Anderson, Ed: Malachi 1 Return to Him

Before we look at our question this morning, I've been asked to, uh, do a little selling job to you on a couple of things. Sometimes, uh, an outsider does a better job than an insider on these things, you know? But, um, as was mentioned in the earlier meeting, two weeks from tonight, you're going to have a film entitled The Senior Years. And we showed that last Saturday to a young people's rally that we had in Yonkers, and I would highly recommend it to you, uh, even though you may have graduated from high school or college, uh, thirty or forty years ago, like some of us. Nevertheless, regardless of your age, I think you'll find this film to be very, very interesting and helpful to you. It's one of the better, um, put together Christian films that I've seen in a long time, and so I'd strongly recommend that you plan to be here two weeks from tonight. Don't forget tonight, though, but two weeks from tonight to see this film. And then I understand you're going to, uh, start a new method of Bible study at your midweek meeting, and, uh, we've been doing this kind of thing in Yonkers. We started it not, not at the midweek meeting, but on Sunday nights, uh, last spring, and found it to be very successful, and we're just finishing up another ten-week session of it, uh, tonight in Yonkers, and we found it to be most profitable. And so we would, uh, urge you to be here if you possibly can at your midweek meeting, and you brethren be prepared to participate in the study. I think you'll find that the exchange of thoughts and ideas and those things that you've learned, uh, from the Word of God by the Holy Spirit will be helpful not only to you as you do your own private study, but also will be helpful to others. It's very easy to sit back and let one man get on the platform and speak to you, but it's far more beneficial to you if you'll study the Word of God for yourself and then share that which the Lord has given to you with others. It's like filling a cup full of, of water and letting it overflow into the saucer. You can keep the whole cup full, but all that overflows is for the benefit of others. So plan to be here, if you can, at your midweek meetings as you undertake this new method of studying the Word of God. Now, just one verse this morning again, the third chapter of Malachi in verse seven. Malachi chapter three and verse seven: Even from the days of your fathers, ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, wherein shall we return? Now, during these past two weeks, we've been considering together four of the six questions that the children of Israel asked that we have recorded for us here in the book of Malachi, beginning with the word wherein. And the first Sunday we considered together the two questions, wherein hast thou loved us, and wherein have we despised thy name? And then last Lord's Day we considered, wherein have we polluted thee, and wherein have we wearied him? Now this morning we'd like to consider with you the question that we find in this verse, the seventh verse of chapter three, wherein shall we return? And then tonight, to complete our time together for this visit, Lord willing, the question that we find in verse eight of chapter three, wherein have we robbed thee? Now, in this seventh verse of the third chapter of Malachi, the Lord speaking to the children of Israel rebukes them once again, and once more he lays a specific charge against them. He tells them that from their earliest days, even from the days of their fathers, that they had been disobedient to him. They had not kept his ordinances. They had rebelled, they had sinned, they had complained, they had murmured, they had grumbled, and in essence, they had followed their own desires, and they had done what they wanted to do, rather than what the Lord instructed them to do. And the Lord points out to them here that because their fathers followed the same footsteps, their fathers did the same. They too were disobedient, that this led them into the Babylonian captivity. It was their sin that led them to be captives. It was their sin that took them out of their land that the Lord had promised them and sent them down to Babylon, where they experienced such sorrow and despair and torment. But in spite of all of that experience, in spite of the history of their fathers, in spite of this first-hand experience that they had seen, many of them with their own eyes, as to what happened when they were in captivity, as to what the result of sin was, the children of Israel continued to follow that same path. They continued to follow in the footsteps of their fathers. They continued being disobedient to God, straying from him and from his word, and living in the ways of sin rather than in the ways of righteousness. Experience didn't teach them a thing. In spite of all that they saw that had happened, they followed in the very same ways. And so the Lord speaks to them once again, and the Lord pleads with them to return to him. He pleads with them to again keep their ordinances, to be penitent, to admit that they were sinful, to admit that they were guilty. And he says to them, if you will do that, if you will take and confess your sin and repent of your sin and turn back to my ways instead of the ways that you're going, I'm going to return to you. And then he promises them that if they will do this, he will shower tremendous blessing down upon them once again. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to hear from the lips of the Lord. And yet, what did they do? They did exactly the same thing again that we've been talking about for the past two weeks, in spite of the fact that the Lord laid a specific charge against them, that he pointed out to them one of the specific sins that they were committing, that is, disobedient to his ordinances, disobedience to his commandments. They looked up into his face and they said, wherein shall we return? What do you mean return, Lord? Why, we've never been away. And the Lord, in graciousness and in love, looks down upon them, and he says to them, return to me. You're walking in paths of sin. And again, the self-righteousness of the people of Israel comes forth, and they say, wherein shall we return? In essence, we're not doing anything wrong, Lord. We're okay, we're fine. What do you mean return to you? We've never drifted from you. They were not willing to admit their sin. They were not willing to admit they had strayed from him. They were not willing that they had not kept his commandments. Their self-righteous attitude that we've been talking about still prevails. They thought that what they were doing was right and proper, and they couldn't understand why the Lord was criticizing them for it. The Lord says, you haven't kept my ordinances. Return unto me. What is an ordinance? Well, an ordinance is... if we look it up in the dictionary, we find that it's defined as an authoritative decree, or an order, or a direction, a law set forth by some governmental body, something ordained by deity, a prescribed usage or practice or ceremony. That's the dictionary definition of the word ordinance, and it applies here. For as we go back and we look through the Old Testament, through the earlier pages of the Old Testament, we find that there were numerous ordinances and statutes and laws and commandments that the Lord directed Israel to follow and that the Lord directed Israel to obey. And these were not temporary things as far as Israel was concerned, for we find in two Kings chapter seventeen and verse thirty seven that the Lord said to them, you're to keep these ordinances, and you're to keep these ordinances forever. Not just today or tomorrow or this week or this year, but you're to keep these ordinances forever. Now, I recognize that there may be a technical difference between an ordinance and a law and a statute and a commandment, for in that verse in Second Kings, they are all mentioned separately. The Lord mentions commandments, ordinances, statues, and laws separately, and he says you're to keep all of these forever. But this morning, within the context that we'd like to consider them with you, with your permission, we'd like to consider them all as being one and the same thing, for the principle applies to all of them. And rather than make the technical differentiation between them, let's just call all of them ordinances. That which the Lord told the children of Israel they were to do. Those things that he commanded them to do forever, forever, forever. And these ordinances that the Lord commanded Israel to follow touched every aspect of their individual and collective lives. There was not a day, there was not an hour, there was not a minute that they weren't subject to one of God's ordinances. He directed them in every area of their life, every aspect of it, without exception. There were ordinances that related to their home, to their family, to their speech, to their conduct, to their religious ceremonies, to their sacrifices, to their offerings, to their morals, to their relationships with each other, to their emotions. God laid down ordinances that applied to them and which he told them that they were to follow forever. Everything involving their existence, with little or no exception, was subject to the authoritative direction of the Lord. And they were to follow these things without excuse. And by not following them, they were sinning before God. No aspect of their life was included, was excluded. In the minutest detail, they were told what they could do and what they couldn't do. So there was no excuse, there was no question, there was no arguing, there was no debating. It was very explicit. There should be no question in their minds as to what they were doing, as to whether it was right or as to whether it was wrong. God laid it down for them in detail. Now, admittedly, this didn't give Israel very much flexibility in their actions, did it? They were under law. But this is the way that God determined that they should live, and God did so for his own purposes, that his own objectives would be met. And it was essential that these things be followed. But even though God laid down these ordinances for them in, in, in the smallest detail, even though every aspect of their life was controlled by these things, nevertheless, they were not harsh or difficult to keep. All that was needed was obedience, obedience to that which the Lord instructed them to do. And actually, all that God instructed them to do was for their own benefit, if they would only follow those things. God had promised to bless them if they would only be obedient to his commands. But what did they do? They disobeyed. Every single ordinance that God laid down for them, they violated. Oh, they may have followed some of them out in practice, as we mentioned last week, or was it the week before? They may have continued to bring the sacrifices and the offerings, but you remember we talked about that which they brought was second best. It wasn't first best. So they may have followed the formality of some of these things, but in reality they violated every single ordinance that God had laid down. And what was the result of that? God withheld his blessing from them. They strayed from the Lord. They strayed from his word, and they paid a penalty for that. God's hand of blessing was withheld, and instead of enjoying all that should have been theirs in their God, they found themselves wallowing in despair and discouragement and sin. What a terrible condition. But you know, it's interesting to note that the Lord, in his urging them to return to him, says here, and I will return to you. Does this mean that because of their disobedience, the Lord had left them? Does this mean that the Lord had abandoned them? That he was no longer interested in them? That he was leaving them to their own wiles? Of course not. But because of their disobedience, because of their sin, because of their rebellion, the communion that they should have enjoyed with the Lord was broken. And instead of joying in their Lord, they were a discouraged, disheartened, downtrodden people. His hand of blessing was withheld from them. And that joy that should have been characteristic of them because they were God's chosen people was missing because of their sin. The Lord says, you return to me and I'll return to you. What he's saying here is that they would only repent. If they would return to him in the sense that they would again be conscious of his presence with them, and they would be obedient to his commandments, they would again see his hand of blessing come down upon them, and he promises them blessing upon blessing upon blessing, if they would only return to him and be obedient to his word. You know, there's a verse in the third chapter of Revelation, verse twenty, that presents a similar situation here, only it applies not to the children of Israel, but it applies to those of us who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as personal savior. It's a verse which is very often used as a text for a gospel message, and I don't find any fault with that, except that it really is not a verse directed to the unsaved. It's a verse directed to those of us who belong to the Lord. And the Lord Jesus Christ says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me. Now that makes a great gospel text, doesn't it? But it's not written to the unsaved, it's written to those of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as personal savior. And what the Lord is talking about here in the third chapter of Revelation is the same situation that existed among the children of Israel. Because of their sin, their communion with the Lord had been broken. They were not enjoying fellowship with him. They were not communing. They were not supping with him. They were down in the despair of sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ stands at your heart's door and mine this morning, if we know him as our Savior. And he says the same thing to you and to me, if we're in that same condition. If we have permitted sin to enter our lives to the extent that our communion with God has been broken and we're not enjoying the fellowship that we should be enjoying with our Savior, he stands and he knocks at our heart's door and he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, what will he do? He will return. I will come into you, and I will sup with you, I will commune with you, I will fellowship with you, and you with me. What a wonderful promise that is. And if by any chance you're a born-again believer this morning, but there is something in your life that has come between you and the Lord, all that you need to do to be restored is to confess your sin. As that verse that our brother Watson read to us this morning tells us, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And when we confess our sin, our communion with our Savior is restored, and we can have joy flooding our hearts again, because the relationship between ourselves and the Lord is straightened out. This is what the Lord is saying to the children of Israel. Return to me, and I will return to you. But he says it to you and to me as well, this morning. The Lord pleads with them to repent of their sin, but they weren't willing to admit their condition, and they say, wherein shall we return? Lord, we're fine the way we are. There's nothing wrong with us. Wherein shall we return? Could it be that we have that same attitude? That we too are filled with self-righteousness to the degree that we don't even realize that our communion with the Lord has been broken? Oh, I would trust not. But the Lord says, I'm ready if you're ready. You confess your sin, you repent of your sin, and I'm willing to return to you, if you will return to me. Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying this morning. We are not talking about salvation. Once we trust Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we are saved, and we are saved eternally, and even though we may permit sin to enter our lives, which we shouldn't do, but even though we do, there is nothing that can take us out of the hand of our Savior. We're not talking about salvation, we're talking about the relationship, the communion, the fellowship that we have with our Savior that is broken because sin has entered into our lives. Now, we've mentioned at every meeting that the conditions that existed in Malachi's day among the children of Israel are the same conditions that exist today. I guess I ought to reverse that statement. The same conditions that exist today existed in the days of Malachi. And that, of course, is why we've been considering these questions together, because there are lessons for us to learn. And there's a lesson for us to learn here in addition to those that we've already mentioned. Now, we recognize, of course, that although the disobedience of Israel, their sin, their inema- immorality, their rebellion, their self-righteousness abounds around us today on every hand, even though, as we've mentioned every week, within the true church of God, which is sad to say, but true. But there is one great difference between the conditions that existed in Malachi's day and the condition that exists today, and that is that the children of Israel were under law. Every aspect of their life, as we have mentioned, was directed by an ordinance, a commandment, a statute, a law. There wasn't anything that wasn't directed by some commandment from God, by some ordinance from God. We today are not living under law. We're living in an age of grace. And according to the word of God, we have perfect liberty, which is given to us by Christ Jesus himself, and we should praise God for that. However, although we are under grace and we are not under law, this does not give us the right to use the liberty that we have in Christ Jesus to practice sin. It does not mean that although we have the assurance that we are saved and we are saved eternally by the blood of Christ, that we then can go and do as we please. That would be absolutely contrary to the teaching of the Word of God. And although Israel was under law, and although Israel was subject to all of the ordinances and statues and laws and, and, and commandments of the Lord, and we sit back and we say, well, they were under law, that doesn't apply to us, we're under grace. I say to you this morning that the instruction of the Word of God is just as vital to you and to me, and just as necessary to keep as was the law and commandments and statues and ordinances in the Old Testament times. And if we take any other attitude, we are certainly not in the will of God. The law was specific as to what they could do and could not do, and I would suggest to you this morning that the Word of God is just explicit for you and I who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ as to what we can do and what we can't do. And if we are disobedient to the Word of God, then we are just as much in sin as the children of Israel were in sin by being disobedient to the law of God. The fact that we are living in an age of grace does not give us the right to do what we please. The fact that we have been given perfect liberty in Christ Jesus does not suggest in any way that we are not to follow the instruction of the Word of God in our everyday lives, just as the children of Israel had to follow the instruction of the Word of God in their lives. Galatians tells us this. In Galatians chapter five and verse thirteen, it very clearly states that we have been called unto liberty. No question about that. We're not under law, we're under grace. We have been called unto liberty. But too often we like to stop right there. What does the rest of the verse say? But use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. In other words, don't use that liberty as an excuse to sin. That's exactly what it means. You know, last week we mentioned buzzwords. We were talking about the sad, sad condition all around us today, where men who I believe are evangelical and fundamental are standing in pulpits, and they are proclaiming what they say is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we're u- and they're using all these nice buzzwords that are pleasing to the ears because people are objecting today to being told that they're sinners in the sight of God, and they need to be washed in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's unfortunate. But, you know, we who are Christians use buzzwords as well. You ever used any? I'll bet you have, and you don't even realize it. You know what one of the most, one of the most common buzzwords that I hear being used around us today, that Christians are using, I'm talking about those of us who are saved now. One of the, the buzzwords that has come into prominence in recent years, and it's used all the time, is the word legalistic. Have you ever heard anyone use it? When is it used? Well, generally it's used when someone points out to us that something we're doing or somewhere we're going is contrary to the word of God, and they fire right back at us, oh, you're legalistic. Have you had that happen to you? If you've dealt with young people, I can assure you you have. What is legalistic about being obedient to the word of God? The fact that we don't have the law, that we're under grace, does that excuse us? The fact that we don't have tables of stone placed in our hands that says thou shalt, thou shalt not, thou shalt, thou shalt not. Does that excuse us from the teaching of the word of God that tells us that we're to walk in the spirit, that we're to walk not after the flesh, that we're to avoid all the appearances of evil, that all things may be lawful, but all things are not expedient? Do we take those things and throw them under the table and say that they don't apply because they're not law? God forbid. The instruction of the New Testament, as it applies to those of us who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, is just as vital and just as important and needs to be followed just as well as the children of Israel had to follow the laws and commandments and statutes and ordinances of God that were given to them in Old Testament times. And if we do anything less, my dear brethren and sisters, we are sinning. And it's as simple as all that. Legalistic. I even had a, a, this is an extreme, I'll grant you. We had a young fellow in our assembly at home, who unfortunately was pretty popular in school. I say unfortunately because it didn't do him any good. Come see the senior years, and that that will be a good example of this. And, uh, he was elected president of his class. And as president of his class, it was necessary for him to do things and to go places that, in accordance with the word of God, he shouldn't have done or shouldn't have gone to. And when we talked with him about it, what do you think the word was that he threw back? You're legalistic. Does God's word say, go ahead and sin, it's okay? And if anyone tells you you shouldn't go there or you shouldn't do that, you're being legalistic? Of course it doesn't. Yes, we have liberty, but that liberty that we have is to be used to bring glory to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, not to bring dishonor to his name, not to look up into the face of the Lord and ask the question that Israel asked, that we talked about last week, wherein have we dishonored thy name? That's not the purpose of liberty. The purpose of liberty is to live lives that are pleasing to God. The purpose of liberty is that people around us can see that Jesus Christ lives in us, and our lives should manifest the love of Christ. And it's what we say and where we go and what we do that reflects that. And although we don't have a New Testament full of specific thou shalts and thou shalt nots, this still does not excuse us from living lives that are pleasing to God, does not excuse our going to places where the world goes and which are characterized by the world with all of its sin and immorality. By doing things that we know, although they may be lawful, are not expedient. The liberty that we have in Christ does not give us the right to do whatever we please, any more than the liberty that we enjoy in this country gives us the right to do anything that we please. And just as there are laws which govern our secular lives, so there are laws, even New Testament laws, that govern our spiritual lives in Christ Jesus. And it's important that we know what that instruction is, and the only way we can know it is to take the Word of God and to study it and to seek direction from the Holy Spirit of God. And the trouble is today, we're not doing that. We're going off with our own ideas, with our own rationalizations. We're doing what we please, rather than what the Holy Spirit of God would direct us to do, if we would only know and learn his will by a study of his word. There's another major difference between those things that the Lord established for Israel and has established for you and for me today, as we close, and that has to do with the remission of sin. Under the law, the blood of animals was shed for sin. The sacrifices were made. But those sacrifices had to be made over and over and over and over again, and all that the blood of those animals could do was to cover sin. The blood of those animals could not wash away sin forever. The priest had to continually make that offer- offering repeatedly. The sacrifice was a constant requirement. It had to be done over and over again, and the result was only temporary covering of sin. But this is not so with the shedding of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, that one who is our great high priest, went to Calvary's cross, and he himself became the sacrifice. He gave himself, he shed his blood, that our sins might not be covered, but that our sins might be washed away for all eternity. And the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made upon the cross is one that never need be repeated. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin, doesn't just cover it up. And when we trust Jesus Christ as personal savior, our sins are washed away in his precious blood. They're buried in the depths of the deepest sea to be remembered no more. They are forgotten. They are separated from us as far as the east is removed from the west. That's the difference between the sacrifices of the Old Testament, when the blood of animals was shed upon the altar, and the sacrifice that was made for us on Calvary, when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, shed his blood and laid down his life for you and for me. The sacrifice that Jesus Christ made is one that never need be repeated. It was forever. This one man, our Savior, when he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And we can lift our voices and sing today, no blood, no altar now, the sacrifice is o'er. No flame, no smoke ascends on high. The Lamb is slain no more, for he died once and for all. He shed his blood that our sins might be washed away, to be remembered no more. Have you availed yourself of that sacrifice? Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Or are you still depending upon something that you're doing for your salvation? The Word of God tells us very clearly that we are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. If you have never availed yourself of the salvation that God offers you through faith in his son, we would urge you to trust him as your personal savior this morning. Believe that he died for you. Believe that he was your sacrifice, your substitute, as he hung upon Calvary and as God the Father judged him for your sin, and trust him as your personal savior. It's not the blood of animals that will save you. It's not ordinances that will save you. It's not living a good life that will save you. It's not silver or gold that will save you. It's the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that flowed freely there upon Calvary. And this morning, God offers you salvation through faith in his son, and we would urge you to trust him as your savior this morning, while our long-suffering God still offers you the opportunity. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today. Return to him, and don't lift your voice and cry, wherein shall we return? But return to him, repent of your sin, trust him as your savior. And the promise that God gave the children of Israel is the same promise that he gives you today. If you will return and trust my son as your savior, I will shower blessing upon blessing upon blessing upon you. You'll have a joy and a satisfaction and a peace that nothing in this world can ever give you, and it will be forever, for all eternity. May God grant that not a one of you will leave this building this morning without knowing the joy that is found in Christ Jesus.