I want you to open your Bibles
tonight to the book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. There's some interesting scriptures
here in chapter 2 and chapter 3 that I've been looking at and
enjoying today, and I'd like to speak from it to you tonight. Brother Jim Eccles read from
Hebrews 13, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and
forever. He is the same in his purpose,
in his decrees, in his name, in his character, in his grace,
in his mercy. His gospel is the same. It's
the same gospel. What we're preaching today is
the gospel that our forefathers preached. Spurgeon and Knox and
Whitefield and Edwards and Augustine and the Apostle Paul and John
and James and Peter. It's the same gospel Isaiah preached. It's the same gospel David believed. Moses wrote of Christ. Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. Christ is the same. His gospel
is the same. Unfortunately, false preachers
are the same. They're in every generation.
They're in every day. There are so many, many, many
of them. And here in this last book of
the Old Testament, between Malachi and Matthew, somebody said 400
years of silence. But religion had degenerated
as it has in every age. There's been usually that thin
line of true servants and true gospel preaching, true message. God always has a witness. He's
never left himself without a witness. The line's gotten narrower and
times broad and at times narrower. But as there were false prophets
here in the Old Testament, there are false teachers today. Always have been. And here in
Malachi 2, Malachi, you see up the top of your Bible if you've
got one of these Cambridge Bibles that many of us use, Malachi
sharply reproveth the priest and the people. Sharply. Now I want you to notice as we're
reading this how applicable it is right now to what's going
on. Malachi rebuking the prophets
and the priests and the leaders of religion. the people, their
leaders, their scribes and priests. And he says in verse 1 of chapter
2, And now, O ye priests, this commandment's for you, this word
is for you. I've got something to say. Thus
saith the Lord, You will not hear. If you will not hear, they
won't hear. What won't they hear? His You will not hear my word. You will not lay it to heart.
You see, this thing of the word of God is a heart matter. It's
not an intellectual argument and reasoning. It's a heart matter. Faith is a heart work. Repentance
is a heart work. With the heart, man believeth.
That's where this work of grace goes on, in the heart. He said,
you won't hear my word and you won't lay it to heart. Take it
to heart. Love it. Receive it. Enjoy it. Rejoice in it. And listen to this. And you won't
give glory to my name. You won't give God the glory.
That's the threefold need of preacher and people. To hear
God's word. hear God's Word, come together
like we do here on the Lord's Day and on Wednesday and read
the Word, read the Word, read the Word, hear the Word of God,
preach the Word of God, teach the Word of God, line upon line,
precept upon precept, hear the Word and take it to heart like
you're sitting there and you're listening to me and you're saying,
give it to me, preacher, give me God's Word. Strengthen me,
comfort me, help me, encourage me, exhort me, give me the word,
I'll receive it, I'll love it, I'll believe it, I'll rejoice
in it, I'll take it to heart, and give Him all the glory. What
I have, He gave me. What I know, He taught me. Where
I am, He put me. Where I'm going, He gave me the
hope. Everything's by His grace. Give
God the glory. God who chose us and elected
us and loved us and gave us the blessed covenant of mercy, give
Him the glory. Christ who redeemed us and washed
us and justified us and sanctified us, give Him the glory. The Holy
Spirit who called us. We didn't contribute anything,
but a sinner. That's all I brought to the Lord
was a sinner. Empty hands, and a needy creature,
poor and needy. Glorify my name. That's what,
that's where it all is. That's the threefold need of
preacher and people. Hear the Word. Make much of the
Word. Take it to heart. Don't argue
with folks. This is not an intellectual wrestling
match. This is rejoicing in the Word
of God. What I understand, I rejoice
in. What I don't understand, I rejoice
into. and believe it, and give him
the glory, glory to his name. Now listen, because you won't
do that, these false preachers, verse 2, you won't hear, you
won't lay it to heart, you won't glorify my name, therefore, now
listen to this, I'll send a curse upon you, saith the Lord of hosts,
I will even send a curse upon you. I want to show you what
that curse is. Turn to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Now,
here's a curse that I'm going to send upon you, men who handle
the Word, but to handle it deceitfully. They rest the Scriptures and
twist the Scriptures and use the Scriptures for their own
gain. to get followers after themselves.
They don't glorify God. They're the Antichrist. Look
at verse 9 of 2 Thessalonians 2. Even him who's coming is after
the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders,
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish. Why? Because they receive not
the love of the truth. that they might be saved. They
won't receive my word. They won't lay it to heart. They
won't glorify my name. And for this cause, God will
send them strong delusions. This is the curse I'll lay on
you. You'll believe a lie. And all might be damned who believe
not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. I'll send
you such deception that in your darkness you think you're in
the light, and in your error you'll think you're in the truth.
You'll be deceived, all deceivableness of unrighteousness, I'll send
a delusion upon you." That's where they are. They're convinced
if the light which is in you is darkness, how great is that
darkness! Now, what's this next line in
Malachi 2? I'll send a curse upon you. I'll send a curse upon
you. You'll believe a lie and be damned
for it. And I'll curse your blessings. You know, I've never seen that
before in the Bible. I'll curse your blessings. You
know what he's saying? This is what he's saying. That
which ought to be a blessing to you and ought to be for your
good, I'll use it for your condemnation, add to your condemnation. Turn
to Psalms. We're going to show you this
in the Word now. Psalms, chapter 69. Now watch this. What ought
to be for men's blessings? The possession of this book.
But instead of finding redemption in it, they find a basis for
self-righteousness. Instead of finding Christ, They
find a way to save themselves. This book, the Word of God, the
church, the gospel, all this, look at Psalm 69, verse 22. Let their table become a snare
before them. What is their table? That's the
ceremonies and the sacrifices and the types and the pictures
and the shadows that God gave Israel. He gave them the priesthood
and the tabernacle, and the sacrifices, and all these things to point
them to Christ. But instead of pointing them
to Christ, they made a God and a Savior out of these things.
Now listen, "...let their table become a snare before them, and
that which should have been for their welfare, let it become
a trap, ensnare them, enslave them." You see what he's saying? Let me show you that again in
Romans 3. Turn to Romans 3. Romans 3, verse 1 and 2. Now watch this carefully, Romans
1 and 2. Romans 3, verse 1 and 2. What
advantage then hath the Jew? What profit is there in circumcision,
or being a Jew? Well, much every way. cheaply,
because under them were committed the oracles of God. The Jews
had the priesthood, had the tabernacle, they had the sacrifices, they
had the law, they had the prophets, they had all these things. But
instead of these things pointing them to Christ, bringing them
to faith, they made these things their righteousness and their
salvation. And that which ought to have
been a blessing, I made a curse. I cursed your blessings. Look
at Romans 11. Romans 11, verse 9 and 10. Romans 11, 9 and 10. Romans 11,
9 and 10. And David said, Let their table
be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a
recompense unto them, let their eyes be darkened, that they may
not see, and bow down their back always. That which ought to be
a blessing, I make a curse." Oh, my. Why? Well, look back
at my text. You won't hear me. You won't
receive my word in your heart. You won't give me the glory.
Therefore saith the Lord of hosts, I'll send a curse on you, the
Lord of hosts, I'll curse your blessings, yea, I've cursed them
already, because you do not lay my word to your heart." I can't cover every verse like
this, so let's go to verse 7. Still talking about the preachers
and the priests. Verse 7. For the priest's lips
should keep knowledge." In other words, the servant of God, his
lips and his tongue ought to drop with grace. What does it
say about our Lord? Grace flowed from his lips. Grace flowed from his lips. And
the priest's lips should keep knowledge, should guard and keep
pure the gospel of God. He's put in charge of the gospel.
Paul said God's committed to our trust, this treasure. And the lips of that preacher
ought to be, he ought to set a guard before his mouth and
always guard and keep pure that gospel. And his lips ought to
flow with grace and truth as our Lord Jesus Christ's lips
flow with grace and truth. You ought to be careful what
he speaks. Keep knowledge. And listen, and
they should seek the law at his mouth. The people ought to seek
the truth at his mouth. They ought to hear the truth
at his mouth. They ought to be able to come and sit before him
with total confidence that what he says is going to be according
to the scriptures for God's glory and their good. They ought to
be able to trust Him. That's what He's saying. His
lips should keep knowledge, knowledge of God, the truth of God. The
people should seek the truth at His mouth. For, listen, He's
the messenger of the Lord of Hosts. He's not His own. He's not his own. He's brought
with a price. He's not the servant of the church.
He's not the servant of the denomination. He's not the servant of the cause.
He's the messenger of the Lord of Hosts. That's what he is.
He's to deliver the message. His lips ought to keep the truth. And the people ought to be able
to hear it always from him, never deviating, never from the truth,
always the truth. as it is in Christ. Always. Always. He's the messenger, the Lord
of hosts. God sent Him. But, you've departed out of the
way. What way? The way of truth and
righteousness. You've gone the way of works.
You've gone the way of the flesh. You've departed out of the way
of salvation and substitution. You know that. You know what's
going on today. Some of you hear these people
preach, and you go to the places where they preach, and you go
to funerals where they preach, and you know they're not saying
what God says. They've departed from the way
of salvation and substitution. They've departed from the way
of Christ who said, I'm the way. I'm the way. And listen, and you've caused
many... Oh, God help us listen. Wouldn't
it be horrible to have this charge laid at your door? You cause
many to stumble at the law. Man ought not stumble at the
law. The law is given upon us to Christ. Like I said on Sunday evening,
these things are pictures of Christ and prophecies of Christ
and and forerunners of Christ, and shadows of Christ. They're
not the way we're saved. The Sabbath, the tithe, circumcision,
the sacrifices, the priesthood, the tabernacle, that's not how
God saves men. Christ is how God saves men,
and these things point to Christ. But you stop people, and they
stumble over these laws. You've got them seeking acceptance
with God by the law. By works, by self-righteousness,
you cause them to stumble. Instead of using these means
and pictures to point them to the Redeemer, you've got them
trying to fulfill a righteousness by the deeds of the law. Ah,
you've departed out of the way of grace to the way of works,
and you're causing people, many, to stumble at the law. seeking righteousness in the
law, in their works, and not in the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen, you've corrupted my covenant. Bob, listen to that. You've corrupt... What is this covenant? Well,
you know what it is. It's the covenant of grace. It's
the covenant of Levi, but listen. That covenant that God gave Moses
and the covenant He gave the sons of Levi was a typical covenant. It shattered the priesthood of
Christ. The priesthood of Levi foretold
the priesthood of Christ. The sacrifices of Levi pointed
to Christ. The covenant of works pointed
to the covenant of grace and righteousness in Him. And you
corrupted my covenant. My, my. You see that verse 8? Verse 7 tells us what we ought
to be as God's messengers, and verse 8 tells us what these hucksters
have done. You've departed out of the way
of grace. You've caused people to stumble at the law. You've
corrupted the covenant of mercy, the covenant of grace, the everlasting
covenant of which Christ is the shepherd, saith the Lord of hosts.
Therefore, have I also made you contemptible." There's no profession,
there's no profession in this world as contemptible as the
ministry. You know that? The general run
of the reverends and the fathers and the preachers is a great
big joke with most people. I've made you contemptible."
God's servants ought to be held in esteem, recognition, men listen
to them, but they're the butt of jokes. I've made you contemptible
and base before all the people. According as you've not kept
my ways, and you've been partial in the law, you're a bunch of
works preachers, and you Command people to do things you don't
do and they can't do. And you're contemptible. Isn't
that something? Isn't that something? Now, watch
this. This'll just, you'll, this'll really, it's amazing. Look at
verse 17. I said I'm not trying to cover
all the verses. You can read them later, but I'm going to
touch the high point. You wearied the Lord with your
words. And that's a preacher's That's
preacher strength and power, the Word. The Word of God. The Word of God. God said, My Word will not return
it to be void. It shall accomplish that whereunto
I sent it. Paul said, Timothy, preach the
Word. Preach the Word. And the Word brings God glory,
and brings God joy, and brings His people happiness, and brings
them salvation. But you corrupted my Word. You
corrupted my Word, and you wearied me. God says, I'm weary with
your words, I'm weary with what you're saying. This is said after
the matter of men. How can God be wearied? Well,
He says this two or three times. Don't turn to it, I'll just give
it to you. In Isaiah 1.15, He said, your feast, your appointed
feast, and your holy days and new moons, My soul hates. They are troubling me. I'm weary
of them." These folks going through the motion of so-called worship,
but not glorifying God, just fleshly worship, seeking self-righteous
goals and ends. God said, I'm weary of it, weary
of it. In Isaiah 43, He says this, "...you've
wearied me with your iniquities." The things that you're saying,
this is what God is saying, the things that you're saying in
my name are displeasing to me and provoking to me, and I'm
wearied with them. Now watch it. Get a hold of this. And you say, wherein have we
wearied him? Now boys, this, I've never seen
this. Watch this now, this next two
statements. Wherein have we wearied him?
Here's where you weary me, number one, when you say, everyone that
doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights
in them. You say God loves everybody. No matter how rebellious they
are, no matter how wicked they are, no matter how no count they
are, No matter how contrary the Scriptures are, you say God loves
them, God delights in them. That's where you're wearing me.
You're accusing me of delighting in rebels and in rebellion. You're declaring that the evil
that men do is good in the sight of God, and God condones these
rebels and loves these rebels and delights in these rebels,
and I want you to know That ain't so. Isn't that clear? You wearied me, saith the Lord
of Hosts, with your words. And you say, when have we wearied
thee? You wearied me because you're
saying everyone in this world is good in the sight of the Lord,
and He delights in them. My Lord said He delights in one
person. This is my Son in whom I'm well
pleased." And to say that God can delight in and love and condone
any son of Adam outside of Christ is to give God the lie and blaspheme
his name. And God says, I'm weary of that.
And I'll tell you where else I'm weary. Number two, where
is the God of judgment? What's that word? Justice. Righteousness. Where is the God of judgment
and righteousness in your sermons and in your message? He says,
I'm a just God and a Savior. Where is the Lord of righteousness
and the God of righteousness and justice? Where is the note
in your message that tells how God can be a just God and a Savior,
how He can be just and justify the ungodly? Yes, God can love
the ungodly, but only as He is just in Christ. Where is that
in your message? Turn to Jeremiah and listen to
this. Jeremiah, and I tell you, this
is the twofold era of 1995. at 94 and 95. God loves everybody. And God will not punish sin,
but God is not a God of righteousness and justice, but He is. And the only way that Almighty
God can justify us is in a way that declares Him to be a God
of judgment and justice and righteousness, and that's in Christ. Look at
Jeremiah 23, verse 5, "...Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch, and a king
shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice
in the earth." There's the God of righteousness and justice.
Read on. And in his days Judah shall be
saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name,
whereby he shall be called, in capital letters, THE LORD JEHOVAH
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." You weary me, he said. I'm weary with your
words, and they're just floating everywhere, words. And what are
they saying? God loves everybody. No matter
how rebellious, no matter how wicked, God delights in them. Ahoy said, that's not so. And
I'm asking you this, where's your God of righteousness? Where's
your God of justice? Where's the God of truth? Where's
the God that justifies sinners in a way that's in keeping with
His holiness? Where's Christ? The Lord, our
righteousness. Amen. We preach God's love, but
God's love is in Christ Jesus. We preach God's justice and righteousness,
and it's fulfilled in Christ Jesus. And that does not weary
him. That delights him. My soul delights
him. For watch now, I'm going to give
you chapter 3, just a verse or two, and quit. I'll send my messenger. You know who he's talking about
here? Old John the Baptist. John the Baptist. I'll send my
messenger. He'll prepare the way before
me. You know, when great kings and monarchs used to travel,
back before the days of telegraphs and telephones and newspapers,
and some great monarch would be going from this place to another
place, taking a journey to visit with people, he'd send an ambassador
ahead of him. May send several of them, but
he'd send an ambassador ahead of him to prepare the way, to
announce his coming, to tell the people he's on his way. And
John, he's the one who will prepare the way before me. John said,
I'm not the Christ. I'm a voice in the wilderness
crying, prepare ye the way of the Lord. He's coming. Behold,
the Lamb of God. Actually, all the true Old Testament
prophets were his messengers because to him give all the prophets
witness. They love to talk about Christ.
He's their subject. And the Lord, what's this? And
the Lord whom you seek, the Lord Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom you seek, shall certainly come to his temple. Come to his
temple. What is that temple? That's that
temple right there in Jerusalem. That's right, that's where Simeon
met him. Simeon was waiting on him. He came to the temple. The
Lord shall come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant,
God's covenant, God's covenant of grace, whom ye delight in,
behold, he'll come, saith the Lord of hosts. Who's the Lord
talking to here? Well, he's talking about John
the Baptist, his true messenger, who came to declare that Christ
is coming, the Lord's coming to his temple. And he's talking
to these people who seek the Lord and who delight in Him,
in His covenant. That's who he's talking to. They
seek Him, they delight in Him. That's right. And the Lord whom
you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant whom you delight in. Behold, he'll come, saith
the Lord of hosts. Oh my, he's the messenger of
the covenant. He's the messenger. He's the
prophet to announce it. He's the priest to effect it.
He's the king to apply it. He's the messenger. But look
at verse 2. But who shall listen when he
speaks? Who shall abide the day of his coming? Lord, who hath
believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Well, who shall abide the day of his coming? Who shall
stand when he appears? Our Lord turned to his disciples
and said, whom do you say that I am? They said, you're the Christ.
That's who will stand. That's who will abide his coming.
That's who will delight in his coming. And he says, he is like
a refiner's fire. What does that mean? He separates
the gold from the dross. The refiner's fire purifies the
gold and burns off the dross. That's what he does. He separates
truth from error. He separates the genuine from
the false. He tries the professor and the
possessor like a refiner's fire. And listen, and he's like Fuller's
soap. Preacher, what's this fuller
soap? Well, what I can understand is the women used to boil the
garments in hot water. Boil the garments in hot water.
Then they'd rub in this fuller soap to remove the spots and
make the garments to be white as snow. And that's his spot
that's holding it. He makes us white as snow. He's
the refiner's fire. that separates the dross from
the gold. He said, I'll make you, I'll
try you by fire and you'll come forth as gold. After he's tried
me, I'll come forth as gold. He does it. He does it. He's the refiner's fire. He's
the spotless holiness. He purges us and cleanses us
and makes us white. He said, though your sins be
as scarlet, I'll make you white as snow. Though they be red like
crimson, I'll make them as wool." And listen, and he'll sit as
a refiner and purify the silver. I said one time, when God's gold's
in the furnace, God's not too far away from the door. He's
sitting there. He's sitting there. He's trying
his gold. He's purifying his silver. And
he sits as a refiner. He officiates over it. He doesn't
leave that to somebody else. And He'll purify the sons of
Levi. Is that the priest? That's us.
We're all king priests, priests of God. He'll purge them as gold
and silver. Listen. What's He doing? That they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness. Our Lord's going to purify us.
He's going to purify His sons. He's going to purge away the
dross and the faults. and present us as pure gold,
that when we come into his presence, to worship and to pray and to
praise him, that we'll offer unto the Lord an offering in
righteousness in Christ, through Christ, only in him. None of
our self entering into it, but it's a sacrifice of praise and
prayer and worship that's in Christ and Christ alone. Seeing
we have a great high priest, let us come. Let us come boldly. Because we've been sprinkled
with pure water and washed in his own precious blood. And look
at verse four. And then shall the offering of
Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to the Lord. as in the days of
old, as in the former days and years. You know, he said in Hebrews
10, in burnt offerings and sacrifices, the Lord never had any pleasure,
never had any pleasure, never had any satisfaction. Christ
said, then said, I come, lo, in the volume of the book that's
written of me, to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first
and establishes the second. And when we come in Christ, Before
our Lord, then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem and Israel
is pleasant. He receives us in Christ. That's
right. Because of Christ. We don't bring
anything else, anything of our own, or anything associated or
identified with us. But we come in Him, and that's
when He's satisfied. All right, verse 5. He puts in
a word against those that know him not. He says, I'm going to
come near to you to judgment. This is not written to those
that seek him and those who love him and those who delight in
him. He said, I'll be a swift witness against the sorcerers,
against the adulterers, against the false swearers. against those
that oppress the hireling in his wages, the withering, the
fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right.
And fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts, I'm going to deal with
them too." And then verse 6, this is written to us, I am the
Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Their foot shall slide, but not
yours. Not yours, not mine, because
he doesn't change. He loves us in Christ, forgives
us in Christ. Why are we called sons of Jacob? The sons of Jacob will never
be consumed, never be put to shame, never be confounded. Why are we called sons of Jacob?
I'll close with this. Several times in the scriptures,
I could take you to several scriptures, therefore ye sons of Jacob, sons
of Jacob. I'll tell you why. Like Jacob,
God elected us before we were born. That's right. He said before the children were
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. He elected Jacob
before he was born, elected me before I was born. He loved Jacob
before he was born. It was said to her, the elder
shall serve the younger. Jacob, have a love. He shall
have a hated. I'm a son of Jacob. He elected
me before I was born. He loved me before I was born.
He gave me the birthright before I was born. That's right. You want the birthright here?
That's where the daddy left his cash to his oldest boy. Oh, no,
no, no, no. He left cash to all of them.
That older boy was the priest of the home. He was the one to
offer the sacrifice. He was the leader before God
of the family. He had a relationship with God.
And God said, the older boy in this case is not going to have
it. The younger is going to have it. Takes away the first and establishes
the second by his sovereign grace. So he gave me my birthright before
I was born, and he revealed himself to Jacob. When he was fleeing
from his home and from his angry brother, he lay down on a rock,
and God revealed the way to glory. You remember the ladder? An angel
is going from the throne down to him. That's Christ. He's the
way to God. He revealed that to Jacob. He
said, you're mine, and I'll be with you. And then Jacob gave
him a new name. He said, what's your name? He
said, Jacob. He said, no more. Your name's Israel. You're prince
of God. You're son of God. He gave me
a new name. And Jacob was a man of many trials,
but the Lord always hedged him about. He played the fool oh
so many times. But God kept him and hedged him
about, ordered his steps, and brought him back home. And you know, old Jacob, like
his granddaddy, believed God. We're sons of Jacob. Elected
for his born, loved for his born, given the birthright before we
were born, God revealed himself to us, changed our names, brought
us home, and hedged us about. and never let him out of his
sight. That's right. Sons of Jacob. But you're not
consumed. Why? Why? Because we're not going
to change. Oh, no. He's not going to change.
That's the reason. He's not going to change. All
right. Let's pray together. Our Father,
we thank You for Your Word. It's so clear because You reveal
it to us. It's so applicable to our day.
It's so alive and real, even in this day. And we thank you
for this Scripture that you've revealed to us tonight. And by
thy Word, you've comforted our hearts, you've instructed us,
you've strengthened us in the faith, you've strengthened our
hope in Christ, caused our hearts to rejoice, We've seen your glory
and your praise and your honor. We've seen our Lord Jesus Christ
again, our Lord of righteousness. Lord, we pray that we shall,
as pastor and people and elders and teachers in this congregation,
be more determined than ever to preach your Word, lay it to
heart, and glorify your name. Use us for your honor and praise,
I ask it in Christ's name. Amen.