Malachi 2:17-3:16

Transcript

GR 51
3/9/1975
Malachi 2:17-3:16
Gil Rugh

The book of Malachi in the 3rd chapter. Malachi chapter 3. I'd like to pick up our reading with the last verse of the 2nd chapter that is the connection. Chapter 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?'1' (3:1) ''Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. 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 host. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. And He will set as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, 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 and as in former years. Then I will draw near to you for judgment, and I well be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wager earner in his wages, the widow and he orphan, and those who turn aside the alien, and do not fear Me, says the Lord of hosts. For I the Lord, do not change' therefore you, 0 sons of Jacob, are

not consumed,''

Malachi and in the 3rd chapter. We looked at verses 10-16 last week which really dealt with the problems in the family situations that had arisen in Israel. And we noted the pattern. That a degenerate spiritual life results in a degenerate family life. If a spiritual life is not ordered according the word of God, then your family life will soon begin to show the problems. And the first part of Malachi down through chapter 2 verse 9 talks about religious leaders who are not any longer leading people according to the word of God. And the results of this is seen not only in their religious life, but in verses 10-16 in their married life. Husband and wife relationships were breaking down because the spiritual life in Israel was not was what it was intended to be. And I hope that if you were here, you saw something of the importance of being involved in a situation where the word of God is accurately and consistently handled. Apostate religious leaders in Israel had a detrimental influence on the family and particularly on the husband and wife relationship. Because that’s where all problems in the family stem from--the husband and wife is not ordered according to the word of God and thus dealings with their children is not ordered according to the word of God. And the same type of detrimental influence goes on today when people expose themselves to the influence of apostate religious leaders--preachers who are not teaching the word of God. Then they begin to develop problems in their families and they wonder what’s wrong. You talk to them about their spiritual life and they say, 'look, I want to get my family together. Let’s do that and then we can worry about the religious situation. No! You have to go in the right order. And anyone who is not involved where the word of God is being taught whether it’s Indian Hills or another church where it is being taught, is going to have problems. There are many believers who marriages are not what they ought to be. And the first step in correcting that is being exposed to the teaching of the word of God. Now exposure alone won't do it! James makes clear that you can sit under the word of God and go out unaffected because you don't pay attention to what you hear. You don't allow what you hear to transform your life and saying you haven't heard with understanding. You really haven't received true knowledge until it has changed your conduct in your life. So if your relationship with your husband or your wife is not what it ought to be then you need to get back into the word and find out what the problem is. Because when you are the husband that God says you should be and He wants to make you, and you're the wife that you should be and God wants to make you, your marriage will be satisfying in every way. That's what God intends for it to be.

Now picking up with verse 17, we have an area of judgment brought to our attention. The matter of God correcting the wrongs. Things are not right in the nation Israel and God is going to set them right. And He is going to exercise judgment. The religious situation is terrible. The family situation is terrible. Now where is God in all this? Notice the type of questions that are asked that there is a God that ought to let this happen. How can a God of love allow this to go on and on and on – those type of questions well, they’re not new to our day because chapter 2:17 of Malachi, Israel was asking the same questions. In Malachi starts out by telling them how God has reacted to it. 'You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, How have we wearied Him?;' And here God says, 'I'm tired of listening to you,' Now how have we wearied God? Very simple. 'In that you say everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and He delights in them, so where is the god of justice? And that is simply a way of wearing the Lord.

Where everyone who does evil in the sight of the lord and He delights in them. You say, 'that's a terrible thing to say.' Another way of saying that is: 'If there is a God of justice where is He?' People look around at conditions in the world, the conditions in a particular person's life or family and they say, 'Well now if there is a God of love, how can He allow that? If there is a God of justice, how can He allow that?' And what are we saying? Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord. In another words if there is really a God then He's blessing the wicked. And that's not the kind of God I would expect. And these kind of questions are wearisome to the Lord. They're not asked in faith? They're not asked because someone is desiring true information from God. They are accusations presented against God. Where is the God of justice? In another words, I have determined that it is time for God to intervene in us—now where is He? So we in effect have become God in this situation. I have, because I'm telling Him. It's time to act. He's no longer telling me; I'm telling Him. And I put myself in that position my pride says that I'm one of those who needs to
judge. And this is the situation in Israel, crying out, why doesn't come and judge? Why doesn't He exercise His judgment and his justice. And the very pride that allows them to call God on the carpet indicates they are among those who God is going to have to judge. They haven't humbly submitted themselves to God and determined that God is working according to His plan. My concern is to have Him work in my life. They're determined that God has sinned, that He's not doing what He needs to do. And He'd better get busy. And that kind of attitude indicates they're among those who need to be judged.

And so here you find Israel with their degenerate worship with their families crumbling and God saying He'll hold them accountable for it. These people degenerate worship, degenerate family life and their calling God to intervene in judgment. And it is always the case the person doing this hasn't evaluated himself in light of God. He's evaluating somebody else in saying that God ought to intervene here. And haven't really accurately and honestly and openly consider himself and his condition in light of the word of God. And that's Israel. They're totally blind to their sin and need yet they're crying out to God to be a God of justice and judgment.

So that leads into chapter 3. And really the chapter we'd put in between 16 and 17 of chapter 2. Because in chapter 3 we have God's response--He is going to intervene. You want Me to intervene? That's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm not going to do it because you think I should.

I’m going to do it because justice demands it. But when I do, you’re going to be surprised because I'm going to judge with perfect judgment, with righteous judgment, with holy judgment. And that means the sin in your life will be judge as well as the sin in someone else life. Person like to have justice meted out but not equally--not to me.

It's interesting—one of the comments on the news programs. With crime and dishonesty. to be involved in this but they don't view it as dishonest when they are doing it. A criminal do dishonest things. We're just functioning with good business principles even though it's illegal. Now they like justice to be meted out but or course not to me. But these other crooks they need to be dealt with. Well, that's often the way we are with God. We think the sinners ought to be dealt with. But me? I'm doing my best.
And we fail to realize that God says that's not made for this.

Verses 3 and 4 are most familiar in Malachi, more familiar that the first two chapters because they're prophetic. And the prophetic portions of scripture are brought to our attention more often. Portions of chapters 3 and 4 are quoted in the New Testament. We going to be doing a brief study on prophecy when we get to the end of Malachi and we'll be tying some of these things together in a more orderly fashion. But we'll pick up the principles as they are laid out now. And then when we get to chapter 4, the end of the chapter, where Malachi repeats what God says, I will send my servant Elijah the prophet before the great and knowable day of the Lord. We'll spend a little bit of time, a week or two, looking at some of the events of prophecy and how these prophecies fit into the overall scheme.

Alright, chapter 3 opens us: ''Behold.'' An attention word! You've asked for judgment; you've asked for justice. Behold listen, ''I am going to send My messenger,' Say on the name Malachi here, because Malachi name is the word for messenger, the word angel. But Malachi is not in view here as the context makes very clear. God is going to send His messenger and He will clear the way before Me.'' In other words, I'm going to send a representative and He is going to prepare the way for Me. So you want Me to come in justice? Alright, I'm going to come. For in time I will send my messenger to clear the way. This is the common practice, and was the common practice of oriental kings. When a king was going to make a certain trip he sent messengers before him to prepare the way and their responsibilities were to smooth the road, to patch it up, to get any obstacles out of the way so that when the king came, he traveled on good road. The road had been prepared. And God says, I will send My messenger. He will clear or prepare the way before Me. Now I take it this is probably a reference to John the Baptist. There is an ultimate reference beyond John the baptist as well pick up at the end of chapter 4. But here it seems that John the baptist would be in view.

Back up to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40, page
1008 in the New American Standard Bible. Isaiah 40 verse 3.
''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.' '' Now turn over to Matthew. Matthew is the next book in your bible next to Malachi. Matthew chapter 3. Matthew and in the 3rd chapter. First book in the New Testament. The book of Matthew and the 3rd chapter. Verse 1, ''Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet, saying, 'THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD.
MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.' '' And here Isaiah chapter 40 is quoted with a reference to John the Baptist, and a similarity to that is Malachi chapter 3, seems to indicate that God, the one in view is John the Baptist. He came to prepare the way of the Lord before the Messiah. John did this by preaching repentance. By preaching conversion to the Messiah. He prepared the hearts of the people for the message and ministry of the Messiah.

Over in chapter 11 in Matthew, the same reference is given. Chapter 11:10. In verse 7 we're told that Jesus is speaking about John the Baptist and then in verse 10, ''This is the one about whom it is written, 'BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER
BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU,'' And thus Jesus goes on to say that John the Baptist is the greatest among men because he had the privilege of personally announcing the Messiah.

So back in Malachi chapter 3, 'Beholdf I am going to s end My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me.’’ We’re talking about John the Baptist. This prophecy was fulfilled some 400 years later when John came announced the presence of the Messiah on earth. Israel was no more ready for the Messiah and His ministry 400 years later, than they were in Malachi’s day. But they are crying out for judgment. The judge comes in the person of the messiah. Israel was not ready! ''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.’’ The Lord who you seek will suddenly come to His temple. And the suddenly here does not mean that He came to happen any day now, in Malachi’s day. But the 'someday' will be quick. He will come quickly. And when He did He came on the scene and all of a sudden He was there. John the Baptist began his public ministry about six months before Jesus and in that quick of time the Messiah is present offering the kingdom to the nation Israel. They came quickly and the nation wasn't ready. They're crying out for justice and judgment and the Messiah is the one who will bring it. God gives them some 400 years more to get ready and when He comes they still are not ready. They’re still not expecting Him. It's interesting statement here ''and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, He is coming.' The word ‘messenger that is mention here is the same word angel. And that’s Malachi's name, angel or messenger. It's Hebrew word carried over. And the messenger or angel of the covenant is coming. My understanding is, here we're talking about the first messenger. I'm going to send My messenger, he'll clear the way before Me. And the Lord whom you seek will come to His temple and the angel or the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold he is coming. So there will be a messenger to prepare the way, then the actual messenger--the angel of the covenant will come. Understanding is that we're talking about the angel of Lord of the Old Testament here. And I think there's a couple of indications of this.

Turn back to Exodus chapter 23. Exodus 23 in verses 20- 23. Exodus 23 verse 20, ‘Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him. But if you will truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. For My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Arnorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them.''

Look over in chapter 33 of Exodus. There the angel mention in connection with the covenant God has with Israel, to protect them, to keep them, to watch over them. In Exodus 33:15, verse 14, 15. Verse 14, ''And He said, 'My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Then He said to him, (Moses speaking), ''If Thy presence does not got with us, do not lead us up from here.'* God promises that His presence will go with Israel. Moses says we don’t want to go up if your presence is going to be with us. Now His presence is none other than the person of the Angel of Jehovah, Jesus Christ.

Look in Isaiah chapter 63 for that identification. We’re back to the book of Isaiah and the 63rd chapter and that page. 1143, the New American Standard-~1043. Isaiah chapter 63:9. Verse 8 says, ''For He said, 'Surely, they are My people, Sons who will not deal falsely.’ So He became their Savior. In all their affliction He was afflicted. And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them; and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.’’

Note the angel of His presence saved them. So Moses talks about the presence of God going with them in Exodus 33; God promises His presence and the presence is none other than the angel of the covenant of Exodus 23. He turns out to be the angel of the Lord. And throughout the Old Testament the angel of the Lord is none other than the person of Jesus Christ, manifesting Himself in His pre-incarnate state, before His incarnation. After the birth of Jesus Christ you never find, that the angel of Jehovah mentioned in scripture. Because He has manifest Himself now as the Son of God. But through the Old Testament He Is the angel of Jehovah, but He is the Son of God as well.

Okay, so that's the one we're talking about, 'the covenant' that we're talking about in Malachi 3, then. The messenger of the covenant we're talking then about the angel of the Lord. And here we have a specific reference—'the angel of the covenant in whom He delights, behold He is coming.' And here we're told that it will be the angel of the Lord. My presence; so He's going to cornel So when He clears the way before Me and the messenger of the covenant are the same persons. So we have really here, three references to the deity of Jesus Christ in Malachi 3:1. You might just take note of them. The deity of Jesus Christ mention here three times. It's drawn to our attention three times. First, He's identified with the lord. Note in verse 1, My messenger and he shall clear the way before me. And the person speaking at the end of the verse says the Lord of Hosts. He shall clear the way before me in the last statement of the verse, tells us who is speaking—the Lord of Hosts. So the one that John the Baptist is going to clear the way for is none other than the Lord of Hosts. Jesus Christ was none other than Lord of sabbio, the-d-the Lord of Hosts. God Himself.

Second indication of the deity of Christ here is indicated to be the owner of the temple. 'The Lord whom you seek will come to his temple.' So Jesus Christ came to His temple. To whom did the temple belong? To God! And it's said to be the temple that belongs to Christ because He's the one that John the Baptist prepared the way for. So another indication of the deity o£ Jesus Christ, He is indicated to be the owner of the teraple and God would not share than with any man.

Third indication here. He is called the Lord whom you seek. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple. And Against the Lord whom they seek, verse 17, the (?) god of justice in verse 17. And God responds, the Lord whom you seek, this God o£ justice, He will come. And who was that? None other than Jesus Christ. So almost in passing that in a very clear way, three times it's stressed that this one who is coming will be none other than God Himself. God the Son, Jesus Christ, is going to come to exercise judgment and He’s the one whom all judgment has been committed as Jesus make clear in John chapter 5. The father judges no man but commits all judgment unto the Son. So therefore, when Israel calls out for God to exercise judgment, it’s God the Son who acts as judge of mankind---of Israel and of all men.

Okay, so the judge is going to come and He’s none other than Jesus Christ. The first and second coming are blended in Malachi through and all New Testament prophecy, We’ll talk about this when we talk about prophecy at the end of Malachi. But the prophet at the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ right together. They didn't know that there were some 2000 years separating them. Thus part of what is said here would be fulfilled when He first came, and the ultimate fulfillment will be at His second coming. And that’s when He will come to the temple and that's when He will exercise judgement and meet out justice.

Verse 2, But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver and purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.’ So He’s going to come and but when He comes, He’s going to exercise judgment and so the question: 'Who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears?’ And it’s similar to the situation in Job. Where Job attempts to justify himself so that when God appears sees himself as the worm that He really is and a man totally unworthy and totally unfit to stand in the presence of a Holy God.

So these Jews of verse 17 they are crying out for Him to come. And when He comes, who’s going to be able to stand in light of His perfect holiness and perfect purity--who would be able to stand in their own man before Him. He’s a man of perfection. He’s a man of perfection. He’s a man’s holiness perfectly displayed in every area of a life. Now who is there on his own merit before a judge who has such standard. Doesn't say the standard to see your best. His standard is perfect.
Now those who are perfect and have been perfect every moment every day of their life could stand before Him on their own merit. Now you can see why God ask the question: who’s going to be able to stand. You are crying out come on God of Justice who's going to be able to stand when He gets here. Because He's like a refiner’s fire and like fullers' soap, or like alkali--we have soap as such. It is used to whiten cloth, the alkali. Here's a double reference, here the refiners fire as it melts away all impurity and the solution that scrubs out all the dirt, the grime that purifies the material and whitens it. And He is going to sit as a smelter and a purifier of silver. And the first thing the Messiah will do when He comes to establish His kingdom is to sift our the nation. That's why John the Baptist came with a message, repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Because when Messiah comes, His first responsibility is to exercise judgment and so the nation needed to repent, to turn from their sins, to place their faith in Him so they could stand in the righteousness of Him. And when they truly believed the message of John, truly believed the Messiah was coming, change, their mind, they repented and they believed in God so they could be ready for the Messiah.

Zechariah. Turn back to Zechariah. It's only the book before Malachi, so it's easy to get to, in the 13th chapter.
Just a couple of pages back to Zechariah chapter 13. Talking about the coming of the Lord. In verse 8, Zechariah says to the nation, ''And it will come about in all the Land, 'that two parts in it will be cut off and perish; but the third will be left in it.'' Two-thirds of the Jews living in Palestine are going to be destroyed; one-third will survive. And in verse 9, ''And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is my God.' '' So that refining process is going to be very harsh and very hard. It’s going to be sifting out two-thirds of the nation Israel and the third that is left the impurities will be refined away and they will corne through as those who are pure; those who are trusting God.

A couple of references in Matthew you can turn to quickly. Matthew chapter 13 talks about this event surround the second coming of Christ. Matthew chapter 13. We have a series of parables, the parables of the kingdom as they're known. As we're just going to pick up with the conclusion and the interpretation them, briefly, there's a couple of them. In Matthew 13:40. ''Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fir, 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 cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SON IN THE KINGDOM OF THEIR FATHER. He who has ears, let him hear.

Look at verse 49, Note at what happens at the second coming of Christ to earth. The wicked are removed from among the righteous and the righteous are left to go into the kingdom. ''So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth, and take out the wicked from among the righteous and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.''

Now Matthew chapter 24, we're talking in the same context. Matthew chapter 24 and 25 does not pertain to the day in which we are living and its information regarding the tribulation. We’ll talk about the details of the tribulation again when we talk about the details of prophecy. Matthew 24:37, ''For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.
For as in those days which were before the blood they were eating and drinking; they were 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 shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there shall 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.’’ The one taken is the one taken by the angel to be cast into the lake of fire that Jesus talks about in Matthew 13. The one left is the righteous one who’s going into the earthly kingdom the Messiah is about to set up. The judgment of the sheep and the goats at the end of that chapter depicts the judgment of the nation, the gentile nation incidentally at the Second Advent.

And some questions came up in light of the article in the paper about feeding the hungry; giving a cup of cold water and so on. That is tied to the tribulation period, how the Gentile treated the Jews during the seven year tribulation is an indication of whether they have really believed in Messiah or not. Because in those days to give a cup of cold water to a Jew will be to put your life on the line because anyone who shows kindness to the Jews will be executed by the Anti-Christ. Thus only believers will have a heart for Jews during that period.
Now we know that He came the first time to provide salvation, because no one could stand in His presence on their own merit. We know now that we are living in a period of time that will be ended by His second coming to earth. So believers will end at least seven years earlier at the rapture of the church. At the end of this period, the consummation of the age will come when Christ comes physically to earth and meets out judgment over Jews and all the rest of mankind.

Alright back to Malachi to pick up a few more points here. In verse 3 of Malachi, ''And he'll refine the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, 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 and as in former years.’’ Still men have the idea that God is finally going to cave in and going to accept the worship that they offer. Here is proof that he’s not! He said worship will be offered my way and I’m going to see that it is done that way. So it doesn’t matter that most of Israel was involved in a false worship system that doesn’t mean God changed His plan and accepted it. It just meat that He was going to sift out the majority of the nation. That worship would be offered in His way.

Now it may surprise you to see that offerings are going to be offered in the millennium, the early kingdom of Christ. But in Ezekiel chapter 40-46 in particular, deals with the millennial temple and the offerings that will be offered during the millennium. In chapter 43 it gives you some of the details
o£ the blood being offered on the from the blood offering. Offerings will re reinstituted. There will be a temple rebuilt and the temple sacrifices will be offered. And I take it that these sacrifices will be a memorial of Israel of the death of Christ, just as the communion service is a memorial for the church today regard the death of Christ. So the sacrifices in the Millennium will be a memorial for Israel for the death of Christ. There are no problems with that, of sacrifices being- offered in the millennium. The death of Christ has occurred, but the sacrifices were never acceptations. They could never take away sins. So the sacrifices of the Old Testament never took away sins. God forgave the Old Testament saints on the basis of his faith because of the death of Christ that would occur. The sacrifices simply reminded them that the penalty of sin was death. The sacrifice in the millennium will remind them that the Messiah died for their sins and it will be a memorial type of service.

Verse 5, ''Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those bear false witness, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien, and who do not fear me.'' So as God draws this together, He tells them that I am going to come in judgment. I will draw near to you in judgment and I want you to know what I am going to judge. He’s going to judge the sorcerers. And the sorcerers we’re not allowed to live in Israel and the very fact that they are serving here Is an Indication of degenerate worship. Exodus commanded the death of a sorcerer. Israel wasn't to tolerate their existence. Then we find out that Israel was tolerating it even in the new testament because in Acts 8, we find out about Simon, the magician, the sorcerer who was a Jew practicing sorcery and yet being tolerated by the nation Israel. So the sorcerers connect with degenerate worship. The adulterers I think it ties to the degenerate marriage situation in 10-16 with the divorce, remarrying of foreign wives and so on. From God's perspective you have broken a covenant that I am a witness to and you were not at liberty to break and therefore I will judge.

Those who swear falsely; those who oppress the wage earner and his wages; the widow and the orphan. Israel were the people of God and as the people of God they were to function as a family. And they had family responsibilities. And often these commands of the Old Testament are taken to give essential emphasis to today. They are limited to Israel. Your parents are not responsible for others. Israel is responsible for other Israelites. The orphan and the widow and their special responsibility to paying the proper wages to other Jews.
Because they recognized other Jews as those chosen of God and give them proper respect. And when that broke down it indicated that Israel was operating contrary to God. They are operating in worldly selfish motive. They were oppressing the widow or the orphan so they could get more. Because it costs. They're were certain requirements with land and so on that fell upon taking care of the widow and the orphan. And sometimes that proved too costly and so Israel backed o££ from it.

The alien, the one who would become part of Israel. When they became identified with the nation Israel, then Israel had a special responsibility to them. And the alien who identified himself with Israel and became a convert or proselyte, he came under special care of Israel as an Israelite. And the sum of it--is that they do not fear me. Here's where all the problems go to. They did not fear Me! They failed to recognize God's faithfulness and mercy in verse 6, ''For 1 the Lord, do not change' therefore you, 0 sons of Jacob, are not consumed.' *'

They failed to realize through all this that it was God's mercy and love that was allowing them to survive. Their calling out for judgment and God sits there and says, 'it's because I don't change, 0 sons of Jacob. That's the reason you're not consumed.' If God acted according to our commands everyone of us would be destroyed because of my times of super-self righteousness I call out for judgment. But if God leaps in to exercise His perfect judgment when I cried out, you know what? I'd be destroyed along with everybody else. And God's says cause in time I don't change. I entered into an agreement, a covenant. I obligated Myself to you, Israel, and I am going to guarantee that you get to the goal that I have established. Israel will occupy the kingdom in the millennium not because of their faithfulness, but because of Gods. Because if Israel doesn't change now, they're up and down, they're faithful one day, and faithless the next--but because God doesn't change.

The situation is the same today. In writing Peter, in II
Peter in the 3rd chapter talks about the patience o£ Got to preserve man. The 3rd chapter the people are crying out for judgment just like they were in Malachi's day. Where is the God of judgment? And he doesn't intervene and everything is always going to on the same. Verse 7, ''But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserve for fire, kept for the day judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice beloved,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.’’ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. So the Lord is not slack, he’s not slow. He’s patient! And the reason destruction hasn’t been poured out is because He is patent and in mercy He’s calling men to Himself--inviting them to respond to the salvation that He has provided and men in the arrogance and self-righteousness condemn God. They call God into question and fail to realize that all this is simply an indication of His patience. Yet you and I become, you know, frazzled by it. We come to the end of our rope. We think that it’s got to come to an end, think how it affects the Holy God who is perfectly Holy, perfectly righteous and perfectly just. And yet He waits patiently, patiently waits, why? Because it’s not His desire that none should perish. If Jesus Christ would’ve intervened a year ago, some of you wouldn’t have been ready. If he had intervened 10 years ago, many more of
us would've not been ready. So then God is patient, well at least He waited until I got ready. And you can be glad that
He was patient. He waited until you got ready. Until now did you get ready? If you’re not confused here--by believing in Jesus Christ. you can't stand before Me in your own righteousness. So you have to stand before Him in His righteousness. So he provided His righteousness in the person of His son, Jesus Christ. You know what, it one who is coming to judge, Jesus Christ, the Son of God is going to see me as perfect you know why? He’s going to see me wearing His righteousness, clothed in His righteousness so I can see Him. Because of what I am? No! Because of what He is. He’s is perfectly righteous and because I have placed my faith in Him. He has declared my to be righteous and thus when He comes in judgment, I’ll not be judged. I'm righteous. I rule and reign with Him.

I wonder how you have responded to the mercy of God? It's easy to read about it in the book of Malachi. You can read about the patience of God here, but His patience is continued down until to today. You can be at Indian Hills Community church this morning and I wonder: have you responded to the faithfulness and mercy of God? Have you come to the point in your life were you haven't seen yourself as God sees you--a sinner in need of His righteousness and in light of that have you placed your faith in the righteous one that He has provided, Jesus Christ? Allow Him to forgive you of your sins, to cleanse you, apply His righteousness to you so that you look forward to
His coming. Because you are one that will rule and reign with Him. Let’s pray together.

Father we thank you for your great love, mercy and patience. Lord the dealing with us not according to our sins, not according to what we deserve, but in accord with Your love. Father we thank you for Your Patience and Lord we thank you for the salvation that you’ve provided in the person of your son. Lord pray for any who are here this morning, Lord, who have been recipients of your mercy and Your grace, in dealing with them. Pray that before they leave they might stop trusting themselves, their works, their merit, their religion. Pray that before they leave they might stop trusting in themselves, their works, their merit, their religion. That they might simply place their faith in Jesus Christ, receive the cleansing and forgiveness, to receive the righteous that you’ve provided in Him, And Lord of those who have, pray that our lives may be lived consistently with the word that we might be those who are responding in faith to the word that you’ve committed to us. You might be a allowing the spirit to conform us and to mold us into the image of the one who’s righteousness who’s now applied to us. Pray Lord that our lives will be lived faithfully until Jesus Christ comes to take us to be with Himself. Lord we thank you again for the glorious destiny that is laid out for every believer. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.