The Book of Malachi - Exploring the Old Testament

[00:00:00] Speaker A: I encourage you to open your Bibles in the Old Testament and we'll be at the book of Malachi today. And if you get to Matthew, you've gone too far. So right before Matthew is the book of Malachi, that's where we're going to start today. So open your Bibles there. And I do want to just remind you of this as well. Next week we are going to be in the books of first and second Chronicles, which is jumping backwards in your Bible, but as a good summary of many of the things that we've covered already and we skip after we did first and Second Kings with the intent to come back to it. So next week will be our last week in this series through the Old Testament, Discovering the Savior. Let's pray and then we will dive into this together. Lord, thank you for the time that we're able to come before you think of this song that we just sung and even the passage that we'll look at today and how you desire our hearts to be right with you. Thank you that you did the work so that we are able to come before you to do that with confidence, with boldness because of what you did on the cross on our behalf. And we'll celebrate that today as well as we spend time together. And so Lord, we just ask that you would position our hearts right now in the right place. Our minds would be focused on what you want us to be thinking about and doing. And as we journey through this passage here and as we spend time taking and eating and drinking of the elements and remembering your sacrifice, Lord, that we would just have grateful hearts, joyful hearts because of what you have done and who we are in you, in Jesus name. Amen. Book of Malachi, the last of the books in your Old Testament in your Bibles there. Let me just share with you the snapshot of this book. If you have a pen and or pencil you like to write things down, encourage you to do that. We are at the place where Israel is at the is back in Jerusalem, they're back in Judah, they are out of exile. And so let me just read this for you on the screen here and then we will just the setting the stage for where we are and then we'll dive right into this. So look with me on the screen and I'll kind of unpack this a little bit as we walk through it. It says this. The Israelites living in Judah during the time of Malachi may have finally ceased blatant idolatry. And this is an issue that they had before especially before they went into exile. And they're relatively orthodox in their belief. That is, they're not doing the BAAL worship as they were before to the extent that they were. But the problem that Malachi is wrestling with is even though they may be back there, they built the temple. They. The walls are back around the city of Jerusalem. Their zeal or their passion for the Lord is gone. And they regularly compromise or dilute the offerings because they're still taking animal sacrifices to the altar. They're compromising in the ways that they do that. And this book is aimed particularly at the spiritual leaders in the city of Jerusalem, the priests there, and even the people around the city of Jerusalem. One thing that is important to keep in mind, that we often forget, is this. And I want you to really pay attention to this piece of it, because this, as I've read through this and as we will today, I think informs a significant part of why the people were where they were. The temple that they had built lacked the centerpiece. What was the centerpiece called of the temple? The Ark of the Covenant. There's the Holy of Holies, and in the Holy of Holies is the Ark of the Covenant. And if you will, for, like, your bodies and my body, like, the thing that keeps us going is our heart. And if our heart were to be removed from our bodies, how would we do not. Well, right. We would quite literally just be a shell, and there would be no life in us. So it is here with the people. They have built the temple. And I would imagine. And perhaps you could step into this space with me for a minute. And there is the city of Jerusalem, and inside the city, there is the temple that they have built up. And they're like, all right, this is. Whoa. This is not what it used to be. This is not as beautiful as Solomon's Temple. And now that we've built the walls up and we put the articles back inside the temple, there is something what? Missing? There's something missing. The very presence of God. This article, the Ark of the Covenant, that represented and even demonstrated that God was here with us. And so God, because of that, follow me here. Because of that, it would make perhaps logical sense for them to say, God has abandoned us. God has left us. We've done our job. We've built the walls, we've built the temple, but the centerpiece of the Holy of Holies is gone. And so does that mean that God is also what, gone? That's the question that they're dealing with. And because that question is there, they're not just taking that piece of doubt and saying, all right, I wonder if God is here. They're taking this doubt that they have to another level and saying this God's not there. It's no longer a question of is God with us anymore. Now it's a statement that God has what, abandoned us. And because of that assumption that they have, they then move towards apathetic worship. Can you say that with me? Apathetic worship. And so they're doing the things, the duties that God has put in front of them, but they're doing it with no heart. They're doing it with no obedience to the Lord. Not only that is there, if you will, heartless worship going on in the temple, but also around the city. And in the city there is more injustice going on. The people are still corrupt in their ways. Something comes to light as we consider the Book of Malachi, which is quite literally a sad realization. Back in the day, hundreds of years prior, they were very hard hearted, weren't they? We saw that over and over again. God gave them the law and they rebelled and they rebelled and they rebelled. And they what? Rebelled? And God said, because you rebelled or because you didn't turn the boat around, because you continued to rebel against me, I'm going to send you into exile. We called it this discipline. God said, I'm going to discipline you because I love you and I care about you and I want the best for you. But you are rebelling against me over and over and over again. And so because of that, I'm going to put you into this place called, called Babylon, into exile. I'm going to remove you from your land. And my hope is this, as you perhaps parent here today, you hope this, when you discipline your child, that on the other end of discipline, they're going to what, Obey, Right? And so here the discipline has happened. The 70 years in Babylon has happened. They come out on the other side and the hope would be that they would be now obedient, right? And what do we find in the Book of Malachi? Are they their heart is just as hard as it was before. And this is a sad reality that informs their behavior. As we step into this book, let's look at the basics here of this, much of which I've touched on already. And then we'll look at the outline. There are six main points that we'll look at in the outline, but before that, the basics. Who is the author? His name is Malachi. His name literally means messenger and we know almost nothing else about him. The time frame that this happened was about 100 years or so after they have been released from Babylon. So the discipline period is done. There was Zerubbabel who said, let's go back, led the people back to Jerusalem. There was Ezra and Nehemiah who said, let's rebuild the temple, let's rebuild the walls. And now we have Malachi who comes after both of them. And he says this. It's. It's time for us to return to the Lord. It's time for you to return to the Lord. And then who's the audience? Mainly I said this earlier, the priests and the people. Let's look at the outline here. Now they have the walls of Jerusalem. Kind of walk with me. Here they have the walls of Jerusalem. Inside the walls, they built the temple. Inside the temple, there's lacking one piece. What's that piece that they're lacking? The Ark of the Covenant. Now, because of this, the people would understandably be feeling this reality. God is not with us. And because God is not with us, we are weak, we are small, and maybe God doesn't care about us. And so because of that, perhaps at first feeling that moved to an assumption that then moved to a belief system that then informed their behaviors. Because of that, God does something in this book through the prophet Malachi that is quite unique. There is a phrase in this book that I believe is there because of what the people are feeling. The people are feeling small, the people are feeling weak. And so here's what God calls himself over and over in this book. And it's laid out in your outline already. You see some letters there that don't maybe at first make sense. You can see under the outline there, right next to the word outline in your. In your bulletin, it says this. The Lord of what? The Lord of hosts. Now, in this book of all of the verses, 43% of the verses in this book have the phrase, the Lord of what? The Lord of hosts. Now, the density in which this exists is unlike any other book in the entire Bible. The phrase frequency that this phrase, the Lord of hosts is used. Now, why is that specific to this book? I believe one of the purposes is for God to remind the people. You may feel small, you may feel insignificant right now. You may feel like you're a nobody. And geographically and militarily you are like a nobody. But who is your Lord? The Lord of hosts. And the term Lord of hosts means the leader of a massive army. So if you feel small, don't forget who your leader is. He is the commander of the largest army ever to exist. He is the King of kings. He is the Lord of lords. And no matter what opposition you might face, or no matter how small you may feel, remember who your God is. He is called the Lord of what, The Lord of hosts. And so, for a nation that feels small, for a nation that feels insignificant, for a nation that feels like God has forgotten them, and he wants them to remember this, the God you serve is more powerful than any other God out there, than any other king out there. Remember this reality. And so with that setting, let's dive into what he says here to the nation of Israel. Point one on your outline. You could write this down. It says this. The Lord of Hosts, supreme love for Israel. The way this book is broken up is there are six arguments that happen between God and the nation of Israel, and then Israel goes back and forth with God. And there's these six, if you will, disputes that they have. The first one starts off in this way. Look what it says in verse two. And if you're looking in your Bibles there, you'll see, like quotation marks around things that are said by the Lord and by the people. Here's what it says, verse 2. Look in your Bibles, I have loved you, says the Lord. But you say, and because he's God, he knows exactly what they're saying and what they're thinking. But you say, how have you loved us? Is not Esau. Here's interesting verse here is not Esau. Jacob's brother, declares the Lord, Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals in the desert. Now, for most of us reading this, you firstly look at that first few words there. It says, I have loved you, which is good and which is important. And most of us probably right now, reading through this, you're looking at this and says, but, Esau, I have what? And then we go, oh, I don't know what to do with that. I thought God was loving everybody. And now I'm confused. What on earth is happening here? He's making a case to the nation of Israel. And he's saying this, Esau was the older brother and deserved, if you will, more love, more blessing from his family. He deserved as the older brother, as was in that culture, as the older brother, you would be the one with power, you would be the one with influence, and the younger brother would serve the older brother. And here God says something. He says, listen, I know how the culture functions, but I have chosen you, the younger brother, and I have loved you. I have called you to myself. And Esau, I have pushed off to the side, saying he is not going to be someone that I bless. He is not going to be someone that I sustain through it all. The book of Obadiah tells us that God removed the tribe of Edom, the Edomites, that is, the descendants of Esau, from the face of the earth. He said, no longer are you going to be here anymore. And so here's what's going on. God says to Israel, I have loved you. And then Israel says, what do they ask? How have you loved us? And the tone in which they use is not, huh, I really think so. How have you loved us? Let me think of all the ways that God has loved us. That's not what the tone is. The tone is, how have you loved us? And God says, remember, remember where you came from. You came from the descendants of the younger brother that should have served the older brother. But I inverted that reality and I made sure you, as the younger brother, you were the one who was dominant over your older brother. And not just that, your older brother and his descendants, they are gone now. He's trying to be very clear with them. You think you've assumed that I don't care for you anymore. Is that true? Not at all. Not at all. God doesn't love us anymore, is what they think. And God's response is very clear. Yes, I do. And if you took some time to remember what I have done in your life, you would see that I want to pause here and just think about us in 2026. For we ask that question sometimes, too. Does God really what? Love me? I look at the things going on in my life and I ask the question, God, do you really love me? And the tone in which we ask this question is very important, isn't it? Because if the tone is God, I know and I believe, because your word says that it's true that you love me. I just am not feeling it right now. God, I. I want to know and I want to experience your love. Then God can reply and say this to us. Look at all the ways that I've demonstrated my love. But there's another way to pose this question. God, how have you actually loved me? And that question can lead us to a place of rebellion against God, can't it? And we saw this for the very first time in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Now, they didn't ask the question in those words, but in their actions when the tempter was there the question that was wrestling in their heart was this, does God really have our best at heart? And then what did they conclude? We have to, for our own good, we have to take things into our own hands. And how did that work out for them? Not well at all. And so it's not a matter of, can I ask God how is he loving me? It's the tone in which we ask that and. And then the willingness to say, God, speak to me in my struggle, speak to me in my doubt. And friends, as we wrestle with one another in the midst of this question, where I'm feeling like I am uncertain of God's plan for my life or what he's doing in my life, it's okay to ask that question and posture your heart in a place of this. I want to see God working. I want God to posture my heart in such a way where I remember what he has done. And that's how we find him to be a refuge for us. The reason a refuge exists is because I'm scared. And God says, run to me because I want to be a refuge for you when you're struggling. So firstly, we see here in this tension between God and Israel is they're saying, how have you loved us? And God says, I've clearly loved you with a supreme love. Secondly, he's going to do something else. In this tension between the people and him, he's now going to rebuke the priests. We touched on this a little bit earlier. You can write this in point two on your outline. The Lord of hosts rebukes priest. Look in your Bibles in chapter one, verses six through eight, and then verses eight through nine of chapter two, a son honors his father and a servant his master. So God speaking, if I am a father, where is my honor? He's speaking to the people of Israel, the priests, I should say, and if I am a master, where is my fear? Says the Lord of hosts, O priests who despise my name. But then you say, right the other side. But you say, how have we despised your name? By offering polluted food on my altar. But you say, how have we offered pollute? How have we polluted you? By saying that the Lord's table may be despised. And if you jump forward to chapter two in verse eight and nine, he says this, but you have turned aside from the way, you have caused many to stumble by your instructions. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. And so I make you despised and abased. Look at these last few words. Of chapter verse 9. So I make you despised and abased before all people in as much as you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your instructions. What's going on here? In order to fully understand what's happening here, it's important that you and I understand what the job of the priests were. They were to teach the people the way of the Lord. They were to ensure proper worship took place. They were also to make sure the animals that came in were appropriate for offering. They weren't going, oh, well, that I see that you don't want to have a sheep with a broken leg anymore. Well, that's okay. Let's offer that on the altar. God won't care at all. That's what the priests were doing. They were seeing the animal that was probably on death's doorstep and saying, it's okay, God won't. God won't care. Do what you like. God is distant from us. And here's what God says. A father should receive honor from his children. A master should receive honor from his children. And here I am as your father and your master. And am I receiving honor from you? No, not at all. And so what does he say? You see this at the tail end of verse nine. So I am going to going to bring about hardship upon you. God is willing to give them consequences for this. Why is God so strong with them? It's this. And we see this in the New Testament. Maybe jot this down somewhere to those whom much is given, much is expected. These priests literally are in the time the hands and feet of the Lord. They are to do the bidding of God. And are they doing it well? Are they demonstrating the heart and the character of God? No. What do we do with this in 2026? What do we learn from this before we look at point three? It's this. Jot this down somewhere, wherever you might be. This is true for all of us. God takes negligent leadership seriously. God takes negligent leadership seriously. This is true in leading in the church, but it's also true in your home, in the workplace, with your friends, in your neighborhood, wherever you are. Maybe it's one on one with somebody else. God takes negligent leadership seriously. And you might say, well, this is written to the priests. Yes it is. And you might say, well, I'm not a priest. And I would say, yes, you are. Yes you are. Let's look at point three on your outline. It's this. The Lord of hosts not only reminds the people of his supreme love, and then he rebukes them for not honoring him as they should. He also then addresses them as faithless people. Faithless people. This section focuses on the unity between two parties. That's what a covenant is between two people. And he's saying this, you should be demonstrating faith or unity with me. But you, as faithless people, have abandoned your responsibilities. Look in this, in verses 11 and 12, in chapter 2, here's what he says. Judah, you have been faithless. Someone say faithless. Faithless, that is, without faith, you have not shown a demonstration of being committed to something that I have called you to. An abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord which he loves. And now Malachi's going to insert some real life scenarios into this for them. And now he has married the daughter of a foreign God. May the Lord cut off the tents of Jacob any descendants of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts. And so there's a few things that could be going on here. Firstly, he starts off, and if you see this in verse 11, he says this. I created you. And because I created you, I should have authority in the way that you live your life. And not just that as people who have been called to be faithful to me, you're not doing that, but also something else. And this is true of perhaps the priests, but definitely the people in Israel is. They are doing this. They're leaving their wives. The husband is leaving their wife to go marry somebody from another nation and thus bringing in foreign gods into their home. I think the priests are doing this as well. You could debate me on that later. But what we see is clear here. God is making the point. You made a commitment. And you are abandoning your commitment both to me and to your what? To your wives. You're saying, it's inconvenient for me to be married to you. And since I'm trying to do the right thing and not be married to two people at the same time, I'm just divorcing one of them and marrying somebody else. So God draws in the commitment that marriage is. And he leans into this a little bit more here in verse 13. It's on the screen as well. And the second thing you do is this. You cover the Lord's altar with what? Tears? With weeping and groaning, because you no longer. Because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor in your hands. But then you say, right, so God's saying, I'm not going to accept that. I'm not demonstrating acceptance of your offering. And, and then God says, But you say, well, why not? Why is God not accepting our offering? And then here's what happens. Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth to whom you have been. What's the word that we said earlier? Faithless though she is your companion and your wife by what's the word, the last word there. By covenant. You made a covenant before man and before God that this is the person that you are going to be with. And now we don't see any place here where, where there's a reason they're giving other than inconvenience for divorcing their spouse, other than I just don't want to do this anymore. Perhaps similarly in the way it is with God for them. I don't think I love God anymore because of what's going on. There's a famine in the land, we're being taxed by the Persians. God is not meeting my needs. And so because God is not meeting my needs anymore, I'm going to be done with God. All right, so hold that picture there. Now also the husband's saying to his wife, well, I wished for this and I wanted this, but you're not meeting my what needs. And so I think I don't love you anymore and I'm going to move on to somebody else. God's creating a clear and direct parallel. You don't think I'm doing the things you want. You don't like what I'm doing and so you're leaving me. You don't like what your spouse is doing, so your leaving them. This is the place in scripture, in verse 15, I think it is, that we see. And there's like two things from Malachi that most people remember. Two verses. One of them is this where this verse says God hates divorce. Now some of your Bibles doesn't have it phrased that way. Here's the point in which we see, yes, God does because it is a breaking of a covenant. And also scripture says that God hates other things too. I just want to make that really clear because sometimes when the subject of divorce comes up, which I get is not something that we're going to unpack today. But we're like, well that's. This is way over here because God hates divorce, which is true. Also, the Bible says that God hates lying lips. But for some reason we're a bit more comfortable with that. You know, it was just a little, what do we call it, a white. God still hates lying lips. Scripture Also says that he hates theft and evil actions and causing division and seducing others towards moral compromise. What's the takeaway for us here? It's this. Very clearly, value your commitments in 2026. The lesson we get very clearly here is this, value your commitments. I said I was gonna follow the Lord and obey him in this way. I'm gonna strive to do that. I made a commitment to this person. I made a commitment to whatever the task is out here. I'm gonna be someone who follows through on my commitments even when it's hard, even when my love and my giddy feelings just aren't there anymore. Even when the feelings I had when I first signed up for it aren't there anymore. I made a commitment, and so I'm going to follow through on it. And we see here the people of Israel had abandoned their commitment. All right, point four. Let's look at it here. God then says he's going to do something about it. He says he's going to bring about a refining work in them. This pushes us towards verse 17 of chapter 2, into verse 5 of chapter 3. Here's we go back into this conversation, if you will, between God and Israel. Here's the thing that God says that they are saying, you have verse 17 of chapter 2. You have wearied the Lord with your words. But then you say, how have we wearied him? By saying, everyone who does evil is. What's the word? Good. What? Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delights in them. Or you've asked, where is the God of justice? Here's what he's saying. God's saying, you have wearied me and my God. What are you talking about? How are wearying you? He's like, are you serious? You are letting people come to you as the priest, you're letting people come to you who are living in sin. And you're like, it's okay. God loves you. God blesses you. All good things from God over you. I'm so glad that this only happened 2,500 years ago, aren't you? This never happens today at all. This is a sad reality in our world today still, that I can be living in. You can be living in a place where you're literally in clear disobedience from God's Word. And there are plenty of people who claim to speak for the Lord who say, it's all good, it's all good. Just do what your heart wants you to do. Or as you know, the other saying goes Right. Follow your right, not follow the word of God and the heart of God. Follow your heart. So of course the Lord is weary. Of course. And so what is he going to do about it? It says this. If you look on a little bit further in chapter three, you can see this. He will sit as a refiner. The way something is refined is there is heat applied to it to draw out the impurities. So God is going to apply heat, if you will, to his people to draw out the impurities. And he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and he will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be not sad or frustrating or wearying to the Lord, but pleasing in the day, to the Lord. In the day as in the days of old and in the former days, God is saying this. I'm about to do a work and we're going to see this down the road here. Jesus is going to show up on the scene, people are going to be rebuked. Isn't that what Jesus did? The religious people walked right up to him and like, hey, look at this. We're doing all the right things. And Jesus rebukes them over and over and over again. In order for refining to happen in you and I in 2026, we need to be willing to experience heat. Most of the time we look for places that are comfortable, not places that are going to conform us into the likeness of Jesus Christ. In order for us to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus, there's going to be times we have to sit in uncomfortability. Proverbs says it this sweet are the wounds of a friend. What is that telling us? The people who love us and care for us aren't always going to tell us things that make us feel comfortable. Wounds of a friend, right. It's going to be uncomfortable sometimes, but that's necessary in order for us to walk in the way that the Lord wants us to. There's a lot of nice, if you will, preachers out there who encourage lukewarm activity, who encourage you to find what's comfortable rather than what conforms you to the word of God. And here's why God is wearied. I'm tired of my people, the priests, the Levites, who have a job description to show people the heart of God, who are literally ignoring the heart of God because they say here, as it says at the end of verse 17 in chapter 2, where is the God of justice? In other words, he doesn't care. God is gone. And remember, at the very beginning we learned this in the center of the temple, something was missing. What was it? The Ark of the Covenant. Where might these Levites have come to believe that God is no longer present? Perhaps because the Ark is not there. But was that true? Not at all. Not at all. And God is making that very clear through the Prophet Malachi. .5 On your outline, it's this. God then leans in a little bit more in this conversation going back. This is the second part of the book of Malachi that many of us remember. One, we know that it says something about God hating divorce. And secondly, we know it says something about tithing or something along those lines. This is where that is found in chapter 3, verses 6 through 18. Firstly, we see God calling in the beginning of this portion here, God saying to the people, return to me. By the way, this is almost exactly what Zechariah says in chapter one, return to me and I will return to you. And it seems that these folks, it seems, and I'm not saying this is true, but in the way they're interacting with God, it seems that they have missed the reality of how far they are from God. Do you get that right? It's God's like, you're so far from me. And they're like, we are. They have abandoned the word of God. And it can be really easy to think I'm okay when you've abandoned the word of God. This is why this is so important. What does God say here? Verse eight. It's on the screen as well in chapter three. Will man rob God yet you are robbing me. But then you say, how have we robbed you? And he says this in your tithes and in your contributions. Tithes means a tent. So they were supposed to, the people of Israel were supposed to tithe, give a tenth to the priesthood, to the temple work, and even more than that. But then verse nine goes on. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. This is God speaking. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in where my house, and thereby put me to the test. This is one of the few times God says, test me, says the Lord of Hosts. And will I not open up the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you blessings until there is no more need? God is saying, test me. You have been tight fisted with me, and because of that I've been tight fisted with you. So if you are open handed with me, I will be Open handed with you. And here, imagine the cloud, if you will, opening water over their land. They're sitting there dealing with hardship in their country, land they're dealing with it with. Most scholars believe there's probably a drought going on right now. And they're thinking, God has abandoned us. He's not blessing our land. His presence isn't in the temple feeling it. Our bank accounts are feeling it right now. And so I'm gonna hold back from giving to the Lord. And he says, trust me, trust me. The thrust of this portion here, before we look at point six, is this. We often can separate our finances from our faith. And God says this, don't separate them, don't separate them. What you do with your finances is a demonstration of where you are in your faith. Let's look at point six before we conclude here. This is pretty brief here. The last chapter of the book, six whole verses here in my Bible, it might say this in yours as well as the little heading above the chapter four. And that little heading is not inspired. It just happens to be there. But mine says, the great day of the Lord. What does it tell us here? The Lord of hosts is coming. Could someone say, the Lord is coming. The Lord is coming. Isn't that a good thing? Such good news. And this is the last thing that the Lord communicates with the people. I am coming. You think that I have abandoned you, that I don't care about you, that I don't care about your land, that my presence is no longer there, that I don't care about how you worship. And his conclusion is this. I am what? Coming. I am coming because I do care about your land. I do care about you and the day of the Lord. The coming of the Lord is good news for those who are righteous and bad news for the unrighteous. This is what chapter four tells us now. It communicates. Here. You can see this if you kind of glance through this, through the first few verses. For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and the evildoers will be stubble. The day is coming. This is on the screen as well. The day that is coming shall be set. Shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither branch nor root. But for those who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out with leaping like calves from the stalls. You have two pictures here, one of fear and trembling and destruction, and one of rejoicing, all with the same truth. The Lord is Coming. And this is a clear gospel focus for us here today. Jesus is coming. Amen. This is really good news for those of you here today who have trusted in him as your Lord and Savior. This is really bad news for those of you here today or listening somewhere who have never trusted in him as Lord and Savior. That's the reality, isn't it, Jesus? God says this. There is a messenger. First it's going to be John the Baptist as a forerunner, and then after that, it's going to be Jesus. He's going to do this refining work and he also is going to come to declare to you this message again as the ultimate messenger. If you've never trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Lord coming back, the Lord of hosts coming is not a day of rejoicing. It's a day of fear, of trembling. And for those here today who have trusted in him as Lord and Savior, that's this verse two here, right? Verse two. Look in your Bibles. Chapter four, verse two. But for you who fear my name, this is a day of rejoicing. This is a day of rejoicing. Malachi concludes in that way. Chapter 5, verse 5 of this talks about Elijah coming before this great and awesome day. And Jesus then says, it's actually John the Baptist, and that is the one who's coming in the spirit and the power of Elijah to declare the coming of the Lord. And that is how Malachi concludes. He says he's coming. And how big is that gap between the end of Malachi and when Jesus comes? Anyone know how many years is that? 400 years. That's a lot of time, isn't it? A lot of time. But God, yes, Sometimes it takes a while for those promises to be fulfilled. But it doesn't mean he's abandoned his people. Some application for us, and then we're going to look at the Savior portion, and that'll lead us into communion. If you like to write things down, I put just one very simple line here on the screen for us that I see for God. What does this teach us about God? Humanity. And then personally, firstly, God wants his people to act like his people. When you look through chapter, these four chapters, in chapter one, we see this. God says, you're my people, but you're not acting like it because you're giving me trashy offerings. In chapter two, he says you're abandoning your job description. In chapter three, he says, you are not providing for my house or for the temple. You're not doing what you're supposed to do. As my people. And in chapter four, you are neglecting the coming of the Lord. God wants his people to act like his people. What does this mean for us? What does this look like? You might know this about me. I'm an airplane kind of fan. Imagine there's a war going on around you and you were right in the middle of it. And imagine a little paper airplane on the ground. I mean, it's a cool looking paper airplane, but it's this paper airplane sitting on the ground. Can it do anything to fight against the war going on in the skies above it? Not at all. Now we have the Lord who steps in and says, I've made you a new creation. And imagine that little paper airplane is made into a new creation. The things that were part of it before, they're gone because the old has gone and the new has what? And now, I mean, pick your favorite fighter jet out there. I don't know what your thoughts are on that, but now let's say it's an F22 or an F35, some crazy good fighter plane that's out there. Can that airplane do anything to affect the war going on? Yes. Now, too often we sit as this, if you will, brand new plane, fighter jets sitting there in the midst of a battle going on around us and go, there's nothing I can do. I just, I can't do anything. And here's what the Lord says here, do what I've made you to do. There's a war going on around us. Do what I've made you to do. You are not that little paper airplane with no strength and no power to you any longer. You and I now have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Amen. New creations in Christ. Now we are ambassadors of the King of Kings in a world that is dark and needing Jesus. And he's saying, don't act like that little paper airplane there that can't do nothing in the world. You now are a incredible, beautiful, powerful person with the power of the Holy Spirit. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in where? In you and I. So God wants his people to act like his people. Secondly, humanity. What does this teach us about humanity? It's on the screen here. As the leader goes, so go the people. So if you're leading, take that seriously. Whether it's one person, your spouse, your kids, community group, gospel community, whatever that might look like, Bible study, Sunday school, whatever that is. One person, a team of people, a ministry, whatever that is your business, take it seriously. Because the People are following you. And God takes leadership seriously. And lastly, point three, the me portion. There is this. And I put this in the first person. In seasons of hardship or doubt or fear or disappointment, will I ask God what He's doing or will I assume that he's left me? You know what I'm talking about here in this book, right? This is what they did. This is the question they asked. I like what Paul Tripp says about this. He says there's two kinds of doubt. There's a doubt of wonderment and a doubt of judgment. The doubt of wonderment says this. I wonder what God is doing. I don't like it, but I wonder what God is doing. And the other, this doubt of judgment, he says, is this. That's where I have concluded that God is not good. And I have concluded that he is not faithful. And now my life displays that truth. What does this tell us about the Savior? This is the last portion on your outline. It's this. Jesus is the ultimate messenger. He is the ultimate messenger. Malachi. The name Malachi literally means messenger. Jesus is the ultimate messenger. And he came with one clear message. Well, many messages. One clear one I want to communicate that you all know, found in the Book of John. And Jesus is sitting on a rooftop in the dark, talking to one other person. One person. And he has a message for this one person who's wondering, what does God want us to know? I'm a person who follows God. I want to know, what does God want me to know? And he says this. Jesus. What Jesus says, God, he loves the world. He loves the world a lot. That he gave his one and only. That's what God wants you to know, that he loves you with a supreme kind of love. That whoever Jew or Gentile, that whoever believes in him shall not what? Perish. That means he doesn't leave out the hard part of the gospel message. Shall not perish. That means everyone is already on the road to hell. But whoever believes in him, new creation, a new route, a new row, shall not perish, but have what everlasting life. That's the message from the ultimate messenger to you and I today. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, thank you that we're able to know you. Thank you that we're able to read something like this. And I pray that you have done a refining work in us. You have shown in us, even as we read through this passage, as we think about this, you've shown us parts of ourselves that are impurities that you want to bring to the surface. That you want to refine, that your spirit is working on us in. I pray that we would never be stagnant, that we would never believe that we've just arrived and you're done working on us, you're done purifying us, but that you want to continue to do that. I pray that you would help us to see the mission field around us, the battle even that's raging and you've made us as new creations to be your hands and your feet, to be your mouthpiece in the world that you've placed us. Give us courage and give us boldness in Jesus name, Amen. If you are getting ready for communion, you can do that now. If you're getting ready for going to be playing up here, you can get ready for that. And so as the ushers are getting ready there, encourage you, I want you to, if you still have your Bibles kind of open, I encourage you just to flip for just a moment. Jeremiah, this is going to remind us of something for communion here today. The book of Jeremiah, chapter 31. There's a phrase that's used seven times in the book of Malachi, which is 10 times higher than almost every other book in the Old Testament. Actually this is a word. There's a word that's used over and over in this particular book that we just looked at. The word is covenant. Can we say that together? Covenant. Deuteronomy, Joshua, Hosea, Obadiah speak of this word a bit more. But most other books don't use this word. And when we read from God's word, oftentimes the book of First Corinthians, speaking about remembering the work of Jesus, there's a word covenant that Jesus uses. He uses it in the upper room with his disciples. And we also are reminded of it by Paul. Well, the Last Supper, Jesus took a cup and he said this. This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you. Jesus used the term new covenant to contrast with what an old covenant. The Old, the conditional agreement God made with the Israelites through Moses. The old covenant establishes laws and ceremonies that separated the Jews from other nations. And appropriately so. It defined sin. It showcased God's provision and his sacrifice. Over and over again. The old covenant was so, so important. And then we also saw over and over in the Old Testament that that old covenant didn't change people's hearts, did it? They were still hard hearted. Over and over again we saw that they were hard hearted. And God knew this. And so In Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 31, God makes a promise. He says this, we have a covenant. And this guides you in truth. This guides you in the way that I want you to go. And I realize you are hard hearted people. And this old covenant, this covenant that we have now is not going to be something that's going to last forever. So in chapter 31 of Jeremiah, he promises a new covenant. If you will just listen in as I read this or read this in your Bibles it says this. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. Someone say new covenant? New covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt. My covenant that they broke. And we could say over and over and over again, though I was their husband, declares the Lord, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. This is beautiful. And no longer shall one teach his neighbor and to his brother, saying, know the Lord as the people of Israel had had to do over and over and over again. For they shall know me from the least to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will. And this is what Jesus is saying when I'm instituting a new covenant. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sins no more. And here Jesus says in the New Testament, I have a better covenant. Hebrews 7 says, It's a better covenant. It's one that the old covenant could not do because the blood of bulls and goats is not strong enough to take away the sins of the world. So Jesus says, I have a new covenant. And that's what we celebrate here when we take communion. Were saying this, I realize animals couldn't do it anymore. And you know that none of you are sacrificing lambs, right? None of you are doing that because you trust that Jesus did it all. And so right now I'm going to pass the trays, we're going to distribute the elements inside these trays you'll have a little cup, there's two cups. One of them has a little wafer in it that reminds us of the body of Jesus. And there's also some grape juice in there that reminds us of the blood of Jesus. And as we. I will lead us in taking this together. As we have the trays passed here in a moment, I want you to reflect on the seriousness of sin because God says it's serious. I want you to remember the power of Jesus and his sacrifice. And lastly, we can rejoice. Amen. We can rejoice knowing, as Jeremiah says and as Jesus says, that our sins are what forgiveness. [00:49:08] Speaker B: Sam, [00:49:37] Speaker A: In your hands you have wafer, and you also have some juice. If you're not a follower of Jesus, this is not for you. Unless you've chosen today to follow him. Those of us who have trusted in Jesus, your Lord and Savior, we're reminded that he came in the flesh. It was actually God in the flesh who came to die on our behalf because we could not do that. We hear these words in 1 Corinthians. For I received from the Lord that which I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the flesh. On the night when he was betrayed, he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it. This was sitting in the upper room with his disciples. And he said this. This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's eat together. In the same way also, he took the cup after supper and he said this. This is the new what? The new covenant, the new kind of relationship we have now, not built on your actions, but on my finished work. This is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. Until he comes, let's drink together. Lord, we are looking forward to your coming. We know that day is coming and we anticipate it. We're excited for the work that you're going to do in us until that day comes. As we wait patiently for you, we're thankful for the relationship we now can have with you because of what you have done. As we spend time, even right now, singing this song, as we spend time praying where we're standing, as we spend time later on in fellowship together, we ask that you would continue to refine us, to cause us to look more and more like you. In Jesus name, amen.