Welcome to this week's edition of the sermon. I thank the Lord for the opportunity to post the sermon this week. I hope all of you are having a very good week.
I want to thank the Lord for allowing me to have a great week in writing. I've had so much work to do, that I can barely get it all done. I am praying that this will continue. I've been feeling pretty well, so I thank you for your prayers in this area.
I have a couple of things that I would like you all to pray about. I have someone that I know from Twitter who had their dog stolen. Please pray that this person's dog is returned as soon as possible. Also, someone who I know has a dog that they found out has cancer. Please pray for this person's dog that she will get better.
In other areas, please continue to pray for those affected by the hurricanes this year. I haven't heard any updates about Puerto Rico on the news lately. I am hoping that the situation down there is turning around for the better.
Please pray for those in France who are experiencing the terrible flooding. Pray that the waters will soon recede.
I heard a report on the news this morning that there are severe outbreaks of disease in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. Pray for the end of these disease outbreaks, and pray for those who are trying to help the refugees in Bangladesh.
Continue to focus your prayers for peace on the nations of Syria and Yemen. May war end in these nations soon.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let's all pray for those in Eritrea and Indonesia. Pray that many will hear the message of the love of Jesus.
For the past several weeks, we have been in a study of the book of Malachi. We have studied some things that many would find controversial. However, I believe in preaching the whole counsel of God, so I try not to back away from what are very clear statements in the Word of God.
Today, we will focus on just two verses in Malachi chapter 3. Malachi 3:6 states, "I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already completely destroyed. Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned My laws and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty."
As we've seen over and over again in our study of the book of Malachi, the people were not acting in a correct manner towards the Lord and His instructions. They were not giving unto the Lord the honor and the respect that was due to Him as the King of the entire Universe. The priests were not serving the Lord in a proper manner. The commandments of the Lord were being ignored. In spite of all of this, the people could not understand how they had done anything wrong. They felt as if the Lord should be pleased that they were trying to do anything at all for Him.
Throughout the book of Malachi, the Lord has been calling His people back to Him. He wants them to repent and return to Him.
In our passage today, the Lord makes clear that He does not change. This has several important implications that I want to address, but first let us see the meaning from the passage itself.
The Lord had made various covenants with the people's ancestors. First of all, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham. The Lord told Abraham that He would make of Abraham a great nation. Through Abraham, all the nations of the world would be blessed. If the Lord were to totally eliminate the descendants of Abraham, the Lord would not be keeping the covenant.
The Lord also made a covenant with David. The Lord told David that one of David's descendants would rule from Jerusalem forever. If the descendants of David were eliminated, God would not be keeping that covenant.
That is what the Lord is referring to in this passage where He says that He does not change. Because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their descendants would not be completely destroyed even though they had angered the Lord by continually turning away from Him towards other gods.
This passage also refers to the fact that the Lord is a God who forgives those who call upon Him. Countless times in the Old Testament we see that the people turned from the Lord to false gods. God would bring judgment on the people. The people would repent and turn back to God, and God would forgive and restore His people.
Whenever people call on the name of the Lord for deliverance and forgiveness, the Lord is willing to forgive. That is who He is. That is His nature. It is part of Himself that He cannot change.
This passage shows us that God always keeps His promises. If He says that He will do something, He will do it. The Bible says that God is not a man that He should lie.
This has important implications for us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament is quite clear that Jesus is God come in human form. Jesus Himself said that He and Father are one.
In the book of Hebrews it states that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Since Jesus is God, He also does not change. We can complete rely on the promises that Jesus has made.
Let me give you a couple of examples. In John 6:37, Jesus says that whoever comes to Him, He will not cast them out. We can rely on that. Whoever wants to turn from sin and turn to the Savior, Jesus will accept that person. Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Jesus said in Matthew 28:20 that He would be with us unto the very end of the age. We can trust the Lord Jesus not to change His mind. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Nor matter what struggles we may be going through, we can know that the Lord Jesus is always with us guiding us and helping us every step of the way.
In John 14:3, Jesus said that He has gone to prepare a place for us, that where He is, we can be there too. We can rely on this. Those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus will be with Him for all eternity.
In Matthew 16:27, Jesus said that He is going to return in His glorious Second Coming. We can rely on this and know that one day, Jesus will rule and reign in righteousness as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The Lord does not change, and He is not slack regarding His promises. What He has promised, He will do. We can always rely on Jesus as He is the divine Son of God and God the Son.
Now, in Malachi, the Lord tells the people that if they will return to Him, that God would return to them. As we have seen, the Lord is always willing to take back the repentant sinner. Here is what is so sad. In verse 7, the people respond to God, "How can we return when we have never gone away"?
They still couldn't realize what they were doing wrong.
This reminds me of people today. They can't recognize that they are not following the commandments of the Lord. They will not recognize that they are far from the Lord and that they need a Savior.
We must all pray that the Lord through the power of His Holy Spirit will open spiritually blind eyes so that they can see. They need to see their need for the Savior and their need for forgiveness.
Next week, Lord willing, we will continue with our study of the book of Malachi. The sermon will return to being posted on Fridays beginning next Friday. I will post the verses on Monday, and there will be a review of dog book on Wednesday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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