[0:00] Good evening, warm welcome to the service, those who are in the building and those who are online. Good to see some back who have been away for a wee while as well. We're going to begin this time of worship and we'll sing to God's praise from Psalm 40 at the end of the psalm.
[0:17] The last two stanzas of Psalm 40 and we sing in Gaelic. In thee let all be glad and joy who seeking thee abide, who thy salvation love, say still the Lord be magnified.
[0:30] I am poor and needy, yet the Lord of me a care doth take. Thou art my help and saviour, my God notaring make. These two verses to God's praise in Gaelic.
[0:41] And after we've sung this column, we'll come up here and lead us in prayer in Gaelic as well, please. I am so sorry, I am so sorry, I am so sorry, I am so sorry.
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[19:38] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. As I see. As we turn back to God's word. Let's pray. Oh.
[19:55] Our heavenly father. We thank you for. For. We thank you for your word. And we thank you for these meditations on your word that we have in the hymn that we were singing.
[20:10] We thank you that you call us into that close walk with you. You call us to be near with you. And we thank you that that has been made possible for us through Jesus.
[20:25] You are a God who is holy. A God who cannot look upon sin. And we are sinners. And so day by day we see our problem.
[20:37] We see the sin that is before us. We recognize the barrier between us and the holy God. But we thank you that every time we come here we meet in the name of Jesus.
[20:50] And every time that we come here we find that we are looking back to the cross of Jesus. And we thank you that that's the place that he went. To take our sin away.
[21:05] So that we can be near to you. We thank you that those who were enemies of God because of our sin and our rebellion.
[21:16] Can through faith in Christ. And we thank you that we are going to be near to you. Be brought near and be called friends of God. Even children of God. Because of all that Jesus has done.
[21:28] So we pray that each of us would be near to you this evening. We know that our hearts are restless. And although we may go far.
[21:40] And although we may achieve much. And although we may accumulate much in this world. Your word teaches us. And we know from our own experience of heart.
[21:52] That there is no rest. Apart from being in your nearer presence. So enable us we pray. To live there.
[22:03] Day by day. Pray for anyone tonight here. Or watching at a distance. Who does not yet know you. Pray for any who have not yet trusted Christ as Saviour.
[22:17] For those who are far from you. We ask that even this evening you would open their eyes to see their own sin. And Christ as the one who calls them to trust.
[22:33] Trust him as their Saviour. We pray that there might be some. Even this evening who would go from darkness to light. From death to life.
[22:45] From that distance from God. To a close walk with God. We pray for any. Also who may once have been near. Like your people were in the book of Malachi.
[22:58] And who have drifted and gone cold. We thank you for the words that. We underline in this book. Where God says to his people then.
[23:09] And now return to me. And I will return to you. Says the Lord Almighty. So for the wanderer. For the backslider. For the one who has drifted.
[23:20] We pray Lord that you would not leave them. That you would not leave us where we may be tonight. But that you would draw us close again. And we thank you that. That distance.
[23:32] It is closed. That gap is closed. Simply. As we look in faith to Jesus. And cry out in prayer. Asking Lord that you would. That you would hear us. Lord.
[23:43] That you would hear us. That you would hear us. We pray on for those. Tonight who are struggling. And who are weak. We pray for Ina. In particular. Who over the course of this day.
[23:55] Has weakened still. We ask Lord. That as she lies in. In that hospital bed. And as she struggles physically. We pray that there would be that.
[24:07] That inward renewing. That we have seen. And we believe. We will continue to see in her. We pray that she would know.
[24:17] Your presence. We pray that she would know. That you are close. We pray that even. When she hasn't got strength. To be able to speak. Or perhaps even pray.
[24:30] Lord that. You would. Draw near to her. And enable her to know. That you are close. We thank you again. For her.
[24:41] And for Angus Alec. And for. The power. Of the witness. Of Christ. In and through them. Through the years. And we pray.
[24:51] That you would be. Especially close to them. At this time. And for all. Of the family Lord. Who. Who have. Who are. Surrounding them. We pray. That you would uphold them.
[25:03] Also. Help us Lord. We pray. As a congregation. To. Who have been so much. Prayed for. And encouraged by them. Over the years.
[25:14] To remember them. Constantly in prayer. At this time. And to reach out. With the compassion. Of Jesus. So here are prayers.
[25:24] For Ina. And Angus Alec. Especially. This evening. We pray. And open your word. To us. Now we ask. We ask. That we would hear. Your voice.
[25:35] We pray. That we would know. Your presence. We ask Lord. That you would minister. To us. And what we pray. For ourselves. Here. We pray for. We pray for the congregation. In Scalpy.
[25:45] As Duncan. Leads this evening. We pray. That you would bless. The word. This morning. Also. As Angus M. Preached. We pray. That you would be.
[25:56] Moving in that place. And we pray. For Andrew Coggle. And Deborah. At this time. For Andrew. Having lost his mother. And preparing. For the funeral. Tomorrow. We pray. That you would.
[26:07] Comfort him. And the family. And that you would. Bless them. And for other congregations. Who gather around us. Whatever. Christ crucified. Is preached. We ask Lord.
[26:18] That you would be working. That you would be. Building your church. That you would be. Ministering. Through. Your people. So hear our prayers.
[26:28] Take away. Our sin. And help us. To keep our eyes. On. On Jesus. The author. The perfecter. Of our faith. We pray these things. In his name. And for his sake.
[26:39] Amen. If you could have your Bibles. Open now. In front of you. Please. And we're going to look.
[26:54] At the. The passage. From Malachi chapter 3. Into Malachi chapter 4. We got as far. Last time.
[27:05] As. As verse 12. And so we're. Going tonight. From verse 13. Through to the end of the book. Hopefully. And what you'll see. As you scan.
[27:17] These verses. Is that there's a lot of talk. In these verses. There's a lot of talking. Going on. In these. In these verses. And. As we think about the world.
[27:27] That we. That we live in. And as we think about. All that we. That we watch. And we listen to. In the course of the day. That there is a lot of talk. In this world. Think about politics.
[27:40] We can't get away from it. As much as we'd like to. Escape it sometimes. But. There's so much talk. And we see the politicians. On the TV. There's the prime minister.
[27:51] There's a. Question time. And all the. The questions. And the debate. That follows there. There's the manifestos. That come out. At. At the time of. Elections.
[28:02] There's debates. On the television. There's interviews. There's so much talk. Sometimes not a lot of action. But there's a lot of talk. And then think about sport.
[28:15] Which is pretty much all. I'll watch on television. But. In sport. If you're. If you're. Watching a game of football. The game of football. Takes 90 minutes. But the pundits.
[28:27] Often. In the big games. Talk for longer. Than the game lasts for. That could be another 90 minutes. And then with the whole. Area. Of COVID. I don't know about you.
[28:38] But. I am. Sick. To death. Of so much talk. About COVID. You know. The analysis. The theories.
[28:49] The speculation. The track out of here. How we got here. What we're going to do. Where we're going to go. Time skills. Goals. Plans.
[29:00] It's endless. The talk. Lots of talk. In this world. And coming to the end. Of this. This book of Malachi. There's.
[29:10] There's. There's. There's that emphasis. On talk. We hear the wicked talk. First of all. And then we hear. The righteous talk. And then the Lord talks.
[29:22] So that's the. The structure. These are the. The three points. For. The sermon. This evening. There's wicked talk. And there's. Righteous talk. And then. In chapter four.
[29:32] The Lord talks. So first of all. We can see. Or we can hear. In the verses. That the wicked talk. And if you're thinking. About the terminology. Here of righteous.
[29:43] And wicked. It's not my terms. It's the terms. That I've lifted. From the chapter. You see it in verse. Eighteen. These labels. Of wicked. And righteous. The Lord.
[29:53] He looks. In. On. This group of people. He. He listens. In. To these people. And he makes. The distinction. The clear distinction. Between. The righteous.
[30:04] And the wicked. And as the Lord. Listens in. To the way. That they speak. There is a clear distinction. There is a difference. Between the way. That the righteous.
[30:16] Talk. And the way. That the wicked. Talk. So. How do the wicked. Talk. And what does it say. About their hearts. Well. We're kind of.
[30:26] Allowed to listen in. In verses. Thirteen. Through to verse. Fifteen. Of what. Could be. Labeled here. In the. Terms of the chapter.
[30:36] As wicked talk. And there's three things. That the. The wicked say. And the first thing. Is. They say. Harsh things. Against God. In.
[30:49] In this. Umbrella. Wicked talk. These people. They say. Harsh things. Against God. Verse thirteen. You have said. Harsh things. Against me.
[30:59] Says the Lord. Yet you ask. What have we said. Against you. So. Note that. The. The wicked. As they talk. They're not speaking. To God.
[31:11] In prayer. The psalmist. At times. Is struggling. In his life. He has. Troubles. He has things. That perplex him. But as you go. Through the psalms.
[31:22] All these frustrations. Questions. And questions. And struggles. They're taken. To the Lord. He speaks. To the Lord. But the people here.
[31:34] In verse thirteen. They're not speaking. To the Lord. They're speaking. To each other. Against the Lord. They're speaking. Harshly. And the reason.
[31:47] They speak. Against God. Is because. They can't. See God. And the reason. That they can't. See God. Is because. As we know. From the.
[31:57] The thrust. Of this book. They've drifted. From it. One of the commentaries. That I've been using. Going through this. We book. Is a. A commentary.
[32:08] By a guy. Called John Benton. And the title. Of the commentary. Is losing touch. With the living God. And that describes. Where the people were. They were losing touch.
[32:22] With the living God. So much. So that they. They now. Didn't really know him. They had the wrong.
[32:33] Impression of him. And they spoke. That out. I remember. Preaching one day. In Torridon. And.
[32:43] There was a man. In the congregation. It was just a small. Congregation. Maybe 30 odd. People would come along. To we hall. In Torridon. And there was a man. There. On this particular day.
[32:54] I'd never seen him before. And as I preached. He sat. Just in front of me. And he scowled. His way. Through the whole sermon. And the more I talked.
[33:04] The darker his face. Seemed to get. There was just this. This scowl. That. That was on his face. And. I was aware. And more and more. Aware of it. And I.
[33:15] At the end of the sermon. I was just bracing myself. For the blast. That was coming. At the door. But the truth is. I had him all wrong. You know.
[33:27] His scowl face. Seemed to be. His concentration face. It's a bit like. My preaching face. And at the end of the sermon. When we actually. Got a bit of time together.
[33:38] It was such an encouragement. And he actually. Over the course of time. Became a friend. But. If I hadn't taken the time. To speak with him. I would have had him all wrong.
[33:49] And I. Quite possibly. Would have. Would have said. Harsh things against him. Now the people.
[34:00] That Malachi addresses. In this. In this letter. They weren't spending time. With God. And they were drifting.
[34:11] Further. And further. Away from him. And the further. They got from him. At heart level. The more wrong. They were. About God. And the more. Wrong.
[34:21] They were. About God. The more. Harshly. They spoke. Against him. So the first thing. Under this. Heading. Of wicked.
[34:33] Talk. That we see. In this section. Is. That the people. They said. Harsh things. About God. Against God. Because they didn't. Really know him. And then.
[34:45] The second thing. That the people. Say. Under this. Heading. A wicked talk. Is. They say. It's hopeless. To serve God. You see that. In verse 14. Remember.
[34:55] The Lord. Is speaking here. Through Malachi. He's heard. All of this. He's heard. The harsh things. That they've said. Against them. And he's heard. Also. That they have said. Between. Each other.
[35:06] It's hopeless. To serve God. You have said. Says the Lord. It is futile. To serve God. What did we gain. By carrying out. His requirements. And going about.
[35:17] Like mourners. Before the Lord. God. Almighty. Now. We know. From. The chapters. We've looked at. Before. That the people. In that place.
[35:27] At that time. They had a good grasp. Of what it actually meant. To serve God. They. They knew it involved. Attending the temple. They knew that it involved.
[35:38] Offering sacrifices. They knew. They knew that. Service of God. Involved. Keeping the Sabbath day. Holy. And they were doing. All of that. They were in church. Morning and evening.
[35:49] Prayer meeting too. They were sacrificing. Of what they had. In terms of. Giving to God. But they weren't. Serving him. They were doing.
[36:03] Religious things. But actually. The reason. They were doing them. Was to try to. Manipulate God. Into serving them. Manipulate God.
[36:14] So their way of thinking. In Malachi's day. Was. If I do these things. For God. If I'm enough times. In the temple. If I sacrifice. As I'm supposed to sacrifice.
[36:25] If I. If I don't do the. The wrong things. And do the right things. On God's day. Then God will owe me. And he'll have to bless me. He'll make my crops grow.
[36:39] He'll make my family. Be healthy and happy. He'll make my. My bank balance grow. But. The reality was. That. Their bank balance. Weren't growing. Their crops.
[36:50] Weren't thriving. And this. Disturbed them. And so they put on this. This act of mourning. In verse 14. To. To try to get God's attention.
[37:02] To. To have this. Outward expression. Of. Of sorrow. But. It wasn't real. And so as God looked at their hearts.
[37:17] He doesn't. Do what they ask. And so in exasperation. They say. This is a waste of time. It's futile.
[37:30] It's pointless. It's hopeless. To serve God. We're. We're. Wasting our time. With all this religion. So that was the.
[37:41] The second thing. Under wicked talk. They. They. They say. Harsh things against God. They say. To each other. This is hopeless. To serve God. It's not. Doing us any good. And then the third thing.
[37:54] They say. Is. We have been hard done by. By God. God. Verse 15. But now we call the arrogant.
[38:05] Blessed. Certainly the evil doers. Prosper. And even those who challenge. God. Escape. And it's kind of. It's almost echoes of Psalm 73. But it's said with the wrong spirit.
[38:20] Psalm 73 is. Directed to God. As the psalmist. Stripes to struggle. With all that he sees. In this world. But. These people. They're not speaking to God. They're speaking to each other.
[38:32] Speaking against God. And they're saying to each other. Why is it that. The wicked are blessed. And having an easy life. And why is it that we. Who are the good people.
[38:43] Why are we having a hard time. Why isn't God sending thunderbolts. To blast these bad people. Off the face of the earth. Why isn't he serving. Showers of blessing on us.
[38:55] This is not fair. Life is not fair. Life is not fair. God is not fair. And I am hard done by.
[39:08] And that was the tone of their talk. We're being hard done by. By God. They're saying. And they might not have spoken.
[39:21] These words. Out loud. To each other. They might have been the kind of things. That were said. Last thing at night. Just. You know. Husband and wife. Whispering to each other. And the privacy.
[39:33] The secrecy of the home. They might not even have been that. They might have been. The kind of words. That were muttered. Under the breath. On a bad day. Or they might even have been.
[39:44] The kind of words. That were never. Actually spoken out. But they're lurking. Within the heart. But God heard it all.
[39:58] Because he hears it. When we shout. And he hears it. When we speak. And he hears it. When we whisper. And he hears it. When it passes through our minds.
[40:09] But we catch it. Before it. Drips out of our mouth. He hears it all. And God says. It's a.
[40:19] It's wicked talk. That I'm hearing. Amen. Amen. So that's what we hear. In verses 13. To verse 15.
[40:31] It's a. It's wicked talk. Now. We're. Early on. as we said this morning in a new year and at the beginning of a new year we think quite a lot about the things that we do and maybe some of the things that we don't want to do we resolve to do some things and to step back from other things but maybe we should give some thought to the things, not so much that we do but the things that we say even the things that we think and we allow to live within us deep down we should give some thought to the way that we talk and in particular the way we talk about God and also the way that we talk about the providence of God the things that God allows to happen in our lives you know as we stand in front of the mirror of God's word and as we see ourselves in some measure does our talk as we think about the way that we live and the way that we speak and the way that we think does our talk honour God or can it be harsh against Him and as we come to the place of worship as the people in Malachi did are the words that we have been singing a genuine expression of praise from our hearts or were they just words and as we think about our lives and the way things are going are we thankful to God for His grace or are we grumblers against God you know I can think of some of our folks who have gone through incredibly hard things in life and who are still going through very hard things in life difficult providences are they speaking against God is they're taught wicked far from it even in the most difficult of times we can see people in our minds eyes just now we can hear the things they say and the things that they are saying in the hardest of times is the Lord is good and the Lord is faithful think about Angus Alec at home he won't like me saying this but he's not here to stop me think about Angus Alec at home think about Ina in the hospital bed
[43:38] I saw her on Thursday what was she doing with the little breath that she had I'll tell you what she was doing she was praising the Lord honouring the Lord even in the midst of all the storms of this life so we hear the wicked talking in the book of Malachi here we have the contrast of those who are not like that as we think about their witness and then the second thing we see in this chapter is or we hear as righteous talk from verse 16 into verse 17 and 18 we see the righteous or we hear the righteous talk so what do we know about righteous talk well we're not given a whole lot of detail about what the righteous said we're not given a transcript of the conversations that were categorised by God as righteous but we are told some of the things about those who are righteous and the things that they did and there's two things that the righteous did that are noted by God through Malachi and the first thing is they feared the Lord and the second thing is they fellowshiped with one another so they feared the Lord and we see this in verse 16 then those who feared the Lord says the messenger the Malachi in this verse and the fear that's written of here
[45:17] I think we know enough about scripture and having gone through this book to know that this is not a kind of ghastly fear that drives people away from God the fear that they had of the Lord was a godly fear that causes the righteous to want to draw near to God with that sense of awe and that sense of reverence that the holy God would allow us to come into his nearer presence so they feared the Lord the righteous verse 16 at the end says those who feared the Lord are honoured his name they feared the Lord and they fellowshiped with one another those who feared the Lord they talked with each other so they talked with each other in a way that honours the name of the Lord and that's fellowship you know sometimes we we see it on church notes sometimes I say it myself there'll be a time after the service and there'll be some coffee and fellowship but the truth is what happens at the end of a service is not always a fellowship you know talking about the weather and talking about the football and talking about the week and talking about the quality of the coffee and the cakes is not fellowship it's nice to do but it isn't fellowship fellowship you know fellowship involves talking with each other in a way that honours the name of the Lord that's what fellowship is it's talking about God it's talking about his word it's talking about Christ and his work that's fellowship and that's what they were doing those who who were who were speaking righteously they they had that sense of fear of God within them and the the way they spoke was a it was a it was conversation that honoured the name of the Lord they fellowshiped with each other speaking of the the righteous
[47:48] Wearsby in his commentary says their assembly probably wasn't a large one probably a lot like us here tonight and they may have thought that very little was happening because they met and worshipped but God was paying attention and keeping a record of their words and that's an amazing thought that we should allow to be to be etched into to our minds when we meet with each other and when we talk in a way that honours the name of the Lord when we enjoy true fellowship even if we're a small gathering even if it's just two or three of us God is listening God was listening and it says there that he was keeping a record of their words the Lord listened it says in verse 16 and heard a scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honoured his name and as hard as it is for us to take this in
[49:15] God God was and God is listening into our conversations sometimes you know we can be aware that another person is eavesdropping they're listening into our conversation and sometimes news stories break or scandals burst onto social media because somebody has heard and records the details of a conversation that we never thought was being listened to but we're told here that the Lord listens into our conversations about him when we speak his name he's listening and not only is he listening but he is arranging for that to be recorded on a scroll he records what we say about him on this scroll of remembrance now why does he do that well he does that he does that because he loves us you know in the same way that some of you probably have love letters from past years
[50:29] Emily's looking horrified at me just now but in the same way that some people who may have been married for years have still got the letters that expressed love decades ago God keeps the words that we speak in love and fear and honour of him and that love of God for his people that possessive saving compassionate love comes through in verse 17 he speaks of his people in verse 17 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 when the righteous talk when God's people talk in a way that honours his name
[51:32] God is listening and recording opening up a file in heaven where the words that we have spoken to his glory are retained I wonder how thick our file is I wonder how much has been recorded in this scroll of remembrance that we have spoken to each other about the name and the character and the works of God that we have so much we can say to give honour to the name of God every time we see it it's recorded so I wonder how much has been written how much is in the file the file is not closed thankfully so let's be encouraged as we think about
[52:37] God as we think about Jesus as we think about the work of Christ for us let's be encouraged to speak to each other because that's where we are encouraged and God is glorified so we've got the wicked talk and we have the righteous talk and there's this huge contrast between the two and the contrast is underlined in verse 18 the Lord says you will see again the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between those who serve God and those who do not Mackay in his commentary says scripture warns us that in the ultimate analysis there is no middle ground there's no grey area there is only the right hand and the left hand of the king and once he has drawn the line there will be no crossing over from one side to another so there's this very clear separation there's this very clear excuse me distinction righteous wicked those who know God and who trust him and those who do not and I think the question that we have to ask at this point is which side are we on there's no fence there's no in between we're either saved or we're lost we're either in Christ or we're out of
[54:12] Christ we're either serving God and seeking to honour him or we're not so which side are we on and we should remember each of us that the way that we speak and the way that we live shows people around us who we are and whom we serve and when we serve the Lord our lives should be distinct and our talk should be distinct people should be able to both see and hear how great and how worthy of honour God is to the way that we speak and the way that we live so there's wicked talk and there's righteous talk and finally and just very briefly we hear the Lord talks and if you scan down the verses
[55:22] I'm not going to go into detail in these verses but if you scan down the verses and if I was to ask you the question what are these verses about it's very clear that there's an emphasis in this last chapter and the emphasis is an emphasis on the day of the Lord verse 1 says the day is coming again verse 1 that day is underlined verse 3 again talks about the day verse 5 talks about that great and dreadful day of the Lord and we I think as a congregation should pay particular attention to this because although this was not my design or engineering in both the morning and the evening this is the emphasis there's a day coming the day of the Lord is coming so what does the Lord say about that day in this book of Malachi well there's three things the first thing is it's a day of judgment verse 1 surely the day is coming it will burn like a furnace all the arrogant and every evil doer will be stubble and that day that is coming will set them on fire says the
[56:34] Lord almighty not a root or a branch will be left to them you flick back a few verses to verse 15 of chapter 3 there are people who are complaining that the arrogant and the evil doers are prospering in this world and the truth is very often they do but this world is passing away it's like a mist and those who do not repent of sin on that day the day of the Lord they will face judgment the second thing about that day is it's a day of salvation again there's a huge contrast here but you verse 2 who revere my name the son of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings and you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall so you have two pictures in these verses there's the picture of the son of righteousness rising and we know even in the physical sense on a cold day when the sun breaks through the clouds there's that warmth that radiates over us and the promise is that the day of the
[57:53] Lord is a day where the sun will radiate warmth and life and healing and peace over all who revere the name of God and there will be joy we heard that this morning as well on that day for God's people there will be joy we have the picture there of calves released from the stall some of you know very well what that looks like when the sheep or the calves are released from the stall from the flank they skip out because they're full of joy as they go from this enclosed space to the freedom of the field and that's the picture we're given here God's people on that day of the Lord we will be free from sin we will be free from the attacks of Satan we will be free from the sickness of this world we free from the sadness that we feel sometimes we'll be free from death and there will be the joy of everlasting life you know we taste salvation today if we're in Christ we taste salvation when we know that we are saved when we can put our head on the pillow at the end of the night and know that we can sleep in peace it's just a taste you know on the day of the
[59:33] Lord that salvation will be will be tasted and enjoyed in full measure and it'll never end what a contrast it's a day of judgment for those who will not repent it's a day of salvation and joy for those who do repent and it's a day of justice as well it says in verse 3 you will trample down the wicked there will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things says the Lord almighty and we can think about brothers and sisters in Christ in North Korea for example or Eritrea or Pakistan or India who are quite literally trampled down by evil regimes who are massacred who are persecuted and murdered whose lives are so cheap and we're told that there is coming a day where all that will end and where
[60:44] God's justice will prevail it will be a day of justice these are just some of the pictures that Malachi paints of that day of that great and dreadful day of the Lord pictures of judgment pictures of justice pictures of salvation and the question to finish with is how can we ensure that on that day we are safe how can we ensure that on that day we are not burned up by the wrath of God we're not wiped out by the judgment of God but we're saved or we are healed eternally and the answer is Jesus and that's what this book finishes we're pointed to Jesus in verse four we have this verse about remembering the law of
[62:01] Moses is God saying in verse four keep my law and you'll be saved no he's not because none of us can keep the law if it was about keeping the law none of us could be saved so how can we be saved well God says in verse five see I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes so who is Elijah well Jesus tells us in Matthew 11 verse 14 that Elijah is John the Baptist and what did John the Baptist do he pointed us to Jesus and what would Jesus do well he would verse six turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers he is the one who would make it possible for us not to be struck with a curse this is all about Jesus weerspey says this and I'll finish with with this weerspey the commentator he makes the observation that the old old testament scriptures last word in the old testament as you can see in verse six the old testament scriptures he says end with the word curse but he says if you fast forward to the end of the new testament it ends in chapter 22 with the words and there shall be no more curse the question is how is that possible and the answer is
[64:00] Jesus John is pointing us to Jesus and in Galatians 3 13 it says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree he redeemed us so everything in Malachi is pointing people to Jesus he is the one who was sent he is the one who came he is the one who was struck on Calvary on our behalf because of our sin he is the one who took the curse our curse into his body on the tree he is the one who makes it possible for us to be reconciled with
[65:04] God and reconciled with each other and if we believe in him when that great and dreadful day comes the promise of God is that we will not face curse we will not face judgment we will not face fire but rather we will be taken home to enjoy the blessing of God's grace and we'll sing about that now in that hymn your grace that leads this sinner home home so let's stand and we'll sing to God's praise your grace that leads the sinner home from death to life forever and sing the song of righteousness thy blood and not thy merit your grace that reaches far and wide to every tribe and nation has called my heart to enter the joy of your salvation by grace
[67:02] I am redeemed by grace I am restored and now I freely walk into the arms of Christ my heart your grace that I cannot explain not by my earthly wisdom the prince of life without a stain was traded for this sin earth by grace I am redeemed by grace I am restored and now I freely walk into the arms of
[68:04] Christ my Lord let grace rise up and overflow my song resound forever for grace will see me welcomed whole to walk beside my Savior by grace I am redeemed by grace I am restored and now I feel you walk into the arms of Christ my Lord and now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship the comfort of God the Holy Spirit be with us all now and ever more
[69:06] Amen