Two messengers: the Forerunner and the Refiner.

Scripture Introduction: Turn in your Bibles to Malachi chapter 3. Our theme (incase you haven’t picked up on it by now) is: Give HIM what HE deserves. Malachi chapter 3 contains for us a bit of God taking this into His own hands, lets begin with verse 1...

Sermon Introduction: Before us in this text is a much needed glimmer of hope from a prophet who has only continued to spill out inditement after inditement against the covenant people of God who have profaned that covenant. As you may have noticed as we’ve worked through the first two chapter divisions of this small “book” the issues that the LORD has had Malachi highlight come in what could be called a spattering of hot button issues. The same continues in chapter three as the LORD continues on His hunt to get what He rightfully deserves.

For now, we begin with a ray of light, hope for God’s people… Or perhaps it’s better to see this more as God’s predestined ‘insurance plan’ to ensure that He gets what He deserves. Verses 1-5 introduce us to two prophetic characters, One character, “the messenger of the covenant” will pick up the slack of the priesthood, and one who will prepare the way for the other.

III. Two messengers: the Forerunner and the Refiner.

You can’t help but notice the placement of this prophetic oracle in the book. By the end of chapter 2, the LORD is weary of the arrogance of his people and the incompetency of the priesthood. And it is against this backdrop that God makes it clear that He won’t stand to have His name slandered. Throughout the book already God has been dropping signpost after signpost that [His] “name will be great among the nations.” And God’s gonna make sure that this happens; He’s a jealous God, and if His people won’t stand for His name sake, He WILL act on His own, He will not be mocked.

God will arrive to ensure His name is no longer misrepresented (verses 1-5)

A. God will ensure His name is no longer misrepresented (verses 1-5).

For as much as we look back at these five verses as New Testament Christians and we see hope; we also find here a bit of righteous indignation in God’s tone as He speaks about the coming of a forerunner and the Refiner, and this is because God takes His glory very seriously. How does God respond to His faithless people, divine intervention (verses 1-5).

Let’s take a minute and piece out what God says He’s going to do. We see here two messengers, one is “the LORD’s” messenger who will prepare the way of the LORD, we’ll refer to him as ‘the Forerunner.’ This person is revealed in the New Testament as John the Baptist. The second messenger is the messenger of the covenant; this is the one whom the Forerunner precedes and prepares. This second messenger is one who (as we see in the subsequent verses) will refine and purify the priesthood and the Temple. We will refer to him as the Refiner, and this is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us consider each...

The Ministry of the Forerunner, John the Baptist (read verse 1a).

This forerunner stands in complete contrast to the priests of Malachi’s day. Chapter 2 zeroed in on how the priests had turned people away from knowledge and had directed them out of the way. John the Baptist would come and prepare the way. Now we don’t typically think of John the Baptist as a priest do we. We typically think of him as a [prophet.] The truth is that he was both. John the Baptist was the son of a priest, Zechariah. And thus we see God sovereignly addressing the inadequacies of His people with His own sufficient grace.

It’s as if the LORD is saying, “Oh, you have not prepared the way for people to enter into my rest? I will replace you, and I will see to it that the way is made straight.” This was the ministry of John. He would call the nation to repentance and to cleansing, compelling them to look to Jesus, the Refiner, their Messiah, their Savior, their Lamb.

The LORD will prepare the way.

The Ministry of The Refiner, Jesus Christ (read verse 1b-4).

What can be said about the ministry of Christ? We find in Him, and Him alone, the sufficiency of God’s grace (verses 2-5). Notice how these verses forecast His ministry.

Refinement (verse 2) Christ’s is a ministry of refinement and by that we mean that He has come to improve upon what has been done and (as we see in Malachi’s day) He has come to improve upon what was lacking. Simply put, Jesus Christ our Lord is better. He comes to take up the slack of the priests; He is The Great High Priest. He will turn out a priest who will offer a sufficient, no a better sacrifice, than has ever been given. Jesus’ ministry is one that brings refinement to the people of God.

Refinement (verse 2)

Purity (verse 3a) If I can I would say that Malachi is not being redundant with his word in verse 3 when he speaks of refining and purifying. If refinement’s goal is to improve and make something better, purifying is the process of doing that through removal of impurities. Jesus comes to improve and remove. What will he purify, what we be tested for removal? The sons of Levi. Jesus has come to fulfill and in so doing bring an end to the ministry of the Levites; he is making way for a new generation of priests. He will remove and improve upon all that is lacking and impure in the service of the Temple.

Righteousness (verse 3b) Jesus will equip this renewed priesthood (the priesthood of those who place their faith in Him) with a sufficient sacrifice, a sufficient offering in righteousness. This foreshadows our justification by His perfect sacrifice offered up on our behalf. We will be declared righteous because His righteousness has been offered up on our behalf. And that sacrifice will satisfy...

Purity (verse 3)

Appeasement (verse 4) It says the offering of the Refiner’s doing will please God. It will appease His wrath, it will serve as the once and for all, sufficiently performing the duty of all the past sacrifices and ensuring a covering for all our sins in the future. Jesus’ ministry will bring an end to the hostility between God and man. Yet, there will be...

Purity (verse 3)

Pleasing (verse 4)

Justice (verse 5) Then comes, judgment. The LORD Jesus will arrive bringing justice upon all those who have gone out of “the way:” sorcerers, adulterers, liars, oppressors and abusers, the inhospitable, the atheist and agnostic. God’s wrath is upon the sinner, don’t be deceived. Jesus has come, and He will come again and when He does He will brandish a sword. God has organized an intervention for His people, and for those who look to Christ in repentant faith it will be a day of relief, but to the one who despises the Refiner, it will be a day of calamity.

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Pleasing (verse 4)

Just (verse 5)

God will not let His covenant remain profaned; He will bring to pass the covenant blessings upon those who embrace the “messenger of the covenant,” the Refiner, the Christ, Jesus our Lord.

Just (verse 5)

Then, transitioning on a thread, God directs our attention back to the error of Israel’s ways.

B. Robbing God (read verses 6-15)

We see here in verse 6 of chapter 3 a nod to what the LORD does at the beginning of chapter 1. He begins with a very positive statement, and from that the LORD takes His people to task on their covenant faithfulness in light of His own steadfastness. What we see again is the magnificence of God’s grace to undeserving people.

The LORD does not change, His grace still stands ().

Here we have a message of mercy, the LORD does not change, His grace still stands (verse 6). The fact that God’s wayward people were receiving yet another message from a prophet of God (this time in the man Malachi) is a testimony to God’s mercy on His people. When God set His heart of Israel, He sealed it with a covenant. When He opened the floodgates of His grace in Christ to ALL who believe, He sealed it with a covenant. There is no variance with Him, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (). assures us...

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

The LORD does not change, His grace still stands (verse 6).

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

The LORD does not change, His grace still stands (verse 6).

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.”

We, on the other hand, have turned aside (verse 7). And we’ve created quite the track record of it, generation to generation we struggle in our sin, just like the people of Malachi’s day. Still a beautiful invitation to enter into the rest of the LORD (read verse 7b). May we yield to the gracious call of God, to turn back from our sin and to return to the way of the LORD. You can be assured you will not be turned away. Jesus assures us, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” ().

We have turned aside (verse 7).

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

But this is not what the people of Malachi’s day had in mind. Notice the question and answer game… (read verse 7c-10) The people cynically ask for a practical means to “get things right with God (‘How shall we return.).” And so God obliges them...

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.”

“Put your money where your mouth is." (verses 8-10a)

The people in Malachi’s day may be feigning that they’re actually interested in returning to the Lord, but God makes it clear that returning to Him means more than mere ascent.

“Ok (God says), you want a want to return to me, well let’s start with your tithing. Demonstrate your ‘repentance’ by putting your money where your mouth is and give me the honor I deserve.”

Evidently the Israelites had neglected making their contributions to the required 10% financial offering (mandated under the Old Testament Law) and the people had been experiencing a time of draught as God’s way of chastening them to restore the funds that they had deprived God over in the service of His temple. The people were robbing God, as the funds were necessary to provide the food for the priests and the Temple worship.

As New Testament believers the Law doesn’t constrain us to this same strict standard of 10%, although it may serve as a helpful guide to us since it is still expedient (especially considering how the New Testament churches financially supported one another) that we contribute to the work of the ministry through financial offerings. The key is that our offerings are understood for what they are: gifts. The purpose of our tithes and offerings are similar for us today in supporting the workers and the work of the ministry, and the Lord delights in a cheerful giver ().

Thus God calls the people out to put Him to the test...

Put God to the Test (verses 10-12)

The context here implies that God had both withheld rain/blessing from the skies as well as smiting the crops with a “devourer” (probably an insect of sorts) as a result of their robbery. He calls them out so that they would taste and see the blessing that comes when a people depends on God and not their own financial backing. He assures them that He would not leave them destitute. The same lesson benefits us: Give HIM what HE deserves.

(I know that several of you don’t have a source of income (i.e. jobs) but you should make plans now)

Step 1: Give to God what He is due (verse 10). It’s more about your heart than it is about a number.

Step 2: See if He leaves you destitute (verses 11-12)

The distinction between true servants of God and those who do not serve Him (verses 13-18)

C. A. Two distinctions: the righteous and the wicked (verses 13-18).

Those who do not fear the LORD will serve Him in vain (verses 13-15)

The Book of Remembrance (verses 16-18)

Step 2: See if He leaves you destitute (verses 11-12).

Lastly, we notice two distinctions… (read verses 13-18)

C. Two distinctions: the righteous and the wicked (verses 13-18).

Malachi’s message is coming to a close, but the LORD’s not done yet. These final considerations of chapter 3 provide a swift rebuke to those who pride themselves as critics of God. Much like the 1st Psalm, Malachi’s message marks out the two types of people in the world today, the wicked and the righteous.

The wicked serve Him in vain and vanity (verses 13-15).

How does one escape an inditement from almighty God? Short answer: you can’t, but you can kick the can farther down the road by asking for clarity (as has been the case over and over throughout this book). Here the questioning come to its end.

The LORD exposes the arrogant hearts of the people with His assertion in verse 13, but their attempt to deflect this will lead to their own undoing, God has kept an account of their heart, and now He puts the anthems of their heart on full display.

“Religion is vain (verse 14).” When a person no longer sees God for the glorious end that He is, that person is bound to view God as a mere means to an end. This will inevitably, through much trouble and heartache, lead to complete disenfranchisement with God and religion all together.

“God is unjust (verse 15).” Much like the Psalmist in who was perplexed by the apparent prosperity of the wicked, the people of Israel had become disillusioned with God and have bought into the idea that you can sin and get away with it (this is obviously at the heart of all their actions that God has had Malachi call out in this book). The truth is that sin is only good for a season, a moment... ()

English Standard Version Psalm 73

18  Truly you set them in slippery places;

you make them fall to ruin.

19  How they are destroyed in a moment,

swept away utterly by terrors!

20  Like a dream when one awakes,

O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

The righteous on the other hand...

1. The righteous serve Him with fear and confidence.

The righteous serve Him with fear and confidence (verses 16-18).

Those who do not fear the LORD will serve Him in vain

Those who fear the LORD will be remembered (verses 16-17)

These last three verses prepare us for the final prolog to come in chapter 4. In verse 16 it’s as if the LORD is letting the people in on a scene of themselves, or at least of those who feared the LORD. God is giving them a simple, yet unwavering assurance that though they live among a generation of unbelief, they have not gone unnoticed by Him. In fact He makes them His own possession; apart from this greater community who are perceived to be “the people of God” there is a group of those who fear God. The true people of God are those who fear Him.

And they will enter into the peace of being God’s treasured possession beyond this time in which there are so many who are arrogant and false in their worship; it’s hard to spot the “not.” The LORD will make it undeniably clear who are His and who are not (verse 18).

The LORD will make it undeniably clear who are His and who are not (verse 18).

The LORD will make it undeniably clear who are His and who are not (verse 18).

The LORD will make it undeniably clear who are His and who are not (verse 18).

Conclusion: But what about until then? One day this book of remembrance will be opened, but for you it is now to live and to do as it says here in verse 16, to gather with other believers (the church) and to esteem the Lord in true worship and fear. This is what God is hunting for, THIS IS WHAT HE DESERVES, a people fit for Him to delight in and for them to glorify Him in service. Which are you?

The people have challenged God to prove that they haven’t been faithful.

The Lord will distinguish who serves Him, no questions asked