Sermon Tone Analysis

*Malachi 12.*

There is a verse that I reckon has got the human condition sussed!

*[P]* [*Isaiah 53:6*/ //All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way./]

It says it all!

Everyone!

*[P]* We ALL have turned to our own way! *[P]* That is rebellion!

If there is authority, we have to challenge it, kick against it!

Why do we break the speed limit, evade taxes?

If there is authority we rile against it – be it the teacher at school, the government, that traffic cop, the tax man, our parents.

If they say something, we say, “No!”, “I am going my own way, “my own way is best!”

We turn to our own way.

Of course behind all authority is God; He delegates authority to kings, judges, parents [*Romans 13:1*/ //Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.

For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God./]

At heart, our rebellion is not against the one set over us but over God Himself!

Look, I know, I am a rebel.

I am filled with horror and shame at what I’ve done.

I was a rebel at school, arrogantly mocking my teachers and what they stood for.

I went to a Christian school – I mocked the religiousness there by inventing my own religion, I called it Chanterism, and made up various rituals that we religiously observed – really what I was saying was that religion was just meaningless ritual and ceremony that anyone could devise.

I was rebellious against my parents – but really, at heart, the root of it is rebellion against God Himself!

Now God in astounding mercy brought me back to Himself – but you cannot come back and submit to His authority when all the while you are rebelling against the authority that He has set over you.

Your relationship to earthly authority reflects your attitude to God Himself!

I was 26 when I came back to the LORD; but at the same time that I came back to the LORD, my relationship with my Dad was also restored.

I was going my own way, living for myself, doing what suited me.

It all started by, of all things, learning Spanish together – doing things together, setting aside my agenda to do something with my Dad.

God has instituted the family – placed it as the microcosm of authority structure – the father leads, holds authority; his wife is subject to him, and the children to the parents.

It is a model of how authority works.

It is an expression of His heart because He is the Father.

That is how Jesus and we address Him: you know?

“/Our Father who art in heaven/”.

It says in: [*1 Peter 1:17*/ //If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth./]

The consequence of Him being in that position of authority is respect, fear.

Scripture says that all fatherhood stems from Him: [*Ephesians 3:14-15*/ //For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,/] – the word “family” is “πατριά” – fatherhood – it is a play on words: all fatherhood comes from the Father, God Himself.

He is the Father, and every other father is a little model or reflection of that true Fatherhood.

It is intended to portray an essential part of God’s nature.

The father-child relationship is big biccies to God!

Because that is where God has placed authority, how we relate to our father matters a great deal.

How we relate to our father, his authority, will affect how we relate to God.

To adapt 1 John 4 – how can you be submitted to God who you cannot see when you are not submitted to your father who you can see?

Rebellion against God will be seen in rebellion against parents.

This is what the Bible says will happen in the end times [*2 Timothy 3:1-2*/ //But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents./] and isn’t it what we see all around us?!

It is taken for granted that your children will rebel when they are teenagers.

The fact is that they have done so long before then!

We had our first battle of wills with Hannah when she was 3 days old.

Rebellion in the heart causes the breakdown of the family.

Have a look around – everywhere the family structure is falling apart and being undermined.

As we have looked at the book of Malachi I have likened their perpetual answering back to God to a mouthy teenager – they were rebels!

That was the situation; that was their attitude to יהוה.

And God was going to do something about it: *[P]* [*Malachi 4*/ //“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says //יהוה// of armies, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”/

(totally consumed, nothing left from which to regenerate)/ “But for you who fear My Name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings;/ (there is a different outcome for those who fear יהוה)/ and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.

You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says //יהוה// of armies.

“Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.

Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of //יהוה//.

“He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”/]

There it is, the end of the Old Testament, and the last word is CURSE!

חֵרֶם!

*[P]* Devoted to complete and utter destruction!

The Jews don’t like ending with that word, so they repeat the blessing of the promised coming of Elijah.

But the consequence of rebellion is a curse!

Complete destruction!

The first sermon I ever preached was from this passage and I spoke about how broken family relationships bring about destruction of the land.

Unless they were restored destruction would come.

יהוה has set a day when He will act.

We read in Malachi3:17 about “/the day/” – the day in which יהוה would make up His special treasure.

In this chapter (and it only has 6 verses) it refers four more times to that “*day*” – it is the day of the LORD, *[P]* the day of יהוה! “The day is coming!” it says in Malachi 4:1.

A “/terrible day/” as it calls it, Joel calls it a /“great and fearful day/” – it is burning like a furnace.

Twice it says that day is coming!

יהוה has given us plenty of warning.

If we are wise we will heed it and be ready, waiting, expecting and looking for His return* [2 Peter 3:11-12 */what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God/,] All around people deny it, get on with life.

God either does not exist; or if He does, He doesn’t do anything; or He is a loving God who will not judge.

[*2 Peter 3:3-4*/ //Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?

For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”/]

They worry about global warming but not of the fire coming from God – quite a bit more warming than they are anticipating!

The evil is burnt up like chaff is.

At harvest time *[P]*, which Matthew 13 says speaks of the end of the age, grain would be threshed *[P]* and then winnowed *[P]*, separating the grain which has substance from the husk.

The light chaff was blown away.

The good grain was stored *[P]* but the remaining chaff was good for nothing, all you could do with it was burn it *[P]*, it was the only way to get rid of it.

That is what the “Day of יהוה” is like.

*[P]* It is a day of judgement – wicked is separated from the righteous.

Remember how we read that the righteous, those that were יהוה’s would be spared?

[*Malachi 3:17-18*/ //“They will be Mine,” says //יהוה// of armies, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.”

So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him./ ] In judgement, the righteous is separated from the wicked – a distinction is made.

The wheat is separated from the worthless.

Last time I referred to Jesus’ parable about the wheat and the tares: [*Matthew 13:30*/ //‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”

’ ”/] The Bible is consistent in speaking of the end of the age about judgement and referring to fire *[P]*.

[*2 Peter 3:7*/ //But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men./ *2 Peter 3:10-13*/ //But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!

But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells./]

See, there is a different outcome for those that are His, His precious possession.

*[P]* [*Malachi 4:2*/ //But for you who fear My Name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall./

/You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says /יהוה/ of armies./]

The sun rises – a new day is dawning!

The long night is over!

A day of righteousness dawns.

A day when Jesus the Messiah reigns – justice and righteousness are the foundation of His throne.

The fruit of righteousness is peace.

The implements of war are turned into agricultural tools, the wolf lies down with the lamb, none hurts on My holy mountain.

And the consequence of peace is joy – skipping like calves.

Thus [*Romans 14:17*/ the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit./]

Judgement is over, the fire is out, only ashes left – that is all that is left of the wicked, and even that is trampled underfoot.

It is all on “/that day/”.