Malachi: Empty Religion or Vibrant Faith?
Part 3: Call to Repentance
Malachi 2:17-3:12
This morning we will continue our study through the book of Malachi and what we will look at this morning is God confronting His people of their sin. We’ve seen in the first couple of chapters that God called out Israel’s spiritual lethargy, hypocrisy and disobedience. But he didn’t just do this just for the sake of exposing their sin. In fact, in chapter 3, He makes it very clear that he was calling them back into a right relationship with himself by pleading with the people to walk away from their sin, repent and return to Him. God graciously extends compassion for those who are willing to humble themselves in repentance.
And what I hope to communicate from Malachi 3 is that every follower of Jesus Christ needs to learn the true art of repentance. For most Christians they know what it means to confess their sin, but have not learned what it means to repent. They ask for forgiveness but then continue in the same sinful, destructive behavior! Today, it seems that we have lost the importance of repentance- not just asking for forgiveness but a returning to God by changing our ways and then walking in repentance. And we are really no different from the Israelites because we live in a time when we call things that are evil good! We live in a time when society says that it’s ok to live together and have sex outside marriage just to see if you are compatible with that person! We live in a time when homosexuality is the new normal and is a perfectly acceptable lifestyle. We live in a time when pornographic movies are now considered “mature” and “healthy” for relationships!
And the problem is that we have allowed our humanistic values to replace God’s revelation of true goodness and purity! It’s as if we have thrown God to the wolves and then decided that we are going live and do as we please! God has made it clear that he is one day going to deal with all sin; no sinner will be left out of his judgment.
However, we will see this morning, how God gave Israel a chance to repent- to walk away from their sin and return to Him, the one who graciously extends compassion on those who are willing to humble themselves in repentance. As Christ-follower’s, we too need to learn the art of repentance. None of us are perfect and we all make mistakes daily.
And the question I want you to think about this morning is how will you respond when God confronts you of your sin?
That is not an easy question to answer or to even to think about, but it is a very serious question for all believers. So, let me pose this question, is there a difference between confession and repentance?
Confession– Is to admit to being guilty of something or revealing a secret that no one knew.
Repentance– Is a turning away from our sin and turning towards God. It means that we make a decision not to sin again! We have a choice, continue to repeat that sin or stop and turn away from that sin. That is repentance.
(Example of me constantly confessing to pastor Scott about having road rage the difference between constantly confessing it or humbly admitting to God and repenting of it, never to drive like that again!)
I look at like this, if you were to confess to a sin and then continue to practice that sin, what was the point of confessing it? But if your reason for confession was to receive forgiveness then YES you need to repent after confessing the sin. Listen to what Peter said in Acts 8:22, “Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.”
I also chose just two examples of repentance mentioned in scripture. The first one is Psalm 51:1-17 that King David wrote following his adultery with Bathsheba and how he recognized how horrible his sin was against God. The second is John 21:15-17 where Peter confesses his complete surrender, commitment and devotion to the Lord.
And the question I challenge you with this morning as we look at Malachi 3, is this, “how will you respond when God confronts you of your sin?” So, let’s spend a few minutes discovering what we can learn from the prophet Malachi about repentance and turning back to God.
Scripture:
Read Malachi 2:17-3:12
You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “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; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 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. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.
Pray:
Message:
- I. God is Just and Will Judge All Sin (2:17, 3:1-5)
The first thing we see in this section are these faithless, disobedient priests and people had worn out God’s patience by their skepticism and self-justification, so judgment was on the way. And what we see in vv17 is that the Israelites had now begun to live indifferent to God. They’re way of doing things and living had now caused their hearts to become calloused and lacked spiritual discernment. They had rejected all intention of taking right and wrong seriously! That actually doesn’t sound too far off from our society today! But notice what they did here in vv17, because of their hardened and complacent hearts, they had the gall to question God and thinking He cared more about the wicked than the unjust!
– Think about life today, in what ways do we see people or society question God’s justice?
But beginning in chapter three, God answers all the questions the Israelites raised in the previous chapter. “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; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.”
Here in one verse we have two messengers. It was customary for King’s in Malachi’s time to send messenger’s before them to remove any obstacles to their visit. The first messenger to go and prepare the way is referring to John the Baptist and the “messenger of the covenant” is the Lord, Jesus Christ. One author has said I t like this speaking of the title “messenger of the Covenant”; “This messenger of the covenant is the Lord Jesus, but this passage hasn’t anything to do with His first coming. This is His coming not in grace, not as a Redeemer, but as a Judge, as the One who will establish His kingdom and put down the rebellion that is on this earth. You remember that on one occasion He even said to a man, “… who made me a judge or a divider over you?” (Luke 12:14). He hasn’t come yet to judge. He came the first time to save. He came to bring grace, not government. He came as the One who is the Savior, not the Sovereign.”
Therefore, this is God’s answer to the people of Israel: God will send Him first as a Savior because He is gracious and He wants to save. But that doesn’t end it all: He is coming again as the messenger of the covenant, that is, to execute justice and judgment on this earth.
One author says it like this, “If you could convince me that God does not intend to judge sin and that He intends to let sinners get by with their injustice today, then I say very frankly that I would turn my back on Him. But He’s made it very clear that He does intend to judge mankind. My friend, if you will not have Him as your Savior, you’re, going to have Him as your Judge whether you like it or not.”
And then notice the little sarcastic phrase “in whom you delight” that he throws in for them since the people did not truly delight or desire in the Lord. He then continues to share with them that a day is coming when the Lord is going to judge all sin with a refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap. In the refining process, the metal is put over a red-hot surface and as it begins to melt, the dross can be drawn off and the metal is then finally made pure. With the fuller’s soap He is going to purge out the wicked and wipe away the stains of sin!
“And then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.” What Malachi is saying here, is that the Lord will take great delight in their sacrifices because the ones offering have now been purified and made clean. See, God isn’t interested in our rituals or sacrifices until our hearts are right, we have forsaken sin and turned from it! (Bam! That’s a Mike Tyson punch right their!)
When it comes to sin, John Bunyan says it like this, “One leak will sink a ship; and one sin will destroy a sinner.” Sin is enticing, dangerous and loves to destroy us, which is why we must safe-guard our hearts by striving to remain close to God through confession, prayer and daily bible reading! We cannot merely show up to worship God one day a week and then live as we choose, neglecting God’s commands and expect him to welcome our worship and praise. And finally here in verse 5, God answers their question from chapter two. He says that he will draw near to them for judgment! Malachi basically tells them that anyone who does evil will not be left out of God’s judgment. The priests and the people were no longer being a witness for God but instead were turning from God and choosing to do their own thing. And it annoys me when I hear people say, “well God loves everyone, he would never judge a person or send them to hell.” Well, there is some truth to that, God does love us! And it’s because of God’s infinite love and goodness that He cannot tolerate sin! Sin ultimately holds us back from God’s best! And because he is the ultimate judge he is one day going to deal with all sin!
- II. God Will Show Compassion to those Who Repent (6-7)
The second thing we see is that God will show compassion to those who repent. Look closely at verses six and seven. “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts…”
Even after Israel’s rebellion, their lack of faith, their decision to shun God and choose how they want to live, God because of his unchanging character, his love, his promises and his grace he will not destroy his people! He even reminded them back in Malachi 1:2 that he is a loving God who made promises to Jacob! God, who is a longsuffering God, was waiting for his people to repent so he could show them mercy. God longs for his people who are in sin to come back into right relationship with him and he is willing to show compassion to anyone who repents and returns to him! But the Israelites ask “how do we return when we haven’t left?” Unfortunately this is the mind set of many Christians today! “Ritualism has been substituted for reality. Pageantry has been substituted for power. The aesthetic has been substituted for the spiritual, and form for feeling. Even in the orthodox, conservative, and evangelical circles, they know the vocabulary, but the power of God is gone. They are satisfied with a tasteless morality, and they feel that everything is all right.”
God says “Return to me and I will return to you!” We return to God through repentance, turning away from our lustful, greedy, idolatrous sinful lives and cry out to God for forgiveness and then go and sin no more! The Christian church has become too complacent and comfortable today! It seems that we no longer have a desire for God or a fear of God and this is not good! As followers of Jesus Christ, Christians are the ones that should be setting the example and leading the way, but in some shape, way or form, we are just as bad as the Israelites in their day and age! Peter says in his letter, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
One of my favorite quotes is by pastor and commentator Matthew Henry and he says this, “Some people do not like to hear much of repentance; but I think it so necessary that if I should die in the pulpit, I would desire to die preaching repentance, and if out of the pulpit I would desire to die practicing it!”
- III. Repentance Requires that we turn from sin and return to God (8-12)
Finally, in this final section we see that God has called the Israelites to repent and he gave them a very practical example. The people were cheating God by not giving the tithes and offerings that he deserved. They were stealing from God what was divinely his in the first place and God calls them to repent, which would require them to turn away from their sin of withholding their tithes and return to him in obedient giving once again.
I also want to point out something that is not a typical theme throughout the bible; the people were invited to put God to the test. If they would show repentance and honor him with their tithes, he would in turn bless them with excessive abundance. Now, I am not saying that if you repent and turn form your sin and give all your money to the church, the poor and the needy that God is going to all of a sudden bless you financially and make you the next millionaire! We have too many pastors’ trying to preach that today! In fact, that is not even what Malachi is saying here! This was just one sin on a long laundry list of sins that the Israelites were committing and God was just calling them to do it his way through obedience. God was calling them to true repentance which includes confession followed by a change of behavior and turning back to God. In the bible, repentance is always associated with God’s blessing. And as I look back on my own walk with Christ, those times of repentance and turning back to God haven’t been the easiest, but the blessing was being back in a right relationship with a God who loves me more than I will comprehend and despite all my sin’s and the many times I fall short, he still chooses to call me his child!
Application:
Earlier Cole Rhoney read James 4:7-10 which says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, you double-minded…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ here this morning, how is your relationship with God affected when you sin?
James told his readers to wash their hands and purify their hearts. What does true repentance look like in terms of your heart posture and your behavior?
Martin Luther once said, “Whatever your heart
clings to and confides in, that is really your god.”
What can you do to draw near to God in your life today?
Is there any sin in your life that is keeping your from experiencing true fellowship with God that you need to confess and repent of today?
Think about your life right now, are you truly honoring God with your life? Are you honoring him in your relationships, your thoughts, your speech, your attitude, your finances, and your commitment to him?
As we close this morning, I want to encourage and challenge you to take these next few minutes as we sing, reflect on where your heart is this morning. Maybe there is someone here this morning and you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior, Lord and King, and you want to come and know him this morning, I will be more than excited to talk with you about that.
Maybe you’re here this morning and you just want to come forward and pray, seeking God’s leading in your life, I will be happy to pray with you as well. I just ask that you don’t leave here today and not let your heart be renewed and refreshed for the things of God!
Our song is #325, “Whiter Than Snow”.
Coffee Conversations 