The Messanger of the Covenant

Turn in your Bibles to the last
book in the Old Testament, the last book in the Old Testament,
Malachi. And in Malachi chapter 3, chapter 2 first, let's look at
chapter 2. Chapter 3 will be my text. Chapter
2 of Malachi is filled with rebukes. God, through His prophet, rebuking
the priest, the leaders of Israel and the people. He brings strong
rebuke and judgment against the priest of Israel, against the
people, because of their sins. They had departed from the way
of the Lord, the priest. had caused the people to stumble. Look at verse 7. He talks about
in verses 1 through 6 the faithfulness of Levi. Then he says, verse
7, verse 6, the truth was in his mouth. Talk about Levi. Iniquity was not found in his
lips. He walked with me in peace and
equity and did turn many away from iniquity. That was the priest
of old. Now you fellows, verse 7. For
the priest's lips should keep knowledge. They should seek the
law at his mouth. For he is the messenger of the
Lord of hosts. But you are departed out of the
way. You have caused many to stumble
at my law. You have corrupted the covenant
of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore, therefore have I also
made you contemptible and base before all the people, according
as you've not kept my ways." You've been partial. You've shown
partiality. You've adjusted your messages
to me. your own needs, partiality, dealing
with people in the way that will benefit you. Then verse 17 of
chapter 2, he said, You have wearied the
Lord with your words. You have wearied the Lord. Our
God is long-suffering, patient. But you wearied me, he said,
with your words. Yet you say, wherein have we
wearied him? I'll tell you, when you say,
everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, you
say everybody is good in the sight of the Lord. You say the
Lord even delights and loves those who do evil. He delights
in and loves those who do evil. He's delighted in them. And then
you say, Where is the God of judgment? Where is the one who will call
me into account?" All things continue as they were. Where is your God of judgment?
Oh, at chapter 3, verse 1. He begins chapter 3, verse 1,
with the answer to your question. Behold, look with attention. I'll send my messenger. I'll
send my messenger." He's talking here about John the Baptist,
the last of the Old Testament prophets. I'll send my messenger,
and he'll prepare the way before me. If you'll go with me to Isaiah
chapter 40, you have the prophecy about John the Baptist coming
from the Lord, a man sent from God, whose name was John. Isaiah
40, verse 3, the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a
highway for our God. The allusion here is to the almighty
kings and great men who were coming to a certain place. And
they'd send their messengers or ambassadors before them. They'd
send a special appointed ambassador to go before them and prepare
the way to bring down the high places and raise up the low places
and make smooth the rough places and announce, the king's coming,
he's right behind me. I'm here to let you know he's
coming. And that's what John the Baptist did. John the Baptist
came, he said, I'm going to send my messenger. I'm coming, and
I'm going to send my messenger before me. And when they heard
John the Baptist, they came to him, they said, are you the Christ?
He said, no, I'm not the Christ. Well, are you Elijah? No, I'm
not Elijah. Well, are you that prophet? No,
I'm not that prophet. Well, who are you? I'm a voice. I'm a voice. That's what Isaiah
said he would be, a voice. A voice in the wilderness crying,
prepare ye the way of the Lord. Now, what is there about a voice?
Well, a voice has a message. God never has raised up a voice
yet that didn't have something to say. I watch these preachers on television
sometimes, There are a lot of things about them that you could
say, but you couldn't quite call them a voice, because they're
not saying anything. A voice has a message. A voice on a telephone has a
message. A voice has a message. And secondly, a voice is to be
heard and not seen. A true prophet of God knows that
he's not to be seen, he's not to be applauded, He's not to
receive the glory and the praise. He's a voice that is to be heard. He has a message. And he knows
one day his voice will be silent. But the message will live on
for another voice will come along with the same message. That's
all we are. Paul said, we're nothing of polished
plows and seafloor waters I come along and do this, and God gives
the increase, but we're nothing. We're just voices with a message
to be heard, not seen, not to be exalted, because that voice
someday will lie silent in the grave. But another voice carry
the message on. And I'm a voice in the wilderness.
That's what he said, I'm a voice in the wilderness. Why in the temple? Because God's
not in the temple. Because God's been cast out of
the temple. Because the temple is now in the hands of professional
religionists. Because if anybody speaks for
God, he can't speak in the temple, he has to speak in the wilderness.
That's right. For boys, in the wilderness.
Not in the temple, not in organized religion, because God is not
welcome there. I ask you this. You know, we
read a while ago in the study, God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners, spake to our fathers by the prophets.
If He speaks to us today by His voices and His messengers, I
ask you, which denomination that you know about would that messenger
be identified with? Would he come from Rome? Not
hardly. Would he come from Salt Lake
City? Not hardly. Would he come from Nashville?
No. Would he come from Indianapolis or Clarksburg? No. What denomination
would he be identified with? None of them. He'd be a maverick
and a voice in the wilderness tribe. They wouldn't have him.
They wouldn't have his message. That's right, they wouldn't give
him authority. They wouldn't let him speak. They'd do what
they did to John Bunyan and shut him up in jail. And when John
the Baptist, Christ said, I'll send my messenger and he'll prepare
the way before me, but he'll be in the wilderness. He'll be
a voice in the wilderness, a nobody. They came to John and said, who
gave you the authority to baptize? We didn't give you authority.
You didn't go to our schools. We didn't approve of you. We
didn't ordain you. We don't recognize you. You don't
have any papers. I'm a voice. I got a message. He'll prepare the way before
me. All right, watch it now. And the Lord, and the Lord, Jehovah
Himself, the Lord, said unto my Lord, and the Lord whom you
seek shall suddenly come to his temple." He'll come to his temple. Who
will? The Lord. Job said he's going
to stand on this earth. My God, my Redeemer is going
to stand on this earth. He's going to stand in human
flesh on this earth. The Lord is. the Lord whom you
seek." There was a sense in which they were seeking Him. They asked,
John, are you the Christ? They asked the Jews, is not this
the Christ? The woman at the well says, well,
the Christ is coming. He'll tell us everything. And
here He says He's coming, the Lord shall suddenly The messenger
is coming to say, prepare you the way. And then suddenly he'll
come to his temple. The Lord, the Messiah. Which
temple? All right, turn to, over here
to Haggai. Just back a few pages. Haggai,
chapter 2. We're talking about the temple
in Jerusalem. That's where he's coming. That's
where... Malachi's talking about he's going to come to his temple.
It is his temple. It's desecrated. He's not welcome
there, but he's coming to his temple. He's coming to his temple,
which was built for his glory, for his worship, for his praise,
to offer sacrifices to him and to picture through the priesthood
and the mercy seat his mercy to sinners. He's coming to the
temple, the second temple. The first
one was replaced with this one. Haggai 2, look at it, verse 3. Who's left among you that saw
this house in her first glory? How do you see it now? Is it
not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? That's right.
The second temple was nothing compared to Solomon's temple.
Worship had degenerated to nothing. It was a place where they bought
and sold. You remember Christ came in and drove them out? He
said, my temple, my house shall be called a house of prayer.
You made it a den of thieves. That's what it was, a den of
thieves. Haggai says here, do you all know anything about the
glory of that first temple? Solomon's temple? This thing
here today is nothing, he said, compared to that. But now wait
a minute, verse 6. Hold it. Verse 6, Haggai 2, for
thus saith the Lord of hosts, yet once in a little while I'm
going to shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the
dry land. I'm going to shake all the nations
and the desire of all nations. I wish they'd have capitalized
that deed. This is Christ. The desire of all nations shall
come and I'll fill this house with glory. He's coming to this
temple. saith the Lord of Hosts. The
silver is mine, the gold is mine, saith the Lord, and the glory
of this latter temple shall be greater than Solomon's temple. And in this place I'll give peace,
saith the Lord of Hosts." He's coming to his temple. You with
me now? Boy, this is important. Go back to Malachi's prophecy. All right, you weird the Lord
with your words. He said there's no judgment with
Him, there's no truth with Him, there's no righteousness in Him.
Where is the God of judgment? All right, I'm going to send
my messenger. And then suddenly, I'm coming
to my temple. The Lord Himself, whom you see,
whom you talk about, whom the prophets mention, He's coming
to His temple. All right, when did He come?
Turn to Luke 2. Here's when He came, Luke chapter 2. Oh boy,
turn over there now, Luke 2. Luke 2, Mary had given birth
to a boy out there in Bethlehem, city of David, in a manger. And when he was eight days old,
verse 21, Luke 2, when he was eight days old, those eight days
were accomplished for the circumcision of the child. His name was called
Jesus. which was so named of the angel
before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her
purification according to the law of Moses was accomplished,
they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as
it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth
the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice
according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair
of turtledoves, two young pigeons, Mary and Joseph, was so poor
they couldn't afford a lamb, they brought turtle doves. And
behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the
same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of
Israel, waiting for the Christ, waiting for the Messiah, and
the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed to him by
the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And when he came by the Spirit
into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child
Jesus, suddenly, he came to the temple. I bet you when these
Jews read this in Malachi, they thought he'd come in the temple
with a bunch of troopers and people following. He came as
a helpless little baby in the arms of his mother. But that's
Him, Richard. That's Him. That's Him at the
time. He's come to the temple unexpected. That's right. Unheralded, unknown. Here comes this woman in here
with a little baby in her arms. Somebody knows Him. Watch, listen.
And when He came into the temple in His mother's arms to do with
Him after the law, Simeon, verse 28, took him up in his arms and
blessed God and said, Lord, now lettest thou servant depart in
peace according to your words, mine eyes have seen your salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light
to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. He came to the temple. He made
another visit too, Mark 11. Let's turn around and read about
that one. He made another visit, Mark chapter 11, verse 15. And when they come to Jerusalem,
Jesus went into the temple. Somebody said, one of the apostles
said he planted a whip. out of cords. And he began to
cast out them that sold and bought in the temple. And he overthrew
the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold
doves. It would not suffer that any
man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying
unto them, It is written, My house shall be called a house
of all nations, the house of prayer. And you've made it a
den of thieves. All right, back to Malachi. And
the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly, not like they thought
he was coming, or they thought he'd restore Israel to its prominence
and glory, they thought he'd deliver them from the heel of
the Roman Empire, but he came as a Redeemer to his temple. Now look at the next line. Even
the messenger of the covenant This is not the covenant made
with Adam, which was broken. This is not the covenant made
with Abraham or Moses or Israel. This is the everlasting covenant.
The everlasting covenant. This is the covenant when David
was lying upon the bed, dying, he rejoiced in. God hath made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.
This is a covenant of which Paul wrote in Hebrews 7, Jesus is
the surety of this everlasting covenant. This is a covenant
established upon better promises. This is the covenant of the great
shepherd of the sheep, who through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. Why is he called the messenger?
You see that word, messenger of the covenant, that's the title
of my message. the messenger of the covenant.
I'll tell you why he's called the messenger. Because he, in
his coming, and in his person, and in his work, and in his glory,
reveals and manifests that covenant. A man can't understand that covenant
of grace, that everlasting covenant of mercy, except as it's revealed
to him in Christ. in his personal work. Turn to
1 John. 1 John chapter 5, listen to this. 1 John chapter 5, it says in
verse 20, listen, And we know that the Son of God is come,
and he hath given us an understanding. He has revealed us the mysteries
of God. He said, you've seen me, you've
seen my father. He has given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true. And we're in Him and how
we got in Him, by His elective grace and by His covenant mercies
and by the blood of His Son. And we're in Him, even in His
Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God. This is
eternal life. That's the covenant. He's the
messenger. You see, he's the priest and
the king and the prophet. Go back to the text. Even he's
coming to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, in
whom you delight. In whom you delight. You know,
this is one of the greatest mysteries of the grace of God. This is
an unexplainable mystery, that God loves us and we love
God. That is a mystery. And I'll tell
you, it's just as great a mystery that you love Him as He loves
you. It took just the same grace and power to make you love Him
as it brought His love to you. That's right. First Peter talks about we're
strangers, talks about we're God's elect, talks about we're
born again, talks about His riches, talks about being kept in Christ,
talks about our trials, but then it says, mystery, mystery, whom
having not seen, you love. Explain that to me. Whom having never seen. You have
seen the Lord? You love Him. And now, though you see Him not,
you believe Him. Not only that, but with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. He loves me. But I'll tell you,
it's just as great a miracle if I love Him. See, His love is shared abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Unbelievers don't love Christ. They don't love Christ. Look
at this text. The messenger of the covenant,
whom you delight in, behold, he shall come, he shall come,
he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts, he shall come. But
what's this next question? But who may abide the day of
his coming? Who shall stand when he appears? Who shall listen when he speaks? Lord, who hath believed thy report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Who's going to say, I believe,
and who's going to say, I don't? When the Son of Man cometh, will
he find faith on this earth, any faith? The message of the covenant is
coming. But who shall abide the day of
his coming? And who's going to stand when
he appears? When he says, I and my Father
are one, who's going to hear that? Not many. When he declares, my
kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
my servants would fight. My kingdom is in the heart, righteousness
and peace in the Holy Ghost. Who's going to hear that? Who's going to abide the day
of His coming? When he says, all that my Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I'll
in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven, not
to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is
the will of him that sent me, that of all he giveth me, I lose
nothing. My sheep will hear my voice. I told you, and you believe not,
because you're not of my sheep. Other sheep I have which are
not of this foal, them I must bring. They'll hear my voice,
there'll be one foal. Who shall hear him? When He clearly
says, I came to die on a cross to redeem a people, except the
corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. Who's
going to know what He's talking about? Who's going to abide the
day of His coming? Who's going to stand when He
appears? Who's going to believe that? When He says, except you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no
life in you, they said, that's a hard saying. Who can hear it? When he says, I came not to send
peace, I came to send a sword and division. I came to separate
a mother and a daughter, and a father and a son, and brothers. I came to drive a wedge and bring
persecution and hatred because of the gospel. Who's going to
abide? I'm going to send my messenger
and he's going to say, prepare you the way of the Lord. And
then, he's coming. There he is. But who's going
to abide? John chapter 6. Listen to this.
John chapter 6. Go over there with me just a
moment. Verse 61. John 6, 61. But when Jesus knew
in himself, that his followers, this is not the twelve, this
is the followers, murmured at it. He said, does this offend
you? Do my words offend you? What,
and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was
before? It's the spirit that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth
nothing. The words that I speak to you, their spirit, their life,
but there are some among you who believe not, for Jesus knew
from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should
betray Him. And He said, Therefore said unto
you, that no man can come to Me except what was given him
of My Father. And from that time many of His
disciples went back and walked no more with Him." Who shall
abide the day of his coming? Who's going to stand? Somebody
did listen. Then he said to the twelve, will
you also go away? And Simon Peter stepped forth
and answered and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. And we believe and assure that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. I believe. I'll stand. All right, back to the text.
Listen to this. He's coming, but who's going
to abide his coming? Who's going to stand when he
appears? Who's going to stand? For he's like a refiner's fire. Anybody know anything about the
refiner and the fire? A refiner's fire melts the dross
from the gold, doesn't it? The unwanted metal from the true
metal, false faith from the genuine, the tares from the wheat, the works of men. He is like
a refiner's fire. He's the one that separates.
It's not us, it's Christ. This is Christ, it's not us.
And like fuller's soap. What is fuller's soap? Well,
women used to boil garments, just boil them in hot water,
and then when they were finished boiling in the hot water, the
commentators say they rubbed them with fuller soap, an abrasive
soap, but it whitened them, it weakened them, it took the spots
out though, it was hard on them. But it revealed the true cleanliness. And it says here in verse 3,
and he, my messenger, the covenant, is going to sit. I've told you again and again,
when a person sits, he's at peace, he's at rest, he's not worried.
He's got everything under control. And he's going to sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver. He's going to sit. You see that
old refiner, he knows what he's doing. He has, he built the fire. He put his precious metal in
the fire. He knows how hot to make the
fire. He knows when to put it in. He knows how long to leave
it in. And he knows how, when to take it out. And he sits there
and waits until the fire does its work. And he's never very far away
from the fire, but he's sitting. And then he takes it out. It's
ready. Watch it now. Our Lord is the refiner. He's
come to this earth and purchased the people. Bought them by His
blood. The Father gave them to Him.
He bought them by His blood. We're His jewels. We're His gold.
We're His silver. And He's going to purify us.
It says here, listen, He's going to say it. Come up here and sit
on my right hand, and I'll redeem all your people and make your
enemies your foots too. Just have a seat." And he's the
purifier, and he's going to purify the sons of Levi. That's every
one of us. We're all priests unto our God.
He's going to purify us. He's going to purge them like
gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord. A honest,
true, sincere offering in righteousness. And nobody here is able to do
that till you've been in the fire of the Refiner. And He picks you up where He
finds you. An old piece of ore. Doesn't
look like it's worth anything. It's not. It's just like all
the rest of it. He knows. And He puts it in His fire. He's
never far away from the fire. He made the fire. He knows how
hot to make it. He knows when to put it in. He
knows how long to leave it. And He knows when it's ready
to take out. When that gold and silver and that son of Levi has
been properly purified and purged, whatever it takes Him to do it,
He's the refiner. But one of these days, one of
these days, they're going to come before Him with sincere
hearts and sincere worship and sincere faith and offer in the
name of Jesus Christ an offering that he says in verse 4, then
shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the
Lord. Old Brother Barnard said one
time to a bunch of singers in a conference, he said, do you
fellas ever learn to sing? in the Spirit of God, you're
going to be something else. If we ever learn to preach only
for His glory, we'll be something else. If we ever learn to worship
as unto the Lord, if we ever come through this fire in a proper
manner, we're going to offer up, look at this, "...then shall
the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to the Lord, as in
the days of old." When Abel pleased God with his offering, he had
respect to Abel's offering. When Enoch had this testimony,
he pleased God with his offering, as in the ancient years. That's where it is. My, my. That
just... He's going to sit and wait. till the fire does
its work. And there's some folks that their
works are going to be burned up in 1 Corinthians 3. Look over here. It says that. It says, talking about preachers,
1 Corinthians chapter 3, talking about that same fire. He said,
every man's work, if they build Verse 12, "...upon this foundation,
gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, and stubble, every
man's work shall be made manifest." The day is going to declare it.
It's going to be revealed by fire. And the fire will try every
man's work of what sort it is. If a man's work abides whereon
he is built, he will receive a reward. All right, verse 5, back to our
text, Malachi 3, verse 5. This is the last two verses.
And I'll come near to you into judgment. I'm going to be a swift
witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and
against the false swearers, and against those who oppress the
hireling in his wages. the widow, oppress the widow,
and oppress the fatherless. And those that turn aside the
stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of
hosts, for I am the Lord, I don't change." That's bad news for
wicked men, the fact that God doesn't change. That's bad news.
He said, I'm going to deal with everybody on the basis of how
they've lived. I promise some judgment, because
I don't change. I don't change. But that's good
news for the believers. Listen, I don't change. Therefore,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed by the fire. The only thing that's
going to keep me from being consumed by the very fire and wrath of
God that will consume everybody else that knows Him not, is the
fact that like Jacob, he loved me before I was born, he chose
me before I came from the womb, he gave me the birthright in
Christ, he revealed his mercies to me at Bethel, and he keeps
on by his grace bringing me back to Bethel. I'm a Jacob who just
has had his name changed to Israel. Our Father blessed this Word
How grateful we are for this tremendous, blessed scripture,
the prophecy of this faithful man. Make us like him. And Lord, make us love his message,
and especially love the messenger of the covenant. Speak to our
hearts for whatever purpose it pleases you. I pray for Christ's
sake. Amen.

The Messanger of the Covenant

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The Messanger of the Covenant

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