The scripture reading this evening is taken from the last book of the Old Testament, the prophecy of Malachi, Malachi chapter 3. Malachi is the last of the so-called writing prophets who ministered to God's people a number of decades after they had returned from the land of Babylon, returning from the exile. And one would think that a nation and a group of people who had gone through the horrible trauma of exile would be a thoroughly chastened people. And yet the kind of sins that Malachi addresses shows that God's people, showing our human nature in Adam, continue to slide backwards and to fall into the same kinds of sins against God and against one's neighbor. Malachi 3. See, I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant whom you desire will come, says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years. So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me, says the Lord Almighty. I, the Lord, do not change, so you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers, you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, how are we to return? Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, how do we rob you? In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse, the whole nation of you, because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit, says the Lord Almighty. Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land, says the Lord Almighty. And now verses 13 through 18 are the text we consider tonight. You have said harsh things against me, says the Lord. Yet you ask, what have we said against you? You have said, it is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape. Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. They will be mine, says the Lord Almighty, In the day when I make up my treasured possession, I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. This truly is the word of the Lord. And again, I encourage you to keep this passage open as we look at it together this evening. Dear congregation, in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our God is so interested in our lives, the lives of His chosen people, that He speaks to us everywhere in all of the events of our life, but most clearly He speaks to us in His Word. Throughout this message of prophecy from the prophet Malachi, there's a lot of dialogue. It's something of a unique style that we find in the prophets of the Lord coming forward with a charge against His people and then they respond with this kind of pretended innocence like, well, now what's wrong? Or, when did we ever do that? And then the Lord comes forward with His evidence. It almost sounds like a courtroom in which there's a charge and counter-charge, point-counter-point. The kind of courtroom dialogue that bristles with judgment. In the ancient world, if a great king was upset with his subject people, he would often send to them a messenger of the covenant in which the king would lay out his charges and lay out his concerns. And he would ask these questions of controversy so that these people might know exactly where they stood before the great king. And he would ask them, what have I done to offend you? Answer me. Well, God asks the church also questions of controversy, questions that will also, shall we say, show up on Judgment Day, but if questions that if we face from the Word of God and respond by His grace would make and do make for us Judgment Day to be something that we do not fear, but rather something that we pray for. For the book of Revelation closes with these words. The Spirit says, Come, Lord Jesus. And the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ also prays, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. So I want to minister God's Word to you tonight from Malachi 3, the verses 13 through 18. And to look at that passage with you under the theme, The Lord separates His servants from cynics. Because we notice in this passage that there are two kinds of people. We notice that this separation is done by repentance on earth, with the Lord using two means. First, He does so through the discipline of suffering, whereby He gains our attention. But most pointedly, he does so through the discipline of the preaching of his word. The Lord also does this, of course, by sovereign decree from eternity. But the Lord is busy now at work in the process in history of separating those who are his children by grace, who serve him from the rest of the crowd, who become cynical, sarcastic, and disobedient. actually from the very beginning of the prophecy of malachi god has said that there are two kinds of people if you turn back with me to chapter 1 malachi verses 2 and 3 what do we read malachi 1 verse 2 i have loved you says the lord now just let that impress us for a moment that everything God is going to say from this point onward in this prophecy, in which you have this bristling dialogue of a courtroom, so to speak, everything is said from the perspective and the context of love. I have loved you, says the Lord, but you ask, how have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? Says the Lord, yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. Now without going too far into that passage at all, we see that there are two nations, peoples, Jacob that God loves, Esau that he hates. A parallel between the church and the world, the elect and the reprobate. That's a picture that, of course, the Lord God sees very clearly, for He knows who are His own. That's not always a picture that is so clearly understood and seen by us here on earth, for none of us are ever granted, as one of my professors used to say, none of us on earth are ever given cardio-analytic ability. We can't see hearts. We can see fruit, but we cannot see hearts. But we are now this evening at the end of Malachi 3, and that conversation of the courtroom between God and you has now been carried forward somewhat, and we can make even further distinctions. This progress allows us to notice that in Malachi 3, verses 13 through 15, there are cynics, and then in verse 16 is a reference to those people who fear the Lord. And who serve him. Now that's fair enough. That's pretty obvious to see. But then a question arises. And the question that haunts me is this. Are those people, in verses 13 and following, who speak so cynically, so sarcastically, are they in the church or are they in the world? Are they from Jacob or not? And the answer to that, the answer to that question is disturbing, troubling. Maybe we should define what we mean when we use the word cynic. Now there's, I suppose, a number of definitions that could be offered. But one meaning of cynic is this. A cynic is a person who believes that people are motivated by self-interest. and that they're only motivated or almost overwhelmingly motivated by their own self-interest. Now, how does that work out? Well, they start to sneer when they hear other people come forward with some good idea, some noble intention, and they sit back and they say, yeah, you say that because you always want to be the center of attention. She wants to always have the glory for herself. That's why she has that idea. They always believe someone is motivated by self-interest because they think that's all life is about, gaining, getting for oneself. Often they're not always so helpful themselves, but they really can't believe anyone would genuinely be interested in offering ideas or doing things that are genuinely helpful for others. Now, to be sure, those people are in the church and in the world. Yes, they are in the church, sad to say. And there are people in the world who look at us, Christians, and they believe that we are all pious hypocrites, that we're all frauds, who are only doing this because we want to get something for ourself. And therefore, they will have nothing to do with Christianity. My brothers and sisters, I'm not talking to those people in the world tonight. They're not here. Jesus Christ is speaking through Malachi to you and me. Malachi is addressing beloved Jacob and not hated Esau. And I pray that cynicism be far, far from you. Yet I don't doubt that many of you have had or will have at some point in your life moments of despair and questioning, maybe even some cynicism. Lord, why does this happen to me? We all have that when we see sinners and unbelievers, as Psalm 73 describes it. We see sinners getting away with crimes. They're always a little ahead of the game. Healthy, wealthy, and wise. And they prosper. And we wonder, Lord, how can that be? Oh, now, to be sure, to be sure, There are also times when the words of Psalm 73, verse 1, ring true in our own life and experience. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. There are those times when the economy is on the upswing. And things in our family and in our business go well. Our health is good. Ah, but then there are other times when the economy takes a severe and sharp downturn and there is trouble in the family and we just can't get a grip on the situation. The earth shakes, the fires come, we go to the doctor, it's a heart attack, the tests have come back, it's cancer, there's a tragic accident. Oh yes, life can and life does contain many hurts, and it contains many puzzles. And then Psalm 73 speaks again to us. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped. I nearly lost my foothold, for I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Those words of Psalm 73 make sense to those of you who have gone through terrible trials and testing and you watched as unbelievers got away with no problems or a minimum of trouble. Yes, life contains many trials and many puzzles. And the temptation that comes our way from the devil is this. Why don't you just throw in the towel? Why don't you just give up on the Christian way of life? You have served God so faithfully all of those years. And what did He give you? This mess, these hurts, these trials. We Christians take our stand for many wonderful causes, biblically informed positions on things in this world. And again, we know that the world cannot accept the things of Christ, the things of His Word without His Spirit. And we take a stand and we see that we're getting nowhere or we think we're getting almost nowhere. And the temptation is to throw in the towel. Why, it's really futile to serve the Lord. It doesn't pay. Where's our cut from being Christians? It doesn't pay to serve the Lord. Why, if you can't beat Him, you might as well join Him. You ever hear that? If you can't beat Him, you might as well join Him. You know, we've even heard that in church circles, haven't we? Pastor, we've got to change. We've got to change because the world is changing. You know, and there's a grain of truth in that, in this sense. Christians need to speak to this world and to these times. Not to the world in times of 30, 40, or 50 years ago. But when we speak, what do we say? The Word of God is unchanging as the Lord Himself is unchanging. And we always address that unchanging Word of God to this changing world. Of course, the world is changing. but we speak the unchanging Word of God so that by the power of the Spirit, God may bring this world to the proper change that He has in mind in His kingdom. Jesus Himself said the same. Salt is good as long as it retains its saltiness, but if it loses that saltiness, the only thing you can do with it is throw it out and walk on it. And yet, as I was saying before, we can often become and give in to the temptation to be discouraged when our witness to this world seems to get nowhere and we suffer all kinds of trials and pains. Oh, we might go through the motions, but really our heart, soul, mind, and strength is not really in it. You have to remember, brothers and sisters, that these were really difficult times in the land of Judah. Verses 10 and 11 strongly suggest to us that God's curse on His people, His punishment on His people, was being manifested in God withholding rain and sending pests that would cause fruit in their fields and vineyards to fall. And that causes suffering also among church people. They did all the formal requirements and it appears they even would have had services of mourning and formal repentance. But their heart was not in it. Those who are righteous and those who are cynical all suffer. But the cynics react with a big mouth against God. It doesn't pay. What did we gain? It's interesting words, verses 13 and following. What did we gain by going about as mourners before the Lord Almighty? Where's our cut? as if doing certain religious duties obligates God to give us all kinds of nice things. There go the cynics when they say serving God doesn't work. But then notice verse 16, because verse 16 tells us about another group of people. Righteous people, God-fearers, the ones who love Him with a devoted heart. Now they suffer too, Because the whole nation is under a common curse, verse 9, they're all under the curse. So these people have suffered as well, but they repent, they change, they are converted, they do a 180 degree turn. You know what that is, that's what conversion is, a 180 degree turn in direction. You know, if you're going down the expressway south, a 180 degree conversion means you turn around you, go north. If a person is leading a life of hatred towards God, disrespect for the honor of His name, hatred towards one's neighbor, disrespect for those in authority, lust, greed, stealing, lying, coveting. When conversion begins through the power of the Spirit of Jesus, that person begins to love God, to believe His Word, to honor those who are in authority over him or her, to love the neighbor, respect his person and property and good name. Are these people good in themselves? Of course not. They're all under a common judgment, but God's elect are given grace in Jesus to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and they repent. Yes, God is speaking to us in all of the events of our life. But do we have the spiritual ears to hear Him? C.S. Lewis once said to this effect that God whispers to us in our pleasures, but He shouts to us in our pain. Just as a father loves his children so much that He disciplines them and corrects them and warns them, so our Heavenly Father sends to us the kinds of discipline that get our attention that we might repent from our evil ways, that we might shine as His treasures. We might not understand and certainly not enjoy what He sends our way. What child enjoys the discipline of a father? But we learn that even in the experiences of life, God may use us to gain our attention that we might seek Him again and that once again in finding Him as we return to Him, we embrace by faith His grace and His goodness, even while others are only interested in themselves and give God a big mouth. But someday, congregation, someday we'll understand. I once read an account of how Elizabeth Elliot had a conversation with Corrie ten Boom. Now, both of these women, wonderful Christian women, in their life and in their witness, had suffered a great deal, for Elizabeth Elliot had lost her husband as a martyr in the 1950s in South America, and Corrie ten Boom had suffered much at the hands of the Nazis. And Corrie ten Boom was working on some embroidery, and any of you who have done embroidery or needlework know that there's the side of your work where the pattern is clear, but then there's the underside where the threads don't always give such a clear picture, perhaps. And Corrie ten Boom held up the underside of what she was working on and repeated a poem that perhaps many of you have heard. My life is but a weaving betwixt my God and me. I do not choose the colors. He worketh steadily. Oft times he weaveth sorrow. And I, in foolish pride, forget. He sees the upper and I the underside. And then she turned it around. And then the picture became clear. Beautiful colors. and all made sense. Someday, congregation, will understand. For God's purpose in all this is described in verse 17 of our passage where God talks about a treasured possession. And the word in the original has the sense of gems and jewels that belong not just to anyone, but gems and jewels that belong only to the King, that belong to King Jesus. that's God's goal in our life many years ago when I was in Sunday school I learned a song when he cometh when he cometh to make up his jewels precious jewels God's diamonds you know how a diamond is made an unattractive piece of coal is put under pressure intense pressure and over time it transforms into a beautiful and precious and valuable diamond. This is good news. That God, to gain our attention for His glory, for our salvation in Christ, sometimes puts us through the discipline of suffering. But there's a second way, and an even more pointed way, and an even more purposeful way that God brings us to repentance and separates his servants from cynics. And that's through the preaching of the Word of God. Jesus Christ preached through Malachi. And those sermons did not make everyone happy. If you read through the book of Malachi sometime, you see that he addresses some very, very sensitive matters. Things that step on people's toes. His sermons made some people upset, I suspect. for he addressed the greatness of God's name. A name that we know now in the person of Jesus Christ. He addressed their listless and tired worship. He spoke of leadership from the priests that was pathetic. He addresses their marriages to unbelievers and their divorces of those who are believers. He spoke of their giving, their tithes and offerings that they were not bringing to the Lord. And you know what? Those sermons did it. He held before God's people blessing and curse, heaven and hell, life and death. And in the power of the Spirit of Jesus, those sermons did it. Again, look at verse 16. We see the word then. That's an important time word. When? Then. Having heard the words of this prophet, then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other. And the Lord listened. And the Lord heard. And they became His treasured possession. The jewelry for the king. And then note the outcome in verse 18. The distinction between the wicked and the righteous. Between those who serve God and those who do not. Begins to be seen again. The true sons and daughters of God by grace begin to emerge. They begin to look for each other. They find each other. And the Lord notes that. I think this is absolutely marvelous. Don't you? Back in chapter 1, verse 6, God had asked in very sad and plaintive tones, If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect that is due to me? To gain that honor, to gain that respect, God was looking for sons who serve Him so that he might be compassionate and merciful to them in eternity. So what does he do? He sends into time and space a preaching prophet named Malachi. Messages come to him that are heavy in their warning, penetrating in their analysis, but the result is beautiful as verse 16 points the way to what God is doing. Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other and the Lord listened and He heard. Now, the cynics might be saying, well, it doesn't pay to serve God or where's the God of justice? I'll tell you where the God of justice is. He's listening. He's listening to those men and women and young people who go through many experiences in life, who listen to His Word, who see the glories of Jesus Christ and they embrace Him by faith. God is listening. God is remembering. He's promising them compassion. Just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. Ah, but wait. Reverend Vanderhart, doesn't God demand perfect service? Complete devotion by His children? Ah, yes, He does. Yes, He does. That's why when Jesus came into this world, God was sending the perfect son. As the voice from heaven announced at Jesus' baptism, this is my son, this is my servant who will suffer many things, but this is my beloved son. Listen to him, follow him, watch him as he will perfectly obey all that God has ever demanded of us. And then the great irony. This Son of God, this Servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ, who served the Father perfectly, goes to a cross. You see, the only way God can show compassion to us in time and space is because He has taken our sins and He has taken all of our guilt. He has imputed it and reckoned it to Christ so that He has no compassion on Christ come Good Friday. No compassion on Him as He abandons Christ to the suffering and agony of the cross. But in doing so, in doing that to Christ, He then displays and bestows real and powerful grace to us that as we go through many experiences in life where He gains our attention and as we listen to His Word we embrace by faith the Lord Jesus Christ that perfect Son who served the Father from the beginning to the end of His life on earth and even now continues as our perfect intercessor who pleads our case our advocate at the right hand of God. And so, congregation, what is being revealed to us tonight in this message from Malachi 3 about God? What do you learn about God here? Well, we might say Malachi 3, verses 16 and following reveals to us that God's Word preached. It creates the church because God cuts, that Word of God cuts to the heart of the sinner. It reveals our sin. It also shows forth the Savior from sin and how we are to lead a life that serves and glorifies God. And that would be right. But I believe this passage reveals something else about the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's this. That word also sifts. Sifts congregations. It does. It separates those who serve the Lord from the standpoint of genuine faith, from those who are simply there to see what God can give them this week. Malachi is talking to beloved Jacob, not to hate at Esau. And it is to us, that covenant community who gathers around Christ, comes this message of God's way, that salvation is by God's grace, grace alone in Jesus, Received by faith alone. Granted to us even before time began that grace. And it comes now to expression in our lives. In joy, in love for God and neighbor, in service of obedience. This is how Jesus Christ continues to stand in the middle of congregations. To shape us and mold us and to press our lives into service for Him. through the foolishness of preaching, through the steady diet of the Word of God, Christ presses upon us a real knowledge of what sin is, a real knowledge of His glory and grace as our Savior and how we are to serve Him in this world. And how do you respond to that preaching Sunday after Sunday as you hear it in this church? Verse 16 tells us there is a response. But you know, I wonder, I don't have a definitive answer, but I wonder if some of those who are transformed and turned in a different direction in verse 16 were themselves at one point earlier cynical. And in that regard, I think about the thief on the cross. Because Mark 15 tells us, the Gospels tell us, that when the crucifixion began on Good Friday, both criminals crucified with our Lord mocked Him. Mocked our Lord. Ridiculed Him. But then the crucifixion proceeded. And they both saw the things that happened. Both of them heard Jesus speak from the cross. And one of them changes. The grace of God in Christ reaches one of those criminals in the closing moments of his life. And he turns to Jesus and he says, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And how does Jesus respond to him? Does our Lord say to him, well, I'm really sorry, fellow. You're going to hell. No, no, no. That is not the God we serve. That is not the Savior who dies for sinners like for us. He listens, He hears, and Jesus gives to him good news of gospel. Today, you will be with me. Where? In paradise. I say that thief on the cross who getting what he deserved under the law turned from his past way of life and God's grace brought him into paradise where he now shines as a diamond. One of God's sons. A trophy purchased by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. This is good news. That those who repent from their sins by faith in Jesus Christ. Live with a promise, but it is a sure promise of God. And thus we live by faith. We live by faith. This promise that we shall live with Him because He died and rose again on our behalf. Is this your confession tonight? Is this true for you? Believe. Remember and believe that God's grace claims you in Christ and that His ways and His words make you to be His people in Him. Remember and believe that God knows, God loves, God cherishes the way of the righteous. The way of the wicked, the cynical, and the sarcastic will perish. He loves you so much that He will do everything and anything to gain your attention and then He will bring you to His church where here in the preaching of His Word we might see the glories of Christ and understand that God loves us in Christ for what Christ has done in dying and rising again for our life. This is good news. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious God, we thank You for the most perfect Savior, That son who served you willingly, offering his own life to suffer and die and rise again, so that we might also be the rich beneficiaries of all that he has done for us. That in this life in which there are many struggles and many trials, many ways that are mysterious to our understanding, oh yes, the bud may have a bitter taste, but the flower in the end will be sweet. And therefore, Heavenly Father, never despair of your mercy, never wander away from your love in Christ Jesus, but clinging to him, clinging to that cross by faith, our lives will be blessed, and that you will grant to us the relief that comes through faith in the name of the Son of God who loved us and who gave himself so completely for us. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you.