Audio Transcript:

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We're in the book of Malachi. Malachi is sent by God as a prophet to reawaken his people who are in spiritual stupor. They have grown numb to God. They are indifferent to the cause of God, the word of God, to the mission of God. They're indifferent to the work of the temple. The reason why they're indifferent is because their heart has been divided, they are in the middle.

They're on the one hand loving the world, on the other hand, asking for God to bless them. And they're starting to ask questions like, is this worth it? Is it worth following God? Is it worth doing his work? Is it worth trying to live a godly life? As they're looking around and seeing that the people who are pagans, people who are living any way that they want seems like they're happier, seems like they're living better lives.

And the reminder from Malachi here today is that God is a God of eternity, that God is a God of justice, that God has already sent his son Jesus Christ to bear the wrath of God for our sins. Jesus came the first time as a savior of his people, meek and mild, offering salvation, offering forgiveness, but he will come back and he will come back as a king and as a judge.

And none of Christianity makes sense if we lose sight of the fact that eternity is real. The very moment you die you stand in the presence of God and you either spend eternity with God or apart from God in a place of eternal, conscious suffering called hell. And when Christians lose sight of that reality, that this is real, we lose sight of the most important thing in our lives, which is the mission of God.

We have been saved to now carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who are not yet saved. So Malachi is sent by God to awaken his people with a fire from heaven, and I pray that he sends the same fire today. Today we're in Malachi 2:17 through 3:15. I'll begin by reading Malachi 2:17, 3 through 5. 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. 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.

But who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears? He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. They will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old, as in former years.

Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who press 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. This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts.

Two main points from the text, don't weary God, and second, don't rob God. First, don't weary God. Malachi 2:17, you have wearied the Lord with your words. They have wearied the Lord. How do you make sense of this? If God is omnipotent, if he's impassable, on the one hand he's transcendent. So he's above suffering or feeling pain. On the other hand, he is being wearied by these people.

Isaiah 40:28 says, have you not known, have you not heard the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth? He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable. On one hand, he can not grow weary, on the other hand, we can try God's patience to the point where he is weary of us, of our reactions.

Isaiah 7:13 he said, hear then O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary God also? You're testing the patience of God. With their disobedience, they are wearing God, they're grumbling. Very few of us repent of the sin of grumbling, of complaining against God. God, you are not doing what you're supposed to be doing. You're not doing your job as you're supposed to be. You are not the God that you're supposed to be.

We are wearing God with those complaints. What does it mean that God can be wearied when he is transcended above everything? Well, because in his love, in his kindness, he opens up his heart to us. He chooses to love us and he chooses to feel true love. Therefore, God does feel emotions. Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that God does love in a true love, like a feeling love because he chose to love.

And God like a good father, at some point as we see in the old testament, he does get tired of the complaining and he does discipline that. Any parent understands this. Every once in a while you get to the point where you've just had it with your kids complaining. Dad what's for breakfast? Eggs again? No, I want ice cream. No, we're not doing that. What's for dinner? Soup, mom made soup. No, I want something interesting. That's what they do.

This morning my daughter woke up... We've been living in the city for 11 years, this morning she woke up, my oldest daughter. She said, "I'm sick and tired of not having my own room, no backyard. I'm sick and tired of being a pastor's kid." That's what she said. I'm sick and tired of being a pastor's kid. And at that moment, I felt just a little bit of what God feels where it's like, "I'm getting tired of this getting. I'm getting tired of your complaints."

Is there a sense in which God can experience emotional frustration, disappointment? Yes, because he truly loves. That's why he's wearied because he truly loves. Genesis 6 tells us that the Lord does experience emotions. Genesis 6, before the Lord sends the flood, it said that he regretted that he had made man. He got to the point where he was so fed up with the evil of humanity that he sends the flood.

Judges 10:16 says that God couldn't bear Israel's misery any longer. Isaiah 63:9 through 10, in all their distress, he too was distressed. Psalm 2:4, the one enthroned in heaven laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Luke 15:20 talking about the parable of the prodigal son. The father sees the son repenting, returning and the father, scripture says, was filled with compassion, ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

The reason why the Lord does feel true emotion is because he opens up his heart to love us and hear his people, they just complain. Malachi 2:17, but you say how have we wearied him? By saying everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delights in them or by asking, where is the God of justice? How are they wearing him?

They're saying, God, are you even just? God, are you even good? Why? Because we see evil all around us. We see the evil people prospering, God, why aren't you bringing down your condemnation upon them? Are you delighting in that evil? Therefore, they're questioning his character, impugning his character. In Malachi 3:13 through 15, the other side of questioning God is now they don't see the point in serving God.

Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord, but you say, how have we spoken against you? You have said it is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed, evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape him.

God, we see these evil people who are living any way they want and you're not bringing judgment and condemnation upon them. We're serving you, what's the point of serving you? What profit is there? The arrogant are blessed, evildoers prosper. What about us? And this is the age old question of why do the wicked prosper? Why do the righteous suffer?

You do the right things, you can't get ahead. They scoff at God and they're doing great. The Jewish people really felt this. They felt true suffering as a people in Malachi's day. They were under the thumb of the Medo-Persian empire who were godless and yet they were prosperous. They're people who've got a back in the land of Jerusalem, but their temple is but a shell of its former glory.

And the Jews have become disappointed with God. God, you didn't give us the life that you promised to give us. We expected blessing and yet all we have is suffering. God are you just? It's a synagogue agnosticism, doubting God's existence, his goodness. God are you delighting in evil? Are you good? Are you just? And what they're doing here is they're questioning God's job.

God, do you know what you're doing? I could do your job so much better than you. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around how hard it is being God. I get a little understanding of how God gets wearied with us sometimes with our complaining, with our groaning, our griping with my kids. I have four kids, I have four daughters, kids complain. Daughters are just more articulate at it.

They're just better at words, better... and they know where... like fast at speaking and they come out. And especially if you have smart kids, that's even harder. The smarter the kids, the more words. And I get to the point where I'm frustrated. There's a frustration because I love you so much, I want the best thing for you. Something interesting.

What's something interesting to you? It's always carbs, it's always sugar. No, I don't want to give you carbs and sugar for breakfast because I don't want you to get diabetes by the time you're 40. You're going to thank me later. So I'm at the point where it's like, "Yeah." I've been a pastor for 11 years and I know how... I think this is the hardest time in the history of the world to be a pastor. I think every pastor probably feels that, whatever I'm alive today so I get to say it.

Pastor's back a hundred years ago, literally you saw people once a week. Maybe they have appointments with you, tremendous office hours. Today pastors have never been more accessible, email, Facebook Messenger, IG messenger, Twitter, phone, they know where you live. And in Boston, Massachusetts, everyone's got an opinion. Everybody has opinion. That's why you live here, you're very opinionated and you're good at expressing your opinions.

And in this pandemic, this has been the hardest time of ministry in my whole life. And I get your emails, I get your messages, I get your texts, I get your phone calls, I get all of it. And your voice is heard. And we truly are a mosaic where whatever your opinion is, on whatever the matter, there's 10 people diametrically opposed to you.

And Pastor Shane, Pastor Andy somehow we need to keep everything going. And at the same time, I'm grieving for the state of the church. I'm grieving over it because I love the church. I've given 35% of my life to the church. I see what the enemy is doing through all of this. Yes, you read the studies. Yes, the stats. Yes, the news. But on top of all of that is a demonic war and I see what the enemy is doing in all...

By the way, the whole pandemic started when we started a sermon series called Stratagem: How to Discern the Strategies of the Evil One. And literally in the middle of that series we're like, "Pandemic." I've been discerning the work of the enemy through this. I see how the church is being weakened through it. There's an indifference to the church. There's an indifference to the gathering of believers.

You know what the word church means? Literally, ekklesia means the gathering of believers physically. We need that. Humans need that. And more than anything the church of Jesus Christ whom he loves, the body of Christ, which is physically together, the Holy Spirit moves when we are together. This is our witness. Our worship is warfare.

I say all that to say, we just need to love God, we need to love Jesus. And the mission is more important than anything. Whatever your preference, the mission's more important. People literally die and go to hell every single second to spend eternity apart from God. All I want to say is whatever your preface, whatever everything, there's nothing more important than that.

The glory of God and the church of Jesus Christ and stop telling God how to do his job. That's the point of this text. And when we do question God, when we do weary God, what's the response? The response is repent. Repent. Who are you to question God? Job suffers for 38 chapters in the book of Job, he loses his kids and he loses his wealth, he loses his health. He loses everything. He's griping against God for 38 chapters, God shows up and he just says, who are you? Who are you to question me?

He's God, he gets to do whatever he wants to do. Our job is to repent of sin and follow him. And then the presupposition that he's dealing with here is, Malachi is dealing here is, you want justice? You're telling God that he's not just, you want justice? How many of us would be alive if God flips the switch and destroys all of the evil in the world?

How many of us will be alive in a second? That's what he says in Malachi 3:2, who can endure the day of his coming, who can stand when he appears? He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. So when we say, wouldn't it be great if Jesus came back? Yes, it would be great. But how many of us are ready? How many of us are ready for the justice of God to come?

Malachi 3:1, behold, I send my messenger. Before he sends Christ in the first coming and before he sends Christ in the second coming, there's a messenger. He will prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to the temple and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. Prophecy as usual in scripture has double meaning, sometimes more.

The first meaning of this prophecies, John the Baptist is going to come to prepare the way for Jesus Christ. Isaiah 43, a voice cries out in the wilderness, prepare the way the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Zechariah's prophecy when he prophesies over his son who was in the womb, when he prophesied, he says, you will go and prepare the way of the Lord.

Jesus applied that prophecy to John the Baptist in Matthew 11. Malachi 4:5 says, behold, I will send Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. Elijah the prophet, his spirit descends upon John the Baptist. That's how the prophecy comes together. And then we see in Malachi 3:1 that he, John the Baptist, is preparing the way for the Lord.

So in the sense, this human Messiah that comes is also going to be the Lord. And we see that from Malachi 3:1, behold I, God, send my messenger, John the Baptist in the spirit of Elijah. And he will prepare the way before me, God, me, the Lord, that's Adonai in the Hebrew, whom you seek will suddenly come into his temple and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. And here in the Hebrew, it's Yahweh.

There's two Lords. Here what's going on, Yahweh here represents God, the father, Adonai is Jesus Christ. How do we know that? Because we see that difference often in scripture. Psalm 110:1, the Lord, Yahweh, says to the Lord, Adonai, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. So the Messiah is clearly David's son yet David calls him Lord. And there's two Lords, Yahweh and Adonai.

What's this talking about? In the old testament, this is prophecy of the Trinity. That there's three persons in the Trinity, God the father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit. God the father sends God the son by the power of the Holy Spirit. One God, three persons, one essence. And we have this in Malachi3:1, John the Baptist comes as a messenger telling people to repent.

What was John the Baptist's message? Jesus Christ, who is God in human flesh, he's here. Therefore, repent of your sins, bear fruit with that repentance. Repentance isn't just saying, God, I'm sorry, all I want is your pardon so I can continue sinning. Repentance is God, I changed my way. I changed my life. God, I want to be used by you because I am yours. That's what repentance is. John the Baptist preached that, prepare the way for Jesus Christ.

And the second meaning of the prophecy is before Jesus' second coming, Revelation 11 talks about this, there will be two witnesses who will powerfully bear witness before the coming of Christ, and the second coming, one of those witnesses will be Elijah himself. The preparing the way of the Lord, this imagery, is clearing roads, preparing towns for the visit of the king.

It's a messenger sent to the towns who tell people, "Hey, clear the road of rock, of debris. Fill in the ruts and the potholes." God in his grace sends a messenger before his coming. He did that through John the Baptist about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ lives the perfect life, dies on the cross bearing God's fire of judgment and condemnation for our sin, our rebellion, our wickedness, dies, is buried, on the third day he's risen.

And the scripture says by our faith in him, his grace is applied to us. His judgment, his substitutionary atonement, his death, that is counted to our account the very moment that we repent. That's the only way that the fire of God, when it comes, it will be a fire that cleanses, that refines instead of incinerating.

God in his grace sent John the Baptist, God in his grace sends the church, sends us, we are priesthood of all believers and God in his kindness before the second coming of Christ will send another witness. Our job now, here, is to see where in our life do we need more of the refiners fire. Malachi 3:2, who can endure the day of his coming, who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.

God wants to pour out his fire upon the church, upon each one of us. Wherever there's an indifference to sin, an indifference to God, a lack of love, a lack luster relationship with him we're to ask, God please send this refiners fire. Please wash us with the fullers' soap, the soap that cleanses. In Malachi 3:4, he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.

He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. To the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old, as in the former years. Here the imagery is God sends his fire to purify. This is the process of making silver.

The oriental silver smith would heat it and the impurities, the dross, the slag, they bubble to the surface. He would skim the surface to the point where he could see his reflection in the silver. So this is what God is telling his people. You want justice, justice begins with you. You want God to punish evil, to cleanse the world of evil, it begins with you. It begins with you repenting of your sin and pursuing righteousness on a daily basis.

And he is sending the struggles, he's sending the difficulties in order to purify us. All whom he loves, he purifies. It's painful, but it's not as painful as the judgment in the second coming. In the second coming, this is Malachi 3:2, then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow, the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the soldier and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

These people wanted God to judge their enemies, but they didn't judge themselves. They didn't fear God. God says, first judgment needs to come into your own life reawakening cleansing of sin. This is the process of sanctification and that's how we prepare ourselves for the second coming. In the second God will bring judgment. He will bring all of these people a swift witness against them, it's talking about the ultimate judgment.

The sorcerers here, anyone who practices the occult, adulterers, anyone who is sexually unfaithful in particular in their marriage vows. Those who swear falsely, those who bend the truth, this is perjury under oath in court or in anything else, those who oppress the wage earner, anyone who is dishonest in their financial dealings. So what's the difference between the two fires? One is a fire that refines, the other fire is the one that incinerates.

What's the difference? The difference is the covenantal love of Jesus Christ. Have you accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on your behalf? Have you repented of sin? Have you turned to Jesus Christ? Have you trusted that his death on the cross when the fire of God's wrath came down on him, do you trust that this is Jesus dying on the cross for your sins?

Do you see how Holy God is? How sinful we are? How loving God is? How just God is and how much we need his grace. Do you see that? That's the only hope. There's nothing more important than that. There's nothing. There's absolutely nothing more essential than you trusting in Jesus Christ, you repenting of your sin, you following him. There's nothing more essential than that. There's nothing more essential than you worshiping the God of the universe.

And then the temptation is, as we see the evil around us, as we are... the more you grow in holiness, the more you walk with the Lord, the more it breaks your heart that there's sin in your own life and that there's just outright evil and injustice around us. And the more godless a city, the more pagan a city, the more it grieves you and it wearies you. It's exhausting spiritually. And there's a temptation to hate the evil person.

And here, as we pray for the justice, God come, God, we pray for the second coming, God, swift fire from heaven, please. We'll never lose sight of the fact that these people are eternal souls. And if Jesus Christ comes back right now, they will spend eternity in hell. So as we pray for justice, we are to care with a compassionate heart for those who don't yet know the Lord. We are to develop a compassion for those who are unbelievers.

Second Peter 3:8 through 13, do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.

And then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed since all these things are thus to be dissolved. What sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Don't weary God, if we do, if there's a grumbling spirit of complaining toward God, we are to repent of that. And then the second point is don't rob God. Malachi 3:6, for I the Lord do not change. Therefore, you O children of God are not consumed. He's setting this up, he's about to tell him that you've been robbing me. On the other hand, he said, my fire of judgment hasn't come down on you yet because I've chosen to pour my love out on you. I don't change.

God is the only one who can say I am that I am. He's the only one who can say that. Every single one of us, we have to say, I am not yet the person that I'm supposed to be. I'm growing in the grace of God. God's the only one who can say I am that I am. A.W. Pink says he can not change for the better for he is already perfect and being perfect, he cannot change for the worse.

And God is telling Israel, look, I should have destroyed you, I have not yet. And the reason is because I made a covenant with you. God chooses to love, and God is a God of his word. When God says, I love you, he will love you to the end. He will not let you go. And I'm setting that up all to say these people have been complaining to God, "God, what's the point of serving you when you are not blessing us? We're doing so much for you and you're not giving us what we want."

And God here actually says, no, you're not doing everything you ought to be doing. Malachi 3:7 through 8, from the days of the fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, how shall we return? Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me, but you say, how have we robbed you in your tithes and contributions.

We're saying, "God, we're doing so much." And he's saying, "No, no, no. You're not doing everything I've called you to do. You're comparing your obedience to that of the pagans, you're not comparing your obedience to that of God's law. And really here the main issue is they're in this lackadaisical, middle ground of miserable, pitiful, half-hearted Christianity. This is lukewarm Christianity.

In Revelation God says, "You're neither hot nor cold, you're warm. You're lukewarm. I'm going to spit you out." It's like coffee, there's only two kinds that are allowed, hot and iced. That's it. Warm coffee is disgusting. You want to spit that out. That's what God is saying. He's saying to his people, "You Christians are miserable." The reason why you're miserable is because you're lukewarm, you're half-hearted. It's the most pitiful condition to be because you can't enjoy sin like you used to because God, the Holy Spirit, rebukes you every time and he disciplines you. And because you want sin more than God, you're not getting the fullness and benefit and satisfaction and joy of God. And in order to diagnose their lukewarmness, he points to their bank account.

Well, what's the connection here? The connection is what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart is. Wherever your money naturally flows, that's usually what you love most. And scripture often talks about money as the litmus test, generosity as the litmus test of our relationship with God.

Zacchaeus was a tax collector, pagan, was stealing, robbing the people of Israel and he repents. And Jesus says this in Luke 19:8 through 9. Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore fourfold." And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to him to this house since he's also a son of Abraham.

He's not saying he's saved because he gives, but he's saying, because he's saved, he gives. He has this natural generosity. Because he loves God and the things of God, he wants to be generous to the causes of God. And that stands a stark contrast to the tragic accountant of the rich, young ruler who comes to Jesus, falls on his knees, says, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

And Jesus says, "You know the commandments." He said, "I fulfilled all of them." Jesus says, "You're lacking one thing." Mark 10:21, and Jesus looking at him, loved him and said to him, "You lack one thing. Sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, come and follow me." Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.

And again, this isn't saying that if you sell everything you have, you get salvation. But Jesus was saying, "What do you love most?" How do you inherit turn life? You love God more than anything. You repent of your sin, you love God more than anything. Jesus saw that there was an idol in the way, and that idol was money. This guy worshiped money.

Luke 16:10 to 11, and one who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much. And one who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you true riches? Unrighteous wealth, that's money and true riches here, that's the stewardship of souls. That's the souls of people.

God says there's nothing more important than caring for people's souls. And if we have been unfaithful in finances, God will not entrust to us greater responsibility, which is that of caring for souls. So here the question is, are you greedy or generous? And that's always a degree. We always have to check our hearts and see how much greed has taken over.

Do we have integrity when it comes to money? Are our priorities or motives for earning, spending, saving, investing, giving, are they in line with God's word? And how much should we give? That's the important question. In the old testament the number 10% comes up often. Abraham once gave Melchizedek 10% of the spoils from a single battle. Jacob promises to give God 10%.

The law of Moses, however, prescribes several tithes. And if you combine all of them together it's probably 20 to 25%, some say even a third. In Israel, the tithe function more like an involuntary tax. Here Malachi 3:10 says, bring the full tithe into the storehouse. The 10% is a great place to start, but the idea is we are to give proportionately with what God has given us.

So for some of us, 10% is a great place to give, some of us, it's going to be a sacrifice. So in the new testament, first Corinthians talks about giving sacrificially, joyfully and not under compulsion. Give to whom? We give to God. And what's important in Malachi 3:19 through 10 is that God says, give to my house. This is Malachi 3:9 through 12. You are cursed with a curse for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. He's talking about the temple.

And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open the windows of heaven for you and to pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord.

So you're robbing God by not giving to his house, you're withholding the tithes and offerings. Therefore, you're neglecting the ministry in the temple. So the temple is gone now, we don't have the temple. We have the church. The church is the body of believers. So they gave so that the work of the ministry would continue in the temple. We today give to the work of the church. Why? Because Christ loved the church, gave himself up for her, he, though being rich, gave himself for the church so that we could be rich in him.

Jesus said, I will build the church. And really the issue is we give to things that God loves. Does God need our money? No, God commands us to give because we need to give, we need to sacrifice. It's more blessed to give than to receive. And God wants us to give to the work of the church because the church is the vehicle through which God's glory is displayed and the gospel is proclaimed in the world. So it really comes down to giving to the things that God loves, the things that God prioritizes, things that God cares for, which is the work of the gospel and salvation of the souls. And here God says, put me to the test, which is fascinating. In the very beginning he's saying, you're testing my patience. Here he says, test me. What's the difference?

There they were testing him with their disobedience, here he says, test me with your obedience. There they with testing his patience, here he says, test my promises, test my promises. See if I don't open up the windows of heaven. Malachi 3:10, see if I will not open up the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need, until there's no more needed.

And he's not promising wealth, he's promising enough, satisfaction. Second Corinthians 9:8, and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Now this is risky. With finances, it's risky. The reason why it's risky here and the reason why he says test is obedience comes first, blessing comes after.

He says, you first give and see if I don't bless. Sometimes we want, "God bless me, if you bless me to a certain point, then I'll give." It's risky, it's faith. But he says, "Test me, let's make a deal." That's what he's saying. And I found this to be true in my own life. And I found when Christians do this, there is really this pattern of God does bless faithfulness.

The text began with them questioning God and then he says, you're robbing me, but in the middle he says return to me. And really this is the main issue, the heart of the matter is the heart. Malachi 3:7, from the days of your fathers you've turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts, but you say, how shall we return? It all starts with the heart.

It all starts with us realizing how good and gracious God is. That though we were in our sins, though we defied him, rebelled against him, cared nothing for him, despised him. And you say, how have I despised him? By being indifferent to him. Indifference is the worst form of hate. And Jesus Christ comes and he dies for us, wicked sinners, on the cross, the God of the universe bearing the wrath of God.

God came to save us from God's wrath and condemnation. He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. Christ loses everything on the cross, pours out his blood for us and by grace through faith we're saved when we realize that generosity of God, the largest of his heart, that now duty becomes delight. It all starts with a relationship to return to him, to love him.

However, relationship with God does not mean you don't have to obey. This is the problem with much of American Christianity. Oh, it's not religion, it's relationship. I know what you mean. It is relationship with God, with the God of the universe. And if you have a relationship with the God of the universe, of course it means obedience.

Repentance is not, God, I'm sorry for my sin so now I can continue living in sin. Repentance is, God, forgive me, a wicked sinner who deserves hell for all of eternity. God, forgive me for loving things more than you, for loving pleasure more than you, for loving idols more than you. God, forgive me. And God does and now you become a child of God and a servant of God.

John 15:10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. There's a connection. You want to experience God's love, you got to keep his commandments. John 15:14, you are my friends if you do what I command you. You can't say, "I love Jesus, my sins are forgiven. I'm under grace. I can live any way that I want." It doesn't work that way.

God is a jealous God. He's a zealous God. When he makes you his own, when he makes you his own, he's never letting you go. And if you experience dissatisfaction, indifference in your heart, if you experience this questioning, grumbling spirit in your heart, God, you're not giving me the life that I want to live and then you start to pursue sin, that is the most miserable place to be because he will discipline you.

Goes to Hebrews 12, he's a good father and he will discipline you. And sometimes that does mean physical suffering and sometimes even to the point of death, first Corinthians 11 talks about that. There's a sin onto death. So the word here from Malachi for us today is return to the Lord, return to him, be satisfied in him, rejoice in him. There's nothing better.

Is it worth following him? Of course. What's the point? The point is we are to glorify him, enjoy him forever. Mark 10:28 through 30, I'll close with this. And Peter began to say to him, "See, we have left everything and followed you." And Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or a mother or a father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundred fold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life."

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the Holy Spirit. And I pray, Holy Spirit, continue to refine each one of us. Lord, those of us who are Christians continue to refine our souls with your fire, refiner's fire and continue to cleanse us and our souls as with soap so that we long for holiness, that we fight sin, that we take up a cross and follow you on a daily basis because we understand that there is a spiritual war to wage and we are to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and we are pursue you with everything that we do.

And Lord, for anyone who is not yet a Christian, I pray today, convert them, regenerate them, draw them to yourself, show them that they right now are on the path of eternal separation from you. I pray, draw them to yourself, convert them, give them the gift of repentance. And I pray that they accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And I pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.