Malachi 3:12-18

Good morning, we're a little bit early, trying to get that worm. If everybody could be seated, I would appreciate it.

Thank you.

We wanna welcome, you know, of course, our members and our guests. We had a beautiful fall Sunday morning. I love the fall when it's crisp in the morning, it warms up a little bit in the afternoon, the leaves are changing.

Of course, I love going out and sitting in the woods, seeing the animals, the peace and quiet. But we're gathered here, you know, to worship our Lord and Savior, and also to love on one another, to learn about Him as He teaches us with His word.

You know, it's hard to believe that the holiday season is already upon us. I mean, we see the lights, the Christmas decorations going up, the turkeys, they're on sale. And in less than two weeks, we'll be gathering with our family and sharing a meal, celebrating Thanksgiving.

And you may not realize it, but, you know, Thanksgiving actually traces its roots back to a day that the early colonists called Thanksgivings. And they were days of thanks that they would have where they would gather together for a day of prayer.

And this prayer was to thank God for the different blessings that they had given them. It might be that they, you know, won a war or maybe God supplied them with an extra blessing, some needs that they had.

And that's actually where Thanksgiving came from. And it wasn't an uncommon occurrence. It wasn't something that has happened once a year, like we celebrate this year. It was something that they did quite often because they felt like all blessings came from God.

Sadly, it isn't so in our day, is it? There'll be many that'll gather together on Thanksgiving, and they won't even know what they're giving thanks for, much less who they're giving thanks to. And that's exactly what the world wants them to do.

The world doesn't like it when we gather together and we give thanks to our God because we know all good things come from Him. We know it's about His blessings, the reason that we have anything. So as we go through this holiday season, I wanna start off by saying, let's not forget this fact.

What we're giving thanks for, what we're celebrating, and we're celebrating not ourselves or wanting ourselves to have fun and a good time, but we're celebrating the good blessing that God has given us.

And not only is that through the country and our lives that we live in, but it's also because of our Savior. He gave us our Savior, and we'll be gathering together here next month to go through celebration of one of the greatest miracles, the greatest miracle, Martin Lord Jones calls it, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, amen.

So if y 'all would, please stand with me while I pray. We're gonna do a little bit of standing and sitting down, but we're praying for a local church today, and it's not a local church geographically because they're pretty far away from us, and that's River Bend down in Florida, but they're local because we hold a special place, 12 Five does, and most of y 'all know this, in our hearts for River Bend.

In fact, we can trace our very beginnings back to their generosity and the blessing that God used them to bestow upon us. And so that's who we're gonna be praying for, River Bend Community Church. So if you would pray with me.

Our heavenly Father, we lift up our sister church to you. We ask that you would bless them, Lord, bless them with continued growth and conformity in your son, Jesus Christ. We pray that your love and precepts would always be preeminent in their lives.

And as you're aware, Lord, they have many saints in their body with needs. So we ask that you would provide them with loving care and healing. That you'd give them provision according to their needs, that you would provide them with comfort, provide them with assurance in their time of troubles.

And we also ask that they would be a beacon of Christ's glory and light, not only in their community, but in their surrounding area and state. We pray these in Christ's name, amen. You can be seated. I'd like to stand while you pray.

Well, we have a blessing today. We have new member recognition and Brother Nathan is gonna be coming up and taking care of that.

Well, it's an exciting Sunday whenever we get to add to the family here at 12 .5. And I know this is a holiday weekend Sunday. So it's kind of unfortunate. We're missing probably half of our members today because everyone's out of town and everything, but we're going to go ahead and celebrate today.

Kirksey's, where are y 'all at? I know I saw you a minute ago. There you are, come on, come on up. All right, we just finished our six week new member class that we do on Wednesday nights. And we had probably about 12 people.

Come on, if y 'all just watch your step because the trip up here. We had about 12 people go through the class. Everyone's kind of setting up membership interviews. You know, you have to meet with two elders in order to interview for the process of becoming a member after the classes.

And they literally, they didn't waste any time. Literally this Wednesday night was our last class. And y 'all said a membership interview with me. And then y 'all had one with Pastor Keith this morning.

They signed the membership covenants. They are excited for this, yes. Now, many of you know that Trent has been a pastor for a few years now and has decided to come and be a part of this community. And we're excited for them and to see how God uses their giftings and their calling in their family.

I'm excited to watch how God raises up this little one. We've got a lot of kids in this church, praise God for that. And so we've got community here and they've decided they would like to be a part of that community.

And after we've heard their professions of faith, after we've talked with them and they understand what it means, they understand what they're signing up for when they come into a place like 12 .5. You don't just move your membership here.

There's a whole evaluation process and they have gone through that. You guys are excited for bringing your gifts here, right? Amen. Well, I'm excited for that. And so before we introduce them and pray over them and commission them with this Bible, what members we do have today, please stand if you affirm this family to be a part of our community.

Praise God. And I think the ones that are out of town would have stood also, don't you? Okay, all righty. Well, praise God. Well, let me give you guys, now I know that y 'all talked, I'm gonna just skip right over you because she's getting the Bible, I believe, is that correct?

That's right, because you already have one. And I tell everybody every time, this is not a gift, this is a commissioning because that is what we're all about. The word of God and the ESV study Bible is an amazing Bible for references.

And so you can study. And as you come to this church, and as I remind you in the new member class, we are not about our mission. We are not about our vision, we're about His. And so there's imagery in that commissioning.

So everyone, if you would please stand with us, we're going to pray for this family and that God would bless these efforts moving forward. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you. We thank you for the Kirksey family.

Father, we thank you for their heart for you. We thank you for their love to be a part of a community like 12 .5 and to immerse their lives into it and their giftings. King Jesus, you are growing your church.

Father, you are working in us and you're bringing the people that you want here for 12 .5. I pray that we as a church would be able to encourage, edify and challenge and walk with this family and that they in return would do the same with all that are a part of this covenant community.

We thank you for it. We're looking forward to seeing how you work in all of our lives in Christ's name, amen.

Amen, amen. It's wonderful to see the blessing of the Lord bringing people with specific skills to our church. And we've seen this for several years when we have needs. And of course, Trent and his wife have been a preacher, just another iron to sharpen iron with.

Isn't that wonderful? So to call the worship today, this is responsive reading that we will have. And it's out of a very well-known psalm. The first psalm, of course, for many, it's one of their favorites.

So if you would reply, I will start off. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.

Or stands in the way of sinners or sits in the seat of scoffers.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season. And all that he does, he prospers, but the wicked are not so. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in judgment.

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous.

But the way.

Amen, amen. If you'll join me in a prayer of adoration. Lord God, heavenly father, your word is replete with descriptions of your magnificent glory. It tells us that you're clothed with splendor and majesty and that your garments are pure light and how the many and varied works that you perform are out of the eternal love that you have for your elect.

Father, we gather together, we praise you for your attributes in these works. How you provide food for us in due time. How you provide shelter and protection in our time of need. And how you provided for our deepest needs when we were lost.

Father, we sing of your praises. We shout of your wondrous works for all to hear. We proclaim and we cherish the fact that your steadfast love endures forever, amen.

Amen, we're doing things a little bit different this morning. So sometimes we need a good palate reset. I know we say that a lot, but it is good to do that. So as we sing some of these older songs that everybody knows, I'm gonna quit playing and you guys are gonna take it over.

So we're gonna sing all these. Everybody knows it, so everybody better sing. To sing thy full songs of loudest praise My heart, O, take and seal it Seal it for thy courts under me God, from blessings flow, we sing of thee

Scripture reading will come from Hebrews 8. Where Paul writes. Now, the point in what we are saying is this. We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Thus, it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God saying, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

For he finds fault with them when he says, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant.

And so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, declares the Lord, I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts.

And I will be their God and they will be my people. And they shall not teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest.

For I will be merciful towards their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more. This brings us to the prayer of confession and assurance. Join me in prayer. Father, Lord God, heavenly father, we come before you recognizing that only because of your great mercy and the works of your son, Jesus Christ, can we come into your presence.

We come recognizing that we have sin in our lives and iniquities that we cannot cover with our own efforts. We recognize that without your effort, we are nothing but loss in the magnificence of your creation.

It is you who are our hiding place. It is you who preserve us in times of trouble. And it is you who surround us with shouts of deliverance. Father, it is with our utmost gratitude and belief in your promises that we can confidently say that you are merciful toward our iniquities and you will remember our sins no more.

Jesus makes his soul now and see there is perfect love. Yes, of Jesus. Despite my days in.

Yes, of Jesus.

Father, we thank you for this time, God, of worshiping you and singing praise to your name. Father, we thank you that we can just kinda not do things as normal, Lord, with the entire band and praise you, God, that we just, that this is a singing church, God, that we don't need any instruments.

We could sing completely acapella to you, God. God, we thank you for the goodness of Jesus calling us to repentance.

Praise you, God.

On our days that God has numbered I was made to forsake his host now Singing these songs to you in worship and honor to your holy, mighty name, for the mighty acts that you've done in our lives.

God, as we continue this time of worship, Lord, in the scripture and giving, Lord, I pray that you are honored. Your name is magnified. God, that you work amongst your people as you see fit, Lord. God, that you would change us from the inside out, mold us in your image, Father God, by your holy word.

Give us ears to hear what the Spirit speaks to the church this morning, God. And all the saints this morning said amen.

Testing, testing.

Oh, the batteries were flipped around wrong. How about that? Well, as I was saying, absolute blessing to gather together with my church family to be able to sing the truths of God's word together. So this morning, we're gonna continue our series through the book of Malachi.

So if you would, please join me and turn in your copy of God's word to Malachi 3, starting in verse 13. As we've went through Malachi, we've seen many similarities with this ethnic nation of Israel with the church today.

And perhaps one of the greatest similarities that we're seeing and experiencing is spiritual apathy. Now, spiritual apathy just means you're going through the motions and almost coldness. There's no heart engagement.

That is something that is true today that exists within the church. And we're seeing so many examples of that in the time of Malachi with Israel. And so throughout Malachi, we've seen a pattern of disputes.

Israel arrogantly questions the truthfulness of God's word. And yet God is faithful and he meets Israel where they are at. And so through it all, God is faithful and we see the faithlessness of the people of Israel.

But we learned this amazing truth. God is unchanging in all of his ways and all of his goodness. That means that you can trust in the promises of God because they cannot possibly fail to come about. And so God has promised to save a covenant people, a remnant that will be blessed and they will persevere to the end because of God's grace.

God's Indictment of Israel's Blasphemous Speech

And so that brings us to verse 13. And this is the sixth and final dispute between God and Israel. So verse 13 says, "'Your words have been hard against me,' says the Lord. But you say, "'How have we spoken against you?'.

You have said, "'It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping of his charge and of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?'. And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evil doers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and escape.

Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them. And a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. And then God says, "'They shall be mine,' says the Lord of hosts.

In the day when I make up my treasured possession, I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more, you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him.'".

Let's pray this morning. Heavenly Father, God, thank you for all of your goodness, your provision in our lives and sending your one and only son to be our savior. God, I pray that this morning, as we work through the text, God, we would see a massive distinction between the righteous, those who have been transformed by the gospel of grace with the wicked.

God, the wicked a lot of times manifest themselves in religiosity and gathering together with the true remnant of your people. God, please bless us this morning. Please help us not to look to ourselves as an imperfect mediator, but looking to you, Jesus, the perfect high priest of a new and better covenant.

Lord, we love you. And we praise things in your name, amen. So our passage this morning, I want us to kind of bring out four major points that will help us navigate through this text. And so number one, we're gonna see God's indictment towards Israel.

Number two, we'll see Israel's retort back to God. Number three, God will give evidence of Israel's rebellious speech. And lastly, number four, we will see God's blessed faithful remnant that he calls his treasured possession.

So major point number one, God's indictment towards Israel. Verse 13 says, "'Your words, Israel, have been hard against me.'". Now, Israel has been demonstrating their faithlessness by profaning the covenant, inviting pagan worship into their midst, and they have been presenting sacrifices that are absolute abominations before the Lord.

And so in verse 13, God is charging Israel with sin, not just because of the things that they've done, but from their blasphemous speech against God Almighty. Once again, God says, "'Your words, Israel, have been hard against me.'".

The Power of Words and the Mouth Speaking from the Heart

Now, I wanna take a moment and think about words have meaning when they are spoken. In fact, words are a representation of what's truly on the inside. Jesus said in the gospel accounts, "'For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.'".

And so if you really wanna get to know a person, if you really wanna know what's on the inside, watch the pattern of their life and watch the things that they say on an ongoing basis. That'll tell you who they really are.

Have you ever heard someone say, well, all words are just made up? And I guess that is true to an extent. But usually what's followed up next is that is meant to justify saying something vile and disgusting.

Well, all words are just made up so I can say basically whatever I want. Well, scripture reminds us that there is power in the words that we say. Proverbs 15, 28 says, "'The heart of the righteous ponders or studies deeply how we ought to give an answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.'".

And so as we're gonna see this morning, there is a contrast between the righteous, those that serve God from a heart of love and faith, and the wicked that are suppressing the truth of God and their love for sin.

The righteous ponders how we ought to encourage one another as the saints, as we gather together in the body. The righteous care deeply about the words that come out of our mouth that we may honor God with our speech.

And when we interact with a lost and dying world, we think deeply about how we can articulate truths, the truths of the gospel, and compel them to look to Jesus Christ in faith. But the wicked, every bit of their speech is in opposition to God.

In fact, Jesus continued to say, "'I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every careless word they speak. For by your words, you will be justified, and by your words, you will be condemned.'".

What an interesting statement, because aren't we justified by faith alone? Well, that's absolutely true. But remember, the words that you say represent what's on the inside. So if your speech is a sweet-smelling aroma desiring to give God glory, well, that speech, you'll be justified by your speech because it represents a heart of faith, right?

And for every careless word that the wicked just flippantly say day in and day out, they will be held accountable before God Almighty on that final day. Here in our text, we read that Israel's not only being careless with their words, but they are explicitly blaspheming the one who knows all things.

God says, your words, Israel, have been hard against me. Other good translations of this verse says, you have criticized me sharply. You have spoken arrogantly against me, says the Lord. I want us to be almost shocked that Israel would dare speak this way to God Almighty.

You have mortal man speaking to the creator of the universe and questioning the truthfulness of his word. What arrogance, what pride, this is the height of all foolishness. And so how does Israel respond?

Israel's Arrogant Denial and Questioning

Well, this brings us to our second major point this morning. Israel arrogantly responds to God with a retort. So they're not being serious with this question and they say, how have we spoken against you?

So this is the pattern that we've seen throughout Malachi. God declares his covenantal faithfulness with Israel and then they, every single time, question what the Lord has said and what he has done in their midst.

And so when Israel says, how have we spoken against you? This is doubling down in their arrogant speech towards God. And once again, this is utter foolishness because last week we looked at verse six, this beautiful truth about the immutability of God, right?

Look with me at verse six. For I, the Lord, do not change. We can deduce so many wonderful principles from this verse. God is perfect. He's perfect in his character. He's perfect in all of his ways. That is why God cannot change.

And since God cannot change, that means his knowledge is perfect. That means when he says anything, it is fact, it is truth. Numbers 23, 19 says, God is not a man that he should lie nor a son of man that he should change his mind.

It is impossible for God to change his mind because God is the God of truth and his promises can be trusted. Understand this, when he gives a promise, it cannot fail to come to pass. And so Israel arrogantly is questioning and criticizing the unchanging God who knows all things.

How could they ever do that? How could anyone question the things of God? I do that. You all do. What does Pastor Nathan say? Don't give me that holy look out there. We all question the things of God every single time something doesn't go our way and we get mad, we grumble and complain.

We are actually questioning God's perfect providence for our life. And we are saying, well, actually I know what needs to happen in my life. I know better than God. With that being said, I wanna put a passage on the screen this morning from Philippians chapter two.

The apostle Paul wants to exhort Christians to work out their salvation in fear and trembling, trusting that God has ordained every moment of your life for a sanctifying purpose. That passage says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

And listen to this next verse. Do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless, innocent children of God. Now this passage has been mangled by so many cult groups and things like that to say, see, you have to work really, really hard to gain salvation or to keep your salvation.

And context is king. You hear that a lot here at 12 Five Church because Paul has been telling the members at the church of Philippi, it was actually God that began that good work in you and he is faithful.

He is faithful to bring that good work that he started to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. He's the one that regenerates hearts. We experienced that. We experienced a deep conviction over sin and our need for the perfect savior.

And so here we understand that believers are to work out what God first has worked inward. He did that heart surgery, that heart change. And so we are to work out our salvation in terms of our sanctification.

Sanctification is that beautiful doctrine of where we're being conformed more into the image of Christ and less and less like the world. And we are compelled to obey all of what Christ has commanded us by the personal indwelling work of the Holy Spirit in our life.

And so this means that every circumstance in the saint's life is for divine sanctifying purpose. I'm really wanting to impress that because how often do we grumble and dispute about the things that we go through every day?

Come on, got those holy looks a little bit out there. I'm right there with you. And so Paul is not giving us a law here. He's saying, think about all the things that Christ has been doing in your life.

What do we have to grumble and complain about? Right, he goes on in verse 14. It's a negative command. Do all things, saint, without grumbling or disputing. When we start having this mindset that God is truly sovereign over all things, well, then verses that say, for all of those that love Jesus, that love God, all things are working together for our good and for God's glory.

And so here, do all things without grumbling or disputing. Two key words here I wanna just break down briefly. Number one, grumbling. Grumbling in the Greek is gungusmos. This is an automotopoeic word, meaning it sounds like what it means.

So it should be gungusmos, rah, rah, rah, right?

It's kind of raspy. It's kind of a grumbly word, but it's an emotional word. It is a sin. It's the sin of an emotional rejection of God's provision for your life. Grumbling is a sin, okay? And it's an emotional sin, and it's totally focused on yourself.

And so grumbling is a sin. And number two, disputing. This word carries the idea of reasoning in your mind, thinking, God, I don't really deserve this circumstance that I'm going through. I don't really deserve this trial in my life.

And so these are dangerous sins together. Grumbling is emotional, and disputing is intellectual. And when these sins come together, you will have discontentment in the circumstances in your life, and you will begin to doubt God's sovereignty over all things.

You will begin to reason in your mind that you deserve better, and this will lead you to question God's providence in your life. I'm not here to give you law this morning, because you may be saying, preacher man, I get it.

I cannot do all things without grumbling and complaining. We will fail. We will fail. We will do this often. We will actually utter careless words throughout our life. But God, we serve a high priest of a better covenant that cannot fail.

And praise be to God that Jesus Christ is that perfect high priest of a better covenant. When we talk about the new covenant, we're talking about an agreement that Christ has determined to save perfectly every one of those that he intends to save.

In fact, he cut his blood to guarantee that promise. I wanna remind us of another beautiful passage of the perfect high priestly work of Jesus for all of those that are being sanctified. Hebrews chapter 10 says this, and every high priest stands daily at his service.

So let's just pause for a moment. Think about in the times of Malachi, right? We got these sinful high priests that are worried about themselves and the things that they can get if they are obedient to God.

Sinful high priests that are representing the people of Israel. Their service has to be done on a continual basis.

Why?

Because the old covenant could never save. It gave us law. It showed us that we fall short of the glory of God. It is a ministry of death. Therefore those high priests, therefore this priestly hood, they are a representation of fallen man.

Every high priest under the old covenant, their service is daily, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool under his feet.

Verse 14 beautifully says, for by a single offering, he, Jesus, the perfect high priest, has perfected for all time for those who are being sanctified. Are y 'all starting to see a contrast with the time of Malachi versus the saints that we are in the new and better covenant.

We have a perfect high priest. And yes, we are going to fail. But for those of us that are trusting in Christ alone, by faith alone, we can now flee to the Savior when we sin, when we utter careless words, when we do the things, when we grumble and dispute against God and his sovereignty in our lives, we can run to that perfect mediator.

And oh yeah, he can empathize with us. He took on flesh. He dwelt among us. He knows what we're going through. And he says, covered, paid for in full. That should cause the saint to rest eternally secure in the perfect high priest who will never leave us or forsake us.

Amen.

That was a good amen right there.

Thank you.

So I want us to have the contrast in mind now as we're going back to Malachi. Think about the priests under this old covenant, this older covenant that could actually not save. Now it did contain promises of the high priest to come of a better covenant, but these high priests in the time of Malachi, they despised the name of the Lord.

They offered up sacrifices that were really an abomination to God. And they turned aside and they caused many people in Israel to stumble. And no doubt they are the ones leading the retort, arrogantly saying to God, how have we spoken against you?

Evidence of Israel's Rebellious Speech and Heart

Well, this brings us to our third major point where God gives evidence, not that he had to, because he already said, you are arrogantly questioning me, but God gives evidence of Israel's rebellious speech.

Look with me at verse 14. God says, you have said it is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping of his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed.

Evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape. And so I just want to once again, point out that this is not, they are not sincerely listening to God. They are arrogantly thinking that they know better than God.

And they are questioning God in his very word. God, your word is not good enough, even though you said it, you must prove to us how we have wronged you. And so the first thing that the Lord points out is they have said, it is vain to serve God.

They are implying that we have kept all the requirements, God, that you have told us to do. And that is false. Back in chapter one, they offered up diseased animals as sacrifices. What a slap in the face to God.

This totally broke the requirements given back in Leviticus and Deuteronomy when they were supposed to give the first fruits, right? A land that had no impurities, no blemishes, and they offered diseased animals to God.