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All right, Malachi chapter 4, and if you look at verse number 2 there, Malachi chapter 4 and verse number 2, it says, But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in His wings. And so the title for the sermon this morning is The Son of Righteousness. We're up to the final chapter in Malachi, it's only four chapters long, so we're right at the end of the Old Testament, really, when we look at the Old Testament books. And this title is given to, of course, Jesus Christ, the Son of Righteousness. You know what amazes me is that, you know, the book of Malachi is also read by the Jews. It's also, you know, a book of Judaism, and yet it's so clearly about Jesus Christ. From John the Baptist, from his first coming, to even now, we look at this, his second coming, when he commands judgment and justice upon the earth. And it just blows me away that the Jews can read these portions of the Scriptures and not see the reality that all of this pointed to Jesus Christ. And of course, us as believers, as New Testament believers, we can appreciate these Old Testament books, these books that were written hundreds of years before Jesus, and it gives us confidence to know that the Bible that we read is the Word of God. It gives us confidence to know that it's perfect, it's preserved, it's a supernatural book coming out of the mouth of God, because look at the prophecies and how well they've been fulfilled in Christ, and it gives us the confidence, because we know he came the first time, but it also gives us the confidence to know that if he came the first time, and this was prophesied of, that he's going to come back again, he's going to come with his second coming. But let's start off in verse number, actually let's start off at the end of Malachi 3. Let's get the context of verse number 4, Malachi 3 verse 18, just the last verse, you may recall that it says, Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not. So we were talking about those that were not living righteously for God, maybe the unsaid, some of these priests that were being very ungodly and wicked, we ended that they will eventually come to a point when they recognise who are the true people of God that he loves. You know, who are the true believers that served him, you know, on this earth. And I pointed to the fact that this is most likely coming on Judgement Day. So this will tie in, if you look at Malachi chapter 4 verse number 1, because it says for, and when you read the Bible, and you know, the sentence starts with for, that's a conjunction, that's linking the verse that came before it, okay. So this comes together. So you know, the wicked will come, they'll be able to discern, hey, who was right, who was wrong, who served God, who didn't serve God, why, for behold, the day cometh, for what day is coming. And this is described here, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Does this sound like the first coming of Christ? When Christ came as a babe in a manger, in humility, did he come burning up the entire world, turning people to stubble? No. As that lamb of God, right, that taketh away the sin of the world, this is of course speaking about the second coming of Christ, and what a difference, what a difference that Christ will come and literally burn up this place, you know, burn up this earth as an oven, burn up the wicked, and we've gone through the end time series not long ago, so we see how God pours out his wrath, and one of the major factors of his wrath is this intense heat. All the trees will be burning up, all the grass will be on fire, I mean, there's not just all the things we read about, but just this intense heat that will be upon the earth as he pours out his wrath. Please keep your finger then, go to 2 Peter chapter 3, go to 2 Peter chapter 3, I want to make this, this is a very short chapter compared to the rest of the book of Malachi, so this will be a lot more of a Bible study, okay, so we're looking at lots of references to the Bible and trying to gain some wisdom, gain some knowledge here as we compare the Bible, and what's good about Malachi chapter 4 as well, the first three chapters, you know, it was very negative, it was very strong against the wicked nation of Israel, but the final chapter is very positive, it's uplifting, okay, it gives us hope for the future, but in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 10, it says, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Now if you were paying attention at the, with the end time series, we note that the reference of the thief of the night, the day of the Lord, is the day of the rapture, alright, the day of Christ, from a positive perspective for the believers, we'll be looking forward to the coming of Christ, but that very day, half an hour later, the Lord begins to pour out his wrath, which is the day of the Lord, which is the day of God's wrath, alright, so that day is coming as a thief in the night, and then it says this, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, now look at the next passage here, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. A lot of people look at verse number 10 and they think this has to do with the new heavens and the new earth, okay, they think this is about the first earth being utterly destroyed, and then God creating a new heaven and a new earth, that's not what it's about, it's about the day of the Lord, it's about the rapture, and of course, after the rapture, as I described, God pours out his wrath, so this is talking about the destruction of the earth, not the total destruction of the earth, because we know that same earth, Jesus Christ will come and reign for a thousand years, he'll restore those things for a thousand years, then the new heavens and the new earth come into effect, and so, but I want you to notice here, that part of God's wrath is the elements melting with a fervent heat, I mean, the shape of the earth, we already looked at this, the topography, the geography, it's all going to change, you know, all the grass will be burnt up, all those kinds of things, look at verse 11, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, this points to the fact that hey, we shouldn't be living for this world, we shouldn't be trying to amass great wealth on this earth, you know, stamp our place in this earth, it's all going to be burnt up, you know, if that's how much God cares about this earth, you know, about the possessions, then should we be living for this earth, should we be living for the temple things, no, we should be living for the future, for eternal matters, for godly things, look at verse 12, looking for and hasten unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, where in dwelleth righteousness. So this is the passage about the new heavens and the new earth, and so people lump these in things together, but don't forget there's a thousand years, there's a thousand years of Christ reigning, and again, the point is, we shouldn't care about this earth being destroyed, we shouldn't care about God's wrath falling upon this place, because our new heavens and new earth are coming, that's the one we're looking forward to, that's what we should be living for, and just keep your finger there in 2 Peter, I'll just read some other passages to you, so the Bible says, you know, at the day of the rapture, we know that happens at the sixth seal, and in Revelation chapter 6 verse 14, this is when the sixth seal is opened, and the sun and the moon are dark, and the stars fall from heaven and all that, and we're raptured, it says in verse number 14, and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, but then it says this, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places, so at the rapture, the entire world is going to tremble, I mean the entire world is going to go through a worldwide earthquake, you know, where every mountain, every island will be moved by the intense, this is just the beginning of God's wrath, this is just, hey, guess what's happening, and of course, this is why people fear, this is why people hide in their dungeons and in their, you know, in the rocks and the hills and in their, you know, places of protection, afraid of the wrath of God to come, and then toward the end of God's wrath, in Revelation 16 verse 20, it says, and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, so at the beginning, it all shakes, it all rumbles, it all moves, right, but then at the end of it, every island is gone, it's all underwater, or burnt up or whatever, right, and the mountains were not found, I mean the mountains are levelled at the end of God's wrath, so you know, this gives us a picture of just how bad it's going to be on the earth as God pours out his wrath, the intense heat, all the destruction, the fact that the earth will be essentially wiped out as we know it, hey, this will be perfect timing for Christ to come and establish all things new for that thousand years, right, and then this takes us back to Malachi chapter 4 and verse number 2, keep your finger in second Peter if you can, because we are going to come back to that, but Malachi chapter 4 and verse number 2, in light of that truth, in light of the fact that God will destroy this earth with fervent heat, it says in verse number 2, but unto you, so this isn't something we need to worry about, right, the wrath of God, because we're not going to be there for that day, but unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise, now remember that fact, that the son arises, and notice this is not S-O-N son, this is not the son of God's son, but the son, as in, you know, the son that we have, right, that rules the day, that arises, you know, we talk about the sunrise, the sunrise, you know, it arises with healing in his wings, so this is not about the son, right, it's about a him, it's about his wings, of course this is referring to Jesus, and then it says, and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall, and so it's saying here, when the son of righteousness arises, okay, and this is of course when we believe on Christ, and Christ works in us, his power, his light shines in our life, it says that ye shall go forth, we shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall, a calf of course is a baby cow, it's a young cow, and you know, we expect that cow to grow into something large and powerful, but what this is teaching us is that if we're in Christ, Christ can work in us, we will mature, we will grow spiritually, and we will one day become this powerful, you know, cow, this powerful beast of burden in the future, what does that have to do with the end times? Well go to us, you're in 2 Peter, go to chapter 1 now, 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 19, 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 19, so we're trying to put all this together, right, it's a bit of a Bible study, and we saw that Jesus Christ has been referred to as the sun, okay, the fact that the sun shines brightly, it's got heat, it's got light, okay, these are all attributes of God that we can, you know, this is why some people, you know, in other places of the world worship the sun, you know, give the sun worship, you know, of course that's wicked, but there are elements that the sun does teach us about God, you know, there are things of that, you know, the powerful nature of the sun that makes us understand our Lord God, you know, and the sun, the stars, they're amazing powerful objects, the fact that God himself can create these things, you know, gives us a picture of just how powerful God is, but look at 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 19, how, remember where to grow up, where to mature, right, it says in 2 Peter chapter 119, we have also a more sure word of prophecy, of course that's referring to the Bible, where unto ye do well, that ye take heed, you know, it's good for you to listen, it says as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, this is the beginning of the day, and then it says this, and the day star arise in your hearts, what did Malachi chapter 4 say, it talked about the sun that rises, that arises, right, and now we're talking about the day star that arises in your hearts, so what is that about, who's the day star, it's Jesus, okay, how do we know about Jesus, through the sure word of prophecy, that's how we know Jesus, the more you want to know Jesus, the more you want him to have an impact in your life and be more like him, you need to know more of the word of God, okay, and as we know the word of God, as we grow in our knowledge, it's going to cause that day star to arise in our hearts, the star of righteousness, which means we'll be able to shine the light in a more powerful way, right, just as Christ is the light of the world, we can be greater lights for God in this world, and so God wants to mold us, he wants to work in us, he wants us to grow, he wants us, his lights to shine in us, right, this isn't about putting on a show in the flesh, this is not about how smart Pastor Kevin is, it's not about how smart you are, it's about how smart God is, it's about the wisdom of God, it's about shining the light of God, you know, because our righteousness are filthy rags, our righteousness are dark, and so we need the righteousness of God working our lives in order for us to be powerful preachers of his word, you know, and I'm talking about just powerful Christians, people that can shine like the sun shines, and the day star of course is the star that shines in the day, that being the sun, right, the sun, look at verse number 20, it says, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scriptures of any private interpretation, for the prophecy came not in all time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and so what this is teaching us is when the Holy Ghost can have a work in us, men can be moved to do amazing things, like pen down the word of God, and of course, like I said, the word of God helps us understand what Christ is like, it helps us shine the light of Christ, but in the same way, if we grow, then the Holy Ghost can work in us, that the Holy Ghost can move us to do great works for him, so we see the correlation there, right, between the sign and the day star, which is the same object, you know, in our solar system, but I'll just read some other passages to you, in Revelation chapter 22, in verse number 16, Jesus says, I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches, then he says this, I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star, hey, what is the morning star, what's the star that shines in the morning, that comes out, that arises, of course, it's referring to the sun, okay, and Jesus Christ once again referring himself to that morning star, or that day star, or the sun, it's all the same object, okay, it's all the same object, why is it important that Jesus Christ refers to himself as that bright and morning star, okay, I read that in the book of Revelation, okay, and I want to tie all of this in, we spoke about how this has to do with the end times, and we know that the main book on the end times is the book of Revelation, okay, and this is the name that he presents of himself in this book, but when we think about the purpose of the sun, you know, the sun that we have, why did God create the sun, well of course to give light, you know, we understand that, but it says in Psalm 136 verse 7, it says, to him that made great lights, and of course those great lights is the sun, the moon, the stars, it says, for his mercy endure forever, then it says in verse number 8, the sun to rule by day, for his mercy endure forever, and so when the Lord thinks of the sun, refers to the sun, he refers it as the great light to rule by day, okay, when something rule, it means it has authority, alright, and it's, in many ways you could look at the sun in that way, right, it rules, you can't stop the sun from shining, you can't stop the sun from rising, you can't stop the sun from setting, right, you can't stop the light, it's going to be, you know, shining bright during the day, and of course this points us back, you can join me if you want, go to Genesis chapter 1, go to Genesis chapter 1, you don't need to say in 2 Peter, you can go to Genesis chapter 1 if you want, verse number 14, back to creation, and the purpose for the sun, Genesis chapter 1 verse 14, it says, and God said, let there be light in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be for light in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, and it was so. Verse 16, and God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, there it is again, the sun, the purpose of the sun is to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, he made the stars also, so the lesser light of course is the moon, verse number 17, and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day, and the consistency, to rule over the day, and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good, and the evening and the morning were the fourth day, and so the purpose of the sun is to rule over the day, so if Jesus takes that title, the sun of righteousness, the morning star, the day star, what is Christ's proper place? To rule, alright, to rule on this earth, to rule in our lives, okay, that he has great authority, you know, these references of Christ are showing that he had, he has a great authority, and we better take heed, we better pay attention to that authority that Jesus Christ has, and say, well, it's said there that, you know, we're going to grow as calves, right, this is a benefit to us, of course, because when we talk about the end times, we talk about the wrath of God destroying this earth as we know it, where when Christ comes and establishes his new kingdom, his thousand year reign, he wants us to rule with him, he wants us to reign with him, alright, and again, we're not going to reign in our own power, we're not going to rule in our own might, we're going to rule through Christ, through the authority that Christ gives us, again, he refers himself to the morning star, and so in Revelation chapter 2 verse 26, Jesus says, and he that overcometh, that's if you're saved, and keepeth my works unto the end, that's if you live righteously, to him will I give power over the nations, what is Malachi chapter 4 teaching us, that one day we're going to have power over the nations, that one day the authority of Christ will be given to us to rule over this world, it says here, and he, that's referring to Jesus, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter, actually that's referring to us, shall they be broken to shivers, even as I have received my father, so it says, even as I am going to rule with a rod of iron, even he shall rule them, that's the one that he gives authority to, and then he says in verse 28, and I will give him, that's us, the morning star, hold on, Jesus is the morning star, yeah, but remember, what does that refer to, the sun, the fact that it rules day, the fact that it means authority, and so when we are in the millennium brothers and sisters, and I don't know if you have fully grasped this, Christ will give us his authority on this earth, we're going to have the authority of the morning star, you know, the same authority that Christ has on the earth, of course he's going to have the highest authority, I'm not saying that we're equal in authority, but we're going to be able to rule through his authority, through his kingdom that he sets up on this earth, and that's what Malachi chapter 4 is alluding to, the fact that, you know, he's the son of righteousness, and he wants us to grow, he wants us to mature, he wants us to gain spiritual understanding, to prepare ourselves for that great day, you know, it's amazing, I don't want to rule, but I think in the millennium you're going to really enjoy it, I really think, you know, whatever positions God gives us, and of course, the more we do for God, the more works, the more service we do, the greater authority he's going to give us, okay, so there are going to be different levels of authority, just like our governments today, you've got the guy on top, you know, except Jesus Christ will rule over the entire world, then he will have, you know, those, I guess, presidents and prime ministers of different nations, and then you'll have, you know, man, finally we can enjoy the government, because it's going to be us, finally we can use the word of God as our decision makers, as passing down laws and, you know, passing judgement on crimes, back to Malachi chapter 4 and verse number 3, Malachi chapter 4 and verse number 3, now that you understand what verse number 2 is referring to, now you understand verse number 3, right, and ye, you, brave, not the Lord, oh Jesus of course, but us, because we've been given his authority, shall tread down the wicked, and they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that I shall do this, sayeth the Lord of hosts, you know what that means, that means we're going to rule them in a thousand years, and we're going to pass judgement down on the wicked, ok, we're going to tread down the wicked, there'll be proper justice, you know, if someone is a homosexual, if someone's a child molester, if someone's a murderer, right, someone's an adulterer, we can finally pass some right judgement, we can finally see what, you know, the power and the wisdom of God in this earth, and I'm sure that we're going to, you know, tread down the wicked temporarily, and the entire world's going to learn, we'd better pay attention to God's laws, and it won't be long before the entire world's like, woah, let's make things, let's go, you know, there's death penalty, it's in effect now, in fact we're dying with stone, say well, would the Lord really go back to, you know, the way they carried out, you know, death penalty by stoning, will we really go back to those old ways of doing things, I'm not talking about the old covenant coming back into effect, because we already looked at this, that the new covenant in Jesus Christ is an everlasting covenant, okay, that's not going to change, but we still have the commands, we still have the laws of God that we can read about in the old covenant, right, we can really see what God thinks of, and his proper judgement on certain crimes in this earth, and if you can, maybe do go to Revelation now, keep your finger there Malachi, go to Revelation chapter 5, Revelation chapter 5, the Bible tells us, well, in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 11, 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 11, it says, it is a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him, if we suffer, we shall also reign with him, if we deny him, he will deny us, so if we suffer for the Lord, it says we shall also reign with him, okay, so this is a very clear teaching in the Bible, this isn't just the opinion of Pastor Kevin, this isn't just some, you know, extreme view of what the millennium is, no, the Bible's very clear we're going to reign with Christ, Revelation chapter 5 and verse number 8, Revelation chapter 5 and verse number 8 says, and when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints, and they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, let's stop there for a moment, this is referring to all of us, from all nations of all kindreds, all tongues, all peoples, this is all the saved that have been saved of course through Jesus Christ and his blood sacrifice, look at verse number 10, and has made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth, it's not like we'll just live on the earth, we're going to reign on the earth, authority, power, okay, you know, sometimes I hear, you know, my fellow brothers sometimes say, you know, I'm interested to get into politics, we're all going to get into politics, don't worry about it, the time's coming where that's going to matter, right now what matters is that we, you know, bring in that, you know, people into the spiritual kingdom of God, right, so they can rule and reign with us as well, and then go to Revelation chapter 20 and verse number 6, Revelation chapter 20 and verse number 6, Revelation chapter 20 and verse number 6, you know, treading down the wicked, man, what an opportunity, but Revelation chapter 20 and verse number 6, blessed and holy is he that have part in the first resurrection, of course that's talking about the rapture, okay, the resurrection of those new bodies that God is going to give us, and such the second death have no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years, reign with him, that's authority, that's power, right, just don't forget that, that we have this exciting future, right, it's not that we just die and we get halos on our heads and we have wings and we play harps in the clouds, that's not reality, that's why we're teachers, we're coming back to this earth in our new resurrected bodies with great authority, with that morning star, that morning star is not a weapon by the way, to wipe out the homosexuals, as I've heard preached, no, the morning star is the authority, okay, it's referring to the authority that Christ has given us, please go to Matthew 25, Matthew 25, Matthew 25, we're going to be looking at a parable that Jesus Christ gave, because I really want you to understand that your life today has an impact on that future authority, okay, being able to reign with Christ, Matthew 25, verse 14, Matthew 25 and verse number 14, these are of course the words of Jesus, he says, for the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods, alright, now let's stop there for a moment, this is a parable, alright, so a parable is to help illustrate doctrines that we already know, what have we learnt so far, black and white in the bible, Christ is coming back, alright, we know that he's not here right now, he's gone, he's ascending into heaven, we know that he's coming back and so when we read this parable, we need to make sure that the illustrations match up with things that are black and white doctrine, that we know for certain, we don't read the parable and start making doctrines out of this parable, okay, this is important for you to understand, so when we look at this man travelling to a far country, well that's you know, the heavenly country, alright, that's Jesus going away and then he calls his servants, now what I want you to understand is we often think about servants of God as believers and yes, you know, the majority of this parable is about believers, but this is a parable, it's a story, so some of these servants even represent unsaved people, okay, if you don't understand that, if you think this has only saved people and you take it to that point and you build doctrine on a parable, you're going to start thinking that you can lose your salvation, okay, so you've got to be careful, alright, so let's keep going, let's understand this parable, verse number 15, and unto one, that's unto one servant he gave five talents and another two and to another one and every man according to his several ability and straightway took his journey, so that's another parable that's similar to this, about the pounds and every man receives the same pound, but this parable, everyone receives something differently, okay, and this is referring to talents, a talent is a weight, so of course money in those days was measured by the weight, you know, if you measure gold and silver, you measure it by the weight, you know, if you were to measure our money on how heavy it is, well we wouldn't have much, right, because it's paper, in fact now it's just digital, right, it doesn't weigh anything and actually it is not worth anything because it weighs nothing, but when you talk about talents, talk about weight here, okay, so some servants, one servant gets five, so he gets more, okay, another one gets, what was it, two, another one gets one, so we all get different measures of talents, now I believe the reason God used the word talent here is because we think of talents as, you know, we think that that person has talents, what are we saying, we're saying that person has skill, he has some natural ability, right, and so we're not all the same, you know, God has given us different skills, he's given us different abilities, he's given us different experiences to go from and so that's what I believe this is referring to and then it says here in verse number 16, sorry, let me just finish verse number 15, it says, to every man according to his several ability, so you can see that the talent there has been tied into ability as well and straightway took his journey, so this Lord goes, of course referring to Jesus Christ and he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents, so he took what he had and he made use of it, right, he became productive and instead of five, now he's got another five, he's got ten all together and likewise he that had received two and he also gained another two, right, so he does the same, he's productive as well, verse number 18, but he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money, after a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them, so the one that received one he didn't make it, you know, any use to it, right, he didn't put it to work, he just buries it, right, he digs it in, he doesn't want to lose it and now we have the time when the Lord comes back, right, the Lord comes back and sees what did you do with the talents that I gave you, verse number 20 and so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents saying, Lord thou deliverest unto me five talents, behold I have gained beside them five talents more, his Lord said unto him, well done thou good and faithful servants, thou hast been faithful over a few things, look at this, I will make thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, so what do we see, that Christ is going to come back and is going to make us rulers, we've already seen that as a black and white doctrines, right, and it depends on what we do for the Lord, God has given us all different abilities and if we use those abilities for him, we serve him, right, he's going to make us rulers over many things, that's what we learn there, right, and then it says in verse number 22, he also that had received two talents came and said, Lord thou deliverest unto me two talents, behold I have gained two other talents beside them, his Lord said unto him, well done good and faithful servants, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy of the Lord, so this man made a ruler as well, absolutely right, he's made a ruler because he served the Lord with what he was given and I just want to stop there for a moment and we should never take a thought and say I wish I was more like brother so and so, I wish I was more like sister so and so, I should never take the attitude and say I wish I was more like pastor so and so, okay, all of us have different abilities, all of us have different talents, some have five, some have two, maybe I've got two, I'm not trying to compete with the guy that has five, okay, what I need to be given, I need to make use of the two that I have and put that to work, you know, I've got to take the abilities, the talents that God has given me and serve him with that and if I do that, even though I don't have the five talents, even though I don't have the ten talents at the end of it, I only have four, I have less than half of what another man did but the Lord can still look down and say wow, thou good and faithful servant, you can be ruler over many things, okay, so the lesson is take what you have, God has given us a lot, God, you know, we have a lot, you know, we've been given a lot of knowledge, we've been given a lot of opportunity, let's make sure we use our time to serve him but now we're going to look at the one that didn't use his talents in verse number 24, then he which had received the one talent came and said Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed and I was afraid and went and hid my talents in the earth, lo there thou hast, lo there thou hast that is thine, now this man represents an unsaved man, okay, this man's unsaved, he did nothing with the talent that was given to him, so what is this about, well take it this way, let's put it this way, this man was given the gospel and he did nothing with it, he didn't apply it to his life, he didn't believe the gospel, okay, he was given the talent, what did he do, he buried it, he did nothing with it, right, look how God responds, verse number 26, his Lord answered and said unto him, thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not and gather where I have not strawed, thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchanges and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury, usury is just interest, okay, how much work does it take for you to put money into a bank and make interest off it, no work, listen the gospel salvation is no work, you just invest it, that's all, you put it into your life and you're saved, right, this man didn't even take the talent and invested in his life, he didn't believe it, he just buried it, someone came, given him the gospel and he just rejected it, right, and then the Christ comes back and says you wicked servants, this is an unsaved man, verse number 28, take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him that have ten talents for unto everyone that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he have and cast thee the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, so the outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, that's the lake of fire, being taken away, this is an unsaved man, so you can see that if you build your doctrine of a parable, you'll think all these servants are saved and the one that didn't work for the Lord, didn't serve God, well he goes to hell and he lost his salvation, no, this guy had something, the gospel, he had the opportunity to be saved but there comes a time where you either become reprobate or you stand before God at death and you know, you're cast into hell, that opportunity is gone, you know, that opportunity is taken from you and what could have been yours is given to another, it's given to those that would have served the Lord, okay and this is what's amazing about, you know, being a believer and serving the Lord is that not only are we going to have opportunities or not only, sorry, will our authority and job be based on what we did for the Lord but nothing goes to waste, you know, Jesus Christ has all these rewards, he has all this opportunity in the millennium and even into the new heaven and the new earth but those that, you know, could have been saved or those that could have done something for the Lord, if they don't do anything for the Lord, those opportunities are given to those that did do something for the Lord, okay, so not only do you get your, you know, what's the word I'm looking for, you know, your profit for what you did but you also get to benefit from those that didn't take what they could have done with and didn't do it and God gives it to those that did serve him, okay, so there's this double whammy effect when it comes to serving the Lord, you know and this is why it's always worth serving God, again, today you might say, I just have no interest in that, you know, ruling the reign on the earth, I guarantee you this, in the millennium, you're going to be wishing, I wish I did more for the Lord, I wish I had a higher position than what I have today but anyway, whatever position you take, it's going to be wonderful, okay, but the lesson is, you know, if you say, well, I'm not very intelligent, there's not much that I can do for the Lord, well, just work out what you can do, okay, and serve God faithfully with what you have, okay, sometimes I get emails from people that aren't in a good church, that aren't in a soul winning church and they're frustrated or maybe wives, you know, I get emails, you know, my husband's not doing this or that, you know, I'm not talking about people here, I'm talking about people in other places of the world and I always say to them, look, God's going to judge you on what you have, not what you don't have, okay, if you just have the two talents, just serve God with your two talents, okay, that's all you can do, you know, if your husband doesn't want you to go to church, doesn't want you, you know, serving the Lord, you know, just take the opportunity, your children, you know, raise them, train them to love the Lord, try to find the best church in your area, serve God there, you know, do what you can with what you've been given, right, we're not all in the same boats, not all of us are given five talents, I would say though, if you're in New Life Baptist Church and you're in Australia, you've got a Bible in your home, you maybe have several Bibles in your home, you've got at least five talents, I mean, we've been blessed, we live in a blessed place, okay, so let's make sure we don't allow this opportunity to, you know, bypass us, make sure we take those five talents and we put it to work, back to Malachi chapter 4 and verse number 4, Malachi chapter 4 and verse number 4, so Malachi, man, I thought it was a short chapter, this one, there's a lot to go through, right, Malachi chapter 4 and verse number 4, now in light of the facts that we're going to be ruling and reigning from Christ, I said to you that we're going to be going back to the Old Testament, you know, judgments, you know, not the covenants, not the sacrifices, but the laws of God, that God had put for Israel to be a righteous nation serving him, well verse number 4 confirms it for us, because it says, remember ye the law of Moses, he just finished telling us we're going to rule, he just finished telling us that we're going to stamp out the wicked, right, and now it says, remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments, so when we pass statutes, when we pass laws, when we make judgments in this future millennium, where's it going to come from? It's going to come from the law of Moses, we're going to be using this same book in the millennium, okay, we're not going to, we don't need extra books of the Bible, it's all here, it's already contained here, and of course, you know, the more you know the Bible today, the more effective you're going to be in the millennium, okay, so this is why the commandment is remember ye the law of Moses, remember the statutes, remember the judgments, right, and of course 1 Timothy 1 verse 8 says, but we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully, knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedience, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, so what's the law of God for? For the wicked, for the sinful, for those that need judgments, okay, so this for me at least confirms that, you know, in the millennium, it's the same laws, nothing changes, God does not change, we've already seen that, right, God feels the same way about sin and crime, and we get the pleasure of carrying out that judgment for him, verse number 5, Malachi chapter 4 verse 5 says, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, okay, so this Elijah the prophet, if you don't already know, is John the Baptist, I've already covered this in the previous chapter a little bit, was it, no, hold on, I can't remember, was it chapter 2 or chapter 3, anyway, one of those previous chapters, we covered this about being John the Baptist, but just to flesh this out a little bit more, I'm going to get you to turn to the book of Luke, go to the book of Luke for me, and what I want to tell you, I personally believe that this verse has already been fulfilled, okay, in John the Baptist, now there are some that believe this has a double application, that it's been half fulfilled in a sense, but it's still to be fulfilled as well in the coming future, and I understand that position, I'm just more hesitant to say that, especially when Jesus basically says it's been fulfilled, alright, so I'm just going to read to you from Matthew 17 verse 10, you go to Luke chapter 9, I'm going to read to you from Matthew 17 and verse number 10, it says, and his disciples asked him, saying, why then say the scribes that Elias must first come, so Elias is the Greek version of Elijah, the Hebrew version, right, Elias, why do the scribes say that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things, but I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed, likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them, then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist, okay, so did John the Baptist come before Christ, yes, or did he come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, what is the great and dreadful day of the Lord, that's future event, the wrath of God, did John the Baptist come before that, yeah, of course he did, right, came before that, so as far as I'm concerned, you know, as a reader of God's word, I believe this has been completely fulfilled, you know, I'm not really expecting a further coming of Elijah, now, some people do look at Revelation chapter 11, and we won't go there right now, and of course we have the two witnesses that come on the scene, and the Bible doesn't tell us who they are, it doesn't name them, but they're doing amazing miracles, right, they're witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, they're doing amazing things, now, it's possible, it is even probable that it's Moses and Elijah, I have no problem, if you believe that, I have no problem with you, in fact, I kind of partly believe it, okay, but there are some things that I can sort of partly believe and give my opinion of, and then there are other things that I can be like, no, this is black and white, this is the answer, okay, and when Jesus says that John the Baptist was Elias, or what was being prophesied of, then I can just rest my hat on that, and I'm done, you know, I'm not really looking for some extra, you know, fulfilment of that passage, but it could be, it is very possible that those two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11 also apply to Elijah, or, you know, and that this reference in Malachi points to that, so I'm not saying that's wrong, all I'm saying is, I'd just rather go with what I know is definite, that that's how I like to preach generally speaking, right, and so we see that this is definitely John the Baptist, now the question is, are you hoping to see Malachi, Malachi chapter 4 verse number 6, Malachi chapter 4 verse number 6, because this is what's said about this Elijah the prophet, or John the Baptist as we know him now, verse number 6, it says, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse, so we know he's coming to repair the way of the Lord, and of course he did, he was a forerunner before Jesus Christ, we know that the nation of Israel is very wicked, very sinful, I would say many, many unsaved, John the Baptist comes on the scenes, preaches the gospel, points them to Jesus Christ, gets them saved, gets them baptised, alright, so people when Christ comes on the scene, Jesus Christ only had a three year ministry, he didn't have that long, okay, so it's good for Jesus to have John the Baptist before him, organise a group of men, all these people that were believing in Christ, all these disciples, or many of these disciples at least, were saved by the preaching of John the Baptist, when Christ comes on the scene, they're like, well we're going to leave our jobs now, we're just going to follow off the crisis, this is the guy that we've been looking for, so he prepares the way of the Lord there, right, but he also says in verse number 6, they shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse, and so if not for John the Baptist, Jesus would have come on the earth, and just been like, I'm done with this place, and just smite the earth with another curse, okay, thankfully God sent John the Baptist to get people saved, for there to be an element of righteousness on the earth, right, and people that were looking forward to Christ, and of course Christ came, and you know, he's not going to smite the earth with a curse when there's a whole bunch of believers of him during that time, so that's the purpose of John the Baptist, and I, you know, I would say to you brethren, you know, that's our job as well, preparing the way of the Lord, right, being this, we know Christ is coming back, so let's be the forerunners now, right, I mean, I'm not surprised if Christ comes, or the Lord comes and smites this earth with a curse, especially if we're doing nothing, alright, so let's, you know, use our time, let's use our talents, teaching the gospel, getting people saved, right, preparing the way of the Lord for his second coming, but you're in Luke chapter 9 and verse number 28, so Luke chapter 9 and verse number 28, the reason I want to read this passage is because John the Baptist is not Elijah reincarnated, it's not like Elijah came back from the dead and he just took on a new name, John the Baptist, okay, so Luke chapter 9 kind of confirms this for us, as kind of like circumstantial evidence here, because obviously if John the Baptist was just a reincarnation, then when he appears in Luke chapter 9, or when Elijah appears, these are people that knew John the Baptist, but they actually refer to him as Elias, look at Luke chapter 9 verse 28, it says, and it came to pass after an eight days after these things, he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray, okay, so this is about the transfiguration of Christ, Peter, James and John definitely knew who John the Baptist was, they know who he is, okay, John the Baptist at this point in time has lost his life, okay, he's been beheaded, verse number 29, and as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glycerin, and behold there talked with him two men, which are Moses and John the Baptist, no, Moses and Elias, Elias, Elijah, okay, so no, John the Baptist was not Elias reincarnated, otherwise they would have been like that's Moses and John, right, because that's who they knew, they would have known him more as, right, they didn't live at the same time as Elijah, but they lived at the same time as John the Baptist, so Elias is a different person, okay, but when the prophecy was given of Elijah coming, it was definitely of John the Baptist, now go to Luke chapter 1 and verse number 11, Luke chapter 1 and verse number 11, and let's just, you know, Luke chapter 1 basically explains this for us, he puts it all together for us, Luke chapter 1 verse 11, we go to the story of John the Baptist's parents, and Zacharias was his father, in Luke chapter 1 verse 11 it says, and there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense, and when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him, but the angel said unto him, fear not Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shall call his name John, and thou shall have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth, for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and by the way, if you want to be great in the sight of the Lord, don't drink alcohol, all right, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb, now look at verse number 16, and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God, so he's a powerful soul winner, he's going to get a lot of people saved, getting them ready for Christ coming on the scene, and then look at verse number 17, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, okay, so how is John the Baptist Elias, well he comes in the same spirit and in the same power, you know the same power, the same abilities that God gave to Elijah through the Holy Spirit is the same measure that he would have given to John the Baptist, when John the Baptist came on the scene, people thought is this Elias, is he back, he preaches the same way, he's the same kind of guy, this rough hairy man, right, he's got powerful preaching, that's the power that he came in, and then it says this, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord, okay, so that was his ministry, now what I like about this, in Malachi chapter 4 verse 6 it says, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, you say well is this, is he building family relationships here, between fathers and sons, is that what it's referring to, well it's further explained to us in what we just read there in verse number 17, right, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord, so what he was doing was, he was preparing a younger generation, the children, right, to follow after their fathers, but this is not necessarily the fathers of their flesh, you know, this is the spiritual forefathers, those that have come before him, right, to prepare a people for the Lord, you know, those that were disobedient to have wisdom of the just, okay, that's what it's referring to there, of course you know, you start applying spiritual truths, it's going to build your family relationship, of course it's going to build our closeness between our fathers and children, but I don't believe this is a reference necessarily to just your physical father, but rather that this new generation will come out of the wickedness and be more like their forefathers of old, those that love the Lord, those that serve the Lord, they're going to have that same heart for the things that their forefathers in the faith enjoyed, and so you know, it's a great privilege to be a Christian in 2020, sometimes we may feel like we're the only ones really loving the Lord and serving the Lord, and listen, there are lots of churches that love the Lord, there are a lot of saved Christians throughout this world that are trying to serve the Lord with their true talents, with their free talents, whatever they have, but it's great to know that we also have spiritual forefathers, you know that we have people like Malachi, we have people like John the Baptist, we have people like Peter, James and John, we have people that have passed on the gospel throughout generation after generation after generation, so we can benefit from that brethren, you know we're going to be ruling and reigning, yes, but we're going to be ruling and reigning with our spiritual forefathers, it's going to be exciting to see those, you know, I'm curious, to see hey my mother gave me the gospel, who gave my mother the gospel, who gave that guy the gospel, who gave that guy the gospel, all the way to hopefully you know these guys you know we find out one day so I'm excited for for the future. All right let's pray.