Morning everyone, lovely to see you.
Let me tell you about two people who've been, I've been reading about this week.
Ready for these? Two people I've been reading about this week. Here's the first man.
His name is Darren Brown.
Okay, if you've not heard of him, he is, and there's a wee Wikipedia quote up there about him.
He's one of the world's top illusionists.
And I never knew this about this man before. I've heard lots about him living in the UK.
But I never knew he was actually a Christian by his own admission in his teens.
But as life went on, and he got more and more into magic and more into tricks,
and he began to understand that he was really good at it,
he began to see how easily people can be duped into believing next to anything.
And so what happened in his mind is that the resurrection of Jesus,
which is the centre point of the Christian faith,
slid into that category of things that people can easily believe,
but cannot be proved to be right.
So in his mind, the resurrection of Jesus becomes just like that.
And so today, not only is he openly sceptical about the Christian faith,
but he's worth a reported $7.5 million.
So this is the first guy I was reading about this week.
Darren Brown. Here's the second person.
Kate Forbes.
I think you can say this week.
She has been the cat among the political pigeons, hasn't she?
And we've watched as she's unashamedly nailed her Christian convictions to the mast.
And I don't know about you,
but as I've watched the flack that she has been prepared to take this week
because of those things,
I have been greatly challenged and emboldened
in terms of my own witness to the risen Lord Jesus.
And we stand with her, don't we,
on the things that she believes and that she's standing for.
But what are people saying about her?
You read the political commentators who are on Twitter
and different social media things this week.
What are they saying to her?
Kate, you can believe whatever you want.
Okay?
Believe whatever you want.
But please just don't share what you believe.
Because if you did that, Kate,
you would be an absolute shoo-in
for the biggest job in our country.
But to quote another famous lady from British politics,
this lady is not for turning.
So here's the thing.
I have witnessed these two people this week,
read about them this week.
And you have to say that one of them
has turned their back on the Christian faith,
has moved on in their own mind from God
and has gone up.
And the other is sticking to her guns
about what she believes about the gospel
and the Christian faith.
And in the eyes of the world,
she's gone down.
And so my heart has watched
and read about both of those individuals this week.
And here's the question that I've asked myself.
Is it really worth it following Jesus?
You ever asked that question?
You've been there.
Is it worth it?
Or here's the question,
put it another way for this morning.
Is there any gain in godliness?
You see, that's where many in Malachi's generation are at.
If you come with me to the text here's verse 14.
What are they saying to themselves?
They are saying,
it is vain to serve the Lord.
Do you see that?
It is vain to serve the Lord.
Verse 15,
not only do evildoers prosper,
but they put God to the test
and they escape.
So God, you don't do anything.
You don't make any distinction
between the people of God
and the peoples of the world right now.
And so they're beginning to think to themselves,
it's not worth it.
It's like that slogan
that some of you might remember
that the atheist bus campaign,
way back in 2008,
that it was doing the rounds in London
on the sides of buses.
The slogan read,
there's probably no God.
Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.
Does your heart wonder if they're right?
Is it worth it?
Following Jesus in our world today.
You know, I bought our kids this week.
I bought them a Where's Wally book.
All right, big Where's Wally fans in our house.
Except this one,
when it popped up on Amazon,
I bought it because we got the collection,
but we didn't have this one.
This one is a Spot the Difference edition.
Okay, we've had great fun this week,
but do you know what the kids keep saying?
The line from their mouths,
the line is,
Daddy, we don't see any differences.
We just don't see them.
Are there any differences?
So often what our hearts say
as we look
at the world around us
and the people,
our friends,
how they're living their lives.
Is there any difference?
Is Christianity like a bounty
in a box of celebrations?
Some people like it.
Some people hate it.
But don't worry
because there's other chocolate
that you can choose
from according to your taste.
Is there a difference?
difference?
That is what my heart
has been asking this week.
But this is what my God
has been saying to me this week.
Verse 18.
And to this generation,
he says,
you will see again
the distinction
between the righteous
and the wicked,
between those who serve God
and those who do not.
So in the eyes of the Lord,
there is a difference.
And if you are here
and you wouldn't call yourself
a believer,
a follower of Jesus,
I love that you are here.
You are so,
so welcome.
Can I just say
for you to hang around
just for 20 or so minutes
as we go through this,
there is sobering
and there's stunning truth
for you
in this passage today.
And the invitation
I make to you
is to come
and enter
and explore
explore
the Christian story.
And can I just say
it is a story
that might well resonate
with you
and where you're at
way more than you think it will.
As you get to know
who the God of the Bible is,
the God in whose image
you are made.
And if you are here
and you are weary
and you're tired
and you're struggling,
tired as you slog on
in the bog of life
in your Christian faith,
weighed down by worries
and concerns
about what tomorrow
might hold,
so much so
that tomorrow morning
seems like a burdensome
thought to you.
If you are struggling
physically today,
then there is wonderful strength
to be found
in God's
word
today.
And that's why
I want you to listen
to what this is saying
because it's beautiful.
It is stunning.
It is
sobering.
But as we take
in the word
of the Lord
today,
I pray
that we will be
greatly strengthened.
Now here are just
two
takeaways
from this passage
today.
You up for it?
Here's number one.
God sees the difference.
Okay,
he sees the difference
in this day.
Now if you come with me
to the text,
you see
that while there is
a group of people
in Israel
who,
verses 13 to 15,
are set
on leaving God
behind,
right?
They've concluded
it is vain
to serve the Lord.
And just notice
in the description
there that they've
turned the scales
in terms of deciding
what is right
and wrong.
And they've gone
hard against
the Lord
with their words.
Okay,
this is one group.
But,
wonderfully,
there is another
group that we read
about from
verse 16.
And it's hard
to tell whether
this group have
responded to what
Malachi's been saying
or whether they've
just been there
the whole time.
But whatever it is,
they come at this
point in the book
and it's marvellous
because if one group
are marked by doubt,
this group are
marked by faith.
Do you see?
They're marked by faith.
Now,
can we just do a little
bit of work
on that word
for a second?
Because it's been
trending this week
if you've been
following it.
One article I read
in the BBC this week
read,
the perils of mixing
politics and faith.
Clearly,
the whole point
of the article
was they're like
oil and water,
don't mix,
okay?
Can I chuck out
to you a radical
thought on this
Sunday morning?
Particularly if you
are here and you
would not call
yourself a Christian,
if we are defining
that word faith
as truth and values
which we believe,
that which we are
trusting in,
and that which
shape our lives,
then we,
every single human
being,
has faith.
An alternative
heading to that
article,
and I tweeted it
this week,
should be something
like this.
Every human being
has a world
through which
they see the world,
understand themselves,
others,
and by which
they live.
Let's have a loving
discussion as to
what yours is
and why.
We all have ways
of understanding
the world.
All have ways
of understanding
the world.
This group
have faith.
Faith in what
is the question.
Faith in,
and you see it's
wrapped up in that
word fear.
So this group
have faith.
They fear
the Lord.
And what that
word means
is that their
eyes have been
drawn to
magnetically
this God
of blazing
holiness
and
compelling
beauty.
A fear
that doesn't
cause us
to run away
and hide.
It's a fear
that magnetically
draws us into
delight.
This is who
this God is.
And like the
earth's relationship
to the sun,
when we
understand that,
our lives
begin to
orbit around
him.
Trusting what
he says is
true.
Longing what
Gary was saying
right at the
start in our
opening worship.
Longing to
know him
more.
Obeying what
he says is
right.
And what are
this group
doing?
I love this.
What are they
doing?
They're speaking
with one another.
Do you see
that?
Is that not
wonderfully and
beautifully and
profoundly simple?
They're just
nattering.
Right?
I'd love to
have been
getting Amazon
all or nothing
fly-in-the-wall
documentary about
those conversations,
would you not,
at this time?
I'd love to know
what they're saying.
I'd love to know
what they were
saying.
Tantalizingly,
we're not told.
But I wonder
if it resembled
much of what
we're kind of
doing today.
Right?
Saying to
one another,
do you remember
who the Lord
is?
Remember who
he is?
Do you remember
what he did
in the past?
Do you remember
that this God
has a track
record of
delivering on
his promises?
Do you remember
how this God
promised that
he was taking
us somewhere?
That our story,
because it's
wrapped up in
him, is going
somewhere?
Do you remember
how this God
promised that
he would bring
us back out
of exile?
And he did.
And what did
the Lord do?
They spoke to
one another.
What did he do?
And this ties
into what Florence
was saying there
at the start as
well.
What did this God
do?
He paid attention.
Do you see?
He heard.
And I hope that
greatly encourages
all of us this
morning,
corporately,
personally,
in our prayer
lives,
that this God
hears.
And get this,
a book of
remembrance was
written before
him.
The names of
every single
person of faith,
it's almost as
like it was
right before his
eyes,
written in a
book.
This is not
like when you
order a drink at
Starbucks,
right, and they
write your name
on the side of
the cup,
trying to give
you the impression
that they know
you.
I've heard some
weird and wonderful
spellings of
Graham over the
years, let me
tell you.
My favorite was
G-R-I-M.
Leave that with
you.
But this is not
what's going on
here.
Do you see how
this God
intimately and
personally and
fully knows his
people?
Do you see it in
the text?
Do you see what
God calls them?
He says they are
mine.
And what does
he say they'll
be on that
day?
This is the
day when Jesus
Christ returns.
That we'll come
to in a minute.
They are my
treasured possession.
And we've got to
take in the
language here.
Take in every
word.
There's a reason
that this has been
preserved.
God in his
sovereignty has
allowed this book
to be in our
language at this
time.
So we need to
take in what
he's saying.
God says they
are my treasured
possession.
It's what we used
to do as children,
isn't it?
I remember
Grace when I took
her to school the
other day.
One of her
friends came and
just brought out of
her pocket all
these shells that
she collected on
the beach as she
walked with her
mum and dad during
half term.
She's all bringing
them in.
Bringing them in
for show and
tell.
These are mine.
My precious.
And that's what
God is saying
here.
My people.
And don't miss
God's affection
for and his
commitment to
his people.
And his
declaration that
in a day when
many question
whether there
is a difference,
God says there
is.
And I see it.
And God says,
do you notice
here once more
I will show
it.
That's at verse
18.
Which makes you
ask, doesn't it,
as you read that
through, when has
he done it before?
And the answer
you'll find in the
book of Exodus,
the second book in
the Bible, chapter
nine, during the
plagues that God
sent on the
Egyptians to
convince Pharaoh
to let his people
go.
To let his people
out of slavery
that they might
go into the
desert and do
what?
Worship the
Lord.
It's always the
way salvation
works.
Not just save
to wander
aimlessly.
saved with a
purpose that we
might live for
Yahweh, live for
Jesus.
In chapter nine,
we get those
plagues, and it's
during the fifth
plague that this
same word comes
up.
As a plague
comes on the
Egyptian livestock,
and yet it
doesn't come on
God's people's
livestock.
God's saying,
I'm making a
distinction between
the Egyptians
and my people,
and not one of
the livestock of
God's people
dies.
And yet that is
but a warm-up
act for the
ultimate distinction
that God makes in
that scene in
Egypt.
As God tells his
people to take the
blood of a slain
lamb and put it
above their
doorposts, and
when the destroyer
comes, God almost
will stand in that
doorway and say,
no, they are
mine.
And he will not
kill the firstborn
of the family.
And there's an
outcry.
There's a great
mourning in Egypt
the next day as
this happens.
But the blood of
the lamb is the
thing that saves
God's people.
Park that for
where we're ending
this.
You can be
surprised, okay?
It's the blood
that stands in the
way.
It's the blood
that makes a
distinction between
God's people and
the peoples of
the world.
Just as he did
then, God is
saying to this
generation, remember
pre-Jesus, that
on that day, God
will make a
distinction once
again.
And God would
say to his
people, I see the
difference in this
day.
I see it.
And secondly, he
wants them to know
that he will make
the difference on
that day.
And that's the
phrase that comes
to the fore.
Just as we enter
chapter 4, and
God is talking
about that day
when he will deal
decisively with
all that is evil
in the world.
And he will deal
with all those who
have not, and take
the language from
verse 18, between
those who have
served them and
those who have not
served him.
the day that
will reveal this
God's settled
opposition as the
three times holy
God to all that
is unholy in
this world.
Because if God
didn't, he would
be compromising on
his character.
He cannot do one
without the other.
There cannot be
liberation for his
people without
judgment on the
world.
This is the day
when the God of
light will overcome
and decisively
banish the
darkness.
I think it's
something that we
intuitively know
as human beings.
Can I just say,
I think it's, you
see that because
it's reflected in
the best love
stories that our
culture tells.
Because Aslan, if
he's going to bring
the fullness of
his kingdom, there's
going to be peace,
if there's going to
be life, then the
white witch must
be banished.
She can't still
be wandering
around.
Sauron must be
defeated if there's
to be peace on
Middle Earth.
All evil will be
judged.
It will be judged
as this God makes
every wrong right.
It's why our
culture's desire for
justice, if you've
noticed that,
justice is right.
It is right and
it's there because we
are made in God's
image.
But if a perfectly
holy God is to
judge human sin,
then every single
one of us falls
short of his
glory.
And every single
one of us will
have to answer to
him as to how
we've lived and as
to how we've
responded to Jesus
on that day.
And it's to the
risen Jesus, I
take it he's the
one of whom this
Elijah figure at the
end, who is John
the Baptist as we
come to the New
Testament, has come
to get us ready for.
How have we
responded to him?
And we have to
feel the strength
and the severity of
the picture language
that God gives this
generation.
I take it just to
wake them up.
the arrogant and
evildoers will be
stubble.
That day shall set
them ablaze.
And we've got to
feel the strength of
that language.
And it's a stark
warning for all of
us here today,
particularly if you
are here today and
you would not say
that you have
accepted this Jesus
as your Savior.
Friends, this day is
real.
It is coming.
But here's the
good news of the
gospel.
The good news of
the gospel is that
just like there was
at Passover, that
first one, another
lamb who was
slain, another
lamb has come,
whose blood
sprinkled above the
door of our lives
as we take God at
his word, saves
us.
We are not saved
because we are good
people.
We are not saved
because we've made
decent decisions in
life.
That is not the
case.
We are saved simply
because of the blood
that's above the door
of our lives and
through nothing else.
Jesus, he lived that
perfect life that we
could never live.
He died on the cross
the death that you
and I deserve to die.
And while for one
group his return,
having risen and
ascended, one day his
return, for one group
it will be devastation.
For another group
it will be liberation.
Of all the prophecies
about God's new
creation, and get
those ideas of
clouds and harps
out your mind,
okay?
God's new creation,
his physical world,
this is the one that
stirs my heart the
most.
And God doesn't just
want his people to
know what that will
be like as they're
struggling on in their
Christian lives.
I'd imagine this first
group are laughing at
them.
You're wasting your
time.
Why not just go and
join the peoples of the
world?
God wants them not just
to know it intellectually,
he wants them to feel it
emotionally.
And again, as we've
done justice to the
picture language that's
there, we've got to do
justice to the picture
language that is here as
well.
And on that note, we
need to grasp the
difference between
emotionalism, which I
take it is just cheap
and short-lasting
affections.
and God in the
gospel, by his word
and by his spirit,
awakening in us deep
emotions, affections,
and love as we respond
to Jesus as we see and
hear the gospel.
Do you see if there's a
difference?
We should be marked by
moved emotions as we
consider what God has
done for us in sending
Jesus, that is ours in
him.
As we gaze upon his
beauty, we cannot
help but be moved.
There's a difference
between emotionalism and
gospel-fueled emotions.
And we've got to feel
it as we think about
what's going on here.
As we think about where
this finds its ultimate
climax in Jesus.
And this is where we
tap back into Christmas
and that carol that we
love to sing.
Hark the Herald Angels
sing, Isaac Watts got it
bang on.
You rightly identified
the son of
righteousness.
risen with healing in
his wings.
He rightly identified
him with the risen
Jesus.
Friends, as we
contemplate his return,
feel the language there.
It will be like the kind
of joy that a bird feels
at dawn.
Have you not loved just
hearing the bird sing
again?
Is what is felt just like a
brutal and long and cold
and expensive winter?
You've just heard the
bird sing again.
What does it say?
It says something's
changing.
It's why so many people
use it as white noise on
their phone, isn't it?
Birds singing.
Why?
Because it's just one of
the most beautiful sounds
we'll ever hope to hear.
It's like the kind of joy
that a photographer feels
as he captures a sunrise.
Right?
I love to hear about a
group of students,
trying not to look at
them here, who got up
early a month or so ago
and climbed Blackford Hill
to watch the sunrise
because there is no more
beautiful sight in our
world than watching a sun
come up.
On this day, God is saying
it will feel like the
whole earth is being
healed by the sun's
light.
It will be like snow as
it thaws when the sun
warms it.
Friends, are you feeling
that?
As you read it here,
living in our world where
it so often feels like what
C.S. Lewis captures so
poignantly when one of his
characters described in
Narnia as a place where
it's always winter, but
never Christmas.
You know, I often find as I
meet people who are going
through the mill.
Honestly, all you've got
sometimes is a pastor.
And not just a pastor,
sometimes as a loving
friend.
All you've got sometimes is
that phrase that the other
Christians used to use
frequently.
And you find at the end of
1 Corinthians chapter 16,
Maranatha.
Do you know what it means?
It just means come, Lord
Jesus, and make it right.
Sometimes that's all you've
got.
Come, Lord Jesus, and make
it right.
Friends, if you're struggling
with your physical health,
if you just wake up in the
morning and you just think,
I cannot bear another day of
this, I want you to be
greatly heartened by what
this says.
That because of your faith in
Jesus, hear me right, you will
one day be fully healed of your
hardships.
You will be fully healed.
It might not be in this life,
but 100% sure it will be in this
new creation.
We will have new bodies.
I thought about that, making
that a conversation for church
lunch upstairs.
What are you most looking
forward to be free of?
You know, for me, I've just my
eczema in my hands for months.
I just cannot get rid of it.
Cannot wash the dishes.
Cannot change a nappy.
Cannot do anything.
And it just drains me of
energy.
What are you most looking
forward to being rid of?
Physical bodies that God gives
us.
The hope of the Christian
life is not that life might
get better and easier for us
here.
The hope of the Christian
life is that Jesus loves us
and has given himself for us.
And one day he is coming back
to make all things new.
It's why I love that scene that
we get in Acts chapter 3.
And you can read it in your own
time if you want.
You can look it up if you want.
As Peter and John meet that
lame man.
His ankles are gone.
He's been lame for birth.
All these details that were told
about in Acts chapter 3.
And he says to them, what have you
got?
Can I have alms?
Right?
Can you give me something?
He's begging.
And what did he say?
And it goes with that kid's song
that some of you might have
grown up singing.
Silver and gold we have none,
but what we have we give you.
In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk.
Two things were told as he does.
Number one, what does he do
connecting with this passage?
What does he do?
Doesn't give them a high five and
go on his way.
He's leaping.
He's walking and he's leaping
and he's praising God.
God's kingdom arriving in the
person of Jesus.
What else does he do?
He goes to the temple.
Into the temple.
He goes into God's presence.
And it's almost as if we read
that.
And here is God glorifying the
name of Jesus in the eyes of the
watching world in that moment in
Acts chapter 3.
But it's a picture for everyone
watching and everyone reading
now of the glorious foretaste
of life that what it'll be like
for every single one of us when
he comes to bring in his kingdom
fully and finally when he returns.
That's what it will be like.
Be leaping like calves from the
stall, right?
Living in the city.
I'll be honest, I don't get that
one.
But that's what God is saying to
his people.
Who would have got that one?
That's what it's like.
Friends, in the words of New
Testament scholar and an older
man who's feeling his aches and
joints called Don Carson.
And please hear this reverently,
okay?
He says this when people ask him
how do you keep on going?
He says, listen, I'm not
suffering from anything now that a
good resurrection won't fix.
And so what does God say as we begin
to wrap this up to the people of
faith in this generation?
Paraphrasing verse 4.
What's the call on God's faithful
remnant in Malachi's day?
They're watching all this stuff going
on in amongst their community.
He says to them, keep waiting.
Be faithful.
I love you.
I know you.
And one day I'm coming back.
I will act to make it all new.
I think that's where we've got to
leave it, isn't it?
The application then is exactly the
same application now.
Got to keep obediently, faithfully
waiting and loving and knowing the
return of King Jesus.
You know, as we close, I began by
telling you about two people that I
read about this week.
Can I just tell you about two people
who I met this week?
Two ladies who sat at the table
beside me in Cosa on Thursday.
And after I'd finished my meeting, I
met Mike.
I was just sitting there doing some
emails, but I couldn't help but
overhear their conversation, which is
always a better way than saying you
were eavesdropping, isn't it?
That's what I was doing on Wednesday.
And every so often I would just pick
up an odd word that they were saying
to one another.
Like Jesus.
And forgiveness.
And peace.
And sin.
And grace.
And God's love.
And obedience.
And telling others it was like a
royal flush.
And my pastor's senses began to
tingle.
And they prayed together.
And they stopped praying and they
looked up and I was smiling at them,
which I think freaked them out
slightly.
But I reassured them who I was and
that I followed Jesus as well.
And they begin to tell me how they
go to another church somewhere in the
city.
And that they're doing an alpha
course together, exploring the
things of the Christian faith.
And that life's hard.
Being in the circles that they're in,
different circles.
And so what they do is they just
meet up now and again to encourage
one another in the faith.
And I think that's exactly where we
need to land with this series as we've
gone through it in Malachi.
Wouldn't that be a brilliant legacy
and such wonderful fruit from our time
together in this series?
As God has challenged us on a number of
levels as we've gone through it
together, that the lasting impression
this book would make on us, to nab a
phrase from Hebrews, that we would
encourage one another more and daily
as we see that day drawing close.
That day that is the wonderful return
of Lord Jesus, encouraging one another
about how great he is, about how wonderful
the gospel is, and about how wonderful the
future is, because he died, he rose, he
ascended, and one day he's coming back
to make it all new.
So just think about who can you meet up
with this week?
Who can you encourage?
Who's going through a really hard time?
Who needs the words of Malachi?
Who needs the words of any chapter, any
word in the Bible?
Who can you come alongside this week to
encourage with that single goal?
To bring the grace of Jesus to bear in
each other's lives.
Got a great chance to do that over lunch.
You can think about it.
But this is what we need.
Let's pray together, will we?
Father, we think of the words of the
Apostle Paul, writing in Galatians, who
would marvel at the Jesus who loved him
and who gave himself for him, and who now
he is committed to following with his whole
life.
And so, Lord, that is our one prayer off
the back of this morning.
And Lord, we trust that as your spirit has
been moving in our hearts, there have been
things come into mind that we need to
consider.
There are truths that we need to take in.
There are ways that we're living that we
need to change.
But most of all, Father, that we would know
this Jesus better.
Father, thank you that you have not left us
on your own, that you have given us your
precious Holy Spirit.
And so we pray that he would be moving in our
lives this week, just shining the spotlight on
Christ and his glory.
So we pray all of these things in his name.
Amen.
Thank you.