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Preacher: Pastor David Ball
Scripture: Malachi 3:13-4:6
Many of us grow discouraged in our relationship with Jesus when we see no worldly profit in it. That is how God’s people felt about him in Malachi 3. Their hearts grew hard towards God because they saw their wicked neighbors prosper while they remained wanting. God’s promise to them was a profit beyond worldly measure that was ultimately realized by Jesus Christ, the sun of righteousness who came with healing in His wings. In Jesus, we are remembered, treasured, spared, and made righteous to God. That is a profit beyond any worldly measure but wells up to eternal life.
Transcript
Well it’s good to be with you all uh this morning as we actually come to the end of a series that we’ve been uh looking at throughout the the season of lent uh the season of lent a time where we uh evaluate our lives and take stock of where we are with the lord in a special way as we’re preparing for uh for holy week and uh good friday and ultimately for the fullness of joy and the resurrection of our lord jesus christ from the dead uh and during this season we’ve been evaluating our lives uh through the book of malachi as malachi uh or as as god uh examined his people through his prophet his messenger and so we’ve been going through it doing that uh ourselves even if you haven’t been with us with us though i think you’ll still uh this still this sermon this message and the last part of malachi can stand alone on its own so i don’t think it’s something you needed to have uh listened to all along but i encourage you of course to go back and and listen to it you know one of the the big questions that always gets asked uh of a christian maybe by non-christians maybe you just ask it yourself or you’ve had that existential moment where you did ask this question and it was something that troubled you and that question is why do bad things happen to good people right you know we all face that question and deal with that question from time to time i remember the first time i really thought about that was uh when i was in college i got news from my best friend that his father had been diagnosed with cancer uh and the same family had had lost a daughter in college in a car wreck and it just devastated them and i remember just being so upset with the lord of how could you allow this to happen to them they’ve already been through so much they’ve already been through so much and after so much suffering and loss i was devastated i was troubled by it you know what does this mean about god and who he is and i had to search for answers and i remember that was a time in college when i sat down with uh cs lewis’s book mere christianity and it really it really helped me to understand that uh but that’s actually not the topic today so so if you want an answer to that read mere christianity or we can talk later um today’s question is actually the kind of the reversal or the other at least the other side of it it’s the other side of it the big question that is being asked today is that uh and what the people of god were struggling to deal with in their time and what was all was going on in uh in jerusalem and in judea uh after they had come back and they had rebuilt the temple and they had rebuilt uh they had rebuilt and established worshiping life there and they weren’t seeing all the blessings that they thought they should see uh the big question was why do good things happen to bad people so it was the other side of the argument why why do uh why do good things happen to bad people uh why do wicked or evil people so often prosper in this world and it deeply troubled them what is if if god’s just if he’s a just god how can this be it it’s you know if you think about it right it’s frustrating and it can be disappointing and it can be incredibly discouraging if if and if that’s the way the world works then what’s the point what’s the point of following god at all because god says in psalm 147:6 “the lord lifts up the humble and he casts down the wicked.” and then in james in in the new testament james 4:10 “humble yourselves before the lord and he will exalt you.” in proverbs 10:6 says “blessings are on the head of the righteous.” and so this was something that troubled god’s people if good things happen to bad people if the righteous uh if the right if the if bad people prosper then what’s the what’s the point of being righteous what’s the point of following after god at all why care at all might as well just eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die right they’re looking at the nations around them and seeing prosperity and they themselves are seeing none of it and their hearts have grown hard they’ve grown bitter in their disappointment against god have you ever wrestled with that question have you ever faced that in your in your own
life well if not congratulations now you can have you ever felt frustration over it have you found yourself maybe envying people around you that’s by the way what thou shalt not covet right that’s where this falls in coveting what what our neighbor has and you probably even had that thought well they’re not doing the right stuff they’re not following after god they’re just going after other things but yet things seem to be going well for them i want what they have that’s where god’s people were in malachi 3:13 through 4:6 it’s the question uh that has them so frustrated that they’ve given up on trying to follow after god altogether and yet in this passage god has a me a message for them and remember we’ve talked about this whole time as a good father a loving father he corrects them because that’s what loving fathers do he corrects them remember the whole book of malachi began before god got into all the correcting work and pointing out all the things that were wrong and what they were doing he said “i have loved you.” that’s where this is coming from i love you and i want what’s better for you and god’s me message of correction is a message of incredible hope that he has in store for them one of the point one that points us to the hope that we have in jesus that he’s our only hope it’s the reason why by the way malachi is the last book of the of the new testament cannon that or the old testament cannon that leads us to the gospel because it maybe is more than all other books points us to the hope and the promise of the gospel and what we have in jesus so i want us to dig into this passage together a little deeper for a few moments as we deal with the heart of the problem uh and hear these hopeful words of god uh that come from god and the encouraging words of his promise for them and the fulfillment and the future hope of his fulfilled promises for us today and so you can either open up your bulletins if you brought your bibles you can open up to malachi 3 uh beginning with the 13th verse uh as we look at these verses uh together in a little bit more detail so here comes uh here comes god speaking to his people the final word of his correction for them 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 his charge or 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 they put god to the test and they escape your words have been hard against me says the lord to them uh meaning your words have been uh have been obstinate you’ve been standing against me in your words uh these words have been bitter against me the lord declared words of our mouths as jesus tells us are flow from our hearts and so what really god is saying to them is your hearts have grown hard against me and your words just reflect it they just reflect what’s really going on in here but why uh what has brought them to this how that is god’s uh people is what they wanted to know right they wanted to know how in the world have we been grown hard against you and so god answered them you have said that it is in vain that it is vain to serve god meaning it’s empty it’s pointless it’s worthless there’s no profit in it and it’s even worse than that and and they get to this even a little bit more down the line it’s actually evil to serve god why is it vain why is it worthless why is it evil because they say there’s no profit in it it doesn’t profit us in any way it doesn’t make our lives any better what is the profit they said of keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the lord of hosts meaning there’s no profit in trying to walk in righteousness there’s no profit in even trying to be humble and repentant of our sins before god what do they mean by profit well the word that’s used here specifically uh means to plunder to gain it’s an idea for uh greedy gain in one’s own life uh so what profit has following god and all of this repentance we’ve been doing what profit has it gotten us in this world at
all meaning what kind of worldly possessions what kind of position have we gotten how has this helped us to to work our way up the corporate ladder how has this helped us to get that better job and that promotion how has it helped us to get what’s truly at the heart and uh our heart’s desire what they’re saying is we haven’t gotten what we wanted out of this thing where’s the money where’s the position where’s the health where are all the desires of my heart that i want right now and i’m not getting have you ever felt that way
i remember as a younger man in my 20s uh you know my my heart’s desire was to to find a wife the god had put that on my heart uh but there i was in my late 20s of course at that time thinking my life is almost over um and i was single and and i was alone and i but i was keeping the lord’s charge i was keeping the lord’s charge i had been to seminary for goodness sakes right i had been ordained i was i had dedicated my life to serving the lord but where was my prophet where was my prophet the desire of my heart was was unfulfilled and i was frustrated and i was bitter and i was disappointed with god about
it psalm 1476 the lord lifts up the humble and he casts down the wicked and so many of my friends i looked around they weren’t serving the lord like i was and yet they found wives they’re married they’re already having kids and my life’s passing me
by that’s how it felt anyway right i i make a light of it now but that wasn’t how my heart felt i was a priest so i had to push all that down by the way you know i couldn’t admit it i had to pretend that i wasn’t hurt that i wasn’t disappointed and god is still great in all of his promises but that’s not how it felt inside and what happens is that kind of thinking and when it gets into our own hearts and it does to all of us at various times is it ends it leads to despair it leads to a sense of even bitterness ultimately if it goes uncorrected if it goes unchecked ever in our lives it leads to a complete rebellion against god
altogether and that’s where god’s people were and now they said “we call the arrogant blessed evildoers not only prosper but they put god to the test and they escape it.” there’s no profit therefore in being humble before the lord the wicked are exalted in this world and they don’t humble themselves so what’s the point there’s no justice there’s no profit for doing right and the result in their own hearts was either god isn’t there or if he is there he really doesn’t care that much about us because if he did then we wouldn’t be living in this we wouldn’t be living in this disappointment of all these unmet expectations so we might as well just give up go out get our own in this world by any means necessary that’s what that’s what they are declaring to god where’s the justice there’s no profit in doing the right thing and those who lie cheat and steal they escape judgment that’s what their complaint is against god that’s what they’re living in either he’s not there or he doesn’t care about me what prophet is there what’s happened here is god’s been put in the dock as cs lewis would say uh god has been put in the dock he’s been put in the witness uh the witness seat uh and he is having to they’re wanting god to defend himself uh for how can he be just and they not be experiencing and receiving all of their heart’s
desires when we put god on the dock what’s happening is we become the judge we become the judge we declare ourselves to be
god and the concern was not really for the justice of god at all our concern is actually is not for for god’s glory our concern is for our personal profit our personal reward our own glory in this world but then god answers them in in an incredible way in the book of malachi uh the the last part of this uh passage god answers them uh offering his promise he doesn’t take the the role of having defend himself from all of their accusation but rather he gives them words of promise words of hope about what he’s up to and the first promise is this in verse 16 i remember you he says i remember you those who fear me meaning those who revere me who respect me those who acknowledge my authority and my sovereignty over their lives and in this world those who humble themselves before me i will remember you he declares to them you may not see it now but know that i see
you and i am paying attention and i’m writing your name in a book of remembrance so that i will never forget it and you can hold me accountable to it that’s the first promise god makes to them i’ve remembered you i remember you who i haven’t forgotten the second promise in verse 17 is this those who fear me they shall be mine they shall be my treasured possession that’s what he tells them you may think that there’s no profit there’s no gain in this world for you but for those who humble themselves you’re my possession you’re mine the third promise is this i will spare them as a man spares his sons who serve him so not only do i remember you not only are you mine but i will spare you as a man spares his son who serves him despair means to refrain from executing judgment that is rightly deserved that’s what that word spare in the new testament we call it grace he’s saying “i’m going to have mercy upon you i will show you grace instead of the judgment that you deserve that’s who i am and the fourth promise is found in verse 18 says “then once more you shall know the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between the one who serves god and the one who does not serve god.” the only ones who can see that distinction are those who know the righteousness of god if you don’t know the righteousness of god you can no longer see the
distinction and god promises them that they will know the righteousness his righteousness in their lives and the fifth and final promise that leads us to the gospel itself is the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in his
wings and in that day god says “you shall go out leaping like a calf.” meaning you shall know joy when the son of righteousness comes you shall know healing and my justice in other words shall be done when the son of righteousness comes friends we all struggle in this life with this question why do bad people
prosper but the question of our hearts is why don’t we prosper here and now for following god that’s what our hearts want to know but god in his mercy has answered our desire in a deeper way than we could ever have hoped or possibly imagined not in the material wealth and possessions but with something better something eternal something that’s not wasting away something that will last for all eternity cs lewis wrestled with this question and he came up with uh with this idea this notion that what we see as profit in this life meaning wealth health success all of those things he says might not be the ultimate profit in god’s view and what he has for us what god has in mind for us is for our ultimate profit that’s what god was declaring to them here and our ultimate profit is found in the son of righteousness who has risen from the grave who has risen from the dead to eternal life and who’s come with healing in his wings for us and so this direct correlation we have in the fulfillment of the promise through jesus to what god had promised his people in malachi 4 that he remembers you and he shows you that he’s remembered you you are never forgotten he sent his one and only son to die on the cross for you and for me how’s that for remembering you what that tells us is that jesus when he hung on the cross you know what he was thinking about he was thinking about you he was thinking about
me because he doesn’t
forget it means that god has proved that we are his treasured possession we’re the fulfillment through christ we are so treasured by him that he was willing to sacrifice his beloved son we heard it in the gospel reading this is my beloved son right in the transfiguration he was willing to give up to sacrifice his beloved son to save us from our sins that’s how much he treasures you that’s how much he values you and god has proved that he will spare us the judgment that we deserve for our sins not by not sparing his own son for our sin romans 8:32 says “he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also with him give us all things?” meaning profit us all things through christ we’re sons of god we are heirs of his eternal kingdom god fulfilled his promise of righteousness that he promised through malachi through our savior jesus christ in philippians 3 8-9 paul declared “indeed i count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing christ jesus my lord for his sake i have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that i may gain christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from law but that which comes through faith in christ the righteousness from god that depends on faith that’s the gift that we have not through i but through christ in me we may not yet see the final justice of god and we don’t not yet when he will come and he will write every wrong he will make all things new he will wipe every tear from our eyes we may not see the the material earthly prophets as a follower of jesus we’re not promised it never are we promised it in the scriptures but what god has given us and our savior jesus is the ultimate prophet it’s the ultimate prophet that god has for us tim keller inh the reason for god said in fact the fact that life doesn’t seem fair doesn’t mean that there’s no god it just means that god isn’t finished yet god isn’t finished yet friends what this means is god isn’t finished with you and god isn’t finished with me his healing work of restoration that has come is still at work in this world it is still at work in us but for now through humble trust in the gospel we’re armed with this that god remembers you you are his treasured possession you have received the sparing grace of his son and he has clothed you in his righteousness that’s our trust that’s our hope that’s our thanksgiving amen amen
