Where is the God of Justice

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. Mike Ebendroth here, Michael Lee Ebendroth.

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Engage. We have received some visitors from Radioland here at Bethlehem Bible Church.

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I'm sitting in Bethlehem Bible Church now, my study, my office. If you ever are visiting and you're in the area in Central Mass by Worcester, Massachusetts, or maybe your

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GPS will say Worcester, you can come and visit us. And we've got a brand new website, bbcchurch .org,

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if you want to find some sermons there. Pretty soon I think they'll all be online, or at least the ones that, not from 20 years ago, that I don't want on there, as I was moralistically preaching verse by verse.

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Not every sermon is moralistic. And the new No Compromise Radio Ministries, nocoradio .com,

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that website up is up as well, I think with all 1 ,500 episodes. I think we're at 1 ,500 now, there's some

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Equipping Eve episodes as well, Aaron's ministry there. And so welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry.

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You can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com, and we will try to answer your questions.

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I would say the number one question that we get is, we're at a bad church, we have friends, my spouse likes it there, or feels the tug of stain, but it's not really good for us, we're not getting really, we're not getting fed, what do we do?

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I think that's the number one question. And of course I don't like it if people leave the church that I am pastoring in a way that's not good, so I don't immediately say, oh you gotta leave, and if they don't subscribe to the 1689, they're dust.

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But there probably is a time to leave the church, there isn't probably a time, there is a there is time. You just want to do it the right way for the right reasons.

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And so in the meantime, many of you say we listen to shows like No Compromise Radio to help us think clearly, so for that I'm glad.

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I am blown away, figuratively and maybe literally, in the sense that the Lord has used this show in the ways he has, and so I'm thankful that you listen.

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Tell your friends if you have been encouraged by the show. Well, last time we were talking a little bit about Theodicy, and no, that's not a board game.

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Maybe it is. It's not a video game. Maybe it is. You know, the new Angry Birds Theodicy, the prequel.

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I'm just looking here on my desk in the studio, and I hope to release two books this year, no -comedia books.

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They won't be through Zondervan or Harvest House or Day One, my old publishers, or I guess they're still my publishers, but we're gonna do our own and give that a shot, and you can order them online on the

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No Compromise website. Two different books. One is about evangelical white lies, lies that people love to believe, and the other one is about sexual fidelity.

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As my son was growing up and I was teaching him things about sex and purity and holiness and what to do and what not to do,

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I was working...that was probably four years ago, I began to work on a book, and it should be out sometime this year. I don't really know what to call it.

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It's not one of these books that is, you know, over -the -top in terms of its terminology. It's written in a chaste fashion, but in an engaging fashion as well, in the sense

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I'm trying to get you to think. Thirty chapters, just read one chapter a day on this topic, from husbands to wives to, you know, training children, sexual fidelity.

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I don't know if that's the title yet or not. I don't really have a good title yet. I'd like to make some of these books under the banner of No Compromise Radio.

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So No Compromise Parenting, No Compromise Sex, No Compromise Men's, you know,

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Masculinity, No Compromise, and the list goes on. So we're gonna give that a shot. We'll see after the first couple if the thing bombs or not, but I have these books that have been written for a couple years, several years, and they're just sitting around in a document, and so we're gonna give it a shot.

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No Compromise Media presents to you. Well, last time we were, as I was just talking about it, talking about the

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God of Justice. Where's the God of Justice? If God is just and holy and right and good and powerful, why does he let all the stuff go on in the world?

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And then answering the question is what we would call theodicy. Why does evil exist and how can we put that in our minds in such a fashion that we can sleep at night?

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And so Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, I almost said New Testament, last book of the

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Old Testament, there's that refrain in Malachi chapter 2, where is the

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God of Justice? And the text says that the Lord is wearied with such a refrain.

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I mean, they just keep going on and on and on, these people do, without asking themselves the question, well, have we been holy?

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Are we doing the right thing? And so it says in chapter 2 verse 17, you have wearied the

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Lord, Yahweh, with your words, but you say, how have we wearied him? By saying,

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Malachi says, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them, or by asking, where is the

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God of Justice? So in this fourth disputation,

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God is against these moral offenses, and God is going to deal with those who do what they're not supposed to do.

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But what do we end up doing with us? And so we talked about that last time with self -righteousness.

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Well, where's the God of Justice? Wearies the

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Lord. And so you begin to say right away, wait a second, wearies the Lord. I thought the

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Lord doesn't get tired. Well, this is just a language of accommodation.

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That's what it is. And these complaints go against the Lord. The bad news is, instead of trying to figure out, well, how could

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God be wearied? I mean, it's just a figure of speech. Why am I doing the exact same thing?

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I mean, my life is hard. I've gone through struggles. You don't know what I've been through and am going through, and God, you don't care.

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God, you're really sovereign. Why are you letting this happen? Other people, hey, pagans, they're not in wheelchairs.

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You know, unbelievers, they don't have these things, and so our minds begin to think that way.

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And the language of Malachi is, God is worn out. That's the language. I mean, he doesn't sleep or slumber, and he doesn't need to be re -energized, and you don't have to plug him in at night, you know, and battery recharge.

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It's been a tough day keeping the world, you know, revolving around properly. No, this is, people call into question the justice of God and the judgment of God and the holiness of God, essentially, and we do good, they do bad, but they have fortune, we have misfortune.

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But the tragic flaw, what's wrong with all that is, we consider ourselves among the righteous, and even we as Christians, we can become very self -righteous and forget that our righteousness comes from another.

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We're not comparing ourselves to the Lord, that's what we should be doing, and then we realize, hey, we're actually worse than these other people, but God has saved us.

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You know, it's the mentality where you drive past the reservoir here in central Massachusetts, the

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Wachusett Reservoir, and there are aspects of it that are pretty, you know, it looks like a lake that you can't touch, you can't fish in,

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I guess once in a while you can, but they protect the water for Boston. And so you look at it, and you think, you know, the people sitting there, fishing on a

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Sunday morning are the wicked people. I'm going to church, the good people go to church. That's the faulty thinking of self -righteousness.

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Hey, what about them when we say, what about us?

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Don't fall into the trap where you think, I deserve God's blessing. They don't deserve it, they're not doing good.

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I deserve it, I'm doing good. I mean, we're not Pelagian, are we? But we are self -righteous, and we forget about the gospel, we forget about Jesus and how he reconciles sinners by himself.

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I mean, man's not a part of the equation except to receive the blessings. We are passive in redemption.

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We never should say, well, God, you know, you're a God who's far off, and you're a

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God who blesses these other people, but we, the good people, you don't bless. Nehemiah was cognizant of the same thing, and he wrote in chapter 9, in all that has happened to us, you have been just, you have acted faithfully while we did wrong.

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Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please.

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We are in great distress. And so, that's the right attitude. God is good, he always does good,

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God is just, and he's never unjust, he's always faithful to his promises.

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And we don't want to weary God. I mean, you can hear the language in Isaiah 43, but you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses.

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God is doing a great job of upholding the universe. God isn't tired of sovereignly ruling the universe, but to use the language of Malachi, he's tired of hypocrisy, he's tired of self -righteousness, he's tired of people asking the questions like,

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God, the rich people over there that are and look at me, where are you?

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I mean, that God would have to defend himself. I mean, we're the self -righteous ones.

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Now let's say we're Christians, we have received a righteousness outside of ourselves by grace, sovereign grace, because he loves enemies, he loves the helpless, he loves sinners, he loves ungodly people.

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We have received this great benefit. Jesus has paid for our sins, Jesus has earned our righteousness,

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Jesus has been raised from the dead, and now God, how dare you act this way in this world?

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How dare you act this way? I mean, I'm gonna sue you. I've had some things going on in my life lately where I think, you know,

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I cannot get resolution. I've had things imposed upon me that I did not do, I did not orchestrate, should not have happened, and financial inequities, where I just minding my business, and then all of a sudden now

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I cannot get restitution. And so I think to myself, you know, I try to be nice, then I try to be firm, and then if this next step doesn't work,

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I'm gonna have to say, okay, the lawyer has to go and take care of it. And then I probably lose the money anyway, but it's for the sake of doing the right thing.

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I mean, what's going on? I'm gonna sue God? I'm gonna give him a deposition?

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Deposing God? You know, the problem is, this just goes back.

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It goes way back. It's ingrained. Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat?

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The woman you put here with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate it. What is this you've done?

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God said to the woman. The serpent deceived me, and I ate. Blaming, blaming, blaming, which ultimately both of those two.

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Adam said basically, God, you sinned, because you gave me this woman.

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And Eve basically said, you sinned, because you could have prevented this evil. Where's the God of justice when you've got this kind of serpent slithering around?

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Well, it's before the slithering, of course. The upright, I don't know how you do that, but it did it.

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I mean, my circumstances, my misfortunes. Look at the other people. That's the problem.

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We always get focused on the other people instead of worshiping the Lord God, speaking to the

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Lord, worshiping the Lord, praying to the Lord. So I said it last time, and I think it's important to say again on No Compromise Radio.

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You know, you can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com. I'd appreciate it if it wasn't anonymous.

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You can just say your first name, that's fine. But the anonymous thing, it's just kind of weird. I have to observe the world.

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I have to read the world. My perception of the world must be through the lens of Scripture.

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That's the only way you can get around this. So through the lens of Scripture, what's highlighted primarily in Scripture is the

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Gospel, Jesus the Messiah dying for people like us.

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Like us, I said. I didn't say like them, those wicked people. Us, we are the wicked ones. I am the world. Remember that back in the, is that this late 70s?

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Early 80s. I am the world, we are the children. Make the world a better place by singing this song and begging for money, and most of the money probably goes for administrative stuff.

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I'm sitting here drinking a Pete's coffee. It's a Saturday morning. It's in my harvest house mug, and I don't have any cream.

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I mean, I should be the black coffee drinker, but I hate to tell you that I put Stevie in it, and usually half and half fat -free creamer.

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There's none in the church building today, so it's just straight up. Not too bad. I don't mind the taste.

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I don't mind the taste. Now, if it was a different kind of coffee without cream, then maybe I'd mind it. Looking through the lens of Scripture and then observing everything else.

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Saying to ourselves, you know what, no matter what the world looks like, I know

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God's patient. I know God's kind. I know how gracious He is because I see and have have been the recipient of the mercy of the work of the

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Son, Jesus Christ, and His free, sovereign, reconciling me to the

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Father. I see that. I understand that, and so I study the

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Scripture. I see the character of God, and what passes before you as you study the Scripture is what passed by Moses.

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The Lord, the Lord is a God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

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Or to use the New Testament language, as Peter says, the Lord is not slow about His promises, some think of slowness, but He's patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

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So when you study the Scriptures in light of who God is, of course, then it's okay.

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Now I get it. I have to walk by faith and not by sight. I can't put God in the room to have a deposition and say, hey,

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I want answers. Here's the thumbscrew, now give me the answer. I mean, this is how depraved we are.

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This is how depraved and deceptive sin is. Where's the

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God of justice? You know, He's far off. He doesn't care. He doesn't care about me. That's a bad way to think.

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That's a bad way to think. So the answer in Malachi to this question, I'm gonna send my messenger.

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The answer to the injustice that's going on in the world, Christian, yes,

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God knows it's going on, God has a plan, you might not know the plan, but it's not going to last forever.

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Jesus is gonna come back and make all wrongs right. That's really the answer in chapter 3 of Malachi verses 1 through 5.

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There's going to be a judgment when God comes back, and God is going to judge these evil, wicked people.

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Yes, He is going to do that. So get back to what

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I've called you to do. These are serious accusations against God.

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And now God Himself responds, Malachi 3 .1, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.

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And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight.

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Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. Behold, at the beginning of chapter 3, verse 1, and behold, toward the end, when this is used 994 times in the

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Old Testament, pay attention, listen up. This is going to be something you need to focus your mind upon.

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The Messiah's messenger will come, the one calling in the desert, preparing the way of the

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Lord, making straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low.

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This is John the Baptist. Isaiah chapter 40 is what I was just reading, some of that.

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John the Baptist is going to come. Matthew says it, Mark says it, Luke says it, John says it. There's a forerunner of the

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Lord Jesus, His name is John the Baptist. He will prepare the way of Jesus.

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Now, back in the old days, of course, if a king was coming to town, you prepared that king.

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Now if the Vatican says the Pope is coming to America or any other place, the President of the United States is going to visit another country, preparations must be done.

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These days it's mainly security, but I'm sure there's some renovation to the hotel or the city that could go on as well.

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Clear the road, back in the old days. No potholes, no ruts, everything should be smooth, the sticks, the rocks, the debris should all be pushed to the side.

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The Lord is coming. Now instead of rocks and holes and pits and potholes,

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John the Baptist clears the way of the Lord by calling Israel to repentance. That's the preparation work, to really understand who

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Jesus is and the gravity of His person. And back in those days, His eventual work, of course we know what that work is, work was.

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Where's the God of justice? Well, John's going to come and say, hey, you need to repent and level the road out in your heart through repentance and faith in Christ Jesus.

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It's spiritual work, not really maintenance road work with, you know, construction workers.

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It's in your own heart as the Spirit of God works through words like this, and then not only is the messenger going to come, verse 1 says, the

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Lord will seek, the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. Suddenly, unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.

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When you see this word suddenly in the Old Testament 25 times, almost every single one, with one exception that I know of, it's judgment's coming.

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You want justice? Yeah, yeah, justice is coming. Jesus is coming, and so we see here, as we look at all of Scripture, this is the second coming of Jesus, coming back the second time in judgment, coming back on a white horse in Revelation chapter 19.

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The messenger of the covenant, this prophet of God, Jesus, this

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King of God, Adonai, he is the messenger of the covenant.

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And just think about that for a second. Jesus, the faithful one, is coming back, he's a messenger of the covenant.

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What do you mean by that? Well, what he means by that is, all of Jesus's life and ministry is a covenantal ministry.

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And you say, well, I'm dispensational. Well, let me read to you Hebrews 12, verse 24, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new what?

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Covenant. And to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

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As Lewis Johnson, he is called a messenger of the covenant because his whole ministry is a covenantal ministry.

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His whole ministry comes by virtue of the everlasting covenant to start with, and then his ministry is the fulfillment of all the messianic covenants.

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He is the one who will come and lay the foundation for the Abrahamic covenant in his blood, and thus laying the foundation for the new covenant, making it possible for Israel to be redeemed.

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And even this language, think about it for a second. We read this too fast. The Lord's gonna send a messenger.

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Well, this messenger is God, so how can God send God? Hey, this is all triune language, where the

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Father sends the Son. That's exactly right. In the old days, you would have a

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Near Eastern covenantal negotiation, and you would have to have a messenger of that covenant. You would carry out the covenant through messengers.

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And here is the servant that Isaiah 42 talks about. Here is my servant, my chosen one in whom

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I will delight. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness. I will take hold of your hand.

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I will keep you and make you to be a covenant for the people and delight for the

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Gentiles. And to think that the Lord didn't have to do anything, he didn't have to send anyone.

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Where's the God of justice? You'll see, you'll get it. But he's a God who is merciful, and he sends his messenger.

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And he could have said, well, you know, it's someone like Isaiah or Jeremiah or Daniel.

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Maybe it's another one who's like Amos or Obadiah. Yeah, they were all good messengers.

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But now he sends his son, his only son. He is God. Jesus is the

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Lord. I am the Father, and the Father are one, John 10. Anyone who's seen me has seen the

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Father, John 14. This is the messenger whom you delight in.

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That's kind of an interesting irony there. You really going to delight in such a fashion?

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Yeah, you're supposed to be delighting in him, says Malachi, but this is a little irony here. I don't think you're going to delight so much in that God is going to come back to judge your sin as well.

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The judgment described in Malachi goes on to talk about a fire and a soap that a refiner would use and a fuller would use.

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Fire and soap, the cleansing action God does for his people. Well, my name is

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Mike Ebendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. Where's the God of justice? Don't ask that question.

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You know where that...you know the answer. Keep reading your Bibles on a regular basis.

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How about the book of Matthew? Let's read the book of Matthew for the first five or six chapters, read it every day this month, and then say to yourself...I

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don't even have to ask the question, is God kind? Is God loving? Is God omniscient?

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Is he sovereignly distinguishing in his grace? All those questions get answered when we just keep reading our Bibles. Here we have the

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Bible and we just forget to read it. Well, we get too busy to read it. And so, is God gonna be just?

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Yeah, he is just. And by the way, right now he's just patient, but he's coming back one day and he sent his son the first time to save, and then his son is coming back the next time to judge.

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So in light of that, be praiseworthy Christian and be evangelistic. That's the response. My name is

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Mike Ebendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. You can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com.