
this word is for you. If you will not hear," he's saying
here, you will not hear, because later on he tells us they quit
listening to God, quit listening to his word. If you will not
hear my word, you will not lay it to heart, you will not give
glory unto my name. need of preacher and people.
Like Bob was praying in his prayer about the Word. We've got to,
number one, hear the Word. Hear it. Feed upon it. Listen to the Word of God. Secondly,
lay it to heart. Receive it, not just in our heads
as a doctrine, but receive it in our hearts as the very Word
of God, the promises of God. And thirdly, to glorify his Son,
God the Son. Isn't that the three things?
Hear the word, lay it to heart, and give glory to my name. What
is his name? Jehovah, God my Savior. That's my assignment. This is
what God sent me to do. Preach the word. These men are
not doing it. Saith the Lord of Hosts, and
if you won't hear my word, If you won't lay it to heart or
give glory to my name, I'll even send a curse upon you. Now, I
want you to see what this curse is. This is amazing. Mysteries
of God. I'll send a curse upon you and
I'll curse your blessings. I'll curse your blessings. Yea,
I have cursed them already because you do not lay it to heart. What
does he mean, I'll curse your blessings? Here's what he's saying.
to Israel, that which should bless you, that which should
set you free, that which should give you peace, will become to
you a bondage and a curse and judgment. I'll show you that
in Psalm 69, in the very words of our Lord
Jesus Christ himself. He says in verse 21, now listen,
he came to the Jews and they received him not, but they crucified
him. And he says here in verse 21,
Psalm 69, they gave me gall for my meat, and in my thirst they
gave me vinegar to drink. Our Lord on the cross cried,
I thirst. What did they do? They took a
vessel filled with vinegar and stuck a rag in it. and put it in gall and vinegar
to his mouth, he wouldn't take it. That's the way they treated
the Lord Jesus Christ, their Messiah, their Redeemer. So he
says, verse 22, "...let their table become a snare before them."
What's their table? The Passover feast. God gave
them circumcision as a token of the covenant. And instead
of seeing the circumcision of the heart in Christ, they claimed
to be children of God because they were circumcised in the
flesh. God gave them the Sabbath day as a picture of rest in Christ. Instead of lifting up their heads
and looking to Christ, they tried to find eternal rest in obedience
to the Sabbath. God gave them the Passover to
show them the crucified Lamb of God. But instead of looking
to him, when he came, they gave him gall to drink and vinegar.
They looked to their table and hoped to find peace in that,
in their deeds and duties. God gave them the temple and
the priesthood and the sacrifices, which are nothing in the world
but pictures of Christ, the Lamb of God. But they refused him. They wouldn't hear his word,
they wouldn't lay it to heart, they wouldn't glorify his Son,
but to sought redemption in these things. which God gave them to
bless them, became a curse, damnation to them. Instead, not to all
of them, Moses saw Christ, Abraham saw Christ, Isaiah saw Christ,
Jacob and Joseph and Isaac saw Christ, but the rest of them.
And how do they go about those things now? They go about these
sacrifices, Sabbath day, circumcision, all of it right now. All the
Old Testament pictures, but they are cursed, because it gives
them a false refuge. And a man in a false refuge is
in worse shape than a man who has no refuge, because you can't
rout him out. But the same thing is true of
the Gentiles, who will not hear his word, who will not lay it
to heart to see his Son and glorify him. God will turn this message
that ought to give them peace and rest and hope and life eternal
and make it a curse. Turn to 2 Thessalonians. That's
what he said to the Jew. Now listen to what Paul said
to the Gentile. In 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2,
do you think that the people in our day are receiving the
love of the truth? No. They are receiving religion. They even read the Bible. They
go on about their duties and deeds of religion to try to earn
life eternal before God, but they won't bow to the Son, love
the Son, receive the Son, rest in the Son. And they won't receive
the love of the truth, which is the love of Christ. Now watch
2 Thessalonians 2, verse 8. And then shall that wicked be
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of and
shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose
coming is after the working of Satan, Antichrist, with all power
and signs and lying wonders in religion, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth." Christ is the truth, the way, the truth
and the life, that they might be saved. They won't receive
him. God says, if you won't hear my
word, lay at the heart, glorify my Son, I'll make that which
ought to be a blessing to you a curse. Now listen. And for
this cause, God will send them strong delusions, and they'll
believe a lie. They believe, but they believe
a lie. They read the scriptures, but they believe a lie. They're
deluded to see veils on their face when the scriptures read.
That they might be damned. who believe not the truth." Who's
the truth? He's the truth. You know, the
truth will set you free, the soul will set you free. But they
have pleasure in unrighteousness. That's amazing. You won't hear
my word, you won't lay it to heart, you won't glorify my name. So I'll curse you, I'll send
you a curse, I'll curse your blessings. I'll make that which ought to
be a blessing to you and life to you, I'll make it bondage. Nothing like religious bondage. Keep a man in God. It's not your
sins that keep you in Christ, it's your righteousness. God
saved sinners. Verse 7, the lips of the priest,
he said in verse 7, should keep knowledge. lips of God's servant
ought to guard the truth, keep the pure gospel of God's grace
flowing from his lips. His lips should flow with knowledge
and grace and truth, and a priest's lips should keep knowledge. They
should seek the Lord. People ought to seek the Lord,
his mouth. Where to God? Come tell us what the Lord says.
Tell us not what you think, but what the Lord says. He is a messenger,
the Lord of hosts. People should expect only two
things from his lips, grace and truth. That's what flowed from the lips
of our Lord, grace and truth. The Lord came by Moses, but grace
and truth by the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the messenger of God. His
lips should speak truth and knowledge. People ought to be able to seek
the word of God in his mouth. He's the messenger of the Lord
of Hosts. He's the one God sent as his representative. But no,
look at verse 8, but you departed. You departed out of the way.
There's but one way. There's but one way, and that's
Christ. The disciples said to him, Lord,
we don't know where you're going. We've never been there. We've
never been there. Where are you going? We don't
know the way. He said, I'm the way. I'm the truth, I'm the light,
no man comes to the Father but by me, I'm the way. There's just
one way, but preachers have departed from the way. And not only that,
but you cause my people to stumble at the law. You've mixed law
and grace, works and faith, so mixed up, people are stumbling
all over the place. They don't know what to believe. The whole book of Galatians is
written about this. Turn to Galatians 3, about mixing
law and grace and works and faith. It can't be done. It can't be
done. This is my conclusion. While
you are finding Galatians 3, Paul said, this is my conclusion,
a man is saved by faith without the works of the law, without
the law. Look at Galatians 3, verse 11. No man, but that no man is justified
by the law and the sight of God, that's evident. The just shall
live by faith. The law is not of faith. There's
no faith in the law. There's no mercy in the law.
There's no grace in the law. The law says the man that doeth
the law shall live by it perfectly. But Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. He made a curse for us. It's
written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Well,
wherefore serveth the law then? If it wasn't given to save, for
what purpose was the law given? Look, if you will, at verse 22.
Now, listen. The scripture hath concluded
all unto sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law to teach us, to instruct us. And we were shut
up to the faith which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore,
the law, what serveth the law? The law was our schoolmaster,
our teacher, our tutor, to bring us to Christ, that we might be
justified by faith. That's what the law, the purpose
it serves. The Passover table is to point
to Christ who is our Passover. The Sabbath day is to point to
Christ who is our rest. Circumcision points to the work
of regeneration in the heart, which is a token of the everlasting
covenant. All of these Old Testament types
and shadows are but pictures of Christ. The law was never
given to save, and yet these preachers cause people to stumble
at the law. Listen, verse 8 again, back in
Malachite, you've departed out of the way, you've caused people
to stumble over the law. You've corrupted the covenant
of Levi. Now here, listen to this. You've
corrupted the covenant of Levi and you've corrupted the covenant
of grace. That's what you do when you try to mix both up.
When you confuse people about the law, you corrupt the Levitical
law, the Levitical covenant. What was the Levitical covenant?
The law of Moses, the tabernacle, the priest, all of these were
types. When you make them means of salvation,
you corrupt the purpose for which they were given. And in corrupting
that covenant, you corrupt the other covenant. Because Christ
is our tabernacle. Christ is our prophet, priest,
and king. Christ is our atonement. Christ
is our righteousness. Christ is our salvation. So when
you try to mix law and grace, you corrupt both covenants. You're
just wandering around in never-never land. You've got no message at
all to Jew or Gentile. Turn to Hebrews 7, verse 19.
You corrupt the covenant of Levi, and you corrupt the covenant
of grace. Hebrews 7, this is a powerful
verse. Just put a big ring around it.
For the law made nothing and nobody perfect, but the bringing
in of a better hope did. Christ our hope, by the which
we draw nigh unto God." That's it. That's my creed. The law
makes nothing perfect, but to bring in a better hope, then. Now, here's an interesting verse,
verse 9, to these preachers. Verse 9, verse 9, "...therefore
have I also made you contemptible and base before the When the
pulpit loses its message, it loses its power, loses its influence,
and loses its respect. The pulpit today has lost its
message and consequently its powers, and preachers today,
the majority of them, are held in utter contempt by most people. They have no respect for preachers. I don't blame them. In this day, most of them are
not truly ministers of the Word, but like the Pharisees of old,
they degenerated into enforcers of religion. That's what they
are, the enforcers of religion. Like the old KGB in Russia and
the old Nazi SS troops, enforcers of religion in their way of doing
things. They'll damn you to hell if you
don't do it their way. I tell you, I've made you contemptible
and base before all the people. They hold you not in the regard
that men held prophets of old, but they have you in utter contempt. Here's another thing you've done,
he said, according as you have not kept my ways, but have been
partial in the law. departed from my way, but you've
made your own ways by showing partiality in the law. What's
this talking about, showing partiality in the law? What you do, what
these preachers do, is they pick out certain rules in the law. Not all the law, but certain
rules, certain rituals, certain requirements, certain duties
which suit their purpose, and they enforce them. are built upon a partiality of
the law. They pick out the Sabbath day
and call themselves Sabbath day Adventists. That's the testing
point. Partiality, one point of the
law. Another group pick out the diets in the Old Testament, the
way the Old Testament people ate and the way they conducted
their lives in their diets and dress. Muslims, Arabs, make a
whole denomination on that particular part of the law. Judgment, mercy
and truth, they don't know anything about. But this law appeals to
them, suits their purpose and enforces it. Baptism. The whole
denomination is built on water baptism. You've got to be baptized,
baptized by us, or you can't go to heaven. Or they pick out
a name, Church of Christ. I'm telling the truth. and based
the whole thing on what your name is, what you've got on out
here in front of this building. They pick out the priesthood.
The Catholic Church has a priesthood, just like the Old Testament priesthood.
They hear confessions, they forgive sins, they sell people candles
to burn, you go to the priest. You don't have any way to go
to God, you go to the priest. And they built the whole denomination.
You've been partial in the law, you've picked out these holy
days. Ramadan is a holy day. Don't
shoot me on Ramadan, shoot me some other, shoot me on some
of these Christian holidays, you know, it's damn offensive.
Remember all that stuff? Prophecies. Oh, I tell you, preachers,
preachers, the curse of society, when there ought to be blessings.
But he said, you've departed from my word, you wouldn't hold
it to heart, you wouldn't glorify my Son, so I'll make your blessings
a curse. Verse 17, I don't have time to
cover all of this chapter, verse 17. You've wearied the Lord with
your words. That's what preachers are, they're
people with words, they're worthy people. That's their weapon,
is words. That's their field, is dealing
with words. But the tough part is, you've worried the Lord with
your words. What does it mean, worrying the Lord? Well, the
Lord speaks after the manner of men. He does that frequently. He says, It repenteth me that
I have made man. Repentance is a change of mind.
God doesn't change his mind, but he's speaking in our language
so we can understand what he's saying. So when he says, You
provoke me, you worry me, you vex me. We know what that means. You're in trouble. You say to
your class, you provoke me. They're in trouble. You provoke
me. And God says to the preachers,
you've wearied me. Things you say have wearied me.
You've wearied me. And yet you say, well, Lord,
where have we wearied you? Where have we wearied the Lord?
I'm sure preachers, if they heard me talking, they'd say, where
have we wearied the Lord? two primary offenses. When you say, everyone that doeth
evil is good in the sight of the Lord. People who do evil,
you say they are good in God's sight. In other words, God approves
of them. In his sight they are good, in
his sight they are approved, in his sight he loves them. And
he delights in everybody. He loves everybody the same.
Even evil people. Even the terrorists, he loves
them. He loves everybody the same. Wicked, rebels, he loves
them. You say God delights in evil? Is that what you're saying?
Well, somebody said, well, God loves the sinner and hates his
sin. You can't separate the sinner from his sin. He is sin. He is
sin. And God hates sin, wherever it's
found. And you say that everybody that
does evil is good in the sight of the Lord. And he delights
in them. Come on now. You sign off your
message. I hear these preachers go off
TV and they say to all these folks out there, they look into
the face of covetous, evil, child abusers, homosexuals, drunks,
murderers, terrorists, and sensual, unthankful, ungodly people, and
they say, God loves you, and I do too. I don't. I don't. God says, I don't like that.
I don't like God's love is in Christ. Now, let me tell you,
God is love. Could we with ink the ocean fill,
and were the sky a parchment made? And every stalk on earth
a quill, and every man a scribe by trade? To write the love of
God above would drain that ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain
the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. But God's love is
a holy love. God's love is in Christ. God's
love is to all people who are in Christ, just like God's love
was upon the ark and upon all them in the ark, and outside
of the ark was God's judgment, condemnation and wrath and destruction. And God loves men in Christ.
He that believeth on the Son hath the life of God, the love
of God, the truth of God, the hope of God. But he that believeth
not on the Son, he has the wrath of God. abiding on him." Now,
this is the truth. Paul said, I'm persuaded. Turn
to Romans 8 and listen to this. In Romans 8, I'm telling the
truth. This is what he's condemning
his preachers for, not telling the truth. People always expect
the truth to flow from a preacher's mouth. In Romans 8, verse 38,
I'm persuaded. that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord." Where is the love of God? It's in Christ. It's bountiful love, abundant
love, infinite love, unchangeable love, eternal love. But it's
in Christ. That's what I say to the rebels.
I don't say God loves you. If you're in Christ, He loves
you. Come to Christ. Receive Him, believe Him, fall
at His feet, love Him. You can't hate Christ and God
love you. You have a hard time loving somebody
that hates your children, don't you? Don't you have a hard time?
You invite them to dinner? No. God's love, His love is a
holy love. It's more holy than our love.
He says, that's my first. You've worried me talking like
this. You say, where in have we worried him? When you say
everyone that does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and
the Lord delights in them, he loves them, that makes me mad,
God said. That makes me mad. Is that what
that says? I ask you, is that what it is?
Of course that's what that says. No doubt about that, John. That's
what he's saying. You're telling people God loves them. He doesn't. He hates the workers of iniquity.
He's angry with the wicked. Every day, he says. But if you're
in Christ, oh, the love of God, the affection, it's indescribable. In Christ, God loves a man like
he loves his own son. That's exactly right. It's indescribable,
the infinite love of God for his people in Christ Jesus, who
made them holy. You know how God can love you
in Christ? Because you're holy. Because you're blameless. Because
you're unreprovable. Because in Christ there's no
sin. And if you're in him, you have no sin. God can be holy
and love you. Would you want a God that could
love a rebel? Would you want a God like that?
He'd have to compromise his character, wouldn't he? But he loves us
in Christ. And he doesn't compromise his
character if we're in Christ. He can love us because we're
perfect. We're seated with Christ in the heavenlies. With his spotless
garments on, he is holy as his Son. Do you understand that?
The second thing is, he asks this question, where is the God
of judgment? If God Almighty loves everybody,
desires to save everybody and die on the cross for everybody,
how can he be just and justify? Where is the God of judgment?
Where is the God who said, the soul that sinneth it shall surely
die? Where is that God? He must be in our preaching,
if we tell men the truth. Now here he is in chapter 3,
and I'll try to move quickly, I've taken too much time on chapter
2, but it's so important to lay that foundation. Here is the
solution, here is the answer. Behold, I'll send my messenger,
who's that? That's John the Baptist. He'll
prepare the way before me. He came to prepare you the way
of the Lord. And the Lord whom you seek Moses wrote of him,
Abraham saw his day. All the Old Testament prophets
testified of him. Whom you seek. That woman at
the well said to him, the Messiah is coming, Christ is coming,
he'll tell us all that. The Lord whom you seek shall
certainly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant.
He's the surety of the covenant, he's the surety of a better covenant,
he's the mediator of the covenant of grace. He is a shepherd, and
his blood is the blood of the everlasting covenant. He is a
messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, he
shall come, saith the Lord, he shall come to his temple." That temple, you can read about
it in Haggai, but let's turn over that to Haggai. Haggai is
back just a little ways, page 1168 in your Cambridge Bible. He talks about that new temple.
The old temple was destroyed, and they built a new one, rebuilt
the temple. It says in Haggai 2, verse 6,
"'For thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little
while, I'll shake the heavens, I'll shake the earth, I'll shake
the sea and the dry land, and I'll shake all nations, and the
desire of all nations shall come.'" That's Christ. And I'll fill
this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts, this temple. The silver is mine, the gold
is mine, saith the Lord, and the glory of this latter house
will be greater than that of the former, the one Solomon built,
saith the Lord. In this place I'll give peace."
The message of the covenant is coming to the temple. And Bob
read about his coming. The first time he came to his
temple, his mother brought him. as a little babe. Turn to Luke
2. His mother and Joseph brought
him in to the temple. Luke 2, where Brother Bob was
reading. Verse 22, you remember him reading
this? Luke 2, verse 22, when the days
of our purification, according to the law of Moses, was accomplished,
they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. And
to offer sacrifice, verse 24, And behold, there was a man,
verse 25, in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon. The same was
a just, devout man, waiting for the consolation, the Christ of
Israel, the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto
him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he
had seen the Lord's Christ, Messiah, Redeemer. He came by the Spirit
into the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the That
old man took him up in his arms and blessed God. He said, Lord,
now let thy servant depart in peace. According to your word,
mine eyes have seen thy salvation. The desire of all nations was
in his temple. That's when the Messiah, the
messenger, came to the temple, the first time. He came back
another time with a whip and drove out the money changers.
He said, my house is a house of prayer. I'm going to show
you something here and read on a little bit. Verse 31, "...which
thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to
lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."
Verse 33, "...and Joseph and his mother." It doesn't say his
father and mother, it says Joseph and his mother, because Joseph
was not his father. Mary was his mother, right? God's
his father. The NIV, the most popular translation
this day, don't you buy one of them now. I'll tell you how they
translate this verse. I bought me one to see where
it was wrong. Verse 33, the NIV said, The child's
father and mother marvel at the words that are spoken of him.
The child's father and mother. That's wrong. And that's the
subtlety of translations. You have to watch them now. That's
the subtlety of these fellas taking the Bible and putting
it in words folks can understand, and they take the truth out of
it. Joseph wasn't his father. The King James says, and Joseph
and his mother marveled. I'll tell you another verse.
The NIV left clear out of the Bible. The Son of Man's come
to seek and to save the lost. Why would that be subtracted?
I'll tell you another. When Philip said to the Ethiopian
eunuch, He said to Philip, what does hinder me from being baptized?
He said, if you believe, and they've changed this, with all
your heart you may. Now, the next verse they've left
out, and the Ethiopians said, I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. That's wrong to do that. Why would you do that? You stay
with the King James, NIB, all the rest of them. It's subtle,
it's subtle. I'll tell you another verse.
Our Lord said, You come to me, learn of me, and I'll give you
rest. They've changed that to, You
come to me and learn from me. You learn from me. You don't
learn from Christ, you learn of Christ, from me. But we study
him, not just his doctrines. We don't learn from him, only
we learn of him. You have not so learned Christ. Today's religion, let's read
on. Verse 2 of Malachi 3, let me
give you this. But who is going to abide the
day of his coming? That word abide, who is going
to receive him, rejoice in him? Who shall stand when he appeareth?
He was in the way of the world, knew him not. He came in his
own day, received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. When
he appeared, he is like a refiner's pyre. What does a refiner's pyre
do? When refining gold or silver,
what does it do? It separates the gold from the
dross. That's what Christ does. The
truth of the gospel separates the gold from the dross. It separates
the truth from error. He does. He separates the genuine
from the false. He separates those who do and
those who rest separates them. He's like Fuller's soap. That's
interesting. Fuller's soap, according to the
writers, is called Fuller's clay and Fuller's earth. And it's
used after washing, boiling clothes, then spots on some of them. And they use this Fuller's clay
or Fuller's soap to take out the spots. To do a thorough cleansing,
make them white as snow. And that's what he does. These
are the spots in your feast of charity. Our Lord exposes them. He exposes them. And he washes
those whom he washes as white as the snow. Come unto me, though
your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them as white as the snow.
Though they be red like crimson, they'll be as wool. And he shall
see it. That's our Lord separating. But
here is our Lord comforting. He separates the gold from the
dross, the truth from error, the pretender from the possessor. But for his people, the refiner
is fireless, and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver. You remember over in 1 Corinthians
3, Paul talked about building on the foundation, Christ building
wood, hay, and stubble. gold, silver, and precious stone?
Well, this is the gold, silver, and precious stone. And our Lord
sits as the refiner. And the old experienced refiner
who refines the gold, he makes the fire. He knows how hot to
make it. He knows when to put the gold
in the fire. He knows how long to leave it there. He knows when
to take it out. And he sits, he's experienced,
he sits unalarmed, untroubled, and unafraid, waiting for the
purifying process to be complete and his precious gold to come
out in such a way that it will be valuable. When he makes up
his jewels, verse 16, 17, look at Malachi 3, 16, 17. They that
feared the Lord spake often one to another. And the Lord hearkened
and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. And there
will be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I
make up my jewels. I'll spare them as a man spares
his own son." He is the refiner. The refiner is fire, but it works
two ways. It burns the dross. from the
gold, exposes the false from the true. He consumes the wood,
hay and stuff. And then when that's done, I'll
close with this, Malachi 3, verse 4. Then shall the offering of
Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to the Lord, when the refiner
has completed the trying of the gold and the silver. And then
their offering of praise and thanksgiving will be pleasant
to the Lord. as in the days of old and the former years, and
I'll come near to you to judgment. This is talking about judging
the unbeliever. Then verse 6, I am the Lord,
I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Well, I hope that's a blessing
to you. When I read those chapters and preached on them some time
ago, I found that they were so applicable to this day in which
we live. But all the Word is. There's
nothing new in history, it's just a repetition. Of which was,
is, and will be, I guess, till he comes.