OUR LORD SENDS HIS MESSENGER (Outline)
December 7, 2008 --
ADVENT 2 --
Malachi 3:1-4
INTRO: There is always excitement expecting a special day to arrive. There are many special days in our lives. They can include birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and holidays. We have only three weeks left before we celebrate Christmas. In the Scriptures messengers were sent out to proclaim special events that were coming. When the day arrived messengers were sent out again for the final invitation to attend. Today we receive messages rather than personal messengers for announcements and invitations. The importance of a messenger may be lost on us today. There we want to be reminded of the value of God’s messengers. The greatest messenger in the New Testament was John the Baptist. John’s coming and message were clearly announced by Old Testament messengers, God’s prophets. "A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God’" (ISAIAH 40:3).
OUR LORD SENDS HIS MESSENGER.
I. John the Baptist prepares the way.
II. Jesus, our Savior, purifies sinners.
I. JOHN THE BAPTIST PREPARES THE WAY
A. A quick recap of Malachi. The captivities and conquering of God’s people were over.
1. God returned Israel to the Promised Land. BUT they had begun to forget and forsake God.
2. God sent Malachi to remind the people to return to the Lord. How indifferent they were!
3. Malachi repeated: “The day of the Lord is coming!” God’s word needed to be heard.
B. Malachi is the last of the Old Testament prophets. After him the Lord is “silent” for 400 years.
1. The Lord God next sends John the Baptist – his chosen Way-Preparer.
2. Verse 1a,c. A messenger to prepare the way before me. That me is the LORD Almighty.
C. Verse 1b. The messenger, John the Baptist, prepares the way for the Lord, the Messiah, the Christ.
1. John and Jesus lived during the same time. The Lord they desired would appear suddenly.
2. Suddenly is compared to the long wait from the promise made to Adam centuries before.
D. John’s message was one of preparation. Get ready; the kingdom of God is near. Get ready; the Lamb of God is here. The gospels record the message of John. John used physical terms with spiritual encour-agements. "Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation"(LUKE 3:5,6). Our Lord fills in the valleys of despair in our hearts. It is God who is able to make molehills out of our mountains rather than the other way around. Christ creates straight roads out of our crooked paths of disobedi-ence. Our Savior makes our rough hearts smooth with his precious blood. John says, “Prepare”.
E. Thankfully, the Lord is the one who prepares us. It is the Holy Spirit who opens our ears to hear so that our hearts may believe. Our eternal salvation is so vitally important that our gracious God would not let this depend on our choice or decision. For goodness’ sake Adam and Eve made the wrong choice. And they lived in a perfect world. It is by grace we have been saved not by our works, not by our choice, not by our desire, but by God’s choice alone. "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh"(EZEKIEL 11:19).
F. Our stone-cold, hardened hearts have been graciously changed into hearts of flesh. This can only be done and happen by the power and miracle of God’s grace. Now in our beating hearts of flesh our loving Lord plants the seed of his word so that it may spring up and bear abundant fruit. Listen to another Old Testament messenger. "I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart"(JEREMIAH 24:7). By God’s grace we are preparing our hearts for Christmas Day – not just our homes. The Lord has given us hearts to know him and to love him as his dear children. We prepare this season for an eternity.
OUR LORD SENDS HIS MESSENGER.
John the Baptist prepares the way.
II. JESUS, OUR SAVIOR, PURIFIES SINNERS.
A. Malachi’s message about John was clear. John’s message prepared men’s hearts for Jesus.
1. Jesus – the messenger of the covenant, the one they desired – would come to his temple.
2. Malachi asks verse 2a. Can the sinful stand in the presence of the sinless?
a. Speaks of Last Day. b. Also Jesus “hid” his all-consuming holiness with human flesh.
B. Malachi describes John’s message concerning Jesus’ mission verses 2b, 3a.
1. Jesus would refine or purify the worship of the day. Jesus drove out the moneychangers.
2. The temple was to be his Father’s house of worship. Jesus warned the Pharisees and leaders.
C. Verses 3b, 4. Worship during Jesus’ time had become a duty, a sense of obligation and not praise.
1. For generations the people brought sacrifices. They forget why and now did it as ordered.
2. The leaders demanded; the people obeyed. They grew indifferent to worship’s true meaning.
3. Jesus taught that worship was a matter of the heart (love) not outward show or duty.
D. We might be tempted to point our fingers at the people during the time of Malachi. How could they become so indifferent? We might point to the leaders and worshippers of Jesus’ day. Why did they become so indifferent? They sinned. We sin. We might also take our faith for granted from time to time. It can be all too easy to be caught up in the commercialism of our society rather than the true spirit of worshipping the Christ-child. We daily fall short of the glory of God. "Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time"(DANIEL 11:35). Our gracious God uses his law to refine or purify us. After recognizing our sinfulness the gospel of Jesus Christ makes us spotless. Jesus’ death and resurrection purifies sinners.
E. We see our sins. We confess our sins. We trust in God’s mercy. Our sins are forgiven. All is right with the world. Or is it? Our world is still infected with sin. This means that on this side of heaven there is not one thing in life that is perfect. We face difficulties, heartaches, sorrows, and troubles every day. All of these things are not meant to overcome us. Instead God uses everything every day in our lives to purify us – make our faith stronger. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance"(JAMES 1:2,3). When we are weak God is our strength. When we are sad God is our comfort. In our sinfulness God is forgiving.
F. Purify has the implication of refining. Facing the events in our lives refines our faith. Purify also means to make clean or holy. On our own we are lost and condemned creatures. On our own we are unclean and unholy. Again, through faith by God’s grace all that has been changed for us. "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, pu-rifies us from all sin"(1 JOHN 1:7). God’s Son, Jesus – our Savior, purifies us from ALL sin!
CONC.: The fast four weeks of Advent have already become only three. There is great excitement and expectation as we prepare for Jesus’ birth and Jesus’ second coming on the Last Day. This is the special season that we anxiously prepare our hearts and our minds for our Savior to dwell in our hearts and lives. "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed"(1 PETER 1:3). Keep looking ahead and keep looking up. OUR LORD SENDS HIS MESSENGER. John the Baptist prepares the way. Jesus, our Savior, puri-fies sinners. As sinners made holy by the blood of Christ we are now the ones to prepare the way for Jesus’ arrival. There probably has been no greater need than in our present time for those who have Christ in their hearts and lives to share that blessing with those still in darkness. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
SERVICES: 1:00pm @ NCF Min.(Sat) / 12:00pm @ NCF Medium (Sun) / 9:30am @ Redeemer (Sun)
/ Sunday radio broadcast @ 9:05am on KQNK 106.7FM or 1530AM
ADVENT 2 rdgs.:
ISAIAH. 40:1-11;
2 PETER 3:8-14;
MARK 1:1-8;
(PSALM 85)
