23. God's Method | Part 2

Sunday Evening Sermon
December 06, 2020
“God’s Method, Part 2”
Malachi 2:17 – 3:5
Pastor Rick Fernandez

You have wearied the Lord with your words; yet you say, “In what way 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?
“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.
“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 launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.
“Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in former years. And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien— because they do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts.

Remember that summary statement: The preaching of the Word prepares the way for Christ and Christ prepares His people for worship. That’s it. That the idea of this text. Therefore, God sends messengers and He was promising that he would send a messenger to His people Israel. And He does the same today. He sends messengers. He sends men to preach the Word of God. And in their preaching the Word of God they prepare the way, the coming of Christ. So, let’s pick up right where we left off.
And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts. (What Psalm does this sound like? Psalm 110, verse 1.) The Lord said to My Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool (for Your feet).” And in that psalm the Father calls His Son “Lord.” And here you have the same thing. This is God speaking in this verse. Behold, I send My messenger, (He is sending John the Baptist to) prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, (who is not me) whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant – The Messenger of the covenant and the Lord in this passage are the same person. And God makes reference to Him. This of course is a reference to the Man, Christ Jesus. The messenger will come, John the Baptist, and he will prepare the way for the coming of Christ.
Now, how does he do this? Well, we saw that he does this in the preaching of repentance and faith in Christ. But particularly he highlights many truths about Christ, but here’s one in particular. Turn to John again. We read this text several times. John chapter 1, and I’m going to read verse 29, John’s statement there: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!...”
Now, this is John preaching the gospel. This is John the Baptist presenting Christ to the nation of Israel. We’ve got to think about what is it that he is doing? I can’t remember the book but it’s a book on preaching and the author – if you read it, just yell it out after I say this – but the author talks about addressing the fallen, human condition. Well, that’s what John is doing here. He is addressing – I’m pretty sure he didn’t read that book – but John is addressing the condition of his audience in presenting Christ. He is speaking to men and women who are fallen, who are dead in trespasses and sins and need a savior. They need a sacrifice. They need someone to die on their behalf. They need someone to cover their sins, to bear the burden for their sins. So, he’s preaching to their fallen human condition.
And in the same way when we preach the gospel… that is what we are doing when we are presenting or preparing the way for the coming of Christ. You take the offices of Christ, you take the Person, you take the work of Christ and you preach that to your people. So, how do you do that? I’m going to take the offices of Christ because I heard last week that Pastor Marc taught somewhere on Christ as Mediator. Right? Didn’t you? So why not do that?
So, Christ is a King, this is one of Christ’s offices. Well, why don’t we start with Christ as a Prophet? Christ is the Prophet, thee Great Prophet, the last Prophet. But, why is that particular office important? Why is it that we, as God’s people need this prophet? Look at Ephesians chapter 4, verse 18. Paul is speaking about unbelievers. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 18, and he says this: ‘They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.’
All unbelievers are in a state or in a condition of darkness, particularly their understanding. Yes, the heavens declare the glory of God, but the heavens do not declare the gospel. They don’t do that. Not only is the mind darkened so that spiritual things cannot be understood, man is alienated from the life of God. He is estranged from it. He is alienated from it. There is no peace between the mind that is set on the flesh and the things of God. They are ignorant of God’s ways due to their hard heart.
Now, how does Christ as a Prophet remedy that need? How does Christ do that, as a Prophet? Well, listen to what Christ does. Why did Christ come into the world? In John 1:18 we read this: ‘No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the Father’s bosom, He has made Him known.’ Christ came from heaven to give His people a clear vision of who God is; to reveal God to man. Therefore, when Christ is preached in His offices, and His Person, and His work, we shed light upon the Person of God to fallen men and women.
Moving a little further into this truth, because Christ does this a particular way. He does this by His Word and Spirit. So, in John 14:26 we read this: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. So, in the preaching of Christ as we preach His offices, His Person, His work, the blessings that flow from what He has accomplished to us, light shines upon men. That he can have peace with God now. That the enmity that existed can be put away. That the wrath that you currently live under because of your fallen nature and because of your violation of His holy Law, those things can be propitiated – a sacrifice can be offered to atone for that sin. And you can have peace with God.
Now back to Malachi. So, this is what John does. John preaches to that fallen, human condition. And he preaches that Christ is the Lamb of God. And that’s what we must do if we are going to preach like John the Baptist. We have to preach to that fallen, human condition. And we have to preach the offices of Christ. The work of Christ and the Person of Christ, and apply those to the people of God.
Now, Malachi says this: And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. After John the Baptist preaches Christ, Christ steps on the scene, and Christ begins to preach the Kingdom of God. And at the end of his ministry, after Jesus has cleansed the temple twice – He’s dealt with the religious leaders in His day multiple times, confronted them of their sin and their hypocrisy – they have this final confrontation. And in Matthew chapter 23, we read these words from Christ. He says to the religious leaders… Who cited this text earlier today? Thank you. Someone cited this particular text. He says this in Matthew chapter 23, verse 38, Jesus says this: See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. (continue into chapter 24) Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, –
John the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of Christ. And when Christ came into the world He was not received by those to whom He was sent. When He came into His temple, when He was a twelve-year-old boy and He sat there with the religious leaders and He was asking questions. They were amazed that this young man knew so much. He entered His temple in the gospel of John. He comes and He cleanses the temple of course because they were making His Father’s house into a den of thieves. Afterwards, His disciples understood that zeal for His Father’s house would consume Him. Yet, He was rejected. And this one was the Messenger of the covenant. He came to preach the good tidings of the covenant. This is what Jesus was doing all along in His ministry. He was preaching the favor of God and men rejected Him.
If you remember when Pastor Marc preached through the gospel of John, the reason why the Jews took offense with Jesus was because He was doing the works of God and preaching the Word of God. He was preaching the message of this covenant. And they completely rejected Him. They wanted nothing to do with Him. They wanted nothing to do with Christ. So, as those who preach we can set ourselves to preach the way John did. And you know the results that we’ll get? You might get a missing head. Or, you might get crucified, because that’s what happened to the Messenger of the covenant. The people rejected Him, and they rejected Him openly.
Yet, this was part of God’s plan and purpose. The rejection of the Messenger of the covenant was essential for the purifying and perfecting of God’s people. I like how Ryan put it. The world scorns this message. Even Christ’s disciples scorned this message. When Jesus said to His disciples... remember after that grand confession that Peter makes. Peter says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And then Jesus says to His disciples, ‘I’m going to have to die.’ Peter says, ‘No. Absolutely not. There’s no way You’re going to die. That’s impossible. How can that be?’ And Jesus has to tell him, “Be quiet you devil!”
When we read these passages in the Old Testament, we have to read them in light of what is revealed to us in the New. The way of purging and purification – if we’re reading our New testaments, if we’re reading our Old in light of the New – the way of purification and purging of sin comes through the death of Christ. So, as He enters into Jerusalem in fulfillment of this prophecy, He’s not received. He is not received. He is rejected and that is part of God’s plan. – the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. That is the message of the covenant that He was declaring.
The clearest place He says it is when He gives His disciples the Lord’s Supper. What does He say to them? ‘This is the New Covenant in My blood.’ His death was the proclamation… really it was the substance of the proclamation of the New Covenant. His death as a substitution for the life of God’s people. So, as He’s speaking to the people, listen to the language He uses. He says, in whom you delight – You delight in this One. This is One in whom all of your hope is set and all of your anticipation is upon Him. But what did they want when He came? They wanted a monarch. They wanted a king who would crush all of their enemies with military power. When they realized that He could multiply bread and fish, they wanted to make Him their king by force. And Jesus said, ‘No. My way to the crown is the cross – is the suffering of death.’
Remember Malachi’s audience. Remember their accusations. ‘God doesn’t care and He is not there. He delights in evil. Where is the God of justice?’ You’re not ready for the God of Justice to come. And when the herald comes proclaiming and preparing the way for His Messenger, you will do with Him whatever you want. And, you know, we could look back and say we would not do what those Jews in Jerusalem did. But we would be lying. We would have done the same to the Messiah and all throughout history men have been doing this to the prophets of God, beginning with righteous Abel.
So, ‘Behold! He is coming,’ says the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts promised that this one would come. Christ, as Isaiah said, is the Light that the Gentiles would receive. He came to open blind eyes and to bring prisoners out of prison, and those who sit in darkness from the prison house. That’s what He came to do. But He came to do it by dying – by dying.
Yet Malachi continues and he says, “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 launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.
You know, we read these texts and we think to ourselves, “Sanctification and purging in this particular way is – this is where our dispensationalism betrays us – we think this text has to be eschatological. This is talking about something that is not happening now. This can’t happen now. This is something that happens in the end, at the end of days. There is no way that what this text is talking about is something that we experience as God’s people now. I would pastorally ask you to continue to read your New Testament.
But let’s explain the text, and then we’ll get the doctrine out, and apply it. So, look at the first question. “But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when this one comes? No one. No one can stand when He appears. No one should stand when He appears. Why? Because: He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s soap. Listen to what that says. He Himself is like that. Jesus is like that. Note this text is not saying that He is a refiner and He is a launderer yet. That’s not what the text is saying. It’s saying His own Person, that is what He is in and of Himself. He is a refiner and a launderer. Not a money launderer (laughing) and a launderer.
Let’s think of some examples where Jesus is like this. The men are on the boat, Jesus calms the storm, and Peter perceives that there is something within this Man that completely devastates him. And what does he say? “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man...” There was something so absolutely pure and perfect about the person of Christ that men could not stand it.
Another incident. On the mount of transfiguration, His disciples get a view of the magnificence of His Person and He is blazing white, in absolute purity and holiness. No one could stand before Him. No one can endure the day of His coming. That’s why He came in humility. That’s why He clothed Himself in flesh. He Himself is a refiner and a purifier. And particularly, He refines and purifies His people by dying for them.
Turn with me to Revelation chapter 1, and verse 5. I’ll read beginning at verse 4. So, John writes to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, (He is the witness of the covenant. He is) the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. This is who He is. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins by His own blood. That’s what He did. He washed us as a launderer does. He purified a people for His own possession. And how does He do this? By His death.
What the Jewish people needed – these people who were so hardhearted and wayward, they were saying, ‘God doesn’t care and He isn’t there.’ What they needed was a Savior. They needed someone to come into this world to bear all of their reproaches, to die as a sacrifice for their sins. And that is the same thing that we need. We need a Savior. If we are going to serve God in the beauty of holiness, our sins have to be atoned for. They have to be covered.
We can’t stand before God in our own righteousness. The enmity has to be put away. And that only happens through the death of Christ. So, He Himself is fire and He Himself is that detergent that cleanses the soul. He purifies and cleanses us.
But then, look at verse 3. Malachi changes the metaphor some. He will sit as a refiner – So, not only is He in His Person the thing that cleanses, but He also Himself does the cleansing. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; – We’ve all heard of that process, right? You get the gold or the silver hot enough, all of the ore comes up and you scrape it off. The refiner knows that the gold is ready when he can see his reflection in it. And that is exactly what this text is talking about, that process. He is the one who does it.
He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, (Why? That they may worship.) that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. In justice. And we read this, we read) the sons of Levi – and what do we immediately think? The Levitical priesthood. You should have kept your thumb in Revelation. Verse 6: He has washed us in His own blood and made us kings and priests to His God and Father. That’s what Jesus does. Jesus did come. Remember, he’s speaking to Old Testament Jews. That’s who he’s speaking to. That’s the context of Malachi not Revelation. That’s the context Malachi. He’s speaking to Old Testament Jews.
So, what was their hope? There hope was a restoration of the kingdom, a restoration of the priesthood so that they might rightfully worship God. But how does God fulfill that? Not by giving them less, but by giving them more. God gives them more than they were hoping for.
Let’s say you had a rich uncle and he says, “When you graduate college or finish trade school, I’m going to buy you a car.” And you graduate college or you finish trade school and he buys you a car and a house. Did he lie to you? No. He didn’t lie. And neither does God in the Old Testament when the kingdom of priests – those who serve Him – is no longer just one ethnic group or one particular tribe from that ethnic group. What Christ does in refining and purifying and in cleansing a people for His own possession… what He does is, He goes global. And He brings a people into His presence to serve Him from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
So, if you turn back to 1 Peter we read this – 1 Peter chapter 2. And in essence all this text is doing is just reinforcing the same truth we read in Revelation chapter 1. I’ll begin from verse 7: Therefore, to you who believe (in Him), He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone – This is part of His interaction… that text comes up as part of Jesus’ interaction with the Jewish leaders in the temple, when the Lord suddenly came to His temple.
The stone which the builder has rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. They stumbled being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special possession – For what end? If we’re just thinking about Malachi, “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old...”
Now keep reading Peter: that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who were once not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
The preaching of the Word of God prepares the way for Christ. And Christ prepares His people for worship. How does Christ do that? Well, Christ does that by living, dying, and rising for them. That’s what Jesus does. He is a purifier, a refiner, and a launderer in His Person and in His work. And then what He does is He brings us into the very presence of God to worship Him and to worship Him rightly.
So, what ought we to do with these things? Well, as preachers, or to the pastors here, our duty is to proclaim Christ, to proclaim Him in all of His offices, to proclaim His work to God’s people. Not only must we do that, but we must also help our people understand what Christ has accomplished for them. We don’t need to stand away from God. If we have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, if we have trusted in Him, if we’ve turned from our sins, if He is our righteousness before God, we have a duty and a privilege to serve God wholeheartedly. We have been cleansed and purified for that end. There is nothing that should keep us from open expressions of praise and glory in God and from desiring to serve God fervently. We should be a people who are zealous for good works.
What’s interesting also in this text from Peter is this: that you may proclaim the praises – That phrase actually can work double duty. Not only may it have reference to corporate praising of God, but an evangelistic declaration of praising God in the sense that we make known to others that God has brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light. And the Jewish people were called to be a kingdom of priests and to expand and to spread that glorious gospel they had received throughout the ends of the earth.
And that is exactly what Christ is doing with His church today. As He saves men and women He adds them into His number. Yes, they corporately praise the name of God, but then they also publicly praise that name. That the glory of God might fill the earth as the eater covers the sea. That is why God has left us on this earth. So, we have a duty as pastors to proclaim Christ in this way to His people. He is a purifier, a cleanser of souls, a refiner of men and women, that they might serve God with all of their hearts.
So, brothers and sisters, remember the preaching of the gospel prepares the way for Christ and Christ prepares a people for His service. God has done that here. He’s doing it in Guatemala. He’s doing it in New York. We want Him to do it in the Dominican Republic. And by His grace, this little congregation can do it to the ends of the earth. Let’s pray.