Malachi, "My Messenger by John

"MY MESSENGER"
Malachi 1:ff

1. The title of this message is actually the name of this Book of Prophecy.
(1) Malachi is a Hebrew word brought over into English.
(2) The root meaning of Malak is, "Messenger."
(3) The ending can mean "My" or "of the Lord." Either way it means "The Lord's messenger."
2. Let's dive right into the authorship of the Book.

I. WE KNOW SEVERAL POSSIBILITIES ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

1. Scholars have known the meaning of the name "Malachi" for many years, but it occurs nowhere else in the O.T. In fact, the name is not used anywhere in the N.T. although the Book is quoted!
(1) The Targum of Johnathan records the author as being Ezra.
(2) Jerome, who translated the Scriptures into Latin, was aware of the meaning and suggested the prophet was actually Ezra, and that Malachi was just a name descriptive of his position.
(3) John Calvin supported this point of view at a much later date.
(4) The Jewish Talmud had a different idea. They said the men of the synagogue composed the Book.
a. I don't think their view has much validity.
b. It seems unlikely those men would have preached against themselves!
c. And much of the Book prophesies against the sins of the priests. I don't think the men of the synagogue had that much courage.
2. It has also been suggested that Malachi was originally the third section of Zechariah, and separated from it to make the minor prophets number 12.
3. The ancient source, the Targum of Jonathan, adds a note by the title that says, "who is called Ezra the Scribe."
4. The Greek translation of the O.T., the Septuagint, translates the opening words, "The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of his angel."
5. We don't really know who the author was.
(1) It could have been Ezra, or a man named Malachi. Either is possible.
(2) Unless this was originally a section of Zechariah, it seems unlikely "Malachi" is the name of the author. Every other Minor Prophet is named in the opening words of his prophecy.
6. It both thrills and amazes me that God would leave us so many mysteries about His Word to keep our minds active and our spirits searching for His Truth!

II. NOW LET'S THINK ABOUT THE TIME IT WAS WRITTEN.

1. We do know the author lived in Jerusalem and probably did most of his preaching in Jerusalem.
2. We also know many Jews returned to Jerusalem about 538 BC and more about 498.
3. The exact time of writing loses its importance in light of the eternal truths it expresses.
4. We can be sure the people at the time of writing were in critical circumstances.
(1) Remember, the Children of Israel were in Egypt almost 400 years before God spoke to them!
(2) The handwriting on the wall appeared before King Darius II in Daniel when he lost all compassion for God's people!
(3) God speaks to us when we really want to hear Him! And we want to hear Him when we are in trouble!
5. In troubled times, we need a Malachi! (1) When people are affluent and things are going well, we don't seem to feel any need for God!
(2) On the other side of life's coin, there are so many people who are deliberately leading their neighbors into destruction through drugs, sex, and even religion!
6. We need people who will speak out fearlessly the Word God has given them for this day and age! We need a Malachi right now!
(1) Some years ago on the program West 57th Street, they interviewed two "ministers."
(2) Both have made fortunes by bilking elderly people out of their savings!
(3) I can imagine what Malachi would have said to them!
7. I don't believe any period of history shows much more degradation in the ministry than this one!

III. NOW LET'S CONSIDER THE REASON IT WAS WRITTEN.

1. Of course, we've already landed on one reason. Who can believe God wants His people to suffer because of a corrupt priesthood?
2. God wanted these Hebrews who returned to Jerusalem to become aware of the sins they were committing and of His position in their lives.
3. We already know the Hebrews liked the numbers 7 and 12. God used 7 questions and answers to make indelibly clear where they were going wrong.
4. Malachi's first question in years past always threw me.
(1) I couldn't believe God could be so harsh just because the sacrifices were not made according to His directions.
(2) Without considering just how important these sacrifices were, look at what they were doing!
a. They offered lame animals as sacrifices. b. They offered sick animals as sacrifices. c. The offal from sacrificial animals was supposed to be carried outside the camp, but they offered their sacrifices with the offal.
5. The original intent of these sacrifices was to be a sweet-smelling savor to God (and His people)!
(1) Cooking meat smells good, right?
(2) But what about cooking barnyard fertilizer?
6. These sacrifices represented the atonement of Jesus on the cross! And they were messing up the picture.

IV. WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS BOOK TO US?

1. It tells us God has a standard for us which we have not reached in our living.
2. It rebukes a priesthood which treats the worship of God carelessly.
3. It gives us God's view of divorce almost 500 years before Jesus told us practically the same thing.
4. It indicates the home is intended to be a place where husband and wife find good companionship, and children can be born and raised in a godly atmosphere.
5. It also gives us the concept that God is the God of the Gentiles as well as God of the Jews.
6. Other values will come out as we study the Book.

Conclusion:

1. Let's wrap this up for now.
2. We don't know who the author was if it wasn't a man named Malachi, but we know it was traditional for the man's name to be included in the opening passage.
3. He decries an ungodly priesthood.
4. Malachi strongly supports the institutions of marriage and home.
5. He also supports the ten commandments pointing out the spiritual principles behind them.
6. This is a good time to begin examining our lives to discover how well we are living with the Lord, and where we can improve our lives.

Ecc 4/30/2006

On the Road to Nowhere by John

On the Road to Nowhere
Luke 24:13-35

1. When you get up in the morning, you have some idea of what you will do with the day, don't you?
(1) You will go to church, or work, or school, or fishing, or you will drive somewhere.
(2) You have some idea about what this new day will hold.
2. We do get surprised sometimes with what actually happens during the day, don't we? ill. When we served a little church 90 miles west of Fort Worth 49 years ago, we were asked to have dinner with some people who had a turkey farm. They had not been to church since we moved there, so they gave us directions on the phone. After church, I loaded Dolores and our baby into our 1956 Plymouth, and I followed their directions exactly. When I turned off the highway, Dolores said, "I don't think this is the right road." I told her I was following direction exactly. After rocking along over some almost impassible places, we arrived at the top of a hill. The road was cut out of solid rock with a steep precipice on the driver's side. I stopped because there was a crack in the road ahead, and it looked too wide for us to cross. It was. I got back in the car, and we backed up a long, long way before we found a place to turn around. By the time we got home, it was long after one o'clock. I called the people. They had given up on us and had eaten. I apologized and I told her how we had followed directions to the letter. When I told her the road we took, she said, "Oh! I forgot that road was there! It's been closed for years!" We thought we were right, but we were on a road that went nowhere!
(1) When the Twin Towers went down in flames September 9, 2001, did you have any idea that was going to happen that day? Or what that day would mean to us and to the rest of the world?
(2) Sometimes death is predictable, but many people die without the slightest warning!
3. Our carefully laid plans frequently get changed, too. ill. Our daughter, Susan planned to catch a plane to Hawaii early Wednesday morning. She bought her ticket quite a while ago. She got up very early, got ready, and the phone rang. It was the airline telling her that her flight was cancelled. They rescheduled her for later. What a bummer! But she is a stoic! She just went back to bed!
4. In our text, two men, one named Cleopas another unamed one, were on the road to Emmaus.
5. Both were followers of Jesus, and they thought they knew what the future held for them.
5. They didn't. When we meet them, they are going home.

I. What Were These Men Doing on that Road?

1. At that moment, they didn't realize it, but they were on the road to nowhere!
(1) Before this moment, these men followed the Son of God, and they thought their future was secure!
(2) Some of Jesus' followers probably thought Jesus would lead an army, defeat Rome and restore Israel's dominance in the world!
(3) That's how their leaders understood the Old Testament references to the Messiah. That's what they taught the people.
(4) Other followers may have had a more enlightened spiritual vision, but it certainly was not fully developed.
(5) Many of us today think we can safely predict what God will do next, but we are probably as far from the truth as those early Christians were.
2. Too often when God acts, we are disappointed and dejected, and we try to go home again.
3. We know we can't go home again, amen? But we try!
(1) We may not have been comfortable in the past, but we may have been more comfortable then than we are now.
(2) We think we can find healing for our wounded spirits, right?
(3) From the beginning, most of us are aware things do not always go the way we plan! ill. When the Hebrews left Egypt and faced the pains of traveling through desert places, they longed for Egypt! (Numbers 11:4-6) "The Israelites started wailing and said, 'If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" They wanted to turn back to the past!
(4) I think most of us are painfully aware we can't turn back the clock and undo the decisions we made.
4. That's where these men on the road to Emmaus were. For them, it was a road to nowhere!
(1) The crucifixion of Jesus dashed their high hopes for the future.
(2) The Scripture doesn't give the details, but it does tell us they stood still with downcast faces (v. 17). Then they arrived at home and invited Jesus in, (v. 29). I believe they wished things had turned out differently.
(3) I'm sure they were considered their options for the future, and that they found them hopeless!
(4) Folks, when we face times like that, it's uncomfortable, isn't it? But...
(5) Such times do not have to be bad times!
(6) We frequently get off track. Our lives need a change in direction, and that's what such times are good for.
(6) It isn't a happy time! It's traumatic! But when God works things out for us, the joy bells start ringing!

II. These Men Needed the Leadership of Jesus!

1. Without Jesus, every road is a road to nowhere.
(1) The way to get on the right road is to turn around! Whether you are saved or lost, turn around! (We call that repentance.)
(2) Repent! When you do, Jesus will lead the way!
2. These men needed to have their faith restored! Jesus always knows what we need, and He either sends someone to show us the way, or He does it Himself.
3. In this case, Jesus appeared and joined these men in their walk.
(1) They were kept from recognizing Him.
(2) If they had, they might have bolted for home. They knew Jesus died. (Didn't ghost stories scare you when you were young?... Wouldn't it scare you now if someone you knew was dead suddenly appeared and started talking to you?)
(3) Why Jesus didn't make Himself immediately known, we don't know, but the Scripture says, "they were kept from recognizing him." v. 16.
(4) God did not choose to give us the reason, but we know He always has a good reason for everything He does.
4. We do know what Jesus did. He began (v 25-27) with the prophets and explained what the Scriptures said about Himself.
5. People some of us spend years in college and seminary, and many more years in private study and prayers, but I am sure all do does not equal the lesson these two men learned in their walk home!
6. They received direct leadership from Jesus!

III. We Need a "Road" Experience with Jesus!

1. So many of us try religion, or have already tried religion, and we have discovered religion is a road to nowhere!
2. Like these two men, we are spiritually downcast.
3. We don't know what the future holds!
4. We may even wonder if there is a God!
5. We don't know why we are here!
6. We see people happy in Jesus, and we wonder, "Why can't I be happy like that?
7. The answer is, you can, and you will, but not until you turn to Jesus!
8. The answer for all of our doubts and disbeliefs is to turn to Jesus.
9. It's great to say, "Jesus arose from the dead," amen? But it is far better to say, "HE IS ALIVE!" That's what these
men discovered in the words Jesus spoke and the bread He broke!
10. We all need to have an experience like these men had!

Conclusion:

1. Jesus opened these two men's spiritual eyes.
2. He gave them a powerful message to share.
3. He filled their future with:
1) Hope and Joy.
2) Purpose in living. and...
3) Power to accomplish His will in their lives.
2. If you know you are on the wrong road, another road to nowhere, then turn around! Turn to God!
3. Jesus is alive right now! And Jesus will set you feet on the right path! He will guide you each step of the way all your life!
4. There is no life apart from Jesus.
5. There is no hope apart from Jesus!
6. Jesus has already sent people to you to tell you what you need, and you may not have recognized them as sent from God Who loves you!
7. Wouldn't you like to begin a brand new life in Jesus?
8. In a moment, we are going to give you an invitation to turn away from whatever you have been doing, and to turn to Jesus!
9. You may say," But I don't believe!
10. Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is hear through the word of Christ." (That's what we have been giving you this morning.
11. In Matthew 14:28, Peter did not believe anyone could walk on water until he saw Jesus doing it. Then he believed Jesus could walk on water. He still didn't believe he could do it himself, but he hoped he could! He asked Jesus to order him to come to Him on the water. Jesus ordered him, and that's when he believed he could.
12. The moment you decide in your heart that you want to be saved and to live eternally with Jesus, you can ask Jesus for faith to believe in Him, and He will give you the faith you need!
13. You can do that while we pray.

Emmanuel Community Church 4/23/2006

Pictures and Prophecies of Jesus. by John.

Pictures and Prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament
John 19:25-27; 20:1-9

1. We've read part of the account of the death and resurrection of Jesus, not all. Time doesn't permit our reading all of it this morning.
2. Did you notice that Mary the mother of Jesus was at His crucifixion? She is not mentioned after His resurrection.
3. It seems strange for that to be left out of the Scripture, don't you think?
(1) The only conclusion that we can draw from what we have is that she was away from the others at John's house.
(John 19:27)
(2) I think Mary felt like any mother who lost a child would feel, but I wonder how she felt when Jesus arose from the dead? ill. Jesus raised the widow of Nain's son, and we have that account in Luke 7:11 and following, but it does not tell us how the boy's mother felt!
(3) Mary, and the half-brothers of Jesus, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas (Mt. 12:46: 13:55) entertained the idea that Jesus was mentally ill, and that He needed to be sheltered and cared for by His family.
(4) I suspect when Jesus arose Mary, like the Apostles, did not believe at first that it happened.
4. I see three possibilities:
(1) Perhaps by the time she believed He was alive, it was too late, and Jesus had returned to heaven.
(2) Perhaps the writers of the New Testament left out any other mention of Mary because they did not feel it was part of resurrection message.
(3) On the other hand, Mary may have realized how short His remaining time on earth was, and she did not want to get in His way. We just don't know.
4. What we do know is that Jesus died for us! And there are prophecies and pictures of His life, death, and resurrection in the Scripture.

I. The Father Forecast His Payment for Our Sins Early in the Old Testament.

1. Genesis 3 contains the story of the fall of mankind.
(1) Adam and Eve both disobeyed the Lord.
(2) They paid for their sin, but their sin began the plight of mankind!
(3) Their penalty for their sin was expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and the loss of the personal presence of God!
a. There would be no more long walks with God in the cool of the day!
b. There would be no more face-to-face conversations with God!
(4) We are Adam and Eve's children, and we have all sinned! We know the penalty for sin is death, and we do not deserve to be in the presence of God!
2. God made Adam and Eve clothes from the skins of animals.
(1) That meant animals were sacrificed for them!
(2) Even at this early date, sin required the shedding of blood.
(3) This was the first picture showing human beings that we cannot cover our own sins! God has to do it for us!
a. Hebrews 9:22 says, "The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."
b. Hebrews 9:26-28 says, "Now he (Jesus) has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."

II. Later in the Old Testament, Jesus Was Pictured in the Passover.

1. The Lord brought ten judgments against Egypt. We usually miss one thing when we talk about that situation.
(1) God used Egypt to carry out His will with Israel.
a. We think people have to be Christians, or at least godly in some way to be used by God.
b. All people belong to God! And He uses even enemies to accomplish His will.
c. God called Nebuchadnezzar His servant in Jeremiah 24:9, said that Nebuchadnezzar would conquer Israel, and that he would enslave them for seventy years. Nebuchadnezzar was a pantheist. He believed in many Gods'
(2) Of Jacob's 12 children, God chose Joseph to be the blessed one of that generation. (Of course, Jesus was born in the family of Judah).
(3) Joseph's brothers conspired against him, and God allowed Joseph to be saved by Egypt, and to us it is obvious God planned the whole history of Israel from the beginning!
(4) God kept every promise He made and revealed to Joseph. He also kept every promise He had made to Abraham and Jacob.
(5) When the Pharaoh that knew Joseph died, Egypt reached the end of its usefulness to God. The new Pharaoh was rebellious. He did not recognize God.
2. These ten judgments fell on Egypt because of Pharaoh's rebellion!
(1) That's important to know, because, the USA served God's purpose from its inception, but that does not mean that God's blessing will remain on it!
(2) As a nation, our people are rebelling against God right now, and His judgment will fall on our continual sin!
3. The Passover was God's final judgment on Egypt.
(1) Every first born-child, and every first-born of the livestock all died in one night!
(2) The first-born son was the heir to everything including Pharaoh's throne!
(3) Egypt lost all of the people who held property rights in one night! That would be a calamity for any nation!
4. It was different for the Israelites, and this is where we see the picture of Jesus.
(1) It was the fourth judgment, flies, where God made a difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians. The land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was free of flies!
(2) None of the next five judgments affected the Israelites at all! They fell only on the Egyptians!
(3) The Passover was the tenth judgment, and it fell on the Israelites as well as Egyptians because it represented Jesus, and Jesus paid the price for all people!
a. The actual sacrifice was a lamb of the sheep or the goats.
b. It had to be one year old, a male, without a blemish of any kind. (Just as Jesus was sinless and at the peak of His earthly life when He died on the cross).
4. The Israelites had to eat the Passover Dinner, or they would experience the same judgment as the Egyptians!
(1) They didn't just eat a little!
(2) The family had to eat all of the lamb.
(3) If it was too much for their family, they could share a lamb with another family. Whatever was left had to be burned before dawn!
(4) Equally important, the family had to apply the blood on the two sides of the doorframe and the upper doorframe. That formed the symbol of a cross hundreds of years before Rome started killing people that way! They didn't put on the doorsill because it represented the blood of Jesus, and that would have been sacrilege!
5. The Scripture doesn't say so, but I believe that if an Egyptian household had carried out God's orders right here, that household would have been spared. I believe it because it represented Jesus, and that's the way it is right now!
6. This was the first instance that I know of where God told the people it is all, or nothing at all!
7. That's the way it is with Jesus. We take Him entirely as He is, or we will suffer the same fate as those who do not take Him at all.
8. That is exactly what Jesus was talking about in John 6:51-58. "'I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.' Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, 'Ho can this man give us his flesh to eat?' Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flewsh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.'"
9. Both the Passover and the Manna are pictures of Jesus and the life He gives us.
10. There are many pictures of Jesus in the Bible, but we will take time to look at just one more in Isaiah 53.

III. There are actually several pictures of Jesus in Isaiah 53. (We will mention several, but we will not dwell on them).

1. V 2 pictures Jesus as part of a living plant. He seemed like a dried up root, or a "sucker" shoot. Neither has any value to the gardener.
2. V 3 pictures Him as despised, rejected by others, sorrowful, familiar with suffering, shameful, a person no one liked! An outcast! Not at all like the pictures artists conceived of the "man" Jesus.
3. Beginning at v 4, Isaiah tells us He accepted all of our sins, put them on His Own shoulders, and the human race considered Him stricken by God!
4. He was, but not for His Own sins! Vv 4,5. He was stricken, smitten, pierced and crushed because He carried our sins!
5. V 6 tells us, we are the ones who should have died because we are the ones who went astray and sinned! We've turned to our own way: have rebelled against God!
6. His Father and ours laid on Jesus the sins of all of us! V 7. And Jesus died without complaint because He was paying for our sins!
7. Jesus is the "Suffering Servant" of God Who laid down His life willingly to save all of us who trust Him.
8. What a beautiful picture!

Conclusion:

1. From Genesis on, God told the people over and over again that He was going to send His Son to pay for their sins.
2. In the year from which we begin numbering our own years, God sent Jesus.
3. He fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies, and in Him all of the pictures are made lucidly clear.
4. Today we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus because we know we are already taking part in that resurrection ourselves.
5. There's not going to be any doubt about who will be with Jesus when He comes again, or who will rise to meet Him in the air!
6. It will be all of us who put our trust in Him now, and invite Him to be our Lord and our Savior!
7. Have you done that? Have you invited Jesus to be your Lord and your Savior?
8. You can do it while we pray.

Emmanuel Community Church Easter 2006, April 16.

Malachi's Momentous Message by John.

MALACHI'S MOMENTOUS MESSAGE
Malachi 1:1-5

1. What do you say to people who think God has let them down?
(1) When people stray away from the real worship of God and real fellowship with Him, they frequently feel God let them down instead of the other way around.
2. Fellowship with God does get broken.
(1) It may break with a resounding snap you can't miss!
(2) More often than not, it breaks so slowly you never notice, unless someone calls your attention to it. One day you may wake up and just discover it is no longer there!
3. What do you say to people out of fellowship with God, and who think He let them down!
4. 2:13,14 show this is what the Jews were thinking. "Another thing you do: You flood the Lord's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, 'Why?' It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant."
5. I wonder if Malachi grew up planning to deliver God'sˇ message to Israel, or did God just give it to him in a moment?
(1) Tradition says his name may have been Malachiah.
a. Malachi means "my messenger" in Hebrew.
b. Malachiah means "messenger of Jehovah," a much more personal designation.
(2) Tradition also says Malachi was born a Levite, and he belonged to "the great synagogue."
(3) He obviously knew the history of Israel and probably felt all the prophetic preaching had not led Israel to become truly "the people of God."
6. I wonder if the message grew slowly in his mind and heart, or did it come in a flash?
(1) God speaks in so many ways to so many people.
(2) He spoke face to face with Moses at the burning bush and at many other times.
(3) Both by prophet and directly to David.
(4) He spoke with authority, and then in a still small voice to Elijah.
(5) And perhaps God has spoken to you in some other way.
7. The time came when Malachi's momentous message had to be delivered.
(1) Jeremiah experienced the same thing, and I love the way he put it.
(2) He said, (Jer. 20:9) "If I say, 'I will not mention him or speak any more in his name, his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot."
8. Malachi called people to repentance.
(1) He called for people to remember the godly goals of their lives, and fulfill them.
(2) He called for them to leave off lives of sin and to worship in spirit and in truth!
9. His message is extremely practical, and yet, it is some of the most spiritual prophecy in the Old Testament. George Adam Smith called it "prophecy with the Law." (The Book of the Twelve Prophets, p. 340)

I. MALACHI HAS UNIQUE INSIGHTS IN HIS MESSAGE.

1. 1:11, The first unique insight is that God will be glorified wherever people worship, perhaps even if it is heathen worship.
(1) The NAS & NIV translate the Hebrew word, goyim, as nations. The KJ called it Gentiles. All three are both correct.
(2) The Jews have always had a problem accepting that God can be worshipped by anyone who doesn't become a Jew first!
(3) This was a brand new concept for them! And it didn't catch on!
(4) Jesus repeated the same thought almost 500 years later in John 4:21-24. "Jesus declared, 'Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.'"
a. The worship of God is above and beyond religion, race, social position, intellect and tradition!
b. At the time Jesus said this, He was inviting a woman of the street, perhaps an innkeeper, a Samaritan hated by the Jews, to be His disciple. Malachi knew almost 500 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem God was more interested in people obeying Him than in what race they belonged to!
2. The third unique insight is his concept of the brotherhood of human beings.
(1) 2:10 says, "Do we not all have one father?"
a. He was talking to Jews about Jews.
b. But he must certainly have considered the whole human race, a concept not brought out clearly until Jesus said it.
(2) If we are all brothers, why do we deal so despicably with each other? It doesn't make sense, does it? It's ungodly for sure!
3. Malachi pictures marriage in its highest form in 2:14.
(1) The husband/wife relationship is patterned after God's relationship with us!
(2) 2:16 says God hates divorce!
(3) The Lord also hates treachery, and to marry an idolater, or to divorce the "wife of your youth" is treachery!
(4) It thwarts God's purpose for marriage in providing godly companionship and a godly family for children.
(5) It is both a sin against the love of God and against the family relationship of mankind.
4. Malachi was close to Jesus' teaching on all three of these.
ill. Some think that remarried people should separate, go back to their original mates, and undo the sin they committed. We cannot undo the past! The right way to live starting where you are is to make Jesus the Lord of your life right now, and to obey Him from now on into the future.

II. MALACHI SET THE PATTERN FOR A DISTINCTIVE LITERARY FORM IN PROPHECY.

1. The Greek philosopher Socrates used the same method of debate as Malachi did. So did Amos, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
2. Malachi lived before Socrates. Socrates became famous, so people called his method of argument, the Socratic method. It feigns ignorance, asks questions, and uses the answers to break down the opponents' arguments. It is a good debate style.
3. While Amos, Jeremiah and Ezekiel all used this method; Malachi polished it into an art form.
4. He asks and answers seven questions in this book.
(1) We've already mentioned some of them.
(2) Probably the best known is Malachi 3:8-10. "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' 'In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."
5. With these questions, he calls for strict loyalty to the letter of the Law of God.
(1) By the time of the Pharisees, the people adhered to the practice of tithing as a rite.
(2) Malachi backed up each call for loyalty with a principle from the nature and character of God, but the Jews overlooked that.
(3) Malachi was more interested with people's godliness than with their keeping of the Law.

III. MALACHI PROPHESIES WONDERFUL EVENTS.

1. In 1:11, he prophesies God will be glorified in the whole earth.
2. In 3:1-6, he prophesies the coming of John the Baptist, and the Lord, and judgment against sin.
3. In 4:1-3, he prophesies Judgment Day and blessing for those who fear Him.
4. In 4:4-6, he issues a final warning to keep the Law and the coming of Elijah (John the Baptist according to Jesus in Mt 17:10-13) to insure their blessing when Jesus came.

Conclusion:

1. This little book we have been examining today is one of the great books of prophecy.
(1) People call these last books of the Old Testament the "Minor Prophets."
(2) Today that gives us the connotation that these aren't as important as the other Books of Prophecy, but it actually means that they are comparatively short books, nothing more.
2. How do you speak the message of God to people who think He is letting them down?
3. You use questions for which they already have God's answers! They just have not applied them properly, or in some cases, they just don't know them at all.
4. You warn them, exhort them to change, and you give them hope!
5. Our God is like that! He wants us to know Him, and knowing Him is life everlasting!
6. Do you know Him? You can make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior right now as we sing a hymn of invitation.


Emmanuel Community Church April 9, 2006.

one of Man's Last Enemies Is Pain. by John

One of Man's Last Enemies Is Pain.
Revelation 21:1-4

1. God is aware of everything that goes on in our lives, and He is touched by our problems.
2. One of the last enemies to be removed from mankind is pain.
3. Hospitals, doctors, nurses, seek to relieve pain while a person heals or dies. Parents try to insulate their children from, and to relieve them from pain, when they can.
(1) We hurt when the kids hurt, right?
(2) Some of us hurt when we see anyone hurt, but we may not realize that pain is one of God's gifts to us.

I. Pain is a Part of Living on Earth.

1. Every living person experiences pain, and certainly almost all of God's creatures do, too.
(1) I was amazed in elementary school when we were introduced to microscopes. I had heard about "germs." Now I saw microbes!
(2) The Amoeba didn't look like anything to me, a blob maybe, but it moved! It was alive!
(3) More than that, we were allowed to interrupt the amoeba's path with a very sharp needle-point. The amoeba moved away from it. It recognized it as dangerous, or maybe it felt pain!
2. We like to avoid pain when possible, don't we, and that's a healthy response up to a point.
(1) For instance, it is wise to have a tooth cavity filled immediately rather than wait until it aches or has to be pulled.
(2) Having a tooth pulled hurts more than a filling, and refusing to have it filled or pulled can result in far more pain, maybe even death!
3. Many people live with constant pain that sometimes becomes unbearable.
(1) The loss of loved ones never leaves.
(2) Pain incurred by loved ones may also last a lifetime.
4. Doctors provide medical solutions to ease chronic, physical pain when the cause cannot be removed.
5. Counseling is another resource for those who need to resolve or cope with psychological pain.
6. A different sort of pain is caused by unhealthy relationships. Sometimes we may have to resort to forming new relationships with different people.
7. I've struggled to gain a Biblical concept of pain, but I'm not sure that I've gained it.
(1) Some form of the word "pain" appears in 36 verses in the King James Bible.
(2) It is used in 60 verses in the New American Standard.
(3) It appears in 67 verses in the New International Version of the Bible.
a. That seems to be a progression in translation, doesn't it?
b. I examined all of those instances, but I suspect the different numbers are a result of translation. The KJ translators deliberately used as many definitions as they could for both Hebrew and Greek words. They wanted to give variety to God's Word without changing the meaning.
8. When all else fails, it is definitely time to turn our pain over to God. He can handle it!

II. We All Know Pain Is Inevitable.

1. In the seconds since I said that, you may have already thought, "Is it inevitable?"
2. It is because pain is part of our bodies' warning system.
(1) Without pain, we would not know when we were sick.
(2) We might walk around on a broken ankle until infection killed us.
(3) We could hold our hand in fire unaware that we were being burned.
(4) Pain may be an acute, sharp warning that calls for immediate response! Or it may be a dull, constant reminder that something needs attention.
3. Pain reveals the needs of our bodies and our psyches.
(1) The pain associated with hunger and thirst are examples.
(2) You can continue that thought about other bodily functions but I don't think it is necessary.
4. Pain is a gift God has given us to promote our heath, and the stronger the pain the greater the need!
5. We know all of these things, don't we? I haven't said anything with which you are not already familiar, right?
6. Bayer, St. Joseph, and all of the drug companies base much of their prospective income on the inevitability of pain! And they make billions of dollars!
7. We should see pain as the precurser of action!

III. We Need to Understand the Value and Effect of Pain.

1. By that, I mean our pain affects everything around us.
(1) My wife has asked me many times, "Are you hungry?" or she may say, "You are hungry, aren't you?"
(2) Her thought turns to my need because, I get hard to live with when I'm hungry! Who wants to be around a grumpy old man?
(3) You see, pain always affects everyone around us.
2. It hurts our productivity.
(1) You've probably heard someone say, "I have a splitting headache! I just can't get anything done!"
(2) Have you ever had a parent, a boss, a friend, or teacher tell you to do something totally unreasonable just because they weren't feeling well? If you have had that happen, it's a pain, isn't it?
3. The way we handle pain either spoils our improves our personality and our Christian witness!
(1) People expect Christians to be kind, peaceful, good-natured, don't they? But sometimes when we are hurting, we are anything but those!
(2) What do they think when we aren't?
4. If someone is always negative, pessimistic and grumpy, do you like to be around them?
5. Even if we know they are experiencing pain, we don't have to like it, and we don't, but we may have the grace to put up with it.
5. Pain can hurt our productivity, our personality, our Christian witness, our relationship with others and our opinion of ourselves.
6. Pain makes some of us even dislike ourselves! So finding and correcting the cause is definitely valuable all the way around.

IV. We Need to See Pain as Either Blessing or Testing.

1. Even a test will become a blessing when we pass it.
2. In this life, we must control our pain.
(1) Some eastern mystics work for years on the assumption that mind can control matter. They block out pain mentally. How well they do it, I don't know.
(2) Too many of us seek a medicine bottle to make us functional.
(3) Too much of the world does not realize that the One Who installed our pain-signals can also control our pain.
a. He may control pain with healing. (Do I believe in doctors? Not exactly. I believe God has given us knowledgeable people [doctors] to help us stay healthy, or to help us regain health when we lose it.)
3. One way God may help us is to raise our pain threshold.
(1) When God told Ananias to lay his hands on Paul and restore his sight in Acts 9:13, Ananias objected. In v 15, God called Paul a "chosen vessel" and in 16 He said, "I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." Paul did suffer...
(2) In II Corinthians 12:9, Paul had prayed three times to have a physical problem healed. God didn't do it. He said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Paul's resulting attitude made him extremely useful to the Lord. Paul said, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak then I am strong."

V. Pain Is Only for This Life on Earth.

1. In Revelation 21:4,5 God's Word says, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!'"
2. We think the worst that could happened has already happened, but it hasn't. In Revelation 19, The Lord punished the great
prostitute because she corrupted the earth by her adulteries, and shed the blood of God's servants. That's yet to happen!
3. People who haven't suffered say, What difference does that make? God's servants live forever anyway! Didn't you quote Paul when he said, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain"?
4. No one wants to hurt!
(1) It's true, pain dulls with time, but even the memory of it is painful, and the memory of it is painful to those who love the person who hurts.
(2) God loves all of His servants, and He promises nothing will happen to us that we cannot bear.
(3) Jacob before Pharaoh in Genesis 47:9, " The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers."
5. Life may seem like a pain to you, but it will stop when you leave this earth if you are in Christ.
(1) Do you remember what Jesus said in Mark 9:47,48? "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched."
(2) That's eternal pain and anguish, folks! None of us want that.

conclusion:

1. Pain is a part of our lives on earth.
2. It's God's gift to help us maintain our body's health.
3. It is inevitable that we will have all of the several kinds of pain in our lives.
4. To help us bear it, we need to understand its value and the effect it has on us and others.
5. Pain has no part in heaven. One of the last enemies of our lives is the end of pain, and God told us there is none in heaven.
6. On the other hand, there is no end to pain for those who do not make Jesus their Lord and Savior.
7. That's something you can take care of right now as we pray.

4/02/06 Emmanuel Community Church.