Good morning church. It is great seeing all of you here today. My name is Michael. I'm the lead pastor at Christ the King Church.

And just as we get started, I want to just highlight once again what Tom mentioned about the men's retreat, men's and women's retreat, but the men's retreat is right around the corner. So, it's like a month from now. And I know it's a big ask, but we couldn't do a retreat that went to Sunday because then who would, half the church would be gone, and nobody would be here to run it.

We have to do it from to get enough time to get away, we do it a Thursday night. All day Friday, and we come back Saturday. So, the big ask is that you take a day off work on Friday if you work normal hours. I know it's a big ask, but it'll be worth your while, and it is always a great time to bond with other guys get to know guys more deeply hiking, staying up late, talking, playing board games, whatever.

It's a great time, and Matt Patrick is hilarious. It'll be a wonderful time. So please, don’t let anything keep you from going, and I'll be there hopefully you'll be there too. Look forward to seeing you. Okay, we're continuing our series in the book of Malachi, and I love the text that we're looking at today.

It's a messianic prophecy of Jesus Christ, and if you recall, the book of Malachi is the final book of the Old Testament. It is the last book that is before the arrival of Jesus Christ. And so, this book was written about the 5th century B. C. And there is a prophetic word, a prophecy about the coming of the Messiah, and that's what we're going to look at today.

And the essential message that Malachi announces, or that rather God announces through Malachi is, I'm going to come myself. I'm going to come and get involved, personally step into history to make things right. And to make sure that you recognize me when I come, I'm going to send a prophet ahead of time to prepare the way.

That's what God's message is. And then he goes on to tell us what the Messiah will accomplish. Wonderful text. So, let's go ahead and dig in. Malachi chapter two. And this is set up with this this complaint. So, we'll start here in verse 17. And so, God is speaking. He says, 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's the God of justice? Let's just stop here. They wearied the Lord, it says, and they wearied the Lord with their perception that somehow God doesn't care about injustice that they experience because sometimes we all know that evil people seem to get away with it.

And sometimes evil people even seem to prosper. It seems as though people that do evil, they have a They have it better in life. They get away with evil and things go well for them. And that could be really frustrating. And that can give us the impression as it gave them the impression in their day that everybody who does evil is good.

So, God must like them better than us, or there's no benefit. There's no value in even trying to obey God because evil people get away with it and even seem to benefit from it. So, they felt mistreated. They felt slighted. And they were thinking, why would God allow these horrible, evil people to prosper?

And they started to feel like there's no benefit in obeying God because good and evil, obedience, righteousness, these are, they seem like meaningless categories. So, what's the point in obeying God when this is the way life is for us? For us it's disorienting to live in a time as we do.

where good seems to be punished and evil seems to be rewarded. And it's, in some sense, it's always this way, but it does ebb and flow. And I think that there, we live in a time where it seems as though evil is, there is some unique advantage that evil has in our society and some unique disadvantage that good, that righteousness, obedience to God, experiences in our society.

But in a healthy society, generally speaking, evil is punished and good is rewarded. That's what the New Testament tells us is the very purpose of government. That's why the civil magistrate bears the sword. It is to promote the good and punish evil. And yet in our society, our incentives seem to reward wickedness.

And so, it's in that kind of society, it makes it more difficult for people who want to obey God to, they have more to overcome, right? More obstacles to overcome because there is actually punishment or there's penalties that might, we might experience for obeying God. Are you familiar with the F. A. C. E.

Act? F. A. C. E. Act. That stands for Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances. F. A. C. E. And the clinics in being referred to there are abortion clinics. And so, there's a federal law that, that guarantees freedom of access to the entrances of abortion clinics. So basically, anybody who wants to go get an abortion, they have a federally mandated freedom to have direct access and for them to not be impeded in any way from getting in.

And it's called access to clinic entrances, but people that are in the know really know what this is about. And that is prohibiting anybody from protesting or doing street ministry to people who are on their way in to kill their preborn child. That's the FACE Act. So, it's a federal law that protects abortionists.

And it is then used to crack down on protesters that are doing street ministry or otherwise trying to prevent people from having from going in to get an abortion. Even if, even, the rhetoric is that, oh it's to protect people from violent outbreaks from these horrible mean-spirited protesters.

But really, it's just like sweet little old grandma's holding a sign and they're saying, can I talk to you, honey? Are you sure you want to do this? But that's who they're cracking down on. In some states in our country, this is, after the Dodds decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, so now abortion is state by state, a state-by-state matter.

But in some states, it's legal to murder your preborn child. That's evil, and that's legal, but it's illegal to protest it. And that's unjust, that's an injustice. Evil is rewarded, and good and righteousness is penalized or punished. And in fact, it's a felony. We're talking about literally little old ladies, grandmas that are trying to help these young women that are pregnant to make a very smart decision, make a wise decision, and to warn them about a foolish and a wicked decision.

And so, people are being arrested at abortion clinics. So, there's a few months ago we had operation save America that, that did a conference here. Some of the people in Operation Save America, they do, street ministry, a number of things, but abortion activism is a big part of what they do.

And we hosted them in our building and some of the people that were at this conference were people that had been arrested famously, a big case that were arrested for on this face act because they were protesting, and they were literally singing hymns and praying. outside of an abortion clinic.

One of the people who was arrested was a 75-year-old woman. Her name is Paulette Harlow, and she wasn't in great health. She's 75 years old, but she really cares about this. So, she was part of this protesters singing hymns and praying in front of this abortion entrance. And so, she was arrested, and several others were arrested at the time, but she was convicted.

And the, here's the, I've looked up the AP story, Associated Press. Mrs. Harlow's used force. and physical obstruction to execute the blockade. How's that for loaded language? This 74-year-old woman who's in poor health used force. Even if she did, what kind of force does she have to really intimidate somebody and execute a blockade?

But that's because The Associated Press is all in on favoring abortion and they're all in on slandering and penalizing and punishing anybody who would dare oppose it. That's injustice. And so, I've reached out to some people to try to find out what her state is right now. She was sentenced to two years in prison.

And to my knowledge, she's in prison right now. I don't know that exactly. Maybe somebody has more up to date information, but as far as I know, she's in prison right now. And her husband fears that she'll die in prison. Meanwhile, if you look on TikTok and Instagram Reels, you'll see all kinds of young girls, that are presented in the media as these victims of the abortion that they were forced to undergo because of life circumstances.

But really, they're out there drinking wine, dancing and celebrating, talking about, I'm shouting my abortion. There's all kinds of videos that, that show like. Wickedness is celebrated and promoted, rewarded, and opposing evil, opposing wickedness is punished in our society. Here's the thing evil and injustice, all evil and injustice, is due to human sin.

This isn't God's fault. This is our fault. This is our sin. The injustice that's in the world is in the world because of what humans do. It's a rebellion against God and his law. And whenever good is punished and evil is rewarded, that can test us who are striving to obey God. It can test our mental and spiritual fortitude.

And we might even be tempted to think in those moments that God is indifferent towards evil and injustice. We might be tempted to think God doesn't care that God might be secretly in favor of it. When we experience evil and injustice in the world, there's a few things about God's character that we need to keep in mind.

First, God is a God of justice. All his ways are justice. No act of sin or wickedness will be ignored. God will not let the guilty go unpunished. But number two, God is a God of mercy. God will glorify his name by rescuing a sinful people and showing them mercy. And that includes probably most of us in this room, hopefully all of us in this room.

But God is a God of mercy, and we receive mercy because God did not show justice immediately upon the first act of sin that we committed. So, God's end game is to be a God of justice. And for this to be fully demonstrated in the world, God's end game is to completely eradicate evil from the earth and to establish justice and righteousness perfectly on the earth.

That's the end game. That's where we're headed. But between now and then his redemptive plan needs to work its way out. And God is not bound by time. The way we are. So, there's going to be some gap in between our individual experiences of sin and injustice and the final justice of God. And in that gap is what God labels patience.

Patience so that more people can repent and turn to Christ, and they be the recipients of his mercy. So, God's patience with sin may feel to us who are bound by time like injustice. Or it might feel like it might feel like he's indifferent to sin. There's a better way to say it. It might feel like he's indifferent, but that would be wrong because God's patience with injustice serves a higher purpose that will bring about greater glory for God and greater glory for more people.

So, Malachi, that three, the chapter that we're about to get into, God is going to tell us how he's going to resolve this riddle, this dilemma of God's twin priorities of justice and mercy that he is bringing about in the world. So, God is going to say in the text that we're about to read, here's my end game, guys.

Here's where this is headed. Let me give you a peek behind the curtain so you can see what my fuller picture of my plan is of what's coming Malachi chapter 3 verses 1 through 5 is a prophecy of wonderful, beautiful, incredibly glorious things to come When God himself will step onto the scene and he's going to make right what is wrong And when God comes he's going to rescue a faithful people for himself Purify them, cleanse them, wash them clean and make them perfect and holy and righteous.

And he will also punish sin and destroy evil and execute his justice when it's all played out. That's God's endgame. That's where things are headed. And of course, all of us hopefully know that this is accomplished by one man. And that is Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and Savior, who is God in human form.

He is the Messiah. This text is a prophecy of what the Messiah will do. And there are three predictions. Let's look at him. Three predictions. First, let's read. The first prediction is that a messenger will come and prepare the way for the messiah. A messenger will come. That's the first prediction.

Verse one. Behold, I send my messenger. So just, speaking. This is the Lord speaking. 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.

There are two figures in this verse. Both figures are expected, right? Both figures will arrive, but one will arrive ahead of the other. So, one figure is God. God is speaking. And the other figure is the messenger. So, we'll talk about God first. God, he is the one who's speaking, and he uses I, me language.

Here's I language. Here's me language. God is speaking about himself. I'm coming. He will prepare the way before me. So, I'm coming too. But this messenger is going to come first. The second figure is the messenger, my messenger. The messenger isn't God. The messenger is distinct from God and the messenger will arrive first.

And his job is to prepare the way for the Messiah before he comes. This is a prophecy of whenever God comes, that is the Messiah, but the messenger is somebody that will arrive and have some ministry before the Messiah, right? So, this messenger will arrive and before God arrives, he will prepare the way for God's arrival and this messenger will be a prophet.

So, we won't read it right now, but we'll get there in a couple weeks. In Malachi chapter 4 verse 5, this messenger is referred to by name, but they call him Elijah. Now Elijah, as they know him, is dead and gone. But Elijah is an emblematic of all the Old Testament prophets. So, for God to say, I'm sending Elijah, what he is saying is I want to send a prophet that is like Elijah.

I want to send somebody in the spirit of Elijah, in the power of Elijah, this prophet will come. So, Elijah was this representation of all the Old Testament prophets, and the messenger that comes will be an Old Testament style prophet. Now, scholars estimate the book of Malachi was written in the 5th century BC.

That's about, 500 years before Christ, that's what B. C. means. Now, there is another book that also makes a prophecy about this messenger. That's the book of Isaiah. Isaiah also talks about him. And this is an even older book, because the book of Isaiah was written about 700 years before the time of Christ.

And he makes a similar prediction. So let me read to you what Isaiah says. This is Isaiah chapter 40, starting in verse 3. A voice cries. In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low.

The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. So, all of that prophecy was spoken by some voice and that voice is the messenger that Malachi is talking about. So, Isaiah calls him a voice that speaks this message.

Malachi calls him a messenger that will come. So let me put this in crayon. God will send an Old Testament style prophet that will precede the arrival of the Messiah. That, and the Messiah is God himself stepping onto the scene. And when he comes, he will tell you who the Messiah is. He will point people to the Messiah and say, He's the one you've been waiting for.

Here is God's Messiah. Now, some of you already know who that messenger is. Anybody want to tell me? John, not John, the apostle, John, the Baptist not John, the Methodist either, John, the Presbyterian, John, the Baptist, a little church joke for you there, John, the Baptist, that's who he's talking about. So, John, the Baptist, John was the prophet who was to come and a few things about him.

John was a relative of Jesus, perhaps the first cousin. He was called Baptist because he practiced baptism. as a sign of calling God's people in Israel to repent, signified by baptism. So, he would call God's people out into the river Jordan and say, hey, y'all need to repent of your sins. And that was how he prepared for the Messiah, because the Messiah is going to come to deal with those sins that he's calling people to repent of.

And so, he's preparing the way by saying, Israel, y'all need to repent. Y'all been wicked and foolish, and the Messiah is going to come and deal with it. So, if you want to indicate your readiness for the Messiah, come and I'll baptize you in the river Jordan. And that is how he prepared for the coming of the Messiah.

He was a fiery guy, blunt, plain-spoken guy, he wasn't so much your winsome fella. He was very much a fire, fiery guy. He rebuked the Herod Antipas for having his brother's wife for himself, which was a no, to take another dude's wife. So, John the Baptist called him out.

And of course, His wife didn't appreciate that too much. So, she caught, she cooked up this game to have John beheaded at a party with her daughter. But that's another story for another sermon. And John was a prophet. His ministry focused on what Malachi said, preparing the way for the Messiah. So, let's look at what this is how, gospels describes as they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John the Baptist.

So, here's Jesus words. A man dressed in soft clothing, meaning like a ruler or some kind of king or princely guy.

What then did you go out to see? A prophet. Yes, I tell you, more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet, the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

That's what Jesus says about John the Baptist. Now. Verse 11 says there, John the Baptist is pretty much the greatest man ever lived, right? John the Baptist was an incredible man, a godly man, is a prophet of God. And yet he also says that whoever is in the kingdom of heaven will be greater than John the Baptist.

How do you make sense of that? What did he mean? Here's the answer. John was the last of the Old Testament style prophets. John operated under the old covenant and John was, he died before the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ. So, John lived his entire life under the old covenant before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

And he was the last and the greatest prophet. And Jesus said under the old covenant, you're not going to find anybody better than John. He's as good as they come. And yet anybody who's in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than john. So, what he means here is this.

Jesus came to fulfill the old covenant and bring it to a close and usher in the new covenant. And the new covenant has far greater blessings and promises. And that's what we inherit in Christ. We inherit something greater. We inherit the fullness of all that Christ came to provide for us. In fact, the new covenant is so much better.

that the worst Christian in the new covenant could be considered greater than the greatest prophet of the old covenant. That's how much better it is. The least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. And so, my friends like, maybe that's you. Maybe you feel like I'm the worst Christian there is.

They're hard to find a Christian that does a worse job of being a Christian than me. Guess what? If you're in the New Covenant, if you're truly born again converted, you have something greater than John ever saw. You have the greater blessings. You have the greater promises that Jesus Christ purchased for you.

That's why he came. He came to improve upon what the Old Covenant promised Jesus delivered and he gave it to us. We've received that. You've received that. That is an incredible blessing. Think of how awesome John the Baptist is. They prophesied about him. They talked about what he would be like, this guy who was to come.

And Jesus said, Whenever the new covenant is here in the kingdom of heaven and all is accomplished, everybody will have it better than he ever had it. That's what we've received. That is how good the new covenant is. And so, Malachi goes on to tell us why the new covenant is better. And there are two things.

The next two predictions tell us why the new covenant is better than the old. Okay. So, here's the second prediction. The Messiah will completely purify his people. The Messiah will completely purify his people. Let's keep reading verse two. 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 Fuller's soap, he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refined them like gold and silver.

And they will bring offerings and righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years. You see that? This is what the Messiah will bring. He's going to bring a new reality into being where people are refined and purified, and they're completely cleansed of their sins, and they're also sanctified in their experience.

They actually their life over, over time, they grow more and more like Jesus. They become more and more sanctified and purified. They act more in accord with who they are in Christ. And so, it gives us these metaphors here of a refiner's fire and fuller soap. So, you may not, these things may not be as familiar to us, at least the refiner's fire, but the refiner both of these metaphors, they refer to purification methods to separate clean and unclean.

And so, with the refiner's fire, you heat up a metal and he refers to silver here, gold and silver, you heat up metal. And as you heat it up impurities surface as the metal melts, and then you scrape it off. And then you, what you're left with is a more refined and purified metal. And that Bible uses a refiner's fire as a metaphor to talk about going through trials, going through difficult times.

Whenever Christians go through difficult times, and we're faithful and trying to obey the Lord, God uses that trial as a way to purify us. That turning up the heat makes things more difficult, but in so doing, we get stronger. Overcoming difficult things, overcoming trials and hardships and challenges makes us stronger which makes we now have we're stronger and more, more able to obey because we have God is working by his spirit strength in us through that fire.

And it's also, the other one is soap, of course, what soap is basically a fuller is a launderer. They, they have some kind of soap that they would use and by mixing that in with your clothes, it would purify it. And in some of them where it. Certain chemicals that could even bleach your clothes out, but it both symbolizes purification.

And so, what Malachi is saying about the ministry of the Messiah, whenever God himself steps onto the scene in the person of Jesus Christ, the first thing out of his mouth is like he is going to bring purification. For God's people, the Messiah's ministry will have an effect that will make us more holy now in immediate context here.

He mentions the Levites because the Levites, the Levitical priests are the ones that were being corrected, but it is not limited to the Levites because Jesus, we heard about this a few weeks ago. Remember where Jesus himself fulfills the purpose of the Levitical priesthood and then the new covenant reality is that yeah, a priesthood of all believers, right?

We are a kingdom of priests. And so, the purification that, that would have applied to the Old Testament priests in the new covenant reality, it transforms all believers, the entire kingdom of heaven into a priesthood of kings. That's what Jesus did in his death and resurrection. His blood cleanses us of sin.

His blood purifies us of unrighteousness. Now the Old Testament contained the hope of being cleansed of sin, but the stain of sin was never fully removed under the old covenant. They had to bring more animal sacrifices. They had to perform more rituals that would symbolize for them and solidify in their minds, a need for forgiveness, a need for redemption that would later come whenever Jesus came.

And whenever Jesus came, his blood truly does effect purification of sin. So, in the new covenant, that's what we receive. And the new covenant, we are truly purified of sin, truly cleansed of all unrighteousness. Through the blood of Jesus. Let me read to you one text related to this. This is from revelation verse 13.

So, this is at the end of the Bible, but he's it's a prophetic vision of God's people. Then one of the elders addressed me saying, who are these clothed in white robes and wherever they come from? I said to him, sir, and he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation or refiners fire, you might say they have washed their robes and made them white.

And the blood of the lamb, therefore they are before the throne of God. Think about this because of the blood of Jesus applied to you, as far as God's concerned in his, what he sees in you as he sees white purification, he sees you clean and spotless, and then the result of you being purified, all of these realities are now true of you.

Or they will be true at his return. But get a load of these. Therefore, they are before the throne of God. We can come boldly before his throne. We can come in here and worship him. Not because we're good, not because we're righteous and perfect, but because Jesus is good and righteous and perfect. And by his blood, he has made a way for us to come in here and worship God with a clean conscience, knowing we're forgiven.

That's why we confess sin and give assurance of pardon every single week. And that's why we repeat the gospel again, whenever we take the bread in the cup. It is to remind us and to rehearse the truth of the gospel. We are purified and because we are purified, we have access to God. God is not distant from us.

God is not estranged from us. God draws near and He is close because of what Jesus did. So, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them or any scorching heat for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

That's what you've got. Christians, that's what we have received. Now, you may not feel that way today on August the 11th, 2024, but that is surely purchased for you. That is surely what awaits you in eternity. And so now we have this greater hope and greater confidence because we have the Messiah who came, and he accomplished all of these things for us.

Three choice man. That's great, isn't it? Come on, Doug. Tell us. Hallelujah. Anybody else want to join him? That's right. Hallelujah. That's good All right, but we got another one to get to third prediction The Messiah will judge the wicked. All right, so the three predictions There's going to be a messenger telling you who the Messiah is and when whenever he comes The Messiah is going to purify his people of sin and he's going to judge the wicked of their sin Verse five, back in Malachi chapter three, then I will draw near to you for judgment.

So, we've already talked about the purification that comes, but we also have this judgment. And so, where we started, we have mercy and justice that converge all in one man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness. Whenever it comes, you're not going to miss it.

God's justice will be so unmistakable and swift and severe. There will be no doubt about it. This is the judgment of God. You won't miss it. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, 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.

Now this list is just a sample of all the various sins and injustices and wickedness and unrighteousness that we commit as the human race that God will judge and deal with when he comes.

And the thing is, we can be pretty inconsistent with how we view God. I know the world is very inconsistent because this is one of the least popular things that we'd like to think about. Whereas the last thing we talked about God's grace and mercy, we love talking about that, but we have to have a complete picture of God.

We have to acknowledge both. So, whenever injustice happens, whenever evil prospers, a lot of times, what do we say? God, why do you do this? Why don't you deal with it? Why don't you care about evil? What's the matter with you, God? Why do you let the wicked prosper? And then whenever you say God actually is going to judge evil, and he's going to judge it so severely that we will be in horror of what he does.

And there's language of his robe dipped in blood and the wrath of the fury of God treading out the grapes of wrath. It's powerful language. God, why are you so mean? Why are you so mean, God? It's like we want to have it both ways. But the thing is, God's character is both. God is justice and God is mercy.

And which side of the cross we're on determines which we experience. That's the difference. There is no inconsistency in God. If God did not judge human sin, then he would be an unjust God. That woman that may or may very well be in jail right now, this little old lady for protesting the sin of murdering babies.

That's unjust. I want God's justice to be brought against that sin. But I would rather those who created the conditions of that sin to have their justice met in the cross of Jesus Christ for them to repent and be forgiven and God glorified in his grace. I would much rather that kind of justice, wouldn't you?

But if not, that doesn't mean that God's justice just disappears. If they don't repent, if they don't turn from their sin, then on the day of judgment, God will surely deal with them in ways that will be a horror to anyone who sees it. Because God is a God of justice, and we have to hold both intention and not accuse God of evil or injustice because the experiences that we have don't quite line up with what we would prefer or what seems good to us.

God hates sin. God will bring his wrath against sin.

So, it's important to remember God is a God of justice and he will not let the wicked go unpunished. And also, there is no one who is without sin. Every one of us, myself included, we've all sent, we've all fallen short of the glory of God. And that means everybody in this room, what we deserve is justice.

We deserve the wrath of God against our sin. And God is perfectly righteous and would be perfectly just to bring his wrath against our sin. Even those y'all that are super nice. Because we all sin against God. We all fall short. Every act of murder, violence, dishonesty, sexual immorality, whatever you can name.

Any act of sin that we've committed will be dealt with. My sin, your sin, no sin goes unpunished. God will surely judge every sin. And God will show His justice against sin in one of two ways. And there is no alternative. One way is against the center, the man or woman himself or herself that will face God's wrath in his just judgment against sin forever in hell.

That's one way that God's justice is demonstrated. The other way is against his son. Jesus suffered God's wrath in our place, right? Jesus was punished for our sins. Not for his own. Jesus was righteous. Jesus suffered the greatest injustice that could ever have been possibly conceived. Because he was the one who was most righteous.

He had no crime, no sin, no, no injustice. Nothing had ever done anything wrong. And he was punished on our behalf. So, he suffered and died on the cross, not to pay for sins he committed, but to pay for sins we committed. Let's look at Isaiah one more time. I could have read this whole chapter. Here's just a couple of verses.

Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. Friends, that's what Jesus did.

That's what Christ accomplished for us. God alone is qualified and capable of showing mercy, truly showing mercy for sin, because all sin ultimately is against God. And that's exactly what he did when he sent his son. So, where we started was this accusation in Malachi 2:17 of where's God's justice, which they didn't see the full picture.

Anybody who says that doesn't see the full picture, because if we see as God sees, we will know, oh, God's holding back. There is justice to come for sure. But God holds, He withholds His justice in order to provide opportunity to show mercy to more people and thereby glorifying His name so more people can see He is a God of mercy.

God will not overlook it or ignore it. There are two alternatives. For those who do not follow Christ, they will be judged for their sins in a Christless world. eternity. Or for those who do follow Christ, who humble themselves, they confess their sin, they repent of their sin, commit to following, follow Christ.

God's judgment and wrath against their sin was already poured out on Jesus Christ. That's why he suffered. That's why his suffering was not just a bullet to the brain. It's quick, it's over, but he was horribly tortured and punished in his execution as a demonstration of the wrath of God against sin.

Jesus's death on the cross was the punishment that our sin necessitated, and he paid it on our behalf because he loves his people, and he rescues his people. It doesn't matter how severe your sin is, Jesus is big enough to forgive it. Not only your sin, but because he is God, he has infinite capacity to forgive as many sins of as many people as repent and turn to Jesus because he is God.

and he applies his mercy to us. So, the record, your record of sin and injustice is applied to Jesus Christ and your sins are nailed to the cross and his righteous record of obedience to God and full delight in the father in every way. is applied to you. You get his record.

for Christians. That's why there's so many amens is because this is sweet music to our ears. We know we don't deserve it. We know what we deserve is God's wrath. But what we have received is something that is unfathomably gracious and rich and generous. So, for Christians, it's food and drink.

It's art. It's beauty. It's joy. It's delight. It's everything good and wonderful that we can imagine. It is all found in Jesus Christ. He's everything. And in Christ we receive everything.

If you're not a Christian, then these truths should motivate you or should prompt you to consider how you think of God and how, and to contemplate what eternity is like. Because the reason why I'm here saying these things, the reason why these words are in the Bible, the reason why we gather is to rehearse these truths in various forms and various ways.

But this is the base, this is the skeletal structure of our faith. And we. Rehearse it week in and week out. The mercy and justice of God that was poured out in Jesus Christ on the cross and we receive His grace. And so, it's an opportunity for you to reflect on that. For you to receive His mercy. God created you for His glory.

That's why you exist. And there is nothing in this world that is more satisfying and wonderful and perfect than Christ. And the world has nothing to offer to even begin to compare that remotely comes close. There's no sin or worldly pleasure. There's no experience that you might be able to look forward to that can Even begin to compare with the glory of God that we've received that Jesus has offered to us in Christ.

And so, the good news of the gospel is that he has conquered sin and death, and abundant life is in his hands and that just by confessing Christ, we just receive it freely. And that's the thing you don't have to be like I need to clean up my act. I gotta, I gotta quit all these bad things I got in my life.

I got to make sure that I present myself to God as this good person. So, God, it feels like he's getting at least a decent halfway, decent Christian. It's no, you come to him sinful, wicked, broken, rebellious. You come say, God, I've screwed it all up. I have nothing to offer. I have nothing good to bring to you.

You, there's nothing that I can add to you. And you come and you just say, God, help, forgive me. I've blown it. I've screwed up and I need you and I have no recourse. There's nowhere else to turn. It's all you. That is exactly what God wants. He doesn't want your money. He's not trying to; he's not trying to he doesn't condition your salvation upon how good of a person you are.

Because he's glorified in saving hard hearted wretched sinners. And let me tell you, you look around this room, you think, man, these people, they, these are nice Christians, they seem to be great people. Let me tell you, you don't know everybody's biography in this room. As the pastor, I have a bird's eye view.

I know a lot of biographies in this room. Let me tell you, that ain't pretty. There's a lot of sinning and ugly stuff, some wicked, horrible, rebellious, God awful things that people in this room have done and they're here today singing their guts out because Jesus saved them. That's why they're here. So, it is not about how good you can be.

God will save you and then he will make you who he wants you to be in his time and in his ways. But the appeal to you now is just to humble yourself and say, Jesus, I need you to confess your sin, repent and say, Jesus, I need you. I got nothing to offer. Forgive me. Save me. I'm yours. Let's pray.

Our Lord Jesus, we thank you that for what you've done. I can't even begin to; I can't wrap my mind around it. Lord it's too much. It's more than any of us can comprehend. And we think we get to the bottom, and we think we've seen it all. And then there's just a whole new layer of more depth of mercy and profound grace that, that is below that.

We'll never get to the bottom of your grace. And we need it day by day, Lord, because we live in evil, wicked, unjust times. And as Christians, we're tempted to question your goodness. Forgive us for doing that, Lord. For anybody in this room that's done that, help us to repent of that, Lord, to never question your justice, Lord.

Even when it seems so opaque and hard to access. Lord, preserve us and prevent us from believing lies that you aren't who you are, who we've come to believe and know that you are because of what your word says. Thank you, Jesus, for what you did. Thank you, Jesus, that you emptied yourself and that you became a human child.

You wrapped yourself in human flesh and you experienced the frailty and weakness of being a human child growing up in a sinful world. And you suffered the worst injustice imaginable, being abandoned by all your friends, and you died alone on a cross, suffering in an agony, while everybody in the world just mocked and spit at you and hated you, and you were innocent.

Thank you, Jesus, that you took that penalty for us.

We can never thank you enough.

Lord, I pray for anyone here who does not know Christ. Lord, by your Spirit, will you convict them of their sin, help them to have the courage to face who they are, what they've done, to not run from it, to not hide it, and the confidence that they have to face their sin. is knowing that there is a gracious Savior willing to forgive any sin they confess.

First John 1:9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us of all unrighteousness. That is a promise, a rock-solid promise of Scripture. Lord, I pray that you will press that into their hearts, convict them of their sin, help them to see how far they've fallen. And Lord, I pray that you will open up their eyes to behold the beauty of Christ that offers his abundant life, the richness of his grace to the chief of sinners, the worst of all sinners.

Any one of us. Lord, I pray that there will not be a soul that leaves this building today that has not been regenerated and saved through faith in Christ by the power of your spirit. Do that. I pray right now in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Do that, Lord, we pray. Amen.