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Return To Me
Malachi 3:7-12
December 4, 2022

We have been studying through this short and potent book of Malachi
And the issue at hand is abundantly clear.

God’s people have become INDIFFERENT to the things of God.
• They were bringing the lame for sacrifice…
• They were ignoring the word of God…
• They were sinning against their brother…
• They were reassuring the wicked…

The IRONIC thing about all of this is that even while in their indifference
They still maintained a desire for the Messiah to come.

One might say that they didn’t just suffer from indifference
But delusional indifference.

AND WE SAW THAT LAST WEEK.
• Where it was revealed that they were not ready for the Lord they sought.
• They were not ready for the messenger of the covenant they delighted in.

In fact, Malachi revealed that they were so unprepared for Him
That God would first have to send a messenger ahead of time
Just to clean them up for His coming.

And when the Lord finally would come,
• It could NOT YET be to destroy the wicked for if He did that, they would not
have survived.
• He would have to first come and purify His people and then He would be
able to bring judgment upon the wicked.

AND THE ENTIRE POINT is that these people thought they were ready for the coming of the Lord when the reality is that they were not.

THEY WERE INDIFFERENT.
And God has been very direct in laying out that burden before them.

THIS MORNING GOD RENDERS HIS SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM.

(The problem, as you will see, is that in their indifference
They aren’t all that interested in the solution God offers)

But, none the less, this morning we learn the CURE FOR INDIFFERENCE.
This morning we learn what to do if we find ourselves in a state of apathy.

And it is not a surprising solution.

So let’s break this text down into 4 points this morning and we’ll see
God appeal to His people to leave their apathy and indifference behind.

#1 THE CALL
Malachi 3:7

As we pick up here in verse 7 it is important that you remember
THE SCENE OF THE DAY.
• We have a people here who (in some sense) are eager for the Lord to come.
• They want Him to return.

It was from the prophet Ezekiel that we witnessed that horrific departure of God’s presence from His temple around 150 years prior to this account.

Ezekiel 11:22-25 “Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. The glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is east of the city. And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to the exiles in Chaldea. So the vision that I had seen left me. Then I told the exiles all the things that the LORD had shown me.”

That was the final departure of God’s glory from the temple in Jerusalem.
Shortly after that Nebuchadnezzar would sack the city and burn that temple.

Israel would then complete her stay in Babylonian exile.

• However, after their time was complete
• Haggai and Zerubbabel and Zechariah would return and rebuild God’s temple. (Which was about 100 years prior to the time of Malachi)

And since that time the Jewish people have been waiting for 1 thing.
THEY’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THE RETURN OF THE LORD.

(In fact, their impatience may have even been a root cause of their indifference)

They could not understand why He had not come back.
Malachi showed THE PROBLEM last week revealing that they were not ready for Him.

And continuing with that idea God now gives THE SOLUTION.

“Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts.”

See, they thought that by coming back to the land
And rebuilding the temple that they had returned to God.
Apparently from God’s perspective, even though back in the land, They had yet to truly return to Him.

SO GOD TELLS THEM ONCE AGAIN TO “RETURN TO ME”

It’s really quite simple.
When you determine to return to loving and serving and obeying Me,
Then “I will return to you”.

And here is what you NEED TO KNOW this morning.
THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOD’S SIMPLE REQUEST

Notice how Malachi starts this verse?
“From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them.”

In other words, this is not a new issue.
• This has been the issue from the beginning.
• Your fathers struggled with this.
• All I ever wanted was for them to love Me with all their heart and to obey My commands.
• I just wanted them to be Mine and Mine alone,
• And that has always seemed to be too much for them.

We remember the golden calf incident where God first called them a stubborn and rebellious people.

And then after 40 years wandering in the wilderness, just before Moses died, he said this:
Deuteronomy 31:27-29 “For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the LORD; how much more, then, after my death? “Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them. “For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

All God ever wanted was for His people
To return to Him and to love and serve Him.
AND ISRAEL NEVER WOULD.

Even in the days of the prophets before the exile the message was the same.
Isaiah 55:1-2 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.”

Amos 5:4 “For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, “Seek Me that you may live.”

Hosea 5:15 “I will go away and return to My place Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

And ultimately God said, “Fine I’m sending you to Babylon for 70 years until you learn to seek Me.”

Jeremiah 29:10-13 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

And now 100 years after the exile, Israel still hasn’t learned her lesson.

In fact, we could carry this all the way into the New Testament.
• Jesus will come and offer salvation, but instead of seeking Him they will crucify Him.

And when Peter stands to preach to those Jews in Jerusalem
Do you know what he’ll say?

Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”

God must at times feel like a broken record.
He has been saying the same thing
Since the day He delivered His people from the iron hand of Egypt.

And still, even to this day, Israel has failed to grasp it.

BUT LET’S BE CLEAR,
It’s NOT only Israel that has at times struggled here.

Listen to Jesus as He speaks to the church at Ephesus.
Revelation 2:1-5 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.”

• They were backslidden.
• They had fallen into a type of indifference.
• Sure they loved the Scripture and they were doctrinally sound, but they had
drifted away from Christ.

And so even to them the call was the same.

He would say that in this state YOU AREN’T READY for Me to come.
At this point I’d be coming to “remove your lampstand”

“Return to Me, and I will return to you.”

James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

NOW CHURCH, THIS IS THE CURE FOR INDIFFERENCE.
This, incidentally, is what we call REVIVAL

When God’s people recognize that they have strayed
From their love and devotion to the Lord
And they repent and draw near to Him again.

THAT IS THE CALL.
That is what we are looking for.

In spite of all the problems that the Jewish people in Malachi’s day had,
Their solution was simple – RETURN.

Just like for the prodigal son – RETURN

That’s all they had to do.

Incidentally, 450 years later when John the Baptist shows up,
What is it that he’s going to tell them to do?
• John is going to tell them to repent.
• He’ll tell them to return to the Lord so that the Lord can return to them.

This isn’t some stray radical message from Malachi,
This has always been God’s message.

AND IT IS STILL TRUE TODAY.
If you have found yourself in any area of indifference,
Then repent and return to the Lord.

NOW, I WISH THE END OF THE VERSE SAID
“so the people repented and returned.”

But that is NOT what the end of the verse says.
“But you say, ‘How shall we return?’”

God gave them clear instruction regarding how to fix the problem
And they people aren’t interested in hearing it.

This is a statement of RESENTMENT.
This is a statement of DENIAL.
• “What do you mean, ‘Return’?”

As if to say, “We came back from Babylon; we returned to the land; we built the temple. We did return. We’re here, where are You?”

It’s another way of saying,
Whatever God means by “return”, they aren’t interested.

But the question has been asked.
“How shall we return?”

The Call
#2 THE CONFRONTATION
Malachi 3:8-9

They asked how to return and God gives them a direct response.
“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me!”

His immediate answer is that for starters you can quit stealing from Me.

Now, to prove their attitude, we see that when God did get specific
They weren’t interested in hearing it.

“But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’”
• They are in a sense calling God an irrational liar.
• You don’t know what You’re talking about!

So God answers.
“In tithes and offerings.”
• You have not given Me the tithe you owe Me.
• You have not given Me the offerings you owe Me.

NOW STOP THERE for a second and let’s make sure we understand what is happening here.

1. God tells the people they need to return to Him
2. When the people ask, “How?”
3. God immediately goes to the subject of money.

THAT IS INTERESTING.
If you’ll remember John the Baptist will do the exact same thing.

Luke 3:10-14 “And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?” And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

When the people wanted to know how to repent John immediately went to the issue of money.
• “share with him who has none”
• “collect no more than what you have been ordered to”
• “do not take money from anyone by force”
• “be content with your wages”

So the obvious question is:
IS GOD JUST INTERESTED IN MONEY?

There are people who think that.
(Don’t go to church they just want your money)
• Is that true?
• Is that what God wants?

NO
Psalms 50:10-12 “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains.”

You’ll find this interesting:
TURN TO: 1 CHRONICLES 29:6-19

David was gathering supplies and materials for Solomon to build the temple.

But did you see how amazed David was?
• And it wasn’t that the people gave.
• It was that the people were able to give.
• God had supplied all that they had given.

So the point is, NO – GOD IS NOT JUST INTERESTED IN MONEY.
He has all the money He’ll ever need.

So why, when the people want to know what to do, does God immediately tell them to quit stealing from Him and to start giving to Him again?

Jesus makes this abundantly clear.
Matthew 6:19-24 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

It’s not about money is it?
(Everything you’ll give to God will only come from the pot that He first gave to you)

It’s not about money.
What is it about? – THE HEART

When these people want to know what God wants,
God goes straight for their heart.
I WANT YOUR HEART!

WELL HOW DO YOU GIVE GOD YOUR HEART?
Open your wallet and I’ll show you.

Your heart is directly linked to your treasure.
Give God your treasure and your heart will go with it.

And now you’re even better understanding stories
• Like the Rich Young Ruler when Jesus asked him to sell everything.
• Or Zacchaeus and why Jesus pronounced him saved after he gave up his
money.

It’s not about the money, it’s about the heart.
That is why God goes for the money.

And He tells these people, “you are robbing from Me!”

WHAT, were they breaking into the temple and stealing from the poor box?

NO, they were failing to give the tithe He had commanded.

Those of you with little kids in church, you’ll understand this.

• We’ve all been little kids or had little kids who wanted to put money in the
offering plate when it goes by.
• And so you pull out a dollar or a $5 or whatever
• And you give it to your small child
• And you tell them to put it in the offering plate when it comes by.

Now, let’s say when the plate comes by they take your dollar
And instead they put it in their pocket.

WHAT DO YOU CALL THAT?

THAT’S STEALING.

They took what you gave them
And failed to do what you commanded them to do with it.

Do you realize every dollar you have is that which God has given you?

You may think yourself wise or a hard worker or an earner of your income, but don’t overlook things like your ability or your opportunity or even the land in which you live.

EVERYTHING YOU HAVE IS THAT WHICH GOD HAS GIVEN YOU.

Now, the deal God made with Israel is a simple one.
You owe me back 10% of everything I give you.

Leviticus 27:30-32 “Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’S; it is holy to the LORD. ‘If, therefore, a man wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he shall add to it one-fifth of it. ‘For every tenth part of herd or flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the LORD.”

• This was sort of like a Jewish income tax.
• God commanded 10% of everything.
• It was a tithe (tithe means tenth)
• God gave to them and they were commanded to give some back.

The problem was, they weren’t doing it.

We already saw one of the ways they were messing it up.
They weren’t bringing the QUALITY God commanded.

Malachi 1:8 “But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?” says the LORD of hosts.”

Malachi 1:14 “But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King,” says the LORD of hosts, “and My name is feared among the nations.”

So you understand the robbery aspect.
God had given to them, they failed to give back.

Now, you can enter THE DEBATE if you like
About the New Testament and titheing.

And you are correct if you say that titheing was part of the old covenant
And is NOT commanded in the New Testament.

Titheing is not commanded,
Generous and cheerful and even sacrificial giving is commanded.

So you can split hairs over the 10% if you like, but in the New Testament you are still commanded to give and at times it may be way more than 10%.

And at the same time if you were raised on the tithe (like I was) and it just seems right to give 10%, no one is going to argue with that.

• Abraham commissioned the tithe when he gave a tenth to Melchizedek.
• Moses commanded the tithe when leading the children of Israel.
• And Jesus commended the tithe when speaking to the Pharisees.

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”

So I’m not concerned about your algebra,
But I am concerned about your heart.

Luke 12:13-15 “Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”

Luke 16:10-13 “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? “And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

SO HOPEFULLY YOU GET THE POINT.
• God told them to return.
• They asked how.
• God said, quit stealing from me.
• Because God was after their heart.

IN FACT, this is a point God has been trying to make for some time
And they have failed to see it.

(9) “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!”

What did He mean, “cursed with a curse”?

God had cursed their crops and their livestock and their weather.

If every time you tell your child to put a dollar in the plate they instead put it in their pocket, how long are you going to keep giving them the dollar?

SAME PRINCIPLE HERE.

And by the way, it’s NOT THE FIRST TIME God had used this.
About 100 years earlier when they had grown indifferent and had failed to rebuild the temple.

Haggai 1:7-11 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways! “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD. “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the LORD of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. “Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. “I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”

• God was doing the same thing 100 years ago because the people refused to build His house.
• And now, because they are robbing from Him and failing to give Him their hearts He is doing it again.

The Call, The Confrontation
#3 THE COMMAND
Malachi 3:10a

The command is simple.
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house.”

• In chapter 1 the issue with the offering was it’s QUALITY.
• Here in chapter 3 the issue is it’s QUANTITY.

They are short-changing God.
They aren’t giving all that they are supposed to give.

Ask Ananias and Saphira how it works when you agree to give God an amount
And then fail to give all that you said.

This tithe was supposed to be used for 2 purposes.
• One was to feed the priests.
• The other was to feed the poor.

And so by failing to bring all that they were commanded to bring,
Both the ministry and the poor suffered.

AND SO GOD WAS CLEAR.
Return to Me and do it by bringing Me all that you owe Me.

Again, this is NOT God being GREEDY.
It IS God being JEALOUS.

He wants their heart.
• Everything they have He gives them anyway,
• He just wants their love and devotion in return.

I mean, think about Abraham for a moment.
God asked for a pretty significant offering from Abraham didn’t He?
• He asked for his son Isaac.

Let me ask you, “Who gave Isaac to Abraham?” – God
And God asked for him back.

But you remember the story.
Genesis 22:10-12 “Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Did God want Isaac?
No, God wanted Abraham
Abraham’s offering proved God had him.

THAT IS THE CASE HERE TOO.
God doesn’t want their money, He wants their heart.

AND THAT IS TRUE FOR YOU AND ME.
• The command is for us to give and give freely.
• And this shows that we treasure God more than we treasure this world.

Now next is where you really have to love God.
He doesn’t stop there.
He could have, but He doesn’t.

#4 THE CONSEQUENCE
Malachi 3:10b-12

God promises that if they will return to Him through their offerings
Then He will bless them in ways they can’t imagine.

Look at it.
He promises an UNQUENCABLE BLESSING
(10b) “test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”

If you’ll just give Me your heart
I’ll respond with more blessing than you can imagine.

Jesus reiterated this.
Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

IN THE DAYS OF HEZEKIAH
He was seeking to renovate the temple and the priestly service.

Hezekiah commanded the people
To start bringing the offering to provide for the priests.

2 Chronicles 31:5 “As soon as the order spread, the sons of Israel provided in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all.”

If you read on it says that
• They kept bringing stuff from the 3rd month until the 7th month
• And they just started having to pile the stuff up in heaps.
• It was enormous offering.

2 Chronicles 31:9-10 “Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok said to him, “Since the contributions began to be brought into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat with plenty left over, for the LORD has blessed His people, and this great quantity is left over.”

Did you see what happened?
As they started giving, God started blessing,
And He just kept on taking care of everyone.

He’s not greedy or stingy.
He’s abundantly generous and ready to share.
He just wants to make sure that He has your heart.

2 Corinthians 9:10-11 “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.”

And I’ll be honest, I think our congregation understands this a little.
• I’ve seen our church give a lot of money over the last 3 years.
• Some of the biggest donations since I’ve been here.
• And yet, has God not continually given back all that we have given?

You are seeing that principle at work CORPORATELY.

The call here is for you to apply it PERSONALLY.
Give the Lord your heart. Give the Lord your offering.

(Incidentally, this is NOT A PLEA for you to give money to our church,
there are plenty of ministries and people in need, but give as to the Lord)

He promises an unquenchable blessing and says you can test Him in this.
That’s remarkable!

He promises an UNTOUCHABLE BLESSING
(11) “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the LORD of hosts.”

“The devourer” had been running rampant in Israel
Because they had failed to honor God with their giving.

Have you ever met “the devourer”?
• He’s the one that makes water heaters go out
• And tires blow out and stuff like that.
• He gobbles up your savings and takes away your surplus.

But when God blesses, He blesses in a way where it can’t be touched.
Those people in Hezekiah’s day couldn’t give it away fast enough,
God just kept on replenishing it.

And He promises an UNDENIABLE BLESSING
(12) “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts.”

Look, I’m NOT into the prosperity gospel.
It is certainly true that our inheritance is not on earth, but in heaven.

But when God says that their blessing will be recognizable by the nations, He wasn’t saying they’ll recognize their closeness to God.

He was saying that He will bless the land in such a way
That it will be “delightful” even to pagan nations.

They’ll see the results of God’s blessing.
And I would not nullify that promise here.

GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES SEED FOR THE SOWER.
• If you give that dollar to your child and they put it in the plate,
• And the next time you have a ten,
• You’ll let them do that too because they’ve shown what they’ll do with it.

This is NOT get rich scheme.
If that’s what you think then you’re seeking to use God as a means to pad your bank account. God will not honor that attitude.

What we are talking about here is a people
Who give God their heart by giving Him their treasure,
And God in His goodness more than abundantly compensates
For any cost they incur.

Psalms 34:8-10 “O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.”

Psalms 84:11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

Psalms 37:4 “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.”

James 1:17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

He is good and He blesses those who seek Him.

And this now is THE POINT church.
• Has there been indifference in your life?
• Has there been evidence of apathy?

Then return to the Lord.
HOW?
• Give Him the thing your heart treasures.
• And your heart will follow your treasure.

As I have prayed for revival in my life and in the life of this church,
I keep coming back to one verse in my prayer.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

When we are a people who do that,
• We are a people who are experiencing revival.
• We will be able to say that indifference has been totally eradicated.
• We can say that we are a people who have returned to the Lord.

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Where Is The God of Justice?
Malachi 3:1-6
November 27, 2022

The second chapter of Malachi ended with this question:
Malachi 2:17 “You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”

“Where is the God of justice?”

This was the question they asked.
That question is perhaps the issue of the entire book.

It is certainly an issue dealt with throughout the pages of Scripture.

Often times we encounter that question as the cry from the righteous who long for God to show Himself holy in the midst of a wicked generation.

• Consider all the times we read the Psalmist crying out, “How long?” to God.
• Perhaps the most famous comes from the lips of Habakkuk who doesn’t understand why God has allowed such wickedness to endure in Israel.

Habakkuk 1:1-4 “The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw. How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises. Therefore the law is ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted.”

Throughout history the righteous have asked this very thing.

But the question in Malachi is not from the lips of the righteous.
The question in Malachi is FROM THE WICKED.

It is not from those who long for God to show Himself righteous,
But rather it is from those who don’t think He will.

We see them throughout history as well.

Psalms 10:4-6 “The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, “There is no God.” His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments are on high, out of his sight; As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. He says to himself, “I will not be moved; Throughout all generations I will not be in adversity.”

Isaiah 56:12 “Come,” they say, “let us get wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink; And tomorrow will be like today, only more so.”

It is men who don’t think there will ever be
Any divine consequences for their sin.

Zephaniah 1:12 “It will come about at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And I will punish the men Who are stagnant in spirit, Who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good or evil!’”

Indeed we recognize both sentiments in our world today.
• We see the righteous who cry and long for the return of the Lord
• And we see the wicked who don’t think God will really ever judge sinners.

The burden of God in the book of Malachi is with the latter.
They asked in their indifference “Where is the God of justice?”

And God is about to answer.

In fact, God will give a concise answer down in verse 6.
(6) “For I, the LORD, do not change…”

That is God’s direct answer to the question.
I am still the God of justice.
I always have been and I always will be.

• He is the same God today that He was in the day He flooded the earth.
• He is the same God today that He was in the day He rained fire on Sodom.
• He is the same God today that He was in the day He ordered the annihilation
of all the Canaanites.

He is still the God of justice.

Again, I would remind you of the AUDIENCE of this sermon.
While the pagan world around us certainly needs to know
That God will one day judge the world in righteousness,
That is NOT who this message is immediately directed at.

This sermon of Malachi WASN’T for the Persians or the Greeks or the pagans.
This sermon WAS for the children of Israel.

God was addressing His people here,
Who through their indifference had seemed to forget
That God was still a God of justice.

Perhaps THE CHURCH should remember this as well.
1 Peter 4:17 “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

This is a message for the religious.
This is a message for those who know better.
Ultimately this is a message for the indifferent.

And God reveals exactly how His justice will be made known.

There are 5 points in our text this morning.
#1 THE PRESENCE YOU SEEK
Malachi 3:1

It is true that the Israelites in Malachi’s day asked
Where is the God of justice?”

In part that is a SARCASTIC question
As it was meant to indicate that God won’t do anything about sin.

But there was at least a hint of SINCERITY as well
For they did eagerly await their Messiah.

AND THAT IS INDICATED HERE.
• You get phrases like, “And the Lord, whom you seek…”
• Or “the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight…”

There is at least a base desire for the Lord or messiah to come.

They’ve read the promises about a kingdom which never ends
And about the glory of Israel spreading throughout the earth.

Within the last 100 years you’ve had the prophet Zechariah:
Zechariah 8:3-5 “Thus says the LORD, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’ “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. ‘And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.’”

With promises like that recently given, it’s no wonder that
The children of Israel are eager for the Lord to come.
They want a reign of peace and safety and prosperity and blessing.

So there may very well be at least a hint of sincerity in that question
“Where is the God of justice?”

What you see first from Malachi is that God REITERATES that promise.
IT HAS NOT CHANGED.

God also reminds that before the Messiah comes,
There will be a messenger arrive first.

“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me.”

Perhaps forgotten by this indifferent congregation
Was that God also promised to send a forerunner first.

Isaiah 40:3-5 “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

God had said that before the Messiah would come
Someone would have to come and prepare the people for His coming.

And God reminds the people of that here.
That promise will also be the theme
With which Malachi closes his sermon.

Malachi 4:5-6 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

You’ll understand in a moment
Why they needed someone to prepare them for His coming.

BUT ASIDE FROM THAT REMINDER,
God tells these people who have asked that He is on the way.

“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.”

That’s a good reminder.
• God said that He would come and He will come.
• He will keep that promise.

Now, when you read commentaries on this passage
They argue as to whether or not
Malachi is here referring to the first coming or the second coming.

But in reality you see pictures of both.
• When Jesus was 8 days old he did suddenly come to the temple.
• He would come as verse 4 indicates and make sinners pleasing to God.
• But He will also come again in judgment as verse 5 makes clear.

The reality is that often times these Old Testament prophets had difficulty seeing the coming of the Lord in two separate events. It was hard from a distance for them to see the valley that has rested for 2,000 years between the two mountain peaks.

So, in one sense we have already received what they are longing for
And yet at the same time we also still long for what they longed for.

We have certainly seen Jesus come to save,
But still wait for Him to come and reign upon the earth.

So there is a very real way in which we can identify with these people.
1. We also seek the presence of the Lord,
2. And we also are promised that He is coming.

The Presence You Seek
#2 THE PROBLEM YOU OVERLOOK
Malachi 3:2a

Verse 2 comes with a sobering dose of reality.

“But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears?”

This is the issue that the people of Malachi’s day
(and perhaps many from our day) have failed to consider.

• We understand the, “I’m a good person” epidemic that has saturated our world.
• We understand that even in our sin we suffer from no shortage of self-esteem.

Why wouldn’t God be pleased with me?

That was certainly the mindset of Malachi’s day.
• Forget the fact that they offered broken sacrifices…
• Forget the fact that they ignored God’s word…
• Forget the fact that they acted treacherously and tolerated sin…

They were still convinced that they were ready for the Lord to arrive.

But Malachi taps the breaks here with this question.
• Do you really think yourself prepared to stand before the Lord?
• Do you really think yourself prepared to stand before the Holy One?

Certainly the question reminds us of that terrifying scene that precedes the second coming of the Lord.

Revelation 6:15-17 “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

We are reminded of that day when God begins to reveal His justice on a sinful earth
That man is indeed NOT able to stand before Him.

Certainly we listen to what Jesus said about the end.

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

Luke 13:22-30 “And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. “Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ “Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALL YOU EVILDOERS.’ “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. “And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. “And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.”

There will be many people absolutely shocked at the judgment
When they see that they were not prepared to stand before Him.

THERE WILL BE MANY,
Even religious people, who preached and worked miracles,
Attended church, and volunteered for VBS who will not be accepted.

And they will be absolutely SHOCKED at the thought.

And this is what Malachi is hitting these Jews with here.

They currently live in such a way that
• God has already said He wished someone would shut the gates so that they
would no longer uselessly kindle fire on His altar.

• He has already said He was going to smear refuse on the faces of the priests
and carry them away with all the other garbage.

• He has already declared that He was weary of people who do the things that
He hates and don’t seem to care.

And yet these people still assume that they are ready for Him to come?

And even if we are talking about the first coming here,
You and I know that when He came they were not ready for Him.

John 1:10-11 “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”

He showed up and preached repentance and they hated Him for it.
John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.”

Or go read some of the arguments between Jesus and the Pharisees.
• Listen as they say, “We are children of Abraham” or “We are disciples of Moses” – They are so self-assured.
• And Jesus would say, “No, you are of your father the devil”

• Listen as Jesus confronts every aspect of their useless religion in Matthew 23 saying “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”
• Addressing their useless giving, they’re outward religion, they’re defiling character.

The world was shocked at His first coming
To find that they were not ready for Him.

They will be even more shocked at His second coming
To find that nothing has changed.

And I can’t help but make the obvious application to the present day religious community.

• Can we really walk in sin and tolerance of sin…
• Can we really have a half-hearted commitment to Him and His church…
• Can we really neglect Scripture reading and prayer…
• Can we really disregard the call to proclaim the gospel…
• Can we really love this present world and all its sin…

And still walk around assuming that we are ready for Him to return?

That is to be just as oblivious as the people of Malachi’s day.
They were eager for Him to come,
What they didn’t realize is that they were not prepared for it.

AND THAT IS A GOOD QUESTION FOR US TO PONDER.

AM I PREPARED?

Matthew 24:37-44 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”

Be alert – be ready – be sure

I know when life gets hard we want Jesus to return.
• When we don’t like the government…
• Or when we suffer in our flesh…
• We think, “Oh, I wish Jesus would just come back and put an end to all my pain
and suffering.”

Many people are ready for His return but they are not prepared for it.
Jesus said there will be “Many” who will be shocked
To find out just how unprepared they were.

It is the PROBLEM that the people of Malachi’s day OVERLOOKED
And it is the problem many overlook today.

The Presence You Seek, The Problem You Overlook
#3 THE PURIFYING YOU WILL RECEIVE
Malachi 3:2b-4

It is precisely because men are not ready to stand before Him
That we have received this first coming of Jesus.

Malachi says that “He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver”

You do understand the reason Jesus came the first time right?

He stated it over and over.
John 3:17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

Luke 9:56 “for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”

Before Jesus comes to this earth as a reigning King,
He first came as the Savior of men.
He came to refine and He came to purify.

What was the first message He ever preached?
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

He went around confronting the sin of Israel
And calling men to repentance.

WHY?
(look at our text)

(3b-4) “so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old as in former years.”

He came to address the sin of man
And to call them back to obedience and righteousness.

He came to expose the weakness of their traditional religion
And to call them to worship God from the heart.

Just go read the Sermon on the Mount and listen
As Jesus exposes their wickedness and the sin of their heart.

He raises the standard of righteousness
And calls men to repent for having fallen short of it.

THAT IS WHAT HE CAME TO DO.

Now of course we know that He also fulfilled that Law on our behalf and then imputed His righteousness to us, and we never lose sight of that.

However, I think there is something that should be understood here.

JUSTIFICATION DOES NOT NULLIFY
THE NECESSITY OF SANCTIFICATION.

We understand that Jesus justifies us before God.
• We are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus and thus declared just before God.

But this does not nullify the necessity
That we are also required to live holy lives before God.

True justification always reveals itself in sanctification.

You do understand that even those whom Jesus justified,
He still demanded holy lives from them.

John 13:8 “Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”

We read from other writers in the New Testament.
Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”

Certainly we love and appreciate the imputed righteousness of Christ,
But can you see that God also demands that we walk in righteousness?

Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

If you are under some illusion
• That you trusted in Jesus
• And have now been justified
• So practical righteousness is not that important,

Then let me emphatically say that you have never been saved,
And your justification is a sham.

TRUE JUSTIFICATION ALWAYS PRODUCES TRUE SANCTIFICATION.
Jesus did come to JUSTIFY but He also came to PURIFY.

Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”

This is exactly what He came to do that first time He came.

And this is the reminder of Malachi to these people.
If you think He is just going to show up and pat you on the back for what a great job you’ve done, you’ve got another thing coming.

When He comes the first thing He’ll do is confront your sin
And go to work scrubbing the filth off of you.

He does that to everyone He receives.

The Presence You Seek, The Problem You Overlook, The Purifying You’ll Receive
#4 THE PUNISHMENT YOU’LL ENDURE
Malachi 3:5

And here is another powerful word.
“Then…”

First He comes to purify, but “Then I will draw near to you for judgment”

This is why He came to save and purify first.
JUDGMENT IS COMING.

And look at how He’ll separate out the sinners for judgment.

“and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the LORD of hosts.”

Do you remember what John the Baptist announced about Jesus?

Matthew 3:11-12 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

• He will either purify you (“baptize you with the Holy Spirit”)
• Or He will destroy you (“baptize you with…fire”)

That’s what you see here as well.
• Those who do not receive His message of repentance…
• Those who do not receive His imputed righteousness…
• Those who do not submit to His washing and cleansing…

In the end, they get yanked from among His people and they get judged.

Did Jesus not preach this very thing?

Matthew 13:40-43 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

Matthew 13:47-50 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 25:31-33 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”

That is exactly what Malachi is talking about.
All these people in the congregation who are:

“sorcerers” – people who bow and seek the wisdom of demons.
• It would have been rampant in those pagan marriages the people had entered.
• Today it is fortune tellers and palm readers and psychics and stuff like this.

“adulterers” – people who divorce their wife to marry those pagan women.
• Certainly we know about sex out of wedlock, but also some divorce and remarriage, or even sins of lust.

“swear falsely” – people who claim to be believers, but they lie.

“oppress the wage earner” – they cheat people to get ahead monetarily.

“oppress…the widow and the orphan” – they simply neglect and fail to care for them. The Pharisees even devoured their houses.

“turn aside the alien” – it is lack of compassion and benevolence. It is a failure to care for the poor.

“do not fear Me” – it really sums up all the previous sins. They just don’t care what God thinks.

AND HERE IS THE POINT.
It doesn’t matter if every one of these people
Were associated with the congregation.

If they were in those sins
And they refuse to repent and be cleansed by the Lord,
Then when He returned they would be judged.

Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

IT CAN’T BE CLEARER.
If that is you, you will not go to heaven.

Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

So you get the idea of what Malachi is talking about here.

We have people who think they are eager for the Lord to come,
And it is because they think He is not a God of justice.

BUT MALACHI REMINDS THEM OTHERWISE.

• He is definitely coming.
• But what you don’t realize is that you are in no way ready for Him.
• So first He will come to purify you and if you accept that purification then fine.
• But later He will come again and judge all who do not repent and it won’t be fine for them.

This church is why we talk about the necessity of REVIVAL.

While it is true that we stand in a righteousness not our own,
It is also true that we are expected to stand in that righteousness.

We have been called to receive the righteousness Christ imputes
And then to live in that righteousness.

• If we refuse, if we are indifferent
• If we disdain worship
• If we ignore God’s word
• If we tolerate sin
• If we commit sins of sorcery and adultery and deception and oppression and
greed and a failure to fear God…

If we do that, how can we say that we are ready for His coming?

1 John 2:28-29 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”

Indifference is not ok.
His church must be holy!

1 Peter 1:14-19 “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

God expects His people to walk in holiness!
• It is a holiness that was given to us at a very high cost.
• And this means God expects it all the more.

The Presence You Seek, The Problem You Overlook, The Purifying You’ll Receive,
The Punishment You’ll Endure
#5 THE PERFECTION YOU’LL APPRECIATE
Malachi 3:6

Here God answers that question.
“Where is the God of justice?”

(6) “For I, the LORD, do not change…”

• I am still the God of justice.
• I still require justice.
• And on the day I come, you will once again be convinced of the fact.

The world may have temporarily forgotten
That God is absolutely just in judgement,
But the day is coming when we will all get a sobering reminder.

And yet, there is one more statement God makes here.
“therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”

That seems a little strange.
Sort of like God just turned a different direction.

After that statement about judgement, we would expect something like, “For I, the LORD, do not change;
Therefore you, O sons of Jacob, had better repent.”

But that’s not what He said.
He said, “therefore you…are not consumed.”

God is not only reminding them that He is just,
But that His justice is a good thing.
For it is His justice that causes Him to honor His promises
And to save a remnant from Israel.

Romans 11:25-29 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

The only reason any of Israel will survive at all
Is because God made promises to Abraham, and He is just in His word.

SO WHAT WE LEARN HERE IS THAT
• Israel was treating God’s justice like a bad thing.
• Malachi reminds that it is only His justice that keeps Him from totally destroying them all.

So “Where is the God of justice?”

He is on the way.
He is coming to purify and to save.
He is coming to destroy those who do not repent.

And church have already witnessed that first coming.
The only thing we wait for is for Him to come
And separate the wicked from the righteous
And to burn up the wicked in the lake of fire.

1. Give your life to Christ,
2. Let Him impute His righteousness to you,
3. And then you walk in that righteousness.

For God has not changed.
He is still a God of justice
And one day that will become obvious to the world.

Download here

Facing Persecution…Again
Psalms 144
November 20, 2022

Tonight we study the 144th Psalm and we call it
“Facing Persecution…Again”.

What we have here is David obviously
Again facing hardship in the form of persecution.

Cleary in verses 7-8 were read:
“Stretch forth Your hand from on high; Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, Out of the hand of aliens Whose mouths speak deceit, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.”

Verse 11 is nearly identical:
“Rescue me and deliver me out of the hand of aliens, Whose mouth speaks deceit And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.”

David is obviously facing a form of persecution
From those whom he refers to as aliens.

Apparently it is some form of insurrection taking place inside Israel from those who began outside of Israel.

We call it “Facing Persecution…Again” because
This is not David’s first rodeo and when you read Psalms 144
It is obvious that David knows how to handle it.

David’s past experience has taught him how to handle persecution.

BUT IT’S MORE THAN JUST THAT.
• In David’s previous bouts with persecution he learned a great deal about God,
• And it is clear that David is now leaning upon this knowledge
• As he once again finds himself in similar circumstances.

In fact, one commentator called Psalms 144 A MOSAIC
Because most of the content is actually borrowed from other Psalms.

It is as though David is reaching back into the past
Taking previously learned truths and applying them to today’s struggle.

We don’t have a problem with David using lyrics he’s sang before.
Have you ever sang a song more than once?
Have you ever leaned upon a scriptural truth in more than one circumstance?

That is what David is doing.
He learned something in the past that he is leaning upon in the present.

Now, before we dive into this Psalm I want you to stop and think for a second why you are able to do that.

Why is it that you can face a trial, learn about God in that trial, and then use what you learned years later when the same type of trial reemerges?

Why can you trust today in things you learned years ago?

THE ANSWER IS BECAUSE GOD NEVER CHANGES.

The theological word is IMMUTABILITY
That God cannot change.

Every time change occurs…
• Something either changes for the better or it changes for the worst.
• (Otherwise there is no change).

If God changed for the better that would insinuate He wasn’t perfect,
If God changed for the worst that would insinuate some weakness in Him.

THE REALITY IS GOD CAN’T CHANGE.
(He is “good”)

And you know this.

Malachi 3:6 “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”

Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

1 Samuel 15:29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

In fact, God identifies Himself as One who does not change.

Remember when God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?
Exodus 3:13-14 “Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

God revealed Himself as “I AM”
And you should understand that as “always Am”

That is to say, “Do you want to know whom I am today, then look at who I was yesterday. And thus you also learn who I will be tomorrow.”

Those famous “I am” statements of Jesus,
We understand that to be true always.

• He is always the bread of life.
• He is always the light of the world.
• He is always the good Shepherd.

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

God never changes.

We actually like to sing about His Immutability.

“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God our Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Though changest not, They compassions they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.”

God never changes.
And this is a great truth for us.

That means that when we face trials are hardships
We know exactly what we are going to get from Him.

I want you to consider for a moment
How troublesome it would be for us if God were not immutable.

How bad would it be if God were fickle
And you never really knew what you were going to get?

You may remember Asaph for a while thought this and it threw him into despair.
Psalms 77:7-10 “Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again? Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious, Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Selah. Then I said, “It is my grief, That the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

That would be horrible, if that were true.

Asaph however pulled himself together and began to recount who God has always been.
Psalms 77:11-18 “I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds. Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. You have by Your power redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.”

We love that God is immutable.
We love that He never changes.
That means we can count on Him to be exactly who He has always been.

David is clearly doing that here.
• He is facing new persecution,
• But he still worships the same God who has delivered him in the past.

And because God never changes,
David knows exactly what he’s going to get from God.

And that is what we see here in this Psalm.
• David identifies 4 realities about God.
• They were true in the past of God and so David knows they are true today.
• And these 4 realities about God are what carries David through his present trial.

Let’s look at these 4 realities.
#1 GOD IS A POWERFUL SOVEREIGN
Psalms 144:1-2

You read those 2 verses and understand
This is not the first time David has sang this song.

Psalms 18:2 “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Psalms 18:47 “The God who executes vengeance for me, And subdues peoples under me.”

And here we see David leaning upon that truth again.

“Blessed be the LORD, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; My lovingkindness and my fortress, My stronghold and my deliverer, My shield and He in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.”

David is recognizing once again the truth he learned years ago.
• That it is God who gives him the victory in battle.
• That it is God who hides him from danger.
• That it is God who subdues his enemy.

That isn’t new information to David,
It’s just precious information to David.

He learned that years ago and sang about it in Psalms 18.

Psalms 18, by the way, comes with a subheading describing the circumstances under which David sang it.

It says: “For the choir director. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.”

On the day that God finally and fully delivered David from Saul,
• David praised God
• Recognizing that it was God who had delivered him
• And it was God who had made him king,
• And it was God who had subdued his people under him.

David learned on that day that God is A POWERFUL SOVEREIGN

When God determines who His king is, no one can stop that.
When God picks a king, he will be king.
When God determines for someone to rule, he puts all people under him.

That was certainly true in David’s life.
1 Samuel 16:11-13 “And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the children?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.”

AND GOD BROUGHT IT TO PASS.
AND NO ONE CAN THWART IT.

Remember Psalms 2 when men sought to overthrow God’s king?
Psalms 2:4-6 “He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

And we even understand:
Romans 13:1 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”

Isaiah said:
Isaiah 40:23-24 “He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.”

So it was certainly true of God in the past
That when He picks a ruler, they rule.

And if it was true of God in the past
Then it must be true of God today because God never changes.

And this confidence David has
As he faces a new form of insurrection or rebellion.

Now he’s got aliens in his land
Who perhaps don’t want to recognize his right to the throne.

Perhaps there’s a sect of people who would like to see David dethroned.
And this might be concerning to David except for 1 fact.

God chose for him to be king.
And God chose for his kingdom to endure.

2 Samuel 7:16 “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’”

And God was and is A POWERFUL SOVEREIGN

And such confidence is good for us to know in our trials as well.

We know that God has always been in sovereign control of all things.
• Nations and rulers
• The number of our days
• The path we are to walk

And that hasn’t changed because God doesn’t change.

Even in the midst of a present trial there is no reason to assume,
That God must have changed and is no longer calling the shots.

He can’t change.
He was SOVEREIGN in the past, and He is SOVEREIGN now.

David is resting on that.
You should rest on it too.

A powerful sovereign
#2 GOD IS A PECULIAR SYMPATHIZER
Psalms 144:3-4

You’ve seen a similar thought to these 2 verses before as well.

Psalms 8:4-8 “What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.”

You may remember that day
• When David laid on his back and looked up at the stars and contemplated the grandeur of God.
• David was captivated by how great and glorious God must be
• And then it prompted him to ask, “What is man that You take thought of him..?”
• David was blown away that such a glorious and mighty God
• Would take the time to be bothered by such an insignificant creature as man.

That truth only gets magnified through the lens of the New Testament
When we learn that not only would God think of man,
But God would become man and dwell among us.

That thought would have certainly blown David’s mind.

Well, as you can see,
David is still blown away by God’s consideration of man.

(3-4) “O LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him? Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.”

David is still blown away that such a transcendent God
Would lower Himself to take interest
In such an insignificant creature as man.

Man is hardly worth it.
• He “is like a mere breath”
• “His days are like a passing shadow”

You might say,
• “No longer than they last, they are hardly worth the effort.”

We’re not exactly fine china.
We’re more like a paper plate.

Many of the pagan imaginary gods of the peoples gave no thought at all to humanity. They were too high and lofty for such pitiful creatures as us.

I mean,
• You’ve never concerned yourself with the squabbles that occur among ants.
• You’ve never wondered if the mosquitos have worries.
• You’ve never thought to comfort a grieving worm.
• You’ve never considered the fatigue of a house fly.

WHY IS GOD SO CONCERNED ABOUT US?
It is PECULIAR.

Well, in that sense, God is peculiar because
HE DOES CARE ABOUT US.

David learned that back in Psalm 8 and now he leans upon it again.

Job knew it:
Job 7:17 “What is man that You magnify him, And that You are concerned about him,”

Psalms 113:5-9 “Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high, Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth? He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the needy from the ash heap, To make them sit with princes, With the princes of His people. He makes the barren woman abide in the house As a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!”

It is peculiar.
But He does.

And because He did before, we know He does today.

In your struggles or my struggles, or David’s struggles…
It would be very easy to convince yourself
That YOUR PROBLEMS ARE TOO TRIVIAL for God.

And in reality, they certain are.
But God has shown Himself to be One who cares about trivial humanity.

We read:
Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?”

Or don’t we love the story of the first miracle Jesus ever worked.
• He turned water into wine.
• Surely such an issue as a wedding that is about to run out of wine is a problem that is beneath Him.
• And yet, there He was, bailing them out and revealing His glory.

I’ve always liked this story about God.
2 Kings 6:1-7 “Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Behold now, the place before you where we are living is too limited for us. “Please let us go to the Jordan and each of us take from there a beam, and let us make a place there for ourselves where we may live.” So he said, “Go.” Then one said, “Please be willing to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I shall go.” So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, my master! For it was borrowed.” Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there, and made the iron float. He said, “Take it up for yourself.” So he put out his hand and took it.”

Talk about something insignificant.
Talk about something you shouldn’t bother the Master with.
And yet there He is again, caring for the little things.

AND HERE IS DAVID.
• A king for sure,
• And a king who has people who don’t like him
• And who are spreading lies about him.

It’s hard, but is it really something that you should bother God with?
Does God really care that someone is slandering you?

David knows He does.
He did before, and so He does now.

God has always been and will always be
A PECULIAR SYMPATHIZER with humanity.

And we read:
1 Peter 5:6-7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

And you can do that because that is who God has always been.

A Powerful Sovereign, A Peculiar Sympathizer
#3 GOD IS A PRESENT SAVIOR
Psalms 144:5-11

Here again we find language that David has used before.
Once again he borrows lyrics from songs he learned in the past.

(10) “Who gives great salvation not kings, Who rescues David His servant from the evil sword.”

Psalms 18:50 “He gives great deliverance to His king, And shows lovingkindness to His anointed, To David and his descendants forever.”

(9) “I will sing a new song to You, O God; Upon a hard of ten strings I will sing praises to you,”

Psalms 33:2 “Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.”

And now David’s present requests
Are based upon they way God delivered in the past.

For example:

Psalms 18:16 “He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.”

So look at what David is praying today:
(7) “Stretch for Your hand from on high; Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, Out of the hand of aliens.”

He knows God hasn’t changed
So he’s asking God to do what He’s obviously done before.

Again:
Psalms 18:44-45 “As soon as they hear, they obey me; Foreigners submit to me. Foreigners fade away, And come trembling out of their fortresses.”

So today he prays:
(11) “Rescue me and deliver me out of the hand of aliens, Whose mouth speaks deceit and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.”

Do you see how David is counting on the God who never changes
To be today what He was in the past?

David is even asking God
To be the same God He has been in ages past.

Look at:
(5-6) “Bow Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; Touch the mountains, that they may smoke. Flash forth lightning and scatter them; Send out Your arrows and confuse them.”

That’s a pretty pointed prayer.
• You want God to come down?
• You want God to make the mountains smoke?
• You want God to confuse and scatter your enemy?

Does God really do such things?

Exodus 19:18-19 “Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.”

Psalms 18:14 “He sent out His arrows, and scattered them, And lightning flashes in abundance, and routed them.”

Joshua 10:6-14 “Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, saying, “Do not abandon your servants; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that live in the hill country have assembled against us.” So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him and all the valiant warriors. The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands; not one of them shall stand before you.” So Joshua came upon them suddenly by marching all night from Gilgal. And the LORD confounded them before Israel, and He slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, the LORD threw large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword. Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. There was no day like that before it or after it, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel.”

Granted God doesn’t do the same things every single time,
(He’s the same God, He doesn’t always do the same thing)

But there is one constant and consistent truth about God.
HE IS A PRESENT SAVIOR.

He is not an absent one.
He is not a distant one.

Psalms 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.”

And this is never more dramatically revealed to us than in Bethlehem
When God becomes flesh and dwells among us.

Hebrews 2:14-15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

You can’t get more present than that.
• And He even promises now that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
• He promises to be with us always.

David knows who God is because he knows who God was.

(10) “Who gives salvation to kings, Who rescues David His servant from the evil sword.”

THAT IS WHO GOD IS.
And so David can now pray for deliverance to this God who saves.

We are reminded here that God’s salvation is personal.
He entered battles.
• He entered my battles.
• He entered your battles.
• He personally saved me from sin in my life.
• He has done this many times.

And each time it inspires that new song David spoke of.
(9) “I will sing a new song to You, O God…”

After you deliver me from this trial, I’ll write a new song about it.
We understand that.

We can count on God
Because we know who He has been and He never changes.

He has always been A POWERFUL SOVEREIGN – and He always will be.
He has always been A PECULIAR SYMPATHIZER – and He always will be.
He has always been A PRESENT SAVIOR – and He always will be.

#4 GOD IS A PROMISED SUPPORTER
Psalms 144:12-15

Here we read of David’s hope.
This is what David wants to see become the norm in Israel.

He wants to see mature sons and beautiful daughters:
(12) “Let our sons in their youth be as grown-up plants, And our daughters as corner pillars fashioned as for a palace;”

He wants to see fruitful fields and fertile flocks
(13) “Let our garners be full, furnishing every kind of produce, And our flocks bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;”

He wants to see healthy cattle and happy people
(14) “Let our cattle bear Without mishap and without loss, Let there be no outcry in our streets!”

What right would David have to expect such things?
Where would he get that God cares in the least
About such temporal things?

Well he got it from the promises of God.
Deuteronomy 28:4 “Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.”

Exodus 23:26 “There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”

Certainly those were the promises of the covenant.
Those are things God would do
If Israel would be careful to obey all His commandments.

But David knows that these are the things God does.
And so those are the things he hopes for.

AND THIS IS ALSO A SIMPLE THING TO PONDER.

DO YOU EXPECT GOOD FROM GOD?

You know that one of the chief aims of Satan
Is to get you to think severely of God.

Eve, “Did God say you can’t eat from any tree in this garden?”
Eve, “You won’t die, God just doesn’t want you to be like Him.”

Jesus, “Are you the Son of God forced to be in the wilderness, and God didn’t give you any bread?”

Satan loves to flood your mind with fear.
Every time God asks for faith Satan will flood your mind with fear.
He’ll give you all the scenarios
Whereby God might ruin your life if you trust Him.

Satan would have you think
The most dangerous thing you can do in life is obey God.

SOMETHING ABOUT THAT SEEMS OFF.

David believed God would do him good.
Why would you believe a thing like that about God?

Because God is good and He never changes.
He has always promised to support His people.

Psalms 84:11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

James 1:17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”

Trusting in our God is not a bad thing, it is a good thing.

(15) “How blessed are the people who are so situated; How blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!”

NOW LOOK AT THAT.

David is in the middle of persecution…again.
He is facing insurrection from aliens.

And yet David describes his situation as “blessed”
“How blessed are the people who are so situated;”

WHY?
BECAUSE HE KNOWS GOD.

• God was A POWERFUL SAVIOR – and so He still is.
• God was A PECULIAR SYMPATHIZER – and so He still is.
• God was A PRESENT SAVIOR – and so He still is.
• God was A PROMISED SUPPORTER – and so He still is.

WHAT A GREAT SITUATION TO BE IN!

Knowing who God is helps us know who He’ll be.
And when we face trials again,
Our faith comes forward to give us confidence.

Church, you can trust who God will be in your circumstances.
He will be who He has always been.

“There is no shadow of turning with Him. He changes not, His compassions, they fail not. As He has been, He forever will be.”

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Indifference Toward Sin
Malachi 2:10-17
November 20, 2022

As you are now aware we are walking through this book of Malachi
Where we are addressing the issue of INDIFFERENCE.

We have here a people who are
Eagerly anticipating the arrival of their Messiah
And yet the message of Malachi is that
YOU ARE NOT READY to stand before Him.

And it is because they had grown indifferent to the things of God.

We have seen that indifference in their worship
• As they brought the blind and the lame for sacrifice.
We have seen that indifference in their neglect of God’s word.
• As they failed to know, apply, or enforce God’s word.

THIS MORNING we examine another area of their indifference
And at its core it has to do with their INDIFFERENCE TOWARD SIN.

• There is sin that is occurring in the congregation.
• And instead of grieving or mourning or repenting
• The people are continuing to participate in it,
• And even to declare that God is pleased.

They love and participate in that which God hates
And instead of repenting they declare that God delights in us anyway.

• They have lost all sense of their moral barometer.
• Their understanding of sanctification has been totally obliterated.
• God is terribly offended and no one seems to care.

THIS IS AGAIN INDIFFERENCE.

The BUZZ WORD you’re going to encounter in this text is the word “treacherously”. (used 5 times)

It is the Hebrew word BAW-GAD
It means “to act deceitfully” or “betrayal”

God views His people as liars and betrayers.

Let’s look at our text and we’ll see why.

Let’s start with the opening questions of verse 10.
“Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us?”

The first word you need to settle on there is the word “one”
• We are many people but we have “one father”.
• We are many people but we have “one God”

The most obvious issue at hand then is the issue of IDOLATRY.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

This of course is the famous SHEMA.
It is what Jesus quoted as the greatest commandment.

You notice that it began with the understanding that “the LORD is one!”
That is to say that we do not have many gods, we have one God.

And this understanding of one God
Is also the basis for our unity and our identity as a people.

John 17:20-21 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

That wasn’t just a passage hoping everyone would get along.
Jesus was speaking of our bond of unity which is that we share in common life.

We may be a very diverse people.
• We may look different, sound different, speak different languages,
• And have totally different tastes and preferences in life.

But we don’t gather here because we all like the same kind of food.
We gather here because we all share a common Father.
We gather here because we all worship the same God.

Many of you will gather this week with family at Thanksgiving.

And there are some who will openly say they don’t enjoy the event
Because we’ve all got that crazy uncle or that opinionated cousin.

We will gather around tables with people who have different religious beliefs, different political beliefs, different economic status, etc.

But we don’t gather with them because we agree on everything.
WE GATHER BECAUSE THEY ARE FAMILY.

We gather because we are all grandchildren of the same grandpa.

THAT IS TRUE IN THE CHURCH.
What we hold in common bond is that
We all “have one father” and “one God created us”.

Ephesians 4:4-6 “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

Since this is the basis for our fellowship
You understand that to gather and worship different gods
Would be to totally miss the point of why we are here.

It should be understood by all when we walk through those doors,
That regardless of our differences
We hold in common this truth that we are all here to worship our God.

AND CERTAINLY ISRAEL SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT TOO.

HOWEVER, that is not what was happening.
Instead of acting faithfully, they were acting “treacherously”

• “treacherously each against his brother”
• “treacherously” against God
• “treacherously against the wife of your youth.”

That is to say that Israel has been UNFAITHFUL.
Israel has betrayed their brother, their wife, and God.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Well, in short:
• Men are divorcing their Hebrew wives; the wife of your youth.
• They are then marrying pagan foreign wives.
• They are bringing these pagan wives into the congregation.
• And they are seeking to go on about things as usual as though God is pleased.

It is sinful in more ways than one
And yet the people are totally indifferent.

They simply don’t care
• About their sin
• Or who it effects,
• Or what God thinks about it.

And God will once again have strong remarks
For those who demonstrate such indifference.

So let’s work on the text this morning.

#1 BETRAYAL OF YOUR BROTHER
Malachi 2:10-12

The point is obviously made in verse 10 that the burden of God here
Is that there is treachery against their brother.

“Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?”

We recently studied 1 John and you are aware that
A man who does not love his brother is not a genuine believer.

Well here they are accused of dealing treacherously
And according to God this is “to profane the covenant of our fathers”

The accusation here is a serious one.

They are sinning against their brother to such a serious degree
That God considers it a breach of their covenant with Him.

WELL, WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

(11) “Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god.”

Now at first glance, that might not have been what you expected to hear.

When we think of betraying a brother our first thoughts would likely go toward some direct way in which you harm your brother.
• Cheat him financially
• Slander or gossip about him
• Maybe have an affair with his wife

Something that seems to be a direct afront to your brother.

But what Malachi lists here
Doesn’t immediately seem to have anything to do with a brother.

They have “married the daughter of a foreign god.”

Very few people today would consider that a sin against your brother.

They would say, “I’m not hurting anyone, mind your own business. What I do in my private life is my own business. It doesn’t affect you.” Etc.

That’s how people would answer.

And yet God is adamant that by marrying a pagan idol worshiper
(that’s what “daughter of a foreign god” means).

By marrying this idol worshiper you are sinning against your brother.

HOW?

It’s a simple as this.
“a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough”

You remember that sinning brother at Corinth who was sleeping with his father’s wife.

1 Corinthians 5:6 “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?”

Your sin will affect your brother.
It will spread. It will influence.

Your sin is NEVER a personal or a private issue.
The consequences of your sin are felt by everyone.

If we learn anything from Adam it should be that one man’s sin can affect us all.

Or how about the man named Achan.
• He is called “the troubler of Israel”
• After defeating Jericho God specifically put everything in Jericho “under the ban”. Nothing was to kept by any individuals.
• But Achan kept some plunder and hid it in his tent.
• His sin offended God and when Israel next went to battle against Ai, God abandoned them to defeat and 36 of Israel’s soldiers were killed.

God revealed it was because of Achan’s sin.

Sin splatters.
It affects all.

And THIS SPECIFIC SIN of MARRYING A PAGAN WOMAN
Already had a track record of bringing judgment into Israel.

First of all, it was expressly forbidden in the Law.
Exodus 34:11-16 “Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. “Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. “But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim —for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods.”

Deuteronomy 7:1-4 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. “Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. “For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.”

So at the very least to dabble in it
Is to invite God’s displeasure into the congregation.

But Israel already ignored the command once
The consequences were more severe than they could have imagined.

1 Kings 11:1-6 “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love. He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done.”

Solomon would introduce idolatry into Israel through his pagan wives
And that idolatry would never depart until God eventually destroyed Israel
And sent them into exile for 70 years.

Or we could talk about how the children of Israel married the Moabite women while wandering in the wilderness; causing God to send a plague that killed 24,000 people.

That is why you have Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi
SO UPSET about this sin which has begun to reemerge.

By marrying these women they were sinning against their brother.
It was a betrayal to all Israel to bring that idolatry back into the city.

AND WE MUST LEARN FROM THIS.
• Do you see your sin as a betrayal against your brother?
• Do you see your sin as a betrayal against the church?
• Do you realize that your decisions are affecting other believers?

IF YOU DON’T, THAT’S INDIFFERENCE.

Think about Paul’s analogy of the body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:26 “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

This is to betray the very issue of brotherly love.

Beyond that, it is an INSULT TO GOD.

Malachi says that “an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD when He loves…”

Not only were they marrying these pagan women,
But they were BRINGING THEM TO THE SANCTUARY
As though there was nothing wrong with what they did.

And look at GOD’S RESPONSE to such treachery.

(12) “As for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers, or who presents and offering to the LORD of hosts.”

That verse is the focus of a lot of debate because
It contains a figure of speech that is not easily grasped by us today.

Malachi refers to “the man who does this”;
That is the man who marries the pagan woman.

And then he says, “may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers, or who presents an offering to the LORD of hosts.”

“awakes and answers” is a apparently a figure of speech
That would have had more clarity in Malachi’s day than it does in ours.

It seems to have to do with a man who is awakened
By the warning of the watchman
But instead of acting on what he is warned about, argues with him.

It seems to be referring to the man
Who would hear the warning about marrying these pagan women,
But instead of submission would “talk back” and argue.

Remember when James told us to humbly receive God’s word by being “quick to listen and slow to speak”. Don’t argue with God’s word.

THAT IS THE SAME HERE.

Malachi also mentioned the man “who presents an offering to the LORD of hosts.”

This refers to a man who would
Commit such adamant sin, without repentance
And who would still feel at liberty to approach the alter in worship.

YOU MAY REMEMBER our Lord’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:23-24 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”

WE REMEMBER when Saul disobeyed God and kept some of the livestock from his capture of Agag and said it was because he wanted to sacrifice them to God.
1 Samuel 15:22 “Samuel said, “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.”

It is hypocrisy and audacity of the highest order
To live in flagrant sin and yet to still march into the house of God
For worship as though nothing is wrong.

And so THE VERDICT which is passed on this willful sinner is this.
“May the LORD cut off” this person.

You can see that again God is not messing around.
This is serious.

It is a man who is INDIFFERENT toward the commands of God,
Toward brotherly love, and even toward the sanctity of pure worship.

He is betraying his brother
• By parading his sin
• By threatening to influence the congregation with sin,
• By inviting the very judgment of God back into their midst.

Malachi’s response was that such a man must be “cut off”.

And if you’ll think about it, this is not so different from Jesus’ teaching on church discipline when you have a brother who will not stop sinning even though he has been warned.

But you see treachery here against a brother.

#2 BETRAYAL OF YOUR WIFE AND KIDS
Malachi 2:13-16

Here is the other side of that same story.

What you see at church is a man who
Parades his new pagan wife right into the worship service.

Now we see what happened at home.

FIRST WE NOTE again how displeased God is with the entire scene.
(13) “This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.”

Don’t misunderstand the scene.
• They are very religious.
• They are very committed to their liturgical duties.
• And here they are grieved because it doesn’t seem to be working.

God doesn’t seem to be honoring their sacrifices.
(14) “Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’”
They can’t figure out why God won’t accept their offerings.

And here is that second picture of treachery.

“Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.”

Do you see why God isn’t accepting their offerings?
Because THEY ARE BETRAYING THEIR WIFE.

HOW?
Well if you look down to verse 16 it becomes clear.

(16) “For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel…”

SO WHAT IS HAPPENING?
• Well apparently these men in Israel are becoming enamored with the pagan women of their land
• And in order to marry them they are first divorcing their Hebrew wives that they married in their youth.

“I’ve found a wife that is more pleasing in my sight,
So I’m going to get rid of the first one and marry the new one.”

God calls it treachery.
God calls it betrayal.
And God says, “I hate it!”

STOP AND LET THAT SINK IN.

We live in a culture where divorce has just become second nature.

It has become such a pandemic in our culture
That it’s rarely even discussed from pulpits anymore
Because it is likely to offend to such a large percentage of any given congregation.

But you cannot omit something that God is so passionate about.

I am well-aware
• That Jesus gives the condition that divorce can occur because of sexual immorality
• And that Paul says a divorce can occur if you’re married to a non-believer and the non-believer leaves.

Both of those are given as permissible reasons for divorce.

The tragedy is that divorce occurs for far more reasons than that.
AND THE BIBLE SAYS THAT GOD HATES IT.

He is a God who knows nothing of treachery.
• God never breaks His word.
• God never breaks His promise.
• He always keeps His covenant.

• He created male and female.
• He designed marriage to be between one woman and one man.
• He said what He joins no man should separate.

HE HATES DIVORCE.

But here you have men divorcing their wives
Just so they can go and marry this new pagan fling.

GOD HATES IT!
And God hates it so much that He quit accepting their offerings.

And then look at verse 15.
(15a) “But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit.”

What does that mean?
• It means that people with God’s Spirit don’t do that sort of thing.
• Saved people don’t divorce their spouse to replace them with someone more
desirable.

(15b) “And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring?”

Any man who is truly concerned about the godliness of his children
Doesn’t divorce his wife and marry a pagan woman.

No man ever committed adultery to produce more godly children.

IN SHORT:
• True believers who love God and keep covenant…
• True believers who care about the spiritual condition of their children…

DON’T DIVORCE THEIR SPOUSE
TO MARRY SOMEONE THEY LIKE BETTER.

That is a sin against your brother.
That is a sin against your wife.
That is a sin against your children.
TRUE BELIEVERS DON’T DO THAT.

So Malachi says: “Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.”

You better check your salvation.
You better check your spiritual barometer.
And STOP betraying your wife.

(16) “For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong,” says the LORD of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”

You are treading on dangerous ground.

This gets even more intense when you consider what Ezra and Nehemiah were saying around that same time period.

Ezra 10:10-11 “Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel. “Now therefore, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers and do His will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.”

Nehemiah 13:23-29 “In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. “Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?” Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.”

Ezra and Nehemiah were adamant.
You’ve got to send those pagan women away!

Now, I do think it’s important
To ADDRESS A PERCEIVED CONTRADICTION here in Scripture.

Clearly Ezra and Nehemiah told these Israelites to send away their foreign wives and all their pagan idolatry; even their children.

And then we get to the New Testament and listen to Paul:
1 Corinthians 7:12-14 “But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.”

And many have seen a contradiction here.
Ezra and Nehemiah told you to send them away, Paul told you not to.

Did God change His mind?
• And indeed many try to explain it like that saying simply, “Well, it was a different time then.”

In the days of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi
• We have here pagan women.
• They are actually referred to as “the daughter of a foreign god”
• Nehemiah says that their influence was so great that the children being raised didn’t even speak the language of Judah.

These men were married to pagan women
Who were insistent upon keeping their idolatrous worship,
And even raising their kids to worship those idols.

How is that different from Paul’s day?
Paul said to the Corinthians that if you are married to a non-believer but they “consent” to live with you, don’t send them away.

THERE IS A COMMON THREAD HERE: IDOLATRY
• The pagan marriages of Malachi’s day were producing adultery and idolatry. They had to stop.
• In Paul’s day, if the pagan was willing to consent, they could stay.
• But also in Paul’s day you were to follow Christ in such a way that they would either consent or get fed up and leave, in which case you had to let them go.

THE ISSUE IS IDOLATRY AND THE INFLUENCE OF IT.

You could not bring sin into the congregation
And act like it was no big deal.

These people who were divorcing their Jewish wives
In favor of these pagan women
Were sinning against their brothers, their wives, and their kids.

But that certainly wasn’t all.
#3 BETRAYAL OF GOD
Malachi 2:17

We’ve actually already seen their betrayal of God a couple of times in the text.

• Up in verse 11 they were bringing these pagan women into the sanctuary and profaning it.
• In verse 13 they were making a mockery of worship by living in sin and yet bringing their offerings anyway.

But perhaps the biggest betrayal came in regard to
The effect their sin was having on
The perspective of the congregation as a whole.

IT HAD CHANGED THE PEOPLE’S VIEW OF GOD.

(17) “You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”

DO YOU SEE WHAT IS OCCURRING HERE?

These people, in their sin, have begun to SUCCEED
In getting the rest of the congregation to CONDONE their sin.

Is that not what happens so often?
• A person enters the congregation in blatant sin
• And instead of standing against such sin,
• The congregation will just change the definition of what sin is
• And declare that person ok.

DOES THAT NOT HAPPEN?

We’ve already seen it with divorce in the church.
• It’s not even really frowned upon anymore.
• Now people can divorce for any reason and most will tell them it’s ok.

Look at the rise of acceptance of sins like abortion or homosexuality.

A few years ago I saw on social media a man who used to pastor in Spur
Standing at gay pride parade in Houston
Holding a rainbow banner that read, “I’m Sorry” and giving out free hugs.

IT HAPPENS.
When God’s people become indifferent to sin.

They start saying things like “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them.”

Or how do we put it?
• “God loves you just the way you are!”
• “God loves you unconditionally”

That is what is happening in Israel.
• Men are divorcing their wives to marry these pagan women.
• They are bringing these pagan women into the sanctuary.
• And people are telling them that God is pleased.

And ON THE SLIGHT CHANCE that someone should confront their sin
And tell them that “God hates divorce”,

There is someone there to assure them that God is not angry.
They say, “Where is the God of justice?”

They might as well say, “My God is a God of love”

Do you see how easily it happens?
Do you see what indifference to sin looks like?

And I know here the main issue is divorce,
But church it can be any issue of sin.
• Any sin which is willfully practiced is a betrayal of your brother in Christ.
• Any sin which is willfully practiced is a betrayal of your spouse and your kids.
• Any sin which is willfully practiced is a betrayal of God.

And if you want to live in your sin
And then come parade it into the church like nothing is wrong,
You have greatly mistaken who our God is.

And if you desire to just condone and pat men on the back for their sin
Then you also have become INDIFFERENT to sin.

• Ezra wanted those idolators sent away.
• Nehemiah wanted those idolators sent away.
• Malachi wanted them cut off from the tents of Jacob.

• Paul said to cast out that immoral brother.
• Jesus said to warn a brother and seek to turn him from sin, but if he won’t let him be to you like a Gentile or a Tax Collector.

You will never find the Lord indifferent to sin.
And it is an afront to God when we become like that.

Jeremiah 5:30-31 “An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?”

That’s a good question.

Listen to Paul in the New Testament:
Romans 1:28-32 “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

Do you see what God consider to be depravity?
• It’s not just committing sinful deeds,
• But also giving hearty approval to those who do.

You cannot practice or condone what God hates.

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

Romans 12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.”

So do you see why Malachi is writing to these people
That they are NOT READY for the Messiah to come?

• Do you see why before Messiah comes the forerunner has to come first?
• Do you see why John the Baptist comes preaching repentance?

And church indifference will never be cured without this repentance.

We cannot be indifferent toward sin
And at the same time think ourselves ready
For the appearing of the King.

Download here

The Longing Soul
Psalms 143
November 13, 2022

Tonight we look at the 143rd Psalm.

It’s an interesting Psalm to read,
Especially if you find yourself in pain or hardship or even depression,
Because David writes with the same kind of urgency and raw desperation
That we certainly feel at times in our life.

This is not the kind of Psalm that lends itself to easy outlining.
We don’t just read a Psalm like this and walk down through 1), 2), 3).

David is not systematic here, he is desperate and he is thorough.

It is important that you read this Psalm as whole
And understand his general point and then you can pick it apart.

So let’s make a few general observations.

Clearly the issue at hand in this Psalm is David’s “soul”
• He is in trouble.
• You do see his deep despair.

David doesn’t allude so much to physical danger or physical persecution
As he does to the persecution of his soul.

The soul is the focal point of the Psalm.
• (3) “For the enemy has persecuted my soul;”
• (4) “Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me;”
• (6) “My soul longs for You, as a parched land.”
• (7) “Answer me quickly, O LORD, my spirit fails;”
• (8) “Teach me in the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.”
• (11) “In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.”
• (12) “And destroy all those who afflict my soul,”

David’s soul is in desperation.
David’s soul is under attack.
David’s spirit is persecuted.

And so you can talk about this being a Psalm of the soul.
• You can see A PERSECUTED SOUL
• You can see AN OVERWHELMED SOUL
• You can see A SUBMISSIVE SOUL

But more than any one of those
What David presents in Psalms 143 is A LONGING SOUL

That is what you read in verses 1-2
“Hear my prayer, O LORD, Give ear to my supplications! Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness! And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous.”

That is what you read in verses 5-6
“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doings; I muse on the work of Your hands. I stretch out my hands to You; My soul longs for You, as a parched land. Selah.”

That is what you read in verses 7-8
“Answer me quickly, O LORD, my spirit fails; Do not hide Your face from me, Or I will become like those who go down to the pit. Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You;”

That is what you read in verse 9
“Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies; I take refuge in You.”

That is what you read in verses 11-12
“For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble. And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies And destroy all those who afflict my soul, For I am Your servant.”

David’s soul is unsatisfied.
• And in his desperation he is SEEKING.
• In his desperation his soul is LONGING.

AND CLEARLY WHAT DAVID IS LONGING FOR IS GOD,
And the effect of God’s presence in his life.

An interesting, and even somewhat confusing aspect of this Psalm
Is found in verse 2.

David says, (2) “And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous.”

• It is interesting that David wants God, but not judgment.
• And even more interesting is that David wants mercy for himself, but in verse
12 he wants destruction for his enemies.

That seems a little hypocritical.
That seems a little shallow.

If someone approached you and said,
• “I want to hear from God, but I don’t want to hear about sin or judgment.”
• “I want God to be merciful to me, but not to the people who persecute me.”

YOU’D FEEL THE NEED TO CORRECT THEM.

SO WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

Men who like to group and categorize the Psalms have listed 7 Psalms as PENITENTIAL PSALMS.

That is to say they list them as Psalms that cry out for mercy and forgiveness from God. (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143)

You’re probably most familiar with the 51st
Which is the famous Psalm of David’s repentance.

This Psalm is listed as the last of the penitential Psalms
And it is because of verse 2.

Certainly we pick up on the important gospel theology
Where David acknowledges that “in Your sight no man living is righteous.”

That is what we call TOTAL DEPRAVITY
David isn’t the only one who is fallen, all men are fallen.

But the specific request of David is that
God would not enter into judgment with him personally.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH THIS VERSE?

It seems to me that what you have here from David is a statement that might be better understood as,
• “do not enter into FINAL judgment with Your servant”
• Or “do not enter into ADDITIONAL judgment with Your servant”

For it is clear that David is aware that he is already being judged.
David is clear that he is already being disciplined.

(3) “For the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has crushed my life to the ground; He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.”

• David knows he is being disciplined.
• David even understands that God is sovereign over all of it.
• (For God could stop it any time He wants, indicating that God is also allowing it.)

And the prayer of David is not simply a prayer for deliverance,
But also a prayer of submission and seeking.

David is crying out to God with a declaration of submission
And he longs for God to accept his promise
And relieve the judgment he has been forced to walk through.

We have a word for this, we call it DISCIPLINE

The writer of Hebrews gives perhaps the best statement on discipline.
TURN TO: HEBREWS 12:3-11

The writer of Hebrews there reminds us that our discipline
Is a tool from God to train us in righteousness.

It is a tool to move forward the process of sanctification in our lives.

And in the case of the Hebrews
Their discipline came in the form of persecutors.
• They were being ostracized.
• They had their property seized.
• They had been imprisoned.
• They were threatened.

But the perspective the writer of Hebrews gives is that
“This persecution by the enemy is actually a tool in the hands of God to sanctify you and make you more righteous.”

See it as discipline from a father who cares how you turn out.

WELL THIS IS WHERE DAVID IS COMING FROM.
And through his discipline he has learned to seek the LORD.

So we call this the Psalm of: THE LONGING SOUL
David, because of his affliction,
Is now seeking God in humility, in faith, in desperation, etc.

HIS SOUL NOW LONGS FOR GOD.

AND MIGHT WE JUST SAY here even as we introduce this Psalm,
That this is a position God routinely puts us into.

You do realize that your primary purpose in this life
Is that you are to be one who seeks God.

Acts 17:26-28 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’”

• Paul speaks to pagans there steeped in idolatry
• And he reminds them that as the created children of God
• Their one obligation is to seek God, even to grope for Him.

Jesus certainly taught this.
Matthew 6:31-33 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

• You were not placed on this earth to seek food or shelter or any other sparkly thing.
• You were placed here to seek God.
• Namely you were placed here to seek His kingdom and His righteousness.

Jesus would go on to promise that if you seek, you will find.
Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

Seeking God has always been the purpose.
And we are promised to be blessed when we do this.

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Now, the problem for us is that WE GET DISTRACTED
And at times we begin to seek the wrong things.

We have a tendency to seek comfort or riches or glory or other things.

David certainly did from time to time.
• We remember him seeking Bathsheba
• We remember him numbering Israel (seeking glory)

And in response to such waywardness God would use circumstances
To discipline David until he returned and sought the Lord only.

And God uses this same process in our lives.
• We get distracted.
• We seek worldly things.
• We seek worldly riches and comforts and glory.
• We quit seeking His kingdom and His righteousness
• We start seeking our kingdom and our glory.

And in such times God uses discipline to remind us that
What we really need is Him, not more of the world.

What did Jeremiah say, even as Israel was heading into Babylon?
Jeremiah 29:10-14 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”

ISRAEL, YOU’VE GOTTEN DISTRACTED.
You are no longer seeking Me, you’re only seeking idols.
70 years in Babylon should do the trick.
You don’t seek Me now, but you will.

And God still does that in our lives.
He is doing that here in David’s life.

David has now recognized that the torment of his soul,
Even though it is by the hands of his enemies,
Has been sent by God to readjust David’s focus.

And so David, in humility and desperation is seeking the LORD.

He has a longing soul
And in Psalms 143 his soul is once again longing for the right thing.

So there is YOUR BASIC UNDERSTANDING of this Psalm as a whole.
That is what it is about.

AND THAT MEANS THAT
• If you have found yourself seeking the wrong things
• And God has brought discipline into your life
• And you would like experience revival
• And “have your seeker straightened out”,

THIS IS YOUR PSALM.

That being the gist of the Psalm, now let’s look at it a little closer.

#1 WHY IS DAVID LONGING?
Psalms 143:1-4

Of course we see the opening statements where David in desperation cries out to God.
• “Hear my prayer”
• “Give ear to my supplications”
• “Answer me”

I DON’T KNOW where David has recently been in his desire to seek God,
But I KNOW where he is now.

He is coming to God.
He is seeking God.
He earnestly longs for God to pay attention to him.

WHY?
(3) “For the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has crushed my life to the ground; He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.”

That’s pretty depressing.

David doesn’t speak of physical persecution,
He speaks of soul persecution.

Whatever this enemy has done to David, it has sucked the life out of him.

One might face physical pain and the soul be resilient and strong,
But David has faced soul persecution and he is done.

In fact (4) “Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; My heart is appalled within me.”

You saw that same phrase last week.
Psalms 142:3 “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk They have hidden a trap for me.”

It meant he was at his whit’s end. He was done. He wanted to quit.

And here David adds, “My heart is appalled within me.”

“appalled” is SHAW-MAME
It actually means “desolate”
It is used also to mean “stunned” or “stupefied”

In other words David says, “I’ve got nothing!”

I don’t comprehend or understand this.
I am persecuted and attacked and when I look inwardly for a solution I come up empty. I am no help to myself. I am no comfort to myself.

My inner counselor has failed me.
• I’m done.
• I’m finished.
• I’m overwhelmed.

In fact you look down to verse 7
David says, “Answer me quickly, O LORD, my spirit fails…”

I’m fading away.

He goes on to say in verse 7,
If You don’t come help me, “I will become like those who go down to the pit.”

I’ll be like a dead man.
My strength is of no use.

THIS IS WHAT WE CALL COMING TO THE END OF YOURSELF.

2 Corinthians 1:8-9 “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;”

That is where David is.
He has searched inwardly as deep as he can go to find encouragement and a solution to his dilemma and his own heart has failed him.

FROM DAVID’S VANTAGE POINT IT IS OVER.

And this is why He is now longing for God.

Perhaps it should not always take such drastic circumstances
To cause us to long for God, but it often does.

Often times we are forced to face persecution or discipline
To get us to finally take our eyes off the world and off ourselves
And to once again long for God.

AND IN OUR SUFFERING, WE FINALLY LONG FOR GOD AGAIN.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “I have learned to kiss the wave that slams me against the Rock of Ages.”

I don’t know if David is saying the same thing here.
I don’t know if he loves the wave,
But he has definitely been slammed against the Rock of Ages.

That is WHY he is longing.

#2 WHAT IS DAVID LONGING FOR?
Psalms 143:5-6

In short, David is longing for God.
And more specifically FOR REVIVAL
That he might once again enjoy the presence of God in his life.

• Notice how David is now awakened back to that time when he sought God.
• Notice how David is now awakened back to that time of fellowship with God.

(5) “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doings; I muse on the work of Your hands.”

This is the equivalent of that great awakening
Experienced by THE PRODIGAL.

Luke 15:17-19 “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”

• There was a time when the prodigal thought nothing of his father.
• There was a time when he only lusted for the things of the world.
• There was a time when all he longed for was worldly pleasure.

But a little time in the pig pen of discipline
And all of a sudden the prodigal began to remember that there had never been a truer joy in his life than the times he walked with his father.

David is now there.
And he says, (6) “I stretch out my hands to You; My soul longs for You, as a parched land.”

We remember how David had prayed such things before.
Psalms 63:1 “O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

• David once felt that way.
• Perhaps sin had distracted him

But now David has returned there again.
• He doesn’t just want relief, he wants God.
• He isn’t seeking a respite, he is seeking God.

And in seeking God certainly he longs for
The benefits that come with the presence of God.

For example:
(8) “Let me hear of Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You;”

Jeremiah would steal this thought in Lamentations when he would remind himself and the surviving Jewish remnant that the mercies of God are indeed new every morning.

David is now missing that.
He has in some way stopped seeking God
And is beginning to feel the spiritual famine in his life.

• He has run as long as he can run on his own sufficiency.
• He has traveled as far as he can go on his own strength.
• He is missing that refreshing mercy of God that is new every morning.

How I just want to arise and spend time with You Oh God!
I may have forgotten that for a season,
But I again remember what a blessing it is.

David once said:
Psalms 84:10-12 “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

And now David is returning to that mentality.

(9) “Delver me, O LORD, from my enemies; I take refuge in you.”

Perhaps he had forgotten the satisfaction of resting in God.
• There were times when chaos abounded around him,
• But he was so secure because he rested in God.

Now having tasted the bitter pill of standing in his own strength, David longs to return to that old hiding place of God’s presence.

(11-12) “For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble. And in Your lovingkindness cut of my enemies And destroy all those who afflict my soul…”

You see now that David is once again preoccupied with things like
• “Your name”
• “Your righteousness”
• “Your lovingkindness”.

These things may have recently taken a back seat on David’s priority list
But my HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE NOW.

• David needs the God who is passionate about His name.
• David needs the God who operates in righteousness.
• David needs the God who is faithful to His covenant and walks in lovingkindness.

David had grown distracted and perhaps wandered away from this God,
BUT IN HIS AFFLICTION HE WANTS TO RETURN.

(7) “Answer me quickly, O LORD, for my spirit fails; Do not hide Your face from me, Or I will become like those who go town to the pit.”

• I need You!
• I need to see Your face!
• I need fellowship with You!

This is really good stuff here from David.

I don’t suppose any of us here can say,
“I have no idea what he’s talking about.”

I think we have all at one point or another played the role of the prodigal.
• We have all been guilty at one point of another of getting distracted by our idols or our ambitions or our lusts for worldly things and pleasures.
• We all know what it is to backslide.
• Some may even currently be in a state of backsliddenness.

And we know what it is to face the discipline of the Lord.
We know what it is for God to use the wicked of this world
To chasten us and to get our attention.

And we know how important the presence of God becomes
In times of such sorrow and pain.

DAVID CERTAINLY DOES.

Why is David seeking? Because he is in afflicted.
What is David seeking? He is seeking nothing less than God.

#3 HOW IS DAVID SEEKING?
Psalms 143:10

It is a simple statement of humility and submission.

“Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

THERE IS THE PRAYER!

It’s not the first time he stated it.
(8c) “Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.”

It’s not the last time he’ll state it.
(12c) “For I am Your servant.”

But it is stated so beautifully and so directly in verse 10.

1) “Teach me to do Your will”

• That is not the prayer of a self-righteous man.
• That is the prayer of a recent failure.
• That is the prayer of a man who realizes he has gone A.W.A.L.

I’ve shared with you before about my dad’s
UNIQUE HORSE-TRAINING TECHNIQUES.
He was no horse whisperer.

His sole training strategy with horses was to take a horse and teach that horse submission.
• And in his mind there was really no technique that was off-limits when it came
to teaching the art of submission.
• This might include a kick to the stomach, a rasp to the nose, a pipe gate to the
forehead, you name it.

Often times he would put me on a horse with the soul purpose of finding something that horse didn’t want to do and making him do it.

And if the horse didn’t come around to his way of thinking in a timely manner it was not uncommon for my dad to say,
“That horse needs to have his attention got.”

That is what David is saying to God.
“I need to have my attention got”

“Teach me to do Your will”

In verse 8 it was, “Team me the way in which I should walk”
• For too long I’ve lived as though I was the master of my own destiny.
• For too long I’ve done what I wanted to do.
• For too long I’ve charted my own course.

THAT ENDS TODAY.
Produce in me a submissive heart
That understands its purpose is to obey you.

That is a great prayer.
If you find yourself on a prodigal journey, START THERE.
“Teach me to do Your will.”

And that’s not all from David.
2) (11b) “For You are my God.”

It seems like such a simple confession but it is so easily forgotten.

I love the last 25 chapters of Isaiah.
It chronicles Israel’s return from her rejection of God and her salvation which will occur in the end.

I especially love chapter 64 which is the chapter when they have realized their waywardness and guilt and finally cry out to God for salvation.

Isaiah 64:6-8 “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.”

Don’t you love the awareness!
“We are the clay, and You our potter;”

• We have gotten too big for our britches.
• We have forgotten our place.
• We got things backward for too long.
• And now we realize our place.

• You are boss, we are servant.
• You are Lord, we are slave.
• You are potter, we are clay.
• You are God, we are not.

David is there.
“For You are my God.”

Later in (12c) “For I am Your servant.”

How easily we forget the simple order of things.
• How easily we forget that is not here for us, but we are here for Him.
• How easily we forget that He is not here to grant our will, but we are here to honor His.

WE FORGET IT.
Well now, through his trial, David remembers.

And it is a simple confession.
“You are my God”

If you find yourself on a prodigal journey,
That is the NEXT PLACE you should go.

After you recognize your wayward heart,
It’s time put yourself back in your place.

Remember that prodigal?
Luke 15:18-19 “‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”

That is how we return.

And finally David says:
3) “Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

It sounds as though David has finally had enough
Of the rocky terrain of his own choices.

My what trouble we can get ourselves into
When we let our own heart call the shots.

WE CAN EVEN fall into such sin that
We actually despise the counsel of God.
• “I don’t want to know what God wants”

And we reach a point where we act as though
God is not good and that His way is not best.

And we rebel against Him and insist upon doing things our own way.

Well David has repented.
David calls the Holy Spirit God’s “good Spirit”

You know what is best!

“Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

I don’t know where to go, but You do.
• I was foolish and pigheaded to chart my own course.
• I was arrogant and sinful to choose my own path.
• I was so stupid to follow my own dreams and my own will.
• I abandoned You and it led me into nothing but misery and contempt.

Now I am spent!
I’ve got nothing left.

So God, now I seek You!
• I want to return to You and I want You to return to me.
• Teach me submission.
• You are God, and I know my place.
• Now You get in the driver’s seat, I’m getting in the trunk.

Church that is the prayer!
That is revival.

That is where we are intended to be.
We are to have longing souls.

• This prayer is NOT JUST A MEANS to revival, this prayer is the destination.
• This is where WE ARE TO CAMP continually.

We DON’T look at Psalms 143 and say, “Ok, if I’ll use this prayer for a few days then I can get back to a place of peace and get on with my life.”

NO!!!

Psalms 143 is where we are traveling to
And this is where we are to stay for the rest of our lives.

WE ARE TO ALWAYS BE A LONGING SOUL!
We are to always long after God.

This is a great reminder to us
Of what the Christian life should always look like.

And on the day that the church returns to this point, we will have revival.