God Knows It and Will Deal With It!

Since moving to Louisiana I have noticed it seems traffic lights appear to optional…I often say to myself, if I would have done that, there would be a policeman there ready to pull me over…but when someone else does it, no policeman, where’s the justice in that?

On a more serious note, we are living in a time when evil is on full display...9/11… Afghanistan…Planned Parenthood…Gabby Pettito murder…Persecution of Christian Business Owners…social injustices…corruption at every level of society…religious leaders supporting things that clearly violate Scripture…homosexuality/transgenderism in almost every show, movie, and commercial being touted as the new normal…depending on who you are or who you know, there just seems to be no accountability for doing wrong...

These are just some of the prevalent evils of our time…and often our reaction is God where are you? Frustration builds with every report of corruption and evil practices...

Life outside the church is filled with evil that seems to never end and where justice is non-existent…we are driven to ask “When God…When will we be vindicated…When are they going to get what’s coming to them…God do you not see this…God how can you be a loving God and let all this evil continue? What’s the benefit of being godly when all the ungodly people do not have to suffer like we do?

This is where we find ourselves in today’s study of Malachi…and what we need to realize from the outset of our text is we must be careful in our questioning of God to not impugn His character…

there is nothing wrong with asking God questions…and then going to His word to find the answers...

However, we enter dangerous territory of dishonoring God when we question Him from a heart that is faithless and hopeless with constant complaining that attacks the goodness of God and His righteous character...

In staying with the theme of Honoring God as seen in Malachi — Are You Honoring God the way you ought by Trusting His Unchangeable Character?

We want to try to answer the question here this morning — What does God want me to know about Him in relation to His justice?

Exposition

As we continue in our study of Malachi, we need to remember that we are listening in to this conversation that God has with his people…His people are arguing with Him…they argued about His love…they argued about worship…they argued about marriage and divorce…now they are going to argue again…this time about God’s justice...

Can I just say this before we get started…it is never a good thing to argue with God…you will find yourself on the losing side every time...

Rom 3 19 “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;”

Let’s listen in on this argument and make some observations to help us draw out what God is saying to them and to us...

Read Malachi 2:17-3:6...

The first observation is...

God was wearied by their words. (17)

wearied = to cause someone to be physically and mentally fatigued…we know that God does not grow tired in the sense of needing sleep to rejuvenate…God was fed up with their sinfulness and lack of repentance…His patience had come to an end!

I think Malachi is alluding to what God says in Isaiah 43:24 ““You have bought Me not sweet cane with money, Nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; Rather you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities.”

God’s patience and grace was almost over because of their rebellious and insulting attitude toward him…they questioned His love for them, they dishonored Him in their worship, they deliberately disobeyed His commands regarding marriage and divorce, and now they question His justice.

Their words proved they were blind to their own sin.

They question God in his assessment…how have we wearied you?…Even after God used Malachi to pinpoint the specific sins they were guilty of, they were contending they had done nothing wrong...

Not once do we see repentance…as a result of their blindness to their own sin, there was a negative impact on their thinking...

They had forgotten the terms of the covenant and the conditions laid down by the prophets: If the people obeyed God’s law, God would bless them with all they needed.

But they were divorcing their wives, marrying pagan women, offering defiled sacrifices,

Later we are going to see they are robbing God of tithes and offerings, and complaining about having to serve the Lord!

Even after Malachi points all this out to them, they still expected God to bless them...

Their words proved they make the wrong conclusions.

These are the words that wearied God…they were challenging God on two fronts...

God delights in evil doers...

Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord...They see evil going unpunished and conclude that God’s inaction means He delights in them.

They are accusing God of being pleased with evil doers...

By questioning God’s justice, they question the character of God…God’s not good…He promised to bless us and He is not…God would rather see evil occur than to reward His people...

God is negligent in His duty...

“Where is the God of justice?”

They rebuilt the temple…in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit did not indwell His people…God’s presence rested in the temple…God was not dwelling in the temple…because of their sin...

God wanted them to shut the door — Mal 1:10...

The thoughts running through their minds are the same as ours...Evil continues to run rampant…God when are you going to do something…why are you not dealing with this…God don’t you think it is about time to put a stop to this...

Their words revealed an age old problem

Throughout history there has always been this disparity, either real or perceived, between divine justice and human justice...

How can a just God permit evil, why do the righteous suffer, why do the wicked continue to prosper and the good suffer...

Much like the writers of Scripture saw in their time…we see people who are big sinners, everyone knows what they do is wrong, there is open corruption and nothing seems to happen to them…in fact it seems like they are allowed to benefit from doing wicked things…and then you and I try to live for the Lord and are hit with suffering…why would God permit such a thing?

We think much like the psalmist did in Ps 73:2-3 “But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

They wrongly concluded God must not be concerned about human behavior…it sure appears it pays to do evil.

This line of thinking stemmed from the belief they deserved divine blessings but were receiving divine afflictions instead…they were lodging a complaint against God that He was mistreating them while allowing those who commit evil to prosper…God has not fulfilled His part of the covenant!

This is a blatant denial of God’s righteous character ...Deut 25:16 ““For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God.” and Is 5 20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

They are asking “Where is the God of justice”?

They were struggling with God’s justice in relation to evil and wanted Him to deal with it now, in their way!

With all this we need to note that it is possible for our attitudes and actions to bring God to the place where He says enough is enough!

The longer we continue to live our way, disregarding God’s directives and desires for us, the greater risk we take of making God weary of us.

Heb 10:26-27 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.”

There is nothing more God can do to make you holy…He has given you everything you need for life and godliness…

Transition: Observation number two is ...

God answers their complaint with a warning (3:1-5).

A. My messengers are coming first (1).

The path must be cleared by the first messenger...

“my messenger” = plays on the prophets name Malachi = indicates either an angel of a human functioning as the divine courier

...who clears the path for Him...

the verb here means to clear away, remove…this terminology was used for when someone of royalty was arriving, people would be sent ahead to make remove obstacles, straighten out the curves, make the road as smooth as possible,

So the task of this messenger would be to summon the people to prepare for the Lord’s coming by clearing away the obstacles...

self interest

spiritual lethargy

unrighteous behavior

unbelief

This word is used as a command in Is 40:3 “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.” and Malachi apparently interprets the messenger as the voice…they were to prepare for the Lord’s arrival.

The New Testament sees the fulfillment of this in John the Baptist

Jesus in speaking of John the Baptist says…Matthew 3:3 “For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!’ ””

John the Baptist closed out the Old Testament prophets…until Jesus’ death on the cross, they were still living under the Old Testament covenant...

It was John who presented Jesus to Israel...

John prepared the way for the ministry of Jesus by preaching the Word to the crowds, urging them to repent of their sins, baptizing them, and then introducing them to Jesus. Wiersbe, Warren W.. Be Amazed (Minor Prophets): Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship (The BE Series Commentary) (p. 191). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.

Then the Messenger of the covenant will come

occurs only here in the Bible...This is not the same messenger as the first one…comes after the earlier messenger

This is the Lord Himself…

messenger = angel = angel of the Lord in the OT was a pre-incarnate visitation of Jesus who was quite active in Israel’s earlier history.

Jesus came the first time as the Savior bringing grace and mercy, the next time he comes, and he will come, he will execute justice and judgment on the earth…fulfilling every aspect of God’s covenant to Israel.

Jesus answered their “cry” for justice by completely satisfying the demands of God’s justice when He died on the cross…He paid the penalty for the sins of the world and vindicated the holiness of God...

The cross is proof that the same God who ordained the penalty for sin is death is the one who fulfilled that penalty…God is both “just and the justifier”

Rom 3 26 “for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Jesus Christ is the “Messenger of the covenant” in that He fulfilled all the demands of the covenant in His life, suffered the penalties in His death, and rose from the dead to usher in a new covenant of grace (Jer. 31:31–40; Matt. 26:26–30; Heb. 8:6–13). All the covenants in Old Testament history unite in pointing to Jesus Christ and His marvelous work of redemption. Wiersbe, Warren W.. Be Amazed (Minor Prophets): Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship (The BE Series Commentary) (p. 191). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.

You will not be ready for Him...

Suddenly = does not mean that He will come soon…it calls attention to the surprising and unexpected visitation of the Lord to his temple.

We have the benefit of knowing more about this through what God reveals in the NT...

Matt 24 36 ““But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

1 Thess 5 3 “While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.”

The Lord whom you seek…delight

We don’t see this in the English…but Malachi was being sarcastic with them...

The coming of the Lord in His day was a much discussed theme with the prophets.

Delight participle = ongoing craving for divine intervention…they wanted the “day of the Lord” to come but they did not stop to think about how terrible a day that would be for the world...

Amos 5 18 “Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord, For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light;”

They only wanted the blessings of the King and His kingdom and overlooked the terror that God’s outpouring of wrath would have on the world!

We do that too! — We often talk about seeing Jesus as though we would see a celebrity…the reality is standing before Jesus will be an experience that is beyond words…it defies our understanding...

Know this also…while we are in heaven celebrating, the earth is being judged…TRIBULATION!

B. When He comes, He is coming in judgment (2-5).

The use of the two rhetorical questions emphasize the fact that it is no small thing to desire the Day of the Lord…(note about Day of the Lord…it is not just one single day, or one single event, the prophets often spoke of this in connection with the judgment that would be poured on the nations and would effect Israel’s deliverance…)

Malachi makes no mention of other nations…He uses it here to concentrate this time a one of judgement on Israel, especially the Levites, the leaders and teachers.

The answer to Malachi’s questions is — no one can stand…none of the wicked will endure...

He will purify the priests and the people

Refiner’s fire…fullers soap = refiner’s fire burned out the dross from metal ores; fuller’s soap emphasizes the effectiveness of God’s purging to cleanse the nation...

All this results in a purified priesthood...Levites…and a purified people —

Restoration of pure worship in contrast to what they were doing now.

He will deal justly with sinfulness.

This is list gives us some idea of what was going on in Malachi’s time…all were violations of God’s law...God will come and administer justice to the poor, the widow, the orphan and the foreigner...God will serve as witness, judge and executioner against those who do evil…God will stand as advocate for the oppressed…TRUE SOCIAL JUSTICE!

Sorcerer — practice witchcraft — prohibited by Mosiac law — fortune telling, predicting future for personal gain…seeking to manipulate people and events through appeals to demonic sources...

Adulterers —

Swear falsely — perjurers — those who lie under oath

Unethical bosses — cheat employees of their wages

Those who oppress the widow and orphan — exploiting them...

Those who mistreat foreigners — God wanted people of every nation to worship Him and God told Israel to love those who lived among them.

Those who do not fear God — their lack of reverence for God resulted in spiritual activity that insulted Him, and also resulted in wickedness and injustice toward the helpless...

Transition — the third observation is that

God is Immutable and Gracious (6)

I the LORD do not change — God is still a God of justice and judgment, but He is also the God of grace…in God they are perfectly balanced...

O sons of Jacob, are not consumed...

God had every reason to totally obliterate Israel — but because He is gracious, He did not…God made a promise and He will keep it…Regardless of Israel’s attitudes and actions, God is still going to bring justice and still show grace.

God’s people were accusing Him of not fulfilling His promise…they concluded that God changed His plan and the wicked are being allowed to prosper...

The point God is making here is this: If I were the kind of God you are accusing me of being, I would have ended you a long time ago…but since I do not change, you have not perished!

God made an oath to be Israel’s God and in spite of their disobedience and rebellion, they would not be completely rejected.

The time is coming when God will act, and when He does, it will be with finality.

Main Point: Find Hope In God’s Unchanging Character!

Implications for today!

Trust God in all things! — (if you know it say it with me…)God is good all the time...All the time God is good...

Ps 13:5-6 “But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

Lam 3:22-24 “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.””

Nah 1:7 “The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him.”

Develop a biblical view of suffering— 1 Peter 5:10 “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

Take every thought captive — 2 Cor 10:5 “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”

Live today ready for the Bema Seat tomorrow! — 2 Cor 5:9-10 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Rest in knowing God will deal with man’s wickedness!

Is 5:20-21 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!”

Prov 11:19-21 “He who is steadfast in righteousness will attain to life, And he who pursues evil will bring about his own death. The perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord, But the blameless in their walk are His delight. Assuredly, the evil man will not go unpunished, But the descendants of the righteous will be delivered.”

Gal 6:7-8 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

The story is told of a farmer in a Midwestern state who had a strong disdain for "religious" things. As he plowed his field on Sunday morning, he would shake his fist at the church people who passed by on their way to worship. October came and the farmer had his finest crop ever--the best in the entire county. When the harvest was complete, he placed an advertisement in the local paper which belittled the Christians for their faith in God. Near the end of his diatribe he wrote, "Faith in God must not mean much if someone like me can prosper." The response from the Christians in the community was quiet and polite. In the next edition of the town paper, a small ad appeared. It read simply, "God doesn't always settle His accounts in October.

Wrap up with Gospel