Turn with me in your Bibles to the Old Testament, the book of Malachi. Today's text comes from Malachi chapter 3. I'll read the entire chapter, but pay particular attention to verses 13 through 18. Again, Malachi chapter 3, with particular attention to verses 13 through 18. Hear now God's word. Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against false swearers and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, And he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground. Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts. Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, what have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, it is vain to serve God. And what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy. Yea, they that work wickedness are set up. Yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels. And I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would bless the reading, the hearing of your word, and the preaching of it for your glory and for our good. By your spirit, open our ears. Cause all distractions to fall away that we might hear the word preached faithfully that we may understand more fully the duty that you require of us, that we believe in the one that you sent. Thank you that by his wounds we are healed. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. As in many Old Testament passages, certainly many New Testament passages, it would seem that God is drawing our attention to the fact that there are two kinds of religion. two types of religion, two religions in all the world, the true religion and false religion. Whether that false religion is labeled with an ism or an ology, it's immaterial. There is the God of the Bible's clear statement in his word as to what genuine worship is, and then there are the myriad of ways where we contaminate that. That isn't to say that we worship perfectly. That isn't to say that we can expect some form of sinless perfection. But the book of Malachi, Malachi being an Old Testament prophet, laying out clearly for God's people how God would have them live. And he discusses all through the book, we heard a little bit from chapter three with regards to how God's people have strayed from the true religion, how they muttered among themselves, how they robbed God of tithes and offerings. It's a familiar story. We see it all through the Old Testament. We see it in the words of Jesus as he rebukes the Pharisees. Man's pollution of the true religion and what the practical implications are of that. Now, some would say that if a religion sounds a particular way, or it uses Christian language, or it has a lot of the same trappings of what we see in the Bible, that that's good enough and that God will cover the rest of that, not realizing that that in and of itself is a statement that is not found in the Bible. Nowhere in scripture does God say, do the best you can and I'll cover the rest. He says, obey, submit to my rule in your life. Jesus summed it up this way in Mark, to repent ye and believe the gospel. To believe and trust and live by faith in the same way that we see in Hebrews, the Old Testament saints living by faith. Trusting in the one that said to do certain things. Not trusting in how confused they may have been by what those things were, but trusting the one who said them. And our brothers and sisters in Malachi's day stumble in the same way that we're prone to stumble. Because they're people just like us. Many times we look at the Old Testament saints and we think they're historical figures, but we see them as titans because we've read them and we've studied them and we're inspired by them and encouraged by them. And then again, the author of Hebrews praises them. So we have them up on somewhat of a pedestal, not remembering that they're still people. That the challenges they faced, are the challenges that we face. This tension to add to or to take away, to live faithfully versus to maybe just go along to get along. It's a challenge that oftentimes overcomes not only individuals, churches, seminaries, denominations, whole regions of Christendom. Remember that Athanasius was once the only person speaking out against Arianism. It was Athanasius' contramundum against the world. And yet God saw fit to reward his faithfulness by being one of the earthly vehicles through which sound doctrine was preserved and kept, and biblical Christianity was saved. From an earthly perspective, that is. Because God preserves his word. He preserves his people. And that's precisely what we see God telling us. I asked you to pay particular attention to verses 13 through 18. But before we jump into that, I want you to take a look at verse 6 in chapter 3. Because this is the thing I think that sometimes we forget in our current climate, whatever the context of our lives may be, it's easy to think, well, God doesn't understand. This is the 21st century. These things are going on. What are we going to do? Let's go to chapter 3, verse 6. God says, for I am the Lord. I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed." Well, if God doesn't change and he preserved his people all through the Old Testament, all through the New Testament, all through church history, all through modern history up to the second that we say to ourselves, this is crazy, God doesn't understand, we have forgotten Practical application of Malachi chapter 3 verse 6 God is the same yesterday and today and forever it said elsewhere So what does that mean well as we work through Malachi God is telling the people look trust me Stop playing fast and loose with tithes and offerings because that's an evidence of what? the mindset and the heart attitude that we have with regards to material possessions and whether or not God will really provide You could make a strong argument that how the Old Testament Israelites had robbed God in Malachi very similar to how Adam and Eve robbed God of who he is following after. Did God really say? Because this is what we do. We say, well, these are difficult times. I'll hold on to just a little bit. God will understand times are tough, revealing that we don't truly trust in them. Maybe God is keeping something from us. Maybe God doesn't really understand. But when we do that, we take God off the throne, because a God who does not understand is not God at all. A God that has to learn or react to man and man's thoughts and decisions is not a God worthy of worship. And God says in Malachi 3, bring all the tithes the way you're supposed to. This is verse 10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in thine house. And prove me now, test me now herewith, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. But things were tough back then, just like they're tough now. And the temptation is to do what the Israelites did, to hold a little back. Now, that's not the same thing as preparing. A prudent man sees trouble, prepares for it. I'm not saying that, so don't hear that the visiting pastor said, don't even worry about saving up anything or storing anything, because it's a sign of lack of faith. That's not where we're going with this. But God is saying, you're playing fast and loose, not only with obedience, but you're playing fast and loose with your very soul. Because in the same way, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Out of the overflow of the heart, we act in a particular way, right? Speaking is an action in the same way that obedience to God is an action. It reveals our heart attitude towards the Lord, and whether or not we really do trust Him. But now we move to verse 13. where God just lays it out in front of them. Your words have been stout, have been stern, have been hard, or overly bold, could be defined that way. And as often the case, the Israelites are asking, and God is using a rhetorical device, yet you say, how have their words been bold? Because it's almost like, and I say this as an understatement, God knows exactly how His sinful people will respond to him. What, me? No, I haven't. My words haven't been bold. Remember how Adam reacts when confronted with his sin. The woman you gave me, not me, the woman you gave me. So that's a human trait to go, oh, no, no, I'm going to deny, deny, deny. But look at how this plays out for God's people in Malachi. He says in verse 14, ye have said it is vain to serve God. And what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, that we have walked mournfully, so we've been faithful, we've walked mournfully, we've lamented when we needed to lament, we've walked, we've supposedly been faithful, and now what do we see? And now we call the proud happy, yea, that work wickedness are set up, yea, them that tempt God are even delivered. So they're seeing Seemingly seeing seeing the wicked flourish and they're saying it's not even any point. Why have we been doing that? We did all the things right Lord and Now we see wicked people getting getting one over on us Does that attitude sound familiar to you if you've read the Bible? With any frequency that that heart attitude should sound very close to the older brother in the parable of the prodigal I've been here the whole time. He didn't give me anything. That same stubborn attitude, revealing, of course, that their hearts had been far from how God would have them live. But isn't it always the case with God and his people that he preserves a remnant of folks, whether they haven't bowed to the prophets of Baal, whether he raises up a judge, whether he clothes Adam and Eve in the garden and lovingly boots them out Now let's pay close attention here. Verse 16, Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. Let's stop right there. What does it mean to fear the Lord? The world would look at that and say, see, you're serving this God of the Bible because you're terrified that He's going to do something to you. Well, it's old language. The fear of the Lord is called elsewhere in the Old Testament the beginning of wisdom. And isn't it, just as an aside, isn't it wise to have a fear, a reverence, an understanding, a respect for the one who created all things out of nothing by the word of his power in the space of six days and declare it all very good? Don't you think, just as a side note, that that's a wise thing to do? That if it's been revealed to us that there is a God in heaven, and here's the rub, everyone knows that there's a God in heaven. Romans 1 tells us that. that to recognize that, to pay homage to that God that we know exists, is the start of all knowledge, like the starting point, the axiom, if you will, the first principle, the presupposition, some people would say, is that God exists and we need to respect that God, to fear Him, to reverence Him, to pay Him the honor, do Him. Conversely we see in Proverbs chapter 1 verse 29 For they for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord So the flip side of that the reverse is true So there are people who reject that fear of the Lord who disrespect God because they despise knowledge now Haven't we often seen that play out in society? Those who would reject the God of the Bible his existence his lordship over everything are often prone to believe any sort of fanciful story. Some years ago, a famous evolutionist said that it's probably likely, or possible even, that the Earth was seeded from alien spores from outer space. That that was probably more likely than the story of the God in the Bible. And for anybody listening at home, I just did the air quote thing. So I say story just to use a turn of phrase. But if you abandon the God of the Bible, you're left to preference. Because if you abandon the God of the Bible, you abandon His law, you abandon His structure, you rebel against yourself, your existence, creation itself, and you are prone to be blown and cast aside one way or the other. And that's exactly what we see. The writer of Proverbs said, them that hate me love death. And that's precisely what we've seen play out all through the scriptures. Israel was used as the hammer of God's judgment against the heathen nations when they went in to enter the promised land. Why? Because that was a culture that loved death and was sacrificing their children to their false gods. All we see is the difference between true and false religions smattered and scattered all through the scriptures. And those false religions at their core, that's why there's only one other kind of religion than the true one, have at their core a rejection of God and His Word as revealed through the Bible. Doesn't matter how closely akin they look to Christianity, you scratch just below the surface, you see a complete and utter disdain for the fear of the Lord and an elevation of man's wisdom or an elevation of man's reason or an elevation of an earthly office of some sort or an elevation of stories that have no basis in fact or logic. But if they make you feel a certain pain in your chest, then that's somehow a magical indicator that what you're reading is true. It's nonsense. But such is life when you reject the fear of the Lord. So Malachi is saying that those people exist, even in the midst of the impure religion in the Old Testament era. He's saying there are people who fear the Lord. Now that should be a comfort to all of us because our culture is devolving into madness and it would be easy to think that we're alone, but we are never alone as God's people. Not only because the Lord is with us by the power of the Holy Spirit, we're united by the blood of Christ, but also because he has preserved his people and has promised to do so, to never leave or forsake is exactly what we heard earlier. That should be a comfort. And so when we tie Malachi chapter 3, verse 6, recognizing that the Lord doesn't change, and He's saying that these people exist, then they that fear the Lord spake often one to another. That presumes their existence, does it not? So they exist. You are never alone as God's people. It might seem that way. It sure might seem that way. Especially if you're working in a secular job of some sort, and you might be the only person who's a genuine blood-bought lamb of the Lord Jesus, and you are faced with challenges and struggles, I understand that it could seem that way, but take heart. You are never alone. God is never far away from you. His Spirit lives within you. You're a new creation because the third person of the Trinity lives and breathes within you. But you are united to people, not only people that did exist in the past, but people that exist now who are going through the similar struggles, whose burdens we are called to bear. More on that later. But then also every person that will ever live and be united by the blood of Christ. So take heart. You're not alone. The Bible as history reminds us of God's provision and protection, how he perseveres in, with, and through us. We are not alone. but they speak often one to another. How often are you speaking to God's people? How often do you avail yourself of the sweet blessing of Christian conversation? Even if it's not distinctly about theological issues. Just being around God's people should be different. It should feel different. For any of us who have non-Christian family and friends, it should feel Markedly different for us to talk to God's people to talk to fellow believers in Christ Doesn't mean we can't enjoy our non-christian family and friends But we have to recognize that the blood that unites us to fellow Christians is more powerful and stronger Than the blood that courses through our veins that might unite us to somebody biologically Doesn't doesn't slam. I'm not trying to slander or smear one, but I want you to realize that To fear the Lord also means to speak, to fellowship, to avail yourself of the blessing of other believers. And don't we often feel that way? In the midst of a struggle, we have that one conversation, or maybe read that one text, or that one email from somebody, seemingly out of the blue. We might not even know why they sent it. But God knows, because he unites us together. And it's exactly what we needed to hear, exactly at the right time. Or maybe we stumble into church on the Lord's Day, and you're just not feeling very godly. And you try your best to be grumpy and curmudgeonly, at least I know I have. And that one person, and oftentimes by God's providence it's the person that you maybe didn't want to talk to when you're feeling curmudgeonly and grumpy. But that person comes up and for some reason your heart just melts. That's the sweet blessing of Christian fellowship and Christian conversation. It's a nourishment that we've been given from heaven. And Malachi is telling us, in the midst of all of these trials, in the midst of impure religion, in the midst of just not getting it right, not living obediently, not living by faith, and tweaking the Lord's nose, figuratively speaking, by holding back stuff. You know, it killed people in the New Testament to hold back some for themselves. In the midst of all that, what are we reading in verses 16 through 18? And they that fear the Lord spake often to one to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard it. The Lord paid attention and listened. Let's stop and think about what that means. The Lord of glory. the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is listening to Christian conversation, is paying attention not only to the conversations we have, but how we act and how we live. Now, for those of us who are genuinely, soundly saved by the blood of Christ, there's no terror or dread in that at all. That's a comfort and a blessing to know that God sees us, because maybe we've lived our lives unseen. Maybe we've lived our lives unappreciated. Maybe we've lived our lives as though we've never existed to another person. But God saw fit to convert us, to change our heart, to remove the heart of stone, to put in the heart of flesh, like Ezekiel tells us. And now we're a Christian. We're walking with the Lord. We're attending worship. We're submitting ourselves to local church membership. and the Lord is paying attention to us. Maybe we've never been paid attention to our entire lives, but the God of the universe is paying attention to the conversation we have and our existence. Sometimes I think we underestimate that. We read verses like he demonstrated his love for us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. I don't think we stop and think about what exactly that means. We mattered so much that God did something for us that we never deserved. In fact, that idea of doing our best and Christ covering the rest, gone. Because we weren't doing our best when Christ came to die for us. We were doing our level worst. The exact opposite of that phrase, level best. We were doing our worst. And he saw fit, because of his great love for us, to make us his own. and then promise to pay attention to us, and listen to us, and put us in relationships with other people where we could listen to them, and bear their burdens, and have our burdens bared. If you've never been a part of anything, or if you've been a part of something earthly and worldly, you've seen often how dysfunctional it has been, maybe in some cases because it's set up that way. Because some people will point the finger back at the church and church conflict and go, aha, see? Y'all are just as messed up as we are. Yeah, well, the church is filled with sinners. That stands to reason that we're going to have these issues. But that doesn't mean that the issue is with the Lord, because we see the Lord paying attention and listening. And not only that, remembering. Now, this is anthropomorphic language. God is spirit, has not a body like man. Our children's catechism teaches that. He's infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. Perfect in his being, wisdom, holiness, power, justice, goodness, and truth. I hope I got the catechism question in the right order on that. But if you say it fast enough, people are going to have to really pay attention, so it's all good. I got them all in there anyway. But a book of remembrance was written before him that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. What Malachi is doing in verse 16 is laying out the Christian life to think about God, to talk about God with other Christians, therefore, to gather with other Christians. You know, a lot of times we focus on Hebrews with regards to not forsaking the assembly of the saints. But Malachi chapter 3 verse 16 lays it out pretty nicely as well. We have to gather in order to talk with one another. Now, we can do that with technological advancements. But if any of you have gone through a lot of these recent technology-based meetings, there's something different being face-to-face. It's sweeter. It tastes a little bit better. You know, I think of these, you know, internet-based meetings as the generic drink. But meeting together is like the name brand drink. It just tastes better. The other stuff tastes like it. So, you know, internet-based meetings are kind of like the real thing, but they're not the real thing. There's something sweeter. And I think that's probably by design. We're supposed to gather together. talk about the things of God now what does that also imply well that we know about the things of God right we can't talk about that which we don't know and so the natural man can't have the same kinds of conversations with us if we're Christians doesn't mean we can't have conversations doesn't mean we can't have evangelistic conversations but when it comes down to to bearing burdens in Christian love and Christian unity, the natural man receiveth not the things of God." Neither can he understand them. So all of verse 16 assumes conversion. So you're not God's people because your parents were Christians. You're not a part of God's people because you've joined a church, although we are commanded to do just that. It's an outward sign. You're not a Christian if you've been baptized. Don't believe in baptismal regeneration? That's an outward expression of an inward working, an internal working. We can't rely on any outside things. You are converted because God, because salvation is of the Lord from Jonah, because God saw fit to convert you. You are no longer the natural man, you are the spiritual man. And then verse 16 applies. Then you gather with God's people and you talk about the things of God with one another and you share what he's doing in your life and what he's done in your life and the struggles that you have and vice versa with the other people around you and you bear those burdens. We are not stovepipe Christians standing in our lives walking around with a Bible and it's just me and a Bible and a stovepipe up to up to heaven. We are called, as Nate Larkin once said in a book a long time ago, we are called to a personal relationship with Jesus, but never a private one. We are saved into the body of Christ. We become part of the bride of Christ, part of the body. We receive members into the local assembly of the body of Christ. You're part of something. I can't stress that enough, because if you've not been a part of something, to recognize that being a part of God's people gives you access to the best things membership has to offer. You have access to God's people and His Word through His Spirit and His Son. So he goes further. And now he's laying claim to God's people. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels. Have you ever been seen as a jewel in anyone's eyes? To know that you're a jewel in the eyes of God has to be one of the best things that you could possibly imagine. And we don't stop and think about that enough either. That we are wretches. We are dead in our trespasses, the Apostle Paul says. And yet, in Christ, living by faith, we are a jewel in the eyes of our Creator. Imagine that. And He lays claim to us. He said, they'll be mine. To be a part of God's family is for your Heavenly Father to look at you and say, He is mine. She is mine. They may go through some struggles in this life. And I've ordained it for their good and my glory. But when I make up my jewels and my crown, these people are mine. No one else has them. And to be the Lord's, to belong to God, means no one will snatch you out of His hand. We talk about the perseverance of the saints. We persevere in this world because God perseveres in us. He equips us to persevere because we are His jewels. His jewels. And as a result, He'll spare us Now, this last phrase in verse 17, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. The love and devotion that a godly son has towards his father is what we have in mind. Not somebody that grudgingly does it because they have to do it. The son that loves and wants to please his father. And so his father says, I need you to do this thing. All right, already on it. Gotcha, no problem. And who might finish a little early and say, anything else you need to have done? That's the devotion. That's the heart attitude that we have in mind here. In the same way that a father might spare that son because he's been devoted, where he might say, you know what? You deserve a little time to relax. You've been working hard, and I want to reward you. I love you, and I appreciate you. That's how we'll be spared. Spared from what? spared from the wrath to come, the wrath that hangs over our head as natural men and women, the wrath that we naturally have and by which we are naturally condemned because we didn't honor God with our lips, because we suppress the truth of God's existence in our unrighteousness and we do not give him the honor and the reverence that he is due. The concept, the idea of God's judgment seems wicked and unfair to people who are already under it. Because they say, well, I don't deserve God's judgment. I'm a good person. If any of you, if any of us, I'm an adult convert to the faith. I was asked that question once. God were to let you into, you know, if you were to stand before the Lord, he said, why should I let you into heaven? I should say, I said, because my good deeds outweighed my bad deeds. And that sounds so logical, doesn't it? Well, I did more good stuff than bad stuff. And the bad stuff I did, you know, I meant well, but it really wasn't my fault. It was all those other people. Well, guess what? To us, somebody else, you're that other person. So the idea that it's somebody else's fault doesn't pass muster. And I was asked, well, what does it mean to do good deeds in the first place? He said, well, what are some of the examples of those good deeds? And the more I thought about it, he didn't, the person that asked me that question let me off the hook. He didn't ask me for examples right then and there. He let me stew on that for a little while. But he gave me a Bible and he said, read the Gospel of John and read the Book of Romans. And when you read those books, you say, okay, hang on one second. Maybe what I think are my good deeds aren't actually good. Maybe if what this is saying is true Maybe I'm in a lot of trouble Because maybe my good deeds aren't so good after all Maybe what I think are my good deeds still come from a wicked heart maybe I Need the guy that's laid out in the Gospel of John because maybe I'm the guy that Paul describes in the book of Romans So when we look at the idea of being spared, we're spared from the trouble that the Holy Spirit stirs in the natural man's heart to convict him of his sin. I didn't recognize it until after I was converted that once I started saying maybe I was in trouble, that was the Holy Spirit getting a hold of me. And for any of us that have been adult converts, We felt that you know exactly what it is I'm saying coming under the conviction of sin Recognizing the true sinfulness of your own sin Yeah That's actually good medicine. It's terrifying but it's the best medicine possible because it's the Holy Spirit purging you of all the wickedness and Sparing you as it stands according to Malachi 317 And again that comes out of God's love for us in the same way a father loves his son Malachi ends chapter three. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. And there it is, just right on the nose. There is a clear distinction between the godly and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who choose, as they're running from God, to wave vulgar gestures behind them as they go, as though they could truly get away from the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. If there is not a clear distinction in your life between how you think and how you speak and how you act, between that and how your non-Christian friends think and speak and act, it's possible that maybe you need some more time in God's Word. I know I've gone through periods of time as well where I look at my life, and this is where the self-examination that Paul talks to the Corinthians about with regards to the Lord's Supper, applied out into the Christian's life, can be so helpful and such a blessing. Because if we don't look and sound and act differently than the world, we have some problems. Because Malachi chapter 3 verse 18, and you're not running afoul of the preacher, you're running afoul of God's Word. You shall return and discern to understand the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." We ought to be different. Not better. Don't hear that. We're not better. We did nothing to earn this salvation. We have no reason to brag or boast. Paul is right when he speaks to the church in Rome. In Romans chapter four, we did not earn these wages. They were a free gift given to us. So we don't hear what I'm saying as we should be better. But because we are converted, we are converted from one thing to another. We are converted from dead men and women to alive men and women in Christ. So as a logical result, our lives should look differently. Where we once hated the things of God, now we love the things of God. where we once hated God's law and despised it because it was an albatross hanging around the neck that held people back from doing exactly what they wanted to do. We see it as the words of life. The things that refresh our soul, convert our soul. The thing without which we cannot live. There should be a difference. So the question we have to ask ourselves as we close chapter three, Malachi chapter 4 is just awesome, because the messenger's coming, and the Old Testament closes with that coming of Christ foreshadowed. But Malachi chapter 3 closes us, and we're forced to ask this question of ourselves. Like what does our life look? Does it look like someone's life who serves the Lord? Are you gathering with God's people? Are you thinking about God's things? Are you reading God's Word? Are you talking with God's people about the things of God, including your life and theirs? Or not? And if not, why not? Because God's people do go through dry seasons. God's people go through periods where we feel far from God. So it could be that. It could be Some healthy self-examination, a la 1 Corinthians 11, puts us in a position to say, you know what? I've been struggling, but God, you've been faithful. Because if we realize we've been struggling, obviously we know what's true and what's false. We know God's words telling us something. So are you meditating on God's word? Are you soaking your life, saturating it in God's word, through God's people and God's spirit, because of what God's Son has done for you. But if not, one of two things is the case. You're a Christian who stumbled into a trap, and we all fall into them from time to time. But the blessing is, when we confess that sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness. So the Christian stumbles into these things It's not a plan. We don't plan for it. We're not digging our own grave. We're not digging our own hole. So if you're a Christian and you've found yourself, you know what? I've been caught slipping. Repent and move forward. Recognize that that slipping has been paid for on the cross. And move forward with the assurance of that salvation because of what God says in His Word. Return to me and I will return to you. Not that God was ever abandoning us. But it sure appears that way when we get in those dry periods. But for the other group of people who find themselves not serving God, it's quite possible because they're still that natural man. Now, the secret things belong to the Lord, Deuteronomy 29. It's not my department to stick my head into your heart and know exactly what your status is. That's between you and the Lord. But if a person finds themselves not serving the Lord and recognizing, you know what, it's not because I've repented of my sin and believed the gospel and I've just gotten beaten down with life, but I've never closed with Christ like the Puritans would say. Today is the day of salvation. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Recognize that by not serving God, You are not serving yourself. You are not doing yourselves any favors. That the reality of the situation is that if you have not confessed your sins before the Lord, Jesus himself says you will perish. But Christ didn't come for anything more than you to have life and have it abundantly. So for that person who might not have ever closed with Christ, who might not have ever repented, Today is the day. You see what the results will be. You will be brought into a family united by the blood of Christ. You will be able to have burdens borne and be able to bear other people's burdens. You will be remembered by the Lord of glory and considered a jewel. Imagine the freedom that comes with knowing that those sins are forgiven, that those iniquities are covered. Imagine that David's words in Psalms 51 and 32 apply to you. You can't earn that forgiveness. You can't earn that blessing. It's a free gift, yours for the taking. Repent and believe the gospel and be added to the number that Malachi discusses here. Be added to our family so that we can talk to each other and share our lives together. and think on the things of God so that we could be a jewel in God's crown. Let's bow in prayer. Sovereign Lord, it is your will and your will alone that has brought us here today. We may think that we planned, and indeed from an earthly perspective we did, but you saw fit to bring us together today so that we could talk about your things, so that we could meditate on your word, so that we could truly understand that we are part of something much larger than ourselves, that we are indeed called to a personal relationship with you through your son Jesus, but never a private one. Help us, Lord, to examine our lives, to see areas where we have been blessed by applying your scriptures, to thank you for those. And also, Lord, so that we could see areas where we have maybe been beaten down by the world. Cause us by your spirit to lay those sins before you, recognizing they've already been paid for. And help us to stand up and move forward, assured of your pardon, assured of our status as a jewel in your crown, and assured of being your sons and daughters. Thank you for the finished work of Christ. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. well if you would turn with me