Alright. If you take your Bibles, to Malachi chapter two. Malachi chapter two. We'll begin reading in verse 17. Throughout the book of Malachi, we see this kind of debate or argument going on between Israel and God.

God says, you're doing this. And Israel says, well, how so? What is it we're doing? We we don't get it. And then God explains.

Though God had delivered them from captivity, brought them back to the land just a couple generations previously, they once again were were straying. They were simply going through the motions. They were not bringing God their best, they were bringing God their what? Their leftovers. They were treating him with dishonor.

They were treating the priests were treating their service dishonorably. The people were intermarrying with those who did not believe in the God that they served and others were flippantly divorcing their wives and God dealt with those things. Now here in chapter two in verse 17, we read this. Ye have wearied the Lord with your words, Yet ye say, wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them or where is the God of judgment?

Let's stop just a moment and go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for your word this evening. I pray as we consider this argument here, the complaint of Israel and the answer of the Lord that we would consider our need to trust him more also. To trust in his promises, to trust in his justice, to trust in his love, to trust in his promises. For, Lord, you will always keep your promises.

Thank you for that. Help us, Lord, to live in the light of those and in greater faith. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. So Malachi's indictment.

You have wearied the Lord. The people's response, how so have we wearied the Lord? But what what do you mean we have wearied the Lord? God's answer is thus. Here's how you have wearied me, God said.

In that you say, God does not judge between evil and good anymore. Israel was saying, well, it just doesn't appear God that you are, you know, stepping in, that you're doing anything. The evil prosper and the good don't. That is the conclusion of many. That is the conclusion of Job's friends, not about God but about Job.

If bad things happen to you, that means, well, God is punishing you. If good things are happening to you, means God is blessing you and you must have done something right. Well, they they didn't even believe that. They were questioning, God, what are you doing? Seems like you're not judging between the evil and the good.

Of course, we know that sometimes good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to what? Good people. That happens. I mean, God even tells us in James to count it all joy when we run into trials and struggles. Why?

Because if we'll turn to the Lord and trust in him rather than being knocked down, we will get what? Stronger. The Lord knows what he's doing. When we're have a little kid and they're maybe around one year old and you think, hey, it's time for them to start walking. So you you pick them up and and, you know, you get a hold of their hands and they take a few steps and you let go and what happens?

Now, you're doing that because you are punishing your kids because they're bad. No. You're doing that because you want your kid to learn to what? Walk, you know. God sometimes allows those things in our life.

So it's not quite as cut and dry as a lot of times people think. And they said, they God says, you've wearied me and as you say, I don't I don't see the difference between good and evil. Obviously, God does. He said, you've wearied me and that you say I delight in wicked ones. That that's not true.

But, you know, as we learn in the New Testament, God is a God of grace and he calls it to rain on the just and on the what? On the unjust. There is coming a day that those who reject him, reject his grace, reject his son, reject his offer for mercy and forgiveness will pay the price. But praise the Lord, he is a God of mercy and patience and grace because we needed it and we still do as they. God says, you'd worry me and that you say, where is the God of justice?

Where is he? I don't see him. He isn't doing anything. Where is his justice? Where is his his judgment?

In second Peter in chapter three that Peter tells us of scoffers in the end times that will say, well, you know, where is God? You know, he's made all these promises and he's coming back to judge and I don't see it. Peter reminds us the reason we don't see it yet is because God is a God of mercy and he's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to what? Repentance. God tarrying is not a sign of per permissiveness.

It's a sign of his mercy and of his grace. But these were their complaints. This is what God was saying. You you say these things about me. You don't what?

You don't trust me. You don't seem to trust my vision or awareness of evil in the world. You you question my actions and accuse me of supporting wickedness. You don't trust my judgment or me to keep my word. Do you trust me or not?

I think sometimes the same thing might could be said of us. Do we trust him or not? We trust him with our eternal soul. Do we trust him to guide our steps each day? Do we trust him to answer our prayers?

Do you trust him? God says, do you trust me? Have you ever tried to earn someone's trust and no matter what you do, they just don't seem to trust you? Is it wearying to try over and over and over again to gain someone's trust and they just won't trust you? God says you've wearied me because you don't trust me.

God again being the gracious and patient father that he is responds by assuring them that both rewards and judgment will come. Just be what? Just be patient and trust me. Be patient and trust me. However, as we'll see here a glimpse of, the Jews always thought that the coming of the Messiah was gonna be a wonderful thing for them.

And it will be for some of them, but it won't be for what? For all of them. And God kind of points that out in the passage here as well. In chapter three in verse one, he talks about messenger number one, we'll call it, and messenger number two. That word's used twice in this first, but it refers to two different people.

So so here is God's answer to their wearisome complaints. Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly suddenly come out of his come to his temple even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come saith the Lord of hosts. God says in response to their impatience and their lack of trust, he says, behold, listen up, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me. Who is Malachi referring to here?

He's referring to John the Baptist. John the Baptist is the messenger, the final of the Old Testament prophets, a transitional figure, who comes in the likeness of an old testament prophet named Elijah, who prepares the way, the people for the coming of the Messiah. He is the one referred to here in Matthew eleven twenty. Jesus said, for this is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee. So Jesus, he says this about John the Baptist, if you look in context, he is quoting from this, he's quoting this verse.

He is saying, this is the one, John the Baptist, he's the one, this is he of whom Malachi spoke when he said, God said, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me. That is John the Baptist. Now, the last thing that the book of Malachi talks about is John the Baptist at the end of the letter, the end of the book. So, we're gonna spend more time on John later when we get to Malachi four. But there's another messenger in this as well.

Okay? Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me. That's John. And the Lord whom ye seek the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Okay.

That is messenger two and that is the Lord whom you seek. The one you are looking for. And who is that? Well, that's the Messiah. Okay.

The messenger of the covenant as he's referred to here, the Lord as he is referred to here, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that is identified here by messenger of the covenant. The one that was foretold, has been foretold many times in the books of the Old Testament. Turn if you would to Daniel chapter nine. So Daniel chapter nine.

Daniel chapter nine beginning in verse 24. Now I won't spend a great deal of time on this tonight. We've gone through Daniel and and when I preached on prophecy of end times, I spent a lot of time on this passage. But just a couple pointers as we go into it. It starts out there with seventy weeks.

The word weeks is not a week as in a week as in seven days. The word week is used similarly to how we use the word dozen. So if I said I went and got a dozen, you would ask the question a dozen what? Okay? A dozen eggs?

What did you get a dozen of? Okay? That's how the word week is used here. Seventy weeks is 70 sets of seven. Here Daniel is not talking about sets of seven days, he's talking about sets of seven years.

And 70 times seven is four hundred and ninety years. Okay? So that's four hundred ninety years that Daniel was speaking of here in verse 24. Four hundred ninety years or seventy seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city. The holy the people is Israel, the holy city is, help me out, Jerusalem.

To finish the transgression, the transgression of the people, And to make an end of sins. Oh, that's gonna be great. To make an end of sins. To make reconciliation for iniquity. Reconciliation with the one that we have rebelled against.

Who is that? That is God. To bring an everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. And that most holy is is Jesus Christ, that's God. To anoint him as king.

This is speaking of his millennial reign. Verse 25, know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the what's the next term? Next word name? Messiah, the prince Shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks. That's sixty nine weeks or four hundred and eighty three years.

The street shall be built again the wall, that is the walls of Jerusalem which they were under Nehemiah even in trouble as times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off. What do you think cut off means? Cut off means killed, executed. Okay?

We know how that happened. It was by crucifixion. After three score in two weeks or the sixty ninth week, Messiah shall be cut off but not for himself. He wasn't. He didn't die for his sins.

He died for whose? For ours. And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood and to the end of the war desolations are are determined. The prince that shall come is the antichrist. The people that initially destroyed the sanctuary in the city of Jerusalem after the resurrection of Christ were the Romans in a d 70.

Speaking of the antichrist in verse 27, and he shall confirm the covenant or a covenant with many for one week or seven years. In the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. For the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. The the desolator is the Antichrist. He shall attack Jerusalem, but the Lord will intervene and consume him.

And then Christ will take his place as king of kings and Lord of lords, the Messiah. This is the one that Israel was seeking. The Lord whom you seek is the Messiah. Daniel had foretold of it before Malachi about three generations or four previously. So, probably a little over a hundred years earlier, Daniel gave this particular prophecy.

But, there are many other prophecies concerning the Messiah, though maybe the name itself was not used. But in Isaiah chapter 61, we read this. Isaiah, it sounds like he's speaking of himself, but he's actually speaking of the Messiah. He says, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings under the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of prison to them that are bound.

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion or that's Zion is Israel. To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified. Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth took the scroll of Isaiah, he read this passage and he said what? He said, in your presence today, this is fulfilled. What was he saying?

He is saying, I'm the one this is talking about. This is me. I have come. The one that you what? The one whom you seek.

Okay? And Christ is obviously not done yet. He came the first time not as judge but as savior. He will return as judge someday and he will finish the job that he has started which we'll read about here in Malachi some more in just a moment. He is the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, Malachi reads.

The messenger of the covenant. That is, as Christ said in Matthew five here, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say into you till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. The jot or the yoda is the smallest letter.

The tittle is the smallest distinguishing mark. Jesus said every tiny, every letter, every word will be fulfilled and it will be fulfilled in who? In Jesus Christ. He will fulfill the covenant and the prophets and the law. He will fulfill it all.

Not only will he fulfill not only is he the fulfillment of the Mosaic covenant in that he kept the law when Israel failed, not only is he the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant because he is the son of who? The son of David who will come back to take his place and reign, but he is also the author of a new covenant. And you say, well, go we go to the New Testament for that. Right? No.

Actually, you can start in the old. Go to Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31, and we can read about the new covenant before Christ even came. The new covenant that Christ authored by his death and on the cross and the shedding of his blood was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah as well. Jeremiah thirty one thirty one.

I finally got that I finally remembered that reference where it was found. I've been turning there for I don't know how long and every time I go to turn I go, now where was that? But thirty one thirty one, finally got that locked in my head finally. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

That is the Mosaic covenant that God made with Israel at Mount Sinai that Israel failed to keep their end of the bargain. Which my covenant, he wrote here, they break although I was a husband unto them saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward parts, I will write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. That's the new covenant.

And more than any other, I believe the messenger of the covenant is the messenger not of the old, but the messenger of the what? The messenger of the new. Salvation for all who come in faith to Jesus Christ, the one who shed his blood, not by the blood of bulls and goats, but by the blood of Jesus Christ who gave himself for us on the cross. He is the messenger of the covenant. When he came the first time on two separate occasions, it it refers back in Malachi here.

It it says, he shall suddenly come to his temple. Now, are two lines of thought on that, but I think when it comes down to it, both are included. One, that's referring to Jesus Christ bursting into the temple to run out the what? The money changers and such. And he did that on two different occasions during his ministry.

One early in his ministry and one late in his ministry. But the other thought comes from the book of Zechariah which was written just before the book of Malachi where it tells us that Christ is going to as the men, the angels told the disciples as they looked up as Jesus ascended that Jesus will return in like manner as he went up. He'll return back to the Mount Of Olives and he will enter the temple that exists that in that day from the Mount Of Olives into the Temple Mount where he will take his place in the holy of holies. Better than the mercy seat, the son of mercy, Jesus Christ himself. He will come.

He came and he will come again. So, let's get to the next verse here. Verse two. But who may abide the day of his coming? So you're looking for his coming.

You're looking forward. It's gonna be great, but he says, hold on. Hold on. But who may abide the day of his who may stand on that day? Who shall stand when he appeareth?

For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant on the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judge and I will be swift, a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, against the the false swearers, against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, the fatherless, they that turn aside the stranger from his right and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. But God is a God of grace and mercy, but he's also a what? He's also a judge. He is going to restore Israel, but is it going to be painless?

The answer to that is no. It won't be painless. So as they complained about his judgment not coming, they weren't thinking about his judgment on who? On them. It was everybody else that had the problem.

Does that sound familiar? We tend to easily see everybody else's issues, but not what? But not our own. And this was particularly a problem for Israel. They were Israel.

It's those enemy Gentiles out there that were the problem. But it God wasn't coming just to take care of the Gentiles, but he was also coming to to purge and purify them and it would not be a painless process. He says here in verse two again, who may abide the day of his coming? Who shall stand when he appear? Okay.

You think you're going to stand guiltless and innocent? No. Praise God, there was one who was innocent and guiltless. What did he do? He died on the cross for who?

For me. And I will stand before God someday not based on my works, but based on his. Clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, in Jesus Christ. But we won't stand based on our merit, neither will Israel, only in the righteousness of Christ.

He is coming to restore, but he is also coming to judge. Because in order to restore, a purification process has to take place. When we come to Christ as savior, we must come in repentance. Why? Because there is a purification process that must take place.

As we live our life for Jesus Christ, there are things that are still need to change in our life. There is a purification process that is still taking place. Sometimes it's a little bit what? It's a little bit painful. But it's what?

It's necessary and it's good. If the doctor comes to you and says, you have cancer, that isn't words you want to hear. And oftentimes, the solution is something that you also don't want to hear because it's something very unpleasant. But in order to be restored to your health, the cancer has to be eradicated. Your body has to be cleansed and purified.

For Israel to be restored as a nation honoring to God, God has to first eradicate the elements that don't belong. The elements that are keeping them from honoring and serving him, from being the testimony that they are for him. And that part of his coming, they kind of didn't quite get. It is gonna be wonderful. But but there is there is a purification process.

The purpose of his coming to cleanse and restore his people. John said here, John the Baptist, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with what? Fire.

What's the fire here? That's that's to burn away the dross, the impurities. In order for Israel to be restored, the impurities had to be burned away. Christ puts it this way in Matthew chapter 13, he talks about the parable of the wheat and the what? Tares.

And the servants wanted to go through and rip the tares out right away and he said, no, wait. But when I come, I will I will differentiate between the wheat and the tares. And the wheat, I'll pull up, I'll take out, and I'll throw it in the fire, the tares. But the wheat will be harvested. And what is he speaking of?

He's speaking of those that are false. And not my children will be cast out of the kingdom, but those who are will enjoy all the eternal blessings that are ours in Jesus Christ. That day is coming. A day when God will clear out and burn away the dross. As we serve the Lord as Christians, he is doing that with us even today.

But he knows what he's doing. Let him do his work. Then he says, after this process happens, then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days of the old and and in the former days. Israel rejected their Messiah when he came the first time. They rejected they rejected him before his death.

They rejected him after his resurrection. They rejected him after the day of Pentecost. And so Jesus didn't finish the job then, but he is coming back to finish it one day. Praise the Lord to our benefit because now we have had the opportunity to know him and to one day join him. He will purify the Levites and those who serve him.

He will eradicate those who do not belong. He gives a list here in chapter five. He he says, I will come near to you in judgment. I will be swift witness against the sorcerers and the idolaters, this false swears against those who oppress. And then several groups that are oppressed, the hireling in his wages, the widow, the fatherless, that turn aside the stranger from his right and fear not me.

God says, I will deal with them. I just need you to what? I just need you to trust me. Be patient. God says, I know what I'm doing.

Be patient. I will restore Israel. I will burn away the dross. I will I will banish those who don't belong in the evil that is with them. And it will be wonderful.

But be patient. And don't be too quick to think all this is gonna be great if you're not on the right side. And by doing this, Jesus, the Lord, will preserve his people Israel. He does not change, therefore he is faithful. He will hold up his end of the covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Davidic covenant, the new covenant.

He will usher in his kingdom in one day, a new heaven and a new earth. But as we said, the process won't be painless. It will require honest repentance on the part of some. It will require banishment and eternal damnation on the part of others. Which one's better?

Repentance. Repentance. Praise the Lord. He is a God of grace and mercy. And for all those who repent, he forgives.

And he will never leave us nor forsake us. He will continue to work with us. I I sing a little song on my guitar called, he's still working on me. Praise God, he's not gonna give up on me. And one day, we'll see, he will keep all his promises.

He will take us to the place that he has prepared for us. We will rule and reign with him here for a thousand years, and we will live with him in the new Jerusalem forever. So trust him. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you Lord for the words of Malachi this evening.

Lord, I pray that we would be honest with ourselves and honest with you. And Lord, if there is dross in our lives, if there are impurities, if there are things which Lord, certainly you know there are, that need to change. Would you reveal them? Would you expose them? Would you give us strength and humility to admit them?

And will you change us, cleanse us, and purify us? For if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.