Jesus Comes Next

Well, let's go back to the old part of the book, the book of Malachi. The last writer, the last prophet of the Old Testament era. No wonder he has such rich things to tell us. about the coming Christ. Malachi chapter 3.

He's been pouring out upon Ancient Judah.

Now in context, remember they have returned back to Israel back to Jerusalem from exile. Being in Babylonian and then Persian exile. But Cyrus the Persian. Has allowed them to return back to their homeland. Many did, many did not.

And in returning, they've rebuilt the city, rebuilt the temple. But they have backslidden again on God.

So there's been a lot of statements and threats of impending judgment.

Now we come to Malachi chapter 3. Let's look at verses 1 through 6. Verse 1. Behold, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly or unexpectedly come to his temple.

And the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, he is coming. Says the Lord of hosts, But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears?

Well, he's like a refiner's fire, like the fuller soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord. as in the days of old and as in former years. Then I'll draw near to you for judgment.

I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers. Against those who swear falsely. And against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages. the widow and the orphan. And those who turn aside the alien.

And do not fear me. Says the Lord of hosts. Then verse 6. For I the Lord Do not change. Therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not Destroyed.

Ma, ma, ma. Here we have A clear word of prophecy about the Lord Jesus coming. And even a clear word of prophecy about John the Baptist, the forerunner to the coming. Of the Lord Jesus. You see, there was a set time when God created everything that is, including.

Adam and Eve. There was a set time after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. God clothed them with skins. There was a set time when God called Abraham. From the Ur of the Chaldees, to be the father of a new nation, he would call Israel.

There was a set time when Moses led that nation out of Egyptian bondage. There was a set time when the covenant was given through Moses to Israel. On Mount Sinai, There's a set time when Joshua led the children of Israel finally into that promised land. There was a set time when God established the throne of David in Israel. There was a set time when Solomon built that first temple.

There was a set time when the Babylonians marched through, destroying everything. and took the children of Israel off into captivity. Then there was a set time when God restored them back into the promised land under the leadership of Cyrus the Persian. And there was a set time when the temple was rebuilt. And Jerusalem was rebuilt.

And there was a set time after that. That Malachi is the prophet. and Israel. Malachi is the last word from God. Within the Old Testament era.

And his ministry puts a sharp focus on the next event in God's calendar. The event of all events. The coming of Jesus The Christ.

So I've titled this morning's exposition, Jesus Comes.

Next. And by the way, that's true for us today. The next event on God's calendar for us. 2,400 or so years after this was written. is he's coming next.

There's nothing in God's word that prescribes anything that is next for the world. Except the coming of Jesus. This time Not as the lamb for sacrifice, but the lion For judgment. But that's not where Malachi is. He's 400 years before the birth of Christ.

So notice first in our outline. John will be his forerunner. John will be his forerunner. Notice what he says here in verse 1. Behold, I am going to send my messenger.

and he will clear the way before me. Has that not clearly, matter of fact, I found no, even the most critical scholars that are scared to death to see Jesus anywhere where his name's not mentioned, which is ridiculous and foolish. Jesus said, You searched the scriptures that you might find eternal life, and the scriptures testify of me. The scriptures are all about Jesus.

So, this one, my messenger, who will clear the way before me, is John the Baptist. All four gospels speak of John the Baptist using Isaiah's prophecy, Isaiah 40, verses 3 through 5. Malachi undoubtedly pulled from Isaiah, who was a predecessor, and wrote this about the coming of this forerunner, this one who will prepare the way or clear the way before the Lord. Matthew 3, 1 through 3 gives us the fulfillment of this.

Now, in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready, prepare the way, clear the way, if you will, for the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. Jesus referred to the Old Testament text when he said about John the Baptist, Luke 7, 27, this is the one whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare the way. And then Zacharias, John's father, said of John the Baptist himself, And you, child.

Will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord. To prepare he is Way.

So we know here in our text, here we have this statement of the Lord coming. But is it not interesting that before he says that, but there's going to be a forerunner? And we know from the New Testament text that forerunner. Is John? The Baptist.

Now notice secondly in our text, Roman number two. He comes unexpectedly. The text says suddenly, but the idea is Unexpectedly includes the idea of not how we expected. We were not looking for him. In the way he came.

It's an unexpected nature. Notice how it says that my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. I mean, verse 1. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly, unexpectedly come to his. Temple.

Now The phrase says, The Lord whom you seek.

Now, that's an interesting phrase. I think primarily it refers to the godly remnant of Malachi's day. The godly remnant, though they didn't understand what you and I know from the New Testament era, we've got the finished canon of Scripture. Jesus has already come. We understand things they could have never understood.

But they had within them the germ, the seed of hope. in a coming Savior. They were longing for him. They were looking for him.

Now, the ungodly, the carnal of the day, were looking for a political, a materialistic type of Savior, kind of like the people in our world today. They want this politician or that politician to win the election, and they think, boy, he's going to bless us, he's going to help us. And that's not all wrong. But there's a higher purpose in looking forward to the coming Savior. He's going to help us the way we really need the help.

We need forgiveness of sins. We need new hearts. We need new life. And only that one, Jesus, can bring this.

So in a sense, all of Israel was looking for a Savior. But the godly remnant had the spiritual wisdom to understand. Who he was? When he came. Luke 2, 28.

Through 30, Simeon. Who had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would see the Christ, see this promised coming Savior, the Messiah. The Bible says of him, Luke 2:28 through 30, then he took him, Jesus, the baby Jesus now, in his arms. And blessed God and said, Now, Lord, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace. Simeon talking about himself.

He's saying, I can die now, I've seen all I need to see. For my eyes have seen your Salvation. As he holds the baby Jesus.

So they were logging for him in a very real sense. And then the text again says, suddenly, unexpectedly, he will come into his temple. I think one of the ideas there again unexpectedly means they will not grasp who he is. They will not be able to identify this Christ. And Texas, he comes into his temple.

And by the way, I probably have a whole. Separate sermon on that phrase, come to his temple, but I do not have time to develop that. Today, so we might revisit that. Another time.

So, this testimony or this prophecy, I should say, of Jesus is coming, the Lord's coming, and he's coming into his temple. Speaks about the literal. Physical coming of Christ. Think about it there for a moment. All through the ages, by the way, Jesus had appeared in the Old Testament temple.

When the Shekana glory of God Presided in the Holy of Holies. Between the cherubim. Above the mercy seat, that was the presence of Jesus. in his temple. Not in his full revelation, but it was him.

He was there. And then he's born of Mary. And Mary and Joseph take him where, as a newborn baby, to dedicate him to God? They take him to the temple. That's a fulfillment, a partial fulfillment of this text.

When he was 12 years of age, his family journeys to Jerusalem for the Passover. And there he stays at the temple, if you will, debating and talking to the Jewish religious authority so that his family goes two days' journey back home and finds out he's not there. Have to come back and get them. When they come back and get him, he said, Well, you knew I had to be in my father's house, didn't you? No, after all, it's my family's temple.

That's what he's saying. It's our house. It's all about me. And then the Passover comes when he begins his earthly ministry in year one of his ministry, and he goes into the temple and he cleanses it. We've talked about that some lately.

And then there's an unspecified feast where he visits the temple in year two of his ministry. In year three of his ministry, he's at the feast of tabernacles where he teaches publicly at the temple. And that's where he proclaims he is the living water and the light of the world. Later, he again attends the temple at the feast of dedication, and he teaches there once again. Then, of course, in that final week of his life, he comes to the temple, cleanses it a second time.

and has multiple days there teaching in the temple.

So these are literal physical fulfillments of that phrase. The Lord will come into his Simple. But it's not the final Full fulfillment. of that phrase. Again, that's to be developed another time, but let me suffice it to say this.

Jesus is the temple of God. And Jesus makes his children, us, to be living stones in the one truth. Time and eternal Temple of God.

So much. As we like to say, this text is pregnant with meaning. Maybe we'll go give birth to it then. You can tell I really want to now. But I'm not going to.

Roman three. Jesus comes next. He comes, the text tells us, with a new and better Covenant. Notice how it's worded there. We're just in verse 1.

And he says he will suddenly come into his temple. and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. He's called the messenger of the covenant. Neither here nor there. But by the way, the Hebrew word messenger here is the exact same word for the name Malachi.

Remember, we talked about that earlier, that we didn't know for sure if this was really a man's name or just a phrase denoting his job. He's the messenger of God, he's the prophet of God. But he's not this guy. The guy he's writing about is the messenger of. The covenant.

In other words, there is one coming to you. And he's got his own covenant. to establish with you his people. It's not like the old covenant given through Moses on Mount Sinai, centered in the law. It's a new covenant.

Matter of fact, Hebrews 9:15 says he is the mediator. of a new covenant. Hebrews 8, 6 tells us. He's obtained a more excellent ministry, more excellent than all the priests, all the prophets, all the ordinances of the Old Testament era. His ministry is more accurate than that.

As much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better. Promises. That's the messenger. And I think the word messenger is used here because what does a messenger do? He unveils, he reveals the truth.

He lets you know information you don't know.

Well, that's what Jesus is. Jesus comes. He comes to the earth, and he's the unveiled truth of God. He bears before all men. Who God is and what God's plan is for their lives.

That is, to come to God through Him. In past ages, men could see the future promises concerning Christ, but they could only see them in types. In shadows, in figures. But when Christ appeared, the message was made clear. He is the very person and work of this covenant.

And he makes it established and he makes it plain before all men. No longer can we claim we're somehow in the dark and we somehow didn't really understand and we somehow couldn't grasp it. Christ makes it clear. You say, well, I don't understand even all of that. Here's what you need to understand.

He is your salvation. He is your salvation. It's Aleister Begg's illustration of the man on the middle cross.

Some of y'all have seen that. It's good. Be careful building a theology on it, though, because that was one isolated historical narrative. It's not a whole doctrine of the doctrine of conversion, but there is something to the fact that the man on the middle cross got into heaven. And you know, the story goes in Aleister Begg's illustration that he gets into heaven, and they asked the man, said, How did you get here?

And he said, I don't know. And they asked him again, Well, do you know the doctrine of justification by faith? And he said, Well, I've never heard of it. He said, Well, why are you here? How are you here?

And he said, The man on the middle cross, I had it wrong a while ago, the thief on the outside cross. Forgive me for that blunder. But the man on the outside cross said, Well, the man on the middle cross, Jesus, said I could come. Listen to me, you may not know anything much. But if you'll run to him And say, I believe in you.

And I can't make it if you don't get me there. I believe you'll be saved. God forbid you stay at that level of understanding, but if that's all you've got, I'm telling you, he's mighty to save. In that sense, I love the illustration. The boy on the thief beside Jesus didn't know theology, didn't know doctrine, hadn't been preached to, didn't know what expositional preaching was.

But he said, the guy on the middle cross, Jesus said, I could come. Here I am. Don't you love Jesus? How wonderful that is. He's the messenger.

He makes it plain and clear it's all him.

Now, the context here is. That there's one coming, the messenger of the covenant, and he's going to be different. Than what you folks have been used to in Israel, in Judah, in Jerusalem. Because the priests of Malachi's day were supposed to administer the covenant ordinances to the people and with the people. But they along with the people had failed grievously.

Look at verse 8, back in chapter 2, how he spells this out about their failure. But as for you, you've turned aside from the way Instead of helping people, he says, you've caused many to stumble by the instruction. You've corrupted the covenant of Levi. says the Lord of hosts.

So they had become hopelessly corrupt. The kingdom of God could have never been established and built up by human priest. men whom in themselves sin and fail. That's why I think it's abhorrent the whole Roman Catholic system or any other system that puts a human priest at the center of their ordinances. All humans fail, and that's the way it had been in ancient Israel.

All the Levitical priests had come short, had fallen short, had not kept the covenant, had not kept the law fully, and some of them were outright willfully corrupt and evil. It was a mercy of God that He gave these priests the divine law. It was the mercy of God that he gave the priest and the nation of Israel the temple ordinances, the moral instruction of law. But yet they hopelessly fell short.

So God in mercy Has a far greater application. For the people. than keeping the law, ceremonial or moral law, God's mercy had a far greater ministry for them than the ministry of a human Levitical priesthood. And that was The priesthood. of Jesus Christ.

He's coming. His minister's coming first. He's coming. And he's the messenger of a better covenant. And matter of fact, John the Baptist.

John the Baptist is preparing the way.

Now, what does that mean? He's clearing the way. The picture is literally of you going down the road, and there's tree limbs, and a stump, and a rock, and there's just things in the road. It needs to be cleared away so you can get through.

So, John the Baptist is clearing out the road so we can get to God's kingdom. Messenger of the covenant. The Lord, the Savior.

So what is John? How is John clearing the way? Here it is. Repentance. Are you listening to me?

Now, I've been teaching you that there's primary repentance and there's secondary repentance. Both are important, but primary comes first. Here's what I mean by that. Primary repentance means that the people of John the Baptist day, like the people 400 years earlier of Malachi's day, like the people sitting under my voice today, have to first repent of looking to everything, everyone, every rule, every law, every sacrament, every ordinance, every work, repent of looking to all of that and turn and look only to Jesus. That's the repentance, primary repentance.

And so these John the Baptist is saying, you guys got to leave the old law, leave the old covenant, leave the rules, leave the rituals, leave trusting in all the ordinances, funnel through a human priest, and receive this new messenger. And this new covenant. I want the people that sit into my ministry. No matter where you are, if you wake up at 2 o'clock in the morning, sit straight up in the bed, and somebody says, What is your hope? It's Jesus and Him only.

That's what I want you to be able to say. And main it.

Well, what about da-da-da-da? And what about? I don't know about all of that. I'm like the thief on the cross. All I know, I need Jesus and I trust him.

I put my hope in him. Oh, what a blessing. What a mercy. That we're not left. with some sort of failing Blundering human priest.

like a Jeff Knoblet or like anyone else. I'm a proclaimer of someone else. Don't you ever put your faith in me. But your faith in Jesus. You see, Israel had failed.

to be God's true and faithful servant. Israel had failed to teach. and establish righteousness in the earth. But Jesus will come, and he will bear up the otherwise sinking cause of righteousness in the earth. Cowell says that in his commentary.

So this Jesus will come. And he will truly succeed as God's servant, where Israel as God's servant failed. And John's going to come and prepare his way and remove the obstacles in the way, turning men from all other hopes, from all other peoples, from all other systems, from all of the rituals, the ceremonies, whatever it is, turn from all of that and put your faith in. Jesus. Oh, he comes with a A little bit trite, but I don't mean it that way.

He comes with a much better deal. Then the old deal. A new covenant. He's the messenger of The covenant. Roman 4.

He comes next and he comes purifying his own. I don't know if you realize this, but Tom. Ev one of you. It's going to take a lot of scrubbing to clean you up. Going to take some heavy Duty.

Cleansing. Clean clean you up. And to clean me up. I think that's what we're looking at now. In verses 2 through 4, I think we're talking directly to the godly remnant.

When I say the godly remnant within the nation, I don't mean that they're sinless. I don't mean that they haven't failed, but there's a germ of hope in them and a germ of faith. In the promises of God that the rest of the nation did not have. But who can verse 2 we're looking at who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears?

He is like a refiner's fire and a fuller's soap.

So, praise the Lord. We turn here from the one who's coming, it's now not pictured as coming in judgment. Not even in judgment on the heathen nations. And that's what they were hoping for. This Messiah will come, and he's just going to crush all these non-Israelis, and the rest of us are going to be blessed and helped, and we're going to have an eternity of glorious happiness, prosperity, et cetera, et cetera.

Well, it's not quite going to be that way. Only the remnant of Israel gets that.

So here we don't have a pronouncement of judgment either on the heathen nations, even on ungodly Israel. But a stern correction and a stern cleansing of those within the nation. Brothers and sisters. Mm-hmm. God cleans up everything he uses.

That's why, as a part of his church, we're constantly being cleaned up. That's what Sunday is for. I've told you that before, hadn't I? Sunday is realignment day.

Now you should have one of those every day. But on Sunday, in a very major way, we realign ourselves with the purposes and the will of God. But there's a massive, glorious foundation. Foundational. Realignment Day for all of us, and that's our salvation.

We get back in line with the Holy God through the merits and the work of Jesus Christ.

So Verse 3 says, He will sit. He will sit as a smelter and a purifier of silver. You know what that means. The men who would take the metals and they would put them in a fire, and through the fire, the impurities would come to the top and they would be taken off the top so that they would be pure silver. Sitting means it's a difficult process.

Sitting means it's a long process. He's sitting because it's a thorough process. Jesus thoroughly, meticulously, carefully carried out our purification. Perfectly. Bringing us to the place where we stand now before God, and God is satisfied in our status.

Blah! Because the great refiner The great purifier took his time. and did the job perfectly. to make us Presentable. What a picture of Jesus we have here.

Jesus is the refiner. He refines his people. Of course, this also includes Refining us individually and as a people. In other words, taking away from us those who don't belong with us. We see that in the end times, do we not?

As this prophesies forward to the end days also, Matthew 25:31 through 33, and 41. Behold, when the Son of Man comes in his glory. And all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne, and all the nations will gather before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats. He put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Then he will also say to those on his left, Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels, a separating apart.

The incorrigible will be separated from the corrigible. The remnant will be purified.

Now back up in verse 2. Um We've been looking at verse 3 primarily, talking about he sits as a smelter and purifier of silver, but back up in verse 2, it talks about he's a refiner. Uh He he is continually cooking the metal, if you will. And the old school of thought was that the man would keep purifying and purifying and putting that metal to the heat until he got it so purified that in the silver he could see the reflection of himself. And that's just what Jesus does for us.

He gives us a purification until he sees himself in us. A reflection of his very self. from our own lives. Jesus now has purified us if we're saved positionally. He is now purifying us progressively through increasing sanctification.

And he will one day. perfect us, purify us permanently. in the glorified state.

Now he adds metaphorically some emphasis here, some amplifiers here when he says he's like a refiner's fire, verse 2, the end of verse 2, and like fuller's soap. Fuller soap is the idea of a lye soap or an alkaline salt. It's caustic, it's a harsh agent. And I think the picture there is that our Lord Jesus Christ. Took the caustic, harsh, lye, alkaline salt of Calvary.

He took the coarseness on him. That he might give us the purity. of his own holy righteousness. What a picture. What figures.

Just in verse 3, back down to verse 3, if you will, middle part, he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver.

Now The wrestle here is How literally does this mean thee sons of Levi? Jews, Israelites. Or is this just all figurative?

Well, take my word on it. It's both. I grow weary of good brothers that I love that Have a uh Such a prominence for a redeemed and restored Israel in the end time, through eschatology. But have almost no vision for this being ultimately fulfilled in the church. Because in the end of the end, everything's consummated in one glorious church.

But there is a place, I think. I cannot ever take all the specific promises to the nation of Israel and say every single one of them is figurative. Not a one of them has a literal quality to it. I believe there is a literal blessing coming to the descendants of Abraham. All of them know the godly remnant.

The godly remnant.

Now, some people argue: we don't even know if there are any. Bloodline juice left, and who would be the descendants of Abraham? I think God can figure that out. We do have to be a little careful just because they call themselves Israel, we're supposed to support everything they do. God didn't support everything they did.

He judged them severely. But I do hope. I should say I do hold. There is a glorious hope and future. of God doing something special in the end time.

Of redeeming in Israel, but it's all ultimately fulfilled and consumed, if you will, in the work of God through His church. But I believe the ultimate fulfillment in this case then is that. Purifying the sons of Levi is Jesus calling his twelve apostles. He's purified him a leadership team. He is doing away with the old covenant, away with the old dispensation, away with the old priestcraft of the tribe of Levi.

And he's building a church in this dispensation, this age you and I live in. And he started with the apostles who were the primary writers of the New Testament. A new purified and righteous band to take the place of. He replaced the Old Levitical Priesthood.

Now look at verse 4. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord. In the days of old, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

Now, struggling again with what is the exact way to understand and interpret this. I believe the idea of Judah and Jerusalem takes it off of individuals at this point. and talks about the people of God. Finally, God will have, if you will, an offering of holy people. Presented unto him.

Well, that bears out perfectly. in the New Testament. Where we see the Lord Jesus. will be there in the end times presenting to the Father. A true and righteous people, his church.

In John 6.39, Jesus said, This is the will of him who sent me and Of all that he has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. Tie that to 1 Corinthians 15, 24. Then comes the end. When he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father. when he has abolished all rule and all authority and all power.

Jesus hands over the kingdom. Or what exactly is the kingdom? Or whatever else it is, it's the children he's redeemed. I believe the glorious picture here is that Judah and Jerusalem. Always a type of the holy people of God.

Judah and Jerusalem will finally be presentable to God through the merits and the work of Jesus on their behalf. The day comes when Jesus said, Father, here's the children. You sent me after them, I bring them to you now as an offering. He presents the kingdom. To the God.

And father. I believe we are. That's the church collectively, the true church, the truly redeemed saved ones. I believe we are the Judah and the Jerusalem. Yeah.

Romans 9, 6, and 7. As Paul reflects on what's going to happen to the Jews and Israel now that we're in this covenant of grace and people of all nations are being saved. Paul makes a statement, but it's not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel, they're not all the true people of God. who are descendant from Israel.

Nor are they all children, the true children of God, because they are Abraham's descendants. But through Isaac your descendants will be named. There will be a select remnant within. That will come to Christ.

Now, that's speaking of Jews, but that's speaking of Gentiles. Who will come to Christ and believe on him? All right. Roman numeral four. Jesus comes next.

And he comes judging the wicked.

Now you get to verse five here. Then he says, then. But the idea is something's changing now. He's addressing a different audience, he's addressing a different topic. Ben.

I will draw near to you for judgment, speaking to the nation in this. My viewpoint is it's the unelect. It's the Wickedness in the nation.

Now, in chapter 2, verse 17, and through chapter 3, verse 5, we've had this pronouncement after pronouncement after pronouncement of imminent judgment. And he's bringing it on them again here. It's an interesting phrase there. Yeah. Verse 5.

Then I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers. Can you believe in God's people on God's people, there's actually the actual practice of sorcery? Against the adulterers. We talked about that last time, didn't we? how they were just throwing their wives away, committing adultery by taking other wives.

Against those who swear falsely. Against those who oppress wage earners in his wages, and the widow and the orphan. And those who turn aside the alien. Let me just make a note on the immigrant here, the alien, as we are here in our country struggling with this issue of legal or illegal immigration. Is it not the simplest thing in the entire world?

Having compassion for migrants. Having an open heart for those who would like to come to your country and have a better life, that's perfectly good and righteous. And Christian, of course. But you don't combine. That compassion with lawlessness.

That's the problem with the Liberals. Mayor they pick out one virtue and leave out the others. And that's wickedness. You can pervert anything by doing that.

So, there should be a legal, responsible way to show compassion, and there is. The alien here is not talking about one who's violated the laws of the land to come into your country. If I hear one more liberal do that as I'm watching the TV, I think I'm going to throw something through it. Yes, compassion. But we cannot, as the people of God, promote lawlessness.

Okay, let me leave that. That's not what I'm here to talk about. Here's the phrase I said that's interesting.

Sorcerers, adulterers, swearing falsely, oppressing those who ought to have their wages and you don't pay them their first wages, taking advantage of widows and the orphans. Not taking care of the legal alien in your midst. Here it is. And do not fear me. That's the point.

That means reverence. You don't have a reverent respect for me. You respect your own feelings, your own lust, your own viewpoint more than you do my truth. You reverence something, you just don't reverence me. We all reverence something.

All of you this morning reverence something.

Some of you listen to me half asleep and don't really care. Because you don't reverence. God's ordinance of the preaching of the word of God. Forget Jeff Knoblett, I could be replaced today. I was going to say tomorrow, but let's back it up to today.

But you're to have reverence for the preaching of God's Word. If you have reverence for him.

So you're reverencing someone, you're reverencing yourself, you're reverencing material profit, you're reverencing worldly pleasure. That's what these people were doing, of course. And then you trample God's law and you trample your fellow man. out of reverencing the wrong things. Roman six.

And this is our last one. Romans six. All his faithful mercies. Jesus comes next. And he's coming.

In faithful. Mercies. We've really seen this spoken to already, have we not? As we talked about his plans for the remnant. Again, the context, all the way back into chapter 2, verse 17, all the way into chapter 3, verse 5, is imminent judgment.

He says something interesting here. For I The Lord do not change. Therefore. You. O sons of Jacob are not consumed.

I and you. It's like the Lord's putting a play on words here as he says, I don't change. Here's what he's saying. You seem to never change. You keep falling short.

You keep excusing your sin. You keep violating my law. You keep indulging in fleshly immoralities. You seem to never change. But I've got merciful good news for you.

You don't seem to ever change, and I, Jehovah Yahweh, absolutely do not change. Therefore. Did I never change? You're not going to be destroyed. That's what he's saying.

He's the only one. He's the one and only true God, the God of Israel. Unlike the God of the nations, he's Yahweh. He changeth not. He's saying, I am the ever-faithful, unchanging one.

I am the one who made a covenant promise to the elect remnant of Israel. And I will surely fulfill my promise. He promised them enduring protection. An enduring mercy. Therefore, quoting verse 6, Oh, sons of Jacob.

You are not consumed. It means come to an end. It means destroyed. Yeah. If God wasn't one of enduring faithful mercy, they would have been.

Abolished Erased from the face of the earth a long time ago in God's wrath. But the only reason The only reason They're not destroyed. As God said, I'll choose to be faithful to you in mercy. He slays us with mercy. Jeremiah 30, verse 11 speaks to this: For I am with you, declares the Lord.

To save you. For I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you. Only I will not destroy you completely. But I will chasten you justly. and would by no means leave you unpunished.

But at the end of it, what Jeremiah is saying is I will keep my promise. to keep you forever.

Now What about you? What about me? What about those of us today? How are you and I different from these rebellious ancient Israelites?

Well, in one sense, we're not different at all, but in a very real and important sense, we are very different. We are sinful. Careless. and slothful in our devotion to God. Against far greater light and far greater truth than they were.

They were not on this side of the cross. They were not on this side of the coming of Jesus. They were not on this side of the giving of the New Testament text. They had not nearly the information we have. They had not nearly the light that we have.

They had not nearly the truth that we have. We are sinning against far greater truth. They had the dim dawning. Of the types and the shadows of Christ, but we have the bright noonday Son of Christ having come. and having the completed New Testament text.

No wonder Hebrews 2:3 writes to those who begin to fall away. Hebrews was written to believing Christians, and they believed on Christ now, and they professed to put their hope in Christ. And some of them were starting to fall away. Are you listening now?

Some of them were starting to fall away, and you know what characteristic indicated they were falling away? They quit attending church faithfully. That's why he said, Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the habit of some. That's in this context of Hebrews. Chapter 10 Hebrews 10, 26 through 30.

For if we go on sinning willfully, that's the context of neglecting church. That doesn't just mean only neglecting church. It means neglecting church is the outward sign of a cold and indifferent heart toward God. He said, Pastor, sometimes my heart's just cold and indifferent than you do what's right. And ask God to help your heart catch up with what's right.

Your emotions are not your Lord. Jesus is Lord. Can I get amen there? Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Now you don't know how many times that helped your pastor. I don't feel like. And so God says, who asked you what you felt like? Do what I tell you to do. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving a knowledge of the truth, verse 26, Hebrews 10.

There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment, the fury of a fire which will consume the adversary.

Now he goes back to the old law and what it was like there. Anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severe punishment? That's us today. Do you think he will deserve who's trampled underfoot the Son of God and regarded as an unclean thing, the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

We know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, and again the Lord will judge his people. But enough of that, because at this point the text is not emphasizing. The great guilt and deserved condemnation that we all deserve, though that is true. But the emphasis here is God's faithfulness to extend unmerited favor and mercy to His elect children. Because why?

Because he's a God who keeps his word. Real quick and we're done. Jesus is Heading to the cross. Jesus is coming to his last few days. And he has this.

Magnanimous, intimate prayer time with God the Father. It's just mind-boggling to grasp. Here he is on earth coming to the The climax, the final point of what he and the father planned from eternity past to save the children. He's going to the cross and You know what's on his heart and mind? The children.

Those who he came to save. And he words it this way. In John 17:2, he tells the Father. That he's given eternal life to all of those that the Father gave him. The Father gave him.

He gives to all those eternal life. In John 17, 6, he says, I've manifested your name. To all those that you've given me. Again, that God had given to him. John 17:9, he asked a blessing upon those that the Father had given him.

In other words. God the Father and God the Son, in effect. Have an agreed upon covenant promise. to keep those the father would give to the son To be the objects of his redeeming work. And he is not going to go back on his word.

His point is Father, if you give them to me, I'm getting them all the way home. Talk about running through a wall somewhere. You, vile, worthless. Ought to be consumed, text phrase here. Destroyed center.

Have been given to Jesus. By the Father. And he promised the Father, I'll go to the cross. I'll take their place in judgment. I will vicariously atone for their sins.

I'll scrub them down good with lye soap. And I'll get them perfectly pure, Father, according to your definition of pure. Because if you give them to me, I'll keep my word. I'm getting them all the way home. You can't get lost.

You can't get unsaved unless you can overpower the cleansing, keeping work of Jesus Christ. Mm-hmm. There's a sacred unchangeableness to the commitment and the word of this sacred, unchangeable God. That is his word toward his covenant elect people. John 10, 28 through 30.

And I give eternal life to them. And they shall never perish. Oh, the mighty Jesus. Stomps his foot on the ground. Looks at every foe.

Every opposition, every explanation, every denunciation, every condemnation. And says, ah. The faithful, covenant-keeping God has become their Savior. And I have given them eternal life, and I will see to it that they will not perish. perish.

I don't know about you, but I like this stuff. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. And by the way, I'm not the only one involved in this, verse 29, my father. Who has given them to me? We saw that three times in the highest priestly prayer.

Father, who's given them to me? Is greater than all, and no one's able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. And by the way, we're the same person. I and the Father are one. We're in perfect agreement to this covenant word of promise.

For I, the Lord. Do not change. Therefore you O son to Jacob R Not Concept. And all of God's humbled and grateful people said. Amen.