God's Desired Messenger

a) We’re continuing today in our series on the last book of the OT, Malachi. 2 weeks ago we saw how Israel’s priests who’d returned from exile failed to teach & model God’s word to His people. And then last week we saw the result: Israel became a faithless culture. They were faithless to 1 another.

b) They were faithless to God’s commands & their marriage covenants. But today we’re going to see the charge God’s faithless people made against Him, as well as God’s response. I’ve titled today’s sermon: God’s Desired Messenger. Let’s look at God’s holy word in 2:17-3:5. READ & PRAY

Here’s our 1st point in 2:17. God’s faithless people charged Him w/ being unjust.

a) Look again at v17: “You have wearied the Lord w/ your words. But you say ‘How have we wearied him?’ By saying ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord & He delights in them.’ Or by asking, ‘Where is the God of justice?” Have you ever been around someone spiraling?

b) Their life is a mess, but everyone else is at fault & to be blamed. That’s what we see here. So far in in Malachi we’ve seen the problem was not w/ God, but w/ His wayward & faithless people. God declared His love for them, but Israel cynically questioned how exactly He had loved them.

c) Israel didn’t honor or fear God. They offered Him wearisome worship. But now, the Lord declares they have wearied Him w/ their words. Not only did they doubt God’s love, now they doubted His justice. As Israel looked around at their circumstances, it was all God’s fault.

d) Although God graciously brought them out of exile & back to the Promised Land, Israel was experiencing social, political & economic oppression. Where was God’s promised rest? Where was God’s promised coming? It had been prophesied God would return to Jerusalem & to the temple.

e) The temple had been rebuilt, but where was its glory. Where was the Lord? So in response to their trials & struggles of life after exile, God’s people began to doubt & cynically question God’s justice. Now what we see here from Israel should sound familiar to us today.

f) Many people still look around at our world & the wicked prospering & good people suffering tragedies & sense something is deeply wrong. This is not the way things ought to be. And this leads many to cynically blame God. This is all His fault. Why doesn’t He bring justice?

g) Why doesn’t He intervene? And that’s what we see here. Israel cynically concluded: “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord & He delights in them.” Don’t miss what they were saying. They were saying serving God & following His righteous law isn’t worth it.

h) They were accusing God of blessing evil people & allowing them to suffer. They cynically accused God of being absent: “Where is the God of justice?” They accused God of calling evil good when it was them calling evil good. They questioned God’s character & stood over Him & judged Him.

i) Friends, there’s a great danger in rooting your joy in your circumstances. Heb. 12:2 says Jesus, the founder & perfector of our faith, “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.” The cross represents the greatest suffering in history b/c Jesus not only suffered physically, but He fully experienced God’s wrath when He bore our sin. Yet, He saw through His circumstances.

j) His joy was not rooted in His circumstances or in other people, but in His Father in heaven. His joy was obedience to His Father & pleasing His Father. His joy was our redemption which would resound in praise, glory & honor to His Father in heaven.

k) But 2nd, there’s also a great danger in interpreting God’s character through your circumstances. We must see our circumstances in light of God’s character & promises. We must let His character interpret our circumstances -not our circumstances interpret God’s character.

l) But here, Israel allowed their circumstances to dictate their view of God. They were pointing their finger at God & blaming Him for their circumstances, when they should have been pointing to themselves & their sin. They cynically cried out: “Where is the God of justice?”

That brings us to our 2nd point in v1-4. God’s 1st response to this cry for justice: a coming Messenge

a) v1 says, “Behold, I send my messenger & he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple & the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, He is coming says the Lord of hosts.” God answers their accusation by saying: “Behold.”

b) That Hebrew word literally means: “Here I am or Behold Me”. See, God was not absent, but present & ready to act. Here in v1 we see 3 individuals mentioned. The 1stindividual is I. “Behold, I send.” And this I is identified at the end of the v3 as “the Lord of hosts.” The speaker is YHWH.

c) It’s the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. The 2nd individual is YHWH’s messenger who prepares the way: “Behold, I send my messenger & he will prepare the way.” Who is this? Jesus insists the messenger Malachi spoke of was John the Baptist. Look at what Jesus said in Matt. 11:7-10:

d) “As they went away Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes I tell you & more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you’.”

e) So the 2nd individual here is John the Baptist. The messenger who prepares the way. But who was John preparing the way for? We see a 3rdindividual in v1: “the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple; & the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, He is coming.”

f) Notice this 3rd person is called the Lord. Now Malachi wouldn’t use that term for John the Baptist. The temple is said to belong to this person who was coming. The only person you could say is the owner of the temple is God Himself. This person seems identical to YHWH or the Lord of Hosts.

g) Malachi says, “And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come.” This 2nd messenger, the messenger of the covenant, is the Lord Himself. The eternal Son of God, who was w/ God & who was God, added a human mind, body & soul to Himself & came in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

h) And Malachi says in 3:2, “But who can endure the day of His coming & who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire & like fullers’ soap.”

i) Now a refiner's fire is meant to cleanse & purify. A refiner’s fire melts down precious metals like gold & silver to remove any impurities that would diminish its value. Similarly, fullers’ soap was a harsh alkaline lye used to remove stains & impurities from garments.

j) See, both the fire & water refer to Jesus’ work of purifying & cleansing. As John the Baptist said in John 1:29: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” But notice v2 says: “But who can endure the day of His coming & who can stand when He appears?”

k) Yes, Jesus came like a refiner’s fire, but it is still fire. We all know from experience that fire isn’t something to take lightly. You don’t ignore or play w/ fire. We all have a healthy respect for fire. We rightly fear its power. But God’s fire here was being sent to refine & change.

l) Here’s the point. God’s 1stresponse was not a word of warning, but a word of hope. God was declaring His messenger would come to refine His people who needed to be purified. We were all created in God’s image w/ the potential to fear God & trust & obey & glorify Him.

m) But in Adam, his sin & sin nature have been imputed or given to us. We are each born in iniquity & in sin. Our nature is now marred w/ rebellion & unbelief. And that’s a problem b/c Rev. 21:27 says no 1 & nothing unclean or impure will enter God’s Kingdom.

n) As Jesus said in Mt. 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” None of us are pure in heart. But throughout Scripture, God says He will redeem a people. And to accomplish this, the messenger of the covenant came. And as Titus 2:14 tells us, the Lord Jesus:

o) “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness & to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.” Heb. 13:20 calls Jesus’ blood, “the blood of the everlasting covenant.” And 1 John 1:7 says, “the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.”

p) Jesus came as a refiner's fire to cleanse a people for Himself from their sin, guilt & shame. Look at v3-4: “He will purify the sons of Levi & refine them like gold & silver & they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah & Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord.”

q) Jesus 1st coming was to save. To refine. To redeem. To bring cleansing & renewal. And God says through Malachi, that day is coming. But there’s a 2nd part to God’s response & their cry for justice

Let’s look at 3rd & final point in v5 & God’s 2nd response to their cry for justice: a coming judgment

a) God’s people in Malachi’s day claimed their greatest desire was for God’s justice to come. And Malachi says in v5, be careful what you wish for. 1 of my favorite movies is a Few Good Men. If I see it on TV, my family knows it’s probably time to find something else to do.

b) There’s a scene in the movie where Tom Cruise (a Navy lawyer) is cross examining Jack Nicholson (a Marine colonel). Cruise is trying to bait Nicholson into admitting a Marine died b/c of a code red or hazing he ordered which was an banned practice. Toward the end of the scene, Cruise shouts at Nicholson: “I want the truth!” Nicholson responds: “You can’t handle the truth!”

c) Many people today cry out & demand justice. But true justice is much more than upholding the values we hold dear or a certain moral order in a society. True justice is what Scripture calls judgment day. Notice here, the messenger of the covenant will not refine all people.

d) There are some people who prefer impurity & living w/ sin-soiled garments. And they will find His 2nd coming & God’s coming justice a day of reckoning. Look at v5:

e) “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, adulterers, those who swear falsely, those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow & the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner & do not fear me.”

f) v5 says when Christ returns no 1 will say: “Where is the God of justice?” No 1 will be able to accuse God of being unjust. v5 was a warning to God’s people of cynically questioning Him & His justice. When the Lord appears in judgment, He will judge completely & indiscriminately.

g) Here in v5, Malachi lists 7 specific violations of the Mosaic law here, which isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list of the sins God will condemn. These 7 sins (7 being the # of perfection or completion) are meant to represent the whole law. See most of us have a list of big sins & little sins

h) Usually, the big sins are the ones other people do. But God’s standard of judgment is the whole law which reflects His character. James 2:8-10 says: “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. But if you show partiality you are committing sin & are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in 1 point has become guilty of all of it.”

i) See, the people of Malachi’s day were crying out: if God is just – where is His justice. But if God had poured out His justice on that day, it wouldn’t have ended well for His people. God’s seeming absence was not moral indifference. It was forbearance. It was His patience & mercy.

j) 2 Pet. 3:9-10: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness. He is patient toward you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief & then the heavens will pass away w/ a roar & the heavenly bodies burned up & dissolved & the earth & the works that are done in it will be exposed.”

k) God’s justice is coming! On that day the messenger of the covenant is coming to either complete His work of refinement in those who looked to Him in faith, or to condemn those who rejected Him. Malachi reminds God’s people that the Judge of all the earth is coming to bring true justice.

So what are we to do? Is there any hope for sinners like us & those in Malachi’s day?

a) How can we be sure to experience God’s fire as refining & not consuming? Notice what the answer can’t be! The answer can’t be to get rid of your own sin. If you & I could make ourselves right w/ God on our own, there would have been no need for God to send His messenger & His refining fire

b) But v3 says a purified remnant will emerge who will be refined like gold & silver. A purified people will emerge to serve the Lord in righteousness.

c) So how do we as sinners ensure we are refined & not consumed? God’s word tells us to trust in Him & His purifying mercy. How can God forgive the guilty & yet still be just? In the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the messenger of the covenant, He took our place. He represented us.

d) Before He came in judgment, He came to deal w/ sin & to make a way for sinners to be reconciled to God & to be saved from the wrath to come. Jesus came to take the judgment & condemnation we deserve. God’s coming justice & judgment was 1st poured out on His Son at the cross.

e) The cross was the ultimate act of calling good evil & evil good. They nailed the One God delights in to a cross. He bled & died to redeem & refine a people. How can sinners like us escape God’s coming justice & judgment? The only way is to come to the messenger of the covenant.

f) It’s to look to the One who endured God’s judgment for you. He died & was buried for you & your sin. He brought a perfect & righteous offering & sacrifice to God for us & our sin. But Jesus came to do more than just deliver you from your sin & God’s coming judgment. He came as a Refiner.

g) We are saved by grace through faith in His purifying work. The goal of the refining process as v3-4 says is to create a purified people who will finally bring right offerings to God & serve Him in righteousness. The Refiner came so we might live out the call of Rom. 12:1,

h) “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy & acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” We respond to God’s refining work for us not just be coming to Jesus, but by bringing & offering Him our whole lives.

i) We surrender to God. We lose our life so we might find & have true & abundant life. Yes, we don’t an answer to the question of why God allows evil & injustice or why bad things happen to good people. Yes, we might not understand the difficult circumstances we walk through in this life.

j) But here in Malachi we do see the solution: Jesus. United to Him by faith, we can look forward to His 2nd coming as the Judge of all the earth b/c on that day He will complete His refining process in us. But until that day, He has given us His Spirit so we can continue to be refined like silver & gold

k) Come to Him. Repent of your sin. Stop doubting His love & justice. Malachi says the God of justice will appear. The God of Justice is coming. The messenger of the covenant will be a swift witness.