Well, friends, we turn again to the little book of Malachi, and we're coming to chapter four. Towards the end of the book now, and I want this evening just to look at verse one of chapter four, and then we'll probably have two more sessions. I was thinking we'd probably only just do the chapter in two sessions, but I think we'll probably spend two more after today. unless things develop a little. So we'll look at the day of the Lord again in this verse. So Malachi chapter four, verse one. For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that will leave them neither root nor branch. Now, of course, we know that the verse goes on to say, but to you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall arise. So in a sense, we're going to look at more again tonight, a little bit at the negative side of things, but I hope there are things that you'll find helpful and instructive and encouraging, even in these dreadful words that we have here, because here Malachi again is reminding us of the seriousness of the day of the Lord. Now, many of the Old Testament prophets speak of the Day of the Lord, and of course, the Jews in the Old Testament, and even in the days when our Lord was on this earth, they assumed that the Day of the Lord for the Jews would be a good day, it would be a day of blessing, it would be a day of deliverance. And of course, even when our Lord Jesus Christ comes to go back into heaven after the resurrection, the disciples at the beginning of the book of Acts says, is this the time you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel? They still had this very Jewish orientated view of the work of God. And that, of course, because the Jews were God's people, he would bless them. He would inevitably bless them. But of course, our Lord makes it abundantly clear that his mission is not of this world. It is a spiritual mission and a spiritual work. And there's a day of gospel grace that is being opened up. And while judgment will come upon the wicked world, there's still a day of grace. And well, that's been going on for, well, we're now 2016. So there we are, it's been going on for 2020. 2016 years, get it right, since the Lord returned, and if the dates are right, at least that. So we do not know when the Lord will come again, but still we're in the day of grace. And that's why, in one sense, these words of warning are so significant, because although they are solemn words of warning, they are reminders to us that there is still a way of escape. That's the wonder of it. And though they are very solemn words, and again very serious words we're going to be looking at this evening, they are here and all of God's warnings are always because there is a way of escape. There will be no point in reading the warnings of God when the Lord comes again, it'll be too late. Because there'll be no way of escape. But there still is a way of escape. And therefore, with confidence, we can go out and preach the Gospel. And that's the matter. And of course, we've already seen that, of course, in those wonderful words at the end of Chapter 3, when we were looking at the Book of Remembrance and the jewels laid up for him. And discerning, as we saw last time, between the righteous and the wicked, So let's just have a look at this verse now in that context. And one or two things I want to say about it. Firstly, the day of the Lord will be a fearful day. It will be fearful. The day is coming, burning like an oven. We'll come back to the words, behold, the day is coming at the end. But burning like an oven, it will be fearful. It will be a terrible day for the wicked. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes again, it will be glorious. but it will be fearful and terrible because it will be God's righteous judgment upon evil. It will be final victory over the devil and all who follow him. And the picture here as we see the proud who dwell wickedly will be stubble. Stubble is that which is useless, which is worthless. It's the off cut when the crops have been harvested. It's that which is left over. The proud thought they were so prosperous. Come back and say something about the proud in a moment or two. So contented, they assumed that judgment would never come. In fact we saw how they reacted, how the people of Malachi reacted to that in chapter 3 verse 15. So now we call the proud blessed, happy, makarios, happy. For those who do wickedness are raised up, they even tempt God and go free. They have a much happier life than we do. You know, they've got nothing to worry about. God doesn't seem to take any notice of them. Well, of course, they weren't recognizing that, but that's how they think sometimes. The people called the proud happy. What they'd done was they'd turned God's word upside down. And people are still doing that today. Calvin says this, John Calvin says this, the vengeance of God is also often compared to fire and to a flame. And we know how fierce and how dreadful an element is fire when it lays hold on wood or some other dry material. Hence, according to the common usage of scripture, the prophet says that the day of the Lord would be like an oven and that the ungodly would be like stubble. Fire can act very quickly Yesterday, because it was bank holiday, we thought we'd have the afternoon off, so we went up to the mill at Helmsmore, Helms, wherever it is, just near Bolton, the one that's going to be closed by the Lancashire County Council. I wanted to see round it quick before it's closed because, of course, there's a woolen mill there and a cotton mill. They've still got working machinery there. And they were showing how when the wool comes in, the cotton comes in, and it then goes through this machine to separate it out, a lot of cotton dust is made. And there were a lot of fires that came from that. They had big permanent magnets as the cotton went in to get all the metal out. because if the metal strikes against the mechanism as they go through, it causes sparks and it is so inflammable at that point that it burns. And so all down the room there were buckets, old-fashioned fire buckets, on every pillar of the bottom room to put out the fire because so quickly it can spread. And in fact, there was a big fire at the factory back in the, I don't know, 1800s or whenever it was. And three quarters of the factory was destroyed by the fire. How quickly fire can spread. Burning like stubble. That's the picture. This is the contrast. But it's the contrast between those who fear God, chapter 3, verse 16, and the Lord listened, and they won't fear the day of God's judgment. They will not be the stubble. But it's a fearful thing for those who do not fear the Lord. But it shows God's amazing providence towards his own. how he cares for them and watches over them and protects them. And when the day of the Lord comes, it will not be a fire for them. It will not be judgment for them. He will bring judgment on the ungodly and the unfaithful, but he will protect and care for his own. We sing about it, don't we, in that lovely paraphrase of Psalm 34, fear him ye saints, and you will then have nothing else to fear. make you his service, your delights, your wants shall be his care. And that's the wonder, isn't it, of the words in 1 Peter, isn't it? Be anxious for nothing, do not care for anything, for he cares for you. And the same word in the authorized version is translated care, but it's two different words in the original. One is our anxious cares and our worries, but his care is the tender care of a mother for a baby. And that word is used. So, put your cares in his hands, and he will take care of you. It's a wonderful picture, isn't it? And that's what God does. When it's fearful for everyone else, for us we're safe. That's great. So this day of the Lord is fearful for the unbeliever, but it's also total. Look at the words. The end of the verse, that will leave them neither root nor branch. Now what is Malachi speaking about here? Well of course Malachi's looking into the future. He's looking into the future. But he's looking at every event of God's judgment and there are references here, of course, to AD 70 when the temple was destroyed. There are further references to the work of God down through the years, but also looking right forward to the final day of the Lord when the Lord comes again. And every visitation of God's judgment is but a foreshadowing of the judgment to come. Now that is true right through the Bible as I'm sure you know. Every day of judgment is a foreshadowing of the final day when the great day of the Lord comes. Noah and the flood was a case in point. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is an evidence of that. The days of the captivity, now of course the captivity is over now because this is Malachi, he's after the captivity. or at least the, sorry, the captivity when they went into Egypt. But then the exile, of course, and the destruction of Jerusalem. So we're after, but we're after the exile and the destruction of Jerusalem as well. And every national and international disaster is a further reminder of the final day of judgment. It will come just as suddenly and just as unexpectedly. And this judgment will be total. But what do we mean by that? What do we mean when the Bible says total? When it says that they will leave them neither root nor branch. That's a fascinating expression. Some say it's maybe the word branch shouldn't be used. But that is the symbol, that is the picture. Root is the bottom, the branch is the top. So the twig at the top and the root at the bottom, it's a picture of total and utter destruction. Those who try to argue against it are trying to make it sound as though it's less than total destruction. But what does the Bible mean when it says destruction? It doesn't mean annihilation. There's no evidence here in the Old Testament that there's any teaching that hell is a limited thing, that one day it will all be burnt up. that there is an end. No. This judgment is total. It is eternal. It will come suddenly and unexpectedly, not to annihilation, but to judgment. So what does the fire symbolize? It's symbolizing the burning up of everything that they trusted in. The destruction and extinction of all that makes life tolerable and worth living. And all that will be left is moral remorse and worthlessness. Fit only to be cast out. One has written, I'm sorry, I can't remember where I got this quote from. The sun, S-U-N, the sun will wither to the roots, the insolence and injustice of man. Neither root nor branch will be left. All that man had hoped and trusted in will be destroyed. No branch to shelter under, no root to sustain. All will be shown to be sham and false because our only hope is in the grace of God. So learn to fear him now. The day of the Lord, fearful, total. Thirdly, it will be just. I've already seen that in verse 18 of chapter three, of course, last time. Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not. But there is divine retribution, and God will determine, he doesn't need to discern because he knows what Malachi is saying is that we will discern, we will see clearly. But chapter four, verse one says, They are all proud. Yes, all who do wickedly. Now there's a lot in the Bible about being proud. But I wonder whether we really, we, forgive me, you're probably far, far too well educated and understand not to get this confused, but in our current situation, in our current world, in our current thinking, pride is seen as a good thing, isn't it? Pride is seen as commendable. We were going back from church on Sunday night and my wife commented there was a tram went by and it was celebrating, it was all coloured in rainbow colours and it had got gay pride on it, pride. Why are people so full of pride? But that's it, we are proud people. And in many ways pride is the root of all sin. Here are the proud who do wickedly. Now, we need to be very, very careful in the day in which we live that we don't, therefore, consider specific sins, particularly sinful, and not recognize the nature of sin itself. Today we have this whole thinking, and I was reading about this only last night in a book I've been reading, about the way in which we describe people today. Now, friends, I'm not gonna give you a lesson in psychology or philosophy, but much of it is Freudian. If you know anything about Freud, the psychologist or philosopher, And so today we talk about people who are heterosexual or homosexual as though that were the very sense of the nature of what they are. And what has happened is we have turned aside from the Bible's understanding of what sin is. Not sins individually, but sin as that which is against God. And when you read the book of Romans, and you read particularly chapter one, and the dreadful picture, and of course you know the emphasis here in this chapter about women leaving, women and men leaving the natural use of the woman, burning in their lust for one another, and they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. What does God do? He gives them over to a debased mind. But what does that involve? Well, it includes all these sexual sins. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not minimizing those at all. They're dreadful sins, they're wicked sins. They're sins against God. But a whole lot more! to debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, for those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them." You see what Paul is doing there. He's not minimizing any of those sins in any sense of the word at all. But I think sometimes, well, forgive me, maybe you don't. I think some people sometimes have a sort of hierarchy of sins. What is the worst sin? What is the worst sin that anyone can commit? My friends, all sin is sin against God. You understand what I'm saying? And we're not to minimize any sin against God. Now when you look at it like that, we begin to realize what dreadful sinners we are, what a dreadful sinner I am. I don't need to commit these gross sins of sexual immorality to be a dreadful sinner in the sight of God. In fact, it's interesting that disobedient to parents comes quite long, you know, quite far down, or quite high up the list in a sense. He deals with the sexual sins, and then he does others, and he lists them, and you might say, well, if he's working his way up, then this is something which is, well, I'm not putting a class of, because I don't think we should do. But I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. Sin is sin. And the danger is we confuse specific sins with the nature of sin itself. Now don't misunderstand me, please, I'm not trying to minimize the dreadful things that are happening today and the way in which we are now so, we are so proud as a nation of our sexual activities. that no longer are people shocked by these things. But we need to see them in the context of God's word. Because at the end of our analysis it is not so, if I say not so much that sounds awful, I don't mean that, it's not it's not the emphasis on the specific individual sins but the fact that sin is against the holy righteous God in whatever form it comes and it is anathema to God. And it's like a fire that rages through our land and nation as people oppose God. And so we get people today who say, well, of course, how do we define, sorry to raise this, but how do we define homosexuality? Well, of course, if a man has a friendly affection for a fellow man, he must have homosexual tendencies, nonsense. They argue that David and Jonathan in the Old Testament must have had a homosexual relationship. They argue that because John leaned on Jesus' breast there must have been a homosexual relationship. Nonsense, my friends. That is a complete misunderstanding of what the Bible is speaking about when it's speaking about these sins. That sin is against God. There is wholesome friendship between men. there is wholesome friendship between women, which is not sexual. But the world has so confused these things, and we have been so influenced by these philosophers and psychoanalysts, that we have lost the sense, forgive me, not you, I'm sure you're, bless you, but many have lost the sense of what it is to sin against God. And each individual sin is an offence against Almighty God. And at the end, at the essence, is the whole matter of our pride. And all the proud, yes all who do wickedly, will be like stubble. Now Malachi began his message by saying this is a burden. What a burden it was to him. It was a burden to him. He could see these things clearly. He understood the issue, we might say. He could see the terrible consequences of unrepented sin and the dreadful effect of the day of the Lord. He knew the glory of the message of grace. He knew the weight of that glory that he had to share, but he also knew the hardness of men's hearts. Malachi's hearers thought they were all right. They were not profaning the Lord's name. They were orthodox. That's what they'd argued in chapter three. Malachi, you've got it all wrong. We're okay. It's just that God doesn't understand us. Malachi says, God does understand you. And that's why his message is such a burden to me. You will not hear and receive the word of God. This burden which weighs upon my heart is the word of the Lord, and it's a word of judgment upon sin in all its form, in all its shapes, in all its sizes, in all its descriptions. Sin against God deserves judgment, and there is judgment upon sin, but forgiveness for those who repent. It is a message of salvation, for all who will hear and receive it and act upon it. Now when we begin to understand that, I think that that in itself, I hope for us as Christians, is wonderfully liberating. How great that God forgives sin. Well he forgives our individual sins. But he forgives sin in its essence, that which makes us wrong with him. And he deals with it. And he puts it right. It's amazing. That's wonderful. That's why he goes on to say in verses two and three about the Son of Righteousness arising, why he's spoken about the jewels and those who fear the Lord. That's the context. God is perfectly just, he will punish sin, but he will also forgive the penitent. There is a way of escape from that dreadful day of judgment. What causes me to tremble, I think, perhaps more than anything, is I think that day will come and some people on that day will get a shock because they will think they're all right. I haven't done this and I haven't done that. I haven't done anything homosexual. I haven't done anything heterosexual outside of marriage. I've lived a decent kind of life. I've been an upright kind of person. I've never defrauded anybody. I've paid my taxes on time. I've done everything right. But if they are not right with God, they are still sinners, and they are no better than the worst sin we can conceive of, because sin is against God. And that, for the believer, is wonderful, but to the unbeliever, is dreadful. Now we often cry for justice, don't we? On that day, all will be compelled to acknowledge that God is pure and righteous and just. Do you want justice? You know, we cry for justice, I think. Many cry for justice, but sometimes I say to people, do you really want justice? If God exposed your heart, you would cry for mercy, not justice. Sinful man needs mercy, not justice. How can the sinful soul be right with a thrice holy God? You talk to some people, bless you, nobody here said this, but you talk to some people and they read the catalog of sins in Romans chapter one and say, I could never forgive anybody like that. And if somebody, please, somebody walked into the room and had been openly and obviously practicing homosexual, many Christians would throw up their hands in horror. How do we deal with, But if God's forgiveness is real, then God can forgive the worst of sins because he deals with sin in its essence, you understand? Sometimes I meet people who talk about those who've committed terrible acts, maybe they've murdered children or something like that. Something has happened, something dreadful, and they say, I could never forgive him. Surely God could never forgive him. But if somebody genuinely repents, and if their sin is covered, it is covered, it is taken away. And I've often said to people sometimes those wonderful words in Corinthians where Paul says, he lists a whole number of sins and then he says, and such were some of you. You've been forgiven. You've been delivered. Don't you know? In fact, actually, 1 Corinthians 6, you want to read it and you want to look at the number of times in that chapter that you get these words. Don't you know? Don't you know? Don't you know? Paul is saying, come on, wake up! Don't you know this? Don't you know that? Don't you know this? And this is another one. Don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Now bless you friends, I'm sure you understand this. But I've met some Christians who can't get their heads around that. How can God forgive that person for what they've done? How can, you know, surely this isn't right? And they're arguing for justice. But actually we don't want justice, we want mercy. We need mercy. That's the only way A sinful soul can be right with a thrice holy God because our punishment has been taken by another and it is only, only at the cross As Elizabeth Clephane puts in that lovely hymn beneath the cross of Jesus, it is only at the cross where heaven's justice and heaven's mercy meet, where heaven's wrath and heaven's love meet together. That's the only place. So this day of the Lord is fearful, it is total, it is just, but it is also certain. And that takes us back to that word, behold. not just a filler word. There are some translations, thankfully the authorised and the New King James don't do this, but there are some translations who say that behold should not be translated because it's an irrelevance, nonsense. Behold is always a very important word as it's translated. Behold or lo, sometimes it is a word to make us take notice. Behold, it will come. John Calvin again says this, Behold shows certainty. The present time is put here for the future. A common thing in Hebrew. And that's how Hebrew works. I won't go into that in detail now. But the prophet calls the attention of the Jews, as it were, to what was present, that his prophecy might not appear doubtful, and that they might understand that God's vengeance was not far distance, but already suspended over their heads. And that's the picture. Basically, Malachi is saying, if you don't repent, you are going to face judgment. And you don't have to wait for the day of the Lord, because when we die, we'll face the judgment. And we do not know what will happen in the coming days. And in fact, that's one of the reasons why I read those words from Zephaniah. Because here were people in Zephaniah's day, just a little bit earlier, not much earlier than Malachi. And they were settled in their complacency. And chapter one is taken up with those who assume that God would never keep his word. God is a God of love. He'll never come in judgment, they argued. The day of the Lord will be a day of blessing. But God's blessing was conditional upon their obedience. Zephaniah 1, verse 5, they thought they worshipped the host of heaven on the housetops, those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord, but also swear by Milcom and so on. They thought that if they worshipped God, well, they better keep their options open and worship all the other gods as well, and well, that would hedge all their bets and they would be covered, wouldn't they? Zephaniah 1, 12 to 13, God will come and God will search them out. I will search Jerusalem with lamps. They say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil. No place will be too dark to cover them from the wrath of God, because God is not like them. Zephaniah has to do with them. Therefore, that's why we read on to the first verses of chapter two, seek the Lord while he may be found. This is a warning of judgment, but there's a way of escape. There's still time to repent. otherwise it will not be when the day if you wait to the day of the Lord it will be to you a day of burning not a day of light but a day of judgment Calvin in commenting on these verses quotes from those words in Amos 5 and verses 18 to 20 about the day of the Lord. Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord, you want it. For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not night. It will be as though a man fled from a lion and a bear met him. Or as though he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent bit him. And the picture is this, here's a man and he thinks, oh, there's a lion. And he runs and he runs and gets away from the lion and he finds there's a bear in front of him. Or he runs away from somebody, he comes in the house and he shuts the door. And a snake comes down and bites him on the hand. And you can't escape. And that's what Amos is saying. And that's what Malachi is saying. And Calvin quotes from that. He says, the day of the Lord will be an unhappy event to you, as though one escaped from the jaws of a lion and fell at home on a serpent. So in this place, he says that the day will come and will consume them like an oven. Well, friends, as I say, these are solemn words, but there are no grounds to gloat over the judgment of the wicked. Again, bless you, my friends, I'm sure you don't think like this, but I met people who do, and sadly, I met some Christians who do, and I met some preachers who do, and I've heard them preach about how wonderful it will be when judgment comes upon the wicked. No, my friends, God never takes pleasure in the death of the wicked. and we do not gloat over their suffering. And in like manner we rejoice that evil will be finally defeated, but we don't rejoice over those when God's final day of judgment are shut out of his presence. God's final day of judgment will bring about the destruction of the devil and his hordes. And in that we do rejoice. But we long that before then many will heed the warnings of God's word and find the only way of escape through Christ. Now friends, we haven't talked about eschatology and I'm not particularly interested in whether you're pre-post or amillennial or whatever. But there are some wonderful promises in the Bible which I hold onto. The earth shall be full of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. Do we believe that? Do we try to explain it away? There are pictures, I believe, in the Bible which show two things happening together. And I think we see that in the book of Revelation. I'm not gonna stop with this now in detail. But we see an increasing rise in wickedness. But at the same time, we also see an increasing rise in the work of God. Now we live in days where we see an increasing rise in wickedness in the West. But isn't God at work in the world? Some of the places I've been to, there are tremendous things happening. When I see what's happening in parts of India, when I hear of things that are happening in China which don't often reach the news, When I hear of some of the folk in the Middle East Reform Fellowship talking about what is happening in different parts of the world, is God not causing his church to grow and expand? And I'm just fearful that sometimes we can be so depressed by the situation in the West, which is not good, it is pretty bad, that we lose sight of the glory of the grace of God and the fact that God is at work in the world. And the words of his warning are words that remind people there's a way of escape. Has Britain got itself to such a state that God has taken his hand away? Please God, he hasn't. Please God, there is yet a work that he will do. Please God, the son, S-U-N, of righteousness, verse two, will yet arise with healing in his wings. We'll come to that, God willing, next time. Please God, there may yet be times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. We long that before God's final day of judgment come, many will yet heed the warnings of God's word and finally find the only way of escape through Christ. I want to give you a quote from the Banner of Truth magazine back in 1995, June 1995. If you have the magazine, it's page 19. The biblical emphasis on the wrath of God is an impressive accompaniment to the proclamation of the gospel. The sinner must be told that outside Christ, the wrath of God abides on him, John 3, 36, and that this is a continuous reality. It is his permanent state. This present judgment in no way excludes the final judgment and that coming wrath. So it is true that the impenitent sinner is judged already, John 3, 18, and it is equally true that he will meet God's final judgment. In other words, there is a sense in which the final judgment is already in operation. There is an already and not yet dimension. God's wrath endures, present tense, and is active throughout the ages of time and will be fully manifested at the last day. To be saved, the sinner must look to the finished work of Christ and look to him alone for forgiveness and eternal life. he can appropriate the words of 1 Thessalonians 5.9, for God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. Christianity is the only religion that proclaims salvation by grace. All other religions teach salvation in some measure by one's works. Christianity tells us that all has been done If we fail to speak of the wrath of God and urge men to fly from the wrath to come, we cannot really preach Christ crucified as the apostles did, nor can we faithfully speak of the holiness of God, the sinfulness of sin, and the urgent need to repent. But there can only be a balanced presentation of this truth when it is stressed that there is no contradiction between God's wrath and his mercy. Indeed it is in wrath that he remembers mercy. Habakkuk 3 verse 2. Well that is the message of Malachi and we'll see a little bit more of the positive side of that God willing next time.