Who Can Endure the Coming of the Lord?

2nd Sunday in Advent, 12/5/21 Malachi 3:1-7b Who Can Endure the Coming of the Lord? I. Those whose hearts are truly repentant II. Those who confidence is in the Lord’s faithfulness How will I ever get through this? Have you ever asked yourself that desperate question? Probably so. What circumstance led you to ask it? Perhaps your question was in reaction to a diagnosis from a medical doctor. The tests confirmed it. The treatments won’t be easy and there’s no guarantee they will succeed. And so you asked, “How will I ever get through this?” Or, perhaps you uttered that question immediately after being informed that your employment position has been eliminated, and it was at a time when the employment market was not in your favor. You have a family to provide for, a mortgage, and car loans. And so you asked, “How will I ever get through this?” Or, you suddenly lost a loved one. One minute they were with you and the next minute they were gone. And now you wonder how you’ll cope. You depended on him or her every day. Their death has created this enormous chasm in your life. And so you asked, “How will I ever get through this?” When you first heard the words of our first lesson from Malachi 3, what was your reaction? Perhaps you’re asking, “What do you mean, Pastor?” Take a look at those words again. The Lord is announcing a future event to you. In fact, it’s the next and last greatest event in the world’s history. And he tells you, “I will come near to you for judgment.” So, what’s your reaction? Being the sinful people that we are, that’s not our favorite topic. Far from it. The coming judgment likely causes you some angst. Maybe it fills you with dread. It caused God’s prophet Malachi to state, “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?” How will you ever get through this? Today the Lord would have you and me ask those same questions. So, let’s ask them this way, “Who can endure the coming of the Lord?” Listen as the Lord himself answers that question for us. I. You don’t have to live very long before you realize that life is full of problems, daily problems. Some of them are small enough that you can solve them rather readily if you spend the time and effort. But what’s your reaction when one of life’s huge problems comes slamming into your life? In fact, it’s so enormous that you don’t know what you’re going to do about it. And, as you ponder your situation for a while, you become convinced that there’s nothing you can do to solve it. Have you ever encountered a problem in your life like that? The Lord announces one such enormous problem in these words of our text, “So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” At first read, you might be thinking, “Well, he doesn’t appear to be talking about me. I think I’ve slid under his divine tag.” Don’t kid yourself. It’s true—this is a list of heinous sins. And I’m glad to know they might not be your sins. But that doesn’t mean any of us is innocent. The fact is we’re guilty as sin. There isn’t a single commandment we’ve kept. We’ve trashed them all. And he’s coming near for judgment. That’s a huge problem! What can we do? Listen to the opening words of this text. “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.” He’s referring to John the Baptist. A few minutes ago, we heard Luke’s introduction to the ministry of John the Baptist. John’s ministry was one of calling sinners to repentance. He did that by crushing people with God’s law. He let no one think that they had nothing to repent of. He convicted every sinner. And then he announced the gospel. Luke informs us that he performed a baptism of repentance. He announced God’s forgiveness to those who repented of their sins, and he assured them of that forgiveness through baptism. He pointed the people to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And Jesus welcomed those people into his kingdom. And that’s good news for you and me! Who can endure the coming of the Lord? We can! We can by faith in Christ as our Savior from sin. When the Lord Jesus returns, he won’t condemn us. Rather, he’ll claim us as his own for all eternity. He’ll invite us into the new heavens and the new earth that he has prepared for us. So, as we wait for that day to occur, live in daily repentance. Acknowledge the fact that there isn’t a single day in which you live a holy life. Each day is marred by sin in thought, word, and deed. Offer your God a heart that is filled with daily sorrow for those sins. And then hold by faith to the forgiveness Jesus won for you by his life, death, and resurrection. Who can endure the coming of the Lord? Those whose hearts are truly repentant. As I read the list of sins that will incur the Lord’s judgment, a possible reaction was, “Finally, Lord! I’ve been waiting too long for you to do something about the evil in our world. Go get ‘em, God!” And I understand that reaction. I even identify with it. But that reaction misses the point. Remember, we want to know who can endure the coming of the Lord. Trying to convince ourselves that we’re not on God’s list of sinners isn’t going to help us endure at all. In fact, with that spiritual self-assessment, we won’t endure for a moment under his righteous wrath. Rather, we endure the Lord’s coming with a repentant heart. Such a heart recognizes and confesses our sins of judging others, of feeling superior to others, of pride, of neglecting to meet the needs of others, of self-centeredness, and laziness. That’s the type of heart that endures the Lord’s coming because to that heart belongs the forgiveness Jesus won. His sacrifice on the cross covers every sin of every sinner. It covers your sins and mine. And with that forgiveness we can endure the coming of the Lord. In fact, we can rejoice over it! II. A 67-year-old European woman intended to drive her vehicle to the train station 38 miles away to pick up a friend. Before she left, she set her GPS and, like always, she simply followed its directions. Hours later she crossed a border into another country, and then another. She was 900 miles away from the train station. When asked how this could have happened, she answered, “I trust my GPS.” Hard to imagine, isn’t it? You would think she would have known something was wrong after an hour of driving and not arriving at the train station, let alone crossing into another country or two. Her confidence was misplaced. The coming of the Lord is the next great event in the world’s history. We’re going to be standing before him. How can we be confident we’ll get to the judgment and through it safely? How can we be sure our confidence isn't misplaced? Here’s your answer, “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” The Lord doesn’t change. But just what does that mean? Ask yourself, “What does the Lord want for me more than anything else?” We don’t have to guess at an answer. He tells us plainly in his word that he wants us, and all other people, to be saved. He wants us to come to know and believe in him as the God of our salvation. Simply stated, he wants us to trust in Jesus. And that will never change. Our God is not in the business of damning us; he’s in the business of saving us. And we can count on him and his saving will for us every day of our lives. How can I be sure? Because our God is absolutely faithful. Think about it. Sinful people gave the Lord every reason not to send a Savior into the world. And yet he still did exactly as he promised because he is always faithful. And now he has promised to return to this earth on the Last Day, raise us from the dead, glorify our bodies, and proclaim us as his dear children. Then he will usher us into the mansion he has prepared for us so that we can live in his presence forever. How do I know that’s actually going to occur? Because our God is absolutely faithful. He has told us how he will return and what he will say when he does. And his word is better than gold because he is always faithful. So, who can endure the coming of the Lord? Those whose confidence is in the Lord’s faithfulness. The Lord wanted you to be absolutely sure that you can count on him when he returns, so he included a description of you in these words of Malachi. Did you catch that description? Maybe not. Here it is, “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.” The Lord has purified you by the forgiveness of sins. He sees you as one who pleases him with your life of faith, like a Levite performing his acts of worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. Your offerings—your daily lives—are acceptable to him. He delights in you. And it’s all because of Jesus and what he did for you the first time he came to this earth. Who can endure the coming of the Lord? You can, by God’s grace through faith in Jesus. In fact, you not only endure, you win forever! Keep that future victory before your eyes each day of your life! Amen.