So as we begin to look at Malachi, go to the very end of the book, chapter 4. The last three verses are the conclusion of the book. But listen, not only are we reading the end of the book of Malachi, understand we're reading the very end of the Old Testament. This is it. Until John the Baptist strolls on the scene. 400 years. So we're reading the conclusion of the book of Malachi, but also, in a sense, the very conclusion of the Old Testament. This is what we read in chapter 4, verse 4. Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, the statutes and the judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great dreadful day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the Children and the hearts of the Children to their fathers. Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. And that's it. So Malachi ends. That's how the Old Testament ends. The last words, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. You know what a bone of contention is, don't you? Somebody says, hey, I got a bone of contention with you. You know what that means, right? I got a sore spot. I got a sore spot here, you know? I got a beef with you, right? You ever had somebody say that? Man, I got a beef with you. I got a problem. I'm at odds with you. Something's happened and we're at odds here, okay? Now, it's not a knock down, drag out brawl. It's not a riot. It's not a full blown rebellion. But something's happened and maybe you've had a bone of contention with somebody or something's happened in a relationship and they've had that with you. Now, it's one thing to be at odds with somebody else, and then there's ways to work that out. The Bible addresses that, how we're to work that out with each other. So it's one thing to be at odds with each other, but then it's another thing to be at odds with God, isn't it? That's something different there. Man, I'm at odds with God? See, the problem is never God, though. That's what we need to understand. The problem is never God. And if I'm not careful, I make God the problem. Why haven't you done this? Why did you allow this? Why don't you work this out? Why did you put me here? I mean, after all, we said He's great and He's good, right? Well, if you are great and good, then why does this happen? Why won't this happen? Why won't you do this? Why have you allowed this? See, if we're not careful, We are at odds with Him and we blame Him. We think, He's done something. Surely I didn't do anything. Right? But you see the problem is it's never God. The problem is never God. It's always us. We're always the problem. From the very opening pages of Scripture, that's what it presents. That's what it shows us. The real picture of human beings is that we were created perfect. We were created upright. We were created without sin. And then we rebelled against our Creator. And as a result of that rebellion, sin enters the picture and everything's a mess. Everything is a mess. Everything we touch is a mess. Everything we think is a mess. Everything we feel is a mess. Every relationship we have becomes a mess. And yet we see too, early on, well God it's your fault. Right? It's your fault. It's that woman you gave me. The problem is with you, if you would have given me her. Or if you would have given me something better. And then that plays out throughout history. That plays out. It plays out even today. And if we're not careful, then that's the way we begin to think. That's the way we begin to feel. But see, the problem is us. And what the problem is, it's a lack of faith. It's a lack of trust in God. It's a lack of faith and trust. Especially when we think that our limited perspective, our limited understanding, is somehow superior to God's understanding. We fall into that trap ever so slightly. Satan is so clever. Satan is such a deceiver. And He can bring things like this to your mind. Well, if God really loved you, if God really loved you, and God really cared about you, and God really was true to all of His promises, then why do you have these issues? Why do you think bad things? If God really saved you, why do bad thoughts come into your mind? If God really saved you, why does your heart sometimes crave things that you know are wrong? You see, it's such a deceptive way in which Satan works. In which the table slowly begins to turn away from us to where we begin to look and say, I mean, from my perspective, you're absolutely right. From my perspective, I've done nothing wrong. I go to church. You remember Job? I haven't sinned. I go to church. I try to do the right thing. I try to say the right thing. I try to treat people right. I try to do that. And from my perspective, it just doesn't seem right that something bad or something wrong or something that causes me discomfort would ever enter my life. So the problem is it's a lack of faith and trust in God and especially when we place our limited experience or our limited understanding above God's all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful, right? What suddenly starts to happen is we become the creator and we want to make God our subject. We want to make God dance to our tune. We want to make God like we want him to be. Some have put it this way, we want to domesticate God. We don't want him to be God. It's okay, but we really want him to be our God doing what we want and doing our bidding. And when it doesn't work that way, we just become discouraged. We become discouraged, we become frustrated, and Our response after we become discouraged and we become frustrated over this by trusting our feelings beyond or above what God has revealed in His Word and living a life of faith and trust, even though I don't always see it, even though I don't always feel it, even though I don't always understand it, but yet there's a life of faith and trust in Him. When we don't do that, discouragement sets in. Despair sets in and the next step from that is we become skeptics. We become cynical skeptics. We may not voice it, but in our heart we end up saying things like this in our heart and mind. Why go to church today? Why even bother going to church? And I'll go to church, but you know what? I don't know that it's going to do anything. I don't know that it's going to affect anything. I mean, when I get home, it's still going to be this or this or whatever. Why go to church? Why gather in worship? Why not just shut the church down and ride this corona thing out, right? Why even bother trying to come together in worship? What's the use? Are we really affecting anything? Are we really changing anything? Wouldn't it be better just to be good citizens and just go home and stay in our homes and protect people and this and that? You see, discouragement, despair, and then all of a sudden we become cynical. We become skeptics. And in our response to that, if that goes on for long enough, we'll either end up doing one of two things. One, we might just throw in the towel. We might just throw in the towel and quit and say, let's go do something else. Let's just go do something else. This God thing isn't working. This Jesus thing isn't working. This gospel thing, I don't know, I tried it. Let's just do something else. Or, and there are a lot of people who do that, or we'll do this. Instead of just throwing in the towel, we'll just grin and bear it. Well, just grin and bear it. Think somehow I'll make it through. Think somehow I'll just make it through. And it's at that point that we become skeptical. It's at that point we become cynical about the Christian faith and about God and about his word and about the gospel and about Jesus. We become skeptics. One thing that I noticed in teaching with the millennial generation, They came along and they were just, man, they were told you could take the world by the tail and you could do whatever you want, you could be whatever you want. And listen, for the most part, they went for it. Now they've made a lot of messes, but they went for it. Then the Gen Zers came along. And this is what I noticed in teaching millennials Sort of positive, hey, let's go conquer the world. And then the Gen Zers came along, and you know what they were like? Don't talk to me about American Dream. There ain't no such thing as American Dream. Don't talk to me about this. They became so skeptical. They were so cynical. about life and about this country and about their future. They were extremely cynical. But they had been, I think, two things. One, they watched the millennials do what they did. But the other thing is they had sort of become discouraged, disillusioned about things. And they were being told things. They were being taught things about how bad this country is and about how you've gotten a raw deal in this. And they started to buy into all this mess. And that slowly found its way into the church. It slowly found its way into the church. Well, what's the answer to this? Malachi is going to give us an answer. And man, listen, Malachi is going to give us a powerful answer. What's the answer to all this? I'll tell you what the answer is. It's a dose of reality. It's a dose of reality in which you were pulled up out of that muck and mire of self-pity and doubt, and you're shown reality. You were shown reality. This is what's real. This is reality. And it sort of shakes us out of that way of thinking. We need it. We need it now. We need it today. You see, God speaks. He's speaking. He's speaking. You remember what Jesus said about My sheep? When He speaks, My sheep hear what? My voice. They're not going to follow the false shepherd. They're not going to follow the stranger. When I speak, my sheep hear my voice, and they will follow me. So the answer is a dose of reality, and it may be that the dose of reality is to figure out whether or not we're His sheep. How do I figure out whether or not we're His sheep? Am I hearing His voice? Am I hearing His voice? Well, goats, if you look at that comparison, sheep hear His voice and follow Him. You know what goats do? Jesus made this comparison, by the way. Sheep and goats. The goats are the unbelievers. What do the goats do? The goats become skeptics. The goats just become cynical. The goats just get to the point where they say, there ain't no use in that stuff. And either they quit or they just go through the motions. And they make a mockery of church. Malachi gives us a dose of reality. And the way he's going to do it, remember I started with bone and contention, at odds. Hey, I got an issue with you. Well, that's what's going to happen. Malachi is going to tell the people, God's got an issue with you. God's got a bone of contention. So Malachi is going to give this great dose of reality, and he's going to do it in six. There's six disputes. There's six, maybe use the word contentions here, in which God enters into. And it's not that maybe the people weren't voicing this. It's not like Malachi may have heard them walking down the street saying these things, but Malachi could discern the heart. And God certainly knew the heart. And God says, this is what you're thinking, this is what you're saying, but let me give you the reality here. And let me show you how the two, what you're feeling, what you're thinking, what you're experiencing, or what you think you're experiencing, how it doesn't match the reality. So what he's gonna do, he's gonna say, I got a beef with you. God's at odds with him. He's at odds with him. And there's six contentions that happen here in this the last book of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi. Let me set this just quickly in historical context. We've been in this history for a while, so you understand where we are, at least in the history of things. We're at the close of the Old Testament. The Assyrian The Assyrians have destroyed the northern kingdom. The Babylonians have destroyed the southern kingdom. They've started to rebuild the temple. Ezra, in the book of Ezra, a group goes back. Cyrus issues the edict. Go back. Rebuild the temple. They go back. They start the work. And when you read Ezra, Ezra doesn't actually go back to Jerusalem until sometime after the first group had already gone back. Okay? So, the prophet Haggai Prophet Zechariah come on the scene and begin to preach and to tell the people, get busy, it's time to get busy. You're saying it's not time to build the house of the Lord. God's saying it's time, get busy. We saw those two prophets. So they come after the exile and they're preaching to the remnant. They're preaching to the believers. And what'd they do? They got busy, they finished the temple. They got busy, they finished the temple. Now Malachi comes along somewhere maybe 50 years, maybe 75 years after Haggai and Zechariah. The temple's finished. They're going through the motions of all the worship and bringing back and doing and so forth. Just before, probably just before Ezra goes back and just before Nehemiah goes back to rebuild the wall, Malachi shows up. And he starts preaching. He starts preaching. Now what's interesting is what's happened to the people in that 50, just say roughly a generation or so. With Haggai and Zechariah, they're preaching. The people here, they respond. And the evidence is, at least the way we read it, the majority of the people responded, got busy, they got busy, they built the temple. But now, all of a sudden, within a generation, you've got a small faithful group of people, we'll see them addressed in Malachi, but you've got a whole bunch of people who have become skeptical. And they would read places, they would read Jeremiah, they would read Ezekiel, especially a place like Ezekiel chapter 43, where Ezekiel says that in this temple, the glory of God is going to come down in this temple. And the glory of God is going to fill this temple. And they would read that, and then they would look at the temple, and they would go, huh, that ain't our experience. Besides, man, we read about what happened when Solomon dedicated the temple and that was glory. This, this ain't glory. And they became skeptics. And so they would just go through the motions. Some of them probably quit. Some of them probably left Jerusalem. Some of them probably went on doing other things. But it appears that a vast majority of them just became skeptics. They stayed, let me use church language, they stayed in the church, They went through the motions of church. They showed up on Sundays at church. They even came on Wednesdays. But in their heart, they were skeptics. They were cynical. And they really, truly didn't believe anything they were being told. Because at the end of the day, they were trusting their experience and they were trusting their feelings. They were trusting the way that they perceived things above what God was saying. The churches are full of people right now with that same attitude. We've just been through COVID. We're back in COVID. And I guarantee you, there are people now saying, ah, gee, we thought this was over. Where's God's blessing? And here it comes again. Ah, you know. Yeah, it's there. So Malachi comes on and says, listen, God's got a beef with you. He's got a beef with you. Malachi may have, when he preaches, Nehemiah may have taken the preaching of Malachi and used it for his reforms that he brought because Nehemiah and Malachi addressed some of the same issues. So here again, temples rebuilt, people are going through the motions but they're disillusioned Zechariah told us, don't despise the day of small things. Some were. Haggai told us, look, you're looking at this saying this isn't like Solomon's temple. So they're disillusioned. They're skeptical about the promises of God. We're not really sure if God really meant that. Did he really mean that through Jeremiah? Did he really mean that through Ezekiel? Nothing seems to be happening. We're just here. And it just keeps getting worse around us. We're just here. We're just existing. And that seems to be their heart. So Malachi opens with this first dispute, this first contention. The book starts with the burden of the word of the Lord. Burden was serious. Whenever the prophet would use burden, it was serious. So the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. You notice Malachi, he doesn't refer to him as prophet. We see the prophet used with some of the others, but Malachi, we don't know much at all about Malachi. just like some of the other prophets. We know very little about Him. Well, here comes the first dispute. It has to do with God's love. It has to do with whether or not, does God really love me? I mean, if God really loved me, then why do bad things happen? Right? So here it comes. And notice how it happens. This is the way it's going to work. I have loved you, says the Lord. See, that's what God's saying. God's saying, I have loved you. Yet, Here comes their skepticism, you see. This is what was really in their heart and mind. Yet you say, in what way have you loved us? I've loved you. Oh yeah? How? I mean, if you really loved us, then why isn't this temple just busting at the seams? Well, let's be careful here. I've loved you. Well, yeah, if you really loved us, then why isn't this church busting at the seams? See, be careful. Be extremely careful here. You want to know how? Was it not Esau, Jacob's brother? This goes back to Genesis 25. Esau and Jacob. Now, keep in mind, Esau was the older brother. The custom of the day, it was the older brother who inherited everything. And yet what God says in Genesis 25 is He tells, He says, listen, there's two nations in your womb. And you know what? The older is going to serve the younger. God totally flipped the custom of the day. And that's what plays out in Genesis chapter 25. And so God says, was not Esau Jacob's brother, says the Lord? Well, yeah, everybody knows that. Yet Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." You see, I chose Jacob. I chose Jacob. This is the language of unconditional election. I chose Jacob, not Esau. You go back to Deuteronomy chapter 7 Look at verses 6 and 7 when God says, listen, I chose you not because of anything good within you. I chose you not because you were greater than the other nations. I chose you not because you were smarter than the other nations. I chose you not because you offered Me something more than the other nations. I chose you simply because I set My affection on you and I loved you. That's the only reason why I chose you. You weren't any better. But it was My purpose to choose you. And then you get to places like Romans chapter 9. Paul picks up on this language. You get to places like Romans chapter 11. Paul makes it clear there as he takes this issue between Jacob and Esau, and he's looking at it through the lens of the gospel. And especially chapter 11 when he talks about this election and he says, listen, it's not of works, it's of grace. Because if it's of works, it's no longer grace. It is an election. It is a selection of grace. That's what it is. You want to know how I've loved you? You know me. You're in relationship with me. That's how you can know that I love you. Because if I didn't love you, you would not know me and you would not be in a relationship with me. I mean, this is a huge dose of reality. I've loved you. How have you loved us? Look at this mess. Tell you how I loved you. Didn't I choose you over Esau? You see what he does, he continues on and he says, but Esau I've hated and laid waste his mountains as a heritage for the jackals of the wilderness. Remember the prophet Obadiah? Obadiah says Edom's done. Esau's done because of his sin against his brother. And then he goes on and he says, even though Edom has said, the connection with Esau and Edom, even though Edom has said we've been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places, thus says the Lord of Hosts. They may build, but I will throw it down. They shall be called the territory of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever. Your eyes shall see and you shall say, the Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel. You see, your circumstances and your experience and everything that you're going through right now may be screaming at you, how could God love me? And God comes back and says, let me give you a dose of reality here. You want to know how you can know that I loved you? You are in Christ. I have set my affection on you. That's how you can know that I loved you. It's not that we loved him first, but that what? He first loved us. He first loved us. So here's the first dose of reality that He gives us, this issue of God's love. How can you be skeptical about that when you know Christ, your sins are forgiven in Him, you've trust in Him, He's given you the Holy Spirit, there is a wonderful future in store for you. How can you be so skeptical about that? I'll tell you how you can be skeptical, because you're listening You're listening to the false. You're listening to what's false. And that's Satan. That's not God. Well, here comes the second one. Now he addressed the corrupt priest. The second dispute. The second contention that he has. And he deals with worship. He deals with their neglect of worship. Here are these corrupt priests. And he calls them out. And he starts by saying, a son honors his father and a servant his master. If they're not, I am yet the father. Where is my honor? This is the first question that he asks in this dispute. Where is my honor? You're not honoring me. If I am a master, where is my reverence? Where is the fear of me? That's what reverence means here, says the Lord of Hosts. And then he says, to you, priest, who despise my name. Wait a minute. The priest despising his name? You bet they were. And he's going to tell them exactly how they were doing it because you see the next question? Yet you say, in what way have we despised your name? How dare you come to me and say to me that in my position as priest, I'm despising your name. Don't you know I'm doing the sacrifices? Don't you know I'm showing up at the temple? Don't you know I'm wearing myself out doing the things that you've called me to do? Listen, you need to understand this. We need to understand this and we're seeing it on full display right now. Bad leadership. Bad leadership always produces skeptics. You don't believe me? Look at our government. And how skeptical are you right now of our government? Bad leaders bring about skepticism. And God's calling these leaders on the carpet. You've despised My name. How? Look at verse 7. You offered defiled food on My altar. But you say, in what way have we defiled you? By saying, the table of the Lord is contemptible. It's despised. This is the altar. Then what do you do? You come and you bring lame, you bring the blind, you bring inferior sacrifices. What God had said in the law was that you bring the best without blemish. And what you're doing is you're waltzing into the temple, and you're just throwing any old thing you want to up there on the altar, and you're saying, God will accept it. I mean, after all, really, does He even really care what we do here? That's what you're doing. That's how you're despising my name. Look at verse 9. But now entreat God's favor that He may be gracious to us while this is being done by your hands. Will He accept you favorably? No, He's not going to accept you. He's not accepting this as the Lord of hosts. Who is there even among you who would shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain? What God's saying is, I just wish you would shut the temple down. Quit going there. Quit doing this. I'm not pleased with this at all. This is not something that I like. Verse 10. When he says, or at the end of verse 10, I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord. Remember Isaiah 1? I hate your, I hate what you're doing. I hate your worship. Remember Amos chapter five? Amos said the same thing. I hate your worship. I don't like it. You're just going through the motions. This isn't true worship. Verse 11. or from the rising of the sun even to its going down. My name shall be great among the Gentiles. He's going to say this three times. In every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of Hosts. But you profane it in that you say the table of the Lord is defiled, the altar is defiled, and its food is contemptible. We're just tired of this. We do it week after week after week after week, and nothing happens. Where's the glory? You see, that's where they were. And they were so skeptical. And God says, this is how you're defiling Me. Now keep in mind, He's talking to the priest. He's talking to these priests over in chapter two. He'll say that, don't you understand judgment? There's the judgment on you. Actually, at the end of chapter one, he says, but cursed is the deceiver who has in his flock a male and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord. What is blemished? I'm a great King. You don't do this to great Kings says the Lord of hosts. And my name is to be feared among the nations. Third time. He says that. And then he gets into the first part of chapter two where he's talking about this judgment that's coming upon the priest. He says there in verse two, I will send a curse upon you. And then you look down to verse 4. Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant with Levi may continue. This covenant going all the way back into the Old Testament. Exodus 32, Numbers chapter 25, Deuteronomy 33. Jeremiah talks about the covenant with Levi. God had chosen the Levites. They were to be his priests. They were to be set apart. They were to be his priests. And yet what are they doing? They're trampling upon this covenant that God had set up with them. And he says in verse 5, my covenant was with him, one of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear me. That he might fear me. Verse 7, for the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and the people should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way. You have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi. There it is again. You've corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. Therefore, I also have made you contemptible and base before the people, because you have not kept my ways, but have shown partiality in the law. Listen, you priests, you were the ones that the people were supposed to be able to come to and learn the law. You were to teach the law. You were to officiate at the sacrifices, and yet you're not doing it. You're doing whatever you please. You're bringing the blemish. You're showing partiality. And when they come to you and they have an issue about law, and they're seeking knowledge from you, you were supposed to be a messenger from me. And yet, what have you done? You've misled. You've led the people down this path. And all along, the people are thinking, oh gee, if the priest says it, Now I want to touch on this just for a second. Because this was going on then, and let me tell you this, it's going on right now. It's going on right now. Whenever preachers would stand in a pulpit and disregard the Word of God, and preach and espouse all of horrible things, Because it's of their own making, it's of their own imaginations. And worse than that, if they would stand in a pulpit and plagiarize their words. You have despised what God's called you to do. And you have led people astray. And in a time when what we need to hear clearly is the very Word of God, in a time like we've been in, and yet there have been so many who are so willing to say, well, I don't know if that's the best thing right now. Maybe we just need to be nice and play nice. And people really don't need to hear things about judgment and sin. I mean, they're hurting enough now, and so, Listen, Malachi addressed that so many years ago, and it's playing out again today. I could give you example after example of that happening. We've seen it not only in churches, but we've seen it right here just recently, and evidently it's been going on for several years. We've seen it right here in our own convention lately. And we've had leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention stand and say things, defending that, and saying things, and trying to somehow say that what we need to do now is the world's watching us. We need to play nice. We don't need to say harsh things. We don't need to speak out against things that make us look like we're racist or we're this or we're that. And God turns around and says, you know what? You're despising what I've called you to do. God's watching. You know that? He's the only one we should be concerned about here. Well, enough of that. He moves on and he talks about this covenant breaking that happens, and he deals with marriage, he deals with idolatry. We see this in verse 10. Have we not all? One Father has not one God created us. Why do we deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of our fathers? Then what he's going to do is he's going to run to... You see, at the end of verse 11, He says, for Judah is profane, the Lord's holy institution, which he loves. Literally, he's profane. The holy place. It may be a reference. Some said this may be a way that he's using the holy place in a sense of a reference to the people. The people that he loves. And then he talks about how you've married the daughter of a foreign god. Evidently, the practice was that they were divorcing their wives and taking wives from the pagans. And when they took wives from the pagans, what happened? They started to worship their false gods. You remember, all I have to do is mention You know Solomon? How about the judges? How about Samson? You know what happened to them. That's what was happening. And then he says in verse 13, and this is the second thing you do, you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying. So he does not regard the offering anymore. He doesn't regard it, nor receive it with goodwill from your hands. You see, you come to church and you get all emotional, And yet, it's just emotion. There's no heart. Nothing's really changed in your heart. I don't accept this, God says. And yet you say, for what reason? Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously. She is your companion and your wife by covenant. You've entered into this covenant. Marriage is a covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? God seeks godly offspring. Then you see where he goes with this, verse 16. For the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce, for it covers one's garment with violence, says the Lord of Hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously. Why does he bring up the issue of marriage? It's because marriage is a picture of the relationship between God and His people. Why is sexual immorality such, and let me say this, He doesn't whisper about sexual immorality. He screams about sexual immorality. Because the sexual relationship, the marriage relationship between a man and a woman is a picture of the relationship between God and His people. That's what it is. Paul deals with this in the New Testament. So that's why he goes to marriage. What is it? You are breaking the covenant. You're breaking the covenant with me. Marriage becomes this picture of the covenant with God, and what you are doing is you're breaking covenant with me. Is divorce the unpardonable sin? No, it's not. And it's a shame that it's treated that way sometimes. But in this relationship, it's showing you're breaking covenant with me. It's what he's telling them. You get to the fourth dispute. And it's simply this, justice or grace. So after he deals with covenant breaking, he uses the issue of marriage and idolatry. Then he deals with this justice or grace, and he says, verse 17, you have wearied the Lord with your words, yet you say, in what way have we wearied him? You hear the skepticism in it. And that you say, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord. Are we not hearing that today? You see, this is Romans 1. This is the end of Romans 1. Not only are you doing it, but you're approving those who are doing it. Not only are you doing the same things, you're voting them into office. Isaiah chapter 5, verse 20. Isaiah deals with this. You're calling what is wrong, good. You're calling evil, good. You're calling darkness, light. What is wrong with us? Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord. That's what the skeptics are saying. That's the way it is. In other words, there's no justice here. And He delights in them. Or where is the God of justice? Zephaniah. Remember Zephaniah? The people were saying, well, there's God. God doesn't do good and God doesn't do bad. God just simply doesn't care. Oh yes, He does. And justice is coming. You see what he says. Here's the answer to this in chapter 3. 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, even the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. John the Baptist is the first messenger. He's the first one. He prepares. And then who is the messenger of the covenant? It's Christ. John the Baptist comes, and then who comes right after him? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, behold, he is coming. His first coming, He is coming. And what the New Testament screams at us again, in His second coming, He is coming. Behold, I come quickly. How does the book of Revelation end? Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. You want to know if there's justice? You bet there is. So that's these messengers that he talks about. The answer to your skepticism, the answer to your skepticism about justice, that God has no justice at the end of the day, is that yes, God is gracious and he's going to send a savior. And at the end of all this, you will see justice. And that's what he talks about in verse 2. But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire, longer so. Book of Revelation. When He comes in judgment, He comes. He's going to judge. He's going to purge. He's going to bring it all to an end. And then verse 4, Then they all bring a Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord. I think this is probably New Covenant language in Christ. This is Jeremiah 31. It was in the days of old, as in former years, and I will come near you for judgment. And then he gives this list of this summary of these violations. Sorcery, adultery, perjurers, exploiting wage earners and widows and orphans, turning away an alien. Because you don't fear me, says the Lord of Hosts. Then here comes the fifth dispute. the fifth bone of contention, and he starts it by saying, I am the Lord, I do not change. God does not change in His nature. God does not change in His character. God does not change in His purpose. God does not change in His will. I do not change. And as a result of that, therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. You and I change. God doesn't change. Let's go back to the first dispute. How have you loved me? Because of unconditional election. And oh, by the way, I don't change. Let me put it this way. So in other words, if you're in, you're in. I don't care what you think. I don't care how you feel. I don't care how much you think you've messed up. If you're in, you're in. Because the Lord Jesus Christ shed His blood for our sin. He paid for all my mess. You see? That's why Paul can talk about how God justifies the ungodly. It's because of the Lord Jesus Christ. So there it is. Yeah, I don't consume you. I don't change. More could be said about, this is what's known sometimes as the immutability of God. He doesn't change. Never has, never will. And then you notice at the end of verse 7, he says, return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, in what way shall we return? What do you mean return? We're not the one that's moved. You moved. God says, no, here's a dose of reality. You're the one that's moved. But you notice this, return to me and I will return to you. I read something last week that sort of struck me. And as I thought back through, not only the prophets, but I thought back through, all the way back through the Old Testament, and even in the New Testament to some extent, always, always before wrath, there's the offer of mercy. Always. Haven't we seen it with all these prophets? Judgment is here. But if you'll turn, and here it is again, return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts. But you say, in what way? And what does he do? He goes to the issue of tithing. He goes to the issue of giving. You're robbing God. Ah, we robbed you! What do you mean we're robbing you? In what way have we robbed you? And he says, in tithes and offerings. Tithes and offerings. You're cutting me short here. And he talks about how bringing the tithes into the storehouse would have been a room in the temple there. It's not a stretch to make a leap and see that in New Covenant language, this is the church probably. It's not a stretch to understand that what he's getting at, again, at the heart of all this is covenant relationship. The same way with marriage. The way you're treating marriage is showing you're breaking covenant with me the same way with this issue of giving. It's not that God needs our money. God doesn't need our money. What it is, it's an issue of the heart. It's a sign of the covenant. It's an understanding God owns everything to start with. What do you have? What do I have that I've not received? Oh no, you don't understand, man. I've earned everything I've got. Who gave you the ability to do it? Who gave you the opportunity to do it? There's nothing that you and I have that we've not received that has not been a gift from God. But the skeptic says, ah, it's foolish. You know, Stan, that's not the way it works for me. So you need to return. Why do we need to return? What's proof that we need to return? Well, you're robbing me. You're robbing me. And again, it gets to the issue of covenant. And it's interesting when he says this. He says, bring it to the storehouse. Bring it, bring it. There's gonna be, there may be food in my house, and try me. This is what's beautiful about this. Try me in this, says the Lord, the host, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. Joyce Baldwin, in her commentary, makes reference here, windows of heaven, and she says, think about the flood. What is it that opened up and the waters gushed out? It's the windows of heaven. So in the same way, what God is saying in a sense is this, try me in this and see if I don't open the windows of heaven, just like the floodwaters came out, and see if my blessings don't come out. It's amazing. Also 2 Kings chapter 7, Elisha. Elisha says there's a famine. But you know what? The famine is going to end. And then there's a skeptic who comes along, who's the king's advisor. And the skeptic and king's advisor says, Elijah doesn't know what he's talking about. Even if the windows of heaven open up, this famine's not going to end. And Elijah says, hey buddy, you know what? You're going to see it, but you're not going to eat any of it. And this skeptic advisor of the king was eventually killed. See, the skeptics will even say, even if the windows of heaven are opened up, and God says, try me. Just try me. If you don't give it to me, you're going to give it to the plumber or the electrician or the mechanic. If you don't honor me, you're going to honor those guys or gals. You understand? Just try me. Don't be stingy with our giving. See, I think the New Covenant, the New Testament calls us to sacrificial giving. I think 10% is a place to start. But it calls us to sacrificial giving. So this is how you're robbing me. So, we get to the sixth discord, the contention. And it has to do, again, there's distinctions between the ungodly and the godly and the skepticism. Verse 13, it begins this way. Your words have been harsh against me, says the Lord. Yet you say, what have we spoken against you? You have said it is useless to serve God. So let's just get to the point here. You're actually saying it's useless to serve God. What profit is it that we have kept His ordinances? And that we have walked as mourners before the Lord of hosts. So now, we call the proud blessed. For those who do wickedness are raised up. They even tempt God and go free. Why continue to serve God? Because it seems like the wicked are prospering. Jeremiah has an issue with this. The psalmist had an issue with this. We have issues with this. Do we not? I mean, if we're really honest. Why is it that my neighbor, who could care nothing about Christ and nothing about the church, never has anything break down? And I am loving Christ and following Him, and everything I touch seems to break." You ever felt that way? Let me give you a dose of reality. Let me give you a dose of reality, because this is what Malachi is doing, hitting us with this dose of reality. You want to come back and in your heart, maybe you would never voice it, but in your heart and mind you thought, it's useless. It's useless to follow Christ. Let me remind you, the psalmist says, I felt that way until I went to the house of the Lord and then I saw their end. And I saw what awaits them. What awaits them? Judgment and wrath for all eternity in hell. Change my perspective real quick. Right? Then what happens is he shifts here because that's the skeptics, that's the ungodly who are saying that, feeling that way. But then here are the godly, the faithful remnant. Verse 16, then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another and the Lord listened and heard them. And so a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make them my jewels. I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve Him. Let's go back to the first discourse, the first dispute, the first contention. I have loved you. How have you loved me? You see it here. They shall be mine, says the Lord of Hosts, on the day that I make them my jewels. The language of Zechariah was the apple of my eye. You remember that? The apple of my eye. Then this dispute ends with a warning against judgment. The day's coming, burning like an oven, judgment's coming. Son of righteousness shall arise, verse 2, with healing in his wings. Who is that? That's Christ. He shall arise. You shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. If you were a stall-fed calf during these days, you were blessed. Because you weren't out there foraging in the wilderness. You were stall-fed, meaning somebody brought you your food and you were getting full. You shall trample the wicked. They shall be ashes under the soles of your feet. On the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts." So there's the six contentions. There's the six issues. And at the bottom of it is this skeptical outlook on, gee, our experience is not matching with what we perceive the promises of God to be. There's a dose of reality. God's God. He's God. And in a sense, I think what, in a sense, what Malachi is saying is, get over it. Get over it. Grow up. You are God's people. God's people don't respond in skepticism and cynicism. God's people rise up and respond in repentance and faith and trust in a sovereign Creator. Even though I don't understand it and can't fully see it, that's the way I rise up. That's the way we walk. That's the way we live. So then the conclusion ends. Two things. Remember the Law of Moses. Reaching all the way back to the Law of Moses. And God calls Him My Servant, which I commanded Him in Horeb for all Israel. with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you... Here's the second thing. I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. Remember the law of Moses. Don't forget God's Word. Remember His Word. Remember it. Be in it. Stay in it. Feast upon it. Don't forget His word. And he mentions Moses and Elijah. And the transfiguration, in fact, let's look at this real quick, and then we'll close. I want you to go to Matthew chapter 17. I want to show you this. Matthew chapter 17. Keep in mind, this is not just the close of Malachi. This is the close of all the Old Testament. In the first part of Matthew chapter 17, something amazing happens. It's the transfiguration, in which the deity of Christ shines through. And he takes Peter, James, and John, and they go up to a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured, his glory, his deity, showing through. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light. And notice who appears there talking to him. You see the two individuals? And behold, Moses and who? Elijah. Moses and Elijah appeared, they appeared to them talking with him. We don't know anything that was said. You realize that? We have no idea what they were talking about. but he made such an impression on Peter, and he says, wow, this is great. Let's build us some tabernacles here. And Jesus just looks at him. Peter, one day you'll get it. Right now, you don't understand. Now, as this event ends, look at verse 9. Now, as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Where would they have gotten that question? Why would that be in their mind? It's Malachi. How does the Old Testament end? Remember the law of Moses. And, I'm sending Elijah the prophet. You see it? So why are these scribes saying Elijah must come first? Now, I want you to pay attention to how Jesus answers this. How He interprets Malachi. And Jesus answered and said to them, indeed Elijah is coming. He's coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you, Elijah has already come. What Malachi said, has already happened. And they did not know Him, they didn't recognize Him, but did to Him whatever they wished. Likewise, the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands. Now Mark records this, but Mark does not have this little editorial note that Matthew adds, verse 13. Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of who? He's already come. Who was He? He was John the Baptist. That's the first messenger that Malachi mentioned before there was the messenger of the covenant. He's already come. So when you take a big picture view of this, and I think the way that the Old Testament ends with Malachi, and we come out and we take a big, say, 10,000 foot look and view at this, then what's the next thing God's about to do? He's about to usher in the last days. And after 400 years of silence, the last days were inaugurated. John the Baptist strolls onto the scene, the Lord Jesus Christ comes onto the scene, dies on a cross, is buried, and raised the third day. And all of that, and you read the New Testament, and you read them talking about the last days, we're in the last days, and all of that eventually culminates in what we've seen in the book of Revelation, right? And we could become so skeptical right now and say, man, we've been doing this for thousands of years, and it's just the same old thing over and over. It's useless. Why serve him? I'll tell you why. The reality is he's the sovereign creator, and he's working a plan. And he knows that plan and he's bringing that plan about according to his purpose, according to his will. And just because I get so wrapped up in my own little slice and place and position and the history of all this plan that I begin to think my experiences and the way I feel is end all, tell all, and it's really what God should be concerned about is what I think, how I feel, and it's not, my experience is not matching the promises that I perceive. You've crossed the line and you're doing exactly what Malachi is addressing. The dose of reality is this, God's the creator, you're not, and neither am I. And He calls us to a life of faith and trust in Him. That's it. Despite COVID, despite craziness, despite Western civilization unraveling before our very eyes, He's called us to faith and trust in Him. What He's called me to, as your pastor, is not to be one of these guys But He's called me to open the Word of God and to say, thus saith the Lord. And that's what we'll continue to do. That's where we'll stand. How do the prophets help us engage? Because this was the big issue with us looking at the prophets. How do they help us engage a post-Christian culture? Well, let me just sum it up real quick. There's a lot that could be said, but I'll sum it up real quick with this. God is speaking. God's speaking in His Word. And God is speaking in judgment. Make no mistake about it. He's speaking in judgment right now. And the prophets call us to repent and fall on our face before Him and turn to Him. And as Malachi ends, you'll return to me, He'll do what? That's how the prophets help us. We call out sin. We don't compromise on it. We do it in a loving way. And we preach Christ. And we point people to the Lord Jesus Christ because that's the only hope. It's the only hope we have. You know, it's Peter, I think it's Peter there in chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1, he talks about how the prophets longed to look into, they wanted to see. They got bits and pieces of it, but they didn't have the whole picture. You and I have the whole picture now. Do you realize that? We understand, we have way more of the revelation of God than Malachi did. Do you understand that? And I'll close with this. Jesus said, to whom much is given, what? Much is required. So we better take it to heart. We better turn from our sin and put our faith and trust in Christ who died on a cross, was buried, and raised the third day. We better put our faith and trust in Him, and love Him, and follow Him. Or the reality is this, we will not make it through this mess. Let's pray together.