Good morning, church. It's good to see you all this morning. I invite you to turn your Bibles to the book of Malachi. Malachi chapter two, verse 17. We'll be looking at Malachi 2, 17 through first part of verse or chapter three. Now, if you don't know where Malachi is, it's the last book in the Old Testament. So if you know where the gospel of Matthew is, turn there and then go a couple pages to the left and you will find Malachi. The text is also printed on page nine in your order of service if you wanna follow along there. So we're in the season of Advent and our sermon series this year, Advent sermon series this year is titled, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. So we're looking at several Old Testament texts that look ahead to the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. And this week we're looking at a passage from Malachi. And the season of Advent is a season of waiting. And kids, maybe you're waiting for Christmas morning, and you're excited about opening presents. I'm excited about that, too. But Advent is bigger than that. And really, the season of Advent is a microcosm of the Christian life. The whole of the Christian life is a season of waiting. We live between the two Advents of Jesus Christ, his two comings. And so here, we look back. And we celebrate that Christ has come. We remember Bethlehem. We remember his life and his death and his resurrection. But we also look forward to his coming again. And we're waiting for him to come. And we're waiting for him to come and set the world right. And you know this, that waiting is difficult, isn't it? And I confess, I don't really enjoy waiting. I especially don't enjoy waiting to fill up my car with gas at the gas station. I know that Costco and Vons have, you know, the prices there are cheaper than most other places, but I will gladly pay more at some other station just to avoid waiting in line. I don't enjoy it. But waiting for Jesus to come again and fix this mess of a world, that's on a whole other level of difficulty. And on the one hand, the act of waiting can be really helpful. So if you're waiting for Christmas morning, the wait can kind of fuel your excitement, your anticipation. It can get you ready. On the other hand, waiting can eat away at your hope and your faith. And so the church has been longing for Christ to come, waiting for Christ to come for nearly 2,000 years. And the longer we wait, the greater the temptation is to let go of hope. You know how it is. And so we're looking at the nation of Israel and Malachi today. And here in the book of Malachi, Israel is waiting. Israel is waiting. And they're losing hope as they wait. So the exile in Babylon is over. It's come to an end. The people have come back to the land. They've settled down. It really should be a time of excitement. You know, that God has brought his people back from exile, just like he promised. But there's this kind of Malaise that's formed over the people there. They're disappointed They feel like God has let them down, you know, in their mind that the exile is over, but they're not free yet. They're in the land, but they're under the thumb of the Persian empire. They've rebuilt the temple, but, you know, as they look at it, some of them remember the former temple, the first one, and they see this new temple is just a poor substitute for the first one. And God had made promises many years before that he would return. And he would come to his temple once again and fill it with his glory like in the days of old. And it hasn't happened yet. And they're waiting and they're wondering, maybe, you know, maybe God's given up. And they're getting tired of waiting, and doubt is setting in, cynicism is taking over. Some, if we were to read the whole book of Malachi, some of the people are living openly wicked lives, and so the prophet Malachi steps onto the scene with a message from the Lord. And he's calling Israel back to the Lord, and he's trying to rekindle their hope, trying to convince them not to give up hope that the Lord will come. And so let's read the passage together. Malachi 2, we'll start in verse 17, and then I'll read on through chapter 3, verse 5. You have wearied the Lord with your words, but you say, how have we wearied him? By saying, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them. or by asking, where is the God of justice? Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. And they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner. And do not fear me, says the Lord of Hosts. Let me pray for us. Our God and Father, we come to your word today, eager to hear from you. Would you help us to see the good news in a fresh way this morning? We ask in Jesus' name, amen. Well, there's three moves in this text, and the first one, number one, is an accusation, an accusation. We see it there in chapter two, verse 17. And the book of Malachi is like a courtroom drama, okay? So Malachi plays the role of prosecutor, the covenant prosecutor, and the nation of Israel is sitting in the defendant's chair. And presiding over this courtroom scene is Israel's covenant Lord, Israel's covenant Lord, Yahweh. And so in each of, there's six disputes in this book, six different legal proceedings. And each one follows the same script. And so Malachi, he accuses Israel of breaking covenant with the Lord. And then the nation responds with, you know, it's not our fault, it's God's fault. They point the finger at God. And then Malachi answers their excuses by saying, hey, well, let's talk about this and see if that's really true. The passage we're looking at today is dispute number four of six, and you can hear the accusation there in verse 17. Malachi says to the people, you tire God out with all your talk. That's the charge he levels against Israel. You've wearied the Lord with your words. And Israel's quick to respond. It's like, oh yeah, prove it, show us. And how have we wearied him? And Malachi lays out his case here, basically saying, you keep charging the Lord with injustice. You keep pointing your finger at him over and over again. And you know, the book of Malachi begins with God saying to his people, I have loved you. And they say, sure doesn't look like it. And it just goes on and on like that throughout the book. And here Malachi says that they've, they're saying that God does not care about right and wrong. You know, He seems to just, you know, He looks at the evildoers and He's so kind to them. He pours out His blessings on them. And, you know, what is the point of trying to follow the Lord? What is the point of being righteous if the evildoers prosper and the righteous ones suffer? And they're saying, God, you know, This isn't right. And you can see there at the end of verse 17, they ask this question, where is the God of justice? And this isn't a sincere question, okay? They're not, you know, really searching, where is he? Where is he? We want to find him. This is, It's a cynical question. You know, as they watch what's going on in their society and the evildoers getting away with their evil, they're like, where is the God of justice? He's nowhere to be found. And you know, it's different than what we hear in the Psalms. So in the psalms, you know, the psalmist cry out, God, where are you? I don't understand what's going on. But, you know, they're crying out in pain, but it's a cry of faith. Here, this is, the people ask this question with a cynical sneer. And this is the difficulty of waiting. You know, God's delay, or what seems like a delay to us, it can eat away at our hope. You know, we're Advent people, we're waiting people. We know what God has done through Christ. We look forward to what God will do through Christ. But here and now, today, in our daily lives, we can't always make sense of things. And we wonder, God, if you're so good, why did you let this happen? God, I thought you were powerful. Why didn't you stop this? Where are you, God? It seems like you don't care. Can I even trust you? And some of you, you know what these kinds of questions and doubts are like. And we wrestle with these things. And there's no voice from heaven shouting out the answer to us. And so we sit here with just a lot of unknowns, a lot of uncertainty, and the pain gnawing at us, and disappointment piling up. And maybe you've been there. And you know what that kind of experience is like. You know, you can take it for a while, and then you just kind of reach a breaking point, and confusion gives way to cynicism, gives way to unbelief, and hope begins to evaporate. And so how do we find our way back to hope when cynicism sets in? Or maybe you're not cynical yet, if you're not, praise the Lord. How do you guard against cynicism? How do you keep hope alive while you wait? And the answer comes in the next movement in the passage, chapter three, verses one to four. We hear an announcement. You know, the people asked, where is the God of justice? And the answer is, He's coming. That's the announcement. He's coming. Your waiting is not worthless. That's the message in chapter three, verses one to four. And it's Advent language. The Lord is coming. So you can see there in chapter three, verse one, we hear the Lord himself speak now here in verse one. And he speaks about two different messengers. Messenger number one, he calls him my messenger who will come and prepare the way before me. This first messenger is a forerunner. not the Toyota kind, the royal kind, the royal forerunner. In the ancient world, when a king was traveling to visit a city, his servants would go to the city ahead of him and they would drag out the highway construction crews, they would get to work on the roads, straightening out the curves, they would smooth the surface of the roadway, all in preparation for the king's royal procession. And that's the picture here. As the Lord says, I'm sending my messenger ahead of me. Israel's Lord and King is returning to his temple. That's what God is telling them. That's the announcement. Israel's God is finally coming to dwell among his people again. And this is Big news. Maybe it doesn't sound like big news for us. For Israel, this is what they've been longing for. This is what they've been waiting for. Not only in Malachi's day, but even up into the first century, Israel is longing for the Lord to return to Zion. And you can think of the opening chapters of the gospel of Luke. And we have these wonderful characters, Anna and Simeon, that they're in the temple waiting for Israel's God to return. And so this first messenger is a forerunner. The second messenger is the messenger, he's called the messenger of the covenant. He is the Lord himself. He comes as the covenant Lord. He comes to inaugurate a new covenant. And so we hear this announcement. Behold, I'm sending my messenger. He's going to prepare the way. And the Lord whom you seek, he's going to come to his temple. That he's going to come as he's promised. And if you're a Bible reader, all of this language probably sounds familiar. In fact, we actually read some of these words a little bit earlier in the service at the opening of Mark's Gospel. And so in the Gospel of Mark, he begins to tell the Jesus story, and then he quotes Malachi 3, along with Isaiah 40, two passages about this messenger who prepares the way for Yahweh's return. And you probably know this story. Mark quotes this, and then he points to John the Baptist. And he says, John the Baptist is that messenger. But then things get really exciting. If John is the messenger preparing the way for the Lord, that means Jesus is the Lord. Jesus is the divine Lord returning to his temple, the messenger of the covenant. And just understand what the Gospels are telling us. Jesus is the human embodiment of Israel's God. He is the human embodiment of Israel's covenant Lord. He's God in human flesh. And so the gospel is open with this amazing announcement. God's ancient promise to return is being fulfilled in Jesus. That's the story the gospels tell. But all of that was still future for Malachi and his hearers. And so let's jump back into Malachi's message. What would it look like? Okay, Yahweh is returning. He's coming back to his temple. What would it look like when the Lord comes home to his people? And you can see the answer in verse two, that the Lord is coming to purify his people. He's coming to purify His people. And so, you know, when He comes, it's not gonna be all unicorns and rainbows. Malachi, or the Lord through Malachi, says it's gonna be like a refiner's fire. and like Fuller's soap. And these two images, they're striking. Metal workers used the intense heat of fire to burn away impurities from precious metals. And Fuller's soap, or Launderer's soap, was a strong detergent used to bleach clothing. And so you would wash the clothing with this soap and then afterwards you take the clothes and you lay them out on a pile of rocks and you would beat the clothes with a broom or a stick. And that's how you got the stains out of the clothing. And so we hear that when the Lord comes to his people, it's gonna be like this. And that's really uncomfortable imagery, right? It doesn't sound pleasant. This purification is painful, but it's also purposeful. You know, a refiner's fire is not a wildfire. And we know a little bit about wildfires here in Escondido, right? We've had our fair share of wildfires over the years. What do wildfires do? They destroy, right? They destroy. Maybe some of you remember the Witch Creek fire back in 2007. That fire tore through my parents' property, and at the time I had some things stored on their property, just some collectibles from my childhood. You know, X-Men comic books, Spider-Man comic books, lots of baseball cards. And they were stored in this big metal storage bin out at their property. And that fire just came through. And it consumed everything in that storage unit. All that was left was ashes. That's what wildfires do. They destroy. But a refiner's fire, it beautifies. A refiner's fire creates something pure, something beautiful, something radiant. And that's the imagery Malachi uses here. And we see in verse three that God's purifying love, the Lord returns to his people in purifying love. That love creates a renewed people of God. We see there in verse three, this renewal begins at the sanctuary with the Levites. But it doesn't stop there. Verse four, it extends out to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. And it says that their offerings, their sacrifices will then be pleasing to the Lord. And so it's this picture of God's Purifying love transforms his broken and sinful people into faithful worshipers. It's a beautiful picture, but even still, it's still a little terrifying, isn't it? This imagery. And it is. I mean, Malachi says, who could endure it? Who could stand in that day? How is this announcement good news? And well, to hear it as good news, we have to see it in the bigger context. We have to follow along the story of what God will do and has done through Jesus. And so the people ask, where is the God of justice? And as you follow the story into the New Testament, the answer is He's hanging there on a cross. His arms are outstretched. Love and justice meet in Him. And that self-giving love that we see in Jesus Christ, it flows out to the world in cleansing for all who believe. And the reason this imagery is good news is because Jesus endured the fiery judgment that our sins deserved. Jesus has already passed through the waters of judgment in our place. And so in Jesus, God's purifying love doesn't consume us, it beautifies us. It removes the stain of our sins so that we reflect God's glory more fully out into the world. This is what Jesus came to do. This is what we celebrate, that he came to purify a people for himself, a people who have been cleansed from the stain of their sins. He's gathering a community of renewed worshipers, a people who offer their whole lives to God. as a sacrifice, a living sacrifice. And so we hear this announcement in Malachi, the Lord is coming. And from our vantage point, you know, standing on this side of things, we can say, the Lord has come. And we celebrate it, that forgiveness, restoration, renewal, it's the new story of our life in Jesus. This is the new reality in which we live because the Lord has come. And it's good and right for us to celebrate all of this, but we can't stop there. We can't dead-end at what Jesus did for us and Too often that's about as far as we go and it's great. You know, the personal benefits of the gospel are wonderful Let's sing about them. Let's rejoice over them, but there's more to the story The good news doesn't end there. And so in the last movement of this text, we hear a pledge. So it begins with an accusation, then we hear God's announcement, and then finally we hear His pledge in chapter 3, verse 5. And so we have to ask, as we hear the, as we heard the announcement, the Lord is coming, we think about what Jesus has accomplished, we have to ask, what about the world? You know, it's great, we're here and we're celebrating what Jesus has done for us personally. But we have to press on and ask, what about the world? I mean, the world is still broken, isn't it? I mean, you just look around and it's everywhere. You watch the daily news and it's just this constant cycle, nations at war. children starving. And the message is again and again, the world is broken. And we even see it here in our own city, the city of Escondido. I mean, there's addiction, there's violence, the exploitation of the weak and the poor. I mean, you just ask our friends at Alternatives or ask the folks at Interfaith, and they'll tell you the stories. Our city is broken. So what about the world? What about Escondido? Where is the God of justice? And the answer that comes in verse 5 is that he's coming. He's coming again to set the world right. That's his pledge. He says, then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts." And so God pledges he will come again in Jesus. And when He comes, He will judge the evildoers. And that might not sound like good news to us, but understand this is God eradicating evil and injustice from His world. This is God restoring His world to what He meant it to be. He's setting things right. And you can see here in verse five, God indicts five specific groups of evildoers, and they've all got their particular form of evil that they engage in, but they all have one thing in common. God says at the end there, they do not fear me. And every one of the sins listed here, all except the first, every single one is an issue of social justice. And there's that term. And Craig reminded us last week, you know, we tend to make a knee-jerk reaction to language like that. And it's unfortunate because social justice is something near to God's heart. It's something he cares deeply about. It's something that he calls his people to care about. And what we see here in verse 5 is God's concern for justice. It's not limited to one little slice of life. It really touches every facet of life. You can see here it includes relational justice. So God, you can see, He calls out the adulterers for their relational injustice. It includes legal justice. The text talks about those who swear falsely. That is, in a legal context, they commit perjury. It involves economic justice. God talks about those who exploit workers and widows and orphans. three of the most vulnerable groups in that society. They really had nobody on their side, nobody to protect them, and they were easily taken advantage of. It even involves justice for immigrants. The text talks about those who thrust aside the sojourner. And what it's talking about is denying justice to someone simply because of their status as an immigrant. And so, God pledges to come and deal with the world's injustices. And this is both good news and bad news, okay? It's really bad news if you're one of the oppressors. If you're one of the people doing the things God talks about here, we hear that God will stand against the evildoers as witness, as judge, and as executioner. It's really bad news. for the oppressors. But it is wonderful news if you're one of the oppressed, if you're one of the victims of these injustices. God is saying, I will stand by you as your defender. I will make things right. And so the gospel It doesn't stop at our individual salvation. It's bigger than that. It's not less than that, but it's bigger. It's about God's purpose for the world. It's about, He intends to rescue the whole of His creation from the corruption of sin. That's God's purpose. It's about new creation. A world healed from evil and injustice. A world where sin and death are no more. A world filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. That's what God will do through Jesus when he comes again. And that's his pledge here in verse five. And this is what Advent is all about. We look backward to Jesus' first coming and we rejoice. We celebrate everything that he's done for us through his life, death, and resurrection. We look forward to Jesus' second coming and we long for it. We pray for it. We wait for it. We long for him to come and set the world right. And then we look outward to the world. And we remember what God intends to do through us today. And this is the part we often overlook. Yes, we enjoy looking back, we enjoy looking forward, but God also calls us to look outward to the world and what he wants to do through us. You see, what God will do for the world one day through Jesus, he has already begun to do today in the church. And new creation has already broken in. God is forming us into a renewed community of faithful worshipers who experience the cleansing power of Jesus Christ. And our task as a church is to embody that reality here and now for the sake of the world. We could even say for the sake of the city of Escondido. See, God has put Grace Bible Church here in this city for a purpose. He intends for us as a local church to be a preview of His promised future, a preview of that new creation. He means for the church to be a foretaste of it, a witness. And it begins first with our life together as the family of God, where we're learning what it means to be the family of God, learning what it means to be a faithful worshiping community, learning how to live out this new life in Christ with our brothers and sisters. But we're also meant to embody this new creation reality in our public life, in the world. God intends to show the world what his kingdom is like through the public life of his church. And this really takes wisdom. It requires creativity. I mean, what would it look like for us individually, but more importantly as a church, what would it look like for us to embody God's care that we see here for the poor? What would it look like for us to embody his care for the marginalized people right here in the city of Escondido? And I know some of you have been exploring that and trying to figure out some answers to that, and we need your insights, we need your leadership, because God intends to show the city of Escondido what his Kingdom in Jesus Christ is like through us. And so we we bear witness to new creation in our life together We bear witness to it in our life public lives in the world. We also bear witness to it with our words we come With this good news of what God has done and will do through Jesus Christ for the sake of the world He calls us to be good news people And so this question, where is the God of justice? And the answer we hear is that he has come in Jesus Christ and forgiveness has been accomplished. New creation has broken in. He has come. The God of justice has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ. And he's coming again to set the world right. And so during this Advent season, but really in the whole of our lives, we pray, come, Lord Jesus, come and set the world right. Let me pray for us. Lord Jesus, we do pray that you would come. Father in heaven, we ask that you would set up your kingdom more and more in our midst. Help us by the power of your spirit to embody this new reality of life in Christ. Would you send out the good news through us, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.